Well I'm not sure if I'll get this posted tonight, but I at least wanted to write it. So I was hearing complaints from the mothers that they could not view any of the photos on our website (in the photos section, the others seemed to be working fine) and I was quite puzzled at this because when I browsed to our site, I could see the photos just fine. I did some googling about the issue and finally discovered the problem. For our photos section I am using Picasa (great program from Google, I highly recommend it for digital pictures, and it's free!) and its "export to HTML" feature (basically make a webpage out of the photos you select - captions, thumbnails, and all). Then I import the code Picasa creates into Microsoft's FrontPage 2003 (not free technically, hint hint, and not the best, but does the job for creating and publishing this site). When I preview the pages in Firefox (an open source, free, web browser that I also recommend) they look fine. Also in FrontPage they look fine. However, when I use Internet Explorer (from Microsoft) the pages do not render properly. After my googling I figured out that FrontPage adds some code that Internet Explorer (IE) cannot handle while Firefox can. This is extremely puzzling as both FrontPage and IE are Microsoft products. So why in the heck does one Microsoft product (FrontPage) used to create webpages make another Microsoft product (IE) used to view web pages, not able to view the pages properly while a third party browser (Firefox) does just fine?!?!??!? Long story short (too late) I edited the code by hand and now everything seems to work in both browsers - sheesh!
Today Janet finished no-slipping the steps and I have to say they look great and no one should be breaking any backs (or ribs) anytime soon! I got to work on the outboard bolt. It was still quite frozen (stuck) this morning so I went looking for some penetrating oil and help. With some Liquid Wrench from Persistence, an extra vice grip from Serenity Blue, and extra muscle from Rick on Time Traveler, we got the bolt unstuck!! I was smiles all day - kinda funny 'cause it was a really little simple thing, but fixing it really felt great. I couldn't have done it without everyone's help (probably would have broken it by now) and I just have to say that I really appreciate the sense of community between boaters (some are sailors, some cruisers, some powerboaters, some just like living on a boat in a marina, and some a combination). I hope someday I can help someone else out like I was helped today. . .
I still haven't gotten that outboard started yet, as the first time I pulled the ripcord (pull cord?), it didn't start and would not retract. Thinking it a simple rewinding job, I opened up the case only to find that there is a lot more disassembly required to fix this problem. I'm leaving it 'till tomorrow. Wouldn't it be cool if the manual actually said that - "Some disassembly required"??
We also fired up the inboard diesel for the first time today. Fortunately she started up like a charm!! A word of warning though - a friend of ours here (Al on Shamu soon to be changed to something I forget) just got his diesel fixed and went out today for his first sail. I saw him leave the harbor while chatting with Jim (on Gitana - a 1967 Cal that is all decked out for cruising, I hope to be picking his brain later this week) and we noticed that he didn't have much water coming out of his exhaust (most of the engines in these boats are sea-water cooled, so you should see quite a bit of water running out when under power). Later, back on Whisper, I heard Shamu calling for Teapot Tony (the local gringo mechanic) and then I heard Shamu calling for the marina. As luck would have it, just as Al is in the middle of the bay trying to get his sails up, his motor dies and won't restart and he had to get towed back to his slip. He's not too pleased (understandably) and I am just trying to take it in stride that yes, we did successfully start up our diesel today, but there are no guarantees in this business. . .
We went to the welcoming party with Rick and Jenny (Time Traveler) and had a great time drinking free margaritas (strong ones too) and eating free food, and we even took part in one of the contests. The contest was between 4 couples and we were one of them. Basically, I had to stand/sit/lay down in different positions while Janet came running at me with a balloon. The goal was to break the balloon (in all the different "positions") in the fastest time. Thanks to Janet's fast feet, she popped them good and fast so we won a bottle of tequila and a massage. I'll let you all guess who wants which prize. . .
We have a special request for a full on shot of Whisper (soon to be Tupo) and we'll put up those photos along with others taken today and last night when this gets posted.
Hasta la bye-bye,