Yeah, you thought of something dirty when you saw this title.............shame on you. Actually, this is a small, naturally made hole in the volcanic rock along the ironshore that pushes the through with tremendous force every time a wave hits. It's quite fun (and loud!!) to sit there and watch. Just a little geology for all those interested:
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
LOSS PREVENTION
If Loss Prevention were a profit center, I would be their flagship client!
It all started at 5am this morning. I finally decided to give up my quest for a good night's sleep and get out of bed to get my day started. Today, my first day on my new job in my new country and feeling somewhat nervous and apprehensive about it, no sooner am I plugging in my iron than I realize that my hotel safe is malfunctioning. I go from Mr. Prepared-Have-It-All-Under-Control to Mr. Holy-Cow-How-Do-I-Freakin'-Get-To-Work-With-No-Money? I can't get to my car keys, my passport, my money, etc........What the Hell now? My day all of a sudden turns upside down.
In come Loss Prevention. After about an hour standing in my room in my "nights" (not quite shorts, not quite underwear) with two strange men (I never actually talked to another man--let alone 2 men!!--in my nights), their efforts were to no avail, and I was stuck with the option to come back at lunchtime to have them drill my safe open. So I wolfed down a pricey hotel breakfast buffet (not really in the budget, you know), grabbed a gratis taxi (on the hotel's account for the inconvenience of the malfunctioned safe), and headed off to meet my new employers.
At noon I was able to shoot back to my room by taxi (again, on the hotel) and there I met the same guys (this time dressed much more professionally), who got the safe open finally but had to stay to repair it. I couldn't stay for that event so I munched on a couple of turtle heads (actually, it was celery and carrot sticks but turtle heads would have made this story better) and whisked back off to work.
When I got back to the hotel at night and entered my key into my door, I saw a figure of a hotel staffer with a room service tray approaching me. He strolled into my room proudly and placed down a very attractive fruit platter and a large bottle of Aqua-fina water with a lovely note of apology from the front desk over the safe issue and the trouble it cai\used. Fair enough, I thought; I was not going to argue. They even threw a microwave in my room. I guess my large stock of cup-a-soup and EZ Mac n Cheese tipped them off.
So after changing back into my "nights" and a white t-shirt, I dived into the strawberries and grapes with tremendous gusto. I saved what I couldn't finish and brought the room-service tray into the hallway. I rested it on the decorativve ledge just across the hall from my room when I heard that dreaded sound............."Bam!"
You guessed it.....my door slammed shut behind me! And there I was, Mr. Nights, barefoot, stuck in the hallway, just 3 inches of wood and steel separating me from the comfort of my room. I sat there dazed for a minute and had to remind myself that I was not on some movie set somewhere. I walked briskly down the hall to the elevators where I knew there was a phone and called the front desk to tell them of my dilemna. I tried to act as cool as possible, but it's difficult to do so when you are half-naked in a hotel corridor standing next to 4 people waiting for the elevator while explaining that you have been locked out of your room. Ever since my hotel stay began I had wondered what that phone was for, and I smugly thought, each time I passed it, that I would never have use for it. Well, the day I open my first hotel, remind me to make sure to put a phone in every hallway and set it below a picture of a vbery humbled, red-faced grown man in his "nights" banging on his room door trying to will it open..........
Up comes Loss Prevention (good thing it was a different shift of staffers at this hour), and he explains that he cannot just open my door without ID. I would have to come down to the front desk first to verify mysefl, to which I reminded him desperately of my embarrassing wardrobe and protested that I could not go down there dressed like I was just about to jump into bed. I had my dignity, after all.......................or so I pretended to have............
He relented and called his supervisor, who came up and let me in, asked for my ID and left quickly, the whole time feigning that this happens all the time..............The first thing I thought about when I got inside (after, of course, vowing to staple my card to my hand) was that I had probably broken a record of losing my vanity twice in the same day by speaking with 2 strange guys on 2 separate occassions.....................in my "nights." MAY THIS NEVER HAPPEN TO YOU!
It all started at 5am this morning. I finally decided to give up my quest for a good night's sleep and get out of bed to get my day started. Today, my first day on my new job in my new country and feeling somewhat nervous and apprehensive about it, no sooner am I plugging in my iron than I realize that my hotel safe is malfunctioning. I go from Mr. Prepared-Have-It-All-Under-Control to Mr. Holy-Cow-How-Do-I-Freakin'-Get-To-Work-With-No-Money? I can't get to my car keys, my passport, my money, etc........What the Hell now? My day all of a sudden turns upside down.
In come Loss Prevention. After about an hour standing in my room in my "nights" (not quite shorts, not quite underwear) with two strange men (I never actually talked to another man--let alone 2 men!!--in my nights), their efforts were to no avail, and I was stuck with the option to come back at lunchtime to have them drill my safe open. So I wolfed down a pricey hotel breakfast buffet (not really in the budget, you know), grabbed a gratis taxi (on the hotel's account for the inconvenience of the malfunctioned safe), and headed off to meet my new employers.
At noon I was able to shoot back to my room by taxi (again, on the hotel) and there I met the same guys (this time dressed much more professionally), who got the safe open finally but had to stay to repair it. I couldn't stay for that event so I munched on a couple of turtle heads (actually, it was celery and carrot sticks but turtle heads would have made this story better) and whisked back off to work.
When I got back to the hotel at night and entered my key into my door, I saw a figure of a hotel staffer with a room service tray approaching me. He strolled into my room proudly and placed down a very attractive fruit platter and a large bottle of Aqua-fina water with a lovely note of apology from the front desk over the safe issue and the trouble it cai\used. Fair enough, I thought; I was not going to argue. They even threw a microwave in my room. I guess my large stock of cup-a-soup and EZ Mac n Cheese tipped them off.
So after changing back into my "nights" and a white t-shirt, I dived into the strawberries and grapes with tremendous gusto. I saved what I couldn't finish and brought the room-service tray into the hallway. I rested it on the decorativve ledge just across the hall from my room when I heard that dreaded sound............."Bam!"
You guessed it.....my door slammed shut behind me! And there I was, Mr. Nights, barefoot, stuck in the hallway, just 3 inches of wood and steel separating me from the comfort of my room. I sat there dazed for a minute and had to remind myself that I was not on some movie set somewhere. I walked briskly down the hall to the elevators where I knew there was a phone and called the front desk to tell them of my dilemna. I tried to act as cool as possible, but it's difficult to do so when you are half-naked in a hotel corridor standing next to 4 people waiting for the elevator while explaining that you have been locked out of your room. Ever since my hotel stay began I had wondered what that phone was for, and I smugly thought, each time I passed it, that I would never have use for it. Well, the day I open my first hotel, remind me to make sure to put a phone in every hallway and set it below a picture of a vbery humbled, red-faced grown man in his "nights" banging on his room door trying to will it open..........
Up comes Loss Prevention (good thing it was a different shift of staffers at this hour), and he explains that he cannot just open my door without ID. I would have to come down to the front desk first to verify mysefl, to which I reminded him desperately of my embarrassing wardrobe and protested that I could not go down there dressed like I was just about to jump into bed. I had my dignity, after all.......................or so I pretended to have............
He relented and called his supervisor, who came up and let me in, asked for my ID and left quickly, the whole time feigning that this happens all the time..............The first thing I thought about when I got inside (after, of course, vowing to staple my card to my hand) was that I had probably broken a record of losing my vanity twice in the same day by speaking with 2 strange guys on 2 separate occassions.....................in my "nights." MAY THIS NEVER HAPPEN TO YOU!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
GETTING MY BEARINGS
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
WHERE AM I?
Am I really here? I haven't quite figured that out yet completely, but I'm sure it will continue to sink in.
Welcome to my blog about my new life on Grand Cayman
(pronounced Kay-Man' by the locals, with emphasis on the "man"). I hope you enjoy what I have to say and can come check out how it's going for me once in a while. I am going to leave it open for you to post as well. Please just keep it clean and family-oriented
Phew! It took a lot of effort and planning to get here, and it seemed like the list of tasks was never-ending. No one will ever understand how hard it is to leave loved ones behind unless they try it first-hand. I know they feel the same......
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Ma'am, you just luggbutted me......" What is "luggbutting," you say. You know when you are on that long, snakey, roped-off line at the airport waiting to check in? "Luggbutting" is when the person behind you literally uses your butt as a luggage stand. Would it kill them to leave just a step or so between you or them in case you, I don't know, need to take a step backward?
Almost into my 2nd day. Dang, the sand is white!
Getting yourself set up is such a foreign concept to most of us. When you have to buy everything down to salt and pepper shakers to pillow cases, you know you are starting over.........Then there's the cell phone, transportation, dry cleaner, bus stop......."Excuse me, sir, how do I know how much to pay the bus driver?"
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