It has been a very busy week for us and me in particular. Our sailing team is ramping up our practices for the Worlds. As I do every wed., I went out sailing and it was blowing 13-18kn. In that type of wind it became painfully evident that our team was going to need a lot of practice if we are not going to look like idiots for the races coming up in May. While heading downwind we were surfing some of the bigger swells and waited for a big one to jibe on. We began to jibe and got in a bad spot and breached. For those of you who may think that I am talking Greek, a jibe is a turn of the sailboat while heading with the wind. The wind caught our sails and our boat was no longer vertical, but much of what is supposed to be dry on the boat, wasn't. We were heading into the rest of the fleet at an uncontrollable high rate of speed and a collision seemed inevitable. Just in time our boat turned upright and sailing continued. You think that we would have learned what we did wrong, but no we didn't. We performed that maneuver two other times, but got better at our recovery technique.
I also had to work this weekend as well as last. From the time that we got back from the DR I have to work 16 days straight. Weekend work is not bad because it is only for a few hours, but I still have to go and that stinks. It has come to my attention that many of you reading this may not know (or care) what I do for a living. I recently (Dec.) began working for Arcadis and am currently employed as a "Scientist". I am working at a closed down solid rocket fuel plant in the hills of south San Jose. Some of the chemicals used in making the rocket engines had leaked onto the ground and in now in the groundwater. I work setting up groundwater extraction wells that pump water out of the ground through a treatment system and then to a irrigation system. We have over 100 wells and pump many millions of gallons a year out of the ground. I like this job, but most of all I like my co-workers
So after work and sailing on sat. I also had church league bowling. This league is mainly dominated by the "older" crowd, but is fun...most of the time. I have a woman on my team that is over 70 (I am not sure and ashamed to ask so Brenda and I agreed on leaving it at over 70) and a dear sweet lady. I was very angry when she beat me. I know that I should be happy because she is on my team, but when a senior citizen beats a 26 year old at a sport, it is a little hard to take. The above picture is of the moonlight bowling that starts at 8pm. We start at 5:30 and had the worst machines in the whole place and it took till 9pm to get 3 games done. We are usually done by 8pm. Below is a picture of bowling as well (the head on the bottom left is the one who beat me). I have taken care with these pictures to make my score not readable. This is not an accident. 
For those of your who are reading this and laughing with me please leave a comment. For those who are laughing at me...don't bother....
2 comments:
John,
Sounds like you had a pretty exciting time on the high seas this past weekend. Do you tell Brenda about your near accidents? I'm betting she doesn't like those stories too much. I know Laura wouldn't.
Post some more pics of your sailing when you have the time. I enjoy seeing and hearing about this new hobby of yours.
Oh, and about the bowling, sure I laughed when you said that a 70-something woman beat you. That's funny! But the sad thing is, that I'm sure she would beat me as well. I never could get one of those balls to knock over all the pins.
Hey John,
I guess I'll laugh with you. You're not much fun to laugh at unless we're face to face. As Ben said, the sailing part sounds a little scary to me, and I'd be concerned if I was Brenda. On the other hand, it sounds like you're with a crew that kinda knows how to handle the situation.
Sounds like you're staying really busy. Hopefully things settle down a little so you can get back to your mundane life of rock climbing, sleeping with bears and traveling to different parts of the world. Ho hum.
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