Last day

Last day in Hawaii, boy 5 days really goes fast. I tied up all my loose work ends and Jackie successfully defended her Ph.D. on friday. So that left today to be a day off, and a grand one it was. It started with little Hannah's birthday party on the beach and continued with friend Laura going around a few bars sampling the Mai Tai's, sitting on the beach and going for a swim. Was much needed. Tomorrow we have plans for a nice breakfast, a little shopping and a nice lunch before I get on the long plane ride back to Maine. 

It's still unclear if I have to shoot up to Canada to get a new work visa in the next 3 weeks before I head to the Antarctic, i'm sincerely hoping not, but nothing like the International Office to mess up plans to do some decent lab work before heading out. 

Congratulations Dr. Jackie! 

The first on the midday bar crawl - the Pink Palace (Royal Hawaiian), the oldest hotel in Waikiki and serves the best Mai Tai's right on the beach. 

The halls of the Palace, and for $600 a night you too can stay here.....! 

The last stop, the Hula Grill and a nice Lava Flow. 

In Hawaii!

Got into Hawaii yesterday evening, and am staying with Jenny, Doug and Hannah until friday, then i'm staying with Laura to catch up with her until I fly out on sunday. Whirlwind visit, lots to do! Today has been fun though, went out to breakfast with Jenny and her sister Mary at the Kahala hotel (where they have the best buffet breakfasts!), then headed into work for a few hours and caught up with folks there. 

Little Hannah turned 2 today too, it's been so much fun catching up. She can now say Auntie Rhian, but has elected to still call me Mimi on occasion, which I still find just as darn cute as ever! Caught up with Miss Barkley too, I miss my furry companion, but we'll be trying to get her out to Maine when I get back from the Antarctic, so let's all hope for June! 

Some photos of the Aloha day! 

At the Kahala with Jenny, due for #2 on my birthday in June! 

View from the Kahala - a little difference in temperature from Maine! It's been super windy today though, making it quite pleasant rather than stinking hot. A beach day is already planned with Laura for Saturday - little Hannah's birthday party is in the morning, so we have plans to stick around Waikiki for the rest of the afternoon and work on our Mai Tai drinking and tans. 

One of the beautiful orchids in the wall of orchids at the Kahala. 

Miss Barkley. You're supposed to be in Maine right now little girl! 

And little H, loving her dat-dats. 

Pre Christmas Christmas Dinner!

I'm sat in Chicago and still have another hour before boarding so thought i'd update. On the weekend I had a lovely pre-christmas christmas dinner with the family i've been living with this past 7 weeks, and my British friend Laura. We treated the Americans to some British traditions - mince pies, a good roast complete with Yorkshire puddings, Christmas Crackers and even some Christmas pudding to finish. It was glorious!

The meal - roast chicken for us, roast Tofurkey for Laura!

Dinner complete with Christmas crackers!

The lighting of the pudding - Hannah was captivated!

For all of those interested too, I feel completely recovered from the marathon, my legs and feet are great this year! My only niggle is my shoulder from packing the container over a month ago, I really must have pulled something! Thanks again to all who sponsored me, I made it over my target amount which was awesome!

Leaving Hawaii was a little sad this morning, i'll miss my friends here, particularly the family i've been staying with. Little Hannah is so adorable, as I don't get to see my own niece too often (who is the same age and lives in the UK) i've adopted Hannah as my substitute niece. She has adopted me as her Mimi, and was quite happily pointing out all my possessions as I packed them this morning, as well as unloading a few in the process (i'm a little scared as to what she might have added to my bags too......I found a jar from the fridge in my duffel just before closing it...). I go back in April so it's not too long before I visit, but kids change so fast. I showed them all skype before I left, so i'm hoping we can get that set up.

Well, I'm off to add another layer, and hopefully get on a plane in an hour. Just a few hours away from Cape Cod, they got ten inches of snow yesterday, so i'm hoping it's held off so the roads are clear!

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas....

Friday night saw a little Risotto and champagne with the ladies, yum!

Saturday night saw a little gathering to watch the boat parade!

Some christmas lights in Hawaii Kai as the scene is set for some boat lighting madness!

Photos in the dark of lighted objects moving on water never come out well, but this gives you a little taste of what went on (30 boats in competition to win the best light display, some of them apparently spend thousands!).

No, this is not a stuffed animal. I would say only in Hawaii, but i'm betting there are probably more out there......

Some of the boats heading home after the festival.

Weekend!

Well the weekend started with a bang - saturday morning a group of my favorite girls headed to the Kahala hotel for their awesome breakfast buffet - yum! Let the pre-marathon carbo-loading begin in style! And guess who we saw there???

Yup....you guessed it. Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) from the series Heroes! He was having breakfast right behind us (well spotted Tara!). I don't watch much in the way of TV, but i've been into this series lately and have been watching it here and there on Netflix. Always awesome to have a famous person sighting! 

Next up I had little Hannah for the weekend while Jenny and Doug had a night at the Kahala hotel, their first night away from little Hannah since she was born! They had a relaxing time and Hannah and I had an awesome time, she was such a star, no fuss at all.

We checked out the marathon preparations......gulp! Have I mentioned it's this sunday! Yikes! I'm definitely in need of that cheer group I had last year, this year could be super painful! Going to pick up my packet probably wednesday, so i'll let everyone know my number so you can follow my progress online!

And the best way to keep a 20 month old entertained? Dress up. Everytime!

Hope you all had a good weekend. Just one more lecture to give - Wednesday sees the end of teaching, just the exam to go - woo hoo! Time most certainly flies....still need to finish up a bunch of xmas presents - yikes!

One week till M Day!

Just one week until Marathon Day! Amazing how time has flown, that means it's just 2.5 weeks until I leave the Island - gulp! Three weekends to go!

This weekend is going to be fun, I have little Hannah for the weekend, while Jenny and Doug go and stay in a fancy hotel for the night right down on the beach and get some much needed downtime. We're going to have so much fun (in other news someone went potty for the first time yesterday, we were all so proud, i'd literally just ordered her a potty for xmas (don't I give the best xmas presents..:0) and it arrived the day before, so she got the hang of it pretty quickly!).

Next weekend is Marathon Day on sunday. I'm scared and excited. The 20 miles last weekend went well, totally wasn't in the mood to begin with, but warmed up to it. Didn't press myself and with my time it would get me in right on track with last years timing (5hrs 55minutes), so at least I haven't got slower! I am worried about that, my late stage training has been somewhat erratic, and I don't have the fitness base I had last year from running the June half marathon and all the little 5K and 10Ks I did. I'm not sure why i'm worried, it is what it is, I'm still pretty confident i'll finish! Don't forget to sponsor me here and pass around to all your friends - i'm just $60 away from my target - woo hoo!

The weekend after I think is going to HAVE to involve the beach. I need a tan, and I need one now, before I hit the snow of Maine! And we're going to have a pre-christmas christmas dinner with Laura, which is going to be fun. Don't tell anyone but i've even managed to get hold of pudding and crackers for the event - woo hoo!

So for now, it's off to the Kahala for a carbo loaded feast!

North Shore Sunday

I took a visitor up to the North Shore on sunday, my last visit up that direction (just 3 weeks to go!). Some photos from the day....

Maybe I should get one of these for those Alaskan Sleeper Sharks....

Haleiwa Honu, they never get old....:0)

Sharks Cove

Kouloa Ranch in the mist...

Pacific Cardinal, hoping for some handouts...

Moving and Participating

Hannah gives me a lesson in how to organize my wallet. She's so much more organized than me!

The move went well this weekend, I didn't finish packing up my house, but that's okay, I have until the weekend to get my place squared away so I can move boxes into the container. It's been cute staying with Jenny and Hannah (Doug is out at a conference this week, returns on thursday). Hannah helped me settle in well....:0)

Apparently if I want to run faster I have to eat more blueberries.....that's what the whirling dervish tells me anyway!

Participating in the half marathon went well too. I like to say I participate rather than compete, as it's only in my dreams I would ever actually compete in running. It did go well though - 2 hrs 26 minutes - not bad, and nearly a half hour off my only other half marathon. I was a little bummed, as I thought I was doing better than that, but since I did run 2 miles down and 3 miles back after i'm not going to complain. My knee has been sore since though which considering my knee history i'm a little worried about - so i'm sitting with ice right now - much better today than yesterday, so i'm sure I just tweaked it a little trying to run the last downhill over Diamond Head. Sounds ridiculous, but sometimes running down is harder, and hurts more, than running up. I was pretty proud of myself as I ran all the ups and actually stuck to my plan (mostly) of running between water stops, walking for a minute or two after to refresh, and then running on. Only in the somewhat killer stretch on the way back to Diamond Head (a long way without water with no shade) did I walk a little. And in the marathon I know there is a water stop on that stretch, so I didn't feel too badly.

The one thing this race did tell me is that I can't expect a faster marathon time this year. Originally I was kind of hoping to, but this race cinched that that probably isn't going to happen, I just haven't had the time to do that kind of training. Maybe I can shave ten minutes or so, that would be nice, but anything more than that I think, this year, is just unrealistic. Oh well, at least I am still participating, and it's going to be fun!

Bedtime story with the whole family!

But now it's night night time, i'm pooped, today was a full day of teaching, meetings and loading samples, and tomorrow (and this week) aren't looking any better! If I don't update before next week when the container is gone, please excuse me, i'll be back soon!

Too cute!

"Dear Rhian. Thank you for your order!! Wash your eggs befor you cook please. It has been mudy and our hens have dirty feet!! Thanks!! Love Cassie"

The little note in with my egg order today! I buy eggs from a colleagues 7yr old daughter who raises hens. One of my favorite things in the world is fresh eggs! Made me smile as I opened the bag this evening. It has been pouring it down for the last week here, I hope it stops tomorrow for us to move me and the futon out of the house. It's cooled down so much I am in trousers, long sleeve shirt and socks!

Moanday....

The above picture is to remind me that this weekend was fun, really, it was a lot of fun. I got to pack, relax, run and spend time with friends, you can't get too much better than that. Had dinner with Jenny, Doug and friends on Halloween night, the photo is Hannah playing peek-a-boo with Doug and me while out waiting for Trick or Treaters!

Today however, I need to moan. Nothing seemed to go right. So today i'm going to list out my moans. Tomorrow, after a state holiday day that I might actually take off (or at least just work at home and mix it up with packing) i'll put up a happy list. Today it's moan list time.

1. A parcel of lab supplies that I ordered 3 weeks ago is still not here. Last week they "lost" it and couldn't find it on the tracking (but knew it left on the 18th October). Today I walked into my office to a phone message saying they know where it is, it's on the boat, but they don't know when it's going to get here. Not only have I had to buy supplies from a more expensive place on island to see us through till these supplies arrive, now it doesn't even look like they'll get here before the container leaves! Ak!

2. A paper I sent out the revisions for came back to me asking for 2 revisions that were already made! Not sure what went on there, but everything they've asked for is already done in the files that are already uploaded. Headquarters for the journal is in Europe, so it'll be a while before they figure it out i'm sure. This is an accepted paper that just needs to GO and stop BUGGING me! (long story....)

3. Last week I had a hard-drive conk out. So I bought a new 2TB one from the University store - Lacie (good brand), good price, good to get it there to get it immediately to save the data from this other drive. That one didn't work (made crunchy noises). Got a replacement on friday, worked, set it up to transfer files (would take 12hrs), walked away. Went into work saturday and it still had 6hrs to go. Hmmm. Didn't have time to deal with it. Walked in today, still had 6hrs to go. Ug. It had corrupted, after some playing around it decided to die completely. I'm now on the third one.......sigh. That one "seemed" to work. Guess i'll find out tomorrow if it did.....

4. And the big one. My car. :0( It is in California. Yay. It's not going any further for a while. Boo. The car shipping is being paid for through the university through invoice. I got the quote, organized the invoice and submitted it to UMaine. Told the car company. They had said originally they wouldn't take it until the invoice was paid. So I waited. The next day (after i'd submitted the paperwork to Maine) they called me up to organize the shipping. I asked if the invoice had been paid, they said no, but it didn't matter they'd take it. What they didn't tell me until friday was that though they would take it, they wouldn't deliver it until the invoice was paid. This is the first I had heard of this, and my car is now in California. So now, unless the invoice is paid by this friday (as I haven't dealt with this in Maine before, I have no idea if this is reasonable - here in Hawaii, that would NEVER happen in time), they want to store it, and they want to charge me for storage. Nice huh. No, it was nowhere in all the paperwork I signed either, I would have noticed and I checked today.

I think the thing that pisses me off about #4 on there is the attitude of the company (Transporter Auto Services - do not use them), they actually said to me today "well if you'd told us how long it would take to get the invoice we wouldn't have taken the car". Well duh, if you'd either asked, or mentioned you wouldn't have delivered it without it, I wouldn't have dropped off the car with you until it was! They've admitted they didn't tell me about that gem, but still want to turn this around to be my fault?!? Yeah, cause i'm knowingly going to give you the most expensive item I (half) own knowing it 'aint going to be delivered.....

Only time will see if this one pans out, until my car is in MA, i'm just not going to stop stressing about it......and I have a feeling it's going to be many more hours of phone calls and emails....

Packing....

My office, half packed......also a storage area for boxes, because....

....there is literally no room for any packing boxes in the lab right now. It is packed to the gills down there, both with "stuff" and with people. At the moment we have 7 people vying for time in there. In 1.5 weeks i'm closing the lab, as in 2 weeks, the container arrives and we need time to clean equipment, turn it off, and pack it! 

I thought sending all the samples would free up some room down there, however it looks like all the shelves are just being filled up once again. Good thing i'm going to be getting nearly treble the amount of lab space in Maine, I need it! 

A day at the beach.

Today we celebrated Laura's birthday with a beach day - yeah! I can't remember the last time I spent ALL day at the beach, but it's been a really long time (like, I don't think i've done it since moving to Hawaii!). The day started with some diving, followed by a picnic, more diving and more picnic! Over two dives we saw octopus, white tip reef sharks, moray eels, tons of reef fish (including two purple wrasse who were so cute!) and lots and lots of turtles! After the disappointment of Alaska diving (or lack there of), it was so nice to get in the water with good friends.

Can't get a much better sunday than that, and it was super nice to not spend the weekend packing! Tomorrow a big day, my car is leaving the island, i'm dropping it off at the shipping port tomorrow morning bright and early. Gulp!

Cordellia, Me, Laura and Jeff ready for a fun dive at the Haleiwa Trench! Why am I wearing a hood and gloves? Just trying out some of Laura's kit she likes for cold-water diving, so I have an idea of what I need for Maine!

A paddleboarder rides out at sunset.

Sunset over Kaena Point.

Hope you all had a good weekend too!

$1 a mile!

I'm much more of a passive fundraiser than active, I just don't have the time these days to actively pursue people and put in the groundwork to raise large sums. So i've set a modest goal this year to raise $1 per training mile between now and the marathon - a total of $285 - for the SADS Foundation, a foundation that is dedicated to raising awareness of Sudden Arrhythmia Death (also known as Sudden Adult Death), and in particular genetic heart conditions that are often the cause of unknown and unexplainable fatalities. I am running in honor of my sister, Sophie Megan, who we lost to SADS seven years ago.

Here is my fundraising site - $1 = 1 mile of my pain - you know you want to lay claim to my pain! I'll put a link up on the sidebar too. If I get to my goal of $285, maybe i'll even try and get a better time than last year......:0)

Regardless of whether you can donate to this great cause (I never have the money to sponsor people so totally understand!), please do take a moment to look over the SADS Foundation website and help spread the word. Since Sophie's death I now know 3 people who have gone through similar experiences with a loved one, so this is amazingly common, yet so few people know about it. Many Arrhythmia syndromes have been identified through research, many warning signs identified, and many are now treatable. With more public awareness and research, many more sudden, unexplainable deaths will be prevented.

10-10-10

Anything special happened to you? No? Didn't think so.....:0)

Today was a good day though, I finally got caught up on sleep (it's been a long week of early mornings and late nights), especially after yesterdays 10 miler (which went surprisingly awesome!). So although I still woke up at 5am, I stayed in bed and managed to snooze some more until 7, then ate breakfast in bed doodling on the net. My kind of morning....:0)

Then I went on a hike with a bunch of people from work. We did the Williwilinui trail, which goes right up a ridge into the center of Oahu. It started out hot, but unfortunately the clouds came in before we got to the top, so no long views for us, but it was so so nice to be out and hiking, and I came back covered in mud, sweaty and happy....:0) I did forget my camera though - doh! So excuse the poor quality photos from my phone!

The gang

Part of the trail - it was pretty good, but we were lucky it hadn't rained in a few days, otherwise it would have been super slippy!

Insert view over Kailua on the windward side here.....

Another cool thing happened this weekend. On saturday I ran my 10 miler around Diamondhead, and I am now officially over 500 miles on my mile counter (which started just after I finished my first half marathon - my first try at running - and so is a little low!) - woo hoo! Zero miles to 500 miles in just over a year. That makes me happy too!

Hope everyone had a happy weekend too!

Play date

Tomorrow afternoon I have a play-date with Hannah while Jenny goes for a haircut, and i'm so excited about it, what an awesome way to end a friday! Not sure what we're going to do yet, we probably have 2hrs max, so maybe a visit to the play-park is in order. The picture above is one from this summer, before I headed to Alaska, taken by Jenny, so cute! Since I got back she's started calling out for me on a regular basis apparently, my name is Mary, but we're working on that (she has an Aunty Mary who she's learning by photos and has us a little confused!). Jenny said they dropped by the mall on their way home the other day and as soon as they got in there she started calling "Mary, Mary!". Pretty funny...:0)

In other news I sat and packed another box tonight. Wrapped fragile items in bubble wrap and have cleared a couple of shelves. In work I packed all my books this week. Boxes are starting to be a feature, guess that's not going to go away for a while. I also flaked on running this week. Argh. Wasn't feeling too good and my shin has been hurting, so combined it seemed good to take it easy this week, so I walked into work a bunch instead. Still going to do my 10 miles this weekend. No matter what "dont' skimp on the long runs" is what they all say, so 10 miles I shall.....even if I walk it.....:0)

This week

The view I will probably miss the most, the sunset over the city. This is on my regular running route, and on my walk home from work. It's at the top of a KILLER hill, so I always stop to catch my breath and admire the view.

Well, the week certainly started with a bang. Toothache - argh! Went to the dentist today, potential root canal (sigh), but first he tried aligning my bite a little better and seeing if that fixes the problem, oh I hope so, but my luck with teeth, i'm doubting it! This weekend was good, didn't make it to the beach, but I did get to do some pending errands, bought a bunch of packing boxes, ran 12 miles, caught up with Jenny, Doug and Hannah, and did some much needed laundry! I even packed my first box (camping gear from Alaska that had yet to be tidied - might as well just pack it)!

Jenny and Hannah "driving" at the mall this weekend. Often on the weekend i'll meet Jenny and Hannah at a smaller mall just around the corner from their house - it's air conditioned, so a relief in the middle of the day, and Hannah runs around the walkways, expending some of her (never ending!) energy. Jenny and I, well we get a coffee and follow Hannah around, catching up on the week just gone. It's a nice ritual, who knew I would enjoy some mall time! This weekend, for the first time, Hannah discovered the arcade, she spotted the horses and car and stood mesmerized for ten minutes before venturing in. No money was spent, but it was fun to see her play on the "neigh neigh" and the "broom broom".

So my schedule is starting to fall into place. I have a container arriving that will take all my lab and personal belongings to Maine in the first week of November (it takes that long to get there!), at which time i'll move in with Jenny, Doug and Hannah for the last 6 weeks on Oahu (since I spent the first 4 weeks with those guys, we figured why not spend the last few weeks too!), then on the 22nd December I head to Woods Hole, and from there Maine (not sure on the exact date there yet). It's getting there, I think i'll feel better when it's moving in that direction. I called the car people and they're sending me new paperwork, maybe my car will get to go soon....

First Week Back

Well, i've been back almost a week, and it's been a whirlwind. I have to say too, I miss Alaska. A really beautiful place, definitely on my list of favorites in this world, somewhere I feel like "me". The beauty of the mountains and fjords, the laid back atmosphere, the quiet stillness. The Tracy Arm cruise was a complete success too, I was very very sad not to be diving, but the two people I went with were a lot of fun and we got all the samples we need tagged and ready for this long term experiment. I'm really excited about this project!

Luckily Maine makes me feel like "me" too, and with my return is the return to reality and that in just under 3 months I am making a move across the widest part of the US. When I say this week has been a whirlwind too, I really mean it - in the last 5 days i've not only caught up with work and life, processed the first set of samples from Alaska, ran 20 miles (that marathon is looming!), booked the moving container (12th November), my car is being fixed before shipping, car paperwork to ship it applied for and even booked my flight (22nd December). All this and I still haven't unpacked my camping gear.......

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Fruits of my labor....

Looks like my first crop of papayas (the rest have all blown off in the wind!) are all going to be ready right around the time I fly to Alaska...typical...!