(.)_(.)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
breakfast improv
I sometimes run into the situation when I'm at a place for breakfast and the listed menu items just don't tickle my fancy. I'm 2 or 3 years running trying to get vanilla ice cream on a honey glaze donut from Browns at the shore. But they just won't serve it...yet.
Well I lucked out this weekend when the waitress at the local diner put in my order for an omlet with hash and cheddar cheese. Mmmmmm...it was really good. And she even just charged me for a normal omlet, when I was prepared to see a charge for a cheese omlet and a side of hash.
And don't forget to get your veggies in! 1 comments
I sometimes run into the situation when I'm at a place for breakfast and the listed menu items just don't tickle my fancy. I'm 2 or 3 years running trying to get vanilla ice cream on a honey glaze donut from Browns at the shore. But they just won't serve it...yet.
Well I lucked out this weekend when the waitress at the local diner put in my order for an omlet with hash and cheddar cheese. Mmmmmm...it was really good. And she even just charged me for a normal omlet, when I was prepared to see a charge for a cheese omlet and a side of hash.
And don't forget to get your veggies in! 1 comments
Thursday, March 01, 2007
mow-beel
the good tide range and good weather forecast finally overlapped this week and so I headed back to Mobile, AL to finish my work there. I had been trying to make this trip since the first week in January and had canceled it 3 times due to poor weather.
I basically spent 2 days on a boat driving back and forth across Mobile Pass on Monday and then across Pass aux Heron on Tuesday. We were measuring tidal currents so that I can have some real data to compare my computer model results to. The instrument itself is rigged over the side of the boat and looks down into the water. We mount a GPS antenna above it and the data cable from the instrument and GPS run inside the boat cabin to my laptop.
The metal mounting bracket is attached to a 4x6 which runs across the beam of the boat. The brakcet can turn 90 degrees so that the instrument can be lowered into the water when needed or raised up when motoring to and from the survey location.
The rig looks like this. (click for larger versions of the photos)
here's the instrument pulled up out of the water and then another where it is turned down in working mode.
Here's the laptop and my notebook inside the cabin.
It's only a 28' boat and the cabin fits 2 people sitting and maybe 2 others. With 4 people on the boat you grab room where you can find it. The days are both about 14 hours long plus driving to and from the docks so you get a bit run down. Here's one of the boat operators making up for his 3am start time, napping on the cabin floor beneath the counter.
And we certainly weren't the only ones on the water. There are tugs pushing barges along the intracoastal waterway, a local ferry running around and many supply boats running from land to the multiple oil rigs in the bay and offshore. In addition to all this, the oystermen were our each morning. Oysters are big business and mostly harvested by hand. In the photo below, the boat on the left is culling his catch while the boat on the right is still working. The harvesting is done with these long tongs which look like giant chop-sticks hinged in the middle. The ends in the water have tines like a metal rake which fit together when the sticks are closed. So the guy opens them wide, lowers them down to the bottom and the works them closed and pulls the rig back up to the deck of the boat and hopes that he grabbed a few oysters. The fleet worked for 6-8 hours before harvesting their limit and heading back in.
The ride back to the dock on Tuesday was beautiful. You can see some oil rigs on the right side of the picture.
Other fun facts from the trip:
My hotel room was on the 13th floor. Room 1314. I though most tall buildings went from floor 12 right to floor 14? So far I have noticed no negative effects of staying on the unlucky floor.
I found (and consumed) Yuengling in each place I had dinner while down there. I can't even get this on special order here at home.
I visited Dreamland BBQ for dinner on my first night in town. It is billed as the 2nd best bbq place in Mobile. Their sweet tea was excellent but in all I'd say the ribs were a distant second to what I enjoyed at Brick Pit back in November.
I made a point to stop in at the Dew Drop Inn for lunch on Wednesday morning before catching my flight home. Although Jimmy Buffet prefers their cheeseburgers I had the house special chili dog and a roast beef po' boy. The dog was really good. The place itself just oozes history so it was neat to visit. I have eaten dogs at 3 of the 5 places on that linked list of top dog places in the country. I would rank them in order of Ben's Chili Bowl, Pink's and then Dew Drop 3rd.
I don't have a current book going so I bought 2 magazines to read on my flights to and from Mobile. Scientific America and All In's Poker magazine. I enjoyed both very much.
A woman on one of the flights home was in hysterics that she wasn't allowed to carry her dog on the flight with her. I'm still not clear if Fluffy got put in with the normal luggage or what. 2 comments
the good tide range and good weather forecast finally overlapped this week and so I headed back to Mobile, AL to finish my work there. I had been trying to make this trip since the first week in January and had canceled it 3 times due to poor weather.
I basically spent 2 days on a boat driving back and forth across Mobile Pass on Monday and then across Pass aux Heron on Tuesday. We were measuring tidal currents so that I can have some real data to compare my computer model results to. The instrument itself is rigged over the side of the boat and looks down into the water. We mount a GPS antenna above it and the data cable from the instrument and GPS run inside the boat cabin to my laptop.
The metal mounting bracket is attached to a 4x6 which runs across the beam of the boat. The brakcet can turn 90 degrees so that the instrument can be lowered into the water when needed or raised up when motoring to and from the survey location.
The rig looks like this. (click for larger versions of the photos)
here's the instrument pulled up out of the water and then another where it is turned down in working mode.
Here's the laptop and my notebook inside the cabin.
It's only a 28' boat and the cabin fits 2 people sitting and maybe 2 others. With 4 people on the boat you grab room where you can find it. The days are both about 14 hours long plus driving to and from the docks so you get a bit run down. Here's one of the boat operators making up for his 3am start time, napping on the cabin floor beneath the counter.
And we certainly weren't the only ones on the water. There are tugs pushing barges along the intracoastal waterway, a local ferry running around and many supply boats running from land to the multiple oil rigs in the bay and offshore. In addition to all this, the oystermen were our each morning. Oysters are big business and mostly harvested by hand. In the photo below, the boat on the left is culling his catch while the boat on the right is still working. The harvesting is done with these long tongs which look like giant chop-sticks hinged in the middle. The ends in the water have tines like a metal rake which fit together when the sticks are closed. So the guy opens them wide, lowers them down to the bottom and the works them closed and pulls the rig back up to the deck of the boat and hopes that he grabbed a few oysters. The fleet worked for 6-8 hours before harvesting their limit and heading back in.
The ride back to the dock on Tuesday was beautiful. You can see some oil rigs on the right side of the picture.
Other fun facts from the trip:
My hotel room was on the 13th floor. Room 1314. I though most tall buildings went from floor 12 right to floor 14? So far I have noticed no negative effects of staying on the unlucky floor.
I found (and consumed) Yuengling in each place I had dinner while down there. I can't even get this on special order here at home.
I visited Dreamland BBQ for dinner on my first night in town. It is billed as the 2nd best bbq place in Mobile. Their sweet tea was excellent but in all I'd say the ribs were a distant second to what I enjoyed at Brick Pit back in November.
I made a point to stop in at the Dew Drop Inn for lunch on Wednesday morning before catching my flight home. Although Jimmy Buffet prefers their cheeseburgers I had the house special chili dog and a roast beef po' boy. The dog was really good. The place itself just oozes history so it was neat to visit. I have eaten dogs at 3 of the 5 places on that linked list of top dog places in the country. I would rank them in order of Ben's Chili Bowl, Pink's and then Dew Drop 3rd.
I don't have a current book going so I bought 2 magazines to read on my flights to and from Mobile. Scientific America and All In's Poker magazine. I enjoyed both very much.
A woman on one of the flights home was in hysterics that she wasn't allowed to carry her dog on the flight with her. I'm still not clear if Fluffy got put in with the normal luggage or what. 2 comments
