Another long weekend :)

This being the second long weekend in a row, I'm starting to run out of laziness, and am almost looking forward to going back to work. I had a nice four-day weekend... Friday at 2:00PM until tomorrow (Tuesday) when I have to be at work at 4:00PM. Tomorrow starts day one of swing shift. Wonderful... tomorrow is a short day (only eight hours) and then six days of working from noon to midnight. Followed by two days off, and then seven days of working 8:30PM to 8:30AM. Great. I'm ecstatic. So it's 12:36AM and I'm trying to stay up for another two hours or so... hopefully then I can sleep in until 10:00 or so... and be able to stay awake for work tomorrow. I have a feeling that these next few months are going to be somewhat challenging. Seven days of one sleeping pattern, and then an eight hour change. Kind of like jet lag, but every week. Even jet lag isn't that bad, because at least the sun rises and sets at the appropriate times in the new time zone. I have a hard time sleeping when it's light out. Something to get used to, I suppose.

Long weekend

We get Presidents Day (tomorrow) off. It's supposed to rain, be cold, and generally miserable. I think I'll use the day to catch up on some reading. My books from Amazon finally got here, but I have to finish the one I'm in the middle of first, so I can return it to the library.

I went into work today after church. I had to put in two hours since I left early a couple of days during the week. I have to put in a total of 52 hours a week, and a minimum of 9 hours each weekday. Tuesday is our Off Crew exam, so I spent time today going over stuff, reviewing for that.

The picture a couple days ago was of a paper plant that I pass every day on my way to work, for those of you who were asking what it was. No special significance... just a 'random picture'. :)

Where I work...

For anyone who's interested... here's satellite pictures of where I work. You can see the two subs parked out in the river, a couple of support and training barges, and the Training Support Building surrounded by parking lots. The bottom right boat is mine, the MTS-626, the Ex-Daniel Webster...

Bedtime...


http://maps.google.com/?ll=32.944414,-79.929308&spn=0.002003,0.003659&t=k

A Familiar Face...

So I was walking back into the building today coming from the boat, and heard someone behind me say... 'Anson..?'. When you're used to being called 'VanDoren' all the time, and there's only a handful of people who even know my first name, let alone use it at work, it's a little surprising. So I turned around, and saw someone who I didn't really recognize. Then I saw his name tag... It was Sammy (Sam?...) Caddell. He graduated UIS with Tabitha, and joined the navy in 2000 or 2001. He just finished a sea tour in Pearl Harbor (I think) and he's back as an instructor at prototype now... Cool. We talked for a little bit, but then I had a lecture and had to go. He's on crew A on my boat (I'm on crew C), but we'll still see each other around. So that's my random topic for today.


Random Quote: "A man must not deny his manifest abilities, for that is to evade his obligations" -- William Feather, The Treasure of Franchard

Listening to: "Trying to Find Atlantis", Jamie O'Neal

Almost halfway done...

I figured out today that by the end of this week, I will be halfway through with my qualifications (in terms of total points) for all of prototype! This is week 6 now, out of 24 weeks. The rest of the points will take a little bit longer, because each checkout from here on out is a smaller point value, but it still feels nice to be almost halfway done. Thank you God!

Hopefully tomorrow morning will be warm enough for me to ride my bike in to work. The last few mornings have been miserable for riding. The warm weather is finally coming back, though. I can't wait. Unfortunately, it looks right now like it'll be raining this weekend, which is a bummer... I wanted to ride. Oh, well. One of these weekends will be nice.

Random picture of the day

Currently listening to: "The Dollar" (Jamey Johnson), "The Piano Man" (Billy Joel), and "We Delight" (Caedmon's Call)

Currently reading: Leviticus, Psalms, "Workouts for Workaholics", and "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed"

Radworker's Practical

That was what I spent my afternoon at work doing. Towards the beginning of prototype training we had a Radworker written examination which qualified us as limited Radworkers (radiation workers) which meant that we were allowed in to Radiologically Controlled Areas (i.e. the boat) but we weren't allowed to perform any work there nor stand watch. So today was our Radworker practical exam where we had to perform a simulated Reactor Compartment entry, perform work in a HRA (high radiation area), use dosimetry equipment consistent with working in a HRA, maintain our exposure record cards, all kinds of fun stuff. So I did that, and am now a qualified Radiation Worker, for whatever that's worth... fun stuff.

My books from Amazon

I had ordered a few books from Amazon a couple weeks ago, and last Monday they were supposedly delivered to my apartment here. The only problem was, when I got home at 7:45PM, they weren't there. I called the apartment complex office, and they hadn't recieved them, there was no note on my door from the USPS, and no books, but the USPS website said they had been delivered at 2:23PM. So after a week of trying to get a hold of the Post Office people, I finally talked to someone at the local post office this afternoon, and they basically told me that they had delievered it, they left it outside my door, that someone had probably walked off with it, and that they weren't going to do anything about it. But then I called Amazon, told them what had happened, and before I even had a chance to ask if they could do anything about it, they offered to send me a replacement for all three books, and to send it by two-day mail so I could have it soon. Wow! I was surprised. But anyway, that kind of made my night. Thanks, God for the little things that sometimes work out better than I expect them to.

School update

Tomorrow starts week 6 at school. At the end of week 7 we start rotating shift work. 7 days of days, 2 days off, 7 days of mids, 2 days off, 7 days of swings, 2 days off, 4 days of T-week (in class training), 4 days off, and then it all starts over again. Fun stuff. My goal is to be one of the first 5 electricians qualified so I can get day staff hours for the rest of prototype (7:00-3:00 Mon-Fri) which would be nice. So far I'm doing pretty well, but it starts to get harder once we get in-hull. We'll see. I'm loving it, either way, though. It's challenging, but fun.

I talked to Leah Pfantz on the phone tonight. I haven't talked to her in forever. It was cool. It reminded me of how little I keep up with Ukarumpa MK's, though. I never really make the effort. So I'm glad she called me.

It's past my bedtime. I'm going to sleep.

Weekend home

Went home for the weekend with Curt, one of my room mates. It was kind of short, but I had a good time. We helped Dad with the new clutch for Mandy's car. Then back down here this morning since Curt has finals this week and had to study. I hung around home, read the book I'm in the middle of... "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" by Jared Diamond. It's an interesting book. I read his book "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Societies" a couple of years ago, and found this one at the library last week. It's interesting to read about not just what happened to different societies over the history of the world, but the underlying causes and reasons that history turned out as it did. A nice change from reading technical manuals, ship's information books, reactor plant manuals, systems diagrams, electrical circuits, and naval reactors technical bulletins. :)

It's bedtime. I have to ride my bike in tomorrow morning since I need to leave early to get some errands done. It's going to be cold... Not really looking forward to it, but my room mates who I usually ride with don't leave until 7, and everything I need to do will be closed then.