5-5-17 Friday (Honolulu)

Once again, we hit a fast food place for breakfast.  Burger King or as I like to refer to it as “Burper King”.  There’s just too much to do today.  I know.  Such problems to have, huh?

Today was supposed to be a scuba adventure with Hawaii Eco Divers but it turned out to be a flop.  A couple of months ago, Jim and I did a swimming pool introduction to scuba.  We liked it.  We even bought our own masks to be sure we had a comfortable experience.  Hell, we even shaved off our facial hair to get ready for this dive.

Now mind you, Jim booked this trip back on March 2nd.  Because of the 6 hours time difference, we were receiving calls and texts at ungodly hours so we’d switch our phones to airplane mode the night before.    On the way to our dive, I noticed Jim forgot to turn off airplane mode on his phone.  When I switched it off, we received a text and voicemail from the dive master stating he didn’t have my weight or shoe size to fit me with equipment.  I called him back and left a message with a young girl with my info.  When we arrived, our Dive Master, Loren said he had tried to get a hold of us and had to guess my size but he did bring a small variety of what he thought would be needed.

We boarded a boat with our instructor and 1 other person.  There were other groups onboard as well.  This was another introduction to scuba.  Because we’re not certified, we can’t go down very far.  I think 20 feet or so which is still awesome to view coral reefs.  Loren first tried fitting Jim into a wetsuit.  It was so tight that he had to be squished in.  He mentioned the tight fit but was told that if it’s not tight then it’s not a good fit.  When it was my turn, he couldn’t get the zipper up.  He switched me to a partial suit and it took both Loren, Jim and I to squeeze me into that suit.  It was stressful and embarrassing.  I felt very restricted.

Into the water we went.  Loren went over some basic stuff.  When we went down a few feet further he was teaching us how to clear our masks of water.  I was a little confused because I was taught differently than he was teaching.  As I went down, I floated back up, my mask took in water and I had a hard time breathing.  I just felt so restricted.  I then got skittish and said that I couldn’t do this.  He asked if I was sure and I was positive.  I just didn’t have a good feeling and was terribly uncomfortable.  I told Jim to stay.  Jim said he felt the same and we both got back on the boat.  We were devastated. 

Will we try again?  I’m not sure.  This experience just scared the shit out of me.  After we got out, Jim just felt sick and just relaxed.  I felt fine.

Some good points?  I got to see a sea turtle several times!  There was a boat anchored next to ours that had people snorkeling.  The turtle(s) surfaced many times right in front of the snorkelers.  The other good thing?  There were a couple of dolphins playing in the front of our boat as we went full speed ahead to the dive spot.  The bad part aside from the obvious, we had to sit through 2 40 minute dives before we could move onto a new adventure. 

Above: Panoramic.  Click on it to biggerize.  This was the view from the boat.

Above: Turtle!

Above: Turtle!

Above: Turtle!

Above: Me, Jim and ship’s captain’s mascot, Sushi.

We interrupt this post to explain the Walmart runs… Jim’s diet soda addiction.  There’s a million ABC convenience stores in Hawaii.  As a matter of fact, our hotel, located at a shopping plaza/mall had at least 4 ABC stores.  Unfortunately, the store didn’t have anything but small bottles of soda.  Other than that, I will tell you that this store is amazing.

We now return you to the blog post:

With that scuba MISadventure mess over with, we explored a little bit near the hotel. These were taken across from the hotel where our room overlooks.

Above: Huge banyan trees.  Hawaii has a lot of them and they’re gorgeous.  We had them in Fort Myers too. 

Above: A lava rock “pier” with a look back toward the hotel.

Above: This critter was hanging out on the rocks.

Above: A fish hanging out by the lava rock pier.

Above: Taken from the pier, a look toward the other end of the beach.

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Diamond Head Luau to be exact. 

A luau (Hawaiian: lūʻau) is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast that is usually accompanied by entertainment. It may feature food such as poi, kalua pig, poke, lomi salmon, opihi, haupia and beer, and entertainment such as traditional Hawaiian music and hula.

Jim got us a great deal using a Groupon!  2 for $159! 

We had a great time.  We sat with 2 women from NY.  They were a hoot to talk to. 

The photos:

The videos:

Above: Hula dancing

Below: Fire knife dancing

10-18-15 (Getting Smashed)

Wow.  It’s been a month since I last blogged.  I started my job on Thursday, 10/1.  The first 2 days were at a Marriot Courtyard.  They served us breakfast and lunch.  It was a day and a half of learning all about the company, who we are and what we do.  Several managers, including the site leader came in and taught/spoke about different principles that define our company.  The other half day we went over to our site for badges and to get trained on our company websites and such. 

The week after we were at my worksite and in a training room.  We’ll be in training for 7 weeks.

This weekend we’re in Augusta.  Last weekend we went to SCarowinds. 

So about that trip to SCarowinds…  It was Friday, 10/9, and we were in a fender bender.  Any type of accident sucks but this one was a no-one-was-hurt type.  Long story short.  There was a lot of traffic on the interstate.  We were going at about 30 in a 55.  The turn lane we needed to exit the interstate appeared.  We got into it and accelerated.  The Mustang in front of us, accelerated too and changed lanes into us.  In the photo below we represent the white car.  The cop got our side of it and there’s (separately) and said he couldn’t determine who was at fault so no one was getting cited.  I don’t know how he couldn’t have sided with us.  How does the other car get damage on the right rear quarter and us on the left front fender and it’s not their fault?????

So now, the insurance company gave us a choice of paying our $500 deductible but increasing rates or paying for the $2k repair bill ourselves.  WTF.

We really haven’t decided on what to do yet.  Stay tuned. 

Also this weekend, we went up to see the leaves.  We went to Mount Mitchell, Little Switzerland, and road along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Break taking as usual.  Pictures don’t do it justice but here they are.

In other news, I think I’ve figured out I have bad luck with electronics even though I love them.  Recently, we needed a new microwave at the RV, TV at the RV.  Laptops.  Router (the new one has issues and I’m awaiting a replacement from Linksys).  A cell phone battery kept shorting out my phone.  That was fun to figure out.  Not.  My digital picture frame plug was overheating and tripping off.  Another hard one to figure out.  Our 5 year old LCD big living room TV is intermittently getting lines in the picture.  Ugh. There’s more and as I remember them, I’ll insert them into the list.

1-4-15 Sunday (Back To The Misadventures)

Look, yet another blog post!  This weekend we went to Augusta.  The last time we were there was October 19th.  So basically, forever.  At our last visit, most of our time was consumed by a refrigerator replacement.  Never a dull moment, we had another issue on this visit. 

It all started out just fine.  Jim even got out of work earlier than normal.  We actually arrived at a decent time.  He spent a long time trouble shooting why water wasn’t flowing into the RV.  He took all sorts of stuff apart.  I was reluctant to unpack the car figuring without water we might just leave.  In the end, it was 2 back flow check valves that were misbehaving.  Improvising, Jim drilled out the mechanism/guts that make these things tick.  We’re assuming the cold/freezing temps did something to them.  Afterwards, we had water. By the time we’d unpack the car and get the water hot for showers, it was too late to want to go out so there went one of our nights here.  Oh well.  On Saturday we purchased some replacement parts to return most of it back to the way it was.

The rest of the weekend went fine.  Shopped Saturday, hung out with friends, just the way I like it.

Some recent photos:

Above: If only your species could fly.  Oh wait.

 

Above: I put this on Facebook with a caption this request. My favorites?  “Eat and run?” by Wayne.  “That fast food gave me the runs so bad, I just ran out of my sneakers for the bathroom!” by Ross.  “Such bad gas from the fast food that it blew them right out of their shoes........” by Joellyn.  There were several more funny ones but you get the picture.

 

Above/Below: this was taken at a Walmart in Augusta.  What amused me was the fatal error message on the screen shown on a health machine.

 

And just because I’m sitting here in Augusta waiting for the rain to stop and Jim to shower so we can go home to Charlotte, here’s this:

5 years ago Jim set up the hot tub platform.  Boring.  But if you must, read about it here. The Pacific Coast highway + dirty Asian noodles.  What was the connection 6 years ago?  Read about it here.

Exciting news on the way……

1-1-15 Thursday (Look, I Found A Blog)

OK, so funny thing.  I created this post while in Augusta 10/19/14.  I got my mojo back at that point but them didn’t post this.  I guess I lost it again.  Here’s the post:

Hello?  Is this thing on?  It’s certainly been a while (3 months) and I’m not real sure how many readers I’ll have left at this point.  I kinda lost interest.  Lost my mojo.  Shrugged it off.  Took a vacation.  The main thing I miss about blogging though is documenting our lives.  Oddly enough, I use this blog to maintain and look up info.  “When did the leaves change last year?”  That question helped me to determine the best time for my Mom to come for a visit this year.  “When did I buy (item name here)”?  “When did we go to (place name here)?”  Maybe I can figure out a different way to document our lives?  Maybe a diary?  Maybe use the blog but make it private and less written for an audience?  So many questions… very few answers.

So what’s been happening?  Another question?  Oh, there’s another.  Stop.  Well, August 20th, we had 99 layoffs in my department.  15 were at my site and the others were across the country in Reading, Colorado Springs, etc.  Some of the layoffs were for underwriters of my level… a level one.  I was safe.  A manager, some work directors and team leads were also in the mix.  They actually deleted some positions and created new.  That meant some were able to reapply for their jobs.  I love my job but decided to apply for one of the new positions.  I did very well at the interview but was told I was beat out by someone who was laid off and came from another state.  I was OK with that.  My company actually treats “displaced” employees very well. 

October 15th.  More layoffs.  8 underwriters, 2 managers.  Sad.  The last time we were all trying to figure out how people were chosen.  It didn’t make sense.  We were told it was decided by HR.  This time some really top producers were chosen.  We were very shocked.  So perhaps it’s a matter of pay?  Tenure?  Nothing really quite fits.  I think it’s a variety of people based on age, tenure, gender, and ethnicity.  Tell a computer program you need to get rid of 10 people and perhaps it spits out names.  Perhaps it’s so they can’t be sued?  Well, you can still be sued and it’s still going to cost money to defend.  How about my company growing a pair and getting rid of dead weight, low performers.  Someone pointed out that they can’t do that because they have to put you on a performance warning.  Really?  They have to?  Is that a law?  How about you make an exception to your policy and layoff the poor performers?  Why am I so passionate about this?  Well, I’m a top producer.  Why should I get the ax but someone who is slow and makes errors keeps their job? 

As you may remember, we’re flying my Mom and Aunt here from Florida.  We’ll visit and then we’ll whisk away to the exotic land known as Disney World while they house and Dasher sit.  Pretty much the same type of arrangement as last year when we went to Alaska.  (blog post here).  Unfortunately, Aunt Donna has been have mysterious allergy attacks that cause her to break out in hives and her throat closes up.  She’s been to the ER something like 12 times in 30 days.  Seriously.  They can’t figure it out.  They think it’s some meds she’s taking and as a result prescribe her 3 more to help with that.  Don’t get me started on my hatred for meds.  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago she and my mom flew to NY and she spent 80% of the time in the hospital there.  So, what this all means is that I can’t have her fly here and worry about ER visits especially when we’re gone so we need to cancel her flight.  As I type this, it’s Saturday and her last ER visit was the morning before.  My mom keeps saying, that she’ll be fine and that they changed her meds but I think it’s just that my mom really wants to come see me and isn’t thinking clearly. 

On the way to Augusta this weekend, Jim and I brain stormed on what to do about my mom, our vacation plans and Dasher.  The vacation must go on since some of it isn’t refundable at this point.  We bought the insurance for the airfare for my Mom/Aunt but have to call and figure out what we can cancel vs change. 

Our RV fridge went on the fritz.  These are special fridges that cost a lot of money.  How much?  Well here’s a look:

Owwww.  I know.  How much to repair?  Probably as much as a new NON-RV fridge at Lowe’s for $400.  The advantage to an RV fridge is that they can run on 110v or propane.  That’s a need for traveling when a generator isn’t running.  BUT, we won’t be traveling in ours so it shouldn’t be an issue other than for perhaps resale value.  Maybe we can save our old fridge in case we sell this RV and someone wants to have it repaired?

To counter act that badness, we did sell the motorhome, aka The TURD!  Yay!

<end old post>

I’ll try to continue to update the blog if not for the world to see (because I know everyone can’t wait for an entry) then at least for me.  Peace out.

8-5-12 Sunday (Recycling Can Be Daunting)

It’s an Augusta weekend getaway!  Ahhhh, stress-free and relaxation.  OK, maybe not to start with.  We arrived Friday night.  It was pouring rain.  Everything was muddy.  The RV stairs didn’t slide out when we opened the door.  Oh boy.  Here we go.  Luckily we have other steps we can put at the door.  In the rain.  Done.  We get inside and attempt to deploy the slide-out.  Nope.  No noise.  Nada.  In the bathroom, we find the “toilet humor” picture fell off the wall.  Fortunately no broken glass. I discover that I forgot the dog food.  A trip to the store will be needed but first we address the slide-out issue.  The “house batteries” are dead.  We hook up the Mazda to the RV and then the steps work as well as the slide-out.  Great, there’s 2 batteries and we replaced them not too long ago and they’re expensive.  Yeah there’s warranty but we just want the damn things to work.  We charge for a while and then all seems right with the world RV.  We went to Walmart.  As we left the store, it was pouring rain again.  The umbrellas were inconveniently located in the car.  Across the lot.  In the rain.

The highlight to that adventure was having Krystal Burger for a late snack.  We didn’t have Krystal in our part of Florida, nor in Charlotte so having it here in Augusta was a treat.  When I lived in NY we had White Castle (similar) which we often referred to as “belly bombs”.

So… we got home, we had a very late night.  Bedtime was 3am.  At 4am the carbon monoxide detector beeped 3 times.  We woke up and thought “what the heck was that?” and went back to sleep.  Jim thought it was the smoke detector.  That happened several more times with 3-5 minute intervals.  Jim investigated.  Just in case we turned off the propane supply.  There’s a handy-dandy control panel in the RV for this.  The leak detector still beeped.  Next he removed the sensor from the wall and cut the wires.  That will teach it to make noise.  Bad sensor, bad.

The next morning (so yes, we did survive) I switched the propane back on but couldn’t get the water heater pilot light to stay on.  There’s yet another handy-dandy control panel in the RV for this!

I tried lighting the stove.  No gas flow.  We finally figured out the house batteries were dead again (we tried the slide-out again), and apparently this is what is powering the propane sensor and carbon monoxide sensor.  Low voltage issues.  So now we think we might have a power converter (110 to 12v) issue.  We jumped the house batteries again and the propane worked.  He reinstalled the carbon monoxide detector and it worked too.  He changed a setting on the converter and so far it’s working.  We’ll see what happens.

We went to Publix for lunch.  Jim found a location that had a café seating area.  We ordered some subs and ate them while people watching.  We love their subs.

Above: Folks, wear contrasting colors.  Variations of pink or blues just don’t work together.

We decided to drive through some neighborhoods.  We came across this:

Above: It’s a house with mannequin heads and hats in the window.

Next, onto Walmart for yet another visit.  Jim wanted to have a trickle charger on hand in case we have converter issues again.

Above: Excuse me, ma’am.  You’ve got a giant butterfly on your back.

Finally, some pool time.  We spent a lot of time just swimming around in the pool and socializing.

Jim had a coupon (shocker, I know) for Red Lobster.  He craved Cheddar Bay Biscuits so we cleaned ourselves up and off we went.  After salads and biscuits I was feeling ill.  Nauseated.  I forced myself (I felt guilty like I was wasting it) to eat my fried shrimp and fries but left a lot of it.  Jim noticed my unusually slow eating pace and asked what was wrong.  He took me back to the RV and then he’ll go shopping on his own.  But first, Jim spotted this on the side of the road.  He said we have to go back for me to see it.  So a u-turn here and there and viola:

The poor thing has a broken wheel.  Yes, it’s a plastic toy wagon.  There’s a recycling place a block away.  The best we can tell is someone didn’t quite make it there.

We arrived back at the RV to find that damn CO2 detector beeping again for low voltage.  We had power issues again. We always seem to have power issues. The battery maintainer (trickle charger) he bought didn’t have a long enough cord.  I laid down sick, listening to a loud beep in the bedroom.  I put socks around the sensor to muffle the alert sounds.  It was the best I could do till he got home.  I slept on and off (because of the beeping).  Once he got home to fix the issue (temporarily) I slept a little longer.  By 8ish I was ready to go for our usual evening swim and socializing. 

Our Sunday here in Augusta is typical now.  We wake up, surf the internet, pack up a little, go to the café for a breakfast sandwich, take a dip in the pool, finish packing up and shower.  Naturally as we were packing the car up, it started raining pouring.  To save some time, Jim stripped down, put on his swim suit and loaded the car in the rain.  He also did our other “getting ready to leave stuff” like dump the holding tanks and such.  The rain did delay us by about an hour though. 

We did our typical grocery shopping.  In the back to school section they had a Bissell PowerForce Compact vacuum for only $35.  We chose pink!  It’s for the RV.  We have our older self propelled Hoover at the RV but it’s cumbersome, very heavy and too wide for some of the RV areas.  Before we leave the RV I vacuum and mop.  The ground all around the RV is pretty much dirt/sand so the carpet and floor is always filthy.

We gave the vacuum a test drive when we got home and it’s powerful.  This makes me happy.  One thing I hate about bagless is that it may lose suction over time.  We’ll see.