Taken at the Takeout

I went out today to help shovel the boat after our snowfall last night. I was freezing even though I had on more layers than a shoplifter at Old Navy. Having grown up in Pennsylvania, you'd think I could handle the cold better than I do. I don't handle it well. In fact, I whine quite a bit about it. My wife can testify to that. In fact, anyone who comes in contact with me between the months of November and March can attest to that.
If it's below 40 degrees and I go inside a convenience store and the gal behind the counter asks, "How are you today,? I respond, "I'm freezing." Like complaining about it will make me warmer.

Anyway, (let me stop whimpering right here) when my body temperature falls below a range that I am comfortable with, I often think about the Homeless. How do they do it? God Bless them.
When I'm freez... I mean, when my core body temperature falls into a range I am not comfortable with, I know at some point I can go inside, somewhere, my house,the boat, somewhere to get warm. The Homeless.....damn!

I was reading Melinda's post the other night. She tells a story of how she helped this Homeless person out one day. It reminded me of something that happened to me, but the endings are quite different. Melinda's had a happy ending. Mine has a weird one.

My wife and I decided one day to head south for the Washington DC area to visit Erin, my daughter. We met up at her apartment in Adams Morgan, a very cool, culturally diverse little town in DC. We would spend this day like many others when we visit. Walking, window shopping, real shopping and eating.

As we walked we were approached by a guy who asked for some money. Like Melinda, we opted to offer him some food instead of the money. We pointed to a little takeout place that was next to us and said, "We'll buy you a meal if you like?" He looked around, pointed to a grocery store and said, "Let's go here." He wanted us to take him grocery shopping. We talked him into our first choice, the takeout place.

I started getting an uneasy feeling when I noticed the guy was a pretty pushy Homeless person, he was actually negotiating with the proprietor of the store, trying to get more food on the plate.
The person filling out the order had a look on his face that said he knew this guy, and this wasn't the first time he talked some unaware tourists into getting him a nice meal.
I was getting this strange "your getting ripped off dad" look from Erin. Erin will give you the shirt off her back, if you need it, but she could tell this was a beggar gone bad.

He took his food, turned and walked out, walking right past my wife without thanking her or saying boo. At this point I stopped him and incredulously asked him if he was going to thank this nice woman who just gave him a nice lunch. He mumbled a thanks, I think, and left.

Outside Erin had this, "Dad, what the hell was that" look on her face. She saw this guys game from the beginning. I sheepishly replied, arms outstretched, "I didn't know."

"Dad", Erin said, "When was the last time you saw a homeless guy wearing designer jeans?"

He got me.

Happy Birthday

Capt Jack was heading up to the wheelhouse to conduct our weekly Safety Meeting, when we surprised him with a cake. He's 54 today. Note the fine detail done by our boats baker, otherwise known as Shane, my assistant engineer. He added a tugboat and a barge as well as the initials of everyone on the crew. We didn't have any candles, so Shane thought it would be a good idea to use matches.
It wasn't.

In the above picture you can see the "barge" part of the cake is fully ablaze. After we put out the fire and frantically waved magazines in front of the smoke detectors, we managed to save the tug.I won't mention the smoke damage done in the wheelhouse.

When the laughter and the kidding stopped, we had our safety meeting. The subject matter was "How to prevent fires on the tug."
I can't make this stuff up.
It's a partyJack won't soon forget.

A.D.D.

I was down the engine room today working. You know how you get that feeling that someone is looking at you? I had that feeling, I turned and was startled to see Captain Jack standing there with a cup of fresh coffee, for me.
Why is this note worthy you might ask.
#1- Captains very rarely venture away from the wheelhouse to visit the engine room. It's noisy and dirty down there.
#2- Captains never deliver fresh coffee, to anyone. Part of their job description is to call the galley any time of the day or night, and tell any person who answers the phone to bring HIM some coffee.
Today, Jack handed me my coffee, and with a sly grin on his face said, "I just made up a Christmas song."
I just looked at him, quizzically
"You want to hear it," he asked excitedly. "Sure," I responded.
He proceeded to sing me his song, to the tune of "Rudolf the red nosed reindeer", spoofing one of our crew members.
As he walked up the stairs from the engine room, I thought, "How good do I have it?


My middle daughter recently got engaged. He's a Marine. He'll be deployed soon to Afghanistan.
Makes me look at this far off war we're fighting, in a different light.


A few months ago while on a different boat, in a different location, one of the items to buy on our grocery list was Sunscreen. Today I saw our list mentioned snow shovels. Yuck.


I'm hoping someone lists a Corvette on Ebay, and forgets to have a reserve price.


Tip. If your having a work related Christmas party at your house, it is not appropriate for your immediate boss to take it upon himself to invite other people..to YOUR house. I'm just saying.

There is this saying on boats, well at least I say it, that there is never the "perfect crew." In all the years I've done this job, there was always ONE GUY. Either he didn't do his job, which affected everyone else. Or he was just a miserable SOB, or he didn't shower. There was always something. It made for entertaining stories for my wife as I would vent to her after I got home.
But for the past 7 months since I've joined this crew, this is the first time in 36 years I can say I'm with the perfect crew. Don't get me wrong, they're not perfect, like me, everyone has their quirks. But this is the most enjoyable crew I have ever worked with. And they all shower too.
That's why there is a gift under our little Christmas tree for each one of them. I've never done that before.

In closing, I saw the rock and roll hall of Fame concert on TV when I was home. Crosby Stills and Nash performed. They were a favorite of mine 30 years ago. David Crosby's look is the same as when he performed at Woodstock in 1969.
He should change it.