Officeboat

So it has been kind of annoying to have to get up early and go down to the boat show and clean (and/or shovel) the same three boats every day for the past week, but not only do I feel like a better person simply for getting up earlier (like it's some sort of accomplishment), I find that the somewhat annoying aspects of my job are balanced out by some amazing perks, like what qualified as a workday for me today.

As you read through the rundown, keep in mind that I was on the clock for all of this and I think that you'll agree.

We went to pick up the houseboat that we're going to use as an office. The crew consisted of the dock staff (me, Dave, Brian, and Scott) and a couple of Dave's liveaboard friends from the marina. (My boss lives on his sailboat a couple of docks down from Windworks.) Since the officeboat was stuck in a slip behind another houseboat, this process took quite some time. We had to float the other houseboat across and raft it to a decrepit tarp-covered wooden tugboat while we moved our houseboat out, tied it to yet another houseboat on the other dock, move neighbor houseboat back, and then finally tie up the chase boat to hip tow it to the yard for haul-out. This involved a lot of running long lines back and forth in the dinghy and tying and untying.

Incidentally, this neighboring houseboat we had to move might have been the cutest thing ever. And I want to live there. While I was serving as a human fender, I spent the entire time gazing into the little windows and imagining myself chilling on the Adirondack chairs on the roof watching the sun set over the Olympics.



Anyway, we finally get the officeboat to the yard without hitting anything despite the 25 knot winds, and as soon as we get onshore we are greeted by Pete, another friendly liveaboard, who has brought us a case of Sierra Nevada. (That's not Pete in the picture--it's one of the boatyard workers, but Pete actually looks like that from the back, too.)


We head to the Nickerson Street Saloon where I eat a carne asada sandwich and chicken curry soup on the company tab (and a shot involving Bailey's that some random (as in no one knew him) drunk fisherman at the bar bought for our entire party of ten). By this time, it's 4 pm, so by the time I get back to work there's only 1.5 hours left, just enough time to finish up the boat I was cleaning.

You can't tell from this picture, but the inside of the officeboat is actually really cute with an amazing hardwood floor.


recap:
-dream house
-boat ride
-beer
-free lunch

Sailboats are not designed to be shoveled.

As I discovered today. Not that it was all that surprising.

Bandit

So I haven't been doing a very good job with my resolution to post more this year. My excuse is that I've been neglecting the writing because I've been experimenting in other media, as you've seen. Here is my latest artistic creation:


Clearly I am quite talented. For those of you who do not know Bandit (yes, that's what the scrawl at the bottom says), he is a cat, and he does look very much like this when he is curled up in a ball on the blue chair as he often is. The chair, however, looks absolutely nothing like that (besides being vaguely the same color) as you might have guessed if you actually realized that it was supposed to be a chair.

The Uptight Seattleite

Always hilarious, sometimes relevant.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-01-16/diversions/ask-an-uptight-seattleite.php

D&D

Here's the hat (since Kenli asked. And I have nothing better to do than take self-portraits with my camera phone.)

You Know You Miss New England When . . .

• You get drunk, go online and order a trucker cap that says Dunkin' Donuts on it.
  
• You seriously consider shipping a case of Magic Hat across the country.
• You can't enjoy the crab legs at the free buffet without thinking about lobster.
• You have a sign that says "Vermont" over your closet door.
  
• You purposely drop r's sometimes just because no one else does.

Two Unrelated Posts in One

Today I made an excellent sandwich for lunch. It consisted of roast beef and cheddar cheese and barbecue sauce on a sub roll-- microwaved for a minute or two. Simple, yet delicious. This might have been the highlight of the day. Successfully completing my first independent electrical task would have been a close second had the bow light that I installed turned on when I was done. Which it didn't, of course. Although it is possible that it's not my fault and due instead to faulty wiring in the boat. (I'll keep you posted.) Can I say that I love how my job involves on a daily basis me pretending things like I've actually used wire strippers before Today I also got to go to the fuel dock for the first time (all the way to H dock. (we're on I dock.) It was kind of amazing. Ten pumps and a veritable mini-mart at the end of the dock with full coolers of beer. Definitely not as fun as ye olde Fuel Shed, but the attendant was not only not a middle-aged guy, she was actually kinda hot, so that would probably be highlight number three. Ha.

Wait. Cancel all of that. What am I saying? Nothing even comes close to topping the fact that today I enjoyed at least four hours of direct sunlight. I almost forgot because it was such an aberration.

Mid-day conversation with my co-worker:
Me: "Yeah, I just wanted to go do that project on Serenity before it starts raining.
Brian: "Is it going to rain?"
Me: "I don't know. But it's been sunny for over a half hour now, so I'm assuming it's going to start raining anytime."

I think I got a little color in my face. I can feel it, that post-sun feeling.

-------------------------------------------

KEXP is quickly becoming my new favorite radio station. It's very Pacific Northwest (PNW--in case you need to use an abbreviation) and more indie (less folky) than WXPN, my previous favorite. It took me a little while to warm up to it, but now I am mildly obsessed. Like I look forward to cleaning boats just so I can listen to the radio. And then I go home and look up the playlists (which they conveniently post online) and download all my new favorite songs. Or at least request the albums from the Seattle Public Library (ghetto iTunes) so when I get them in twelve weeks I can listen to the song again. Who needs friends when you have a reliable radio station to introduce you to new music?

Like XPN, KEXP is a public station and can be listened to live online. For all of you with office jobs, I highly recommend you check it out someday and listen for at least an hour.

Did you know that radio stations west of the Mississippi have call letters that start with "K" while east of the Mississippi they begin with "W"?

Multimedia

I think I might be one of the few people left in the country who has not read The Kite Runner. I started reading it last year but never finished it. So tonight I decided I was going to read it, from start to finish. I am currently on page 26. I got sidetracked and decided I wanted to decorate my room. So I made a collage.

Now I'm staring at it (it's on the doorframe across the room) and I'm not sure if I like it anymore. Oh well.

Here are some (very) short lists.

Movies You Must Watch (if you have not already done so):

• Juno

Books You Should Read (if you get the chance):

• What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Artists You Might Want to Check Out (if you enjoy lesbian folk music):

• Chris Pureka

Coconut Curry Chocolate Bars

I'm not sure exactly when I decided it was acceptable to buy $3 chocolate bars. Maybe after eating an entire bar in free samples at the factory store for the third Sunday in a row, I thought I should actually buy one. And then it was all over. It wasn't a conscious decision to start buying these bars every time I saw one in the store, but once I did, it became easy to justify. They sell them at the PCC (PCC Fremont!), and when I enter that store (the only supermarket in late-night walking distance), I have already abandoned all hope of buying anything at a reasonable price. I think about all the money that I save by not having a car. And then I spend it on ridiculously expensive locally produced fair trade organic chocolate.

I don't think of it as a purchase, but as a donation. I am supporting a responsible small local business, that in turn is helping to sustain cocoa bean farmers, somewhere. And as a small bonus, for my investment in the fair trade process, I get to eat a delicious bar of chocolate. I think of all the money I save not buying daily $4 lattes. Or cigarettes. Or groceries.

For more information on my addiction, please see the following website: http://www.theochocolate.com/products/3400-phinney-bars.php

Two Thousand and Eight.

RESOLVED:
The non-blogger will post to her non-blog a minimum of three times per week.