Er... Sorry?

So I realize that it's been about a year since I last wrote an entry here. And anyone who reads this (including my mother) has now forgotten it exists. But it makes me feel better to write it. Mostly because I need to get some thoughts out there.

I logged on to Facebook tonight and saw that I had an invitation to join a group opposing the new healthcare bill. As I always do when invited to join a group, I went to the page and investigated. I could not bring myself to join the group. (I'll leave my political affiliations and personal opinions of the bill, both positive and negative, out of it for now as it's not relevant to this blog.) What is it about politics that brings out the ignorant, the pompous, and the truly mean in humanity? I found myself reading the postings on one of the group's message boards debating the relative merits of the bill. It was started by a supporter of the bill who'd joined the group simply to bash the members (bad form, Jack). He began his post by calling all members of the group "narrow minded, bigoted, assholes." And the members of the group, rather than simply rolling their eyes at such a childish volley, sunk to the original poster's level and perpetuated the poor grammar, incorrect spelling, and vulgarity he began! Why would anyone take an argument that began with a personal attack seriously? And why would they respond in kind? It simply lowers the intelligence of the argument, thus negating any valid points you might have made! It drives me crazy!!

I think I'm done with my rant. Oops, one more thing. Why is it that nobody can ever concede that the entire world will never agree on anything? There will always be those who do not agree with you. They're not wrong, they simply see things from a different perspective. The only time people can be wrong is in grammar, spelling, and basic mathematics. Other than that, anything is possible.

Good night, and I'll see if I can find something to rant about later.

Finally made it off the Yukon!! Woohoo!! For those who don't know, I'm currently stationed on my parent's couch in Southlake, TX. It's my favorite spot. The last month or so on the Yukon was gouge your eyes out for entertainment boring. We had a two week Voyage Repair period where we just sat at the dock and didn't do... anything. As a cadet on board, they pretty much just like us to keep out of the way, so I spent most of my days sleeping. Shucks, right? After the VR, we did our usual out to sea, back in port tango. I made some progress on my Ring Dance dress shopping and caught up on any TV shows I may have missed. Other than that, it was pretty lame. I did go see the movie Watchmen, and I'm not going to lie to y'all, I hated every minute of it. I can see how it would be a critical darling, but it was waay too dark and gory for me. The real world is depressing enough, why watch depressing movies?
I detached from the USNS Yukon Tuesday afternoon around 1300 or so and made my way to the Hale Koa on Waikiki to have one last Coke on the beach. I accomplished that with remarkable swiftness and went to the airport. I have one giant complaint for Honolulu Airport. Why no magazines? The entire airport had no magazines. It was terrible. I had been waiting for all of March to read the March issue of Glamour (70th anniversary issue, Katie Holmes on the cover!!) and they had none at the airport... none!! I was horrified. Seriously not cool Honolulu Airport. The flight itself was typically not fun. They showed the movie Four Christmases, which I've wanted to see forever, but I couldn't find my headphones... foiled again! Also, I was seated next to a giant of a man who smelled funny. Which made for an interesting eight hours or so of flight.
Home has been great so far. All 27 hours of it. Turns out no matter how long I'm gone, nothing really changes in Southlake. Seriously, nothing changes. Except my neighbors across the street are moving. But other than that... nothing. It's all exactly the same. It's kind of comforting, if a little wierd.
Last but not least, today Chris finds out if he gets Jets, Helos, or Props. We've got everything crossed for Jets, but if you get a chance today before 1:00 PM central time, say a quick little prayer for him? That would be amazing. Thanks everybody!! I'm sure he'll keep everyone posted on the answer. And I'm sure I'll post it too once we find out.

Peace, and I'm out.

What a day for a daydream...

I think I'm going to stop apologizing for not updating frequently. At this point, I'm hoping all four of you who read this will accept the fact that I am a terrible pen pal. Even a one-sided pen pal. So, big updates. I went shopping this weekend. FANTASTIC. Won't go into detail because I will go into raptures. Found out some absolutely wonderful news, Jacob and Katherine are engaged. Finally. Can't wait for the party. In other news, today was a big day on the Yukon Jack. Woke up this morning around 0745, was out on deck at 0810, and I've been going all day until 1930 or so when the second mate let me off watch. We re-fueled three ships and VERTREPed one. Yay us! I helped with the first UNREP today. About 3/4 of the way through that, we got word that our last, biggest, and most important customer (as the ships we service are called), the USS Stennis, an aircraft carrier (insert excited jumping around here), was having steering problems and wouldn't be able to maintain a course and speed alongside us for re-fueling. Luckily, the happened to have some helos on board that could pick up their pallets from our deck. Phew. Thus, everyone was sent into a tizzy preparing for an unexpected VERTREP. VERTREP, for those lucky souls who don't fluently speak acronym, stands for Vertical Replenishment and consists of a helo (or two alternating helos) hovering over our deck while nets filled with various supplies are hooked to the bottom so they can fly it back to their ship. So I spent most of my day today "netting cargo," wrapping sturdy cargo nets around pallets of food, mail, and an obscene amount of Full Throttle so that it could be hooked up to the helos. Once all the cargo was ready, we took rotating lunch breaks and returned to the deck to man the hose team on the flight deck. The VERTREP went well, though I spent most of it wondering if Dad knew anyone on the Stennis or either of the pilots. I also took some pictures, but not as many as I'd have liked since my camera's battery died after about ten minutes. Once we finished the VERTREP, at around 1445, I ran upstairs, showered, threw on khakis, grabbed sea project stuff and made my way up to watch. (I'm currently on the 1600-2000 watch, which means I have to be there at 1545) While on watch, I learned two very important lessons I'd like to share. First, never flirt in front of your father. I thought this one was kind of a no-brainer, but apparently not, as the second mate shared some horror stories of bringing a strapping young third mate (now his son in law) home for dinner with his family. He said that the last time he'd seen the kind of stuff she was doing was when he'd met her mother. So apparently, it's uncomfortable for a father to watch his daughter flirt. Who knew?! Dad, I promise to never flirt with a guy in front of you. Second big lesson, brothers are idiots, you must take care of them. As soon as he said this, I felt like everything I had ever believed was finally proven. The second mate told me that he thought every boy should have a sister to look out for them when they try and date. You see Chris and Scott? I'm just looking out for you. And I should approve every girl you date from now on. See that it's done. It's been a day. Thus, I bid you adieu. Night!

Alyssa

On the upside, given the amount of time it's been since I last wrote an entry in my ever faithful blog, on average, I haven't been up to too much. Unfortunately for me, it's all been packed into the last few days. Thursday the 9th of January, we headed out of Pearl Harbor to basically sail in a big circle and wait for UNREPs. We had one UNREP on Friday, during which I was told to man the radio. Eep! Scary stuff. I'd only seen people holding the radio. I had no idea what to do! Luckily, I made it through alright with just a few bumps, and no bruises. Saturday and Sunday were my days off and spent almost entirely sleeping. With a few hours for sea projects and the rest was spent conquering the terrible chore of watching movies, reading books, and writing. Woe is me.
Over the weekend we were told that since we have a new chief mate on board, he wants us to report at 0800 for deck work. Luckily for us, the bosun doesn't really like having us mess up his projects, so he usually just looks at us for a second and says, "Yeah, I don't really have anything for you guys..." and we quickly disappear. This morning, however, we were captured by the second mate, who told us to go read the lifeboat manuals before the Fire and Boat Drill this afternoon. So we congregated in the lounge, skimmed the manuals, and generally made it last as long as possible. Then later today we had our Fire and Boat Drill. I dutifully reported to my station and helped the designated guys suit up in their fire suits. Then those of us who don't dress out for the fire awkwardly follow along as they make their way to the "fire" and "put it out." Then we return to our station and help them get out of their gear. Woohoo. The Boat part of the drill is equally as exciting. Everyone reported to their lifeboat (Lifeboat 3. Woo!) in steel-toed boots, long sleeves, and with a hat and reviewed launching procedures etc. The exciting part came after the drill itself when we actually launched the lifeboats... with people in them. I was in Lifeboat 3, which we launched first. It was an interesting ride, but we apparently forgot to take into account the large swell we've been having all day... oops. We banged into the hull of the ship so many times, I kind of thought we were going to crush the boat. We did nothing of the sort, and made it back up just fine. A little bit of an adventure though. All sorts of UNREPs tomorrow. In fact, we're going to be dealing with two ships at the same time, one on either side! Wish me luck. Aloha!

Alyssa

Well hello there fellow ramblers! I hope you all had a pleasant holiday and have plans for a lovely new year! My Christmas was great. A little odd, but great. I believe the last time I wrote, I was looking forward to getting in to Hawaii, still on the ship, and not doing a whole lot. 

We finally made it to Pearl Harbor and docked. I keep joking to my friends that they stuck us in a corner, but they kind of did. We really are on the absolute farthest corner of the base. We're the red-headed stepchild nobody wants to think about. (I was going to say like Harry Potter living under the staircase, but thought it would reveal my dorkish tendencies.) We spent our first few days doing the usual hawaiian touristy things. Mostly we wandered around Waikiki, laying on the beach and making improbable plans. Then on Monday, we got in trouble for not showing up to work when the boss told us we didn't have to work in port... So that was fun. But not to worry, we made it work. If anyone wonders what charts we have on the Mighty USNS Yukon, I've got it. I spent two days inventorying charts on the bridge. It was boring, but not hard. Then we got some time off for Christmas. We actually spent Christmas at a kids arcade called Fun Factory (the kind of place you turn in tickets for cheesy toys that have absolutely no use whatsoever) and seeing the movie Valkyrie, which I loved. Great movie, if you ask me. I thought Tom Cruise did a great job, and I was certainly rooting for his character. I love any World War II movie though, so take my review with a grain of salt. Then the day after Christmas, we went to the USS Arizona memorial, USS Missouri, and the Pacific Aviation Museum. We had a good time, payed our respects to the fallen, and learned a great deal. Then we walked a good three miles to the nearest Chili's. I spent the next few days doing absolutely nothing but reading books, watching movies, and working on projects until the afternoon of the 28th when my parents met Sara and I at Ala Moana Center (great mall if anyone's interested) and took us out to dinner. Yesterday my parents came to the ship and got a tour of the mighty Yukon Jack and met some of the crew. After a quick trip the NEX (also awesome), we were warmly welcomed at Carmen and Jan Shagam's lovely house in Ewa Beach. We had a great dinner and I totally schooled Dad on Guitar Hero World Tour. Mom and I came out of Marley and Me this morning absolutely heart broken. It's a wonderful movie. As I said, heartbreaking for dog-lovers, but truly wonderful. It makes me miss my two dearly departed angels, Chessie and Louis. Our next step was lunch and an epic nap. The plan is that to pop over to the Pacific Aviation Museum. I've already been there, but I didn't get a lot of time so I'm glad we're going again. I'm so grateful my parents could come out here. Not only did they bring me my Christmas presents, but I missed them terribly and it's been both fun and comforting to have them here. I'm going to miss them again when they leave tomorrow, but I suppose they can't stay forever. No plans for me for New Year's Eve, but I'm sure between the eight of us we'll come up with something. Spontaneity is a good thing... right? Right?

And now it's time to say goodbye...

Alyssa

Retiring to the Nerdery with my calculator...

It’s been insane around here lately. We’ve got an Afloat Training Team onboard and they’re running us ragged with drills and training. They’re nice guys but we’ve had at least four drills a day since leaving San Diego. It’s getting annoying. Other than that though, things are still going really well. The mate I’m on watch with is truly a great guy. (I might have already said that in a previous post, but it bears repeating.) He’s taught me so much. Yesterday he gave me the conn and then randomly comes in from the bridge wing and goes, “Man overboard starboard side, what do you do?” I was so flustered it took it a second to register that he was serious. So I went over what I knew, and then he talked me through it step-by-step. Awesome! I’ve already learned ten times more in the past two weeks than I did the whole four months I was out last year. Like I said… Awesome! Mom and Dad are planning on coming out to Hawaii on the 29th. Yay! I'm hoping they'll come visit the ship. The 2nd mate especially wants to meet Dad and take him to task for not teaching me anything and everything about how the Navy drives carriers. I can’t find it in my heart to tell him that in my family we spend a great deal of time making fun of SWO-tivators. He’s a goober, but that would probably crush him, or possibly cause him to give me more arbitrary “homework.” Sara and I are currently stuck trying to figure out how to plot a Great Circle route to Hawaii from San Diego. Luckily it’s not the one we’re supposed to be using, because we’re completely stumped. We’ve spent hours poring over Bowditch and plugging numbers. The stupid boys got the easy route and they haven’t even started. It’s gonna take them about ten minutes. We are not amused. On the upside, we got TV back today, so we watched the “Crocodile Hunter” at lunch. I forgot how much I love that guy. He truly amuses me. He found a diamondback rattler and decided that was the “pinnacle” of his career. If the pinnacle of my career includes any sort of reptile, I’m throwing myself out a window, I swear. Different topic, we had a cookout tonight on the flight-deck. That was highly enjoyable and ten times better than your average KP Waterfront cookout. (Maybe because we had serving utensils...) I absolutely can’t wait to get to Hawaii, which is supposed to happen Friday. We’ve already got a ton of stuff planned. I hope we get to half of it. And now, it is time for me to go to bed and get my extra hour of sleep. Let's all give a cheer for turning the clocks back! Yay time changes! Hip hip HOORAY!!! No? Just me? Aww...

Goodnight!
Alyssa

Brain...off

Since I've been aboard a full week now, I thought it might be time for a quick update. As things stand, I love this ship. The captain is great, always reading us random maritime facts and bits of literature. The Chief Mate, also great, doesn't treat us like his personal toys. And I really really like the mate I'm on watch with. Sam is fantastic. He's great about teaching me things, lets me work on my projects during watch, and actually lets me do things on the bridge. I've been taking positions and logging them into the computer, as well as weather. Today, he let me have the conn for the last hour of watch. He pointed at the Electronic Chart (which uses GPS to plot our position graphically) and gave me two instructions... "Stay inside these lines, and don't hit anything." I managed to comply with both. Yay me! Big day for me. The Second Mate is... intense. His first name is Ken, but I only know that from inference, he didn't actually tell us. He's very demanding, but I've learned a whole lot from him. The other Third Mate, Leif, is really chill. Also cool about teaching us stuff, but we like to ask him about how he likes his job and such. He doesn't sugar coat things and it really helps us figure out where we want to go since he's only a couple years ahead of us. The food is good too. Not gourmet by any means, but there's a good variety and I get my green vegetables and a glass of milk everyday (seriously Mom, I do!). And the cooks are so nice. The one lady is always smiling and she worries about if Sara and I are eating enough. She's sort of motherly. I love her. But now I'm tired. So I think I'm off to bed. This entry seems a little rambling, not terribly coherent, but my brain is kind of off. Sorry y'all!

Alyssa