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 |  Writings about things that have occurred in my life. Not in Chronological Order |
| Things that have happened in my life, good or bad. The entries will not be in Chronological order |
Elvis & The Arizona Memorial Tonight I thought I'd share a little history with you all. This is almost all about Elvis, and something special he did that touched my heart. During my school years, I will admit that though I enjoyed listening to Elvis sing, I would not have called myself a big Elvis fan. But I appreciated his talent, and often wished I could sing/croon like that. I joined the Navy in August 1972, and after almost two years of schooling, I was ready for my first sea tour. Unlike some sailors, I knew I would be a submariner. I had read extensively about the American Submarines during WWII, and could even tell you the name of a captain if you mentioned the name of their boat. (Submarines are boats, not ships). We all filled out our 'Dream Sheets' (we were allowed to selectplead for our next duty station, and type of submarine (SSBN (Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine), or SSN (Fast Attack Submarine), three choices of each). On mine, I really wanted Hawaii, San Diego, or Charleston. Submarine type was SSBN first, SSN second. I got my wish, and was sent to the USS Theodore Roosevelt SSBN 600 (G) out of Hawaii! What a dream come true! I ended up living in Hawaii for nine years. It was there that I became a fan of Elvis. As many of you know, the USS Arizona (BB 39), a WWI era Battleship was sunk at Pearl Harbor in a catastrophic explosion. Over 900 of the ships 1100 crewmembers were killed in that explosion. That occurred on December 7th, 1941 of course. Almost 20 years later, the Arizona still sat on the bottom of Pearl Harbor (and still does), a rusting hulk. There was no Memorial for it, one was planned, but fundraising efforts ($500,000 was needed to get it at least started and hopefully finished.) Imagine it taking 20 years to build a 9-11 Memorial in today's world. Elvis Presley had just finished his tour in the Army in 1960, and read about the proposed Arizona Memorial. He and his manager came up with the idea of doing a concert at Pearl Harbor that would benefit the Arizona Memorial Fundraiser. He was going to Hawaii to film a new movie; the plan was to hold the concert before the filming began. This was 1960, so the next bit of numbers may not amaze you, so bear with me. Three Thousand screaming fans met him at the airport! Jimmy Stewart happened to be on the same plane, but no one gave him any attention at all. That night, yes you see it right, THAT NIGHT, he performed in concert at Bloch Arena in Pearl Harbor. I've flown to Hawaii several times, it's a 4-5 hour flight! That's in today's planes. How long was his flight in 1960? He performed the concert that night in front of 5,000 fans. Tickets ranged in price from 1-10 dollars, with VIP tickets $!00. Yep, everyone attending was expected to purchase a ticket, even the mayor, etc. All total, Elvis raised about $60,000 for the Memorial fund. Six months later, the goal was reached, and construction on the Arizona Memorial commenced. Here's the part that made me a fan of this man. First, his trademark Gold Jacket he always wore in concerts, was never worn after that concert. Small detail, but notable. Second. Elvis personally paid every fee for the concert. He paid his backup band, the singers, Bloch Arena, etc. If they wanted something, food & drinks before hand, hotel fees, cars, he paid for it. Why? Because he was adamant that every penny earned from the concert go to the Memorial Fund. Another side note. Elvis purchase the first $100 ticket to the concert. Elvis and his manager also added another $10,000 to the fund which is what allowed it to reach the $60,000 mark, a little more than 10% of the total cost. I have heard, and could not locate a posting to verify this, that Elvis was in Hawaii sometime after the Memorial was completed, and called the Arizona Memorial desk to see about getting a tour. The office in charge was thrilled, and said he make all the arrangements, including getting the press there for interviews. Elvis declined the interview part, and asked if he could have a private tour, a bit of private time, on the Memorial. No press, no screaming fans. Of course that was granted, I'm sure the Officer In Charge was disappointed in the private request though. When he toured the Memorial, Elvis brought along a rose for each member of the crew who died that day. This man was special, no matter what any one thinks of him in his later years. |
Friday Night Date Night & Course Revision Ongoing This past week was one of study, study, study. I sat in what's called a 'Console' class. So let's explain that term a little bit so you know what one is. A Console (in this case, the Motorola MCC 7500/7500e/7100 Console) is where a person called a Dispatcher sits and receives calls from people like you and I. We call them on 9-1-1 over what ends up being the telephone system. They listen to your call, and will 'Dispatch' Fire Trucks, Ambulances, EMS, etc to your location. That dispatch call is sent over a radio network/system. I train the technicians who maintain that network/system how to configure, maintain, troubleshoot, etc. the radio part of the system. Well, the radio part, and all things that make up the radio system, since it is IP based (Networking classes), has rack mounted radios, vehicle radios, hands carried radios, etc. You get the picture. I don't teach the console class, so I had a week of non-delivery, and thought I'd sit in. Except.... I did other work on the side while listening. Yes, I was multi-tasking when I should have been paying close attention. So what was I doing in my multi-tasking efforts? I have a class this next week with Calhoun County Texas. One I've delivered many times. About 5 years ago, a new piece of equipment was added to the system I will be covering, and we have absolutely nothing about it in the materials for this course. It's in another course, but that one is 'Trunking', whereas my system is 'Conventional'. There are difference in capacities, enabled apps, etc that tells me this course needs it own Powerpoint Slideshow on it, as well as some hands-on activities. So, I first learned that app/program, added PPT slides to cover it in class, and wrote 4-5 hands on activities for it that will hopefully enhance their learning. I have this same class in late September for a different customer, but same stuff. So this isn't a one-time use deal. The first week of August, I have another Fleetmapping class. I'm finally through editing/revising/rewriting, whatever, on that course. One of my last efforts on that class was to greatly improve the hands-on activities (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet activities), as well as develop a series of questions to be asked a customer about a month before the class convenes. Those questions were sent to the customer I'll be teaching, and for once they answered every question! That's a very rare occasion! So Monday, and Friday if needed, I will edit the hands-on activities so the discussion and exercises are built around their system. I will do this for each Fleetmapping class I deliver in the coming months. I was asked to review restaurants I may dine at here since I don't travel right now. This is my first local place. Now, about that date night. We always try to go out on a Friday night. Lately, it seems we've brought it home more often than not. With there not being that many 'great' restaurants in Bloomington (forget the corporate chains, I won't go to them unless I'm desperate), we often go to small 'Mom-n-Pop' places. While the food there is usually very good, it can't match a really good place. Such is the case last night, when we went to 'Jonah's Seafood House in Peoria. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea1d58af480a9320a67c073/t/60539253217e84... First, it is a nice setting. Second, we'll be back, maybe once a month. The service was excellent, the food didn't disappoint in any way, shape, or form. For an appetizer we had the Crab Tortilla Dip. For dinner, I chose their Sesame Crusted Hawaiian Ahi Tuna. It was very rare. Well, it was raw in middle, and perfectly seared on the exterior. I loved Ahi Tuna that is well prepared, I was in heaven with this dish. Here's the restaurant's description of this dish. Firm red meat with milder flavor, steaky texture & large moist flakes. It's robed with toasted sesame seeds, Pan Seared, sided with pickled ginger, sweet ocean greens, & peanut butter lime, wasabi aioli, & Asian ginger sauces. Best rare! I tried each sauce, but loved the Wasabi Aioli, and the Asian Ginger Sauces. On a scale of 10, this was a 9 for me, maybe a little above 9. (I'd never rate a place a 10 on a first visit. You have to dine there multiple times to earn that.) Back to work topics. Speaking of Fleetmapping, I will deliver it (virtually of course) a week from Monday, after I deliver that class to Calhoun County (that's only a three day class). I'm still thankful to have this great job, thankful for so many things. Most of all, I'm thankful I'm here, alive and kicking. See you all next time 'round. |
How do you feel about the integrity of the news? Can we believe what we read/see? How much bias is there? There are exceptions to everything, I know that. But what I'm going to write about here is what I see from the media outlets every day. I have to say, you have included two words that do not belong together. Before I continue, I have to say that I can't speak for any country other than the United States about this topic, but here we go. News. Integrity? The news Networks have ZERO Integrity, and I mean ZERO. I constantly ask myself what has happened, where is Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley when you need them? I find that the media (left or right, it doesn't matter), is not reporting the news. Rather, they will report on subjects they want you to inform you of. Gone are the days of reporting the news, nothing but the news, or 'The facts Ma'am, just the facts'. This issue is, the media wants people in office that are sympathetic to their views. 'Their' being the owner/CEO of the corporation. It's not a matter of reporting the news, it's a matter of using their platform to further a candidates position on issues to get favorable outcomes. Or the media will use a story to gain favorable views from the local public. I will give you a prime example of something that recently occurred here in Illinois, and backfired on the station involved. A city police officer and his partner were called to a residence for a domestic disturbance. When they arrived, the young man involved shot at them. The officer was killed in the shootout, as was the young man. The officer's partner was severely wounded. To me, both deaths are a real tragedy. The kicker was what happened a couple of days after this occurred. A local TV station ran a special program featuring the young man involved in the shootout, and depicted him 'floating in the sky' with angel wings and a halo. I won't go further into the young man's background or history, but let's just say he had been in trouble before. A lot of trouble. The backlash of public outcry to the station was overwhelmingly in support of the police officer and his partner. I myself have to wonder who in their right mind at a media outlet would think that a story like that would be a good thing to air. People are boycotting the station, I won't watch that channel ever again, the station was scheduled to do a town hall in a nearby small town, the town cancelled that. My point in all this, is that the media has no integrity, has no desire to report the news accurately and correctly. Like almost everyone in a position of power, the media cares about one thing only. Themselves. |
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