Travel Day

Today is a travel day. I will depart Ft. Lauderdale at 8:55 PM this evening and after a three-an-a-half hour flight I’ll be back in Trinidad.

This time, this trip to the United States has not been beneficial. There are too much handships to go around. Everyone is hurting and the immediate future is bleak.

When I returned to Florida eleven months ago, I had intended to work for six to 9 months, save some money and returned to the Caribbean.

However, the economic scene had changed in my fourteen months away, and the  timing was wrong.

To friends who helped, I thank you all!

To those close to me, who were less than helpful, I understand you better now, and will remember you as well.

Thanks to all at Brady’s that helped, through these trying time.

Having cleared the Transportation Security Administration check points after a three hours girl-watching session, I’m now waiting to board my home-bound flight.

Then I’ll  be back in a familiar but now violent society, and a new chapter will unfold. What will be, will be.

Good bye Florida, for the time being.

Tropical Storm Fay coming

Since early morning when it slightly started to rain, we have been listening to the half-hourly South Florida weather updates on the radio as Tropical storm Fay works her way towards us.

It is now 9:30 AM, with darken skies and a steady drizzle. Since 8:50 AM when the skies changed and the sounds of thunder was heard in the distant, thus putting us on notice, the steady drizzle will gradually grow to maybe hurricane one — 74 miles-per-hour plus — status.

Even though we in Ft. Lauderdale, may once again dodge another tropical storm by escaping a direct hit, hurricane or storm force conditions will still impact us all.

Every year at this time, beginning in June and running through December, Floridians must deal with the potential of or actual hurricanes. This is an inescapable fact of life here in paradise.

Currently I am sitting in the caravan in a Lauderdale Lakes car park, awaiting the arrival of a friend, Camlyn Craig, whom I have not seen for 4 or five months. Originally from Maryland, Camlyn and I have known each other since the mid-nineteen-eighties. We met at a different time, in the same old way; a bar.

Camlyn has split her time, periodically, living in Ft. Lauderdale and South Africa, as a result of her marriage to a South African sailor. Her only child, Nathan, was born there and is a student at a private school there, and is a few years away from completing his studies.

Usually in recent years, following brief periods of inactivity, when Camlyn and I do managed to get in touch with or see each other, one of us are on the move; having just returned from somewhere or going somewhere.

As of 10:00 AM Fay is off the south-west coast of Cuba, packing winds of 50 MPH, headed in a north-north-west direction at a rate of 12 miles-per-hour toward the Florida Straits and South Florida. At this speed, Fay is expected to now impact us around mid-night or early Tuesday morning. We are currently under a Tropical Storm watch.

Having just returned from South Africa, Camlyn has among other things, to deal with an open DUI case that she picked up in Martin County, prior to her last departure for South Africa.

Like me, this second DUI charge will cost to defend it, and should she be unsuccessful, it will cost her much more than money. I am tasked today with giving Camlyn a very short ride, to the DUI traffic school for her alcohol evaluation appointment. This court mandated appointment will determine how much mandatory alcohol counseling sessions, she will have to attend, before completion of her probation and restoration of her her driving privileges.

It is now 10:45 AM and Camlyn had not yet shown for her 10:00 AM appointment. It is now raining heavier, however, the wind have not picked up and currently the skies have lighten to a light gray, with no thunder or lighting present at this time.

Camlyn has just called. She is hysterical, that she is late and may have to re-schedule her appointment. She is carrying on about idiot drivers and the traffic and not listening to my directions as to where I’m park waiting for her. The drive is less than two hundred feet away.

Finally arriving, I drove her to her evaluation, then to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). She was lucky: no alcohol counseling and she was given a hardship drivers license. With the hardship license she could drive for business purposes only and only during daylight hours.

We had lunch at a very  bad Chinese restaurant and bid farewell to each other, since Camlyn is off to Seattle, Washington and me to the Caribbean.

It rained on and off for most of the day and night. By early morning on Tuesday, the worst was upon us: heavy winds and driving rain. By mid-afternoon, Fay moved northwards across the Florida peninsula, and it is back to business as usual.

Now the task at hand is to find cheap gasoline. Every gas station now is only selling the most expensive grade of gas. No cheaper grade is to be found. Tomorrow is another day.

I’m off to Brady’s Irish Pub, now. The office.

There I will make some phone calls and try to get in touch with my friend Lennox, to see if he wants to change out the transmission in the caravan that I’m trying to sell, before my departure.

Crossroads again! Time to go.

It has been at time an exercise in futility.

I am talking about the last eleven months of my life in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Since my return to South Florida in September, 2007, I have been unable to find steady work. All that I have managed to get up to now, is the occasional day or two, here or there. Sometimes, I may get a one week computer job/project, and when I was lucky, I worked for a temporary job placement agency from February to May, when the seasonal job came to an end.

Job prospects in Florida, and by extension the United States of America, seems to be slim to none at this time.

In America now, too many people are afraid. People are afraid to: lose their jobs, homes, cars, health insurance, etc. They are in fact, simply afraid of their uncertain futures.

The economy has gone south and it is not coming back. At least not anytime soon!

After living in the Caribbean for fourteen months, I intended to work for six to 9 months in Florida, and then return to the island of my birth, where I had previously not lived for thirty-five years at that time.

I sold as much of my personal property to finance my return trip to the United States. I had in my estimation, about three months worth of money. Three months to find a job!

That did not happen and now, it is time to cut my losses and move on. The reality of the matter is that I will not find steady full time employment here at this time, despite the fact that I am an experienced, certified computer/network technician.

They were too many promises that we not fulfilled, and a series of lost work opportunities because here in an English-speaking America, I did not speak Spanish. That is what America has come to.

Reality check: I have been unable to find work and I could not afford a place to live. The two persons that I thought were more than friends could not or did not assist. One in particular, was spineless after telling me that I was his brother, when his wife began to loudly complain and slammed doors, objection about me sleeping on their sofa for 2 weeks, I decided that I was better off sleeping in my then car.

So I lived out of my Grand Caravan minivan for most of the eleven months here.

When one door closes, another opens. It could be viewed as action and reaction, up and down, good and bad.

Thanks to Robert Calvert, a longtime friend and former photojournalism colleague, I survived. He not only gave the Caravan to me, he paid for the registration, the first 6 months of insurance, my phone and phone service, to get me going when I returned.

During all that time I lived in the minivan.

I slept in it. I drove to job interviews in it. Everything I owned was stored in it.

The Dodge Grand Caravan was all that I had. And when I was unable to pay the insurance, do the maintenance or put gasoline in the van, Bobby never said no to my call for assistance. In return, I tried to reciprocate whenever he needed assistance with one of the many projects that he may have ongoing at the time.

I helped him with his computer issues. I helped with the on going construction work on his property. I helped whenever requested by him, without charge. Bobby, however, always provided some money to keep me going. An interested character this Robert Calvert of Indiantown, Florida, who has by his action, defined what a friend is. I will write more about him at a later date.

Most of my days were spent in various library branches of the Broward County Library system. There I could use my wireless-enable laptop computer to check e-mail from the many job boards that I had posted my resume on. Most importantly, using the wireless hotspot of the library, I could check to see if my saved job searches with CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com, HotJobs.com, Employflorida.com etc., yielded any job leads based on my resume and saved job profile, and apply for jobs that I felt I was qualified for.

That I did according to my job hunting folder count a total of 767 times, that resulted in three job interviews, 2 projects and the sporadic eight-dollars-an-hour jobs that came through the temporary job placement agency, since my return.

Usually it takes about three to four hours each day, to read the e-mails and go through the e-mailed job leads and apply for a job. Sometime before applying, I would have to answer a questionnaire or do an online technical test.

One Sunday morning about 10:00 am, I had a 2-hour telephone interview with a three-person technical inquisition panel from Dallas, Texas. Promises of a project were made, but no work resulted.

The other half of my day and all of my nights were spent in the air conditioned comfort of Brady’s Irish Bar in Margate, Florida, drinking  free club soda and playing pool.

There I could and did play pool/billiards for as long as I wanted, free of charge. Tom Read, the owner, is a very generous, friendly man, who never charges his customers (guests) for pool, soft drinks, snacks, etc.

He is a big man, six-feet-plus tall, with a full head of white hair and a beard to match. In fact he looks a lot like Santa Claus.

The jolly big-hearted New Englander, who hails from Vermont, has been living for thirty-plus-years in South Florida, and he frequently gives and gives away what other bar owners charges for.

There at Brady’s the friendly staff is as follows:
Michelle, the manageress, a very funny and friendly person,
Brian, Michelle’s assistant and Tom’s adopted stepson, whom I call “Brains”, because it sometimes takes awhile for the business school graduate to digest what was said to him,
Lisa Marie Presley, yes that is her real name. I call her Lisa Marie Pretty,
Janet, the lovely Thursday night and Friday and Saturday daytime barmaid, and,
Nikkie, Janet’s cute, but somewhat hostile twenty-something daughter.

So daily I live out of Brady’s where I did everything short of showering, along with a cast of characters, that would be worthy of a bad television soap-opera. More of that and them at a later date.

Just about everyone that I know is in a similar situation. People are scared and angry. Many don’t have any options available to them. They are paralyzed.

Now that I have decided it is time to go, I’m looking to buy the cheapest one-way ticket out of Florida.

Another big-hearted, generous friend, Art Seitz, who I’ve known for 25-plus-years, has provided monetary assistance in the form of a $500.00  check to help with the purchase of my ticket. Art is among the world’s premier sports photographers and is well known on the professional international tennis tour/circuit.

To both Art “World Famous” Seitz and Robert “K4NBC” Calvert, I say thank you for your support and long time friendship.

You two have demonstrated what friendship is all about. Not because you have helped out when needed, but, by the fact that over the last twenty to 25 years that we have known each other, through good and bad times, all three of us in his own way, has been able to lend a helping hand to the other, when called upon.

Thanks my friends, you will never be forgotten! We have lived like brothers.

For the time being I’m in countdown mode. I’m awaiting some things to occur before purchasing my ticket. By the end of the month if not sooner, I should be back in Trinidad.

Though life in Trinidad is not an easy one, everything is a struggle, it is home and the landscape is familiar. I do however know that at the age of fifty-four, that this may be my last move. I am willing to take the gamble. No pain, no gain! More to come …

Noisy laptop … kicked out of the libray

Today, the Nazi-librarians at the Broward County’s North Lauderdale branch hovered over me as I read my e-mail and complained that my trusted old Toshiba Portege laptop computer was too noisy, and that I should turn it off, as the noise could be heard all the way at the entrance to the library.

This, while I sat at the back of the building checking my e-mailed job listings.

For some two months now, I have been occasionally using the wifi service at the library branch and have observed that the old ladies of the library are a very zealous lot, when it comes to their fiefdom and their wards.

On any given day, along with a Broward County Sheriff’s officer, who is stationed in the library — the book-patrol crew walks back and forth looking at people, people’s laptop screens, desktop computers, etc.

They look at and for, every conceivable infraction of some unknown personal standard.

Mostly, they look for teens talking on their cell phones, chewing gum and basically messing around.

This I applaud. After all it is a place of study.

However, on this day, the seemingly head honcho, Joan and a couple of her cohorts had decided that the normal sounds of a laptop computer was too much for them and my fellow library users, and that I must turn off my laptop and use one of their desktop computers or leave their domain.

Joan, who was identified by her name badge, and accompanied by another library worker, was insistent that I turn off my computer, so she could make an assessment as to what was the source of the computer noise(s).

I told her OK; but she would have to do that act herself. She, a person who intended on finding the noise(s) source and a computer technical whiz, could not in the end, figure out how to use a mouse pointer nor how to turn off the machine.

Of course, I did not help out.

However, the two librarians insisted that I had to leave the room, and upon asking if I was being asked to leave the library, the now puzzled paired, looked at each other, then me and said that they would try to find me another room, somewhere in the building.

I told them that since I was not doing anything illegal, bothering anyone, not creating a scene — at least until they ridiculously approached me with this stupidity — that I would continue and not leave, but I quickly got the felling that they were about to call the police on me, when they turned their backs and walked away from me. I finished sending an e-mail to the local newspaper and departed the facilities, due to two Nazi-librarians in North Lauderdale, Florida.

I wondered upon my departure, if I could or would have been arrested by the Broward County Sheriff department for refusing to turn off my “noisy” laptop computer at the library.

On the Ranch … Or off – departure day

Thursday 31 July, 2008

Yesterday I decided that I had contributed enough, and Bobby had some errands to run before his annual summer trip to New York, next week. There was also things that I needed to take care of back in FT.. Lauderdale.

For the past two days, he and I did not accomplished much. In fact we did no work on Tuesday, as both of us were exhausted from the Florida summer weather.

Bobby spent most of the day on the computer doing whatever he does on the computer. I guess he spent sometime explaining to the New York hams about the delay, and now farther delayed ham radios from China.

Later on, he went into Okeechobee to visit with a friend, shop for supplies, buy cigarettes and fill up on the cheapest gasoline in the area.

I, well — I stayed behind and fell asleep in the late afternoon. I did not awake until 3:35 AM on Wednesday morning and went back to bed around six o’clock.

By the time we motivated ourselves on Wednesday, it was 3:00 PM. At my urging we installed the sheet rock on the ceiling until we ran out of material and then turned our attention to the remainder of the wall panels, again, until we ran out of material.

All in all, the interior of the ham shack is eighty-percent completed. Bobby also drilled a hole into the south side of the building and begun the installation of the electrical box.

I completed the day’s work by sanding wood that he salvaged from past hurricane damage, for his workshop shelves. The salvaged wood has had many uses up to now.

At first it belonged to a friend of his, then it was propped up against his bus for shading, next, it was used as concrete form boards for the steel building, and finally, now, in the ham shack as shelves.

Before I departed, Bobby swapped out the defective belt pulley in my van. It took him, about twenty minutes.

Then I was on the road back to Broward County, by 11:45 AM.

The first thing I did back in FT. Lauderdale at 2:45 PM, was go to the laundry mart and do a wash. I was past due for the laundry and precariously close to running out of clean clothes. I usually do a wash every two weeks.

Now that I am back at home base I have some catching up to do. Most importantly, find work.

The promise of a four months contract for a computer technician job with the Broward County’s Supervisor of Election office , does not seem to be happening. Before I left for Martin County, I e-mailed my contact (the person that told me about and recommended me for the job) a few times, but I have yet to hear from him. Guess I got my answer!

Since my return from the Caribbean last September, work has been sporadic at best.

A day here or there. A week’s project sometimes. No steady work, and with this economy, everyone that I know is in the same boat.

So, that is why, I was able to spend some time helping my good friend Robert Calvert, do some construction work on his “Calvert County” ranch in Indiantown, Martin County, USA.

Pictures from the ranch:

Ham shack view from the transmission tower

View from the house

Me driving nails into beam

Bobby dropping last roof panel