Report from the Old Line State

The view from my office this week

As mentioned t'other day, I'm away from Chez Sarge for a bit. Visiting with the newest member of the tribe and his parents.

Had a nice trip from the shore of Narragansett Bay to the shore of Chesapeake Bay. From Bay to Bay as it were. New Jersey traffic was, as usual, somewhat insane. Why some people drive the way they do puzzles me. Are they simply ignorant of the possible consequences of reckless driving, or do they simply not care? Saw the aftermath of one accident just south of Exit 4. Not good, the turnpike was closed for some time. Was open but traffic was backed up for a good 15 minute delay when I got there. An annoyance for me, no doubt a devastating event for someone, perhaps multiple someones.

That being said...

With work laptop in hand, I can actually be productive whilst away from the main facility. I have authorization to make myself useful as the need may arise. On the one hand I won't be completely on vacation (though I have that option) but on the other I won't be burning through vacation time. I can mix and match so to speak.

While I will be returning to the land of Narragansett next weekend, my better half will be staying behind for another month or so. So I will get to return to the land of the Chesapeake at that time, but only for a cuppla days, not an entire week.

Little Robbie getting his hearing checked.

When The Nuke first sent me that picture above, it looked to me like young Robbie was kicking back, listening to some tunes. Then I was told it was a hearing test, which immediately made me think of this -

If you were ever in the military, you recognize that scene. For those who weren't - hearing tests were given periodically to try and catch any hearing loss early on, after all, the military is a very noisy way of life for some career fields. On the flightline it was, F-4 Phantoms are very noisy beasts. After I'd transitioned to software, not so much. Offices are generally far less noisy than the flightline. In my current gig, the lab is rather loud, put twenty industrial strength control consoles in one room and it gets loud. It's the heavy duty fans inside which make all the noise. They're not flightline loud, but loud.

Anyhoo, for the hearing test they put you in this sound-proofed booth with a thingee you hold on to which has a button. You put on a pair of headphones and listen for these really subtle sounds. If you hear one, you hit the button. You also tend to hit the button if you think you hear one, which sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. (My bad habit was always trying to discern a pattern in the utter randomness of the little beeps. There never was one that I could hear. Sigh...)

I was assured that my youngest grandson was not actually sitting in a sound-proofed booth clicking a button. After all, he doesn't really have control of his hands yet. Or anything else for that matter. He is rather second lieutenant-like in some respects.

That being said, he is a cute little guy, but when he cries it's the saddest sound in the world. It's not really an "I'm hungry/soiled/wet" kind of angry cry, it's more of a "why has everyone abandoned me to this fate" sort of cry. Very soul-wrenching it is. Until grandma steps in.

For she is the baby whisperer. Doesn't matter how upset the little guy is, grandma picks him up and starts talking to him and he becomes right as rain.

Robbie in the hands of the baby whisperer.

So all is well here on the shores of the Chesapeake, I fully intend to enjoy my time here and maybe get some work done as well. I also get to see my two granddogs, Bear and Kodi, who are still trying to figure out who this little human is who has arrived in their home.

It's all good.