Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Oh my! I'm going to Panama!


QMSA Deppe, checking in. Okay. I've been neglectful. I was originally thinking this would be sort of a personal journal thing, but now I realize it's a better way to keep in touch with the world, rather than a place to archive everything I've thought at one point or another. Those confusing garbage entries at the beginning, we'll just forget about those. It's my blog, I can edit what I want.

Briefly, here's the update. I finished Quartermaster "A" School, ended up assigned to the USS Ford, FFG-54, homeported in Everett, WA.

I've spent the past few weeks here waiting to fly out to the ship. The Transient Personnel Detachment isn't too bad. I ended up in a nice barracks, with a sort of suite style arrangement.

Of course, paying the Sailors who are waiting for their ships and not having them do anything just won't do, so they give us work assignments! My favorite so far was working in the base recycling plant, sorting cans and bottles and nasty such. One of the "differently abled" guys threw a can over my head into the can crusher (a gnarly piece of machinery). It happened to be full of chewing tobacco waste. I still haven't gotten the stains out of my utility jacket. That stuff is nasty.

Anyway, life in Everett is nice. I think after my active duty is done, I might stay in Washington State and go to college up here. I need to look in,to changing my residency for cheaper tuition. This assumes I don't try out the Seaman to Admiral 21 program.

I've been listening to The Decemberists lately. Check them out if you haven't. I dig the gratuitous use of vocabulary.

I don't have a proper camera or digital camera, so all the photos you are now enjoying come from my janky Samsung A900 cell phone camera from Sprint! (with bonus finger occlusion!)