Explaining myself

This post might be broken down into a couple of volumes. I know as well as anyone that I have not written in forever since my last posting, but that isn't because I was THAT lazy. It all started a long time ago, and snowballed as to why I haven't posted in some time.



So there I was, getting ready to move out of the barracks. A lot was on my mind, and sadly meeting the weekly post deadline was not on the short list. I moved into an apartment that obviously did not come with Internet. Hell, I didn't even have furniture. There were free wi-fi spots around base, but I didn't really have enough time in my scheduled day etched out to sit there for time on end and report.



Sure I could have gotten Internet much sooner in my place, but I was continuously being jagged around with when I was actually leaving for Diego Garcia. First it was going to be the week after I moved into my place, so early October. Then they pushed it back a week due to weather. There was an ensuing typhoon that was creeping up on Sasebo which luckily didn't hit us, but it cancelled my flight. They, and when I say "they" I mean the uppers and administration, pushed my date back again because they travel itenerary was too expensive. They needed another week to figure out a cheaper way to fly me out. All this time I chose to hold off Internet service since I originally thought I was going to be already be in Diego Garcia.



So there I was in Diego Garcia. In the middle of nowhere. I mean I have never been more isolated from anything in my life. I was 1,000 miles from the next nearest rock, island, piece of land sticking out of the water. Internet service was available, but it was a privledge, not a given. You could pay for that privledge, and I did, but even so dial-up in 1995 would have been faster and more reliable than the stuff we had. For 30 days of service I had to pay $250, and even at that price sometimes I couldn't connect, some pages wouldn't upload, and it was sort of like the navy: no such thing as a good day, just degrees of bad. Luckily the most reliable website was facebook, but uploading pictures was next to impossible and an all weekend adventure. Needless to say I did not have a reliable way of posting a blog post on the island.



After I returned from the island I went another week without Internet at my place, and it was the same routine before I left. Finally the day came when I was able to get Internet in my place, but ran into a bit of a pickle. There were only two places where I could get service in my entire appartment. There was my bedroom which was not good because I needed that room to sleep in and it just isn't big enough to hold a desk to place the computer on. My next best and chosen option was my countertop in my dining room. Well, the counter is fitting for bar stools, which I did not have at the time. I spent the next 3 weeks with Internet in my apartment, but I had to stand at the counter to use it. Because I had to write so much and share a lot of stories and information, this was not suitable writing conditions. Finally my bar stools came in, and I had to wait another two weeks to find time to sit down and write.



I heard the people and listened to the complaints! I am back on my weekly schedule. Pictured below is my workstation for the rest of the time in Japan.

So I hope this explains my absence in my posting. I will make another couple of posts right now to explain my recent travels on today, but I figured this deserved it's own explaination.