Florence @ MindSay 
General Dynamics, Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $324,937,789 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-03-C-2101) for long lead time material associated with the FY 09 Va., Class Submarine (SSN 784) and the FY 11 Va., Class Submarine (SSN 787). This contract provides long lead time material for steam and electric plant components; the main propulsion unit and ship service turbine generator set; components that are critical to maintaining the submarine component industrial base; and miscellaneous Hull, Mechanical and Electrical system components to support ship construction of SSN 784 and SSN 787. Work will be performed in Groton, Conn.,/Quonset Point, R.I., (7 percent); Newport News, Va., (7 percent); Sunnyvale and South El Monte, Calif., (50 percent); Coatesville, York and Cheswick, Penn. (5 percent); Linden, Philipsburg, and Florence, N.J. (5 percent); and at various sites throughout the United States (26 percent), and is expected to be completed by Mar. 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Integrated Systems, Melbourne, Fla., is being awarded a $13,500,258 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-02-C-6324) for a cost growth and new requirements related to development of the Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System (RAMICS). RAMICS is a non-towed airborne mine neutralization system that is deployed from the MH-60S helicopter and provides a rapid response clearance capability against floating and near-surface moored sea mines that have been detected, classified and localized by the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) or other mine hunting systems. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Fla., and work is expected to be completed by Sep. 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Fla., is the contracting activity.
The Engineering Partners, Inc.*, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a maximum $7,500,000 (base and options - with a guaranteed minimum of $5000) firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect/engineering contract for electrical engineering services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed includes electrical engineering studies and reports; site investigations reports; preparation of Requests for Proposals for design-build projects; preparation of fully designed plans and specifications for Invitation for Bid projects; cost estimates, evaluations and construction support services. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR including, but not limited to Calif., (87 percent); Ariz., (5 percent), Nev., (5 percent), Colo., (1 percent), N.M. (1 percent) and Utah (1 percent), and work is expected to be competed Mar. 2009 (Mar. 2013 with options exercised). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured as an eight (a) set-aside, with eight offers solicited via the NAVFAC e-solicitation website,with nine proposals received. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest is the contracting activity (N62473-08-D-8622).
RBF Consulting, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a maximum $7,500,000 (base year and options - with a guaranteed minimum of $5,000) firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity architect/engineering contract for Civil Engineering Services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed includes engineering studies and site investigations to support new development on raw land, or re-development of existing developed sites; preparation of Requests for Proposals for design-build projects; preparation of fully designed plans and specifications for Invitation for Bid projects; other civil engineering studies, reports, cost estimates, and evaluations; and construction support services including surveying, geotechnical, and environmental engineering services. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR including, but not limited to Calif., (87 percent); Ariz., (5 percent), Nev., (5 percent), Colo. (1 percent), N.M. (1 percent) and Utah (1 percent). The term of this contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of Mar. 2009 (Mar. 2013 with options exercised). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with 22 proposals solicited via the NAVFAC e-solicitation website,with 14 offers received. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest is the contracting activity. The Contract number is N62473-08-D-8601.
Harris Corp., of Rochester, N.Y., is being awarded a contract for $10,204,063. This action will provide the deployment of the total system of interim single channel handheld (SCHH) radios that are an integral part of the Air Force Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) acquisition requires the acquisition of ancillary items. At this time $10,204,063 has been obligated. Hanscom AFB, Mass., is the contracting activity (GS35-F-0163N; FA8726-08-F-0002).
DEFENSE COMMISSARY AGENCY
Tyson Fresh Meats, Incorporated, 800 Stevens Port Drive, Dakota Dunes, SD 57049, is being awarded an indefinite delivery, requirements type contract on Mar. 20, 2008, to provide as needed, case ready, primal and sub-primal pork products for resale to the commissary stores located in the DeCA East and West Regions, including AK., and Hawaii. The estimated award amount is $308,640,542.70. The contract is for a two year base period with performance starting May 4, 2008 through May 3, 2010. Three one-year option periods are available. If all option periods are exercised, the contract will be completed May 3, 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Sixty-five firms were solicited and five offers were received. The contracting activity is the Defense Commissary Agency, Resale Contracting Division, Produce Support Branch, 1300 E Avenue, Fort Lee, Va. 23801-1800. (HDEC02-08-D-0005)
Lakeside Foods Inc. 7 East 13th Street Ste 322 Anniston, AL 36201-1083 is being awarded an indefinite delivery, requirements type contract on Mar. 19, 2008, to provide fresh shell protected eggs for resale at multiple delivery locations throughout DeCA's East Region commissaries to include the following states: S.C., Ga., and Fla. The estimated award amount is $9,347,826.12. Contractor will deliver fresh shell protected eggs to the store locations as needed. The contract is for a two year base period beginning Apr. 6, 2008, through Apr. 3, 2010. Three one-year option periods are available. If all three option periods are exercised, the contract will be completed Apr. 6, 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Forty-five firms were solicited and six offers were received. The contracting activity is the Defense Commissary Agency, Resale Contracting Division, Resale Commodities Branch, 1300 E Avenue, Fort Lee, Va. 23801-1800. (HDEC02-08-D-0003)
Hillandale Farms East Inc. P.O. Box 217 Codorus, Pa., 17311-0217 is being awarded an indefinite delivery, requirements type contract on Mar. 19, 2008, to provide fresh shell protected eggs for resale at multiple delivery locations throughout DeCA's East Region commissaries to include the following states: Va., Maine, N.Y., Vt., N.H., Mass., Conn., N.J., Pa., and Md. The estimated award amount is $16,153,893.04. Contractor will deliver fresh shell protected eggs to the store locations as needed. The contract is for a two year base period beginning Apr. 6, 2008 through Apr. 3, 2010. Three one-year option periods are available. If all three option periods are exercised, the contract will be completed Apr. 6, 2013. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Forty-five firms were solicited and six offers were received. The contracting activity is the Defense Commissary Agency, Resale Contracting Division, Resale Commodities Branch, 1300 E Avenue, Fort Lee, Va. 23801-1800. (HDEC02-08-D-0002)
ROME (AFP) - An expert on the "Mona Lisa" says he has ascertained with certainty that the symbol of feminine mystique died on July 15, 1542, and was buried at the convent in central Florence where she spent her final days.
Giuseppe Pallanti found a death notice in the archives of a church in Florence that referred to "the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, deceased July 15, 1542, and buried at Sant'Orsola," the Italian press reported Friday.
Born Lisa Gherardini in May 1479, she is thought to have been the second wife of Del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant, with whom she had five children.
While intrigue has surrounded the identity of the woman in the famous unsigned, undated Leonardo da Vinci painting housed at the Louvre in Paris, Lisa Gherardini is widely accepted to have been the subject.
Sant'Orsola, where she died at age 63, now disused and in ruins, is near the San Lorenzo basilica.
"It was in this convent that Mona Lisa placed her youngest daughter Marietta, who later became a nun. And it was there that Lisa, as stipulated in the will of her husband who died four years before her, ended her life," Pallanti told the daily La Repubblica on Friday.
Pallanti, author of "Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model," has spent nearly three decades combing Florence's archives.
Another researcher, Da Vinci expert Carlo Pedretti, praised Pallanti for the discovery and urged a search at the site for Lisa Gherardini's remains.
"Thanks to modern techniques, scientists can determine her physical aspect, maybe even her face and thereby make an important contribution" to establishing her identity, he told the ANSA news agency.
The woman in tourist information took one look at us and said "Cheap cheap cheap?" and we said yes, we needed a place to stay for two people, one night at the cheapest possible rate. She smiled and nodded and made a lot of phonecalls in rapid sucession, speaking in breathless Italian, and finally after several tries found us two hostel beds for the night. We thanked her, and received the map she gave us and made our way through some very unpleasant and unseasonable rain to our hotel room. With the room taken care of, we decided to brave the wet in order to do some sight seeing, and found ourselves outside Saint Croce Church, the church where the hero and heroine of A Room With A View have their first real conversation. We planned to duck our heads in and take a quick peak, but we soon found out that that was impossible.
The church turned out to be the burial sight of Galileo, Machiavelli, Micheangelo and others, though not, interestingly enough of Dante. Dante is buried in Ravenna, but that didn't stop Saint Croce from building a huge garrish monument in honor of the Florentine poet. I've never been a big Dante fan despite slogging my way through three different translations of the Inferno. When I saw his monument I think I understood why. He always looks incredibly dour, as if he was having bad indigestion; I think it comes out in his writing.
The next day we had to move to our hostel that Lindsay had also booked from Mali (the deal was that she would book Florence and Sienna, I would book Venice and Pisa). Rather than head straight to our Hostel, however, we decided to do some early sight seeing, and made it to the Duomo in time to be first in line when it opened. The guidebook was not too enthusiastic about the church, claiming it was "chilly and austere" on the inside, but I enjoyed it immensely. The inside doesn't feel cluttered the way some of these churches can be. After the Duomo we headed across the way to the Baptistry to gaze at Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise," which was obscured by a sea of tourists. I'm short enough, however, that I eventually wrangled my way to the front, and I'm glad I did, the doors are truly breathtaking.
The Piazza was beginning to get absolutely swamped with tour groups, so we headed back to our hostel to collect our bags and carried them through the wet and cold to the hostel we had booked for the next five nights.
The hostel looked amazing, it was up a steep flight of stairs, but had large windows and wooden floors as well as offering free internet. There were signs all over in broken English reminding guests that "The waisting of the energy was a crime against the enviroment" and other helpful hostel hints. When we got there, however, the woman couldn't find our booking. There was much sturm und drang, and the management was called, while we nervously looked over the reservation and tried to decipher the rapid Italian the receptionist was shouting into the phone. Eventually we realized that the reservation was for May, and we were here in June. The hostel was booked solid all five nights, and we had nowhere to stay. We asked the receptionist if she had any suggestions of places to stay, and she said that as far as she knew the entire city was booked solid. It turns out that the next day, the second of June, was a national holiday, and meaning it was a popular time to visit. She wouldn't let us use the phone, but she was nice enough to let us store our bags while we found a place to stay.
We returned to the street with absolutely no idea of what to do. We found a phone and began to call all of the hostels in the guidebook. All of them were booked solid for the next two nights, but we finally found a place that will take us for the last three nights of our stay. Lindsay went off to find an internet cafe where she could confirm the booking, and I headed in the other direction to find us a bed for the night. My plan was to head to the tourist office, but I realized that the streets on the way to the train station seemed to be lined with wall to wall hotels. I stopped into a few of the cheaper looking ones, all of which seemed to be booked solid for the next two nights (I even encountered a panicky couple whose reservations had also fallen through screaming at an unfortunate receptionist) Finally I found a one star hotel with a single room left. It was little more than a broom cubbard, but breakfast was included, and the room had a TV. Grateful to have a place to stay I headed back to collect both Lindsay and the luggage. I've learned two things from the whole experience--the first is never have anybody make a hotel booking from Mali, and the second is that commercials are more entertaining in Italian.
I had hoped spending three weeks in Italy, where reportadely any American could be picked up would cure my fear of men. I pictured ngiths spend at the bars laughing with my newest Gucci or Pradad wearing companion, adoring his accent and teaching him how to correctly pronounce some American phrase. The next day I would waltz into wrok (my excuse for being in Italy, a three week conference on International advertising) and gossiping about the previous night. I imagined calm and relaxing days, doning a little shoppin, maybe taking in a few sights.
None of this would be true I realized my fourth day in Florence. I was late for work and finding it hard to navigate around the tourists surrounding the Piazza della Republica and the Duome as I ran to catch my bus. i had made the mistake, once again, of looking some guy in the eye and smiling. After that, he just had to talk to me., making me late. Now I can't lose him and he doesn't seem to understand that I'm late and don't want to be bothered.
"Please, just one drink!Amici! We are friends, no?"
"I'm late for work, I don't have time for a drink."
"Ok, we be friends. You come get a drink with me."
"No, I don't have time."
"You have a telephone number?"
"No, I don't."
"Aspetta! Wait, I give you mine. You call me and we go out, get a drink."
"I am late. I don't have time to wait. I need to catch my bus."
"But we are friends."
So it goes until I reach the bus stop. I just make it into the bus before the doors close. I'm breathing hard and sweating, wishing I had some ice cold water. I feel as if I'm being watched. I glance up and notice a group of men staring at me. This time I stare resolutley at the floor.
"Christina, aren't you just a player."
I don't need to look up to know who's insulting me. It's David, the man who has been trying to make my life a living hell since I joined teh firm three years ago. I've been recounting my morning adventures to Jane and Cindy, two of the women I often work with. I wish I could come up with something witty to say. Something sharp that would let him know that I , too, can play that game. Though of course, I can't.
"Tu sei bellissima" he adds for good measure letting me know just how long he's been standing behind me.
"At least someone thinks so." I say quietly without turning around.
"Too bad that someone is a little Pazzo, crazy. Honestly Christina, they'll tell that to everyone."
I turn and glance at him before walking quickly away. I don't want to let him see me cry.
Okay so its not like I enjoy being chased and harrassed by random Italian men. But I must admit it made me feel powerful. No one has ever been so interested in buying me a drink or talking to me. Never have so many people told me I was beautiful. David's right of course. They do say the same thing to everyone. But I liked pretending that I was special.
"Christina."
I don't want to be bothered to talk to anyone else, so I hope that if I ignore them whoever has interrupted my reflections will go away. This, of course is impossible.
"Christina, I heard about what happened."
My head snaps up in embarassment, Why am I the subject of gossip? Doesn't everyone have better things to do or better things to gossip about? I see that Mark is standing in front of me, a worried expression on his face.
"Don't worry about it" I hear myself saying. i've just met Mark this past week. He's been really helpful to me already. Still, I'm angry that he's already heard about my situation.
"Don't listen to David, he doesn't know what he's talking about. You are beautiful, you should be told that every day."
"Thanks," I say sniffing. "God, I feel like I'm back in fifth grade."
Mark smiles and puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder. At that moment, I wanted a hug so badly my body aches. He seems to sense this need and pulls me close.
"Anytime you need a friend," he says, "I'm here for you."
"Thanks." I say pulling away."
"So, what do you think? You ready to go back out there and learn how advertisments get messed up in translation?"
"I'm a mess"
"Nothing a little cold water won't fix." He turns on the faucet and for a minute I'm not sure what I'm suppose to do. Then I bend over and splash the water on my face a couple times. When I stand up straight again, Mark has a paper towel waiting.
"Thanks." I say again, smiling, Lets go tell the Chinese to eat their fingers."
Later, I decide to go out with Mark, Cind, and Jane. After a few drinks, I was feeling a little loose. I was still feeling dejected from the wents of that morning.
"Whats wrong with me?" I blurted before I could stop myself. Three sets of eyes stared back at me.
"Honey theres nothing wrong with you," Cindy was the first to say.
"What are you talking about?" asked Jane.
"I mean, why can't I get a guy?"
"This morning your problem was being harassed by guys," pointed out Cindy.
"yeah but they'll go after anything in a skirt."
"ALL guys will go after anything in a skirt." Mark adds.
" I wear skirts all the time at home, no one has ever come after me."
"Well," Mark begins, I'm starting to regret this topice of discussion, "they're just stupid."
"Don't flatter me. Tell the truth. What am I doing wrong?" I look at Cindy and Jane for help, but they both just shrug.
I read that in my sisters room. Its good isn't it. It feels like it should be a story thats not finished yet. Hmm.. I see a project coming on.