2012-01-25 Wednesday
Yesterday was an all-day Pity Party. I couldn’t seem to get
started doing anything. I finally just gave myself permission to feel bad all
day – on the condition that I get my lazy ass out of bed tomorrow morning and
do stuff. I played a lot of Solitaire, listened to classic rock until I couldn’t
stand it anymore and did one small job. I went grocery shopping and made a stop
at West Marine to buy two items. I fixed rice and poured in a can of soup for
flavor. It was flat. Added cayenne and catsup. Mmmm.
So today is payback day. The first job I had lined up was to
remove the port light from over my bunk and rebed it so it won’t leak next time
it rains. I can’t get it loose. Whatever they used to bed it last time is
holding it in place pretty tightly. I had to content myself with cleaning it up
as best I could and adjusting the screws that align the moving part and hope
that it will help. I also discovered that the screws that hold it in place are
the kind where the ones on the outside of the boat screw into the ones on the
inside of the boat. I will have to wait until I have a helper to get them
properly retightened. I hope that will be before it rains again.
Here is the inside view
... and the outside view
The refrigeration on the boat hasn’t worked properly since I
moved aboard. About two weeks ago, I turned it off so it wouldn’t drain the
boat’s batteries. Then I called the guy who installed it and asked him to come
tell me why it wasn’t working. Today was the day. About two hours before he
showed up, I turned the unit back on and it was working perfectly when the
repairman arrived. He looked everything over, helped me figure out what kind of
installation I have and shrugged his shoulders. That cost $50 – not unreasonable
but I wish I had turned it on yesterday, cancelled the appointment and saved
myself the $50.
When I was pulling stuff out of the cockpit locker so the
repairman could look at the installation, I also pulled out some panels so I
can start removing the wheel steering. This feels like a big step. It devalues
the boat for the popular market but tiller steering is easier for me to deal
with when I am sailing the boat by myself – which is most of the time. I
started from the top – taking the drop-down table off the pedestal. I got the
drink holder off but not the mounting bracket. Next I tried loosening the feet
of the pedestal guard to see if it would easily lift out of its mounting. No
go. The next thing was to try to remove the compass so I can see what the guts
of the pedestal looks like. I’m drawing a blank. I looked online for
instructions on how to install the compass on the Edson pedestal but no luck
there either.
I got more calls from recruiters today. One says he has a
really hot possibility – in City of Industry, one of the cities in the LA urban
sprawl. I would probably take it but I would rather stay here in the SF Bay
area.
Now it is getting dark. Time for Happy Hour, dinner, shower
and a call to Judy. Not a bad day – but progress seems awfully slow.
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