On my way to be a CCR Diver

I've been certified as an Open Circuit (regular) scuba diver for more than 10 yrs now, been diving in many places around the world and now that I live in the Cayman islands I dive quite frequently.

In 2005 a met a wonderful man whom I felt in love with and from the first day we met and started talking about our hobbies we came to found out we both loved scuba diving, but in his case he was a more experienced diver than me and also a technical diver, meaning he dives Close Circuit Rebreathers.

So, since I've together with this man, he always had the idea that he wanted me to learn that type of diving so we can both go together and dive on the same system.

Well, few years past, we got married and just a few weeks ago he finally bought me an Evolution Rebreather to get me into it...

I will not really going to get into the details of this type of diving (yet!)!

Today I started my CCR certifications and all I have to say so far is that I have a lot to learn, it is very technical and very different than regular open circuit scuba diving, but I'm happy and hopefully once I learn it and get used to it I will be diving it lots.

The way you make me feel... shocked!

For the past few days since the passing of Michael Jackson, the media but mostly society shocks me once again (and not necessary in a good way).

In a certain way I feel for the passing of MJ but only because he was a human being just like you and me, who had dreams, nightmares, desires and just like many of us fears about life and himself. Besides that I do think he was a good artist and entertainer but lost himself as a real person down the road...

By looking at the million picture online of how his face changed so much during the years, he was definitely a completely different person from his childhood pictures to the most recent ones…

So, I think to myself, if a person can change so much during a lifetime (at least physically) and show so many different aspects of himself with so much controversy (and not necessary good one), how come there are so many fanatics and crazy people moaning over him like they knew him so well and he was such a big part of their lives???I just don’t get it.

I guess I don’t get it because I really don’t have any Idols per Se in my life…

Well, that’s not entirely true, I do have people I look up to and of course there are people that have been a big role model in my life, I believe in God (as I was raised Catholic but have my own interpretation of the creator) but besides my family and friends I cannot think of anybody else that I would moan and suffer over their death, like his fans are acting. I have read that besides all the signs, flowers and many others displays of affection and there are even people camping outside the Neverland Ranch to be at his funeral and honor his their idol, and with this behavior they are giving the media so much to feed on…

So, I think people and specially the media should give the man some rest, let him find the peace and tranquility that he did not have in his life and honor his memory by listening and appreciating his music but do not by worshiping him like a false idol…

On a lighter note… today is Friday, so have a great weekend!!!

Same stuff, differently displayed...

Since I've work at the gallery I've always wanted to document my changes on the wall as I was working on it and so finally this week I did it. Unfortunately the camera we have at work is very basic and not very good quality pictures... But anyway, here it is, my new display!

The empty wall

One row of canvas print art

a couple of more rows

here I'm starting to mix in fish images

now the fish are in

almost done

my final masterpiece

I would really appreciate your comments about how it looks... Even if you don't like it (click on each picture to enlarge).

I love my EA Active

For a few weeks now I've been exercising every day with my new EA Sport Active Wii game and I love it, so today I got an email from my amazon.com account to review my purchase, since I don't have much to post today, this is what I think about the EA Sport Active.

Click to enlarge

3rd time is the charm

For a few weeks now, we've been having visits from a woodpecker that comes to out our roof and gutters looking for food (bugs).

Twice I've been in the back porch reading or lying down suntanning and he comes and stands either on the roof or just on the railing with a picture perfect pose... both time though I've lost my change to take a picture of him. I think it's a male so I've named him Woody, dunno how I came up with that name? but I think it suits him... ha ha!

Anyway, this morning while doing my exercises I heard him on the roof, so before I went looking for him, I grabbed my camera and this time I manage to get a shot of him, maybe not the best shot but it's a good first try.

Here's Woody...

Some Underwater Photos

Since I don't have much to write about I decided to post some of the underwater photos I've taken in my life as a diver, enjoy!

Green moray eel

Hawksbill Turtle

Spinney Caribbean Lobster

Juvenile Butterfly Fish

Southern Stingray and bar jack

First sight of flowers

Today I noticed that my flowers are finally coming out, I thought they were going to take longer, but here they are, growing nicely.

It's my turn now

Yesterday after work I got some unpleasant news about my parents... My dad is been out of a job for a while and looks like their financial situation is very tough... I knew something was wrong but I didn't know exactly how bad it was, until my aunt called me yesterday to tell me the whole story.

I love my parents and they gave so much when I was growing up (and they still do) . I know that I am who I am, and I have what I have mostly because of the quality of life and education that they gave me... Also they are always there for me, and if I was in their same situation I am sure they would not even hesitate to give me their help...

So, as of today I am putting some money aside every paycheck to help them out. I wish I had more and more to give them, but as my brother put it on the phone "great accomplishments begin with the simple decision to try"

My mom and my dad with their 3 dogs

How Sheba came to us...

Our dog Sheba came to us one July afternoon... Here's the whole story.

When we first moved to our new house (that we just finished building) last June 2008, as soon as moved in, this dog from dog the road would break loose from her leash and would come greet us and play around with our dog Ditto (who by the way was not very fond of her at the time).

If she wasn't loose, whenever we used to walk Ditto I would see her there, with out food and water, so I used to carry a bottle of water to refill her bowl and she would go crazy and drink as fast as she could (until I realized that the reason why was because her bowl had a hole so she will try to drink as fast as possible to get all the water) and I will carry treats and give her some...

Then the weather started to get pretty bad cause of hurricane season, we had tropical storm Dolly around and that poor dog spent the whole storm in her little house getting all wet. That's when her situation really started getting to me, I got concerned because I never used to see anybody at the house and I never got to see anybody feeding her or anything.

So, I had a serious talk with my boyfriend (at the time) and told him I wanted to rescue that dog to care for her and make her part of our family. As we both love dogs we had discussed in the past to maybe get a second dog once we were in the new house.

After agreeing to get the dog I started going to the house looking for the owner but never got to talk to them as they were never home. Finally got to talk to some man that lives there and he told me that the dog was his and he was a night guard so he was always sleeping during the day.

A few days went by and one day my boyfriend was walking down the road and a lady called him saying she heard we wanted the dog. Well, looks like the lady really the owner of the dog but was leaving the island for a few years and she rented the house with the dog included! (unbelievable)...

And that is how Sheba came to us and I'm very grateful and happy about having her now.

Sheba's first day and first picture at home

Settling in pretty good...

At the beginning it was tough to get used to both dogs getting along, plus she needed a lot of attention and training. But now she is very settle in and she is great, incredibly loving, protecting, always happy and wanting to play... she is just one of a kind!

Her first swim on the sea... she loves it!

Fancy Shmancy Sheba (goofing around w/a bow)

She is extremely playful and loves that toy (among many others)

getting bigger

Isn't she lovely???

Ditto & Sheba

It's been over a week since I started this blog and I can't believe I haven't post anything about my loving, wonderful dogs.

The first one is Ditto Digsby (aka "monster boy, Ditto boy"), he is a mixed breed mutt that my husband's had for about 8yrs, so when we moved in together in 2007 he said to me that I own 49% and he owns 51% of him.

Ditto and Me at the old apartment

Ditto is a wonderful, loving, good guard, well trained and friendly dog but (and there's always a but...) he has a wild side. Looks like before my husband adopted him from the Humane Society he used to run wild and hunt chicken, iguanas and cats, so if you don't pay attention and he gets off the least he will run like the wind and chase everything he can. He's gotten lost a couple of times, but seems to come back with a still alive chicken that he brings back to redeem himself for the runaway.

Ditto out on the kayak

In 2008 we took him to his first Cayman islands Humane Society Dog Show, and he proved us once again what a great boy he is, winning 3rd place on Best Personality and 1st place on the obstacle curse. Then in 2009 he got 3 place on best trick, way to go Ditto Boy!

We are the champions! 3rd place Best Personality

Ditto was the "king" of the house for many years, so it was little tough last year when we rescued/adopted our other dog Sheba (aka girly girl). For both of them to get used to living with each other was one thing, but for Ditto to learn how to share and cherish another animal sharing our affection and his territory!

Ditto and my husband

Now, they are very happy living together and get alone great... tomorrow I will post a little about Sheba!

Sheba and Ditto sharing the guard dog post

Looking for Inspirational posters?

Ever seen those "inspirational" posters??? Mostly they have one imagine plus a big word like ACHIEVEMENT, SUCCESS, etc... and then a little legend under it?

Well, I've never been too fond of them, alway thought there are kind of cheesy, until I finally found some worth reading and fun... U never know, maybe this is the kind of inspiration and insight we all need.

Here are my favorite ones (from www.thinkgeek.com):



Hope you had as much fun as I did reading them!!! Have a nice day :)

Road to recovery

On December 2006 I was working for a contractors warehouse area of a big hardware store on the island, and while working on a new drill bit display, the guy that was supposed to drill the actual metal display (to hold the drill bits) to the wall didn’t do it properly, so once the display was very full of bits (and very heavy as well), it feel on top of me, knocking me to the floor and while this was happening I had to use my right arm to cover my head.

As you can imagine my arm was very hurt and bruised for a couple of weeks. The same day this happened, just happened to be my last day at this job… go figure! They took me to the hospital and after a very, very long wait at the emergency room they run some x-rays on my arm but since I didn’t have any broken bones they really didn’t do much more tests. Gave me one of those neck things and send me home….

Since then, my shoulder is been extremely tight and painful, but also at the time I used to swim at least 3 times a week so I guess that help contained and release the pain and suffering that my back, shoulder and arm was going through.

Few months passed and I stopped swimming so often, then my pain and suffering came back, but this time with my big thumb on my right hand. Little by little I was just unable to move it several ways, so I decided to start putting “Biofreeze” on it every night to help it… Then I realized it just wasn’t getting better.

Finally a few weeks ago I went to see a massage therapist that I see from time to time, only this time she was not able to give me a full body massage, instead she had to only work on relieving my shoulder and hand. When she saw the state I was in, she recommended that I go seek chiropractic help as she said they pain in my hand and thumb came from my back and shoulder and possibly had some nerve damage as well.

So, I made an appointment with the best chiropractic on the island (recommended by the massage therapist).The first day he did a full back computerize nerve scan and it just unbelievable how a little machine like that can give you so accurate results on how your back and spine is doing.

This is an example of what a nerve scan chart looks like

As you can imagine my results were not good, I have severe nerve damage on the some of my neck and shoulder vertebrae as well as my lower back as a result from my other injuries. Besides the scan (which I really liked as a method to check you status), I like the fact that this doctor does not “crack” your bones, but uses another machine to scan each vertebra and then the machine gives you this little smacks to adjust them…

I have to admit that I’m very happy with my recovery and with just 4 appointments I probably feel about 60% better from my shoulder and over all. I have a lot more energy and besides that the doctor gave me some calcium pills that I need to chew every day to help my muscle recovery and my bones and even for pain!

Besides the calcium, he told me to keep exercising (which I do every day), swimming and he recommended a full body pillow, that I just purchased last night and used it for the first time. I slept great, which means I'm definitely on the road to recovery!!!

New Season, New Flowers

Yesterday after work and in commemoration of the Summer Solstice I decided to plant some new flowers in a big pot I have in my house.

I picked Dahlias after reading that they do well on the tropics
also they flower for a long time.

This pot used to be my Herbs pot
(but most herbs have died, so I re-planted the ones left).
Now I will use this one for flowers.

Here the holes are ready for the seeds

Final result.

Now I only need to wait 16-20 days for the flowers to germinate and then FLOWERS!!!!

Summer Solstice

Yesterday June 21st was the Summer Solstice of 2009...

Sol + stice derives from the Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still". As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky. This days marks the beginning of Summer.

As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year (good thing 'cause I didn't get much sleep last night!). For the Norther Hemisphere this is celebrated in June and for the Southern half their longest summer day is in December (usually around 21-22).

This event is still celebrated around the world, specially in England at Stonehenge and Avebury, where thousands gather to welcome the sunrise on the Summer Solstice.

If you'll like to read more information and facts about the Summer Solstice check out this link.

HAPPY SUMMER TO THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE!

Dia Del Padre

Today is Father's Day in the Cayman Island (where I live) as well as in Costa Rica (where I'm from).

The last time I saw my two fathers was on my Wedding Day (May 2nd, 2009) and it's really the only one time (that I remember), I held both of their hands at the same time... just before they "gave" me to my new husband.

So today, I want to dedicate this post to my two Father that I LOVE SO MUCH, and to the rest of the Dads in the world as well, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

#24 Petunia Cl

Since I can't really come up with anything to write today, I'm just to post some random pictures from around my house. (The house, plants, my dogs...)

Our street sign

Our House

The Sun

Sea Shells and Lizard

Our Dogs; Sheba (the light one) and Ditto (the black one)

Plant

Our Orchid in bloom

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYBODY!!!!