Greetings From the Hive

"And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost"

-Luke, 1:41

Been real busy lately (who hasn't been?) so as usual The Hive has suffered. Just wanted to let everyone know we're still here and still kicking!

Peace from The Hive. . .

Happy Father's Day

'Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.'

Deuteronomy 27:16

Happy Father's Day from the Hive. I've had a great day, thanks to the special attention from my daughter and my wife, who worked very hard to make this a nice day for me. Lot's of good food, some great gifts, and a nice relaxing day rounded out my Father's day.

But I would be remiss if I didn't take a little time to recognize some special Fathers in my life.

My Dad: It becomes increasingly apparant to me how lucky I am that my parents never killed me :-). Truth be told, Dad worked many long hours and made many personal sacrifices to make sure that I had tghe tools I needed to make a good life for me and my family. Dad put me up (and put up with me) all through school until it was time to leave the nest. Through my education and upbringing, my parents empowered me to reach a higher level. There is no question I would not be where I am without the support of my Mom and Dad, and without my Dad's tireless efforts to help me achieve what I really could be. So thanks, Dad. Monetarily, I really can't ever pay you back for what you have given to me, but I hope that you recognize the undying gratitude that I have for the sacrifices that you and Mom made in order for me to get to where I am.

Mr. Dave: I met Janie's Dad it's been about 15 years ago and of course at the time I was just a nervous young punk and very intimidated by the father of my future wife. But over these years I've come to know and respect this man in a way I never thought I would. Mr. Dave is a self-made man, coming from rural Kentucky to become a successful businessman who has done his family well. He has served our Country in uniform, and served his family as well. We share many common values, including the belief in the value of hard work, and we both love our Moms, wives, and daughters. Mr. Dave has been a real inspiration to me over these years and it has been my pleasure to know you.

Since I'm on a role tonight, I'd also like to reach back a generation and recognize my Grandads, because they meant so much with respect all the positive attributes that I might possess:

Grandpa Hite: If you never met my Grandpa Hite, then I do not have sufficient time or space here to describe him to you. The bottom line is that Grandpa "Big R" Hite taught me in no uncertain terms the true value of hard work. You talk about lousy jobs, he could come up with them, but Grandpa always rewarded us when we worked hard. It was a hard lesson to learn, but by the time I was in college, I was starting to realize what he was trying to teach us. When I went out into the workforce, I took the value of hard work that my Grandpa taught me and it has in no small measure lead me to the success I enjoy today. Because of my Grandpa, I'm proud to be Hite and I'm proud to bring that legendary Hite work ethic into the workforce. Unfortunately, Grandpa left us before I really had a chance to show him that I could do it, but I think I would've done him proud.

Grandaddy Greenwell: My Grandad was truly a great man. He was a gentle giant of a man, and I always imagined that Abraham Lincoln must've been something like my Grandaddy Greenwell. He was a self made man, a tireless worker and a master craftsmen. And he was the kindest and gentlest person that you would ever meet. Grandaddy raised his big family (to include my Mom) and still found time along the way to become one of the finest rythm guitarists in the business. He was a self taught former Marine who took pride in his work and always found time for his family and the church. My Grandad passed away just a short time before my mom, and I sure miss them both, but they have given so much to me I only regret I didn't have the opportunity to make them proud.

So there's the synopsis of the Dad's in my life. Hope that the visitors to the Hive have had such a rewarding experience as I have. Take care and see you later.

Requiem for the Heavyweight

It's funny how quickly things come to pass.

Visitors to The Hive have seen my many posts on The Great Red Shark, my prized 2002 Z28 Camaro.
This is a great car that's always been an attention-getter and has always been a joy to drive. But lately, I was finding myself with less and less time to enjoy The Shark, and after long days at work and many hours in the driver seat commuting back and forth thereto, the notion of going on a "pleasure drive" in my "toy" car became less and less feasible.

Then it happened.

Ironically, we were out window shopping for a new car for Janie when I saw it. Janie is due for a new vehicle, and we have been planning to get one for quite some time, so we were out looking at what was available. I also knew it wouldn't be long before I would be looking for something for myself, so I had that thought in the back of my mind. That's when I spotted it, at the local dealership, sitting quietly by itself under the overhang.

Things happened quickly, and the next thing I know, I'm in posession of the future of our fleet. So meet the new sheriff in town, and his name, is Phaedrus.


A couple of things had to happen for this to take place. I traded my truck on the new car, so it's the first time in about 10 years I haven't had a truck in the fleet. Secondly, and most significantly, I've had to let The Great Red Shark go. Fortunately, I know it is going to a good home. You see, as it works out, Janie's uncle, who sold me the car originally, is going to buy it back. We plan to deliver it this weekend.

But before we sent The Shark back home, we got a shot of the past and future together. I thought it was pretty cool so I thought I would share it here . . .


All things come to pass.

The Hive Reborn

"Because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in equity, by the man whom he hath appointed; giving faith to all, by raising him up from the dead. And when they had heard of the ressurrection of the dead, some indeed mocked, but others said: We will hear thee again concerning this matter."

- The Acts 17:31-32

And so it is written so shall it be. After a nearly year-long hiatus from the Hive I am back, like Phoenix from the fire, to reflect on my daily musings to the 2 or 3 people who ever bothered to visit this site to begin with.

What has been going on? Well, in short, lots of work. LOTS of work. Long days, short weekends, and months ticking by like marker posts on the dragstrip in Tony Schumacher's Top Fuel Dragster. I'm not complaining, I'm not making excuses, just stating facts. Besides, it's better to be busy than stand around wondering where the next paycheck is coming from. Outside of work, not much earth-shattering has gone on. Still trying to play the guitar, still having fun, still getting fat.

Well, I was just summoned by Madeline to return the computer for a game of Zoo Tycoon. What can I say? All I can say is look for a future posting on the hive and until then take care . . .

Is there anybody out there?

Well by my reckhoning it's been about 3 months since I last updated my blog, so if there are any remaining visitors to the hive, you truly represent the hardcore. Unfortunately, with this post, I do not have anything profound, or for that matter, particularly entertaining to offer.

I will mention, however, that yesterday was an unusually good day for me when it comes to success. As you probably know, yesterday marked the annual running of the Kentucky Derby. My cousins held a derby party and so our family went to enjoy the festivities. Contrary to my traditional luck, I actually had good success picking the winning ponies. I picked the winner in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and the Big Daddy of them all, the 10th race, aka the Kentucky Derby. This is not standard fare for me. As a matter of fact, I seldom pick a winner, so I was so giddy with success, that I treated the whole family to carry-out for dinner :-)

To cap off the evening, we came home to watch the NASCAR race on TV. The race was at Richmond, which is one of my favorite tracks. If you may recall from an earlier post, I've picked a new race driver to root for this year (due to all of my earlier picks getting fired due to poor performance or loss of sponsorship) and guess what - he won!!! Yes, Clint Bowyer captured his second top-tier victory in NASCAR last night after an emotional finish. He promptly celebrated by baking the meats off of his race car:



So all in all it was a fun day for me. Race victories all around.

I realize this is a pretty cheesy post but I wanted to do something and I'm pressed for time. Thanks for hanging with the Hive and I hope to post again soon.

Ralph B. Peck, 1912 - 2008

February 18, 2008, Ralph Brazelton Peck died at the age of 95. Dr. Peck was Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and one of the last living colleagues of Dr. Karl Terzaghi, the founder and guiding spirit of modern soil mechanics. These men, along with other prominent names in the profession, such as Casagrande, transformed soil mechanics and foundation engineering from what was, for the most part, an art, into a science based on reason, theory and judgement thereby essentially creating the science of geomechanics, and opening the door to punks like me who loved to play in the dirt and decided to make a living out of it.

Professor Peck wrote, among many other publications, two landmark texts that have defined our profession. We read Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice (Terzaghi and Peck) and studied Foundation Engineering (Peck, Hanson, and Thornburn) in school, and my trusty old copy of Foundation Engineering still resides at my desk and remains one of my principal references.

Professor Peck alway emphasized the value of engineering judgement in practice, and I cannot recount here all of the case histories, papers, and text references that I have read and studied that have been credited to Professor Peck, but suffice it to say that his works remain some of the most highly respected writings in the sciences of soil mechanics and foundation engineering.

I had the honor of meeting Professor Peck on one occasion, when he was the Keynote Speaker at our local Ohio River Valley Soil Seminar (ORVSS) He was advanced in years, but the respect and admiration of the attendees was evident. Everyone brought their copy of Foundation Engineering (except for me - I forgot mine) for his autograph, and I found it entertaining that he would only sign the copies that looked as if they had been well-used.

Dr. Peck worked on such projects as the Chicago subways, the World Trade Center, and the post-failure study of Teton Dam, and has probably contributed in some form to virtually all of the engineering landmarks of modern times.

So in summation, the passage of Professor Peck represents the end of the beginning. Soil mechanics and foundation engineering has become the science and profession that it is principally in part due to the contributions of such giants as Ralph Peck.

Professor Peck, rest in peace, you may have never realized the influence your contributions had on the lives so many.

The Daytona 500!

I've said here before that there's an old saying something to the effect that "you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy" Today was another example of this. Today marked the 2008 running of the Daytona 500. Yeh, it's stock car racing at its finest. The superbowl of motorsports. This year, a kindred spirit won the event. Ryan Newman, driver of the #12 Dodge, won the race in a nail-biter exciting finish. Ryan Newman is an engineer and a Purdue alum, and I am an engineer and a former Purdue student, so we are sympatico! Ryan celebrated with a cool smoky burnout after his victory . . .



You may be thinking that NASCAR is not sophisticated or redneck, but in my mind, that is just fine. We had a great time with our friends at my brother's during his annual Daytona 500 party, and we are looking forward to another fun year of auto racing. So while we are having fun with everything else (playing Emma, listening to music, building models, reading, etc.) you can bet that there will be a NASCAR race on the TV in the background.

While we're on the subject, I've been trying to decide who I should pull for in the Sprint Cup series this year. You see, I have a reputation of pulling for the underdog, and each year the guy I've pulled for has always lost his ride. Well, this year, I've decided to pitch my spirit behind a new driver, and there's always hope that I'll change my record. So Clint Bowyer, in the No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet, get that championship in '08.




Peace from the Hive