Filed at 4:04 pm under Blogroll and Uncategorized by glennstu
It has been a while since I’ve had a blog worthy of publishing on this distinguihed site but today I heard a story at lunch that might fit the bill even though it has nothing to do with Roi. There are two guys I had lunch with today whom we’ll call Bob and Fred to protect their real identity. It seems that Bob had a remote controlled device that allowed him to remotely generate a noise that sounded like a fart. When his good friend Fred was away from his desk Bob installed the device under Fred’s desk. Evidently Fred frequently works with his headphones on so on a number of occasions when Fred was working oblivious to his surroundings while listening to jams on his headphones Bob would wait for someone to show up to talk to Fred’s cube mate and then he would detonate the farting maching. People would hear it and see Fred smiling and bobbing his head to the music and jump to the conclusion that Fred was the culprit. It was quite droll. I guess Fred wasn’t needed for Bob to have fun. Sometimes when Fred was gone Bob would wait for some unsuspecting passerby to walk by and then would activate the fart and then Bob would lean out of his cube and say “Dude!”. He said some of the guys he did that to would never come by his desk again. Fortunately for me they work in a different office than I do. If people hear me fart it is going to be the real deal. Enjoy your holidays!
Filed at 11:08 pm under Blogroll by glennstu
Scenic Roi Namur is far removed from the NFL season. Life there is peaceful and quiet for the most part. The closest NFL game was the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. We were limited in which games we could watch by the AFN. For some reason they did not choose to broadcast all the Browns games but would pick a couple of games every week. The strangest thing was that they delayed the Monday Night games until 10:30 at night. Since I had to be at work by 6 to calibrate the radar I usually would tape the games and watch them the next day. So life could be difficult for a rabid Browns fan. But this year I am in Tucson and here is my prediction on how the season will go.
Read more »
Filed at 12:45 am under Diving by glennstu
Iakwe,
This week on Discovery is shark week, one of my favorite weeks of the year television wise. It sure has brought back lots of memories of my time on Roi and the great diving there. Tonight they had a show on the 10 deadliest sharks. Unfortunately I missed the first half of the show because 2 of the sharks on the list I dove with off Roi. Those were the white tip and the grey reef shark. I saw and swam with a number of those as well as nurse sharks and black tips while on Roi. There are tiger sharks there but I never saw one nor did anyone I can think of. But shortly before I arrived a tiger was caught either on Roi or Enniburr. My friend had its jaw. Watching all these shows is making me crave going diving again. Read more »
Filed at 10:56 pm under Uncategorized by glennstu
The 2008 Eurocup is in full swing. As I type this I have one eye on the Spain v Italy match that at half-time is tied 0-0. One of the hardships of living on Roi-Namur is that the Armed Forces Television network does not broadcast what the rest of the world calls Football because you play it with you feet as opposed to American football where you seldom use your feet and if you’re one of the few players who have that opportunity you are generally looked on with contempt by your team mates. Perhaps AFN is concerned that football is a deadly foreign influence and that is why they do not broadcast the matches. Real football (soccer an abbreviation for Association Football) was once my life. I had to pretty much give it up once I moved to Roi for two good reasons, one I was nursing what I thought was an injury but later found out that my hip joint had degenerated due to arthritis and second because there was no one else to play with/against on Roi. I guess down on Kwaj they had a summer league but I wasn’t able to play. So I am left to playing vicariously through the sensational players I am watching in the Eurocup and other professional matches. And while my hip degenerated my memories of brilliant play has grown in stature leaving me with a memory of playing better than what I once actually did. I greatly enjoyed group play especially watching the Netherlands the country of my ancestors or at least one of the countries of my ancestors. The Dutch are my favorite European team due to their style of play and their former association with my ancestors. They play with verb and passion whatever that means. But more to the point they have a lot of energy, score a lot of goals (except against Russia), and have a player with a funny sounding name. That leads us to one of the chief high lites for me in this tournaments. There are a number of players with funny sounding names. For the Dutch it is a player with a name that sounds something like Flutenfart (pronounced ‘flute and fart’). I’m sure there were some school bullies who made some hay with that name. Spain’s answer to Flutenfart is Flabbergas. I wonder if the two players ever played on the same club team. If so I’m sure no one dared follow them into the loo. I think it was the Greek side who has a player named Yankoff. Which leads us to the star name of the tournament, the Ruskies player named Zherkof (pronounced Jerk-off). While I was saddened by the Dutch demise I find some comfort knowing it will give me more opportunity to laugh everytime Jerkoff’s name is mentioned. It is particularly funny when the announcers, with a straight face, make statements like “Jerkoff holds the ball well”, “Jerkoff launched a laser shot”, or “Jerkoff whacked the ball from the corner.” (Actual statements). It is a testimony to the professionalism of the announcers that they can make such statements without following it up with a Beevus and Butthead type laugh. One of the very best announcers on ESPN this cup is color man Andy Gray. He of course is a former footballer himself from Scotland, a nation not known for speaking English or having an especially keen sense of humor. Instead, they speak a language called Brogue which has its origins in English but has greatly departed from it. Since there are no English speaking teams in this tournament I suppose ESPN felt it was fitting not to have an English speaking announcer. But Andy has made many insightful observations which I would greatly appreciate if I actually spoke and understood Brogue. But all seriousness aside, it somehow seems fitting to have British announcers if for no other reason than they actually understand the game unlike many of their American colleagues. The voice just seems right somehow. What I love the most about Andy Gray is that his opinions on players taking dives exactly coincides with mine. I usually played striker during my career and my manager kept getting on me that I should take a dive in the box when I was getting mauled by fullbacks but I wouldn’t do it. I’d like to add that Scotland is a nation with a proud and rich heritage. Another story of this Eurocup is Croatia’s coach who’s night job is as a guitarist in a rock band. He doesn’t look like your typical coach and may be the only coach in the tournament with an earring. I know big Phil does not have one (Phil is Portugal’s coach and has recently taken a job with Chelsea, my favorite club team). Since the Netherlands did not advance I would have enjoyed seeing Croatia beat Russia in the final and seeing their coach get excited and play air guitar when one of his players steals the ball from Jerkoff and puts it in the old onion bag. But my deepest fear is that Turkey will play Italy in the final. I don’t enjoy watching Italy because they do not score many goals and do not give up many goals. The not giving up many goals has been a secret to their success. I”m hoping the Dutch or Portuguese do not catch on to that. It would take away some of the fun of watching them. I’ve taken a while to type this due to the distraction of watching the match despite my ability to touch type. After 90 minutes the score is tied 0-0. If you ask me Spain is falling right into Italy’s hand. This is a very typical Italian match. My fear of a Turkish v Italy final looks more and more promising. You may be wondering why I don’t like Turkish football. Perhaps it is unfair but years ago (1991) I was playing for an all Kenyan team (except me) in Riyadh against a Turkish side. That team was the dirtiest I’ve ever played against. We ended up having to call the match because fights were starting to break out. I have nothing against Turkey itself but I’ve held a grudge against their footballers since that day. To the national teams credit they have been exciting to watch and play with a don’t give up attitude. It also seems a mystery to me why Turkey insists on pretending to be European. Geographically they are located in Asia and culturally they seem closer to Asia but yet they steadfastly insist on being considered European. I would like to visit there someday to see the ancient sites and maybe the Turks will enlighten me and raise the fog of my current ignorance. Then I might start to champion their cause. My friend Jimmy pointed out to me that a large chunk of Europe use to be ruled by Turkey but one could make the claim that a large chunk of America was once ruled by England and Spain yet I don’t see any American team being allowed into the tournament nor does England or Spain insist on playing in the CONCACAF cup. But Turkey is a nation with a proud and rich heritage.
There is still no score and it appears that the Italians are more concerned with winning the cup rather than entertaining me. One more reason to hope Spain wins, a nation with a proud and rich heritage.
Epilogue - Surprise surprise, Spain actually beat Italy at their own game and won a nil nil tie on a penalty kick shoot out.
Technorati Tags: Turkey, Spain, Germany, Eurocup, Euro Cup, Soccer, Football, Marshall Islands, Kwajalein, Roi, Roi-Namur, Micronesia, travel, trivia
Filed at 7:54 pm under Travel by glennstu
Last night I watched the movie Letters from Iwo Jima which I quite enjoyed. By coincidence today my mother sent me some letters I had written to my family when I worked in Riyadh back in 1991. Though far removed from Roi-Namur I thought it might be interesting to see where this Roi Rat had worked in other over seas assignments. It is not unusual for Roi Rats to work in various places over seas. I’d say we were an adventurous lot. So this following letter was written on July 11, 1991. It was a predecessor to letters I would eventually write from Roi.
Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry for writing a group letter but I had intended to write individual letters and have never got around to it. Besides, I’d probably just write the same thing to everyone anyways.
On my way over here I came through Amsterdam, and enjoyed myself quite a bit. I found the Dutch to be a good humored people, though I haven’t figured out why they would laugh every time I spoke Nederlandes (Dutch) to them. My command of the language helped me to make friends. A few times it didn’t help, like when I would get on a Dutch plane I’d greet the flight attendant in Dutch. She would see my obvious Dutch features and see my Dutch name on my boarding past and would make the false assumption I was Dutch and then proceeded to rattle off a bunch of Nederlandes in reply. Although I speak Nederlandes, I barely understand a word of it. I assumed she was telling me where my seat was, though she could have been telling me I looked like a drowned rat[Foreshadowing of my future on Roi where I did look like a drowned rat at times] . When I went to England 4 years ago I felt like I was visiting somebody’s grandmother’s house. You know, old and stuffy with a bunch of antiques. Visiting the Netherlands seemed more like a Studevant reunion. The people looked like Studevants, they acted like Studevants, they drank beer like Studevants. What I enjoyed the most was visiting fishing villages on the Zuider Zee (South Sea), and a boat tour on the canals in Amsterdam. I found a picture of one of our ancestors that I’ll show you if you come to Seattle but I did not find any living Studevants. So much for the Netherlands. Read more »
Filed at 11:56 pm under Fishing by glennstu
Perhaps when I described the huge tuna that I caught off Airok folks may have had their doubts about the size of the fish I caught despite the photo I included. That’s fine. But let me tell you, this week I received some photos from former Roi resident Rob Corbin with actual untouched photos of fish he landed along with our friend Mike shown in the photos. Actually I do not know who caught which fish but let’s give the credit to Rob until I hear differently. If you recall from my post on July 26th of last year, Mike and Rob are dedicated fishermen who have made a science of this great sport. It has paid dividends as you can see from these photos. Read more »
Filed at 7:50 pm under Travel by glennstu
Aloha,
Today I watched the Pro Bowl in Hawaii and sighted a Kwaj. sign in the stands. I can recall guys going there for the Pro Bowl as the closest professional football game to Kwajalein atoll. I enjoy watching any sport called football, while my favorite is what I refer to as “real football” or what my country men usually refer to as soccer (short for association football), I grew up cheering for the Cleveland Browns and have always loved American rules football (where ironically you rarely use your feet and the guys that do are not respected by their teammates). So knowing I am about to enter a dead time in American football viewing I enjoyed the game itself but I also quite enjoy the shots of Hawaiian scenery and some of the unrelated stories about activities to do there. One sport that I was ignorant of before today is the ancient Hawaiian sport of paddle surfing. Read more »
Filed at 11:45 pm under Diving by glennstu
Posted February 1, 2008
“I swim like a fish in the sea all the time, if that’s what it takes to be free I don’t mind” – Toots Hibbert
Sunday mornings on Roi-Namur for me meant it was time to go diving. The local activity center provides Bayliner boats for fishing, diving, and other water activities. The Roi-Namur Dolphins SCUBA club has several buildings on the Lagoon side of the island near the marina where members can store their equipment. So my Sundays would start early, with a hearty breakfast skillfully prepared in the cafeteria. Next, I would load any equipment I had in my apartment onto the trailer on the back of my bike and ride down to the SCUBA shack as we termed it. There I would gather the rest of my equipment to be loaded onto the boat. You could comfortably fit 4 divers onto a boat and 5 if you needed to in a pinch. Four was optimum as you had 4 ways to split the rental cost but you weren’t too packed. So while the other guys got ready the day’s captain would head over to the marina and sign out the boat then steer it over to the SCUBA dock where the crew could load the boat. Today we would be heading towards Speedball, a favorite site due to the large school of sharks that frequent it. I think the site got its name because it is close to where in ancient times they would launch Speedball missiles from or something like that if my memory serves me well for a change. Read more »
Filed at 12:22 am under Island Life and Cultural by glennstu
Yokwe. Tonight I was sitting in the bar at Buffalo Wild Wings playing buzztime trivia with my friends. I was having a decent night having won one game and finished second or third in all the others and had a perfect game going into the last question when I heard a voice behind me talking to his buddy and mentioning that a basketball player had played at Kwaj. The average person would have minded his own business but then the average person does not go and live on a small tropical island for 3 years, so instead I turned around and asked the dude if he’d been to Kwaj. That might sound cheeky to you but there is a certain camaraderie amongst Kwaj and Roi survivors. As it turned out he had lived there approximately the same time as I did but perhaps a little before me but with some overlap. Naturally we discussed life there and common acquaintances etc. Turns out there is a reunion group here in Tucson and if you’re a part of it please contact me because I’d like to participate. I registered on some kind of Kwaj roll at some point or you can get a hold of me through this highly entertaining and informative blog site. But our mutual reminiscences brought to mind a story that a good friend of mine from Kwaj once told me. To protect his identity I’ll refer to him as Sam. Read more »
Filed at 9:29 pm under Blogroll by glennstu
- January 8, 2007 OSU Loses BCS championship to Florida(coached by an Ohio native)
- March 2007 OSU loses NCAA Men’s basketball championship to Florida
- June 2007 - Cav’s lose NBA championship (swept in 4 games)
- July 2007 - Injure right shoulder practicing gung-fu
- September 2007 - re-injure right shoulder playing volleyball in pool.
- October 2007 - Indians lose American league championship to Red Sox, sprain left foot hiking, fall on replaced hip at Halloween party
- December 2007 - Browns eliminated from playoffs by lackluster performance against Bungles
- January 7, 2008 - OSU loses BCS championship to LSU coached by an Elyria, Ohio native. Injure back throwing TV out the window, injure right foot kicking the cat (just kidding I don’t have a cat).
Despite all that I for some reason consider 2007 as one of the best years of my life. And while my favorite sports teams suffered some hard times just when they were on the brink of success July of 2007 saw the launching of this blog site. Since that time over 850 visiters from 29 countries in 5 continents have visited Roi Rat Journal. In the US alone we’ve had visitors from 46 of 50 states. Considering one of those states is Kentucky where they might not have heard of the internet yet that is pretty good coverage. In the fall I got the great opportunity to make contributions to www.tucsoncomplete.com. A site chock full of interesting information on the city of Tucson where I now live. I’d like to say komol-tata to everyone who has visited Roi Rat Journal. I’m working on a series of articles on sport on Roi-Namur. The first will be on diving. Stay tuned.
