Here's the official word

The obit from the Washington Post,
and a really nice write up from one of his classmates
US Naval Academy, 1956, "Hard as Nails Tough As Bricks"

George Thomas Kortes Simpson ’56

Captain George T. K. Simpson, USN (Ret), died on 15 April 2006, at home in Falls Church VA. He was born in Virginia on 1 February 1933, the son of Rear Admiral and Mrs. Maurice Simpson (Dental Corps) USN (Ret) of Sedley VA, and served a short stint in the Fleet before entering USNA. He was a Midshipman Officer on the First Regimental Staff, and graduated with distinction with the First Company, where he helped many of his classmates stay afloat academically.

George served first in the destroyer USS Daly before post-graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an MS in Mechanical Engineering, and was designated an Engineering Duty Officer. Subsequent duties as an EDO were mainly in ship construction, maintenance and repair; and included service in the fleet oiler USS Mispillion, fleet repair ship USS Delta, Ship Superintendent Long Beach Naval Shipyard, and staff, Commander-in-Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet. During further shore duty, George earned an MBA in Financial Management at George Washington University, and served on the staff, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair San Diego; staff, Chief of Naval Operations in Maintenance Policy; and staff, Commander Naval Sea Systems Command in several key management and policy positions in both the Engineering and Field Activities Directorates. Among his awards were the Meritorious Service, Navy Commendation, and Navy Achievement medals.

Following USN retirement in 1986, George immediately started work for Integrated Systems Analysts (ISA) in Crystal City as Corporate Ship Systems Engineering Technical Director, where he continued supporting the Fleet with great dedication and imagination in the areas of Fleet Maintenance and introduction of new corrosion engineering technology. More recently, George served as marketing and sales manager for Ship Systems Engineering, and was honored as Governmental Sales Manager of the Year for two consecutive years. He retired from ISA in 2002, but continued work for ISA on an as-required basis as a consultant.

George was predeceased by his wife, Donna, and is survived by his daughters Debby, of Encinitas CA; Jennifer, of Solana Beach CA; a brother Bill, of Aptos CA; his companion Georgianne Abbiati, of Montpelier VT; and many grateful shipmates, ship captains and crews. A graveside service of committal is planned for July 5, 2006, at Arlington National Cemetery. Donations in his memory may be made to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.

NOTE: I would recommend the NMCRS Education Programs fund. Dad was a big proponent of education... and always supported my sister and I in our academic goals.

Details on the actual funeral/burial service are as follows:

2:30 pm July 5, 2006 Gather at Arlington National Cemetery reception hall
3:00 pm Full Military Honors Funeral Procession and Committal Ceremony
4:00 pm Reception for friends and family at Womens Memorial Hall of Honors

My Dad

I'm an orphan now, I guess... my dad passed away sometime Friday night. He hadn't been doing well... a mild stroke a couple of months ago, and an aeortic aneurism that needed surgical attention, scheduled for next month. I didn't think he would make it through the surgery, but he didn't make it to the surgery.

I just talked to him Thursday evening. I'm glad I called him back. Sometimes I didn't, at least not for a few days... and I had just talked to him on Sunday when we had a good hour long conversation. He knew I wanted to pursue a story idea that involves attending the Barbie Collectors convention in Los Angeles in July. He thought it sounded like a great idea. And he wanted to help me out. He called on Thursday to tell me he wanted to send me a check. He was always good at sending money. I told him it would be appreciated, but certainly not needed, that I was fine, financially, and that he should save his money to take care of himself, especially if he needed help after the surgery.

He wasn't a part of my daily life. He lived on the East coast still and I live out here in San Diego area. I could have made more of an effort. He could have too. It made me angry that he didn't take better care of himself, that he was somewhat of a mess, that he didn't always take care of stuff that needed taking care of. But he was my dad. The only one I had. And I really loved him a lot.

He was fun too; we had some good times together. Like me he wasn't the loud life of the party, but he liked to observe as part of the group, but close to the sidelines. He didn't tell big jokes like granddad (his dad) but he had a quick wit. He was sharp and smart and knew a lot about a lot of things.

The picture above is from one summer ages ago, when I was in college. I lived in D.C. and worked at the Fish and Wildlife Service, an office job through the Summer Youth Employment Program. Dad and I spent a lot time together. We commuted to the city together, and even hit the occassional happy hour all you can eat roast beef buffets.

I last saw him around my birthday in August of last year. We talked once a week or so. I am missing him a lot more than I thought I would.

The last thing I said to him was "I love you." I hope he knows I meant it. Because even though having a relationship with him was difficult, I did love him. He did the best he could. I did the best I could. I'm still doing the best I can... I hope its enough.

Once Upon A Day...

Was originally titled What A Difference A Day Makes, which makes me hum the tune, so I'm glad the original title was changed.

Lisa Tucker's third novel, Once Upon A Day, and honestly the only one I've read, is good. At least so far. I attended the book launch party in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 11. Lisa is a friend of a friend. Michelle wanted to go to LA and I thought it sounded like a fun evening soiree.

While it was not quite the soiree I expected, seeing as how Lisa is a critically acclaimed novelist, and LA is, well, LA... the event was indeed fun. It was really nice to be able to actually talk to the author, and she is very open and friendly. Most of the small crowd were students of hers from a course she'd been teaching through UCLA Extension, so we had a good discussion about the writing process, and even some insider scoop on the publishing process.

Being the good friend of a friend that I am, I bought the book.

From the first chapter, which Lisa read at the not-such-a-soiree, I was hooked:

Stephen Spaulding was very happy, and you can't say that about most people. He hadn't sought happiness, but he recognized it. This was his gift: to know what he had.

When it was gone, of course he knew that too.....

See what I mean? Don't you just want to know what he lost, what happened? right from the beginning.

And when I got home two hours later, at 11 pm, I had to read more. And read more I did, until 2 am. I had to go to work the next day, so reading past 2 am would not have been prudent. 2 am was even pushing it, but I was falling in love the characters: Stephen, Dorothea and even Jimmy.... and I can't wait to read more.

I'll post a more thoughtful review once I finish, but I would encourage you Get This Book. It's well written, the language is beautiful (but not stilted or difficult to read if you know what I mean) and the story itself is compelling.

My one big complaint is that the book tour did not bring Lisa Tucker to San Diego. I am so tired of San Diego being treated like the orphan step child of Los Angeles. And I can tell you this, Mr. Publisher if your listening, we could have gotten a good crowd for Lisa... We are the 6th largest city. We have a lot of people here, a high percentage with college degrees (34% as opposed to the national average of 21%). These are people who buy books. There is a vibrant and active writing community here that includes several independent book sellers, one MFA (writing) program at San Diego State, one MFA (writing) program in the works at University of California at San Diego, and excellent English/Literature programs at Point Loma Nazerene College and University of San Diego. And that's not even taking into account community organizations like San Diego Writers Ink.

Who Am I?

Someone recently (like an hour ago) asked me to write a mini-bio. I think he was looking for just a couple of lines, but hey, I'm a writer. I write! This is what I've come up with so far:

Jennifer (aka JeSais) is an online marketing guru by day (or so she likes to tell her boss), and a writer by night. She is a regular contributor to SanDiegoBlog.com and maintains her own blog at akaJeSais.com.

She has written articles for community newspapers featuring local events and people and has published technical articles in national trade magazines.

“Super Chicken to the Rescue,” her first (and let’s be honest, her only) short story was published as part of a colllection of short stories from Mrs. Tanaka’s 2nd grade class.

She is currently working on a creative non-fiction piece entitled, “Reconstructing My Mother.”


(I'd explain the "Reconstructing My Mother," but there's really no way to get around the serious topic and it really doesn't fit in with tongue in cheek tone of the rest of the bio)

Who are you people?

I just checked my web stats. I am suprised, amazed, no flabergasted, that anyone actually reads my blog, besides me, of course. No one ever leaves a comment. Except Leahpeah...

My stats page shows that there have been 16,607 "successful requests" for pages on my website. Of course I realize that some of this is just anonymous web spiders and such crawling through, but there have to have been a few actual people besides me here.

I have to wonder, of course, how it is that strangers find my blog. So, as a good internet marketing genius (or so I like to tell my boss) I check the keyword phrases that folks used to find akaJeSais. I'll do this like David Letterman's Top Ten List Drum roll please....

10. exotic scent poetry -erotic
For those of you who are not google-savvy, that means someone was looking for a website with exotic scent poetry, where the word erotic was NOT there (hence the '-" sign). My page not only comes up on the first set of results, it is listed at number 8. Is this a new genre that I didn't know about? is there exotic taste poetry too?

9. my dreamboard
Page one. Site number 3. It ranks above dreamboard.co.uk, people in the BUSINESS of selling CDs on how to create a dreamboard. They should hire me!

8. how to get a tiny waist
I am somewhere beyond page 9 of the search results on google. I gave up looking for my listing. If you did not give up, and found my site while looking for health and fitness tips, you are in the wrong site. Click your back button now. Return to Google, or Yahoo! or MSN search and keep looking.

7. candace toft
Nice that folks are looking for her. She is a terrific writer, and a great teacher. I have mentioned here a couple of times. You'll find the link listed on page two of the google search results.

6. grant pecoff
I wrote an article for the Del Mar Times about Grant. He used to show at the 101 Artists' Colony in Encinitas, then moved on to open up his own gallery, and I believe he is off painting the world now. Nice guy, talented artist, you'll find the link to the article on page 3 of the search results.

5. mediterranean sun poems
Lord only knows how someone found my site with a search query like that. I logged 48 clicks myself through google results before giving up. I did take a little side trip to read about The Myth of the Mediterranean Sperm (I didn't know there was such a thing). And yes, I was a little more tenacious than in my search for how to get a tiny waist; Mediterranean sun does sound nice, but California sun is fine with me.

4. tiny waist
Again with the tiny waist. Not on my site.

3. stacie doll
Page two. A testament to my recently renewed fascination with Barbie and her cohorts.

2. her tiny waist
Again! Is this a hint? I have just one thing to say to you people looking for a tiny waist... LOOK ELSEWHERE!

1. pert boobs
Yup, that's right. Pert boobs. Number one search query to find my site. I am sure anyone who clicks on the link to my site after searching for "pert boobs" will be disappointed on SO many levels. First of all, my site doesn't come up until page 6. Although with this entry, repeating "pert boobs," so many times I'll probably climb right up the google ranks.

I have to wonder what compels a person to first search for pert boobs on the internet, then slog through 5 pages of search results, scroll down to the bottom of page 6 to click on

akaJeSais: December 2005
The skinny bitch with her perfectly pert boobs, and her teeny tiny waist....

And discover I'm talking about Barbie. There are no pictures of nubile nudies, and NO PERT BOOBS on this website. Anywhere. I myself am disappointed. I do not have pert boobs, never had them-- well maybe when I was 12.

Bottom line is, I am perplexed by you. All of you blog readers out there reading anonymously, lurking, searching for pert boobs and tiny waists...