Getting The Hell Out Of Dodge??

Where have I been? Well for the past few days I've been all wrapped up in the new Republican bathroom scandal. Another one? Why the hell am I not even surprised. Anyway, I'll leave the blogging on this subject to my very favorite website. I'm anxiously awaiting the end to the administration of hypocrisy.

In other news, the universe heard how much I really want to live in California. (For the record, I really repeated over and over that I did not want to live in California). Never mind. It seems as though that is where we are headed. An offer was made to Husband that we would be stupid to refuse. Silicon Valley, here we come. I'll be happy to get out of here. I feel that we are slowly working our way back to the east coast where I belong. Unfortunately we have to head south first before we can head east.

In case you were wondering how my dad feels about me living near a major fault line, he's surprisingly fine with it. The reason he is fine with it is simple. Apparently there is a fault line running from Florida to Cuba and an earthquake could happen in Florida at anytime. In that regard, I guess we will be even. At least I won't have to hear about tsunamis and inevitable volcanic eruptions anymore. However, I'm certain he'll think of something.

Something New To Outsource

Husband works in Silicon Valley several days per week. He always comes home with stories about people he works with at his client site. One woman (also Indian) is pregnant with her first baby. She and her husband just purchased a ridiculously expensive house in that area. She has been researching daycare and what she is going to do with the baby once he is born. Since the house was so expensive, she has to continue working. Apparently she decided the solution to the daycare dilemma is to send her baby to India to live with her parents. All of her friends are doing this. She has it all figured out. When the baby turns one she'll drop him off in India and see him about once a year or so. It'll be cheaper that way.
I was floored when I heard this. Husband could not believe it either. He tried to talk her out of it, but she has made the decision. It seems crazy to me. I don't even have any kids yet, but I can guarantee I would never miss the most important years of life for a big house or a job. Why even bother to have a child if you are just going to abandon him and live half a world away? I can't even imagine what these people are going to do if the child gets deathly ill. You can't exactly jump on a plane and be right there.
I'm really hoping this "plan" falls through.

The Bachelor Bites

I don't think anyone but me is interested in this, but I seriously gasped out loud when I read it. I just can't believe it. I know. I know....they met on a reality tv show, what was I expecting? I was so happy when he picked her. She seemed like such a sweet girl and I could relate to her in so many ways.

Don't remind me...I have way too much time on my hands.

File Under: WTF

I read this is the paper the other day. Just another reason why I need to get out of here. I do not understand it at all.
Sick Sick Sick.

Hopefully if all goes well this week I'll be back on the "right" coast sooner rather than later. So please pray for Husband on Thursday. He has a second interview for a job in ATL and they are flying him first class to get there. I promise I will like living in ATL this time.

August...and everything before and after

I can't believe how time flies. August already. This is the month of a million birthdays. Happy Birthday August people.

So...the Hawaii trip. (notice not only pictures but links too!!! my first links)

What a fantastic time! I loved all the islands and it is difficult to pick a favorite but if I had to choose I would go with Kauai.

We boarded the cruise ship in Honolulu on 7.23. We sailed away that evening on our way to the Big Island and the city of Hilo. We arrived in Hilo the next morning and picked up our rental car. First stop: Volcanoes National Park. I really liked this place. I thought it was very cool to see the old lava flows and the steam vents that are still steaming. There is even a lava tube that you can walk through, which we did.

Next stop: Akaka Falls. This is a state park that has a "must see" waterfall. Some friends told us we just had to go there. We walked the long and winding trail to get to the falls. Husband hated it. He was not impressed at all and we didn't stay very long.

Hilo was definitely Husband's least favorite island. He is tired of looking at volcanoes and waterfalls. We have tons of those things around where we live. He said that part of the island was for people who have never traveled the west coast of the "mainland" so we headed back to the ship several hours early.

Note to self: no more mountains, volcanoes or waterfalls.

Stop #2 was Maui. This is Husband's favorite island. I felt it is very overrated. Not that it isn't beautiful, but I don't feel I ever need to go back. Once again we picked up our rental car and started driving. We asked a "local" where was the best beach and he told us to go to Kihei. We also learned that there are no private beaches in all of Hawaii. We ended up driving south of Kihei to Makena and walked through a posh hotel to get to their beach. It wasn't crowded at all and we rented a cabana on the beach for 4 hours. It was so relaxing and we had fun playing in the waves.

After the beach we had to drive to Lahaina in the north part of the island for our luau. There weren't a lot of luaus to choose from for a Wednesday night. I researched all the menus to be sure there would be foods we could eat. I settled on one and booked it. Then I started reading reviews about it which were horrible. I was so scared Husband would hate it and then I'd have to hear about it for the rest of my life. However, much to my surprise he absolutely loved it! We had excellent seats right up front. Not only did he love the show, but he loved the food.

The next day we were back in Makena at the same beach, even in the same cabana. Husband didn't grow up living near a beach like I did so it was all he wanted to do. On this day he also told me this gem, "Hawaii is great and all, but I really like Destin better. I could have saved thousands of dollars if we had just gone to Destin again." hmmmm, interesting. Or how about this one, "I love bananas. (as he has just eaten 3) Bananas are my favorite. I am macaca."
Help me.

Stop #3 was in Kona back on the Big Island. I loved Kona. It was such a cute little town. The water was so clear and so many beautiful shades of blue. Our activity on this island was to go parasailing. We went tandem. I was glad we went together because it was scary up there. We went 1,200 ft up! The scary part is having a wild imagination and thinking about what will happen if the rope snaps and you become shark bait. Otherwise it was very peaceful up there. I would do it again someday.
Other than the parasail and a little shopping we didn't do much in Kona. I am putting it on my list of places to revisit someday.

Stop #4 was in Kauai. This was also a favorite for me. The first thing you notice about Kauai is the chickens. They are everywhere, even on the beaches. I even watched a chicken cross a road in the crosswalk. It happened so fast and I missed it with the camcorder, but it sure was funny.
The big activity here was for us to go ziplining. This was well worth the almost $150 per person. We spent 4 1/2 hours in the woods flying between the trees and ending up in a waterfall lagoon. It was so much fun and if you're ever in Kauai, I highly recommend it.
After ziplining we went on a drive to a beach to watch the sunset. It was a fabulous end to a great day and Husband found a body board on the beach. The owner never came to retrieve it so it came home with us. Literally. It is in our garage right now.

Day 2 in Kauai. Husband wanted to try out his "new" body board. We headed to the south part of the island to a different beach. He played in the waves and I enjoyed our last day on the beach. We headed back to the ship just in time for sail. The highlight of the cruise was a sail by of the Na Pali Coast. We secured excellent seats on the port side of the ship. It was the end to a wonderful week.

The cruise ended back in Honolulu. Our flight didn't leave until 9pm so we had the entire day to explore Oahu. We headed up to the North Shore where I had hoped to see some surfing. Wrong time of the year. No waves. Instead we got to see some Hawaiian Sea Turtles on a beach. We ate lunch at a famous shrimp truck (link just would not work here for some reason). Yummy! Then headed down to the touristy part of town. Husband was dying to go there so that is where we spent our final hours before getting on the plane home.

I would go back to these islands in a heartbeat! I'm very glad we did this while living on the west coast because the flight is brutal. It was just over 5 hours from San Francisco. I felt like I was halfway to India. The time change was also just 3 hours for me. It would be 6 hours if coming from the east coast.