August 2011 Newsletter

HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR SUMMER 2011!
3710 Ruffin Road · San Diego, California 92123 · www.richardbrady.com
San Diego · Richland · Charlotte · Virginia Beach· Portsmouth
Engineering · Environmental · Construction · Energy
Another message from the
PRESIDENT
of
O
nly a few times in the span of a century can a generation of people share the common experience of a moment in time where you can forever remember where
you were when you heard the news. And we’re not
talking about when we heard from 44 that it was time to “eat our
peas”, whatever that means. At least the French got to eat cake.
What’s up with that? No, we’re talking December 7, 1941. November 22, 1963. July 20, 1969. September 11, 2001. And now we
can all add May 2, 2011. And for me personally, August 6, 2011 is
now a day I will also never forget.
LET THEM
EAT PEAS!
Most of The Quote readers do not have a memory of December 7,
1941, but of course we all know the history of Pearl Harbor and what it
meant to the history of the world and the United States in particular.
Most of us probably do have a memory of November 22, 1963. News flash from a choked up
Walter Cronkite:
“The President has been
shot” (and if you listen carefully you can hear
him say “from the grassy knoll”), followed by “President Kennedy died at
1 p.m. central time”. I was in the Philippines at the time as my father
was in the Navy and we were stationed for two glorious years in Subic
Bay (1962-1964).
Like it was just yesterday I remember watching the Moon Landing on July 20,
1969, on our 27-inch RCA console television…that received all of three channels…in black and white. An extremely bad decade ends on a high note – The
United States has landed on the Moon, or at least someplace outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Donald Trump will soon sort this out once and for all.
And of course 9/11. Everybody has a story that they remember like it just happened yesterday. I was in Philadelphia at the APWA National Conference making a joint presentation about the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant project for the
umpteenth time with Iraj Asgharzadeh from the City of San Diego. Our scheduled hour-long presentation started at 9:00 a.m. EST. We arrived a bit early to set
up, and when the presentation started only a dozen or so people were in the audience, much to my dismay. I recall thinking “I came all the way for this? 12 people?” Within a matter of less than sixty minutes,
our lives would be changed forever.
Shortly after September 11, 2001 a cartoon was printed in the local paper. A man was at a check-in desk
at the airport. The person behind the counter asked him where he wanted to travel to. He answered:
September 10th. There is no doubt that the trouble with our times today is that the future is not what it
used to be.
After nearly ten years of the post 9/11 experience it is safe to say that most of us would like to go back to
9/10 if we could. But we can’t go back, even if Marty McFly shows up tomorrow with Doc Brown in his
DeLorean. We can only move forward, as individuals and as a country. Think about this: the 70 year anniversary of Pearl Harbor that the first FDR called the “date which will live in infamy” is approaching this
year. The U.S. still has nearly 3,000 Pearl Harbor veterans alive today, and nearly 2,000,000 WWII veterans.
BRADY MAKES KEY ROSTER MOVES BEFORE TRADE DEADLINE
A
s written by new Quote article writer wannabe Sean Sudol (with minor edits from the GM):
“BRADY team General Manager, Richard Brady, made two key roster moves heading into
the home stretch of the 2011 season that are sure to bolster the strength of an already stellar
staff. In the first of his two moves, BRADY called up the self-proclaimed young whiz kid Sean Sudol from
the minor leagues, or as we call in the engineering
world “internship”, to a full time roster spot as an Assistant Engineer in the majors. Well renowned for his extraordinary article in the last edition of The Quote, at
least to his immediate family, Sean is sure to blossom into a talented engineer and integral part of the San Diego BRADY team. While in the minors, Sean batted .360
(which means he was correct 36% of the time) with just
68 known errors. The transition from intern to assistant
engineer was welcomed by Sean, and pretty much just
“SEAN, I THINK YOU JUST BROKE A FEW OF MY FINGERS”
involved a trip down a flight of stairs into a new cube.
Comfortable in his new position, Sean is ready to take on any pitch (task) and begin steering this team
up the San Diego Business Journal engineering Power Rankings.
In the second of his two moves, BRADY acquired bright, powerful, and unusually tall Brett Patterson in a
late season trade. Details of the trade for Patterson remain undisclosed but sources close to both organizations suggest BRADY got a steal, but it most likely
“BRETT, HOW’S THE
WEATHER DOWN THERE?”
included a bag of balls and an intern to be named later. Immediately towering over resident tall-man Mt.
Slawson (roughly 6’ 5”) the second he walked into
BRADY’s San Diego office, Brett (pushing 6’ 7”) will prove
to be an important piece of the prestigious engineering
reputation that BRADY has established locally, nationally, and soon to be worldwide! Brett carried a .340 average, with 71 known errors, which in an engineering
equivalent equates to one darn good engineer. Seeking an opportunity for new and exciting endeavors,
Brett is happy to be a new part of the BRADY staff and is quoted as saying, “I’m ready to get in here
and contribute immediately, do whatever it takes, and hopefully win some contracts and take this
team to the top!”…. or something like that.
FORTUNATELY, NOT A
TATTOO
Both hailing from the infamous San Diego State ASCE unofficial organization
“Bad Boyz of Engineering”, and having 2 of the top 4 GPA’s in the engineering
department at graduation, the guys look to bring a strong attitude of success
and determination and will be hot prospects to watch in the upcoming seasons.
BRADY has an eye for talent!”
From The Quote HQ: At least we hope so, given we are paying each of these
guys 11,000 $5 foot-longs per year for this self-professed “talent”, but we are assuming that at 6’-7 Brett has finally stopped growing and Sean’s “guns” appear
to be at their Muscle Milk limits. We are hopeful that their
WELCOME TO THE PROS,
GIRLS!
intern allowable errors, mostly incurred by failing to
change to the toilet paper rolls in the men’s restroom in a timely fashion, will be
reduced to single digits in due time. As Dandy Don Meredith once said,
“Potential means you haven’t done anything yet”, but both Brett and Sean
seem to have potential, and confidence, to spare. Note to Sean and Brett – it’s
time to put some numbers on the scoreboard now that you have been called
up to the show!
HOW SWEDE IT IS...
F
irst, after many years of planning and re-planning some
more, and then designing for a year, followed by a few
rounds of rigorous reviews, and then bidding and
awarding the work, the construction of the City of Huntington Beach’s Utilities Operations Yard Improvements project
in now complete.
Architectural design was provided by our favorite architects of
All-Times, Alison Whitelaw and Sandy Gramley of PlattWhitelaw Architects, Inc. BRADY’s Project Manager was Danielle Stephens, P.E. Much thanks for the
success of this project rightly goes to Sylvia Franklin of the City of Huntington Beach.
Second, and also very important to us, BRADY employee Lenica Castner is now
comfortably housed in the much improved Utilities Operations Yard compound. Per
Lenica: “I am currently responsible for water conservation communications and outreach programs in the City of Huntington Beach that educate and promote practical ways of accomplishing the city's water usage goals to its citizens and businesses.
I am also involved in the management of the City’s water use efficiency and incentive programs and participates in the Water Use Efficiency community in Southern
California.” We can proudly say that Lenica is passionate about sharing the importance and need for efficient use, management, and general sustainability of the
water resources in semi-arid Southern California. Prior to her work in water use efficiency, Lenica worked as a GIS Analyst for the City of Huntington Beach and as a
Research Analyst with Image Cat, an innovative firm that combines technologies
such as remote sensing and GIS to analyze geological events and infrastructure.
Lenica received her B.A. in Geography from California State University Long Beach,
home of the Queen Mary, and is certified by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) as a
Water Conservation Practitioner, Level 1. Thank you Lenica for putting BRADY’s best feet forward in
Huntington Beach!
HALFWAY TO OCTOMOM STATUS
RICK, EILEEN, AND THE FIVE BOYS
G
iovanni Labrador, BRADY’s IT Love Guru and
Reality TV Star in the making (“Gio and Eileen Take Manila”) is now the father of son
no. 4, yes numero quatro. Lian Labrador
was born at 7:18 p.m. on June 2, NO MAS, EILEEN!
2011. Key stats: 7 lbs, 13 oz., 20
inch bandwidth. From the delivery room the “Mother Board”
reported that all operating systems were optimized, no files
were corrupted, all hard wires
were functioning fine with maximum streaming, all ports were hyper-active, and the “kid” was a real
“screamer”. Gio, we appreciate heeding the call to keep pace with
China, but in the words of Robert Durán and your own wife, QuatroMom Eileen: “no mas!”. Gio’s plans for a reality show in the Philippines (“Keeping up with the Labradors”) have been put on hold as it
turns out four is plenty, so says Eileen. A little girl would have been
sweet for sure, but four healthy boys is surely something to be thankful
for. Eileen is outnumbered five to one, but we at BRADY all know who
wears the pantaloons in the Labrador family. Good luck Eileen raising
your five boys.
BRING IT ON, LABRADORS!
It was a brutal war that took more than 400,000 American lives
(an average of more than 300 U.S. military deaths per day,
each and every day, for nearly 4 years). The devastation and
heartbreak of those times is unimaginable today. But what
two countries from this global conflict are two of our greatest
allies today? Japan and Germany.
We have survived a pretty miserable decade intact, not unlike
the 1960s, bruised and battered, but as we’ve learned from
history, time eventually heals all wounds. Though yet to be
confirmed by The Donald, a new date that will not be forgotten: May 2, 2011, when what’s his name’s viewing of “Deep
Goat” was prematurely interrupted by 23 U.S. Navy SEALs and
now he is somewhere at the bottom of the Indian Ocean with his 72 sturgeons. Feel free to say hello to Satan and Hitler for us. Hopefully it won’t take 70 years for the wounds of 9/11 to be healed.
In the meantime, we are once again reminded of what it
means to serve our country in a time of war, and what it
means to pay the ultimate sacrifice. In the past few years it
has become somewhat cliché to thank our military for their
service. August 6, 2011 is not one of those days, and is now
a day to be added to those not forgotten due to the tragic
circumstances surrounding the downing of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan.
Real heroes are difficult to recognize today, so difficult, in
fact, that plenty of people will tell you they no longer exist.
For many Americans today, a hero is a sandwich or some
guy with a basketball possessing “awesome hang-time”.
The word hero is one that we’ve nearly ruined as it is very
likeable and therefore we use it and misuse – over and over again – until just about all of its impact is ground
to smithereens. And it’s a shame because it used to be such a great word. One thing we learned on August 6th is there is a big difference between someone who has a heroic moment – and someone who is a
true hero. If everyone is a hero than no one is.
In 1942 it was very easy to see what a real American hero looked like — John Basilone comes to mind.
Many of you who have read this far already have wondered who is the guy on the cover? But surprisingly
most southern Californians today know John Basilone, but probably for the wrong reasons. “Isn’t he the guy
who has a stretch of freeway named after him next to Camp Pendleton,
with a freeway exit next to a gnarly surf spot near San Onofre?”
Or is he the guy who was a U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant who received the
Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Guadalcanal, where he held
off 3,000 Japanese soldiers after his 15-member unit was reduced to just two
other men? Who then returned to duty years later for the invasion of Iwo
Jima, where he was killed in action on the first day of battle, at the age of
29, and received the Navy Cross, posthumously? Who was the only Marine
in WWII to receive the Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, and the Navy Cross?
This is the true story of John Basilone, USMC, a real American Hero.
It used to be believed that a hero can only make the news once. John
Basilone proved this was not true nearly 70 years ago. And now our Navy
SEALs have proved it once again, and likely they will be proving it again real
soon.
HAVING OUR CAKE AND EATING IT TOO
W
hile the rest of the country is off “Winning the Fu- “TO PEA OR NOT TO PEA…”
ture” (WTF?) with 44 in the lead, while rapidly running
out of “other people’s money”, BRADY is quietly winning a whole bunch of things in the present, like contracts and task orders that put people to work in our Hampton
Roads (Where Sit Happens East) office led by Bill “Wild Bill” Colden. Our great clients in the region (you know who you are, TR, JH,
LS and many others) have created so many jobs in our Virginia
Beach office for us in 2011 we have lost count, but in our last report to the Federal Government we checked the box: “more
than one, less than 1,000”. Looks like more Government “math” at work. In the past few months we were
fortunate to receive our first IDIQ contract from Public Works Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. Thanks to
Kathy Pope and Stephanie Leeper for their confidence in BRADY! In the last quarter we have also entered the next level of our growth winning MACC contract awards at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina
and here in Hampton Roads.
Between our IDIQs and MACCs while avoiding our first IOU, we’ve
managed to squeeze in the sponsorship of a local Little League Juggernaut, the BRADY “White Sox”. Managed by
GLENN
part-time Tee-Ball coaching whiz and full-time
BRADY Superintendent Glenn Waldschlager, the
White Sox went 12-0, according to Glenn, which is
a bit of a mystery given scores were not kept by
either team, per league rule. Sounds like another
Government accounting trick. But as we all know,
in 2011 every child is a winner. Glenn is a West VirNICE JOB,
ginian Little League legend, starring for the Franklin
GLENN!
Bucks back in the 80’s, who once struck out a goat with a ELAINE
fastball clocked at 42 mph. Congratulations Glenn on your Championship season and for remembering to wear your authorized
BRADY Athletic Protective Gear aka Cup, at all times. Enjoy your trip
to the White House to receive your Championship Trophy, but remember to keep your hand on your wallet. Note to Glenn for next
year: Elaine Nelson, BRADY’s HR Manager, says we may have violated Federal Government Equal Opportunity Labor Law by sponsoring
a team called the “White Sox”. We are awaiting our six figure fine.
WHICH WAY DO I RUN AGAIN?
IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER!
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
F
or many people, is like communism – good in theory, but in
execution it fails. But not if your “Friend” happens to be Fluor Corporation, one of the great U.S. companies alive, kicking a** and taking names around the world today, who also happens to be the Mentor of BRADY in the Small Business Administration’s Mentor-Protégé Program. In 2011 alone BRADY has
experienced several very close encounters of the Fluor kind, that
took all of a nanosecond to say yes to: golf in London at the Fluor
Pro-Am Golf Tournament that included a nice private dinner outing with shoe designer to the stars Jimmy Choo (thank you I.T./
OBE and R.K.); finish line seats next to Dale “Bar(nard)ack” BarSADDLE UP,
nard (see “Separated at Birth?”) at the Kentucky Derby (thank you
FLUOR!
R.B., D.B. and J.S.); and batting practice with the Adrian Gonzalezstealing Boston Red Sox (thank you M.C.). BRADY’s attempt to return the
favor has mostly included invites to attend a San Diego Padres Major League
Baseball game, dugout seats, as in the real dugout next to the players not yet
stolen by the Boston Red Sox, and free tickets to the World Famous San Diego
Zoo AND Sea World, including a ride on Shamu. We’re still awaiting our first acceptance...
CRAIG HAVERSTICK TURNS 350
C
raig Haverstick, Environmental Specialist with BRADY’s world famous Environmental Services Group, is now world famous for something even
more amazing than our Environmental Services Group. Craig the “Dog
Whisperer” Haverstick turned 350 on May 25, 2011. Well, 350 in “Dog
Years” but still pretty amazing. Craig celebrated his 350th by digging holes in the
back yard, chewing on his wife’s Jimmy Choo shoes, gnawing on his great grandmother’s antique furniture, crapping in the
neighbor’s yard, and getting pepper sprayed
by the mailman. His birthday celebration included a cake made out of Milk Bones that he
bought at Petco and a night of poker and
boozing with his canine buddies. The bash concluded with a full
moon, midnight “wake-up the neighborhood” howl-at-the-moon
jam session. Congratulations Craig on this milestone birthday and
raising the BRADY’s average age to 349.9 dog years. In the
words of his two best buddies, world famous Chesapeake Bay
Retrievers Stanley and Henry, “Arfy-Arf Day, Bark Barkstick!”
OLDER THAN FLUOR
T
hough not exactly on the national radar screen, Saturday, April 23, 2011
was still a momentous and exciting
day...for Don Whittaker, BRADY Vice
President affectionately known at World
Domination Headquarters as “Admiral
Spreadsheet”. Don and his 13-member San
Diego posse made the trek to Phoenix, Arizona to celebrate his grandmother's 100th
birthday. With over 40 family members from
all over the country and about 150 other friends at the party,
"Grammie" was the talk of the town... literally. Several local TV
channels covered the event on the news that night.
One of the highlights for sure was Grammie getting to meet her newest greatgreat-grandson for the first time. Jacob
Donald Whittaker was born February 19,
2011; Grammie was born April 22, 1911. To put this in perspective, Grammie
was already one year old when Fluor Corporation was founded in 1912, and
the Titanic was still in the shipyard in Belfast, preparing for its one and only
voyage to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Yep, almost exactly 100 years
apart between the oldest and youngest Whittaker...talk about the Photo
Op of the Century this side of the Indian Ocean. Jacob is actually her 5th
"great-great" and the family has been blessed to have had five generations alive and well since 1995.
When asked by a TV reporter what her secret to longevity was, Grammie
answered "Candy, Ice Cream and Peas". That's great news for Don...he
also loves candy and ice cream, but Don takes his with Jack Daniels…and
he hates peas. According to Don, if he makes it to a 100, he'll be considered a "graduate" of the BRADY Geezer Club, for the second time. Of
course, he will still be working by then once the retirement age for Social
Security is raised to 102.
SEALED AND DELIVERED
T
o the bottom of the Indian Ocean, thank you Navy SEALs
and the San Diego based USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) for doing the duty. Speaking once again of Navy SEALs as well
as the U.S. Navy Class of 2011 in particular, back in August
2009 Rick Brady had a chance to have a couple of friends of
good friend (and new BRADY employee, see “HOJO MOJO RISING”) Howard Johnson over to his house for a barbecue. At the
time, one (Jeremy Anderson) was on his way to Navy Flight
School in Pensacola, Florida, and the other (Neal Nelson) was on
his way to the Navy SEALS program in San Diego/Coronado.
We are happy to report that dreams can and still do come true, if you are passionate about what you do. BRADY is extremely proud to announce that nearly two
years later to the day, LTJG Jeremy Anderson received his Wings of Gold as a Naval
Aviator on August 12, 2011 and is now officially defending the Red-White-and-Blue in a proper U.S. Naval Aviator approved uniform, though the word in the pilot locker
room is sad but true: his treasured but tattered RedWhite-and-Blue speedo is still being worn…24/7. He still
plays the guitar and piano and has recently mastered
“Anchors Aweigh” on his Flugelhorn. There is no doubt that with those wings
he is now a certified “Richard Gere” quality
“Officer and a Gentleman”…thankfully, without the gerbils. As Jeremy was recently quoted after buzzing his Mom and Dad’s home in Iowa on a recent cross country trip: “The same skills may be required to
fly a P-3, but it sure beats driving a Zamboni!”
member of Class 281.
On the west side of the still greatest country in the history of
the world, NEAL Nelson, graduated from SEAL Qualification
Training
(Naval
Special
Warfare)
on
March
4,
2011. Ceremonies were held at the Naval Base in Coronado, California. Drum roll
please: we are extremely proud to introduce LTJG NEAL N. Nelson, USN, SEAL, a
As a part of the unwritten SEAL requirements, Neal has mastered the art of looking cool in sunglasses and a
speedo, and routinely checks his hair in the mirror, any mirror, including storefront windows and silverware
(spoons work the best), per SEAL regulations.
Neal completed language school in Coronado before heading to Virginia Beach, VA in July 2011 where he
is undergoing additional specialized warfare training. Like he needs it. But it is amazing to learn that he
was recently pinned in a wrestling match…by a 115 pound woman. Go figure, but we assume he knew
what he was doing. Per Neal: “If
you can read, thank a Teacher. If
you can read in English, thank a
Veteran.” His parting words as he
drove out of San Diego in his 1967
Chili Pepper Red Camaro Convertible:
“時間到一些中國的屁股一
=
腳”. If you need translation, feel
free to hit the “Ask an Expert” Red
Button at www.richardbrady.com.
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
SEYMOUR JOHNSON
N
o, this is not a punch line of a joke, it is the real deal. As reported in
our last newsletter, BRADY was awarded a five year, $25,000,000 Multiple Award Construction Contract
(MACC) by the U.S. Air Force for work at
the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. Work to be performed under this IDIQ contract was expected to involve a broad range of
maintenance, repair, and
I THINK MY NOSE IS BLEEDING!
minor construction projects on real property
HAS ANYONE SEEN
at the Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina.
MY STETSON?
Well, as of July 31, 2011, BRADY has trimmed
IT WAS THE ONE-ARMED MAN!
$4,420,902 from this contract amount by virtue
of landing a “big one”,
THE WRONG “BIG ONE!”
as in an award to
“furnish all labor, material and equipment necessary to repair Dorm
3606”. The work includes a design phase over a period of 155 days and an on-site construction period of
210 calendar days. Congratulations to Sean Manning, Jeff Johnson, Rich Riser, and the rest of the team in Charlotte/
Matthews, North Carolina for scoring this major win, the largest single prime
contract award to BRADY, in the history of...BRADY.
GOLD MEMBERS
S
ort of, but more specifically,
once
again
YEAH,
BRADY,
BRADY has scored anYEAH!
other
GOLD
LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating, for
our recently completed Company Operations Facility (aka
COF) at NTC Fort Irwin, California. The COF is the SECOND
LEED certified project ever constructed at Ft. Irwin, both designed and built by BRADY, in a Joint
Venture with RQ Construction. The total contract amount was $8,221,000. The project was completed on time and within budget, to the delight of the U.S. Army. National Training Center Ft. Irwin is located approximately 35 miles north of Barstow, California, conveniently on the way to Las
Vegas (sorry once again, DCAA). Similar to our recently completed Child Development Center
at Ft. Irwin, at the outset, the goal for the project was to receive at least a SILVER certification.
The GOLD rating is very
sweet indeed, and with the
economy in tatters with the
price of gold rising by the
second, Rick was overheard
to say that when our commemorative plaque arrives, “can we sell it
on e-Bay”? Thanks again must go
out to many at BRADY, particularly
Mark Owens, Jim Bowen, and Richard Sherar.
ORDER IN THE COURT
I BILLED 25 HOURS TODAY...AND IT’S STILL DAYLIGHT!
T
here is probably no better indicator of company growth
than when the time comes to have legal counsel on the
company payroll. Plus, engineering jokes are pretty lame
(e.g. “Engineers do it with precision!”) so it will be nice to
have an Attorney on board to liven things up a bit. As a result,
we are pleased to introduce Terrence (Terry) B. Smith, Esq. as a
new BRADY Vice President and General Counsel. Though we
have no legal issues or claims, have never been anywhere
close to a date with Judge Wapner, and we’re never allowed
to even think about changing a client’s contractual terms, we
expect Terry to make sure our perfect track record continues
while still burning through stacks of legal pads and boxes of red
pencils.
Unfortunately, we have come to learn that there are only three
real lawyer jokes. The rest are true stories. We hired Terry because we noticed when his lips moved, other attorneys actually
appeared interested. So, thanks Terry for joining the BRADY
team and for adding some much
needed humor to our daily routine, and for making our engineering billing rates appear extremely lame and low by comparison. In closing, the best engineer vs. lawyer joke we’ve heard:
“An engineer dies and reports to hell. Pretty soon, the engineer
gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air
conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is
a pretty popular guy. One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there in
hell?"
Satan replies, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling
what this engineer is going to come up with next."
God replies, "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake - “IF WE WERE LAWYERS, THIS WOULD BE BILLABLE TIME.”
he should never
have gotten down there; send him
up here." Satan says, "No way. I like
having an engineer on the staff, and
I'm keeping him."
God says, "Send him back up here or
I'll sue."
25 HOURS? IS THAT THE
BEST YOU CAN DO?
Satan laughs uproariously and answers, "Yeah, right. And just where are
you going to get a lawyer?"
HOJO MOJO RISING
H
oward Johnson, all around good guy and longtime friend of BRADY has agreed to end his waytoo-early retirement and is now a Vice President of
BRADY effective July 2011. Howard retired from his
position as Utilities Manager for Surf City USA back in 2009.
He began working for the City of Huntington Beach in 1980
as a Water Systems Technician before being promoted to
Water Production Supervisor in 1990. When the Utilities Manager position became vacant in 2003, Howard was the obvious choice to take over the helm for the City’s water and
sewer utilities. The baton has now been passed to Brian
Ragland, P.E. Good luck Brian filling Howard’s size 13 DDD
shoes!
Howard is a well-known and highly regarded member of the
Orange County water community and will be a great asset
for BRADY’s growth in the region as well as a great technical
resource for BRADY’s engineering staff. Howard is one of
those guys who walks the walk and talks the talk as opposed
to the cubicle jockey engineer types who think they know
everything but actually know virtually nothing. You know
who you are. As we noted in our special Quote edition celebrating his career: “He is truly ‘one-of-a-kind’ in every conceivable way you could define that expression.” We are
now very happy to report that Howard is now one-of-a-kind
BRADY employee. Welcome aboard, Howard!
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO...
STAY THIRSTY, AMERICA!
We know what you are thinking, but instead, how about
to a spacious cubicle in BRADY’s World Domination
Headquarters in San Diego? A few years back we were
happy and proud to announce that Pete Silva, P.E. had
been sworn in as the Numero Uno Agua Hombre in the
United States, after being sworn in as 44’s appointed
USEPA Assistant Administrator for Water, on October 6,
2009. Shortly thereafter, per our prediction, the U.S. was
soon covered in snow and rain was falling in buckets. As
reported back then, per USA Today aka McPaper,
“Drought reversal is ‘extraordinary’. More than 92% of
the nation is quenched, with 49 out of 50 states covered
in snow”. Lake Mead rose nearly 25 feet during Pete’s
tenure as Mr. Water USA with 30 more feet expected
from Pete’s snowfall. Low and behold, Pete stepped
down from his rainmaking position in February 2011 and
has now returned to the best temperature on earth =
San Diego CA. It is of course no coincidence that the
country has been baking in an epic heat wave ever
since Pete packed up the wagon and headed west
once again, for good. Pete has now launched his own
consulting business, Silva Silva International, from the
comfy confines of BRADY’s WDHQ, and is available as a
BRADY asset on demand. Just don’t wait until you are
down to your last drop.
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
W
MAKE THAT 54!
ay way back in time that now seems like a million
years ago, when the U.S. GDP was 55 dinosaur
bones, BRADY was represented at President
Obama’s Inauguration/Love Fest by BRADY’s Finance Guru Crystal Kolland. Crystal managed to meet the
President Elect on the day before the big party after he
ditched his secret service detail to buy cigarettes at 7-Eleven.
Back then, Crystal was quoted as saying “he was uncharacteristically a man of no words and appeared to be a little
stiff.” When Crystal shook his hand she said “it felt like cardboard”. Hmm…but unfortunately, it appears none of Crystal’s
finance guru skills managed to rub off during that handshake.
Oh well, the economy is not totally destroyed…yet. Now fast forward to 2011,
where Crystal gets another photo op with 44 at the Fluor/Kentucky Derby Party
(see “Friends With Benefits”). Make no mistake, according to Crystal, the President
is now not a man of no words, as it was perfectly clear he is now the life of the party and full of funny jokes. A few drinks surely helped the conversation.
GET A ROOM!
When asked what he wanted to drink he responded “two shots and a
splash of water”. When asked about the economy he said: “it is so bad
that even General Electric had to lay off 25 Congressmen.” He added, “My
wife, Melissa, bought a toaster oven and her free gift was a bank.” And
lastly, “When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now share a room.” What
a crack up. In the end, it was not actually 44 himself, but 44 impersonator
extraordinaire Dale “Bar(nard)
ack” Barnard. Note to Dale:
Hold on to your Fluor day job
for now, but seriously consider
an occasional stint on SNL
come election season. Americans will be ready for some
much needed laughs in 2012, as there will be no mistake
that we’ll have eaten all our peas by then. And good luck
debating Tina Fey. Make no mistake, it will be unprecedented…and hilarious!
=
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
WHERE SIT HAPPENS
SEAN SUDOL
A
ANTHONY TALAMANTEZ
YO QUIERO
t BRADY of course, as we are single handedly doing all we
BRADY!
can to resurrect the down-to-its-last breath U.S. economy.
Instead of taking the easy route – hiring debt ceiling fan installers or supplying shovels for all of those non-existent shovel ready construction projects – we have done it the old fashioned way. We’ve actually hired a
bunch of new people from America! We are currently the second largest employer
in California, right behind Taco Bell. Not really, but we are gaining ground, one volcano burrito eating, tax paying employee at a time.
Unless you have already packed up and moved with
your ammo and 25 year supply of over-stocked NASA freeze dried
food (don’t forget your Tang!) to your fortified cave “somewhere in the
Dakotas”, you probably know the U.S. economy added a measly
12,000 new jobs in June 2011…and 11,900 were Government auditors.
Yikes is an understatement. Maybe we should trade
those shovels for spoons and get rid of those useless
job-killing ATM machines? Just think of how many
new jobs we could create if we could go back to
the 19th century? Of course we all know those
“shovel ready” shovels have been
busy of late in Washington D.C.
shoveling something else (hint:
rhymes with sit). In the meantime,
BRADY has grown by a whopping
“we-cannot-disclose-otherwise-you-know-the-joke %” in June alone,
with 7 new staff additions. Not to over-brag about our totally wicked-pissah awesome unprecedented growth, but we now employ three full-time
99% tax paying Seans (Manning, Leffler, Sudol), two Aarons (Heidt and Robinson),
two Tims (Shields and Stanton), two Dons (Whittaker and McHugh), three Jims
(Bowen, Pierce, and Wageman), a whopping
MY BOLOGNA HAS A FIRST NAME...
four Scotts (Reilly, Shroyer, Croff, and Ellis), the
last of which shares his first initial and last name
with new employee Susan, and one Dick (Welsh)
…but we’re still waiting for our first Weiner. You can do the new
government math with your own soon-to-be U.S. Government furnished Abacus from Uncle Mao himself, but seven (7) new people in
June = 0.04% of the total U.S. job growth. We’re the Mickey Mantle
of the U.S. economy! We’re on pace to be a bunch of thousandaires at BRADY in the not too distant future.
SUSAN ELLIS
THE AARONS
THE SEANS
THE TIMS
THE DONS
THE ONE AND ONLY DICK
THE JIMS
BRETT PATTERSON
THE SCOTTS
WHERE SIT HAPPENS
SEAN SUDOL
A
ANTHONY TALAMANTEZ
YO QUIERO
t BRADY of course, as we are single handedly doing all we
BRADY!
can to resurrect the down-to-its-last breath U.S. economy.
Instead of taking the easy route – hiring debt ceiling fan installers or supplying shovels for all of those non-existent shovel ready construction projects – we have done it the old fashioned way. We’ve actually hired a
bunch of new people from America! We are currently the second largest employer
in California, right behind Taco Bell. Not really, but we are gaining ground, one volcano burrito eating, tax paying employee at a time.
Unless you have already packed up and moved with
your ammo and 25 year supply of over-stocked NASA freeze dried
food (don’t forget your Tang!) to your fortified cave “somewhere in the
Dakotas”, you probably know the U.S. economy added a measly
12,000 new jobs in June 2011…and 11,900 were Government auditors.
Yikes is an understatement. Maybe we should trade
those shovels for spoons and get rid of those useless
job-killing ATM machines? Just think of how many
new jobs we could create if we could go back to
the 19th century? Of course we all know those
“shovel ready” shovels have been
busy of late in Washington D.C.
shoveling something else (hint:
rhymes with sit). In the meantime,
BRADY has grown by a whopping
“we-cannot-disclose-otherwise-you-know-the-joke %” in June alone,
with 7 new staff additions. Not to over-brag about our totally wicked-pissah awesome unprecedented growth, but we now employ three full-time
99% tax paying Seans (Manning, Leffler, Sudol), two Aarons (Heidt and Robinson),
two Tims (Shields and Stanton), two Dons (Whittaker and McHugh), three Jims
(Bowen, Pierce, and Wageman), a whopping
MY BOLOGNA HAS A FIRST NAME...
four Scotts (Reilly, Shroyer, Croff, and Ellis), the
last of which shares his first initial and last name
with new employee Susan, and one Dick (Welsh)
…but we’re still waiting for our first Weiner. You can do the new
government math with your own soon-to-be U.S. Government furnished Abacus from Uncle Mao himself, but seven (7) new people in
June = 0.04% of the total U.S. job growth. We’re the Mickey Mantle
of the U.S. economy! We’re on pace to be a bunch of thousandaires at BRADY in the not too distant future.
SUSAN ELLIS
THE AARONS
THE SEANS
THE TIMS
THE DONS
THE ONE AND ONLY DICK
THE JIMS
BRETT PATTERSON
THE SCOTTS
HOJO MOJO RISING
H
oward Johnson, all around good guy and longtime friend of BRADY has agreed to end his waytoo-early retirement and is now a Vice President of
BRADY effective July 2011. Howard retired from his
position as Utilities Manager for Surf City USA back in 2009.
He began working for the City of Huntington Beach in 1980
as a Water Systems Technician before being promoted to
Water Production Supervisor in 1990. When the Utilities Manager position became vacant in 2003, Howard was the obvious choice to take over the helm for the City’s water and
sewer utilities. The baton has now been passed to Brian
Ragland, P.E. Good luck Brian filling Howard’s size 13 DDD
shoes!
Howard is a well-known and highly regarded member of the
Orange County water community and will be a great asset
for BRADY’s growth in the region as well as a great technical
resource for BRADY’s engineering staff. Howard is one of
those guys who walks the walk and talks the talk as opposed
to the cubicle jockey engineer types who think they know
everything but actually know virtually nothing. You know
who you are. As we noted in our special Quote edition celebrating his career: “He is truly ‘one-of-a-kind’ in every conceivable way you could define that expression.” We are
now very happy to report that Howard is now one-of-a-kind
BRADY employee. Welcome aboard, Howard!
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO...
STAY THIRSTY, AMERICA!
We know what you are thinking, but instead, how about
to a spacious cubicle in BRADY’s World Domination
Headquarters in San Diego? A few years back we were
happy and proud to announce that Pete Silva, P.E. had
been sworn in as the Numero Uno Agua Hombre in the
United States, after being sworn in as 44’s appointed
USEPA Assistant Administrator for Water, on October 6,
2009. Shortly thereafter, per our prediction, the U.S. was
soon covered in snow and rain was falling in buckets. As
reported back then, per USA Today aka McPaper,
“Drought reversal is ‘extraordinary’. More than 92% of
the nation is quenched, with 49 out of 50 states covered
in snow”. Lake Mead rose nearly 25 feet during Pete’s
tenure as Mr. Water USA with 30 more feet expected
from Pete’s snowfall. Low and behold, Pete stepped
down from his rainmaking position in February 2011 and
has now returned to the best temperature on earth =
San Diego CA. It is of course no coincidence that the
country has been baking in an epic heat wave ever
since Pete packed up the wagon and headed west
once again, for good. Pete has now launched his own
consulting business, Silva Silva International, from the
comfy confines of BRADY’s WDHQ, and is available as a
BRADY asset on demand. Just don’t wait until you are
down to your last drop.
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
W
MAKE THAT 54!
ay way back in time that now seems like a million
years ago, when the U.S. GDP was 55 dinosaur
bones, BRADY was represented at President
Obama’s Inauguration/Love Fest by BRADY’s Finance Guru Crystal Kolland. Crystal managed to meet the
President Elect on the day before the big party after he
ditched his secret service detail to buy cigarettes at 7-Eleven.
Back then, Crystal was quoted as saying “he was uncharacteristically a man of no words and appeared to be a little
stiff.” When Crystal shook his hand she said “it felt like cardboard”. Hmm…but unfortunately, it appears none of Crystal’s
finance guru skills managed to rub off during that handshake.
Oh well, the economy is not totally destroyed…yet. Now fast forward to 2011,
where Crystal gets another photo op with 44 at the Fluor/Kentucky Derby Party
(see “Friends With Benefits”). Make no mistake, according to Crystal, the President
is now not a man of no words, as it was perfectly clear he is now the life of the party and full of funny jokes. A few drinks surely helped the conversation.
GET A ROOM!
When asked what he wanted to drink he responded “two shots and a
splash of water”. When asked about the economy he said: “it is so bad
that even General Electric had to lay off 25 Congressmen.” He added, “My
wife, Melissa, bought a toaster oven and her free gift was a bank.” And
lastly, “When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now share a room.” What
a crack up. In the end, it was not actually 44 himself, but 44 impersonator
extraordinaire Dale “Bar(nard)
ack” Barnard. Note to Dale:
Hold on to your Fluor day job
for now, but seriously consider
an occasional stint on SNL
come election season. Americans will be ready for some
much needed laughs in 2012, as there will be no mistake
that we’ll have eaten all our peas by then. And good luck
debating Tina Fey. Make no mistake, it will be unprecedented…and hilarious!
=
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
SEYMOUR JOHNSON
N
o, this is not a punch line of a joke, it is the real deal. As reported in
our last newsletter, BRADY was awarded a five year, $25,000,000 Multiple Award Construction Contract
(MACC) by the U.S. Air Force for work at
the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. Work to be performed under this IDIQ contract was expected to involve a broad range of
maintenance, repair, and
I THINK MY NOSE IS BLEEDING!
minor construction projects on real property
HAS ANYONE SEEN
at the Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina.
MY STETSON?
Well, as of July 31, 2011, BRADY has trimmed
IT WAS THE ONE-ARMED MAN!
$4,420,902 from this contract amount by virtue
of landing a “big one”,
THE WRONG “BIG ONE!”
as in an award to
“furnish all labor, material and equipment necessary to repair Dorm
3606”. The work includes a design phase over a period of 155 days and an on-site construction period of
210 calendar days. Congratulations to Sean Manning, Jeff Johnson, Rich Riser, and the rest of the team in Charlotte/
Matthews, North Carolina for scoring this major win, the largest single prime
contract award to BRADY, in the history of...BRADY.
GOLD MEMBERS
S
ort of, but more specifically,
once
again
YEAH,
BRADY,
BRADY has scored anYEAH!
other
GOLD
LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating, for
our recently completed Company Operations Facility (aka
COF) at NTC Fort Irwin, California. The COF is the SECOND
LEED certified project ever constructed at Ft. Irwin, both designed and built by BRADY, in a Joint
Venture with RQ Construction. The total contract amount was $8,221,000. The project was completed on time and within budget, to the delight of the U.S. Army. National Training Center Ft. Irwin is located approximately 35 miles north of Barstow, California, conveniently on the way to Las
Vegas (sorry once again, DCAA). Similar to our recently completed Child Development Center
at Ft. Irwin, at the outset, the goal for the project was to receive at least a SILVER certification.
The GOLD rating is very
sweet indeed, and with the
economy in tatters with the
price of gold rising by the
second, Rick was overheard
to say that when our commemorative plaque arrives, “can we sell it
on e-Bay”? Thanks again must go
out to many at BRADY, particularly
Mark Owens, Jim Bowen, and Richard Sherar.
ORDER IN THE COURT
I BILLED 25 HOURS TODAY...AND IT’S STILL DAYLIGHT!
T
here is probably no better indicator of company growth
than when the time comes to have legal counsel on the
company payroll. Plus, engineering jokes are pretty lame
(e.g. “Engineers do it with precision!”) so it will be nice to
have an Attorney on board to liven things up a bit. As a result,
we are pleased to introduce Terrence (Terry) B. Smith, Esq. as a
new BRADY Vice President and General Counsel. Though we
have no legal issues or claims, have never been anywhere
close to a date with Judge Wapner, and we’re never allowed
to even think about changing a client’s contractual terms, we
expect Terry to make sure our perfect track record continues
while still burning through stacks of legal pads and boxes of red
pencils.
Unfortunately, we have come to learn that there are only three
real lawyer jokes. The rest are true stories. We hired Terry because we noticed when his lips moved, other attorneys actually
appeared interested. So, thanks Terry for joining the BRADY
team and for adding some much
needed humor to our daily routine, and for making our engineering billing rates appear extremely lame and low by comparison. In closing, the best engineer vs. lawyer joke we’ve heard:
“An engineer dies and reports to hell. Pretty soon, the engineer
gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air
conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is
a pretty popular guy. One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there in
hell?"
Satan replies, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling
what this engineer is going to come up with next."
God replies, "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake - “IF WE WERE LAWYERS, THIS WOULD BE BILLABLE TIME.”
he should never
have gotten down there; send him
up here." Satan says, "No way. I like
having an engineer on the staff, and
I'm keeping him."
God says, "Send him back up here or
I'll sue."
25 HOURS? IS THAT THE
BEST YOU CAN DO?
Satan laughs uproariously and answers, "Yeah, right. And just where are
you going to get a lawyer?"
CRAIG HAVERSTICK TURNS 350
C
raig Haverstick, Environmental Specialist with BRADY’s world famous Environmental Services Group, is now world famous for something even
more amazing than our Environmental Services Group. Craig the “Dog
Whisperer” Haverstick turned 350 on May 25, 2011. Well, 350 in “Dog
Years” but still pretty amazing. Craig celebrated his 350th by digging holes in the
back yard, chewing on his wife’s Jimmy Choo shoes, gnawing on his great grandmother’s antique furniture, crapping in the
neighbor’s yard, and getting pepper sprayed
by the mailman. His birthday celebration included a cake made out of Milk Bones that he
bought at Petco and a night of poker and
boozing with his canine buddies. The bash concluded with a full
moon, midnight “wake-up the neighborhood” howl-at-the-moon
jam session. Congratulations Craig on this milestone birthday and
raising the BRADY’s average age to 349.9 dog years. In the
words of his two best buddies, world famous Chesapeake Bay
Retrievers Stanley and Henry, “Arfy-Arf Day, Bark Barkstick!”
OLDER THAN FLUOR
T
hough not exactly on the national radar screen, Saturday, April 23, 2011
was still a momentous and exciting
day...for Don Whittaker, BRADY Vice
President affectionately known at World
Domination Headquarters as “Admiral
Spreadsheet”. Don and his 13-member San
Diego posse made the trek to Phoenix, Arizona to celebrate his grandmother's 100th
birthday. With over 40 family members from
all over the country and about 150 other friends at the party,
"Grammie" was the talk of the town... literally. Several local TV
channels covered the event on the news that night.
One of the highlights for sure was Grammie getting to meet her newest greatgreat-grandson for the first time. Jacob
Donald Whittaker was born February 19,
2011; Grammie was born April 22, 1911. To put this in perspective, Grammie
was already one year old when Fluor Corporation was founded in 1912, and
the Titanic was still in the shipyard in Belfast, preparing for its one and only
voyage to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Yep, almost exactly 100 years
apart between the oldest and youngest Whittaker...talk about the Photo
Op of the Century this side of the Indian Ocean. Jacob is actually her 5th
"great-great" and the family has been blessed to have had five generations alive and well since 1995.
When asked by a TV reporter what her secret to longevity was, Grammie
answered "Candy, Ice Cream and Peas". That's great news for Don...he
also loves candy and ice cream, but Don takes his with Jack Daniels…and
he hates peas. According to Don, if he makes it to a 100, he'll be considered a "graduate" of the BRADY Geezer Club, for the second time. Of
course, he will still be working by then once the retirement age for Social
Security is raised to 102.
SEALED AND DELIVERED
T
o the bottom of the Indian Ocean, thank you Navy SEALs
and the San Diego based USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) for doing the duty. Speaking once again of Navy SEALs as well
as the U.S. Navy Class of 2011 in particular, back in August
2009 Rick Brady had a chance to have a couple of friends of
good friend (and new BRADY employee, see “HOJO MOJO RISING”) Howard Johnson over to his house for a barbecue. At the
time, one (Jeremy Anderson) was on his way to Navy Flight
School in Pensacola, Florida, and the other (Neal Nelson) was on
his way to the Navy SEALS program in San Diego/Coronado.
We are happy to report that dreams can and still do come true, if you are passionate about what you do. BRADY is extremely proud to announce that nearly two
years later to the day, LTJG Jeremy Anderson received his Wings of Gold as a Naval
Aviator on August 12, 2011 and is now officially defending the Red-White-and-Blue in a proper U.S. Naval Aviator approved uniform, though the word in the pilot locker
room is sad but true: his treasured but tattered RedWhite-and-Blue speedo is still being worn…24/7. He still
plays the guitar and piano and has recently mastered
“Anchors Aweigh” on his Flugelhorn. There is no doubt that with those wings
he is now a certified “Richard Gere” quality
“Officer and a Gentleman”…thankfully, without the gerbils. As Jeremy was recently quoted after buzzing his Mom and Dad’s home in Iowa on a recent cross country trip: “The same skills may be required to
fly a P-3, but it sure beats driving a Zamboni!”
member of Class 281.
On the west side of the still greatest country in the history of
the world, NEAL Nelson, graduated from SEAL Qualification
Training
(Naval
Special
Warfare)
on
March
4,
2011. Ceremonies were held at the Naval Base in Coronado, California. Drum roll
please: we are extremely proud to introduce LTJG NEAL N. Nelson, USN, SEAL, a
As a part of the unwritten SEAL requirements, Neal has mastered the art of looking cool in sunglasses and a
speedo, and routinely checks his hair in the mirror, any mirror, including storefront windows and silverware
(spoons work the best), per SEAL regulations.
Neal completed language school in Coronado before heading to Virginia Beach, VA in July 2011 where he
is undergoing additional specialized warfare training. Like he needs it. But it is amazing to learn that he
was recently pinned in a wrestling match…by a 115 pound woman. Go figure, but we assume he knew
what he was doing. Per Neal: “If
you can read, thank a Teacher. If
you can read in English, thank a
Veteran.” His parting words as he
drove out of San Diego in his 1967
Chili Pepper Red Camaro Convertible:
“時間到一些中國的屁股一
=
腳”. If you need translation, feel
free to hit the “Ask an Expert” Red
Button at www.richardbrady.com.
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
HAVING OUR CAKE AND EATING IT TOO
W
hile the rest of the country is off “Winning the Fu- “TO PEA OR NOT TO PEA…”
ture” (WTF?) with 44 in the lead, while rapidly running
out of “other people’s money”, BRADY is quietly winning a whole bunch of things in the present, like contracts and task orders that put people to work in our Hampton
Roads (Where Sit Happens East) office led by Bill “Wild Bill” Colden. Our great clients in the region (you know who you are, TR, JH,
LS and many others) have created so many jobs in our Virginia
Beach office for us in 2011 we have lost count, but in our last report to the Federal Government we checked the box: “more
than one, less than 1,000”. Looks like more Government “math” at work. In the past few months we were
fortunate to receive our first IDIQ contract from Public Works Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. Thanks to
Kathy Pope and Stephanie Leeper for their confidence in BRADY! In the last quarter we have also entered the next level of our growth winning MACC contract awards at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina
and here in Hampton Roads.
Between our IDIQs and MACCs while avoiding our first IOU, we’ve
managed to squeeze in the sponsorship of a local Little League Juggernaut, the BRADY “White Sox”. Managed by
GLENN
part-time Tee-Ball coaching whiz and full-time
BRADY Superintendent Glenn Waldschlager, the
White Sox went 12-0, according to Glenn, which is
a bit of a mystery given scores were not kept by
either team, per league rule. Sounds like another
Government accounting trick. But as we all know,
in 2011 every child is a winner. Glenn is a West VirNICE JOB,
ginian Little League legend, starring for the Franklin
GLENN!
Bucks back in the 80’s, who once struck out a goat with a ELAINE
fastball clocked at 42 mph. Congratulations Glenn on your Championship season and for remembering to wear your authorized
BRADY Athletic Protective Gear aka Cup, at all times. Enjoy your trip
to the White House to receive your Championship Trophy, but remember to keep your hand on your wallet. Note to Glenn for next
year: Elaine Nelson, BRADY’s HR Manager, says we may have violated Federal Government Equal Opportunity Labor Law by sponsoring
a team called the “White Sox”. We are awaiting our six figure fine.
WHICH WAY DO I RUN AGAIN?
IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER!
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
F
or many people, is like communism – good in theory, but in
execution it fails. But not if your “Friend” happens to be Fluor Corporation, one of the great U.S. companies alive, kicking a** and taking names around the world today, who also happens to be the Mentor of BRADY in the Small Business Administration’s Mentor-Protégé Program. In 2011 alone BRADY has
experienced several very close encounters of the Fluor kind, that
took all of a nanosecond to say yes to: golf in London at the Fluor
Pro-Am Golf Tournament that included a nice private dinner outing with shoe designer to the stars Jimmy Choo (thank you I.T./
OBE and R.K.); finish line seats next to Dale “Bar(nard)ack” BarSADDLE UP,
nard (see “Separated at Birth?”) at the Kentucky Derby (thank you
FLUOR!
R.B., D.B. and J.S.); and batting practice with the Adrian Gonzalezstealing Boston Red Sox (thank you M.C.). BRADY’s attempt to return the
favor has mostly included invites to attend a San Diego Padres Major League
Baseball game, dugout seats, as in the real dugout next to the players not yet
stolen by the Boston Red Sox, and free tickets to the World Famous San Diego
Zoo AND Sea World, including a ride on Shamu. We’re still awaiting our first acceptance...
HOW SWEDE IT IS...
F
irst, after many years of planning and re-planning some
more, and then designing for a year, followed by a few
rounds of rigorous reviews, and then bidding and
awarding the work, the construction of the City of Huntington Beach’s Utilities Operations Yard Improvements project
in now complete.
Architectural design was provided by our favorite architects of
All-Times, Alison Whitelaw and Sandy Gramley of PlattWhitelaw Architects, Inc. BRADY’s Project Manager was Danielle Stephens, P.E. Much thanks for the
success of this project rightly goes to Sylvia Franklin of the City of Huntington Beach.
Second, and also very important to us, BRADY employee Lenica Castner is now
comfortably housed in the much improved Utilities Operations Yard compound. Per
Lenica: “I am currently responsible for water conservation communications and outreach programs in the City of Huntington Beach that educate and promote practical ways of accomplishing the city's water usage goals to its citizens and businesses.
I am also involved in the management of the City’s water use efficiency and incentive programs and participates in the Water Use Efficiency community in Southern
California.” We can proudly say that Lenica is passionate about sharing the importance and need for efficient use, management, and general sustainability of the
water resources in semi-arid Southern California. Prior to her work in water use efficiency, Lenica worked as a GIS Analyst for the City of Huntington Beach and as a
Research Analyst with Image Cat, an innovative firm that combines technologies
such as remote sensing and GIS to analyze geological events and infrastructure.
Lenica received her B.A. in Geography from California State University Long Beach,
home of the Queen Mary, and is certified by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) as a
Water Conservation Practitioner, Level 1. Thank you Lenica for putting BRADY’s best feet forward in
Huntington Beach!
HALFWAY TO OCTOMOM STATUS
RICK, EILEEN, AND THE FIVE BOYS
G
iovanni Labrador, BRADY’s IT Love Guru and
Reality TV Star in the making (“Gio and Eileen Take Manila”) is now the father of son
no. 4, yes numero quatro. Lian Labrador
was born at 7:18 p.m. on June 2, NO MAS, EILEEN!
2011. Key stats: 7 lbs, 13 oz., 20
inch bandwidth. From the delivery room the “Mother Board”
reported that all operating systems were optimized, no files
were corrupted, all hard wires
were functioning fine with maximum streaming, all ports were hyper-active, and the “kid” was a real
“screamer”. Gio, we appreciate heeding the call to keep pace with
China, but in the words of Robert Durán and your own wife, QuatroMom Eileen: “no mas!”. Gio’s plans for a reality show in the Philippines (“Keeping up with the Labradors”) have been put on hold as it
turns out four is plenty, so says Eileen. A little girl would have been
sweet for sure, but four healthy boys is surely something to be thankful
for. Eileen is outnumbered five to one, but we at BRADY all know who
wears the pantaloons in the Labrador family. Good luck Eileen raising
your five boys.
BRING IT ON, LABRADORS!
It was a brutal war that took more than 400,000 American lives
(an average of more than 300 U.S. military deaths per day,
each and every day, for nearly 4 years). The devastation and
heartbreak of those times is unimaginable today. But what
two countries from this global conflict are two of our greatest
allies today? Japan and Germany.
We have survived a pretty miserable decade intact, not unlike
the 1960s, bruised and battered, but as we’ve learned from
history, time eventually heals all wounds. Though yet to be
confirmed by The Donald, a new date that will not be forgotten: May 2, 2011, when what’s his name’s viewing of “Deep
Goat” was prematurely interrupted by 23 U.S. Navy SEALs and
now he is somewhere at the bottom of the Indian Ocean with his 72 sturgeons. Feel free to say hello to Satan and Hitler for us. Hopefully it won’t take 70 years for the wounds of 9/11 to be healed.
In the meantime, we are once again reminded of what it
means to serve our country in a time of war, and what it
means to pay the ultimate sacrifice. In the past few years it
has become somewhat cliché to thank our military for their
service. August 6, 2011 is not one of those days, and is now
a day to be added to those not forgotten due to the tragic
circumstances surrounding the downing of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan.
Real heroes are difficult to recognize today, so difficult, in
fact, that plenty of people will tell you they no longer exist.
For many Americans today, a hero is a sandwich or some
guy with a basketball possessing “awesome hang-time”.
The word hero is one that we’ve nearly ruined as it is very
likeable and therefore we use it and misuse – over and over again – until just about all of its impact is ground
to smithereens. And it’s a shame because it used to be such a great word. One thing we learned on August 6th is there is a big difference between someone who has a heroic moment – and someone who is a
true hero. If everyone is a hero than no one is.
In 1942 it was very easy to see what a real American hero looked like — John Basilone comes to mind.
Many of you who have read this far already have wondered who is the guy on the cover? But surprisingly
most southern Californians today know John Basilone, but probably for the wrong reasons. “Isn’t he the guy
who has a stretch of freeway named after him next to Camp Pendleton,
with a freeway exit next to a gnarly surf spot near San Onofre?”
Or is he the guy who was a U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant who received the
Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Guadalcanal, where he held
off 3,000 Japanese soldiers after his 15-member unit was reduced to just two
other men? Who then returned to duty years later for the invasion of Iwo
Jima, where he was killed in action on the first day of battle, at the age of
29, and received the Navy Cross, posthumously? Who was the only Marine
in WWII to receive the Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, and the Navy Cross?
This is the true story of John Basilone, USMC, a real American Hero.
It used to be believed that a hero can only make the news once. John
Basilone proved this was not true nearly 70 years ago. And now our Navy
SEALs have proved it once again, and likely they will be proving it again real
soon.
Another message from the
PRESIDENT
of
O
nly a few times in the span of a century can a generation of people share the common experience of a moment in time where you can forever remember where
you were when you heard the news. And we’re not
talking about when we heard from 44 that it was time to “eat our
peas”, whatever that means. At least the French got to eat cake.
What’s up with that? No, we’re talking December 7, 1941. November 22, 1963. July 20, 1969. September 11, 2001. And now we
can all add May 2, 2011. And for me personally, August 6, 2011 is
now a day I will also never forget.
LET THEM
EAT PEAS!
Most of The Quote readers do not have a memory of December 7,
1941, but of course we all know the history of Pearl Harbor and what it
meant to the history of the world and the United States in particular.
Most of us probably do have a memory of November 22, 1963. News flash from a choked up
Walter Cronkite:
“The President has been
shot” (and if you listen carefully you can hear
him say “from the grassy knoll”), followed by “President Kennedy died at
1 p.m. central time”. I was in the Philippines at the time as my father
was in the Navy and we were stationed for two glorious years in Subic
Bay (1962-1964).
Like it was just yesterday I remember watching the Moon Landing on July 20,
1969, on our 27-inch RCA console television…that received all of three channels…in black and white. An extremely bad decade ends on a high note – The
United States has landed on the Moon, or at least someplace outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Donald Trump will soon sort this out once and for all.
And of course 9/11. Everybody has a story that they remember like it just happened yesterday. I was in Philadelphia at the APWA National Conference making a joint presentation about the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant project for the
umpteenth time with Iraj Asgharzadeh from the City of San Diego. Our scheduled hour-long presentation started at 9:00 a.m. EST. We arrived a bit early to set
up, and when the presentation started only a dozen or so people were in the audience, much to my dismay. I recall thinking “I came all the way for this? 12 people?” Within a matter of less than sixty minutes,
our lives would be changed forever.
Shortly after September 11, 2001 a cartoon was printed in the local paper. A man was at a check-in desk
at the airport. The person behind the counter asked him where he wanted to travel to. He answered:
September 10th. There is no doubt that the trouble with our times today is that the future is not what it
used to be.
After nearly ten years of the post 9/11 experience it is safe to say that most of us would like to go back to
9/10 if we could. But we can’t go back, even if Marty McFly shows up tomorrow with Doc Brown in his
DeLorean. We can only move forward, as individuals and as a country. Think about this: the 70 year anniversary of Pearl Harbor that the first FDR called the “date which will live in infamy” is approaching this
year. The U.S. still has nearly 3,000 Pearl Harbor veterans alive today, and nearly 2,000,000 WWII veterans.
BRADY MAKES KEY ROSTER MOVES BEFORE TRADE DEADLINE
A
s written by new Quote article writer wannabe Sean Sudol (with minor edits from the GM):
“BRADY team General Manager, Richard Brady, made two key roster moves heading into
the home stretch of the 2011 season that are sure to bolster the strength of an already stellar
staff. In the first of his two moves, BRADY called up the self-proclaimed young whiz kid Sean Sudol from
the minor leagues, or as we call in the engineering
world “internship”, to a full time roster spot as an Assistant Engineer in the majors. Well renowned for his extraordinary article in the last edition of The Quote, at
least to his immediate family, Sean is sure to blossom into a talented engineer and integral part of the San Diego BRADY team. While in the minors, Sean batted .360
(which means he was correct 36% of the time) with just
68 known errors. The transition from intern to assistant
engineer was welcomed by Sean, and pretty much just
“SEAN, I THINK YOU JUST BROKE A FEW OF MY FINGERS”
involved a trip down a flight of stairs into a new cube.
Comfortable in his new position, Sean is ready to take on any pitch (task) and begin steering this team
up the San Diego Business Journal engineering Power Rankings.
In the second of his two moves, BRADY acquired bright, powerful, and unusually tall Brett Patterson in a
late season trade. Details of the trade for Patterson remain undisclosed but sources close to both organizations suggest BRADY got a steal, but it most likely
“BRETT, HOW’S THE
WEATHER DOWN THERE?”
included a bag of balls and an intern to be named later. Immediately towering over resident tall-man Mt.
Slawson (roughly 6’ 5”) the second he walked into
BRADY’s San Diego office, Brett (pushing 6’ 7”) will prove
to be an important piece of the prestigious engineering
reputation that BRADY has established locally, nationally, and soon to be worldwide! Brett carried a .340 average, with 71 known errors, which in an engineering
equivalent equates to one darn good engineer. Seeking an opportunity for new and exciting endeavors,
Brett is happy to be a new part of the BRADY staff and is quoted as saying, “I’m ready to get in here
and contribute immediately, do whatever it takes, and hopefully win some contracts and take this
team to the top!”…. or something like that.
FORTUNATELY, NOT A
TATTOO
Both hailing from the infamous San Diego State ASCE unofficial organization
“Bad Boyz of Engineering”, and having 2 of the top 4 GPA’s in the engineering
department at graduation, the guys look to bring a strong attitude of success
and determination and will be hot prospects to watch in the upcoming seasons.
BRADY has an eye for talent!”
From The Quote HQ: At least we hope so, given we are paying each of these
guys 11,000 $5 foot-longs per year for this self-professed “talent”, but we are assuming that at 6’-7 Brett has finally stopped growing and Sean’s “guns” appear
to be at their Muscle Milk limits. We are hopeful that their
WELCOME TO THE PROS,
GIRLS!
intern allowable errors, mostly incurred by failing to
change to the toilet paper rolls in the men’s restroom in a timely fashion, will be
reduced to single digits in due time. As Dandy Don Meredith once said,
“Potential means you haven’t done anything yet”, but both Brett and Sean
seem to have potential, and confidence, to spare. Note to Sean and Brett – it’s
time to put some numbers on the scoreboard now that you have been called
up to the show!
HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR SUMMER 2011!
3710 Ruffin Road · San Diego, California 92123 · www.richardbrady.com
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