Ryumon Valley

The weather has just been great recently and what better way to spend a beautiful afternoon but by hiking to the top of nearby mountain, Mt. Kurokami. The hike was a bit more challenging than the ones I had done in the past. At one point we were climbing straight up with the use of man made steps. We ate lunch at the top and enjoyed the awesome view. We couldn't of asked for a better day.



Our Lunchtime view:

Apologies (again)

As predicted this has been a busy year, so I apologize that it has taken 25 days to write something. There have just been a lot of good things so far that haven't been enough to write about i.e : Everytime I have gone to the commissary Cinnamon Toast Crunch (my favorite) has been on sale AND I have a coupon, and whenever I get time to watch TV there has been one of my favorite movies on. (Can it get any better??) I enrolled in Anthropolgy, my second to last class for my Associates. The last class (English) I will take next term. Football is coming to a close, most of the ships have been sent back out for training so the base is empty. I think I like it more with fewer people as you can get alot more done. However you have less people to hang out with, so I think they cancel each other out.

I am heading up to Camp Zama on Monday for qualification on the rifle range. I'll be up there for three days and then come back. It's awesome to get away from this place for a couple of days, their like mini vacations even though I have to do a little work on the other end.

Plans have been put into play about the remainder of the year for me. Since I can't trust any plans until they are actually getting carried out I won't bother writing about them until they happen. It'll lower the readers and mine anticipation and excitement of the wait.

Hope every has been having as good as year as me. Take Care. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICAH!!

Avian Influenza

The talks of it are finally getting serious over here. We got emails from our Force Protection Officer confirmed presence of an AI strain on the Island of Kyushu (cities include: Sasebo, Nagasaki, Fukuoka) last week on the 16th. Some 12,000 chickens down in Miyazaki Prefecture died from the virus. Today we get an email saying there are alleged findings of another infected chicken farm 60km from the first one. Both are about 200km from our base.

The population has started talking and we have started releasing info on putting to doubt any rumors. All of our chicken and eggs come from approved sources from the states, which means they have been government inspected and passed high sanitation checks. The likeliness of the disease getting up here is rare but they have us preparing for it.

Sasebo is in one of the direct migratory routes for several species of migratory fowl and water fowl, which are common carriers of the disease. As soon as I get appropriate training and equipment it will be my duty to report to any dead bird sitings in the area ( on government property) and sample the carcass for any signs of the disease. (Cool huh?)

Questions? Concerns? There are several sites that offer valuable info, I'll keep you up to date on my situation but in the mean time :

http://www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/default.asp

http://www.fao.org

Paintball, Capture the Flag Challenge

In an effort to bring more people out to the paintball field the Outdoor Rec. Center was offering prizes for those who could pull off prize flags during the match and return them to the start without being hit. Easy, right? Right. An Army guy facing off with several other navy guys just didn't seem fair. Only a few of the guys knew me and with luck they wound up on my team, they in my opinion were the next best ones out there with their shooting skills they acquired while being the security force.

As the first whistle blew I raced to the front and got halfway before I needed to take cover, after communicating and finding out where everyone was at me and a teammate maneuvered to the right, took down one guy and then the last one on the right. Well game over. I ran to the other teams end all along the right and just came up behind everyone else taking out 4 of the 6 guys by shooting them from behind. Once they were elminated I quickly grabbed up both flags for that round and the game was over. Some guys on my team were still firing, thinking the game was still going, not knowing how quick I had neutralized the other team.

Trent (the field judge, and a good frined of mine) forgot to tell me that we could only get one flag at a time. Sooooo, we switched sides and pretty much did the same thing only this time it was to the left. The maximum number of prizes for the day was two, but the best one was one I won and also a ticket for the Hoobastank Concert that was going on next week. Not bad.

It took another game before I even got hit and this was by my own guy. He got a little trigger happy when I was running towards him to get into a nearby bunker, unfortunately for me his shot was dead aim as a paintball exploded on my chest. Realizing I had my back to the enemies fire I knew exactly what happened. I don't know if it was disbelief or joy that he was the first to break paint on me that kept him staring at me as I just shook my head, "darn Navy guys" is all I could say.

The day went on without a serious injury which is always good. We mixed the teams up and everyone soon started copying my tactics which makes for more fun, when all have the guts to advance instead of hole themselves up and never expose their bodies.

Shooting (paintballs) at Seamen is the best target practice a soldier can get.......and you can quote me on that.

Hoobastank

I almost missed one of the few big acts that came to Sasebo due to my hectic training schedule but at the last moment it got cancelled and so I was able to attend the concert that MWR put on as they invited Hoobastank to come and play in our brand new gym. I hadn't attended a concert in a gym since High School but it didn't matter, it was rock music and it had been a while since I had heard it live. For those of you who don't know them, they have been around for a while with such hits as "Crawling" and "Out of Control". Everyone I'm sure has heard of their #1 hit "The Reason" which hit the top of the charts a couple of years back. And EVERYONE (in my opinion) knows that song in Sasebo because you can't go a weekend without someone trying to sing it at the karaoke bars. Some can hit that high note, while others you politely ask to put the microphone down. Anyway they played for a solid hour and a half, which was a good way to kill a Tuesday night. The pictures below were the best I could get with my camera, it made me realize how old it was and I figured out where my tax return is going......

Thus Begins The Year of Nick....

And what a great way to start it than with a win in a poker tournament.

One of the few base sponsored parties was a poker tournament for the single service members. There was about 30 of us that chose poker over partying and only about 10 really knew what they were doing. Patiently I played until all the knuckleheads fell out playing poorly. Then at the final table I won a couple big hands and then ended up bullying everyone out. It was a great night. They cant legally let us play for a cash pot, so they just have prizes for the top winners. There wasn't anything I really wanted so I took my top prize and turned around and sold it for a profit. I'm getting pretty good at this game.....

Along with this win there are going to be alot of good things for me this year, I can feel it. Hopefully I am right. Check back frequently for updates. HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!