Unexpected Moment

Been out to sea for a few weeks and when I arrived home early today around 4am Gareth greeted me unexpectedly at the door. He was in white boxers and a white t-shirt and his hair stood up on one side with that bed head look and his eyes were very sleepy. I stood in my dirty ship clothes, sweaty and smelling like fish and other ocean odors.

At first glance it wasn't a very romantic moment, but when he took my bag out of my hand and set in on the floor, pulled me close to him and hugged me tight whispering to me, "I've missed you", it couldn't have been more perfect if he had lit candles and had champagne waiting for me.

The last few weeks at sea I would think of him whenever I closed my eyes to sleep holding my pillow or blanket tight wishing it was him I was holding. Now that moment was finally here. I put my arms around him, letting my head rest on his shoulder, in part because I was exhausted, but mostly because it felt good to be home and be in his arms once again. We stood there for a minute not saying a word, just enjoying the closeness as our two cats circled us, rubbing against our legs and meowing. It's moments like this that make life worth living.

New Season Update

Although I miss Gareth and my cats, life at sea has been great for the most part this season. Working with some new crew and we're still adjusting to each other. There are some that aren't very gay friendly and make crude remarks and jokes. I try to avoid them on my off hours and have been spending a lot of time in my bunk reading, listening to music, or watching shows I downloaded.

But we've done a lot of cool projects and the upgraded computer systems are fun to use. There is even some eye candy on the ship this season. A married guy in his mid twenties, brown hair, really cute and a really nice person. It's fun to watch the girls on the ship melt when he is around them. They don't even realize how they act around him which is why I find it so amusing. They toss their hair, nod in agreement, laugh at almost anything he says. It's quite amusing.

I've had the hiccups for fifteen minutes now and its getting on my nerves.

Where Is Spring?

Hug Someone Today

Jimmy Fallon QR Code Hidden Videos

While Steven Colbert, Jimmy Fallons BFFSM, and Jimmy and Taylor Hicks sung the Friday song on last Friday's episode, one of Jimmys staff Seth Herzog held up a QR Code. That was a secret link to the video below where Jimmy thanks the fans for the money raised for donorschoose.org that helps children and schools.
But you'll notice he held up a different code in this video, which leads you to the video below.
Which leads too...
Love Jimmy he is the best!

Cooper Cronk

Drunk Kittie

Bismarck du Plessis

Another South African hottie.

I'll Hold Your Hand

Lesson Learned

Today I learned another life lesson. One that I knew in the back of my mind that the outcome wouldn't be good. Still, the little bad voice in my brain overruled the sensible good voice once again.

It all began when Gareth and I decided to do some cleaning today. He decided to rake some leaves outside while I cleaned up the kitchen. All was going well until I loaded the dishwasher with dishes and found that we had no dishwasher soap left. My hair and t-shirt were wet with sweat and all I wanted to do was finish the chore, get a shower and rest for the evening. As I pondered what to do I looked at the regular dishwashing liquid and thought, hmmm.....

Now most of you that used a dishwasher before must be thinking, no you didn't. But yes, I did. I thought a little drop of this won't hurt anything, even though a faint voice in the back of my head was trying to shout this won't be good.



Deciding my chore was almost done, I took two cans of Coke out of the cooler and went out back to see Gareth and give him a refreshment and rub in the fact that I was done with my chore and was going to get a shower and start to enjoy my evening. As we stood outside bantering back and forth, I noticed one of my cats sitting at the entrance of the kitchen, his head bobbing back and forth and up and down at something in the kitchen.


Making an excuse I went inside to the kitchen and at this point I could almost hear the footsteps of the little bad voice running to the back of my head yelling "You should have known better." and the good voice now yelling loudly, "Oh No!"



As I rounded the corner I saw two things. My cat staring at me with a WTF look on his face and a floor full or water and soap suds oozing from the dishwasher. I quickly turned it off and it took a moment before the water and suds stopped oozing out onto the floor.


Gareth had just done the laundry the day before, so I couldn't grab a bunch of towels and use to soak it up, so I grabbed two rolls of papertowels from the closet and started soaking it up before the water could go under the appliances and counters and as they got soaked, I threw them in the sink. I got the mop and started to clean up the water that I now contained in the middle of the floor.



After about half an hour I got it all cleaned up, threw the papertowel in the trash and decided I better go buy some dishwasher liquid and some paper towels and cat treat to keep him quiet. At this point I was so stressed out that I just changed shirts, put a baseball cap on and went to the discount store and bought what I needed.


I thought all would end well until I got a call while in the car on the way home. It was Gareth who asked me if I had something to tell him? Turns out I forgot to clean out the suds that were in the dishwasher itself and when Gareth opened the door to put the dishes away for me, he was greeted with water running out onto the kitchen floor and soap suds filling the dishwasher. I also found out that unless you let the dishwasher run through its cycles, it doesn't drain the water.


My choices now are to decide if I'm stupid and didn't know any better or I knew better, but did it anyway because I'm an idiot. Either way, its not looking good for me.


Still being the optimist that I am, Gareth has kicked me out of the kitchen tonight and he is cooking dinner for us and doing the dishes. Guess life lessons aren't all bad and from the smell coming from the kitchen, they taste good too.

An Irish Kiss

Baby Gorilla Born at Dublin Zoo

Last Ride

Technicians and engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will begin detailed inspections of space shuttle Endeavour and its external fuel tank. They’ll look for any possible damage from severe storms that hit Kennedy on Wednesday and Thursday. Teams began an initial survey of the launch pad Friday, but weren’t able to do a thorough inspection because the pad was being used for a full launch dress rehearsal for Endeavour’s STS-134 mission called the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). Endeavour’s six astronauts successfully completed the simulated launch countdown and related safety training Friday afternoon and returned home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Friday’s initial pad inspection did not find anything obvious, other than the previously identified minor foam insulation damage on Endeavour’s external tank that was caused by a strong storm on Wednesday. Teams will install platforms Saturday morning that will allow for close up surveys, which will provide data to engineering reviews to confirm there are no other issues. Endeavour is targeted to launch to the International Space Station on April 19 at 7:48 p.m. EDT.

Search Continues for Missing Fishermen

Lobster fishermen Ronan Browne, 26 and David Gilsenan 41, are still missing off the east coast of Dublin after three days and are feared drowned. Their open-top, seventeen-foot boat was located overturned five miles south east of Clogherhead 24 hours later, twelve miles north from where debris from the boat was recovered.

The two men, who originate from Skerries, were close friends and experienced seamen and qualified marine engineers. Mr. Browne recently bought the boat which he named the Lady Linda after his wife who he married last September. Mr Gilsenan and his wife Suzanne have two young children, aged six and nine and live in the nearby village of Rush.

A large scale search, including an Irish Defense Force Casa aircraft and Irish Coast Guard S-61, an AW139 and a Garda EC-135 helicopters have been launched around the Skerries on Friday evening after the men failed to return home. It is understood that a small boat located off Clogherhead in Co Louth belonged to the men.

Hundreds of volunteers and fishermen joined the Coast Guard, the Gardai, and the RNLI lifeboat crews from Howth, Skerries, and Clogerhead joined together in a sea and coastline search after the alarm was raised at 6.30pm on Friday when a fisherman realized the pair had failed to return to the harbor. The search area stretches from Greenore in Co Louth to Ireland's Eye. A search of the coastline is also taking place.

“It’s very sad. Hope is fading and I have talked to the families, who are in the lifeboat station and who are very upset,” said Eugene Clonan, assistant director of the Irish Coast Guard service.

Bomb Kills Constable

Constable Ronan Kerr died as he left home for work on Saturday after setting off a bomb that had been hidden underneath his car. Kerr, a Catholic, only graduated from police training college three weeks ago. The explosion happened as the officer got into his car in the residential Highfield Close development, off the main Gortin Road.

The head of Northern Ireland's police force has described the death of a police constable killed in a car bomb as a "tragedy for Omagh" and paid tribute to the 25-year-old officer. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Chief Constable Matt Baggott said: "Tragedy has returned to Omagh with the loss of constable Ronan Kerr. Ronan was relatively new to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) but had proven himself a good and dedicated officer in the short time he was with us. He had joined the police because he was willing to stand up and serve his community. No words could adequately describe the shock and sense of loss being felt by his colleagues and the residents of Omagh."

In 1998, a car bomb killed 29 people in Omagh, one of the worst atrocities carried out by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Baggot said his "abhorrence and anger" at the waste of Kerr's life was shared by people in Omagh and across Northern Ireland and beyond. He described Kerr as "a modern-day hero".

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and former IRA commander, also condemned the killing and referring to Kerr, said: "someone who was prepared to give so much has now given their life in belief of the peace process".

Kerr is the second policeman to have been killed since the PSNI was formed in 2001. Baggott said: "The PSNI has some of the bravest men and women in the world among its number ... who put on their uniform and selflessly go out and do their duty for their community despite the ever present threat from misguided terrorist criminals."

Pat Noma, a friend of Kerr's mother Nuala, said she had recently been widowed and had depended on Kerr, an only child, for support. "I'm calling on all the mothers in Omagh to come out on her behalf. We've got to find these people; we've got to stop them from doing this," she said. "Nobody in Omagh wants this to happen and we've got to call everybody together to hand them over. We can't tolerate this. Omagh has suffered enough."

The killing is thought to have been carried out by dissident republicans but no group has yet claimed responsibility for the murder.

Happy Birthday Doris Day

Happy 88th Birthday.

Craig Burden

Craig Burden from South Africa. I noticed this piece of beef last year when I was in South Africa.

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