Another Sunday down

Ahh, another Sunday down, well almost.  We advanced clocks an hour last night, another hour tonight and we are back in the same time zone with home.

 

It’s been a long deployment, compounded with a long school before deployment.  Since July last year, I’ve been home about ten weeks, for those of you counting, that’s 15 months and only 10 weeks at home and I still have another three weeks underway before the end of the year.  It’s feast or famine in the Navy, I also got to spend a year of not doing anything but going to school.

 

Right now, it’s a focus on the positive though, one more Sunday to go!

 

Trujillio, Honduras

We are in Honduras and can't go ashore for liberty
because we have to get underway each night, but the scenery here is
beautiful. The weather is hot, but the humidity is as low as I've felt
since we started the Caribbean part of this deployment. Best part? Yet
another day down!

Tweet, tweet

We must be getting near land, we are starting to
collect little birds again!

The weather is fantastic today, it's hot, but the oppressive humidity
has let up, at least for this morning.

Thursday (?) afternoon

What does an OPS boss do all day?  Well, this has been the biggest consumer of my time today.

 

I have been trying to address the ship’s long-range schedule. 

 

Every quarter our boss goes to a scheduling meeting and randomly has our ship’s schedule changed.  Once the schedule is changed they secretly make changes to a PowerPoint slide surreptitiously called the Long Range schedule slide REV AG (in 12 months they’ve gone through all the letters of the alphabet and then some) and I have five days to locate this mythical document and post changes to my schedule. 

 

On day 4.67 the powers that be check the ship’s schedule and poke me with a dull stick (dull because it has been over used for poking) about why I haven’t updated my schedule amongst all the other things I do. 

 

The meeting ended on the 10th, I’ve been getting poked since the 15th (no accounting for weekends, this is the Navy!).
 
So, a busy day.  The good news?  One more down! Not nearly so many to go!

Stealing of a post....

I'm stealing this from Kris, or just answering it I guess.

1 What time did you get up this morning?
6:10

2 Beer or Wine?
Yes, please.

3 What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Hmmm, don't remember, it was long ago.

4 What is your favorite TV show?
Grey’s Anatomy though I really haven't seen much TV in about 15 months.

5 What do you usually have for breakfast?
Cereal and milk when I can, eggs when I can't

6 What is your middle name?
Edwin

7 What food do you dislike?
I'll try anything once, but if it's slimy and cold...

8 What is your favorite CD at the moment?
Shakira, Laundry Service

9 What kind of car do you drive?
Chevrolet Avalanche, but I want a new Camaro!

10 Favorite sandwich?
Turkey Pretzel Sandwich from  Pargo's (sadly, closed)

11 What characteristics do you despise?
Cruelty, lack of a sense of humor, self-centeredness

12 Favorite item of clothing?
Who needs 'em!

13 If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
The islands!  London, Italy, Australia, New Zealand.

14 What you wearing now?
White tee shirt, brown shorts (too damn hot in hear for a uniform!)

15 Favorite brand of clothing?
Brand?  The clothes type of stuff.

16 Where would you retire to?
Right where I live, it has an airport, I'm down the street from an RV dealer, what more could a retiree want?

17 What was your most recent memorable birthday?
I get so busy I forget most of them, but any spent with Kris make me happy

18 Favorite sport to watch?
Baseball

19 Furthest place you are sending this?
Who's sending?

20 Who do you least expect to send this back to you?
Anyone.

21 Person you expect to send it back first?
I've already seen Kris's.

22 Favorite Saying?
How many more days?

23 When is your birthday?
April 1st

24 Are you a morning person or night person?
Neither, unless I get a nap

25 What is your shoe size?
10.5

27 Any new and exciting news you’d like to share?
Not really,  I've been stuck in the same spot for about six months.

28 What did you want to be when you were little?
A porn star or truck driver, never could choose.

29 How are you feeling today?
Tiredly optimistic.

30 What is your favorite candy?
Runts, Milk Duds, Hot Tamales!

31 What is your favorite flower?
Sunflowers and daisies, they are just so optimistic.

32 What is your full name?
James

33 What are your listening to right now?
The whir of an unknown fan, it'll stop in a few minutes and I will be no wiser as to it's source.

34 What was the last thing you ate?
Peanut butter on bread (really getting low on food here)

35 If you were a Crayon, what color would you be?
Today, Mango Orange

36 How is the weather right now?
Partly cloudy, humid and windy (it's Panama, what do you expect!)

37 Last person you spoke to
Brian, he wanted my soda!

38 Do you like the person who sent this to you?
More than she'll ever know!

39 Favorite Restaurant?
Max and  Erma's, Macaroni Grill

40 Hair Color?
Brown

41 Siblings?
Yup, 3.5

42 Favorite day of the year?
Anniversary

43 What was your favorite toy as a child?
Legos!

44 Summer or winter?
Spring

45 Hugs or Kisses?
Why be choosy?

46 Chocolate or Vanilla?
Vanilla!

47 Do you want your friends to email you back?
Sure!

48 When was the last time your cried?
August 28th

49 What is under your bed?
Jim

50 Who is the friend you have had the longest?
Kris!

51 What did you do last night?
Played video games, sweated...

52 Favorite smell?
Sea air, baking cookies, Kris

53 What are you afraid of?
Forgetting

54 Plain, buttered or salted popcorn?
Buttered and salted!

55 How many keys are on your key ring?
Wish I knew, 4 or 5

56 How many years at your current job?
Depends on who you ask, I call it 22, some call it 21, some ask if I have a job!

57 Favorite day of the week?
Any day I come home!

58 How many towns/cities have you lived in?
8

59 Do you make friends easily?
Not really, I don't like people generally.

60 What and where is your favorite view?
A beach, at sunset beside my girl!

Fridays....

Fridays in port are always so frantic, everyone trying to wrap up the week's work to get home and enjoy the weekend.  It's much the same at sea, except that Saturday is a work day and nobody is going anywhere tonight.

I think this is tied to the shore establishment.  We jump through hoops to get them information so they can answer their bosses and go home early.  Seems foolish, but we do it nonetheless...

Hopefully your shoreside Friday is going well and (since it's five o'clock here) you are on the way home to enjoy a relaxing weekend!

Another one bites the dust!

Ahh, the 80’s… what other era could give is such an apropos cliché?  Another Sunday down, four to go!

 

This Sunday finds us escorting a suspected vessel back to port, boring but someone has to do it.  In the eastern Caribbean, Hurricane Ike is bearing down on Cuba and the Gulf Coast.  If it’s as bad as predicted we may be headed that way next to provide some Humanitarian Assistance.

 

Laundry is down again.  That may seem strange since I haven’t mentioned it here before but, it goes down too often.  What that means is everyone is wearing uniforms far longer than they should.  Not too bad when it’s cool, but this is the southern Caribbean in the late summer/early fall.  It stinks here!  And the mold….

 

Til next time!