Liv'n Large in Puerto Rico

Talk Like A Pirate Day, Revisited- ARRG!

This post is dedicated to the one day each year when ye can strut around talking like a pirate and not sound too stupid. September 19th.

OK… ye might sound stupid anyway, but what the heck.

I did a very extensive post on the subject last year. I’ll be honoring Ol’ Chumbucket an’ Cap’n Slappy with a post every year about this time. They have a site dedicated to all things Pirate and are the original creators of- ‘Talk Like A Pirate Day’. They rate a big ARRRGG!!!!

Be warned… this here content is for adult eyes only. So if ye be less than drink’n age, cover your face before moving on. Lest ye be keelhauled for your misdeeds. [Read more…] about Talk Like A Pirate Day, Revisited- ARRG!

Living in Puerto Rico- Paradise Tax Revisited

This little rant is aimed at those who might consider retiring to Puerto Rico. I did, it’s not that bad. Really.

Pesky tasks that demand your attention-

Among those-

Replacing the leaking hot water tank in the passive hot water system up on the roof.. adapting a standard hot water heater to what was already in place.. trying to determine why we have such ridiculously high water pressure and eventually replacing the water pressure regulator up by the water meter were ALL exercises in frustration. It resulted in the water being shut off at the meter for a couple days while I did some trouble shooting. I still have to go back up on the roof and replace the other pressure regulator (which protects the passive hot water array) and tank and add insulation to the exposed copper. Once it stops raining, of course. [Read more…] about Living in Puerto Rico- Paradise Tax Revisited

5.4 Earthquake, Central PR, Dec. 24th, 7:43PM

Being no stranger to earthquakes..

I was somewhat amused by the tremor we experienced yesterday. About the time I decided we should probably go outside, it started to wind down. Though it lasted for most of 5 minutes, I could only feel about a minute of it.

Many folks have reported that this was the strongest earthquake they had ever experienced, but with only minor damage.

The quake was centered near Aguas Buenas, south of San Juan.

Thankfully, Puerto Rico has it’s own earthquake system run by the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN) and is part of the Department of Geology of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez. Last night, their poor little Web site went down from all the heavy traffic, immediately after the tremor. It was back up in less than 20 minutes, which is to their credit.

Here is a link to a short interview, shot after the fact at the San Juan airport (in Spanish). This is not a YouTube vid so my link is to the page it resides on, at elnuevodia.

Site Update: Sooner than Later..

The Scurvy Dog’s PR site WILL get moved

After a failed first attempt, we reset the site back to it’s original server and will go at it again real soon. So if you come here and we are not, you know why. The move will allow us more freedom to mess with the ‘back-end’. GoDaddy is a great place to get started, but they have limits as to what can be manipulated.

Security is always my primary concern.
Hence the need to start over.

December 24th Update: ’tis the Season.. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years from our modem to yours. May 2011 be blessed with a new beginning and new opportunities for all my friends and family.

Roberto, the Scurvy Dog- ARRG!!

Hurricane IGOR Skips Puerto Rico

Igor was Downgraded as it Passed Bermuda

When I told my friends in Alaska, I had decided to retire to Puerto Rico, they all thought I was crazy – “You’ll get maimed in a hurricane or lose everything you own”. I looked into all that before I ever visited PR.

Puerto Rico is not near as prone to hurricane destruction as is the coast of Texas or the Southern States or even New Brunswick in Canada. Hurricanes are just getting fired-up when they pass us by.

That’s not to say Puerto Rico has never been hit. I’ve met a lot of folks who lost property when Hurricane Georges (Cat. 3) passed through in 1998. It was real bad. Many folks were without electricity and water for 2 weeks or more. Cold beer (cerveza) was a rarity. One enterprising pub rented a refrigerated truck to cool off cases of soda and brew which sold out rapidly every two hours or so – as fast as they could encolden them!

Most Puerto Ricans keep an eye on the weather
from mid August through the end of September.

Downgraded to Cat 1, as it Passes Bermuda

Tropical storms and hurricanes are one of the key reasons 98% of all new homes are built of cement. Remember the “Three Little Pigs” story? Cement is relatively cheap, compared to building with wood. What’s more, all wood exposed to the elements must be treated against termites.

Cheap 2×4’s from Home Depot don’t cut it.

This short animation was done to show what a hurricane looks like as it passes through the Caribbean. Capturing the stills off the NOAA site and building them into an animation was fun. I added descriptions to the islands and countries and a little music too. That music is courtesy of the Free Music Archive. Those images are no longer available at the NOAA site. You can see and read more about the Cat 4 Hurricane Igor of 2010 at NASA’s Web site. Their sensors detected 170 degree (F) differences within the storm!

Anyone can use this for any purpose. No big deal.

‘Thank You NOAA and NASA, for making these images available’

Closing note, I hope this will be my last nearby involvement with Caribbean hurricanes or tropical storms. Somehow, I doubt it.