First I have to say SORRY I still haven't got this Blood Drive going. I can only say that like most of you I have been hard at it since the last big blow in the Gulf of Mexico. First a little Christmas story then a little business.


Times for us where good! Our sons had been on their own for a number of years and both Judith and I where working doing things we loved. For me it was work as a Commercial Diver -- just a fancy name for a well-paid underwater laborer. The love of my life was working at a very good, but overpriced, home and garden store. You could buy just one Christmas ornament, or one of the beautifully decorated trees my wife had done, or even have them come to your home and decorate the whole place.

Judith was decorating what was called the Christmas Room. She's one of those people who have an eye for color and space. I've seen her take what looks like a pile of junk to me, and turn it in to something beautiful. My wife is truly, as our youngest son calls her, "An Incredible Life Force". I get a great amount of pleasure just being around and watching her as she creates something beautiful.

So a couple days before Christmas, while out riding my motorcycle, I got the urge to stop by her work and watch her make something beautiful. Well, I was in for a little surprise. Judith took me by the arm and gave me that look. The look that means I know you won't let me down, I know you'll do this just for me.

 The words went something like, "Honey I didn't say you would, but I told them you might". I knew whatever it was, if she wanted me to do it, I would. It's a damn good thing for me she doesn't have an evil mind.

The problem was Santa had not shown up again, and children where waiting. Would I play Santa?

This was a high-class store and they had purchased a very good Santa outfit: It was made of thick red material with a lot of white fur and the padding to make Santa plump. There was a very life-like white wig and beard. I knew this was not going to be a pleasant afternoon. They had Santa's chair in the corner of the Christmas tree room and it was hot, hot, and hot. There where twenty plus decorated trees in the room. Very pretty, but with all the lights kicking off heat Santa should have been in a bathing suit There I would be, in a silly red suit, sweating up a storm with a bunch of greedy rich kids sitting on my lap going through an endless list of "I WANTS".

To my amazement it turned out I was only right about “sweating up a storm.”  The children gave me a great day.  Not one greedy kid. Every little girl and boy asked me for one gift for themselves. Most of these kids also wanted me to bring gifts for others. I was really getting into playing Santa.

Every once in a while I would see Judith standing off to one side with a big at-a-boy smile on her face. I do love that smile. You have to earn it; she doesn't just give it away.

Towards the end of my stint as Santa Claus, I noticed a girl, around thirteen or fourteen standing at the end of the line, holding an old gentleman's hand. She was five or six kids back, when I first noticed her. She was a nice looking young girl, well dressed but something -- besides being in the Santa line -- just wasn't right. After a while I realized she was a teenager, but with a four or five-year-olds mind.

I could see two things as they moved up the line for her to take her turn. She deeply loved and trusted the older gentleman whose hand she held. And to her, I was Santa Claus. It was Very Important that she speak with me.

I'm no stranger to stress --  I was a Navy SEAL and now  I'm a Commercial Diver.  But just trying to do Santa right was stressful enough for me. Now, needing to make it right for this little girl had just upped the stress level as high as I care to have it. It was important that I didn't mess this one up, for her and me.

When her turn came, the older gentleman helped her onto my lap, gave me a smile, and stepped back.

The girl started telling me how great I was to do what I did for all the children in the world. Well, not me  -- Santa -- but to her I was the real thing. She spoke in a shy little-girl voice, an odd contrast to the teenaged body sitting on my lap. She told me she had been a good girl and minded her mummy and daddy and would Santa please bring her a doll? And she didn't want just any doll. She knew just what kind of doll she wanted.

Thank God the older gentleman had stayed close. I’d done my best with all the children not to promise anything I wasn't sure would be delivered. As she was asking for her special doll the older gentleman was smiling and nodding his head up and down. Well, if she trusted him, I would. It made my heart feel good to tell this little girl, the doll would be under the tree.

Well, folks it was the best Christmas I've had since our children where small. In one sense Christmas is about giving, and the odd little fact is: when you truly give you get more back.
 
I’ve thought about playing Santa that Christmas many times and it always gives me a smile. I do hope it gives you a smile as well.

Merry Christmas!


Now to a little business

My on going test dives with the Gorski go well, so far no major problems.  I have 10 dives from 10’ to a 120’, burning, hand jetting, air lifting and just generally doing our work.  The balanced Regulator is still the easiest demand breathing I have ever done.

The hat is easy to brake down and clean. To date I have had no build up of mud, sand or burning slag behind the diaphragm cover.  The free-flow valve functions smoothly. In general the hat is very comfortable in the water. I use the tighter of the two liners that come with the helmet.  The Oral-nasal makes a light seal on my face and doesn't leave deep depressions in my already wrinkled face.

I had some stains come up in the stainless steel shell, that looked like, light rust.  I used a little Go-Jo and they disappeared quickly.  The Go-Jo works on my stainless steel Savoie and seemed to do the same on the Gorski.

The only problem I’ve had with the hat will not effect any new hats. The hat I’m diving does not have the new toilette seat neck damn retainer.  Less told me about this up front, so I new what to look for.

The old style toilet seat is built of flat stainless and can be bent.  This can cause the pins on the locking mechanism to fowl. It has happened once while being transported to the job. I had no problem getting it straightened out. The new Toilet Seat Neck Damn Retainer is built of round stainless, with a beefed up locking mechanism and it has curried that problem.

IMCA/ADC

Get this straight, neither IMCA nor the ADC, is going to do one thing to make it better for the working diver.  Both organization, write un-enforceable suggestion, for companies to comply with or not.  The oil companies are not bound to either organization and will continue to follow their suggestion only when it is profitable. 

The truth of the matter is it’s up to us to run our jobs safely. If we don’t have the balls to stand up to a little pressure, we shouldn't be running dive jobs.  If you're going to ware the name Dive Supervisor, do the job. That means run the dives and have the Nuts to say no when you should. If you're diving for a guy that is not safe, donut dive for him. I have never understood how someone can have the nerve to breathe underwater and not have the nerve to say NO!


Offshore Diver Blood Drive
Offshore Diver is holding a Blood Drive through United Blood Services. There will be a first, second and third place prize for the individual that gives the most.  Jess and I are working on the companies to put on a Barbeque for the Dive Company that has the greatest percentage of their Divers, Tenders and Supervisors donate.  There are three United Blood Services Locations in South LA. You can find more on their web page.

Baton Rouge United Blood Services 8234 One Calais Avenue Baton Rouge, LA 70806 225-769-7233

Lafayette United Blood Services 1503 Bertrand Dr. Lafayette, LA 70506 337-235-5433

Morgan City United Blood Services 1234 David Drive Morgan City, LA 70381 504-384-5671

You can donate anywhere you want but you must have the donation registered with Debbie Reed as an Offshore Diver donation.  We don’t care who you give too The Red Cross, Hospital, whatever. Their donation administrator just has to let Debbie Reed know when you donated blood and how much you gave.

Yes I said when and how much, you see I sometimes give every two weeks and on occasion I give a triple, almost always a double.

I give what is called Platelets, it mainly goes to Leukemia victims and if you have the right kind of blood, to babies born with immune systems that don’t work properly.  What they do is take out the blood, separate the White Cells and put the Red Cells back.  You can actually give every 72 hours.  Since I write for Offshore Diver I won’t be going for the individual prizes but I will be adding mine for the Company Barbecue. We are going to keep this going for six months. October 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005.  Just a hint the prizes will not be cheep, so don’t you be.


Okay, it's December and nothing much has has happened yet. Good thing for our business Ivan hit when it did, bad thing for the blood drive there were suddenly no more divers and tenders on the beach. I'm gonna leave the blood drive info up for now. I'm sure John has something up his sleeve regarding this.
brasshat
12/18/2004

What do you think? click here to email Roat I will do my best to answer any response to the things I say. That is, if you put your name and e-mail address with it. If there is no name and e-mail address, I won’t post your e-mail and I won’t respond.  If you just want to let everyone know how you fell about what I say, without putting your name on it, post it on the discussion board. Dive Safe and Profitable John Carl Roat