My favorite rig picture

These are some of my favorite pictures of the rig. They were taken summer of 2007 while the rig was being towed to Columbia.

When we are on location we sit alot closer to the water. If you look through the columns near the water surface, you can see the tug boat.

Sunrises

Sometimes - being offshore, there are some beautiful sunrises.... God knows, if I was home I certainly wouldn't be up for the sun rising ! ! !

A Bad CB....???

Well........

I have been called many things, but being a bad CB????

What happened was, every morning we have a supervisors meeting at 0700. In this meeting each department discussing - events, findings and current operations for the day. I usually go first - with the safety critical issues of the day. However, as each department discusses the events for the day - I typically have questions - comments - and such.

We have a deckpusher, who is very outspoken, his voice carries well and he can be somewhat abrasive. Our OIM likes to give him a hard time, so he will make him go last or skip him on purpose until he has a "rise" out of him.

Today - when he finally had his turn. At the very end. I had a couple of comments about a task that we were doing. I made comment to the Barge Supervisor about secondary communication to the boat in the bridge...yadda yadda... At that point the deckpusher, says - I think we are about to have a come to Jesus meeting!!! I was like, WHAT???? Then apologized if I offended or was out of turn. He made the comment that I run over everyone like a Bad CB.... you know like in the old trucker days. What the hell?????? I said I was sorry again - he says sorry???? You do this every damn morning.... The entire room was laughing...

W T F ???? They drag me into a meeting at 0700 hrs, which is 0500 OREGON time - and expect me to be on top of my game???? Hello...... Just waking up here..... I cant remember everything - I need the audio prompts.......WORK WITH ME HERE....

Hell with them !!! They will learn to live with me.....

Phone Call

So today I got a phone call from a 'private' number. I did answer it - it was an old friend from when I worked in the Middle East.

She wanted some advise..... Apparently her and her significant other are having problems. 'The other' is a private person, and since I am also - she wanted my take on things. They are working on their friendship and in that time are not "together". 'The other' has returned to Iraq and she has to finish her medical stuff before going through the hiring process all over again.

What happened was, she had an email from this person professing her love and such. She sent it to some of her friends, saying how much she loved this person and how great they were. Well it upset 'the other', since she didnt know these people and felt that it violated her trust. I was like, well yeahhhhhhhh - that is something private between the two of you. So we discussed parameters and boundaries of what you can and cannot share. I told her I would be livid with Pepe if you sent out an email that I had wrote, and I was sure that he would be the same. I would never share a heart felt message that was sent to me. It is ok to tell "friends" that your relationship is going great and that you are crazy about this person, and they are crazy about you - without violating what is 'yours'. I also commented on "we share pictures" and those pictures are just for us. Not to be sent to everyone that I know or posted on the internet. It was a common understanding we shared and kept private.

We then discussed the friendship aspect of our lives. I told her that sex is separate as far as what we enjoy and do together. What we share in public and in the public eye does not reflect who we are behind closed doors. What makes our relationship strong, is that we are friends, and enjoy the same things, laugh at others and ourselves. We can have the best day out in public. We have the best time behind closed doors. We have an incredible sex life, but we also have that time together to laugh and share between ourselves together. I also told her, that maybe part of how we were able to develop this time was that our relationship is under wraps, especially at work. That there is no talk of what we do and where we are, publicly. It is kept on a private level, and we were able to develop our friendship, and understand how each other are on a personality level.

She also talked about how 'the other' has a 10yr old daughter. When they are on R&R that the daughter is there with them. But, she told her up front that the daughter would always come first. This person never has had children and she doesnt understand the commitment of having a child. It would be hard when ever you had actual time away from the work place to have to share them, but that is where the situation is. Like I told her, your child is a commitment that you make to give them everything until they reach adulthood. And in theory, you should have the other person for a lifetime, a child you only have until they are grown. Then you have to learn to share them with the world and the surrounds they create.

It was typical conversation for her. She is one of those people that wants to talk about everything. Some people just are not willing to share their intimate feelings with anyone other than their partner. I dont know if I helped with it - all I could talk about was how great Pepe is, and how understanding we both try to be with each situation.

I am so blessed to have the love of my life, and be able to work through difficulties and situations.

After seeing todays news - I am also glad that I am not flying or traveling on Friday the 13th.

2-13-09

Today has been a slow day. I always have projects that I can work on. I have never been one to be BORED, maybe not entertained, but I can keep myself busy.

Last night, I finally completed the week long portion of my class. I decided to have dinner in the restaurant of the hotel. I am a picky eater to begin with - but if it mows or clucks I will eat it. So the special was a prime rib, but what they brought looked like rib-eye with the bone. Whatever, it was beef. Of course, I had no interest in the accompanying vegetables. The meat had what I thought was chopped parsley on top - I scrapped most of it away, but didnt pay much attention to it. I spent most of dinner on the phone with my best friend - chatting and discussing children issues. Ate nothing else other than bread rolls and had a glass of wine.

On the way back to the room - I felt HOT, and prickly. When I get to the room - my face is flushed and way red. I am covered in hives.

I do my typical Claritin, Benadryl and Tagamet to clear things up. Took awhile to start feeling better. By then the Benadryl was kicking in well and I was feeling way drowsy. Pepe had just awaken and was ready for his daily phone calls and talking. I was having the hardest time communicating and staying with it. He kept saying "well I guess you are preoccupied" mummmm whatever... Im not preoccupied - IM MEDICATED!!! so I sent pictures from my phone to his email, so he could see what I looked like. That might of helped, but I was fading quickly.
Anyway - I survived, despite whatever it was that they put on the food.

2-11-09

Half way through the class. Last night was soooooo long. I had to do CPR after all day lecture. This was one of the most painful classes to sit through. The dude teaching the class was so enthusiastic, it was killing me. I kept saying to myself, it was my own fault for being there and not having all my classes and paperwork in order. But even that did not keep me from hating this Dilbert.
Down to two months before I have to send everything in and im sitting in a week long class with an additional class before this started - another weekend of classes when this is over, and THEN to add this evening class on top of it all. I WILL NOT DO THIS AGAIN! ! ! ! So I made it through it - even at one point had to say out loud.....'for fuck sakes, can I take the exam?' But we all survived.



Havent seen much of the area. It is not too cold, or bad weather. Just not into exploring off into the city. I have had enough problems getting around here by the airport. This place is nothing but a winding clover leaf of freeways, highways and routes. I looked at the brochures in the hotel lobby and I didnt see anything that I really felt that I was missing.

This is actually my view from my hotel room - looking toward BWI airport.

2-8-09

Mike AINT here.....

Maryland has the strictest regulations regarding retail sales of beer. In Maryland, beer can only be bought at privately owned liquor stores. Most of these stores close at 9:00 pm, but the law allows for sale of retail beer until 2:00 am.

I was wondering why at the gas/convince stores there is absolutely NO alcohol.... I went into a grocery store and asked if they sold alcohol, and they sent me to the pharmacy area - apparently they drink rubbing alcohol. The restaurant serves drinks and wine.... But this is a further cry from the drive through daiquiri stores, that I have learned to love in New Orleans..... I have yet to see a liquor store or really any pubs.

I made it in fairly uneventful on the 5th...well I say that now, but if you would have checked with me that day - it WASNT. There was this pushy old man at the airport that actually pushed past me to get on the airplane. I was not impressed with his lack of courtesy, especially since it was the first boarding call and we were all in first class. Then to get on the plane, and attempt to organize my stuff. I was by the window in the first row - the dude that was next to the isle apparently didnt understand the word "excuse me" when I was trying to put my stuff in the overhead. The flight attendant saw my irritation and said she would put my stuff up when we settled. I then slept the entire flight (3 hours).

On saturday I was to attend a class at UMBC, put the address into the trusted 'never lost' only to be taken to the opposite end of the road I was to be at, in a bad part of town. What should have been a 10 min trip was over an hour. But, of course I stopped at the Starbucks just outside of the hotel. Not going far without my latte. Made it through the day and completed the course, how thankful I am that American Heart has made ACLS a nice process.

Houston 2-5-09

What we did in Houston...

http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html
http://www.houstonpress.com/events/pretty-things-peepshow-with-dj-big-e-1090716/
http://www.gogoamy.com/prettythings.html

I had a class in Houston - Pepe', came in for a couple of days. I was done with class before noon on thursday the 5th. For something to do - I checked the events, and found that the Body Works tour was still there. I was soooooooo excited. We went to the Museum of Natural Science spent like 6 hours there and went through the exhibit. We then had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown. Complete with a $65 parking ticket - yes they will be getting a personal letter with pictures of the area NOT marked for no parking, and a non-functioning parking meter - rastards!!! Our friend Maureen came and met us there, and we went to a Traveling Burlesque show. Different, something new to do. Well, this was in the 'adult bookstore' part of town. The "bar" was upstairs from the local tattoo and piercing parlor. Tough -tough crowd.... wow... no pushing up to the front of the stage there. Maureen is a big John Wayne fan, and the M C for the show - did some John Wayne, Maureen tells me 'oh looks like the good the bad and the ugly, all in one place' I was like "and the maimed, mutilated, and branded along with them". It was actually a very entertaining show. It was the typical side show freaks, playing with fire and eating light bulbs, along with a couple of burlesque shows. The second link pretty much sums up the entire show.