Rocking Chairs!

This past weekend saw my first time flying out of and back in to San Diego Int'l Airport. I was curious about the airport, especially as it is fairly small, and I've never seen anything remotely like a 747 fly in or out of it. I guess that the runways are a bit too short for a plane that size.

My first intimation that this was a different airport from those I've been in previously was when I was walking down the terminal to my gate, and there in one of the seating areas was...two rocking chairs. Two black, old-fashioned rocking chairs. Now I've been in a lot of airports, all over the country, and a few international airports, but never have I seen anything other than the standard segments of seating commonly found in terminals.

When I arrived back in SD, and I was heading out of the terminal I was greeted with a whole crowd of rocking chairs, positioned in such a way and place as to suggest that they were decoration, but anyone was welcome to sit in them. I grabbed a picture with my phone, just for proof.

I Painted A Mural

This is a thank you note to my friends for giving me a chance to run amok with paint on their walls. Well, to be fair it was a well planned session of running amok. But here it is.

Christmas

Why am I writing about Christmas? Why am I writing about it on the 9th of November? Because for a significant part of each day of my week, I am suddenly forced to face the part of Christmas I hate the most.

Now those who know me best know that in recent months I have found a new depth to my faith in God. And that hasn't changed despite my statement in the paragraph above. To me there are two Christmases. There's the one that I cherish deeply in my heart, the one that involves fireplaces and stockings, trees and decorations. It involves good food, and family getting together, possibly for the only time in the year. It involves faith, and the joy of knowing that I am celebrating the birthday of someone who means more to me than anyone or anything else in my life.

And then there's the Christmas that involves...money. I work in a store, with a company that cares deeply about extracting every single benefit possible out of the Christmas season. We even have a product that is sold in two different packages, but is exactly the same, only labeled differently so that people who don't wish to see or say the word "Christmas" don't have to. Just so that we can make more money. By no means do I say that we are the only company doing this. In fact I live not 15 minutes away from the best shopping experience in the San Diego county area, containing dozens of stores that would be furious to know that my company is probably doing better than theirs right now.

So last night I found myself at work, for the first time required not to wear the normal uniform, but instead a shirt printed specially for the occasion. It was a bad night. We were short staffed for a job that is hard when it is overstaffed, and none of us are happy about having to endure the store covered in red and white, and listening to 8 straight hours of Christmas music. I wore a jester's version of a Santa hat just to keep my sanity, because it was funny.

After some consideration on the matter, I realize that yes, this experience will drive me crazy, and I will undoubtedly hate the "Christmas Season" even more than usual, but I have come to the conclusion that this is an opportunity for me. Several times in the past few months, God has challenged me to talk to people to whom I would never normally talk to about faith. This is one of those moments. It is a reminder to cherish what is so precious about this holiday, even in November, even before Thanksgiving. It is an opportunity to be able to remind others of this as well, even if they are of a different faith, or less inclined to faith themselves. Maybe I don't have to actually say anything, but instead show them. Show them that despite the relentless and shameless commercialism that we have applied ourselves to promote, we can still pass on the true spirit of Christmas. Even in November.

Surprise Sail Day 2 11.04.07

Today started off way too early for my comfort. Daylight savings threw me all off, especially as I didn't want to take a chance being late for crew. I woke up around 4:30am, thinking it was 5:30am....one hour too early. Once I realized it, there was no point to going back to sleep.

The Harbor was very quiet, very still and very grey. Fog hid most of the view of the harbor, and at first we were a little nervous about what awaited us as we went out. We've seen as many as three giant cruise ships come in on a morning like this one. The fog cleared enough, however, for us to motor out through the harbor. We continued out to sea, leaving the land behind us in the gloom.

Once the wind picked up we set sails, and attempted time and again to tack the ship, but lacking the speed, weight forward and the right wind speeds, we simply couldn't do it. The fog burned off, the sun came out, and we continued to relax and enjoy ourselves. The director of the Museum, Dr. Ashley, hailed us over the radio, and eventually showed up on his sailboat, the Cassiopeia, with his family. They kept us company for a while, along with a number of other sailboats in the area. At some point during the day we spotted a full regatta going on closer to the coast, and there were comments about going in to break up their party.

Orders were given to start another tacking evolution, and after some tense minutes, with the bow of the ship slowly swinging around, the sails finally caught the right wind and the bow came all the way about. We did it!! Cheers went up all over the ship, for the one time we were able to tack our ship.

The afternoon crept up on us, after all the fun we'd be having, and the captain ordered us to douse sails, and furl the main and the fore courses. We started in to the harbor, and as we motored in, we saw in the distance two ships, almost twins, coming out to meet us. The Californian, and our guest of the week, the Lynx. I was excited because I hadn't seen the Lynx in months and months, not since the last time she left the Newport Harbor. The two revenue cutters came charging down the channel towards us, and as they passed us we could see their gunports open and ready.



Unfortunately for them, some ambitious little catamaran got between us and them and they were unable to fire. We delt out insults and catcalls to accompany their failed manueuvers, as they came about. They regrouped and came at us again, but by this time we were far ahead. The captain shut off the motors and we set tops'ls and t'gallants and continued to sail into the harbor. The Lynx eventually caught up to us, flanking us on the starboard side and commenced in round after round of shots. We jeered and called, and gave them the Monty Python salute, but unfortunately that was all we could do, having no working guns on board. They fell off and came about, coming across our stern and very neatly shot out our rudder (or would have if they'd been using real shot) and proceeded to join back up with the Californian.

This continued all the way to the Museum, by which time we'd doused and furled most of our sails and made up the decks in preparation of threading the needle and parking the ship. Once docked and everything stowed, we took our leave of our wonderful ship. All of us were exhausted and sore, but happy with the day's events, and looking foward to next weekend. We are now ready to accompany the Star of India out on her anniversary next weekend, along with the Californian and the Pilot, and a host of Hornblower ships. Our crew will be honored to host a group of US Navy sailors from the USS Constitution on Saturday, and a delegation of Coasties for both days of the sail.

This is it. Next weekend is what we've been training for for so long.

Pictures of today's events are to be viewed here.

Cheers, mate!