Recently in About Category

Crescenta Valley High School in 1978. One of the many things I will miss as a result of the upcoming deployment is my 30 year reunion. I'm actually rather bummed about that. I was looking forward to going. I was looking forward to talking to old class mates and hearing what life had done.

A few years ago I was talking to a friend who is some 10 plus years older than me. He had gone to all of his high school reunions, 10, 20 and 30. He had an interesting observation. At the 10 year reunion, most people were still trying to impress each other. Broad brush caveats apply, obviously, but for the most part that seemed to be true at my own reunion as well.

I did not go to my 20 year reunion. My friend said that he enjoyed the 30 year reunion the most but that the 20 was better than the 10. By the time everyone got to the 20 high school really was a thing of the past. When the 30 rolled around, many had children who were teenagers and thus were seeing the teenage years from the other side of time. It's funny but adolescence viewed from the vantage point of a middle age parent seems but a caricature of what it was when we were living it. This usually plays out in the form of an argument, the teen accusing the parent of never listening. Yeah, that's mostly true but the reason that parents don't listen is because we know the script. We're embarrassed at the realization of how ridiculous we sounded when we uttered the same words now being flung at us. The wise among us also remember how important the statements and the emotion behind them were as a teen and parent accordingly.

So, according to my friend, the 30 year reunion is far more relaxed. By the time people reach their late 40's, their pretty comfortable with whoever they've become. Even if they aren't yet comfort in their own skin, they realize that their old high school class mates probably can't help them.

I wish I was going to be there. I hope that I can somehow hear about it.

aloha

Wife @ The Chart House

My wife and I have been together for 22 years, married for 20.

Me @ Chart House

We celebrated the anniversary of our years together with a short vacation to the central coast of California. We visited Hearst Castle and the San Luis Obispo Mission. We drove along Highway 1, enjoyed each other's company. Talked about the past and our dreams for the future. The trip culminated with dinner at The Chart House in Monterey.

View From Our Table @ Chart House

Now we begin working on the next 20 years. They are going to be awesome.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

That's right. I'm with Fred. I've signed on as a Friend of Fred Thompson. And, in the event that he decides to run for president, I plan to vote for him. I am comfortable with Fred Thompson's political positions. More significantly, I am comfortable with the way in which Fred Thompson makes decisions and the way in which he communicates with the public.

At the core of Fred Thompson's political philosophy is the concept of Federalism, with strong support for implementation of government at the lowest possible level. Fred Thompson holds that the Federal government should not involve itself in issues that are really better handled at the State level. Education is an example. The driving principle in the decision of any issue is should the government be involved in this and, if yes, at what level. I am a proponent of smaller government. Government gets smaller by doing only that which should be done by the government and then only at the appropriate level of government. This makes sense to me.

I support Fred Thompson. I hope you will too.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: philosophy, politics, imwithfred, Fred Thompson, sociology

Corporal Missile 47 years later

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently went to White Sands Missile Range for training. Well, 47 years ago, or there abouts, my father was at White Sands Missile Range to test fire the Corporal Missile. Here's the family standing in from of the Corporal missile displayed at the WSMR museum.

My Beginning

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: family, life, middle-age, military, parenting, psychology

I am an INTP.
I served in the military during the Cold War.
I spent 184 days serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (so far).
I speak fluent Japanese though my wife would argue the fluent part.
I love my wife.
My two biggest heros are my children. I want to be just like them.
I like Country & Western music.
I believe in God, in fact I depend on Him.
I lived in Wyoming, Iowa and would like to live in a rural community again.
I prefer ranches to farms and farms to cities.
I home-school my children.
I have a MySpace page and know more about the web, the internet and computers than my kids.
I'm afraid of the DVD player. My wife has to start the movie.
I love my truck, it is the best ride on the road.
I'd rather have a conversation in iChat than on the phone.
I have been to Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, Kenya, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Germany, Canada, Mexico and Singapore. And, of course, the United States.
I was a regular user of the internet before the web was invented.
I have been to California, Washington, Iowa, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Nebraska, Michigan, and Hawai`i.
I worked as a teller in a bank. I was working the day they got robbed.
I left Microsoft to go to work for Apple.
I went to school with Gary Trousdale.
I wear glasses.
I cuss like a sailor.
I like Mexican food even though it gives me indigestion and gas.
I don't like Chinese food.
I love the holiday season and long for White Christmases.
My wife and I have conversations on iChat while both of us are sitting at the kitchen table.
I went on a safari in Kenya.
I always wear a hat.
I was a Civil War Re-enactor and enjoy living history.
I like photography.
I sang in the high school men's choir and still enjoy singing.
I am a reasonably good barista.
I have a security clearance.
I smoked cigarettes for 15 years but have not smoked at all in eight years.
I have a drinking problem and because of that I no longer drink alcohol of any kind, ever.
I wore a hakama for my wedding which was in a church in Tokyo.
I believe that being a husband and a father are the most important things I will do in my life.
I believe that accepting Christ as lord was the most important decision I'll ever make.
I was 'held back' in the first grade which means I did the first grade twice.
I liked Navy Boot Camp and was sorry to see it end.
Of all the vehicles I've owned, the 1984 Jeep CJ-7 was my favorite. I wish I still had it.
I broke my arm at the age of 17 falling off a flag pole.
I suffer from a condition called BPPV.
I am left handed.
I miss Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
I like singing hymns.
Two of my favorite authors are Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton.
I seriously considered joining the Australian Navy under a special program for foreign service members.

Aloha

[posted with ecto]

Aloha

[posted with ecto]

From the beginning I wanted smittie.com as my domain. Someone had registered it and was offering it for sale. Initially, the web page said that the minimum offer that would be considered was $500. Some months later it was $850. Today, it is $1230. However, they accepted a significantly lower offer from me.

So, I am now the proud owner of smittie.com which I think is hella cool. Over the weekend I'll be moving my personal web pages over there. Smittieandcompany.com will be an info page for the business dealing of Smittie & Company, Inc.

Aloha

[posted with ecto]

My Friend Todd
Originally uploaded by zmittie.

Todd and I have been friend since our days at CSULB. We've been friends longer than the World Wide Web has been around. In fact, when we met the internet was not yet readily available to the public. We were both quite active on a dial-up system called GEnie which is now long dead. We were friends working in the student computer lab at CSULB when the WWW was first taking form. Todd told me it was going to be cool. I wasn't so sure.

Todd always includes a photo when he blogs about friends coming to visit him. I visited twice now. This time, when he took a picture of me I whipped out my camera and returned the favor. So, here is a picture of my friend Todd in a local Starbucks in the Torrance/Gardena area.

I always enjoy catching up with Todd. I wish we didn't live so far apart. I need to convince Todd to move.

Aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: coffee, food, friends

My psychological make up is that of a first responder. I find it very difficult to do nothing when a disaster has occurred. I want to go and help. I want to be part of the effort to rescue those affected and clean up the mess. I prefer the chaos in the moment of and immediately after the disaster to the comparative calm and organization of the reconstructive phase which is when most of the volunteers start arriving.

In my pursuit of opportunities to get involved in those types of activities I began some conversations with an organization called Greater Good Global Support Services (G3S2). Over the course of the last six or eight months I have had ongoing conversations with G3S2. In early September, looking for opportunities to go and help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, I contacted G3S2 and ask them what they had. G3S2 asked me to come and help them in their participation in Katrina Response Initiative. Machiko and I decided that I would go out to Meridian, Texas where G3S2 is based and spend a few weeks working with them.

I flew out of San Francisco Airport on Monday and arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. I was a little late in getting to the airport and thus my baggage did not make it onto the same flight that I was on. So I ended up cooling my jets in Austin for a few hours while I waited for my luggage to catch up. Headed north towards Meridian at about 2230 and arrived at the G3S2 complex at about 0030. I'm pretty sure there was some beautiful country that I passed through but I had no way to know it. All I could see was that which fell into the truck headlights.

G3S2 is a very small organization that provides support to missionaries and NGOs that are serving human needs worldwide. G3S2 was involved in efforts to coordinate volunteers looking to go to regions devastated by the tsunami with areas and people in the devastated region. In the case of hurricane katrina, G3S2 has joined a number of other agencies in a similar effort which is now called the Katrina Response Initiative. The primary focus of Katrina Response Initiative is to coordinate those who want to help with those who need help. It's a great effort doing a great work.

Today was my first day out here. I am reminded that I really do prefer being in the thick of that action. This is one of those parts that I like less. My tasking here in a broad, general sense is to coordinate and troubleshoot organizational and logistical operations. Spent today gaining an understanding of what G3S2 does, brain storming about how genericize some of the processes that have developed within Katrina Response Initiative so that the concept can be reused in the future. While I find some of this kind of thing interesting I don't really find it all that enjoyable. I am generally frustrated by the mechanics of trying to get large organizations to do what they've committed to or worse getting those same organizations to commit to something. Today I was calling warehouses in an effort to find out who has supplies still needing to go to Katrina victims. I finding frustrating that these people have stepped up to the challenge and are now left in a lurch because someone else failed in their commitment.

aloha

In Japan again. After ten years. Wow!

Transit to Japan was a typical flight to Japan. Long, boring, dry, etc. The best part was nothing significant happened.

Upon arrival we checked in the Nikko Airport hotel on the KIX facility. Fairly nice place. Not five star or anything. However, the big shock was, no Wi-Fi! Huh? That's right. There doesn't seem to be any Wi-Fi in the hotel. There is a 'business center' where we can hardwire into the Net. How quaint. I haven't checked it out yet. That might be how this blog entry gets posted. We'll see.

Tonight we're staying pretty much at the airport. Tomorrow we'll make our way to Kyoto.

Aloha