Coffee from a Reusable Ceramic Mug

Here is what the People in Honolulu do on Memorial Day. It was crowded but nice. There are a few more photos here!

I woke up this morning with this view. One great thing about flying to the west is that I always enjoy the mornings so much more. I woke up at 5:30 the first time, and then went back to sleep until 7:00. I was woke up the second time from a dream about a giant crocodile chasing me. I am reading “in a sunburned country” by Bill Bryson at the moment, and he has a lot of stories about crocodiles eating people in Australia. Anyway, I Skyped Matthias once I got up and was happy to hear that he got back home with relative ease. I am pretty sure he went to sleep write after I spoke with him.

My coworker and I went shopping after breakfast, and I spent too much money on a nice Hawaiian dress and a couple of bikinis (which I still might return if I can find some cheaper). We had lunch a bit later at one of those sushi places with the little conveyor belt with little sushi plates going by. I love that! We also visited a big Japanese store, which had tons of cool food too. All of this was at the big mall across the street from the hotel. He took me to the great shops that are interspersed between the really high-end places (Prada, Luis Vitton, etc).

After a bit of time at the hotel for him to call his wife back in DC and for me to cover myself in sun screen, we headed to the beach at the park across the street. It was much more my speed (compared to Waikiki). He said he liked goofing off like this. I told him that it is called “relaxing” not “goofing off,” and that I have a lot to teach him about the way weekends work (especially in Hawaii!). I took this little video from our perch in the sand. You might notice the sound of the restless natives drumming! I am off to the beginning of the conference in a few minutes. Tonight is mostly schmoozing with a nice opening reception. I’ll wear my Hawaiian dress for the occasion!

I did, after much struggle and hunger, make it to O’wahu. It is not the Hawaii that I know in my heart, but it has a beach, so I can’t complain. Honolulu is a big city with tall towers. Waikiki is, basically, like any other tourist destination in the world that is dominated by western (mainly US) conglomerates, sadly.

One of the things I loved so much about my experiences on Maui is the Hawaiian-ness of the place (at least on the north shore). There is a different feel and pace to the place. Waikiki could be anywhere in the world where you find Planet Hollywood, Armani, Prada, Starbucks, Nike Town, etc. The beach was packed as well. My friend and I made a hike down to the south end of Waikiki beach where the population density was a bit less.

Like I said, with access to a beach, I can’t complain. I laid in the sand and didn’t move for a good couple of hours - that’s my favorite beach in-activity.

On the way back, I saw the hotel that mom stayed at the last time she was here. It’s the Waikiki Circle Hotel. It was a dwarf next to all of the giant hotel towers, but it was cute. It was right across from the beach too.

I am back at the hotel now and ready to wind down. Matthias is probably in London about now. He should be boarding his plane to Munich soon, if all is well. I won’t hear from him until tomorrow morning, I think…..

First, the check in line is chaos! or, at least it was at 5:30 this morning in DC. Luckily, I was clever enough to see a huge line of people and think, “Do I really need to stand in that line? That can’t be right.” Fortunately, I found that there was an undefined crowd of annoyed people who were trying to check in via e-check in. I joined them and got checked in in about 10 minutes.

They also suck because, for a nine hour flight, they don’t serve ANY meals! They now offer ’snack.’ (which you must buy, of course). They don’t even hand out a free bag of pretzels! They basically tell you to buy your own food before the flight. At 9:00 AM in Chicago airport, I had the choice of getting a greasy, hot meal, letting it sit under the seat until lunch time or fruit! I ended up eating two bananas and a bag of trail mix ($3) during the flight. Meanwhile, I was seated near first class and got some great wifs of their lovely lunch as it was served.

I only got stuck on American because the trip was booked through work, and I didn’t specify the airline ahead of time. I am really bummed that I didn’t take this trip on United and got more miles. Ever since I moved up to ‘premium’ status, they treat me so well! I’ll never fly American again (after my return flight, of course)

PS - the staff wasn’t very nice either. One of their staff called security on my coworker yesterday! The boss had to come down and smooth things over!

I left work early today, after a crazy week. Why do all events in my office seem to happen all at one time? So we took some time and checked out the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I won’t even go into how disappointed we were with it. They have two strengths in the chain of movies, Cpt. Jack and Orlando Bloom (he’s so pretty!), and they didn’t utilize them to their full potential. Just so I don’t ruin it (anymore) for anyone else, I’ll leave it at that for now.

Now we are winding down (Matthias is making dinner). Our stuff is all over the apartment. I am packed for Hawaii (I leave around 6 AM. Matthias is packed for Germany (he leaves in the evening tomorrow). We are going as far way from each other as possible! Working out the 12 hours of time difference will make the phone calls interesting. I think I can call him at 6 or 7 AM, and that should work. I am fighting a little bit of a cold, and I really hope that I don’t arrive in Hawaii sick! I would hate to be stuck in bed on the island.

Oh, dinner’s ready! I’ll miss having Matthias here with me.

We had a good time in Irvine. We actually didn’t take too many photos, but I put them on our Flickr site. I think we spent a lot of time moving around and not too much time surfing the web - a good pace. I actually worked quite a bit, which was a drag, but what are you gonna do? Maybe, next time, taking an actual vacation would be the way to go!

It was a pretty busy week. Matthias and I did squeeze in some beach time and sailing, which made Matthias so happy!! A big thanks to Kyler and Rebeca for taking us out on the shields and sharing all of the gossip on the dangers of sea lions! Matthias also got to see me give a professional talk for the first time, and I didn’t do a terrible job so I was happy too.

We got to spend a lot of time with Angelo and Christele and little Giovanni. Christele made me feel a little better about working so much because she was trying to get work done between Giovanni’s naps. Matthias and I jumped in to watch and play with him once in a while to try to give the tired parents a break, but there is only so much you can do! He is about 9 months old now and looks so much like Angelo! He is a good baby, and by the end of the week, I almost got him walking. We also had a nice dinner over at Artan’s and Ting’s house, where their 10 week old daughter is growing. She is so small that I was nervous just holding her. I love babies, but after seeing how tired my friends are, I don’t think I can handle it! (Matthias says that HE can handle it)

It was fun to stay in Irvine even for only a week. We still miss California WAY too much! Now if we could just get some one to pay us to live there, then we would be set……

I am interrupting this vacation post because Mark (my bro) became a daddy yesterday! His dog Molly delivered 9, yes 9, puppies. He says it looks like she actually had two litters because there are two distinctly different types of puppies. I don’t have any photo yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll post them. If anyone wants a puppy, let me know!

I am in an oasis! Dorota, Andy and I drove in to the hotel near Palm Springs to get ready for Carina’s wedding tomorrow. They booked out a cute little hotel with all of the rooms along a court yard with a pool. I haven’t seen Carina yet. She is out shopping. Meanwhile, her future husband, Adam (if you’d like to buy a house in Brighton, Michigan, you can contact his dad, Mark), is keeping down the fort making Sangria and watching the cutest dog in the world. OH! Dor and Andy just arrived with Tai food for lunch! Gotta Go! Check out some more pics here.

I am back at my old apartment (AKA Angelo and Christele’s place), and I am starting to wind down. Playing with a baby on the floor for a couple of hours helped. I am off to Carina’s wedding tomorrow, and I fully plan not to work at ALL for three whole days!

After a brief Skype conversation with dad, I must clarify the the points I made earlier about being unemployed. He said that what he was trying to say in the conversation about me living on Matthias’s earnings was that it is OK because some day he might need to depend on my earnings and so we should just have the attitude of being able to depend on each others earnings (since he doesn’t write comments on the blog, he should get a say through me) - see what a great feminist he has become! I don’t remember the conversation quite the same way, but the memory can be a funny thing.