Quick Update

The Cirque du Soleil show was AMAZING!  I loved every bit of it, especially since I was with such good company whom loved it just as much.  If I had one regret from the whole night it would be that we didn't take a single photo.  Don't worry I'm sure we'll get all dressed up again for something else someday and we'll get a good photo together.

The draft of the episode from Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin has finally been privately released for review!  That means that instead of airing in January like we were originally told, it might air in April.  We'll see.  I'll post something about it once it is scheduled to air.

The house hunt process is moving along.  I know that's vague but I'll say more about it later.

Thank Goodness!

Christina's trip to Broad Key for field work this weekend has been canceled due to inclement weather.  This means that she is free Saturday and Sunday and I will not have to drive her back and forth an hour each way.  YES!

The housing search is still under way.  It's getting more interesting but there's still a ways to go before I'll be able to find a solid place and be convinced 100% that it's where I want to be.  Prospects are improving though.

My parents are coming in town next weekend!!!

Hurdles

I came down with sneezing, runny nose, and sore throat upon waking up yesterday.  I went diving for work at noon and then came home.  Christina came over to bring me tea and juice which was utterly fantastic but unfortunately didn't bring me back to good health.  I'm not much better this morning which isn't a very good thing because I'm teaching class today in Rick's absence.  The lecture for this topic (dive tables and their history) will realistically only take a bit over an hour, maybe 1:20 but it's probably going to feel much longer.

Tonight I will take it easy and unless I magically pull out of it, I think I'm going to cancel my rock climbing plans for tomorrow.  Sad times.  On the bright side, I shall overcome.

Life and Limb

Today my heart goes out to a man I never met.  His name is Aaron Cohen.

I rode my bike to RSMAS today at 8:30 and was pleased that I did when I noticed a horrible and unusual traffic jam toward the entrance of the island.  I immediately patted myself on the back for deciding to go green today by leaving my car at home.  As I breezed past the hundreds and hundreds of cars and made my way onto the Rickenbacker Causeway, I noticed flashing lights at the top of the bridge up ahead and assumed it was a car accident.  As I passed the scene and got a closer look, I saw police talking to each other near two mangled bicycles.  No car, no victim, no witnesses, just two police cars, some flares, a couple cops, and two beat up bikes.

Photo: blog.mayacycle.com - Not from the accident today.

I continued along my way to find out much later that what I had passed was the scene of a hit and run.  Evidently a motorist in a silver Civic hit two cyclists a bit after 6am and never stopped.  One of them is now recovering from a broken leg while the other, as of 2 hours ago according to a local news source, is suffering serious life-threatening injuries.

I try to ride my bike to RSMAS once a week on average and I'm very familiar with that stretch of road as a cyclist because it's one of the few places in Miami that is bicycle friendly by the fact that it has a particularly large bike lane (the fact that it has a bike lane at all is a huge deal).  I always see people making good use of it every day whether I'm one of them or not. 

As someone who frequents the causeway by bike this story really hits home.  Seeing the bikes myself really pounded it in.  Just like his bike, Aaron Cohen is lying down broken right now on account of a horrifying hit and run.  My heart goes out to him and his family as well as any and all cyclists who have been harmed in the unforgiving cycling environment that makes up Miami.

EDIT: Aaron Cohen passed away in the hospital on Thursday, leaving behind his wife, 3-year-old daughter, and 1-year-old son.

EDIT: The 24-year-old responsible for the fatal hit and run finally turned himself in the next day after a very public city-wide search was under way for a car matching his description.  He was driving on a suspended license and has a history of traffic violations and drug charges.

Progress Please

I spent two hours this morning with my realtor driving around looking at properties although there are none that are available for going inside.  This entire process is going to be much slower and far more painful than I imagined.  He was telling me about clients that sometimes wait over a year to find a house; I am not going to do that.  I'm not going to wait one, two, or three years for the perfect house to come along.  I would rather get a good place and move in soon that wait ages while continuing to pay rent living where I am now.  The time has come to move on and I'm starting to realize that it would have been wise to start this search back in September.

Oh and on an unrelated note: through the Diver's Alert Network, I can now teach Diving First Aid for the Professional Diver, including Basic Life Support, CPR, AED, First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries, Oxygen Administration, and Advanced Oxygen.

Meet the Parents

First of all, the ticket situation is now officially sorted out.  Thankfully I do not have to sell the tickets that I bought.  One of the 3 instructors of Christina's field methods class managed to swing it so that she will be done at 5pm (March 3), will be taken by boat to North Key Largo where I will pick her up, will drive all the way up to Miami where we will see the show, then I will drive her back down to the place I picked her up very early the next morning.  Sure it's not ideal, but I am utterly thrilled that we were able to work it out because otherwise it would have been a financial loss, a loss of good seats, a loss of time and energy in selling and re-purchasing tickets, all for the same amount of time together.  I'm more than willing to drive an hour to Key Largo to pick her up and drop her off.  I'm thrilled about the show too!  I've never seen Cirque du Soleil before and I'm really excited.  Check out the trailer, it's really cool.

Christina's mother has been in town since Monday and her father arrived Friday morning.  Naturally I met her mother Tuesday and her dad Friday night.  Collectively I've spent 3 evenings with them and had a great experience each time.  Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous to meet them and I kept wondering if I was supposed to be nervous and it got to the point that I was starting to get nervous about my lack of nervousness.  My gut instinct of calm confidence ended up being reasonable after all because I've had a fantastic time hanging out with Christina and both of her parents.  It looks like we might not see each other for about 5 more days but that's alright.  She has a lot going on and we'll get to share time together soon enough.

I have church and climbing tomorrow but if something comes up with houses, then I would drop climbing and go see properties.  The housing search is one of my top priorities these days and really I can't find a house soon enough.  I'm so ready to move into a house of my own that I can't even put my eagerness into words.  Patience is key.

House Hunting

I finally met up with my realtor today for a couple hours to cruise around town and drive by some of the areas and houses we are interested in.  We weren't able to go in any of them but the morning was worthwhile.  I'm starting to learn that the market right now is very competitive.  I feel like a lioness stalking prey patiently biding my time but when I finally find the one I want, it's going to be a pounce and a fight to get it.  There have been instances where buyers are so competitive that after viewing a house they will put the key in the door and break it off so no one else can get in and see it for a few days while the lock gets fixed.  Overall there really isn't much of a selection which is a hard reality to accept for someone who is determined to move into a place of his own.

The key is patience.  Mine is wearing out but I need to grasp it with both hands and never let it go.  Being such a big investment, I'm not going to jump into anything unless I'm sure it's what I want.  The only thing is that as soon as it comes on the market, I have a very short time to make the decision whether I want it for sure or not or else someone else will pull it out from under me.

Follow-Up

Oh yeah!  I taught class on Wednesday and I never said how it went.  I ended up finishing with 20 minutes to spare which I think was well-received by the students.  Rick's lectures usually take the entire time because he has so many stories to go along with everything but since I don't quite have the stories that he does, I keep everything concise and to the point.  It may be slightly less interesting but I imagine it's equally as straightforward and I cover all the information that needs to be covered.  I'll be teaching a few more lectures throughout the semester so we'll see how it goes.  One down and I feel pretty good about it.

Adaptability

Snapshot of the show.  Photo: www.thegrio.com

Don't you hate it when you try to support the arts while also planning a great night by putting a whole bunch into two tickets for a show and then someone changes your plans and makes it impossible to go?  Yeah, I do too.  I'm quite flustered about it but hopefully I'll be able to change the tickets (which were delivered today).  I need to get it together and do all I can to change the seats to another day.  Yes I'll be hit with a whole lot of talk about massive non-refundable fees and ultimately our seats will be way up in the nosebleeds instead of really close but I need to do what I can to make it still work out the best that it can.  I'll work on that a little bit tomorrow.  My hope is that I'm overreacting and it's not going to be an issue.  Time will tell.

I went to the grocery store tonight and was reminded how in Florida the baggers are trained to use as many bags as possible.  I left my reusable bag in my car and my 7 items were placed in 3 different bags.  I would have been happy with 1 but 2 seemed reasonable so I grabbed the bag that had one thing in it and moved it to another bag, gave her a warm smile, made a kind comment about saving some of her supply, and headed toward my car.

The dean and assistant dean of RSMAS seem to be trying to make a change to the diving program that could change my job considerably.  There haven't been enough meetings and nothing has been set in stone yet but if this new policy goes through, it would not be good, at least for a couple years.  More details will come once more has been decided and made public.

This Is Where I Live

Miami is a very bizarre city and I still haven't quite figured it (the city) out yet.  The Miami Herald wrote an article (found here) about how Miami was recently dubbed the #1 most vain city in America.  The article referenced the poll that was used by saying, "the survey found that half of Miami respondents consider themselves an 8, 9 or 10 in looks."  In an area of the country that looks so beautiful, it appears people are trying to do their best to look better.  I pass advertisements every day for breast augmentation, liposuction, cosmetic plastic surgery, tummy tucks, butt lifts, botox, the list goes on.  Even so, Miami is not only about looking good but it's about having the lifestyle to match:
"On top of that, a Prada dress doesn’t have to be covered up by a parka, or those Christian Louboutins traded in for lug-soled boots. 'You can always wear expensive high heels in Miami, and the worst thing that is going to happen is they get rained on,' she said. In fact, Miami consistently ranks as one of the largest luxury car markets in the country, and local designer shops generate top revenue, thanks to high-net-worth residents and visitors who are willing to shell out for high-end goods."
For a country that has gone through a recession, true colors shine through when priorities are made apparent.  People in this city will willingly put themselves deep into debt to buy things they cannot afford whether it's clothing, accessories, cars, boats, mansions, or cosmetic surgical operations.

Yes, all of this is true and I've seen it with my own eyes.  That being said, the city has tons of good things to offer, starting with the natural beauty that I alluded to earlier which brings me finally to what I did this weekend.

One of my students last semester is in his 50s and has a yacht which he used to take the diving class for a field trip to the Bahamas for some dive training (and of course a great experience).  He is one of the most genuine, down-to-earth, fun, and generous guys I know.  Since his wife works or volunteers with Teach for America (TFA), he is involved by association, something he is not unhappy about.  Last week he invited me and Christina to come join him in leading a beach cleanup project for 9 TFA teachers.  We met him at the marina at 8 and hopped on his 50' boat to pick up the crew.  Highlights of the trip include the stunning land and seascapes that we were surrounded by during the entire trip, the smell of the ocean which was more present than usual for some reason, and running aground.  That's right, since Biscayne Bay is so incredibly shallow and the boat has a draft of just over 3ft, we pulled up about 200 yards away from an island to clean and the boat waited while some of us hopped off and swam ashore to see how much trash needed to be picked up.  While we were there, the boat had managed to plant itself on the shallow sea floor of very mixed substrate (hard, soft, sandy, gooey, slippery, spiky, spongy, etc).  When walking through the 3ft murky water there was no telling what texture(s) you would feel with the next step.  After trying to free the boat with its own power to no avail, Steve asked for volunteers to get out and push so of course I was the first one back in the water.  After a lot of grunting, pushing, heaving, straining, slipping, and straining, we managed to free the boat about 30 minutes later.  By the time we dropped everyone back off, they were endlessly telling us how thankful they were to have had the opportunity to see the city from a completely new and exciting perspective.

Moving the boat.  Photo: Steve

After dropping them off, we went immediately to RSMAS where we picked up a good portion of our former dive class and Steve took us all out for a swim in the bay and a joy ride around Key Biscayne and a little bit of downtown Miami.  On such a beautiful day, I cannot describe the happiness I was feeling of being on the water in such a stunning place with such a fantastic group of people.  We eventually dropped off the rest of the class after which Steve took us back to the marina where my car was waiting.  Christina and I drove back home and temporarily parted ways to prepare for the night.

One of the students in the class last semester (who was on the boat) recently got engaged to a guy named Alex.  Alex had a birthday and invited us to his fiesta-themed birthday party on Key Biscayne which we went to and had a fantastic time.

Today included church, working on Wednesday's lecture, following up on the housing search, pizza, more working, napping, then briefly visiting Christina around dinner time.  Tomorrow is back to work as usual which of course I love.

Yes, Miami may be the most vain city in America and perhaps even in the world.  It might be fake, it might be plastic, and it might be obsessed with image.  Even so, it has a lot to offer.  It is a city with a character unlike any other place in the world.  It is a city with rich diversity.  It is a city overlooking a large fraction of the country's coral reefs.  It is a city that honestly is gorgeous on the outside.  It is a city surrounded on both sides by national parks.  It is a city that offered me a job.  Furthermore, for now, this is the city I call home.

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