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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Miscellaneous Musings and Such, A Wednesday in July


The view from my driveway looking west late last summer.

I just ran across this picture on my cell phone today. Had to share it. Because it's a neat picture. A picture which is mine.

Look Ma! No copyright infringement!

Am I still P.O.ed about that?

No. Not really.

Well, maybe just a little.

So I have all these photos to inflict on share with you, some are older. Some are newer.

I know the progeny get a kick out of them. A little glimpse of home.

Here are a few more:

The beer I drank Sunday, upon completion of "Operation Imminent Glowering Sky"
(Also known as mowing the lawn.)

Hhhmm. I think I might start giving military-sounding names to all of the household chores. I can see it now...

The Missus Herself: "Honey! What on earth on you doing?"

Your's Truly: "Why, I'm clearing the LZ* for Operation Red Dawn!"

The Missus Herself: "What?"

Your's Truly: "I'm taking the trash out. Doesn't Operation Red Dawn sound a lot cooler?"

Then I know the love of my life would stop whatever she was doing, look deep into my eyes and say...

"You're an idiot."

Best job ever, being a Dad.

Man, was I ever that young? From left to right, The Naviguesser, The WSO and The Nuke. (Me in the background. Note the 1980s-style eyeglasses. Yes, ladies. I was awesome.)

Good times. That photo was taken at Christmas in 1984. In our wee apartment in Fort Collins, Colorado. The premises were tiny. We loved every minute of it. (The WSO was two months old at the time. Ooooh, and this is 2014 isn't it? I'll leave the math to you.)

Selfie in the Bullets ready room.
USS RONALD REAGAN, CVN-76
April 2014

It was a rough day at sea that day back in April. The waves must have been a towering 12 inches high with gusts of wind coming over the bow at a blustery five knots. Not a Dunkin' Donuts in sight.

Yeah, right!

One of the "best days ever!"

Ask ORPO, he knows.





*LZ = Landing Zone. You know, for inbound helos.

Note on rotary-winged aircraft, i.e. helicopters. The Navy calls them "helos", the Army calls them "choppers" (or they did back in the day) and the Air Force calls them "helicopters." Because we're comfortable with big words.

And we're not as cool as the Navy or the Army.

What's that? What do the Marines call them? I dunno, "old Navy hand-me-downs" perhaps? Any Marines out there care to enlighten us?

24 comments:

  1. I like your blog better now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Susie. I have more fun with these kinds of posts.

      Delete
  2. I'm pretty sure Joni Mitchell has a copy with on all things clouds!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn! I didn't think of that.

      And there I was, feeling all "unfettered and alive."

      Delete
  3. I saw some neat clouds yesterday evening.
    But I didn't take their picture because I couldn't find anyone to sign a release.

    I feel your ire.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heh.

      I had most of the clouds in New England sign a release during a hurricane a few years ago. They were too busy to realize what they were signing.

      Delete
  4. Off topic, but it looks like Visual Recognition at Fox News is off today unless the Ukrainians have developed a new camouflage scheme making their Su-25s look an awful lot like a Su-35.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not many in the news watching crowd would know the difference anyway. Flanker? Frogfoot? What's the difference?

      Damned clever those Ukrainians!

      Delete
  5. I had a similar experience to yours
    I posted about it this morning

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alrighty then, sure looked like a lawyerly kind of letter.

      I didn't get the lawyer letter, just a comment from some feller named "Unknown."

      Yours looks serious. As I mentioned at your place, I remember seeing that photo on a couple of sites other than yours. This pictures went away, I'm guessing they got the same letter.

      The internet is just no fun some days.

      Delete
    2. Well, at least IT's letter was signed and specifically stated what the copyrighted object was, thereby allowing him to correct the problem. As I understand it, our little pissant did none of that, just issued vague lawsuit threats. I'm certain you and most other bloggers, don't start a blog with the idea "I'm going to break the law and intentionally use copyrighted material". Seems to me that copyright law ought to be changed to reflect the proliferation of information in the age of the internet. Perhaps, "if it ain't clearly marked as copyrighted, it's not." I'm not a lawyer nor have I played one on television, but that seems to be a better starting place than everything is copyrighted unless marked not.

      Delete
  6. Am I still P.O.ed about that?

    No. Not really.

    Well, maybe just a little.


    Beer blogging is the answer and I see you've got a good start. That works for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm trying new things.

      Besides which, I was getting far too photo-centric.

      Delete
  7. LOL, I'd hate to see what you'd do in a Sea State 7 on a small boy... :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually have been at sea in Sea State 6 on a 680 foot cruise ship (90 foot beam).

      The ride was a bit lively and I loved every minute of it. The Missus Herself remained in her rack and said she would never cruise again.

      The 12-inch waves and 5 knot wind characterization was included for the humor which was in it (or not as the case may be).

      But you knew that, didn't you?

      Delete
    2. Ooh... shades of steaming in the fringes of typhoons on a Gearing Class can.
      Specifically in VIC on the O-2 level.

      Delete
    3. OK, thanks for another topic for a post. USS Coronado. Coming soon to blogs near you! Ships in High Seas, Damsels in Distress, a handsome superhero to the rescue (OK all but that last one).

      Delete
    4. Skip - I've been on an island on the fringes of a typhoon and smack dab in the middle of one of those bad boys. I can't image what it would be like on a Gearing...

      Holy crap!

      Delete
    5. Juvat - you are obviously a man of many talents and experiences.

      I cannot wait to read that story.

      Delete
  8. Qui audet adipiscitur

    and so back to work.
    v/r Curtis

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ok, here's my 'copyright' story. a number of years back we had a 30 sec ad produced for tv, with the tagline "The little place with the great big taste". 1 or 1/12 yrs later we received Fedex package with a letter from a high-powered law firm in Tampa telling us that The Checkers restaurant chain had registered a phrase very similar and we would need to change our ad immediately or face their collective wrath. A Googling revealed that they did register it, after we had been using it...sigh...My brother told me" The whole world is out to screw the little guy, Greg. the quicker you realize you're a little guy the better off you'll be". I now know my place at the end of the line ( or close to it!). Yet I see a lot of my friends right there with me, welcome to the neighborhood!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are groups who run around copyrighting everything they can get their hands on. Then suing the people who actually came up with it.

      There's a special place in Hell for that bunch.

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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