Scattershooting

- My trek up the training path to sniper hits a major milestone Saturday as Large Hybrid V finishes. I'll be shopping for T2 425mm rails over the weekend! Battleship V by Christmas...

- The mining loaner fleet has received lots of love the past few days. The Uni funded the addition of 6 barges, individual members have provided ships or isk to add 5 more haulers and 6 more cruisers. This program exemplifies the team spirit that is a core value of our corp.

- Mining 101 class last night was offered mission omber & scordite. Resulted in a 2.5m isk payout to each of the students.

- Another Mining 101 class set for Sunday.

- Several interesting ships set for Trinity release. Mmmm, Widow!

Some days are stones

A couple of long time leaders of Eve University and Ivy League have determined that the time is right for them to move on to other adventures. Kassie & Phaedra have been involved as long as I can remember, providing leadership, sharing their resources and time, and generally providing examples to the rest of us.

Turn over at the Uni is an expected thing, but when anyone leaves, mixed emotions always arise. Excitement for the person & their new chapter, seasoned by sadness at seeing them go. When longtime members go, the feelings are all intensified.

My hopes for you as you go forth:

- For your peaceful activities, fair winds & following seas.
- For your combat operations, a target rich environment.

O7

Some days are diamonds

Having pushed my standings at Expert Housing up to the magic no tax level, I've turned to Expert Distribution missions to reduce my taxes at our mining base in Debyl. 3 Missions last night with about 20m in nice loot drops in an hour.

Mined 15m of minerals in Korsiki.

Popped 2 ore thieves [Poinen (at lunch when I logged in to clean out my inbox) & Korsiki].

Some days are diamonds!

No War for Me :(

Starting last Thursday, I took a 4 day holiday to Chicago with my wife and another couple. I prepared for everything Eve related, I thought... Long skills set for both Kaye & me. Post on the forums letting everyone know I'd be out... I figured I'd be able to check up on email & chat a bit from my notebook on hotel connections, but really didn't plan on anything else...

So, of course, Uni gets dec'ed & I can't fly combat. Uni kicks serious ass & I can't fly combat. OPFOR can't stand the heat, so they get out of the kitchen, retracting the dec before my holiday is over. Bah!

On the bright side, we had a wonderful time in Chicago. The Adler Planetarium is a must see if you find yourself in the Windy City. We also had lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern (inspiration for the Saturday Night Live "Cheesboyger, cheesboyger, chips_no_fries, pepsi_no_coke" skit and dinner at Harry Carrey's (greatest tiramasu _ever_!)

Back home, back to work & back to mining tonight!

Nice Night!

Last night was interesting... Our resident ore thief took up station in a cruiser at the undock bookmark at HQ and jetted two cans with a single round of ammo in each. Kaye & I baby sat him for a time and dropped our own single round cans("Please" and "Take Me"). We also assembled a squad of combat ships who were all docked at HQ. On the call, the docked ships undocked and warped to the undock can, effectively landing right on top of our "friend". We held position for 60 seconds and then gang warped to the Osmon gate. Message delivered.

Later a few of us headed down to Poinen to help a 7 day old member with World's Collide. Assault Frigates FTW!

On the way back, an ore thief in Nuken in a Drake stole from another of our new guys in a Bantam.

No more than 60 secs later, Kaye and her Domi were second to the belt and engaged. A couple of cruisers who were on station also engaged at that point. As I jumped, I called for tacklers to cover the Korsiki side of the gate, hoping that when I showed up in a tackling Scorp, I'd either lock him down or he would run out the gate.

My warp in point was out of scram range, so I jammed him, added my launchers to the mix and engaged MWD to get close enough to tackle. The thief warped to the gate with me following. I jumped through to see 12 corpmates waiting! Kaye warped to the gate to engage. The thief both declined to engage or to jump through, chosing instead to head to Lai Dai and dock up to wait out the timer.

So we took the squad to the station & camped him until his timer expired.

I'm really proud of the attitude of teamwork & co-operation displayed by our pilots. We won't always catch the bad guy, even when we are in position to bust him if he makes a mistake. In this case, he didn't, but we still delivered our message.

O7

No candles, please...

The automatic sprinklers would go off!

Yeah, it's my birthday. My youngest daughter is home for the weekend and we have some family activities planned. Fortunately, I have 20+ days remaining on Large Hybrid V, so my diminished playtime won't cause co-ordination issues.

A couple of years ago, my daughters asked me to celebrate my birthday by recording 50 Things That I Know. Looked it over last night & I'm still pretty happy with the list, so I'll share. Maybe you'll find something that resonates.

50 Things I Know:

1. You can never say “I love you” too many times.
   

2. It’s hard to consistently take the long view. It demands patience!
   

3. Everyone you know will disappoint you someday. Realize that in advance, cut them some slack & get over it! PS: You’ll disappoint them sometimes, too.
   

4. Never underestimate the rejuvenative power of a good night’s sleep.
   

5. Butter tastes better than anything that has “poly”, “hydrogenated” or “trans” anywhere in the ingredients.
   

6. Want to see what ‘focused’ means? Watch a bird dog on point just before the covey flush.
   

7. Holding a sleeping baby is God’s anti-depressant.
   

8. A bird feeder & a pair of binoculars are pretty cheap entertainment.
   

9. If you have to explain it, it isn’t “art”.
   

10. Faithful friends: a sharp knife, a cast-iron skillet & a home-made quilt.
    

11. Every 8 year old should know how to tie a square knot, a bowline & two half-hitches. By 9, they should know when to use each one.
    

12. There is no substitute for the power of the written word. It follows, then, that there is no substitute for both being able to read and actually exercising that ability often.
    

13. It’s pretty handy to be able to make change without a cash register doing the math for you.
    

14. If you are talking more than you are listening, pipe down.
    

15. Looking at the stars through a decent telescope, can make you feel insignificant. Recognizing that the same God who made those stars knows you by name, can make you feel really valuable.
    

16. Changing a flat tire in August will make a preacher cuss.
    

17. Having a current backup of your computer is a lot like an ejection seat in a fighter jet. You don’t need it very often, but when you do, you need it badly, right now and there’s no viable substitute.
    

18. Being able to type and 10 key by touch are lots more important than they used to be.
    

19. It’s hard to go wrong when you send flowers, particularly to your wife’s workplace. You get the credit for sending them & she gets the credit for training you properly! On-line florists really take the pain out of this, too.
    

20. Sometimes the difference between “preaching” & “meddling” depends upon which side of the lectern you’re standing.
    

21. Being able to make good cream gravy is equal parts science and art.
    

22. You should be able to appreciate almost any kind of music. You may not like it, but you can still appreciate the talent it takes to create it.
    

23. Nobody dies saying they wished they’d spent more time at work.
    

24. My choices include: Batman not Superman, Mary Ann not Ginger, Chevy not Ford, Clapton not Knoffler, Folgers not Maxwell House, Levis not Wrangler, Jiff not Skippy, Sig Suaer not Glock.
    

25. To quote Ronnie Dunn “I’m finding a lot more truth in the words written in red.”
    

26. I have a lot more questions and a lot fewer answers than I did ten years ago, but that doesn’t seem to bother me as much as it used to.
    

27. Having a charged fire extinguisher in your trunk and in your kitchen is a pain in the neck. Until you need it.
    

28. Having more credit cards than cars is a bad idea.
    

29. If your internal clock and sense of direction aren’t reliable, a watch and a compass are pretty handy.
    

30. Granny was right… Hard times will make a monkey eat red peppers.
    

31. Email is handy, but sometimes the people you love need to hear your voice.
    

32. A simple, handwritten thank you note speaks volumes about you.
    

33. If it’s stupid, but it works, it isn’t stupid.
    

34. If you have both the ability to cook well and the inclination to do so, you need never be lonely.
    

35. A good hug is hard to beat.
    

36. If you hope that God is more pleased with you today than yesterday, He probably is.
    

37. As I have gotten older, my father has gotten wiser. Even though he died more than twenty five years ago.
    

38. You may want to re-think things if you spend more time with the TV, the golf course or the computer than with your spouse.
    

39. A gun is always loaded, until you personally, completely and safely verify that it isn’t.
    

40. A few things every man should know how to do: sew on a button, iron a shirt, cook something besides meat on grill and choose the right fork at a tablecloth restaurant.
    

41. A few things every woman should know how to do: check the fluids in a car, adjust the air pressure in the tires, change a flat, differentiate between a Phillips & regular screwdriver and between a crescent and box wrench.
    

42. One man’s varmint is another man’s endangered species. It’s always wise to consult with others before pulling the trigger.
    

43. Better on TV: football & basketball. Better in person: baseball & auto racing
    

44. There are worse ways to spend Saturday morning than with 6 speeds, 50 miles of twisty road and Stevie Ray’s box set.
    

45. There are worse ways to spend Saturday night than with Chinese takeout, “Steel Magnolias”, “Murphy’s Romance” and your sweetie.
    

46. I used to think that God would be ready to earnestly answer all my questions when I get to heaven. I’m becoming more convinced that we’ll just share a pretty good laugh at all the trivial things I was so concerned about.
    

47. You can call it ‘salmon’ or ‘dusty rose’ or ‘morning coral’ or ‘blush’. It’s all ‘pink’ to me & I’m not wearing a shirt that color.
    

48. Nothing is more lonely than a hospital in the middle of the night.
    

49. I’ll take tornadoes over earthquakes, hurricanes & floods every time.
    

50. God (and a few people) loves me no matter what I do, say or think, but it never hurts to say “I’m sorry and I’ll try and do better” when appropriate.

It's about the team...

Ran another Mining 101 class yesterday afternoon. Ten new guys split about 23m isk. Thanks to the vets who donated time to help fill cans!

Quej, one of our other vets, built & fitted 5 Retrievers to give to new miners, so we ran a little trivia contest to give them away.

Category: 70's Bands
Question: If Timothy B. Schmit had a forum sig, why would "Schmit comes after Meisner" be doubly appropriate....

I spread the winners out across the time zones, so everyone could play.

After the class & all ot the admin work, I clone jumped to Lower Debyl to do some serious mining... I'll probably stay there for 3 or 4 days. Mmmm... Kernite!