August 31. School was cancelled because of the approaching hurricane. If you look close you might see the white caps on the ocean but still not very impressive. It's just one more day of vacation before insanity breaks loose. 

The First Day, Monday, August 30. Our lecture hall for the 144 first semester students. This is where we will be for all of our lectures. Kinda nice that the professors have to move to the different classrooms and the students stay put. Kinda like elementary school. 

An adorable picture of Adam after playing at the beach for half the day and eating dinner. Passed Out!!! 

An eerie picture of the night the hurricane began to graze the island. 

This was Jace's reaction when we told him we were going to go to the beach and not the pool. True story. We was pissed! Neat action shot I think. However, we did go to the beach and Jace learned how to body surf and dive under big waves. He loved it!!!! 

The most recent Water Vapor pic of Hurrican Francis. Red arrow is Sint Maarten. 

Here is the most recent False Color image of Hurrican Francis. It passed north of us and we only have mild storm effects. But some moderate seas and some mild winds. 

8:00am High Resolution Image of Hurricane Francis. Red Arrow St. Maarten. It looks, however that Francis is only going to graze us and cause a tropical storm (winds Under 73mph). Check out the water vapor loop from NOAA.gov.
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/
HURRLOOPS/huwvloop.html

Here is the latest False Color Image of Hurricane Francis. Red Arrow St. Maarten. It is too close for comfort. A tropical storm warning has been issued. 

Well it is the first day of school and this is the high res satelite image taken yesterday at noon. IT IS MUCH CLOSER NOW! We are on a Tropical Strom warning which means we will have tropical storm weather within 24 hours. Go to the www.noaa.gov website for the latest details and incredible pics and movies of Category 4 Hurricane Francis. The red arrow is St. Maarten. Wish us good luck! 

For anyone that thought I may have been bluffing and was living large on St. Maarten, here is the "Pudding". It is my official AUC Student ID. 

This is the 16:00 Infrared Satelite image of Hurricane Francis. The red circle is St. Maarten. Do you think it is going to affect us? 

This is the hurricane's probability for striking us on Mon to Tue. We are the red circle pointed to by the red arrow. 

Sunset at Sunset Beach, aka Maho Beach. 

I reposted this picture with the approximate location of St. Maarten on the satelite image, which is in the red circle. The other red arrow is the computer modeled direction of movement of Hurricane Francis. Wish us luck with this one. 

This is the latest satelite image of the Category 3 Hurricane, Francis. This was taken at 22:00 EST. They have increased the probability of us being within 75 miles of the eye to 7%. Being within the 75 mile range will bring full hurricane force winds. Here is the latest except from a meterologist on www.weatherunderground.com/
tropical/ , "Statement as of 11:00 PM AST on August 27, 2004


...Frances on track...eye getting larger...



interests in the northern Lesser Antilles and the northeastern
Caribbean Sea should closely monitor the progress of Frances over
the next several days.



At 11 PM AST...0300z...the center of Hurricane Frances was located
near latitude 16.3 north... longitude 50.5 west or about 750
miles...1205 km... east of the Leeward Islands.



Frances is moving toward the northwest near 12 mph...19 km/hr. A
motion between northwest and west-northwest is expected for the
next 24 hours or so.



Maximum sustained winds are near 115 mph...185 km/hr...with higher
gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next 24
hours...and Frances could become a category four hurricane over the
weekend.



Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles... 35 km...
from the center...and tropical storm force winds extend outward up
to 105 miles...165 km.



Estimated minimum central pressure is 962 mb...28.41 inches.



Repeating the 11 PM AST position...16.3 N... 50.5 W. Movement
toward...northwest near 12 mph. Maximum sustained
winds...115 mph. Minimum central pressure... 962 mb.



For storm information specific to your area...please monitor
products issued by your local weather office.



The next advisory will be issued by the National Hurricane Center at
5 am AST.



Forecaster Jarvinen

A New Altenator?

Yesterday, our friend Matt had arrived and and we were driving to The Sunset Bar (guess what happens when you go during sunset?) and I tried to use the windsheild wipers. Well, they came on very slow. I tried them again. They were working even slower. Oh no! It can't be. The air blower for the AC in the car started to decease also. Now the blinkers didn't work. We stopped, opened the hood and looked at the battery connection. The battery looked good but I was suspecting the alternator--the car was running but very little was working and the headlights were very dim.
So we turned around aborting our mission to show Matt the wonderful sunset at Sunset Beach bar on his first night here. Good thing we did ,we got home and turned off the car and it would not start again.
The next day, we begger our next door neighbor, a wonderful person, to help us with the testing of our car and he agreed that it was probably our alternator. Bummer! Fortunately, though, Randy (our neighbor) had already replaced the alternator in his car which is the same make and model as ours. That was good so I felt more confident in replacing the part myself. Good thing too, the alternator cost me $245. Ouch!!! Not to mention the rental car I have for the next two days until I get the alternator replaced (I had to have the part ordered from Miami).
I will try to post a pic of our beater Hyundai so you all can enjoy the beauty of an Island Beater Mobile.
That's all for now folk's. Tune it again soon.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have had little time to relax here. Although our pictures may impress otherwise Angie and I have had very little time to just 'hang-out'. I know you all probably feel very sorry for us (I hear the violins as I write) but it has really been mush more difficult here than the pictures lead everyone to believe. We have been to the Capital City, Philipsburg everyday since we arrived which makes over two weeks. It gets old driving to the Capital City to get everything and having to deal with constant traffic jams and really insane drivers--not to mention the heat and humidity (did I mention the HEAT and the HUMIDITY?) Damn, it's HOT and Humid!! The heat doesn't relent this time of year. Anyway, I am getting rather excited to get school going so I do not have to go, go , go. Who would have thought Medical School would provide a break?

Matt and Jim. Bubble, bubble, bubble, fizz, fizz, fizz, all these things help one deal with the stress of medical school and help us be the best we can be. So should we go to medical school here or in Kansas? Good question huh? 

My friend Matt Kirkbride just arrived here in St. Maarten and I may be looking a little too happy that he is here. So that leads me to the next question. . . Am I looking like I am Gay or just a sweaty Frenchman? You make the call.

Beautiful sunrise from a different angle. 

Morning sunrise looking over to the French side from the Dutch side. 

This was a pic from a new building that is seven stories high. I loved the composition of this picture with my shadow revealing my intentions. This is looking directly west to the beginning of the French side of St. Martin. 

Angie with the famed "Rabbit Ears" upon her head. Angie has become a real warrior in the waters. She has gotten to see multiple large Jellyfish, Shark-like File fish, and she got to see a white spotted Moray Eel yesterday. Quite cool! 

The kids and their new friends at their first bowling day. I must say it was a fantastic deal. For the whole family with shoe rental it only cost $5 per hour to bowl as much as you want. Can't beat that in the states. 

Looks like a gator in the "I don't know" succulent plant. 

Jace's Picture of Lizard Peek-a-Boo