Is it Friday yet? It feels like Monday, which I suppose is because I wasn't at work yesterday.

Lindsay and I went to check out a gym on Sunday. Maybe that's why I was sick yesterday.

I must be allergic to exercise!

Feel like puke. No worky today. Bleh.

Finally we come to Saturday. Departure day. We had a noon private transfer scheduled to take us from the resort to the airport. Never mind that they didn't pick us up until 1:00 PM. It was irritating, but not the end of the world. We still had time, in between dodging the craziest drivers this side of Los Angeles, to stop at the Tortuga shop and pick up not one, not two, but thirteen rum cakes. Yes. Thirteen.

We bought a few other items there and then headed to the airport.

That's where the joy of first class really kicked in. We didn't have to stand in the 600 person strong line waiting to check in at the Air Jamaica desk. Instead we waited in a line that was us and pretty much no one else. We also learned that the Montego Bay (Sangster) International Airport is not air conditioned. Who needs it anyway? Well, pasty white travelers from Ohio. That's who. We got to hang out in the air conditioned first class lounge while the less fortunate had to sit in the sweltering non-airconditioned section.

The flight itself was delayed about 90 minutes, but was otherwise uneventful. Likewise, we waited for 45 minutes for the luggage to clear security, but customs took us all of 1 minute once we had them.

A good time was had by all. I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone. It's a beautiful country full of beautiful people.

Finally, we come to Friday in Jamaica. We had 3:00 PM reservations for a catamaran cruise. The cruise took us down the coast to a bay named Pirates Cove. The ship anchored off the coast and we were able to jump off into the ocean from there. There was also a water slide on the boat, which I used once. Once in the water, we were able to swim through a cave in the side of the cliffs. It circled around like a horseshoe though the cliff wall. It made me feel like I was in the Goonies while we were in there. The current was quite rough. Several times it nearly through me into the jagged rocks that lined the wall. Once we got to the back of the cave however, it was shallow enough that we could stand and take a breather. From there we had two options. One is to climb the steep, rickety, slimy ladder to the top. The other is to swim out the other side. We did both.

Once you got to the top of the ladder you had the option to jump off the 40 foot cliff back into the ocean, or you could cowardly climb down the ladder and contemplate your own fear of heights. I bravely chose the cowardly approach; as did my wife. 40 feet looks high when you're in the ocean looking up at people jumping off, but it looks REALLY high from up there.

After the swim back to the boat we just floated in the ocean for about 30 minutes watching other people cliff jump and even some who climbed trees on top of the cliff and jumped from there. It was a nice time.

After the cruise ended, we went back to the pool and hung out there for a while. Then we showered and got ready for our reservations at 8:45. Of course, the night wouldn't be complete without a pre-dinner dinner, so we went to the buffet to see if anything would catch our eye. The jerk chicken and jerk shrimp did, so we had our fill of that. We contemplated skipping out on the second dinner, but decided to power through another 4 course meal. Poor us.

After another long day of eating and sitting, we decided to retire. It was now quite late. We stayed up until 11:00 PM! Crazy.

And now for Thursday. It was another hectic day in the land of tropical paradise.

We had a snorkeling trip scheduled for 1:30 PM. That meant that we had to get up sometime before noon. It was a challenge. Breakfast was left outside of the room this time, as by the time room service knocked on the door we had not yet woken up. We polished off the breakfast tray and then went over to the Palms for a little a la cart action.

Following the long tortuous walk along the beach back to the room, we slathered ourselves in SPF 50. I wouldn't want my milky white skin to become slightly tanned (i.e as red as a lobster in 30 minutes or less.)

We boarded the same glass bottom boat that we had ridden before for our trip out to a dive site named "New Mexico." The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to return soup at a deli. As a snorkeling newbie, I stayed on the boat for about 5 minutes in order to get myself situated. The view was remarkable. We were in waters that ranged from 15 feet deep up to 30 feet deep. It didn't matter though, because you could see the bottom as if it were inches from your face. The water was crystal clear. It was really amazing. Unfortunately for me, my sea sickness kicked in. The water was quite choppy and after 30 minutes of bobbing up and down while looking down, I started to feel crappy. If I were able to keep an eye on the horizon I think I would've been fine, but since I was face down, I had a problem. I didn't get sick, just a crappy feeling. Later on, as I was laying down, I still felt like I was bobbing up and down - not good.

That said, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It's something that everyone needs to experience.

After the snorkeling, we took a much needed nap. We had dinner reservations at 7:30. We were having a private dinner on the beach that night. Just us, under torchlight, with a private waitress. It was great. We had steak and lobster as part of a 5 course meal. The ocean was essentially lapping at our feet. The stars were plainly visible. It was a very nice evening.

On to the busy day of the honeymoon. Wednesday.

We were woken up by room service. They delivered our food to the veranda.

I managed to drag myself out of bed to eat some food. Doing so on only 9.5 hours of sleep mind you. I'm a trooper.

We ate on the veranda and then proceeded to get ready because we had a glass bottom boat ride scheduled for 9:30.

We went on the boat ride, came back, and had some lunch.

By now it was about 1:30, so we went back to the room and relaxed. It was needed after all of that running around.

We had 3:30 appointments for a message. It was 50 minutes but it felt like I could've stayed there for 50 days.

After the messàge we went back to the room and took a nap. It was a long walk from the spa to the room. At least 1/4 mile. Plus it was hot. It takes a lot out of you.

We napped for about 1 to 1.5 hours. We had to wake up because we had dinner reservations at 7:00. We decided to go over and check out the a la carte dinner spread and had a bit to eat there before we went upstairs to the Thai restaurant. By then we were of course full, but we ate anyway.

After that we were REALLY tired from all of the sleeping and eating we'd been doing, so we once again retired for the evening before 10:00 PM. Off to another 11 hours of sleepy time for us.

Something tells me we missed the boat when we rented the Hummer limo.

We could've gotten this.

Here's the link to the CBS station in DC that interviewed us before the wedding. Complete with a picture of our marriage license that they had earlier shown on air... the same marriage license that had our names and address on it. Neither of which were blurred out. Yay!

Also, here is one of the comments posted on that site...

"Congratulations Lindsay and Tim, I am so happy for you. I think this also means you will have 7 children."

Great. That would really be great. Really great.

Tuesday of the honeymoon went something like this:

Wake up.
Have breakfast in bed.
Lay in bed.
Go to lunch.
So hot. Makes me sleepy.
Take a nap.
Go to dinner.
Go to sleep.

It was perfect. Seriously. To have no obligations, nowhere to go and nothing to do... it was something I'd dreamed about for a long time.

The honeymoon started off with a bang. We had to get up at 5 AM in order get to the airport and get through security so that we could catch our 8:35 AM flight to Jamaica. Or so we were told. What really happened is that we were the only ones in security and got through in.... oh.... 17 seconds. Then we just went into the first class lounge where we learned that our flight was delayed. We stayed up for a bit, bought some medicine since Lindsay was sick, and then I fell asleep for a while. More sleeping on the plane for both of us. Lindsay almost fell asleep during the 90 minute ride to the resort. Once we got there and checked in, we went and ate dinner. Then.... we promptly fell asleep. At 7 PM. We woke up the next day at 9 AM.

Yay for sleeping! It was great! I think I got 50 hours of sleep that week. It was just what the doctor ordered.

Since I'm back, I guess I need to start writing something useful.

On the morning of Saturday 7/7/07 (our wedding day), I was basically calm. It hadn't yet sunk in that I was getting married that day. I was running around trying to make sure everything was in place and didn't really have time to even think about it.

The reality didn't hit me until I stepped into the ante room off of the church's nave. Literally, didn't hit me. One second I was fine and then I crossed the entryway into that room and *BAM* it all just hit me in that instant. I could see the people in the church and it was just me and the minister there for a bit. The emotion of the moment flooded over me in that one step.

I was still okay though. While I was positive that I was absolutely going to lose it when Lindsay started walking down that isle (I'm talking snot bubbles and everything), I was bound and determined to remain composed to the best of my ability.

I have to say, I'm quite proud of myself. That's not to say that I didn't get emotional, because I definitely did, but I didn't turn into a blubbering baby with no control of his bodily functions.

There's another moment from that day that definitely stands out. When Lindsay was saying her vows she got choked up and some tears leaked out. That of course got me choked up. That in turn got my mom choked up, and then everyone seemed to be crying. I can't be sure about that because I was solely focused on Lindsay, but I've heard that from sources in attendance.

The wedding was perfect. Everything went by way too quickly, but it was definitely perfect.

Here's the view from the veranda of our room in Jamaica.

Back home now. So many thoughts to post about Jamaica.

In a few words... it was amazing.

Also... I'm married!

I'm getting married today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My dad got taken to the emergency room via ambulance today. He had shortness of breath and some "minor" chest pains. They did an EKG on the way and found a "disturbance" in the heart. A valve was opening when it shouldn't. Now... I'm no doctor, but that doesn't sound good.

The problem was that he was having PVC (premature ventricular contractions). That most likely was causing the shortness of breath. PVC is a form of an irregular heartbeat. They're keeping him over night for observation. Originally he was planning on leaving for Maryland on Wednesday morning, but that may be up in the air now. I would really like for him to get checked out by a cardiologist before he leaves, but that might not be possible with the holiday and all.