Here's why I was gone for so long.

I received a call to go from Canada (cold, wet, icy) to Hawaii (warm,
sunny, dry) to sail on the frigate HMCS Calgary on anti-submarine
operations.  We were taking part in an American exercise.  Our
Canadian vessel was going to be the "bad guy."  American navy officers
who were learning to be submarine commanders had to take command of a
nuclear submarine and come find us before we found them and torpedoed
them.

The torpedos, while real, have no explosive loaded in them.
Furthermore, there is a boat acting as range control.  Every time we
lined up a shot, we had to radio for permission to fire.  They would
make the submarine surface and we would fire under him at the place
where he used to be.  Then computers would tell us if we hit him or
not.

It was a bizarre time.  To make it hard for the submarines to find us,
we had to go sonar quiet.  That means:  no TV, no radio, no using the
excercise equipment, no doing laundry, no being noisy.  (There is also
ultra quiet, reserved for when people are really trying to kill you,
and it involves no showers or using the toilet.  We DIDN'T do that.)

The whole ship is lit with red lights around the clock so as not to
ruin people's night vision.  It was like 24 hour a day darkness.
Every day I went up on the bridge to see the sun.

I am now writing some newspaper articles about the experience, and
trying to catch up on all the school work I missed.

Yeah, and i took a few days to tour around Hawaii.  DH told me not to
bring home any Hawaiian kitties.  I got offered one....a stray who
hung around the hotel....but sadly had to decline.

--Fil