I Have Learned a Hard Lesson

Last week the recently purchased Hewlett-Packard computer done went and crapped the bed.  The good news is that it is under warranty.   The bad news is:  we may have lost everything.  

The last backup was done in mid-February, so it isn't a total loss.  I'm going to have to rebuild some spreadsheets on my ham radio activities.  A Word document on William Riley Parker is going to have to be redone.  No new photos were taken.  

The new machine was taken to a local firm who I've done business with for 20 years, and they had never seen anything like this before, with that kind of problem.  My guess is that the hard drive somehow thought it no longer had an operating system.  If that's the case, and the files are still there, then we've gotten away with something.

If not.............then the mission is to learn the lesson, and move on.

Back up early..............back up often.

Sunday, 6/2/24: Just Checking In

I haven't had very much to blog about this past six weeks, as that the activity here has been adding to the family history pages.  I have it in mind to create few more.  I find history fascinating, and as I learn about the migrations of my ancestors I end up learning some details that were too far down in the weeds for any high school or college course.  

As for my research itself, I've found that some of what I thought was right may not be right.  For a year or so I would have claimed John Webb Sr of Philadelphia as a 6th great grandfather, but one of the reliable websites has dissolved the connection to being the father-in-law of one of my Pilkington forbears.  Now that Pilkington did marry a Webb.........there's no doubt about that........it's that we're now not certain who her father was.

Weatherwise, we hit the century mark a few days ago, and it's still a dry heat.  The monsoon will be starting up anywhere from three to five weeks from now, and we have to take what rain we can get.  You wouldn't think that a desert would get any rain, but this one does.  It's just not a lot of it.   

That's it for this entry.  

The Passing of O.J. Simpson

Two days ago news broke that former football player, actor, and Hertz spokesman O.J. Simpson passed away from a battle with cancer.  For those of us who were around and of adult or somewhat adult age, he was known for being arrested for the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.  This was a really bizarre case and millions were following it.

When the murder first made the news, I didn't know or didn't care at that time who had done it.  As the events unfolded, O.J. found himself on the very short list of suspects, and he was expected to turn himself in.  On that particular Friday, I had the day off from work as that I had been working long hours testing a communications satellite, and I went to the beach.  As I was listening to the radio on the way to the beach, the presumption was that he was going to turn himself in.

After I got home from my outing, I turned on the tube, and a most bizarre spectacle was unfolding.  It was on almost all of the channels.  A slow moving white Bronco was being "chased" by about thirty police cars on the 405 freeway, with police and news helicopters in attendance.  I immediately grabbed a blank videotape, loaded it, and began taping.  This was history and I wanted my own record of it.

It was known that O.J. was in the Bronco.  There was talk that he had been on the cellphone and was going to kill himself.  My guess is that half of the nation was watching this, garnering an audience of a size that hadn't been seen since the first Moon landing.  And yes, I had that morbid curiosity about whether or not he was going to kill himself.  The Bronco eventually found its way to O.J.'s house on 360 North Rockingham, and then it was another 45 minutes, or so it seemed, before O.J. was arrested.

The trial itself went on to be known as the "Trial of the Century".  I didn't watch very much of it, even though I thought Marcia Clark was well north of attractive.  What I do remember is being glad that I was going to Italy for a long vacation and I wouldn't have to hear about the trial for four weeks.  When I was overnighting near Heathrow on the return leg I figured I'd turn on the telly and see what British television was all about, and there it was, the O.J. Simpson trial.  I think I lasted all of thirty seconds before going downstairs to the bar and trying some of the beer.  

I also remember listening to the final argument that Christopher Darden had made.  I didn't listen to what Johnnie Cochran had to say; I had no use for him then and I never did after that.  The next day at work, we were gathered around the radio to listen to the verdict, and were stunned at the "not guilty".  

Now you can make the argument that the prosecution botched the case.  There were some things that they could have done better.  You can also make the argument that Judge Ito lost control of the trial, which in my opinion, he did.  But upon reading Chris Darden's book, there was the statement that the defense savaged the first witness on national television, and no witness after that wanted the center of attention.

It also didn't help matters any that detective Mark Fuhrman denied ever using the word "nigger" in all his life, which he was later proven to have done so.  And with that, there were some people who believe that he planted the DNA and the glove.  I don't personally believe that he did that but I can't prove to you that he didn't.  What I do know is that O.J. became a suspect when he was told that his ex-wife was murdered.  He didn't ask which one as that he had two of them, and he didn't ask about the details.  

All of that said, O.J. vowed to spend the rest of his life searching for the "real killer", and he was diligent in checking out lots of golf courses in his search.  He had more legal troubles after that, lost a civil trial, and was resident at a correctional facility in Lovelock, Nevada.  I was hoping that he would have remained there for a lot longer than he did, but that's not how it turned out.

Regardless, O.J. is now dead.  

One rule that I imposed upon myself about ten years ago was to not celebrate misfortune happening to anyone else.  I am trying very hard right now to live by that rule, but it was all I could do to not jump up and down for joy over this and celebrating it.  Even though it's now two days since I learned about this, there's that part of me that wants to live this one up.  And it's difficult to live by that rule.

That said...........I think I can say that we haven't had that good of a day since Charles Manson died.

My Old Job is Available.......if I want it

 For a number of years, I have been subscribed to job alerts.  No, I am not looking right now, but I remain subscribed as that I think it's to my advantage to know what the market is like for my field.  Without that, I still have sense that it is on the hot side of things, as that I get lots of email from recruiters.  I think things in the industry have slowed down some from where they were six months ago, which I'm going to attribute to the upcoming election.  

What's now happening is that the old job that I've had twice down in Sorry Vista, excuse me, Sierra Vista, is back open.  I worked at Fort Huachuca testing communication systems for a mix of customers who wanted that lab down there to certify their systems.  My first gig down there was from May 2017 to January 2018, for Engility when they had that contract.  Engility lost the contract to Jacobs, and with the changeover being held up for reasons I don't understand Jacobs wasn't able to start on that until May 2019.  Between those gigs, I worked for a local firm that had me working on aircraft security systems and later on, hardware to monitor aircraft engines.  That work came to an end as Jacobs was ramping up, and so I went back down there.

Relations between Jacobs and the government officer who oversaw that contractor weren't the greatest.  He too lost his job when Jacobs came in, and after a furlough he went over to the government side and had to take a pay cut.  I think he had it in for Jacobs and was doing everything he could to make it hard on them.  He succeeded in one way; he forced Jacobs into a position to where they had to lay off personnel, and I was affected.  At that time I was negotiating with a local company that worked in manned spaceflight, and the transition happened in such a way that there was no disruption in my income stream.

Now those jobs down there are again open.  There's no doubt that if I applied for my old job, I would be quickly interviewed and get an offer.  (I'm unclear as to if Jacobs has this contract or not).  I really enjoyed working for Jacobs, but I can't say that I was enjoying the dysfunctional situation that they inherited from Engility.  Jacobs treated me very well, especially the manager who hired me, and yes, I would work for him again in a minute...........except............that I'm in a great situation where I'm at right now, and I just don't have the inclination to update my resume.  If I have my way, my next job is retirement, and then coming back to where I'm at now as a part time contractor (and my employer has told me they would love to have me back).  

As for retirement, as I've said before........not this year.  That crystal ball that I can't see thru isn't telling me anything (as if an inanimate object could do so in the first place).  I have a rough date picked out, which I'm keeping to myself, mainly because if I were to announce it now when that would be then something would emerge to make me change the date.  

Interestingly enough, my most recent former employer is looking for people too.  I am in regular touch with them, as that I'm close to a few people who are still there.  The number of them that I knew though is dwindling as that they've had a 60% turnover since I left.  I was telling someone a few weeks back, I worked at Jack-in-the-Box a long time ago and we had turnover, but it wasn't as bad as in the office I used to work in.

With that, I'm going to call it a post.  

Some Catching Up, and Some Thoughts

 The past few weeks have been something of a whirlwind here.  There were some things on the family side to take care of, which I will not get into here, and with that has come a lot of mental processing.  I'm not going to go into details.  It went a whole lot smoother than it could have otherwise.  

As for what I have been doing, well it's been ham radio, work, and research on my family history.  I have it in mind to create some pages here about that and to update them from time to time.  I also want to add some other pages.  But getting back to the family history, I want to create pages to document what I know of my Parker, Pilkington, and Bonsall roots.  There is a lot of documentation out there on these lines.  I have some charts to work on and more research to do.  

As for work, I am enjoying my new assignment much more than I've enjoyed some others.  Yes, I think about retirement, but with my current gig I don't see that happening this year.  Next year all bets are off as far as that goes.  I told myself a long time ago I'll retire when it's no longer fun, and folks, engineering is still fun.  

And with that I will bring the first entry of this year to a close.  

Odds, Ends, and Corrections

 I am going to start off to note the passing of Myles Goodwyn, one of the founders of one of my favorite bands, April Wine.  The man was undoubtedly a talented songwriter, who covered a wide variety of styles ranging from ballads to hard rock to blues to eclectic.  I had the pleasure of meeting him, but only once, and that was back in 1993.  Myles retired from touring earlier this year, but wanted the band to continue, which they are.  Unfortunately no one down here is booking them, so they play most of their gigs in their native Canada.

Myles was a nice guy when I met him, but I can't describe him as a people person.  He was strictly business, but he had a sense of humor.  Later on he did interact with the fans on a message board, and answered a lot of our questions.  

I hope that the Good Lord is giving his family the peace and strength that they need at this time.

* * * * * * *

I have started a new assignment at work this past Monday.  It is so far going well, but I am looking forward to our year end holiday break,   I'm going to decline comment on my previous assignment other to say that I really wanted out of it.  The new assignment will likely have the effect of delaying my retirement.  There's part of me that wants to retire right now, but the other part of me is saying that it isn't yet time.  But that day is one day closer than it was yesterday.

* * * * * * *

From the Department of Corrections:  I am NOT descended from John Dudley, the 1st Duke of Northumberland, as I reported a few posts ago.  I spotted an error and the web page where I got that from has subsequently been corrected, as that someone else must have spotted that too.

I am descended from a Mary Dudley who was born around 1575, but not from the Lady Mary Dudley.  I am still doing some digging into my roots when time permits, which it doesn't a whole lot.  I may create some pages about my family history, with the first page being about my Parker roots.  There's also the Pilkington and Bonsall lines to research.  

* * * * * * *

Most of my spare time has been spent with my ham radio hobby.  With active sunspots I am able to get out a lot more on the high frequency bands.  Country #130 was worked this afternoon, that being Eastern Kiribati.  

* * * * * * *

I have this craving right now for some New York style pizza, and I think I will now get some of that ordered.

To the Metroplex and Back

 Sheila and I spent most of last week in the Dallas area.  I could have told you last March that we were intending to this, but I'm not known for announcing travel plans in advance, and plus it's not a sure thing that you're going until you pop for the tickets.  Even then it's not a sure thing.  Our airlines, as good as they are (or are not?) sometimes suffer from outages of one kind or another.  Sometimes you get stranded in airports.  Getting stranded from a missed connecting flight though was not an issue as that almost all cities that are big enough to heard of will have a flight to Dallas.

Anyway, there was more than one reason to do this.  Sheila's best friend from her high school days is living in the Metroplex.  Mark, my best friend from high school, visits the Metroplex on Thanksgiving.  I was thinking, we have an opportunity here.  Why not take it?  And plus, there's that Texas barbecue.  I was also figuring that we could play tourist and visit the Grassy Knoll to look for spent shell casings.

Well we got to see Mark and his wife.  We got to see Jody and her family.  We had some really excellent Texas barbecue, and there was a most unforgettable hot pot place in Plano called Sea Pot (I highly recommend them!).  We didn't get down to Dealey Plaza though.  (Aside:  I have my own unique theories about the JFK assassination.  One is likely, another highly unlikely, but neither tend to fit the prevailing mold.  Especially my second theory).  

As for that part of Texas, I really loved it.  I have been to Waco before, I've visited east Texas, I've been to El Paso, but I had never been to Dallas, outside of connecting in DFW more times than I can remember.  If the Metroplex is really representative of the rest of the state, I'd say that Governor Abbott is doing a fine job.  But, I'm hearing some bad things about San Antonio as well as Austin,  I don't have a favorable view of El Paso either.  

It was a nice getaway, we both needed it, we have standing invitations to visit again any time from both Jody and Mark's son-in-law, and if Mark makes it out there next April well then we just might go out there too.

No..........I did not apply for work at Strumdum Industries.