little things

So, today wasn't a great day here on HAWSEPIPER's Afloat Global HQ/ home for failed male escorts.

      Just another job- a larger cargo, and problems with our ship- they were slow, mind-numbingly slow, achingly slow. A job that should have been done in 9 1/2 hours stretched out into 13+.

     And it's always that way with ships belonging to this particular container ship line. They must put their people through hell, or hire assholes, or both, from what I have experienced.


 So at the end of today's job, the ship sent a junior engineer and a motorman down to me to take closing gauges- ships are supposed to come aboard and witness us measure the level of cargo in each of our tanks. Only about 1% of ships take closing gauges, though. Most take opening gauges only. So be it, they're actually carrying out due diligence, which is cool by me, except by this point I just have NO patience left, so I'm merely being polite and did ask them to be quick, as we were already delayed hours on end.

       So I'm walking in already in a bit of a brown study, but I'm not going to be rude about it, it's not the fault of junior crew, after all.

      The young engineer has good english, with a strong obvious French accent, and is a happy, likeable little guy. He had that gift that some people have, the ability to share a sunny disposition, and while we were gauging out the tanks, we started chatting away, banal stuff, but I felt my mood lift. What the hell, we were almost done anyhow. It's unusual to have French mariners to deal with for me, and it's really unusual that they're friendly, likeable guys.

 When all was said and done, we pumped off more oil than we had loaded- we had a skin of oil in several of our tanks' bottoms before we loaded (called, originally enough, 'bottoms' ranging from less than 1/8" thick to 1",  this is the unpumpable stuff we can't always get out of the tank, often congealed oil that cooled too much to pump.  Well, today's hot oil and high temps in air and water, we pumped off EVERYTHING in every tank. The engineer couldn't figure out why they gained 10 tons more than predicted, until I explained. No arguing, either. The ship is one of the new post-Panamax beasts, the largest size that can be taken in the northeast. They were loading 60,000 barrels here, 8000 tons, to top off their tanks. That's a hell of a fuel bill. 2.5 million gallons.

 At any rate, it's amazing how encountering the right person at the right time can change your day so much. I felt better after just 15 minutes of normal conversation with a stranger. I guess I was being pessimistic after the job turned into a bit of a shit show.

 Anyhow, next cargo is in 4 hours. Tomorrow is the halfway point of this tour.

July 7: The Empire Strikes Back

It's been a good couple of days here at the HQ. We spent July 4 at a lay berth in Brooklyn, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge- next door to Brooklyn Bridge Park, in fact. We went ashore to have lunch, got some groceries, and generally had a bit of a holiday, which is unusual for us, but also was welcome. Neither B nor I are fans of New York on any level, so there's no special treat for us, beyond the food, since EVERYTHING is available here, and probably within walking distance of any given part, too.
   The lay berth has a nice view of the Manhattan skyline, which is cool I guess, but after seeing it a few times, meh. We had a great view of the Brooklyn bridge, too, which is actually cool, as something about the design of that bridge has always been visually very appealing for me. As luck would have it, we were also right in sight of the fireworks barges for the night, too. 

    The July 4 fireworks were AMAZING, and we had million-dollar seats.  Photos don't do it justice, as my camera minimizes the view, making things look further away than they really are. But wow. I actually took video of the fireworks, and everyone knows that everyone hates being shown video of fireworks. I'll spare you that, anyhow.
    A couple of our tugboats tied off to us for the duration, so we got to yell back and forth a bit, do some visiting, too. It was actually kind of nice to do all this sober.

Our view for the evening. Click to embiggnify

 Yeah, that picture doesn't look like we were right across the channel, but we were. Easy swimming distance for me 10 years ago. Maybe 3/4 mile?

The fireworks show was insanely good. Loud, bright, and well-timed and paced- there were few breaks in the action longer than 1-2 seconds.

 One of my friends is captain on the outside tugboat, the one who blocked my view slightly, but we managed. Plus, I'm used to it. He's the only person I've met out here whose head is larger than mine so this is in keeping. At least we weren't at the movies I guess.

   Anoyhow, it was a great day to celebrate American Independence from Great Britain.

    Today, however, it's a different story. Today, July 7, the British have their revenge, at least on yours truly. Today we have to bunker the ocean liner QUEEN MARY II.

1000+ feet of misery to fuel this bitch

   The QM2 is the most difficult ship I've ever had to bunker in 10+ years of bunkering. It's just a cast iron whore from start to finish. Thank God the crew are professional and nice. 

    From what I've been told, she's gorgeous inside and sails like a dream. Outside, though, they forgot to put any way for other vessels to get alongside to give them their goddamn fuel.

 So, in about 90 minutes, we'll sail to go get them that fuel, probably put a fresh dent among the thousands already there, and I'll get fussed at by the crotchety old captain who our dispatcher assigned as our tug. Normally I can call and ask for a tug crewed by people I know I get along with and work with well for this one particular ship, as it IS known to be a battle, and there's a bit of a safety dance to be done, and better to do it with people with whom I have a history of working well together. BUT, I didn't, as I don't want to be a nag and get a rep as a whiner, plus I have a good rapport with our more senior dispatchers, and I don't want to strain that by trying to get my way every damn day.
 I am not looking forward to this morning, anyhow. We'll be fine, it'll go well I'm sure. And Queen Mary can look up from hell where she's roasting for what she helped do to Ireland, and she'll smile at how her namesake made one of those descendants have a shitty morning, ending a great couple of days. 

First week down

So far so good. Well, so peaceful, anyhow. I'm into the onboard routine, we're working steady, not killing ourselves, as it's hot as hell outside anyhow. I've been on board for a week today, and shortly we'll have shore access, so we can load up on food and such tomorrow. 3 weeks to go. I MAY try to work extra elsewhere before going home, haven't decided yet. About $8000 in unexpected expenses while I'm still trying to settle into a new house hasn't been the best timing, so I'd be nuts not to take advantage. Plus, despite the discomfort of 90-degree humid days here in NY harbor, 96-degree humid days at home are not great anyhow, and my pool is literally 90 degrees most days around 5 PM, not refreshing at all. Rather the opposite, so it's a good time.

 I'm still mostly staying away from the news. Such news as leaks to me is depressing enough. I chose this life to stay the F away from pop culture and the people who like pop culture, after all. While I love being able to call home every night, I don't love how connected I am to the world as a result. It takes a lot of the joy of being a sailor away, and there's already scanty joy in being stuck on contract in a seaport, so... nah.

Free Beer Tomorrow

Well, I'm back at work. Settling in and it'll be a few hours before I have to take a watch, so I'm getting comfortable again. This was one of those times off where I actually felt like I was away from work for a while- a good feeling.

 However, not work-related, and as such not great blog fodder. I'll write when something happens.

Hard work Vs. working hard

Halfway through my time at home, and it has been BUSY.

 I live in south Florida, in a hurricane zone. As such, my house is stucco'd concrete, like 90% of the houses down here, and each window has been fitted for hurricane shutters- sheets of corrugated aluminum that overlap each other and get bolted over the windows if needed.

 Each one is as long as needed, and about 15 inches wide. For example, over the French doors that lead from my living room to my pool , I need 14 shutters, 102 inches long each.

 These things are NOT cheap. Anywhere from $30-70 each. And it turns out the guy I bought my house from took most of the shutters with him when he moved.

  So, this week I finally got to inventory my shutters, and was very dismayed. What looked like a sufficient quantity of shutters was nowhere near. 

The new B house is airy and open plan, 2 floors, and there are a LOT of windows. And a lot of doors.

 $5,000 later, I have the raw stock, and am now cutting and fitting. I have a 24' ladder to get to the 2nd floor windows, and I've been spending a LOT of time dicking around on and with the ladder, getting up and taking measurements and getting intimate with a cut-off wheel and a grinder before cheating on my grinder with my drill press to cut out for bolts.

    I am SORE. It's been a long time since I did this kind of labor, and it really shows. I am just achy as all hell and it's 90 and humid. I'm sore in a way I haven't been since I quit fishing.

 I guess that's to the good. This is a case where it's the kind of pain that comes from weakness leaving the body.  I don't really mind it. It's the money. Everyone said the first year I'd just be hemorrhaging money, and they were right. I try to keep a bemused attitude.Hopefully it'll be years before I have to put the shutters up. This is my 5th year in Florida, and the first three, I didn't need to use shutters.

     Aside from window dressing, it's been domestic bliss up and down the line. Getting to know neighbors, enjoying time with my family, painting and hanging curtains and shit. Been good.  About a week to go before it's time to head back to the HQ.


      

Last watch

Well, we've been working pretty steady this tour- first half was a little quieter than the second, but overall it's been pretty steady. Even so, my relief should be here after my watch ends in a few hours, and then I can head to the airport.

 Looking back, I didn't write much. Not much to write about. Sleep, wake, stand watch, rinse, repeat.

 Hopefully a few weeks at home will break up the monotony.

light blogging again

I haven't been writing much. Still feeling uninspired, and a certain amount of mental constipation, I suppose. I enjoy trolling people online at times, just being sarcastic and shitty to those I find ridiculous, you know, just to pass the time, however, there being no shortage of fools online, it just isn't as much fun as it used to be, and I'm tired, so deeply, deeply tired, of EVERYTHING being politicized. News, opinion, information, identity... ugh.
        I have never enjoyed participating in pop culture, or the workaday business of living in an ordinary way. I identify with Melville's lament in Moby Dick that when he began being tempted to just up and knock strangers' hats off into the street for no reason, he knew he was better off going to sea.  I am not writing because I am not reading the news much, and the workaday life of harbor watch that I've had hasn't been action packed of late, but also hasn't been bad, either. It's still better than riding the goddamned train into a job in a city somewhere. I don't suppose any sailor can find happiness there, or they wouldn't be a sailor.

         In a little less than a week, I'll be back home again for my time off, and I'm looking forward to it extremely. I still have to finish putting my house together, do the things my wife can't in making a home out of a house.

 My new 2nd man is entering his second week in the position- he was the trainee I didn't want a few months ago. Super nice guy, and I think he will work out well., though truth be told I worry for him, too. His job is not difficult; I've said before that you can shave a monkey and make a tankerman out of him, but the line between being employable and being good at your job is pretty stark. There are so many details and rules, and so much of what makes someone good at their job on here is subjective- knowing when to be angry and when to be patient with people, being flexible, proactive and observant, and knowing where rules and laws conflict, where to be flexible and where to stand ones' ground, which is not always clear.

   One of the reasons I've found myself reluctant to move on from this job is that there are several parts of it that sync perfectly with my personality.  All people tend to get tunnel vision when stressed and managing multiple data inputs, and as a result, start to focus more on the familiar, easy to understand things.  In a Ship Simulator class, used to be called Intermediate Shiphandling, the instructor and computer operator keep adding in new details to an evolving situation, until you fail at it. The end result is that they identify where you stop integrating new information in and focus on the information you already have to the exclusion of other, harder to interpret data. In my case, it was a down current transit around Algiers Point in the Mississippi river. The situation evolved into something I couldn't handle, and I lost it at a certain point, taking out the docks on the New Orleans side, which was actually pretty good, as I didn't end up on the beach. In watching my own results and my classmates' in other situations, I got to identify the gut feeling when I hit my limit of being able to handle new information.
 Well, I never forgot that lesson, and I like the fact that when life is throwing poo at me like an angry monkey, I can narrow my focus to my own deck if I want, and just focus on my job, and let our deckhands and tug operators do theirs until I feel better. There's a certain amount of laziness there, too, but it serves a purpose for me.

 So, while things have been boring at work, sometimes boring is good.