September 2008
82 posts
Guessing we’ll be stretching our food to compensate. Won’t be many buffets now. Glad I’m a flexible vegetarian. #2019 7:29 PM September 30, 2019
Well, we’ve fallen further behind schedule; lost another day yesterday loitering/unrep’ing. We arrive on the 6th now. #2019 7:26 PM September 30, 2019
Learned details surrounding refrigeration component we couldn’t replace. Writing about it helps - http://tinyurl.com/4j5q3w #2019 3:12 PM September 30, 2019
Long, eventful day. Posted a final photo. Hoping we don’t need or see the military again. Time to sleep. #2019 9:59 PM September 29, 2019
On the other hand, I’ve never had victimless meat. May not be the best first experience, but what the heck. #2019 9:43 PM September 29, 2019
Bad news on the refrigerator front: unrep ship couldn’t replace or fab a new valve. Sent MRE’s over instead. Thrillsville. #2019 9:39 PM September 29, 2019
Uploaded a photo of the unrep - http://tinyurl.com/4p9q63 #2019 9:32 PM September 29, 2019
Didn’t get many shots of the unrep. They almost lost a guy over the side. Decided passengers shouldn’t be watching. #2019 9:19 PM September 29, 2019
Posted some good shots of the show ‘n tell - http://www.flickr.com/photo… #2019 9:13 PM September 29, 2019
Show ‘n tell has started. Unorganized mess. Lucky to be near the front of the line. Don’t think there’s time for the rest #2019 5:42 PM September 29, 2019
Everyone’s packed in the main starboard passage leading to the flight deck. Port side secured for the unrep. Waiting. #2019 5:20 PM September 29, 2019
Captain’s announcing a brief show ‘n tell after the SSDF unloads some stuff. Crash course in shooting pirates, I guess. #2019 5:04 PM September 29, 2019
Helo on deck. That was quick. 4:56 PM September 29, 2019
Crap. They just told everyone to go below decks til the helo is onboard. Liability issues or something. #2019 4:46 PM September 29, 2019
Funny watching the other passengers. This is all new to them. Like a new ride at Disneyland. #2019 4:42 PM September 29, 2019
Posted shot of the unrep ship w a really old helicopter carrier alongside. Smaller than the one I snapped earlier, but still huge. #2019 4:38 PM September 29, 2019
SSDF = Ship’s Self-Defense Force. Guess our recent unfortunate experience is becoming increasingly common. #2019 4:03 PM September 29, 2019
We’ve been loitering. Some Navy ships are first in line. Expecting a helo in the meantime. SSDF stuff, apparently. #2019 4:01 PM September 29, 2019
Heading topside to see what’s up. Only came for coffee and a pastry but feeling obliged to drink some orange juice … just in case. #2019 6:42 AM September 29, 2019
Good thing we unrep today. The unrep ship can probably fab the part we need and send it over. Maybe won’t lose too much food. #2019 6:36 AM September 29, 2019
Seems they were doing more than just jamming our electronics. Now the question has to be: what else did they do during all that time? #2019 6:28 AM September 29, 2019
Problem is the ship’s fabbers used all their pre-loaded material to quietly grow ball bearings, courtesy of that little pirate ship. #2019 6:23 AM September 29, 2019
Up early for breakfast and learned ship’s main refrigeration unit died overnight. Seems the TXV is defective. Would be easy to fab. #2019 6:19 AM September 29, 2019
Just learned we’ll be transferring fuel tomorrow. There goes a quiet Sunday. This should be interesting. I’ll snap some photos. #2019 7:30 PM September 28, 2019
Wish this ship had carried more fuel reserves. Reminds me of when airlines started cutting back on reserves a decade ago. #2019 6:34 PM September 28, 2019
Realized I haven’t heard when we’re supposed to unrep. That’s a tricky tough operation. Can’t imagine many transports do it. 6:30 PM September 28, 2019
Been 7 days since we left Southampton. Lost 1+ day w our “encounter”. Add another day to refuel and a 10-day leg is now 12+ days. #2019 6:25 PM September 28, 2019
Saw my 2nd airship. Barely. Sunset made it worth taking a picture - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebang2019 Hoping for more. #2019 6:25 PM September 27, 2019
Ship’s breathing a sigh of relief today. Tensions easing. Crises community disbanding. Logging on. Meatspace got boring real fast. #2019 4:12 PM September 26, 2019
Might already be happening and I just haven’t read about it. This fun little ocean trip is turning out to be anything but. #2019 10:26 PM September 25, 2019
Occurs to me: what if a fake GPS signal is broadcast from a non-obvious source? Like one of those mini-subs used to haul drugs. #2019 10:24 PM September 25, 2019
Never gave much thought to GPS spoofing/jamming. Good thing they have analog navigation backups. #2019 10:15 PM September 25, 2019
Ship’s captain made announcement explaining what happened. And we now have to refuel. At sea. Rendezvous adds additional delay. bummer #2019 10:14 PM September 25, 2019
It’s dropped off; barely visible. Captain announced we altered course. And we’ve picked up speed. Wondering if we have enough fuel. 5:43 PM September 25, 2019
Finally connected. Vessel tailing us started jamming our electronics couple day’s ago. No one’s exactly sure why. #2019 5:34 PM September 25, 2008
I suppose not having children colors my perspective. Noticed at dinner how it was families w small kids that seemed most alarmed. #2019 5:59 PM September 23, 2008
Read news release re: the GEAS report. A 23-year slide to the extinction cliff, huh? Nuclear annihilation was so much more compelling. #2019 5:56 PM September 23, 2008
Heard more talk about that report at dinner. Something about doomsday; humanity going extinct or something. Guess I’ll read up. #2019 5:25 PM September 23, 2008
Spent the day outside, hoping to see another airship. No luck. The big excitement is still that boat following us. And some report. #2019 2:53 PM September 23, 2008
Think we’ve crossed into yesterday. Timezones are weird. Wish we’d move to “world time” and be done with it. 2:50 PM September 23, 2008
Just caught something interesting: we’re being tailed. Passengers don’t know what’s up but crew is agitated. Posted a pic. #2019 6:24 AM September 23, 2008
