Thanks to all the loyal readers (mostly people related to me) that have stuck with this site through all the down time.  I’m finally coming down the home stretch in my Navy career - and it seemed like just yesterday I began this fantastic journey.

I returned from my final deployment aboard USS Kitty Hawk Tuesday and now I’m in the process of out-processing and transitioning to a civilian life.  After living in Japan for four years, I’ll also be making the transition back to being an American again.  I’m sure there’ll be lots of stories of pain and misery before I get there, so stay tuned and I’ll try to keep the updates coming.  At least being stuck on a hunk of metal out to sea won’t be my excuse for not updating anymore.

So a little update on the past month - We pulled out Oct 21st for our winter cruise.  We hit the port of Muroran, Japan almost a week later.  It was a very tiny place, but I had a good time nonetheless at a little hot spring resort nearby called Noboribetsu.  We pulled out of there four days later for 3 weeks at sea, an exercise with Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and what we thought would be another port visit in Hong Kong.  In case you hadn’t heard (it’s been all over the news) the Chinese government blocked our arrival so we decided to come home early instead.  Give the choice I’d have rather come back to Yokosuka early.

Look for more updates later.  I didn’t take many pictures, but I’ll upload them as soon as I can.