Time In The Water

After driving from one end of the island to the other, I finally got to spend some extended time in the ocean! On Friday, I drove to meet a couple of Black Belts at Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Air Force Base. Although this island isn't really that big, it is definitely clogged with traffic, so I spent a good part of the day, just driving. It took me over an hour to get home at about 35 MPH. Even so, it is a gorgeous drive!

So Saturday morning, I walked to a nearby dive shop and asked about a snorkeling kit where I secured a mask, fins and snorkel. I went home to slather on some sunscreen and change into my swimsuit, then I drove the car down to the beach.

Now, the Kailua beaches are beautiful, but there isn't much to see on the bottom until you get about 100 yards out. So I swam out far enough to start to see some rocks and coral. I swam around for about an hour - all the time wondering if my back and my head would be scorched from the sun. Still, I saw some pretty neat stuff. Lots of small coral formations and little fish - just like a big aquarium!

I swam back to the beach and walked for a little while, then headed back home to wait until later in the afternoon when the sun was not as high in the sky. At 4:00pm, I walked to the beach with my flippers, mask and snorkel and swam for much longer. It was a different part of the beach, so I swam out about 300 yards and then started swimming parallel to the beach. Every once in a while, I'd come upon a good pile of coral or structure and stop to investigate. It wasn't very deep - anywhere from 15 to 20 feet. At about 6:00pm, I could tell the sun was behind the mountains. It was getting harder to see things, so I swam back to shore. I'd gone about 1/2 mile down the beach.

After dinner, I went to a store and got some supplies, including a small backpack and a reusable underwater camera. It's a film camera, so it will be a while before I get back photos of my underwater adventures, but it was cheap and reusable so I can do more filming on future dives!

There's a lot to do here, and I'm doing lots of things. But it's still not as much fun to do them by myself. It's great to share and recount things on this blog, but it would be so much more fun if you would come join me here in Hawaii. I've got 3-bedrooms and I'm not afraid to use them! Praise God for His abundance!

Yes, I Actually WORK Here!

Following a relaxing weekend, it's been a very busy week at work! Reading my past entries, you'd think it was all play and no work! Now I'm having to control my hours so I don't charge overtime!

For those who do not know already... I work for a consultant group (George Group) whose specialty is process improvement utilizing Lean Six Sigma (LSS). This company is working with the US Army to leverage LSS to improve efficiency and save money. I am working with the Pacific command which is headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

My job is to coach Army folks to take over my job and do LSS on their own. I've been here for two weeks and I still haven't been able to contact all the people I'm trying to mentor! Working in the corporate world was rewarding in many ways, but I'm now working with civilians and soldiers who have a very compelling mission. Everyone is working hard. They care about their work, the Army and they really care about the soldiers in the field. I'm proud to be here and be in the position to help out.

I'll visit the beach again this weekend. Until then, here's a picture of a Kailua sunrise I took the other day while on a jogging run.

it's great to have this job and it's great to be here in Hawaii to do it! What a wonderful blessing!

One Month

It's been a wonderful weekend! I spent Saturday around Kailua. and getting settled in the apartment. In the morning, I walked down the beach and then walked the beach for about 5 miles... then I had to walk back! I was pretty tired, but it felt good to get out and move around.

Saturday afternoon, I ran a couple of errands. You never appreciate little things - like having enough hangars for your shirts or extension cords for your plug-in devices - until you have to fork over cash for them. But now I'm settled in and looking forward to DeAnna's arrival. Here are a couple more pictures of the Windward side of Oahu. In the first picture, you can see Kailua on the right-hand shore. In the second picture... well what you see is what you get!



















This morning I went back to the Methodist church. After getting blocked-in last week, I figured it was the best thing to do. After services, I joined stayed for lunch. It was all Korean! Kimche, rice and vegetable soup. I met with the Youth/English pastor. Aside from the Korean and English youth group, he's tasked with growing the english-speaking membership.

Right now, there's about 800 Korean-speaking and 100 English-speaking people at this church. I know I'm not going to be here for long and involvement will certainly be subject to requirements for the job, but it seems like a good place for ministry. I plan to join them on Tuesday night at their small group.

Tomorrow marks one month since I accepted a job at George Group (I've actually only worked for this company for two weeks). I have been outside my comfort zone in every way since. Still, I am at peace with discomfort and growing with the changes. At every turn where trouble lurks, God manages to take care of things. I am so blessed!

Eating OUT

Tonight my boss asked me to join him and his wife for dinner. I accepted. He was grilling out. Sounded pretty safe. I've been making an effort to try new things and not to eat at the same place twice. My idea of exotic cuisine has been changing from steak salad to chicken salad at Chili's... maybe try some meatballs with the Marinara sauce pasta at the Olive Garden.

Tonight, my boss (Bo) and his wife (Heidi) prepared some Alaskan King crab legs for appetizers along with some Brie cheese and salted soy beans (I forget what they called them - it's Japanese). To drink, I started off with cranberry juice and then had some champagne with dinner. The main course was fresh salmon. I know it was fresh because he had just caught it and brought it home from his Alaska fishing trip earlier this week! Afterwards,for dessert, we had a small glass of Port wine!

Now, I haven't thought myself to be very fond of most of what I listed above - including wine. However, it was quite pleasant. I'm glad I've been trying new things. Heidi is an amateur wine enthusiast and did a lot of explaining. In short, she's offered to be our guide to the whole new world of fine dining! The subject of sushi was raised - I'm still skeptical about that. They've assured me that I haven't had good sushi yet. They are correct in that assessment. I have to remember, I'm expanding my horizons!

I'll post more about this nifty couple in a later blog. For now, the time really is late (about midnight). I actually did work a full day today (yes, I actually do work here) - so I'm going to bed. Thank God for a positive attitude, a strong constitution and the blessing of a good day of relaxing and exercise tomorrow without intervening schedules or agendas. It's time to hit the beach!

Hmmm, I need some sunscreen...

Home In Kailua

After work, I drove home and walked a couple of blocks to the cute downtown area. I got dinner at a Korean BBQ place called Yum Yum Express. I had a scoop of potato salad, marinated cucumbers, sesame seaweed, kimche and Kai Bi ribs. If I survive that, I might try sushi and or golf. Everyone else seems to eat sushi and play golf... John, when you get here I'll take you to a couple of golf courses on this side of the mountains that have been carved out of the rainforest (I'll have to buy a bunch of golf balls for myself)!

I've found a place here in Hawaii to call home for the next few months. If you'd like the address, please reply to this BLOG (or just e-mail me) and I'll send it to you - I just don't like posting that kind of information on the Internet. I am now renting a 3-bedroom apartment - which is way more than I need, but the location is just wonderful and the price is good... good for Hawaii rentals anyway. Our house in Minnesota was 2,400 ft and this place is 2,600 ft... I'M GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!!

It's on the 3rd floor at the end of the building and looks out over a canal and lush tropical scenery. Everything we need is on the main floor: Master bedroom, kitchen washer/dryer, living room, dining room and a private lanai. Windows are floor to ceiling along the outside wall. Here's a picture from the listing on Craigslist (where I found it).










There are two additional bedrooms upstairs (that we'll probably never use unless you come to visit) and a rooftop lanai. I took a picture from the lanai but not of the lanai so I'm posting it here. Aside from the sunshine, it has a fabulous view of the steep-cliff mountains. I'll have more detailed pictures later, but open this picture up to large size - it's beautiful!










Seems like most places have a limited amount of air conditioning - as does this place. There's a constant cool breeze (this is called the windward side of the island), so it's not bad at all. Each bedroom has an air conditioner for when you sleep. Speaking of sleep, I'm getting ready to head to bed. For those who don't know, the blog time at the bottom of this post is Eastern Time, not Hawaii Time - so I'm not staying up until 3:00am!

What a fabulous gift God has given me. I am truly and positively blessed!

It Had To Happen

It's official - I think my body has finally succumbed to the excitement and a few bacteria. I'm not sick enough to stay in my room, but I just don't feel all that great. Hopefully, relaxing this weekend will help.

I've been filling out forms for security clearance. I'm impressed with the thoroughness of the information and I'm also convinced that I'm the world's most boring human being. 20 pages of information and there's nothing particularly interesting!

So tomorrow I sign the lease for an apartment. I'll send updates and some pictures in the next day or so.

Working On Base

This is a short post - just an update! I've been working hard and still don't seem to get all the paperwork done. Of course, the job is fine, I'm just working through the mountains of paperwork to get access to networks and clearance to talk about some project work (Army security and stuff).

I decided that the 2 month old print outs really don't help much. This will help me clear a lot of stuff from my desk. I'll have to get my own recyclable bag! I'm pushing to have everything posted on our project management web site system - something I'm just now learning. I've met with several Black Belts and Green belts now. These people are all earnest and hard workers. I'm privileged to work with them!

I visited the western side of the island at Ko Olina. It's very pretty, but I'm still in love with Kailua. I plan to sign a lease by the weekend. When that happens, I'll post it and you can e-mail me for an address if I don't send it to you first. I just hate to post stuff like that on the Internet.

That's all for now. Still having fun before, during and after work!

Church and Housing 101

I went to church today. I set my GPS to take me to the local Church of Christ and when I got close, I saw a bunch of cars turning into a church parking lot, so I followed them in. As soon as I turned, I noticed that it was the Christ United Methodist Church! So, I followed the cars through the parking lot and turned back towards the street, but the cars in front of me stopped. Then something unexpected happened - the people got out of their cars and walked into the sanctuary! Cars behind me did the same and I was officially blocked in on all sides!

So, I figured God wanted me to attend the Methodist church... I got out and walked towards the sanctuary. A friendly woman greeted me and asked me if this was my first time to attend services. When I said yes, she said, "You are welcome to join us, but you might be more comfortable in the English services." The singing that I heard was a Korean service! The English service was much smaller but quite inspiring! I was glad I went! I'm sure God knew that...

After church, I drove back to Kailua to view a condominum. It was remarkably beautiful! I visited the beach and then drove all the way around the island on the King Kamehameha Hiway. Here are a couple of pictures from that experience:











After another quick trip to Wal-Mart, I went back to my hotel and then down to the beach for my official "first swim". While there, I watched the sunset and the beginnings of a Hawaii cultural Hula show. Pretty neat for my first weekend! Now, it's back to work and continuing to look for places to live.

By the way, I no longer own my Prius. We sold it back to the dealer for almost the same price as purchased. DeAnna continues to work miracles in clearing our house of accumulated junk and preparng the house for sale. Hopefully, she will be able to join me here in Hawaii soon!

Some pictures from Hawaii

Well, I've started getting around and have been taking a few pictures. Here's the view from my 35th floor hotel room balcony, the looking towards Honolulu and on the other side, looking at the ocean.




















I've been driving around looking at parts of Oahu. I drove over to Kailua to see about housing. Here are some pictures I took from the car. The mountains are fabulous!



















Here is a picture from Thursday night at sunset in Haleiwa. This is the side of the island that gets those huge "Hawaii 5-O" waves...

The first 36 hours

My office is a desk located on the 4th floor of a building built in the 1940's. In order to get me going, we had to sort through some boxes of stuff and make some calls, but we finally found a phone that I could use (without swiping a phone from another office that wasn't currently being used by someone). There are no voicemail systems - these are k-mart type phones with built-in answering machines. Our 7-year-old home phone in the kitchen is similar.

I still don't have computer access, you have to get the CAC card (a special card with an embedded chipe) to access the computer and then the card has to have the proper access certificates to access the network. They still have to set up a network account and I have to authorize that account by logging on 3 times and changing my password (a 10-digit strong password) twice before I can get on to the Army network. Of course, I can't access that network with my George Group laptop and the Army network doesn't allow non-army internet access. I will probably get an AT&T air card so I can still get George Group access during the day.

There is a back room that has been designated for our use as a coaching/conference room. It has doubled as a storage room for months (years?). There are little brown specks everywhere (looks like miniature coffee grains). I was warned that these were termite droppings and not to touch them. The paint is peeling, though it is newer than the walls - maybe only 40 years old. Every other window has an air conditioner in it. The hallways and common areas are literally breezeways and the doors stay open for ventilation.

About 50 feet away is "Palm Circle". It is a location famous in several movies - chief among them is "Pearl Harbor" (a 1960's era film). The pacific command is attached to my building. Our windows look out away from Palm Circle onto a football field. Everywhere you look are palm trees.

I went to see another George Group consultant at Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC). I got up there at 3:00pm and we met with the Lt.Col who runs the Lean Six Sigma program for the Medical Command for a solid 4 hours. I got a lot of great insight into what's happening.

It has been a frenetic day. Fortunately, I brought my Tom Tom (GPS). It has been a life-saver. I never would have found my way around some of the streets without it. All the roads are jammed between the mountains and the ocean. Their version of interstate (H-1, H-2 and H-3) reminds me of inter-city beltways. Technically, it is an interstate and technically, there are times when you may get up to interstate speeds, but there is a lot of traffic all the time.

All of this might sound like complaints or worries, but I am really enjoying the work.. and it is WORK! I spoke with a Major today about his project.I was looking for something interesting, challenging and important. I want to make a difference somewhere. I want to take the risks and this is an awesome assignment! And to top it off, I AM IN HAWAII! Now I just need to get some rest, communicate with everyone on CONUS (Continental United States) and start establishing some routines!

On The Way To Honolulu

It has been two days of intense meetings and "onboarding" efforts in Virginia at George Group to prepare me to work in Hawaii. Each night, my new boss has called me with assignments and priorities. In fact, he is meeting me at the airport when I land to take me up to the office before we join his wife for dinner. Later this evening, he will be gone for a week. Nothing like getting started right away, huh?

Though it looks 'High stress', I don't feel stressed about it. As my dad says, "RELAX and enjoy every minute!" I intend to do so! God has been so gracious to us over the past few weeks! He has opened doors and made the way clear for us. It has not been easy in many ways. We still don't know where we will live, for instance. We don't know what possessions we might take (if any). We are leaving a comfortable house (with a low mortgage payment) and will probably sell one or both cars at a loss.

But in spite of all these things, I have confidence that God will take care of everything. The more we have relied upon God, the more blessed we have become. What is next? I don't know. I guess I'll just leave that to God...

Sept 10 - 9:30am CDT

This is the first day of a completely different career and life for me (and DeAnna as well). After 2 weeks of hustle, we have managed to paint most of the house and get rid of 2/3rds of all our belongings, even the cats.

Now I know the first thing you're likely to ask is, "What happened to the cats?" So I'll get that out of the way. We spent weeks - no, months trying to find a place for all 3 cats. Two weeks ago, we found a lady who took our cats in. She was very friendly and the cats were quite well behaved when she took them. It was very difficult to let them go, but we felt a lot better about it after the lady took the cats in. We are confident that they are just as happy (if not spoiled) at the place where they ended up.

I am writing this on my Blackberry because I no longer have a computer having resigned from Seagate. My last day at work was September 7th. The speed that my new job is beginning is a phenomenal thing. I didn't have time to say personal goodbyes and I will probably never see any of those people again (because it's not likely that I will get back to Minnesota).

So many people have been good to me in my Seagate career. None as good as the people in IT where I've worked for the last 7 years. I know I will miss them in the months to come, but time is moving quickly in a different direction for me. Now, it's time to start something new and God has ramped-up the changes! Amazingly, He has also visibly and intentionally met all of our concerns and needs throughout the process. God is taking us through a wilderness to a place of blessing that we still don't understand.

Life Changes

Lots of things have happened in the past couple of weeks...

I am leaving Seagate after 19 years for a consulting job at a company called George Group. Because of multiple offers and the need to have someone start right away, I will be leaving Minnesota for 2 days of "onboarding" in Arlington Virginia and then I will be off to Honolulu Hawaii!

This first assignment in Hawaii may not be as exciting as it first sounds. I think it will be fun and challenging, but DeAnna doesn't get to go and I won't be making regular trips back home. At this time, the assignment will last for at least 6 months.

While I'm working in Hawaii, DeAnna will be selling the house and moving to Arlington Virginia (at least that's the plan right now). With less than a week left before I leave, I've been working double-time to transition my Seagate projects and dispatching a houseful of 'stuff'. On Monday, September 10th, I will be on my way and the rest of the house (and move) will be under DeAnna's management.

I plan to blog much more often and attach pictures, so watch for updates soon. There is so much evidence of God's handiwork in our lives - I'll share these stories in the days to come! How positively blessed we are!