How about some Ham, some homemade cherry pie and a nice glass of wine? Well there was more for our Holiday Open House, Ann and I just can’t help ourselves. We had about thirty people visit us and try some snacks during their busy shopping day. Of course Ann tried hard to help them relax and finish their shopping right here at Oceanic Ventures so they could go straight home. I think it worked with some.
During this time of year, we really try to thank those who have helped us stay in business and have given us their support over the past few years. We really do think of our clients as family and I’m afraid we sometimes like this family better than the ones we were born into. Mostly we think of both of them fondly.
As we begin the final phase of our year we wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Nollaig Shona, Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year!
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Santa Blowing Bubbles
Ho, Ho, Ho!
Nollaig Shona or Happy Christmas!
Hey kids, did you know Santa was a diver? Well, on December 7 at the West University pool Santa made an appearance in his scuba equipment and posed for photographs. It was amazing to see Mr. Clause swim around the pool, his beard flowing, a red wetsuit complete with fur trimming and a Zeagle BCD! It is not everyday you get to see such a site.
To keep Santa company on this visit, several members of the Oceanic Ventures family, Barney Corbin, Barbara Corbin, Zaide Scheib and yours truly, helped to take photographs and hand out diving magazines prneuded by Mark Young at Dive Training magazine. The pool prneuded hot chocolate, which was not in high demand on the 72 degree day and life-guards to make sure that everyone had a good time.
Funny as it may sound, there were more adult visitors than there were children. Of course, they say we are all children inside and the difference between men and boys are the price of their toys. All-in-all we had about 30 people come by and visit and have their photographs made with the dear old man.
It was fun working with the children. It is amazing how long some people could hold their breath. During the day we even had a visit from a reporter from the Examiner Newspapers. It seems Santa and his elf made it onto the front page of the West university Examiner. To see samples of the photographs taken, please visit www.oceanicventures.net.
In talking with Santa and Brittany Baakes, the manager of the City of West University Place athletic acilities, this is a fun event that both would like to make an annual event. I for one will be back next year – it was a lot of fun and hopefully the weather will be as wonderful as it was this year.
Slán
Finals…is it really that time again?
Ahhh! I never seem to have enough time to study for my Irish language class and here it is time for the final. It is a good thing that I am only auditing the course or my GPA would be in danger of bottoming out something I worried more about when I was in school in Lubbock. It would never be acceptable for a Cum Laude graduate to make the grades I am making in this class.
I am not sure how people work full time jobs and go to school at the same time. My guess is they do not own their own small businesses and teach in the evenings. At least that is my story and I am sticking to it!
Maeve is certainly patient for putting up with my attempt to learn Irish and for actually grading my tests. Of course I was quite pleased to have made simply a passing grade on my mid-term exam.
Looking at the exam this evening, I am always surprised that I can read much of it, translate some of it, write a little and always find some of it that looks like new material. That is the scariest thing, since I should have at least seen everything before I got there.
This final was fair, the course was very interesting and despite what my grades seem to reflect, I did learn a lot and had fun doing it. Thank you Maeve; we all appreciateyour valiant efforts in teaching us to speak and read Irish.
Following the exam it was an Irish student and friend get together at the Center for Irish studies. Our group planned on a pot luck format and Lori had enough food to feed 30 more people. the real students had plenty to eat and for those who stayed to clean up there were left-over’s.
Like any Irish gathering, there was a little singing, some fiddle playing, a little guitar music and a lot of good conversation. It was a fine way to end the semester and get ready for the remainder of the holiday season.
Slán and Nollaig Shona duit!
Tradition!
You can just hear Tevia singing Tradition in the background.
Tradition you ask? Well this trip has reoccurred for over 10 years and many of the participants have span>been going on it for most of those years. We celebrate two birthdays – Steven Hann and Anu Baji, and an anniversary, mine.
The only reason I get to go is because our wedding anniversary usually falls over the trip. But don’t get too sentimental, I am a working diver who gets to take sixteen of his close, warm personal friends diving each year.
This year, like the last, I had two rebreather students silently plying the waters off the coast of Cozumel with a tremendous amount of problems, albeit simulated problems. You would think people would rather just dive than take a course on their vacation. Matt, on of my students even made the comment “Here I am again, taking a class in Cozumel – I can’t remember what it is like to just dive here.” Of course, I reminded him we could have done the eight dives and eight hours of diving in beautiful Lake Travis!
This trip had a number of firsts – 500 dives for Jean Jansen, now an SSI Gold Diver, rebreather divers Matt Booth and Wayne Cooper, Dale Keyworth and Cecilia Chipman finished their Deep Diver course and as such, finished their Advanced Diver certifications and Ann put up with me for another year!
We had some great dives and ate some fun meals at some of our favorite restaurants. Anu is another year younger and Stephen feels another year older (especially since he moved just before leaving for this trip). Traditions are so much fun!
Wine and Diving, they do go together on occasion…
This marked the second anniversary of our Oceanic Ventures Shopping for Charity wine party hosted by none other than Pam Radford from Legal Media and Oceanic Ventures, Inc. Who would have ever thought of a little dive shop in Houston Texas having their name on a wall at a local school in the Philippines? Ann’s mother certainly could not have imagined it and yet that is precisely what happened in Puerta Galera where our diving friends helped us bring water and restrooms into a school, hire additional teachers, electrify the classrooms, introduce computers and computerized educational software, and beautify the grounds to make the entire school experience better for the students.
Ann started the school project to help schools and students in the areas we dive. At least that was the stated reason. The truth is Ann loves children and the has fun interacting with them and introducing them to new things (ask the little boys she taught to snorkel in the Solomon Islands). One way of doing this is to bring school supplies to local schools. She found that teachers are very appreciative and the students love meeting people from other places. Over the years, our divers have contributed paper, pencils, calculators, maps, construction paper, office supplies, books and other useful items to schools in Mexico, Little Cayman, Fiji, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Truk Lagoon, Kosrai and other diving destinations that we visit. Each one of the school visits is a special event for both the teachers and students as well as the visitors.
The school in the Philippines has been a true miracle in giving and Anne the administrator of the school has done wondrous things with the money and supplies donated. Adding water and restroom to the school did more than improve hygiene; it prneuded a method to improve the appearance of the school and introduced school pride by allowing the students to add flower gardens to the school grounds. If you visit the school, you will see students watering the plants with cans filled with the water that one of our clients paid to have brought in. But this event is more than asking for donations, it is really a way for people to experience the local cultures.
Two years ago, Ann was negotiating with the local sales ladies in the Philippines who were selling hand woven baskets. She turned to Pam and said, “I can’t say no.” Pam just looked at her and said “um, what are you going to do with all of those baskets?” Pam hen hatched the idea of an auction and she agreed to furnish the wine! Shopping for Charity was born and the first year we raised $1500 in proceeds and donations (one of our teaching staff even donated his teaching revenues to the cause). The owners of the Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera were impressed that we were able to raise the money for their community and they agreed to match the contribution. But that was last year.
This year the resort once again agreed to match our contributions and thanks to the generous support of our clients, we raised more money than last year (we are still computing the final total). We really appreciate all of the support we have received and the beneficiaries of it all are some very special children in countries far from Houston.
Thank You!
