NAS Corpus Christi

I arrived Saturday after an 11-hour drive. After an unwelcome goodbye on Sunday, I started trying to settle in. I still need more furniture, but I don't see that situation ending anytime in my 20s. My apartment is REALLY nice. I don't even think I would have gotten it if I'd known how nice it was. Everything looks really new, which is good, but the whole complex has a bit of a plastic feel. They allow smaller pets, so I get to see little doggies running around. No real dogs though. Bumskeez. I've unpacked and organized just enough to make my apartment livable. For me that means my bed is comfy, my computer is connected to the internet, a few choice photos are up, my kitchen is organized, my A/C works, and there is enough uncluttered carpet that I can sleep, read, and watch TV without stepping on anything. I still have much work to do. I'm all finished inprocessing (or checking in, as the Navy like to put it) at the base after three days of listening to repetitive monologues on standards, off-limits locations, all 50-something family help and support programs the military offers, and how the MWR office can probably get me half-price tickets to see Miley Cyrus/! They did tell us we weren't starting until the end of November and they gave us our books which was ... helpful? ... Yeah. Exploring a new city is way fun.

Fun Corpus facts:

Your car wakes up with a protective salt coating every morning.

Stray cats enjoy sunning themselves near abandoned restaurants on the shore.

Some personnel systems in the Navy still refer to Asians as Mongoloid and yellow. (This is not a joke, and I am absolutely not offended, but very amused.)

Upon learning the check-in procedures at a Navy base, your gut reaction is to look around for hidden cameras and Ashton Kutcher whilst you stifle condescending laughter.

Ford, Chevy, and Dodge trucks are the top 3 most commonly stolen vehicles.

From Wikipedia: There are several distinct cultures in Corpus Christi (Hispanic, military, beach/surfer, oil/industry, college, and cowboy) which blend together to varying degrees.

Despite my acute awareness that my lovely Lydia is not here with me, I think I'm gonna love it.

Water Survival

I spent Monday traveling. After two layovers at Dallas and Atlanta, I arrived in Pensacola around dinner time. There was no room at the Inn, and since there are no nearby stables, they sent me off base to an extended stay hotel.

Tuesday morning, I took a taxi onto Pensacola NAS and got dropped at the water survival building with another guy about 30 minutes early. Most of the day was academic lessons taught in typical Air Force fashion with Powerpoint slides. That said, this course is one of the best I've taken. The instructors are experts, they're funny, they teach well, and even the Powerpoint presentations have loads of video clips, some of them pointless. They've been heeding their critiques. After lunch we got issued some gear, changed, and jumped in the water outside. They sent us down a zip line doing the post-egress checklist (check canopy, remove visor/mask, etc.), had us swim under a parachute canopy, taught us all about 20-man and 1-man rafts, and hoisted us up using two different devices. Pretty fun stuff really. It may sound all tough and stuff, but all 50 or so of us look like total dorks with our oversized flightsuits, red helmets, and two-piece life preservers. These particular life preservers look too much like water wings to be taken seriously, though I must admit they might save my life someday.

Today we had two academic lessons before we changed and got on the boats for another application of 20-man rafts. The boats picked us up after a brief lesson and we got on a bigger boat for a drop and drag, where we learned how to unhook from out parachutes if it's dragging you through the water. It's nothing cosmic, but fun stuff to get paid to do. Following that everyone got to parasail off the big boat detach and do the checklist before landing in the water and getting picked up. While we were waiting to parasail, the instructors showed this awesome shark documentary. (I appreciated that.)
The weather was perfect, clear skies, low wind, and moderate temps. Can't ask for better! On the ride back we saw dolphins jumping in the wake. Nice.

Walmart for my fishing kit tonight!