Before and After

Aquaman and I had a good weekend of fun in the sun. In his case way too much sun = a burned back. This Saturday we went snorkeling, to the beach and for a hike. We had a great time! Bummer was I forgot the underwater housing for the camera, so no water pictures this time. Instead I thought I would bust out and old picture I had accidentally "recreated" this weekend. First a disclaimer: It is not the same swim suit. Being in the water so much and in wet suits a lot I go through swim suits pretty fast so my fav place to shop for cheap sturdy suits is newport news (http://www.newport-news.com) and they had this suit on sale (<$10) for a while, so this is my 3rd or 4th iteration (I swear)! Second disclaimer: The 2003 picture was just after a 2 week stint in the hospital where I only had liquid food from an IV, so the 2008 picture is much more realistic. But as you may notice I do have a huge smile in both pictures because this is one of my favorite places (by the ocean in a swim suit)!


And another big smile on my face for my favorite place of all... by Aquaman's side!

Good night, sleep tight, oh wait there are bed bugs

Well after a few weeks of unexplained bites on my ankles, legs, and now arms I have deduced that we have a bug problem :( SO this morning I let off 4 bug "bombs" in the house... Before you get too worried or think twice about visiting us let me say that bugs thrive in the tropics! It is really pretty common to have roaches, fleas, and or bedbugs at some point in time. So back to the bombs. Well we decided it would be a good idea to set them off as we left for work so the air would be cleared out by the evening. What I forgot to take into account however is that smoke alarms do not just sense smoke. I set the first bomb in the bedroom and the next thing I know the smoke alarm is going off like crazy. You would think after all this time I have spent in school I could figure it out, but like a fool I charged the bomb with a piece of cardboard wafting away the spraying poison like a maniac. I grabbed the bomb and managed to get it all over my hands and in my nails, and Unfortunately in my lungs. Dashing back out to the living room for some fresh air I managed to run to the 2 other smoke detectors and rip out their batteries and set off 3 more bombs. But I think the damage has been done. I know feel like I have been running my lungs off all day. First lesson learned: don't let the bugs get in, Second: Don't spray the smoke detector with a bug bomb, and Third: Whatever you do don't breathe until you are outside.

First Dive

Today I went diving with Husband (aka Aquaman) and a good friend. It was a beautiful day, which was good because traffic to the North Shore was bad. After a bit of a wait we made it to a place called Shark's Cove. The only down side to this dive was a rocky beach entry. So after climbing down the hill with weight belt and tank on it felt to good to jump on in. It was Aquaman's first dive with me and I felt a little bit like I do when I take students out, but he was great. He had a few problems with his BC leaking air, too much weight, and his mask fogging up, but he handled it like a pro. We made a 50 minute dive and saw fish, coral, crabs, sea cucumbers... and he even saw an octopus. The trip was finished off by pizza in Haleiwa, shopping at Patagonia (where almost everything was 40-60% off), and dessert (mango cheesecake and a brownie sunday). All in all a fun day I would love to repeat anytime. However we have decided our next outdoor adventure will be a hike on the ridge up the hill from here. So until next time...

New Home

Well I really can't complain about this new place I call home. It is sunny and ~80ºF all the time, I can see the ocean from my front door, and it is surrounded by coral reefs. What a difference from LA. I have not been honked at yet while driving, someone actually backed up out of the crosswalk for me while I was walking, and there is no smog. Sad but true, I was so used to the nasty stuff that when I drove to work the other day and saw how hazy it was it took me a few minutes to realized it was a small rain shower... NOT SMOG! There is the possibility to get vog which I guess would be some kind of volcanic induced smog. And mother nature's vog (in my opinion) beats pollution caused smog any day. So I took the camera out for the first time to an overlook on the other side of the island. Hopefully the picture quality will get better as I learn how to use the camera better, but for now here is what I call home.