August 2007 Archives

Website Update: A New Beginning

Much time has passed since my last journal entry.  Our site has been unable to post for about three weeks now.  I have been attempting to upgrade the software we use to manage our site, Movable Type, up to the most current release, version 4.0.  Needless to say, "some assembly required." 

The template, or look and feel of our site, was no longer supported by the new version, so we have had to rebuild from scratch our templates and style sheets.

Blah, blah, blah... three weeks pass.  The goal is that you say, "hmm... does not look any different to me."

With that mostly behind us, I now turn my attention to the continuing plumbing issues that await me when I'm done procrastinating here. 

One head (toilet) will not pump in sea water when you flush (email me if you have any ideas). And the second one is stuck (we'll leave it at that).

So with that in the back of my mind, the craziness in Washington, Iraq, the Senator from Idaho's woes, I thought we could focus on a 24 hour period where everything went well, troubles were forgotten, and all were very, very happy.  July 14th, 2007.

Some of you have been pining for the Mark Read of yore- the Mark Read of pulling bodies out of rivers, of offering his medical assistance on airplanes, that sort of thing. Where has that Mark gone, you wonder. Maybe he's just getting older and mellower, and that's okay, I guess.

Well, today is your day! The old Mark is back!

The other day the three Reads were settled in for an afternoon siesta. Robert was not much interested in sleeping, but Mom and Dad were, and finally the littlest Read fell asleep. About 45 minutes later, one of the halyards started banging against the mast- a common annoyance on sailboats.

That meant the wind was picking up. We ignored it the first few times, but finally, Mark got up to check it out. By the time he got out to the cockpit, the rain was really coming down. Of course, all this commotion woke Robert, so he and I went to check out what was going on.

I could tell the wind was really blowing hard, so I turned on the wind gauge, which said it was blowing at 35 knots. A powerful storm was passing through. 

We haven't blogged in a while. Honestly, I have not felt very inspired. I feel my life is a little hum-drum right now. Today, Mark pointed out the insanity of this. There are many things in our day to day lives, he said, that the average suburban reader would find interesting.

So, here's one pretty interesting tidbit...

The other day, the aft air conditioner stopped working. It gave the ol' "P5 HI" error message, which means there is not enough water pressure getting to the unit, which means something is blocking the line. If you are a frequent reader, you will remember that we had this same problem in Mazatlan, and we ended up taking the line out of the boat (which took considerable effort and a few swear words), and ramming a plumber's snake through the line, thereby dislodging several barnacles.

We're not looking forward to going through that whole process again, so we're trying to figure out what else the problem might be. Maybe the thru-hull (hole in the bottom of the boat) for the AC is blocked by barnacles.