This is a view from the top of the hill back at home. 

it's a dog's life...

...who says it's hard? :D 

Self-portait, walking in the morning... 

The view down one of the main roads in Green Acres. I went on a walk this morning and took a few pics. 

Our place on the block :) 

La Casa Del Marshall, based in Green Acres. 

Update to Grizzly Man

Update: I did get to see the listening scene, and it was…interesting.

Right now it’s a scene of two grizzly bears fighting, and I have to admit, it is mesmerizing. They grapple and bellow, bite and hit, while one of them takes a massive dump during the fight…I can see why he was so enraptured by them…but he should have left it to the National Geographic photographers.

Thoughts on Grizzly Man

I’m sitting here watching “Grizzly Man” on the Discovery Channel. It’s kind of late and I have to be up tomorrow morning early, so I probably won’t stay to watch the end of it, but I did want to put down my thoughts on it…

For those who don’t know, “Grizzly Man” is the story of Timothy Treadwell, who was an environmentalist who dedicated his life to ‘protecting’ the grizzly bears of Alaska, and was eaten by one of them in 2003. The film was made by Werner Herzog and was released in 2005. I did not see it when it was released, and I actually had no plans to see it; I am only watching it now because it’s on for free…based on what I read of the man and the movie, I felt that he was tempting fate and got what he deserved. Based on what I have seen thus far…

Tim Treadwell was no fool (he knew what he was doing), but he was definitely crazy. One cannot spend so much time around wild animals and think that they are things to be personified, or that they will “care” about you. I think that he had a wonderful love of the creatures, but he did not have the respect for them that one should have for wild creatures who have the ability to kill you. You cannot become a bear by acting like one. He crossed the boundary and paid the price. One of the people interviewed in the movie stated that the real tragedy was that his girlfriend was also killed and eaten by the bear…I don’t know. I initially felt the same way, but why was she there? He may have been certifiable, but what was she? What did she think would happen, was she also certifiable? She crossed the line as well.

I won’t be able to finish watching it tonight, I doubt I’ll be able to see the point where Werner Herzog (who sounds almost exactly like the Arnold Schwarzenegger character on the Simpsons) listens to the tape of Treadwell being attacked and eaten. For the squeamish, the tape is not played on the movie; Herzog listens to the tape via earphones. I wanted to see his reaction for myself…maybe one day I will finish watching the movie but I can’t say that I’m surprised at the fate of Treadwell.

Smiles all round :D

This pic was taken on my last weekend in the USA (Feb 11), at Janssen's place in my old college town. We have the future Dr. Jessica Esochagi in pink, Nadia McGill in blue, and some joker in a grey sweater. It was a great weekend...maybe you'll see more pics from it up here soon :) maybe you won't :p 

Musings of a returning student

After a long roundabout journey, I find myself blessed to begin work at the Water Resources Authority of Jamaica as a Hydrogeologist, starting on March 6th. I am not quite sure what my duties will entail, but I know it’s a traveling position. I’m grateful to God for this second chance, because I was getting frustrated at sitting idle after so many years of schooling, only to be greeted by desires for experience from employers and aversions to risk-taking. My time in the USA was not ill-spent, though I know that I could have done better…but everything happens for a reason. I may be discouraged that my time in California went the way it did…but if I had not gone through that experience, I would not have gone to Maryland; I would have stayed in California. Only God knows what would have happened if I stayed in Cali, but I give thanks that I was in MD for those five months from September 2005 to February 2006. To see the changes in myself and in Metro SDA church was a wonderful thing, and it’s great to know that I have a new church home in the USA with good friends and spiritual upliftment. And now, even though I may be a bit discouraged that I had to leave Maryland to return to Jamaica, I am only now finding out that I missed home a lot more than I thought I did. It came to me really strongly when I was catching a crowded Coaster bus back to Spanish Town from Half Way Tree, sitting by the window, scrunched up beside a yout’ wid a wild locks-in-the-making, as the driver took a long cut through Penwood and Olympic Gardens with some really bad roads, hearing the old man behind me cuss the driver for wasting time on this long cut…and I said to myself “dang, I really did miss home!”

Things seem to be going through really quickly here as well. Although it took me three attempts to open a bank account, it was just as well that the first two times did not go through, since it gave me the chance to handle other business in the meantime. I finally got it done today, and now the next thing I have to focus on is getting a driver’s license to replace the US one that got stolen and that I have to go through hell to replace. Ah perdition, thy name is bureaucracy! Hopefully I can set up a beach trip for Ash Wednesday next week Wednesday, and if I do, I’ll have the pics up from that.

So here’s to Jamaica, with its good and its bad, its uniqueness and its own indomitable spirit. Even if I leave again to try my fortunes up in “farin” (foreign, a.k.a the USA or Canada), nuh weh nu betta dan yaad. (nowhere is better than yard, or home).

And I hope this PNP poppyshow leadership ting hurries up and finishes. Just give Portia the mantle man, cho!

This is me and Suzanne Mills, fellow hydroid, current Peace Corp volunteer in Honduras (at http://suzinhonduras.blogspot.com). The photo was taken at a salsa concert in Albuquerque in August 2004...a very nice event, puctuated by the girl in the green dress...sigh...

Me, Diane and Renee at the Grand Canyon, August 2004. 

One for the road...this is about March 2004, and this is 3/5th of my Hydrogeological Processes class at New Mexico Tech. We have the future Dr. Meinhard Bayani Cardenas, Elizabeth Bryant aka "Liz" and Renee Sandvig, aka "uber Indigo Girls fan". Missing is Setsuko Shindo, who WAS at this field trip but just wasn't in this picture. Those were good times...well, I say that because I suppress the other times, like Flow and Transport, and thesis revision... 

Yooouu....are under my power! 

I have no excuse for this picture :-D

Added to the mix is Noreen Greenwood, looking pretty in pink, and Narshun Reid, aka "Frenchie". 

The five of us, plus Maas G, a.k.a. Gairy Marshall, my cousin. Take a good luck at where he's standing before you start thinking he's taller than I am. 

Me, Andrew, my mother and father (Mr. and Mrs. Marshall to you :p). This was taken at the General Conference in St. Louis, in July 2005. 

A break from the travel photos to put up some family stuff...this is my brother Andrew, my sister Sarah, and me. This is August 2003. 

Bryson Glacier. I was tempted to go further to where the ice actually ends, but time was against me...plus, I was nervous about meeting wildlife like bears or moose. 

A Pacific Salmon, I think it is a Chinook. The circle of life is nearly complete for this one... 

This is the Whittier tunnel, and the picture is from the Whittier side (you go through this end to get back to the rest of the world). This tunnel is the only land-access point to the town of Whittier, Alaska. It is both a road and rail tunnel, and is only wide enough for single-lane access, so there are scheduled times for rail traffic and road traffic in either direction. I had the single most terrifying experience in my life so far when I was coming into Whittier from the opposite direction...when I drove up to the toll booth, I had just missed the last scheduled entry period from my end. Thus, I drove up to the stoplight, and prepared to wait the 1.5 hours for my time to come again. All of a sudden, the light turned green. Now, I wasn't sure if that meant that I should go or not, but I decided to go through. It threw me for a loop when I realized that it was a one-tunnel-serves-both directions, but I pressed on anyways, kinda nervous but still enjoying the experience.

Then I saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

Being that it was foggy outside and not that bright, that was not a re-assuring thing. As I drew closer, I was able to confirm that YES, that WAS a train, and NO, I was not sure in my mind that he knew that someone had been let through on the other end. I kept running through my mind "am I ready to die?" and the answer was strong: "nope!" I finally pulled off in one of the emergency pulloffs in the tunnel and called the helpline, where they reassured me that the train was waiting for me to come out. I bet that guy had his headlight on on purpose, the likkle so-and-so...

Anyways, the moral of this story is to be on time and not rely on slotting in on the last minute :) 

just in case some mean people would think that I wasn't actually THERE :p 

A view of the Seaward Highway's scenery later on that afternoon. Absolutely smashing. 

This pic was taken on the Seaward Highway, about 15 miles from Anchorage, Alaska. It was a rainy foggy morning, and I was headed out from Anchorage to Bryson Glacier and the town of Whittier. It cleared up later on in the day...This is September, 2004. 

Oahu, northeast of Honolulu

The place on which I am standing was the scene of a battle between the Oahu natives and Hawaii natives. The Hawaiian people wanted to unify the islands, and the Oahu people took exception to that desire. Great view though... 

My old car, gone now

This is a test photo, I'm messing around with Picasa. More interesting pictures will be forthcoming...but for the moment, this is my old Honda which I christened Natalie. This pic was taken in Socorro NM, at the end of December 2005.