It has been awhile since my last post, reflecting the work cycle of a marine technician. Once the season ended, so ended (temporarily) my mandatory work period. Prior to departure, each crew member put in for 'winter work' dates, that are extremely flexible, I had mentioned early December and late January as potential dates for myself. After a month living with my girlfriend and her family (October) and two and one half months at home, observing family and food-filled holidays, hiking and lazing around, I called up the Captain. I wanted to go back to the Lake Guardian, it was time to collect paychecks again. Time to do something during the day.
My move was to be a long term one, so I decided to pack more things than before, with the idea of setting up in an apartment somewhere between Milwaukee and Chicago for extended time spent laid up. I broke up the drive out to Milwaukee into three sections: Maine to Happy Valley, PA to Carmel, IN to Milwaukee. I stayed with a good friend from home who is studying at State College and was living right outside of where Jerry Sandusky was being tried (interesting) in PA and then stayed what ended up being two nights in Carmel, due to weather, before moving on to Milwaukee.
I arrived on January 21 to a ship under construction. The galley and the lounge were under construction (I won't tell you what the price of this construction is for your own health), leaving the Captain in charge of providing meals for the crew each night. 5 nights a week, we dine out on the town, giving me much more knowledge of the restaurant scene in the city (one should hope!) and the other two nights, dinner is done on the Webber grill, even if it is only 10 degrees F outside (though it has been a mild winter).
As far as work is concerned, it is much more laid back (for now) than the summer. We do small projects related to organization, book keeping and maintenance. I have spend much of the last month updating inventories and learning my way around the ship's network of servers, a tangled web of computers than communicate with the different instruments in the summer and general files that have accumulated and been littered throughout. The big project, that has just recently commenced is the construction of two benthic sleds. We are looking to upgrade the models that have been left at the bottom of the lakes with a simple design set atop 3 old Mercury snowmobile skis. It should be a good task for the coming days.
I have finally been to some Milwaukee Admirals games. I arrived in Milwaukee too late last year to see any games, so it is a nice thing to do every once in a while. The Bradley Center is a cozy venue to watch a sporting event, which makes it appealing. It was pretty neat to see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson's jerseys hanging from the rafters as I took in my first two games.
To close today's post, some good news. My fantastic girlfriend and I recently secured an apartment in Zion, IL (about 50 minutes from Milwaukee, near the WI/IL border) and plan to move in on March 15th. We are excited for this event and are sure it will result in some added stressors and relaxors.
(Note: I actually brought a camera this year. I plan on using it in conjunction with this blog. Hopefully, any enhancements are well received.)
My move was to be a long term one, so I decided to pack more things than before, with the idea of setting up in an apartment somewhere between Milwaukee and Chicago for extended time spent laid up. I broke up the drive out to Milwaukee into three sections: Maine to Happy Valley, PA to Carmel, IN to Milwaukee. I stayed with a good friend from home who is studying at State College and was living right outside of where Jerry Sandusky was being tried (interesting) in PA and then stayed what ended up being two nights in Carmel, due to weather, before moving on to Milwaukee.
I arrived on January 21 to a ship under construction. The galley and the lounge were under construction (I won't tell you what the price of this construction is for your own health), leaving the Captain in charge of providing meals for the crew each night. 5 nights a week, we dine out on the town, giving me much more knowledge of the restaurant scene in the city (one should hope!) and the other two nights, dinner is done on the Webber grill, even if it is only 10 degrees F outside (though it has been a mild winter).
As far as work is concerned, it is much more laid back (for now) than the summer. We do small projects related to organization, book keeping and maintenance. I have spend much of the last month updating inventories and learning my way around the ship's network of servers, a tangled web of computers than communicate with the different instruments in the summer and general files that have accumulated and been littered throughout. The big project, that has just recently commenced is the construction of two benthic sleds. We are looking to upgrade the models that have been left at the bottom of the lakes with a simple design set atop 3 old Mercury snowmobile skis. It should be a good task for the coming days.
I have finally been to some Milwaukee Admirals games. I arrived in Milwaukee too late last year to see any games, so it is a nice thing to do every once in a while. The Bradley Center is a cozy venue to watch a sporting event, which makes it appealing. It was pretty neat to see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson's jerseys hanging from the rafters as I took in my first two games.
Retired Bucks Jerseys
View of the Milwaukee Admirals v. San Antonio rampage
from the $3 General Admission Seats
To close today's post, some good news. My fantastic girlfriend and I recently secured an apartment in Zion, IL (about 50 minutes from Milwaukee, near the WI/IL border) and plan to move in on March 15th. We are excited for this event and are sure it will result in some added stressors and relaxors.
(Note: I actually brought a camera this year. I plan on using it in conjunction with this blog. Hopefully, any enhancements are well received.)
No comments:
Post a Comment