Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in naval_mayhem's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, May 7th, 2009
2:59 pm	Intelligent birds! jennies, I thought you might be interested in this story. Current Mood: sick (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
11:56 pm	Navy 34, Army 0. Seven straight years. Of course, years from now, when Army turns it around and ushers in a new era of dominance, I'll be able to look back at the good ol' days of Navy mayhem (pun intended)... Oh, and anyone that wants to know what moving to Rhode Island in December is like, just ask. This is twice now I've been here for the winter months... Current Mood: tired Current Music: The whirring of the humidifier (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 20th, 2008
12:11 pm	Who's a fanatic? Today's Get Fuzzy comic... blue_soulfire's first response: "Wow." Her second? "Yeah, that would be the correct terminology." Current Mood: sick (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
10:01 am	Today's news... Why Rednecks May Rule the World. As explained by an American BBC writer. What more needs to be said? Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
6:22 pm	To weirdweb weirdweb: [Bad username: blue_soulfire>, <lj user=], and I were pondering, and discussing, and trading amusing anecdotes about eBay, when we collectively came up with this great idea for your Masters' project. Introducing, Pict-o-Google, where the search engine's input is a scanned or electronic image. Imagine that you've got something on your front lawn in upstate New York, and you can't tell what it is. So, you take a picture, input it into Pict-o-Google, and let the search engine use a sophisticated algorithm to identify central points and indicate what your mystery subject is. Some guy in central Kansas sees your picture and exclaims, "That's Bigfoot! That's the best picture anyone's ever gotten!" (Thanks, jennies...) Current Mood: contemplative (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
9:48 am	Don LaFontaine passed away Monday. No one knew his name, but everyone could recognize his voice in an instant. It's sad when the people you grew up idolizing, listening to, watching, or admiring pass away. I wonder who's going to do voice-overs now...he's one of those irreplaceable entities in Hollywood. Wow... Anyway, didn't want to wax poetic, or rain on anyone's parade. I just didn't want his passing to go unnoticed...at least, not until you start hearing movie trailers in some weird guy's voice, and you wonder, "Where's the regular guy?" Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: Mental jukebox flipping songs at random (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
9:07 am	A 69-year-old dungeon master? A sad day for D&D junkies: Dungeons and Dragons creator dies But apparently he hosted his own dungeon crawling sessions...how'd you like to sit down and game with the father of the d20 system? Couldn't slip any rules by him, though..... Current Mood: lethargic Current Music: KRWLNG - Linkin Park (Mike Shinoda) - Reanimation (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
9:12 am	Breakfast, anyone? Y'know, a Big Mac for breakfast doesn't sound so bad: Morning Coffee is 'Meal in a Cup' *sips his black Godiva coffee* Current Music: Brad Paisley - Online (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
8:07 am	This just in... Americans aren't the only ones who won't take responsibility for their actions anymore: Canadian Drug Victim Sues Dealer I don't know whether to be happy that we're not alone in our narcissistic "it must be somebody else's fault" society, or sad that we were unable to contain it within our borders. I wouldn't want to infect the world with this virus... Current Mood: cynical Current Music: Big and Rich - Real World (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
8:18 am	Wait for it... ...because the baby still isn't here yet. No, our general silence does not yet mean that she's in the hospital. (I have no idea who actually reads my LJ, so I'm just throwing that out there for people who might actually do so.) In other news: Jackson to Produce Hobbit Movies (!!!) And, since e-mail chains are so 1990s, I'll take this off the LJ of jennies and pass it along: 1. Was 2007 a good year for you? Yes! When your family is set to expand, it's always a good year. 2. What was your favorite moment of the year? Finding out she was pregnant. (Single guys don't get that luxury...) 3. What was your least favorite moment of the year? Finding out I almost didn't go on Summer Training blocks (thus screwing someone else instead) because they failed to tell me that I needed my qualifications first... 4. What are your plans for 2008? Teach. Baby. There's a trip home somewhere in there, too. 5. What countries did you visit? Oddly enough, this is the first year in a while I didn't find myself in a place where the population doesn't speak American. 6. What date in 2007 will remain etched in your memory? The date my child is born. (Notice a theme here? No, I'm not that excited, am I?) Adding to the list...starting to teach two days after I arrive at the Academy...what a way to start the year off... 7. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Aside from the obvious, there was no one big achievement. You never realize how much preparing for a baby takes over your life until you look back on it. 8. What was your biggest failure? (Edit: Failing to re-read my LJ posts after I make them public.) 9. Did you suffer any illness or injury? Strained quad in May beating out a grounder. Two weeks after it healed, I sprained my ankle trying to block the shot of a guy 4 inches taller than me. (That one still hasn't completely healed and might eventually be the source of my first arthritis years from now.) 10. What was the best thing you bought? My wife's Mac Mini. It's the prelude to buying a PowerBook soon... 11. Who's behaviour made you appalled and depressed? The common man. Pick up a newspaper and see what I mean. I have to put it down after 5 minutes because I want to punch something. If people would just accept some responsibility for their lives, I might actually be proud of mankind again. Might. 12. Where did most of your money go? Rent. Oil heat. Despite living in Maryland, electricity actually wasn't too bad...until you realize that we use oil for air AND water heating. *sighs* Oh, and eating out, too. Annapolis is not cheap. 13. What did you get really really really excited about? If you can't figure this out by now, stop reading. You're wasting your time. 14. What songs will always remind you of 2007? As mnemonically musical as I am, I don't typically attach music to a specific year. Although, my 1999 recording of USNA's Messiah performance will remind me that Doc Talley retired this past year... 15. Compared to this time last year are you: a) Fatter or thinner? Thinner. I blame all the sports (especially the ones that got me injured). b) Happier or sadder? Happier. c) Richer or poorer? Definitely richer. 16. What do you wish you'd done more of? Figurine painting. Learning how to maintain a car. Hurled nuclear weapons at a certain South American dictator. 17. What do you wish you'd done less of? Juggling. Not in a physical, literal sense, mind you... 18. How will you be spending Christmas? That all depends on whether our family is two...or three... 19. Which LJ/MySpace users did you meet for the first time? None. (Hey! Question! What happened to #20?) (We pause for station identification...this is the bored instructor at work who should be preparing for next semester but isn't quite ready for that yet...) 21. How many one night stands? None. 22. What was your favourite TV show? I typically hate TV shows because no one had produced anything good for a while...until I started watching CSI...darn them for finding my hidden love of forensics... 23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Hate is such a strong word...there's a couple of guys that I play basketball with that I wish would just shut up and play sometimes... Oh, yeah, the oil heating company and their ineptitude! That's who I hate. *nods* 24. What was/were the best books you read? This year I was introduced to Pratchett. That's all I got to say about that. 25. What was your greatest musical discovery? That I STILL don't have the range to be a bass. 26. What did you want and get? ...I'll stay away from the obvious one and focus on the not-so-obvious... Hmmmm... A couple of computer games... As in my first two Masters' courses... A good group of guys to play basketball with... Guess I didn't really want too much materially... 27. What did you want and not get? More than one game of golf with friends. 28. What was your favourite film this year? Haven't been to the movies in 2 years... 29. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you? I was with Beth...28, grey-haired, and still getting carded. 30. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying? Feeling like I knew what I was doing. 31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Functional. It's either a uniform, or it keeps me tastefully covered. 32. What kept you sane? That would be just about anything that annoys me...it's the stuff that keeps me sane that drives me the craziest... 33. Which celebrity did you fancy the most? I can't say. The news is filled so much with the bad stuff that celebrities do, it's sometimes very difficult to find the good ones. 34. Which political issue stirred you the most? Any country that thinks they have power over the U.S. because they supply our oil needs to be put in their place. 35. Who did you miss? Friends that I really should get back in touch with. 36. Did you treat somebody badly in 2007? Gosh, I hope not. 37. Did somebody treat you badly in 2007? See previous statement. 38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year? Balance is impossible to achieve. Even if you do achieve balance, the very next thing that hits you will upset the balance and it will all come crashing down. 39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year... "Just another manic Monday...I wish it was Sunday...'cause that's my fun day..." Current Mood: bored Current Music: Bush - Machine Head (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007
7:51 am	Hah! To think this guy once epitomized what it meant to be a pilot...(actually, he still does, knowing how pilots think and act): Germany imposes ban on Tom Cruise I laugh especially hard at this quote: "'Personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie's plot or themes,' [co-producer Paula Wagner] said." They just don't get it...Germany doesn't object to the film...they object to Tom Cruise being in the film. The son of the person Cruise's character is portraying doesn't want Cruise to have any part of his father. Hint, hint! *bludgeon* It sounds like Germany actually wants a film of that subject to be made (the assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler). That much they can agree on. But when will Tom Cruise learn that his "religion" is nothing more than a sci-fi genre taken entirely the wrong direction, and that people really are tired of hearing it? He thinks he's championing a cause...he's really slowly digging his own image grave. Tolkien fans don't consider themselves a religion...neither do fans of the Majere twins in Dragonlance, and that series of books actually has an established religious structure involved. How is L. Ron Hubbard different? Current Mood: indescribable Current Music: Disturbed - Violence Fetish (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 17th, 2007
7:55 pm	It's a hell of a town... I never get tired of walking around in New York City. Let me rephrase that...I can always find something that interests me in NYC. (My feet protested the first wording of that last statement.) Strand. They claim 18 miles of books, and they're not all used; some are actually quite old and rare. Barnes and Noble is great for grabbing a book and curling up with it for a while. I'm actually quite thankful I didn't find any sofas or coffee shops within the store. The Strand has the feel of an old musty library...and it's almost like you never know what you're going to find. I happened upon "A Layman's Guide to Naval Strategy," kind of like a "Tactical Navy for Dummies" book...written in 1942. Imagine hearing someone talking about naval doctrine during a war in which naval doctrine was radically altered by the rise of the aircraft carrier. Tell me you'll find that at B&N. So, after a day of walking around downtown, it's time to settle in with a bowl of Ramen noodles, relax, and hope my feet will forgive me for today's mindless traipsing. Tomorrow is, after all, another day... Current Mood: sore Current Music: Final Fantasy III - Kefka's Theme (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
4:52 pm	Population density... Take 120 18- to 22-year-olds, add in ~20 junior enlisted and four chiefs, two US Navy officers, and top it all of with a Brazilian exchange officer leading the charge...and we call it training. Of course, with that many people assigned to six wooden 108-foot-long 20-year-old mini-ships, something is bound to happen. It's the laws of probability (or Murphy's Law, whichever one you subscribe to). Especially if you've taken a look at the weather for Portland, Maine, recently at www.noaa.gov. Bad visibility, high seas, and a medical emergency with one of the senior midshipmen forced us to spend an extra day in port...of course, we made that decision after we had gotten underway. Most of us had experienced the bad weather and the high seas, and were decidedly green in the face when they came back in. (I wasn't one of them...my boat had the only corpsman on board, so he had to come in and deal with the medical emergency.) If you want to know what this dire medical emergency was, look up "epididymitis" on webmd.com. Any guys reading this post can begin crossing their legs in sympathy now. Poor guy. Current Mood: mellow Current Music: Whatever the enlisted are trying to play on Guitar Hero 2 (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 28th, 2007
12:57 pm	Last day of Spring Semester classes... ...now what do I do? Oh, yes, there's this thing called giving finals, and grading finals, and grading two major exercises that I had the plebes do and haven't finished yet, and the half-dozen other collateral duties they've given me. And after all that's happened this week, I'm supposed to concentrate on work? Note to students: college professors have lots to do around final exam time, too. ^_^ Current Mood: dorky Current Music: The Who - Teenage Wasteland (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
3:07 pm	4 years in Iraq Truth be told, I don't have a public opinion on the war in Iraq. My brother has been over there twice with the SeaBees (he lost his best friend over there one of those times). I've lost at least two classmates over there, one of whom I knew. I know a guy who was on the USS Cole when it was bombed in 2000 (he lived, thankfully, though 17 other people can't say the same thing today). If the Commander-in-Chief wills me to be over there, so be it. I do what my boss says, and the Lord will judge me in the end. "That's all I got to say about that." However, if I did have a public opinion, I think I found it explained fairly well in an article on ESPN.com: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/070319. I especially liked the paragraph that begins: "Whatever your feelings on the war..." Thank you, Cooper Brannan, Pat Tillman, Jim Caple, et al, for recognizing that even professionals can sacrifice playing a game to serve our country, however unpopular a war is. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: None (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
8:43 am	Mental jukebox... ...stuck on one song. It's bad enough that it's Spring Break, and it's deathly quiet in the hallways. It's bad enough that I have 70-some-odd charts and practical exercises to grade. But what's really getting to my head right now is that I have one song stuck in my head...and it's looping over and over, like the start of a DVD theme song. And just when I was getting used to waking up and seeing the sun shining brightly right in my eyes as I drive east in the morning to go to work (for all of two miles)...they change Daylight Savings Time on me. Three weeks early. So, once again, I drive to work in the dark. Remind me again what daylight we're saving? Especially considering that I wake up two hours later now than I did 6 months ago, when we stopped saving daylight. I think the key to the depression and the massive coffee binges in the mornings is the fact that most Americans' work days start before the crack of dawn. If we could just wake up at a sensible hour to start our day...say, 7:30, we could enjoy the sunrise, get to work, put in a solid 8 hours, and then go home...while the sun was still out! Imagine that! *gets down off the soapbox* Current Mood: cynical Current Music: John Williams - Indiana Jones theme (Comment on this)
Monday, June 26th, 2006
8:40 pm	In 48 hours...I will have my most worrisome test... Engineering Officer of the Watch. A watchstation I have no business being qualified in (as a hated topside officer), a board I have had precious little time to study for, a qualification I had finished halfway during my last tour (alas, it was on a gas turbine [jet engine] ship...this ship is diesel)... 1930, the 28th. Of course, after that I get to see Beth. Woooooooo! Echoing Weirdweb, my grandfather turned 79 today... Current Mood: restless Current Music: John Williams (Star Wars) - Duel of the Fates (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
4:05 pm	Curacao. Not the alcohol. Although apparently they make Curacao beverage in more colors than blue...that's what I've decided to buy anyway. That way, I can say I got my Curacao...from Curacao. *nods* So we're sitting in an internet cafe, because...well, it's a heck of a lot faster than trying to do this on the ship (for the few of us that actually do have internet access). It's amazing what happens when a fairly modern computer system is linked up to a suitable amount of bandwidth for today's browsing and chat needs. Comic relief: of course, my liberty buddies want to see a movie, because X-men 3 is out, as is MI:3, and Poseidon, and Da Vinci Code, and a whole host of other movies. They all want to see a movie, but they can't agree on which one to see. Jason wants to see MI:3. Dan wants to see X-men 3. Will wants to see either Poseidon, Da Vinci Code, or X-men 3. I don't have any desire to see any of these movies: Da Vinci Code because I want to read the book first, Poseidon because I don't have any interest in watching a ship get flipped over and watch people drown (the number one worst way to die, in my opinion), X-men 3 because I haven't seen all of X-men 2 yet, and MI:3 because I haven't seen either 1 or 2 yet. Ah, well. Life goes on. It'll be fun regardless. I just want off the ship, and this is the best way to do it. Not much goes on around here, really... Current Mood: mellow Current Music: The hustle and bustle of downtown Willemstad, Curacao (Comment on this)
Saturday, June 3rd, 2006
7:29 am	Let me tell you about the Dutch... Hmm...that's classified...wait, what about...no, that's classified, too...hmmm...oh, yeah, there was this time with them that...crap, can't talk about that, either. Welcome to my deployment. The last paragraph, by the way, was the meat of most e-mails I've sent to Beth the past few weeks. It's really annoying, especially since the Dutch Navy is rather annoying in their operations and maddeningly last-minute with their planning, but we're "fostering good relations". *nods head enthusiastically* I've got a boatload of paperwork that needs to get done soon, and I'm usually up on the bridge 12-14 hours a day, when I'm not in briefs or eating or (heaven forbid) sleeping... Current Mood: aggravated Current Music: Pink Floyd - Brick in the Wall (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 2nd, 2006
5:06 pm	So I'm stuck on the ship today... ...because the person that was supposed to be the CDO today wasn't COMPLETELY qualified. Skipper hadn't sat down with him and given him the man-to-man, "This is what I expect of my CDOs" talk. So, I'm stuck here, when I could be off finding a phone to call my wife. Grr! And someone from the gaming community please tell me that this isn't real: http://www.blizzard.com/press/060401.shtml Aaaanyway...time to get some dinner in me, and make sure that I'm not about to go stir crazy... Current Mood: frustrated Current Music: MxPx - Take On Me (4 Comments |Comment on this)