Buckeyes in Paradise

New Simon's Cat: Fly Guy

2009-07-26T18:48:00.003-04:00

I love all of the Simon's Cat episodes. If you have a cat, you can relate.

I love this one - "Cat Man Do." The first time I saw this one I laughed so hard I cried.:

Wordless Wednesday: Hibiscus

2009-07-22T22:42:00.001-04:00

From Blog Photos

You ever have days like this?

2009-07-11T23:48:00.000-04:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

MCP Actions Having a Great Giveaway!

2009-07-08T23:09:00.002-04:00

If you haven't seen MCP Actions and the so-wonderful website, please go check it out. And...you can register to win a SLR lens from Tamron! Check it out!

Are you a fan?

2009-06-25T21:48:00.004-04:00

I am a terrible blogger! I go and create this thing to keep everyone updated, and then I never update it! Oy.

This has nothing to do with an update on our life, but I had to share.

I love Harry Potter, I really do. I've read all the books, and I am getting ready to re-read the series in anticipation for this summer's movie.

But I am not THIS big of a fan of the movie. Check it out - real-life Quidditch!

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Wordless Wednesday: Face to Face at the Toledo Zoo

2009-06-17T20:49:00.002-04:00

From Blog Photos

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset at Kailua Beach

2009-05-06T19:04:00.004-04:00

Wordless Wednesday: Big Surf at Waimea Bay

2009-03-19T02:45:00.002-04:00

From Blogger Pictures

Wordless Wednesday: Kaupo Park

2009-02-18T17:46:00.001-05:00

From Makapu'u & Kaupo

Our Pro Bowl Experience

2009-02-13T01:12:00.004-05:00

Going to the Pro Bowl was one of those things that I never expected to be able to do. It's in Hawaii, after all, and when was I going to get a chance to go to Hawaii (and have enough time to spend at a football game while there). Well, lo and behold, here we are in Hawaii. Jim and I hemmed and hawed about getting tickets (the good seats were pricy, but better than regular NFL games). we kept talking ourselves out of it. Finally Jim said "let's do it", so we ordered our tickets, and managed to get really great seats, considering we ordered tickets the Tuesday before the game (we were on the 30 yard line, just past half way up on the lower level).

We had such a great time. It was really neat to see all these great players all in one spot, even if the game didn't really "matter." I spent a good amount of time trying to get good pictures of Payton Manning (as you can see if you check out the Picasa album)! Weather was perfect and we had a great time. We arrived super early so that we could get parking, and just to take the whole experience in. As we were walking around before the game we managed to come across the Bears' mascott, who was nice enough to take a picture with Jim (who was thrilled).

From Pro Bowl 2009

And here is the Bear in action:

From Pro Bowl 2009

And a couple more pictures. If you want to check out the rest you can see the album here:

Pro Bowl 2009

From Pro Bowl 2009

Wordless Wednesday: Pro Bowl 2009

2009-02-11T18:30:00.002-05:00

From Pro Bowl 2009

Wordless Wednesday: USS Arizona Memorial

2009-02-04T17:47:00.001-05:00

From Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Banzai Pipeline

2009-01-28T18:22:00.001-05:00

From Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Waikiki Sunset

2009-01-21T02:04:00.004-05:00

From Oahu - Our First Few Days

(Wordless Wednesday is a day when participating bloggers post only a photo. I have decided that I want to participate, so this is my first Wordless Wednesday post. If you'd like to learn more or would like to participate visit Wordless Wednesday. I first discovered Wordless Wednesday from An Island Life.)

First Week Fun: Waimea Bay

2009-01-16T16:46:00.004-05:00

From Wiamea Bay, Jan 2009

We can’t have all work and no play, right? Jim and I decided to take some of our time during our first week to be tourists.

The first out of town trip we made was up to Waimea Bay Beach Park on the North Shore, and the country town of Hale’iwa. We had lunch at Breakers in Hale’iwa, a yummy kalua pork sandwich. Not quite stuffed to the gills, we stopped for a shave ice at Aoki’s. Yummy stuff, but don’t get the large size unless you are super hungry! I highly recommend getting the shave ice with the ice cream on the bottom – some of that yummy syrup drips down through the ice and forms a nice topping on the ice cream.

Next we made our way to Waimea Bay Beach Park to see some of the legendary big winter waves. While the waves we saw probably weren’t of legendary size, they were pretty darn impressive. Lots of body surfers (experienced ones), tried their luck with the waves. Looked pretty brutal to me!

Here are some pictures from Waimea Bay, including the rainbow we saw as we left:

From Wiamea Bay, Jan 2009

Follow the link under the pictue to the Picasa alubm with more photos from our day at Wiamea Bay.

We have internet access!

2009-01-16T02:27:00.002-05:00

Yea! We finally have Internet access! Thank goodness - I start classes Tuesday. However, we are now experiencing spotty power outages due to extremely high wind gusts (60+) today, tonight and into tomorrow. They've actually closed beaches on the North Shore and Leeward side of the island, as well as a couple on the Windward side (where we are). And, they have closed all public schools, already tonight, for tomorrow. UH-Manoa and lots of private schools are also closed (on all the islands).

So - the plan is to catch up on this blog tomorrow - so long as I have power!

Just a quick update...

2009-01-10T16:11:00.001-05:00

We're moving into our new apartment today, and we will probably be without Internet access for a while (perhaps until the 18th). So if you don't hear from us for a while, that's why!

The Move Day 3: Jan. 1, 2009

2009-01-09T00:56:00.006-05:00

Jim writing here, so this might be a little different style:)

The new year started with us in yet another hotel packing up our luggage and once again forcing the kitties into crates for transportation to the airport. (Which included us drugging them again, poor little things.)

We were still undecided about how to get back to the LAX, whether taxi or hotel shuttle. Despite my reservations about taking a shuttle with all our luggage the hotel staff encouraged us to since the airport was so close. So with all our luggage and our cats in hard crates were boarded a shuttle for our last day of travel.

Upon arrival at LAX we were surprised once again by several procedural events with Hawaiian airlines and TSA. First the guy checking in our cats seemed to have little to no experience checking animals and actually had to leave the check-in area several times to get forms. We spent a good 45 min. checking in with Hawaiian Airlines.

Then once that was complete we had to carry our own checked luggage to a TSA screening machine further down the complex!! Since we had to check the cats as well this was not helpful. Once again TSA required us to take the cats out of the crates in the airport so they could sweep the interior with patches to check for explosives. Jasmine was so scarred to be out in the open of a busy airport that she unfortunately had an accident when I put here back in her crate. Not a good start to the day or year at all.

With the cats checked all Becky and I could do was be nervous pet parents on the 5 1/2 hour flight to Honolulu. There was a movie on the flight, but Hawaiian airlines charged to hear the sound, even if you used your own headsets!!! So Becky and I mostly just tried to sleep or we watched Wall-E on our Ipod. We were so high up and it was mostly cloudy so we really did not see the ocean much.

Here's a photo of the island out our window as we approached the airport:

From The Move

Upon arrival at Honolulu we gathered our luggage on carts, with the friendly help of an Hawaiian Airlines employee who gave us a free cart, and made our way over to animal quarantine. It was not connected to the airport so Becky and I had to trundle along the sidewalk and then a service road with all our luggage until we reached the facility. Once there were kept our fingers crossed that we had all the paperwork needed to get them out of quarantine right there and then! We were lucky and after about half an hour we soon had our cats on top of our two carts of luggage and working our way back to the airport proper. Since it was the 1st we had to then hunt down a Taxi and then we were on our way to the vacation apartment. Upon arrival, with the help of a hotel employee, we managed to get all our luggage and the cats into the apartment.

Both cats were still a little groggy and poor Jasmine needed to be cleaned up after her accident and the long ride in her crate. She was also still really sore from having torn out two of her nails so it was a slow process. However, we promised them only one more move until we reached our new home.

Here's the view from our vacation rental. You can see the mountains and the Ali Wai canal. We found our vacation rental through VRBO.com. It's an apartment at the Waikiki Banyan, a really nice, two-tower hotel two long blocks from the beach.

From The Move

With the cats settled as much as they could be Becky and I then walked down to the beach. What a surreal feeling to walk out of the hotel and see all the big buildings end just two blocks away! The beach in Waikiki is beautiful and the weather was great, about high 70s. It is so weird for us to see a beach and people surfing in January. The area also has a very heavy tourist feel to it, so it felt like we were on vacation instead of moving to the island for several years. While we were both exhausted and worn down by jet lag we had to take off our shoes and put our feet in the Pacific.

From Oahu - Our First Few Days

We did, however, call off our meeting with my new colleagues because we both feared our first impression with them after the ordeal of the move would not be impressive. So after visiting the beach, grabbing some Subway, and taking a deep breath of warm clean air we headed back to our vacation apartment to crash and cuddle with the kitties.

Here's some pictures from Waikiki:

From Oahu - Our First Few Days

The Move Day 2: Dec. 31, 2008

2009-01-09T00:32:00.003-05:00

Today was our day of travel from Chicago to LAX. We drugged the cats more than an hour before we were due to leave, but the drugs didn't seem to help all that much. They were still really freaked out and upset. For this flight the cats had to go in the cabin with us, and were in smaller, soft-sided carriers. We got to the airport and got ourselves and our cats checked in in good order. I can't believe that we had to pay $100 per cat to have them in cabin with us, and they still counted as one of our carry-on items. Damn airlines squeezing us for every penny.

Worse was to come. We had to take the cats OUT OF THE CARRIER and carry them through security in our arms. SO not kidding you. As if the poor cats aren't freaked out enough, we had to take them out of the carrier (which had to be e-rayed) and walk through the metal detector with them. This was not in some secluded side area - this was the main security area with everyone else trying to get through. I was so terrified that one of the cats would struggle and that would be it - we'd loose them in the airport. So not happy with TSA - nothing on their website prepared us for that! We would have put a body harness on them so we could have had a solid grip, had we but known.

We were both really worried that one or both of the cats would cry the entire 5 hours, and that our fellow passengers would kick us off the plane at 30,000 feet. They did make some mewing noises, but the sound of the engines and the crying baby drowned them out. Did you know one infant can cry at the tops of his lungs for 5 hours? Yep - amazing stamina for such a little creature. Ugh. Fierce headache by the time we landed.

We flew over the Grand Canyon. Pretty cool sight. The picture is pretty hazy - it was fairly overcast.

From The Move

We arrived at LAX on time, and gathered all of our luggage and headed out to find a taxi. We found the people organizing the taxis and got in line. We ended up with a van, which we needed with all of our stuff. Then I endured the scariest cab ride of my life (and it was less than 5 miles to the hotel!). The driver sped into this parking lot and down a back ally behind the hotel. I seriously thought we were about to be mugged! He dumped us and our stuff off in the alley behind the hotel - no joke! Damn scary.

Jim's sister Branda (and her friend) stopped in to see is for a little bit before they went to a New Year's Eve party - it was so good to see her!

We discovered that night that my cat had pulled two of her front toenails completely out sometime during the flight. Her paws were still bleeding. Oh, I cried and cried - I felt responsible and so terribly guilty. (She seems to be doing just fine now. She is not favoring either paw, and will let us look at her feet if we are careful). Combine that with the fact that the drugs only seemed to make them punch drunk and not relaxed, and well, it was a traumatizing day for the kitties.

Needless to say I didn't really sleep that night, plus we had to be at the airport super early.

The Move Day 1: Dec. 30, 2008

2009-01-07T00:47:00.004-05:00

December 30, 2008 - Day 1: Leaving Ohio
or “why my New Year’s resolution is to have less stuff in my life.”

I owe my mother and my mother-in-law the world. Without their help we never would have made it out of the apartment. My mom stayed for a few days around Christmas and helped pack, and Jim’s mom spent a couple days packing and cleaning (and cleaning!) with us. No exaggeration – we couldn't’t have done it without you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We underestimated the time it would take us to pack out and clean the apartment, and didn’t end up starting our dive to Chicago until about 4pm. The cats (poor things!) were less than amused about being stuck in their cages, and they cried most of the time. We elected not to drug them for the car portion of the journey so that they wouldn’t be drugged for three days straight. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Our journey to Chicago was fine, until we actually got to Chicago, at which point we were overwhelmed with construction, pothole-filling and some random traffic issues (at 9-10-11pm at night!). With all the traffic problems we didn't end up getting into our hotel until about 11pm. It turned a 5.5 hour trip into an 8 hour trip. Ugh! Not what we needed right before this huge travel journey.

Here’s a picture of the sunset as we were leaving Ohio:

From The Move

And here is a picture of my cat Jasmine taking in the dramatically different view from our hotel room in Chicago:

From The Move

We stayed at the Hotel Sofitel in Rosemont (right by the airport) - and we were really impressed. The beds are comfortable and the sheets are nice. If you need to stay overnight before heading out on a flight out of Chicago, I highly recommend the Hotel Sofitel.

We did our best to get some sleep that night, but I couldn't sleep much - too worried about the next couple days.

Brief update

2009-01-05T02:57:00.000-05:00

We’re here! And it was quite the adventure, but we made it (and on time, too) and have settled into our vacation rental apartment. Still having jetlag issues (waking up at 3am and being pretty darn tired by 6pm), but we are slowly getting adjusted. Unfortunately we’ve both managed to pick up head colds, which is making it difficult to completely enjoy our circumstances. The weather is gorgeous, 78 and mostly sunny, although there has been quite a bit of rain and haze of late. It’s still pretty darn nice!

Jim and I are still trying to come to terms with the reality of the situation – that we’re actually going to live in Hawaii. I am going to break up the story of our journey here into several different posts. I’ve also taken oodles of photos, and I’ll post the best and give you links to the rest, once I get them uploaded. Thank you all for your well wishes. I’ll begin my story of the Big Move tomorrow!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Boxes and packing and too much stuff

2008-12-28T21:30:00.004-05:00

We're nearing zero-hour for the big move. My goal is to have everything packed tonight, and spend tomorrow cleaning. Good lawd, but we have too much stuff! We're mailing out a few boxes of stuff before we leave, and have a bunch to be sent later. Thankfully my mom is willing to store the stuff we don't want sent out to us right away. I'd share a picture of my apartment, but it is a disaster area right now. Total chaos. As a side note we used CraigsList for the first time, and have actually managed to sell most of our furniture. Makes me happy, and having the extra cash will really help a lot. We're checking out of the apartment on Tuesday, and leaving for Chicago that day. Our flight for LAX leaves Wed. afternoon. Then, on Thursday, we leave for Honolulu.

My biggest stressor at the moment is traveling with the cats. The trial run with the kitty relaxer stuff did not go well at all - the cats were most assuredly not relaxed. Have an appointment with the vet tomorrow - hopefully he has some better kitty drugs.

Probably won't post again until we get to Honolulu...

Please wish us luck!

The Lights Before Christmas

2008-12-20T23:14:00.007-05:00

I love the Toledo Zoo - it is one of my favorite things about living in Northwest Ohio. The Toledo Zoo is one of the top ranked zoos in the country - and it does deserve that distinction. Every year the zoo holds "The Lights Before Christmas" - when they put up over 1 million lights all throughout the zoo property. I've been every year since I have been here, and it is a tradition I am sure to miss.

Jim and I decided to go to the zoo on Thursday, figuring that the ice storm wouldn't come through until later, and arrived at the zoo to discover we had the place practically to ourselves (we arrived at about 3:30). We had a chance to enjoy much of the zoo without actually seeing another person - it was amazing. We could actually hear the noises the animals were making (particularly the tiger, which "wuffed" at us as she/he walked past). Even as it started getting dark there weren't near the number of people there that the lights normally gather - good for us, if not so good for the zoo. It was so nice to walk around and take pictures, and not feel overcrowded.

Here are some pictures I took this past Thursday with my point-and-shoot Canon. I think they turned out pretty good, especially considering that I didn't have a tripod with me. Here's a link to the album:

Lights Before Christmas 2008

And a few of my favorite pictures:

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

My car will spend Christmas in Hawaii

2008-12-13T16:21:00.004-05:00

We are using West Point Relocation to handle the transportation of our car from here in Northwest Ohio to Oahu. A car carrier came to pick up my car on December 2 (two days earlier than I expected!) and take it out to Long Beach, California, where it would be put on a ship bound for Honolulu. The whole process was supposed to take 3-4 weeks, and since I wanted my car there shortly after my arrival, it needed to leave the first week in December. I contacted West Point Relocation on Friday, and evidently my car has already begun its cruise to Oahu, so it will be in Honolulu in time for Christmas, with an expected arrival of Dec. 23, or Dec. 24. Mele Kalikimaka!

Here are a couple pictures from the day my car was picked up. we didn't stick around to see it drive away because it was darn cold - wind chill was about 2 below.

Oh - and those two kitties we rescued - they both have homes now! Two of Jim's fellow grad students are adopting them (one each). They are both boys, and seem to be pretty healthy so far.

From The Big Move

Kitty Rescue times two!

2008-12-07T15:14:00.005-05:00

From Kitty Rescue 2008

Yesterday was one of the coldest days of the year so far, preceded by one of the coldest nights. Two days ago, as I was sitting working on homework, I noticed a little black blur scurry across our neighbors porch. When I saw the blur again, I saw that it was a little kitten. I rushed out to try and catch it, but it was wild and ran. I kept my eyes out for it the rest of the evening, and tried one more time to catch it, but failed. Saturday morning Jim was working on the computer, heard crying, and saw that same black blur and rushed down to try to catch the little kitten. After 20 minutes and help from one of our neighbors he brought the cold, mewling little kitten into our apartment (much to the dismay of our resident cats, Jasmine and Hailey). We warmed him (her??? we didn't check) up, fed him and gave him some water. He was pretty feisty for a little guy! Our local humane society is full to overflowing (over 190 cats at last count), and couldn't take him, so we had to call animal control. Thankfully they don't euthanize adoptable animals! A BG city police officer came to pick up the kitten and take it to the shelter.

Jim and Calob went out later that afternoon to run some errands and when they came back they could hear another kitten crying. This one they found huddled and not moving in a flower bed - it didn't try to run at all, and I am not sure it could have. It was covered in snow and shivering so hard - enough to break your heart. I wrapped up the little kitten in a scrap of fleece blanket and held her until she warmed up and stopped shivering. It was so good to see the life come back into the sweet little kitty! We fed her and let her warm up completely before we called animal control (the police) to come and pick this one up. She relaxed enough to take a little nap in the blanket. Such a sweetie.

Our cats should be thankful that we're moving, otherwise we'd have had two more kittens added to our family this weekend!

These pictures are of the second kitten.

From Kitty Rescue 2008

Less than 40 days before we move

2008-11-24T15:16:00.003-05:00

With less than 40 days to go, the reality of our move to Oahu is starting to sink in. Not that we haven’t been working and planning for and rejoicing in our upcoming move, because we certainly have (and I think people are tired of hearing us talk about it). It is just hard to wrap my mind around the idea that 38 days from now I am going to be on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – an island that will be “home,” at least for a little while. The prospect of our move is both exciting and terrifying, and a little sad. It’s exciting because – well, it’s Hawaii! It’s terrifying because of just how far away Hawaii is from everything, and because I am going to be unemployed for who knows how long. And it’s a little sad because I am going to miss my friends and family. There will be no car trips to go visit friends and family; any trip home is going to be a major event (and majorly expensive, too).

Any time I get bummed out about leaving Ohio, all I have to do is think about this:

From Ohio

Snow! And it was this dark at 5pm, as I was leaving work. Nope - I won't miss the snow at all!

Spartan Football!

2008-11-10T21:05:00.002-05:00

This weekend Jim and I went up to visit my best friend, Karen and her husband Charlie, and we all went to the MSU vs. Purdue football game on Saturday, November 8. The day started out with some early tailgating (9am!), with yummy treats and mimosas (although hindsight would tell me that iced drinks are not all that refreshing when it is only 38 degrees out!). The game started at noon, and it was still only about 41 degrees. At least it didn't rain, even if it was overcast most of the time. MSU won - which made the day even better. It was our (Jim and I) first Big 10 game ('cause as poor grad students we can't imagine paying the outrageous price for Ohio State tickets), and we had a really good time, cold weather notwithstanding. After the game Karin and I went to one of my favorite Michigan places - Uncle John's Cider Mill (and winery). I picked up some cider (the best anywhere, hands-down), doughnuts, and two bottles of Uncle John's wine. Good times all around!

Here are some pictures of the game. The top picture is of Jim and I (looking like marshmallow people - some of that is all the extra layers we had on - I swear!), followed by a picture of Karin, Charlie and the people we tailgated with.

From Blog Photos

Change...a Democratic Rally

2008-11-03T21:25:00.005-05:00

Jim and I went to our first political rally on Saturday evening. We went to see Sen. Joe Biden at a rally held on the BGSU campus here in Bowling Green, Ohio. It was an interesting experience. Biden is a pretty good speaker, actually. The news reports said that there were over 2,000 people there - which I think is pretty good for a college town on a Saturday night.
Here are a couple pictures from the event. The first photo is of the sniper/lookout on top of Williams Hall, where the history department is housed. The second is of some of the crowd, and the third is a slightly blurry photo of Biden speaking. It was difficult to get a good picture!

I don't know if I'll be able to sleep until I know the outcome of the election!

From Blog Photos

lol cats for halloween

2008-10-30T16:26:00.004-04:00

I always visit this site when I need a quick laugh - lots of funny cat and animal pictures. I can has cheezeburger?

more animals

So...we move on to plan B - the post office

2008-10-27T15:16:00.004-04:00

Well, we learned a couple weeks ago that we won't be reimbursed for moving expenses until Jim's first day at JPAC. We had been under the impression that we were going to be able to use military movers (or government-approved movers) and that cost would simply be deducted from the amount we are being granted for relocation. Not so. This would not be that big of a deal, except for the very high cost of shipping stuff from NW Ohio to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We got some quotes and they ranged from $12,000 to about $6,000, and that's with us leaving most of the big furniture behind. Well, as you can imagine, we don't have that kind of money available to us at the moment. All that we have saved up to this point has to get us an apartment (first months rent and deposit), all of our utilities set up, plus cover all of our bills for a good month (or more for me). So - no moving company for us! We are going to try to sell most of our furniture, store some of our books at my mom's, and then ship the rest via parcel post through the U.S. Post Office. Yep. That ought to be interesting. This is complicated by the fact that we won't have an actual address until after we leave. Not so much fun at all. Part of the price of living in paradise, I guess. We are going to ship my car out, however. That expence we can put on my credit card, and pay it off once we recieve the reimbursement check.

Our anniversary trip to the zoo

2008-10-14T21:15:00.002-04:00

We couldn't make any big plans for our anniversary this year, so we decided to do our favorite local activities - go to the Toledo Zoo! It was a beautiful day - mid-70s (very unusual for northwest Ohio this time of year). We saw our favorite baby polar bears - they're getting so big! While not an exotic location to celebrate our anniversary, it was nice just to be together.

Here are some photos from our adventure at the Toledo Zoo

From Toledo Zoo Oct 08

Help our local humane society!

2008-10-08T10:53:00.002-04:00

Click on the cat below and vote for the Wood County Humane Society in Bowling Green, Ohio! We adopted both of our cats from the WCHS. They take such good care of all of the animals there - but the $10,000 prize in this contest would really help them out! The contest is sponsored by Care2. Or vote for your own favorite animal shelter!

Let's Go Falcons!

2008-10-05T20:11:00.005-04:00

Saturday was a beautiful day for football in NW Ohio. Sunny, and about 65 degrees, with a gentle breeze. Saturday was also BGSU's homecoming, so there was a lot of orange and brown to be seen around town. Jim and I decided that if we spent another fall here we would become season ticket holders, so we did - and this is our second BG home game of the season. Unfortunately, BGSU lost, to Eastern Michigan, for the first time in something like 8 years. I still maintain that a couple bad calls did us in! Here are a couple shots from the game. We lost by 3. At least my Buckeyes and the Colts managed to win this weekend - so it wasn't a total football washout.

2008-09-30T20:43:00.005-04:00

I reciently celebrated my (ahem) 30th birthday, and in honor of the occasion we decided to get out of Dodge for the weekend. And to illustrate that I am totally ok with my geeky-ness and that I trust that you all will love me in spite of it, I will actually share with you what we did.

We went down to Dayton to the National Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB. The museum is huge, I mean really huge. Three giant hangers (something like 200,000 square feet each) and over 300 aircraft on display, plus lots of related artifacts. We spent almost 5 hours there and while we saw pretty much everything, we didn’t stop to read all the signs/exhibits, etc. I think it could be a couple day project to get through it all.

Sunday we drove over to the Ohio Renaissance Festival, which was fun, but we didn’t stay as long as we thought we might. Ren fairs are always interesting, and full of interesting characters.

Ike rudely interrupted our plans, so we left early. Whoever heard of a tropical storm in Ohio? Craziness.

Crazy weather notwithstanding, it was so nice to get out of town!

So...I lied

2008-09-10T12:15:00.005-04:00

No pictures today because I forgot to bring my camera to the game on Saturday. Probably a good thing - the game started off well but ended poorly.

Jim and I are trying to make some plans for this weekend to celebrate my birthday, but the weather is teasing us. We may be home-bound after all.

Through the magic of facebook I was able to make contact with an Alma College alum who lives on Oahu. Sometimes it really is a small world!

My new camera baby

2008-09-05T15:08:00.003-04:00

So I have been saving up the funds so that I could purchase a new point-and-shoot compact camera. My old Canon, as much as I loved it (and it is still working great), is only 3mp, and just not doing enough. And I love my super-zoom/SLR-wannabe Sony, but it's big and heavy, and I don't always want to lug the thing around with me, hence my search for the perfect compact camera.

After much research and debate I went with the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS. Love it! I love the wide angle lens, and it does superb in low-light situations with very little noise (so far). I've only had it for about a week, so I don't really have exciting pictures to share yet, but I will post some after this weekend.

September Already?

2008-09-05T15:00:00.003-04:00

Yes, indeed it is. I can hardly believe that it is September (and that I will be 30 in a week)! School has started for both Jim and I. Jim is teaching two classes this semester, and I am taking two more grad classes for my MLIS degree.

I finally found a place for us to stay for a week after our arrival on Oahu. We are both hoping that it will only take us a week to find someplace to live... Anyway, since hotels on the island are very much not pet-friendly (and really expensive to boot) I decided that we needed to look at a vacation rental. After much searching for places that allow pets, we finally secured a nice condo in Waikiki through the website Vacation Rentals By Owner www.vrbo.com.

Other than that, the move process has pretty much stalled out. We can't yet start a serious apartment search because we are so far out. And because Jim won't get information on approved moving companies until December (!), we are stuck as far as progress in that area as well.

The madness that is air travel

2008-08-15T15:59:00.002-04:00

I am thankful on a regular basis for my mom , but I am even more thankful when I need to make travel arrangements. My mom is a travel agent, has been for longer than I've been around, and her expertise has saved me lots of headaches and lots of money. We bought our tickets last month, about 6 months prior to our departure, which seems to be pretty good timing, as flights were starting to fill up.

Because of the cats and air travel regulations for animals, we cannot take a direct flight to Honolulu. So we thought we would fly from Detroit to Los Angles, then LA to Honolulu. Well, that sounds like a reasonable plan, but with the crazy air fares it would cost us $600 more to leave from Detroit than from Chicago, so we're leaving from Chicago. I just hope the weather cooperates!

We have two big stresses right now - finding someplace to stay which will accept the cats once we get to Honolulu (harder than you might think), and finding someplace to live. At the moment we are trying to pick a side of the island to focus our searches. We've had advice from a couple locals that the leeward side is a fine place to live, but that the commute is just awful (worse than awful, actually), so we are thinking that we should perhaps focus on the windward side, or perhaps something closer to Honolulu. The disadvantage to the windward side is that rent prices are even higher for less space. Any comments you might have heard about the outrageous price of renting/home-ownership in Hawaii have not been exaggerated - they really are outrageous, and for properties which often aren't all that nice or spiffy, which is what is even more frustrating. I have been finding places for $1900 a month that I wouldn't pay $300 a month for out here. Sticker-shock, indeed.

Moving with Pets to Hawaii

2008-08-12T16:06:00.009-04:00

Without a doubt, moving to Hawaii is quite the process. That process becomes ever more complicated when you involve animals. The state of Hawaii is rabies-free, and they intend to keep it that way. For this reason all animals must be quarantined before they are allowed to live with you on the island. You have an option to have your pets pre-quarantined prior to their arrival in the islands. This will involve blood tests and the microchipping of your pet at least 120 days prior to your arrival in Hawaii. For all the details visit the Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture pages about the whole process.

Because of the quarantine, pets can not be in the cabin with you on your flight to Hawaii. (An exception is made for assistance animals. Be assured that that will require even more paperwork.)

In addition to the quarantine, getting your pets to Hawaii on the airlines can also be a bit of an experience. Do make sure to make a reservation for your pet when you book your own airfare. Most airlines have limits to the number of animals they will carry (either in the cabin or checked) and you do not want to get to the airport and not have a spot on the plane for your pet. Our cats' reservations are about $100-$150 each, and we will pay that fee when we get to the airport. Be sure to read all the regulations on the airline's website, too - there might be rules that you wouldn't think about, especially regarding the size and type of carrier required. Also - do note that most (perhaps all) airlines will not accept pets for transport as checked cargo when ground temperatures are less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit. For us, this means that our cats must travel in the cabin with us from Chicago to Los Angles, and then from LA to Honolulu they are checked. And yes, this will involve two different types of carriers.

For good general information on moving with pets (and the supplies to do so) visit these sites:
The Humane Society
How to Move With Your Pet
Establish a Routine for your Pets

My first blog post!

2008-08-12T13:39:00.001-04:00

I have finally entered the world of blogging - a scary adventure for someone who has no Html skills! This blog will probably morph, change and have issues as I figure out what I am doing.