BBBRRRIIIIIIIINNNNGGG!!!!!!!

That's how a stereotypical alarm clock sounds.

Last Saturday, ours sounded like "drip, drip." I awoke to the sound (and feeling) of water dripping onto my pillow. Turns out I had forgotten to replace our Security System after having removed it for the fuel cruise... and, of course, it rained. So instead of planning ahead and putting the plastic back up on one of the nice sunny days we had the week before, I was left to stand on the edge of the boat in the freezing cold rain. Not what I really wanted to do at 8am Saturday morning, especially since we wanted to sleep in, because the night before was the Submarine Officer's Birthday Ball.

We were trying to sleep in after getting all dressed up and partying with a bunch of nerds through the night. That's right, Submarine Officers are nerds, and I'm one of them so I can say that. Some of us are lucky nerds, though, because we got to bring gorgeous dates with us to the ball.



Me and my Sweetie!!

And here are some of my nerd buddies (they are lucky too, but not as lucky as me)


Look at all the nerds!

It was a lot of fun. It was our last Submarine Ball on active duty. We drank and danced, and listened to speeches and toasted everyone under the sun. There were a bunch of formalities, and then a bunch of silliness, including a centerpiece competition. And by centerpiece, I don't mean floral arrangement. Some of the centerpieces were full working models of submarines with water flowing freely around them. We tried to win the "most poorly executed idea" prize with our submarine that transforms (poorly) into an Officer, but we couldn't even manage that. It had moving arms, a bottle of a rum for a body, and a working propeller that blew bubbles. I think we would've won if we'd been able to show the judges all the "cool" features, but we were at the bar when the judges came by. Ah well, perhaps we'll win when we come back as reservists.

See... we're nerds.

-Tom

Got gas?

Well, I guess it's technically diesel, not gas... but either way we were running low. We used diesel all winter to keep ourselves toasty and so it was time to fill 'er up. Of course it's not quite like hopping in the car and running down to the 76... its more like getting 11 friends together, planning a day, and pushing out to the Chevron. Really... we fill up at a Chevron.

It was a good day. I'd love to say we pushed off without incident, but... I can't lie to you all. I forgot to take our freshwater hose off the boat while getting underway. It was wrapped around a cleat on the boat, and hooked up to the spigot on the pier. I stretched it taut and it started pulling me towards another boat. Oooops! Matt and I noticed, and he ran aft and untied it and threw it towards the dock. Safe, for now. We'll worry about that one later. We cruised up to Morrison's Northstar Marine for the fill up. I guessed we'd need 200 gallons of fuel to re-stock from the winter, but I was wrong. We only needed 198 gallons. 0.6 BUs. Wheee! Actually it cost a lot less than I thought.

After fueling up we set sail to cruise lake Wasington. What a great afternoon. It was a little chilly, but still nice to be out.


Cap'n Tom and Ken


Brandon enjoying the chilly bow.


Nate, Steve, Aileen and Paul

I love just cruisin around, watching the world go by, hangin out with friends. And the pilothouse is fun, but I do like to go out on the bow myself and enjoy the breeze, which is why it's nice to have another competent boater aboard to take the helm.


Cap'n Matt and Cabin Boy Nate.

After cruisin around for a few hours we headed back in to meet up with Jessi and hit Buca Di Beppo for dinner, leading to a night on the town.


Heading home. That flag sometimes means you need a tow, but I fly it because it's a nautical "T" for Tom! Yay ego!

Thank god Jessi and Megan met us at the dock. They pulled the fresh water hose out of the lake so it didn't get tangled in the screws, and they received our lines, making the landing very smooth!

Another great day, making me look forward to many more this spring and summer.

-Tom

p.s. Note from Jessi: If you're wondering where I was... ahem, well... I was getting my haircut. I had an appointment with this stylist who's always booked, and so I couldn't cancel, because who knew when I'd get another appointment! What was that about me not being that kind of girl?

All's quiet on the western front

This might be hard to believe, but things around here have been relatively quiet lately. Nothing has broken, or leaked, or fallen off. School has been keeping me very busy during the week, so on the weekends we've just been relaxing and - gasp! - enjoying life on the boat. More specifically, on the couch, on the boat.


Nap time


-Jessi