Work 'n' Gym

Wow, this one day at a time and then having all the days gang up on ya at once is amazing. It seems like I’ve been home forever and Hawaii is but a dim memory. The guys at work did not miss me at all ….. they just ignored the fact that I was away and left stuff on my desk, unless of course it was paper I needed for a paper trail and that … well that seemed to separate itself from “product”. At this point, after about a week, I think I am caught up. There are several “little” projects on the go, one of which is to reintegrate some parts that were rejected from stock because of legitimacy issues. There just wasn’t time to hunt down the pedigree of certain items and “stuff” for planes MUST have some kind of pedigree or traceability. When I say some … well it is more than “some” and the other day I teased about the project insuring employment for some time to come.

I really, really wanted to write about the “ever shrinking towel syndrome”. As any regular reader would know, I get my lazy self out of bed three times per week at 5:00AM and trundle off to a downtown gym. You know you’ve been away from the gym too long when you can’t find the equipment. It’s true, in the renos, stuff has been moved around but I was having some success keeping track of it for the most part. Further evidence that I’ve been away …. When I first started there the towel size of choice was …. ummm …. rather larger than a hand towel but certainly not a bath towel. Well, wonders of wonders a few months after I joined they introduce towels that one could actually wrapped around one’s body should one wish to practice some modesty in the traps to the shower from the locker area. Of late I’ve noticed that these towels are covering less and less. To my mind there are a number of possible explanations:
• Slowly smaller towels are being introduced as an economic measure
• Towels are actually shrinking
• Towel material is the same quantity but needs to relax – i.e. like jeans after they’ve been in the dryer … the weave gets all tight
OR ….

Horror of horrors ….
• There is more of me now than at an earlier time!?!

Z’over For Now/Wrap It Up

It’s really true – How quickly time flies when you’re having fun. This evening I fly to Vancouver and tomorrow home. The temperature will be a bit of a shock but no surprise.

Some of the more ironic things this trip include find Mrs Renfro’s Salsa at a Safeway far from the usual tourist stroll. Now Mrs. Renfro’s green salsa is a treat indeed and usually I plead with my “niece-the-Librarian” to bring home a bottle or two in her luggage when she returns home for a visit from Texas. The truly ironic part of all this is the fact that I will be unable to bring it home when me as I am carrying only hand luggage and you know what TSA and CATSA have to say about gels or liquids … or a lot of other things for that matter. Sigh … too bad.

My camera has a few shots that I would have liked to have shared but I forgot my cable and have no card reader along with me so alas no joy in that department. Once home … ah yes, home …. how the heck is that going to work anyway? At the moment my cats are keeping the company of what I presume to be, a young female F/O for CMA temporarily displaced from her lovely apartment in Kitsalano

Fortunately for me I have a friend who is out of town for a bit and I'm sure I can bunk in her extra room and the place will be happier for it but .... we've not been able to establish a time line and I'm sure, while the cats are really, really cute, if they aren't yours they can be a chore. All this no doubt will sort itself out.

Work? Have they missed me? Are they doing just fine? Has my desk been pillage of all that is useful in spite of my please to "don't steal my 'stuff'" on paper cover the tops of both right and left drawers. Thursday this do shall be revealled, just like the soothsayer on Johnny Carson - who was that? Karmac?

More to come....

Bundle Up ...

This is arrival …. It will look quite different for me in a few days and I’m kind of glad that, as a rule, I leave at night when HNL seems like just another airport as the plane plunges into the darkness with nose pointed north.

Wow, can’t believe it is almost time to jump on the plane and go home for a bit. It has been a busy, busy time of late. I am the proud owner of a new Garmin Nuvi 350 (yes I have another Garmin but it’s for aviation and not much use on the ground – at least not for me!). I am truly “Gadget Girl”. Of course I am wanting to try it out but this is Hawaii … just how lost can you get on an island this size. However, I am impressed that I was able to quickly zero in on Verbano’s one of my favorite Italian restaurants here on the Island.

Church today and there is no pleasing me. Initially I was cranky because the speaker was difficult to understand … then I was cranky because I could understand him perfectly well and was largely unimpressed with his message. Very, very traditional, fire and brimstone, God’s gonna getcha kind of guy – not exactly the kind of message that leaves one filled with joy/awe/wonder/sense of promise, etc, etc. nuff said beyond the irony that I wasn’t satisfied either way.

Stay tuned …. maybe this writing will be a habit …

Not So ....

We have managed two trips to “The Point”, one clearly under duress as we left it for the afternoon. The upside to an afternoon time is that the equipment is much more available, the downside is that it is really, really tough to drag one’s butt over there in the heat of the day when there are soooo many other things that distract.

Each time I visit Hawaii I am reminded that I need to not only adjust my watch for four time zones but also my expectations that chores/tasks/events will be accomplished in anything resembling main land time. Figure on four times as long for anything and rejoice if it is less. Even this entry for the blog … I started it and then decided I wanted a snack so had some lanai time with crackers.

We walked past the “not-so-spooky-centre” Asia-Pacifac Center For Security Studies – funny thing, when I described it as such the last time I was here I got a note from one of the folk responsible for, I suppose, image, noting it was not spooky and in fact had provided training for Canucks and all …. we all know how “unspooky” Canucks are!

Later today, if the stars align themselves I might take in the Sony Expo happening at one of the local hotels just to view the gadgets and gizmos, I mean, I must preserve my nom de plum of “Gadget Girl”. On the other hand …. There is a new Safeway opening up on Kapahulu!

Rain

Rain

For most of the day the cloud has hugged the face of the mountain range, filling the valley, like a veil. This morning the rain was torrential, the day, mostly grey but warm. Into the evening the wind, I presume Trades, picked up providing a bit of a chill to the air. There is a promise of rain for later this evening but at the same time, pieces of pale blue sky peek through in patches here and there.

My most “favouritist” breakfast is no more at Mariposa! No more strawberry waffles with maple syrup and whipped cream – preceded by what they call “popovers” (really Yorkshire pudding) and clear chicken bullion. I don’t make the rules, I just gobble the goodies. The only breakfast meal being offered on the menu was Eggs Benedict – not one of my favourites at the best of times but for sure I wasn’t going to pay $14.00 for a hamburger or $23.00 for an open faced steak sandwich. There were many fish based dishes on the menu but I was ever mindful that we were having fish for supper and I didn’t want to ruin that. The fish for supper is a secrete family recipe and I wanted to enjoy its sole succulence!

The day has wound down, dishes done, Sunday paper read and it is just about time for me to continue reading: “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures”. My bones are most grateful for the munificent warmth of these climes.

Warm Winds Blowin'

Well there is no longer any excuse for not writing. Of late I’ve had ample opportunity to rest so I’m “up and atter” so to speak.

There has been so much and yet at the same time, so little happen since my last entry and promise of performance. Who knew that being a “Parts Princess” or “Materials Maven” (when I play the age card), would be so demanding. (Did I mention we survived a T-C audit?) Well it was either that or doing the other job part time. In any case it has been a few months of one foot in front of the other, no time, no desire to write or to give permanency to any particular thought. Admittedly, my vast array of fans has not registered so much as a whimper as to my where about.

My time on the Board of the Calgary Flying Club is drawing to a close and probably I am one term over what I should be. The last term has seen some changes and to my ancient way of looking at things from fleet to frivolity. Those with more enthusiasm are welcome to the privilege of service.

My time on my local Condo Board is also drawing to an end and NOT SOON ENOUGH! We’ve managed to have ….ummm… maybe one official meeting, what with all of us having busy schedules and to be honest, a lack of interest. In fact none of us really wanted to serve and it shows.

Cats are fat and happy. Well, one of them is fatter than the other as Precious waits for Spook to abandon her “breaky” in mid-chomp and then Precious dives in to lick the platter clean. Sometimes I will pick up Spook’s plate to insure she get more than just a lick. She, Spook that is, seems to think she is some kind of aristocracy and must nibble daintily at the gravy of the gruel with a break before full fledged attack mode. Precious experiences no such delusions of grandeur, throwing herself full bore into the tinned food.

Funny, funny thing is happening at home at the moment. Someone else is staying on the old frontier while I enjoy some heat and humidity. The gal cat sitting in between flying assignments is unknown to me except through association. I’m away, she needed a place to stay and there ya go! It will be nice to make her acquaintance although her willingness to entertain kitties during what little time she has off speaks volumes of her character.

Well folks, that’s it for the first installment from the land of Aloha and pernicious decay.