Our Sweet Suite at the Burj Al Arab

The Prime Minister of the United Arab of Emirates is probably one of my favorite people. I know nothing about the man, but I do know that he has put considerable amounts of oil money into Dubai. All this money has lead to a nicer Vegas type culture growing in this urban city in the middle of a sandbox. The area is still developing extremely rapidly. Most buildings in Dubai are still being worked on making the pictures that you see of the city a bit deceiving, but I can only imagine that the city will continue to grow (unless terrorism becomes a problem and then the UAE is screwed.)

We pulled into port a bit late on the day that we arrived due to some timing issues of the port, but were eventually able to get in. Marty, Dan and I went to check into the hotel that our wardroom gets that everyone can share. It was a nice hotel and through some connections was stocked with alcohol.

We drank for a bit and then went to the hail and farewell. I really wanted a dirty vodka martini (light on the olive juice, Belvedere preferred) and after some extensive explanation I got what I wanted. The hail and farewell went on way too long, but a bunch of us went out afterwards. We took a fun group photo in the elevator:
Dan dancing in a club that we went out to later:

All of this was really fun, but none of it compared to the only seven star hotel in the world that I stayed in. the Burj Al Arab.

Marty, Nisa and I planned on splitting a room with a panoramic view. The cost wouldn’t be too bad, split between three of us. When we arrived at the hotel we checked in with the concierge. They had us take a seat on some couches and offered us dates and a cool, moist towel while we waited. After a short time we were escorted up to our floor by two people giving us a small tour with some information along the way. We were told that the atrium was the largest atrium in the world. A picture of the lobby (We got dressed up later and took the pictures then):
When we got up to our floor we were introduced to our floor butler and shown to our room. In our room they gave us some paperwork to sign and it said that we had a two bedroom suite. We were concerned with the price and asked about the panoramic suite. It turns out that we were upgraded. We thought about it later and figured that it was because a women staying in a room with one bed with two guys that she wasn’t married to wasn’t culturally acceptable and so they upgraded us for free.

The suite was absolutely gorgeous, and gaudy, but fun. Our butler (Marty called every butler we had “Jeeves” the entire time we were there) showed us around the room and gave us a tour on the different parts and the way the remotes worked. Here are some pictures of our suite (it was pretty sweet):

Entry way and staircase up to the second floor:
Bar and office area with internet set up for any use:
Family room:
Breakfast/small table:
Living Room:
Dining Room (You can see the Kitchen in the back):
Chandelier:
Master Bedroom:

Second Bedroom:
Both Bathrooms looked like this with different colors:
After the tour of the suite, and the non-stop giggling about how great our room was we drank some complimentary wine, changed into swimsuits and went down to the pool area. It was pretty hot out so the pool felt nice. There was a swim up bar so we spent some time there getting some drinks and hanging out in the water.

We went back up to the room after we were done baking in the sun and started to get ready for drinks and dinner. Once we were all ready we took some time to take some more pictures all dressed up. We decided that we couldn’t take regular pictures because this wasn’t a regular hotel, so we took model pictures:
We went up to the Sky View bar at the top of the hotel and had some drinks. They have a drink there that was the most expensive drink in the world. There was a page long explanation of the drink. It was $9,000 and none of us had one. After the bar we went down to the restaurant that has an aquarium in the middle and the restaurant curves around the outside of it. The dinner was very nice and fun.

Back up in our room we drank some more and hung out enjoying the hotel. The next morning we ordered room service and spent some more time relaxing and enjoying the hotel room. We were able to check out late in the afternoon. The experience was great and it was fun to dress up and go to a nice dinner with good friends.

It cost a lot, but it is something that I have wanted to do for some time. I am glad I did it and I can now say that I have stayed in the only seven star hotel in the world.

Silver 525i BMW and Sweat Pants

Things onboard have been pretty routine. Marty and I have been playing a dynasty in NCAA Football 2008. We are on season 2012 and Navy was cheated out of the National Championship last year, and put into the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is a good bowl (trust me Mike, I am not diminishing it in any way, one day we will go see the Bears down in Southern Cal), but it is not the deserved number one in the nation.

From the Mart Doggy:

Hello everyone. I continually cross days of with an * on a calendar that Mitch created. I have crossed each day off on that day, for this entire deployment so far. It is like looking back in time when I examine the sheets. I have been through several different colors of marker so far, I tend to lose them. I had a pink one from April 17th to the 19th. Thinking about it, I am actually kind of glad I lost that one.

So, I am still standing that same late watch. I watch vectors on a device called the ARPA. (advanced radar plotting aid). And then I tell a guy (the conning officer) to tell a guy (the helmsman) to turn this ship out of the way of other ships… but they just look like vectors to me. Oh, and I drink two cups of ice tea per night. Plus, sometimes I have sunflower seeds. But, if I drop one little seed on the deck… I really hear about it. I might as well have dropped a bucket of paint considering some of the reactions I get from the Boatswain’s mate!

Things are progressing nicely out here for me. Actually, I am running short on time. My picture frame and plaque are posted in the wardroom for signatures. This is usually a sign that you are leaving soon. It looks like I will leave here on June 24th and I hope to be back in the states a couple of days before July 1. I am suppose to be in my good friend Rick’s wedding on July 4th. But, what I really want to do (later that night) is get out on the boat and watch the fireworks show from San Diego Bay. Oh, and try to get my truck and keys to the new place.

As promised, a picture of me in the tactical gear… pretty tough looking for a guy who used to be a 150 lb South Dakota All-State kicker!
Back to Mitch…
Thanks Marty, I would look a lot tougher, but I didn’t get to go to VBSS school… I am going to try and go when I get back from deployment.

As I have said before, when you stand around for hours at a time, your mind wanders. I have been thinking a lot about different people in my life and I guess when you can’t pick up the phone and call you get more and more curious. For most of you I can email and find out what I want to know, but others of you I don’t have your email, or you don’t respond. So I am going to start my own question bank, ones that are to specific people.

Danny:
Now that flight school is out, what is in?
Are you in San Diego yet? (If not you should be.)
If you got PAO, I hate you? (Not really a question, but I added a question mark.)

Dan:
How is Texas, and are you blowing flight school out of the water? (I think that is a Navy phrase… ew.)
How is the girlie?
Remember when I told you that you didn’t go to Harvard?

Ryan:
Are you a SEAL yet?
How is that one girl that I met while I was in Texas? (I think her name started with a J, the Asian one)

Jon:
Are you on deployment yet?
When are you heading to SWOS?

Jeff:
Are you on deployment yet?
How is your back doing, and can you do everything you have ever dreamed of?
When are you heading to SWOS?

Matt:
How is life treating you not being on deployment?
When are you heading to SWOS?

Mark:
When do you go to advance? (I think that is what you pilots call it)
Are you still super excited about being a pilot?
How is Emily?

Marissa:
How is school, and what new things have you been learning?
What are you going to do for your birthday?
If your birthday already happened, what cool stuff did you get?

Mel:
What law schools did you get into, and it better be near San Diego.
How was Asian part of the world?

You all should answer my questions. I feel like we haven’t talked in at least 2 months and we probably should. At least you Texans and you San Diegans should do something like a group consensus comment, or something along those lines.

A while back the carrier did an air show for some high ranking officials from Jakarta. Here are some pictures. I am sure the rents will love these:
We are pulling into port here shortly. I can’t say where, or at least I am not supposed to, but when the port visit is done, I will post some pictures and that sort of thing (Jon you are going to be jealous.)

Swimming Pools, Beaches, and Being Tan

For the past week or so I have been working quite a bit on my Officer of the Deck qualification. I passed my murder board, and I was told that it went fairly well. A murder board is where people come and ask you questions related tothe qualification prior to your actual board so that you can see where you are at prior to your real board. I am especially excited about getting this qualification finished because of two reasons:

One, I will stand this watch for a short period of time, and then I will get to stand watch in combat. This might not mean much to some of you, but it basically means that I can get work done more quickly, and I will be standing watch with the people in my division, which means more time with them.

Two, once I have this qualification I will get the opportunity to go to SWOS. SWOS ( I don’t know what the acronym stands for) is a class that all Surface Warfare Officers go to that is located in Rhode Island. The class is three weeks long and I will get to come back to the States for a short period. For the momma (because I am sure you are overly excited) I don’t know when I will get to go to SWOS, but as soon as I do know the dates I will let you know.

It will be nice to get a chance to eat at some good restaurants, go to New York City or Boston, just to be back in America in general. It is hard to say exactly what it is about the being in the U.S. that makes me want to be back there. There is always the food, your own bed, driving, girls and clubs and drinking, but it isn’t necessarily any one thing. The U.S. is just better than everywhere else. Cliché, I know.

One thing out here that are pretty cool are the sunsets. I haven’t taken any recent pictures of the sunsets, but I have something better, something back from the good ol’ mustache days:


Man, what nice staches… and Marty is jumping in:

Hey hey it’s Marty… remember me? Well, things are really moving along out here. I had a really interesting day. My VBSS team (the guys who board other ships) did our first training mission. So, after nearly ten years in the Navy… I finally got to ride in a helicopter. It was kind of cool… in an old school Vietnam movie kind of way. I just needed a little Creedance Clearwater Revival in the background to complete the scene. We took a small boat back to our ship and unloaded our gear. I was really exhausted and hungry as I stood the late watch the night before (as I do every night actually) and had to miss breakfast to catch my flight. There were some cameras going so if I can I will include a picture of two in the near future of me dressed up in my “tactical” outfit.
This is a very interesting operating area and the US Navy plays a big role out here. More specifically, WE are playing a big role in the operations. They like to phrase it “the pointy end of the spear”. Well, it should make for some great sea stories as guys like Mitch and I earn our salt. Hope everything is great state-side… I should be home in less than two months!

-Marty Blomberg

P.S. Special thanks to Diane for sending the great care packages… those instantly become the property of the room… and I probably snack more on those goods than Mitch does.


On that note the packages have been great. I love getting the magazines and the nice assortment of snacks and workout food. I think I have gotten more mail/packages than anyone else on board. The amount of broken cardboard that is left in a pile in our room after a mail call is absurd.

My typing is a bit loud right now as my roommates have gone to sleep. I will write again soon.

Wog Day

I have not blogged for quite some time, but today I made a point of sending some stuff out. Since Singapore things have been very busy. We have moved on and things have gotten more important in my day to day work. On that note, let me tell you about a little ceremony we have out here when we cross the equator.

Anyone that has crossed the equator before is considered a Shellback. Anyone that has not crossed the equator is considered a Pollywog, or just plain WOG (dirty, slimey, rotten wog). Not too long ago I was one of these dirty wogs and needed cleansing by the great King Neptune and Davy Jones.

Leading up to the actual ceremony is just a bunch of talk. The Shellbacks begin to get into character and start bossing wogs around making them wear signs and sing songs. My division made this sign for me:

What this meant was that every time that an Honorable Shellback wanted, they could make me do the Superman part of “Crank that Soulja Boy”. Not too bad compared to some of the things that the other wogs on board had to do.

There were a few times that I was asked to sing a wog song, songs that the Shellbacks made up that take well known songs and change the lyrics to fit the occasion. When asked to sing these songs I repeatedly refused, told the Shellbacks that I would never memorize these songs, and to bring their worst on the day of the crossing the line ceremony. Before the ceremony people can be sent Subpoenas making them a special case and forcing them to see the royal court on wog day. I received three of these.

On wog day every wog is required to wear a white shirt with Wog written on it, and a pair of uniform pants worn inside out. The night before wog day I made a pretty awesome shirt to add a little flavor to the fun of wog day:

I figured, what is the fun of wog day if everyone does exactly what they are told?

The next morning every wog was woken up early in the morning and told to muster up in a certain area of the ship. We were immediately put on our hands and knees and told not to look up. Sitting on my knees was not the best place for me to show off my shirt saying “I hate Smellbacks.” As people would walk by me and read my shirt, many of them would state, “So you hate Shellbacks do you?” I would promptly correct them and tell them it was actually “Smellbacks.” Within 5 minutes of waking up someone proceeded to write “Special Case” on my back.

You can see the green marker on my back as I am doing push ups. I ended up doing quite a few of these by the end of the day.

The day proceeded with me crawling around, getting sprayed with salt water (never ending salt water) and any other thing that an Honorable Shellback said that I had to do. The event started inside and moved to the outside part of the ship. There was a planned circuit for the wogs and it started on the aft part of the ship and continued to the forward part of the ship and then back down the other side. At any time if a Shellback desired they could send you back to the beginning.

I lost count of how many times I was sent back to the beginning. To make the day more fun I talked trash to the Shellbacks and laughed when I felt like laughing (mostly at times that you weren’t supposed to laugh). Throughout the day I would hear someone call, “Where is Britto?” Most people were looking for me to either send me back to the beginning, or to make me do the Soulja Boy. I probably did and taught the Soulja Boy to most of the crew that day:

At the very end of the day after finally getting to the end of the line, you go to see the Royal Court. I was made to sing songs repeatedly, even though I didn’t know the words and then I was given the chance to plead guilty to my wog crimes and be cleansed of my sliminess. Considering I was now one of the last 4 to finish, I finally confessed to my dirty wog sins. I was cleansed and made a Shellback.

I had a blast on wog day. I liked the way it was run. It was fun and enjoyable because people had the right spirit about the day. I would actually do the day again if I had to. I am not gonna ask for it, but I would.

Since that day I have been extremely busy. So busy, that I forgot it was my birthday. I did not get a chance to check my email until the evening to see all the nice emails that I had gotten, and I didn’t remember until I was giving a brief and it said that it was the 26th of April.

Alex, to answer your long lost, but not forgotten question, no, I have never seen a rogue wave. I don’t know anyone that has, but I have been told that they are huge and could probably knock our ship on its side. I don’t know how true that is, but it is a possibility.

I will try and email all of you more regularly. I have been receiving all of your emails and I really appreciate them I just haven’t had the time to respond. As things calm down here I will respond as I can.

I can’t wait to be back in San Diego.