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9.09.2007

Funny. . . But Not In A "Ha Ha" Sort Of Way

Things do happen to me, I swear. Okay, maybe they're not terribly interesting or worthwhile things; nor are they challenging and eccentric things; but they happen none the less. Just like creative grammar. . . that's a "thing" isn't it? Point is that every time I actually write one of these little things I say to myself, "Self! You should put something down every few days instead of every week or two. I don't care if it's an old story, a fictional story, a worthless update on the interesting breakfast you had or something wholly worthwhile." Then I silently vow to be good about posting interesting tidbits for the people back "home" and promptly don't. See once you post something then you might want to post again right away but it's sort of like that untrue rule about not calling girls too soon. You FEEL like you're not supposed to post again for at least a day. So I have every intention and ability and the fodder to do it with and then before I know it a week has gone by and now I have to compress quite a few things and leave most of it out. And there that is.

It's two o'clock in the morning and I leave for Rotterdam in about twelve hours. Gonna pop into the office in about five hours since I don't have a printer at home (I know, I know, livin' the high life). But I've got a little Gershwin over the speakers and most likely can't get to sleep cause of all the darned excitement and I'm gonna be gone for five weeks and I get to see new places and I get to work out of the office and I get to drink good beer and, and. . . and things shall be as Dog intended.

Promises, promises. If it all works out I'll have pics of ROT up within the week and maybe a story or two. Should have four days with a relatively light work load and then a similar situation in Hamburg for ten days (including rental car and a couple of Sundays) before all hell breaks loose. And let me just tell you my family, my friends and my random clickers. . . if you think the last couple jobs in France were tough I can assure you they were a drop in the bucket.

RCCL did this same job to an identical vessel back in May and the horror stories that emanated from that job still haunt my dreams. Of course we're taking more logistical manpower than I've ever even heard of for a revitalization but that don't mean it won't be not pretty. (Triple negative?) Seriously we've got my boss, myself, another Project Manager and three (count 'em if ya got 'em) subcontractors with us. Most likely we'll be running one shift from about seven in the morning till around five in the afternoon with four of us and then the other two guys will take over at five and only use one crane instead of three until around two in the morning. But who knows, these things always change by the time the job starts. Seven to five doesn't sound all that bad but those are just the hours the cranes will operate for our shift. In and around (and after) that is all the fun computer and phone time spent tracking shipments that we weren't told about that needed to be here yesterday and are more vital to the job than me keeping my heart beating. . . at least that's how they act. Oh yeah, and there's also the inevitable fact that there won't be enough people to unload all these containers until two in the morning. . .

What's that? You need volunteers? And you thought you saw me raise my hand? Sure things boss. My hand was up, whatever you say. Last notable and fun-fact for this job is that the ship is so small and we have so many people working on it that we'll be bunking times two in each room (and possibly times three). I realize that people cruise in these rooms all the time but I gotta admit that it's more than nice and good for moral if you have your own space/shower/music/nakidity and only your own snoring to deal with after an eighteen hour shift that's about to roll over into one more shift of similar magnitude.

Welp, I think I'll put on my dunn-deroos and see if I can't squeeze a little sleep into these eyes. We'll find out if I still love to travel sometime tomorrow. . . after I've been properly compressed into a plane seat for a few hours.

At least my family was loving enough to give me Stephen King's, "Dark Tower" series to keep me interested. Haven't pulled the trigger on that Archos 605 yet but the books are more entertaining than digital media any day. And they never seem to run out of batteries. Funny how that works.

Maybe even in a "Ha Ha" sort of way.

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