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Since the USS Ohio is the first SSGN submarine out here in Guam, lots of people want to see it. Today a group of Sea Cadets came down to explore the boat. Lieutenant Bryan Wooldrige showed them around explaining the inner workings of the boat. He’s the one that gave Tom, Jennifer’s step father, that awesome tour back in Washington.

So I’ve been in Guam for a little while now, but I’m still trying to get used to the time change. Since I’m 18 hours further ahead in time, I sometimes find myself getting tired around 4 pm in the afternoon where it would be 10 pm (the day before) back home.

The weather is hot and humid. December through June is supposed to be the dry season, called “fanumnangan”. The remaining months are the rainy season, called “fanuchanan”. December through February are supposed to be the coolest and least humid months. If they are, I’m not looking forward to the hot months!

I was in the food court at one of the exchanges using the wi-fi so I could download the new 1.1.3 update for my iPhone. (Okay, maybe a little geeky!) I went to get a drink with my food when I noticed that instead of Hiawiian Punch, it’s called Chamorro Punch here in Guam. Pretty funny. The locals here are called Chamorros. I’m not sure in they have something against Hawaiians.

I’m taking my iPhone with me everywhere trying to snap quick photos of most everything. Check out my tumblr site to follow along.

We had a few friends over on Christmas Eve. Tim‘s son Phoenix really liked Photo Booth! I think he took about 50 photos! That’s him in the front with me in the back.

Santa was very nice to me this year! I snapped a few photos of my new MacBook Pro with my iPhone. The hard red case is by Speck and is a perfect fit. This is my first Mac, and I can’t believe I didn’t get one sooner!

Kurt and Wendy are the proud parents of Sullivan Dale Daniels! He was born on December 10th at 9:44 am. He weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces and was 21 inches long!

Yesterday, Jennifer and I went to Hubert’s Noble Ridge Tree Farm to find the perfect Christmas tree. They are located just outside downtown Bremerton, Washington. Here’s a Google Map to Hubert’s to help you get there.

This place is huge! Check out the photo of Jennifer in one of the fields at Hubert’s on my tumblr site. They have over 40 acres filled with a wide variety of trees such as Douglas Fir, Noble Fir, Grand Fir, Shasta Fir, Southwest Alpine (Cork Bark), Norway Spruce and Blue Spruce. We ended up choosing the Blue Spruce. Every year the selection may be slightly different depending on which types are ready to be cut. You can see from the map below, there are many fields full of younger ones that will be ready in the years to come.

It’s easy to navigate around the farm using their map. You pick it up at the little red house you drive up to at the entrance. There are no fees for entering, but if you need a saw they will take a deposit of $5 or your license. Stay as long as you want. They are open from 9 Am to 5 PM.

They even offer warm apple cider complete with a cozy fire at “The Noble House” located in the center of the farm. It’s where the flag is on the map. You can pretty much see the flag from every part of the farm since it is on a hill. At the house you’ll find a shaker to help get any loose needles off the tree. On the weekends a local Boy Scout troop is out there to bail the trees for you.

We will definitely be back next year.

Yesterday, I went to see Bert Monroy give a seminar as part of the Photoshop CS3 Creativity Tour organized by Kelby Training. He’s an expert when it comes to Photoshop. He’s even in the Photoshop Hall of Fame. If you ever get the chance to attend one of these seminars, definitely do it. I consider myself an intermediate user of Photoshop, so this seminar was perfect for me. It reviewed some of the basics yet introduced me to some of the more advanced features of the program.

I took a few pictures while I was there with my iPhone. I uploaded them all to my tumblr site. Check them out. The above photo was taken when I ran into Bert Monroy in the lobby before the seminar started. I took another of Bert Monroy answering questions at the first break and one of where I sat at the Photoshop seminar. Pretty funny!

There was a bunch of the booths set up in the lobby by different vendors. I stopped by the B&H table and picked up a few of their free catalogs. The onOne Software company had a table setup up with info on all their Photoshop add ons. I went to the National Association of Photoshop Porfessionals table and joined. I ended up getting a $50 book and DVD for free as part of the membership. Wacom also had a table set up showing off their Cintiq displays. That display is definitely going on my wish list at B&H. The Cintiq display is what Burt Monroy uses on his podcast.

Bert also does a weekly podcast. I’ve been watching it since the first episode. It’s called Pixel Perfect and is produced and distributed by Revision3, a company Kevin Rose helped start with a few others from the TechTV era. They also do a bunch of other podcasts I listen too like DiggNation and The Totally Rad Show. You can download it from the Revision3 website or via iTunes.

By late afternoon, the storm started to break up enough for us to venture out. We decided to go up to Point No Point. It’s on the northeast point of the Kitsap Peninsula. It’s known for the small Point No Point Light House located there and for bird watching. It has one of the largest bird lists out of any site in Washington state. While we were there, I saw a guy with a huge spotting scope trying catch a glimpse of any rare birds brought in by the storm.

It was the combination of the storm clouds and the sunset that made for some very dramatic scenery.