Stress Test

The other evening I was walking to get a little dinner and was handed a pamphlet with the title "Are You Curious About Yourself?" It ended up being something from the Scientoloigists, with an offer for one of L. Ron Hubbard's books. Later I stumbled upon their Life Improvement Center and they were advertising a free Stress Test. No point in me taking the test right now since I am under allot of stress and have not had a chance to relieve it in any way, I am working to many hours.

Today I only worked 12 hours, but yesterday it was 15, the day before 18, and 15 each of the two days before that. I get to work tomorrow too. I'll stop whining now.

I promised a review of Chevy's HHR. In one word, "Don't". It is basically the same as Dodge's PT Cruiser, which I don't care for either. The HHR's windshield is too small; it almost feels like looking through a soda straw. This is exacerbated by the very wide A-pillars. Those are the pillars between the windshield and the front door. It also has the Cruisers annoying power windows. I call them annoying because the activation switch is located between the driver and front passenger instead of on the door.

Unfortunately since I was in Florida, I didn't get to the weekend to hang out with the college buddies, but things came up and they couldn't make it either. I am still in Florida, the vessel I am assigned to is in dry dock and that has been a huge goat rope that I won't get into right now. Crew change has also occurred, but the guys in the office finagled it so I was staying in the office job until the end of dry dock, which is at least another week and a half. The upside is I get to sleep in a nice bed and continue to earn my Hilton HHoners points. I am up to 35 nights in a Hilton family hotel this year! I should be getting close to my Gold card. Woo Hoo, more free upgrades. The downside is I have to deal with a lot of logistics issues, and people from the office who have never seen one of our boats, think now is the opportune time to do it. They of course decide to come the day before they actually do so. I am finally getting on top of it, but it still feels like a long way to go until we leave.

Rumors are now flowing fast and furious. Everything from, Gulf of Mexico again, to Mexico, and even Brazil has been mentioned. I would really like Brazil, I haven't ever been to South America and would be one more continent off the list.

Later

Break is over back to the blog

Well, it has been awhile, and I will admit my two weeks of break were extremely uneventful. Other than the freaky weather, that would let me go out an run. OK, it didn't stop me, I'm just a wimp when it is cold. I did run a 5K one Saturday, and I have to say that there is one phrase that if I never hear again, it will be alright. The 5K I ran was the "Get your Rear in Gear" 5K for Colon Cancer. Now I was a little late showing up, and was forced to the back of the pack. I don't mind this really and I generally wait for everyone to get out ahead of me. I have found that this allows the pack to get spread out and it is easier to work through. Besides passing people always helps when the endorphins have failed. Does this make me an over-competitive jerk? However; I wouldn't try this in a race with several thousand runners. Limit it to races with less than a thousand.

I do have a few other things I want to blog about, but will leave that until later. I will give you a few teasers though. A review of Chevy's HHR, hanging out with by college buddies, and the kinda hot weather here in Tamp FL. It was in the 90's today. :)

Jon