Had a  great time at the ball park last night. Chip stuffed himself to the gills with hot dogs, Lee with popcorn and warm pretzels, and me, well, I was congratulating myself that my plan to get Lee to forget about evil computers and/or their programmers/hijackers/etc.  for  a while had worked. He was in a great mood,(his favorite team won) which continued into this morning. Until the SecNav called.

We have been drafted to try out that new super computer NCIS had had awhile after all. Had as in desperate to get rid of? Or does the Navy simply want a second opinion about it?

Chip had the first user orientation with the NCIS liaison,(his good buddy McGee) this morning and came back  singing  its praises so much that I was  tempted to tell him to shut the hell up! I know Lee’s already read him the riot act. It’s one thing to like something, another to drive us all crazy with it.

Lee’s aboard Seaview right now, presumably to get things ready before his own scheduled orientation with the training module. But I know the real reason. He’s gone to tell her that it’s only going to be a temporary  shutdown of the regular computer and things will be all right,(not that he believes it) and  soothe any of her ruffled feathers, if a submarine has feathers, that is.

I wonder if I should alert Doc to have some smelling salts ready. Not for Seaview but for Lee, when the Information Technologists come aboard to pull the plug on her computer and install the newbie.

From what Chip said, it blinks, it flashes, it has various ’ports’ and slots for even more computerized gizmos than I can count. Plus one added feature I’m not sure will go over well with any of us being in the ‘Silent Service’.

It talks.

Apparently it decides for itself which kind of voice and inflection to use and when depending on  the computer’s particular setting be it office, home, or in our case, vessel. it  can greet , it can remind, it can even do inventory. No wonder Chip waxed on about it, no more spreadsheets about how much laundry soap or toilet paper are  being used.

No doubt Lee will chide Chip about no more job security. I have to admit if this is the wave of the future, I’m not sure all of us will be able to cope.