Wednesday 3/2/05 -Took a walk up a path I found across from my driveway.  You can see where I started and at the top of the cliff is where I stopped.  It was made of rock with plants all in-between.  It looked interesting with blooming trees all along the top.  Boy was it remarkable!  I had to stop 3 times (to breathe) on my way up this cement walkway that was a switch-back design straight up a cliff to the elementary school.  I guess it's a shortcut for the children to get to school.  I went to Lihue in the afternoon and picked up my RoadRunner modem, made arrangements to rent a different car for next Monday from "Rent a Wreck" until I can buy one, and drove all around Koloa Town (still thinking about that new place I'll need with an extra bedroom).  Then I came home and cleaned, unpacked, and cleaned again.  The cottage is cute but it was a lot of work to get it cleaned up.  Living in a small place again is a lot of work.  I had forgotten how fast small places get cluttered.

Thursday 3/3/05 - I worked all day on my e-Learning package for SANS and then at 4:30 left early to go to Kauai Community College for my SANS Security Essentials Bootcamp.  This will be a study group type of class to prepare for the GIAC (Global Information Assurance Certification) exams.  I drove around Lihue to check out the housing status for later consideration until class started.  This class will last until the end of May and will be an amazing certification.  This is the first time they have offered it in Kauai.  The first class was a lecture by Stephen Northcut who is the first person I spoke to about working with SANS.  He is quite famous for his Network Security classes and their Storm Center which tracks virus attacks, etc.  The rest of the classes will actually be study group style.  We will read, do online lessons, online workshops, practice tests, and then come prepared with questions each week.  The books are unbelievable and at the end of the course we must do a practicum and then take the certification exams within 5 months!

Friday 3/4/05 - When I moved here I looked up Hanapepe on the Internet and saw that every Friday the artisans open up all of the shops until very late.  Each shop takes a turn sponsoring the event.  There are snacks, chats, and music on the street.  I had a great time walking through all of the shops, seeing the restaurants that were packed full and noticing that there was even a little mini market I hadn't noticed. The music was great and it was nice to chat with all of the artists.  I especially enjoyed talking with Arius Hopman, a watercolor and digital photographer whose web site I had visited just weeks before while researching Hanapepe.  The last shop I visited had miniature tea sets.  I purchased a gift for Karen that is the cutest little miniature tea set in a picnic basket that I will give her when they come in June as a thank you for letting me stay with them in LA.  You won't believe this... There were 3 ladies sitting at the back playing scrabble (Scrabble dictionaries at hand) and after I introduced myself we chatted a bit and I found that they play all the time and when they invited me to join of course I was there!  I will go down regularly when I need a break and join in.  I'm really looking forward to playing.  It made me miss Fran and our regular Scrabble nights.  Maybe by the time Fran visits I'll be a regular and she can join in too.

Saturday 3/5/05 - This morning I walked to the Swinging Bridge and crossed over to an old logging road and came back around to town by a small road.  It had to have been a 2 mile walk at least!  I saw bromeliads clinging to the rock cliffs, a very nice horse tied to a tree, orchid greenhouses that were about 2 city blocks long that I could see into really well, and then I finally came to the end of the galleries on my road where I had been last night. 

Next to the swinging bridge is Waimea’s Menehune Ditch

This ditch is full of history.  An article on the internet says it's history, fun and magic all rolled into one.  A Territory of Hawaii plaque marks the ditch—a smooth-lined watercourse still functioning as part of the Kekaha-Waimea plantation ditch system. Accounts of the ditch appear in the journals of British explorers where it was extolled for its engineering. It was supposedly built by the Menehune, legendary workaholics that erected several landmarks in one night. I also heard it has shrimp in it that the children gather but I didn't look yet.

More about the Menehune: http://www.chilit.org/MUMFORD4.HTM

CLICK FOR PICTURES of my cottage, the town, etc.

Sunday and Monday 3/6/05, 3/7/05

Well, all I can say about Saturday night and Sunday is it was one big horrible bump in the road.  My computer started acting up on Saturday evening and so most of Sunday I worked to fix it.  It blue screened several times and kept giving me that horrible message about dumping.  Arrrrghhh.  I talked with Fran quite a few times and kept working to find what the issue was.  Finally disconnecting it from the docking station seemed to help and then taking Fran's suggestion of temporarily removing office (because of space issues) gave me the ability to run defrag.  It seemed to work as I have been up ever since.  I finished my e-Learning package and gave it to the the SANS project leader this morning.  I now feel ok about getting my next assignment since my laptop seems to have recovered completely.  After everything that I had to do to get here the laptop crashing was a bit much for me since it is now my livelihood.  I'll be buying a new computer soon as this one is just too old now to be able to keep up with my demands. 

Monday...  Today was a great adventure.  As soon as I finished my package for SANS I took off to Poipu beach to go snorkeling.  The waves are 22 or so feet on this side of the island and 30 or more on the North side.  The high surf warning is a pretty big deal.  The news says it is a record.  It was manageable but I didn't stay in long as it was a lot of work.  Typical waves during the summer are from 2 ft to 4 ft.  I saw my first puffer fish today.  It was a Jewel Puffer.  The fish were not as plentiful as when we have been here in August but I believe it was more the high surf than the time of year but we'll see.  I saw the regulars... Different kinds of Butterflyfish, Racoon Butterfly, and of course the humuhumunukunukuapua'a - aka picasso triggerfish, etc.  I like going to Poipu because there are tons of people around and I feel a bit uncomfortable without my snorkel buddy Karen :).  I then came home changed and went to return my rental car and pick up my "Rent a Wreck".  This was a suggestion from Hal since I will need to rent a car for about a month and then I'll look to see what I'll buy.  I got a Toyota Echo.  It's kind of nice.  I like how high from the ground it is compared to my Grand Am.  I may look to buy a car from them as they will credit my rental to the purchase.  We'll see if that's a great deal or a way to get the woman that walked in the store.  When I parked it in my slot later one of my neighbors said it didn't look like a wreck to her.  I had called Verizon earlier to get directions to their store to get a land line.  The landlady had been working on getting me a phone since I arrived with no luck so today she called me and told me she was going to the mainland and could I do it and that she would pay for it later.  So, I called and they told me I had to come to the office to sign up, give a picture ID and SSN.  Amazing.  I asked if they were the only land phone service and they said yes.  I laughed after I hung up thinking about how it used to be like that in Georgia before there was competition.  Competition sure improves the customer service.  So, the worst part is they will have to come to my cottage because of a discrepancy in the address so they can't turn it on but will have to send a technician.  It will be a week from this Wednesday (9 days) unless they call me and can come earlier.  The rep at the store said that it is 7 days on Oahu.  They just don't' have the staff they need.  Mind you this trip to Lihue is 50 minutes so this is my big day in the big city and by then I'm getting a bit tired but still looking at the bright side.  Maybe.  Anyway, when I found the Verizon store I found the UPS store accidentally.  This is the place I got a post office box through the Internet and then by phone.  I hadn't been there yet to pay and get my key or pick up my mail because when I had called a couple of times the girls told me what I had and it was just ... guess..... the CPL bill.  They find you everywhere LOL.  Anyway, this was interesting.  They gave me a key to my box and a key to the store so I could come in 24 hours a day to pick up my mail.  Nice service.  Great people.  They have just been the best!  After that I went shopping at .... K-Mart... Love that place.  Got me a scale as I have noticed a sag in my clothing and figured with all of the walking and swimming I might check it out.  Bought some Surf detergent and hiked it out of there.  Way too tempting.  Brought my stuff home... weighed myself and I have lost 10 more pounds since I got here.  So that is a total of 20 pounds since I left my job.  Amazing.  It is so beautiful here I think this will continue... so many things to see and do.  More tomorrow.  I think I'll take my camera.  As I've been typing this I've been watching the news about the High Surf so I think I'll go to the Northside and take some pictures instead of going to Poipu.  It looks huge on the news.  Night all and Mahalo from Kauai.

MORE...