Park the scooter on the slip and come aboard....

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2008/07/06 10:36 -07:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/michkap/archive/2008/07/06/8697627.aspx

Not every blog can be technical, and this one isn't -- if that sort of thing bothers you, then please skip...

In the back of my mind is that old Jackie Mason routine, you know the one that there is no bigger schmuck than a Jew on a boat, but I'm rolling with it...

I truly was looking forward to it though, since it had been a while since I had been a boat, in fact the last time I was on one was before disequilibrium became a daily companion (for an earlier conversation about disequilibrium, see here).

I was thinking about the general thing about being on a boat where the ground is in motion but people get used to it and it doesn't matter. And I am genuinely curious about what the disequilibrium impact will be.

Turns out I didn't even notice it at all -- it made everyone feel the way I do all the time!

I swear over the course of the day I had the conversation several times -- people curious about whether I was having trouble with being on a boat (seasickness?), me explaining how I wasn't because I felt the same way on land, etc.

We were actually mostly on Heather's boat, for much of the day. Though there was a quick excursion on Lake Union and on quick walking tour of Dock B.

The scooter? It was parked on the slip, all the way down. Out of the way, at least.

People would be concerned about the stairs, but actually they ere easy -- the enclosed space meant something to hold on to, and that was all I needed.

This picture came out better than any other one that was taken, mainly I suspect because (since I aws in it) I didn't take it. :-)

There was a pitcher. It wasn't really margarita material, but if a margarita was walking down the street and saw the contents, he would remark "Ju look very familiar." And it got slightly more alcoholic throughout the day (plus I think a few cans of Limonata were dumped in there too at some point, though I could really just barely taste it).

By a little after ten 10:00 the fireworks started (a few went off before that, but as I pointed out they were just a little premature -- it happens to guys sometimes).

I took some pictures of the fireworks but they didn't really come out all that well:

Not a single good picture there, sorry about that. But they were some pretty good fireworks, even if my timing combined with the delay of a digital camera led to me never snapping the picture as the lights were brightest.

Within an hour of showing up I was almost halfway convinced I should look into moving onto a boat -- I really did feel that comfortable. It was like everyone around me was feeling the same thing I was and everyone was just dealing with it. And that was awesome.

Now by the end of the day I got to learn enough that I am now just 20% convinced (not including the boat next to us that folks were tipping quite a bit!), because there are things that would just be genuinely hard for me to do, too.

Maybe I could look into a long-term rental or something, that would probably kick up the percentage again. :-)

Lots of really interesting conversations with both people I knew and people I didn't, on everything and anything -- from politics to boats to sex and love to work to computers to apartments to the fascinating "girl with kaleidescope eyes" dress that Heather had on to houses to the scooter to living in Redmond to living on a boat to MS (the employer kind) to MS (the disease) and so on.

All with the underlying comfort that I have never had before of everyone knowing that the ground was not 100% steady, but that was just fine.

Of course there is. Consider this one:

An idiot was working at a circus. One day he got tired of putting up tents and cleaning up after elephants, so he decided to ride the camel into town for a bit of fun. He rode up the main street looking at all the stores and the pretty women, til he fell off the camel and the camel ran away. The police came up to him to take a report. "Was it a male camel or a female camel?" they asked. "I know it was a male," the idiot said, "because when I was riding down the street, all the people were yelling 'Look at that schmuck on the camel!'"

I don't know if that actually counts, since the Jackie Mason routine is much funnier? :-)

When a Jew has a boat he only says one thing. "I sleep six. I sleep twelve. I sleep thirty-eight. I sleep, I sleep..." To him it's not a boat, it's a dormitory.

and so on... :-)

Michael, to take good fireworks photos you need a tripod and long exposure (say 2 seconds or so), make a mental note for the next July 4th.

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