Island Time

After a bumpy ride down the island we arrived at the sea garden cottage. We unloaded our stuff and got a quick tour from Michael. I asked him what time it was and he said "You're on island time mon" We thanked him and after a little unpacking decided to walk back down towards front street and hit up a grocery store and grab some food. We headed back towards front street and when we got there decided to explore the area a bit. We found a beachfront bar/restaurant called brisas del mar and decided to have a beer. After looking over the menu for a minute we decided we were pretty hungry so we ordered some tacos and ceviche. The idea of ceviche has never been appealing to me but after Callie convinced me to try it I can tell you I have been missing out! After paying the bill we decided to walk down to the north end and check out the split. By the time we got there it was starting to rain- straight up downpour. So we headed into the closest bar for refuge. Luckily the rain passed quickly because Callie and I were both falling asleep in our beers as the jet lag kicked in. After a quick stop at the grocery store we headed back to the house. It was around 6pm and we decided to lay down for a minute before having some beers and chips. Two hours later I woke up and seeing Callie still sleeping I decided to turn off the lights and save the beers for the next day. Woke up Tuesday morning to the sounds of palms swaying in the island breeze. After a quick breakfast of potatoes, onions, and peppers (the Callie special) and toast we headed out to lounge by the pool. Ahh so nice. A little while later we decided to head down to the split and try out our new masks and snorkels. The split is a section of the island that was made during a hurricane a few years ago and basically split the island in two providing a nice swimming and snorkeling spot. It was hopping! The bar at the edge of the split is the Lazy Lizard and they sell buckets of beer for $20 belize. ($10 american). Pretty sweet deal. They also have some safe looking teeter-totter tables in the water that we might try out since we both have our tetanus shots up to date. After a few sips of beer I decided I had to try out my new snorkel and jumped into the water. It was so nice and warm. I saw some fish and a sting ray- got some cool photos that I will post later. After our second bucket of beer the afternoon rain blew in an we found refuge under the tent of the budget man- a Brooklyn raised man who moved to belize to sell food and live the island life. He makes different dishes everday and serves them with delicious sides. We had some jerk chicken. The rain passed- or so we thought and we got back on our bikes to head home. Suddenly it was pouring rain again, beach-cruisers flingning mud up on our backs and faces. After a quick siesta I made some fresh salsa and we had happy hour on the porch. We decided to walk to dinner so that we would'nt have any mud slinging going on. For dinner we went to Rose's bar and grill. They have the menu set out in front of the restaurant and you pick what you want and they throw it on the grill. We had a shrimp kebab and a shish kebab and some bbq chicken. While waiting for the food I looked down at the table next to us and there was a crab just chillin. It reminded me of the scene from the little mermaid where the crab escapes the kitchen. The fish kebab was dee-licious. After dinner we headed over to bambooze for a night cap. The slogan on their sign is "happy hour everyday from 4 til everybodies happy". They also have swing seats at the bar. All in all it was a good first full day.

Belize

Haven't posted here in a long time. I figured since I am lounging poolside in Belize that now would be a good opportunity to get back into it. In order to escape the clutcheds of an Alaskan winter Callie and I decided to take a trip somewher tropical. After some research on activities we landed on Belize. Flying anywhere from Alaska is a pain in the ass and you are almost guaranteed to have some sort of delay. Generally you need to plan for about 20 hours of travel time when flying anywhere outside of Alaska besides Seattle. So in researching airfares we came across a United deal where first class tickets were only around $250 dollars more than economy. Well that was a no-brainer. We also found a really sweet litttle cabin on Caye (pronounced key) Caulker with a shared swimming pool for a good deal. Its a little more laid back than the more touristy Caye Ambergris. We got to the airport around 2pm Sunday and found out iur flght was delayed by an hour. Eeek! So we headed to the new Silver Gulch restaurant at the airport. It's pretty sweet because they sell growlers to go that you can carry on the plane. After a couple beers and a pizza we headed down towards our gate. The plane still hadn't arrived so we went over to Humpy's for another beer. By the time we took off the estimated landing time was only 20 minutes before our connecting flight departure in Seattle. Yikes! At least we have the luxurious amentities of first class to temporarily take our minds off that. When we landed in Seattle we were only two gates away from our connecting flight and luckily there was enough people on that same flight (the joys of the alaskan traveler) that they were holding the plane for us. The flight to Houston went by super fast because we were both out cold. (Not sure if the wine or the dream water was more responsible for that). We landed in Houston and were both feeling super groggy and tired. 5 am houston time equals 2am Alaska time. So we headed to the United club for some complimentary beverages and light snacks. Time for the final leg of the flying portion of our journey. We landed in Belize city and were the first ones off the flight, we both decided that would be a great opportunity to use the loo. Unfortunatley that gave the rest of the plane the chance to get in immigration line ahead of us. Damn- rookie first class traveler mistake! Once through customs we went over to the taxi stand and asked them to take us to the water taxi. The drive was interesting. It was almost like stepping back in time. Most of the advertisements for US products look like they were from 30 or 40 years ago. There is a lot of cool architecture but much of it has fallen victim to lack of maintenance. Heading thru the city towards the port we got a view of local life. When we arrived at the water taxi we were greeted by some friendly locals who took our luggage and directed is towards the water taxi ticket booth. Yes! We made it just in time for the noon taxi! After grabbing some refrescos at the mini mart we boarded the water taxi. After a thorough safety briefing we were on the way to Caye Caulker ! ( the safety briefing consisted of the captain " saying watch you steps!" As we boarded). The 40 min water taxi was pleasant yet choppy and brought us to a nice dock in Caye Caulker. There was a bit of chaos as we got onshore with everyone trying to find their luggage. Since we had arrived early and werent sure how to get ahold of the guy who was meeting us we decided to hit up the barrrier reef sports bar and have a beer to two. My first thoughts upon entering this low key laid back bar were "holy crap they have hockey on tv and trivia night and a view of the ocean this is the best place ever!!" Then i saw a phillies banner on the wall and that confirmed my first thoughts. The bartender chatted with us as we slugged down some Belikin drafts. We asked him if he knew Michael and he said he did so we decided to hang out and gave beers until he arrived. When michael arrived he greeted us. We finished up our beers and loaded up onto his golf cart ( main type of transportation on the island) and headed towards our cabin. Well my battery is about to die so I am done boring you for now. Stay tuned for more adventure updates....

I havent blogged in a while cuz my fingers were frozen

Not really...but it has been cold. Winter up here isn't as horrible as everyone makes it out to be...sort of. The darkness is still kind of weird but everyday were getting more and more daylight. It is sort of hard to get out of bed in the morning when its dark. But otherwise you just wear an extra layer or two.

Anchorage is a pretty sweet place to live if you like winter sports. Theres miles of ski trails, and downhill skiing within 45 minutes -closer with a backcountry set up (still saving up for a pair) I've also been playing ice hockey alot. There's a lagoon near my apartment they keep plowed and hot mopped and theres fire barrells for outdoor skating. Sunday night I went down to skate around and hopefully see some aurora, but no such luck. It was 13 degrees out, and oddly enough that felt warm! Later that night I was determined to see some aurora so I drove north out of Anchorage around 1130. The sky was clear but no aurora. I drove up some mountain road I found. I think it's really cool to see the snowcapped mountain silhouettes against the night sky.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get out and do some more skiing.

Tis the season

Been kinda slacking on the blog updates lately. Im sure all two of you were in deep suspense waiting for my next update. Soo here it is.

Went skiing at Alyeska Saturday. It was pretty sweet. conditions were stil early season, but they got 40" of snow yesterday so I'm sure they are greatly improved. My legs were dead at the end of the day. On the drive home we saw a mini avalanche. That was pretty sweet.

Works been going well. Still no fieldwork yet though. Saturday was thr company christmas party. It was a good time. i also got a bonus check and an REI gift card. Which is way more than I was expecting since I haven't been there long. I've been playing hockey on Thursdays with co-workers thats been fun. I used my Tei gift card to get some skate skis, so hopefully I can start exploring Anchorages world class nordic ski trails soon.

Last Thursday I went to a Nelly concert in Anchorage. It was quite a disappointment. I bought my tickets a couple weeks ahead of time and then the last couple days before the concert there wasn't enough tickets sold so Nelly paid for a free ticket for every ticket you bought. Desperation eh? That shows you how irrelevant he's become to be giving away tickets to a show in Anchorage Alaska (a town that doesn't get many big name concert events to begin with) The concert was supposed to start at 8pm. So we got there at quarter to 8 and went to the "drinking room" they had set up in the arena. After a few drinks we decided to head back over to the stage because we thought for sure Nelly would be taking the stage any minute. Boy were we wrong. It was another hour and a half before he came out. By the time he did there were enough irate people that they were actually leaving the concert in masses. Nelly performed like 8 or 9 songs and then the concert ended. What a waSte of money. I guess I know why he isn't #1 anymore...

A rant about these Occupy protests

I havent really followed this closely because I have a lot of shit going on in my life but I from what my limited research (ignorance?) tells me its basically a bunch of hippies, hipsters, whatever gathering to protest corporate wealth and greed. Uh. Wakeup you fucking assholes, the whole point of a corporation is to make money. Sorry you're living in a one bedrom bedbug infested apartment in Brooklyn with 7 other people. Maybe if you actually got a fucking job and gave up your lame dream to be a musician or actor/actress you could someday make it into the one percenters. Seriously I don't think any person who actually works for a living gives a shit about the stupid movement. Its not going to change anything about the way corporations work. The only thing you're doing is stinking up the area you are occupying with the smell of BO, pot, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Seriously. Get a job like everyone else and accept the fact that lifes not fair.

All moved in

So we got about a foot of snow here over the weekend. Pretty sweet. Its really weird though because they just don't plow the roads. Like all the snow just gets compacted down into a really slippery layer of snice (snow-ice). I've asked people what the deal with plowing is and they're always like oh yea they come but it takes a while. There must be two snowplows for the entire city. Everyone just deals woth it though, in New Jersey i'm quite certain it would be a state of emergency, cars would be flipping over and crashing into buildings (seriously); and chris christie would be telling people to get the hell off the beach.

Anyways that leads into my next story which is moving my shit into my new apartment today. I reserved a uhaul cargo van for 4 pm for 4 hours. Te uhaul store closes at 7 pm, so I had 3 hours to get over to my friends garage, pack my stuff, get to my apartment, unload and return the van. I asked the girl if I could leave my jeep there and she said yes just move by 6am. So then I asked if I could return truck aftet hours, she said no. Great. Now I really have to get this done in 3 hours or Ill be screwed. So i pull out of the lot and obvi the tires are spinning like crazy on the UNPLOWED roads and the f-ing van fishtales when I finnaly got out of the lot. After that every time I tried to accelerate the back wheels started sliding into the next lane over...good thing I got the damage waiver.....i get to my friends house and go to back the van into the driveway and the POS gets stuck in the snow. And of course like 2 cars decided to turn down the street at that exact moment. So I'm trying to get unstuck and the people are just sitting intheir cars watching. Uh hi dont mind me, the asshole from NJ who tries to do a 3 point turn with a cargo van in a foot of snow. Anyways i got instuck ad deove down to the culdesac to turn around. As I'm driving down the slight hill into the culdesac I realize its all incompacted snow and as im driving into it im thinking ohhh fudgeeee. Stuck again. i got unstuck from the culdesac and had to basically idle up the hill to get back to my friends house. So let me try this whole backing in thing from the other direction. Oh sure enough. Stuck again. At this point Im gettin really irritated with this stupid van and of course more cars are waiting to get down the street. Two people actually got out and pushed for me which was nice. So i hurridly packed up the van and headed towards my apt. I plled in to back into my carport and sure enough the shitty van got stuck again. So I pulled forward and at this point thought I dont give a shit if i smash itto the concrete pillar, cuz i got the damage waiver. So i gunned it and turned the wheel fast and amazingly ended up right where I wanted to e. now i dont know about all of you ( the three people who actually read this blog) but I hate moving. Soo much. When im unloading a car I always try to carry as much stuff as possible so i can make the least amount of trips. But anytime I drop something or get snagged on something it raises my irritation level. And it seemed to be happening every single trip inside. Plus in trying to beat the clock so i cant take a break. I finished unloading the van at 620 and was thinking. Ok sweet. I can make it back by 7. So i put it in drive pull out of the cArport and boom. $&""?! Stuck again! Im like sweaty and irritated and hungry at this point. So i find a snow shovel. Dig out the tires gun it back in reverse the gun it forward and try to turn out of the alley and boom. Stuck again. I was literally ready to set the van on fire at that point. Then this guy leans out his window and says hey dude you wat me to tow you out. I was like yes! So he gets his jeep and is like anyolaceto hook this strap up? And im thinking who gives a shit? Damage waiver! So we got the van unstuck again. and now i had to go up the big ass hill. First attempt no good, had to back it down. Second attemot gunned it. Gt like 80% up and started sliding backwards with a car behind me. He got out of the way fast and i turned down an alley and floored it up the less steep hill, fishtail around the corner and ahh im back to a main street. i made it back to uhaul with 5 min to spare. I said to the girl working there that that cargo van is worthless in the snow. She told me it had studded tires. Which i find hard to believe. But then as the guy who checked in the van was trying to park it, it got stuck. Ahh vindication.

I headed over to the peanut farm for some hot wings and to watch the eagles blow the game with a totally unnecessary fake punt. Nice play calling andy. But the wings were really good and at least im all moved in. My hands are tired from typing o. This stupid phone so that all for now lids. Goodnight!

First week of work and I found an apartment

Haven't posted in a while. I finished my first week of work, it went well. A couple boring days but I got some real things to do now that should keep me busy for a while. Unfortunatley looks like I'll be doing mostly office work all winter Everyone in the office is really nice though. A lot happier than in NJ Haha. Its a lot different working for such a small company. For example one of the admin ladies forgot to release paychecks so nobody got paid on Friday like they were supposed to.
I went to a party last night one of my co-workers threw. It was fun, I got to meet some new people.

So I looked at an apartment the other day over by the airport It was like straight out of the 1970s. Yuck. I was sort of on the fence
bout where exactly I wanted to live, downtown or midtown or somewhere else. Downtown was appealing for the obvious fact that its near everything but the rent is a bit more. So the other day I saw an ad on craigslist for an apartment in Bootleggers cove, which is like a highly desirable spot downtown. There wasnt many
details Given, but it was at least 2-300$ cheaper than any other apt I could find downtown. I decided to check it out. So I went to look at it, its on the second floor of an 8-plex, its right next to the water, its a half mile from my office and the apartment was perfect! I immediatley knew I wanted it as soon as I walked inside. It even has a fireplace! So i filled out my rental app and the board or whatever aproved me and now after 6 months of drifting I have a place to call home! S. I get the keys tomorrow.