**Music!!**

After yesterday's very whiny post, I'll try to be more positive today. Which
is much, much easier because I have **music!!** again. 

About a week ago, I sent my sister an email: 
"Hi sis,

I have a huge favor/gift request if you want to swing it and/or have the
time to do it. 

I used to have an ipod shuffle, a little bitty thing that had a bunch of
music
on it, that I listened to in my stateroom. We took a massive roll a couple
of weeks ago that launched nearly everything off my desk. Including my
shuffle.
I have no idea which nook or cranny it fell into, but after hours of tearing
my room apart, I am forced into the conclusion that the shuffle has been
sacrificed to Neptune through the mighty maw of DILIGENCE. 

I'm *craving* music. Background stuff that complements the white noise of
the ventilation and drowns out the chatter in my head as I work.
Singer-songwriter, outlaw country, rockabilly, sea shanties, even some
classical would be wonderful.

If you can, would you mind putting some tunes on an i-something (that's the
type of speaker assembly that's in my room) and sending it to me at our next
port call? If you want to ask family for help with it, that would be lovely
too. 

ONLY IF YOU HAVE TIME!!!!!

This is totally a "nice to have" :)"

She sent me a purple one. Because she likes purple. I've been looking
forward to getting it for days. And yesterday, the modern miracle of mail
came through!

The shuffle had quite a trip...we sent our small boats in (both of them) for
a logistics run. We had someone flying out today, but the weather was
supposed
to get bad, so I wanted to get him to shore while we could. We were out of
milk and produce. I asked for a veggie scramble yesterday morning, and was
told the
only veggies the cooks had left were onions. And our starboard main deck
landfill
was overflowing. We don't have any way to process trash onboard except a
trash 
compactor. And after as long as we've been underway since our last port
call, especially with migrants on deck, we were starting to run out of room
to put our trash. I needed to get some of it gone.

The point of all this was that, since we were going in anyway, I had the
guys pick up our mail. Which means I got my shuffle. Love the Allison Krause
and 
Paul Simon. There's also some great stuff that I don't know what it is.
Uncle Heathen contributed some, as did Aunt Nancy. It's fun trying to figure
out whose music is whose 

I grinned for the rest of the afternoon. 

Then this morning I laughed out loud when "Take It Easy" by The Eagles came
on. I told my sister years ago that it was one of my favorite songs. We
played it on MAUI as our breakaway song after fueling from a US Navy cruiser
working in the area. It was a glorious flat calm day, and it was definitely
the best life's soundtrack song for that moment. I was so happy to hear the
song...it took me right back to that moment in the NAG.

And then I laughed again when the next song was "Semper Paratus"...while I
cussed her a little bit. When I told her that, she emailed me back, "Excuse
me, *I* am not the person who put your shuffle on, er, shuffle!!!"

I know I've said it a bunch, but thanks again, sis. You make this sailor's
journey that much easier every day! Even before the shuffle.

LCDR Charlotte Mundy
Executive Officer
USCGC DILIGENCE (WMEC 616)
**UNDERWAY**