Third Year of the Blog

1/3/2001

Belated Seasons Greetings,

Hope you had a great holiday season, and a fun New Years Eve.  The weather here has been amazing- 80s the last few days.  Not like a regular Winter at all, is it. 

The big news is the new web camera Santa brought me for Christmas.  It's all hooked up and broadcasting the views out my window at work.   You can see the harbor, the boats floating in their slips, and passing seagulls.   Check out the links on the Beach and Harborcam page.  The streaming video one will only be on when there is a beautiful sunset lighting up the sky.  I only get 4 hours of streaming video a month for free, and at this point I can't afford to pay for time!

Somebody asked a question today on alt.sailing.asa about whether he should keep his good job he hates or go down to the Caribbean and take a job doing what he loves for half the money.  It really got me thinking about how tragic it is that so few of us get the choice, or realize we have a choice, to do something we really want to do with our limited time here on the planet.  Sure, big money is great, but what good is it when you're dead?  Personally I feel like I've had a pretty good time doing that work thing, by and large.  Never made too much dough, but had a good time.  Now if Social Security doesn't run out, maybe I'll be able to afford to retire one day and enjoy my twilight years doing a little chartering.

Did I tell you I got my Captains license?  Well, not quite yet, but real close.  I passed the test anyway.  The paperwork part is a bear, though, and I still have to take first aid and CPR classes.  In a month or so I'll have it, finally.  The captains class was given by the Maritime Institute out of San Diego, and they presented a two week brain scorcher of a class at Avalon Harbor, Catalina.  The setting was beautiful, but man what a bunch of studying.  I didn't think I had that much space up in the old noggin, or enough functioning brain cells to file it all away, but somehow it all worked.  Anyway, soon you'll be able to call me "Captain Mike" and not just "Webcaptain Mike"

Fair breeze and following seas,

Mike