journal

lost pond, brookline 07-12-09

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:35:54 GMT

lost pond slideshow.

centennial park, wellesley 07-25-09

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:32:48 GMT

centennial park pics

a few pictures taken while checking out centennial park by mass bay college. warning - dead fish photo in this set.

posing for the camera

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:40:00 GMT

posing for the camera
Originally uploaded by alex bermudez

just got back from mt. misery in lincoln, ma. there are lots of off leash dog trails, places to swim, and mosquitoes. i only got to take a few pics as the batteries on my camera died. jim got to swim in the sudbury river and i got lost so we ended up hiking for 1.5 hours. it was really nice out though and we ran into 5-7 groups of people/dogs.

Jim

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:12:57 GMT

Jim
Originally uploaded by alex bermudez

i'd like to take/post more pictures of jim. this is from 2-9-9.

paul bunyan

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:11:17 GMT

paul bunyan
Originally uploaded by alex bermudez

found this on my camera, it's from nov 2008 at mass audubon.

jim

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:31:02 GMT

week 1 complete at MAS

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:49:11 GMT

this morning i start my second week at MAS. so far so good! i should switch jobs more often. it's really fun for me to try to figure out the inner workings of things and find more efficient ways to do things.

I'll do one of those +/- lists to jot down my thoughts

+
* there is no dress code!!! everyone in my department wears shorts/t-shirts/sneakers all the time
* i got a decent computer with 2GB of RAM!! i've never had that much RAM
* i work in a really nice (well on the outside) house made in 1915
* i'm in the one department with a 50/50 distribution of males and females
* i get to learn new skillz: PHP and mySQL, and photoshop if i want
* i got a slight raise, i was afraid i'd have to take a pay cut to work here
* i have some interesting projects coming up: trip to austin for convio training, field trips to various sanctuaries for staff trainings, and field trip (maybe) to test bird cams in MA
* even though i tried to convince myself it was OK to go to the for profit world, i'm glad i could find a job in the nonprofit sector.
* the last few years at my old job have given me a great start at this new one - my ex-supervisor really pushed standards and documentation on us that i can now understand the importance of. there are NO standards here.
* once i get settled i believe i'll have very little supervision, i like that!
* i work across from a farm with barn animals, when new creatures are born messages are sent out and we can go watch the miracle of life happen right before us (stuff like steaming baby animals).

-
* my commute went from 5 to 30 minutes
* due to my 4-days a week analysis i have 1 heinously long day and am here late on fridays
* the organization is about 80% women but the men that do work here have some of the highest positions in the organization.
* very little color/diversity, the head of education is the only other latina i've met
* i doubt there is room for advancement in this position
* i work in one of the wealthiest towns in the state - no good places to have lunch
* i don't have a mouse with all the extra clicking options, sucks for browsing.
* what am i still doing in MA? i should have used this time and $ to move to new york already.

it feels like the first day of school

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:16:00 GMT

i start a new job tomorrow morning, 8:30 AM EST, as the internet manager of the massachusetts audubon society. my new "office" will be in the Hatheway House.

i have not started a new job since december 1997.

i'm feeling so many things right now. most prominent is anxiety about oversleeping. next in line is uncertainty about whether i've made the right choice. then comes fear/doubtfulness that i'll be able to do a good job - i haven't fully learned PHP yet!

it totally feels like the first day of school - getting the office supplies ready, figuring out ahead of time what i'm going to wear, wondering whether my new peers/co-workers will like me, trying to decide whether i should pack a lunch or plan to go out for lunch, etc.

wish me luck!

laid off

Wed, 16 May 2007 16:38:21 GMT

i've been laid off. i am pretty traumatized and not really wanting to go back to pack up and take care of the whole transition plan. i had been at the company for 9+ years. luckily that will entitle me to a decent severance package. it's a shame i'm not more prepared for a BIG change, otherwise i may have taken this as a sign to move to new york. i've had one small bottle of vanily stoli vodka but i'm still feeling pretty shaky. i'm working on bottle #2 and may need to throw in some herb. bleh!

edit: in other news, i got the 2 bedroom apartment in porter square i wanted. yay.

codos

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:48:31 GMT

codos means someone that does not want to spend any money. that is my word of the day. so codos in fact is plural. that is what i am calling the folks from engenderhealth bolivia. under the guise of ´being worried about our safety´, they have refused to allow my colleague to travel back home to la paz via a somewhat circuitous (sp?) route but that would ensure we arrive in la paz before next month.

i however am not really bound by their stinginess and have asked my peeps at my organization if i can take this alternate route home. the main road between la paz and oruro is still blocked. it used to be that there were as many as 3 blockades along the same highway. now there is aparently only one but it seems to be a fierce one, there are no side routes you can take and busses are not able to make it through. my plane leaves saturday morning at 7am. i HAVE to be in la paz no later than friday night. because of their concern for our safety we are being forced to stay in oruro tongiht because they are certain everything will be magically resolved tomorrow. grrrrrr.

in other news, we finished our work today at noon. we had a marathon work session yesterday from 8am to 10:30 pm. luckily i got to sleep in a bit. and i was able to log onto a rural clinic´s network to get online this morning which meant IM chats with fiona and alexis. yay! i also managed to turn in my timesheet so i will get paid next friday. double yay, esp since it is my third check this month.

i have started shopping. i will seriously try to limit myself so i do not spend hundreds and hundreds like i have before. there are just so many great things to buy! i canot really go into details on my purchases because some of them are destined to be presents for some of you. needless to say, the items are so cool that if you do not like them i will gladly keep them. i try to keep that in mind when buying things. i will have to come up with some creative ways to package some of the items as they are rather large and/or delicate.

i continue to take lots of pics but it´s a big hassle to optimize them and post them so maybe while we are waiting to hear what my colleague´s organization says i can post some. i am amazed that the number of wild dogs here. it seems to be more than what i have seen in la paz. more than i have seen anywhere else in the world to be frank. a lot of them look so skinny. i feel so sad for them. i want to buy them little empanadas or salteñas for 2Bs. (one u.s. quarter) and feed them and pet them and play tug with them but i know that is special given the poverty that many of the humans endure.

i have discovered a wonderful new drink. mandarin orange fanta! (jef, please do not tell me you can find this in the U.S.) it is the best thing ever. it is way way sweet so you should certainly limit yourselves to two 500ml (damn metric system) bottles per day. i also had my first beer today. the label is hilarious - a king stradding a barrel. i will have to buy another beer at some point and take a picture of it. there are warnings about drinking in high altitudes, but the beer is pretty weak so i think i will be fine. oh the beer is called, damn i forgot. but it is not available in la paz for some reason.

one other interesting factoid, well two:
1. a lot of items are imported from neighboring countries. cars come from brazil and chile. doctors come from cuba (ok that is not neighboring). pickpockets come from peru (that is what my colleague claims). i of course assumed that everything here came from the U.S. we went to a shoe store and the brands there were: north star and KS. no reebok or nike or skechers.

2. there are very few street signals. of those that there are, half do not work. there are two lights, green and red. for 95% of the other streets it´s totally a game of chicken that determines who has the right of way. as a cab is approaching an intersection it will honk once, and only slightly slow down, to let others know that it is passing by. there have been 2 very close calls where there were accidents while we were in one of the cars. i must say though, the driving is better than in la paz. i am tempted to take a video clip of the driving in la paz. i think i am tough and i have had to close my eyes in la paz during a few scary intersections.

ok i think that is it. i am off to see if i can watch law & order svu in spanish. i forget the name, something like: ley y orden blah blah blah.

oh jef, a p.s. to you, on animal planet i saw a fascinating show about eagles. it showed eagles swooping down to catch flamingos!!!!! i had no idea eagles did that. but even more awesome was eagles fighting against eagles. well not really fighting, they get near each other, turn upside down, and then their claws become entwined and they do this horrible/thrilling spiralling downward dance. they also showed eagles capturing sea snakes. wow is all i can say.

pictures only

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:43:06 GMT

i´m tired and not sure what to write so i´ll just post pics with brief explanations, some surely don´t need explanations though.

across the street from where we´ve had wonderful and cheap lunches every week is a red building with a red fence with some interesting signs. below is one found on the outside:

this is one of those that may not need an explanation. needless to say it is ok to refer to products as being black this or black that. well negrito really means little black man or can also be a term of endearment for a black man, like what i´d call my great-grandfather if he were still alive:

i find a fascinating mixtures of regular spanish names for things, see above, and english names for things, see below: (i did not, nor do i want to go inside the restaurant. in general you do not want to eat at random restaurants for fear of food poisoning or worms or parasites and the such.)

finally, a pic of the blockade that as of now is still going on. bleh.

oruro, bolivia

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:47:55 GMT

i´m logged in from an internet office in the hotel i am staying at: hotel sucre in oruro. i am not sure why the name of the hotel is sucre, that is the name of another city in bolivia. i passed by this other hotel called the grand boston. um wtf?

today has been all sorts of crazy. no pictures for me to upload though because i am too lazy to transfer them to my laptop to then put htem on a flash/thumb drive to then plug into the back of one of the desktops here to then upload to my site. i´m hoping i´ll have more energy tomororw and will make up for the lack of pics from today. as it turns out i think i only took pictures of the road block or blockade, not sure which is the right term.

blockade? yes. the most common way for the working class to protest is via road blocks. people for a certain cause will find ways to block major roads. my guide and colleage, erika cabrera, said that in the tropics called los yungas they use trees. here in oruro becuase there are no trees, it is all very flat and rocky, they use well rocks. this morning i got up at 5;30 to get ready to catch a bus at 7am that would take me from la paz to oruro. about 3/4ths of the way to oruro we had to stop because there were rocks strewn all over the 2 lane highway for a distance of about 2 kilometers. mind you this is the ONLY highway that connects people between la paz, oruro, cochabamba, pretty much the rest of hte country. so we were told that the bus company had a bus waiting on the other side of the blockade. i don´t know what happened to me but my body or lungs chose this time to have an asthma attack. we are at a higher elevation than in la paz, maybe 13000 feet or so. i totally freaked out the woman that is traveling with me - she did not let me carry anything else. i made sure to glare at the miners that i saw along the way as they were the ones that caused this blockade. half an hour later we arrived in oruro, what i have heard is now one of the poorest cities in bolivia.

it´s main industry is mining. we may be able to take friday off and i hope to be able to visit some of the mines or at least the entrances of mines. i have no desire to go inside. i forget what metals are found here, nothing too precious but maybe something like zinc and tin and the such. when i find out i´ll post it here.

i was just chilling upstaris in my modest but cute room, ooh i can take pics of that and post them, watching cable tv and watchd a news clip that said that all outbound busses from la paz stopped at 9am. seems like we barely made it out. if there is still a blockade on friday afternoon when i am supposed to head back to la paz then our plan is to take a 4 hours bus ride to cochabamba and then fly from there to la paz.

today is father´s day here. happy father´s day from bolivia. i have no idea why i thought the whole world had the same father´s day.

after settling in and getting lunch, most people go to restaurants and have set lunches, we went to a private clinic where i sat in a waiting area for 2+ hours while my colleague conducted a focus group. this means some kind of appetizer, some type of soup, bread, a main entree, and of course dessert. so far i have only been able to have lunches, no dinners. one of hte high altitude side effects is a slowing down of your digestive system so that if you eat at 1pm you still, if you are me, feel full at 8pm.

as for animals, so far i have only noticed dogs and flies. there are flies here! it was weird to see them. oh during the 2km walk through the rocks i saw a bunch of beetles but didn´t feel comfortable takng out my camera, well work camera, to take pics for jef. i have not seen any cats around. i wonder why. the dogs i have seen haven´t been in the best of shape, you can clearly see their ribs. oh duh, i forgot that on the bus drive i did see flocks of sheep and flocks, not sure if that is the word, of llamas! the sheep outnumbered the llamas though. and of course i could not tell for certain if the llamas were indeed llamas and not something else like vicuñas or alpacas.

something else i find interesting is the fact that in certain places you have to pay for everything. in the bus terminal in la paz, if you wanted to go to the bathroom you had to pay an attendant 2 bolivianos (omg, to shorten bolivianos, you write: Bs.), so yeah you pay 2Bs. and get a wad of toilet paper and a receipt! everyone is super concerned about receipts. receipt for toilet paper/bahtroom use?? i wonder if my company will reimburse me for that or if that is considered part of meals & incidentals? anyway, we also needed to pay 3Bs. to leave the terminal to board our bus.

ok i think this is getting too long. i hope to do a better job at figuring out the technology tomorrow and certainly will take pics of things other than my room.

zona sur, la paz, bolivia

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:16:58 GMT

i made it safely to bolivia. i'm glad i took the altitude medicine as i have hardly felt any of the symptoms associated with altitude sickness like lethargy and shortness of breath. i took a long time to settle in and get my laptop/camera out so that means no pictures to post from today. i did take a few just now and will post 3 of those. the first is this liquor store sign:

it's about half a block down the street - note about la paz, whenever you walk outside on the streets you are either walking uphill or downhill. the area i'm in, zona sur, is the lowest part (altitude wise) of La Paz and is where the rich people and foreigners live. i noticed a big fat doberman in someone's backyard this afternoon, i wanted to take a picture but couldn't. this is the area where you will see people owning dogs. in most other areas of la paz the dogs dont' seem to belong to anyone and you just see hordes of wild dogs running around.

this next photo is part of the view outside my window:

. because la paz is in a valley whenever you look towards the distance you see houses on the mountainside. it's pretty at night.

i always like to keep an eye out for local art and am thrilled that there seems to be original art, or copies of such, in the guest rooms in this hotel:

.

i head out for oruro tomorrow at 6am! wtf. it's a 3 hour bus ride and we want to start our week of interviewing people soon. i found out today that we'll be finishing early so this will mean i will have 1 day to sight-see and shop. i am thrilled - why else did i bring $300 in cash? the town where we will be working this week is supposed to be colder than la paz. today it was rainy and didn't really get above the 40s.

did i mention the rooms here have internet access? this totally rules. i doubt i'll have such a convenience in oruro. if any of you want to see the rest of the pics i took a while ago go here:
http://alexbermudez.com/photos/bolivia_Mar07/

photo album

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 04:04:58 GMT

here's a photo album about a trip i took today with urbpan, cottonmanifesto, rockbalancer, and chaggie to mt. misery in lincoln for a hike.

arusha, tanzania

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 08:23:48 GMT

i'm currently in arusha, tanzania. it is not far from kenya and most of the people that are here use this town as a jumping off point for going on safaris or mountain climbing. mt. kilimanjaro is about 2 hours from here and there are several craters and national parks (like the serengetti) near here. about 40% of the population is muslim so it is typical to hear praying at hours like midnight and 5am. with my mom also being a muslim you'd think i'd know more about the prayer times. there are tons of jacaranda and bouganvillea and i know is massacring the spelling! as usual i am being mobbed by kids selling stuff and since i do not know how to haggle/bargain it is making going to the shopping areas quite stressful. i have not let it stop me though from quickly spending what little cash i brought with me. i will be here until next saturday night but will be working from monday to friday. i have had a killer headache but it seems like coffee and decongestants have made it go away. yay! i hope to take some pictures of stuff today like hte bird nest outside my bedroom, hte pretty mountains and wonderful scenery outside my windows, and just all sorts of cool things like scary bugs and pretty ladies. homosexuality is illegal in tanzania so um that sucks. although it's not like i am totally ms. gay pride anyway in the states. it is weird though to have to be self-conscious about not seeming gay in any way.

there is mosquito netting in my bedroom. i think i will start using it since i have been bitten a bunch already. i have taken some pics but not enough. i hope to upload some and will post a link to them here.

i am here for the typical business planning training. there are 4 of us from my company. 1 is a senior staff member that knows the program really well and 2 are facilitators in training. one speaks english very slowly. it will be quite interesting.

omg whitney houston just started playing, "i will always love you" so that is my queue to run the hell away.

roller skating and anniversaries

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 19:20:51 GMT

i'm going to be trying out for a roller derby league in boston, they use quad speed skates. the team members have names or personas like: ivana clobber, maura buse, and kitty twister to name a few. since i heard about it in psych i've always been fascinated by vagina dentata. would that be too gruesome or weird a name? i could add an austin powers twist by altering it to fagina dentata. but i also thought something in spanish might be fun but don't know what. i went to part of their practice last night and someone broke an ankle in the first half hour and was taken away via ambulance. if only i'd known this method of bone breaking existed years ago.

yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of the plane crash that killed three of my co-workers. we had a short memorial event around noon. i cried about it for the first time yesterday. i can't believe it took me a year to be able to cry.

visited countries

Sat, 15 Oct 2005 23:18:58 GMT

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Greetings from Intramuros, Manila, Philippines

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 03:34:39 GMT

A quick entry from the training facility in Intramuros. We got here Saturday around midnight after a HEINOUS 25+ hour trip (and a 1 day jump forward in time) and have been hanging out in Metro Manila since then. My time has consisted of traveling back and forth between the Japanese owned Manila Diamond Hotel near Manila Bay and an old colonial-style building in a neighborhood known as Intramuros.

I've been in work mode from 6:45am to about 7:00pm every day starting this past Monday. It's been absolutely exhausting and I am proud of myself that I am now able to stay up past 8:00PM. I certainly hope that when we start our vacation on Saturday morning I will have adjusted a little bit more so I'm able to cram as many activities into my few remaining days in the Philippines as possible.

FYI, our vacation starts Saturday and ends Monday afternoon/evening. I don't think I will be returning to the Philippines so I'm desparate to do, see, eat, smoke (only clove ciggies I got), and shop as much as possible. Just kidding on the shopping though b/c going on this mini-vacation to an island known as Boracay is going to cost a bundle.

We are exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time so now it's 11:16AM here and 11:16PM (the night before) there. It's so difficult to fathom. I wonder what things will be like when space travel for mere mortals becomes a reality.

Much to my dismay I spotted a pair of geckos yesterday afternoon. It's amazing how much that has changed my ability to feel comfortable and relaxed here. Damn my eyes. Any thoughts on how to get over this? Should I just capture one and eat it? Will that knock some sense into me? I will try to bring myself to photograph them to at least expose myself to them more.

I have not yet heard from my doctor about the biopsy. I'm obviously procrastinating. But I will make myself give her my contact info so I can at least find out before I go on vacation, otherwise I will not know until next Tuesday afternoon when I return to Boston.

The food here is amazing. Even the ox I had yesterday sauteed with vegetables and curry. I did not know it was ox until much later. That explains why it tasted a little funny to me. Yet still yummy, sorta. I've had llama so why is ox troublesome? Maybe because I'm not clear on what it looks like. Will go google pics for it after this. Fruits are ripe and plentiful. Watermelon, ripe mango, papaya, grapes, green/orange/white canteloupe, and pineapple are abundant. The best thing ever though was green mango juice. I'm drooling just thinking about it. You can have it in shake format or juice format. I will be sure to have lots more of that during my vacation.

A bit info about the name Intramuros. In Spanish it means "between walls", which is so because a giant stone wall (maybe 20-30 feet tall?) surrounds this small neighborhood. This area was where the Spanish first established their base many years ago when they colonized the Philippines. The architecture is very colonial looking and in fact any new buildings must on the outside look colonial. We noticed a beautiful building and found out that it was a factory. One of the first churches in the whole of Asia is also located here.

OK I think I should probably go do some work now. I will try to log in once more, and maybe post some pictures, before Saturday morning (your Friday night).

amy, carmen, christi

Fri, 04 Feb 2005 17:56:52 GMT

three staff members at my organization died in a plane crash in afghanistan. while there is no confirmation about their deaths, the crash was high impact and at 13,000 ft. i knew two of the three women pretty well. they were part of my department. for one of the women this was her first trip for the company, it was part of her professional development and she was SO excited. we are all in an absolute state of shock. please send good vibes to their families.

interesting name meanings

Wed, 13 Oct 2004 21:03:53 GMT

Alexandra
Lucky Number: 8
Ruling Planet: Saturn
Element: Earth
Primary Color: Rose
Traits: Inclined to be cold and pessimistic. Not much sense of humor. Often slow getting off the mark but usually ends up ahead of the game. Successful, especially where money is concerned. Frequently connected with mining, real estate and the law. Also with cemeteries and pawnshops. Believes that hard work never killed anyone. Often prepossessed with thoughts of the past.

Ximena [I spell it with a Y ]
Lucky Number: 3
Ruling Planet: Jupiter
Element: Fire
Primary Color: Yellow
Traits: The investigator; the scientist; the seeker. An interest in material rather than the spiritual. Ideas on religion frequently change. Has a great sense of humor. Not greatly interested in money. Very trusting, yet likes to know the "why" and the "how".

blade

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 15:26:14 GMT

so the taxis here are mini-vans, like toyota type vans of the olden times, and the way they are identified is by names. some names i have seen: blade [written in the blade font], charity, zion train, super chic, let dem live, etc. i will see if i can remember more as some are quite interesting.

this is only the second time i've logged on and i totally do not miss the internet at all. i'm so relieved. i had thought i would have withdrawal symptoms.

i am taking lots and lots of pictures. mostly random ones as i have had the camera during hte expeditions to do research but those photos should be very exciting for jef and alexis as they have been of unusual trees, some of birds (although very few), some of lizards (again very few), and lots of the volcano and various landscapes. you would all be proud of soem of the trekking i have done with the group. walking or trying to walk through thick vegetation with dangers all around from spikey and poisonous plants. something bit my lip the night before last and i woke up with a puffy ass lip. it was heinously scary. i felt like the chick with elephantitis of the mouth. thank goodness i am not fascinated with pictures of myself. i have managed to photograph my shoes/legs in the middle fo the wilderness so you could all believe that i did in fact willingly trudge through crap.

we hear there is a hurricane kinda coming this way - named frances. maybe i'll be trapped on the island. i fly out tomorrow at noon. jef, i'll figure out when i land to see if it's not too late (it's def after 10pm) for you to pick me up. i'll send you a separate email.

no climbing of the volcano for me. the group that tried only got up halfway and then had to turn around b/c they were losing gps signals and couldn't find the trail and didnt' want to get stuck up there.

have had a lot of rum based drinks, as well as local moonshine [well really rum but home-made], not to mention caribbean beer named carib, and of course lots and lots of yummy fruit like papaya and mango and a few other things i cannnot quite name. oh wait, one they call giddup or ginnup. it's a green roudn fruit but on the insdie its a big seed surrounded by sour slimey stuff that tastes really good. in spanish we call it: mamonsillo.

i'm horribly burnt. fell asleep outside after swimming on my 2nd day here and have not quite recovered. i'm already starting to peel. i've also been unbelievably ravaged by the mosquitoes. i have bites just about everywhere that has been uncovered and vulnerable to the likes of mosquitos.

i hope to learn more about the history of the island as there used to be lots of plantations here and the hotel where i am staying was a plantation. i've heard there may be ghosts around. but of course i'm waiting to the last minute to inquire about that so i'm not too scared my last night here. i've also been by the alexander hamilton estate and infact aws able to take lots and lots ofpictures of a ruined sugar mill i think. the ruins were beautiful and i hope thepictures come out well.

it's funny. the roadkill here is frogs and toads and goats and monkees. i've only seen frogs and toads and have taken pictures of those of course. i have yet to see a monkey sadly but have heard them and have seen a monkey xing. couldn't take a picture of it though.

i have been able to spot antigua. it looks somewhat bigger than a dot. more like a little mountain.

i got my period here. can you believe it? i had not had it in over 2.5 months and all of a sudden wham! luckily for me i have not had cramps. but i stopped taking the bc pills two days ago so i'm feelng some pain now. it is so going to suck to have to move while on the rag. blah. blah. wish i could snap my fingers and wish taht would be done. but that's for when i get back. i'm gong to go shopping for some items, go to the grocery store to pick up some water, and just go chill by the pool till the crew gets back. then i hope to go to the beach for a few hours and there's a chance we may go out tonight for drinks. since nevis is so small there really isn't a night scene.

greetings from charlestown, nevis

Tue, 24 Aug 2004 16:59:39 GMT

at last i am online. it feels so weird not having checked in since saturday evening. i kinda like it. :)

nevis is absolutely beautiful. the group here is doing research to see if a geothermal plant can be built here. there are geo-physicists, geo-chemists, geologists all doing work related to the same mission. i have not yet gone on one fo their expeditions but i hope to tomorow. they have the day off today so i tagged along as they drove around the island. it takes only an hour to drive around. isn't that crazxy?

i've spent hours of every day in the water. in the pool. and in the ocean. uh oh we gotta go. ok will write more later.

lots of birds. monkeys. some lizards. and frogs and toads. eep! we may climb a volcano this afternoon. the only one in the island that is currently dormant/inactive/dead.

interesting items (links)

Tue, 03 Aug 2004 20:56:16 GMT

rotating earth watch

that hyote that was running around maryland

chicago bean

color quiz results

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 15:14:19 GMT

Your Existing Situation
Needs, and insists on having, a close and understanding relationship, or at least some method of satisfying a compulsion to feel identified.

Your Stress Sources
The existing situation is disagreeable. Feels lonely and uncertain as she has an unsatisfied need to ally herself with others whose standards are as high as her own, and wants to stand out from the rank and file. This sense of isolation magnifies the need into a compelling urge, all the more upsetting to her self-sufficiency because of the restraint she normally imposes on herself. Since she wants to demonstrate the unique quality of her own character, she tries to suppress this need for others and affects an attitude of unconcerned self-reliance to conceal her fear of inadequacy, treating those who criticize her behavior with contempt. However, beneath this assumption of indifference she really longs for the approval and esteem of others.

Your Restrained Characteristics
Willing to become emotionally involved and able to achieve satisfaction through sexual activity.

Feels that she is receiving less than her share and that there is no one on whom she can rely for sympathy and understanding. Pent-up emotions and a certain egocentricity make her quick to take offense, but she realizes that she has to make the best of things as they are.

Your Desired Objective
Seeks affectionate, satisfying and harmonious relationships. Desires an intimate union, in which there is a love, self-sacrifice and mutual trust.

Your Actual Problem
Disappointment at the non-fulfillment of her hopes and the fear that to formulate fresh goals will only lead to further setbacks have resulted in considerable anxiety. She is trying to escape from this into a peaceful and harmonious relationship, protecting her from dissatisfaction and lack of appreciation.

Your Actual Problem #2
Wants to be valued and respected, and seeks this from a close and peaceful association of mutual esteem

pet pictures!

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 12:12:35 GMT

so a coworker lent me a digital camera last night and i was able to take pictures of the pets and the apartment and of me. the me ones came out bad so i deleted them. i'll try again some other time. the pet ones came out looking pretty special but hey they can't yell at me or beat me up so i'm going to post them anyway. i'm not a sophisticated LJ user so i've uploaded them to my site and you can see them by going here: http://www.alexbermudez.com/

billie = my current kitty, sister of meow-meow, lives under my bed, sleeps on my hip
lucky = roommate's dog, my girlfriend, not sure what breed she is, loves rocks, bowl&board mascot
meow-meow = my first kitty, sister of billie, now in hillsborough, NC