I've gone back and re-read my first blog and I realized that I left quite a bit out. It really wasn't very linear either. Mrs. king wouldn't be very proud. (My old english teacher) Anyways, we all have things that we can point to that have had large impacts on our lives and who we are, and I've certainly got a few examples, so I thought I'd write a bit about one of them. I joined the Navy when I was 19. I wasn't college bound, having barely escaped high school, and the job outlook in a small town in Idaho wasn't enough to keep me around. So I figured I would make my fortune pillaging on the high seas. It wasn't until I got to boot camp that I was informed that pillaging was out and I would be swabbing the deck more than I would be swashbuckling and pirating and all the other interesting stuff I was expecting from all the old Navy type movies I'd seen. No pirate wenches or nothing. Just a lot of cleaning and marching. I left for boot camp two days before Thanksgiving, and went to Great Lakes Illinois. Not Florida or San Diego, where there's actually an ocean. There was a big lake and a lot of cold though. Boot camp was all right. My biggest problem was a lack of sleep. I just wasn't used to getting up at 5:00. And some of the other guys could really snore. I used to be a light sleeper, so I had a tough time getting to sleep. So I was half asleep the whole time. And with my steel toed boots, my toes were frozen all the time. I used to go into the head(bathroom for you landlubbers) just to put my toes uneder the hot water in the sink to warm them up. The last week I was there, it got down to -78 with the wind chill. Of course the food sucked and there was a lot of yelling, but it wasn't reallhy too bad. I think I was just too tired to care. It was a really interesting experience. I'm an Eagle Scout, so when I went in to boot camp, I was already an E-2. In boot camp, the company commanders had the option of advancing the top 5% of the company if they wanted to, and I was fortunate to be in that group, so I came out as an E-3. After boot camp I got sent to San Diego for my machinist training. I did pretty well there graduating with a little over 95%. I ended up being 4th in my class, but just barely behind the 3rd place guy. On the day we were going to pick orders, I was fourth in the class, and orders were picked based on class standing. The day we picked the orders we took a test in the morning. I was about a tenth of a percent behind the number 3 guy, but I did better on the test and that put me in third place. It was fortunate for me because we both wanted the orders to Hawaii. He ended up in Guam. Not bad, but I've been there and Hawaii is better. It was shore duty too, which is pretty much unheard of, going to shore duty right out of boot camp. I was starting to think maybe I could survive without the parrot on my shoulder and the wooden leg. I knew it would be tough, but I decided to man up and do my patriotic duty. So I stepped off the plane and the first thing I realized was that my wool dress blues were not the appropriate uniform of the day. A little hot and humid for wool. Man the military life is tough. Two minutes in Hawaii and already I'm sweating. And I had three more years of this? Fortunately I've always been incredibly tough. I was stationed on Barbers Point Naval Air Station. We had primarily two types of aircraft there, P-3's and SH60B's. P-3's are prop driven anti submarine airplanes and SH60B's are anti submarine helicopters. They are both used for submarine detection. My job there was mainly to repair broken parts and remove broken bolts. Not a ton of manufacturing new aircraft parts. A ton of removing the broken bolts though. A lot of heat in the engine compartments and mechanics in a hurry kept me busy. And they always break the bolts in the most cramped spaces, they don't want to remove the edngine because a lot of testing is required after removal and replacement of an engine, so I got really good at not kicking maintenance guys in the ass and just doing my job. I was there for a while, so I'll just hit some of the highlights. I spent a lot of time at the beach, figured out that I'm not a good enough golfer to be paying 80 bucks for a round, shot a bunch of cool guns while working with base security, got married, bought a 67 chevelle, sold it in a fit of incredible stupidity, got a motorcycle, wrecked it, and had a good time generally. I got sent to Washington State next to serve on the destroyer DD971 USS David R. Ray. I was the only machinist on board so either people were going to love me or hate me. Fortunately for me the guy I was replacing was not in the first category. People were actually amazed that I got the lathe to work, the guy before me told everybody it was broken. I can't let him take all the credit though. I worked hard and did my best, so I was generally pretty well liked. Aside from being a machinist I had a few other duties on board. Everybody has a place to be during general quarters, which is what happens when something goes wrong. Fires, flooding, enemy attacks, stuff like that. I started out as a utility man on the fire party, which means I brought stuff to the scene that the fire party needed. That position sucks, so I didn't want to stay doing that. I moved up to hoseman, nozzleman, and then team leader for the forward repair locker fire party. There were 3 repair lockers. Then I got moved into Damage Control Central which is where all the damage control efforts are coordinated. I was monitoring the damage control board which showed all the fire pumps and fire and flooding alarms and a few other things. I also became the gas free engineer on board which meant that after a fire was put out, I would go into the space and determine if the atmosphere was safe to breathe. I was also put on the Flying Squad. Thats the in port rapid response team for emergencies. They used to run drills on us all the time, and embarassingly enough, I slept through the first one. Ah, well, my good looks got me out of that one. Or they didn't want to have to replace me, I don't know which. Things went pretty well for me on board, despite my occasional efforts to the contrary. As you all know I lean toward sarcasm and on one pariticular day I was helping one of the weldersput a new tv stand in the Captains at sea cabin. Well the Captain walked in and there was a little small talk, then he tells us to make sure it's level. We're out to sea at this point. So in my best subconscious effort to sabotage my career, I decide to disengage my brain, and I said "Well Sir you hold the ship steady and I'll throw a level on it." He doesn't say anything, my friend doesn't say anything, and in this awkward silence I thought to myself "self, did I just say that out loud?" So we all just stand there for a very long minute or two and the Captain finally leaves. It was about than that I decide that I'd been an E-5 long enough and it might be nice being an E-2 again. He never mentioned it and he was always really cool to me. I guess I should have learned my lesson, but I'm still the same I think. Anyway, eventually we went on deployment. We pulled into Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Singapore, Thailand, Bahrain 7 times, Perth(australia), Sydney, Melbourn, New Caldonia and Hawaii again. Along the way I threw off the embarassment of being a slimy polywog and became a Trusty Shellback. It happens when you sail across the equator. There's a long tradition of crossing the line ceremonies, and while they've been toned down a bit, it's still quite an experience. Thats pretty much it. Actually I left one large chunk out, but thats enough for tonight.

It would seem that I was called onto the carpet so to speak for never blogging. My excuse was of course a good one. It went a little something like this "nobody wants to hear what I have to say". I think my problem is that I need someone to get me started. I can respond to other peoples blogs like a madman, but just coming up with something all on my own is a different story. I tried it once in Trauma's thread. It didn't go over too well. But that's what I get for posting something at 2:30 am after a long night of zombie killing. At least then I had an excuse, right now I've got nothing. Except possibly writers block. Fortunately there's no limit to how short I can make this. But it would be pretty lame to get you here and all interested only to cut it short. This may hurt a bit, but we'll try to push on. And, yes, this does hurt me more than it hurts you. I know it might be painful from where youre sitting, but I actually blacked out just thinking about this. Ha, beat that! Anybody reading this probably knows I tend to not be the most serious person around, so I'll be serious for a moment and let you know that writing this isn't really all that painful for me. I know that most of you won't believe this, but Ive always been a pretty shy person. I'm pretty outgoing on xbox live, because I feel comfortable with the people I game with. But I'm not really a center of attention kind of guy. So I read a lot of other peoples blogs, and occasionally I post a comment, but I've never been compelled to blog myself. But I suppose this is how people get to know each other better. So, maybe here is where I interject a little about myself. You probably already know that I try to have a sense of humor. Sometimes it goes over well, and sometimes it bombs, but I like to make people laugh. I'm happy when other people are happy. I enjoy getting out and trying new things or going to new places. I've been very fortunate in this respect all my life. My dad is a writer, magazines mostly, and for a while he wrote for Motorhome magazine. He got to do a lot of motorhome testing, so we took a lot of trips. I have a few outdoor hobbies that keep me occupied sometimes. I enjoy working out, but purely for my own self satisfaction. I'm not an arrogant guy at all, and I don't do it so I can feel like I'm better than anybody else. I gave up on my ego a long time ago. I've learned over time who I am and whats important to me, and showing off isn't on that list. I know I joke around a lot and may claim to be super awesome from time to time, but I really don't take myself that serious at all. Well, thats about all the writing I can do about myself for one day. Maybe I'll try something I'm a bit more comfortable with next time and stick with the humor. I will answer any questions you may have but only if you raise your hand first.