KPC Christmas

Well I can say that is was an interesting Christmas. Away from the family and the rest of the world. We had a great Christmas Feast and a good party with the supplies that we had. So I can’t really complain. I had beer, friends and probably closer to were Saint Nick is than I ever have been. I was hoping I would see the sleigh fly past us, but no luck in that. I did miss the family. I have not been at the last few Christmases but was close enough to get there if I wanted to. I didn’t even have the option to get there and that was the hard part for me. That was the hardest part. When it cleared up, I was able to take a hike and enjoy the silence of the Tundra, a beautiful sunset and an incredible landscape laid out before me but it would have been better if the family were there. On the other hand they probably would have been complaining and it would not have been so quiet and calm. It was a white Christmas too, so how much can I really complain about. I had company; Haley joined me on my hike and was a good hiking partner until she decided to play with my hand and little rougher than a dog should. She just did not want to let go so I had to show her who was boss; I am not sure how effective it was. She is a good dog, just a little rough at times.
We had a good party at least I did, I did a fairly good job at entertaining my shipmates with my semi inspired by Jay dance moves. I am sure you can imagine. If not, ask him to show you. I had several beers smoked some cigars, don’t worry it is not becoming habit, jut on special occasions. Everyone appeared to have a good time and for the moment I think we forgot that we were in isolated duty witch is always a good thing. The station was fairly dead the next day, but I suppose it is to be expected. To top it all off, I was shown a beautiful sun resting in the arctic sky. One of the best I have seen up here. Unfortunately we have been socked in storms for most of the time and there is not much to. We lose the internet, hence the tardiness of this blog update. I hope you were able to handle the delay. I really enjoyed talking to everyone on Christmas, believe it or not it really raised my spirits. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I would have been there if I could. Beth, Congratulations on the new babies at the ranch. Have a wonderful day and I hope that everyone has a chance to read this soon, if I ever get the chance to post it.

I guess I did get a chance to post it, the internet started working again.

Isolated Duty and Fresh Bread

  Well it has been a week up here.  I was mess cooking so I have long days of constant work, not hard, just constant.  I have started going to the gym regularly, I benched 180 pounds for a lifetime max.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Sorry for the delay in an update, but the storm that just came through blocked our internet connection.  

  The sun is rising around 1200 now and it is still strange to see that.  I am at around five in the morning and the sun does not come up for half my day.  The Eskimos came by and I got some gifts for Mom and Kensey, there was not anything dad would have liked, so I held off on getting him something.  You should receive those in the mail soon.  It is still beautiful up here, even though it is oftentimes socked in.  When the sky opens it is amazing.  When you can see the sun rise or set over the frozen bay and the arctic landscape, it is something of indescribable beauty.  I do miss seeing trees though.  I suppose that is what I miss most in landscape.  It is hard to believe that I have been up here for two months now and have not left the base to go anywhere else.  It does not feel like that long, but it does wear on you.  Strange to never go to another town or even group of buildings.  It is still an experience worth doing, more challenging in the isolation part, but what things in life are as you expected them to be.  I enjoy talking to anyone at home because I Get called Cj and not just Watt.  It is the way you are addressed and just feels impersonal at times.  It really makes me appreciate the times you have with family.  The Coast Guard is definitely like a family in some respects, but could never be like family that has been there for me me entire life, always supporting and doing there best to help me out.  

  I suppose I just miss being able to go and visit or even see the people I care about.  The isolation makes most things a little more difficult.  The TV and Internet are satellite, so if the weather goes bad, we may lost internet first, but maybe even TV.  In  Addition when the weather gets bad, you can't really go outside because there is no where to go and you can't really see.  I find things to keep me from getting bored.   I can always go the the gym and lift weights,  although the treadmill is hard for me.  I generally put it to the fastest setting and see how long I can go.  My goal is to be able to do a mile at the fastest setting.  I can meditate, and do a lot of reading.  I just ordered some books on Shamanism and Wicca just for kicks to find out what they really are.  An informal research project to kill time.  We have the movie theatre with new movies every month so that is always a good bet.  But most important of all, and probably the most moral boosting thing we have at the station is the food at any time and fresh bread made daily. 

  I have started to work on my far fetched goal of Bear Fist Fighting  a Polar Bear.  So as you can see I worked on my battle roar.  Unfortunately it made HS1 laugh more than anything.  I definitely have to work on it.  If anyone has any idea let me know!  we also had an intense game of pictionary.  My team won, but is was a close game.  Pojar and Chapman were the MVPs for our team.  Pojar successfully drew 4 out of 5 of his cards and Chapman guessed more of them than anyone, even when stealing from the other team.  It was a fun game.  Dad I know that it drives you nuts when there is no one in the pictures so I got HS1 to take a picture of me.  I have to really compress all these pictures, so they are not the best quality, but they are still worth more words than I feel like writing. 

  I will talk to the family on Christmas and hopefully everyone is having a wondering holiday a season.  It is different up here, but it is an experience.  Have a wonderful day and enjoy a glass of wine or a shot of tequilla for me on Christmas.

P.S.  For the family ..... you better think of something better than Best Christmas EVER!!!         

The Pictures don't do it Justice

The pictures don't do it justice, you have to see it with you own eyes to truly see the beauty of it, but here it is, The Aurora Borealis ...... enough said.

The Crew, My Room and The Aurora

I experienced my first departure yesterday. Sn Reyes headed to Station Lake Tahoe for his next assignment and in about 5 months this entire crew will have changed. The crew created a gauntlet and had him walk through as he said goodbyes to everyone and then dogpilled him in the snow before he was allowed to head out to the plane. He will be missed. That is just how it works up here. So I posted a picture of the entire crew for all to see. It was taken in the Rec Deck if anyone was wondering. I also posted some pictures of my room now that my household goods have arrived. The group picture is not as entertaining as the Halloween pictures, but what formal picture is? Reyes is the third from the left, back row.
Now to my room. It is not to shabby. It is large than I thought it would be and now it feels alot more like home. Don't worry mom I will get a picture of you up somewhere, I just have to find a good one. It is comfortable and the one place in the station that I can get away from everyone if I choose, atleast most of the time. I have also contacted Humboldt State about finishing my degree through distance learning with them. I have not heard back, but there are other options to take if Humboldt cannot do it. A registrar is working is looking into it for me at the moment.
Last but not least, I saw the Aurora. It was very beautiful. I attempted to get photos of it, but unfortunately is was not good lighting to get pictures. It was to small to really stand out. I hope to see a more prominent aurora and get some great pictures, but I can say that I have seen it now. One thing done on the list. I hope that everyone is having a good holiday season and I love and miss you all.

Station Morale

I have gotten several request for pictures of the station so I will do that when I get a chance, but this blog is the Morale Physical fitness challenge. Every so often for "Morale" reasons we do a station wide event. This was a contest to see who could bench press the most weight, do the most pushup and sit-ups in one minute, The most dips and the most pull-ups. I did not win any of them but I had a good time. I don't know who the winner of bench was because that was based on some formula, but I officially lifted 140 pounds. I tried for 160 which was way to much and was able to do 150 pound just for kicks, which is 10 pound below max. Chief and some others were trying 300 pounds and I believe that someone lifted 295 pounds. I think is was Reyes, the one in the benching picture. Chief won the push-ups with a scorching 93 in one minute and he was bouncing the entire time. That was impressive. I did 55 which was better than by basic test when I got 43. Em1 won the dips with I believe around fifty. That was the last event so I was already tired at that point I think that I did 12. Heck was disappointed because he thought that he set the bar hight at 25. I don't now who won the sit ups and I don't remember how many I did, but it was not to shabby. I think is was around 60. Rivera gets honorable mention for the pull-ups because he was one of the top performers and wore his climbing gear, chalk and all. He even rested and re-chalked his hands in the middle of his set. I found it amusing. It was a fun event and I now have more time to go to the gym because I got qualified. No more breaking in and I will be doing watch once every five days or so. More time to hike and see the surrounding area. Although it is getting colder. It was -20 degrees today with the wind chill. So hiking will now involve keeping my skin completely covered. It should be fun still. I am sort of jealous of the warm weather that the The Katdenrie is in. Mexico must be nice this time of year. We are still getting a fair amount of sunshine so I have not seen the winter yet, but is is bound to be interesting. I don't know what else I can really say. I did include an close up picture of the Loran Tower and you can get an idea of the gym we have up here. Have a great day and I hope that everyone out there is enjoying every moment.

P.S. Kensey I need to talk to you, it has something to do with Christmas.

A Tundra Hike

I went off the base and explored for the first time this week. It was the first time I had the chance to go checkout the area. The Bay is completely frozen over as you can see from the pictures. It makes this spit of land feel much larger than it actually is when the bay appears to be a part of the land and not water. I was able to run quite a ways down the shore of the water like I was on solid ground. It was cold, but it felt good to get out and run. The lens flair in the picture of the sun sitting above he frozen bay is actually a rainbow if you are wearing polarized lenses. I was able to see my footprints forever on the ice. Other than the footprints of Haley and Nomad, mine were the only ones out there. Haley and Nomad are the dogs that live at the base. They have a good deal. They get to sleep of hang out inside and are allowed in most parts of the base with an exception to the galley, ET Shop, and the barracks. They are both sweet dogs and joined me on my expedition to the tundra.
I found this arrangement of circular boards. It looked like is was built to be a corral of some sort, although most of the crossmember were lost to the tundra. It made a cool picture and a break from the typical desolate beauty of the tundra. It is very beautiful up here, just different. The sun rises and sets in virtually the same place. It migrates over, but not 180 degrees like most places. Pinecrest and the other places that I have lived have had a green lush beauty to them. Up here there is a desolate almost lifeless beauty to it. The life just seems to disappear during the winter months.
The snow drifts change daily due to the uninhibited winds over the landscape. We have to plow up here to clear the snowdrifts, not because we get snow all the time. As you can see I got ways from the station. The tower in the picture is 1350 feet tall and the station is far enough away to be clear of it in case it falls. I Then cut over to the ocean side of the spit and watched as the piles of ice were reabsorbed by the ocean. I was not able to get any pictures because the -6 Degree temperature killed my cameras batteries. The water was a dark green like I had never seen in water before. Similar to the intensity of the deep blue of the water in the BVI. At that point my radio decided not to work and I headed back to the station, running over the tundra, which I found quite enjoyable. Other that that I am doing pretty good. It is strange to never really leave work or go home. We are given plenty of private time up her if we so desire it. It is comfortable, just very different that what you get used to living virtually anywhere else.

Helo Pizza Delivery Service

It has been and eventful and surprising week. We had pizza delivered to the station by a helicopter. I saw the T-Building and in then not so surprising news, it is still stunningly beautiful up here. The Helo was definately the high light of the week because I can now say that I had pizza delivered from a helo. Who can say that? I also got to speak with some aviation rates to find out if that is a direction I want to go, I still don't know, but I have time. I also got a tour of T-Building where the Loran Tower is powered from. It may be old technology, but it is interesting to see that still in use. You don't see vacuum tubes very much anymore. The crazy part is that there is so much radiation going through the conduits, a flourencent bulb will light up if put in the vicinity of the conduit. I suppose a million watts has the the power to do that. I didn't go shooting this week, but I put a picture up of the range. That is me shooting a shot gun if anyone was wondering. It was fun, now that I have training with projectile weapons, I am not intimidated by guns anymore. It is relaxing in a stange sense. The rest of the week was pretty typical. I am close to finishing my qualifications as an engineer watchstander. Once I finish that I will be able to start focusing on the college courses. Have a great day, enjoy the pictures.

KPC Halloween and More

  My first halloween in the Coast Guard and and in isolated duty. It was a good party. Borat, Justin Timberlake and Bubba Fett made an appearance. Played some pool, washers and had some great food. I was on duty, so I was not able to have any drinks, but I was entertained. Washers was fun because you can do anything to distract the person throwing the washer as long as you don't disrupt the flight path or make contact. Everyone was just having a good time. Not much more I could say.
  I am beginning to settle in up here. Getting my Qualifications done. There are morale games, vehicles and some ATV's. Although I don't know how long we will be able to use them until the snow builds up too much. It getting colder and I am adapting quick. I worked in 20 degree weather with nothing but a t-shirt on. It was surprising to not even notice how cold it was until I was about to go back in.
  It is diverse group of people up here. I am getting to know them and figuring out what I want to do. I have not decided what rate to go with. I want to do something with EMS or medical. But I also want to be in the field. So I am considering Health Services, Information Systems, or an aviation rating. You pick your rate, you pick your fate. So I am going to take my time, I have four months until I can put my name on the list. It is still beautiful up here and I have not gotten sick of the cold yet. I miss having Hobie and the family around but there is not much I can do about that so I will just have to wait.
  The weather is just starting to really turn to winter with constant storms and very cold temperatures. Soon we will just have three hours of daylight and it will start at 1200. That should be interesting. I shot some guns, that was fun. A shotgun and a rifle. There is a shooting range on the station property that we are able to use. One good thing about the limited choices up here is what you can do like go to the gym. Something that is good for you and kills time. It is not what I expected, but it is well worth the challenges thus far.

Beggining the Alaska Adventure

My adventure began with a very long day of very little rest and many flights to catch. Fortunately I was able to use the USO in Seattle and the Military lounge at Anchorage. I was able to relax and rest for a short while, just enough to keep me going. It got interesting beyond Anchorage when I was not longer on typical comercial flights or cities.

The plane stopped at Kotzbue, Alaska and the airport was a building. When I think of an airport I think of several builidngs or atleast one of good size. Not a small building with several snow machines sitting in front. The only thing that designated it as an airport was the fact that Alaska Airlines was painted on the front wall where I could see it from the plane. I took the opportunity to take a couple pictures and ot redefine what an airport could be. The Nome airport was the same, but I wasn't nearly as amused this time around.

I had a small layover in Nome. I took the opportunity to get some breakfast and see a little bit of Nome. The locals were very kind and generous. I watched as the sun rise over Bearing Sea, it was incredible not only how different it looked from what I had seen before, but also the fact that the time was 1100. The flight from to Nome was strange because the sun had not rose yet. It is just one of those changes that I will have to deal with.





From Nome I took Bearing Air. The plane was an eight seater plane forward prop and was a new experience for me. The Runaways were not cleared of snow, it was just left there. Within sight of these snow covered runaways was a huddle of buildings, towns that can only be reached by aircraft. It is a very different life up here. the roads go all over, but they just stop or are not maintained. I easily believe that there is three hundred miles of roads that lead to no where. Regardless of this drastic change in lifestyle, the beauty was incredible. The landscape is covered with rolling hills. The bays and Bearing Sea is half frozen, chunks of every shape and size as far as the water goes or the eye can see. It sometimes looked very solid while at others cluttered with millions of small pieces of ice. I was told later that it was just starting to freeze and will freeze all the way over during the peak of winter. I felt like kid in a candy store. All this goregeaus senery to take pictures of.
When the plane landed at Port Clarence, It was larger than I thought it would be. The truck was waiting at the end the runaway ready to pick up my gear, me and the mail that was coming in on the flight. It is a good group of people. The pool is a little small to train in and hot tub does not exist, but the weight room is very nice. The station sits on a spit of land separting a large bay and the Bearing Sea. I need to figure out how I am going to get pictures of on the blog due to the bandwidth limitation, and will not be alble to skype anyone. What do you expect when you get the opportunity to live in the wilderness of Alaska. I can still stay in touch.
I got here in time to have a bonfire on the beach by the station. It was cold outside, but the fire was hot enough that you forgot about it. I got a tour of the station and will begin training this following monday. It will be different up here, but it will definately be a worthwhile experience. It is becoming the season of nearly all darkness. I am excited but it is still hard to believe that I am actually here. Just one day ago I was in the bay area. Now I have year to see what Port Clarence has to offer. I will keep everyone updated on how it goes.

Thoughts on Basic Training

  I graduated from basic training.  I cannot say that is was easy or that it did not challenge me, because it did both mentally and physically.  It was not what I expected or what I thought I was ready for.  

  I was ready for the physical tests like the pushups, sit-ups and the run.  What I was not ready for was them finding a way to push me to the physical limit.  You don't realize how much stress can effect your physical abilities until you are in the situation.  I can see why it was necessary to experience that, so we know how strong we really are.  To know what we can take, what we are willing to give and to test whether or not we will give up.  I was very tired at times, my arms felt like they could not hold me up anymore.  At times I did hit the deck and had to rest, or had to slow down.  I may have rested, but I never gave up or stopped trying.

  As for the mental aspect of the training, it was difficult.  It was constant and never predictable.  I suppose it was different for everyone, but for me it was the more difficult aspect.  

  I succeeded and have earned the honor of the title of a Guardian of the Sea.  Earned the honor to be a member of the United States Coast Guard.  Earned the opportunity to see the wilderness of Alaska.  I got stationed at Loran Station Port Clarence, 80 miles north of Nome Alaska.  It is isolated duty but what other time in my life would I have the opportunity to see that area or to live that experience.  It was not my first choice, but I am grateful for the opportunity none the less.  

  So now I have another challenge ahead of me.  To decide what I want to do in the Coast Guard, and what role I want to play.  I am not sure if I want to be in health services, or even Information Systems.  Or do i want to be in the field as a rescue swimmer or a maintenance technician?  I suppose that I have a while to figure that out.  I plan to make the best of it.  There is not bad job or post in the Coast Guard, It is what you make of it.    

   

The Adventure Begins

The adventure begins the 26th of August when I report to Cape May for Basic Training. Sorry to say there will be no updates in the next couple of months due to the fact that I will not have email or internet access. So heres what I do know. I will be stationed in Alaska after I pass basic training. I chose Alaska because it is a wilderness I have always wanted to see. Thank you to everyone that came to my going away party for all your love and support. Also to those that were not able to make it. I will give updates when I can to keep everyone informed. It is going to be exciting, and definately an adventure. I look forward to what the future may hold and things I will get the chance to experience.

CJ
8/23/2008