The Dive That Was

This is going to be my account of a recent dive that occurred in Thunder Bay in Alpena. For my sake, I am going to try to record all of the details now so that I can recall this later if need be. Don't expect too many pictures no stock photos are available. Of course I will not mention any names as to protect all parties involved :P.
So this Saturday the 7th was to be spent diving Thunder Bay in Alpena. We were going to explore two wrecks, the first was the one of the most importance and intrigue on the trip The New Orleans.

The New Orleans is a wreck that was was sunk in 1906 after striking another boat. The intriguing part of this shipwreck was that it is practically unknown. The name occurs here and there in diving books, but few people seem to have dove (within my social circle). We thought that diving this wreck would be interesting because it might be a pile of wood and it might be fully intact. Secondly, because it wasn't frequented the depth reports were all over the board. Some pages suggested the wreck lay in as much as 200 feet of water, while others suggested as shallow as 60 feet of water lay above this boat.

As we pulled up to the site, the first diver entered the water. With a technical background, this diver was well qualified to moor the down line to the shipwreck. We all watched from the surface as he descended down through the glassy water down what seemed like 60 or 70 feet before he disappeared into the darkness. Within a few minutes he was back at the surface. At that point he requested that someone join him in the water to ease his nerves a bit. "I've just got those monsters in the back of my head". Little did we know that we should have caught that as a warning sign. My buddy suited up and dropped in within three minutes. The two descended down to depths and then signaled by shooting a water bottle to the surface that everything was moored and ready for the remaining divers. As my buddy was already at the bottom, I was then paired with the tech's buddy. The plan was for us to trade back into our normal pairs at the bottom of the line and then proceed with the dive. At this time period the second flag went off, my buddy wrote on the tech's tablet "are you sure about that line", and the two went back and double checked it. The line was secure.

So the two of us proceeded down the line and reached the area where the down line was moored. The interesting thing was that the captain had actually managed to snag the down line into an existing buoy and its line that had sank. As I was going down the line I gave it a quick glance, and then actually did a double take. Sure enough, the two lines were well snarled together. They weren't going anywhere. So just like good divers, the plan was doable and still valid so we went with the plan. We swapped buddies. So now back with my normal buddy, we began swimming the perimeter of the deck. We reached the forward rail on the starboard side. As we discussed my buddy signaled that he would stay at the rail as I went over the side to get some more depth, he already had reached his max depth and in order to not build up his deco time. I came up and felt very groggy we started swimming away and I remember thinking "Oh yea I am diving on a shipwreck, this place is weird". We continued diving at a relaxed slow pace around the front of the bow which was very intact and than looped back around the forward port railing back towards the mast and our ascent line.

Over with the other pair of divers they were repeating the exact same procedure, except they both re-descended to 130. At this point the dive buddy realized that something was wrong with the tech diver and they start ascending in the water. He snapped out of the narcosis haze about 10 feet above the deck and he realized that he had already accumulated so much bottom time that he had to call their dive immediately for him to even have a chance of being able to completely deco on his remaining gas.

Meanwhile, over in my group I recieved the signal that we needed to ascend because my buddy was nearing deco. "UP Five" he signaled, and we quickly rose trying to escape from the deco envelope. "UP FIVE" again he signaled we ascended to see the other two divers Zooming past us. "Follow Them" my buddy signaled. So we started kicking after them, "FASTER!!!" he signaled and we kicked as fast as we could. They reached the down line about ten feet before we did. As we started panning up the line in pursuit of them we realized the line was really loose. We kept working up the line until eventually we found the end in our hands. We had been disconnected from the boat. The up line was no longer in place, and we had to get up fast because the deco envelope was closing in on everyone.

Before I knew fully what was going on the tech diver had deployed his lift bag and reel. We shot up the line, my computer was alerting "Too Fast!" so was someone else's, however the beeps seemed insignificant compared to the other serious situation that was afoot. Rather than getting separated from the group and being forced to free ascend with nothing for bearing. Or trying to blow my own lift bag and having to worry about entanglement between the two. We all traveled as a pod up the line as the tech made his deco stops. The speed of travel was actually enough to get me a ceiling warning for 4 minutes.

So I am sitting in my stop waiting for this warning to clear, and the tech diver looks over to my buddy and flashes "How much air do you have?", and he responded "500psi". The tech said "Switch to pony" and he did.  The tech looking ever more frantic looked over to my rig. Apparently he tried to signal "I am low on air", but I didn't catch it. So the next sign he flashed was "I am out of air". He said "Immediately my eyes filled my goggles" I rushed to deploy my pony. I wiped the regulator free of its restraints and charged the system by turning it on and whipped it over to him. He responded with the "give it to me" hand signal and I dismounted the pony from my rig and he took the handle and took it to do his remaining deco stops.

Eventually everyone made it out of the water and onto the boat. He popped up found his dive buddy and gave her a huge kiss (they are dating), then he came over to me in his full rig and in mine and gave me the biggest warmest hug I think i'eve ever received. I don't think that I did anything special, I just did what I was trained to do and had the right equipment at the right place at the right time.

 I came to find out that when he signaled out of air he had 262 psi of pressure remaining of his back gas and apparently the Poseidon regulators that he was diving are known to free flow at pressures less than 200psi due to their design. He gave me quite a bit of credit for "Saving him" but I think I need to assert the fact that I really didn't do anything except carry the equipment and share it at the right time. However, I can say that my pony bottle has officially paid its self off on this dive.

Blue Heaven Scuba Charter

Well, Yesterday was a VERY long day. The plan was to wake up at 4:45am, get a quick shower and then have the car pack and ready to roll by 5:30am. Normally this wouldn't be such a feat, however I am on a college schedule (up 'til 2am almost every night). So 4:45am rolls around and I wake up from the 3 hours of sleep that I managed to steal from the night. I got through the shower, got changed and went to brush my teeth. I ran into Kyle in the bathroom. He was on the phone with Captain Hollis from Blue Heaven Scuba, the charter operator that we had booked for the day's dives. Kyle gave me a very grim look, and asked me if I through we should proceed even though it would likely be raining. "What the hell" I replied in a sarcastic manner. And with that our fate for a very long day of scuba was sealed. 

As 5:30 rolled around, it became apparent that we were missing one person who had signed up for the charter. So at that point we began playing phone tag and managed to finally rouse him. He showed up about an hour later. So we set off to Port Sanilac, 60 minutes late with a 80% chance of rain. 

Two hours later, at 8:30am, we arived in Port Sanilac to find our boat and captain waiting. They quickly introduced theirselfs and explained that they wanted to delay the charter for about an hour in attempt to allow the very heavy fot to lift. They recommended a local restaurant, so we went and ate a quick breakfast there.

Before we knew it, 10am rolled around and the holding pattern finally broke. We were instructed to have all gear ready to go and the boat would depart in 15 minutes. It was amazing how quickly the pace went from bored, to a fervor. And with that we were on our way... again.

So we arrived at the first dive site, above the water the fog was allowing less than 1/5 mile visibility, which is great when you are diving in a shipping Chanel. We arrived at the site of the Regina. With waves at about 2 feet, fog, and very brisk water (about 50 degrees at surface). Getting in was a harrowing task for the new divers. They all donned their rigs and made it off the boat and around to the mooring. I had the pleasure of diving with another experienced diver on the first dive. While Kyle drew the short straw, and got the inexperienced/newer diver. We followed another group, which was lead by the Dive Master from Blue Heaven Scuba Sunny. Sunny is a PADI certified instructor and was an excellent dive leader. He made sure to write out names and point out features for all of the interesting sites on the wreck including the Smokestack, The Engine Room, The Hole, The Screws, ect... We made it all the way back to the screws and took a look. before proceeding back to the front. Apparently the current was very slow, which is abnormal. Several of our wetsuit divers were understandably cold after this dive as the water was 38 degrees (avg of our 3 computers readings). 

Our second dive was on a group of sailboats. This dive represented a chance for kyle to moore up to a wreck from the anchor line. He did fine mooring to them, however the one big issue was the boats were nearly 200ft apart from each other. So, he spooled out my entire reel to connect them for the new divers. This was great, until I had to come back to retrieve the rec reel. It was a good dive, just involved lots of setup and cleanup.

After the second dive, the first charter was marked as complete. We rolled back into the docks and found the second group waiting with complete gear rigs ready to roll. We quickly switched tanks and some occupants and set off on the second charter. I found it amazing how drastically the visibility had changed from earlier in the morning. It seemed like a normal sunny day outside no signs of any fog, and the sun was nice and warming on my back.

So the second dive set out for the Regina again, now that I had done it once I had the oportunity to dive with a newer diver, and gave kyle a chance to see the entire wreck (that he missed due to some buddy issues). So, my buddy and I got underwater and made it all the way to the hole. At this point I signaled to him for the air sign and he responded with 1600. Our dive plan included a 1500 turn back point, and the next nearest thing to see was another minute or two of swimming down the wreck. So, I signaled to turn back and to my surprise my buddy tried to disagree. I signaled again, and he shook his head "NO". I thought for a second, "dear god I hope I dont have to go stress and rescue on his ass, I dont have enough air for this shit." and then it came to me! I flashed to him "I have 1500, we need to go back." Immediately he responded to this with the okay we need to go back signal. We made it up the line and back into the boat with out any more difficulties. I think this was a flash of genius, deflecting the low pressure/limiting factor on myself gave me the ability to call the dive with no pressure on him.

We got to the last dive of the day, the Sport. At a depth of 50' the sport was turned on its side. I buddied with the same person again and we managed to sweep the deck and all the way around the deck on both sides. The tug was 57' long and was on its side. You could look in several places, but they looked silty as if you were to penetrate or even brush the whole area would be covered in dust. 

We wrapped up the last dives and started sealing up gear. On the boat ride in, the fog came back up and it began to downpour. The boat had plenty of dry/cabin room for all 6 divers and the two crew. Overall I really enjoyed these dives. I thought the crew was quite fun and very helpful, From helping with fins to helping with wrist and neck seals on drysuits they were absolutely willing and ready to help at all steps. They made the process fun and informative for new divers and truly represent how a dive charter should operate. I hope to book a future charter out of the same company to reach some of the deeper wrecks such as the North Star, and the Mary Alice. 

If you are interested in booking or rates, the site is below. 

http://blueheavenscuba.com/

Stress and Rescue: Pool

Well I just wrapped up my SSI Stress and Rescue pool session. When I started to take this class I had no idea what exactly would be asked for the pool and open waters, so I figured I would post about it here. So here is what was done during the pool session:

• Underwater mask removal, must keep mask off for 60 seconds. 
• Disassembling and reassembling a scuba rig underwater
• Rescuing a unconcious diver from bottom to safety
• Rescuing a concious diver
• Rescuing a diver who appears to be conscious then fights underwater
• Rescuing a diver who fights at surface 

So that was pretty interesting, having a dive instructor freaking out underwater is quite un-nerving.

Florida Trip: Chapter Two

On the second day down in Florida of this year, we hit the Blue Grotto. This is an interesting dive, it has one single guide line which takes you on a round trip through the cavern.  From surface to 95 feet is about a 20 minute trip, and my partner and I managed to swim the round trip twice, and then swim the mouth of the cavern at 50 feet all on one tank.

Immediately after the cavern, it began to rain and we started our drive down to the Ft. Myers area. We had a nice surprise when we finally arrived through all the rain. We got a nice little text message that read, hey we are hanging out at a friends house, come to this address. We showed up at the community and had to call for the gate code. After calling we arrived at a Huge house on the water. It had a open design with sliding window walls that opened onto a large pool. The best part was apparently the pool was just for the dog. Who was a old female golden retriever lab mix.

Florida Trip: Chapter One

Well this is going to be a recap of the commute down to FL and our first day of diving at Ginnie Springs. We left Haslett, MI at approximately 2pm and made it through to Georgia without any difficulties. We decided to take a sleep break in Georgia this time, rather than attempting to drive straight through. So, at about 1:30 we pulled off into the Georgia welcome area. It took quite some time to get into a comfortable sleeping position but with how tired both of us were, we were quickly asleep. We were suprised to be awoke  by knocking on the side of the car by a hobo, who was asking for money. First, who the hell knocks on a car. Second, who asks for money at 230 am.

We made it down to Ginnie springs, where after paying and checking in they informed us that there were upwards of 150 divers in the bowl and cavern.We got down into the cavern, swam up to the gate and actually managed to find  new part of the cavern that we had not previously explored. After that, we made the long haul over to the Devils Ear. We decided not to dive devils ear, because they require that non cave certified divers not carry flashlights into the cavern. It looked as if there wouldnt be much to see becides the 70 foot vertical drop into the mouth. From there, we actually floated down the tannin stained river past the devils eye. It was quite unique to ride down to the river and end up into the crystal clear spring water of the Ginnie Springs.

Along with the Good, Comes the Bad

The more I see of life the more I realize there are upsides and downsides to everything. The pessimist only sees the negative, and the Optimist sees only the positive. The reality is somewhere in between.

I love going on diving trips, but it takes away from my 'down time' that I use to relax. Sometimes, driving for 18 hours and diving for 6 over a three day weekend can be exhausting.

I really enjoy my job, and I am compensated pretty well but I am always exhausted by the weekend.

Why Scuba?

I have been asked several times, why would anyone want to participate in Scuba diving. What drives me to dive, and why do I go through all of this work and expense for so little time. 


Before I participated in diving, I wasn't that active in college. I had plenty of people that I associated with but I don't think I really had what I considered any really good friends. I had someone come up to me and ask if I would be interested in getting a scuba certification though the group at my school. I initially bounced the first common questions off of him, "How much does it cost?", "Is it risky?", "I don't have any equipment.". He reassured me that it was inexpensive when done through the school, it was safe, and the school had all of the necessary equipment. Then he told me about the fun that could be had on the dive trips, that was what sold me. Little did I know that within a few months, this guy would become my new dive buddy and my new best friend.

So, over the next semester I went though with certifications. The more involved I got in the Diving community the more I became interested. Like the typical nerd, I was attracted to all the different options and features of every product. From wet suits to regulators to bcd's I researched to find out as much as I could about them. I distinctly remember my first pool session. There were two big moments that I remember feeling particularly stressed about. First, was mask clearing underwater. For those of you who don't know this process involves removing your mask underwater and getting it back on. It was one of those, well there is no choice things and before I knew it, it didn't bother me anymore. The other thing that bothered me slightly was the giant stride. This is the maneuver where divers walk and intentionally fall into the water. After rehearsing it a few times I am used to it also, although its not my preferred entry means.

Before I knew it, it was time to certify. I made the drive with my new friend and four others down to Loch Low Minn down in Athens, TN. The water was cold and slightly murky, but before I new it I had that c-card in hand. I had no idea that I would face my first serious scuba situation on this dive. I was diving with my assigned partner, he started dropping intentionally like a rock. I looked at him and signaled to come up and then realized he kept dropping. At the edge of the visibility envelope, I thought to my self "Thats my dive buddy, I have to go where he goes." I dumped my BCD at a rapid rate to try to keep up with my buddy. I eventually caught up with him at 74 feet. This was 50 feet deeper than our planned depth. Everything worked out fine.

So, now I get to the whole why scuba part. It seems like every day of my life whether at work or school or even home, I am assaulted with emails, phone calls, instant messages, advertising, marketing and junk mail. It is getting to the point where you can't survive without being a good multitasker. Scuba is an opportunity to shut out the outside world, and focus solely on having a good time. From the second that I setup my scuba rig, to the moment that I pack my dive bag my whole focus is on having a safe and fun dive. Its a great way to isolate yourself from the demands of every day life. In the deep dark quiet of water there are no texts, emails or reminders to shake your focus, just the calm surreal absence of sound except drawing and bubbling of inhalation and exhalation.

I am going to attempt to wrap this up in a nice package. I am truly fortunate for many things in life. Being able to afford such a great activity, being able to have met such great friends and being safe every time.

Mortality

Recently, I have been reminded how fragile human life is. First, a co-worker became ill and is now a shell of his former self. I find it amazing how quickly someone can slide downhill. Second, my grandma is getting to be quite old and took a spill today. I remember hearing a statistic that old folks usually die within several months of their first fall. I really do not hope this is the case.
I need to take the time that I have and stop and smell the roses, whether it be taking food to my grandma or just trying to get to know co-workers on more of a personal level.

Another Healthy Winter Dumping

Well mother nature unleashed another healthy dumping on Michigan on Monday just in time for the morning commute. According to the unfriendly meteorologist Michigan was way behind the average snowfall curve until January, since we have caught up. This last dumping brought 8 inches which was plenty of mess.

At this point of winter, I am always depressed. The excitement that comes with the changing of the seasons wears off, and like the snow my enthusiasm changes from a bright white to a dull nasty brown.

On the upside, Florida had a high temperature of 85 degrees today. I will be down there in one month. Watch for updates, I am going to journal the whole trip here.

Iomega Ix2-200

Well yesterday I managed to finally obtain root SSH access to the Ix2-200. Here are the steps necessary.
1) From the device go to support.html
2) Click on 'Support Access'
3) Enable SSH access
4) SSH to the device, connect with:
a) Username: Root
b) Password : "soho" + whatever the administrative password on the unit is

Well I don't know what else I can do now, I suppose I could create some actual cron jobs or something like that.

Another Weekend Down

Well I survived another weekend. How come Saturday and Sunday go so much faster than Monday and Tuesday?

Friday was marked by a trip to my local dive shop (LDS). I ran up to finally purchase a pony bottle that would be able to safely get up from the deeper dives that we have planned for this summer including the Straits, and Alpena. So, I splunked down 100 dollars for a deposit on each of the two charters. Then I paid up for my pony, a new international K valve and all the materials necessary for a new sling. Before I knew it my bill had quickly grown.The strange part is I spent all that money, and didnt end up taking anything tangible home with me.
After the fun at my LDS, I went to hang out with a friend in Lansing. It was nothing major, but it was great to catch up with a good friend. We watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I think my favorite part was the whales or the mountain. I found it quite amazing what could be done with drapes and projectors.

So Saturday morning, I woke up and regrettably had to head home. I really enjoyed hanging out and just shooting the breeze with my buddy. Its not often that I just get to hang out and relax :D. I made the long drive back to the Apt, of course using my GPS for nav. My GPS froze again and I didnt realize for like 30 miles, luckily I noticed .5 miles before my turn. So I made it back to the apt, got all my dirty laundry and took a shower then headed back to Romeo.

Romeo is always pretty uneventful. Thats not a bad thing though. Life just seems to be slower and calmer there. Riley is always ecstatic to see me coming home and visiting with the family is also great. As usual, we had a big ol' Sunday dinner. I always regret having to head home. Its getting to the point where its just a necessary evil, and the longer you delay it the worse it is.

Well the only other big e event of the weekend was my sister getting sick. I have a pretty decent immune system. That being said, I am long due for a cold or something. I think the last time I had anything was more than 6 months ago. So, keep your fingers crossed for me.

On that note, I am going to head to bed which officially marks the end of another weekend. Only a dozen more until I start to see signs of spring. Well, another week of work starts early tomorrow. I need to get to bed to be at my best.

A Tour of My Dive Bags

Well I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but I feel like diving tonight and can't wait until March's dive trip.
So here is a list of all the cool diving gear that I have in my big bags. I will write about each item and try to give a review on each one.

Oceanic © Outrigger HLT Buoyancy Compensator
Well of course, the first item is my BC. Its rear inflated, not a vest style BC. This thing has served me fairly well. After its first 25 dives it showed a few signs of wear, but I called Oceanic and they replaced it for free. The main  trademark of this BC is the front inflation bladder. Some people scoff a this, but I can personally tell you it works. Last time I was waiting to pass gear up to a charter captain with 2 foot swells all the other divers kept getting mouthfuls and I was high and dry. The downside of this BC is the size, it doesn't pack away very well (I guess you cant win them all). I think if I had the option to do again, I likely wouldn't buy this model. I discovered recently that newer Scuba pro models can accommodate some small doubles if they have screw holes in the backplate. Man I wish I would have known that..

Scuba Pro © Mk17-G250V Regulator Set
Well this is probably the most expensive item in my dive bag, however it was well worth the money. When all said and done I have about 700 bucks into the first stage, second stage and octo. I have dove this regulator to 121' and it has preformed like a workhorse without any problems. The only real question is when can I afford another one. I would without a doubt purchase another one of these bad boys.

Scuba Pro © Classic BCD
Well not quite the one pictured here, my backup BCD is a Scuba Pro older model BCD. I really like that this model packs down to virtually nothing. It is small and light, but not rear inflated or weight integrated. Its basically just there in case my primary takes a dive mid trip or charter.

My Tank Situation
Well, I currently own 3 tanks soon to be 4 tanks. My first tank, like any beginner was a standard Luxifer AL 80. Aluminum tanks are the cheapest tanks, but they have terrible buoyancy properties when empty vs. full. My second and third tanks were true garage sale finds. I picked up 2 steel 72 cfu tanks for $12 per tank. This was a gamble seeing that the last viz sticker was from 1976 but both still had air. So I had new valves put on (I hate J valves) and had them tumbled and prepped for nitrox. I am still looking for a feasible way to double these tanks and get them on a backplate. My current bc (the outrigger) does not support doubles... listen for more detail later if I figure that one out. The last tank is a pony that I mentioned in the last article. Its a necessary system for deep diving.

The Wet-suit Situation

Henderson © Insta-Dry© Shorty
This is my primary pool and warm water diving wetsuit. The interesting thing here is that it is like laminated so it doesnt absorb water like a normal neoprene wetsuit. This means it drys in like 20 minutes. The downside, the welding of the seams used a tacky glue that really pulls on any hair that it comes into contact with.

Henderson © Thermoprene © 6.5 MM 
Well this is my suit of choice when diving in cold Michigan waters. I usually pair this with a 7mm hooded vest when entering frigid water. Usually if I know the water will be less than 50 degrees I will wear the hooded vest under.

Suunto Gekko
After diving a Oceanic Veo 100 for my first 50 dives, 25+ of them with nitrox and no ability to profile it on that computer, I finally decided to upgrade to a nice computer that will profile in nitrox. My old Veo had a terrible one-button interface. The first time my buddy and I were diving the Veos in a cavern we actually had to surface early to discuss what the hell the various screens meant. To my surprise, the more complicated Gekko was actually easier to operate. With up, down and enter buttons its.. dare I say intuitive. We will see how durable this computer is, if it lasts I WILL be a Suunto consumer for life.

Princeton Tec Torrent, Amp 1.0
I just picked up a Princeton Tec Torrent, and AMP 1.0. This after I had absolutely no luck with a Princeton Tec Rage. Their warranty support was great but after 4 units flooded I gave up on that flashlight. Stay Tuned for reviews of the torrent and amp. Update: I have now dove this light several times and I am very impressed. I also picked up the Torrent which is the mate to the Amp, and they are a great combination of bright but not too bright! Great Product!

Dive Reels
I managed to acquire two dive reels on the cheap, one 150' and one 300' reel. These are necessary when doing wreck diving or cave diving. Good stuff. Also for any great lakes divers these are a NECESSITY. You really need to have one of these secured to a safety sausage in-case of getting blown off a wreck. Also for mooring from a buoy to a shipwreck. Also, one might consider finger-spool reels. These are reels that are quite a bit more compact and allow the users to avoid the hassles of large cumbersome reels.




Other Gear
Fins, Dive Slate, Spare regulator (Mares), Dry Bag (XPS), Mask (Oceanic), Spare Air

Scuba Safety Wish List

Pony Bottle
Well after a discussion with my parents, it sounds like I may finally be receiving a pony for my birthday. I love birthdays, its totally an excuse to get new scuba essentials. For beginners, a pony bottle is a small secondary tank that runs an entirely separate regulator in-order to create an entire second redundant system. These really become a necessity when diving deeper than 70'. I own a spare air which holds 3cfu of air, but at 70' 3cfu of air becomes 1cfu of air which is about 6 to 8 breaths (definitely not enough to reach the surface).I will likely be shopping for a Luxifer 30 or 40 CFU tank. I feel that 30cfu tanks fit better but 40's will allow for use in the future event that I go technical.

Safety Sausage - Surface Marker Buoy 

Well I am hoping to pick one of these up prior to my big trip to Florida. Instead of explaining the point of these I am going to give you an example of when they are beneficial. Lets say you're wreck diving to 80'. You get in the water and swim over to the buoy. You descend down the mooring line to a large cement block that is sank near the wreck. You notice someone from a previous group has taken their reel and connected from the mooring line to the wreck, so you follow that line over to the shipwreck. You come back to conclude your dive and find that the reel is gone and your way of finding the mooring line is gone too. You and your buddy briefly explore around and try to locate the mooring line "It should be around here somewhere" but you cant find it. So, rather than attempting to do a free floating safety stop in choppy water, you grab your reel and send one of these bad boys to the surface. Then you ascend up the reel line to 30' where you make your safety stop.

The Super... Well.. The Big Game

Well I'd really like to take this opportunity to write about the super eh. well apparently the term 'Super Bowl' is copyright of the NFL. So instead I will talk about 'The Big Game', how stupid. I will be giving a review and description of the game. Crap, I don't have the NFL's written expressed consent to describe the game verbally. Does anyone else think that the rights that the NFL reserves on a football game are getting to be absurd?

Harry Potter

Well, it has come to my attention that Universal Studios is building an entire separate park in Florida to monopolize on the whole Harry Potter phenomena. I wonder how this will coincide with the release of the last several movies. JK has committed to only seven books, all of which are complete. The movie series have already produced 6 of 8. It seems like this may not be a wise business move, after the movies cease there will be no new books will Universal be able to recoup the millions they are investing? Maybe this is some sort of karma for the whole Conan fiasco!

Toyota Recall

Toyota's Woes
Well I heard this morning on my way into work that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was also having problems with his prius. For those of you who don't know who the hell Steve Wozniak (Woz) is, he was the technical genius behind what is Apple computer. Apple was originally founded by Steve Jobs, who provided the business savvy and management skills and the Woz who actually coded the first Apple products while in an LSD based drug binge. I don't really care what you think, but I know I have the utmost of respect for the creative genius that he has especially considering that his brain must not have been firing on all cylinders when he created what was known as the the first commercially available PC with a mouse. If you actually look back in Apple history, you learn about Xerox Parc (Palo Alto Research Center). You learn that Jobs and Woz took a tour of the PARC and 'borrowed' the ideas that Xerox failed to bring to market.
Now back to Toyota, they have recalled millions of vehicles after requests of many legislators. Apparently originally claimed that floor mats were responsible for the cars accelerating out of control on the roads. Now they are claiming that a faulty gas pedal is to blame. After talking with a family friend who works in the industry, who informed me that all Toyota's are drive by wire rather than mechanical linkages it seems much more likely to me that a computer issue may be at fault. However, if a shim is placed in the spring of the gas pedal it may eliminate the problem at the user not at the source. I just find it interesting that every news source will not cease to talk about this issue. It seems to me that the huge national debt should likely be priority. I think less than 12 people have died due to these faulty cars, to put that into perspective 631,636 have died in the last year due to heart disease. Why doesn't the media focus on bigger matters? Wow.. all that from the Woz and Toyota. 

Pictures and Stories

I thought I'd like to share some pictures and stories of some of my past adventures with you.

White Water - Hiko, WV

This first picture came from a school trip to Hiko, WV. This picture was taken on the New River. Kettering has an outdoors club that makes an annual trip to make this run down the river. My Advice: If you are ever around Hiko, or looking for whitewater rafting, go with Songer White Water. It was clear that the Songer guides were more experienced and cared more than any of the other companies that we saw on the river. Our guides constantly gave us information about what was coming up next, and they explained quite a bit about the river during the downtime. It was actually quite normal to catch the patrons on other boats trying to snoop on to what our guides were saying while their guides just let them sit and be bored. Also, the Songer guides were able to get us through most of the really nasty class 5 rapids without wiping. This is in contrast to other companies on the river, of whom we saw quite a few really nasty wipe-outs. This was definitely a once in a lifetime, must do.

SCUBA - Summersville, WV

Well of course I can't be near open water without getting some nitrox in my system. We went out and hit Summersville Lake. The visibility was very good down to 65'. After 65' visibility was non-existent. There was not a ton to see here, this was mainly a wall-dive. The rock formations were quite stunning though. I understand that Summersville Lake supplys Summersville Damn. When the damn opens, the water level drops 15' to 20' so many of the really cool formations that we saw underwater are actually above water. The exclusive charter on Summersville

 lake is out of Sarges Dive shop. We had good experiences dealing with Mark from Sarges. He managed to provide two days of dives at very competitive prices. In hind-site, I would have packed more sunscreen. Now that I have more experiences under my belt in regards to diving, I can see that Summersville is more of a beginners dive. I think I would really enjoy taking my gear and exploring below the 65' mark. Apparently the average depth tops out at 250' which is far over recreational limits. Hiko, WV was definitely a fun trip between the diving and the rafting.

Ginnie Springs - High Springs, FL

First cavern dive WOOT! There, now that I got that out of my system. Ginnie springs is very... unique. Its a spring and an attached cavern. Its pretty safe for new divers basically you have access to about 250' of cave that is barred off at the back. The cool part is fact that if you can get upto that bar you can feel 350M gallons of water screaming past. The real attraction to this dive is not the wildlife, or the depth its the caverns. If you look at the first picture you can see columns of bubbles behind me. These are actually exhaled from divers that were below in the cavern. Once you get inside the cavern you will notice a nice white sand bottom, and plenty of maneuvering room. In order to get into the cavern you need to access 

through one of about 3 large entrances. We made it down last time at the end of March. We dove on a Saturday and much to our surprise there were about 35 open water students doing checkouts in the open area near the mouth of the cavern. We managed to log two dives at this site, and after a few hairy moments we actually figured out how to work an Oceanic Veo dive computer. Figures, it was pretty much foolproof. Although I have outgrown the computer now the Veo did log my first 50 dives, and thats something that I would recommend for any new diver. No more dive tables, well at least until you hit nitrox then you get three more. 

Gilboa Quarry - Gilboa, OH

Well here is where I talk about Gilboa. Gilboa touts itsself as the midwests primer dive venue, I have to disagree with that. However, Gilboa does have some interesting things to see for all levels of divers. From a cargo helicopter to a stripped down airplane Gilboa has it all. If you can get down there on a week day its desolate. Gilboa is a flooded rock quarry that ranges from 121' at its deepest point which is off limits to new divers to 30' around the edges. They have all kinds of platforms which makes training there really easy. Deep was very convienient too, with platforms at 60 and 100 feet, it was really easy to descend right down the lines to do the checkout, however it was rreeaaaallllyyy cold. 

Great Lakes Shipwreck Diving - Alpena, MI
We hit the following wrecks while in Alpena:
The Grecian (AMAZING)
The Nordmeer (WTF)
The Thew
I will start with the thew, it was mostly busticated. however the bow was intact and you could swim along it. The Nordmeer was a very interesting one, as we pulled up onto the site I saw something on the horizon. "Is that another boat on the dive site" I asked outloud, "That is the dive site" the captain replyed. The Nordmeer was stranded in shallow water and gets smushed more by ice every winter. The best dive of the entire trip was the Grecian. We dove the bow, the sheer scale of which I found AMAZING. It seemed like you could look 40' up and 40' down and never see the end of it. I understand that the bow is the more amazing part of the wreck, but I didnt make it down there.

 Loch Low Minn - Athens, TN

This is an awesome panoramic from Loch Low Minn, in Athens, TN. This place is crazy stocked with paddlefish. The paddlefish is a reclusive prehistoric fish that has a huge freaking nose. They eat kelp in the water. The staff at the Loch believe that they have 20 to 30 different fish and I can personally tell you that they are between 3 to 6 feet long.They are the kind of thing that will sneak up behind you and startle you.

Portage Quarry - Findlay, OH

Well I have to go on the record and say that I much prefer Portage quarry over Gilboa quarry. Portage is much larger and has much more to see, however it is not as deep. The cool things to do at portage include checking out the Silo. Which stands upright at about 60' and you can swim up through it emerging at about 20'. Also, there is a semi truck trailer which i have come across once which is very disorienting to swim through since it lays sideways on an angle. Like Gilboa, portage also has a plane and several cars boats and swim-troughs. Apparently there is a 'Seven Car Pileup' which is seven cars stacked on top of each other. I have looked for it about 6 times and have never found it. I am beginning to think it doesnt really exist. I think the real reason why I prefer Portage is because it has more to see and it is much less expensive than Gilboa. The owner of Gilboa nickels and dimes everything from parking passes to air, as opposed to the very inexpensive parking and very competitively priced air at Portage. Viz is extremely variable, I have dove portage on about 4 seperate occasions now. Three had great Viz, one had terrible viz due to rain and wind.

Iomega Ix2-200 2x1GB

Okay now that I have my first post out of the way which explains the direction that this blog will take I intend to talk a little bit about the Iomega Ix2-200d device. I have been assigned a project which involves deploying about 20 of these devices to remote locations.

Well first impressions, I was really impressed with these devices. Iomega claims that these units feature full SNMP, SMTP, and RAID 1. They claim that they also support iSCSI, R-Sync and Cifs. Let me be the first to tell you, many of these features are flawed or buggy and some just don't work. I feel like these devices could have used much more development time and here are some of the areas I think need more attention:

• SNMP - First, the MIB was nearly impossible to find. Some genius over at Iomega decided that a good place for the MIB file would be in a hidden directory on the cd. I contacted the web support to ask for a location and the agent literally had no clue what a MIB file was. The alerting from the device is only triggered in 3 broad categories, rather than specific events. Things like rebuild of RAID mirror successful are reported as the highest severity errors. Additionally, some events like failure of backup jobs are not even logged in SNMP although SMTP alerts are sent?!?
• R-Sync Backup Jobs - Well this was a total flop. These devices are not capable of receiving and copying to a secured folder. What does this mean in layman's terms? If you have a source lets say user data where users have permissions, you must copy to a completely unsecured destination folder on the remote unit. This is not acceptable any company.
• Support - Well their support leaves quite a bit to be desired. In calls to their help desk I am averaging about 30 minutes of wait time, followed by about 50 minutes to get anything resolved or to get to the point where the analyst understands what I am asking. Likewise, their online chat feature offers quick access to analysts but I have had chats run upto 50 minutes most of the time the online chatters have no clue and end up googling to attempt to find a solution. Questions as simple as what port is this widget running on, or where is the MIB take quite a while to answer.
• Power Supply - Well there is no 220v power supply available.
• Hot Swap - Don't assume that because these devices use SATA II drives that they are hot-swappable, because they definitely aren't.
• iSCSI - Well this one worked, I was able to successfully mirror data on a novel server.
• Heat - Drives do run warm when being worked hard. 

Let me wrap it up like this, these devices have potential but it is completely destroyed by the crappy interface software. These devices would be great for home use, but the Enterprise IT functions like SNMP for monitoring definitely leave something to be desired. All-in-all these devices are not quite ready for primetime, the hardware is there and great but the software is terrible.

Direction & About

Well this is my typical first blog post, I intend to talk about my life in this blog so here is a little about me.

First I am currently a Senior attending Kettering University. Kettering is a very unique school that forces its students to work for at least half of every year at a corporate partner. Across these work terms I work for a 2.5B dollar company with approximately 7200 employees. I am majoring in computer science and work within the IT devision of my company. I plan on posting information about my experiences related to engineering and equipment reviews from a corporate standpoint.

In my spare time I really enjoy Michigan and the adventures that it offers. Recently, I have been getting more into scuba diving. I am currently an SSI certified Advanced OW diver. I successfully completed 50 dives and I have Equipment, Drysuit, Navigation, Deep Diving, and Nitrox advanced certifications. I also intend to talk about my experiences diving at different venues throughout the midwest and the united states.