Fifteen years ago....

It was the last week of July 1995 and on that Friday afternoon, I drove back to my Mom's house in San Antonio having completed the grueling two and a half day long Texas Bar Exam.  It would be three long months before I got my scores and found out I could practice as a lawyer.  The last Friday in July is always a reminder of that exam and the months of studying for it followed by the long months of waiting for the results.  To all the prospective lawyers in Texas heading home this afternoon I wish you good luck and a good nights sleep tonight.  I believe my first two days after the exam I woke up to eat once on the Saturday after but my first real memories aren't until the Sunday following, so sleep well. 

Cleaning out desk for Hurricane Season

Our desk is downstairs and during hurricane season, if a storm is on the way we move a lot of the electronic items and discs as well as other other materials upstairs into a plastic bin. I was going through the desk inventorying what we have in case we need to move it and came across a CD with some photographs. Upon putting it in the computer, I realized it was old photographs of the 2006 Rose Bowl National Championship game. I was having so much fun reliving the game and the festivities afterward that I figured I would post one of the shots. Here is a random Rose Bowl photo of my friend Gary and I after the game. We had gone to the game as my "bachelor party". I was five months from getting married at that point and he was not yet a Father. Here we are four plus years later and he has two kids while Katie and I are expecting our first. Wow has time flown or what?

East End Dinner

This evening we drove out to East End for a combination date night and celebratory dinner. We went to a restaurant we had not been to in a while, Portofino Wreck View, which sits on the northeast point of the Island. We were treated to a tremendous storm just as we entered East End. The wind picked up tremendously and the waves got huge crashing against the shore. We drove past the blow hole and saw a couple of very large explosions of water out of it. We are celebrating Scott's nomination to a possible government related position and if he gets it will let you know soon. It is a political position and in politics nothing is certain until the government officially announces the appointment. Still, it is quite an honor to even be nominated and so whether it happens or not, today was to celebrate that nomination. If it does happen it will not affect Scott's work or position at the college though it will mean extra work. We had to eat inside because of the wind and rain but sat next to a window and watched it all as we eat. It was a great evening and gave us a good chance to see the eastern end of the island for the first time in a couple of months.

Despicable Me and A La Kebob

This past weekend Katie and I decided to get in the car, fight through the rain and actually get out of the house. We headed over to Camana Bay which has really become a nice outdoor mall after its slow start of just having the Hollywood movie theatres and book store. Katie needed to work on some of her DU stuff so we went to Cafe Del Sol, a coffee shop, and sat in the back, me drinking a Latte and her a hot chocolate while we took advantage of their free wireless. After an hour or so of Masters work we headed over to A La Kebob and got some gyro's before heading back to Camana Bay to watch a movie. We had to choose between the new Twilight movie and Despicable Me. Katie is a huge Twilight fan and I figured we would be going to that film but surprisingly, Katie really wanted to see Despicable Me. We bought our tickets to the early afternoon showing and in addition to the movie got to experience what life will be like in a few years. The theatre was packed with parents taking their young kids to the movie. In front of us were some young girls dressed up like princesses out with their Mom and behind us a family with all three young kids seated in a row between Mom and Dad. Everywhere you looked were families. We even ran into one of our students bringing his young daughter and he said we were "too old to be at this movie" to which we replied "we were practicing for the future". The combination of rain plus it being an early showing probably played some role in the large number of young kids brought by their parents but it was still something of an eye opener to see that many youngsters with their parents.

After the movie we headed home so Katie could focus on getting her school work done. With assignments due every weekend for her classes, Saturday's and Sunday's have become class time. We are now in the fifth week of our summer quarter at ICCI. I did a radio appearance Monday on Radio Cayman talking about the 40th anniversary of the college and the changes at the institution over the past few years. We are both getting a little better at getting our morning walk in between the rain and might actually try some snorkeling if the weather allows. It is strange not having an off island trip in the works and knowing that we aren't going anywhere until we have a new family member. One thing we are working on now is making sure that as soon as our little one is born we get her properly registered and get her a US passport and social security number. She will be a dependent on my work permit so there is a ton of paperwork we have to have ready well before she comes.

Stormy weekend

While we aren't facing anything resembling a tropical storm, we are getting deluged by rain today and last night the storm knocked out our power for several hours. This morning as I look out our front window our parking lot is a lake and the waterfall off our roof is keeping Gypsy very focused. For about a year now we have kept our A/C at 82 degrees Fahrenheit so the loss of power last night and resulting heat didn't affect us that much. Interestingly enough even with the pregnancy Katie hasn't needed the A/C turned down so her body temperature doesn't seem to be fluctuating that much. We both sleep underneath covers at night and it is amazing how much our blood has thinned to where temperatures in the 70's now seem cold. The rainy season is now in full force here in the tropics and not a day goes by that we don't see some rain.

Katie in Texas

This weekend Kathleen is back in Texas to visit her family, do some maternity shopping and attend the wedding of a friend of hers. Gypsy and I are holding down the fort here in Cayman. Gypsy has to wonder what is going on as last weekend it was her and Kathleen alone in the house. She must think we are both nuts. This morning she yelled at me for an hour and I could just make out the words, "where is the girl boy, where is the girl?" While Katie has been gone we got our car window fixed so the plastic window is no more. We are into week four of our summer term and with the height of hurricane season approaching are stocking up. The baby blog is updated with all the info on our visit last week and obviously that will be our focus these next few months (and the rest of lives).

Round of 16

With the storm letting up just a bit I headed over to the sports bar yesterday and got to watch the USA-Ghana match with the ESPN feed. The USA was clearly outplayed and Ghana got a deserved goal in added extra time to win 2-1. I got to walk home in the rain and bemoan the lost opportunity. There were a ton of US fans in the bar and the atmosphere was great even in defeat. This week is week two of the summer term and on Thursday I head to Miami for the summer seminar then right after I get back Katie heads to Duncanville. In between on the sixth of July we have an appointment at which we may or may not find out the gender.

Rain and Tropical Sorm Alex

With the glass for our car window at least 5 days shipping away, now was about as in- convenient a time as possible for the first tropical storm of the season to make an appearance. While it is well to the south of us we are getting lashed by band after band of rain being sent out by TS Alex. We have a trash bag taped over the window and the tarp over the vehicle to keep out the water. At left is a photo of the driving rain and the tarp being blown around. The water runs off our roof through the drain visible on the right thus the seeming waterfall there. Unfortunately, with no driver side window, the car is undrivable as there is a huge blind spot for the driver because you cant see through the trash bag. We cant remove the bag because of the constant rain. That means we are trapped at home pending use of the college van which is having its radiator flushed or rides from co-workers.

This afternoon is the big USA-Ghana match, if the rain lets up we are going to the sportsbar to watch the US transmission and if we cant we will have to watch the Caribbean feed from FIFA at home. Either way it will be a tense afternoon of futbol as we watch the round of 16 match.

Car Window

Yesterday we learned just what happens when a weed whacker and a rock interact with a drivers side window. A lot of broken glass. We are driving around with a trash bag for a window and with rainy season in full force are holding our breath every time the rain starts. It may take a while to find the right size glass for our car and that is a concern. Fortunately the lawn service has agreed to pay for the damages so at least that is good.

USA 1 Algeria 0

The local TV stations here are apparently still back in the '50's in terms of satellite feeds. As a result they are only able to show one game at a time during the third phase of group play when two matches are played simultaneously. They have advertised for a month that we would see all 64 games live but apparently forget to notice that there are 8 games played simultaneously and if their third world set up cant get more than one satellite feed then they would have to show on tape delay one of the games even with two stations available to carry games. With so many Englanders on island there was no question which game they would carry live this morning at 9:00 a.m. local time and it wasn't the USA.

As a result, I got up early and headed over to the sportsbar that I normally find myself at on Saturdays in the fall to watch the Horns play. The bar was already open when I arrived around 8:45 and quickly filled with both American and English fans. They split the bar so on one side they had the US match playing with audio for it and on the other England with its audio. They also had the other game showing on one or two TVs on each side so you could follow your match but keep an eye on the other.

When England scored early on in their match it became clear that the US would have to win to advance. The Americans had a goal disallowed and missed a ton of chances. You could tell the mood in the bar was getting more and more depressed on the American side as the clock ticked down and chance after chance went awry. At the 90 minute mark it was still a scoreless draw and it looked like the US would crash out of the cup and we would all go home disappointed. The English fans were pretty clearly hoping for a US draw which would mean that they would top the group. So, while not exactly cheering for Algeria they were certainly not rooting on the Yanks. Then, in the 91st minute (into injury time) the Americans got a breakaway and Landon Donovan got a rebound goal and I swear you could hear the roar from the US fans in the bar throughout the island. It was incredible! The US 1-0 victory combined with England's 1 nil win over Slovenia meant both teams advance so no one left the bar sad but with the US now topping the group the American fans definitely left with a greater sense of elation not just at the last minute goal that saved them from elimination but at winning the group and hopefully avoiding Germany in the round of 16. With this win the US advance to play Saturday in the round of 16 and I will be right back at the same bar to watch the match hoping for a similar result.

World Cup 24x7

Down here it is World Cup time all the time with the international feed on both local channels and the signs everywhere with expats flying their national colors. The games are live early in the day then replayed later along with a one hour highlight show to wrap up the day. We were in Jamaica for the USA-England match but were home this morning as USA took on Slovenia. The ESPN feed is blacked out so we can only watch the Caribbean feed for the games on the local channels. After trailing 2-0 in the first half today, the Americans scored two goals in the second half and had a third potential game winning goal disallowed on an absolutely atrocious call by some America-hating-two-bit-third-world referee in over his head officiating a World Cup match (but we aren't bitter about it at all). The 2-2 draw today combined with the 1-1 draw with England mean the US is still alive to advance to the elimination rounds. The USA plays Algeria next week and must win by 2 goals to guarantee advancement to the round of 16.

Update: After Algeria and England play to an ugly nil-nil draw, all the US must do is beat Algeria by any scoreline to guarantee advancement. Good thing we don't work mornings as next Wednesday is the big match. National pride is a big deal down here for these few weeks so the US doing well is letting the Americans on the Island hold their heads high in conversation with our European co-workers.

Home from Jamaica

We are back on Cayman after a quick getaway weekend to Negril on the western coast of Jamaica. We stayed at a resort on the beach and did some snorkeling both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday evening we made a trip over to the famous Rick's Cafe to watch the cliff divers and take in a sunset. Pictured at left is us at the cafe. Pictured below is one of the cliff divers. Rick's was voted one of the top ten bars in the world and we got to see some incredibly high cliff diving. Unfortunately this is the rainy season and on the evening we went to Rick's there was a rainstorm which prevented us from seeing the spectacular sunset that the bar is famous for as well. The snorkel trips were a lot of fun as on both trips we saw new fish and reef creatures that we hadnt yet identified in our books and got to make new entries for a couple of star fish, a sea cucumber and a trumpetfish.

It is World Cup time and everywhere in Jamaica you could see evidence of the competition going on. On Saturday for the USA-England match it seemed like the whole country came to a halt to watch the match. In addition to the snorkeling we got in some quality beach time reading and swimming and generally had a very restful weekend. We had formal meals each of the three nights we were there and got to enjoy tapanaki the last night made right in front of us. Little Baby C does not like flying and Katie didn't enjoy the traveling portions of our trip on Friday and Monday. This week there are no classes at ICCI but we have evening work every day from the faculty meeting to new student orientation and then the seminar meeting. In just two weeks Scott heads to Miami for the summer seminar and meeting with two colleges about possible articulation agreements and then right after he gets back Katie is going back to Texas to do some maternity shopping and spend some family time with her parents and sisters.

Finishing out the Spring Term

This is the last week of our spring term at ICCI and we are both ready for our getaway to Jamaica. A few people have inquired whether we still planned to go over there and we keep reassuring everyone the violence you have been reading about is in Kingston which is a couple of hundred miles from Negril where we will be. It would be like not going to San Francisco because there are riots in LA. It has gotten terribly hot down here and with the El Nino effect not being as present as last year the hurricane forecast has been increased dramatically. We are getting everything in order so we are ready just in case but it really shouldn't get interesting until July and early August. We are both teaching this term so this week is being spent finishing those classes and getting ready for next term which begins on June 21. Hard to believe we have been here now for over three years. Will post pictures of our Negril trip next week when we get back.

Sunset House Snorkeling

This is Katie's last week on the job as Director of Admissions for ICCI so this morning we did the end of the month placement exams out at the college. The morning at the college used up a good part of our Saturday and Katie still needed to finish her last assignment for one of her Masters classes for the quarter. We didnt want to just hang around the house so this afternoon we decided to get out and while Katie worked on her homework sitting under a palm tree pagoda I did some snorkeling off Sunset House south of the George Town Harbor. I swam out to the mermaid to see if clearer skies would enable some better photographs of her. I was able to see her better though I had a number of issues with fogging of my goggles. The camera seemed to be getting some good shots and when I got home and put them on the computer I was very pleased to see that the shots had turned out much nicer than any others I had gotten of her previously. There was a lot of material in the water so the below shot has some particles that were like little clumps of sea dust in the water and showed up in the shot.

Yesterday was potentially the day we might have learned the gender of little Baby C. Unfortunately for us someone went into labor and the Doctor was called away causing our appointment to be reset for next Tuesday afternoon. Keep an eye on the baby blog for any updates and even if we dont learn the gender on Tuesday we should have some more ultrasound shots of the little one at 17 weeks.

A huge congratulations to our neice Kelsey who graduated from high school today. We are very proud of her and cant wait to see how she does up at Smith College in Massachusetts this fall. We also got to see some picture of our new nephew Zachary and he looks incredible. We have been keeping Jo, Brent, Nicholas and Zachary in our thoughts all week and send our love up to Naperville.

Crabbing

Last night as we drove home from the college on the bypass we constantly had to slow down or move to the right as the pickup trucks and crab hunters were out in force looking for catches. If it is late May and early June in Cayman that means one thing crab season. The crabs are everywhere and in the evening come out of their holes to find food. As you drive around at night you have to watch out for them to make sure you don't run one over and mess up a tire. It is also not at all uncommon for a car to suddenly stop in front of you, someone to jump out and grab a big one off the side of the road. Katie and I aren't in to the whole catch your food and take it home to cook thought that goes into the crabbing so we have yet to engage in this nighttime activity. With hurricane season starting in less than a week the crabbing is a reminder that the seasons down here have changed (even if the weather hasn't).

Welcome Zachary Alexander

Scott's sister Johanna gave birth last night to our newest nephew, Zachary Alexander. We are very happy for Jo, Brent and Nicholas and pass on our love and best wishes to our newest relative Zach.

Everyone back on Cayman

We are both back on Cayman after two weeks of various travels to Atlanta and the Bahamas. Katie enjoyed her sister vacation and is home now rested and relaxed. Ironically, we have three weeks of work to finish the spring term and then we head to Jamaica for our "baby moon". We have this flurry of travelling culminating in both of us going to the States in July (Scott to Miami and Katie to Duncanville) and then we are both on Island for the duration of the pregnancy.

Georgia on my mind

I am heading to Atlanta tomorrow for the spring seminar and on Monday Katie heads to Miami to get on the boat to the Bahamas with her sisters. Katie's appetite has returned somewhat and although she still faces a lot of bouts of dizziness she seems to be getting her footing back as we head into the second trimester. Between me being gone and her leaving before I return we were surprised to realize that this is the longest we will have been apart since we first started dating. thank goodness for email and skype.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to both our Mom's we love you very much. God willing this time next year will have a special meaning for us too.

Busy May and early June

In non-baby related updates, the past few weeks have been very busy at the college as we get deeper into the spring term. Scott is teaching 2 classes and Katie 1. In addition Katie is working part time as the Director of Admissions so she is back on campus in an office 20 hours a week. The arrangement is temporary and hopefully we have a new full time admissions person by the end of May but it has meant some strange work hours for us as Monday through Thursday we go in at 2 in the afternoon and work until 10:30 p.m.

The month of May is going to be a very busy one for us as we start this weekend with the annual board of trustee's meeting for the year. As this is the most important meeting of the year many of the board members from off Island fly in so we have extra work getting ready for it. Then next week Scott is in Atlanta for the spring seminar. He is flying up next Wednesday and will see his brother Kevin in the trip as Kevin is helping with the field trips. The following week Katie is in the Bahamas for her sister vacation with Mel and Stephanie and then we have the final two weeks of the spring term and getting ready for the summer quarter. We also have our "Baby moon" set for June 11-14 in Jamaica. Katie is calling it our baby moon since it is our last holiday together alone until the baby comes and that means last holiday together for a good long while (we hope). It has gotten really hot and humid down here and last week a massive infestation of mosquito's bloomed making it miserable to be outside. Most everyone is walking around with mosquito bites on their faces and arms. The news says that the rain we got a few weeks back enabled the mosquito's to lay their eggs and this is the result.