This week’s Photo of the Week comes from Flickr user OneEighteen, a Houston ship pilot. The photo is of a tanker in the Houston ship channel, the Sanko Blossom. I thought it was a cool picture because of the sheer massive size of the ship, and the way that’s really emphasized by the angle from which the shot was taken. I haven’t gotten any new photos this year around campus. If you have any photos you’d like to submit for Photo of the Week, please e-mail me.

As I’m sure regular readers know, I went to Coast Guard Basic Training this past summer, having enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. Since coming back to MMA, I’ve had quite a few of my shipmates ask me about it, some of whom are interested in doing it themselves. In my Internet travels, I have discovered some resources, some new and some well-established, that may be of interest to those with questions about recruit training.

This year my classmates in license majors and I started the Merchant Mariner Documentation process. Merchant Mariner Documentation, or MMD, is the Coast Guard’s merchant marine identification and management system, keeping track of all registered merchant mariners in the United States. It is required to have MMD in order to ship on any commercial vessel in the U.S., so we start the process about 15 months prior to shipping commercially.

I received a suggestion last week (I know, I really need to post more often/faster) that I explain what chart work is. It took me a little bit to understand that this suggestion is valuable in a couple of ways. First off, I’m guessing that whoever suggested it is not the only reader of mine that doesn’t know what that term refers to, so it would behoove me to explain it.

I received a suggestion this week that I explain the basis/history of my name, and why it has an unusual spelling. The spelling of my name is Dutch, having two A’s at the end. When my parents were picking names, they considered naming me Christian, but decided it was too common (though I don’t even meet too many people with that spelling). My dad was reading a book one day which mentioned a Dutchman with the name Christiaan, and my parents decided it was unusual enough.

Holy smokes, he’s back! Yes, after being cut off from the real world for two months, I am finally finished with boot camp and starting my sophomore year at MMA. I’ve been back at Mass Maritime for two days now, having arrived at school yesterday morning. Already I’ve noticed differences in daily life between being a fourth class and being a third class. First off, the most obvious differences: We no longer have cleaning stations and study hours.

I’m writing this at about 0130, mere hours before I will be hitting the road to go up to Boston and start my journey through boot camp and into the Coast Guard. I’m excited, and a little nervous, but I’m confident that I will be able to handle it. I may or may not be posting through snail mail, having my mom add my posts for me. I will, however, be posting via snail mail over at AN UNOFFICIAL COAST GUARD BLOG, as I am the newest writer for that blog.

I know this post is really, really long overdue, but I got a Skribit request that I write it, so I thought it was about time I got around to doing it. I’ve mentioned Emory Rice day before, where I described the planned itinerary for the day and gave a brief description of what the day is. First off, the marching competition. First Company was, naturally, the first company to march.

Happy Father’s Day everyone! My dad is a remarkable man. He is the father of two, and a devoted husband. He is a retired Army officer of 23 years. His encouragement and guidance have helped me determine and soon achieve my goal of becoming a member of the United States Coast Guard, as well as most other achievements in my life. I am proud that he is my father, and can only hope to be as fine a man, officer, and citizen of this country and world as he is.

You probably thought I’d forgotten about the Photo of the Week this week, didn’t you? Not to worry, I had simply been outside enjoying the day and was waiting to post it when I thought other people would be back inside too. I know it’s a Friday evening in June, but there may be a few people reading it tonight, you never know. Anyway, this week’s picture is actually one I took last fall after being at the Academy for only a few weeks.