Sea-Fever blog

One of my all time favorite commercials.

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Back in 1777, Captain John Paul-Jones placed the above advertisement in the New Hampshire Gazette in an effort to recruit sailors for “The Ship Ranger.” Seems that the fledgling US Navy was experience recruiting challenges much in the same way that the world’s merchant fleet is experiencing today, but that’s a story for another post.

Any Gentlemen Volunteers who have a Mind to take an agreeable Voyage in this pleasant Season of the Year, may, by entering on board the above Ship Ranger, meet with every Civility they can possibly expect, and for a further Encouragement depend on the first Opportunity being embraced to reward each one agreeable to his Merit.

Jones almost makes it sound more like a vacation than the harsh realities of life aboard a revolutionary war ship.

The Ship Ranger is long gone but today another active US Navy war ship is in search of a able bodied seamen. According to the Strategy Page, The US Navy is Seeking Sailing Sailors. Candidates must;

• Be able to handle going up in the rigging.
• Have capability to give talks and presentations (to museum visitors).
• Not been in trouble for drinking in the past 36 months, or have had a drunken driving conviction in the past five years.
• Not have had financial debt or credit) problems in the past 36 months.
• Have had above average fitness reports in the last 36 months.
• Not have excessive, or questionable, tattoos.
• Be in good physical shape and not overweight.
• Have passed all physical fitness assessments in the past year, and have not failed more than one physical fitness test in the past four years.
• Lower ranking sailors (E-3 and below) must be unmarried.

Hmmm? No drinking, tattoos or wives! Sailors who can handle going up in the rigging? What happened to our Navy when I was off watch?

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Simple.

via Signal vs. Noise

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Cuz, it’s Friday and I just like this!

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So the Deadliest Catch or Lobster Wars might be just a tad more of an “Experience” than you’re ready for but thanks to the Internet, now you can be a virtual lobsterman with Catch a Piece of Maine. Never get wet, seasick or have to handle that stinky bait while having pride of ownership of your own lobster trap and being able to eat the critters whenever you like.

Here’s the part you’ll be missing:

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In 2007, the United States Coast Guard established the Deployable Operations Group (DOG)  From a press release:

A new Coast Guard command that would bring together the service’s various specialized incident response and security teams into adaptive force packages is expected to be up and running with an initial capability by next summer, according to Commandant Adm. Thad Allen.

The new command would create a single force structure for “surge operations,” Allen said in an interview with Defense Daily last Friday.

The Deployable Operations Group would mix and match elements of the service’s Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSST), hazardous material and oil spill response units, law enforcement detachments, port security units, Airborne Use of Force capabilities, and some of patrol boat capabilities, to be trained to respond to specific mission requirements, Allen said.

The DOG Seal / Patch:

Here’s another video about the DOG which is a bit longer than the one above.

Bio of the DOG’s Commanding Officer

Standard Government Issue PowerPoint on the DOG

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Do find yourself frustrated and overwhelmed by never ending to do lists? Do you sometimes feel that your workspace looks like this?

Linda Stone, a writer, speaker and consultant focused on trends and their
strategic and consumer implications, is a Huffington Post blogger who recently wrote a post that I found very interesting. Is it Time to Retire the Never-Ending List? 

Experiencing this herself, Stone turned to friends and asked:

"Do you have a never-ending list? Do you manage your time? Do you manage minutes, tasks, and lists? Do you start each day with a list that has more on it at the end of the day than it did at the beginning of the day, in spite of how many items are completed and crossed off?

Or do you manage your attention? Do you manage emotions, intention, and make choices about what will and will not get done? What are your favorite ways to do this?"

Well, she got a number of different answers from a variety of occupations which caused her to embark on an informal research project where she found that many high achievers manage their attention and time rather than tasks and to do lists. She makes some solid suggestions about how to accomplish this including:

1. Each evening or morning before you start your day, make a short list of your intentions (the result and feeling of something you want) for the day and by each, write the related to do’s for that day. Try to keep your list to 5 intentions. Consciously choose what you will do and what you will not do. Keep a different list of what you will review for inclusion on other days.

2. List only what you really expect to do that day. As other things come to mind, write them on a separate list. By putting these items on a separate list, you are creating the space to be in the moment with each of your day’s priorities. Review that list as you plan for the next day and determine how they fit in to your plans. Give yourself some down time, enjoy your successes at the end of the day.

3. Give yourself meaningful blocks of uninterrupted time to focus on each intention. Turn OFF technology each day during those blocks and focus on your intentions.

4. At home, be clear about what technology you’ll use and where. Computer in the kitchen? Maybe not. A friend of mine just removed the computer from her kitchen and said she is now far less likely to stop to constantly check email or news. In the kitchen, she pays attention to her family and prepares food. Sometimes they do group family activities at the kitchen table. When she heads into her office to work on her computer, her children know not to disturb her while she works.

Some interesting food for thought and action. Coincidently I’ve been using a few of these strategies lately and found them to be very effective. So if you have a neverending to do list, give it a try.

Photo credit: BlueBadge Mojo.com

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There are some cool contemporary maritime influenced art projects currently on exhibit across the globe, so we’ve declared this Maritime Art Week on the Sea-Fever blog. Here’s the final and maybe most challenging and interesting installment of this series.

Lawrence Weiner was born in the Bronx, NY in 1942. Early in his life, Weiner had a variety of maritime jobs including working on an oil tanker and being a dock worker. In the early 1960’s he returned to New York where he began producing and exhibiting his art, the earliest of which included experiments with systematic approaches to shaped canvases. Weiner is considered one of the modern masters of conceptual art. Today he lives in New York and on a houseboat in Amsterdam. (Lawrence Weiner’s biography on the Guggenheim Museum’s website.)

In 2007, Weiner created an exhibit for the New Visions contemporary art program at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, titled Inherent in the Rhumb Line.

From the National Maritime Museum website:

The National Maritime Museum explores how human beings have sought meaning in the sea, time and the stars. At Greenwich the imponderables of time and space collide: this is the home of Longitude 0°, where one can stand on an arbitrary line marking out the starting point of each new day, year and millennium. Every place on the globe is measured east or west from this Prime Meridian, creating a framework for individuals to understand their place in the world. Lawrence Weiner’s artistic practice questions the subjectivities that create such constructs of understanding. Using observation and experiment, the artist interrogates the relationship of material objects to each other, and the relationship of material objects to individuals.

Like Simon Patterson, another Maritime Art Week artist as well as an New Vision’s artist, Weiner medium is often language and ideas.

Much of Lawrence Weiner’s artistic practice takes the form of language and his statements have been inscribed as text inside and outside the gallery, as well as taking the form of spoken words and printed matter. At the centre of this exhibition the words to a somewhat romantic song, Sailing Sailing, point elsewhere: songs, after all, are designed to be sung and heard, rather than read. Shown beside Weiner’s 2005 film Inherent in the Rhumb Line from which this exhibition takes its name, this song alludes to the freedom of the seas and navigating over the bounding main. As with traditional songs of the sea, Sailing Sailing has been handed down, passed around, reinterpreted and repeated, with each version as true as the next.

Currently, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles is exhibiting a career retrospective of Weiner’s work which is titled AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE. (through July 14, 2008 )

MOCA Guide to Lawrence Weiner’s AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE (download)

Tate Online Events (Video Interview) – Lawrence Weiner talking art – February 2, 2008

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Here’s a link to another great article by Bermuda Sun senior writer Meredith Ebbin about the youth maritime education program that I’ve been working on for the past six months with Northeast Maritime Institute.

Course opens up waterways of the world for students (June 13, 2008 )

Here’s a link In case you missed Ms. Ebbins first article, Pilot programme to train young seaman (May 23, 2008 )

This is a very exciting project. Ten young men and one young woman, between the ages of 16 and 30, most of whom dropped out of Bermuda’s traditional education system, have embarked on an educational journey which will ultimately give them the knowledge, skills, experience, credentials and confidence to launch professional maritime careers at home or around the world.

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All my life I’ve been a note-taker. On the phone, in meetings, when reading, I constantly find myself jotting down names, number and ideas. For many years I used 6 x 9 inch spiral notebooks. Then about 4 years ago I bought this really cool black bible like notebook during a visit to Dia Beacon. I loved this notebook and it’s drawn a lot of attention over the years; heck, it’s a design piece. But the one problem is that it’s pretty big and heavy and with more travel lately, it feels like I’m lugging a brick in my briefcase.

I’m a huge fan of Coudal Partners blog (blended feed) and that’s where I learned about Field Notes. I took advantage of a special offer that they had over Memorial Day weekend, have been using them nonstop and love them.

So if you take a lot of notes too, you might want to give Field Notes a try. You can see how others use them at Field Notes In Action and on Flickr.

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(33 minutes)

Download MP3:Messing About In Ships episode 25 – June 5, 2008

Subscribe Via iTunes HERE

Shownotes: Messing About In Ships blog

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This morning while at Logan airport for an early flight to Bermuda I stopped by Borders and picked up Dan Pink’s new book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko - The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need. I like the marketing campaign for this book is which pretty unique and intriguing; here’s a YouTube video.

Written in the popular Japanese manga style, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko is a quick and easy read and perfect for a short flight to Bermuda. Pink lays things out in six lessons:

1. There is no plan
2. Think strengths not weaknesses
3. It’s not about you
4. Persistence trumps talent
5. Make excellent mistakes
6. Leave an imprint

Okay, it’s not Good to Great or In Search of Excellence, but it is a fun book with some useful, if common sense, advice and the manga (cartoon) style is entertaining and engaging. While it clearly won’t be everyone’s taste, it does take a dry and much written about subject and presents it in a fresh and innovative fashion. Even if it doesn’t help you examine your career track, you can use it as a catalyst or inspiration for looking at things from a new and bigger perspective, just like Johnny ends up doing with his “Charger” shoes during Lesson 5.

Here’s a YouTube video of an excerpt of an interesting interview with Pink about the book.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in exploring an age old personal dilemma in a new way. It’s an easy, fun and quick read that just might set off a spark of new thinking. 

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko blog

Dan Pink’s blog and on Twitter 

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