CIMA walk and Botanic Gardens

This morning at 4:30 a.m. Katie and I got up and headed over to Seven Mile Beach for a 5k walk sponsored by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority for the benefit of the ICCI library. The walk began ar 6:00 a.m. from the public beach in West Bay down SMB road to the Hyatt and back. We finished in a little over 45 minutes which wasnt bad for just power walking. We started in the darkness and finished with the sun rising to the east of us over the Island. The walk had to be early so we wouldnt have to battle the heat and also to avoid the traffic that really gets going by 8:00 a.m. The turnout was great and at ten bucks a head plus some donations, we are hoping to raise a couple of thousand dollars for the library.

After a nap and some lunch, this afternoon we headed over to Frank Sound Road and the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Gardens. The gardens are the habitat of the blue iguana though they are protected throughout the Island. We saw mostly green iguana out and about but did see one blue iguana in a pen. Katie isnt sure it was a blue iguana and it was mostly green so I could be wrong in saying we saw one. We took some pretty pictures and added another mile of walking to our day. We finished up out at the East End Lighthouse Park while a storm blew in from the south. The botanic gardens were pretty incredible and definitly are added to the list of must see places when family come to visit.

I have come out of my brief period of mourning for the tragedy yesterday. Living in paradise there are some nice things to distract you.

Happy Thanksgiving

Although today is a work day we are having a Thanksgiving meal at work this afternoon. Katie is hard at work right now making an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. I am making the corn. Others on the staff are bringing the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, casseroles and salads. We plan to stop down around three and spend a couple of hours before the students start arriving having our meal.

The quarter is over but we have a couple of classes making up missed days so we are working tonight while classes are in session. Tomorrow we are leaving a little early to watch the Texas-Texas A&M game. Last night we had pizza on seven mile beach with some new friends from Houston who are in town for the week. We had met them at Elizabeth Bezemek's baby shower last year and when they heard we were down here set up a get together.

Doesnt feel like a holiday yet but watching the Macy's parade and smelling the pies is getting us in the mood. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Key West

This weekend Katie and I had our second getaway weekend up to Florida. We flew up Friday morning and after a run to the bank to deposit money, a stop at Best Buy to get some DVD's, a stop at Staples to pick up supplies and lunch at Chili's we headed down to the hotel in Key Largo. Friday night was our night to catch up with Katie's friend Bridgette who is now living and working in Tallahassee. We went to Senor Frijoles for Mexican food and Margarita's and caught up on everyone's news.

Saturday morning we drove back up to Miami and attended a couple of hours of the Seminar our students were attending. After lunch with the instructor and another stop at Staples (we turned in over 100 printer cartridges on our last trip and can only use three per person per day), we headed back to the Keys. We decided to take the water taxi three miles out into international waters and go to a casino on a boat. The sun was setting as we headed out to the big boat and we got a spectacular view over the water. The boat had three decks and was 190 feet long. Slots on one deck, cards, craps and roulette on another and an open poker area on the top. It was Katie's first time gambling so we started out playing black jack together. We sat next to two experienced players who helped us out a lot telling us certain tips and the dealer was nice enough to let them give us help even though it broke the pace of the game a couple of times. I was distracted trying to follow the scores on a TV and see how Texas was doing against Texas Tech. The Horns won in a shoot out and Katie must have had first time luck because we won 45 dollars on the game. We learned about odds and doubling down and when you always hit and when you stand.

We then dumped $5 of that into the slots and decided to call it a night while we were ahead. The boat shines a light onto the water which draws bait fish who then draw sharks. We went onto the outside and could see the sharks swimming around the boat. At one point we counted 16 sharks some of them at least 5 to 6 feet long. They were swimming around and occasionally would strike at the fish. It was a neat experience seeing them. We headed back to the resort on the 8:30 water taxi and took our winnings to a restaurant 5 miles further down into the keys called Snappers and finished the evening with a meal on the water.

Sunday was our drive down to Key West. On the water taxi back from the casino, a local named Skip had told us about things to do in Key West (including a train/trolley tour). We stopped for breakfast at a place called Little Italy about half way down the Keys. We also pulled off at the start of the Seven Mile Bridge and did some walking around. When we got into Key West we stopped on the outskirts of town and rode a trolley train in called the conch train tour. The tour included an hour and half drive around Key West to all of the sites. It was incredible and really gave us a fell for the town.

After the tour we walked from the north end of the Island the mile and half down to the south and and the southernmost spot in the Continental U.S. We stopped at the Truman "Little" White House, mile marker zero on Highway 1, the Key West Lighthouse, the Hemingway house and even the birthplace of Pan American World Airways. The picture of us at the right is in front of the house where Harry Truman would vacation while President. The house has also been used by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Clinton. It was most recently used by Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2001 to host an international conference. We had lunch at a cafe on the beach and key lime pie at a bakery near one of the train stops. We both agreed that the tour was the best part of the day enabling us to see everything and decide what we wanted to go back to and spend more time at. It also meant we didn't have to mess with parking. We headed out of town around 5:30 and watched the sunset in our rear view mirror. The drive back up the Keys was mostly in the dark and we were both exhausted.

We had dinner at Islamorada Fish Company sampling stuffed Florida Lobster and pasta with shrimp. We had an early wake up call this morning to drive up to Miami. The flight was uneventful and this evening we headed into the college so I could do a review session with my Business Law students. This is Final Exam week and Thursday is our last day of classes for the year. Our report to ACICS is due tomorrow and I start a conference for the Association of Caribbean Tertiary Institutions tomorrow for three days that I will attend in the mornings and afternoon's before heading over to the college in the evenings. Katie is hard at work on graduation which is the first Sunday in December. We are headed home in December and will be in DFW from December 8-12 and Macon from the 12th to the 16th.

Swimming in an Aquarium

This morning Katie and I went over to Smith's Cove to do some snorkeling. There had been a huge rain storm overnight. The water was cooler than normal and close to shore was very murky. We swam to the outer part of the cove and the water cleared the farther from the shore we got. There were several schools of fish feeding out near the markers. We saw a new fish that appeared to have camouflage skin with green and dark spots. It had points above its eyes extending out and its tail forked and seemed hollowed out almost. We cant find it on our fish card and will be searching on the net to find out more about it. The water was pretty choppy and it was hard exercise swimming/snorkeling. After about 45 minutes we headed in and are settling in for an afternoon of NFL watching and working on the computer.

Our ABC channel was showing a New York regional game so I headed out to watch the Texas-Oklahoma State game yesterday over at Davie Jones and got to see the incredible comeback. Yesterday the Alabama and LSU fans on the island had a huge game watching party at the other end of the bar and it was interesting to watch their interaction. When the fourth quarter started and Texas trailed 35-14 I was resigned to a Longhorn loss and really only stuck around to watch the end of the Notre Dame-Navy game (when Navy won the whole bar erupted). The Horns had made it 35-21 by that point so I stuck around and got to see them score two more TD's and then the last play field goal.

We don't have the time change here so the clocks didn't change last night. We are now the same as eastern time instead of Central and so our TV is now the later prime time. Other than Desperate Housewives on Sunday and house late night on Friday on USA that doesn't affect us much. It does mean no time adjustment this week when we head up to Miami and the Keys. Katie has joined a weight loss web site and we are trying to get back into regular exercise. We finally got the underwater pictures from Katie's birthday trip developed and on a disk we will update later with some of them.

Busy Times

We got our ACICS report last week and have been working on the response for the past week. Next week is the last week of classes and the Miami Seminar. Katie and I fly up Friday and will attend the seminar Saturday morning. Final exams are the following week and the quarter ends on the fifteenth. We are also getting ready for the graduation ceremony December 2. Sometimes it feels like we just got here and then we realize it is coming up on six months.

Not much to tell of late, the schedule is pretty routine. We get up around 9 each morning, run a few errands then head to the college at noon. We work until three then take a few hours off for dinner. That usually consists of coming home, making some food and watching a DVD to get our minds off work. Then its back to the college. I teach Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. There is always more work to be done than there is time. Sometimes that is discouraging but mostly its a challenge.

We had sushi again last night and Katie tried a new martini with raspberry vodka and Saki that was very good. We are watching Planet Earth on DVD and I will abandon her again this afternoon for a sports bar and the Texas-Oklahoma State game. We are looking forward to our getaway next weekend and to coming home for a week in December. Not much else to tell, just regular routine down here (well except for watching Noel closely and making sure she stayed East of us and headed north).

A/C and Watching Chadin

Sunday afternoon a handyman suggested by our landlord came out to the house to take a look at the air handler and see if it could be fixed without having to be replaced. His instinct was that it could but that it would take a while. He told us he would be back Monday evening.

Monday morning we watched Chadin our business manager Kira's six year old son. His school is off this week and Kira needed someone to watch him in the morning for two days. I had a presentation at John Gray HS so while I went to gave my talk to the HS students, Katie took Chadin to Smith's cove a beach on the southwest side of the Island. After my presentation I picked them up and we had lunch before heading to the office at noon. That evening Katie stayed home with the AC man who worked on the unit for almost four hours. When he left, the AC was running good and three days later it is still running well so we will see if his work saved our landlord the expensive replacement.

Tuesday morning was my turn to watch Chadin while Katie went to an appointment. We went back to Smith's cove and this time I got to go snorkeling with him. Even though he is six, he is not afraid as a swimmer, but we kept a blown up inner tube with us and he would hold on to it as we moved out into deeper waters. We also did some exploring as he wanted to show me tide pools that he and Katie had found the day before. Katie picked us up at around 11 and we went home for lunch and then on to the office. His Grandfather arrived yesterday so we just had two days of kid watching. It was a neat small practice run for the two of us.

I made another presentation to some more students yesterday and Katie is getting ready for her week of teaching my Caribcert class next Monday and Tuesday. We get the official report on Friday from ACICS but are already hard at work addressing the expected citations. Things really haven't slowed down since the team left and we guess they wont until we actually get the notice our accreditation has been renewed.

Watching College Football in a bar with 200 rugby fans

This morning I headed over to Davie Jones to watch the Texas-Baylor football game. When I arrived a little after 11 a.m. local time I could tell it was going to be a strange day. The bar was already packed. There were at least 50-60 people wearing green rugby jerseys with their faces painted the colors of the South African flag. I spoke with the bartender and insured that I would have a single TV for the Texas game and he reminded me that today was the final of the Rugby World Cup, England v. South Africa and that every other TV would be on the rugby match starting at 2 p.m. By the second quarter of the Texas game, the bar which normally seats maybe a 100 was packed with rugby fans who by the way like to drink. I sweated out a Texas win while listening to the fans sing and carouse and generally go crazy. The English fans made their appearance by 1 p.m. and the bar had to be in violation of the fire code shortly thereafter as you couldn't move. It was a very funny scene me the lone yank watching Texas-Baylor game while 18 other TVs in the bar focused on something the rest of the world was watching but no one was in the U.S. Texas kept the game close through mistakes and turnovers so I had to stick around until the very end as the bar got rowdy loud and jam packed.

Texas finally finished off Baylor and when I left the South Africans were singing loudly as they had the lead. I later learned they held on to win. I headed home and discovered that our A/C has again given out. Our air handler is broken and needs to be replaced. We are dealing with our landlord on it but it is taking time. Now those hurricane shutters that provide us protection are keeping all the heat in and without windows to open up, the house is stifling. We have all the ceiling fans running and have two regular fans set up in the living room that we will move upstairs when we go to sleep.

Katie and I decided to go do some late afternoon snorkeling at Eden Rock. Last time we had stayed close to shore checking out the rock formations near the entry point. This time we swam straight out about 100 yards to see what was further out in the harbor. With the sun setting the water wasn't as clear and we couldn't see as much. We swam back toward shore and saw some really neat formations with tons of fish in and around them. This must be the season for fish giving birth because there were a bunch of young fish around several rock formations. With our card from last week we were able to identify several species including four eyed butterfly fish, yellow tailed snapper and some interesting crabs on the rocks by the ladder.

After returning home to change we headed out for dinner at the Lone Star Bar and Grill on Seven Mile Beach. Katie has been wanting to try their margaritas for a while as our office mates rave about them. The margaritas were as strong as advertised though the flavor wasn't as great. The food was good but also not great so we likely wont be eating there often.

We have started a Friday night tradition of going for sushi so last evening for the fourth or fifth week in a row we went for the raw stuff. We have been alternating between Yoshi's and Thai Orchid both of which are excellent. We cant wait for house guests to come and try the fare.

We have another getaway to Miami planned for November 9-12. We will stay at a resort in Key Largo and this time do some snorkeling at Pennecamp and get down to Key West. I will also attend the Miami seminar for a couple of hours with our students Saturday morning. Katie is planning a get together with Bridget, her former Northlake fellow fourth grade teacher, who is now in Tallahassee going to school. Things have picked up if anything for me since the visit as we clean up some of the citations and wait for the official report. Katie doesn't feel much change as her job is constant crazy. She is working on our Christmas stockings and is cross stitching while I watch football this evening.

In closing, we want to say a special hello to Gary and Elizabeth in Houston and Jennifer and Ryan in Macon. Its neat that at the same time my best friend and his wife are expecting, Katie's best friend and her husband are as well. We hope you know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. We will see you soon.

Press Coverage of Governor's Visit

The Cayman Net News ran an article on the Governor's visit which is linked below.

http://www.caymannetnews.com/index.php?news_id=2629

My Birthday Weekend

By Katie

Scott has made this birthday weekend absolutely fantastic!

Friday we went to Yoshi's for sushi and ate at a table where we got to sit on the ground, not criss/cross/applesauce but like you would at a regular table because the tables were set over holes in the ground. We had the love boat, a great combination of miso soup, some tempura, lots of sushi & sashimi, and mango icecream. I had a fantastic Skittles Martini that tasted just like Skittles! The bartender made his own Skittles infused vodka. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting in the future.

Saturday morning we had some friends over, Kira, the business manager at ICCI and her son and fiance. We had omelets and waffles and just had a good time talking and playing.

After the football game, Scott came home and we got ready for our nice dinner out. We went to Grand Old House, one of the nicest restaurants in Grand Cayman. We had been there before and loved the outside seating with the waves, the fantastic food and the even better service. We got there around 7:15 and were seated under a gazebo outside since they were painting the patio. We could still hear the waves crashing and there was a nice breeze to cool things down. We watched a storm move north just to the west of us with wild lighting. After an incredible meal, we had cake. Scott had them bring it out singing Happy Birthday(with real piano accompaniment). The plate was beautifully decorated (see picture). The dinner ended around 9:15 and was a beautiful, leisurely meal.

This morning we slept in, then headed to town to meet our 1:00 tour to Stingray City. We picked up a sheet (waterproof, of course!) that had pictures of fish found around Cayman along with two disposable underwater cameras before leaving Captain Marvin's where we checked in. The tour was very full, most likely because it has been raining for days and these people would have been trapped in their hotel rooms. We had a fairly diverse group of people with a family from France, one from England, quite a few Texans, and some random other Americans. The first stop was a place located just off the regular Coral Gardens (the actual Coral Gardens didn't have great visibility because of all of the recent rain). At this stop there were a lot of Sergeant Majors, some beautiful coral formations, and lots of colorful fish. The second stop was right along the barrier reef. That was fantastic and my favorite part of the whole trip. We were able to snorkle right on top of the reef and Scott and I kept finding ourselves over parts of the reef where we were almost scraping our stomachs. We saw some very large parrotfish(one of my favorite fish because of all of its colors and its strange mouth), some black durgon, bluehead wrasse, grey snapper, Nassau grouper, glasseye snapper, cleaning goby, and lots of random fish that we haven't been able to identify yet. We got some pictures that we hope turn out great.

After the barrier reef, we headed to the Sandbar. As we pulled up to the bar, the sting rays started to gather around the boat. It was amazing being in the water as they glided around you. They have such soft skin as they rub all over you. There were some large rays (at least four feet) and then the smaller males. Scott fed one of the rays then tried to feed another but a fish snatched it out of his hand first. Since this was our rookie trip, we had to give a stingray a kiss and then got a couples massage from the ray. They were beautiful as they glided along the bottom of the ocean and we hope that the pictures we got capture that.

We are both exhausted after a long fun weekend.

ACICS Visit and the work ahead

The ACICS team completed their work Wednesday and left the Island yesterday but not before giving us a preview of their report which will be issued in about two weeks. It will involve a lot of citations a couple of which are major. They are not things that come as a surprise and it means we have to spend the next two months before the council meets to consider their report fixing those issues and drafting a response showing how they are being addressed. Katie's department came through with flying colors mine not so much and other parts of the college not so much. We had three straight 14 hour work days and that followed being in the office all weekend.

Tuesday evening I got away from the insanity of the team visit and made a presentation to the Rotary about our library that went very well. We are lining up help from several members including a Governor of the Rotary who was visiting from Washington D.C. and wants to talk to us about a large targeted grant for the library. One of our major citations was our library so this will help with our response.

Sunday is Katie's birthday and we are planning a trip to Sting Ray City to go snorkeling. It will be our first trip out to the sand bar. The only issue is the weather. The rainy season has hit full force and we have had a couple of weeks of sustained rains that have left lakes all over the Island. One lake has developed on the street we have to drive down every day to get into and out of our complex and it is growing so fast we are worried at some point our little car may flood. You don't get flash floods on Cayman because the rain is steady not huge quick downpours. We are really looking forward to Sting Ray City and seeing what all the talk is about. By the way no worries about a "Steve Irwin" these rays interact with hundreds of people a day and no one has ever come away with anything other than a gentle reminder that no one likes to be stepped on.

ACICS visit Day One and Visit by the Governor

On Monday evening, the team from our accrediting agency and the British Governor both came to the college. The team arrived while my class was still in session and one member sat in on the last twenty minutes of my review for my midterm then stuck around and interviewed some of my students. I met with the other members of the team and so far at least, they seem to be friendly and impressed. They mentioned their student interviews were going very well, of course, they wouldn't tell us if they had gone badly and its virtually certain they were told some bad things by the students but are relaying to us the positive comments.

Katie spent the evening getting them data and after we got home we were both up past midnight completing the Annual Institutional Report (Katie doing most of the work, me reading off to her numbers to be inputted). Katie has been working on this report for a couple of months and when it was done she kept saying what a relief it was. Monday they got to see our college and the best analogy I can come up with is they saw the exterior of our car and we had cleaned it up well. On Tuesday they pop the hood on our little car and lets hope things go as well then as they seemed to go Monday evening. They were only on campus about an hour but for that hour the college was humming. Part of that was the anticipation of the governors visit. You forget sometimes that this is a very British island and the representative of the monarch coming to our college is a huge deal.

When the Governor arrived Dr. Cummings and I gave him a brief tour while Katie took photographs. When he entered the classroom, everyone stood and he was announced "His Excellency, the Governor, Stuart Jack". After his forty minute or so presentation, he took questions for well over an hour. The students were very respectful but asked pointed questions about education, the budget, environment, immigration policy, and foreign policy. I was very happy about the level of discourse and the Governor seemed genuinely pleased at the level of questions coming from our students.

It was amazing to see every student preface their question with "your excellency", a reminder that we are a British dependent and that American style egalitarianism isn't in dominant style here. The contrast between how the students addressed the Leader of Government Business back in August and the Governor yesterday was startling. The Leader of Government Business is the highest elected position but he is political while the Governor is appointed by the Queen and is head of the Civil Service, the Police and must approve all legislation for it to become law. As he pointed out in his presentation he has approved every piece of legislation that has come to him and hopes to never reject legislation drafted by the Cayman Legislature but he has that right and the right to remove elected officials (only for corruption).

Our team visit continues Tuesday and I have a presentation to the Rotary on our library needs. Let's hope day two goes as well as day one. Monday was the easy part and we seemed to pass with flying colors. Tuesday will be the nitty gritty and that's where we will struggle but not for lack of trying. Katie in particular has done an incredible job on the records and while we expect to be cited if she hadn't done all she did our accreditation would be in serious jeopardy. As it is we are very hopeful.

Hurricane shutters

Katie and I were awakened yesterday by the sound of drilling. As we lay there listening Katie said "that really sounds like it is just below us". Convinced it must be one of our neighbors we chalked it up to the weird way sound moves. When I went downstairs though to start breakfast I could see light streaming through our back patio door. The wood had been pulled off. I opened up the patio door to find three men removing the old plywood and putting up brand new hurricane shutters made of aluminum and with hard plastic centers so that you can see out. They put up a complete shutter on the patio door so we cant get out the back anymore. They also put one on the upstairs window. The upstairs shutter is permanent and can be rolled open and closed. The patio one will come down at the end of November. Our landlord had told us she intended to get shutters but we assumed that wouldnt happen until next summer.

This morning they have returned and are putting up a shutter on the front window. It is also a removable one that will come down after the season is over. We seem to have gotten through the heavy part but hurricane season lasts until November 30th so they stay up for at least seven more weeks. Selkirk our property owner was here this morning and mentioned to me that we shouldn't get complacent because late in the season the storms will form in the Caribbean and we have less notice of them.

We are putting the finishing touches on the college for the accrediting visit next week. We are not even close to really being ready but we will do the best we can. We are also preparing for the Governor's visit Monday night by getting a committee together to receive him and getting press releases ready.

This weekend is also Texas-OU and from the look of the coverage map the ABC channel we get will get the game so I will be able to watch at home and not have to restrain myself as I have at the sports bars. We have discovered that its the actually the New York major broadcast stations not Tampa for the regional coverage.

Snorkeling at Eden Rock

Katie and I had not been out snorkeling in several weeks and so this morning we decided to head over to Eden Rock and check out what we had been told was one of the top snorkeling sites on the Island. Eden Rock is just below the George Town Harbor as you come into town on South Church street which is what South Sound road becomes after you turn north at the southwestern edge of the Island. The entrance is at a dive shop. The diving costs money though it is cheap for locals, the snorkeling free if you bring your own gear. We walked out over the black coral shore on a concrete path to a ladder that we climbed down into the water. The water was already 4 or 5 feet at the edge of the rocks and a kick away from the ladder saw the depth drop to at least ten feet. Of course with the clear water you have no sense of the depth and it looks like the bottom is just below you when in fact it is several feet.

The species of fish we saw were incredible. There were a ton of Sergeant Majors and Blue fins and some other species we didn't recognize. One fish had a turquoise body with pink spots, bright blue spots above its eyes, little yellow streaks on its belly and an orange streak on its tail that was absolutely incredible. Our friends were right this place is definitely the best snorkeling we have seen on the Island so far.

We spent about 45 minutes out in the water then headed back to the dive site. We are headed over to the college this afternoon to continue getting ready for the accrediting visit. We also got the news that the Governor of the Island is going to be a guest lecturer on Monday the 8th which ironically is also the first day of our accrediting team visit. Long week ahead.

We finally got cable TV yesterday though our ABC channel is from Tampa so the college football regional telecast was no help in watching Texas. A trip over to Davie Jones Sports Locker gave me the chance to watch the game of which we will speak no more. Katie and I have finished House season three and are now working our way through Desperate Housewives season three.

Article on Anniversary

The Cayman Compass ran a story on our anniversary ceremony and it is linked below.

http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1025344

37th Anniversary Celebration for ICCI

Yesterday was the ceremony to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the college and to dedicate a plaque in honor of the students, faculty and staff from the fall of 2004 who kept the college open in the wake of Hurricane Ivan. There was a threat of rain all afternoon but it never came and so the outdoor ceremony in front of Friends Hall came off without a hitch.

Katie and I drove over to the college around 10:00 a.m to set up chairs under the tent that had been delivered on Friday (as had the chairs). We then stuck around to help the student activities committee set up the decorations. Around 1:15 we ran home to shower and get changed before the three o'clock ceremony. The ceremony didn't start until about 3:20 which we have discovered is the norm here on Cayman. It lasted about 45 minutes and as the master of ceremonies I had to introduce the speakers and even made my musical debut leading the singing of the National Anthem (that would be God Save the Queen down here). I sang the first line over the mike then smartly put the mike down and let the crowd pick up from there. Katie told me later that my first line was fine to get everyone started but she was really glad I put the mike down as my ability to carry a note doesn't last very long.

We got to see a movie made in 1973 about the college and it was nice to see the people in attendance recognize themselves from 30 plus years ago. The event was catered and I made the mistake of grazing too much. I say mistake because later Katie and I went to Yoshi's sushi for dinner and I was too stuffed to eat.

Didn't get to see any of the Texas game and by the time we got home from the sushi it was already the third quarter and Texas was winning 41-7 so I didn't head over to Davy Jones to watch the second half. Katie and I have been watching the third season of House that we picked up in Florida so we watched an episode then had some late night sushi that we had brought back.

This morning we went for a bike ride and the afternoon is a cleaning time as we do a couple of weeks of laundry and try to clean up the house. The accrediting visit looms in two weeks and that is pretty much all we are working on at the college (well that and trying to not mortgage the present to clean up the past).

Florida Getaway

When we first moved here, we got a magazine called New Resident. It had lots of helpful tips for getting drivers licenses, immigration paperwork, stores restaurants and activities on the Island. It also had a chapter on vacation trips off Island and pointedly said that most people after about three months of just Cayman will get Island fever and will need to go somewhere. That hit Katie and I almost on schedule a little over three months in, so this past weekend we got away to Florida for some shopping and relaxation.

We flew up to Miami Friday afternoon and after picking up our rental drove down to Kendall a suburb where we were staying. We spent Friday night at an Amerisuites on Kendall Drive a main road with two shopping malls about three miles apart and every imaginable store and restaurant packed in between. We headed over to Staples first to recycle about a hundred printer cartridges from the college. You get a $3 store credit coupon for each one and we had high hopes of bringing $300 worth of office supplies back to the college. Unfortunately, the company policy (written on the coupons) was only to allow 3 coupons a day per person. So we each picked up nine dollars worth of office supplies and made plans to come back each of the next two days before we left. We then made a trip over to Toys R Us to pick up a gift a co-worker asked us to get her son and then to Best Buy for DVD's (House, Desperate Housewives and Friday Night Lights) and more gifts people asked us to pick up.

Coming out of Best Buy I had my first driving moment. I had gotten back into right side driving pretty easily but when you come up to entry and exit areas I had to rearrange my thinking and as I went to exit Best Buy I started to pull left and Katie had to remind me to go right. We had dinner at a Red Lobster which was across from the hotel and after an evening of eating and shopping went to sleep.

We slept in Saturday then had breakfast at the hotel and checked out. A quick trip over to Staples to spend 6 more coupons, some Starbucks for the first time in four months and then we drove over to Dadeland Mall near Highway One. Dadeland is definitely the Galleria of Malls in Miami and Katie was very happy to find an Aveda Salon so she could get her hair cut. While she was getting her hair done I wandered around and bought another Texas cap. After she finished her hair appointment we did some more clothing shopping and finally around 1 p.m. called a halt to the shopping part of the trip (at least until Sunday).

We drove down into the keys to our hotel in Key Largo a Holiday Inn resort just below Pennecamp State Park. Lunch at one of the restaurants in the resort was followed by me getting to watch the Texas-Central Florida game. Once again the Horns decided to play with my emotions keeping the game much closer than it should have been and almost giving it away at the end. However, a 35-32 win meant Saturday dinner wouldn't be ruined. Katie was craving Mexican food and Saturday night we went to a place called Señor Frijoles and had really good fajitas. We ended the night at the Tiki bar by the pool with a daiquiri and piña colada.

Sunday morning we had every intention of getting up real early and driving all the way to Key West. But the early wake up call was not to be as we both rolled over and went back to sleep. We did get up around nine and decided to drive a little south into the keys seeing Islamorada but then deciding to wander back slowly doing the last of the shopping we needed. We found a CVS pharmacy where Katie got a hairdryer and I got a two month supply of my acid reflux medicine which is now OTC, thank goodness, but is ridiculously expensive here in Cayman. We stopped at the Outlet mall in Florida City and Katie got some shoes while I picked up some more short sleeve button up shirts. Lunch at an Applebees was followed by another stop at Best Buy in Homestead for our birthday presents to each other and Anna's Linens to get some rugs for our bathroom. We then drove back into Miami and over to the Staples for one last run. We had been watching for Staples throughout our trip and though we saw many an Officemax and Office Depot we never came across another Staples. After a final stop at a Barnes and Noble we returned the car to Enterprise and headed to the airport. Our half empty bags on arrival now packed with stuff we had bought.

I panicked a little on our customs form returning to Cayman. You can bring back up to $350 CI per person without paying a duty and we had about $500 U.S. in stuff but only had one form. After two tries at estimating I pulled out the receipts and filled out the form coming in at over $350 U.S. We bravely went forward hoping that we didnt need two forms one for each of us. Surprisingly the flight was full of returning residents and status holders so the line at immigration for us was much longer than the visitors line. We cleared immigration and customs with no problem so my paranoia about properly filling out the form turned out to be just that, paranoia.

We arrived home safe and refreshed ready to start a long week that includes another round of comprehensive exams and culminates in the 37th Anniversary celebration for the college this Saturday where we dedicate the plaque to the 2004 class that survived Ivan.

Wednesday Morning Bike Ride

This morning Katie and I broke out the bikes and for the first time in a long while went for a bike ride. We headed west from our house down south sound road toward George Town. We had forgotten how refreshing going for a ride was and as we biked along the shore a real sense of calm struck us. We made it all the way to the southern end of the George Town Harbor to the Eden Rock dive point. It is supposed to be one of the best snorkel places on the Island and we definitely need to get back there to snorkel. The ride out seemed very easy and we thought that we were just getting right back into riding no big deal. Then on the way back we realized that the ride out was mostly downhill and that tailwind which made for an easy ride out was now a headwind and sometimes crosswind making our 25 minute ride out an almost 45 minute ride home. Still it was great to be back out on the road and it helps us reconnect with the fact that our lives are not all work. Speaking of work, Caribcert went well and the college is getting into its fall routine. Two days to our Florida excursion and we cant wait to get away.

Watching College Football in Cayman

After spending another afternoon at the college catching up on work that never seems to end, Katie and I headed over to Davy Jones Locker a sports bar in Grand Harbour about a 2/3rds of a mile from our place. Many of the major US colleges were represented as ex pats wearing shirts from Michigan, Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Texas (that was me) and Texas A&M gathered to watch football. Katie was the only female in the bar for a good hour plus after we arrived except for the waitress, a fact she pointed out to me several times.

The Texas game didn't come on until the second quarter as the early game went to triple OT which would have been really cool to watch except I knew the longer that it went on the less of the Texas game I would get to see. When the Texas game did come on, Katie who had already eaten her nachos and finished a margarita decided to abandon me and go home to talk to her sister on windows live. With only one vehicle that meant I got to walk home after the game. As soon as she left, Texas fell behind 10-0 on two interceptions and I was convinced she had jinxed us by leaving. That 10-0 halftime deficit had me considering thoughts of just how much alcohol I could imbibe and still safely walk home. Fortunately the second half saw Texas actually show up and make plays outscoring the Horned Frogs 34-3 to win 34-13.

This will be an easier week for my former law partner Jerry Bullard in Fort Worth, home of TCU. Gary sold my ticket to this game for a profit and I might actually make money on my Texas season tickets this year if he continues to be able to sell them at the pace he is going (no pressure Gary but keep up the good work). I am loosely planning to try and get back to the Texas Tech game in November which falls on a holiday weekend here on the Island, if my wife will let me and if our budget isn't too strained.

When the game ended I started my walk home. It had rained so there were a lot of puddles and Cayman is not big on sidewalks outside of George Town. I maneuvered around the water and watched for traffic walking on the main road then turning up Selkirk. I got about halfway up Selkirk, when Katie drove up and took me the rest of the way home. She said she saw on the Internet that the game was over and thought she would drive to the bar and give me a ride home (I have an awesome wife).

Davy Jones was not a bad place to watch but the quality of the big screens was pretty poor and the food from the Black Pearl Galley next door was just OK. In a few weeks for the Rice game we will try Lone Star in town. Of course next weekend we will be in Florida so if I get to see the Texas game against Central Florida at all it will be at a US sports bar in the keys.

Tomorrow we start our Caribcert program. We have 20 apprentices who come to the International College two days a week for classes this fall. The Orientation and pictures with the Minister of Tourism are at 8:30 a.m. That means a long day for Katie and I because our normal classes also meet until 10:30 at night. Once the program gets going it wont be as big a deal because I teach at 1:00 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays so I will still have my normal work days but tomorrow will just end up being a full day. Katie draws the black bean because she will be working on our Annual Institutional Report all day which is much harder than what I have to do. We are really excited about the tourism program because it is the first partnership with the other college on the Island and the government and because it is obvious the University College and the government didn't want us involved and thought we would drop out, but we never have and now it is actually happening.

The other big looming event is our 37th anniversary celebration on September 22nd. We have the plaque and invitations are going out Monday. We need to finish the program and finalize the speakers but it should be a great PR event for the college. We have invited the Governor and most of the government and private industry big wigs to the college so if even a few show up it is good for the college.

We are both counting the days until Friday and our getaway weekend. Katie is furiously looking for a hairdresser place near our Miami hotel on Friday for an appointment and seems to be looking forward more to a vist to Target for clothes than Key West to watch the sunset. Beaches and sun lose their appeal when you live near them but cheap clothes that you cant get on Island grow in stature the less access you have to them.

First Week of Fall Quarter

This past week has seemed like a whirlwind. We started the Fall Quarter on Monday (there is no Labor Day Holiday in Cayman) and as we wrapped up almost all of the registrations were happy to discover that we will have the largest student population for a quarter since Hurricane Ivan. While it is still well below where the college was pre-Ivan and significantly below where it was at its peak, we feel like it is a great step and that there is movement. The students seem more energized and the faculty is more enthusiastic. Although we still have a lot of work to go it feels like the momentum is moving in a positive direction.

I am teaching two law courses one on General Principles (UK based) and one on Business Law (US based). The General Principles class is unusual in that I really don't know English procedure so while I can teach all the elements of the different actions almost all of which are similar or the same to US law, I am having to learn the legal procedure as we go. I am lining up several guest speakers on procedure so that they can answer any of questions my students might have on Cayman procedure. I am also doing a class for the Caribcert program we are involved in with the Department of Tourism and the University College. We have 20 apprentices on Mondays and Tuesdays for 6 hours during the day and I am teaching Business Communication and Writing. Katie is not teaching this quarter as the registrar job of getting all the records ready for the ACICS visit and for future ease of use is a full time job. She is working on our Annual Institutional Report right now and that is a monumental task.

We got our first electric bill for 20 days in August and almost fell over. The rates here are much higher than the US. Our bill was more than any bill I ever got for my place on McCart and it was only for 20 days in August we didn't have AC for a week. Price of living in paradise. The water bill should be a similar sobering experience. We have to budget for utilities much higher than we thought at least during the summer months. We are told that the winter bills go down dramatically.

Our mornings this week were spent running errands and getting the small jobs done that we need for the house. We still haven't fixed the kitchen sink and that is my job for this morning. We did have to run over to immigration to get a special stamp for Katie. Her work permit application is still pending and her temporary has expired. She can continue to work as long as the permit application is pending but if we want to leave Island we need a special stamp. We have both been feeling a little burned out and suffering the normal three month cases of Island fever so we are doing a getaway weekend next weekend to the Florida Keys. We got Katie's passport stamped so she can leave Island and return for the next two weeks.

The trip to Florida will be multi purpose. We fly to Miami Friday night and will spend that night in Kendall a suburb with a shopping mall. Katie wants to find a Tony & Guy to get her hair cut and a Walmart and Target for some clothes, shoes and other items that are too expensive here in the Island (I want to find sunflower seeds and cornnuts). We also need to go to a Bank of America to make a deposit. So Saturday morning in Miami will be for running all those errands. But in the late morning we will head down to the keys and get some relaxation before heading back to Cayman Sunday late afternoon.

We haven't had a chance to go snorkeling in two weeks and no bike riding either. Last Sunday was rainy and wet which didn't give us a chance to go out and do something, and our mornings always seem full of little things that need to get done. We are hoping to get out tomorrow and do some though with Caribcert starting Monday we may have to spend some time on that. We are headed over to college to get some work done this morning. Tonight we are going to a sports bar called Davy Jones Locker in Grand Harbour to watch the Texas-TCU football game.

We realize we dodged another bullet with Felix. That is one of the strange things about living here, every morning, every afternoon and every evening we check the National Hurricane Center website. Based on the experience from hurricane Dean we drafted a preparedness plan which starts from the time a storm is first identified (hopefully up to five days before it would impact us) and follows right through the post storm cleanup. What that means is following on the web any systems that could be of concern.

First Day of Football Season

We awoke this morning to the strains of the Eyes of Texas. My awesome most wonderful wife had set the I-home to play that song as our alarm music. She also had hung our Texas Flag in our front window so when I came downstairs you could see the sun streaming in through the flag. First day of football season had arrived.

The day began with us headed to the college for a faculty meeting at 10:30 and to proctor a couple of final exams for the summer quarter which ended this week. At the beginning of the day I thought I would be headed home and listening to the game on the Internet. But after the faculty meeting I checked my personal email and I had gotten an invitation from another Texas Ex here on the Island to a game watching party at his house where he was getting the game off a satellite. I had emailed him earlier in the week to see if there was going to be a game watching party and hadn't heard anything and all but given up. We headed home from the college at 2 after a couple of hours of meetings, paperwork and file work.

The A/C guy arrived around 3:30 and fixed our air conditioning which had made this week a tough one at the house. The machine was in desperate need of freon and the filters were filthy. When he finished we headed out to buy some new air filters and then on up to West Bay to watch the game. Texas did not play well and almost tried to give away the game at the end but held on for a way too close for comfort 21-13 win over a team they should have beat by 40 points. The house we went to to watch the game was incredible. The TV room was a huge big screen with surround sound and speakers throughout the house so you could hear the game wherever you were. The main house was two stories with a widows peak third level. The guest house was bigger than our place. The property sits on two full plots and faces the water with bed rooms for the kids bigger than our living room. The folks we watched with were awesome and so down to earth you would never know they were obviously multi multi multi millionaires (he is a land developer here with his father and they own several huge commercial properties). Katie even said she had fun and you all know how she feels about football.

We start the fall quarter Monday which isn't a holiday here. One month to our accreditation visit and things that were already crazy busy are about to be ramped up even more. We are keeping an eye on Hurricane Felix way to our south but he looks like he will not be an issue for Cayman and lets hope it stays that way.