Sailing!

Such excellent news!  Betty took me out for dinner last night @ Lewnes' Steak House.  Absolutely fabulous I have to say, probably one of the finest steaks I have ever had the pleasure to devour.  We started with a 1/2 dozen chop tank oysters on the half shell, yummy, continued on with a tomato and onion salad with a lite little vinaigrette and blue cheese crumbles.  We then continued on to the main course, Betty had a slab of Prime while I defaulted to my usual Rib Eye.  We shared a baked potato the size of Rhode Island and an equally large plate of sautéed asparagus.  A fine bottle of red accompanied.  The reason for this little excursion?  My birthday is coming up this Saturday and Betty could no longer hold onto my birthday present.  Betty has always had an issue with keeping secrets and has been alluding to the blast we will be having this upcoming Saturday for a couple weeks now.  So between salad and the main course she started handing over envelopes.  Ah a nice little card with a shell on it, then a rather fat little packet.  I opened that and imagine my surprise when I saw this, reproduced from Betty's hand made card...

"Captain Jeff Wilson, a USCG Captain 100 ton, has 30 years living and working on the water.  His love for sailing is apparent through a Craig's List ad and many telephone conversations.  He is willing to share his expertise and abundant knowledge of boats, living aboard and seamanship in a private sailing lesson arranged for your edification and pleasure."

So Friday night I am packing up the hotel room grabbing Betty and we are running down to Chance, MD for the weekend, well at least till Saturday afternoon!

As Betty states in her little card, "After our 1/2 day sailing lesson the rest of the day we will spend either planning our life in the live aboard community or cleaning up my puke and revising our plans."  I plan on getting her a few Dramamine patches, well maybe more than a few, I think I could just cover her in them and might stand a chance.  =)

So we finally get to go out  on something a little smaller than a ferry boat.  She has indicated that it might be as small as a 21', but freely admits she could be completely incorrect.  Whatever.  As long as it has a sail I think I will be quite happy.

So in the mean time I have some assignments to do to fulfill my obligations to my academic group.  Been going to college online for the last few years off and on.  I earned my ASIT from an online school that way and after a hiatus last year decided to return to complete my studies and receive my BSIT.  Not terribly sure if I will live long enough to ever repay the loans, but it beats sitting and moldering in either the various extended stay rooms we seem to live in these days or the apartment in Hatboro.  I am currently taking a class in Distributed Systems and have a big project paper due Friday evening.  Thankfully the guys in my class accepted my pushing and shoving to get things done a little faster than usual so I will be turning in our paper a day early.  Thanks guys!

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry