Lunch at BMT-SMS

April 19, 2013

Got up early again to ride bikes to school with Sarah and Mariann. It’s cold out there! 

After working on the blog, Jack and I plan to head over to Jeff’s office to see some old friends and have lunch. Jeff is now a vice president at BMT Scientific Marine Services. Jack and Jeff, along with several others, were founders of this company in Escondido, California back in 1992. 

 

Photo taken in 1992. On the left is Bud Hennessy, Jack's long time friend and fishing buddy. Between Jeff and Jack is Frank DeBord, also a longtime friend who is now the Chief Naval Architect for the US Coast Guard

Their company was acquired in 1998 by BMT, an international engineering design company mostly specializing in maritime engineering. Jeff’s part of the company designs and installs structural monitoring systems on offshore and marine structures; they have offices in Escondido, Houston and Brazil. 

Jack retired from the company in 1995, but we still have several friends employed there, that we both have known for many years. (I also used to work for a predecessor engineering company headed up by Jack that was located in Maryland and called Arctec Inc. That's going WAY back in the “good ol’ days.”)

We found the place easily, this time using a combination of two GPSes. The group has moved to new, attractive offices in an industrial park about a 20-minute drive from Jeff’s house, since they outgrew their former quarters. 

BMT Scientific Marine Services office in Houston TX

We rendezvous with Jeff and engineers Tom Johnson, now the president of the company, and his brother Pete, both old friends and co-workers from way back. It’s great to see them again and catch up.

Carol, Tom Johnson (President) and Jeff Lewis (Vice President)

 

Lunch with Tom Johnson, Pete Johnson, Carol, and Jeff.

 

Texas size pizza about 3 feet in diameter

After lunch we head home and work on our various computer projects. After Sarah gets home from school, she and I watch the end of Bambi. At least it has a happy ending. The illustrations in the movie of the forest, meadow and other natural scenes are gorgeous. This was one of my very favorite movies as a little girl, despite the emotional trauma. Walt Disney never pulled any punches regarding life’s difficulties and terrors--in addition to Bambi, I’m thinking of Old Yeller (cried for a week) and Snow White (which particularly terrified Jack as a child).

Later in the afternoon Mariann and I head out to buy some groceries. We’re planning a spaghetti dinner, with a wonderful thick sauce that Mariann makes, loaded with veggies. It turns out great. It seems a little strange now to eat dinner around the table with only the 5 of us—it used to be 7, with Jennifer and Michael, now flown the nest. Then we watch movies and converse till our (late) bedtime! Tomorrow we plan to go to Chinatown.