9 days left in Samoa

I'm enjoying my time that remains here in the tropics. It was cool today. It is 630p right now and it is only 84 degrees. Plus the humidity seems lower than it has been.

On Friday, Team Puppy backpacked down to Massacre Bay for some camping.


On the way up, it was NOT cool out. I'm guessing it was about 92 and 100% humidity. And that trail is steep. I was a super sweat machine.


The trip was really fun. Sleeping without pads sucks though even when the ground is sand.

So I applied for a job a month or so ago in Seattle working for the US Dept. of Labor adjudicating workers compensation claims. That seemed pretty cool. A couple weeks ago I had a phone interview and the people that interviewed me also seemed cool. Plus the job is in downtown Seattle. Today they offered it to me, but want me to start March 1. I knew I might get an offer for a while because my boss said they called him for a reference the day after the interview. It was really stressing me out for a while. It is really hard to pass up a job in this terrible economy, especially one in Seattle, but I've decided I can't take it. I can't not go on this trip that I've already paid for. Plus, I don't have a mortgage, or kids, or anything else that would make it harder to go. I think I need to do it. I'm going to tell them I can start June 1, but I doubt that will work. Regardless though, it is nice to get an offer for the first job I applied for. Hopefully I won't be unemployed in 8 months. I think I'll be ok. Maybe another position at the same place will open up that starts in June.

I was disappointed to see the OKC fake basketball team won 5 out of 10. I was hoping for worst record of all time (not that the NBA isn't dead to me).

I hope the M's sign Griffey. I know he could suck, but he could help the team as a DH/sometimes LF with power. $5M/ 1year would be great.

The Huskies are ranked! I don't know how the coaches could not rank the Huskies and still rank UCLA. UW has a better record, is 1st in the Pac-10, has a higher RPI, and just beat UCLA by 11. They need to keep it up. If they could possibly keep the losses to 3 from here on out, they'll get a relatively high seed in the tournament. That's a tall order, but at least it looks like they'll make the tournament. So I'll have to find an internet cafe to watch the tournament games online.
I'm really glad MBA didn't break his toe too.

My neighbor's clothesline:

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas too. I guess I haven't done an update since before Thanksgiving either.

So, here's a great local music video to make up for that: King Aeto!

I have less than a month left on the island now. Since my last post, Fred left the island. He'll be missed.


I think coming to Samoa is a great experience and it has been a great time. But, two years is a long time. When I leave, I think there will only be four people in the group that were on-island when I moved here.

Today the Huskies hired USC's defensive coordinator. That is a pretty positive sign. At least we can't do worse next year.
Also, it should be noted that UW's D coordinator makes more than WSU's head coach. That is probably appropriate.
Speaking of the Cougs, the Huskies finally beat them at basketball. Nice job.

One month from now, I'll be in Hawaii. Weird! Weird but good.

I'll be back in WA on February 9th. I plan on coming up to Seattle probably for the 10th and 11th. I know it is during the week, but I'd love to hang out with people there if you can arrange it. Then I'm going to hang out with my parents and belately celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.
On February 15, I fly to Miami on a red-eye, then head to South America. In case anyone wants to meet me along the trip, I'll provide what I think is our itinerary:

Feb 18-March 2: Buenos Aires area. We'll be staying with Maximo in town and also checking out a nearby town for Carnival and probably a couple days in Uruguay.

March 2-13: Patagonia. We fly into El Calafate and have one day to check out the Perito Moreno glacier. Then we head south to prepare for 5 days of backpacking in Torres del Paine park in Chile.

From here on out it gets less scheduled, but it'll be something like this probably:
March 13-18 Bariloche, Argentina area, some of this time spent hiking/camping.
March 18-23- Make our way to Pucon, Chile- camping probably along the way.
March 23-28 Pucon, Chile. There's an erupting volcano to climb there, rafting, and all kinds of things like that.
March 28-30 Make our way up to Valparaiso/Vina del Mar, Chile
March 30- April 5- Valparaiso/Vina del Mar/ Santiago, Chile
April 6-10 Mendoza, Argentina area
April 11-14 Salta, Argentina area
April 14-15 travel to Sucre, Bolivia
April 16-18 Sucre, Bolivia
April 19-22 La Paz, Bolivia
April 23-25 backpacking in Bolivia
April 26-28 Lake Titicaca (Bolivia)
April 29-30 Lake Titicaca (Peru)
May 1-8 Cusco & Macchu Picchu
May 8-12 Lima- hang out with Ayla.
Then it is back to Miami and a few days hanging out with Susan.
Then to Indianapolis for a few days
Then to Chicago for a few
Then back to Portland on May 26

I'll have the same Vonage phone number 206.501.2135 and I'm taking a phone (provided by Nate) that I will be able to (hopefully) plug into computers at internet cafes to call.

Here's a pirate and a bat: