Not tired of winning at all

The past few days have seen my shitposting on Facebook reach a crescendo and start to decline. I've actually reached the summit of the Everest of snark. I'm just tired now. I guess after you see the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, you no longer look at spray-painted murals on the side of buildings the same way. 

I have yet to see the Sistine Chapel at all. I'll get there too.

      At any rate, my 'friends' list now contains more people I actually like.

Bumpy ride

Damn me for a liar if today's flight from south FL to the NY area wasn't the bumpiest ride I've ever had in an airplane. Holy hell we got our asses kicked... but we made it.

 If you're not in the area, FL got hammered last night with high winds and thundersqualls. It was blowing about 40 but warm and sunny this morning, thankfully, so we could fly out without delay.

 Well, without locally-caused delay. There was a 2 1/2 hour delay for anyone flying into Newark, which I was. FL got wind and thundersqualls and tornadoes to the north that killed people. The northeast is getting a nor'easter. 50kt winds and freezing rain at the airport caused the FAA folks to delay us at our departure airports, rather than in the air  around the NY area, which is a good thing, because the first 30 minutes of the flight, once we finally got off the ground, the wind was rolling and yawing the hell out of us, and the last hour of the flight, we just got our asses kicked. Hard.

  But you know, there were flights to Laguardia getting cancelled at my local airport, so I was just grateful that the folks on my airline gave it the 'ol college try, even with the sore back and ass that the flight gave me.

 Anyhow, I checked into the hotel my employers book for us, a one-star dealie, and I'm currently waiting on my Chinese food to show up. It's kind of lonely, but at least I've got a giant Somalian family screaming at full volume at the TV in the room next door.
 Judging by the cheering, they're probably watching 'Black Hawk Down."


            So, while I was at home, as I mentioned elsewhere, I got plenty of work done on my little boat, completing the planking. Since I stretched the hull slightly from what the plans called for, the planking included a couple of really shittily-fitted planks, which I epoxied into place and filled in the gaps, though I was disappointed in myself for not starting over. Truth be told, I'm planking the hull but fairing it to roundness, so no planks will be visible anyhow. It's going to look like a steel hull when done.

those joins at the turn of the bilge were just awful. I faired the ever-living hell out of them later. 

First cargo.

      I haven't uploaded the fairing pictures, but the hull was made with rough-cut balsa planks of middling-quality, so there was a LOT of fairing to be done. I'll post that, and a word about the dust storm involved, later.

the autumn of vacation

Well, last couple of days home, and I'll be back to work soon. It's been awesome.

 I fiberglassed the little boat today. I much prefer using polyester resin, but I sprung for the epoxy. It's less forgiving than the poly, that's for sure. Gonna be a fair bit of sanding to do, and some fairing, too, I'd warrant.

Home! Week 1

I've been home for about a week, and it's been great. Warm and sunny. No rain, which is great for the most part, but my pond is a little low right now, so ospreys have been picking off the fish. Not sure what that will mean for my occasional drunken fishing derbys on the back lawn.

 The little boat is coming along well. The hull is planked, which took about a week. I snapped a couple of the planks, trying to cover the fantail, but eventually made it happen without steam bending. Tomorrow I'll start fairing it down. Pictures, eventually.

 At any rate, it's all good down here in Margaritaville.

Gentle reminder

We got about 4" of snow yesterday here at the Afloat Global HQ/Sanatorium for Those Afflicted With Channel Fever.  It was absolutely a fine reminder of why I moved to south FL.

 I woke up at midnight to find that the young tankerman who is filling in here for Big O had shoveled the entire deck perimeter, the working areas around the crane and main pumps, and also shoveled pathways to our tank tops and ullage ports. Altogether he cleared about an acre's worth of deck.

 It really pays to have a 22 year old Marine out here sometimes. I wasn't dreading doing my part, per se, but it's really nice to not have to. I'm very grateful and impressed with the kid's performance. He came here half-trained by an absolutely rotten tankerman, but the kid's sharp as a knife, so I've only had to show him some of the basics- calculating a load, how to blend 2 disparate cargoes to make up a blended load at the correct volume, and the legal issues that we deal with in terms of compliance. He spent a year or two on board my employer's oldest, most rotten tug, since gone to scrap, so he knows marlinespike seamanship and safety already.

 All that and he busted his balls while my lazy ass was sleeping.

          I wish I were a more patient man, and could train some of these green tankermen, but I'd grow tired of washing the blood off my coveralls and hiding the bodies. It's not just the horror of having to explain cargo handling, but having someone underfoot and constantly needing attention and teaching. I can do that shit for a bit, but an hour or two, and I need to be left the hell alone, and we live at close quarters already here at the HQ, and I get distressed and stressed at spending 90% of my waking hours with a strange man in my personal space. It's supremely stressful for a basically introverted guy like me. I just don't like talking that much and it takes time and effort and a lot of luck to find shipmates with whom one can share a comfortable silence. I think that's part of the affinity that our current permanent crew has. We can talk for hours, or not talk for hours, but when that changes, and one or both of us wants to gab or to be left the hell alone, it's an easy transition- no hard feelings, no discomfort. That kind of rapport is rare and precious.
 FWIW, the new tankerman that's on here this week can share a comfortable silence, but it can be strained, with both of us aware of it. He comes from a similar enough background to me that we had good rapport right out of the gate.

picker upper (semi NSFW)

Well, in the last days of this tour, I'm really slogging through it. I got sick in the middle of things, with a lovely cough/cold. Coming out the other side now, though, just in time to go home and be healthy, wealthy and wise. Well, healthy, anyhow.

      So, just like the best way to make a bad day better is passing it to someone else, so it goes with good things, too, so here's this month's ladies from Brazil.

 Not feeling inspired lately. Dunno why. Male menopause?