day 9 - farmers market

So I did it again - I forgot my camera memory card.. So I cannot show pictures of my adventure to the bustling farmers market.. I took the bike and went around west side of diamond head. Half of it was up hill. The up hill part was actually not bad. However, I am not quite in full command of the bike so I feel uncomfortable ridding on the road. As a result, I pushed the bike up hill most of the time and pushed it back all the way until I reached the park. The route was mostly scenery and the market has... a LOT of people.

I don't think the stuffs are particularly cheaper but I think they might be fresher and more unique. There are food vendors, vegetables, seafood, drinks, and plants vendors. I bought 2 papayas for $4:50 (by weight) and 2 mango for $4.40. I also bought a bottle of Hawaii local honey for $9.00. Then I tasted this Hawaiian curry and bought a small bottle to give it a try. That cost me $5.00

I am going back next week. Hopefully I will be able to bike there all the way and back. Maybe next week I should try some food as well.

How can you not be fit if you live in Hawaii?

day 8 - google map rocks!

One of the first things I learned when I arrived in Hawaii is that google map is amazing! When you zoom into the street view, it actually provides bus information. Once zoomed in, you can see the bus stops indicated on the map, in this case, the blue landmark is my apartment and there are some bus stops within walking distance

if you click on the bus icon, google map will bring up a dialog box that shows the different buses that stop here, with some basic information about the bus and their upcoming departures - this is cool... and if you click on the link that reads “upcoming departures”

(cont. fr previous) you actually see the upcoming schedules for all buses that stop at this location - I don't know how acturate the information is but this is cool

but that is not it.. say I want to go to the temple. I locate the temple on the map, and I can click on the blue landmark

then I can get directions by entering my apartment address

here comes the cool part - from the left side, I select “by publuc transit” from the dropdown box. Wa-la, I got route information of how to take bus from orgin to destination. In this case, bus #2 takes me directly from my apartment to the temple!

of course if you need transfer, google map is intelligent enough to tell you so as well. In this case, I will need to transfer one bus to go to school. No big deal, google map tells me to transfer to bus #4 off Hukio street

day 7 - get down to the water

Oh, Yes, I finally made it to the water. The building is built directly off the coast and there is not much sandy area between the gate and the water. The waves come up almost to the gate. I took a picture of my feet while sitting at the small sandy area. The weaves are strong; they come and go and sound loud. I put down my camera and get into the water.

When I look down from above, it does not seem like a big deal. But when you actually get into the water, the ocean seems vast, even more so than when you are upstairs. Without anyone else around and without any life guards, you are on your own.

It is you and the ocean.

I thought I would swim laps but the idea seems silly somehow once you are in the water. I am a little scared and do not want to get too far from the gate. So I sort of swim back and forth just in this very small area. Again, looking from upstairs, everything seems close. But when you are in the water, everything seems very distant.

I finally made it to the water. I will do so daily until I move out of here.

Went to school to see Malia about purchasing a laptop. Nice group of people. Drop off TB document for Bev. Ran into Peter. He took me to this place called Fisher - a warehouse that sells cheap stationary and furniture. I bought a mash chair. It is $160 and I think that is a reasonable price. Now I am sitting on it and I know the problem immediately - after sitting on the seat for a while, it gets hot.

This morning I was watching NBC. Matt Lauer is in Beijing doing Olympic special. The screen said "live" and I was calculating the time difference. Then it daunted on me that the morning news was aired a couple of hours ago. Hawaii residents watch the taped version. Nothing live about it.

day 6 - Mama Mia & Costco

Woke up early morning, got on the Internet and changed all the address to the current coconut address. There is a possibility that I might be able to move in to faculty housing even sooner than September 15. I told them I would be glad to do so. As much as I love where I am, I don't want to get too used to it. People told me I am at the "gold coast" I guess it means something to the locals. P. said I know some rich friends. I guess I don't want people to think of me as someone with rich friends. Granted that there is nothing wrong with being rich, I don't want myself to be too used to this life style.

However, I should probably get down to the water tomorrow. It is such a shame that I am not doing it sooner.

Today is eventful. E. came to pick me up after lunch. We drove around diamond head along the coast to catch the movie - Mama Mia. It was such a fun movie with a very interesting story line and great casts.

After the movie, we had a little afternoon snacks sitting next to the water, with a little breeze and a nice view of the valley - Hawaii living is nice, isn't it? We talked about things in general. I like E. even though her intense personality might be a little too much for me at times, she is a good person with good intentions. She told me that I need to pitch in and do my parts for the department, unlike what Curt said about not working in committees. I can tell that she would not appreciate me not getting involved. I sort of hinted nicely that the closeness here might be something I need time to adjust to. After all, I consider myself a very private person.

Then our last stop is at the costco. I feel so much better now seeing the price. It is so much reasonable and now I feel I can actually live here.

On the way back to my apartment, I had my first sighting of the famous Hawaii rainbow. I was told that rainbow usually appears during close to evening hours. it is a little overcast today so the picture is not great but now I know why Hawaii is called the rainbow state

day 5 - school visit

Not to make anyone jealous but my office does have two windows. It overlooks the parking lot and is right above one of the entrances to the building. However, a window is a window is a window, no complains. I might need to re-arrange the furniture a little. I think I like to face the windows more.

I sat down with Besty and she officially went over some "business" with me. Surprise, surprise, surprise, we talked all about tenure and review process. This morning I had sent Dr. Curtis Bonk's 24 tips on how to get tenure to all of them. We went to this campus place for lunch and Curtis joined us. We went over the 24 tips one by one and they both agreed on all of them. I am very lucky to have a great mentor like Curt. Hawaii people are still nice the way they were during my interview.

I also got my official UH ID today. As soon as I got my ID, I went to put $75 on the card so I can eat on campus using it as a debt card. On my way back to the bus stop, I walked by this beautiful tree. I was so impressed with it lsat time I came for the interview. The colors are so beautiful, even more so when you see it in person. There is actually a plant tour of the campus where you can take a self-guided tour and see all the variety of plants on campus. People said Hawaii is paradise on earth and it is not without merrit.

Tonight, 6 of us met at Duke's, supposely a well-known place. It was packed with people but the open air sitting, music, food, etc were so nice. I can really get use to Hawaii living soon. We were suppose to talk about etec442 but of course it was more social than real business. It was very nice to meet those doctorate students and we will be working together soon.

day 4 - people watching

Woke up at 5am local time, still a little jet lagged but I think I will be over it tomorrow.

Again, those surfers are out in the water as early as 6pm. Today I made a video of the view from my lanai. You can hear the sound of the waves. Remember, it is there 24x7 and you cannot turn it off. :-)

It was just daunted on me that nobody from Houston will call me. Who am I kidding. When I was in Houston, hardly anybody called. Now I am not in Houston, why would anyone call? Why did I save my Houston number? I am kidding myself.

Houston is having a hurricane and UH is closed today. I got a call on my cell about the closing. Suppose I am still on the payroll so I got the call. Good system.

Meeting Ellen after lunch. Period came today. A little too early. Need to get a woman doctor soon.

day 3 - china town

Nothing is more disappointing than a visit to the so-called the largest grocery store in China town.

Yesterday I came to the temple to participate in their dharma assembly. Must be dehydrated and had not had enough to eat for more than 24 hours (after arriving, I only had eaten the food I bought at safeway. Even thought it cost almost $10, it was not very filling at all) I became light headed almost at the end. I had to sat out the last 10 minutes. I drank two glasses of water and rested a little. Immediate after the ceremony was finished, I left. I wanted to make sure I could get myself home safely.

On my way to the bus stop, I ran into this grocery store that calls itself Hong Kong Supermarket. Fruit and vegetables are cash only. Other groceries.... what other groceries? I walked around and around for like 2-3 times to make sure I did not miss anything. Where is anything? How can they call themselves a supermarket if they don't even have frozen dumplings? I finally found the instant noodle alies. Unforunately they don't sell any vegetarian instant noodles.

Today I asked the people at the temple where to go get Chinese groceries. Everyone told me to go to Hong Kong market. I just couldn't believe my ears and kept asking, are you sure that is the largest? What I did not say is, I went yesterday and I did not see too many things there.

Okay, friends in Houston, count your blessings!

Things are beginning to line up here as well.
Monday - visit with Ellen to get up to speed with fall class
Tuesday noon - visit with Besty to check in and to get up to speed with what is ahead
Tuesday evening - visit with Mike, Ellen and Susan to go over fall class

Unfinished Houston business:
CUIN6320 - need to finish it up
CUIN7316 - need to put it online