Latest Update: August 29, 2001 by Ben Marcus

21:55 ALASKA TIME THURSDAY AUGUST 29, 2001 THE BREAK ROOM AT NAUTILUS FOODS

MONEY

Made more than I spent today. Hurrah. That is why I am cutting fish.

It's 22:00 and I'm done cutting fish today. After coming back from the library we got into a nice batch of silver salmon, and they're a pleasure to work with. These fish are big and solid and easy to cut and clean. Some of them are loaded with roe, and at $20 a pound for roe and $2 a pound for the fish, some of those fish can be worth $30 to $40. And there are A LOT of them.

The pinks are a pain in the butt. The sorter guy (see attached photo) just told me that the pinks aren't really worth selling. They go out in cardboard cartons worth $110 and the fish are only worth about $80. They make it up in the pink salmon roe, which I guess is the best. The fish are just a pain to deal with, soft and slippery and ucky.

Everyone else went back to work. Processing is done, so I'm going to sit and watch CNN and work on things. I want to touch up the BORED! pitch a bit, and get back to Deus ex Machina. It would be nice if one of these things actually went somewhere, but at least all these projects give my brain something to chew on.

Earlier today during the dinner break, two of the Turks asked me if I would drive them to Anchorage on September 2. The way they asked and their hand movements looked exactly like the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where Daud and Farraj ask to be paid "one shilling. Each." I cracked up and tried to explain it to them. The two guys are coming in later and I'll show them the scene.

Nothing much else exciting today. Just cutting fish with my head down, thinking about good things and bad things. At least I'm earning money and not spending it. I guess that was the point of this all along. Every once in a while I'll poke my head outside and get a nice glimpse of Alaska, but this all reminds me of my Harmony Foods days, including the Talking Heads soundtrack.

I'm dying to go check e-mail. One of the Young Turks has been kicked into management in the office. Maybe he'll let me plug in a little later.

Don't know if there will be fish tomorrow. Two of the Turks want me to take them to Anchorage on September 2 and they've agreed to pay guess. I might just do it, if only to pick up all my swag at Scott Liska's. I should go there sooner to check out the Montagu Cup over Labor Day. We shall see. If there aren't any fish, then I won't be missing anything. It's 300 miles to Anchorage, but I'll have the Turks with me so it'll be okay.

Time to work on all my sketchy projects. I should write a letter to send en masse to all my creditors and tell them to hang in there. Miracles happen.

10:05 ALASKA TIME THURSDAY AUGUST 29, 2001 THE DINING ROOM AT NAUTILUS FOODS

MONEY

Nothing lately.

I'm getting a sore throat. Can't imagine why, working in an ice box in Alaska in rainy August. My camera is suffering from the dank musties as well. I think the wet, cold weather finally did it in. Now my keyboard is getting glitchy, too. It's not putting spaces in between things. I think I better get out of here before all the wheels fall off.

No fish this morning. Maybe later. Last night they were up processing halibut until the wee hours. I think they get around $5 a pound for halibut and there were some fish over 100 pounds. Apparently there is one coming in that is 400 pounds. Righteous bucks, as Spicoli would say.

Last night I did a little espionage and snuck into the Owner's office to tap into his fax line. Nothing super important, just trying to get more people interested in the Tidal Bore deal. Eric Nelson and Curt Myers might come up to shoot it. We shall see.

Made some progress on the BORED! proposal last night. No idea if that thing is going to go anywhere, but it would be nice.

Now I'm in the dining room with scoundrels and Mexicans and Turks all around me. Here is Tio. Aqui es tio. Es un hombre correcto. Tiene muchas dientes do oro. El no usa su sombrero bueno ahora por que el no quiere el sangre sobre son sombrero. "Si, sangre de pescado," he said.

Sangre de pescado. Hay mucho sangre de pescado.

Time to work on my projects. I'm watching Hunter on the TV and I'll come back to this when something interesting happens.

10:53 ALASKA TIME THURSDAY AUGUST 30, 2001 THE VALDEZ LIBRARY

Crud. I'm in the library and I can't log on to AOL. There is a guy from Santa Cruz sitting next to me, logging onto swell.com. Why can't I log onto AOL? Shit. Another technical glitch. I guess I have to call the 888 customer service number.

Okay. Got it fixed. I had an AOL 800 number bill for more than $600 and I guess they thought that was a problem.

Got that problem fixed and ran into others. Here is an e-mail from the Guinness World Records people. I guess I didn't give them enough time. "To your e-mail.." ???? He sounds like the Turks.

In a message dated 8/30/2001 5:13:29 AM Pacific Daylight Time, simon.gold@guinnessrecords.com writes:

Dear Ben,

Thank you very much to your email to Michael Feldman at Guinness World Records Television.

THANk YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSE.

We were very interested, however, with such short notice, we will be unable to accommodate your record attempt within our schedule

THAT IS DISAPPOINTING.

COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT.

IT'S EASY.

I'LL SET THE WHOLE THING UP FOR YOU. YOU SEND A DIRECTOR AND I'LL PROVIDE THE CINEMATOGRAPHERS.

SOME OF THE FOOTAGE ALREADY EXISTS. A LOCAL CINEMATOGRAPHER HAS A 35 MM TIME LAPSE OF THE WATER MOVEMENT TAKEN FROM A LOCAL MOUNTAIN

WHAT ABOUT IF WE PUSHED IT UP ANOTHER MONTH???????

YOU GUYS NEED TO DO THIS. TRUST ME.

Good luck, and thanks again for your interest.

WHAT ABOUT JUST SENDING OUT SOMEONE FROM GUINESS WORLD RECORDS TO ADJUDICATE AND OVERSEE THE ATTEMPT?

SORRY TO PLEAD, BUT THIS IS A WORTHY PROJECT.

Yours sincerely,

Simon C. Gold

Associate Producer

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS TELEVISION

338 Euston Road London NW1 3BD

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7891-4566

Mob: +44 (0) 7803 85 66 18

Fax: +44 (0) 20 7891 4535

Okay, just sent a bunch of e-mails, not all of them as pleading as that one. The Santa Cruz dude just left. He's stuck here with a 33' ketch called the Arctic Turn. I guess he needs money and he as an 18-year-old girl he is sweet on.

He is jonesing to go do the Tidal Bore attempt. I may take him with me when I go to Anchorage on the 14th.

He's gone, and I've gone through all my e-mails. AOL gave me a temporary password so everything worked out okay.

Now what? Work on the BORED! proposal. Work on Santa Cruz. Work on Deus ex Machina. Work on Prudhoe Bay Pipeline proposal.

I should go back to Nautilus Foods and see when the fish will be around.

I'm getting tired of this, but I'll hang in there.

Evan just asked if I've sent him a check to reimburse the $4000 he sent me.

I'm checking my Wells Fargo account now.

I'm afraid to see what I am going to see.

Oh, not so bad. Just under $2000. I'll send that all to Evan and then were will I be?

Oh well, at least I earn money at the Fish Plant and they feed me.

It's 13:30 now.