Category Archives: lifestyle

How To Travel The World For Free

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Budget Travel Vacation Ideas: How To Travel The World For Free | Budget Travel.

I absolutely LOVE to travel. I go somewhere other than home every chance I get. I originally went to sea for the promise of travel to exotic ports in foreign countries.

Even tho I almost never get to go anywhere other than Fourchon Louisiana anymore, I still hold out hope that someday soon I’ll find another job on a vessel going somewhere interesting.

So I read this article with high hopes for something new and actually do-able. I’ve heard of a lot of these ideas before, but it’s nice to see them all in one place. I’m not especially interested in a full time job in another country, but I wouldn’t mind having something to do.

Get a job? 

I’ve heard of the worldwide workers on organic farms (WWOOF) before, and wondered how much work it actually entails and how hard it would be. I’ve never really gone very far with researching it yet. It does sound interesting and a great way to learn new skills and really get involved with things in a new location.

I’ve also heard of house-sitting and have subscribed to Caretakers for a few years now. I’ve seen a few great looking opportunities there but so far, none of them have fit in with my schedule. I’m still hoping to arrange something with them.

Be a bum?

I’ve also heard of couchsurfing and love the idea. I would love to meet other travelers from around the world and have been planning to sign up. My only issue is that my schedule is so unpredictable that I don’t know how I can make it work.

Save your points? 

Travel hacking is another way to get around for ‘free’, but to me, this one seems to take a LOT of work. You need to spend a lot of time and effort to score points with your credit cards. I do try to maximize my credit card points, but it’s important that you can pay off your balance every month or you’ll get screwed by the money you wind up paying in high interest costs.

Be a teacher? 

Teaching English in a foreign country is another option I have looked into previously. When my old ship the Performer was still working overseas, I was very seriously considering it.

I’m still thinking about it, but I haven’t made any moves towards DOING it. I think I would like to take the TEFL course somewhere first and have the schools help in finding a position. The main reason I haven’t done it yet is basically that I’m spoiled. I don’t want to get tied down in a foreign country and totally dependent on that job!

I want OPTIONS! What happens if I sign on to teach at a school and it turns out that I just can’t stand it? The living conditions suck? Or they don’t follow through in some other way on promises made? If I have no cash in the bank or if my visa is tied to a particular school, then I am basically stuck with it. I don’t want to be in that position. SO, I am still putting off doing anything constructive.

Teaching overseas does sound like a really good option for someone who already has some teaching experience.

Volunteer your talents? 

Volunteering abroad sounds like a great idea. I would be much better motivated to do this if most of the opportunities didn’t cost so much. Some of the volunteer opportunities I’ve seen cost thousands of dollars in ‘program costs’. Of course that is ON TOP OF whatever value your time and effort is worth.

I’m not sure how they can call this ‘free’ traveling. I haven’t seen most of the places they mention in this article, so there probably are some very affordable ways to travel this way. I’ll have to be sure to look into this further. 🙂

Make a trade? 

House swapping sounds like a great idea. I’d like to do this, but I wonder who in their right mind would want to trade houses with me? I live in Lake Jackson, Texas. There is not really a whole lot there to see or do. I live 50 miles South of Houston, which I suppose SOME people would like to see, but the only thing in Lake Jackson is a lot of chemical plants. 🙁

Yeah, I am exaggerating (slightly), but my relatives all thought I was NUTS to move here from Florida. I gave up the beautiful beaches and clean, clear water to move to Texas, where our beaches are brown instead of white, and the Gulf is brown instead of blue, from all the mud washing down from the rivers.

I moved there to go to school. I stay there because even tho our beaches are not as pretty as the ones in Florida, we can still enjoy them fully! We don’t have the restrictions that Florida does. We can fish, camp, drive on, drink on, smoke on, play on, overnight on our beaches without the crowds and hassles and rules and regulations that Floridians have to put up with now.

I guess it’s not really that bad here. It’s quiet and there’s plenty to do once you spend some time and get to know people. People are friendly and helpful. We get together to play cards or have a BBQ. The beach is decent and the fishing is pretty good. The bays are great for kayaking and bird watching. There are all the usual small town events, kids baseball games, county fairs, etc.

I wonder if anyone from a foreign country would be interested in spending 2 weeks or more doing that kind of thing? Anybody on here interested in a house swap? 😉

 

 

We’d admire these dog-sized crabs, if we weren’t so busy screaming!

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We’d admire these dog-sized crabs for being good at recycling, if we weren’t so busy screaming | Grist.

Two-coconut-crabs-opening-coconut-on-beach

Good thing they don’t swarm like army ants!

I wouldn’t worry too much. They are endangered. 🙁

Probably because they’re pretty good eating. At least the islanders where the crabs can be found do like to eat them when they can still find them.

They are pretty scary to watch a bunch of huge crabs like these crawling around the beach where you’re trying to get a tan. I mean they do get pretty damn big! Luckily, they PREFER to eat coconuts. 😉

 

Video: Ever Wonder What It’s Like to Work On A Livestock Carrier?

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gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News | Ever Wonder What It’s Like to Work On A Livestock Carrier?.

Ocean Drover

Ocean Drover

This is an interesting video (click the link). I got it in my email from gcaptain the other day. It’s just a short clip of the Master and the Chief Mate of the livestock carrier Ocean Drover explaining what it’s like to work on a ship like that.

What I thought was especially interesting was that both the Master and the Chief Mate were women. I was pleasantly surprised to see that. Especially since they were both Italian (and young).

I didn’t know that Italy had many women mariners. It’s a major accomplishment for anyone in any country to work your way up to that level. I was happy to see that these women made it. 🙂

I am REALLY hoping that the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC 2006) is not going to reverse all the progress we (women) have made over the last 50 years. I am already seeing some effects out here that make me wary.

The law of unintended consequences is raising it’s head again (IMHO). The last few ships I have been on have had issues with space. They constantly seem to run out of rooms.

I don’t know if it’s just poor planning or if they REALLY need all these people onboard, (we have almost 200 on here at the moment), but it seems they’re always having to finagle to get people a room onboard. They are trying hard to keep males and females separated.  They also try hard to keep people working opposite tours in the same rooms so you’re not in there at the same time. Last hitch I had to move rooms 3 times in the space of 3 weeks!

The way this relates to the MLC 2006 is that apparently (I haven’t read the whole thing yet), there is a new rule that women and men can NOT share the same room! In the past, we have been able to share the same room (we are usually never in there at the same time), tho they usually did that as a last resort. We work on opposite schedules, so we never see each other.

Someone at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) seems to think that is a problem, so they fixed it. Problem now is that there just is not room onboard to keep dedicated female rooms. SO, to solve that issue (since there are still more men working offshore than women), they just send the women home.

This is the same excuse they used to use all the time back in the old days. Back then, it just was not true. They could have put us in any room and we just could have shared it with the men. Which is exactly what we used to do, IF we could manage to get onboard at all.

It was never really a problem for me personally (sharing rooms), tho I do have to comment that I have heard a lot of stories that make me just roll my eyes. I can’t believe some of the things some women have actually SUED over!! They have made it a HUGE big deal for any maritime company to hire ANY female (again!)!

I really wish people would just get their shit together and learn to treat each other with respect (men and women). Women who choose to work in the maritime industry need to learn how to deal with a little off-color language and grow a thick skin. It is not like working in an office building on the beach, and it should NOT be expected to be!

I’m sure I’ll be castigated by the politically correct nit-pickers of the world (thankfully most of them are still limited to the USA so I can still hope to escape them), but I am really getting sick of them ruining my (and ANY womans) chances of actually enjoying the lifestyle I have chosen for myself!

Now, the MLC has made male/female sharing a room (ever) against the law and so it is not going to happen any more. I can see a lot of women having a much harder time getting jobs in the maritime industry (again) because of this new rule. 🙁

So, instead of helping women, they hurt us (BADLY) instead!

I REALLY wish governments would just get out of the way and let us do our jobs!

Maritime Monday: Movies About Submarines, Part 5; Immersione Rapida!

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gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News | Maritime Monday for December 16th, 2013: Movies About Submarines, Part 5; Immersione Rapida!.

Check the date on the link above. Yeah, I’m really late! I am having a really hard time keeping up with my emails lately and this is one I finally got around to. I thought some of you might still find it interesting, so I’ll go ahead and post it now.

Gcaptain continues its series of maritime movies, this weeks round-up is all about submarines. I have to admit, I don’t remember the last one. Were there were already 4 others about submarines? Or just 4 maritime movie posts. I find it hard to believe there are THAT many movies just about submarines.

But I do remember posting at least one with submarines. I remember spending a while trying to find a recording of that classic song about the submarine races. I did find a couple of versions, but not the one I was thinking about. The one I was looking for was something I heard while listening to the Dr Demento Radio Show a LONG time ago.

It cracked me up! That show was great entertainment. I used to like to stay up all night and sleep late. Listening to music and reading til all hours of the night. That was when I was a lot younger and didn’t really have anything important I had to do. Things have changed. I can’t even stay awake that late anymore. 😉

This batch of movies looks like it would make a good all nighter. Too bad I can’t hang with that kind of thing anymore. Cook up a bunch of popcorn and turn on the DVD. 😉

Of course, they’re pretty much all war movies. But at least a few of them concentrate on the drama of the personal choices of the people involved. For instance, “Submarine Attack” (Torpedo Zone) is about a sub commander who sinks a ship and then picks up the survivors. Now he has to decide what to do with them.

Kind of like what happens now when a merchant captain picks up a bunch of refugees. It used to be simple, take them with you to your next port and drop them off, no worries. NOT any more!

The shoreside officials have made that simple thing SO difficult. It’s a very hard decision for a ship master to make now a days if he sees a raft full of refugees. Pick them up and deal with the mess? Or just sail on and take the easy way out?

It has ALWAYS been the tradition to help another vessel in distress, but the shoreside people are making it very hard on mariners to continue that automatic response. There have even been reports of ship masters forcing stowaways overboard. Pretty much leave them to die. All because of the trouble the ship will be in when they get to port!

It’s really pretty sad. The officials have made it SO hard to do the right thing.

Back to the movie review…

Submarine Attack sounds like it would probably be my favorite. I haven’t actually seen any of these movies yet, but I do love old movies and anything maritime. 😉

One other I would like to see is the one based on the true story of the USS Tang. “Submarine Command” looks like an interesting story. The story of the commander and his crew during WWII who wound up sinking a total of 33 ships. A record for American submarines.

The movie concentrates on the guilt the commander feels for the death of his gunner who died when the commander ordered the sub to dive during an enemy attack. Yes, he saved his ship and his crew, but he still felt guilty.

The last one I’ll mention here is another one based on a true story. “Trapped in a Submarine” (aka “Men Like These“), is the story of the HMS Poseidon (P99), a British sub that was hit and sunk by a cargo ship. Some of the crew managed to escape the sinking submarine and reach the surface. It sounds like a good story and something I would like.

Check the link to the original movie review from Monkey Fist. If you’re not watching the Superbowl, give some of these a try. 🙂

 

 

 

Zero to Hero- Day 30: Think Big Picture

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Well, sad to say, this is the last day of the Zero to Hero Challenge. It HAS been a challenge. I’m not really computer literate and it’s taken me some real effort to figure out how to do some of the things they suggested.

Todays assignment is to…

 Extend your brand, think about a bigger strategic plan for promoting your online presence, and set a goal for the next 30 days.

I’m not sure exactly what they mean by “extend your brand”, how to do that or how to ‘promote my online presence’ more than what I’m already doing. I’ve linked my blog to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr already. I’m also on Pinterest.

I don’t think I really want to put a direct link to my blog on my Linkedin account, although I do mention in my profile (at the bottom) that I am the creator of this blog. I am a little concerned that my political ‘rants’ will cost me some job opportunities.

I would like to be able to freely promote my blog on there since I have a LOT of contacts on Linkedin. That site is focused much more on work and business than any of the other websites I’m on and I’m trying to keep my posts on there businesslike.

I am not at all happy that employers are looking into what you do on your time off and I am in TOTAL disagreement with that, but it is what it is. I am still working for others, so I do have to take that into account. Yes, self-censorship. I hate it, but I would hate it more living out the rest of my life as a bag lady living in the streets and eating catfood. 🙁

So, that’s what I’m doing to ‘promote my online presence’. Does anyone have any other suggestions? If so, please leave a comment and let me know what you think I should do.

As for my goals for the next 30 days…

I do plan to start a weekly series I’m calling the ‘creature feature’. I’ll post about interesting animals in the news or that I come across that I think others might like to learn more about. I’ll start it next Wednesday and will probably concentrate on marine animals, but will probably branch out and cover everything. 🙂

I’ll be committing to posting at least 1-2 times a week. I’ll probably be able to do more, but with my schedule I never know where I’ll be or if I’ll have decent internet access. So, I’ll just promise the minimum. That way I won’t disappoint anyone by breaking my promise.

I’m also hoping to increase my readership and ‘followers’. I went from just over 200 (I think it was 202) to 242 followers of my blog in the month of January! It would be fantastic if I could keep increasing my readership at that rate! Actually, I would be happy to have ANY increase, but the more the merrier. 🙂

I really do love sharing some of my personal experiences along with all the interesting stuff I come across online. I love meeting new people and hearing about what they’re doing with their lives too. I hope I can continue to keep in touch with people through my blog and my ‘online presence’.

Here’s to the rest of the Zero to Hero bloggers, nice to meet you, and well wishes for the future. 🙂

Zero to Hero- Day 29: Editorial Calendar

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Todays assignment for the Zero to Hero Challenge is to create an Editorial Calendar.

I’ve actually been thinking of doing that for awhile (tho not in those terms). I was thinking about doing a weekly ‘Creature Feature’ showcasing some kind of cool animal. I love to go to the zoo (and aquarium, and even insectarium) and I have lots of beautiful pictures.

I thought it might also be interesting to post about the amazing things that live in the ocean. Everything from whales and walrus to the smallest zooplankton. I might even branch out to things that used to live in the ocean. Or things we used to think lived in the ocean. 😉

I’ve always been interested in animals. I used to read entire encyclopedia sets describing wildlife from all over the world.

When I was younger I was going to be a doctor, (my fathers parents were both pharmacists), until I decided I just don’t really like people all that much. 😉 Then I was going to be a vet instead. 🙂

Those plans all got derailed when I went away to school on the sailing ship and decided I wanted to be a ship captain instead! 😉

I do still love nature and all aspects of it. Plants, animals, weather, the ocean, space. It’s all so interesting. A lot of it is really beautiful too. Even things you wouldn’t think of. Try looking at things in a good microscope. Almost everything in nature has that beauty.

So, I’ll be posting a weekly ‘Creature Feature’ on Wednesdays from now on. Maybe later, I’ll add some other regular features.

For now, that’s all the time I have to be sure I can get to it. I’ll continue to post as I have been. Whenever I find something interesting. I’ll try to join in on a challenge every so often. I’ll keep on posting Maritime Monday when I can keep up with it. Same with the music, food, photos, movies, books, politics, maritime, travel, drinks, etc.

Anybody have any suggestions for the first post? Something special you’d like to hear from me about?

Dave’s Peach Pie Moonshine Recipe

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Dave’s Peach Pie Moonshine Recipe | Good Ole Ways.

I wasn’t really thinking about re-visiting this subject. At least not so soon. 😉 But the assignment for todays Zero to Hero Challenge is to…

Find the post that has received the most views, likes, or comments, and write a related follow-up post. 

Since my most ‘popular’ post by FAR (going by the number of ‘views’ I had that day), was the one on the Crock-Pot Apple Pie Moonshine, I thought maybe I should follow the experts advice at ZTH and (what else?), post another moonshine recipe! 😉

I really do love apple pie, so I was looking forward to trying some of that apple pie stuff. Can’t say I feel the same about peach pie. I’m not really a big fan of peaches. I have a friend who LOVED to drink peach schnapps. He could drink it with beer or all by itself. Personally, I think it’s too sweet.

Maybe the moonshine will cut down on some of that sickly sweetness. Let me know if you try it! 😉

PS- I really like Dave’s blog too and would have liked to comment but for some reason it won’t let me. I can’t even figure out how to sign up to follow it. 🙁

Movie Review: The Great Dictator

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moviethegreatdictator

I came across the Great Dictator today (again) and I can’t even remember where. I think it might have been in an email from the Sovereign Man (an ‘investment’ newsletter I subscribe to). Yes, yet another of my hobbies. 😉

I had a little time this morning so I took a look and tho I’ve seen the movie before I was just stunned this time. I guess I’ve just been primed by all that’s been happening in the world lately.

soldiers dont fight

I’ve seen a few Charlie Chaplin movies and I’ve enjoyed them all. For his time and place, I would agree with the people who consider him a genius. He could make you laugh, but he could make you THINK.

He had a way of putting himself out there and making people feel his emotions. He made people feel what he wanted them to feel. To understand his characters and their emotions.

He did so much in his films, and considering that a lot of them were silent movies, he was so far out and ahead of everyone else in the business, he really had no equal.

This movie was his first ‘talkie’. He played the leading roles of the dictator and the barber. He also directed it. He did a fantastic job in every way, and the public appreciated that. This was his most commercially successful film (even tho it was banned in most of Europe- for obvious reasons).

The Great Dictator came out in 1940 (while we were still formally at peace with Nazi Germany). It was written, produced, scored and directed by Charlie Chaplin. And he played the starring role(s)! WOW!

I watched the ending speech on youtube again and I can hardly believe how powerful and moving it STILL is after all this time. It is SO powerful. It is SO prescient. It is SO MUCH still true today!

I wish more people around the world could see this movie. It is a warning to us all. His speech is so moving. Even almost 75 years after he spoke those words, they can still affect me that way. I hope others can understand that feeling. I hope others can understand what he was trying to do with this film.

humanity

I hope people today will take his message to heart and unite to solve the problems we have. I hope people today will work together to find solutions to hunger, hatred, violence, sickness, oppression, poverty and war.

I hope people will come to understand that we (common people) need to unite to overcome the forces against us. It is the same now as it was then. There are people in this world who lust for power and will do anything to get it and to keep it. ANYTHING!

Nothing else matters to people like that. Not you, not me, not their friends, not their families, not their pets, not their neighborhood, not their community, not their country, not their PLANET! NOTHING!!

From the reviews of the movie and it’s commercial success, I think Chaplin succeeded in showing large numbers of people how idiotic it is to allow anyone to rule over you.

To give a dictator (or ANY form of government) the power to rule is just plain stupid. WE must maintain control over our lives. Chaplin does a fine job of showing that in his film.

Not enough people understood his message in time. We still had to fight the Second World War, (and then the Korean ‘War’ and then the Vietnam ‘War’ and then the assaults on all the little countries that no one even remembers-except the people who were directly hurt by them- and then the ‘War on Terror’ carried out in Afghanistan and Iraq and Libya and Yemen and Mali and, and, and…and America). 🙁

When is it going to end? Are people ever going to wake up? Will we ever find the gumption to tell all those power hungry bastards that insist they need to rule us “for your own good” to GO TO HELL!!

 

 

I actually started this post a couple of weeks ago and ran out of time to finish it up. It’s been on my mind for a while. So, it’s a good fit for todays Zero to Hero task: Revisit a Task and a Post. I did at least figure out how to get the video to play correctly since the last time I worked on it! 😉

If you’d like to know more about the movie, Wikipedia has a pretty good overview. Please let me know what you think! 🙂

The NSA Speech: Obama Accepts the Logic of Staying Terrorized

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The NSA Speech: Obama Accepts the Logic of Staying Terrorized | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

SSDD. (Same Shit Different Day). That’s about all I can say for Obama and his ‘promise’ to correct the abuses of the NSA (and the rest of the total surveillance state we live in today). 🙁

Anyone out there who seriously thinks Obama is really going to fix anything or rein in these people to their Constitutional limits, read this again…

1. The phone metadata still exists.

2. It will be kept, at least in the short-term, by the government until Congress figures out what to do with it. (And don’t think the telecom lobby won’t play a role in that.)

3. It will be searched.

4. Searches will be approved by a court with a record of being friendly to the government, one without a new privacy advocate.

5. National security letters can still be issued by the FBI without a court order.

6. Much of this activity will remain secret.

Can anyone really believe that ‘our’ government needs to keep track of ALL of your (personal) information? That any kind of freedom can survive this kind of all out attack? That society will really be better off if we are forced to live under these conditions? That YOUR life will be better?

That they are doing all of this for your safety, rather than their sense of power and CONTROL?

Does anyone seriously believe that they REALLY need to know about (and store forever) every single phone call you make? every single website you visit? everything you’ve ever said online? every single thing you buy (unless you use cash)? every single place you go? every single detail of your medical history?

I’m sure that last paragraph doesn’t cover the half of it. I’m only mentioning what I KNOW they are presently collecting (and keeping).

We are already in a state SO much worse than George Orwell ever imagined! Maybe we don’t have ‘Big Brother’ watching us through our TV sets yet.

But we DO have ‘our’ government watching us through our computers. We DO have them following every move we make through our cell phones (and soon enough directly through our cars). We DO have them watching everything else through financial tracking and the countless cameras invading every public space.

We have TSA agents to violate our RIGHT to travel freely (along with our dignity) every time we travel. We have a ‘Constitution Free zone” extending 100 MILES from every border (which covers about 65% of the American population)!

We have the PC thought police to harass us anytime someone gets a little upset with something we say.

We have the FDA to fine us or throw us in prison if they object to the food we choose to eat or the medicines we prefer to take.

We even have Obamacare to (eventually) imprison us if we refuse to allow un-elected government bureaucrats to control our most personal decisions. We can no longer choose how to manage our own BODIES! (How is this different from slavery? oh yeah, WE have to pay for our own abuse!)

I keep hoping that one day soon I’ll wake up from this nightmare. Or rather, that the rest of the American people will finally wake up and come to their senses!

That they will realize that there is something horribly WRONG with what has been going on here lately (intensely ramped up since 9-11). That they need to put a stop to it before it actually hurts THEM (instead of just that “other guy who must’ve done something to deserve it”).

Here’s hoping that day comes soon.

Lemon-Raspberry Whipped Cream Pie

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I’ve put a few recipes on here before. Things I saw online and thought they were worth sharing. So far, I haven’t personally made or eaten any of those. This is my first recipe post that I actually HAVE made (and eaten) myself. 🙂

I actually do like to cook. When I have the time and I’m not in a rush. I haven’t been able to do much lately. It seems I’m always too busy.

I did have a little time this time home so I decided to make this pie. It’s one of my all time favorite desserts. It’s so fast and easy, and it’s SO good! 🙂

Sweet and creamy, with just the right amount of tangy lemon and raspberries.

It only takes a few minutes to make and it only has a few ingredients. It’s not my original recipe. I got it out of a magazine a long time ago. I think it might have been Womens Day.

Doesn’t this look delicious?

Lemon-Raspberry Whipped Cream Pie

Lemon-Raspberry Whipped Cream Pie

DSC04178

Here’s the recipe I use…

1 tub (12 oz) frozen whipped topping (thawed)

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 can (6 oz) frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)

12 oz fresh raspberries (about 3 cups)

1 6-oz ready to fill graham cracker pie crust

options: 1/4 tsp liquid yellow food color, lemon twist and mint leaves for garnish

  1. Spoon 1/2 cup whipped topping into a decorating bag fitted with a star tip. Fold top of bag over and seal with a paper clip or tape. Refrigerate til needed. (I just used a plain old ziplock baggie with a corner cut off. It’ll look fancier if you do use the star tip (or spend more time fiddling with it). I didn’t really feel like bothering with all that. 😉
  2. Filling: Put condensed milk, food color (if using), and lemonade in a large bowl. Stir with a rubber spatula til completely blended. Add a large spoonful of whipped topping; stir until well combined. Fold in remaining topping.
  3. Set aside about 1 cup berries for garnish; gently fold remaining berries into the filling. Spoon into crust, smooth top, mounding filling slightly in the middle. Cover loosely with foil or a pot (or the plastic top that comes with the pie crust) and refrigerate at least 6 hours.
  4. Up to 1 hour before serving: Using topping reserved in bag, pipe a border about 1 inch from edge of filling and a dot in the middle. Garnish, as shown, with reserved berries. Lemon and mint go in the middle (if using).

All that’s easy enough. I never wait to add the garnish. I just put the berries and whipped cream on top as soon as I put it in the pie crust. I think next time I’ll make it even easier (and save a few calories too). Skip the pie crust altogether. I usually have a little extra and put it in any old lidded container. It might not look as pretty, but it tastes just as good. 🙂 

I’m pretty sure it would be just as good with some other ingredients, like trade the raspberries for blueberries? or maybe use limeade instead of lemonade with the berries? I think it would be easy and fun to experiment with this one. I have noticed that it is very forgiving (I have made it a few times without following the recipe exactly).

Zero to Hero- Day 26: Mining for Ideas

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Here we are at Day 26 in the Zero to Hero challenge. Almost over. 🙂

Todays assignment is to look back through your past published posts…

 What have you been most proud of? What are the common threads? Which have been most popular? Create and save at least two draft posts with ideas that come from those.

I’ve spent a little time doing that and I have to say personally I’m most proud of my political posts. That is the subject I get most passionate about in my writing. I am a very strong believer in individual liberty and it really gets me going to see how we are throwing it away here in the US. That doesn’t seem to be what attracts my readers (so far). 😉

From looking at my stats it seems that other than my home page/archives (which could mean anything) and my about page (glad people are interested in who I am and why I’m doing this), my all time favorite post is the one about the apple pie crockpot moonshine.

Maybe I need to post more ways to make home made booze? 😉

After that one, the maritime posts are getting a lot of attention. That’s great, since that’s what I do for a living and I love it. I think it’s a great lifestyle and only wish that I could sail foreign again.

Of course, that has everything to do with politics here.

Next most traffic getting area is photography. I’m happy to see that. I love to take pictures everywhere I go and it’s nice to see that other people like my pictures too.

Looks like next is everything to do with writing/blogging/zero to hero. I think that must be partly because of the concentration on checking out others blogs and commenting during the event. I hope some of those people will stick around. 😉

I haven’t done much about traveling here yet. I hope to do more on that. My recent posts on New Orleans got some interest. I do love to travel and I think it’s cool to be able to connect and compare notes. 🙂

Recommendations on food, books, music, things to do, things of interest is another area that people seem to like. I have got away from posting much of that kind of thing since I’ve been busy and the Zero to Hero posts are pretty much all I’ve been able to get done for the day.

I hope I’ll be able to get caught up at some point and get back to posting more good stuff on here, but I’ll be going back to work soon and who knows what the internet situation will be out there this time. 😉

Looks like I need to just keep on keepin on! 😉 My followers have been increasing slowly but steadily.

I passed the 200 mark of actual BLOG followers right after New Years and today I’m up to 233 (the rest are mostly Facebook friends who don’t necessarily ever look at my blog)! I only started this in mid- August 2013.

Of course I’d like to get millions, but hopefully it’ll work something like the rice on the chessboard. 🙂

Video: Yes Ma’am- Weight of the World

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Here’s a video of the band I was talking about in my earlier post tonight. I saw them playing in the street as I was window shopping on Royal Street in the French Quarter (New Orleans).

It was a gorgeous Fall day and their playing was just perfect. It put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. They had a bunch of people of all ages/types, dogs, kids on bikes, etc all watching, listening, dancing. It was a great experience.

I bought a CD from them before I wandered off. I really like it. They deserve more notice. The commercial stations don’t play stuff like this, but if you try you can find interesting new music like this on the radio or the internet.

In Houston, I listen to KPFT, 90.1 FM . Its listener- sponsored, no commercials. They have EVERYTHING on there. I like how they have such a huge variety. Everything from Irish music to Latino to Heavy Metal to Zydeco. You really need to go online and check out the schedule. 😉

I’m not sure what to categorize this band as. Folk? Americana? String Band? Bluegrass? Traditional? Alt Country? Blues? They could be called any of that, but the do it all well!

Check out the video.

Video: The Be Good Tanyas- The Littlest Bird

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I’m taking a break today from the Zero to Hero Challenge. Todays assignment was to look around at other peoples blogs. Find something there you really liked (not content). I’ve been doing some of that but I haven’t seen anything today that I really MUST have on my blog. 😉

Actually, I did see something a while back, but now I can’t find it again. When I do, then I’ll do more of todays assignment. Or maybe not. 😉  In the meantime I haven’t been doing much with music on here lately. I really love music. All different kinds.

I really like this band. The Be Good Tanyas. I have a couple of their albums. I thought I’d post this particular video since I just did that post on New Orleans and this video was done there (and around).

I see the street performers around the French Quarter every time I go there. I bought a great CD from a band last time I was there. OK, I’ll do another post on them. But first…

Zero to Hero- Day 23: Roundup Ready

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Todays assignment for the Zero to Hero challenge is to ‘Publish a roundup post that links to posts on at least three other blogs, and tell us why you love the posts — and why we should read ‘em.’

 

Indian Rocks Bridge–

First New Species of River Dolphin Discovered in a Century– I really liked this because I really like dolphins! All kinds of dolphins!

I think it’s a hopeful sign that we can still discover a new species of an animal this large in this day and age when we seem to have already explored so much of the Earth.

I also liked it because I have been seeing posts about the annual Japanese dolphin slaughter and that always makes me feel bad whenever I’m reminded of it. Angry, sad, frustrated that I can’t put a stop to it.

Yeah, they need to eat, yeah they have their traditions, but personally I would like to see them come up with a substitute to replace this one. 🙁

That There England-

How Much Time Do Your Countrymen Spend on Books?– This one caught my interest since I am a total bibliophile! 🙂 I read voraciously. I read constantly. I read everything I can get my hands on!

I know I am unusual for an American. I already knew that many Americans don’t read much if at all. I have a lot of friends who almost never read anything. Personally I think that’s sad, but they don’t seem to think they’re missing anything.

What really surprised me about the post (neat map!) was how much time some of the other countries spend on reading. It really surprised me to see Egypt and Saudi Arabia as high up as they are. I wonder if they are only reading religious books like the Koran, or are they really opening themselves to all the other worlds reading can do for you?

The other interesting thing about this post was that it breaks down the reading by types of books. How many people read ‘love stories’ for example. How many men? How many women? It also breaks down by age. Very interesting. 😉

June Steward’s Blog-

Spectacular Images of Decaying Ships– I was browsing through my reader and was really just caught by the beautiful photography. For some reason, I have always had an interest with old things. History. Ruins. Abandoned, empty places. Haunted? Haunting, for sure. I’m not usually very imaginative but they always make me wonder/imagine what happened?

This post combined a few of my interests: ships, ruins(shipwrecks), travel, photography, art, history.

I hate to see these beautiful old ships just abandoned. They were beautiful afloat while they were working and I think they are still beautiful even when they are old, wrecked and abandoned like these.

I’ve actually been to visit the wreck of the Peter Iredale (the last photo) and took tons of pictures (as always). But that was before digital so I don’t have any of mine to share of that particular wreck. I do have a few of some other ships tho I don’t know their names or history.

Someday I’d love to travel to the places where those other wrecks lie.

 

So, those were my 3 choices for the days assignment. What do you think about them? I think it might be interesting to do a post like this as a monthly feature. Make a post featuring 3-5 of my favorite posts I saw during the last month? Or maybe sticking to a more focused theme, like 3 favorite photography posts, or favorite videos, or recipes, etc. Which would you prefer and why?

 

Cannibal Rat-Infested Ghost Ship Headed For The UK?

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Cannibal Rat-Infested Ghost Ship Headed For The UK? | Broken News Daily – Yahoo Screen.

DaDum…DaDum…

DaDum…DaDum…

Lyubov Orlova

It’s the Lyubov Orlova, ex-Russian cruise ship, back in the news again. Has she sunk, or hasn’t she? The news agencies seem to want to drum up some business with these stories of scary, deadly-disease-carrying cannibal rats running rampant over the UK and then Europe. OMG!

Sounds like the start of a cool new horror flick! I would definitely watch it. 😉

Here’s a link to an interesting video report from Yahoo and Broken News Daily…

http://screen.yahoo.com/broken-news-daily/rat-infested-ghost-ship-headed-224503964.html

Travel Journey of the Week: New Orleans

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I was looking around at the list of blog events for the Zero to Hero assignment for Day 22 and I found this one I thought would be interesting. It’s called the Travel Journey of the Week from Melissa at the Liberated Traveler’s blog.

I liked her idea of asking other people contribute by writing a post and linking back to hers. Since she seems to be focusing on FOOD, which of course New Orleans is deservedly famous for, I thought I would add to hers by posting some photos of places to find some great food in New Orleans.

I’ve got everything here from the Cafe DuMond for their famous chicory coffee and beignets to Rouses grocery store for the best muffaletta to the old JAX Brewery. World Famous restaurants Arnauds and the Bourbon House compete with less known but just as good local favorites.

You’ll find everything from classic French to Cajun and Creole. Old style steak houses. Oyster bars. Fresh seafood and local delights like catfish and alligator fixed a dozen different ways.

If you just have to have it, there’s always a slice of pizza to go with your daquiri. Hot dog stands supply snacks you can eat as you wander down Bourbon Street with your Hand Grenades and Hurricanes. It’s hard to miss a good meal in the French Quarter! 🙂

 

Here’s a link to the original post: Travel Journey of the Week: New Orleans at the Liberated Traveler blog.

Zero to Hero-Day 22: Share Your World

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Todays assignment for the Zero to Hero Challenge is to join in on another blog event or challenge. I looked through the link in the assignment to the Blog Event Listings and saw a few I was interested in.

Maybe I’ll get back to some of them later when I have more time.

I decided to do the Share Your World Challenge. It seemed interesting and fairly quick and easy. Each week Cee asks 4 questions for you to answer “about you or the area of the world you live in.” Sounds like fun. 🙂

So, here are her questions and my answers for Week 3…

  1. In what do you find the simplest of joys? I can find joy in a lot of ways, for example: enjoying a good book, good music, good food, good friends, watching a beautiful sunrise/sunset, watching the waves roll by on the ocean, watching the birds run around on the beach or the squirrels in my backyard, learning something new, being creative doing something like drawing/painting or playing the piano, solving a crossword puzzle, hiking through beautiful scenery, seeing the plants/seasons change. Yeah, lots of things. 🙂
  2. Jello or Pudding? And what is your favorite flavor? I prefer jello. Pretty much any flavor as long as it’s made with vodka! 😉 yummy jello shots!! 🙂
  3. Is there a language you would like to learn? I would like to learn Spanish better because I live in Texas and there are a lot of people here who speak it (just not to me). I took it for a year in college but since then, I haven’t been able to find anyone to practice with and I’m losing my ability to speak it. I would like to travel some more in Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries and it would be so much better to be able to really talk to the people I meet there.                               I would like to learn Mandarin since I really love traveling in Asia and I would like to go back to China and learn more about the people and the country.                      I would like to learn Russian since I learned a little bit when I was in high school and spent some time there. I thought the country was beautiful and with all that has happened since then, I would like to go back and spend some time talking to the people that I was not allowed to meet back then.                                                   I would like to learn Tagalog (one of the main Philippino languages) because I almost always wind up with at least some Pilippinos on the ships I sail on. I would like to be able to communicate better and learn more about them and their country. I would like to learn Korean since I used to work on a Korean fishing vessel and every time I tried to say something in Korean to the crew, they would break up in hysterics. I would like to find out just what was so funny. 😉
  4. Do you prefer juice or fruit?  It depends. I like juice better because it’s so convenient. Quick and easy, goes down nice and cold. I like fruit because it takes longer to eat and fills me up better.                                                                                                                                                                                                        Here’s the link to Cee’s Share Your World Writing Challenge- 2014- Week 3

Zero to Hero- Day 21: Let the World Know

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Todays assignment for the Zero to Hero Challenge is to ‘publish a post inspired by your post from Day 19, and publicize it on one or more of your social networks.” I actually did 2 posts for the challenge for … Continue reading →

Zero to Hero- Day 20: Pass on the Pages

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Todays assignment for the Zero to Hero Challenge is to add a new page. Since I just added one a couple of days ago and it took me a loooong time to put it all together, I think I’ll take … Continue reading →

Zero to Hero- Day 19: Some Short Snips

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What light is to the eyes – what air is to the lungs – what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man.
Robert Green Ingersoll

If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
Epictetus

Zero to Hero- Day 18: Socializing

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The assignment for the Zero to Hero Challenge for Day 18 is to ‘explore one or more social networks’.

Link the account to your blog and ‘create a strategy for how you’ll use it’. I have no idea what to do with that. Strategy??? WTH? I’m just fumbling along here…

OK, I have the little share buttons beneath every post so if anyone really likes something and would like to share it, there’s an easy way to do it. (hint, hint!!) 😉

I already have accounts at Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr and they are linked to this blog. You can see the feeds for them along the right side and the bottom of my home page.

The Facebook one just shows people who’ve liked my JP Friedman page instead of the actual feed. I don’t know why it only does that. I still haven’t figured out how to get the Facebook feed to work on here but maybe it’s better to just leave it the way it is.

My blog posts do show up on my Facebook page (most of the time). I do get some comments there, tho it surprises me I don’t get more. 😉

I have a LOT more interesting stuff showing up on my Facebook and Twitter feeds from all kinds of interesting people! I love to go on Facebook and catch up with all my old friends and sometimes I meet new friends through them, or even people who just happen to join in a discussion.

I think it’s a fantastic invention (social media) to keep people informed and interacting with each other, physical location is no barrier.

I post a lot of things to Facebook and Twitter when I don’t have much time to comment personally but still think something is interesting enough to pass along and I think people might get a kick out of it.

I also have accounts at Tumblr and Pinterest and they are also linked here (at least I see things from this blog showing up on my Tumblr feed).

I do also have a Linkedin account but I try to keep that one more focused on work and professional type things. I occasionally share something from my blog there but I’m more concerned about that site potentially harming my job prospects.

More and more places are checking out your online presence both before and during your employment there. I totally disagree with this practice! grrrrr!

I think it is completely wrong that your employer has anything to say about what you do on YOUR time! They pay you for a certain amount of work, they do NOT own you! They do NOT own one more second of your life than that time you are working for them and that they pay you for!

It’s bad enough that most of us are working for somebody else and can’t really do what we would prefer to be doing with our limited time here on this planet. It’s a real shame that our employers want to limit us even more than they already do. 🙁

My Linkedin account is actually where I have the most contacts and some great conversations. According to them, I have a few million people in my ‘network’. 🙂 Too bad I have to (self) censor myself on there in fear for my present and future employment prospects. It’s a real shame!

 

 

Zero to Hero-Day (16)- 17: Focusing on Formatting

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Oh well, I still haven’t come up with anything to say about the assignment for Day 16 (prompt: reputation). So I never did write a post on the subject.

Reading the assignment for Day 17, I have already looked at quite a few of other Zero to Hero participants and commented on some of their posts. I really enjoyed reading some of the very different takes on that one subject. It sure brings to the forefront the beauty of blogging, that even tho we are all here and all doing pretty much the same thing, there is still SO much variety! 🙂

OK, since I didn’t do a post on the prompt, I am going to write a post today about something else. 😉

And, to follow along with the challenge, I will use 2 (or more) of the suggested formatting tools (“block quotes, preformatting, or an ordered or unordered list”).

I'm not really sure what is meant by 'preformatting'. 
So I guess I'll just write a little bit til I can see what happens.

Here we go. It doesn't really seem to do much of anything. Changes the 
font and looks like it cuts off the space I can write in a little bit. 
Also makes a black space around my writing while I have the 'preformatted'
box checked.

OK, so that’s that. I learned something new. 🙂

Since today is a holiday here in the US, it’s Martin Luther King Jr Day, I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes of his. Also using the ‘blockquotes’ formatting tool.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I really like all 3 of those quotes. I have always been a fierce believer in freedom in all its forms and hold the fact that our governments entire purpose is to uphold individual liberty as our greatest accomplishment here in the USA.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,…

Declaration of Independence

I am SO sad to see what has been happening here in the last few years.

What happened to all those people who were around back when Martin Luther King Jr was out protesting against the wrongs of society? Why aren’t those people STILL trying???

Things have surely NOT been fixed! Obama is NOT the answer.

I was pretty young back in the 60’s when Martin Luther King Jr was around in person, but I read a lot. I read a lot of history and politics and social studies, etc. I think people were trying to create a more free, more just, more peaceful and prosperous society.

WTF happened??? The people who were protesting back then are the ones in power now. People like the Clintons for instance. They grew up and now they are the ones upholding all the same old crap they used to fight so hard against! 🙁

Things like…

  1. the War on (some) Drugs
  2. (Unjust) Foreign Wars
  3. Big Government
  4. Big Business
  5. The SYSTEM

It makes me sad to see how many people just don’t get any of the things I try to bring to their attention. Things like why it’s so bad that we have given up our freedom and liberty for the TSA, NSA, NDAA, PATRIOT ACT, FACTA, etc, etc, etc. Never-ending big government information gathering and CONTROL of every tiny little aspect of life here in this ONCE free country.

I just don’t understand how a once free people (and we were SO much more free even when I was a kid) can give up so much and not even seem to care. Most people I talk to think it’s somehow a GOOD thing.

Have they never read or seen George Orwells 1984? or Animal Farm? Or any of the numerous other books describing how power ALWAYS corrupts? Or how lack of privacy (spy programs) turns society into a dreary, bleak, isolated, sad, destructive, sick mess that eventually sucks dry every bit of human decency, compassion and creativity?

I wonder what will it take? What will have to happen for people to WAKE UP and take back THEIR lives and their freedoms? I sure don’t know but I hope with all my heart and soul it will happen soon, before we have to go through another total collapse of civilization.

We ARE all in the same boat together. We only have one planet (unless we can hurry the hell up and get ourselves to Mars PDQ)! It’s a global civilization now and for better or worse, we do all influence each other now in numerous ways. I hope I can be a force on the side of peace and freedom.

I hope this blog can help. 🙂

Zero to Hero- Day 14-15: Bloggers Choice!

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Still working on catching up here on the Zero to Hero Challenge. 😉

For the Day 14 assignment, I did a little of everything they suggested, just not all at one time or one one day. I did some commenting. I did some looking around the Reader. I read the post on developing your blogging voice. I spent a little time looking at the comments on the Zero to Hero threads. AND I posted (see the previous post on day 13).

For the Day 15 assignment, I played around a while with the various fonts. I thought there would be more of them. I really didn’t see anything there that I liked enough to change the one I have. Especially considering that I would have to pay to change what I have. I’m still not at the point where I really want to pay for anything extra here.

So far, I’m just learning. This challenge is really helpful. I’m getting a lot out of the daily tasks and looking at what other people attempting the challenge are doing. I might want to do more to customize my blog later, but for now I’m pretty happy with the way it looks.

I’m still trying to figure out how to work the widgets to do what I’d like better! Hoping there will be more on that later on. 😉

There is SO much I can do here. I only need more TIME to blog! 😉

Zero to Hero- Day 13: Building a Better Blogroll

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Catching up again. 🙂

I’ve been home the last few days but SO busy! I’ve been spending a lot of time in Houston this week. It started out Monday morning when I went for a meeting about work.

Went back again for a Dr appt. I had to get my lap band filled (been putting it off WAY too long). Spent the rest of the day at the Museum of Fine Arts (it’s FREE on Thursdays). Went to a happy hour sponsored by the Houston USMMAAA (Kings Point Alumni). Spent the night so I didn’t have to drive all the way home. 😉

Spent the next day at the zoo and then a Liberty Forum sponsored by the King Street Patriots. They had a great lineup moderated by Ben Swann, including past LP Presidential candidate (and now Honorary Chairman of the Our America Initiative) Gary Johnson and his VP running mate Judge Gray.

I was very encouraged to see the great response to Kathy Glass who is running for Texas Governor! Gary Johnson also got a standing ovation. It always makes me happy to see people who actually support true liberty and not just give it lip service! 🙂

Went back up to Houston Saturday morning to spend all afternoon with my sponsor for a training event. More on that later…

And that’s only the stuff I did in Houston this week! Not counting the local stuff!! 😉

So, now you know why I haven’t been keeping up very well with the Zero to Hero Challenge this week.

I did take a look at this one (day 13) a couple of days ago and fiddled around with it when I could. I already had a couple of different ways to see some of the blogs I like on my home page.

I had a widget I called “More Good Stuff” that showed the gravatars of some of the blogs I follow on the right side bar. I also had an area in the bottom center of my home page with links to websites and blogs I like. There was a blogroll there too.

I also already had a links page (tho I admit I don’t have much on it yet).

So all I have done (so far) for todays challenge was to increase the number of blogs I followed that was shown from 20 to 50. I also added a couple more to the links on my home page.

One I added was the Jack Tar Magazine. I really like to check out all the things they’re doing over there. It’s a great resource for the maritime community and I LOVE their focus on the larger sailing vessels and all the maritime culture and traditions.

Another one I added was the Texas Music Scene. I rarely watch TV, but I do try to watch Saturday Night Live when I’m home. After that’s over, the Texas Music Scene show hosted by (9 time Grammy winner) Ray Benson comes on. I really enjoy learning about great new music and bands I may have never heard of before.

Another one I added was the Lightly Braised Turnip. I checked it out when someone posted on my Facebook page about the giant squid that washed up on a beach in California. I liked the way they reported the story and decided to keep them on my list of sites to ‘follow’. I say it that way since I haven’t yet found a specific follow button on their site yet and I just go check them out every so often.

I’ll be trying to catch up with more of the Zero to Hero Challenge tonight. 🙂

Zero to Hero Challenge- Day 12: Inspired by the Fourchon Shuffle

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The assignment for day 12 of the Zero to Hero Challenge builds on the one from the day before. The one for day 11 was to leave comments on 3 blogs you’ve never commented on before. Today’s is to build a post out of one of those comments.

I made a comment on the New England Watermans’ blog yesterday. I really liked his post with the video of Port Fourchon. Here’s the link to my comment again.

His video was a time lapse of his work over the last year. Both offshore and in the port of Fourchon, La.

I liked it because it reminded me of a lot of the same things I see all the time at work. He also mentioned the Global Orion which is one of the vessels I used to work on.

Global Orion

Global Orion

I’ve been in and out of Fourchon more times than I can count. It’s NOT my favorite place! It’s the largest port in the USA for the oil and gas industry and it is VERY busy! Usually it’s a huge pain in the ass to go to Fourchon.

We call it the Fourchon Shuffle. Bring your boat to the dock so you can unload your deck cargo. Oh, your halfway done but there’s another boat that has a higher priority. So, MOVE.

OK, so you go to another dock to get some fuel. Wait, there’s no space there. So, you wait. Wait some more. It’s not like parking a car, you can’t just put a boat in park and walk away (tho some DPOs might think so).

Oh, now they’re calling you back to finish unloading. No time to spare, you have to get back offshore again ASAP.

Oh yeah, you still need fuel so go back over there. This time you can get to the dock. Now you need to go to another dock to load up more deck cargo. You’ve got priority so you make 2 other boats move out of the way for you….

That’s just a short verse, the Fourchon Shuffle goes on and on. They’ve improved it slightly with some additional dock space but it’s still far from ideal.

No one in Fourchon ever gets any peace at the dock. I always just wanted to get the hell out of there and back offshore as soon as possible. At least be able to get some rest again.

Here are a few photos I took in Fourchon recently…

 

Luckily, I don’t spend too much time driving around Fourchon anymore. Lately I’ve been working on a lot of large vessels like drillships and they don’t usually go into port. I only go to Fourchon to fly in or out to the rig. 🙂

 

PS- the orange boats are the ones belonging to the Cajun Navy 😉

Zero to Hero- Day 11: Be a Good Neighbor

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The assignment for day 11 in the Zero to Hero Challenge is to make 3 comments on blogs you’ve never commented on before.

Well, that should be an easy one. I’ve never been a shy one when it comes to saying something anonymously (or even semi). 😉

Since I’ve been looking around the blogosphere more than usual for the previous assignments, I do have at least a couple of blogs I haven’t commented on yet.

Let’s see if I can find something interesting now…

A Yankee in the Cajun Navy

I found this blog the other day for the day 9 assignment (I think). I saw his mention of the Cajun Navy and knew exactly what he was talking about and from his blog tagline “A Yankee in the Cajun Navy”, I could just imagine how entertaining he was going to be.

So, today I checked his blog and found this neat video to watch. My computer is so slow it messed up the music but it was fun to watch anyway. I wanted to say more, but tried to keep my comment short(er)… here’s a link to the post and comments…

http://newenglandwaterman.com/2014/01/09/2013-in-review-a-timelapse-review/#comment-1307

Home Improvement

The Eleventh Stack is another blog I found while looking around for the Zero to Hero Challenge. I really like the variety of things they talk about there. It’s a library sort of blog so I guess it can really cover EVERYTHING. 🙂

I went to look around again for todays assignment and found this post on do-it-yourself projects. I’m a big fan of DIY.

I love to watch all those shows on Home and Garden TV like the Property Brothers and Househunters International. I get all kinds of ideas for fixing up my house and my rentals. I don’t have much time for TV but when I do watch, it’s probably going to be some of that stuff.

So, here’s the post that caught my eye today and my comment…

http://eleventhstack.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/i-can-do-that/#comment-15846

Another Jills’ Journeys

I noticed this one while I was on assignment too and really just checked it out since we have the same name. But the more I look around her blog, the more interesting things I find. She has a really neat series on a trip she took to Easter Island which is also on my bucket list.

I picked her post on the free museum days to comment on. Just because I thought it was funny that we both posted on that, we both have the same name, we both love to travel (to out of the way places). I thought it was cool. Here’s the post and comment…

http://journeysbyjill.com/2013/09/25/museums-open-doors-with-free-admission/#comment-2182

Zero to Hero Challenge- Day 10: the Wonderful (frustrating) World of Widgets

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I’m trying to catch up on things around here, getting a little behind on the Zero to Hero Challenge, but here’s my take on the one for Day 10: Widgets.

I already had quite a few widgets on my blog. It’s taken me some time to figure out how to get them on here and how to get them to work like they’re supposed to. I still have a lot of work to do in that department.

So, I didn’t add 2 more widgets today. I found one that I had been wanting to add and it took me quite a while to figure out how to do it and then to add all the updates I wanted to. I actually got a little sick of it so I’m sure I missed a few places.

I found this one of cities where I’ve been on www.geckogo.com. I started playing around with it and signed up on the site and then got into all the other stuff on there. It just sucked me in. 😉

So, I finally got the widget finished and uploaded it onto my blog. I like it. 🙂

I think there must be tons of things to do with widgets on here. I’m still trying to figure out how to get some of them to work.

For instance, I’ve been trying to get one from Amazon to work for a couple of weeks now. It’s a blog and I think it’s pretty cool. It’s not trying to sell you anything, it’s just a neat scrolling list of comments on various books. It looks like my twitter feed.

I still can’t get it to show up here as anything but a plain link. It doesn’t even link to the book feed like I’d like, but to a half dozen different feeds. I’m still messing around with it but won’t put it up here until I can get it to work right. Anybody out there know how to do it?

Zero to Hero- Days 8-9: About + More Cool Blogs!

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Since I got off the ship the other day, I’ve been busy just trying to get back on schedule. It’s really hard to switch back and forth from working nights for 3 weeks to being up in the daytime like most normal people. I feel like I need to be up days while I’m home, it’s hard to get anything much done at night here.

So, I’m a little caught up on sleep and mail and bills, got some groceries in the house and so ready to take up the Zero to Hero Challenge once again.

I did go over my About page again (day 8’s assignment). I don’t really know how to make it ‘irresistible’, but I did spiff it up a bit. I’ve been thinking about adding some other things there but not sure if it would actually make it any better.

For day 9’s assignment, to find more blogs to follow, I’m having a hard time limiting myself to just 5! I am starting to wonder just how much time can I spend wandering around the blogosphere? 😉

It’s REALLY hard to try and find ‘new’ things, things I’m not already following or new subjects that I don’t already have an interest in. So, I didn’t really follow directions, I did take a look at some things I really have no interest in, like sports, and cars, and fashion, but I don’t really see the point in following things I’m not interested in at all.

So, I looked around some more and found some outliers in subjects I am interested in but don’t follow as much as I would like.

Here are my picks for today…

  1. Human Rights Warrior– I love her tagline “There is some good in this world…and it’s worth fighting for.”
  2. The Official How To Blog– It’s always good to learn how to do things! Laugh while learning is good!! 🙂
  3. Beer & Whiskey Brothers– I always like a good drink, beer was never my favorite, but it’s always available so learned to like it. Learning about more flavors is great!
  4. The Squeaky Robot– This looks like an interesting blog with nice photos. 🙂
  5. Coffee and Irony– I liked the post on the Civil Wars (I LOVE their music!) and lots of variety on this blog, I think it’s worth following for a while.
  6. Austin Music Source-This one’s not a wordpress blog, but it’s one I like and found today while wandering around online. I do love Austin! Lots of good stuff on this one!
  7. Texas Music Scene– Here’s one last one, it’s not a wordpress blog either, but I found it today and really liked the stuff they had on there.

I found all of them interesting and plenty more, but I don’t have enough hours in the day to devote the time and energy they deserve, so limiting myself to these today. 😉

Maybe I’ll find some more in the next few days. 🙂

 

 

Zero to Hero- Day 7: Personalize Your Blog

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Todays assignment for the Zero to Hero Challenge is to personalize your blog. Take a few tries at customizing your blog. Turn it into your very own creation. 🙂

As you can see from looking at my blog, I did do the challenge and what you see is what you get. At least for now. I’m not sure I really like it better than what I had before.

I think eventually, I might pick another picture. The one up there now is one I took. The one I had before is one that just came from WordPress. I do have a lot of photos that I think would look nice up there in the header. I just haven’t had time to work on it.

Any comments? Do you like the way my blog looks better now or before?

Zero to Hero- Day 6: Add Media

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Todays assignment is to “publish a post with a new-to-you element”.

I’m not sure what to do with this since I’ve already published posts with text, photos, videos, music.

They do suggest ’embedding’ tweets, a song, a map, adding pins from Pinterest, etc. So, I’ll try to add a map of some of the places I’ve traveled (so far).

OK, tried and tried again with the map. Not working. It disappears every time I save the draft of the post. Maybe I’ll try it again later with googlemaps since they specifically tell you how to do that one in the WordPress Support pages here. Not having any success with either zeemaps or traveladvisor which I already had made on my facebook page.

One more time, if it doesn’t work, will just have to be satisfied with a neat picture from Pinterest. I’ve never added anything from there here before either, so I guess that should count for todays task. 🙂