Updates From Virginia.

.....My first full day in Virginia was definitely full, but good in reality. The weather is in the '90's, with the humidity at about 40%. Not too bad actually. The heat felt good, and the humidity not overwhelming. I think that I like Norfolk better than Kings Bay, where the humidity made the '90 degree heat overbearing and oppressive. I think that I could acclimatize to this environment. :-)

.....Our meeting with the Norfolk Project Team was in a building on the base built in 1888. In the midst of a whole group of buildings that were at least a hundred years in age. I will probably go back to Puget and be appreciative of my office which is located in a building that is less than forty years in age, and in much better shape. :-)

.....None of the things I feared of this meeting last week actually came to pass. The Norfolk Project Team listened to my presentation, then asked intelligent questions. I was able to answer them all. They had already warned me about the items on which they would press me for information, and I was prepared with concrete answers. I actually looked intelligent, which pleases me for a change. :-)

.....I went away from today's meeting with a lot of 'go-dos', but none of them unbearably difficult, so I think that I'll concentrate on getting them completed as early as possible next week. This is probably the best way I can think of thanking them for their professionalism and willingness to actually work with us. I think that my management could come here and learn something on leadership ability. Go figure.

.....Later today was a 'networking' session in another part of town. This Norfolk / Chesapeake area has some interesting architecture. I think that TBT would like a lot of it. Lots of two story ramblers with balconies and extended porches and french doors. A lot of them have a French Colonial feel to them. I especially like the atriums and sun rooms that a lot of them have as part of the lay-out.

.....The part that TBT would NOT like though was that a large number of them are built in brick. :-)

.....The funnies thing in this area. There are many, many places with statuary sitting in the yard. Lots of them are animals and fish and plants and artfully posed people. But there have been a number of fountains featuring Greek Gods and Goddesses. The funny thing is that on every one of them I've seen so far depicting a Greek nude, the genitalia have all been 'covered', most of them 'discreetly', in an attempt to keep the covering in line with the art. But a number of cover-ups have been a little 'different', like the lime green fake fur 'fig leaf' covering the private parts of a Zeus fountain. :-)

.....Just returned home a short time ago. The apartment is rather nice. A nice little kitchenette with a full sized refrigerator, a cook top, microwave, and a full sized dish-washer. I would not want to live here for several months, but for a week or so it is quite nice.

.....Tomorrow is a physical tour of the facilities that we'll be using starting in September, and a ShipCheck aboard the boat. That'll take most of the day. Tomorrow night is packing, with a 0900 flight out of Norfolk towards Chicago. A short week for sure. I'm actually feeling sorry for my stand-in back at Puget who has called me frantically several times today. This week was the week that half the Shipyard scheduled leave and he is finding it difficult to get a hold of ANYONE there to help him. :-)

.....O.K., off to bed.

.....Aaron / Arontius.