Memories of Dad’s Career

Dad said when he joined the Navy in 1973 that he was doing it just in case the draft was reinstated, and he wanted to determine what branch he joined, and have some influence on what he was going to do while serving. He wanted to fly jets, so he went with the United States Navy. He ended up serving as a nuclear technician, thus signing up for six years, two years of training and four years of service. He did so well in training that they asked him to serve his first two years of service as a training instructor at the training facility in Idaho. His third and fourth years of service were on a nuclear battlecruiser. He was on a deployment when I was born with several months remaining before he would return home. He told me that the day he was given word that I had been born was the day that he made up his mind that he would not have a career in the Navy.

Once he was discharged, he started going to Lamar University to attain his bachelor’s degree in industrial technology. He worked his way through college and ended up going to work for Gulf States Utilities in safety and training, at least that is my best recollection of events. He said the guy who interviewed him was also former Navy, making the process a bit easier than most.

I know that for a time, he worked in the technology department. He was telling me something about how at one point, they were scrambling to get RAM because it was available for the low price of approximately $400/MB, and they were buying all of the 4MB and 8MB sticks they could get. He brought that up the first time I showed him a phone I had with a Windows mobile on it with 2 GB of storage. This was a few years before the first iPhone came out.

He made his way back to the safety and training department when Entergy bought out GSU and he enjoyed his work there. He used to brag about getting to build computer-based training modules that were used throughout the company. It was a benefit to him and the company because he was able to continue working but benefit the company by reaching more people for a longer period of time than what he invested. He loved the fact that he had put one of my brother’s drawings in one of the CBTs about ladder safety.

He went 20 years without using a sick day and received a pen to signify that milestone. He came to the realization that those sick days that he did not use were more valuable than the company recognition. He stressed to us later in life to use the benefits provided to us rather than to buck up and push through, because our health and well-being were more important. He used to complain to Mom about my brother and I being sick all the time, and shortly after he had received that pen, he said “I was blessed with an ear infection”. He said that was the first time he ever used sick time, and it was truly a blessing that he learned from.

Entergy management decided to move the safety and training department to the Woodlands (just north of Houston), and Dad didn’t want to move to Houston or anywhere near it. They lived just west of Beaumont, where they had been located for 20 years at that point. He looked up on the Intranet at work and found there was a job opening available in vibration and leak testing, so he walked down the hall and said he was interested in the position. He finished out his career doing that, retiring as soon as he was able.

My brother brought this up during the celebration of Dad’s life and I’m glad he did. Dad had bought thousands of baseball cards over the years and had them stored under his desk at work for decades. He brought them home and put them in the storage building on his last day of work. Mom found them a few months later, when he had to come clean about buying them all back in the 90s. I saw the receipts that he had kept for them, and it added up to quite a bit of an investment on rookie cards that didn’t pan out, but apparently it was a vice that we didn’t really know about until later in life.

In 2007, I asked my boss for a raise when I was doing IT work. He replied that I had topped out my income with my skillset. I had a wife, two kids, and a desire to have more. I talked to Dad about it, and he suggested an associate’s degree in instrumentation technology, as he had seen that it was good work that paid well and seemed like an occupation that I would be successful in. He was right.

Dad’s Memorial Service


John Raymond Kunefke, 69, of Baytown, died Friday, August 30, 2024. He was born on September 13, 1954, to Clella Faye Bryce Kunefke and Raymond Theodore Kunefke, in Winnie. In his lifetime, John enjoyed hunting, baseball, traveling, kayaking, zip-lining, and spending time with his family and friends. But he enjoyed his faith and serving God most of all. He taught Sunday School and was Choir Director for years. Singing brought him joy.

Survivors include his wife, Lana Kunefke of Baytown; brothers, Marion Kunefke and his wife, Mila, of Godley; and Bobby Kunefke and his wife, Julie, of Fannett; sister, Janna Kunefke and Kathy Morgan, of Winnie; children, Brandon Kunefke and his wife Christle; Joshua Kunefke and his wife Destiny; grandchildren, Alaina Hutchison and her husband, Devin, Lily Kunefke, Sunni Kunefke, and Justus Kunefke; great-grandchildren, Riley, Blake, Blaine, and Samuel Hutchison; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He is preceded in death by his parents.

Roku

I have spent a long time working on our network here at the house.  One of my primary purposes for doing this is media consumption.  While constantly consuming media is not something I would recommend, it helps to make things run as smoothly as possible and user friendly for the whole family.
What seems like several years ago, I purchased a WD Sharespace to use as a central storage space for our digital media (movies/television shows).  I was using XBMC on my first generation Xbox to view said data.  Up until that point, I had to copy stuff over to the internal drive, but I was getting annoyed with constantly copying the files over to it.  Using DLNA (or maybe it was SMBA), I was able to put all of the media on the Sharespace, and just browse for what I wanted, streaming the media over my network.  There were no pictures to go along with the media, so I had to rely on the names and sXXeXX to make sure I was starting the movie or television episode I wanted.  One of the annoying features of this was having a noisy Xbox running every time we wanted to watch something.
A few years ago, I purchased a WD TV Live Plus.  This silent little box ran very well… still does, actually.  Still had no pictures (metadata), although I knew how to add them at this point.  Every now and again, we would have a slight issue with it, but it was much better than the Xbox.  It also has a Netflix, Hulu, and several other apps installed with each new version of the firmware.  The only real issue I’ve had with it was on the latest firmware update, which led to not being able to transcode many of the movie files stored on the Sharespace.  I remedied that by going to the WD site and downloading an earlier version of the firmware to install on the box.
A few months ago (probably 8 months), I found a tremendous deal on the top Roku in production at the time (I think it’s the Roku 2 XS).  It was something like half-price.  It had many apps available in the Channel Store, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Plex.  While it does not include DLNA accessibility, the Plex app allows you to view media from a server on a home PC (or Mac – more on that in another post).
I installed the Roku in our bedroom, since we already had the WD TV in the living room.  I was amazed at the speed of the menu, and even the response time of Netflix and Hulu.  I decided to try out Plex, and installed the server on my Mac Mini.  The server configuration screen started scanning the folders I added, and automatically added the metadata information to about 95-98% of the database of our media.  I was impressed with how easy it was to correct the files that had not been identified correctly through the automatic process.  When I went to the bedroom, and loaded the Plex app on the Roku, it was a beautiful display.  It automatically found the server, and a gorgeous showing of all of our media including all of the video posters was there.  It was like viewing Netflix but only with content that I already owned.
Imagine, if you will, that you have taken the time to rip every movie you own to digital format stored on a hard drive.  When you turn on your TV, you can look through your movie list, as if you’ve gone to your movie shelf that is designed like the video rental store.  They’re all in alphabetical order, or ordered by genre or decade.  You can also do a search.
I know this post is not typical.  I just feel like I need to tip my hat to the makers of this fantastic device, as well as the developers of Plex.
Just a little more information… The Roku 3 (2 to 3 months old in our house) is a terrific upgrade!  I love the quick response of the menu and apps.  I didn’t think they could get any better until I replaced the one in our room with that.  The headphone jack on the remote is incredibly handy.

Bathroom Construction – Part 4

Well, I’m over the hump.  I now feel as if I’m getting closer to the end, and it feels much better now.  I have finished all the painting (except for the trim), and plan to install the tub surround wall tomorrow evening.  I still have a lot to do, but the bathroom actually looks like a bathroom now.
As far as painting tapes go, I have to say that the Frog Tape is much better than the well recognized blue tape that you see.  The paint did not stick to the Frog tape like it did to the blue tape.  Of course, I was using enamel paint, so that might have been the difference, but it was a highly noticeable difference.
I have to wait for the glue to dry on the surround, and then install the bath hardware and caulk it all up.  Then I have to finish installing the few tiles I have to cut, and put the hardware on the walls (towel hangers) and the cabinet doors on the cabinets.    I have to cut, paint, and install the trim, as well as replace an electrical outlet and light switch to match the paint.  They are currently beige instead of white, so they are sort of an eyesore.
Then I have to clean the house.  I’ve got stuff from the bathroom spread around so I could keep track of where it’s supposed to go when I finish, so the whole house looks awful, and I now realize the error in that plan because I’m gonna have to make several trips all over the house to get it back in order.  I would have been better off getting a cheap plastic shelving system to store everything temporarily, and then I could have used it in the garage.
Overall, I’ve learned that taking on any remodeling job is much more work than it first seems.  For such a small room, I did not expect this to take so much time and energy.  Again, thanks to Dad and Josh, I didn’t have to bear this alone.  I also want to thank Mom and Destiny for allowing them to spend so much time over here lending both their hands and a lot of sweat.

Bathroom Construction – Part 3

Thanks to Dad and Josh, I’m much closer to having a completed bathroom.  I’ve been burning the candle at both ends, as well as from the middle.  It’s absolutely amazing how fast time goes by when you’re trying to get something done quickly!  I feel as if I’ve still got a week’s worth of work to do.
I started laying the tile in the bathroom today, and I really only have a few more tiles to cut and place before I finish.  I just got worn out cutting the things.  I do feel more like I’m in a bathroom now, though, when I’m in there with an actual floor.  There’s really only a few more things to do, but they seem like they’re gonna take a while to complete.  Just a bit more painting, compared to what’s already been done, and then putting up the shower walls, and then trim work.  Once the paint dries on the cabinet doors, I’ll be able to put those back on.
As small as the bathroom is, I wouldn’t have expected it to take this long.  I am SO glad I had help with the biggest part of the job, though.  I would have had to take a week off of work to get this far if I had to do it by myself.

Bathroom Construction – Part 2

So, we skipped the part about sanding the walls.  We just replaced the ones that would have require sanding.  We’ve done a lot of work, but there’s still a bunch to do.  Dad and Josh have been here helping me all day for the past two days.
We got the tub replaced fairly early on Friday.  We’ve replaced all the necessary walls, except for one strip that we need to do fairly quickly today, gotten the mud and tape up, and textured the exposed walls.  I’ve primed the cabinets, cabinet doors, window trim, door, and door trim.  When Josh pulled up the floor tiles, we found a spot that needed to be replaced, so we took out the toilet, and began replacing the floor, but haven’t replaced it because we ran out of daylight to build it up under the house.
I’m sure there’s more that we’ve done, but we still have much more to do.  Here’s the current list:

  • Replace the walls (only one more strip left)
  • Paint the walls
  • Paint the cabinets
  • Paint the trim and baseboards
  • Install the surrounding walls around the bathtub (includes cutting holes for the shower)
  • Lay down new floor tiles
  • Caulk the tub and surrounding walls
  • Install the baseboards
  • Install the new curtain rod
  • Install new cabinet knobs
  • Install new ceiling light fixture
  • Testing (take a shower)

I’ll do my best to post an update tonight so that I can more accurately keep track of our progress.

Bathroom Construction – Part 1

Dad and I started dismantling our bathroom this afternoon… well, I guess yesterday afternoon now. We got the bathtub surround walls down… they were much heavier than I thought they’d be.
We found that there was more work than originally intended, but also found some positive things in the process. There was absolutely no indication of mold of any kind. There were a few problems with the original installation, such as a piece of wood resting on the tub behind the surrounding wall, which led to that piece of wood soaking up water.
We’ll get to work tomorrow by removing the tub, which we finally got to budge a little earlier. There’s no telling how long it’s been since it’s original installation. Hopefully, we can have the plumbing and base walls back up by tomorrow evening. I don’t want to plan too far ahead, so I’m not going to.
Here’s the basic list of things I know need to be done after that:

  • Sand the necessary parts of walls
  • Texture the necessary parts of  walls
  • Paint the walls
  • Paint the cabinets
  • Paint the trim and baseboards
  • Install the surrounding walls around the bathtub (includes cutting holes for the shower)
  • Lay down new floor tiles
  • Caulk the tub and surrounding walls
  • Install the baseboards
  • Install the new curtain rod
  • Install new cabinet knobs
  • Install new ceiling light fixture
  • Testing (take a shower)

I’m sure there’s some tasks I left out, either due to lack of effort or memory.  Hopefully Christle will be happy with our work.  I can’t begin to imagine how long this would take without Dad’s help.  Thanks, Dad.

A Short Update

I’ve been in Phoenix for the past two weeks training for work.  I’m coming back home in the morning.  I’ve been getting really homesick and really look forward to being home.
Lily is doing ok.  The doctors think the risk of going into surgery is a little too high when compared to waiting until she is old enough to have the pace-maker put in.  She has already been back to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours, and the results came back the same… her heart rate was the same as it was when she was in the hospital in early February.
I don’t have a lot more to say… I’m really just looking forward to getting back home and in almost the usual routine.  I plan to make a few more changes in the way I spend my time at home.

Lily

My youngest daughter, Lily, who turned 3 in November has been sick on and off for the past few weeks.  It was a viral infection mainly, and it was being treated, but we were passing it back and forth through the entire family and that kinda made it hard to rid the house of illness.
Alaina, who turned 8 this month, is also still sick, but Christle and I are over it.
We thought Lily had an allergic reaction to the medicine she was taking, so we called the doctor and he prescribed something else.  Her feet started swelling on Monday, as well as a rash that would swell and itch, moving to different parts of her body.  Later on, her hands, elbows, and knees started swelling, and after dinner, she got up to leave the dinner table and apparently had weak knees.  She said they hurt, so we called the doctor.
The doctor said that she should go to the emergency room, because the symptoms didn’t match any that were related to the medicine she was taking.  Christle opted to take her to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.  They got there around 8:30pm and didn’t get in to see a doctor until around 5am, even though she was placed on the urgent care list… the emergency room was very busy.  Her swelling didn’t get worse, but it didn’t get a whole lot better.  She was very uncomfortable, though.
During the routine of checking her rash and swelling, they would monitor her pulse.  Over time, they noticed that the rate was in the 50-55 bpm when she was calm.  Now, her rate at this age should be anywhere from 80 – 100.  Now, when they first saw this, the first reaction was that it could possibly mean she had rheumatic fever, which is a virus that could potentially affect the heart.  Blood tests came back negative on that.
After X-rays, and an ultrasound of her heart, they hypothesized that she may have a “Heart Block“.  They put her on a heart monitor and started keeping a record for 24 hours.  During the night, while sleeping good, her heart rate got down to 30.  Dr. Cannon, a cardiologist who specializes in electrophysiology, said that after reviewing the ultrasound and X-rays, said that she has a Third Degree or Complete Heart Block.
Basically, this means that the heart’s electrical signal doesn’t pass from the upper to the lower chambers.  This does not mean that the blood flow or blood vessels are blocked.  Her oxygen levels are good, and there is good flow.  The best guess at this point is that it is congenital heart block.  In other words, she’s had this since birth or even before birth.  The best guess we have right now as to why it hasn’t been detected before is that she was upset any time she was taken to the doctor, so her heart rate would have been high enough to pass as normal.  Anytime a doctor or nurse would come in and start messing with her, her rate would climb up to anywhere from 70 – 85 bpm.
Our current situation is that she will need a pace-maker.  The doctors think the risk of sending her home without one is worse than going through the surgery first.
At her age, they will have to do surgery to actually sew the leads directly on the heart.  We’re not sure if it will be open heart, or endoscopic surgery, yet.  When it comes time to replace it, if the leads come disconnected, or the battery starts to get low, there are less invasive procedures for older children and adults.  She will still lead an active lifestyle, except for certain activities including contact sports… so she wont be able to play football when she gets older.
The surgery has not been scheduled yet, but the doctors are working on the schedule now.  It will probably take place before the end of next week.
I couldn’t explain how we are handling this mentally.  Christle and I are both very upset about it.  On the other hand, though, most people do not detect this problem until they are in their teens.  God has blessed us, in that we stumbled upon the problem early enough to detect and possibly prevent something that could have happened in the future had we not found it now.  With the many illnesses and hardships that happen with children, we are most certainly blessed.
Lily is staying in the cardiology department at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.  If you call the hospital, you can ask for volunteer services and they will make out a post card for you to send to her in your name.  She’s already gotten a few and it really makes her day to receive mail.  She does not understand the circumstances, as you can imagine.  I just found this link to do it from their web site.  You’ll need to use her full name, so if you don’t have it, call me or send me an email.
But more importantly, I ask for your prayers.  First, I ask for your prayers for Lily, that she would either be completely healed or have a flawless surgery and quick healing from the surgery.  Secondly, I ask that you pray for my wife, Christle.  I ask that you also pray for Alaina.  She is aware of the circumstances, and even though she doesn’t fully understand the situation, she’s scared for her little sister.  She can’t be there right now because she’s been sick, and we don’t want to risk getting Lily sick before surgery.  Please pray for my parents and Christle’s parents, because I know they feel as helpless as we do.  Pray for me.  I’m barely holding it together right now, and I want to be wholly available for the rest of my family to depend on.
Thank you in advance for your prayers…