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Cool Spearfishing Video

deep spearfishing in Florida from Dimitris Kollias on Vimeo.

Someone needs to look for a new job!

This Lady, Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) needs to loose her job! Her comment last week on world wide television that "All of humanity is under threat," was one of the most ridiculous, irresponsible, and damaging comments that fueled this ridiculous media storm surrounding the H1N1 Influenza hype.

H1N1 influenza, the Y2K of 2009!

What a bunch of bull crap!

http://us.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/04/swine.flu.main/index.html

I've been saying this since the end of the first week of this supposed flu outbreak. The number of new incident cases in the various countries around the world was not indicative of a strain that was on a course to create a global pandemic. With the exception of the initial deaths in Mexico, this strain has proven to be no worse than the typical seasonal influenza. The World Health Organization and the "Popular Media" need a swift kick in the ass over this one. Almost as bad as all of the Y2K hype!

In today's age of global media, it is even more important than ever to have objective, rational, and researched news reporting. Enough hyperbole already!! There are enough fear-mongers out there, we don't need the mainstream news organizations to jump on the bandwagon.

Waikiki-day one

Last night, after settling in to our first hotel here in Honolulu, we took a stroll along the main drag of Waikiki. There were lots of people out and about, and the whole scene reminded me a little of Las Vegas. There were all sorts of performers out on the street. Mimes, musicians, celebrity impersonators, etc...One guy caught our attention. I decided to take a quick video clip of his performance with my Blackberry for everyone to see.

The dude was jammin out on a set of 5 gal paint buckets! One had a cow bell, another had a wine bottle stuck in it, and to top it off, his seat was a bucket too! The dude had some serious chops and we had Jon Jon drop a couple of bucks in his green $$ bucket. After watching for a few mintues, we strolled down the way a little more. There were a few more musical acts; one guy was playing a drum set. As we went by I said, "the dude with the buckets has you beat, hands down!" Enjoy!

It's a girl!

Well, Cyndi's 18 weeks pregnant and had an ultrasound yesterday. It was the first appointment that I've been able to attend during this pregnancy. It was very special to stand there and quietly watch the ultrasound technician reveal our beautiful baby. Everything looked perfect! Perfect arms, perfect legs, a perfect little face. A perfect little heart beating away! It was truly breathtaking! I couldn't believe how much improved ultrasound technology is today as compared to eight years ago.

Of course Cyndi wanted to know the sex. So after a little maneuvering, the ultrasound technician revealed...it's a girl. Cyndi was hit with a wave of sheer excitement! A girl! Just what she was hoping for. Good thing too, cause I told Cyndi this was the last try. Three kids is where I draw the line! I was pretty excited as well. Although it really didn't matter to me. I told her before hand that I would be happy either way as long as our baby was healthy--boy or girl!

Upgraded my MPULSE Blackberry Curve 8320 to OS version 4.5

Since buying my Blackberry Curve this past September, I've been really impressed with the device. It is rock solid and rarely has any issues. It's the best cell phone that I've ever owned. That being said, my recent trip to the states brought on a bad case of device envy. I checked out the Apple iphone and the latest crop of Blackberry smartphones. I was less impressed with the iphone than I expected. The phone that really caught my eye was the new Blackberry Bold.

After I got back to Guam, I almost pulled the trigger and upgraded to a new phone. The big draw to upgrading was the improved screen resolutions, faster processors, Blackberry OS 4.5, html email, improved web browser, and video and audio recording. But then I discovered that RIM had recently released a software upgrade to OS version 4.5 for the Blackberry Curve.

I called my cell phone provider, MPULSE, to see if they had a release of the update that was network specific; they didn't. I asked them if updating my device to Blackberry OS 4.5 would work on their network; they didn't know. So I had some decisions to make.

After pondering the idea of possibly bricking my phone and reading some online posts about other users experiences, I decided to go for it and perform the upgrade. I started by downloading and installing the latest version of the Blackberry Desktop Manager (v4.7). After getting the Desktop Manager installed on my new Eee PC, I plugged in my Blackberry Curve 8320 and paired it for the first time with the computer. One of the first alerts from the Desktop Manager informs you that there is an update to Blackberry OS 4.5 for your device. I clicked on the option to proceed to the update. Make sure you choose the option to back up and preserve your data.

Now for the warning! This update takes a long time; like 2 hours to install. Do not get impatient and assume that the update has failed and turn off your blackberry or unplug it from the computer. Just let it keep chugging along at its ridiculously slow pace and eventually it will get done.

After the update finishes, the Blackberry will reboot and again, this will take a long time. When my Blackberry came back up for the first time I thought that I had fu@#$d it up! It was really, really slow. It took like 5 seconds for the email app to open. I got online and read some posts and some individuals had experienced the same thing. Nobody had a solution and I though that I had permanently screwed up my phone. I decided to reboot the phone one more time to see if it would fix the problem. To my pleasant surprise, when my phone booted back up, it was a fast as ever!

Now I think that my phone is faster than it was before the update. It has all the great features that come with Blackberry OS 4.5; html email, improved web browser, video recording, and voice recording. Plus, the application interface has been tweaked for almost all of the productivity apps, and they have an improved presentation of your personal data. So if you're considering updating the OS on your Blackberry smartphone to v4.5, do it! You won't be disappointed.

Fishing after work

Since the weather has been so good this week, with virtually no wind, I decided to go fishing again after work today. My friend Ed Rivers from work and Jon Jon came along. We headed out from Sumay Cove at about 1630. We had the lines in at about 1645. We trolled back and forth between the mouth of Apra Harbor and Magundas. We caught 1 mahi and 2 wahoo. One of the wahoo was about 28 lbs. Not bad for a couple hours after work! Also, we only burned about 10 gallons of gas round trip. So for about $30 we had a two hour fishing trip and caught three nice fish. Here are some pics.

NEX/MWR Fishing Derby

Yesterday was the third annual NEX/MWR fishing derby here in Guam. I've fished the derby each year. The first year I fished it on the Split Decision with my buddy Jon and we pretty much swept the derby. We won 1st place with a Blue Marlin, 1st for wahoo, and 1st for yellowfin tuna. Last year I entered the derby with my own boat, the Rod Bender, and placed 2nd overall with a 105lb Blue Marlin.

This year, I again entered the derby with my own boat, and my buddies Jon and Tim made up our allstar crew. Andrew and Jon's son Josh also came along as junior crew members.

Normally, this time of year, the winds are blowing pretty hard and the seas are pretty rough. Well, this year, the fish gods decided to be merciful and a break in the wind resulted in beautiful conditions on the water. There was a decent swell, but no chop to speak of. We set out from the Sumay Cove Marina at 5 am and ran straight for Galvez Bank.

We arrived at the NE corner of Galvez at about 6:20. We were hoping to find tuna busting at the surface at first light, but there were no birds and not much was going on. Some of the other boats had bypassed Galvez and were already fishing Baby Bank. So we decided to start working South towards Baby. About half way down the East side of Galvez, we had our first knock-down. The line was peelin off the 80W and we thought we had a pretty nice fish. Tim jumped on the reel and in no time we had about an 8 lb Mahi in the boat. It's amazing how strong Mahi are when you compare them pound for pound to other fish.

We continued on towards Baby, and found some birds along the way. We worked them for about 45 minutes without any luck, so we continued on towards Baby Bank. We put out some marlin lures on the way to Baby, but didn't have any takers. March is not marlin season, but we were optimistic that we might catch a wayward fish.

We got to Baby and there was nothing going on. A pod of spinner dolphins found us and played in the bow wake for a while, while we trolled the drop-off along Baby Bank. We passed Jay on the MWR Proline and he confirmed that there was not much going on. We worked Baby for a little while longer and then decided to head to Stu Bank.

We go to Stu Bank and immediately had a nice hook up on our first pass over the bank. Tim jumped on the reel again and cranked a nice wahoo to the side of the boat. A quick leader and gaff shot later and we had the hooter in the fish box. We turned around and the second pass over the bank we hooked up with a nice Mahi Mahi. It seemed like the bite was turning on! But as soon as it started, it was over. We worked Stu pretty good for about an hour, and then we went off to chase some birds for a while. The birds just led us on a wild goose chase for about 30 minutes. After getting frustrated with the birds, we headed back to Stu for a few more passes. No more bites so we started heading back North.

We trolled North towards Baby and didn't really see any action. But just when we got to Baby, the port flat line starts screaming! We look back and there's a small billfish jumping behind the boat. I got pretty excited because I thought it might be a spearfish. I had never caught a spearfish and I knew that any billfish could be a contender for the biggest fish. I started reeling in the fish and Jon started snapping some pictures. As I winched the fish to the boat, it was jumping constantly and ended up getting tangled in the center line. The 12/0 made quick work of the little billfish and in no time we had it at the side of the boat. To our surprise, it was a baby Blue Marlin! It had swam right up to the back of the boat and hit a big nine inch lure running behind a wahoo bomb. We spent a couple of minutes trying to get the hook out of it's bill. We ended having to boat the fish for about a minute in order to get the hook out. I held the fish up for one picture and then we got it right back in the water and spent a minute or two making sure that it was completely revived. As soon as we let it go, it swam away. We estimated that it weighed about 30lbs. Definitely the smallest blue marlin any of us had seen. It was pretty cool actually.

Because of the tangle, we had to spend a couple of minutes peeling line off the 70w and get back down to good undamaged line. We got the lines back in the water and kept trolling North towards home. We trolled all the way back to NE Galvez without a single strike. Along the way, we spotted the Coast Guard Cutter Washington trolling along Galvez. What a sight to see, our tax dollars hard at work! It was pretty slow at the NE corner of Galvez so we pulled the lines and started the run back home.

We ran to Cocos Island and decided to troll the back of the island to see if we could have one more decent shot at a wahoo or marlin. We spent about another hour trolling there and then had to run back to Sumay Cove to make it in by the close of the derby at 4 pm.

Overall it was a great day on the water! The fishing was okay, and most boats caught about what we caught, between 2-5 fish. We didn't place on the board with the three fish that we kept. The grand prize went to a 22 lb wahoo. It was satisfying to know that we actually caught the biggest fish, even though we released it and didn't place. It was the right thing to do and I'm certain the fish gods will repay us in kind in the future. I want to thank Jon and Tim for spending the day on the water as well as all the wives that stayed on land and allowed us to consume yet another Saturday fishing. Andrew and Josh were also troopers who toughed it out through some nauseating big rolling swells. Another beautiful day on the water in Guam!

I bought a netbook

I've been watching the netbook market for quite some time and I have to say that I have been very interested in these ultra-portable computers. I have always wanted an ultra-portable computer, but in the past they were really expensive. Since I'm really a mac fan, I was waiting to see if Apple would release a netbook, but eventually, I became too impatient, and while I was in Pennsylvania, I bought an Asus Eee PC. I picked up the 1000H from Best Buy and for the most part I'm really stoked! The only thing that I did not like was the placement of the shift key,which they have corrected with the latest model (1000HE). But I just swapped it with the up arrow key and then re-mapped the keyboard (using SharpKeys). It only has a single core processor (Intel atom 1.6), but for what I want to use it for, its fine; web browsing, word processing, and email. Its running Win XP, which is very stable and I'm familiar with it. It also, has a lower memory overhead than Vista. So far, I've been putting it through its paces, and it has not disappointed. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB, which has made an improvement with multitasking. I've been averaging about 4 hours of battery life while running on powersave mode. When plugged into the wall, I use it on superperformance mode. It does a great job with you tube videos, web browsing and most general computing. You won't be playing any games on a netbook. But if you're looking for a mobile internet fix without any of the compromises that come with your typical mobile devices such as a Blackberry, take a serious look at these little computers.

Facebook

I've recently discovered Facebook and have found it a fantastic way to reconnect and keep in touch with friends from a far. In the past, I was not a big fan of social networking sites. However, after trying Facebook, I am impressed with it's relatively clean interface and ease of use. I have many friends with profiles, and its pretty cool to see what everyone's up to. If you have a Facebook account, send me a friend request. Facebook me! If you don't have an account, check it out. It's pretty cool! 

Jon Jon verses the Wall

Yesterday morning as we were getting our day started, Jon Jon had a bit of an accident and somehow jumped into a wall as he was celebrating cooking eggs with his mom. To make a long story short, the wall had the upper hand and Jonathan ended up with a 1" gash on his head. Here are the before and after (staples) pics.

Latest pics of mini-Rodrigues #3

Here are a couple of the latest ultrasound pics from 3-11-2009. Baby and mother are doing fine. Cyndi's latest craving has been fruit with cottage cheese. It is exciting to be awaiting a new addition to the family again! I can't wait until September.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania in February can be a cold place. Coming from Guam, the cold weather was quite a shocker at first. But after I broke out my gloves and winter coat it wasn't too bad. I was staying in the Harrisburg area, so I can't comment on the state as a whole. I did drive through most of the Eastern Part of the state, and even though it was the middle of winter, it was a beautiful place. As the sun was rising over the mountains to the East, vees of geese dotted the sky over the hundreds of dairy farms. The last time I saw so many dairy farms was when we went to Minnesota to visit the French's family farm. The dairy farms do result in one feature of the state that is somewhat unsettling, it smells like cow $h!% everywhere! The suburbs of Harrisburg were not unlike other suburbs around America. You had your strips of big box stores, and all the typical restaurant chains. The drivers in PA have some pretty peculiar behaviors. The most interesting is their technique for merging onto the freeway. Everything that I have been taught about driving indicates that when attempting to merge onto a freeway, you should accelerate to the speed of the traffic and then attempt to merge. Apparently, PA drivers get scared when trying to merge onto the freeway and will unexpectedly stop or slow down just before the end of the freeway on ramp. I learned of this behavior though experience. At first I just thought it was one stupid driver, but then it happened again, and again, and again. After a while it became quite comical. I didn't make it to Amish Country while I was there, but I did go to Hershey, PA. The amusement park in Hershey was closed for the winter, but Chocolate World was open. We milled around for a little while and I bought some chocolates and candies for family and friends.

Grandma Eileen's got Skype!

Kudos to my mom, who went out and purchased a new webcam and got Skype up and running on her computer by herself without any outside assitance.

Skype may need to have a new Geico-like commercial:

Skype, so easy a Grandma can do it!

Its cold here!

Its been very cold here in PA. It started snowing Sunday evening after I got back from NJ. I snapped this picture of the snow on Monday while on a break from class. I haven't seen snow since our last winter in St. Louis.

A great visit in New Jersey!

This past weekend I drove from Harrisburg, PA to Cranford, NJ to visit my friends Leon and Mary Carayannopoulos and their kids. The last time I had seen Leon and Mary was right before we left for Guam two and a half years ago.

I've never stopped in New Jersey for a visit; I've only driven through on the way to other places. New Jersey is a pretty crowded place. Lots of houses and lots of people.

It was great to see Leon, Mary, Nick, Lucas, Ely, and Sophia. It was also wonderful to meet Katie, Leon and Mary's latest addition to the family; she was born several months after we moved to Guam. She's an adorable and clever little girl who was a joy to be around. While in NJ I also got to meet Leon's parents and his brother who were all there for a visit too.

On Saturday, we all took a train ride into the city. It was my first time going into NY City and it was quite an experience! Leon and I took the kids to tour the USS Intrepid. The USS Intrepid is an aircraft carrier that served in the US fleet from World War II until the early 70s. It's now a museum that is moored pier side in downtown Manhattan. I was really impressed with the quality of the museum. The hangar bay has been turned into an interpretive center with restored aircraft and many interactive displays. If you're a military buff or an aviation fan, you'll want to check out the USS Intrepid while you're in NY City. With the exception of it being very cold and windy, we had a fantastic day in the City.

On Sunday, I got to accompany both Leon and Mary while they went out and scouted some real estate. They are looking for a home to buy and it was interesting to have a look at the real estate market in New Jersey to see what homes are going for in that part of the country. I can use one word to describe the market, expensive! There was some nasty weather on the way, so I headed out at about 5:30 PM to try to make it back to PA before the snow! I made it back to my hotel in just over two hours. It started snowing as soon as I was settled in my room.

Skype--Phishing Alert!

I had Skype open this evening, and I receive an unsolicited instant message that looked like this:

This is an example of a phishing scam. If you're not familiar with what a phishing scam is, it's an effort by a hacker to use either a webpage, email, or instant message to fool you and get you to visit a malicious webpage. The webpage is usually formatted in a way to look and respond like a "real" legitimate site, in order to either solicit sensitive information from you or attempt some type of malicious attack on your computer.

Take a close look at this example of a phishing scam and see if you can find all of the red flags that should warn you that there is something phishy about this instant message.

Please use common sense and don't click on unsolicited requests for sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, or SSNs. Be safe, and if you're not sure, don't click!

Skype

For no good reason, I had put off trying Skype. Skype is a free voice-over-IP (VOIP) service that allows you to place audio or video calls over the internet from just about any computer. I'm not new to video chatting, in the past I've used AIM to video chat with friends and family. But most platforms that I had tried in the past usually had some issues. Well, I've been hammering Skype for the last couple of weeks and I'll have to say that I'm very impressed. Very good audio, excellent video, and it's extremely easy to setup. I'm currently on the road in Pennsylvania, and I've made some video calls to Guam and Korea from the free wifi in my hotel room and the calls have been excellent.

So if you're using Skype, add me to your contact list. I have two accounts: randman_rjr and randman_mobile.

If you're not using Skype, download it now!

New Photo Albums

I've added some new photo albums to the blog! Check out the right hand sidebar. Just click on the photo thumbnail and it will take you to the album. Enjoy!

Here are the links to the new albums:

Recent Pics

Fishing Pics

Only on Guam

I snapped this pic back in November of 08 at the height of Wahoo season. This guy really wanted to be out there to get some of the action! Check out his fly homemade boat. One trolling motor, an adirondack chair, a paddle board, two ice chests, and a ton of guamengineering!