One example of bad leadership from our EDMC: MMCM Phillips

Browsing through my old e-mails found this quality little gem sent by the Engineering Department Master Chief, one of the higher ranking officials on the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), MMCM Phillips. This is one reason why I left the Navy, to have the option to quit when yelled at for someone else screw ups:

"Subject: Liberty call is 1800...
Message: for all CPOs, LPOs, and WCS until SFIMS is un-screwed. I and the CHENG are here going through this @#% database and frankly, it is not our job. There are almost 300 late to start jobs. Be prepared tomorrow to explain each one to me. We will meet at 1600 in the RT upper trailer. CPOs, WCS, LPOs all present.
-EDMC"


Translation:
Subject: You can't go home until 6pm
Message: For all cranky old leaders, cranky young leaders, and 18years olds with enough brains to be in charge of a work shop, until our work tracking database is not *bleeped* up any more (you can't go home). Me and the guy who is my boss are going through this *bleeped* database and we shouldn't have to even though we are responsible for the entire Engineering department. There are almost 300 late start jobs (the database tells me an exact number but I choose to round up to sound important). Be prepared tomorrow to explain each one to my grumpy face while I ignore your legitimate reasons and then make you feel stupid for each one. Even though I said tomorrow I want all of you to be in this portable trailer to yell and scream even to make my self feel better. Everyone will be present.
PS: I am showing total dis-regard for you and your family, and I don't care at all if your work center has done it's job and you have done your job, you will be yelled at along with everyone else.
PSS: Have a nice day shipmate...

-Matt

Our other journal

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are going to be documenting our progress of our bike ride from the Canadian border to the Mexican border on a cycle site:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/PM2011

you can follow along with us there if you care to =)

-Matt

We are doing it!!!

For those of you who have known us for any amount of time, you know that Matt and I were planning on taking a *small* bike trip across the country last year. Our plan was to ride from Virginia to Washington (state) and then maybe on down to California. Well, those plans were dashed/put on hold when Matt got his most excellent job right away after the navy. So....fast forward to just a few weeks ago, when Matt was looking at the time he has available to take off from work, kind of a use it or lose it situation. He had several weeks saved up, so.....we decided we are finally going to go on our bike tour!!!! Our plan is to ride from Canada to Mexico, along the Pacific coast. Just shy of 2000 miles. :) In September, we'll fly to Seattle, hitch a ride to the border, and begin our journey, hoping to finish up by November. I'm getting super excited. We were looking at the gear we have for the trip last night, trying to think of what else we need to buy, and it started to hit me. This is going to really happen! We'll be camping out most of the way, and expect to take about 5-6 weeks to complete the tour. If we can average 50 miles a day, we'll be golden! Our plan is to take all our camping gear on our bikes, and only stay in hotels once a week or so. Crazy, huh?
Anyways, sorry that my updates have been sporadic at best. I'll have to get Matt to show you pics of the bathroom, since it turned out fantastic. Still some finishing work to be done. Oh, and we had lots of family visit, which was pretty awesome, too. Gwen is starting to settle in (she's living with us now) and it already feels like the natural thing, having her here ;)
Well, that's about it. Should get started on dinner, soon.

~Pam

U-Socket Vampire Power Draw

A company called FastMac has released a product called a "U-Socket" (link) which is a power outlet with two usb outlets on it for charging any devices that accept this method of charging (most new cellphones, tablets, etc.) One of the largest concerns with this method is that you can never unplug the usb power adapter, so there will always be some energy draw. I was concerned with the energy draw and wanted to compare it to my HTC EVO's standard USB adapter.

U-Socket Draw with nothing plugged in: .8ma (.8ma x 115V = .092Watts)
HTC USB adapater with nothing plugged in: 2ma (2ma x 115V = 0.23Watts)

In conclusion FastMac did a very nice job of keeping the Vampire draw to a minimum. You are looking at almost a year and a half before it uses 1 kwh, so this convenience is costing me less a penny per month in wasted electricity.

As for the installation I had no problem cramming it in to an old box that is original to my house, but your mileage may vary, the outlet is huge compared to a standard one. If you don't feel comfortable with the fact that electricity can kill hire some one to do it for you.

-Matt Emerson

Dear NRA...

We get called by the NRA 1-703-291-9005 multiple times each day, and they just hang up on us over and over again. I can't even hear their message or ask to be removed, so what I have decided is that every time in that NRA's lousy automated system calls me I am going to donate to The Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence (http://www.bradycampaign.org/) which is as close to the exact opposite of your groups beliefs that I can find. So please keep calling me and hanging up, and I will keep donating to the people you oppose.....

-Matt

Two Summer Dresses

Ok, so the other day, I was inspired when I saw this dress by EmersonMade, a clothing company that just happens to have a similar name to me, no relation ;) I saw the dress and thought "I think I could make something similar." That looks like a button down shirt turned dress. So,  Matt and I went shopping at my favorite Thrift Store, and came back with two Extra Large men's button down shirts. These things were HUGE! I started out with the short sleeved shirt, which was huge. I don't have many pictures, because I wasn't sure how it would turn out.


This is what I started with.

And here's the other long sleeved shirt to start with.

These pictures are horrible, I know. But my husband was either sleeping (he was working the night shift) or working (working a double shift) so I had to take them myself in the mirror. But, you get the idea, right? I made sure the shirts were long enough to make a decent length dress.

The first thing I did was cut the sleeves off. They're ungainly and make it hard to fold the shirt in half to cut it.
For the plaid dress (the first one I did), folded the shirt in half, laid a tank top over it as a guide for the top, traced around it, and cut out a dress shape. For the second dress, I laid the first completed dress on top as a guide, since I already knew I liked the shape.

Then, I pinned up the sides, to make sure it fit nicely, and here's a picture of that.

Then, I sewed up the sides, making sure to leave the arm holes open ;) (sometimes I forget, but that's what a seam ripper is for, right?)
I still wasn't quite happy with how it fit, so I had to sew two darts on the back (of each dress, coincidentally). I used this tutorial. And this one. It made the fit  just that much better. The last step is finishing up the arm holes and the neck holes. I just folded over and sewed :)

For the plaid dress, I had to do a little extra: I didn't like how "loose" the button line was, I felt like the dress was going to blow open on me. So, starting halfway down the dress, I topstitched it closed (halfway down, so I could get the dress on over my hips.). I didn't need to do it with the purple dress. It was pretty secure. Also, with the plaid dress, I cut a "v" in the back so I can move a little more freely. It ended up tighter than the purple, which doesn't need a "v" 

I'm really happy with how they turned out. When asked, my husband said he couldn't believe I and made them, and they definitely didn't look like they used to be men's shirts either. :) I'm thinking of changing out the buttons to something more exciting than small clear buttons...something fun, perhaps?

~Pam

My {first} Pillow!

Ok, here she is. My first pillow. :)

I love it.Want to know how I made this? Well, I got the inspiration from the crafty cpa. The paper she used was so cute, and totally inspired me to do something like that. Of course, I had to do my own take :) I'm new to making pillows, and this was a great first project for me.

Ok, so this is ridiculously easy. Here's what you need:

• semi-see-through fabric (I used muslin. I got it at JoAnn's for about $1.79 a yd)
• cute scrapbook paper, with a design you like (this paper is for a different pillow I'm making)
• sharpies (ultra-fine tip for the tracing, fine tip for the shading)
• sewing machine (and needle and thread to hand stitch up the opening
• fiber fill (or pillow form)
• iron

First, decide what size pillow you want. You'll need a front and a back. The scrapbook paper is 12x12, but don't let that limit you. My pillow ended up being 18x10.5. You could even do a round pillow! Let your imagination flow :) Once you cut out the muslin, you'll want to make sure it is nice and ironed. You want a flat surface!

Next, you'll need to trace the design onto your fabric. Now, the crafty cpa used a light box to trace her paper, but I don't have a light box. I simply taped the paper to the window, and then the fabric over it. Like so...

You don't have to trace it all, and you don't have to stick with the design of the paper. I liked the flowers of this, but thought some of them were too busy for what I was going for. I traced around the outside of them, and put them all in a line, at different heights. I had to extend the stems of some of the flowers, and add leaves, but that wasn't too hard.

Once you have the design the way you want it, shade as needed. I traced in yellow around the flowers, and traced the stems and leaves in green.

Now, make your pillow. I just put right sides together, pinned, sewed around three sides and most of the fourth side, leaving enough to turn inside out. I ironed the seams down, and turned it. I filled with fiber fill, trying to make sure my pillow wasn't too lumpy. Then, I hand-sewed the opening shut. And Viola'!

A nice, fun pillow. Might make a good mother's day gift. Super easy, fast, and fun! :) Oh, and this pillow cost me probably about $1 total. :)

~Pam

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