Advanced Open Water Diver... check!

We had an awesome time this weekend... I took some more photos around the campsite and quarry with my D80, but I'm sharing some blurry and crappy screenshots from this fun little digital video camera (waterproof to 100') that I got on Amazon for super cheap. It doesn't hold a charge for more than an hour and a half, but it should be great for diving in the DR. I'm going to try plugging it in to a conventional wall charger to see if it works.

This was our buddy group for Advanced Open Water... me, Jay and Travis. We were the only AOW students with Sea Colony over the weekend, so we were the cool kids to the Open Water divers. 

After our Navigation and Peak Performance Buoyancy skills, we were able to explore the quarry on our own 

This is "Blackhawk Down" at Lake Rawlings

Going to the rear of the helicopter

Diving at Lake Rawlings... Priceless.

Jay and Travis were kind of a bad combination to dive with. I was the voice of reason while they wanted to push the limits. Here, they contemplate going into the deeper water. We'd been told to keep it above 40'. My dive computer says we got to 40' exactly.

Those fish smell terrible

Blurry screenshot of the computer graveyard... there's all sorts of fun stuff at Rawlings

And a better screenshot of the monitor

This is the bus... Jay and Travis of course went inside, but I was a good buddy and stayed on the outside in case someone got stuck. Hey, someone has to be responsible.

I wish that I'd been able to record our Deep Dive and Search & Recovery dives. Those were probably my favorites. After those, we were left to finish our tanks and goofed off around the sailboat from The Replacements. The opening scene was filmed there at Lake Rawlings. Our instructor, John Kiser, alleges that he taught Keanu Reeves how to dive. John has certified more divers than anyone in the world, so maybe he has? Anyway, it would have been fun to get that stuff on video, especially since my skills were better on the second day of diving.

If you want to get motion sickness watching the Blackhawk Down video, you can find it here:

This SCUBA thing is getting out of hand

So we have all of our equipment except for our tanks and weights.

The rationale was that if we have our own equipment, we will dive more and won't have to spend money renting everything. We'll also be used to our own equipment and be safer divers that way. By my calculations, it will take us about 14 days of diving to make up for the cost.

Depending on a few things, I would like to take a long weekend trip to Florida sometime between January and March and either dive with the manatees or finally take another trip down to Key West and stop in Key Largo for a few dives on our way down. Then of course dive a few wrecks in Key West. We can transfer our credit card rewards to Southwest and get a much better deal for flights than what the rewards mall site is offering. So at least our flights will essentially be free, and we can also use rewards points to pay for hotels. Or use Hotwire or Priceline.

Of course, we will also be diving next month when we go to the Dominican Republic. We're planning to do a two tank dive in Rio San Juan with Merlin Divers one day. I would really love to dive the Zingara while we're there, but it's below 100 feet. Even though I'll technically be an Advanced Open Water Diver after this weekend, that doesn't mean that I should be diving that deep yet. I think that we'll probably try out the Airport Wall dive, which goes to 80 feet. 

I found one of the Merlin instructor's blogs... I think that we will get along quite well with that group. They have an after-dive bar at their shop. I know that our resort is all-inclusive, but I think we'll probably enjoy having a few beverages with these folks.

That's enough dive talk for one day... we are off to Lake Rawlings this afternoon for camping and our AOW certification class. I'm bringing our favorite divemaster Cathy a bottle of wine for putting up with us.

One final thought: how gorgeous have the sunsets been this week?

Update on Fall Bucket List

I am making excellent progress on my fall bucket list.

Here is what I've been up to:

·  Mark all diving equipment

I did this on Tuesday night. We decided to take the big hit on diving equipment now instead of buying things in dribs and drabs. So since we’ll be diving with our own equipment for our Advanced Open Water checkouts this weekend, we’ll be saving a little money.

·  Make a batch of wine

Looks kinda gross, doesn't it? A month from now, this will hopefully resemble a beautiful and clear Sauvignon Blanc. Sure looks nasty right now. 

·  Agree on weekly housecleaning list & laminate it for fridge

I have a draft version of this, but I keep forgetting to laminate it.

·  Give away 3 hens

On their way to a new life

This was a little sad for me, but I know that they’ve gone to a good home. The way that this happened was a friend of mine on the arts council mentioned that she was thinking of getting chickens. I told her that she was welcome to try it out with some of mine. And now they have a new home. Sniff. I chose three girls who haven’t exactly been getting along with the rest of the flock… so hopefully they will be happier in their new home.

·  Actually start this oil pulling nonsense

I have been doing this and it's kind of gross. But I will continue for a while. My mouth does feel cleaner after I brush my teeth. The initial melting of the coconut oil is probably what grosses me out the most. It's a solid at room temperature, so you have to wait probably 30 seconds for it to melt.

·  Make Jay a kick-ass birthday dinner

Done! New York strip steak, loaded mashed potatoes and asparagus (cooked in bacon fat, of course)… with funfetti cupcakes for dessert.

·  Attend Punkin Chunkin

Yesterday’s post was from Punkin Chunkin. It was a good time and we might even get on TV.

Moving right along!

Wordless Wednesdays

Thankful?

I’m sure that by now you have seen the “Thankful” posts on Facebook with everyone giving thanks for their spouse, children, job, pet, etc. Sure it’s a nice sentiment. But really shouldn't people be grateful all year long?

Call me cynical, but I find the exercise to be a little ridiculous. I’m not saying that it’s not a nice thought… we could all use a little reminder each day to think of what we are thankful for.

My main problem is with the folks who bitch and complain on Facebook 11 of 12 months out of the year, and whine between their thankful posts.

Or miss the point entirely. I’m sorry, but “feeling meh” and a thankful post don't go together to me:

Laura and I were at Punkin Chunkin over the weekend when I went on my rant about the thankful posts. She thinks that it's kinda hard to think of things to be thankful for each day. There are only so many family members and friends to be grateful for. This is inevitably what everyone posts about during the first week, then after that they run out of people and have to start doing some critical thinking.

Then the conversation devolved into talking about how grateful we are for bacon and butter.

Bacon and butter conversations turned into a 30 day thankful for challenge on Instagram. Food thankfulness only. Follow me.

The first few days: bacon, wings, eggs, loaded mashed potatoes.

I am pretty sure that I could find something to be thankful for every single day of the year, so I have a reminder on my phone each day at noon. Each day I'll think about what I'm thankful for. But I’m probably not going to post about it. Or maybe I will. But it won’t be posting about it in November during cliché thankful season.

If I post about being thankful, it will be in March, when it is cold, rainy and muddy, and I’m sick of winter.

Another fun weekend at Chicken Knock farm

Photos to learn about my weekend...

Yes. There is always plenty of bacon here at Chicken Knock Farm.

Obligatory selfie in my new wetsuit and Aqualung Pearl BCD! Loooove this thing! I can't wait to dive it. Way more comfy than the rental Sherwood Zodiacs I've been diving.

And Sean is visiting. Hence the fire. Punkin Chunkin in twelve or so hours.

Oh. And ridiculous glow in the dark necklaces. 

You're welcome.

25 Things - Fall Bucket List

I have finally come up with 25 things that I would like to accomplish for the fall season... I will keep the list updated here. 

I've already accomplished #3, #4, #7, and #11. I am in the process of completing #8, #10, #12, #16, #17, and #20.

Fall 2013 Bucket List:

1. Make pumpkin pie crunch and post it on the blog
2. Host a fall party
3. Complete my PADI Open Water Certification
4. Run 1 mile without stopping
5. Swim 1000 yards 
6. Send out holiday cards
7. Narrow down new car choices to 2 vehicles
8. Make a batch of wine
9. Make mulled cider 
10. Complete my PADI Advanced Open Water Certification
11. Attend a Literary Supper
12. Make at least one clothing donation to Purple Heart
13. Mark all diving equipment
14. Start brushing the cats regularly
15. Buy new litterboxes & find a new place for them
16. Agree on weekly housecleaning list & laminate it for fridge
17. Make photobook from OZ & NZ trip
18. Peruse Black Friday ad and possibly purchase desktop computer
19. Make brownies from scratch
20. Give away 3 hens
21. Shop at Bead Soup for Christmas gifts
22. Actually start this oil pulling nonsense
23. Get a gait analysis done & buy new running shoes
24. Make Jay a kick-ass birthday dinner
25. Attend Punkin Chunkin