Wednesday, January 20, 2010

the schmooze

Well, when I go home next week (!) I have a good-looking agenda. One, find out the status of my CCW permit with the local constabulary. Two, meet up with old friends and former professors and be rowdy and un-adultlike at our old college bar, and three, meet up with a dutch grad student and introduce him to lobstermen, scientists, retailers and wholesalers and policymakers in the lobster industry... old acquaintences, in other words, as I have friends and associates in all these places.
Maybe it pays to know people in so many levels of an industry, but it doesn't pay ME. At least not in cash. Still, I can pretend to know something about something for a bit, and that's nice for the ol' ego.
Also in the news is that I've been given a green flag by the Mrs. to go and visit my home-away-from-home, Eastport, Maine, come March. This is significant in that I normally don't want to be away from my family in my scant time off, but also my family doesn't want to freeze their buns off in Maine during mud season, either. So, I'm going to my old stomping grounds for a few days, and I'm excited, even if I have to go alone...

Finally, I've been given cargo orders that are going to make some poor tug operator completely bonkers. I'm taking on four cargoes from three refiners, destined for four ships, and the only way to make this work will require me to either list my unit over like a clubfooted drunk, and at one point put her down at the head significantly for a 10-mile steam between two anchorages.

Should be fun. Hell, I'm not driving.

1 comment:

David said...

Fascinating. Got here from Tam's. I worked for a short time as a deck hand on the Mississippi, pushing coal from St. Louis to Baton Rouge. I never considered the possibility of the barge ordering a towboat to move it around. Simply never crossed my mind. I've been reading through and enjoying these posts. Thanks.