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.