Tuesday, June 28, 2005

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!!!

8 Comments:

Blogger Jona said...

Glad to hear you've got your piece of heaven back!
I owe *you* a BIG thank you -- I'll elaborate in my blog when I've got the kids to school.

See ya later...

June 29, 2005 2:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You have such a cool blog site. It is so visually appealing and I really like the Pong gif. Where did you find it?

I like the Angel fish pic and could never tell it was a bad picture.

June 29, 2005 11:21 AM  
Blogger MarkD60 said...

I can't remember where I got the pong gif. Right click it and save it if you want it! I don't really do anything special to my blog except make all the fonts different colors! Your blog has much cooler special effects!
I like the rock n roller gif!

June 30, 2005 5:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No bubbles... YAY! Welcome back to the silent world.

Dave Young

June 30, 2005 6:50 AM  
Blogger Marie said...

Oh! I love the pictures and reading about your diving experience. It is on my list of things to do in the next year. I've heard so many wonderful things about diving.

June 30, 2005 10:24 AM  
Blogger K. said...

Your pics are beautiful. I have never had the guts to dive (well, that doesn't count SKY-diving) but I wish that I could. Perhaps one day....

June 30, 2005 11:15 AM  
Blogger Penelope Marzec said...

The angel fish looks good to me.

Your day trying to get the rebreather reminds me of a few days I've wasted at the DMV. Glad it all worked out for you.

July 01, 2005 10:32 AM  
Blogger Marit fp said...

customs + dive gear = never a good thing. I spent a semester in the turks and caicos islands and trying to get there and home was...interesting.

but! you survived!

May 04, 2006 2:57 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home