Well today I tried to knock off a few request shots and also grabbed a few others in between. I started with LT CMDR Charles Brunn (right) from Greenfield, IN. He's been on Indy for the last two and a half years and when I asked him to describe his average day… "That's hard to do," he said. Brunn works in Indy's Carrier Intelligence Center and said days start early and end late. "If I were speaking to a classroom about choosing a career, I would say, 'Pick something that's exciting and natural for you. Don't choose a job for the stability or the paycheck, but for the pleasure the job brings to you.'" Brunn said the best part to his job is the satisfaction of turning in at night with the good feeling of doing the right thing. "I'll talk about the great people I've been able to work with, and," he paused, "the rare talent, especially in the young Sailors here."

I'm not sure where I was heading when I ducked into the PR shop for VQ 5 and VRC 30 where C-2A Greyhound pilot Lt. Sean McDermott (below; left) from Stony Point, NY was getting a helmet for his next flight from PR2 Richard Gibson Quay from Middleburg, FL. "Mail makes you very popular," said McDermott who pilots the CODs that bring Indy most of her mail. "We bring Sailors happiness and good fortune," he said with a broad smile. I was thinking of that fat credit card bill which I acquired while on leave recently.

Setzler said that despite the fact this was the first cast Decker had ever removed, he wasn't nervous. I stayed until the saw was shut down, I can testify that there was no blood drawn.

Tarka and Smyth are a part HS-14's search and rescue crew and Tarka thought a second before saying, "The hardest part of our job is having to be ready every minute of every day when we're underway." Tarka said if someone told him this is where he'd be today back in High School, he would have said, "Sounds like fun." Fun is what he would enjoy for a stress reliever if he could… a big diving board on the stern and a helo to pick him up after he dives off for a swim.

OK, you're asking why all the panoramic shots today, no? Well, hopefully I won't go overboard with the panoramic, but ya see, I just got this great software that takes a series of photos and "stitches" them together… giving the bigger look at things. Anyhow, I have to admit I fooled around with it quite a bit this morning. But, was like a fall noonday today, all day. The kind of stay-inside-&-look-at-pictures-of-summer day. There's still a chill that is right on the edge of summer leaving and winter heading in. Today has a clean ozone like smell to it, I was sure it was going to rain. It didn't. Anyhow, we flew all day today… an early COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) flew in this morning bringing with it a couple thousand pounds of mail… just can't escape them bills!

Heading from one side of the ship to the other, I stopped to snap AMH AN Vincent Dean (below) from Staten Island, NY and AN Mike Barnes (left) from Cincinnati, OH working together on moving an engine. Dean, from HS-14, and Barnes, from V 2, are both TAD to HAZMAT. We take care of processing and discharging hazardous materials like paint, used batteries, light bulbs, and fuels," they said. "We stow the materiels until a VERTREP (vertical replenishment, when a helicopter will carry off large crates of stuff, and bring crates on too) flies it off."

Again on my way to getting lost, I followed the sound of a chainsaw to the emergency room where Deck Seaman Christopher Setzler (below) from Palmdale, CA was getting his cast removed by HM2 Mike Decker (lower left) from Saint Louise, MO.

Taking care of a few more requests over in HS-14 world, I waited on this railing (called the catwalk that surrounds most of the ship and hangs just below the flight deck) under a full moon. You could see the fires from oil wells burning off in the distant, which was the only evidence that land was somewhere out there in the night. The stars pretty much sink into the sea, and hey, ya know, maybe the world is flat. Well, after the last bird was off the deck, Lt. Matt Tarka (below) from Collegeville, PA and AW2 Patrick Smyth (left) from Dublin, CA were brought back down out of that moonlit, star-speckled sky in their dull gray helicopter.

Smyth said the days are pretty much routine and consisted of training, flying, eating, training, flying, collateral duties, eating, training, flying… "The hardest part is the constant in and out to sea," Smyth said. "Just as you get into a rhythm back on the beach, it's time to head back out to sea."

Well… leaving ya here with this "stitched" sunset off the fantail. Hope ya like it...