Day: 001 (August 5th, 2005) Touch Down!! We arrived about an hour ahead of schedule, somewhere around 7:30. Upon arriving we got our bags and headed to the car rental shuttle (which was quite a site). Damage: 2 Guys: 4 suitcases and 3 carry-ons. 3 Girls: 9 suitcases and 6 carry-ons. Needless to say the five of us alone monopolized the luggage rack in the shuttle. But that was only part of the fun! We had to load up our car. Lucky for us our friends Danny and Erin happen to be vacationing on Oahu and met us at the car rental shop. Luck for us because our Dodge Caravan was filled to the brim with luggage. They were kind enough to fit a few additional items in their trunk as well as make sure that the rest of the crew arrived at the apartment safely. Thanks again guys!! After arriving at the apartment complex we met up with Tony the on-duty security guard who showed us to our new home and gave us our keys. Now the really really fun part of carrying 13 suitcases and 9 carry-ons (over 1/4 of a ton) up the 2 flights of stairs. After all the suitcases made it up the stairs we found our first pet. We found a baby gecko chillin out on our window sill. Unfortunately, we did not get a pic of him however, here is an artist rendition of what we saw. Once that was completed we headed to the corner stone of the retail market, Walmart. Task: Procure all critical class one goods for apartment. Including shower curtains, inflatable mattresses and TP. Now I must say that I knew there would be some differences between living in Hawaii and living in Michigan and we saw that first hand in Walmart. This place was packed at 10pm. No special sale, no celebrity host just isles and isles of carts, people, and boxes! After the Walmart aftermath we grabbed a quick bite at Wendy's (yeah yeah I know) and crashed for the night. Now I know you guys are chomping at the bit for pics so I have taken a few (its now the morning of the 6th). Plumeria tree off of lanai Birds on near by tree Welcome sign at apartment ===================================================================================== Day: 002 (August 6th, 2005) Making A Home With the sting of the jet lag still in our system the group began to stir at about 6-7 am. Kim and Laura awoke to the sound of "WE CAN SEE THE MOUNTAINS" from Andy and Veronica's room. The discovery of the mountains is due to the fact that it gets very dark here and there was so much that everyone missed on the drive from the airport due to the night. After a bit of talking and showers we headed to the main desk to meet with Kathy to receive our parking pass and to fill out the remaining paperwork. After the paperwork was out of the way we headed to Aloha Stadium to visit the market. Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday the stadium is filled with hundreds of vendors pedaling various keepsakes, knickknacks, cloths, luggage, food, and art. The food vendors (primarily selling fruits and nuts) are true to form as many of the goods on their truck come fresh from the dirt/tree/neighbors garden the day prior. After the stadium we headed out in to the world... err I mean Wal-Mart again. This time we were out to get all the other things we found that we were missing while unpacking. And in keeping with our roots we purchased more stuff than could be fit in the van! So Andy and I drove the van filled with totes, drawers, chairs, desks, and baskets home while the girls headed off on foot to start shopping for groceries. Back at the ranch, we finished unloading the van only to discover that Kim was still in possession of the apartment keys. So we stuffed everything on the landing outside our apartment and I left Andy to guard as I drove to the store to get the keys. Now as I am approaching the store I call Veronica and tell her to send someone out with the keys. I pull up to a very crowded parking lot and wait by the front door. After a few minuets the line behind me felt a little perturbed at my decision to park in the lane so I kindly headed out to circle around and make another pass. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? Dog the bounty hunter and eight tiny reind.. er a black SUV! I quickly pull off to a spot and start tearing through Andy's backpack in search for a camera. I knew that at some point I would track him down for the girls back in the courts but I never throught I would see him shopping at our grocery store on the 2nd day! After failing to find a camera in Andy's bag I noticed Veronica waiting out side the door. I quickly pulled out of my spot and headed up the lane and got Veronicas attention. As she gave me the keys I told her to get a picture, unfortunately she finked out. (Don't worry Connie I won't give up) After the store we unpacked the food and other items and most of us got completely settled in. After a little bit the feeling that we have almost been here 24 hours and we still have not been to the beach begin to hit us. So we packed into the van and headed to Ko Olina. Which unfortunately was closed due to the fire! Fire 1 Fire 2 Fire 3 Fire 4 Fire 5 After we turned around and waded through traffic again we were on our way to Manoa and the Bon Dance. Along the way the rain started to pick up and Andy got some interesting shots of the rainbows. Rainbow 1 Rainbow 2 Rainbow 3 Rainbow 4 Once we reached Manoa valley and got near the temple where the Bon Dance was being held we seen how big of an event it really was. We spent nearly half an hour driving down side streets in search of a parking spot. But the search and trouble was worth it. They had most excellent food and a tremendous feeling for culture and heritage that is some what missing on the mainland. The drive to manoa. On the walk to the Bon Dance At the Bon Dance Well that's it for now, I missed out on some of the details here and there but we are heading to the beach so I need to wrap this up! Good bye for now! In the effort to better man kind we wish to offer this bit of information. When entering a van with a sliding door DO NOT grab the driver's side door jam. ================================================================================ Day: 003 (August 7th, 2005) Life's A Beach Since all other attempts at reaching the beach failed we were determined to get sandy shores of our new home. Our drive took us north through the Dole and Del Monte plantations where the sweet smell of pineapples hangs in the air. Upon reaching North Shore we stopped at a little sandwich shop called Storto's and picked up some heaven on bread. With sandwich in hand we drove up the coast a few miles and got out to eat. Now thats what I call a SANDwich What were you looking at the last time you were eating? Was it better than this? Or this? With our stomachs filled we did what everyone should do… Go swimming! With Andy acting as crossing guard we got back in the car and headed to Sunset beach for some swimming, sun, and bikini's. While swimming we were able to fish a number of pieces of coral from the beach floor (primarily with the use of my incredibly dexterous monkey toes). This space intentionally left blank ;) After a few hours we decided that we needed a change of scenery so we piled into the van and headed to the beach... another beach that is, Kahana to be exact. Kahana is a most excellent beach the sand here is very fine and does not give way when walking like normal sand. This beach is also surrounded by mountains on 3 sides and is so shallow that even Veronica could touch the bottom. The waves here are larger now than in our first visit in January, but are nothing compared to the North Shore waves in peak season. Notice the hang gliders around the mountain More Kahana Beach Bums Guess what, we decided to leave Kahana as well. What for you might ask. Another beach but of course! This time it was off to Kualoa where the visit was less about the beach and more about the frisbee. Palm trees at the park Dont see these at home View of Chinaman's hat from the beach Kim and Laura trying to look important Mr Hawaii 05 Ahhhhh the beach After a wicked cool frisbee match we were getting kinda hungry again so we decided to swing into the macadamia nut farm outlet to get some snacks. After the farm its was time to head home to shower and change so we could make our way to Waikiki or dinner. It was during the shower and sitting at the restaurant that I determined that sun screen in the tube sitting next to you does little to ward off the damaging effects of the sun. It must be applied directly to the skin for full effectiveness. After dinner we had a very exciting drive home (ie. everyone fell asleep). Jet lag sucks! Well that's it for now. Aloha! =============================================================================== Day: 004 (August 8th, 2005) Day of the cockroach Since everyone else was well rested from the nap in the car and not being cooked like a charcoal briquette the gang got up early to hit the gym while I lay in bed trying not to move. Between 8 and 9 everyone started to filter back into the apartment where everyone seemed to just mill around for at bit before setting off for the day. Once we got going our first stop was the post office to pick up the first of many packages from home. Note to anyone shipping items here US Priority Mail service is far cheaper than Fed-ex/UPS/etc. Just chillin Um... Yeah From the post office we head out to do more shopping. A quick stop to Lowe's for some tools, shelves, and a table. Unfortunately for me the only folding tables that Lowes carries is the plastic kind. We continued to drive around the shopping center taking note of all the help wanted signs. We then began to plot who would work where so that the group could benefit from the employee discount. Next came Kmart were major purchases included a vacuum (manufactured by Fisher Price) and a rice cooker. Our next stop was Office Max where I picked up my WOOD-like folding buffet table (no more laptop on the cooler for me!) and a comfy office chair (I can now rock!). Again the van is now full due to the size of the purchased items so we head home to unload. When we get home we unpack everything, shelves get hung and naps get taken. Mmmmm nap… And once again its off to Walmart. Our target was to get a microwave but unfortunately the inexpensive models were out of stock so repeat visits will be necessary. However, we did score a toaster, blender, and coffee maker. And then things started to go down hill. Going into this we knew that cockroaches were just one of the things you would have to get used to. Up until this moment we had lucked out and seen minimal signs of these unwelcomed guests. And when there is one there is 7! The first one seemed be hiding some where in the stove where a panicked yell came from the kitchen. This wasn't some little beetle thing. This was a massive cockroach (probably small compared to what is still unseen) a cockroach of movie star proportions. Again no picture was taken but we do have another artists rendition of the event. As I said before this was unfortunately not an isolated incident as at least 3 omega class roaches were smooshed by hand with several slightly smaller ones to follow. Laura was the least impressed by the creatures and set out on a personal crusade to vanquish the creepy crawlers. This is also why we picked up some Combat Large Roach Quick Kill Formula traps to disperse around the apartment . That is pretty much day 4 sorry it wasn't as exciting or as pretty picture wise but hey, least we are in Hawaii. Aloha! Oh alright here are some pics of the park just down the street. Park View Note Honolulu in the distance =============================================================================== Day: 005 (August 9th, 2005) Global Hike 2005 Like many of the previous days, day five brought with it a fresh new theme. Hiking. Shortly after waking up the group made its way to the fitness center for a morning workout. This conditioning will help solidify our bodies to take the punishment that the up and coming marathon will bring. The workouts lasted about an hour and included treadmills, ellipticals, and free weights. After working out everyone made way for the showers and a fresh change of cloths. Once everyone was squeaky clean we piled into the van ready to explore the island. Our first destination was Pali lookout. It was at this site in 1795 that King Kamehameha and his warriors defeated the O'ahu armies by sending them over these steep, forested cliffs and claiming his victory and uniting the Hawaiian Islands. After a number of pictures we headed off to the trail on the right side of the lookout that was missed on our first visit. This "hidden" trail offered many new perspectives of the landscapes below. Lookout view 1 Lookout view 2 Lookout view 3 Lookout view 4 Making way down the trail Navigating the bush View back towards the lookout Getting jungle like Quick side path Amazing plant-age About mid way down our trip there was a short wall with a small brook running behind it. With the feeling of exploration pumping though my veins I jumped the wall and began scaling the mountain side. Several hundred feet up the valley the group insisted on returning to the trail, but not until I reached the valley floor which was teeming with small water falls and ferns with a backdrop of mountains obscured by clouds. View of the valley Making the trek Near the landing After a fairly good distance it was decided to abort the trip and start to head back up to the lookout and our van. Some day I intend to return to fully travel the path and see where it ends. Luckily the return trip up the mountain side was easier than anticipated. After returning to the van we headed off to another previously unknown location, Tantalus. This is a very interesting drive consisting of about a 2000 foot vertical climb of switch back roads and countless scenic views. At the end of this drive we stopped off at Punchbowl. This is the national cemetery of the pacific where hundreds of fallen solders rest from tours in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. View of Punchbowl from Tantalus drive Stairs entering monument Lookout from stairs Battle history Statue Courtyard More battles Chapel within main hall Statue 2 Stone Following the moving experience at punchbowl we headed off to Manoa Falls. The trail here is about 1.5 miles of maintained albeit very muddy paths, stairs, and walkways. At the end of this hike you are treated to the view of Manoa falls which is about 150 ft tall. The falls were more impressive this time round, but due to the some what small viewing area and the volume of people our stay was just a few minuets. Entering the hiking area Impressive tropical trees Small water fall at the beginning of the trail More vines Onward Deeper into the bush Bamboo Wall Bamboo hike Bamboo trail Manoa Falls 1 Manoa Falls 2 Manoa Falls 3 Heed this warning And dont piss off the jungle people After this entire day hikeathon we headed home for dinner and the evening paper. Nice relaxing drive home This is why we do not live in Honolulu As stated before jobs should not be hard to come by when was the last time the LSJ had 8+ pages of jobs? Aloha! =============================================================================== Day: 006 (August 10th, 2005) Sunset by the beach The goal of today was to wake early for the trek up Diamond Head. Now today was the first day that I was able to successfully sleep past 8 (though I was not trying to). No one was upset due to my sleepiness, however, they were not happy that I had the key to the work out room on the key ring in my room. Though, personally I think they were just looking for an excuse not to workout after the hikeathon ;). The morning attraction was the paper where everyone poured over the job section and Andy perused the car listings. Shortly after noon we headed out. Our first destination was a near by vet clinic so that Kim could pick up a job app. The next stop was Mililani to visit the Foodland store there. Though the Times Supermarket is a block away we decided to a little compareison shopping as well as take advantage of their sale items that we saw in the paper. The deal of the day was 10 32oz Gatorades for $10 along with 10 2-liter Lipton tea bottles for $10. So we picked up 20 Gatorades and 10 Liptons (which reminds me guys I need some cash for that). With the van sufficiently stuffed with various beverages we headed back up to North Shore, after a quick stop off at Stroto's for some more sandwiches! Resisting the urge to pound down the sandwich instantly we pressed on to the far beaches on the leeward side of the island. The waves here were a little larger than anything to this point but still manageable. Though rocky conditions and unknown riptide strength convinced us to enjoy this beach from the shore. Ahh the beach The gang More ahhh the beach After enjoying the sand, surf and sandwiches we headed to the end of the road. The road from here leads to Kaena Point and ends. However, there is a area to park your car and proceed by foot. A fair amount of time was spent exploring and navigating the rocky coast. Here it is evident of the lava flows from ages ago. If you decide to visit here please take extreme caution as the rocks are VERY sharp and dangerous and wear proper footwear (i.e. NOT flip-flops). Watch your step No I dont have to make Kim look scary/retarded in EVERY picture Shallow water Chris and Andy More coast The ocean Don't fall More coast Sun is getting close to setting Now there is a little extra to this next pic. Along the walk there were a number of small puddles of captured water from the high tide. In many of these only small fish and crabs seemed to be evedent. While walking along Andy spotted this guy. This is the Hawaiian state fish, the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a or the Hawaiian Trigger fish. He seemed to have ventured a little too far during the high tides and got stuck in the rocky shore. Who moo who moo new koo new koo ah poo ah ah Though it took a fair amount of time to travel we did not adventure far from the car. We set up camp about half a mile from the van and awaited the sunset. Sunset 4 Sunset 3 Sunset 2 Sunset 1 Enjoy the Pics. Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 007 (August 11th, 2005) Jobs, Burgers, Beach, and More (2 days cockroach free) We got an early start today. Our first order of business was to get Kim and Laura to Honolulu for their TSA test. This test consisted of a personality profile (i.e. terrorist detector) and a fairly lengthy segment of looking at x-ray images trying to locate various items such as watches, staplers, and cheese graders. During this trip Andy and Veronica slept in so I drove the girls to their test site. I then set off on foot toward the buildings that I recognized in Waikiki. It turns out that those buildings are quite tall because I walked for nearly an hour before stopping at the Ala Moana Shopping mall to grab breakfast. After aimlessly wandering around the mall for about half an hour I grabbed a bagel and water from a coffee shop and ate it on the 3rd floor looking out to the mountains. Glancing at my watch I see that nearly 2 hours had past and it would be best to return to the car just in case the girls finished the test ahead of schedule. Sure enough they did and we intercepted each other about 5 blocks from the training center. Upon entering the van Kim checked her voicemail and verified that the sleepy heads where up and around. We then headed home to pick them up and head out to grab a bite to eat (Laura was quite eager). Our destination was The Shack who's claim was to have been serving epic burgers for over 30 years. And after trying their stuff, I make no claim against them because they were pretty damn good. Our next order of business was to find Kim a copy machine so that she could make copies of her resume. This turned out to be a little harder than anticipated however; we did get the chance to explore the Mililani area more. Eventually, we were able to find one at a 7-11. With copies in hand our next task was to locate the 2 vet clinics where Kim was applying. The first one we new the general area but after 2 failed passes trying to see a sign we pulled off and called them. We discovered why we were unable to see their store front as it is in a building behind a 2 story strip mall. With one clinic down we were off to the second, which we had already been to once. At the second clinic Kim needed to fill out a section of the app in office so the group had a few minuets to kill. My suggestion was to head to the Chinese restaurant (next to a vet clinic, coincidence? I think not). Our target here was come "super fine shave ice". Now I've had shave ice before but not SUPER FINE, so I just had to check it out. I must say it truly was super fine and damn tasty to. For those that don't know what shave ice is think of a snow cone back home but instead of course ice it is more snow like consistency. While eating the texture is that of a soft popsicle. Feeling cool and refreshed we headed off to Pearl Harbor. One traveling note when you want to see the Arizona Memorial don't follow the signs to Pearl Harbor, follow the signs that say Arizona Memorial (that is unless you like U turns). Upon arriving at the visitor center we began stalking for a spot. After countless loops and stolen spots we camped outside some very obvious tourist getting ready to leave. It started out with everyone sitting in the car doors open. Several minutes later the back seat passenger closed the door. Then the front seat passenger reached for the door only to be teasing us. A minuet or two later he goes for the door handle again, this could be it, but no the trunk pops open. A collective "damn-it" fills the van. The dude scrambles thought the trunk and pulls out a map and closes the trunk. Just as he is about to get back in the car the trunk pops open again. A collective "#@#($" fills the van. The man then casually stows the map back in the trunk. Several more minuets pass and then all the doors finally shut. And finally after about 15 minuets of waiting the reverse lights come on and everyone cheers. The best part being that by the time we arrived in the visitor center all passes for the tours were gone. So we spent a while viewing the museum and walking the grounds. Courtyard Viewing the map Docked Sub Fountain area Anchor We then decided that the excitement of the parking space took a lot out of us so we headed home to change and then out to the beaches at Ko Olina (with less fire this time). Here we basked in the sun and surf for several hours before calling it a night. Beach More beach Wishing you all the very best. Aloha! =============================================================================== Day: 008 (August 12th, 2005) Our last day... With the van (3 days!!!) Well this day has finally come our 2nd Friday. A day that usually signifies last day in paradise however, we are not on vacation, we are home. So there will be no airport or us today, other than being next to it to return the van that is. The day was supposed to start around 6 so that the group could go work out. Though by 6:30 I was the only one awake, so rather than wake anyone from a slumber they were not finished with I headed off to the fitness center alone. Don't fret because about 20 minuets after arriving Andy and V showed up. The 3 of us finished off our workouts and headed back to the apartment to see that Kim and Laura had finally got up and about. The early birds ate breakfast while the snoozers headed to the gym. At about 10:15ish everyone was ready to go. Our first stop, the supermarket to fix our bus pass situation. Note: When you by a STUDENT pass here it does not mean college student, it means 17 and under. By 10:30 we were underway. Our second and most important stop was Sports Authority where Laura had a job interview at 11:00. Wanting to make sure that she was not late I drove fairly aggressively to arrive on time. We pulled into the parking lot with 10 minuets to spare, I look back and wish her good luck and all I see is puzzled faces. Then I hear a "the interview isn't for 40 minuets". It seems that several people were confused as to why I was hurrying when we had plenty of time, and decided it best not to inform me. So we kill some time by wandering around the store. Everyone begins to plot out what they are going to buy with Laura's discount. Interview time rolls around, we all wish her good luck and then head out. Not before picking up a volleyball that is. The group hangs around Boarders for a bit before meeting back up with Laura, who now has a job offer. Congratz toLaura. After grabbing some lunch our next order of business was to drop Kim off at the vet clinic for her interview and while that takes place head down but the airport for Laura's drug test… The test as in for her job not as in a requirement for probation or anything. Shortly after hitting the highway nature started to knock on Laura's door. But we refused to let her go before her test, other wise we would have to wait around for round 2. By the time we located the medical center and pulled into the lot Laura was out of the van and nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately for her it was a busy day for drug tests. After all was said and done we swung back by to pick up Kim and then to the airport again to drop off the van. Shortly, we pulled into the lot, gave the van one last look through for any forgotten items, I turned in the keys and settled the bill. And with that we were officially carless. Good thing for the bus. We jumped Nimitz Highway and boarded the bus. Now this is my first experience with public transportation since early high school, and I must say it was not bad at all. The trip home took about an hour, long but not too long. It would certainly seem that the bus will do nicely until my car arrives. Upon reaching home Andy, V, Laura, and I headed out to try out our new volleyball and the sand courts here at the apartments. The ball worked out great but the courts though full sized and lit, are a bit uncomfortable bare foot as the sand is not terribly deep. And that pretty much rounded out the night. Sorry for the lack of pics, but don't worry I'm sure there are plenty more to come. Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 009 (August 13th, 2005) The wheels on the bus... This day started early as well. Our mission today was to make it to Honolulu for the day. Upon hopping the bus and hitting the town we accidentally got off to early and got a chance to see more of the city by foot. Our first destination was a car dealership that was having a sales promotion that Andy wished to check out. After a bit of perusing Andy decided it best to stick with the classifieds for the time being. Our next stop was to Ala Moana Center via the bus. Ala Moana is a huge open air mall. With 4 levels and hundreds of stores it truly is a sight (and a very long walk). After spending some time seeing what the mall had to offer we headed to the food court for some lunch. The group consumed several meals consisting of Italian, Chinese, and SPAM. With our bellies filled it was back to the bus stop to head over to the international market. The international market is a large group of stores and stands selling your typical tourist fair. There are some good deals to be had, and many of the gifts you may receive will most likely originate from here. With V drooling over many of the items for sale it was time to hit the beach again. Though this time being the peak of the tourist season Waikiki was quite packed. We opted to take an additional walk to a nearby neighboring beach that had more room. Here the group did what the group does best, relax! Several hours past and it was time to head home. That meant another bus ride. This time round we primarily stayed on the same bus so Andy, V and Laura had ample time to nap which they took advantage of (a lot like the rides home in the van). When all was said and done the whole trip home took shy of 2 hours. With the group energetic after their nap we hit the volleyball courts again, with shoes this time. Though playing in shoes on the sand seems kinda sacrilegious it makes it much less painful. We had the company of a birthday party near the court which was a fun environment to be in. Also, nice as they regularly fetched the many many stray balls as they were hit. An hour or two later, everyone dripping with sweat and moving at quarter pace it was time to call it a night. With that everyone walked/limped home to get a bite to eat and to shower. After that it settled down to reading and researching jobs. Again sorry for the lack of pictures, Andy is slacking a bit. Don't fret Im sure there will be some soon. We miss you all! Aloha! =============================================================================== Day: 010 (August 14th, 2005) Just settling in So today wont be very exciting. Laura ran six miles. I slept in. Later Andy, Veronica and I took the bus to Aloha stadium to pick up some more stuff for the apartment. I set up our internet so we no longer needed to steal it from our neighbors. Then we rounded out the day by going to the supermarket to do some more grocery shopping. Though we bought too much to carry home, so we wound up driving the shopping cart the quarter mile home (livin ghetto fabulous!). Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 011 (August 15th, 2005) Equally dull Today was just as slow. We worked out in the morning. There was a bit of reading and some calls home. I worked more on our network and setup shared files area. We played some more volleyball. Kim got a second interview. Um, we had stir fry for dinner and brownies for dessert. Even though it seemed like a wasted day it wasn't. Just spending some time sitting on the lanai not doing much is quite enjoyable. On aside note there should be more photo ops coming up as my car has left Seattle. As of 10PM Hawaii time its chilling out in LA. I assume to pick up more cargo. If you care to track its path to me simply click here and then click the GPS tracking link for the MV R.J. Pfeiffer. Well that's it for now until tomorrow aloha! PS For those of you working at the VMC what the heck did you do to Brian? =============================================================================== Day: 011.5 (August 15th, 2005) Clover... Clover Leaf Alright, felt bad that the past 2 days have been kinda dull so here is a little treat. Little back story, I have never had to pay for a cell phone as my jobs have always provided me with one. Now since I wasn't intending to get a job right away I decided to go with one of those no contract prepaid phone deals, so if I in fact did get another phone though work I wouldn't need to carry around both. Anyway, I got the phone set up and over the first few days I received a few voicemails usually consisting of "hey its me call me back dude". Well since it was pretty obvious that they didn't mean to call me I decided to put a message on my voicemail instead of just having the lady read out my number. So in my message I say the typical stuff but that I may be missing your call due to me being at the beach in Hawaii and round out by saying aloha. Well by the next day I got another voicemail by the same person as all the other I assume and I just found it to be quite enjoyable. Through the magic and mystery of computers I now have it in MP3 format for your listing pleasure. So with out any further ado I present to you Clover.. Clover Leaf. Please note I did blank out his phone number as a courtesy to him. =============================================================================== Day: 012 (August 16th, 2005) Theres a beach in Ewa Beach.... Right? Yeah yeah, its been awhile since I've updated, I know, Im getting enough hate mail about it. Aright, today (I mean Tuesday) started out kinda slow. There was some food, reading the paper, and few other miscellaneous tasks. At some where around 11:00 Kim headed off for her first of 2 interviews. One was at a vet clinic and the other at Boarders Book store. After she had left Laura started to stir and proposed a trip to Ewa Beach. Ewa beach just so happens to be the closest beach to us. And the trip there should be fairly quick (can you see where this is going?). At around 12:30 or so Laura received a rather panicked phone call from Kim. It turns out that Kim decided to take the 43 rather than taking the correct bus and wound up getting off near Honolulu. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue however, her interview was no where near Honolulu and it just so happed to be scheduled at 1:00. With phone book and internet in hand Laura and I start looking for the phone number to the clinic so Kim could notify them that she is running late. Good thing that everyone has these kinds of stories when first learning the bus system, so the people at the clinic were understanding. A little while later back at the ranch everyone was gearing up to make the trek to Ewa Beach. Then Kim called again... Don't worry it was good news this time. She got the job and decided to blow off the 2nd interview and head home. Being the wonderful roommates that we are we made the decision to wait for Kim so that everyone could make it to the beach. At around 3:00 Kim got back, where she seemed to be outright gushing with happiness. She explained how everything went then got changed and the all headed to the bus stop. Unfortunately, waiting for Kim made us hit the beginning of rush hour traffic. So our quick trip to the beach got extended by about an hour! Before leaving the house V looked up the bus routes and directions to the beach. Now, this was the first time we had been down this way by bus, and to further complicate things the bus we were on did not display the stops as we approached. According to the directions we needed to switch busses at the Ewa transit center though we really had no idea where it was. We happen to be very familiar with the Wiapahu Transit Center and assumed that the Ewa Center would be similar. Well that wasn't the case. You she the Ewa Transit Center is cleverly disguised as a run of the mill bus stop. One of the clues that made think that there was something special here is the fact that we sat parked here for several minuets. We then ask one of our fellow bus goers where the transit center is to which he confirmed our suspicions that this stop was in fact that very place. With a positive location we now set off to jump on the other bus for our second leg of the adventure. After several minuets V notices that the nearby intersection was the road that we needed to take to the beach, and according to the map it was "not that far". With that knowledge we decided to skip the bus and travel on foot. Well, it just so happens that using the scale on the map might have better represented the distance to the beach. As we entered this leg of the trip we realized that this "little walk" was more like a 2 mile trek. At the end of which we hit a fork in the road. Left or right? We knew we were close as we could catch glimpses of the ocean through the alley ways of the houses on the shoreline. From the back of the group we here a commanding "left". We made our way down the left side of the road. Now after quite a bit of walking we began to think. What if Ewa Beach is just a name for the town and not really a beach at all? Some time later we hit the end of the road where it intersects with a vacant lot. Now as some of the group got discouraged the other half felt the absolute need to locate and enjoy the beach. With that the group doubled back the way we came to take the other road. Somewhere during this walk Andy was able to catch some locals and ask directions. After talking to them we now knew that there was in fact a "Ewa Beach" and that it is to the right of the fork in the road. Though it was still about a mile away. After everything we had been though to this point we were not going to end this night without getting to this beach. And the trek paid off. Ewa Beach offered clear view of the ocean and a new perspective of Honolulu in the distance. There were surfers catching some waves in the distance. The group pretty much crashed on the sand and just enjoyed the sights. As the sun started to set armies of small sand crabs began peeking out of their holes. One rather large crab caught our attention. After a bit the idea of feeding it came into play, although the only food that we had was some Cheez-it crackers that I stowed in my backpack. I was hesitant for 2 reasons. One, Cheez-its are way too good to be wasted and two crabs don't eat crackers. Well, I was wrong. We tossed a few over to the crab and he was more than happy to pick them up and carry them underground. It was quite the sight. I guess no one can resist Cheez-its! The trek to the beach A glimpse of the shore Another glimpse Along the way Some more sights along the way Honolulu in the distance Surfers The beach Our crabby friend After feeding the crab we made our way home. This time we hopped on the bus we should have taken on the last bit of the journey and made our way to a REAL transit center (Waipahu). From there we hit up Taco Bell for dinner and then headed to the bus stop. Now by the time we were done eating the busses started going into the night rotation which means that they run half as often. And the bus that was going to take us home left the bus stop before we could get there. No worries though. We were able to entertain ourselves, with the help of commentary from V and I. We found out that the laundromat near this bus stop is sort of a proving ground for wanabe prostitutes. We saw several potential clients swing by and peruse the... "goods". We even got to watch as an individual in a pickup truck struck up a deal and drove off with her. Only to return her some 20 minuets later, now she was either really good.. or really bad. Guess we will never know. As you can tell we had a great deal of fun predicting moves and filling in the conversations from the not so "easy" side of the street. Eventually, the bus came back around and we made it home. Until next time aloha! PS. Kim still has not called Boarders to tell them that she will not be making the interview. ================================================================================ Day: 013 (August 17th, 2005) Wednesday is humpday! (perverts!) Well today was pretty non exciting. Some of us worked out in the morning. Andy and V were gone most of the day picking up apps and doing interviews. Kim and Laura made cookies for the neighbors. Then we rounded out the night with some volleyball. Laura enjoying some of the extra cookie dough Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 014 (August 18th, 2005) Ala Mowanna go to the beach? Not much going on this morning, Andy and V are off to Best Buy for an interview and then we were going to meet up with them at the beach on Ala Moana. Upon making the trip to Ala Moana we decide to get a bite to eat before making our way to the beach. We stop at the food court and pick up some Mexican... his name was Jose, just kidding it was Carlos, got ya again! In the middle of our meal we had the pleasure of sitting next to the craziest old lady in the world. Husband: What do you want to eat? Crazy old lady: Some chicken and broccoli. (At this point she starts trying to bond with her grandson(?) and only winds up upsetting him) 15 minuets later the husband gets back with a plate of sesame chicken, broccoli, and rice. Crazy old lady: What is this? Husband: Its your chicken and broccoli. Crazy old lady: I didn't want that. That's what you are going to eat. Husband: Ok. What do you want. Crazy old lady: Spaghetti. (Another 10 minuets passes) Crazy old lady: Where is your grandpa at? (she begins to agitate her grandson again and another 5 minuets pass) Crazy old lady: Where is your grandpa at? Us: Maybe in line trying to get you your spaghetti you crazy old bat! After the delightful lunch show we headed to the beach. We swam for quite a bit before heading up the uber hot sand to enjoy some sun. After a while Laura and I (aka the white ones) headed up to the nearby park for some shade. We played some frisbee and waited for the others to trickle off the beach. After a bit Andy and V joined us with Kim following shortly there after. We all sat in the park reading and relaxing. We made our way home on the most crowded bus ever. Where some random dude kept falling asleep on Laura. Beach 1 Beach 2 Beach 3 Beach 4 View in the park When we got home we chilled for a bit then headed to the volleyball courts. Teams where the same as they have been in the past guys vs. girls. After, a bit I started being a bit of an ass and started calling out points as we played. Up until this point our volleyball wasn't really volleyball as much as just hitting it over the net (or into the parking lot). Anyway, I started calling out points which started to wear on the girls, who then stepped up to the challenge and exhibited effort, strategy, and teamwork. I then escalated the game to a real match with score and everything. It is obvious that everyone has made quite a bit of progress, but we are still a ways from challenging other teams. When all was said and done Andy and I won both games but both sides had some pretty amazing plays. With a bit of displeasure towards me on the walk home I showered up and made my way to the supermarket alone. My goal was to make things up (for motivating them!) so I was out to pick up some beer. Now when I got there my intentions were to pick up a 12 pack but the 24 was only $5 more so there really was no decision to be made. I still do not have my car and a 24 case of long necks gets kinda heavy and the half mile mark on the way home. Either way I make home at which point Kims face lights up at the first sight of the beer. Now it has been over 2 weeks since I've had my last beer and that first drink.. words cannot describe. So everyone huddled out on or near the lanai and drank for a while. Twas a good night. I wonder what everyone is laughing about 1 I wonder what everyone is laughing about 2 Aloha everyone! ================================================================================ Day: 015 (August 19th, 2005) Looks like someone has a case of the Fridays! Well, not a bad day in paradise but not a whole lot going on. We slept off the beer, worked out, made dinner, then played some volleyball. Since I haven't got the site to where I want it yet I made everyone write up a little blurb (or blurp according to Kim) for you folks back home. ANDY Aloha to all my family and friends. You are all in my thoughts everyday I spend in this Island Paradise. Something new here reminds me of or draws reference to a different loved on every day I am here. All of my roommates are really amazing individuals. For those of you who come to visit me, give Chris a big hug when you get here. He is putting a lot of time and effort into the amazing website. I find myself very at peace and comfortable here, almost as if this place has been calling my name and beckoning me for some time. Well, I made it, and I feel at home. The mountains and the landscapes they highlight are beyond words. Of course, you all know I love palm trees, and I get to see plenty of those. There are many more beautiful trees, ferns, etc. around here that I need to buy a book to help me identify. There are birds everywhere just like home, and some of them are just different species of cardinals. I have been to a handful of pristine beaches whose waters are filled with tropics fish and we also saw a sea turtle. My favorite fish so far has been the trigger fish, which is the state fish of Hawaii. The sun is very strong here, but there is usually a nice breeze blowing off the ocean. There are cities and traffic here just like home, but I will put up with it due to the serene surroundings. My favorite destination so far has been our hike through the rainforest to see the 100 ft + Manoa Falls. What an incredible waterfall! I have not bought a surfboard yet because they are expensive and I need to safe money first, but I do have snorkel gear. The bus system is adequate and efficient so I don't miss having a car yet. I am looking for jobs in the education field right now. I think that our apartment is perfect for us. Until later, I miss and love you all. Andy Laura Aloha everyone! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the website and all of our pictures. Its been a great 2 weeks here so far, but the vacation is slowly ending. I think it's finally starting to sink in that we are here to live, not just to enjoy the beaches for a few days (not that we don't still enjoy the beaches, of course!). Kim and I have jobs, and will hopefully be starting to work soon. We're looking to buy a used Jeep Wrangler so we can just take the top down, throw our surfboards in the back, and head off to the beaches at North Shore like the locals. At times I still can't believe that I am now a local. Hawaii is not quite what I imagined it to be. I'm not on some deserted island paradise with not a care in the world. There are bills to pay here, traffic is bad, and there are enough gigantic cockroaches to take over the island. It is crowded in most places, yet still beautiful. Just down the street from us is a park that overlooks Honolulu and Diamond Head; it is breathtaking no matter what time of day we walk past it. From nearly every point on the island there are views of both the mountains and the ocean. My favorite day here by far has been the day that we went to the place where the road ends. There was some sandy beach, lots of rocky aa lava, and hardly another soul in sight. We walked for a mile or so and found the perfect spot to watch the sunset. I felt like I was standing at the edge of the world. I can't wait until you all come and visit so I can take you there, and all of the other amazing places that we've been. I miss everyone, and I miss home, but there is nowhere that I'd rather be right now. I'm so happy here, I just wish I could share it with you. Anyways, call anytime and say hello. I love you! Laura Kim Aloha!!! So, I hope this note finds everyone doing well. Everything is going better than planned. It is a big load off my chest to see how happy everyone is here (although, how could you not love it here, I mean, have ya looked at the pics?). All of my worries and fears have vanished. I have found what I came here to seek, my inner peace. There is nothing better for ones soul than lying in the sun on a prestine beach listening to the waves as they crash all around you. The panaramic views are enough to make me forget everything. I want everyone to come and visit. I miss all of you very much. I cannot imagine any better roomies to have down here with me. Everyone is so great. The other night we had our first beer on the lani and I got to thinking about how lucky we all are to be doing what 99% of America's population wants to do, but is too afraid to. I am at the advantage here, so my little blurp is not as interesting as the others. I have been here. I know the magic found in these islands. I have already experienced what everyone else is going through. Each day a different awe inspiring journey. It is very cool to be able to relive the "firsts" for a second time. I think it brings me more joy seeing the look on others faces than what it did orginally. I see the start of each of the roomies searching for and finding the same peace that I knew I can only get here.... aloha does follow one home, but it gets tarnished after a while. To my buds from Bennigan's, slainte'!!! Hehehe! I miss hanging out in the kitchen or at the bar bsing with you guys. You are all great... and god damnit!! E-mail me sometime... or call, the phone is still the same!!! To the Target gang- Hope the whole overnight thing is still working out well. I have yet to get e-mails from anyone.... I don't feel loved! Except you Michelle.... and Cindy.... rt2297@yahoo.com.. memorize it!!! To my family- I love you guys! Thanks for being so supportive of me in everything I have everdone. I wouldn't be where/who I am today without you. Ok, so we have gone from philisophical to giving shout outs! Man, how I change.... but that is why you all love me so much!!! Oh yeah, I got a job! I will be working at VCA Animal Hospital as a receptionist soon-to-be-tech. Something right up my alley. I get to deal with people and their better halves!!! Alrighty then, gotta run... Love and miss y'alll!!! Kimmy D Veronica Aloha everyone! Where do I begin? I thought that moving to Hawaii was going to be really hard but to my surprise it has been fairly easy. From the very first time that I stepped off the plane in Honolulu I have felt very welcomed on this island. Things here are very laidback and everyone is very friendly. This is not to say that I don't miss home or all of you that are there. I still do VERY much and think about all of you everyday. I have always said that everyone needs to visit me and I still mean it. I believe that everyone should get the opportunity to come to this beautiful paradise. In the past 12 days that I have been here I have seen things that I never thought I would. The first would be the hike up to Pali lookout. The views from this mountain were amazing! I don't think I have ever seen a landscape as wonderful as it was there. Most of you have seen pictures from this day so I won't go into much detail. I will have to say that my favorite day so far has been the day we had at Manoa Falls. The hike to actually get to the falls was a little hard and muddy. I think we climbed up stairs and rocks for about 1.5 miles before we reached the falls. Let me tell you, it was all well worth it. I have never seen a site as beautiful as this. The pictures that I took does not due it justice. The beaches here are wonderful too. I never realized how strong the sun was until the very first Sunday that we were here, I got burned and I am still peeling from that day. Again, the pictures that I have taken do not show exactly how wonderful the beaches are here. And now for the bad news…you should see the size of the cockroaches we have here! I knew that we had them here but I never new that they were to this extent. When I walk outside at night, I can see them scurrying on the sidewalk next to me. I always have to think back to what my dad said…they are one of the cleanest animals. Yeah right! They are still ugly. Well, sorry to end on such a bad note but that is all I have for now. I will keep everyone up to date as new things arise. Hope everyone is doing well. I love you all. Veronica Chris Hey, what more can I add to all of this? I can't tell those of you at home not to miss us, but I can certainly say don't worry. We have a strong group and we all have each others backs. As you can probably imagine I am doing quite well. In 2 weeks I have yet to wear pants, a button down shirt, or shoes (excluding locals). For me that "home" feeling is sinking in but is still a ways from 100%. What more can I really say? I miss you all and hope you continue to check up on us. Stay tuned to the site over the next few weeks. My hopes are to have it evolve quite a bit before I join the working world. If you have any problems or suggestions for the site feel free to email me chris@betterinhawaii.com. Spread the word about the site to other friends and family. With any luck our journey here will inspire others to seek out the most in their own life. And Clover, if you ever make it out this way, Ill get you up to North Shore so that you can hang out with your cool chill hippy brethren! Aloha! =============================================================================== Day: 016 (August 20th, 2005) (insert clever title here) Yeah to day was pretty much just a lazy day. There was some job related stuff, some volleyball, and beer. *note* My car in now offically in Hawaii though I cannot pick it up yet. Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 017 (August 21th, 2005) So what do you want to do? I dont care. Sunday, the day of rest. So we took advantage of it! It was a slow start due to being up kinda late on Saturday. I think everyone made it to the gym at some point. The only real highlight of the day was that we went for a walk in the early afternoon. Here are some pics to proove it. Down the street outside View of Honolulu Kunia golf course Kunia golf course 2 Kunia golf course 3 Aloha ps. It should get more interesting after I get my car back. ================================================================================ Day: 018 (August 22th, 2005) "Your car became available on 8-22-05" ALRIGHT! Just the news I had been waiting for. Kim was at work, Andy and V were on their way to Honolulu for an interview so Laura and I took the trek to the Matson shipping office. After some quick review of bus routes we figured out that there really is no bus that gets close to the office so we geared up for some walking. We hopped off the bus in Honolulu near Nimitz Hwy. From the bus stop it was something like a 2-3 mile trip on foot. The shipping district of Honolulu is less than glamorous until you start crossing the bridge to Sand Island. There you get to see the ocean again and then realize that you are still in paradise. Now believe it or not this is the first time I've ever shipped my car a crossed and ocean. So I wasn't really sure of the procedure, and given the turn of events to come I'm not sure this was status quo. Anyway, I checked in and had a seat, several minuets pass and a kind worker came over and attempted to pronounce Kubiak. As we are walking to the back door he makes some small talk asking where I was from and such. This is where it was kinda strange. We went through a fenced gate that was guarded by a proxy card system. Then he told me to check out my car and then he left to go back in. I thought it odd that I am in a holding area with other peoples vehicles and I am not being escorted. So I walk the around the vehicle and don't see any damage that my car did not already have from working in the courthouse parking lot. I then try to discreetly check the trunk as I had hidden some heavier items (tools, poker chips, etc) behind the lining and I was curious if they were still there. Then I notice that there was something that I didn't leave in the trunk. There was a kind note and a very nice beach towel… oh yeah there was also a gigantic blowup sex doll named Fatty Patty decked out with a coconut bra, grass skirt and lei. After seeing this only one word came to my mind. TERRI!!! With that I quickly slam the trunk shut and begin to look around to see if anyone else had noticed. Thinking the coast was clear I threw my back pack in the back seat and head back into the office to finish the paperwork. Though it didn't occur to me at the time when I got back to the front desk the attendant asked me if everything was in order with a somewhat subtle smirk on his face. I can only imagine the first person to examine the trunk get a laugh and then proceed to get everyone on the ship yard to check out MY car. I'm even more concerned to think that my car got on a ship in Seattle and went to Oakland and Long Beach before heading to Hawaii and in each port someone got a good laugh. I suppose a benefit of having Fatty Patty (with not one but three COLOSSAL love holes as advertised on the box) is that no one felt the need to look for any additional smuggled items hidden in the trunk. Pic of Patty **MIGHT NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK** After I sign out my car I drive around front to pick up Laura who at this point has no idea what I discovered. As we are driving out of the ship yard I hint to her that there was something in my car that I didn't leave in here. Which ultimately was torture to her curiousness, so I pull in to get some gas and crack the trunk for her to see. She spent a few seconds reading the note before cracking up. So I put a few gallons in and we head to Ala Moana beach where we had plans to meet Andy and V after her interview. We have been to this beach before so instead of hitting the beach right away we began to walk down the peninsula that is located in the park. After a decent walk we discover that there is a beach at the end of it and it was much quieter than the main beach (bonus for exploring). So we set up shop and head out to swim. After about half an hour we head back to the shore to do some sunbathing when Andy and V call to tell us that they are on their way. Several minuets later they arrive and we all chill on the beach before heading back out to the water again. During this time we began to discuss the details of the trip to pick up the car and the present in the trunk. Pretty empty Shot of Diamond Head Early birds Andy at home in the sun Shot of Honolulu After a few hours we all pack up and head home. By this time I am no longer embarrassed of Patty so I yank her out of the trunk and haul her up the stairs to the apartment. From here the night progressed into some volleyball and then bed. Aloha! Ps to Terri, Kim, and Todd Ill get you back! ================================================================================ Day: 019 (August 23th, 2005) Diamond Head - Told by Laura While Kim and V woke up at ungodly hours to actually (gasp) go to work, the rest of us decided to do something productive for a change. Some of the best views to be found on the island can be seen from Diamond Head Crater, so Andy, Chris and I managed to rouse ourselves before 10:00 a.m. in order to beat the heat and tourists and partake in them. We braved Honolulu traffic to get there early, only to find that our definition of early was not quite as early we thought. We fought our way to the top, dodging little Chinese women, and lots of parents carrying young children who were holding up traffic. The trail wasn't too steep, however, we all found ourselves a bit winded after the second set of seemingly never ending stairs. Maybe the slow ones had the right idea! The lookout at top was just as crowded as the trail, with nearly 100 people fighting for the best picture locations. Andy was in top form, however, managed to get a few good ones in. After enjoying the view for a few we headed back down, only to be nearly run over by a tiny, somewhat elderly woman who was apparently in quite a hurry! She all but knocked the three of us out of her way, and was out of sight before we could recover. Along the drive to the park entry Entering the crater View at the summit Another view from the summit Group pic Looking down Shot of Honolulu After finishing our climb, we took a tour of the eastern coast of the island, which has many places by the side of the road to pull off and take pictures. It was a very nice drive, and we stopped to explore quite a bit. I was told that we saw blow hole at one of these locations, but given the time of day and the tides, it was less than impressive. Tour pic 1 Tour pic 2 Tour pic 3 Tour pic 4 Tour pic 5 Tour pic 6 Tour pic 7 Tour pic 8 We returned around the time that Kim got off work, just in time for us to go check out one of the cars that she and I had been looking at. We dragged Chris along with us to see this car, as the owner had sounded slightly creepy on the phone a few days prior. Here is the gist of the conversation: Me: Hi, I'm calling about the Grand Am for sale. Bill: Oh, yeah it's a great car. And it's red. Ladies like red, don't they. Do you like red? Me: Uhhhh, I like cars. (as I shake my head and generally look confused) Bill: Okay, great. Well, I could bring it over for you right now, if you want. Where do you live again? Me: Ummm, I'll call you back. Now, I got some flak for being creeped out by a phone call, but once we all got a glimpse of this guy, I felt vindicated. Let's just say that he was higher than the mountain we had climbed that morning, and nearly as big. Chris got stuck sitting in the back seat of his car on our little test drive, and felt the need to search for whatever sharp objects happened to be in his possession, just in case. As the guy barked out directions for me, the thought crossed all of our minds that we were out in the middle of nowhere. Who knew what he had planned for us. Luckily, the car stalled and distracted us from our situation! We escaped unscathed, but, needless to say, are still carless. Aloha! =============================================================================== Day: 020 (August 24th, 2005) A North Shore We Will Go - Told by Kim So today, my day off, started once again with V getting out of bed ungodly early (as I have to on Thursday!) to go to work. Poor V, but don't pitty us working folks too much, we are in paradise!!! Anyway, Laura had to go to Sports Authority (FINALLY!) to watch some videos, so Chris took her. While that was going on, I went to the gym and sleepy slept (I mean Andy). At noon, the time when Laura was supposed to be off, Chris, Andy and I went to pick her up. Well, she wasn't done at noon. Andy and I ventured around the Waikele Shopping Plaza while Chris sat in the car to wait. An hour later, we finally see her! Next time, we are waiting for a phone call before we up and leave! Finally! North Shore bound! By this point in time, the car is rumbling.... no, no that anything is wrong with Chris's taxi service, it is from our stomachs! After much deliberation, we decided to forgo the oh so wonderful Strotos and try something new, Kua' Aina Burgers. Let me tell ya, they are pretty tasty, and cooked to perfection. We were all impressed. With our hunger satisfied, we progressed to Haleiwa Ali'i Beach Park to look for shells. Well, we failed in our attempt. Oh well, plenty of opportunity to search again. From there, we passed one of my favorite beaches on North Shore, Waimea Beach Park, and headed to Three Tables. This is a perfect spot to snorkel, if you have flippers. The waves are little rougher than what the others have been in thus far, and if you want to visit, better visit this beach in the summer. It is closed most of the winter due to impossible waves (unless you are a really good surfer and failed to mention it to any of us.... shame on you!!!). We set up shop for some sun worshiping, and a bit of swimming. Andy was excited, being the only one so far with a mask in his posession, he could see the fish. Then Andy and I practiced our newfound religion (hence the whole sun worship), while the whities got a little ansy and went back into the water. They missed a lame pick up attempt. Ladies, let me know if this would work on you..... Large man who cut his knee suba dving: Hey! We have a lot in common! I should just lay you down on the towel right now and make love to you! Woman: Hehehe! Your so funny! Large man as he was leaving: Call the Illiki Hotel, I am staying there. We need to start planing the wedding. Ask for (insert name here)'s room. Talk to ya later! Woman: Ok!! I will!! Andy and I thinking: OH NO!!! Please warn us prior to ripping off clothing... EARMUFFS!!!!! LOOK AWAY!!! LOOK AWAY!!! How do guys get away with such cheesey pick up lines? Guys try WAY to hard! As the sun was setting, we decided to head home. We all fended for ourselves for dinner and crashed... yet another perfect day in paradise. I could definatly do this on everyone of my days off!! Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Aloha! =============================================================================== Day: 021 (August 25th, 2005) Quiet night on the home front Chalk up another quiet day. Highlight for the day is I took Kim and Laura to a used car dealership that had a number of cars they were interested in. They found a Neon that seemed to be in decent condition and was a good price for some wheels. They stayed stong and didnt just jump, they are going to take a bit to think it over. Also needless to say the experience was far more enjoyable without Bill! Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 022 (August 26th, 2005) And we go our seperate ways Another regular day for us here today. Andy rode into town with V this morning to give her some company and also to hand out a few apps for some tutoring jobs located nearby. After checking out the job leads he decided to wait for V by spending some time vegging on the beach. It is after this we discovered that Andys hard earned dark skin is not immune to the sun as he came home a different color than when he left. Kim worked. (exciting huh?) I spent my day bouncing in between managing the computer requests my roomates leave me with, trying to get the new version of the site up an running, and just relaxing. I mean, you cant be in Hawaii and have too stressful of a day right? Laura spent her time around the apartment, reading, wondering when she will be able to start working at the job she has had for the past 2 weeks, and swinging by the bank to check out a loan for the soon to be comming car purchase. Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 023 (August 27th, 2005) Shining sunset by the sea shore Well Kim worked (again). Being a late morning Andy, V, and I went to Wendy's for some breakfast. Then it was off to Wally World again too pick up a few more items for the house. Hmmm, something is strange. No, its always packed so thats not it. Oh it must be the gigantic tent and blowup play-scape and BBQs. Evidently today marks the 10th anniversary of this Walmart, and EVERYONE decided to attend. Since our purpose here was not to celebrate but to shop we spent quite some time locating a spot. After several minuets we were able to locate a free spot in the roof top parking lot. Fighting through the masses to the checkout was fun but ultimately we were successful. After the brouhaha at the store we swung by the apartment to pick up Laura and headed to Boarders. What you guys might have not picked up on is that Laura and V are book fiends. When I turn the girls loose on the store I headed to the sport and fitness section to check out hiking books. Though there wasn't a large amount of books in this section I did spend some time reading about wilderness survival. Not that you can get THAT lost on Oahu. The most desolate area is like 5 miles from something. But for those of you that tend to get stuck in tropical environments if you run out of drinking water you can cut down a banana tree. Leave about 6 inches of the stump and wait. The roots will begin to pull water out of the ground and it will pool up in the trunk (as they are hollow like bamboo). One note is that the first 3 "fills" will taste horrible but will become palatable afterwards. I also learned 3 different ways to make a tourniquet (that should come in handy). After the book store (which we had to drag the girls out of) we headed to the Waipahu Transit Center to drop of Andy and V. V's Aunt was spending some time in Hilo and had a short layover in Oahu so they decided to meet them at the airport and chat for a bit. Being the nice roommates that we are we decided to go pick up Kim from work as she was getting off in an hour or so. Good thing we had an hour to blow as it took nearly that long to find. We new its general location but had trouble finding the correct side road (yes, yes that Laura found, will never hear the end of that). Our wait in the parking lot was a whole 5 minuets. With Kim in tow we head home. Upon arriving home everyone goes off to do their own thing but quickly Laura and I become restless. We had made loose plans to check out another sunset earlier this morning. Kim was not feeling well so she stood out. Andy and V were already on a bus heading back home but would be unable to get home and get to a west side beach in time for the sunset. So Laura and I headed out, down H-1 and then north along the west coast line. Not really sure what the beach we stopped at was called but there was a birthday party with a live band in the pavilion to our left. They played Hawaiian music as the sunset and certainly added a lot to the experience. That wrapped up the day so enjoy the pics and until next time. Beach view on arrival Shallow tide Waves Sunset 1 Sunset 2 Sunset 3 Sunset 4 Aloha! ================================================================================ Day: 024 (August 28th, 2005) Traditions In keeping with our newly founded North Shore Sundays tradition we all packed into the Malibu and headed north. Our first stop? Storto's of course. With sandwich in hand we headed east and began looking for a somewhat empty beach. We wound up stopping at Pipeline and eating at the park before heading out into the beach. Upon setting up camp (ie laying out towels) Andy and V headed out to swim. The rest of us decided to start our day with some sun. After 20 minuets or so I am awakened by the sound of V screaming/laughing. I sit up only to see the waves treating her the way Bobby Brown treated Whitney Houston. The waves here were bigger than we have encountered to date, though they were far from dangerous. After a bit V convinced me to head out and try out the water. So following her directions I head to the shore and sit. Before too long a nice 3-4 foot wave greeted be face on and smacked me up the shore a good 5-10 feet or so. Then seconds later the water began to pull me back in as it retreated back to the ocean. Only to be met by another wave. Believe it or no this was actually pretty entertaining (and no I am not masochistic). The rip tide was strong though only for about 20 feet. Once the water got about chest deep it took little effort to stay in place. Shortly, after I was being schooled by the waves we convinced Kim to join in as well. After a bit we climbed out of the ocean, with our swimsuits filled with sand, we laid out in the sun for a bit. There was a fair amount of people at Pipeline though if you walked a few hundred feet from the park entrance you had quite a bit of privacy as your nearest neighbor was 20-30 feet away. Though this had its disadvantages as Kim and Andy seemed to miss overhearing large men making passes on random women on the beach. Shot of the beach and lifeguard tower Busted! More shoreline After the beach we headed to the store to pick up stuff for dinner and something to drink. Then it was off to the apartment where just about everyones first priority was a shower. A shower was much needed as I washed off about 2 lbs of sand from places I don't care to mention. I can only assume that the others had similar experiences. After dinner we decided to get our drink on. V had to sit this one out as she had work in the morning. Andy wound up buying stuff to drink but also decided to sit this one out. So that left Kim, Laura, and I. Kim's drink of choice… I'm not really sure I think it was a margarita with ice cubes vs blended ice. I decided to go for the green apple vodka and Sprite. And sophisticated little Laura popped the top off of her bottle of champagne. Shortly after we started to drink we decided to start a game of Texas Hold'em. It was an entertaining game for a bit but after the 3rd round of drinks or so we had trouble remembering who were the blinds, who bet what, and what the chips were valued at. Even with the difficulty the game pressed on and was still a lot of fun. Each hand took longer to complete and required more concentration at the point we decided to stop Laura had finished her champagne. And Kim and I polished off over half of our bottles. We stayed up and talked for a bit which resulted in me heading to bed a bit earlier than the girls as I got shooshed. Drink On 1 Drink On 2 I slept well, the motion of the ocean waves rocked me to sleep even though I was in my room and not on a boat. I woke up late Monday morning and I heard someone praying to the god of you know what. Needless to say tomorrows post will probably be pretty uninteresting. Aloha! ================================================================================ Days: 025-029 (August 29th, 2005 - September 2nd, 2005) What update? Not a lot has been going on recently. Decided that I would hold off updates until there was at least one interesting day, but I've been catching too much flak. So here is the highlights from last week. Kim worked, Laura worked, V worked, Andy worked at finding a teaching job, and I worked on trying to set up the new version of the site. Other big news is that on Monday I went bed shopping and purchased a REAL bed. Now that may not seem like much but I have been sleeping on an inflatable mattress for over 2 years now. It was not delivered until the 2nd but it was worth the wait! Other than that it has been pretty quiet. Though, Laura and I made it to the beach in Ko Olina on Friday while everyone else was out and about. Though there are no pictures as I forgot my camera on my desk. When I rope everyone down I'll see about them writing up another little blurb to cover what has been going on. Aloha! PS. Our hearts and prayers go out to the viewers and their families of those that have been affected by Katrina. =============================================================================== Day ??? A little note from Andy Hello and Aloha. I hope this note finds everyone happy and healthy. I still really like living here and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon. I don't have a job yet, but that could change as soon as later today as I have an interview. Veronica is working at a nurse staffing agency where they find jobs and extra shifts for those hard working nurses on the island. It is a full time job with good benefits and is located in downtown Honolulu. She spends quite a bit of time riding the bus but it doesn't seem to bother her as much anymore as she gets a lot of reading done. I have found my two loves here: body boarding and snorkeling. The former can be a bit more dangerous than I thought when the surf pounds you into the shoreline, but it is so fun to ride the waves into shore. It is just hard to find a board big enough for me. The snorkeling is incredible. There are so many beautiful fish with amazing colors. Sometimes I feel like I am just stepping into an outdoor aquarium to take a look around. Veronica bought me some informative books to help me identify the flora and fauna of the island. I get the biggest kick out of just watching the birds or trying to label the trees and plants. My favorite plant here is probably the "bird of paradise", which has a very intricate flower that actually resembles a bird in flight. The flower is orange and purple. The hibiscus flowers are very nice also, as these are used to make most of the leis on the island. I also enjoy the plumaria trees, whose yellow and white flowers dispense such a sweet aroma. The native Hawaiians are a very hospitable people in my opinion. It is still an odd feeling to be a part of such an obvious minority, but it is a feeling everyone should experience at some point in their lives. Probably leaves you feeling more humbled than anything else. I forgot to mention the wildfires in my first note but they were burning away when we arrived and kept doing so for about a week afterwards. They have since died out. I think my favorite part of the island of Oahu is North Shore. The little town of Haleiwa, which is on North Shore, is a historic, small, laid-back place which makes you feel the Aloha spirit. There are also some really neat places to eat there such as Storto's (amazing subs and grinders), Pizza Bob's, Kama'Aina Burgers, Killer Taco, and the shrimp shacks alongside the road. Well, I don't want to talk your ears off. I love you all very much and you are in my thoughts everyday here. Aloha for now. ** As of this posting Andy did in fact get a job!!!... And quit it the very same day! I will leave the details for him to share. ** ================================================================================ Day ??? Little note from Kim Aloha!!!! HOLY COW!!! We have been down here for a month and a half already! I guess time flies when you are in paradise! Or when you are working all the time, take your pick! So Chris has decided to be lazy and do nothing but play computer games all the time instead of update the site, so I guess it is up to us. However, I update my photo site, http://photos.yahoo.com/rt2297, every Sunday night. So it only has pictures from Thursdays and Sundays on it, but some are pretty good! Plus it gets updated more frequently then this site, so at least you can see where we have been! ** Or I spend most of my day reminding certain people that they need to write something for the site! ** So, the past few weeks have pretty much gone as follows: MTWFS- work at the VCA Vet Clinic in Pearl City. It is about a 10 minute drive from our humble abode, but via The Bus, takes about 30. But due to the times The Bus actually runs close to the apartment, I have to leave an hour and 15 mins before I have to be at the clinic, then sit around and wait. Needless to say, I have read about 10 books so far. My schedule is now set in stone (hopefully), and my hours are pretty random. For example, M 9-6, T 12-9pm, W 7am-4, F 9-6 and S 7-4…. So I get home (usually about an hour after I got off work), work out, and sleep (hence the whole no update from me in a while!). At the clinic, I do reception work. I have pretty much decided that the tech staff and the 8 vets we have in the clinic would not be able to function a single day without the 8 ladies who share receptionist duties! I guess number order is not a big deal in vet school! I love it! I get to play with puppies when they come in (everyone say "Awww, how cute!!!") and owners who have no idea what is going on (See examples). Example 1: You will all get a kick out of this, I know I did! A woman calls the other day and says her rabbit has maggots. I am sitting there pondering why a rabbit would have maggots and ask her if there where any open sores on the pet, explaining how that could attract flies, hence the maggots. She said no, but the cage hasn't been cleaned in a year! My advice to her, CLEAN THE FREAKIN CAGE!!! Of course I told her nicely, as anyone would do. Then she proceeded to ask what to do with all the crap. I stated the obvious again, throw it away. She asked if I would throw it in the backyard. I said calmly stated that I would throw it into a garbage bag and put it out with the trash, that way she won't get a ton of flies once the maggots develop fully. She replied with a great sense of shock, stating she didn't know that maggots magically transformed (yeah, she said it!) into flies! Example 2: This is from my 2nd week at work. A guy calls and said we need to see his dog. I said I would make an appointment, and asked if we had seen his animal before. He said no, and proceeded to tell me that his dog was hit a by a car last week and the dog seemed fine so they didn't take him to the vets. Well now (surprise, surprise!) the dog was having some major issues. I asked for some basic info to start a chart and when I got to the dogs age, my jaw dropped. The guy told me the animal was 15 years old! Gee! No wonder why the dog isn't acting right! It would be like being 105 years old and being pushed down the stairs! Sadly, the dog didn't make it, all due to owner stupidity. Example 3: On a more humorous note, a woman called to confirm her appointment for her dog for the next day. I stated toward the end of the conversation, "See you and (insert pets name here) then!" To which she told me she wasn't bringing in her pet, she didn't think she had to. Her appointment was for her k9 annual vaccines. I have made an observation from working at this clinic. Pets down here only get deathly ill on Saturdays. Part of me wonders if the animals have been sick all week, and Saturday was the first day the owner took the time to notice, while the other part of me thinks it may just be a phenomenon. Let me know what your thoughts are! Ok, nuff about work. On to bigger and better things… like my two amazing days off! Thursday and Sundays!!! I am so happy! Most Thursdays, whoever is home (usually Chris and Laura… sometimes Andy) head for a beach. I am never too picky where we go. One week it was Three Tables. It is a great beach with a cool reef environment growing. I swear it has doubled in size since the last time I was here. The next week we hit Waimea Bay Beach Park. This is one of my favorite beaches! The water is crystal clear (no cool fish or anything, just nice tranquility… till winter when the waves are so high only half the beach is there!) and the sand is perfect. Well, of course, cause it was my day off, it rained. We put up with the cold rain for a while (it was cold to us due to the sunning), but then it poured! So we packed up and headed to Sharks Cove (I wanted to test out my new snorkel gear I had purchased the week before!). I was freakin awesome, but Laura and Chris didn't go in (snorkeless), so Andy and I only stayed for a little while. This past Thursday, Laura, Chris and I went to Ko Olina. I was in sun worshipers heaven. Our Sunday traditions have still been going strong. We did go to the Waikiki Mele, or giant block party, on Saturday Sept 10th, it was very cool. There were a bunch of stages set up in the street with various local acts and dancers, plus any kind of food you can think of! And lots of leis! There are pictures on my photo site. Most of our Sundays have been spent on various beaches on North Shore; Pipeline beach, Sunset Beach, Three Tables, End of the Road… just to name a few. On Sept 11th, we had our own day to remember. We took V to all the parts of the East Coast of the island she hadn't been yet. Got some great pictures (see my site album Sunday around the Island). We stopped at Waimanalo Beach Park, ate lunch outside the Sea Life Park (known from the movie 50 First Dates), and ended up watching the sunset at Three Tables. It was great! This Sunday was a bit more mellow. I went and worked out (as usual), then we tried to get into Ko Olina, but failed due to lack of parking. So we went down the Waianea Coast and stopped at a locals beach, then continued to the end of the road on the south west side of the island. (there are pictures from there too!). It was great! Well, hope I haven't managed to bore you to pieces! I know it is long, but I haven't wrote in a while! Write me!! All of you!!! We are all doing great and lovin life!! Feel free to call me (Sundays are best! They are free!!) anytime! And smile! You can always say that you have people in paradise that you can go and visit anytime! Go ahead! Make everyone around you jelous!!! Love and miss ya'all!!! A hui ho!!! (Hawaiian online dictionary http://www.hisurf.com/hawaiian/dictionary.html ) Kimmy D ================================================================================ Day xxx Little note from Laura Okay, so Chris is catching major flack for the lack of updates to the website lately, and, as he's too busy watching movies and playing computer games, I guess it's up to the rest of us to let everyone know what we've been up to. We've each been delegated by our head of house to write up our impressions of the past few weeks, so here are mine. ** Laura was also given the task to write the update for Labor Day weekend which has been "almost done" for like 2-3 weeks now. (grumble) and IM the one sitting around doing nothing! Remember except for 4-5 days since the last update THREE of us are unemployed and do nothing! ** About three weeks ago, I finally started working at Sports Authority in their shoe department (this is two weeks after I was officially hired). I was ready for a job, guess I thought I'd feel more like an actual resident of the state of Hawaii. So, I went in, was shown how to use the phone, intercom and computer system, and then let loose to bestow my vast knowledge of footwear upon the unlucky shoppers of Leeward Oahu. What I didn't know at the time was that my knowledge was no less vast than any of the other seasoned employees of the footwear department. One of them openly admitted that he was only there to make the Nike wall of shoes look good. Names will not be given to protect the guilty, but I feel the need to share a shopping experience that Chris and I had at Sports Authority a week or so after I quit (yes, I quit. The work was boring, I received no training, the place was unorganized, and management completely ignored my request for part time only). Anyways, about a week after I quit, the running shoes that I've been eyeing went on sale. The deal was too good to pass up, and I desperately needed new shoes, so Chris was kind enough to offer to go in and get them for me so I wouldn't have to bump into my former boss, who I figured was none too happy with me. So, I wrote down the exact shoe and size for him, even gave him directions on exactly where it would be located. He walks off in the direction of the store, and I watch from the car. Ten minutes pass, then fifteen. The parking lot is empty, so I can only assume that the store must be as well. Twenty minutes pass, and I begin to worry. What can he be doing? Finally, he shows up with a box and says, "Well, I got the right color, but it's a 7D extra wide. The guy working said that there wasn't any big difference between that and normal width, and that this would work just fine." Does this give you a good idea about the caliber of employees working at Sports Authority? For the most part I've been enjoying being jobless again, though when it came time to pay rent for this coming month I decided to get back on the ball. The last week or so I've spent looking at classifieds and online job postings, and sending out mass quantities of resumes. I was offered a job at BCRC, a company that works with behaviorally challenged kids, and by that I mean kids that hit, bite, scratch, and some that don't know how to wipe themselves in the bathroom. Not sure about that one yet, it sounds slightly difficult. Other than that, I've mostly just been hanging out with the other jobless in our apartment. The tropical storms in the Central Pacific are bypassing us by quite a bit, but giving us enough rain to interfere with beach time. We did go into town last weekend to celebrate an Irish Pubs' Halfway to St. Patty's Day festival. We drank some good Irish beer and chatted with the entertainment, a funny old man named Trevor who sang songs to our table. They were having an Irish toast contest, and we suggested that Chris should give one, being the best public speaker among us. Now, all the toasters got a free beer, but the top six get to give another toast at the real contest in March. The winner of that gets a free trip to Vegas. Chris thought hard, but in the end decided to take time and prepare a toast for one of the other pre-qualifying toast contests (preferably writing it after drinking somewhat less beer and Jager bombs). ** MMMM Jager ** =============================================================================== Day xxx Note from Chris As it has been said before, I am a good for nothing stick in the mud that does nothing except sit around and wait to read hate mail. Now for those of you wishing to join me in the realm of reality I'm sure you will be able to piece together your own truths (not like anyone is going to listen to me any way, I am after all the EVIL one!). Well, you have now read the culmination of 3 weeks worth of pushing my loving roomies to write you. If you did not get a letter written to you *cough veronica* then it must mean that you are not loved and please feel free to confront that individual any way you seem fit. I will take a moment and inform you that the newly revised version of the site is still in its very pathetic stage. For every one scripting/web engine interface I attempt to learn there are about seven other scripting languages/components that I need to learn. So if any of our viewers are competent in PHP, Nuke, MY-SQL, PERL, Java-Script, XML, and RSS please let me know if you can lend a hand and Ill be sure to share your work with the BetterInHawaii viewers! Also, as people start to get jobs (and subsequently quit them) our day to day activities begin to get into a grind. So updates here will probably be limited to individual updates on how their past week has been and somewhat regular weekend updates as just about everyone is making an effort to get them off (or at least Sundays). As for me I am basking in my unemployment, I have put in a few applications but really haven't heard much back from them. One of them is with the Navy and I'm assuming as with most federal employment I wont hear anything for several more weeks an then out of the blue I will get a call. Other than that not much going on we hit the beach 2-3 times a week, I check out the paper in the mornings, and read lots of hate mail. Now I wont go into great detail as some of my fellow kama'aina friends may actually write about them but here are some of my most memorable moments of the past several weeks. Halfway to St Patty's at O'Tools, learned why there are signs that say "don't feed the birds", drinking cheap beer at the block party in Waikiki, finally getting to see "blow hole" working (keep your mind out of the gutter please), drinking the night away on labor day weekend (am I starting to sound like a lush?), and catching the sunsets. Now I have lots of pics and even though it goes against my better judgment to post them with out the corresponding stories I will most likely in the next few days. Until next time, ALOHA! =============================================================================== Day xxx Note from Veronica Aloha everyone! So Chris has been on my case for about two weeks to write this note about what I have been doing, so here goes. Hawaii has been treating me great so far. I love every part of it except for maybe the part where I have to get up at 5 in the morning to catch the bus and be at work by 8. Yes, I do have a job now. I am working at Kahu Malama Nurses. It is an agency that places nurses with hospitals that need shifts to be filled. I am working as an HR assistant so I am using my hard earned education. When I first started, I didn't think I was going to like it as much as I do. There are days there that I am so busy that I don't even know what time it is and I totally forget about lunch. Usually it can be 2 or 3 before I even think about food. A typical day goes like this: I get there at 8 and start working on some of the previous day's paperwork. I do this until about 9-9:30 when Tania (my boss) gets into work. At about 9:30 is when the nurses usually start arriving. I never know how many we will have in a day since Tania usually books them in the previous night. We are averaging about 8 nurses a day and they are in the office for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. When they first arrive, I go and greet them and have them fill out an application, reference authorization form, and also their skills summery. This lets us know how well they are familiar with a certain area and if we can work them there. Once that is completed I collect about 8 items that they were told to bring in. Things like driver's license, SS card, shot records, etc. If they have everything that we have asked for then they meet with Tania for an interview and return to me to take some exams. Once the exams are completed, and if they pass, they return to Tania where she informs them that they have been hired and are given their packets. They then return to me and watch a short video about the company and fill out all their payroll paperwork. Once that is completed they return to Tania's office where the process is finishes. Ok, so imagine all this with about 6-8 people all arriving 1/2 hour apart from each other. Now you can see why I forget about the time and lunch as well. Oh and in the meantime, while they applicant is with Tania, I am entering all their information into the system as well as answering phones calls etc. Don't take me wrong I am not complaining, I am just trying to give you a glimpse into my day. Luckily for me, we do not schedule applicants in the afternoon so that time is spent catching up and cleaning off my desk. The people that I work with are wonderful and all but one has been on Oahu for years. There is one guy that just arrived here like me and the other lady that has been here the least will be going on three years. It seems that most people come to the island and don't want to leave. Ok so enough about work. Let me tell you about Hawaii so far. I absolutely love it here! I have finally figured out that I would not mind living here for more then one year but I do not want to stay forever (I am sure most of you are glad to hear that). The island is gorgeous and the people are great but I miss the Midwest a little. I have finally learned how to snorkel and not be afraid of breathing with it. A few weekends ago we went around most of the island (which I had not been to yet) and spent the day at different beaches and touristy spots. I can't really say that I have a favorite spot but if I had to pick I would say Blow Hole (which Chris talks about) and three tables. This is where we did our snorkeling. I have not yet purchases a set but Kim was kind enough to let me use her. I can't even explain the amount of coral and fish life that lies just below the surface. Next time I go, I plan on having an underwater camera so I can show you what I see. The fish all have amazing colors on them and I even got to see a sea cucumber. How often can you say that! I think the next place I want to visit is Shark's Cove (which I hear from Andy and Kim is even better then Three Tables). I have so much to tell you but this is getting too long. I guess that is the reason that Chris has been bugging us for weeks now to do our stories. I promise that from now on I will write more often so that this doesn't become a book. I love you all and miss you! Veronica ================================================================================ Weekend of Sept 9th - 11th - As told by Andy This weekend commenced on Friday, Sept. 9th. The girls saw something in the paper the night before about an Aloha Block Party in Honolulu for Friday night. It sounded like a good time and we decided we would head downtown for the festivities. Chris drove his car into the big city with Laura and I as passengers. I've never been to a place where I enjoy simple car rides as much as I do here. Every time we go out, I notice some species of plant or some intriguing building or monument that I hadn't observed before. Anyway, us three headed downtown in Christopher's (recently dubbed Saint Christopher by me) car, while the other two yahoos, I mean Veronica and Kim, were going to take the bus from work to meet us. We had an interesting time finding parking downtown. As we neared the party site, the roads were all blocked off in typical block party fashion. But instead of directing us towards parking or to another main road, we were eventually detoured into two separate hotel entrances where we received snooty looks from the doormen and bell boys. Anyhow, we eventually found a place to park, and the three of us set out on foot and quickly found ourselves amongst a gathering crowd of early party goers. Even though the party was on the main Waikiki Street, Kalakua Ave., I had a hard time explaining where V needed to get off the bus at for the block party. What can I say; even we males with our innate sense of direction get turned around every now and then. Anyhow, we met up with V near the International Marketplace. Right before we met up with her in the crowd, Chris and I had an interesting conversation with a middle-aged man from St. Clair Shores, Michigan, who was recruiting people for a pub crawl to take place that evening. It actually sounded like fun and that we would meet some neat people, but we agreed we had enough to do with alcohol for awhile after Labor Day weekend's festivities. The group of four of us now, with the addition of V, walked the entire length of the block party and Kalakua Ave, perusing the food tents and enjoying the sweet aroma's that drifted from them. While waiting for Kim to arrive, we found a beer tent, one of many actually at the block party. I realize that I said we were done with having anything to drink for a while, but c'mon ladies and gents, it was a beer tent and it was begging us to stop in for a frosty sip of instant refreshment. What group of young Midwesterners at a block party, anywhere in the world for that matter, could conscientiously ignore a beer tent? (Especially when two people in our group are beaming with Polish heritage and a beer tent is a given at any Polish festivity) Also the beer was only $2 apiece. After a tiring bus ride, Kim arrived and we decided to try Cheeseburger In Paradise for dinner that evening. I can't remember exactly what everyone ordered, but my burger was incredible, complete with a huge slice of pineapple. V really enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwich on Hawaiian bread. Plus the fries were spectacular. Kim didn't eat much and from what I remember, Laura and Chris really liked their burgers too. Oh yeah, our laid-back server knocked over a rack containing bottles of ketchup, mustard and steak sauce towards our table. The glass and its former contents got close to Kim, but she managed to avoid it. Remember, she is only susceptible to that elusive condiment known to us as blue cheese dressing. After dinner we caught a couple stage acts of hula dancers and army boys with guitars and ukuleles. Very high quality, relaxing entertainment in my opinion. Although Honolulu is by far, as everyone already knows, the most tourist-laden place on the island, there is a certain mystique about it that gets me every time we visit its confines. There is something so amazing about thinking that at any given time you are walking next to and among visitors from all over the world. Also, everyone always seems in such a laid back, relaxed mood in Honolulu too. I know it is because they are on vacation, I just really appreciate this break I am getting from the faster-paced, Midwestern lifestyle. There is much to be said for the setting of the city too. It is bordered by the Pacific on one side and the mountains on the other. I love looking down the side streets lined with skyscrapers, and seeing the mountains at the end of the road, protruding out of the earth while towering over the buildings and constantly reminding me that although quite ingenious, the human race can not light a candlestick next to the raw and gentle power of Mother Nature. Kim had to work on Saturday and the rest of us took a while getting up and relaxed during the morning reading the newspaper and grabbing a quick bite to eat. My face was glued to ESPN.com since we don't have a TV and I can't watch games at a bar or restaurant due to the time difference (a game that starts at noon in Michigan starts at six in the AM here). Anyhow, I was interested in the outcome of the Michigan State vs. Hawaii college football game. Hawaii won last year, but we came away victorious this year by a score of 42-14. Don't worry; I'll spare you the fight song here. In the afternoon, the four of us minus the working woman headed to Ko'olina and visited lagoon number two. It just looked like a normal, protected lagoon-beach from a distance. But upon closer review, this was definitely my favorite beach at Ko'olina. First of all, the lagoon was not very busy, which is always a bonus for beaches, unless you are out bikini searching…..oops, did I say that out loud. That's alright, I'm sure Saint Christopher will pardon me. Moving on, our group found our own personal cabana shade umbrella to shield us a bit from the sun. The floor of the ocean looked pretty barren, but I saw people snorkeling and decided to try mine out. Chris and Laura went for a swim exploring the lagoon and I discovered it was filled with large rocks and many tropical fish species. I won't even try describing snorkeling in Hawaii, because my description won't due the experience justice. It is the most beautiful and moving experience I could ever imagine, but then again, I have always had an affinity for wildlife and especially marine biology. It is akin to an explosion of color under water. There are so many shapes, sizes, and species that your eyes can't take it in all at once. I let Veronica use my snorkel for a while too, and she got to experience snorkeling in Hawaii for the first time. Chris and Laura didn't have snorkel gear as of yet, but they did a lot of swimming around the lagoon. Afterwards we laid in the shade for a while and Chris started feeding this little bird (looked similar to a sparrow from the Midwest) cheese crackers and we were getting a kick out of how close it came to us. After a couple minutes, we were surrounded by about twenty birds of four or five different species waiting to be fed. Probably the reason they advise you not to feed the birds. But these birds aren't loud, ugly, and annoying like sea gulls are. They are nice to observe and we enjoyed our bird-watching for a while until we (you can usually insert Laura's name here) started getting hungry. I suggested Taco Bell, much to Chris's demise, and there was no question from that point on where we were going. Chris had been doing good controlling his Taco Bell cravings, but I whetted his appetite and revived his memory a little too much by describing a delicious chicken quesadilla. After taking some Toxic Hell home for Kim, we all relaxed throughout the evening. We eventually made a trip to the grocery store for some items and then retreated again to our humble abode. Later that evening we gathered in our empty living room and reminisced about our experiences here so far and some of the things we missed about Michigan. It was a good talk, and it is these relaxed group conversations that will always help me remember the friends I spent my time with in Hawaii. Sunday was a long day, and I realize I wrote a lot, so I won't be so specific about every detail like I have a habit of doing time and again. We decided to drive around most of the island this day, and I imagine Chris's foot was pretty tired from driving by the end of the day. We headed out going east towards Honolulu, got off the highway on the outskirts of town, and drove towards Diamond Head. After getting a good view of the volcano from the road, we rounded the once fire breathing monstrosity and found ourselves driving through the windward (or very east side) of the island. There are some huge homes on this part of the island. But it is also a lesson in parity, because every once in a while you see a little shack, barely habitable squeezed into a small space between mansions. Probably someone born and raised in Hawaii whose descendants have lived at that spot for generations. I really don't blame them for not selling and moving on. Their real estate could offer a heavy amount of money in return, but for people who appreciate history and the past and love life in the fullest and truest of ways, it is easy for sentimental value to outweigh monetary gains. Anyway, we reach the windward coast and bypass Hanama Bay, which has about the best snorkeling on the island. We'll save that for another day. I've never been to California (except for San Francisco's airport on the way here), but from what I've read and seen in movies I think Hawaii's windward coast is made up of stretches of land that are very similar to parts of the California coastline. What I speak of are narrow roads with the ocean and the coast's cliffs on the right, and gentle rolling elevation on the left. There are many roadside stops on this road where we pause on our journey to take pictures or instill frames in our minds of the magnificent blue and teal waves roaring up and crashing onto lava formations which exist in shapes and sizes that captivate one's imagination. One such formation is "Blowhole", which was already mentioned on this site. It was in rare form on this day according to Kim. The water would crash into the lava rocks, and about three seconds later would come rushing out of this small hole in the rock structures. Not hard to see how it got its name, as it looks and sounds just like a whale's blowhole. A ways up the road we stopped and unpacked our giant cooler and found a nice spot to have lunch near Sea Life Park. We found a nice sandy spot on a little cliff overlooking Kaoh and Manana Islands, both of which serve as bird refuges. I noticed as we ate that there were some natives fishing off the rocks on the beach. While wondering what they catch I observed about six male Japanese tourists brazenly walk right up to where the fishermen were and start snapping pictures. The fishermen did nothing but keep on fishing, ignoring the disturbance. It made me think of the almost stoic patience the natives have in light of the sometimes too forward tourist. I realize that the tourism industry fuels the island's economy, but that doesn't mean that this island isn't somebody's native land and that is a fact and idea that should always be realized and regarded with reverence by visitors. Moving on, we had a really nice lunch and continued on to our first beach experience of the day. By the end of the year I will be probably be notorious for getting beach names mixed up because there are so many of them, but regardless of its name, all beaches have sand and water and are heaven on earth, plus I bet ya'll readers won't be too upset if I mess up a couple of names. We stopped at Waimanalo Beach Park and the girls relaxed in the sun while Chris and I ventured into the water. I should say, risked our lives. The waves and the surf at this beach were incredibly powerful. It was a feat to make it through the first five feet of water. Farther out in the water now, Chris took on the advancing waves with vigor and jumped and bobbed over each one. I grabbed my body board and received another butt kicking at the hands of Mother Nature. It is an awesome feeling of power and grace riding the waves into the beach, but I found that if you push over the crest of the waves too far, you fall into the surf and get pounded into the shore. I have never felt such a feeling of helplessness or loss of control as when that surf knocks you down, blinds you, and pulls you in all directions. That was a lot of fun. After a while the girls joined us in our battle against the waves. They were very good at wading over them or ducking into the water underneath them too. We were careful of the water at that beach because there were posted signs to beware of the Portugese Man of War. It is this water and beach dwelling creature that looks like a blue plastic bag. The things are poisonous though and we kept our eyes peeled but did not see any. Before we left, we saw a group of natives carry a huge canoe to the shore and go out for a quick trip on it. It was really cool to watch them paddle and ascend the waves, and I felt like I was transformed back generations ago to the time when the first Polynesians, from Bora Bora I believe, arrived on these island now known as Hawaii in their canoes. Our next beach stop was majestic Kahana Bay. This is V's personal favorite, and the rest of us enjoy it also. The bay is protected on two sides by huge, green mountainsides. The water is an inviting shade of green, and the place doesn't ever seem busy. We had fun swimming for a while in this serene bay, then got back in the car and headed for Three Tables, this beach to be our last stop of the day. It was nearing sunset when we got here. This beach has really sweet snorkeling, so I don't have to tell you what I did for the next half hour. Kim did some snorkeling and then was generous and let V borrow her gear so she could also share in the underwater beauty. Again, we saw so many amazing types of fish. After this, we joined Chris and Laura on the beach and enjoyed a breathtaking sunset. Lake Michigan sunsets will always hold a special place in my heart, but these Hawaiian sunsets are visions of beauty and peace beyond words. I only hope that everyone and anyone reading this can experience a Hawaiian sunset with a loved one or people they care about someday. The drive home was a perfect end to the day. We drove through the pineapple fields and the fruits' sweet aroma filled our noses. I think to myself, this was a weekend to live for. ================================================================================ Paragraphs Andy, Paragraphs! - Chris Well as promised here are the pics that have been taken since the lull in updates. I'm sorry if the order of them is a little off. In efforts to streamline the posting process I am looking into ways of automating the process of resizing images and I am learning as I go. The Beach Snorkeling @ Sharks Cove Image Image Image Image Image A Night @ The Aloha Festival Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Night Chilln @ Home (Yes we need furniture and stay tuned to see how YOU can help! Image Image Image Sites Along The Drive Up The Windward Coast Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image More Beaches, The Picnic, And Some Surf Image Image Image Image Image Image Image A Quick Stop Off @ Kahana Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Another Sunset Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Quick Stop @ Ko Olina Image Image Image Leeward Side Beaches w/Sunset Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Night Shots of Cityscape From Near by Kunia Park Image Image Image Image Image Young Hula-ers Image Image Another Northshore Sunset Trip Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Hope you enjoyed them! ================================================================================ I think I can see my house from here - As told by Laura Okay, so once again, there hasn't been an update in a while. So, before we get anymore hate mail, here's a little recap of the last week or so. V's been working a lot, as usual. Andy had a week off of work and was supposed to spend it in training learning about kids with behavior problems. Whoops! There must be some kind of law that you can't spend your birthday in training. He went snorkeling with Chris and I instead, and then the four of us went out to the Irish Pub that night for some drinks and some really spicy popcorn chicken (where is Kim, you ask? Don't worry, I'll get to that in a second). I went with Andy to one of the few training sessions he attended, a crisis prevention course. That was enough to convince me that I don't want his job, but on the bright side, I know how to block a punch and break a choke hold now. Since then, I've been applying for jobs like mad. Chris apparently finally got bored with his game the day everyone else was gone and decided to apply for a few jobs. Hurray! I'm not really sure what's going on with Kim, we've barely seen her for two weeks. She's spent quite a bit of time with her new boyfriend, Troy. In fact, the two of them went to the Big Island for a couple of days this past weekend. Apparently, they had a great time, but if you want to know more about it, email her (you'll probably hear from her before we do!). Anyway, the rest of us decided to do something fun on Sunday, since we'd been ditched. After looking through V's 101 Fun Things To Do In Hawaii book, we all agreed to go parasailing. We picked a company, and learned that we had 3 options. We could go 300 or 600 feet in the air, or pick the extreme parasailing, which is 1200 feet. I was the chicken who only wanted to do the 300 feet, and I caught quite a bit of flack for it. That is, until we were actually up in the air. When you're 300 feet above choppy water, even little wind gusts make you hold your breath a bit (or make you scream in my case). Everyone had fun, but I think we all agreed that we were high enough. Oh, and just FYI, always assume that you are really going to get wet if you go parasailing, even if Veronica says differently. She said that we'd take off from the boat, and land in it, but she forgot to mention that the driver of the boat would likely dump us in the water before reeling us in all the way. He did give us the option to stay dry if we wanted to, and Chris and I said that we would prefer that. Someone apparently told him to dunk us, though (I wonder who that could be?). We got V and Andy back, however. The driver dunked them twice, and V had to go in over her head to make sure Andy got wet too (sucks to be short, don't it). The funniest part of the day was after we got off the boat, however. The thought of a 45 minute ride home in wet jeans was so unpleasant that we decided to ride home without them and pray that we didn't get pulled over! I don't think the guy in the big truck next to us figured out why V and I wore jackets over our laps, but I'm not sure. Shot of some of the deep sea catches Shot of Diamond Head Setting up the parachute Rainbow over Honolulu Andy and V dry 1 Andy and V dry 2 Andy and V wet 1 Andy and V wet 2 Andy and V wet 3 Touchdown! A very wet ride home 1 A very wet ride home 2 ================================================================================ Hey folks Laura finally finished writing about Labor Day weekend!! Labor Day - As told by Laura The Friday before Labor Day marked my first day off since starting work at Sports Authority. Kim and V were working, and Andy was off job hunting, so Chris and I decided to celebrate my day off by going to Ko Olina. We spent a very lazy day at the beach, and I finished off that evening by reading one of the twenty-some books that V and I had bought at Borders the weekend before. I don't remember what anyone else did that night, but it was a really good book (Dad you should look for The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry, you'll like it). While the rest of the group lazed around all day, I worked on Saturday, and it was actually the first day of retail that I wasn't bored out of my mind. To this day I still have nightmares about soccer moms trying to find cleats for their young ones. You have no idea what they can do to a store, but picture cleats flying everywhere and fifteen different women yelling at you, "Um, excuse me miss, but why don't you have my kids' size?" By 6:30, half and hour before I got off, the store had finally calmed down some, and the group had arrived to pick out buggy boards to use at the beach the next day and distract me until the end of my shift. The five of us then went to Honolulu to eat. We walked down by Waikiki, caught some of the Sunset on the Beach movie, and had a good dinner at Lulu's. V attempted to talk me into calling in to work the next day so we could all go to the beach together, but I decided that it would be better to just quit all together. After all, it was only a retail job, as Chris kept pointing out. So, the five of us did get our beach time on Sunday. After trying out Pizza Bob's we continued to drive along North Shore and face the major traffic and completely full parking lots. We finally managed to park at Pipeline, the beach that is famous for its monster waves and surfers in the winter. Even now we got pounded by the waves quite a bit. Andy and I had bought buggy boards to use in the surf, and just FYI, they are much trickier to use than they look. Andy did alright with his, but I had a tough time staying on top of my cheap kid-sized board. Eventually I gave up on it and went to get knocked around in the shallow water with the rest of the group. After taking a beating from the waves all day long, we agreed that a relaxing night with a few beers sounded good. Kim had to work on Labor Day, but the rest of us slept in late and then decided that some more beach time was in order (preferably at a slightly calmer beach). So we headed out to the Ko Olina lagoons, only to find them already packed by the time we got there. We ended up at a beach in Waianae, on the Leeward Coast of the island. It was a little rougher than we would have liked, and filled with locals who actually knew what to do with their buggy boards. We hung around for a while after we were done swimming, and Andy and I picked up a few pointers by watching little kids ride the waves with their boards and do flips and other tricks. FYI Most of the pics from this time frame were posted in the large picture update post above. =========================================================================== PICS FIXED!!! - Chris Just letting you know I recieved a few emails that the pics for the parasailing post where not working. This has been resolved, there was a minor miscaluation using the new automated image resizing system. Sorry! Also, If your quick you would have seen our new logo located at the top of the screen. Yes, yes I know the image background color does not match. Fear not because the drab grey background will not be present in the new installment of the site. So please take a moment and me know what you think of the new logo.