A few weeks ago I posted about TWIC, the new identification system for mariners from the TSA. I picked up my TWIC card here at school today. The TSA has come to us to do enrollment and delivery, which has been very convenient as it keeps us from having to travel to get it. This week they’ve been back on campus delivering TWIC cards that have been created and ready for use.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am today, and headed for such a bright future, if it hadn’t been for my mom. She’s the most loving, compassionate, and generally amazing person I know. I can only hope than anybody reading this has a mother as fantastic as mine is.
The Photo of the Week for this week was taken in Falmouth last Sunday. Nobska Light in the Fog: Lighthouses are a significant part of the maritime industry, as well as the Coast Guard. Since this one is so close to MMA, it seemed like a logical one to pick.
This week the 1st class cadets in license majors are taking their Coast Guard license exams. The exams last all week, and are given in the gym. Since four years of school and training has been leading up to these exams, it’s obviously a stressful time for these seniors. This week is different for all cadets. We have “short mofo” in the morning, which means that instead of forming up across the entire parade field, we form up in a half circle around the patio by the mess deck.
I’ve recently been spending a lot of time surfing and exploring on Flickr. I’ve been uploading my photo archives to Flickr, so while they’ve been sending I’ve been checking out other photos on the site. Through some natural stumbling, and some guidance from other bloggers, I discovered OneEighteen. His real name is Louis Vest, and he’s a ship pilot in Houston, Texas. He has a large array of absolutely amazing maritime photographs, covering ships of all shapes and sizes in various lighting and weather conditions.
On Friday I was featured as a CG Blog Find on AN UNOFFICIAL COAST GUARD BLOG. I haven’t featured this site myself on my blog, but they’ve been in my blogroll for a while. If you haven’t visited there, definitely check it out. It’s chock-full of great information about current Coast Guard news, information, and editorials. Thank you to Joe Coastie and CGBlog.org for featuring me!
This week’s Photo of the Week is a picture that I actually took - gasp - this week! It’s a photograph of an 87’ Coast Guard cutter passing the Mass Maritime campus as it heads east through the Cape Cod Canal. Since I’m planning on going into the Coast Guard, I get pretty excited when I see Coast Guard vessels and aircraft around campus, and this was no exception.
Peter Mello over at Sea-Fever found a service that translates whatever ye type into scurvy pirate shout. It gunna also message your scurvy pirate message directly to twittArrr, PirateSpace, or send an e-mail. I can see myself usin’ this a lot, fer no reason at all. Avast!
Mass Maritime has a multi-layer chain of command, due to the co-existence of cadet and staff officers and leaders. I’ve created an overview of the chain of command below. Staff Officers President of the Academy Vice Presidents Commandant of Cadets Vice Commandant of Cadets Company Officers Cadet Officers Regimental Commander Regimental Executive Officer Regimental Staff Company Commanders Company Executive Officers Company Staff Platoon Leaders Squad Leaders Petty Officers Fourth Class Cadets
Even though I’m a Deckie, I like to broaden my own field of knowledge by getting involved with things from other departments as well. Currently the International Maritime Business department is offering a 3 part series on how to build your own PC. Being interested in computers, and having built PCs before, I was curious to see what this was all about and what they were using to do it.
