A Day of Duty & A Welcome Break

This will likely be my last post of April. We had Foc'sle Follies yesterday, to mark the end of our second line period. Once again, skits I can't describe here, and awards that mean nothing to the helo guys. Still, it was fun. Today we pulled back into Jebel Ali. Most of the officers are at the hotel tonight. I am still on the ship, serving as the Air Wing Duty Officer. All the final "muster" reports are coming in right now, and I'll be in bed in a few minutes. Just wanted to drop one last word before I head out into town again. I don't have any major plans for my time off, other than to do some shopping for the girls. I may look into having a suit made at a local tailor recommended by one of our other O-4's.

Muster reports are in. Here's me, signing off for the night. I'll be relieved in the morning and free to roam. Good night.

Coke Lite and Warm PB&J

As I was wading through a thick stack of blue folders tonight, I took a "Blog break" to see if anything new had popped in my Google Reader collection. Sure enough, 50 Toes was there with good news about a nutritional supplement that I'm sure to enjoy. I had to laugh out loud, comparing the Diet Coke can featured in the post with the "Coca Cola Lite" can sitting next to my laptop. Of course, the back side of my can is labeled a little differently. As you might imagine most of the supplies which come to ship are purchased through regional vendors, which means we get the Middle-Eastern version of all our favorite American treats. The Coke cans feature a pull-tab top, like you used to seeing on the old cans of Tree Top Apple Juice, where the pull tab and covering completely separate from the can. Great for FOD. Coke Lite has a slightly different taste than home-brewed Diet Coke, but it didn't take me long to get used to it. In the wardroom, they have Diet Pepsi in the fountain machine, so I've had to broaden my Diet soda horizons (I was once a Diet-Coke only kind of guy). Still, I prefer Diet Coke from a can (fountain-fed Diet Coke is too "diety") and Diet Pepsi from the fountain (canned Diet Pepsi is too metalic). Really, I'm not nearly as persnickety as that sounds.


As I approached the bottom of the stack of folders, one of our CS's brought up a loaf of warm bread from the bakery, freshly sliced, with jars of peanut butter and jelly. I have no idea why. But I couldn't help myself. You'll notice the lights are switched red. The NFL Draft was up on the big screen with an axious crowd watching. I really couldn't care less. I'm wearing my survival vest due to an alert we were standing. Fortunately, I'm done with that. Oh, and the sandwich was awesome! I've never had a PB&J on warm bread, but it was perhaps one of the best I've ever had. Dinner tonight had been a "Lumberjack Special", with Breakfast fare on menu. This would have been appreciated on any other night, but it's Saturday night: Pizza night! Why did they have to replace Pizza night! Like I said, it's the little things that make ship life livable (or not). I guess the same can be said of life in general.

My inner "Berman"

It's almost 3:30am. I really didn't want to be up this late. I spent the last couple hours editing five essays written by one of our chiefs who works in maintenance control. She is taking a writing class through a distance learning program, working on her degree. I've offered to help proofread her papers for a while and she finally took me up on it. I found that my inner "Berman" was alive and well as I underlined overused platitudes and passive verbs. I hope my comments were constructive. She seemed to appreciate them, so it was time well spent on my part.

I had my best workout on the erg yet today. A strong 20 minutes, finishing with a good kick for several minutes. Unfortunately, my heart rate monitor battery was dead, so I don't have a "record" of the effort. After the row, I pushed through 40 minutes on the spin bike, and I refused to let up on the resistance as I have often had to do so that I could keep the cadence up. My workouts have really become an important part of my day out here. It's great to see improvements.

Sorry I've missed blogging for the last couple days. I've been pretty busy with paperwork late at night. I'm back on the night owl routine again.


OK. I guess I have to explain. Fran Berman was an infamous Literature and Writing teacher at my high school. I learned alot from her. She inspired me as a writer and helped my love of reading to mature. Janell and I both took Berman's Modern Lit and Creative Writing classes. By her influence, I actually started out at the Naval Academy as an English major. Of course, that only lasted a year before I switched to Oceanography. I just don't read fast enough to keep up with a collegiate pace.

Running in Place

Just another day at sea. I went up to the bridge after lunch with another "Sailor of the Day". Worked on some awards for a while, then briefed to go flying. It was a busy 2 1/2 hour flight, during which we practiced several emergency procedures. Busy flights are good because they go by quickly. Not that I dislike flying, mind you. It's just that there is not much for us to do "operationally" while in plane guard, so things that keep us busy are good. After the flight, I enjoyed some dinner (leftover mac n cheese and chicken parmesean) and then finished up the awards that were due today. I had it in my brain to do a nice slow and "easy" one hour run tonight.

I finally got the treadmill moving around 2230, and by 20 minutes into the run (at a 9:30 /mi pace) I knew there was no way I would make it an hour. Between the humidity and my tight legs from the intervals the last two days, I found it hard to hard to do what I would have once called a "stretch out" run. So, I listened to my body and called it a night at 30 minutes. Today was supposed to be easy anyway.

I haven't talked with Janell about it yet (never a good way to start a public conversation by the way...), but I'm hoping to run two triathlons at the end of the "season" after I get home. Long Beach Tri is the 23rd of September. It's a sprint course (500m swim (.5 mi), 20 km (12.4 mi) bike, and 5 km (3.1 mi) run) at Long Beach harbor near Spruce Goose. I would also love to run the Catalina Tri on Nov 3. Getting the whole Zoo out to the Island may prove to be too difficult and expensive, but I'm going to give it a shot. I think that would be a blast. Again, it's a sprint course. The next step up is "Olympic" distance which is a 1.5 km (.9 mi) swim, 40 km (24.8 mi) bike and 10 km (6.2 mi) run. Maybe next summer. I need a lot more swim time before I'm ready for that distance. I finished my first triathlon last year, the Los Angeles Tri, in September. I had a great time!

The girls all came up and cheered me on. Unfortunately, the two transition zones, between the swim and bike and the bike and run were in two different locations and they had to drive to meet me, missing the second transition and most of the run (even on Sunday morning, traffic in downtown LA is terrible). The swim was at Venice Beach, the bike followed Venice Blvd, Sunset Blvd, and Hollywood Blvd to downtown, then the run was a very hilly loop in downtown, passing the Disney concert hall. I'm definitely hooked on the sport. But the swim workouts are tough to come by out here on the ship. Surrounded by water -- nowhere to swim. So, I run in place, I bike to nowhere, and I row the ship for the fun of it.

Goods & Others

During debriefs of flights in Naval Aviation, we often refer to the "Goods", "Bads", and "Others", or for those of us who prefer to take a more positive approach, we will simply address the "Goods" and "Others". Often the debrief points are minor in nature. A certain approach might have been flown with more precision. A crewman made a good call by reminding the pilot to complete a checklist after an interruption. But a lot of little stuff often adds up to a pattern of performance. Or a standard of quality. As I reflect back on the last couple days, they've been full of little stuff. My dad once had a T-shirt with the quote "Don't sweat the small stuff... It's all small stuff". I'm sure you've heard the phrase before. I may not sweat the small stuff, but the small stuff is the stuff of life. It all fits together as the fabric of the bigger things. Another popular quote is that if you take care of the small things, the big things will take care of the themselves. There's a lot of wisdom in that concept, I think. Doesn't mean you ignore the big stuff, but in general, the aggregate of details will establish a foundation for the monumental issues of life.

Well... that little intro got a lot more cerebral than originally intended. All I wanted to do was briefly summarize the last couple days, in bullet format no less! It must be late. Yup. It's 2:20 am. My writing brain has awakened. That's how I survived high school, college, and TPS. Anyway, here goes...

Goods

• I got two great workouts in. Yesterday, 45 minutes on the bike with some good hi-resistance intervals, then 15 minutes on the erg. Today, 30 minutes on the treadmill with some hi-pace intervals, then another 15 min on the erg. I like finishing on the erg with a smooth, relaxing row, watching the water fly by below my left side. The erg sits right at the edge of the sponson gym (the "Lido deck"), and only a thin two-wire safety line separates me from open space. A strong breeze blows at my back as the ship drives forward, just as it would if I were actually sculling. Great way to wrap up a workout. Heat index today was about 105F!
• The wardroom has once again stocked the Crystal Light "Sunrise" Classic Orange "On the Go" drink mix packets. That stuff is good! Almost like Sunny Delight, I can throw one in my 750ml Camelbak Sippy Cup and it's awesome! Yes, I have a sippy cup. What of it? The wardroom also started carrying "Lipton Green Tea to Go" in Mandarin & Mango. More good stuff. I probably go through about 5 drink packets a day, and drink about 6 liters of water, flavored or plain. Obviously, I prefer it flavored! And that doesn't include what I drink with meals (alot of Diet Pepsi).
• We had a RAS today, and I received a package, from Chris. It was a cool looking electronic trivia game that I haven't had time to even turn on yet. Looking forward to checking it out. Thanks, Chris!
• I changed my sheets today. I'd be embarrassed to say how often that happens. Let's just say I don't meet Janell's standard of changing sheets once a week at home. Regardless, I'm looking forward to crawling into a clean rack tonight.

Others

• When I set my alarm last night, for that brief moment when it mattered most, I forgot that it was Saturday night. Being that it was 3am when I was setting my alarm, I set it for about 10am, knowing that I had an event to be at come 11am. Well, church started at 10am. I missed it again today.
• Due to the RAS this morning, brunch was cancelled! Bummer! Lunch was pretty disappointing, too.
• I haven't flown in three days for various reasons. I'm on alert tonight, and finally flying again tomorrow. I actually haven't minded the time off. It was almost like a weekend. OK, not at all, but I keep telling myself that.

OK. It's almost quarter to three. I'm tired. I really didn't intend to be up this late. This was supposed to be a quick little blog entry. I didn't have anything to write about an hour ago, honest! I told Janell I was heading to bed about 2 hours ago! Like I said, it's the little stuff that comes together that makes life what it is. Don't sweat the little stuff, but don't let it slip by unnoticed, either. 'Night.

p.s., Auntie Mel wrote a great recap on the ladies' trip to Hershey. Thanks for the fun pictures, Mel! I just received an update from Janell that she has left the country. They just left Niagra, bound for the Detroit area tonight, via Canada, eh. OK, now I'm going to bed.

TAD Appreciation Night

As I'm sure you've figured out, an aircraft carrier is essentially a floating city, teeming with over 5500 men and women who work and live aboard her. We've been at sea for 92 days, excluding the 5 days we spent in port. Imagine the day to day things that have to be done to support 5500 people, living in the equivalent area of a half a city block. There are simple things like cooking food and washing dishes. Lots of dishes. Laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. The heads must be cleaned a couple times every day. The passageways must be swept twice daily, and stripped and rewaxed regularly (seems like weekly, but it's not quite that bad. more on this issue later). So many mundane tasks to bed done, all while performing the actual mission we came here to support, sending aircraft into the air and landing them again when they return. That is a huge job requiring thousands of people in itself. How do the mundane things get done? A major source of "hard labor" on the ship are the most junior sailors, the Seamen and Airmen, who have been in the navy for only a couple years or less. The undesignated sailors, who have not yet made the rank of Petty Officer (E-4), are obligated to serve 90 days in a job away from their squadron. This is called Temporary Assigned Duty, or TAD. They are assigned to work in ship's laundry, or to work in a scullery (where the dishes are washed), or to bus tables in the wardroom, or assist with cooking on the messdecks, or perhaps they might be assigned to work in the Flag Mess, where the Admiral and his staff dine on fine silver and sit in fancy wooden chairs, surrounded by original oil paintings of wooden ships and WWII torpedo bombers. For most, spending time on TAD on the carrier is tough work. Long hours, separated from the people they know in the squadron, often with very little recognition for their efforts. It's a rite of passage and a part of life for young sailors. They all go through it, and it fills a critical manpower need onboard the ship. But their job often doesn't feel "critical" to them as they are scrubbing toilets or dishes or decks.

Today, we held a TAD appreciation night in the ready room. We recalled our TAD folks away from their temporary jobs for an evening of fun. The CMC played a movie ("The In-Laws") on the big screen, and hot pizza and hard(ish) ice cream was served for all to enjoy. The CO talked with them for a while and they were able to ask questions and get the latest updates on the rumors that circulate throughout the messdecks. Ships and sailor are notorious for rumour germination. If you've ever watched the Veggie Tales episode "The Rumor Weed", you can multiply that weed by about 1000. Rumors abound on the ship's schedule and tasking (which is not always as clear as you might think at the deck plate level or even at much higher levels!). Come up with a topic, and a rumour is sure to be circulating on both sides of the issue. Fortunately, rumors about people are not nearly as prevalent (but they still happen). Anyway, tonight was a fun night for our TAD folks to reconnect with the squadron, enjoy some time off and to hear an "atta boy" for their unsung efforts to keep the ship sailing efficiently.

We sometimes have mommy appreciation days (and weekends) at the Stringer household when I'm home. On those days, mommy disappears and daddy learns (relearns) how much he appreciates his incredible wife!!

Inflight Re-enlistment

On today's flight, we had two passengers in the cabin: a young SK2 and her division officer from the E-2 squadron. Her DivO is not a pilot, rather he is an aviation maintenance duty officer. During the flight, he administered her re-enlistment oath, which was a treat for us to be able to host. SK's don't get a re-enlistment bonus, so her perk was to be able to re-enlist in flight. As I've said before, the navy is willing to entertain just about any request from Sailors to support a memorable re-enlistment ceremony. I was glad to play a small part in this outstanding young woman's decision to continue to serve. Here's a picture of us in the ready room a few moments before we walked up to go flying...



By the way, if you follow the AMDO link above, then click on the green button labeled "AIMD Officers", you'll hear a .wav file that is the exact announcement made by the Air Boss over the flight deck loud speaker ("5MC") before every flight event. Or click here.

Another Fun Day

As I mentioned yesterday, we got our "Tech Refresh" replacement laptops this week. Our 5-year old laptops were changed out for fresh 1-year old laptops. The new laptops have better screens but the same OS (Windows 2000). It took me a bit to get it set up the way I had my old machine. One interesting change is that the new machines do not come with floppy drives. Most of you reading this will likely say, "so what? Nobody uses floppy disks any more!" If you said this, you're NOT in the Navy. If you're in the Navy, you said "How in the world will you process award nominations and evaluation files?!" Yes, in many ways, much of the Navy is still in the digital dark ages. Part of the fun of the military "Chain of Command" is that as paperwork flows uphill to be edited and signed, the digital file flows from inbox to inbox on a single floppy disk. Does Outlook have the functionality to do this? Yes! Does Adobe have the functionality to do this? Yes! Does the Navy (or HS-8, at least) take advantage of these new-fangled software gadgets? Of course not! We've always used floppies, by gum, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well…. We've finally been outpaced by technology. Forced to change our ways. Change is always more painful when it's forced. So my old laptop with it's floppy drive disappeared yesterday, with a sparkly new machine that has all its keys in the keyboard sitting in its place. Sure enough, within 24 hours, three folders hit my inbox with floppies in them, awards, evals, and FITREPS that were mid-chop chain when the UPGRADE OF 2007 hit. Now, what do I do with these floppies. I'm thinking I'll see how many skips across the water I can get on a flick out of the hangar bay. But first, I've got to get the files off these disks! I haven't checked yet, but I'll bet the originators of the files did not save a copy to their hard drive. Hopefully I'm wrong. Otherwise, I'll be on a floppy drive hunt tomorrow. I won't bore you with the details of Admin's plan to overcome our technology gap. Suffice it to say, the plan won't work as currently implemented.

I was up in time for the lecture this morning, but the first part of it I had already seen, so I and a few others skipped the first 30 min and sat through the last 5 minutes, which covered Damage Control (obviously not too in depth), for a signature. Shortly thereafter, I made my way down to the Reactor Training office on the 3rd deck to start my long-awaited tour of the reactor spaces. That took about an hour, bringing us as low as the 7th deck. We saw the top of one of the reactor plants, but only through a peep hole that penetrates the massively thick steel walls enclosing the reactor. We saw a lot of the ships huge machinery, which was noisy and hot. Our tour guide, a LCDR who is in charge of Reactor Chemistry and Dosimetry, was explaining many things as we walked through the spaces. Couldn't hardly hear a word. At times, I could see his lips moving, but all I could here was the scream of pumps and fans. Impressive machinery, but the tour was little more than a check in the block. Seeing the control rods was pretty cool, though.

After the tour, I walked up to the hangar bay to find a "Fun Day" well in progress. The hangar was mostly cleared out of aircraft, and a dodgeball court was set up, a golfing net, a "Damage Control Olympics" course, and about a dozen large grills, cooking burgers, dogs, and chicken. Later in the after noon, a band put on a concert in the hangar as well. During the last dodgeball tournament a couple months ago, HS-8 won. This time, none of our 3 teams made it past the semi-finals.

This afternoon, I was able to go for a run on the flight deck. I lost count of the laps, but it was nice to run with the wind in my face and open sky over my head. Of course, I couldn't hear anything because there were 3 jets doing low power turns, one on the bow, one in the six-pack, and one on the fantail, which made for a somewhat abbreviated lap course. Since there weren't many aircraft in the hangar, the flight deck was full and there was a lot of stab and wing dodging. Still, I enjoyed the run.

This evening we watched "Pumping Iron" in the ready room for a roll'em. This was Arnold Schwarzenegger's first movie, a documentary about his 1975 Mr. Olympia competition against Lou Ferrigno. It was pretty amusing, especially with the non-stop comments from the peanut gallery. That's about it for today. It's not even midnight and I'm calling it a night. Of course, I'll make a detour at midrats on my way back to the room. Also, it helps that my Internet connection died a little while ago. This will be sent via email. Good night.

Flying circles in the dark

It's past 2am already. Don't ask me why I'm writing this an not sleeping. I have a CDO lecture in less than 7 hours. I'm going to regret my poor decision making in the morning. I heard from Janell via cell-phone-to-text-to-email. She's on the road, heading toward West Point, NY, tonight. She's going to camp at USMA! I hope the girls brought their shovels. They'll need them to dig fox holes. They're going to tour the campus tomorrow and then it sounds like they'll head toward the City on Thursday. Then, probably northbound again, but I don't know the plan after that. She was hoping to get an itinerary out tonight, but I wouldn't expect it until tomorrow. She has a long day/night ahead of her.

We received all new laptops today. That's good and not so good. But, seeing as how it's now 2:15 am, I'm going to save that diatribe for another time.

I had a night flight tonight, only about 2 1/2 hours. I got a couple of pictures (yes, that's me, wearing eyeglasses and NVG's)...



As you can see, helicopters shake just a little.

And here was a picture taken around the ship recently. Pretty cool!

My At Sea Cabin

I'm sure you've seen the news from the campus of Virginia Tech. I'm not sure what to say, other than thousands of grieving students and families need our prayers today. The impact even reaches this far; one of our pilots' youngest sister is a freshman at VT. Fortunately, she is OK, but the stress is palpable, even here.

Not much to write about today. I thought I was going to bed last night when I wrapped up writing to Janell around 3:30am. Then as I walked by Maintenance Control to say good night, the chief informed me that we were missing a flashlight. Whenever a tool is missing, it's a big deal because we must ensure that it isn't lost inside an aircraft somewhere. After a brief search, it becomes a full-blown investigation conducted by our QA division. I am the bottom line on the search, once they have satisfied me that they have searched everywhere and that the aircraft are safe to fly. So I waited up for another hour while the search continued. Fortunately, the guy who lost the flashlight had only been around one aircraft since the last time he remembered having it. I signed off on the search and went to bed a little before 5am. Turns out, the flashlight was found and turned in by another squadron about 45 minutes later. Sheesh.

As promised, here is a photo of the Superman package, along with some items that arrived around the same time in other boxes...



While I'm at it, here's are shots of me walking into the room and standing by my desk. My stateroom is rectangular, with the door at one end and two bunk-bed racks at the other end. On one side are two side-by-side panels of drawers and a flip-down desk (I'm sitting at my desk in the photo on the right margin). Our TV us up on top of my desk cabinet, reaching almost the ceiling. To watch TV, I scoot my chair to the other side of the room (I have about 2 feet to scoot back) and slouch down in my chair, so that I'm looking almost straight up at the TV. On the other side of the room is a sink/mirror cabinet, and a wardrobe cabinet for my roommate. My wardrobe cabinet is between the desks.


Here's a shot of the racks. I have the top one. With the lights off and curtains pulled, it's pretty dark. Those pipes over my head are drain pipes from the head that is directly over our room. I try not to think about that too much.

Many thanks!

Last I heard, Janell was planning to depart Maryland northeast-bound on Monday. As I'm sure you've seen on the weather, and can see here, I'm not sure she's going to make it out as planned. We'll see what happens to the storm system. Weather here is the same as it has been for the last couple months, only hotter. It's over 90 degrees in the hangar bay. The overhead (that's navyspeak for ceiling), 3 stories above, is now constantly dripping from the collected condensation created by hundreds of hot sweaty sailors turning wrenches on aircraft and running on treadmills throughout the hangar. It's a lovely working and living environment. Up on the flight deck there is at least the benefit of moving air, but it's hot moving air. Hot from jet exhaust. Hot just becuase it's hot. And it's only mid April. We've got a bit of time to go yet and it's definitely not getting any cooler. Just about everyone keeps a Camelbak with them (I fly with a 100 oz. one). Waterbottles are everywhere. Workouts are getting shorter, just because of the heat and humidity. Aircraft are not the only machines that don't perform as well when the temp and humidity go up.

I'm sure you've all been waiting anxiously to hear what was in the care package from the Stringoughs. The one I didn't (wouldn't?) open in the ready room. You weren't? Oh well, I'll tell you anyway... After I go get my laundry from the dryer, 5 decks below. Standby....

OK, back from my "extended" laundry detour. All my "civvies" from the Dubai visit are finally washed (along with some stinky workout gear). I detoured at midrats after dropping off the bag in my room. There was a grilled egg, ham, and cheese sandwich and a glass of chocolate milk calling my name. Mmmmmm. Rich suggested that I should take a picture of the contents of the care package box. Unfortunately by the time I read that comment, the articles had been opened and tucked away in my room. Perhaps tomorrow if I have a quiet moment, I can gather them together once again for a quick photo op. To start off, the box had a tub of Clorox disinfecting wipes. Great product. With almost six thousand people sharing a relatively small piece of real estate, you can imagine how quickly things spread around. Door knobs, hand rails, and key boards are perhaps the biggest spreaders of disease. I listed wipes on the first version of my "care pacakage ideas" post and a tub quickly showed up. Then another. Then two more. I think this was the fifth. :) I was joking with my room mate last night that either my family thinks I'm very dirty, or that I'm living with some very dirty people. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, I'm wiped out. Thank you all!

Next in the box was a bag full of chocolates. Reeses "Reester" bunny chocolates (I'm not sure where I stand on their attempt at a catchy name. Not worth the effort of complaining about it). Peanutbutter filled. Mmmmm. Unfortunately, as you read about above, the environment has become very unfriendly to chocolate that sits outside for more than 23 seconds. This chocolate sat in the hangar bay for about 25 seconds, I think. It's good, just messy! Chocolate never quite resumes it's original shape or consistency. Bummer.

Then there was a motorcycle. A small blue plastic motorcycle full of little round candies. My attempt to open it resulted in a minor catastrophe with colorful sugary spheres covering my floor. At least the floor is carpeted so they didn't go far. The down side is that the carpet hasn't been vacuumed in ... well, ever. In the semi-darkness of the room it was a challenge to pick out the candy from the ... uh, other stuff. It's all crunchy just not all sweet. Ok, enough on that.

Next was a bag of Crayola "Model Magic" modeling foamy clay. Never used the stuff before but it looks like fun. There was also a box of "Silly Scents" Crayola crayons. They go well with the Superman Coloring book that came next. Which brings me to the container holding everything. A plush blue and red Superman Easter Basket! This one is much better seen than described. I'll try to get a picture posted tomorrow. But wait... there's more.

There was a 3-in-1 Lego set. That's funny. We (I don't remember who else was included in "we") were discussing Legos a few days ago and I was bragging about how I had bought my own (ok, Janell and I bought "our" own) Lego set that the girls aren't allowed to play with. I jokingly mentioned that I wish I had brought it out. Not really, but it would be fun. So this little mini-set is perfect. It makes a helicopter, a mono-plane, or a bi-plane. Cool!

There was a black T-shirt that says "I'm an Alien" on the front. On the back, it talks about how I'm not of this world, how my thoughts are focused on heavenly things, and how I'm a citizen of Heaven. Cool! I'm sure the color was intentional, as black T-shirts are the color that HS-8 wears under our flight suits (black or OD green, but this is perfect!).

Next was a mini-Uno game card set. I'm not sure that's going to get much play time, but thank you! You never know. There was a Sudoku book with some good puzzles. I think this was my sixth Sudoku book so far, so I'm pretty much topped up on puzzles for now as well! Finally, there was a pen that doubles as a basket ball hoop game. Again, easier seen than described. I may be forgetting something. I'm doing my best to remember it all, but like I said, I'll get a picture out tomorrow. Thank you, Stringough's!

I also received several boxes from Aunt Lucy. Two of them were completely full of Red Vines! I stashed one box for future rationing and brought one down to Maintenance Control where they were quickly distributed to the different maintenance shops for rapid consumption! She also sent a 5 pound bag of "Techno-Bears", some really good Gummi Bears. I opened those and left the bag on the duty desk to share. Within about five hours, all 5 pounds were gone!! Thus Aunt Lucy's comment about the Navy running on sugar. Some have said that the ship runs on Hate, but that was after visiting the Nukes down in reactorville. You might say we run on sugar and caffeine up here. Lucy also sent me a large bag full of hotel goodies (smelly-good shampoos and lotions) that I shared with the four female officers in the squadron. They definitely appreciated them. I'm a pretty average soap and shampoo kind of guy. Aunt Lucy sent me two of the afore mentioned wipes tubs, which I shared with our Admin department and with Maintenance control (two of the greatest users of keyboards and desk space which constantly needs wipedowns). The box had a couple nicely stocked sewing kits. Those are good for little repairs, or for random projects that occassionally pop up. Haven't needed it yet, but I guess the boy scout in me just likes to be ready. Finally, Aunt Lucy sent me a large collection of math, word, and picture puzzle books. Many of the puzzles are collections from places like Scientific American and math magazines. The kind of stuff you might see as an extra credit question at the end of an especially hard math quiz. Good stuff. But I'm glad I don't have a grade riding on my answers and that I can look in the back when I'm ready. Thank you very much, Aunt Lucy!

I have been blessed by the generosity of everyone! It's so awesome to receive stuff in the mail. Thanks to all!

OK, one final item for tonight. Janell recently asked me, on behalf of Katelynn, to send some pictures of myself. I've been really bad about taking picture so far this cruise. I'm working on it. I just had someone snap a shot of me sitting here as I type. The computer I'm sitting in front of is my laptop, which is sitting in the corner of the ready room, in the little walled-off area that Operations uses to write the flight schedule. I don't work in Ops, but there's no room in Maintenance Control for me to have my own desk. Hard to explain in a short version why the MO wouldn't have his own desk in Maint Control, but I don't really need one there and it's a small space filled with people who actually work for a living. I'd be in the way. So, I've hijacked a corner of ops for my computer. Whenever I'm writing on this blog, you can picture me sitting here at this computer, staring at this wall that's covering in tiny holes, flanked by two big printers, tangled in blue network cables. This is where I live for the time. But it's not home.

ImusTV?

I just finished up my watch for the week. Pretty quiet night. I've always believed a quiet watch is a good watch. Pizza for dinner tonight (it's Saturday!) and Sunday bruch tomorrow after church. Having weekly things to look forward to like Pizza and brunch help to break up the weeks and we actually have more of a sense of time going by.

On the ship's TV, they are currently piping in two satellite signal sources, AFN and an Arabic Satellite service similar to DirecTV called Orbit. AFN shows FOX News channel. Orbit has the international version of CNN. The difference between the two channels is alarming. As you would imagine, most folks out here are usually FOX news types. But since we've left on cruise, FOX news has become the Anna Nicole Smith / Don Imus 24-hour news channel. It's awful! On CNN, we actually hear news about what's going on the world. Iran's nuclear program. British sailors detained in Iran. SECSTATE's trip to Syria. Stuff that matters. [insert caveat here: Yes, the comment that Imus made was rude and irresponsible, but that's characteristic of his radio show. He asked forgiveness and received forgiveness from the Rutgers coach and team (most of them, anyway). That should be end of story.] It's very disheartening to see how strong the influence of marketing and ratings is over the content of the American media. That's certainly not an earth shattering revelation, but it's sad when compared to news sources that are a little more distant from the American market place. I guess the real sad part is that stuff like ANS/Imus actually scores big ratings. I'm thankful for the internet while I'm out here. Google News is a pretty good broad covering of many news sources and subjects. I got a kick out of this article that is somewhat on the topic. OK, enough soap box. I've really tried to not let myself get soapboxy on this blog. I'll knock it off now.

We had a RAS this morning and I got four boxes! A handful from Aunt Lucy (THANK YOU!!) and a big one from Janell (and I also got some goodies I ordered through another pilot's order with Brigade Quartermaster). I haven't even dug into Janell's box yet. I just received it a few minutes ago when I got back to the ready room after watch. Now I'll take it back to the room and see what she sent. (I can say one thing, I don't need any more wet wipes!, thanks!) Actually, it said "Stringoughs" on the outside, so I have the Gough's to thank as well. THANK YOU!! Now, I'm heading off to shut down for the night. Church in the morning. Good night.

oh yeah... here's a cool link to the GPS track from the Bike ride I did in Dubai. (when the page opens, click on the "Dashboard" button and you can see the route depicted over a Google map or satellite image.

Back in the "groove"

My lack of routine has become a routine in itself.  A couple of nights ago, I pulled an all nighter to finish up some FITREPS for the Maintenance Division Officers in preparation for our upcoming change of command.  I struggled for about a week to get them written.  Every time I sat down to write, my mind would wander and I would come up with anything and everything ELSE to do but write.  I didn't even have to write the whole thing, only edit the "bullets" written by each JO themselves.  They didn't need a lot of rewriting, but the bit that needed to be done proved to be very ellusive and had to focus on.  So I made very slow progress and played a lot of solitaire.  I have a really cool version of Klondike on my Mac, with spiffy 3-D graffics and a slick user interface.  I don't even want to admit how many games the "stats" have now counted.  Yes, even on a Mac, Solitaire remains the greatest killers of productivity in history (maybe a close second to cigarettes).  I finally found myself at midnight on the "day" they were due, with 5 of 7 FITREPS yet to be completed.  I finally wrapped them up around quarter to 7 am.  Somewhere in the middle, I took a break and called Janell, just to hear her voice.  Having that technology is an awesome thing.  After 5 hours of sleep, I was up again for a 1300 meeting.  Fortunately, I think I'm back on a "normal" schedule now.

I got my first workout in tonight since my monster bike ride in Dubai.  The day after the ride, my left ankle started to bother me and that didn't clear up for over a week.  I was really mad because it prevented me from doing any running while we were in port.  I was on land and couldn't go for a run!  Man.  Then as soon as we got back on the boat, I had some GI "issues" that kept me from working out for another week.  No, that's not "Government Issue".  Nuff said.  Anyway, I'm healthy again and enjoyed some time on the elliptical and the erg.  The heat is definitely building.  Even at 2200 at night, it was hot and stuffy out on the Lido deck.  Many of my favorite treadmills down in the hangar bay weren't working tonight.  I hope that condition is temporary.

It's almost midnight, so I'm going to sign off and go clean up.  Hope all is well back home.  I'll try to be a little better about writing more regularly. God bless.

We wrapped up our study of Philippians in the Bible study tonight. Next week we'll begin a video series called "The Way of the Master." It's a program hosted by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, talking about evangelism and sharing the gospel. Should be challenging. The ship is a unique environment to be Christian. Obviously, most of the people on board do not Christ in a personal way. They know of Him, they're perhaps familiar with some bible stories, and that's all. Or perhaps they have completely rejected God, having found "church people" too hypocritical, or they have been disappointed by Him one too many times. Many have placed their faith in other Gods or simply cannot accept the claims of Christ. I'm hoping this video series will help me to be open and frank and bold to engage the people around me in a discussion of faith.
I'm on Alert 30 tonight and I have a night flight tomorrow night, so I'm back on the night schedule for now. Once again, I'm up too late. Fortunately, I can sleep in tomorrow.

He is Risen!

As you can tell, I've run out of steam the last couple days before I got around to writing in the Blog. To be honest, there hasn't been much to write about. I'm having a harder time seeing my surroundings with fresh eyes, as I did during the first couple months of cruise. When days start to blur together, they go by faster, but it also makes for very boring reading.

Today, of course, was not an ordinary day. Today was a day that changed the world forever. In a small town not too far from where my ship is floating (relative to my home, that is) almost two thousand years ago, a young woman named Mary woke early in the morning to visit the grave of a dear friend who had been executed just a couple days before. You can imagine her distress when she found the tomb open and the body missing. Her first instinct was to question who had taken the body. The perplexing part was that the burial clothes were still there, in the tomb. Who would do such a thing? Before she had much time to think about it, a man standing at the entrance to the tomb asked her, "Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Without looking up, she assumed the man was the gardener and she answered: "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

He answered, "Mary."

As he called her by name, she looked up and instantly recognized him: "Teacher!" she cried.

He was alive. He is alive. In the span of three days, Christ defeated death, having died on a cross with the weight of mankind's Sin upon him. He is risen!

I celebrated Jesus' resurrection this morning as the sun rose over the flight deck of the ship, with a small crowd gathered around a stage constructed of ordnance carts. We sang together, we ate together, and we worshipped together. It was both solemn and celebratory. Perhaps it was the bleary eyes that made it seem more solemn. I enjoyed the short service, and promptly went back to bed after it was over. The alarm went off again, just in time for the 1000 Protestant worship service, down in the training room: same time and place as every week. Again, a good service talking about the what and so-what of Easter. Many people know what Easter is all about. But it's the reason that really matters! If you know a great story but it has no meaning, that's all it is, a story. A great story can't change the earth! But Jesus' victory over death was more than a story, it was a new beginning of God's work through the lives of men.

Up to that point in history, God communicated with a select group of people, and did amazing things through a select group of people: men like Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah. But most people were separated from God by the Law and the Priests. The Law had many purposes: mostly it provided guidlines for everyday living for the Isrealites, how to live justly, to relate to one another. The Law also provided a way to relate to God. The problem of course, was that no one could fully obey the Law all the time. People are imperfect, and prone to follow their own desires rather than someone else's. So the only way people could relate to God was through atonement, through Sacrifice. They had to give up that which was precious to them, in an effort to cover their offense before God.

Where did Jesus fit into this? He did what no man had done before him. He lived a truly blameless life. Without sin! True, he got angry on occassion, and was known to toss the tables of seedy business men loitering in the temple, but his righteous indignation was simply a reflection of his purity. In a world where he was surrounded by men who plotted to kill him, who tempted him, who were filled with envy and rage, he held strong and never gave in. He relied on the strength of his Father, continually to hold fast. So when he was raised on the cross and finally died, he was uniquely qualified as God's sacrifice for mankind. He was a pure man who gave up his life in the place of others. He took the punishment for the sin of every other man upon himself with his death. But it wasn't enough to simply die. He overcame death, as a testimony to God's power and forgiveness. In his ressurection, there can be no doubt about who he was or why he died. He lives so that we might not die. He lives so that we might know the incredible peace and joy of eternity with Him. He only asks that we trust in Him. That we believe.

These things happened a long time ago. We have the Bible as a record of the story. But the Bible isn't the end of the story. It was just the beginning. Jesus continues to work today. I don't know when I first met him, whether it was as a young child in Sunday School or as a teenager in youth group, but I know when I first became aware of His influence in my life. It was sometime in the fall of 1989. This was an amazing year in my life. I met my future wife. I had the privilege of running on the fastest cross country team in the country. I ran my first marathon. So many huge events for a 16 year old. None of these events can compare with the single night that changed the course of the rest of my life. I don't remember the date, but I remember the course of the evening like it was yesterday.

In the afternoon at school, I was invited to meet my friends at a house where we knew that a girl's parents would be out of town. This was a first among my group of friends, and sounded pretty interesting. Also that evening was a special program at the church where I had recently started to attend the youth group, having been invited by a friend from my cross country team. The church program featured a guest speaker who would talk about the influences behind many popular music artists of the day. Some of my favorites, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, and Duran Duran were sure to be brought up! I had a new drivers license and was free to choose how I would spend the evening. Should I expand my horizons with my group of trusted friends I had known since 4th grade? Or should I check out this thing at church, where the music I enjoyed listening to was sure to be ripped apart. I wish I could remember my exact thought process. I wish I could remember exactly why I chose what I did. As you might guess, I chose to go to the program at church. And sure enough, I learned about some subtle and some not-so-subtle demonic influences behind much of my favorite music! But, what I was not prepared for was the last part of the program. The speaker talked about how people are broken and sinful, and fall short of the glory of God. That there is nothing that we can do about it. We are separated from Him. In light of the topic of the evening, this was beginning to make sense. He then talked about Jesus and what he had done on the cross, to take the punishment for our sin. He talked about knowing Jesus, believing in what He had done, and in trusting Him to guide us. It started to come together. At the end of the talk, he invited us to join in a prayer, that sounded something like: "God, I confess I am a sinner. I know I am separated from you and there's nothing that I can do about it. I believe that your son, Jesus, died on the cross in my place and took the pain for my sin. I trust in Him, and ask for your forgiveness. Please make me a new person, washed clean and ready to follow you, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen." I prayed along with him that night, hardly understanding the gravity of the words, but believing them. After the prayer, he asked those who had prayed to raise their hands. I shyly raised my hand with a handful of other people in the sanctuary. Afterward, many people congratulated me on my decision and smiled. I still didn't quite understand.

While I wasn't instantly tranformed into a new person on the surface, a change had begun that I scarecely understood. Changed or not, on the way home from church, I gave in to curiosity and stopped by the house where I knew the party was going on. It was not at all what I expected. For the first time in my life, I saw my close friends drunk. I didn't quite know how to handle it. I felt so out of place and awkward the moment I walked in the door. I don't think I stayed for more than 2 minutes. The influence of Christ in my life had begun when he prompted me at that decision point earlier in the afternoon. He had already prepared me for the message and invitation that would be given at the church. The distraction of the party simply helped me to see how He had clearly worked in my heart and mind--even before I thought I knew Him! He knew me and drew me to Him. Have you ever sensed that you were being drawn? He loves you and wants you to know Him! He's calling. Are you listening? Are you ready to respond?

Post script... I was just about the click the "Publish" button. An email alert flashed in the corner of my screen... from Janell! It was a short little email, reminding me about Emily's special day. Huh? For the past month, I've been planning to call Emily on her birthday on April 9. Wait a minute! Her birthday is April 8! I nearly missed it! Two hours ago, I was sitting down at midrats, enjoying a bowl of Froot Loops, getting tired. I decided to write a quick blog entry, shoot out an email to Janell and get to bed by midnight. Obviously, my plan for a short blog was not His plan. It would have been a huge blow to Emily had I missed her birthday. Being separated for half a year from her daddy is hard enough for a 6 year-old turning 7. But for him to appear to blow off your birthday! I am thankful for Janell's email to correct my poor memory. I am thankful for the Lord's prompting to keep typing. I am thankful for the technology to call my daughter half way around the world from the middle of the ocean to a hand held phone in a friend's living room and hear all about her new Littlest Pet Shop birthday gifts. Now, it's past 3 in the morning and I'll soon be thankful for the gentle rock of the ship, the hum of pumps and fans, and the absolute black of my cocoon-like rack. I'll be asleep in about 3 minutes. I'm looking forward to what God has planned for me tomorrow.

Where's Scott?

Can't say where I am today, but here's where I've been...

Should I even say it?

Well, it's taken about a month, but I can now solve the Rubik's cube in less than 5 minutes without the cheat sheet. I'm almost ashamed to have accomplished such a geeky milestone. If nothing else, I have a new talent to show for this deployment. That and 4 dollars and 50 cents will get me a half caff low fat mint mocha latte. I guess it will always be effective for embarassing the girls in front of their boyfriends some day. Daaaaaaaaaad!

Back in the routine

Here I am, back on the same routine within a couple days. Actually, today didn't work out according to plan. I briefed to have the night Alert 30 this evening. A little while later, another pilot was about to start briefing for a night flight, after coming off the flu from the past several days. Our port visit was not without cost for some. In fact, almost everyone who was staying in my hotel room caught a stomach bug during our last day in port. The five of us made a mess of the two bathrooms in the hotel suite. Way more than enough said. Fortunately, my symptoms were cleared up within about 12 hours. The aforementioned pilot is still recovering, 3 days later (he was on IV bags two days ago)! He decided that he was not up to flying tonight, so I ended up taking his flight for him, and he took the alert, allowing him to get some more rest before the alert were to ever get called to launch, which is unlikely. So, I flew 2 1/2 hours of plane guard in the dark. But now I'm exhausted after having a little bit longer of a day than I was expecting. Looks like I'm up for another night flight tomorrow. I don't have the energy to write more about the port visit tonight. I'll try to wrap that up tomorrow before the memories start to fade. Like I said, there wasn't nearly as much to write about in the last three days as there was in the first two. Which is a good thing.

Marathon Day

The break's over. I'm back on the ship. My internet connection from the hotel was nice... for the half hour that I had it. The last couple days on the ship, I've been fighting through some fatigue, so I haven't written much. Now, I'm getting caught up and I've finished my notes from Friday! The first two days of liberty were the most eventful. I won't have nearly as much to say about the last three and I'll write about those three days together tomorrow. Unfortunately, I was terrible and didn't take hardly any pictures (and none that were worthwhile) on the beach. For now, all I have are my words. I seem to have plenty of those, however. So, I appologize for the length, but here are my adventures from day 2:

Friday (30 Apr 07)
The 0430 alarm was painful. After a quick splash of water and a few groans and stretches, the three of us tumbled out of the room, leaning on our bikes. By the time we got to the bike shop at 0520, we were ready to go. Wolfi met us there and opened up to bring out a rental bike for our fourth rider. Then we all mounted up to meet the rest of the group on the route. Within the first 100m of the ride, my small air pump fell out of its clip and was left behind. I was following a small group in a strange foreign city. There was not stopping or turning around. After a quick 5 mile jump across town, we paused at a spot along the planned route. Within a minute or two, the leaders of the pack were approaching. Soon, we were passed by a huge crowd of brightly colored riding jerseys, and we clipped back in to join the back of the peloton. It was a lively crowd of mostly European expatriates, mostly businessmen and women living in Dubai to capitalize on the current growth explosion. We rode for about 35km before a quick stop for a drink and snack. Then the group broke into two groups: those who would head back to wrap up a 70km (about 44 miles) ride, and those who would continue on for a 100km or 120km ride. Considering the furthest I had ever ridden in the past was about 20 miles (about 32km), I opted to head back with the "short" ride. This was my first ride with a large group. In fact, there were 77 riders with us! I didn't cause any major crashes and didn't get yelled at for poor etiquette, so I must of have done OK.

The Skipper opted for the "metric century" so kept going. The other two joined me on the short course. During the ride back, the growing wind was in our faces at about 12 mph. Unfortunately, the 20 mph pace on the first half had just about wiped me out and I couldn't keep up on the way back. About 10 miles into the return route, I "bonked", slowing down to around 12 mph (which was still about 24 mph worth of wind resistance for much of the leg). A very kind Brit named John noticed that I fell behind and he slowed up to pull me along (and presumably to keep me out of trouble). He let me draft behind him and I struggled to keep my pace up. We chatted a bit, as much as I could manage over my burning quads and calves. John stayed with me all the way to the turn off to return to the Bike shop, where our bags were waiting for us. Total distance for the ride turned out to be about 45 miles over about 2 1/2 hours. Not too bad. Here's a link to the route we rode.

Unfortunately we didn't coordinate our rendezvous with the Skipper very well. We returned to the bike shop, knowing that our bags were locked inside and that we would have to meet there to depart. But, the official start and end point of the ride was the "Lime Tree Cafe" about 6 miles away. The CO was riding on the 100km ride and Wolfi, who would have to open the bike shop for us, was on the 120km ride. Had we thought about it, we should have realized that both of them would finish at the Lime Tree and we could have waited for them with a smoothie in our hands. But we didn't think things through until too late and so ended up sitting on the curb in front of the closed bike shop for over 2 hours. The worst part was that our bags and street shoes were locked inside, so we were stuck in our stiff soled biking shoes the whole time. I walked around a bit and found my pump. In four pieces.

All of our transportation up to that point (about 20 hours worth) had been via taxi. As I mentioned, there were also buses set aside to move sailors between the ship and a couple select drop off locations in town. For more senior officers, there were also a handful of vans with drivers available. One such van was set aside for airwing CO's and XO's. Each CO had a day of access to this van. This just happened to be our CO's day for the van, so we coordinated for the driver to pick us up at Wolfi's after we all met together again around 11am. We took our bikes back to the hotel, cleaned up, and went back to the Lemon Tree for an awesome lunch. The driver then took us to the Mall of the Emirates.

We spent about 2 hours there, wandering through this mall that is probably the biggest I have ever been to. In those two hours, we didn’t even see a quarter of it. Granted, I spent a bit of time watching the indoor ski slope through a two-story wall of glass! I couldn’t make this stuff up. The mall is an odd mix of over-the-top ostentatious opulence and every-day retail monotony. It has every high end store you can image, straight from Rodeo Drive, and right in front of those shops where you can buy a AED 30,000 (that’s 30,000 Arab Emirates Dirhams) pair of shoes, you will find a “Sweet Factory” kiosk selling AED15/bag gummy noses. I passed on both. Much like the rest of the city, the mall is also a unique place to people watch. There are many expat’s, enjoying a taste of western culture (nothing speaks of western capitalism like 450 retailers under one roof), and many locals, dressed in everything from cut-offs to full traditional (and very conservative) arab garb. The mall also has male and female mosques. At the appropriate times, the typical mall music in the background is replaced by the melodic chant of the call to prayer. In my 5 days in port, I never once saw anyone in public on a prayer mat in response to the call. But no matter where I was, I could hear the call being broadcast from the nearest mosque.

While at the mall, I picked up a small case for my camera, and a cell phone. Why in the world would I purchase a cell phone?! Check this out. The phone ran me about AED99. The SIM chip was about AED120. I purchased AED200 worth of pay-as-you-go cell minute cards. No contract. No more fees (other than more minutes if I want to buy the cards). The rate to the states is about AED2 / minute. So, for about AED420 (or about $114), I now have 100 minutes of cell time to call home. And I can call whenever I’m in port, from where ever I want! That’s pretty cool! I never would have conceived of such a privilege in a foreign port. Wish I could take credit for the idea.

The van picked us up from the mall, and delivered the group back to our hotel, where I quickly found my way down to the pool for a swim. Man was that nice. I’ve been starting at water for the past two months… beautiful blue 75 degree water. But no swimming. The pool at the hotel was about 100 yards long, with walkways bridged over it. In the deep end was an island, about 30 ft in diameter, mostly made of fake rocks, but it included a small patio where a pair of lounge chairs waited for anyone who would swim across to relax. I swam a couple laps around the island, just enjoying the warm pool and the sky overhead. After the swim, I headed into the spa to jump into the Jacuzzi for a while. While in the spa, a group of us discussed our dinner plans. Turned out, we already had a 2045 reservation at Shoo Fee Ma Fee, a Moroccan restaurant at Medinat Jumeira (an Arabian-styled open air market located along the beach a little south of Dubai).

At Shoo Fee Ma Fee, we enjoyed an epic 2 ½ hour multi-course meal (I lost count of the dishes they brought out). Today was the celebration of the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, so alcohol was not served anywhere in the city from 1800 Fri until 1800 Sat. It’s a good thing, too, because I think if there had been a glass of wine with that meal, I certainly would have passed out from food coma, exacerbated by no sleep and a very long day. As it was, I slept soundly in the back of the van on the way back to the hotel.

Finally, a break

Yes, the rumors are true. Sorry about the break in writing. I've been "busy". While I'm enjoying a speedy broadband connection, it's not free, so I'm going to post some off-line writings here for now, and I'll try to fill in the rest of the details soon. Here's an update from Thursday...


Thursday
It's been a couple days since I've had a chance to write. Let's see... Last time I wrote, I couldn't see straight, I was so tired. I did manage to stay awake until 2000, then I crashed until about 4am. Why get up at 4am? The ship was going to shut off the showers at 5am and I wanted to make sure I had a chance to rinse off before they shut down the showers. After my shower I went back to bed for another couple hours. Why in the world would the ship shut down the showers at 5am?! Remember the little bit I wrote a while back about the CHT tanks? If you recall, the 'H' stands for Holding and the 'T' stands for Transfer. Normally at sea, the transfer happens all the time, porting the "stuff" overboard into the world's biggest water treatment plant. But, when you get too close to shore, the effects on beaches and inland waters can be less than desirable. So, as we approach the shore, they stop transferring and hold everything on board. Close to shore, you ask?

Yes, early on the morning of the 29th (that seems like a long time ago already), the ship entered port at Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. We were moored by 0830 and liberty was called away by 1000. I had to wrap up some last minute paperwork issues (E-5 Evals, Still!!) so I didn't step off the ship until about noon. Liberty begins by paygrade on big ships like this. First, they let all the officers off, then the senior enlisted, then all hands. By the time I left, all hands were free to go, so there was a big crowd down in the Sandbox. The carrier docks in an industrial part of UAE call Jebel Ali Free Zone, where a large part of UAE's shipping commerce is handled. There's not much there in terms of quality of living. It's a maritime industrial area. But, adjacent to the carrier pier, there is a large fenced in area with several food and souvenir vendors, hosted by the USO. At times when security is tight, ships may pull into Jebel Ali and liberty is restricted to the Sandbox.

Fortunately, we were allowed to venture beyond the fence line this time. My liberty buddies and I walked down the brow, straight through the concessions area, and got in line for a cab. One of the rules we have for liberty in foreign ports is that no one can be out in town by them self. You must always have a "liberty buddy". When we signed out to get off the ship, we had to write down the name of our liberty buddy. The idea is two fold: first, this provides safety in numbers, and second, (and more importantly) liberty buddies can help keep each other out of trouble by extracting each other from potentially bad situations (too much to drink, confrontations with locals, arguments with cabbies, you name it). Part of the problem with leaving the ship after all hands liberty had been called was the flood of people waiting to leave the sandbox. There is nothing near Jebel Ali for several miles. The nearest city to Jebel is Dubai, about a 30 minute drive to the north. Dubai was the destination for several thousand anxious sailors and marines. The navy did a good job of arranging over 30 buses to move people back and forth to the city. But with the initial flood of folks, the busses couldn't keep up and the line was LONG! We thought we'd beat the system, and get a taxi. There were 4 in our group and splitting the fare wouldn't be too bad. Unfortunately, even the line for taxis had grown long, as the taxi's couldn't keep up with the demand, either. So, we waited 45 minutes for a taxi.

Our first stop in Dubai: Wolfi's Bike Shop. A cyclist buddy on the Eisenhower had recommended this place to us (we have several avid cyclists and triathletes in the squadron, including the CO, my roommate, and several other officers). In fact I was with those two and one other guy from another squadron who also happened to be a rider. We met Wolfi, a great German gentleman who was very proud of the technical superiority of the bikes and equipment he offered in his high end bike shop. We offered Wolfi some HS-8 geedunk (hat, shirt, stickers, patches, etc) and he gave us each a hat and water bottle in return. We also found out about some club rides that his shop hosts a couple times each week. The next ride would be on Friday morning (the next day). At 0600.

OK. Here comes a decision point for me. I've brought my bike with me, half way around the world. At that point, it was still hanging in my stateroom, waiting for an opportunity to be used in an exotic foreign port. But 0600?!! Is it really worth it? I do enjoy riding, being a new convert to the sport of triathlon. But 0600 on my first full day of liberty in port? I wanted to ride, but 0600? Here's where the motivation of the Liberty Buddy system can kick in. Both the CO and Tugger are avid cyclists with very expensive bikes. They were going to ride. Guess what? I was going to ride. Now, don't get me wrong. If I really didn't want to, I would have easily found someone else for a liberty buddy. But that was good motivation for me to follow through and enjoy the use of my bike.

As we were looking around at Wolfi's, a local woman walked in, dressed in a full traditional arab dress with only her eyes exposed. She was looking for a pair of biking shoes. Dubai is an odd mix of middle-eastern and western cultures. I know there is more to her life than her traditional conservative coverings imply, but it's hard to conceive of this same person garbed in typical cycling gear (which is not particularly conservative), out sweating on the road.

From Wolfi's, we continued on to our Hotel, the Grand Hyatt Dubai. All of the department heads (5 of us) and the CO chipped in together to get a room for 3 of the 4 nights we were in port. The rates seemed to be getting higher and higher the longer we stayed, and the 4th night just wasn't worth the outrageous cost. Granted, the 3 nights aren't going to be cheap either. But, it's been a long time at sea and we're all ready to be pampered just a little. And oh boy, is this the place for it. More on that later.

After a late lunch at one of the six restaurants in the hotel and an hour of relaxing in the room, it was time to head out for a re-enlistment for one of our sailors. The CO and I were the only officers to go, but we met AZ2 and several of the chiefs and other petty officers at "Rock Bottom Cafe" across town. One of the unique privileges of re-enlisting in the Navy is that sailors can request just about any location and circumstances they wish for the occasion of their re-enlistment. Many sailors opt to re-enlist in flight in the cabin of the helicopter. Some simply want to get it done without fanfare in the ready room. The focal point of a re-enlistment ceremony is the recital of the oath of office, administered by an officer of the re-enlistee's choosing. In this case, AZ2 had requested to re-enlist at the Rock Bottom Cafe with the CO as her re-enlisting officer. Rock Bottom is an American styled biker bar tucked away in a small hotel. The kind of place you would never find by chance. It was a lively crowd already when the Skipper and I showed up at 1700. We enjoyed the company for a bit, and finally went through the quick formality of the oath around 1830, right there at the bar.

We met back at our Hotel at 1900 to head back to ship to pick up our bikes. In preparation for the early morning ride the next day. It took a while to find a minivan taxi that would have room for our three bikes in the back. By the time we finally started moving, traffic was pretty heavy between Dubai and Jebel, so it took about 3 hours to get back to the hotel with our bikes. Finally, a late dinner of pizza at another of the hotel restaurants. It was just after midnight before I was quickly fading off to sleep on the floor of the hotel room. Three of the six of us in the room would only be sleeping for a couple hours, so we left the beds to those who would be coming in later and sleeping much later.

OK. That's is for now. I'll continue the adventures soon...