:: Find Saipan ::

You know I actually didn’t believe this story when it first was published in Saipan’s newspaper few days ago, but now it’s an AFP article. The jest of the article is that some pro marijuana advocate group wants to set up a conference in Saipan. The credibility of this article breaks from the start. Marijuana advocate groups are never I mean never silent about who they are. They never hide behind anonymous causes and publicity. The mere fact no one knows whom these group is or even were this article originated from is a good chance the smell you smell is bullshit.

Still moving from this point of the article, I like to point out this statement.

“We welcome anybody who wants to hold a conference here, whether it be to discuss marijuana or not,” government spokesman Charles Reyes said Thursday.

Wonder how true that statement is, the CNMI government so desperate for tourism capital that they are willing to welcome obvious people who will break laws when they arrive in Saipan. I mean come-on people lets be realistic here, I am sure these so-called pro marijuana advocate are going to be looking for Marry Jane. I myself is not for it or against it, if you wish to smoke it by all means, if you wish to bust people who smoke it go for it. This is a free country you can do either or…I think ..mmm

At the same time, should we welcome a conference for pro-lolita advocate group? How about pro-bestiality advocate group? I am sure both would generate huge tourism revenues. Is there truth into the fact there is not such thing as bad publicity.

Within one weeks, two story related to CNMI was in the world attention. At least somewhat.. the arrest of Lou Pearlman in Guam, and this pro-marihuana conference in Saipan. I guess … we should be patting ourselves on the back.. I think.

Lou Pearlman, the asshat responsible for NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, arrested in Guam for bank fraud, noise pollutionLoL I love the fact sometimes titles write themself (Please note I didn’t write that title)

Lou Pearlman, the Orlando boy-band mogul, was arrested on a bank fraud charge after arriving on American soil in Guam, an official with the U.S. attorney’s office there said.

Pearlman was taken into custody by the FBI early this morning in Indonesia. Authorities expelled Pearlman and then turned him over to U.S. authorities. They escorted him to Guam, the nearest U.S. territory, and arrested him when they arrived this evening Orlando time, said Leonardo Rapidas, Guam’s U.S. Attorney.

“We are aware that he is in the custody of the FBI,” said Steve Cole, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in Tampa. “I can’t comment beyond that.” Pearlman is the subject of several federal and state criminal investigations in Florida involving alleged securities and bank fraud. Pearlman is tentatively slated for an appearance before a federal judge at 1 p.m. in Guam, Rapidas said.

Indonesian authorities located Pearlman living in a resort hotel in the tourist district of Nusa Dua in Bali. Immigration officials in that country told him he was no longer welcome in their country and then expelled him. In the process, they turned him over to U.S. officials

See if he was smart, he should have been in Saipan, he wouldn’t had this problem ….

I though this was interesting, did you know that the US military had two ships named USS Saipan.

USS Saipan (CVL-48) was a light aircraft carrier laid down on July 10, 1944 and was the lead ship of her class of carriers, she was later converted to the command ship Arlington(AGMR-2) before being decommission and sold for scrap in June 1, 1976. USS

Saipan ( LHA-2) was a light aircraft carrier of sorts, The TARAWA class of amphibious assault ship, she was the second ship of class. Laid down on July 21, 1972, and commissioned on September 23, 1978 she participated in many operations in the Mediterranean. Her commendations and awards include the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal (two awards), Humanitarian Service Medal, Battle Efficiency “E” (four awards), the Admiral Flatley Safety Award (two awards), the Sledge Award, the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force “Admiral’s Cup” in 1985, COMPHIBRON Twelve’s “Bronze Anchor” for retention excellence, and the 1993 COMNAVSURFLANT Command Excellence Award for Command and Control, Maritime Warfare and Logistics Management. SAIPAN’s motto, “Omnia Facimus” - “We do it all” - aptly describes the unique capabilities and history of this very special ship. She was an Harrier carrier able to deploy 6 AV-8B Harrier attack planes, 4 AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, 12 Ch-46 Sea Knight helicopters, 9 Ch-53 Sea Stallion helicopters and 4 UH-1n Huey Helicopters, her crew was 82 officers and 882 enlisted with am 1900+ marine detachment.

Sadly Saipan (LHA-2) has been decommissioned April 20, 2007, without much of a eye brow raise from the people of Saipan which this proud ship is named. She is currently at her homeport in Naval Station Norfolk. Unfortunately, she will be used for weapon effect testing on her hulls.

She has participated in all the major global news events.

1990 Saipan was deployed to Mediterranean and conducted non-combatant evacuation operations, evacuating 1,600 civilians from war-torn Liberia in support of Operation Sharp Edge.
1991~1992 Saipan was deployed to Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm.
2000, Saipan began her eight Mediterranean deployment, The ship commenced Adriatic presence operation during the Fall of 2000 federal elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2002, Saipan was deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the War on Terrorism.
2005 Saipan was deployed in support of New Horizons, the humanitarian assistance efforts in Haiti.
2005 Saipan was one of two American military vessels to participate in the Royal Navy International Fleer Review in the waters off Portsmouth, England.

It is sad to see her in the end to be used as a weapon test target. I wish the government of the CNMI would rally together to bring her to her namesake home, to be used as a floating WWII museum. Now how cool would that be… one could hope.

I have seen and read the statement that the local companies in Saipan prefer contract workers because they are cheaper compare to local/IR. That is true to a point, granted if you take two same positions and you had no other choice but to hire a local/IR personnel to fill that position. You more likely in the past have to increase the wage much hire then to a contract worker to fill the same shoe. So people argue increase the minimum wage will help the local/IR work force fill the lower tear work force, which is predominantly contract workers.

Lets look at some numbers….

Minimum wage currently 3.05 x 40 hours a week, 52 weeks (if no holiday time is taken) = $6344.00 yearly wage.

Other cost associated with contract workers but not local/IR workers.

Insurance:
Bonding (Traders Insurance: flat fee): $50.00
Workmen Compensation (International Insurance): this varies to what type of classification for your job title.
Stock/clerk its $30.06/year for a maintenance repairer its $209.66/year
(Did you know that if you get killed or hurt from a terrorist act, your not covered by workmen’s compensation….)

Medical:
Yearly checkup (Mariana Medical Center): 45.00
Medical Insurance: (we opt to pay this expense out of pocket and forgo the yearly insurance) So far our luck has been holding and on the average our medical cost has been under 3k a year. I strongly advice against this policy, this is a risk we are willing to take but not the smartest we have made.

Renew documentation:
Renewal Fee (CNMI government: this is a flat fee) : $275.00
Alien Identification Card Fee (CNMI government: this is a flat fee): $25.00
Job vacancy announcement (Newspaper: Saipan Tribune) : $15.00

So on the average it cost a company an annual cost of $500 to $800 USD per person to renew a contract worker. This is not taking into consideration of the housing, transportation and food allowance some contracts has.

Housing cost per month per person: $150USD
Transportation cost per month per person (includes gas, and cost of payment for vehicle plus depreciation of said vehicle and average maintenance cost for a 05 Ford Ranger pick up) average monthly gas $63.00USD + monthly payment $211.00USD + 23.70 Maintenance fee = $297.70 / 4 people who use this vehicle = $74.425 per month per person.
Food allowance: Not offered by us

Average cost per month for a contract worker addition to normal wage: $224.425/person

So lets recap the cost
For an IR worker, working at current minimum wage of $3.05 USD for 40 hours a week for 52 week is $6344.00. Around $244.00 before taxes every payday.

For a contract worker, working at current minimum wage of $3.05 USD for 40 hours a week for 52 week is $6344.00. Around $244.00 every payday before taxes. But additionally they get the bonus of $2693.10 in benefits in housing and transportation. Additionally the company also covers their medical expenses. So the dollar value for their yearly contract is around $9037.10 ~ $9537.10 USD a year.

Further more the company has to shoulder around 500 to 800 USD a year just to renew that person.

Current minimum wage in US is $5.35 at 40 hours a week for 52 week the amount is $11, 128.00 a year.

So the question at hand is why do we hire more contract worker then local or IR workers. Granted the above data is just from one company, and I am sure they’re companies who skim on the housing and transportation benefits. The end result is that, accounting wise its makes more economical sense to hire local and IR workers over contract. The reality of the situation is, most local and IR workers aren’t worth their weight compare to the contract workers. So increasing the minimum wage isn’t going to help the local unemployment situation at all. Companies will continue to pay more for the contract worker because they are worth more.

Its Tuesday, but it sure feels like Monday, today I am going to make a decision to shut down one of our sub-companies in Saipan, that has been losing money for the last four quarters. It will affect the lives of about 10 or so employees, 7 Philippine contract workers, 1 Chinese contract workers and 2 IR workers. Some of them have been with the company for 20 plus years. It’s a hard choice but, for our company to survive we have to make due and cut back some costs. I been thinking about this for a long time, but current financial situation has giving me no other alternatives in this matters. Now days it seems like a daily struggle in Saipan, just trying to endure…. life

When I got back, to Saipan and took over some of the day-to-day operation of our company three years ago. I was amazed at how this small company was making ends meet. With no modern business practice for say it was running its day-to-day operation with one manager at hand. I figured, I would modernize the company, clean up the record keeping, update and consolidate the bank account. I installed accounting with QuickBooks, install a point of sales system for the retail sales floor, got a line of credit from the bank and a company credit card with Continental Airline Miles.. etc etc I believed, I was going to turn the company into a clean mean machine. Now looking back and thinking to myself, I may have done more harm then good. Maybe the company wasn’t ready for this much change or maybe I just messed up big time. It’s hard to judge what you have done by yourself. I guess, the old saying, “if it ate broken don’t fix it” has some merit after all in the modern business world. Granted I wouldn’t call Saipan’s business practices modern by any means.

Still, here I am sitting at my desk trying to figure out were it went all wrong. Was the large investment we did just around winter of 05 the breaking point. Or was it the expansion we made last summer the cause. At first I tried to lay the blame to the current economical crises at hand in Saipan. But in the end, other companies are making due and moving along, why can’t we. Is our market share that low, that we just don’t have the pool of customers. Are the services we provide that poor, that customer on Saipan is turning away from us, to cheaper alternatives? Or is it because of my ideas and me. I don’t have the answer to the questions, and right now I am at a lost what to do.

I hate life… in general, I despise responsibilities, I feel I have a duty to up hold the family business. At the same time I know we can’t continue to subsidize the earnings from other department that is turning a profit. I long for the days in college, where all I had to worry about on a Tuesday morning is, if I am going to lecture today or if I should do laundry or just Febreze it. Life does come at you fast doesn’t it?

So wish me luck today, I am waiting for our 2nd quarter expense report and I am going to be making the finial decision. The choice I make will have great consequence, granted not that great in the grand scheme of things, but families will be hurt in my process. I hate that.. I really do hate that. I hope this is not .. one of my other mistakes I’ll be making here in Saipan.

I wish I could just Febreze this one and sleep.

So this weekend I deiced to try something new. The all mighty google told me to take a look at this website www.huffypuffy.com. It was about a club know as the Saipan Hash House Harriers, their motto “the drinking club with a running problem” intrigued me to find out what it was all about. Since I really had nothing better to do on that following Saturday afternoon and had 10USD sitting on my desk. I said why not. Surprise to say, it was one of the most memorable day in my life.

I arrived at the bank of Guam parking at around 3:30pm, member started to trickle in, by 4pm it was pack with about two dozen “Hashers”. We then convoyed to the Far East Broadcast station at Marpi parked our cars. We got a quick FAQ on the subject, which sadly I remember none off. From what I got from my first day, people randomly shout “on-on” and look for a trail marked by a white powdery substance that two hares (advance runners) leave behind to mark the trails. So basically it looked like a manhunt for two runners with a bag of cocaine spilling on the side.

The trail was a run from the far east broadcast station to suicide cliff, then to the last command post the hard way, then to the banzai cliff, then threw the boonies to cow town. It took around 2 hours for the whole run. In the end of the run was the prize at hand a pick up truck filled with all types of liquid refreshments. Then things got real interesting.. lol I have to say when I think of religion, bedpan and beer doesn’t cross together much.

I highly recommend this event, which occurs every Saturday. I am looking forward for next Saturdays meeting.

Cost of living …

In a recent newspaper article by Liberty Dones states that the cost of living in the CNMI (Saipan) has historically been 25 to 30 percent higher than the mainland. Seeing how the local newspapers here would never ever publish a story without some research to back up people’s claims. This got me thinking is this really true?

Lets look at some data.

Rental property

• One bed room apt in Saipan: $300 ~ $400 USD garapan apt houseing
• One bed room apt in College park, MD: $450 USD (Craig list)

Transportation
Car: Toyota Camry SE 07

Micro Toyota Saipan $24,199 / 3.7k Down payment / $489.00per month/60month
Castle Toyota MD $19,408 / 0 Down payment / $482.97per month/48month

Public transportations:
Bus:

Saipan: NA
Maryland: Maryland Transit administration (MTA) $1.60

Taxi:

Saipan: Average 3 ~5 USD anywhere on island
Maryland: $4USD initial and $.40 succeeding one-fourth mile

Utilities
Vehicle Gas:

Saipan: $3.49USD/gallon regular
Maryland: $3.12USD/gallon regular

Electricity/Water:

Saipan:23.7 ~34.8 cents/KWh
Maryland:10.78 cents/KWh

Entertainment
Latest feature film:

Maryland: Loews Cineplex Cinema $9USD
Saipan: Hollywood Theater $7USD

DVD rental:

Blockbuster Saipan $2.99USD
Blockbuster MD $4.99USD

Weekend trip to the beach:

Saipan: Nothing .. walk across the street
Maryland: Trip to Virginia Beach,avg 100~200

Food

BigMac Meal Saipan: $5.75 (USD)
BigMac Meal MD: $4.39 +tax USD

Saipan: Can of 12floz Coke (Joten) .65 cents
Maryland: Can of 12floz Coke (Walmart) .45cents +tax

Saipan: Spam 12 ounce can (Joten) $2.09
Maryland: Spam 12 ounce can (Giant) $3.09 +tax

Saipan: Half case of Budweiser (Joten) $11.49
Maryland: Half case of Budweiser (Giant) $11.95 +tax