What can I say about Bahrain except that it's very hot and for a bald fat man, that is NOT a good thing. I spent from 1 PM - 7 PM out in it, helping one of my guys needlegun and clean up our aft tilt antenna. The sun really saps the strength right out of you. The ship had it's half-way party yesterday also while my duty section had the watch. Figures don't it! My one chance to get drunk off the ship's money and I can't! Oh well, it's probably better that way. It would be bad for the First Class President to be seen drunk and disorderly.
We recently had a good friend die onboard during operations. He died they think from cardiac arrest. It didn't make any newspapers but it should have. He was a very good man that looked out for his guys kind of like I do. He was the close to the same age and was the same rank. It kind of shocked my system. I think Stephen Covey called it a change in mental attitude or paradign(sp). I now realize that there are things I should have said to people that I don't want to wait to say anymore for fear of rejection or reprisal. I want to thank Jill for always believing in me about making Chief and allowing me to become the AIS LPO and work with such a great group of people that I've had a priviledge to work with. I want to thank Lexi for knowing when I need those capuccinos and graffa to brighten my day up and allowing me to ramble to her about all the BS. I know that my children mean the world to me and I want to see them have children of their own so Grandpa can bounce them on his knees and take them to the park or a Padres game. I want to experience life instead of play the xbox or whatever. I want to take that ride out to South Dakota for the biker rally there that happens every year. I'm going to start working out in earnest to get back to where I KNOW I can be. I'm going to stop playing around and earn my black belt in USSD. I'm going to also stop playing around with my education and earn my BMIT. Thanks one and all!

Well, we've been out here hitting different areas, floating around, and generally I haven't been having all that much fun. I went from just being the LPO down in SSES to being forcibly moved to Radio Central with the ITs and on top of that pulling me out of Comms and having me in charge of the Ship's networks. I'm now not only responsible for HIGHside networks but also Sipr and Nipr. If it takes just one second longer for a person to log on, and they're up here complaining about it, telling me how crappy of a job I'm doing. It's freaking ridiculous! One good thing is that when we stopped in Malaysia, the movies are CHEAP!!! I bought about 18 movies for $2 apiece! We're now floating in the calm seas again where it's "hotter than a cow on fire" (a quote from "Tech Support" - illwillpress.com). FOAMY RULEZ! Sorry about that. Anyway, I was able to get a boatswain's whistle for my brother through a hookup so all is right with the world right now.
My milcap package that Naples promised to send up never made it to the awards desk at CNSG HQ so that's gone and over. THANKS NSGA NAPLES! YOU SUCK!!! I found out by calling the awards guy at CNSG HQ. He said he had received a call that it was on the way, but he never received the package.
We received our smallpox shots and after six days of fever they gave in to the SIQ thing. I guess I needed it because I slept for almost 20 hours straight! I usually only get about 4-5 hours.
Here's some more cool stuff. We're having a beard growing contest. I don't know if the Essex did it but it was a MAJOR hit here. Mine has been growing for about 2 weeks and they say they're gonna change my nick from Moose to Bear...LOL. It itches some, but when I'm thinking about a problem that I'm troubleshooting I start to stroke it. Funny aint it.
Well, I've rambled enough. Take care everyone and I'll try to update this more often.
I haven't been working out as much as I'd like, but all that changes tomorrow.

Well, come Saturday and we start our wonderful 6 month deployment. I'm having Robbin and the kids drop me off on Friday night. I figure that way it won't mess with the kids too badly. I'm really looking forward to it mainly because the sooner we start, the sooner we get back. I might also be able to get some decent workout going and get nice and moderately fit!
I'm also going to be studying up for my CCNA, A+, and Security+ with some other people. I've also got the messed up task of straightening out our shipboard network. Oh well, now I get to go through what Lexi went through. What fun! Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy.
I'll try to keep everyone updated on stuff.