Knotical Knews #4: Hey I’ve Got Your Water Right Here!

 Just about nine months ago we covered one of those stories that didn't center so much on boating as much as it did on man's stupidity in regard to his interaction with the Atlantic Ocean. Actually we cover many of these stories because they are entertaining and usually involve a foreign country which gives Bill the Engineer a chance to use one of his many professionally cultured accents, the best of course being  his superb Russian/French/Scottish or “Runchish” accent used during the Whale Penis Leather story. This story, however, took place on Bald Head Island, N.C.  in August 2009 so there was no need for an accent as all he needed to do was speak slower and avoid multi-syllabic words.

The story involved a 16 year old boy from New Jersey who had his friends bury him up to his neck while sitting cross-legged in the hole that was dug for him. Problem? Yeah, you could say that. It was low tide and as the tide started to come in the water was getting closer to his head and the sand was getting wet and compacting itself thereby constricting not only his movements but also his ability to breathe. By the time his friends got there they couldn't dig him out fast enough to match pace with the incoming tide. They started to build “sand dams”  around his head to which Bill asked incredulously, ” Have any of these people ever been to the beach and made a sand dam at the beach… to hold back the Atlantic Ocean?” In short it never ever works. As the story progressed his friends and other beach-goers are now trying to dig him out with those tiny plastic beach shovels but they can't dig fast enough and the water is now up to his nose and his ability to breathe is about to be compromised. Solution: A snorkel which enabled him to breathe until EMS got there and dug him out.

   Being the slightly twisted individual I am I immediately set out to immortalize this story in song because not since Gordon Lightfoot's ” The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” or perhaps “Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass had there ever been a story involving the sea, or the people that make their living from it, that needed to be set to music or set on fire as much as this one. I had a specific type of song in mind but as I started to lay down the drum and guitar tracks it started to take a much darker turn. I decided to use some of the audio from the show so you will hear Greg and Bill speaking between the lyrics being sung and I use the term “sung” very, very loosely. This is not a parody mind you but an original musical masterpiece……. of crap, but it's mine and by mine I mean the World Of Boating's because I will not have the blame land solely upon my shoulders. There will be plenty of blame to go around for all to share. 

As for the title of this post, that is what Greg the First Mate yelled into the mike in his best New Joisey accent while doing a very awkward Michael Jackson CG&T (crotch grab and thrust) as he envisioned the teens from Jersey taunting the ocean, in fact daring the ocean to come up and try to drown their friend……… and the rest is history and with that please allow me to apologize in advance for the upcoming assault on your senses.

Enjoy!

Click this link to listen if you dare!   ->   Gotyourwater2.1

Capt. Patrick

Don't forget about your chance to win a $25.00 West Marine gift card by writing a caption for the photo in KK#3!

World of Boating 3-27-10 HOUR1

This week Captain Marlin Scott takes the WOB crew to Captain Pips in Marathon. (Hour 1)

World of Boating 3-27-10 HOUR2

This week Captain Marlin Scott takes the WOB crew to Captain Pips in Marathon. (Hour 2)

Knotical Knews #3: Win A Gift Card Caption Contest!

 

Yea, yea, I know it isn't an original idea but just the same sharpen those pencils, uncap those pens, or dance your fingers over your keyboard and write a caption for the photo below.

If the WOB staff chooses what we are sure will be ( honestly what we are hoping for) your juvenile attempt at being funny you will win a $25.00 West Marine gift card for your meager effort of writing a few words of wit or sarcasm.  You can submit your lame attempt at humor as a comment or email to patrick@worldofboating.com 

 ” Hey look….I can hear the ocean!”  has already been submitted by Greg the First Mate which incidentally almost cost me a new laptop as I narrowly avoided spitting out my Sugar Free Rockstar all over my keyboard.

Start writing and good luck!

Capt. Patrick

Entries will be taken until midnight Eastern Standard Time  4-17-10  and the winner will be announced on 4-24-10 during the World of Boating.

Be sure to read Bill the Engineers “weblog” about gift cards!

Do you give gift cards to your boater friends? Be wary

I write a weblog for two financial sites, three times a week… I thought that WOB listeners might be interested in this latest entry … for the full text see the from page of http://www.stockdr.com/

Gift Card Reform…

It seems as though there is little in life that could be simpler than a gift card.

A gift card seems like the perfect gift for a friend or acquaintance who you want to thank for a favor. I have at least two brothers who typically request gift cards from certain stores (Home Depot and Best Buy) in lieu of a specific item for birthday or other holiday gifts.

But in a world of plastic payments, very little is all it seems.

. If you give a $50 gift card, I think that you could reasonably assume that you have given someone $50 to spend at either a specific store or in the case of Visa or Amex gift cards – any store. As a small business owner your hope is that the $50 gift certificate turns into $75 in sales. For large scale retailers, like McDonald’s, a portion of your gift certificate sales are expected to never be redeemed and they get added into the P & L as income after they expire. Your gift of a gift card is rarely what it appears to be

First it tends to have an initial cost. It seems strange that a gift card would have a fee, but when you buy them at another retailer, I guess it makes sense. At my local Publix there is a stand with cards from a large number of stores, Publix sells these cards as if they were pickles or canned green beans, so I guess they should make a few pennies. The typical cost is about 10%.

But it gets worse. These cards typically have fees for the user that prevent them from getting the full value paid for them. In spite of the fact that there is no borrowed money and no need to process anything if inactive (save for an inactivity report) these cards will frequently have fees that start reducing the face value within just a few months.

And then there is the iron clad expiration dates. At my small business, I put expiration dates on my gift certificates to encourage their use. I’d rather not have a $50 or $100 credit sitting out in air for a long time. But I have never enforced an expiration date. I have that flexibility with a gift certificate that we print up at the tea shoppe. But these gift cards that are printed and administered by banks have no local override provision. Even the most compassionate local business owner can’t redeem money from a Visa gift card that has expired any more than he could from an old credit card account.

And what happens when a retailer goes under? So do your gift cards. For the sake of bankruptcy laws, gift certificate and gift card holders are considered creditors and are typically left without any rights if a retailer goes with either Chapter 7 or 11 protections.

For more info and solutions … see www.stockdr.com