This week, RG, the founding partner at my firm made an announcement via email before he headed off to Italy for vacation: we were all to return to full time starting Monday, November 15th. A wave of mixed emotions flowed through the office; on one hand, returning to full time work meant a return to a full time paycheck, but three day weekends every week have been really enjoyable. This all started the Thursday before the July 4th weekend in 2009, and for the most part, I'm glad it's over.
For one, it means there is stability in my work. In the last 16 months, moral in the office has been up and down. The lowest point was when the re-hired a very senior staff person for a project that ended up stagnating, and they've kept him around. There have been many times where I have had nothing to do, and worried how long that could continue. Recently this has changed, as I'm becoming busy having three projects to work on; it was getting to the point where I was going to have to say something because I knew to do my job, I was going to have to work a full week anyway. Glad I didn't have to deal with that conversation with my bosses.
I've looked back at my blog post from July 6th, 2009, talking about how I was going to save money. I did stop shopping at Whole Foods for a while, but since my digestive issues have returned, I went back. I found that sticking to the 365 WF generic brand was about as much as shopping at the local market in my neighborhood anyway. The forbearance on my loans ended four months ago. Over the last 16 months, my parents have been helping me pay them anyway, they did not want me to take a break from paying them since the interest would continue to accumulate (I now owe them for what they've paid). Surprisingly, since I was on a limited budget, I was able to plan ways to save money. I will need to continue how I've thought about savings when I do have the extra money, I've estimated it will be an increase of about $1000 post taxes. Most of that will need to go towards my 401K, which I have not contributed to for the last 16 months. Luckily, my firm never cut out their contribution to our accounts, so something has been going in.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Sea time
This year marked my five year anniversary on Pioneer, and I decided it was time to count up my sea time. It also has been the year I was promoted to relief mate, and I did not want to see that advance as the apex of my sailing career; I needed to look forward to what was next. Over two days I poured through the Pioneer logs dating back to 2005, and did some accounting of my time so far. I haven't tallied it up yet, but I'm hoping that by the end of next season, I'll be able to have the 180 days for a mate's license.
As I was looking through the logs, I wanted to tie dates to certain memories that I have on the boat. There is a certain tedium of looking through five years of logs, endless pages of different handwriting, some good, some really atrocious. I had to find some way of entertaining myself.
July 16, 2005: My first training sail. I had found the boat through a co-worker at Rafael Vinoly Architects, Elaine. She had organized a charter for our office at the end of a substantial deadline, and I went along. I don't remember the exact date of the charter, but it was in June. One of the crew members kept talking to Elaine and I, he mostly trying to convince me that I just had to come and volunteer. I had never sailed before, thought I was completely unqualified, but figured I'd give it a try. I was looking for something else to do outside of work; at the time, I felt that work was all I talked about. I guess that's what happens when you're somewhere 10-12 hours a day.
September 17, 2005: the Mayor's Cup. I was not on this sail, but it's become legendary - t-shirts have been made in tribute. The incident report was in the log, and it was interesting to read an account of the collision. Briefly, it goes something like this: "Schooner Adirondack collides into starboard side of vessel abeam race boat. No serious injuries, 2 stantions bent, lifelines parted."
May 27th, 2006: The first time I was on the boat with Barbee and Tom, two people who have become very important to me. In looking back, I remember each of them being on the boat, but my memory doesn't have them together.
August 13, 2006: My first day back on the boat in eight weeks. I had sprained my ankle in June of that year playing soccer, and really screwed it up trying to play tennis the next day. The doctor had told me that I really needed to stay off of it for six weeks, and that turned into eight weeks away from Pioneer. After the sail, a couple of us went to Fresh Salt. It was the first day I'd spent a lot of time on my feet, my ankle was sore, and Tommy, the mate, offered to give me a foot massage. Barbee was also on this sail, and I gave him the impression that I was a cold person. I didn't know him very well, and have always been reserved around people (especially men) that I don't know.
2007 Season: This was the year that I started sailing more regularly, and Barbee became my mentor. Lots of memories, lots of training - too much to list here. This was also the season I became more confident about my skills.
May 24, 2008: During the week before, Magno, the chief mate at the time, called and asked if I could be deckhand for one of the evening sails that week. I told him that I wasn't a deckhand yet, and he told me that something needed to be done about that. On this training sail a couple of days later, Fielding and Captain Glenn Mariano ran me ragged, having me complete almost the entire deckhand checklist in one sail. After the sail, Magno asked how things went, and whether I was interested in the position. It's what I had been working towards, so of course I said yes. I was physically spent, and went to Fresh Salt and had a huge pile of pancakes, completely content.
May 30, 2008: My first sail as a deckhand. Captain Malcolm Martin was at the helm for that sail.
September 12, 2009: There had been a lot of talk of when I was going to be promoted to mate as I was almost done with my checklist. On this sail, Tom was mate, and decided to give me the opportunity to be acting mate for the sail.
August 11, 2010: Captain Richard Dorfman had called me on August 2nd to offer me the promotion to mate, and this was my first sail in that position. My first sail was scheduled to be on Friday the 13th, but the mate on the 11th was sick, so I filled in.
As I was looking through the logs, I wanted to tie dates to certain memories that I have on the boat. There is a certain tedium of looking through five years of logs, endless pages of different handwriting, some good, some really atrocious. I had to find some way of entertaining myself.
July 16, 2005: My first training sail. I had found the boat through a co-worker at Rafael Vinoly Architects, Elaine. She had organized a charter for our office at the end of a substantial deadline, and I went along. I don't remember the exact date of the charter, but it was in June. One of the crew members kept talking to Elaine and I, he mostly trying to convince me that I just had to come and volunteer. I had never sailed before, thought I was completely unqualified, but figured I'd give it a try. I was looking for something else to do outside of work; at the time, I felt that work was all I talked about. I guess that's what happens when you're somewhere 10-12 hours a day.
September 17, 2005: the Mayor's Cup. I was not on this sail, but it's become legendary - t-shirts have been made in tribute. The incident report was in the log, and it was interesting to read an account of the collision. Briefly, it goes something like this: "Schooner Adirondack collides into starboard side of vessel abeam race boat. No serious injuries, 2 stantions bent, lifelines parted."
May 27th, 2006: The first time I was on the boat with Barbee and Tom, two people who have become very important to me. In looking back, I remember each of them being on the boat, but my memory doesn't have them together.
August 13, 2006: My first day back on the boat in eight weeks. I had sprained my ankle in June of that year playing soccer, and really screwed it up trying to play tennis the next day. The doctor had told me that I really needed to stay off of it for six weeks, and that turned into eight weeks away from Pioneer. After the sail, a couple of us went to Fresh Salt. It was the first day I'd spent a lot of time on my feet, my ankle was sore, and Tommy, the mate, offered to give me a foot massage. Barbee was also on this sail, and I gave him the impression that I was a cold person. I didn't know him very well, and have always been reserved around people (especially men) that I don't know.
2007 Season: This was the year that I started sailing more regularly, and Barbee became my mentor. Lots of memories, lots of training - too much to list here. This was also the season I became more confident about my skills.
May 24, 2008: During the week before, Magno, the chief mate at the time, called and asked if I could be deckhand for one of the evening sails that week. I told him that I wasn't a deckhand yet, and he told me that something needed to be done about that. On this training sail a couple of days later, Fielding and Captain Glenn Mariano ran me ragged, having me complete almost the entire deckhand checklist in one sail. After the sail, Magno asked how things went, and whether I was interested in the position. It's what I had been working towards, so of course I said yes. I was physically spent, and went to Fresh Salt and had a huge pile of pancakes, completely content.
May 30, 2008: My first sail as a deckhand. Captain Malcolm Martin was at the helm for that sail.
September 12, 2009: There had been a lot of talk of when I was going to be promoted to mate as I was almost done with my checklist. On this sail, Tom was mate, and decided to give me the opportunity to be acting mate for the sail.
August 11, 2010: Captain Richard Dorfman had called me on August 2nd to offer me the promotion to mate, and this was my first sail in that position. My first sail was scheduled to be on Friday the 13th, but the mate on the 11th was sick, so I filled in.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
arghh, dating
Or not. For some reason, I've gotten a lot of hits on my OK Cupid profile without doing much about it. I keep telling myself I should just take it down, it's been nearly two years, and hasn't done much but provide me with some entertaining blog posts. Some of the latest:
Christopher: Yep. 'Dangerboy' was back, probably with more tattoos than ever. A year after his last disappearance, he sent me a message over the OKC website. I should have known it was suspect; he has (or had) my email and number, and could have contacted me by other means. It took us two weeks to get together, mostly due to my reluctance to let this guy back in although I was dying of curiosity as to why he was contacting me AGAIN. After disappearing twice with only lame excuses of 'I was swamped with work' or the classic 'I was really sick.' I was half expecting, 'The dog ate my phone.' We got together for a drink, he talked about his latest schemes to create the next greatest social networking site, but in the meantime he was working in advertising on Madison Avenue for a firm that has had a mention on Mad Men. It was fun, I was still suspicious. I had to go to Syracuse for work the following week, but he said we should get together when I got back. When I returned, I was busy with other things, got back to the OKC site a couple of days later to send him a message. Shock of all shocks - his profile had been removed! I'm now convinced he's had a girlfriend all this time that he'd occasionally get bored with, and play around on OKC. She found out, and made him take down his page. Finally. I'm sure she puts up with a lot of grief from him.
Old desperate guy in his 50's: With a nickname of 'Has2CU', what can one really expect? This maybe:
"I asked the computer to find me the most amazing girl in the world and added all the things I’m looking for.
The computer came up with way to many people… so I added that the person should be able to be my best friend and that we should be able to talk about anything in trust and respect. The computer took about a week and came up with still to many people…
So I added that when I’m not near her my heart will be sad and when I look into her eyes I will know I have found my soul mate and the person to spend the rest of my life with.
The computer took two weeks and came up with you"
Made my skin crawl, in a way. Definitely made me wonder how stupid he thinks women on this site are since it was obviously some sort of sappy generic message he wrote for the masses in hopes someone would think he was actually talking to them.
Just today: Two guys in their early 30's IM'd me on the site. Didn't find out right away; brand new Android smart phone has the OKC app, and it's on all the time. One told me I was 'hot' and really wanted to get my IM address outside the site, and the other called me 'sweetie.' Really? Is this all younger men have? It's pathetic.
We'll see how much more patience I have.
Christopher: Yep. 'Dangerboy' was back, probably with more tattoos than ever. A year after his last disappearance, he sent me a message over the OKC website. I should have known it was suspect; he has (or had) my email and number, and could have contacted me by other means. It took us two weeks to get together, mostly due to my reluctance to let this guy back in although I was dying of curiosity as to why he was contacting me AGAIN. After disappearing twice with only lame excuses of 'I was swamped with work' or the classic 'I was really sick.' I was half expecting, 'The dog ate my phone.' We got together for a drink, he talked about his latest schemes to create the next greatest social networking site, but in the meantime he was working in advertising on Madison Avenue for a firm that has had a mention on Mad Men. It was fun, I was still suspicious. I had to go to Syracuse for work the following week, but he said we should get together when I got back. When I returned, I was busy with other things, got back to the OKC site a couple of days later to send him a message. Shock of all shocks - his profile had been removed! I'm now convinced he's had a girlfriend all this time that he'd occasionally get bored with, and play around on OKC. She found out, and made him take down his page. Finally. I'm sure she puts up with a lot of grief from him.
Old desperate guy in his 50's: With a nickname of 'Has2CU', what can one really expect? This maybe:
"I asked the computer to find me the most amazing girl in the world and added all the things I’m looking for.
The computer came up with way to many people… so I added that the person should be able to be my best friend and that we should be able to talk about anything in trust and respect. The computer took about a week and came up with still to many people…
So I added that when I’m not near her my heart will be sad and when I look into her eyes I will know I have found my soul mate and the person to spend the rest of my life with.
The computer took two weeks and came up with you"
Made my skin crawl, in a way. Definitely made me wonder how stupid he thinks women on this site are since it was obviously some sort of sappy generic message he wrote for the masses in hopes someone would think he was actually talking to them.
Just today: Two guys in their early 30's IM'd me on the site. Didn't find out right away; brand new Android smart phone has the OKC app, and it's on all the time. One told me I was 'hot' and really wanted to get my IM address outside the site, and the other called me 'sweetie.' Really? Is this all younger men have? It's pathetic.
We'll see how much more patience I have.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)