Saturday, February 1, 2020

Administrative Down Time

(Source)
So you see, here's the thing, I have a bunch of administrative things that either need doing or are things that I want to do here at The Chant. Like the masthead, long time reader Pogue, who hasn't been around for awhile, once mentioned that it is a bit cluttered. Okay, it's a lot cluttered. It works for me, but it ain't everyone's cup o' tea. So there's that.

I have an idea for a new page which will be called The Hall of Honor, or I might call it the Praetorium Honoris, which is the same as "Hall of Honor" only in Latin. Putting something in Latin gives it a certain gravitas, yes? (Gravitas, from the Latin gravis, which means "serious," in English it means "dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner.")

This new page would collect all (save two) of those photos on the masthead in one place along with a brief paragraph or two as to the whys and wherefores of their presence in The Hall of Honor. The two who would not be moved off of the masthead? Really, you have to ask?

Lex and Buck. That is, Captain Carroll "Lex" LeFon and MSgt Norman "Buck" Pennington would stay on the masthead, they would also be in The Hall of Honor but their likenesses would stay on the masthead, in perpetuity, forever, until the blog ceases to be. The reason being of course is that but for Lex's untimely demise, I probably would have never become a blogger, and without Buck's humor and constant encouragement I probably would have quit blogging early on.

So yes, redesign of the masthead is in the planning stages (and yes, I'll listen to suggestions, ideas, and the like from you, the readers), along with the construction of the new Hall of Honor page. That's stuff which would perhaps impede, if not downright prevent, daily posting. Yes, yes, I know I don't have to post daily, but it is kind of an obsession, I do have a mild case of OCD. (I will check to make sure a door is locked multiple times before I am satisfied that it's actually locked, for example. Say, that picture hanging over on that wall, does it look straight to you?)

Another thing, I spent some time recently re-reading the work I've done on "The Book," working title "Panzer 413." I really like what I've done there, I've also found a bunch of errors and some inconsistencies in the plot. Not to mention that the whole thing is a very rough draft and having let it sit, virtually untouched, for over a year, I have determined that the damned thing ain't gonna write itself. Slacker.

So yes, I have a laundry list of stuff that I plan on doing. It might require the blog to go "dark" for up to a week. I hate doing that as this thing, which I've been doing for nearly eight years, is something of an obsession. (Didn't I mention that already, hey, is that door locked?)

So yeah, it's in the planning stages, a "training day," an administrative "stand down," as a lot of the admin offices on the base used to call it, back in the day. We viewed it as a day where you couldn't get anything done support-wise. Back then, I didn't understand, heck, we were already trained, why'd the admin pukes need a day to "train," didn't they know their stuff already? These days I get it, every time someone higher up changes a regulation or adds new requirements, the admin guys need some time to absorb that and adjust their procedures and policies. Yeah, a training day. I get it. Mrs. juvat could probably give us chapter and verse as to the whys and wherefores.

Anyhoo, here's what I'm thinking for the Hall of Honor header, I've done some work already. We'll see if there's a need for a stand down or not.


Looks kinda cool, doesn't it?

Oh, the opening photo, that's Chant Headquarters, somewhere in the Northeastern United States, kinda how I picture myself, getting stuff done. (Plus I thought the picture was awesome, the source under the photo has a lot of good pics from the Korean War era, check it out!)

Now I gotta run, need to (ahem) prepare some stuff...

(Source)
Welcome to February, see ya Sunday, no doubt...




26 comments:

  1. Sticking my nose in ... earlier this week I honestly thought the mast head would be cool if you kept it the same but made links so when you touched the photo a link would take you to their information.

    Meh, just my two cents worth.

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    Replies
    1. I strongly agree. Outta sight...outta mind. Reminders of folks that did something way beyond the capability of most human capability is not clutter , it’s a small reward and more importantly lets drive by visitors know that we are not worthy of their sacrifice,but are grateful for it.

      Your blog your rules.but ...

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    2. BtH - I did some looking, what you have in mind is a great idea, unfortunately it seems to be beyond Blogger's capabilities. I'm starting to rethink the re-do. I am rather fond of the current header. I'll think of something.

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    3. juvat - I think the new page will contain everybody on the masthead now, plus a bunch of new entries. I'm rethinking the re-do. That "but" hangs heavy...

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    4. The nice thing about the honor page is you can add more to honor than would fit on the masthead. So, a combo deal, some on the masthead, maybe a 'featured Hero' which would require you changing the masthead more often, and all on the Honors page.

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    5. I am leaning towards something like that, I like the "featured Hero" concept.

      Delete
  2. Sounds good, two nice photos there so do what you have to do Sarge, if this goes dark there's more time to watch Steve Lookner at Agenda-free TV cover the China virus, the news THERE will set your OCD at overload.

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    Replies
    1. Man, I have trouble letting go of what's familiar. Re-thinking the re-do.

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  3. Yep, Buck and Lex, inspirators they were.

    I figured it out, finally.
    I’m on a training day, for almost three years now.

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  4. Having their photos honors them, but not having them isn't dishonor. We will always lose warriors, but where do you put them all? A link to a hall of honor is a good way. I've always thought the banner was a bit tall anyways, requiring a long scroll to reach content. But as always, it's your place and I won't stop visiting or writing because of how you tidy things up.

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  5. Good photo of you and Anya, though. You haven't changed much at all since you retired.

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    1. Hahaha!

      Well, I did quit smoking. Which is good.

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    2. Wait? You retired? When? Wait... that's a trap. Yeah... first retirement. Ah... you think you got me, but you didn't. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

      (furiously trying to stuff the weirdness back in the can...)

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    3. Yup, first down, second to go.

      One of these days...

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  6. Admin days come and go. But they are needful things.

    I like the picture of the guy and the cat. Nice cat. Always wanted a work desk in the garage surrounded by tools and stuff, but was quickly defeated by heat, humidity and bugs. Oh, well, just have to use the old imagination.

    Have a good ponder day.

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    Replies
    1. Yup, I love that pic. Kinda reminds of who I think I am, or could be...

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    2. You ain't gettin' any younger

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  7. I like the current masthead, I like it even more when you do the occasional post on who the pic is and what was their story.I have been wandering around here for a while now, but still didn't see it from the beginning. I like stories. Having said that, I really like the (potential) new masthead. And the Latin. And, yes, I do wander around on your other pages, I don't just read the cover of the book, I like to peek inside when I have more time.

    When I was Directer of a Diabetes Education center, I really looked forward to the month of December. Well, yes, Christmas is my favorite holiday, but it was also the month when NO ONE wanted to come and talk about their diabetes...or not many folks usually, so it gave me lots of "down time" to review/rewrite policies, procedures, and figure out what direction I wanted to take things in or how to do what the Hospital Administrator wanted us to do...or how to explain that what he wanted us to do couldn't be done due to the need for us to be able to get paid from ABCXYZ insurance company. But I admit, I was never able to bring my kitty to the office...that would have been great!!

    Hope you aren't missing The Missus too severely. Don't forget to keep the dishes done up, that way you wont have to spend an hour dong dishes the morning that she comes home.

    Yes, ya locked the door,AND turned off those lights...and, yes I have my cell phone, my hot spot, car keys, glasses, watch and nursing bag and computer before I walk out the door. I do the pat down at least 4x before getting out the door in the morning...lol

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    1. Hahaha!

      Did the dishes this morning, it was that or get a bigger sink!

      😁

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  8. Safety stand-downs used to be good. Until they started closing the club after lunch and doing 1500 roll calls at the lectures. Which I'm sure some remington raider dreamed up at an administrative stand-down.

    Regarding the potential masthead makeover, I'd caution you to reject out of hand any advice I might give.

    I do like that first image.

    As for the last image, it's hard to imagine how the Air Force could have had any problems with the AIM-7. The navy did too, and for the same reasons, but it sounded funny the way I wrote it.

    It didn't? Hmm. Okay, an Airman, a Sailor, a Marine, and a Soldier walk into a strip club...

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    1. Rocket motor would fail to ignite. Missile would fail to guide. Sometimes the radar just said, "What missile?" The later models got better, but a heat seeker was always nice to have. (Couldn't blame "my" radar for that.)

      As for that last sentence...

      No idea what you're talking about. 🙄

      Delete

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

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