AKA
Monday! Part I
I woke up to find Mark doing again in the early morning what we practiced in Undressed Rehearsals the night before . . . er, . . . before we collapsed into sleep after midnight just as we were getting it more than right, getting it perfectly. Alzheimer's hadn't kicked in on Mark yet so he hadn't forgotten all he'd learned the night before and after a groggy minute my brain kicked in and I started doing my share until, exhausted, he fell back into a dreamy state while I prepared for Dawn Patrol by putting on my pink, well satisfied body an antique pink floral print bikini with cleavage-enhancing push-up top, removable pads and under wire cups for added support. The full coverage halter one-piece has wider side bands for added support. It has a cover-up sarong that ties at side and looks great on the beach or in the water.
My man paid close attention to the putting on of my kini and for a few minutes I thought it would come off again but I was the disciplined one and said he had to get into his suit for dawn patrol. He wore only his suit to the party so that was what he had to wear to the beach. Lucky me! We got a top out of his car and walked to the beach. It is a mile drive to leave my place and get back to the beach parking lot so driving is silly.
The weather was a little windy but that adds a little as the wind is offshore giving better shape to the wave. There is a smaller crowd for this is a workday but these are also the hard core surfers that paddle out for every wave they can so the line up is as long as yesterday. No matter, we are all natives now so the team waded in, swam out and overloaded the waves. No one minded for they were largely friends from last night. If you've not surfed for a while you find it hard to go right back out and grab a wave. I was used to going out and taking the first wave available for most people skip a wave or two so if you are #6 in line the next person to take a wave will be #4 making me possibly two waves away, maybe three. That was true for all of us so we cycled a lot of times in early morning. One of us had to be on the beach to take problem calls and we four in service took turns being the one.
Even so we all got a lot of waves and were ready to go for Breakfast at the Surfshack by nine and at that time on a workday it wasn't as busy as on the weekend so we got the large booth. Mark was with us so we couldn't talk business but that was OK as everyone wanted to talk about the party. Everyone liked it. It was a surf party and by definition everyone at breakfast after dawn patrol was a surfer so no one had any complaints. We did decide on a few who wouldn't be invited back. A couple of guys were on Vernica's list of No-Go because they had too many 'accidental' touches, pinches and pats. So we said no to them and they were gone. Not that I don't have the same problem but Veronica's looks are especially inviting so she gets more and all the time plus I really rather enjoy the attention as long as there is a guy around somehwere who will be able to cure my concerns in bed later. After this rehash was finished we listened to the report on Jamaican surfing by Jamaica Jack.
"JAHmekYA has a tropical climate at sea-level and a temperate climate towards the highlands of the interior. There are four seasons, two rainy seasons from May to June and September to November as well as two dry seasons from July to August and December to April. The hurricane season is from May to August or September. Average annual precipitation is 77 inches and average temperature ranges in Kingston are from 66o Fahrenheit to 99o Fahrenheit all year. 99o Fahrenheit is 32o centigrade so we like to tell people on our hottest days, 'It's 32 here today,' and thereby ruin the tourist industry.
"On first thought the island of Jamaica seems an unlikely place for surfing to develop. Situated in the north western Caribbean Sea and seemingly cut off from the large southward moving swells of the North Atlantic by it's larger neighbours, Cuba and Hispanola, Jamaica seems trapped in the middle of the tiny, tranquil, Caribbean Sea, with very little potential for receiving good surfing waves, except maybe for when a hurricane passes by, which could provide a good swell, or be all blown out, or even worse . . . blow the whole freakin' island away! However, under closer scrutiny we find that this is definitely not the case! The truth? Jamaica is blessed with an eight month surf season with the remaining four months of flat time broken up into short one or two week spells. This provided the perfect raw material for the development of Jamaican surfing.
"In the sixties Jamaica had brave young souls (Cecil Ward, 'Pin Head' Powell, the Martel brothers from U.S.A., and the late Paul Blades, who's tomb stone at the Stony Hill Cemetery is shaped like a surfboard and has an inscription which reads . . . "He rode the waves,") had found and rode most of Jamaica's popular breaks on home made boards fashioned from refrigerator foam and laminated with resin and fiber glass drapery with black electrical tape to make "racing stripes".
"Boston Beach in Portland, for decades well known by tourists for it's pristine white sand beach, crystal clear water and it's notorious 'Jerk Pork' was Jamaica's first internationally recognized surf spot. Visitors to the famous beach witnessed the powerful driving surf rolling into the cove and took the news back to eager ears. Surfers returned to ride the waves, dropping in and sliding left as the fat peak wedged off the outside rock, or charging the thick right on the other side of the tiny protected bay.
"Since those early days, Jamaican surfing has evolved through a number of developmental stages beginning with the 'before there were boards' era of the 50's. In those early days, the 'Wreck' was the prime south coast surf spot. Situated on the Palisadoes peninsula, the Wreck got it's name from an unfortunate cargo vessel which misguidedly ran aground in the late 1950's, forming a groin-like set up, off which perfect 200 yard long lefts would mechanically peel to the beach. Today however, the Wreck has become a victim of the very waves it helped to create, and is now no more than a submerged heap of rusting metal. Scratch one break!
"The decade of the 70's saw many new faces in Jamaican surfing. The waves of Lightbourne Corner, Lighthouse, Lollipop, Copa, Nine Mile, Salt Ponds, Roselle, Prospect, Holland Bay, Long Bay and Boston had all been ridden by then. But in the summer of '74, the discovery of the decade! The now world famous 'Zoo' was 'discovered.' The much steeper, shorter walls of the Zoo forced local surfers to compress their maneuvers. Tube riding skills were honed to razor sharp perfection on the hollow river mouth barrel, resulting in a new more radical brand of Jamaican surfing.
"The 'discovery' of the Zoo right on our door step, prompted a whole new era of surf exploration on the island throughout the late 70's into the mid 80's. Potential spots which had been identified years previously such as Prospect point, Morantt River, Holland Bay, Orange Bay, Rio Grande, Swift River, Spanish River and Buff Bay were surfed for the first times, but all had to play second fiddle to the Zoo which became known as the Jamaican Pipeline, not for the size of the wave, but rather, for it's quality and consistency. The Zoo Was the discovery of the decade!
"The 80's popularized Peenie Wally and Shark Cove on the North Coast and the final decade of the old millennium when second generation Jamaican surfers rode a few new spots for the first time in the 90's such as Makka, Prospect middle reef and Yallahs River. The 90's also saw the founding of the Jamaica Surfing Association, which has brought the sport to the attention of the general public.
"The New Millenium is here and now a sport that was not even thought to exist in Jamaica is slowly clawing it's way to the surface and every day new and exciting developments unfold. Jamaica has been represented at the past two World Surfing Games and the last Pan American Surfing Games. New spots have been ridden and old ones lost in the recent spate of hurricanes that have unleashed their fury on the Caribbean. The world famous Zoo fell victim to and was annihilated by the torrential rains and thirty foot seas associated with Hurricane Ivan, but not before Billy Wilmot caught the largest wave in recorded Jamaican surf history!
"What about the social life? I live and surf in Montego Bay where more than 30% of Jamaica's hotel rooms are; many are the island's most exclusive hotels. These people come to Montego Bay for sports such as golf, the water and beach but mostly for fun. You will find the latter everywhere in Montego Bay including the hotel's cocktail lounges. Fun is everywhere.
"You will find Gloucester Avenue to be Montego Bay's Hip Strip to find fun if not happiness. Gloucester Avenue is a narrow shoreline boulevard lined with hotels restaurants, public beaches and shopping arcades. Most resort hotels around Montego Bay have their own private beaches.
"The resort town of Montego Bay is as far from the 'real' Jamaica as you can get though. But behind the narrow coastal plain is hill country you can immerse yourself in mountain-village life. The region boasts well-preserved colonial houses, many of which are working plantations that welcome those on guided tours.
"Nightlife includes native shows, theme nights, R&B or dancehall. You can enjoy live entertainment just about any night of the week. Gyrate to international and local beats, soak up the Latin, 'oldies' and other entertainment at hip spots like Coral Cliff Hotel, a gaming center designed with tropical decor. Margueritaville is where the party never stops. By day, plunge 110 feet on a monster slide into the Caribbean, bounce on a water trampoline or relax in a rooftop hot tub. Here you will find live entertainment, dancing, Giant Water Slide, Oceanside Danceterias and your choice of 35 Exotic Margueritas. Hang out at Tino's and lively sidewalk pubs like Caribic House and Dead End Bar For a whirlwind of dancing activity visit Hurricane Disco at Breezes. Pier 1 also a popular night spot. The Brewery, the Native and the Water's Bar & Grill are also other places to hang out and have a good time.
"On the eastern outskirts you will cross the slow-moving Marthae Brae River and pass through the town of Falmouth with its rich storehouse of Georgian architecture. Heading towards the western tip of the island you will pass through the proud parish capital of Lucea, Hanover, with its gem of the nineteenth century Forth Charlotte.
"Come visit Jamaica outside the hurricane season and you'll love it."
I plasticized the bill and we headed to my place for the Meeting with Marketing using the video camera and TV so they could see us and we could see them.
I gave the presentation to marketing that we had worked on during the weekend. It showed we were making money for the company. Third party sales of our products with logos had higher profits and subsidized both internal and external customer sales. This resulted in Marketing making recommendations for reviewing some prices and doing more internal and external advertising.
On the technical side there were several issues but they revolve around there being too many support problems, number one on the list. Marketing wanted to do something about the limited support hours, specifically the Time Out Period from 5 P.M. Friday to 8 A.M. Monday Pacific time. The first was concerns involving the weekend hiatus. Marketing was complaining about the lack of Tech Support on weekends, referred to as the 'Weekend hiatus.' It was the original plan to save money but the number of problems is higher than expected. Most of them are in the software supplied by IT.
"The biggest complaint is when the customer is part way through entering information and it disappears forcing him to re-enter it."
Marketing pushed hard for a seven-day single shift coverage but I had cost data showing it would be complex and costly. Marketing kept pushing and thought this would be the most important item we could do. I reminded Marketing that getting IT to fix the problems in their software, both the security package and the financial transaction package, would reduce the severe problems all the time but they would drop to near zero on the weekend as most orders are made during the week we are staffed.
Marketing wouldn't back down so I told them I would investigate allowing customers to order manuals and spare parts on the site. I reminded everyone that manuals and spare parts are proprietary so we have to closely control who has access to them and that we would also need around the clock support although that could be paid for as those items are so profitable. "As usual though," I said, "we have to spend money to make money. In total though, the revenues can be increased with more automation so we can pay for more tech support while still showing the same net revenues or maybe more."
We all agreed this was a complex change and should take time. Marketing wanted to do something now. I argued the complaints weren't that serious either in number or level of customer dissatisfaction. Despite this, Marketing insisted that we do a test even if we wouldn't commit to do a full fix. They proposed the testers and I cover the weekends so the weekday support guys, Luke, Dick and Jack, could have time off.
I pleaded with Marketing not to divert us but to support what we were doing. "I know the weekend hiatus is a customer nuisance but it only affects a very. The web site is still open and working around the clock but I guess everyone wants instant gratification."
I went on to ask again for Marketing to support us with IT to get them to fix the problems with their software so there would be few problems for support to work on anytime let alone the slow weekend period. In the end I agreed to talk to management about paying for the test.
The meeting lasted through lunch making us late to eat and we had only an hour to discuss what had happened during the meeting, get an action plan and make adjustments in the presentations for what Marketing had added. I wasn't sure we would be ready tomorrow to face IT who had bigger problems than Marketing did. I could only hope Marketing would help us with them.
It was time to get ready to surf so we three girls went to my room to change and go to the bathroom while the guys used the guest room. Veronica told me there was something wrong. "It's not like Marketing to push so hard when the problems aren't, as you said, big or many and most should be fixed by IT. There must be something we can't tell from out here."
I put on swimwear in playful yellow with magenta flower detail and contrasting trim with front lining for no-show through that is lightly constructed for stay-put confidence, triangle top with tie neck and front-lined cups with light, removable pads. Then we all lugged our gear down the zig-zag and to the beach for the afternoon waves.
The waves were good and there were still few people and most of those were from our party. We had a few to replace but that didn't take long. If the person someone invited was not invited back they had to select someone else. That left little for me.
The guy with the Outrigger had an appointment elsewhere today so we had to do without that entertainment this afternoon but he promised to be at the party tonight so he might bring the Outrigger tomorrow.
Interest was waning in the marshmallow gun leaving us with an entire bag of marshmallows but I don't mind. I'm began dreaming of being in Mark's arms in front of a roaring fire (There are few fireplaces in Hawaii) and sipping diet hot chocolates with marshmallows to leave brown lip prints on his chest and other parts that are none of your business!
This left the different and only beach game today to be building sand castles. I brought all my garden tools but most people used their hands for finishing.
Sand castles have to have sand and water and we had plenty of that but this just starts trading off how close to get to the water and still be on wet sand so you don't have to carry water.
One couple said they were going to make a fortress, I guess these are defensive times. They started building the base and when it was big enough, they started with the molds. The tide started to come in and an occasional wave would brush across the front of the fortress' foundation, taking a little sand with it. The guy explained that soon they would have to start dumping some extra buffer sand around the base to hold off the tide until the fortress was finished. After explaining that, she did it so he could continue carving while she piled some sand around the base. Later, she had time to fill a mold and helped stack up some sand. Then her shoulder got tired and she had to retreat to the shade, wounded in the battle against the tide.
He started to carve. The tall front tower was thick at the top and he was able to get it really high, probably around five feet tall, and still, it was thick at the top so he could've gone higher but if he got greedy it might collapse. He started to carve a small arch in the top of the tower and it came out looking pretty cool; looking like the eye of a giant needle. The tide kept coming so he quickly carved the rest of the fortress and put in a nice arch with a thick, solid beam across the top. He also added three more towers, two of which also got the needle design. The third tower was different, curvy to match the rest of the fortress. He did not have time to do a whole lot of detail work as the tide flooded it a few times while he carved and watched it drain through its twin pipes.
Another fortress was built by five guys and gals with six beautiful towers having an arch between two of them. At the center of the fortress was the tallest tower, reaching a height of around four feet. But that was before the horrible, tragic collapse. It was almost finished too. "Crap," was what the team said and they were right.
There was a medieval church having a tall and wide central door with two narrow slits to form windows on each side and its roof crenellated with battlements. A second story was almost as tall but a quarter of the size of the first and had a four sided pointed tower in the center amid all the detail of the second level.
One couple got too ambitious and made a mermaid and merman of sand. They decided to make just the merman and she would sit on his lap, er, tail, er, scaly part or whatever. It fell over though so she claimed she made a merman fall for her!
This led to a description by a guy who had seen a mermaid that was anatomically correct. When asked, the guy answered, "She was about six feet tall and her waist was about foru feet above her feet and her crotch about a foot below that. What I want to know is how did they know the proportions?"
One of the girls described a sand castle she had been part of years age. "It was made of five two-foot high sand disks with me standing on the top disk rather shakily. The bottom disk was over ten feet in diameter so it took a lot of sand. The top disk was only about two feet in diameter making me shaky trying to keep from moving my feet. It had to fall apart when I went down and the second from top disk collapsed when I transferred my weight making me quickly run ahead of the sand avalanche and fall on the beach."
Another woman told of a friend who made life sized food of sand and paint so they looked so good he had to put up a sign not to eat them for they are made of sand.
Regretfully we had to leave the sand sculptures to the mercy of the waves (funny, that's what surfers do) and go to the party.
The party tonight was themed on the American Cowboy. Themed? Now thet's just like eating chili sauce made in New Yawk City, it's downright plum city-slickered! But that was what we-all were, people from literally around the world and we duded up. I guess Matt being from Salt Lake City gave some slight case of western culture but the rest of us? No M'am.
Mark came over to my place to dress although we did not have the time or the privacy to do what he and I wanted right now. As we dressed I told him a story about the clothes I would wear that night.
"When I was in college I ran into an older but drop dead gorgeous woman while surfing. She was, I learned later, a Dallas Socialite. I saw her regularly and she invited me to the Chili cook off in Terlingua, Texas. Terlingua, you'd think it means 'triple tongued' but it doesn't; that would be TresLengua! It is close enough and so the old lady, she was thirty, and three of us flew out to Dallas then drove west in two cars, all hoping to be triple tongued! Four girls? Three tongues? We'll see if it is cheaper by the dozen!
"Terlingua is located southeast of El Paso above Lajitas and next to Study Butte on Farm Road 170 near Hwy 118 in the Christmas Mountains next to Big Bend National Park, in Brewster County. It was once a thriving mercury-mining town of 5,000 people and was uninhabited until 1967 when it became more than a wide spot in the road, it was a spot to go to. Terlingua became famous for chili after it was deemed the "Chili Capital of the World" by the Chili Appreciation Society. The former company store reopened as a gift and art shop, river float trips are scheduled in the former cantina, and a dinner theater occupies the former motion picture theater. Now Terlingua has over a dozen businesses and a population of twenty-five and growing.
"The Chili cook off is actually on a ranch near Triple Tongue that is located on the North side of Highway 170, eleven miles West of Study Butte and 7 miles East of Lajitas. We all brought sleeping bags and found some empty desert to sleep on and to await the triple tongue.
"It was a great party. I met an oilman there who was older than I. Hank was and still is the oldest man I ever slept with, but he was tall, dark and handsome not to mention rich so who cares? He wore a distinctive braided rawhide belt with and intriguing buckle. The buckle was cast brass with an oil derrick embossed up the center next to a gold plated Texas Star with the crossed rays of North, South and East, West on maps. The rim of the buckle had an inscription, 'Oilmen use large drills!'
"We partied the night away and as the descendent of cattlemen we slept under the stars. At least we slept a little.
"He flew me back to Dallas in his plane, landing at the airport where I caught my plane but not my breath.
"He paid for me to come to Dallas the following year for Fourth of July. I went to a party with him at a ranch owned by his older brother. My cowboy-oilman bought me a tight outfit of steel gray levis and a lighter gray pearl-buttoned cowgirl blouse with a Stetson that matched the blouse. He ordered hand made boots for me after I faxed the outlines of my feet. The boots were sky blue with rampant jaguars under lone-stars on both sides of both boots. He topped it all off by taking off his belt and giving it to me along with that amazing buckle. My knees were already buckled.
"Now When The Wind Blows Across This Land Of The Purple Sage And The Shifting Sand,
It Whispers "Hank", And We Understand He Loved Big Bend - It Was His Kind Of Land."
(Hank just loved to drill on the Whispering, shifting sand in his beloved Big Bend Land)!
That was my outfit although of course I had a Bandana. Bandanas are something everyone has in red and white tie-dye but I also collected a blue and white one at a western dinner I attended once in Monterrey and it goes with my outfit perfectly.
Monday! Part II
Link to Index
Pukanala's Story
Terlingua & Chili
Links
Summers
California Sesquicentenial
Cybernetic Systems
Foreign Language
Gaea
Golden Goddesses
Monarch Screw and Bolt Co.
Network for Educators in the Workplace (N.E.T.)
Opera and Art
Click
Starfleet Acadamy
Sunnyside
Copyright HWS, 2004