Saturdays are normally computer and server maintenance days on my calendar. You would think the day would be easy but it isn’t. The positive factor is that time goes by fast and next thing you know another day passed. However today was ten hours and split time.
We sailed on the eastern side of Tutuila from north to south. At the southern end of the island, the ship stopped to take some CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Density) water samples. Tonight we are heading towards the west side for more diving ops tomorrow. Tomorrow for me will consist of “admin day.” It will be filling out and dispatching reports, orders and updating documentation. It should be sitting in recipients’ inbox on Monday morning. Of course out here are no Monday morning “blahs” or Friday rush to get off work to take advantage of Happy Hour!
Our sole television network is none other than the video water boarding channel itself, Fox News. I personally cannot stomach the personalities as well as the contents of its so-called news. At first, I used to tell beleaguered crewmembers to pretend it was a parody of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and that worked for a little bit. When I sailed the Ka’imimoana last month I was thanked endlessly by one crewmember (you know who you are, ha ha) for resetting the modem to get Fox News throughout the ship. I recall times the channel would be “frozen” for a day or two and no one told me anything. I would take a guess that if we had the “Nielsen’s” out here, Fox would lose in viewership despite being the only network broadcasted. Why do we have only Fox News? From my understanding it is offered free to our Internet carrier as they also cover cruise ships. What a clever marketing ploy.
On the “KA” years ago, they were the only ship in the NOAA fleet with a DTS, Direct to Sailor, satellite television system. It was linked to the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services, AFRTS. However, by then it had changed to a “passive” sounding American Forces Network. I guess the words “armed forces” signified violence and war. I was in the Navy and recall that was the primary mission of the military but that was a different era. The system was encumbered with problems. It would have worked fine if the antenna was located in an area not cluttered with obstruction and a few engineering modifications tailored to the ship’s operational mode. There were three networks, the news channel which was 70% Fox but did catch PBS, MSNBC and CNN, general entertainment which showed current and past prime time shows and sports channel. It was on the sports channel that I got my first glimpse of Australian football.
For entertainment, I have a collection of oldies but moldies videos. I just watched Ringo Starr’s video of his 1971 hit “It Don’t Come Easy.” To imagine that I thought he was old because he was 31 at the time. All my modern music is home. In Samoa I borrowed my brother-in-law’s CD of Pitbull and rocked down the small Samoan village roads to “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” The stepson picked up a few words of Spanish from that song.
A good cup of coffee in the morning should open the eyes. It is time to hit the rack as I stay up late as usual and bid you goodnight from warm South Pacific.
Manuia-po from American Samoa
We sailed on the eastern side of Tutuila from north to south. At the southern end of the island, the ship stopped to take some CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Density) water samples. Tonight we are heading towards the west side for more diving ops tomorrow. Tomorrow for me will consist of “admin day.” It will be filling out and dispatching reports, orders and updating documentation. It should be sitting in recipients’ inbox on Monday morning. Of course out here are no Monday morning “blahs” or Friday rush to get off work to take advantage of Happy Hour!
Our sole television network is none other than the video water boarding channel itself, Fox News. I personally cannot stomach the personalities as well as the contents of its so-called news. At first, I used to tell beleaguered crewmembers to pretend it was a parody of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and that worked for a little bit. When I sailed the Ka’imimoana last month I was thanked endlessly by one crewmember (you know who you are, ha ha) for resetting the modem to get Fox News throughout the ship. I recall times the channel would be “frozen” for a day or two and no one told me anything. I would take a guess that if we had the “Nielsen’s” out here, Fox would lose in viewership despite being the only network broadcasted. Why do we have only Fox News? From my understanding it is offered free to our Internet carrier as they also cover cruise ships. What a clever marketing ploy.
On the “KA” years ago, they were the only ship in the NOAA fleet with a DTS, Direct to Sailor, satellite television system. It was linked to the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services, AFRTS. However, by then it had changed to a “passive” sounding American Forces Network. I guess the words “armed forces” signified violence and war. I was in the Navy and recall that was the primary mission of the military but that was a different era. The system was encumbered with problems. It would have worked fine if the antenna was located in an area not cluttered with obstruction and a few engineering modifications tailored to the ship’s operational mode. There were three networks, the news channel which was 70% Fox but did catch PBS, MSNBC and CNN, general entertainment which showed current and past prime time shows and sports channel. It was on the sports channel that I got my first glimpse of Australian football.
For entertainment, I have a collection of oldies but moldies videos. I just watched Ringo Starr’s video of his 1971 hit “It Don’t Come Easy.” To imagine that I thought he was old because he was 31 at the time. All my modern music is home. In Samoa I borrowed my brother-in-law’s CD of Pitbull and rocked down the small Samoan village roads to “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” The stepson picked up a few words of Spanish from that song.
A good cup of coffee in the morning should open the eyes. It is time to hit the rack as I stay up late as usual and bid you goodnight from warm South Pacific.
Manuia-po from American Samoa
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