Penny pinching....

Today I took all my loose coins (in my piggy bank, from my desk at work and out of the car) down to the Coinstar machine (I don't have a bank account on the island, so couldn't change them in a bank) and made two big scores. 

First I had way more than I thought - having done some internet research I discovered that you can use Coinstar machines and get vouchers for things like Amazon and iTunes and not get charged for it counting your pennies. So i'd decided I would come away with probably a $20 amazon voucher, threw my money in there. I had $88 worth of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters - woo hoo! So I paid the fee and ended up with $81 in cash - not the way I was going to go, but at this point $81 cash was more appealing than $88 on Amazon. Way to go desk drawer.

The second big discovery was Star Market - my god, how had I not walked in one before. It's a supermarket, but had way more choice than the local Safeway. They actually had a British section. I loved it, didn't buy much as I go away next friday, but enjoyed wandering - a good selection of organic foods too, average prices for Hawaii, but just having the choice is good. 

So I bought myself a few goodies (tofu, curry sauce, chocolate....the basics) and headed for a drive through the wet weather. Even down on Waikiki was wet, plenty of tourists wandering around in $1 clear plastic ponchos. It stopped raining about an hour ago, not sure if it's a lull or that was that. 

A wet Waikiki...

Sandbagging the university, which does lie on a low spot....