...just scared the shit out of a donkey.

While I’ve been here on St. John’s, I’ve been running a lot.  The roads are very rocky and  hilly, and on top of that my legs have been in rough shape the past few weeks.  In spite of this, the runs here have been fantastic. I think that it may be from a combination of the great weather, stunning landscape, and overall positive energy that I’m pushing through any pain or short of breathe.  I had one particularly memorable run my first day here. Despite my legs being stiff from the plane, I was hammering up and down these potholed hillsides, suckin down the oxygen rich air, great tunes, sun setting, simply ecstatic about where I was.

On the last hill coming back into the campground there was a wild donkey grazing on the side of the road.  I was moving pretty quickly down the hill and I didn’t see him until I was about 10 feet away from him and apparently he didn’t see me either.  He jumped a good three feet in the air and started galloping down the road looking back every few seconds to keep an eye on me.  I had to stop running  because I was laughing so hard.

Here were the musical highlights from the run:

Maps and Atlases- “Witch” and “Artichokes” (I’ve been listening to these songs very sparingly since I first heard them because every time I listen to them, they ignite a rush of fresh adrenaline and excitement, thus I don’t  overplay them because I don’t want them to lose their spark.

Radiohead- Jigsaws Falling Into Place- at times I have a hard time buying into the magic of Radiohead. Other times they fit my mood just spectacularly.  At 1:45 where the second layer of guitar chimes in, that moment hit the right note.

Coldplay- Everything Not Lost – This song usually serves as a pick-me-up type song for me, but I couldn’t help myself :-)

That’s all for now. 

-Charlie

                                                             

Haiku of the day:

I run down the hill,

The donkey doesn’t see me,

Don’t fear the human

Yo Mama Joke of the Day:

Yo mama is so fat, her nick name in high school was ‘heart failure’.

Island Living= Busy Living

Quick update from the island:  It’s been a fantastically busy week so far.  Here is what's been goin on.

Sunday: AM church, swimming and snorkeling at Cinnamon Bay, Mahi Mahi Sandwich for dinner at Skinny Legs which is an island sports bar.

Monday: breakfast at campgrounds, beach, frisbee, and PB&J’s at Maho Bay, evening photo session at Peace Hill  (beautiful hillside that looks out across the ocean and has been  the setting for several Dewey Christmas Cards,  Seafood Buffet at Caneel Bay which is considered to be one of the more luxurious resorts on the island, (Simply absurd dining conditions.  Imagine all of your favorite foods in one spot, on the beach, while the sun was setting.  Here are some of the foods that made it on and off my plate: prime rib, roasted duck, marinated pork w/applesauce, stuffed tomatoes, pop-overs, lobster and for dessert Banana’s Foster, bread pudding, and chocolate cake)

Tuesday: AM food hangover, Reef Bay Hike(It’s a 3 mile hike that goes from the top of a mountain down to a secluded beach, there’s a waterfull near some ruins and petroglyph writfings on rocks  from an ancient civilization.  The whole hike I felt like I was in an episode of Lost. There wasn’t any polar bears or black smoke and fortunately no one was kidnapped by the others or accidentally went back in time.  But we did see some deer, mongoose, and plenty of lizards), after the hike we stopped at a place called Vie’s Chicken Shack(It’s a small snack shack and the only reason we always go there is because my brother Jabez got pecked by a rooster there when he was 5), at night we went into Cruz Bay for some terrific island barbecue, then some of us stuck around and bar hopped until the last taxi for Maho Bay was leaving.  Great night!

Wednesday: My parents rented 2 charter boats, early in the day we went to a good snorkeling spot(we saw a bunch of starfishes, sea turtles, sting rays, and hundreds of kinds of tropical fish big and small), then we traveled to Jost Van Dike which is part of the British Virgin Islands(there we went to a beach bar and got some conch fritters and some Caribbean burritos.  The fritters were some of the best I’ve ever had.), then we went to an uninhabited island that’s famous for being the island where Corona films their palm tree commercials, the last stop was at another bar on Jost where Jabez, my dad, our boat captain, and I had an intense frisbee toss. Very exhausting yet unbelievably fun day.

Thursday: AM Turkey Trot 5k(The race went through various trails on the island and past some sugar mill ruins from the 1600’s.  Very rugged and hilly course but lots of fun and great scenary), beach at the campgrounds,  most of the day just hung at the beach at the campground, tonight we’re having Thanksgiving dinner at the campground pavilion, they should have a good spread there.

That’s all for now.

-Charlie

Interaction of the day:

5 year old girl on the beach: Daddy, how come there aren’t any turkeys here?

Daddy: Because turkeys don’t go camping.

Yo Mama Joke of the Day:

Yo mama is so fat, her shadow changes the seasons.

Viva la Maho

Yesterday was a great day.  On Friday night I took a train up to Boston where my parents had a hotel room right near the airport in order to get to the early  flight on time.  My day started at 330 am when I was woken by my parents discussing what to wear on the plane.

Mom: Don’t forget you have your pirate underwear.

Dad: I know, I’m saving those.

We flew from Logan to Charlotte then to St. Thomas.  The flights were relatively painless with a couple exceptions. .  At one point during the first flight I dropped a water bottle on the ground.  US Airways has the bare minimum for leg room so I was blindly feeling around on the ground to find it.  I felt directly underneath my chair and thought I found it so I tried to pull it up before quickly realizing that it was the women behind me’s shoe.  I immediately turned around and apologized but I was looking in between  the seats and we didn’t make firm eye contact, so I stood up  and apologized a second time.   And she gave me a nod that subtly told me that she had gotten the 1^st apology and the 2^nd one had been unecescary and it had only heightened the awkwardness.  Meanwhile, as I stood up my water bottle fell into the guy sitting next to me’s lap.  It had been right on my lap the entire time.  So that led to another apology and then a look from the guy that said he already overheard the interaction with the woman behind me and that he was now uncomfortable that he was included in the awkward moment.  So I sat there feeling like an idiot for the rest of the flight.  If that’s not enough, guess who sat next to me on the second flight….The woman who’s foot I grabbed. Sweet.

We got to St. Thomas and within 90 seconds of being off the plane I was given a free shot of Coconut Rum. I love how the locals in the Virgin Islands try so hard to make sure you know you’re on vacation.  I realize that it’s just a clever scheme to loosen tourist’s wallets, but I like it.   We then took a ferry ride over to St. John’s. There was a pleasant Caribbean sun shower during the ride which is always an agreeable experience.  Next we got the rental car(which is a pickup truck with 2 cushioned benches in the truck bed) and drove to our camp site at Maho Bay.  The roads on the island wind around the coast and there is an amazing vista every half mile.

For the rest of the night we just got situated at our campsites, met up with the rest of the group for dinner at the campground restaurant, and went to the beach for a quick nightswim. 

This morning everybody went to church in the harbor(Cruz Bay), then went swimming and snorkeling at a beach near our campground(Cinnamon Bay).

I still haven’t come down from the vacation high that I got the second I got off the plane yesterday,  There is something intoxicating about breathing in that warm oxygen-rich tropical air.  Great vibes all around. More good stuff to come.

That’s all for now.

-Charlie

Quote of the day:

Mom: Dad is this campsite okay for you?

Grandpa: This place is perfect. I can pee right off the balcony.

Yo Mama Joke of the Day:

Yo Mama is so fat, she uses the Big Dipper as a cereal spoon.

More Updating....

After Halloween, I went back to Hartford for a week where GH investigated at Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house.   It was actually right next to Mark Twain’s house.  I know right, nutty coincidence.  Hartford still sucks.

After my second dose of the city of sirens, Ghost Hunters went up to Fort Ticonderoga. It was a Fort used by the French in the French Indian War(1750’s) and was occupied by the British during the Revolutionary War(1770’s). I’d say it is the coolest location that I’ve been to while on this show. It has unbelievable scenery and has a very exciting battle history. 

During the filming, I spent a lot of time with the curator of the Fort and he gave me a one-on-one tour of the exhibits.  I was amazed at how much the guy knew about every single one of the hundreds of artifacts at the Fort.  By the end of the filming I was spiting off facts about the Fort left and right to the rest of the crew.  The curator had also given me a play-by-play of how each battle went down.  If you stood and looked at the landscape, you could actually see why the French/British Generals made the military maneuvers they did.  The highlight of the trip was standing at the top of one of the turrets, looking out over Lake Champlain, picturing the battles unfold.

More good stuff en mañana.  Unbelievably long day, too much to talk about.

That’s all for now.

-Charlie

Interaction of the day:

Airport Security X-Ray Person: Sir I’m going to have to take this bottle of water from you.

Charlie: It’s amazing how similar your job is to a mugger.  I mean is it really neces….

Airport Security Metal Detector Person:  Sir can you please empty your pockets.

Yo Mama Joke of the day:

Yo Mama is so fat, she went skydiving and needed a circus tent for a parachute.

October/ November Update

So I took the about a month and a half or so off from blogging.  I had a rough stretch of long work days and the blogging was cutting into my sleeping.  One day I came into work utterly sleep deprived and I ALMOST made a disastrous mistake, that would have easily cost me my job(losing a tape).  After that inicident I decided to take a break from the blog.  My plan now is to blog more frequently but not burn so much time with it.

To summarize from the last entry, after Hartford, I went down to New Jersey where we were filming at the Hindenburg crash site.  We were inside this enormous airship hanger that was built to house the Hindenburg.

You can’t really tell by the picture but the building was 12 stories high. One of the nights that we were there, I placed a camera up on the rafters to record a time lapse of the sun setting.  Getting up there was a very fun experience.  I felt like an acrobat climbing up to do a tight rope act.  However, the down side to that was that I had to retrieve the camera once the sun was gone.  When people ask me whether I have ever felt scared while working on the show, I can now say I have.  Climbing up to the rafters on a rickety old staircase built in 1927 in pitch black was one of the scariest moments of my life.  There was a powerful whistling wind that night and when I was at the top I could feel the supports wobbling.  I resisted the heavy urge to panic.  When your heart beats so hard you can hear it, that’s when you know you’re making a memory.  I’ll never forget that.

The big news of October was that my sister Anna got engaged.  I was very shocked at the news and could not have been more thrilled.  Anna and Robbie go together like knick and knack and I will be anxiously counting the days until their wedding next September.

After the trip to New Jersey, Ghost Hunters had a two week hiatus in between Season 5 and Season 6.  During those two weeks I spent time in both New Hampshire and Providence.  In New Hampshire I visited my parents, sister, and dog.  I went through some boxes of old memorabilia that was in storage.  I also got to go swimming with my dog which was a blast. In Providence I spent time visiting with old teachers, coaches, teammates, friends, and enemies.   The highlight of the entire break was Halloween.  I somehow forgot how much of a madhouse PC is on Halloween.  Seeing Eaton Street swarmed with semi-sober costumed individuals is definitely one the peaks of my college experience.  The memorable part of the night was that I found a creative solution to two problems I faced.  Running out of candy and disposing of my old memorabilia.

I’ll continue  the update tomorrow.  Right now I need to finish packing my suitcase.  Tomorrow I am going to St. John’s in the Virgin Islands with my family for a week.  My mom has been planning this trip since last Thanksgiving , and there is a lot of hype surrounding it.  We’ve been going to the Virgin Islands once every 4-5 years since I was 3.  Aside from Disney World, it is my favorite place in the world. I know this trip will certainly live up to the hype.

My hotel floor smells a lot like Play-Doh.  I’m not sure why.  It makes me wonder what has gone down on this floor. I’ve stayed on a couple of other floors in this hotel before, no Play-Doh smell. This will stay on my mind for quite some time.

That’s all for now.

-Charlie

Haiku of the Day:

Off to the islands

I have no money to spend

Pirate’s life for me.

Yo Mama Joke of the Day:

Yo Mama is so fat, in order to drive her, you need to get a Class XL drivers license.