your blog post is now mine

Is this blog post mine? No, i took it from Matt, my friend here on island. It was on his blog, but i liked it so now its on mine.


i think i may live in a different world than you do.

i grew up learning and accepting things like "what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours." things like "stealing is bad." things like punishment for a crime to prevent and deter.

now i live in a place where crime is simply accepted. if you need something that someone else has, you simply steal it. and what's worse is that i've come to accept it: dinghy got stolen? - well, it was left locked to a cleat with 10 feet of 2 inch chain & industrial lock in broad daylight so i guess it was an invitation to steal and looked like an easy 15 minute project.

one time we had the 4 tires stolen off our boat trailer which sat in a paid lot, or "boat trailer yard." driving by one day i decided to check in on it and found that someone had put it up on blocks and taken the tires (among other things). it took me about 10 more minutes to figure out which trailer they were now sitting on - and on top of the trailer was a huge "go-fast" boat. stupidly we called the police to report the incident & upon explaining and showing the officer where our tires now sat he drew a deep breath and said "well.....if i were you i would have gone about this in a different way. you know who's boat that is on top that trailer? i didn't say it, but if i were you i'd find yourself some other tires." so there is was, the tires were no longer ours. case closed.

solving crimes like the above take an immense amount of work. i mean do you realize how much time is involved for an officer to walk 50 feet from where the dinghy was stolen into the National Park Center and ask to view the cameras focused on where it was stolen? do you realize how impossible it would be for investigate and solve the stolen trailer tires? oh wait, we solved it for them!

there's what i like to call a "mine" mentality down here. see something you like that's not yours? now it's....MINE! oh boy, that looks nice...."that's mine now!"

and so this brings me to a recent crime which illustrates the "mine" factor perfectly and how little there is to worry about getting caught or punished for stealing:

Motorbike stolen from Road Town Police Station

Police continue to seek answers to a brazen heist that took place inside Road Town Police Station last week. Early in the morning on July 19, three men entered the station and stole a confiscated 650cc Suzuki motorbike. According to the police, the men, whose faces were covered with T-shirts, exited through the back of the building. There is no evidence that they were armed.

Last Wednesday, Police Commissioner Reynell Frazer launched an internal investigation and a full-scale criminal investigation into the “suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident,” including how the motorbike was removed when personnel were on site and task force officers were moving through the building periodically.

Police continue to review footage from surveillance cameras, which captured the three men as they removed the motorbike from the premises.

“As commissioner of police, I want to ensure the public that this incident will not detract from the Force’s continued and ever-focused commitment to maintain law and order in the territory,” Mr. Frazer said.

PWA to meet

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Vere Brown, head of the Police Welfare Association, said the association’s executive board would meet shortly to formulate an agenda and convene an emergency meeting. The group has concerns about the safety, vulnerabilities and other breaches of security at all police stations in the territory, he said.

“The PWA has a statutory duty to bring issues that will affect the welfare and efficiency of police officers to the attention of the governor,” Mr. Brown said.

At a House of Assembly Meeting on Friday, Premier Ralph O’Neal maintained his commitment to the force — but stopped short of speaking in depth about the RTPS incident.

“My government’s commitment is to seek to protect the territory and its people, and to protect and preserve their interests and their safety and security,” Mr. O’Neal said. “We must work to keep our society free of crime and violence and ensure that it is one in which the rule of law is preserved and promoted.”

As of Beacon deadline, no arrests had been reported.

let me sum this up: 3 men walked into a police station and stole a motorcycle. now, i'm no detective, but i'm thinking that there are a few items that concern me or that i'd look into immediately. 1) people have no fear of stealing from the police, and inside the police station. "that's mine" taken to the extreme. 2) these thieves just may have experience or a history/knowledge of the station i.e. they've been locked up before? 3) perhaps this motorcycle was stolen by the actual owner of the bike that wanted it back? may be a good idea to check the registration on that bike. 4) surveillance cameras and officers on duty bring us no leads as to who this may have been, huh. but then again 3 men out of uniform with faces covered with t-shirts walking a motorcycle out of the station is nothing that would draw any attention anyway. 5) we have trouble preventing crime on the streets and now we can't prevent or solve crimes of people stealing from us, the police. is there something wrong with that? 6) and finally, did all three then jump on the bike and take off?

if i were the police commissioner i'd certainly be embarrassed about this incident, but i certainly wouldn't throw out lines like "i want to ensure the public that this incident will not detract from the Force's continued and ever-focused commitment to maintain law and order in the territory." you've just been made the fool commissioner, how does the public have any faith in you or that statement?

My New Willys - 1954

4 years......fast.....

Well, today is my four year anniversary on St. John. I don't even know how i feel about that. I graduated college, said thanks to dad for four years of out of state tuition, drove across the country with Tom, and hopped on a plane with a one way ticket, no job, and no where to live. Its not as dramatic as it sounds, i had visited here before and had just enough knowledge to convince people i knew what i was doing and enough faith to know i was heading where i was supposed to. I'm not even sure how i got to where i am. Thats not true, i do know, but it had nothing to do with me.

People constantly ask what it is like here......the honest answer is, its weird. I'm serious, this place is just weird. The island, Maho where i work and live, its all just weird. Can i describe that? No, I cannot.

I've taught school, crewed a boat, and I manage a hotel. I've said goodbye to lots of best friends. That sounds sad, and it is. But....every time you lose one, you have to find a new one, and that works out i guess. It's different every time, but its good. Do we keep in touch? Nope. Is it good to talk to them on those rare occasions? Yes.

People say they would give up anything to live here. If you do live here, you'll give up more than you think. You hand someone a whole bunch of normal when you arrive, and they give you back a pile of weird.

I do love this place, and i hope that it loves me. I just can't believe i've been here for 4 years.

An incomplete list of those i have met because of my life here: tim L, matt, josh, mary laurel, tyler, megan, jamie v, jamie z, scoot, steph, ad, cici, kels, lucy, pastor, ardath, allison L, adam, amy, chutney, doug, john ryan, bearded matt, matt ice, kyric, liz, greg, mariel, ginger, dan, capt larry, tim, scott, sheree, logan, kent, robin, maggie, carson, sam, kerrin, frank, jeanie, luke, weston, grace, nikki, shaiman, isaac, tristan, tiareh, coulter, rachel, joie, nicole, ruth, jordan, jennifer, sara, noah, jonah, bryan, katie, asher, gabe, liam, marty, stephan, chris, trevor, kendall, oli, zach, princess, joey, regina, leif, paul, cyrille, parrish, ted, slade, alan, tina, nicholas, ronnie, glen, don, seth, melissa, alley, sarah, tyler, rachel, brew, tim, sylvie, herman, .....................

run

In Forrest Gump, he (Forrest, Forrest Gump) is running. After he runs for a few years, this guy starts running beside him and telling him how he knows that Forrest has it all figured out and how it has opened his eyes. Next thing you know everyone is following him.....their all being enlightened by this guy who hasn't even said a word, he's just running. The only thing he really says is "it happens" and "have a nice day" and some guys make money off of bumper stickers and a t-shirt. Man, people follow some dumb stuff.

Justice served, but not on a fancy platter of good defence.

Well, few things learned about court in the VI.
1. must wear closed toed shoes. Cannot wear flipflops and they will no accept "but we in de islands mon" as an appropriate argument to do so. Luckily for me, Ronnie's Pizza below the court room had a pair i could borrow.
2. Wear a jacket. Judges wear the black robe because its freezing, not because it is slimming.
3. (this is where we get into my ticket) If you have been wrongly accused of a parking violation (I say wrongly because if you are guilty, pay the ticket....i spend too much time driving around cruz bay looking for spots while you left your car in the 30 minute parking for 5 hours) then the best thing to do is to show up. I showed up. The parking ticket lady did not. She was probably just running late since it is abundantly clear that her watch does not work (thats why i got a ticket i didn't deserve). I sent an email exactly 20 minutes before the time that the ticket says i arrived in the parking spot. If you know where Maho is in relation to Cruz Bay, you know that is quite a feat. I brought that email with me as evidence for my complete innocence in the matter. Not only did she not show up, she did not turn in the ticket. They had no record of it existing. They asked for my copy, which i provided, then said "dismissed". They then looked at me awkwardly because i had not left the podium. I wasn't ready to leave. This was my day off of work, I was wrongly accused, i wanted my moment of justice. Instead, it got dismissed on ineptitude. I find it ironic because ineptitude is what put me there in the first place. Its a good thing this place has beaches.

Injustice

I am not much into public outcry over the workings of government, whether it be local or federal. Sure i have opinions and occasionally let them be known, but very rarely am I passionate about it. For me, where i am, there are more important things to study and meditate on than partisan politics and the workings of local governments. While i know that politics are important and will greatly effect my life regardless of how much effort i put into knowing the issues, i know that most everything is too complex to figure out without putting many hours into studying and loud people like Hannity and Bill Maher only skim the surface.

I generally shrug things off like an unfair government endorsed fuel surcharge for the ferries (even though fuel is now at its lowest point in a very long time and has been for months). Yes, it is now unecessary and should cease, but i'm not getting upset about it. Municipal services are a joke here, but that is just part of it and i can take it with a grain of salt. Sure the local police were given $100,000 to fight drinking and driving, but do not have a breathalizer and think that the legal limit is, "You know, i'm not to sure....but i think its around .5 or so." Its more of a funny story than something to get upset about.

But today i came face to face with injustice, and i cannot and will not remain silent. I don't confront strangers. I really only argue with friends and most of that is just to rile them up over something that i really don't care about. Today i was victimized by an agent of the government, and i feel that the system here has allowed it. I confronted my accuser but to no avail. "See you in court" i said. I try and make it a point to never react since it usually never involves thought of any kind, just a reflex of self. Because of this i generally let things go. But today the situation was very clear. I was right, I had done no wrong. I made sure that I was being a good citizen, yet I became a victim. I will go to court and fight this since it is my right as a citizen of the United States of America and a resident of the US Virgin Islands. I anticipate one of two outcomes.

The first is that I will be forced to prove my innocence, which will be hard. I have no real alibi other than those i passed in the street who know me. I have a record for where i was after 10:35am, but between 9:43am and then, i have nothing but my word and a hitchhiker who didn't seem like the fight the establishment kinda guy, or the kinda guy to wear a watch. Sure i waved to a few people, but will that be enough to convince the court? I hope that the courts will see my side and trust my honesty. That they will see the small amount of evidence i can present and rule in my favor.

The second possible outcome is that the whole thing is dismissed without much of a fight. If so, error is admitted, but probably because they know it is an issue, that I am not the first and will not be the last person so heinously accused of wrongdoing by this government official. If an issue is known about but not addressed, then in world we live in it is tolerated which is accepted which is condoned. I fear that this outcome will greatly upset me and should offend any other residents of St. John. This outcome could be bad for my health. I have never had high blood pressure, but I want Ripley's there just in case.

I will present my case here, on this blog first to let the good people everywhere know that i am innocent, that my good name will be cleared. I have until March 6th at 9:30am to compile the evidence, rehearse my opening statement, and then at that time in the confines of the justice system I will confront my accuser for a second time and expose the utter failings of the system.

Today I parked in a 30 minute parking spot at 10:32am. I arrived back at 10:54am to find a parking ticket. The ticket says I parked at 10:05am and it was written at 10:53am. This agression will not stand.

jet crash

A statement of the husband/father of the family killed when the fighter jet crashed into a neighborhood in California.

"I believe my wife and two babies and mother-in-law are in heaven with God," Yoon said at a news conference afterward. "Nobody expected such a horrible thing to happen, especially right here, our house."

Yoon said he bore no ill will toward the Marine Corps pilot who ejected safely before the jet plunged into the neighborhood two miles west of the runway at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. "I pray for him not to suffer for this action," Yoon said. "I know he's one of our treasures for our country."

Butterflies

There is a guy here this week i recognize from last year around this time. He is a really nice guy to talk to, but he does seem kind of odd at first, bed head and all. He can be seen on boardwalks sitting there, waiting for something. He has a really nice camera which tells you this is something he really cares about and does often. Most people probably walk by him and think its kind of odd but go about their day just like i did the first few times.

I remember the first time i stopped to ask what he was taking pictures of and how it was going. He opened right up about the butterflies. He had been sitting there for quite some time and I asked if he had taken any good photos, but he replied "Not really". He said it can take a really long time, but that when he gets a good one its so worth it. From where we are standing, behind him is Whistling Key with the turquoise waters surrounding it. Most are in awe of that view, and fill their cameras with dozens of the same photo. Not him, he's got his back to it. Something tells me he may not have even been to the water yet. He loves the butterflies, and that is why he is here.

We are intended to take care of this world. God created this guy to love and watch over his butterflies. Others were created to take care of sea turtles or horses or dogs and cats. Some will care for plants. We were each created to care and look over something. If we all did our part in caring for creation and each other the way we were intended to, seems we wouldn't have the problems we have. Starvation? Pollution? War?

Sometimes its easy to look at something, like a butterfly, and admire its beauty for only a fleeting moment. What would be the point of creating something that most would pay little attention to? But that's what makes this world so amazing, that nothing was made plain. Everything is intricate and beautiful in its own way, and there is always someone there to appreciate it.

This guy is lucky. He may seem odd to most, but he has something to be passionate about and many would struggle to name their passion as fast as he could, i know i can't.

I'm thankful for the dumbest bird God created.....Turkeys.

There are only a few occasions when thanksgiving isn't that great. First is when you get assigned to be a Pilgrim instead of an Indian. Face it, Pilgrims are lame. The hats are embarrassing and you can't really spice up black and white. Indian's on the other hand, are much more fun. You get to wear feathers and decorate your own vest made from a brown Krogers Bag. It can have hand prints, and deer, and buffaloes, and bows and arrows. And you can't argue that Runs Like the Wind and Squatting Dog aren't much cooler Thanksgiving names than Jedidiah and Esther. Thanksgiving also isn't that great on islands.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday because there is no pressure. You don't have to buy any presents or decorate the house or tree. You don't have to wear a certain color scheme. The Iron Bowl is only two days away. You can eat more on that day than is physically possible on any other day. And then, you get to nap. Not because you are lazy, but because it is a fact that turkey has sleep medicine in it (please comment with name of that drug). Also, its always on a Thursday, so you take Friday off of work and you get a 4 day weekend, getting Wednesday off too is even better (important to note that in the hotel industry, you don't get extra days off, only your scheduled days).

I spent my Thanksgiving Day on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. Kind of ironic that most of my day was spent in a country that doesn't celebrate the holiday. After that I had dinner at Maho and the food was great and abundant. Friday went sailing in the Thanksgiving Day Regatta out of Coral Bay which was nice, but even after spending two days on the water and on beaches I'd give it up to be in Kentucky with family.

I have held on with one foot in the world for far too long. While maintaining this slight grip, it has hindered my growth in the Lord. This is not to say that I have not been changed or that I have not progressed, because i certainly have and am thankful for it, but i cannot help but think where i would be had i released completely sooner. There are a few reasons i feel i maintained my grip.

First, a fear that i would become irrelevant in the sense of no longer getting it like an unhip parent of sorts. I held onto a false assumption that if I did not keep just a foot in, that I would all of a sudden lose my ability to understand those who remain. As long as i still had issues, i would be able to relate. As long as i could relate, it would prevent me from becoming judgmental which leads to my second reasoning.

Second, a fear that i would become judgmental. I feared that if i did not hold on to a least a few small things by keeping a foot in there that I would become a judging Christian who looked down on others, that i would lose my ability to love them and to care. Once i was out, wouldn't it be easier to condemn those who were still there or were struggling with something? I was afraid I would become unsympathetic. Many are hurt by the judgments of those who have no right to the gavel, and that is a problem the church has had historically. I want no such gavel.

I am anxious to move forward as i feel a burden has been lifted and I can move faster and wiser toward the man i will be.

Its a Dogs Life.......seriously

I've been starting a youth group here on St. John. We do a bible study every Wednesday at Ronnie's Pizza. Last week i informed my group that we would be doing some sort of community service as a group, although no one would be required to help. James 2:18 "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."

I said we can raise money for a charity, we can clean up something for someone, we can feed people who need feeding. We can do anything you want as long as it is not for ourselves. They seemed skeptical at first, until they had something to go with. They chose raising money for the ACC (Animal Care Center). The ACC for the last few months has been extremely low on cash. They have too many animals and not enough money for an employee, food, or utilities. If they run out of money they will have to put down all of the kitties and puppies.

Now i know that most youth groups in the states would chosen starving children, or disaster area like New Orleans, or money for missionaries. But this is St. John, and we've got our own drum beat. This is what is important to the kids and its great that they are willing to put forth the effort. We will be having a bake sale on Sat Nov. 22nd (location TBD) to raise money. They are going to bake and get others from the church to donate edibles to sell as well. I'm glad they chose something they care about. Even the boys are baking and making lemonade. This is going to be a good year.

Sept Still Awesome

Well, no more sailing. With engine difficulties and stolen dinghies, planning was becoming more and more difficult. I decided to forgoe the sailing even though i know it would be great. So I will spend three days in Costa Rica instead. I'm going to give the solo traveler a shot, kind of like a sabbatical. I'll go rafting and hiking and whatever and i'll be the only one in on the decision. I normally thrive off of having others around, so one of two things will happen:

1) I will discover that being alone every now and then is awesome and something i should have been trying to do sooner.
2) Being alone sucks like i previously thought and to never try traveling alone again.

Its either going to be enlightening or boring. But either way i'm gonna be in Costa Rica so who cares. Now all i have to do is actually set dates and buy tickets, which is proving more difficult than originally thought. But once i can hammer that out, i'm on my way.

Favorite Part of the Olympics?

Tonight I was asked what my favorite part of the olympics was. I thought about it and i don't have a favorite olympic sport that i look forward to. The opening ceremonies is a huge ongoing peeing contest. Every four years the opening has to be bigger and better than the previous, "oh yeah? well watch this!"


My favorite part of the olympics is when they show how many medals each of the countries have. USA is always in the top, the last three summer olympics we are number 1, and here are our results overall. Its one of those moments where everyone watching all over the country has a sense of pride. We get special cups at fast food restaurants with your favorite athletes you've never heard of and contests you can win by ordering bigger fries and America winning. It transcends political differences. America.

Sept Awesomeness

Remember this post?

Yeah, me too. Still not going around the world anytime soon as i chose being an adult instead. I will however continue to go places i haven't gone. In sept i will visit Costa Rica for a few days on my own unless someone wants to come with me. After that i head to meet my friend Josh in Panama where we will team up with our buddy Doug who we crewed for when we worked for Calypso doing sailing trips. We will sail around the San Blas islands for a week. After that back to Nashville, not quite as exotic, but still good. Phileas did it in 80 days, i'll do it eventually.

Summer Camp, from the other side

Traveling with younger teenagers is an experience i will not soon forget. Four of them flew to the states to go to camp at Double Head Resort with me and my old church in Nashville for the week. I drive to Birmingham to meet them and take them the rest of the way. As i'm driving to the rendezvous, i pass a beautiful barn up on a hillside about 45 miles out of Birmingham. It sits in front of a large pond with nice fence rows all around. I admire the barn, not knowing that this would be one of six times that i would pass it. When they first hop in my vehicle, one of the girls informs me that she left her wallet on the plane and that it had not been turned in yet. One of the boys tells me that he was pick pocketed at the airport, so he also has no money. About the time he is finishing with his story, i receive a text from his mother letting me know that someone turned in his wallet, they found it in his seat on the plane. I wonder how the pickpocketter knew which seat was his, he must be a professional. So we are 50% at this point on making it to camp with our belongings.

It is obvious by the nonstop twitching and wide eyes that they have done nothing on the ride from Atlanta to Birmingham but dip candy into sugar and take the occasional breath. Their stomachs are full, but i decide that a little substance will do good to suck up the remaining sugar that has not yet entered their system. Wendy's is the unanimous decision. "Go ahead, order what you want". I realize i should have been more specific, rookie mistake. The two boys each order a frosty.....thats it....just frosties (sugar). The girls split a frosty and some actual food. Instead of prevention, i could have very well sent one of them into a sugar endosed coma. How to explain that to a parent was not in "Taking Kids to Summer Camp for Dummies".

Well we get on the road and radio station roulette begins. Round and round we go....static...static...half a song...more searching...girls love the country songs, unfortunately neither one of them were up on their shotgun calling reflexes, so more searching...another half song...then a song they love which i am forced to change because of its lyrics (that WAS in the book)...and so the story goes. We are having a pretty good time, everyone is excited to be going and are asking all kinds of questions i can't answer because i myself have never been to this particular camp before. The guys number 1 topic of conversation are the girls who will be there. One of them notices the barn (passing #2) and they start talking about how cool it is. After shortly passing the barn (remember, 45 miles out of Birmingham) the other girl says, "Oh no, i lost my purse!". We go through the whole "when is the last time you saw it?" dialog, all the while telling the boys to be quiet and to leave her alone, to find out the last time it was seen was on the back of the chair at Wendy's....."who needs another frosty?". So we turn around to head back to recover the goods. Oh look, there's the barn (passing #3). We make it to Birmingham and the kids laugh at the cars going in the other direction because they are sitting in traffic. I wonder to myself how long it will take them to realize that we will make a u-turn and get into that line ourselves. We make to Wendy's but I determine that letting them go in is a bad idea, so I go myself to retrieve the treasure. After getting in the car and getting the inventory on what's in there, I realize that I spent more on gas in my Tahoe than what is in the purse..................thanks OPEC. Luckily the traffic is flowing nicely as we are departing the city (again) so it is smooth sailing. 45 miles later we see the good ole barn (passing #4). No problems after this point. Along the way one of the boys points ahead to a distant hillside and remarks, "From here to there is St. John!". I'm not sure it was quite nine miles but he was right, this was definitely more land than we had seen in a long time. We make it to camp just in time to be the last ones through the dinner line. As we walked in the boys immediately began taking account of the girls around them.

After dinner it was time for us to find our cabins. The girls went off with their female leader and I took the boys to our cabin to see who else i was in charge of for the week. I walk into my first "Of course, that makes perfect sense....." moments of the week. There is a futon mattress and pillows all piled up in the middle of the floor. The Nashville kids had already been here for a few hours since we were running the Barn Circuit for the last three hours.
"Why is everything in the floor?"
"We were jumping over the balcony onto it."
"Of course, that makes perfect sense......"

"Why is there a steak knife on the floor?"
"Oh, well, if you take it and toss it like this, it will stick in the ceiling (demonstrating as explaining) like this"
"Of course, that makes perfect sense......"

The cabin is right on the lake. We have our own dock which it takes only 3 minutes of being there before the rocking chairs end up on it. We are all pretty excited to be at the lake and we run around checking things out. I walk back inside to hear a noise, a noise that i am pretty sure i have heard before. If this noise were played over the radio in one of those "name that sound" contests, i would definitely have tickets to a concert.

"I thought i told you not to throw knives at the ceiling?"
"We aren't, we are throwing them at the wall." says the kid at the top of the stairs
"Of course........"

Needless to say we didn't eat anything the rest of the week that needed to be cut. By the way, if anyone ever says they bet you can't stick a butter knife in drywall, take that bet.....it can be done.....

This is just the first five hours. Other things we learned at camp were it is possible to fill a water balloon with chocolate pudding, which is valuable to know. You can also fill one with lighter fluid, but it will soon pop because it eats through the rubber in seconds. If you fill one with a carbonated beverage, and shake it, the gas will expand the balloon and it will eventually pop. I feel that these few bits of information would definitely be useful in the second edition of "Taking Kids to Summer Camp for Dummies".

More learnings not involving water balloons:
When it comes to driving kids on JetSki's, the quality of the ride is determined by how close you can come to being flung off X number of times without actually being thrown off. Throwing them off is also acceptable. If you don't throw them off at least once, then they don't realize how close they came the other times which is the thrill of the moment. Other skills required to be known as the guy that everyone wants to ride with is the ability to send a wave of water onto an unsuspecting group of people on the pontoon boat (without actually running into said pontoon boat).
Young teenagers do not understand the concept of the "full flush", i will leave it at that.

We had a great week and they want to go back next year. We stopped at a gas station on the way back to Birmingham and you would have thought we were at Disney World. On St. John the gas stations only have gas, and that they only have sometimes. More candy was bought and novelty rings were tried on. $30 worth of food was brought to the register with only $10 cash to pay for it, so one by one, items were put back, with a subtotal given until we had it down to $10. Kids can evenly divide a bag of skittles into four even piles, but adding up the cost of that candy remains a mistery to them. Stopping at as many gas stations as possible on the way to camp next year has been added to the itinerary by the group. "Next time I come to the states, I am going to bring $50 and spend it all at a gas station!"

On the way back to Birmingham we pass the barn (passing #5) and find a Chik-Fil-A to eat once we reach the city to meet our rendezvous. Of course, a coke is spilled on the table. Actually half on a tray and half on the table/floor. Upon taking the tray to the garbage, the coke caught in the tray finds its way over the edge and leaves a stream from the table to the trash......"of course, that makes perfect sense...."


Look, theres the barn again as i head back to Nashville.

I just watched an iquana fall out of a tree from my office window. It was beautiful.

(he ran off and was not injured)

Today i watched two iguanas have sex. it wasn't beautiful.

Locked and Loaded

Supreme Court Rules on Guns

I picture people standing on the front stairs of capital buildings and in front yards all over the nation yelling yee haw and firing six shooters in the air when the decision was announced........and then that one bird who happened to be flying overhead falls to its death from a stray bullet and kind of dampens the mood.

I do think it is important to allow people the right to protect themselves in their home. Banning guns in homes will not stop violent crimes with guns, as they are acquired illegally anyway. I am glad i live in a place where i don't feel the need to have one, but I cannot speak for the neighborhoods that everyone else lives in.

Yee Haw

Living the life....sorta

It seems you can't go a week here without hearing at some point "Man i wish i had done that when i was young, you're living the life!". Seriously, i've been here since June 15 2005, so that makes a minimum of 148 times that i have heard that. Now, i am certainly not taking my island life for granted nor am i complacent with where I am. I certainly know that I am blessed to live in the house i live in, with the job i have, on the island i love. Please do not misconstrue any of this for that. Here's my point, Dude...

Blue waters and white sand do nothing to alleviate the everyday normal stress, problems, mishaps, and difficulties that companion everyday life. When your interactions are with those who believe that the everyday normalities could not exist here, it only adds to the situation. Islands still have rent, taxes, and people who have to eat, bathe, and clothe themselves. There is no escape from that. The escape is the end of the work week when your days off are sand filled instead of traffic and mall filled. But rest assured that you WILL work harder during those five days for the small things that come easy stateside. If the average ATM in America breaks once every 3 months, the average ATM here will be down three times every two weeks (which is 33% of all machines on island, assuming only one of the two ATM's at First Bank is down). If the printer at the DMV goes down in the states every six months, they will plug in one of four extras and no time is lost. Here, try back on Monday, but check the calendar because of the 52 Monday's a year, 37 of them are VI Government Holidays.

Part of what makes life here great is that you work really hard for the season, and then things slow down and you can enjoy yourself. What makes life hard here for those whose income depends on visitors (which is everyone) is that you work really hard for the season, and then things slow down and you are no longer making money. There are the same number of businesses competing for a third of business.

Entrepreneurs will come and go here. People give up the city or suburbia America and bring their life savings to St. John to give it a go. They've got a great idea that no one has thought of and they are going to do really well. They pack up, show up, set up, break down, tear down, and head back to the suburbs with their head down. You try to be supportive and you give the new eatery or coffee shop or all-in-one (because no one ever tried that here before.......) place a shot because you honestly want others to succeed. If only someone had done their homework, or given us a $500 consulting fee to tell them, "We realize that you are a hard worker with a lot of passion. However, the space you want to put this business in, well, the last four hard workers who tried that same idea in the same bad location shut down. We realize that the difference between you and them is that you will change the color scheme, but you should keep your life savings and come visit twice a year. It will be much cheaper." But alas the "For Lease" sign goes back up in the window after having not been down long enough to collect dust.

Paradise is not easy, there is an inherent tax built into your life that is difficult to explain. Everything here is Come and Go. The tourists come and go, the season comes and goes, your friends come and go, businesses come and go. But there are many people who remain. They have adapted to the pace, allowed to initial frustrations to become a normal part of life, figure out how to work with the quirks, passed the test, and life is good. Actually, although hard, life on St. John is great. The key is to make sure the "and" in Come and Go lasts a long time.....three years and counting.

What a lot of people are thinking

Interesting article. I don't get a vote though.

Obviously a lot of other people are not thinking this as she still has a lot of support.