Congratulations! Hope you are having fun with the first one.
What Did Your Offspring Do Today?
- Thread starter TromboneAl
- Start date
Congratulations! Hope you are having fun with the first one.
Lsbcal
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I read through a lot of the posts here and enjoyed them.
Our DS graduated from college a few weeks ago. He is a late bloomer and this has been quite a journey. He was interning with a mid-size advertising firm as part of his senior year courses and asked if they had a job opening. They had recently layed off a few workers. They put him through the wringer with about 3 or 4 interviews. Then he did not hear from them for a few weeks.
Last week he called somewhat dejected to say he got a job offer. It turned out the job was paying 10% less then the job his roommate got so he felt comparatively bad off
. We discussed it and the offer details and told him how wonderful his news was. By the time we got off the phone his voice was pretty perky. He accepted the job and is now really excited to get started. I think his initial reaction was deer-in-the-headlights syndrome. He flew home for a week and will fly back tomorrow to start work on Monday.
I don't know if it's connected but I had a bad dream about work last night and lost some sleep. I'm so glad I'm not working now. But DS really needs to get started in the work world and we get a bonus too since he'll be 100% self-supporting.
Our DS graduated from college a few weeks ago. He is a late bloomer and this has been quite a journey. He was interning with a mid-size advertising firm as part of his senior year courses and asked if they had a job opening. They had recently layed off a few workers. They put him through the wringer with about 3 or 4 interviews. Then he did not hear from them for a few weeks.
Last week he called somewhat dejected to say he got a job offer. It turned out the job was paying 10% less then the job his roommate got so he felt comparatively bad off
. We discussed it and the offer details and told him how wonderful his news was. By the time we got off the phone his voice was pretty perky. He accepted the job and is now really excited to get started. I think his initial reaction was deer-in-the-headlights syndrome. He flew home for a week and will fly back tomorrow to start work on Monday.I don't know if it's connected but I had a bad dream about work last night and lost some sleep. I'm so glad I'm not working now. But DS really needs to get started in the work world and we get a bonus too since he'll be 100% self-supporting.
haha
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Hey Moe, congratulations to the new baby, to your daughter, and to you. A very happy occasion!
Ha
Meadbh
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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DD, SIL and two good friends of my grandson traveled to Pensacola this morning to visit the #1 grandson. He recently graduated navy bootcamp and is stationed at Naval Station Pensacola. He finally got a weekend off so his folks and friends went up to visit. He called back this afternoon to say hello to us and to say what a good time they were having. GO NAVY!!
Bestwifeever
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Just got a call from DS that he is being transferred back to our town and of course will bring his new bride with him--yay!
That is certainly good news for you. I know the feeling well. We and the kids have always been a close knit family and have followed each other aroung the states just to be together. Nothing like family, at least for us.
W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Moemg
Gone but not forgotten
That is great news !
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Our daughter finished her sophomore year last month and her [-]GPA recovery program[/-] summer school last week. By some quirk of the civil engineering degree requirements, her summer-school B+ in Linear Algebra means she doesn't have to take any more high-falutin' math classes and can take just two statistics courses. That's her latest definition of "deliriously happy". She flew home in time to catch Tuesday's solar transit of Venus.
We've surfed three of the last four mornings, including a lovely day of 6-8 footers. She's had a USMC gunny sergeant as a personal trainer for the last couple years of NROTC-- she's in pretty good shape and she carves a lot better these days. White Plains Beach has subsided to 2-4 for this morning's military competition, so we took a break from the crowds. We'll be back tomorrow.
We had to watch "The Avengers" movie, of course, and next on the agenda is "Battleship" for all the GoNavy dialogue. We had one evening of taekwondo where she got caught up with friends, and an old friend of ours dropped by to visit so it was a mini-reunion.
She's spent plenty of time with the Prius (which apparently has turned into a very poor driving experience now that she's bought her own car) going shopping, visiting local friends, and enjoying local kine grindz. The plate lunch featured below is one of the island's deadliest weapons.
Friday was the lei-draping ceremony prelude to Monday's Kamehameha Day. The local Kamehameha Society (descendants of ali'i) and volunteers made several hundred feet of lei for the statues here, on the Big Island, and in the hall of the U.S. Capitol building. This is probably the highlight of the year for the firefighters to operate their ladder truck. She got some good photos of that.
After Sunday's surfing we'll drop her off at the airport, and she'll head to Bangor for a month's training on an OHIO-class submarine. Suddenly all of my "old" sea stories have taken on new relevance...
We've surfed three of the last four mornings, including a lovely day of 6-8 footers. She's had a USMC gunny sergeant as a personal trainer for the last couple years of NROTC-- she's in pretty good shape and she carves a lot better these days. White Plains Beach has subsided to 2-4 for this morning's military competition, so we took a break from the crowds. We'll be back tomorrow.
We had to watch "The Avengers" movie, of course, and next on the agenda is "Battleship" for all the GoNavy dialogue. We had one evening of taekwondo where she got caught up with friends, and an old friend of ours dropped by to visit so it was a mini-reunion.
She's spent plenty of time with the Prius (which apparently has turned into a very poor driving experience now that she's bought her own car) going shopping, visiting local friends, and enjoying local kine grindz. The plate lunch featured below is one of the island's deadliest weapons.
Friday was the lei-draping ceremony prelude to Monday's Kamehameha Day. The local Kamehameha Society (descendants of ali'i) and volunteers made several hundred feet of lei for the statues here, on the Big Island, and in the hall of the U.S. Capitol building. This is probably the highlight of the year for the firefighters to operate their ladder truck. She got some good photos of that.
After Sunday's surfing we'll drop her off at the airport, and she'll head to Bangor for a month's training on an OHIO-class submarine. Suddenly all of my "old" sea stories have taken on new relevance...
Attachments
We got an e-mail from our daughter telling us how to send her a familygram. (The Stupid Shall Be Punished: Family-Grams) I guess it's sort of like that first letter the summer-camp staff makes you mail home.
She's mostly in receive mode for the next month... or maybe longer. She mentioned being eligible for a boomer pin. My impression of eligibility is that you have to be on board for the entire patrol-- any of you other nukes or coners happen to know if it can now be done in less than 90 days? 50 days? 30 days?
Her description of the PERSTRANS was sketchy, but she made it sound as if the boomer surfaced close enough for the small-boat crew (and a bunch of impressionable young midshipmen) to see the whole evolution. But it takes [-]stupidity[/-] guts to do that in the Strait of Juan de Fuca... maybe near Port Angeles?
The good news is that the boat copies familygrams whenever they can, and there doesn't appear to be any limit on the number of grams or the number of words or any of the other Cold War bandwidth restrictions.
I haven't decided yet whether I'd rather be sending 'em or reading 'em...
She's mostly in receive mode for the next month... or maybe longer. She mentioned being eligible for a boomer pin. My impression of eligibility is that you have to be on board for the entire patrol-- any of you other nukes or coners happen to know if it can now be done in less than 90 days? 50 days? 30 days?
Her description of the PERSTRANS was sketchy, but she made it sound as if the boomer surfaced close enough for the small-boat crew (and a bunch of impressionable young midshipmen) to see the whole evolution. But it takes [-]stupidity[/-] guts to do that in the Strait of Juan de Fuca... maybe near Port Angeles?
The good news is that the boat copies familygrams whenever they can, and there doesn't appear to be any limit on the number of grams or the number of words or any of the other Cold War bandwidth restrictions.
I haven't decided yet whether I'd rather be sending 'em or reading 'em...
Got an update from our submariner-wannabe daughter. Let me explain some of the lifestyle and vocabulary before we get to her e-mail at the end.
As a Navy ROTC Midshipman 2/c, this summer training is supposed to show her the enlisted life. (She'll do an officer training cruise next summer, probably on a surface ship.) The enlisted crews know that this is their one chance to train the mids right: while they're still listening, before they turn into officers. The CO & XO tell the junior officers that these mids will one day be their reliefs... or their own junior officers. She reported aboard 10 June (via small boat; the sub was already underway) and she hopes to return home sometime this month (no official date yet). August at the latest. September fer sure.
I've served on boomers (1980s) and on attack boats (1990s). I'm glad I did a boomer first, at the peak of the Cold War, before I knew about life on attack boats. I honestly wonder how today's boomer sailors maintain the will to live. Standing sonar watch on a boomer is like being a eunuch in a harem. [Insert joke here about sonar techs.] A boomer is assigned a patrol area, far away from the shipping lanes, and about the size of the state of Georgia. It pokes holes in the ocean, moving "four knots to nowhere". (An OHIO-class SSBN is literally quieter than the background noise, and I have tracked them that way.) Whenever a contact emerges from the background noise, even though it's literally dozens or even hundreds of miles away, the boat quietly turns tail and sneaks off. The contact may only be held passively on a single narrowband frequency, not even on broadband, but you'll still run & hide. So there's not much happening in Sonar on a boomer, other than a safety watch when the boat is getting ready to come to periscope depth. The watchstanders monitor the consoles ("stacks"), [-]tell a lot of sea stories[/-] do on-watch training, maintain & clean their gear, and drink a lot of coffee. And, judging from my daughter's commentary below, they try to covertly kill each other?!? The "Assassin Game" is a new one to me.
Submariners typically stand a three-section watchbill. That's a six-hour watch (with an occasional bathroom break, or maybe not) and 12 hours off. The 12 hours off watch includes training & drills with the possibility of 3-6 hours of sleep (or maybe not) before the next watch. My spouse, a meteorology/oceanography officer, spent most of her career at weather facilities and command centers where their duty cycle is 12 on, 12 off, but she got to go home in between watches. Spouse was also a trailblazer as the fourth class of USNA women, so she's a little biased against a daughter who wants to blaze trails in the submarine force. I sympathize with everyone's feelings on both sides of the situation and try to avoid the crossfire. I think our daughter will write her own ticket.
The submarine firefighting ensemble (FFE) is just like what you see from the local fire department, including the boots, but without the helmet. It's hot, it's heavy, it's sweaty. You also drag hoses and extinguishers. No wonder the crew is so generously stepping aside to "let her get the experience" during the fire drills. The emergency air-breathing mask (EAB) is a full facemask with a plug-in airhose fed by a 100-psi air line that runs throughout the ship. The challenge is plugging your hose into the air manifold, getting a breath, holding it, unplugging, and knowing where/how to find the next manifold 10-20 feet away. In the dark. Flames are simulated with Christmas lights, but vision is usually inhibited by having a bag placed over your EAB-clad head. You're literally fighting the fire blind (perhaps with a thermal imager) because that's what happens during bad submarine fires. Unlike the surface Navy, the submarine drill experience urgently motivates the crew to prevent the fires from getting a head start. Sound the alarm, pass the word, stand your ground, and fight back.
During the last three weeks, one of the crew dehydrated himself on self-administered "weight loss supplements". A submarine corpsman is trained at about the level of an EMT (and may even be certified as one) but they mainly inspire prevention through intimidation. A dehydrated sailor would normally recover by drinking a quart of water and being watched for a few hours, but that would deprive the doc of a chance to practice needle skills and make an example of him. (If the doc was pissed off, then the IV needle would be inserted by a cook who's training as a first-aid helper. If the doc really wanted to hurt his patient then he'd give the needle to the XO.) Seeing your shipmate wearing an IV bag sends a message to the rest of the crew about unauthorized ingestion of nutritional/dietary supplements.
When I was on the boomer cycle of 28-day refits and 90-day patrols, I'd gain about a pound a week. (Soft-serve ice cream!!) I'd usually lose it during the offcrew, but as I got older that got tougher. Now my P90X taekwondo surfer grrrl is seeing it firsthand.
Our daughter gets no extra privileges by standing watch, and she certainly doesn't get more pay. She could have chosen to fill out her midshipman "qualification card" and then spent the rest of the month watching movies, drinking coffee, and playing cribbage. Her watchstanding choice may be perceived as "stupid" by the crew and her fellow mids, but it's going to give her bonus points from the senior enlisted and the XO. That's going to feed right back into her service selection. For her sake, I hope the good karma is still there when BUPERS starts picking submariners in early 2014. But she'll do just fine in the surface Navy or in the Civil Engineering Corps, and she may already be thinking those thoughts. I've transitioned from a mentor and a coach into a sounding board.
So here she is after three weeks underway, the last ten days in EMCON, and who knows how much longer to go:
As a Navy ROTC Midshipman 2/c, this summer training is supposed to show her the enlisted life. (She'll do an officer training cruise next summer, probably on a surface ship.) The enlisted crews know that this is their one chance to train the mids right: while they're still listening, before they turn into officers. The CO & XO tell the junior officers that these mids will one day be their reliefs... or their own junior officers. She reported aboard 10 June (via small boat; the sub was already underway) and she hopes to return home sometime this month (no official date yet). August at the latest. September fer sure.
I've served on boomers (1980s) and on attack boats (1990s). I'm glad I did a boomer first, at the peak of the Cold War, before I knew about life on attack boats. I honestly wonder how today's boomer sailors maintain the will to live. Standing sonar watch on a boomer is like being a eunuch in a harem. [Insert joke here about sonar techs.] A boomer is assigned a patrol area, far away from the shipping lanes, and about the size of the state of Georgia. It pokes holes in the ocean, moving "four knots to nowhere". (An OHIO-class SSBN is literally quieter than the background noise, and I have tracked them that way.) Whenever a contact emerges from the background noise, even though it's literally dozens or even hundreds of miles away, the boat quietly turns tail and sneaks off. The contact may only be held passively on a single narrowband frequency, not even on broadband, but you'll still run & hide. So there's not much happening in Sonar on a boomer, other than a safety watch when the boat is getting ready to come to periscope depth. The watchstanders monitor the consoles ("stacks"), [-]tell a lot of sea stories[/-] do on-watch training, maintain & clean their gear, and drink a lot of coffee. And, judging from my daughter's commentary below, they try to covertly kill each other?!? The "Assassin Game" is a new one to me.
Submariners typically stand a three-section watchbill. That's a six-hour watch (with an occasional bathroom break, or maybe not) and 12 hours off. The 12 hours off watch includes training & drills with the possibility of 3-6 hours of sleep (or maybe not) before the next watch. My spouse, a meteorology/oceanography officer, spent most of her career at weather facilities and command centers where their duty cycle is 12 on, 12 off, but she got to go home in between watches. Spouse was also a trailblazer as the fourth class of USNA women, so she's a little biased against a daughter who wants to blaze trails in the submarine force. I sympathize with everyone's feelings on both sides of the situation and try to avoid the crossfire. I think our daughter will write her own ticket.
The submarine firefighting ensemble (FFE) is just like what you see from the local fire department, including the boots, but without the helmet. It's hot, it's heavy, it's sweaty. You also drag hoses and extinguishers. No wonder the crew is so generously stepping aside to "let her get the experience" during the fire drills. The emergency air-breathing mask (EAB) is a full facemask with a plug-in airhose fed by a 100-psi air line that runs throughout the ship. The challenge is plugging your hose into the air manifold, getting a breath, holding it, unplugging, and knowing where/how to find the next manifold 10-20 feet away. In the dark. Flames are simulated with Christmas lights, but vision is usually inhibited by having a bag placed over your EAB-clad head. You're literally fighting the fire blind (perhaps with a thermal imager) because that's what happens during bad submarine fires. Unlike the surface Navy, the submarine drill experience urgently motivates the crew to prevent the fires from getting a head start. Sound the alarm, pass the word, stand your ground, and fight back.
During the last three weeks, one of the crew dehydrated himself on self-administered "weight loss supplements". A submarine corpsman is trained at about the level of an EMT (and may even be certified as one) but they mainly inspire prevention through intimidation. A dehydrated sailor would normally recover by drinking a quart of water and being watched for a few hours, but that would deprive the doc of a chance to practice needle skills and make an example of him. (If the doc was pissed off, then the IV needle would be inserted by a cook who's training as a first-aid helper. If the doc really wanted to hurt his patient then he'd give the needle to the XO.) Seeing your shipmate wearing an IV bag sends a message to the rest of the crew about unauthorized ingestion of nutritional/dietary supplements.
When I was on the boomer cycle of 28-day refits and 90-day patrols, I'd gain about a pound a week. (Soft-serve ice cream!!) I'd usually lose it during the offcrew, but as I got older that got tougher. Now my P90X taekwondo surfer grrrl is seeing it firsthand.
Our daughter gets no extra privileges by standing watch, and she certainly doesn't get more pay. She could have chosen to fill out her midshipman "qualification card" and then spent the rest of the month watching movies, drinking coffee, and playing cribbage. Her watchstanding choice may be perceived as "stupid" by the crew and her fellow mids, but it's going to give her bonus points from the senior enlisted and the XO. That's going to feed right back into her service selection. For her sake, I hope the good karma is still there when BUPERS starts picking submariners in early 2014. But she'll do just fine in the surface Navy or in the Civil Engineering Corps, and she may already be thinking those thoughts. I've transitioned from a mentor and a coach into a sounding board.
So here she is after three weeks underway, the last ten days in EMCON, and who knows how much longer to go:
When she gets home and her memories are still fresh, we're going to have a beverage or two with a shipmate who was an enlisted nuke and became an intelligence officer (he's up for O-5 next year). We're also going to have coffee with another good shipmate, a retired corpsman EMT who's qualified in submarines as well as in aviation rescue swimmer. (The movie "The Guardian".) He has a few sea stories she never wants to hear.
kumquat
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
DS and family showed up our Canada Day BBQ.
Lsbcal
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Nords, the Navy is sure a different experience from my norm. Sounds like your daughter is really taking to it. It's great that she communicates so much to you.
FinanceDude
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Should have posted this yesterday, but too tired. 12 year old son had a baseball game. He went 3-3 with a double, 3 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, and threw a kid out at home from about 250 feet away. Proud day to be a parent..........
It resembles communication, but I think she's also talking herself into taking that cliff dive...
We went through this same process when she was trying to decide between a legacy appointment to USNA or a stretch application to Rice/NROTC. The latter has been a much better deal for her, and I'm vicariously enjoying the thrill of attending a real college.
Whether she goes submarines or something else, no losers in this game. The only debate is how long after graduation she'll have to wait before starting the training pipeline (with her active-duty paycheck).
Avalon
Recycles dryer sheets
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Very nice. Fathers, sons, and baseball make the best of memories.Should have posted this yesterday, but too tired. 12 year old son had a baseball game. He went 3-3 with a double, 3 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, and threw a kid out at home from about 250 feet away. Proud day to be a parent..........
M Paquette
Moderator Emeritus
DS just passed his Professional Civil Engineer exam. He's a freshly minted PE now.
He had to pass the California exam, which includes a real bear, the four hour long seismic exam. The pass rate on this thing is about one in three.
He had to pass the California exam, which includes a real bear, the four hour long seismic exam. The pass rate on this thing is about one in three.
Lsbcal
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
That's great. Just curious, what will he do with that PE?
haha
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
All impressive, but that throw is astounding for a 12 year old.He went 3-3 with a double, 3 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, and threw a kid out at home from about 250 feet away. Proud day to be a parent..........
Ha
Moemg
Gone but not forgotten
Should have posted this yesterday, but too tired. 12 year old son had a baseball game. He went 3-3 with a double, 3 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, and threw a kid out at home from about 250 feet away. Proud day to be a parent..........
We will be watching for him in spring training in six years !
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2035
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DD did what she does everyday: lick herself, eat, nap (repeat). Did I mention she's a cat? She's my avatar.
FinanceDude
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Thanks, that's the 2nd kid this year from that distance, and also has thrown out 2 base runners at home from the hole at shortstop. Just trying to get him enough sleep and good nutrition and coaching........
M Paquette
Moderator Emeritus
Lsbcal said:
For the immediate future, it should be good for a pay raise.
He's been managing an engineering office, as well as having a leadership position within his big project. The PE ticket is the missing piece needed to convince corporate that he deserves a management salary. Longer term this gives him the ability to set up his own consulting engineer business, if he decides to go that route.Similar threads
