F you and the shit storm you came in on...

Ok so today really wasn't that bad. Alot of chaos but that is "ops normal". Haha. Today started off leaving Opa Locka with the jam packed van and heading to the storage container. I no sooner got into the van and the XO calls he to tell me the delivery truck is there waiting to get in. Not much I could do except to tell him I will be there as soon as I could. Half an hour later I show up to the gate. I go to unlock it and find out the lock has been changed. That's news to everyone. Nice to know that no one knew the combo, even the Comsta (the location of the storage). I finally get in after a shit ton of phone calls. The trucker unloads and leaves. Leaving us with no pallet jack. Great. We also set off the alarm and had to make more phone calls to get the code for that.

We get the alarm all settled and borrow a pallet jack from the Comsta and do our business. We can't find half the shit we came to get. In the mean time the boat had a fire in the galley. Craziness all around. As I am making my way back with the van, I am almost at to Key West when I hear a loud thumping. Great. What did I break now? I pull over and investigate. Everything looks fine until I look at the windshield. The rubber seal is halfway off. I put it back and a few ways down the road it comes out again. I pull back over and grab some rope and tie some knots around the seal and rig it down in the door jam. I stopped that sucker from flapping in the wind.



Typical BM solution. Whatever it worked. After everything is unloaded they told me I could go back to the hotel. Thank God they didn't make me stand duty. I don't  think I could have handled it tonight. On my to the hotel, I swing by Office Max to pick up my order. They only had one of the things I ordered. They said someone already picked up the other stuff. Um thats news to me seeing as though I placed the order and no one told me they picked it up. Whatever I will figure it out tomorrow.

As I am leaving the parking lot I see one of the guys with some cops outside one if the other stores.I pull up to see if he needs any help. He tells me "Nope. I just found my bike that was stolen from the hotel." Holy shit. He was trying to get a picture that he had before to prove it was his. This was the second time his bike had been stolen. He just happened to need a razor and saw it sitting outside another store. Damn. Crazy day for everyone.

There is never a dull moment for the Etheridge crew. I'm glad to be back. I feel calmer amongest the craziness. I guess it just reassures that I am not the only one.

Maybe I'm just naive...

I don't know why I thought I would have some down time in Key West. Most of my free time is spent either sleeping or in a study/sign off sessions. I have so much to do in such a short amount of time. I have to get JOOD qualified, but I am already a week behind everyone. My first week on the boat was spent doing chart corrections. I may have everything signed off, but I don't know the systems as well as I should. I don't want to be the only 2nd class that isn't qualified. I wanted to spend this weelend studying and going over the boats systems, but I had to come back to Miami to drive the van. It is packed full of things that need to go back into storage and grab things that we do need from storage.

It is nice being home, but I find myself being lonely. I don't have my truck so I am pretty much limited to what I can do. But on the other hand I don't really want to do anything. I feel my depression creeping back up on me. I don't have any motivation anymore. I am getting very over weight and there is nothing I can do about it. I can eat half way decent, but that is it. I have no motivation to workout. I am burnt out. I know what I need to do, but I just can't. I hate feeling this way.

On a lighter note...I have been able to take the small boat out. That instantly brightens my mood. I will say that I have been quite the bitch lately. I am not my happy self. I just need to find my release before this depression takes anymore hold over me. I almost would rather be in the hectic chaos just so I don't have time to think.

I know this post is VERY different than my last. Trust me when I say I wish it was different. I have had so much happen to me that I could write about, but this is what comes from my fingers. I should write about how we finally got to sleep off the boat for a couple of weeks. We are staying at the Travel Lodge in Key West while contractors are working all hours on the boat. Or how my BFF on the boat is leaving because she is pregnant. I am happy for her, but she is really the only on I can hang out with and get away from everyone. I am going to miss her. Thankfully she is still going to be in Miami so I can still hang out with her outside of work.

I can also write about how I have been so busy that I missed a few great things outside of work. I missed my cousin/sister's wedding. She is technically my cousin by marriage, but we are so much alike that people think we are sisters. I told her that I would try my hardest to make it to her wedding, but in all honesty I forgot until the day before. By that time it was too late to see if I could get off of duty to come. I also forgot about Fathers Day. Talk about being a shitty daughter. I didn't remember until the nigh before. I didn't send any cards. Thankfully I have the greatest father and step-father. They both knew I am so busy and they both said that they didn't need a card. The fact that I called them and wished them a happy Father's day was enough for them. I love them both so much for that! I felt so crappy. I am glad that they understand and they are both so proud of me.

I guess that the best thing I can do right now is keep on keeping on. Things will get better I know. It has to, I extended for another year! Haha. I didn't want to do all of this hard work, finally get qualified, and know everything about the boat and then just leave. It would make all this pointless. I just made 2nd not long ago and I have alot to learn still. I would be doing myself a mis-justice if I left too soon. So I will just "buck up" and make the most out of everything.

I hope that the next time I get the opportunity to write it will be more happier. I thank you all for standing by me. It really means alot.

And.....Breath....

Holy crap that was the longest week ever! I worked myself to the bone ever day. The earliest I managed to get to bed was midnight. I had a lot to do in just a very short amount of time. I did it though.

We had drills this week as well as a group of people here to watch and grade us on how well the cutter is running operations wise. Since it is hurricane season, the command wanted to get the "ok" from the big wigs for us to get underway in case we need to avoid a storm. Normally we wouldn't get the opportunity to get underway for another couple weeks. We just took delivery of the cutter not long ago. The whole crew had a lot to do. We are still loading stuff on and figuring out where it goes and getting things in some sort of order.

I worked almost non stop to get all of my things in order. The command was impressed on how I got all of my charts corrected along with the rest of my duties. I just did the best I could. I gave it all until I hit that wall and couldn't do it anymore. After alot of sweat and a little blood, we are all set to get underway if needed.

We still have alot to do. I still have ALOT of things to learn. One of my jobs during drills is being an "Investigator". That means I pretty much have to learn my boat from bow to stern in a small amount of time. Haha go figure.

Today I spent most of my time in the rack. I am worn out. My feet have finally stopped hurting and I am finally relaxing. Whew. I think most of the late nights are over for a while. I wish I could find the words to explain all of the things I got to do and see. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures. I haven't had my phone on me because I have been sweating so much. I also don't usually have internet access. I'm bumming off of one of the guy's right now. Since this week should be alittle slower I will try posting from my phone.

Sunset off the stern of the cutter, Key West Florida

Garbled mess...

I can tell I was tired yesterday when I wrote my post. It didn't really flow as good as I intended. Oh well. Haha. I have been working myself to the bone. My feet all the way up to my middle back has been screaming at me. I have been on my feet almost non-stop. I'm just not use to standing and running around so much. Plus I need new insoles in my boost so that doesn't help much either.

I had a couple of days off this weekend and had to drive all the way back up to Miami to get some things I left at home. Of course it was stuff that I needed to have. I actually just wanted to stay on the boat and finish some of my work. I made it home with no issues. Hopefully I can make it back down to Key West this time. I should. My truck is a good ole girl and the belt thing was just something that happened.

So far the time in Key West has been good. Other than me being extremely busy, I do get some down time ever so often. One night me and another girl, Amanda (the same girl I roomed with in Louisiana) went to an Irish Pub and managed to drink quite a bit. I ended up walking off with two of their pint glasses. Haha. My cups now. Haha.

(I would insert the picture of them here, but they are in someone elses car right now.

 I still got my shit all over the place.)

Another time we went out and found a pool hall and spent most of the evening there. On the way back Amanda served into another lane to avoid a massive puddle in her lane. It had been downpouring most of the day so the roads were covered in water. Anyway she passed a cop car that already had someone pulled over. She slowed down and the next thing we know is that we see blue lights behind us! The cop had mentioned that she was swerving and didn't slow down far enough and I flicked a cigarette out the window which is littering. Amanda and I are like "Are you serious?" We explained that we swerved to dodge a puddle cause earlier in the day we soaked someone. He said "ah maybe the guy needed a bath". Oh my god I about died! I couldn't hold in the laughter anymore and just got into this outrageous giggle fit directed at the cop. I had Amanda in tears and the cop was trying so hard not to laugh. It was just funny. We didn't really do anything wrong and the cop was just like, yeah you guys are good.

Well....I guess I better get loaded up and back on the road. I have to get back to Key West because I got so much I got to do. It just sucks that there is no public internet so it's difficult to get on here. I can always do it on my phone, but it would take my forever. I will figure something out. I don't get signal down in my stateroom either so I have to go in a common area to use the phone or internet. Most of what I do is nobodys business but mine. I will figure something out. I always do.

Until the next time!

My Busy Hiatus...

Whew! I am back, at this for this post. To say I have been busy would be an understatement. We finally got our Cutter and it's been hella crazy since!

I left Saturday morning to head to Key West. I almost didn't make it. About 71 miles to where I needed to end, my truck broke down! I have a 2011 Toyota Tacoma with less than 30,000 miles so that should not happen. I started off the morning by leaving Miami at 4am. My truck broke just outside of Islamorada around 6am.

Not the best start to the morning. I was an hour ahead of the next person. He did pick me up along the way so I guess thats good.

That's a belt wrapped around my fan

Of course there is a reason why I left as early as I did. I had to be at the Sector before the cutter got there because it was my job to take pictures of it coming in. It was a big deal. So I was stressed that that I wouldn't make it.

So I left my poor baby on the side of the road and hitched a ride to Key West. I spent most of the day between figuring out how I was going to get my truck to Key West and working my ass off on the boat. I did make it to the pier in time to take some awesome pictures.

During the progression of the day, I was able to make some calls about my truck. It was looking like I would have to pay around $400 to get my truck towed to the Toyota dealership in Key West. I wanted to get it there because it had to be under warranty and I didn't know how much damaged it had. Thankfully one of the guys I work with has AAA so he was able to get my truck towed for free. The only bad thing was that we had to wait until the end of the work day (around 7 pm) to drive over an hour back to my truck to meet the tow truck driver. Then of course we had to follow him all the way back. After all was said and done and after dropping the truck off at the dealership it was midnight before we got back to the boat.

Of course it was Memorial Day weekend so the dealership was closed until Tuesday. They were able to look at it and determine that it was only the serpentine belt and no other damage was done. I could have the truck back that day and pay for an aftermarket part or wait till Friday and have warranty pay for it. I didn't really need my truck till this weekend so warranty it was. 

I got so lucky and I've very thankful. That could have cost me ALOT of money, but only ended up paying with a little stress and less sleep. I'll take that over paying a ton of money! I am so glad I have the people that are around me. I got a lift to Key West, free towing, storage in their vehicles for my crap and a ride here and there around town. But most of all I am thankful for their support.

Sunset of the back of the boat in Key West

Ok. So there is alot more of this past weeks events to post ,but honestly I can't keep my eyes open anymore. I will try to post more in the morning while I can.

More to come:

• Achy breaky legs
• My cups now.
• No signal, no internet
• Giggle fit at a police officer
• So much to do with so little time
• I'm gonna be famous (at least picture wise)
• Home for less than 24 hours.