Birthday Part 1

Because the weather is so fickle here, we decided to do a little birthday outing yesterday, even though it was the day before Christine's b-day. That way we were ensured the good weather. We went to a little beach club place, that was 110% Japanese. Seriously. We were the only two Caucasian people there, the entire time. Well except for Captian Ron. No he didn't have an eye patch, but he was pretty much the same type of guy. But that's later.

First we got a kayak, and tried to row our way out to sea. But, the water is only one to three feet deep depending on where you are because of sand or coral, and its like that for at least two hundred yards out from the coast (the picture of me posing for the Gun Show illustrates how deep the water is, and ya Im ripped, so ripped I got two chins to support my huge head). So we would row row row ( by we I mean I) and boom, hit the sand. So I'd get out and pull us to deeper water. Then row row row, boom, get out and tow. Finally we get out to sea, where they have a little raft out there to tie up our kayaks. So we tie up the kayaks and go snorkeling. The fish are not afraid and come right up to your face. We do that for about an hour or so then go in and kinda lay in the sun and dry off.

Ok we need to stop this tall tales telling right here. This is Christine speaking now and I believe I did row sometimes. I was going through the motions 95% of the time and possibly not have much of any affect on our forward motion. When we did get scuttled I too got out of the kayak and pulled Adam while he just laid there in the boat doing nothing. We not nothing, he was babblering something about my leading us into the shallow waters and beaching us a couple hundred yards from shore many a times. But I did get out a few times and pull him. Ok back to his version...

Then we get on a bus which takes us to the Marina. We get off the bus and they break the couples up into sets of three to go on the boats. We get on the boat with two Japanese couples and head out. This is where we met Capt. Ron. He is from Anaheim, and when asked why he is on Guam, he stated he got stranded here 11 years ago. He said it was a long story so we didn't press him. But he did enjoy talking to us, because I think he only gets Japanese customers all day, he even knew a little Japanese, such as put on your helmet, or get a lifejacket etc.

The parasailing is awesome, its not just one person strapped to a chute, its two people in a ferris wheel type contraption. We got up to about 150 feet in the air, then Capt Ron would cut the motor, we would slowly drift down toward the ocean and right before we hit the water he would gun it and we'd snap and shoot back in the air.

Then when we got back down, the Japanese people already had helmets on. They were going to go on this tube thing, that gets pulled by the boat, like a banana raft, but with two sides, so you can sit side by side. Well since we already had such a report with Capt Ron, Christine asked him if we could go on that, he said if they found out they would charge him, but if we don't tell anyone, then he will let us go. They put the Japanese people out on the tube, took their picture, then pulled them in so we could get on (no evidence of us in the picture). Man what a ride. He kept doing loops and circles so we would hit the wake of the boat and just fly up in the air. Christine and I caught some serious air and ate a lot of water but it was really fun.

Some of the pictures are a little blurry, but thats because its one of those disposable underwater cameras, so bear with it.

Christine says: my favorite is the long black thingy on the sand. It looks like a huge caterpillar with huge spikes all over it. It walks around like one too moving in a wave like manner. I told Adam to touch it but he wouldn't- like I was going to do something that stupid.

Green Thumbs

Here is our garden. Its just starting. Christine dug that whole trench that you see around the entire front yard. I helped a little but she did most of the work. We also planted some seeds for flowers, and garlic chives and onions, and other edibles. That way, when Christine comes back in January everything will have grown (hopefully). While doing my gardening I unfortunately got stung by three bees or wasps, I'm not too sure what they were since I was too busy running away and screaming bloody murder. It was the most intense pain but it only lasted for a little while. The resulting wounds are hideous. Kinda like that flesh eating disease. Ok, not that bad, but they turned pink, like fuscia (I know thats a word, but probably not how its spelled) pink. They are getting better now though, but I do not advise wearing shorts when gardening.

E-Mail

If you somehow lost my email, or forgot it, it is:

MOTHRA!

Just as we finish with our wildlife discussion look what lands on our window sill.
This guy is at least three inches tall and four inches wide. HUGE.

I just bought one of those blue light bug zapper things that you hang outside and bugs fly into it and you hear bzzzzzz and bugs fall down. Well, we now have a MASSACRE, there is carnage everywhere. You can hear the bzzzzz from inside the house. Apparently this thing also attracts bugs from all over the island. We will have pictures of the massacre for you later. I don't think this guy would fit into the zapper, so we may have to call in the hose to get rid of him.

The most stressful experience in Guam, so far.

Tonight we played Bingo. Its not ordinary bingo, its special. Not one game requires five squares in a row. No that's too easy for the experienced Bingo veterans out here. No, here you must create ornate shapes and diagrams. For instance, an arrow, a K, a star, or other letters or shapes. And because its so complicated they have special bingo machines to help you. Each machine is the equivalent of having ten bingo cards in front you. It keeps track of each one for you. Each machine already knows what shape you need to create. As the numbers are called, you just type in the one or two digit number, and hit enter. It marks that number on all of your cards. It will then tell you how many more numbers you need to finish that shape or symbol, and get a bingo. If you do get bingo it plays a song and flashes. That's the easy part. Here was our stressful part. The last game is for $1,250! All the other games range from $50 to $200 for the most part. With about 10 out of 14 games being a $200 prize each, and two are $1,000 or more, including this last one for $1,250.

Ok got it? Good, it took us a while to get it all straight. The last game is played on both the machine and paper. So they call out one number, and I have to type it into my machine, and dob it on 9 separate bingo cards, then hurry and dob Christine's 9 cards before they call out the next number, and determine whether or not I have created the shape that's required for this game. It was the most stressful ten minutes I have had since I have been on the Island. Cool huh.

Well we made it through and I actually won a game, but of course so did someone else, so I had to split the pot, but I did make a cool $25.00. We were the youngest people in the place by far and everyone kept asking if we were doing ok and getting the hang of it. Very fun. Every Tuesday and Sunday two blocks from our house. I feel an addiction to dobbers and lucky trolls coming on.

Extreme Weather

In LA this would be storm watch 06, back to you Chuck! In Guam, its Tuesday!

Lizards and Dinos and Frogs

The wildlife on Guam is extraordinary, and quite exotic.

This guy was found DOA on the bathroom floor.



Dinosaurs! I don't know why but there are two places on the island that have semi-life size dinosuars. Just sitting there. These were on someones yard, but to be fair it did look like some kind of auto garage / house, so its not like these are glorified lawn ornaments, even though they are.



And one of the ugliest, meanest and biggest frogs ever. This guy weighed at least seven pounds, no kidding. When it rains they come out in droves, and just hippity hop around the roads. You see alot that look exactly like this, just thinner (ie FLAT). We almost hit this guy twice, once passing him, and the 2nd time going back so Christine could see and take a picture. But we let him live to be squished another day. We also had one of these jumping around our porch tonight.

Our first visitor

We had our first visitor on our first day in the house!

This is sunrise from our backyard.

The HOUSE!

Ok, everyone wants to see pics of the house so here is a few. Enjoy!
This is the outside, I know it is somewhat plain, but understand where it is and who is providing it. Besides the inside is nothing like the outside.


This is the front room / dining room. They are separated by what Christine called a "pony wall", I guess to keep your ponies in the front room and away from your dinner table. Because everyone knows, ponies aren't allowed at supper.

This is the kitchen. You can't tell from these pictures but it is fairly large. Plenty of room for Christine and all her baking. Oh and the washer/dryer are in a separate room, that you access from the kitchen. Once in that room you can go to the garage.




This is the long hallway that leads to the bedrooms. All the wood you see on the left side are closets, such as the walk in one below the hallway picture. Then there are the bedrooms. Every room has its own ceiling fan / lamp, so no more plugging lamps into every outlet in every room! Plus it makes a huge difference in the air, having a fan just circulate the air for you.




Ok, that's all you get for now. We will post more after Christine gets a chance to re-decorate the whole place and make it our happy home.

Our House

We moved into our new home today. We moved in at about 8am, and by 2pm we had the following brought to our house, for us to use for free!: Beds, dinner table, four chairs, one couch, two lounge chairs, three chest of drawers, two nightstands, a microwave, four lamps, a TV, and a TV stand. We were also given pots, pans, plates, cups, silverware, knives and other cooking utensils. All thanks to your tax dollars. Thank you. We went shopping and got some basic food and drink items, but we are weary not to buy too much since we already own most of what we need, it just isn't here yet. So now we are in a three bedroom, two bathroom home, with enough furniture to fill a small one bed room apartment. But at least we have something to eat on, cook with and sit on.

And we have cable tv and internet. The internet isn't nearly as fast as it is at home, but decent enough to use Skype. The TV is supposed to be only six hours behind you guys, which puts things on an hour later than they should be. So if you watch something at 10pm we would watch it at 11pm our time. I think. I still haven't figured it all out yet, as it varies by chanel.

Christine says hello and we will update you tomorrow.

Just in time..

Well Christine got here safe and sound and just in the nick of time. Her plane landed at 535pm Saturday, and an hour before that I was informed that at 3 AM that night a Typhoon was coming. I had planned on getting a rental car, and was dropped off at the rental car place on base. When I asked for my car, they said are you sure? You know theres a Typhoon coming, and if anything happens to car you have to pay for it. They were calling everyone with a rental car and giving them the opportunity to bring it back early, or else they were responsible for whatever happened. I got a ride out of the rental car place and decided to borrow a co workers car instead. They said I would actually be doing them a favor by parking it in the hotels parking structure during the Typhoon. Well I get Christine and its raining and just slightly windy, honestly I've seen harder rain since I have been here. Next morning wake up, and its just kinda cloudy, but we still had power and water (I went to the store and stocked up on water and food and things like that just in case), and the TV said the Governer gave us the all clear. So I guess techinically we have survived our first Typhoon, even though it shifted and missed the island completely.

Welcome to Guam!

Whatcha Gonna Do?

Parked outside the Guam Police Department was a 1980's, rusted, beat to crap, nissan pick up truck with this license plate. I can't make this stuff up.

Awesome Sun Shots

This is also from my new view.

Video of New View

So this is a mini movie of my new view. I guess all the hassle was worth it.

New View Take 3

Heres two pics from the new view, Im uploading a video now thats much better.

Room #3

Last night, around 830pm, I'm getting ready to go to sleep, and walk into the bedroom. I hear the sound of water running, and a small drip. I look up and right above the bed, you can hear water rushing through the ceiling, and water has collected on it and is dripping on the bed. The entire wall is soft like its been doing this for a while. I call the front desk, and tell them. They send someone up, and after an hour its determined I need to move. A half hour arguement ensues as they want me to move again tomorrow, because the room they are putting me in tonight is reserved by someone tomorrow. I lay down the law and remind them this is my 3rd room, and will not be moving. They agree. Its now after ten and I just want to sleep. So they bring up two of the bell hop carts and we pack up. They move me to a suite, ocean front room, three bedroom two bathroom unit. Great. Its an inconvenience but hey, I'll deal with it. Ten minutes after I unpack for the 3rd time, the front desk calls to say I have to move again right now! Umm Hell No. I make the manager call me from home. I tell her that I am not moving again. If she would like me to move to a 4th room then she would need to compensate me with a free room for a weekend (which I was going to raffle to the first person who visits us). Otherwise, I'm not going anywhere.

So here I sit still in room #3, I guess spicy spam gives you cajones.

The Best Photos Ever. EVER!

No ponies, do dog races, no blackjack, no poker, no sporting events, THIS is what I will be betting on from now on.



And this is the ring of champions. Where Rocky meets Apollo.
Oh stay tuned, because there will be action shots, I guarantee it.


I better get the guest room ready, I know you'll all want to visit now.

Rainbows pt II

Yay, Rainbows, Im posting this quick so I can get to the good stuff, you'll see.

Only in Guam

Yup, made in the USA but only sold in Guam. Jealous aren't ya.

Ya I still can't do spicy food.