Friday, Now What?

Finally a Friday, although we have a storm coming and the weather will be quite questonable. The wife has to work this weekend, inventory, and I don’t know what I’m going to do. 

The water was quite rough for my swim this morning. I got in, but didn’t really swim.

Yesterday, we got a new water filtration system installed, no more bottled water for coffee. It (the water, not the coffee) tastes like melted snow. Delicious!  I remember when I was a kid, I’d see my Mom drink water and say “Why drink water, when you can drink Coke or Kool Aid or juice?” Now I love water. Funny, huh?

I’ll probably take the car today…

Have a GREAT weekend!

Gratitude and Perspective

last night, I went out for  a walk. There was a man with a bicycle, sitting on the curb down the road a piece. He saw me, waved, and called out “Excuse me, sir!”

I waved back, and he got up and came, pushing his bike over. I thought “great, what kind of amazing bullshit does this guy have to offer.”

As he walked towards me, he said he was waiting for this guy with a noisy car. (My neighbor across the street) Then he asked, with wonder and awe, “Have you ever”, he said, “filled out a form?” I iformedd him that I had indeed filled out a few forms in my life.

It turns out, that he was trying to fill out a work permit renewal form for Cayman Islands Immigration, and basically, he couldn’t read. 

So I helped him fill out the form, he had his passport, and I showed him  went in each of the blanks. Explained to him why “Maiden name” stayed blank, and had to explain extensively what a maiden name was. 

He had his passport with him and I read his passport number to him as he struggled to write it down in the tiny blank. 

I told him how to spell his wife’s name. He didn’t know. Of course, he knew her name, but couldn’t spell it.

He made cryptic marks on the top of some of the sheets. “This sheet get’s filled in by the immigration office” I told him, he made a mark that looked kind of like a C. “This is a checklist of everything you need to turn in with the form”. He made a mark that looked like a cross between a F and a S. I read the list, which inlcuded several fees. “Oh Lord Jesus, how am I ever going to get this done?” looking up at the sky. “This page gets filled in by your employer, and asks questions on pension, insurance and housing”, another cryptic squiggle at the top. 

At the end of it all, on the nearly final blank, “occupation”,he said he said he was a gardner, but his new job was going to be a janitor. I told him I thought that getting a new job would require him to have a new work permit, not a renewal. He looked up at the sky, Oh Lord Jesused again and seemed really worried. I told him to leave it blank, and ask his boss.

He was working for the guy across the street, (the one with the noisy car). I guess my neighbor was supposed to help with the form, but didn’t show up.

I felt sorry for the guy, worried about this form, work permit, and wether he can even stay on the island. I felt sorry for him not knowing how to spell his wife’s name. Great big giant strong guy.

I realized from all this, that even on my worst day, I’m still lucky. I walked outside for a five minute walk, and spent probably an hour helping the guy fill in his form.

My wife said it was nice of me.

Low Oil Prices?

The BBC this morning said that Saudi Arabia is cutting salaries and benefits for government employees because oil prices are so low there is a deficit.
Really? Are oil prices low? I’m still paying about $4 CI a gallon.

Watched Monday Night Football last night. Saints lost to Atlanta.

Have a great day!

Shortest Weekend Ever

Actually, as per my previous post, I’m sure the weekend was precisely the same size as all the others, but it seemed very short.

Saturday, I made a plant stand. It came out ok, but one cut was a little crooked. No one can tell but me. Then we went out shopping and had lunch out. Seems like I can’t remember much of Saturday.

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Sunday, I was volunteer photographer for a 5k walk/run. I got up at 4:45 and was at the beach at 6. Then I stayed at the beach till 11, came home and we had breakfast for lunch. Then I started making a bench for upstairs. I’m almost done painting it. Plus the Redskins won! Also, our friends Kelly & Hamish went to the Seahawks game. The Seahawks kicked butt and I bet it was a super fun game to be at.Sunday felt like Saturday to me all day.

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Now I’m ready for work, posting my post and trying to make the scooter/car decision..

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Time Is Relative

Ever notice how sometimes time flies and sometimes time crawls? Well, it really seems to vary.

Before I moved here, I had a job working on cesium beam frequency standards, or, atomic clocks. 

I went to school for the above clock before it even came out!

Anyway, we had a room full of atomic clocks. different models. For a long time, every morning, I’d go in there and look at the display. Sometimes the seconds went by 1…….2………3………4…….5 and sometimes they went 12345678. Literally, I could tell the difference day to day. Even hour to hour. Of course, I knew that every day the clocks were counting precisely the same, but in my mind, I would swear they were going faster or slower.

It was an experiment I conducted back then.  Our perception of time changes. Especially in mornings, it seems to me.

Some mornings, it seems like everyone is moving in slow motion, and sometimes, I’m the one moving in slow motion. And it’s real.

So when someone says “This week is taking forever!” or “It’s only 10AM? Seems like at least 4PM”. It’s real, time really does vary. 

Have a good ‘Time’ today! Or perhaps I should say, “Have good time!”

Living for the weekend

Happy Hump Day! I’m really living for the weekends these past few months.

Tomorrow is the equinox, which means the sun passes over the equator, into the southern hemisphere. First day of fll in the north and first day of spring in the south.

My wife drove by a school the other day, and saw schoolkids torturing iguanas. She came home very, very upset. I do not like to see my wife upset like that. I fear things that will upset my wife. Perhaps fear is the wrong word, but when she’s crying about something I can’t do anything about, it makes me feel … weird. I want to fix it, but I can’t.

Went for my normal walk and swim this morning. Not much to report. Have a good day

Morning Triathlon

This morning I ran to the sea, swam, and walked back home. My wife said it was a triathlon. I asked, “what about the biking part?”, she said “Three exercises!”. End of discussion. It’s a triathlon.

I’m a triathlete.

Happy Wife Happy Life

Skins lost…to Dallas. Now the Skins are 0-2. I thought they were going to have a good year.

Saturday, I  re-did the cover for my wife’s planter. It came out really good. Also I repaired and painted a big flat bench I made a long time ago. It had a little rot in one leg and support, I cut new wood to fit, replaced it and painted it. I also cut off the chewed ends from when Sheba was a puppy.

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The wife has sprouts coming up in her planters and is happy. Happy Wife, happy life!

The weather is supposed to be nice for the next few days, and overall, things are good!

Have a great week!

Nice Morning

This morning, the moon was low on the horizon when I got up. I thought to myself that I should take my camera to the sea when I swim, but I didn’t. Shoulda. It was spectacular, the moon, almost full, almost setting on the sea.

Tonight there is a lunar eclipse. It will not be visible over North America. And South America.

Glad it’s FRIDAY!

Have a good weekend!