I sat in car with Essdras Suarez from 2 a.m. until about 6. It’s not the situation you’d expect to be a case study in gadgetry, but it was.

We used a laptop with mobile internet to access Marinetraffic.com and track the position of the 935-foot Maran Gas Coronis tanker and its escort ships. We combined with that GPS equipment to place ourselves in the best possible positions to observe the ship and take photos and videos. I also had a police scanner programmed to the marine and Coast Guard frequencies. A lot of that was encrypted, but we were able to track updates on when the ship was about to be visible from our first vantage point in East Boston.

The police scanner was also interesting, because it allowed us to hear when the police were chasing us — which was a lot. We got stopped six times and asked for identification, including three spots in East Boston, twice in Charlestown and once in Everett.

Essdras had the Canon 1D Mark IV, one of the best cameras in the world, which does stills and videos.

I had the humble Flip camera, which failed to capture any usable video in the pitch black of 4 a.m.

But the real news is coming from Maria Sacchetti and now Stephen Smith, who are both in Haiti sending back, by far, the best reporting coming out of that country. Don’t miss the Globe’s coverage, whatever you do. Maria and Steve are giving everyone blunt reminder of what seasoned, professional journalists can accomplish.

The Globe is apparently not getting sold. People seem glad that this drama is over, but it’s business as usual tonight.

Time to write some news.

Update: By far one of the best SVU episodes I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Petra fell in love with the swan/boat in 2006 and refused to leave its side. She became so attached that the pair was taken to a local zoo in Germany when winter came and Petra refused to leave her beloved.

The black swan had tried to have a “normal relationship” with a real male swan, but he left her recently. So she’s alone … with her boat. And she’s happy.

When he was born, the first Roosevelt was president. His oldest child is 73.

Asked by the AP what he credits for his many years, Webber said, “If a woman asks me that, I say I had a good wife. She’s been gone since 1984.”

A condo in Dorchester costs LESS than a parking space in the Back Bay. Something to think about.

Reuters reports the 28 year-old Hackney, East London resident hid a $12,000 engagement ring inside a helium balloon hoping — for some reason — that she would pop the balloon as he proposed.

But leaving the store, the wind picked up, and the balloon, the ring, and Leanne’s affections (for now) were blown away.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Hajji told The Sun newspaper. “I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me.”

Hajji chased the balloon for two hours before giving up. After telling Leanne the story, she got pissed and demanded a new ring.

Look, I’m no watchdog. I’m not screaming for CIA reform or complete transparency or whatnot, but the simple fact is that water boarding is a form of torture. It’s internationally recognized as a form of torture. It has killed people in the past.

And our president not only sanctions it, he defends it and calls it necessary and safe and legal.

This is where we’re at now.