So this was supposed to be the week my friend Brandon was coming down from the states to visit me. He made it as far as Houston but Continental decided that he should just go back to Seattle instead of continue on to Montego Bay. Yes, this was on the same day as the elevated threat levels and the liquid containers being banned so maybe the airport officials were thinking they needed to turn away more people than usual to earn their pay.

Brandon made it into Houston after being delayed in Seattle all morning but missed his connecting flight to Montego Bay. He stayed in a hotel which it sounds like he had to pay for on his own. His girlfriend had called me earlier in the day to tell me he was delayed til the following day and I called him later in the evening to find the time to expect him in Kingston. If I recall, the time was something like 7:15pm.

So I was at the airport the next night with a friend I asked to drive me there and lookin around to see him when I finally decided to call and see where he was. Bad news man. I'm in Seattle. Good thing I was already sitting down. Turns out the people working for Continental in Houston had a different way of determining if a birth certificate is valid from the way they do in Seattle's Continental. A tear on the document meant that it was altered and was not valid for him to continue on to Jamaica. The same tear that was there when the document was checked in Seattle.

Back home I went just trying to reason in my head why Brandon wasn't here. He told me on the phone before my credit ran out that he was going to get his flight credited and rescheduled, get his passport rush delivery in 1-3 days and he would be coming the next week. I certainly hope that works out but I'm not sure. I just got an email today that says he should be coming the end of the week although it's not quite finalized yet. Hope Continental can find it in their hearts to let a person reach his destination this time.

Waiting

I floated around for a bit then came back in the surf to chat a little. Soon more people came in and we spent quite a bit of time just playing starving(basically what I call keep-away) with a football in the water. I was amazed with how long that entertained us. Even got a few of the people out into the water who were afraid of it. A couple hours later we came back to the covered area where everyone had moved when the rain passed over. Watched a game of dominos and ludi which is shown in the photo gallery.

We took a quick detour to see the Negril lighthouse. It was actually after hours but the counsellor knew the people who run it so the man was nice enough to give us a tour. We climbed all the way up and got to step outside and enjoy the view of the western tip of Jamaica. It's a neat place to visit. The view and the actual lighthouse itself.

The drive back was alright - we stopped one place expecting to get some jerk pork but it was too expensive so we skipped it. My stomach was upset with me that I didn't get some KFC earlier when we stopped to use the bathroom. I managed though. As we made it through the toll booth the coaster bus developed an unfriendly sound and so we stopped... the fan belt decided to give up around midnight. So there we were on the side of the road waiting for a replacement bus and I decided it was a good photo opportunity. I've always loved those photos of headlights and tailights I see in magazines so I decided to try my luck. I liked the results for a first try. I especially liked the one of the coaster bus with the lights passing by. I feel it captures the time we spent waiting. Really it wasn't that long that we had to wait - soon we were on the other bus and on the way home. I got a drive from the principal to my house about 2am. Fun times!

Let's see, I'm happy that Flow is coming to give GHS broadband! I've been working occasionally at KHS for some time now and they've had broadband from Flow for quite a few months now and it is fast! Flow is a new broadband and and cable and phone company in Jamaica but they're rolling out the broadband first. They are giving broadband to the schools that their networks go past at no cost. It's pretty neat and it is way faster than anything currently offered. I'm sure the schools are getting at least 2Mb/s but it could be more. So, we only need to buy some equipment to make it available on the entire network at the school. Now, as far as controlling what the students look at on the Internet - that's not my concern because I'll be gone when the school year starts. It could get ugly though!

The DAPS graduation was nice. I saw some students I hadn't for a while and got to see others graduate.

I brought my camera along and we headed out around mid-day. The rain was falling slightly at my house and when we arrived at the track in Portmore but it eased off around 2 or 3pm. The Digicel tent was on the infield but not too close to the track. Closed Circuit TV was the main method of watching the races. The best part for me was that the party had a Cuban theme and so there was Cuban food, drinks, a Cuban band and dancers!

The friend that invited me is the same teacher that I stayed with in Maryland. He also works in the weather department of one of the local TV stations. His invitation came from one of the young ladies that presents the weather and also works for Digicel who put on the party at the races. I met the nice young lady Patria, and her boyfriend who was visiting from Dallas. Turns out he works for match.com so we got to talk some computer geek stuff. I'm always up for that!