Not looking forward...

I’m a Dad now.  That’s a great thing.  I’m headed back out on deployment.  That’s not such a good thing.

This dad thing is pretty awesome.  I never realized how much one little person could influence your life!  He’s a bundle of joy and just so precious you want to hug him all day.

Tomorrow is going to suck though.  Time to head back to my unit and the work that I’m not looking forward to.  The only upside is that we have been so busy the last few months that it kind of slipped on by.  Hopefully the remaining few months will do the same so I can get back to my family.

Daddy?

Well, almost. Sitting here in the hospital waiting for the newest member of our family.

We came in today to induce but Kris is already having contractions and is dilated to about 1cm.  Not far along but progressing!

Headed home...

And that means it’s almost time for baby!

Frigid day in the UAE

Who would have thunk?  With lows in the 60’s at night people actually wear jackets here.

The temperatures have been downright pleasant lately, mid-80’s during the day with a pleasant, non dust stirring breeze and down to the 60’s at night.  If there were more green it would be the perfect climate!

Dubai, UAE

Dubai really is a unique town.  It’s a global city in the fact that it takes its global connections for the city to thrive. 

It is built in the desert adjacent to a salty body of water.  They basis of the growth of the city hasn’t been that it straddled any important trade route or was the seat of an empire, it was oil.

Luckily for Dubai, early on the ruling body realized that oil is a non-renewable commodity and they started investing in what we now call the service sector.  Dubai has built an economy around tourism and service.  Tourism is the base and service is being added on.  The hotels here run from nice to amazingly ostentatious.  Shopping can be done in a modernized souk (air conditioning, food courts, etc) to some of the largest malls in the world.  Dubai has opened an international banking center and the first stock exchange in the Middle East.  It really is visionary.

The history of the city is short, much like south Florida, but it has Arab influences it can pull from that keep it interesting.  So far, it has been an interesting visit.  Couldn’t live here though, too flat and too brown…

Long time no post...

I know, I know.  I’ll get to it…

Another day in paradise

Well, I'm at Dubai International airport getting ready to fly to Bahrain again.  The great thing about DXB is that it has free WiFi everywhere!  I was able to track my progress through the airport using Google Earth.

I'm starting to get settled in here in Dubai.  It really isn't that difficult to adjust because everything here is very Western.  If I long for Chili's I can go to the Mall of the Emirates, if I want some Lean Cuisine I can go to Spinney's and get it (not LuLu's though, but they have great spicy chicken shwarmas!)

The return trip through the Bahrain airport won't be nearly as much fun.  Bahrain's airport isn't the equal of Dubai's, it is like a regional airport stateside, smaller, more crowded but a lot easier to navigate.

Well, I'm off to fly Gulf Air (broke down and got their Frequent Flyer Club card too).

On the way again

I'm airborne enroute for another deployment. This one has got to be
one of the hardest I've ever done. 12 years of sea duty and 13
deployments and this is by far the worst.

The saving grace is that this is probably my last deployment.

Last Pasha brunch

We just finished another wonderful brunch at Pasha Mezze in Norfolk.
It just hit me that this is the last brunch before I deploy. It's been
a short but fun filled break between deployments

On the way again

Here it is, less than a week before I deploy again for the third time
in two years. I did get back early from the last one but that was
because of my transfer.

Like numerous other deployments I've done I'm leaving Kris at home.
Unlike those other times the next time I see her we will be headed
somewhere to have a baby (I'm a bit vague on this detail, maybe from
Babys R Us?).

After 19 years of being married, our entire world is about to be
turned upside down and I'm going to miss the last couple of months.
Admittedly, this deployment is one of the most unique I have ever
done. Living conditions promise to be very nice if not downright posh
and there will be lots of money thrown our way to pay for living where
we are headed but still, I just want to be home!

I will be posting more now that I'm headed out again so stay tuned.

Previews...

Just finished the 20 week preview of our 13 ounce baby boy! He is
doing well and a bit of a show off, jumping around, waving at the
crowd...

Everything looks good and mother and baby are fine!

Gotta have it!

Diving that is. I really need to go diving soon. If I can get it
together, I will go diving off North Carolina in a couple of weeks.
I'm looking forward to diving the Graveyard of the Atlantic again with
Discovery Diving.

Monday's

they really aren't so bad when the boss rolls them into a holiday
weekend. Our Independence Day celebration was a success! How about
yours?

Happy Independence Day!

Or Happy 4th of July however you like to celebrate it!

This is the last 4th of July for just Kris and I, next year Baby will
be here to enjoy the festivities!

That great American tradition of the cookout will be celebrated here
today. Chicken, corn, potato salad and snacks followed by ice cream
or fruit salad. Yum!

Have a fun and safe holiday!

Visitors...

He just wouldn't leave!

We're having a baby!

At least Kris is, I think I'll just coach from the sideline!

Kris is pregnant with our son! Everything is progressing smoothly and
our little bundle of joy will arrive in December, the perfect
Christmas gift for Mom and Dad!

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

NOT!  I’m leaving the ship I’ve been on since February of last year.  Time to move on!

 

It hasn’t been a bad ship, just time for a change.

 

Long time coming

I always start with the best of intentions....

It's been awhile since I posted here. It's kind of sad because it is
just soooo easy to make an entry! The blogspot people let you make an
entry straight from the web, via SMS or e-mail and yet, I can't seem to
do it!

Part of the problem, I'm sure, is my general malaise at writing.
English and Comp classes always seemed so difficult, "a 4 page paper!?
Double spaced, right? 40 pt font?" I know I will get some bashing from
her but, it's easy for her to write!

Enough on the complaining though.

It's been an interesting week. We pulled in to Costa Rica with the
intention of painting some schools and giving out some stuff. This is
all part of the US intention to let Central and South America know we
haven't forgotten about them. The big news items seem to focus on Iraq,
Afghanistan and what is happening in Europe but down here in our back
yard things are happening too.

There have been a lot of good things happening here recently. The
Fourth Fleet folks have been sending ships down to less visited ports to
see what we can do. Usually ship's company will happily volunteer to
paint and clean schools and churches and hang out with kids. When a big
hospital ship pulls in they bring medical (and veterinary) care that
some of these smaller communities never have the chance to access.
These are the kinds of things going on down south. They don't make the
news most days but there are thousands of people down here making them
happen nonetheless!

Moving on out...

We are in Mayport again this week. After this though, we really start deployment. Our next port is Cartagena, Colombia.

The war on drugs has kind of put a dent in the fun that can be had in Cartagena. There are impressive fortresses and museums there but going on liberty requires two buddies. Finding two buddies that would rather see something historical is much more difficult than finding two buddies looking for 90 centavo brewskis....

Sunday at sea

Another Sunday at sea.  We are very busy participating in UNITAS GOLD but we were able to squeeze a late reveille into the schedule this morning.

 

We had some recent personnel turnover so my watch wasn’t fully manned.  The result was port and starboard watch, 6 hours on watch (from breakfast til lunch), 6 hours to work and 7 hours of watch (from dinner until 12:30).  That makes for a long and tiring day.  Luckily, that’s over.  Now I’m on a better rotation and getting a chance to rest and catch up on the work I had to let fall aside for watch.

 

Deployment day...

This pretty much sums up deployment day...

Lunner at No Frill Grill!

Lunner at No Frill Grill! Pierogies or a Crispy Chicken Burrito... choices, choices!

Getting ready again...

It’s getting to be about that time, time to head out on another deployment. 

 

Those that keep track of me here, hopefully I will have some good stories and news to pass along!

 

Money and grace

I was watching ABC news the other night and the Person of the Week was Leonard Abess of Citi National Bank in Miami. Mr. Abess sold the bank to a community-minded group and pocketed a nice profit.

In his interview this CEO told ABC News, he understood the success of his bank wasn't so much about him as about his employees so, he gave $60 million to them! This money was distributed to 476 current and former employees of the bank! That's an average of $126,000 per person! Wow.

Hats off Mr. Abess, that's what America should be about. $60 million is a lot of money but, more than likely, Mr. Abess didn't notice not having it. He passed along this money to the folks that could use it more.

This is the real 'trickle down' economics. Having the rich get richer doesn't really benefit anyone but the rich. Not to sound pretentious, but this is one of the reasons I keep a lawn service and take my car to the mechanic for routine maintenance. Could I do it? Oh yeah, have for years. Could I do it cheaper? Ditto. But by saving a few bucks, I impact a business that employees numerous folks that need money to continue living. It ain't $60 million, but it's my contribution.

Thank you Mr. Abess for restoring my hope that not all rich folks are self-interested asses!

Retirement...

I had a talk the other night with my dad about his retirement. He
worked for a manufacturing company for about 30 years. In September
they went on strike because, as their old contract ended, the new one
didn't look very good.

In the interim, the cooling of the economy has continued and other
manufacturers have been laying folks off creating a sizable pool of
people to hire from if the company decided to break the strike. The
union voted to accept the new contract thinking it better to have a
lousy contract than no job. My dad decided to retire.

It wasn't the happy decision I like to think of retirement as being,
but a torturious choice between the lesser of two evils. Needless to
say, it makes me glad I stayed in the military.

Sunday at work...

Sunday duty really isn’t too bad. Other than getting up early and coming in it’s usually quiet and allows me to get a jump on the next weeks work.

Duty today has been full of studying and preparing for ship exams next week and trying to keep tabs on that thing loosely referred to as a schedule. It has also been a time of reflection, catching up on things that others have been doing and formulating a short term plan ahead.

This week we lost our Annabelle. She was a 17 year old cat of many social graces, idiosyncrasies and pure, unadulterated love. You can read more here. We miss you Annabelle and I miss you too.

Memories...

I love Facebook. I linked to a friend from high school who, apparently, has sought out and found every member of our high school class.

I ran across a buddy from high school. We actually go back further than that with many hours spent riding the bus to and from school from about 7th grade.

While I bitch and complain about duty and working long hours and being gone from home, this guy has really had it hard. He was severely burned over a large portion of his body and is just trying to make it day to day.

His blog doesn't sound like the mullet wearing guy I knew all those years ago but more power to you Maddog!

Ahh, memories....

Kris and I were having a conversation last night over pizza when we heard the song Faithfully by Journey. I said I remembered the song from basement parties in junior high school. She swore that was too old for this classic hit because she remembered it from her junior year in high school (I won, I was in 9th grade (junior high then) when she was a junior in high school.

She mentioned that one of the barristas at our local Starbucks had mentioned that this song reminded him of college parties, he's 19...

Memories of songs that have become timeless, nice!

End of Christmas break

Remember when you were a kid and looked forward to Christmas break? I'm lucky enough to have a job with a kind of Christmas break, kind of because it is counted as vacation. Christmas break is over tomorrow and, just like in school, I'm dreading it!