Pacific Islands Club Saipan

Suka and I got going relatively early after reheating a bunch of leftovers for breakfast. We did a couple of quick stops to deposit her last DFS check in Saipan (one more will come to the States) and to show the car buyers' insurance company the registration, even though they really don't need it. Suka used to do insurance here on island. She knows that for the only type of insurance available ...

... br>After a short rest and clean up, we decided to change plans. We went to see "A Perfect Getaway" at the movie theater. The movie was pretty good. It was suspenseful and kept you guessing with a nice twist toward the end. The twist was a little awkwardly handled from a narrative perspective, but I can't think of a better way to handle it, so I can't criticize much.

Suka was then going to make cold noodles for dinner, but events changed that part of the plan.

... to go looking for him until people realized what he was driving, where they had seen him last, and that his truck was missing.

There is a tradition among Hashers when people depart their regular Hash called the Shoe Down-Down. A down-down is the act of chugging the Sacred Nectar, usually from the Sacred Vessel. At the risk of getting in trouble by using the common names, in Saipan that means chugging a beer from a (thankfully clean) stainless steel bed pan ...

... when I got through. We went to the car and back to the apartment.

She is officially completely moved out of the apartment at Global and living full-time at the San Jose apartment, so everything has been all set up rather than her usual scramble to switch apartments.

We got up early to get in a couple of hours of trail setting before Suka went in to sign the DFS contract. We managed to take two hours to go barely more than a mile with almost 1500 feet of climbing. That's the pace of bushwhacking for you. One of the things Suka taught me on our last trail setting that has become a joke is a phrase concerning a particular type of burr that is common here. The Korean name for it is dokkaebibanul (더 ...

... out he had to go to the hospital because of a budding ear infection. Our 2:00 interview didn't start until about 3:00. We got there early. They told us he would be later so we had lunch at Wild Bill's across the street. The interview seemed to go well. Everything was positive, but they will probably want more documentation, including my ...

... I had great conversation and a fun time. It's the most I've dove into Saipan night life since the bachelor party. We closed down Bill's around 2:00. I decided to cancel my morning meeting and was up until 3:30 when I decided to follow up on a couple of e-mails. No, I didn't do anything stupid. Even fairly large volumes of alchohol only minorly affect my typing and I'm conscious enough of what I'm writing not to make a mess of anything.

Suka and I got off to a typically slow weekend start. We decided to go scuba diving. We had more of the pork spare ribs for breakfast. Once we were out of the apartment, we went to the post office on the regular check for communication from Immigration. Next stop was Dive Saipan to get scuba gear. Suka needs the whole get up. I needed weights and tanks. I actually remembered to bring my regulator this time! We confirmed with ...

... I was from farther away. I've only seen him in street clothes before. Funny how the clothes change the appearance. When I got close I said, "Oh, I thought you might be Harry." Of course, he said, "Yeah, I look a lot like Harry," which gave me voice and mannerisms to realize by gaffe. We chatted for awhile. He gave us tips for the next dive that proved out very nicely. On the next dive I took us to a debris field within sight ...

... Wednesday morning that Immigration received the application. We don't expect to see a response for awhile. It took them about a week to do intake on the previous application. Since we filed this one from her Saipan address, it may take a couple of weeks for the receipt to get to us. It's a toss up whether it gets here before I leave. I also seem to have more of a mental block on hill climbing than a muscular or cardiovascular one. I've ...