First Day

Well considering the fact that its the first day, I thought I should start it off with a blog while I still have internet access and can see the monster that I am creating. It was a good first day of learning how to survive in case the ship catches a sever case of sinkage and life boats become necessary (apparently our seats can not be used as flotation because they gave us all our own life jackets, (I call mine Jed Thornberg)(oh and no oxygen drops from the ceiling))... Tomorrow is all set for a day filled with "fire fighting" and life raft survival training! which means spraying extinguishers at water and playin with inflatables in the pool... but hey i get one credit for 2 days of goofing around so I'm not complaining because not counting the train that the galley food ran on my digestive tract, all and all it was a good day. So after these fun filled upcoming days of "marine survival" I have a workday on Saturday and freedom (well freedom in Vallejo) in the afternoon. I really am anxious to get under way and get out of the sight of land.We leave Sunday morning at 0800 for operations in the Bay and then after we play in the bay for a day we head out under the Golden Gate on Monday morning... can't wait!

Oh and my room that is I guess the biggest change in my life in the past 24 hours:
1.) I have roomates (WTH?) but seriously, they are pretty cool. I am pretty sure I've had 2x the ammount of conversations with my roomate from Fall semester... they are both from my major one is my section leader and the other is in NROTC with me. We'll see how it is after 2 months in a 13 x 8.
2.) I have become a magician. I some how I fit 1 and a half sea bags into the little personal space that I have... it is a complete mystery to me.

Other than that thats all thats really happened in the last day... we'll see how these next days go in Port.

Mission #1: Get Costco sized bag of Trail Mix before leaving for Cruise.


Very Respectfully,

S.R.Schiesser
MIDN 4/c USNR

Farewell and Adieu...

Well for those of you who aren't "in the know" in a few days I will be heading out to Sea for two months aboard the T.S. Golden Bear. If you would like to contact me while I'm, you know, sailin the ocean blue, you can email me at sschiesser@csum.edu. This is pretty much the only way to contact me until I return home on the 30 June. Speaking of that my schedule is as follows:

On ship April 30th
Depart: May 3rd
Circle Catalina Island (don't ask that's just what they said): May 5th - 6th
Balboa, Panama: May 18th - 20th
Valparaíso, Chile: May 30th - June 2nd
Guayaquil, Ecuador: June 10th - 12th
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico(hey that swine flu thing has 2 months): June 22nd - 24th
End Los Angeles: June 30th

So please shoot me a line if:
A. you get bored
B. You want to hear a fun tale of my travels
C. You actually care about my Sanity
D. you want to remind me how good it is back home, you know on land (opposite of C.)
E. you wish to engage me in activities when I am back shore side.

I hope everyone's last few months of school (or just your plane old May and June) are great and hopefully I'll be seeing you soon.

Very Respectfully,

Cadet 3/c Schiesser
Squad Leader, 1st Squad
GSMA,Division III
Blue Company
California Maritime Academy