:: Find Saipan ::

Did you know that the following business has closed its doors in the recent days in Saipan? I saw an article this week about the closing of Memphis Blue Smokehouse and Mariana Electronics Computer Systems. And I got to thinking … Memphis blue what?

Actually I have been their once or twice, was going to even write a review for the joint. The point that irked me was the fact that they didn’t accept credit cards. I know it’s the island but please if some small dinky ass Chinese restaurant that seats 10 people can accept my Visa card why can’t this place. Anyways the ribs were good, but dam expenses… mm ribs. Hey today is the last Wednesday of the month, them bloggers well be out there in force tonight…

Mmm maybe I’ll infiltrate the organization and get some L33T inside info.

Mariana Electronics Computer Systems… dam I seen that company since my young days in Saipan Community School when I was using the Apple IIE to write F**K over and over again on the screen. The good o days. I actually didn’t know this company was still around till I read the article in the newspaper.

Other noticeable closing on Saipan this year…..

AJ Restaurant (Beach Road) next to world resort .. good heavens I surprise this place lasted this long. I mean have you seen the prices on the menu, where do you think this is New York City?? Fifty dollars for a steak dinner.. come on.. food wasn’t that great and their mash potato was always too dry.

Town and Country Restaurant (middle road)… they been around as long as I can remember it, I use to go there maybe once every two week or so in my lunch rotations. One week it was open next closed down, never even saw the closing in the newspaper.

Taste of India (Garapan hotel street), okay this was a fake closing or maybe the new joint opening up next to I-connect is just ripping off the name.

Payless shoe store (Garapan) okay this was long time ago.. but it was a big land mark of some sort. I did buy a pair of running shoe their for 19.95 lasted me all of two weeks before the rubber pads fell apart.

The Flair (Beach Road) next to First Hawaiian Bank.. sadly this little hole in the wall is also closing its doors as of today. I am going to miss this place. They had some of the cutest non-contract workers working there.

Oh yea, today was a wonderful day in Saipan. The small amount of sleep I got after last nights power outage was nothing compared to what was to come. I was toss and turning last night, I even contemplated giving myself up to the mosquitoes in exchange for a cool breeze outside. Which their wasn’t. Then apparently we had an EMP device go off in the vicinity of Saipan because around 11am. We lost everything, network, phone line, cell phone, and did I mention network. Think about it … no internet on this island .. its mind boggling!

Anyways thank God I had both a Saipan cell and a Pti cell phone on me.. because what do you know my PTI cell phone worked all day. But both my Saipan cell, I-connect both didn’t come active till around 5pm. Man talk about a kick in the nads, I felt sorry for both companies.

Okay did I mention I had no Internet!!

And the worse part I had like buck fifty on me and the atm was down and no one was taking credit cards because the banking lines was also down… it was a sad sad day .

You know for a small country, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has made a lot of sacrifices in the past. And on June 26, 2007 we have learned of another fallen solider, brother, friend and a dad to many. Former police officer Joe Junior Gogue Charfauros 33 was killing while serving his country on June 20, 2007. He left behind his wife and three children. Let us pray all these brave men and women’s lives have not been sacrificed in vain.

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.
Douglas McArthur

Okay first my toothpaste but now my contact solution … the min. you recall my toilet papers. I hope you know the terrorist has won!!!

The Bureau of Environmental Health is currently recalling contact lens solution with brand name Complete® MoisturePlusTM, a product of Advanced Medical Optics.blockquote>

On other news its Sunday in saipan!!!

What a gorgeous sunny … okay not so sunny.. crap its raining .. scratch that I am staying inside this Sunday. Right house window says its bright and sunny, the left side house window says the four horse men of the apocalypse is coming that way.

Sorry folks.. the flu got me this week. I have laughed at the people who lined up for the free flu shots in Saipan but now I am kicking myself for not getting one. I guess if it doesn’t kill me it makes me stronger .. or some shit like that.

Anyways I am back and today.. a in depth investigation report that took me all of … 10 to 15 min to put together regards the 300 million dollars hotel, villa complex slated to open in Saipan May of 08. Now how the hell did I miss this news till now? You figure, something of this magnetite we would have heard it threw the local grape vine. I mean it is the 1st new hotel in .. what 5 to 10 years in Saipan….

In today’s Saipan Tribune is an article done by Agnes E. Donato about the so-called “Island Paradise Hotel” that just broke ground. A Korea company called KSA group will undertake this new investment in a 5-hectare public land located north of Pacific Island Club (PIC).

Now, I am no news reporter but I figure my 10-grade class report lesson should still apply. The basics, who, what, where and when of putting a story together, but I guess Mr. Donate didn’t attend that day.

So lets break this report down:

Who: a Korean-Owned investor group called KSA group… (Korean-Saipan-Association.. what the hell is KSA stand for)

Always smelling something fishy when regards to Korean and investment, I spend about 5 min googling anything about this Korean investment group KSA. And found nothing, I tried to find something on chairman Llhawn Kim found nothing. Understanding that on spelling errors Korean names are confusing, tried Ll Hawn Kim and Lee Hwan Kim, Ll Hang Kim, Lee Hang Kimm and LlHang Kim and still got nothing. Heck I even called the local Korean association regarding this article and they had no clue who this company or chairman was. Now I though that was interesting, the local Korean association was as clueless as I was.

What: Building of a 300 room and 55 villas hotel

Now I am not going to name names, I don’t want people to get in trouble but I called the following departments to find some information regards this project. I mean if the report is true and the company is expecting to start within two months. These department should have been notified and paper works filled right …. makes sense doesn’t it? One doesn’t just walk.. fly into a random island and say “You know what I like to meet to your governor about investing 300 million dollars on Saipan”…

Department of Public Works …. The person on the line states she saw it on Fridays locals TV’s news, but that’s about it.

Department of Public Lands…. No permits regards any public land in that size for that areas.

Commonwealth Development Authority…. Never heard of a company called KSA nor have they had any contact with such company.

Marianas Visitors Authority … mmm I don’t know anyone their to call on a Saturday and office is close. (On a site note.. shouldn’t this office be open all the time, especially on the weekend when the most tourist travels to Saipan)

Joeten Kiyu Public Library… I have books due from my days in elementary school.

Where: The project will be built on nearly five hectares of public property north of Pacific Islands club.

Okay … I know Mr. Donato job is tough, but Jesus can you be any more ambiguous then this. Come on north of PIC means almost anywhere in Saipan. Take a look at the picture below from Google Map (God you gotta love this little software, its like a terrorist wet dream) the yellow pin is where PIC is located. Lets try to imagine north of PIC from that location. It’s reporting at is finest.

At least he did give us some details on the report, five hectares and public property. So lets play a detective and locate some public land around that size near PIC north side.

For those who are scratching their head figuring out what the area of one hectors is, let alone what five is. Here is a little cheat sheet for the geometry.

One hectare is equivalent to: 10,000 square meters = 100 meters x 100 meters
One hectare is equivalent to: 100 acres
One hectare is equivalent to: 107,639 square feet or .00386 square miles
One hectare is equivalent to: 15 mu (Chinese), 10 dunam (Middle East), 10 stremmata (Greece), 6.25 rai (Thai) or ~1.008cho (Japanese)

Okay possible location one: right next to Pacific Island Club (PIC), granted I am sure that property belongs to PIC itself but lets just move on.

The square location marked off is 1 hectare, as you can see it’s not big enough unless you take account of the school property right above it. Then you might get five hectors of beachfront property out of it. And school property is public land after all.

Location two, its just about half a ¾ mile up from PIC, and its also not a public land. The square location marked off as A is 40,000 square meters so about four hectares, close still not close to five mention in the news article. Unless once again you take fact of the school located right above it, which is also public property.

Both location, the primary land was not public land, and both had a school property next to it witch is public land. I am sure their is a connection their but… just can’t make it .. mmmm

When: Construction is expected to begin in two months.

Last time I checked, it took me months to get my immigration card, or any other government document certified and filled. KSA is going to get all the paper works, environmental impact studies, the government paper works, the bribes and the kiss assing all done within two months so construction will start in two months…. Look I know Koreans are efficient but no way are they that good.

Actually I really can’t fathom, how this going to turn out and in all sense it maybe actually be true, if all the above statement is true. Slated to open May of 2008, I do truly do hope that KSA group will open a new hotel on this island. And we’ll see within a month or so if this story has a grain of truth to it.

What the hell is going on … we can’t even trust toothpaste!! I mean for God sakes people its toothpaste! I mean come on if you are going to screw with us.. do it with something like lipstick, perfume, nail polish, some shit we don’t have to use. But toothpaste its like messing with beer.. its something you just don’t do. Its holy, something fundamental.. it’s … DAM YOU KAHAN !!

Next don’t tell us, something is not safe but not tell us where you found it. Its like hello we found some land mines on the island and we removed some and we believe their is more but sorry we’ll not going to tell you were we have removed them so far from.

I am going to go out and look for these so called South African Toothpaste and find out who sales them and where they got them from! Ummm once I am feeling better from this cold and I actually remember this promise… then again I have Hash this weekend.

Anyways look out for the following brand names…

- Colgate (made in south africa)
- Cooldent Fluoride
- Cooldent Spearmint
- Cooldent ICE
- Dr. Cool Everfresh Toothpaste
- Superdent Toothpaste
- Clean Rite Toothpaste
- Oralmax Extreme
- Oral Bright Fresh Spearmint Flavor
- Bright Max Peppermint Flavor
- ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste
- DentaPro
- DentaKleen
- DentaKleen Junior

What is a cold (common) :

A common cold is an infection of your upper respiratory tract. It’s relatively harmless — but it usually doesn’t feel that way. If it’s not a runny nose, sore throat and cough, it’s watery eyes, sneezing and congestion. Or maybe all of the above. In fact, because any one of more than 200 viruses can cause a common cold, symptoms tend to vary greatly.

So I got another cold, it came pretty quick, Sunday night I went out to eat dinner with couple of my friends afterwards, I picked up the tab and a cold. Talk about a shitty deal. The worse part about getting a cold in a tropical island.. is the fact it’s a tropical island. One doesn’t think about getting a cold in this warmth and sunshine. Makes going to work even worse, especially when people ask what’s wrong with you. It like getting sunstroke in Alaska, which you can get by the way. The problem is Saipan is a big germ incubator, we have germs from all over the world coming in flights everyday. The germs mingle with other germs and spreads, in a typical flu season in a small town else were might hit once a year. In Saipan you can get hit with 3 to 6 different strains of flu in a season. All from different corners of the world, you get the weak Asian verity, comes in slow and linger on forever. The beefy American verity comes in fast and gone as soon as it came. Or the exotic European verity, not sure u have a flu till your head has inflated twice as big and your dripping constantly. I should be home asleep, but I am at my office, which is freezing btw. I think I’ll go next door and start to infect others, I figure misery loves company!