One door closes, another opens

Its official...Mom and Bob have been released from the hospital. They are out and resting peacefully at their home. That made a great day for me. Class was long tonight......but I'm looking ahead to Mardi Gras tomorrow......

This was the highlight of the weekend. We walked down to the pier and picked up our tickets at the Starlet reservation counter. We still has some time before we were supposed to board so we walked around the Aloha Tower Marketplace area. Where I lost my ticket for the boat ride. We retraced our steps and couldn't find it so we had to go back and get another one, luckily they didn't charge me. Once on board, the crew was introduced (they looked a bit sketchy but they were friendly) and we were off. One of the reasons we picked this tour was the guarantee that you would see a whale or you get to came back again. It was so nice to be out on the water we were actually hoping there would be no whale spotting, but no. There were probably 5 different areas where we were able to see numerous "whale butts" as part of the crew liked to call them. It was a nice 2 hour ride looking at the beautiful sights.

By the time we got back it was starting to rain and we had to use the bathroom. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this in the past but bathrooms are hard to find. A lot of places don't have public restrooms (like department stores and McDonald's) but we were able to use on at the Safeway. Where we picked up some food too. Once we were home we both put on sweatshirts and relaxed I can't believe how heavy the rain was falling on our walk home.

On a side note... My cousin Libby had her baby girl today. I am the godmother. The baby is healthy ad sounds like she has a full head of hair.

Days continue to get worse. Bob had a stroke yesterday while at the hospital with mom. He is currently admitted and they are running tests. Mom is being released today (Feb 25). When I spoke with Bob yesterday he told me to go out and have a drink for him. Needless to say, we were at Jack in the Box at 4am with three Marines, Killer, Buck and Matt. We met them at Nashville where I actually two-stepped several times. Thankfully one of them was the DD and wasn't drinking so they gave us a ride home. We didn't have to pay for a taxi!!

By the way....if you were wondering about the title of this post. Just consider three hard core, redneck marines and a political discussion at 4am...

Other favorite quotes from the evening:

"I only know the major states" - when we told him what state Alexis was from.
"May I have your permission to ..." - Steve-O asking Alexis questions prior to making her a rose from a straw, napkin and dollar bill.
"Do you wanna dance" - pretty much every guy that approached Alexis asked her, but she denied them

Well another wonderful day here in Hawaii. After class I came home and had dinner. After dinner Alexis and I decided if we were going to go out or not....we wanted to meet up with the Aussie guys from last night....but when I tried calling Chris it wouldn't work. I guess I'm not sure how to dial internationally from my cell phone. Anyways...he never called me but we still decided to head to Nashville (the country bar in Waikiki).

After about an hour of being at the bar...the Aussie's strolled in. The previous night I had told Chris that we should meet up there tonight. Well he took me literally and they showed up. I guess they had been there for like an hour before we got there then they left and came back to see if we were there..... how nice. However the evening went sour... we played some darts and then Chris and another guy left to make a phone call ( I think the friend had girl problems back home) and they never came back. We finished our dart game with Michael and decided to go. At one point Michael told me he thought Chris was "keen on me"...... but Chris was gone. Michael mentioned meeting up tomorrow night... but who knows. I told him that if they wanted to call, Chris had my number. All we got was a high five from Michael as we left (a bit of a let down for Alexis, but he was 23, living at home, his mom waits up for him when he goes out, he never graduated high school, and he sells toilets).

After an interesting day where I learned that my mom had been admitted into the hospital, Alexis and I decided to go out for a drink. We ended up walking almost all the way to the Hard Rock Cafe, which from our offices downtown was close to 2 miles. But since we didn't go the direct route (because we didn't know the direct route) we walked closer to 3 miles. And we thought we were never going to get there so we hailed a taxi for the two blocks (Hard Rock was around a bend in the road...we couldn't see it).

Once at Hard Rock we sat at the bar where I actually knew the bartender (from school). He was super nice and gave us an awesome discount at the end of the night. We had dinner and a few drinks and a group of friendly Australians came in and eventually chatted with us. They were very nice, only here for four days then off on a whirlwind trip around the world. We had a great time and may meet up with the Aussies again before they leave.

Well things took a bit of a downward turn as the holiday weekend came to a close. One would think that it was because of the impending work week, but no. Mom had a rough day, she is currently seeing her doctors and trying to figure out what's going on. And last I heard my grandma was in the hospital dealing with a possible heart attack and/or blood clots. Needless to say I am a little homesick, wish I could be there with them. But I believe they will both be up and running again real soon. I'll keep you posted.

I did go to the beach on Monday, it was a bit cold but nice to be out of the apartment, we ate Taco Bell on the beach. Alexis and I have plans to go on a whale watching cruise on Sunday, she purchased the tickets tonight, I hope we see something...

Yummy yummy I got food in my tummy....today was a good day. Class went well this morning. We spent some time in the library. Then I came home watched a movie with Alexis And tried to go to the beach with Heidi. It wasn't sunny so we went to a craft fair near Waikiki and I finally had my first shaved ice (not the best but....) . After the beach we stopped by a garden store and bought a few plants for the apartment. I was sooooo happy, plants make it feel like home.

Alexis made an awesome dinner with her grandpas canned beef and we had a few beers. Later in the evening we went to some bars in the downtown area.... a little scary but not too bad as long as we are in a group. On the way home we stopped at a Karaoke bar... crazy. You don't even have to stand up, you can stay seated and just sing at pretty much anytime of the day. I didn't sing (neither did Alexis) but on the way home, we went to the 7-11 for a Musubi. For those of you unaware... a musubi is a little snack from a convenience store that has rice, seaweed and usually spam. But tonight it was BBQ chicken. Alexis and I are both fans of the Spam instead of the chicken......

Finally a three day weekend.... well aside from class tomorrow morning at 8am. We don't work on Monday because it is President's Day, is that a normal holiday that people get off of work? I feel like Hawaii has 12 paid holidays a year and that has to be more than the mainland...... Anyways, the last few days were exhausting. I had my first real paper due and I was scrambling. I guess that is expected after taking three and a half years off from school. Work and life in general has been pretty slow. Tonight Alexis and I went to Pricebusters to pick up a few things for the house like a mop and some plastic cups. Then we grabbed a bite to eat at Taco Bell. Which is run by a very scary Nazi like women. The person in front of you isn't even out of the way and she is yelling at you to order. Kinda crazy. But now we are home and studying. Hopefully it will be an early night.

Another Valentines Day come and gone.... I actually had a really good day. I got some candy from people at work. And the office was filled with flowers, most of the male professors ran out to buy flowers for the ladies in their lives. I'm really enjoying my job the more I get used to it. It think it will be a benefit to my educational experience.

I'm actually happy I didn't have any big plans for tonight as I have a paper to write by Thursday. I spent some time tonight working on it and I have all evening tomorrow to finish it. But aside from researching journals I also have to teach myself how to use APA format instead of MLA. That is a bit tricky. But I have faith that I will finish it.

For dinner I made Lasagna, not as good as it could have been but we are still running on minimal seasonings and such in our kitchen. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day!!

Morning came very early after a long Saturday night at Nashville Waikiki. We had a lot to do before the PRO BOWL today like returning the rental car and finding Wendy's ( yes it was a challenge, but we did it). The PRO BOWL was a pretty cool experience, but it was really long. It seemed like after every play there was some type of timeout. But the plays were really exciting, a lot more adventurous than a regular season game. We also were able to enjoy the half time show with the Backstreet Boys, yippee!!

Once we left the game we came back and napped, which felt great. And later in evening Mike and Ipo came over for a bit. Then everyone left..... Beth caught a cab around 10pm. She will always be our number 1 visitor. Thanks for coming Beth!!! Tons of fun.... what happens in Hawaii stays in Hawaii.

Beth made it to Hawaii last night.... a little touch and go getting to us but she made it. Today was a nice day....... work was fun and Beth visited me twice :-) After work we drove to the Pali lookout.... pretty cool. Then we decided to go to dinner at Sam Choy's. Which is a moderately pricey establishment where we dined on King Crab legs, stuffed Mahi Mahi and a whole lobster (yes head and all). We also enjoyed a tower of beer...... 100oz of Steamboat Lager ( that's no Miller Lite). And much to our surprise and delight, we dined with two members of the Indianapolis colts. You may have heard of them...... Jeff Saturday and Tarik Glenn ( both rookies to the pro bowl). They were dining near us at a table of 24 people. Without Alexis however we would never have know who they were. On top of seeing them enter the restaurant, we were also seated next to the bathroom where they made a few trips. During one trip to the potty Mr. Saturday zoned in on our table (ok...maybe it was the 100oz tower of beer but a spades a spade). But the best part was leaving... they also were leaving at the same time and instead of walking around Mr. Saturday actually moved furniture to exit.

Oh what a night.......

Same old thing just a new day. We had our screen door installed today. Finally. I don't think any other issue will be happening soon. The door is nice...we can keep it open and see the outside world.....not such a trapped feeling.....

Work is going well, it makes the days go by fast better than sitting at the apartment. Plus this week is good because our first of many visitors ( I hope) is arriving. Beth will be here Thursday until late Sunday. We are going to the Pro Bowl on Sunday plus she is renting a car for a few of the days. Which means I may actually leave the concrete jungle.....I'm soo excited.

Well everyone knew eventually I would write about it....

Good old Miller Lite...... I went to the store and bought a 12 pack.... (I didn't even seen a 24 pack) the cost.... $11.00. Holy cow..... back home you can purchase a 24 pack for like $14.00 or if you like Red Dog you can get a case for like $10.99 (if you are a smart shopper). I can't believe the price, but it was better than going out to a bar considering the travel ( on bus or in a cab) plus the cost at bars for alcohol. We played it cool tonight and drank at home while playing cards...... gotta love a night where school work isn't the major factor.... :-)

Today I met e girl in my graduate program that went to UW-Stevens Point for her undergrad. And she graduated the same year as I did. She looked familiar but I didn't know her. How random.......

Over the past few days I had been sick with the stomach flu. At 2 am one morning Alexis even woke up and asked if I needed to go to the hospital ( how nice). But no I waited it out and finally went back to work today. My second day on the job was pretty good, but coming home after class was even better.

Alexis and our friend Heidi met the furniture delivery guys around the noon hour. So yes... we have furniture. I am sitting on a couch....yahoo!!!! The girls tell me that the delivery guys even brought the couch into the apartment, score!!

Now I am off to relax, I mean study!! Have a great day!!