Hurricane Survival Tips

As you may have heard, tropical Armageddon has descended upon the Ocean State. Over the last week I have collected these pearls of wisdom that I will now pass along to you all for the next big storm we get.

1. Make awesome friends. Thanks to Charlie from New England Yacht Rigging for replacing the lines on the mooring. There is no way in hell I could have done that on my own. Also? Thank you to Sean and Heidi for helping me get everything off the deck. Thank you to Todd for showing up just as Sean, Heidi and I finished.

2. Don’t buy bottled water. Bottle your own at home before the power goes out.

3. Make sure that when your husband leaves for his business trip, just 2 days before the storm is due to hit, that he sets up the generator. Also, take notes about how to run it, and write legibly—this way you won’t have to try to read an instructions like “Turn on the herglef switch, and plug in the kuzogg wire.”

4. Quit your job 2 days before the storm hits.

5. The day before the storm fly out to Vegas and join your husband on his business trip an entire country width away from the storm.

6. Don’t bother checking the news reports from back home. You’re too busy having fun in Vegas anyway.

I hope that I have helped you to be more prepared for the next big storm. In the meantime, The Strip awaits.

Summer Sailing Vacation: Saturday August 6, 2011

We had planned to leave on Friday. But it didn’t happen that way. We met up in Warwick after work to get some Mexican food and to run some last pre-trip errands.

“How about,” Todd yawned, “we get up tomorrow morning and head to Vermont. I am just too damn tired after this week.”

I was tired too. I had been preparing to be out for the 2 week trip for nearly a month. I made sure that all the tasks that needed to be finished were assigned to appropriate people, and that they knew how to do them. I did the ones I could do before I left. I worked late. So did Todd.

On Saturday morning I wrote the list of errands on the bathroom mirror in dry erase marker. Clean car, pack, clean out truck, get drugs from CVS, Todd’s haircut. We packed Todd’s Nissan Rogue for the ride to Vermont. Normally we would do a one way car rental, so we wouldn’t have to leave a car that we’d end up picking up later on. But there weren’t any car rental places willing to rent us an SUV and leave it in the booming metropolis of Rutland, VT. I called all of them; no dice. We relented to Todd not having his car, and we packed it with inches to spare with Todd’s Tetris-like abilities. I swear he could fit an elephant in a barrel.

A 4 hour drive ends up to be very long when you stop a lot. We left the truck at New England Yacht Rigging, which is near our home mooring in East Greenwich. We said goodbye to our friends Maggie and Charlie at the shop, and headed north.

“Trust me. I am a technology consultant.” I’ve heard Todd say something like that so many times. He says it like doctors on TV do. In the car Todd was logged in and working while I drove. But his Verizon hot spot wasn’t working properly and he decided to stop and get another one at a store in South Hadley, MA. Then we stood in the parking lot for awhile after while he helped a complete stranger configure his Droid.

The good karma he racked up in that parking lot paid off and was a great start to what would be one of the most amazing trips we’d ever sailed.

I don't know how we'd get around without the onboard beagle navigation system.

I’m Still Here

In April I wrote a blog entry. And then a week went by and I didn’t write anything else. And then another week went by, and then a month, and then another month. Before I knew it, 4 months went by.

But it’s not like I didn’t have anything to say. I just kinda went dry, that’s all. I continued to have adventures, but life stuff happened too. I’ve been on 2 trips this summer, and am just back from sailing Sabine back from Vermont.

What happened was I just got tired. Work has been kicking me in the ass lately, and when I get home the last thing I want to do is to think. I have been working on the book during lunch hours, and trying like hell to sell it. But the man’s been wearing me down lately. I need to find a way to keep that from happening. I don’t know how yet. So far I’ve come up with ideas that involve purchasing large quantities of lottery tickets. I think to formulate a more certain plan.

But I am still here. And I will write about this summer’s adventures. I promise.