soon(er)

2 more weeks. 14 days. Can't get my shit together sufficient to write tonight, so here's some things to look at and have a giggle.

You're welcome, America

To celebrate all the wonderful things the Supreme Court has given us this week, author Michael Z. Williamson has posted a commemorative flag that fairly celebrates all the formerly-marginalized people out there who were so woefully underrepresented in colorful bunting and flag-having.

 Here it is:

 If I haven't managed to offend everyone here, please be patient, and I'll get to you as soon as I finish slut-shaming and pointing at people's privates while laughing. While taking the Lord's name in vain.


 Ironically, unlike the rebel battle flag of the defeated army of North Virginia, there's no problem selling this flag on Ebay or Amazon.

weekend update

Not too much to report. Our workload continues to decline, which is lovely, as my energy level picks up when I have time to care for my floating home away from home. Our schedule has included time off, interspersed with a couple of days of back-to-back cargoes, so there's money coming in and little gripes about the physical plant here get attended to.

 So that's a good thing. My employer continues to crank out new vessels pretty regularly, seemingly about one every month or two, so there's never enough people, and, since we're not suppose to use the word 'retard' anymore, I'll just say that there are some new kids in the promotion pipeline that are doing well, and some castoffs from other companies getting hired, many of whom are absolute fucking mongoloids, and some of whom are beyond redemption. There's a good reason some guys jump from company to company their whole careers.

 So, typical for the maritime industry, there's never enough labor, and never anywhere NEAR enough talented labor, but so long as it doesn't completely fuck things up, we'll manage with what we have.

hard times

Highlander on board

Someone didn't think out the ergonomics of the house here at HAWSEPIPER's afloat global HQ/house of pain. They put the common head directly opposite the galley table.

 So when I came out from having done some serious business in the head, kicked the door open and shouted "There can be only one!'  It caused something of a stink. Take that any way you will.

 Anyhow, The Newt, my opposite here on board, didn't bat an eyelash. He just sighed, put down a freshly opened bottle of water, looked at it a second and said "I don't want this anymore," and just went outside.

sea room

Well, we had a chance to sit down and breathe here on Hawsepiper's Afloat Global HQ/ Home for Those Not Quite Exactly.

     By that I mean we had two consecutive days off. First time in 2015. And it was... awesome.

 After a long-ass period of just trying to keep my head up and my powder dry (and by that I mean not beating the ever loving shit out of anyone who looked at me crossways), this weekend was exactly what I needed. We got plenty of productive work done, don't get me wrong. I got to shake out some small projects I've been putting off for a while.

Freeing up a sticky bearing on our deck crane took just two hours, but it's two hours where my ass is riding the end of the crane like Slim Pickens on the A-bomb, only I'm swinging a hammer and dicking around with a socket set while getting an atomic wedgie from a safety harness. So that was something I neither enjoyed nor wanted an audience for, as I'm not a modest person, and have little shame, but also don't want to have to hear any shit for being spotted wearing industrial-strength S&M gear and asked if I'm waiting for the indian, cowboy and cop before starting the dance routine.

 The rest of the stuff was more routine- changing clogged grease points, stuff like that, the little shit that adds up.

       This year has been far and away the busiest I've had since I started bunkering. In many ways, that obviously makes me less productive in terms of keeping everything in balance- I'm getting the work done, but the HQ is getting worked harder, and maintenance becomes reactive, rather than proactive. More, I'm simply just burnt out, and don't care as much as I normally do, and that bothers me.

 So, in the past 2 days (well,  2 1/2) I've taken advantage of the shore access we have had and I've walked at least 10 miles a day out through NY, and seen some new neighborhoods. So, 30 miles in about 60 hours, which is pretty frigging good when you think about it that way.

 And, with just 60 hours of downtime, I'm feeling so much better, (legs are tired, feet are sore, head is clear, back is straight), the 'Q is up to date and ready to work, and in 4 hours we'll leave for a big-ass cargo that will suck up the next 36 hours handily. I'm actually ready to work.

  

A little thank you.

Having a nice day here on the HQ, so here is a clip from Brazilian TV, where girls in short shorts playing twister can be compared to TV in the US, where we have Rosie O'Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg bitching at each other because someone got the last damn donut in the green room.