January 2012
4 posts
It's mah 40th birthday
Matt has decided since I turned 30 on the 31st, he needs an epic birthday. So today is Matt’s honorary 40th.
It was a good one, by all accounts, and he testifies to feeling nearly a decade younger. There was birthday cake for breakfast, men doing some hardcore tree climbing, a 2 1/2 hour wintry hike through People’s Forest (strangely there were no people to be found), and...
A bombardier ride in Yellowstone
For one beautiful, clear day we entered Yellowstone from the West entrance in this bombardier coach, below. Under the expert guidance of our Irish coachman and guide, Mike, we drove south into the park around 10am. We passed elk grazing on the banks of rivers. We followed eagles - mostly bald - as they dove after swans, geese and Canadian ducks in the rivers, and waited until they’d perched...
New Years in Jackson, WY
We spent the close of 2011 out in Jackson Hole. Since we were there in 2010 we’ve been hoping to return and see some of its wintry wonder. Our first foray in Jackson was brief, with a bison burger at the Cowboy and a night camping under the Tetons. We inappropriately fitted it all to the tune of Johnny Cash’s Jackson. Yes, yes, we know. This New Years my parents and Aus braved the cold...
December 2011
4 posts
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, or whatever strikes your fancy. Also, welcome Harvey, our newest - muppet - family member. He’s a PI from Fort Lauderdale, Fl. He adores cabaret and shrimp cocktail. He’s watching you.
November 2011
36 posts
Home Again
It’s funny how small the world really is. For some reason air travel still feels very strange to us. There’s something not quite right about being able to wake up in a hotel room in Thailand and 31 hours later climb into a bed in Connecticut on the other side of Earth. At least it seems odd that you can do it without getting scurvy, losing half the crew and sinking a ship. In any case,...
“Recuperation means doing things that make me happy.”
– Matt, in response to me telling him not to do something.
Dengue in full color
Thank you to everyone who has supported us with stats, a good word, or well wishes. Matt’s fever is finished, which should mean that his platelet count will begin to rise. He just took his first actual, real stretch - hands up high - without having an IV stuck into his hand. So he looks a bit less geriatric now. He’ll be doing another blood test tomorrow morning, and if his platelet...
“Twitching, sweating, aching and feeling generally assed-out with an exploding...”
– Matt, in response to my query, “Do you feel studly?” now that his fever days are finally behind him.
Do you want a sandwich?
Sometimes when you’re traveling with another person - your boyfriend, your partner - something happens to one of you and the other one doesn’t have obvious recourse.
It could be something silly like one of you is sad, not having fun, feeling sick, or stubbed a toe. Maybe you’re coming down with a cold. You may not even know what’s wrong. But things are happening and...
“Am I still raw?”
– Matt, asking if he still qualifies as raw food even though his body is cooking at 101F.
Gimme Shelter
There is a pretty amusing pattern we’ve fallen into when selecting and checking into a new hotel, cabin, bungalow, etc. On the island, it’s a particularly comical process.
Most of the bungalows are made of cement with wood or bamboo “accents” (and sometimes even wood accents made of painted cement!). They are in varying states of construction, repair and disrepair (and...
Life on an island
Turtle Island. Koh Tao.
After many trips to the clinic, it’s finally been determined I had bruising in my left inner ear (healed now) and am still recovering from a tiny, tiny rupture (no infection) in my right one. I also have sinusitis and fluid in both inner ears. Yes, we’ve figured out the what, but we’re flummoxed as to how the f*ck I managed all this without feeling any...
More on Bangkok flooding from CNN →
“It’s not “100% beef”, but I think they mean “100% beef,...”
– Anjuli, deciphering the contents of the khaki-colored burger we ordered (the patty had bread and onions in it)
Bangkok flooding from The Big Picture →
October 2011
30 posts
Will there be a curve?
We’re expecting the SSI test tomorrow to be pretty easy. An example question of what we’re envisioning follows…
How much faster does water absorb heat than air?
A. The speed of light
B. Pink panda bears
C. 25x
D. Blueberry pancakes
E. All of the above
Sound good to you?
“I keep getting ants on my face”
– Anjuli, at a restaurant on Koh Tao
Are you for SCUBA?
So far so good with our SSI instruction at Big Blue. Our instructor, Charles, is from Quebec and looks to be mid 20s. He’s very friendly, clear, and knows the coursework well. He’s certified around 300 people over the last 2 years he’s been working at BB.
As for SSI, it’s the newer, more flexible (teaching-wise) instruction from some of the guys at PADI (the most popular...
