Drinks that Are Weak Hydrators...Coffee, Tea, Milk, Soft Drinks, Alcoholic Beverages

Two modern ways of communication readily available to us are Email and Voicemail.  Both of these are important, quick, easy ways to keep in touch with the office, coworkers, family and friends.  A big advantage is that they are widely available practically anywhere you are located.  

Email and Voicemail allow you to ask questions and provide information to others, and for them to do the same with you.  These tools can help you better manage your time in instances when you may have to be placed on hold or wait for someone to call you back. You can type an Email, or leave a Voicemail message, so others can respond once they have the answer you need, or when they become free from other business they were handling to write or call you back.    

Email can be thought of as your "online internet address." An Email address has three parts:  User Name, @ symbol, domain name.  Example: Johnsmith@gmail.com.  You get to choose your User Name, and the domain name is automatically added for you.    

Is it time for you to create an Email address of your own?  No problem!  There are many free, web-based Email providers available.  Popular choices include Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail among others.  It takes just a few minutes to create an account.  

Once you have your Email set up, you can then "log in" or "sign in" to receive, write and send Email messages from any computer with internet access.  You can even access Email on today's "Smart Phones."  

Be consistent checking for messages so that you receive and provide information to others in a timely manner.  It's a good idea to check daily, or at least every other day.

 Benefits of Email:

• Convenience- With a desktop computer, laptop, or mobile phone, type messages, save for later use, send any time.
• Speed - Emails typically arrive in seconds or minutes - anywhere in the world.
• Accessibility- Emails can be stored and you can organize and search for information and have it readily retrievable.
• No Cost - Other than the fee you pay for internet, sending and receiving Emails is usually free.

Cisco uses email to send and receive messages

    

Do you need to set up Voicemail on your own phone?  If so, it's nice to know most cell phone service providers offer Voicemail as a basic feature already included in your monthly fee.  You can choose a pre-recorded greeting, or record your own greeting.  It's a good idea to mention your name so others know who they have reached. Once your Voicemail is set up, callers can leave a message at any time, whether your phone is in use or turned off.  

Robert checking his voicemail

As with Email, be sure to check your phone for Voicemail on a regular basis so you never miss an important message.

If you need help setting up Email or Voicemail, visit your service provider or local library, or just ask any young person!  They are all quite savvy about how these things work these days!

To add or update an Email address with the office, click on either name to Email Janis or Kelly so they can enter this important contact information.

Good ideas need to be shared, refined and become "Best Practices". A "Best Practice" is defined as a method or technique which shows results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark.  In addition, a "Best Practice" can evolve to become better as improvements are discovered. 

This column is dedicated to sharing the best practices developed while operating your tow. Each issue we will outline a "Best Practice" sent in by the fleet.  Share your Best Practice by sending to Gordie.

This week's "Best Practice" is demonstrated by the crew of the M/V CLIFFORD L. CARRAWAY.

Rule 21, Lights and Shapes of the "Navigation Rules" defines sidelights as follows:

"Sidelights" mean a green light on the starboard side and a red light on the port side each showing an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 112.5° and so fixed as to show the light from right ahead to 22.5° abaft the beam on its respective sides."

If you look at the sidelight stand on your barge, you can see the angle of 112.5 degrees that directs the beam of red or green light.

Make sure your portable battery running lights or the plug-in running lights are placed properly in the light stand so the light beam is visible for the whole 112.5°s.  The lights should be placed in the back corner of the light stand.  Use the fixed bracket on stand to attach the plug in lights.

Submitted by: Crew of the M/V CLIFFORD CARRAWAY

BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND You are on a power-driven vessel in fog. Your vessel is proceeding at a safe speed when you hear a fog signal ahead of you. The Rules require you to navigate with caution and, if danger of collision exists __________.

a. slow to less than 2 knots
b. reduce to bare steerageway
c. stop your engines
d. initiate a radar plot

BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND Which statement is TRUE concerning a vessel under oars?

a. She must show a stern light.
b. She is allowed to show the same lights as a sailing vessel.
c. She must show a fixed all-round white light.
d. She must show a day-shape of a black cone.

BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND At night you sight a vessel displaying a single green light. This is a __________.

a. vessel at anchor
b. small motorboat underway
c. vessel drifting
d. sailing vessel

BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND By radar alone, you detect a vessel ahead on a collision course, about 3 miles distant. Your radar plot shows this to be a meeting situation. You should __________.

a. turn to port
b. turn to starboard
c. maintain course and speed and sound the danger signal
d. maintain course and speed and sound no signal

BOTH INTERNATIONAL & INLAND In restricted visibility, a vessel which detects by radar alone the presence of another vessel shall determine if a close quarters situation is developing or risk of collision exists. If so, she shall __________.

a. sound the danger signal
b. when taking action, make only course changes
c. avoid altering course toward a vessel abaft the beam
d. All of the above 

Three barges of Guns and Ammo on Buffalo Bayou, 1865. 

Buffalo Bayou flows east through downtown Houston and into the Houston Ship Channel.  In the 1830's, the original Houston docks along Buffalo Bayou were established in the heart of downtown at Allen's Landing.   At that time, Allen's Landing was the most westerly location a small trading schooner could turn navigate on the bayou.

The Milam St. Bridge on Buffalo Bayou as depicted  in a Bird's eye View map, 1873

During the Civil War, guns and ammunition were stored by the Confederacy in a warehouse close to Buffalo Bayou. 

As the war came to a conclusion in 1865, Union troops advanced upon Houston.  In an effort to deny these stores from the Union forces, three barges were loaded with rifles and cannonballs and sent up the bayou as far as possible.  They ended up at the foot of Milam St. where the barges were sunk.

Although significant amounts of material and munitions had been disposed of in the bayou, no organized effort was ever made to remove the ordnance in the following years. Houston seemed content to let the bombs and guns lie in the mud of the stream bottom. Nevertheless, the citizens were reminded of this episode periodically, especially during periods when the tide was very low.

On Sunday morning, February 10, 1867, Henry Donnellan and A. C. Richer, partners in the tin business returned to their home on the north side of Buffalo Bayou via the Milam Street Bridge for dinner. While waiting for dinner, the two men were examining a shell that had been exposed in the shallows of the bayou. The shell exploded and both men were fatally wounded. The tragic event stunned the whole town and it remained in the local memory for years thereafter such as when an old bombshell was found by local police in 1877.

For the next thirty years, the disposed munitions attracted little interest. However, in late January, 1906, a low tide exposed the remains of the Civil War disposal effort. One of the old barges, although mired in the mud, was visible above the surface.

© 2014 HIGMAN MARINE SERVICES, Inc.