Running around and trying to be more prepared

Hello,

I am in the middle of running around, getting ready to leave for more than three months. It is amazing to realize how much we rely on always staying connected nowadays. Always finding manuals, answers to error messages on various equipment, writing emails and messages to the loved ones and receiving their supportive answers. And streaming, don't forget all the streaming we do. I realized a few weeks ago that I don't have any music/movies downloaded anymore, I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora and various podcasts. All of it requires internet. I am surrounded by the web!

First of all, I want to say the biggest THANK YOU to my friends, who shared/downloaded their music and movies for me. Thanks to all of you, I now have a small music and movie library that will keep me going during my downtime on the ship. I mean I'm not sure how much downtime I will have, but it is good to be prepared. And also a big THANK YOU to those who helped me deal with multiple software issues. I really appreciate your time!

Secondly, I am amazed at the amount of information I downloaded over the last few weeks. Various manuals for equipment/procedures on board; many-many libraries for Python (and I'm sure I forgot a lot and will suffer because of that ;). Datasets. Again, hard to predict how much time I will have to write meaningful code and process data, but I need to think in advance and be prepared. Related to this notion of being prepared and learning about equipment failure the hard way, I am buying spare cables, connectors and everything to take on the ship with me. Things break. Somehow this concept is very hard for me to process in my normal life, so the Universe has been sending me hints in advance. First, my laptop died while I was in Germany. Then my car died as I was planing to drive to the office upon my return. So things break - I accept it now. And there's no Amazon prime to the rescue. All I can do is to prepare as much as I can now and to learn to be creative/ to live without this piece of equipment while on the ship.

My post is very indicative of what my life is right now - I'm constantly making lists, prioritizing tasks and trying to squeeze too many things into an hour, a day, a week. And e-mails! I'm writing and replying to way too many e-mails. I'm really glad that I started reading my grandfather's journal, I can totally relate to the atmosphere he describes, even though he did not know about e-mails, cell-phones and such. Here's a quote from his first entry:

Борт дизель электрохода "Обь". 

16 ноября 1959г. 

Северное море 

Вряд ли стоит теперь восстанавливать в памяти суматошную и безалаберную атмосферу подготовки к отъезду в экспедицию,в которую мы попали сразу по приезду в Ленинград. От всего этого промежутка времени (начиная с 30 октября) осталось тяжелое впечатление бессмысленной неразберихи, нераспорядительности и безответственности начальства. Только большое желание и добрый характер подавляющего большинства участников экспедиции так называемый "трудовой энтузиазм" позволили все это преодолеть.

Wish me luck and "трудовой энтузиазм"

Masha

PS
Let me know if google can handle non-translated quotes...