Project Pacific Islander

7/30/2022 - Had to capture on more breakfast shot. The Chamorro loco moco is delicious, egg on fried rice on Chamorro sausage with gravy, and a hamburger patty. Can you say OMG that's a lot? I can! Eggs and things also has a whipped cream maker, Joans French toast with extra whip was spot on. The blueberries and strawberries were freshly brought in, an island delicacy.  Our plan for the rest of the day is to check out a water park at the Pacific Island Club hotel. I won't have my phone as there is too much chance for it to get wet. This is one more of those cool passes we got through the hotel / pool pass club. Slides, lazy river, and sitting by the pool will be on the docket. 

7/29/2022 - Crazy enough, I have just two weekends left on Guam. I haven't provided a plan back via the blog as things have been up in the air. My plane is booked for return on Tuesday Aug. 9th to head back to the mainland. This will give me a couple weeks to get situated as well as go home and see my family. Sadly Joan and I will be separated for a month, she will continue to wrap up things on the island and be home mid September. Where the time goes, I don't know, very thankful for the blog and capturing all these memories.  Since this is the second to last weekend we are going out with a bang, lots of celebrating. We have our last night in the Tsubaki hotel with Joan's pass, so one more great overlook at tumon bay, and a nice getaway from the tiny house. One detail I really like about this place is these gorgeous glass doors that open up, even better the Tsubaki logo sits right at eye level so you don't forget there is glass there and run into it by accident. Between

  7/28/2022 - I met this guy on the drive out to Asan beach, turns out he is Chamorro and has family roots that go way back on Guam. He had retired, and his morning gig was to go out and catch some fish. I related to him a lot, here is a guy that has all the free time in the world, and what do you do with it. He enjoyed his time doing hobbies, teaching people about the local fishing traditions, and spending time with family. Not a bad gig.  My favorite story he told was being a young child participating in the large village catch. To get a share of the fish you had to have someone you knew participate in the net operation. A large group of people would carry the gill net out into the ocean and wait for the school of fish to come. In one large pull, the group of people would bring in the needed fish for the village. This man as a kid talked about pulling a fish out and hiding it in his pocket to save for later as he helped pull in the catch. Little did he know, the main reason the adult

 7/27/2022 - Bath day for the home pups. Joan got this picture of me, long hair, glasses falling off my face, and every part of me trying to keep Digo in the sink. One of the pups that has made home here came in with a bunch of flees, she was loosing her fur due to the little mites. So the flees traveled from Lucy to Digo to Otter in only a few short days. Time to clean them up, even if they don't like it. 

7/26/2022 - We have noticed a lot of corrosion on the island since our first day on Guam. It begged me to ask the question, why do things next to the ocean, that are never exposed to sea water, still seem to rust so quickly?  A little research and we found the answer. Sea water as it evaporates does not leave behind the salt in solution, in other words in the sea water. Some salt is evaporated into the air creating a briny air. When this air is blown onto metals close to the ocean, the metal is coated which speeds up the oxidation process. Some research has found that these salty air particles can travel upto 15 miles inland. Crazy, because Guam is only 15 miles wide, so everything here sees the salt and thus more rust.  Two images for today, the first is an aluminum handle that has completely sheared off, im assuming due to oxidation. This door was at the latte stone multicultural center right next to the ocean, so high corrosion opportunity. The second is the door of our Mazda 3, Ive

 7/25/2022 - We knew the rainy season would come, and it has. I was expecting rain every day, all day, here, but it's more isolated than that. There is Guam sunshine for a few hours, and then pouring deluge just a few hours later. It pours cats and dogs though when it does come down, so much so the wipers on the car can't keep up. Just like winter to summer and back again in the Midwest, Guam has the same sort of pattern, temp lows here though amount to 75 degrees F. Coming back this fall is going to be rough, 75 feels cold. 

 7/24/2022 - One more stop along our Japanese food exploration. This place is in our home town of Dededo. The japanese curry can't be beat, add int that Karrage chicken, and bon a petit. Dessert was one more Korean exploration, Joan had the sweet corn, and the other one was a chocolate milkshake like thing, surrounded in plastic post wrapper I found out. 

7/23/2022 - Have you ever seen a circular rainbow? Neither have we until today. Trying to keep distance from others, going to the beach at Ritidian was our plan for today. Very pretty image just looking up into the clouds and seeing this perfectly circular rainbow. The new things I have never thought of on Guam.  The last image is another unique food item. Not sure what these are called, they are cylindrical in shape, crunchy, sweet but yet spicy like a red flaming hot cheeto. Joan is my adventuresome better half, what can I say. Not sure I would buy these again, fun to try non the less.   

7/22/2022 - Sadly, I woke up this morning after the rainy parade with aches and a head cold. This is a reminder that we are not yet out of the woods on this virus, very sad. With this came missing a dive day, and from Joan's report back this was one not to miss. They got to see a naval sub rising out of the sea on their second dive. How did I miss that!! Joan was very gracious in getting me a test after the dive. Good news is I am negative. I am still not feeling well though, there must be something else going around.  On a positive side, Joan brought a new fruit in to try, a Santa Claus Melon. Just another one of those cool opportunities to try new things on Guam. The outside looks like a watermelon, much smaller in size, maybe 12 inches long. The flavor much more like a cantaloupe. A little research revealed why the name is Christmas focused, the melon can be kept for months after harvest, thus the Christmas melon, or Santa Claus melon. You can eat these in December. https://en.w

7/21/2022 - Happy Guam Liberation Day. Today is a big celebration not just in the holiday, but also in that this is the first parade in 3 years due to the coronavirus shutdowns for Guam. The event started with image 1, a shrine to the patron saint of Guam: Santa Marian Kamalen. She is known on the island as the protector from disasters: earth quakes, typhoons, etc. Some years back there was a push to remove her from the parade, a separation of religious belief. They parade did not include her that year, and subsiquently a huge typhoon hit Guam. Ever since the shrine has been placed foremost in the start of the parade to ensure the island is protected.  All five of the military branches marched in the parade. I don't think I have been to a parade where such a large portion was dedicated to the armed forces. Quite cool in the vein, and it is a reminder of just how involved the branches are here on the island. Great floats too, and even a helicopter fly over.  My favorite part of cour

7/19/2022 - Very typical of me, I get this itch and need to work on a creative project. Sabbatical has been awesome for a break from work, a chance to regain that passion and excitement for what I want to work on, I've hit that wall though of needing to create something. Its in my blood. With some research I found Autodesk offers a cad package for free to hobbyists, something I have always wanted to have in my back pocket for side projects. A couple hour download and I am up and going with a decent set of drawing tools.  Dad has a 1960 Pontiac Bonneville at home, his family car from growing up. Mom would agree with my statement that the car is a "working project", and has bene that way for many years. This was one of many chances I had to turn wrenches with my Dad, and thinking back my grandfather too. My design and engineering education started in this garage at a very young age. Im tangenting here, the Bonneville has a number of badges needing some rework or rebuilding.

7/18/2022 - Another round of Joan's, soon to be famous, lentil dahl. When I say soon to be famous, I mean we have had this dish enough on Guam that it will be remembered as famous for us. We are continuing on the vegetarian theme here in the tiny house. I have really grown to like lentils during our time here, and with new learnings via my lovely wife, these are very high in protein.  Dahl for those that don't know is an Indian dish that is very simple, lentils, carrots, onions and a turmeric based sauce. As with any use of turmeric this meal is very yellow and can stain all white fabrics, not that we have learned that on this journey. :)  I much prefer mine with the instant  potato, but rice will also do. Either way my salt intake goes up a little bit when we eat this, soy sauce on the rice, or the instant potatoes. There is a reason why dialysis centers are in high number on the island, soy sauce is sold by the gallon at cost u less. All just more interesting pieces to this s

  7/17/2022 - Another great day on Guam. A little different view today, we dived two spots on the south side of the island. This boat took off from Agat, vs our normal launch out of Apra Harbor. Very enjoyable to look up into those mountains and know they have been tamed by bike.  Our favorite part of todays adventure was seeing dolphins out on the water. Image one was captured just at the right time to see two of them leaping out of the water. How they have the strength to this is beyond me. We spent almost a half hour just circling them and watching the show. 

  7/16/2022 - A single picture for today, and man is it a beauty of a shot. We were invited out to family beach through a friend of Joans. For the day we joined their family for some bbq on the beach and a walk out dive. The view captured is looking out over Apra Harbor, the opening to the harbor just dead ahead. To top it off, hot dogs and hamburgers were fresh of the grille, a rare treat as we don't grill back at the tiny house. 

7/16/2022 - I was out and about running errands today and one of the stops was the local Kmart. Guamanians love their Kmart as it is The (sorry Ohio State, capital The will be used here) department store on the island. I should put an asterisk here, we do have a Home Depot, but I would argue that doesn't quite compare. The Kmart experience is one that I would give a 3 star rating, it has everything you might need or want on a small island, the price is that you have to run through a maze of dis-organization to find what you are looking for. This department store in many ways is lacking, LOL, departments.  How many Kmarts still exist in the world one might ask? You don't see many these days. Looking online I found only 9, 4 of which are in US territories, 1 of which is here on Guam. Sears was a primary owner of Kmart, so with bankruptcy of Sears came closing Kmarts all over the country. This store is really one of the last of its kind, I do wonder what will happen in a post Kmar

7/14/2022 - Sabbatical has been an awesome way for me to focus back on getting into shape. Really close to that 9 min mile pace for 5k. Fingers crossed in the next few weeks I can shave those last few seconds.  

7/13/2022 - Eric and I had a lot of time to talk about military airplanes last week during their visit. Sure enough after he heads back, the Airforce starts up drills again, Sorry Eric! I was at Gain and heard the rumble of the engines. Anderson is just north about 5 miles, so the sound I really loud. The dogs even know something is up with this kind of rumble.  These look to be F35s by their shape and single engine configuration. They conducted loops, likely touch and goes, used to get the pilots used to flying these machines. Guam is one of the best places to practice this, there is open ocean for miles with no worries of shock waves, and the climate is steady year round. In the past weeks we have also seen the commercial pilots doing loops, Japan Airlines is working to get back off the ground post covid shutdown.  Lots of airplane movement here on the island. 

7/6/2022 - After quite the eventful night, we decided a good breakfast was in order. The Kracked Egg is one of our favorites and features some Chamorro breakfast options and Booney dogs (Locally named for the dogs of Guam, A corndog but with pancake batter). Chamorro style breakfast generally includes rice, eggs and a form of protein. Image two is a Chamorro rice bowl with a baked egg on top, and a Portuguese sausage and gravy below. So good.  The booney dogs also come in 4 flavors, Buttermilk, Taro, Pistachio, and Red Velvet, Yum!  

7/5/2022 - This picture says so much, how valuable do you consider a backup set of keys? Up until today I would say 99% of the time backup keys are generally a hunk of metal that is never used, but for that 1% occasion they can save so much heart ache, pain, and frustration.  Today started out as another grand sunny day on the island, our plan including snorkeling in Tumon Bay, lunch out on the town, and then a drive down south on the island to show our guests the variety of what Guam has to offer. The snorkeling went super well, both Gretchen and Eric did great with getting the goggles on and gettin used to breathing underwater. So well that we decided to push farther and farther out to the edge of the reef. The water was calm with so much to see and we were having a heck of time checking out the fish and floating on that sea water. At this point I am sure you are thinking we dropped our keys in 20ft+ water, sadly that would have been easier to recover, Joan and I are scuba trained so