OT: Beauty ...

Ya just a little quickly to say that this is beautiful.. its elegant.. and if you don't treat it with respect it can kill you quickly and very painfully!

 

 

I have a thing for motorcycles what can I say ;)

Back in Kodiak...

So its been a while since I have published anything. I have switched boats and it sounds like I will be leaving up here soon so you know what that means? a LARGE post with pictures and everything! I will start putting something together and get it uploaded before I leave Kodiak on my last time. :)

Just something for you to see.. a real calm day on the ocean without any real waves.. ya it happens out there!

A map from MS Virtual Earth for us who are geographic impaired :) of where Kodiak is.

Old Time Schooners..

For the first bit of my time up here I was on schooners built during the 1920's. One of them was restored and had modern facilities and the other was pretty much the way it was back in the 1920's with the original wood and bunks still in place. The heat was derived from a gas stove that was also

 

 

In Port.. what to do what to do..

Well I am in port for two days now and the question is what to do that does not cost money. My Internet has been giving me fits. I have been invited to go salmon fishing (I am thinking they mean salmon) by two of the boat crew. THIS I am looking forward to, it is something I have always wanted to do and try. So I will finally be able to mark off something on my life to do list now that I have wanted to do for a while. I will take pictures and bring back memories.

Alaska has an online system if you are in the area and have time to fish you can buy your licence online and print it right off. It is good down to the hour you printed it not at the beginning of the day which is the way it is back where I live.

The island of Kodiak in the past few weeks has gone from dismal gray to vibrant green. This utter transformation literally happens over night and was very astonishing! Ill hopefully be able to include more late if not tomorrow.

Thoughts on being a grad student...

I got an email about 2 days ago (was out to sea at the time) about being a graduate student. I thought I would share that post here!

 

About being a grad student

will post more thoughts about my experiences later if wanted.

Tiddling about...

Well I am currently located in Kodiak Alaska onboard a trawling fishing boat. I have been doing this job for 5 years and your probly wondering what it is i do? Well as put by NOAA:

At the core of the North Pacific monitoring system is a comprehensive, industry-funded, on-board observer program, coupled with requirements for total weight measurement of most fish harvested. Except for small vessels less than 60 feet and halibut vessels, all vessels fishing for groundfish in federal waters are required to carry observers, at their own expense, for at least a portion of their fishing time. The largest vessels, those over 125 feet, are generally required to carry observers 100% of the time, with multiple observers required on catcher/processors and in certain fisheries.

Used in conjunction with reporting and weighing requirements, the information collected by observers provides the foundation for in-season management and for tracking species-specific catch and bycatch amounts. The Council and NOAA Fisheries are currently developing amendments to the fishery management plans that are designed to better ensure ongoing collection and quality observer data.

Ya thats a lot of wording to say that I work for the fisheries and play with fish :)

I do have hobbies and one of them lately is catching up on my podcast. One of them to note is http://www.tokyocalling.org which if you ask me what its about. Its about an American living out his life in Japan with his wife and three children. Needless to say it seems that the podcast is done on the fly with very little editing during the cast. After listning to Scott talk for over 2 yrs now I have to say of all the podcasts I listen to his is the most relaxing. If you have any intrest in Japan or its culture hop on over and give him a listen. :)