One of my ReallyTopDrawer friends is on tv!

Swinging!

Saturday I went to Carkeek Park with my favorite five-year-old. I also just got a fancy new cell phone so was eager to see how well it can capture video. Well, it does it about as well as one would expect out of a cell phone, but this video is still pretty fun.

Overheard at the Radisson Hotel just accross the street from SeaTac airport

I was leaving the hotel earlier tonight and as I passed through the doors three men were meeting in front of the hotel. This is the snippet of conversation I heard as I walked out to my car:

Dude 1: What kind of strip club takes quarters!!?

Dude 2: No, dude. The bus takes exact change.

Dude 3: !

In other news, one may be inclined to notice that this is the first blog post I've written in a while. This is due to a number of factors. The first is that I've been traveling a bit, and often without consistent internet access. The second is that even when I have had consistent internet access said access was through a satellite connection at my work computer in a very public place on my ship. Bottom line is that it has been inconvenient at best to access the internet in a semi-private blogging fashion for some time now. This has all changed with today's acquisition of my new blogging implement; a Dell inspiron 1520 15.4 " Intel Centrino WinXP notebook computer. Huzzah!
Now, I've never owned a portable/laptop/notebook computer before. I've always been somewhat ambivalent about them. Specifically, why would I want to pay more, for less, simply so I can take my work with me? I don't. But now, due to the aforementioned situation re: internet and computer access, I decided that it made sense for me to own one. And now I do. Enough said about that.

So what's been going on since I posted last? I moved away from Boulder, for one. I am now Field Operations Officer on NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER, currently at beautiful Federal Center South in lovely Seattle, Washington. All my stuff got packed up by elite government agents and shipped off to Ketchikan, AK, where it eagerly awaits my arrival and subsequent finding of a new home, or home away from home, if you will, as my more permanent home will be NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER itself, or herself, or whatever. So far my job has been to attend lots of classes, interspersed by make-work admin stuff, occasionally hiatused by actual FAIWEATHER-mission inspired work. The leaving-of-Boulder part was hard, emotionally difficult, and realized by a 2.5-day drive to Seattle, so I could hop on a plane to Ketchikan, so I could get inside-passage experience bringing FAIRWEATHER down to Seattle, so I could attend the Seattle Dining-in (which was a riot), and then hop on a plane to San Diego so that I could attend a 6-day sonar training course. Upon my 3rd arrival back in Seattle in the span if two weeks I attended some more training, then the Field Procedures Workshop, and some more training. This week, I'm taking a Bridge Resource Management class with other FAIRWEATHER officers and some fellow NOAA officers from NOAA Ship OKEANOS EXPLORER.

I write this from the aforementioned Radisson Hotel just across the street from SeaTac airport. Due to some of the repairs being done on the ship as part of our alongside repair package, it has been declared uninhabitable. I suppose you could still live on the ship if you wanted to, but you would not have any running water or working toilets. Just like camping! But minus the fun! I was just starting to get comfortable in my new FOO room when we were kicked out and sent to the hotel, but I must admit I wasn't too fond of the fact that it was a bazillion degrees in my stateroom. I really can't honestly say how hot it was in my room as the thermometer on the thermostat only went up to 95 degrees. I can say that the chocolate bar with crystallized ginger and a love poem inside (thanks, T!) was completely liquefied by the ambient temperature. Not just soft, like from being in your pocket, I'm talking completely liquefied. Also, the water from my brita filter tasted like melted plastic. I've never experienced that before. I think the heat was actually melting the plastic.

So this is comparatively the lap of luxury. I can adjust the temperature in my room! There's running water! The toilets work! I have a sleep number bed! And wireless internet! Hopefully by the time we re-inhabit the ship, they'll have that heat thing figured out. Until then, happy valentine's day, ya'll!

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Funde Razor

Last night I went to the awesomest thing ever. It was called Funde Razor, but not just Funde Razor, you have to set it in a heavy metal font and add a heavy metal umlaut over the U in Funde and... Oh, just look at it on their website.

The event was a fund raiser (get it? Funde Razor) for Child's Play, a charity that raises money for sick kids in children's hospitals all across the world. It was held in Denver in a place called The Walnut Room. It has a bar up front and a space with a stage for concerts in the back. Set up on stage was Rock Band, the latest incarnation of music video games featuring vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. So, just to be clear here, you're playing Rock Band, on a stage, with stage lighting and monitor speakers and a sound system and everything, at a bar/music venue, with a cheering audience. I had never played Rock Band before, but I had played its kin, Guitar Hero a couple of times at my friend Isaac's house. That's Isaac in the picture rocking out on the guitar on the right. Even though I had never played before, I took to the stage for three songs as drummer. I figured my actual drumming skills might come in handy. Alas, they did not, as it's not like sitting at a real drum set and laying down a groove. The game tells you to hit very specific drum pads in very specific rhythms, so if you can't sight-read its system on the spot then it's difficult to do exactly what it's telling you to do. But I somewhat successfully hacked my way through the three songs. Not bad for my first time ever playing, in addition to the pressure of playing in front of a live audience in a crowded bar. All the people there were amazing, too. Everyone would get on stage and attempt songs and would support each other, with rounds of cheering whenever someone pulled off a particularly challenging part or made it through a difficult song.

And all the money we raised (mostly the $10 cover to get in) went to help sick kids in hospitals, so double-plus awesome.

Nice Melon!

Crazy Unidentified melon
Originally uploaded by thewbert.

My old college buddy Colin happened to be passing through town the other day and so I let him and his now-fiance Petra crash at my place. After spending a good week and a half in the Utah wilderness they came through Colorado again on their way back to Chicago. The gave me this melon, acquired in Green River, Utah, as thanks for my hospitality. Green River apparently has a huge melon festival about this time year celebrating the annual melon harvest. This melon, a Casaba Melon, looks awesome. It looks like something that should only exist in Dr. Suess land. I think tonight I shall cut it open and see how it tastes.

Talk like a Pirate

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day again! This video will give you the essentials you need for this fine day.

Hard Corps

Hard Corps
Originally uploaded by thewbert.

Last week Andrew and I made an attempt on Longs peak. Longs Peak is the only 14'er in Rocky Mountain National Park, and is the peak featured on the Colorado quarter. It is both challenging and accessible. The standard route is about 15 miles round trip and and about 4000 feet of elevation gain. In order to make a serious attempt, one has to get started on the trailhead by about 3 or 4 in the morning. We started just minutes after 4:00 after a good breakfast of bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls. We almost made it to the top before some weather moved in and forced us down so we wouldn't die on the class 3 part (slightly dangerous, especially when wet). We did, however, get this photo of us with the NOAA Corps flag at the keyhole.

Moveon.org should be ashamed of itself.

I'm a liberal through and through. I wear the label with pride. I refuse to treat it as the pejorative term that certain talking heads try to make it out to be. Which is why it makes me so sad when a liberal organization like Moveon.org stoops to such new lows in an attempt to make a lousy argument. To coincide with General Petraeus' testimony today, Moveon.org took out a full page ad in the New York Times with a picture of said general over the text "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?". This personal mudslinging is the worst element of what has become of political dialog in this country. Please, let's discuss ideas and bring back accountability. Let's passionately argue about the direction this country is going. But please let us not make personal attacks against a man doing a difficult job in a poisonous political climate. A man who swore an oath to country and constitution. A man whose uniform should put him squarely outside of any idealogical debate or diatribe.

Moveon.org, you should be ashamed of yourselves. If this is the kind of activity you sponsor then I refuse to be any part of it.

Signs the world is coming to an end.

As I was heading up into the mountains on my road bike today I saw one of those billboard trucks, the kind whose sole purpose is to drive around and be seen so that the advertisement it is literally trucking around can get some eyeballs on it. This particular billboard truck was carting around an ad for a wallmart that opened up way east of town. Am I the only one who sees the problem here? A truck was driving around Boulder for no other purpose than to advertise a wallmart that opened up that's not even in Boulder. I give up. Seriously.

p.s. Getting pelted with rain while descending a mountain on your bicycle at approximately 40 mph really hurts. Not my favorite thing in the whole world.

Alaska Part III

I just received official notification of my next assignment:

LTJG Ringel,
I am pleased to inform you that the Director, NOAA Corps, has approved your assignment to the following billet:

Billet #0919, Operations Officer, OMAO, Marine Operations Center - Pacific, NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER, MOP-FA, Seattle, WA.

You are expected to report to this assignment on January 1, 2008. You may expect to complete this assignment on January 1, 2010, if the needs of the service permit.

Permanent change of station orders will be prepared by CPC. Please complete a travel questionnaire (NOAA Form 56-26) and forward it to CPC through your supervisor no later than 120 days from your planned detachment date. A maximum of 30 days leave en route may be approved provided your current duty station is not adversely affected.

If you choose to decline this assignment and the Officer Assignment
Board is unable to identify a suitable replacement, your name shall be forwarded to the Officer Personnel Board for consideration for retirement or separation in accordance with 33 USC 3041.

LCDR John T. Caskey, NOAA
Chief, Assignment Branch

Promotion

I found out today that I was officially selected for promotion. This means that as soon as a slot becomes available I'll be promoted and be able to pin on my Lieutenant bars. And we all know what that means! It means another wetting down party. I'm pretty sure I'm the number 2 guy on the lineal list of LTJG's, so my promotion should happen relatively quickly. Details on the party will be forthcoming when I actually do get promoted.

Wait wait...

Don't tell me.

I just got back from seeing a live taping of Wait Wait. They came to Boulder and taped it at Chatauqua auditorium, and I scored tickets to it the day before the show on Craigslist. If you listen to it this weekend you can hear me cheering in the background. I wasn't doing much clapping because my wrist is sore from falling on my mountain bike yesterday. The panelists were the ever funny and sarcastic Paula Poundstone, he of the comforting voice Tom Bodett, and the lovely Kyrie O'Connor. Peter Sagal looks a lot like David Cross from a distance. And he's every bit as funny in person as he is over the radio. I was impressed by how much the show flows and feels more or less in person like it does when you listen to it on the radio. Going to a live taping of E-town was very different. There it was obvious that they were recording it in pieces and it would be totally repackaged and edited for the air. Here you could almost just record it in one take and air it as such. Almost. There were a few spots where they mispoke and had to start again, or wait until the show as a whole was over to get a clean take, but mostly it went smoothly from beginning to end. You can tell they've all been doing it for a while.

Alaska Ho!

Well, my upcoming assignment in Alaska has crept one step closer to officialdom. The assignment board is meeting on Friday and is expected to approve my transfer to NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER. I knew it was coming for a while, but now it all seems so sudden. The plan is still up in the air, but it will likely go something like this:


Late September or Early October: "Familiarization" cruise on Fairweather. This'll be fun as my sole job will be to learn the ship and the people and the systems aboard.

15 October - 9 November: Refresher Training (REFTRA) at King's Point, NY. This is required before a sea tour to renew licenses in things like RADAR and shipboard firefighting.

November - December: ? Might be in Alaska, might still be in Boulder. Vacation time with family and friends.

January - Febraury: Training at Pacific Hydrographic Branch in Seattle, WA. Also, Field Procedures Workshop.

Next two years: Sail around Alaskan waters as a salty sea dog.


It's good to see my 20-year plan is still working out.

Transformers! More than meets the eye!

So, back on opening day of the new Transformers movie I was looking forward to seeing it with a couple friends after work. I bought tickets online and changed my Googlechat status message to "More than meets the eye!" in anticipation. My friend S.B. saw my status message and came back with

More than eats these pies!

So I replied

More than beats that guy!

And he countered with

Porn defeats the spies!

It went downhill from there.

me: Format 'lites despise!
S.B.: Foreign cheats must die!
me: Mormons greet their wives! (sorry)
S.B.: More phlegm in the fries!
me: Foreman feet belie!

All of which turned out to be way more entertaining than the movie.

Yay! 100%

Fascinating Rhythm



Score: 100% (16 out of 16)

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Patriotism follow-up

As an aside to my last post I wanted to briefly touch on a related topic. I am a staunch believer in the rights granted to us by the Constitution. Nothing gets me going like a good free speech case such as the one the Supreme Court recently decided. This supreme court decision was a travesty, but I wanted to touch on a different topic; flag-burning.

As I mentioned before, the flag of the United States of America is an important symbol of our country, and even of the Constitution on which it was founded and which grants us rights such as free speech. This is why I feel it would be poetically wrong, a fiasco even, to ever ban flag burning.

See, when a flag is worn and no longer suitable for display, one proper way to dispose of it is to burn it. This is in the federal code dealing with proper display and care of the flag. So any law that forbids flag burning would have to differentiate between the proper, reverent type of flag burning used to dispose of worn flags, and any other type of flag burning, such as that done in protest of U.S. policy or actions.

The differentiating factor here is intent. Therefore, any law that bans flag-burning is outlawing intent, and is therefore a form of thought control.

Patriotism

This news story made my blood boil. The article is rather short, so you can read it yourself, but the headline punned "U.S. Patriotism is Flagging" while the article leads thusly:

Fewer Americans are showing their colors these days.

A new survey finds 62 percent of Americans display the flag at home, in the office, or on their car. That's down from 75 percent in August 2002, a year after the 9/11 attacks.

It continues with statistics about percentages of republicans and democrats who respond to a survey as saying they are "very patriotic" and concludes with statistics of the percentage of different demographic groups who say they display the flag.

My question; since when has displaying the flag had anything to do with patriotism? Allow me to be disingenuous for a minute. My good friends Merriam and Webster define patriotism as "love for or devotion to one's country." Their definition says nothing of flags.

The flag of the United States of America is, by definition, an important symbol of our nation, and should be treated with respect. The mindless, jingoistic displaying of the flag, such as on an automobile or a lapel pin, only serves to demean the symbol. Likewise the many establishments that fly the flag from their business premises but then fail to properly illuminate it at night.

As I write this I have a copy of The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America in my breast pocket. I get it out every once in a while because it is, especially The Declaration, truly inspiring prose. I swore an oath to protect and defend this country and the constitution when I became a commissioned officer. I have a certificate on my wall from the President of the United States that reads "that reposing special trust and confidence in the patriotism, fidelity and abilities of Matthew R. Ringel I do appoint him, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Ensign...(emphasis added)". I considered it an honor when I was chosen to raise the flag on NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON during it's commissioning ceremony as an Ensign serving aboard. But I have never, personally, displayed the flag from my house or car, or any other property personally belonging to me.

So, according to this news article, I am unpatriotic.

A Little Tuesday Math Humor.

Rhymes with Orange - Swearing in Math

Camping at Peaceful Valley

Campfire after a long day and longer hike
Originally uploaded by thewbert.

Last weekend I, along with a few others, went car camping at Peaceful Valley Campground, between Ward and Allenspark. We drove up Friday night and set up camp before dusk. Most of Saturday was spent in a marathon hike up the middle St. Vrain Creek, which was rushing and overflowing with snowmelt. We probably hiked close to 18 miles in a there-and-back. The original plan was to take a truck up a 4WD road to a trailhead to cut some of the miles off, but the road wasn't open, so we hiked the full distance.

It certainly is gorgeous up there. Click here to see the full set of pictures from the trip. Here's my favorite shot. Or maybe this one.

The picture at right was taken with my Nalgene Camera Mount. I set the Nalgene on top of a cooler and had the camera attached to the Nalgene to give me a stable platform with which to shoot such long exposures. This one is six seconds, with a rear fill flash. The trick was to get the flash setting just right so everything was lit well enough so everything was visible, but not overpowering so that it still looked like we were illuminated by the glow of the fire.

Goodbye Mr. Wizard

Television's 'Mr. Wizard' dies at 89 - CNN.com

Don Herbert, who played Mr. Wizard in "Mr. Wizard's World" died today. I fondly remember watching the show with my sister in the 80's. In one episode, he showed viewers how to make a sort of green slime that seemed solid if struck, but would ooze through your fingers if interacted with in a more gentle fashion. It was simple to make, consisting mostly of corn starch if I remember correctly. My sister and I immediately decided that we shall make some, right then and there. We searched the kitchen for the corn starch and just as we fished it out of the cupboard there was a knock on the door. It turned out be our neighbor, about my sister's age, who had come over to borrow some corn starch so that she could make this cool slime stuff she had just seen on "Mr. Wizard's World."