It is my birthday today. I am 41. When my birthday rolls around I like reflect back and ask where was I a year ago....tens years ago or whatever. The exercise becomes jucier the more I age. Aging doesn't bother me in the least, it surely beats the alternative of a dirt nap. However I do take issue with accelerated aging. It is always good to go and visit my parents in Florida where many folks familiar with aging reside. You can see obvious results of people who chose to live with little regard for physical and mental health. Conversely you can see folks as spry as can be in advanced years. Anyway.

Nineteen years ago today I was aboard CGC Polar Sea, pictured here in the Ross Sea Antarctica. What an experience it was to spend 5 plus months in the polar region and even more so the experience of two years aboard a Polar Class Icebreaker. I was a deckie and learned tons of seamanship skills and about heavy duty rigging. One of my first jobs was as crane operator. So I literally have spent days in all three of the ships cranes. You can see that "Big Red" is wide in the hips. She measures 399 feet and has a beam of 83 feet. She can produce up to 75,000 shaft horsepower via 3 gas turbines. So many great memories from that tour aboard ship.

Capt Chris