Hawaii - Part 3

Ok, here's my FINAL Hawaii blog. Sorry, the place is just muy photogenic. I wish I had gotten a pic of the guy at the airport that looked SO much like Sachs... Speaking of, I was going to text Sachs and say "Man there's a lot of Mexicans in Hawaii." Haha!

So, Tuesday, we went to the northwest part of the island. It was about a 2 hour drive. That side of the island was much less jungle-ish. The terrain basically went volcano ~ farm ~ beautiful beach. It was like Indiana sandwiched between mountains & beach. Pretty much heaven.
The beach we went to was ranked in the top 10 in the world and I could see why. The sand was super soft, the water was blue, and there were no shells or other spikey things to step on. There was also only one hotel, and the beach was bordered by two rocky cliffs, which kept the number of people down.
The group of us. Why do I look like a giant compared to Dawn??

On Thursday, we went to the tide pools to go snorkeling. Basically, there is the ocean, and then some rocks, and then these "pools". There is a ton of coral, underwater caves & fish to see. The only thing that was rough was swimming out towards the ocean because the tide was coming in. I guess that's why they call them tide pools... Here is a view of the tide pools (and my right leg).
One of my underwater pics of some fish. My mom & I referred to these as Purdue Fish since they are gold & black. Clearly the scientific name.

On Friday, we went to a black sand, clothing optional beach. We all opted to keep our clothes ON. Most the others on the beach should have done the same...
I couldn't exactly get close-up pictures of anything without them being "x-rated", but this is a picture of my mom checking out the only hot nude on the beach.
The rocks on the side formed a little pool. It was cute.
Here is where we were sitting next to a group of 5 naked 60-year olds. Kind of a strange feeling...
The views were amazing though. How awesome would it be to live on that cliff?

When we were at the grocery store, I told my mom that Hawaiians LOVE Spam (the canned meat). She got all hoity toity and said "Well, that's quite a generalization." 2 minutes later, we saw a huge display of Spam and a menu of like 10 different Spam sandwiches. I wasn't joking....

Baby Borrowers - The Finale

Last night was the finale of the Baby Borrowers. This time they had elderly people move in with them. They actually all did really well with the old people. Morgan, the formerly super annoying girl, had improved a TON since her boyfriend Daton dumped her & left. I think she really stepped up. She even had to help the old lady shower. Wow. I think the teens could relate a lot better to the old people after being through all the children.

I think I cried like twice during the episode. Once when one of the elderly guys took Sasha to meet his wife. His wife had a stroke and he started crying as he talked about how much he loved her. The other was when a different elderly guy took Kelsey & Sean to the graveyard to his wife's grave. They had been married for 65 years and she passed away on her birthday. The old guy said "I would kiss her right now if I could just reach her." It was really sad. All of the teens were talking about if they could be with their boyfriend/girlfriend for that long. Most seemed to think that they could.

At the end of the show, they had an update to tell what all of the couples were up to. Not a single one of the couples were still dating. I was surprised. I thought that a couple of them... Or at least one couple... MIGHT make it! I guess not. I thought that everyone except Morgan & Daton at least had a chance.

So, now I need to find some new shows to carry me into the fall when all my shows finally come back! Let's see what the next silly show I end up watching will be.

Hawaii - Part 2

Monday we went on a tour of an active volcano, Kilauea.









Mom & I w/ the smoke from the volcano.













There were steam vents, which were holes in the ground where some of the heat of the volcano could escape. Here my mom is getting steamed. She didn't believe it when she was told it was hot.













This is a fireplace of Pele, the goddess of the volcano & the island. The fire in this fireplace has been burning for like 130 years. Crazy!










Here I am standing in a lava tube. This is an underground cave, basically, which lava flows through... Or used to flow through.


Oh yeah, and this is a picture of a FLOWER that is worth $20,000. It isn't even pretty! Who would pay that much for a flower? I guess it's super rare... I'd probably kill it w/ my lack of green thumb!

Tuesday's pictures need to be scanned since they were on my disposable camera!

On Wednesday, we got massages. Glorious! Probably the best massage I've ever had! Then, we just hung out. In the evening, we went into the internet cafe so I could email Lee for his birthday. Then, my mom & I went and got a piece of pizza. Dawn eats super healthy, so, we were craving crap food! While in the pizza place, we saw an older guy wearing a Purdue hat! We started talking to them, they live near South Bend. They told us that they were going to see where the lava flows into the ocean. They told us where it was, so after finishing our pizza, my mom & I decided to check it out.

First we had to drive through about 5 miles of lava fields. It was pretty crazy, it kind of felt like you were driving on the moon or something.





Next we parked and then had to walk about another 3/4 of a mile through lava fields to get to the ocean. Everyone had flashlights. That would have been smart. My mom & I didn't, and walking over uneven black lava at night is quite a challenge!



There were a ton of people watching. It was pretty cool. When a big wave would hit, it almost looked like fireworks. You'd hear the sizzle and everything. It was cool to be watching land being made!





I couldn't get any good pics with my digital camera, because it was dark out, so on the way out I bought a professional pic of the lava flowing into the ocean. This guy takes his boat out and gets these pictures. He recently sunk a boat! Crazy dude!

I will do one more blog containing Tues/Thurs/Fri later on!

Congratulations to my Uncle Mike!

Mike Beas was just named the 2008 Sports Writer of the year by the Indiana Sports Writers' Association. Congratulations Uncle Mike!!! We're so proud!

This Craigslist ad is just hilarious!

Brass Stripper Pole $199

This pole is elegant and classy and crafted of Solid BRASS!

Did you say "elegant and classy"?

Who doesn't want a stripper pole?

Hawaii - Part 1

Sorry I haven't blogged about Hawaii yet, but we got home at 5am on Sunday (which was 11pm Hawaii time) and hadn't slept at all. I tried to nap some on Sunday, but then I had to drive to Lansing, MI for a client meeting. Painful. Anyway, I am finally past my jet-lag, and I will start my Hawaii blogs!

This is where we stayed, Dawn's house. The 2nd pic is her gym & rock climbing wall. She runs a bootcamp for people to come live with her and workout. Dawn's place was very much in the "jungle" part of the Big Island. Tons of mosquitos. Yuck. And they loved me. I must be like corn-fed Angus beef to those bastards. We had been using this crappy "natural" bug spray, and halfway through the week I had to upgrade to the OFF Deep Woods.

There were wild chickens & roosters all over the place. They just cluck around waiting for scraps to eat. They were funny & cute until sunrise when they cock-a-doodle-doo you out of bed way earlier than you want.

Our first full day there, we went to a huge farmer's market, which had some pretty cool stuff. We each got fresh coconuts with a bamboo straw to drink all of the "milk" out of it. Pretty tasty! Then Dawn used the hatchet to open it up so you could eat the coconut "meat".

From that first day at the farmer's market, I could tell... The Big Island would be CFunk's personal hell. There were hippies EVERYWHERE. My mom & I came to the conclusion that no one on the island has a normal job. They all do random things, like one guy that we met who:
1. Does dream interpretation
2. Catches frogs and removes them from peoples' property
3. Gives tours of the volcano/island
4. Runs a home for bulemic girls who need to recover

We also met people with hippie/Hawaiian names. Like Dawn is called Kieba. The guy I was talking about above was named Tyco. We met a guy named Mantis. We even met a guy named Energy. My mom & I decided that we were going to give ourselves Indiana names. She was going to be named Cornfield and I was going to be Silo.

In addition to, or as a result of, not having normal jobs, a lot of the people there didn't live in normal houses. Some people lived in sheds. Tyco lived in a tent. A lot of them had small huts. I never thought I was super high maintenance or anything, but I sure love my running water & A/C!

Anyway, we saw a lot of really cool sights, so I will continue that in a later blog. Back to work!

SUV or Minivan?

Lee and I are in the market for a new (used) vehicle. His Explorer has close to 180k miles on it and is not likely to make it through another midwest winter. About a week ago, I saw someone selling a vehicle in DeMotte. I liked the looks of it, it appeared to be a small SUV, similar to what I have now in my Jeep Patriot. After driving by it for a week, I finally stopped and checked out the info on it. The price was good, the mileage was low. I liked it! So, I came home and wrote Lee about it.

He wrote back "Are you trying to tell me something? That's a mini-van."

I was crushed. I never ever ever wanted to drive a mini-van. I did some research and found that it is indeed considered a mini-van. Devastating. What threw me off is that it doesn't have the sliding side doors which I thought was a van requirement. It has SUV back doors.

Lee has started to refer to it as the Sport Utility Van. But, it got me thinking, what makes one vehicle a van, but another a SUV? They look pretty similar to me!!!







~ BMW X5 = SUV







~ Jeep Compass = SUV








~ Chrysler Pacifica = Mini-van?

Mich is a party animal!

As if all the national championships aren't enough, Florida is #1 again! This time for being a party school!!

Freshman Allison Belanger, a journalism and political science major, said she's only been on campus for a few weeks but already has had no problem finding a party.

"All I have to do is leave the dorm," said Belanger, 17. "A lot of people study hard and party hard."

They interviewed a 17 year old. I'm sure the school is cringing over that one!

Florida is more than just a party school though:

...He defended the school's academic climate, noting Florida's incoming students have a weighted grade-point average of 4.1 and an average SAT score of 1,300.

5 days late...

But, I wanted to wish Lee a happy 28th b-day! I couldn't blog about it because I was in Hawaii (it's a rough life), but fortunately Ash covered it for me! Thanks Ashley!

Unfortunately, Lee had to spend his b-day out to sea, and this isn't the first year that has happened! Fortunately, it will be the last!

HAPPY BIRHTDAY LEE!!! Can't wait for you to get home!

20 days left!

20 days left until Lee is out of the Navy!!!

Some other things to note:

* Yes, Lee's date has changed BACK to August 17th. He got permission to skip the ship's trip to Rhode Island, so he is finishing up his last bit of time out to sea this week!

* When guys stationed down at Norfolk come in on their ship for the last time, they throw their "dixie cup" (sailor hat) overboard as they cross the Hapton Roads Bridge/Tunnel. Lee will get to do that on Thursday!

* Yes, I'm back from Hawaii. It was amazingly beautiful! I have lots of pics & comments, but right now I need to SLEEP! I will give you an update tomorrow!

I got this forward today

The picture below has two identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at St. Mary's Hospital. Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are
identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stresswould find differences in the two dolphins. The more differences a person finds between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing. Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you may want to take a vacation.

Good thing I leave for Hawaii TOMORROW!

See ya in a week! Peace out!

That's a lot of dimp

This Australian man was spending $972 a week on beer. Wow. That's over $50k a year! (No surprise he ended up with 7 DUI's with that regimen.)

I remember being shocked when I met with a financial panther ("Get him Sheba!") and he had me figure out how much I spent on "entertainment" (ie, booze). It turned out to be more than my rent at the time, but it didn't come CLOSE to $972 a week!

The magistrate declined to jail the father of four, Michael Leary, noting he had quit drinking since his latest arrest, but he banned Leary from buying or even holding a beer for 12 months.

Ouch! He can't even hold a beer & snuggle with it. Wait, did he just ban him from buying a beer or holding a beer? I could totally find a way around that one. "Somebody buy me a beer and pour it in my mouth!" My favorite part of the article:

The magistrate also poked fun at Leary's favorite beer, Melbourne Bitter...

''(That is) poor judgment on two counts there -- drinking that much and drinking Melbourne Bitter,'' magistrate Vince Luppino was quoted as saying.

THIRTY

Ok, it's not quite Beer-Thirty, but it is Thirty days until Lee gets home! Hooray!

We have come a long way. We're exactly a month away! Can't wait!

Woohoo! - We're skinny!

Ok, at least not obese. Indiana & Illinois aren't in the Top 10 Obese States!!

Top 10 Obese States
These are the 10 states with the highest levels of adultobesity, according to a 2007 survey by the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention.
1. Mississippi, 32.0 percent
2. Alabama, 30.3
3. Tennessee, 30.1
4. Louisiana, 29.8
5. West Virginia, 29.5
6. Arkansas, 28.7
7. South Carolina, 28.4
8. Georgia, 28.2
9. Oklahoma, 28.1
10. Texas, 28.1
Source: Associated Press

The culprit appears to be all that down home Southern cookin'!

Overall, about 26 percent of to the CDC's telephone survery were obese.

What a phone call that must be... "Hi, this is ____ from the CDC. Are you obese?"

Some of these are pretty funny

This video shows some pretty funny shirts that people have been arrested (& mug shots taken) in. The one that they start off with is a guy who got arrested for arranging to have sex with an underage girl. He's wearing a "World's Greatest Dad" t-shirt... YEAH RIGHT!

I wanted to hate it!

I've been hearing for awhile now that Jessica Simpson has a song out on country radio called "Come On Over". I kept waiting to hear it. And not because I'm a Jessica Simpson fan. Because I really really wanted to hate it. Once someone gets a country hit, then their music is on country radio all the time. This has been the case for Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock and Jon Bon Jovi. (And it's starting now with Jewel.)

Yesterday, I was singing along to a song I've been enjoying on the radio for about 2 weeks. At the end of the song, they said "That was Jessica Simpson with 'Come On Over'." Mother f-er! I like that song!!! If only I had realized it was her the first 10 times I heard it, maybe I could have tried to dislike it. So, now, here I am, stuck being a Jessica Simpson fan.

(By the way, the link above is to her video. It seems like she thinks she is playing Daisy Duke throughout the whole thing. And seriously, the whole video is of HER. Just her. She should have had a hot guy in it for the ladies to ogle.) While I'm on the topic of songs I really wanted to hate... The new Kid Rock song, "All Summer Long". (A song that is on country radio all the time.) This song is basically Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama", with Kid Rock psuedo-rapping about summer in Michigan in 1989. Edit: Thanks for the reminder, Fubar. The beat is also "Werewolves of London". I think Kid Rock was trying to tweak the "Sweet Home Alabama" beat and accidentally copied "Werewolves of London." I'm not a big fan of anyone messing with Skynyrd, first off. So, he really did no work to get the beat except play a Skynyrd album. So, the lyrics must be awesome, right? Wrong. The chorus:
"We were trying different things,
We were smoking funny things..."
You really couldn't come up with a rhyme for 'things' besides 'things'???

But, alas, I like this song too. [sigh] It makes me think of my summers on good ol' Lake Freeman in Indiana. (By the way, I Googled Images of Lake Freeman, and 4 pictures of my silly husband wake surfing came up. How weird is that? So I used one of them.)

Otis the town drunk - arrested for the 70th time!!

Douglas Smith, aka "Otis the town drunk" just got arrested for the 70th time in Porter County! No shock, most of them have been for public intox. The article said that he has spent half his adult life in the slammer.

Smith told The Times he began drinking when he was about 18. Smith brags that he can drink two cases of beer in a day, or can gulp down six bottles of wine or three fifths of hard liquor. He said he has walked around with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.45, enough to put most people in a coma.

But, can he drink champagne out of a beer bong?

Who can blame him for this, though:
His last arrest had been on a public intoxication charge on St. Patrick's Day in 2007.

Chicago Hearts Chipotle

The building I work in has a Chipotle in the lobby. I don't go there all that often because it gets super busy at lunch, and honestly, Chipotle usually makes my stomach a little on the gurgly side. It used to be if I wanted to go, I would get there at about 11:25am to beat the crowds.

Today I was feeling like some Mexican AND I had to go grab lunch at 11:15am, so I thought it would be a perfect Chipotle day. I went downstairs and at 11:15, the line was already out the door. WTF? Apparently everyone has learned the secret Chipotle time. When I left at 11:30am, the line was out the door and curved back around the building. Insanity!

Is Chipotle REALLY that good? What is really amazing is that come January when it is freezing out, there will still be people lined up outside getting frost bite for a burrito!

Railcats & Dairy Farms

Friday:
I made my first ever trip to a RailCats game up in Gary, IN. I met Fubar, Krissy, Bridget, Fina, Bob & Katie. I was impressed with how nice the stadium was! I had a cheeseburger, fries, and a big Miller Lite bottle. YUM! (Would have been more YUM if it was a Bud Light! See ode to Bud Light below.) The only unfortunate part of the night was that all the city folk had to catch the 9:10 South Shore back to the city. Seriously, that's the latest train? Lame!

Saturday:

My Grandma & my 8-year old cousin Maya came up to DeMotte to visit me and spend the night. We went to Fair Oaks Farms for the day. It is basically a Dairy Farm about 10 miles from where I live. They have a bunch of stuff for kids and a restaurant/ice cream parlor. We started out by watching a 3-d movie. It was pretty cool, but my cousin, Maya, kept getting freaked out when the people would come right at your face. Then about halfway through she started trying to get up and punch the 3-d people. Spoiler alert, but, during the movie, there are a couple parts where you get sprayed with water. At one point, it seems like you are getting sprayed with milk from an udder. Another time it is a cow blowing snot at you... And finally, it's a cow pooping at you!! It was pretty funny. Maya kept making sure it was in fact water that we were sprayed with. I tried to tell her it was really poop. She didn't buy it.

After the 3-d movie, we went over and got quesadillas and ice cream at the restaurant. Talk about delicious! The quesadillas were extremely cheesey, and the ice cream was to die for! I plan to go back and get a pint of it soon!

After lunch, we went and played outside some. They had a giant bubble looking thing that you could jump on like a trampoline. (And hopefully burn off some quesadilla & ice cream calories!) It was awesome. I have wanted a trampoline for pretty much my whole life, so it was right up my alley. There was a little 1-year old boy that kept trying to jump on it, but he kept falling down since he could barely walk. His dad kept yelling at him "Get back up there and jump. BE A MAN!" It was pretty appalling.

After that, Maya and I took a 45-minute bus tour of the dairy. We got to see the prego cows, the baby cows in their individual cow-houses (like a dog house for cows). We also got to go inside and see the "dairy-go-round". Basically a huge merry-go-round looking thing. The cows walk onto it and it turns in a slow 7-minute circle. In that time the cow is milked, then the cow gets off when the circle is complete. The cows are very good at learning a routine, so they get on & off on their own. It was pretty cool to see!

Sunday:

Lunch at TGI-Fridays with my Gma, mom, Maya & uncle Mike. Then my mom and I went and bought some gear for our trip to HAWAII this weekend! I can't believe we leave on Saturday!! I'm so pumped!

Shed a tear for my favorite, Bud Light

So, I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet. I'm really slacking.

For anyone that hasn't heard, the company InBev that is based out of Belgium is about to buy Anheuser-Busch. They say that they won't change Budweiser or Bud Light, but it is still very sad. Budweiser has been such an American pasttime. (Not to mention being far superior to Miller Lite.) This is especially sad since the Busch family had been a huge part of the company for so long.

Eberhard Anheuser acquired the Bavarian brewery in 1860 and renamed it E. Anheuser & Co. In 1864, his son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, joined the company that would later become Anheuser-Busch.

And today, the leadership of the company still includes:
August A. Busch IV - President and Chief Executive Officer
August A. Busch III - Chairman of the Executive Committee

Pretty much anyone that knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Bud Light. Many outraged people are planning to stop drinking Bud & Bud Light. I am not one of those people. As long as Bud Light is affordable and brewed in breweries in the US, I will continue to drink it. InBev claims that they are keeping the production of Bud Light in the US. So, not drinking Bud Light would put all those brewery workers' jobs in danger. I drink for the people.

In honor of this sad occasion, here is my ode to Bud Light:
Beer, beer, all I have consumed,
Because of you my liver is doomed.
But, how important is the life of an organ?
I don't know, ask Billy Corgan. <-clearly hard pressed for a rhyme
Bud Light is my favorite flavor of you.
Miller Lite can go to hell, it tastes like poo.
But not like Poo, the dealer at 4 Queens, <-I've been informed Poo was
Poo like Ahow after eating beans. not @ 4 Queens
But I will drink it if that's all that is there,
'Cause after about five, it starts to taste fair.
Can't wait for tonight, $2.50 a glass,
Domestics, Guinness, even for Bass.
But I'll be content with my Bud Light,
Sipping away throughout euchre night.
I promise never to bail and get snobby,
And start drinking imports like it's my hobby.
I'll drink Bud Light while I'm poor or rich.
If money gets tight I'll drink Busch in a pinch.
Raise your glass to Bud Light and say cheers,
Here is to my favorite of beers!

Sorry Jess

Sorry Jess but the countdown I have on the side of my blog is no longer a countdown to your birthday. Yes, the Navy has delayed Lee getting out. Fortunately, it is only by 1 day (so far). It is still just an annoyance. One of MANY we have endured over the last few years.

However, it probably doesn't rank in the "Top 5 Ways We've Been Boned by the Navy":

5. From April of this year until mid-August, (when Lee gets out) the ship will only be in Norfolk for 5 weekends. (One of which Lee had to work.) That means that Lee and I only get to see each other 4 times in 4.5 months.

4. The Navy not letting Lee get out early because he would miss a pointless trip to Rhode Island. This is basically because the ship's XO (executive officer) wanted to look tough in front of the new captain.

3. Cancelling the ship's port visit to Canada, causing us to eat the cost of 2 plane tickets (for my mom & I) to meet the ship in Canada. Cost: $1,000.

2. Extending Lee's deployment by a month to 8 months, causing us to pay a month of rent down in Norfolk even though neither of us were living there yet. Cost: $1,300.

1. Moving Lee's deployment back a month and lengthening it to 7 months, forcing us to move our wedding from May 5th, 2007 to September 16th, 2006. Yeah, that's 8 months earlier. That was a lil' stressful. Plus, not knowing until he was on his flight home IF he would even make it back for the wedding. Cost: Unknown. Probably years off of my life.

I was going to try to work...

But who am I kidding? I'm useless today. I'll just make up my work this weekend. So, here are my pics from Friar Tuck's last night!

"You want seconds, baby?" Who's the guy in the middle? I think he wants in on the action.

"I never take a good picture." ~BWarner

"Promotion for Plothow."

Me & the event coordinator

It's all about the cuff links.

The ladies! Mich really is wearing a shirt.

Boiler up!!

That promotion just got taken away, Ploth.

Reut & Ross... 2 down?

Me & the BoyBeater!