I'm enjoying updating this when I can, but I seem to spending way more time over at facebook... good or bad it is what it is...
Feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook....
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=514419664
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Death by Storm-Petrel...
WHOA...
THAT WAS CLOSE.....
Ok, so maybe I'm being a little bit overly dramatic....
One of the cool things about being out here is seeing Storm-Petrel birds.
They are small birds that are often out here doing their thing... You can read more below...
Anyway, I was out for a walk on the deck and I saw one flying around.. They kind of look like bats because of the patern that they fly in.. its quite neat to see... anyway, I was watching this bird and its going off to port, and back... up to the Radar tower... back down over to port again... all this time I am on the Heli-deck...
So the bird makes a hard turn back towards the boat and right at me...
it turned off when it was only a couple of meters away.. I was sure it was going to hit me....And these little suckers are FAST....
Anyway, it missed me.. but it was cool...
It looked black and yellow to be, but it must have been the night sky, because apparently they are only black and white...
Here is what I found out about them online....
The Storm-petrels
While storm-petrels are almost unknown to people on shore, sailors have had superstitions about the hoards of these small birds for centuries. These seabirds spend their days feeding far out on the ocean. Usually they only approach land under cover of darkness. They are small, starling-sized seabirds with sooty brown plumage and a white stripe on the tail. They have a tube-shaped nose and clawed, webbed feet which aid them in digging their small burrows in the grass of offshore islands. A storm-petrel produced a rich oil from its seafood diet to feed its single chick. Many small islands off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador are honey-combed with tens of thousands of their burrows The common name of "Cary chick" or "Mother Cary's chickens" or "Mother Cary's children" is believed to be derived from an ancient Norse tale about a spirit that moved on the water and terrorized Viking sailors. And old Irish legend holds that the birds are the souls of lost sailors. The mysterious songs, oily odour, and unfortunate habit of crashing by the thousands onto ships at sea provide some modern understanding of these ancient superstitions.
The Wilson's storm-petrel is slightly smaller than its close relative, the fork-tailed Leach's storm-petrel. The Wilson's storm-petrel flies up from the southern hemisphere by the millions to feed off the province's coast. Both storm-petrels are among the most abundant birds in the world.
The wings, feathers, and bones of storm-petrels are often found along headlands and in other areas where gulls land to eat. Storm-petrels are seldom seen except far out at sea and at night around their many colonies. Occasionally summer or fall storms will drive them close to the shore during daylight hours, but it is a lucky birdwatcher who catches a glimpse of this secretive seabird.
Here is an artists interpretation of the Storm-Petrel.
THAT WAS CLOSE.....
Ok, so maybe I'm being a little bit overly dramatic....
One of the cool things about being out here is seeing Storm-Petrel birds.
They are small birds that are often out here doing their thing... You can read more below...
Anyway, I was out for a walk on the deck and I saw one flying around.. They kind of look like bats because of the patern that they fly in.. its quite neat to see... anyway, I was watching this bird and its going off to port, and back... up to the Radar tower... back down over to port again... all this time I am on the Heli-deck...
So the bird makes a hard turn back towards the boat and right at me...
it turned off when it was only a couple of meters away.. I was sure it was going to hit me....And these little suckers are FAST....
Anyway, it missed me.. but it was cool...
It looked black and yellow to be, but it must have been the night sky, because apparently they are only black and white...
Here is what I found out about them online....
The Storm-petrels
While storm-petrels are almost unknown to people on shore, sailors have had superstitions about the hoards of these small birds for centuries. These seabirds spend their days feeding far out on the ocean. Usually they only approach land under cover of darkness. They are small, starling-sized seabirds with sooty brown plumage and a white stripe on the tail. They have a tube-shaped nose and clawed, webbed feet which aid them in digging their small burrows in the grass of offshore islands. A storm-petrel produced a rich oil from its seafood diet to feed its single chick. Many small islands off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador are honey-combed with tens of thousands of their burrows The common name of "Cary chick" or "Mother Cary's chickens" or "Mother Cary's children" is believed to be derived from an ancient Norse tale about a spirit that moved on the water and terrorized Viking sailors. And old Irish legend holds that the birds are the souls of lost sailors. The mysterious songs, oily odour, and unfortunate habit of crashing by the thousands onto ships at sea provide some modern understanding of these ancient superstitions.
The Wilson's storm-petrel is slightly smaller than its close relative, the fork-tailed Leach's storm-petrel. The Wilson's storm-petrel flies up from the southern hemisphere by the millions to feed off the province's coast. Both storm-petrels are among the most abundant birds in the world.
The wings, feathers, and bones of storm-petrels are often found along headlands and in other areas where gulls land to eat. Storm-petrels are seldom seen except far out at sea and at night around their many colonies. Occasionally summer or fall storms will drive them close to the shore during daylight hours, but it is a lucky birdwatcher who catches a glimpse of this secretive seabird.
Here is an artists interpretation of the Storm-Petrel.
Perseids Meteor Shower & A lost boat?
Originally posted Monday, Aug 13
------------------------------------
Last night Kevin and I spent some time outside watching the Perseids meteor shower. It was quite spectacular. We saw over 30 meteors and some of them were extremely bright. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and just looking at the stars was quite awesome. It can be very spooky out there... lots of boat noises... engine sounds and darkness to keep things interesting. It didn't take too long for my eyes to adjust to the night sky and the stars just got brighter and brighter..
I set my alarm for 3:30am and went to bed.. the show was quite spectacular at midnight so I thought it would be even better at the peak time... 3 to 4 am. to be honest I was expecting more, and I think I saw more at midnight than I did at 4am ... but I did see one spectacular meteor that moved quite slowly and left a trail across the entire sky... quite exciting...
You can see more tonight if you missed it last night.. Try and get away from the city if you can... better view that way....
For those of you excitedly waiting for the 27th of August when Earth and Mars will have the closest approach in recorded history.... apparently its a hoax... its been going on since 2003... In 2003 the event was real... but its been repeated every year in hoax emails... not gonna happen....
I was excited about it, but when I did some digging found out it was fake.
Thanks Mr. Internet, you're so helpful...
....
More boat news...
Apparently there is a small fishing boat or recreational boat about 4 kms to our Port. Its just adrift and is not replying to our radio calls. I went outside to see it.. It is quite small, when I saw the Captain he seemed to think it might be a "Weekend Warrior" out for a cruise... but if thats the case, they are pretty far out for that kind of thing. The Captain is looking into it.. trying to find out if it might be lost or if the boat has gone missing.. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting comes of it.
....
I'll add some pictures I took..
Hope you enjoy...
Picture 1
Picture 2
------------------------------------
Last night Kevin and I spent some time outside watching the Perseids meteor shower. It was quite spectacular. We saw over 30 meteors and some of them were extremely bright. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and just looking at the stars was quite awesome. It can be very spooky out there... lots of boat noises... engine sounds and darkness to keep things interesting. It didn't take too long for my eyes to adjust to the night sky and the stars just got brighter and brighter..
I set my alarm for 3:30am and went to bed.. the show was quite spectacular at midnight so I thought it would be even better at the peak time... 3 to 4 am. to be honest I was expecting more, and I think I saw more at midnight than I did at 4am ... but I did see one spectacular meteor that moved quite slowly and left a trail across the entire sky... quite exciting...
You can see more tonight if you missed it last night.. Try and get away from the city if you can... better view that way....
For those of you excitedly waiting for the 27th of August when Earth and Mars will have the closest approach in recorded history.... apparently its a hoax... its been going on since 2003... In 2003 the event was real... but its been repeated every year in hoax emails... not gonna happen....
I was excited about it, but when I did some digging found out it was fake.
Thanks Mr. Internet, you're so helpful...
....
More boat news...
Apparently there is a small fishing boat or recreational boat about 4 kms to our Port. Its just adrift and is not replying to our radio calls. I went outside to see it.. It is quite small, when I saw the Captain he seemed to think it might be a "Weekend Warrior" out for a cruise... but if thats the case, they are pretty far out for that kind of thing. The Captain is looking into it.. trying to find out if it might be lost or if the boat has gone missing.. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting comes of it.
....
I'll add some pictures I took..
Hope you enjoy...
Picture 1
Picture 2
Comics have the power to bring people together...
Originally published Sunday, Aug 12
-----------------------------------
So I was sitting at my desk today when one of the russian guys came over to me.... Up until that very moment I had not heard this Russian guy.. Igor... say a single word to anyone on board. I mean I am sure he had, but he sure doesn't talk much and doesn't speak much english at all.... (There are currently 3 Russians on board... one left when we went back to Halifax..)
So he sits down, and in very broken english begins to tell me how when his children were young he couldn't go to see... so he took a job with Marvel comics in Russia doing the lettering in Spiderman and Silver Surfer comics... how friggin cool is that.. He had obviously seen me reading my comics and thought I might be interested to know... I have to admit, at first I didn't quite understand what he was saying and thought he said he used to draw the comics... but that didn't make much sense since I am sure they probably use the same illustrations and just translate the text.
So when I asked him if he could draw Spiderman for me... I finally understood that he just did the lettering... still pretty neat. I gave a couple of my comics away to one of the other Russian guys, Alex. He asked me for one to give to his daughter so I gave him a couple that I thought she might like... apparently she reads and knows more english than Alex does.
Today has been a good day...
I went outside to read for an hour or so... its beautiful..
And I am excited to see the meteor shower tonight. I need to read up about it..but I'll take some pictures. Right now there is barely a cloud in the sky, so if it stays like this it should be quite the show...
And BEST OF ALL...
NO FUCKING CIRCLES TODAY...
(Knock on wood)
I can't remember if I wrote this in my last post or not, but we have had a lot of breakdowns with equipment, and each time something breaks down we need to stop working, fix the equipment while circling back... this takes about 3 hours everytime something breaks.. and it was happening a lot....
But today has been great, we should be finished this line at around 5 AM.. at which point we will pull up the streamers (I offered to help take off the sippican cables that got tangled in the streamers... its causing noise in the record.. plus it gets me some time working on the back deck... and I can sleep after that because we have to transit to another line which will take a few hours.. if not longer... )
ok, what else....
Bah.. thats enough for now...
Peace out....
Any questions?
-----------------------------------
So I was sitting at my desk today when one of the russian guys came over to me.... Up until that very moment I had not heard this Russian guy.. Igor... say a single word to anyone on board. I mean I am sure he had, but he sure doesn't talk much and doesn't speak much english at all.... (There are currently 3 Russians on board... one left when we went back to Halifax..)
So he sits down, and in very broken english begins to tell me how when his children were young he couldn't go to see... so he took a job with Marvel comics in Russia doing the lettering in Spiderman and Silver Surfer comics... how friggin cool is that.. He had obviously seen me reading my comics and thought I might be interested to know... I have to admit, at first I didn't quite understand what he was saying and thought he said he used to draw the comics... but that didn't make much sense since I am sure they probably use the same illustrations and just translate the text.
So when I asked him if he could draw Spiderman for me... I finally understood that he just did the lettering... still pretty neat. I gave a couple of my comics away to one of the other Russian guys, Alex. He asked me for one to give to his daughter so I gave him a couple that I thought she might like... apparently she reads and knows more english than Alex does.
Today has been a good day...
I went outside to read for an hour or so... its beautiful..
And I am excited to see the meteor shower tonight. I need to read up about it..but I'll take some pictures. Right now there is barely a cloud in the sky, so if it stays like this it should be quite the show...
And BEST OF ALL...
NO FUCKING CIRCLES TODAY...
(Knock on wood)
I can't remember if I wrote this in my last post or not, but we have had a lot of breakdowns with equipment, and each time something breaks down we need to stop working, fix the equipment while circling back... this takes about 3 hours everytime something breaks.. and it was happening a lot....
But today has been great, we should be finished this line at around 5 AM.. at which point we will pull up the streamers (I offered to help take off the sippican cables that got tangled in the streamers... its causing noise in the record.. plus it gets me some time working on the back deck... and I can sleep after that because we have to transit to another line which will take a few hours.. if not longer... )
ok, what else....
Bah.. thats enough for now...
Peace out....
Any questions?
Ice Cream....
Originally posted August 10th
-----------------------------
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I got the last of all the Ice Cream on ship....
so now there are no more cookies... no more ice cream...
Maybe now I can actually start losing some weight on this trip!
Although we did have turnovers and fresh made donuts today...
Its figgin' crazy...
I'm really looking forward to getting home...
I want to go swimming....it really really sucks being surrounded by water and not being able to go for a swim....
I want to play street hockey...
I want to play my bass.....
I want to go to Montreal for Osheaga...
So many things I want to do when I get back...
-----------------------------
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I got the last of all the Ice Cream on ship....
so now there are no more cookies... no more ice cream...
Maybe now I can actually start losing some weight on this trip!
Although we did have turnovers and fresh made donuts today...
Its figgin' crazy...
I'm really looking forward to getting home...
I want to go swimming....it really really sucks being surrounded by water and not being able to go for a swim....
I want to play street hockey...
I want to play my bass.....
I want to go to Montreal for Osheaga...
So many things I want to do when I get back...
Line GSC0713 is Cursed....
Quick note..
I haven't been updating this site lately, but I have been posting my blogs on my facebook page..
Feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook....
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=514419664
Originally posted August 10th.
-------------------------------------
Yeah after debating this in my head for a few seconds I'm going to go with ketchup bottle... minus the ketchup... and the ketchup bottle would have my bed in it.. along with my other stuff.. and right outside the ketchup bottle there would be this fire extinguisher that would constantly knock on the entrance to the ketchup bottle. Only this was a real fire extinguisher and the ketchup bottle is really my cabin... Do you follow? The whole thing comes full circle...This is what lack of quality sleep can get you people...
I also had a weird dream last night.. That I was back in Montreal... and we we're being invaded by aliens. It had a very 'War of the Worlds' feel to it.. The original movie, not the Tom Cruise version... except there were hummers and crazy military helicopters and some soldiers put my Mom in some kind of container because she wouldn't stop talking.. HA.. I didn't mind for some reason... I'm a bad son... I remember watching the original War of the Worlds on TV when I was a kid.. and it scared the pants off me...
So as I said earlier, we had a weather day yesterday and didn't get much work done... which sucks because it means I will be out here a bit longer.. I'm hoping to be back around the 24th.... keeping my fingers crossed. We are also having problems with the streamers.. so not much work today yet either... I'm running out of comics to read.. so it looks like I'll be reading novels soon.
We've been watching Battlestar Gallactica. So far we have watched the mini series and the first 5 episodes of season 1. Pretty darn good I must say.. better than I expected... I was never a fan of the original series. Those fracking Cylons are gonna pay!!!That's all for now folks... as you were...
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Sloooaaaaan
Well, it was mentioned to me on my return to Halifax that my notes have been epic and hilarious... or hilariously epic.. or something like that...I just hope some of you enjoy them...I'll try and make all posts as epic as I can...
So it was nice to spend a couple of days back in Halifax. Tropical Storm Chantal forced us back to the safe confines of Halifax harbour for a couple of days and I was able to sleep in my own bed for a couple of nights.
Not only that, but I got to see Sloan again.. and finally IN HALIFAX. I've seen them close to 15 times now, but that elusive Halifax show is finally crossed off the list. SLOOOAAAAANNNNN F%@*ing rocks...I think they are one of the most underrated bands around... The show was fantastic as usual... but I was a little bit... uhm... well I did a fair share of drinking last night... so I don't really remember parts... but what I remember was excellent...
I have to pick up their latest album, I think its the only one I don't have....
I got to see my cousins as well!... I was pretty happy about that...I didn't think I was going to see them at all, but we got to hang out Wednesday night before they headed to Cape Breton. I also ran in to some of them yesterday at Perks. So again, I was happy to be able to spend some time with them.
ANYWAY...
So we are headed back out to the Abyssal plain and should be there around 10am Sunday.. we will be out there for about 20 more days.
Pavel has left back to Russia and we got two new Russian guys. Shitty thing is their luggage got lost on the way here. So when they got to the boat all they had was the clothes they had on. So the Captain gave them 400$ to go to Walmart and buy some clothes.. He will get reinbursed of course, but I hope the airline makes it up to these guys somehow.... thats pretty damn shitty if you ask me. I've been told it happens frequently with flights out of Russia. I've had luggage lost before, so hopefully they will get theirs back... too bad it won't be until we come back to Halifax.
I found my battery charger for my digital camera... so I will add more photos again soon.
So it was nice to spend a couple of days back in Halifax. Tropical Storm Chantal forced us back to the safe confines of Halifax harbour for a couple of days and I was able to sleep in my own bed for a couple of nights.
Not only that, but I got to see Sloan again.. and finally IN HALIFAX. I've seen them close to 15 times now, but that elusive Halifax show is finally crossed off the list. SLOOOAAAAANNNNN F%@*ing rocks...I think they are one of the most underrated bands around... The show was fantastic as usual... but I was a little bit... uhm... well I did a fair share of drinking last night... so I don't really remember parts... but what I remember was excellent...
I have to pick up their latest album, I think its the only one I don't have....
I got to see my cousins as well!... I was pretty happy about that...I didn't think I was going to see them at all, but we got to hang out Wednesday night before they headed to Cape Breton. I also ran in to some of them yesterday at Perks. So again, I was happy to be able to spend some time with them.
ANYWAY...
So we are headed back out to the Abyssal plain and should be there around 10am Sunday.. we will be out there for about 20 more days.
Pavel has left back to Russia and we got two new Russian guys. Shitty thing is their luggage got lost on the way here. So when they got to the boat all they had was the clothes they had on. So the Captain gave them 400$ to go to Walmart and buy some clothes.. He will get reinbursed of course, but I hope the airline makes it up to these guys somehow.... thats pretty damn shitty if you ask me. I've been told it happens frequently with flights out of Russia. I've had luggage lost before, so hopefully they will get theirs back... too bad it won't be until we come back to Halifax.
I found my battery charger for my digital camera... so I will add more photos again soon.
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