2010 NCCE Conference

I'm in Seattle at the 2010 Northwest Council for Computer Education convention. To be very specific, I am in a workshop at this very moment learning to use some new Adobe on-line software. That's why I am on-line writing a blog entry right now. More about that in another blog.

My hero Captain Jacques Cousteau

This morning's opening keynote speaker was Philippe Cousteau, grandson of one of my childhood heros, Jacques Cousteau. As a kid I looked forward to the occasional National Geographic specials broadcast on TV. Even though his thick French accent was sometimes difficult to understand, it nevertheless forced me to listen more carefully to the important message he delivered about the wonders of the world's oceans, their beauty, mystery and the connectedness of my life to that of the creatures of the sea. He inspired me at an early age, to study marine biology and for a time I did think of majoring in that field in college. In fact he inspired an entire generation to go to sea, to study it and to become more aware of what our human actions were doing to the oceans of the world.

His son and grandson have tried carried on their grandfather's legacy and Philippe has created popular programs on the Discovery Channel that bring the wonders of the sea as well as the continuing crisis in our oceans into our living rooms. So as you might imagine, I was anxious to hear what he had to say as well as to be in the presence of a member of the Cousteau family.

The presentation didn't start out well. Philippe is a very good looking man. In fact the buzz around the convention was that he was a McDreamy type, a reference to the popular TV show Grey's Anatomy. His video introduction splashed across the screens in the hall flashing snappy, fast-paced photos of him in various GQ-like poses. I would have thought that he would have wanted to down play the GQ model image in favor of a more legitimate scientific, thoughtful, introspective image. Perhaps that doesn't go well with today's fast paced sound bite documentary style.

Philippe Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau

His grandfather's documentaries unfolded slowly, letting the beauty of the oceans and the story he was telling wash over us. No fast paced, thumpy music score or contrived near death experiences. Just the beauty of the sea and the lessons to be learned. Sadly, his speech lived up to the shallow image of his video intro. What he had to say had no more depth than a tide pool at low tide.

The depth of his thoughts could have been given by most anyone with the most basic knowledge of the issues of our oceans. The one saving grace was that he interspersed it with thoughts, video clips, quotes and insights into his grand dad's life. It seemed to me that he is doing what he does, not because of any personal driving passion to acquire further knowledge of our planet, but rather he is capitalizing on the family name and his good looks to carve out a career in the family business. Sad and disappointing!

A Visit to the Olympics. . .Sort of

We made the decision that we should at least go up and check out the Olympics in Vancouver. Only a 45 minute drive from here, it did seem like it'd be a shame to say you hadn't bothered. Honestly, our real reason for going up was to go to hear the Mike Allen Quartet play at O'Doul's on Robson Street. Since a lot of the free Olympic activity was happening within a few blocks of Robson Street, why not take a walk around and see what was going on?

We also thought it would be a great idea, what with all the crowds around the Olympic areas, to try taking the SkyTrain. It would whisk us to within a few blocks of O'Doul's and we wouldn't have to fuss with parking or navigating around the streets that had been blocked off for the duration of the Olympics.

We got across the border easily with our new Nexus cards. Actually everyone did with or without one. A car in the non-Nexus lane adjacent to us got through faster than we did. Only a 5 minute wait at the Canadian side. Great! Smooth sailing so far.

We headed for Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, where we could park and take the SkyTrain the rest of the way. We drove to the first station we found and pulled into the parking lot only to find that only customers of the adjacent shopping mall were allowed to park there. Hmmm. No problem. We'd follow the elevated track on down to the next station. Same thing. Parking only for customers of this shopping center. Plenty of parking. None allowed. Why were these stations built here if no one is allowed to park?

Finally, we decided to go to the airport a few miles up the road to park at their SkyTrain station. Found it. Only airport employees were allowed to park. What?

So we decided to go ahead and attempt to drive into the city despite all the warnings we had heard about trying to do so. We jogged a few times to avoid streets we knew to be blocked off but managed, with absolutely not one bit of trouble, to drive right to our usual parking garage 2 blocks from O'Doul's on Robson. We even parked in the same slot we had last time and the rest of the garage was mostly empty. What is going on? As we drove into the city up the four lane streets that we just knew would be parking lots full of cars attempting the same thing we'd just done, we were incredulous at the lack of traffic. It seemed to us no worse than it is anytime we've gone to Vancouver.

We walked up Robson and within a couple of blocks the crowds appeared and it got more and more crowded as we went along. Intersections were controlled by traffic cops. Eventually barriers blocked off the street to pedestrians only and then it got crazy. The areas where the free public activities were located was a sea of humanity. Still you could get around. But getting in to do anything required standing in long lines, something I do not do. So we watched and took it all in. Then we turned around and left walking back down Robson towards the way we had come.

Slowly, the crowds thinned out and within a couple of blocks the crowds were no worse than they would be on any summer day. The crowds were all concentrated within a very few blocks. Otherwise, you would have had a difficult time knowing anything unusual was going on in the city. Seriously. Oh, there were the occasional clutches of boisterous fans waving the Canadian flag. There were a few groups of fans who were a bit too over the top obnoxious or drunk, but no more so than you would expect after a big game of some sort.

The rest of the city was simply dead. Little or no sign that the Olympics were in town.

We ducked into O'Doul's, our main reason for being here and got our favorite table right in front of the band stage. The only table in the bar had been reserved for us. We took our seats and were joined by Mike and his wife, Donna, our friend and drummer Julian McDonough and by others as the evening went on. We ordered drinks, had dinner and listened to Mike's group play all evening. As soon as they began my wife and I both sighed and realized how much we had missed their playing. Julian was up from Albequerque, where he lives with his wife and baby, just to play here for the 2 weeks of the Olympics. A nice gig. Of course we all wanted to know when he was moving back to Bellingham. We always ask. We miss him.

We had several opportunities to sit and chat, and get caught up with the guys. Two other tenor sax players and another drummer sat in for a few tunes. The "three tenors" played wonderfully together, each taking a turn soloing and all playing off each other's riffs. What a night. Who needs the Olympics.

We've noticed that Mike has a set of groupies that frequent O'Doul's when he plays and we have gotten to know some of them over time, just like the jazz fiends we hang out with in Bellingham. About midnight, we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed home. We did make a detour through the downtown area to drive past the Olympic Flame. Even there, there were no crowds. We stopped to shoot a few snaps and then continued for home. The drive out of the city was exactly as it would be any other night of the week. No crowds leaving the Olympics to cross the border or go home to the suburbs. It was dead.

As for the SkyTrain, Vancouver you have a few kinks to work out of your mass transit system if the purpose is to keep traffic out of the city core. Because, from my perspective, it ain't workin'. Of course, if that is as crowded as it gets in Vancouver, it doesn't need to to work.

The Renaming is Complete!

Today the new life of a grand lady began when she was officially renamed The Key of Sea! As I have previously reported, the old name has finally been removed. Unremoved since we purchased it in August of 2009, by the time we were ready to remove the name, the weather had turned too cold for either removal or applying the new name.

In November I contacted local sign company Special T Signs here in Bellingham and asked them to design, create and install the vinyl lettering that would be applied to our boat. Working with one of their designers, we batted around font ideas and color schemes until we found what we liked. The lettering at the top of this entry is design we decided on. We like its style, the classy and classic look and the way the gold edging makes the dark blue pop. The capital letters are 12 inches tall and the entire display 52 inches long which works much better in relation to the scale of the bridge face when compared to the old lettering. So here it is, the before and after. Drum roll please. . .

Before, Nameless






After, The Key of Sea

Dinghy Outboard Motor Project Completed

I am finally getting to some of the photos of our dinghy outboard motor during the refurbishment project recently undertaken. The project as you may recall, began when I got my friend and fishin' buddy to take a look at the old 4 hp Mariner outboard that came with our yacht. At first glance it looked pretty hopeless. The housing was pretty corroded, dinged up and just generally beat up and mistreated. Add to that the fact that I had attempted to start it only once and, though it did start, after very nearly wearing myself out trying, it ran only a brief few seconds and then died. Nothing I could do after that would get it to restart.

Enter Rick, the master outboard mechanic! He emptied the old fuel out, poured in fresh, took out the spark plug, cleaned it and reinstalled it. After some brief confusion over which way the controls should be pointed before starting, he pulled the lawn mower-like crank handle a couple of times and the engine sprang to life. Yes!

So now we knew it wasn't a lost cause and was worth investing a bit of time and energy into. I ordered a couple of new spark plugs, installing one and putting the other aside in my spare parts kit aboard The Key of Sea. I learned early on ordering or buying two of everything, was, like in Noah's time, a good idea. Especially when dealing with older equipment. You never know when it may be impossible or at least very difficult to get a new part. And out at sea miles from the nearest parts store is not the time to find out you need a new cotter pin for your prop!

So I went on a mission to find the local rep for Mariner engines finally discovering that Clearwater Marine way out behind Chambers Chevrolet off I-5, is a Mercury dealer (the makers of the Mariner motors) and therefore the place to order parts for my motor. Order is the word of the day here since this motor was made back in 1988 and therefore parts off the shelf are pretty much not going to happen. I special ordered new zincs which I still wound up having to machine a bit so the flat-headed bolt would seat properly onto the base of the lower unit. I spent a lot of time cleaning off old grease and oil, lightly sanding and double 0ught steel wooling the exposed painted areas of the motor. I spray painted a good bright green Chromium primer paint onto all areas showing corrosion and or rust. Then I sprayed any public areas with Mariner gray paint including masking anything so that there was as little overspray as possible and the job would look as professional as my talents, experience and know how allowed.

I must say I am pretty impressed with the way it looks. Scattered throughout this blog are some photos of the project. Baring any unforseen issues, we should look pretty good out there this summer tootling around in our new dighy and like-new outboard.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Most years we aren't even in the same town for Valentine's Day. Leslie is usually at the Washington Music Educator's Association (WMEA) state convention. I am usually just around the house (or the boat). This year was no different. So we, as usual, celebrated our V-day on the 16th. As I am home AND at least to my way of thinking, this holiday is really about and guy pampering his significant other, I had the time to organize a nice dinner.

So here is the menu for our Valentine's Day dinner.

Salad Course--

Seared Scallops on a bed of micro-greens and served with hand-made croutons and dressed with a balsamic reduction and parmesano reggiano.




Main Course--

Garlic Fettucini tossed with jumbo shrimp, julienned asparagus, capers and tomatoes.



Dessert--

Chocolate cheesecake with raspberry sauce

++++++++++

It is all about using fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch. Taking the time to do it that way shows that you care and cooking it with love always makes the food taste better than anything you'll get in a restaurant. And whether or not you can cook as well as the chef at your favorite bistro, I guarantee your efforts will be appreciated.

Renaming of our Yacht

Everyone knows that renaming your boat will bring nothing but bad luck and make your boating experience something that you will want to forget. But what do you do when you find the boat of your dreams and its name, written across the stern or some other very public location, is just not going to work for you. My example, is the name, well, as you will read, I can't actually mention the name. Now I am absolutely sure that the previous owner had a wonderful reason for giving her that name. In fact he did explain that it combined names of family members. Clever!

Our Bayliner 3218 Motor Yacht getting a bath and showing the face of the bridge with the old name on it.



But there was just no way the name was going to work as the name of our boat. It didn't take long for us to come up with a re-name for our boat--The Key of Sea. Since last August when we finally took ownership of our boat, we have been waiting to make that change. But what with all the other more critical needs aboard we just didn't get around to removing the old name and having the new one put on. Then the winter weather came along and it just wasn't the right time.



That all changed this weekend. And today, the last of the name removal took place. I removed the old vinyl lettering on Saturday. Today, I went back to get the residual adhesive taken off. I took along rubbing alcohol and paint thinner which I had heard would remove the adhesive. Turns out the rubbing alcohol wouldn't touch this particular adhesive. But the paint thinner loosened it up no problem. A razor blade helped scrape the stuff right up into little globs that wiped right up. So at this moment our boat sits nameless in the harbor waiting for the new name to be put on later in the week.

As to renaming a boat, it is, according to tradition, not something to be done lightly. At least not if age-old superstitions are to be believed. Since the beginning of time, sailors have sworn that there are unlucky ships and that the unluckiest ships of all are those who have defied the gods and changed their names. So, is there a way to change a name and not incur the wrath of the gods of the sea?

Apparently there is and it is quite an undertaking. It requires getting rid of all reference to the old name from any documents, records, anywhere it might be possibly be found. Then there are the incantations which must be recited in the correct order and in the correct compass direction. Finally, a bottle of reasonably good champagne must be poured into the sea in each compass direction in a prescribed way, leaving only a glass for the captain and first mate. A separate bottle of the bubbly is required if serving any guests.

The ceremony is quite complex and must be followed exactly or it is all for not. Or, you could ignore the entire thing and just get on with things. Personally I'd rather pour the champagne, toast my friends and cast off all lines!

Stay tuned and a post with a photo of the new name will get added to this entry when it gets applied.

Bridge VHF Radio Update

As of today we have added a hand-held VHF radio to our arsenal of electronics on board The Key of Sea. After exploring the options for replacing the aging radio currently residing on our bridge, we finally made what I think will be a good choice.

The options were interesting. After replacing the radio at the main helm I had several options related to that radio for a comm station on the bridge. An extension cable could be run to the bridge where several hand-held options could have been purchased that would plug in and run off the main unit below. Sounded good and with the power and capabilities of that radio, extending its use to the bridge seemed like a good idea. But what if the main radio were to loose its power? Obviously the interconnectedness of the comm system would cause the entire system to go down rendering the boat unable to communicate with the outside world. Not good!

Enter new option. After conferring with a boating friend, who is not only the Commodore of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary, but also owns a Bayliner 32, about potential options, I decided to look into a hand-held stand alone radio that is portable, could be taken anywhere on board or even into the dinghy if needed. In other words, a radio that would offer more options.

My choice was an ICOM IC-M34 with 5-watts of power. This was a concern initially since I knew our main radio had 25-watts of power. Would the hand-held have the power to do the job? It was pointed out that we'd be using the new hand-held primarily on the fly bridge which is 15 feet above sea level. This fact adds to the line of sight broadcast of the radio and increase its range if only a bit. At any rate we don't plan to be out of sight of land so this radio should function just fine for our purposes. The fact that it also floats, though we don't intend to drop it in water, is nevertheless a nice feature.

So with this purchase our absolute needs for electronics aboard are fulfilled. Next, a bit at a time, we'll replace the depth finder and eventually the radar, though it is still working very well. So no rush and that means other items needing attention can be the focus of our limited budget. We need to save towards a Fall 2010 haul out that will include a repaint of the bottom and most likely reseating and or replacement of transponders and other through hulls. A big summer ahead!