Philly!

The girl and I decided to head to Philadelphia for the weekend so I could sample a Philly Cheesesteak - and yes it certainly tastes better in this city! What else is there to do in this famous city? Well I licked the Liberty Bell (it tastes like pennies), ran up the steps to the museum (that was made famous in the first Rocky movie) and crossed the finish line of the triathlon. No, seriously I did. In fact I crossed it before any other competitor did. The race wasn't being run until the next day but you get my point here. Anyway, if you have the means I highly recommend coming to check it out.

A Scotsman, Irishman and an Aussie walk into a bar...

...and proceed to get a a little drunk over a game of football. The Aussie gets back to his hotel around 2am and starts packing for his 6am flight.

Melo time

Some of you who may know that my favourite basketball player is Kobe Bryant. He has often been compared as the modern day Michael Jordan (the blogs light up with this heated discussion), and regardless of peoples opinion, is one of the greatest players at the end of the game. It's all about the 'clutch' baskets he scores in the final minute of the fourth quarter. When the game is on the line, it becomes Kobe time. He demands the ball, an isolation and dominates his defender with a long range drive, pull up jumper or fade away. It's incredible to watch and his reputation has become folklore. If the Lakers are close at the end of a game, there is always a chance, however fleeting, that they can win.

Now I have become a fan of the Knicks it has become rather obvious who the heir apparent is in the trail of Kobe's greatness. The Knicks very own superstar, Carmelo Anthony. He had started a reputation of his own over in the hills of Denver. I had seen these so called heroics against meagre opposition in a meaningless game and was less then impressed. Then he decided (or I should say 'forced') to take his talents to South Beach the Big Apple. Noticeably at the start of the season Amare Stoudemire was the man in the fourth quarter (he was the NBA's highest point scorer in the 4th quarter of games for the first half of the season) but after his injuries and the firing departure of Coach D'Antoni, it fell on Melo's shoulders to reign supreme once again. With Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin (New York's newly crowned saviour) on the sidelines Melo became a force to be reckoned with. None more so than yesterday's game at the Garden when he showed a vocal Sunday afternoon crowd why this was his city, his town:

That shot was legen.....wait for it......(I hope you're not lactose intolerent)......dary! This sent the game into overtime - my very first one at the Garden (it's awesome when you get another 5 minutes of basketball absolutely free)! And just to prove this was no fluke he decided to repeat the brilliance at the end of OT as well:

Un-freaking believable! With a hand (literally) in his face he pulls up for the most exciting basketball moment I have been there in person to witness. The crowd went up as one, chills ran up my spine into a buzz of ecstasy. That's what you hope for all season. Be a witness to one of those moments that you will tell everyone who will listen about but can never quite explain. This confirmed my belief that Melo could fill the mantle once owned by my hero, and in the fourth quarter of any Knicks game, I'll be setting my watch to Melo time.

Technologically Boozing

The Girl and I hit D.C. for the weekend to take in the sights (most of the National Mall was being dug up), museums (the section of the Smithsonian that housed the movie memorabilia like Dorothy's ruby slippers was closed) and other attractions (the International Spy museum had a queue that spanned half the block and appropriately avoided). As such we booked ourselves into a nice tapas style restaurant called, Jaleo.

The food was outstanding but the novelty had to be the iPad 2 they provided you with to browse and purchase the wine. It was a very cool thing to do and ranked this particular establishment a gold star for trendy venues in D.C.

A Blast from the Past

On my way to St. Johns (Newfoundland) for a couple of work meetings, I was diverted to Halifax to spend the night. As frustrating as this was it allowed me to catch up with an old friend I had sorely missed...

Unfortunately my flight was boarding which meant there was very little time to knock 'STU' off his mantle at the top of the high scores but rest assured if there is ever a delay again, I will be losing a few Canadian quarters in pursuit of the top rung. "Quicksand, fumes, toxic waste, its all ours!"

The room full of dirt

If you ever happen to stroll along Wooster St just below Houston make sure you take the time to check out the bizarre room known as 'The Earth Room". I do not know what is symbolizes or represents. All I know is that the display has been there since the year I was born. That in itself is remarkable.
(Walter De Maria, The New York Earth Room, 1977 - 141 Wooster St)

Any Given Sunday

It's that time of the year when the "World" (that is the USA) goes wild for the end of the football season - the Superbowl. We went to watch it in our old local bar (Character's) as we knew it would be a great atmosphere and we would be more than well looked after. The NY Giants had been undefeated since the middle of the season when they had a fairly poor 6-5 record. It was a rematch of the last time the Giants had won the Superbowl in 2007 and again they were largely the underdogs. Putting that aside they came through with an awesome display of grit and determination to beat the NE Patriots and crown themselves as 'World Champions'.

The crazy thing about the day was the number of women who had come to the bar to enjoy the celebrations - not to watch the football but the halftime ads. It was hilarious how they gawked at the screen when they commenced, laughed at the smallest idea of a pun and invigoratingly clapped when the commercial was over. It will never cease to amaze how over the top excited the US gets over an advertisement.

Don't go in the Water!

During rather long stretches on board the boat, we have to watch some tedious operations that the ROV's have to do. Surveys are especially bad and I don't know how the pilots keep themselves awake during it. Occasionally during these ops there is a "WTF?" wake up moment that you ponder to yourself, "did I just see what I think I saw?" Luckily I can look back through the data for confirmation. Here in all it's glory is the Great White Shark we saw off the coast of Norway. I was sceptical at first because the water temperature here is less than the ideal 12 - 18 degrees you usually find them in, and to the best of my knowledge Norwegians are not good eating. That being said these sharks do enjoy eating whales which is part of the Noggie diet, so it is possible this taste is what brings them to the colder waters.

Anyway I sent the photo through to one of the Gelflings who is a somewhat expert on all matters shark related and after an initial response of it being a bronze whaler (knowledgeably quoting: "blamed for most worldwide attacks on people"), he took a second examination and came to the conclusion that in fact it was a Great White Shark. This impresses me greatly as I was barely able to distinguish that this aquatic creature was probably a shark.

This becomes my coolest ROV sighting from this boat, replacing the seal sighting in the North Sea in August.

A Not so Merry Christmas

I knew all year that it was my turn to do the Christmas / New Year swing on the vessel. There were a few hopeful windows that glimmered throughout the second half of the year that would have kept me at home. A vessel transit, bad weather and some time spent in the St. Johns office all dangled the carrot in front of me but my boss offshore had the final say in putting me on a flight to Norway the week before Christmas.

Unbeknownst to me, the girl had arranged my present before I left in the form of a vicious stomach bug that had me stuck on the floor of the hotel for a couple of days. Thankfully it occurred the day after my travel and the boat was delayed sufficiently to allow the worst to pass.

I eventually made it on board and the whole crew dug in to wait on the weather. If we had of been offshore working like expected, the Christmas may have passed a bit quicker but being stuck in port with nothing to do really bites the big one.

Eventually that Christmas night I dragged a few of the crew downtown for some well deserved pints - and when I say downtown I mean a small quaint watering hole that services the likes of a Norwegian country town. Never the less we had our share and headed back to the boat.

The weather was howling (wind up to 100 knots) by the time we arrived back and we ascended the gangway. A few minutes after we had arrived the boat got blown off the quayside and the gangway ended up hanging into the water. This created a problem for the remaining guys who hadn't been on the ride home in the first bus, who now had to go find a hotel to stay the night.

By the next morning we had secured the gangway and were keeping station by running 4 of our thrusters. The guys rejoined the vessel and were looking much worse then we had anticipated. Unfortunately for me I had gotten in the first bus and missed the unplanned activities...

The New Board

Possibly trying to relive the days of my youth I purchased a new board to cruise the streets of NYC. It is quite a good ride - smooth, stable and a nice turning circle.

Unfortunately my body does not respond to the steely coordination of my teen years and I wasn't the most graceful of travellers through the streets. I did however maintain my dignity by remaining on the board.

Although the next day my muscles let me know the age I was gaining with some excessive soreness to areas I hadn't even known existed.

I ventured down to a local funiture store this morning to pick up a nice bench seat we had decided to purchase on the weekend. Figuring I would be able to skate both there and home with the added difficulty I was soon proven wrong with my lack of coordination.

A nice old lady stopped my dead in the street and begged me to walk the rest of the way, ensuring I wouldn't "damage the lovely antique chair."

It's safe to say I made it home a little later than expected but the chair was in one piece.