TravelStream™ news feed for member bobchrisvp on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bobchrisvp en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 14 May 2008 15:03:18 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobchrisvp/2/1145645940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobchrisvp/2/1145645940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobchrisvp/2/1145645940/tpod.html Wed, 14 May 2008 15:03:18 -0400 Where I've Lived - My Life Story

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Calabasas, California, United States

I started my latest job in October 2004 and commuted from West Hollywood to Westlake Village for almost a year and a half, which was about one year, 5 months and 3 weeks too long! Believe me, it's no fun spending anywhere from 35 minutes to 1.5 hours EACH WAY in a commute in Los Angeles traffic to get back and forth to work each day. Finally, we moved to Calabasas, which is a very small city on the far western side of Los Angeles county, just 15 minutes from the Westlake Village office.
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Oceanside, California, United States

Homeowners at last!

But alas, not to last :(

It was a beautiful condo while it lasted, however.
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West Hollywood, California, United States

In January 2002 the long distance company was bought by new owners, so we finally sold our condo and moved up to West Hollywood to be in the company HQ.
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Vista, California, United States

When the company moved its offices to Carlsbad, we moved to Vista (a neighboring city) so we could again be closer to the office. Besides the resonse times, I absolutely hate driving in traffic, especially in a daily commute!
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Escondido, California, United States

When I got a new job in April 1998 with FreedomStarr Communications, we moved to Escondido so we could live only a couple of blocks from the office. Being a startup company, it was important to be close to the office, especially since I was resonsible for 24/7 response to emergencies and we hosted our own servers.
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Spring Valley, California, United States

After my 5 1/2 years on sea duty in Washington, it was time to do some Shore Duty, so the Navy transferred me to Naval Station 32nd Street in San Diego, CA. Here I worked at the barracks for about 3 years in various capacities, and here is where I got my start with computers and my first introduction to the Unix operation systems. I was volunteered :) to work with a company who installed a new computer-based management system to run the barracks and found out that I really liked it, so I learned everything I could about the system and tought myself how to do database programming with FoxBase+ for Xenix and DBase III.

This experience led to my getting a job with a company that installed a phone system in the barracks I was working in just as I got out of the Navy and the rest, as they say, is history.

The next few entries are just moves I made as I got pay raises and changed homes due to rent increases and other various reasons (i.e., moving to better neighborhoods as I learned the area) in the San Diego region.
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Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States

Picking up the USS Alabama after its Sea Trials (post commissioning), we got to view the last successful launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger before it's demise, as we were located only a few miles from its launch pad at the Cape.
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Bangor, Washington, United States

For the next 5 1/2 years or so, Bangor, WA and the immediate area was my home, when I wasn't on the ship out on patrol somewhere in the ocean. There were some trips during that time, which I will add some entries for later on when I get the chance, like a visit down to Cape Canaveral, FL where I saw the last successful launch of the Challenger before it blew up. On that same trip we took the Alabama through the Panama Canal, took a dip below the equator to become a "Shellback", then took the ship up to it's permanent homeport in Bangor. It was on this trip that I also got "qualified in submarines" and received my "dolphins" - the silver insignia that designates that you have learned about every system on the ship and are qualified to step in and take emergency measures on any area or system in case of any emergency. In doing so, I was also the first non-petty officer on the crew to do so after the ship's commissioning, which was really saying something since I was also the last one to report to the ship before its commissioning.

On another trip, we pulled into Pearl Harbor, HI before we headed out to an undisclosed location in the Pacific and conducted wargames, then got to fire off 2 test Trident Missiles. It was on this trip that I re-enlisted for my second term in the Navy and we conducted the ceremony on the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

In late 1987, early 1988 I "cross-decked" - transferred from one ship to another of the same class in the same port - from the USS Alabama to the USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN 730 Blue Crew) as an E5, or Petty Officer 2nd Class. By this time I had attended classes in several areas including Advanced Culinary Techniques, Advanced Baking and Cake Decorating, Records Keeping, and was even certified as a Navy Barber (there's no barber shops on submarines!) as a "collateral duty" while underway.

All in all, I did 11 patrols while on submarine duty, each one lasting up to 70 days at sea in complete isolation. The only communication we had as "FamilyGrams" - 50 word radio messages that your family members could send you while you were out to sea. Each member of the crew was allowed 6 of these for the entire time you were out, and the Navy sent them as low-priority traffic after all the operational traffic was taken care of. Of course feeding the crew for 70 days, especially when the fresh stuff ran out after about 2 weeks, was not exactly easy but the submarine fleet doesn't have the reputation of serving the best food in the Navy for nothing!
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Groton, Connecticut, United States

Submarine School - learning how to sink a ship and survive!

Not much to say about this - most of it is still probably classified, so better safe than sorry.

After graduating from school, I reported to my ship, which was actually still in the shipyards waiting to be commissioned - the USS Alabama (SSBN 731 Gold Crew). This made me a Plankowner on the boat (yes, we called it a "boat") and I have the distinction of being the ONLY plankowner whose name does not appear on the official plankowner plaque on the ship because I got there the day after they made it.

At the commissioning party, the band Alabama played for the entertainment. They made a nice little speech thanking the Navy for giving them the honor of naming a ship after them. :)
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San Diego, California, United States

Boot camp - what more can I say? 8 weeks of hell, at least from my perspective. I'm sure the Army and Marine guys would disagree, but it was bad enough to me.

After boot camp came 6 weeks of "A" school, where I received my formal training to become a Navy Cook. Yes, that's right - I was a cook in the Navy! Graduated first in my class, too! Thanks to that, I got the guaranteed assignment of my choice, which I used to get myself assigned to Submarine School, and then to a submarine based out of Bangor, WA so I could return to where my family was and where I spent so much time in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
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