tomorrow cannot come fast enough!

The internet is really pissing me off right now. I just tried to open a web page, and was greeted with this lovely error message:


I've been seeing this nearly every other time I reload a web page, for the past two weeks. I have to hit reload 3 or 4 times before the connection actually decides to work.

4th semester student no more!

Today was the final exam for 4th semester (actually, for the whole school, but that doesn't particularly affect me). From what I know so far, I'm not overly happy with the results, but in either case, I'm now a 5th semester student. I actually probably did fine on the finals, but just not quite as well as I would have liked. I'll know more once we get the neuro and pharm path grades back. I still don't know why some teachers manage to get grades out within an hour of the exam, and others take more than a day. They're all scantrons, so they really should be done the same day!

But, I'm off topic. The point is that I'm now a 5th semester student! I remember first semester vividly, thinking that 5th semester was forever away and just wishing that I could be in my last semester on the island. Well, that time has finally come. The new first semesters will be here shortly, wishing they were in my class :)

With the completion of 4th semester, basic sciences is essentially over for us. The only real classes next semester are a half semester of pharm and half semester of behavioral. When you're only taking two classes though (particularly when one is behavioral), it's a minimal amount of work...at least compared to the rest of medical school. We also have ICM 5, but that is intended more as a review, and to prepare for clinicals. While I did think that ICM 2-4 were largely an enormous waste of my time, ICM 5 is almost entirely clinical scenarios, and I think they'll be both interesting and helpful.

For now, it's time to put in some laundry and prepare to come back home tomorrow! There are very few things I miss about SXM when I go home, but among the things that I will not miss one tiny bit is the internet here. It has been particularly atrocious for the past two weeks. I cannot wait to get back to my 20 Mbps FIOS line at home!

Note: I just hit the upload button, to send this to my blog, and I got an error that it timed out, so hopefully it will go up some time tonight. Wow the internet sucks here!

Religious parents kill their child....again

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6436872
There are a couple of possibilities here....either they didn't pray hard enough, god didn't care about their child, or they are utterly lacking in common sense and possibly not intelligent enough to be allowed to walk around in public. No matter how you look at it, these two people have murdered their child, by withholding medical treatment that would have almost certainly cured her bacterial pneumonia. Instead of just taking her to the doctor and getting her the appropriate (very common) antibiotics, they opted to put her life in the hands of....well...imaginary friends.

Of course, they are arguing that the charges infringe on their freedom of religion and right to raise their child in their own way. I'm sorry, but freedom of religion does not include the option to let your children die. You may be free to practice whatever religion you like, but you are not free to use that religion to the detriment of others. Children should be given some sort of protection from parents such as these. I use the term "parents" strictly in the biological sense, as they were clearly not functioning as parents in any other capacity.

For more egregious examples of the parents believing they can just ignore reality, here are a few more links:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5968611&page=1
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/DiabetesResource/story?id=4536593&page=1
The title of the above article, if not so sad, would be laughable. Reading it makes my head hurt. All I can think is, "uh....no shit!"

Strength of 30,000 men? Riiightt....

Crazy people make me smile. There are just so many things wrong with what this man has to say, I can't possibly list them all. You've gotta listen for yourself! I would like to point out, however, that trains can have up to 25,000 horsepower, and even the weak ones have thousands of horsepower. Pretty sure he's not winning any fights against a train.

The Maltese Falcon is in St. Maarten!!

The Maltese Falcon, which at nearly 290 feet is the largest sailing yacht in the world, came to visit St. Maarten today! Unfortunately, I won't be able to go see it since I'm stuck inside studying for finals. But, as you can tell from the pictures, it's a very impressive boat! As of March, it is for sale, for the low price of $150 million!! So, if you've got some spare cash lying around, it might be a fun investment. One day...

block 3 results are in...

And I basically destroyed the whole thing! Much to my surprise, I honored every exam of the block, and even somehow squeezed out a 100% in path!! I have no idea how I pulled that one off, or how I got an A in neuro. I knew for sure that I got three questions wrong in neuro, which was all you could miss and still get an A. But, I was assuming that I'd also get another one wrong somewhere in there. I'm certainly not going to complain though! With those grades, I'm now within the range to honor every class and get dean's list for my first semester (I usually miss dean's list by one or two bad exams). However, that's also a lot of pressure since not honoring any of the finals will mean that I won't honor the class. In the mean time, I guess I should get to studying, if I'm going to keep this pace up! The next couple of days are not going to be fun.

one more week to go...

And it's going to be a rough week! Last block exam is tomorrow, and I've still got a couple hours of studying left ahead of me. I really have no idea how tomorrow is going to wind up, but I'll have my fingers crossed. Sorry for the lack of blogging, but that's how it goes the weekend before an exam!

I miss Taco Bell :(

I was watching a little TV while eating today and a commercial for Taco Bell came on. Taco Bell doesn't have particularly good food, but damn is it satisfying sometimes! I really miss the St. Maarten Taco Bell. It may have been the worst Taco Bell that I've ever been to, but it was still Taco Bell. If there was only one of the whole island, I have to imagine that it would have gotten some business! Why did Taco Bell go out of business? Why would they do that to me?

These are the things I think about when I'm studying too much...

Parole date is set!

It's official, I am done with Basic Sciences and leaving St. Maarten on Wednesday, April 15th! Today, we had the lottery to see when we take our Kaplan comp exam, which is the last thing we have to do before leaving. I got the first day, which is exactly what I wanted. So, assuming I pass everything (which I'm not really that worried about), I'll be done with the island forever in 132 days!!

Christmas is coming to AUC!

Most people see this and think Christmas. I look at it and think it's almost time to go home!!

Pathology tomorrow? Nope!!

Today was our last day of pathology! I've still got a ton of studying to do before the final, but no more lecture! So, possibly the most important class of basic sciences is now over! I should technically know an awful lot of things about all that ails you, but it remains to be seen how much of it I actually remember. What I do know though is that there are a ton of things out there that can kill you! In 5 minutes, we've got another pharm lecture, so I can learn how to fix some of those things. There's finally a light at the end of the tunnel. It's faint, but it's there.

Last block exam of med school approaching!

While this upcoming exam is not our last exam of med school (we still have two, half-semester classes next semester), this is our last full block exam! After this exam, and finals the week after, I will never again have to study for exams in 3 classes on one day. I will have to study for the USMLE, which will be far more work, but that's another story entirely. And, as my class discovered early in this semester, it is very easy to study for only two classes. That third class really adds a ton more work. I'm getting very excited to finally be a 5th semester. In first semester, it seemed like it would never happen, but now it's only a couple weeks away! I guess it won't be too much longer until I'm actually a doctor. That still seems like forever away right now, but I'm almost done the worst part (basic sciences).

In other news, the 5th semester party pics have all been uploaded. I had to hijack my parent's internet connection to get them all up in a reasonable amount of time, but they're done. I should have thought of doing that the last time I spent days uploading pics! It takes my internet here about 5 minutes to upload a single picture, and only a couple seconds with US internet speeds. They're all posted at flickr.com/photos/slevit1, but here's a few:

party pics update

Just FYI, I've finished editing the 5th semester pics and they're currently exporting from their original RAW file format to JPEGs. As soon as that's done, the uploading to flickr will begin. It's probably going to take a little while to get them completely up though, since the internet has been less than ideal lately. Stay tuned.

No thanks...

Cock flavored seasoning....I think I'll pass. One of many things that I've only ever seen in the caribbean :)

Another interesting SXM story...a friend got a 100 guilder ticket today by the friendly local police force for having an expired AUC parking permit! No, it was not campus police that pulled him over, but the regular St. Maarten police department! They pulled him over for a random check, as they often do to students. Unable to find anything else wrong with his car, they decided to give him a ticket for the expired hang tag. I'm not exactly sure how that's against the law, or why police should care about it, but he's now 100 guilders poorer.

Update: just talked to the person who actually got the ticket. He says he was pulled over because he had an AUC hang tag and they were only getting AUC students, but the ticket was actually for, and I quote, "I don't know." Almost as ridiculous as giving a ticket for an expired hang tag, the cop actually wrote "I don't know" as the reason for the ticket. When he asked what that was supposed to mean, another cop tore it up and wrote "muffler" and told him that he should mind his own business and let the police do their job. Awesome!

Gary's Weather Forecasting Stone

While procrastinating, came across this on the interwebs. Enjoy!

5th Semester Party pics!

OK, I'm not going to lie...I'm VERY happy with some of these pictures. I still have a ton to go and they certainly won't be done tonight (need to study!!), but they're coming along. Here's a small sample, while I pat myself on the back a little ;)
These are very low quality scaled down versions of the originals, but you get the point...
They'll be posted in full quality eventually.

Red Blood Cells...

I was up a little too late a few nights ago, and being a little delirious (and having studied too much about blood), I decided that red blood cells are my favorite cells. Most people probably don't have a favorite cell, but now I do. There are a lot of reasons that I came up with to support my choice of a favorite cell. Admittedly, I was not entirely lucid when I came up with them, but they still make sense.

First, I like their color, which is obviously red (or at least mostly red, when they're carrying oxygen). But, that's another thing I like about them...they change color all the time. Other cells are usually the same boring color. Next, they get to travel everywhere. All the cells in your blood travel everywhere, but they're lacking the red color, so they get knocked out of the running. Why spend your entire day in the large intestine, when you can shoot around everywhere in the body?

I also like their shape. While many cells are pretty much square shaped, they're round, with a dimple in the center. They remind me of donuts, which are delicious. No other cell that I'm aware of reminds me of a delicious donut. They can also squeeze into different shapes to fit into places that they really shouldn't be able to fit.

Finally, RBCs don't have a nucleus, so they're kind of loners. They don't need to be like anyone else and have all the same boring DNA as the rest of your body. They did at one time, but they gave it up to do their own thing. They don't replicate, which I would think would be boring, but to each his own. Besides, replication is pretty overrated when you're forced to do it alone ;)

So, that's what I like red blood cells. Plus, they basically keep you alive, which is pretty cool of them.

I hate mosquitos!

I'm not sure what's up with the mosquitos lately since it hasn't been unusually wet out lately, but I've killed like 5 of them in the past 5 minutes, while sitting and studying. This tennis racquet/bug zapper thing is really one of the best purchases I've ever made. Considering I'm covered in bites, I think I still have a while to go.

In other news, I've been asked to be the photographer for the 5th semester party again, this Friday. In a very thoughtful move, this 5th semester class scheduled their party shortly after the block exam, well before the next block and finals. So, for once, going to the 5th semester party (and editing pictures, for me), should not get anyone behind. It's at the Westin on the other side of the island, which should prove to be very nice. One more semester until my 5th semester party!!! :)

How do you get in?

I'm not sure how this happens (or why), but it can't be a good thing. Seen outside of Lal's indian restaurant.

Party at the gas station!

Sorry for the poor quality, but these people scared me a little, so I took the picture all stealth-like. There wound up being even more, after their friends joined them. They just sat around the gas pump drinking, and I'm pretty sure they were smoking too! Yet another reason that I didn't want to be too close. The only thing they weren't doing at the gas station was pumping gas.

candalope and oninos!

I do really like the food at the Cupecoy market, but the best part of going there may just be their produce tags. From the same place that brought you the corrat, comes the candalope and oninos. If you look closely, you may notice that the candalope is actually a honeydew, but I didn't have the heart to tell them :)

Post block 2

It may be a little late, but I said I'd write, so I am. We did finally get the last of our grades today, and they were about as I expected. None of my grades were nearly what they were last block, but none were too terrible, given how awful the block was. As I've mentioned before, the only real problem the last couple weeks was ICM. There were days the last couple weeks where we were sitting in class until 4:30 or 5 (from 8 in the morning), with only an hour or so break. This was almost entirely due to ICM, who forgot that we had to study for other classes, which are worth over twice the number of credits. It bothers me that nearly the entire class' grades suffered this block, because of a 2 credit class that was largely (but not entirely) a waste of time. By itself, ICM is not terrible, but it just was not a priority for anyone this past block.

Fortunately, ICM is over for the semester, so I can concentrate on our regular classes for the rest of the semester. All of my grades came down this block, but they're not ruined and I can bring all of them up. Since I'll actually have time to study this block, I'm hoping to bring them all back up to pre-ICM levels. Over the last two days, I spent a lot of time catching up on sleep, and went to the beach twice. There are often times that I get a little frustrated with the island, but there are times, like when you lay on the beach after an exam, that I can appreciate some of the things that definitely do not exist in MD.

Saturday, I'm debating swimming about a mile or two to an island off of St. Maarten. I saw it from Orient Beach and it definitely looks within swimming distance, so I think I'm going to try it out. I'm not too worried about making it there, but a little more so about swimming back. The water is really salty on the French side though, so i can always just lay on my back and float for a while if I get tired. Sunday, I may go scuba diving, since I haven't been in a while. Man, it's nice to be done with block 2. Just a few more weeks and I'll be a 5th semester, on my way out of here!

delicious

Great billboard...thought I'd share.
width="616" height="195" />

Real post coming tomorrow, including the post-worst-block-of-med-school post.

so many drugs...so little time!

Pharmacology may be important and high yield, but man is it hard to learn! I do not even want to count how many drugs I have to finish learning between now and Monday, but I promise it's a lot! I thought it was rough when I had to memorize like 50 drugs for national registry (for paramedic certification). There are days now that we get almost half of that in a day! Here is a sample of some of what I've been trying to do to help myself memorize today. Keep in mind that this is not, by any means, all the drugs or diseases.

Cleaning up the golf course

Ever since the hurricane, the golf course has looked more like a very rocky beach, with probably a foot of sand in some places. This particular hole looked terrible, and was definitely unplayable. I really wasn't thinking that it was going to be cleaned up in my time on the island, but I was wrong. Today, there were loaders and dump trucks out trying to clean it all up. I wonder how long it will take them to actually get the grass back to normal? I think this is the only hole that was really destroyed like this, since it parallels the beach, about 10 feet away from the sand.

Anyone want a corrat?

They'd go nicely with the "beef stake" that they were also selling.

Block 2 approaches

Well it's getting close, and stress this block is MUCH higher than last! Last block, we had behavioral science instead of pharm, which was MUCH easier. And, on top of that, the behavioral exam was the week after the block, so we really only needed to study for two classes max at a time. Now, we have started pharm, and it's HARD! Not so much hard as just a ridiculous amount of drugs to memorize. In just one powerpoint, we have 23 drugs to remember - and that's only covering the antibiotics which affect bacterial protein synthesis, and it's not including the less common ones that we also have to at least have some idea about. And, we have that on our regular block schedule. So basically, twice as hard this block as last. Not to mention ICM forgetting that they're not the only class at AUC and scheduling almost the entire semester of ICM for this block. As you might imagine, I've got a lot of studying to do

One good piece of news...i was finally able to accomplish something that actually makes a difference as class rep! Starting next Wednesday, we no longer have double pharm classes on Thursday! Instead, classes will be 60 minutes long (they're usually 50), accomplished by adding an extra 5 minutes onto both ends of the class. The pharm department was VERY against the idea for some reason, and it was very difficult to change their mind. But, fortunately (after getting 100% of the class to agree to a petition), they eventually came around. Thanks to Dr. Yoshida for pushing so hard for us. Even though she's only acting dean, I really hope they don't replace her. I doubt we'll get anyone who cares as much about the students as she does. She's been acting for a couple semesters now, so hopefully she'll at least stick around until the end of next semester, when I"m out of here!!

If you like Obama...DON'T VOTE!

I'm really afraid that America is going to make an enormous mistake today and vote for Obama! If you are planning to vote for him, please just do the country a favor and stay home! Good news though is that if he wins, I can just save some money and quit medical school. No reason to work hard to become successful if the government is just going to take your money away and redistribute it to those that did not work for it. Nothing like being rewarded for doing nothing and penalized for success. Unfortunately, people seem to have gotten very caught up in his little catch phrases. But, great speeches do not make a great president, and that's really all he's got to offer.

Thanks to the ICM department

I just wanted to take a moment and thank the ICM department for scheduling two real patient exams (with write-up), a lecture, and regular ICM class, the week before the block exam. We really don't need to study, and not getting out of class until 5:30 is awesome. I'd much rather do a mock interview, or even better, watch other people do mock interviews, than study!

RIP, Ray's Scooter

I realize I haven't been blogging very much lately. It's just been crazy busy in 4th semester, due to our crazy ICM schedule! Block is coming up next Monday, and I don't want to be behind going into it. So, I've been studying most of the weekend, and will be continually studying next week. I'm trying to think if anything exciting has happened since I've written, but my brain is pretty fried.

Anyway...my neighbor Ray got his scooter possibly stolen today! He just picked it up from the shop, and it died on him while he was going to get groceries. He went to call the shop to have them come pick it up (of course, they were closed), and when he returned, the scooter was gone! Ray is the third person in a week who has had their scooter or dirt bike repaired, just to have it break down within a day. Apparently, the shops on the island are not very reliable! Hopefully, the scooter was just picked up by the cops since it doesn't have valid tags on it, and he can get it back. I'd give it a 50/50 chance between either being stolen, or having been towed. Someone on the island may just be getting Ray's hog (that's what we've started calling our scooters) for a christmas present. I suppose he's learned a very expensive lesson about leaving anything out where locals might get to it, even in the middle of the day! So, may Ray's scooter rest in peace (or pieces). It was never a very good scooter, but it tried it's hardest, and that's all you can ask.

My scooter is currently in the shop having the tires changed. I'm hoping that since it didn't go in with any engine or electrical trouble, it won't come out with any! But, after the stories I've heard lately, I'm not holding my breath.

P.S. - Ray really prefers to be called Ray-Ray. If you ever see him, that's what you should call him. But, in recognition of his tragic loss, I will just call him Ray today.

Prostitute's Pupils

Although I am entirely fed up with ICM since it is taking HUGE amounts of time away from studying for every other class, we did learn something very interesting today, which I thought I'd share. There's a disorder called Argyll Robertson pupil, which is a pupil that constricts when looking at a close object (accommodating), but not when exposed to bright light. It's very rare, but is usually caused by syphilis or diabetic complications. It has the mnemonic of "prostitute's pupil" because they "accommodate but do not react." Think about it :)

Come to my workshop...get free food!

I'm teaching the EKG workshop this coming Thursday afternoon, so everyone should come! They don't really teach EKG in med school, so now's the time to do it if you want to actually know something about them when you get to clinicals! Free food!!!

Poor OPEC

After a long time of price gouging and making absurd amounts of money, OPEC (including Iran and Venezuela) are getting very upset at the dropping price of gasoline. I just can't seem to feel bad for them though. They thought they'd just continually raise prices, roll around in money, and nothing would ever change? Well fortunately, people have stopped driving as much, and gas usage has decreased more in the past month than it has in 66 years!! And, since it cost so much to drive, people are investing in ways to use even less gas with alternative energy sources. Just goes to show that you can only piss customers off for so long before it comes back to get you. So, OPEC, we'll be enjoying the continual fall in prices just as much as you enjoyed raising them!

Suture Workshop!

Today, AMSA hosted their suture workshop, which they do pretty much every semester. This is my favorite of the workshops since it's pretty much the only one that I have no experience with (and don't teach). Since they didn't have it last semester and I didn't wake up for it my first semester, this was my second time attending. The first half hour or so is spent in lecture with one of the anatomy teachers, who was a general surgeon before teaching at AUC. So, he's very qualified to teach the class and does a great job of it. After the lecture, we spend the next couple of hours in the anatomy lab suturing up the cadavers. It's not a difficult skill, but it definitely takes practice and getting used to it. I was certainly better this time than the last, and spent much of the time helping other people with the knots.

We went over the same suture techniques this time as last, but I also got Dr. Nwasu to show me how to hand tie the knots, which is completely different than tying with the instruments. It looks very easy, and once you get it, it really is very easy. But, it's a somewhat tricky maneuver and for about 5-10 minutes, it seems like you might never get it. So, I'm now fairly proficient with the basic suture knots, and can tie them either with the instruments, or manually. I'm pretty excited about that!

I would have liked to have gotten pictures of the actual class, but cameras aren't allowed in the anatomy lab. Unfortunately, this guy is maybe a bit beyond my skill level ;)

Yeah yeah, gross picture...but this is a blog of a medical student!

Harlem voters

I'm really not sure what this says about our country. It pains me that Obama has a good shot at winning, partly due to such offensively uneducated people as these.

rarrrrrr...

I do not like ICM, I'm tired of ICM, I don't have time for it, and I don't want to go. But, I have to...so off I go...

New Gym Equipment!!

Today, the new gym equipment was installed! We now have all brand new cardio equipment, including 3 treadmills, 3 ellipticals, and 4 bikes. It was supposed to be 3 bikes and 4 treadmills, but we'll see what happens with that. There is also a new dip station / pull up bar / ab thing (don't know it's real name) that was added recently. Finally, AUC has a pretty respectable gym.

Hurricane Omar Damage

Here are a couple more pics of the damage from Omar. It looks like Sunset might be rebuilding, but the deck was definitely completely obliterated. The only thing left standing was the bar (which some might argue is the most important part).

Scott - 1, Mosquitos - 0

The results from the dengue screening came in today. I have no idea how, but after being practically eaten alive by probably well over 100 mosquitos, I have managed to escape the wrath of dengue fever! 14 other students were not so lucky. Hopefully they won't all get sick, because it's not a very nice bug to catch!

Love and hate with American Airlines

Really, the only thing I have against American Airlines is that they always layover in Miami or San Juan (lately, usually Miami). I'm not going to get into the reasons why again, but if you read my blog, you'd know that I hate everything that is the Miami International Airport and until proven otherwise, I believe it's the worst airport in the US. That being said, American Airlines customer service did (mostly) make me very happy today.

This morning, I woke up at 6:00 for a 7:20 flight, and the airport is 45 minutes away, with no traffic. Of course, there was traffic this morning, so the drive took a full hour. So, I arrived at the airport at exactly 7:00, 20 minutes before my plane was scheduled to take off. While the customer service lady on the phone was completely useless and unfriendly, the supervisor at the gate was amazing! She checked me in in about a minute and said she'd walk my bag to the plane so that it could be checked, even though it was going to leave in 20 minutes. So, I was helped quickly through security and made it onto the plane just as they were about to shut the door.

When I arrive in Miami, I realized that in my rush, I left my passport with security at Reagan airport! But, I went to the gate supervisor in Miami and she was able to call St. Maarten, speak to someone in immigration, and get approval for me to enter the country without my passport! So, despite doing just about everything wrong this morning, I made it safely to St. Maarten, on time. Thank you to everyone at American Airlines that helped me get here!!

St. Maarten has survived, mostly

Well Omar has now passed and while I did fortunately make if off the island in time, i'm glad to see that the island has mostly survived. I say mostly because it does look like there was pretty decent damage, but mostly flooding and trees down. When Omar did finally hit, early this morning, it was a category 3 hurricane! From what I've heard, most of the larger buildings are OK. I also hear that nobody was injured, although some people in Beacon Hill apparently lost everything. Sunset Beach Bar and Ocean Explorers are no more. The Harbor Queen restaurant sank into the lagoon. Here are a couple of pictures from Ashley and Jason's photo page. The link for more of there pictures is here

A Tropical Storm, no more...

I'd like to congratulate our friend Omar, who has now officially graduated from a tropical storm to a category 1 hurricane. He should be making his way to becoming a category 2, tomorrow at around 11PM, approximately 180 miles off the coast of SXM. The worst of it should probably be Thursday morning, when it looks like the center may come within 50 or 60 miles of the island, before making its way back into the ocean Thursday evening. The course has continually been shifting South though (closer to SXM), and the point at which it become a category 2 keeps shifting south as well, so who knows what it will do by the time it gets here.

No Class Tomorrow!!!

For some reason, AUC has decided to close tomorrow (Wed, Oct 15), a day before the storm even gets here! Oh well, who am I to complain about no school? I'm just really really really hoping the planes still make it here!

Here's AUC's Hurricane Preparedness Brochure, for those on the island:
http://www.aucmed.edu/pdf/Hurricane-Preparedness-Brochure.pdf

Tropical Storm Omar is getting nasty!

A couple hours ago, Tropical Storm Omar was supposed to turn into a category 1 hurricane after it passed St. Maarten. After I returned from class, I saw that Omar has gotten particularly nasty and will now become a category one sometime very early tomorrow morning, and will turn into a category 2 before it passes the island around mid day on Thursday! The course has also changed slightly, which will bring it a little closer to us. Hopefully the winds will hold off at least until tomorrow afternoon so I can get out of here before Omar gets arrives!

Tropical Depression 15

Well the storm in question is actually currently Tropical Depression 15, although it should be a tropical storm very shortly. Someone on ValueMD found a very useful site, which is where I grabbed this picture from. If you wanna track the storm, head to stormpulse.com and give it a look. Assuming it's accurate, it looks like 15 will not be turning into a hurricane until after it passes St. Maarten. On Thursday, when it should be closest, there is only a 3% chance of hurricane force winds, and only a 23% chance of tropical storm force winds. I'll be watching it closely though over the next day to see if travel adjustments are necessary. St. Maarten is not necessarily where I want to be if a hurricane (or even tropical storm) were to hit.


This is what St. Maarten looks like after a decent rain. Yes, there is actually a road under there somewhere, and this is actually the shallow part! When you get to the area around all the trees a couple hundred feet ahead, the water could be above the level of the bottom of your car! This probably has something to do with why my car is not in quite the shape it was when it came to the island. I can only imagine what the place would look like if a hurricane hit!

This is not looking good!

I'm supposed to come home Thursday! Something better change between now and then!! If I get stuck here this week, I'm not going to be happy!