Swarming Season

For anyone (such as yours truly) unfamiliar with March and April with respect to termites, let the records show that those two months are termite swarming months.  Although I didn't kill any today, I've found and killed about 50 over the past 3 days.  I've found a significant amount of ants outside the house but very few inside yet.  I have come across 2 dead cockroaches, one in the laundry room and one in my bedroom although that one wasn't entirely dead as it turned out.  I have a trivial leak in the Florida room ceiling and fairly serious but inconsequential leaking into the screened-in patio.  They are first world problems, yes.  However, they're still things that demand my attention as well as a long list of other things.  This has been a mentally demanding process, this buying a house thing.

Next weekend I'm flying up to Ohio to flag any furniture of mine in the basement which will be sent down to Miami for the new place.  It is going to be a lot of work sitting around in the basement sifting through two full storage shelves of things ranging from 1st grade writing assignments up through furniture.  At least I'll be able to see my family.

UPDATE: Since posting, the termite count seems to have dropped considerably.  I have only found one in nearly a week.  I know that they're not gone just because I haven't seen them in a while but it is a sign that swarming season is coming or has come to an end.

Life Changes

 It is rather amazing how much has happened since I last updated this blog.  It’s mind-blowing actually.

Screened-in porch

Living room, with view of dining room, Florida room, and bed/bathroom

There’s no sense in beating around it so I’ll just get to the point.  I finally bought a house!  Yes, it is true.  I have officially become a grown-up.  It is a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom single detached home in Coral Gables and it is perfect for me.  I’m including a few pictures that speak for themselves.

It has been a long time coming, or at least it feels that way.  Realistically it’s only been since November since I started searching but it felt like it couldn’t come fast enough.  It has a screened porch out back by the small backyard and then a smattering of trees and bushes in the front yard.  A couple owners ago was very much into horticulture and has a menagerie of plant species throughout the yard among which include a coconut tree and two mango trees.  I’ve spent the past week moving and settling in.  I’m not close to being done despite the few belongings I own, but I’ve been making progress.

Master bedroom

I’ve had the time to settle in but I’ve been keeping busy elsewhere because I don’t want to have my whole life sucked into the house.  Instead, time has been spent rock climbing, diving, seeing friends, and hanging out with Christina a whole lot.  I weeded almost the entire front yard today and trimmed most of the bushes.  There’s one that appears to be taking over some others but it’s spread so much that it’s hard to tell what’s supposed to be there anymore.  I cut it back and maybe in a few weeks I’ll cut it back even more until I can make sense out of what’s going on.

Living room

Kitchen

There are rumors about my job changing for the better but I won’t believe it until I see it.  Everyone gets the impression that the upper administration, since they are non-divers, see the diving program as something they could turn into a money maker.  They don’t see the benefit in giving it a little bit of a leash and letting it expand to the point that people would come to Miami specifically for diving.  Since the two head people of the Business Office have been fired for losing a 7-figure amount of money, there have been committees going through each part of RSMAS collecting information and presenting their suggestions to the dean.  The committee luckily has come to see the importance of the diving program and would like to expand our resources and realize a little more of our potential.  I say I’m not going to believe it until I see it because the administration still has to consider and approve/deny all of the committees’ suggestions.  I’m not hopeful. 

Hunger

I finished a book today in nearly record time.  Today is Wednesday.  I began on Monday.

The Hunger Games is a riveting science fiction novel where North America has been divided and ruled with a bit of an iron fist by The Capitol.  Food is scarce and much in this world is heavily regulated and watched.  One boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts are forced to be pitted against one another to survive.  The idea of the game is simple: if you're the last one alive, you win.  Character development is great, and there's never much of a dull moment as the book naturally beckons you to keep turning to the next page.  Now I'll have to see the movie.

As for my life otherwise, it's still great.  I was able to visit family (Margie, Karin, Mandy, and parents) over the weekend in Naples, then some of them (parents and Mandy) came to visit me in Miami.  Today Rick left right after class for 2 and a half weeks in Australia which means that I'm in charge of the diving program.  After class, my visitors took Christina and I out to lunch on Key Biscayne which was fantastic after which we dropped her off at RSMAS and I drove them around a bit before they left.

The housing process is still under way.

Yikes!

I'm getting seriously behind again!!!  Since my last post:

We took the class to Little Salt Spring
I turned 25 (woot!)
I found over 30 shark teeth on a single dive at Venice Beach
We all came back to Miami
I ended up on ABC for a few seconds
Christina and I have hung out a bunch
The housing process is making progress
I sat in on a meeting of the Diving Control Board
Rick got me excited about what our diving program could and hopefully will be in a couple years
Some family is coming in to Naples and I am heading over there to meet them tomorrow

I promise I'll update for real sometime soon.  As for now, I need some sleep.

Spring Break 2012!

I'm off to Little Salt Spring with the diving class for spring break.  I will not be taking my laptop there so I will not really be updating but stay tuned afterwards.  Hopefully I'll be able to get caught up on my parents being here as well as fill everyone in on spring break upon my return.

Also, tune in to ABC this Saturday morning to "Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin" (check local listings for times).  I will be on for a few seconds!

Also I can't believe my birthday is in 2 days!

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.