This is the official document from the department of agriculture. Everything you need to know is in there:
http://www.36thservices.com/Document...quarantine.pdf

15 hours yes... Typically the next day, but not always. If you do the opposite method of subtracting 9 hours then you add the day. So if it's noon in DC on Thursday, it's 3am in Guam on Friday. We are +10 GMT, and DC is -5 GMT.

No.

I don't mean to sound elitest... But let me start with the excuse before the insult. Everyone here is WAAAAAY laid back. Lots of stuff thats considered normal here, would be considered 'half-assed' back on the mainland. That said, I don't think there's an exterminator on the island who would do the job to my satisfaction. It is something I plan on looking into... But I also keep in mind half the island is still Jungle. I had to get a 'rural' home loan, because Guam is considered that by mainland standards & banking regulations.

Briefs 3.0

The master bedroom AC is fixed. Capacitor in the outside half of the unit exploded, and the AC tech spent about 3 hours on it and charged me $75 for both parts/labor. Having an issue with the 2 largest units now. They work, but they won't stay on more than 45 minutes exactly. At 45 minutes they just turn off. I can turn em right back on, but it's annoying.

B thought she knew what hot was, but she knows better now.

The house is coming along. Probably about 30% unpacked.

I had to tear out a fake wall in front of my house on Thursday so the phone company could come look at the line friday. Friday they never showed. I called at about 3pm and they said 'oh well, want to try again for monday?'. No. No I don't. I want it done today like I was scheduled, and I go back to work Monday (2 weeks of 'house hunting' leave that I used to move in and prep). But I don't have a choice, and thats they way they do business round here, so just gotta go with the flow and let B handle it.

Another example of the mentality, is when the movers were moving me in, the lead guy asked me if I wanted cable. I said yes, so he called a friend who had his cousin (cable company employee) come out and hook me up. 3 days later I got a call from the Cable Company asking me for my billing info. The cousin reported the hookup, but failed to pass along any of my information, probably because he never asked for any. That's how they roll.

Things are going well so far tho. Still trying to get telephone/internet in the house. When thats done, I'll be updating more frequently.

 

how's the baby dealing with the heat?

 

Woooohfh sounds like you are going have a good time Glad that at least B and the baby bat are there with you.

 

He's a very happy baby. The heat doesn't seem to bother him much. Even when he's sweating all over, he's usually in a good mood unless he's hungry or tired. And even then he rarely cries. He just gets quite fussy making noises trying to get your attention. If you don't react within a 5 minutes though, the noisyness turns into whines into crying. But that doesn't happen often unless we're driving somewhere and it's a bad time to stop.

Briefs 3.1

Went to the beach yesterday. Parked under a coconut tree. It was nice. Got back to the car, and found the tree was termite infested, and a large chunk fell off when it started to rain and get a little windy, putting an L shaped 1x2" tear in the mustang's top. BOOOO!!! MF'ING POS TREE!!!

Still tons to unpack.

First day back at work today. It's pretty lax. Were supposed to PT at 6, which we did. Come back at 8, so I went home, showered, and drove back to work. At 8, everyone was just standing around. So I said 'what next', and they said wait until the bosses show up. We stood around until about 8:30, then had a short meeting with the bosses, then retired to our trailer. In our trailer we 'shot the sh*t' for about 3 hours, and now it's lunchtime. The ship is supposed to get back this weekend, and to make up for it (make up for what, I don't get it either?) our acting division office (a warrant officer) is trying to get us Wednesday and Thursday off, in case the ship wants us to work this weekend. I don't know about the new Navy, but in the old Navy if you had to work during the week AND the weekend, then you did, with little to no compensation. But days in advance? Wow. Not that I'm complaining.

B is shedding hair all over. Need to get her groomed.

Cats are doing good. Visited them in the kennel. It's a dog sized kennel, and they're both in there. They've got a cat tree, and they're well fed, and it's an indoors and climate controlled facility, so they're happy. Except to see us go, they both started meowing. It was sad. Oct 30th is their release date.

The other kennel FYI, was outdoors, and cost the same price. When I cancelled my reservation, they didn't refund $750, because I signed some document upon making the reservation saying $750 of the $2000 was non-refundable if the reservation was cancelled. What a bunch of BS. Arg.

Phone was installed today. Finally. I had to half tear out the fake wall in front of my house, and B was at home to direct the tech to the line. But it's in. Next step, DSL. Hopefully it's on already, but I doubt it.

We're getting some pretty nasty weather from storm Man-Yi which is not expected to hit us. But it knocked out power to the base before I came here to lunch (at a coffee shop at a different base), and it's about 35mph gusts, and off/on hard rain. The other half of tropical weather.

Wrote the bank a nasty-gram, because I've been finding things the home inspector should have found, and I'm going to have to pay a lot to fix them. Boo! But I'm not too disheartened, because I knew there would be things like this... Usually is when buying a 30 year old home. Oh well. The three biggest things will be fixing the wall in the front of my house to the way it should be with access panels and vents, rewiring the water heater, and replacing two or three $1000 Air Conditioner units.

Havn't driven my Mini in a week, becuase B still doesn't know how todrive stick, and I can't drive both vehicles... And the Mini is in a parking spot on base. I hope the battery doesn't die again. That would suck. I'm positive I'm not going to lower it as well. Some of the 'potholes' out here are actually as big as two feet across and as deep as 6", and very steep at the edges. Bad juju for the suspension. Boy, I wish someone had made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Not really. But then again, if I couldn't refuse it...

So yeah, life is good. Baby is good, and huge. 4 months next week, and already 16 lbs. He's very alert, and starting to make the baby talk noises. At 22lbs he'll get to sit forwards in a car seat, meaning I can then get the recaro for the Mini... The baby seat that is.

B is good. She's very much enjoying all that Guam has to offer. She's not learned to drive, mostly because she'd rather snorkel and lounge on the beach. I guess everyone has their priorities, right?

Well, I'm back off to worky. Weee.

 

wootyflakes?

 

Boy is he being fed well! 16lbs!! What is in that milk! Glad to hear that things are attempting to get together for you. Sorry that the house isn't as good as you first thought, but you guys will get it together.
Too bad you are missing the 95+ days back here. 105 heat index and crapoli like that. We could have taken the BatMINI off your hands...

 

WILL!!! Put in my application today for good ole' UIC 45255; Repair M/SC!! Can't wait for the 3rd of August! If it's approved all I have to try and figure on is which car to bring - mini mini or Mini. I figure if Guam-bombs can survive those "two feet across and as deep as 6" potholes," then the mini mini should fair alright, hahaha. I'll keep you posted.Thanks for the link and quarentine info - much needed!! I've got time too, I don't think my politician of a detailer is going to transfer me before my original prd of FEB08. I'm trying to hook up an AC&R school through my command since that butthead detailer said he couldn't. Seems he can't do a LOT of things, but... whatever mon

 

Meh, try the weather out here in Baghdad some time. Tip for all folks new to Baghdad and the rest of the sandbox, or other "cool air-challenged" climes: when you see the port-a-potty with the door swinging open, avoid it. Sat on one that had been baking in the sun, since I was on an urgent run, and didn't notice. Nearly left a layer of skin on the damned seat...

Other than that, good times.

- Matthew

 

You actually sat on one... bold!

 

When duty calls...

 

Fortunately, 4 times to the middle east... 2 three month tours to the persian gulf, one tour to baghdad, and one run to Amman... Never had to experience a middle east summer. Thank the maker!

I do feel for you tho Matt! Didn't even know you were out there. Can I inquire as to why?

 

Pixxorz.

 

AWWWWW those are some CUTE pics!!

 

finally! He's huge!

Did you get all those problems fixed? like the ants and wifi?

 

WHAT are you feeding him!!! He is so cute! Those cheeks... So cute. Thanks for sending us some pictures! BOUT TIME!

 

Hey Will, B, and Baby Bat. :-)
Glad to hear that you all are doing well and surving the heat. We don't feel quite so bad having been without a/c here in Brooklyn though we've come pretty close to breaking down and getting one a few times. I'd swear that a few times it's felt like 112 in our apartment with the humidity and all.

Those pics are great and i wish i were more knowledgable about digital cams and computers so i could post some pics of us to share with you and all the DCMMers.

Just want to also say WOW do i miss all of you guys in DC.

I met up with the USmini club guys here in NY for a 200 mile 15 car run from Brooklyn out to the Pennsylvania Water gap and back. They are all nice folk and even had some new (virgin) mini owners out that day. Still i miss my peeps and still have not found any really good twisties within an hour of were i live.

Joshua (Hapa Jr.) is 11 months today and just starting to stand on his own. I think he may be pushing 28lbs. You guys have so much to look forward to and enjoy just don't rush it cause you find yourself missing when he was only so big. At 9 months we were at Coney Island and he took a Nathan's corn dog out of my hands and would not give it back.

Miss you all,
Best wishes.
HAPA

 

we miss you and Paige too

 

HAPA we miss you guys as much as we miss Will and Betty! I hope at least we will be able to see you sometime in the near future...you are A LOT closer than Will!

 

No ant issues anymore. Hopefully it stays that way. I had a Wifi issue?

Enfamil Lipil: Gentlease is the food of choice. 4 months, about 20lbs, no solid foods yet.

 

oh...I thought you had trouble getting wifi installed...silly me...

 

Will, Great Pics!! Thanks for sharing! Will Jr is a cutey Hapa, If you need some help with digital photography, Ill be right up to take some pics of Joshua for ya...I miss Brooklyn, and riding the Cyclone at Coney Island.

 

Looks like Baby Bat takes his video games as seriously as his dad.

 

Edit: Was looking for pics, but they just hadn't loaded yet. Wow, looks like some wild countryside. Good luck with the bugs.

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

MOOOOOO!!!!

It's that time of year again... Bat Briefs (3.0?).

I'm on duty, it's a saturday, so I figured it would be a good time for this. Firewall won't let me upload photos, so that'll have to be done later.

-- Guam is going well. Ship is old and doesn't get around much, but they plan on doing just that as much as possible before the end of the year... Mostly because we got a new captain who wants to go to sea, but this old rust bucket will give him a run for his money. I never thought I'd be stationed on a ship still using STEAM for propulsion.

-- B and the Baby are well. Good thing too, because there is another on the way.

-- B wanted the 'mustang convertible' with the v8 and standard transmission because it's her 'dream' car. She's been bugging me about it for years. So we finally get it, and she doesn't want it. Long story short, we traded it in for a 2007 Wrangler Unlimited, automatic. Meh. She'll be happier in the long run I think... And it has enough room for everything/everyone.

-- New house is well. It's the wet season, so we have a few days where we only get a few hours of sun, which is good... Means the roof doesn't heat up to ludacris temperatures. I did get a chance to go up there, and it's more dark gray than white, which means a new coat of super-reflective elastomeric paint is needed... I'll wait until the dry season though, as a coat will cost about $500, and will only last a year or two. The dark-gray/black stuff is supposedly algae which grows into and destroys the effectiveness of the paint. Standing water on the flat surface makes it worse.

-- Work is alright. They've got me quite busy wearing about 5 hats. I think I can keep up, so it's not so bad. Only thing bad about the Navy is duty, which is a requirement to stay on a ship 24 hours as part of the security/fire/watch team every so many days. Our ship is in 8-section, which means I only have to stay on board once every 8 days, but we'll be going to 4 section next week to support some drills for an upcoming evaluation, and we should go back to 8 in Novemberish.

-- The island itself is pretty nice all around still. I pretty much buy all my groceries and other stuff on base for cheaper than stuff is out in town. Makes me wonder why prices are so high. Unlike Hawaii, I think the population makes quite a bit less per-capita than other US territories, yet everything here is marked up significantly. Our new jeep was marked up $3500 just because. I talked them down $5000 based getting the dealer to match the on-base price quote (on base doesn't have any in-stock though), but that's almost rediculous.

-- Rumor has it they ship Xmas trees here for the holidays. Will be sure to share pics when that happens. Will also post other assorted pics here shortly. Hope everyone in DC is happy and well.

 

Yeah, the cost of living on Guam is crazy, considering how little the locals earn. It's the tourist industry that drives up the prices, IMO.

Glad you're enjoying your tour, so far. Do you miss the four seasons yet ? Eternal summer gets old, especially when it's also constantly humid.