Seems like I’ve been home for such a short time! I guess that’s because I’ve only been home for a little over a week and the 1st couple of days were totally wasted just trying to catch up on sleep!! So I HAVE only been home for a short time!!
These long flights are really getting old. Especially when they make it so there’s no way to even TRY to upgrade! I started trying to upgrade as soon as I found out I would have a 15 HOUR flight! (And that’s only the FIRST leg to Dubai, I still have another 6 1/2 flight to Mauritius after that!) It would be nice to show up somewhere and not be completely exhausted for the 1st few days you get there.
I don’t have enough miles on this airline (Emirates). They don’t allow use of miles from another airline. I tried to BUY an upgrade, they wouldn’t even tell me how much it would cost!
All this because I’m on a ‘seamans’ fare’, not that it’s really any cheaper than I see online every day. What a rip-off! They USED to be good for a good rate for sailors that had to get to/from their ships on short notice. Not the same anymore, they’re more than the online tickets now.
I could possibly upgrade through my travel agent, IF I could contact them. Seems that is just not possible. I tried calling, emailing, and filling out their online form. Been trying for a WEEK now. STILL no response from them.
So, I guess I need to psyche myself up for a 15 hour long flight with no sleep. I WISH I was one of those so-lucky people that can sleep while sitting up!
I just hope there are no seat-back kicking kids or screaming babies nearby. 🙁
I’m still trying to participate in the Photography 101 Challenge. Today’s assignment is: glass.
I’m leaving for work tomorrow and pretty busy, so not able to get out to take any more photos. I took these when they sent me to Aberdeen (Scotland) for a lifeboat class. I had enough time after class each day to wander around town a bit.
I love the creativity of the little fisherman’s cottage in the top row. Tom, Dick and Harry 😉 and the model ships behind glass.
I got to try a glass of whiskey at the Glenfiddich distillery and the brew at the Moorings Bar.
I didn’t get to see the inside of the stained glass windows, they looked like they would be gorgeous with the light shining through. Maybe next time…
I’ve always loved this song. Maybe because I always loved the ocean and everything in it. I also love to SCUBA dive and thanks to Cousteau for that!! I’ve been lucky to always live near the ocean and even to work on the water. 🙂
John Denver wrote this song as a tribute to Jacques Cousteau and his expedition ship “Calypso”. I think he did a good job (I wish the youtube video was better!).
I remember watching Jacques Cousteau on TV when I was a kid. I loved seeing his voyages on the Calypso.
I thought about this song when I saw the post on the Old Salt Blog the other day about the sad situation the Calypso is in now.
I hope someone will come to her rescue.
In the meantime, here are the lyrics to the song (in case you want to sing along).
“Calypso”
To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean, to ride on the crest of the wild raging storm. To work in the service of life and the living, in search of the answers to questions unknown. To be part of the movement and part of the growing, part of beginning to understand. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you to light up the darkness and show us the way. For though we are strangers in your silent world, to live on the land we must learn from the sea. To be true as the tide and free as a wind swell, joyful and loving in letting it be. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Here’s an interesting link to Jessica’s blog where she gives a very good rundown on Jacques Cousteau and his Calypso (along with some diving to whet your whistle). And another one on Cousteau. Check ’em out! 🙂
I haven’t been able to get out to get many new pictures lately, so I’m looking through some old ones for the Photography 101 Challenge: Moment.
The idea is to ‘”capture a fleeting moment and experiment with blur and movement”.
I did try this last time they ran this challenge, but I found some different pictures this time. I took these at the Brazoria County Fair a couple of years ago. I don’t think these turned out as good as the earlier ones I just posted. It was SO hard to get a good shot of the cowboys once they came out of the gate on those bulls!
I’m thinking of going to the Houston Rodeo tomorrow tho, so maybe I’ll be able to get some better ones this time. I really love going to the rodeo. I’m lucky to be home for this one. I’m in Houston tonight anyway, so might as well do something here in the morning before I go home. It’ll be either the rodeo or the zoo. 🙂
I haven’t been able to get out to get many new pictures lately, so I’m looking through some old ones for the Photography 101 Challenge: Moment.
The idea is to ‘”capture a fleeting moment and experiment with blur and movement”.
I did try this last time they ran this challenge, but I found some different pictures this time. I took these at the Brazoria County Fair a couple of years ago. I think they get the idea across, don’t you? 😉
I thought I’d try to do this Photography 101 project again, since I wasn’t able to spend much time on it last time and missed a few assignments. Here is my post from last time.
I thought I would have more time this go ’round.
It doesn’t look like I will, but while I’m home, I’ll try to participate. Here’s my entry for the ‘architecture’ challenge. I’m trying to find some good ones I can make black and white.
Here are a couple of shots I took a few years ago when I was in Argentina for vacation. I really loved it there. I wish I could have spent months there instead of only couple of weeks. These photos are both from Buenos Aires. The first one is looking down the neat old spiral staircase I found at my first B&B. The bottom one is looking up into the skylight of a market
I think they both show some great ‘bones’. I have some other good photos of architecture from that trip, but most of them look better in color. I don’t usually think in black and white.
Do you think that might help to get better photos?
PS- the ‘featured image’ is also from Buenos Aires. I took it while I was wandering around down near the river one day. I don’t have any idea what the building is.
Amazing! I only got home from Angola late Thursday, and Friday I got an email from work asking me to go to Mauritius!
I’ve never been there before. I LOVE going to new places. I just hope to have at least a little bit of time to see something of Mauritius. I’d hate to go straight from the airport to the ship. The pictures look gorgeous! Here’s one I found on google.
I’m going to meet one of our new drillships and bring it around to the other side of Africa and hopefully stay to get it started on its’ first contract. This will be the first time I’ve actually gone anywhere on a ship for months. That will be a nice change.
I’m excited to be able to sail a ship again, instead of just keep it sitting in one place, which is what I’ve mostly been doing for the last few years. Here’s a map of Africa. You can get an idea of where we’ll be going. Just find Mauritius (East of Madagascar) and head South around the tip of South Africa and then back up North to Congo on the West Coast.
Looks like we’ll wind up not too far from where I’ve been working off Angola for the last few months.
After 2 LONG days of traveling, I made it home! Ahhhhh. I can finally sleep.
I did that yesterday. I got home. I passed out. I slept for 12 hours straight. 🙂
Last night I stayed up too late, so I only slept about 8 hours. Today is the big St Patricks’ Day Parade down at the beach and I don’t want to miss it.
The weather here has been rainy for the last 2 weeks, but this morning it looks gorgeous. A beautiful day for the beach. 🙂
Last year it was raining, but the parade went on anyway. This year looks like it will turn out much better. If anyone wants to come, the parade starts at 1300 (1 pm). 🙂
I’ll be taking lots of pictures. Here are a few from last year…
I’m almost gone! I’ll be leaving the ship today and heading home. That is, if the helicopter makes it out here. We’ve been haveing a lot of thunderstorms lately and they don’t like to fly through all that (I don’t blame them).
crew change by chopper
I’m due to fly out of Luanda at 2300 tonight. Will be due to arrive in Houston at 1500 tomorrow (Thursday) and should be home by 1800. I just hope everything goes smoothly and maybe I can catch a few zzz’s on the plane.
It takes 8 1/2 hours to fly from Luanda to Frankfurt and then another 11 hours to fly from Frankfurt to Houston. I hope the planes aren’t stuffed full so at least can have a little bit of space.
Will be home soon and able to start catching up with things on here once I get caught up on some sleep (MUCH needed). 🙂
Spring is coming! I’m looking forward to seeing the flowers in bloom while I’m at home this time. My garden is not the greatest, I don’t have many flowers (except on the weeds). I can’t really take care of it when I’m gone so much. But I do enjoy messing around out there in the yard, especially this time of year when the weather can be just gorgeous. 🙂
Here’re a few (googled) pictures of what Texas looks like in the Spring. People like to go leaf-peeping up north in the Fall. We like to go checking out the bluebonnets in the Spring down here. 🙂
I might be fired from my job because of the low price of oil, but at least the gas is cheap enough again now to go drive around looking for the best show in the fields. Maybe bring a couple of friends and have a picnic. It’s a great way to spend the day.
Here’s an entry for the Word A Week Challenge from Sue over on her A Word in Your Ear Blog . The word of the week is: intricate. I had these pictures on my blog already, I think they are a nice example of ‘intricate’. I had already done a post about these very intricate designs made from sea shells. They call them Sailors Valentines. 🙂
I decided to join in on Jasons’ challenge over at the Opinionated Mans blog. He’s collecting a pretty cool collection of posts from people all over the world. Everyone is posting about where they’re from and what it’s like there. I’ve really enjoyed hearing from everyone.
I really have 2 totally different places I could call home. I live in a small town in Texas, but I actually spend more time out here at work than I do there. So, this is really more my home, out here (at sea).
For at least half the year, I live onboard something like this ship I’m on right now. It’s about 228m long and 42m wide. We usually have between 165-180 people onboard (almost all men). There’s not a lot of space on these ships for living quarters, so almost everyone shares a room. I am lucky to only share with one other person. We are on opposite watch so we’re never in the room at the same time. Some people have 4 to a room and also share heads (bathrooms). I am also lucky to have a private bathroom in my cabin. 🙂
It’s small, but comfortable enough for only a month at a time. Most people are regular on board here and they can bring things from home to fix things up a little bit. I’m still in the resource pool, so I can’t bring much with me. I’m just happy that they have a catering crew here that keeps the room clean and does the laundry. That saves a lot of time. They also take care of all meals. 🙂
I can really only give a very basic description of what it’s like out here, since every ship is different in some ways and the same in others. I’ve been on this one now a couple of times since July. We’ve been working offshore Angola, about 85 miles W of the Congo River. I’m working here as DPO (Dynamic Positioning Operator). My typical day out here (this hitch) goes like this…
Wake up at 22:30. Take a shower. Get dressed. TRY to get online to check email (internet access is very iffy out here). If that doesn’t work, fiddle with my photos in Lightroom on the computer. Head up to the bridge by 23:30 for watch.
Take the elevator up 2 decks to E deck, walk up another flight to the bridge. Get a cup of coffee and chat with my relief before starting to go over the checklist. Go through the checklist. Call everyone for communication checks (engine room, drill floor, standby boats). Then stand my watch for 12 hours on the bridge with a half hour break for ‘lunch’ at 06:30. Since I work from midnight to noon, this meal is actually breakfast that is being served. We have eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, ham & cheeses, fruits, and something usually left over from last night so that people who’ve been up all night can have a different choice.
I work until noon on the ships bridge, looking out for traffic and monitoring the DP system while the drillers are doing their thing. We’ve been working in shallow water lately, so things are more stressful than usual. The difference for us is; we don’t have very much time to react if things start going wrong.
When watch is over, I walk down the 3 flights of stairs to my cabin (or 5 down to the galley for lunch). Then I try to check my email and work on the computer for an hour or 2 before bed. If I really get motivated, and the weather’s nice, I might go walk around the helideck for a while. I TRY to get to sleep by 1500 but I usually run late. I never manage to get enough sleep out here. 🙁
There’s not usually much to look at here. We might have a supply boat alongside to watch. We can see the flares of the FPSOs (Floating Production Storage Offloading) a few miles away (they’re very bright at night). That’s about it at this location, but sometimes it can be really awesome at sea. Just to see the wild ocean in all its many moods. Or the night sky in all its’ glory, with no lights for hundreds of miles to interfere with your vision. Or schools of hundreds of dolphins keeping you company as you steam along. Those are some of the reasons I love it out here at sea. 🙂
Maersk Finder, Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV)
So, the entire month I’m here, it’s basically: eat, sleep and work. Nothing else to do out here but look forward to getting off and going home. 🙂
I only have 5 more days til I’m due off. Or, as we say out here, 4 more and a wake up! It’s always good when you get to the single digits. 🙂
My ideal Saturday morning would probably consist of sleeping late (rolling over and going back to sleep the 1st time I wake up and taking at least 2-3 hours more time to get a GOOD nights rest).
Once I got in enough sleep, I’d like to wake up to savor a delicious breakfast. One I could take my time over while reading a good book. Preferably something somebody else cooked for me. I can picture some ricotta stuffed pancakes I recently saw in Woman’s Day magazine (they look fantastic, but waaaay too much trouble for me to actually try to cook). Or maybe I would just have some Eggs Benedict, I really do love that sauce. 🙂
After a long leisurely breakfast/brunch, possibly with a mimosa or simple spiked orange juice, I might decide to work on some of my projects: writing, photography, blogging, painting, etc. If the weather’s nice, I’ll take my daily walk around the neighborhood. I might go out and play around in the yard, try to get the garden going again (because I’m gone so much, I don’t have much luck with it).
Yep, that sounds like a pretty good way to spend a Saturday morning to me. 🙂
Am I doing them this morning? Nope (it’s already Sunday and we had drills this morning). I’m at work and will be here for at least another week and a half. Best I can manage out here is to relax over a cup of tea and a smoke. I’ll have to put off my ‘me time’ til after I get back home. Something to look forward to. 🙂
How about you? What is your perfect Saturday morning like? And do you ever get to enjoy one? 🙂
This is a classic song from the maritime industry. Gordon Lightfoot wrote and performed it and it was a big hit back in the 60’s. It’s about the sinking of the ‘Laker’ SS Edmund Fitzgerald in a winter storm almost 40 years ago (November 1975).
She was the pride of the Lakes fleet and it was such a tragedy when she went down. Lost with all hands aboard. It almost makes me cry sometimes when I pay attention to what he’s saying. We can never forget the power of the sea.
This is a sad song, but it’s also a good one. What do you think?
We’ve been very busy out here on the rig since I got here. We’ve already done 2 wells and should be finished up and ready to move off this one by tomorrow night. Whew!
The next one should take at least a week, maybe 2. So maybe we won’t have to move again before I’m due off. 🙂
We are working here on a ‘deepwater drillship’. It’s optimized for working in DEEP water (more than the 500m we’ve been working in lately)! Here’s one of ours, I was working on it a couple of hitches ago.
They’re nice ships, but much better to work the kinds of jobs they’re intended for.
I’ve been trying for a few years to get started in a second (or 3rd) career as a writer/photographer. I’ve been reading International Living magazine for a long time now (decades). I usually glance over the ads, but eventually I was tempted to sign on for their travel writing course.
I did it and over the years since, I’ve taken a few other courses through IL and what is now called GEP (Great Escape Publishing). I started this blog at the Boston workshop they put on back in August 2013. I figured the blog would be a good way to get my work out to the public without having to go through an editor. I was getting so frustrated at having my photos rejected and I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me when they told me WHY they rejected them.
All along the way, I’ve still been trying to come up with something that I could sell to someone. I do enjoy writing and photography, but I am also really looking for some way to earn an income without having to be out on a ship so much of the time. I really want to find a way to travel more and spend more time doing the things I want to do instead of what other people want me to be doing. 😉
I have somehow managed to have a couple of articles published online (here, here, and here), but that came about only because someone happened to see my blog and liked what I had written on here. I had never been able to get up the nerve to actually send in a formal query to a real magazine editor.
Until last trip home. I FINALLY got around to sending in an article to International Living! I had high hopes. I was really anxious too. I had written a short article (they say short is much better to start with), but I had written it about Singapore. Singapore is not one of the countries IL usually features. I thought they might like it since it was about how to eat cheap there. They DO like articles about how to save money. 🙂
I’m still waiting to hear back from them. I HOPE they willl let me know something one way or another. In the meantime, I’ve been working on trying again to get my photographs accepted on some of the stock photo sites. I’m happy to say, I’ve managed to get some accepted!
I still don’t really understand why they accept some and they refuse others. I do understand what they’re telling me now, I just don’t SEE what they’re telling me about in the photos I’ve sent. So far, my acceptance level is 40% at Bigstock, 0% at Canstock and Fotolia. I’m getting better, at first my acceptance level was only 26%. 🙂
Here are 2 of the photos I submitted. Can you tell which ones they accepted? The first one is of a temple on a lake in Bali, Indonesia. The second one is of the beach in Cancun, Mexico.
I haven’t been able to post on here much lately since I’ve been pretty busy for the last week or so. I left home last Monday and spent 2 days traveling to the rig. I got here on Wednesday the 11th and was lucky enough to be assigned to the midnight to noon watch (so I got to go to sleep pretty soon after arrival onboard).
I was just starting to get settled in, then we had drills Sunday and unlatched the BOP on Monday. We moved right over to our next well and stabbed in later that day. We should only be on this one a couple more days and then move on to the next one. So it looks like this hitch will be pretty much like the last one. Constantly busy with setting up, maintenance, moving around, rip tides to watch out for, etc. Not much time for taking care of other business.
I got news right before I left home that the plumbers will be asking around $3000(!!!) to repair the sewer issues at one of my properties. We had been trying to find a way to do it ourselves since it mostly consists of digging a hole.
I even went to talk to the city code enforcement officer about doing the job myself. He told me I could only do the job if it was my homestead and I would have to show him proof that I lived in that house. Owning it was not enough (WHY NOT???).
Since my drivers license did not have that address on it, I was SOOL (shit out of luck)!
He would allow me to dig the hole myself, which we had hoped to be able to do. Since that was by FAR the main part of the job, that would save us a hell of a lot of money. So, for the next couple of weeks at home I was trying to help find a LICENSED plumber who would be willing to do a little moonlighting. Let us dig the hole and he could just come at the end to supervise. All he had to do was be there to connect the pipes back together.
In the end, we could not find any one like that (I guess the plumbers union must be pretty strong). They all insisted that THEY must do the ENTIRE job.
So, I will have to spend an EXTRA $2500 (and up), for licensed plumbers to dig a hole (at $100 per hour and up)!
WOW! What a friggin’ RACKET these guys have going! BS your way into getting the government to FORCE people to hire you, even for jobs they’re perfectly capable of doing themselves! WOW!!
Does anybody else have a problem with this situation?
I mean, WHY the HELL should ANYONE be able to dictate what you can do on YOUR OWN PROPERTY??????
The principle of ownership implies USE of something. If you can’t use your property, the way YOU want, then you do NOT own it! Yet, you still have to pay for it, and you have to KEEP ON paying for it. Even after you have paid the full price (many times over if you financed it).
Property taxes, they mean that you NEVER really can own a piece of property.
The way I look at it is: if you want to dictate to me what I can or can’t do on what is supposedly MY property, then YOU can PAY for it, since you get to use it for what you want and I don’t get to use it for what I BOUGHT IT FOR!
Too bad there are so many busy bodies that just can’t control themselves. Our entire society has pandered to them for much too long (they should have been laughed out of town the first time they mentioned the subject!). Now, they even imagine that they are in the right (they are NOT). But there’s no fighting them anymore.
Oh wait, there IS one group that is having some success in fighting this sickening trend. The Institute for Justice does help people fight for their property rights (among other things). They’ve been doing an excellent job and I am happy to support them as much as I can (wish I could do more- so many people need their help).
We’re all between a rock and a hard place. Either you pay rent forever so you can never escape the rat race (and put up with even MORE restrictions on what you can do in your HOME), or you buy property so you can earn some income, but yet you are more and more restricted every year.
So, the figures you based your decision to buy an investment on are devalued every year until you wind up even worse than you would have been if you never even tried.
It’s absolutely shameful what we have allowed to happen in the USA. We used to have a free country (or at least one we could say was more free than anywhere else). Now, we are SO FAR from that idea, it is ridiculous to even mention those words together any more. They are almost opposites now (America-free).
I sure hope the sewer issues are fixed by the time I get home. I sure don’t want to have to deal any more with this ‘shit’! (But I already know I have another problem to deal with at another place- and it will also be very expensive!). 🙁
Jimmy Buffett is one of my all time favorite singer-songwriters. I grew up on the beach in Florida and his songs really captured the essence of the beach lifestyle. I loved his music then. I love it even more now, since it reminds me so much of all the things I miss so much. I can picture this ‘one particular harbor’ easily in my mind. Here’s another Song of the Sea…
One particular harbour By: jimmy buffett, bobby holcomb 1983 Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
I know I don’t get there often enough But God knows I surely try It’s a magic kind of medicine That no doctor could prescribe
I used to rule my world from a pay phone Ships out on the sea But now times are rough And I got too much stuff Can’t explain likes of me
Chorus: But there’s this one particular harbour So far but yet so near Where I see the days as they fade away And finally disappear
But now I think about the good times Down in the caribbean sunshine In my younger days I was so bad Laughin’ about all the fun we had
I seen enough to feel the world spin Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins Listen to the drummers and the night sounds Listen to the singers make the world go ’round
(pan solo)
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Lakes below the mountain Flow into the sea Like oils applied to canvas They permeate through me
And there’s that one particular harbour Sheltered from the wind Where the children play on the shore each day And all are safe within
Most mysterious calling harbour So far but yet so near I can see the day when my hair’s full gray And I finally disappear
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura (ua pau te maitai no te fenua) E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura (ua pau te maitai no te fenua) E mea arofa teie ao nei, hey now, hey now, hey now
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ua pau te maitai no te fenua [bounty of the land is exhausted] Te zai noa ra te ora o te mitie [but there’s still abundance in the sea] Ua pau te maitai no te fenua Te zai noa ra te ora o te mitie
While I was home last time I went to see what the local painting class was all about. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, but haven’t done it because it lasts for 4 weeks and I’ve never been home to be able to start and finish the whole class in one hitch at home.
Since I was home a little longer than usual (and had to pass up the trip to Panama I was hoping to take due to paperwork issues), I called the lady who runs the class to ask if maybe I could take 1-2 classes each time I’m in town.
She was very nice and told me that would be fine, and invited me to come in to the next class just to see if I thought it would work for me.
I showed up late and just watched for a while. I met everyone there and wandered around to see what they were all working on. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. They all had their own projects to work on. Everything was very informal. The instruction is for either pastels or oil painting. I’m really more interested in watercolor or acrylic, but I figure it will still help me a lot to learn the techniques and most of those should transfer over to whatever medium I choose to work with.
The class meets weekly at the Brazosport Center for Arts & Sciences. After the painting class was over I spent a little time looking around the facilities. I’d been there before, but not for years. There’s a museum, a planetarium and a theatre. They also have a gallery where they feature art by members of the local art league. They had some really nice paintings in there, some beautiful portraits and some seascapes with birds I really liked.
I went through the museum again. They’ve really added a lot since last time I was there. They’ve always had a fantastic shell collection. It’s one of the largest in the country. They have some pretty good fossils. I noticed the megalodon jaws, (they were giant prehistoric sharks!) the minute I walked in the door. They’re hard to miss since they’re about 6 ft accross and at least that tall!
They have a really nice collection of moths and butterflies. I tried to take pictures, but I just couldn’t get any good ones with the way the light reflected off the glass. I did get some good ones of the ‘Sailor’s Valentines’. Since Valentines Day is coming up soon, I thought I’d post about them. Here’s a picture I took of one.
The Sailor’s Valentine is typically a box covered with shells formed into some sort of ‘romantic’ theme. They were supposedly by sailors who would pick up shells in their far off travels and then make these pretty little boxes to present to their loved ones when they got home. It was a pretty big thing back in the 1800’s. They fell out of style but are making a comeback now. The ones I saw at the museum are alll made by locals (not sailors) recently, as hobbies.
They just seem like a lot of work to me. I guess the sailors must have had a hell of a lot more leisure time back in the old days!! Then again, their hitches usually lasted for years rather then the month or so most of us (American) sailors have to stay out for now. The crews from other countries aren’t nearly so fortunate as we are. Some I know of have to stay for a minimum of 2 years(!!) before they’re allowed to go home. 🙁
Here’s a picture of my favorite one from the exhibit. It’s not so ‘romantic’ and could be for anything. I really like the flamingo. 🙂
This is another great article from the Dollar Vigilante.
Yep, here we go, following in the footsteps of such wonderful places as NAZI Germany, Soviet Russia (USSR), and Apartheid South Africa. We absolutely MUST stop this! We do NOT need to “show our papers” everywhere we go!!!!! We are NOT slaves or animals that must be constantly tracked and under surveillance!!! Yes, ‘our leaders’ do think so, but why do so many ordinary people go along with them? WTF is WRONG with people, that they would even suggest this???
And, believe me, this will only be the beginning. 🙁
Better be prepared for some SERIOUS SHIT when they get this “law” into effect! I hope to hell I can get myself out of here before the shit hits the fan and I encourage anyone else here in the US to find some options too. The USA is NOT going to be a safe place to be for much longer. Get out while you can!
I was really hoping to make some serious progress in a couple of months when I was due to get my yearly bonus from work. Got news the other day that they’ve cancelled my bonus (not all of it, just stopped earning it from end of the month- it’s a HUGE pay cut). Not just me, everybody was cut! How can they do that? It was in the contract. I guess those are only for one side to obey, the side that doesn’t have the power and money to do whatever they want. 🙁
With the price of oil so low, I guess I should be happy to still have a job. I’m sure the company knows that and so that’s why they’ll do whatever they want regardless of any ‘contracts’.
One step forward and 2 steps back. That’s what it seems like around here. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I can see what’s coming and take steps to prepare for it. It sure as hell adds a lot of stress to life tho.
I’m trying even harder to find some way to get out of the USA. I haven’t been able to find anywhere else to go that will allow me to WORK to support myself. That’s the only holdup. A lot of nice places are OK if you want to just go there to live, or to retire, or if you want to start a business. But they won’t let you work and possibly take a job from a local. I don’t blame them for that, it’s just frustrating for me when I want to leave so badly and I can’t find a way to do it.
Lately, I’ve even looking at just saying screw working anymore. I’ll just get permanent residency somewhere. I MIGHT be able to scrounge up enough to live on til I die. IF I move somewhere cheaper (and I die young). Maybe I’ll get lucky and that country (wherever) won’t deport me to the US when it really gets bad. Just got hit with approx. $3000++ plumbing bill, that kind of thing sure doesn’t help!
I was reading an email this morning about education. It was really more about the disadvantages of “public” schools (government schools).
This video was in the email. I don’t usually listen to rap music. I’ve never heard of this guy, Dave. Or his Boyinaband. I did check it out today. Just because I finally have some spare time at home and because of the recommendation in the email from TDV.
I think Dave makes a LOT of good points! No, I don’t think school should completely eliminate ALL the classics. But I DO think they spend a lot of time on things that nobody is EVER going to use.
OK, if you’re going to be an engineer or scientist, (or math teacher) then I’m sure you’ll be using quadratic equations. For pretty much everybody else, you’ll be fine if you ace geometry (or even just basic arithmetic) and skip algebra completely.
Same goes for all the other subjects: Science, English, History, Civics, etc.
Why don’t we just give all our kids a great background in those basic subjects. Up to about 4th grade, say. They OUGHT to be able to ace it by then. And if they’re some of the few that can’t, then DON’T let them hold back the ones that can do the work! Put the slow ones in a special remedial class and stop with all the political correctness that is ruining everything for everybody! Get some discipline back in the classrooms so the kids that want to learn, can learn. Concentrate on giving ALL of them a good foundation: “readin’, writin’, ‘rithmatic!” Spend the rest of the time up til High School building on those foundations with more intensive studies.
Then, after that, let the kids and their parents chose a more applicable education. Surely by High School, all involved ought to have a good idea of what they want to do with their lives. Let them opt out of todays’ standard “college prep” and take something more practical if they want to (technical or trade track).
I agree with the premise that kids are naturally curious and WILL learn what interests them. If you show them how a subject will be relevant to them, then they’re a lot more likely to take an interest.
In my own personal experience, I was very lucky to have the chance to leave the ‘public’ school system before it totally destroyed my chance of a good education. I was one of those students who always aced the tests, etc. I made straight A’s without even trying. By the time I got to High School, I had already started skipping school. Just because it was SO DAMNED BORING!
I decided I had much better things to do with my time than to take Algebra yet again! I had been taking that class (earning straight A’s) since 4th grade! No one could/would explain to me why I should waste even more of my time in that class. Nor could they say why there were no options!
People seem to think that the ONLY place you can learn something is in ‘school’. I disagree!! I’ve learned a hell of a lot more on my own, then I ever did in school.
Looked to me then (and it looks to me now), like we have a one track system. Dumb down the smart kids (and the middle of the road kids). Let the slow kids set the pace of the class. IMHO, that is a road to disaster! And just look at how bad the results are compared to a century ago! Here’s a link to an 8th grade exam from 1912. Could YOU pass it?
(I can’t. I have 2 degrees- one of them is in math).
BUT; if kids could pass it then, they COULD be taught to pass it NOW.
Now we graduate kids from High School that can’t even READ! Or do even BASIC math! I know, because I used to tutor a hell of a lot of them when they got into college. And WHY are they even allowed into college if they can’t ALREADY read, write and do math???
We really need to stop spending so much time, money and other resources on making sure (or trying to) that everybody can go to college. Somehow we’ve managed to make a college degree a ‘necessity’.
MAYBE if we got back to where a high school diploma actually meant something, like a graduate really knew how to read, basic math, basic all around education and HOW TO THINK, then a business would once again be able to trust that the person they’re interviewing for a job could learn the skills to do the job without needing a complete education after they got hired! Maybe then you wouldn’t ‘need’ a college degree to get a ‘good job’.
After all, one of the main reasons we send kids to school is so that they can ‘get a job’. Hopefully, a job that will allow them a decent standard of living. A “good job”. I don’t see why we should FORCE kids to stay in school if that’s all they’re looking for.
The other reason we send kids to school is to give them a real education. To learn how to live their lives. I think we are failing BADLY in this task. I think we should teach these lessons from the earliest opportunity and all the way up through High School.
Yes! Like Dave says; teach them about money, currency, and where it comes from! Teach them about finances, about how the stock markets work, about banking, about budgeting, about debt and interest, about how to balance a checkbook, about how to run a household.
Teach them about how to shop for groceries, about nutrition and healthy eating, about how to cook. Teach them how to grow a garden. Teach them about their bodies and how to stay healthy (and how NOT to become parents!), and how to raise a family IF you want to.
Teach them about the society they live in (and the worldwide situation), about how they are part of the community, about their rights and responsibilities. About politics and voting and corruption and how the system REALLY works! About history and how all this came about.
Teach them about the rest of the world: Geography, world events and how they relate to history and how it affects them, now. Languages, to help them get by in a changing world. Natural science and environmental studies, so they can understand how the environment they live in affects them and is (or is not) effected by them. Throw some travel in the mix, it’s a GREAT way to teach many different subjects!
Teach them about science (and math), basic principles and how it is relevant to them!
Most important, teach them how to THINK!!
NOT just how to regurgitate facts, or to pass the next test. Teach them how to go about learning about a subject. Teach them how to find the information they need to solve a problem or to answer any questions they may have. How to use logic and how to get past all the advertising and propaganda we all have to deal with constantly.
I think learning HOW to learn is the most important thing we can teach. But I don’t see much of that going on in schools anymore. 🙁
Listen to the lyrics to the song above, do you agree or disagree with Dave?
I saw this challenge from Sue over at her ‘A Word in Your Ear’ blog. The word of the week is: mural. I have a few photos of murals. Actually some of mine are a little different, most people think of murals as paintings on a wall. I have some of those, but I also have some murals made in different mediums than just paint. This one is one of my favorites.
My photo doesn’t do it justice. This mural is just STUNNING. I took this a couple of years ago when I was at the Maritime Education and Training conference at Texas A&M University in Galveston (Texas). There is more to it than just the part I could get in this picture. It’s HUGE.
It’s actually a mosaic, made of millions of little ceramic tiles. The artist Dixie Friend Gay made it. I’m not sure how long it took. There’s a better picture of how it all looks in this link. And another one to more about her art.
I think her mosaics are just incredible. I wonder that her work isn’t more well known. I think it deserves to be. What do you think?
I saw this challenge from Sue over at her ‘A Word in Your Ear’ blog. The word of the week is: mural. I thought I should get into this one. I have a few photos of those. Actually some are a little different, but this one is one of my favorites.
I stumbled upon the “Where’s My Backpack?” blog and Travel Theme: Doorways challenge while I was checking my reader today. I figured I’d join in…
Those first couple (of neighbors, sitting in their doorways) were from Thailand, up in the hills North of Chiang Mai. The next bunch are from Aberdeen, Scotland. I had to go take the course for Freefall Lifeboat before they would let me go out on my new job.
And I just had to throw something nautical in the mix. 🙂 This is a photo of the interior of the boat we were practicing with all week.
I took these at various times while working offshore over the last couple of years. The first one is a double rainbow in the background, with a supply boat in the foreground. The last one has part of the helideck that I wish I could have kept out of the shot, but I couldn’t get to a good spot to take the picture without it in there somewhere.
Here is one of my rainbow pictures. I took this one a couple of years ago, when I was working on the tuna boat. We sometimes went in to Tarawa (Kiribati/Gilbert Islands) to unload. We would tie up to a reefer ship in the anchorage off Betio (the main town on the atoll) and have a couple of days to get ashore there.
For such a small place, in the middle of nowhere, Tarawa had some interesting history. Some of the biggest battles of WWII were fought over these islands. There are still a lot of military ruins/wrecks/artifacts from when the Americans were fighting the Japanese there (Battle of Tarawa).
I’m not really into military history or how wars are fought, but I do understand the strategy of having those island ‘stepping stones’ for the US during WWII. The US still keeps an eye on things there. When I was there once, I met up with a US ship doing some ‘PR’ work throughout the Pacific Islands. A group of military people were cleaning up the war memorial and sent a medical team to help out the locals.
At this point in time, Tarawa has gone back to it’s sleepy small town ways. I really enjoyed myself there. The people were friendly and a lot of fun. A couple of years after I stopped working over there, I read a book “Sex Lives of Cannibals” by J. Maarten Troost. I highly recommend it. I laughed SO hard. Yes, it really IS like that there. 🙂
It rained pretty hard here a few days ago. Ever since then I’ve been having problems with my bathroom. I flush the toilet and it comes up through the bathtub! ICK!!
My bathroom, AFTER the plumber finished up. 😉
It had done the same thing before a couple of times and I had it snaked out. I didn’t notice it this time til Saturday morning and no use calling a plumber til Monday.
Monday morning I called the plumber but they were swamped. Because of all the rain, they had all kinds of people calling in with problems. I had to wait til Tuesday to get someone to come by and take a look.
I thought maybe the sewer pipes were broken because of the fact that this issue keeps recurring. The plumber informed me that running a snake through the toilet is basically useless. Even if you unbolt the toilet and run the snake straight through the floor.
Well, since that’s the way we’ve been doing it in the past, I told him to go ahead and do it his way. With a BIG snake, from outside.
plumbers snake
He dug a hole to find where the pipe came out of the house so I could see where it was, but he couldn’t actually do the work at that time.
I had to wait until today for the snake job. It worked!
example of what the snake can do
I hope this one works longer than the last couple of times. At least now I know where to access the pipe from the outside so we won’t have to pull out the toilet again.
I still think the pipes might be broken. There’s more water in the hole today than there was when he dug it on Monday. We haven’t had any rain, so where is that water coming from???
All I know right now is; I’m happy to have a working bathroom again. 🙂
Lesson learned. If any of you have plumbing issues, don’t waste your time and money running a snake from inside the house!
