I served in the Navy for 5 years and on two ships. This story is about the woman who was the final XO I had on my first ship before transferring to my second ship. When I tell people about the Navy they often seem to respond like I was overreacting, or remembering the story wrong. I feel vindicated by this article. Ironically, I didn't even notice the abuse by this woman because of what was going on with all the other people in my chain of command.

I served with Kirk Benson and Nicole Waybright on the USS CURTIS WILBUR

"I'm more upset that the Navy let this go on so long," says Kirk Benson, who retired from the Navy as a commander three years ago after a 20-year career. Many complaints up the chain fell on "deaf ears," he says. "When I think of Holly Graf, even 12 years later, I shake," he says of serving under her when she was second in command on the destroyer U.S.S. Curtis Wilbur in 1997-98. "She was so intimidating even to me, a 6-foot-4 guy."

I must have more and more Starbucks coffee!!!! I used to think starbucks was the 2nd worst coffee in the world. Now I must reorder the worst coffees in the world 1) Navy coffee 2) Sam's Club Coffee 3) Starbucks coffee

"In hopes of recapturing the "bigger is always better" spirit of the previous decade, Starbucks has reportedly been test-marketing a new cup size that allows customers to guzzle 32 ounces of its iced beverages in one fell swoop. Called the "Trenta," it could provide the caffeine-needy with more than enough caffeine to power through their increasingly stressful days, or at least an hour or two of them." from The Coffee Wars Will Not End Until America Is A Shaking Heap Of Overstimulation | The Awl

“I promise I will never again talk about something that I’m really grieving about on social media. People have a tendency to be flippant and make jokes out of things that can be very serious.. mostly because they don’t know what else to say.” — Donald Patterson, quub.com

"COLORADO SPRINGS — This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

Full article - The Denver Post

"UCI's Donald Patterson discusses the good and bad, current role and future of social media"