Happy Birthday!

Yesterday afternoon/evening, we had a birthday Barbecue for my Wife. I guess there were about 25 people over. It was a pretty good party with a lot of food and drink.
And the house wasn't even wrecked too bad this morning!

Now, (Blah) it's Monday.

Have a good week!

Red Wasp

I dreamed a lot last night. I dreamed I was in a boat crash. I was on a boat and there were waves. The captain accelerated at exactly the wrong time, up the face of a wave. We got airborn, and the nose of the boat hit perpendicular into the face of the next wave. We went completely under, and through the wave. Then the boat popped up on her ass, and fell over upside down. I ducked when we went through the wave, then into the water before the boat turned over.
After the crash, I was looking for my wife. Swimming and asking people, but nobody could hear me. I was swimming and swimming, looking for her. Pretty soon I was swimming in canals yelling to people in their back yards. I was freaking out, looking for her. I tried not to wake up, because I had to find her, but then I did wake up anyway, and she was laying right next to me. I felt really really really glad that it was just a dream.

Another dream I had was about a red wasp, but I can't remember any more than that. Just a red wasp, hovering like one of those big helicopters.

Roller Coaster Screaming!

I had a great day today. I went to Stingray City with some tourists. There were these two girls, about 6 or 8 years old. They were afraid to get in with the stingrays. Finally one decided to get in, she was clinging to me for dear life. The first stingray came by, and she practically climbed all the way out of the water on me. I told her, don't take your mask out of the water, look at the stingray, it won't hurt you, and you can push it away if it gets too close.

She wanted to get out almost immediately. But the second little girl said, "I wanna get in with you", pointing at me.

So she got in the water, grabbed onto my wetsuit and finally touched a stingray. Then the first girl wanted to get back in too.
So, I had these two little girls, one under each arm, with their tiny little masks and fins, their knees up to their chests, holding onto me for dear life, while I swam around with them and the stingrays. They were screaming through their snorkels the whole time. I asked if they were OK, they screamed "YES!" I asked if they wanted to get out, they screamed "NOOO!"
I had a blast, and I felt like such a hero taking care of them. They never let go of me for a second. When they got out, they ran to their parents yelling how excellent it was. Later their parents told me they were surprised the girls got in with the stingrays, surprised they stayed in the water so long, and surprised they touched the stingrays, and that I did a really good job with them.
Later, they rode on a jet ski, with their father driving, they came cruising by, screaming again.
Roller Coaster Screaming!

Busy day

Today I have a busy day.
I am diving around noon, then at 5 I have a Chamber of Commerce thing, then at 7 I have the map event like the one mentioned yesterday..
We went out for dinner last night, I can't remember the name of the place. It was good. When I remember, I'll come back and tell you.

Map Event

Last night, (and tomorrow night) where my Wife works, at Guy Harveys Gallery, was an antique map show and sale. Above is an invitation for you, and below is a couple of my favorites.

This is a great map, with "Parts Unknown" and nice artwork.

I have a map similar to this, but much smaller and not an actual old map.

ALSO! Today is my Wifes Birthday! Please go over and tell her
Happy Birthday!!!
I want her to have lots of comments on her BIRTHDAY!

TOO MUCH to post

I've been sitting here, in front of the blank screen for about five minutes, drinking my first coffee. I wish I could just post everything I was thinking, without typing. I sit down, try to think of something to write, and while I'm thinking, my mind wanders all over. Movies, pacifism, diving, riots, shortwave, fruit juice concentrate. People places things. Then I say I can't think of anything to post. It would be more accurate to say that I can think of TOO MUCH to post.

Yesterday, for work, I had to call the phone company again. I cannot understand how they can exist and be so grossly screwed up. I call, get transferred, get disconnected. For over an hour. Finally I'm so upset and angry that I'm raising my voice to the operator. I even tell myself beforehand, "No matter what, you will not get angry!" They always drive me beyond that point. I am sure I will be dealing with them again today. When dealing with our phone company, the problem never ends with you hanging up the phone, problem resolved. It always ends with you getting disconnected, and deciding not to call back.

This isn't much of a post.

February is turning into a pretty good month, at least I think I'll make enough to pay the bills. I really like my job. I just wish it would get busier. I'm a good technician, I think the problem is that I'm a lousy salesman.

Anyway, Have a nice day!

Wife Working Weekend Woes

It's Monday, but feels like is should be Saturday. The Wife was in Florida last week, and week-end. She was working at the Coconut Grove Art Festival, and Miami Boat Show. She just got back last night. I feel like she deserves a couple days off, after working all weekend, but nooooooo. She has to go back to work.

Tomorrow night she is working too, there is a big antique map show she is working at. I'll be there, hoping I don't see any maps I can't live without!

Movie: Clash of the Titans

The Wife and I saw previews for this movie, and she didn't want to see it. Too many monsters and too much violence. So, since she is in Florida this week, I watched it last night. In a scale of 1-5, I'd give it a 3. I will say it is OK, maybe a little less than OK. It had good special effects and it made me want to learn more about Greek Mythology.

My favorite part was Medusa, turning all who gaze upon her to stone. When someone turns to stone, they make a pretty cool statue! I can't really put my finger on what I didn't like about it. It just wasn't that great. One good thing, it seemed like it was a short movie.

I'd say rent it, and if you didn't spend money to see it at the movies, good for you!

Now THIS is freakin' COOL!

New Wireless Tech Lets Radio Devices Send and Receive Simultaneously, Doubling Efficiency

This is basically a reproduction of the article by Clay Dillow. From: HERE

Radio communications devices can either send or receive wireless signals at a given moment, but they can’t do both at the same time (hence the regular use of the word “over” to signal the end of a transmission). But a team of electrical engineering grad students and professors at Stanford has done what researchers have long thought impossible by developing a new antenna setup that allows wireless signals to be sent and received at the same time.

That may not seem earth-shattering--cell phones allow simultaneous two-way communication after all--but given the fact that the breakthrough essentially doubles the speed of communications networks immediately, it’s actually somewhat huge.

Cell phone networks employ a complicated and expensive technological trick to allow for simultaneous two-way conversation, and that work-around isn’t feasible for all networks. This new system won’t just benefit long-haul truckers and air traffic controllers--though it certainly will benefit them. Where it could really shake up our everyday realities, it seems, is in Wi-Fi, which could become much, much faster using this kind of technology.

When a wireless transmitter is sending out a signal, that signal is million of times stronger than any incoming signal; as such, the transmitting signal drowns out any incoming communication. So the Stanford team devised a means for a receiver to screen the noise from its own transmitter out, much as our brains can screen out our own voices when we are both speaking and listening (this is explained in much greater detail in the video below).

As a result of this noise canceling the receiver can hear incoming traffic clearly. That means in a Wi-Fi network, for instance, computers could both send and receive packets of information simultaneously, potentially doubling efficiency in a given time frame (at least at the moments when you are both sending and receiving signals). The possibilities don’t end there. Check out the video below for more.

It's What's for Dinner!

Last night, for dinner, I had a can of Hormel Chili like the one in the picture. My can was old and a little bit rusty though. It had been in our cabinet for an indeterminate amount of time.

It made me burp. Quite a bit.

I am pretty sure I bought this before I got married, I can't imagine The Wife buying it.

I wonder what I'll do for dinner tonight. I think I'll conduct experiments comparing the belch production rates of Hormel Turkey Chili VS the No Beans VS With Beans.

I'd have to run to the store though....

Maybe I'll just have a sandwich.

Lonely Week

The Wife is going away for work for a few days. I'll be here, the dawgs'll be taking care of me while she's gone.

Our alarms went off at the same time this morning. Hers went off, she turned it off. Then it went off again and she just laid there. After a sec0nd I whined "Baby turn it OFF!" she said "that's not mine" I said "Oh" then I shut my alarm off.
The literary level of the content for this blog is exceptionally high, don't you think?

Drawing a blank

This is another day that there's no topic I can come up with.

It rained last night, the first significant rain since I don't know when.
I had a really weird dream last night, about mango trees, wheat fields, spiders and snakes and my dog, Ditto. I won't try to write the whole thing down, but I needed Ditto to save me from this snake, but I was afraid to yell because I thought he might think he had done something wrong and run away. Meanwhile this red snake is poised to strike at me. The theme of needing to take action and not because of the fear of repercussions is not new to me. Once in a dream, I went over a cliff in a car because I didn't want to press the brakes hard enough to leave skid marks in the nice green grass.
Anyway, I'm just kind of rambling, so that'll do for today.

Happy Valentines Day!

Today, Febroooieeee 14th, is Valentines Day! That special day of the year when turkeys with white beards hatch from carved pumpkins and run all over the yard looking for hollow plastic eggs filled with candy and prizes!

Funny Picture Saturday

This is one of those pictures that make me laugh out loud when I look at it. I can't help it.

Did it again

I did it again, last night I was so tired, I was falling asleep. I COULDN'T stay awake. I went to bed about 9PM and woke up at One-Eleven (1:11) I was up till 4:30ish. Now, again, I am brain damaged and drinking coffee to restore my brain.

Also, For THEE Record, You are hereby notified that I invented a new word:
Blognored-

When people ignore your blog and you get few or NO comments.

Now the serious stuff: Where were all my blogger friends yesterday? When I was suffering* in the pits of despair* over my beloved* stapler? No one was there for me. Only Happy Days gave me some sympathy and encouragement. (Thank You Happy Days you SAVED* me!)
All day* yesterday, in my woe*, I was checking my blog for comments every thirty* seconds*.. Then after a barren* day of being blognored, I began to feel abandoned* and rejected*, in addition to my impossible* burden* of limitless* grief *
"Oh yeah", I thought, "Something good or funny or even cute I am Mr Popular* surrounded by friends and may pull in a whopping* three or four ZILLION* comments. But let there be a disastrous* incident* like my size of staples being discontinued, I am suddenly alone*, adrift* on an ocean* of rejection* and isolation*."

Then I thought that maybe this tragedy* was too much for people to handle. You, my Dear Incessant Reader, come here and are used to a blog that is Rated G,You come one day and suddenly find it to be a Heavy*, Deep* Obscene* "R" Rating*...And maybe it was too much for most to handle. So I apologize, and will try to give better warning in the future if the content may be overwhelming for most, like yesterdays certainly was.

* Portions marked above with * were probably exaggerated dramatically to dramatically increase the dramatic emphasis.

Sad News in Stapler City

This is a very old memory, stupid but true. When I was a little kid, I wanted a stapler. I remember wanting one, knowing I didn't really need one, (I could use my Moms), but I wanted one and asked. I remember seeing the WTF?? look in her face, but she came home with a stapler for me very soon after that. I think this is 1964 or 1965.

So, I've had this stapler since then, I left it home when I was in the Navy, but other than that, I've had my stapler with me wherever I went and loved it from the moment I got it.

Now, I can't find staples for it. I've been looking for staples for years. I am now running low on my last box. It's a bad reason to need to buy a new stapler.
I have an empty staple box, and an almost empty stapler. Yesterday.... I bought a new one.
The old one cost less than two dollars, the new one cost almost twenty-five.

Iguana Day

Yesterday was Iguana Day, that national Iguana holiday where all the iguanas come out to party, and bask in the sun.

The Iguana House was rockin'!

Yo Dude! No pictures please!

Hee HEee HEEE! I'm a witch! This is my broom!

Party crasher chicken in a tree pretending to be an iguana!

Another NO Post day

It's another day, and I can't think of anything to post.

Yesterday, I tried to do a video post from my podcast website, but it didn't work. The video plays there, but won't play on the embeddable player that I paste to other websites. (like this one)
I'll keep working on it.

In the NEWS, NASA has sent two satellites to opposite sides of the sun, providing a 360 degree view of the surface. I think it is cool. When I was a kid, we used to speculate that there was another planet, exactly like Earth, in the same orbital path on the exact opposite side of the sun. If there was, we'd never know about it.

The Line in the pic above shows a gap in the data that should close up when the satellites get into proper position,

This is the sun in green. I don't know why it's green. Go read the article.

Have a WONDERFUL Tuesday!

It . . .

. . .was a very nice weekend. Saturday we went to a friends wedding party. They had a small private wedding a week or so ago, then had a party at their house for the friends.

Sunday, we went to the beach, and it was a perfect day for it. We found a new 'secret spot' that really isn't very secret. You just walk down the beach a ways from our old secret spot, which was pretty crowded when we got there.
Then last night we went out and watched the Super Bowl, it was pretty good. Pittsburgh could have won it with a touchdown in the last quarter, but they didn't. I was watching the game, but nobody else at my table was interested, so I may have seemed kind or rude. Also there was a drunk guy in front who thought it was cute to get up repeatedly and put his hand on something on the screen. Oh yeah, and the halftime show was theee stupidest ever!
Now it's Monday. Feels like Sunday.

Queen Trigger Fish from yesterday

High Brain Failure Rate

Sunday morning, before my first sip of coffee.

Tonight is the super bowl, I am for Green Bay. No reason, I just wanted them to beat Chicago, and I'm sticking with them this week too.

I'm still looking for jobs, I went to some Chamber of Commerce forums Friday, and got leads on several jobs. But nobody calls. Everyone has broken computers, but when it's time to get them fixed, I guess they can do without them! Monday I'll be out beating the bushes again. Same as the radio stations here, guess they'll wait till they're off the air before they call, rather than do maintenance.

Anyway, I'm not too sure what this post is about. I am kind of just rambling. So I'm going to drink coffee, maybe ride my bike to the beach before the wife wakes up, go snorkeling and have a cigar!

Happy Anniversary

Fourteen Years ago today, I got up super early, moved my few pieces of remaining furniture out to the driveway for the Salvation Army to pick up. I gave my next door neighbor my house key. Then, on my hands and knees, I puked in my bushes in the dark.

What was I doing? I didn't even have a key to my own house any more.

A friend picked me up in my old van that I sold to his business. And took me to the airport.

As the plane took off, and curved over the Chesapeake Bay to head south, I looked down out of my window at the familiar land and I actually cried.

"I Failed" I thought to myself."Ten years here, I have a house, I had a good job, I had everything but a wife and I failed!" I felt completely, utterly, miserable and afraid, wondering if I knew what I was doing.

But the further south the plane went, the better I felt. When the plane descended into Grand Cayman I was so excited and happy I could barely contain myself. I started the day puking in my bushes and ended the day snorkeling off Seven Mile Beach. It was one of the best days of my life so far. I have never regretted it.

For years before I moved here, I wanted to move back to the tropics. I wanted to stay in Hawaii after living there almost 5 years but fate had other plans. Then I was planning on moving to Belize, I was planning and thinking, going to the library, planning and planning, and thinking and thinking. For years.

It only took a couple months to make the move down here, and it was action, not planning that did it. I made a phone call, for a yard sale, and sold everything I owned, a whole 3 bedroom house full of stuff. I made another phone call, Real estate manager. (I still have the house in Virginia, rented out). I made a call, airlines; airline ticket. I sold my car, turned in a letter of resignation at my long-time job. Very little planning, just actions. This a lesson I need to re-learn over and over again in my life.

Now I've been here 14 years. Sometimes I'm still miserable and afraid, thinking about the future and the unknown, but life is good, I've got the best wife ever and the best life ever and I'm glad to be here, and I don't regret a thing.

The past is gone, we can't do anything to change it. That's why the past is called
History
We don't know if we'll be there tomorrow, or what's going to happen if we are. That's why the future is a Mystery,
All we have is Today. Today is a gift, that's why we call it
The Present

Two days after my Grandfather was born....

...the oldest person on Earth verified by the Guinness Book of World Records was born. Now she's in the news because she died a couple of days ago. Eunice Sanborn of Jacksonville, Texas, died quietly in her home on Monday. The obituary cited a birth date of July 20, 1895, but her family says her age is uncertain. My Grandfather , Damon E Grim, was born July 18, 1895.
Read about Eunice Sanborn and see a video on CNN here. To think she was born two days after my Grandfather really makes me think. A generation is pretty big, time-wise. A parent and their child can span a hundred years easily. I wonder if Eunice and my Grandfather ever crossed paths. Maybe they actually met.
Of all my relatives, my Grandfather was my favorite, and the person I always wanted to be like the most.
I get kind of sentimental about it really, a person lives, and a person dies. But when a person dies, people still remember them. After a time, everyone who actually remembers a person dies. 1895 seems like a long time ago, but I remember my Grandfather. He died in 1976. If I could go back in time, I would ask him a whole bunch of questions, and take notes.
I think humans need to focus less on who dies, and more who is still alive. I remember years ago, hearing about an old man who died who was instrumental in inventing the internal combustion engine. I thought, "I wish I knew he was still alive before he died" Does that make sense?

With Eunice Sanborn's death, the "oldest living person" designation goes to Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia. She was born in 1896

God Bless North East Australia

Captured: Wednesday 2 February 2011 01:30 UTC

As I type this, Queensland, Australia is getting whacked by Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi, a category 4 or maybe 5 typhoon.
This is a very strong storm, the news says it is stronger than anything in the memory or "recent generations" and may destroy even "Cyclone proof" homes with sustained winds of 300 kilometers per hour. That's about 186 miles per hour. Winds may gust up to 40% higher than the sustained peak. That's gusts of 420 Kilometers per hour, or about 260 miles per hour.
Plus, being a continent, and not a small island, there are tsunamis probable. With an island, the water can go around the land, on a continent, the water has no where to go but ashore. To me this storm looks like it's going to be really really bad.

This picture forcasts the storm coming ashore as a category 5.

I hope Australia makes it through with amazingly little damage and minimal deaths. I'll be thinking about them. I have been through several hurricanes, here in Cayman and in Hawaii. Mainly Ivan and Ewa. There is nothing that can compare to the power of a hurricane.
Click HERE for the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology.

Feb Rooie

Can you believe it's February already? In a week the year will be more than 10% old!