Friday,...
Try to out content me, never mind I'm so content it won't matter if you do. Try endorphins, they work.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Oct 30, 2015
Friday Morning around Midnight Oct 30...
I walk out of my place, can't sleep, I have someone, something, everything, nothing on my mind. All of it's positive. I just feel lucky, completely, utterly lucky.
There's a full moon tonight, or maybe it just looks close to one, cause its been so bright lately. It's easy to see in the tides. Surfing, or attempted surfing, had me keeping the eye on the tides since I got here. It's like all the canoeing I did back home left me peeking over every bridge I drove over to see the creek or river below. Full moons change the highs and lows of the tide.
So I walk out of my place, cross the "road" and in another hundred feet Coral Sands beach is under my feet. I don't know who named it that, but it's far less glorious than you might guess from reading this, but its no less spectacular in what it offers. The clouds out here hang low in the sky. It has to be the dew point, the point where moisture condenses and rain falls (I think). In Ohio, in the summer, its around 4000 ft, out west where the humidity is much higher it can be 17,000ft. Cloud base here seems to be much lower. It has to be the humidity. 3000ft. That is my guess as to the cloud base. They may start low, but they have that same height that you would see in a on of those cumulous nimbous deals...the storm clouds found in the Midwest in summer. So the moon is shining on these clouds. Shining and making them very white way up high, while lower portions and lower clouds stay dark. Ok so that's my best attempt to put it to words...let me just say its gorgeous, and I am completely fortunate to witness it.
I walk out of my place, can't sleep, I have someone, something, everything, nothing on my mind. All of it's positive. I just feel lucky, completely, utterly lucky.
There's a full moon tonight, or maybe it just looks close to one, cause its been so bright lately. It's easy to see in the tides. Surfing, or attempted surfing, had me keeping the eye on the tides since I got here. It's like all the canoeing I did back home left me peeking over every bridge I drove over to see the creek or river below. Full moons change the highs and lows of the tide.
So I walk out of my place, cross the "road" and in another hundred feet Coral Sands beach is under my feet. I don't know who named it that, but it's far less glorious than you might guess from reading this, but its no less spectacular in what it offers. The clouds out here hang low in the sky. It has to be the dew point, the point where moisture condenses and rain falls (I think). In Ohio, in the summer, its around 4000 ft, out west where the humidity is much higher it can be 17,000ft. Cloud base here seems to be much lower. It has to be the humidity. 3000ft. That is my guess as to the cloud base. They may start low, but they have that same height that you would see in a on of those cumulous nimbous deals...the storm clouds found in the Midwest in summer. So the moon is shining on these clouds. Shining and making them very white way up high, while lower portions and lower clouds stay dark. Ok so that's my best attempt to put it to words...let me just say its gorgeous, and I am completely fortunate to witness it.
Monday, October 26, 2015
October 26, 2015
Oct 26, Monday....
It was a Frisbee night tonight, which means I'm high right now on endorphins. Some weekends around here are amazing. This was one of them. There's this energy out here for me that is probably no more than being in good shape and the power of the sun. I think everyone feels it in Ohio or maybe anywhere outside the tropics, I certainly did. Winter, slowed me down. I welcomed it because of that. I wanted rest. I wanted a great excuse to chill, because as long as the sun is out, I'm on the move. I think about it now, for 12 years I not only moved 28,000 thousand pounds of firewood at least 3 times before winter, I also cut it up and split it with an axe too(ok there was one month I borrowed my friends wood splitter cause it was all knotty pine). 84000 pounds of wood I moved in basically in the months of April and May. That's when the sun comes back.
The sun never leaves here. It's always like the Midwest in July or August, complete with the humidity. Its a never ending humidity here though. There are no cold fronts coming through and sweeping away the humidity for brief moments. There is not winter to let you rest.
I've only been passed on a bike twice on this island, and I caught up with one of them. Solar powered Ben
Here are some pics from the Swashbuckler's Ball.
It was a Frisbee night tonight, which means I'm high right now on endorphins. Some weekends around here are amazing. This was one of them. There's this energy out here for me that is probably no more than being in good shape and the power of the sun. I think everyone feels it in Ohio or maybe anywhere outside the tropics, I certainly did. Winter, slowed me down. I welcomed it because of that. I wanted rest. I wanted a great excuse to chill, because as long as the sun is out, I'm on the move. I think about it now, for 12 years I not only moved 28,000 thousand pounds of firewood at least 3 times before winter, I also cut it up and split it with an axe too(ok there was one month I borrowed my friends wood splitter cause it was all knotty pine). 84000 pounds of wood I moved in basically in the months of April and May. That's when the sun comes back.
The sun never leaves here. It's always like the Midwest in July or August, complete with the humidity. Its a never ending humidity here though. There are no cold fronts coming through and sweeping away the humidity for brief moments. There is not winter to let you rest.
I've only been passed on a bike twice on this island, and I caught up with one of them. Solar powered Ben
Here are some pics from the Swashbuckler's Ball.
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| Beth, Sean, and I can never remember that guy on the left's name. |
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| The view looking east from the Yacht Club. $60 a year membership ...so many benefits. The best one being the free use of the Sunfish and the Hobie Cat. |
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| You might have to look hard, but I have a peg leg. |
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| Alex and Jamie in a swordfight....with palm fronds... |
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| They did such great job decorating |
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| Lisa and I in a Sword fight.....I won....I think it was rigged but it turns out winning wasn't the best thing. |
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| Beth, Monika and Kacie.... |
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Oct 18, 2015
Sunday...or the islands version of Saturday...
Half of this island was turned into Zombieland tonight. Probably 400 zombies and 200 participants ran in the "Zombie Run." The Scuba club had scuba zombies coming out of the water at Emon Beach to chase kids. The fire department went over board. The Seabeas dressed like Zombies in uniform and launched water balloons. I was with the folks from the BQ's where a sprinkler sprayed water out onto a "closed" street complete with caution tape and a guy wearing a hard hat and a high vis vest and flashlight saying to the kids "sorry there's water main break, you'll have to go around this way" pointing to detour thru the bushes where 16 of us waited.
Pretty damned cool.
Half of this island was turned into Zombieland tonight. Probably 400 zombies and 200 participants ran in the "Zombie Run." The Scuba club had scuba zombies coming out of the water at Emon Beach to chase kids. The fire department went over board. The Seabeas dressed like Zombies in uniform and launched water balloons. I was with the folks from the BQ's where a sprinkler sprayed water out onto a "closed" street complete with caution tape and a guy wearing a hard hat and a high vis vest and flashlight saying to the kids "sorry there's water main break, you'll have to go around this way" pointing to detour thru the bushes where 16 of us waited.
Pretty damned cool.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
October 17, 2015
Saturday night, Oct 17, 2015....................
I'm not sure where to start. Saturday dinners are the best at our cafeteria, they have another name for it here, a military name like DEFAC or something. Steak, and some seafood, and some other great part of a meal. Saturday is not the day to miss. I was going to skip it, to go to the gym and then play ultimate with the Firemen. I didn't. I'm not really sure why I decided to go in there and try and keep the food on my plate to a minimum unsuccessfully, but I did. The gym still happened. I was only there for a half hour, cause I really don't stop moving too much. A long time resident of the island, B, was there. He has two daughters that graduated from Kwaj high. He's from Cleveland. I've been trying to help him with kiteboarding. He's a long time windsurfer, trying to convert. I met him at our Frisbee field when he was playing with his new kite. His two high school daughters were here helping him. That was early in the year, when Frisbee didn't happen sometimes. So I waited a bit, making sure he didn't attach the lines to the kite wrong, and then left.
Bruce has helped me at the Yacht club, getting me signed off on the Sunfish, and taking me out on the Hobie Cat a few times. Just a solid good guy. He kind of looks like an old Christopher Reeves. He might be 60.
After the gym, I went to the store and bought some beer and stuff, then headed to the field behind the fire department to play Frisbee with the firemen. Great guys. Some of them don't look like they are in shape and can run like a gazelle. There is one that is in great shape that runs like a sea tortoise after a bit. All of them are great to play with. Two women play. Maria, from Germany, has gotten a lot better. The new girl, who doesn't like it cause she's new and can't throw the Frisbee doesn't like it so much. I'm not sure how long we played, but it was well after dark. I went over to the Vet's Hall after to have a few beers, where I saw my coworkers.
I'm not sure where to start. Saturday dinners are the best at our cafeteria, they have another name for it here, a military name like DEFAC or something. Steak, and some seafood, and some other great part of a meal. Saturday is not the day to miss. I was going to skip it, to go to the gym and then play ultimate with the Firemen. I didn't. I'm not really sure why I decided to go in there and try and keep the food on my plate to a minimum unsuccessfully, but I did. The gym still happened. I was only there for a half hour, cause I really don't stop moving too much. A long time resident of the island, B, was there. He has two daughters that graduated from Kwaj high. He's from Cleveland. I've been trying to help him with kiteboarding. He's a long time windsurfer, trying to convert. I met him at our Frisbee field when he was playing with his new kite. His two high school daughters were here helping him. That was early in the year, when Frisbee didn't happen sometimes. So I waited a bit, making sure he didn't attach the lines to the kite wrong, and then left.
Bruce has helped me at the Yacht club, getting me signed off on the Sunfish, and taking me out on the Hobie Cat a few times. Just a solid good guy. He kind of looks like an old Christopher Reeves. He might be 60.
After the gym, I went to the store and bought some beer and stuff, then headed to the field behind the fire department to play Frisbee with the firemen. Great guys. Some of them don't look like they are in shape and can run like a gazelle. There is one that is in great shape that runs like a sea tortoise after a bit. All of them are great to play with. Two women play. Maria, from Germany, has gotten a lot better. The new girl, who doesn't like it cause she's new and can't throw the Frisbee doesn't like it so much. I'm not sure how long we played, but it was well after dark. I went over to the Vet's Hall after to have a few beers, where I saw my coworkers.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Oct 15, 2015
Thursday, October 15th....
On this beautiful little Island (Kwaj), I have this roommate. I always thought I had a pretty good heart, but he's shown me how far I have to go. As an example, on FB, there was a post of a video of some teenage girl talking about selling or buying some thing from/to a British guy. She makes some ridiculously uneducated comments...like "I speak American" or "I'm not sure why he keeps mentioning pounds, maybe its because the planet England is so much closer to the sun...........". So I show it to him so he can see how ridiculous this young girl is, who is featured on youtube as "the worlds dumbest girl". The first thing he says is "awww that poor girl, she's branded for life at such a young age, that's terrible". I envy that he saw it that way, and am humbled.
On this beautiful little Island (Kwaj), I have this roommate. I always thought I had a pretty good heart, but he's shown me how far I have to go. As an example, on FB, there was a post of a video of some teenage girl talking about selling or buying some thing from/to a British guy. She makes some ridiculously uneducated comments...like "I speak American" or "I'm not sure why he keeps mentioning pounds, maybe its because the planet England is so much closer to the sun...........". So I show it to him so he can see how ridiculous this young girl is, who is featured on youtube as "the worlds dumbest girl". The first thing he says is "awww that poor girl, she's branded for life at such a young age, that's terrible". I envy that he saw it that way, and am humbled.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Oct 8, 2015
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015...
I just noticed something missing out here on this island tonight. There were around 40 regular people back in Ohio, in Columbus that I played ultimate Frisbee with. A few were professors at OSU, a couple had Ph D's in Physics, one had a Doctorate in Astrophysics. Almost all were either working on their Masters or already had it. Of course they were all young, most around half my age. I swear I was the dumbest guy out there, or at the very least the most uneducated. They were so smart though. It wasn't just their intelligence, it was the way you could see them hold back when someone did something stupid or said something stupid. Maybe it was just youth. Maybe they were just great kids....
I sat around the opposite of that tonight. I'm not sure how to describe it. NEGATIVE. I guess that sums it up. There was one in the group that, well, I was hoping for better. Maybe it was the alcohol.
It was kind of a middle aged .....one person complains about something and the rest of chime in with similar stupid complaints or complete agreements with original complainer. Oh shit, am I complaining now? lol
I just noticed something missing out here on this island tonight. There were around 40 regular people back in Ohio, in Columbus that I played ultimate Frisbee with. A few were professors at OSU, a couple had Ph D's in Physics, one had a Doctorate in Astrophysics. Almost all were either working on their Masters or already had it. Of course they were all young, most around half my age. I swear I was the dumbest guy out there, or at the very least the most uneducated. They were so smart though. It wasn't just their intelligence, it was the way you could see them hold back when someone did something stupid or said something stupid. Maybe it was just youth. Maybe they were just great kids....
I sat around the opposite of that tonight. I'm not sure how to describe it. NEGATIVE. I guess that sums it up. There was one in the group that, well, I was hoping for better. Maybe it was the alcohol.
It was kind of a middle aged .....one person complains about something and the rest of chime in with similar stupid complaints or complete agreements with original complainer. Oh shit, am I complaining now? lol
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Oct 7 2015
Wednesday....
NW winds gusting to 43mph on an island built mainly for east winds. Ebeye is the same way. There is a container ship sitting out in the Lagoon for a week now, unable to dock due not so much the high winds, but the direction of them.
The ferry to Ebeye was stopped this afternoon due to the big NW winds. 800 Marshalese were stuck here. Thankfully they were given the respect they deserve. Especially here in our mancamp. I found out between the time I got off work and before 5:30 that they were stuck here. I showered and headed to the chow hall where I had seen 50 or so of our (San Juan Construction and otherwise) Marshalese workers hanging out under the shelter house next to our Chow Hall. Sandra was there and I told her I had cleaned off the other two beds in my place, but she told me they already had them taken care of. They also had made dinner to cover them too. Those poor guys don't eat like we do. They had a beautiful meal tonight. I've no clue what it was, but it's better than the rest of our island eats, and guaranteed better than what they eat on Ebeye. Online on our "Coconut Wire" the electronic newsletter they asked for people to open their "homes" to the Marshallese. On Facebook the same sentiments were put out there. I heard later from several people that they were all taken care of. There are some amongst us that don't give the Marshallese enough respect. Fortunately, today, those rare people weren't in the lead of things. They work harder than most of the ex pats (Americans).....ok no they don't, but they work just as hard. They are good guys...great guys....
Here are some photos I stole from Sheri's facebook page. These boats were moored in the south east corner of the lagoon that normally fights off easterly winds. The Harbors on Ebeye and Kwaj are also meant to protect against easterly winds. There were 8 or 9 boats out there moored up, maybe more. Not all of them have owners on the island. Sometimes people buy a boat out here and then have to go back home, leaving a Kwaj friend here to try and sell it for them. I've heard of one Kwaj "friend" who doesn't really make too much of an effort to sell them, but also puts an effort out to make them safe, so he can take advantage of a nice boat.
NW winds gusting to 43mph on an island built mainly for east winds. Ebeye is the same way. There is a container ship sitting out in the Lagoon for a week now, unable to dock due not so much the high winds, but the direction of them.
The ferry to Ebeye was stopped this afternoon due to the big NW winds. 800 Marshalese were stuck here. Thankfully they were given the respect they deserve. Especially here in our mancamp. I found out between the time I got off work and before 5:30 that they were stuck here. I showered and headed to the chow hall where I had seen 50 or so of our (San Juan Construction and otherwise) Marshalese workers hanging out under the shelter house next to our Chow Hall. Sandra was there and I told her I had cleaned off the other two beds in my place, but she told me they already had them taken care of. They also had made dinner to cover them too. Those poor guys don't eat like we do. They had a beautiful meal tonight. I've no clue what it was, but it's better than the rest of our island eats, and guaranteed better than what they eat on Ebeye. Online on our "Coconut Wire" the electronic newsletter they asked for people to open their "homes" to the Marshallese. On Facebook the same sentiments were put out there. I heard later from several people that they were all taken care of. There are some amongst us that don't give the Marshallese enough respect. Fortunately, today, those rare people weren't in the lead of things. They work harder than most of the ex pats (Americans).....ok no they don't, but they work just as hard. They are good guys...great guys....
Here are some photos I stole from Sheri's facebook page. These boats were moored in the south east corner of the lagoon that normally fights off easterly winds. The Harbors on Ebeye and Kwaj are also meant to protect against easterly winds. There were 8 or 9 boats out there moored up, maybe more. Not all of them have owners on the island. Sometimes people buy a boat out here and then have to go back home, leaving a Kwaj friend here to try and sell it for them. I've heard of one Kwaj "friend" who doesn't really make too much of an effort to sell them, but also puts an effort out to make them safe, so he can take advantage of a nice boat.
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| Bummer for the boat owners....if they are even here on island |
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Monday, October 5, 2015
October 5th, 2015
Monday October 5th, 2015,
Time is flying out here. While talking to another contractor out here, he told me he was here until Aug. We were talking about the tax deal, and that if you are out of the country more than 330 days you don't have to pay federal withholding taxes on your income. I said "Oh, so you are only here a couple of months" ...."you will not be able to take advantage of the break". I was thinking it was June. Its weird, there are no seasons here to remind you what time of year it is. Its also funny that I thought it was only June....and its October.
I've settled in out here. Work keeps getting in the way, the weather too. For the most part its Frisbee on Friday and Mondays, and beach volley ball on Sundays. Its hard figuring out how work in Kiteboarding, surfing the gym. I really look forward to all of these things.
The big concrete pours we do are at night. We start at 10pm and work until daylight. It's cooler at night. There are no breaks, no lunches, no stopping period. That kind of level of intensity could not be kept up during the daylight hours due to the intensity of the sun and the humidity.
We all kiteboarded on Sunday. I didn't do so well. I tried to go out with my running shoes on because we were planning on walking on the roof at low tide to get started. We ended up going to a different area inside the lagoon. I kept the shoes on to see how it would work. It didn't. Having 3 beers didn't really help either. It took several hours to fight my way back upwind which normally (without shoes) isn't a problem. I lost the board at one point along with one shoe. I got the board back and took my other shoe off and threw it into the lagoon. I figured maybe two shoes would wash up on Ebeye. While body dragging back to the board, I pulled my right leg over a coral head and scraped it all up. It was pretty impressive the amount of blood. Later, at volleyball the lifeguard at Emon Beach gave me some pure alcohol to throw on it. That was nice.
Here are some pics that I've been meaning to share...
Time is flying out here. While talking to another contractor out here, he told me he was here until Aug. We were talking about the tax deal, and that if you are out of the country more than 330 days you don't have to pay federal withholding taxes on your income. I said "Oh, so you are only here a couple of months" ...."you will not be able to take advantage of the break". I was thinking it was June. Its weird, there are no seasons here to remind you what time of year it is. Its also funny that I thought it was only June....and its October.
I've settled in out here. Work keeps getting in the way, the weather too. For the most part its Frisbee on Friday and Mondays, and beach volley ball on Sundays. Its hard figuring out how work in Kiteboarding, surfing the gym. I really look forward to all of these things.
The big concrete pours we do are at night. We start at 10pm and work until daylight. It's cooler at night. There are no breaks, no lunches, no stopping period. That kind of level of intensity could not be kept up during the daylight hours due to the intensity of the sun and the humidity.
We all kiteboarded on Sunday. I didn't do so well. I tried to go out with my running shoes on because we were planning on walking on the roof at low tide to get started. We ended up going to a different area inside the lagoon. I kept the shoes on to see how it would work. It didn't. Having 3 beers didn't really help either. It took several hours to fight my way back upwind which normally (without shoes) isn't a problem. I lost the board at one point along with one shoe. I got the board back and took my other shoe off and threw it into the lagoon. I figured maybe two shoes would wash up on Ebeye. While body dragging back to the board, I pulled my right leg over a coral head and scraped it all up. It was pretty impressive the amount of blood. Later, at volleyball the lifeguard at Emon Beach gave me some pure alcohol to throw on it. That was nice.
Here are some pics that I've been meaning to share...
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| The Harbor....small boat marina in the foreground...with one boat tied up... |
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| The grey boat is the ferry to Ebeye, Amber is one of the pilots. The tug boat ..well I'm not sure what it does, and that cargo ship in the back is our cheese, and beer, and a few other items... |
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| This is the 36ft Macgregor Catamaran I was hoping to buy.....it sailed here in the 70's from Hawaii....breaking records unofficially and unwittingly |
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| I am a Frisbee missionary |
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