Sarge was off doing what I'd call semi-retired stuff, visiting grand-kidlings and such, and I found some time to throw out some random musings, so here goes.
I'm very much enjoying the new job. It's a supervisor position, so I'm not quite as busy as I was in my last position. I have a couple long-time employees working for me and they do a lot of heavy lifting without needing to be told what to do, so...
As my new boss says, we're the department that does all the jobs that either don't fit nicely into the other departments, or that nobody else wants to do. So we're running with scissors and everyone stays out of our way. In addition to being the SLJO*, we're focused on Undersea Experimentation, testing of new equipment or concepts on subs or unmanned underwater vehicles, yet that ebbs and flows. We're definitely ebbing at the moment so leave opportunities are plentiful right now. Good time for it since it's summer. My Catholic guilt kicked in earlier this week though when I had zero in my inbox and I felt under-utilized and/or that I should be doing something that I ought. But my boss said not to worry, the exercise cycle will begin again shortly and I'll be busy enough. So you don't think I'm wasting your taxpayer dollars, the gents who work for me are busy with a couple projects which I will review, but this supervisory thing is new again for me and is taking some time to get used to. There are also various annual training courses I have to take, including a new one thanks to that punk USAF kid who dumped a bunch of Secret and/or TS stuff on a Discord server to impress his friends. I wonder if something will change following that Naturalized Chinese-born, now US Navy Sailor who, encouraged by his mom, sold off secrets to the Chinese. Maybe we need to take a deeper look at their loyalties.
Speaking of leave, my wife and I will soon be off to our ancestral homeland to celebrate our 30th Anniversary. No, not Southern Oregon...
IRELAND!! Or as an old Irish priest friend of mine once called it "The Holy Land." Trip of a lifetime we expect. Faith and Begorrah, Céad Míle Fáilte, and all that. We fly out next week, spending a couple days with my wife's "cousin." She's actually her uncle's wife's cousin of the same age as my wife (it's a big Irish family) and they were pen-pals when kids. We will be staying in the Temple Bar, which I found out is an actual bar, but it's also a trendy district in Dublin. On the pre-tour agenda besides the familial visit is a stop at a couple Cathedrals: St. Patrick's, and the Guinness Factory! For strength of course.
And, for something completely different, although maybe not:
Yes, we're going to see a futbol football game, in a futbol stadium. Very different in that we're watching American Football in a foreign country, but the slight connection to Lex is a nice one I suppose. I didn't plan the trip around the game, it just happened to be at the same time as our trip, which we've been planning for several years. It's a late game, 7:30pm local time in Dublin, to make it all convenient for all you suckers that have to stay home and watch it! Kidding of course.
Forgot to add this one:
Following the game, we start a Collette tour the next day- "Shades of Ireland" as it's called. All the Irish hits, like Blarney Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Dingle Peninsula, etc., with time off each evening to visit a pub or two. Dingle has 52 pubs for its 1300 residents, so I'm sure we'll be able to find one there. Speaking of which, you must watch "The Irish Pub" on Amazon Prime Video. I immersed myself in the country (well, Pub-life) watching that one (be forewarned- subtitles are a must!), and Hidden Ireland. Trailer below. Trailer for "The Irish Pub" here.
It's our first trip to the Emerald Isle, but probably won't be our last. There's a lot to see and our 13 days isn't enough to see it all. Edinburgh Scotland and Northern Ireland were add-ons, but we decided to hold off until a future trip. I'd also like to look for any of my distant relatives (Great Grandparents both emigrated to the US at the end of the 19th century). Ancestry gave me not only how Irish I really am (90%- just a wee bit!) and where those relatives were/are from.
I'm sure I'll write about it when I return, but that's enough of a preview for today.
*Shitty little jobs office
Anticipation.... what with being planned for several years and now...next week! Those thirteen days are going to fly by, safe travels and have fun! Will be looking for photos, lots of photos........ :)
ReplyDeleteTuna,
DeleteSafe travels and have fun! I’m a tad jealous as you know your family’s history. Both my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother were Irish but their history is lost. More’s the pity.
juvat
Thanks Nylon, pictures forthcoming I promise. Juvat, Ancestry.com was a big help- finding all kinds of connections, even beyond my elders' knowledge. Lost is not permanent since the DNA check is comprehensive.
DeleteTuna,
DeleteBoy, no kidding there's a lot of info there.Thanks!
juvat
Why did I think that this was a Beans post - no idea. It went out to Failbook and MeWe as "Wednesday Beans." Shoulda been "Wednesday Tuna."
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm an old man, I got confused ...
But hey Tuna, enjoy the trip!
No worries, I usually start my posts talking about you just so that the audience knows it isn't you!
DeleteI have no bogtrodder blood in me. Just French, German, English and Scots (Lowland). And as much as I'd like to see Europe, well, right now it would only be in the middle of an armored column of church knights going to protect stuffs. Maybe.
Delete(the bogtrodder reference is a joke amongst SCA folk, so please don't take offense. After all, I'm actually Norman-French, so for the Middle Ages that was concidered neuvou-riche... yet another inside joke. Dammit, Bennin, I miss ya buddy.)
No worries. In addition to Irish I've got some Scot, Finnish, and Eastern European Jew in me. At this point in our history we are all mostly mutts anyway.
DeleteHoly Crap! The Temple Bar. I was there in 1987. Ship had pulled into Portsmouth and I was getting ready to get out. I had a few days of leave over what I was allowed to sell back to I took them. I got thrown off Mildenhall AFB (some clown in a Tomcat shot down one of their RF-4C's) and went to Dublin for two days.
ReplyDeleteTimothy Dorsey, the same guy that the Navy let stay in and kept promoting until his victim went apeshit when the Navy wanted to make him a Rear Admiral. Ya mean, that shoot down?
DeleteSo many pubs, so little time.
DeleteSarge,
DeleteHadn't heard about that incident. Not sure about the accuracy of this article (http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=a6dd455d-ddf1-4efb-a4c7-ea24fa2af98c). It says it was deliberate. A case of miss ID or a switch error would not be deliberate. Deliberately shooting down a friendly, unless I'm missing other facts, would be Attempted Murder. And what was the RIO's role in the incident. "No! Don't shoot!" or "Fire when ready".
Interesting.
juvat
juvat - The very same, more detailed article is here. Calling the act "deliberate" covers up the fact that during a freaking exercise, the Tomcat was carrying live Aim-9s. Lots of blame to go around here, but the Navy noted that Dorsey exercised extremely poor judgement and he lost his wings, permanently. His RIO was senior and was surprised to see the missile leave the aircraft.
DeleteI mean seriously, live ordnance during an air-to-air exercise? Seems that everyone involved on the Navy side should have been looking for new jobs. Also promoting a man with poor judgement to flag rank? Strange back in my day, seems de rigueur now. (This was during the pResidency of the second worse President of all time.)
Um, I thought "No training flight unless carrying blue thingys" was an actual thing. Yikes. Sounds like the Annapolis Protection Society or some high-ups in Congress covered his butt spectacularly. And aren't the pilot and the RIO supposed to do a walk around and check before taking off? And isn't there a "Master Arm" button that one needs to toggle on to arm? And isn't there some display that shows what exactly one has? What about the armorers? What about the Crew Chief? What about the briefing officer? The CAG?
DeleteHoly Carp, a most spectacular fail of the whole system.
I've seen it before, a CO in our Air Wing made captain after his squadron, which was well known for violating training roles, lost two aircraft and four aviators because of those violations.
DeleteDon’t know if it’s true,but…I was told that when a carrier is at sea, all sorties were flown with live ordnance. Pilot’s were VERY careful around the Master Arm switch. As in “Control, confirm you actually want me to actually shoot this SOB down” .
DeleteLeast that was the rules when we were scrambled when sitting alert with live ordnance. Sounds like the pilot in this case was suffering from a bit of genetic in-breeding.
Rules, not roles
DeleteSo a guy walks into a bar in Cork and asks the bartender what’s the fastest way to Dublin. The bartender asks, “are you walking or driving?” The bartender says, “that’s the fastest way!!!”
ReplyDeleteThe guy says “driving.”
DeleteI guess I don't get the timing on Irish jokes.... I didn't realize jokes could be so different from different areas of the world.... I've never seen a punch line in the middle before. I guess I'm just a home body that hasn't traveled enough to be "cosmopolitan". [ ;) ]
DeleteA typical joke in south Texas has a punch line at the end. Like this one:
How many dead people are in the Dublin Cemetery?? All of them.
\sarcoff just fooling around, no insult meant....
Sounds like you, Tuna, have quite a good job. Hope everything with the family is okay, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd Ireland? The pictures look nice. Time to go fire up "The Quiet Man" for the yearly John Wayne fest. Both my wife and I can quote lots from that particular movie. Which is a good one for those who haven't seen it yet, or for those who have and just want to watch.
Looking forward to the after-action report.
Thanks Beans, it's getting interesting. And some of that flowing just occurred this morning with our latest project. Hopefully they will have something back to me by the time I return.
DeleteI remember the two most important items from my management classes:
ReplyDelete1. If you spend more than 10% of your time at your desk, you are generating unnecessary paperwork.
2. MBWA is the preferred method of managing humans. Manage By Walking Around.
Every manager I've ever worked for didn't follow either of those precepts. Probably too dated to be applicable now.
Time to go walk around!
Delete(I was a "Technical Manager' supervising only as part of projects, not dealing with personnel issues). Walk frequently. Take time to BS. Ask for technical advice on writing a proposal. Never berate. (Bring a probable analysis error directly to the person (politely) "I think these two analyses should be about the same. Would you check it?". Tell them thanks when the revised numbers appear, and never mention the error again to anyone. Never demand. ("I want/need this by Friday afternoon"!!! Instead, "Could you be able to have the results so I can work on the report this weekend?" And say thanks if they do and if not, just accept it). Funny thing, my routine analyses always seemed to get fast-tracked.
DeleteThanks Don, supervising isn't completely foreign to me as I have been an OIC, Department Head, and a program manager in the past, and managing men who are very good at their jobs is going to be relatively easy.
DeleteTuna, and women as well. On one weeklong pilot plant test, all of our better engineers were gone (the rest were real good at calculations, but no practical experience). Had our female accountant fill in while I had to be in sponsor's meetings, eat, and do other urgent things. She complained that "it was really irresponsible" of (my boss) to assign her to this. My reply was that "I asked for you" (I trusted her judgement more than those engineers). She knew numbers, had processed similar data, and knew what was going on. Instructions were quite simple. Pace around with the schedule on a clipboard and look worried. Make decisions! Whatever you decide, I will back you up (the aforementioned engineers would crap their pants trying to decide in a two-hole outhouse). She had no pretentions, and our (pro) operators liked her. Went smooth as silk.
DeleteI only meant I have two men working for me.
Delete" (it's a big Irish family) "
ReplyDeleteIsn't that redundant?
"Bogtrotters" aren't those pigs feet in Looozianna?
...Relatives of Scandinavian "Stump Jumpers" in northern Minnesota...
DeleteJoe, good point
DeleteThree "must see" places in Dublin; St. James Gate, home of Guinness, Kilmainham Gaol (Jail for us colonials), the Book of Kells at Trinity College Library.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy, Tuna. I have not been back since 1989 but had a wonderful time.
ReplyDelete