How To Pack For Vacation

1) Put your big suitcase on the floor, open.

2) Put your little suitcase (that you already packed) inside.

3) Close 'er up and your ready to go! No fuss! No muss!

Tomorrow we're off to Costa Rica! I am so excited! I can't wait to get there, (tomorrow about 10PM after spending the day in Miami (on purpose!))

But today I have a lot of work to do. The concrete is now dry holding the pole for the satellite dish, and I'm off to get the dish on the pole, get the feedhorn assembly on and finish putting the whole thing together, get the cable ran and maybe get the dish pointed at the satellite!

Two Days and a Wake Up!

What a weekend it was.. I think it was Friday I ate two cans of Sardines, one in Hot Sauce and one in Mustard Sauce. The Hot Sauce one was good, but the Mustard one tasted funny. Not bad, just funny. Did I mention the "Best when used by" date was 2008? (that rhymes) Well, I guess they were 'funny' because I was sick all weekend. Not stomach sick, I had a fever of 101.8 and a bad headache (that kinda rhymes too). It was like my eyeballs were Hors d'Oeuvres with toothpicks in them. And if I sneezed or coughed, it felt like the top of my head was going to come off. All weekend, I wasn't really sure if it was the sardines that made me sick, my stomach wasn't upset, although I didn't feel hungry. Then yesterday evening, I started feeling better. Then my digestive system clicked back on, (I didn't even know it was off) mumbling and grumbling and acting very active, and I was suddenly starving. That's what made me pretty sure it was the sardines. Ya know, when I was a kid, canned goods didn't have expiration dates on them, if it was in a can, it was good forever. Guess they don't can 'em like they used to!
My font color for today is sardine silver, in case you were wondering.

Two days and a wake up till Costa Rica! I am ready to go!!

Sheba, Queen of the Back Porch

The other day, I gave Sheba a bath in the late afternoon. Because of her thick, luxurious, beautiful hair, she was still wet around bedtime. SOOO The Wife whipped out the hair dryer and dried Sheba. I thought Sheba would be afraid of the noisy, hot air blowing, wind machine, but nope, she loved it. Spoiled brat!

Yeah, we're both just girls, hanging out at the beauty salon. How'r you today?

Aren't you supposed to give me a magazine to read?

Yeah, I'll leave you a good tip... (snicker snicker....)

Also, I designed and installed an underwater lighting system for our pool. Below is a picture. Actually I just put one of my underwater scuba lights in the pool. Good for night swimming. It looks like this:

Last night I had a cool dream that I had a rats tail on the back of my head. It must have been back in my high school hippie days because I found it in my hair. I was going to cut it off, but hesitated because I figured there was blood and bone in there, so I didn't. I went to the doctor to have it removed but decided to keep it. Wouldn't it be cool to have a rats tail on the back of your head? You could thoughtfully scratch your forehead with it during an important conversation with your boss, and hundreds of other uses! I have made my font rattail gray for this paragraph!!!

It's Friday! Yeay! Have a good weekend everybody!!

Less than a Week

One week from now, The Wife and I will be waking up for our first day in Costa Rica! I guess you could say I've already started packing. I have some special cigars to smoke with my Father In Law packed, and that's a start. We are spending a day in Miami on the way there, so we arrive in Costa Rica about 10 PM.We are going to see Elton John in concert while we are in Costa Rica. It should be a very good show, and I hope I can get some decent photos with my teeny camera. We are also going to the beach on the Pacific ocean. We haven't been there in about 6 years.
Work is slow. The dang concrete man is slow. They just poured the concrete and I should be able to install the dish Monday.
I went to the doctors and got my stitches out yesterday, I think I'm going to have a pretty cool scar. I thought I wouldn't have one at all because the cut was so clean. I could tell it was time to get the stitches out because they were pully and itchy.
I've been having some trouble with my Linux computer. It did an upgrade from V10 to V11 and didn't like it, so I went back, but now things seem different in a way I can't really be specific about. Just slower and sluggisher. And weirder. I'm working on it, as I plan on taking the Linux computer to Costa Rica and actually rely on it.
This is a pretty random post. It seems that I'm going through a period where it is hard for me to post, or maybe I don't like my posts lately. Some mental phase.. It is noticeable that I think of good things to post during the day but suffer from the blank mind when I sit down to post..... I've had this problem before. Oh well, it will pass.

Worst Nightmare Ever

Last night I had the worst nightmare ever. I was at some community event. My friend Jay was flying a helicopter. My Wife, our friend Carol, and several other people were going for a short ride. The helicopter took off and was hovering about 10 feet off the ground. Suddenly, faster than possible, the helicopter zoomed off and was instantly thousands of feet away over the trees. I thought "helicopters can't do that".

Then the helicopter started wobbling. Pitching a yawing and moving in a lazy arc toward trees. I thought everyone inside must be unconscious because of the sudden, impossibly fast acceleration, and no one was flying.
Then the helicopter went behind the trees and crashed with a huge explosion and fireball. I screamed. To say I was in extreme anguish would be an understatement. I freaked out worse than I have ever freaked. I didn't know what to do. I was crying "The helicopter crashed." "My wife was on it".
I thought about going over to where the crash was but I knew she was dead.
I tried to call my Mom and was surprised when my Dad answered. I told him what happened and got off the phone. I started heading towards the wreckage.
Next thing I know, I'm laying awake in bed. Thinking I won't make it since my wife is dead. I realize I talked to my Dad and he has been dead since for years, since before we got married. I look over and my wife is sleeping next to me. For the first time, I realize it was a dream. Normally I would hesitate before waking her up. Not this time, I wake her up and tell her what happened.
Damn. I'm glad it was just a dream.
Worst nightmare ever.

MyMo (My Monday)

Today is My Monday. The plan of the day is:
1) Get stitches out of knee
2) Go see if the concrete man put the pole in for my dish
3) Make arrangements for said dish to be placed upon said pole.
4) Go to cigar store
5) Go to beach. (I haven't been to the beach since I got my stitches, because I've been avoiding sand.

Super Blow

I watched both games yesterday. I don't think the two best teams are going to the Super Bowl. I don't think NY Giants line gives their quarterback vary good protection. San Francisco didn't impress me, but could have won if it weren't for their own mistakes. I wouldn't want to be that Baltimore kicker who missed that easy one to put the game in overtime.

Sunday Random Photos

The cemetery where Cemetery Beach is.

Vespa

George Town Library

Stupid condos next to Cemetery Beach. I hear they haven't sold a single one and they have been completely empty since they were finished a long time ago.

Some Good Sh*t Man

For as long as you've been reading my posts, you've heard me whine and complain about not being able to sleep. Well, My Wife got me some stuff, and I tell you, it's some good sh*t man! I take one of these before bed and the next thing I know it's morning.
So if you're a world class insomniac like me, and you want to retire from the insomnia-istic world of insomnia-ism, try some of these.
Now my wife beats me up every day.

New Website Found!

I found a new website that I really like, www.physorg.com. THIS is kind of stuff that I find interesting! I got up this morning, got coffee and came here to post. but I found an article on Google News about a rare turtle being released into the wild that led me to the site. That was an hour ago. I've been reading articles on that site since, and had to pull myself away. So check it out. If yawanna.

Blood and Guts

One thing I forgot to mention was that I cut my knee on the angle iron for the dish. I went to the hospital and paid $500 for 6 stitches and my medicine. Then I went back and finished putting together the dish.

Yow!

at the hospital

Twelve Foot Dish

Here's some pictures of that 12 foot dish I've been working on. When I started, I had a box with eight petals, several bags of nuts and bolts, and a few stacks of angle iron. It's all together now, waiting to go on the pole. The pole is waiting on the hole, and the concrete man.
Happy Days asked why such a big dish... There could be several reasons. We could be on the edge of the satellite footprint. Imagine being in space over the same spot equator, shining a light on the the same spot at North America. The lit part is called the footprint. The signal from the satellite is kind of like the light from your flashlight. Down here in the Caribbean, we're on the edge of the footprint, so a bigger dish helps us get more signal.
Another reason could be that we may receive large amounts of data. Where you are receiving and using only one audio and video channel at a time, the broadcaster may receive numerous CD quality digital audio and video streams simultaneously, as well as data feeds.
Also, I have installed little 30 inch TV satellite dishes, and the strongest signal I could get was about 40% on my receiver signal strength meter. If it rained or got cloudy, you could see the TV picture get worse, or drop out completely. With this dish, I expect to receive 100% signal strength and a signal suitable for Radio Broadcast in any weather conditions.

Although, I must admit, I think we could do just fine with a 10 foot or even an 8 foot dish. But the receiver vendor insisted on a 12 foot and I was given a 12 footer to install.

"The dish is now strong enough to support the weight of the assembler"

The support struts.

Me on top of a dish that looks small in this picture.

Looking up.

Weekend-Over

The weekend is over, It was cold and windy, I went diving Sunday and it was cold out of the water, not so bad in.

I have not much to say today, so I will say thousands of words with a few pictures.

A spotted lobster in a swim-thru from yesterdays dive.

A brick wall inside a tree. Click to enlarge, the tree grew over the wall. The rest of the wall was torn recently down and the land cleared so they could build a new shopping mall. I took this pic when I was sitting at a red light.

My feet at the grocery store, I took this pic when I was sitting at a red light. Not really, it was a long line... same thing.

Cayman Cookout

Yesterday The Wife and I were invited by our Old New Friends, John and Diane, to the Cayman Cookout. It was a lot of fun with lots of food and drink on the beach by famous chefs from around the world. Here's a pic I took of Anthony Bourdain with my Gloriously Famous Wife, I've never heard of Anthony Bourdain.. Sorry Anthony!

(I stole this pic from my wifes Facebook page. I took the pic with her camera and didn't have a copy.)

Thanks again to John and Diane for generously inviting us to such a wonderful event! It was great to see them. I hope they get the chance to come over to our house this trip.

I'll say again what I've said many times: Facebook is good for finding old friends, Blogger is good for making new ones!

The Other Instructions

Yesterday I started assembling the 12 foot (that's big!) Satellite dish. The instructions that were in the box were kinda lame. They said, basically, assemble the reflector assembly as shown in figure 2.1. Assemble the mounting assembly as shown it figure 2.1. Figure 2.1 was a picture of the dish.
I put it together, because this aint my first rodeo, but there were leftover parts, not in figure 2.1. I knew where they went, but since they weren't in figure 2.1, I left them out, knowing as Arnold said in Terminator, Ahlll Be Bock!
So this morning I downloaded and printed the "Other Instructions". They show all the steps to assembly and I will finish up the dish today.
Except the concrete pad and the pole for the dish aren't there yet. So I'll leave the dish there laying on the ground, all pretty.

Also Happy Friday the 13th! You know the guy in the pic below is happy today!
Friday the 13ths are usually lucky days for me!

Randomness

Today I'm assembling the satellite dish, as much as I can. I went out to the transmitter site yesterday and was quite busy for a few hours, and got a lot done.

Although the days are supposed to be getting longer, it still seems darker each morning when I wake up. I'm trying to figure out the astronomical reason it seems like that to me.

I heard the weather yesterday, and today it's supposed to rain. I DO NOT want it to rain today or this weekend.

I got new wheels for my lawnmower. I will put them on before I mow again, which must be soon. I have problems with all my plastic wheels, but notice the one (newish) metal one I have on there is the only good wheel I have. So I got three new metal ones. And new axles.

I have found the next phone I want. The Samsung Galaxy Note. It's not out yet. It is a giant phone and/or a tiny tablet. Read the article by clicking the purple text above.

My wife showed me two big birds this morning, They looked blue with white beaks. She says they are Bald Plates. I didn't get a picture. They were cool looking. Big.

Hurry Up And Wait

I was supposed to be real busy this week installing a new radio station, but I'm not. It seems like there are endless delays. Right now I am waiting on a contrctor to do the concrete work for a pole that will hold a 12 foot satellite dish. I wanted to hurry up and get an adapter on order for the antenna cable. I hurry hurry hurry, and get it on order. Now it's a special part, and the vendor has to wait for it to come from the manufacturer.
I feel like it's my fault. I need to keep busy, even when events are beyond my control.

It seems odd that it's Wednesday already. The days crawl by but the weeks fly.

Mean Old Lady

I woke up this morning in a pretty good mood. Jumped in the pool, made the coffee, got dressed and walked the dogs.

I had Ditto and Sheba on their leashes, and this little boy comes out of his house with his little dog. I made Ditto sit next to me, (because Ditto is a true killing machine and NOT to be trusted) . Sheba loves everyone, and she wanted to check out the tiny dog. I had Sheba laying on the road. She was at the end of the leash, pulling as much as she could laying down, trying to get closer to the little dog, who was slowly advancing toward Sheba.

The teeny dog looked like this

Then the mean old lady started talking to the boy in Spanish, and he picked up his dog, gave me a dirty look and went inside.
I asked the lady what she said, and she told me that she said that if the boy didn't want my dog to eat his dog, he should pick it up.
I told her that that was a mean thing to say, both dogs are on leases, Sheba wouldn't hurt anybody, and Ditto was with me. I am still pissed off about this.

This is the same mean old lady who told my Wife our cats were getting big enough to eat.

Sunday picture post

I wasn't going to post anything today, but I figured it would be easy to post a few pics from yesterdays dives. Especially since I had one that I think turned out cool.

Click all pics to enlarge!!

This is the bow of the Kittiwake, it is from the same pic as the last pic in this post. I kind of bastardized the adjustments...

This is red rope sponge with (I think) the orange is elephant ear. I really like this pic, although as UW photos go, it's worthless.

This is a moray eel.

above is a juvenile spotted drum. Click pic to get a better view!!!

If you click this picture to enlarge it, you can see a really large grouper hiding in the little 'cave'

The stern of the Kittiwake. The whole wreck is much closer to the reef and I think it is in much better shape here than where it was before.

This is the bow of the Kittiwake. The first pic of this post came from this one

Happy Saturday!

I'm going rebreather diving this morning. It is raining. Hear me whine!

Movie Industry Killing Films

Famous film writer David Germain claimed that this year's box office receipts appeared below last year because the studios didn’t have a successful movie.

Back in 2010, they had Avatar and Dark Knight, but in 2011 they didn’t get a single must-see mass blockbuster. Nevertheless, this reveals one of the problems that the movie industry has been having adjusting itself to our digital era.

The movie studios have jacked up the price of a cinema ticket so much that they could now be compared to live concerts and restaurants. – Most people will just wait for the movie to come out on DVD and watch it at home.

The next problem is the inflated prices of food available in the cinema – indeed, it is unclear to everyone why popcorn and fizz, which have to be about the cheapest food products should cost so much.

The audience still loves films, but cinema theaters are losing their charm and the studios have lost the plot.

Meanwhile, the Motion Picture Association of America insists that everything will be all right if they could crucify some more file-sharing pirates.

Article from HERE.

First Signs of SPRING!

Panorama from back porch this morning

It's not as windy as it has been the past few days. If it isn't cloudy, maybe we can warm up a little around here.
There are promising signs that spring is on the way. The days started getting longer December 21st, and already the first trees are starting to bloom.

IF you look closely, these clusters of tiny flowers. If I recall correctly these will soon release copious amounts of powdery pollen that will leave yellow dust everywhere.
This is the beginning of a spring that will spread it's way north, until you can see it too!

The Depths Of Winter

Here it is freekin cold! Right now I'm wearing a stocking cap, long pants, sweatshirt and a jacket. When I got to the computer my blog thermometer said 70, which is cold!

This morning I was walking the dawgs. Our neighbor was walking her dog too. She has one of those little yippy purse dogs. When we met, my dog, Ditto, who is a killer (really) silently went straight for the little yippy dog. I yanked him back by the leash and all he got was a mouthful of fur. I put him on his back and he knew he fucked up, bad. She seemed Ok and her dog was completely unharmed. (Both the lady and her dog) I apologized profusely to the lady and kept Ditto on his back, reprimanding him until she was gone.
That was my morning excitement. Sheba, on the other hand, is the opposite, she would love that little dog to death, possibly licking her till she drowned.

Today I'm going to start to re-do the CayTronics Web page. I'm tracking down parts and waiting for a big satellite dish to arrive. this should be a good month, but I cannot see more than this month into the future.

Slow Motion

This morning everything seems like it's going on slow motion. It took about a half hour to upload these pics from yesterdays dive.
This looks like it will be a busy week for me. I hope 2012 is a busy year. I need the money.

The second turtle

The First Turtle

First turtle

Snapper

Triggerfish

Even though it is Tuesday, it feels like Monday. But the reward will come when Friday gets here early! Have A good week!