Car fires and sea turtles...all in one day!

This past weekend was an interesting weekend.
It started off with some job-site training. The subject: tilt up buildings. I know...I know...it's just tilt ups. But it was actually a pretty cool 5 hours of learning about the nuts and bolts of these buildings. :) Yup...hard core nerd-tastic! Training took place at Pearl Harbor which just added to the coolness factor because it required me to clearance to get on base.

So after training, Joe and I went to Nico's at Pier 38. They had some yummy food and a rocking band playing. It was a good times. From there we went to Roundtop Road. It's a road that goes around one of the mountains/hills of Honolulu. On our way over there, Joe stopped to show me a a swing that someone has set up that looked down the hill. He was nice enough to give me a push and soon I was swinging away.

Check out that view!

We went out to a vista point that overlooked all of Honolulu-from Diamond Head Crater to Pearl Harbor. The view was magnificent. Joe attempted to take a panoramic picture of the view....but messed it up. When he gets back, we'll have to go up there again and reattempt to take the photo at which time I'll post to the blog. This was the only picture Joe sent me from the vista point.

After we were at the vista point, we took off for the top of the hill. On our way up there, the traffic had stopped and there was this woman walking towards our car. So we rolled down the window to find out what happened. Yeah...the lady's car had caught on fire. Here's a picture of her car...engulfed in flames. It was CRAZY! Things were exploding (probably some seals breaking loose from the heat) and sparks were flying and the flames were getting pretty high. Here's a picture of the car in flames.

After that, we headed to Koolina to check out sea turtles. Joe had been out there earlier in the morning and he said that the turtles were so friendly that when you were in the little cove out there, they would come up to you and bump their head against your leg because they wanted you to feed them! When we got there, there weren't that many and they were pretty far out. But I did see a couple of turtles and they looked pretty satisfied.

Sunday morning, Joe took off back to the mainland. I'm pretty bummed about it, and I think he is too. But it is what it is. In the meantime, I'll be looking for a new home for us to live in and Joe will be packing the house up for our move to Hawaii.

In the meantime, I'll be going to a kickball game tomorrow night (Kiewit has a kickball team). And I'll be going on a charity walk with my co-worker, Dee, on Saturday. Evidently, it's the best kind of a walk: 6 mile loop that's being hosted by the tourism board of Hawaii. So instead of water stops, there will be a bunch of delicious food stops! I'm all in!! :) I'll have to get some pic's for you guys later.

Until then, take a look at the picture below. Can you see the fishy? Joe took that one sometime last week.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy, fishy! Or you can watch on of my favorite Sesame Street clips ever! Hopefully, the clip posts properly.
Until next time....

Oh the rain!

Aloha!

So much has transpired since I last wrote.
-I started my job.
-There has been torrential rain, water spouts, flash floods, horrible traffic (that's standard and totally not dependent on rain. Just made worse by rain).
-Test drove a couple of cars.
Ummm....I can't remember much more than that.
Well, job. Job's going great! The people I work with are wonderful. Definitely a bunch of characters. They've already recruited me for their kickball team. And they've roped me into a Canstruction project. And all before the end of my first week! :)

Rain...it's been raining every day since we've been here. Good parts: It's 81 degrees and raining and the sun is shining. We've seen a rainbow, more often a double rainbow, everyday now. They are big, bright, and brilliant! Along with the rain, one day, there was a crazy thunder/lightening storm. The newspaper said there were over 40,000 cloud-to-ground lightening strikes in a 30-hour period. It was a pretty nice show to watch. Bad part: The people out here CANNOT drive in the rain. I mean, the literally stop in the middle of the road when it starts raining all of a sudden. It's like Californians driving in Utah snow. Except worse, because there are a bunch of crazy Asian drivers out here. And a lot of them are old. It doesn't help that traffic is really bad on a normal basis. But throw the rain in and it's chaos. I guess I'm just going to have to get use to it.

In the meantime, Joe's been taking it easy. Hiking, snorkeling, taking me to work, picking me up, doing a little bit of work sprinkled in between. He's been sending me photos while I've working. You can see them below.

Rainbow!

Near the Halona Blow Hole

Down the cliff where the previous picture was taken. Some fishermen setup shop here. And, hey....there's Joe's finger!

A shrine at the fishing site.

The blow hole while it's blowing

At the tabernacle

Tabernacle

At the tabernacle grounds

So we've decided not to purchase a new car out here. Yup...it's been decided that financially more prudent to just ship the car over to Honolulu. Thank goodness that I have a wonderful brother-in-law that's willing to get it ready to ship, drive it over to Long Beach, and drop it off for shipping! Thanks, Jeff!!!! So in the mean time, Joe returned the Jeep (I'm sure he shed a tear or two)and picked up the new rental. You can see what we got int he picture below. Yup...no more 4-wheeling for Joe.

The new rental car

Sorry if some of the pictures are sideways....I didn't realize that they were that way. And to reformat them isn't an issue. It's the uploading that is. Internet isn't that awesome out here and it takes a long time to upload just a single picture. So either turn your computer monitor or turn your head sideways. :) I'll make sure that future pictures are orientated in the correct direction before I upload them. :)

Ok...That's all for now! Gotta get ready for more fun at work tomorrow! Bye!