Moving Notice - New Address

Please be aware that I’ve gone and registered yet another domain. I’ve put so much time into posting here so often that I decided I wanted to create another site that had my mark upon it. Please make changes to your bookmarks for my blog as this site will not be updated any further.

 

http://www.crownontherocks.com

 

That’s my new home for my shiny new WordPress blog. It’ll be awhile as I move in, and change the decorations, but it’s my new place on the internets. Stop by, check it out and tell a friend.

Time Flys...

I’m back at that point in deployment when the days are starting to melt together into one stream of time. Unfortunately, we will be in port again within a week and that stream will be interrupted again by the normal chaos of in port work. Sometimes it is much easier to just stay out to sea and do whatever it is we need to do, than go into port and break up the monotony of the deployment. This deployment has been frustrating because it has been so utterly boring. I suppose boring can be good, since it often allows you to get more accomplished, but it does nothing to aid the passage of time.

 

 

Perhaps I misspoke...

It seems that we are still connected to the great ethers of the internet. I was surprised to see that I could still open a web browser and receive off-ship email this morning, but apparently it is true. Oh well, now I don’t have to go into screaming fits of withdrawal, like some crack addict on the streets, lacking a fix. I don’t typically go into withdrawal over missing the internet, it’s more of a giant waste of time, since I tend to get on and other things that require my attention fall to the side. This is especially true as of late, as we have had a decent connection for the most part.

 

Perhaps I will remain lucky and have the ability to plug into the rest of the world whenever I have the desire to do so. It definitely makes things easier when I need to communicate with home or require the uses of Google’s fantastic search engine. Oh how I cannot wait until I have my connection to the internet in my home again, when I can enjoy the robustness of 6MB/s speed. Yeah, it’s not the fastest available, but it does what I need of it. And by the way, that time is getting closer – it’s now just 82 days away until I get to experience San Diego in all it’s glory… the crowds, the traffic, but most importantly my wife and daughter.

Mail Day

Today was the UNREP of the century. For those of you not in the ‘know’, an UNREP is an Underway Replenishment. Makes sense now, doesn’t it? No? Ok, let me explain. The supply ship is moving along in the ocean. The receiving ship comes alongside and moves along the same course as the supply ship. Then one or the other ships sends lines over so that the receiving ship can pull the fuel lines over to hook up and start receiving fuel. This is the most common form of refueling while underway for the navy. In addition, an extra line may be sent over and tensioned to transfer loads from the supply ship to the receiving ship. These loads may contain anything; repair parts, food items, mail and even personnel can be transferred in this manner. This extra line makes this evolution a CONREP or Connected Replenishment. Last but not least, a helicopter may be used to shuttle loads from one flight deck to another flight deck. Using a helicopter in this manner makes the evolution a VERTREP, or Vertical Replenishment. Anyway, now that everyone is up to speed on the terminology used we can discuss the events of the day.

 

Today I experienced the largest replenishment evolution in all of my 13+ years in the navy. We started around 2pm this afternoon and finished up around 5pm this evening. All in total, we received ~60 pallets of stores, including mail. In addition, we received what seemed like 10+ pallets of Girl Scout cookies, from what I can only imagine were sent via their Operation: Thin Mint. I have never seen so many boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my life in one location. It was like we were at the distributor for the cookies. Unfortunately, there was no mail for me again this time. I really don’t think I’ll ever see the Moleskine notebooks my wife ordered for me as well as the pictures my daughter drew for me for Father’s Day. The best I can hope for now is that the box keeps missing me and eventually it will make it to me once I’m back in San Diego. The worst I could imagine is that some asshole decided they needed my package more than I did. If that’s the case I hope they enjoy my daughter’s drawings and I wish that their pens bleed ink all over those notebooks. There, I’m done being bitter over my missing package.

The Adult Version of Disneyland...

After having left port nearly a week ago, I’ve finally decided to stop putting off this article. I’ve been promising it for some time now and I figured if I didn’t complete it soon, it would never happen. So here is my report on my most recent trip through the country of Singapore.

 

Internet Availability. Supposedly, the entire country is wireless, or will soon be. Recently, prior to our port visit I read an article about a young man who was jailed and caned for stealing someone’s wireless access. As one walks the streets in Singapore, you’ll notice laptops and other Wi-Fi enabled devices being used at fast food joints and cafés. But when you try to ask someone if there is an internet café or wireless access point around, they look at you like you’re asking them for drugs. When and if you locate a place to log on, the speed will be negligible. Of the one joint I found with free access, Brewerks, a trendy microbrewery in the Clark Quay area, the access was nominal at best. I bought a few albums from the iTunes store and it took about 20-30 minutes for each album to download completely. Then again it was free. Last but not least, depending on your perversion, some websites are flat out blocked from access. Now this may be from the bar’s discretion to avoid legal issues, but I’m sure Singapore doesn’t have high opinions for adult content material. (I gather that from it’s restriction on pornography materials such as magazines, you’ll get jailed and caned for possession.)

 

Alcohol Consumption. Ahh, every sailor’s favored pastime. I mean, what else are people who have been out to sea for extended periods of time want to do more than to locate the closest watering hole and get trashed with your buddies. Now this may be age speaking, but drinking during this recent trip to Singapore wasn’t as memorable as the other times I had been there. I think the largest reason for that is the cost. Most of the locations for night life that I experienced this last trip had costs for a single drink in the $15+ range. Now that $15 is in Singapore currency, which is roughly $10 in US Dollars. Perhaps I’m too used to my favorite watering holes in the US, where drinks are $3-4 a piece, but drinking is costly in Singapore. Unfortunately, I did not get to experience any of the club scene, mostly due to the fact that my traveling companions were not dressed appropriately (i.e. shorts). But using logic, the prices were probably even higher than the bars.

 

Language Barriers. What is a trip to a foreign country without knowledge of the local language? There’s probably nothing more stereotypical than the American sailor released on liberty, roaming the streets, lost, drunk and incomprehensible to the locals. Now I’m not a cultural nazi, I don’t demand that everyone in the world speak English. But at the same time, since Singapore is a big tourism draw with upper class shopping and electronics, you might think the city would be a little more inviting to the non-local. But hey that’s just me. The biggest problem with the language barrier is in trying to get directions to anyplace. We were on a recent jaunt through the city to locate a specific store. Nearly everyone we asked had no idea the store existed or where it even might be. They immediately referred us to a similar store. In any case, it was 3 hours before we finally located the 1 of 3 stores carrying the same title. Slightly frustrating.

 

Transportation. A key to tourism is having an efficient mode of transportation for the customers in mind. In Singapore, like any modern industrial city, taxis, buses and even a light rail is available throughout the city. During the last trip, I exclusively utilized the local taxi system. The most important thing to remember in Singapore is when getting into a cab, make sure that the cab has a meter and that they use it for the trip. The difference between using the meter in a cab and riding in a cab without a meter is about 400% in fare difference. That was an expensive lesson for some co-workers of mine. And as I would suppose in any case, you have a 50-50 chance of getting a driver that will go faster than he should and get you through traffic slightly more efficient than the normal cab driver. Of course, in one case, we had a cab driver inquire as to our interest for some prostitution. I got a laugh out of that one, a cab driver/ pimp.

 

In summary, Singapore is generally a beautiful city, very green and tropical. The shopping is on spot if you are looking for the upper crust of style and fashion. The dining experience can be great if you know where to look and don’t settle for fast food. As with any city, foreign or domestic, there are dangers. Singapore boasts that it is clean and safe, but be sure that you don’t cross any laws that might have you jailed and beaten with a cane. This country has a strict sense of justice.