SheSue Experience

Meet Kaya Johnson, a captain of the Portland Spirit, a riverboat dining cruise. Kaya grew up on the Great Lakes and has been sailing all his life. He was a rescue scuba diver for a time and spent 10 years in Florida as first mate on tall ships doing educational trips. He has been with the Portland Spirit for about 4 months. He had to go through extensive training and testing to get his license to pilot a boat the size of the Spirit.

It is 8:30am on a beautiful morning when I meet Kaya on the Spirit. We head up to the bridge. Kaya checks with the cruise manager and engineer for any news that he needs to be aware of. He relies on them to keep him informed of anything out of place. The cruise manager may have news about cruise passengers or events taking place on the boat.

Kaya then checks the cruise schedule, current river traffic, level of the river, events in the area, weather and anything that might affect the cruise. Once per week the boat goes through a drill of some sort such as man overboard. All of the crew must react appropriately as if it were a real occurrence.

The cruise manager gives Kaya a ship’s manifest for the cruise. This tells him the number of passengers, if there are large groups or celebrations and the roster of boat personnel. He checks to see who his crew is for the day, who will be handling the boat lines and who his overboard swimmer is. The line handlers are the crew who tie and untie the lines that hold the boat to the dock. The swimmer is the crew member responsible for water rescues if needed.

Next it’s time to do a walk through of the boat. He is checking for boat functions. He is looking for strange noises, smells, smoke, etc.; levels of potable water (drinking water) and working phones. I asked him who get the boat started. It is the job of the engineer to get the boat up and running and makes sure it is running smoothly.

It is finally time to let passengers on board. Captain Kaya heads to the top of the boarding ramp to greet each passenger and welcome them aboard. He makes small talk, answers questions, helps get groups ready for boarding photos and welcomes everyone on board. Kaya believes that being customer oriented is an important trait for a large boat captain.

Once everyone is on board, Kaya gives a speech about safety, where the rest rooms (head) are, where the life jackets are and how to put one on. Finally it is time to leave the dock. He heads out to the ‘wing station’. This is a small box outside of the bridge with a wheel, throttles for 2 engines and rudder control. He relies on his line handlers to untie the boat and get the loading ramp away from the boat. Once this is done, he calls out “All aboard”, blasts the horn, and then begins to move away from the dock. He keeps watch on the dock before heading out to the middle of the river.

At this point, he moves back onto the bridge where he takes up his place at the big wheel. There are two radios on the bridge; the coast guard and the bridge tenders. They remain on during the entire cruise, announcing any emergencies. The river current can affect steering dramatically, especially during the winter. Kaya also has studied and has to keep current on river charts to know where the channels are. According to Kaya, timing the cruise is one of the most difficult jobs. He sometimes has to just coast the boat to make the cruise last the right amount of time.

During the cruise, Kaya has a log book that needs to be completed. In it he records the cruise number, when he left port, when he turns the boat around, etc. During the latter half of the cruise, passengers can come up and visit him. He chats with them and answers their questions. Sometimes he will let them pilot the boat. Of course, I got a turn.

Finally it is time to return to dock. Boats don’t have brakes on them. You don’t just slide into the dock and stop. He moves the boat slowly towards the dock, then ‘walks’ the boat, which means the boat moves sideways towards the dock. He does this by pushing one engine forward and 1 engine backwards. The engines are cut and the lines are tied. Another successful cruise.

Kaya heads down to bid all the passengers a thank you and come again. After completing his log book, his job is done. Kaya enjoys checking with all the crew before heading back to the office.

I had to ask him if doing this ever gets boring. I mean he goes the same route all the time. But he says the water changes, different water traffic, events downtown and the variety of passengers all make each cruise different. He takes his job seriously, but he enjoys what he’s doing.

What’s your job?

What do you get when you cross an egg beater, a swimming pool, jello and fancy swimsuits? A synchronized swim team! Ginger Jordan spent 3 high school years competing for a private club synchronized swim team. She was on the team with Candy Costi and Tracy Ruiz who were on the first Olympic synchronized swim team in 1984. The photo below is of a 1956 Wisconsin team. Below that is a 2006 team from Canada.

A typical day of practice on the team included:

• Stretching
• Swimming laps on top of the water
• Swimming laps under the water (no coming up for air)
• Doing the routines out of the water on the pool deck
• Doing the routines in the water

Each practice lasted 2 ½ – 3 hours and she practiced 5 days per week. That’s a lot of swimming. Ginger says that she used to sit on the bottom of the pool and talk in sign language thinking she was getting out of doing work. In reality, she was training herself to hold her breath for long periods of time. Ginger said that training was an on-going learning process; always learning new routines and technical stuff.

I asked her if she ever got kicked. “Getting kicked is just part of the game,” Ginger told me. “Even in warm up, watch out for those who are ticklish when you have to grab onto them. They’re like a wild horse.” Then she added with a giggle, “Me kick anyone, oh yeah!”

“Not much without goggles,” Ginger returned when I asked her what she saw while underwater. “You are always looking to position yourself correctly with the other teammates and where you were in the pool. You used lane markers to help.” I asked her how she manages to shoot up out of the water. That’s where the egg beater comes in. When you are upright, you do what’s called an egg beater to life you up out of the water. When you’re upside down, you use your arms to propel you upwards.

Time for a meet. Ginger competed once or twice a month all year. Her club did a big show in winter and again in the spring as fund-raisers. A competition consisted of solo, duo and team competition. At the solo level you did tricks in the water like walk-overs. Then it was time for the team competition. Some of the things you had to deal with were:

• Can’t touch the bottom of the pool, ever.
• Your hair had to be up in a bun.
• To keep your hair up in a bun, you put knox gelatin in your hair.
• You wore elaborate head pieces.
• You have to change your costume between rounds (try putting a dry suit on a wet body).
• You can’t wear goggles in the competition.
• Your eyes have to be open all the time.
• Different pools had different strengths of chlorine.
• You wore nose clips to keep water out of your nose.

During the competition, music plays to the routine. Ginger said that people always wanted to know how she could hear the music underwater. “Underwater speakers,” she says with an implied “Duh,” which is quickly followed by a giggle.

Below is a video of the team USA 2007 World Championship.

Arctic Blast 2008 has hit the Pacific Northwest. I’m not sure why they had to give it a name. I mean it’s just a storm. Some snow, wind and icy temperatures. To me giving it a name just sets panic in people’s minds. I do admit that it hasn’t been this cold since 1990 and the cold is expected to last more than a week which is pretty unusual. And it’s snowed for the past three years in a row (I mean down to sea level snow) which is also unusual. Is global warming still around? Here is a picture of my backyard earlier today. Tomorrow should be fun. It snowed most of the day, warming enough to create slush on the main routes. Tonight it’s supposed to drop down into the teens. Guess what that means for the morning!

It’s actually more common in Portland to have ice storms. We are due, but I don’t want to jinx anything.
Several years ago I was driving home on the eve of an ice storm. I figured I had beat it, I was cruising along just fine. I lived out in the country then. The ditches along side the roads were about 3 feet deep. Seriously, I have seen cars on their sides in these ditches and you can only see half the car sticking out.

So I am cruising home. It is night and dark. I am coming around a corner and hit ice. Now let’s look at what the experts tell you to do if you hit a patch of ice.

• First you are warned to drive slowly in the first place.
• Keep a safe distance between you and the car in front of you.
• If you have an older car, steer in the direction of the skid and pump the brakes.
• If you have a newer car, steer in the direction you want to go and keep your foot on the brake.

Here is what happens. When you hit the ice, it’s like you’re in an automatic car wash when the track takes a hold of your car to guide it through the washer. You have absolutely no control. The only thing I remember thinking was about those cars in the ditch. I was waiting to flip over. But somebody was watching out for me that night. I managed to find a driveway. In fact it was a double driveway. I took out a street sign, spun around and managed to bump up against the berm that divided the two driveways. My car didn’t even stall. After waiting for my heart to quit beating in my ears, I was able to drive home. I was only about 2 miles from home. The only damage to my car was I took off a piece of trim when I hit the street sign. Yes, I was lucky.

The point is, you really don’t have time to think of anything. This whole process probably took all of 15 seconds. Tomorrow I will have chains on and will be driving very slow. Most of my driving is on main roads which will hopefully be sanded. The video is of 2 years ago in Portland. Do you think any of these drivers were thinking of which way to turn and how to brake.

A frustrating part of Christmas for me is gift shopping.  A bit of a perfectionist, I spend hours looking for the perfect gift for everyone.  With my kids it’s easy.  I listen to them and figure out little clues as to what they want.  But for relatives who live far away, the hunt is difficult.

You’re checking your list and come up with Rich Uncle Harry and Grandma Lil. They don’t really need anything and if they did, they’d buy it for themselves. They have special diets, so a box or candy won’t do. You don’t know if they even wear jewelry, so that’s out. A gift card sounds easy, but to what store and that seems so impersonal. And it’s about as much fun receiving these gifts as giving them. So I went to the Internet to search for some ideas.

I discovered cool gadgets that can melt the ice in key locks, locate WiFi hotspots, or wirelessly charge a cell phone. I also learned about how to create personalized photo books, where to buy authentic movie memorabilia, and how to order a gourmet dinner. If you are familiar with what your recipient is interested in, there are some great websites that offer a lot of help. They have databases of ideas. You enter things like gender, age, hobbies, etc and it comes back with tons of ideas. Some of these sites are:

• www.surprise.com
• giftsunusual.com
• www.findgift.com

If your recipient is adamant about not wanting anything, you might think about doing something like naming a star or a tree after them. Or you might make a donation to a charity in their name. Libraries are always looking for good material. You can donate a book and have it dedicated to the recipient. Do they love the theater?  You can have a theater seat named after them.

My favorite: Think experience. Even if you have it all, you still enjoy getting out and doing things. In fact those who are retired are often lonely so would greatly enjoy getting out especially with family. Bring them to the theater, a concert, a museum, a plane ride. In her final years, my mother would jump at the chance to even go to the grocery store with me. If money is an issue for you, offer to do some chores or even take them on a trip to the park.

Gifts don’t have to be huge or fancy or even expensive. A gift of an experience is priceless!

If you think librarian’s just check out a few books then read all day, think again. A librarian does check out books, they also check them back in, clean the books, mend the books and shelve the books. Some books get bagged and sent to other branches of the library. Somebody also has to decide which books, CD’s, Dvd’s etc to buy and purchase them. All these new items have to entered into the computer database, covered and shelved. There are special programs presented at the library that have to be coordinated. And of course, a librarian is there to assist the customer is finding just the right book.

A librarian does not sit at the customer service desk all day. Since there a variety of jobs to fill, each librarian does 5 or 6 shifts at different tasks during an 8-hour day. Take a look at an average day:

The first librarians into the building must open the library. This means turning on all the lights and computers. Next all the books that were put in the book drop overnight must be checked in by computer. As you are checking in books, the books need to be separated by the branch to which they belong. There are a bunch of large bags for all the other branches. The checked in books are either placed in one of these bags, or put on a cart for your library. Sometimes a book is on hold for somebody. These books are also either placed in a bag for another branch or put on a separate cart for your library.

Next you have a list of books from your library that people from other branches have put on hold. You have to go all around the library and find all these books. They get put in the bags of the branch where they are to be sent. Finally it is time to open the doors of the library and the day begins. Usually a bunch of people are waiting to get in. They will probably have more books to check in. Most of the time they will head out to look for books (or movies, CD’s, magazines, etc.).

You usually do an 1 to  1 ½ hours on the customer service desk. Then it is time to move onto another task. For example you might be on book check/ shelve duty. You will have a cart of books that have just been checked in. You have to check over each books to see if they need to be mended. If so, they are put on another cart. If the books is dirty, you have to clean the book. The cleaned, checked books are put on carts in library order. You will have fiction books that need to be alphabetized and sorted by genre; non-fiction books that are put in order numerically; movies put in order by genre and alphabetical; magazines, by issue date and alphabetical, CD’s by genre and alphabetical, biographies, books on tape. Then you start all over with the children’s books. As you fill a cart, you wheel the cart out to the shelves and put the books in the proper order. You will do this for 1 – 1 ½ hours.

Other shifts might include working in the children’s library where you clean, mend and shelve the children’s books. You might be on the mending desk where you tape, glue and clean damaged books. You might be covering new books. You might be entering new books information into a computer database. Remember those books you put in bags to be sent other branches, well each day you will get 10-20 bags for your branch.   Your shift might be checking in all these books. Or you might be working on a special program such as children’s craft times. A typical day will include 3 shifts in the morning, lunch then 3 shifts in the afternoon.

I worked at a library for 8 years on and off. I volunteered while my kids were still in public school at the school library. That’s how I got my job at a county library branch. If I had wanted to move up to management, I would have had to gone to college for many years. Most librarians work 20-30 hours per week. Only management works 40 hour weeks. Jobs in libraries are pretty scarce because most employees do not leave. The work is pleasant and the pay and benefits are good. My favorite part? When you check in books, you get first pick. If you see something you like, you can set it aside and check it out before it even makes it to the shelf.

What’s your job?

The daylight grows shorter and so does your mood. You feel tired all the time and hungry. You want cookies and toast. The jokes that used to make you laugh don’t. Cute bunnies still make you smile, but the ahhh of cuteness just isn’t there. You don’t want to be around anybody, just a blanket or a bunny to cuddle with. The worst is that you feel like your life is worth nothing. You only seem to think of the stupid things you’ve done or said. You only remember the dumb things you’ve done.

I always figured seasonal depression, was due to the end of the year coming and my birthday in the spring. I figured that I was facing the end of a year one way or the other and was looking back on my life and finding little. Those little things that make me irritated like traffic or dirty dishes left in the sink make me angry. The anger is followed by sadness, and then I feel hollow. I just don’t care. I feel nothing. I am perfectly happy to sit and just stare at the TV.

I never paid much attention before. The depression came and it went, twice a year just like clockwork. But this year it seemed to come on sudden like. I decided to do some research. Maybe there was something I could do. Through research, I have discovered that I am not alone, that seasonal depression or seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is actually pretty common, especially in women. It is thought to be caused by hormones being out of whack. Genetics, age and your body’s natural chemical makeup all play a role in SAD.

A lot of research has been done on the reduced amount of sunlight you are exposed to in fall and winter. This messes with the regulation of your body’s internal clock telling you when to sleep or be awake. Reduced sunlight may also cause a drop in serotonin, a brain chemical that affects mood. Finally, research shows that melatonin, a sleep related hormone, increases during winter. In the spring the opposite happens as the sunny days grow longer.

A therapy known as light therapy has shown a lot of good results. You have to purchase special light bulbs that simulate sunlight and basically stare at them for 30 minutes or so every day. More suggested therapies are getting outside every day, getting plenty of exercise and eating right. If your symptoms are more severe, it is suggested that you seek out group or private therapy.

According to the Chinese, everything has a yin and yang which are opposite forces that complement each other. Yang is positive and yin is negative. In nature, the yin cycle begins in autumn and continues into spring. This winter cycle is associated with our kidney system, the root of our Qi (pronounced Chee) or our energy. During winter it is natural to crave foods high in calories the help keep the body warm. Unfortunately this screws up the natural balance in the body and throws off the Qi. Once again it is recommended to get outside, exercise and eat right. But acupuncture is also recommended.

As I read the Chinese portion, a light bulb went off. The last time I was in to see my acupuncturist, she told me my Qi was off. My hormones have also been acting up with increased hot flashes, trouble sleeping and carb cravings. I return Friday with hope of some relief.