Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Sierra Canyon bus tour to Fallon NAS

Yesterday the Del Webb community we live in, Sierra Canyon, offered a bus tour to Fallon  Naval Air Station and we went. It was so cool. Fallon is about 50 miles east of Reno. It is the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Command. It is where the Top Gun school is. Our guide described it as the graduate school for pilots. Pilots come in and are trained to go back and be the trainers for their units. In addition whole airwings come in to Fallon to be trained. An airwing inclues about 40 F18 Super Hornets each of which cost 40 Million.

The first thing we did when we arrived was to go up into the observation floor in the control tower.

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We could see the F5 Tigers that were painted to be the agressor aircraft for training and at the other end of the flight line we could see the F18s that were part of the air wing there for training.

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After the observation deck we went into one of the hangers where one of the pilots stationed a Fallon told us about  what they do. Our guide was call sign BUDA for Big Ugly Dumb Animal. His real name was Brandon Harjer.

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He said that Fallon is unique in that it is so big that they can train on air to air and air to ground combat at the same time. He told us all about his training and how he got to be a pilot. He has served in Afganistan. It was so cool to walk around the F5 tigers that they fly and  ask him questions about them.

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From the hanger we went into the ready room where we saw the pilot’s flight gear and parachutes.

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From there we went out on to the flight line where all the planes were. I know I have said it before but it was so cool!

Then we had a picnic lunch and walked around the airplane museum. It was really interesting to see the MiGs and the early jets.

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The whole tour was a real treat. I love jets and especially fighter jets.

Here is the Flickr link to all my pictures from the tour.

Blogging Side Benefits

Last week I wrote a post titled Inspiration linking to Tom Mangan’s blog about 4WheelBob being the first person in a wheel chair to climb White Mountain. You can imagine how much I felt like an insider when I saw the story on the front page of the San Jose Mercury News  last Friday. It was exciting!

Personally I always found that blogging really helped my career as well as expanding my personal network. It helped me clarify my goals and my strategy and tactics and it made me visible to other people.  While I was at Sun I know I did a better, more visible job because I blogged. I believe blogging helped me get the job at Intuit. When I left Intuit I got a job offer as a result of blogging. 

It seems to me that Tom Mangan’s story about 4WheelBob climbing White Mountain is another example about blogging helping a career. Tom seems to be blogging about what he likes to do and it seems to me that blogging must help his career. I emailed him to ask him about this and he replied "to answer your question re blogging and the career: it helps, but not as much as you  might think." He pointed out that blogging might help but he still need a day job unrelated to hiking. Blogging takes a lot of time so one might question whether the return is worth the time it takes.

Bottom line is I guess most of us blog because we enjoy it. Any career benefits are side benefits, not the reason to blog. Now that I am retired from corporate life I like to think that blogging still helps my career. I am the CEO of Marion Inc. My goal is to live, to love, to learn and to be interesting. Blogging is part of my strategy to enhance the learn and be interesting part. Maybe that is at the heart of why I enjoy blogging.

Sierra Canyon Hiking Group Hike in the Tahoe-Donner Ski Area

Duke and I went hiking again with the Sierra Canyon Hiking group again on Monday. Sierra Canyon is the 55 and over community that we live in so all the hikers are 55 or older. Monday we hiked around the Tahoe-Donner Ski area and Euer Valley Cross-country ski Area. We were just north of Interstate 80 overlooking Donner pass. We hiked about 5 miles and had great panoramic views of the Pacific Crest.

Here are a few pictures. You can click on them to see them full size

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Here is the Flickr link for all of my pictures of this hike.

Directions: to Tahoe-Donner

I80 west to Truckee
Exit 184 (Donner State Park/Donner Pass Rd)
Turn Right
0.4 miles turn left at light on Northwoods Blvd
1.3 miles to blinking light
Turn left on to Northwoods Rd
0.7 miles turn left on Skislope Rd
4.2 miles to Glacier Way
Glacier Way Trailhead #24 on left
Park in trailhead parking lot.

Lots to do

One of the advantages of living in a place that people go on vacation is that there are lots and lots of things to do. Maybe this is true anywhere you go. There were certainly lots of things to do when Duke and I were in Manchester, Iowa on vacation a month ago. In just a week we did Hooverfest, two ice cream socials, the Sweet Corn festival, First Friday at Five (live music, beer and food) and spent a day at the Amana Colonies.

Anyway, there is also lots to do in the Reno area. Yesterday we went to the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off in down town Sparks. The food was so good that I wished for a bigger stomach.

On Wednesday I met my good friend Linda for lunch in Truckee which is 45 minutes east of here. We hadn’t seen each other in almost three months. It was SO good to see her. In the Truckee chamber of Commerce building I picked up brochures about everything from horse back riding to hiking to wine tasting to the Sunset Idea house to rafting and bicycling. Linda and I had a great time browsing the shops but we did agree that moving and having too much stuff does put a damper on one’s desire to buy things!