i was looking for something to make a little bit of extra cash, like a full-time, high-paying job, just to keep Maureen from feeling stressed about finances.

During a discussion with my close friend, Steve Frailey, he told me they were looking for a safety guy. He described the work as walking the Pacific Tugboat old creosote wood pier (one of the few left on the bay) numerous times a day, checking the pier, the workers, the boats, and other equipment for safety, to ride the boats for safety checks at least once a week, to conduct training in San Diego and at the Long Beach facility at least once a week. i thought “Hmm, these are all things i would love to do, bring back memories, and i could visit my friend Alan Hicks (who was the Marad Director of the Southern California Gateway), a geographic bachelor living in Long Beach.

Well, it wasn’t for a king’s ransom, and i never did quite all of the things i should have, but i did improve the safety, environmental compliance, and provided support in other ways. i think i helped the company, which was my goal.

i gave it up three years ago. Decided my skills weren’t quite what they used to be, and i also realized i didn’t have the drive anymore to manage relationships in a work status. So i stepped aside. An extremely capable, professional, and much younger Shawn Quigley took my place. Good move all around.

But occasionally, i miss it. Like this morning. i was screwing off, procrastinating, when some old posts popped up on Facebook. Memories came back.

Because of the nature of the job and commuter traffic, i usually arrived at the pier between 0530 and 0600. It was my favorite part of the day. i would walk the pier around first light and enjoy the sights, sounds, and aroma of the bay waking up. If lucky, i would embark on a boat for one of those safety rides. i posted these photos to try and capture my pleasure of the experiences. They didn’t fully capture my feelings, but i think these will give you and idea:

Yep, miss it, just like i missed my ships at sea.