Saturday, January 28, 2012

Current Events part 3, CGC Healy

One final news item on the agenda (for now).  The Cutter Healy.

Oh come on, you saw that coming didn't you?  I mean, how could I, a Coastie in Alaska, not write about my shipmates who made sure a city in Alaska got gas?  Not the kind you get after eating beans either, but I'm sure after Mexican night on the cutter that's what happens.

Anywho, in case you lived under some giant rock, the Cutter Healy broke through a lot of ice to get the tanker Renda to Nome, AK.  Because they were running out of gasoline.  I mean, in a town were gas is $7 a gallon, who would want it, anyway?  In case you missed it, that's how we get heat up here.  And in case you are completely clueless, Alaska is freakin' cold. I would know.




That's here, last week.  Nome is hovering around -40 right now.  Sucks to be them.  Yeah, I'd want my damned gas too.

The Healy is also the USCGs only working icebreaker.  Which, for some reason the government has seen as exceptable.  But now, America wants to drill for oil in Artic Circle.  I would just like to ask- how are you going to get there, since, uh, you know, there's only 1 working icebreaker?  And uh, who is going to save you when another BP oil spill happens?  Oh, you didn't think that far ahead did you?  Well, I'm glad Admiral Papp did, and he's been telling you this for a while, but no one listens to the Coast Guard.  We don't exist.  Most people don't even know we are military.  And we go to war too.  And we get shot at.  And we've died.  But hey, we just sit around and look cool for Al Roker on TV right?

Alright, enough of that rant. My mom comes up here tomorrow! I am so excited.  Thing is, she's seen snow twice in her life.  Oh, I am sure I will have some funny stories to tell after this week.  Should be entertaining to say the least!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Current events part 2, Solar storms

So I was going to review the Healy, but that will wait.  I saw the Northern Lights!!! Holy crap, what a thing to see!  Reports were that this was the biggest solar storm in 6 years, so I had to go. I left at 10pm, knowing the couple hours around midnight are best.  I saw a slight green glow around 11:30.  It took till 1am for much to happen.  Even then, the storm was mostly over and we were on the edge of the "auroral oval".    Here are some (rather bad) photos.


Reflected over the water
  


If you were lucky enough to live in Scandanavia, you got view like this:


Wow.  I feel a little disappointed in comparison.  But I know just how lucky I am!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

One Year Anniversary

So Wednesday was my one year anniversary of joining the USCG!  How did I spend it, you ask?  Stuck in Anchorage, where the temperature was a whopping -24 degrees.  Oh yeah.  It seemed oddly appropriate knowing that day last year I was leaving my nice, warm home in Florida for this.  Sitting in an airport terminal, eating cold pizza from the night before, wondering if we would get back to base or not.  Because, you know, after being stuck for a couple of days, I was wanting some clean clothes and some basic toiletries.

I did take some things away from my experience in Anchorage though.  -24, when it isn't windy, isn't that bad.  It feels like it does when it's in the teens here.  I think after a certain point, cold is just cold.  But, your breath freezes in your nose instantly, as well as the back of your throat.  It's an unusual feeling, that's for sure, but nothing some coffee won't fix.  Do you remember that experiment you probably did in grade school, the one where you put your hand in cold water, then in hot water?  That tingling, HOLY CRAP MY HAND IS ON FIRE feeling, even though it was just lukewarm?  Well, that's what happens to your fingers and toes when you come inside after being outside for a while.

We were delayed because of the snow storm on Kodiak. By the time we got back, my car was in knee deep snow.  Which, for the record, when it's powdery, you can just drive right over.  I looked really stupid asking for a shovel.  But it did lead me to take some really great pics though.  Enjoy!






Oh, and I finally found out why Kodiak-ians call bald eagles dumpster chickens.



Yes, that is our nations most majestic bird, in a landfill.  There were at least a hundred of them.  To be fair, there were some hawks too.  But I did have to laugh at the irony of the scene.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Review of current events, part 1

So there have been a few Coast Guard related events lately, and I want to take the time to give my thoughts on them.  First up, the Italian cruise ship that sank.


W.T.F.  At first I thought this was photoshopped. But no.  So, here are some facts about this accident, according to news headlines throughout the weekend:
1: "Significant Human Error Possibly a Factor"
- Uh, no shit.  The Captain of the vessel said the rock wasn't on his chart.  You can't see it in that picture, but the rocks are part of a freakin' island not even 100 feet away.  


Ok, so in this picture you can see it.  You have an 80 foot draft on that thing, and you thought being that close was ok?  Are you on crack?! 

2:"Women and Children First"
- What century are you in? the 19th?  This doesn't happen anymore.  You know why? Because international maritime law requires you to have enough life rafts so this is never an issue.  As the get go, of any decent cruise, you are assigned a life boat.  With x number of other people.  There is no guessing which one because you are TOLD before the ship ever leaves port.  Which brings me to fact number 3...

3: "We Never Got Safety Training"
-Apparently, instead of the important stuff, like telling people how to put on a life jacket and where their assigned life raft is, it was a "BUY STUFF NOW!!!!!" show.  You know, like at the timeshares.

4: "No Mayday Was Made"
- This is what gets me.  I am a trained radio operator by trade for the Coast Guard.  I spend half of my waking hours listening to radio traffic for a distress call.  It's what I do.  You boat is listing (rolling over to one side) you have no power and you had a hard grounding but decided you didn't need actual help?  With 4,000 souls at stake?  What's more, BY LAW, you have to have a DSC alert system on that boat.  No one even had to pick up a radio.  They only had to push a button.  That's all.  No one even PUSHED A FUCKING BUTTON!  Ok, sorry, but this makes me so angry.  At least 5 people have died.  They want to get the Captain on manslaughter.  No, this is murder.  Call it what it was.  No one should have died.  The water was clearly a survivable temperature (since the crew apparently abandoned ship and swam to shore) so even if you fell in.  The only "understandable" death was the crew member who died in the collision.  That is squarely on the Captain.

Growing up in Florida, Carnival Cruiselines (The company that owns this Italian one) had a less than stellar reputation.  It will be a cold day in hell before I ever set foot on a Carnival boat, unless I am a Coastie inspecting the damned thing.

Ok, that's all I will say. I never wanted to make this a political blog, or anything other than me laughing at me busting my ass on the ice.  But sometimes, things just have to be said.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Blizzard #2

Ok, ok, my bad.   I was gone for another week.  I have no real excuse other than I was exhausted and wanted to sleep a lot.  On Friday, we got another blizzard.  It dumped a couple feet of snow overnight, but it was very powdery, so the snow drifts could be quite high.  It was about 3 feet in a lot of places on base.  For a while, it was ok even though it snowed maybe another foot.  Then Tuesday it stopped snowing and started raining.  While it was nice and melted a lot of the snow, we now have a lot of ice everywhere.  Tuesday night when I left work it was like an ice rink everywhere.  It's still snowing, which is a blessing and a curse.  Things aren't as slippery now, but it's hard to see the ice and it can still take you by surprise.

This same storm system moved through Cordova.  In the past few weeks, they have gotten 18 feet of snow.  The National Guard has had to dig them out.  Here, the combination of snow and rain has sunk many boats in the harbor.  Oops.  Since I have no personal funny stories (yet) here are some pictures I've taken of the frozen bay.




Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Winter in Florida

So, winter has finally hit my old state.  Now, there is a common misconception that we don't have winter in Florida.  We do.  It's just two weeks longs, and comes a couple days at a time.  Florida winter would be any morning you wake up and the temperature is less than 40 degrees.  It only gets this way when we have a cold front, so we get a very windy, often times damp, 30 some odd degree morning.  Yeah, its not really a fun situation to be sure.  To complicate matters, by afternoon, it'll be 60-something and sunny.  How do you dress for that?  Layers.  But the colds never really around enough to figure out what layers.  No one wants to be carrying around all these layers either by mid afternoon.  So you go home from work, its cool and sunny.  You leave for work and its like "Holy crap, when did this happen?"  This happens for a few days a few times a year.  You never get the chance to adjust.  After 22 years, I admit I never got the hang of it either.

But the first cold front of the year has hit Florida. I can tell by people on my Facebook page saying things like, "It's 35 degrees?!?  This is Florida!" and posting links to newspaper articles talking about heavy frost and how we won't have any citrus crop and ITS THE BEGINNING OF THE APOCALYPSE!!! The Mayans meant Jan 4, 2012, not Dec 21.  Keep pets and children indoors!  Don't burn down your house with a space heater.  Only, this happens every year.  More than once.  And this is what happens every.single.time.





Yes, apparently cold is 50 degrees for a low. (Mom is somewhere right now saying "Well it's cold to me!"  Aren't you?)

I mean, if it snowed, which is has, I think people would faint.  This is out of our area of knowledge.  Sure, we know summer.  Oh boy, do we know summer. I we know those of you who do not.  Yes, I am looking at you, sunburned, spandex wearing British tourist on International Drive.  You and your tomato red clan. It's called sunblock. And no, you can't just keep drinking beer like you do at home.  Because after 2 or 3 on the beach, we will have to call an ambulance because you didn't want to be a sissy and drink any water with that.

So, since I fully believe I am the most winterized native Floridian that has ever existed, I will say this: That is not a cold snap, that's a heat wave.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year!



It's  -8 degrees.  What.The.F#$%.  "Oh, it never gets below 0 in Kodiak." Liars.  All of you, liars.

That said, I lived.  And it warmed up. To 6 degrees.  Hurray!  At least there is no ice or snow.  Small miracle I guess at this point.  The bigger miracle is that I've lived somehow.  I don't know how I did it, mind you.  The thermometers on the "thermostats" say it's less than 50, and you can see your breath sometimes.  So, it's cold inside too.  They have the a/c running nonstop.  And apparently this isn't an issue that can be fixed.  I'm sure it can, people are just lazy.  Soon though, I will have my own place and I will warm!  I can't wait.

Thank rant being out of the way (one I have shared with everyone who will listen - sometimes by force), I must say 2011 was a great year and I'm sad to see it go.  I joined the Coast Guard, got hurt pretty badly but I recovered, bought my first new car, met an amazing guy, met some great people, finished "A" school, moved to California and Alaska, and now am planning a wedding!  Woah, that's a lot.  Maybe 2012 will be a bit slower paced?  I doubt it.

Resolutions for 2012:
Make the next rank (well, that could take until March of 2013, even if I pass this fall)
Get orders to somewhere with seasons
Get back into volunteering


Anyone else have any resolutions for the coming year?