Howdy all. I got nominated for next AMA, so fire away and I'll answer what I can.
Background info:
Was born in Winchester and grew up a Hokie fan despite no one in the family going to Tech. Never actually planned on going to VT, but I'm happy I did.
Was in the HTs while at Tech, and it was a great time. I wasn't necessarily very good, but I know for a fact I was the only person you could hear from the North Endzone if we were playing in the stands during a game.
Graduated in 2014 and commissioned in the Navy the same day. Been in for 9 years now, the last 7 as an intelligence officer. Never intended to stay this long, but I've had a lot of fun with it, and I'll stay as long as they let me and as long as it stays fun.
Other fun things: no kids and none planned. A puppy is enough work. Dunno how you parents manage.
When I'm not working, I spend a lot of time sitting on my porch with my dog, reading and sipping bourbon. My collection of both books and bottles is much larger than my girlfriend is totally okay with, and I dread having to move again because of them.
Love to travel. We usually do 1-2 trips a year.
Love going out to live events. Concerts, standup, plays, minor league sports. Been to plenty and it's always a good time.
Outside of Tech sports, I mainly watch soccer, primarily FC Köln, though I'm a casual Manchester United fan, and I'll watch most USMNT and German national team games. I grew up a Braves and Redskins fan, and I'll still root for both, but the Texas Rangers and the Jags are my adopted teams I care more about.
That's probably enough rambling. Fire away, and I'll answer what I can.
Comments
If you could have lunch with 5 people from tkp, but it has to be all at once, who would it be?
Joe cause he runs the site, French cause I'll learn something about the game, APFoW cause he'll have some firewater on him, JUGS cause she's got interesting placement and access, and dcwilson cause he'd be fun to argue with.
Those who have met me can attest I do excited physical demonstrations of technique.
This sounds both intriguing and dangerous. I know fuck all about line play, and would be very interested in learning, but I'm also 5'7", 135 pounds, and in the past 5 years have become prone to sports injuries. Despite always being tiny and rather careless with my body, I had never gotten hurt till 2018, when I broke my two front teeth playing volleyball (took a spike to the face). Then in 2021 I broke my foot playing soccer when I got stepped on. Last year, the very next time playing soccer after the foot, I broke my wrist and had to get a plate and screws.
Sound track of your life?
What are you reading?
Favorite book?
My taste in music is so fucking all over the place. I'd say I listen to the Stones, Social Distortion, Wolf Alice, and Turnpike Troubadours the most. Sprinkle in Charles Mingus and NWA.
Just finished the Wheel of Time series. Switched gears to a nonfiction book called Court-Martial, which is a nonfiction history of military justice from the revolution to post 9/11.
Favorite book is hard. Love the George Smiley books by John Le Carre. The anti-James Bond written by the anti-Ian Fleming. Paints a much more accurate picture about intelligence work, in that it's unsexy and often rather pointless. 1984, Trinity by Leon Uris, the Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy are all in the conversation.
Thoughts on the Art of Intelligence? Found my love of CIA books through the class taught by Ken Stiles.
It's been sitting on my bookshelf unread, like most of my nonfiction books. I did enjoy Dulles' The Craft of Intelligence.
I took his class. Dude was awesome. Extremely good conversationalist. There were a few kids in the class who were hard lefties that liked to come at him, but he always stayed chill and talked to everyone like they were a peer. Which makes me wonder how he worked for CIA, because literally every other person I've met from the agency has been a raging douchebag.
Even Jack Ryan?!?!?
Well I never met him. But when people ask what my job is, I reference Hunt for Red October. I'm the nerd at the table that can just spit facts about Russian boats. Naval intelligence hates specialization, but I've managed to make Russian submarines my thing.
Just had a briefing from NAVSEA on Friday that touched on Russian/Chinese submarine forecasts - with improvements in battery technology over the years, does that have a significant impact on the capabilities of their diesel subs?
I've got no specifics, but I'd have to assume that as batteries in general get better, any system that relies on a battery for power would too. Higher capacity, faster charging, more efficient distribution. All would be things that would make a submarine more capable.
Dude same I did imagery intelligence for the agency and decided to go private sector because of the douches
We did a visit when I was at intel school, and the analysts that briefed us were so confidently wrong. A degree from Yale and a Zegna suit does not make one an expert.
"A degree from Yale and a Zegna suit does not make one an expert."
I've said this before and will say it again, places like Yale (or Harvard, Princeton, CalTech ...) have a lot of people that I would describe as highly intelligent, but not too bright.
P.S. Tell your gf that there is no such thing as too many books....
I've slowed down buying books, and I've been more deliberate. I had too many at home that weren't even close to the top of my reading list. I've kept it to two bookshelves, and not buying a new book till I read one I already had.
Kinda the same with whiskey. Now that we've filled up two cabinets, I don't get a new bottle till we kill or give away one we already have.
My other collection is legos. I'm restricted to Star Wars only.
You seem like an extremely intelligent person. The likes of which I like to associate with, either professionally or personally. The thing I admire most about you is that you are confident in your status as a non-breeder, and have a girlfriend that is on board with that. I don't know how long term your relationship is, but assuming it is, you have a great thing going on.
I love my wife and I don't regret getting married, but I've found that the optimal situation is finding someone who will stick with you no matter what without having to get government paperwork involved. My uncle had a long term girlfriend (21 years) and they had a great mutual understanding of their situation. They were dedicated to each other exclusively, but if they ever got irritated with each other, they could go to their separate houses and chill out. And he could buy as many musical instruments as he wanted without having to ask permission or get grief over the financials. Unfortunately she passed away from cancer about 10 years ago.
Thanks man. Well 21 years is a new benchmark for sure! We've been together for 10 now. We'll get married eventually, but it's no rush cause it won't change much.
And I'm only confident about not having kids cause the one of us with the requisite equipment for growing one was a hard no. I was never dead set on being a dad, so it's a nonissue for us. I have the much more fun job of being an uncle. All the fun, none of the consequences. If he ends up in the MLB, it's cause I taught him to throw. If he ends up selling bootleg WVU T-shirt's out of his trunk, that's on my sister.
My dad was career USAF and I was 6th of 7 kids so they had a tough time with weight allowances when moving (books are heavy for their size). To buy a book, it had to be one that would get re-read over and over again. I have loved to read all my life and for decades until about 10-15 years ago, I resisted using a Kindle- preferring the feel of a "real paper book". But it just got too damn convenient to have one device (Kindle first and now just my iPhone) with dozens of books. Plus having Kindle Unlimited gives me access to try new authors without shelling out $15-30 for something I might hate.
100% on the kindle thing. Flight weight restrictions and packing for a week at the beach.Also, that kindle fits in motorcycle saddlebags much better than a couple books.
I'm at a cross roads where I don't have my next book lined up. What books have you recently that you recommend or books that you want to read?
Looseballs. The wild wonderful history of the ABA
It's a commitment, but The Wheel of Time series.
The Lies of Locke Lamora
The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell was a good quick read.
I like the 1632 - Grantville series started by Eric Flint.
Thank you for your service!
I see you are Team Pie. What's your favorite pies?
Favorite trip you ever took?
Most disappointing trip you ever took?
Construct your favorite sandwich or two...
Thank you for your support!
My absolute favorite pie I have ever eaten was an apple pie with a caramel crust and walnuts sprinkled on top. Parents got it at a bakery in Front Royal that probably doesn't exist anymore. My go to pies are apple and pecan. Key lime during the summer. Not big on berry or cherry pies.
Favorite trip I ever took was to Germany for Christmas 2018. Girlfriend's family is from there, and her grandparents live in Köln. Spent three weeks there. 2 in the Köln/Bonn area hanging out with her family and seeing local sights, one week road-tripping down south to Baden Baden, Munich, and Garmisch. I'd move there tomorrow if I had the means. Second favorite was Hawaii this past February, specifically Maui.
This is a cop out, but most disappointing trip I ever took was on USS Abraham Lincoln in 2019. Round the world cruise, supposed to about half in the Med, half in the Pacific. 2 days before pulling into Croatia, we got rerouted and then spent 9 months cutting circles in the Arabian Sea. Got to visit Duqm, Oman 3 times. There is fucking nothing but a port, an oil refinery, and two hotels there. I enjoyed being deployed with my friends, and we did get to hit Mallorca at the beginning, which was epic, but trading Oslo, Croatia, Dubai, and Phuket for a recently settled Bedouin fishing village was tough.
My favorite sandwich is pastrami on rye with spicy mustard. Katz in NYC is one of my favorite restaurants. If a hotdog is a sandwich, a Chicago dog from Superdawg is a close second.
Where is "home" these days?
Nawfuck. Girlfriend is in residency at Portsmouth. I'm just glad she didn't go to San Diego or Bethesda.
What is your favorite non-American food style and what do you like most about it?
Spanish Tapas. I like being able to try a bunch of little things rather than having one big meal, and it's food meant to be paired with booze.
Second would be Indian. I love flavorful spice, and it's usually pretty cheap relative to portion size
Oh yeah, since I've been asking everyone else, the school I would erase from existence is Liberty. It is not close.
For a nonprofit school, it's awfully close to a diploma mill, and some people certainly appear to have made quite a profit. It may have gotten better post Falwell, but the administration was far too political and was rather hypocritical. And the athletic department has hired some absolute scumbags just get some wins. Girlfriend went to med school there, so I've spent a decent amount of time in Lynchburg with Liberty students. That town and those students deserve better. Nuke Liberty from space and let the University of Lynchburg rise over the ashes.
This is the way
What's the dumbest thing you have ever done?
Whats the nicest thing you have ever done?
What's your favorite sound?
What's your guilty pleasure?
Whats the oddest/strangest thing you have ever seen happen, where you literally said to yourself: 'I cant believe that just happened right in front of me?
If you could remove one thing from existence in the world, what would be? It could be a person past or present, a thing, an emotion, .....anything.
The dumbest thing I ever did was forget that I hadn't dropped Congress class at Tech. It was boring as hell, and I thought I'd dropped it after the first test. Somehow ended up with a C-.
The nicest thing I ever did was when I was maybe 7 or 8. Mom was a nurse and she had a transplant patient that needed some donations to offset the ludicrous cost of lifesaving healthcare. I didn't know this person, but unbidden, I offered up all my savings. Which wasn't a lot, but apparently it meant a lot. My mom still has the thank you letter. I don't actually remember any of this, but it comes up from time to time when I visit. It's weird aspiring to be as good as third grade you was.
My favorite sound is the bass intro to Haitian Fight Song. Close second is Roger McGuinn's jangly Rickenbacker 12 string on I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better.
My guilty pleasure is karaoke. I do not have a good voice. I'm usually pretty drunk by the time a mic is in my hand. My go to is Swimming Pools by Kendrick Lamar, and I have yet to pay a tab afterwards.
Oddest thing I've ever seen did not happen in front of me. I was watching a predator feed from over Afghanistan, and this shitty little Toyota rolls up in front of a house, dude hops out, grabs the goat out of the front yard of this house, shoves it into the backseat, and drives off. To this day I will damn near piss myself laughing watching Jurassic Park when the kid asks "what's gonna happen to the goat?"
If I could remove one thing from existence, it would be the concept of nations. If all humans worked together and embraced their humanity and the things that make us all alike rather than different, we'd solve a lot more problems, several of which are existential. Nationalism and othering has never made things better.
Damn, dude. I just want to sit and drink bourbon with you and talk about shit for as long as possible.
Cmon by. I'll break out the good shit.
What is it like in the Winchester area? I've wanted to move back to the general southwest Virginia area when I retire. Heck, I've wanted to move back to that area since 2-3 months after leaving for grad school. But for a few reason's I've concluded that I probably would not want to live in Blacksburg-Roanoke area. Drive through Winchester area all the time on the way to see people, but never really stayed more than overnight.
So who's gonna tell him Winchester is absolutely not SWVA?
Oh dude, it is close enough! Actually thinking about Winchester, Harrisonburg, Eastern TN, western part of NC. Don't want to be too far south as I hate hot weather. Even VA and NC would be warmer than I would like in the eastern parts of those states. Need to be out west where there is a bit of elevation. And it can't be too rural. Given my history, my wife will not let me go anywhere that does not have cardiologists and hospital cardiology facilities fairly close by.
Please explain how you figure that Winchester is "close enough" to SWVA? It is more NORTH WEST VA if anything
I'm thinking culture, scenery, people, lifestyle, not geographic boundaries. Totally different from the DC area or Tidewater. The people, culture, lifestyle may not fit with Blacksburg or Roanoke area. But I don't know. Why I was asking what it was like there.
Plus, as mentioned, I have broadened my search beyond the traditional area. Western NC and Eastern TN are not Southwest Virginia either, but they are close enough for me to be interested in learning about and considering.
Winchester is starting to get that NOVA creep. Come a little further south. Almost 24 years around Harrisonburg area now and I ain't moving anytime soon. But you have to like the rural lifestyle.
My sister moved from Fairfax to Shenandoah area about 6 years ago and I have other family around there now as well. It would never have been on my short list of places to move, but I have to say after visiting them numerous times it's definitely growing on me.
Winchester is about 200 miles from SWVA. How in do you even remotely think that is "close enough"? People commute into DC every day from Winchester. That alone is a disqualifier for labeling something SWVA.
As a geography major from SWVA, you got my eye twitching.
What is happening? Please help me. I'm scared.
Did you mean Wytheville????????
Winchester is more north than Cape May, NJ
Sorry Frosty, but I cannot in good conscience recommend Winchester to anyone. It's rather insular and far from other places. It doesn't have the natural beauty you can find only an hour south or west. There's some cool history, but you can get that just in a visit. If NRV isn't for you, I'd recommend Nelson County. Afton is one of my favorite places on this planet.
What do you want to be remembered for?
I used to wanna be president. Now I just wanna be the guy who could make you laugh when you didn't want to. I got my mom to smile at my grandpas funeral, and I could die tomorrow feeling accomplished.
This is a great answer, thank you
Favorite crazy story of something that happened to you that you love to tell?
Have you or anybody that you know personally been involved in a Game Day Flyover?
One day on deployment, I was the watch officer in the carrier's intel center, and a combat search and rescue drill got called. Since I'm already on watch, I become de facto intel lead for the planning part. It's very hectic and a lot going on, and I'm just in the zone. I'm used to aviators coming over, interrupting, and asking dumb questions while I'm trying to work. Did not have time for it, so when someone behind me asked a question about something stupid, I very bluntly replied with "no fuckin clue" and kept working. Found out later it was Deputy CAG asking. He never bothered me again though!
I have not, and I may know people that have, though no names immediately pop to mind. My old helo squadron used to do them for Jags games, and did it for Florida-Georgia one year.
My grandfather had a similar experience in WW2 Burma. He was a loading/cargo officer (as a 2LT/1LT) in the Air Corps checking something in the bowels of a plane and hears someone ask him something from outside the plane. He says he told them "Hold your britches." but it was likely less polite. He exits the plane and comes face-to-face with Lord Admiral Mountbatten (Supreme Allied Commander for South East Asia) on an inspection tour. Said that luckily, the LA had a sense of humor about it and wanted to know how things were running.
A fraternity brother of mine was lucky enough to do the flyover for the VT-loluva game several years ago. Believe he was VT class of '96
Who would you like to nominate to go next?
AssPocketFullofWhiskey if available.
I'll fire one up here in a bit.
Do you mind maybe holding off till the morning so we can get some more q&a from Highty Tighty?
Sure. It seems like there hasn't exactly been a stopping point for everyone's AMA, but if y'all wanna focus more on HT, that's fine. I can hold off.
Thanks- it's not an exact science, sometimes the weekends are slow with people out doing happy things in the nice weather! Just trying to not make Highty feel like we are moving on from him too soon! Have a whiskey on me!
No problem running them concurrently. We've already had about 50 people jump in, and stragglers will join in whenever. The other threads have kept going even after a week.
Just didn't want to cut ya short my friend!
You get to pick only one of these to happen. Which do you pick:
Hokies natty. I don't even care what sport, though I think you mean football. It's also the least likely of the three.
When do you plan to make the change over to scotch?
I drink scotch occasionally. Used to drink it more often than bourbon. I prefer good Irish whiskey to scotch, but I've found that I like the variety of flavors in bourbon more than either.
Favorite bourbon?
National Distillers era Old Crow.
For readily available stuff, probably Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit.
If you were back at Tech for your undergrad years, what campus organization would you want to be a member of this time around (instead of the HTs)?
I'd try and get involved in the athletic department as an intern. The behind the scenes stuff seems interesting and it would keep me busy.
But realistically, if I had it to do over again, it would still be the HTs.
Were you close with Cunningham in the corp? Believe he was '15. Had a few classes with him, dude was a trip.
Not particularly. He was in band too, but was percussion. And Air Force Vs Navy. I wasnt super tight with many of 15. Closer with 16.
Would you go back and choose a different story line in the choose your own adventure that is life?
I might change a few plot points, but I think overall I'm happy with how things have gone. When I first looked at the navy, I wanted to be a JAG. So very glad I'm in intel instead.
Favorite standup and who has your favorite been live?
Daniel Sloss and Daniel Sloss. Love his delivery, and his sense of humor is very similar to mine. Of the people I've seen live, he was the only one who seemed like he was performing a finalized product. Jim Jeffries was probably next best. Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer were both good but seemed like they were kinda phoning it in.
I've seen some of Sloss, but I'll have to dive more into his work now that you've mentioned him. I can see both Segura and Kreischer phoning in shows nowadays. Not sure I'd want to spend the money on those huge theater shows. I tend to like and try smaller venues when I can get out to go see folks nowadays.
What's your favorite thing about the Navy?
All sorts of things to do.
I don't hate the paycheck... But it's the people. I like the work I do, but it's the people doing it that is just different. Made a lot of really good friends over the years.
Name 3 things that really grind your gears.
Name 3 people dead or living that you'd like to sit down and have a few drinks with and why.
I'm incredibly impatient, so if I'm walking or driving and get stuck behind somebody going slow, I'm raging internally. I hate meetings that could have been emails. I hate when someone uses 300 words when 3 would suffice. Basically, I hate having my time wasted.
For drinks I'd say
James Madison, cause I like history and politics, and we could get some answers from the horses mouth about what he and his buddies meant in some of the founding documents.
Julian P. Van Winkle III because based on Pappyland, he's a good hang and understands that bourbon is meant to be consumed and shared, not hunted and hoarded.
Finally, Charlie Watts. Probably the only member of the Stones who remembers the majority of their career, and the most likely to have some great stories.
Really interesting answers.
Tried to go a little outside the box to be different, and honestly it was hard to pick just three.
My two grandpas and Frank Beamer woulda been an easy one, but I feel like most of us would go with something like that.
Favorite food?
Favorite meal?
Eliminate 1 breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Explain
Hard to pick a single favorite food. I'll go with currywurst. Smoked meats, grilled fish from the Gulf (grouper/amberjack/wahoo/cobia), boudin, and Whataburger patty melts are all in the running.
Favorite meal: Thanksgiving lunch. Smoked Turkey, sweet potato casserole, fresh cranberry sauce, German potato salad or mashed potatoes, fresh rolls or bread, multiple pies, and whatever green thing we decide to have as a side. Plus ungodly amounts of wine while watching the dog show.
Easy. Kill lunch. I rarely eat breakfast. Usually only if I need help with a hangover or doing brunch on the weekend. I like breakfast food, I'm just rarely hungry first thing in the morning and have zero interest in cooking right after waking up. That said, I almost never eat lunch, and lunch doesn't have unique foods associated. It's just a smaller dinner at an inconvenient time.
I fully endorse German potato salad.
With cheese
Damn it
If someone asks me to do one of these AMAs, I am going to have to explains the cheese thing once and for all.
Does that mean you are volunteering to go after AssPocketFullofWhiskey? The TKP world has burning questions...
If asked, I would step forward
I'm with you, cheese is highly overrated.
Boudin is awesome. German potato salad > American potato salad by a mile (I'm 1/2 German/ 1/2 Irish. Do you make your own? If not, I can share my grandmother's recipe that my wife now makes-
Agreed, and yeah we use her family's "recipe". Potato, some mustard, some white vinegar, some egg, salt and pepper, green onion, chunks of bacon. All just kinda eyeballed till it tastes right
That description goes with so much cooking. When my great-grandma was teaching my mom how to cook, some of her instructions included add or do such and such until it looks right...
This is the hardest part for me. I NEED descriptive recipes, at least the first several times I cook something. When I ask my mom for recipes, I'm pretty sure she just makes up measurements that sound close to right.
French Potato Salad > German Potato Salad > American Potato Salad*
Which is the best ship in the navy?
Given the price tag, Gerald R Ford better fucking be! It's had its issues, but I've got friends on it now who say the kinks are worked out. She seems to be having a good maiden deployment. Really cool boat to tour. Set up is way different from the Nimitz class, and there were major quality of life improvements.
I've only been on a couple others.
Deployed on Lincoln, no major complaints about the boat itself. Only real problem I know we had was plumbing, but even that wasn't as bad as some horror stories I've heard.
Wasp was a big ol piece of shit, glad I was just on her for summer cruise.
San Antonio was decent for another summer cruise, but amphib life just ain't for me.
New York was awesome cause of all the mementos and decorations. Constructed with steel recovered from the Towers. Had a subway stop on one deck. The MA shop was decked out with NYPD stuff. Damage control lockers had FDNY logos. Pretty sure their air control callsign was Twin Towers. The only thing I didn't like were the circumstances. We were going to the Keys to clean up after Irma. To get there, we shot the gap between two hurricanes in a boat with a flat bottom. I have never puked so hard before or after.
Didn't spend time underway on her, but Nitze was such a bad boat, she got disaggregated from our strike group to go sit off Yemen.
Did 24 hours underway on the Maine and it only cemented my opposition to going subs (having Cs in calc and Ds in physics didn't make me a good candidate for nuke school anyway). God bless the poor bastards in the silent service. Important mission, and a cool experience overnight, but I cannot imagine 6 months without sunlight.
Which is the best ship in the navy?
Wrong on all counts.
Any destroyer or Frigate is the best ship in the Navy, even though the FFGs are boats.
ANY destroyer? Nitze would like a word.
And the frigates all got sold off or scrapped because the LCS was supposed to be gods gift to surface warfare. Finally realizing that was a mistake and we should have half the LCS fleet mothballed and a new frigate by the time I'm out of the service.
Yup. the littoral stuff was a flawed concept once it got past the drawing board.
You mean the DDG USS Nitze? What was the problems with it? This I'm unaware of.
I do mean that DDG. She was just broken in minor ways and often, and in my time frame, leadership on board wasn't great. Poor command climate only made the boats issues worse.
My niece's husband is a chief on USS Frank E. Petersen JR. (DDG 121). Been assigned to it since before commissioning. Living the good life at Pearl now.
Well geez, that's all ships, if it ain't got broke stuff, it ain't at sea enough.
The command stuff? Oh yeah, I was headed at a career until I bumped my head on that problem.
what's a day in the life of an intelligence officer? Can I call you a spy?
It's all over the place depending on where you're at. It's one of the best things about the intel community in the Navy. There is no golden path, and there are billets anywhere and everywhere.
As a squadron intel o, home cycle is super chill. I was my squadrons first ever, so I kinda got to make up my own job. Primarily worked with the training department to redo the scenarios for the aircrew tactics syllabus so it was realistic. Most days, in by 9, read through some products, update CO/XO/Department Head on anything interesting, do some aircrew training, brief an event or two, handle any other random stuff, and then be home by 2 or 3. Each of my bosses was big on if you don't have something to do don't do it here. I was efficient, so I spent less time at work.
Deployment, it depends on watch position. Usually 8 hours of watch, a couple hours to handle random tasks, work on quals, etc, and 12+ hours that are just blank space. I read 35 books, watched 100 or so movies, watched rewatched some series, logged 100 hours of Skyrim, did at least an hour on a bike every day, and still had free time.
Second tour at the schoolhouse was pretty routine. In by eight, class starts at nine. Do lectures/take briefs till about 3. Have a couple hours for mentoring or admin, home while the suns still up. First year was weird cause of covid, and I was the command's covid czar, but once I got covid shots finished in May 21, we were back to normal.
My new place, I'm on a watchfloor 8 hours a day 4 days on, 4 days off, leading a team doing acoustic analysis in support of theater undersea warfare. It's been a steep learning curve, but I've got a great team. And I love that the command is half Brit. I doubt there's anyone else on the board who regularly has coworkers use twat as a term of endearment. And I know we have some passionate soccer fans on here, but I literally had to give a guy three days off after Leeds got relegated.
Sounds like a pretty good gig. It's all over the map in terms of tasks, but would be pretty fulfilling and has a lot of time to pursue personal interests.
Also, I'm definitely not a spy. I'm a PowerPoint jockey. Im not qualified to do any collection, and would avoid it if I could cause it sounds super tedious. I just steal from other people, and repackage it in the way my boss wants to see it.
Answers to questions I remember from other threads just to save everybody some time and effort:
First concert: Four Tops, Temptations, Ojays and Whispers at Nissan Pavilion. I was one of three white folks there, and was related to the other two. It was epic. Love Motown, and those geezers out on a hell of a show.
Best concert: Stones at Indy raceway. First concert ever at the venue. Only went to that one cause it was on 4th of July weekend and I knew I'd be off. Upgraded tickets to VIP, and we were standing maybe 10 people away from the stage.
Best donut: maple bacon from duck donuts. Sweet plus salty is the best.
Movie I've seen the most: it's Top Gun, by a lot. It's the best shitty movie ever made. I will never turn the channel if it's on. It's on a 24/7 loop at the Pensacola O club, and it plays on deployment about once a day. The B roll from Maverick was shot during work ups on Lincoln, and I swear I'm visible in a frame.
The movie I've chosen to watch the most is Goodfellas. It's my favorite movie. My birthday tradition is cooking the prison feast while watching the movie.
If aliens show up, I tell them to fuck off, because I've seen them on video, and they're literally just Eritrean vultures that fly higher than pilots expect.
What are your true feelings about the LCS?
(please don't hold back)
A masterclass in how not to do acquisitions. A platform that wasn't really needed in the first place, and the navy couldn't even pick a single design. The concept was sold as a Swiss Army knife type platform, but it can't really do any of the missions it can be equipped for. It doesn't have enough weapons to be useful as a warship. It's the kind of platform that would make sense as a coastal patrol boat for the coast guard of a country with no enemies. It makes no sense as a warship for the second biggest navy on the planet.
I saw in another comment that you just finished the The Wheel of Time series. I'm currently halfway through the eighth book and had some questions!
How long did the series take you from start to end?
Which book was your favorite?
What did you think of the author transition from Jordan to Sanderson?
Started the beginning of December, finished about two weeks ago. I did fuck up and read the prequel, New Spring, first, which definitely changed how I perceived characters for the first several books. I also cheated a bit and mixed reading with listening to the audiobooks. At first, only on long trips, but by the end I would listen to a chapter on the way to and from work or while walking the dog.
My favorites were The Shadow Rising (Book 4) and A Memory of Light (Book 14). Lord of Chaos would be honorable mention. Book 4 was where RJ really hit his stride and opened up the story. So much happens and it's a bit of a turning point. A Memory of Light was an almost perfect end to the series. I read it in 3 days. I read the Last Battle (a chapter longer than the first Harry Potter book) in one sitting. Tied up a lot of loose ends in truly great ways.
The transition is jarring to some, because the styles are different, but I adjusted quickly. Jordan's fingerprints are still all over the last three books (which were supposed to be a single book), but Sanderson has much faster pacing. Shorter sentences, less descriptive, and I think he probably shaved off at least 100 pages by omitting references to bosoms that Jordan would have included.
Loved the series, and was tempted to immediately start back at book one. Instead, I'm trying to make a dent in my nonfiction shelf, and then I'll probably start Red Rising.
Haha Jordan definitely loved him some bosom descriptions. It's hilarious once you get more than a few books in.
Very cool, and I'm impressed you read the whole thing in 6 months. I've been steadily chipping away 20-30 mins a day for a year and a half and at my current rate definitely have at least another year to go!
AAAaaand at least the first few are on kindle unlimited so I have 2 to start the series off.
I started reading when the third book was published and for many years would re-read everything as prep for when the new books came out. Now, I re-read about once every 6 years. I have all of the books on audible now as well.
YES!!!! I have the full series in hardcover and I would always reread from Book 1 whenever a new book came out. Plust I've reread them a couple of times just for fun. Although I haven't picked it up in a while.
HT - if you enjor RJ and Sanderson, Check out Tad Williams - his 'Memory, Sorrow & Thorn' series is a classic and I really enjoyed the Otherland series.
Man after slogging through the first 3 books, book 4 was like all gas no brakes.
See, I loved Great Hunt especially, "The last embrace of the mother welcome you home" and flicker, flicker, flicker
Dragon Reborn has so much misdirect in it that it feels really slow the whole time.
When people used to ask me what I was reading I would hand them the first book and challenge them to put it down after the first hundred pages.