DiffleBopper

Checking In

2011-03-17T14:42:00.001-07:00

Been working sixteen hour days on the Celebrity Mercury transformation into Mein Schiff 2 here in Bremerhaven, Germany. I wouldn't say good times exactly. . . a bit dry for my normal habits if you know what I mean. However, we've gotten a good start and a veritable metric ton of work done every day so I guess job satisfaction will have to be my current drug. May get a few hours off this weekend. . . wishful thinking is just that.

2011. . . For Now

2011-01-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

I'm trying out TripIt to keep better track of my travels but I think without a Pro Account it is pretty generic and has a few quirks. Prime example is that the automatically generated calendar below shows my trip from Turku to Copenhagen on January thirtieth but fails to show the second leg of that trip which will take me to Bremen where I actually have work to do. Not that I wouldn't mind working in Copenhagen but. . . well, I guess I am "stuck" there for eight hours so maybe the program assumes I'll be staying.

My work in Copenhagen will have to consist of working at the bars for a few hours.

Space!

2010-12-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Via: OnlineSchools.org

2010-11-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to think more and more that I'm not the person I think I am.

A Vain Attempt

2010-11-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Having written nothing else worth posting in the past month or so I will post my vain attempt at finding new and sane roommates here in South Florida.

Relatively Normal Guy Looking For A Room Until July – Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale

First the Rant. . .
So it turns out that South Florida might not be the easiest place to find some normal people to live with. Don't get me wrong, there's a ton of great people down here but for a 32-year-old, single male from Northern California sometimes the pickins seem mighty slim. It appears I need to be gay, female, quiet-as-a-mouse or completely sober to find a room in this area (not that there's anything wrong with any of those four things. . . I just happen not to be one of them). So, that being said I figure I'll lay a few things out and maybe get lucky on a housing situation until I depart Florida sometime next summer.

Now the Skinny. . .
I'm a laid back, big white dude from Oakland. Been in South Florida for almost four years and lived in two different houses (both roommates/landlords will be happy to defend my character). I'm not cheap and I'm not hurting for money but I travel for work and pleasure over half the year which is why I refuse to get my own place. (Only reason I'm leaving my current residence is to make space for my roommate's female companion.) My job is stable, my car runs smooth and if I were any nicer I'd be a human doormat. I don't smoke or take drugs but I like a good feed and a few drinks. That being said you probably won't even know when I've had a lot to drink. . . call it a talent or a curse. . . that's just how it is.

What I Like:
- Music: In all it's glorious forms (just take it easy on the country and polka). . . happen to be listening to Mumford and Sons (and now Ozomatli) at the moment.
- Movies: Almost anything is worth while if you can look at it from a certain point of view (preferably the point of view that almost anything can be infinitely funny).
- Sports: Not a fanatic but love to play basketball, ride my MTB and road bike, have a catch and occasionally watch some on TV.
- Books: Just don't give me anything too good or I won't go to sleep till I've finished it.
- Good People and optimistic attitudes (this would have been #1 if this list had any order to it).

What I Can Do Without:
- Personal Drama: We all go through some serious things at one point or another. I value people what can step back from a situation and provide a calm assessment of how bad it really is before reacting.
- Inconsiderate and/or mean people and actions.
- Pickles. . . don’t know what it is. . . could just do without them.
- Television: Ok, don’t get me wrong, I watch TV, just please don’t ask me to watch American Idol or CSI with you.

And Finally. . . The Wrap-Up:
I need to move out of my place anytime between now and December 15th (but I go to California for 3 weeks on Dec. 15th so I’d like to move in a bit before that). I’d be more than happy to meet anyone who has a room available for a meal or drinks before even seeing the house (yes, I prefer a detached house as my primary form of residence but of course will accept all major forms of residence). I plan to leave Florida next summer but will give more than a month worth of notice before departing. Hopefully this novel finds the right people who have a place for me to live. If you’ve managed to make it all the way through this manifesto and still might want me to join your household please send me an email. And if nothing else. . . have a good weekend!

Kiitos! - AD

Still Don't Know Finnish

2010-09-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

For some reason I haven't felt like writing anything while I've been here in Turku. It's been about seven weeks and I've had a lot more fun, taken more days off and visited more places than I did last year in ten weeks total. I should at least post some pictures on flickr or snapfish or somewhere! Lazy, that's what I am. Lazy homo sapien. That would be my rap name. . . if I were a rapper.

Good friend visited for two weeks in August and we had good times in Helsinki, Stockholm and Turku. Took the overnight ferry to Stockholm and that is definitely a different experience. Sort of a mini-cruise. It was nice to be in Stockholm again since I already know my way around. Hard city to get lost in anyway cause you get a little wet if you go too far in any single direction. I had aspirations of getting to Tallin before the end (only a two hour drive to Helsinki and a two hour ferry to Tallin) but things are about to ramp up on the Allure so that's probably not going to happen.

BUT the weather is still relatively warm here. Gets above 50 degrees every day but we've had some seriously heavy rainstorms. I'll take it though cause when the cold snap comes (and stays) is will rarely get above 40-45 degrees during the day. But the warehouse we've got this year will be a helluva lot better than the tent we had last year. I've decided tents should only be used for camping, not warehousing.

But for now it's time to find some grub and think about whether I should brave the outside world tonight. The Irish Bar nearly did me in last night so it might be a good night for a sauna and a good book. Need to enjoy my last few weekends of relative sanity and that rare feeling that I don't have a ton of work that I should be getting done. Heck, maybe I won't even come into the warehouse tomorrow. . . sounds magical to me.

Perhaps there will be pictures and stories soon. . . never can tell.

Back in Turku

2010-08-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

Seems like a short time ago that I left Finland after working on the Oasis but here I am 9 months later to see the birth of the Allure of the Seas. Manny things are the same as last year with a few key exceptions. I've got an apartment this year (hilariously located in what is essentially a retirement community). There's a store in the bottom of the building, a basketball court across the stree and it's only five blocks to walk downtown. Got a car as usual (Volkswagon Touran diesel) which don't go too fast but ain't too shabby neither.

However, the largest change this year is that the shipyard allowed us to take over one of their huge module halls as a warehouse. This is where they build gigantic steel sections of the ships and then open the roof and lift the pieces straight out with a six-hundred-ton crane that stradles this building and the dry dock next door where they put the ships together. It's a ton of room but we're gonna fill it with every little thing needed to get the ship up and running. We're talking about everything from the linens to the forks to slot machines and surf boards for the flow riders. Roughly three-hundred and fifty ocean containers from all over the world and another four dozen trucks from within the European Union is what it will take to get the ship stocked and ready to sail to Fort Lauderdale for passengers. But I'm boring you so back to life.

The apartment, for what it's worth.

Yes, that wood door leads to the two person sauna off the bathroom. Good action.

The warehouse. We're gonna fill it, I swear.

The main square in Turku which has a fair almost every day of summer. Never has a square been in more dire need of a fountain or sumthin!

Well, I could write a whole lot more but it's Saturday and I've stuck myself in the warehouse all day so I need to get out of the shipyard and look for some fun. I really need to get ahead so I can take the next two weekends off when a friend from SF visits. Yup, time to get out of here. If I get to Helsinki and Stockholm (or Tallin) like I plan to I'll try to get some pictures up on Flickr. Good times.

Working In Finland Again

2010-08-01T01:06:00.001-07:00

Apparently it's that time of year again, where I travel to Finland for three months and try to kill myself with work and occasional play. Going to be working on the Allure of the Seas this year which is the sister ship to the Oasis which we did last year. It looks to be a much different job this year for quite a few reasons. First of all I've got an apartment that I'll share with one of the guys who works for me. Last year I stayed about seven weeks in a hotel with only a mini-fridge for amenities and then moved onto the ship for the last month, though the ship wasn't anywhere near completed. The apartment is supposed to be nice too with a pool, gym, internet and a sauna in my unit (before you get shocked you should know that it's pretty standard for apartments to have a sauna in each unit).

Aside from the apartment, which should be a good time (I actually packed my new dartboard in one of my bags), I can also look forward to the fact that this year I know the shipyard, understand the process, am familiar with the town and have a few friends there that I met last year (no, I don't have a Finnish girl waiting for me). So, while I may have new work challenges this year (mainly running a fully functional warehouse for the 350+ ocean containers and 30-40 EU trucks that will come in) I think it's safe to say that I'm looking forward to quite a few things. I realise (spelled thusly since I'm sitting at Heathrow typing this) that I haven't posted here for a long time and as usual I'm not making any grand promises about posting more often. For one thing I find it much harder to get motivated when I'm going somewhere that I've been before. The pictures just don't seem as interesting. Maybe I'll have to focus more on people pics for a change of pace.

Well, I'm headed to Finland now and with a little luck will be thoroughly exhausted but having a beer by Sunday night on the river in Turku. Seems there's a big festival of some type and the weather is gorgeous (if maybe too hot) in Finland. . . . so couple that with a bunch of Finns on holiday and a sunset late in the evening and we've got a recipe for a good times disaster. I doubt I'll last more than 2 beers before I'm sleeping sitting up at the table. Guess I should do a little more work since the company is paying for this connection. . . and UK connections ain't cheap. That's all I got. (Well, that and droopy eyes.)

Kippis!

Moving Day

2010-03-21T16:02:00.001-07:00

I suppose I should have saved that subject title for if I ever decide to get out of Florida but for now it will be used to say that I'm moving onto the ship tomorrow but will only be there a few days before I fly back to Ft. Lauderdale. Got a month in the ol' F-L and then on to a job in Virginia followed by (hopefully) a little R&R&RA. (Rest & Relaxation & Running Around)

See cause I'm so smart that with my two weeks off I think I'll go to IAD, PHX, FLG and PDX just for kicks (and gradumifications, hilarity, familiarity and quasi-family). And seriously I've used the airport codes cause for a few of these places it might feel like that's all I've seen. Of course this might all change (well, at least drop the last airport code) if I need to go to Finland for meetings regarding the Allure of the Seas sometime in May.

However, as a few people love to remind me I've got it good. Real good. (Too bad I keep remembering that it's all relative.) And I do remember that. . . . I guess. Now if someone will just remind me of that when I'm on that eleven hour flight from Amsterdam to Houston on Thursday, I'll be fine. Actually, I'll be fine if I can just get an aisle seat.

Well, as usual, I'm rambling. Managed to work out And drink just a little tonight which seems to make me mellow. Perhaps I shouldn't write posts when listening to the slower songs by Tool (mom, don't bother looking that band up). Happy thoughts to all.

G'night.

Home On The Twenty-Fifth

2010-03-15T13:45:00.001-07:00

Ok, so it's only a few days sooner than I thought I was gonna get home but this is very exciting stuff! This means I'll have FOUR FULL WEEKENDS in Florida before leaving on the next journey! (And NO, this isn't sarcasm (even though the "NO" was) because I'm looking forward to four weeks working only fifty to sixty hours a week and getting in some biking.)

It's still cold here. . . yup. . . almost cold enough for me to look forward to the Miami heat. But not quite. Hope all is wild and quiet in the world. It is here.

Chilly Willy

2010-03-10T10:37:00.001-08:00

Those of you with dirty minds take two steps back in this game of redlight, greenlight that we call life.

Been in Papenburg, Germany since Sunday on an "emergency" call to the Eclipse new build project. (All my best to Skip's mom, and Skip himself, during this tough time.)

Whelp, turns out it's cold in northern Germany this time o' year. . . who'da thunk it? This morning it was minus four on the ol' celciometer. Cold and gray and meanwhile it was actually NICE in Miami for once right before I left. Ah well, at least I can work out a bit without sweating too much (of course "working out" in this environment involves me either stacking pallets, wrapping pallets or pushin' the ol' pallet jack around the warehouse for hours on end (and by "jack" I'm not referring to my co-worker who's first name isn't Pallet but it happens to be Jack. . . yeah, he's too old to push around) which can be fun but gets a little old on the ol' back) which is completely different than Miami usually is where I'm dripping with sweat just getting geared up to ride my bike, without actually riding it.

Three steps forward to anyone who got all of that last "sentence" on the first, or even second, go 'round. An additional step forward to anyone who thought my adaptation of the word celcius was at all clever. . . it may not have been at all clever but at least I tried. Which reminds me of this story. . .

Once upon a time (or Back In The Day, as the kids sometimes say) whilst involved with a ceremony at church (no laughing, please) I was standing around with my brothers and at least one other "older" person. (Remember that when you're young even people two hours older than you are "older.") I don't remmeber the exact conversation but not surprisingly it was centered around the Virgin Mary and various jokes that might pertain to such a singularity as her. At some point, rather innocently I might add, I piped up and blurted out, "But I thought Mary had a little lamb!?" Welll, I'm pretty sure I didn't understand how funny that might be and on what levels but I did think I was funny and the "older" kids actually laughed and I felt a little too good about myself. When asked where I came up with my fine little interjection I responded something to the effect of, "You gotta swing the bat if you wanna hit a homerun." About as genius as those sports commentators who point out that the team who scores more points is gonna win the game. Fin.

Quite the masterpiece above, eh?
Everyone who read that take one step back cause you probably just got a little dumber having read it.

Ok, so far dinners have been taken in the hotel restaurant (which is excellent but not exactly lively) so tonight it's off to the pub for the Man U football match (hopefully) and some rumproast. Papenburg is only about fifteen-thousand people so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get a seat at the bar.

Five steps forward to anyone who snickered at the word, "rumproast."

T-I-D-E. . . Tired

2010-02-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

Or so a certain woman in a certain BB King song would lead me to write. Cause that's how ya spell tired when you're too tired to say all the letters.

I leave Tokyo manana. Bound for Wisconsin I am. Culture shock here I come. Quite a few people might think that I'd rather be here than at my destination. Arguments for = fresh sushi, cute Japanese girls and the "thrill" of traveling in foreign lands. Arguments against = big fat steak, a pace not designated by twelve million people living in one small area and shit howdy! have you ever even met my brother in Wisconsin?!?!? The man is a laugh riot #1 cowboy genius comedian savant extraordinaire! (Seriously, if the adjectives don't get separated by commas it means a little something extra.) Oh yeah, and he has been reported to read the dictionary while patronizing the latrine! (Though I have never witnessed such actions myself and I'm sure he only studies the words of our forebearers as a means to add to his legendary cowboy genius status. The cad!)

So I must say that Singapore and Tokyo were great (especially the food, which will likely warrant a whole folder on Flickr but will sadly never be seen by my great foodie-friend Missus Brandy Sue Loo Hoo Harms-(insert Italian sounding name here). But that's ok because perhaps the Indian Ocean connection with the weak ankles will pick up on the pictures and upon her next meeting with the Loo Hoo will convince her that she should spend some serious time in Asia for her new food blog.) But, uh, yeah, food is good. . . especially here.

As usual I'm quite obviously babbling, which is a serious sign that I haven't had enough to drink tonight. However, fat and happy as I always am I'd like to take this opportunity to say that too much time spent in large cities might be bad for people. Perhaps I've spent a day too many wandering around incredibly crowded streets just waiting for my head to snap on that one guy or gal who isn't Asian but then again, perhaps I just need to relax and visit another Onsen. More likely, I'd say.

Final thought: In light of reviewing the above post I wonder if I'm allowed to write an entire entry within parentheses? Does writing within little sideways arcs mean that I didn't mean any of it? Are asides considered a permanent thought as opposed to a flightful fancy? Do tangents hold rank with the 'real' words that supposedly make up the trunk of this grammatical experiment? Am I more full of shit than a dung beetle's nest?

Likely.

Let Another Project Begin

2010-01-17T07:15:00.000-08:00

Minor chaos will ensue for my project which starts tomorrow. However, the logistical nightmare in Haiti makes me wish I were putting my meager talents to a more noble purpose. I'm all for altering the plan and being as flexible as possible but that place is screaming for a little order and a person with the vision to see the entire scope of the problems. I can't even begin to comprehend but my heart goes out to the people on that island.

I was going to post pictures of the Singapore skyline, local sights and some of the ridiculously awesome food I've been eating but it just seems wrong. Time to sleep in a bed I am currently forever grateful for. (And if that's not ironic truth in two words I don't know what is.)

Is That A Rocket In Your Pocket? Or. . .

2010-01-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

My man TC writes, "…there’s a rocket launcher looking think on your flicker at picture 1100526. What is that thing and, if it is indeed a rocket launcher as I suspect it is, can I get one shipped stateside for an engagement gift?"

My answer: That is ABSOLUTELY a rocket launcher, Brother! And HOW! You never know when those crazy pirates are gonna snap up that grand ol' tradition of hang glider attacks on giant cruise ships! Initially we were just gonna go with millions of doves we could release from the stacks on the ship to interfere with the gliders but eventually a slightly more hi-tech solution made more sense.

Your order has been placed for one (1) industrial strength, self-guiding rocket launcher along with a mounting system for your mountain home. Good luck with the foes you plan on deploying this system against; aggressive mountain elk, flying marmots, raptors and of course, hippies. Happy Hunting!

Ok, actually this is a crane mounted on one of the high points of the Oasis of the Seas.

I won't tell you what the crane is actually for because it's so mind bogglingly dull compared to images of hunting flying marmot pirates from the rooftop of a mountain home (maybe with a few PBRs alongside) that you'd probably pass out from lack of blood to the brain due to all the blood looking for a part of the body that is doing something more interesting than thinking about what this crane is actually for.

Good night.

I Want To Be THIS Guy

2009-11-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

Can't Type. . . Must. . . . Link.

2009-11-25T21:29:00.000-08:00

The final frame is so true.
Dino Truth

Twin Falls, ID.
Family Fun

Politics Suck
Also True

P-A-R-T-Y? (Because I gotta!)
Final Nights in Finland

And what post would be complete without a picture of some people drinking in a freezing warehouse. . .

The best part of the job?

Getting Home

2009-11-01T02:51:00.001-08:00

Sitting in Terminal 5 at Heathrow I finally have the time to write about the end of our work on Oasis of the Seas in Turku. I stress that it's only our work in Turku that is done because when the Oasis arrives in Fort Lauderdale on November 11th it's like a whole new job will start. The ship is 99% finished, or will be upon arrival stateside, but one key are is missing a few things. We haven't put in the trees and plants for Central Park. We're talking 30'+ trees and a ton of other foliage. Such is the task that we have to use a 650 ton crane to reach up and over decks 15 and 16 where the pools are to drop the trees down onto deck 8 which is open to the sky for Central Park on the center line of the ship. That part doesn't bother me so much and will probably be pretty interesting to set up and work.

The other projects that are going on will probably bother me a little. Good Morning America will shoot live on the ship one day and not too soon after there is a concert planned with Rihanna on the stern which is the Aqua Theatre. The amount of road boxes and gear that we're going to have to load will necessitate another crane to work the aft end of the ship. And seeing how everyone involved is in entertainment (or as my co-worker Skippy calls them, the dancers and the prancers) I'm sure it will be, um. . . made much more difficult than it needs to be. On top of those two cranes we also have 3-4 shell gate doors that will see a steady influx of provisions, shop goods, wine, etc. and a steady outflux of garbage and tools from the work still going on during the Atlantic crossing. (And why the heck isn't outflux a word?)

But, as usual, I undress. . . uh, digress.

The end of the job was hectic but from our side it was well in control. Actually if some areas on the ship had been ready sooner we would have been done with all the loading at least a week before departure. As it was we were still lifting things to the Boardwalk and Central Park well past midnight and the ship pulled away from the pier at 0600 on Friday. The best part was the safety items that absolutely had to be on board before departure. . . two small air shipments that went from Copenhagen to Helsinki and didn't arrive to the ship until midnight and about 0500 respectively. I do find it a little ridiculous that the ship has been loading heavily for two months and we can't even get everything we need locally from the EU on board. Oh well, done now. Skippy and I cleaned up the warehouse on Friday and loaded containers to Miami and containers to stay in the yard for storage for the Allure. There's a pretty good chance I'll be going back to Finland next year for the Allure around the same time. There's a rumor that the Allure will be commissioned a month earlier which would be truly awesome because we would be in Finland for the better part of the summer.

After cleaning up the yard Skip and I took a shot of Jagermeister and had a 500ml Lapin Kulta (local beer) at the hotel. But the celebration was only just beginning. The fork lift and truck drivers from the shipyard invited us to an Ice Cream Sauna party. I know, doesn't sound too good with just a bunch of dudes but its only called the ice cream party because these guys sell ice cream for a small profit throughout the year at their office and use the proceeds to rent a large sauna every few months. SO, it should have been called the beer and sauna party, cause that's exactly what it was. We got the sauna up to 75 degrees Celsius, which I am told is NUTHIN' for these guys, and it was interesting to sit there and wonder if your skin can actually spontaneously begin to blister from the heat of the steam. Also interesting to roll in there with a cold beer and before you can finish the darn thing it's damn near boiling hot. (Of course, I had to commit the ultimate party foul and allow a beer bottle to break on the floor in the sauna. . . fellas took it pretty well though.)

Sauna party lasted till 11pm and then we headed to one of our favorite places called The Castle. . . I may have spoken of it before. Closed that place down and all in all had an excellent last night in Turku. Had a nice dinner in Helsinki last night with a new local friend and significantly less alcohol but significantly more food than the night before. Early to bed, early to rise and now I'll be in Miami around 6:15 if all goes well.

Hope to catch up with people this week. I'm supposed to be off the whole week but there's too much work for me to ignore so I'll settle for sleeping later than 0600 and maybe multiple sushi meals! Kiipis!

Congratulations Are In Order

2009-10-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

Just want to send out a sincere congratulations to my man TC for his recent engagement. She's an amazing girl and I wish you both the best for all the years to come.

The Bosses Have Gone Home

2009-10-16T10:47:00.001-07:00

After tomorrow we'll have brought in 67 containers this week. There's about 320 total for the project so that's a pretty good chunk for one week. That leaves only 19 containers left for next week which is a walk in the park. The ship is struggling in a few areas but overall it's looking quite amazing. My bosses (literally; my manager, director and VP) were here this week which kinda slowed things down a little. Not too bad though and it was good to have them see a little of what I'm doing here. Of course my manager has done 3 ships here so it was nothing new to him. Went on the piss last night so I'm trying to turn in early tonight. There will be plenty of time to celebrate once this behemoth sails away on the 29th and I have a long Halloween weekend in a downtown Turku hotel before returning to the states around November 3rd. Can't wait for that meeting in downtown Miami on November 4th. . . right.

I'm lookin' at Thanksgiving with family in Idaho, possibly Xmas with broham in Wisconsin and definitely a visit to the Bay Area in early January right before I fly to Singapore for my next project. Maybe I should try for a few days in Tokyo right before since I gotta fly through there anyway. Gotta get off the eternal, infernal machine now. G'night.

Trial By Sea

2009-10-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when people put a title on something that's MUCH more interesting than the actual writing below will be? At least you've been warned this time around.

I'm writing mostly because the ship comes back at 0400 tomorrow and though I don't have to be there when it arrives the actual arrival is nonetheless a distinct representation of a shift in lifestyle for me. Gone are the ten to twelve hour days and newly born are the twelve-plus (at least) days. In a way I look forward to it because there's never a dull moment and at the end of most days we can kick back with a beer in the warehouse and reflect on how much we loaded on the ship that day and all the fun complications we had. There's certainly more satisfaction in physically seeing things get done than writing emails and fielding phone calls all day.

That being said, I had a moment today when I realized (probably for the Nth time) how much I'm actually following my chosen university studies. I had two majors in college; broadcasting and journalism. Granted I don't think I spend nearly enough time in front of the camera (the news world would melt from either adoration or madness if my mug appeared on the nightly news) but despite my horrible grammar I do spend plenty of time writing emails and reports. Mostly I remember courses that focused on future technologies and that was at a time when I didn't even own a cell phone. Now I carry a minimum of two mobiles with me almost always and half the time there's a radio or two involved and I've thought about getting a pager just cause I like that retro-look. (There's an 8-track in my Honda Element.)

So that's about it for my night before the storm login event. I might still have a few minutes to myself online every day but as I've proven before I doubt I'll be writing much here. Sadly I probably won't even have any interesting pictures until the ship is closer to finish and then certainly once it gets to Fort Lauderdale. I'm off to bed at twenty-two hundred and feeling pretty okay about that. However, a little White Stripes on the Archos might have something to say about that. A little late night work ever killed anyone. . . but if you've ever seen a guy who looks like he got maimed by his computer you might have accidentally stumbled upon a little something the interwebs don't want you to hear about. User Abuse: when a computer abuses it's user by dragging them into a cybertronic abyss despite Hurculean efforts to avoid it and often completely unbeknownst to the user until three hours later when cramps have formed and social life has been abandoned.

And as usual. . . I regress.

Update

2009-09-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Things are going pretty well over here. Obviously work is about eighty percent of my time but the free time is okay, though too brief. As you may have noticed I try to stay off the laptop when I get back to the hotel (and with the nine or ten hour time difference for most of you I haven't been keeping up with too many people). Been hitting the basketball court at least a few times a week and of course there is occasionally a night on the town. No Finnish girlfriend though and in about a week I'm probably going to move onto the ship.

It's nice living on the ship cause my commute drops from twenty minutes to twenty seconds but of course it's also nice to get away from the yard each night right now. Guess there's nothing left to do but convert our office container into a bar every night around twenty-one hundred hours. I just hope they finish the basketball court on deck 15 soon since basketball (and lifting heavy boxes that give me drunken Yoda looking bruises) seems to be the only exercise I'm interested in these days. Finally got a cruiser bike in the yard though and rode the whole shipyard today.

The ship is getting there. There used to be a pontoon with cranes on the starboard side but they've removed that in preparation for departure for sea trials on Monday.

Yeah. . . she's huge. And yes, the lower part is also baby blue. I hear the under water hull is hot pink with purple stripes and teal writing that says, "Eat our wake." But that could all be rumor.

I've got an easy day tomorrow and I'm not even going in until nine o'clock!!! Holy cow, whatever will I do. (Oh yeah. . . sleep.) Of course there's always a million things I can do to get ready for the storm that's about to hit. We've got more than two-hundred, forty-foot containers worth of material to load between about October first and October twenty-eighth. Should be good times. However, the ship is on sea trials from Monday till Thursday this week so I can get a lot of rest if I want to. Amazingly it hasn't gotten very cold here yet. It's actually fifty-four degrees right now at half past ten at night. However, apparently we'll wake up one morning over here and it will just be downright cold. . . and then it will stay that way until about June. I'm hoping for one more week of good weather since the ship will be gone and I can tear up the blacktop (and my knees) playing ball every afternoon. (Knock on Wood for good weather. But try not to hurt my brother too bad. (And if you got that joke I say, "mornin' to you."))

Along a different stratification I think I'll be heading to Idaho for Thanksgiving this year. After three months of working almost every day it will be amazing to sit back, play with my adorable nieces and eat a twenty-four pound turkey over the course of a week. Mmmmm, tryptophan induced coma. (Insert drool here.) Off to a good book and a soft bed. Kiipis from Turku.

Photo Diary: Life in Turku, Finland

2009-08-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Hotel.

The Ship.

The Work.

The Bruise.

The Work (reverse view).

The Courts.

The Nightlife.

The Scenery.

I Got Words

2009-08-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Ooh, and pictures! But pictures are probably worth more than words. . . and I do have quite a few pictures. . . so does that mean my words are moot?. . . or mute? Hmm, something not to think about. You may think that I've been drinking (and there might be a smidgen of truth to that) but the reality is that I've mostly been poring (if not pouring) over gigantic spreadsheets all day trying to get a handle on this job I find myself on. Not that I don't love container manifests, airway bills, obscure reference numbers that people tend to make up and place in a spreadsheet as if they hold some significance other than on their own spreadsheet, oh! but I don't. (You corporate people are probably with me. The rest of you take note; live an "alternative" lifestyle. I don't care what it takes. Live with your parents, shoot for the olympics, sell beanie babies on ebay. . . I don't care what it is, just don't let it be "corporate." The best part being if this post manages to get me fired or suspended or somehow otherwise able to find myself with some quality time off because corporations can't let people have private lives anymore and they hafta check if we're just a little too into Weezer on our facebook page. (By the way, I'm not too into Weezer. I think I'm fairly well balanced into an occasional Weezer session.))

But I regress.

Anywhere, here's my suggestion. Check out today's comic on XKCD (right side) and then pick one of my last albums on flickr (same side). Something a little fun is the wedding pictures. Something a little overwhelming (if you know ships) are the pictures of the Oasis. More to come, always more to come. In the meantime I'm gonna try to call it an early night. The days are gonna start startin' earlier and last lasting later. . . darn, couldn't quite make that work.

Oh yeah, and this.
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1366

Travel Update Version 8.4.9

2009-08-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

Well another month gone and here's the latest and greatest. There's a few more pictures up on Flickr (link on right) and I'll try to start getting Oasis pictures up starting next week. So. . .

August 7-9 in Seattle: Last wedding of the season!

8/11 - 10/31 in Turku, Finland: Oasis of the Seas new build project.

Thanksgiving? Christmas?

2010

January 18-28 in Singapore: Legend of the Seas dry dock.

April 18 - May 3 in Freeport, Bahamas: Freedom of the Seas and Celebrity Century dry docks.

August - November in Turku, Finland: Allure of the Seas new build project.

If that doesn't make much sense to anyone I guess the main thing to take away from this is that I MIGHT not be traveling as much next year. By the end of 2009 I'll have been out of the country for about 6 months. . . 2010 looks like it might be less than 4 months. Of course all things are subject to change and I imagine things won't stay this way.

For now suffice to say that I leave for Finland on Monday so I hope to catch quite a few people on the ol' telephonic cellular devices this week and weekend. After that I'll be trying to use Skype with my work computer (not always a plan that works). I hope this finds everyone enjoying summer in one way or another.

And Then He Cruised

2009-07-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, a little blasphemous as usual, but whaddaya expect? Got off the cruise in Stockholm last Monday and I gotta say it was exactly what I expected. Awfully nice to wake up in a different country every morning and not have to pack my bags. Pretty nice to almost always have food and hot tubs available. Rather nice to finally take a cruise so now I can have a slightly more enlightened take on the whole thing. Of course there were a few cons. (Seriously, I met some ex-cons at the pool.) I don't like feeling herded around and I don't like being waited upon (though that second one is obviously something I created myself) But all in all I had a good time. Really it was only the cost of the drinks that killed me. Though some might argue that the actual drinks themselves were the ones doing that.

As you can tell I've put some pictures up on Flickr. I'll be the first to admit they're nothing special. The lighting was sub-par in both Tallinn and St. Petersburg due to overcast weather and all kinds of other excuses. As usual what's really missing is an adequate number of pictures with people in them. But just as I'm sitting here alone at eight-thirty on a Saturday night in the Netherlands it just so happens that when traveling alone I don't do a very good job of making friends. Ah well, so it goes.

I'm in Eemshaven now. About two and half hour drive Northeast from Amsterdam (and isn't THAT a shame). Doing a bit of work on a new ship that Celebrity is bringing out in a few weeks. The Equinox. She's a beautiful ship but I don't know her specs offhand. Things might change but I think I'll be here for another week and then spend a week in Southampton, UK for some final loading with this ship. Then two weeks in Miami before a wedding near Seattle and then straight to Finland for two and a half months on the Oasis of the Seas. I MIGHT have a few things to write about that job. . . if I'm not tearing my hair out. (Of course, if you know me then you know that's why I keep in short. Don't get me wrong, the shortness isn't stopping it from Falling out, but it certainly is harder to tear out on a tough job. I just don't have the patience for tweezing hairs off the top of my head when there's chaos going on around me.)

May the rapture find your pet well taken care of.
http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Home_Page.html
Oh yeah, and I didn't actually meet ex-cons at the pool. . . they were just heavy equipment operators.

Two Days Gone

2009-07-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

Welp, two days in Stockholm flew right by. Could have been all the walking, all the beer or the accumulation of all the naps. (I do love a good nap.) Gorgeous city and the people seem friendly. Not that I've met too many, been keeping to myself for the most part. But with eighty degree weather and all this sunlight it's easy to catch a few smiles on the street. . . and a lot of smiles at the outdoors seating at the bars.

I board the cruise tomorrow and guess I'm looking forward to it. I know, I know, I'm going to love it. Probably just wish I had invited someone with who could actually come along. Oh well, we'll see how she goes. No matter what it should at least be restful (though I'm not sure how I can forget about my work in the cruise industry while I'm on board a cruise ship). Life is SO rough.

Got a few pictures around Stockholm but nothing too stunning so maybe I'll post a few on flickr later. I'm sure to have a ton of pictures to upload once I join the Equinox in Eemshaven and have good access again. Yeah. Excitement, adventure, a Jedi craves not these things. . . well, I'm neither a Jedi or an adventure junky. . . I wonder how much a massage costs on the ship. . .

It's Been A While

2009-06-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

(Heavy emphasis on the "H" in while.)

Turns out that I haven't been to a new country in quite some time. So to remedy that I just arrived in Stockholm, Sweden a few hours ago. I'm here to do the smart thing and take advantage of a free cruise bequeathed to me thru work after one year or employment. Yeah, I know, I've been there well over a year (and I almost lost the chance to take this cruise cause they put a time limit on it). Well, the remedy is a quick four day jaunt from Stockholm to Tallinn, Estonia then on to St. Petersburg, Russia and back to Stockholm. That'll be three new countries on my tally. . . if I had a tally.

There's Wimbledon on TV (though my Swedish is a little rusty so I'm listening to music on my cell phone instead of the Swedish Chef commentary (Bork! Bork!)), there's a relatively clean bed to sleep in and there's a new city to explore outside. And by the way right now it's only dark here from about midnight to three in the morning. Of course not all things go smoothly which is why my luggage decided to stay in London (turns out luggage really likes tennis) and I'm here with nothing but my grubby-eleven-hour-plane-ride clothes to wear out tonight. Not to fear. . . British Airways gave me a spiffy little bag of toiletries and it included a T-SHIRT! Hooray! Oh and by the way if you haven't heard about Terminal 5 in Heathrow Airport, stay as far away as possible. Take it from someone who travels a little bit these days, that terminal is the thirteenth layer of hades.

Anyway, fairly uneventful trip as usual. Just hope I get my luggage sometime tonight. Got a good cab ride from a young guy who gave me the skinny on what to do and where to go. Turns out all the guide books are right. . . go where they tell you. So I've got two days of kicking around the city and seeing what kind of trouble I can't get into and then I cruise, for the first time in my life. Oh, and for those trying to keep track of my whereabouts I head to Eemshaven, Netherlands after the cruise on July 6th. Should be there a couple weeks and then a week in Southampton, England. That's all for work on our latest ship coming out called the Equinox on the Celebrity side. Finland is calling my name in mid-August as well so there's one more country off the big board.

Alrighty, if I'm going to be in the hotel room and not outside with the pretties then I better be sleeping. Beautiful thing about midnight sun when you're on vacation. . . I can nap till ten at night and still enjoy a beer with the sunset. Stay calm, all is well.

Don't Panic.

Yosemite National Park

2009-06-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to Yosemite since my older brother and I did a quick drive through two years ago when I was moving out to Florida. I did a little hiking there yesterday and decided two years is definitely too long to go in between visits.

A friend and I did about thirteen miles and thoroughly wrecked ourselves in the process. For those interested we took 4-Mile Trail from the valley floor to Glacier Point. Then we took Panorama Trail past Illouette Falls to the top of Nevada Falls and finally dropped down past Vernal Falls back to the valley floor. About six thousand vertical up and back down by the end. I won't lie, my legs were a little shaky at the end since Nevada Falls to the valley floor is a two thousand foot drop over just two and a half miles

Heading Back To So Flo

2009-05-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

My brother asked me tonight if it was strange to think about going back to Florida after about nine weeks away. Not as weird as you would think. Last year I spent almost half the year out of Florida and this year I'm looking at pulling well over six months away from "home." My schedule this summer (between weddings and work) dictates that I won't be in any one place longer than two weeks until December (and even that isn't for sure depending on if I take off for Christmas early). Welp, I'm not complaining, just stating facts. I'll be back in Florida tomorrow afternoon and back at work on Monday but I hope to get some snorkeling and other beach fun in pretty soon.

This past week in Idaho has been great. I haven't set an alarm since Monday (I think) and that wasn't for any specific reason. . . probably just habit I guess. Unfortunately I'm not the shiniest muffin in the tin and I booked a flight at seven in the morning for tomorrow out of Boise. Yeah, uh, Boise is two hours from Twin Falls so I pretty well doomed my day (and my mom's) with that little maneuver. Could be worse.

For those of you listed as my friends and family on flickr you can see plenty of pics of my brother's two little girls. . . the rest of you will have to make due with the same ol' dry dock pictures. Suppose I best call it an early night. Wouldn't want to have too much fun on my last night of vacation.

Back In The USA

2009-05-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

Sittin' in the Portland airport for a few hours, waiting for a flight to Boise to go see family in Idaho. Got myself a week off and I plan to use it to get absolutely no work accomplished. (Ok, that's a lie of course but I swear I'll be doing very little. I just cleaned out my work inbox and am ready to shut this computer down for everything except personal fun.) Hoping to spend my time playing with the nieces, sleeping and anything involving the outdoors. There are some hot springs just south of Twin that I went to when I was a tour guide. . . sounds good to me.

Recently I spent 2 weeks in Victoria for a dry dock of the Millennium. Victoria is a great city and to have it sandwiched between time spent eating sushi in Vancouver is exceptional. I only got out a few nights in Victoria but after being on dry dock for a while every night out, even for a single beer, is a glorious victory. A buddy in Vancouver hooked up some tickets to the International Rugby Test between Canada and Ireland yesterday and thankfully Ireland was fielding it's C squad so they only beat Canada by 19. Ok, it was brutally clear how far behind Ireland is when it comes to rugby but it was still a good time.

The dry dock itself went pretty well after the first few days. Celebrity threw about 10 million into the refurbishment of the hotel side of the Millennium and the marine side saw some new bearings into both azipods and one new slewing bearing as well. Pictures up on Flickr if anyone is interested. Took a small seaplane from Victoria harbor right down town to downtown Vancouver. . . if you're ever up that way I'd strongly suggest it. Shot of Victoria as we were flying out.

Currently trying my 3rd type of beer here at PDX from Laurelwood Beers, "Portland's Original Certified Organic Brewery." Didn't know such certifications existed but I must say the Tree Hugger Porter, Space Stout and Hooligan beers offered by this company don't need any organic cert to convince me they're good.

Okay, enough procrastination. . . my gmail inbox needs cleaning even more than my work inbox did.

Nothing But A Few New Pictures

2009-05-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

And Flickr is the only place to find them online. (I swear this isn't a commercial endorsement for any websites and I also swear that I don't care if anyone thinks it is.) Just look at the pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronditlefsen

I Give You McCool Screen Prints

2009-05-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Check it out.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7287033

No Time To Update

2009-04-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, the title's not entirely true. . . I just SHOULDN'T be taking the time to update. So we'll call this a photo up date for my 2.3 die hard fans out there. Finally got a few pics up on Flickr. Either click on the Flickr window on the right or go to:

www.flickr.com/photos/aaronditlefsen

Happy days, happy days. I fly to SF on Sunday, then to Vancouver on Tuesday, sail with the ship to Victoria on that Saturday and then work a dry dock in Victoria till May 22nd.

For those of you NorCal folks, I've already booked my tickets for the June wedding (not mine) and will be there the week before. Prepare your drinking shoes and your dancing liver.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

2009-04-22T12:11:00.001-07:00

If you don't like this. . . you might need help.

"Crisis" Averted

2009-04-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, we can step it down from code orange people. I won't be flying to Vancouver. . . or at least not before tomorrow! (Thank Dog we don't use the Homeland security color coding system of possible terror level to describe everything we're doing in life. It has just got to be the stupidest rating system ever. Right now the ship has fliers pasted all over that put the ship on "orange" alert of some such nonsense. They always do that during dry dock but it seems to me that a person is much more likely to get clipped by a fork lift walking along the pier than to suffer at the hands of some demented terrorist hell bent on destroying all western influence on the world. All I know is that I get frisked each night when I board the ship to go to bed. . . even when I don't set off the metal detector. Must be my sheer animal magnetism.

It's later now. And actually right after I typed that last little ditty it's even later now. Later and with slightly more libations. And to that end I'M DONE. Not even DUNN. . . past that. . . right on to just not wanting to do anything but sleep. Enough bitching, badgering, bantering, blasphemy, buoyancy and basic biology. It's the Bed for me.

Somethin's Gotta Give

2009-04-03T13:34:00.001-07:00

. . . and it might be me. Point of fact, I find it pathetic that I only seem to be motivated to write on this page when I'm pissed and feel like moaning about it. Piss and moan, that's my style I guess. Well, I guess the only other motivation is sharing exactly how silly my travel plans can be sometimes. Case in point is my current situation. . . I'm currently in Bremerhaven, Germany on a job that goes through the beginning of May. Not too big a deal as far as my job is concerned. I've already got a trip planned to DC for a good friend's wedding at the end of April which is great because I normally wouldn't leave a job, even one as long as this. I get to jet out of here for a quick weekend of No Work and good people. Then there's the other end of that spectrum, cause sure, it sucks that I'll be flying to DC on Friday and back to Germany on Sunday but it's for a good cause. The other end is what might happen to me next week. Last minute flight to Victoria, BC from Germany. Leave Sunday, in Victoria on Monday, meetings on Tuesday, flight Wednesday morning, back in Germany on Thursday afternoon. Work the dry dock on Friday.

Not exactly my idea of a good time. Maybe if I fit in an airline seat I'd take it a little better. I used to think I was uncomfortable in plane seats cause I'm overweight. . . or cause of my height. . . then I noticed how much wider my shoulders are than the damn back of the seat. Ridiculous that the airlines get away with selling the same seat to everyone. But as usual, I really can't complain. . . rather be tall than not. By the way the airport codes in Canada are awesomeness.

Example1: San Francisco = SFO = Logical
Example1a: Vancouver = VYR = Quasi-logical
Example 2: Oakland = OAK = Logical
Example 2a: Victoria = YYJ = completely illogical as far as I'm concerned.
Ok, I'm sure there's a good reason for those airport codes, but I'm truly just too lazy to look them up.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . . Yes, I'm procrastinating. Not from anything in particular. Actually, I'm about to head onto the ship and go straight to bed (sleep being the greatest procrastination tool of all time) but I should really spend another 20 minutes rifling through my bloated inbox and wantonly erasing things I should probably keep. Maybe my hard drive will crash. . . my oldest bro already had to help me revive this piece of junk once this job. . . a few days without emails would be awesomeness personified in the person of me, being awesome, not answering emails, exemplifying awesomeosity and generally walking around awesoming it up. If you know what I mean.

Tomorrow's word to butchasdardize. . . . stellar.

(AC gets three points (not called) off the glass for being the inspiration of tomorrow's word.)
(Just spelled checked this bad boy and awesomeness is actually a word. Guess what that is. That's right. . . that's awesome.)
(BTW, CC gets props for retro-actively inspiring today's basbutchardized word. . . cause I seem to remember her saying it all the time.)
Gunite.

Travel Highlights

2009-03-22T16:08:00.001-07:00

So I flew from Miami to Frankfurt to Bremen, Germany today. . . yesterday? . . arrived today. . . whatever. Don't take the following as bitching, I'm well aware that I might be in for the most grueling experience of my life anytime I travel. And this trip wasn't nearly that bad but it did have a lot of firsts.

My flight from Miami to Frankfurt was delayed by, get this, a faulty power line for one of the kitchen heating units. An hour and a half later Lufthansa got the crisis under control. Super. Predictably I missed my connecting flight in Bremen by about 5 minutes (I watched the plan pull away from the jetway) and had to spend about 5 extra hours in the Frankfurt airport. Time flew. I tried to work, I dozed. I tried to read, I dozed. I tried to doze, I dozed. Sometimes things just work out. Thought I had my second wind getting on the flight to Bremen and read through take-off and even got some water before I put the book (and my arms) down on the tray table and really went for a world class snooze. (Ed. note: I can never sleep on planes, not even that one time when JG got us hooked up with 1st class seats from SFO to Newark. . . but that might have been because we were too busy being giddy with our champagne, screwdrivers, multiple choices of breakfast and, of course, hot washcloths.) So I doze off and then apparently REALLY tune out. I didn't wake up till the wheels of the plane first touched the ground and you know what? my tray table was still down. . . probably because my arms where completely covering it. Don't know if they tried to wake me but all I know is I beat the system, I landed in a plane with my tray table down and everything was okay. Aaron 1 - Airline Rules 0

Other highlights from my flights:
-- I had an aisle seat. The guy to my left was about half my size and asked if I'd be willing to take the inside seat so he could put his extra carry-on bag under the seat. To use the vernacular: WTF? This kid had no clue what he was doing. We all waited 5 minutes while he tried to wedge a rolling carry-on under the 2nd seat in before he asked me to switch. After I refused a kindly stewardess helped him find some room in an overhead compartment. Bizarre.
-- I read one book and watched about the last 5 episodes of LOST on my Archos. Talk about passing the time. . . if it wasn't for my seatmate it would have been a great flight.
-- My seatmate (the same kid/younger guy/Indian dude with no concept of personal space) decided that my waist was obviously a great place to store his right elbow during the flight. Nevermind the luv handles takin' up space there, dude. . . go right ahead and stick that bony elbow about 4 inches over the armrest.
-- I handled the bony elbow in it's more innocent form but later in the flight I was treated to the same elbow crashing down on my shoulder. I can only assume that he dozed off and awoke with a start but when I looked over at him there wasn't so much as an acknowledgement coming my way, let a long a courtesy, "My Bad" from him. Guess I'm overly sensitive. . . or severely bruised.

Well, I had planned to make those short but that didn't work so I'm cutting myself off. Bremerhaven seems like a nice German town and I walked around a bit today. It's about 40-45 during the day, mostly cloudy, but it'll be nice to work in this weather instead of the Bahamas. My lids are drooping so I'm off to bed. Got a week of receiving trucks, loading containers and trying to keep track of everything on a massive spreadsheet before the ship pulls in Friday night. I hate spreadsheets. . . which is odd since I live to collate. Good night.

Project Down

2009-02-22T21:59:00.000-08:00

What's wrong with this picture?

Completed another little dry dock a little more than a week ago. Another Freeport number with all the fun/typical BS that goes with it. More pictures at Flickr under the set named, "Summit E-Dry Dock 2009."

Went to Germany last week for meetings but am home now till March 11th. . . then it's super-happy-fun time in Phoenix for a good friend's bachelor party weekend. After that things get a little more interesting. All is well. Stay calm.

Not Much Really

2009-01-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

Well, as usual time has passed and I've had about a dozen ideas for things I should put on here and yet what do we see? Nothing. Nada. Bupkis. (How the hell do you spell "bupkis?" Oh, I got it right. . . I think there should be a 't' in there. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.)

It's been cool here for about a week. Probably hasn't gotten over 75 ONCE! Ha. This place is hilarious. Longest cool spell I can remember since I moved here. It's nice to sleep without the a/c on. Had a good weekend in the nice weather. Happy hour, gym, Lewis Black, biking, new web cam, boat work and maybe a mixed drink somewhere in there. But my free time is once again drawing nigh as another dry dock approaches.

The Summit is only a quick 4-day "emergency" dry dock but it'll still steal a weekend away from me. I suppose I should follow everyone's advice and just be grateful that I have a job. . . but then I wouldn't get to bitch nearly as much. And speaking of bitching, I'm writing this from work and should really get out of this dismal office. The nearest window from me is 80 feet away and I have to stand up like a prairie dog in my little cubicle to see over the rest of the little prairie dog homes and try to figure out if it's day or night outside. Someday I should just learn how to tell time and then look up the sunset time on the intertwebs. . . but that sounds horribly efficient and I'm sure that's the wrong path for me.

I'm not sure if the gym or the bottle is calling me tonight. Guy at the boat told me that a buddy of his drinks vodka/sprite while they play hockey. Now THAT'S dedication. Bah, I guess the gym will win out. . . damnable sensibility, I'll get my parents back one of these days for passing that trait along. I finish with a warehouse shot. Why?
'Cause.

Can you even see the other end of this place?! Sheesh.

The Might, Mighty Shamrock

2009-01-18T14:26:00.001-08:00

Welp, thar she blows!

She ain't much to look at right now because she's at the most gutted point in her life. We're abating mold, cleaning tanks, checking lines, removing old equipment, drawing new layouts, over-hauling the engines, etc, etc. . . of course my part in all this is to perform the most menial of tasks seeing as how my technical capabilities are somewhat less than my compatriots. There's quite a few more pictures up on my flickr page (find the flickr window on the right hand side of this site).

Man, these pictures really don't do much for this boat. It's 53' long and wedged in between other boats in a Ft. Lauderdale neighborhood waterway. For those of you who have never been to south Florida, Ft. Lauderdale is a bit like Venice in that there are a ton of houses along a myriad of waterways and each house has it's own pier in the backyard. Kinda crazy, fairly polluted, awfully cramped at times but a nice feature for a region driven by fun in the water.

I'm off to dinner (and the AFL Playoff game) in a minute so I don't have time to tell much more of the story. Long and short of this boat is that we're planning to get the basics taken care of in the water and then take her into dry dock. After dry dock we should just have finish work left and when she's completely done we'll use her for our pleasure and rent her out for charter trips. The timeline is for us all to be watching New Year's Even fireworks aboard our completed vessel going into 2010.

I know, a year sounds like a long time but we're pretty much only working on the weekends and most of us travel quite a lot for work. I'm the lowliest owner (I think) as a project manager. . . most people are Directors or VPs or other such nonsense. Busy people and their toy. That's what we are.

Except me. I'm not busy. But I gotta go.

On Being A Good American

2009-01-12T14:36:00.001-08:00

I am a good American. Which is not much different than being a good Amur'can. So far this year I done gone 'n got invested in a small business AND bought a luxury item. The small business involves a boat and would require a number of posts to properly explain (without actually boring you to death) and the luxury piece came in the form of a gee-tar. Despite working for a cruise line I don't know much about boats and despite growing up with piano and trumpet lessons I don't know a thing about playing the guitar. Should make for an interesting winter before I travel again in March.

I'll start to post pictures of the boat and give a few specs and the story once I get everyone's approval for the story going "public" via the interwebs. And when I say Everyone's approval, I mean it. There are fourteen people who own part of this boat and before anyone get's too excited you should know that it's definitely a work in progress. . . and probably will be for another year or so. The guitar on the other hand doesn't need any work at all. . . just needs someone to play it (or learn how). I'd give both ventures about a fifty-fifty chance of panning out in any sort of positive way. Cause I'm both a glass half-full AND a glass half-empty kind of guy. . . hence the fifty-fifty. . . what? Do you want a pie chart for clarification?

What else. . . oh yeah, on a much more important note, I'm an Uncle again! (Implying that I wasn't for a while?) Now I've got TWO nieces to influence in my own particular way. I'm still debating which Uncle personality to go with. I'm leaning towards the slightly-off-Uncle-that-the-kids-like-cause-he-brings-them-stuff-from-other-countries but there's always the classic quasi-cool-uncle-that's-never-around. . . but then of course, I've have to be cool.

Well, I'm definitely not cool but I am finishing off my work day by writing this. Sorry there's no fun work stories or amusing anecdotes about monkeys or lemurs. So Flo is surprisingly lacking in both animals. I do have a short, four day dry dock coming up in February. We're gonna exchange a whole azipod on the Summit. Should be interesting in only four days. . . kinda like exchanging that diesel engine block on the Jewel in four days in Boston back in October. Like Kevin Nealon once said, "Life is circular, Happy. You've gotta block out the bad and let in the good."

Block, Bad.
In, Good.

Bueno.

Limited Picture Post

2008-12-31T17:41:00.000-08:00

Travel. . . Yes, Please

2008-12-26T07:43:00.000-08:00

Fund app that I use through Facebook. I think I need to start working on spreading the pins out a little bit.

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We've got a new year coming up. . . maybe it's time to put a little personal travel on the calendar.

Yuletide Cheer

2008-12-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

In Idaho it's cold outside. Cold and windy. Snowy, cold and windy. Wintry, snowy, cold, windy and some other descriptive adjectives and it feels goooooooood. Merry Christmas to everyone reading this and I suppose to the rest of the world too. Got a typical holiday planned today with family, food, presents, a cute kid, a warm house and good times. For most of my family this is the first Christmas in Idaho, but my sister-in-law's family has been here for years. Not years as in, "I remember when this was all orange groves (which don't grow here) as far as the eye can see," but years nonetheless. All the locals say that it's never this cold for this long here. Good for me. . . I came to shake off the oppressive Florida heat and that slightly unsettling feeling of almost breaking into a sweat at the slightest movement. . . and I think it's working.

I'm dubbing this the Laptop Christmas. I'm sure there are plenty of families that have had multiple holidays dominated by mobile computing devices but this winter is the first year we've found ourselves sitting around with a computer on every lap. Times change and so do we, I guess. Now don't get me wrong. . . computer time has been fiercely rivaled by Scrabble time but of course the circuit boards have their say in that game now as well. Easier to let the Scrabble website tell you what word is legal than sift through those pesky pages in a big, fat dictionary.

Speaking of things big and fat. . . I'm heading over to the bro's house soon where the snacking will likely be epic. Better get in gear and eat some cookies. I mean, pack some cookies up to take over. Sure, that's what I mean.

The snow is coming straight down now and the other bro says we're supposed to get 1-3 inches today. When was the last time that you had a white Christmas? Personally I'm gonna go enjoy the one we're having right now.

A very Merry Christmas and perhaps a tall mug of something warm (and partially toxic) coming right up. Cheers.

FWD From A Family Member

2008-12-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

The following was presumably sent to me in order to make fun of my lack of belief in a higher being. However, I just want to know. . . do I get the day off or not? -AD

FWD:
In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter & Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews & observances of their holy days. The argument was it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized day(s).

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, 'Case dismissed.'

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, 'Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter & others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur & Hanukkah. Yet my client & all other atheists have no such holidays.'

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, 'But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant.' The lawyer said, 'Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.'

The judge said, 'The calendar says April 1st is 'April Fools Day.' Psalm 14:1 states 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day.

Court is adjourned.

Hi. My Name Is Aaron Diffleboppersen, And I Have A Drinking Solution

2008-12-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

All together now. . . "HI, AARON."

I'm trying to figure out why we only refer to someone having a drinking problem but never a drinking solution. Do people really believe that no good ideas have ever been spawned throughout history without the assistance of a little Dutch Courage? Now don't get me wrong, I would never go so far as to argue that the imbibing of toxic liquids has produced MORE good ideas than bad over the years. I mean, let's face it, the old, "We're driving to Florida!" announcement at 5am has never worked out very well. . . or, indeed, ever even gotten out of the parking lot. (Thank you Larry Miller.) But (almost) seriously, doesn't the effect of alcohol on our brains make us think a little more loosely? Maybe you'll not just dance tonight but you'll dance with that midget on the bar? Ok, maybe not.

Sadly, that last paragraph does not mean that I've just cured cancer whilst having a cocktail. I merely want to remind people that some of our vices are just a part of life and maybe not as evil as some people might pretend. (But don't be afraid of taking a couple weeks off from Beelzebub's shillelagh. . . okay, I might have made that last one up but that doesn't mean it won't be popular vernacular for a drink by the end of the weekend.)

I'm watching Michael Phelps on The Colbert Report but I'm also clearing my gmail inbox, my work inbox, christmas shopping, planning my Tuesday night with some local Atheists, checking out a website my brother recommended, having a cocktail, holding my bed down, pondering 3 of life's 13 great mysteries, calculating 2 quadratic equations, eagerly awaiting the next installment of XKCD and watching the clock. Who said my generation suffers from ADD. I'm just AD. . . no extra D required. Of course trying to do all that necessitates the reality that this current sentence is now being typed almost 30 minutes after the beginning of this paragraph.

As usual I had grand plans for this post, including an expose explaining why it's strange to return to the states after a month in the islands (though island in the singular is certainly more accurate). However, it is not to be. . . so I will leave you with this one unprofound fact.

1) When I tell people that I'm working in the Bahamas the inevitable response is something along the lines of, "Oh, you lucky bastard!" But the truth is that when I tell you I've been working on "South Beach" for a month it's got nothing to do with swanky (overpriced) bars and beautiful women. THIS is South Beach (in Grand Bahama Shipyard on Grand Bahama Island) and yes, everything that looks like scrap metal in these pictures IS scrap metal. . . and there's a lot of it.

And THIS is our office container where BBQs are frequent and the beer flows like, uh, sorry there's actually no beer here. The shipyard doesn't allow it. (Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Say no more.) The actual "office" container is the tan one and yes, that is a wood deck out front.

So I guess I haven't taken the time to fully explain the misery of working on South Beach 12+ hours a day. The reality of the "beach" is that it's made of dirt, sand blast grit, trash, scrap metal and the tears of children. It truly is a hellish place, but the shipyard is too cheap to pave it over (or even spray a little tar to keep the dust down). When the wind picks up it's common to see a dust wave of carcinogens descending upon one's self like soul crushing truth descends upon a person watching a documentary about a topic they'd rather not think about. (Britney Spears once said that she didn't like the films at the Sundance Festival because she had to think while watching them. Awesome. Now how do I get down off this soap box? It's a long way down and I'm without a single carabiner.)

Tangent complete. I've moved on to Craig Ferguson on CBS. So much funnier than Leno and Letterman it's not even funny. Wait. . . huh?

I leave you with some sage words.

That's right, people, let's stay out of the dark and as they say in biking, Keep the rubber side down.

Not Even The Least Bit Interesting

2008-12-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

This is what I normally carry during dry dock (- the radio). I either need me some suspenders or a purse.

In all fairness, the giant silver Bahamian cell phone died on me and I bought me a spanky new tiny Bahamian cell phone. Either way, I need some bigger/better cargo work pants for all that junk.

Ifin you're bored I dunn gone 'n put up a bunch of work photos on Flickr. Sorry there ain't much interestin' on the personnel front. . . 'fraid people might be 'fraid of their souls bein' stolen by the photog boogeyman (or just that climbing the corporate ladder is kinda hard when there's lascivious pictures of your person online).

Either way, enjoy. If you're a family/friend type person of mine you only need to request the whole shebang and I'll laden you with photos in such a way that will put my Pa's camping pictures to shame. When the camera's a clickin' I certainly knows from wheres I gets it.

Common grammar aside (obviously). . . I guess it's good to be back stateside, but it will probably be better in two weeks when I head to the land of potatoes and rednecks without ye olde company laptop (for once). Merry Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good. . . crap. What?!?! I missed Thanksgiving?

Awww, shucks.

One More Month Gone

2008-12-03T10:06:00.001-08:00

Still stuck on Grand Bahama Island until tomorrow afternoon. Turns out the name of the island does not seem to transcend to the island itself. But then again, I'm not exactly here for the beaches.

Another dry dock done but not gone. The clean up and return shipments along with the invoices for the past month of work are the worst part. But at least I've found a good sushi restaurant near my hotel and I plan on using my whole day's food allowance on dinner tonight.

Strangest thing about finishing these jobs is getting back to Florida and not really knowing what to do with myself. I should either join or start a cult. Nothing makes time fly like craziness incarnate.

Rambling, rambling. . . as usual, I got nuthin' and I need to get back to work.

Cheetos.

Drydockwhynot

2008-11-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

As usual when posting during a dry dock I'm exhausted and I should be going to bed right now. But I guess my ego just won't let this site go. . . or I could just convince myself that I really do it for my family to know what I'm up to. No fun pics cause the company laptop just don't much like flickr. Gonna have to remedy that some day.

Five or so days into Infinity dry dock. Typical cluster (of nuts and berries) with all the same players following all the same stereotypes and utterly destroying the word fail and then dropping it down the tubes to the next, eagerly waiting, level of hades. Good thing I don't believe in the afterlife or I'd already be throwing three sticks for Cerberus just to see which way he goes. Point is that like most things is life that we don't do too often it's easy for me to look forward to dry dock when I haven't been on a tough on in a while. But the truth on the job is always so much uglier.

So far during the 5 days of this dry dock I have:
-- Thrown my hard hat twice (once in true frustration with a two handed dome cracker straight down into the dirt and once in a show of disbelief that sent my full-brimmed heat-trapper spinning beautifully along the dirt, sand grit and rock "pier" that we call South Beach here at the Freeport shipyard).
-- Yelled profanities at a level befitting a Bahamian dry dock but probably inappropriate for your local monster truck rally.
-- Made friends and gathered enemies.
-- Been offered a job that pays more and promises less stress (but is probably lying about both).
-- Worked more hours than. . . ah, nevermind. It doesn't matter how many hours I've worked when there's people out there like my Uncle, Cousin-in-Law and old college roommate who all regularly put in more weekly hours than I ever will (and my Uncle is RETIRED!).
-- Gotten a flat tire on the company F-150 and changed it with help from a fork lift and a passing Bahamian driver with a similar truck because mine happens to lack a jack, lug wrench and necessary bars to lower the spare tire. (Some good lookin' out when the company bought the truck at the Miami auction. "It's got 4 doors? Windows tinted so dark that you can't see anything at night? A/C works? Bald tires? Get's six-point-six miles to the gallon? Front end that needs more work done than Carrot Top? We'll take it!)
-- Chased, bribed, cajoled, belittled, praised, begged, cursed, insulted, drank and joked with riggers, slingers, crane operators, foremen, fork lift drivers, sub-contractors, vice presidents, rats, truck drivers and anyone else I need work from.
-- Bought a Bahamian cell phone for 45 bucks and kept the old Bahamian number I had when the local agent tried to rent me the same phone for 50 bucks a week AND I would have had to change my number.
-- Bouced a dozen mini-super balls off of, into and all around a large steel dry dock.

And I'm spent. Hope everyone who reads this is doing well and cutting me slack on spelling, grammar and class. Cause we all know I'm in a class all by myself. . . so quite asking if you can cut into my one-man line.

To shower
To bed
To do it all again

Hmm

2008-11-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

I just read a little bit of what I posted the other night. Scared myself by realizing that I wasn't even drinking for that one. Guess I really was that tired. Well I won't make the same mistake tonight. Work is going well and I'll be ready for the next job that starts on Sunday but it's amazing the amount of work I need to do before then. I keep justifying these long work hours to myself by citing that I must be one of the only men for the job due to my lack of house, family, dog, compost pile, hobbies and social life. . . but then a small part of me realizes what I just wrote and that it ain't quite right.

I'm very curious to know exactly how many hours I really should put on the clock each week. (And who made this magic clock that we all use to gauge our time?) And that being written, it's past my bedtime again.

Good night, and don't let the bed bugs bite because if you let them get away with it once there really is no stopping the little buggers.

One Down, One Falling and One at the Ledge

2008-11-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am. . . in Freeport. . . again. I spent all of February here on a single job and now I'm spending all of November here, but now I have three jobs. I initially thought the Monarch of the Seas was only coming in for a shave and a hair cut (i.e. hull prep and paint with other minor works being done) but a 1.8 million dollar refurbishment package destroyed any hope I had of an easy dry dock. Thinking about it now, I guess it would have been easy (relatively) if it hadn't been for the Sovereign of the Seas coming in on the third day of the Monarch dry dock. And I guess even those two wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't having to run around chasing shipments for the third job of the month which is the Celebrity Infinity dry dock.

But, as usual, I regress. I suppose I could digress but that would merely imply that I recognized my aggression and was stubborn enough to merely digress rather than regress. The world's a dress. (And if you can tell me what song the last sentence is from then I greatly admire your musical choices. . . and there might be points for you.)

Anywho, by now you've probably found typos, hippos and other general poes in this little opus. Even though it's before midnight and I slept in this morning (8am BABY) I still find my eyelids to be mysteriously heavy. . . hence the hippos I guess. There's not enough hours in the day to do every little thing that my employers wish for me to do and there's certainly not enough motivation for me to master the manipulation of time in order to create enuf time for me to do more work.

So, with hurricane Palona we're getting some cool weather here on Grand Bahama Island. Makes all the difference in the world. This may be rambling a little more than I ever thought I could but would that I could then I would yest I would. Making up words, it's on my list of things I enjoy. Lifivious. Yest it twer lifivious. I should start a cult. . . I bet I'd be good at is.

Yeah, Not Really

2008-10-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the motor vehicle pictured below with me in it is most definitely not mine. But it's fun to pretend. Got back from Boston on Friday night and drove up to Port Canaveral on Monday. The truck/car/roadster belongs to the man who initially hired me at Royal but was subsequently let go when the company, uh, went feral or something similar. Graciously he let me drive that roaring Chevy SSR most of the way back. Environmentally minded as I normally am I must admit that is was nice to just toe the accelerator in order to achieve a hundred plus with complete stability. (The Chevy SSR has a Corvette engine. It starts at over fifty-K and with the additional eight-K this guy put into the performance of the engine it's a pretty decent ride.)

Just wrote that I don't have much else to say but then kept writing after that so I was obviously lying. So I erased it all and wrote that. . . and this. My week in the office between dry docks has been stressful. My inbox is averaging over seventy messages a day which equates to a lot of interruptions when trying to get things done. Certainly not all of these messages need answers and at least ten of them are probably complete and absolute BS but that's still a lot of pings. Two more days, and maybe a few hours on Saturday, and then I join the Monarch in Miami on Sunday.

I guess I would have been correct if I had written that I don't have much else to say in that last paragraph.

Yeah.

Thousand points for whoever can stump me with a quote.

My New Toy

2008-10-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

What?!? I've been working hard!
Don't I deserve nice things?

Another One Bites The Dust

2008-10-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Boston last night. Was on a five day dry dock for the Jewel of the Seas. We installed a big diesel engine and generator (or a genset, as they say) back in October 2007 but it threw a counter-weight, damaged the crank shaft and twisted the engine. . . or some such nonsense. So in four and a half days we cut an access into the ship, removed the old engine block, slid a new one in and welded her back up. Of course, I say "we" but in reality I had nothing to do with that work.

Took a few pictures though and I'm gonna try to get a bunch of old photos up on Flickr this weekend. I've got a week back in Florida with the possibility of flying to Freeport late in the week before my next job and I get to drive up to Port Canaveral (about four hours) on Monday for a meeting on board a ship. I've got three jobs coming up and two of them overlap. RCCL is handing the Sovereign of the Seas over to our Spanish branch (named Pullmantur) and the Monarch of the Seas is going into dry dock in Freeport for about seven days.

The real job is the Celebrity Infinity that I'll be starting in mid-November, also in Freeport. The last of the diesel genset projects. We've added these engines to 7 ships so far and replaced one as well. . . I've worked six out of those 8 jobs. . . wish I could say that I know the job in and out by now but the reality is that each job is done in a different shipyard and sometimes the contractors change AND the jobs are either for the Royal side or the Celebrity side which makes a huge difference. Anyway, just wanted to get something up again. I'll basically be in Freeport for all of November (happy Thanksgiving to me) but I'll try to post a bit. This picture below is probably my favorite from this last job.

The Real McCain

2008-10-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Cut and paste your way to the truth. I'm not saying Obama is perfect but I am saying he's the better man.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

Silverman Is Funny

2008-10-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

No Points Earned For Reading This Post

2008-10-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

If you care one lick about where this country might be headed very soon you just might want to read this. (Here's the URL in case you want to see pretty, pretty pictures and read useless advertising on the side of the article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080)

When Atheists Attack

A noted provocateur rips Sarah Palin and defends elitism.
Sam Harris
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Sep 29, 2008
> >>
Let me confess that I was genuinely unnerved by Sarah Palin's
performance at the Republican convention. Given her audience and the
needs of the moment, I believe Governor Palin's speech was the most
effective political communication I have ever witnessed. Here,
finally, was a performer who being maternal, wounded, righteous and
sexy could stride past the frontal cortex of every American and plant
a three-inch heel directly on that limbic circuit that ceaselessly
intones "God and country." If anyone could make Christian theocracy
smell like apple pie, Sarah Palin could.

Then came Palin's first television interview with Charles Gibson. I
was relieved to discover, as many were, that Palin's luster can be
much diminished by the absence of a teleprompter. Still, the problem
she poses to our political process is now much bigger than she is. Her
fans seem inclined to forgive her any indiscretion short of
cannibalism. However badly she may stumble during the remaining weeks
of this campaign, her supporters will focus their outrage upon the
journalist who caused her to break stride, upon the camera operator
who happened to capture her fall, upon the television network that
broadcast the good lady's misfortune and, above all, upon the "liberal
elites" with their highfalutin assumption that, in the 21st century,
only a reasonably well-educated person should be given command of our
nuclear arsenal.

The point to be lamented is not that Sarah Palin comes from outside
Washington, or that she has glimpsed so little of the earth's surface
(she didn't have a passport until last year), or that she's never met
a foreign head of state. The point is that she comes to us, seeking
the second most important job in the world, without any intellectual
training relevant to the challenges and responsibilities that await
her. There is nothing to suggest that she even sees a role for careful
analysis or a deep understanding of world events when it comes to
deciding the fate of a nation. In her interview with Gibson, Palin
managed to turn a joke about seeing Russia from her window into a
straight-faced claim that Alaska's geographical proximity to Russia
gave her some essential foreign-policy experience. Palin may be a
perfectly wonderful person, a loving mother and a great American
success story but she is a beauty queen/sports reporter who stumbled
into small-town politics, and who is now on the verge of stumbling
into, or upon, world history.

The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that
half the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual
qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of
mediocrity in this country. "They think they're better than you!" is
the refrain that (highly competent and cynical) Republican strategists
have set loose among the crowd, and the crowd has grown drunk on it
once again. "Sarah Palin is an ordinary person!" Yes, all too
ordinary.

We have all now witnessed apparently sentient human beings, once
provoked by a reporter's microphone, saying things like, "I'm voting
for Sarah because she's a mom. She knows what it's like to be a mom."
Such sentiments suggest an uncanny (and, one fears, especially
American) detachment from the real problems of today. The next
administration must immediately confront issues like nuclear
proliferation, ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and covert wars
elsewhere), global climate change, a convulsing economy, Russian
belligerence, the rise of China, emerging epidemics, Islamism on a
hundred fronts, a defunct United Nations, the deterioration of
American schools, failures of energy, infrastructure and Internet
security the list is long, and Sarah Palin does not seem competent
even to rank these items in order of importance, much less address any
one of them.

Palin's most conspicuous gaffe in her interview with Gibson has been
widely discussed. The truth is, I didn't much care that she did not
know the meaning of the phrase "Bush doctrine." And I am quite sure
that her supporters didn't care, either. Most people view such an
ambush as a journalistic gimmick. What I do care about are all the
other things Palin is guaranteed not to know or will be glossing only
under the frenzied tutelage of John McCain's advisers. What doesn't
she know about financial markets, Islam, the history of the Middle
East, the cold war, modern weapons systems, medical research,
environmental science or emerging technology? Her relative ignorance
is guaranteed on these fronts and most others, not because she was put
on the spot, or got nervous, or just happened to miss the newspaper on
any given morning. Sarah Palin's ignorance is guaranteed because of
how she has spent the past 44 years on earth.

I care even more about the many things Palin thinks she knows but
doesn't: like her conviction that the Biblical God consciously directs
world events. Needless to say, she shares this belief with mil-lions
of Americans but we shouldn't be eager to give these people our
nuclear codes, either. There is no question that if President McCain
chokes on a spare rib and Palin becomes the first woman president, she
and her supporters will believe that God, in all his majesty and
wisdom, has brought it to pass. Why would God give Sarah Palin a job
she isn't ready for? He wouldn't. Everything happens for a reason.
Palin seems perfectly willing to stake the welfare of our country even
the welfare of our species as collateral in her own personal journey
of faith. Of course, McCain has made the same unconscionable wager on
his personal journey to the White House.

In speaking before her church about her son going to war in Iraq,
Palin urged the congregation to pray "that our national leaders are
sending them out on a task that is from God; that's what we have to
make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is
God's plan." When asked about these remarks in her interview with
Gibson, Palin successfully dodged the issue of her religious beliefs
by claiming that she had been merely echoing the words of Abraham
Lincoln. The New York Times later dubbed her response "absurd." It was
worse than absurd; it was a lie calculated to conceal the true
character of her religious infatuations. Every detail that has emerged
about Palin's life in Alaska suggests that she is as devout and
literal-minded in her Christian dogmatism as any man or woman in the
land. Given her long affiliation with the Assemblies of God church,
Palin very likely believes that Biblical prophecy is an infallible
guide to future events and that we are living in the "end times."
Which is to say she very likely thinks that human history will soon
unravel in a foreordained cataclysm of war and bad weather.
Undoubtedly Palin believes that this will be a good thing as all true
Christians will be lifted bodily into the sky to make merry with
Jesus, while all nonbelievers, Jews, Methodists and other rabble will
be punished for eternity in a lake of fire. Like many Pentecostals,
Palin may even imagine that she and her fellow parishioners enjoy the
power of prophecy themselves. Otherwise, what could she have meant
when declaring to her congregation that "God's going to tell you what
is going on, and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to
have that within you"?

You can learn something about a person by the company she keeps. In
the churches where Palin has worshiped for decades, parishioners enjoy
"baptism in the Holy Spirit," "miraculous healings" and "the gift of
tongues." Invariably, they offer astonishingly irrational accounts of
this behavior and of its significance for the entire cosmos. Palin's
spiritual colleagues describe themselves as part of "the final
generation," engaged in "spiritual warfare" to purge the earth of
"demonic strongholds." Palin has spent her entire adult life immersed
in this apocalyptic hysteria. Ask yourself: Is it a good idea to place
the most powerful military on earth at her disposal? Do we actually
want our leaders thinking about the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy
when it comes time to say to the Iranians, or to the North Koreans, or
to the Pakistanis, or to the Russians or to the Chinese: "All options
remain on the table"?

It is easy to see what many people, women especially, admire about
Sarah Palin. Here is a mother of five who can see the bright side of
having a child with Down syndrome and still find the time and energy
to govern the state of Alaska. But we cannot ignore the fact that
Palin's impressive family further testifies to her dogmatic religious
beliefs. Many writers have noted the many shades of conservative
hypocrisy on view here: when Jamie Lynn Spears gets pregnant, it is
considered a symptom of liberal decadence and the breakdown of family
values; in the case of one of Palin's daughters, however, teen
pregnancy gets reinterpreted as a sign of immaculate, small-town
fecundity. And just imagine if, instead of the Palins, the Obama
family had a pregnant, underage daughter on display at their
convention, flanked by her black boyfriend who "intends" to marry her.
Who among conservatives would have resisted the temptation to speak of
"the dysfunction in the black community"?

Teen pregnancy is a misfortune, plain and simple. At best, it
represents bad luck (both for the mother and for the child); at worst,
as in the Palins' case, it is a symptom of religious dogmatism.
Governor Palin opposes sex education in schools on religious grounds.
She has also fought vigorously for a "parental consent law" in the
state of Alaska, seeking full parental dominion over the reproductive
decisions of minors. We know, therefore, that Palin believes that she
should be the one to decide whether her daughter carries her baby to
term. Based on her stated position, we know that she would deny her
daughter an abortion even if she had been raped. One can be forgiven
for doubting whether Bristol Palin had all the advantages of
21st-century family planning or, indeed, of the 21st century.

We have endured eight years of an administration that seemed touched
by religious ideology. Bush's claim to Bob Woodward that he consulted
a "higher Father" before going to war in Iraq got many of us sitting
upright, before our attention wandered again to less ethereal signs of
his incompetence. For all my concern about Bush's religious beliefs,
and about his merely average grasp of terrestrial reality, I have
never once thought that he was an over-the-brink, Rapture-ready
extremist. Palin seems as though she might be the real McCoy. With the
McCain team leading her around like a pet pony between now and
Election Day, she can be expected to conceal her religious extremism
until it is too late to do anything about it. Her supporters know that
while she cannot afford to "talk the talk" between now and Nov. 4, if
elected, she can be trusted to "walk the walk" until the Day of
Judgment.

What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree
to which she represents and her supporters celebrate the joyful
marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that
she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take
command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin
would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:

"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on
this child's brain?"

"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid
hunter."

"But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a
surgeon of any kind."

"That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in
how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a
challenge, you cannot blink."

The prospects of a Palin administration are far more frightening, in
fact, than those of a Palin Institute for Pediatric Neurosurgery. Ask
yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics?
There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent
and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our
planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite
athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote
the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And
yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater
responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all
standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose
thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we
suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with,
someone down-to-earth in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she
doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated.

I believe that with the nomination of Sarah Palin for the vice
presidency, the silliness of our politics has finally put our nation
at risk. The world is growing more complex and dangerous with each
passing hour, and our position within it growing more precarious.
Should she become president, Palin seems capable of enacting policies
so detached from the common interests of humanity, and from empirical
reality, as to unite the entire world against us. When asked why she
is qualified to shoulder more responsibility than any person has held
in human history, Palin cites her refusal to hesitate. "You can't
blink," she told Gibson repeatedly, as though this were a primordial
truth of wise governance. Let us hope that a President Palin would
blink, again and again, while more thoughtful people decide the fate
of civilization.

Harris is a founder of The Reason Project and author of The New York
Times best sellers The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian
Nation. His Web site is samharris.org.
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080
2008

Seriously? Palin?

2008-09-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'm a registered Independent. Chances are good that I would have voted Obama in this election over McCain but at least I had respect for McCain before he chose Governor Palin as his running mate. Watch this and then really think about her being anywhere near the top of our government.

I don't even understand how she was elected governor.

Time to Unplug

2008-09-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Seriously, we probably all need to unplug fully for the weekend. . . at least the weekend, maybe longer.

Posted Too Soon

2008-09-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

Go figure. My trip to the Netherlands was just postponed/canceled. Looks like I may be working a super-short and rather intense 4.5 day dry dock in Boston instead. Starts on October 18th. The job is solely to change out the engine block of one of the diesel generators we've been putting into our ships. Should be a challenge to get it done in under 5 days. Raring to go.

Back To It, I guess

2008-09-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

The following represents my fall lineup.
(All dates and music eastern.)

Sept. 24-27 Boston -- I gets to watch me an engine get unloaded from a ship.
Sept. 29 Port Canaveral -- Wonder if there're any cruise ships around?
Oct. 9-13 Oakland -- Wedding bells (though not for me).
Oct. 14-25 Eemshaven, The Netherlands -- A new ship in the works here.
Nov. 2 - Dec. 4 Freeport -- Three projects in a month. Swell(tering).
Christmas in Idaho.

Ten cartoon points for the name of the character who said this.
"This is where the pilgrims landed at Fraggle Rock."

Fifteen REAL points for telling me where the 2nd line of this post comes from.

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

2008-09-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

If you don't know why the above statement is true you can find the origin

here!

And you right can downright dumbdify down yourself right down

here.

FSM FOREVER! AARRRRRRRRGH!!!

Through The Quad

2008-09-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

Just sittin' here on a Sci-Fi night watchin' Ike start to rip through Galveston. "Balls-to-the-Wall" reporter was just outside his hotel in some section of Houston trying to report how strong the wind was that was knocking him down (report!: it was strong enough to knock him down. . . do we need more proof that the wind is strong?) when some guy streaked the camera.

I'm not talkin' about a half-second jump through the frame, this streaker started at the far end of the parking lot so you caught a good glimpse of him but weren't quite sure what was going on. . . then he vanished. . . and then all of a sudden he's running RIGHT behind the "reporter." (Reporter, in this sense of the word, equals a dumb-ass in a rain slicker who thinks his career is going somewhere cause he's risking his life to transmit incomprehensible nonsense in the middle of a hurricane.) Point is, this guy streaked the whole frickin' parking lot. . . in a hurricane. . . now that's dedication. Talk about the need to be concerned with losing some fittings off your house!

Point of me writing after more than a month, I guess, is that it's the first time I've been that tickled in a while. (And I'm not talkin' about cute girl-type-tickling which we all know results in myself suffering from a broken elbow.)

Alas, the spell has been broken. While writing this the weather channel started showing commercials and I swear some sponsor came on and said they were sponsoring the "commercial free" coverage of the hurricane on the weather channel. I'll type that again. A sponsor came on in the middle of a set of commercials to say they were sponsoring the commercial free coverage of the hurricane. Either I need to get my hearing checked or this country is seriously FUBAR.

And (as if to top that) after writing that (see above) the weather channel switches to coverage of my local weather (82 degrees with relative humidity at 2am) and RUNNING ACROSS THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN WHERE "NEWS" IS NORMALLY PLACED WAS A SCROLLING LINE TELLING US THAT mCdONALD'S IS CURRENTLY OFFERING 49 CENT HAMBURGERS AND 59 CENT CHEESEBURGERS or some such shit. My apologies for the swearing but I can't believe the world we live in.

The only thing that just made it better was watching the "storm reporter" getting blown over in the wind again. Though at the moment the various reporters are attempting to one-up each other by arguing about what time their power went out where they are located. Needless to say they've mentioned their own power shortages a bit more often than they've mentioned the HALF MILLION people currently without power in the region. A number that's sure to grow significantly, and pretty darn quick too.

Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive cause it could easily be MY current hometown that's getting a colonoscopy by Mother Nature. . . . could be.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game: +5 bonus points (and a free FL souvenir mailed to you free of cost) for the first person who can tell me what movie is referenced in the Title of this entry. (ed. hint: the clue continues at the end of the first paragraph and throughout the second. . . if you can't put one, one and one together after THAT then you and I need to spend some serious time on your "movies I must watch" list.)

(And if you STILL can't put it together you should know that the whole event in the movie was supposed to end up in the school gymnasium but instead ended up in the back of a rather large SUV with a nice (but not-too-bright) guy being made fun of for the relative temperature outside and the physical ramifications of that temperature upon his naked self.)

(what? too much?)

And now back to my regularly scheduled beverage.

Boredom

2008-07-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

There is one email in my personal inbox and only a handful in my work inbox. If that's not a cause for boredom I don't know what is. Of course this is the time to take advantage of free time and get around to all the things I've been avoiding for a while but we all know that ain't happenin' as easily as it is written. Flying to California for a solid week on Friday. Hope to see some folks and actually catch up with them. Kinda lookin' forward to bouncing from couch to couch during the week. Yo tengo nada.

For the sake of boredom.

Science, Beautiful Science

Proud To Be A. . . . Cliche

2008-07-03T15:04:00.001-07:00

An American, that is. I got into our nation's capital last night and spent today walking around the National Mall. It's been a few years since I was here and it's easy to forget how impressive all the buildings and monuments are. I wish I had more time here during this visit but it was enough just to walk between the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument today. My hosts and I have opted to head out to a friend's lake house tomorrow, rather than spend a chaotic night dealing with security and crowds on the National Mall.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone. I, for one, am happy to be free.

We're "Restructuring"

2008-07-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Fabulous word, restructuring. It implies that something was inadequately structured to begin with. It might imply that things will get better, run more efficiently and kittens will be placed in every cubicle. It definitely means that some people will be out of work. Well, it's not time to panic yet (and I'd argue that really it's never time to panic, which is why I own a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (actually, I own at least two copies)) but the word restructuring is being thrown around my company more than the word bonus, that's for sure.

I'd say there's a darn good chance that we'll lose somebody from our little dry dock group but selfishly I will admit that it's pretty unlikely that I'm on the axe list. HOWEVER, if they decide to let our whole group go and use sub-contractors or some other type of chaos theory for dry docks then I guess my personal chances don't much matter. There's also the Super-Duper-Outsiderrific possibility that the whole Logistics department could be sub-contracted out. . . that's how it was a number of years ago. Anyway, I'm not too worried about it. I suppose if I lose my job I'll pull my stakes outta Florida but I'm not too sure where I'll end up. Probably end up on a steady diet of government cheese and living in my Element down by the river.

Though I suppose I won't be able to afford my Element anymore. Guess I'll have to get a van. Bet my dad's got one he wants to get rid of. The (Faded) Blue Bullet.

Well, I just figured I'd post a little rant since I haven't written anything in a month. Of course I have the best intentions of putting up pictures and writing down stories from recent jobs but I think we all know how likely that is now that summer is here. I've flying to DC for the weekend tomorrow. Have to choose between the utter chaos of the big fireworks at the national mall OR a relaxed overnight to some lake house for bass fishing and what not. After that I work for a whole week (almost) and then fly back to California again. Got me a wedding reception to go to but that's about it. For once the rest of my time in CA will be (might be?) relaxing. Of course I'm still going to be keeping up on my work emails. . . may as well show some dedication on my vacation right before they axe me.

I'm also looking at taking two weeks in August for camping with the brothers and ye olde college roommate. How much vacation time do I have you ask? Good question, and one that has an answer that is constantly changing. Technically I've only got two weeks but since I've already worked 24 weekend days this year I'm trying to get some days back. Okay, all the days back. Guess I'm spent. I'll keep this updated if things get interesting at work. You can assume that if I don't update this page next week that all is well. Otherwise I'm sure I'll have an entertaining rant about big companies in America not caring about their employees and whether I'm gonna be living in Wisconsin, Idaho, Flagstaff, California or somewhere in Europe.

I'm done.

In Passing

2008-05-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

You're seeing the stern of the first ship I worked on in Hamburg being passed by the second ship I worked on. Oh boy do I need a vacation. Can't even find another flickr picture to put up to try and keep people entertained. Maybe I'll tell the story of dinner at Groninger next. Have you ever seen 8 types of pork on a giant slab of wood, served with a 20 liter keg of beer? It's Germanoliscious. . . or Deutschtastic. . . I'm really not sure which.

Seven Weeks

2008-05-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

I ended up in France last year for about 7 weeks and I ended up in France, Germany and England this year for about 7 weeks. Same time of year, same result; two dry docks put to bed with decent reviews. Finally back in Miami now and yeah, it's a bit of a mind job. Drove the Element to the store last night and that was strange enough. Last time I drove was a week ago in a Benz on the Autobahn.

To make sure things don't actually return back to normal yet I'm headed to CA on Friday. You know, wouldn't want more than 3.5 days in the office or I might feel like I was really getting through some of the mound of paperwork that awaits my return.

I'm sure there are a dozen things I could write but for the moment I'm feeling a bit tapped. Obviously I've got tomorrow off so in typical fashion I'm having a hard time getting motivated in any particular direction. I suppose the least I can do is stop rambling on this post. Adios.

A Week Ago

2008-05-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

(Post was written a week ago. That's how far behind I am.)

Well another one has bit the dust. . . or the seawater, depending on how literal you want to be about it. The Brilliance got off without any major hitches, but with plenty of minor ones. Although I know that the rule of thumb is that every dry dock will end in chaos I would really like to change that for at least one of my jobs. This time I had all return items for Miami safely packed away in containers with documents and customs clearance all set and then one project leader decides that really he'd like some of those materials to go to another ship in Europe. . . not so much Miami. I was able to break the needed materials out of the container and get them to their new destination but now German customs isn't too happy and they'll likely be busting into said container in the coming days to double check the new documents I've created for the "new" container shipment. But I regress. . .

Enuf of pure work talk, let's mix work with pleasure. As usual I really don't have much to complain about.

(And apparently my thoughts either ended here or something more interesting came along.)

Unky Dude Joke of the Day: Part Duex

2008-05-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Pastors Sven & Ole

Reverend Ole was the pastor of the local Norwegian Lutheran
Church, and Pastor Sven was the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church
across the road. I saw them yesterday standing by the road, pounding a
sign into the ground, that reads:
"Da End iss Near! Turn Yourself Aroundt Now! Before It's Too Late!"

As a car sped past them, the driver leaned out his window and yelled,
"Leave us alone, you religious nuts!"

From the curve we heard screeching tires and a big splash...
Rev. Ole turns to Pastor Sven and asks, "Do ya tink maybe da sign should
yust say 'Bridge Out'?"

This Is The End. . .

2008-05-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

. . . but not really.

Brilliance moves out of dry dock tomorrow and over to a cruise terminal. A few cranes, fork lifts, containers and toolboxes and then I'm off to England for a few days of R&R before getting back to Miami. Somebody told me it's been about 96 degrees in Miami lately. . . . yeah, it's been, uh, 75 and perfect here in Hamburg. Darnit all.

Try to find time soon to write a proper update. Most importantly is that the BR has gone well and now I might get a little time off.

Cheers to all. The Hamburg Harbor birthday was a good time.

All Hail The Lull

2008-05-03T05:15:00.000-07:00

When I can wake up and my first thought is not, "What are my priorities today?" then life is getting better again. I'm in the lull found at the middle of longer dry docks when the initial rush of things onto the ship has stopped and the inevitable wave of crap off the ship hasn't started yet. I half-read my last post and hardly remember writing it. Things are much better now. We have hot water for the first time in dock and I've actually set up a morning "off" tomorrow where I can sleep in a bit (at least as long as the men with the hammers don't start in with the steel pinging too early).

Scattered as usual. Now that I have a little free time (i.e. time in which I should be working on something but don't absolutely have to be) I don't know what to do with myself. Go into town. . . or take a nap. Tough decisions, man, all day long.

Bit of an update on the nearby future front; my Brohambra won't be joining me in Europe for travel so I'm going to spend about a week in the UK visiting friends again. After that I suppose it's back to Miami for a few months. . . trying to decide what to do with my summer and my 30th birthday. Could be somethin', but most likely it'll be a whole lot of nuthin'.

Hail to the lull. May it last long enough for my spreadsheets to magically update themselves and for the planning elves to tell me how to close this project out rapidly and successfully. Prost!

Is Something In Your Chardonney Really Ironic?

2008-04-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

Personally, I feel that it's more ironic that I wrote my last post under little more than a little hard work, elbow grease (pain) and boredom than that this post Should be coherent and complete though I hath imbibed most prodigiously on the Reeperbahn.

That being said, I think that I have no idea what I'm talking about and should cut my losses here. So I suppose that's it. . . I'll cut it here.

(Nine (9) shiny new points to the first biped who correctly names the artist who inspired the title of this post.)

1st Day Dunn

2008-04-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

I really wish I could write something positive and showing a distinct lack of bitch and/or moan but somehow it just aren't-dunn-gone-be in me. That's right. . . dry dock has stole my lack to of complete that or sentence which be means are going to making sense. Heh, that was kinda fun to write.

Really I'm kinda happy at the moment but tired and I should be in bed. The BR will be a pain in the butt like all dry docks but there are a few silver linings around the rain clouds that finally returned to Hamburg after a week of sunshine. Thursday, May 1st, is a holiday in Germany (and really most of Europe) and "they" say there will be a good chance that shifts will be cut early and people might find time for the loved ones in their life. I happen not to be over here with a loved one so I will settle for beer. . . preferably with a proper Bundesliga match on the big screen in the bar.

The second silver lining is, uh. . .er. . . um. . . oh yeah, it's the beginning of the end. Two more weeks according to the ship or just nine days if you go with the shipyard's timetable. (yeah, there might need to be some more discussion on the timetable.) There is a third silver lining which is a three day party starting on May 9th and promising to be a good time. . . especially if we're still in dock and we can watch the whole show from the stern of the BR.

If I were any more done I'd be burnt. A-out.

Unky Dude's Joke of the Day - Part A

2008-04-28T14:38:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the first installment of Unky Lee's Joke of the Day. By no means has Unky Dude written these jokes, and it's quite possible that he didn't even read some of them before passing them on via the interwebs. Under no circumstance will I attempt to provide a joke of the day every day. . . because I like irony.

And without further ado. . . (I thought this one was particularly appropirate considering my current position.)

A magician worked on a cruise ship. The audience was different each week so
the magician did the same tricks, over and over again. There was only one
problem:

The captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began to
understand how the magician did every trick.

Once he understood, he started shouting in the middle of the show, "look, its not the same hat!" or "look, he's hiding the flowers under the table!" or "hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?"

The magician was furious but couldn't do anything, it was, after all, The Captain's parrot. Then one stormy night on the Pacific, the ship unfortunately sank, drowning almost all who were on board. The magician luckily found himself on a piece of wood floating in the middle of the sea, as fate would have it ... with the parrot.

They stared at each other with hatred, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day...and then 2 days ... and then 3 days.

Finally, on the 4th day, the parrot could not hold back any longer and said,
"OK, I give up. Where's the ship?"

Switch

2008-04-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Summit just pulled out and Brilliance literally pulled in right behind it. Unfortunately I'm personally screwed because it took so much effort to get the SM out without any problems that I haven't been able to do much prep for the BR.

If the good times are killing me, what will the bad times do to me?

Almost

2008-04-26T09:47:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of an update during this week. Almost every minute I could spare on the computer was spent trying to get a handle on the Brilliance and set up two loadings prior to dry dock in Le Havre and Southampton. Second loading in Southampton went off pretty smooth today and the Brilliance is on her way to us in Hamburg.

Meanwhile the Summit is pretty much ready to go. The dock bottom is clean except for 4 welders working furiously on one of the pods and the yard will flood the dock in about an hour. We'll sit on the blocks with water in the dock all night and most of tomorrow while we bring in the lifeboats, check for leaks and start the numerous tests that are required before the ship departs tomorrow around 6pm.

My work is well in hand for the Summit and in general everything is ready for the Brilliance but there's never ending paperwork and spreadsheets that I can work on tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be done with trash removal and the last few containers in the early afternoon and when the Summit leaves hopefully there will be time for dinner in town before we get on the Brilliance late. Probably won't be able to get on the Brilliance until after midnight so tomorrow will be another long day.

Obviously my thoughts really have no coherent order so I guess this update is done. We had one "emergency" today (aside from one guy breaking his ankle in the casing) and I ended up moving a couple hundred, 20 foot long plastic pipes all around the ship at the last moment. Good work out but I probably could have done without.

Well, hopefully the water is back on in my cabin by now and I can hit the shower before getting back to Hell's Inbox. Would seriously LOVE to hear how people are doing if anyone has time. Every time I start to write a personal email something seems to come up. . . but hey! I made it through this post without interruption so maybe things are looking up.

It's quarter to 7 in the evening and I could probably crawl into bed after a shower and just not get up. It feels good to be tired.

I Love Silicon

2008-04-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

As usual I have to start by asking a certain number of people in the reading audience to get their minds out of the gutter. The silicon that I love is the paint they are putting on most of the hull of the Summit this week. Apparently the stuff is scary enough that the shipyard won't let people out onto the piers while they are spraying. What that means for me is some much needed inbox-clearing-time and a slight chance to work on the next ship coming in. So, today and tomorrow I get an extra two daylight hours at the computer, which is actually a good thing, and in a big way it makes the day seem easier.

Of course weekends in shipyards are always just a little bit slower. With all the overtime charges each department gets rid of whatever people they can but all in all it's still 7-days a week for most people. Man, that was some boring shit I just wrote. I guess I got nuthin'. It's only quarter past eleven but I think I'll turn in. Tempted to take a day to sleep in tomorrow but think I'll get up instead and maybe take a nap while they're painting. Aww, who am I kidding. . . since I think it will be an easy day manana it will probably be a nightmare.

Put a ton of pictures up on flickr of the diesel generator part of the project. Wouldn't normally do so many but we're supposed to provide pictures back to the corporate office but our Internet connection on the ship is so slow that it was more certain that I could post pictures online than email them back to the office. The four gigabyte card in my camera is already hurtin' pretty bad. I've toyed with the idea of taking pictures instead of written notes during the day on the pier. . . probably not quite there yet.

I seem to remember something I wrote a lot this time last year in Europe and it strikes me as appropriate now.

"The good times are killing me."

(And a shiny new Euro goes to the man, woman, child, lemur, wildebeest or hobo who can tell me the band who has an album by the same name as that quote."

. . . And Knowing Is Half The Battle

2008-04-18T02:12:00.001-07:00

Got confirmation last night that I will definitely be staying in Hamburg for the Brilliance. The Summit leaves on April 27th and the Brilliance will come in the same day. The Brilliance should leave on May 15th and then hopefully I'll take a few days either in Hamburg or somewhere else. Just waiting to see if the The Ikus is going to join me. No pressure, Ik.

And now you know. . .

In Pictures

2008-04-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Better

2008-04-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, not really. . . but today was terrible and then all of a sudden everything on my list of lifts disappeared. . . onto the ship. . . by 5pm. . . a thing of beauty.

So, day two of actually being in dry dock is coming to an end. Aside from some minor miscommunication last night (meaning nothing got done for me on the night shift) things have been like a typical dry dock, just worse. Not ridiculously-terrible type worse, but unloading about 30 trucks onto one pier within one week's time usually means things may be a bit out of order. Ya think?

Anyway, all hotel, marine ops, and smaller projects material has been loaded on the ship. There will be a few small deliveries here and there but really the focus now is just on the azipod work, new slewing bearing and installation of the diesel generator. It will be a little frustrating for me because these jobs really take care of themselves in a way and people will only come to me when they can't seem to get something done. Hard to explain.

Any. . . um. . .thing? Nope. No thing (which is slightly different than nothing).

My brain is still geared enough towards work and I'm sitting with a bunch of work people so really I think the only other things I could write at the moment would be construed as "bitching," which of course I would be. So I won't. If things continue this way I'll have some good online time each night so as usual I'll make the hollow promise of some pictures and stories that will hopefully be more interesting than, "Hey! Did you see that one crane pick we did today?"

No hot water, no laundry, food is terrible, have to pay for clean drinking water and my dog's are barkin'. . . I must be on dry dock.

Pier Side

2008-04-12T23:48:00.001-07:00

Going pier side with a ship when you're supposed to be in dry dock makes logistic efforts difficult. There are usually no fixed cranes for material loading and depending on what port you're at the tide can vary quite a bit, making it impossible to load things from the shell doors where ships normally take provisions. However, these obstacles can be overcome.

The Summit arrived in Hamburg Friday night has been pier side ever since. Yesterday we needed two mobile cranes on the pier and a barge that was brought from the shipyard to come along starboard side to load materials for the diesel project. We don't go into proper dry dock until Sunday night and that means almost everything is already behind. Slewing bearings, POD work and the diesel generator project. The weather here in Hamburg is decent but cool and if we have too much rain we won't finish the paint work.

I'm a bit fried already. . . the first day of dry dock (especially if you're pier side instead) is always the worst. Looking good today for me to get some time on the computer or even (gasp) doing something other than work for at least a few hours.

"All is well. Remain calm!"

(474,000 points for proper recognition of the above quote and an additional 12 points for the person who can tell me the significance of the number 474,000. (The second point award is so low because I only know one person who can get the reference to 474,000 for sure.)

Ham It Up

2008-04-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

Been in Hamburg a few days now. It's cold and I like it. Got out with some co-workers last night; good German restaurant, couple of bars on the Reeperbahn. Nice to get out but knowing that work will still be there the next day dampens the mood. The ship comes in early evening and ties up at a container pier near the shipyard. Tomorrow we've got a barge and a crane set up (to work separately oddly enough) trying to get materials on the ship and trash off of it. Probably board the ship tomorrow late in the afternoon. Then I'll find out if the hotel director booked the presidential suite for me or not.

Shipyard is a mess. Moving everything over here was the easy part. Now people start asking for things and I get to find them. . . or not find them, depending on the part. Don't really feel amusing at the moment so I won't try.

Picture is of the Summit in San Juan when I went down there to pre-load. Just to give some sort of representation of this vessel I'll be working on starting tomorrow.

In St. Nazaire

2008-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

Got into this here one horse town yesterday and I will freely admit that I ain't hardly done a thing since checking into the hotel. A visit to the store with the mad-Greek I'm traveling with and I've even managed not to eat out today since my room is surprisingly equipped with a kitchen. (I would call it a kitchenette but since I find that word incredibly silly I won't.)

Probably not something I should write on a blog that I now know people from work might check but I certainly haven't done an overabundance of work yesterday and today. I find it hard to get motivated when any plans I make will likely be thrown out of the window and any tracking of materials I do will probably turn out to be incorrect upon my arrival at the local warehouse tomorrow. Hard to explain but it goes without saying that inevitably any information I gather right now will not be able to answer the specific questions my superiors will have tomorrow.

But I regress, or digest. . . or something. So I guess I'll just give an actual update to my "schedule." St. Nazaire Monday followed by a few hours in La Rochelle Tuesday and then back to St. Nazaire. With a little luck I'll catch a flight out of Nantes Tuesday night or Wednesday morning but I suppose a train ride may be in my future as well. But I'm thinking I'll definitely be in Hamburg sometime Wednesday and that's good. A few days to actually organize on site and with people who will be helping me. Luckily I have worked in this yard before (Azamara Quest in Sept/Oct) so there's no real learning curve.

Sure wish this tv had an SAP channel in English. Congratulations to my oldest brother who got quite a few points from the last post. Unfortunately, since he had to cheat on the last quote he'll probably end up in the negative this round. Tough luck, brotha. Perhaps it's time to introduce the kid to South Park.

B.C. (not the cave dwelling dudes)

2008-04-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Thbbbbbbbbbthbthpbthpbthpbthpbthpbthpbthpbpbpbthpbbbbththth.

(Twenty-Seven (said in an enthusiastic and flaming voice) points to the person who knows the comedic literature referenced in the title AND only REAL line of text in this post. . . AS WELL AS the show that the enthusiastic and flaming twenty-seven points quote comes from!) (Careful, this one is for experienced procrastinators who may have done nothing for a certain number of years in their life except read bizarre comic strips and watch cartoons.)

(Double-secret probation points for the person who knows which comedian once yelled out in an old man voice, "NOW PUT ON CARTOOOOOOOOONS!!!!!!" during a stand up routine.)

(ed. note: I was going to work in a points-earned number related to the final score of the Tri-Lambda victory over the jocks in "Revenge of the Nerds" but I just couldn't pull it off. Either that or I was worried that I truly never will get out of this 12-year "quoting movies" phase of my life.)

(And don't think I'm not tallying the points in order to crown the 2008 winner. First man (cause women probably aren't stoopid enough to participate) to earn 350 points will win. Of course, there are additional points to the person who knows what cartoon the ghetto-slang version of 350 comes from. "That'll be tree-fitty.")

(Shit. Now I'm just handing points away.)

Great Idea

2008-04-02T13:14:00.001-07:00

Sure, it's a great idea to send me 64 emails on my travel day. Granted I didn't set my "out of office" reply like I should have but damn! . . . 64?!? I'm not exactly a first class manager here people. Anyway, blessing in disguise that I was stuck at CDG-Paris all day. Crappy airport but 6 solid hours on the internet and I guess it's all good.

Tired. So tired. Gota long day tomorrow then maybe a little slackin' over the weekend before the real work begins.

Happy days, happy days, somebody jog the jukebox. . . it's stuck on the Lumberjack Song again.

Stuck

2008-04-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

And the plot thickens. . . in fact it thickened so much that I'm stuck. Literally. Right now I'm sitting in the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. Flight coming in was late and I missed my connection to Brest by about two and a half minutes or so. Thankfully for only 20 Euros I was able to get a decent internet connection here so I've just been sitting here filling up other people's inboxes and racking up my cell phone bill. Dollar a minute, she ain't gonna be pretty this month. Been sitting since 9:30am and don't catch the next flight till 3:30pm. Super.

I can't remember what I wrote last night but here's where the job is at now. Brest Yard is definitely going on strike Friday (or Monday, not sure) so we're about 99% on moving the whole job to Hamburg. Good for us once we actually get all this stuff moved over there. Bad for us at the moment. So we (and when I say "we" please rest assured that I am far from the only person working on this problem. . . hence the reason I can justify taking 5 minutes to write this update) yeah, so we have 5 trucks going from Brest to St. Nazaire (later to Hamburg) right now with smaller items, about 7 more trucks being loaded (hopefully straight to Hamburg once the contract is signed), 11 containers that will require 6 trucks straight to Hamburg, one feeder vessel already carrying two diesel generators that will be loaded in Brest with items too large to go over the road (it takes 3 weeks to get an oversized load permit in France) and another barge with the new section of the hull in Cherbourg.

I'm spent just thinking about it but really most of it is in the process right now. Tomorrow will be interesting and then I might have to go to St. Nazaire before Hamburg but at least the job is being done in a better shipyard now. Wish we had just planned to go to Hamburg in the first place of course but I hear that hindsight is 20/20 which means that actual planning must be like 10/10 or something.

Sorry this isn't very interesting. I have to disagree with my brother's comment on my last post. . . if my life were a reality show I think I would get kicked off. Internet keeps cutting out on me. Guess I should fucos on work.

heh

Doh!

2008-04-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'm about to board my flight (ATL-CDG-BES) and will arrive in Brest, France tomorrow morning at 10:50am. By all accounts I'll be jumping right into a fire.

Shipyard in Brest is going on strike on Monday. We've been given 48 hours to get all materials out of their warehouse or they will be locked in. Management is trying to arrange for dry dock to be moved to St. Nazaire where the ship was built. St. Nazaire is only about 10 hour drive away.

Of course this all happens as I'm flying and my boss is flying as well. All the cliches apply here. . . people panicking, too many cooks in the kitchen, communication is unclear between countries and companies, etc. etc. Not to be too cocky but mostly likely the evacuation of this warehouse wouldn't be that big of a deal if they just left it to me. I've been working with all parties involved for quite a few months. . . a few phone calls and it's done. But instead we're looking at VPs and Directors and Managers from all different areas getting involved and trying to solve problems that don't exist. And that's my rant/soapbox/bitch session. Personally I'm going to do my best to calm down and enjoy LOST Season 3 on my Archos.

I've got a short flight to Atlanta, probably some crappy phone calls there and then try to relax on the way to Paris. Hasta la vista!!! Tengo Nada.

PR

2008-03-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

Had a successful loading day in San Juan yesterday. I only dealt with 4x20' containers being loaded on the bow of the vessel but overall the ship did 24 containers. Preparation for the dry dock beginning in France on April 11th. In addition the ship will load smaller amounts of material (and technical representatives) in La Rochelle, France and Vigo, Spain. Alas, I don't get to attend either one of those loadings.

However, I'll be in Brest, France starting on Tuesday and should get the first weekend off with a rental car cause the ship won't be in yet. Don't know what I'll do. Gotta hang with a Celebrity manager named Ioannis Ouzounidis. We call him Ouzi and yes, he's trouble. I'll probably keep myself (and my liver) as far away from him as possible in our 9 days together in France before the vessel arrives.

Well, this afternoon and tomorrow will be my last chances to talk to people cheaply for a few months. As of right now I'm set to finish off the Brilliance in Hamburg until May 17th or so. Might get 10 days to travel between Summit and Brilliance. Haven't decided where to go yet. Will probably depend on whether my bro (THE IK) decides to join me or not. One option is to sail with the Summit after the job is done. They do a little 10 day jaunt around Western Europe. We'll seen. Since I'm headed to Hamburg anyway and I haven't seen Berlin yet. . . maybe. . .

Hope everyone is well. I'm still kickin', though I'm not actually too sure what my foot is actually making contact with. Hope it's not kittens or puppies or something like that (cause that would be um, you know, wrong).

Prost!

Revision Quatre

2008-03-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Just finished up a wonderful week with my friend from England. We hit all the best restaurants (that I know of and can afford), laughed ourselves into giggles (mostly at my expense) and spent a long weekend in Key West with the watching of the sunsets and the eating of the fish and the snorkeling of, the, uh. . . water. Oh yeah, and the gaining of the sun. I'm not the darkest I've ever been but let's just say it's a good thing my next destination is France and not the Bahamas again or I'd have to start wearing one of those hats that rice farmers wear.

Anywho, here is the new, new, new, newer, newest revised schedule for me, myself and I.

Uno: San Juan, Puerto Rico from March 28-30; Saturday loading of the Summit before it's Trans-Atlantic crossing and the start of my next dry dock.

Dos: Brest, France from April 1-30; Back to my favorite French coastline for the same type of dry dock I did last year at this time when I was first hired. Same yard, job and people but not quite the same level of experience (or lack thereof) for me. However, if anyone is interested I can tell you that it will be a bigger mess than the last two dry docks we did there. . . ask me why on my non-existent forum.

Tres: Two possibilities from May 1-12; Either I will be traveling on my own (probably Berlin, Copenhagen, etc) or I will be working on another dry dock in Hamburg for the Brilliance. All of this, of course, depends on my knees and their willingness to keep my big butt afloat.

Quatro: (the quatre in the title is French in honor of. . . ) Hamburg, Germany from May 12-17ish; Spend a week helping a co-working close out yet another diesel generator project. Will only be there for the last week of the job.

Cinco: May Somethingth; Arrive back in So Flo, have knees properly assessed, start therapy/work out, achieve enlightenment, call Buddha and the Dali Llama to thank them for prior, snorkel and generally revel in living on a warm water coast.

So basically I'm off again. Any of you friend type people who have been putting off that phone call to me will either have to call on Sunday afternoon or forever hold your peas. . . at least till the end of May. Ramble, ramble, harumph, harumph, and if I don't get a harumph out of that guy I'm gonna take away his paddle ball game.

Forty-two points for the person who knows what movie I was just referencing and an additional thirty-seven points for anyone who knows why the first points awarded are the number that they are.

Drinking less than you may thing. . . Love, ad.

A Wild Saturday Night

2008-03-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately the title of this post is a little misleading. Scratch that, it's just downright sarcastic. I filed my taxes last night. Sweet. My boy, you are the epitome of a good time! One of the roommates even asked if I was going out in an attempt to get himself motivated. . . I failed him most thoroughly. But on the flip side the government owes me money and Florida doesn't even take income tax so unless you own a business or property or any of that fun stuff you don't even have to file in Florida.

I knew there were some reasons I moved down here. It's the little things. Silver linings on hard pillows as it were.

So, we had a few reasonably cool days and some actual cool nights but now we're back to the business or making people sweat. Personally, I'm avoiding it today by organizing things in general; my room, computer, lemurs, addresses, small wicker baskets and whatever else I can find. Figure the soonest I'll move out is in October when the warehouse/office I work at moves twenty miles to the Northwest so I may as well hang something up on the walls of my bedroom. Silly.

(By the way, will someone please tell me when I reach an age where it is no longer acceptable for me to just be renting a room in a house and I need to force my cheap self to rent my own place? Thanks.)

Whelp, time to find that Motivation. I think I saw it under the bed earlier curled up with a bottle of vodka. Maybe I'll name my Motivation and join him in an attempt at brotherly bonding that will later result in him spending more time with me. Hank. My Motivation might be named Hank.

Killer.

f

2008-03-13T21:20:00.001-07:00

it

that's all i got

B'tween

2008-03-11T20:48:00.001-07:00

Serenade dry dock ended last Thursday. . . Summit dry dock begins April 6th (for me anyway). Actual job starts on the 11th.

Gotta say that I feel a bit behind at work, school and life (scratch the middle one) which is odd since people keep asking me when I'm going to take some time off. Time off? Right now? Doesn't sound too sound to me. Oh wait, I am planning on some time off. Friend of mine through Trek America is visiting from England for a week starting on ol' St. Paddy's Day. Good timing, I'd say. Though I guess the argument for bad timing could be made as well.

So, maybe a trip to Key West, a little beach time coupled with maybe some snorkeling or water sports of some type and the obligatory fine food and wine. MAYBE I won't even open the laptop and I'll turn off the company cell phone and tell people I'm heading North instead of South. Couldn't hurt for a few days.

Thought I'd have this weekend to "catch up" but now I might be heading to San Juan Friday night and flying back Saturday night. Seem silly? Marine department people do things like that all the time. And as usual there's no coherence to my thoughts so I'm going to bed. In the middle of that classic time between jobs when I should take time to upload photos and update my blog and Facebook and thank Dog I don't have a myspace page. Hell, it'll take me a few hours just to re-arrange the files on my 160Gb Archos PVP. . . (just bought LOST season 3 and I'm looking forward to that on some upcoming international flights from hades).

Oh yeah and to keep the marriage vibe for 2008 rolling I just found out two more good friends of mine from high school are getting married. That means I'll be home for at least a week in July, a long weekend in October and some time in summer of 2009. That makes four total for this year and one next year. . . all people I consider to be pretty darn close to me. I have to miss one in April down in Phoenix but I'm sure the others will be a good time. Tengo nada and nowhere to go.

Done and dunn.

Still Alive

2008-03-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Well we were supposed to leave the dock and go pier side tomorrow but now it looks like we won't get wet till Wednesday. My portion of the job is pretty well in hand but there's still work to do. With a little luck I'll only run the crane eight hours each day for Monday and Tuesday and with a lot of luck the ship will head to San Juan straight from the dock on Wednesday.

Sorry so dry. Got another Bar-B-Que down on South Beach tonight. Don't worry if you don't know what I'm talking about. . . it ain't all that exciting. Hope to be home on Thursday but with only a month until my next dry dock starts I suppose I may be at work on Friday.

Cheers.

Still Kickin'. . .

2008-02-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

. . . but somebody check the heat index on this place. Sweatin' as I type and got nuthin' more than a cold shower and a sweaty bed to look forward to. But the job is goin' and tomorrow we're fixin' to BBQ us up some fiery goodness on the unholy patch of ground we call South Beach. (Here's a hint. . . it ain't exactly like the South Beach that Miami is famous for. There ain't no women and the men have all been puttin' in fourteen hour days for two weeks now ('cept me cause I dunn gone and enjoyed me a weekend in PHX.).)

Seriously. . . sweat drippin' from my eyelids as I type this. No a/c on the ship and gotta sleep with my cabin room door open to try and catch the breeze. Good thing nobody minds a naky-fat white guy on a tiny bed these days.

Yeah! Try to sleep tonight with that thought rattlin' around up there!

Not really sure why I do what I do. . . but then again there's probably a good reason up there that's just close to incineration and is hiding till cooler weather prevails.

Back Into It

2008-02-20T17:15:00.001-08:00

Got back Monday night. Three flights really did a number on my ka-nee. I didn't feel too bad but when my co-worker met me in my cabin to hand the job back over to me he wisely pointed out that one of my legs was roughly twice as big as the other. Huh. . . go figure.

Luckily we're in the middle of dry dock right now so the work load is greatly reduced. In addition my logistics sub-contractor who normally mans the ground post had to go home for a few days so I've been on the ground running that side of things. Sucks to get down off the ship (DD gangways are never kind and usually resemble an attempt to climb Half Dome) but once I'm on the ground we've got a twenty foot container set up as an office down there with a fridge, fans, desks, etc. . . the only thing missing is internet cause if I had that I could run the whole job from the ground and sleep in the container. Yeah, cause that's not ghetto.

So, we're in the lull before the storm and trying to get as far ahead as possible. This is the enjoyable time when the crane only runs twelve hours a day instead of sixteen and on Saturday and Sunday I should be able to cut back to eight measly hours and then we can bar-b-que and have one of those beer-type things down on South Beach. (Ed. Note: South Beach is actually a desolate wasteland where we stage containers, trash and materials and has none of the charming characteristics of normal beaches. . . not even the sand.)

It's not late but it feels that way. With a little luck I'll have a little more time online the next few days. . . you know, to catch up on the rather bloated work inbox I have accumulated. Haven't exactly got a swollen personal inbox and wouldn't mind hearing a bit about how people are doing these days. Cheers.

Weekend Off

2008-02-17T09:25:00.001-08:00

Flew back to FLL on Thursday night. Quick load of laundry and a repack and then a flight to PHX at six AM on Friday. Got into PHX late morning. . . lunch with friends. . . pick up the tux. . . meet more friends. . . drinks are had, etc., etc. Yesterday was the rehearsal and dinner to meet the wedding party. Now it's today and today is the wedding.

Only had to take a couple of phone calls since leaving the Bahamas so the job seems to be going well. It's awfully nice to get off of the computer and away from work for a while. Seeing a few good friends always helps. Speaking of getting off the computer. . . have a happy Sunday.

Dry Dock Begins

2008-02-10T20:39:00.001-08:00

Well, the job begins tomorrow. Would certainly like to be better prepared but I always feel like that. Ship doesn't come it till eleven AM and the dock won't be dry till late afternoon and then we can start running the cranes, so I've got a little more time to organize. Wish it cost less than three bucks a minute to use my cell phone over here BUT I'm flying to Phoenix on Friday morning for a wedding weekend so hopefully I'll speak with a few of you before I get back to Grand Bahama Island.

I'm watching Six Degrees on the National Geographic channel. Probably need to cut it out before it depresses me too much. Hope everyone is chugging along just fine. Life is too good not to be.

Travel, Thy Name Ain't Freeport

2008-02-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

Been on the island of Grand Bahama since Tuesday and life is cushy. Relatively temperate eighty degrees Fahrenheit, car from the shipyard, room in a resort-type hotel, office in the yard with A/C and internet (though the hundeded-fitty emails still in my inbox make me regret the connection) and looking forward to a working Saturday but a Sunday mostly off. Of course the island is so small there ain't much exciting to do.

Now if you want to know how to really experience, take advantage of, and enjoy, an "exotic" local take a quick read of an entry by Pistol Pete on a website linked to the right and run by a few guys I know, some people I don't know and of course the star of the show is a rather large fellow from Philly who complains a lot (and who I grudgingly know).

DrunkCyclist

Make no mistake, no matter what you read on that page the underlying theme is that riding a bike is good and good for you. The world, and especially The States, would be a vastly different place if everyone actually rode the bikes they used as clotheslines in the garage.

Rant, rave, sometimes rage (though never in a violent way). I seriously think that like most Americans I don't do enough (or, in fact, shit) about the things I claim to believe in. Perhaps a change is in order. Too bad my job gives me the perfect excuses not to do a thing other than handle my business.

Broward County Atheists

The FBO (once again to the right) is terrific. Maybe I'll eventually be able to compare it to the

FBA

If you have the ability to think back to a single moment in your life when riding a bicycle made you feel good in any way you should find the time to read some of this.

Thoughts on Cycling Culture

"I'll tell you what killed vaudeville, see. The talking pictures, that's what killed vaudeville!"

The Year of the Flight

2008-02-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

Carbon footprint nuthin'. . . I'm makin' a gall'darn carbon snow angel this year. Including the flights I've already taken since January first I'm on pace to have at least sixteen flights this year. Not sixteen round trip flights though so I guess when you call it eight flights it doesn't sound so bad. Not like my boy JG. . . that man probably has enough frequent flier miles to retire by now.

Sittin' in Ft. Lauderdale airport, where I should probably just rent an apartment, and waiting to fly to Freeport. The nice think about Freeport is that it's only about a thirty-five minute flight. It's one-hundred and five miles from Miami to Freeport which is awfully nice cause it's easy to correct mistakes for work or otherwise. Hell, I might even fly home this Friday and back on Sunday depending on how things look at Grand Bahama Shipyard. I've heard tales of people COMMUTING from Freeport if you can believe that. I suppose I could see flying in for the week or out for the weekend or some variation of that but taking a flight every morning? . . . and on a puddle jumper no less.

I flew from PHX to Flag a few times in a twenty passenger, dual-prop plane (a flight which has been immortalized by Ron White in the first few minutes of the original Blue Collar Comedy Tour. "I flew here form Flagstaff because my manager doesn't own a globe!" . . . . "We took off from the Flagstaff airport, hair care and tire center there. . . " Classic.). However, my first flight experience dealing with Freeport involved a ten passenger plane. Eight. . . it was awesome. Anyway, the one I'm on today must be twenty to forty people so hopefully my lunch will stay with me pretty easily.

Guess I better get some actual work done while I'm here at the airport. Another CRITICAl (STAT) shipment for the as-yet-un-running Jewel diesel generator project. Crate worth fifty-K from Freeport back to Miami. I swear we should just buy a little boat that can hold a couple of containers for local transport.

Here's to the inevitable start of another dry dock!