East of the Equator

A lazy January Sunday...

2012-01-29T11:50:00.000-05:00

As forecast, it is gently snowing here on the western plains of the Enchanted Mitten. It is a few degrees below freezing, so the snow heavy and the flakes are large. The prediction is 2-6 inches, though I can tell you that well more than 2 inches have already fallen.

Of course, Samson is loving every minute of this semi-blizzard.

The branches on this now dormant bush are outlined by the snow.

And who would not want to be outside throwing a frisbee for Samson?

Samson would spend all day outside if we let him.

It is very quiet and very white outside right now. It is a perfect day to curl up in front of a fire and do as little as possible, which is precisely what I am going to do next...

Winter is here

2012-01-15T09:01:00.000-05:00

On the western plains of the Enchanted Mitten we have enjoyed a very mild fall and winter. We had a couple of dustings of snow on November and on Christmas Eve, but other than that, the white stuff has been conspicuously absent. That changed on the evening of 12 January. It rained for most of that day, then before nightfall, the rain turned to snow as the temperatures dropped. It snowed through the night and well into Friday, 13 January. By the time I went into work Friday morning, about 8 inches of snow had fallen.

By Saturday morning, it was time to take stock of things and, of course, take some pictures. The image above is a bush that straddles the property line between out home and our neighbor's home to the east.

This is a view looking to the north, through our backyard.

This is an image of our wood that was covered to protect it from the elements.

With weather like this, we were bound to have a fire in the fireplace during the day, so I had to shovel a path to the wood...

This image shows how much snow had fallen. It was well over half a foot.

Of course, what images of the snow in our backyard would be complete without a few happy snaps of Samson.

I think that he would live outside all winter if we let him.

Of course, Deirdre had to get out there, too, and snap a few images. Look for her pictures here.

I will get a few more images later today. The snow is really beautiful right now.

White Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T08:55:00.004-05:00

The weather forecast was for the temps to be in the high 30s or low 40s on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Well, last night, we had about and inch of snow fall. I wanted to capture a few images because if it does get warmer later today, we will be seeing green once again. Here are a few images of our back yard:

Those paw prints belong to Samson the Dog.

Samson is oblivious to the cold and the snow.

He is chasing a squirrel in this image:

Merry Christmas!

Splitting wood is good for the soul

2011-11-20T16:36:00.003-05:00

We have three fireplaces in our home. One of them was converted to a gas log a couple of years ago. The one in the basement, we were told to never use by a chimney inspector. Our third fireplace is in a place we call the "Back Room." It is where we spend the majority of our time and we burn a lot of wood in it. We were seriously contemplating changing that fireplace to gas as well after this year.

From Wood 20 Nov 2011

And then we had a limb fall in our backyard. I broke out my chainsaw and using a coworker's maul, I split the limb. I split close to a face cord of wood from that limb, so we will have wood for the 2012-2013 fall and winter.

From Wood 20 Nov 2011

We also have seven oak trees. Large, old growth oak trees. We had them trimmed about 5 years ago and they needed to be trimmed again. I asked the tree trimmer to leave any limbs larger than 6 inches in diameter behind so I could split it and burn it. I had no idea that there would be so much wood.

From Wood 20 Nov 2011

I started splitting the wood on Saturday morning. I split wood for about an hour and a half, and I still had a lot of wood to split.

From Wood 20 Nov 2011

I was out there again for about an hour this morning splitting more wood. I still have split about 60% of the wood. I will get at it again over the Thanksgiving weekend.

From Wood 20 Nov 2011

Splitting wood is what Deirdre calls "hot dirty man-work." It is manual labor at its finest and you do get hot and dirty doing it. However, it is very fulfilling because after an hour or so of hard work, you have something to show for it. For me, it is very therapeutic. It is good for my soul.

From Wood 20 Nov 2011

And it is also a good reason to have some quality outdoor time with Samson the Dog. He enjoyed supervising me as I split and stacked the wood.

From Wood 20 Nov 2011

Yep, splitting wood is good for one's soul.

Are you talking to me?

2011-10-30T08:05:00.004-04:00

For some reason, unknown to me, people think I know stuff. Frequently, I have had perfect strangers ask me for advice, directions, the time of day. I just don't get understand it. Sometimes I know the answer to their questions, but sometime I don't.

Blog

29 October, 2011, was like any other Saturday for me and Deirdre. We enjoyed a semi-lazy morning. After some brekkie and outside time with Samson, we headed out to pick up a few things for dinner and Halloween. We were feeling a little spicy, so Chicken Curry was on Saturday night's dinner menu. The recipe can be found here.

We went to our new favorite place to shop, Horrock's in Kentwood. Horrock's has a great selection of fresh vegetables and fruit, and is just a great place to shop. I picked up the ingredients we needed for our Saturday and Sunday dinner. We also purchased a couple of pumpkins for Halloween (Images of our pumpkins to follow, soon). We went back home and decided to walk to Ramona's Table for lunch.

It was a warm, sunny fall day and the walk did both of us good. It also helps that Ramona's Table has great sandwiches and soups. We enjoyed our lunch and over the course of the meal, I remembered that we did not pick up crackers when we stopped at Horrock's. Not a problem, as D&W was across the street from Ramona's. I crossed Wealthy Street and headed towards D&W...

As I was approaching the entrance to D&W, a woman was walking out of the entrance. She locked her eyes on me and said, "Excuse me. Do you know where I can get pumpkins? D&W is out."

I politely said to this person, "Do you know where Horrock's is located? They have pumpkins. We just picked up two pumpkins that were on sale for $4.99."

She said to me, "Yes, I know where Horrock's is located. Thanks!"

At least this time I knew the answer to her question. But it does make me wonder why are you talking to me?

Art Prize 2011

2011-10-02T07:51:00.005-04:00

I am sometimes asked by people, "So why did you end up in Grand Rapids?" Truth be told, of all that places I was stationed and lived when I was in the Navy, Grand Rapids was my favorite place to live. GR, as it is known by the locals, is the second largest city in Michigan and it boasts all kinds of cool things to do. It is a medium sized city with a big city feel. Art Prize is an excellent example of what makes GR a cool place to live.

In 2009, Rick DeVos (grandson of the founder of Amway Richard DeVos) thought that it would be a good idea to create Art Prize, a public art competition where any artist can enter, so long as they find a venue is Grand Rapids that is willing to display their art. Yesterday, Deirdre and I took to the streets of downtown Grand Rapids to take in some art. We were not disappointed.

The following images are bears carved out off wood that are in the fountain pool at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

From Art Prize 2011

These are some images of art that reminded me of my home state:

From Art Prize 2011

We are heading downtown again today to check out a few more venues.

Comcast called me. Oh, the power of social media

2011-09-27T20:32:00.004-04:00

Today, beyond a shadow of a doubt, showed how connected we are. For readers of my blog read yesterday, I had what a difficult day with Comcast. I had what one might call an epic fail day with Comcast. So, I did what any blogger and social media person would do. I blogged and tweeted about my experience with the "account executive" from Collections at Comcast.

This morning around 0815 Judy from the local Comcast office called me. Judy called me yesterday morning, as you might recall, because of a tweet I sent to @comcastcares. Judy was very apologetic and humble, and she said that she had no idea how things got so bad with Comcast, but that she wanted to learn from it and to make things right. Judy offered to give us free HBO for the next six months, effective immediately. I thanked her for the kind offer and I accepted it.

Judy then asked me if the account executive last night ever asked me to pay my bill to make it current. I told Judy, "No, the account executive never even asked me if I wanted to pay my bill." Judy asked me to logon to the Comcast website and make a payment. She also assured me that there would be no late charges or reports to a credit company about my lake of payment because Comcast did not bill my credit card in September.

Late in the morning, my cell phone rang again. It was a 215 area code. Philadelphia area. Corporate HQ for Comcast is located there. The call went like this:

Me: Hello

Person on the other end: Hello, is this Paul Kratch-o-will?

Me: This is Paul

Kip: Hi, I'm Kip Wetzel from Comcast...

The call went well from there. Kip told me that @comcastcares (Bill) works for him and because of the nature of my problem, he wanted to call me directly. We spoke for about 10 minutes and Kip repeated what Judy had said to me earlier on the morning. Kip also told me that Comcast was nothing without its customers and that they needed to do better. He said to me that they were going to learn from my experience and locate the account executive who was so unhelpful last night. Kip told me that I should have received a call from Comcast last night and that he was investigating what went wrong. He said that Comcast needed to do better. I appreciated his candor. The call ended well. Kip told me that I could call him directly in the future and I told him I would, if needed.

In a perfect world, people like the account executive I dealt with last night should have the ability to answer my questions and fix my problems. I hope that by my use of social media that I can help Comcast identify and fix their customer service problems.

In a matter of hours, using my blog and Twitter, I was able to reach out to a leader at Comcast and tell them about my issue. Kip was able to contact me and tell me that they are working to be better. Aside from working with some of the Comcast "account executives" on the phone, we have been very happy with the service Comcast provides. I can't remember the last time we did lost cable TV, telephone or internet access. Hopefully, Comcast can improve the performance of the people on the other end of the phone when customers like me call.

Comcast and Charter are in a race to the bottom!

2011-09-26T20:10:00.003-04:00

My Monday started out pretty well. I slept well, and got up at the customary 0545 to look after Samson our GSD. I let him out, then I fed the beast. While Deirdre was making coffee, I booted up both of our laptops and soon after I sat down for breakfast, I was greeted by an e-mail from Comcast. This is what is said:

	from	Comcast Customer Centralonline.communications@alerts.comcast.net
reply-to		online.communications@alerts.comcast.net
to		"pkratochwill@comcast.net"
date		Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 1:31 AM
subject		Your bill is ready
		Important mainly because of the words in the message.

hide details 1:31 AM (18 hours ago)

Dear Comcast Customer,

Your monthly bill is now available. Please sign in to Comcast Customer Central at https://customer.comcast.com/Secure/Home.aspx to view your bill and other important messages or notices regarding your Comcast services.

Bill Overview
Amount Due: $336.25
Payment Due Date: 10/15/2011

Account Information
Account Number: ****6201

Huh? My bill is normally ~$168 per month. I have our Comcast bill set up to be paid from a credit card as we travel a lot and we no longer receive a paper bill from Comcast. I get an e-mail from Comcast once a month telling me that our bill is due and will be paid by auto-payment.

I did not have time this morning to call Comcast, but I logged into my account to see that for some reason Comcast did not charge my credit card in August for the amount I owed. I tweeted to @comcastbill (a person with whom I have worked with in the past to resolve Comcast issues) that there was an issue with my recent statement. I waited to hear back from Bill Gerth (who is actually a good guy). I did not hear anything from him today. However, when I got home from work ~5:30PM, there was a message from Judy at Comcast at around 0945 this morning telling me that my credit card had expired, so my account was past due. Really? I have had this credit card for over 15 years, a lot longer than I have been a Comcast customer. I used this credit card this weekend to buy groceries. Judy also told me in her call that she would "... e-mail you more information." I have yet to receive an e-mail from her.

Against my better judgment, I called Comcast a little after 6PM to sort this all out. After about 15 minutes of being on hold, I spoke with the first account specialist. He was able to confirm that my account was past due, but he did not know why. He then sent me to an "Account Executive" in Collections to solve my problem. I was on hold for another 10 minutes before someone from Collections was able to speak to me.

From Blogger

This Account Executive was clearly dropped often as a child. After asking me again to confirm my name, phone number, address and the last four digits of my Social Security number (all information that I had given to the first person I spoke to with Comcast), I had to tell him all over again that I had received an e-mail this morning that my account was past due. He put me on hold for a few minutes why he investigated this issue. After a few minutes, he came back on line and proudly said to me, "Sir, I have found out the problem. Your credit card has expired. That is why the payment was not made." Really?

I told this person that the credit card I used was not expired, that I had used it this past weekend. He then said to me, "Well, according to our records, it expired in August, 2011." I then asked him, "How was I to know that you needed me to update the expiration date on my credit card? I have had this card for over 15 years, and I will keep it until I die. How was I to know you thought the card was expired?"

His answer to me: "I do not know. We have no way to tell you anything."

Really? I said to him to repeat that sentence back to me. He repeated the words, "I do not know. We have no way to tell you anything."

Really? Comcast managed to send me an e-mail this morning to tell me that my account was past due, and Judy called me this morning to tell me that my credit card had expired... though it had not. Despite being a communications company, Comcast does not appear to know how to communicate with its customers.

I then asked this "account executive" to find someone who could explain this to me, as he was unable to to so. He put me on hold and a few minutes later told me that nobody was available just now, but someone would call me later. I gave him my phone number once again and I said to him, "You have done nothing to help me solve this problem. You have been no help what so ever to me." He replied. "I can only tell you what I know and I have no way to tell you anything."

My call with this account executive ended about 2 hours ago, and I have yet to hear from anybody. To add insult to injury, when I first called Comcast, I heard a cheery recorded voice say to me, "We are committed to giving you the best customer service possible. If you would like to have a customer service representative call you within 30 minutes after the end of your call, please press 1." I pressed 1, hoping to hear from somebody at Comcast at the end of my call. As I type this, I have yet to get a call from Comcast.

From Blogger

I have yet to understand how long 30 minutes is with Comcast...

To Bill Gerther's credit, he did reach out to me via Twitter. I sent him a few tweets and he said that he would look into this for me. We'll see what Tuesday brings. Until then, Comcast is in a race with Charter for the worst customer service for a communications company. I will let you know how this all sorts out.

Charter Communications: It started with porn and went down from there...

2011-09-13T20:14:00.005-04:00

As followers of my blog know, we had cable modem, phone and cable TV at our cottage this past summer. It allowed us to stay connected, and to allow Deirdre to work remotely for a few weeks during the summer. Deirdre and I got a good laugh when the Charter installation technicians showed up last April to install the XXX Porn Package. We ordered the Triple Play Package (cable modem, phone and HD TV) not the XXX Porn Package. This was eventually sorted out, and we got the connectivity we wanted... with no porn. We had access from mid-April until last Friday when we were forced to turn in all of our equipment and close our account with Charter.

We had what was known as a "seasonal account," meaning it would only be active a few months out of the year. We were hoping to keep our equipment and have our account placed into an inactive state until we needed access again in the Spring of 2012. For this privilege, the only option Charter offered us was a $45/month maintenance fee to allow us to keep our account open, but with no access.

We were incredulous. We asked the person at the Charter office in Oscoda is were we hearing her correctly and she said that this was the best that she could do and that it would be cheaper for us to discontinue our service and have it reconnected next April. We said to her that for a nominal fee, say $10 or $15 we would be happy to keep our account open but with no access, and she said that the cost to keep our account open without access was $45... take it or leave it. We left it.

I also find it ironic that the e-mail address that Charter uses to address customer service issues is "Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com." Really?

Below is a stream of communications between Deirdre and Charter. Start from the bottom and read up. Amazing.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com>

Date: Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Subject: RE: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com
To: Deirdre Honner , Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com>

Good afternoon,

We’re sorry you feel as if you aren’t receiving the assistance required to address your concerns.

We’ve escalated the behavior of our agent to local management, any course of action taken will be according to our guidelines and will be addressed internally. Unfortunately we aren’t able to share the outcome of that engagement.

Also, seasonal rates are indeed available for the area in which you previously held services. It was our impression that you were unhappy with the $45 rate you were quoted in order to keep services at that residence while you were away; are we incorrect?

In reference to those rates, once again we appreciate your input, and please know that we make every effort to offer a competitive rate for our subscribers. Our goal is to provide the best possible customer experience. We strive to accomplish that by providing excellent service, and competitive pricing. We understand completely that you felt the seasonal rate was too high, and that $10 per month would have been more appropriate, unfortunately we cannot accommodate that rate.

We regret losing you as a subscriber and sincerely appreciate your comments and feedback.

What specifically are we failing to address for you and how would you like to see this resolved?

Thank you,

chartersigfinal">

Steve Creameans | Social Media Specialist |

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 11:45 AM

- Hide quoted text -

To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: Re: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

- Hide quoted text -

Steve,

This in my line of work is what I consider to be a dismissive communication. You are focusing on one person's behavior when it is a larger issue. And you are telling me that there is nothing more that you can do.

You have done nothing to address the issues that I have raised and I would like more answers than an apology.

If no one from your team is going to answer the questions, tell me who can and I will follow up with him/her. .

Thank you.

Deirdre Honner

On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com> wrote:

Hello Deirdre,

We have received confirmation from our escalation contact at the main office that the agent has been identified and this behavior is being addressed. They also mirrored our opinion that this is not the impression we wish to impose upon our subscribers regardless of the type of day our team members are having.

Once again we sincerely appreciate you bringing this to our attention and apologize for the poor experience you had.

If we can be of further assistance please feel free to contact us.

chartersigfinal">

Steve Creameans | Social Media Specialist |

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 7:30 PM

To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: Re: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

Thanks Steve,

Can you let me know will be following up with me?

Thanks for your help.

Deirdre Honner

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 8:19 PM, Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com> wrote:

Good evening Deirdre,

Once again we appreciate your comments and feedback and wish we could have handled this situation in a manner that would have been more statisfactory.

We understand completely your feelings and not wanting to pay too much to maintain seasonal service at this address and appreciate your feedback. We also feel that our behavior during your visit to our local office is unacceptable and we could have done better in front of our subscribers.

Please rest assured that we are a corporate escalations group and all of your concerns will be addressed accordingly. If we can help with anything in the future please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,

Steve Creameans | Social Media Specialist |

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 6:03 PM
To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: Re: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

George,

I appreciate your note. I believe that you have missed some key points of my email.

I am only up in Oscoda between April and September. You have no "seasonal" options. There is nothing to win me back to. I don't need service again until April.

I am no longer a customer because of the options presented to me by Charter. Either pay $45/mos for no service or cancel my account. At the advice of YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE representative, I cancelled my account.

These issues are a result of poor policies and even poorer practices. They are systemic and I believe need to be changed with input from a wider audience.

i would like to know who may be the person to talk to about these issues.

Oh and my account phone number was (989)305-6484.

Thanks for your help.

Deirdre Honner

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 6:02 PM, Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com> wrote:

Good afternoon Deirdre,

Abby is out of the office today but we definitely wanted to say thank you for your feedback. I wish we could have assisted prior to getting to the point at which we are at now. Is there anything that we can do to keep you as a customer?

Thank You,

George H. Vick Jr. | Senior Social Media Specialist

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 12:13 PM
To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

Charter team members and Abbey too, if you are reading,

Thank you for the follow up to my blogpost, "Charter got it all wrong, starting with the porn." Unfortunately, everything in that blog post is true. The sad part is that there is even more that went wrong with our relationship.

The installation of the XXX package, while funny, took a while to work through. When I initially set up the account, I made sure to let the customer service support staff know that this is a second home, a cottage and I DO NOT RECEIVE MAIL THERE. I don't have a mailbox.

They (whoever set up my account) put my cottage address down as the billing address down. And because initially I didn't have the super secret password/account information that comes IN THE MAIL, I seriously, honest to goodness, COULD NOT CORRECT MY BILLING ADDRESS. I couldn't update my account. I COULDN'T PAY YOU.

That is insane. Really crazy.

This resulted in past due invoices. I really wanted to pay you. You just wouldn't let me. It took me 5 hours to sort out the mess. Discovering then that the original price quote was no longer being honored and resulted in a $30/month increase. This is of course AFTER everything is installed an working.

I will also mention that I visited the Charter office in Oscoda. It is clear that while technically competent, the office staff are not overly happy to have customers walk in. A UPS man showed up for a deliver at 12:30 on Friday, September 9. During an exchange of pleasantries, the UPS man asked Charter c/s person how her day was going. She replied, in front of all the customers, "come back and ask me that at 5:30." She also mentioned that Friday was her second favorite day of the week, behind Saturday. Now all this conversation could easily be an upbeat, warm exchange between two people who know each other well. Only it wasn't. The representative was sharp in tone, made no eye contact with the UPS person, and left absolutely no doubt at all that she couldn't have been more serious.

All I really wanted to do was dump my hardware and get out of that office.

I differentiate employees this way - people and companies who look for ways to say YES and people and companies who look for ways to say NO. Your Oscoda C/S representative definitely came across as the later. If your staff there represents the rest of Charter, then you have a leadership issue. If not, then you have a personnel issue. Either way, I walked away from that exchange hoping for AT & T to be able to offer me service next year.

And lastly, we are seasonals. We are up in the Oscoda area from April until October. To keep Charter connected would have cost me $45/mos for NO SERVICE. Seriously what is that? It's just stupid. For $10/mos I would have paid it, to keep my account from going dormant. But instead, you priced it so that I would say no. Because you are the only deal in town and get to call the shots.

The absolutely worst part for me is this: the technical service was phenomenal. The cable, the phone and the internet connection worked like a dream. It's your people, your antiquated rules, and your business model that are getting in your way.

I would LOVE to be a part of the solution ... though this is systemic and integrated and probably much more than you are able to take on. Let me know if you have any questions.

Deirdre Honner

Freighters

2011-09-09T09:35:00.003-04:00

It has been a busy week on Lake Huron. Lots of large freighters were steaming north and south, during the day and the night. Here is an image of one of them, heading north:

From 8 Sept 2011

Here is a shot of that same freighter taken from inside our cottage:

From 8 Sept 2011

Some fun with aperture:

From 8 Sept 2011

Here is a southbound freighter. Clearly, he is fully loaded:

From 8 Sept 2011

The shipping season will start to wind down soon. I am just glad that I was able to capture a few images of them.

Sighted in Oscoda: Air Force Two

2011-09-08T08:06:00.004-04:00

You never quite know what you will see here in Oscoda, which is surprisingly close to a place just East of the Equator. On Wednesday, 7 September, Deirdre and I stopped at the Farmer's Market at the Oscoda City Park to pick up some veggies for dinner. The wind was coming from the northwest at a pretty steady 15-20 knots, and the waves from Lake Huron were pounding on the inlet that leads to the Au Sable River. We walked through the City Park to get to the breakwater to try to capture a few images of the waves.

From 7 Sep 2011

After capturing a few happy snaps of the breakwater and the waves, I looked to the west and I saw a jet with the distinctive markings of the USAF C-32 aircraft (a modified Boeing 757) that is used to fly the Vice President and other high ranking officials of our government around. Dee had a better camera to try to capture a few images of this aircraft, so the images of the jet are hers. We watched the jet fly east over Lake Huron and turn back take to the west. It appeared that it was doing touch-and-goes at the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport.

From 7 Sep 2011

Though these image are too blurry to clearly see the lettering on the side of the aircraft, the words "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" was clearly visible to the naked eye on the port and starboard side of the jet. We drove to the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport to see if we could capture any more images of the jet and we were able to see it make a couple more touch-and-goes before we left to run our errands for the day. Below is an image of the jet landing at KOSC.

From 7 Sep 2011

Here is an image of the C-32 from Wikipedia. Clearly, this is the same aircraft.

From 7 Sep 2011

It seemed odd to us that this aircraft would fly so far west and north to practice take offs and landings. However, it was pretty neat to see such a special jet up close. Yep, it was just your typical day here, just East of the Equator.

Simple Joys

2011-09-07T13:13:00.005-04:00

It is safe to say that Samson is enjoying his time with us as Deirdre and I wind down the summer at our cottage. He is no longer waking us at the stroke of 5AM as the sun is now rising closer to 7AM, so he allows us to sleep in, it sleeping until 7AM is considered sleeping in. Our routine here is that after breakfast, weather permitting, we take a leisurely walk to the north or south of our cottage. The walks usually involve some time in the water for Samson, as well as a lot of sniffing.

From 7 Sep 2011

When we tell him that we are going for a walk, he prances to the side door and squeaks until I have put him on a leash and we begin our stroll. He is so deliberate when we are out for a walk. There is a lot of grass that needs to be sniffed and explored...

From 5 Sep 2011

We have been fortunate that now that we are past Labor Day, there are a lot fewer people on the beach. Normally, we keep him on a leash for the entire walk as Samson is one of the friendliest dogs I know. He really enjoys meeting new people, and if he were off leash and somebody was on the beach, they would get Samson's cold and wet nose pushed into their hands. However, for part of our walk this morning, he was off leash and he was able to do a little extra exploring.

From 5 Sep 2011

At the end of our walks, Samson needs to recharge his batteries. I am also reminded, each time we go for a walk, the simple joys of life.

From 7 Sep 2011

Pure Michigan

2011-09-05T14:02:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a warm and sunny late summer day here, just East of the Equator. After checking out the Harrisville Arts and Crafts Show, we proceeded down to the beach. Deirdre and Samson and I spent a few lazy hours enjoying the warm breeze from the southeast, and we also manged to get in a long swim in Lake Huron. The water was warm and inviting. The waves were less than a foot and the swells were non-existent. When we finally came back to the cottage, our outside thermometer informed me that it was 78.8F. It was a beautiful day. Here is an image of Samson enjoying some quality time under an umbrella at our beach on this sunny Sunday, 4 September, 2011.

From 5 Sep 2011

Fast forward 18 hours and things have changed. When I woke up this fine Labor Day morning, the outside temperature was 52.2F, there was a steady 10-15 knot breeze from the northeast and the waters of Lake Huron were pounding the shoreline. The waves were easily 3-4 feet with about a 12-15 foot swell.

From 5 Sep 2011

Today appears to be a one-day anomaly. The weatherguessers are telling me that the the forecast through the end of the week is that it will warm up to the mid 70s by the weekend. It is often said that if you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait a few minutes. It will change.

From 5 Sep 2011

The temperature swing and the shift in the weather is driven by the Great Lakes that we love and enjoy. Lake Huron and its fellow Great Lakes serve as enormous heat sumps which, given the correct conditions, can cause the weather to be so fickle in the Enchanted Mitten. We would not have it any other way.

A Room with a View

2011-09-04T09:29:00.005-04:00

One of the benefits of our cottage being on Lake Huron is that we get to see freighters from time to time. Big ones. Freighters carrying iron ore from the Duluth, or copper from the UP, or pick a raw material found in any of the Great Lakes States going to be turned into car or some other useful device. A Navy shipmate of mine turned me on to this website. My friend grew up in Wisconsin, spending his youth watching for freighters in Lake Michigan.

From 4 Sep 2011

I do not know what draws me to watch for shipping outside our windows on Lake Huron. Sometimes, I am fortunate enough to catch a ship making its passage at night and I think back to my time standing watch as Officer of the Deck, wondering what the target angle of is of the vessel. It is just cool to me to think about what is being carried aboard these ships of the inland sea known as Lake Huron.

From 4 Sep 2011

Back to the story at hand. This fine Sunday morning Deirdre and I took Samson out for a walk, heading north from our cottage. We walked a little more than a half mile, collecting beach glass along the way. Soon after we turned around, I saw in the distance a freighter heading north. It was a large ship, probably 600-700 feet long. After we got back to the cottage I broke out the D80 and started taking some images.

From 4 Sep 2011

The sky was grey as was the water. However, the outline of the freighter is clearly visible. Deirdre's D300 had the zoom lens but I think that I caught a pretty good shot of the ship.

From 4 Sep 2011

I am certain that her blog will have a few images of the freighter soon. I watched the freight for well over an hour and I caught this image from inside of our cottage. This view just never gets old.

From 4 Sep 2011

And for the record, Samson was killed after our walk.

From 4 Sep 2011

Life agrees with us, just East of the Equator.

No soup for you!

2011-08-21T07:59:00.004-04:00

This was a great weekend, spent with Deirdre at our cottage on Lake Huron. Before we left down state on Friday after work, the weather forecast for Saturday was "Mostly sunny, high temperatures on the low 80s." As we have learned this summer that the forecasts that the weatherguessers make for Oscoda are rarely correct. When we got up on Saturday morning it was overcast, and the temperature was in the upper 60s. We decided to take a stroll north up the beach, but we quickly turned around as we saw dark rain clouds heading from the north. That was a good decision because a short time later the skies opened up and we were deluged by rain.

From 20 August, 2011

So instead of spending the day at the beach, we decided to go north to Harrisville for lunch at the Old Place Inn. Harrisville is a small town about 15 miles north of Oscoda with a couple of quirky restaurants and shops, as well as an beautiful harbor and marina. The restaurant we went to for lunch is called the Old Place Inn. The Inn is a small, family run restaurant with some of the best soups made on the planet. The Old Place Inn is so small they do not have a website... or even a Facebook Page. Such modern expressions of the place just don't seem to fit it well.

From 20 August, 2011

Back to the soups served at the Inn. We arrived at the Inn a little after noon on Saturday. We were the only patrons when we arrived. The Inn seats about 50 people. Did I tell you that we were the only patrons when we arrived? Anyway, we were seated and Karen, a waitress who has served us many times, told us that the soups today were, "Vegetable, Corn and Mushroom Chowder, Cheese and Broccoli, and Chili." I ordered a cup of the Cheese and Broccoli soup and a BLT. Deirdre asked for the Corn and Mushroom Chowder and a Canadian Bacon sandwich. Karen took our order and promptly went back to the kitchen.

We waited for what seemed like a while for our soups. I even said to Deirdre, "I wonder if they are milking the cows to make the cheese." Soon after I said that, Karen walks out of the kitchen with our sandwiches... and no soup. When Karen arrived at our table Deirdre said to her, "We also ordered soup." Karen's face fell and she said to us, "Oh my! I did not even write down your soup orders. Sometimes my brain does not get up with my body." She quickly retreated to the kitchen and a few minutes later our soups were served. Needless to say, the soup and the chowder were fantastic. But the story does not end there.

Deirdre and I chuckled at this as the reason why we go to this folksy little restaurant is because of the soup they make there. I was also thinking that perhaps the Soup Nazi was working there and we would be forever denied one of the restaurant's wonderful creations. At least the Cook did not come out of the kitchen at that moment and say to us, "No soup for you!."All in all it was a good laugh for us.

While we were eating (and recall that at the time we were the only clients in the restaurant) the Cook (who is also the owner of the Inn) came out from the kitchen to talk to us. Why, we might never know, but regardless, Deirdre struck up a conversation with him about how much we liked his soup. The Cook was beaming and said, "You know, I used asparagus stock as the base for the Cheddar and Broccoli Soup." He then told us how he had asparagus left over from last night's dinner menu and how he made the stock. Deirdre then suggested to the Cook that he should consider getting a webpage or at the very least a Facebook Page to advertise the Inn and the daily soup menu. The look on his face when Deirdre suggested an Internet presence for his business was as if we were green aliens from the planet Voltron and that we were asking him to surrender his liver to us for our meal. Clearly, the Cook was not a big believer in the Internet and its possibilities.

The Cook politely excused himself from our conversation and Karen returned and she seemed a little more interested in the idea of a Facebook page for the restaurant. Karen then said to us, "I do not have a Facebook page, nor do I engage in any social media. My name cannot be found on the Internet. I have been in hiding from my ex for the past 13 years and I do not want him to track me down." Really? You work and live openly in an out of the way restaurant in a small city on the northeastern shores of Michigan, trying to conceal your whereabouts, yet you will tell two perfect strangers that you are in hiding? What if we had been sent by the ex to snuff her out?

Yep, living in northern Michigan is always full of surprises. If you are ever driving northbound on US-23 and you get to the only stoplight in Harrisville, turn right and the Old Place Inn will be in your left. Stop in for some soup. And some interesting conversation.

The Origin of East of the Equator

2011-08-14T10:38:00.000-04:00

Recently, I have been asked about the name we gave to our cottage, East of the Equator. I have had people tell me, "You can't be east of the equator," or "Don't you know anything about navigation? How can you be east of a line around the Earth?" I think that it is high time to explain the origin, or genesis of the term East of the Equator.

noun, plural -ses [-seez]

an origin, creation, or beginning.

First off, I know a lot about navigation. I was a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer for 22 years, driving ships all over the oceans of this fair planet. I have sailed in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. I have been deployed to the Arabian Gulf, the Caribbean, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. I have navigated the Straits of Hormuz, the Straits of Gibraltar and the Panama Canal. I am a Golden Shellback. I was the Navigator of USS FLETCHER (DD 992) from 1988-1990, in the days before GPS. I became very familiar with celestial navigation to use the stars to find my way across and back again on the Pacific Ocean. I know my way around a chart and a sextant.

Now, let's step back in time to when I was an Ensign serving aboard my first ship, USS NIAGARA FALLS (AFS 3). The FALLS was homeported in Guam and it was common for my ship to be underway 75% of the time. The motto of the ship was "Mobile Support for Seapower." And mobile we were. Whenever a carrier battle group deployed to the western Pacific or Indian Ocean, an AFS would deploy with the group to provide logistics support.

From August 13, 2011

Here is an image of the FALLS underway:

From August 13, 2011

In April, 1987, we deployed to the Indian Ocean to support the USS CONSTELLATION (CV 63) and Battle Group DELTA. At the time, one of the few places where U.S. Navy ships could go in that area of the world was a small island seven degrees south of the Equator in the middle of the Indian Ocean called Diego Garcia. Dee-Gar, as it is also known as, has been in the hands of the UK since the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Though the Brits own the island, the U.S. military is the primary inhabitant. In the 1970s, the U.S. started expanding the airfield and the port facilities to allow for military aircraft and ships to use Diego Garcia as a forward staging base. It was the only truly friendly land for the U.S. for thousands of miles. During this expansion period, single-wide trailer homes were shipped to the island to house the military and support personnel building the more permanent structures on the island. Many of these "single-wides" remained in place after permanent quarters were built. Some of these trailers were placed a few feet from the ocean with a small deck to overlook the sea. In time, most of the trailers were removed, but the ones placed close to the ocean remained and access to these trailers would be given to the Wardroom of ships that pulled into Diego Garcia.

Below is an image of the island taken from the air. As you can see, there is not a lot of land there:

From August 13, 2011

Now we are getting to the meat of my story. Recall that earlier I wrote that I was an Ensign aboard the FALLS. An Ensign is the entry level rank for U.S. Navy officers. Typically, the Ensigns of a ship are tasked with menial, but important tasks for the Wardroom, such as picking up and distributing the mail, and setting up places ashore for the other officers to go to relax and unwind. So, the first time the FALLS pulled into Diego Garcia in the summer of 1987, I was tasked with stocking the aforementioned single-wide with beer, soft drink and munchies for my fellow Wardroom members to go after work for a drink. We called our single-wide the Hooch.

Typically, our work day ended ~1730, and if you did not have duty, you would more often than not go to the Officer's Club for dinner, and then walk the 100 yards or so to the single-wide to take in the sunset and drink a couple adult beverages. Our first stay in Diego Garcia lasted 6 weeks, so there were plenty of opportunities to head to the Hooch. We ended up making five more port visits to Diego Garcia during this deployment. There were many memorable nights spent there, taking in the sights and sounds of the sea as the day ebbed into night. At the Hooch we came to say that is was a place "just east of the equator, where it is always a quarter past five." That name, "East of the Equator," stayed with me thereafter.

Fast forward to 2009 and Deirdre and I are looking for a cottage on Lake Huron. We already knew what we would name it: East of the Equator. We found a property we loved and in January, 2010, we bought it. Since taking possession of the property, we have made many upgrades to it (look for images from the cottage here), and earlier this summer we commissioned a local artist who had made other signs for us to paint a sign with the nautical signal flags to spell ECHO OSCAR TANGO ECHO" East of the Equator.

The sign was completed last week and I took it with me when I drove here last Friday. We specifically envisioned the sign to be hung over the fireplace mantle and yesterday I set to work to to precisely that.

From August 13, 2011

Of course, being an engineer I had to measure a few things in order to get the wire and the hooks just right:

From August 13, 2011

From Drop Box

I got to use my new drill to attach the mounting hooks to the back of the wood:

From August 13, 2011

From Drop Box

And I had to be able to hide this patch in the wall:

From Drop Box

Here are a couple images of the mounted sign:

From August 13, 2011

So now you know the origin of the name of our cottage, East of the Equator, where it is always a quarter past five. If you ever happen to find your self near Oscoda on a weekend in the summer, look for another sign:

From Drop Box

Chances are we are there. Stop in and say hello.

Virginia is for: Vanity Plates (Part Two)

2011-08-13T13:40:00.003-04:00

I can't make this stuff up. I finally got around to blogging about all the vanity plates I saw during my brief trip to Norfolk, and what did I see in Harrisville, MI, just a few moment ago? A Ford Expedition... with Virginia plates... with vanity plates:

From July 24, 2011

Harrisville is a small town on the northeastern shores of Lake Huron, and it is located about 18 miles north of our cottage. Deirdre and I drove up there for lunch today to try a new restaurant. After leaving the restaurant, I saw this SUV and I immediately locked on to the vanity plates. I would hazard to guess that the owner of this vehicle is a firefighter from Virginia Beach and he works with the K-9 unit.

Virginia is for: Vanity Plates

2011-08-13T08:44:00.003-04:00

Last month Deirdre and I went to Norfolk, Virginia, to attend the retirement ceremony for Roy Kiddy, a dear friend and former shipmate. It was great to see Roy and his wife Mary and their kids, and to live a little Navy life again. I was stationed in Norfolk from 1995-1996, and much has changed since I lived there. It is still a quintessential Navy town, with Naval Station Norfolk, Naval Air Station Norfolk and Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek located there. I had forgotten about another element of living in Virginia... vanity license plates.

It seemed like every fourth or fifth car had something to tell me about the owner. It also seemed that that most of the people who drive in Norfolk disregard even the commonest courtesies on the road, cutting me off, driving 55 MPH in the left lane of the freeway, etc. Here are a few examples of the vanity plates we saw during our sojourn to Virginia:

From July 24, 2011

The image above was taken at the Navy Exchange in Norfolk. Perhaps the driver is sanctified?

I have no idea what this person is trying to say about themselves or their car:

From July 24, 2011

I am not quite certain who TJ is... but clearly this car is TS's "babe:"

From July 24, 2011

I will let the reader guess what kind of car this license plate was affixed to when I took this image:

From July 24, 2011

I took this image aboard Naval Station Norfolk. Clearly, this person is involved in some sort of radio communications... or he/she is a freak:

From July 24, 2011

These images are a very small sample of what the vanity plates we saw during our 48 hours in Norfolk. Clearly, many of the drivers there have something to say about themselves and do it via their automobiles.

Kent County Youth Fair

2011-08-12T07:25:00.005-04:00

This past Monday I had the opportunity to go to the Kent County Youth Fair. As some of you know, I was raised as a city boy. Born in Detroit, raised in Wayne County. Not a lot of farms or farming opportunities. The closest I came to a farm growing up was going to Grosse Pointe Farms. Not exactly a farm boy.

From Kent County Fair

Fast forward 30 or 40 years. I am living in west Michigan, specifically, Grand Rapids. Just a few miles away from our home there and you are in the country. Lots and lots of farms. A former Sailor I worked with (who retired a year or so before I did from the Navy) took up residence in Lowell, a small and very agrarian town about 10 miles east of where there are lots of small and medium sized farms. My former fellow Sailor is named Mike and last Monday he invited me to go with him to the Kent County Youth Fair. Mike's two kids were racing their horses and he wanted me to see them race.

I hopped in my 3 Series and headed to Lowell. Mike and his wife Rhonda and I grabbed a bite at a local watering hole, then we headed to the Youth Fair. This was the first youth/county fair I had been to in a long, long time. Rhonda went to the stables to meet up with Kristen and Kaitlin, who would soon race their horses. Needless to say, Kristen and Kaitlin came in first in their respective classes. When I see people like Kristen and Kaitlin, it gives me great hope for our future. They are both growing up to be fine young women.

From Kent County Fair

Mike and I went to the livestock barns where we saw cows, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, etc. All of the animals at the Fair were raised by young men and women during the past 18 months or so to be shown and judged. It was really amazing to see these animals who were clearly carefully raised by future aspiring farmers.

From Kent County Fair

From the livestock barns, Mike and I went to the main arena where pigs were being shown. Mike told me that the the pigs that these young men and women had raised were being judged on how well the were handled by the owners. There was a lot of pigs running about and I did not quite understand what I was watching. There was lots of squealing and pig herding, and it was great fun to watch the porkers be handled.

From Kent County Fair

What truly impressed me where the young men and women who clearly took great pride in their work raising and looking after their animals. It was clear to me that these animals were well cared for, and that their caretakers learned a lot about responsibility tending to their animals. After watching a few rounds of judging, Mike and I went to see his daughters race their horses. Unfortunately, the camera I had was not good enough to capture good images of the horses racing (the sun was setting and the light was ebbing away), but here are a few pictures of what I was able to capture of the racing:

From Kent County Fair

Back to the piggies. Almost all of the livestock shown at the Kent County Youth fair is auctioned off and the profits are then passed on to the young adults who raised them. The past few years, Deirdre and I have purchased a pig from one of Mike's friends who raises them. The pork from the pigs we have purchased last us about 9-10 months and the quality of the meat is nothing short of amazing. This year, Mike suggested that we purchase a pig from one of the exhibitors, which sounded like an excellent idea. I was unable to be at the auction yesterday, but Mike represented me well.

From The Pig

Mike was my agent at the auction and he purchased a 255lb male barrow pig. On Saturday, this pig will be sent to the Pinckney Hill Meat Meat Company for processing. As is sometimes said, chickens are involved by the pig is committed.

From The Pig

Here is an image of Mike and the pig, whom we have temporarily named Wilbur:

From The Pig

In a few weeks, the freezer in our basement will be re-stocked with the highest quality meat you can imagine. Look for more stores and recipe about the meat at at my other blog. Next year, I am going to the auction!

Another great weekend, just East of the Equator

2011-08-07T09:22:00.005-04:00

Hard to believe that two weeks have passed since I last felt the muses compelling me to write something... and post something. On this thoroughly wonderfully warm and calm Sunday, the muses have hit me so here we go.

Deirdre worked remotely from our cottage the week of 25-29 July. I was able to leave work around 4PM and I arrived at our cottage around 7:30PM. We went out to dinner at a nearby place called Woodland Pines Resort. Dinner was unremarkable, but they did have Blue Moon on tap. From there, we went to the VFW for a nitecap and tried our luck with a few pull-tabs, but my luck was pretty cold.

Saturday, 30 July, was perhaps the best weather day of the year at our cottage. Our day began early that morning, as Samson woke us up around 5:45AM as if to say, "Hey, the sun is rising soon. Let's go see it! We were not disappointed.

From July 30, 2011

The temps were in the mid-70s, and there was a gentle but constant breeze from the southwest. When the wind is blowing from the southwest, it keeps the bugs and the biting black flies away. Deirdre, Samson and I spent the better part of the day at the on the beach, enjoying the breeze, with intermittent dips in Lake Huron.

The highlight of the day on the beach was a visit to a nearby pine tree of a Bald Eagle. Sightings of Bald Eagles in Oscoda are common, but if you have never seen one in the wild, the sight if this magnificent bird is amazing.

From July 30, 2011

From Samson and the Eagle

This eagle stayed on his perch for about 90 minutes, before flying off to his next meal or adventure. Look for more images of him/her the next time he pays us a visit.

We believe that Samson is a new species of canine, the German Shepherd Water Dog. We can't keep him out of the water when we are at the beach.

Samson

From Samson and the Eagle

All this activity on the beach and in the water does lead to one very tired dog:

From July 30, 2011

Life remains good, just East of the Equator.

Retirement Ceremony for an old Shipmate

2011-07-24T07:51:00.006-04:00

My Navy trails get colder and colder, but they are not frozen, yet. It is going on four years since I retired from the Navy and most of the people I knew well have also retired and made the transition to civilian life. There are still a few of my shipmates out there serving, but that list just got shorter. My friend and shipmate, Lieutenant Commander Roy Kiddy, USN, had his retirement ceremony on Friday, 22 July, 2011, and I had the pleasure to be a part of it.

From July 24, 2011

I served with Roy from 1999-2001 aboard the USS JOHN C STENNIS (CVN 74), a NIMITZ class nuclear powered aircraft carrier. The ship was then homeported in San Diego. Roy and I served in the Engineering Department and we made a deployment to the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Gulf together. We experienced a lot during that cruise and we remained in touch after I left the ship. About two months ago, Roy's wife Mary sent out a "Save the Date" e-mail telling us that Roy was going to have a retirement ceremony on 22 July. Deirdre and I checked our calendars and we definitely saved the date. A few weeks after Mary's e-mail. Roy called me and asked if I would be the guest speaker at his retirement ceremony. I immediately accepted his request. Deirdre also planned on bringing her cameras and "glass" for the event and serve as the photographer. All of the images in this post are courtesy of Deirdre and her amazing photographic abilities.

There are few ceremonies in the Navy that invoke as much pride, and sometimes tears as a retirement ceremony. In order to be eligible to retire from the Navy (or any of the U.S. Armed Services), you have to serve at least 20 years. You have to dedicate your life to the Nation, frequently putting the needs of your service and the country ahead of your needs. For twenty seven years, Roy did just that. To be asked to speak at the ceremony ending his career was a responsibility I did not take lightly. I spent a few weeks mulling over what I would say and in the end, my speech was a little more than 4 minutes long. The people gathered for the ceremony were there to say goodbye to Roy, not to listen to me.

From July 24, 2011

Roy's last duty station was on the staff of Commander, Naval Air Forces, Atlantic Fleet (AIRLANT), where he was the Quality Assurance Officer for the Nuclear Propulsion department. All of the Navy's aircraft (CVNs) are powered by nuclear reactors, and Roy's job was to help each of the CVNs maintain their readiness for underway operations. AIRLANT is located in Norfolk, VA, so Deirdre and I booked our tickets to fly there on Thursday, 21 July.

Our flights to Norfolk were uneventful, but as luck would have it, Roy picked the hottest weekend of the year for his retirement ceremony. When we arrived in Norfolk on Thursday afternoon, the temps were in the low 90s with a heat index of 100F. On Friday, the air temperature was 101-102F and the heat index was 109-115F. Needless to say, it was a bit stuffy in Norfolk!

Roy's ceremony was held at the Norfolk Rook at the Sewell's Point Golf Club (it is a Navy owned course a few miles from Naval Station Norfolk). Thankfully, the Norfolk Room was air conditioned. Roy's friends and family gathered for the ceremony, which began promptly at 1300 (1PM for you civilians out there).

From July 24, 2011

The ceremony went off without a hitch, and Roy was able to see the impact he made on the lives and careers of the Sailors he served with during his twenty seven years of dedicated military service. It was an fitting tribute to recognize all that Roy did for the Navy and the Nation.

Here is a photo of me, Roy and a close friend of the family who delivered the Invocation and the Benediction during the ceremony:

From July 24, 2011

Here is an image of Roy, his wife Mary and his mother Marilyn:

From July 24, 2011

Here is an image of Roy, Marilyn, and his brothers Duane (who was a Navy Chief Petty Officer) and Randy (who is currently on active duty as a Sergeant in the Army):

From July 24, 2011

This image of Mary and Roy sort of sums up the weekend:

From July 24, 2011

It was truly an honor and a privilege to be a part of Roy's retirement ceremony. Fair winds and following seas, shipmate!

Following the ceremony, Deirdre and made a quick stop at the Norfolk Navy Exchange to buy some sunglasses and a few other items. I had not set foot aboard a Naval Station in almost two years. It was nice to put on a uniform again and feel like I was a part of the Navy again.

An amazing Saturday...

2011-07-17T08:10:00.006-04:00

Well, the weekend is winding down here in Au Sable Township. It is a quiet Sunday morning here just East of the Equator and I am happy to report that yesterday, Saturday, July 16th, was one of the better days here at our cottage. The weather forecasts for Grand Rapids were that it would be hot and humid all weekend, and I was bracing for similar weather on the east side of the state. That was simply not the case on Saturday. It was warm without a hint of humidity.

From Jul 16, 2011

I arrived at our cottage on Friday night ~6:30PM. The drive here was uneventful and the traffic was moving along at a brisk pace. Deirdre and I settled in for a quiet and restful night, with a simple meal of steaks grilled on our trusty Weber. Friday night was relaxing and peaceful, and I was hoping that Saturday would be the same. I was not disappointed.

Samson woke us up a little before six and the burning sphere of hydrogen known as the Sun had risen and was spilling warm yellow shards of light into our cottage. Our plan was to once again throw some steaks on the grill, and Deirdre found this recipe for us to try for dinner. I ran into town to pick up a few things we needed for dinner, but I was back at the cottage, ready to face the rest of the day by 10:30AM.

After lunch, we headed to the beach. For the next 5 1/2 hours we read magazines, played with Samson, went swimming (Lake Huron felt almost as warm as bathwater) and generally did as little as possible. There was a gentle onshore breeze from the south, which kept the mosquitoes away. It was magnificent. Here are a few images from our time at the beach:

From Jul 16, 2011

Deirdre and Samson under the umbrella.

From Jul 16, 2011

My new Crocs.

From Jul 16, 2011

My view of the beach on Saturday.

From Jul 16, 2011

A very tired dog.

From Jul 16, 2011

Me and Samson enjoying the waves and the view.

From Jul 16, 2011

What really struck me was how blue the sky looked, and how the colors of the umbrella seemed to match the sky.

The day went on and around 5:30PM we decided to head back to the cottage to clean up and get ready for dinner. Our meal was splendid and after it started to get dark, we started a fire in our fire ring and proceeded to burn some old furniture that had out lived its use to us. I am happy to report that this small dresser did burn remarkably well.

From Jul 16, 2011

This final image of Samson sort of sums it all up. It was a very relaxing weekend, just East of the Equator.

From Jul 16, 2011

Last night flying Solo...

2011-07-14T18:10:00.004-04:00

Well, I had a wonderful week at our cottage, just East of the Equator last week. However, I do not have the same amount of vacation time that Deirdre has. The General has graciously given me 10 days of vacation until I hit 5 years of service, so I have to use my vacation time very wisely.

Thus, I left the cottage last Sunday and went back to work on Monday. It was a little quiet around the house. From Sunday until Wednesday, I never even turned on the TV. I worked late each day to try to get ahead of things at work so I can sneak out early on Friday. So, I was flying solo this week. I was sort of unsupervised, but since I needed to be at work each day, there was only so much trouble I could get into alone.

I did learn, however, that when I am alone and accidentally drop a peanut or two on the floor and say, "Crumbs" Samson the Dog does not come running to collect the peanuts. I look forward to seeing Deirdre and Samson tomorrow and being able to say "Crumbs!" again when something edible falls onto the floor.

Jul 14, 2011

Thanks for the photo, Deirdre. :-)

Metamorphosis

2011-07-09T08:12:00.006-04:00

–noun, plural -ses [-seez] Show IPA.

Biology . a profound change in form from one stage tothe next in the life history of an organism, as from thecaterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adultbutterfly. Compare complete metamorphosis.

a complete change of form, structure, or substance, astransformation by magic or witchcraft.

any complete change in appearance, character,circumstances, etc.

Well, it has been an interesting week at our cottage. Deirdre, Samson and I rolled in hot to Oscoda (technically, Au Sable Township) last Saturday and we were blessed to have fantastic weather each and every day since. We have spent many hours lounging at the beach, interspersed with a few brief shopping trips and a couple of visits to the VFW Post 3735 in Oscoda. What is not to like of dollar drafts of Killian's Red in a frost mug at our private club?

Our aptly named cottage, East of the Equator, has been undergoing a metamorphosis since we purchased it last year. This cottage, which had never been sold or on the market since the original family member built it, needed a lot of work. Most of the windows were original issue, as the wind seemed to blow right through the place. One of the original doors to the cottage had long ago been nailed shut and aluminum siding placed across it. In the Spring of 2010, we replaced most of the windows, tore out the old nailed shut door and installed a sliding glass door for access to the small patio facing Lake Huron. We also replaced all the flooring with tile or carpeting. We were making this place our own.

Then there was the kitchen. Like the windows, it was original issue. The cabinets were small, the sink was shallow and the place just did not work for us. Here is what the original kitchen looked like before we bought the cottage:

From Cottage Kitchen

It had a very rustic look and it was not too functional. The window over the sink was almost impossible to open, and it also had some of the ugliest window treatments imaginable. After the capital expenditure budget for 2010 was allocated and used, we decided to upgrade the kitchen in 2011. Our builder, Rick, helped us pick out cabinets, a countertop and hardware, and on the Saturday before Easter we made our first payment towards the kitchen. Rick placed the order with a local supplier and he was confident that the cabinets and countertop would arrive in a few weeks. He was so confident that he ripped out the old cabinets before the new ones were in hand. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, wrong it did go! The cabinets were not properly ordered, and when the order was placed, one of the six cabinets ordered did not arrive with the other five, so the work was delayed once again. Undaunted, Rick installed a temporary sink for us to use while we waited for the complete order to arrive. Here is an image of our temporary (some called it Redneck) kitchen sink:

From Cottage Kitchen

Fast forward to the end of June and all of the cabinets are installed, as well as a shiny new GE dishwasher. Now, the only work remaining was the backsplash. We picked out the tile and the grout and yesterday Scott came by with his assistant Chris and he spent the day installing the backsplash. Here are a few images of his work:

From Cottage Kitchen

Here is the backsplash of the corner of the kitchen:

From Cottage Kitchen

Similar perspective later in the day:

From Cottage Kitchen

Here is the almost finished look:

From Cottage Kitchen

Scott and Chris completed their work around 4:30PM, so all that needs to be done now is for the grout to be laid. Normally, Scott would have been at our cottage on Saturday (today) to complete the job. However, he has a fishing trip planned and he asked if it would be OK if he could come on Sunday morning to complete the work. We completely understand Scott's needs for some R&R, so we will look for him ~0930 on Sunday morning to grout the tile. That's how we roll here in Oscoda!

At the beach...

2011-07-07T07:57:00.006-04:00

Things are settling in nicely here just East of the Equator. Deirdre and Samson and I are having a very relaxing and restful time in our little slice of heaven (to see images from Deirdre, click here). The weather the past few days has been nothing short of magnificent. The days have been warm and sunny, with a gentle breeze from the east or the north (this keeps the biting black flies away) and the nights have been cool. I want to share a few images from this place that we love so much. First, here is a view of the beach from the back door of our cottage:

From Jul 6, 2011

Here is a view to the north:

From Jul 6, 2011

This is the view from my beach chair (you can see the tip of one of my Crocs in this image):

From Jul 6, 2011

And what is a day at the beach without Samson? He is so tired after a few days at the beach that he can barely keep his eyes open:

From Jul 6, 2011

In a few short days I will need to head back to reality and work. Until then, look for me on the beach.

Fourth of July Parade

2011-07-05T16:34:00.001-04:00

Just click here to see what the 4th of July was like just East of the Equator.

Independence Day

2011-07-04T07:34:00.003-04:00

Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

Jul 4, 2011

As we celebrate the 235th birthday of the United States, let us not forget that our closest ally across the years has been Great Britain. Sure, we have had our differences, like the War of 1812, but a truer friend and ally this nation does not know.

Happy birthday, America!

A Lazy July Day

2011-07-03T17:41:00.003-04:00

It has been a magnificent day here, just East of the Equator. The sun has been shining since 0552 and the temperature has been a very comfortable 75F most of the day. What is a day at the beach without sharing a few images?

Here is the view to the north of our beach:

From Jul 3, 2011

Here is a view to the south:

From Jul 3, 2011

Here is the view of our cottage from where we were sitting on the beach:

From Jul 3, 2011

And here is an image of me on the beach:

From Jul 3, 2011

And what day at the beach would be complete without a couple images of Samson. Here, he is retrieving a toy called "Chuckit."

From Jul 3, 2011

Here is he saying goodbye to my friend Steve who paddled in for a visit and an adult beverage:

From Jul 3, 2011

Here, I was able to capture a halo around the sun:

From Jul 3, 2011

Yes, life is good here Just East of the Equator.

From Jul 3, 2011

Does he taste like chicken?

2011-05-02T20:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, the death of my friend and shipmate, CDR Dan Shanower, USN, was avenged. I salute all the people who made this happen. Rest in peace, Dan.

April, 2011

2011-04-10T17:10:00.003-04:00

This month is starting to look like one of the best months we have had here in a while. Winter has loosened its grip on us, though we did have some snow fall on us a week ago. Today on the western plains of the Enchanted Mitten we enjoyed blue skies and a high temp of 85F. In a few weeks our cottage near Oscoda will be opened for the season and we will start to enjoy the sites, sounds and the shores of Lake Huron. Updates to follow as conditions warrant.

3 YEARS

2010-11-01T17:46:00.002-04:00

It just hit me when I was taking Samson around the block for a post-work walk. I retired from the Navy three years ago today. Wow. Sometimes it seems like it was only yesterday and other times it seems like it was a lifetime ago!

STOP TOUCHING ME

2010-10-17T18:22:00.008-04:00

It was a heck of a week. I was in Cincinnati from Sunday-Friday for a business meeting. On Saturday morning we dropped Samson off at his happiest place on Earth for an overnight of boarding. After I dropped Samson off, Deirdre and I headed to Livonia for a wedding. The daughter of one of my cousins was getting married to a wonderful man named Stephen. Dee and I stopped in to see a couple of our nieces and a nephew, before we changed into our "Sunday go to church" clothes for the wedding.

The ceremony was officiated by my cousin Tom, who is a Catholic priest. The service was moving and the bride and groom could not have looked any happier. At the reception, I was hauled out to the dance floor my one of my aforementioned nieces, where I danced the Locomotion, the Chicken Dance and a few other dances I had never heard of before. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Deirdre and I stayed at a nearby hotel on Saturday night, and we hit the road for GR a little after 8AM. As is typical for us with a morning road trip, we stopped at a nearby McDonald's to grab a quick breakfast. The McDonald's we chose was on the way to the freeway and I assumed that it would be like most other McDonald's we have visited. Well, I was wrong. I walked into the restaurant and there were two older men a head of me waiting to make their order. The first person, let's call him Dave, ordered his breakfast and then stepped back from counter. He made eye contact with me and said, "Is that your red car in the parking lot? It looks like the new Fiesta, but it is not." I told Dave, "No, that is not my car." Dave then walked into my personal space, tapped my arm with his hand and said, "Well, I have a Mercury Marquis, and it gets lousy gas mileage. They are discontinuing the car because nobody wants a car that gets 14 miles to the gallon. See that Marquis in the lot? It is like mine, but that is not my car. I am trying to sell it, but nobody wants a car that gets 14 miles to the gallon" I took a step back to re-establish my personal space between myself and Dave and said to him, "Thanks. I can see why you are having a hard time selling it."

The next elderly gentleman, call him "Bill," made his order then stepped away from the counter, and then it was my turn. I placed a breakfast order for myself and Deirdre and we waiting for the McDonald's employee to fill the order. I stepped away from the counter and Dave reengaged me. He said to me, "Yep, that Marquis gets terrible mileage. I want to sell it, but nobody wants a car that gets 14-15 miles to the gallon. I got a great deal on it, but now I just want to sell it. I can't keep gasoline in it for very long" Dave once again violated my personal space to share that information with me, and he touched my arm again. I tried not to look annoyed, though I was, as in the span of about 2 minutes, this person I did not know tried to strike up a conversation with me and he felt that it was perfectly acceptable to tap my arm to make a point about his trouble selling a Mercury Marquis. Once again I stepped away from Dave and said to him, "I am sorry to hear that you are having a hard time selling that car. Dave got his breakfast order and walked away from me... finally.

Now, it was Bill's turn. Bill got his order and started to walk out of the restaurant. Bill looked at me and said, "Is that your Fusion in the lot? I have a Fusion and I helped my brother buy one. I am a Ford employee and I got him a deal on the Z program." I told Bill that the Fusion in the lot was not mine and walking out the door he said, "It is a great car."

What struck me is that these two people thought nothing of asking me which car was mine and that Dave thought it was acceptable to tap the arm of a stranger. And to touch my arm not just once but twice. Maybe I am being too sensitive, but it was just plain weird this morning.

Another reason to Relay

2010-10-15T20:01:00.004-04:00

A few days ago, I blogged about the 2011 East Grand Rapids Relay for life. Just a few days later, a good friend sent me the note below (names and locations changed to protect privacy):

Hi Paul,

Just wanted to give you an update, unfortunately a bit of bads news: a few weeks ago Amy noticed a lump in her right breast and had it checked out right away. She has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The good news is that every single subsequent piece of information since then has been the best that it can be, and her condition is expected to be curable. She is having three chemotherapy treatments, to be followed by radiation, and expects to be done by Christmas. Everything is being done at the hospital in Atlanta, which is simply one of the best places in the world for this kind of treatment. Also she has a very positive attitude and is not too crabby, which is a good sign! So while she can't travel overseas for a few months, she will basically be OK for other activities, and can continue to travel between Atlanta and Charleston. Her first session was almost three weeks ago and she did quite well despite a small adverse reaction to one of the drugs. The next session is Wednesday; I am heading out tomorrow to be with her for the treatment (she went back to Atlanta yesterday). We are coming back to South Carolina on Saturday and will be here until the next treatment in early Nov. The worst thing so far is that Amy had to get her hair shaved off today because it had started to fall out quite badly. More than anything this has gotten her depressed about the situation, but we keep reminding each other that it's a lot better than any of the alternatives. It is amazing how effective the treatments are today. Amy is lucky because she was an early stage one person when she started her treatment. The tumor, by the way, is now indetectable, after just the first chemo treatment.

Needless to say we have been crazy for the last few weeks. Amy got the diagnosis as our household goods were halfway between Atlanta and Charleston. Half of our things are still in boxes but we're getting there.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wanted you to know what's going on. I will keep you updated. We are confident that Amy's condition is completely curable and neither of us is very worried that the therapy will not work.

Kevin

I am reminded once again how fragile life is and how I must do everything I can so people like Amy can have more birthdays.

More birthdays

2010-10-05T18:49:00.004-04:00

Last night I attended the first committee meeting for the 2011 American Cancer Society East Grand Rapids Relay for Life. I will once again be the Logistics Coordinator for the Relay. 2011 will mark my third year as the Logistics Coordinator and I am looking forward to the Relay. For most of the rest of the Committee, their work happens before the Relay, but the majority of my work is done at the Relay. I am tasked with creating the field layout, communicating that layout to the teams and committee members, then I am in charge of executing the layout. The first year I did this work because one of my neighbors, who is a cancer survivor, asked me to help. She said to me, "You military people are always so organized. You would be a great Logistics Coordinator." I agreed to help, but I thought I would then move on to something else.

Well, I did move on to something else. I accepted a new position with GE Aviation which would take up even more of my time and I decided that my first year supporting the relay would be my last. Then, I found out one of my former shipmates and close friend, Bob, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Bob was diagnosed in November, 2009 and he was told that he had a year, maybe 6 months to live. The doctors were wrong. Bob passed away on 12 February, 2010. I dedicated my work for the 2010 Relay to Bob's memory, and I also decided that I would continue to work the East Grand Rapids Relay for Life as long as I am amble.

I am going to work the 2011 Relay and make it better than the very successful 2010 Relay. I am going to keep working to fight back against cancer so that there will be more birthdays for those affected by cancer.

Last days of Summer, 2010

2010-09-12T15:48:00.007-04:00

It has been an interesting summer for us. In January, we purchased a cottage in Au Sable Township, just south of Oscoda, with 50 feet of beach front on Lake Huron. We named the cottage "East of the Equator," for obvious reasons. We needed to make some repairs to the property, chiefly new windows, installation of a slider where a door used to be and new flooring. That project was completed in the spring and we moved into the cottage in May, just before Memorial Day. We then spent the next few weeks getting the chi right in the cottage. We did our best to spend every weekend that we could there and we were pretty successful in that endeavor. We spent the week of the Fourth of July there, and Deirdre spent the last week of July and the first week August up there with Samson.

We just spent the week of Labor Day at the cottage, where we shared the first few days of our vacation with our friend Sue. We continue to learn our way the Oscoda to the north of us and Tawas to the south of us. There is definitely a different feel in Oscoda/Tawas. Life is more relaxed and people just don't seem to worry about too much. We are planning on spend a few more weekends there as fall approaches as the trees are already starting to turn from green to red and yellow.

We miss her still

2010-08-29T21:20:00.007-04:00

Three years ago today, we said goodbye to Allie. She was kind, loving and a little mischievous. However, a finer dog you will never know.

The last few years of her life were difficult on us and her, but she was always a good dog. We miss her still.

Bald Faced Hornet

2010-08-28T08:50:00.002-04:00

Last weekend at the cottage, I noticed a nest attached to the soffitt at under the northwest corner of our cottage. The nest was about the size of half of an American football, and it was a mottled gray in color. I thought about removing the nest myself, but I saw an ad in the Oscoda Press for Dad's Pest Control. I gave the number on the ad a call and Mike answered the phone. He said that he would be able to get to the cottage on Wednesday and take a look at the nest. On Thursday afternoon I called Mike back to find out of he had made it to the cottage to remove the nest. The conversation went like this:

Mike: Yes, I did get to your property. It was a good thing you called me. The nest was a bald face hornet's nest. They are particularly nasty and ill tempered hornets. The will sting you without provocation. I removed the nest and you are fine.

Me: Thanks, Mike!

Mike: Also, since we have a minimum charge, I also sprayed for ants and beetles around your house.

Me: Mike, I really appreciate that. What do I owe you? Can you e-mail me an invoice or a bill?

Mike: I am pretty bad with paperwork. If you don't get anything from me by Monday, give me a call.

Me: Mike, I will. Thanks again for removing the nest and spraying for ants. I will use you again.

This is sort of how it goes in Oscoda. Nothing moves that quickly and people sort of do things at their own pace. It is one of the reasons we love it up there.

ANOTHER 90 MINUTES OF MY LIFE, GONE FOREVER

2010-06-29T20:36:00.002-04:00

Once again, Comcast has taken time from me I can never get back. In the mail on Monday, I received two digital converter boxes which I needed to install in order to be able to continue to receive all the digital channels. Following the directions in the box, I installed the converter box on the TV in my bedroom as well as a TV in my basement. I received an error message on both TVs telling me that I had to call Comcast to active the digital box. I called Comcast and after 10 minutes waiting for a technician, I was able to activate the digital box and use the Comcast remote (which is a cheap piece of junk) in my bedroom, but I was unable to activate the box and use the digital remote for the TV in my basement. I tried all 12 codes listed for Sony (the brand of all my TVs) but none of them worked. I also tried to capture the code from the TV using the Comcast remote but that did not work, either. The technician told me that Comast has found that some of the remote have been faulty and did not work, and that she would forward my call to Billing in order to have a new remote sent to me.

I then sat on hold for 32 minutes and a then a person from Billing tried to help me. He asked me if I had followed the directions to program the remote, which I told him I had and that I was walked through the programming with the previous technician. I told the technician what the first technician had said to me, that Comcast was having problems with some of the remotes that were sent out. He said that was untrue, that Comcast would never knowingly send out remotes to the digital boxes that were defective. He asked me to try one more time to program the remote, and I obliged. I repeated the attempt to program the remote which did not work. I said to him that I was done doing anything more with the equipment that had been sent to me and that I wanted a digital box and remote sent to me. He said that he would, and I told him that I was going to throw out the equipment that did not work. He told me not to do throw the equipment away as I would be charged for the equipment. I asked him what I should do with it. He then told me that I could drop it off at a Comcast center, or be sitting at home and wait for a technician to get it, or I could ship it back via UPS.

I told the tech that under no circumstances would I take time out of my day and drive to a Comcast center, nor would I wait for a technician to get the box. I told him I would be happy to put the box and the remote in a plastic bag and leave it on my front porch for a Comcast technician to pick it up. He said I should not do that as if the equipment is not picked up or is missing when the technician shows up that I would be charged $30. He once again offered to send me the pre-paid shipping paperwork, which I told him to do. I told him that the defective box will sit in my basement until a UPS delivery person comes to my house, and I happen to be here, so I can give it to UPS.

On Monday night, I spent an hour and a half trying to get these two cable boxes to work and at the end of it all, only one set of the equipment Comcast sent to me works. I am then told that I have to be further inconvenienced and take the time and effort to return the defective equipment to Comcast. I told the technician that I will be happy to leave the defective box on the porch for Comcast to get it and I was told not to leave the box on my front porch. I was then asked to take up my free time and take the box to a UPS store and ship it back to Comcast. I will not do either. The defective box will sit in my basement until a UPS delivery is made to my house, and I happen to be home when it happens. I will not be charged for this defective equipment. If Comcast really wants the equipment back, they can come get it at my convenience.

To their credit, both the people I spoke to tonight were polite and apologetic, but at the end of the day, I was sent defective equipment. I was asked by a company to whom I am paying for a service to be further inconvenienced to return their defective equipment. The defective box will sit in my basement until I happen to be home for a UPS delivery, or until the sun grows cold. Hopefully, the next digital box will work. I do not want to repeat again what happened to me Monday night.

East of the Equator

2010-06-27T19:26:00.002-04:00

OK, I have had to do a lot of explaining the past few weeks. Since Deirdre and I moved into our cottage, I have made some postings on this blog as well as on Facebook describing our time there. I have had a few colleagues at work and Navy friends who have been perplexed by the name of our cottage on Lake Huron. Our cottage is aptly named "East of the Equator, which is a magical place where it is always a quarter past five." I served as a Surface Warfare Officer for 22 years, shot more stars and sunlines than I can remember. For two years, I was the Navigator of USS FLETCHER (DD 992), a SPRUANCE class destroyer, which required me to take and pass a Navigator and Celestial Navigation course. I am well versed in celestial and terrestrial navigation and I know that technically, one cannot be east of the equator. Well, there is such place just east of the equator if you want to disconnect from the world, watch the sun rise each morning, the moon rise at night from time to time, run your German Shepherd Water Dog into Lake Huron so he can chase Chuckit, and get 90 cent drafts of Killian's Red in a frosted mug at the VFW. Our cottage is a place where we can unwind, unplug and relax. There is a clock over the stove that has nothing but fives on it. At our cottage, it is alway a quarter past five, just east of the equator.

Jos. A. Banks

2010-06-24T20:28:00.002-04:00

Today, I freshened up my wardrobe for work. Jos. A. Banks is sort of like the Art Van of men's clothing: there is always a sale. A little more than two years ago, just before I started my civilian career, I went to Jos. A Banks to get a new uniform: business casual. With Deirdre's help, I purchased dress dress shirts, pants, socks, and shoes, so I would fit into my new work environment. Since then. I have picked up a few new dress shirts and pants along the way, but I had not purchased any short sleeve sport shirts. Well, I was a sucker for a mailer I received a few days ago, which offered 40-60% off sport shirts. I went to the nearby Jos. A. Banks to look at the sport shirts. As luck would have it, shoes were 25% off as well. After looking at a couple of shirts, I purchased five short sleeve shirts, a pair of Johnston Murphy shoes and a pair of Cole Haan shoes.

I am a little funny about shoes. One of the pairs I wear to work were the shoes I wore when I graduated from high school. They are brown Sebago loafers, and they have been resoled more times than I can remember. However, the leather is still good (probably because I polish them often) and if I did not tell you that they were 30 years old you would never know. I also sometimes wear a pair of 20 year old black Bates dress shoes. These black shoes have also been resoled more times than I can remember, but they are aging well. I have added two new pairs of shoes to my collection and I am ready to start breaking them in as the summer progresses.

The origin of East of the Equator

2010-06-20T14:30:00.015-04:00

I have been writing this blog for almost three years and recently I have had a few people ask me what I meant by the title, "East of the Equator." As most people know, and equator is a dividing line of a planet or celestial sphere, marking the point where north becomes south and south becomes north. Clearly, one cannot be east of a line that marks the north and the south. So, here is the tale that tells the origin of the term "East of the Equator."

When I was stationed aboard my first ship, USS NIAGARA FALLS (AFS 3), my ship left Guam (its homeport) and we deployed to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf for 6 months. During those 6 months, the ship supported a carrier battle group, and this required my ship to make frequent trips to Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory. Diego Garcia is located about 7 degrees south of the equator in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Dee-Gar, as it is also called, was a place where my ship could pull into port for a few days, get food and supplies for the battle group, then head back north to replenish the battle group. At one point during this deployment, we pulled into Diego Garcia for a six week long stay, where repairs would be made to the ship as well as to allow for a brief rest for the crew.

While we were there, the Wardroom (the officers of a ship form the Wardroom) was given access to a mobile home located a few hundred feet from the Officer's Club. Because of its position in the world, sunrise and sunset times do not change much during the year, and because there is no industrial pollution anywhere near the island, the sunrises and sunsets are usually spectacular. Me and my fellow officers would frequently go to the trailer for a beer, head to the Officer's Club for dinner, and then return to the mobile home, which had a commanding view of the Indian Ocean as well as a small deck that ended at the water's edge. One of my responsibilities was to keep the trailer stocked with cold beer, soft drinks and snacks. Many an evening were spent at the trailer, enjoying a spectacular sunset and a cold adult beverage.

We ended up calling the trailer "The Hooch," as every good watering place needs a name. It seemed like time stood still on those evening spent at the Hooch, and it always seemed like we arrived at the Hooch a little bit after 5PM. One evening, we joked that at the Hooch is is always a "quarter past five," meaning that it was always beer o'clock there. I then mused that any place where it is always a quarter past five must be a mythical or even magical place, and the term "East of the Equator" was born. Since you can't technically be east of the equator, I thought if I invented such a place, then I can make it any time I want there.

Fast forward 24 years, and Deirdre and I are the happy owners of a cottage in Au Sable Township, with 50 feet of beach front on Lake Huron. Au Sable Township is located about 3 miles south of Oscoda. Many of the cottages along US-23 are sometimes given names by their owners and have a spiffy sign that has the aforementioned name of the cottage. We decided, even before we owned a place, that we would call the cottage "East of the Equator." We have a design in mind for our sign, we just now need to find a craftsman to make it for us. Look for more updates about our time at the cottage, East of the Equator, where it is always a quarter past five.

Technology...

2010-06-14T21:45:00.002-04:00

Last night, following a wonderful weekend in Oscoda, I started on an update to my blog. I typed a few paragraphs and realized that I needed to go to bed. I thought I saved my draft post last night. However, I looked for it in vain this evening. Clearly, I did something wrong and did not properly save my text. I will re-write my post tomorrow night. It has been a tough day for me vis-a-vis technology. I lost a long and witty blog post, and my BlackBerry phone has stopped working. I am heading to the Verizon store after work on Tuesday to get a new phone. Grrr...

Oscoda musings

2010-05-25T21:18:00.002-04:00

In the very near future, a moving van will darken my door and take a few belongings on a road trip to the eastern edge of the Enchanted Mitten. The aforementioned van will travel to Oscoda, Michigan, where they will stop at the cottage me and the HR Maven purchased back in January. We had some work done on the place in March and it is now ready for us to put our personal imprint upon it. Look for updates over the course of the next few weeks as we make this property our weekend get-away.

What she said

2010-05-23T07:56:00.002-04:00

I am pitifully behind in updating my blog. I admit that I have fallen short of my own expectations. Click here for a visiting blogger's update for me.

Restaurants in smoke-free states report no harsh impact

2010-04-05T20:47:00.001-04:00

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100405/BIZ/4050317/1040/Cloud-of-confusion-envelops-Michigan-smoking-ban

I am counting the days until the smoking ban goes into effect in Michigan.

MY NEXT ADVENTURE

2010-04-04T12:32:00.003-04:00

Later this month, April 28th to be exact, will make my second anniversary of employment with General Electric. In the past 24 months, I have transitioned from military service to civilian employment, and I have learned much about GE's aviation business. Tomorrow, I will start a new phase with GE, as I am changing jobs from working in Engineering Services as the Reliability Group Manager to working as the Section Manager, US Flight Safety for the Chief Engineer's Office. Yep, it is going to be an exciting week on the western plains of the Enchanted Mitten.

One "holiday" I dread...

2010-03-16T20:41:00.003-04:00

A retread, but worth repeating:

Those of you who know my heritage know that I am half Irish and half German. My mother's family came over from County Mayo in the 1800s and settled in eastern Pennsylvania. The Irish did not stray far away from other Irish when it came to marriage, so I come from a long line of Hastings and Clancys. My father, however, is a first generation German. His mother and father emigrated to the United States in 1921. My parents met when they were

both stationed at Parks Air Force Base in California. They married and moved back to Michigan where I was born and raised.Well, my mother is quite proud of her Irish heritage and when I was growing up, St. Patrick's Day was always a cause for celebration. We would go to the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Detroit, we would wear green clothing and sometimes put on silly hats and pretend to be leprechauns. One part of the celebration was the evening meal, which invariably was Corned Beef and Cabbage. For the life of me, I think that the reason why so many Irish left the Emerald Isle is because like me, they could not stand this vile cut of seasoned meat.

Back to my story. Each St. Patrick's Day my family would look forward to eating what was essentially boiled shoe leather. My mother would fill a cauldron with water, throw in a hunk of corned beef, some potatoes, cabbage, maybe some salt and pepper, perhaps some celery for flavor. How one could ever flavor shoe leather is beyond me, but she would try nevertheless. The aroma of this dank cut of meat would fill the house, so I would try to spend as much time as possible outdoors whenever this "dish" was being prepared. After my father came home from work, the table would be set and the carcass of beef would be removed from the pot, along with the soggy vegetables and potatoes. My siblings would rejoice at the thought of the meat, while I could barely keep myself from retching at the stench of it.

So, we would then take our places at the table, grace would be said and then my parents and siblings would relish in the consumption of this thoroughly proletarian dish. I was forced to eat this wretched excuse for a meal, so I would slather as much mustard as possible between two pieces of bread, then put a slice of this offensive meat there as well. I would then try to gulp this down, chewing as little as possible so that I would not have to taste it, much.

So, while I applaud the celebration of the birth of the patron saint of Ireland, to this day I cannot stomach the smell, taste or appearance of corned beef. So tomorrow I will probably have a beer or two, maybe even a green one. I will leave the consumption of corned beef to the peasants.

Top 10 reasons why Oscoda is a cool place:

2010-02-14T20:06:00.002-05:00

1. Amazing views of Lake Huron.

2. Bald Eagles fly by your window with stunning regularity.

3. Sugar sand beach.

4. Tait's Bill of Fare.

5. Northern Accents.

6. $1 draft pints of Killians at the VFW.

7. Sunrises.

8. Winky.

9. Wiltse's Brew Pub.

10. How everybody wants to be your friend.

Furnace Troubles

2010-02-07T09:18:00.005-05:00

Friday afternoon started like any other. Deirdre got home first and started to tend to Samson's needs. She then noticed that it was a little chilly in the house. I got home as she was noticing the chill and she saw that thermostat was not working correctly as the batteries that powered it were exhausted. We replaced the batteries and the thermostat appeared to be working correctly again. However, there was no warm air coming out of the registers. I went downstairs to check on the furnace (it is powered by natural gas) and I heard the vent fan turning on, but it was apparent that the burners were not operating. I called Kevin (a good friend who is a plumber/HVAC technician) and he talked me through the process of resetting the furnace. Despite his directions, the furnace still did not work. Kevin said that he would come by in a few minutes and take a look at the furnace.

Kevin arrived a few minutes later and after checking a couple of things, he discovered the cause of the problem: the ignitor. The ignitor is critical to the operation of the furnace as it ignites the natural gas that is sent through the furnace. There was a small white spot on the bottom of the ignitor, so the internal safety interlocks in the furnace worked as designed. What that meant is that we would not have forced air heat until Saturday at the earliest. Kevin said that he would get an ignitor in the morning and install it.

We have two electric space heaters, which we quickly brought on line. We put one of the heaters in our bedroom, and the other was put in our living room. We also closed off all the doors that we could to focus the heat in the bedroom and living room. We also turned on our gas fireplace in the living room, which helped keep the temperature in the living room at 68F.

We went to bed around 11PM and we stayed quite warm in the bedroom as the space was more than up to the task to heat the room. When we got up a little before 7AM, the rest of house was chilly. The living room was 64F. We turned on the fireplace again, and that helped make the living room a little warmer. The back room in our house was a different story. During the night, the temperature in the back room of our house fell to 44F. It was warmer outside than it was inside our back room as the image above shows.

Kevin arrived a few minutes after this image was taken and in about 15 minutes he installed a new ignitor and the furnace was operating again.

All I wanted was a mission...

2010-02-02T20:20:00.005-05:00

... and for my sins they gave me one. As some readers of my blog have pointed out to me, my posts have been a little lacking the past few weeks. Well, there is a reason. My employer, GE Aviation Systems, has been keeping me busy the past few weeks as we have been chosen as the avionics lead for a new aircraft that is being built in Shanghai, China. The Chinese company is called COMAC, which stand for the Commercial Aircraft Company of China. This company is trying to do what Airbus did in the early 1970s, to build a commercial airliner to rival Boeing. As I have learned since I started working for GE, building an aircraft is a complicated business and you do not have any margin for error. COMAC is trying to build, fly and certify a commercial passenger aircraft in a little more than 6 years. COMAC is located in Shanghai, China, and in a few weeks, it appears that I will be living the in a 3 weeks there, 9 weeks in Michigan, 3 weeks there, rotation for a while.

After being deployed and away from home for so many years in the Navy, I was in no hurry to travel in my civilian career. However, when the General asks you to do something, it is really not a request. I will know for certain in a few days, but there is a 95% chance that I will be racking up a bunch of frequent flyer miles in the near term.

So far, so good...

2010-01-08T21:36:00.002-05:00

Last night Suresh from the Microsoft Windows 7 Technical Support Center told me that I needed to do a "clean install" of Windows 7. When I installed Windows 7 the first time, it was an upgrade to Vista. This meant that all my applications and personal files were not affected by the installation. A clean install would require me to format my hard drive and install the Windows 7 operating system. After spending 15 hours the past few nights on the phone with Microsoft, I was ready to try almost anything. I had all my personal files and applications backed up, so I completed a clean install of Windows 7. Since I formatted the hard drive and installed Windows 7, my computer has been stable as a rock. I am still trying to make it crash, but so far, so good.

East of the Equator Cottage

2010-01-07T19:50:00.014-05:00

OK, a disclaimer. My blog has been pretty quiet the past few weeks and the reason why is that I took the bold step of buying Windows 7. Yep, I fell for Microsoft's advertising and thought, "This time, things will be different. This time, it will just work." I have the sad duty to report that despite the fact that the Windows 7 Support website checked my computer for compatibility with Windows 7 and told me that my computer can run on this operating system, I have experienced nothing but problems with Windows 7. My computer is stable for maybe 45 minutes or so, then I get the Blue Screen of Death with the same error code: 0X000000F7. I have spent a couple hours each night since last Friday on the phone with a Microsoft technician trying to solve this problem. As I type this entry, I am waiting for another call. This, dear reader, is why I have not done much blogging. I have spent my evening hours trying to fix something that is just supposed to work. I am telling you, my next laptop is going to be a Mac.

On a happier note, we are about to close on a cottage located on the shores of Lake Huron. It will be known as "East of the Equator." Below are a couple of image of the cottage:

And this is a view of the beach. Life will be good, just East of the Equator where it is always a quarter past five.

Planning...

2009-12-23T20:02:00.003-05:00

I have had the past two days off. I had three days of vacation I needed to use prior to the close of business on 24 December. Thus, I have had plenty of time to plan the menus for the next few days as well as to procure the items I need to make the meals I plan to make over the course of the next few days. I was fortunate to have the ability to takes these days off as I have been able to purchase everything I need for our Christmas Eve and Christmas Night. Tomorrow, I will drive Deirdre to work, pick up a fresh loaf of bred and wait for her day to end at noon. I will pick her up and then we are having lunch here.

Life is good here in the Enchanted Mitten, just East of the Equator.

Christmas came a little early for us

2009-12-23T14:47:00.003-05:00

So, there I was, wandering around D&W picking up the food we need for the next couple of days when my cell phone rings. Pam, our loan officer from NFCU, called me to let me know that the appraisal recently done on the cottage we are hoping to purchase had been sent from underwriting to the mortgage department. The appraised value of the property is $11K more than the purchase price and no repairs are needed prior to closing. This is fantastic news as now we can set a closing date. Yep, Christmas came early for us this year!

Amateurs discuss tactics...

2009-12-23T06:56:00.001-05:00

... professionals discuss logistics. I am off the clock with the General until 4 January, 2010, so I am back to being a house husband. Today, I am driving Deirdre to work, then I will be a busy little shopper. Updates to follow as conditions warrant.

Cottage inspection and pulltabs at the VFW

2009-12-11T20:37:00.006-05:00

Well, this was quite a day for us here just east of the equator. Deirdre and I dropped Samson off at Whiskers a little after 7AM and he was howling with excitement when pulled into the parking lot. We handed him off to the able and capable Amber and Samson never looked back at us. We went back home to get clean, dress and then we hit the road for Oscoda at 8:30AM.

The drive east from Grand Rapids was a little sporty. We were hammered with over a foot of snot the past 24 hours and then the temperature dropped to the mid-teens. So we were driving over packed snow and ice until we were just west of Lansing. The I-69 was pretty clear and by the time we got to I-75 there was hardly any snow on the ground.

We arrived in Oscoda at 1:30PM, checked into our hotel and met with our realtor at 2:30PM. We left her office a little while later and arrived at the cottage at 3PM. Our home inspector, Dave, showed up a few minutes later and he went right to work. This cottage was a lot older than the first one we tried to buy but after his inspection Dave was happy to report that he had no major findings of problems. There are a few little things we will need to do once the weather gets warmer, but this cottage is in great shape and we will now order an appraisal so we can move forward with purchasing the property.

We got back to our hotel around 6PM and relaxed for a while and then we headed to Tait's Bill of Fare for dinner. We enjoyed a meal at a truly local place and then headed over to the VFW for a pint of Killian's Red and some pull tabs.

For those who are not familiar with pull tabs, they are sort of like an instant lottery ticket issued by the Michigan Lottery Commission that is sold by private clubs as a fund raiser. They are called pull tabs because in order to see if you won, you pull tabs off of the back of the ticket. I bought $10 of pull tabs, and we promptly won $10. I took the $10 we won to buy ten dollars worth of more pull tabs. Here is where things got interesting. From the $10 of "new" pull tabs we bought, there was a $100 winning pull tab! We also won an additional $3, so I bought more pull tabs. I regret to report that those last $3 of pull tabs did not have a winner. I am, however, happy to report that at the end of the evening we are $90 in the plus because of my $100 winner. An image of my winning ticket can be seen to the right of this text.

We are thrilled with the possibilities of this cottage. The home inspection found no issues with the property, so now all we need is for the appraisal of the value of the cottage to be at least as much as the purchase price. I am optimistic that this will be the case and that we will be able to close on the cottage sometime in January.

We have a sales contract

2009-12-01T21:41:00.002-05:00

I am happy to report that we have a signed sales agreement for the cottage we put an offer on at the end of last month. Details to follow, soon, but it looks like we will soon close on a cottage on Lake Huron.

22 November, 1985

2009-11-22T13:12:00.002-05:00

Hard to believe, but it was 24 years ago today I was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy. At the time, I thought that I would serve for 4 or 5 years and then get a "real job." Well, that truth sort of changed and 17 PCS moves, 6 ships and 22 years later I retired from the Navy. I was reflecting on the passing of time since my "retirement" from the Navy as it has been two years this month. It is finally sinking the Navy part of my life is over and my second career with General Electric is well underway.

Cottage Redux

2009-11-20T18:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Deirdre and I dropped Samson off at Whiskers for a few days of R&R while we headed to Oscoda to look at another cottage. We saw the cottage at 3PM on Thursday afternoon, and we asked Missy to schedule another viewing for us today at 1oAM. The viewing today was to confirm whether or not we wanted to make an offer on the property. We spent about 30 minutes at the property and we decided to make an offer. We went back to Heritage House Realty and with Missy's help we made a formal offer to the sellers. Now, all we can do is wait for their response. Updates to follow as this develops.

GOTCHA DAY

2009-11-12T20:19:00.005-05:00

Today is what we call "Gotcha Day." Two years ago today, we brought home a frightened and skittish dog named Danson. He was a German Shepherd Dog, who had been abandoned by his first family, and found living in a park just south of Grand Rapids. We brought him home and the first few days were quite a challenge. He was fearful, food aggressive and afraid of pretty much anything we did. Deirdre and I did not like his name, so we started to call him Samson and within a few weeks he was responding to that name. Thankfully, I was taking some time off between my Navy career and my next career with GE Aviation, so I had time to work with and train Samson. After about 4 months, something clicked with Samson and he became a sweet and lovable companion dog who is nothing but 95lbs of fur and love. Samson likes nothing more than to curl up on the couch for a canoodle with whomever will rub his belly for a while.

Our sweet and gentle Allie, who left us soon after I got home from the Navy, allowed us to be able to adopt Samson and work with him to bring out the good dog that was hidden inside. As I type this, Samson is chewing on a Nyl-a-bone at my side on the sofa. Yes, Samson is a good dog.

Veterans Day

2009-11-11T20:16:00.002-05:00

Today marks my third Veterans Day since I became one. I am amazed at how many thoughtful notes I received from civilian friends thanking me for my service. As the days have gone by since I retired from the Navy, the sacrifices I made fade from my memory, but I do know I made a lot of them in my career. Looking back, I would not have done it any other way. I appreciate all the kind thoughts and words to me this Veterans Day.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS ABOUT THE COTTAGE

2009-10-24T10:43:00.004-04:00

As previously mentioned, we had the cottage inspected by a licensed home inspector last Friday. He found a few minor problems, as well as two major ones. The two major ones were that the electrical system was not properly grounded and that there was an issue with the water pressure from the well. We told the listing agent that all items discovered in the course of the home inspection needed to be addressed and corrected before closing. We communicated the results of the inspection to the listing agent on Monday morning.

Apparently, the listing agent did not understand what I meant when I told him last Friday, twice, "All items identified during the inspection must be addressed and corrected before closing." On Tuesday, the listing agent gave us a counter offer, that we would amend the purchase contract such that we would accept the property "as is" and the sellers would take $2,000 off the price. We communicated, again, that was unacceptable as we could not secure financing unless everything in the inspection report was fixed before closing. The sellers seemed to understand that this was non-negotiable, and on Friday they had an electrical contractor and a well digging company come out and give them estimates to fix the electrical system and the well. The electrical contractor gave the sellers and estimate of $1,200 to bring the electrical system up to code. A little pricey, I thought, but still not outrageous. The real issue became the well. Tait's Well Service inspected the well and on Friday afternoon I received a phone call from Mr. Tait himself and he told me the following:

1) The well is a 1 1/4" hand dug well and it is only 20 feet deep.
2) The current well is not deep enough to be up to code and cannot be brought up to code because of the geology of the property.
3) Drilling a new well would require someone from the county health department to locate a suitable place to drill because at best the water would be labeled as non-potable (not drinkable).

Mr. Tait told me that because of the geology of that area, all wells would be between 11-20 feet deep, which is too shallow for code and tends to have a lot of mineral and ferrous salts. Wells cannot be dug deeper because the water at the required code depth is brackish and not fit for drinking.

Bottom line: The well is not up to code and cannot be brought up to code. Because of this finding, we have rescinded our offer to purchase this property as allowed under the "Home Inspection" paragraph of the sales contract.

During the inspection, I wondered why there was so much iron staining in the tub in the bathroom and the kitchen sink and now I know. The water coming up from their well had ferrous salts in it because the water from the well was so close to the surface. Also, their shallow well explains why they had a reverse osmosis unit under their kitchen sink. They most likely did not drink the water out of the tap, rather they used the water that had been put through the reverse osmosis unit to purify it. When I was in the Navy, one of my ships used a large scale reserve osmosis (RO) unit to turn salt water into fresh water. It never occurred to me that the RO unit the sellers had installed was needed to purify the water from their well.

While we are disappointed that this deal did not happen, but there is another place out there for us. We just have to find it.

Cottage Update

2009-10-21T20:25:00.003-04:00

In the course of the inspection on Friday last, there were a few issues identified by our home inspector. There are about 10 items that need to be addressed and corrected before we can close on the property, per our lender's requirements.

When we were at the cottage, the listing agent (call him "Ed" to protect the innocent and the guilty) was present and to be frank, he was depriving a village of an idiot. He argued with our inspector, until he hit the last nerve of the inspector who told him, "Ed, back off. Let me do my job and stay out of my way." After that comment from our inspector, Ed then started talking to us. He said to me, "So, what will need to be repaired after the inspection? This cottage is in perfect shape!" I said to him, "Ed, everything identified in the inspection will need to be addressed and corrected. My mortgage company will not fund the loan unless all items identified in this inspection are addressed and corrected." Ed bantered on for a while about the fishing in Lake Huron, asking me, "So, are you a fisherman?" I said "No, Ed I am not." He responded, "Well, the fish were down for a while, but they are coming back!" After that, I pretty much I ignored him for a while, but after 15 minutes or so he asked me again "What will need to be fixed?" I stated again, "Everything identified in the inspection, Ed."

Well, after we received the inspection report, on Monday we provided it to the sellers, along with our requirement that everything listed in the report had to be addressed and corrected. On Tuesday afternoon, the sellers countered with a reduction in the price of the cottage and to amend the purchase contract to "As is Condition." This clearly does not work for us. We communicated our lender's requirements, again, to Ed who clearly did not understand what I meant when I said that every discrepancy called out in the inspection report needed to be fixed before we could close on the property. We just heard rom our agent that the sellers are bringing in contractors to give them estimates to repair the issues identified in the inspection report.

We remain hopeful that this real estate transaction happens. I just hope that the sellers are not depending on Ed for sound real estate advice.

Cottage Update

2009-10-18T20:26:00.002-04:00

Since my last posting about the cottage, we have accomplished the following:

1) Secured financing
2) Drove to Oscoda/Greenbush for the home inspection
3) Had the cottage inspected by a licensed home inspector
4) Communicated the findings of the inspection to the sellers

Now, Dee and I have to wait and see if the sellers will address the items discovered in the inspection. Updates to follow as things develop.

My mother did not raise a thief...

2009-10-10T20:04:00.010-04:00

Today I needed to get a few things at the hardware store for the house. I went to Lowe's, which is closer to our home than Home Depot. I sort of like Home Depot better, but I was all about finishing my errands quickly this afternoon. I needed to get a fitting for our hot water heater and some cleaning supplies. I quickly located what I needed and went to the check-out line. I showed the clerk my retired military ID and received a 10% discount (Home Depot offers the same discount). The clerk put my things into a plastic bag, I took the bag and headed to my car.

I opened the trunk and put the bag therein. I stopped D&W (local grocery store) on the way home to get some stuff for dinner and arrived back home. I pulled my trusty BMW into the garage, popped the trunk, took the bags out of the trunk and placed them on our kitchen counter. I placed the perishable items recently procured from D&W away and then I started to go through the plastic bag from Lowe's. Much to my surprise, there were more things in there than I had purchased. Specifically, there was weather stripping, a trowel, a tape measurer and some sanding blocks. I realized that these items were potentially purchased by somebody else and not taken away. The clerk simply added my items to the bag with these four items and off I went.

I could keep the items and nobody would be the wiser. However, as the subject line of this post states, my mother did not raise a thief. While I could use the weather stripping, sanding block and the tape measurer, I did not pay for these items. They are not mine and I need to return all the items back to the rightful owner. In the next day or two, perhaps when I am driving home from work, I will stop at Lowe's and return these items. Doing the right thing is not always easy, but it is always the best thing to do.

Cottage update

2009-10-08T19:31:00.002-04:00

Since my last post, progress has been made on the cottage purchase. I have started the process to secure a mortgage for the property, and we have the home inspection scheduled for next week. We will drop Samson off at Whiskers, and head up for an overnight trip to Greenbush for the inspection. So far, so good. Everything is progressing along smoothly.

Stay tuned to this channel for future updates.

Back in Battery

2009-10-03T12:57:00.007-04:00

The subject of this post is a phrase taken from my time in the Navy. Warships carry large caliber guns to shoot at people and things we do not like. These guns are known as a battery, and they have such fancy titles as "Mount 51" or "Mount 32." From time to time, maintenance needs to be done on the guns, and when the gun system is taken off line, it is known as being "out of battery." When the repairs or maintenance is completed, a report is made to the Tactical Action Officer that simply states, "Mount 51, back in battery." That simple report means that the gun is ready for action again.

Well, I am happy to report that I am "back in battery." I last updated this blog almost a month ago. Between work and a few projects, I just did not have the time or the inspiration to write. Well, my motivation is back and a few things have happened my life. Now for the update to the goings on here just east of the equator...

Work has kept me incredibly busy the past few weeks. Despite the tough economy out there right now, the General has kept me incredibly busy. GE Aviation here in Grand Rapids has been chasing new business and I have been busy assisting in the pursuit. I am also now a group manager, so I have additional responsibilities in overseeing the work of seven reliability engineers.

Last weekend, Deirdre and I made a road trip to Oscoda, Michigan, where our friend Steve has a cottage on the shores of Lake Huron. We went there for the specific purpose of searching for a cottage of our own. We visited Steve at the end of August and we got the bug to look in earnest for a cottage. Subsequent to our visit in August, we located a realtor (her name is Missy) and we told her what we were looking for in a cottage. Missy looked at some listings for us and arranged for us to see five different properties. Each one had some different to offer, and all of them were beachfront property.

I am happy to report that we have located a property and made an offer to purchase it. The seller has accepted our offer and now we have to work out a few details of the purchase. We will need to have the property inspected and appraised, and start the process to close on the property. We are expecting to close sometime in late November. The property is a two bedroom, one bath cottage on a lot that is 50' X 175' with a great view of Lake Huron.

The inside of the cottage is pretty typical of most cottages in northern Michigan: varnished knotty pine. The kitchen was recently updated and there is even a garage which blocks the sounds from U.S. 23, a road that snakes around the eastern shores of Lake Huron. This real estate transaction is a "work in progress," and there are a few milestones we will need to meet before we get the keys to the place. Look for updates as evolution this progresses.

Old School

2009-09-08T17:55:00.011-04:00

Deirdre and I went on a sort of roadtrip stay-cation over Labor Day weekend. We drove east to spend a few days with my parents. My father is about to turn 80 and he has slowed down a little the past few years, and I know he appreciates it when we can make it back to spend the weekend with him and my mother. We left for my parent's house a little before 3PM and I was caught up in an 80 mile per hour parking lot. There was a lot of traffic on I-96, but it was moving along. We arrived at my parent's house in a little less than two and a half hours, which was darn near record time.

The weather for our visit could not have been better. Warm, cloudless and sunny days, with cool, clear nights. My plan was to make dinner each night for my parents (and Deirdre, too!) and work on any chores my father might have around the house. My father marinated a flank steak for Friday night's meal, and we made some rice, steamed green beans and a tossed greens salad. My father enjoyed the company as well as having somebody else make him a meal. We picked up the ingredients for this meal from the Village Market. The Village Market has been in business since 1939, serving the best in meats, seafood and groceries. It is an old fashioned butcher shop, something that has all but disappeared with all the Wal-Marts and chain grocery stores.

The subject of this post, old school, is about Deirdre and going back to the town where I was born (Detroit) and raised (Grosse Pointe). I have not lived in either place in almost three decades, and in the course of all of those years, there are a few places which seem to never change. Mack Avenue has had a few changes along the margins, but certain places have changed little since I left. We had lunch at the Irish Coffee on Saturday. It menus has been the same since it opened four decades ago. There are darn few watering holes in my home town, and the IC is one of the best known. Sure, you can go to Little Tony's Lounge in the Woods, or maybe Telly's Bar & Grill on the other side of 8 Mile. Each has its own feel, but when I walk into any of the aforementioned places it is as if I had never left.

We went to an even older school place for lunch on Sunday: Sinbad's. Sinbad's is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. If you walked into Sinbad's tomorrow, it would look very similar to how it looked 30 or 40 years ago. The long wooden bar was refurbished a few years ago to its look and feel from 30 years ago: polished mahogany. Ask almost anyone who was raised on the east side of Detroit and most of them have been to, if not heard of Sinbad's. I had a cup of their chili, the recipe for it has not changed, ever, as far as I know, a burger and Stroh's. I also saw something I have not seen in years: a cigarette machine. Hopefully, Michigan will soon join the ranks of the majority of states and ban smoking in most public places, but until then, there will be cigarette machines at Sinbad's. If you have a spare $7.50, you, too, can buy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

Yep, it was an old school weekend.

Gravity and Celestial Mechanics

2009-09-03T20:47:00.005-04:00

I work for GE Aviation. We make avionics for civilian and military aircraft and I like to think that we are the best aviation company on the planet. I am the Reliability Group Manager, which means I supervise the work of seven reliability engineers. These talented folks are electrical engineers by education and they are darn good in what they do. My people look at electronic schematics, circuits and analyze the reliability of these systems. They are the best at what they do.

In the course of my career with GE, my coworkers have learned that I am not an electrical engineer. Rather, I was trained in chemistry and mathematics. In order to understand the chemistry I studied, I had to take a lot of physics classes. They also understand that I served as a Navigator of a destroyer, so I have an understanding of celestial navigation and celestial mechanics. Also, these aforementioned electrical engineers are very focused on, well, electrical engineering. Few of them took classes outside of the mathematics needed to take "double E" courses and they certainly did not take courses in celestial mechanics. This is where I come in...

One day at lunch, my friend Greg asked me, "Paul, do you know anything about how gravity works? Specifically, do you understand why a planet is used, sometimes, to increase the speed of a deep space probe?"

I answered, "Why yes, yes I do." I explained to Greg that the reason why gravity is sometimes used to increase the speed of a deep space probe because there is essentially a "well" that is created by the mass of a planet in space-time. NASA has used planets to increase the speed of deep space probe, and this is known as a gravity assist.

A gravity assist or slingshot maneuver around a planet changes a spacecraft's velocity relative to the star around which the planet circles, even though it preserves the spacecraft's speed relative to the planet—as it must according to the law of conservation of energy. To a first approximation, from a large distance, the spacecraft appears to have bounced off the planet.

Realistic portrayals of encounters in space require the consideration of two dimensions. In that case the same principles apply, only adding the planet's velocity requires vector addition, as shown below.

Thus, to a stationary observer measuring the velocity of the spacecraft, its velocity increases relative to the observer. NASA has used this on the Mariner, Voyager, MESSENGER and Cassini missions. I have certainly learned a lot from these electrical engineers, but is is refreshing to share a bit of the knowledge with some really bright people.

East of the Equator

A lazy January Sunday...

Winter is here

White Christmas Eve

Splitting wood is good for the soul

Are you talking to me?

Art Prize 2011

Comcast called me. Oh, the power of social media

Comcast and Charter are in a race to the bottom!

Charter Communications: It started with porn and went down from there...

Freighters

Sighted in Oscoda: Air Force Two

Simple Joys

Pure Michigan

A Room with a View

No soup for you!

The Origin of East of the Equator

gen·e·sis

Virginia is for: Vanity Plates (Part Two)

Virginia is for: Vanity Plates

Kent County Youth Fair

Another great weekend, just East of the Equator

Retirement Ceremony for an old Shipmate

An amazing Saturday...

Last night flying Solo...

Metamorphosis

met·a·mor·pho·sis

At the beach...

Fourth of July Parade

Independence Day

A Lazy July Day

Does he taste like chicken?

April, 2011

3 YEARS

STOP TOUCHING ME

Another reason to Relay

More birthdays

Last days of Summer, 2010

We miss her still

Bald Faced Hornet

ANOTHER 90 MINUTES OF MY LIFE, GONE FOREVER

East of the Equator

Jos. A. Banks

The origin of East of the Equator

Technology...

Oscoda musings

What she said

Restaurants in smoke-free states report no harsh impact

MY NEXT ADVENTURE

One "holiday" I dread...

A retread, but worth repeating:

Top 10 reasons why Oscoda is a cool place:

Furnace Troubles

All I wanted was a mission...

So far, so good...

East of the Equator Cottage

Planning...

Christmas came a little early for us

Amateurs discuss tactics...

Cottage inspection and pulltabs at the VFW

We have a sales contract

22 November, 1985

Cottage Redux

GOTCHA DAY

Veterans Day

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS ABOUT THE COTTAGE

Cottage Update

Cottage Update

My mother did not raise a thief...

Cottage update

Back in Battery

Old School

Gravity and Celestial Mechanics