I'm not even sure how this got back to me, especially in the manner it did, but learn from my mistake. I just hope that this is the last that I hear concerning this matter.

What's that you ask? What am I doing next? Well, I will hopefully be going to TRACEN Petaluma, CA (USCG Training Centeral Petaluma). Some of you already know what that entails, but for those that don't, that means I will be training, molding, mentoring, and teaching the next generation of Operations Specialists. I'm trying to get orders to become an Operations Specialist "A" School Instructor. I knew even when I was there at Telecommunications Specialist "A" School that I would probably be coming back there to do that job. It's intrigued me the whole time, and to be completely honest, I really want a break from Operations. So hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be teaching in an air conditioned classroom, ON LAND, back in the 48 states for the next four years.

So that's the plan. I'll wait to see if I make Chief off the revised cut (no, I won't be the youngest Chief in CG history, a friend of mine is), but from the looks of it, I may be the first from my class! Hopefully when I make Chief they just let me fleet up and stay in Petaluma to complete my tour.

Maria and I will hopefully be taking a short, couple day vacation, over to California to scope out the surrounding areas for a nice neighborhood to buy in. So far we're looking around Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Cotati, and Santa Rosa. We're excited for the change of scenery. I don't know which one of us hates Hawaii more. She'll be back near her family, I'll be able to visit my family, and I'll be able to drive more than 40 miles without seeing everything there is to see (by the end of this I'll have lived on islands for the past 8 years). Oh, and of course... In N' Out is there! Two within a 20 mile radius!

So that's what is up with me. Sorry for the delay in updating (the title is kind of an inside joke). Maybe I'll even post some pictures soon.

Since today's update seems like a bit of catch up for all the time I've forgotten to write, I figured I would break it into a few categories. A quick summation of what I've been up to, and how I'm doing. I guarantee it will be riveting. There will be ups and downs, laughs and cries, and maybe some nausea by the end.

I suppose I should start out with the biggest announcement, though really it happened a while ago and most of you already know, Maria and I are now engaged. Though there is no date set at this time, we are engaged, it will be a bit off in the future, more than likely when we return to the mainland so more people can attend, but she has already started planning everything out wedding wise. I didn't realize a color scheme was one of the first/most important things to be planned, and in effect needed to be discussed at length. Then again, I'd prefer she worry about all that anyway and just let me know when to show up and what to wear. I've planned events in for the Coast Guard, and if they are not Operational or related to Search and Rescue, they tend to be disasters(like 2 day old stale donuts for a donut eating contest...).

I suppose another item falling under the "Life" category would be that I also have a new car! Yes, that's right, I bought yet another car! But this one I want to drive until it dies or I do. I bought another Mini Cooper. I really loved my last Mini Cooper and said it would be the last car that I ever drove, but alas, it was totaled. I bought the Yaris as a bit of a stop-gap, and ended up getting quite a bit for it on trade-in(if I had waited any longer the trade-in value would have plummeted...or at least I'll keep telling myself that). But this time I got a Sport model. Once again, it was a bit of an impulse buy, but it seemed like the perfect circumstance for buying it. I had simply driven into the dealer to take a look at the new Clubman model(which I wasn't entirely fond of), and ended up leaving the lot with a brand new Mini Cooper-S 08 model. Once again it was exactly as I had customized it on the internet. So how could I have passed it up? I am definitely very happy with my Mini again, and really enjoy driving it. It's the funnest car I've ever driven. The sport model definitely adds to the fun factor as well.

Work has definitely had its ups and downs lately. Many more downs than ups. (REMOVED)

(REMOVED) I just finished taking my OSC(Chief Operations Specialist/E7) SWE(Service Wide Exam). This is not a pass or fail test, this is a competition against every other OS1 that is wanting to make Chief. This competition doesn't just factor in test scores either, it weighs time in service, award points, time at sea, time in rank, marks, but the heaviest factor is the test score. I feel like I did well, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed until the scores are released in the next 3 weeks. I'm lacking in the sea time and time in service, so even with a stellar score, I'll be surprised if I make the cut from this one. But I'd be silly not to try.

I've kept myself busy lately with a little side project at work completely re-doing the USCGC RUSH's internet website. I actually completed it a few weeks ago and am just awaiting command approval to release it. Hopefully once everything is said and done, I'll post a link on here so everyone can see the extra work I do for no extra pay.

In the past I've posted on here about my progress in the aspect of fitness, dieting, and supplements that I'm using. Well, ever since I was placed on light duty for 6 months, and quit smoking, my fitness has been pretty abysmal. Needless to say I gained a lot of weight. In the range of about 45 pounds. I was pretty upset with what had become of all that hard work, time, and money that I had spent on getting in shape. The real kicker was that I failed weight requirements at work. So I've been pretty stressed over that lately, as I may be placed on something we so quaintly call "The Fat Boy Program". But I just took it as a wake up call that I need to get back in shape. I love exercising, I love the boost in energy and the physical improvements that come with it. But I absolutely hate dieting. But for now, I know I need to do this in order to get within standards, and then I can work out the way I want to. And what I mean by that, is that my focus won't be on losing weight, as much as it will be on building muscle. Because I know once I get that muscle back on, dieting won't be a necessary factor(before I was intaking around 6000 calories a day and couldn't keep the weight on).

So for now, I'm on the Body For Life program, but focusing it on fat loss until I pass weight, and then going full bore into muscle/strength building. I'm eating the 6 small healthy meals a day, and running running running. That's the one interesting thing that has come out of all this, is that I have actually started to enjoy running. I've been running about 4 miles a day, and I'm loving it. I never thought that would have happened because I used to absolutely despise running. Go figure.

Well, that's all that has been going on with me as I can recollect it. As I've always promised before I'll try to post more often and keep in touch better than I have. I don't like having to write one big huge update about the last few months, but I must say I have enjoyed jotting all this down.

We recently visited Victoria, BC; an area I had heard of quite frequently, but had never actually visited myself. This quaint little township was actually one of the best port calls I’ve had in a long time. The heavy European influence, from the British Isles in particular, was actually very interesting. The shops touting wares from England, Ireland, and Scotland were fun to shop in, though very overpriced, and I was able to purchase some very memorable souvenirs.

I think the most notable thing about Victoria was the people. Those were some of the friendliest individuals I’ve ever met. Typically this is a huge aversion to me, and I find it quite intrusive, but the manner in which these people treated outsiders was actually very refreshing. The greetings and smiles you received as you walked down the street. The small talk and genuine interest they showed in what you had to say showed an overall congeniality from these people. I know I’ve said in the past that I’d rather be ignored by the people I’m around, and just treated with a regular indifference, but I actually found their cordiality to be endearing. I would very much like to visit there again, on my own terms, and not have the restrictions of the ship, and the ever looming patrol on the back of my mind.

Aside from shopping and socializing with the locals, I spent my evenings in a very nice Irish pub called The Irish Times. I have a few photos in the gallery of this particular stop, but the most notable occurrence I wasn’t able to capture fully. And that was my invitation to sing with the Celtic band that was playing. I had merely gone up to purchase a CD and ask if they new the song “Bog Down in the Valley O’”, and Paul O’Brien(guitar player, and singer)said they were familiar with it, but were unsure of all the words. Next he inquired if I knew the words, which I did, and he asked me to sing a few bars. I sang a simple verse, he looked to his accompaniment Calvin, and said “F major”, and they quickly began playing and said to jump in after the intro. I was very surprised, but did not cower from the opportunity to sing a song I’ve practiced in private for a very long time. As I had already imbibed quite a few spirits, I made some minor mistakes, but many of the other patrons were in the same state I was, so they didn’t even notice. Not to toot my own horn, but I did very well, and the place erupted in cheers and dance. The band complemented me on my abilities, and I received praise for my “accent and singing” from many of the patrons, including many of my shipmates. It was an experience to remember.

After a bit of morning recovery from the previous night’s events, and taking a very long walkabout tour of downtown Victoria, I retired to the same place of the previous night’s singing. I went in to simply have a pint and relax, not wanting to make too much of the night since the previous had been a bit rough on my system. I got my pint and sat down, hoping to catch a few Celtic tunes. A few moments later, the band walked by, and Paul roared out “Bill is back! He’s going to sing for us again tonight, aren’t you? I hope you have a few more songs for us this evening!” I was flattered, and also a little more reluctant in taking the stage again(I’ll just say I hadn’t had the same amount of liquid courage as I had the night before). Much of the crew was back in the pub tonight, and I was strongly urged, prodded, and pushed back onto the stage. A little shaky at first, I sang “Bog Down in the Valley O’” again, and went on to sing “Rocky Road to Dublin.” Feeling I had done well and needed to sit down, someone shouted out a request for “Danny Boy.” Paul asked if I knew the words, and I reluctantly said yes, as I had always struggled with the high notes of this song. I sang a few bars, and Paul and Calvin found the note and quickly began to play. I always love singing “Danny Boy” and I must say I did quite good that night. After I was done, and the cheering and dancing had died down(it was a much more lively crowd than the night before), Paul took back the mic and said “Those are some of the hardest Celtic songs to sing, and this young man just nailed them, everyone give Bill a round of applause.” The place erupted, I shyly took a small bow and exited the stage. After receiving several free pints of Guinness, and getting many pats on the back and words of praise, I went and found Paul and Calvin. I thanked them for allowing me the opportunity to sing with them and for the great memories I now had of my trip to Victoria. They welcomed me to sing with them any time I’m back and we spoke for a while until I decided to retire back to my hotel room.

The best shot I could find of my night on the mic at Irish Times

I wrote so long about this particular event, because it was very important to me. I’ve practiced and sung along to those songs for years in my car. Privately trying to perfect my ability to sing them, and the opportunity finally arose, and I took it. I had a great time singing with them, and would gladly go back and do it again. This was definitely the highlight of my trip.

Parliament in Victoria	Enjoying a hot Cider at Starbucks	Cathedral 1
Train Station	School in China Town	China Town
Jewish Owned BBQ Joint	Cathedral 2	Library Sculpture
Cathedral 3	Another shot of Cathedral 3	Cathedral 4
Cathedral 5	Cathedral 6	Cathedral 7
Irish Times Pub	Empress Hotel(I didn't stay there)	Capt. James Cook
Daytime shot of Parliament	Petrified Dookie!	He was charging right at me!
Attacked me in the restroom	Badger Badger Badger!	Uhhhh rodent
Where's my club?!	They fought back!	Kickass uniform
Old Timey Pharmacy for Maria	Queen Victoria	Badass Bagpiper

As for Juneau, there really isn’t much to say. I had been there before, and wasn’t very impressed, and it hadn’t changed much since I had left. When I had been there previously it had at least been during the summer time, and there were cruise ships in. So, everything was open, and there were people milling about. Juneau being the tourist trap that it is; it pretty much shuts down during the winter time. So we didn’t have much to do other than get food at several of the many pizzerias, and hop from bar to bar. The only goal I had in Juneau was to get a nice Russian hat I had seen there on my previous trip, and I was satisfied with that mission accomplished.

My new Russian hat!

Fresh air on the fantail	On my way to Juneau	The inside passage
Playing with my new camera	More mountains!	Some rough seas!

(REMOVED) I've actually been in San Diego for a while now, trying to turn this stop into a little mini vacation for myself. I've tried to go see the sites, enjoy the culture, and just roam around the city to check the place out. I haven't been to San Diego in several years, and the last time I was I had merely passed through en route to elsewhere. But this time around I've gotten to spend some time here, and so far I like what I've seen. It looks like this place has a lot to offer, and it may be moving up on the list of places I want to go after Hawaii(Seattle is still at the top, but I do need some variety). The main thing I know is that I need a break from the islands. I need to get back to a place where I can just go for a long drive if I feel like it and not see the same thing day in day out. And of course, be able to fly somewhere and not have it cost an arm and a leg.

Leaving Hawaii for this trip was definitely more difficult this time. In the past I've just locked my door, set my alarms, and said goodbye to my stuff for a few days. But this time I'm in a relationship, which hadn't happened previously while I was on this ship, and I had to leave Maria back in Hawaii. It's a completely different experience from what I'm used to, having someone I love and miss back there on land waiting for me. I can't be there for her, and sometimes I'm not even able to talk to her for a few days, and it just makes me want to race back home. We've tried to make the best of it, with e-mails, and phone calls, and pictures sent back and forth. But I still miss her a lot. I think the fact that it's the holidays makes it all the more difficult. Fortunately we had a really nice anniversary(6 months) trip before I took off on patrol and we went for a drive around the entire island. It was a great trip, we saw lots of sites, and had a really nice time. She got all excited at seeing the big sea turtles on the beach and was sure to get a bunch of pictures.

Maria and me at Turtle Bay for our anniversary

(REMOVED) I arrived in sunny California. It was quite cold and dreary. Not like what I remembered in the sweltering desert of Redding. So, since I love the freezing cold, and even thrive on it, I was pleasantly surprised. Once I made it to San Diego I set out on the city. I jumped on the trolley, found the historical Hotel St James, and checked in for a nice four day weekend of relaxation and Christmas shopping. I was in my hotel for Thanksgiving, made some phone calls, and set out to find some dinner. Not really surprising, the only places I could find open were bars and Mexican restaurants, so I had my Thanksgiving dinner with a pint and a plate at La Fiesta's. I roamed all over the Gas Lamp District for those four days, spending Black Friday at the open air mall downtown, shopping for all sorts of presents. The evenings I spent with buddies hunting for stuff to do, and on Friday we created the goal of trying to find every Irish pub in the Gas Lamp District, and I ended up losing count after seven pubs.

Please excuse the quality of the photos, they were all taken with my cell phone.

Break on the pier	My first trolley ride	House of Blues
1913 elevator ride at St James	Thanksgiving Salsa	Blues band at Patricks II
Breakfast at St James' bar	Outside the historical St James	Pint at Dublin's Irish Pub
The Ulimate Motor Vehicle	This might be enough...	Searching for the next pub

This last weekend I rented a car, and set off to spend my time in Mission Valley. This time I spent a bit more time relaxing in my hotel, and just a little bit of shopping(my bank account was crying from all the previous damage). Most of all I spent it completely sober since the weekend before had been rather rough, and having the rental car also precluded me from getting around as much(the trolley doesn't really run around Mission Valley, and it was lacking in night life). But that Saturday, I went to Sea World! YAY! It was interesting, but I felt rather lonely throughout the whole thing because I knew Maria would have loved it there and I spent most of my time text messaging her. The rest of the boat was there, as they had purchased all the passes for us, but I didn't much feel like hanging out with boat people on my liberty time. The highlights of Sea World were seeing two little people, and getting a big chunk of fudge. This park was definitely themed towards entertaining children, as any theme park seems nowadays. So I roamed around and took pictures, and went back towards Fashion Valley for a bit more shopping.

Welcome to Sea World!	Seals. Nature's Short Bus Riders	He ate a kid's hand in that tube
I had to wrestle him later	My vanquished foe	Toothes
Cool little friendly turtle	Mean fish	Piranhas!
Eels are creepy	Floridian's front yard	I love Lion Fish

Cuttlefish are my favorite	Sleepy cuttlefish	Jellies!
Me having a blast at Sea World	Stupid smug dolphins	Budweiser Donkey!
Horsey	Another Horsey	Billy peed when I took his picture
Otter and Seal show	Penguin Village	Opus

There is still much left to my journies this winter season, with many more stops, and I will continue to post updates about my trip and hopefully more pictures. I can't yet say where I'm headed, but I should have more updates over the coming weeks.

I want to say to everyone that I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And I wanted to say that I love and miss you Maria =)

(REMOVED) Sorry, I really liked this blurb too.

(REMOVED)

Other than work, my life has actually been going quite well. The work problem is actually exaggerated a bit for the purpose of creatively writing and enticing my supposed audience. It's just a rough patch right now, that will pass with time. I've become rather accustomed and comfortable in Hawaii. As I pondered what to write for these next few lines, I've also come to the conclusion that, aside from work, I am quite happy with the course my life has taken. With the eve of another birthday upon me(turning 25, one foot in the grave), I've realized I've made a favorable transition into adulthood in my eyes. I've managed my career well, my finances are looking better than ever, I have no debt, I have a reliable car, I've surrounded myself with great friends, and I have a respectable living space. Yes I still rent but I'm not ashamed to invite company over anymore, I'm formulating plans to possibly purchase a home. And of course, the most recent, and by far the most important change, I've started a relationship with someone that is very special to me. Now you can probably guess why the updates have been very infrequent lately, as much of my attention and time has been devoted elsewhere. As many of you know, I'm rather private with the happenings and intimate details of my personal life, even though the mere fact that I'm typing this makes me a colossal hypocrite, but I'll leave it at saying I'm very happy right now, and I accredit much of my happiness to her :) I won't babble on any further as she is probably reading this and I'm not sure what her reaction will be to me mentioning her on my website(she's actually the one that requested I update this).

As for my painting and DeviantArt page. I just haven't had the time, desire, or inspiration to spend countless hours painting. I've doodled here and there, but nothing I've felt like posting. I have a huge project that I've been picking at(a large portrait of about a dozen people....it's taking a bit of time), so if I've done any painting, it has been devoted to this.

As another patrol looms over the horizon, I'll be sure to update more frequently once we're at sea, and also the inclusion of my oh so wonderful photos(I never claimed to be a good photographer). You can see my sad attempts at capturing my adventures visually with pictures of animals, inanimate objects, and my semi-lucid self typically posing with an alcoholic beverage in my hands, or simply passed out from the effects of said beverage.

Oh, and time for a plug. I'd like to mention Phil's podcast "Sad With Rain" (listen to Episode 3 for an explanation of the name). You can find the link to his podcast on his blog here. He plays some great music and has some commentary in between tracks. Several of the bands I listen to regularly I never would've found if Phil hadn't recommended them.

Today I decided to take some time away from all my games, projects, and hobbies to do some spring cleaning. I usually reserve this type of activity for when I'm preparing to move, or I get back from a patrol and am disgusted with the condition my apartment was left in. So today I woke up at 6 AM and went to town. Two hours of cleaning, two hours of shredding papers from my filing cabinet, and five large Hefty bags full of junk later, I have a little more room to move around, and my household goods are a few hundred pounds lighter.

I'm a bit of a pack rat. I get it honest though, because my folks don't throw away anything. They actually rent storage space on the opposite side of the country to store items that they haven't seen in years simply because they don't want to throw it away due to "sentimental value", despite the fact that they've been able to live without these items for so long. So I know why I have this fault. My biggest item to horde for later keeping? Anything electronic. I have several very large Rubbermaid tubs full of just wires. I have box after box of old computer hardware pieces. I have monitors, drives, video cards, cases, motherboards, a grab bag of CPUs, and I'm hemorrhaging RAM. I probably have enough components to build a handful of halfway decent computers. So today was the day to purge. It pained my heart to throw away these components, but their obsolescence is many years past, and would only be good for word processing at this point(I still held onto the good pieces ;).

In my rummaging and purging, I managed to scrounge up some old photos that I decided to scan in(these were taken by other people, because I can't even remember the last time I own a "film" camera....So antiquated!).

I found out recently that Kurt Vonnegut passed away on Wednesday, April 11th 2007. Vonnegut was my favorite author by a great margin above all others, and needless to say, I was rather upset at this loss. He possessed a very unique writing style and talent that I have never witnessed any other author even come close to. So, I felt like making a painting in memory of this man of immense talent.

My favorite Bokononist calypso from Cat's Cradle

I wanted all things
To seem to make some sense,
So we all could be happy, yes,
Instead of tense.
And I made up lies
So that they all fit nice,
And I made this sad world
A Par-a-dise.

You can find further information about this Kurt Vonnegut here:
Wikiepdia Entry
List of his works
USATODAY Article
USATODAY Obituary

I'm now off to read one of his most famous works "Slaughterhouse-Five".

Now, back to relaxing on my vacation.

I still have not felt much like writing lately. Sometimes words just don't need to be said, and I just feel content sitting out on my lanai reading a book. I've been on "stand-down" for the past week and basically been quite busy running catch-up errands since my return. I paid off my car, I filed my taxes, I replaced my saltwater drenched phone, and I got that blasted Mini Cooper out of my parking space(I'm glad that chapter is finally closed). So all my ducks are now in a row and I feel like I accomplished quite a bit in my "down time". So how did I reward myself? I bought yet another bass guitar! After much shopping around(every store on island, and reading review sites for a week), I decided upon a Epiphone Les Paul Stanard. Yes, it's the economical line of Gibsons, but it received excellent reviews and I got an amazing deal on it.....and it also looked very cool. I will post pictures once it arrives. In order to justify the purchase of another bass though, I have also dedicated quite a bit more time to getting better at playing. I have bought a few books, videos, and CDs to help me in learning technique and reading music, and have been spending a few hours a day practicing. So far I haven't really tackled those aides though, and have resorted to learning tabs for several of my favorite bass lines. You have to start somewhere, right?

I figured in order to write this update tonight, I would need to post a story. What better story than something that is terribly embarassing and I'd rather just as soon forget about? This last patrol I had started the habit of staying up very late and waking up early in the morning. I guess my exercise routine I had implemented had really improved my energy levels; especially compared to the summer patrol. One night I decided it would be wise to drink a Red Bull, some coffee, and a Full Throttle right before going to bed(I really need to lay off the energy drinks). I don't know if these necessarily factored into what happened that night, but I would wager that they did have some effect. I went to my rack around 1 AM and promptly fell asleep. About an hour and a half later I'm having a very strange dream. I dreamt I was doing some mechanical work underneath some sort of vehicle and was angry because no one was assisting me and I kept having to slide out from under the vehicle to retrieve my tools. While I'm stewing over the predicament I notice that the vehicle is slowly lowering on top of me. I guess the jack had released, and there was no stopping it. Oddly enough I'm positioned against a wall and unable to escape quickly because it is lowering at an angle. Sorry if I'm not painting a vivid picture but piecing together a dream, especially one that happened weeks ago, can be difficult. Anyway, I start pushing against the vehicle but it's to no avail and it just keeps getting lower and lower and begins crushing me as I struggle to ward off the inevitable. While this is going on it goes pitch black and I'm futilely screaming for help as I know I'm doomed and fully engulfed by this massive weight. Then a voice "Bill! Are you alright! What the hell is going on?" As I'm drug from my rack and thrown into the walkway of the birthing area and I stand bolt upright only wearing my boxers with a dazed, yet very alert look on my face. Apparently I had been beating quite fervently on the rack above me and pushing frantically to try to escape my impending doom. Oh, and the screaming and yelling in the dream? Yeah, I was actually shouting all this at the top of my lungs in the berthing area at 2:30 in the morning. I was yelling so loud I was actually hoarse the next day. I woke everyone with frantic screams for help and banging on the rack above me. The person above me had thought that his rack had collapsed on top of me and that I was trapped/smothered because apparently he had just at that moment jumped in his rack to go to sleep. He and I had a good laugh about it and went back to our racks. Needless to say I got made fun of for the next few days because of my "Night Terrors." That rack is the perfect environment for that exact nightmare. Pitch dark, very confined space, ceiling merely 2 feet above me. I couldn't have hoped for a better position to have the wits scared out of me.

And that's ONE of my embarassing patrol stories. Oh, by the way, that quote in the topic is from Stranger Than Fiction. This is an excellent movie that comes out on DVD Tuesday.