August Update

Stephanie said to me today on the phone, "You need to update the blog.  People what to know whats been going on."  LOL

A lot has been going on. 

I have settled into a routine to/from work and back home.
The University has a lot going on IT wise and I have my plate full
of project work so far.   The only bad thing about starting a new job
at the University...  They hold your first paycheck. 

I'm not sure of the reasoning, but those new hires without anything
to fall back on have to be hurting in order to pay bills, keep the roof
over their head, and feed their families.

The way the pay dates are setup and because of when I started, I will
probably land my fist paycheck sometime the end of September.

So where is Stephanie and the kids?

They are wrapping things up in MI.  Packing the last few bits up and
sending it over.     What does shipping a family of 5 over to the island
look like?

Some of the box's have started arriving this week.

These box's have such a story to tell.   They have traveled from Chelsea MI
to a sorting facility in PA.   From PA they were loaded on rail car and
went all the way to California.   From Cali, they were loaded on the boat
and waited around until the boat was completely full.   Then after a high seas
adventure, they got off the boat.  From there loaded into the mail truck
and delivered by the mail carrier here.    The post office knows there are
more of these coming.   Postage for the 12x10x10 box's is a lot less than what
a POD would have cost us to ship here.  Each box was lined with a trash bag to keep the contents dry in case they were left out in the rain, wet on the boat, etc.

So when is everyone flying over?

September 4th is the day.  They are all booked and flying over.
I am super excited and can not wait for them all to finally be here!
I only have one major concern...

Issac.  This bad boy better be out of the way and not hold up any
flights on Tuesday.

I spent this evening getting rooms setup and beds made for the kids
for when they arrive.   This will be awesome as they have been camping out
on the floor for a few weeks now.   We sold all our furniture as the cost
to ship would be too much.  And wouldn't you know it, the beds were the
first thing that people wanted.

You can see the lights of downtown Honolulu out the window from here.


Thats all for the moment.   More adventure to come.

So Far So Good

First week of UofH went smoothly. 
Into the fire this week.   The students are moving back in this week,
the faculty is back in, and its all hands on deck for support issues.

On top of that we have a vendor in helping install our cloud based
servers for web services, and file drop box functionality.

Lots going on.

This weekend I made it down to Waikiki Beach.

The sand was really hot and the Pacific water was nice and warm.   Felt good to finally make it down to the water.   It was really cool to see a lot of families with huge tents and family cookouts going on in the park area.   A lot of the younger kids had their surfboards and were out in the water waiting to ride that perfect wave in to shore.

I stopped off at a little cafe for lunch.  My mind was saying to itself, this is awesome...   But your missing something too.

This is true.    The only bad thing about the UofH is when you first start, they hold your first check.  So I'm here by myself trying to get a head start and get things going.   Stephanie and the kids are still in Michigan until the end of this month.   By the end of this month, the payroll stuff should be sorted out and everyone should be on an airplane sometime the first week of September. 

So where are we all going to live when they get here?

Good question.

I am doing a home stay with one of the faculty of the U.
They are leaving on vacation and will need someone to house site and feed
Mr. Old Cat while they are gone.   Just so happens it will be during the time
Stephanie and the kids come over.  

By that time, I should have first and last months rent saved up,
be able to get us in a place, and good to go before the end of Sep
when they return.    Is your head spinning yet?   Mine is.

You don't know what a blessing this is.    I am praying that all the
pieces of this puzzle fall into place one by one so we can get settled
and get the kids into school here.

We are trying to get the kids enrolled into the MI on-line school
program for the few weeks they will be shuffling around to keep them on task.

Then we have to work on transportation...

The Bus is good.... but has its issues.    Another story for another post.

Touchdown

Today is Friday.
I have been here a little over 24 hours now.
This is a view from where I am staying looking out from the Lanai.


My flight from MI to HI was long.  
I was flying on reward travel so I had a bit of a crazy long route.


I spent the morning at the UofH filling out new hire paperwork,
and taking a tour of the offices, server room, etc. 
They are getting new carpeting put down on Monday so they had all the offices etc downstairs emptied out for the carpet people.   
Its slow right now as school does not start until the 20th.

The sysadmin and I walked over to Coffeeline.   What a cool
coffee shop.   Dennis is really cool.   I don't drink coffee but he had a huge
selection of Tea.   Going to try some of the many flavors he has on hand in the coming weeks. 

We spent the morning talking about all the cool technology
stuff UofH is working on and solved all the worlds problems before noon. 

Had pizza hut for lunch with the team then I headed out to
Safeway for some shopping for food, laundry detergent, etc.  

The place is just like Kroger's back home.
Prices were a bit higher for things but not crazy thru the roof.
They had a lot of deals on stuff if you have their shopping card. 

Which I do now.

Came back home to veg a bit this afternoon.
I have been drinking water today.  Not sure if its the jet lag, dehydration
from being on the flight for so long, adjusting to the new time zone or what.   
Just feeling a bit blah.

Going to tackle The Bus tomorrow and venture out and see if I can get
around and out to the waters edge on my own.

Stephanie and the Kids are planning on another massive yard sale
tomorrow in MI.   Any leftovers is off to goodwill.  

Will keep you posted.