Interviews
I recently wrote a commentary about interviews which was sparked by a post on Musk's personnel interviews. One item I originally intended to discuss in that piece was the infamous interviews with Admiral Hyman Rickover, the "Father of the Nuclear Navy". (I also wrote an earlier post reflecting on my Navy experience.)I've lightly touched on my own Rickover experience in a few posts. There's a lot of folklore, urban legends and such about his legendary interviews. (Just do a simple Google search on "Rickover" "interview" "stories".) You will find sources like this. One of the things he prided himself on was having interviewed each officer in the Navy Nuclear Power program. He was somewhat of a control freak. I was being interviewed for one term of service (4 years) teaching at the Nuclear Power School in Orlando; I personally never set foot on any ship or sub. Technically, the teaching positions could and should have been staffed by contractors, but Rickover liked having direct control over the people serving under him; he wouldn't want to deal through contract program managers and the constraints of contracts.
It's difficult to separate fact from myth. But he gave unorthodox interviews, and it wasn't obvious from context what he was looking for. In the above-cited source, he learned a young sailor was engaged to be married and told him to call his fiancee that they would have to put off the wedding so he could focus on his studies preparing him for service in the nuclear fleet. When he did so, Rickover passed on him because he didn't want that disloyalty in his fleet. In a different source, he told the interviewee to give him his tie.When the young man balked, Rickover motioned him to him to his desk, opened a drawer full of ties. "You wouldn't believe how many damn fools gave me their ties."
I recently reconnected with one of my Navy buddies on Facebook and asked him about his Rickover story. He shrugged his shoulders and said it was nothing special. He remembered Rickover asked him why he wanted to join the Navy; he said "for the training and education". Rickover shot back, "Educated? What for? Aren't you already educated?" He also said one of our colleagues, J, mentioned she was part of her church choir. So that's how she ended up singing "Amazing Grace" for the Admiral.
My story was different. I don't think at the time I owned a decent suit. There are a lot of things they briefed you on in preparation for the interview but not on any dress code. I thought I wore nice turtleneck (then in style), etc. I was trying to prepare for weird math questions, etc., but he exploded and demanded to know how I dare come without wearing a suit and tie. I defensively responded that I didn't own a suit. In utter disbelief he screamed, "Couldn't you BORROW one?" I don't remember much else other than his dismissing me with contempt. It was a long plane ride back to Austin, absolutely convinced I had lost the job before the interview even started. In hindsight, I should have known better; the military is anal-retentive about personal appearance. I later remember being screamed at for 15 minutes because my belt buckle wasn't gleaming and when I topped the weight range for my height, I was put on the "fat boys" mandatory public exercise program.
BEB Status Update
For those unfamiliar readers, Bruce Breeding was my PhD student office mate back at UH, who I consider my best friend. At the beginning of June, he suffered two strokes, the second a major one and he went through 2 rehabilitation programs until his former job's healthcare benefits ended at the end of last month. He's now at a skilled nursing facility near his Austin home for 3 weeks funded through Medicare. Well, there's a complication.His spouse Susan, who blogs regularly, has been less than impressed about the care; one of her earlier complaints was no rails to the bed, she worried about his possibly falling over the edge of the bed hurting himself during his sleep; the facility responded that that would be considered an illegal confinement.
On a brighter note, Bruce attended services st his Austin home Presbyterian church for the first time since his strokes.
Ironically, there's been an unexpected, adverse development for which Susan is asking prayers. Apparently Bruce needed a bathroom break during the night and couldn't find the button to call a nurse. So he tried to go to the bathroom by himself, falling to the ground and hitting his head hard. At last contact, he was at the hospital, waiting to be admitted to the ICU. Bleeding and swelling of the brain.
Some Notes on Other Segments
- Pro Wrestling. It doesn't look like they're having Kevin Owens feud with AJ Styles for the US title, but one of the Latino cruiserweights. They are teasing Serh Rollins getting involved with NXT. Finn Balor has gone to NXT and turned heel; interestingly, they teased a Bullet Club reunion with Balor, Styles, Gallows & Anderson. Champions Lesnar and Wyatt are changing brands. They are pushing a Nexus-like NXT invasion angle for the upcoming Survivor Series PPV. However, this Mysterio angle attacking Lesnar with a foreign object I don't care for--it confounds Mysterio's babyface storyline. Plus, they've given Asuka this totally unnecessary Great Muta green mist gimmick. Still, some of the new storylines (like the Bullet Club faction) are intriguing, and I could easily see WWE running a Jamaican witch doctor angle on having Kingston go after Wyatt.
- Lifetime's Challenge to Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas. I hadn't watched Lifetime in a while (it had to do with my having to regroup my cable favorites, and Lifetime was left out) so I hadn't seen seasonal promos, which Hallmark has literally been doing all year. But it seems like Lifetime is also featuring 24x7 of its movies (in an earlier post, I wasn't sure if it went beyond weekend coverage. Both channels focus more on holiday romance type flicks vs. a mix of classics. I tend to prefer the Hallmark flicks, but when Hallmark has flicks on high rotation, I'll check out Lifetime. For some odd reason, a handful of Hallmark flicks I like are not in the current rotation. (I've named some of my favorites in past posts.)
