The world through the eyes of a recently retired US Navy Sailor.

A LOOONG Time

Oct11
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Jaybob

Hey there folks… Well… well.. well… It has been a really friggin long time since I have blogged here. Things have been quite busy.

I am no longer an active duty Sailor but a Retired Sailor. I retired after 20 years of active duty in July and I couldn’t be happier. The wife and I packed up our sea bags and headed out to KC to start the second half of our lives.
I almost immediately picked up a job in the BioMed field making some pretty good money and the Mrs. also picked up a great job in IT at the KU Med Center so things on that front are going great.

Yes.. I have let the hair grow out.. (actually I haven’t had a haircut since my retirement!) I have also been experimenting on the beard front… not sure I like it… but we shall see.

This is a short update.. and hopefully more will come. :)

I am no longer…
~Haze Grey & Underway…
Take care Shipmates..
~Jaybob

Posted in Uncategorized

Snow!

Dec04
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Jaybob

It’s snowing out….. Winter is here.

Posted in Uncategorized

Funny

Aug01
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Jaybob

Here is my local Wally world. They have some of the highest prices around. So I found this appropriate when I took it.

Posted in On Shore, Uncategorized - Tagged

The deep sigh…

Aug01
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Jaybob

Well the ‘big list’ came down from the anchors in the sky and as expected yours truely was not on it. Now the big sigh **sigh**. Now I can get back to work with out these people bothering me. I appreciate the faith that a couple have in me but I have lost faith in the system.

So… No anchors… 1 year 10 months 29 days left.

~~you stay classy America
Jaybob

Posted in On Shore - Tagged , ,

Please Help….

Jul26
2009 1 Comment Written by Jaybob

Hey folks… your not so regular blogger here.

I have been quite busy lately with a lot of medical issues stemming from my recent back surgery and my wife’s recent shoulder surgery. Needless to say it has been interesting. But on to the point of this post..

I need your help.

During this most recent hellish deployment my beautiful bride was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, needless to say this was endlessly frustrating to me being at sea and here being home going through all that.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a fixer… I like.. no .. need to fix things be it electronic components or people I do what needs to be done. This unfortunately I can not fix.

So I will do the next best thing that I can think of… I will be doing an MS walk coming up in October. Please click the link here and give something… anything.. to help me support my wife and the others that are afflicted with this deteriorating disease.

My MS Walk Support page please click here.

Thanks…

Posted in Catch up, General, On Shore - Tagged

IV drugs were invented by god.

May12
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Jaybob

Ok, so surgery supposedly went fine. I am sitting here in my Navy hospital room with a foley catheter in me because I couldn’t pee. But that is ok because I am getting some great drugs! :) . A mix of morphine and Valium. Good stuff

Posted in General, On Shore

You are gonna cut what?

May12
2009 3 Comments Written by Jaybob

Well, I think it is about time to finish this section of the blog and let you know that yes indeed I am home and have been neglecting my blogging responsabilities. So her is a shorty to catch you up.

I am still in pain, I got that ever-rumored MRI done about a week after I got back and sure enough it painted quite a pretty picture of a blown up disc (L4-L5) that is choking off my nerve bundle. So here I sit at 0446 in the morning getting ready to go to the hospital to be backed upon by a Navy Neurosurgeon. Am I nervous? He’ll yeah I am! I am scared crapless! But if I want to be “pain free” I have to go under the knife. So that is where I sit right now.. I shall let you know how it goes when I am on the other side.

It’s good to be home.. No longer Haze grey
See ya on the other side

~Jaybob

Posted in General, On Shore

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH!

Mar14
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Jaybob

Ok folks… time for a catch up.  Things out here have gotten pretty damn busy and I have been running up and down this ship like a mad man.  Over the past 3 months I have been busier than a one legged man at an ass kicking contest.

Now …  things are settling. We are in the double digits to the day we will be home and that is a good thing.

Today.. is my birthday. 36 years upon this rock hurtling through space has come and gone and currently I am feeling every single one of those years.

For the past two weeks I have been hobbling around the ship, the victim of a condition called sciatica.  Basically what it means is I have some bad disc’s in my back that are pinching and impinging on the trunk of nerves that go down my right leg (the sciatic nerve).  This causes numerous things to happen, most of them painful.  Due to the nerve pinching it is firing messages off to my muscles to contract or retract at high speed. This causes what I call “A monkey fist of angry pain” right in the deep center of my right ass cheek, thigh, and calf.  Currently I am also unable to feel any of the toes on my right foot nor can I move them in an upward fashion.  I can curl my toes, but not raise them up… they just sit there and look at me.  I have been to medical about 3 or 4 times and they have given me plenty of the Navy’s wonder vitamin M® ( Motrin), and some Ultram, and some Pamalor.  These really don’t seem to be helping as it still hurts like a sonofabeach when I stand, sit, lay down, or think of doing any of those activities.  Due to the lack of facilities onboard they are pretty helpless to do anything and say that I have to wait it out until we get home so that I can get an MRI done.  WHEEEE!  We shall see what happens after that. Until that time I will have to hobble around the best that I can.

On the homefront Mrs. Jaybob is doing better.  Her drug regimen seems to be working for her, although it seems to sap her energy some times.  This is one of the side effects of the Rebif that she is taking.

I have also found out that unfortunately my brother and his family will be moving out of the area due to his wife having to PCS out. :(   This makes me a bit upset.  My brother and his family have been a never ending source of support and the much needed sense of “Family” that has been missing from our day to day lives for the last 17 or so years.  It was so nice to have family a mere mile away that we could visit, play cards, play with the niece and nephew… They were there for Mrs. Jaybob while she went through some of her issues with the MS since I have been gone on deployment…  I will truly miss them being so close.

Ok.. What have we learned today?

  1. I am old.
  2. Due to #1 I am in back pain hell.
  3. My beloved is doing much better
  4. I will miss my bro

Excellent.  Test on Monday every one study  up.
Take care of yourselves shipmates…

I will be home soon…but until then  I remain…

Haze Grey & Underway..

~Jaybob

Posted in @ Sea, Catch up, General, Rants & Raves

Happy New Years!

Jan01
2009 1 Comment Written by Jaybob

(Another post that was drafted and posted when I had time to access the internets)

2009!

One year closer to retirement and one more month closer to me being home.

So, what is there to do on America’s premiere nuclear powered aircraft carrier at sea when the calendar changes over to the new year? Truthfully? Not a whole hell of a lot.  I was in bed at around 7pm myself not even worrying about the change of the day or year.

At sea, every day is Monday the 13th which is the combination of two of mankind’s deadliest of days.  Monday….  (Everyone hates Mondays!) and, Friday the 13th!  It just repeats that day every day during the deployment until you pull in, at that point the calendar catches up and resumes normal time only to be suspended again when you pull back out.

I did however, take a bit and engage in the tradition of setting a few New Year’s Resolutions.  Here are mine..  Let me know yours in the comments and we will see how we stick to them through out the year! :)

1) I will quit smoking
2) I will begin a serious workout regimen comprising of at least three work outs per week.
3) I will endeavor to control my eating habits so as not to blow up like a balloon after quitting smoking.
4) I will tell someone at least once a day that I love them.

I especially like the last one. You never know when you won’t be able to tell someone you love them ever again.

Well shipmates, I hope that this year brings you prosperity, happiness, and warmth in the knowledge that there are people out here doing their thing for the American people.

Happy ‘09
~Jaybob

Posted in @ Sea, Catch up

Christmas in the Box

Dec25
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Jaybob

(This post is a bit of a catch-up, I wrote this while on the ship whilst we had no internets… and could not post it.  So, here it is for your reading pleasure.)

Well my fellow humans.  It is Christmas and I am on dry land…   Albeit sandy, dirty,  Dubai type land but land none the less.   Yes, I am in Dubai for the holiday.  Spending this glorious holiday in a country where they do not celebrate it has both it’s ups and downs.

First, all the stores are open and that is a good thing for someone who has been at sea for a month and needs to do some replenishing of various shower and toiletry needs.

Second it helps me to fool myself that there actually is not a holiday happening.  Yes, denial is more than just a river in Egypt! But I will obfuscate myself in that soft warm downy layer of self denial and self delusion and go on about  my life as though it were the middle of July.  This helps with the homesickness.

What is sadder than sad? A quaint little tiny fake Christmas tree sitting in the middle of an industrial work area on an aircraft carrier.

Bah.. Humbug!

Christmas is actually my favoirte season next to Halloween because I enjoy the decorating.  I like setting up fog machines, and stringing lights, making animatronic little do-dads to do stuff when people pass by.  That kind of stuff interests me.  Hard to be creative out here at sea when you have a full flight schedule with little time left over for even a decent meal.

It did leave me a little time though to reflect on those whom I care about and miss so very much.  This will thankfully be my last one out to sea. :)

Well I am gonna hit it.. I hear subway in the sandbox makes a mean Christmas turkey sub.

Happy Holidays Shipmates

~Jaybob

Posted in @ Sea, Catch up, Rants & Raves
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