So....just in case anyone is wondering, "juvat, why do you post only on Mondays?"
Cause I like Jimmy Buffett?
First, to clarify, I have posted on other days when conditions had required. A 25th anniversary comes to mind, in an unhappy way. I've also filled in when our fearless Leader has gone in for slicing and dicing, but...I do usually post on Monday.
Why? Well, back in my post Air Force Youth, I had fallen into a second career. We had a German Exchange student living with us, and just prior to Spring Break, at dinner, he'd announced that his computer teacher had up and quit. He didn't know what was going to happen to the class. I have a Master's in Management Information Systems (Computers, Beans), so the next morning, I went and spoke to the Principal. She hired me as a long term spare for the rest of the school year. 18 years later I retired from the district.
But, while teaching, I met our sweet talking and fearless leader, who conned me into contributing to the blog. Knowing my own skills at writing were (are, juvat, are!) minimal at best and that turning out a blog post on a regular basis would be difficult to maintain, I lobbied for Mondays, which really means Sunday for the writing part. He acceded to my request.
The first Monday in June of 2014, I published my first post, I don't think I've missed a Monday since, although I have used blogger's schedule feature to cover for a few vacations.
One of the things I've noticed about this engineered virus released one way or the other by the Chinese, it seems to have unforeseen effect on events (other than that whole death or illness thing).
I really have to think about what day of the week it is. I jokingly refer to it as Groundhog day. (No, Beans, I haven't reached the point where I'm teaching a Groundhog to drive, Yet!) There aren't enough differences in my activities nowadays to keep them straight in my mind. Probable cause is that the activities aren't all that crucial anymore. Getting up and going to work to earn a paycheck was sufficient in the past.
So, my current method of tracking DOTW, (other than tapping my watch to wake it up and looking for the day of the week function) is to count days since Sunday. Sunday is the DOTW where I get up, go to church, have brunch, then write the post for publishing (automatically) at 4AM Pacific time. A time which is stipulated by the boss as a respect to Lex LeFon of "Neptunus Lex" blog fame.
I now use Military Day Count using Sunday as the base ("D-Day"), Monday becomes D+1 and so on. However, Thursday rotates to D-3 because Mrs. J has dictated that we go eat Pizza in town that day. Which is good, because I rarely can remember 4 days prior. And I get to eat Pizza...Win/Win!
But, this losing track of days thing really came to a head this week, when I walked out in the front yard and noticed this.
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And, there you have it.
As a parting gift, here's the late Jerry Reed telling of his incentive ride in an F-16 at Misawa AB, JA. He's on live TV and they only gave him a few minutes to tell. Here's the full version (17:45 minutes and hilariously well worth it, even if it's audio only.) I've given many incentive rides in my day. What he says is exactly true if they choose the "Makes an E ride at Disneyland look like a merry go round" option versus the "best view of the local area" option. Mr Reed chose the E-ride option.
Good luck with the septic control panel, ole Mother Nature seems to abhor having flat ground stay flat when Man inserts something into said flat ground. Got a few chuckles listening to that full E-ride recording, that voice sent me back a few years juvat.
ReplyDeleteI just got a refresher on why I liked working with Tilson. Phone rang at 9:20 this morning. It was the Tilson warranty rep. She said she'd contacted the Septic installer and he'd agreed to come and fix it and would call today or tomorrow to arrange the details. Good folks, can't say enough good things about them.
DeleteYeah, it took me back a few years also, in a whole slew of ways.
With both of us retired, our calendar has devolved into Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, two of the Todays fall on the weekend.
Septic systems are best worked on by others.
One of the very few benefits of living in the city is that the problems of waste disposal aren't my problems.
If I had reenlisted on Forrestal, one of the bennies was a launch and recovery. That would have been awesome.
I tried that option, but it had no long term options, so I use it as my daily self briefing while sitting on my throne first thing in the morning. It helps, but it doesn't take the place of the fridge calendar. Which makes it worth way more than it's weight in gold.
DeleteI enjoyed giving incentive rides, most of the recipients were young enlisted and generally great troops (which is why they got the incentive ride). Many of them were maintenance folks, so it gave me a chance to show them what we were able to do because of their efforts. Yes, in the briefing, I said most of the same things Bubba did and offered them the option of excitement vs an aerial tour of the area. Only one asked for the tour, and even he got bored and asked me if we could do a "loopdeloop". That's when the fun started.
Juvat, this is something TB The Elder always complained about as well, especially later when they had less weekly activities ongoing. Life became measured by Sundays (Church) and Tuesdays (Food closet and my weekly call) and Wednesdays/Thursdays (when they would have dinner with my sister).
ReplyDeleteEven one day a week is an accomplishment worth noting. No-one that has never written on a regular basis has any idea how much it takes to write one good article or post a week. I am always amazed at someone like Mark Steyn, who seems to be able to put out a never ending series of articles and posts on any number of subjects.
Good luck on the septic. The lean looks ominous.
TB,
DeleteYeah, the "What the heck am I going to write about next?" alarm thought starts bonging right about this time of the week. In fact it's going off now. No, I haven't got a clue...yet.
Thanks, as I mentioned above, Tilson responded and said the installer thought it was erosion caused. I said I KNOW it's erosion caused. So he's bringing more dirt. We'll see how that works.
My calendar is a combination of my pill-minder boxes and, in deference to Mrs. Andrew, Fried Rice Tuesday, Fried Rice Friday (which is also Pizza Eve) and Pizza Day (Saturday.) Then there's the Day of Loathing (Monday, which is a side effect of working with excremental people) and that leaves three other days to try to remember, but the anchor is, as it should be, Pizza Day!!!!
ReplyDeleteFried Rice Tuesday/Friday is, of course, when I cook Fried Rice, enough fried rice for two people and 3 leftovers, so she can eat leftover fried rice for 3 day per FRday. Pizza Day is, of course, when I cook Pizza for Mrs. Andrew, which 1/4 goes into a lunch container, so she can have Pizza!!!! for lunch on Tuesday, which is the day I aim for to go out and do big shoppings because it does not take her an hour or so to eat leftover pizza, though it does for leftover fried rice.
She's a slow eater. Would never have survived if she had grown up around me and my brothers. My slow eating speed is most people's Hoover speed.
So we count the days of the week by proximity to Pizza Day!!!! or the lesser Fried Rice days. It works. Between pill minders and food days, we rarely miss a day. But it happens. Get the schedule all fouled up upstairs and it can make for a confusing time.
As to your septic, well, so many comments that could be made but I won't. I'll just think them real hard and you can hear them.
As usual, Beans, you're full of it!
Delete😉
Pill minders help, but sometimes I can't remember taking them, so is the next closed "day" today? Or yesterday?
Combine pill minders, special days, and keeping to a choreographed routine (if you are doing this, it follows each step or it gets the hose. Linear thinking, rather than 'cloud' thinking, is the way to almost get it right almost every time.)
DeleteIt's why I have an analog watch, gives me the time, gives me the day, gives me the date.
DeleteI had one, but it died. Mrs J bought me one of those fitness watches. It's ok, but you have to tap it to see the time. It is cool to see how many steps I take in a day, and I'm sure the fighter pilot in me is goading me into breaking the previous day's record every day. Course, that might be the reason I'm losing weight. Maybe I'll get a second regular timex type watch and wear two.
DeleteBeans. I'd forgotten about pizza Wednesday!
DeletePillboxes, watching the world pass by 2 weeks at a time.
DeleteDo a search for "day of the week clock".
Rob,
DeleteI've got one. It's busted. MBD got it for me for Christmas as an ORF joke. I think the joke is even better if it's stuck on Thursday.
So every day is a Thursday in your world! At least you don't to guess anymore :-)
DeleteI'm not sure that a ride in a Huey is much incentive but I always went out of my way to offer rides to ATC, Ops, Maint, Gnd Svs, etc. when able. AF personnel were more responsive to the offers; guess they were curious about everything they saw that "came and went" while they stayed around. (Navy guys were uncomfortable over land and Army guys were afraid they would be dropped at a hot LZ?). At RAFB I frequently offered rides back from Seguin Aux Field to the duty officers in the control box. FWIW, one of my best friends now was a young AF 1LT IP student (1980) who came asking for an orientation ride; we worked together in SAT after our respective retirements. Luck with the septic, regards, Alemaster
ReplyDeleteThe last aircraft I (tried to) flew was an Army Loach while stationed at CincPac. My Army boss (an aviator) had arranged it. I had a blast, However I never got used to the left hand making it go up and down and the right making it go faster or slower. (For non-aviators, on fixed wing aircraft the left hand is for the throttle and the right for the control stick). I learned a lot and had fun, and got to take an afternoon off from paperwork.
DeleteMy first tour at RAFB a Tweet IP came over. He had sold his soul to his assignments guy for a tour in Hawaii, HH-53 assignment with R/W transition at Rucker enroute. Wanted an orientation ride; CO said "hell, give him 20 hours or so." By the time he left for Rucker he had it all figured out. Definitely a bootleg transition. Always got a kick out of seeing the FAIP trainees squirming on their first ride back from Seguin in a Huey when we were decelerating back past 40KIAS at 100 feet or so, speed is life. regards, Alemaster
DeleteMust be why I hired you...
ReplyDelete1) We were at Kunsan at the same time, we never met but kindred spirits and all that.
2) We have the same masters degree. (ISYN)
I'm sure we crossed paths at the Kun, but you're right. #2 is interesting. I got mine from Texas Tech, talked into it by my professor mentor and did it in 9 months waiting for my Pilot training class to open up. Studying in UPT seemed easy although other's thought differently.
DeleteLOL, we use what we have to 'remind' us... And Jerry Reed's commentary is hilarious, but the REAL E-ticket ride is from Whidbey to Fallon THROUGH the Sierra Nevadas in an A-6... ;-)
ReplyDeleteThose ARE fun!
DeleteKeeping track of DOTW on the road is a real chore when there’s no particular itinerary or schedule, though we’ve found that, except in Amish Country, if businesses are closed, it’s probably Monday.
ReplyDeleteThen again, there’s always the computer I carry in my pocket. I can even set reminders for my pills.
DeleteAll good points, Skip!
DeleteNow I gotta go hunt for the rest of the story. And Paul Harvey isn't around to tell me about it.
ReplyDelete