Trevor's first two wheel adventure

Trevor took the traning wheels off his bike by himself Saturday morning. So I had the proverbial teaching a kid to ride a two wheeler experience. It was pretty cool. Below is a video of a successful run for your viewing enjoyment.

Of course any time safeties are removed, giving a person more freedom, the chance for pain or other such mayhem increases.

If you think he looks bad you should have seen what he did to my neighbor's mailbox. Those address numbers will never be the same.

The Princess and the Puppy (bad dog)

New Years Eve: a happy time to reflect on the happenings of the year gone by, or rush your only daughter to the emergency room for the second time, whichever comes first. It was a warmish day in in the low country around high 60's low 70's. My Lovely Wife took the kids plus a neighbor to the park about a half mile walk. I was at the house when my cell rings, "I need you here now! M's eye is bleeding all over the place." I calmly respond "Where is here? Are you at the park?" The response comes, "No at the corner. Get here!" Still not entirely sure where here is I grab a clean wet cloth and hop in the van. I find them near a corner. Both M and my Wife are decently blood covered; I guess about a half cup or so.

The event:

a neighbor was walking his dog (think the Shaggy DA of Disney movie fame) All of the kids ask to pet; owner says yes. Next part is a little fuzzy but M said "I think I hugged the dog too tight" and she gets knocked down and stepped on by this big furry pet. We stop the bleeding and call the after hours nurse at the Navy clinic. She says take her to the ER, so off to the hospital we go, after dropping the boys off at another neighbor/member of the church. At the ER they make sure the eye is not damaged and clean her up a little She was not helpful in these endeavors. They prescribe some antibiotics to help reduce the infection risk and tell us to keep the wounds moist with Neosporin-like stuff to reduce the scarring and help with infection. M for the most part is her happy self unless you ask to touch her eye.

Are you Strange when?

So Just before Christmas I was driving home and saw some road kill. Not that unusual in and of itself, however upon looking closely it was possum road kill which is a little out of the ordinary for these parts. It did remind me of the Seattle area of wenst I came. Where the chicken crossed the road to prove to the possum it could be done. The situation begs the question are you strange if road kill makes you a little home sick?

Tonight was family night after a very short lesson Stephanie said the closing prayer. The 3 oldest were less then reverent. Rule is if you are not reverent during prayers you go straight to bed no reading time and in this instance. no family night treat ( home made popcorn balls) the howling that ensued was of Titanic proportions. but the quote of the night and the reason for this post came from Trevor

"Can't we stop this consequence thing"

I have been explaining to Trevor when he needs discipline that there are consequences for actions. Stopping the consequence thing is so not my call. Way out of my league and I'm kind of glade about that.

part B with Pictures

I got a little more done on my work bench. this weekend was a bit of a recharge. I only worked 4 hours on Saturday and 7 today. Stephanie had a meeting on Saturday or I might of worked longer but it was a nice break. I am including some pictures dealing with my last post. also one of some shelves I built over christmas stand down. and one of Sterling because he is cute. if a little dirty.

I think I have decided to go with a simple lever and 4 bar type machine for the raising and lowering of the tool bench. I should be able to finish it next

month some time or possibly the month after depending on

time and finances. A picture is a good as a thousand words and I don't want to type that much so you-all will have to wait for the pitcher.

work feels more like school right now but I am learning some interesting things. right now I am learning about how to control nuclear reactors. I

could tell you more but well you know.

Garage organization + update

Hello World,

in the little spare time I have I am attempting to get the garage in order. I brought my tools with me but have no place to put them. I did take my old tool case from when I was a copier repair person and turn it in to a kind of fix it kit. inside are the basics.

6 way Screw driver (very handy)

hammer

Allen keys

adjustable wrench

small drill bit set + driver set

cordless drill

cordless impact wrench (my new favorite tool I highly recommend one)

pliers

ear plugs

gloves

tape measure

little wall hanging kit (drywall fasteners / picture hangers)

sharpie

pencil

torpedo level

that's about it

the idea is any time a project or chore needs done I grab my basic kit that has all the essentials in it all ready. so far I like it a lot. a cheaper tool box would work fine for most people I just happened to have my old tool brief case laying around.

I have one side of a tool bench built my hope is to make a sturdy bench that sits on big legs most of time but has casters (wheels) that lower so it can be easily moved. I have had lots of ideas on how to do this most would work but I'm not quite happy with any of them yet. I will end up putting the bench together and adding the casters and some point in the future. I would also like to build a smaller cart that holds my chop-saw at the right level so I can use the work bench as a feed table for it.

I am moving along at work. I am having to put in lots of hours to accomplish the things they want me to but I should be able to qualify by mid March. Time commitment should drop a little once at that point. until I get my first class.

I will stop this post before a ramble more maybe I'll try to do another one on different topics in a few days

CM

sharing

hello world its been awhile, I did survive ODS flew home drove with Steph and the Kids across the country and arrived in Charleston SC. We closed on the house latter than planed but got in and it is nice. Our last home was small but had lots of storage this house is big with very little storage. so far I like the latter. adding storage is way easer than adding floor space.

that was the catch-up paragraph.



About thee weeks after we arrived the bishop called Stephanie and me in for an interview where he called Stephanie to be the RS president. now I was a little surprised but also have great faith in wife's many talents and wonderfulnesses (I don't believe the the spellchecker did not mark that as wrong) She was set apart today with one counselor the 2nd is forthcoming. So I have lots of faith that Stephanie will do a great job and I have always tried to support my fantastic marvelous and all things nice wife. I will have to admit I have slight feelings of worry. I have not had to share Stephanie before. I guess with the kids a little but when I am home she does an excellent job of making me feel like I come first. Now I know there will be many times when I am home with the kids and she is out using her super powers for the betterment of other people and I am not 100% sure I want to share. I support I love and I raised my hand today to sustain her and I will but I will miss her too.

The last few days have been better. we are now wearing uniforms most days and I don't think they would make us do sand angles in uniforms that cost around $200 but I could be wrong. PT is every morning now and they make as tough as they can. So I still get exorsize. Well I have some home work to do before I go to bed so best of luck to all of you.

ODS First Week

Well here I am at Officer development School. In Newport RI it is very windy here I do have a room with a view a beautiful view of the bay some times there are sailboat races that look really neat. I don't have a lot of time to look at the sail boats the first week they run you pretty hard. wake up between 0400 0430 and most nights we were let go around 2000 "8:00PM" lights out at 2200 "10:00PM" lots of little silly rules to obey and if you mess up the whole team dose push ups for it. It is supposed to teach team work. I'll let you know how its working next week. I did get a uniform and it looks OK. dress uniforms don't come til the next week or two.

I did do a PFA or physical fitness assessment sit ups 51 push ups 38 1.5 mile run in 13:58 I should do better in all areas by the time I leave here. I think I will. the food is not too bad I have lost weight but not a lot one pound or two is all I was hoping ODS would drop me 10 pounds or more. it might still well I had better finish things up I have to muster for Chow in 30 min or so

ENS McRae

On and Off = more work

So the house was listed we got two offers accepted the second one only to have it fall after inspection. We are off the market for a week so I can fix all of the things the inspector found wrong. How fun for me! We are also in the process of making an offer on a new home down south. I think in order for the financing to go through I need to figure out my school loans. I am also trying to understand everything I need to do for the Navy as I leave for Officer Development school in three weeks. So little to do and so much time. no stop that reverse it. Thank you.

House is listed

Hello. As of Tuesday we are officially on the market. MLS # 29100933. We listed for $199,000 that will give us very little in take away money but hopefully the house will sell quickly. We have started working with people in SC to find the next McRae Manor. we are thinking new construction in a neighborhood called Royal Oaks. The Ashley plan is the one we are looking at the most, with the additional room over the garage or as the say in Charleston F.R.O.G. (finished room over garage). When we first started looking for homes in the area we saw includes FROG and wondered what they were talking about. The bad thing is the earliest we could move in would be November. So temporary housing would be in order.

The picture of Sterling has little to do the the post I just thought it was cute. Stephanie took it. If I looked hard enough through Mom and Dad's pictures there might be one of me in same wheel barrow at about the same age.

Graduation Presents

So I had some extra $ the last day of school and was tooling around the bookstore looking for something. For what ever reason I decided to get books for the kids thy offer free gift wrapping so I had them individually wrapped and brought them home. Kaith received UP, in a book version. Trevor got the latest Sandra Boynton CD Book combo "Blue Moo", Miriam got a new copy of What do people do all day, and Sterling got a board book of trucks. this picture is not staged when we sent the oldest kids to bed that night this is how we found them a few minutes later. The best graduation present ever, encouraging reading in the next generation priceless.

Graduation and hot jets

I am officially graduated it happened a few weeks ago and a week or two after

graduation my senior project got off the ground under its own 18 lbs thrust jet engine.

First Flight

I don't go to officer development school until September so I have the

summer off, well I have been trying to do 4 years of house projects so the house will sell before I need to be in Charleston SC. I'm not sure you can call that off. We hope to have the house on the market next week the Realtor is taking pictures Monday so wish us luck on a quick sale.

I just got the official word that I am invited to Washington DC for an interview with Admiral Donald and two or three Nuclear engineers to test my technical knowledge. If I pass the interviews I have a job in Charleston SC for the next four years and a commission as a Navy officer. I am fairly excited about this I firmly believe the Heavenly father had a hand in guiding me to this position and helping me get this far. I hope to report in a week that all went well and I will be in the Navy. until then I will by studding and praying hard. I will be flying out this Saturday may 2nd and returning a week from today. If open solicitation of prayers is inappropriate than ignore if not I need all the help I can get.

Cory

Hello all sorry for the delay. still jobless the Navy still looks promising. I should know in around two weeks if the navy wants me or not. On to more happy news we have had for a year or so now a chin up bar that goes in the door way. we have it set low so the kids can play with it. Yesterday the bar was up Miriam right before diner discovered how to flip over the bar. all by herself we did not help in this endeavor. Trevor caught on fast and the two happily pretended they were bats for over an hour.

Translation in case you don't speek Miriamise: at the start she says "watch me do a flip" at the end she says "thank you" "thank you" as sh bows. In other news a new quarter started. I was going to take it easy, but decided to take a fluids class at the last minute. It just think that a person with an aeronautical degree should know something about fluids and how things flow and well I don't. I am also taking flight test engineering. there may or may not be a plane to fly this quarter but I will take the class anyway the professor tells great stories. I am also taking a graduate level course. don't be too impressed all you have to do is show up and listen to a series of guest speakers and you get credit. no home work no test. On a final note we got a letter from unemployment to day. it is official they will not be giving us unemployment benefits. if I don't have a job when I graduate we might try a gain. until nest time

Cory

Unemployed

being unemployed makes you feel inadequate. first there is the fact that you were chosen to be layedoff instead of someone else. I'm OK with that part. then there is the dozens of people you send your resume off to often times spending time to modify it so that it fits that job perfectly. Only to receive nothing in response. most places don't even say no thank you just nothing which seams to say "you are not worth my time and effort" I have got at least one nice rejection letter. that's better than nothing.

That being said I have had a few more nibbles. the person I have been dealing with in the helicopter company in Kent responded saying he was looking for other work and if he found a new job then the company might hire me to replace him. I have also been speaking with the Navy. not something that I would of thought about myself. the recruiter sent out an email or two to all people studying engineering at the UW informing us of the positions open as a nuclear officer. I am too old to be a normal officer but I do qualify for as a position as a instructor at Nuclear power school in SC. from what I can tell its equivalent to teaching at the community college level. if I get the Job I would be a commissioned officer in the Navy. the Navy is flying me out to the school in goose creak SC on the 11-13th of march. so if nothing else I get a free plane ride out of the deal. I'll try and keep everyone posted.

The lovey dovey blog post

Words seem to come up short when I try to explain the relationship I have with my practically perfect wife. I am more of a music person, but I have yet to find a song that does her justice. Maybe that’s why we have never really had a song. There isn’t one out there good enough yet. She is an example to me and helps me become a better person. I love you gorgeous. I truly am happy together with you.

I have midterm in Flight mechanics in two and a half hours so I am writing a quick blog. to relive some building stress. this will be a quick look in to my political perspective. point #1 the best goverment is to have a King benjemen / christ type of King things get done quickly when needed and the person is good. the worst type of goverment is to have a bad king. a republic and or democrcy is slow inefficient and wastfull. the hope is if at lest 50% of the people are good. then good choices will be made. I believe 50% or more of the people in America are good. I also believe that only 15-20% of the people actually care enough to get involved and at lest try to understand whats going on. so its easy to trick the 80% that don't have time to understand whats going on.

Point #2 best way to reduce the inherent inefficiency of a Democracy is to keep it small Public works (roads, irrigation, public utilities, national defence) that's about it.

well I'll continue later I do have test soon. comments? questions? discuss amongst yourselves.

Working hard Job nibbles

I spent the day at my sister and brother-in laws house helping install a fence and finishing some steps. started around 9:00 am finished around 7:00 pm it was a long day but we got a lot done. I have got two emails from potential employers. and I am still under consideration for 6 different jobs at Boeing. one of the potential employers that contacted me is a small start-up in Kent Wa that is attempting to create and mar kit the first auto pilot for small helicopter's. that could be fun. time will tell. It helps to have at least a little interest otherwise it could get a bit discouraging, being turned down or looked over time and time again.

senior desgin

Hello another School post. the senior aero design project for AA at the UW is possibly one of the best funded in the country. things being a little tight this year we have a total of only 40 to 50 thousand dollars to spend on it. oh by the way this is only half of the 40 or so students that make up the senior class the other half are in space design. that's around two thousand dollars a student. and that is just for hard ware and some services. a lot more time and services get donated. this year the class has been tasked with building a quite, modern version of the concord. a super sonic passenger jet that sits 100 people and will not have landing restrictions like the concord did because it was so loud. we build a scale model of course not the real plane. the model should weigh 20 lbs or so when done be about 8 feet long and have a 5 to 6 foot wing span. It will be powered by a model turbo jet engine sucking real A1 Jet fuel. producing about 18 lbs of thrust.
I am the CAD (computer aided drafting) team leader we get/have to learn Unigraphics and produce multiple virtual models for the aero group to test. they run the model through CFD (computational fluid dynamics)program once the aero group is happy with the model it gets sent to the pros and they make a wind tunnel test model per our drawing to be tested in the big wind tunnel on campus. big is about 8 by 12 by 15 feet test section wind speed of up to 200 miles an hour. The whole tunnel is housed in its own building its pretty cool. oh did I mention that the final drawings need to be sent out in about 5 weeks. I will be so busy but it is kind of cool at the same time. I will try and post a short vid of the 2006 plane in flight.