Maui Ain't Getting Much Better

Last we saw our hero, he was waiting for the car rental company to show up . . .

Well they did, and that was about the only thing that went right on Monday.

That afternoon was the only time I had set aside to do something fun on the island. I had hoped to catch the luau at my hotel which is supposed to be the best one on the south coast (I didn't want to go to the most famous one in Lahaina because I didn't want to have to drive back after possibly having some festive beverages). It is only offered Thursday through Monday so this was my only night to catch it. I enquired as to the start time, and found out that I would not make it back from the 2-hour whale watching trip I had booked for that afternoon.

Greased up with sunscreen, put the polarizing filter on my new fancy-shmancy telephoto zoom lens, and drove up a half-hour north for the whale-watching cruise. Had a few minutes before I had to check-in, so checked my voicemail in the office. The whale-watching organization had called just a few minutes before, leaving a message that all cruises had been cancelled due to the weather.

Not my luck on this trip so far. I thought, however, that I would salvage the evening by now being able to get back to the hotel in time to catch the luau. Went back to the hotel, went up to the front desk to sign-up for the luau - told that it's sold out.

Not my day.

Have been working ever since, which is just fine because the weather has been very windy, on the cool side, and rainy. High surf warnings have closed most of the beaches in the whole island chain. Forecast for the duration of my trip is pretty much the same, except for heavier rain tomorrow - the day I leave.

Supposedly, one can see the whales from the beach right in front of the hotel. I looked. They're not there. Either that or they're hiding.

The good news - I love my client and they love me. When I had to make a presentation to the entire staff who had gathered in a huge meeting room, they introduced me and then presented me with a beautiful lei made from kukui nuts and leaves from the state tree. Perhaps there will be another chance to come back sometime in the future.

Aloha and mahola for reading.

A Bad Day in Maui

I'm in Maui on business.

For everyone who, upon hearing that I was going here, asked, "Are you taking your family?" - PLEASE think about these things before you say them. If you did, you would have realized that that would mean taking my kids out of school for a week, dropping about $4,000 in airfare plus meals, all so that they can run around and have fun while I'm working. Still want to ask that question Brainiac?

Anyway, I guess the gods conspired to make sure that I wouldn't enjoy my stay here. Within 2 hours of being on the ground, here's what happened:

1. Got halfway from the airport in Kahului to Wailea (southwest coast where I'm staying) before getting stopped at a roadblock and turned around because of a major accident on the road. Had to drive halfway around the island to take the only other road.

2. Was about 1/4 mile from my hotel when a woman decided that she needed to pull out of the driveway of the hotel next door BEFORE I had finished passing it. She hit me in the right rear end, spun me around, and caused enough damage to the car that it was just barely able to limp along to the hotel.

3. When we got out to exchange information, it started pouring.

4. Checked into my hotel whereupon hearing what had happened, they upgraded me to an oceanview room. That was very nice, except that to get to my room, you either had to be a rat looking for the cheese in a maze or you could walk outside a bit to go directly there. I chose the outside route as it had stopped raining. Halfway to my room, the sprinklers came on and soaked me and my bags.

5. Having been awake for 24 hours at this point, I took a shower and crashed, only to get up 3 1/2 hours later to be on a call.

6. Now, as I sit here waiting for the car rental company to come with a new car and a tow truck for the old one, I'm looking out at my ocean view, watching the clouds gather as the usually sunny forecast has turned to "Showers" for the next 3 days - my entire trip.

Maui-Shmaui.

I guess it could be worse. I might have to do some work in Bimidji, Minnesota which is 4 1/2 hours north of Minneapolis. For fans of the movie "Fargo", Brainerd is the "big town" halfway to Bimidji.

Ah, the glamour of business travel . . .

Molly's Balls

My almost 7 year-old daughter Molly decided that she wanted to try juggling and used her allowance to buy two bean-bag type juggling balls.

The following things that came out of her mouth just made me crack up and realize that they would have been even funnier coming out of a boy's mouth (my parenthetical thought bubbles follow).

In the car: "Daddy, my balls dropped." (It's about time)
A minute later: "Daddy, I can't reach my balls." (Just wait til you get to be my age)
Later that day: "Daddy, I like playing with my balls." (You sure you're not a boy?)
A few minutes later: "Daddy, I want to name my balls." (Again, you sure you're not a boy?)

Just Passing Through

It occurred to me that with as much traveling as I have done, there are some cities, states, and countries that I have technically been in, though only by virtue of a plane connection or refueling stop. That means I've seen the airport, and nothing else - though in some of these locations, the airport itself is pretty impressive. All of these locations are ones that I would like to have visited and still hope to someday (okay, I guess Minneapolis can wait . . .) . As of today, the list includes:

Alaska (refueling stops in Anchorage)
Colorado (connections in Denver)
Minnesota (connections in Minneapolis-St. Paul)
Washington (connections in Seattle)
Oahu (connections in Honolulu)
South Korea (connections in Seoul)
Switzerland (connections in Zurich)

Condiment Packets

Check out the latest Fun Link I've added on the right for the Condiment Packet Museum (thanks 5337!). Someone clearly has too much time on their hands.

And while you have some time on your hands, visit the other links listed there.

No Apologies

Yeah, I know. I haven't blogged in a long time, yet there is always so much to blog about. Special apologies to Cousin Dana who always checks. No apologies to anyone else. Just too damn busy sometimes. I am, however, going to try and do better.

Molly (now almost 7 years old) has only lost two teeth so far, though several others have been loose. We took her to the dentist yesterday because we were concerned that one tooth which had been very loose, was not so any longer and kind of sticking straight out - we called it Snaggletooth. Long story short, the dentist had to pull Molly's two top teeth on the spot. She was an extraordinary patient - even the dentist was amazed.

Molly now has a huge hole in her mouth where her teeth used to be, yet she can still whistle. Big brother Sammy felt bad for her and is preparing white chocolate fondue to make her feel better (and I suppose, to make himself feel better as well . . .).