The winds, they are a blowin'

Last week was punctuated with people talking about the two weather systems which were moving across the Atlantic from Africa. These were two tropical waves, which are the precursor to a tropical depression.

These two waves were called Invest 92L and Invest 93L. From the beginning, it looked like 92L was going to be the problem child of the two as it was making a beeline for the northern leewards (ie, ME). The question on everyone's minds was would the storm become something larger than a tropical wave before it made landfall in St. Martin.

On Wednesday, 13 Aug 2008, in the early morning we began to feel the beginnings of the storm which had failed to be upgraded to a tropical depression. Keep in mind that the next step up the ladder from tropical depression is a tropical storm, which has a minimum sustained wind speed of 40 mph.

The picture below is from the 20h00 AST webpage from the NHC/NOAA on 13 Aug 2008.




The white spot in the middle of the red circle is where St. Martin is.

Obviously, the cloud structure is not the classic hurricane shape. It's still developing. That's the bright side for us. The storm didn't do much more than dump a bunch of rain on the island. I mean, I've seen mid-west thunderstorms pack more of a punch... (knock on wood).

Anyway, the storm moved on Thursday afternoon and went to build strength over the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Right now, it's is headed to Cuba and western Florida. Invest 92L finally made it to tropical strength. At 17h00 AST on Friday, 15 Aug 2008, the NHC/NOAA reported the 6th tropical storm of the 2008 season: TS FAY.

Oh, if you're wondering what happened to 93L, it was later predicted to turn north and head into the Atlantic but instead it simply broke up before reaching the leewards. Travesty averted.

As Calvin would say: Phew.

Aaron says, "Show me the pictures"

One of my friends from Silicon Valley reads this blog and insisted that my last post has to be 'proven' with pictures. Man, talk about trust. Jeez.

Ok. Here you go:


The aforementioned American couple on their honeymoon. This is what starting to drink at 8:30am does to you by the time it's 9:30pm.

...and Audrey's boobs are covered with sand because she did a face plant (boob plant?) in the sand when running from the bar to the beach when it started to rain.

Wild times at Bikini Beach

One of the places on the island that I call home is Bikini Beach. It's a bar/restaurant in Orient Bay. I've seen some pretty crazy things there, from time to time.

On Tuesday, there was an American couple who where on their honeymoon, Art and Audrey. At 27 years old, Audrey looks INCREDIBLE. She is well endowed with a great set of tits... and the good part was she enjoyed showing them off.

So, the bar is filled with a few of the locals, four mid-twenties guys from Madrid, Peter from NYC and Art/Audrey. Peter's a Rolling Stones fan and the bar is rocking out with Forty Licks, specifically Sympathy For The Devil.... and Audrey is bouncing around the bar topless, going between the Spanish guys, her husband (who doesn't seem to mind a bit) and me.

...and it begins

August 1, 2008. I've moved out of my apartment, sold my car, motorcycle, garage full of geek stuff and other assorted bits. I've packed my life (possessions) into a container for shipment to St. Martin, French West Indies, Caribbean.

I've said goodbye to friends. I've promised to write, to come back soon. I've left the Silicon Valley of California behind.

Oh. I've checked in 280 pounds of luggage on an American flight to Miami. Don't ask what that cost in extra charges. :-(

My last meal (last supper?) in the Silicon Valley was Indian at a place in San Mateo called The Clay Oven. They have some of the best Chicken Tikka Masala in the world.

Good bye Silicon Valley. I've known you for 12.5 years. You've changed. I've changed. Good bye.

I won't miss the traffic, senseless drivers or being totally 100% stopped on a freeway designed for 80 mph travel. I mean Chinese fire drill stopped on a four (five, six) lane freeway.