Celebrity Death Watch

Have you ever noticed that when celebrities kick the bucket, they go in threes? Dont believe me, look at this, in the last week or so, Dana Revees (ok not really a celebrity supermans wife) Don Knots, and Slobidan Milosivek, all have kicked the bucket and gone on to hinterlands. So next time you hear about a celeb croaking, start droppin money as to who the next two will be!

Isn't Technology Great?

Over the weekend, my mother sent me an email with this picture (my 5-year old nephew did this on the computer) attached. In the body of the email, he typed (all by himself) his home phone number. How smart! I'd say he's ready for kindergarten.

So it is Saturday Morning

How many people out there, especially the readers of this blog can say that they got up to go to work at 1am?  Then they finished work at 7am and never really go to leave their office?  Aah life aboard a warship!  Kind of cool yet again kind of not cool.  The nice thing is that I went to bed last night at 7pm so I am not too ridiculously tired this morning.  I still have a few things I must attend to and I don’t think I will be able to crawl back into the rack until about 10am… bummer.. rough day..

 

Enough whining if you will, flight ops are pretty cool to watch from both the air conditioned comfort of “combat” from vultures row.  Yesterday was a no fly day so I was able to get up to the flight deck, my first trip and run some laps.  It was nice to see the sun!  It was actually warm out as well.  Our pointy nose friends are trying to bomb Mickey Mouse. He is the enemy until we move back north.  There is a hint in that sentence incase you are wondering where I am at.  

 

I do need to take some pictures for you all to post at a later date.  The pipe is a little slow here on the ship.  5000 people trying to surf on a T1 pipe sometimes bogs down the system.  I am just fortunate that I can post these from outlook. 

 

You all can drop me a note whenever, digital mail always brightens my day and makes me feel loved!  Shoot Crackerz and email for my shipboard address! 

 

Later

NUTZ

Grey and Away

Well I am back on the boat again, have been here since Tuesday when we pulled out of Hampton Roads on a rising tide at sun set.  A nice way to end what was a busy day.  Anyhow The whole air wing is aboard and so it is neat to see the likes of F-18s come zipping aboard then get shot back into the sky.  Carrier flight operations are a spectacle to behold. If you are every lucky enough to see it, I would highly recommend it.  

My job has me working goofy hours so it is hard to get into a “routine” if you will.  However today and the next few days will have me on a some what normal schedule until I have to take the 2am-7am watch again, a real killer. 

 

Ok enough for now, I did bump into a friend of mine from a previous cruise, Mr. Murphy.  All is well with him, good to see a familiar face amongst thousands. 

 

Later

Nutz

Nutz'z Home Town!

25 People Suffer Minor Injuries
POSTED: 8:52 am EST February 13, 2006
MUSKEGON, Mich. -- Eighty-six vehicles were involved in a weather-related pileup Sunday on U.S. 31 in Muskegon County, police said.
No one was seriously hurt, but 25 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids reported.
The chain-reaction crash occurred about 1 p.m., when the highway was covered with black ice and lake-effect snow created whiteout conditions, police said. Some drivers began slowing down, and they were rear-ended by cars behind them that were unable to stop.
Several cars caught fire, and one woman panicked as she tried to get her infant son out of the car, witness Laurie Devries said.
"Her car was on fire and she couldn't get out, so she just passed the baby through the window," Devries said. "We kind of got him up to the hill and helped some other people out of their car."
A two-mile stretch of the highway was closed for several hours as authorities cleared the wreckage.
Muskegon police said they did not expect to issue any citations because it appeared everyone was driving as well as they could under the conditions.
The National Weather Service said moderate to heavy lake-effect snow showers were expected along U.S. 31 through midnight Sunday. Two to 4 inches of snow were expected by Monday morning in Muskegon county near the highway. Only light snow showers were expected farther inland.

Ok, I give people crap about tailgating... this is precisely WHY you should not tail gate.
Kind of cool that Muskegon made Fox News!

See the Bronco of Western Michigan University (BTW NUTZ' alma matter) kick the Bee-jesus out of the Florida State Seminoles on November 18th!

$20 says the Broncs lead going into half time.. Any takers?

GO BRONCOS!

Check out where Nutz went to Skool

Conspiracy? You be the judge!

Check out this link see if you can poke holes in thier theories!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023320890224991194

BTW the video is an hour long.. however the down load is pretty quick.

NUTZ

Somewhere over the Florida Straights: 26 JAN 2006

So Zach what did you do today? Well if I was working in a cube farm I would have told you I would have had the power lunch with some business clients and sealed the deal on some big contract. However I am not in the cube farm and well life is a little more exciting! My day started or ended if you will at 0200 am when I got off watch in combat and went to bed. I woke up at 0800ish to the sound of T-45 jet trainers being launched from the catapult above my stateroom. Kind of cool but then again kind of a pain. After taking a quick shower, I finished packing my gear, doned my flight suit and headed to the “office” to check some emails and show my face. I linked up with my buddy Brian, got a cup of coffee and hand some cereal for a quick breakfast snack and wandered up to the Air transfer Officers (ATO) office to check the status of our COD flight off the boat. All appeared to be going as scheduled, after all this is a super carrier we are talking about and schedules are all this ship is about. At the appointed time, 11am Brian and I showed up with our gear to the ATO office popped a seat and watched the jet pukes land and take off and we graded their landings as they did so. Some were good and some were a little scary. The COD was orbiting patiently for its slot time to get aboard and all was good with the world. Well time ticked by and the COD never appeared in the camera showing the landings, kind of disappointing. We waited and waited and finally, an hour and a half behind schedule, the COD landed and we were most happy. Unfortunately the air boss had other plans for us, and the COD. So another delay and we were released to go get lunch which indecently on Thursdays is surf and turf. I had a nice “T” bone steak and some shrimp. A nice meal before getting on the COD. As we were finishing up our lunch, the ATO cruised thought the wardroom and said there was another change, the air boss ready to get the show rolling and get the COD off of the ship. Se we hustled back up to the ATO office and got our gear on and boarded the COD.

Now for those who are not familiar with naval aircraft, the COD is a C-2 cargo plane. Built in the late 60’s to early 70’s it is a two engine turbo prop that can carry about 25 passengers and cargo. Our flight had 7 passengers and cargo. We were whisked out to the flight deck and into the COD boarding through the aft ramp and seated facing aft, looking out the aft ramp. The aircraft stared up and we taxied out to the catapult. The aircraft was hooked up by the deck crew, the pilots powered up the engines to a screaming roar and WAAAAAH.. off we went screaming down the bow of the carrier accelerating to around 130 knots in just about 2 seconds. F=MA. I am sure I could work some physics equation to tell you exactly the amount of G forces I experienced but I wont bore you all with the technicalities. Let’s just say it was a fantastic “flat” roller coaster ride. Better then demon drop at cedar point. A real kick in the pants. Oooh talking a kick in the pants, something has me giving a little heresy squirts special to the blue flush gods. Hope Sebring does not get a blue meteor through a roof tonight?? I think that is about where we are now. Hence I have once again digressed.

Ok so the COD launch was pretty darn cool and another first as was the squirts on the plane, a day of firsts!

The COD trip was short and sweet for Key West Naval Air Station was only about 50 miles from the ship or should I say the ship was only about 50 miles from Key West. I should know this information pretty well for I have been looking at it on our radar screens for the past few days. The COD landed, we checked in for our next flight, A C-9 essentially a civilian DC-9 going to Norfolk which was leaving out of Key West at 10pm. As how it was 3pm when we finally landed in Key West, what are 3 officers, two pilots and a dentist to do???

Brian, Margret the Dentist and I changed into some civilian clothes and caught a cab to Key West proper, Duval Street in particular for a little fun in the Conch Republic. Of course we started our afternoon at Sloppy Joe’s where the beer began to flow and of course some shrimp and conch fitters. Good times. After a few cold ones it was down Duval Street to the southern most point for a few quick pics. Now it has been a while since my last trip to Key West, my last trip being when I was a freshly minted second lieutenant in the Army coming down as a ”chaperone” for a cadet trip. Good times. Things have not changed much. Men who like men and some who are dressed in drag still roam the streets. I had a hard time keeping Brian off of them. Just kidding I did see a good T-shirt, “HOMO DEPOT”, pretty funny. All of the usual joints were still around; Fast Buck Freddie’s the Turtle Karrals and others. Most of the places had a little bit of damage from hurricane Wilma. I was just mentioning to the guys on the ship that it was just four short months ago that I was down in this area chasing hurricanes around the gulf.

You know the old saying that it is a small world and you should treat everyone the way you would want to be treated? Well this rang true for me tonight. After we snapped some fotos at the Southern most point, you all will have to wait a little on these pics, for I forgot my digital camera in my helmet bag at the airport so I had to revert to the old stand by disposable camera. Anyhow were in another bar drinking beer. I of course brought a cigar I got for Christmas with me to enjoy while on the beach. I noticed a dude across the bar smoking a stogie. As how I did not have a cutter for my cigar I wondered over and asked him for a clip. Anyhow I did and we go to talking. Me being a young punk kid and this guy and older gentleman, maybe mid fifties who was with a group of buddies playing golf wanted me to play a joke on one of his friends who was trying to “pickup” some younger women. Yeah this guy, who was trying to pick up the younger women was not having a whole lot of success and these 50 something ladies were not taking the bait. I was supposed to pretend to be a bounce and ask the guy for his ID and sort of throw the ladies a life ring. To peal this old geezer off of them. So with nothing to fear, I did just that. I played my roll and it worked, anyhow after my bluff was called and the laughs subsided, it was actually a group of old friends from Alabama down in the keys golfing and fishing. They were kind of curious to chat with a couple of navy pilots and a dental doc. It just so happened that the guy I was to “rough up” in my roll as the bouncer is the brother of Admiral Natter, a recently retired 4 star admiral. Who, with all respect of 6 degrees of separation has a daughter with whom I went to flight school with! Pretty darn small world. So just be careful out there, have fun and meet some new people when you can.

After some our Red Stripe, it was back up Duval Street where we came across Margaritaville. As it was dinner time we stopped and got a bite to eat before heading back to catch our plane. A good joint and not too expensive. I had the tuna don’t think I would order it again from Jimmy’s restaurant. Dinner was good and the cab back to the base was prompt.

We goofed off for a bit and the C-9 arrived early. We bored the flight with one other passenger to Norfolk. So, do the math, there is a crew of 6 and 4 passengers on a 90 seat aircraft. Cool, we all have our own 5 rows to ourselves.

Brian is passed out to my right, Margret is to my right and behind me, also comatose. As for me, well I am listening to a little Jimmy Buffet, tapping away at the key board and dreaming up ideas of frozen sewage meteorites. Sleep well my kiddies, I will be back in the “View” in about 45 minutes.

NUTZ @ 36,0000 ft

Haze Grey and Underway

Well getting away from the pier was a bit of a challenge.  We were supposed to leave on Saturday am however that event, the departure from the pier actually took place on Monday morning.  I would like to elaborate as to the specifics of our failure to depart as scheduled however that might compromise something so I will not.  I will say that mother nature is all powerful and can defeat a multibillion dollar warship by the blink of an eye.

Our mission for this underway period is to support the training command with carrier qualifications or CQs.  We are to conduct this off the coast of Florida.  So the big “D” put some oil to the fire, rubbed the magic rocks a little harder and boogied to our operating area in the straights of Florida.  I am not sure if anybody knows or cares but this ship is around 100 thousand tons of displacement.  To put this in perspective, that would equate to 1000 super HET trucks loaded with a combat ready M1 tank rolling down the autobahn at convoy speed.  A lot of good old American steel!

Boat donkey life is a little different from that of the almighty aviator.  I need to make a conscious trip to go to one of the weather decks or stop in the hangar bay to catch a glimps of the sun and the sea.  It is quite possible to go the entire deployment with out seeing the sun.  I am going to try to avoid that. 

My job is interesting an a lot of responsibility will rest upon my shoulders when I become fully qualified for the job.  My training process will take about 4-5 months so by the time we make the trip to the sand box I should be good to go.  As for my peers and those I work with, they are a pretty good group of guys. Another aviator and I are the only true officers if you will who went to college first then entered the officer corps.  All the rest are “Mustangs” officers who worked their way up the ladder from enlisted to officer.  These guy really help but the reality check on some of our operations. 

As for my accommodations, I as of now have a state room to myself which is quite nice.  I am sure that will change, however I am taking full advantage of it in a way that only Crackerz would appreciate or at least shake her head at. Right now in addition the classical music I am listening to, I also have the occasional roar of T-45’s spooling up prior to being launched of the front of the boat.  Hope none of those cats screw the pooch and burn up on the flight deck.    

I stood my first “watch” in a training mode last night, well actually early this morning in combat from 0200-0700 not a fun watch but I did get some good training done with the warrant officer I was with.  Mike is a good guy and a solid individual.

I am supposed to catch a COD Carrier Onboard Delivery flight tomorrow back to Norfolk for a school that Brian and I are supposed to attend.  Hopefully it will work, if not well we will have to make alternate arrangements.

We a quicky up date for all that may have been concerned about my where abouts. 

NUTZ

 

Taco Suprise!!

Well there were suprises all the way around last night. One suprise I will not tell you about however the other suprise came all the way from Core-pus Christy Texas for a taco! How about that for dead-ication? I was impress as were the 39 other people that battled the snow and the cold to enjoy a world renowened "Dewey Taco" William you missed out again, as did you CB, I wanted a cajun crawdad with salsa.
Anyhow our surprise from Core-pus was the one and only rockstar, Scotty. That is right friends and neighbors, Scotty hopped a jet liner and made the trip up here to the northern end of dixie. A great suprise to have our old neighbor stop in for a little beef and beans. Although he did rent a car and spend some time at Greenies prior to his entrance. I guese Greenies is good a place as any to kill some time in oceanview.
For those that did not make it to the big fling, we had about 40 of your friends who you never knew you had in attendance. We also had about 4 cases of beer and 15 pounds of taco meet as well. A good time and most everything was consumed. Wow, what a night.
In addition to Scott coming to town, the first snow of the year began to fall a little before midnight so of course a mini snowball fight had to ensue. Good times. Yes we even shotgunned some beers in the garage. Fun but not a whole lot of fun when the beer is coooold. Thanks steve for that idea.
Hey did I mention that Crackerz did shots of whiskey and blew chuncks before going to bed? No suprise there.
It is about 24 hours post execution of the fest and we, Crackerz Scott and i are still draggin butt a little bit. Did not roll out of bed until nearly 10am. I guess that happens when you crawl into bed at 3am. We did have a nice farmers special breakfast with the Chris, Larry and Anne.
I am rambling here so enjoy the pics! There are more pics at ofoto.com Ask Crackerz to put you on the distro.

The Alphabet (A-Z)

As you may have noticed, Zach does not believe in spell check. As a result, I'm putting the letters A-Z on the blog. Feel free to pull any missing letters from here so you can add them yourself.

Have a great day!

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

El muerto en OV

Appears the Police department is busy this week. Tonight on the evening news it was reportd that a body was pulled from Pretty Lake down by the new condos. Intersting. keep packing heat!

Trash Man cometh...

and he picked our trash!

Both cans on this day.. great...

More OV Excitment

So there I was home for lunch, I was of course happily surfing the internet on this bright and sunny when out in front of the house I heard a not so unusual sound, that of a police car. Not a big deal really this is Ocean View after all. I finished my lunch and headed up stairs to change. As I walked by the front door, i peered out side and saw a dude, ok an under cover cop, hand on pistol while his partner was frisking a shady fellow on our front yard. Now this raised my intrest some more and I peered down the street and saw not one vehicle but three black and white cruisers and two unmarked police cars. Pretty intersting. So of course i had to watch this ordeal for a few minutes and unfortunatly snap so photos with the old film camera. Actually forced me to find the old digital, which incedntly was in the glove box of the saab. Bummer, would have liked to have posted some pics here.
After the person of intrest was relesed and continued walking down the street, I went out and asked the cops what the story was all about. The story goes that the person of intrest was reported to have a weapon and from what was not said possibly be a dealer.
Anyhow good on the Norfolk P.D.

The Retort Arrives!

Almost time for some business.
And no it is not going to be the "John" who goes first!