I am beginning to realize what a toll the last six months of this divorce process and probably the 18 months of marriage prior to that had on me. I have felt much better since the 11th than I have in a while. I am more relaxed and also surprisingly much more productive with my different business ventures.
Tonight was an interesting night... kind of a combination of what I love about living on the boat and what I do not like. I picked up Andrew from his mothers at about 6:45pm. By the time we went and got dinner, ran some errands, got dog food, it was 9 when we got to the Marina. Then we had to do homework... I love Algebra I. I was thinking that if I was already back in the house, Andrew would have already been home, there would have been food in the house to make dinner and I would have gotten the huge sized dog food bag at Costco, so I would not have to make weekly dog food runs. It would have been a much earlier night. On the upside though, the weather is perfect, the dogs are out of their minds happy that Andrew is here and the three of them are crashed out on the V-Berth.
I have 10 more nights on the boat. It is definitely an experience I will never forget, but I will get a bigger boat if I do it again.
I am looking forward to getting back in the house and getting my life back to normal, but I will miss the quite cool evenings, sitting out on the back deck looking out over the St. Johns river, thinking about everyone running around in their busy lives while I am just hanging out on my boat. Overall I know I am pretty lucky.
Well I need to make this post short, it is 1:45AM and I have to have Andrew at school by 7:45AM... I normally do not even wake up until 8:30... so if you run into me tomorrow and I seem cranky.. I am just tired.
to tired to think of a funny nautical quote...
Capt. Mike RNYC (Red Neck Yacht Club)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Good times and riches and son of a bitches...I have seen more than I can recall...
I have been on this adventure for over two weeks now... and tonight I finally figured out why I am here... I found something... or more accurately I rediscovered something...... me.
I am 38 years old and as I think back on my life it is interesting to think about all of the things I have experienced, all of the people that have come and gone in my life and everything that I have experienced that has brought me to where I am. A good friend told me years ago that there are friends for a reason, friends for a season and friends for life.... boy was she right.... too bad you can never tell who is which until after the fact.
I am always helping others, doing things for others and usually forget about me. I do take care of myself in terms of achieving goals... I do a good job of that, there are few if any goals I have set for myself that I have not achieved.
I tend to forget about myself though... I realized tonight as I sat out on the back of the boat that this is the first evening that I have totally relaxed in about seven years. The last time was when I lived at this cool house right on the beach in Jacksonville Beach. The house had this big front porch where I had my hammock setup. I would just chill out there and watch the people walk by. During the summer there was always people walking by and I could just lay there and watch the world go by.
See it on streetview: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1300+1st+ave+s+jacksonville+beach,+fl+32250&ie=UTF8&ll=30.28742,-81.390045&spn=0.003632,0.009656&z=17&layer=c&cbll=30.287432,-81.389947&panoid=9q4cquhAyg4lC4iI013l-w&cbp=12,157.49538365438676,,0,1.517662104961194
In the past seven years I have done a lot of cool things... built up a business and sold it, started my real estate business and watched it grow and become profitable as well as a have a lot of people come into my life and leave... some good.. some.. well.. they probably were good people.. just not right for me... but I can not remember anytime in the past seven years where I could turn all of that stuff off and just relax.
Tonight, I took Andrew to his friends house and made my way back to the boat. I made an awesome dinner of Jerk Chicken and basically just relaxed. I turned off my phone, did not check emails, did not log into facebook. I listened to some Jimmy Buffet (of course... I am on a boat) and enjoyed doing nothing, just watching the river and the dogs sleeping.
I hope that when I am done with this adventure it is a lesson I do not forget.... I wonder if there is anyone that understands.... or more importantly could have sat out on the back deck of the boat with me.
Well it is almost 11:30 and after a great evening of good food, good music and some good beer... it is about time to hit the rack..
so until my next post..
"with these changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, nothing remains quite the same, with all of my running and all of my cunning, if I couldn't laugh, I would go insane" - JB
Mike
Captain of the boat :-)
I am 38 years old and as I think back on my life it is interesting to think about all of the things I have experienced, all of the people that have come and gone in my life and everything that I have experienced that has brought me to where I am. A good friend told me years ago that there are friends for a reason, friends for a season and friends for life.... boy was she right.... too bad you can never tell who is which until after the fact.
I am always helping others, doing things for others and usually forget about me. I do take care of myself in terms of achieving goals... I do a good job of that, there are few if any goals I have set for myself that I have not achieved.
I tend to forget about myself though... I realized tonight as I sat out on the back of the boat that this is the first evening that I have totally relaxed in about seven years. The last time was when I lived at this cool house right on the beach in Jacksonville Beach. The house had this big front porch where I had my hammock setup. I would just chill out there and watch the people walk by. During the summer there was always people walking by and I could just lay there and watch the world go by.
See it on streetview: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1300+1st+ave+s+jacksonville+beach,+fl+32250&ie=UTF8&ll=30.28742,-81.390045&spn=0.003632,0.009656&z=17&layer=c&cbll=30.287432,-81.389947&panoid=9q4cquhAyg4lC4iI013l-w&cbp=12,157.49538365438676,,0,1.517662104961194
In the past seven years I have done a lot of cool things... built up a business and sold it, started my real estate business and watched it grow and become profitable as well as a have a lot of people come into my life and leave... some good.. some.. well.. they probably were good people.. just not right for me... but I can not remember anytime in the past seven years where I could turn all of that stuff off and just relax.
Tonight, I took Andrew to his friends house and made my way back to the boat. I made an awesome dinner of Jerk Chicken and basically just relaxed. I turned off my phone, did not check emails, did not log into facebook. I listened to some Jimmy Buffet (of course... I am on a boat) and enjoyed doing nothing, just watching the river and the dogs sleeping.
I hope that when I am done with this adventure it is a lesson I do not forget.... I wonder if there is anyone that understands.... or more importantly could have sat out on the back deck of the boat with me.
Well it is almost 11:30 and after a great evening of good food, good music and some good beer... it is about time to hit the rack..
so until my next post..
"with these changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, nothing remains quite the same, with all of my running and all of my cunning, if I couldn't laugh, I would go insane" - JB
Mike
Captain of the boat :-)
Friday, February 13, 2009
TGIF
Well after a long week of dealing with mentally challenged tenants trying to do plumbing.... the week is over.
It is Friday night on the "Sea-Esta". I made a wonderful dinner of steak and creamed spinach. The steak turned out to be the best yet at my attempts of using the grill on the boat. The dogs loved their share as well.
I have the windows and door opened up and the dogs and I are chilling out, listening to some music and enjoying the evening.
I will be picking Andrew up around 10 from a friends house and he will spend the rest of the weekend with me. Other than a few stops to collect some rent, he and I can focus on fun and relaxing this weekend.
The big project is to implement the changes to the gangplank. When it is done I will post some pics of my engineering masterpiece.
The marina is doing their Friday evening happy hour, so a few people have strolled down to the end of the dock and I may take a walk up to see what is going on.
Life has gotten pretty routine on the boat. Most things have found a place so it is not so messy and the dogs have gotten into the routine as well. As of tomorrow I will have 14 more days left of this adventure. I hope to be able to spend more time doing some work on the boat. I still have an exhaust manifold that needs replaced and some other work.
Would love to see more comments and questions if any.
Until later... I will be relaxing with a full belly of grilled cow and popeye food (pretty good choice to eat spinach on a boat huh?)
shiver me timbers and swab the deck......
"Captain" Mike
It is Friday night on the "Sea-Esta". I made a wonderful dinner of steak and creamed spinach. The steak turned out to be the best yet at my attempts of using the grill on the boat. The dogs loved their share as well.
I have the windows and door opened up and the dogs and I are chilling out, listening to some music and enjoying the evening.
I will be picking Andrew up around 10 from a friends house and he will spend the rest of the weekend with me. Other than a few stops to collect some rent, he and I can focus on fun and relaxing this weekend.
The big project is to implement the changes to the gangplank. When it is done I will post some pics of my engineering masterpiece.
The marina is doing their Friday evening happy hour, so a few people have strolled down to the end of the dock and I may take a walk up to see what is going on.
Life has gotten pretty routine on the boat. Most things have found a place so it is not so messy and the dogs have gotten into the routine as well. As of tomorrow I will have 14 more days left of this adventure. I hope to be able to spend more time doing some work on the boat. I still have an exhaust manifold that needs replaced and some other work.
Would love to see more comments and questions if any.
Until later... I will be relaxing with a full belly of grilled cow and popeye food (pretty good choice to eat spinach on a boat huh?)
shiver me timbers and swab the deck......
"Captain" Mike
Monday, February 9, 2009
IT and the high seas
Many of you who read this know me and my love of technology and computers. One of the things I miss about being in my house is all of my computers, servers and tech stuff.
Tonight I have spent some time playing computer and turning the boat into a floating data center. I have always had my laptop on here and a high speed internet connection. I hooked up one of my servers tonight. It can connect to the Internet through my laptop, but looses connection when I am gone :-( It does give me a good environment for some web development projects I am playing with and off course no vessel should have less than 1 Terabyte of storage on board at anytime.
This may not seem like a big deal to many, but it definitely makes it more like home.
On a less geeky note... There is an awesome full moon tonight and it provided just enough light to watch the Navy rescue swimmers jumping out of a helicopter hovering over the water across the river from me.
Well enough for now... type to you all later
Mike
Captain of the ship
Tonight I have spent some time playing computer and turning the boat into a floating data center. I have always had my laptop on here and a high speed internet connection. I hooked up one of my servers tonight. It can connect to the Internet through my laptop, but looses connection when I am gone :-( It does give me a good environment for some web development projects I am playing with and off course no vessel should have less than 1 Terabyte of storage on board at anytime.
This may not seem like a big deal to many, but it definitely makes it more like home.
On a less geeky note... There is an awesome full moon tonight and it provided just enough light to watch the Navy rescue swimmers jumping out of a helicopter hovering over the water across the river from me.
Well enough for now... type to you all later
Mike
Captain of the ship
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The type of day that reminded me why I wanted to live on a boat
Well today was an awesome day...
It started out with being able to sleep in, which is always a good way to start. The dogs and I picked up Andrew from his friends house and we came back to the boat.
The weather was perfect, mid 70's, light breeze, calm seas and lots of sun.
We spent most of the afternoon designing and building our gangplank. It seems to have come out pretty good. We have a few design changes I will implement during the week. This should eliminate the problem I had the other day of "getting trapped on the boat" and will also make it easier for some of my less sure footed friends to come visit me.
There were a lot of people at the marina today, so we got to make some new friends. Rusty even made a new friend. This little pug dog that came by boat with his owners seemed to hit it off with Rusty.
We ended the day with fried chicken and chocolate eclairs for dessert.
I think the things that made the day so nice were, spending it with Andrew, great weather, relaxing and getting something marked off on my "to do" list.
The weather is supposed to be nice all week, which is great since I have a very light work week. I hope to get some serious sitting around doing nothing accomplished.
That is enough for now... Andrew, sorry I did not post this before you went to bed, guess you will just have to read it tomorrow.
3 more days until the evil monster whose name shall not be spoken is no longer my wife and 20 days until she and her band of misfits are eradicated from my house. The only bad thing is.. it also means only 20 more days left of "Mikes month on a boat" blog.
Until my next post....
"Yes I am a pirate... 200 years to late, the cannons don't thunder, there is nothing to plunder, I am an over 40 victim of fate" -- Jimmy Buffet
It started out with being able to sleep in, which is always a good way to start. The dogs and I picked up Andrew from his friends house and we came back to the boat.
The weather was perfect, mid 70's, light breeze, calm seas and lots of sun.
We spent most of the afternoon designing and building our gangplank. It seems to have come out pretty good. We have a few design changes I will implement during the week. This should eliminate the problem I had the other day of "getting trapped on the boat" and will also make it easier for some of my less sure footed friends to come visit me.
There were a lot of people at the marina today, so we got to make some new friends. Rusty even made a new friend. This little pug dog that came by boat with his owners seemed to hit it off with Rusty.
We ended the day with fried chicken and chocolate eclairs for dessert.
I think the things that made the day so nice were, spending it with Andrew, great weather, relaxing and getting something marked off on my "to do" list.
The weather is supposed to be nice all week, which is great since I have a very light work week. I hope to get some serious sitting around doing nothing accomplished.
That is enough for now... Andrew, sorry I did not post this before you went to bed, guess you will just have to read it tomorrow.
3 more days until the evil monster whose name shall not be spoken is no longer my wife and 20 days until she and her band of misfits are eradicated from my house. The only bad thing is.. it also means only 20 more days left of "Mikes month on a boat" blog.
Until my next post....
"Yes I am a pirate... 200 years to late, the cannons don't thunder, there is nothing to plunder, I am an over 40 victim of fate" -- Jimmy Buffet
Friday, February 6, 2009
just a quicky
I will write more tonight, but wanted to share some pics.The first two were of the dock this morning... note the white stuff is not duck poop.. it is ice/frost. The first pic is cool, the ice has melted except where it is in the shadow of the piling.
The last picture is Rusty after the little birthday party I threw for him the other day.. lol
Thursday, February 5, 2009
What I have learned so far
I am only 5 days into my nautical adventure and have already learned a lot about living on a boat. Some good things, some bad things.
Lets start with the good...
It is easy to keep the boat clean.. a thirty three foot boat sounds kind of big, and I guess it is as boats go, but as a living area it is SMALL, but that means less stuff to keep clean
It is very relaxing. I know once I walk down that pier the rest of the world is shut out. All I hear is the sound of the water and relaxing music I have on the stereo.
I am lucky.. I already realize how lucky I am to have the chance to do this.
The not so good...
February may not be the ideal month to live on a boat. While it is plenty warm inside of the boat, when you have to walk down a pier with 30 - 35 degree air temp and 20 mph winds, you get to feel a wind chill that is down in the low teens.
The boat is small...
So those are just a few random things I have learned so far. I am really enjoying it. My evenings generally consist of coming back to the boat and eating if I have not already and also feeding the dogs. I then usually get online or talk on the phone while the dogs eat and then lay down. Now that my beginning of the month rush of work has subsided I will be able to do a little more organizing and also some more cooking... fast food and take out gets old.
The water is really quite tonight (No evil Northwest wind) so I am sure I will sleep good.
Until tomorrow... "there is no dark side of the moon, it is all dark.." Sorry could not think of a nautical quote so I went with the old standby of Pink Floyd.
Lets start with the good...
It is easy to keep the boat clean.. a thirty three foot boat sounds kind of big, and I guess it is as boats go, but as a living area it is SMALL, but that means less stuff to keep clean
It is very relaxing. I know once I walk down that pier the rest of the world is shut out. All I hear is the sound of the water and relaxing music I have on the stereo.
I am lucky.. I already realize how lucky I am to have the chance to do this.
The not so good...
February may not be the ideal month to live on a boat. While it is plenty warm inside of the boat, when you have to walk down a pier with 30 - 35 degree air temp and 20 mph winds, you get to feel a wind chill that is down in the low teens.
The boat is small...
So those are just a few random things I have learned so far. I am really enjoying it. My evenings generally consist of coming back to the boat and eating if I have not already and also feeding the dogs. I then usually get online or talk on the phone while the dogs eat and then lay down. Now that my beginning of the month rush of work has subsided I will be able to do a little more organizing and also some more cooking... fast food and take out gets old.
The water is really quite tonight (No evil Northwest wind) so I am sure I will sleep good.
Until tomorrow... "there is no dark side of the moon, it is all dark.." Sorry could not think of a nautical quote so I went with the old standby of Pink Floyd.
Trapped on the boat
Ok so only a few days into this blog thing and I am already slackin...
Let me tell you about yesterday. One thing you will probably see through this month is my constant theme of not liking wind from the Northwest. It blows the boat away from the dock and makes it hard for the dogs to get off of the boat.
Yesterday morning was cold and VERY windy. While the boat is very well secured with dock lines, the wind was still pushing her away from the dock. I tried to pull us in closer, but could not. The wind blowing against the side of her 20,000 pounds of weight was too much, even for my large muscles.. lol So we ended up hanging out on the boat for about 2 hours until the winds died down. The poor dogs were sitting there with their legs crossed just waiting to get off.
Yesterday evening was pretty smooth though. Light wind, but VERY cold. The thermometer on the boat showed it got down to 28. The boat was toasting warm at 75-80 all night, but it was a very long and COLD walk down the dock to the boat.
This weekend I will be building a gangplank to make it easier for the dogs and anyone else to get on and off the boat.
Most of my slumlording work is done, got a few appliances to swap out and then going to spend next week working on the boat and my other real estate business. I will start uploading some pics soon.
Until later... fair winds and following seas.... I think that is how the saying goes
Let me tell you about yesterday. One thing you will probably see through this month is my constant theme of not liking wind from the Northwest. It blows the boat away from the dock and makes it hard for the dogs to get off of the boat.
Yesterday morning was cold and VERY windy. While the boat is very well secured with dock lines, the wind was still pushing her away from the dock. I tried to pull us in closer, but could not. The wind blowing against the side of her 20,000 pounds of weight was too much, even for my large muscles.. lol So we ended up hanging out on the boat for about 2 hours until the winds died down. The poor dogs were sitting there with their legs crossed just waiting to get off.
Yesterday evening was pretty smooth though. Light wind, but VERY cold. The thermometer on the boat showed it got down to 28. The boat was toasting warm at 75-80 all night, but it was a very long and COLD walk down the dock to the boat.
This weekend I will be building a gangplank to make it easier for the dogs and anyone else to get on and off the boat.
Most of my slumlording work is done, got a few appliances to swap out and then going to spend next week working on the boat and my other real estate business. I will start uploading some pics soon.
Until later... fair winds and following seas.... I think that is how the saying goes
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The boat was rockin' last night
You may have noticed I put a link to the local weather at the marina on my blog. The temperature does not mean much since I have a great AC and heater, so the boat is always comfortable, but the winds are a big issue. When the winds are coming out of the Northwest, it means it is blowing right across the river towards the boat. This means WAVES.. not the type you would ride on a surfboard, but the type that make you feel like you are on a carnival ride. The dogs and I still slept good.
I am looking forward to taking a break from slumlording after Wednesday for a while to work on my new real estate business and do some work around the boat.
I will have some more pics to upload probably tonight.
If anyone local to Jax is interested, I may do a happy hour on the boat this weekend or next weekend.
Type to you all later...
I am looking forward to taking a break from slumlording after Wednesday for a while to work on my new real estate business and do some work around the boat.
I will have some more pics to upload probably tonight.
If anyone local to Jax is interested, I may do a happy hour on the boat this weekend or next weekend.
Type to you all later...
Monday, February 2, 2009
It was a cold, dark stormy night......
Well it really is a cold, dark stormy night... So here is the deal, as a result of my divorce I am out of my house (that I pay for) until my now ex moves out the end of the month of February. I have had my boat for almost a year now and have always dreamed of living on a boat. The problem was that I had too much stuff. Everything kind of came together and I figured what a perfect adventure to make the month pass faster and have some fun in the process.
So this Blog is about what I expect will be my many adventures of living on my boat for the month.
To start with, let me tell you about the boat. She is a 1979 33' Chris Craft cabin cruiser. She has two Chevy 350 engines, a cool flybridge and most of the comforts of home. This includes kitchen, full bathroom with shower, heat/ac, flat screen TV, a couple of computers and high speed internet access. Her name is the "Sea-esta".
She is currently docked at the Amity Marina in Fruit Cove, FL, just south of Jacksonville. Here are some links about the marina and satellite view.
Amity Marina
Satellite View
During the month, my two boxers will be with me. They love going on the boat and keep me company, also my first mate (and son) Andrew will be with me.
Guess that is about it, tomorrow when the sun is out I will probably take some pics to post. I have an awesome berth at the end of the dock. I sit out on the back deck and look out at the St. John's river.
So unless I go down with the ship tonight... I will update this tomorrow.
Good night and smooth sailing (A little nautical lingo for you land-lubbers)
So this Blog is about what I expect will be my many adventures of living on my boat for the month.
To start with, let me tell you about the boat. She is a 1979 33' Chris Craft cabin cruiser. She has two Chevy 350 engines, a cool flybridge and most of the comforts of home. This includes kitchen, full bathroom with shower, heat/ac, flat screen TV, a couple of computers and high speed internet access. Her name is the "Sea-esta".
She is currently docked at the Amity Marina in Fruit Cove, FL, just south of Jacksonville. Here are some links about the marina and satellite view.
Amity Marina
Satellite View
During the month, my two boxers will be with me. They love going on the boat and keep me company, also my first mate (and son) Andrew will be with me.
Guess that is about it, tomorrow when the sun is out I will probably take some pics to post. I have an awesome berth at the end of the dock. I sit out on the back deck and look out at the St. John's river.
So unless I go down with the ship tonight... I will update this tomorrow.
Good night and smooth sailing (A little nautical lingo for you land-lubbers)
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