Iowa Diving ?

Thus spake "Grumman-581" <grumman581-YYYY-MM@charter.net> :

>Got a call from a headhunter yesterday wanting to know if I would entertain
>the concept of a contract for DoD contractor up in eastern Iowa... Other
>than corn, is there anything *else* up in Iowa? Any diving? From what I've
>been able to gather, you get to have the benefit of cold weather without the
>benefit of mountains for scenery or skiing... The headhunter said something
>like, "Yeah, it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's not as desolute as it
>sounds"...
>

My father used to say that Air Force fuck ups went to one of four
places, Adack, Thule, Minot or Diego Garcia.

What did you fuck up so badly that you find yourself looking at
eastern Iowa?
--
dillon

"When the French are against it, you know we can't
be far wrong." - Adm. Bobbie Ray Inman

Got a call from a headhunter yesterday wanting to know if I would entertain
the concept of a contract for DoD contractor up in eastern Iowa... Other
than corn, is there anything *else* up in Iowa? Any diving? From what I've
been able to gather, you get to have the benefit of cold weather without the
benefit of mountains for scenery or skiing... The headhunter said something
like, "Yeah, it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's not as desolute as it
sounds"...

"Dillon Pyron" wrote ...
> What did you fuck up so badly that you find yourself looking at
> eastern Iowa?

LOL... It's a short term contract and the rate is not too bad... I go where
the money is, but I don't jump contract until the contract is over... The
one that brought me here from Houston has ended, although Grace's is still
ongoing (for now)... If it means commuting back and forth between here and
Iowa, so be it... The New Orleans market is not that great for my specialty
and I really don't want to be forced to get into application / business
programming... From what I understand, this project deals with the avionics
package on the Army's Apache helicopter, so it should be somewhat more
interesting than the Navy contract that initially got me to the New Orleans
area... A security clearance doesn't get you much in the civilian market,
but it definitely helps on DoD contracts... Hell, some of the contracts I've
even had to pass on because they required a Top Secret and all I had ever
gotten / previously needed was just a Secret...

"Grumman-581" <grumman581-YYYY-MM@charter.net> wrote:

> Got a call from a headhunter yesterday wanting to know if I would entertain
> the concept of a contract for DoD contractor up in eastern Iowa... Other
> than corn, is there anything *else* up in Iowa? Any diving? From what I've
> been able to gather, you get to have the benefit of cold weather without the
> benefit of mountains for scenery or skiing... The headhunter said something
> like, "Yeah, it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's not as desolute as it
> sounds"...

How far east in "eastern" Iowa?

I have a non-diving friend who lives in Bettendorf, which as one of the
"Quad Cities" on the Mississippi River is as far east as you can get in
Iowa...if it is in this area, drop me an offline note. The Quad Cities
are: Bettendorf & Davenport, IA, and Moline & Rock Island, IL. Rock
Island is the local Army base.


IIRC, his general comment about similar matters is that it doesn't take
too many hours to drive over to Chicago.

You could try contacting: http://www.scubaadventuresqca.com/ as they
claim that they're the premier 5 star dive shop for the area. Their
website mentions Haigh Quary, "located 60 miles south of Chicago":
http://www.haighquarry.com/ That's probably a ~2.5 hour drive.


-hh

" H. Huntzinger" wrote ...
> How far east in "eastern" Iowa?

About 70 miles from the border -- Cedar Rapids.....

Grumman-581 wrote:
>
> " H. Huntzinger" wrote ...
> > How far east in "eastern" Iowa?
>
> About 70 miles from the border -- Cedar Rapids.....

Collins?

Thus spake "Grumman-581" <grumman581-YYYY-MM@charter.net> :

>"Dillon Pyron" wrote ...
>> What did you fuck up so badly that you find yourself looking at
>> eastern Iowa?
>
>LOL... It's a short term contract and the rate is not too bad... I go where
>the money is, but I don't jump contract until the contract is over... The
>one that brought me here from Houston has ended, although Grace's is still
>ongoing (for now)... If it means commuting back and forth between here and
>Iowa, so be it... The New Orleans market is not that great for my specialty
>and I really don't want to be forced to get into application / business
>programming... From what I understand, this project deals with the avionics
>package on the Army's Apache helicopter, so it should be somewhat more
>interesting than the Navy contract that initially got me to the New Orleans
>area... A security clearance doesn't get you much in the civilian market,
>but it definitely helps on DoD contracts... Hell, some of the contracts I've
>even had to pass on because they required a Top Secret and all I had ever
>gotten / previously needed was just a Secret...
>

And, at the other extreme, I found out how worthless my code word
clearance was when I couldn't tell the prospective employer what it
was or who it was from.

The most useless, however, probably goes to my CNWD. Read the
followup post to see what that is.

--
dillon

"When the French are against it, you know we can't
be far wrong." - Adm. Bobbie Ray Inman

"Crownfield" wrote ...
> Collins?

He said Rockwell... From what I've been able to research on the web, it's
Rockwell Collins... I've contracted for NASA and the Navy, so I guess I
might as work on one for the Army... <grin>

Grumman-581 wrote:
>
> "Crownfield" wrote ...
> > Collins?
>
> He said Rockwell... From what I've been able to research on the web, it's
> Rockwell Collins... I've contracted for NASA and the Navy, so I guess I
> might as work on one for the Army... <grin>

it sounded familiar. I have read a number of manuals (cessna, piper, and
4,14,15,16,18) and the avionics, so the adress sounded familiar.

H. Huntzinger wrote:

>
>
> IIRC, his general comment about similar matters is that it doesn't take
> too many hours to drive over to Chicago.
>
> You could try contacting: http://www.scubaadventuresqca.com/ as they
> claim that they're the premier 5 star dive shop for the area. Their
> website mentions Haigh Quary, "located 60 miles south of Chicago":
> http://www.haighquarry.com/ That's probably a ~2.5 hour drive.

Haigh quarry is NOT worth the drive from Chigago, much less from Iowa.
IIRC, it is about 4.5 hours from IA to Chicago. While Haigh quarry is ok
for a training class, it is not worth a 10 minute drive to dive for fun.


>
>
> -hh


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