One door closes, another opens

I've said good bye to the Bus. Alexis' car arrived in Hawaii this week, we picked it up Friday morning at 7am. What a great feeling to have that freedom. I haven't had a lot of time to spend riding around yet, but soon. I was able to drive and pick Alexis up on Friday, it was a great feeling after not driving since January.

This week was also administrative professionals week. I have a great group of people that really appreciate what I do at work. Talsha and I were treated great, we were taken to lunch on Wednesday by our boss, he also gave us really cool plants that are actually growing out of a lava rock. And the rest of the week we were showered with boxes of mac nuts, candy bars, and two different faculty members brought us flowers. It was truly a nice feeling.

Today to celebrate the arrival of the car, we drove to Pearl Harbor. It was the first time Alexis had been ( I've been there a few times on my last trips). It is a really powerful experience. Plus there was no line when we went so that was great, it did rain on the boat ride back.

Well another day in paradise..... welcome to 4/20. I was reminded today of the incidents of our past, Columbine and Hitler's birthday. Well around 10:45 am the Honolulu Police Department received a phone call from a pay phone near my building. The bomb threat was directed at my floor (later I heard that it was directed at HPU) The evacuation started on the otherside of my floor. Over an hour later, all floors had been evacuated, and we were finally able to go back in. It was a bit unsettling as building security did the sweep (looking for the bomb) as HPD stood around outside, and no bomb squad was called. Very odd...

After class Alexis and I went to Waikiki to the Shell (an outdoor theater) where we stood outside the gates and listened to Neil McCoy and Craig Morgan, yes real country singers here in Hawaii. We didn't stay too long but it was nice to listen to it and do something different. After our bus ride home we made a new friend, yes we have a lizard that is uncatchable now living in our apartment.

Last night Alexis and I went and saw the Hawaiian premier of the movie, American Dreamz. It officially opens on Friday but I was able to get a couple tickets for the premier hosted by a local radio station. We actually went to the Dole Cannery theaters where they were giving prizes prior to starting the movie. We didn't get any...

A recap of the movie...it stars Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Willem Defoe, and the list goes on.... it was a great cast. The movie is about how a show like American Idol is more important to the public then the president is. It is very funny, lots of laughs. There are scenes of terrorist training and the president is a portrayed like President Bush.

It is worth seeing, it is a little odd but you will laugh.....

I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday! Alexis, Heidi and I had a special ham dinner this evening. Not like back home, but it was something. As for the past week, nothing really exciting occurred. We had another fire drill at work, we had a huge meeting that I have been working on for the last month and it went well, class is the same old stuff. I did go out last night for dinner and stayed for a Surfing party sponsored by Oakley. It was cool, not a lot of people showed up but I did get some professional surfers autograph, apparently he is in the surfing movie Oakley is promoting.

Thats my week summed up. Hopefully something exciting happens this coming week.....By the way, people are still getting sick from swimming and touching wet sand so I haven't been to the beach or swimming in nearly a month now...... Hopefully it gets clean soon.....

First, I would like everyone to know that Hawaii does not participate in the time change like every other state (except Arizona) did last weekend. Therefore, we are now 5 hours earlier than the Central time zone, 6 hours from the Eastern Time zone and 3 hours from the Pacific time zone. I know it is unusual to not participate in day light savings time, but Hawaii is a different kind of place. I did read that for the first time in a long time, Indiana is actually observing daylight savings time.

As for the weekend, Friday night Alexis had free tickets to an Easter Seals benefit at the Aloha Tower Marketplace, it was enjoyable. Free Pupu's and live music. Saturday was class then we went to Walmart, our first time taking the number 3 bus. I bought my first DVD since I have been here.... Brokeback Mountain. Alexis was lucky enough to experience it yesterday I guess it is a good movie to see if you have wondered about it. Last night we went to Nashville Waikiki. We saw a few familiar faces and one of our favorite cocktail servers remembered Alexis, enough that she gave her a hug. LOL it was great as we always make fun of her because she is an airhead.

Well today was an exciting day... we had our first fire drill. Well I guess it wasn't a drill as there was an incident on the 17th floor that set of the sprinkler system up there. We did however have to walk down the stairs and wait outside for a few minutes. Nothing serious....but made for a break in the morning.

Yesterday I joined a club on campus, IABC. I am trying to get involved, learn more about my field and meet new people. We have planned a hike of Diamond Head on Easter Sunday. Alexis and I also walked past Da Kine Bail Bonds. For those of you that aren't sure what that is ... watch A&E's Dog: The Bounty Hunter. It is on Tuesday nights.....

Well the time has come and went...Mom and Bob are now on their way home to Wisconsin. It was a great visit. We spent a lot of time getting little things for the apartment, food, decorations, a desk, dressers etc... Bob also spent a lot of time fixing little things in the apartment like the crack under our door, caulking around the bathtub, adjusting the lock on our door, checking all lightbulbs and smoke detectors. We spent a lot of time shopping, we went to the mall alot. Mom managed to buy herself a few new purses and me one from Coach.

A few other highlights of the week were....

~ the exploding toilet
~ Oh so aged blue cheese dressing
~ Flooding all over the island
~ Two days of sun which gave mom a little color
~ A freezer full of meat
~ Shopping for mace

I had a great time with them here. Feel free to ask their opinions on our neighborhood and surroundings, we do apparently live on the edge of the ghetto (it doesn't seem that bad). I will miss them, but hopefully I will be home this summer.....