We always get snow by Halloween!

Well, its Halloween night, and the snow has begun! (Yes, here in Ithaca, it almost always snows by Halloween...) We had a lovely weekend. We had friends coming over all day yesterday for a BBQ. After grilling burgers, corn, steak, asparagus, and sausage with peppers & onions, we decorated some pumpkins that came fresh off the farm in T-burg. One got carved, one got etched, and two just got Ye Olde Sharpie treatment. We also baked a blue apple pie and roasted pumpkin seeds!

Back To Blogsville

Hello blog readers! It's been ages!

In our defense, we've had a very busy past few months...

David's company has been contracted by BP, and they've been working non-stop on a very important project that will be reviewed by the US Senate - the outcome will determine the government's decisions regarding the moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf. Because this project is so high-profile, David's company has decided that they have the right to change David's schedule at the last minute, with no notice whatsoever (last hitch, they kept him for four weeks instead of three, and they keep us hanging one day at a time...)

And after spending most of the summer recovering from the car accident, I was asked to join the Theatre Department faculty at Ithaca College, so now I'm teaching Acting every morning! In addition to being an instructor at IC, I'm still teaching Drama & Dance in Trumansburg in the afternoons, so my free time is almost nil.

Luckily, before things got too busy with both of my jobs, we were able to spend a wonderful Labor Day weekend with David's family in West Virginia! This was my first visit to the annual Campione Family Reunion, and I can't wait till the next one! Everyone was so sweet, it's gorgeous country out there, and the food was spectacular! The pepperoni rolls... oh the pepperoni rolls! We still have some in our freezer...

Who Has A Blue Workshirt And Gets Home Tomorrow?

THIS GUY!

Audi Endorsement

As I keep looking at the pictures in my post below, I can't help but think... Wow. That car still looks like a car! I mean, the vehicle is totaled in every possible way, yet the frame retained it's basic shape even after a hard swerve and a flip, crashing into a mailbox, and rolling 4 times. And that well-built frame has a lot to do with why I'm still here.

So I say:  If you are in the market for a car, you can't go wrong with choosing a used Audi like we did. Even one thats 12 years old (like Minnie was) can keep you safe in a major situation. I'm living proof.

Taking It Easy

Our lives have been a little too "eventful" these past few months...

(If you read the past few blog entries, you'll see what I mean, and that's only the half of it...)

I think it's time we Take It Easy for a bit...

Very Happy To Be Alive

Here's what's left of good old Minnie. 

She saved my life on Monday. I'm gonna miss her. 

And lastly, check out the wheel displacement in the photo below. I guess that's what happens when you flip over a bunch of times. Your wheels get a little misaligned on the landing, to say the least.

Poor new tires. Boo...

What Does David Do?

Since the disaster in the Gulf, David and I have been besieged with questions, mostly regarding:
a) his personal safety
b) the nature of his work, and
c) whether or not his job security is at stake

So I wanted to try to clarify things a bit.

The man, the myth, the ROV Pilot.

David is working in safer conditions than he has in the past, but contrary to the comical picture above (taken by an old colleague back while he was still at Oceaneering) he cannot do the job "with his eyes closed..." As an ROV Pilot & Supervisor, his job is all about Robotics & Hydraulics - flying and operating large robots underwater, and that is some specialized stuff for the scientific mind.

David has been doing this for the better part of a decade. And his job security is not at stake due to all the new rumblings about offshore drilling. (*see P.S. below) What most people don't realize is that his type of work is NOT limited to oil rigs.

We've actually been feeling pretty blessed lately.  Because less than 2 years ago, David was still drilling for oil in the Gulf every month with Oceaneering. But when he left that company to started his new & improved position with Chouest (C-Innovations) last year, he pretty much left the oil rigs and offshore drilling behind. He is still an ROV Pilot & Supervisor, but he is no longer spending each day maneuvering said ROV into the heart of a big angry oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, which at this point in time, makes both of us very happy.

Since starting with Chouest a year ago, he has bounced back and forth from the Gulf to the North Sea, doing some very interesting ROV projects. Right now, the main thrust of David's work involves construction, deconstruction, and repair of offshore installations. Last year, when he started with Chouest  he & his team were responsible for constructing a WIND FARM off the coast of Germany. (Hey, isn't a wind farm the karmic opposite of an oil well?) And currently, he's working on deconstructing a 30-year-old Norwegian offshore oil platform.  And as you can see by this video, ROV's (Remotely Operated Vehicles) can be used to do a million different useful things offshore! See?

We expect him home from the North Sea this week!

*P.S. - An interesting update - we've just learned that David's old company, Oceaneering, is in fact currently laying off tons of employees due to the disaster in the gulf. We are so grateful that he is now member of the the C-Innovation team instead!

The Hermod

What is The Hermod? It's a crane vessel in the North Sea, and our guy is on it! You can read more details about The Hermod (or as I like to call it, El Hermod) on this cool blog that I found called Ship Of The Day, which chronicled the arrival of the vessel when it came into port in Rotterdam a few days ago to pick up the crew (including you-know-who).

David will actually be staying on this rig for this entire hitch. The next time he's out, he'll probably be returning to the Thialf, as I reported previously...

Back To Europe

David has gone back offshore. But thankfully, he has NOT been re-stationed in the gulf. He was transferred to the North Sea. I'm so glad he is nowhere near the mess out there. In fact, right now he is on a vessel in the lovely city of Rotterdam (look - see how lovely!) Soon, he will be heading back to the Thialf, off the coast of Norway...

Last Weekend

We were in the city last weekend, and we saw a wonderful show at Ars Nova on saturday night. It was called Bloodsong Of Love, and had a really terrific rock score. Keep your ears peeled for this one - if it comes around again its really worth catching. Joe Iconis is the creator of this work.


So the theatre is on 54th and 10th. We went to the show with my cousin Halli, and we were staying down in Alphabet City, but it was such a lovely night, so after the show we had a bite at Hummus Kitchen on 9th Ave, and then started a nice long walk downtown.  But first we walked across town in the theatre district and instead of encountering the usual mayhem that is Times Square on a Saturday night, we encountered silence, desolation, police, and barricades.

As if we hadn't had enough drama over the past few weeks, we found ourselves walking along the perimeter of times square in a bizarre Vanilla Sky moment. I literally hadn't seen the theatre district EMPTY since September 12th. We were dumbstruck, but when the police finally told us that the area had been shut down due to a "Suspicious Package," we got the hell out of there toot sweet. Little did we know it was a car bomb...