Entry log
at May 24, 2015 Sunday
Internet
connection in T-mobile wasn't helpful, it was definitely very slow and
frustrating. worst part of this was that before I activate the sim card for
internet connection, I had to call the telephone operator and give her some
details about my phone and personal information. Seriously if I would compare
the American service to the European one when it comes to internet connection,
European internet connection is way much easier. Anyway based on the
experienced I had , here is the step by step process in activating a T-mobile
(internet) sim card I bought on walmart before my ship left in Charleston,
South Carolina. By the way the sim card cost 30 U.S.D.
Step #1 Setup your phone
1.Insert
your sim card into the back of the phone (duh !?)
2.Insert
the battery and charge your phone (duh !!!!)
Step# 2 Get Ready For
Activation
Prepare to
provide this information ,if an IVRS (answering machine) or telephone operator
answers your call
ACTIVATION
CODE (can be found on the paper attached on the sim card)
SIM Serial
# (can be found on the plastic credit card size that holds the sim card)
Phone
Serial # (number at the back of the phone, under the battery location)
Agent code
(optional)
Area code
(if unknown , just ask the operator )
Date of
birth (just provide this info)
Security
PIN 4digits (just provide any four digit number)
Step# 3, 4 and 5 .
Just ask the operator on what to do to access the web
In other
news
On last
Saturday , Since being the assistant bond store manager. I had no choice but be
present on the crew mess whenever there's a drinking session among the crew and
attend to their liquor purchases. For the moment the news about these purchases
was that Captain "Cobra" is interfering on bond store matters and
said that I'm only allowed to sell "beck's" brand beer to the crew , all other brands of
beer are prohibited until further notice. Wine and smokes have no restrictions
for the time being. So basically its was beck or no beer at all.
Crew
wouldn't mind having a Beck's beer and seems to be suitable but the bad part
was that this particular brand is a bit expensive compared to other brands of
beer stored on the bond store like "ASTRA" , San miguel or even Dutch beer. A case of
becks beer cost at about 15.5 euro's on the menu and some of the crew refrain
from ordering because of the price. So as a result most of the crew ended up
ordering wine instead given that its way much cheaper (only 3 euro's per bottle
on any brand)
During the
drinking session that lasted up to 4am the following morning. I noticed that
some of the folks here are still basically the same grunt sailors
subconsciously afraid of authority and very critical even for people with minor
mistakes, they even brought up on the topic of my recent fiasco in the gangway
no thanks to 3rd mate german tan corales. Anyway I'm not bothered if it was
brought up and just went along on their self-righteous lectures. Those
hypocrites even warned me that I'd be send home if ever I get careless and
manage to destroy the gangway. Frankly I'm not bothered at all and would even
consider it a blessing that I get out of this job and start over something new,
I'm not saying that I should be careless or lax on my job but what I'm saying
is that I'm not afraid on NOT being a sailor anymore.
The thing
here why people are so scared on making even the slightest mistakes was on the
fact people will get sent back home and eventually lose their jobs and not even
be rehired on other shipping companies. Their afraid of these so called reports
that will come up on our shipping agencies. I guess this is one of the dark
sides of being a sailor in the Philippines. "BLACK LISTING AND BACKGROUND
CHECKS" , according to new international employment laws Blacklisting is
already illegal and violates basic human rights (and workers' rights), sadly in
the Philippines this is still in practice and as a matter of fact a normal part
of employment for overseas Filipino workers
Another
thing that was brought up on the drinking session that I didn’t like was my
association with Captain Nick betts. I don’t deny that he's my sponsor and
backer in getting a job in Career Ship management but apparently 3rd Mate
German Corales simply can't get his fat mouth shut about this information,
worse part is that he spreads this rumor here in Conti Agulhas. This info has
already been around in Cape Tallin and unsurprisingly made its way here - no
thanks to Mr. Blabber mouth. No matter how I start fresh , My past keeps
catching up. Anyway I'm still lucky that this contract in NSB Conti ships just
last six months and there's no guarantee that the folks I encountered here will
be on the next ship - So basically that means that there's a possibility that I
will start fresh again on my next ship.
In other
news
By Monday
May 25th. The summer heat of Texas area weather is simply unbearable and I had
resort again on the same old tactics I knew (and use) to counter the hot
climate problem. Through the years I had been so adapted on cold weather
environments that I'm somewhat resistant to it by now, however despite my
adaptability on cold weather , I have no effective tactics or methods in a hot
weather environment and this becomes a problem for me especially in central
American climates. Well I do still use the tactics like wetting my coveralls to
keep myself cool but , it's not that effective and has a nasty side effect of
temperature stress to the body.
For the
moment there is nothing much that can be done about the weather and according to rough speculation , this ship
will still be on this environment for at least a month until Ecuador.
Again in
other news.
Much to the
dismay of crew , the anchorage position this ship is located is very much far
away to get a clear internet signal. Obviously a lot of the crew are not very
happy that most of their top up loads for the internet will go to waste because
of this - and apparently the person to blame why this ship is put on this
location was of course Mr. Captain Cobra. The crew says that he sabotages this
because he's jealous that our internet connections are working while his is
already gone.
Anyway it
seems that much to the amusement of our "Cobra Captain" which loves
people being miserable , he orders us to pull out and prepare the mooring ropes
during late at noon , where the environment temperature is at the highest.
Unsurprisingly we had a difficult time preparing those mooring ropes because of
the hot weather, we had to finish the job as quick as possible - so that our
heat exhaustion won't get any worse.
Good thing
for me I had come prepared for the said work.
