26 April 09

The mighty warship San Francisco has officially completed her repairs and has rejoined the operational Fleet! My personal involvement with this accomplishment consumed a lot of time, and as a result this is the first chance I've had to update since the Christmas break. All that work was well worth it, however. I think I can honestly say getting the ship put back together and sailing her to a new homeport has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I've ever had. San Diego (which I'm told is German for "whale's vagina" ;^) ) is a MAJOR improvement  over Bremerton in just about every sense of the word. Just when I thought my case of pasty whiteness was terminal,  we finally get to soak up some of that warm southern California sun!

I'm in a bit of a limbo state down here as far as living arrangements are concerned. I'm currently staying in a barracks room on base, which is about like a good-sized hotel room. However, I only have what I could fit on the boat with me as far as personal property goes. Alas, this meant that a lot of my clothes, books, and all of my war gaming gear is still resting comfortably in Bremerton, as is my car. Hopefully, I can get to all of it by the end of June or first part of July. Until then, I'm pretty much living in a shoe box and relying on public transportation, rides, and borrowed cars to get around!

In the mean time, I've set out to investigate the hobby prospects in the local area. As it turns out, there is really only  one gaming store in the whole San Diego area, a place called Game Empire. This is a pretty big change from the Seattle area, which had at least six such stores that I can think of off the top of my head.  Fortunately, I went there yesterday as a sort of initial reconnoiter and was duly impressed! The staff seemed quite friendly, and their selection of merchandise was pretty good. I purchased some more Axis & Allies War At Sea gear, since it is relatively inexpensive and I figured it could hold me over until I can get to the rest of my stuff later this summer. The store apparently has a pretty active War At Sea group that meets every Monday, so I'm going to see if I can get back over there tomorrow night and join in the fun!

The next update might take a little while as the San Fran will be pulling out again in the near future (I can't say exactly when; Silent Service and all that!), so that will effectively put the site into  hibernation again until I get back. However, I'm hoping to write some updates while I'm underway so that I can post them as soon as I pull in. Until next time, Keep it Classy, San Diego!