Thoughts of the Day.

.....Greetings!

.....I'm here at work and psyching myself up for what the day will bring. The transition has not been incredibly smooth. There is still no clear direction on what exactly Code 392 actually does, so every day brings new surprises. :-) Unbelievable as it may sound, our leadership didn't think everything through before they made their decisions as to what goes where and how things will work. :-) Having this drastic change in leadership style hasn't been good on morale either. People are jumping ship left and right. I promised six months here, so I'm going to do my best to stick it out. Only five months left. :-) Wish I hadn't made that promise though, a couple of very interesting jobs have opened up. I love what I do, but the current chaos has made me realize a.) how long I've been doing the same job, and b.) what else is available to me out there.

.....It hasn't helped much that the Shipyard is facing a budget shortfall. Not good news. I'm not sure of all the details, but under the new Mission Funding rules the Shipyard will have to end the year on a zero budget (by law), so I think that we're in for some draconian measures to bring things in line before the end of the fiscal year (which ends September 30th).

.....Listened to an interesting study of the workforce the other day. The Shipyard has been hiring apprentices and Trade Helpers by the hundreds for a goodly handful of years now. What they expected was that by this time the older generations would be retiring at a pretty fast clip. For some reason this isn't happening. People are sticking around a lot longer then they used to stick around. Various reasons, mostly concerning personal financial situations. But what this means is that the Shipyard is faced with a dilemma, either start laying off the younger folk (which are the future workforce of the Shipyard and need the training), or find some way to start encouraging the older generations to depart. Looks like they are opting for early outs next year with a $25K incentive to retire. It'll be interesting.

.....Same meeting discussed the incoming Apprentices. The attitudes of this generation are somewhat different then when I came in as an Apprentice in 1987. This is not a complaint. The younger folks are hard workers, intelligent, and will work out well really. But they are also much more intelligent in how they approach their careers. A lot of thing don't think twice about resigning / quitting if the job isn't what they thought it would be. The attrition rate for Apprentices has been amazing. One machine shop class of 38 is looking to graduate something like 16 to 18 of them. That would have been unheard of back in the late '80's.

.....THL Aelianora gave me some figures from July Coronation. Looks like we made over $19,800 gross at the gate. Wow! That's as much as some June Faires make! We also saw 1,400 people register at gate. Another wow! All the hard work on Team Haggis paid off. The budget is going to come in a little higher than expected. The biffys cost more than anticipated. Copying costs were higher (frankly, I blew the budget on copying). The rental of the house and the scooter added to the expenses. But in review I would have done everything that same (well, except the over-copying :-)). The scooter and the house came in mighty handy.

.....Since Mistress Gwenllyn resigned her office as Chronicler last night, I almost asked her if she wanted to take on The Crier right away. :-) I might have been killed though. As it was I was already living dangerously by suggesting out loud that THL Conchobar could be next year's June Faire Chairman. His wife, Eilidh, smacked me with her shoe. Then Mistress Ellen smacked me with a look when I invited everyone to join me on Team Haggis III in 2008. :-) Hey, I gotta do a third Kingdom event to catch up to Catelin. :-)

.....Kinda tired today. Looking forward to going to bed a little early tonight. :-) Looking even more forward to a trip to Seattle tomorrow night for scary movie night.

.....Hope everyone's day goes well.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

Because I like to party with lemmings....

.....and I don't want to clean up the house like I should. :-)

A is for Age: 39.17 from May.

B is for beer of choice: Beer is not my thing.

C is for career: Production Controller - Emergent Work Planner.

D is for your dog's name: Cat-Dog 'Tia' :-)

E is for essential item you use everyday: My e-mail! :-)

F is for favorite song at the moment: Sting - "Little Wing" (it's my wake-up song on the alarm clock CD).

G is for favorite game: AD&D (although I haven't played in a while). Risk - Middle Earth and Civilization are very close behind.

H is for home town: Panarama City, California (Burbank and Los Angeles (and its suburbs) in general).

I is for instruments you play: Well: Bass Clarinet, Bass Recorder, Bass Gemshorn. Fairly Well: Alto Recorder, Soprano Recorder, Lap Harp (32 String), Sousaphone, Clarinet, Alto Clarinet.

J is for favorite juice: Tomato (with Jalapeno Tobasco in it :-)).

K is for whose ass you'd like to kick: One of my four bosses.

L is for last hug? Jenae.

M is for marriage: Haven't been yet. Come close at least once.

N is for name of your last ex: Chris S.

O is for overnight hospital stays: Two, almost a year ago now.

P is for phobias: Public Speaking.

Q is for quotation: “The truth is that life is hard and dangerous; that those who seek their own happiness do not find it; that those who are weak must suffer; that those who demand love will be disappointed; that those who are greedy will not be fed; that those who seek peace will find strife; that truth is only for the brave; that joy is only for those who do not fear to be alone; that life is only for the one who is not afraid to die." - Joyce Cary. It's on the wall in the computer room and above the desk at work. :-)

S is for status: Hmmm, permanently confused.

T is for time you wake up: 4AM on the weekdays. Between 6 and 7AM on weekends.

U is for underwear: Boxer-briefs.

V is for vegetables you love: Lettuce, cucumbers, turnips (with lots of butter, mmmmmm), summer squash.

W is for worst habit: procrastination

X is for x-rays you've had: More then I can count.

Y is for yummy food you make: I may be the only one who thinks it's yummy, but I make a mean guacamole! :-)

Z is for zodiac: Gemini, Sag. rising, Scorpio moon. I'm generally nice, but don't tick me off too much. :-)