Back to the grind

As I sit here covered head to toe to protect myself from the damn mosquitoes out tonight in 80 degree humid weather, I am reminded of all the places in the world that DON'T have a mosquito problem...such as sunny San Diego. Oh well, knew it before I got here.

Yesterday and today were good days, once again. Working on the Villa Rosa community urban planning project and starting to get involved in Santo's urban planning, I do not have a lack of things to be working on, which is great. The time goes by much quicker when there are a steady amount of things to keep one occupied.

Going back a bit, though...Saturday and Sunday were nice days here too. Nice to have had half a work day with the rest of the day off Saturday to go to the grocery store and get a few necessities, then I stayed in for the rest of the day for the house's "Bill Murry-thon" which included Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Lost in Translation. Caddyshack and Groundhog Day were on the back burner, but it got too late for those. Sunday I went with a few housemates to a local pool that is located on this outstanding vista that overlooks all of Port-au-Prince. Quite a site to see, but not before I buzzed off all my hair, just makes life so much easier here. My roommate, Sven, had clippers with him. We got to the pool around 11am, thinking we would got for a couple hours. Nope, more like six and a half. By 2:30 I was reading my book in the shaded area they had near the bar because I could not take the heat any longer. I was smart to bring a book, my ipod, a packed lunch, water bottle and sunscreen...I used them all! Saved a small fortune by providing my own drink and meal, so I got to hang out at a gorgeous pool overlooking half of Haiti for $4 (the pool 'admission' cost).

After we got home, thunderstorms hit and I just sat in and watch Netflix on my laptop for the rest of the night. Surprised it actually has been working, since it says it should not out of the U.S. every now in then, but my persistence has paid off. Plus a little added bonus: After hanging at the pool all day, I got to meet some friends of my housemates who work for the Clinton Foundation here, and a couple of them just got a satellite at their place and will be getting the NFL package starting this week! My quest for NFL football service has been conquered. Got an invite over there, so I might not have to jury-rig a skype/Charger game as I thought, although I do want the q-time with my wife...but I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Went on a site visit today, a tiny school on the second floor of a dilapidated urban structure. The contractor is about to pour the slab onto the rebar this week and we were doing a check up with Rick, a structural engineer who has been in Haiti for over a year, plus David and Clara, who work for JP, which is Sean Penn's organization. We found a couple of boo boos in the construction process where some of the walls were not properly tied together with the rebar, so they are going to have to come down and go back up, unfortunately. Thus delaying this project once again, which evidently is not the first time this problem has occurred. By the time we left there, really getting used to the heat and humidity surprisingly, we headed back to the office to wrap up the day.

So, keeping busy. Football starts this week. Everything is good. Want to give a little shout out to all the little tykes I know going back to school or starting it for real now this week. Micah and Nathan, my two nephews; Josh, Mason and Abby, my cousins out in Memphis; Connor, my best friend Jacob's son is starting kindergarten and his daughter, Kaley-preschool; Yasira and Atreju, Kaya and Leah's kids who are doing the same thing; and all the HTHI kids my wife, Nicole, and the whole awesome staff there get to handle this next year. Good luck!!

Last thing too, my friend Janine just gave birth to twin girls Thursday, so that makes three little daughters for her and her husband, James...proud of you as well!