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.

Barista in training

The girl bought me a fabulous coffee machine for my b'day. Luckily it has a beginners setting for me to start on. The dual wall filter means no adjusting the coffee bean grind size, pressures or timing. It's push the button and go. This is very good as my first few attempts at using the standard filter have been rather unsuccessful, not undrinkable mind you, just very inconsistent. Now I am making 2 or 3 espressos each day it shouldn't take me too long to perfect the art.

Don't leave me hanging!

How could I not re-post this classic shot of the Gelfling? Kitted out in his Kobe suit waiting for the sharks to come and high five him...

Making your way in the world today...

The parentals were over visiting so the girl and I decided to take them to Boston for the weekend. It was quite a good trip where we saw the majority of the sites along the "Freedom Trail". Essentially this is a walk around Boston taking in all of the sites that had been involved with the US separating from England. The pride in these "Patriots" certainly demonstrates the countries passion for the US involvement in the past wars, and puts a bit of an explanation on why the US have the largest military budget in the world - by a long margin.

But putting aside these uninteresting facets of the city, there is also a lot more to be admired. The glorious harbour has been redeveloped into an exceptional attraction, as well as the Boston Garden (home to the Celtics and Bruins) which borders its edge.

The biggest excitement for me was visiting the bar, formerly known as the Bull & Finch, which now is named Cheers. I have fond memories of growing up with the show and although the humour was frequently above my maturity level, I had certainly appreciated the comical timings and subtlety from the actors portraying the humour. Looking at the episodes now it certainly has aged well.

After being seated in the back room and glancing over the menu, the Norm burger caught my attention. This was one of those burgers that was too big to fit into your mouth and then topped off with the fries, onion rings etc. Soon as our gathering had seen this on the menu, they all questioned whether I would be stepping up to the challenge. Not wanting to disappoint my fans I gracefully accepted. It's safe to say I gave the burger a good run for its money but the second it was placed in front of me it had me beat.

Another NYC Movie

I commenced my morning jog today and ran into an unusual scene for me (but certainly not an unusual scene for NYC) a block down the street. The road was littered with trucks, cameras and people setting up to film a movie. They were filming a man (who I didn't recognise) walking along the street as I ran passed (hopefully scoring myself a cameo).

When I returned they had moved closer to our apartment outside the PATH station (train that goes under the river to Jersey). After completing my jog I wandered back down to find out that the movie was called "Gods Behaving Badly," starring Christopher Walken, Sharon Stone and Alicia Silverstone.
I spoke to one of the many randoms trying to make themselves look important on set and found out Alicia Silverstone would be in the scene. I hung around as long as I could to catch a glimpse before the serious looking cop politely asked me to move along. My sense of humour abandoned me when I saw the automatic weapon he was carrying.

Rugby World Cup - All over again!

Four years ago, the big worm and I embarked on a pilgrimage to France to follow the Rugby World Cup. It was 2 months of adventure and excitement that gave us memories we'll have forever. It was the first time I met the girl - a random bar in Montpelier where she captured my heart. Four years on and the girl and I are living together here in NYC.

Although the US has a team in the World Cup it doesn't seem as though the country has much time for it. It has a lot to do with the time difference I'm sure, but when has the IRB had any interest to capture newer markets at the expense of serving the core nations interests.

The major theme of France 2007 was the random places we found ourselves integrating with the locals and fellow rugby fans, usually into the small hours of the morning. With the exception of our location, NZ 2011 was no different. The games, served to us on a big screen via satellite, were shown in various bars in which rugby fans flocked to.

Getting home to bed after the sun comes up is another recurring them, although surfacing after lunch is more of a struggle 4 years later.