Why do I hate the beach, you ask. Well, it combines three things I hate independently: water, sand, and sun. I like to look at the beach, and an hour there would be nice, but after several hours I was ready to get the heck out. I'd rather spend time in a salvage yard. And I just really hate the feeling of baking in the sun. You could put a chicken breast in the oven at 100 degrees, and in a couple of hours it'd be cooked. That's what you're doing to your skin, people! The thought of it entirely creeps me out; I feel myself baking like a chicken in the oven. Gives me the willies.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:09 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I got up at 0300 on Wednesday and left the house late. So I sped the hour and a half to the airport, and by "sped" I mean "drove three miles over the speed limit." I was so freaked out that I would miss my plane, but I'm even more scared of getting a ticket.

I made it in time.

On my second flight, some girl in front of me tattled to the stewardess that she didn't like the way I stowed my bag in the overhead compartment. Instead of asking me to shuffle some stuff around, she went and told on me. So they made me check my bag through. So silly.

I crocheted the entire way to Honolulu, much to the hilarity of my rowmates. They looked at me like I was the biggest dork ever, but I got six more squares made for charity. I crocheted for six hours straight.

Honolulu made me laugh. The entire place looks like a joke, like someone set up a movie set for me to walk through. It's so Hawaii that it looks absurd. Also I love that these are the restroom signs:

Both my bag and I made it to Kauai, where CaliValleyGirl picked me up and took me around to meet people until I couldn't keep my eyes open. The next morning, I awoke to what can only be described as screams from zombie victims. I later learned it was roosters. I have never heard such a sound in my life. That island is filled with roosters, gangs of them roaming the streets and howling at 0430 every morning. Unreal. Roosters are to Kauai what squirrels are to normal cities.

Thursday was the rehearsal and dinner. We did the shopping for food and booze in the morning; I had never seen $1200 worth of groceries before! I put together shish kebabs while CaliValleyGirl and company were at the church. We crashed after a fun night and I promised not to keep her awake. Because really, the best part of the trip was that Cali let me share a room with her while I was there. I was the last person to share a bed with single Cali. It was like giving her away! I thought that was a pretty good honor, and I told anyone who would listen. They probably all think I'm a lesbian now.

Friday was wedding day. While the wedding party was getting hair and makeup done, a nice German boy escorted me around the island so I could actually get some photos of Hawaii.

I returned to the house to do one more chore before the wedding: refill the lighter fluid in the tiki torches around the reception tent. Yeah, the problem is that used tiki torches are covered in soot. Thirty minutes before the wedding, I was black up to my elbows. I looked like a car mechanic the whole rest of the day.

I made it to the wedding ceremony only to sit behind the tallest guest in the joint. I barely saw anything of the ceremony, but I was so glad to snap this photo as the happy couple made their way to the limo.

We went back to the reception tent, where Cali's good decorating taste really shined through:

Another huge thrill was that I got to sit at the head table! Imaginary friend, my butt; I rated tip top! Too cool. Dinner was delicious, the entertainment was awesome -- I learned I really, really like traditional Hawaiian music -- and the evening passed into night. Everyone became really surprised that Sarah can actually dance. We lingering few put the happy couple in the limo again and went to crash.

Saturday I spent my last day in Hawaii at the beach. I don't care how beautiful it is, I still hate the beach. I can't stand it. But luckily neither can one of Cali's cousins, so he and I sat and chatted while I knitted. I took a lot of crap for sitting under a tree in Hawaii knitting, but I coined a new saying: "I'd rather go home with a sock than a sunburn." After the beach, I said my goodbyes and made my way to the airport for my 2340 red-eye flight.

The way home was uneventful, save the incident at dinner. I bought a hamburger and fries at some airport fast food place, and a pilot in line behind me bought two burgers and fries. The cooks called his number first, so he took the bag and offered me a fry while I waited. He munched on some fries and then started digging in the bag and realized there was only one burger in there. Um, oops. The dumb cooks had handed him my order. So this pilot, who was super nice and really not to blame, manhandled my burger and fries...and the cooks said, "Oh, sir, we're so sorry for the mix-up." They apologized to him! I couldn't decide if I was really ticked off or just too awestruck by the gall of it to be mad.

My last flight was two hours late in taking off, which is never fun at the end of a 22-hour journey. But I made it home in one piece and slept in late with no roosters to disturb me.

Hawaii was lovely. I didn't think I'd care one way or the other, but I did think it was beautiful. However, now that I'm home, I'm back to thinking that the grass is greener in my own backyard.

And we don't even have grass. Just weeds and dirt.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:58 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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I know some of you are anxiously waiting for a long post on Hawaii, but I just haven't found the time yet. I have had knitting classes and trips to the grocery store and toilets to clean and my little brother passing through town tonight. And tomorrow I will be gone all day too, which will be a future blog post. I just wanted to let you know why you're still waiting.

Posted by: Sarah at 01:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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More later...

Posted by: Sarah at 06:15 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Beautiful photo! It sums up why I miss Hawaii! (Of course, not all of Hawaii looks like that, but so much does!)

Posted by: Amritas at September 24, 2007 08:22 AM (+nV09)

2 The photo was so impressive that I forgot to welcome you back. So ... welcome back! Sorry! Must remember ... people are more important than scenery.

Posted by: Amritas at September 24, 2007 08:23 AM (+nV09)

3 OOOOO pretty... can't wait to hear (and see) more!

Posted by: green at September 24, 2007 08:50 AM (VqW06)

4 Welcome back! Hope you had a great trip!

Posted by: Lane at September 24, 2007 04:12 PM (qJZP0)

5 Welcome back. We missed you.

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at September 24, 2007 04:49 PM (18CO/)

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I had really forgotten how nervewracking one's own wedding is.

CaliValleyGirl and fiance are hanging in there, both a tad frazzled about the whole event tomorrow. Most of their friends here are single, so I don't quite think anyone understands why they're so stressed. But I remember it well: wanting to puke for two days and feeling like nothing was going to get done on time. But it all magically does.

Hawaii is beautiful. But I sure didn't expect to wake up to a cacophony of roosters this morning. So odd.

More later...

Posted by: Sarah at 04:17 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Give her a hug from me. Tell her it will all be perfect! *grin*

Posted by: Teresa at September 20, 2007 06:02 PM (rVIv9)

2 Oh the wedding stress.....I remember it well...well it was a blur and a really long time ago, but nonetheless it was just as you describe...wish the couple good luck from the East Coast and many years of Happiness!!!! Enjoy your HI time....I'm envious, you live in Germany, which I so so miss....and now you are in my other favorite part of the world..... Sarah, can I be you when I grow up??? Please? ~ASW

Posted by: A Soldier's Wife at September 21, 2007 04:32 AM (M7kiy)

3 Sarah, Where did you end up staying? I would rather wake up to the cooing of the doves instead of roosters. Don't forget to squeeze in the Diamondhead hike if you have the time. Also sunrise at Makapuu beach and sunset at Ala Moana beach. I was going to suggest Makaha beach but too many locals there dislike haole's.

Posted by: R1 at September 21, 2007 05:47 AM (b8byF)

4 The stress from my wedding never ended.

Posted by: Green at September 21, 2007 09:29 AM (VqW06)

5 took us awhile after first being stationed in hawaii to get accoustomed to the roosters, but soon they blended. loved our 3 years there and would love to get back! enjoy your time!

Posted by: Mel at September 23, 2007 09:26 PM (ZHI1a)

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My neighbor told me that all she had to do to finally get pregnant was take a nice, relaxing trip to Hawaii.

Plane ticket to awe-inspiring places like this? Check.
Romantic weekend of nuptials? Check.
Husband? Oh wait, crap.

Somehow I don't think this is going to work out for me...

Anyway, I'll be gone for a while, but I'll return with stories and photos and tales of changing planes four times in one day.

And here's a little tidbit for people in the travel-size industry: Will you please consider making products that one can actually take on an airplane? It's been over a year, so you'd think the market would've dictated 1.7 oz bottles. But no. Apparently I don't get to take contact solution or sunscreen to Hawaii. Thanks a ton. Big pointy metal knitting needles are fine, but not my sunscreen.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:26 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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You know how you're supposed to back up your files in case something ever happens to your computer? I have always been pretty good about this. A few years ago when we had to wipe out the desktop and start over, I burned everything to CDs. We didn't lose anything. But a few weeks ago, my mom asked me about a paper I wrote in college. I went to my back-up CDs to get the paper.

What happens when your back-up CD turns up broken?

I have no idea how this happened. It broke from the center hole outward, three inch-long cracks. And it was in a jewel case too. I just have no idea how it could've broken like that.

Everything's gone. All the papers I wrote in college and grad school. The poem I wrote that won a national contest. The 40,000 word journal I kept from my year in France. And probably many other things that I will gradually come to remember and mourn.

Is there any way to save data from a cracked CD? I doubt it, but some of you are more computer savvy than I.

Sniff.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:13 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I'm really sorry to hear this, Sarah. Most of my diary is still on paper back in Hawaii. If my house there ever burns down ... oh well, at least I'll still have my memories. (And that's *all* I have of the years before 1993, before I started writing a diary.) When I shudder at imagining such a loss, I try to comfort myself by saying, it's the act of creation that's more important than retaining the creation, and I can still create. Losing the ability to write would be a far bigger blow. Since I got a CD burner in 1996 I've always made at least two copies of everything, and for the most critical files (e.g., my diary) I have many copies. When my hard drive died after only one year of use in 1997, my policy paid off - I got a new, bigger hard drive and moved everything onto it. A couple of years ago, I started transferring my CD-ROMs to DVD. So far almost none of my CD-ROMs have gone bad, with the exception of one or two CD-RWs. Fortunately, all key files survived on other disks, and nothing important was lost. I know one guy who has an external drive backing up everything in real time (?). Turned out to be a lifesaver for him after a computer crash. I should do the same thing. Maybe I'll get myself such a drive when I buy a new laptop at the end of this year. Backups are a big issue for me because I'm constantly changing computers. My laptops wear out very quickly. If I'm not asleep, I'm using a computer - both at home and at work. One more thing - be careful when selecting CDs and DVDs for backups. Lots of good advice here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/ I can verify its DVD ratings from experience. It's really hard to find reliable DVDs.

Posted by: Amritas at September 17, 2007 04:28 AM (02w/M)

2 It may have cracked during your last move - changes in temperature that kind of thing. There are many ways it can happen. I don't know what the price might be - but there are data recovery specialists out there. This is one that I've found by searching... http://www.datarecoveryspecialist.com/ you may want to try googling up a few more. I chose this one as they seem to work with personal data as opposed to business data. You could also check your area for computer businesses and call them they may have leads in the area. But for now, until you find you absolutely can not get it back... don't thow out the disk! Also, for really important stuff - it needs double backups - two different sources stored in 2 different places. That's about the best you can do to keep your data from being lost. There are even free online backup places that let you back up your data and they store it (encrypted sites only please) for you. So then you have the CD and the online backup... not to say they can't both fail - but there's less chance of total loss.

Posted by: Teresa at September 17, 2007 06:59 AM (rVIv9)

3 Thanks to Teresa for pointing out data recovery services exist. Many of Sarah's readers could benefit from this information. Here's a tip I recently learned that I left out: don't write on CDs and DVDs: /cs/docs/leaflets/g81/#heading6 (at cam dot ac dot uk; mu.nu won't let me post the URL) "Don't write on CDs or DVDs, even with a soft marker pen as the ink damages the surface. Use a CD label instead and write on it before affixing it to CD." Even labels make me uneasy. Stickers don't necessarily stick forever, and I'd hate to have a peeling sticker impede disc playback. I store my discs in jewel cases with paper labels that I handwrote or printed using my computer.

Posted by: Amritas at September 17, 2007 07:56 AM (+nV09)

4 Sarah, I'm not a computer person, but found this site through a search and thought I'd pass it on for what you might find here to use. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&hs=SDm&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=isobuster&spell=1 Rosie

Posted by: Rosie at September 17, 2007 04:19 PM (6Mz/s)

5 Sarah, I am so sorry to hear this.....ugh...I have lost so much in the past off my computers...I feel for you with the loss of your backup. I have recently backed up my POS laptop, by the way I hate Dell products.....sorry off topic there.... And of course none of this will help you with your current issue....so {{{hugs}}} on that but here is what I do now.... I also recently bought a 250 gig external backup harddrive (no I have not used it yet....I have good ideas, bad implementation) but the last time our desktop had it's major issues, I had a computer guy (friend of my husband's) make two copies of that hard drive on CD's and then a DVD of it as well...they are in cases and are labeled with sharpie permanent markers...and kept in our safe.....as are all of our back ups. Also when I upload new photos to our computer I move the old ones after I back them up to a folder in the computer itself that says they have been backed up so I know what I have to burn....this will all become much easier once I begin to back them up. I also have now begun to upload all my favorite ones to a photobucket account and I use box.net for important documents.....that way if I do not have my computer with me and I need to access any of them I can from where ever I am.....not to mention, if I lose them, much like your paper, I will not really have lost them, they are online.... Of course, I do need to remember the darn passwords.... Okay, now I really need to get busy using that backup hard drive....cause this laptop will be lucky to survive another crash, it may end up in the back yard!!!

Posted by: A Soldier's Wife at September 18, 2007 06:57 AM (M7kiy)

6 One of my teachers said she backs everything up on a thumb drive. hat way she has it wih her at all times and can pull up anything she needs right now.

Posted by: Reasa at September 18, 2007 12:02 PM (JfF5d)

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We just happened to find some show called Fast Money MBA Challenge, which was like Jeopardy for business students. We watched the first two rounds with students from MIT, Texas, NYU, and Columbia. My husband kicked their butts. It was so hot. He only got a couple of questions wrong and usually answered faster than the contestants.

And three words went through my mind endlessly, repeating themselves like a broken record: You're so cool, you're so cool, you're so cool.

Posted by: Sarah at 08:06 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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