Smoke on the Water

Looking Up

Thanks again to everyone for your well-wishes, prayers and supportive e-mails.

Things are looking up. No one was even slightly injured at the BP Amoco plant, and if you've seen the video on Fox, you'll know just how large a blast it was.

Just last month, I worked only two blocks from that site.

My Dad's situation is looking better, too. He's still in for extensive tests, but the physical therapist says he won't even have to grind through her rehab routine. Amazing.

Even his vision is returning to normal. Prayers work.

I don't know if I can credit prayer for this, but my 'puter guru is putting a new modem into my PC. For free. I like that kind of price.

Now then, it's time I get off of this borrowed office PC and pretend I'm working again, but y'all surely do deserve to hear an update of good news after last night's post.

I surely am anxious to get back to full connectivity on the boat. Blogging will once again be fun, when I've the luxury of uninterrupted time to converse with you here.

Which, will be soon.

Well, Hell

I'm posting this from an office PC.

Looks like I'll have to replace the modem on the desktop PC I've got on the boat. Everything else on it seems to be working well, except that it won't recognize the modem card.

Damn.

As I type this, the BP Amoco plant in Texas City, TX, only 10 miles away, burns furiously. Only forty minutes ago, four massive explosions rocked the plant.

Casualties, if any, are quite unknown at this moment. The plant employs about six or seven hundred people, but I doubt if all of 'em were on duty on the swing-shift.

It's live on the local news right now, and the video is spectacular. And fearsome.

And speaking of fearsome, my Dad had a small stroke last night. Per the latest report, the only noticeable effect is a slight loss of peripheral vision in his left eye. And, that's been slowly improving.

Sometimes, life just piles on and piles on.

Prayers, for all at BP Amoco, in Texas City and for my Dad, are in order, and will be greatly appreciated.

Observations

Having been almost completely deprived of access to the net for the past ten or twelve days, I have a few observations about things in general.

So, here in random order are a few of 'em.

1. Ignorance is a Willful Disease.

We in the blogosphere, I think, tend to become used to being well informed. We seek out information, be it to post in our own works, or to enjoy the mastery of other blogs as they write brilliant posts on this, that or the other.

Appreciation

Friends, its been a long ass buncha days without a 'puter.

That's been fixed, at last.

While I have been able to log into my e mail accounts for very brief moments, I've not been afforded the online time to reply to your mails, and obviously, to get any blogging done at all.

Which sucketh, verily.

Now then, I have a working PC, and the shop may be able to fix my laptop. Maybe. Anyway, I've much to catch up on and many dozens (over a hundred) e-mails to answer and will have to dig in on all of that later tonight and into Sunday.

That said, let me thank each of you who have commented, e-mailed and for those of you who so kindly helped to keep the cats fed via paypal, special thanks, indeed!

Y'all are the best. Nothing would please me more than to thank each of you in person, but such is the blogosphere, that my thanks here will have to serve.

Do know that you're appreciated though. I'm honored by your friendship and support.

Sincerely,

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Tech Update

The good news is that I have a replacement PC being shipped. I've confirmed today that it'll be here either this Saturday or this coming Monday.

Even better though, is finding out how great y'all are. I've received tons of encouraging e-mail from so many of you out there. Many of you aren't regular commenters, but believe me on this, you're just as valued and just as important as the most ardent poster.

Thankfully, no trolls! *heh*

Anyway, I'm using a bit of donated PC time from the boss' office to send out this update. I am checking mail daily, but simply don't have the circumstances here at work to allow for much in the way of e-mail exchanges beyond simple, brief thanks and acknowledgements.

But those mails are like gold to me. Lifelines, if you will; a very important thing to a sailor.

I'll post more updates as they come, and as time permits some net access. Believe me, I've tons to write about, once I'm back online aboard ship.

Until then, thanks for checking in.

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Tech Delay

Well, some things go well, some don't.

The job looks like it's off to a good enough start.

The laptop looks like it's dead, forever. I have a replacement desktop PC being sent to me to fill in the gap, and I'll have it up and running in a bit less than a week.

But sadly, between now and then, posts will be thin at best, friends.

Worry not, I'm doing okay......but, a laptop, a rambunctious cat and a can of Dr. Pepper simply do not mix.

I Have to Pee

Too much information?

I don't think so, at least not in this case.

A job offer has come my way, and not a moment too soon. Commissioned sales, and the pay plan looks good. Very good, in fact.

So, tomorrow, I have to pee in their little bottle to prove that I'm suitable for employment. M'heh! Imagine, they're about to get the first test back they've ever seen that says: caffeine positive!

My neighbor John elected to celebrate by buying me a litre of Maker's Mark. The seal of which will be broken one evening in the not too distant future. In appreciation, I fired up the Magna grill on the taffrail for the first bbq of the season.

Nice to know I haven't lost my touch in the galley, anyway.

With tonight's grilled exception, it's still gonna be beans n' rice at best, until that first check hits. I estimate, about two to three weeks hence. In fact, methinks it'll be beans or rice, on alternating nights untill the piggy bank gets plugged into that paycheck I.V.

I've never been this broke in my life, but I'd quit that last job a thousand times, before I would take one fucking teaspoon of the shit they were trying to shovel.

Some things just matter that much. I'm not above accepting help from a friend, but I'll be damned if I take one thin dime from those who show me emnity. And my former boss showed me that, no matter how slick and oily the words which concealed the daggers.

So, a huge sigh of relief, combined with the stress of trying to figure out how to feed the cats (literally) for a while. I'll manage, and I'll find ways to get it done. I know I've taken days off of my life over this.

There has been that much stress.

But it's worth it, too. I can look in the mirror in the morning; I can stand tall and walk proudly.

Sometimes, it is the principle, that matters.

What Matters

What matters is talking to my Dad today.

Twice.

What matters is the bad news that my StepMom's Uncle passed away, and that she has to fly up North to his funeral.

What matters is that subsequent to a very tumultous evolution, from a pre-teen resentment of this fine lady, that I can freely say how much I love her.

And how much I appreciate how she's repeatedly saved my Dad's life. Literally. Over, and over again, she's stood between him and the reaper, and has kept him on this planet through her will and her love.

Heart attacks, bypasses and complications to the edge of the grave, she has never given up. Never.

If for nothing but this alone, I shall love her, always.

And through all of this, fighting illnesses and unimaginable agonies of her own.

Through her own horrible, terrible and debilitating pain; yet still, she was always there.

When being there, very literally, was the margin of life or death to my Dad.

She. Was. There!

Moreover, she has always loved my brother and I. He, the elder one of the wayward life, the drugs; the prison. The daughter he's not seen in over twenty years. The grandaughter he's never seen. And his new, young daughter, to whom he now gives his days.

My StepMom has been loyal, loving, and faithful through it all.

She has loved my brother and I.

Even when we disdained her. In spite of our spite. In spite of our stupidity and ignorance.

And our arrogance.

She has loved both my first wife, and my second. And mourned their passages from my life, perhaps even more than I.

She has loved us, and does, still.

I won't narrate the endless details of over thirty years of her unwavering love.

Nor, am I deserving to do so.

This past Christmas, she did me the honor of taking me to her local, favorite shooting range.

She, who quietly hated all my past visits to her home, while armed.

And by God, she shot the eyes out of that target!

Do not piss off my seventy-five year old StepMom.

Do. Not.

What matters, is, by God!, that this woman has taught me the meaning of integrity, of loyalty, of undying love and fealty.

What matters, and what saddens me, is that I may have learned some of these lessons far too late in life.

What matters, is that even now, sadly, I may be paying the price for those lessons learned, too late.

What matters, is that I've learned them at all.

Godspeed, Dodie.

Fly swiftly, return home safely.

Love.

Your Son,

Jim

Nuke Meltdown

My TypePad tech guru, Paul of Light & Dark seems to have encountered a severe systems glitch.

This one might even lie beyond his incredible powers of diagnosis and repair. Question is, should I fear for the technical integrity of my blog, or just cover my keyboard with a sheet of plastic before I read his next post?

Full drink alert on this one, friends!

Oh, and thanks Paul, for all your skillful and adept help in walking me through getting that Pay Pal button on screen and functionalized.

Some of you out there either are, or will be setting forth to start your own blog. When you do, you'd be nuts to pass up hiring Paul as your guru for all matters TypePad.

But don't let him near your microwave.

Blogged Down

Pardon my all too obvious absence over the past couple o' days.

Stress sucks. Pure and simple.

Sucks, I tell ya!

Between hammering an updated resume into shape, (which is great fun not, without a printer on which to generate proofs, budgeting outgoing funds against zero incoming funds, (also not fun), and otherwise living life on as minimal terms as possible, I've not really had the zip to rip, rant, rock n' roll, blogwise.

Once I find a way to get the ol' piggy bank out of ICU, I'm sure my mood will brighten, the sun will come out, birds will sing again and all will be right with the world. Being springtime, all that'll happen anyway, but I'll enjoy the party more when I can afford to pay attention to it.

In the meanwhile though, bear with me as I focus on things a bit more important than this mere blog.

Worry not, I'll keep posting as I see fit. I am not going out on hiatus, merely reordering priorities until such time as I can loosen up and relax here, with y'all.

Keep visiting, y'never know when I'll pop up with a new post. For the record, let me say that I appreciate each and every reader, commenter and all those who've linked to my humble blog.

I endeavor to not let you down. Nor, myself.

Did They Have Coats?

Do not click to the following link, until you have ten or fifteen minutes to spare.

You'll only need three or so minutes to read it. The rest of the time, you'll need to recompose yourself. And no, this isn't some damnedably mushy hallmark moment.

But if you're not moved by this, I'm not sure I'd care to know you, in the first place.

What I've just read is that important, and bears your close attention.

To many, a forgotten lesson. And as such it bears reading, repeatedly. Moreover, I'd suggest that you print it out, and drop a few copies where they'd do some good.

Like on some liberal asshat co-worker's desk, for example.