A friend of ours tragically lost her Great Dane Tucker on a Continental flight recently. Due to Continental's gross negligence, Tucker suffered severe internal injuries and had to be euthanized shortly after his arrival. Continental has been callous and handled this situation atrociously.

To find out more about Tucker and the fight for his justice please visit Justice For Tucker

Nike+ 10k Human Race and I'm probably also going to enter the Napa Wine Country 19th Annual 10k up in Calistoga. If you want to track my progress as I train, you can check it out on my Nike+ Profile

Anyway, that's a brief update on what I'm up to.

Now just the horrible anxiety that comes with starting a new job! I don't know what to expect really. I'm glad I don't have any trepidation about public speaking, and I've been told I'm good at teaching. Let's just hope it all wasn't just lip service and I actually do have a knack for this.

On another note, I actually did really well on the May Service Wide Exam for Chief. So, hopefully, if all goes well I should be pinning on Chief some time next year! I just hope they let me fleet up and stay in Petaluma. I'd really hate to only get a few months there and then have to pick up and move again. Especially since I'd probably be going right back to another ship. I kind of want a little bit more of a break before going back to another ship.

PS. Name that tune in the title. The song title is fitting of the post ;)

Some of the best pictures are at the end because I finally got to venture over to M5 Industries, home of my favorite television show Mythbusters. I don't know what took me so long to venture over there, it's only a few blocks down the street from where I'm at. It looked a little different, and I think they film a lot of the stuff at one of the other buildings there, but it was definitely the right place as the sign in the pictures can attest. The best part was when we were standing outside taking pictures, one of the people working there pulled up and asked if we wanted some autographed pictures. He ran inside and came back out with the pictures, and I snapped a shot of what we got in the last picture. That definitely made the trip. I wish I could have ran into one of the cast, but I'm glad I walked away with the autographs.

First shot on the cam	Embarcadero Stop	Port of San Francisco
Ghandi statue	Close-up	Bay Bridge
Another Embarcadero	Flying Rats	M5 Industries!
Ominous Door	Mythbusters!	Me at M5
Wide shot of M5	Autographs!!!

Oh, and most of those jellies we saw at the San Francisco aquarium. There were several at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but I didn't get shots of them because I pretty much only had my cell phone at that point and the shots weren't coming out too great. Maria got several more photos at MBA than I did.

PS. The new camera is awesome! I hope to get some nice new shots this week.

I guess I'll start with the pictures from my last patrol through District 14. I should have updated on this earlier as I would've had more things to say about it as it was fresh in my mind. This was a very fast paced, or “high op tempo” patrol. Everyone was very busy most of the time, but I usually don't talk about the patrol part of my job, I like to talk about the port calls. We only had two port calls, but I really enjoyed both of them. We stopped at American Samoa, and Western Samoa. Stifling hot, to the point I had to wear gym clothes the entire time to feel somewhat normal. Stunningly beautiful scenery. But the best part of these two port calls were the people. Samoans are probably the kindest, friendliest, most hospitable people I've met on any port call or travel. Everyone we met was very friendly and greeted us with open arms. They would bend over backwards to make you feel welcome and to help you out if you were in need. I would walk down the street and get waves and smiles and greetings.

I think it may have been something to do with my tattoos though. About every other person I walked by, they would come up to me and have to touch a tattoo on my arm and tell me how much they liked my tattoos. I'm not sure what meaning tattoos have in their culture, and I can't say that I saw many people with tattoos there, but they drew a lot of stares and comments. With the amount of attention they got, I would've expected to see more tattoo parlors there, but I only saw one between the two islands.

Aside from the friendly people, their like of tattoos, the wonderful local beer I fell in love with (Vailima), both islands had stunning scenery. I tried to capture a decent amount of photos of it, and I spent many several hours on foot. While on Western Samoa I actually walked for about 12 hours straight and walked to the other side of the island. It was Sunday so everything was closed except for the McDonalds. Western Samoa is very religious (Latter Day Saints seems to be the religion of choice there), and I would see a church about every 2 blocks packed to the doors with people. When I walked by one of them when church was letting out, about 50 people had to walk by and touch my arm and tell me they liked my tattoo (the celtic cross in particular). I was invited into homes, to BBQs, to sermons, and to church potlucks, but I politely declined as I wanted to continue on my journey and see as much of the island as possible.

There's much more I could write on these two islands, but I don't want to get too long winded and bore the readers. I've actually earned a bit of a reputation onboard as a walking “Trip Advisor”. I'll spend about two days in a place and have all the roads memorized, the best shops and restaraunts memorized, and can usually give a pretty good tour of the town. Here are a mixture of pictures from my journeys there.

On the beach at American Samoa	Drunk food after a long night	My deluxe suite
The view from my room	The walk to my hotel	See this a lot. Some dead some alive
Clocktower in center of town	Other side of Western Samoa	Road on my all day hike
Me at about hour 8

Next up is my current “home”, San Francisco. I've been here since March and will be here for a while longer as they're affecting repairs on the ship. I've always enjoyed this town, but have only had a day or two to adventure around. This stop has afforded me months to venture around and really enjoy the city and its sites. I've become a regular Trip Advisor for this place too during my stay. I've walked up and down, left and right, almost every street in the downtown area. Including Oakland and Alameda. I'm really glad we're moving nearby up in Petaluma. Close proximity to such an interesting area will give us plenty to do during the weekends if we just feel like taking a 30 minute drive down for some food, shopping, and tourism.

I've had fun here, but I'm ready for my transfer to take place so we can get settled in up in Petaluma and I can start my new job. I always stress out during the move, and when I start my new job, but after the transition is over, I'm sure I'll be happy. And then we can start planning the wedding.

Here are some of the photos from my solo adventures around San Fran. I've had the weekends off and a few hours every afternoon to go roaming around. I still have to make it down to M5 Industries to try and catch a peek of the Mythbusters. Maybe if the rain breaks today I'll make it down there with my new camera.

Me with a giant Belgian beer	Silly geeks	Seals at Pier 39
Is there any other kind?	Fireman tribute in Little Italy	Zach Galifinakis filmed a special here
Sailing into San Francisco	Sailing under Golden Gate	Sailing by Alcatraz
ART	Oakland architecture	More Oakland
Street Jazz in Oakland	Cool old theatre in Oakland	Lake Merrit
ART	Dr. MLK Memorial in SF	Old USCGC FIR
FD Boat under Bay Bridge	Bay Bridge	ART
ART	Golden Gate	Lazy seal
Loud lazy seals	Robots!	Badass boat dog
SF Government Building	SF Government Building	SF Government Building

SF Government Building	Statue	Statue
Statue	Statue	Statue
Statue	Statue	Statue
SF Government Building	Anonymous protesting Scientology

The best part of my time here was when Maria and I took a little bit of a vacation. I flew over to Hawaii for a week to relax, and then Maria and I both flew over to spend some time in San Francisco, visit Monterey for a bit, and check out Petaluma for some house hunting. There were some bumps in the road on the trip between a horrible overnight flight, difficulties checking into the room, my IDs expiring, problems renting a car, and just plain fatigue. But once we got past those, we had a good time. I'll remember to make sure my IDs don't expire next time and that I never schedule another red eye flight. This is the first time I've “planned” a vacation. It's usually me pulling in on a boat, finding a cheap motel with a bar downstairs, and just playing everything by ear. Live and learn.

Here are a few of the photos from our touring San Francisco, and a few shots of us goofing around in Monterey. We didn't really take any photos in Petaluma as we didn't really do anything touristy there. It was more of a fact finding trip and house hunting.

Fishes!	Maria surprised by the sharks	Fuzzy little chinchilla
Another chinchilla	Stingray?>	Frogs
Bill Gates in wax form	Greatest President in wax form	Tiger Woods in wax form
The Man in wax form	Maria at Pier 39	Bully seagull
Me being a jackass at MBA	Otter!	Whale sculpture at MBA
Maria and I at MBA	Maria on the beach at MB	Not sharing her Gelatto
Art and silliness	I made her walk to Pier 39	Looking cool
Crabby crab	Fishes	My fave
More	More	Maria posing with jellies
Me posing with jellies	Another crabby crab	I don't know

Dragging his lunch

He was very friendly

That's it for now! I'm sure I'll have more pictures once I start to play with my new camera.

Right now I'm in San Francisco, and have been having quite a bit of fun here. I don't like being away from home this long, but I've tried to make the most of it by adventuring all over the bay area via BART, Muni, rental car, and on foot. I've always enjoyed San Francisco, and I've really had a chance to see a lot more of it these past few weeks. I'm glad I'll be living nearby and can venture down here when I feel like it.

Speaking of which, it's off to Petaluma soon! Only about a month away and we'll be transferring to Petaluma. Technically Rohnert Park, but I'll be working in Petaluma. We got a chance to look around there and have narrowed it down to a few places that we'll check availability of when we get there. I'm glad we got the chance to look in advance, so I don't make the same mistake I made last transfer. The area we're looking at is right close to where Maria will probably work, and only 8 miles of country road away from my job. NO TRAFFIC! I just have to watch out for cows! No more waking up at 0430 in the morning to avoid gridlock traffic and then catching up on sleep in my car parked outside the ship. I'll be able to get to and from work in about 10 minutes. I'm really looking forward to that, and to starting my new job.

Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update and let folks know I'm still alive. Hopefully I'll have all my new pics up this weekend, as I'm running out of ideas for things to do in San Francisco, and I'll also need to save some money, as this is a very expensive place to venture around.

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.