Laziness

I'm sure I was the source of much frustration for my parents. Beyond being a total spazzoid, I was an extremely lazy child. I would try to do as little as possible, and probably wasn't a very helpful kid. 

I remember when I was in 7th or 8th grade I had to mow the lawn each week. Our backyard had two wide beds with narrow strips of grass behind them. I was so lazy that I realized I could skip mowing the grass behind the beds and no one would notice. Of course eventually my dad did notice, and he wasn't happy with how I had half-assed my job, and warned me about half-assing life. But whenever I mowed the lawn I was always thinking about how to make that unenjoyable chore a bit easier or faster. I'd be listening to my walkman and thinking about the optimal mowing pattern to reduce the time lost to turns.

In many ways that sort of thinking is what led me to become an industrial engineer, where I could work to make processes more efficient reduce waste. Industrial engineering is really engineering for lazy people. It taught me that if the objective is to look out of your house on a nicely trimmed yard, that mowing behind those beds wasn't value added, but rather was waste that could be removed from the process.

My laziness has followed me into adulthood, but I noticed - especially once I started having things I cared about - that there is a certain pride of going the extra mile or doing the little things that only I would ever notice and I do them in spite of my laziness. 

Now this laziness does come with a few downsides. First, being lazy takes a tremendous amount of effort. Having to spend 10 minutes contemplating which route would be most efficient to run my errands far outweighs the time savings. Second, it's hard to achieve greatness in this life without putting in hard work. But what is greatness, and what makes it so great? The more I see of it, having a powerful career, or a bunch of money isn't always as great as it seems. 

I'd like to think I've stumbled on a system of optimized laziness. I've learned to pick the things that I really care about like being a good dad and building chicken coops and give my best effort on those. But when it comes to wrapping gifts, I'm as lazy as they come, and I will half-ass that job every Christmas Eve. Before having kids, my career was a bigger part of my identity. But I've come to realize that having a bigger job just comes with more stress and more work that's not always worth the ego boost or additional pay. I've found my way into a job that optimizes my effort:pay ratio. I could work twice as hard to make 20% more money, but that's not optimized laziness. 

Laziness has been a big driver in my life, but honestly, it's turned out pretty good. I might never be on the cover of a magazine, but I'm happy to float through life taking the easy route wherever possible. It's not a terrible way to live.

Eggs and Other Updates

Hello friends!

In my last post I noted that it would be a few months before our chickens started laying eggs. Well today we got our first egg. It was from Rose.  It is hopefully the first of many. The chickens have gotten quite big!

Rose up front. They think I'm their rooster.

So I'll lead with the good news, but here's a brief life synopsis since my last post. I'll hit the highlight of each month.

The firefighters had to put it out with my garden hose.

In June my beloved 1984 CJ7 Jeep caught fire. It was a total loss. But insurance did pay me more for my claim than I paid for the jeep. But it did not cover all the hours of labor and parts that I put into that wonderful vehicle. It's probably for the best though because Carly didn't like it and now we have more room in the garage. 

The Alamo

I also brought Carly along to a work trip in San Antonio.  That's a city that you can do everything there is to do in about 18 hours.

Tubing in Virginia near the West Virginia border

In July all of my cousins on my dad's side met up at my cousins house near Blacksburg, VA for a cousins weekend. We went to a hippie/folk festival called Floydfest. We also went tubing on the rivers of Appalacia. Early in July I went to Denver for a work conference, and really had a good time in Denver.

Friends from Seattle visiting San Diego

In August I took a work trip to Guam. In terms of minor US possessions, Guam has to be one of my favorites. It's like a more relaxed Hawaii. So many beaches and unmolested nature. I would have no problem living there even if it meant the main store I shop at is K-Mart.

At Andersen AFB on Guam

September also took me to a far-off locale. This time it was a week in Peru, again for work. I spent most of the time in Lima, but also went to Puerto Maldonado along with Iquitos.

On the Amazon

On the way back I stopped in Ann Arbor to hang out with the collegiate crew. It's too bad I was deathly ill the whole time.

It's always good to be back in the big house

Starting in October I scaled back the travel. The best think we did in October was take a little weekend trip to Palm Springs. Carly's boss warned us it is a gay Mecca, and he wasn't wrong. We had a delightfully relaxing time and at some food that a couple on the street recommended as being "super yummy!". It was.

Drinking a poolside beer in Palm Springs

The other excitement from October was finally getting rid of the Barbie collection (and other dolls) that Carly inherited. We decided to donate them to Toy-For-Tots. Hopefully the kids who get them won't be too confused as to why they are getting a 90210 Brenda and Dylan doll.

The Barbie Collection

We'll that's all the big news. Although in a week or so, I might have another small post announcing something. We'll see...

Asia Adventure 2016

I just returned from a 3 week trip to Asia, and have decided to memorialize it via the blog. It was a work trip, so most of my time was spent doing work stuff, but the trip did take me to 4 cities in Japan along with visits to South Korea and the British Indian Ocean Territory. 

The Ramen Game in Japan is strong!

A street in Yokohama

The team I traveled with left on a Friday and after a short 12 hours of flying we landed in Japan on Saturday night. Sunday was a rest day due to the time change so we made the most of it by walking around Yokohama where we were staying. It's Japan's second largest city and had some cool attractions, most notably a HUGE museum to the Japan's favorite invention of the 20th century - instant ramen. 

Me at work. Working.

The work week was long, but during the nights we were able to get some authentic Japanese food and Chinese food, as we were staying in Yokohama's Chinatown.

Yokohama's Chinatown

On Thursday we went to the base of Mt. Fuji. Luckily it was a clear day so I was able to snap a pic with the mountain.

A clear day at Mt. Fuji. The locals taught me how to pose.

On Saturday we spent more time in Yokohama and relaxed a little bit before moving down near Nagasaki on Sunday. Saturday night had a beer festival, which was a great time. I had a coconut stout that blew my mind.

Relaxing by having fish eat the dead skin off my feet. Kinda gross, but it felt terrific.

Yokohama at Night

The team enjoying the Yokohama beer festival

Riding the bullet train

On Monday we traveled to outside Hiroshima, but between the work and travel didn't have much time to enjoy the local culture.

On Wednesday we took a ferry boat over to South Korea. It was a high-speed hydrofoil ferry that put the Seattle ferries to shame. A smooth ride was further made enjoyable by a couple of Japanese beers.

Getting off the Ferry in Busan, South Korea

We were only in South Korea for two nights, but it was a fun little adventure. I found the part of South Korea we stayed in to be very interesting, but the people didn't seem as friendly as they did in Japan. Due to the language barrier we ended up accidentally ordering Chicken Feet for dinner the first night. The second night we played it safe with a seafood barbeque hot pot type meal.

Enjoying some Soju before the accidental Chicken Feet order.

The accidental order of Chicken feet. I tried to eat one but gagged.

The better meal the second night. It was real spicy!

The second weekend we spent in Tokyo at a very nice hotel that is run by the DoD. It is in a great location.

We were close to nightlife in Roppongi, so of course we had to leave our mark on Tokyo by becoming the shot champions. And then going back the next night to re-take the record away from our challenger.

Becoming shot champions of Tokyo the first time.

Becoming shot champions the second time.

We also did a tour, since we felt we should do at least some tourist things and see the sights.

The view from the Tokyo Tower

We hit up the Tsukiji fish market, the worlds biggest and enjoyed our last sushi of the trip.

The fish market had lots of fish and other odd foods.

Sunday was a hangover day.

Monday we flew out to Diego Garcia which is in the British Indian Ocean Territory. We flew 8 hours to Malaysia and then another 5 to Diego Garcia. We flew in a plane than had been converted to mostly haul cargo. It took a long time to get there.

Diego Garcia from the plane

We were only in Diego Garcia for 30 hours, and then started our trip back to San Diego. That trip was even longer, and took about 36 hours, including 22 hours in the air. I was exhausted by the time I got back to San Diego.

I got to spend a total of about 10 minutes on the beach at Diego Garcia

Everything is a long way from Diego Garcia

We went to a Mardi Gras party in Diego Garcia. The cover band's guitarist did this during the solo of Freebird. Epic.

It was a good trip, but very tiring. Lots of moving around, and long work days. But it was cool to experience the different cultures and while I would go back, I wouldn't ever travel to or from Diego Garcia without a stop in between! 

A late happy blog birthday

I missed the birthday of my blog once again. I always remember that it's in January, but I can never seem to remember the exact date. Anyways happy 8th birthday to the blog. I guess I never thought I would still be updating this thing 8 years later. In a way I barely am. But let's keep this thing limping along for another few years.

So let's get into the things that have become more important to me than blogging.

1) My job. I started my current job 54 weeks ago, and I really couldn't be happier. I love what I do, and the people I work for. Unfortunately it looks like my boss might get new orders (he's active duty), and his boss who is also great might retire in the next year or two. But for right now, my job rocks. Especially because I've been getting to travel more which I really enjoy. I just got back last week from Japan which was cool. Next week I'll be in DC and then in a few more weeks I'll be in Twentynine Palms, CA. It looks like this might be the year I take a run at mad Delta status.

2) My wedding. I'm getting married in June to a girl I met on FarmersOnly.Com. Just kidding it's to Carly. Planning a wedding is a lot of work. For Carly. So I've been trying to help out - she lets me lick the envelopes after she addresses them all. I do have real responsibilities, but mostly I follow the instructions of Carly.

This is where I clean dirty jeep parts

3) My house. I've done a lot to the house in the last 8 months, but it seems like there are always more projects to do. I've gotten some of the most urgent ones out of the way. Right before I left for Japan I put in a utility sink in the garage. That was a fun project because I got to use my new PVC cutters instead of a hacksaw. My next big project is building a The Cooper Howell Memorial Chicken Coop. I'm still miffed that Ann Arbor's chicken ordinance was so restrictive. Luckily San Diego has a pretty lax ordinance. Also egg prices in CA are up 30% due to the state requiring 119 square inches of space per bird. My birds will have 1,584 square inches. I might not build the coop until after the honeymoon.

Looking good in the hood

4) The Jeep. The Jeep has been keeping me busy - in a good way. Last month I started changing out all the fluids including the differentials, transmission and transfer case. Yesterday I fixed the engine temperature gauge and started work on the tachometer installation. I'm still working in my head what I'm going to do for a sound system. I love working on the jeep, and on the weekends I almost exclusively drive the Jeep because it is awesome and I love it.

5) The Cats. While no Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, the two Siamese cats we have are really growing on me. I had one in my lap today while doing my annual blog-year-in-review. The one cat likes to sit on my keyboard while I type and then sit on my chest while I sleep. It likes the warm.

So to summarize, I have a full and happy life with no need to use a blog as an emotional crutch or fill the major stints of boredom. But I guess the same could be said about me in 2007 when I started blogging. The beer, roommates, and schoolwork was just replaced by something more real life. But I'll keep trying to blog, not because you want me to, but because I want to.

I Resigned My Job

Some easy listening for the post.

It's true. I formally resigned my job last Friday. It is the biggest life event to happen to me since I started my job. After almost 4 years with my organization I hit the ceiling for growth and was just treading water. There were no opportunities for advancement, and even so the only promotions I could get would be jobs that would make me miserable. At the same time with the budget reductions I had very little work and was staring down a furlough that was going to cut my pay anyways. It was a good time to leave.

Even so, I'll look back on my first job with a since of thankfulness  I really did cherish the work I did and the people I've worked with. I'm very grateful for the opportunity but I'm also looking forward to doing something different.

The other reason I chose to leave my job is that ever since moving out here I've always dreamed of going back to Ann Arbor for at least a summer. I've decided to spend the summer living in Ann Arbor and travelling around the country visiting friends and family. I'm going to road trip from Seattle to Ann Arbor at the beginning of June, and then planning an east coast road trip for July or August. Then I'm looking at going to Europe in September for Oktoberfest. So if you live in the US, or want to go to Oktoberfest and would like to see me, let me know. I will drive to your house and sleep on your floor.

Eventually I'll need to go back to work. Probably after I return from Oktoberfest. Which also means I'll be looking for a job starting this summer. I've also been thinking about staring an enterprise, which I think would be fulfilling and challenging.

As always, I tell myself that I'm going to blog more. I'm really hoping this is true. To inspire me, I've changed the banner name.

Rotatin'

I said in my birthday post that I wouldn't blog about my job. Which for the most part I don't. But my job has offered me an opportunity to spend the next 7 weeks on a rotational assignment in Washington DC. As this is bloggerific news, I thought I was fit to share.

When I began working I heard of past employees who had done rotations at our headquarters office in DC. By the time I started the rotations had pretty much stopped, but I still thought that they would be a good thing for me to experience. So over the past year I've worked - despite the objections of my management - to secure a rotation. This Sunday I'll be leaving for my big trip to DC.

I've been preparing for the trip. I'm already planning on taking a weekend trip up to NYC and another to a bachelor party in Nashville. I have been contacting all my old friends who live in our nations capitol and letting them get ready for my triumphant arrival. I've arraigned for suitable lodging at the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue.

When word got around the office that I was doing this rotation the most common question I was asked was if I would come back. I guess it is rather common for our headquarters to offer jobs to people from the field once they complete their rotations. So who knows, perhaps they'll ask me to move to DC.

This amused me

Every once in awhile they send out these security newsletters at work. They are usually filled with stuff warning us about terrorists and shit. Whoever puts them together is either a 40 year old lady who wears Mickey Mouse shirts or a really high 17 year old sailor. Usually the last couple pages are filled with LOLcats, 90's clip art and random crap. I have no idea how they get sent out via official Navy Channels. The last page of the one they sent out today was simply this:

The image of a drowning sailor whose final thoughts before being consumed by the bosom of the ocean was someone blogging. Now consider all of the levels of irony that comprise this blog post.