Last week we completed a couple of projects which required both my Shuttle computer and David’s computer. One was responding to an important USPTO office action on a patent that we’ve had pending for going on 5 years now. The USPTO is certainly slow…

My computer has been getting very flaky of late and I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d have to re-install the OS. Well, I promised myself that I’d re-install Windows after the paperwork was complete. Finally, I started that process this morning. I’ve been working on it all day. I should say, I’ve been cleaning the boat all day and the computer has been trying to re-install the OS all day. This is certainly frustrating.

The little Honda generator has been chugging away today since we only have small house battery capacity which can run my little notebook (as I am typing on it now!) for hours it certainly cannot run the shuttle and its monitor all day long. David and I have been watching back to back movies on his computer this evening while my computer does its thing. Argh.

Onwards. Tomorrow is another day.

Oh, what a good day it was. Sunshine, a little wind, not too hot and not too cold. I did the “scary” part of my mainsail re-cut and sew project without incident and did all the machine sewing for the project. Now, rebuilding the clew and hand sewing remains. As the sun lowered in the sky, we stashed the 100 lb 700 sf sail down into the boat’s scuttle room, laughing as it filled the entire compartment and joking about which one of us was going to pull it back up onto the deck for me to work on it on Tuesday.

We’ve had really enjoyable boat neighbors on a nearby steel boat named Arctic Tern. She’s a lovely boat about 40 ft with a long, jaunty bowsprit. Her owners, Jim and Juanita, have been very friendly and have shared local knowledge about the best places around Orange County to find various boat-related things and, importantly, where the “deals” are on cheap food in the local Newport Beach restaurants. Every night of the week there’s a different “best deal” to be had. Though we don’t typically eat out much, it is hard to beat the delicious $1 tacos at a nearby Mexican place–twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays we have the chance to enjoy that inexpensive meal.

Tomorrow is an early morning drive down to San Diego to volunteer all day at the North Island woodworking shop and to stop by the storage unit and pick up a load of firewood as well as sundry items that we want to have on the boat. It’s strange to think that shortly we’ll likely be hundreds of miles away from our little storage unit in San Diego and we’d better get all the stuff we think we might need for a while onto the boat rather than sitting in storage. We think we’ll be back in Southern California next fall/winter to deal with the rest but in the meanwhile…

It’s hard to believe we’ve been here in Newport Beach for three weeks already. We’ve really unwound from our San Diego times. People are friendlier, the harbor is calm and importantly–we’re not moving the boat every 3 days! It is possible to actually make some inroads into our projects and that is a wonderful thing.