Sunrise

What can I add to that? 

What?

Nice view last night.  When we came out from dinner last night I saw stars in the sky for the first time in years.  Kauai does have issues.  Rouge chickens outnumber the people about 250,000 to 1 - that may be a slight exaggeration, but only slight.  And they crow at anything and everything. Some one needs to start Hawaiian Fried Chicken - with free range birds direct from the islands.  The local power company has not figured out solar, or wind, or Geo-thermal, and relies on diesel generators,  so the power was off on parts of the island last night, including our hotel, as apparently happens anytime said generators burp.  But it is another morning in paradise.  We are on a sparsely populated island today, we are expecting fewer then 20 people in audience, a bit of a change from yesterday' s 240.   

Another Night, Another Hotel

So I have reached the part of this adventure were I will be hopping from hotel to hotel.  This was the happy hour view this evening. 

Submarine

This morning there was a submarine going out of Honolulu harbor this morning.  It was raining,  not a good day for a boat ride,  is there ever a bad day for a submarine ride?

January Challenge

I did 35 postings in January, but I failed my challenge to post at least once per day.  Still not bad, with this I am up to 40 this year, 200 postings last year.  My goal is 365 postings this year.

Lea

Having a tropical day

22 minutes to show time

The audience is filtering in, weeks of preparation and it all starts. 

Getting to Paradise

Several people have offered to assist me, carry my bags and such on this chunk of work.  Actually I needed a collaborator,  with expertise on brain aging and dementia.  Two of my co-workers turned me down,  Hawaii was to far and five days of training was too much.  I was able to get a med school professor to volunteer.  He is flying out from the mid south. His airline rescheduled him to change planes in Houston instead of Chicago because of weather concerns,  and then the plane broke in Houston.  The first message was he wouldn't get here until Tuesday.  The second message was he would get in at 6:30 am on Monday (we start at 9.) Now he is getting in Sunday evening, but his luggage won't get here until Monday evening.  I'm glad I added the extra days to the beginning instead of the end. Dan's wife is meeting him in Maui Friday evening for a few days. 

The Center of the Universe?

Slightly left of center on the horizon, is the place that will be the focus of attention of millions of people later today.  Some of us are just interested in the commercials, but millions of people will be watching a bunch of grown men (very grown men) tossing a funny shaped ball around the field.  What a man made spectacle.  To turn an oddly shaped ball into the center of the universe for so many people.  I can tell you who is playing, but I really don't care who wins.

Oceans

A cousin's wife once remarked that if you have seen one water fall you have seen them all and she would sooner go shopping.  She is now an ex wife.  It is easy to say if you have seen one ocean you have seen them all.  Then I saw the north Shore of Oahu.  OMG

Post Cards from the Edge

It is a long was here - I don't think we are on the end of the world, but you can likely see it from here.  I did a whale watching cruise this morning, and we saw a whale and a lot of wonderful coastline.  It was a great fun, well worth the trip.  Then I went to lunch with the local fixer, and she took me on a tour of some of her favorite parts of the island, for three hours.  Now I am back watching the sun set, and relaxing.  Saturday I am renting a car, to see more of the off the beaten path parts of the island.  

Landmarks

Flightless Waterfowl Updates

Well I have made it to the 50th state, my 48th, but the nations 50th. It was a long, almost 7 hour flight from Phoenix against strong head winds.  The 190 passenger plane, had about 75 people on board, I scored a row to my self, gathered up extra blankets and did my best to be comfy for the very long flight.  This is the view from my nest for the next five nights, on the 34 floor with a view over the marina and the beach. Every person on this island must own three cars and only have one parking space, the traffic and car alarms are as present as the warm tropical breeze.  

The pilot said to look out this side for a wonderful view of downtown LA from 38,000 feet. It must have clouded in between the front of the plane and the back of the plane.   

Breaking the Cultural Norm

So the back cabin of the plane was virtually empty. So I asked and they moved me to an empty row. Along comes an Asian couple who somehow got assigned the two empty seats in my row. It took a couple of minutes to convince them to move to an empty row. When the flight attendant came by they profusely apologized and said I forced them to move.  The flight attendant was very sweet, pick any empty row and make yourself comfortable. 

Blog of the day

I am trying to write something every day.  It can be a challenge.  I had a slow WiFi connection for a few hours on Wednesday.  Surprising how fast we have become dependant on such services. 

I am in Spo-ville for three hours.  There is a golf tournament and a football game here this weekend.  Makes for a fun flight.  Two guys recognized one another,  one asked the other if he was ready for the weekend and the reply was, I am but not so sure about my liver.

Word has it TSA is searching for deflated balls.  Glad I cleared security easily. 

Morning on the Left Coast

"Does anyone really know what time it is, does anyone really care? " 

My computer says it is 2:18 PM - the meeting says it is 11:18 AM.  I slept about 11 hours last night - that helps.  I had a decent nights sleep before leaving on this adventure. I frequently have sleepless nights before the start of an adventure. Tomorrow I move a couple of time zones farther west.   All together this year I will spend time half way around the world, 12 times zones. Lots of traveling for a little flightless bird.  

Things are different out here.  I heard a little of the local news last night, when people had committed crimes, they all said, we made bad choices.  No assumption that they are bad people, who are doing evil things.  The menu at breakfast offered a choice of sheep or cows milk yogurt (no goat or camel?) My breakfast burrito  had wonderful fresh spinach in it, try to find that on the east coast.  

So far so good, another time zone tomorrow, actually two, I am changing planes in Spo-Ville. 

Semi Empty Planes

A super snow storm,  thousands of cancelled flights and mine goes on time and 1/3rd empty. Blessed is the empty middle seat,  as rare as hens teeth these days.

A Little Peace and Quiet

Oh can that child make a noise. I am on a cross country flight, someplace over Over Land, you know the states  between the east coast and west coast of the United States that are best seen from 35, 000 feet I grew bored with the book I was reading,  exhausted by the article I am trying to craft and decided to nap. That is when she started to babble.  I am not an expert on early childhood development,  but she is early verbal.  There are a few short simple words mixed in with the noise that only parents and grandparents can appreciate.  She roused me from a fairly deep sleep.  Deep enough that my listening had shut down.  Of course I thought of ear plugs about 3 am when I rolled over and went back to sleep. 

There was a time when I would have been rude to the parents.  But that changed for me one day about 25 years ago.  I had a young couple with a toddler in my office trying to get some business done. The child woke from a nap and went on for what seemed like an hour.  After a couple of minutes the father said to me, " sorry we forget how disturbing that can be." He went on to explain that the child had been born profoundly ill. For months he had been to weak to cry and delayed in becoming verbal.  To them it was the sound of a healthy person,  the most glorious sound on earth.  I will nap later. 

Will it or Won't it

Okay, there is a blizzard hitting New England, but what will the impact be here in the Mid-Atlantic?  Today we had a mix of rain and snow showers, with more rain then snow.  Nothing much staid on the ground.  I have an 8:30 AM flight.  I checked in online this morning and pre-paid my checked bag.  One the way home I received a text message from United Airlines that a storm might impact flights.  I checked online when I got home and my flight is still showing on schedule.  The plane I am going out on is scheduled to leave Houston in a few minutes and spend the night in DC, it is showing on time out of Houston.  Unless the storm comes further south then expected, it should be able to leave in the morning.  Will it, or Won't it.  I try to update tomorrow.

Sunday Rambles

• Busy and productive week at the office.  I have a short of list of must do items for Monday. 
• Making progress on planning a trip for next summer, Air is booked, three nights hotel are booked, I have about 10 more nights hotels to figure out.  The Euro is very low against the dollar.  We were in Italy in February 2000, just 6 weeks after the roll out of the Euro and the Euro was about 98-cents.  It is about $1.12 today, it was up around $1.50 the last time I traveled in the Euro zone.  
• I have a business trip coming up.  I have a meeting in Huntington Beach, California and then I am doing five days of training.  The training agenda is challenging, we present from 9-4 on Monday, 9-noon on Tuesday and catch a 2:00 flight to the next venue, Wednesday we train from 8:00 am to 3:00 PM and catch a 5:00 flight to the next venue.  The Thursday we train from 8:30 to 3:30 and catch a 6:00 PM flight to the next venue, that includes a change of planes, Friday we train from 9 - 4 and catch a 7PM flight, I spend the night and fly home on and overnight flight.  Yea lots of work, a grueling schedule.  That is the bad news, the good news is the first two days are in Honolulu, then Kauai, then Maui, then Hilo and fly home from Honolulu.  I have three days in Hawaii between the meeting in California and the training in Hawaii.  
• With the upcoming trip I will be down to two states I have not been to, Idaho and Wyoming.  
• I saw some political action this week, there is an issue I have been following for six years, through a couple of Congresses, and we have a bill in the new Congress, that is a good bill.  
• I am ready for spring. Enough winter. 
• Edited at 4:54 to add:
• I am anxious about getting done what needs to be done in the office, so I drove into the office mid-day on Sunday to work for a couple of hours.  I parked, got out of car, looked a the door and realized I had left my building access fob at home.  I took this as a sign from the universe that I shouldn't work today, and headed home.