The meaning of life…

What on earth will I do once I get qualified ESWS? All my time is consumed with studying. When I am finally qualified, I will have nothing to do all day long. It’s strange to think about all that free time.

Still plugging…

Here on the ship, we don’t have what one would consider “easy access” to a lot of stuff, so you just make do with what you’ve got. I find it amusing every now and again after the annoyance of the situation has worn off, and I thought some of the instances of “adapt and overcome” would be blogworthy. So, without further ado, here are some examples of why we, as human beings, are the superior creatures on earth:

Making hot cocoa out of powdered cocoa - no spoon? No problem! Just flatten emptied wrapper, and fold over and over until voila! A stirring stick!

Chili at the galley and there are no forks or spoons? No problem! Who knew a butterknife could double as a spoon?

Hair’s getting a little crazy and you didn’t bring a blowdryer on cruise with you? No problem! Just crank your head in an unnatural position in the 6″ between the hand dryer and the heater. Your hair might look crazier than it would without, but hey…it’s dry.

Can’t find a staple remover? No problem! Who knew a plastic Bic Cristal pen cap was as effective as a steel four-toothed staple remover?

Galley’s out of coffee cups? No problem! Recent scientific testing proves that plastic coke cups will stand the test of really, really hot water…though your hands might burn and you look like a dork drinking coffee out of a plastic coke cup, but hey…it gets the job done.

No money? No problem! People here will buy anything. Enter exhibit one: Public folder in Outlook for buying/selling/ making announcements, recent entry selling an ounce of belly button lint, a half-eaten jelly bean, and his soul for a mere quarter. Add a couple of fingernail clippings and you’re on your way to being able to buy a bag of M&Ms!

Ah, yes, it’s good to be a homo sapien.

Well, I’m back in the Legal Office and back on a somewhat normal schedule. My hours now are from 0700-0930 (for Quarters and then Happy Hour), and then from 1500-2200. This means my whole morning is free and I can study ESWS, and then I get done with work early enough that I can study after work and still get to bed at a reasonable hour.

There’s really nothing to do down here right now and I already miss the pace of work from the other stuff I was doing.

I haven’t made a food entry in a while, so I shall share with you some highlights of the past week or so:

* Uncooked ribs, which I could not get off the bone, and having only a butter knife did not facilitate the cutting of the meat very well

* “Salisbury steak”, which I believe was “a hamburger without a bun”

* Some funky green bean concoction that was half green beans, half onions…I’m a big fan of onions, but ick

* Beef tenderloin…not bad, not bad at all. In fact - dare I say it - pretty good!

* …followed by “pot roast”…still not bad…

* …followed by Hungarian goulash, which wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t goulash…

* …followed by “Italian pot roast”…losing its ability to recreate itself as a good meal, especially when served with aforementioned green bean concoction

My life has become a cycle of eat, study, eat, work, eat, study, sleep. In the spirit of ESWS, I will turn my life cycle into an acronym for easier memorization, and then turn that acronym into a witty phrase by which to remember it, because we all know how much easier that makes it to learn stuff. ESEWESS: Elephants Sleep Every Week End Standing Still. Now, see, all you have to do is remember Elephants sleep every week end standing still, and you’ll remember ESEWESS, and you’ll remember Eat study eat work eat study sleep.

EASY!

snort

The problem with getting 15 hours of sleep is that you are up until 4am, wiiiiiide awake with only 2 hours til you have to wake up.

*yawn*

ESWS is coming along, for anyone interested…I’m ready for my board; all I need to do is get qualified for maintenance and they’ll schedule my board. I have only a few areas I really need to study, and that’s weapons and operations.

Today, we had the day off.

What does one do when one is on a ship with the day off?

I, myself, chose to not set my alarm and wake up whenever the heck I woke up, figuring I’d wake up at 8 or 9.

I woke up at 4pm! 15 hours of sleep - WOW.

As good as it felt to get all that sleep, I felt like I wasted away my day since I missed my ESWS study group…but boy, oh boy, did I need that sleep.

My time with the Marine is up; he left this morning which puts me back in the Legal Office tomorrow. I really, really enjoyed working up there - I got a lot of interesting information about what we are doing over there and felt like I really accomplished something.

I’ve got to wrap up a few things for some of the Marines that are still in Banda Aceh over the next few days, and when that is done I will post to everyone the statistics on what, exactly, we’ve done over there. I was extremely proud when I saw the figures come in, and we’re still adding to them daily.

Only a couple of minutes to write, but I wanted to quickly let anyone in Milwaukee reading my blog know that WTMJ-AM 620 is going to be doing a radio interview with me today! Only thing is, I don’t know when it’s going to air. They’re going to interview me tonight at 6pm which is something like 4am local time in Milwaukee. I don’t know if they’re planning on airing it live, or if they’re going to edit it and broadcast it later….but I thought those of you reading from home would want to know!

Work is keeping me insanely busy, as usual, but is so interesting now that I am loving it mroe and more every day.

We’re off the coast of Banda Aceh , one of the areas that was hit by the tsunamis. We were in port in Hong Kong when they hit, and I remember reading CNN at work and watching the numbers climb…first, 1,000, then 3,000, then 5,000…and they continue to rise still, well over 100,000. It startled me when I realized that the number of fatalities so far is about half the population of all of Iceland.

What is scary is that the tsunamis were just the first tragedy - the survivors have no clean water, no uncontaminated food, no medical care. Every day that passes increases the risk of disease, infection, and/or starvation. The Lincoln is sending out teams to provide aid - a lot of the aid will be clearing the roads to make way for other aid groups to be able to come in and help. Right now, over 70% of the roads are completely impassable. There are also medical teams going to help those in need of medical attention. And, of course, there will be people distributing food and water.

I talked to an acquaintence of mine from Medical yesterday who was on a helo being brought in to help. I asked him how it was, and he said it was complete devastation. I asked him if the people were happy to see him; he said, they were very hungry, and they were very angry. They started attacking their helicopter and they had to leave. It’s easy to wonder how people could be angry at people who are coming to help, but they’re angry because help has not arrived fast enough and because they’re hungry and when you’re that hungry, you don’t always act rationally.

Tomorrow is the first day we’ll be able to go out because of the medication we’re taking for malaria (you have to take it 2 days prior to entering a malaria risk area). It will be interesting to see what we’re doing. After seeing pictures, my guess is that most of us will be doing road clearing. I can’t get pictures on the web from the ship or I would post some from the Photo Lab here. I wish I could take pictures of my own, but we have been told specifically that cameras are not allowed.

Those of us who are volunteering will be returning to the ship at sunset every night so we can take showers, eat hot meals, and sleep in a “real” bed (if you call a rack a real bed! :P). I will be sending out an email whenever I can and hopefully it will make its way onto my blog (if B can figure it out!).

Keep an eye on news stories and I’m sure you’ll see a lot from us - right now a picture from our Photo Lab is running on the front page of cnn.com (a guy sending off helos). You can also do a google news search for the Lincoln and I’m sure you’ll find new articles all the time.