I've been in Anaheim, California since Sunday evening. I flew out of LC on Sunday. Was in Anaheim for a VPPPA (Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association) conference. VPP (Voluntary Protection Program) is an OSHA program where the company, workers and OSHA partner and work for ever improving safety in the workplace.

I was asked to serve in this by some of my fellow workers and decided to get on board because I see it as something to help keep me an my co-workers at the refinery. Refineries make oil and gasoline products by basically boiling oil and gasoline. It is safe when done properly and everything is treated with respect, proper caution and good sense. Safety is VERY important in this industry.

While in Anaheim I finished the Abhorsen Trilogy, by Garth Nix. It was GREAT. When I was young, I read a lot of fantasy, but not for a long time. My daughter, Morgan, has been after me for some time to read these books. She finally gave them to me in an audio format. Once I started them, they were hard to put down. I listened to them during every minute that I could find.


While in Anaheim, Instead of watching TV in my room, I listened to these books every evening until they were finished. Before leaving I listened to C.S. Lewis' ScrewTape Letters. I first read this interesting little book in 1980. I was on board the USS Francis Hammond and we were on station in the Gulf of Oman. I did some of my reading in the back of an SH-2 anti-submarine helicopter, on which I was a crewman, sensor operator and rescue swimmer. The book is a difficult read at times, but it is a book worth the effort it takes to read. (FYI: I took these pictures of our helicopter in 1981 somewhere off the coast of Eastern Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.)

Today, I am getting things ready just in case Gustave becomes a hurricane and heads our way. I hope not. It has taken us almost to now to recover from Hurricane Rita, which hammered us three years ago.

I have work to do.
Kenith