Dr. Christian

The last thing I ever thought I would be is .... well no, that would be a politician.  Let me rephrase that.  One of the last things I ever thought I would be is a teacher.  This doesn't include being a dive instructor because although I was technically teaching diving, it was never going to be a permanent thing.  There was no classroom, it was all on my own time, I wasn't working for a school, there weren't really any lectures, I had no contract, etc.  Let's not argue semantics and agree that I wasn't a teacher in the typical sense of the term.

Photo: www.napavalley.edu

Now I suddenly look at where I am and what I'm doing to realize that I have become a teacher even in the more traditional interpretation.  On Wednesday (a week from today), I am going to give the Physics lecture in our 2-hour diving class.  Rick is already going to have me teach at least two other lectures when he's gone this semester and if he ends up being needed in Australia, I could end up teaching 4 more classes at 2 hours a piece.  Sure it's only 8 students who I consider friends, but it's still a college course at the University of Miami.  The feeling I have is not anxiety, but rather more along the lines of excitement.  Most of the excitement is due to the fact that it is a new experience for me; it's the reaffirmation that I really am in a grown-up job working at a university and now giving lectures to a mixed graduate and undergrad audience.  What's more is that it shows that Rick has the faith in me to take control of the class.  Sure I know that teaching a few lectures is not really a huge deal in the grand scheme of things but I'm enjoying the novelty of it while it's still new.  Remember, I like to appreciate the little things.

Weekend Festivities

Most of this weekend was spent hanging out with Christina because first of all I enjoy it so much and second of all I know that as the semester picks up we'll both have less free time.  It started off with dinner Friday night where we made excellent veggie pasta.  Since everything came together in such a short amount of time last semester, we were hesitant to jump into anything but considered ourselves dating.  During dinner we agreed that we still like each other a whole lot and decided to formally move into the boyfriend/girlfriend stage.

For Saturday I made plans a couple weeks ago to go to a festival with her to a place about 30 minutes south (Homestead) but didn't give her any clues about where we were going or what we were doing.  She had been dying to know any sort of detail but I revealed nothing until we arrived.  The event was the Heritage Festival at the Fruit and Spice Park.  There were local arts and crafts, a little food, and animals all nestled into a large plot of land acting year-round as a picturesque tropical fruit farm where we ironically neither took pictures nor ate tropical fruit.  It was a fantastic morning and afternoon and the surprise was a great success.  After visiting friends and having a game of euchre, we finished the evening off by trying a Mexican restaurant that had been recommended to me which also turned out to be a winner.

The next day I went to church which was not very interesting because our pastor had to leave for Tennessee to speak at a ... what's the word, not conference or convention but along those lines.  This meant that for the first time since I've been going to this church, he invited someone else to give the sermon.  He was decent but it was clear evidence that I really like the regular pastor.  At any rate, after that I went rock climbing then came home in the late afternoon/early evening and stayed in the rest of the night and relaxed.

Remember, Remember

From the top of Table Mountain looking over the city

I want to write about grand adventures and be descriptive and try to paint a picture about something awesome I'm doing.  Alas I have no stories, no grand adventures, no traveling, no scraping by in a cement-floor thatched ceiling room with a hole in the ground for a toilet and a hose for a shower.  My life is decidedly less exotic these days.

I was elected to be the representative for Broadreach today for a fair up in Boca Raton.  It went very well and I enjoyed it more than I anticipated.  However, it got me thinking about all of my experiences tramping across the globe.  I'm talking about adventures like sailing in Hawai'i, moving to the Philippines, seeing a soccer match in Indonesia, hitchhiking across New Zealand, and even hiking in Cape Town (pictured, but not part of this blog).  I love my life and as I've said before I do believe I'm exactly where I need to be but that doesn't mean that I can't indulge myself in reliving memories of my recent nomadic past.

Happy Holiday

The rest of the week at Little Salt Spring went well.  There were issues that came up as when some of the mapping had been done incorrectly or when two different objects had the same number label and these issues set everything back by at least a day.  However, we all worked hard and pulled through on the last day to finish on time.

I made it home safely and spent a good portion of the night at RSMAS with some friends I made in the last few weeks of last semester.  It was good to see them again and I'm sure it's the first of many times we'll run into each other.  Last night I went to some friends' apartment and watched the Broncos get obliterated by the Patriots.  Unfortunately the friends were on the side of Denver.  As for me I really don't care too much for the sport but came for the company so I left a bit disappointed.

Today was church and rock climbing. My church has started a year-long focus on grace and so far it's really cool.  Of all the churches I've ever been a part of, this is the first one that I feel really lives and breathes what they say and the way the pastor really digs to the core of every message, it speaks to me every week.  As for rock climbing, I was there for about 3 hours and got a very solid workout and managed to hit more or less every wall.  I love to climb and wish I could go more often.

Tomorrow night Christina comes back to Miami and I can't wait to see her again.  Classes officially start the following day although my class does not meet on Tuesdays so I will meet the new clan of students on Wednesday.

In commemoration of MLKJr day tomorrow, here is a video that pays tribute to one of my heroes.  When I think of true heroes and inspirational leaders, his is a name that always comes to mind.  The point of this video is to remind the world that he did have more to say than his famous "I have a dream" speech.  The creator of this video took ten of his favorite quotes and tastefully pieced them together.  Enjoy the video and have a happy MLK day!

Field Work

Little Salt Spring

Remember how I said that I need pretty constant stimulation? This characteristic renders me not impressed when I drive across the state to watch over a diving operation for a week that is already running smoothly. There are two reasons why I'm here: oversee the diving/tending to any problems or emergencies, and to become more familiar with Little Salt Spring and the way classes are run out here. Both are necessary but I end up doing nothing. I waited from 9 until 11 this morning for divers I was supposed to give an introductory dive. At 11, Dr. Gifford tells me that he misread their email and they were instead planning to come Wednesday or Thursday. After that, I filled tanks, weaseled my way into the diving schedule, and filled more tanks before dinner. I don't normally read but I allowed The Old Man and the Sea to stow away with me and I'm keen to start it.  Again, I understand  and agree with the reasons for having me here but I just need to find something to keep me busy.

Kicking Things Off

Last year was wonderful.  It was a year of discovering my life path.  This time last year I didn't even know what scientific diving was and now I'm teaching it at a college and graduate level.  I made friends, learned about myself and others, went to Belize and the Bahamas, got a job, started looking for a house, and really enjoyed life every single day of the year.  There were some rough spots but I learned how to overcome them and they taught me how to be a stronger more resilient person.

As for 2012, I don't really have goals other than buying a house.  I don't want to necessarily be goal-oriented and focus on the end product this year but I would rather make the best of every day and adapt to any changes that arise as the year progresses.  I do not want to tie myself to a specific self-formulated plan.  I've tried that and the reason it doesn't work is that we are not in charge of our own lives.  We make decisions that lead in certain directions and when we plan for things to happen, often times they do.  To say that we are completely in control of our own lives though is a fallacy.  The way I have chosen to live my life is not to come up with a plan and force myself and the rest of the world into that agenda.  Instead, I do what I love and adapt to what the world offers me, making adjustments here and there as needed, some big and some small.  In this way, I don't stress about failing to accomplish goals or being where I "need to be" because that will take care of itself.

To each his or her own.  This is my life and that's what works for me.  Here's to a happy and joyful 2012!

Something Beautiful

Saturday morning I was taken to the Salt Lake City airport where I spent my last bit of time with my family for what will be at least 3 months but likely at least double that.  It was a good time but really quite self explanatory.  I made it to my gate and characteristically chose to be one of the last passengers to board, found my seat, and got settled.  The captain announced his intentions for routing us around Colorado due to some turbulence there and the general consensus from the cabin was that no one really cared as long as we reached our destination on time.  The last passenger boarded, the captain announced that we were cleared for our new flight plan, and we eventually started making our way away from the gate, a move that lasted all of about literally 20 seconds before we hear the captain telling us that for our new flight plan we need about 1000lbs more fuel so we have to go back to the gate to refuel.  After about 10 minutes of fueling he tells us that we need some clearance and a little bit of paperwork before we can go anywhere at which point the sentiment from the cabin was something along the lines of "what the heck were we cleared for 15 minutes ago and why does that change after re-fueling??"  At any rate, we finally made it off the ground about 40 minutes behind schedule.  After a long week of skiing I had anticipated sleeping during the 2-3 hour flight to Dallas but I decided to delay my sleep during take-off due to the beautiful mountains seen through my window.  Keep in mind, living in the flattest state in the country I am completely deprived of mountains or even hills.

What I saw with my face pressed against the little airplane window was breathtaking.  It started out with the mountains that rose up from around the city of Salt Lake.  Rugged masses of land shot high up into the air with small bits of white snow on their peaks.  These mountains merged into others and they gradually changed shape and contours as we cruised past far above them.  My idea of isolation was restructured as I watched paved roads run for miles over the landscape weaving around canyons to stay on flat ground.  Occasionally a rooftop would glint in the sun for a few seconds and then disappear into the rocky panorama as if it was never there at all.  I took time to imagine myself out on those roads either coming from or going to civilization.  It seemed completely solitary out there.  I was spellbound as shallow rivers that fed from mountains snaked along in valleys they had cut out over hundreds of thousands of years.  I was mesmerized by the plateaus that would drop off vertically on one side and rise up to a tall summit on the other.  My eyes became tired as I did everything I could to stay awake staring at the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.  Eventually my body could hold out no longer and I woke up to the captain announcing our descent into Dallas.  When I looked out the window, all I saw was a vastly expansive plain with evident signs of farming.

The Dallas airport was much less interesting this time around.  I neglected to mention it before but on my way to Salt Lake City I had a 1hour 50minute layover in DFW and managed to meet up with Christina for almost an hour outside of security.  It was a real treat to see her again and made my Dallas experience extra special.  Unfortunately on my way back I got off the plane and literally ran to my gate and made it there as soon as they called my zone.  It was neither special nor fun especially as compared to my previous experience.

The last leg of the flight was enjoyable because in the final 30 minutes I looked out the window and saw fireworks bringing sparkling life to the land below us.  It was a cool perspective on something many of us are very familiar with.  I wouldn't say that it was necessarily better to see dozens of firework shows at once from a distance than it is to see one show close up, but it was a new and interesting perspective.

Dominique picked me up and took me to a friend of her's house and at about 11:30 we all went to Sandbar to bring in the new year.  Happy 2012!!

Sunshine Ahead

Here I am being excited about skiing

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Utah.  Even though I didn't get to meet up with my friend I made in South Africa, didn't have any snow, and didn't go wild and do any back flips or anything, it was a fantastic vacation.  I improved my ski skills, fell fewer than 10 times in 7 days, spent time in the mountains, got a great workout every day, and spent a lot of quality time with family.  To me, that is a successful trip.

Tomorrow I return to the sunshine state after 9pm.  It will be New Year's Eve.  Luckily I have already made arrangements for a friend to pick me up.  As for now I haven't packed but I'm too tired to do anything so I will save it all until the morning.  Inevitably everything is going to be stuffed into the suitcase so I'm not too concerned.  I came here with some room to spare in my bag anyway.

The forecast for my first day in Miami appears to be sunny with a high of 26 (nearly 80F) and I can hardly wait!

In Other News

Samoa has officially decided to cancel Friday 30 December 2011.  This is not a joke.  I can't help but feel a little second rate that Samoa is completely skipping over a day.  Here I thought the US was mighty enough to remove days from the calendar but I guess itty bitty Samoa beat us to it. 

Yes of course this is tongue in cheek but I still find it fascinating that Samoa can skip over a day thus forcing the international date line to jump to the other side of the small island nation.  It also makes me wonder what their December calendars look like with an empty space for Friday and then the 31st all alone.  Why did they decide to skip a Friday?  I would have much rather voted for a Monday or Tuesday.  How about all the Samoans who have birthdays that fall on the 30th of December?  If someone bought a plane ticket for the 30th, would it be completely invalid?  What about those who got engaged and decided to have their wedding on that day?  If someone bought a 3-day pass on the 28th to an amusement park for instance, could it still be used on the 31st?  What happens to TV programming that has a Friday time slot?  What about Samoan food that expires on the 30th?  Is it just going to be good forever?

These questions and many more are just going to have to wait until I meet a Samoan and ask.  Don't worry folks, I will be very ready when that day comes.

Rain Delay

It rained last night and into this morning so conditions will not be favorable.  I'm taking most, if not all, of today off from skiing.  I will rest, work on other things, and hopefully meet up with a Salt Lake City friend I met when I was living in South Africa 3 and a half years ago.