I have gained a new understanding of the idiom "swearing like a sailor". The work that I'm doing here in Brunswick involves working on a Navy plane, thus I'm around a bunch of sailors. I hadn't really noticed it until today (partly because I was only at work for a couple of hours yesterday due to weather), but they cuss ALL THE TIME. And it's not even angry swearing. I'm beginning to wonder if they have an unspoken competition to see how many times the can squeeze the F-bomb into their normal conversations. Also typical of the sailor stereotype, there is rampant womanizing going on. I don't think I've looked forward to church so much before; it's just too bad that Sunday is still 4 days away.
On the working front, we almost got a full day of work in today. Once again, the weather cut our day a little short. It wasn't snowing when I woke up this morning, but it did start raining shortly after we got to work. Then after about an hour, the rain changed into snow, and it snowed pretty hard for the next two hours. And then it changed back to rain for about 30 minutes. Gratefully, the office that I'm working in has a window that looks out across the parking lot and a wooded area across a field, so I got to enjoy the soothing snow/rain while waiting for files to open and/or save. There was talk during lunch about the base shutting down because of the bad road conditions created by the weather in the morning, and most of the sailors left for lunch and didn't return. We decided to try and get some work done after lunch, but our supervising Senior Chief requested that we leave before 4:00 so he could pick up his kids who had gotten off early from school. Since I still had a little work that I could do, I got back to the hotel and worked for another hour or two from my room (the joys of having a laptop).
And just like yesterday, I crashed after work and didn't wake up until about 7:30. Not wanting to veg out and play video games for a second night in a row, I decided to check out downtown Brunswick. Oddly enough, the downtown is centered on a road called Maine Street. Being a punny person, I appreciate the joke, but I still kind of shook my head when I saw the spelling. Once again, I was reminded about the work schedule of these New England towns. I was hard-pressed to find a restaurant that was still open, so I settled for a place called Joshua's Restaurant & Tavern.
http://joshuastavern.com/
They advertise themselves as having some of the best lobster, so I thought I would give the crawly crustacean a try. Wanting to ease into eating lobster (since I've never had it before), I ordered the lobster roll which was pretty much a toasted slice of bread with a leaf of lettuce and some lobster tossed in mayonaise, and it was served with a side of fries. I was surprised at how little I for the $18 price tag (it actually only said "list price" in the menu), but it was on the company credit card, so I didn't feel too bad.
After dinner, I decided to go for a chilly stroll around downtown, walking the circuit around Maine Street. I found a few other restaurants that were still open, so I might try those out later on. I also discovered a place call The Gilato Fiasco.
http://gelatofiasco.com/
They're actually open until 11:00pm!!! They serve gelato, coffee, and assorted baked goods in a hip, artsy environment. I think I may have found a place to go when I want to get out of the hotel. I got some coffee, but decided to try the gelato on another trip. It's definitely a far cry from the bars that the guys I'm working like to hang out at. I don't necessarily have a problem with drinking, but when two married guys talk about wanting to find a bar "with some hot a**", it just doesn't appeal to me (they justified it by saying that they were "just looking" and thus it was okay).
As I said yesterday, I'm really looking forward to doing some swing dancing on Friday. I've been emailing with the contact person for the event Friday in Portland, and it sounds like the dance is mostly West Coast Swing. I don't know how to dance West Coast Swing, but they have an hour lesson before the dance starts. It'll be fun to learn another style. It'll also be interesting to see how different the "big city" is compared to Brunswick (Portland is the largest city in Maine at a whopping population of 63,882).
Good night all. Again, I cherish your greetings and comments. It gives me great comfort to know that people are interested in my Maine adventure.
Doctory Moments
13 years ago
4 comments:
Lobster roll ain't lobster...you have to get it steamed in the shell and pour oodles o' melted butter on it. Back when I ate meat, buttered lobster was one of my favorite things to have.
Enjoy the winter weather.....makes you appreciate Texas all the more, eh?
I would love to have the snow. I miss the stuff down here. Also, as Alex said, you aren't tasting the lobster if it is prepared like that. My favorite is grilled lobster with lemon butter but live-boiled is pretty good, too.
Bummer that your co-workers are on the slightly vulgar side. I really doubt that you would enjoy going to the bar with the two guys from Waco. Going to a bar and not drinking is awkward enough if you are with good friends. Doing so with almost strangers is just plain agonizing.
I saw that there is a Chipotle in New Hampshire not that far south of Portland. I know that it isn't Freebirds but at least it might give you a slight taste of home if you start getting homesick.
Since you mentioned church not coming soon enough, you might want to call the church and see if you can plug yourself into a cell/family/whatevertheycallit group for the month. Churches of that style are usually set in that format and that might be ideal for your situation. It would give you a place to feed yourself spiritually within the week and in a small group setting that would also help you quickly find some people to hang out with that don't cuss like sailors or go to bars to find some nice @$$. Just a thought.
Hey Kevin,
So you are experiencing the joys of field service. It sounds like its alot of fun. I haven't been anywhere cold yet, so your one up on me.
Eric B. A&M
Yeah, hearing that the two married guys wanting to go to a bar to check out women definately doesn't seem right, regardless of what they said that it isn't hurting anyone.
I think that Kevin B.'s suggestion on calling the local church would prove to be very beneficial. This would enable you to meet some other people to hang out with since it sounds like that you won't be hanging out with some of your coworkers any time soon. It's a shame really on the kind of attitudes that your coworkers are having, otherwise I probably say it won't be too bad to hang out with them.
Hope that you are capable of posting pictures of the area up there in Maine. If not, then that just means I'll have to be patient till you get back.
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