Friday 8/2/05 - Wednesday 8/24/05

Wow!  I haven't written in a long time.  I got an email from Donna (Volunteer for Spohn) and she asked if I was still alive so figured I'd write a bit today.  So many things have been going on but the reason I've not written is my camera is broken again.  Sony will be sending me a prepaid label this week to send it in again at no charge as it's the same issue as before.  Broken LOL.  Anyway here goes with as much as I can remember and the few pics I have from the last couple of weeks...

Hal, Karen, Desire & Jeanette are here!  Hurrah!  I'm really enjoying a mini-vacation with them and have really missed them.  It's been great doing things with them and also showing them a couple of things they hadn't seen before.

Yesterday we went to Queen's Bath.  The water was so low that it didn't look that entertaining so I suggested we walk to a little tide-pool further along to look at all of the interesting life in it.  When I had gone to it before the waves were crashing in and the water was clear enough to see anemones, etc.  It was still pretty clear and we saw some fish and other stuff.  We were surprised to find, just past it,  a great swimming tide pool that had been completely underwater when I had been back there before.  Hal got some fantastic pictures and when he sends them to me I'll add them HERE.  The waves were crashing in and we played in the waves.  We also saw some weird black rock animals (some kind of anemone I guess).  I'll have to find out what they are.  They were black and hard with little legs coming out all around it.  It was attached to the rocks in the pool.  Karen also found one later at Ke'e beach.  This was very exhausting with the hike to the Queen's bath and then on to Ke'e, really fun.

I showed Desire how to spear fish with the Hawaiian Sling on our last trip and she thought it was great fun.  We didn't catch anything but I got the impression they don't' want to shoot anything so we haven't taken it again.

We've gone to Ke'e a couple of times and the amount of turtles we saw yesterday was tremendous.  I'd say we were in the water about 45 minutes and saw at least 10 Green Sea Turtles.

Here is a picture of Hal who just likes to laze around while we explore.  He surfs early in the morning and this is his break time.

Today I am off from Movie Tours and they are going to a special craft fair in Hanalei.  I thought I would work today but when I went this morning two tours had been cancelled.  Probably because its a holiday weekend here (Statehood Day).

We went to the Smith's Luau this year.  Fantastic!  This was by far the best one we've gone to yet.  It has huge grounds that we walked before the festivities started and the show and food were excellent.  Here's a link to their website but I have put the link to their history since it's so interesting .  SMITH'S

SMITH'S LUAU PICTURES

We went to Kipu Falls the other day and Desire and Jeanette, Hal, and myself jumped off.  The jump is about 18 feet.  Desire and Jeanette also did the rope swing.  It was great fun.  This is the picture I took before but when Hal sends the pictures I'll put them up.  They were very excited about this and I was glad about finding this location.  They really liked it.

Work is going well.  Kaua'i Community College got the contract with the county for this next semester (until Dec) and I've started working on the logistics as the on-site trainer.  We will be doing KCC classes, as they did the last semester, but adding a support option for onsite training.  I'm very excited about it and am preparing the website for them and arranging the appointments.  We met with the Mayor last week and I loved meeting everyone as they are very enthusiastic about having a trainer onsite.  I'll be working about 13 hours a week onsite and then doing classes two days a week as usual.  The other trainers will be doing classes also so they will have plenty of formal classes to choose from and then receive additional support to help them apply what they learned in the class to their job.  It's a very exciting opportunity for us and I'm really happy to be involved.  It reminds me of the very beginnings of the computer training we did for Spohn but an additional package that I think will really help.  With this job escalating some and the Movie Tours dwindling (for me on weekends) I should still have plenty to do but also still have time to go the beach.  I was just getting used to doing the tours and will miss it if they don't need me much in the next 4 months.

Monday - I got another website support contract.  Hurrah for me.  That makes 3 now.  This is great to do as I only add/edit content during the month but get a regular check.  I love doing it also as it's a place for my creativity to run rampant and easy to fit into my days but still assure a 24 hour response time for the customer.

Today, I also signed up to attend a seminar this week to explore options for a Micro Enterprise Loan.  The plan being to see about purchasing/opening a Bed & Breakfast.  I think this is a pipe dream but Hal was listening when I talked about it this week and he saw the notice for the seminar in the paper today.  I called and talked to a representative and was assured that this may be an option for purchasing a B&B that I have been obsessing about.  I heard the owner may be selling but it is not listed yet.  Hal was extremely open to the idea while I was telling him so it made me feel more comfortable thinking about it.  He was helpful in taking away some of the logistic arguments I was making with myself.  One of the arguments with myself was if I could still teach and run a B&B and he convinced me that I was incorrect at thinking that I had to stay in residence all the time, but that people like it when they have the place to themselves and 4 hours, twice a week, is not a point to consider.  I like that.  It's nice to throw ideas off of someone.  You never know... the dream to come here came true and it started as a pipe dream too...

I watched the National Geographic Special, "Inside 911", today and yesterday.  If you missed it watch for the repeat as it was the most informative and heartbreaking account I have seen.  It did a timeline from the initial planning to the shocking ending and really touched me.  Most of all it told the facts of how the actions assembled to 9/11 from as early as the '80s.  It made me remember walking constantly by Bruce (Network Admin at Spohn) and getting updates throughout the morning and how I didn't realize what a horrific event it was until later in the day when it all came together.  How would I react now?  I hope I am more aware of the possibility of an event being a threat to me but wow didn't I live in a bubble back then.  I hope I would recognize something as threatening now.  After the London bombings, as one more type of event that is a threat to our safety, I hope I am more aware while it is happening instead of after the fact.  Does that make sense?  Anyway, this was not like the other shows I've seen it contained much more lead up on how it was allowed to build up to such a horrendous event.

Wednesday -  We took the best Kayak trip ever!  This trip was on the Princeville property.  Karen had checked into taking a different kayak trip this year and she heard about how the Princeville Ranch Adventures, on the north shore, does a Jungle Waterfall Kayak Adventure on their private property.  It was a moderately strenuous hike with a kayak trip to a private waterfall.  This was the BEST!  The water was very shallow and the lush surroundings made this an amazing trip.  It has been so warm lately the nice shade was a treat.  We were lucky to be the only people on our tour but because it is a private property tour it still would have been very good with a larger group.  The waterfall shown on the web page (above) was a very nice place to swim and we stayed there for lunch with the guide Nate.  He was a very informative individual.  He knew a lot about the history and had a great knowledge of the plants which is always my favorite topic.  We ate guava and strawberry guava, witch I like the best (15.3 million pounds processed yearly on Kauai) all along the way.  Love those little buggers!  Hal took some pictures so I'll add them later.  We went over a small, raised cement spillway, which of course dumped me over.  Not sure how that happened!  It looked relatively easy but it dumped me in the water.  It was on the way back so I was wet already but it shocked everyone else and they got over fine after me.

Well, the Gant's have left Kauai as of last Thursday and I already miss them .  We had some great fun.  It was just like going on vacation with them the last 2 years as I had tons of time to spend with them between work.  Their place in Poipu is so relaxing and I spent quite a few evenings at their place for Hal's barbecue.  I look forward to next year.  Everyone seems to be really excited about the move from El Segundo to San Diego and both the girls in college this year will definitely give Karen Empty-Nest-Syndrome but I think she will be enjoying her new job (same company) so much she won't notice.  They wrote and told me the house is still on the market but they hope to sell it soon and then they will really move.  Karen is staying in San Diego during the week and traveling home during the weekends so that must be tiring.  I just told them I didn't want them to like it too much as they still talk about retiring here in 5 or so years and I'd really like that.  So you better not like it too much Hal!

One of the great benefits of moving to Kauai is that I will definitely see my brothers more often here.  I don't think coming to Corpus Christi was on their list.  This location is way more convenient for them.  It's also more enticing so I believe I'll see them more often now.

FANTASTIC PICTURE HAL TOOK>  This photo was taken from their Lanai.  Might want to use this one as a background on your PC