Tuesday 29 June 2010

Storm rising

So far so good. But Germany in the quarter finals. Again. That's going to be tense. I suppose it'll be the same for Brazil or Dutch fans in that quarter final. Bit of a shame really, to have all these matches sooner than the semis. Oh well.One week to go. And I have my flights done and dusted. Ohio, here I come! And New Haven, and Nantes, and Paris, and finally Oslo :|.
A few loose ends to wrap up. This is the end of a rather eventful stint in the Gulf of Mexico. Next up it's the Red Sea, and Saudi Arabia. Not overly thrilled about that. Nobody seems to know quite what to expect.And while we are here, the hurricane season's coming to life. Thankfully Alex is keeping away from us so far. Let's hope it stays that way and nothing messes with the choppers in 7 days!

Currently: hoping for a different outcome this weekend
Listening to: Stereophonics - Dakota

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Sailing a rippled mirror

I did have a bunch of stuff to write about. Not necessarily of any importance whatsoever, still, stuff. But there's never any time these days. Plus I suppose I'm just getting a bit lazy.
Things have been piling up though. Unlike last trip, this time around it seems all I'm doing for the most part is head out in the small boats :). So that's a decidedly good thing. Haven't been driving all the time.... I'm quite convinced that no matter who says what, give me the choice and you'd never get me to do anything but drive. But I suppose the others need to get some practice too...
The weather's been pretty awesome as well. Flat calm seas as I've never seen since the Bay of Bengal offshore Myanmar four years back!
Then of course there's the World Cup! Now that the group stages are getting cleaned up, it's good to see that the South American teams are having a ball!! All five of them are top of their groups right now! Okay, so maybe a couple of those might change, but it's a pretty strong showing.

I finally managed to watch Argentina play live yesterday! Wasn't disappointed :). Though to be honest the back line seems a little shakier than I'd like. It was good to see Veron back on the turf, and in pretty decent nick. I have to say, the Greek goalie was probably the only reason the team in blue didn't run riot!
On the other hand, the supposed European powerhouses are having a miserable time aren't they?! I was properly overjoyed to see the disaster that was France this World Cup. I hope they never ever manage to qualify again. It's a shame Ireland lost their place to this lot :(. I was quite surprised, but very happy to see Italy held to a draw by the likes of the Kiwis :D. And then there's England. Need I say more? :P

The Germans will most likely shrug off the effects of the shock expulsion of Klose (although I wasn't at all that sad, if you know what I mean) and make it through. The Netherlands on the other hand seem to have sailed through quietly but comfortably so far. From Group H, I would definitely like to see Spain and Switzerland go through. Spain played more like their normal selves in their second match, thankfully.

I was looking up the dates, and if all goes well, I should be able to catch Argentina in the Semis and the Final from Ohio! :DOh, and I'm super kicked to have a brand new TV in my cabin :). It's all hooked up too! To the laptop, the DVD player that came with it, and the satellite TV tuner so I can watch the afternoon matches without having to step out of my cabin :D.
Currently: surprised to see that England might actually go through :P
Listening to: Stereophonics - I wouldn't believe your radio

Monday 14 June 2010

Building steam with a grain of salt?

Hmm. So maybe I was a little premature in giving up on my plans this break :).
And thanks to some rather fortuitous travel planning, it might even go better that I'd earlier hoped!
It's hot here. And I mean really insanely hot! Work boat trips these days warrant full protection, including massive straw brimmed hats and what not :). And at least where we are, the amount of oil visible on the surface has reduced a bit.Just like that, two weeks of the trip are gone, and the World Cup has finally kicked off in earnest. The only match I managed to watch was the USA - England one. With the hilarious equalizer :D. Catastrophe Green indeed :D. I mean, who does that?!! Oh well, I hope Argentina can come up with better stuff if they are to go the distance. Germany was in ominous form yesterday :|.
And what's up with all that U2 on the abc's World Cup broadcast?

Currently: settled in
Listening to: Colin Hay - My brilliant feat

Sunday 6 June 2010

Too early for the countdown

Why do I even bother? Making plans as long term as two months into the future that is.
We're getting a lot of dark squalls these days. Precursors no doubt of a prolific hurricane season.
It's almost been a week since I got back on board. The biggest news is that it appears we might not make it to the end of the trip out here in the Gulf, thanks to BP's ongoing catastrophe. Oh well.
Would it be too much to ask for peace and quiet?Currently: still here
Listening to: Radiohead - Black star