Five Years

Yesterday was my fifth anniversary at Boeing.

In those five years I have worked 10,715 hours, including 1,467 hours of overtime.
I have taken 48 vacation days, 41 sick days, and 60 holidays for a total of 1,192 hours of paid time off. I have never worked more than five consecutive pay periods (two weeks each) without working at least some overtime. For a 27 month stretch in 2006-2008, I worked at least some overtime EVERY pay period.

I have worked on two major airplane development programs (787 and 747-8). I have witnessed two first flights.

I have had four managers (Monday I will get a fifth) and six leads.

I have designed and released hundreds of parts and assemblies, input to two certification plans, and authored dozens of other documents.

I have presented information to the FAA, numerous airline customers and potential customers, management up to three layers above me, and other Boeing groups.

I have witnessed half a dozen structural tests, most of which I authored the test plans for and one where I designed the test apparatus.

And as of yesterday, I am fully vested in the pension plan.

On The Move: Week 6

The sixth and final week has come and gone; I met my goal every day!

July 19: 5,202
July 20: 5,049
July 21: 6,148
July 22: 9,753
July 23: 5,015
July 24: 5,255
July 25: 5,036

Week 1: 45,669
Week 2: 42,766
Week 3: 48,157
Week 4: 42,192
Week 5: 45,473
Week 6: 41,458

Total: 265,715 steps.
Daily average: 6,327

History of Nuclear Testing

Found this on a blog I read:

http://www.informationdissemination.net/2010/07/history-of-nuclear-testing.html#disqus_thread

Its a ~14 minute video showing the locations of nuclear tests from 1945-1998. In that period it shows 2,053 tests, including the Hiroshima and Nagasaki warshots. Per wikipedia, some of those represent multiple detonations.

Myself, I had no idea that during that period we averaged three tests a month, weighted heavily towards the middle and latter part of that period.

I'm not as surprised that the US lead in tests - 1,030, not counting the two warshots. I'm quite surprised that France is as far up as they are - 210 tests; more than twice as many as the UK, China, India, and Pakistan combined (and some of the UK tests were in the continental US).

The possible Israeli test isn't shown, and since this is only up to 1998 North Korea's tests aren't included.

There have been over 500 tests in my lifetime.

On the Move: Week 5

Just a few days left to go, and still on track.

July 12: 8,193
July 13: 5,383
July 14: 5,143
July 15: 8,329
July 16: 8,322
July 17: 5,071
July 18: 5,032

Snap, Crackle, and Pop!

I love the sound of structural testing in the morning! It sounds like... um... rice crispies!

Well, maybe not, but one of the things I like about my job is that every so often I get paid to break things. The company prefers to call it 'destructive structural testing to failure' but I like 'breaking things'. :-)

In this case, I got to do some of the breaking hands-on, and the test was a complete success.

My first blog spammer

Well, this blog has its first spammer. "Aboard" has picked up a dozen spam comments in the last few days.

So I'm adding a word verification step for comments. I hope this doesn't inconvenience any real people and causes the heads of all spammers to explode.

On The Move: Week 4

July 5: 5,447
July 6: 6,989
July 7: 5,048
July 8: 5,195
July 9: 9,380
July 10: 5,080
July 11: 5,053

Four weeks down, two to go.

On The Move: Week 3

A belated report, as usual...

June 28: 5,154
June 29: 5,520
June 30: 5,685
July 1: 6,551
July 2: 6,816
July 3: 7,197
July 4: 11,234

Were you in the (Army/Navy/Air Force/Marines)?

No, I'm not, and I never was. Nor am I in the National Guard, or the Reserves. In fact, the only time I've worn a federal uniform was as a reservist with the US Public Health Service.

I get asked that question quite often, however (including today). I also frequently get puzzled looks from people who are in the military and know I'm not. Apparently citing Mahan from memory is unusual in the general population.

My grandfather was in the Navy. My father was in the Army. My best friend for some years was in the Army. I hung out with some of the NROTC midshipmen at C-MU for several years, not to mention the occasional AFROTC cadet. I have at one time or another hung out with active or reserve members of every branch of the US uniformed services (yes, that includes some oddballs). I've been interviewed by an agent of the US Air Force. I've worked on a DARPA project. I've been aboard half a dozen commissioned US warships and another half dozen former warships, plus the warships of two other nations. I have spent time on active US Navy, US Air Force, and US Army bases. I've participated in a US Air Force drill. I have actively researched a great deal of open-source data on US military equipment, procedures, tactics, and so forth, and have from time to time seen data that was not open-source at the time. I grew up playing wargames - the more realistic and detailed, the better. My high-school yearbook page had a picture of me playing Harpoon. I own a copy of Jane's Fighting Ships (1988-1989). I have read scores of books about or relating to the military and military history, not counting history textbooks. In high school I taught one of my history classes for three days at the teacher's request. I persuaded the mock national convention in high school to fund a new class of battleships as part of our party platform. I own several US Army official publications. I have basic proficiency with several US military-style civilian firearms.

Growing up, I wanted to be a US Navy Surface Warfare Officer. My eyes weren't good enough, but I'm confident that I was prepared in every other physical, mental, and emotional way.

After 9/11, I seriously contemplated joining the Army; leaving college in order to do so. I was persuaded to complete my degree first, and by the time I did my life was on a different path.

In short, I have spent most of my life on the fringes of the military but never part of it. Is that so unusual?