Chuck-E-Cheese

Our command had a fundraiser at Chuck-E-Cheese.  I only remember going here once as a kid, so I thought it would be fun to go.  Turns out they don't let adults in without kids, so I said I was here to meet people, and they let me in when I pointed to my friend with a kid.  There were some people here who came regularly and they knew which games let out the most tickets.  They also knew how many tickets they typically got with however many tokens.  Then they started playing the games.  The parents... not the kids.  It was gambling to them.  I played skiball, or whatever it's called.  The pizza wasn't bad.  It wasn't gormet, but it was decent.  And the cheesy bread was really good.  Top it off with an orange fanta and you are in business.  Chuck the mouse came out and danced with the kids every hour or half hour or something.  The kids were excited, I think the man in the mouse comstume cared much for it.  He was sort of lackluster.

Great Falling Lizards

Lately I've been having a problem.  These lizards have always enjoyed congregating on my front door.  I haven't figured out why.  I think maybe because it's slightly cooler next to the house?  Anyway, this is just a picture of a baby lizard.  They get bigger.  But they will hang out on the screen door.  And sometimes when you open it, they fall off.  They will hang out at the top of the door and, I'm guessing, jump off when it is opened.  So when you open the door - pause for second, otherwise you might end up with a lizard on your face.

Funny stories of the week

Newport, RI April 2015

So this week was short, due to Labor Day, but somewhat furious.  There was lots going on.  I had an Admin Board on Thursday, and I hate those, so by Friday afternoon I was worn out and ready for the weekend.  I had a bunch of scanning to do and the scanner is almost completely broken.  So it takes forever to scan something.  Also, the only scanner in the building is in the Admin department.  The people who work in the Admin department are always busy.  It's a very busy office.  So we were all tired on Friday afternoon.  Well, one of the junior guys in the office, while working at his computer decided to say, "today is a fantastic day."  Immediately we all started to grumble and correct him.  Without missing a beat and without turning around from his computer he said in the exact same tone "today is a regular day."  It was pretty funny.

A little while later one of the more senior guys started playing what I believe is the Admin office theme song.  It's the "Everything is Awesome" song from the Lego Movie.  It's really funny, especially at that time, because everything was difficult and most certainly not awesome.  But it's still awesome because we do awesome things.  So it's a good theme song. Shortly thereafter the junior guy turned around in his chair put his hands out in the air and said, more fervently this time, "Today is a fantastic day and I mean it!"  Hence why the theme song is appropriate-- even when things aren't awesome, they are.

Also on Friday, our CMC sent out an email saying his family had found an abandoned kitten and they wanted to give it away to a good home.  I really wanted to say yes because sometimes it gets really lonely, but I didn't.  Someone else adopted the kitten.  I was going to name it Captain Sparkles.

The best story of the week is after finishing my Admin Board, I made my way back to my building.  As I'm walking up the stairs to go to my office, the person going down the stairs said, "there she is, the scary person.  I don't want to be around you, I heard you're scary."  I was like "whhhaat?  Who said that?  Did someone really say that?"  I try hard to be approachable, keep things light, keep things funny, and overall not be an overbearing person, so I was surprised.  They guy was like "yeah, someone said that."  Then he was out the door.  I was a little taken aback.  Me?  Scary?  Who on earth would say that and be serious about it.  Clearly I had failed someone in the command if they thought I was scary.  I really wanted to know who it was.

Later that guy came to my office with his wife because they had a question about the Family Readiness Group.  He again said something like, "there's the scary person, we have a question for you."  I said "did someone really say that, like really say it and mean it?"  He said yes, it was the spouse of a person at the command.  He then said, "in your defense, the command member said, 'what? yeah, if you're afraid of kittens I can see how you'd be afraid of her.'"  Then I thought it was funny.  As long as it isn't someone I work with on a regular basis.

Walking out the tide

Hyatt back courtyard by their pool.

Piece of coral I saw.

More coral.

View of Hyatt from out in the ocean.  I could have gone further, but see below caption.

You can see how shallow it is and how easy it is to explore.

This is what you are walking through.  Notice the rocks.  Yeah, they aren't rocks, they are coral.  Difference between rocks and coral is that rocks get smoother as the current moves over them, coral does not.  Coral is sharp, very sharp.  I cut my ankles up a bit.  I had to stop and turn around because it was getting dangerous.  If you are going to hike out, wear shoes.  Protect your feet.

One day I decided to walk out and take pictures.  It was more difficult than I anticipated.  Since I had my fancy pants camera, I didn't want to fall and couldn't really use my hands.  Well, it may be shallow, but you are still getting hit with waves and trying to fight the current.  So you are very off balance.  Combine that with the fact that I was barefoot on sharp coral and you can see that I couldn't just put my feet any where the current pushed me.  So I went out a ways, started to realize I was in trouble and turned around.  I wanted to go all the way to the edge of the coral, but didn't make it that far.  I then walked down the beach.  A random native guy was like, "hey, do you want to take a picture of us, because I think we'd look good together."  It was very awkwardly said and I started to laugh before I managed a "no."  Terrible.  Do people really thing that's going to work?  And he was, like, 10 years younger than me.  Contrast that with the guy later down the beach who ran over asked if I wanted water because it was hot and he had a cooler full.  I said I was fine, but notice he was sitting with a girl.  Could have been his sister, but he's a good person who doesn't use cheesy pick up lines, so it could have been his girlfriend.  See the difference between those who get the girl and those who are bro-ing out with a bunch of dudes?

View from the Hyatt

Do you see the rainbow?

So I said in an earlier post that the sunsets on Guam are beautiful.  These are some of the sunsets I saw while staying in the Hyatt when I first arrived.  They are okay for Guam sunsets.  We get some really good ones.  In some of these photos you can also see the reef and how far it extends.  You can walk out there.  The Hyatt was okay.  The worst part about coming to Guam was initially getting here.  You have to buy all your food and eating out is expensive.  Then you have to rent a car for several hundred dollars a week.  Other than that, staying at the Hyatt was not a big deal.  I enjoyed having housekeeping come by, I enjoyed the view.  The drive was a bit far to base, but not terrible.  So it was a good stay, but I couldn't wait to leave because I was bleeding money while there.

Back half of the really, really long walk

This is the house I could have lived in.  Beach front property, same landlord.  But I didn't want to pull in right off a busy highway.  The people who did move in are really nice.  They go to church with me.  The wife was just called as the primary chorister.

This is the governor's complex.  That big chalice like thing in the back is a symbol of Guam but I can't remember what it's called.  You can climb up it, but it's only open from 9-3 on weekdays, so I'm working.

And this giant purple cow at a gas station.

This flower turned into the weird looking fruit a few photos down.  For whatever reason, these didn't load in order.

There are lots of national cemeteries and graveyards on Guam.

This is the city of Hagatna.

My friend stopping to take a photo at one of the beaches along the way.

Me taking a photo of the same beach.

The buildings in the background are in Tumon.  That is the tourist area, hence the hotels.

Hibiscus.  I haven't seen too many of these, but on this walk, there were a ton, so I'm guessing I'm not looking hard enough.

This is the weird looking fruit or pod or whatever that the flower I mentioned earlier turns into.

Houses on a hill.  All the houses on top are super fancy.  I need to figure out how to drive up there so I can go see them.  The cliff is really steep, though.

Another cow, this is in Tumon.  As I said, pictures are out of order.

The power lines are on concrete posts, which are not aesthetic at all, but they are more reliable then wood in this tropical storm prone area.  They all had different fish painted on them.  Apparently it's some sort of environmental conservation thing.  I never noticed until I slowed down and walked it.  Again this is more north.

I'm including all these pictures of buildings because Bryce said he wanted to see what Guam looks like.  So this is what all the cities on Guam look like.  Except the buildings actually look good in most of these photos.  You can't see how run down most of them are.

Another cow.  Cows are a thing here.  You are supposed to go around the island and try to find all of them.  I forget how many there are.

So these are a sampling of pictures from the back half of my really, really long walk.  We did make it to base, but around mile 17 or 18 it actually started getting a little difficult.  So we took less pictures.  After the walk, my legs were pretty tired.  And my knees and ankles hurt some.  It was interesting.  I kept thinking of the pioneers and everyone else in history that had to make walks like this while pushing handcarts or carrying heavy loads.  No wonder it took forever to get somewhere.  It also brought the phrase "a day's journey for a Nephite" to life.  I probably won't do this again, but it is something to talk about.  I need to get out and explore more.  I was good about that when I first got here, but now it's like, eh.  Probably because my friend who was really explory left.  Now I have to be like, "you want go out, you want to go out," with people.