Update

I haven’t updated this thing in forever, so here’s a recap of the highlights of the past few months.
First thing is I quit the job I didn’t like. Eventually I got into the groove and the job wasn’t too horrible, but it just didn’t have the “family” feeling of working at Harold’s. Looking back, I think I’ve always quit a job because I was moving or going back to school or some other valid reason. This is the first time I quit just because I didn’t feel like working there. It was a strange feeling. But a good one.

My parents came to visit not long ago. Unfortunately they came at the very worst time for me – around October 15th. Things were a little insane at Harold’s office because of the October 15th deadline for extentioned (wow, that’s not a word?) taxes, and quarterly reports were due at my 2nd job. I was working from 8:30-6 every day, and very stressed out. I did get to hang out with them on Saturday and Sunday, and then again on the day they left, so all was not lost. We took them on the swinging bridges hike, took them to our favorite beaches, went out to eat at some nice places – it was great.

On 10/28, the annual Xterra off-road triathlon world championship was held here. I wasn’t doing anything else on a Sunday morning, so I headed down to watch some real athletes. It was a beautiful day, and it made me realize I miss the thrill of running races. I’m usually not one for competition, but there’s something about pushing your body to see what it can do that’s addictive. Hard to describe, but, yeah, I’d like to do another ½ marathon or something.

On 11/4 the canoe club paddled a couple of boats out to Molokini. I’m not sure how many miles off shore it is, but it seemed like a long way. We started early in the morning, and while crossing the channel we paddled in some of the roughest water I’ve been in. It was a blast. When we got to Molokini there were 1 or 2 dive boats around, but other than that we had the place to ourselves. The snorkeling wasn’t great because there was a storm rolling in and the sky was cloudy, but it was decent. It’s a little hard to believe that I’ve friggin lived on Maui almost a year and this was my first time to Molokini. But the cloudy weather was just right for intense paddling – kept us cool. And it just started to rain when we were pulling the boats back into shore a few hours later.

Last weekend we had a surf/BBQ/day at the beach single’s branch activity. The surf was looking good, the food was good, and it was fun to just sit and talk with friends. Unfortunately I didn’t catch a single wave which was insanely frustrating.
My birthday was a good one. I went to the beach and just sat on the sand, read a book, jumped in the water, repeated, for a couple of hours. Steve and Chris and I went out to dinner at the Fish Market in Paia for dinner. I got a good bundle of presents from my parents including some white dress shirts that I really needed – a lot of clothes here are made with big polys in mind I think. We looked everywhere and they don’t carry my size dress shirt anywhere on the island.
Then I decided I’d buy myself a surfboard for my birthday. I looked at a few surf shops and took my time deciding what would be a good first board, and I finally decided on one this last Sunday. I took it out on the water yesterday, and I’m really happy with it. Should be a good learning board.
Anyway, that’s the quick and dirty. Overall, life’s been good.