Weekend Survivor

It seems I survived the weekend. A weekend which I might add was quite wet.

Saturday was Waverunner day. And there were plenty of waves. And wind. It got calmer towards the end of the day - but it was still not the best day to be out. Or was it? You see, when it is "not the best day" there are less idiots out on the water - making it a GREAT day to be out!

Or are there MORE idiots out, because everyone else has enough sense to stay home? Got me - that is a good question.

I say "a little of both".

Notice the cool soft sided cooler I have on the back of the thing. The red bag is my rescue throw line. I am not required to have a rescue throw line in a bag - but I have one anyway.

Sunday was "help run a sailboat race" day. This operation requires a real boat. Something with a deck. Not a problem, I have one of those too.

Sunday was a really bad day. The wind was even higher, and the bay was rough. Of course, there is always good and bad. The good is that the sailboats were fast. This meant the races were over faster. Which meant that I was home sooner!

It was also rainy. I got rained on a few times. There is nothing you can do except sit there and get wet.

But I lived. My maritime skills were sufficient that I did not require a rescue.

But today - today is serious business! I have some important things to do. Namely, go before a panel of people and answer questions. Something about a possible new line of work. A job interview.

I hope the results of the interview are favorable. For me. Steady work is good work.

Salty Saturday

Well it is Saturday. The winds are forecast to be 15 - 20 knots, bay waters will be choppy. Could be a really good chop in exposed areas.

So why not put the Waverunner in the water? It is a Waverunner. So it makes sense that it is most useful when there are waves to run on.

It will be rough. The water is still a tad bit chilly. But now I have a shorty wetsuit, so that will help.

I still have to decide where to launch from.

It should be interesting.

COLREGS

I think I am ready for my closed book navigation rules test.

This means that if I see a ship displaying two black ball shapes, I know it is not under command. And I also know that at night, that same ship would display two red lights.

If it is aground, the day signal is three black balls - at night there would be a white light over two reds. A vessel not under command (two reds) that happens to be at anchor only displays the normal anchor lights. However many it needs. One if 50 meters or less, two if more than 50 meters, and two with deck lights if it is more than 100 meters.

Exciting huh? Yea, I thought so.

But exciting or not, I have to know it. So I learned it.

The test is on Tuesday. Tuesday is actually a big day!! Got lots of things to do - and it is ALL important!!

Coin Of The Realm

I was hanging out on Tuesday night, and bought something from someone. I required change.

"will you you accept monopoly money"???

Hell yea! Monopoly money is as good as real money. Assuming that monopoly money is the coin of the realm.

And it was. The monopoly money was worth $5 real dollars. But only in one place on the planet.


The latitudes Bar at the Miami Yacht Club. The monopoly money was actually worth TWO beers!!! So yea, Ill accept it as change.

Needless to say, I do not have the monopoly money anymore. I exchanged it for two beers. Which I already consumed.

The Waverunner is too dry. It needs to get wet. And I have a wetsuit now, so no more getting cold!!

Sweet.

I Got Lazy And I Missed It

I got lazy, and lost all motivation to go to the tower and get my documentation. Maybe today?

Or maybe not. The tower is soooooo far away. And I still have plenty of time to put it off. Which gets back to my personal motto.

ALWAYS put off until tomorrow things that do not have to be done today.

This is a good motto. Important things, things that have to be done today, get done. It is the crap that is not really important that gets put off. This way the unimportant crap never causes the important crap to not get done.

In theory. But then again everything is a theory.

And now, for no reason at all - another photo of Fred, taken in night vision mode.

Reel Mowers And Other Boring Things

This will be a banner week, with a whole lot to do!

Well not really. It is pretty boring here. Slow. Nothing exciting.

Ill take that back. Something exciting did happen. A friend of mine contracted me to haul a bunch of crap. The deal was that it was all "good stuff", and it was free. So I got this rather large fake Christmas tree. Anyone want a rather large fake Christmas tree? It comes in three boxes. I really do not need it.

Now to make the deal attractive to me, various things were thrown in. Such as a free Sirius satellite radio receiver - WITH a free home kit! In exchange for this, I had to agree to take shit I did not want, things like a rather large fake Christmas tree.

I also got a barely used reel lawn mower. What is a reel lawn mower? Well it has no motor, and requires no oil, gas, or electricity. You push it, and this action causes a bunch of blades to spin around, which cuts the grass. Totally manual.

You know things are boring when the most exciting thing that happens is getting a free lawn mower that requires actual effort to use.

But all will change!!! Possibly.

I have to go on a journey. A quest. I must go to the tower of confusion, and search the records for various documents. To do this I must sail across the sea. Then I must face the troll who keeps the records. Then I must face the wizard who keeps the copy machine. Then I must venture home.

Sounds fun huh? And cryptic. It has to be.

For you see, blogging and employment are not always friends. People have been shit canned because employers found out about a blog. You must be VERY CAREFUL. Hiding your real identity is always a decent idea.

FREE TIP TO THE MYSPACE GENERATION!

Yea, I know. You are 18 and think you know all about the internet. After all, you were three or four years old when you first obtained access.

But trust me here - posting photos of your dumb ass, drunk and passes out - is a BAD idea. Employers tend to want to check out applicants. If I were involved in a hiring decision, I would go to My Space and Facebook and Twitter and shit and just enter your name and other information provided to me on your application. And if I should find a photo of you smoking from a 4 foot bong, or passes out drunk - well lets just say that photo may get posted to the break room "dumbass of the year" bulletin board. Which of course you will never see. You have to work someplace to see the break room.


Another tip - just because you delete something does not mean it is gone. Google has archives.

But meanwhile, nothing exciting is going on.

I am holding out hope that something exciting will happen soon. More on that later. Maybe.

Bad News For The Fox

As you may recall, I was able to confirm that there are indeed wild fox roaming about the neighborhood at night. For those of you who live in the woods, you may be thinking "and......" - but I assure you I do not live in the woods.

Which in a way sucks. Sure, there are all kinds of things to do and all, but I actually LIKE the woods. I would not mind at all living in a small plot of woods, in the city. That would be so cool.

But it is not the case. There are 2 trees in the yard. Two. Some of the neighbors have even less. Few have more. So no, you can not exactly point to anything and say "look! The woods!!!".

I contacted Pesky Critters about the fox. The guy who I talked to was none other than this guy, who you may have seen on cable TV animal shows. He is a well known and highly respected critter trapper in South Florida.

And now the bad news. There is no wild fox relocation program. By law, any raccoon, possum, or fox that is captured has to be destroyed. This sucks for the fox. I was hoping that the fox could be taken to a woods, where they could frolic about and do what wild foxes do.

The good news is that Todd says that a fox will not attack a cat. It would be highly unusual fox behavior. They prey in smaller things, like mice and frogs and things. Maybe a possum.

But not cats. The fox may get into a fight with a cat over food, but my cats are not fed outdoors, so it is not likely that this will be a problem. The County was also kind enough to give us peasants large green trash bins, which are fox and dog proof. So there is no raiding on garbage night. The County also gave out smaller blue bins that are fox and dog resistant for the recyclable stuff.

I do not think that any neighbors know about the fox invasion. I am pretty much the only weirdo out at 3 AM, looking for wild animals.

So in light of the fate that would await the fox should they be trapped, I have decided to just do nothing. The fox can hang out here if they want to. If they are not going to mess with the cats, then who cares if they are about. They are not really hurting anything, or causing any problems.

Plus, it is $175 per critter trapped. I can think of better things to do with $175 than harass wild animals that are not causing any problems.

And furthermore, I have decided that I like the foxes.

If I can not live in the woods, at least I can have part of the woods here! And not the crappy part, namely the wild fires and deer ticks that carry Lyme Disease. But the good part, harmless wild critters that do not bother me or anything I own.

I am going to get a cheap wild animal camera. The kind hunters use. The camera is contained in a plastic box, and snaps a photo whenever something trips the motion detector. I can leave the camera set up in the yard, leave some fox food in front of the camera, and wait. Eventually Ill get photographic proof of the fox.

Fox Sighting Confirmed.

As you may remember, I once posted about seeing what I thought was a fox. But I do not live in the woods. I do not live near the woods. Sure, there is the assorted tree here and there. There is a tree in the front yard, and a coconut tree in the back yard.

But two trees does not a woods make. Yoda said that. I think.

Anyhow I was not sure, as the suspected foxes would not let me get too close. But tonight I was able to get a verified independent report that yes, fox are roaming about. One was spotted in the yard. Sake the long haired Siamese looking cat was also in the yard, apparently not afraid of the fox.

By the way - the photo above is not of the fox. This is a fox in the woods. The fox here would not have any woods in the background. But that is what it looks like.

So now I need a live critter trap. Ill probably catch every cat in the hood. I may even capture a few possum. But the fox have to be removed. They are wild animals and do not belong here. They deserve a woods of their own. A place where they can be a fox.

Plus, they could attack one of the cats. Or they could even carry rabies.

At least it will keep me occupied.

Climax Of The Season

Today is the big day. The king of the South Florida marine flea markets. The main event.

The Dania Beach Marine Flea Market. Or as I call it, DBMFM. This year it is back to its proper home, the Dania Beach Jai-Alai.

This is pretty exciting. Flea markets are always a good place to puck up more crap that you probably do not need. But I always "need" more stuff. Funny how that works out.

I have also realized what I have become. My purpose in life. What I was put on this planet to do.

It seems that this purpose is to..........................................................

Feed Cleo whenever she gets up into her feeding perch hanging on the garage door and looks at me.

I need a better purpose in life. Somehow, being a cat waiter seems like the universe is playing a joke on me.

Amusement

St Patrick's day always amuses me.

Every year, everyone seems to really want to be Irish. Now I live in Miami - a city of transients. You do not really run into a lot of people born and raised here. But you will find people from all over the place.

And even among those born here, they consider themselves more Cuban or Mexican or Colombian than anything else.

And yet, on St Patrick's Day you see a lot of people wearing shamrocks and wearing green - and of course drinking.

So why is this amusing? Well it just is. You see, nobody ever wants to be Mexican - not even on Cinco de Mayo. On MLK day, how many people want to be black for the day? And how about that Eastern Orthodox Easter! Everyone wants to be Greek or Russian or whatever on that day huh!!

No??? Nobody even knows when Eastern Orthodox Easter is??

Interssting.

But yet, one day of the year I set to see Cubans wearing green, drunking green beer, listening to "Irish" music, and so on.

But not me. I am drunking stout. Drinking green beer in Ireland will just get you a well deserved ass kicking. And while it seems that at least some of the people I come from were Irish, not all were. And what does it matter anyway?

But I think I know what is really going on. It really has nothing with wanting to be Irish, and everthing to do with an excuse to drink. This is why Cinco de Mayo is gaining popularity. Mexican Independence Day? Who cares about that!! Just keep the beer flowing. Corona is 2 for 1 after all!!

Random Photo Monday!

Time to clear the memory card of some photos! And what does this mean?? Well it means it is time for Random Photo Monday! I would say "again" but to my best knowledge this is the first time.

But then again - I have been known to PUI. So who really knows.

I have two digital cameras. An older Sony F-717 that has a great lens, is packed with features, and can take really good photos. But it is not waterproof. The other is a Olympus 790SW that has an inferior lens to the Sony - but is waterproof. So each has its use.

The Sony can take night vision photos. Here is "Night Vision Fred"


It will also use the night vision mode to allow me to frame a photo, then when I take a picture the night vision mode cuts off, the flash goes off, and I get a full color photo. Night framing mode is much more useful than night vision mode.


I also got photos of yesterdays shuttle launch. From ye ole front yard. I can watch the liftoff on TV, then go outside and look north. About 30 - 45 seconds after lift off I can see the smoke trail, or at night the fire from the engines. I am about 300 or so miles away from the shuttle launch site.


And a little later, as the last of the sunlight was waning, I got this shot. The white "cloud" is actually part of the shuttle smoke trail, at a really REALLY high altitude. It is still white because the sun had not "set" at that altitude yet.


The everglades photos did not come out very good. There was simply not any good lighting. By the time I got to the lookout tower, the sun had set. It was too dark to take any photos without a tripod of some sort. But I did get these, as the sun was setting. It was VERY dry.

Looking to the east..


And looking to the west...

Ride Over

The everglades nighttime bike ride went off well. It was a different experience. Well worth it.

I have some photos, but I need to resize them and shit. Too lazy to go it now.

Shark Valley Full Moon Ride!

Is tonight. All systems go. After wanting to do this for a few years, it is going to happen.

Ill have my good camera with me for this. Hell, might as well bring the good one and the waterproof one. The bicycle bag has plenty of room.

Beer Wench

Major excitement!!

I got the title for the Waverunner in the mail. This is big news. Now I know what registration numbers to put on the thing.

As you can see, not a whole lot is going on for me at the moment. Stickers are exciting. Maybe Ill put one set on, then wait a day or two to put on the other set. To prolong the excitement. Why get all the fun over with in only 10 minutes, when it could be like a multiple day festival! Kind of like Oktoberfest, only in March and with less beer. And no beer wench.


It is that exciting. At least for me. I really have nothing else going on.

By the way, I always admire a woman with talent. I can't carry 11 big ass mugs of beer at once.

But Saturday - ohhhhhh. Saturday. Saturday - it will be different!

You see, there is a full moon bicycle ride at Shark Valley. I have wanted to do this for a while, but never got around to it.

So what is Shark Valley? There are not really any sharks. Nor is there a valley. Well not really anyway. It is a 14 mile paved trail into the Shark River Slough - in Everglades National Park. You see things like this.

And this.


And other things. But mostly birds and big ass scary semi-aquatic lizards.

The full moon ride is different. First off, the park is normally closed when the ride begins. It begins an hour or two before sunset. Now who needs 2 hours to ride a bike roughly 7 miles? Who knows. I assume that the national parks ranger who guides the tour will stop and point things out. Like big ass scary semi aquatic lizards and birds. And ecology things about the Shark River Slough.

FYI - the Shark River Slough used to be the main drainage system for the everglades. Eventually it becomes the little shark river, which then becomes the shark river - which then empties into Florida Bay.

The Army Corps Of Engineers changed that system. The Shark River Slough is little more than a trickle - compared to what it used to be.

Around the time the sun sets, the group arrives at the overlook. The overlook is 6 stories tall, which makes it tower over everything else. As the sun sets one can expect to see a lot of birds, and maybe other things like deer and whatnot.

And then - the full moon part. You finish the ride under the light of the moon. I think lame ass safety rules require you to have a headlight on your bike - which I have. But really you do not need it. I only have it so some jackass in a car does not squish me. When I used to ride around at night. Which I do not really do anymore. I should start doing that again.

The light of the moon, when your eyes are properly adjusted to the dark, should be more than enough to light up the path. I think I will be able to see better with the head light off.

The point is, the ride should be fun. And healthy.

I can hide the beer in one of my water bottles. Nobody will ever know.

Truck Thursday

Hello and welcome to Truck Thursday!

When I last took the truck in for an innocent oil change - and to have a cold start up problem checked out - I was advised to have some manner of pressure fuel system cleaning thing. This involves removing the intake, having a machine bolted to the intake, then some cleaning stuff is injected under pressure.

And the rear brake shoes were down to 5%. I only got 75,000 miles out of the brake shoes, so I suppose that is good enough. Nothing lasts forever. Even the mighty Rocky Mountains will one day be nothing more than bedrock stubs only a few feet high.

Anyhow they also discovered that the valve covers were leaking oil, and that the timing belt should probably be replaced. This can be done at late as 90,000 miles - but the belt is 8 years old. And if it breaks that sucks.

The problem - the dealer service place wants $500 to replace the valve cover gaskets. WTF!??!?! The gaskets are like $20 for the set. If there was not SO MUCH SHIT in the way, I could just remove the covers myself and replace the gasket. But there just happens to be a lot of shit in the way. The whole ________ing intake looks like it needs to come off, along with a lot of unlabeled hoses and lines and crap.

Today is the service appointment I made last week. I have decided to not have the valve cover gaskets replaced. They are not leaking too bad.

But the timing belt needs to be replaced. Better to get it done before the 90k limit than to have the thing break.

When timing belts break, valves can slam onto pistons - which can create a much more expensive repair bill.

If the service department lobby is out of coffee - I am going to be pissed.

Insane In The Brain

After all, what other kind of insane is there?

I found myself searching for a beagle rescue group in South Florida.

Now this is insane. Who the hell needs a dog anyway? Not me. The cats give me enough crap to deal with.

Literally. As in litter. There is A LOT of cat crap. And I am not even counting the crap that happens outside, where I never see it. I have seen the cats in the flower box attached to the neighbors house. Now there are plants in the thing, so I can only speculate as to what they do in there. But the plants seem to do really well.

So do I want a critter that will leave poop in the yard where I will see it and invariably step in it? No. Not really. Nobody needs that.

So I can only attribute the whole incident to insanity.

I took some meds. I feel better now. No more crazy urge to run out and adopt a beagle. Or anything else that eats and/or shits.

Opportunity

Times have been pretty slow here. I suppose that is not too uncommon these days. Jobs are flying out the door at a scary rate.

So it was really good when someone called me asking for my email address, so they could send me something about a job posting that I already took the civil service exam for. The civil service exam was not really that hard - so I did well on it. Well enough to be asked if I want to interview for a position anyhow.

And when I checked my email, there was a message there.

Now not to be too cynical about this, but the email leaves a few questions. It says to call someone before a certain date to schedule an interview. Nothing too complicated.

But the number to call is the same number that called me. So the question is......

Why call me, ask me for my email address, then email me to ask me to call you back? I was already on the phone. It seems to me it would have been easier to just set up a time and date for the interview then.

I know the answer. Someone is just doing what the boss told them to do. And you do what the boss tells you what to do - if you want to keep your job. If your boss says to hop around on one foot, you hop around on one foot. Because jobs are hard to find right now, and if you have one you better hold onto it.

So Ill call the number. And Ill set up an interview time and date. And Ill work on ye ole resume some. Shine up my good shoes - the ones that are not my Crocs. I already have the haircut thing taken care of. I need to press some shirts however.

It will be good to have regular steady work. A fixed schedule. A time to show up, a time to leave, a regular payday, and a predictable check.

It is really too early to start filling out that direct deposit form right now, but I may as well keep a positive attitude.

Who Are These "They" People Anyway?

And what the hell do they know?

They say that you can not buy happiness. So I have a message for "them".

What the hell planet do you live on? Really - which planet. Cause it is not this planet. For they claim money can not buy happiness.

But I say money CAN buy a Waverunner.

Now, have you ever seen a sad person on a Waverunner?

I think I proved my case.


I went riding again Saturday. The break in is done, and I was in a more protected area of the bay. So I could open her up. It seems that the top speed is 50 mph. But my only speed measuring device is a paddle wheel thing - which are not always accurate. A GPS would be better. I need to find a way to mount a GPS.

But it was not all about the speed. I also went offshore. Why not. Winds were blowing pretty good, so the waves in the deep water shipping channel were kicking. Some of the waves were even breaking in about 20 feet of water. I would guess they were anywhere from 4 - 6 feet.

It was wet. It was cold. The water is not exactly warm yet, and the wind was blowing. And I lack a wetsuit as of now.

But somehow it was worth it. Ill do it again.

Sea Trial Sunday

This past Sunday a cold front was blowing through. Winds were cranking at 15 - 20 knots. Something like that anyway. The bay was a moderate chop, maybe even "rough". LOTS of white caps were out there.

So it was a perfect time to break in the fun dispenser!!


And here is the fun dispenser tied to the dock. The trailer had to be adjusted. The lights also needed to be installed better than I had them rigged up. The ramp used is somewhat private, open only to power company employees. I happen to know one of them. So I was able to leave the fun dispenser there and work on the trailer - and nobody was there to be a pain in the ass about it.

But what fun would it be to just mess with the trailer?


So after idling around the ramp area, getting used to the thing I decided to take it out of the protected area and into the bay. Where I got soaked. The water is not very warm either.


The speedometer reads 24 mph here. I was breaking in the engine and was supposed to be keeping it under 5k RPMs except for very short bursts not to go past 6k RPMs. Well 24 was about as fast as I wanted to go given the conditions. In fact, 24 was a little fast for the conditions.

Right after this photo was taken, I took a lot of water over the bow. Drenching me. Water dripping from the hat and everything. Good thing the camera is water proof.

It is hard to take photos and ride the fun dispenser at the same time.

The break in is done now. I could use some warmer water. And less wind. And calmer conditions n the bay.

Or a wetsuit.

The master plan, should various things work out, is to make an open ocean crossing in the fun dispenser. From Miami to Bimini. And back.