Quick note

Just a quick note from me.

Grampy is now in the hospital. He was having chest pains and so Granny took him to the ER. His blood pressure was elevated and he failed a stress test so they kept him and are doing some other tests. DH was funny last night when he said, "Don't those 2 know that they need to stick around for a while...they have a great grandchild on the way?". Pearls of wisdom, I tell ya! So, please say a little prayer or whatever you do for my Grampy as well as Granny. They are actually pretty young, late 60's & early 70's. I still have great grandparents alive, and my great great grandma died about 16 years ago...I met her once in Florida. They lived in Sarasota. Longevity is in the family.

This is important:
Head on over to Saipan Blog or even to Save the Grotto Blog and help us out a little bit. In a nutshell here is the deal:

1. Saipan depends very heavily on tourist $$. Mainly Asian tourist $$.
2. The Grotto is the #2 SCUBA diving spot in the world.
3. There are approximately 100 stairs (or so) that you have to walk down/up to get to the Grotto proper. *oh no, stairs*
4. Some entity has decided that it would be beneficial to build a monorail that carries 5 people down to the Grotto and charge them each $10 a trip.
5. One argument is that the monorail will help divers that aren't physically able to carry their equipment down/up. Seriously...if they aren't physically adept at handling the equipment (I know it is heavy I have this 2 sets of this junk hanging in my spare closet), maybe they shouldn't dive...just my thought.
6. Instead of trying to compromise the integrity of the environment of the Grotto area by building a monorail, why not charge an admission fee to dive there? We had to pay an admission fee at every one of the 12 National Parks that we went to last year, Disney doesn't let you in for free either. Let the tour companies work the price into their SCUBA package (as long as they are honest and give the $ over to the government)

Problems are:

1. The environmental impact. Not just pollution of the water from the grease and possible fuel spils but also noise pollution and the impact that the building and installation of said monorail on the fragile enviroment around the Grotto area.
2. When (notice I didn't say "if" because it will happen) a big assed typhoon comes and destroys the monorail, leaving it a mangled mess half hanging in the water, who is going to fix it, clean it up and repair it or will they just leave it that way like they do other things (I read about a broken bridge in the Grotto somewhere but I haven't actually been down to see it)?
3. People with disabilities may want to cough up the $$ to take a ride down there but what happens when said person in a wheelchair or whatever gets a little too close to the water and falls in? It isn't like there is a Park Ranger sitting there making sure everyone is safe. Common sense people! I blew out my ACL on my knee 14 years ago while downhill skiing and have had reconstruction surgery...you don't see me trying to hot dog down some double black diamond trails anymore do you? Accept it, there are some things that you can't do in life.
4. I know that there are other problems, but enough of my ramblings...get over to Saipan Blog or Save the Grotto Blog and please sign the petition. You can read more about it there.

Peace

:)