Sharks!

Things have been busy here in Hawaii. I am still not completely moved into my new place, but I am getting there. This past Wednesday, we had the first TV-on-DVD night in the indoor/outdoor room (henceforth known as: manspace). I set up all of my furniture and my entertainment system in the previously unused space and I must say that it was well suited for some Battlestar Galactica. I would go as far to say it is the most frakkin' awesome room I have ever had.


Despite having a lot to do and not much time to do it, I still appreciate the fact that I live in Hawaii and should never take that for granted. That being said, I took half of the Saturday before last to spend some time at the sand bar with some friends. One of those friends was Jeanne. If you reference back to the Lanai post in February, she was the lady that picked Dan and me up when we were backpacking on Lanai. She was in town this past week for a teacher's conference, so Dan and I hung out with her a couple of nights. After Dan left for the mainland, she stayed in his place.


On Saturday, Jeanne came out to the sand bar with us. Well, it was her idea that we go in the first place. She lived on Oahu about 30 years ago and wanted to see how the bay changed. She said that 30 years ago, it was completely dead. No coral would grow, it was full of garbage and sewage, and the water was polluted and murky. Happily that is no longer the case. People got together and decided that the bay was worth saving and now it is full of life. It's a bit ironic, but I saw more sea life this week than ever before. We saw about a dozen turtles on the way out and back, as well as some things I had never seen at the sand bar in the past: a Portuguese man-o-war and hammerhead sharks.


This past Friday I went out to the sand bar for an overnighter with Tomollie. We were supposed to have more people, but everyone backed out, so it was just me and a married couple. I know what you are thinking, "Hollie must have felt awkward being the only girl." She did ok. It wasn't too awkward. Also, keeping with the sharks theme, Tomollie said that a shark fin with a black tip followed me when I was swimming from the pier to my mooring ball to get my boat. I have my doubts, but they swear by it.


The sand bar on Saturday morning was huge. After some breakfast and brushing of the teeth, we walked around looking at the coral (which usually isn't exposed) and crabs. Following that we played football on the sand. Usually there is not enough sand to actually go long and blow out your arm, but since it was a very low tide, we had about 100m x 800m to play with. Needless to say, we couldn't cover that whole ground, but we definitely tried. It was a lot of fun and, surprisingly, my arm isn't even sore today.

Today involved more moving. I keep thinking that I have "one more trip," but that has been going on for about two weeks. I swear my junk is multiplying behind my back. I have no choice but to get it out this week. Friday is our no-kidding last day. I figure I will spend Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday cleaning. I only have one more trip worth of stuff to move...

Lastly, my bed has arrived. Since I spent my economic relief check on a laptop made in China, I thought it would be a good idea to buy something else that I needed: a California king memory foam mattress. It is something that I have wanted for some time and now that I have a bigger room, I figure it was a good time to pull the trigger on that purchase. Plus, it was on sale, so all of the stars were aligned and I placed my order after only a few minutes of online shopping. The place I bought it from, Bed In a Box, was having a sale, and they have free shipping (unfortunately I found out when I placed my order that free shipping only applies to the lower 48. Shipping to Hawaii is rarely free. In this case it was $260. I suppose it's the price one has to pay when living on the most isolated land mass on earth.) At any rate, I slept on the bed for the first time last night and it was pretty comfortable. Tonight should be even better since the foam has had the recommend amount of time to get to it's intended shape. Something worth mentioning is that my feet still hang off when I sleep on my stomach. The difference between the California king and the full size is that now only my toes hang off instead of halfway to my knees. At least it's forward progress.

Ice Cream Social

The summer is in full swing already. These past two weeks, I have spent a lot of time out and about. A friend of mine I met in China came out to a work retreat here in Hawaii a few days early. The last time I saw her was in DC about 3 years ago. We had a pretty good time, but she was here and gone in a weekend. The one "Hawaii" thing we got to do was the sandbar (guess who's suggestion that was? Mine.).

We also had a few parties downtown and in Waikiki to attend. I drank way too much last weekend, so I am going to aim for not drinking for the rest of the summer. Will I make it? Probably not. I have been learning how to brew beer, so I'm going to need to taste the end product. Tasting the beer you helped brew is one thing, but bar hopping is another. I called all-time DD for the rest of the summer, until Josh's wedding on Labor Day weekend, so hopefully that will prevent a repeat of last weekend.

Today we met up for an ice cream social at my Lanikai place. We were seeing Danny and Dani off on their way to the east coast. It was a good time. Not as many people showed up as I was expecting, so we ended up having over a half-gallon of ice cream for each person. I called it quits after 3 bowls and a root beer float. Probably still too much.

We have coconuts, papayas, and limes in the yard. Delicious coconut milk is only a stones throw away (unless they fall off on their own, they you can just pick them up off the ground).

The yard is really a big highlight for me. Not only is it big enough to throw a baseball, have an $80 inflatable pool, and hold a large bar-b-que, but it also has fun flowers.

I also can't complain about being steps away from Lanikai Beach.

Last, but not least, here is a two-cent tour. The house is a bit messy, but you get the picture. I have a lot of big items to move, but all of the small stuff is boxed up. I just need some ideas on how to get a couch into a Honda.