> > > > Totally off topic: Is there a way to see who's online here at any given time? Just wondering.
> > > >
> > > > Gr"It's 1 Am where I am, and this paper is not at all finished. :-("ace
> > >
> > > Not as far as I know. Just keep the Recent Messages page open and try to grab people for a conversation as the posts come in. It's 7pm where I am and I'm still at my day job waiting for a bit of work we're expecting ... reaaaal soon ... any minute now ... -sigh-.
> > >
> > > Brunnen-"RinkForum: nine out of ten posters only use it to avoid homework"G
> >
> > Your day job? I know you said you were in the NZ Coastguard, and have mentioned Auckland. . .NZCG has an Auckland volunteer section, right? is that what you're in? What's your day job?
> >
> > Gr"is being nosy really such a bad thing?"ace
>
> Yeah, that's right. Daytimes I work for the America's Cup racing website. I'm a crew member for the DRVU (dedicated rescue vessel unit) AR-Alpha which I do on weekends, and on a roster for night callouts when they happen. There aren't many of those at the moment but Christmas is usually way hectic. I'll be going onto it full time for a while over Christmas. It takes up a lot of time - not just the actual work but there's a huge amount of ongoing training and exercises involved. It's great.
> How on Earth do you know about AVCG anyway? Oh, they must have finally got the website going, right? I haven't looked for a while, it was a total mess last time.
>
> Brunnen-"double life person"G


When you posted the message about the boys trying to steal canoes, you mentioned Auckland. I couldn't think of where that was, and was afraid to ask and seem ignorant. I searched for it and came up with a lot of sites related to New Zealand, one of which was linked to the Coast Guard page. So yes, I suppose they "finally" got the website running. :)

I'm always curious about volunteers. What made you join? It looks like a lot of work and stress is involved (physical and mental). . .

Gr"i'malloutofquotesforthemoment"ace