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So anyway, My ship was going out to sea this week to begin with. However, they just extended our time out another week. This is gonna make paying rent on the first of Feb very intresting. Especially since rumor has it that we are going to get extended again .
Our first reason for going out was for the Mobile Training Team visit in a few days (I am not looking forward to this. My program gets audited and I have to run drills.) Now we get to play fuel pod. Yeah, we are going to recieve supply planes that are going to be coming out from Hawaii. They will be refueled and sent on their way to the Tsunami disaster area.
Now, it might seem that I am quite bummed out by all this. I'm not. The Commanding Officer decided that since we were going to be in the Hawaii operating area anyway, we might as well pull in and visit. Now it has been almost exactly 3 years since the last time I have been to Hawaii, but that is good because I still remember the things I didn't do.
I promise to myself that I will go to the USS Arizona Memorial. I promise myself that as soon as I can after that I will take a cab to that bar over on Sand Island right next to the Coast Guard base. (The same bar I spent most of my time at last time)
[ February 07, 2005, 12:43 AM: Message edited by: Stan the man ]
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Have you been to Punchbowl National Cemetary? I know it's not really a tourist destination, but since you're in the military, you might be more inclined to go. Also, have you tried the small, tart variety of banana known as an "apple banana"? If not, you absolutely must. You'll never want to eat regular bananas again.
Have fun in Hawaii!
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We have been extended all the way into February! NOOOOOO!
So anyway, I stopped at the bank to get a check made out for both the rent and the electric bill. Even though the bills have yet to arrive. I am sending them in so that I can be up to date and not be contacted by any financial institutions .
However, we could be staying in Hawaii for up to 4 days . Hmmmmmm, me thinketh this might not be so bad. Too bad I can't bring my digital camera with me . It is much too big to fit in any of the lockers I have. Oh well, I have a small 35mm camera.
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Go check out the Polynesian Cultural Center. I was a Chinese Tour Guide there for a couple of years. Great job! You need to take time to have fun there, though, or else you've blown a lot of money. The Maori villiage has a great show, with the engery of the siege at Helm's Deep.
The Samoan villiage show used to be really funny, I would guess it still is. The night show is good. Sometimes they have "guest" shows in the Aloha theatre that can be really boring. I remember when the Fijian fire walkers were there, The show was about waiting until the fire died down enough that it didn't look hot at all, then the men walked acrossed it. (i'm sure it was still warm). It wasted a huge amount of time for the tourists.
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Certainly maui... that was on my list for this week anyway. I just found out this weekend what my phone number at the condo will be, I'll send you that, too.
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Like it says above, yes, we went out to sea. It did not go w/o problems though..... We had a MTT (Mobile Training Team) visit to start off our trip. That went fairly well....at first. My friend for five years is no longer with us. He had been working on a valve when hot water sprayed out and blew him down onto the deck. He died the next morning.
My entire division was in shock that day. Pretty much anybody that entered the office that day immediately left if they were not from our division. They would step in, notice nobody was willing to talk, and leave. We had set up donations for flowers for his viewing and another for his girlfriend's unborn child.
He was the greatest guy you could ever have the chance to meet. He was humorous, religious, smart, friendly, and just great all around. We thought nice of his home state of Minnesota to lower all US flags in the state to half mast. He deserved the honor. He was beloved by so many of us. For little over a week after, those of us that hung out with him the most, were still talking about all the times we had. Ben's antics, his pranks, our favorite quotes of his, and trying to console the guys that were there when it happened.
Well, we still had a duty to perform. So after we flew him and his personal effects back to his parents, we headed back to Hawaii to pick up the supply planes. The CO had decided before we left for this underway that we were going to also spend time in Hawaii. We did. We arrived a day later than originally planned. No one complained.
When we got there, a few of us spent time at Duke's Canoe Club with the two that we were having flown to Minnesota. I had to leave a bit earlier than the rest. I had to be alone so I took a cab to a bar that I had visited three years ago (by midnight I had switched to water. I was very sober when I left). The next day we went to the Hard Rock. Ben collected the Hurricane glasses when he was alive. We bought a few glasses. We are going to have them engraved, and one is going to his parent's. Ben was with us in spirit (still is), and we decided that it would only be right.
I had duty on the third day. Right after my 6 hour watch in the morning I woke my friend Matt and we headed to the Arizona Memorial.
After we left Hawaii we started preps for the Safeguards Examination that my Department has to do every year. I had no hits on my Training Program . However, we didn't do as well as we thought. The grade is not official yet so I am hoping that they are lying to me.
I hope to get my film developed soon so I can update my website. Too bad I couldn't bring my digital (too big of a camera).
Edited to add: Please, do not ask how I am doing now. My roommate did that this morning.... My division has started to move on. I have yet to answer my roommate's question without telling him to shut up.
[ February 07, 2005, 01:19 AM: Message edited by: Stan the man ]
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Welcome back Stan. I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but I'm glad to hear that the rest of the trip went well. And here's hoping for good grades!
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Now it has been almost exactly 3 years since the last time I have been to Hawaii, but that is good because I still remember the things I didn't do.![[Party]](graemlins/party.gif)
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. It is much too big to fit in any of the lockers I have. Oh well, I have a small 35mm camera.
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I just found out this weekend what my phone number at the condo will be, I'll send you that, too.
