| Author | Message | ||
     Captpete |
I don’t know if Guam is better or worse than any of the other places I've lived, but it is definitely different. Right now, it is all pretty new as I go through the process of ‘learning the ropes’. There are many frustrations not found on the mainland, but it has its good points as well. As the inspiration hits from time to time, I’ll post my impressions for those who may be interested. The shots below were taken on the way to lunch in one of the Hughes 500's a friend of mine here owns and leases to the Oriental fleet of super seiners.  Waterfall  Tumon Bay  Reef Capt. Pete | ||
| Rocketman |
How's the fishing though Capt? My friend gets his new boat very soon, Sygnus 38 footer, and we'll be on the North Sea cod in no time. Delicious too! Take care out there Pete  Rocket | ||
| Captpete |
I’m a long way from fishin’, Sean. I’ve only been here long enough to: 1. Find a place to live, half of a nice duplex in what is known locally as a ‘family compound’. It is owned by a Filipino family and is secure by virtue of a compound gate that never closes and the fact that the landlord, his extended family and maybe some of their extended family (I’m not sure how many families reside here) all know who belongs and who doesn’t. When I was looking for a place to rent, each time I drove into the compound it was only seconds before someone showed up to greet me. Security is necessary here as this is an island of thieves. 2. Get my container through Customs and unloaded. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, it’s taken over six weeks to accomplish this much. I still have to get set up to start working on the boat, and then spend another 3, 4, maybe six months getting it ready to fish. “Livin’ on Island Time” | ||
| Rocketman |
That should suit your pace then Capt LOL. Rocket xx | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
I loved my deployment to Guam. 1st half was titty bars and beer in Tumon bay though, until my wife flew in, then I got some sight seeing in. Glad she came, most of it was beautiful! Some of the island looked like hell though. I thought Tiajuana was bad! | ||
| Captpete |
I must be a slow learner, but it seems that every other day on this piece of rock sticking up out of the Pacific, somehow, I get beat. Yesterday, it went like this: late in the afternoon my landlady sent word that I hadn’t gotten the water set up since she had just received a bill that I should have gotten. She’s very organized, it appears, and along with the bill was a little note that said I had to go to the GWA (Guam Water Authority) in Harmon, up at the north end of the island, and get it taken care of. There was a lot of traffic, as usual for that time of day, and it took a while to get to the GWA, but I made it in time, and as soon as I saw the building I knew something was screwed up because I was sure I had been there before. As I started for the front door, I was ahead of another customer, a woman who was, judging from her appearance, from one of the islands like Truck. Which, by the way, is now called Chuck {sp?} again, but pronounced chewk. To the eyes of us howlies, they are a wild-looking race of people, large and very stoutly built and dark-skinned with prolific, blacker-than-black hair that looks like it carries a gigantic charge of electricity. They have a very intimidating presence. I knew I should hold the door for this woman, first as a courtesy, and second as a caution against reprisals should I decide not to, but I also knew there was a sign-in sheet just inside the door, and that customers were served in the order in which they were signed in. (I had definitely been here before. I remembered sitting around for a while watching customers being called by name for service before I spied the sign-in sheet hidden just inside the door.) I quickly came up with a plan that would, I hoped, make everybody happy. I went through the door first and then turned around to hold it for the lady behind me, still leaving me closest to the sign-in sheet. No sooner had I settled in a chair to wait my turn than another woman who had just walked up to the sign-in sheet called my name. She was a Chamoro woman who was quite a bit overweight, which is quite common, and had an attractive face, which is also pretty common. She gestured to a chair for me to use as she walked back to her desk, as it were. It was a pretty strange arrangement. There were four employees sitting at workstations behind this long counter, and then chairs for the customers on the other side of the counter. Each time an employee finished with a customer, she would get up from her chair, walk from the work-area out into the waiting area, look at the sign-in sheet, call a customer’s name, point to the chairs in front of her workstation, and then walk back through the door to the work-area and get settled at her workstation again. It sure looked like a lot of wasted motion to me. As is the case with most of the people I’ve seen on this island, this lady was very friendly and pleasant. I showed her my bill and explained my problem to her. Since I am renting a duplex unit, and there was some confusion over which side was A and which was B, I at this point suspected that I had signed up to pay my neighbor’s water bill instead of mine. But after checking her computer, she told me that I had signed up for the right meter, but the problem was that GWA had not gotten around to taking a meter reading on the day the service was supposed to change over, which was the 15th of the month, and only read the meter at the end of the month as normal. Next month, I would get the correct bill. At that point, I thought I just might forget about the bill and merely pay my landlady the half-month’s water bill, which amounted to $16. I suggested that, and the lady told me I could do it that way, or she could pro-rate the bill while I sat there and straighten it out that way. I was turning on the charm during this whole interview, and I asked her if she was paid by the customer, or by the hour. It was by the hour, of course, and I decided what the heck… she had these tremendous breasts, and they were being displayed in a very provocative manner. Imagine a knit-fabric garment that is cut in a very deep vee, past the middle of her breasts. Then move up to about the top of her breasts, and pin each side of the vee there. Since the fabric was stretchy, and being stretched to the extreme, this left a big round hole in her top that exposed the sides of these whoppers, complete with tan line. I figured I might as well sit around and enjoy the display while she pro-rated me. There was much figuring on paper, and a lot of strokes on the keyboard that went on during the pro-rating process, and I continued to admire the display, while I wondered what would happen if… well, I was just doing quite a bit of wondering Finally, the task was complete. She looked up and smiled, and said, “The pro-rated portion of this month’s service will appear on next month’s bill, and will be $31.17.” What? The whole bill was only $32 and change. How can half-a-month’s bill be only a couple of bucks less? OK, hang on for this one: The total bill consists of a basic charge of about five bucks for the first 500 gallons of water. The remainder consists of about four different charges that are fixed-rate and are tacked onto each month’s bill. THE ONLY PART OF THE BILL THAT’S PRO-RATED IS THE ACTUAL CHARGE FOR THE WATER! Now, both my landlady and I will receive a bill that has only $2.50 on it for actual water, but GWA will collect the add-ons from both of us for the same month. “Holy, Moly. Put it back the way it was.” She just smiled sweetly again, and said, “Sorry. It’s already in the computer.” Man, that was an expensive peep show. For thirty bucks I could’ve had drinks and a couple of lap dances and only driven half as far. I walked out of the door just shaking my head in total wonderment. | ||
| Paulinoz |
How are yer mate, You should have quit while you where ahead and gone home and had a cold shower. ( er no you needed to sort the water out befor you could do that ) That must be what is called being stuck between a couple of rocks and a hard place. Good luck with it Pete. | ||
| Captpete |
Thanks, Paul Sounds like you guys had some fun out that way recently. Good on ya, mate! | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Pete it reminds me of my first arrival on Oahu. Took us 6 months to get adjusted to island life, but once we had we never wanted to leave and I can't wait to get back there. I am going to pull a Court and tell you to remind me sometime to tell you about getting utilities turned on with no car available... | ||
| Pammy |
Petey, I have been waiting for my photo journal of the day to days 'doins' of an old sea salt, run amok, on a remote island......WAITING!!!! edited by pammy on March 19, 2004 | ||
| Captpete |
Yes, indeed, you're gettin' smarter in your old age, girl; did that last-minute edit just in time to save the whole load of pumpkins, din't ya? Here's some doin's from a couple of days ago. I met up with the pickle tree. These things actually taste like pickled green apples, but with all due respect to those who didn't get their iodine, I would have called the thing a goiter tree. It's growing inside the Filipino family compound where I rent a nice 2 BR duplex and am their one token howlie resident. Nice folks. I've got a wall of banana trees defining my back yard, and am in earshot of at least 50,000 roosters, none of which is exactly sure when sunrise occurs.   | ||
| Captpete |
Hmmm Little Cesar's pickle pickle tree. First time I've seen that one. | ||
| Redstripe |
Hey Pete, Great to read some of Your Island exploits... You should have known better about the female GWA-employee, though! Think that during our time on the Wilson farm, my then girlfriend already showed us what the price of female companionship can be? Heheh. Bought a bike again, BTW. It's a knackered old GSX750S Katana from '83 which I'm now turning into some sort of a Mad Max bike. Hope to be posting a little more the coming months, Jilles | ||
| Firemanjim |
Gilles,good to see ya around this place.I was beginning to think you had fallen off the edge of the earth---were you down to NO bikes?Yuck!!I have not been that way since 15,thank goodness. | ||
| Redstripe |
Hi there, Jim! I have indeed been without a motorbike since summer last year, when I sold the X1. Haven't been without one since I got my license in 1989, but selling bikes and being able to loan one made things bearable...  But haven't fallen off anything 'cept my barstool last year. Heheh, but You were already familiar with my drinking habit. Last summer I was able to buy a Lotus Superseven S3 with a TwinCam engine, from the previous owner who owned it for 23 years. That car was my childhood dream, so I had to buy it when I had the chance. An original one is VERY hard to find. Yet things kept itchin' so I bought the Katana last month. It was in pretty "weathered" condition, but it's coming round. Had the bike up and running last week, but the stator is damaged so I'll have to have that repaired or replaced. I'll have the tank and panels resprayed in the original colour this autumn and let's hope the regulator is still OK when the new stator goes in..? It's an old bike being from 1983, but I love the model. Bit bad-••• futuristic is perhaps the best way to describe it. I'll add a picture of my S3 and a pic of the same type Katana. Jilles.  | ||
| Redstripe |
And the Katana;  | ||
| Firemanjim |
Very nice car,kinda like riding a motorcycle.Those Katanas were very futuristic looking.My Turbo Seca has the same angular lines.Let me know if you need parts as one of my sponsors is also a cycle salvage place. | ||
| Redstripe |
Very much like riding a motorcycle indeed, it was a horribly fast car for the time. The car was lovingly called "too fast for racing", as they invented a special racing series for the Seven. They were virtually unbeatable on twisty tracks, kinda like a Buell on four wheels... As for the bike; I realise I'm not entirely impartial on the model, as the first ride I ever had on a motorcycle was on the back of an 1100 Katana. Scared the wits out of me! Didn't know You owned one of these Turbo Seca's, I work at a Yamaha dealer. Don't wreck the turbo on it, I've heard of unspeakable prices on these parts!!! As for parts... If that sponsor of Yours' still got the cover of my air-cleaner box somewhere, or the badge that's on the right-hand engine-cover (that's sitting on the bike, right-hand), that would be awesome. Here's another pic of my beloved se7en;  One of the largest dealers in sevens and parts is in...Denver, CO. called Rocky mountain sportscars... edited by Redstripe on June 14, 2004 | ||
| Firemanjim |
Gilles,suprisingly good deals to be had on Turbo Seca's and parts.Got a parts bike minus body work for 200.00.Just got another turbo with the plumbing and oil check valve etc for 125.00 and have a bunch of spare carbs/plenums/plumbing of of E-Bay.I will check with the shop this week. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Check out the pics on Team Elves site under Team Fireman,Henrik and my son,James both set records on it last year.(Too bad you did not make it as there were 2 more open records--) | ||
| Rocketman |
Jeez Jilles, that is an original 7! You know there are companies in England making replica type 7's, but running on bike engines. They've proven to be amongst the fastest accelerating cars in the world. Megablade and Megabusa come to mind and I forget the name\make of the one with the two ZXR750 motors in it. Graham Dyson, one of the partners in the Barton business that EB bought and turned into Buell, now manufactures transmission units for a host of cars and motorcycles, Nova Transmissions, and his speciality is making transmission units to suit those motorcycle engined cars. Rocket | ||
| Bomber |
bike bike engines make sense is small, light cars . . . . . there's a bunch of folks race something like 3/4 scale hotrods with bike motors . . . .good fun lemme see, can I gen up a Morgan for the 21st century? . . .hmmmmm | ||
| Captpete |
OK, Blake - The rest of the story... Not what you had in mind - I know. Some Guam Signage I’ve discovered that you can learn some things about a place by paying attention to the signs that are scattered about. This first sign is a great example. Guam is about to have an election, so there is a lot of campaigning going on right now. Politics is pretty big business in these parts. The local newspaper is full of it every day. Right now, there is a major pissing contest going on between the Governor and the Lt. Governor over the employment of a couple of people in the Lt. Governor’s office. The Governor fires them and then the Lt. hires them back, and the Guam Supreme Court has even gotten into the dispute, but to no avail. It made a decision, but the two adversaries disagree about the interpretation. The good news though, is that there is non-partisan agreement that they should quit the pissing and try to do something for Guam. Meanwhile, the previous Governor and three or four of his appointees are set to go to trial next week for basically stealing money from the government while they were in office. At the same time, the General Attorney’s office which is prosecuting them is being evicted from its offices for non payment of rent – since 1996, or something like that; they’re a couple of mil in arrears - and while that’s going on, the Attorney General hisself is being taken to court by his wife for spousal abuse. (He claims she beat him up, but says he’s taking the high road and not going to take her to court.) Gov Guam, as it’s known, is broke… big time. But it’s pretty obvious where the money’s going: Way too many bureaucrats being paid too much to do way too little, and then of course, the cracks. Lots of cracks. You know the kind; each one has an empty pocket right under it? And here’s the sign that says it all:  Next we have the sign from the little fish store just down the street. I really love this one. Pay a sign painter? Not when you can buy a stencil kit for five bucks. It reminds me a little bit of that old ‘plan ahead’ sign. But it works. Most signs I read once and pretty much ignore thereafter. But I studied this sign trip after trip, trying to figure out whose fish store it was… or what kind of fish store it was. Like, maybe a gaviltifish store? (My apologies to my Jewish friends. I don’t think I’ve ever seen gaviltifish spelled before. Or is it da filtifish? I’m pretty sure I’ve never caught one.)  But the best part is about their product being so fresh. You just can’t get any fresher than airflown from – no, there’s not too much seafood out here being airflown from Philadelphia. That would be the P.I. - the Philippine Islands. Why, it’s not only fresher than that landflown stuff, but a hell of a lot fresher than that old oceanflown crap. Good work, Navota! Now, this last one’s pretty interesting. I need to supply you with a little background information in order for you to understand it completely. Prostitution is not legal in Guam. But they’ve got it worked out, just the same. I think it’s a slight variation of the system that works so well in the P.I. Here’s how it works there: There are no bordellos, houses of ill repute, or any other names normally attached to these institutions. But they do have “By Me Drinkee” bars. When you step into one of these bars, you immediately discover that it is full of beautiful women. I mean, lots of them. And no dogs, either… dog-free zone. Many of them are more than beautiful, they’re drop-dead gorgeous. And they’re all soooo friendly. How could you be so lucky? It ain’t luck. If you would like to have one (or more) of them keep you company, why, all you have to do is buy them a drink. Hence their name: “Buy Me Drinkee Girls”. And they are all employees of the bar. And they never get drunk. That one’s pretty easy to figure out. Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. If they’re not busy “entertaining” they might have to take their turn at exotic dancing, sliding up and down the pole in the center of the stage, but this is really not relevant to this discussion. What is relevant is that, if you become enamored with one (or more) of these girls and would like to leave the bar with her (them) as the result of some private agreement, you must pay a “bar fine” to the establishment in order to get her (them) permission to leave work early. After all, they are supposed to be working. Back to Guam. It’s pretty much the same deal here, except the bars are a lot tougher on the patrons in Guam. If you even let one of those girls say more that “hi” to you, you are charged an entertainment fee on your tab. One Korean-run bar in Guam is notorious for never giving change when you pay your tab. You hand them a $50 bill for a round of drinks, it’s gone. So, see how that works? Ain’t no prostitution round here. That’s what makes this next sign so unusual in my mind. It’s right out in the open for everyone to see. If you want a female prostitute, you have to sneak around the “Buy Me Drinkee” bars and spend all that money on drinks. But, if you want a male prostitute… All you have to do is boogey on down to the  and let the shopping begin. . . . . . . Disclaimer: If my description of the P.I. – Guam “Buy Me Drinkee” arrangement is inaccurate, I apologize. But I’ve done the best I could, considering that all my research sources for this subject are hearsay.  |
