Saturday , 30
APR
05
Howdy. I
thought I should finally jot down some things about my recent
adventures on the way home. But before I get to that...we just got done
watching the movie Collateral.
It was only 50 cents on DirecTV and well worth the 2 quarters. Typical
action/suspense that leaves you asking constantly well why doesn't he
just do this or that. But a pretty good flick for the most part. We
spent the day doing some shopping...came very close to buying a
satellite radio receiver, only to decide that we need to do more
research. We want to go with Sirrius, but the plug & play units
they had at Best Buy didn't seem that great. We did finally buy a
digital camera though and one of these days when we figure out how to
use it, we'll start adding pictures to this here page. Last night we
went to Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy which was very entertaining. I've read all the books, but
that was back in high school and my memory ain't what it ever was.
Still, I recalled quite a bit as the movie progressed, and it seemed to
hold true to the book. The acting and effects were also very good and
of course the storyline is awesome. Kind of odd that we (me, Chris and
several friends) were the only ones that seemed to be consistently
laughing. I wondered if some of the audience was a little taken aback
by the whole questioning the existence of a god theme.
OK...A quick story about my final port of call. We ended up in Monaco
on the evening of the 13th. We were in port for an International
Hydrographic Conference. Wedneday night Todd and I walked a bit into
town...stopped off at a restaurant and had a bottle of wine &
pizza. We got far enough into town to see the stands that were being
set up for the Grand Prix and photos of Prince Rainier in several store
windows. We then went to another bar closer to the ship called Stars
and Bars and had a few drinks with some people from the ship's crew. I
didn't stay out too late or drink too much, since we had an open house
scheduled for the next day. Thursday (14th) we were on the ship for
most of the day, giving tours and whatnot. Then we decided to hightail
it out of Monaco before the Prince's funeral, as we were told that
everything would be shut down that day and no taxis would be available.
So we spent TH & FR nights in Nice, France. Walked around a bit on
Friday...went to their Contemporary Art Museum (or whatever they call
it in French). It was very nice and had many unusual and interesting
pieces. I also went to the Breax Arts Museum which had an eclectic
assortment of art - paintings, sculpture, religious objects - including
a sculpture by Rodin and a painting by Monet. That night Todd and I
went out for Russian food...which was interesting. We also drank cheap
Russian wine, which gave me a major headache for the plane ride home on
Sat.
Saturday I caught a plane from Nice to JFK - New York. I caught a
shuttle into Manhattan...we turned a corner to my hotel and I
discovered that it was directly across from the World Trade Center
site. Very eery. The bellhop told me that the Milennium Hilton had been
closed for a couple of years after the attack to repair damages to the
building. My good friend from college, Deb, met me there and we drank
some wine and relaxed. Then we walked through several New York
neighborhoods - Tribeca, Soho, Noho, Greenwich Village before we
finally stopped at a small Italian restaurant called Gradisca. It turned out to be a
fantastic restaurant...nice decor and awesome food. We had an appetizer
of buffalo mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto and with a truffle pesto on
top. Yum! It was Deb's first time trying truffles and she was in heaven
(I was there too - we're talking full on taste bud ecstasy - especially
after having chile dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches umpteen times on
the ship). I got the carbonara, which was also heavenly and Deb
had some fish that was very good. We were way too full for
dessert, but I'd like to go back sometime and try the tiramisu. We then
decided to go to the top of the Empire State Building...so we walked to
it only to discover that it took about 2 hours to get up there. No
thanks. So we walked to Grammercy Park and looked for a bar called Flute
that Deb wanted to go to. We wandered around for awhile and finally
gave up. Had one more drink at some other lounge and then caught a cab
back to the hotel. We had planned to go out to CBGB's or something like
that, but were too exhausted after all that walking.
The next day we went to MOMA and spent several hours perusing the art.
They have a great collection of photographs - like Cindy Sherman's film
series. I was surprised that they didn't have any Mapplethorpe and I
didn't see anything from Brett Weston. Still...I had a good time just
looking at the photos. Then there were more floors of modern art -
Jackson Pollack, Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, several pieces that makes
you wonder what classifies something as art anyway...and on the top
floor were many wonderful paintings by Van Gogh (Starry Night!!!),
Picasso, Kandinsky, Miro, and on and on. It's a great museum well
worth checking out. After that we headed back to the hotel and rested.
We had dinner reservations at Bobby Flay's Bolo restaurant,
which we stumbled upon the previous night while looking for Flute. Bolo
was relatively small and didn't have a huge crowd that evening. We were
promptly seated, but then our waiter didn't take our order for some
time. Still...there was a yummy plate of olives to snack on. Once we
finally did order, food came fairly quickly. We started with 4 tapas
for an appetizer - shrimp on saffron rice cake, scallop with a green
onion sauce, sauteed calimari and a Spanish tortilla. The calimari were
awesome - the most tender squid I've ever had with lots of garlic and
butter. The scallop was also delicious...actually everything was - but
the calimari and scallop definitely reigned supreme. For my entree I
had a pepper encrusted steak that was pretty tasty...with a baked
potato that had extraordinary tasting bleu cheese stuffed into it. Deb
got a squid ink risotto which was also good. During dinner we enjoyed a
nice bottle of white wine - which Deb ordered and I can't remember what
it was other than that it was good. We had to get dessert even though
we were both full...and was it ever worth it. We got the tapas dessert
and chose a cheese stuffed fig with raspberry sauce, lemon ricotta ice
cream with macerated raspberries and a chocolate torte with bananas and
passion fruit. I think the chocolate was my fave - I'm a sucker for
anything with chocolate and bananas, plus the passion fruit added a
nice tartness. The lemon ice cream was also wonderful, as was the fig.
After stuffing ourselves, we managed to stumble a few blocks to Flute -
a lounge that specializes in champagne. They had a nice jazz trio
playing and a very knowledgeable, young waiter. We got 2 flutes of real
champagne (from France) that the waiter recommended. Each was
$18. Yikes! Then we tried some others...then Deb passed out on the sofa
while I tried a couple more champagne/sparkling wine varieties and
listened to the band. I dropped way more money than I anticipated, but
it was worth it for the ambiance, music, delicious bubbly and
entertaining waiter. I must say I have a new found respect for
champagne after that place. And it didn't even give me a headache,
which tells me I've had too much cheap champagne in my life.
Monday morning we grabbed bagels and sat along the Hudson River
watching joggers and business people go by, staring off at the Statue
of Liberty in the distance. Then it was time for her to go to work and
me to head for the airport. After a quick stop in Atlanta, it was New
Orleans, seeing Chris (yea!) and home sweet home.
So that's my tale for the way back home after 2 months of being at sea.
Now it feels like I never left. Funny how the routine kicks right back
into place.
-posted by Kelly
Wednesday , 27
APR
05
Ho, hum. Hard
to believe that it's the end of April already (well, almost). My days
seem to just run into each other anymore with work getting busier and
busier. It's like how many goddamned kids can low-income families have.
Don't they have anything better to do besides screw each other?! Don't
put your responsibilities on others income. Sheesh. It's like non-stop
baby factories coming into our office all day, every day. If that
wasn't enough of a headache, the mothers with screaming, crying kids
coming in all the time, dealing with co-workers who act like babies
themselves. Enough with the bitching and moaning already. If you hate
your job so much, quit already. We're better off without you and your
crybaby attitude. Did you think you could just come and sit on your ass
all fucking day and gab with each other? What the hell do you think you
did when you were at DHS and had the same Medicaid programs that our
agency (office) has now inherited? The lack of motivation,
responsibility, and accountability just irritates me to no end. Some
days I think it would be just as well if the Senate took State
Employees out from under the protection of the State Personnel Board so
some of the lazy ass pieces of shit would be eligible for firing. Our
EAP (Employee Assistance Program) sent a woman to our office today to
go over signs of stress and ways to relieve stress, along with letting
the staff know about resources available to them. Nice gesture, but I
think it's lost on many. Enough of our staff are already drugged up on
some kind of medication that if it's not helping them, not much really
will. I looked at the list of 'stress indicators' and laughed a bit to
myself. I don't think I'm necessarily stressed, just irritable (which
is supposedly a sign, but I'm just irritable all the time anyway), and
that goes back to MY perception of my co-workers.
Best Buy really pisses me off. It's been almost a month since my mp3
player broke and I called to take advantage of the replacement plan we
purchased when we purchased the player. Half the times I've called the
phone rep has been quite helpful, while the other half of the time
those clowns act as if they don't give a shit at all (which they
probably don't). I called Monday this week though and the player had
been received and processed and the voucher for $271 and some change
had been sent out on 22 April. Hopefully it will come in another couple
of days. We've pretty much decided that (if possible) we're going to
use it to purchase a satellite radio receiver and maybe a small digital
camera (so we can add some photos to this text-only blog). I'm going to
upgrade to a 60GB mp3 player through some other retailer. Might as well
get the larger capacity player since I had pretty much packed the 40GB
player and there was still plenty of music that I wanted to, but hadn't
gotten to add yet. Prices are decent and it'll only cost about $50 more
to upgrade. A worthwhile investment.
I found this article last week and thought it was really funny: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ek20050421ks.htm
Kelly's worst fear? I sent it to Gary, and he thought it was funny as
well, and Laurine, his wife, and Kelly should be glad that although
we're otaku, we aren't THAT bad. Although Kelly said that she just
enjoys picking at me about my anime and manga, and if she ever got fed
up with it too much, she'd just kick my ass. Sadly, that's probably
true. I am much appreciative that she lets me indulge in my obsession.
I better be since she's the one who's the brains (and the breadwinner)
in this family.
-posted by Chris
Monday , 25
APR
05
Ok...I'm
back. I've been back for a week, but have not felt like sitting in
front of the computer since then. I will write about my time in port
and trip home at a later time. We've had a busy weekend...so I'll write
about that instead.
My weekend started Thursday night. Todd & I went to New Orleans for
a Wilco show. We ate some Japanese food at Rock -n- Sake before the
show (always a good place for sushi). And then had sushi burps while
waiting in line for the folks at the State Palace to let us in. The
tickets said 8pm which I thought meant show starts at that time not
doors open at that time. There was already a line around the corner
when we got there at 7:15. We waited and listened to the
nuevo-hippy-types wax philosophical - not! I was starting to get
worried, as the crowd outside looked more like the Phish-type of fan.
I've only listened to Yankee Foxtrot
Hotel and was basing my ticket purchase on that alone. We got
inside and found some nice seats in the front row of the first balcony.
Show started around 9 with the opening act of Healthy White Babies.
They were described as Americana with a punk flair. I think not. More
like a typical band you could find in a typical bar in a typical
college town. Not horrible, but kind of bland. Then Wilco came out and
played for over an hour before heading out for the first of 3 encores.
I only recognized the songs from Yankee
Foxtrot Hotel, but I suspect several of the songs were from
their newer album. All the songs were awesome and I am inspired to
check out more of their cds. Todd really seemed to enjoy it too. So two
thumbs up.
Friday we closed on our new mortgage. That was very easy...so let's
hear it for USAA! After that we did some shopping and went to a movie -
The Interpreter. It was
decent, but kind of slow. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes of
it, which is never a good sign. Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn were both
pretty decent, but the plot just kind of dragged and the quasi-romance
thing was typical Hollywood fluff.
Saturday I did some yard work in the morning. It was a beautiful day -
cool enough to open the windows. At least I get one nice weekend before
summer hits for good. We did some more shopping and ran some errands in
Slidell. Then we played poker that evening with a few friends. Though
they probably don't think too friendly of me after I took all their
money. No...they're all good sports. Hell, most of the time it was a
luck of the draw that I managed to hang in there. The game went fairly
long and my poor old body was sore (and headachey) after sitting that
long. But I have to admit that I was pretty psyched about winning.
Sunday started off late...as we slept in way too long. It was another
beautiful day, so I did more yard work. I weeded the front flower bed,
planted a new cigar bush and mulched. Plus planted some new herbs in
our herb garden. The rosemary was the only thing that really stuck out
the winter, plus some lavendar and the lemon grass is trying to make a
comeback. We added some basil, oregano, mint and chile peppers. Then
Chris and I had more errands/shopping to do. I dropped a lot of money
on 2 pairs of shoes - and not even work shoes. I know Chris thinks I'm
as bad as Imelda Marcos. But that's cool...gives me license to buy even
more shoes. We went to the movie Kung
Fu Hustle that evening. It was awesome. The movie is in Chinese
and subtitled, but easy to follow along. Lots of cool kung-fu and
humorous characters. Definitely worth checking out if you're into that
kind of movie at all.
Today has been another day of running errands (including me getting a
nice pedicure) and shopping. We seem to do a lot of that. We actually
bought our big ticket item of the month - a 3000 psi pressure washer.
So next weekend if the weather is good, it will be concrete slab and
vinyl siding cleaning. Fun Fun Fun.
-posted by Kelly
Wednesday , 20
APR
05
Ah, the middle
of the week, but tomorrow is Friday for both Kelly and myself. We're
both taking off this Friday to sign the papers for our home
refinancing, then we both have Monday off as well. It's Kelly's regular
off Monday, and state employees like myself get the day off for
Confederate Memorial Day. Only in Mississippi. Ah, it's a day off
though, so I'm not complaining.
Kelly made it home fine on Monday night. I went over to pick her up at
the airport in New Orleans with a stop at the Whole Foods Market on the
way to pick up some groceries for the week. Her plane arrived on time a
little before 8pm, so we ate at what seems to be a chain restaurant
called Serrano's Pepper Co. It was a mixture of Mexican and Cuban food,
or a general blend of Latino food. It was pretty good. I had the pollo
asada and Kelly had a burrito. Large portions, so we both had leftovers
to take home. Upon arriving home I checked the Seawolves website to
find out that they had lost game four to Gwinnett 3-1 and their playoff
season was ended. Too bad. Kelly was really disappointed that she
didn't get to see at least one last game. Well, there's always next
season, but maybe the team will have a different look than this year.
Last night I went to New Orleans again with our friend Neal who I
hadn't seen in over a year until going to lunch with him last week. We
were going to see Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters) at One Eyed Jacks
(formerly the Shim Sham club). We stopped at Starbucks first to get
some caffeine to keep us awake during the expected 'sleepy' show
(acoustic guitar). It was nice to hang out and chat with Neal again. We
were discussing all sorts of things including him possibly getting
married and the ring he plans to get. He was describing an expensive
ring with a fairly elaborate diamond that would send most people to the
poor house. I suggested that he go to the pawn shop and get a ring and
told him about the ads Kelly and I had seen in Las Vegas on tv last
December which were pretty funny and suggested the same thing. He said
his girlfriend told him that if he did get a ring on eBay or at a pawn
shop that she didn't want him to tell her. It's cheap, so why not if it
fits?
Anyway, we headed over towards the French Quarter and parked next to
the Jax Brewery and looked in the Virgin Megastore for a bit before
walking down to the club. Originally it appeared there were only going
to be two acts, Mark Kozelek and his touring companion, Warren Gently.
Another local musician (who I'm sorry, but I forgot his name) was the
opener though. He seemed like some punk rock musician who was playing
'gloom and doom' solo songs about the city. Not terrible, but not
great. Fortunately, he finished about 10.45 and the turnaround before
Warren Gently played was only about 15 minutes. Warren Gently had
opened the last time I saw Mark Kozelek play in New Orleans last
November(?) at the Mermaid Lounge. He plays country/folk,
singer-songwriter blues. I enjoyed his songs a bit more this time for
some reason. Maybe he was playing different songs. Not too bad for an
opener. There was hardly anyone at the club at all, which was pretty
sad, although this did seem to be a kind of last minute show. Mark
Kozelek started about ten minutes after Warren was finished, right
before midnight. I haven't listened to enough of his albums to tell
which songs were Sun Kil Moon (except Glen Tipton), Red House Painters,
or other solo pieces. Neal did inform me (while chuckling to himself)
that he played not one, but two Modest Mouse songs during his set,
which is pretty funny. I really like his 'moody' singing style as well
as the songs. The sound was great at the club and it's too bad there
weren't more people to enjoy it. Just him, his guitar, and the
microphone. He only played about an hour because halfway through his
set he told the crowd he had to pee, but kept on playing, until right
towards the end he said only two more songs because it was really
beginning to hurt. Well, we both thought he should have just gotten up
and then come back to play. That was unfortunate, but I guess he didn't
want to disappoint the small audience that was there. I do have to say
I really like how they have fixed up the design of the club. The round
(closed horseshoe?) bar that used to be at El Matador (before it was
bought out by Harry Anderson the magician/actor last year to become a
magic club) is now at the center towards the rear of the room and the
door where one enters. There are also some booth seats (also from El
Matador?) arranged along the walls toward the rear and back sides of
the club with small tables. Very nice for lounging, but also good
vantage point to view the stage. In front of the bar is open space and
one step down to the main floor and the stage area. A very functional
use of space which is intimate, but could probably hold a decent sized
crowd and the acoustics are still as good as ever. It seemed as if
maybe the sound system had been upgraded a bit though, which makes it
all the better. Overall an enjoyable evening.
Tomorrow night Kelly is going to Wilco with her friend Todd from work.
I'm staying home and will probably catch up on some newer fansubs that
Gary burned for me last weekend. I also plan to add more music to our
computer harddrive in mp3 format so when I do replace my Creative
player (possibly upgrading to the 60GB), I'll have plenty more music to
cram on it.
-posted by Chris
Sunday , 17
APR
05
Damn, I feel
like crap tonight. I've had a headache almost all day long. It was
worse this afternoon and hasn't gone away at all. I've taken Advil and
Tylenol, but no relief yet. It may have something to do with the lack
of sleep that I've been getting the past week, especially this weekend.
I've just had trouble falling asleep at night and during the week I'd
be up until almost 1am every night. This weekend I've stayed up and
awake until 3-3.30am both nights, yet still awoke relatively early
(8.30 yesterday and 7.45 today). Ugh. To top it off my allergies have
been bothering me, so I've taken Allegra-D and Robitussin-D (just in
case it was a cold). Maybe it's the nervous anxiety of Kelly coming
home tomorrow night. I am excited about that, which subconciously could
affect my sleep, but still I'd like to get some rest in the evenings.
I spent the day at Gary's yesterday watching anime. We only watched
five discs, which is a smaller amount than usual, but still quite a bit
of viewing time. I called it an early night due to lack of sleep the
previous night. Of course when I got home though I still didn't get to
sleep for another three hours. I've been working on a mix cd for one of
my co-workers and finally finished it. I also checked the Seawolves
website out and was disgusted to see that they had lost 8-1 Saturday
night. It sounds like they played the worst game of the whole season,
getting outshot 64-17. Sauve was pulled after being scored on 6 times,
although to his credit he did save 41 of the 47 shots against him.
Backup goaltender Randy Petruk made 15 saves, but still had two scored
on him, which really says something about the rest of the team. Not
being there I can't say if it was the defensive breakdown that they
suffered with all season, or a combination of both offense and defense
errors. Tomorrow night is do or die night with game four of the best of
five series. Hopefully they can't play any worse than they did.
Today Kelly called me early to tell me she was having a good time with
her friend Deb in NYC. Today they were heading to the newly re-opened
MOMA before going to dinner at Bobby Flay's Bolo restaurant. Hopefully
she had a good time. I did manage to get out in the nice weather today
and ride on the trails (that was before my headache really started to
bother me). It was a good ride, although the sand again got the best of
me, and my bike as well. One patch I hit totally pitched me into the
ground and somehow my bike seems to have gotten the front disc brake
damaged. I don't think that will be a minor repair. I'm taking it to
the bike shop tomorrow and leave it in their caring hands with the hope
it can be repaired. At a fine sum I'm sure. After coming home I cleaned
up the house from the grubby kitties who have tracked stuff in and lay
on the couch watching some fansubs Gary had burned for me. I'll
hopefully go to bed soon and be able to fall asleep. Maybe I'll try two
Tylenol PM tonight instead of just one.
-posted by Chris
Saturday , 16
APR
05 (1.06am)
Tonight it
seemed like we were going to be in for the long haul at the hockey
game. The hour later start, plus the numerous stoppages of play (bad
officiating against both teams with many poor calls and non-calls; it
seemed that when the officials screwed up a call on one team, they were
trying to reciprocate by making a bad call for/against the other team)
made for a long game. Both teams came out of the gate running, so to
speak, and it was non-stop action throughout. Tonight's game though was
all about the special teams. Mississippi was two for ten on the power
play, while Gwinnett was two for seven. The Seawolves had to come back
from being down by a goal in both the first and third periods. No love
tonight with the hard hits. The worst non-call of the evening came in
the first period where a shot by the Seawolves went into the top slot
of the net, but bounced out and the officials weren't in position to
see it, and the goal judge behind the glass didn't either (as other
fans said though, they should get someone younger than the old guy
doing it), which pissed the fans and the team off. Travis Lisabeth was
probably quite fortunate he didn't get a misconduct for whacking the
glass in front of the line judge with his stick. The Seawolves tied it
up at the beginning of the third and held on to send the game into
overtime. This isn't the 4-on-4 five minute session held at the end of
regular season games, we had the full intermission with zamboni and
then another twenty minute period. It looked at first like the
Seawolves were too tired and the Gladiators were going to sneak it in,
but Jay Legault managed to snap a sweet backhand shot from the right
circle up behind the back of the goaltender and into the net a little
over three minutes into the OT period. Yeehaw! Now if that isn't
exciting playoff hockey, I don't know what is. Now it's back to
Gwinnett for at least two more games tomorrow and Monday night. If
Kelly wasn't coming home on Monday, I'd be on my way up to Duluth,
Georgia in the morning to cheer the Seawolves on tomorrow night in
rival territory. Too bad. I don't have to worry though, they'll (the
Seawolves) will finish up winning the series, then both Kelly and I
will get to go to the next home game together in another week or so.
Another playoff series result that pleased the home fans tonight was
Greenville defeating Pensacola for the second time, again in overtime
(same situation as their first game), in Pensacola's own arena. They
were the regular season champions with best record and most points
scored, and being a hated rival, everyone cheered when they announced
the result of that game tonight. We don't like Pensacola, and I think a
big reason is that the Seawolves former big rival Louisiana (who ended
up folding this year) used to have the current Pensacola coach and many
of their top players over in Lafayette. He left for Pensacola before
the beginning of this season and took many of their players with him
because he couldn't win the Kelly Cup in Louisiana, he wanted to try in
Pensacola apparently. It seems that he's having the same result though
as before- making it to the playoffs with a good record and high seed,
but the team blowing it and not winning anything. Even if we lose, we'd
all get some gratification out of Pensacola losing and not getting any
further in the playoffs. Especially to the eight seeded Greenville
Growl.
-posted by Chris
Wednesday , 13
APR
05
Ooooh, the
Seawolves got trounced 5-1 in their first playoff game in Gwinnett
tonight. Looking at the box score, after the first period it looked
pretty even. Tie score 1-1 and even shots on goal at 15 each, but it
appeared to go downhill after that. In both the second and third
periods the Gladiators scored 2 more goals, which isn't surprising with
the Gladiators outshooting the Seawolves 49-27 for the whole game. As
much as the Seawolves like to think, the goaltender can't always save
their asses. They apparently left Sauve hang out to dry again, and
although he is credited with the loss, he did stop 44 of the 49 shots.
They had better make a more reasonable showing at their only home game
this Friday in front of their own fans, or they can again call it a
season, as will the fans. Not to say that if they lose they can't come
back and win the final 3 games, but it would be a challenge at the
visitor's arena. It would also surely disappoint the fans who were
already grumbling about a lackluster final drive into the playoffs. The
local paper said that the coliseum really wasn't to blame for the
scheduling conflicts. It turns out that Hurricane Ivan postponed some
Disney on Ice event scheduled for last Sept. and the make-up dates were
this weekend. The coliseum figured that if they did it later in the
weekend the Seawolves could wrap up the home ice advantage and still be
able to play the first two games at home. So, their limping through the
last five games with three shootout losses and another loss to
Pensacola cost the team points and the home ice. I still have my ticket
though for Friday's game (picked it up after work today to avoid the
crowds the next two days at the Crawfish Festival) and I'm excited.
I'll be wearing Kelly's Evangelista jersey and will be ready to yell.
My friend Lili sent me this link today and I thought it was hilarious:
http://fuh2.com/submissions.php?query=&page=90&limit=10
She and her husband Jeff are the second photo down on this particular
page. What's funny to me is that someone has a site dedicated solely to
this event. It makes me want to get a digital camera and go out hunting
for a photo opportunity. Heh! I really am kind of a hypocrite though
since we kind of fall in with the 'mini-SUV' that our Element is,
although I like to think that Honda has cleaner running vehicles, plus
we still get fairly decent gas mileage. Not like a hybrid, but decent
for the vehicle we have.
Not much else to report today. I had the intention of biking when I got
home from work this evening since the weather was decent and not too
terribly hot, but I had a killer headache and just lay on the couch for
awhile. I'm feeling a bit better now, but of course it's dark,
considering it's almost 10pm. I think it's supposed to be even a little
bit cooler tomorrow evening, so maybe I'll venture out then. Have to
take advantage of any cool weather while I can.
-posted by Chris
Monday, 11
APR
05 (more pitching than rolling out on
a-little-bit-higher-than-before seas)
(link removed)
Ween-
'Dr. Rock' from 'The Pod' (Shimmy-Disc Records)
This will likely be my last input until I'm back in the US. We are
currently offshore trying to avoid really nasty seas and doing a pretty
good job of it for the most part. Seas are predicted to be 15-25 ft
near our port, so it's good that we're not going in yet. By the time we
do, hopefully the weather will have improved.
So this morning I go into the mess for breakfast, order the usual bowl
of oatmeal (or gruel as Chris likes to call it) and pour myself a cup
of coffee. Then I reach into the fridge for some milk only to discover
that there isn't any. What?! We're out of milk already? We've only been
out here for 3 weeks! So I had no milk in my oatmeal and non-dairy
creamer in my coffee. Yuck! Then at lunch we had a choice of shrimp
boat hoagie (the name scared me off), barbecue sausages (Italian
sausage smothered in BBQ sauce) or beef brisket. I had a bowl of
vegetable soup (which turned out to be cream of cauliflower, and makes
me wonder where they got the milk for the soup) and salad. Surprisingly
the lettuce is still looking ok and the cherry tomatoes are still good.
I was just finishing when someone sat down with a plate of brisket. It
looked so horrible I had to immediately get up or risk tossing my
soup/salad. Ugh! Dinner was a bit better...a fried chicken patty (w/
Ranch dressing to dip it in) and eggplant parmesan (overcooked, but
still decent). I am definitely ready for some land food and am looking
forward to Bobby Flay's restaurant in NYC on the way home.
So Todd and I are standing in the high bay with the door open...because
it's raining out side. This little bird comes buzzing in just above our
heads. He can't settle down and keeps flying around from one perch to
the next, talking up a storm. I wonder if he's still in there? This
little birdy got me thinking of the Ween song Little Birdy, which I
always get stuck in my head while watching little birdies. But then we
were listening to The Pod yesterday - I told Todd to check it out
figuring that he would get a kick out of it. And now I've got Dr Rock
stuck in my head. Ween is definitely fitting of my mood. I am not
totally manic and channel feverish, but it's definitely under the
surface. Just a few more days...yee haw!
-posted by Kelly
Sunday , 10
APR
05
The Seawolves
game on Friday night was pretty exciting and pretty much what I expect
during the playoffs. Both teams came out fired up, and there was a
fight less than two minutes into it that probably spilled over from
their game (vs. Pensacola) the previous Sat. night. There were a couple
of other fisticuffs, but these teams were hungry for the points,
especially the Seawolves. The refs made some bad calls (or non-calls)
both ways, but mostly it seemed to be against the Seawolves. Despite
having the 2-1 lead going into the second, then getting down 4-2 in the
second, but coming back to tie it up in the third, they ended up losing
in the shootout to Pensacola. At least they got the one point, but that
was two games in a row that they had the lead, and ended up losing in
the shootout (really bad to do it against Louisiana last night). At
least they have a lock on 4th or 5th, but tomorrow's game in Pensacola
won't be any easier than tonight. There's going to be a huge crowd
there (as usual) plus even more with the official awarding of the
Brabham Cup to the Ice Pilots (the equivalent of the President's
Trophy). The Ice Pilots already know they'll be playing against
Greenville who lost tonight and are the 8th seed. Columbia is the
second seed and Florida the third seed, but 4-7 are still undetermined
until tomorrow. Of course I had written this Friday night, but didn't
post it until now. Unfortunately, the Seawolves did lose again last
night to Pensacola 1-0, and as a result, fell to the 5th seed due to a
win by Gwinnett who leapfrogged over them into the fourth seed. That
means the Seawolves will be starting their playoff run in Gwinnett. The
bad thing is that once again they get screwed out of any home ice
advantage, or in this series, a whole home game completely. It's going
to start Wed. in Gwinnett, come back to Biloxi on Fri (starting one
hour later at 8.35pm), go back to Gwinnett on Sat. for game three, then
if necessary games 4 and 5 will also be played in Gwinnett on Mon. and
Tues. The Country Cajun Crawfish Festival (Country Cracker Festival) is
being held at the coliseum next weekend and once again the Seawolves
are the losers. Ah, sometimes 'home ice advantage' means nothing
though, so maybe they will be able to stick it to the Gladiators a few
times in their arena. I'll be at the home game Friday though for sure.
Yesterday the anime fest was good, and we started a couple of new
series. First, was 'Those Who Hunt Elves' which is a pretty funny
comedy about a group of three people, whom with the help of an elf are
attempting to get back to their home Japan from this alternate world.
It was a change to hear the 'shit' and 'bastard' left in so frequently,
but it definitely added to the humor. We also started another
interesting series called 'Gantz'. This one has two teens who were
supposedly killed by a train (decapitated in full gore) and end up in
this room with others who were recently deceased, including a teenage
girl who slit her wrists in the bathtub. There is also this strange
black sphere object and another teen who seems to know more about
what's going on than anyone. They are assigned by the sphere to kill
this alien with weapons provided within an hour's time. The rest of the
group 'transported' to the area of the 'assignment' suffer grisley
deaths (yeah, they get killed twice), but the four teens seem to
complete the assignment and are once again 'alive'. It gets really
strange, but it is an interesting concept that kind of messes with your
mind. The downside is that fucking ADV who released it domestically
only put two episodes on each disc. Three or four episodes are the
normal standard, and sometimes you'll get a disc with five or six
episodes, but for some reason (greed?) ADV is drawing it out with two
per disc. Fortunately, Gary had discs 1-3 which have been released so
far, but it'll be awhile before we finish this series.
I didn't stay too late and came home to watch the NCAA hockey final I
recorded earlier in the evening. It was a really even matchup and an
exciting game between last year's champ Denver and North Dakota (both
from the Western Conference). There were some amazing saves by the
freshman goaltender of Denver as well as the North Dakota netminder,
but in the end Denver really opened the game up in the third period.
They had been leading 2-1 since the first period, but scored two more
towards the end of the third to seal the 4-1 victory. Not to say North
Dakota didn't try. They put a total of 45 shots on the Denver net, but
Mannino stopped all but one of them. Pretty amazing game, which excites
me even more for the Seawolves playoff games. If Kelly weren't coming
home a week from Monday, I'd probably consider driving up to Gwinnett
(suburb of Atlanta) this next weekend for at least the game on Sat.
night.
Today I slept in late after not going to bed until 3am. I got out of
bed at 10am, got dressed and headed for the trails by 11. They weren't
as muddy today, and the water wasn't overwashing the trail, so it made
for a good ride. The weather was in the upper 70's (a bit warm) but
there was a decent breeze that kept it pretty cool. I rode the whole 11
mile loop and had the trail to myself most of the way. I did fall over
a couple of times due to new obstacles in the trailway (trees) and
increased loose sand on the trail (not fun to go through when speeding
around a corner- usually the sand wins against the mobility of the
tire).
This evening I grilled a tuna steak for dinner and watched the programs
I recorded from adultswim last night to end off a busy weekend. I'll
probably read for a bit before making my lunch, putting away laundry,
and going to bed. Ah, my weekends are so predictable.
-posted by Chris
Thursday , 07
APR
05
(link removed)
Tones
on Tail- 'Happiness' from 'Night Music' (Beggars
Banquet Records)
Today was a good day. First, Kelly called me from the ship and we had a
nice chat. I'll be glad when she gets home. Hopefully she'll be able to
come to some of the Seawolves playoff games with me since she's the
vocal one. I have to dig out our cowbell though and make some noise.
After talking with Kelly I talked with USAA about our refinance loan,
and received some really great news about being able to get some extra
funds for home renovations, which will save us from having to dip into
our savings when we start working on the interior of the home making it
more livable, as well as more saleable.
It was perfect weather for biking this afternoon when I got home from
work. That extra hour of light really makes a difference. I took my
bike off the trainer, pumped up the tires, and took it out for a spin.
I ended up riding around the east side of Diamondhead down to the
community center and out to the tennis courts, then backtracked home. A
total of 13 miles which felt really good in the fresh air, cool breeze,
temps in the mid-60's, and no humidity. Reminded me of late summer
evenings in Oregon. Someday we'll get back there.
After I got home I took out the cold soba noodles and tofu from the
other night and flipped on the NCAA College 'Frozen Four' semifinals.
Earlier this afternoon last year's champion Denver whomped in-state
rival Colorado College 6-2. They showed the highlights between periods
and Denver really dominated, especially with their power play. In the
evening game North Dakota took on Minnesota. North Dakota really played
a great game, leading at one time 4-0 including a shorthanded goal. The
final score ended up being 4-2 in favor of North Dakota making it a
really great match-up Saturday night. I'll be at Gary's watching anime,
but I'll have the Tivo set up to record the game and watch it on Sunday
after biking.
-posted by Chris
Wednesday , 06
APR
05
Chock up
another two points for the Seawolves last night in their win at home
against Texas. They pretty much dominated the whole game. In the first
there was a nice passing set-up to Bates Battaglia for the first goal
of the game. Not a lot of shots registered by either team in the first,
but still plenty of action from end to end. In the second period, the
Seawolves made it 2-0 by scoring a short-handed goal on the penalty
kill that seemed to squeeze through the legs of the Texas goaltender.
Another even-strength goal gave them the 3-0 lead going into the third.
That's when it started to get chippy. There was a brawl that spilled
onto or out from the benches and sent Nick Greenough, Chris Cava, Kerry
Ellis-Toddington, and two of the Texas players into the penalty box,
and one Texas player to the locker room for the rest of the evening for
a game misconduct. It was pretty much a done deal, but Sauve did have
to make some nice saves in both the second and third to keep persistant
Texas from scoring and preserve his second shutout with the Seawolves
for the season. More importantly, the Seawolves earned two points to go
into a three-way tie with 85 points, but they still kept the fourth
seed ahead of Columbia and South Carolina with a game in hand. Three
games left (Louisiana on Thur, and a home-and-home pair against
Pensacola Friday and Saturday nights) and the Seawolves only have to
win two to guarantee the fourth seed and home ice advantage in the
first round of the playoffs next week. I'm actually getting Jason and
Ellen to come with me to the game on Friday. They're hockey newbies, so
I'll have to explain the game to them as it plays out, but they've said
they'd go for awhile and I'm finally dragging them along. Should be a
good one against cross-state arch-rivals Pensacola.
We had some pretty nasty weather today. It was cloudy this morning, and
the local news said that there was a front moving east across from
Texas bringing hail, strong thunderstorms, and tornados with it. It
didn't actually start to rain until right before lunch, but when it
did, it came down heavy. Thunder, lightning, and buckets of rain
drenching everything around. We probably received an additional 4-5
inches to what came down last Friday and saturated the ground. I'm sure
people just starting to dry out from last week probably had problems
once again with high water and flooding. Fortunately, it was wet here,
but doesn't really flood at all. It was gone by the time I got home at
5pm and was starting to clear up. Poor Tura was huddled underneath the
bed (she doesn't like storms at all), but Josie was sleeping in a chair
in the kitchen. Naughty child Josie was obviously tired out from
playing in the rain and dancing on the counters with her muddy paws
(there was a little track of paw prints along the counter waiting for
me to wipe off). At least they were able to go out this evening and get
some fresh air for awhile.
Of course more rain doesn't bode too well for biking on the trails this
weekend. I was going to have Peter, Jason, and Ellen come along on the
trails, but after last week's ride and this new rain addition, I think
I'll plan a trip with them out to the flat, paved Abita Springs trace
(Rails to Trails project) since they aren't regular riders at all (how
long has it been since you've ridden a bike?). It's a good easy ride,
plus they can have beer at the end at the Abita Springs Brewery. I told
Jason about that and he sounded more interested, and Peter may as well
when I mention it to him after he called and left a message on the
answering machine commenting about my blog post from Sunday regarding
trail conditions. Now I'm a sucker for punishment though and still plan
to hit the trails (mud, soot, and everything) and add to the collection
of bruises on my legs. I didn't realize it until yesterday, but I have
some pretty ugly looking black and blue marks all over. The only
noticeable one is on my left knee which was throbbing a bit earlier. As
my friend Gary used to say, 'pain is good, pain is your friend.' I
think he picked that up when he was an Army Ranger. I don't know if he
still has that same attitude. Ah, I'm not that old yet, so I still have
young bones and tough skin. Not like I'm going for a 'Mr. Legs'
competition anytime soon.
-posted by Chris
Sunday , 03 APR
05
Ah, time to
get back and update for the past few days. It poured rain from around
noon on Thursday into late Friday morning. Gulfport got about 7 inches
or more and there were all sorts of accidents, flooding, and closed
roads. I didn't have any problems getting into work, but four of my
co-workers were either surrounded by water, had water in their house,
or drove through high water and flooded their vehicle. That last one
wasn't very smart, but it did indeed happen. I heard some of the usual
April Fool's Day jokes on NPR in the morning and afternoon (this is
where they have fake stories that sound semi-real). They weren't as
good as previous years, but kind of amusing. The biggest joke of the
day I thought, that didn't actually turn out to be one, was the
governor signing into law a legislative bill that re-instated the PLAD
program of Medicaid for everyone, with some reduced benefits. I don't
know where they're coming up with the money for that one, but that's
just going to mean increased caseloads, more traffic, and more
headaches at our office. Oh, joy. After work I went to get Kelly
tickets for Wilco in a few weeks, got a new bike chain at the bike shop
because mine rusted out after riding in Texas (I guess I didn't clean
and re-lube it in a timely manner), picked up some sushi take-out for
dinner, and went home to watch some fansubs and Tivo'd programs. I
finished watching the series 'Elfen Lied', which is quite bloody and
violent, but overall a good series. It has other elements besides the
brutal, graphic bloodfests which make it interesting. It's being
released domestically soon, and I'll probably watch it again.
Saturday I went to see 'Sin City' during the day. It was a decent film,
but not spectacular. The filming style was interesting, but the merging
of three graphic novels together into one movie didn't fit exactly
right. Too bad since it had potential. I did see some new trailers for
'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', 'Star Wars Episode III', and
'War of the Worlds'- some of the big blockbusters coming out later this
spring that all look really good. After the movie I came home and did a
bit of cleaning and watched the season finale of 'Battlestar
Galactica'. That's been a really good original series for the SciFi
Network and it's cool that the next season starts again in July with
new episodes. If only the major networks followed suit. In the evening
I played poker, but didn't do that great. I came in sixth out of eleven
players. I wasn't getting great cards, but I still had a good time. I
did get some good hands and played some of them well, and others not so
well. After getting knocked out I came home and watched 'Full Metal
Alchemist' and 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' which I had
recorded on adultswim earlier in the evening.
Okay, so the pope died on Friday and Kelly has already mentioned her
thoughts on it. When I was biking today, I had some thoughts on it as
well. I have to admit that I was raised catholic, but 'fell away' when
I started college. I even remember seeing the pope when he came to
Fairbanks, Alaska (where I lived at the time) and met with then
President Reagan. I was 12 or 13 I believe. Not that big of a deal for
me at the time. So, anyway, he was a pretty decent guy (for a religious
figure), but I can't help but not laugh necessarily(well, maybe) but
roll my eyes at those who 'worshipped' him. I mean, okay, he was 84
years old, in pretty bad health despite getting through previous
ailments of one or another, so why was it not expected that he was
going to die eventually? It's like some people thought maybe that he
would never die the way they carry on about how it's so sad and they
can't believe he's dead. It's not like he was immortal or anything, but
to some it's like he was god and was never going to die. Does this make
some question their faith that if the pope died that Catholicism (or
religion in general) is some kind of lie and this is a setback to their
beliefs?
Today it's the start of daylight savings and a loss of an hour, but
extended daylight into the evening hours. I woke up with a call from
Kelly, but unfortunately the connection wasn't very good, so it was a
short call. I got dressed and headed out to the Bethel trails in north
Biloxi. I had forgotten that last weekend they had done a control burn
of the area to prevent forest fires later this summer. Some of the
sections reminded me of a charred, barren battlefield wasteland. There
were all sorts of blackened trees and bushes that rubbing against them
left my skin darkened with soot. The rain from a few days ago didn't
help much either because there were sections of the trail that were
still flooded out. I had a good ride, but the technical difficulty
level has gone from beginner/intermediate to almost advanced rider
ability. Anyone can still ride it, and it was interesting to see a
clear spot where once there was overgrowth. While some sections of the
path are more clear now, unfortunately some sections have more sand and
affect turning ability, but it's still a good ride (on the sections
that were passable). I was going to have Pete, Jason, and Ellen
possibly come with me next Sunday, but those plans may change. I'm
pretty dirty and got a few looks and comments from people at Walmart
when I went to get some groceries after riding. Ah, well. It was a
perfect day for riding though with sunny skies and temps in the low
70's. I just need to take a shower now and scrub it all off.
-posted by Chris
Sunday , 03 APR
05 (still rolling around on the seas)
It has been a
pretty uneventful week. Aside from the usual work (which doesn't amount
to much), I've been filling time with Mahjong and crossword puzzles
(New York Times...it gets more difficult as the week progresses). Most
of the week was really nice - FACWIBR (Flat Ass Calm With Itty Bitty
Ripples) and sunny. So I'd go sit on the fantail occasionally and watch
the OS's (Ordinary Seamen) scrub the deck for the umpteenth time. We
were in occasional high traffic areas, so I saw many tankers and other
ships passing by fairly close. At night I'd go out and watch the
stars...one night I saw a shooting star and a satellite. It was a good
night. But alas, our smooth sailing has turned a bit rougher today.
Last night I woke up several times as my body was bounced about. I try
to wedge myself with several pillows, and that helps...but the bed is
pretty hard and I toss and turn a bit. Then there's always the fun
times of waking up to go to the bathroom and sitting up...not a good
idea when the bunk is just a couple of feet above you. Ouch! I've also
banged my head on the edge of the little shelf above my head - where my
alarm clock sits. Another fun way to wake up. So tonight it's supposed
to get even rougher. Orders were to tie everything down. Luckily...most
of my stuff is already secure. It's always fun to be nodding off to
sleep and hear something that you left out rolling around, making some
annoying sound. The ship itself makes enough squeaks. It's also a fun
game to try to figure out where the noise is coming from and try to
wedge paper towels or something in just the right spot to make it stop.
If I look up in my room, there are many paper towels stuffed along
edges of ceiling tiles. The room still squeaks and I just have to
ignore it. It's like living with the Tell Tale Heart...
OK...I can't possibly the only one who was a little perturbed by the
Pope death watch. I mean...we only get 3 channels out here and 1 was
dedicated to watching up at the Vatican windows waiting for the curtain
to close. How morbid is that? And the headlines - "No Hope for the
Pope" - you've got to be kidding me. I'm sure someone had fun coming up
with that one. How about "Not dead yet", "Pope Near Death", "Pope
deteriorating". If he's already near death - isn't death the next stage
of deterioration? Can he really deteriorate any further than that? Oh
well...at least it wasn't terribly prolonged.
That's all I've got for now. I'll try to come up with at least one more
tale from the sea before we hit land (which happens soon enough to
start noticing such things!).
-posted by Kelly