I Am DONE! :-)

.....Static Electronic Reversible Power Supply, or SERPOS to use the Navy acronym. For five years now, the work of planning and installing this little bundle of joy has been the primary focus of my existence at work. At 1232 today, I watched as the Shipyard Commander signed his name on to the letter that certified completion of the last installation on the final Boat which will receive it. It was a rather indescribable moment for me. All at the same time I wanted to laugh in silliness, yell in exaltation, shake everyone's hand for miles around, and go find a corner in which to take a nap. I chose to go back to the office, start bundling up all the reams of paper generated in support of this effort, and look forward to a new day.

.....What a series of challenges it was. Back in 2006, I was moved over to the command of Mephistopheles' Older Brother and reported to him as the Big Boss for four of the past five years. That in itself was a scenic tour through several planes of hell. Combine that with the challenges of trying to perform a nuclear funded operation using a non-nuclear process with nuclear oversight. I'm still wondering if at some point over the past few years I quietly slipped into a realm of insanity that I just haven't realized yet. The almost daily beatings at times were amazing. When things went wrong there was a special group of people utilized as oversight whose job it was to ensure you felt the pain adequately enough to never repeat the same mistake twice. Instead, we always managed to find new ways in which to mess things up. What a circus.

.....But I definitely learned a lot. It's true that you learn through adversity. Things that cause you pain teach you, first of all, how to avoid them in the future. But second, to appreciate when things go right. It also teaches you to appreciate the people around you who are there to catch you and help you through those rough times. It also teaches you something of how to be there for someone else when they desperately need your support. My Team really came together on many occasions and I'm quite proud of them. I'm hoping at least a couple of the awards suggestions I've written up will make it through the vetting process and be selected as they really deserve some recognition.

.....Each installation was a multi-million dollar performance. Not counting the original planning efforts. Over the past five years we've spent a lot of the Navy's funds. I haven't sat down to calculate all the final figures yet. But I do already know that we came in under budget for what was projected and estimated. For this last installation we came within just a few days of meeting our original schedule. For the second Boat we actually beat the schedule. The first installation came pretty damned close in itself.

.....I'm amazed at much Zen I learned over this installation as well. Five years ago I was all over caring what people thought of my attitude. What they thought of my own processes and how I got things done. I cared a great deal of where I was and where I was going to be. These days? Wherever I am really is home. I make the best of every situation that is thrown at me. I no longer really even care where I'm going to be next week, month or year. Wherever I am is where I am. Which surprises me a lot. I wish I could take that attitude home more. Aaron Rogers could really incorporate some of Michael's practices and make him a stronger person. I find it funny how deep the divide is between the two entities. :-)

.....I think TBT will be a little happier for the change as well. We started dating when I moved over to Code 392. She has had to live through some of the really bad times where I would be impossibly grumpy or quiet for days at a time. Times when I would come home and do nothing more than stare at the TV for hours on end. I look forward to being a little more normal for a change. I sure hope I can figure out what normal really is again. Or, at least, normal for me. :-)

.....And I finally will have some brain power left I think to do other things. Like, maybe, clean the damned house more often. I really look forward to doing that. Which is funny in itself. Although, now that I'm thinking of it, I think the first thing we should do is re-hire our cleaning lady to come in every couple of weeks and do some more thorough cleaning. I miss Ophie a lot.

.....Still don't know really what is going to happen to the Team. We've got a bunch of battery jobs scheduled for the next handful of years. So I will probably be kept busy with them, at least up front. At one time I really wanted to move back on over to the Miscellaneous Work Code. But I don't feel as anxious anymore. Not for any particular reason. Something new might be nice though. But really, a couple of months at a slower pace would be really, really nice. I'd like to catch up with myself again.

.....Things are good though. Today is an amazing day, and I'm happy. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.