Diving, federal jobs and Phil Rizzuto

Harry and Mike and others are putting together this Marianas Dive website, as they have a point that diving has not been properly marketed here in the CNMI. This little example hardly revitalizes the economy, but taken further, it helps just a bit. I bought Mike's Underwater World of Saipan just as soon as it came out. Of all the dives on the DVD, the one that looked the best, I thought, was Bonzai Cliff. I had never been there. Sure enough yesterday I dropped $45 and hopped on the Aquajet to head to Bonzai and Spotlight Cave, and reality is just as good as the video. There is an incredible diversity of corals at Bonzai with an amazing explosion of colors. Seeing the cliff from the water was cool all by itself. Bonzai is probably now my favorite dive in all of Saipan other than the Grotto. After the dive, I bought myself a new dive bag at a local dive shop, another $45, as I figure I'll continue to dive a lot. Two small examples, but they could go further, and I think those guys have a point on the opportunities in diving here left untouted.

This picture to the right is of the first dive, Spotlight Cave. This picture is by Dr. Mark Robertson. It wasn't as spectacular for me when I went as this day was for Mark, who says the best time to go is on a cloudless day around noon to get this type of spectacular spotlight view. This picture makes me want to do Spotlight again I must say. Great picture Mark.

To the left is the land view of Banzai Cliff of World War II infamy where mass suicides of Japanese soldiers and civilian personnel took place, including women and children. They jumped to their deaths rather than face capture by advancing American forces in 1945. The Japanese on the dive boat with me were seen praying as we passed over the spot.
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SSHS has a federal grant that allows for afterschool tutoring. The pay is actually pretty meager, but I'm instituting an afterschool ESL program at SSHS, which we otherwise don't have the money to create. I took a graduate ESL course last year, and I remain in contact with the professor, had lunch with him in New York City this summer, and he has given me plenty of good advice on the most effective ways to proceed. The principal attendees based on sign ups will be Korean students, who I "supposedly" am racist against.
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I talked to a friend in the business community, someway who keeps his finger on the pulse of these things, and he says federalization should be done by October, and there will be a lot of federal jobs out here soon thereafter. He also speculated it might be hard to fill them, and that these jobs would be based on merit, via education and test scores, not who you voted for or how many friends you have in government. He said CPA would be gone, as well as labor and immigration, and more jobs would be coming in to the islands.
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The Yankees have a look in their eye I didn't expect to see, with a lot of young players performing well, and a lot of veterans turning it around. They are now in the thick of the pennant race.

On that subject, this week Phil Rizzuto died. He was an institution as a broadcaster, and his shtick was a staple of my Yankee obsessed teenage years. He does the play by play in Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell, which was just fantastic.

Here is a list of his greatest on air quotes. He barely paid attention to the game, and would routinely leave early, very early, to beat traffic. I met him once and got his autograph. He was great with the fans.

'And that ball is out of here. No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it's not. What
happened?'

'Well, that kind of puts the damper on even a Yankee win.'
(After hearing Pope Paul VI had died in 1978)

Rizzuto: 'Reggie's home run has gone clear out of the ballpark.'
Bill White: 'Actually, Scooter, the ball landed in the seats.'
Rizzuto: 'It doesn't matter. They can't see it anyway at home.'

'If Don Mattingly isn't the American League MVP, nothing's kosher in
China.'

'Oh, deep to left center, nobody's gonna get that one. ... Holy Cow,
somebody got it.'

Rizzuto (after foul ball is hit into dugout): 'Boy, I hope that's not (Ron)
Guidry who got in the way.'
Frank Messer: 'Scooter, uh, Guidry is on the mound.'
Rizzuto: 'You know, Frank, you're right.'

'I gotta tell you what I did. You won't believe it, Bill White, but it's
something I've wanted to do my whole life and finally today I got nerve enough
to do it. I had a facial... No wonder women go. It took two and a half hours.
Oh, they massage your face with oil, and then cream, rub your eyeballs...'

'Okay, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here, two down,
nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth...' 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light'