Thoughts from the Air...Finding Friends in Punta Cana

I am sitting on an airplane reflecting on the happenings of the last 2 weeks. I look down from my window seat to the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. My mind wanders to when 2 weeks ago my husband Gary..aka..The Goat and I embarked on a vacation to the Dominican Republic. I have been to the DR before so I knew that although there is plenty of sun,beautiful powdery white sand beaches and clear water, our vacation was going to consist of a lot of R&R and not as much sightseeing and zipping around the countryside in a rented vehicle like we normally do. The two main reasons for this is #1 the DR is not the safest place to go off the beaten path by yourself...#2 they drive like fricken maniacs especially in the city.So we knew we were going to have a very different vacation than what we were accustomed to. We both figured we would have a nice quiet peaceful vacation. We were certainly in for a surprise!
Our first few days were basically spent learning the hotel ropes, and whether you stay at a 5 star or a 2 star hotel there are always different things you have to get used to. For instance..as I can recall I have never heard of the housekeeping staff knocking on your door at 8:15 am looking for dirty towels so they could send them out to be laundered....sooooo....knowing this we always made sure that the towels went outside the door before 8:15 or they would rap rap rap on the door a few times then stroll right in the room..I am quite sure that they have caught many a person in a compromising position! Every hotel has its idiosyncrasies..some more than others and our hotel being a 41/2 star should not have had as many as it did . We were not impressed but that is a story for another day.
The first few days were spent napping ,walking,reading , sunbathing(which I am not ashamed to say topless sunbathing.) Every day between 4 and 5 pm I would go to the cashier in the main hotel to get change for the Internet cafe., in which the young male cashier ,every day, would proclaim to me " Lady you are so beautiful!" I would walk away wondering how many ladies he made smile with his charming compliments to which I was not immune and I would walk to the Internet cafe with a silly grin on my face!
I have to back up a bit now because my story really began on our day that we arrived. Our room was not yet ready so we promptly marched straight to the pool bar and ordered a margarita and cervasa. We discovered our bartenders name was Nicolas. Nicolas asked us if we wanted to try some mamajuana..not MARIjuana..MAMAjuana..a male vitality drink made with woods, herbs & alcohol. So meanwhile there is this character standing at the bar . A wiry man wearing a ballcap. he had curly hair( just at the back) and a weathered face. The man turn out to be a dead ringer for Tommy Lee Jones when he removed his sunglasses. Anyway I thought to myself "who is this yahoo?"He talked to Gary for a second then he was off with his drinks. The next day we came up from the beach to relax at the tranquility pool and the only chairs available were 2 in a grassy area, we plunked ourselves down and started talking amongst ourselves. Before long the couple sitting next to us struck up a conversation..Oh my God..it was the crazy dude from the bar and his prim and proper wife (might I add here that looks are deceiving) Little did we all know that we would become very good friends in a short amount of time.
Tim and Ann are from a place called Richmond near Vancouver BC . We chatted for quite a while and over the next few days kept running in to them. Gary and Tim hit it off big time! Tim..oh my God what a character..sense of humour like you wouldn't believe, very intelligent and had lots, and I mean LOTS of stories to tell .The more he drank the more he talked and the funnier and louder he would get....Usually this type of person is dreadfully annoying but Tim has enough charm and the art knowing when its time to stop to make it all work!
His wife Ann ,tall and graceful with a lovely smile and beautiful,gentle blue eyes ,smart with a biting wit. We soon learned how she and Tim compliment each other.....meaning that they are well suited. Ann and Tim to us are among the nicest kindest people you could meet..don't piss them off though or they will steal your beach towels as they did to an unsuspecting person that thought they would save a primo spot by the pool the night before!
On Wednesday we changed rooms from a 3rd floor to a sweet ground floor room by the tranquility pool. We went for a long walk on the beach then returned to the hut we had snagged on the beach before we went. I laid down and flung my bathing suit top off...AHHHH!..I was going to have a lazy afternoon.WRONG!...about 5 minutes after getting settled a couple came over and pretty much sat right on top of us..I mean they were on the other side of OUR hut! the nerve! I was not impressed ..2 feet away from them with my tits bared ..I mean 10 ft and over is fine but they were RIGHT there!.....After about 30 minutes of trying to ignore them and pretend they weren't there finally the guy..Joe is his name,started to talk..he is a salesman from Cambridge Ont..and Dee his Portuguese girlfriend of 2 years. Joe is very restless and always has to be on the move..knowing what I know about him now I am surprised they even sat at all that day!...And Dee what a girl is all I can say..a free spirit ..always had a wine glass in her hand ..it didn't matter what time of day is was either!
.....Enter Sandy...while we were all talking..a quiet voice piped up and asked me about yoga which was the subject we were talking about..she wanted to know about it because she is shift worker as well and thought it might help her.
"A shift worker you say?" "Are you a nurse?" I said to her..
"No I am a cop" she replied
Well then right away she pulled her chair closer and we all began serious conversation. After a while Gary needed his beauty nap so we went back to our room. Dee went and got us drinks..Rrrrrumm punch she called it...and more drinks followed ..By the time I got back to the room it was after 4pm and I was feeling a wee bit tipsy but felt happy that friendships had been formed and we had shared stories of our lives.
The next day we all met on the beach again and Tim and Ann found their way down and introductions made and our gang was formed. We were all there for 2 weeks..and we just had a blast!
I especially liked my long talks with Sandy who had just separated from her husband after 24 years...I thought (we all did) that it was very brave of her to take a vacation by herself..she later said if it weren't for all of us she might have went home . But if it wasn't for her by vacation would not have been the great one that is was. A great friend..and she lives close enough that I can visit her..I am even going on a ride with her for a shift in the next couple of months.
Each day Sandy would snag our spot on the beach(as she was always out there at 6am)..We would all eventually congregate together. We even went on an 12 hour excursion to saona Island together.For 7 people who had only known each other for a short the comraderie was unbelievable.
Sadly the first ones to leave were Tim and Ann. I got a bit teary eyed I was going to miss them so much..we ALL were. Our last night we all had dinner together and we agreed that it was a karma thing how we all met and hit it off so well..It was magic . It was one of those moments in your life that you know you will never forget and will always put a smile on your face.
Tim,Ann,Sandy,Joe,Dee and my husband Gary ..thank you making my vacation such a memorable event..as long as I live I will never forget it or you guys......

Cyonomys Ludovicianus(or the black tailed prairie dog)

He pokes his head up,his whiskers twitch,alert and ready he watches for signs of danger or in my bosses' case for anyone to make one wrong move.Make no mistake he is ALWAYS watching and takes note of everything you do...for you are ,sadly, just a stepping stone on his path to success.What I am talking about here my fellow bloggers is my boss who I cannot name but for those who know me will know exactly who I am writing about. For those who do not know me this is as much of a rant as it is an analysis in character. Anyone who in the least offended by this blog has no business being here reading it in the first place. I am as a person living in a free country entitled to my opinion. So take it for what it is ..my opinion. My boss came to the place I work about 9 years ago he has since moved up the ladder very quickly...Someone several years back coined the nickname "prairie dog" for him because he is always skulking about..popping his head up amongst the machines to see if he can see any wrongdoings from his subordinates. From now on for the simplicities sake I will refer to him as PD...When the announcement was made last year that PD was coming to my department there was a huge uproar because we already had heard what he was like and knew we were in for a rough go. People from his old area warned us about him..about how he wasn't to be trusted..to watch our backs..etc. At first he tried to present himself as being very easy going..."yes changes had to be made""yadayada.."he didn't want to rock the boat" Trying to lull us into thinking he was not the manipulating control freak that he really is. The bottom line is that he has absolutely NO idea what we endure as shift workers....the stress on our bodies,screwed up sleep patterns, strenuous repetative physical work, issues with equipment, and now alot of us have been there a long time and we are aging and are bodies are breaking down. we struggle just to go to work each day. Yes I know we should be happy to have a job but that isn't the point here. The point here is that our opinions mean naught to him and since he has arrived in our area more than half the people have left..I'm not sure but I think 18 or so of experienced workers have left because of him. Before PD came along it was very rare that people left my department. So now , while having to deal with the usual issues .we have to deal with not having enough trained and experienced people to go around which make some shifts in a word...hell.PD has implemented special procedures to follow to document our evry move while at our machine..paperwork and checks galore before each shift that also have to be signed by our Team Leader AND floor Supervisor!..But no ..this has not been good enough for PD he now has forced a schedule that all 4 crews will follow, which we have not had any say in the matter what so ever!He wouldn't even listen to our valid concerns about it,On the schedule one person must start there 1st break only a half an hour into the 12 hour shift(we get 4 thirty minute breaks)This same person will miss lunch in the cafeteria because there lunch break starts too soon. This just the tip of the iceberg of how ludicrous he is. He wants only 1 person to run 2 machines for 8 hours..and as the Joint Health and Safety Person I am going to see if this is a safe thing to do.PD once let me peek at his palm, and what I seen in the 5 minutes that I looked at it was a person who although is highly intelligent does not let emotions come into play while making a decision....this is how he can be such a prick. If I were a boss I would like for people to enjoy coming to work..to feel that they could approach me with a problem and I would listen,gather the facts then act. I would try to earn people's respect and PD has not one iota of respect from anyone (that I know of anyway). People now rather have an absolute burning hatred towards him..and ridicule him behind his back all the time ..hence Prairie Dog..but it doesn't stop there through the areas where he has been there are constant reminders of him..etchings of prairie dogs in walls,equipment, cut outs posted every now and agian..if you can name it it's been done.PD KNOWS this is going on and apparently the next time someone does something he is going to get to the bottom of it and have them fired! I think he just has that I'll show them attitude..and according to a good source he has been an idiot all his life. Give an idiot some power and nothing good will come of it. If he only had one speck of people skills and a smidgen of heart he might be able to start to succed at being a manager..it the difference between saying to someone"you have ROTTEN breath!!" as opposed to "this new gum is good would you like some?"It is all in the way you you present stuff you can catch alot more flies with honey than vinegar has always been my motto...I do not not know what is going to happen to all of us at work but it is getting almost unbearable..just like prison,,you can't even take a shit without having to explain yourself. I know that all our protests will continue to fall on deaf ears..But PD should take heed ..as much as he is watching us we are watching him...and there is power in many

The Dolphin Experience..Magic, Miracle or Coincidence?

Today I am going to share an experience that happened to me 3 years ago in Huatulco Mexico. My husband and I were there with friends on a 2 week vacation. At the resort we were hearing murmurings of dolphin sightings and we decided we would hire a boat to take us out to see if we would be fortunate enough to see some ourselves. Our first excursion was interesting and fun but we only managed to see some sea turtles in the ocean. Huatulco Mexico is a beautiful place on the Pacific that all along the coastline are beautiful hidden beaches and coves. Our first excursion took us to many of these coves, but like I said no dolphins. So two days later we decided that we would hire a boat to take us 16 miles out to sea and do a little deep sea fishing in the meantime. Tico our driver was quite the character,he spoke english quite well and was a wealth of knowledge about the area. The guys wanted to try their hand at deep sea fishing and they caught a few good sized tuna. I was reminded of how my dad used to take me fishing when I was a girl and I shared some funny stories with our small group. My dad died 5 and a half years ago, and since then whenever I find a fluffy white feather I know he is near, that day after I had finished telling my fishing stories I looked down to the sea and lo and behold there was a fluffy white feather bobbing beside the boat..i knew my dad was there with me so I asked him if he could send me a dolphin ..over and over for a few minutes I silently sent the message. Janet who knows I am Wiccan asked me if I was sending out the Dolphin Call..I said yes I sent out the call but we all needed to do it.And so after about 2 hours of fishing and 16 miles out I was beginning to think that we where on a fruitless expedition and I was starting to lose hope..until Tico spotted something way ahead...he said to us "look way out there" At first we didn't see what his trained eye was seeing but as we got closer we realized that what we were seeing was the splashings of dolphins...and in Tico's estimation over 1000 of them, closer and closer we got until we were right in the midst of them...It was absolutely the most amazing and beautiful experiences of my entire life! The sun was shining the ocean was sparkling like diamonds and as far as the eye could see all around us were dolphins jumping,playing and splashing. the tears were streaming down everyone's faces for the sight was beyond amazing . Janet managed to get pictures of the dolphins leaping inot the air.We spent about 45 minutes with the dolphins and on are way back to shore we encountered another smaller group. I was so happy ,I said to my dad who was undoubtedly there with me "Dad I only asked for one dolphin..you didn't have to send every one in the ocean!" laughing as I said it. It was truly a magical event and no one who was present on that boat could deny that there was magic in the air that day. Tico himself told us he had never seen such a large group of dolphins.As long as I live I will never forget that day, and I feel honoured and priveledged to have witnessed such a sight.If anyone else has had a similar experience I would like to hear about it.

Waiting

Today I am compelled to write about waiting. How much time do we spend consciously waiting for things.We wait in line,for spring to come,for Christmas,for a baby to be born,the clothes to dry,the kettle to boil,a toilet to flush,our workday to be over....the possibilities are endless. It has occurred to me and probably many other people that our lives are one giant waiting game. And with waiting comes its evil sister ....impatience. It has been said that patience is a virtue.As a naturally impatient person I am offering some ideas on how to combat impatience. You see , impatience leads to anger and frustration and in turn leads to sometimes disastrous events to happen. Think of the impatient person caught in a traffic jam, they start thinking about all the things they must do or accomplish that day,forgetting that hundreds of others have things to do as well...they start to get frustrated and aggressive honking their horn, jerking their way through traffic ,weaving their way around other cars...thinking that their artful and practised manoevers are gaining them valuable headway. Meanwhile unbeknowst to them they have caused a deadly accident to happen behind them. I myself abhor wasting time and so I have found ways to deal with waiting and impatience. First of all , I always keep a puzzle or book handy in case I have a longer wait than expected ie. doctor's or dentist appts. I try to grocery shop when I know it isn't going to be as busy. I take alternate routes in the city to avoid traffic.Audio books are a great invention for long car rides..it is amazing how fast the time goes when you are listening to a story not waiting for a destination. ...Waiting for a washroom however is a different matter.Why can't they have washrooms available right as soon as you step off an airplane? No they make you wait until you have passed through customs before there is one to be had. Last year I almost had the most embarrassing incident of crapping my pants at the San Jose airport in Costa Rica. I almost fainted from the pains ripping through my stomach! I look back now and laugh but then I was in complete agony after having to wait an hour and a half in the customs line.Bodily functions wait for no one! ....In saying all this I think the number one way a person can combat wating is to live in the moment,not to project in the future. People must think about the future but sometimes they do that too much and miss the NOW.So the next time you are consciously waitng for something do something to keep your mind occupied to make that time pass by productively.

Have you ever noticed the sounds people make when they are eating?Yes I am quite sure you have unless you are deaf that you have been at some time in your life irratated by the sound of someone smucking and smacking their food while eating.Do those people KNOW they are making unpleasant noises?And if they do know,why do they feel compelled to invade other people's ear space? Slurping on any type of fruit and the snik snik of gum being chawed are among the sounds I find extremely irratating. Men are worse than women in the food department yet I do know several women , one in particular who smucks,sucksand slurps her food. MY GOD! she has to know she is doing this! Does she think this is sexy?Although this same woman thinks bleaching her her to a strawlike crisp is sexy so I guess we will leave it at that. Women on the other hand have a tendency to be the gum chawers. And so dear friends my dilemma is as such.... When irratated by a chronic food smacker does one tell the person that this bothers them and asks them to stop,maybe the person does not realize they are doing this. On the other hand if you do tell them and they KNOW they have been doing this all along,will this give them more ammo to irritate you further?It is a very hard call. And why is it that one gets irritated by these noises in the first place? A bird could chirp all day or a tap could drip,drip,drip, but the sound of another human eating noisily drives me absolutely insane! Maybe it is because these people do have control over the noises they make. When I was a kid my father would make the ghastliest noises while eating and my mom would say disdainfully"Must you eat like that?" Though now that my dad is gone I would give anything to hear him heartily smacking his food.........This is the thought coming from my small brain today.

Tips for the Busy Woman

First of all organization is the key..Have lists for everything.
Keep a magnetic pad on the fridge..when you know you need something -write it down
Faithfully keep a datebook in your handbag,and keep it up dated all the time
appointments
work schedule
social events
anything at all that pertains to your life
Invest in some swiffer products.(not the "Wet Jet" it sucks) but the swiffer wet clothes and also the swiifer vac are great for quick clean ups.You can wash and reuse the drycloths
Have a place for everything ,always put things back in the same spot-this will prevent you from having to waste valuable looking for things.
Be like a waitress...they always are carrying something in their hands,if you have to travel from room to room,make sure you have something to bring to that room!
Always be sure to make time for yourself each day..whether it's reading a book, taking a relaxing bath or going for a walk...reward yourself..otherwise you become stressed and feel you are put on this earth to cater to the wants and needs of others!And DON"T feel guilty about it!
if you are feeling that you have no time...look at how each day you manage your time and find ways to become more efficient..

Pink Boots

I was thinking to myself as to why human beings feel the need to express themselves.Think of the many millions of ways we try to do this. Whether it is a painting,sculpture,the clothing we choose to wear,the way we decorate our homes, the coffee mugs we choose to drink out of . We adorn ourselves with jewelery ,tattoos and makeup.How did we first learn or desire to do this?A two year old toddlers is given toys to play with, his parentss teach him to speak so now the child has choices to make and the means to convey what it is he wants. I recently purchased a pair of PINK steel toed boots for work. Why did I choose them? Why didn't I just choose the plain ones that everyone else wears? Am I afraid that I as a person will NOT be unique and get lost in a sea of souls and not stand out among the crowd? Is that the really the reason people seek to express themselves? Where does it all stop? The more people there are in the world the harder we fight to be unique individuals...