Mom's Visit

Mom's Here !

Mom's here !
We had a bit of a mix up at the airport, but it all worked out.
I am so happy she's here :-)

Preparing For Mom's Visit.

So I asked the complex to resurface the street, repaint the parking garage and the building in honor of Mom's visit this week. Four working days to go. The street and the garage are done. They have the back of the building pretty much done but they only just started on the front of the building. The top two floors done. They might make it.

Third Anniversary

It was three years ago today that I moved to Hawaii.
I'm very excited about the upcoming year.
I just completed a month's worth of training at work and really looking forward to using it.
My Mom is coming to visit in a couple of weeks :-)
Plus I'm hosting a luau for the celebration of me and my twin brother's fiftieth birthday next summer. We're calling it The Hawaii 50 Event :-)

Thai Stuffed Chicken Wings

I had Stuffed Chicken Wings for lunch today.
I first had them last week.
They are delicious.
Here's how they are made:

Mom Is Coming To Visit !

My Mom is coming to visit next month !
I am so excited !
My first visitor and it's my Mom :-)
Some of my neighbors and co-workers are giving me great ideas for her visit.

Pega

So I was "volunteered" to take training classes and participate in a project using something called Pega. The company that created this system is Pega Systems, get it ? Anyway, I'd never heard of Pega and had no idea what this project was about. It turns out that this may be the best thing to happen to me in years ! The system is Übercool and I will finally be a Programmer/Analyst/Developer again instead of cranking out boring SQL Scripts and Stored Procedures. The team is very enthusiastic and happy. I should finally find some of the camaraderie that has been sorely absent in my current team. The entire way of thinking and doing is totally different from everything else at HMSA, more like things are done in for profit business. They do code reviews ! When I heard that I said, "Finally". The head of the project asked me, "What ?". I said, "Finally. It's driven me nuts since I started here that you have five or six people reviewing and double-checking everything EXCEPT the code !" Plus I learned today that expereince in Pega is in VERY high demand. I'm talking six figure income demand. I really think this is going to work out great !
:-D

Happy Hoosier Hawaiian Day !

It was three years ago today that I first came to Oahu.

Ambulance Runs

At least once a day an ambulance runs down Keeaumoku Street past where I work to Ala Moana Center. A good number of days there's more than one run. Wouldn't it be better to just have EMT staff there and save the time ?

I Named My Little Girl Princess Buttercup

The Angels Have The Phonebox

My Angels shirt came in the mail today !

"The angels have the phonebox," that's my favourite, I've got that on a T-shirt.

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Boom Boom Meets Stanley H. Tweedle

I adopted a sweet little girl today.
The people at the veterinary hospital named her Boom Boom.
It was short for Boomerang because she kept coming back.
She's spent most of the day hiding.

Nuke The Moon

I got my Nuke The Moon shirt today !

Read the Famous Essay.

Go Figure

Despite my best efforts I not only somehow managed to keep my job but also get a small raise :-)

‎2011 Sendai Earthquake And Tsunami.

Mahalo to everyone for checking in on us folk living in Hawaii. Last I heard there were no injuries or deaths here. Some ports were damaged and a few houses. We were lucky. Aloha !

Freecycle Rocks !

From one wonderful couple on Bellows Air Force Base I received unbelievably great items for free !



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Here's the blender they gave me. It matches my toaster and can opener perfectly !
It's a Black and Decker, very high quality and looks new !



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They also gave me a dish drying rack. I was just about to buy one.



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Here's the eight piece pot and pan set they gave me. Only one pan was ever used. These are very high quality.



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I will use these pots and pans for the rest of my life. They are that good. To think I got them free !



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Here's the kitchen table and chairs they gave me. When I have guests over, I will be proud to serve them on this table.



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During the normal day to day I will have it like this.



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And have three of the chairs around the counter/table.



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My main living space. Most of the furniture in this room and in my flat were free.



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They also gave me this great TV which is perfect for the guest room !

Considerate Neighbor

Some considerate person(s) in my building went out for the evening and decided to leave their dog on their lanai. I hope they enjoy paying $100.00 fines as much as we enjoyed listening to their dog barking all night.

Plumbers

My landlady called me Tuesday night and told me that I needed to let some plumbers into the flat. It seems that while they were working on the flat below mine they noticed some water dripping from above and wanted to inspect my master bath. Fine no problem I'll take the morning off. They didn't show up until around 2:30 PM.

The guy (Mike) pointed out that none of the fixtures were sealed and also noted that the flat below was dry that day (because I didn't use the shower that morning). He said he'd be back with his boss first thing in the morning the next day with a camera snake to make sure there wasn't anything else wrong. 8:00 AM. Three times he assured me they would be here at 8:00 AM. What the heck, I already took an entire day off, what's a few minutes in the morning ?

I waited until 10:30 AM Thursday. I looked out the door every 5 to 10 minutes. No van. No activity in the flat below. Nothing. No calls. No knocks on the door. I had the front jalousies wide open so I could hear everything. Nothing. So I left a note on my door and went to work.

Mind you I've already missed a day and a half of work.
Not that I like my job, but I need to pay my bills plus buy beer for me and catnip for my cat.

When I talked to my Landlady Thursday night she told me that they said they had knocked on my door all morning. I explained that was a flat out lie. She suggested that I leave one of my keys in the lock box so they could get in without me having to take any more time off.

OK. You know, bad enough they waste my time and stand me up. Hawaiian-Time only goes so far. But now I know they're liars. Why the heck would I trust them in my flat unsupervised. No. They can come in here on my schedule now and not theirs.

You know my Ace ? They can't complete their work on the flat below until they inspect my flat. They have the incentive to work with me, not the other way around.
:-P

Traffic Report

I've noticed from time to time that the local radio station, KHNR will replay the traffic report.
Now normally this can be irritating as I know that things have changed in the last fifteen minutes.
This evening, they kept replaying the traffic report from 8:00 AM. They did this the entire trip home.
Nice to know that the jam at the H1-H2 Merge finally cleared up.
Jack-holes.

Getting Settled Into The New Place

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Stanley and his buddy.



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Guest room hallway.



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Family room.




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Family room.



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Master bedroom.



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Master bedroom.



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Back guest bedroom.