Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This is a great holiday. You get to put your hands in gooey pumpkins and generally just fool around. In the above picture 4 out of the 5 of us are wearing our pregnancy costumes. Can you guess who is really pregnant? Coming from the right -- not me, not Ronnie, NOT Ronnie's Katy, NOT Liz, yup - you guessed it - my Katie. She is 7+ months pregnant. I will be a grandpa before New Years. We are all very excited.

In other pics, you see me with my new pumpkin carving tool, Waldo and Wenda, and Katy's jack-o-lantern (she won our contest).

Hope you had a great Halloween!

The End

22 + years ago I made a call to a recruiter about a navy program I had heard about. How different would my life have been if I had not? I guess I'll never know. I am absolutely from the bottom of my soul glad that I did go down this path. The benefits and opportunities were amazing. But they don't, in any way compare, to the way my life has changed because of the people I met. I believe we are molded by a compilation of the influences made by the people in our lives. I have the US Navy to thank for these servicemen and servicewomen being a part of my life: Dennis R, Joel T, Frank M, Marguerite R, John B, Ken W, Doug A, Jon B, Paul S, Calvin C, Liz W, John F, Mike C, Tom R, Angie U (may have met her without the recruiter...since we were married before the call, but she was an excellent servicemember colleague), The NRC Duluth Chief's Mess, John H, Maggie Y, Donna H, Larry T, Pat T, Cheryl K, Dave R, Shannon R, Donnie G, Matt H, Bob O, Larry K, Ladonna V, and most importantly - Mike, Ida, and Barry my three greatest friends in the Navy. This is a small and incomplete list. The names mean nothing to anyone reading this, but are a huge part of who I am.

I leave today with no regrets. None for joining, none for staying, and none for leaving. I am closing a chapter in my life and starting a new one.

TBL: The most important thing we get from our professions isn't the money, its not the pride, its the opportunity to be shaped by good people.

One Last Shave

I guess it is in my nature. If somebody tells me to do something, that in and of itself, is enough of a reason for me to NOT want to do it. Ask me to do something, no problem. Tell me to do it, go fly a kite. (Hmmm... I wonder where my daughter gets this trait). By being in the military it is REQUIRED that you be shaved in uniform. In fact, the military REQUIRES lots of things. It is a surprise I ever joined an institution that requires compliance. Well, I did and I got through it. But now it is over. This morning I was "forced" to shave for the last time...a nice feeling.

Fighting through the Apathy

Have you ever been in the last few weeks or last few days of a job? It is kind of hard. Not the emotions of leaving those are different. Rather what I am talking about is the stuff that used to matter and really doesn't any more. I'm sitting here today getting all of my ducks in a row and the other folks are dealing with the normal navy beauracracy. It's hard not to say out loud "I don't give a shit about that paper work or that requirement" or blah blah blah. But I'm not saying it. I 'm doing what is asked of me, getting my work done, and spending my spare moments reflecting on a great 22 year experience.

TBL: Fight through the apathy and don't do anything stupid that might burn some bridges.

The Best Meal I had in my Navy Career

In August of 1995 I spent 10 days in Guam working at the naval shipyard on my engineering duty qualification. First of all, let me tell you Guam in August is freaking hot!! Secondly, the power distribution system in Guam is bad. So every night when people get home from work and the air conditioning demand is at its highest, different parts of the island experience black outs. Most nights I would go to the Denny's in my hotel which had its own generator and eat. On Friday night I decided to go to the Navy Officer's Club for dinner. When I arrived, the power was off, but candles lit the way around back. The dinner fare was mongolian barbeque. Inside the club, under candlelight, was the buffet of uncooked meat and vegetables. I loaded my plate and brought outdoors to the chef who cooked it over charcoal with only the light of the coals.

Seating was outside and only a small candle lit each table. I was on the edge of a mountain in Guam looking out over the ocean at a moon that reflected off of the water and on to the city below. The meal was excellent, the ambiance was unparalleled.

TBL - Just a reflection on a snapshot from a career.

P.S. The weather in San Diego is fabulous. Sunny and 75.

The Last Journey

I don't expect that most people who read this blog think about retirement much. I sure don't, just today I realized that I am in my 17th year of community college teaching and If I retire at 60, I have 17 more. So I guess I'm half way. That is still a long time off.

However, today I have embarked on what will be my last journey in the Navy Reserve. I'm flying to San Diego for a 4 day weekend with my navy unit. The purpose being to turn over the reins and finish up a little paperwork. As of November 30th I will be transferred out of the active reserve, in other words, I'm retiring.

I've been in the military for almost 22 years. I've seen the world and I've had a lifetime of "life's lessons" compacted into 5 years of active duty and one weekend per month/ 2 weeks in the summer for the last 17. It has been a blast and I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

I'm leaving on my own accord. I could stick around for another 6 years before they kick me out. But the time is right. My family is ready. I have my son at home for a few more years and a grandson just two months out on the horizon. Plus a wife who is ready to reclaim her husband. I've missed more than half of our 24 anniversaries.

Nonetheless, it is a bit strange to say the word retirement. To pack my bags for one last trip...

Taking a Moment to Enjoy the Season

Yesterday, Mike Johnson, the ICC Provost, and I left work at 3:00 PM to go kayaking on a remote lake in northern Minnesota. One of the best aspects of our part of the world is the four destinct seasons. Unfortunately, we often take them for granted and just go on with our busy lives. Over the past few years I have tried to take an afternoon each season to spend with a friend in the quiet outdoors. Yesterday was perfect. The weather was cool and dry. We went to a lake up highway 38 and paddled the shoreline for two hours. We saw many deer, visited about each others' lives and soaked in the autumn season. After sunset we loaded up our kayaks and stopped off for a burger and a beer. All in all a great afternoon/evening.

TBL: Don't let life pass you by. Schedule, weeks in advance if you have to, an afternoon in the great outdoors.

Hunting with My Boy

I have always looked forward to fall break, however for the last 3-4 years it is more than ever. There are many pleasures in life, but one of my greatest is spending time in the woods with my son. This fall we have been out hunting or prepping to hunt over a dozen times and there will be two dozen more. There are so many aspects to it. One is that as hunters we are equals. The days of my teaching him sportsmanship and gamesmanship are over. Now we team together to make strategic decisions. We both unselfishly want the other to succeed in the hunt and we share equally in the work that comes after a successful hunt. A lot of people don't understand hunting and I respect that. At first glance taking guns afield to kill animals can seem barbarian at best. But, hunting is so much more than that and it is hard to put to words. But the bottom line is hunting for me is a chance to spend high quality, uninterupted time, in nature's greatest setting with a most special person.

Coasting

Do you ever wonder why a new car is listed with estimated gas mileage as 32 hwy and 27 city? Isn't that backwards? Don't higher speeds mean more drag? Even at a factor of speed squared! Well, with not much thought it becomes obvious that lower in town mileage is due to stop and go. Think about the billions of gallons of gasoline each day that are converted into heat in a brake system. What a waste. The better hybrids take advantage of this potential for energy savings by having an independent generator on each wheel to use electric back torque to stop the car and then provide the generated electricity to the battery.

So my conclusion, is that one way to save fuel is to brake less. Ronnie and I have been doing this a lot in the truck we share. Coasting basically means letting off on the gas much sooner than normal before a stop or a turn. I was able, on my motorcycle to take my mileage from 50 mpg to 69 mpg just through coasting.

TBL - Give it a try.

Oil Use

Q. Why did gas prices drop? A. Easy, the demand for oil dropped.

Q. Why did the demand for oil drop? A. Easy, we started using less.

In my case I sold a car, spent most of my summer driving a motorcycle, and in our family we are always looking for ways to drive fewer miles. This year I installed two new electric heaters to heat my house. I will use one thousand fewer gallons of propane this winter.

I think we are all trying to reduce our oil use. I'm always looking for new ideas.

What did I do last summer?

I have had a few inquiries about what I was up to all summer (other than not blogging). Well I had two pretty eventful trips. First, for my last Navy trip before retiring, Angie and I drove to the Navy Reserve centers in ND, MN, NE, OK, WY, ID, OR, WA, and MT. 19 days, 6000+ miles. Then one day after returning I flew to Alaska with my Dad, son, brother, and nephew. We caught lots of salmon and saw some up close grizzlies. If you want to see some neat pictures from these trips, check out:

http://aulseth.blogspot.com

P.S. I identified my two long forgotten items to get done this week. Did you?

The 1/x % rule

Lately I have been in meetings with, let's say 10 people. Some people tend to really dominate conversations beyond how much they should. I have a rule - If I am one of the ten people then I consider that I should be talking about 10% of the time. Of course this can vary depending on my role, but it is a really good rule of thumb that we should all consider.

Have a good weekend! I'm heading to Goodland to hunt deer on Tommy Cowboys land. Thanks Tommy!

Procrastination Part 2

Ok, I really do have a post about procrastination. Yesterday in my Intro to Engr class of 25 first year students, I asked students to write on an index card the one good habit they would like to form or the one bad habit they would like to break. Fully 90%, without any prompting or leading discussion, wrote down they would like to break their bad habit of procrastination. An hour later while teaching professional development to 2nd year students, I posed the same question. The result was similar with more than 70% listing procrastination.

Well. I see where they are coming from. Procrastination is ever present in our lives. It isn't anything we graduate from or ever grow out of. I think we only learn to manage it. Obviously those of us who graduated from college managed procrastination to the point that it didn't keep us from doing what was necessary to succeed.

But it is there in our lives. If I asked you to name the one thing that you need to get done that you have been putting off, wouldn't there be something? Changing the oil or getting new tires or going to the dentist or calling your grandma or ... There is something or more than one thing sitting out there that we know we need to do. Yet we keep putting it off and the more we put it off, the harder it is to approach.

The perfect example is this blog. May 18th is surely a while ago. I never intended to quit posting for several months, but the more time that went by the harder it was to motivate myself to do.

I think you get the picture.

TBL - here is a management technique. Each Sunday night, ask yourself "what is the one thing I need to do that I have been putting off?" Then commit to doing it on Monday or at least to get the ball rolling.

P.S. I had lunch with my friend Mark yesterday. He is the one who got me to come back to posting. Thank you Mark.

Procrastination

First of all, welcome back! Yeah. I know May 18th was a long time ago. Oh well, the bottom line is being published today.

Secondly, above, are the three ICC Viking Engineers.  Brittney, Erin, and Misty are an important part of the varsity volleyball team while at the same time excelling in our engineering program.  

Well, I better get to the title of this blog... Procrastination. No wait. I'll do it tomorrow.