Monday, the start of a new week

Today was great. No rain and periods of nice sunshine. We have not seen that for a while, so it was nice. Work wise, nothing new to report. Today was extremely slow with a lot of standing/sitting around doing nothing. Hope to find out tomorrow whether or not I will be gone to sea for 10 days. If so, I hope to learn how to take the helm (the speed and steering of the ship). Now that would be cool.

Although I didn't run or get to play squash today, I did go for a long power walk along the water front of Victoria Harbour. It is very beautiful.

My room mate is out right now, so the place is nice and quiet. I did get my laundry done this evening. I do enjoy folding warm clothes fresh out of the dryer.

Since Big Bang Theory is a repeat tonight, I am going to do some studying and get to bed early.

Cheers to all and I hope that you have a great week.

All Dressed up and nowhere to go....

Happy Friday

Happy Friday everyone.

Been a bit of a slow week until Friday afternoon. I was informed around noon that I was picked to go to sea from Dec 7-16 as a Deck Hand (basically, doing the small tasks like driving the ship, cleaning and handling the lines (ropes) when we dock at different areas. I think that is going to be really cool. Then around 2:30 this afternoon, I found out that my name was also brought forward to be a member of the conducting staff for the Naval Officer Assessment Board From Dec 7-11. This is the week long visit that I came out for at the end of September. That would be quite the honour to be part of as well. I will find out next week which it is. Cool, huh? I think so.

Tonight at the gunroom (Officer's bar), there is a chili cook-off and pub food night. That will be great too. Chili and chicken wings and a beer...life is good for Steve today. Some guys are going to watch some movies tonight after that. Not sure what movies, but it will be fun regardless.

I am duty again tomorrow, but no big deal for me as there is nothing going on this weekend anyway.

I hope that everyone enjoys their weekend, wet or dry (depending on the weather where you are).

AAARRR Matey!

Spent a fun day out at sea today. The waves were quite large and the boat rocked an awful lot. I was OK with it, but 2 others were sea sick and 1 was a little green. Me, being the roller coaster loving guy that I am, was saying "bring it on!"

The rain is still pouring down as it has for 2 1/2 weeks now and you can tell that people are starting to wear down without having been able to soak in any sunlight for a while. As I always say, "better wet than white". I don't have to shovel rain.

Don't know yet if I will be going back out to sea again tomorrow or not, so will find out in the morning.

Went to the gunroom last night for movie night. Watched Star Trek. I had already seen it, but thought it was a great movie and wanted to see it again. While I was there, one guy was begging people to take his duty this Saturday as his girlfriend get's into town (not sure from where) and Saturday is her birthday and he wanted to take her out. I said "sure, I'll do it for you". Most people hate duty on the weekend, because you can't leave Venture; but I don't mind and you don't have to do rounds at 0200hrs. I am not currently booked for any duty in December, but I know that whenever my next one is, he will do it, so I probably won't have to do duty again for a couple of months.

Just going to take it easy tonight and go to be early. It is amazing how tired you get when you get all that fresh air out at sea for a whole day.

G'nite to all.

Livin' the dream

Today was a fairly standard day for me while I wait for my course. We actually had part of the morning off, so I was able to come back to my room and chat with both my wonderful wife and my dad. Enjoyed chatting with you both. The afternoon included taking a little bit of inventory helping out the engineers (called Stokers in the Navy).

Tomorrow we go out to sea again for most of the day while some of the divers do some stuff (not really sure what). Should be another great day to be in the Navy.

I am so incredibly proud of my wife and the fantastic marks she is getting on her courses. Way to go Cynthia. You are awesome!

My Habs are not doing too well this year. Hopefully I can watch them defeat the Blue Jackets tonight. Sure glad I am not a Maple Leafs fan, that would be so hard this year. Sorry Susan, but you know it is true.

Cynthia is mailing me the cord for the digital camera, so I guarantee some pics for everyone once that arrives.

Enjoy your day and evening everyone.

Monday

Even for Victoria, you can tell that winter is on the way. The damp cold tends to go straight to the bones. Today was a good day, just helped 3 of the ships get underway as they go for 2 weeks up the Georgia straight. Working on this years Christmas newsletter and card list.

Had a wonderful time last night at my brother's In-Laws for supper, celebrating my niece's birthday.

I have submitted my leave pass and just need to wait to get it back signed and I can book my flight home. I am looking at flying out of here on Dec 19 and returning Jan 9 or 10.

Hope that you all have a great day.

AAHHH, the weekend.

Gotta love the weekend. Duty on Friday went without any incidents. I was 3rd Officer of the Day, so there was very little for me to do besides assist with the raising of the Canadian flag in the morning (Colours) and lowering in the evening (Sunset).

Yesterday was a laid back day. Went for a run, worked on the family Christmas newsletter, studied the Collision Regulations, watched hockey, went to the gunroom for a short time and went to bed by 9:30. Slept until 7:30. 10 hours sleep! Guess I was more tired than I thought.

Today I am off to play squash at 9:30, then over to my brother's In-Laws for supper. It is my niece's birthday on Monday and this is her birthday supper (Swedish meatballs and lemon meringue pie). Yummy.

The rain continues today. We saw about 2 hours of sun on Friday afternoon and that has been all for the past 2 1/2 weeks. At least I don't have to shovel rain.

I am so happy to have internet connection again. With the 4 hour time zone difference, I usually get to wake up in the morning to an email from Cynthia. It is such a wonderful thing that it is the first thing I think of when I wake up and can't wait to boot up the laptop to read it. Also saves on the long distance calling card. :)

I hope everyone has a good day today.

I am now online!

Sorry for such a delay in updates, but that will now change as I have my own laptop and internet access.

Not really too much to update on, but here is a few things.

I went out on an Orca class ship yesterday for the day. The purpose was 2 officers were being evaluated as OIC (Officer in Charge) which is like being the Captain of the ship. We didn't go too far, just from Esquimalt harbour around to Victoria harbour and back. During the trip, we did man overboard drills, fire drills and acted as deck hands. The weather was quite windy, so the boat got rocked around a bit (loved it!). I really enjoyed the day and look forward to doing more of it. I was even showed how to drive the ship. I didn't actually do it this time, but will get my chance soon.

I have been able to get back into the squash courts a couple of times and plan on making it a much more regular thing as I really enjoy played it.

Our weather here has been rainy for the past two weeks and tonight we are experiencing a bad wind storm, but it still beats shoveling snow.

I will also be doing my first duty at Venture this Friday. From what I have seen so far it mainly includes Colours and Sunset (that is the raising of the Canadian flag in the morning and lowering it in the evening). The other main part of my duty involved security checks of the surrounding buildings. I will have to do a round of checks at 0200 hours, so I guess my sleep will be quite interrupted. I am not allowed to sleep in my regular room that night. I have to sleep in one of the pre-assigned duty cabins, so I will be without internet that night, but will be back on Saturday.

I am getting to know more people here and make some friends which has been a real bonus and enjoyable as they even invite me out for drinks and stuff.

At this point I am still unable to load any pictures. Sorry. I will ensure that when I am home for Christmas that I bring back the cable for my camera so that I can do that.

Although I miss my family; I have been very fortunate to be able to talk to them almost every day. Love you guys!!

I hope that everyone has themselves a great day full of positiveness and things that make them smile.

Update Number 3

Not much new to report. I am still working at NTS daily. The work is mainly little things like "move those filing cabinets" or "go to the ORCA ships and make sure they are clean inside and have enough linen". Yesterday, even though we just sat on one of the ships and played cards and watched a movie (Taking of Pelham 123); it was still on board ship, so that was cool with me. The base gym has squash courts, so next week, one of the other guys that I work with and I are going to re-aquaint ourselves with the game. I played many, many years ago and loved it; so I am really looking forward to it again. It is a great workout too.

It has been raining for the past 3 days and according to the Weather Network, it is going to continue until at least Wednesday. The good news is...it is not snow and I don't have to shovel rain. Better wet than white.

I have been studying the "Collision Rules" that I will need to be able to recite "Verbatim" when I do my MARS III training. Even though that will be more than 6 months away, there is a lot to memorize and I am very grateful that I will have the preparation time to get a head start on it as that is one of the main items that people fail when they do the training.

I have been able to talk to my family everyday so far and am grateful for that. As much as I am loving being in Victoria, I sure do miss them and look forward to seeing them again.

I hope that everyone has a great day and takes time to be grateful for what they have and on Wednesday, takes time to remember those who fought so that we can enjoy the things that we take for granted on a daily basis.

Happy thoughts to all.