Any time! It’s fantastic!

That’s how my old man started teaching me to drive a manual transmission! He’d drive, and I’d shift!

Ahh, gotcha. As an engineer and new manager, ‘Skunk Works’ was a fantastic read for me. I also wish there were more books written about the Blackbird. I did buy one a couple years ago, but got halfway through, then my son was born, and I had ZERO time to read it.

Have you read ‘Skunk Works’ by Ben Rich?

Except that powder bags age just like missiles do. Missiles pack longer range, better, more efficient explosives, and extremely tight guidance tolerance. Large caliber naval rifles can’t match a middle on anything but cost and sheer destructive power, and the former is debatable, given the ship needed to fire those…

No Bathurst 1000, no care.

Gotcha. I never made it to Pax River, but almost took a job with MFC, to work ALIS for the F-35, and would have spent a lot of time in Pax River. Many of the guys I worked with in EBS were former MS2 guys in Owego that had been laid off from one program, or another.

Having just seen one in person, the gear is MASSIVE!

There have been several efforts to do that, over the years, but they’ve proven to be too costly, with too little of an upside. Frankly, they’re planning to fly these for another 40 years. They’re going to need to do SOMETHING!

I got to see one of these monsters, up close, at the MCAS Beaufort air show, a few months back. Even next to a C-17, it’s just massive. The bomb bay was surprisingly small, for how large the aircraft is, and you wonder why, given that they’re still a frontline bomber, more support hasn’t been given to updating and…

Thanks for the heads up. I’m working for a small company now, managing a team, and even though I’m still working 100% as an engineer, I’m splitting time. It takes a toll on you, but I’m happier now than I ever was at LM.

Yeah, and from my former coworkers stories, it seems like I pretty much know how this project will start to head, once LM is at the helm...

I’ve been watching this closely, as I’ve been thinking about moving forward with a job with Sikorsky. I was at LM for 8 years, just before Marilyn Hewson came in, and she was actually the VP of my last business unit. I’m not a fan of her, and I’m afraid that LM is going to take Sikorsky and gut it. Also, the project…

You do realize that if you have to suddenly build and equip a massive production infrastructure, plus man it, it will take years. Then you have to train the techs and machinists to build the aircraft. Then you have to train the aircrews and pilots. Then you have to develop tactics to effectively use the weapons…

Actually, Mountain Creek, which is what Action Park is called now, is both. During the winter, it’s a pretty solid ski/snowboarding area, and during the summer, it’s a water park. When it was Action Park, though, it was like the mecca of deadly rides and amusement injuries. Like, bad.

My old man still lives in Tabernacle. Younger step-brother went to Shawnee, and my half-brother went to Seneca. I actually didn’t mind the well water...

What about Stumpy’s Yamaha???

Came for the Traction Park jokes, was not disappointed.

Ugh. That fucking guy. I saw him pitch at Shea, back in like 2000, and we got stuck on the Turnpike, so we were over an hour late for the game. We finally get to our seats, and he’s barely out of the second, even though the score was still 0-0, and he’d only thrown like 25 pitches.

Jerk Wendell, to Mets fans.