No, I'm not talking about the fine malt beverages sold at your corner store. And now that I've gotten rid of half of you I'll get down to business for the remaining two.
There's no rest for the lazy (is that how that saying goes?). Here I thought I might actually get two weekends in a row in Florida to hang out with all my new friends (just let that one slide wouldcha?) and instead I'm getting shipped back up to Vancouver for the weekend. So much for my forty hour weeks. Not a bad gig really. We'll see what kind of rental car I get this time. Hell, the step up I took last time from my car to the GT was big enough that if I made that step again the thing would have to fly!
It seems that the mattresses will not be defeated. The latest battle is once again with disposal. Seems Canada has a law which prohibits importing used mattresses in any way shape or form (short of them being fumigated while they are still on the ship, which ain't gonna happen). So the ship will now take on two-hundred less mattresses than we (and by we, we mean I) planned and they'll have to stash the old ones all over the ship (passengers outta love that, "Oh look, Honey, the galley is through this door. What do you think the galley looks like?" Lady, the galley looks like the floor has been covered in old, stained mattresses. Get out.) and then finally dispose of them in Juneau. Who woulda though that it'd be cheaper to get rid of hazmat in Alaska than it would be in Canada?
Actually, the only way I could make this weekend better would be to hitch a ride on the ship from Vancouver to Juneau (only three days) in order to watch only three-hundred mattresses get disposed of. Probably one of the only cruises I'd really be interested in. That can't happen though cause on Monday I have the first meeting for the Quest drydock in Hamburg next fall. Kinda looking forward to seeing the scope of the work.
Hope to get more regular again. Bought some powdered fiber yesterday.
6.19.2007
6.13.2007
B.C. Wheels
Just wanted to show my pretty little "compact" rental car that I drove in Vancouver. Not too shabby. Unfortunately the weather didn't hold up and I didn't get to drive around with the top down too much. But I suppose I got a lot of work done and had some amazing sushi so the weekend wasn't a total loss. I gotta admit that I was pretty juiced to drive a Mustang. It's a GT no less.
Back in Florida finally and don't have any immediate travel plans. . . we'll see how long that holds up. The weather here is what some people would call warm and what I would call ludicrous. It's gonna take some getting used to. I figure a dip in the pool at least once a day is probably mandatory and the air conditioner is gonna have to come on at some point at the house, condo, apartment or whatever the heck that place is where I live.
This is my first week of puttin' in a regular forty-hour work week. Guess I better get to it. With a little luck maybe I'll actually have my own cubicle in the farm here with my own extension and my very own handy little business cards and maybe a new computer, etc., etc., shall I continue.
Things aren't perfect but I can't complain about this life.
Hell, who would listen?
Back in Florida finally and don't have any immediate travel plans. . . we'll see how long that holds up. The weather here is what some people would call warm and what I would call ludicrous. It's gonna take some getting used to. I figure a dip in the pool at least once a day is probably mandatory and the air conditioner is gonna have to come on at some point at the house, condo, apartment or whatever the heck that place is where I live.
This is my first week of puttin' in a regular forty-hour work week. Guess I better get to it. With a little luck maybe I'll actually have my own cubicle in the farm here with my own extension and my very own handy little business cards and maybe a new computer, etc., etc., shall I continue.
Things aren't perfect but I can't complain about this life.
Hell, who would listen?
6.07.2007
B.C.
Got into Vancouver around midday. Customs took forever but I was rewarded with a rental car that was a little above what I'm paying for. I'm not gonna spoil the surprise before I can get a picture posted. It's something stupid. . . but not as stoopid as a Hummer.
My hotel is in a rather unsavory area. Think Tenderloin, E14th St., and certain parts of West Oakland and then just add a couple thousand more addicts to the mix. Good times. I'm probably gonna punk out and drive most places. . . especially considering the car I've got.
Did a little work today but the bulk is tomorrow and then I can try to enjoy the city. I'm off to see if I can enjoy game one of the NBA playoffs at the moment. As usual I can't get internet access in the hotel room and workin' in the lobby of this particular establishment leaves just a bit to be desired.
Wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who made the effort to see me in the Bay Area this last weekend. Most likely I'll be back late summer or sometime in fall but you never know. I could move to Guam.
Oh, and if you're bored and like bikes check out the new and improved(?) Drunkcyclist site linked to the right.
My hotel is in a rather unsavory area. Think Tenderloin, E14th St., and certain parts of West Oakland and then just add a couple thousand more addicts to the mix. Good times. I'm probably gonna punk out and drive most places. . . especially considering the car I've got.
Did a little work today but the bulk is tomorrow and then I can try to enjoy the city. I'm off to see if I can enjoy game one of the NBA playoffs at the moment. As usual I can't get internet access in the hotel room and workin' in the lobby of this particular establishment leaves just a bit to be desired.
Wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who made the effort to see me in the Bay Area this last weekend. Most likely I'll be back late summer or sometime in fall but you never know. I could move to Guam.
Oh, and if you're bored and like bikes check out the new and improved(?) Drunkcyclist site linked to the right.
6.06.2007
Big Surprise
Of course the title is supposed to be dripping with sarcasm, but I don't think they've created a font to express heavy sarcasm yet.
Big surprise that I haven't posted for a week and chances are that the time between posts will increase with the passing of that same time until I end up somewhere completely foreign again in time. Right.
Big surprise was what my mom got when my brother (from the W.I.) and I flew in to California last Friday to help her celebrate her 60th birthday. She wasn't expecting it and after a weekend of celebration things are winding down. After a few days of camping in the redwoods of Northern California a lot of things can be seen with proper perspective.
Big surprise that I'm flying up to Vancouver for a one day job on Thursday.
Even bigger surprise that the one day job involves loading MATTRESSES on board a cruise ship.
Biggest surprise is that I fly back to Florida on Sunday and that I don't have any more flights planned for work or for pleasure at this moment. We'll see how quickly that changes now that I've identified it as something possibly good in my life. Truly I'm not really sure what I'll do when I get home, sit down and realize that I don't have a packing deadline for my next trip. Jinxed myself again.
I should be in Vancouver on Saturday with no work to do so hopefully I'll get a few pictures and maybe find time to post again. . . assuming the hamsters in my laptop can keep up.
Big surprise that I haven't posted for a week and chances are that the time between posts will increase with the passing of that same time until I end up somewhere completely foreign again in time. Right.
Big surprise was what my mom got when my brother (from the W.I.) and I flew in to California last Friday to help her celebrate her 60th birthday. She wasn't expecting it and after a weekend of celebration things are winding down. After a few days of camping in the redwoods of Northern California a lot of things can be seen with proper perspective.
Big surprise that I'm flying up to Vancouver for a one day job on Thursday.
Even bigger surprise that the one day job involves loading MATTRESSES on board a cruise ship.
Biggest surprise is that I fly back to Florida on Sunday and that I don't have any more flights planned for work or for pleasure at this moment. We'll see how quickly that changes now that I've identified it as something possibly good in my life. Truly I'm not really sure what I'll do when I get home, sit down and realize that I don't have a packing deadline for my next trip. Jinxed myself again.
I should be in Vancouver on Saturday with no work to do so hopefully I'll get a few pictures and maybe find time to post again. . . assuming the hamsters in my laptop can keep up.
5.31.2007
5.29.2007
Summit Center Classic
Well so much for that. I just flew back into Dania from Phoenix. Quite the weekend up in Flagstaff as I was helping TC, Fitty and Chopper put on the wildly successful Summit Center Classic. The Classic is a three-day, four stage bicycle road race that Flagstaff Biking Organization puts on every Memorial Day weekend in Northern Arizona. The event has been tweaked every year for the past four years, with some stages making the cut and other stages only lasting one year. However, after this years stellar event TC thinks that the future schedule is locked in. . . and since TC is the race director I imagine that the lock will remain just that; locked.
Best to check out the website to the right if you want a more comprehensive rundown of the event but I will certainly enjoy giving you the highlights here. Saturday morning starts with a prologue time trial up Mars Hill which ends at the Lowell Observatory. (A time trial is where riders are sent off individually every few minutes.) I've never ridden this short stretch of road but most riders would describe it as "intensely painful." The strongest climbers will complete the hill in about two minutes but most people are well off that pace. For many riders this is the first time they have really pushed themselves in the seven-thousand foot altitude this year and I heard more than a few athletes say that the steep hill and thin air affected them well into the next stages of the race.
While I didn't have anything to do with the prologue up Mars Hill I was privileged enough to help set up the second stage that occurred on Saturday; the downtown criterion. (Roughly a "crit" is a loop that is less than one mile each lap. Riders go off in their respective categories (women, men, youth broken down into skill levels) and ride the circuit for a set number of minutes anywhere from about fifteen minutes up to forty minutes for the men's Category One and Two. If the leaders lap you then you get dropped and get your sorry butt off the course.) So, this downtown crit was just over half a mile and TC really pulled a rabbit out on this one. M0st of downtown Flag had to be shut down and the permit process took six months to complete. This portion of the event was arguably the most successful and highly noticed race that Flag Biking Org has ever put on. There were people all over the place, most businesses were booming downtown and people were wandering over from an art fair that was down in Wheeler Park. I actually don't have words to describe how great it was. . . it's the sort of thing that Flagstaff needs more often and the city will be crazy to deny the permit for next year.
Sunday brought another brilliant stage on the NAU campus. The course was a loop about two and a half miles long which means it is titled a circuit race instead of a crit. Once again riders compete within their specific categories. There were about eight different categories. Unfortunately, the roads weren't closed to traffic so that made volunteers very important for traffic control and there were also five NAUPD or FPD at different corners to keep people moving. Funny, the speed limit on most of the NAU campus is fifteen miles an hour but some of these riders were traveling AT LEAST twice that fast on the flat and downhill portions of the course. My role was to help organize volunteers and generally act as a runner over the whole course in case someone was injured or needed help in some way. This stage didn't draw nearly as many people as the downtown crit but it's understandable because of the location and longer course length.
The last stage is actually the easiest in terms of planning and volunteer coordination. A road race with three different lengths depending on what category you race. The longest route is eighty-four miles. The race started at Upper Lake Mary and turned around way out at Clint's Well to head right back pat Lake Mary. There is a little up and down to the race but TC truly showed his most devious side when he conceived (or just approved, I don't know) the ending to the race. The riders must make a right turn off the main highway and finish the course with a two mile climb (similar to Mars Hill) up to Marshall Lake. An ending like this makes a big difference for the racers and truly the race was decided in that last climb.
Unfortunately, I am usually not working at the finish line and I don't really keep track of who is winning unless I happen to know who they are (highly unlikely) but if you want to see the results you can find them on the race website. Also the team that FBO is most highly linked to is Summit Velo which has the majority of it's members down in Tucson with the remainder up in Flag.
Well this was probably pretty disjointed. . . I gotta admit that I'm a little tired after the drive from FLG to PHX and the flight from PHX to FLL. It seems my life has been reduced to a bunch of acronyms. I guess it could be worse, my life could be reduced to a bunch of limericks and haikus.
Flickr is down at the moment but I'll get pictures posted soon. . . and maybe a video posted on YouTube of a guy who crashed on a corner during the downtown crit.
Best to check out the website to the right if you want a more comprehensive rundown of the event but I will certainly enjoy giving you the highlights here. Saturday morning starts with a prologue time trial up Mars Hill which ends at the Lowell Observatory. (A time trial is where riders are sent off individually every few minutes.) I've never ridden this short stretch of road but most riders would describe it as "intensely painful." The strongest climbers will complete the hill in about two minutes but most people are well off that pace. For many riders this is the first time they have really pushed themselves in the seven-thousand foot altitude this year and I heard more than a few athletes say that the steep hill and thin air affected them well into the next stages of the race.
While I didn't have anything to do with the prologue up Mars Hill I was privileged enough to help set up the second stage that occurred on Saturday; the downtown criterion. (Roughly a "crit" is a loop that is less than one mile each lap. Riders go off in their respective categories (women, men, youth broken down into skill levels) and ride the circuit for a set number of minutes anywhere from about fifteen minutes up to forty minutes for the men's Category One and Two. If the leaders lap you then you get dropped and get your sorry butt off the course.) So, this downtown crit was just over half a mile and TC really pulled a rabbit out on this one. M0st of downtown Flag had to be shut down and the permit process took six months to complete. This portion of the event was arguably the most successful and highly noticed race that Flag Biking Org has ever put on. There were people all over the place, most businesses were booming downtown and people were wandering over from an art fair that was down in Wheeler Park. I actually don't have words to describe how great it was. . . it's the sort of thing that Flagstaff needs more often and the city will be crazy to deny the permit for next year.
Sunday brought another brilliant stage on the NAU campus. The course was a loop about two and a half miles long which means it is titled a circuit race instead of a crit. Once again riders compete within their specific categories. There were about eight different categories. Unfortunately, the roads weren't closed to traffic so that made volunteers very important for traffic control and there were also five NAUPD or FPD at different corners to keep people moving. Funny, the speed limit on most of the NAU campus is fifteen miles an hour but some of these riders were traveling AT LEAST twice that fast on the flat and downhill portions of the course. My role was to help organize volunteers and generally act as a runner over the whole course in case someone was injured or needed help in some way. This stage didn't draw nearly as many people as the downtown crit but it's understandable because of the location and longer course length.
The last stage is actually the easiest in terms of planning and volunteer coordination. A road race with three different lengths depending on what category you race. The longest route is eighty-four miles. The race started at Upper Lake Mary and turned around way out at Clint's Well to head right back pat Lake Mary. There is a little up and down to the race but TC truly showed his most devious side when he conceived (or just approved, I don't know) the ending to the race. The riders must make a right turn off the main highway and finish the course with a two mile climb (similar to Mars Hill) up to Marshall Lake. An ending like this makes a big difference for the racers and truly the race was decided in that last climb.
Unfortunately, I am usually not working at the finish line and I don't really keep track of who is winning unless I happen to know who they are (highly unlikely) but if you want to see the results you can find them on the race website. Also the team that FBO is most highly linked to is Summit Velo which has the majority of it's members down in Tucson with the remainder up in Flag.
Well this was probably pretty disjointed. . . I gotta admit that I'm a little tired after the drive from FLG to PHX and the flight from PHX to FLL. It seems my life has been reduced to a bunch of acronyms. I guess it could be worse, my life could be reduced to a bunch of limericks and haikus.
Flickr is down at the moment but I'll get pictures posted soon. . . and maybe a video posted on YouTube of a guy who crashed on a corner during the downtown crit.
5.23.2007
And We're Back. . .
Well, that's that. No problems with the flights. Got in yesterday afternoon. Had a drink with the roommate, had some sushi, went to bed. Felt pretty good this morning but it was pretty strange to "come into the office." Hasn't exactly bored me to death. Obviously everyone is still new to me and one of the managers showed me around and introduced me a little more thoroughly than before. Of course my laptop couldn't connect to the network when I first got in because of some settings that had been changed by the shipboard IT guys. Largest inbox load I've witnessed so far for my work account. Still can't find my second paycheck from back in April so payroll is cutting another one. Expense reports need to be approved by my boss who's on a medical leave so that won't happen. Good times all around.
Gotta get back to work but hoping to play with pictures and what not later at home. . . though maybe I'll just find a baseball game on the telly and veg out tonight. Made a whole list of things I 'should' take care of before I leave for AZ on Friday but I think we all know how that's gonna go. Who needs to change insurance on their car or buy new shoes or any of that crap anyway? Hell, if nothing else I need to find a laundry-by-the-pound place STAT cause my unpacked suitcase ain't lookin' too pretty.
The logistics of packing.
I knew I was unprepared for what I would face on drydock so my packing skills were tested. Here's a list of what I got rid of while on drydock and then the list of the items I acquired. The second list is rather large but I assure you that some of it was necessary.
Dropped:
Old pair of running shoes.
Really old pair of sandals.
Couple of old t-shirts that weren't fairing so well.
Gained:
One pair of heavy work pants (from one of the contractors).
Two pair of work gloves (cause I'm a cheap bastard and you can never have too many work gloves).
Seven t-shirts (three were for BB and all of them were free).
One record and four CDs (cause I can't just live somewhere for two months and not sample the music).
One Big**s Jar of Nutella (no explanation required).
One new CelebrityCruises deck jacket (pretty spiffy but like most things just doesn't quite fit me).
Bottle of wine (for the roommate).
AND four pair of Celebrity coveralls.
I feel like I'm forgetting a few things but since this isn't that interesting anyway. . . who cares. Needless to say my suitcase was a little overstuffed upon my return and found itself marked heavy (like it's owner) at the airport. Suppose I should find some work to do while I'm here. Maybe I'll enroll for some benefits. Now THAT sounds like some good times. Like my man Big Johnny or DC says. . . keep the rubber side down.
5.21.2007
Au Revoir
Most of this day I struggled with my motivation. Part of my problem is the realization that I am currently living amidst the worst mistake I have made during my seven weeks here. That mistake is not having trucks lined up in time to have the pier completely clear before my departure. Sort of SOP for the logistics team after a drydock. . . especially when there is no warehouse to count on. So, now I'm at the mercy of the port agents. Fred is getting back from a mini-holiday today and who knows if he'll be worth his salt tomorrow. Yann is working so many projects he can't even talk straight on the phone. Long and short is that I have done what I can to set everything up for the remaining containers and materials to be picked up. . . now it's just a matter of time.
On to better and weirder. I present to you the heavily armed octopus!
I must admit that I'm not really sure what's going on in this photo, even though I took it only yesterday. This fine display of beast adapting to man's ways is on display outside the maritime museum outside of Penmarc'h, France. I really don't even know what else to say about it. The word "silly" comes to my mind for the first time in quite a while.
Onto the travel! Looking forward to some classic travel fun tomorrow. It took my buddy KB three tries just to get out of Brest last week. Brest to Paris is a one-point-five hour commuter flight, People! and it nearly wrecked him. Similarly, BB's initial flight was Tuesday morning but the brakes were apparently not working on his plane in Paris so he ended up getting home on Friday. . . and don't forget that these flights are going backwards in time, not forwards. SO! What will be my travel fate tomorrow? Will the gods shine their favor upon me and cause me only to worry about the lack of legroom on the plane? ? ? or will I be doomed to suffer through the French for another week?
Well, that's it. Probably my last post from France. I'm sure I'll have something to bitch about after the flight home so until then. . . just keep rememberin' the good times.
On to better and weirder. I present to you the heavily armed octopus!
I must admit that I'm not really sure what's going on in this photo, even though I took it only yesterday. This fine display of beast adapting to man's ways is on display outside the maritime museum outside of Penmarc'h, France. I really don't even know what else to say about it. The word "silly" comes to my mind for the first time in quite a while.
Onto the travel! Looking forward to some classic travel fun tomorrow. It took my buddy KB three tries just to get out of Brest last week. Brest to Paris is a one-point-five hour commuter flight, People! and it nearly wrecked him. Similarly, BB's initial flight was Tuesday morning but the brakes were apparently not working on his plane in Paris so he ended up getting home on Friday. . . and don't forget that these flights are going backwards in time, not forwards. SO! What will be my travel fate tomorrow? Will the gods shine their favor upon me and cause me only to worry about the lack of legroom on the plane? ? ? or will I be doomed to suffer through the French for another week?
Well, that's it. Probably my last post from France. I'm sure I'll have something to bitch about after the flight home so until then. . . just keep rememberin' the good times.
5.20.2007
285
Climbed a few stairs today. Tw0-hundred and eighty-five to be exact. Took the slip 'n' slide back down though, so that was nice.
Drove quite a bit today. . . my last free day in France. Drove South again to a different peninsula that I haven't been to yet. Found some interesting points on the water and did a few things but as usual the weather was a bit of a downer and to be honest I'm gettin' pretty tired of just being here. One more day of work tomorrow and then I fly back to Miami. Already have a sushi dinner planned out with my roommate. Can't wait to have sushi again. But I've got two more possible dinners here so I suppose I should make the best of 'em.
Caught the FA Cup match yesterday between Manchester United and Chelsea. Match ended in a 0-0 tie but in the second overtime period Chelsea ended the scoring drought with a nice give and go lead by Drogba. Not my favorite player but it was a clean goal and a helluva way to end a good match. Lookin' forward to getting home and catching a baseball game and maybe the end of the NBA playoffs. Though I'll probably only be able to stand a few minutes of it cause I'll be yelling at the screen the whole time. "Travel, travel. Foul, palming, travel, you suck!" Or something like that. Maybe I'll have to do a little research on Euro teams and just pick one to follow. Maybe somebody well known but not at the top. That'd be like looking at baseball and choosing to root for the Yankees. Can't believe I just soiled my blog with that name. Go A's.
I suppose I'll stop procrastinating now. I still have a few manifests and other paperwork to get finished. Tomorrow will be busy enough without me being unprepared. Jebus, it's like I was a Boy Scout or something. Oh yeah, managed to lose my old Cali cell phone. Okay, maybe it got stolen onboard the cruise ship but I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to steal a phone that doesn't work overseas. If it doesn't turn up I may be in a slightly bad way in terms of phone numbers. Might have to send out another choice mass email asking people for their info. Don't you just love those?
Off to pretend that I'm productive.
Drove quite a bit today. . . my last free day in France. Drove South again to a different peninsula that I haven't been to yet. Found some interesting points on the water and did a few things but as usual the weather was a bit of a downer and to be honest I'm gettin' pretty tired of just being here. One more day of work tomorrow and then I fly back to Miami. Already have a sushi dinner planned out with my roommate. Can't wait to have sushi again. But I've got two more possible dinners here so I suppose I should make the best of 'em.
Caught the FA Cup match yesterday between Manchester United and Chelsea. Match ended in a 0-0 tie but in the second overtime period Chelsea ended the scoring drought with a nice give and go lead by Drogba. Not my favorite player but it was a clean goal and a helluva way to end a good match. Lookin' forward to getting home and catching a baseball game and maybe the end of the NBA playoffs. Though I'll probably only be able to stand a few minutes of it cause I'll be yelling at the screen the whole time. "Travel, travel. Foul, palming, travel, you suck!" Or something like that. Maybe I'll have to do a little research on Euro teams and just pick one to follow. Maybe somebody well known but not at the top. That'd be like looking at baseball and choosing to root for the Yankees. Can't believe I just soiled my blog with that name. Go A's.
I suppose I'll stop procrastinating now. I still have a few manifests and other paperwork to get finished. Tomorrow will be busy enough without me being unprepared. Jebus, it's like I was a Boy Scout or something. Oh yeah, managed to lose my old Cali cell phone. Okay, maybe it got stolen onboard the cruise ship but I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to steal a phone that doesn't work overseas. If it doesn't turn up I may be in a slightly bad way in terms of phone numbers. Might have to send out another choice mass email asking people for their info. Don't you just love those?
Off to pretend that I'm productive.
5.19.2007
Halloween Come Early
So my Uncle Lee has taken my randumb mentionings of gnomes to heart and sent me pictures of golden gnomes and information on the underwear gnomes of SouthPark. But this time he's outdone himself.
That wasn't so bad but the next one may put people off their lunch a little.
Thanks a lot, Uncle Lee. That's all I needed. . . to be uglier.
On a better looking note the Real Gnome done went and created a little Gnomie Jr. of his own. Congrats to Ang and Dave on their new baby boy. I can't wait to see him Memorial Day weekend. www.onespeeder.com
Well, it's my last weekend in France. I've got a little work to do on Monday but I'm free today and tomorrow. Probably gonna take a drive down to Penmarc'h and maybe back up through Pointe Du Raz. . . see if I can get some quality pics of light houses and whatnot. I might call one of riggers who worked for me tonight cause his family owns a couple of restaurants and a bar. He's about my age but has a girlfriend and a kid and another one on the way. Quite the opposite of me in that regard. I don't even have a dog. Hell, I don't even have a houseplant.
Last interesting tidbit for the day; I couldn't get some of the containers shipped yesterday cause they found a WWII bomb in the harbor and they are taking it further out to detonate it today. The Germans used Brest as a U-boat station during the war and I guess the Brits and Americans bombed everything so thoroughly that they still find undetonated ordinance every once in a while. Fun.
That wasn't so bad but the next one may put people off their lunch a little.
Thanks a lot, Uncle Lee. That's all I needed. . . to be uglier.
On a better looking note the Real Gnome done went and created a little Gnomie Jr. of his own. Congrats to Ang and Dave on their new baby boy. I can't wait to see him Memorial Day weekend. www.onespeeder.com
Well, it's my last weekend in France. I've got a little work to do on Monday but I'm free today and tomorrow. Probably gonna take a drive down to Penmarc'h and maybe back up through Pointe Du Raz. . . see if I can get some quality pics of light houses and whatnot. I might call one of riggers who worked for me tonight cause his family owns a couple of restaurants and a bar. He's about my age but has a girlfriend and a kid and another one on the way. Quite the opposite of me in that regard. I don't even have a dog. Hell, I don't even have a houseplant.
Last interesting tidbit for the day; I couldn't get some of the containers shipped yesterday cause they found a WWII bomb in the harbor and they are taking it further out to detonate it today. The Germans used Brest as a U-boat station during the war and I guess the Brits and Americans bombed everything so thoroughly that they still find undetonated ordinance every once in a while. Fun.
5.18.2007
Hasta La Bye-Bye
Whelp, that's it. Sorta.
The Constellation pulled away early this morning. I last wrote on Tuesday and now it's Friday. Can anyone guess what the days in between were like? Believe me though when I say that I'm not complaining but rather just trying to truly appreciate how nice it is not to have the weight of a hundred-thousand tonnes of cruise ship on my shoulders. 'Cause you know, I ran the engines, the hotel, the dock, the bridge, the galleys. . .EVERYTHING!
Okay, my part is only a little one but it's a little more integral that the hotel replacing duvets that are only 2 years old or carpet that's newer than that. Hell, I think my old mattress was more comfortable than the new one! Irony (said in a sing-song voice).
As I get a few more pictures uploaded I'll try to tell more stories from the last month for you logistics junkies but as of right now I have reverse and tangential logistics to worry about. Gotta get five containers back to Miami, one to Copenhagen and one to Denmark. And of course the one for Copenhagen isn't packed yet, so there goes the afternoon. Then I need to get three pallets to Norway, five pallets to Sweden, one pallet to Germany and two pallets to the Millennium when she comes in to Barcelona. Now if I could just figure out a way to deliver all those pallets myself and spend a few days in each place after delivery. All in favor of me becoming a truck driver in Europe say, "Aye-aye!"
Must still be a little loopy. Had a decent time last night after a fairly good day of work. Ended up at one of the bars on the ship with a VP, the hotel director, the project manager for the new gift shops, the lead project manager for new build operations and some high-up cat in Environmental and Safety. Nothing better than finally being able to let down your working guard a little bit. Of course we still talked about work but we all felt pretty good about the job we had just finished on the Constellation so we were able to vocalize manure about other jobs we had been on.
I suppose these things ain't gonna ship themselves. Paperwork abounds and I am bound by it. . . for the moment.
The Constellation pulled away early this morning. I last wrote on Tuesday and now it's Friday. Can anyone guess what the days in between were like? Believe me though when I say that I'm not complaining but rather just trying to truly appreciate how nice it is not to have the weight of a hundred-thousand tonnes of cruise ship on my shoulders. 'Cause you know, I ran the engines, the hotel, the dock, the bridge, the galleys. . .EVERYTHING!
Okay, my part is only a little one but it's a little more integral that the hotel replacing duvets that are only 2 years old or carpet that's newer than that. Hell, I think my old mattress was more comfortable than the new one! Irony (said in a sing-song voice).
As I get a few more pictures uploaded I'll try to tell more stories from the last month for you logistics junkies but as of right now I have reverse and tangential logistics to worry about. Gotta get five containers back to Miami, one to Copenhagen and one to Denmark. And of course the one for Copenhagen isn't packed yet, so there goes the afternoon. Then I need to get three pallets to Norway, five pallets to Sweden, one pallet to Germany and two pallets to the Millennium when she comes in to Barcelona. Now if I could just figure out a way to deliver all those pallets myself and spend a few days in each place after delivery. All in favor of me becoming a truck driver in Europe say, "Aye-aye!"
Must still be a little loopy. Had a decent time last night after a fairly good day of work. Ended up at one of the bars on the ship with a VP, the hotel director, the project manager for the new gift shops, the lead project manager for new build operations and some high-up cat in Environmental and Safety. Nothing better than finally being able to let down your working guard a little bit. Of course we still talked about work but we all felt pretty good about the job we had just finished on the Constellation so we were able to vocalize manure about other jobs we had been on.
I suppose these things ain't gonna ship themselves. Paperwork abounds and I am bound by it. . . for the moment.
5.15.2007
Five Is Enough
The housekeeping crew from the Constellation offloaded five, forty-foot containers full of linen today. . . by hand. . . over a fifty-foot gangway. . .amidst a fiercely blowing wind. . . in a freezing cold rain. . .uphill. . . both ways. Five.
Unfortunately, the material was a little too sensitive to use the claw in this picture. . . that was reserved for the old mattresses.
I can't tell you how many boxes there were of sheets and duvets and bed covers and pillow cases and sheets and sheets and sheets. As my father would undoubtedly say, "A sheetload of sheets." Pretty impressive that they could do it and pretty unimpressive that I couldn't get a single one of those containers up to the top deck where the unloading would be easier. I'm gonna go ahead and blame the wind but we all know that a first rate logistics manager would have figured out a way.
In other news I scored three free beers on the pier today. I was rewarded in true truck-driver fashion by two different truck drivers. The first driver who ponied up the suds was the last truck of linen for the day and there was some serious question as to whether or not we were going to get him unloaded in a timely fashion. His paperwork was stuck in customs with the agent and I had about a hundred guys for the unloading waiting inside a spare forty-foot container during a decent rainstorm. I'm not kidding, unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me today but there was an empty container right next to the truck we were waiting to discharge so BB had the idea to open it up and let the guys wait inside. Awesome idea, crazy result. Literally one-hundred guys waiting inside a forty-footer. Strange days.
So, point is that customs clearance came through just in time and the housekeeping crew rocked the virtual Casbah and had that bad boy unloaded in less than an hour. Truck driver was so happy he stopped me in the driving rain before he pulled away and planted two cans of Grolsch into my hands. Sah-wheat.
Last beer was scored from an Italian trucker who arrived after five o'clock with mattresses. . . yup, mattresses. Anyway, we initially told him he wouldn't be discharged till tomorrow morning but pity was taken and we found a few extra guys to offload him. Some dirt, a good sweat and two empty (now full) containers later and we had one happy trucker on our hands. . . I dunn gone and gots me a Birra Meroni for that one. The Grolsch was warm but the Meroni was cold and it was the last stitch of real work I did today. It's the little things, ya know?
Guess I'm leading up to the inevitable statement of, "Boo-hoo. Woe is me. I'm tired and want to go to bed." But I ain't singin' no drinkin' song from "Jaws" and I'd really rather be up and kickin'. Too bad I have to be responsible for a while longer. Million things more to write but my eyes tell me that this is probably getting too long for my limited readers. Not that my readers are limited. . . except in number.
Time for a Grolsch. Cheers.
Unfortunately, the material was a little too sensitive to use the claw in this picture. . . that was reserved for the old mattresses.
I can't tell you how many boxes there were of sheets and duvets and bed covers and pillow cases and sheets and sheets and sheets. As my father would undoubtedly say, "A sheetload of sheets." Pretty impressive that they could do it and pretty unimpressive that I couldn't get a single one of those containers up to the top deck where the unloading would be easier. I'm gonna go ahead and blame the wind but we all know that a first rate logistics manager would have figured out a way.
In other news I scored three free beers on the pier today. I was rewarded in true truck-driver fashion by two different truck drivers. The first driver who ponied up the suds was the last truck of linen for the day and there was some serious question as to whether or not we were going to get him unloaded in a timely fashion. His paperwork was stuck in customs with the agent and I had about a hundred guys for the unloading waiting inside a spare forty-foot container during a decent rainstorm. I'm not kidding, unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me today but there was an empty container right next to the truck we were waiting to discharge so BB had the idea to open it up and let the guys wait inside. Awesome idea, crazy result. Literally one-hundred guys waiting inside a forty-footer. Strange days.
So, point is that customs clearance came through just in time and the housekeeping crew rocked the virtual Casbah and had that bad boy unloaded in less than an hour. Truck driver was so happy he stopped me in the driving rain before he pulled away and planted two cans of Grolsch into my hands. Sah-wheat.
Last beer was scored from an Italian trucker who arrived after five o'clock with mattresses. . . yup, mattresses. Anyway, we initially told him he wouldn't be discharged till tomorrow morning but pity was taken and we found a few extra guys to offload him. Some dirt, a good sweat and two empty (now full) containers later and we had one happy trucker on our hands. . . I dunn gone and gots me a Birra Meroni for that one. The Grolsch was warm but the Meroni was cold and it was the last stitch of real work I did today. It's the little things, ya know?
Guess I'm leading up to the inevitable statement of, "Boo-hoo. Woe is me. I'm tired and want to go to bed." But I ain't singin' no drinkin' song from "Jaws" and I'd really rather be up and kickin'. Too bad I have to be responsible for a while longer. Million things more to write but my eyes tell me that this is probably getting too long for my limited readers. Not that my readers are limited. . . except in number.
Time for a Grolsch. Cheers.
5.13.2007
Need A Lift?
The driver of the smaller forklift is Yann Caradec who is another of our port agents from the same company as Fred. If you can't guess what happened here, Yann went and got himself stuck on the rail and we needed the larger forklift to come over and help us out. This is the kind of thing that seems to happen everyday but mostly whenever you've got a really hot truck you need to discharge. The problem with these trucks that come in for deliveries is that they are often poorly loaded and their bosses have only allowed a few hours between their delivery to us and their next scheduled pick up. This would be all well and good if I knew what time the trucks would be arriving and what was inside so I could plan a little bit ahead. But as is often the case the truck we were unloading when Yann decided to beach himself on that rail had another pickup scheduled within the hour. In case you're wondering, YES, Yann is going above and beyond the call of duty by driving that forklift himself. Normally port agents shuffle more paperwork than pallets. But this shipyard has no warehouse and therefore no warehouse workers, forklifts or anything else so myself and the port agents spent an awful lot of time on that little forklift. . . and for me the party is just beginning because the ship is leaving on Friday and I'll be here cleaning off the pier and shipping various things to various places for a few days after and somebody has got to load those trucks.
And now it's time to fall off my soapbox and use the contents to shower instead of holding up my ego.
Today is Sunday. I can't say that it's been a rough day as far as work is concerned but just being around the same people in such close quarters for so many days is starting to get a little old. Need to spice things up a bit so I might head into town tonight and see if I can magically catch the Warriors playoff game. Doubt it'll happen but a man can dream and I've heard of this new device called a Sat&Light that is supposed to be able to pull images from the air and put them on any tv on Earth. Crazy. Now how do you say, "Golden State Warriors Basketball Rules, " in French.
And now that I've typed all that I just looked up the time of the game and Six O'Clock PM in Utah is about Two O'Clock AM here. . . so maybe I'll just check the score when I get up in the morning. How does that sound? Good? Good. Bon (good in French).
Actually at this point I'm already forgetting about learning more French and thinking about my German. . . or lack thereof. The next scheduled dry-dockings are in Hamburg next fall. Similar situation to what I'm in now with two ships going into the same dock, one right after the other and having similar work done. I doubt I'll be there the whole time for that those two but it has occurred to me to take a beginning German class this summer (if I can find one amongst the Spanish classes in Miami) and try to make myself a serious asset on the next dry-dock. Just a thought.
Well, there's quite a few more thoughts up there rattling around but most of them probably ain't worth the grey matter they take up. Irregardlessly, I should probably go have a shower and a beer to try to eliminate some of those rattles. Maybe I'll try ringin' the ol' madre to wish her a happy Mother's Day first. For those of you who haven't already done so I strongly recommend it. . . cause even if you don't love it, she will. Damn, jumped right back up on that box again and didn't even notice.
To answer a little quote from Family Guy that only a few people will get. . . . . . ."Yes, it is lonely up here on my pedastal."
And now it's time to fall off my soapbox and use the contents to shower instead of holding up my ego.
Today is Sunday. I can't say that it's been a rough day as far as work is concerned but just being around the same people in such close quarters for so many days is starting to get a little old. Need to spice things up a bit so I might head into town tonight and see if I can magically catch the Warriors playoff game. Doubt it'll happen but a man can dream and I've heard of this new device called a Sat&Light that is supposed to be able to pull images from the air and put them on any tv on Earth. Crazy. Now how do you say, "Golden State Warriors Basketball Rules, " in French.
And now that I've typed all that I just looked up the time of the game and Six O'Clock PM in Utah is about Two O'Clock AM here. . . so maybe I'll just check the score when I get up in the morning. How does that sound? Good? Good. Bon (good in French).
Actually at this point I'm already forgetting about learning more French and thinking about my German. . . or lack thereof. The next scheduled dry-dockings are in Hamburg next fall. Similar situation to what I'm in now with two ships going into the same dock, one right after the other and having similar work done. I doubt I'll be there the whole time for that those two but it has occurred to me to take a beginning German class this summer (if I can find one amongst the Spanish classes in Miami) and try to make myself a serious asset on the next dry-dock. Just a thought.
Well, there's quite a few more thoughts up there rattling around but most of them probably ain't worth the grey matter they take up. Irregardlessly, I should probably go have a shower and a beer to try to eliminate some of those rattles. Maybe I'll try ringin' the ol' madre to wish her a happy Mother's Day first. For those of you who haven't already done so I strongly recommend it. . . cause even if you don't love it, she will. Damn, jumped right back up on that box again and didn't even notice.
To answer a little quote from Family Guy that only a few people will get. . . . . . ."Yes, it is lonely up here on my pedastal."
5.12.2007
The Riggers
I present to you (from left to right) Jean-Phillipe, Jimmy and Claude. Phillipe is the head rigger and we communicate more in Spanish than any other language. Jimmy speaks a bit of English and that's a lifesaver. Claude was a commercial fisherman in Newfoundland for ten years and a boxer for 5. . . both of those activities may have affected his brain. There's a fourth guy with no teeth but I didn't get a good shot of him (maybe it's for the best). So, those are the guys I work with the most. Exciting, no?
Pretty decent day today. Still a lot of wind but got plenty done. Gonna be in a bad way come Tuesday though. "They" are trying to shove the remaining mattresses down our throats on the same day that we're receiving the five containers with linen. Poor hotel people will be carrying cloth all day long. Sort of have a day off tomorrow. Get to sleep in and then all I have to do is review my exit strategy for the end of this availability and make a list of what is going to need to be shipped where.
Thinking about taking a drive somewhere. . . we'll see. As of right now I'm still planning on staying the weekend after the ship leaves next Friday so I'll have plenty of time to go somewhere. Might hit up Le Havre cause mi madre says that's where some of our great-great-great-somethin'-or-others departed from when they left Germany and came to the states. Could do Paris but it's about a six hour drive.
Ended the rigger's workday by splitting a case of beer with them, the crane op, BB, assistant superintendent engineer, Fred and a few other randumbs. I ended the work day a little early for the riggers and crane op and we all just sat around right on the pier drinking beer. Briefly reminded me of that scene in Shawshank Redemption when they're drinking beer on that roof and are able to forget they are imprisoned men. Thankfully my cabin is a little nicer than a prison cell at the end of the day. . . but I did say it was just a brief feeling.
Looks like I'm staying in tonight. Read a little, maybe watch a flick. It'll be reeeaaaaallllll nice to sleep in tomorrow. If I were more dedicated to this whole web 2.0 thang I'd stay here in the conference room uploading photos onto Flickr. It ain't gonna happen.
KB says murrr.
Pretty decent day today. Still a lot of wind but got plenty done. Gonna be in a bad way come Tuesday though. "They" are trying to shove the remaining mattresses down our throats on the same day that we're receiving the five containers with linen. Poor hotel people will be carrying cloth all day long. Sort of have a day off tomorrow. Get to sleep in and then all I have to do is review my exit strategy for the end of this availability and make a list of what is going to need to be shipped where.
Thinking about taking a drive somewhere. . . we'll see. As of right now I'm still planning on staying the weekend after the ship leaves next Friday so I'll have plenty of time to go somewhere. Might hit up Le Havre cause mi madre says that's where some of our great-great-great-somethin'-or-others departed from when they left Germany and came to the states. Could do Paris but it's about a six hour drive.
Ended the rigger's workday by splitting a case of beer with them, the crane op, BB, assistant superintendent engineer, Fred and a few other randumbs. I ended the work day a little early for the riggers and crane op and we all just sat around right on the pier drinking beer. Briefly reminded me of that scene in Shawshank Redemption when they're drinking beer on that roof and are able to forget they are imprisoned men. Thankfully my cabin is a little nicer than a prison cell at the end of the day. . . but I did say it was just a brief feeling.
Looks like I'm staying in tonight. Read a little, maybe watch a flick. It'll be reeeaaaaallllll nice to sleep in tomorrow. If I were more dedicated to this whole web 2.0 thang I'd stay here in the conference room uploading photos onto Flickr. It ain't gonna happen.
KB says murrr.
5.10.2007
This Is Fred
Fred is one of the Port Agents for our ship here in Brest.
Fred is a typical French guy, near as I can tell. Without Fred my time here would have been much more difficult. Case in point, in the picture here Fred is standing next to what? You guessed it, Admiral mattresses. This picture was taken when he and I were moving about two hundred of these delightful beauties within the warehouse because the roof had started leaking right above the middle of the pile. Don't think I've shared this story yet but trust me, that's water at Fred's feet.
Today provided the strongest and most constant winds. Thankfully not too much rain, but the wind made up for the lack of the other. Won't bore people today.
Fred is a typical French guy, near as I can tell. Without Fred my time here would have been much more difficult. Case in point, in the picture here Fred is standing next to what? You guessed it, Admiral mattresses. This picture was taken when he and I were moving about two hundred of these delightful beauties within the warehouse because the roof had started leaking right above the middle of the pile. Don't think I've shared this story yet but trust me, that's water at Fred's feet.
Today provided the strongest and most constant winds. Thankfully not too much rain, but the wind made up for the lack of the other. Won't bore people today.
5.09.2007
Enemy Thy Name Is Admiral
Been a long day again.
More fun with mattresses. . . they are Admiral mattresses. Took a lot of fun pictures of fifty guys dragging them across the gangway onto the ship. Last resort when the wind is blowing so hard you can't land a 20' container on the top deck. Takes a lot of wind to make a box that big swing like it was. Didn't actually rain that much today, though, so I got that goin' for me. . . which is nice. Of course my ears were frozen, but who's complaining.
Can't think of anything else I did of consequence. I did get out of the yard and drove up to the mall with one of the planners. Done gone and bought myself some new sunglasses (sat on the old ones) and finally found a suitable patch to remind me of my time in this area. The patch is of the flag of Brittany (this region) and is easily the most expensive patch I have ever bought at almost seven EUROS! Funniest part is that the patch is tiny. . . I got me a HUGE patch from the Grand Canyon and I think that puppy only cost me tree-fitty in good ol' dinero de los Estados Unidos.
I'm out with a shout. Gotta get some shut eye. Oh yeah, everyone should know that I now drive a Punto. I had a rental car with some regular type name but it was switched out today for this one. Now I know my Spanish is more than a little rusty but isn't Punto a bad word. . . or very close to one?
As my brother Ik puts it,
A-out
5.08.2007
It Ain't Over
Maybe it'll never be over. Another miserable day here weather-wise but things are still moving along as smoothly as might be hoped for in my world. Had a few beers last night with some sub-contractors from Liverpool and that helped to take my mind off things to come. Not too worry, I'm upbeat and jokin' around. . . just starting to look toward the finish line.
Logistics Update: Turns out that corporate didn't like the idea of the remaining mattresses going to Poland for loading so I'll now be getting two more trucks a day or two before this thing ends. If you're keeping count that'll make the full complement of two thousand mattresses loaded on board. By the way, there's an equal number of old mats. to dispose of. Discovered there are five (5? Holy. . . ) containers arriving with all manner of linens inside. Not my friendly 20-footers either, mind you. Naw Baby, we're talkin' about the regular 40-foot sea containers. Good times. Saw a giant hunk of steel mounted on the bow this morning, the pictures may be worth a damn if I can ever get them online. Weather was bad enough and my schedule is good enough that I told the riggers to quit working around four o'clock this afternoon. Slight gift of an hour and a half sitting in their comfy van rather than schlepping around in the wind and rain. Too dangerous for the crane to be lifting the loads I have left anyway.
So plans fail and jobs continue. Wish I had more social updates to write about. Just livin' the life. Male to female ratio on this ship is about a hundred to one. . . against. . . me. I suppose I have to concede that all men are in the same situation here but I gotta say that it would be nice to have a female around to talk to. Hell, maybe we could even talk about something other than work.
Crazy.
5.07.2007
Notes
This picture is actually from the Millennium but the ships are almost identical so it don't much really matter, I s'pose.
Tired. Rainy and windy today with a chance of hard work. My pretty white coveralls have become a color somewhat darker and everything from my waist down is still drenched. Have I mentioned that the "uniform" for drydocks is either white or blue Celebrity coveralls? I look like the Stay Puft marshmallow man in my whites. Suppose I should go take a shower or something sensible like that.
Just wanted to do something a little dumb, so I did. Bought a plane ticket to Flagstaff for Memorial Day weekend. Last year I was there at the same time because the Summit Center Classic is that weekend. Four stage road bike race in various parts of Northern Arizona. Good times. Anyway, the race director is my old college roommate so hopefully I'll be able to help out. Anyway, get back from France on Tuesday, leave for Arizona on Friday. . . culture shock here I come.
www.summitcenterclassic.com
Got another semi-unexpected truckload of mattresses today. The eighth. We've now got a thousand mattresses on board and another six hundred still in the warehouse. Also loaded about forty rolls of carpet today. . . and it's a good thing we did them two at a time like Noah and that ark because it was lookin' to rain so hard we would have had to get back on the ship to survive.
Tomorrow morning the yard is doing another interesting steel project. Lifting eight new crew cabins onto the bow in one fell swoop. Gonna be a pretty big piece of steel up in the air. Try to have pictures at some point but as usual the connection here probably won't allow it.
Off for shower, dinner, beer. . . yes, in that order.
5.06.2007
Logisticalities For Big Pun
This post may not interest most people but if it keeps Biggus Punnus on the edge of his seat it must be worth something.
There are quite a few objects, items, equipment, materials and supplies that are difficult to get on board cruise ships. Every item has a solution if there is enough time and a little bit of translation from English to French.
20' Containers (like the one being loaded into a truck in the picture). These are the handiest items around. Subcontractors like to build workshops in them and then pack them full of materials which makes them high priority moves when the ship first gets dry. There were two boxes already here at the shipyard waiting to go up for USS (www.uss-us.com) which is a contractor installing a new AWP (Advanced Wastewater Purification) system.
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/pdf/advance_wastewater_purification.pdf
The first two boxes were no problem. Deck eleven, port side, facing each other so the guy who runs 'em can build a little roof between the two and have a pretty good sized workshop. The fun ones were the boxes that needed to be landed on the bow. This class of vessel has a heli-deck on the most forward part of the bow and it's only rated to handle four and a half tons. Another sub (MSP) is installing new crew cabins on the bow just aft of the helo deck. Their 20' container weighed over three tons so that pretty much maxed out the bow. Enter Sea Level Marine. These subs are refurbing the gift shops and also have a container that needs to be onboard.
You know, I just read this and realized that it's crap. Guess I'm not a good story teller at all. I'll try to shorten things up.
Right now there are four 20' containers on deck eleven, port side and one container on the heli-deck on the bow. There is another 20' container on it's way that will need to be unloaded (swap out one of the boxes on deck eleven for a time) and one more container (currently lost in the stellar shipping system we use) that has gym equipment in it. This will have to be dropped on the pool deck (deck ten) AFTER the new Bolidt flooring is done drying. This class of ship is made so that deck eleven is only a partial deck and open in the middle where the swimming pools are so that loads can be dropped over deck eleven down onto deck ten. Most cruise ships have a similar setup somewhere on the top decks.
If you've never heard of Bolidt you should take a look at it. It is a synthetic flooring system that is poured onto the existing deck and cures almost completely smooth. Then they cut lines into the deck which are filled with a black grout-like substance and sand the whole thing so it looks like teak decking. Pretty slick, needs re-sanding in five years and is expensive as hell. (www.bolidt.com)
The mattresses. Not sure where I left off with these. There are two-thousand mattresses (unknown to everyone until just before they started showing up). Right now we have eight hundred on the ship, six hundred in a warehouse about a mile away and six hundred (hopefully) still waiting in Italy. The reason I insert hopefully is because I am trying to halt the last six hundred in Italy. Worked it out with the hotel director that they will be trucked to Helsinki in June and put on board when the ship comes through that port. Score one for me. The eight hundred that are on board got there with those magical 20' containers. Rented two containers, got support from the hotel side on the ship and on the pier, load the containers with new mattresses on the pier and throw 'em up on deck eleven where a conga line of hotel workers unloads the new and backloads the old. Drop container number one and load number two, reverse process on the pier and repeat. Probably took less than four hours to do the eight hundred but it completely ties up the crane cause it's easiest to leave the box hooked up on deck eleven while they are unloading and backloading.
The six hundred in the warehouse will require a little extra coordination. Need to hire local stevedores to load the mattresses into trucks at the warehouse because ship's crew can't work that far away from the vessel. Stevedores load the new onto trucks which drive to the shipyard, which are then unloaded by ship's personnel and put onboard in the previously explained manner. A fifty-three foot trailer takes two hundred and two mattresses so we'll need three trailers. Hoping to move them all in one day to save on the cost of the stevedores. Will probably cost around three thousand Euros for an eight hour shift of the stevedores.
Gonna have to split this post up cause I still have to tell you how we load all the materials for the new AWP system (aside from the container on deck eleven) and maybe I'll tell you how we're going to get five truckloads of food stores onto the ship on the tenth.
If this post were any drier it'd be jerky.
There are quite a few objects, items, equipment, materials and supplies that are difficult to get on board cruise ships. Every item has a solution if there is enough time and a little bit of translation from English to French.
20' Containers (like the one being loaded into a truck in the picture). These are the handiest items around. Subcontractors like to build workshops in them and then pack them full of materials which makes them high priority moves when the ship first gets dry. There were two boxes already here at the shipyard waiting to go up for USS (www.uss-us.com) which is a contractor installing a new AWP (Advanced Wastewater Purification) system.
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/pdf/advance_wastewater_purification.pdf
The first two boxes were no problem. Deck eleven, port side, facing each other so the guy who runs 'em can build a little roof between the two and have a pretty good sized workshop. The fun ones were the boxes that needed to be landed on the bow. This class of vessel has a heli-deck on the most forward part of the bow and it's only rated to handle four and a half tons. Another sub (MSP) is installing new crew cabins on the bow just aft of the helo deck. Their 20' container weighed over three tons so that pretty much maxed out the bow. Enter Sea Level Marine. These subs are refurbing the gift shops and also have a container that needs to be onboard.
You know, I just read this and realized that it's crap. Guess I'm not a good story teller at all. I'll try to shorten things up.
Right now there are four 20' containers on deck eleven, port side and one container on the heli-deck on the bow. There is another 20' container on it's way that will need to be unloaded (swap out one of the boxes on deck eleven for a time) and one more container (currently lost in the stellar shipping system we use) that has gym equipment in it. This will have to be dropped on the pool deck (deck ten) AFTER the new Bolidt flooring is done drying. This class of ship is made so that deck eleven is only a partial deck and open in the middle where the swimming pools are so that loads can be dropped over deck eleven down onto deck ten. Most cruise ships have a similar setup somewhere on the top decks.
If you've never heard of Bolidt you should take a look at it. It is a synthetic flooring system that is poured onto the existing deck and cures almost completely smooth. Then they cut lines into the deck which are filled with a black grout-like substance and sand the whole thing so it looks like teak decking. Pretty slick, needs re-sanding in five years and is expensive as hell. (www.bolidt.com)
The mattresses. Not sure where I left off with these. There are two-thousand mattresses (unknown to everyone until just before they started showing up). Right now we have eight hundred on the ship, six hundred in a warehouse about a mile away and six hundred (hopefully) still waiting in Italy. The reason I insert hopefully is because I am trying to halt the last six hundred in Italy. Worked it out with the hotel director that they will be trucked to Helsinki in June and put on board when the ship comes through that port. Score one for me. The eight hundred that are on board got there with those magical 20' containers. Rented two containers, got support from the hotel side on the ship and on the pier, load the containers with new mattresses on the pier and throw 'em up on deck eleven where a conga line of hotel workers unloads the new and backloads the old. Drop container number one and load number two, reverse process on the pier and repeat. Probably took less than four hours to do the eight hundred but it completely ties up the crane cause it's easiest to leave the box hooked up on deck eleven while they are unloading and backloading.
The six hundred in the warehouse will require a little extra coordination. Need to hire local stevedores to load the mattresses into trucks at the warehouse because ship's crew can't work that far away from the vessel. Stevedores load the new onto trucks which drive to the shipyard, which are then unloaded by ship's personnel and put onboard in the previously explained manner. A fifty-three foot trailer takes two hundred and two mattresses so we'll need three trailers. Hoping to move them all in one day to save on the cost of the stevedores. Will probably cost around three thousand Euros for an eight hour shift of the stevedores.
Gonna have to split this post up cause I still have to tell you how we load all the materials for the new AWP system (aside from the container on deck eleven) and maybe I'll tell you how we're going to get five truckloads of food stores onto the ship on the tenth.
If this post were any drier it'd be jerky.
5.03.2007
Another Start
(ed. note: this was written on Tuesday, May 1st. . . but due to certain internet connections was not posted.)
Someday I'm going to listen to myself. I knew that I should have posted a few times last week because now I'm in the thick of it again and I shouldn't spend much time on this. For those interested I was able to upload quite a few photos to Flickr last week and a few of them actually have captions. Not the most exciting photos in the world, as usual, but if you're not in the most exciting place in the world. . . .
This last weekend I did get a little more time to enjoy myself and there were interesting goings on as well. I was privy to a seafood dinner that would have made Poseidon weep, taught BB cribbage and played some pretty good games, possibly enjoyed a tasty beverage derived from grapes and/or barley, was awakened by a rather soothing fire alarm at four am and caught some nice views along the coast to the West and North of Brest.
So the Constellation came into dock this morning at seven am. She's still in the water but they're finally settling her on the blocks and she should be dry by three am. Unfortunately, it was a holiday here in France so I achieved a lot less than I should have on the logistics end. . . but it was foreseen by all. Wish I could think of something interesting to write but all my thoughts seem to revolve around PO numbers, gnomes, target arrival dates and the joy of finally getting a good cabin on the ship.
'Suppose I should mention that I made friends early with the Hotel Director and secured myself a cabin on Deck Eight this time, as opposed to Deck Two on the Millennium. Balcony and all, baby. Sah-wheat. I'm off to enjoy it a bit.
4.26.2007
It Must Be Thursday. . .
I swear this stuff is like crack. . . only a bit safer. I know you can get it in the states but I never remember it's existence until I've left the country. I don't smoke, I don't drink coffee and I rarely huff turpentine so I've decided to take up nutella as my daytime vice. If you wanna get crazy and spread some on a sugared crepe you've got a recipe for me workin' all day long with a big ol' smile on my face.
I won't put it lightly, today has sucked. Mattresses, spare parts, gnomes, tools, pipes and more mattresses all coming in for a ship that isn't here yet, and into a town that can't handle it. Super. Don't want to bore you too much. . . so I won't. Suffice to say I'm off to check the piers, count some Exhaust Flue Gas Boiler Tubes, snap some pics of a couple bearings that are to get crated up and sent to New York and then it's off to the mattress warehouse where I've got to see a man about a horse.
I picked the wrong day to quit huffin' turpentine.
I won't put it lightly, today has sucked. Mattresses, spare parts, gnomes, tools, pipes and more mattresses all coming in for a ship that isn't here yet, and into a town that can't handle it. Super. Don't want to bore you too much. . . so I won't. Suffice to say I'm off to check the piers, count some Exhaust Flue Gas Boiler Tubes, snap some pics of a couple bearings that are to get crated up and sent to New York and then it's off to the mattress warehouse where I've got to see a man about a horse.
I picked the wrong day to quit huffin' turpentine.
4.25.2007
Quimper
As promised there are more pictures from my drive around Brittany up on Flickr. But if you're bored enough to look at all the pictures on Flickr then you've obviously got time to write my bored ass an email.
Not actually that bored of course but being over here ain't like travelling like I've done in the past. Without travelling to a new destination every few days I do find myself a little bored with just work to do. However, last night BB and I hit the pub to watch the Man-U/AC Milan game. Excellent match that Man-U took 3-2 on an amazing goal in the 92nd minute. Another good match on tonight with Chelsea FC vs. Liverpool.
Got a fun phone call from the Port Agent last night around six o'clock. We had been expecting a shipment of mattresses for the Constellation but normally they come in forty-foot containers, just regular shipping containers. Well the mattresses come from Italy and since we're so close the shipping company decided to just load everything onto trailers instead of containers. Whoops. First of all the ship won't be here for almost another week which means I now have to find the means to offload two-hundred mattresses per trailer AND I need to have warehouse space to store them. If the mattresses come in containers as they should I can just drop the whole container on the pier and leave it there. Secondly, the way we load mattresses on board ships is by hanging the container against the side while fifty guys unload it. How am I supposed to get these mattresses on board the ship now. Of course there are answers to that but my biggest concern is that there may be four of these trucks which equals ~eight-hundred mattresses.
Anyway, sorry for the rant, but if it's not one thing it's another and everyone is using every muscle but the one that counts. (And I'll just tell you that I'm talking about the brain before you sickos get any further in your thought process.)
Back to work. All of us.
Not actually that bored of course but being over here ain't like travelling like I've done in the past. Without travelling to a new destination every few days I do find myself a little bored with just work to do. However, last night BB and I hit the pub to watch the Man-U/AC Milan game. Excellent match that Man-U took 3-2 on an amazing goal in the 92nd minute. Another good match on tonight with Chelsea FC vs. Liverpool.
Got a fun phone call from the Port Agent last night around six o'clock. We had been expecting a shipment of mattresses for the Constellation but normally they come in forty-foot containers, just regular shipping containers. Well the mattresses come from Italy and since we're so close the shipping company decided to just load everything onto trailers instead of containers. Whoops. First of all the ship won't be here for almost another week which means I now have to find the means to offload two-hundred mattresses per trailer AND I need to have warehouse space to store them. If the mattresses come in containers as they should I can just drop the whole container on the pier and leave it there. Secondly, the way we load mattresses on board ships is by hanging the container against the side while fifty guys unload it. How am I supposed to get these mattresses on board the ship now. Of course there are answers to that but my biggest concern is that there may be four of these trucks which equals ~eight-hundred mattresses.
Anyway, sorry for the rant, but if it's not one thing it's another and everyone is using every muscle but the one that counts. (And I'll just tell you that I'm talking about the brain before you sickos get any further in your thought process.)
Back to work. All of us.
4.23.2007
One Man Sub
This past weekend was cool. Got me a rental car that goes and took Saturday and Sunday off. BB and I walked all over Brest (kinky) on Saturday and drove South down the coast on Sunday to see some smaller cities and take in the coast and country side.
On Saturday we hit the Maritime Museum for a few hours in the morning and found this gem from WWII (I think). One man sub made out of a torpedo with another torpedo mounted underneath. Sounds smart to me. I had heard of these before but it was pretty bizzare to see one up close. The musee was decent but the fort it is housed in stole the show. Parts of the fort have been there since the Romans built it seventeen-hundred years ago. Views from atop the fort allowed some of the Best angles that I've had of Brest so far. . . if you're into that sort of thing you can see a few of the pictures up on Flickr. . . but remember that the pictures are of Brest, not breast.
Had a killer seafood casserole for lunch at a local place and then checked out some other parts of downtown that I hadn't seen yet. Didn't get too many good shots off downtown, might be due to lack of subject matter. I also don't photograph churches as often as I used to (could be the atheism) so that cuts down on picture options in European towns. Did get a good one from a town called Douarnenez down the coast a ways; try to get it up later.
Saturday night we ate at Le Boeuf Sur Le Quai. Pretty darn good steak, beer and creme brulee. . . and all for less than my expense account allows. Amazingly I am attempting to be financially responsible over here. Really no reason I shouldn't just spend the money the company gives me and call it a day.
Sunday was pretty nice. Picked up a map and just headed South with no real plan. Went through a few smaller towns like Crozon, Douarnenez and Quimper. Not much open though on a Sunday that also featured the first round of the French presidential election. The field was narrowed down from 12 candidates (including three major contenders) to just two who will have a runoff in two weeks. Anyone taking notes? . . . THREE viable candidates pared down to two for a second election in Two Weeks. Sounds better than what we're used to in the States.
Sunday dinner involved more crepes but I didn't spend much time translating the ingredients and ended up with some funky, funky stuff on my plate. Still interesting and I'll know what to stay away from in the future. Still quite a few good places to eat at in town including one sushi restaurant. . . but when we stopped in there once before the staff either spoke no English whatsoever or at least pretended they didn't. Have to bribe a local to go in with us.
Should be able to provide regular updates this week. BB and I have a decent office at the shipyard with a good 'net connection (Finally!) so we'll probably be in for regular eight hour days. Love to hear from people back home to find out what the goins-on are.
On Saturday we hit the Maritime Museum for a few hours in the morning and found this gem from WWII (I think). One man sub made out of a torpedo with another torpedo mounted underneath. Sounds smart to me. I had heard of these before but it was pretty bizzare to see one up close. The musee was decent but the fort it is housed in stole the show. Parts of the fort have been there since the Romans built it seventeen-hundred years ago. Views from atop the fort allowed some of the Best angles that I've had of Brest so far. . . if you're into that sort of thing you can see a few of the pictures up on Flickr. . . but remember that the pictures are of Brest, not breast.
Had a killer seafood casserole for lunch at a local place and then checked out some other parts of downtown that I hadn't seen yet. Didn't get too many good shots off downtown, might be due to lack of subject matter. I also don't photograph churches as often as I used to (could be the atheism) so that cuts down on picture options in European towns. Did get a good one from a town called Douarnenez down the coast a ways; try to get it up later.
Saturday night we ate at Le Boeuf Sur Le Quai. Pretty darn good steak, beer and creme brulee. . . and all for less than my expense account allows. Amazingly I am attempting to be financially responsible over here. Really no reason I shouldn't just spend the money the company gives me and call it a day.
Sunday was pretty nice. Picked up a map and just headed South with no real plan. Went through a few smaller towns like Crozon, Douarnenez and Quimper. Not much open though on a Sunday that also featured the first round of the French presidential election. The field was narrowed down from 12 candidates (including three major contenders) to just two who will have a runoff in two weeks. Anyone taking notes? . . . THREE viable candidates pared down to two for a second election in Two Weeks. Sounds better than what we're used to in the States.
Sunday dinner involved more crepes but I didn't spend much time translating the ingredients and ended up with some funky, funky stuff on my plate. Still interesting and I'll know what to stay away from in the future. Still quite a few good places to eat at in town including one sushi restaurant. . . but when we stopped in there once before the staff either spoke no English whatsoever or at least pretended they didn't. Have to bribe a local to go in with us.
Should be able to provide regular updates this week. BB and I have a decent office at the shipyard with a good 'net connection (Finally!) so we'll probably be in for regular eight hour days. Love to hear from people back home to find out what the goins-on are.
4.20.2007
One Down, One To Go
Well, that's it. I made it through the first ship here in Brest. I had some easy days in the middle of the job and then (predictably) it got a little crazy at the end. But the Millennium is in the water now on her way to South Hampton. From what I've heard all the important stuff on the ship works fine. You know important stuff. . . like the integrity of the hull.
So now I'm 'stuck' in Brest for the next ten days with a guy from purchasing, a rental car, a hotel room and an expense account. . . what could go wrong? We were toying with the idea of going to Paris cause BB has never been but it's about a six hour drive and there actually is work to do here so now we're thinking that we'll head to Normandy this weekend since it's only 3 hours away.
It's pretty fun driving around the city. A little harrowing, sure, but a good challenge. I do okay with the traffic circles but the larger ones that have traffic lights built into them are a little harder to decipher. We went through a circle today that probably had six major streets feeding into it so there were lights for each of those intersections within the circle and coming into the circle too. Couple that with the fact that I didn't know where I was going and you've got a stellar morning commute.
I'll try to get some better pictures up soon. I've got an office at the shipyard here and should have a good internet connection at the hotel too so look to Flickr if you want to catch some more photos. . . and not just photos from the shipyard. By the way the pictures above may be hard to make out so I'll tell you what you're looking at.
The whole reason for these drydockings that I'm working at is the large item on the right side of the frame. On the right you'll see a section of hull that's been prefabricated and has a shiny new diesel generator slapped onto it (though I think they're pretty careful when they do the slapping). The mess on the left side of the frame is a giant hole in the hull of the ship. So they just discarded the old hull material and slid that new one it. Easy. Pretty slick actually cause the new portion of the hull is on a flatbed vehicle with about fifty wheels underneath it that can turn three-hundred and sixty degrees. They just drove the new section right into place. You should have seen the mess of piping that they had to fit this thing into. . . but somehow it fit within ninety percent which is pretty amazing.
Guess I'll get back to work now. Somebody reminded the other day that I get paid to be here which is kind of easy to forget after enough time passes. Au revoir.
So now I'm 'stuck' in Brest for the next ten days with a guy from purchasing, a rental car, a hotel room and an expense account. . . what could go wrong? We were toying with the idea of going to Paris cause BB has never been but it's about a six hour drive and there actually is work to do here so now we're thinking that we'll head to Normandy this weekend since it's only 3 hours away.
It's pretty fun driving around the city. A little harrowing, sure, but a good challenge. I do okay with the traffic circles but the larger ones that have traffic lights built into them are a little harder to decipher. We went through a circle today that probably had six major streets feeding into it so there were lights for each of those intersections within the circle and coming into the circle too. Couple that with the fact that I didn't know where I was going and you've got a stellar morning commute.
I'll try to get some better pictures up soon. I've got an office at the shipyard here and should have a good internet connection at the hotel too so look to Flickr if you want to catch some more photos. . . and not just photos from the shipyard. By the way the pictures above may be hard to make out so I'll tell you what you're looking at.
The whole reason for these drydockings that I'm working at is the large item on the right side of the frame. On the right you'll see a section of hull that's been prefabricated and has a shiny new diesel generator slapped onto it (though I think they're pretty careful when they do the slapping). The mess on the left side of the frame is a giant hole in the hull of the ship. So they just discarded the old hull material and slid that new one it. Easy. Pretty slick actually cause the new portion of the hull is on a flatbed vehicle with about fifty wheels underneath it that can turn three-hundred and sixty degrees. They just drove the new section right into place. You should have seen the mess of piping that they had to fit this thing into. . . but somehow it fit within ninety percent which is pretty amazing.
Guess I'll get back to work now. Somebody reminded the other day that I get paid to be here which is kind of easy to forget after enough time passes. Au revoir.
4.15.2007
Crepes Are Gooooooood
Got off the ship twice yesterday; once in the afternoon for a little stroll around downtown Brest and again in the evening for a fantastic dinner. Both times I was in the presence of a younger dude from Nantes, France. He found a place for us to eat and we took advantage.
Started the meal with small glass of wine that was like a mescal or port. Ordered up a couple of crepes and enjoyed some light cider. The crepes were amazing. The options for fillings are seemingly endless and they range from basic to amazing. Think of ordering an omelet essentially. I had a basic tomato, sausage and mushroom crepe to start and then a seafood mix for the second. I literally cannot adequately describe how good the seafood crepe was. For desert, why not have a crepe? A whole separate menu has crepes made with flour (though I can't remember what the first crepes were made of. . . some local dough found only in this region of France which is called Brittany). Decided upon a banana and chocolate crepe for dessert while one of my companions opted for his a flambe. Once again, good beyond belief.
We tried a few other things that the server was kind enough to bring us samples of and then ended with a digestive that was essentially a wonderfully smooth scotch. The dinner probably would have only been about 20-25 Euros for each of us but the supplier picked it up on his company expense account. . . good action. I should be staying in a hotel downtown between the two vessels that we're working on and I will probably have quite a few more crepe experiences.
As my brother says. . . A-out.
Started the meal with small glass of wine that was like a mescal or port. Ordered up a couple of crepes and enjoyed some light cider. The crepes were amazing. The options for fillings are seemingly endless and they range from basic to amazing. Think of ordering an omelet essentially. I had a basic tomato, sausage and mushroom crepe to start and then a seafood mix for the second. I literally cannot adequately describe how good the seafood crepe was. For desert, why not have a crepe? A whole separate menu has crepes made with flour (though I can't remember what the first crepes were made of. . . some local dough found only in this region of France which is called Brittany). Decided upon a banana and chocolate crepe for dessert while one of my companions opted for his a flambe. Once again, good beyond belief.
We tried a few other things that the server was kind enough to bring us samples of and then ended with a digestive that was essentially a wonderfully smooth scotch. The dinner probably would have only been about 20-25 Euros for each of us but the supplier picked it up on his company expense account. . . good action. I should be staying in a hotel downtown between the two vessels that we're working on and I will probably have quite a few more crepe experiences.
As my brother says. . . A-out.
4.12.2007
She May Not Look Like Much
But wait'll you get her out on the open sea.
Actually, I truly must say that this picture does nothing in the way of justice for this ship. Really, it's the enormous cranes that are taking away from the true size of the vessel. And by cranes I mean MY cranes. . . and by MY cranes I mean just one out of the three of them. . . and yes, it happens to be the closest one in the frame that didn't do a lick of work the day I took this picture. My crane is just like me!
So this is the Sobrena shipyard in Brest (though it's actually in a smaller sub-section/town/district/whatever called Le Havre). A moment ago I started a sentence about the shipyard and it's properties that would have put a rabid Bugbladder Beast of Traal quite well to sleep, but I erased it and wrote what you just read instead. Now I rhyme, I hope you've the time.
It's 2343 hours here which means it's like 2am, three days from now in Mongolia. I would go to sleep but I'm waiting for a toolbox to arrive from Paris. Paris is not close. The toolbox is coming in a taxi. . . from Paris. Paris is not close. If I can get the information past corporate security I'll let you all know tomorrow what the flippin' taxi bill comes to. Paris is not close.
Actually, I truly must say that this picture does nothing in the way of justice for this ship. Really, it's the enormous cranes that are taking away from the true size of the vessel. And by cranes I mean MY cranes. . . and by MY cranes I mean just one out of the three of them. . . and yes, it happens to be the closest one in the frame that didn't do a lick of work the day I took this picture. My crane is just like me!
So this is the Sobrena shipyard in Brest (though it's actually in a smaller sub-section/town/district/whatever called Le Havre). A moment ago I started a sentence about the shipyard and it's properties that would have put a rabid Bugbladder Beast of Traal quite well to sleep, but I erased it and wrote what you just read instead. Now I rhyme, I hope you've the time.
It's 2343 hours here which means it's like 2am, three days from now in Mongolia. I would go to sleep but I'm waiting for a toolbox to arrive from Paris. Paris is not close. The toolbox is coming in a taxi. . . from Paris. Paris is not close. If I can get the information past corporate security I'll let you all know tomorrow what the flippin' taxi bill comes to. Paris is not close.
4.11.2007
A Letter From Camp Milbrestadock
Dear Mom,
Camp is great! I love being far from home, playing with new friends and trying different things. They've given me my own room amongst all the other campers. The coolest part of my room is that it has TWO BEDS! and comes with a complimentary temperature well above Earth norm. And then they have really outdone themselves by adding a guy with a hammer and a metal grinder about one floor down who somehow manages to sound out the changing of each hour THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE NIGHT!!! What service! I expected all kinds of problems with the accommodations but you can't go wrong with your own Grinding-Hammerer-Man!
It's also really cool to listen to people from Norway, India, Germany, China, Greece, Netherlands, France, Italy, Philippines, Canadia, England and Scotland talking in over-the-top LOUD tones constantly. . . every waking minute. . . really, they do! It's awe inspiring to me, and makes me proud of the normally self-conscious human race, that so many people would like me to know how their lives are going AT TOP VOLUME!!!! And usually in a full elevator too! (That's right, Ma, this camp has not one but sixteen elevators to get us where we are going. . . and none of them are ever being repaired. Amazing!) But nothing beats the lively discussions I hear in the meeting room where they let me keep my computer. Truly you have not lived until you experience eight people from seven different countries joyfully arguing about shipments for the camp that have arrived or not arrived or Hell, haven't even been ordered yet when they were needed last week! Joy!
And speaking of my computer! They really went of their way for this one! They must have known that I love antiques. . . and that they are worth the wait. In this case mine might have to be worth a Constant wait but I think she is, so I named her Constance. Oh, and combine that with the awesome power of an internet connection that comes through the camp's satellite network. . . wow! I truly can not say more.
But not everything is so grand here. The food is served all day long but apparently they ran out of lobster some time ago. I'm just kidding! We have fresh seafood every day!!! You see we're right on the water and the camp has no less than fifty people who are fishing or diving all day for the treasure of the sea. Then they have a whole army of chefs who prepare your meal to the exact tastes of your pallet. Mmmm, mmm. Just thinking of the scrambled eggs that are never watery or tasteless and the beef in the stew that must have been cut from the cow that morning because no stew that was ever re-used four days in a row could taste like that! It's all I can do to keep myself out of the eatery!
This camp is great. Now if only I knew what I was supposed to be doing here. . .
Love and Joy,
Your Baby Boy!
4.08.2007
But I Don't Wanna Learn French
Well, things here have gotten a little better and they will continue to be good tomorrow. Why, you ask? Easy. The magic of Easter. That's right, little fluffy bunnies running all over the shipyard laying mystical (and slightly painful) eggs of reprieve. It's almost true. Apparently Easter is an important enough holiday over here than nobody works all weekend and they have Monday off to boot. Good for them. Guess I can't complain however. The shipyard's lack of progress translates into a bit of time for me to actually learn what I'm supposed to be doing over here. Don't get me wrong, I know an awful lot about the industry from my days at SFD but doing this work from the side of the cruise liners is a whole different world.
So, yes, things have gotten a little better for me over here. Small miracles; my own room, occasional running water (sometimes it's even hot), a few beers with the fellas in town and a little bit of work actually accomplished. I've been lucky enough to have another Project Manager with me here in Brest. He's been with the company a few years and has been showing me the ropes, as they say. Unfortunately he's leaving early Tuesday morning so my life will certainly become more painful at that time. FYI, Brest is nine hours ahead of California in terms of time. . . though not
I could write more but I should be working. I'll try to get a few pictures up hopefully tomorrow before things get crazy. Looks like I'll definitely be here through our second job which means I'll be here thru May 20th or so. With a little luck I'll have a hotel and a little time off in between the two vessels (Celebrity Millenium and Constellation).
Peace and Cheetos (or Peaceful Cheetos?).
So, yes, things have gotten a little better for me over here. Small miracles; my own room, occasional running water (sometimes it's even hot), a few beers with the fellas in town and a little bit of work actually accomplished. I've been lucky enough to have another Project Manager with me here in Brest. He's been with the company a few years and has been showing me the ropes, as they say. Unfortunately he's leaving early Tuesday morning so my life will certainly become more painful at that time. FYI, Brest is nine hours ahead of California in terms of time. . . though not
I could write more but I should be working. I'll try to get a few pictures up hopefully tomorrow before things get crazy. Looks like I'll definitely be here through our second job which means I'll be here thru May 20th or so. With a little luck I'll have a hotel and a little time off in between the two vessels (Celebrity Millenium and Constellation).
Peace and Cheetos (or Peaceful Cheetos?).
4.06.2007
Brest, France
Got into town yesterday. Things are fairly FUBAR and I don't know how much help I'm going to be right away. Guess I have to remember how things were when I first started at the shipyard in SF. Just trying to keep my head above water for now. Don't have much time at the moment so I'll try to write more later.
4.03.2007
. . . And That's How That Goes
Well, I'm already worried that I won't be able to update my blog as often as I thought. I found out yesterday during my first day of work that my initial tour of service will not
be taking me to San Francisco as I was previously told but rather I'll be heading to France. France doesn't bother me too much and even the fact that I'll be flying out today or tomorrow doesn't have any great weight on my mind. . . but the fact that I might be there until the end of May??? Weeeeeeelllll, I gotta admit that now I've got a lot to think about over the next few hours.
So! Just bought some new luggage and now I'm gonna try to pack for a month and a half. If I don't fly out tonight then I'll try to update this again and maybe even get to a few emails that people have been kind enough to send me. Of course, who knows if this whole thing will get called off at the last second anyway. . .
be taking me to San Francisco as I was previously told but rather I'll be heading to France. France doesn't bother me too much and even the fact that I'll be flying out today or tomorrow doesn't have any great weight on my mind. . . but the fact that I might be there until the end of May??? Weeeeeeelllll, I gotta admit that now I've got a lot to think about over the next few hours.
So! Just bought some new luggage and now I'm gonna try to pack for a month and a half. If I don't fly out tonight then I'll try to update this again and maybe even get to a few emails that people have been kind enough to send me. Of course, who knows if this whole thing will get called off at the last second anyway. . .
3.31.2007
Road Tallies
Well, the Element works and the roads were paved and here I am. Got into Hollywood, Florida around 3:30pm yesterday and promptly discovered that the house I was set up to live in was no longer set up to receive me. No worries though, I already found a new place and once I'm sure it's a lock I'll be passing the address on to all you fine folks via email. Thankfully I haven't changed my address with any financial institutions yet so life won't be too hard. The reason I am not staying at the first house isn't too shocking or crazy or anything. . . just bad timing for the owner of the place.
So, on to the road stats.
3/20/07
San Leandro, CA thru Yosemite NP to Bakersfield, CA -- 400 miles
Ik and I hiked Tuolomne Grove and walked the short trail to Lower Yosemite Falls. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating and we couldn't even see Half Dome but we all know that'll just give us a good excuse to return to that ridiculously beautiful place. Hell, I still haven't climbed Half Dome. . .
3/21
Bakersfield, CA thru Death Valley NP to Las Vegas, NV -- 388 miles
We did a four mile in and out hike through the Mosaic Canyon. Definitely another NP that needs to be revisited for a much longer period of time. This experience was quite a bit better than the last one I had in JULY of 2005. JULY!!! What the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah, the tour group I was leading wouldn't take no for an answer and they insisted we stay a night in Death Valley. I believe we actually camped at a place called Furnace Creek! Suffice to say I didn't get any sleep that night and most likely neither did any of my passengers. Anyway, Ik and I arrived in Vegas around 7pm and that left just enough time for my Bro to get a quick shower at my friend AC's house before his flight out at 10pm back to the Double-U Eye.
3/22
Las Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ -- 252 miles
By myself now for a mostly enjoyable 3.5 our drive across the high desert. Went over the Hoover Dam and got a few pics of the new bridge they are Trying to build. (AC informs me that a crane blew over a while back and that will set the project back about 8 months. . . sounds efficient to me.) Enjoyed a few fierce rainstorms that my new-ish windshield wipers dispatched with ease and got into Flag around 4pm. Saw a pretty girl and then joined TC, Grant and his wife-to-be, Melissa, at Uptown Billiards for a cocktail. Thai food followed by the Wine Loft and more of that pretty girl completed the evening in positive fashion.
3/23 thru 3/26
Flagstaff, AZ
Good friends, good wedding, good times.
3/27
Flagstaff, AZ thru Phoenix, AZ to Lordsburg, NM -- 414 miles
Rolled from Flag thru Sedona on my way to Phoenix and once there I picked up my buddy Yoeller ( www.recoveryjoel.wordpress.com) and helped him with a few tasks he needed to accomplish. Went directly to a little family gathering for St. Paddy's Day (just a few days late) and ate a lovely dinner with some good family friends. No wanting to waste any darklight I rallied and drove down through Tucson and into Lordsburg, NM in order to have a good launching point the next morning. My goal for Wednesday? To drive all the way across Texas.
3/28
Lordsburg, NM to Beaumont, TX -- 992 miles
Damn! Almost made it across Texas and almost put in a thousand miles. If there's something wrong with me you people have got to let me know!
3/29
Beaumont, TX to Lake City, FL -- 725 miles
I know, I wimped out this day. I coulda made it all the way to southern Florida, you're sayin'. Well, I'm sayin' that my butt couldn't do it after that day through Texas. Is it ironic or just sad that the two days with the highest mileage give me the least amount to talk about?
3/30
Lake City, FL to Hollywood, FL -- 367 miles
Drop in the frickin' hat! Could have driven this in my sleep. Only bummer for the day was the $15+ I dropped in tolls to stay on the quick moving Florida Turnpike. Got into town and got the bad news about the living situation.
Total mileage = Three-thousand, five-hundred and thirty-eight (and that's how you break in a new car!)
So I'm here. I start work on Monday. It's hot. But more importantly, it's humid. I think the pool is calling my name and shortly after that perhaps the NCAA b-ball games and that steak in the fridge will be making that same name-like sound.
So, on to the road stats.
3/20/07
San Leandro, CA thru Yosemite NP to Bakersfield, CA -- 400 miles
Ik and I hiked Tuolomne Grove and walked the short trail to Lower Yosemite Falls. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating and we couldn't even see Half Dome but we all know that'll just give us a good excuse to return to that ridiculously beautiful place. Hell, I still haven't climbed Half Dome. . .
3/21
Bakersfield, CA thru Death Valley NP to Las Vegas, NV -- 388 miles
We did a four mile in and out hike through the Mosaic Canyon. Definitely another NP that needs to be revisited for a much longer period of time. This experience was quite a bit better than the last one I had in JULY of 2005. JULY!!! What the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah, the tour group I was leading wouldn't take no for an answer and they insisted we stay a night in Death Valley. I believe we actually camped at a place called Furnace Creek! Suffice to say I didn't get any sleep that night and most likely neither did any of my passengers. Anyway, Ik and I arrived in Vegas around 7pm and that left just enough time for my Bro to get a quick shower at my friend AC's house before his flight out at 10pm back to the Double-U Eye.
3/22
Las Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ -- 252 miles
By myself now for a mostly enjoyable 3.5 our drive across the high desert. Went over the Hoover Dam and got a few pics of the new bridge they are Trying to build. (AC informs me that a crane blew over a while back and that will set the project back about 8 months. . . sounds efficient to me.) Enjoyed a few fierce rainstorms that my new-ish windshield wipers dispatched with ease and got into Flag around 4pm. Saw a pretty girl and then joined TC, Grant and his wife-to-be, Melissa, at Uptown Billiards for a cocktail. Thai food followed by the Wine Loft and more of that pretty girl completed the evening in positive fashion.
3/23 thru 3/26
Flagstaff, AZ
Good friends, good wedding, good times.
3/27
Flagstaff, AZ thru Phoenix, AZ to Lordsburg, NM -- 414 miles
Rolled from Flag thru Sedona on my way to Phoenix and once there I picked up my buddy Yoeller ( www.recoveryjoel.wordpress.com) and helped him with a few tasks he needed to accomplish. Went directly to a little family gathering for St. Paddy's Day (just a few days late) and ate a lovely dinner with some good family friends. No wanting to waste any darklight I rallied and drove down through Tucson and into Lordsburg, NM in order to have a good launching point the next morning. My goal for Wednesday? To drive all the way across Texas.
3/28
Lordsburg, NM to Beaumont, TX -- 992 miles
Damn! Almost made it across Texas and almost put in a thousand miles. If there's something wrong with me you people have got to let me know!
3/29
Beaumont, TX to Lake City, FL -- 725 miles
I know, I wimped out this day. I coulda made it all the way to southern Florida, you're sayin'. Well, I'm sayin' that my butt couldn't do it after that day through Texas. Is it ironic or just sad that the two days with the highest mileage give me the least amount to talk about?
3/30
Lake City, FL to Hollywood, FL -- 367 miles
Drop in the frickin' hat! Could have driven this in my sleep. Only bummer for the day was the $15+ I dropped in tolls to stay on the quick moving Florida Turnpike. Got into town and got the bad news about the living situation.
Total mileage = Three-thousand, five-hundred and thirty-eight (and that's how you break in a new car!)
So I'm here. I start work on Monday. It's hot. But more importantly, it's humid. I think the pool is calling my name and shortly after that perhaps the NCAA b-ball games and that steak in the fridge will be making that same name-like sound.
3.23.2007
Tuolomne Element
It's been almost a year since I've posted and I'm sure anyone who actually reads this has enjoyed the break. This post isn't much but it signifies the re-birth of my use of this blog. I'm on my way to Hollywood, Florida to start a new job with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. At this moment I am in Flagstaff for a wedding that will happen manana. The specifics of my acquisition of this new job and pictures from the past year will hopefully be forthcoming. . . but don't hold your breath too long. I will end my road trip around the 29th of March when I reach southern Florida. I start my new job April 2nd. So, as you can tell I've got a bit of travelling and life changes to take care of in the next week before I can get back to sharing my travels online. Feel free to appreciate this picture of my new Element parked near Tuolomne Grove in Yosemite next to a rather stylish commode. The picture is courtesy of my big bro, Ik.
Good times, good times.
Good times, good times.
4.11.2006
D U N N
That spells DONE. Well, almost.
Say hello to George.
I'm still in Edinburgh at the moment but I'll be flying home tomorrow (Wed. April 12th). Should get in sometime after 5pm and I'm looking forward to fighting my way home on BART (though possibly I'll just be sitting my way home without any real fighting).
The last two weeks have been wonderful. I've stayed with Trekkers the whole time and everyone has done their best to spoil me. Staying with local people has definitely allowed me to see a lot of things that I would not see otherwise. En totale I've seen seventeen people out of the eighty-seven who took a trip with me last summer. Not too bad all things considered.
Everyone is probably going to ask me what my favorite part of the trip has been but I truly can't answer that. Attempting to snowboard in Switzerland was certainly the most humbling and possibly the most beautiful in a natural sense. The city that I most want to return to is probably Barcelona (though Dublin is a close second because I didn't really see much of anything there). I can't even name the place that provided me with the best parties. . . different people and different venues in every city and country. Oh well, I suppose I can just wimp out and say that every part is my favorite part. That's it for now. I'll try to put up some of the more interesting individual stories as I go through my photos and remember them. Plenty of pics up on flickr if you're bored.
I'm sorry to report that my next trip probably won't occur until the end of May when I head to Flag to help TC run a bike race.
Hope to see you all soon.
Don't ask.
Say hello to George.
I'm still in Edinburgh at the moment but I'll be flying home tomorrow (Wed. April 12th). Should get in sometime after 5pm and I'm looking forward to fighting my way home on BART (though possibly I'll just be sitting my way home without any real fighting).
The last two weeks have been wonderful. I've stayed with Trekkers the whole time and everyone has done their best to spoil me. Staying with local people has definitely allowed me to see a lot of things that I would not see otherwise. En totale I've seen seventeen people out of the eighty-seven who took a trip with me last summer. Not too bad all things considered.
Everyone is probably going to ask me what my favorite part of the trip has been but I truly can't answer that. Attempting to snowboard in Switzerland was certainly the most humbling and possibly the most beautiful in a natural sense. The city that I most want to return to is probably Barcelona (though Dublin is a close second because I didn't really see much of anything there). I can't even name the place that provided me with the best parties. . . different people and different venues in every city and country. Oh well, I suppose I can just wimp out and say that every part is my favorite part. That's it for now. I'll try to put up some of the more interesting individual stories as I go through my photos and remember them. Plenty of pics up on flickr if you're bored.
I'm sorry to report that my next trip probably won't occur until the end of May when I head to Flag to help TC run a bike race.
Hope to see you all soon.
Don't ask.
3.26.2006
Bilbao to Dublin to London to Prague to London
You know, you'd think as a part-time tour guide I would know how to plan my own trips. . . apparently a false thought, if ever such a thing existed. At the moment I'm at the last place listed in the title of this; utilizing possibly one of the worst internet spots ever. I was greatly looking forward to getting some pictures from Prague posted but alas it will have to wait.
I believe I was most recently writing about Bilbao. Here's the Guggenheim Museum. It's really hard to decide which pictures to post of this thing.
However, as great as Bilbao was I feel the need to move on. As I stated before the need to encapsulate the entire experience before expanding is great within my dome-piece.
I feel just a little bad about mentioning this next fact about TC and I traveling together. Before the trip I gave T free reign to book whatever planes, trains, pack animals (particularly Ecuadorian llamas (free-range, of course)) and automobiles he felt would be necessary for the success of our trip. Well, he felt empowered and while we haven't been on any llamas we have taken a few plane flights. Well, apparently one night TC met with an old friend of his (we'll call him Jack, though Jim would suffice) and booked all of these flights. Good on 'im, I say. Point being, we flew out of Bilbao and into Madrid and then flew (with a separate airline) from Madrid to Dublin on the same day. It was a long travel day but we didn't get in to Dublin until 9pm or so. The only 'trouble' we ran into is that Madrid, like most large airports, has a very impressive duty-type-free shop. Thank goodness it isn't truly free or we would have had to buy another duffel for all the booze. As it was we each ended up with two liters of freshly squeezed booze-juice. . . which we thought was a good idea since we were on our way to 'celebrate' St. Paddy's Day in Dublin. . . .Ireland, that is.
(It should probably be noted that neither TC or I are Irish or have an ounce of Irish in us. I guess we were going to, um. . . uh, yeah, um, we went to Dublin to support the Irish in their fine choice in patron saints. And if it meant we were going to have to consume alcohol to do it. . . well, when in Rome. . . )
We get to Dublin without too much trouble, wimp out and take a cab to the hotel and then really push it with a proper American feast consisting of ye olde Domino's pizza. There were no poor feelings about taking things easy on Thursday night before the 'Day'. We had tickets for a double championship the following day and after that the plan was to meet a few of TC's friends from Flagstaff (I will refuse to refer to these people as 'my' friends for legal reasons). I did know three people who were Trekkers with me last summer and I met one of them in town but everyone had their own group of people to party with so there was no significant amount of time spent catching up. The double championship of which I speak was the real joy of St. Paddy's Day. My local friend told me about it and said it should be a good time. Turns out she's well known in the Right Department. The two sports we saw were Hurling (which has nothing to do with drinking) and Gaelic Football.
Hurling is best described as a mix between field hockey, baseball and football. Players carry a sort of long paddle which they use to strike a baseball-looking device up and down the field. You can score by knocking the ball into a normal football goal sized net or by putting the ball through two uprights that protrude straight up from the sides of the goal. If you haven't smashed your head on your keyboard from The Boredom by this description you should check it out online. Gaelic football is a cross between football and rugby and is totally wicked. I'll leave it at that.
Want proof of my presence during St. Paddy's Day? Check out the litte green man who is properly storming the field after the hurling championship.
After the matches we met up with the Flag peeps (I'm gonna get arrested just for writing that, aren't I?). After picking up another peep (heh) from the airport the game was afoot and it goes distinctly downhill from there. It should be noted that before we 'hit' the bars that night we all realized how much we hate ridiculous crowds and "why the hell are we here then?" came up a bit and other fun topics of conversation. But we are all veteran's of such activities and we sallied forth. Let's just say that all five of us got back to the hotel sometime between 3 and 6am (though not together) and two of the five ended up sleeping in their car, which was a lot better than the jail cell that they almost ended up in for trespassing on the hotel property and proceeding to knock on multiple incorrect doors looking for the room belonging to T and myself (It should be noted that their effort was in vain anyway because they were actually the first ones back to the hotel and there was nobody in ol' 208 to greet them even if they had gotten it right.) Good times. The next day was not as ugly as you might imagine and after a hearty two pint lunch TC and I got on a plane for London.
Back in London we spent some time in the British Museum and walking around the major tourist attractions of the city. Nothing too spectacular to report. We did manage a dinner with a few Trekkers (I love that now they sound like they're all dressed up in Vulcan clothing and throwing me the 'Live Long and Prosper' fingers.) Trekkers, heh. Anyway, it was good to have some foreign female company but TC and I both had flights the next day, though they were of a very different nature from each other. So, last Monday TC flew back to LA in order to drive to Flag the next day and begin work the day after that. He never claimed to be a smart man, that TC. I, however, flew to Prague to continue the adventure.
My grand plans for Prague consisted of four nights where I would take in some football, live classical music and make some new friends. Four days later and three strikes, you're out. The plans were altered, it happens, and I ended up taking in some football (in an English pub), live jazz and didn't make friend one. No worries, the hostel was strange and gave me a room to myself with 7 beds in it so for once I had plenty of room to spread out. The Czech beer of legend lived up to the legends and the vodka really does flow like water there. I spent a lot of time with my old friend ipod and walking around the city by myself was pretty good. Once again, wish I had a few pictures online for you but all in good time. My last night there I spent some time trying to get night pictures and when I returned home I had multiple, multiple offers of a sexual nature. No, I was not particularly good looking that night, my hostel just happened to be on cabaret road and if I wasn't being accosted by a woman of ill repute I was being herded into a club by men who represented the same. To each their own but not for me.
So, I flew back to London yesterday and that's where we (I) stand (sit). I'm staying with a Trekker here in London for a few days and then I head to Cardiff for almost a week and then fly to Edinburgh for the last 10 days of my trip.
I'll see you on April 12th.
Live long and travel.
I believe I was most recently writing about Bilbao. Here's the Guggenheim Museum. It's really hard to decide which pictures to post of this thing.
However, as great as Bilbao was I feel the need to move on. As I stated before the need to encapsulate the entire experience before expanding is great within my dome-piece.
I feel just a little bad about mentioning this next fact about TC and I traveling together. Before the trip I gave T free reign to book whatever planes, trains, pack animals (particularly Ecuadorian llamas (free-range, of course)) and automobiles he felt would be necessary for the success of our trip. Well, he felt empowered and while we haven't been on any llamas we have taken a few plane flights. Well, apparently one night TC met with an old friend of his (we'll call him Jack, though Jim would suffice) and booked all of these flights. Good on 'im, I say. Point being, we flew out of Bilbao and into Madrid and then flew (with a separate airline) from Madrid to Dublin on the same day. It was a long travel day but we didn't get in to Dublin until 9pm or so. The only 'trouble' we ran into is that Madrid, like most large airports, has a very impressive duty-type-free shop. Thank goodness it isn't truly free or we would have had to buy another duffel for all the booze. As it was we each ended up with two liters of freshly squeezed booze-juice. . . which we thought was a good idea since we were on our way to 'celebrate' St. Paddy's Day in Dublin. . . .Ireland, that is.
(It should probably be noted that neither TC or I are Irish or have an ounce of Irish in us. I guess we were going to, um. . . uh, yeah, um, we went to Dublin to support the Irish in their fine choice in patron saints. And if it meant we were going to have to consume alcohol to do it. . . well, when in Rome. . . )
We get to Dublin without too much trouble, wimp out and take a cab to the hotel and then really push it with a proper American feast consisting of ye olde Domino's pizza. There were no poor feelings about taking things easy on Thursday night before the 'Day'. We had tickets for a double championship the following day and after that the plan was to meet a few of TC's friends from Flagstaff (I will refuse to refer to these people as 'my' friends for legal reasons). I did know three people who were Trekkers with me last summer and I met one of them in town but everyone had their own group of people to party with so there was no significant amount of time spent catching up. The double championship of which I speak was the real joy of St. Paddy's Day. My local friend told me about it and said it should be a good time. Turns out she's well known in the Right Department. The two sports we saw were Hurling (which has nothing to do with drinking) and Gaelic Football.
Hurling is best described as a mix between field hockey, baseball and football. Players carry a sort of long paddle which they use to strike a baseball-looking device up and down the field. You can score by knocking the ball into a normal football goal sized net or by putting the ball through two uprights that protrude straight up from the sides of the goal. If you haven't smashed your head on your keyboard from The Boredom by this description you should check it out online. Gaelic football is a cross between football and rugby and is totally wicked. I'll leave it at that.
Want proof of my presence during St. Paddy's Day? Check out the litte green man who is properly storming the field after the hurling championship.
After the matches we met up with the Flag peeps (I'm gonna get arrested just for writing that, aren't I?). After picking up another peep (heh) from the airport the game was afoot and it goes distinctly downhill from there. It should be noted that before we 'hit' the bars that night we all realized how much we hate ridiculous crowds and "why the hell are we here then?" came up a bit and other fun topics of conversation. But we are all veteran's of such activities and we sallied forth. Let's just say that all five of us got back to the hotel sometime between 3 and 6am (though not together) and two of the five ended up sleeping in their car, which was a lot better than the jail cell that they almost ended up in for trespassing on the hotel property and proceeding to knock on multiple incorrect doors looking for the room belonging to T and myself (It should be noted that their effort was in vain anyway because they were actually the first ones back to the hotel and there was nobody in ol' 208 to greet them even if they had gotten it right.) Good times. The next day was not as ugly as you might imagine and after a hearty two pint lunch TC and I got on a plane for London.
Back in London we spent some time in the British Museum and walking around the major tourist attractions of the city. Nothing too spectacular to report. We did manage a dinner with a few Trekkers (I love that now they sound like they're all dressed up in Vulcan clothing and throwing me the 'Live Long and Prosper' fingers.) Trekkers, heh. Anyway, it was good to have some foreign female company but TC and I both had flights the next day, though they were of a very different nature from each other. So, last Monday TC flew back to LA in order to drive to Flag the next day and begin work the day after that. He never claimed to be a smart man, that TC. I, however, flew to Prague to continue the adventure.
My grand plans for Prague consisted of four nights where I would take in some football, live classical music and make some new friends. Four days later and three strikes, you're out. The plans were altered, it happens, and I ended up taking in some football (in an English pub), live jazz and didn't make friend one. No worries, the hostel was strange and gave me a room to myself with 7 beds in it so for once I had plenty of room to spread out. The Czech beer of legend lived up to the legends and the vodka really does flow like water there. I spent a lot of time with my old friend ipod and walking around the city by myself was pretty good. Once again, wish I had a few pictures online for you but all in good time. My last night there I spent some time trying to get night pictures and when I returned home I had multiple, multiple offers of a sexual nature. No, I was not particularly good looking that night, my hostel just happened to be on cabaret road and if I wasn't being accosted by a woman of ill repute I was being herded into a club by men who represented the same. To each their own but not for me.
So, I flew back to London yesterday and that's where we (I) stand (sit). I'm staying with a Trekker here in London for a few days and then I head to Cardiff for almost a week and then fly to Edinburgh for the last 10 days of my trip.
I'll see you on April 12th.
Live long and travel.
3.19.2006
After Tasch
We left Tasch with a few bumps and bruises from playing on the mountain but spirits were high and we knew that we were finally going to get out of the cold. We arrive fairly late in Avignon, France and ended up eating at a restaurant chain called 'Buffalo Grill.' Now that's funny. The next day I took it easy. TC on the other hand rented a 'bike' from our hotel and road into the city to track down an event. The Paris to Nice bike race had a leg that started in Avignon that day and TC bought some horribly loud bike clothing to commemorate the event. Later that night we tramped around downtown Avignon which is horribly impressive because of the intact city walls that surround the city. Unfortunately, we both forgot our cameras but it was a good night nonetheless.
From Avignon we 'traveled' to Barcelona. Of course no European trip is complete without your train breaking down in the middle of nowhere. We sat for a few hours and didn't really know what was going on because neither TC or I can understand French. (Especially when it's mumbled incredibly fast over the PA system of a train.) Luckily we befriended a couple of girls from Canadia and they spoke (and understood) French. We missed our connection to Barcelona and had to take a few extra trains but we also met a few other girls who happened to find TC and myself funny. Don't ask, delusional at best. Finally arrived in Barcelona around 10pm, navigated the metro and found our hostel. . . but nobody is home. I was worried that maybe the hostel only checked people in until 9pm or something but two other guys showed up and then we knew something was amiss. We stood around outside ringing the bell until one of the people staying at the hostel let us in but sure enough there was nobody at the front desk. Luckily we found a card with info for some other hostels owned by the same people and after about 45 minutes the desk worker showed up to check us in, she had been out getting food. No note, dead cell phone battery, great. Anyway, befriended the two fellas who were waiting with us and we went out for a late dinner that was very agreeable. Next day was the bike tour in downtown.
TC and I took a bike tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours in downtown Barcelona. It was the best way to see a ton of the city since we only had one full day there. We met a mother/daughter from America and the four of us headed out for tapas and beer when the ride was over. Overall it was very cool but TC and I took off because we thought we were going to a football match that night. Turns out the website we were using had the wrong date listed and we settled for a football match in a bar. We were flying to Bilbao the next day so off to bed we went.
We flew in to Bilbao and did a glorious thing. . . we rented a flippin' car. Doesn't sound like a big deal but after taking public transpo through multiple countries and cities that we didn't know it was heaven. Of course we splurged a bit and got a mid-sized car that was a TDI 6-speed manual transmission. For those of you who have seen the Vibe I used to have it was a car very, very (eerily) similar to that. Fun to drive and we even got a GPS unit with it so we didn't have to use a map once. The GPS got us up to Zeanuri the first day and then back to the Guggenheim the next. We stayed at a villa in Zeanuri that is owned by TC's good friend, Victor.
The Villa.
Here's the view from the villa of the surrounding area.
I'm gonna cut it here cause the British Museum is calling me.
Remember;
"Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time."
-Stephen Wright
From Avignon we 'traveled' to Barcelona. Of course no European trip is complete without your train breaking down in the middle of nowhere. We sat for a few hours and didn't really know what was going on because neither TC or I can understand French. (Especially when it's mumbled incredibly fast over the PA system of a train.) Luckily we befriended a couple of girls from Canadia and they spoke (and understood) French. We missed our connection to Barcelona and had to take a few extra trains but we also met a few other girls who happened to find TC and myself funny. Don't ask, delusional at best. Finally arrived in Barcelona around 10pm, navigated the metro and found our hostel. . . but nobody is home. I was worried that maybe the hostel only checked people in until 9pm or something but two other guys showed up and then we knew something was amiss. We stood around outside ringing the bell until one of the people staying at the hostel let us in but sure enough there was nobody at the front desk. Luckily we found a card with info for some other hostels owned by the same people and after about 45 minutes the desk worker showed up to check us in, she had been out getting food. No note, dead cell phone battery, great. Anyway, befriended the two fellas who were waiting with us and we went out for a late dinner that was very agreeable. Next day was the bike tour in downtown.
TC and I took a bike tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours in downtown Barcelona. It was the best way to see a ton of the city since we only had one full day there. We met a mother/daughter from America and the four of us headed out for tapas and beer when the ride was over. Overall it was very cool but TC and I took off because we thought we were going to a football match that night. Turns out the website we were using had the wrong date listed and we settled for a football match in a bar. We were flying to Bilbao the next day so off to bed we went.
We flew in to Bilbao and did a glorious thing. . . we rented a flippin' car. Doesn't sound like a big deal but after taking public transpo through multiple countries and cities that we didn't know it was heaven. Of course we splurged a bit and got a mid-sized car that was a TDI 6-speed manual transmission. For those of you who have seen the Vibe I used to have it was a car very, very (eerily) similar to that. Fun to drive and we even got a GPS unit with it so we didn't have to use a map once. The GPS got us up to Zeanuri the first day and then back to the Guggenheim the next. We stayed at a villa in Zeanuri that is owned by TC's good friend, Victor.
The Villa.
Here's the view from the villa of the surrounding area.
I'm gonna cut it here cause the British Museum is calling me.
Remember;
"Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time."
-Stephen Wright
3.18.2006
The Rundown So Far
After about a week of little or no internet access (omigod, somebody like Totally call the e-cops) I am now sitting in a hostel in London that has a couple of computers with decent speed and some internet access to match. Oh, and it's free. Currently I'm loading pictures onto flickr and trying to get in a decent post at the same time. . . most of the computers we've had access to for the past two weeks have either had foreign keyboards (though I suppose they were probably only foreign to us) or were purely limited to internet access so that I wasn't able to load any pictures.
Most of the interesting individual stories will have to wait to be told in person, however, I will attempt to provide a brief overview of where we've been.
We started in London for just a night and by the following afternoon we were in a hostel in Brussels. Aside from TC almost getting pick-pocketed Brussels was great. We walked around the city quite a bit and had a few good meals despite the language barrier(s?). The highlight of this stop was definitely the personal tour that we were treated to by one of my Trek America passengers. Herwig (or Herbie (don't ask)) picked us up in his Passat TDI and we flew, almost literally, up to the town of Brugge to the north of Brussels. The town is incredibly old and it was great to have a guide to show us where to go. Herbie took us to this old, and I mean OLD, pub for a few pints. All the abbeys in the area brew their own beer and it is all excellent, if a little high in carbonation compared to what I'm used to. We also had some of the world's best chocolate in Brugge. And as if that wasn't enough Herbie then drives us to Antwerp for wine and mussels (and a very, very brief look around the red light district). But we had bigger fish to fry and there's not much else to tell about our time in Brussels.
After taking an overnight train to Munich TC and I find ourselves in a very comfortable hostel right next to the train station by about 1300 hours on a Friday. We napped for a bit to gather strength against the impending beer storm and headed out around 1500 hours. Our first stop was a beer hall called The Augustiner. (There's actually two Augustiner's in Munich and they are both supposed to be excellent.) After two liters of beer (EACH) we decided we better conserve our energy for dinner and we headed back to the hostel. . . where, of course, we ended up having another beer (though not quite a liter) with one of our new roommates. Good fortune had bestowed upon us, or in retrospect cursed us with, some instant friends in Munich through TC's good friend in Flagstaff who runs DrunkCylist.com. We had some amazing schnitzel (sp?) and about four more LITERS of beer during dinner. After a little pub-crawling (sometimes literally) TC and I found ourselves wandering home in a driving snow storm. We did a few other things in Munich but between the beer and the snow we ended up with a rather limited (but good) experience. Munich received their highest snowfall in 50 years whilst we were drowning ourselves there.
Next stop; Geneva.
This one was TC's call and it was lovely but I would definitely recommend Geneva during the summer rather than the winter. But really Geneva was just a way of getting our feet wet (or frozen, as the case may be) because we were headed to a small town called Tasch which is just below the ski-town of Zermatt which is where they keep a little thing called The Matterhorn. If the only image that pops into your mind is somehow Disney related then you need to get out more.
In Tasch the grand plan was for TC to go skiing (which he is fairly proficient at) and for me to go snowboard (which I am absolutely inept at). I've snow boarded one day in my entire life. Yes, it happened to be in Telluride (bonus), but it was at the end of the season on ice and I had the worst gear imaginable. Do you think I was ready to take on a real mountain? Nope, but I did anyway. You'll have to see it to believe it but in Switzerland their easy runs are our medium and our hardest black diamond isn't even a black for them at all. That, and the little fact that all the runs go on for days and days and days. It was all very impressive and I was completely unimpressive and achieved a certain amount of time on my posterior. However, TC seemed to really enjoy it and this was one of his big attractions to Europe. Oh yeah, it snowed the whole time. It was wet.
Well, it's gettin' late (or early) so I'm gonna cut this installment here. I've loaded pictures through our time in Tasch onto my Flickr account. Unfortunately, I'm not quite quick enough at installing them into my weblogs yet (have to change the size of each on individually and what not). Going to the British Museum for most of tomorrow (after I find a replacement charger for my ipod, but that's another story). I'm looking forward to a little prolonged time with some relics and artifacts. I'll try to write another entry while we're here in the land of quality connections.
Most of the interesting individual stories will have to wait to be told in person, however, I will attempt to provide a brief overview of where we've been.
We started in London for just a night and by the following afternoon we were in a hostel in Brussels. Aside from TC almost getting pick-pocketed Brussels was great. We walked around the city quite a bit and had a few good meals despite the language barrier(s?). The highlight of this stop was definitely the personal tour that we were treated to by one of my Trek America passengers. Herwig (or Herbie (don't ask)) picked us up in his Passat TDI and we flew, almost literally, up to the town of Brugge to the north of Brussels. The town is incredibly old and it was great to have a guide to show us where to go. Herbie took us to this old, and I mean OLD, pub for a few pints. All the abbeys in the area brew their own beer and it is all excellent, if a little high in carbonation compared to what I'm used to. We also had some of the world's best chocolate in Brugge. And as if that wasn't enough Herbie then drives us to Antwerp for wine and mussels (and a very, very brief look around the red light district). But we had bigger fish to fry and there's not much else to tell about our time in Brussels.
After taking an overnight train to Munich TC and I find ourselves in a very comfortable hostel right next to the train station by about 1300 hours on a Friday. We napped for a bit to gather strength against the impending beer storm and headed out around 1500 hours. Our first stop was a beer hall called The Augustiner. (There's actually two Augustiner's in Munich and they are both supposed to be excellent.) After two liters of beer (EACH) we decided we better conserve our energy for dinner and we headed back to the hostel. . . where, of course, we ended up having another beer (though not quite a liter) with one of our new roommates. Good fortune had bestowed upon us, or in retrospect cursed us with, some instant friends in Munich through TC's good friend in Flagstaff who runs DrunkCylist.com. We had some amazing schnitzel (sp?) and about four more LITERS of beer during dinner. After a little pub-crawling (sometimes literally) TC and I found ourselves wandering home in a driving snow storm. We did a few other things in Munich but between the beer and the snow we ended up with a rather limited (but good) experience. Munich received their highest snowfall in 50 years whilst we were drowning ourselves there.
Next stop; Geneva.
This one was TC's call and it was lovely but I would definitely recommend Geneva during the summer rather than the winter. But really Geneva was just a way of getting our feet wet (or frozen, as the case may be) because we were headed to a small town called Tasch which is just below the ski-town of Zermatt which is where they keep a little thing called The Matterhorn. If the only image that pops into your mind is somehow Disney related then you need to get out more.
In Tasch the grand plan was for TC to go skiing (which he is fairly proficient at) and for me to go snowboard (which I am absolutely inept at). I've snow boarded one day in my entire life. Yes, it happened to be in Telluride (bonus), but it was at the end of the season on ice and I had the worst gear imaginable. Do you think I was ready to take on a real mountain? Nope, but I did anyway. You'll have to see it to believe it but in Switzerland their easy runs are our medium and our hardest black diamond isn't even a black for them at all. That, and the little fact that all the runs go on for days and days and days. It was all very impressive and I was completely unimpressive and achieved a certain amount of time on my posterior. However, TC seemed to really enjoy it and this was one of his big attractions to Europe. Oh yeah, it snowed the whole time. It was wet.
Well, it's gettin' late (or early) so I'm gonna cut this installment here. I've loaded pictures through our time in Tasch onto my Flickr account. Unfortunately, I'm not quite quick enough at installing them into my weblogs yet (have to change the size of each on individually and what not). Going to the British Museum for most of tomorrow (after I find a replacement charger for my ipod, but that's another story). I'm looking forward to a little prolonged time with some relics and artifacts. I'll try to write another entry while we're here in the land of quality connections.
3.13.2006
Pictures, If Not Words
Hola from Barcelona.
Flying up to a villa in Bilbao shortly but wanted to let everyone know that I have managed to get a few more pictures from my trip up on flickr. You can click on the flickr advertisement-looking dealy on the right side of this page to look at what I´ve uploaded recently (and not so recently).
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