Back in the Day II

I'm going to Guam tomorrow on business and I wanted to put up another set of Back in the Day pictures before I left.

This is Back in the Day II. I welcome my fellow bloggers to post their own Back in the Day. No rules. No tagging. Just post some old pictures and write whatever you want to write about them.

The Brothers Villagomez: My father flew everyone from Saipan out to California in 1999 for a family vacation. Alex and I flew out from Orlando to meet them there. Here are his five boys standing in the parking lot outside of Disneyland.

Fish Tales: I think this picture is from 1993. Is it just me, or were the fish bigger back then? I remember that we only caught two fish on this trip. We caught the tuna I'm holding and a rainbow runner. The boat belonged to my Uncle John.

Familia Villagomez: This picture was taken in 2000. It was the last, and only the second, time all of my father's six children were in one place. We were all in Hawaii to be at Dad's bedside. He had just had a heart attack. I read the first three Harry Potter books sitting in that chair.

Visiting DC: This is the last picture I ever took with Dad. He was in DC for a meeting with other officials from the CNMI. I remember meeting Pete P. Tenorio and Juan Babauta at a function there.

Child Labor: My father always put us to work when we visited during the summers. When we were younger it was gathering coconuts and then placing the husks around the bases of the trees in our yard. As we got older we took over grass mowing and tuba collecting duties.

Back in the Day I

My Mom in Florida just sent me three small boxes of photos from the golden years of Saipan (aka my childhood). I'm not going to post all of them, but I will pick out some of my favorites over the next couple of weeks.

This is Back in the Day I. I welcome my fellow bloggers to post their own Back in the Day. No rules. No tagging. Just post some old pictures and write whatever you want to write about them.

Father and Son: My father was 30 years old when this picture was taken. I was two months old. I'll be 30, gulp, later this year, but I don't think I'll be holding any infants any time soon.

A small family: Back then I was the only kid in town...except for my older sister living with her Mom in Guam. Little did we know that 5 brothers and another sister (and the accompanying divorce and remarriages) were in our future.

Anatahan: I visited Anatahan in 1995. The other two people in the picture are my brother Alex and Cal Reyes. I was about to start my Senior year of high school in this photo. Notice the rippling abs. I still have them, they're just kind of, um, buried.

Growing up Chamorro: This is a classic picture of growing up on Saipan. The picture contains kids, a boonie dog, oil drum trash cans, two dead chickens, several talayas, a coconut crab, and of course, a ukulele.

Learning to Fish: Every summer my father taught us how to fish with a talaya. I don't get to fish much these days. I'm too busy hugging trees and breaking my nose playing soccer.

2 Years in Saipan

My two year anniversary on Saipan came and went and I didn't even notice.

Early in the morning of March 28, 2006 I landed here. I spent the night at Fiesta Resort and when I got up a few hours later I opened a bank account, rented a car, bought a cellphone, and got my local driver's license.

I was only supposed to stay for one year.

At the end of that year I only expected to be here for one more year.

Well, that second year has come and gone and I can now say that I should be here for at least another year.

We'll see what happens after that.

******
Travel was the theme of my second year in Saipan. I visited the Marshall Islands, Pohnpei, Guam, and Chuuk for reasons related to my career choice as a tree huggin' liberal and I visited Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Viet Nam for no other reason than I wanted to taste some beer brewed in those countries.

On every single one of those trips I would proudly tell people that I was from Saipan. Those of us who have lived off-island for long stretches of time know what I mean.

Godfather's Christmas Party

Ian gave me a call last night and told me to meet him up at Godfather's. I said sure, why not, and gave EJ a call, telling her to come, too.

When we got there we found out that they were having the staff Christmas party. The girls were treated to a Christmas spread and everyone drank free from 6-8 PM.

Hell yeah free ham, turkey and stuffing!

Pretty early in the night, the staff decided that it would be great fun to take pictures of themselves kissing each other. I don't think I'm going to post any of those pictures....you'll have to ask the girls if you want to see them. They took at least 100 photos each. Some of them even shot video.

I may have shot some video, too. I can't really remember. I may have edited it with some music, too. But again, I can't remember all that well.

Perhaps it was the four rounds of Jaeger Bombs, but I'm not quite sure what got this whole thing going. Good times at Godfather's, what can I say?

I got in on the action, too. Doesn't EJ look happy to be getting a kiss from me?

Yeah, I don't think so either.

Do you know otso otso?: Guess what song the girl's requested? That's right. They did the otso otso. Remember when Ziggy would do the otso otso?

Then EJ decided that she was hungry. Instead of going to Shirley's for fried chicken, grilled mahi mahi and garlic rice, we went to Orchid's for garlic octopus, poki and garlic rice...and karaoke.

Every successful night should end with karaoke. No exceptions. Ian didn't sing Dancing Queen, but we still managed to scare away all of the other customers at Orchids.

Just another great day in Saipan.

Merry Christmas!

...and I'd post more pictures from last night, but Morgan Rose threatened my life if I posted any pictures of her.

Go Drink at Godfather's

Everybody loves Godfathers. I think it has to do with the cheap drinks and the great food.

Right?

Letters from another time

My Mom moved to Saipan in 1976 with the intention of living here for one year (eerily paralleling my life...scary). She married my father one month after arriving and gave birth to me about two years later (not paralleling my life...thank God).

She wrote to her parents back in Massachusetts on an almost monthly basis until we left Saipan for good in April 1982. When her father died, she found out that he had kept all those letters.

She kept them safe for years and finally passed them on to me this week.

Amazing.

The letter in the above picture was written by my mother 12 days after I was born. The picture of her was taken right around the same time. She was 24. She's beautiful, isn't she?

The picture to the right was taken a few days before I left for Japan in 2005. I was 27. You can do the math to figure out her age.

The stories contained in the letters open quite a window into life in Saipan in the late 1970s. She talks about living on the farm, keeping animals, typhoons, her work, my father's political ambitions, campaigns, running a private law practice, the declining health of my grandfather, Rotary club, my father's involvement with the local beauty pageants (hmmmmmmm.....), a trip to the Northern islands, learning Chamorro, and of course, raising a family.

It was especially touching to read the letters written to my grandparents announcing the births of my brother Alex and me. Those two letters are treasures.

There is a lot of humor in the letters. These are a few of the gems, but there are a lot more.

This one is from the letter announcing my birth, dated October 17, 1978:

Our "farm" has been slightly reduced. We lost our pigs in the flood, my goat Bobby was slaughtered for a party a month ago, and some stray dogs finished off all but one of the ducks!"

This is taken from a letter dated May 21, 1981 (about a month before she gave birth to my brother, Alex):

Angelo is doing fine - he's full of mischief lately. This week he caught two baby chicks and drowned them while giving them a shower, and then couldn't understand why they were "broken." A day later, I caught him putting the kitten in the refrigerator. He's really into everything lately, more so than ever before. When I'm about to throw a fit, he looks up at me sweetly and says, "You mad, Mom?" and of course I just melt.

Makes me think of my broken pants story from Bangkok. This one was dated August 2, 1981 (there was a severe caterpillar outbreak in New England in 1981):

Thanks for the picture of the trees - Angelo was really concerned about those caterpillars that ate the leaves. When he saw the 2 pictures of the trees you sent last time he said, "Tell me little bit about it, Mom," so I told him about the "gaga" that ate the leaves. It really impressed him - I had to tell him the story about 20 times and he prayed for the bugs for a few nights. For some reason he sympathized with the bugs.

I guess some things never change, do they? That may be the first documented proof of my tree hugging.

Like I said, I've got a stack of letters full of little anecdotes like this.

In a box in Florida I have every single letter that my father ever wrote to me. Combined with these letters, they might make for a nice little collection one of these days...and I'm sure about three people would want to read it.

Can you help this WWII Veteran?

I received this email this morning:

Hafa Adai,

Would you have any photos of Capitol Hill? I was in the Hospital there 148th General WW 2 and would love to see it again.

Mahalo,

George Niebling Sr.

I sent an email asking what exactly he was looking for and received this reply:

Angelo,

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. I was a Medic with the US Army 148th Gen Hosp. I think it was on Capitol Hill, but we really never knew where we were. I came home in 1946, 20 years old. Now 81. Time flies.

If that indeed was where the hospital was, I would love to get some pictures and would be more than willing to offset any expense incurred by your effort for me. The road leading into the area on the right side had a puddle from I guess a spring and straight ahead where the medical and surgical wards.

I was wondering if you all still had those large frogs on Saipan and the little lizards that use to crawl up my pant leg? Before I left Saipan I drove around the island and the birds of many color were just starting to return, having been driven by the noise and destruction. It is a beautiful place and I wish I could return, but at this age and my financial condition makes it all but impossible. If you help me reestablish my experience I would be most appreciative. I will include my address, just let me know so I can reimburse you.

Hafa Adai and Mahalo,

George Niebling Sr
3708 Hastings Drive
Arlington, TX 76013.

PS Please if it is still possible and I hope it is, say Hello to your relatives that were there when I was.

The frogs that he refers to are probably those invasive cane toads that were brought in by the Japanese. As for the geckos, we all know those are still here.

As for the hospital, I thought it was in Fina Sisu, on the grounds of Northern Marianas College. Was there also a hospital on Capital Hill? Does anyone know where he is talking about?

I'd like to send him some pictures, but I need some help identifying where the old hospital was located.

Also, since Monday is Veteran's Day, I encourage my Saipan readers to send Mr. Niebling a postcard from Saipan. Tell him what the island is like now. I'm sure an old vet would appreciate the gesture.

His address is posted above.

Decompression

The first year I was out here, every once in a while I would stop right where I was standing and think back to the last time I stood in that exact place.

I hadn't eaten good chicken kelaguin in 5 years. It had been 11 years since I'd hiked down to Forbidden Island. It had been 19 years since I'd hiked the Banadero Trail.

Some of that novelty is beginning to fade.

Just the fact that I can think that thought tells me that I need a vacation.

On Thursday I will have been here for exactly 18 months. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that I've accomplished a lot in that short amount of time.

I was the starting forward in our EAFF qualifier against Guam. I was also the center referee for the first high school soccer game to ever be played in the Marianas.

I painted the Navy Hill Lighthouse. I planted a lot of trees. I picked up a lot of trash. I even organized a cleanup with over 3000 participants in a single day.

I was on TV. I was in the newspaper. I was on the radio.

I helped create the We Love Saipan Network, where over 100 different Saipan bloggers write on a regular basis about real life in paradise. I've published to The Saipan Blog, the Beautify CNMI blog, and the Unofficial NMIFA blog, among others, on a regular basis. In doing so, I helped change Saipan's online image.

I got arrested for underage drinking and driving. I learned to SCUBA. I even went to my first professional conference (I'd been to one before, but I was being paid $6.10/hour to dress up like Rafiki the baboon from The Lion King).

I was made the Chairman of the Beautify CNMI Restoration Committee. Beautify CNMI won an EPA Environmental Award and was named the Saipan Tribune 2006 Person of the Year. Friends of the Mariana Islands, another group to which I belong, won an USDA Earth Team Group Award. I was even named one of Guam Magazines "35 under 35."

I made new friends. I fell in love. I learned the true definition of having a "big family."

I also stepped on a lot of toes and I pissed a lot of people off with this blog, my sense of humor, and my "go get it" attitude (feel free to insert your own adjective to describe my attitude).

I'm tired; I need a break.

My next post will be from Thailand.

If I was in Florida right now

I'd be hunkered down.

Tropical Storm Man-yi is spinning around somewhere above the warm Pacific waters between Guam and Yap right now. In Saipan we're getting a little rain and a lot of wind, but I don't think we're going to sustain any damage.

You know how whenever there is a storm in the Atlantic, every news station from Galveston to Key West to Richmond turns into Tropical Storm Center [insert channel number here]? Well, that doesn't happen in Saipan.

In Saipan you sit on the beach drinking a beer until someone says, "Hey, it sure seems windy today."

Then, depending on the severity of the wind, you either finish your beer and then A. call the Emergency Management Office or B. crack open another beer.

We went with option B last night at Steve and Miwa's going away BBQ. We all kept commenting on the wind and the fact that it was picking up, but nobody seemed too concerned. In fact, in place of worry, I think the consensus was that it would be pretty nice if every day was this breezy.

Don't we look concerned?

This BBQ was our chance to spend time with Steve and Miwa one last time. They are flying to Texas on Wednesday to be closer to Steve's family.

You probably can't tell from the pictures, but it is always a sad occasion when people leave the island. Sure, we've got blogs, emails, and web cameras, but it is not the same as getting together on a whim on a Sunday afternoon.

Good luck in Texas, Steve and Miwa!

Here are the lastest maps for Tropical Storm Manyi:

Click HERE for up to date information on Typhoon Man-yi.

Random thoughts from 4 in the morning

I wrote this at 4 AM. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep.

I woke up early to help clean up the Garapan Tourist District. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was spotted by a shy Refalahaole. She saw me sweeping the curb.

After the cleanup I spent a few hours at Café at the Park helping Marites with her personal blog and the FMI blog. She bought me a cup of coffee and an artery blocking, diabetes inducing Loco Moco. Yum. Thanks, Marites!

I went home at around 11 and read about half of George Lakoff’s latest book. Whenever I read in the afternoon I undoubtedly fall asleep, so after a short nap, I turned the computer on and looked at some of my pictures taken during the last year.

EJ came over late in the afternoon. We continued looking at pictures while we drank a few beers. Around dinner time we went out to the new Taste of India down in Chalan Laulau. For $12.95 we were treated to a buffet of curry, tandoori, and other Indian delights. They gave us free beer, too.

Free is my favorite kind of beer.

After dinner we went back to my place for a while and just hung out. I made her watch R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet DVD. I think that movie will really stand the test of time as one of the great contributions to American Culture in the early 21st Century.

I fell asleep kind of early, so of course I woke up in the middle of the night unable to sleep. I decided to get up and log on to the Internet.

Yesterday I posted a tongue in cheek post about Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo. The post had a small line about Miss Nevada Katie Rees. The result? 500+ hits in one day. Thanks, Katie!

Via my Mom, My seven year old sister, Catie, left a comment saying that she wants to see dancing monkeys on my blog. I was working on that request, but the Internet kept going in and out. I’d have a great connection for 15 minutes, followed by no connection for 10 minutes.

I know that PTI is upgrading their whatever it is that they update, so I think that may have been the reason. I’ve noticed that the Internet has been going on and off all week, no matter where I log on. When it goes off, I usually just turn on Freecell. After beating my third game, I usually give up, log off, and go home.

…but I still can’t sleep.

Therefore, let the rambling commence:

So our blogs are finally being picked up by the other media outlets in the CNMI. The Marianas Variety published Jeff Turbitt’s piece on blogging, Harry Blalock interviewed Jeff, Boni, and me on his Island Issues radio show, and MP Magazine had a piece on blogging written by Dr. Khorram.

This blog is the most popular blog about life in the CNMI, attracting anywhere between 200-5000 unique visitors per day. I’ve been averaging about 10,000 unique visitors per month since February. I think that makes me the third most popular written media in the CNMI, after the Saipan Tribune and the Marianas Variety.

Am I right? Do Island Locator, Beach Road Magazine, or Pacific Times have a circulation larger than 10,000 per month or 2500 per week? I think I may be more popular. (Plus, my popularity is rising.)

I wonder how much they charge for advertising? Could I be charging local companies for blogger real estate? Hmmmm…..

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to live off of ads generated from a blog? Then I wouldn’t have to work. I could just go do stuff and then write about it. That would be a good life. A very good life.

Maybe I should have taken an English class in college.

This blog thing has really taken off in the CNMI. I just started a list of all the blogs in the CNMI. So far I’ve counted 65 blogs…and I’ve only included a handful of the Japanese blogs. I don’t want to sound like Al Gore claiming that I created the Internet, but I’d like to think that I had something to do with getting the bloggers blogging. The Blogger Meetup was my idea. We Love Saipan was all Walt, I just helped.

Not that it matters, I’m just saying.

Happy Birthday, Nang!

Yesterday there was a birthday party for Cinta's mom. She just turned 73. She's the one in the middle, holding the fan:

Someone in the Kaipat Family figured that a 73 year old great grandmother would like to have a Power Puff Girls birthday cake:

The kids all got up on stage and sang "She Gave Us Love," which is a song that Gus composed about his Mom:

All of the cool people on Saipan were there, like Willie and Aya Matsumoto from Pacific Eagle and Isa CNMI:

Saipan's #1 Korean Party Girl was there:

The Olomwaay band provided the entertainment. We even had a few guest appearances by Jun. The other Gus wasn't there, though. He said he had to go get medicine for his broken ankle. Nope. He was at Club V:
Aya and Miwa loved the live music. Japanese ladies sure know how to dance!

Not!

CNMI 3, Guam 3

I may have overdone it with the pictures in this post:

I had high hopes for the CNMI International Team going into today's friendly match against Guam. These guys beat the National Team a few weeks ago 3-0. Knowing that the National Team only lost to Guam on Saipan 3-2, I was expecting our boys to give Guam a good spanking.

The game was amazing. CNMI scored first. Then Guam tied it up. Then we scored again. CNMI was up 2-1 at the half, but Guam tied it up in the second. Then we scored again to make it 3-2, but Guam tied it up.

No one was able to score again and the game ended in a 3-3 draw.

I'll let Brad give the play by play on his blog or on the Sports Page of the Saipan Tribune. I think my pictures capture the excitment well enough.

Kudos to Coach Wes Bogdan for a fantastic job! See, not all lawyers are evil!

I'm moving!

I signed a lease for a new apartment this afternoon. I'm going to move out of my place in Gualo Rai...well, right now. I'm pretty excited. The apartment is in a great location. I'll write all about it in a future blog.

Yesterday I took the morning off to go to Managaha. Well, sort of. Even though I was technically off, I still took pictures of fish and coral. I shot some video, too.

The fish at Managaha are amazing! There was a school of Bluefin Trevali circling around the snorkling tourists. They must have been about two feet long each.

Now, we could kill those 8 fish and have one hell of a BBQ or we could charge 200 tourists $50 per day to go swimming with them. Which one do you think is better?

Interview Questions

I've been contacted by someone doing a research paper who needs information about life in the CNMI. She emailed me a list of interview questions and when I started writing, I realized that most of the questions were rather large in scope. I think books could be written on some of her questions.

There is no way that I alone could do justice to the questions she is asking, so can some of you bloggers and/or readers help a brother out? Can you respond to some of her questions in the comments section of this post? If you are a blogger, can you add a link to your blog?

Answer any of the questions you want.

Thanks in advance, here are the questions:

1. First, can you give me a brief background about yourself and how/ why you came to live on Saipan? (i.e., did you move there for work, family, adventure?)

2. How would you explain life on Saipan to someone who has minimal knowledge of CNMI . What are some of the unique and defining points of CNMI culture and your experiences there?

3. What are the demographics of Saipan? Does U.S. policy seem to have influenced them in any way?

4. What sort of environmental impacts has U.S. government and militarization had on Saipan and CNMI that you know of? What other environmental problems does the region face?

5. What sort of cultural and economic impacts has the U.S. had?

6. What is your personal opinion on U.S. involvement in the Northern Mariana Islands? Does your opinion seem to be shared by the majority of residents? Why or why not?

7. In researching Saipan, I’ve noticed that there seems (at least on the internet) to have been a movement to preserve Chamorro culture and promote Chamorro pride. Does this seem to be a correct interpretation? Have there been any social movements in the realm of indigenous people’s awareness or movements towards independence from the U.S.? Was the establishment of the Mariana Islands as a U.S. Commonwealth a welcomed move by the majority of residence?

8. In recent years CNMI garment industries have been the center of labor rights controversies, most recently in an article put out by Ms. Magazine. Do you have any opinion on these matters? How significantly does the garment industry seem to impact life in Saipan?

9. Part of what lead me to you for an interview was the fact that you keep what seems to be a pretty prominent blog about your experiences in Saipan. Why did you decide to start this blog, what were you hoping to accomplish?

10. As a blogger, you have likely come across the very critical and anonymous saipansucks.com, where criticisms of CNMI range from allegations of nepotism and corruption to racism and unregulated sexual abuses. AS someone who has never been to Saipan, this is one of the first sites that comes up in research and is more detailed than many others. However, as someone who has no connection with CNMI, I feel it is important to get a balanced view of these controversial issues. Does there seem to be any discussion or majority opinion on these issues in Saipan? Do you have any personal response to these criticisms?

One Year in Saipan

One year ago today I moved back to Saipan. I told a few people that today was my one year anniversary and pretty much every single one of them responded, "you've only been here for a year?"

Yup.

I find it funny to think that for most of the last year I have never been more than 10 miles from my house (the only exceptions are the day I spent in Guam and the day spent in Tinian). Talk about changing your sense of space! When I worked at Disney I used to think nothing of my 33 mile commute to work. Now I cringe at the thought of driving the four miles to Marpi.

Some highlights from my first year in Saipan, in no particular order:

1. Playing in last Sunday's soccer game vs. Guam. When I tried out for the team I didn't expect to make the final cut. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I'd be the starting forward in the CNMI's first international competition.
2. 1020 on 10/20. I organized a 3000+ person cleanup on October 20th (I got by with a little help from my friends). This was the event that launched Beautify CNMI! into the stratosphere.
3. Person of the Year. Alright, so I wasn't personally named 2006 Person of the Year; Beautify CNMI! was named Person of the Year. So what? I still made the front page!
4. We Love Saipan. It took 6 years for someone to put up a website to counter the website of one particular bitter haole who had a very bad experience in Saipan. I don't want to sound like Al Gore, but I can say with confidence that I helped create the blogosphere in Saipan. When I moved here there were fewer than five local English blogs. Now there are more than 50. The Saipan Blog, the blog you are reading right now, is in the top 10 ten results for a google search for Saipan. We Love Saipan is in the top 15.
5. David Cohen reading my letter and Dengre posting it on Daily Kos. This is the letter. Cohen is a high ranking Interior Department official and Dengre's blog weaving connections between Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, the VRWC, and the CNMI can command 200+ comments (in blogspeak, that means he has a lot of readers). They both read my blog and cited my letter as an example of the good changes going on in the CNMI.
6. Earth Team Group Volunteer Award. I became a Special Adviser to MOVER within weeks of meeting the MOVER President, Marites, last June. In the last ten months we have planted trees, taken water samples, cleaned roads and beaches, painted over graffiti, cleaned up historical spots and hiking trails, and eaten more BBQ ribs than I care to admit. All of their volunteer work earned them a National Environmental Award from the USDA Earth Team. MOVER dissolved in March, but they formed a new volunteer group called Friends of the Mariana Islands. I am proud to call myself a member.
7. Learning to SCUBA. I loved SCUBA so much that I bought my instructor's JEEP when he moved to Australia. I've been on about 40 dives in the last year.
8. Making new friends. Cinta, Gus, Scott, Dee, Bev, EJ, Walt, Brad, Ken, Ian, Bree, Doug, Sami, Mylene, Litcelle, Nina, AJ, Franklin, Lululula, Josiah, Jun (and the rest of the massive Kaipat clan), Marites (and the rest of FMI), Carl, Juanita, Adam, Aya, Hiney...this list is getting kind of long, so I'll end it there...I consider myself lucky to call you my friend. A year ago I didn't know a single one of you. Knowing all of you alone has made my first year in Saipan worthwhile.
9. The Holidays...especially New Year's Eve at Grand Hotel. I never ate and drank so much in my life. Do I need to say more?

The year hasn't been all shits and giggles, though. I broke up with my girlfriend when she moved back to Florida and I'm still not on speaking terms with my father's widow. I've also been so busy with my work in the community that I haven't had much time to get to know my gigantic Villagomez family or to work on my non-existent Chamorro.

Oh well, I'll add fixing those things to my list of things to do. Nobody's perfect, right?

Even so, I'd like to think that I created some good in my short time here. As I enter my second year, my only hope is that I can keep the momentum going.

Feel free to add to my list...

We have our first ultra right wing blogger!

I thought that the Other Saipan Blog was going to be Saipan's Right Wing Blog. Nope. Those guys have more of an independent streak that tends to lean kind of right when it is really windy; they're not truly Right Wing.

Island Crusader is Right Wing. Super Ultra Mega Vast Right Wing...but I won't say nut job. See? I didn't say it.

Let me get this straight (I'm going to paraphrase every single one of your posts into a single sentence): DC Democrats want to destroy our way of life because they hate us?

Hmmm....where have I heard that type of reasoning before? Let me see.....

Oh, I remember! The Bush Administration! The terrorists want to destroy our way of life because they hate us. They hate our freedom.

Do you think that equating DC Democrats with Al-Qaeda is going to make them (the Democrats, not the terrorists) more or less likely to want to work with the people of the CNMI?

That type of name calling is childish, immature, and gets us no where (note: I didn't actually say "nut job" above). Referring to "outdated and isolated" incidents when you know damn well that every "nightclub" in Garapan is a whore house is more than a little insincere, too.

I admit that your arguments are emotional and probably sound great to people out here with a distaste for the Federal Government, but how do you think you sound to someone that first hears about Saipan by reading a post on Daily Kos? How about when that person googles Saipan and finds Saipan Sucks? Don't you sound like one of the Saipan Pirates? Haven't you marginalized yourself by painting yourself into the Pirate (argh!) corner?

Sure, you sound great to the 30 anti-American people on Saipan that find your blog, but you sound like a total asshole (notice that I didn't call you a name, I just said that you sound like an asshole) to the rest of the world.

With that said, here are my suggestions:

1. You're not Ann Coulter. Drop the snark.
2. Stop the name calling.
3. Follow the money.
4. Research better. Don't use the local papers as a resource.
5. Don't mention the Pirates (argh!). If you mention the pirates, you lose. Talk about your Uncle Joe the farmer and Auntie Marie the nurse.
6. Don't attack people that are on your side (Cohen is a Republican).
7. Stop talking about American Samoa. If you read papers published elsewhere, you'd know that issue has already been resolved. They're not exempt. Get over it.
8. Offer a better solution.

And before this turns into attack the Saipan Blogger, keep in mind that this blog is more about posting pictures of Fotten Gaga models and linking to NSFW Uncensored pictures of Miss Nevada Katie Rees. I just throw in politics every once in a while so that lawyers from Guam can attack my personal life.

It is going to be a long one

Today's schedule:

4:30 AM Wake up (that's in three hours)

5:30 AM Web chat with Elementary School kids in Florida. They want to know about Environmentalism as a career, the recent volcano eruption/asian smog crisis, and being on the CNMI Men's National Football Team

6:00 AM I've got some writing to do for work. Should be fun. Coffee, coffee, coffee.

10:00 AM Meeting with Jesus C. Borja. That's right. Jesus is my Boss.

1:00 PM Meeting up on Capital Hill.

4:30 PM Soccer Practice

8:00 PM Soccer Fundraiser at Porky's. We have to take turns watching the door. I'm going to try to go first so that I can go home early and go to bed.

P.S.

I'm pretty stoked about all the new bloggers on this island. I've got 17 of you linked in my Saipan Bloggers section right now (not to mention my other blogs Chopsticks, Daily OSB, Beautify CNMI!, Hafa Adai, Welcome to Saipan!, and Save the Grotto).

I'm noticing a lot of you leaving comments on this and other blogs begging for links. If you want me to link to you and I haven't done so yet, just leave me a comment. If I deem you worthy, I'll add a link (all you have to do is update your blog once in a while). With that said, Mom, you are hereby put on notice: Update your blog or get deleted. The same goes for you, Little Brother.

Today is a sick day

I'm not feeling so hot today. I had a wicked headache all day yesterday and today I feel kind of erggggggg...

The latest news is that the haze covering Saipan is a combination of volcanic gases and, get this, Chinese smog. That's right, the pollution in China is so bad that it can make people in Saipan sick even though we are thousands of miles away. I say we start bombing right now.

So.

I've been doing a lot lately, both physically and mentally. The physical part is what is really killing me. After 10 years of 12 ounce curls, I gave up drinking...and now I've been training with the CNMI Men's Football Team for exactly three weeks. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I've been sore on a different body part every day since practices started.

Today it is my shoulders. I have the Coach Ziggy Korytoski Circle of Death to thank for that.

Speaking of Football, we've been getting requests from Football fans around the world wanting to see pictures of our team. Here are a few that I stole from Brad's Myspace:

These are the guys that showed up on the first day of practice:

Our numbers (and our waistlines) have been reduced over the last three weeks.

I think this picture is from the third day of practice, the first time we had to do excercises in the ocean:

I think I'm the only guy not sucking it in. I'll post more pictures as I take them.

Volcano Day

The kids were sent home from some of the CNMI Public Schools at 9 AM today, because, get this, the volcano on Anatahan is erupting! The volcano, which is 75 miles north of us, is spewing out ash and a thick grey haze is covering Saipan...and let's not forget that wonderful sulphurous (that's a new word) aroma!

Here are pictures from my front (facing inland) and back (facing the ocean) porch:

Yeah, so some places have Snow Days. We have frickin' Volcano Days!

The Choice is Clear...Vote for ME!

Later tonight I will be competing for the hearts of the four girls in the flyer pictured above. I'm not really sure how it works, but the top girl and guy win something. Part of the each contestant's score is determined by text vote. Using your SAIPANCELL mobile phone, send a text message saying "1001" to the phone number "LOVE" (5603).

The contest starts tonight at Saipan Grand Hotel at 9 PM, then there are three days of text voting, and on Friday the winners will be announced at Club V. If you print up the flyer and bring it to the Saipan Grand Hotel Friday Food Fair between 6-9 PM you will be elgible for an overnight stay for two.

I'm in it to win it, so I went ahead and edited out the numbers for the other contestants. Vote for ME! Not them!

By the way, each text vote cost 10 cents...so don't overdo it.

P.S. Please repost the flyer on your blog...and then come watch me make an ass of myself (again) tonight at 9.