A bird and audio blogging

I want to add audio to my blog. Every morning when I walk my dog, I stop by this telephone pole where this bird is singing the most incredible songs. Nonstop, non repetitive and an amazing range of different sounds make this birdsong endlessly fascinating to hear.

Audio blogging is free, except for the cost of a long distance phone call, but I don't want to do it that way. I want to upload my edited audio file.

I've been looking. I need to learn more about web page design. I could "cheat" by cuttng and pasting sections of the template but I would rather learn from a pro.

Yesterday, I planned on calling in sick today, but last night my boss called with a problem I need to go fix first thing... The only time I ever called in sick was when my foot was broken.

I feel kind of restless, irritable and discontented today.

Ruff Day, Ended Ok!

This is how I felt throughout the day today...
Bla Bla Bla, it's a pointless game...

Went to work this morning, left at my usual time, about 10 till 7, got stuck in traffic as usual. I got about 1/3 of the way there and remembered some papers I needed to get my rebreather part out of customs without paying import duty. Cursing myself for being an IDIOT, I pulled a U turn and went back home. Ran in the house and discovered that the papers were in my pocket the whole time! So now, with firm knowledge of my idiothood, I got in the much worse traffic & got to work late.

I went to FedEx to get my package and they couldn't find it. After almost an hour of looking they figured it was at customs being held for inspection. So I went to customs. I had to wait in line to get the form, wait in line to turn it in, wait in the line to pay ($3) and wait in line to get my package out of the warehouse. By the time I got my unit it was 4:30, I was supposed to dive at 5.
When I shipped it and put the true value for customs on the package, also I had it insured. Also I filled out the papers so I wouldn't have to pay duty on it when it came back. When they shipped it back, they put $1 for the value. That cost discrepancy set off every red light and alarm customs had, so they wouldn't release my unit without inspecting it. If the manufacturer/repair guys had put the correct value, FedEx could have dropped it off and I would have had it at 2 instead of 4:30.
At first I had the attitude I would never make todays dive. My dive buddies called and I said I couldn't make it. I really wanted to go, so I called them back, said "I'm gonna make it! wait for me!" I blasted home, and put my rebreather together and did all the checks and made it there at 5:15ish and had a great dive. the sun was a little low and the light wasn't too good for pictures, but I took some anyway.
One is an angel fish, it REALLY isn't any good, because the picture was so dark I had to enhance it so you could see it and it has bad texture. But the fish sure did pose nice! The second is a fiddler crab in a tube sponge and I think it's OK. He's maybe 2 inches tall.
The dive did make me forget all my negative feelings towards the Customs Deptartment and the people who shipped my rebreather lid ECONOMY CLASS instead of overnight and screwed up the paperwork!

Poorly Photographed Angel Fish Posing Properly
(click to enlarge)

Fiddler Crab In Tube Sponge
(click to enlarge)


This is how I felt after the dive:
YEEEAAAAAAA!!!!
glad to be back in the water!!!

Hey Look! More than one picture at once!

There was a news article on the blogger dashboard page that said:

Blogger News

Blogger Images

We've just launched Blogger Images. So now you can include photos and images in your posts. Just click the new picture icon and you can upload an image from your computer or from the web. Try it out! – Biz [6/24/2005 12:07:00 PM]

so I tried it and it worked! It took a couple of tries though.

one picture is a picture of a mango, the other is a picture of me, using a green laser pointer as a light source with a long shutter speed.
Uh, the top one is me, the bottom one is the mango..

I am supposed to answer these questions asked by Lita and pass the torch on to someone else.

Total Volume of Music Files on My Computer:
You asked the wrong guy this question because I work at a radio station!

On my computer, I have 4,420 songs in MP3 format, which I ripped from my CDs or downloaded off the internet. I have a 20 Gig Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 MP3 player that I have had since 2002. I listen to it often. (I don't know what the big hoo haa is about Ipods, nothing new there, just good marketing)

Also, I have 12,192 songs in WAV format that is the Radio Cayman Computer Library backup, for the RC automation system.

Last CD I bought:
Pink Floyd, Welcome To The Machine. Which is weird, I decided one night I wanted to listen to that album, and found I didn't have it. So I downloaded it but it was poor quality. I ran down to Funky Tangs, a caribbean music store, with no hope, just desperation, and they had one Pink Floyd CD, and it was Welcome To The Machine.
The reason I didn't have it on CD is because I have the record in my parents storeroom. (A record is a flat black plastic thing with a hole in the center, played on a record player)

Song playing right now
Aldo Nova- Fantasy

5 Songs I listen to a lot
I can't really answer that question, One day I'll want to hear a certain song, then the next day I can't stand the same song.

But, 5 songs I always like are:
Foreigner: Urgent (The live version)
Mavericks: Pretend ( I used to hate that song, now I love it!)
Nazareth: Woke Up This Morning
Garbage: Special (Have you ever seen the video?)
Yes: Don't Kill the Whale (I'm not necessarily a treehugger, it's just a great song!)

There's more. I like almost all classical and some country. I like a few Emeniem songs. I do not like jazz, I never heard a jazz song that I liked. I like Caribbean music a lot too. My favorites are Beres Hammond for mellow and Square One if you want to party. There's more and more.

I have more Aerosmith albums than any other artist. I never considered them my favorite but the numbers speak for themselves.

Another thing, I don't listen to music for a message, I listen for the sound. I don't really care what they're saying. I like a lot of stuff by White Zombie and a few Marilyn Mansons. Besides, lot of widely accepted country songs have the most filthy messages imaginable.

I pass it on to Anduin because
I want to know the story about the cat on her profile picture but I'm afraid to ask. I think its some type of space alien poodle haired feline

Perturbed

I am kind of disappointed because I tried to post all three of the pics below all at once. I emailed them and I got return emails saying
"Attachment is over size limit.
Error code: 8.1767F51"
Untill I reduced their size tll they were too small. Then the post had the text and no pics.
The only way I can post pics is by using Hello, one pic at a time. ALthough I do think I emailed one pic from my phone.
On the "Create" and "Edit posts" pages there are links that boast "Add Image" but they don't work.
So I was in a great mood and now I'm kinda bummed out.

kayak sunburst

This is my kayak as viewed from underwater, I was not really under it, but I put the kayak in between me and the sun. I have an Ocean Kayak brand Scupper Pro with the optional scuba tank holder. I also have a Scrambler, which is smaller and really fun in the surf if there's any waves.

Doc Polson

Click on any of the pics to see a larger view.
This is the front of the Doc Polson. There is a big winch system on the front in front of the pilot house. To the bottom is about 50 feet, I guess I was about 35 when I took this picture.

my feet

Today after work I went out on my Kayak, I paddled out to the wreck of the Doc Polson and went snorkeling and paddled and up and down the beach a little. It was really nice. Sometimes there is a lot of boat traffic but today I had the entire Caribbean Sea to myself!

new car radio

I got a new car radio yesterday
and it is terrific.
If I say "Rock" it plays rock and roll.
If I say "Rap" it plays rap.
If I say "Love" it plays love songs.
Three kids ran out in front of the car
and I said
"F ... ing kids!"

And it played Michael Jackson!

I should be getting my rebreather lid back this Friday, I know everyone has been holding their breath! Ha hA!

Well, Well, Well,

I swam today and did the mile swim in 36 minutes and 59 seconds, that's the unofficial time, from my stopwatch. My official time will probably be a few seconds less because I started timing after the starting "horn" and stopped after I had crossed the finish line and stood up.
And guess what else? I won an airline ticket in the random prize drawing at the end. I can go anywhere Cayman Airways goes, free! It's the first time I ever won an expensive prize like that, ever in my life. (Once I won a transistor radio worth about $10 and once a submarine ride worth about $35 and that is it.)
There were 361 swimmers, compared to over 500 last year. But this year, there's less people on the island.
The fastest was 13 minutes and a few seconds! I can't even do a half mile in 13 minutes. The winner was 15 seconds shy of the course record. In the past 8 years, I have swam in 7 of the Flowers Mile Swims.
Anyway it was a pretty good day.

Flowers Sea Swim

Today is the Flowers One Mile Sea Swim, It is an annual sea swim. I have swam in 7 of the past 8. I am kind of dreading todays because I have not been training at all.
Before Hurricane Ivan, I was getting a lot more exercise than I am now. I ran a little and swam a lot, like almost every day. After the storm, I worked and worked like everybody else and it seems like I'm still working. I've been diving quite a bit I guess, but the daily beach and exercise and fun and sun seem to have evaporated. A lot of people I talk to say the same thing.
Hopefully I can finish in 40 minutes or less.

Ramblings of someone with nothing to talk about

My rebreather part is now in the UK. I dropped it off an 2 PM on the 14th and it arrived at 9 AM on the 16th. How long do you think I should wait before I call?

Since my rebreather's Out Of Comission, and I don't have anything to talk about, I'd lke to point out the link on the right side of the page over there ---> called Earth View. I really like that web page. It shows the Earth and where it is light and where it's dark right now. You can click on the map for a zoom in and change the settings under the map. It's really cool to compare June 21 and December 21, also March 21 or September 21, which both look the same. If you click the guys name at the bottom it goes to his really good page with all kinds of stuff. (I don't know him, I just think it's an interesting page.)

I also think it is very cool that I read about the things on the news and then hear about them from you first hand. For example, I heard about the California earthquake on the news, then I cruise my regular blogs and there is someone I kinda know who was in it!

Work has been busy, I have two new FM Broadcast antennas that seem to be missing parts. When they delivered it was a whole truck almost as big as an 18 wheeler full - and no paperwork! They're sitting in the grass next to the tower, waiting to be installed.
I have a new billing computer that arrived damaged that I have to fix. I got it working already but it still can't see one of the hard drives because the RAID board is smashed. I will fix it tomorrow by cannabalizing one part of the board to fix the other.
I have to set up for a press conference tomorrow morning at 9.
I have to go check out a site where the sales department is having an outside broadcast Saturday.
Also I have to go to the bank and Post Office. (In Cayman, there is no mail delivery system, you have to go pick up your mail, and you have to go to the Post Office to mail something.)
And I feel like I'm forgetting something else I can't remember right now.
Not to mention my list with ton of little things, non critical.
AND,
I have to call about my rebreather too.

Well, for not having anything to say I said a lot. It's way past my bedtime. GOOD NIGHT!

Also, I really like reading everyones comments and I really appreciate them all!

Need some purple!

Officially Beached

Well, I am officially beached.I had to send a part of my rebreather off for repair. remember I told you one of the green LED's quit? Well, the other green quit too. So I sent it back to the UK for repair. The US representitive PROMISED a quick turnaround time.

This is a Giant Green Parrotfish from yesterdays dive, They eat coral and you can hear the scraping sound when they eat. I carry an inexpensive camera, in an underwater housing, rated to 100 feet, which I have taken to 160. I it fits in my pocket and if I see something to take a picture of, I take it, but I usually don't get good results. I have an Nikonos V underwater camera with a 15mm lens that is a really really good camera, but I just don't like fooling with it, film and "O" rings and the flash and the cable and putting it together and taking it apart and it is just a pain in the butt.


Giant Green Parrotfish

Baby Grouper?

Is this a Baby Grouper? I think so but I don't know. Click the pic and see it bigger.

one way diving

Today I did a dive from Dive Tech to a little fishermans marina just about a quarter mile towards town. There is some great coral along there and so many fish.... I like making the one way trips on the rebreather, I see a lot better stuff. We just put all the gear in one car and leave the other at the get-out place and drive back and get in and dive to where the second car is.

Today I had an almost incident. I was at 145 feet and wanted to add some diluent and added O2 by mistake. Then I couldn't figure out why my PO2 went up (to about 1.45). So I tried to add another little squirt of diluent and added O2 again. My PO2 went up some more and I quit breathing and exhaled as I tried to do a dil flush but used O2 again. MY PO2 went WAY WAY up (Like 2.55 PO2) but I wasn't breathing it. Then I switched to my bailout gas and at the same time realized what I was doing wrong and did a flush using the correct gas and everything came back to normal. So I went back on the loop and continued on the dive. I never breathed any PO2 higher than 1.6 the whole time and the whole thing was over in seconds, but dang! It could have been a really really bad screw up! (You add O2 by pressing a button on your right and add diluent by pressing a button on your left, I was pressing the wrong button).

What're the rules here????

I have an ever-widening circle of blogs I read almost every day. I just stumbled onto them. Now, I check my blog, and look for new comments, and I check my circle of blogs too, looking for new posts, and I look for new blogs too, someone who grabs my attention, who I feel like I know what they are talking about. Sometimes I want to add comments but worry about what they may think. For example, what would you think if I was commenting on almost every post you made on your blog? I don't want you to think I comment too much or am trying to enter your life against your will. But the truth is, I relate to what you write and want to respond. So I am kind of torn a little between doing what feels OK to me and trying to imagine what you or your friends or family or a complete stranger would think if I did. I guess basically what I'm saying is, I perceive there are rules or etiquette about what is and what is not OK, but I don’t know what they are. And I sometimes worry that I may over step the boundaries. don't get me wrong, I don't fell the desire to comment on every post of every blog I read, but sometimes I wonder if I may be commenting too much.
On the other hand, I would be happy if you or anyone else commented on my blog as often as you want. That's why I put this stuff on the internet. I want other peoples comments, all I can get.
Once I commented on a blog and the person posted a comment on mine "WHO ARE YOU?" It seemed to me I made them angry. So I learned that just because I want a lot of comments, maybe everyone doesn't.
So what are the rules here? How do I know how much to comment? When I think I'm "really getting to know someone" on here how do I remind myself that maybe I don't? How do I know how much to trust my perception in any situation? I do not believe that my perception is always accurate, how do I avoid stepping on toes without being passive? We could all sit around and never comment at all for fear it wouldn't be proper for one reason or another, that would suck!
So what do you think??

Hump Day

Over the workweek hump. We have a tropical depression that formed 200 or so miles SE of here. Let me tell you, it is raining raining raining and only supposed to get worse before getting better. Saturday is the Queens Birthday Parade and I hope it is nice by then. My boss is supposed to get a medal. Plus we broadcast it live, so wet or dry, I'll be there.
Other than that, things are going good. I hope it is nice and sunny by the weekend so I can go diving. Although I do have a problem with my new rebreather electronics, one of the LEDs on the Heads Up Display (HUD) apparently burnt out. It is more of an inconvience more than anything though. The handset display is fine and the LED that isn't working is the one that tells me everything is OK. If there is a problem, I'll still instantly know about it.

What would YOU have done????

Got home from work today, first thing I did was slap a delicious and nutritious

Patio Frozen Burrito
in the microwave
and nuke the hell out of it.
Now, 5 hours later,
I just found it,
still in the microwave....
What would you do?

That's probably not what I did!

I ate it!

Saturday Nite BEDTIME!

Today was a good day and I am looking forward to going to bed. I worked this morning, went to the dive shop for a while (but didn't dive though) and went grocery shopping after visiting some friends and I've spent the last hour or so catching up on email. The month of June got off to a wet start with almost two inches of rainfall recorded and tonight I walked my dog and there was a sky full of stars and it looks like tomorrow will be a hot sunny day. I have a dive plan drawn up for a 250 foot dive and if everything falls into place, I may get to do some great diving tomorrow!

Friday Night Blues

I haven't entered much these past few days.
After I got back to work from my vacation, I was very busy. Now, Fiday night, I am catching up on all the laundry that has been accumulating for the past two weeks.
I guess I'm a little depressed.
I'm not seeing anyone, I was married and after I divorced I went out with this girl for about two years and found out she was fooling around the whole time. We had a long distance relationship. I haven't really dated since. Well, I did have about a two month fling for a while last summer. I think I've had sex twice since last September, maybe 3 times at the max. I don't think I'm worth much in the long term relationship department anymore, meeting someone and dating and getting into it seems like a game that I don't want to play. I don't really want just sex either, (but it WOULD be nice more than just occoasionally!) I want companionship and to trust and be trusted and work to make a relationship work. Basically, I want a relationship, but don't want to start one, I want to be in one already established. Kinda like wanting a college degree but never wanting to enroll. I want a good relationship, but don't know anyone I'd be willing to put out the effort to build a relationship with. I just don't want to expend the energy to get started. Sounds pretty bad, huh? Basically, temporarily at least, I quit. I don't go out, I don't look, I don't know anyone single, if I get lonely and want to call someone on the phone I don't know anyone to call.
Does this make sense? But don't get me wrong, my life is good, and I like it.
Most of the time.