Farewell and Fond Aloha From the Police Department

After 33 years, my brother, Dennis retired from the Police Department. I asked him a while ago if there would be some kind of retirement acknowledgement, and he answered that he was planning to sneak out on his last day.

My gentle brother is the most humble, kind, forgiving, super smart fellow I know. He doesn't like people making a fuss over him, but he will give the shirt off his back to help others. He will ride his motorcycle over to a friend's house on the other side of the island to help him or her with their computer. He has worked tirelessly at the police photo lab to support his family and even had a back breaking, sleep depriving side photofinishing career for a long time.

When the time neared for the day of his retirement, he told me that a few people had absolutely insisted that they have a "little" luncheon to say farewell. He said there would probably be about 10 people there since they were the ones he worked most closely with.

I warned him to be ready with a little speech because he would not want to be caught off guard.

As it turned out, that "little" retirement party was anything but little. It was a catered affair with 4-5 times as many people as he'd expected to see. He was overwhelmed and extremely touched. Then came the presents, leis, candy, cards, posters, smiles, well wishes, toys for his granddaughter and love.

But the pièce de résistance was this poster that Paul, a graphic artist created.

No, Dennis doesn't have a beard. That was photoshopped.

This poster recognizes Dennis' expertise with technology, Photoshop, and his photo wizardry.

I told him that it absolutely needed to be framed and hung up somewhere.

Oh yes, I'm extremely proud of my baby brother. I wish everybody could have one as special as mine.

And now that he MIGHT have a little more time, maybe he can teach me a few more tricks on Photoshop. We shall see.

And so... dearest brother, let me say, "May the force always be with you."

Confusing, Confounding UNITED Website

When we were flying back from Maryland to Hawaii there was a problem with the fuel line on our United Airlines flight.

We had a stop-over at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and had to wait four hours past our connecting flight time to Hawaii.

It was aggravating and a NOT uncommon irritation of travel. United gave us all a $100 per person "Appreciation voucher" for future travel.

The email we received informed us that when we purchase our next United Airline tickets online we should type in the "Appreciation voucher" code at the Payment Information page.

When Art tried to buy tickets online for our next flight to Maryland he looked for "United payment types" under Payment information to enter the Appreciation Voucher code, but he couldn't find it.

WHAT THE HECK?

Looking back at the email, we saw that a phone call to set up the flight purchase would cost $25.

Good grief!

Soooo....

I told Art to try calling and telling them we can do the purchase on our own, but just need them to tell us where to put the darn code.

The United agent tried to look for it herself. Her accent made it very difficult to understand what she was saying. There was also a LOT of background noise on her end which added to the difficulty.

After conferring with somebody (probably the manager) she said she would make the arrangements for us. I'm making faces at Art saying, "Wait, wait, wait! What about the $25 fee?" I'm sure she could hear me too since we put her on speaker.

After it was clarified that United would waive that $25 Agent fee, we agreed to having her do the purchase for us.

All this took us nearly TWO hours with the United agent to complete. However, in the end, it was done and we were able to get the $200 voucher processed and our flights purchased.

Was all this hassle worth it? Hmmmm.... $200? Yes, I do believe so.

My question is this. Why does United Airlines make it so hard to cash in those "Appreciation Vouchers" for the vagaries of travel that occur on their flights?

POSTSCRIPT: Our flight confirmation email came the following day and it didn't seem to make any sense. It seemed to be telling us that we would have to pay a lot more.

Art called them again and spoke to somebody who said she didn't understand the way it was written either! She called the manager who eventually was able to explain it while apologizing for the confusion. In the end, we discovered we were paying less than what we thought. Why, you ask?

Would you believe that the seats are priced differently in Economy PLUS? The regular Economy prices are all the same. However, in the Economy Plus section window, aisle and middle seats are not priced the same! Because we didn't take the window seats, we got a $60 reduction in our total ticket price. (I'd told Art that United squeezes you like sardines in Economy so I wanted to bite the bullet and pay the price for Economy Plus upgrade. Sigh.... Flying from Hawaii to Maryland is excruciating!

I think we've both sprouted new gray hairs.

Floaters in the Eye?

While we were in Maryland awaiting the birth of our grandson I thought a strand of my hair had fallen across my face so I tried to brush it away. A bit later, I thought it was an insect. Soon after that I realized it was none of those things.

I'd just been talking to a friend of mine about floaters in her eyes. Art said he'd also had one for several years until it somehow moved away from his peripheral vision. Well, my floater didn't stay in one place. It moved as I looked right, left, up or down. It was absolutely annoying! I'd been curious about my friend's floaters and now suddenly I was not thrilled to find out exactly what it was!

When I returned to Hawaii, I went to my optometrist who did tests on my eyes and even managed to take a photo of the floater! Incredible. She was really surprised at how large my floater was. She also said the reason it was annoying is that it's so close to the center of my eye. Arrrghhh!

I looked it up and found information here at the Mayo Clinic website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eye-floaters/symptoms-causes/syc-20372346

"Eye floaters are spots in your vision. They may look to you like black or gray specks, strings or cobwebs that drift about when you move your eyes and appear to dart away when you try to look at them directly. 

Most eye floaters are caused by age-related changes that occur as the jelly-like substance (vitreous) inside your eyes becomes more liquid. Microscopic fibers within the vitreous tend to clump and can cast tiny shadows on your retina, which appear to you as floaters. 

Needless to say I'm not thrilled at all, especially since my optometrist says I could get more of them. She did caution me that if I should see a flash along with the floater, I need to come in right away because it could indicate a retinal tear. Arrrghhh...

This is what my floater looks like.

Sigh...

She said surgery wouldn't work for me because it's too close to my retina.

Sigh...
Yes... it's another sign of aging.

What else could go wrong anyway? No, no! I didn't say that. I'm not curious. I don't want to know.

Oh... she also mentioned cataracts. Arrrghhh....

Yahoo Search Engine Update Pop-Up

I really don't know what to trust on the computer anymore.

I have occasionally gotten pop up windows on my Dell desktop computer that says I need an update or an upgrade or whatever. Do I click on it or what?

This popped up on my window the other day.

I texted my daughter and son-in-law since I've never seen it before. My daughter texted back that if I don't use the Yahoo search engine I should UNinstall it.

Riiiiighhhhttt....

It took me a while before I finally found the UNinstall thing in my Systems folder.

Then I checked online to see what was going on. Turned out a lot of people were wondering about this pop-up.

I read one website that said the Firefox browser had changed its default from Google to Yahoo.

Aha! So that's why I got that pop up.

I looked online again and found directions to change my search engine on the Firefox browser back to Google.

OK... I'm done.

I sure hope I did it correctly.

If not, there's always my techie son-in-law or brother.

Healing Wall

We've been to this grocery many times and saw this wall being covered with tiny Post-It notes.

The other day, we decided to spend some time to check it out.

We noticed that notes and pens were provided for you by the shopping center.

It was a lot of fun to see what people posted.

But this note in the center gave me a chuckle.

I wonder if that 91 year old person had any takers.

What would you have posted on the wall?

Window Repair

When we did our home renovation in Hawaii, Art wanted to get CertainTeed windows because they'd worked so well in Illinois. Unfortunately, they haven't worked so well here in Hawaii.

In about five years there were leaks in the double pane glass. I wish I'd taken photos of how bad they got eventually. The gases between the pane apparently leaked and the glass got discolored and ugly.

When I tried to contact CertainTeed, I discovered they were bought out by Plygem or something like that.

It had a lifetime guarantee which is why Art liked them.

Whatever the case, it was wonderful to hear that Plygem would honor the guarantees.

They sent all these replacement glass panes.

A little while later, Alex and Leo came out and replaced all the leaking glass panes, but unfortunately noticed more windows that needed replacing. They said they'd order it and come back to install it.

On the downside, I don't know if I can recommend the CertainTeed windows. On the other hand, I'm really liking how responsible Plygem is in making sure their customers are satisfied. Keeping my fingers crossed that the Plygem replacement windows will be better than the original.

10th Blogaversary!

If somebody told me in 2008 that I would be writing this blog for 10 years I would have laughed and said, "No way." Yet, here I am thanks to all of you through the years. It's boggling my mind to think I've written 2,908 blog posts. Sheesh!

This seems to be the Year of 10. It was also the 10th Aloha Run/Walk and the 10th year that we've been back living in Hawaii.

Writing this blog has often motivated us to do things we might not have done. We've gone to different island activities, looked for interesting things to photograph, and researched topics that I could share.

And through it all, the engine that kept me going was your friendship, feedback, encouragement and support.

Thank you, arigato gozaimasu and mahalo nui loa to you all. You are the best!

And to Dina of Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo, I would like to extend an extra special thank you for getting me started and encouraging me through the 10 years that we have been doing this.

Mattress Topper Update

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about a mattress solution we tried. Our 8 year old mattress from American Mattress was showing a definite depression which we could feel every night.

I thought we should try a mattress topper I'd seen at Costco. Art was very dubious.  He felt foam would be too soft and too hot. Art and I are opposites in so many ways. I will get cold in winter (on the mainland) and would want a heavier coat. He is quite satisfied with a lighter jacket. And he's thinner than me so he doesn't have that ummm... added insulation that I do.

He also sleeps hot. He thinks it's because he doesn't move around as much as I do and the heat builds up under him. For proof, he'll mention the few times I've bopped him in my sleep.

Whatever...

Anyway, he agreed that I could give it a try and we could always go mattress hunting (ugh!) if it didn't work. He was quite pessimistic.

I got big beach towels and some added small towels and filled the depressions in the mattress.

Then I put the foam mattress topper on it.

On top of that I added the new mattress pad we bought at TJ Maxx.

And on top of that we fitted the mattress topper cover that Costco sent with it.

It's been two weeks now and you know what? It worked. I don't feel the depressions and it's really comfy. I'm a side sleeper and my shoulders don't hurt in the morning. Even Art agrees that he's surprised it's not too soft. And the most important thing....

He says it's not too, too hot. I don't know if he's just trying to be nice to me, but he says it's fine.

Yay! Whether it will hold up for several years remains to be seen, but if it doesn't, we'd just have to change the topper and not worry about the whole mattress. Or... I guess we could still get a new mattress. There is that Casper mattress that was recommended by a blogger friend....

Well... This may not work for everybody, but it's good enough for us... for now.

RePurposing a Plastic Bedsheet Bag

Whenever we buy a bedsheet or blanket, we hate throwing away the sturdy plastic bag it comes in. They even come with a zipper. Therefore, I keep it and then it sits in the closet. When we bought our latest bedsheet, I thought of a travel solution that could work.

And yes, sure enough... our shoes fit in them very nicely.

Perfect! Even for Art's big shoes.

POSTSCRIPT:

I just saw another way I've used the bags. I used them to store our grandkids beach toys.

Presidential Sympathy Crib Notes

I was watching Trevor Noah on The Daily Show and he showed something that stunned us. President Trump was meeting some survivors and parents of the Parkland shooting in Florida. As Trump sat there with the group, some photographers snapped shots of him holding a slip of paper.

You can easily make out several of the items on his crib notes.
#1: What would you most want me to know about your experience?
#2: What can we do to help you feel safe?

You can't see #3 and #4, but #5 is: I hear you.

This president actually needs crib notes to help him express sympathy? With any other president, this would have been really big, appalling news. But, not Trump. This has become the norm. We are numb to it. We merely shake our heads and go on waiting for the next aggravation.

And yet, his supporters still love him. I'm sure they'll say he should be admired for coming prepared, not that he cheated.

I've been admiring the Florida students who are really taking a stand and trying to get gun laws changed. I keep hoping for change, but the NRA has such a choke hold on Congress. One of the Florida students tried to pin Marco Rubio down to get him to stop accepting donations from the NRA and he refused.

And should we arm teachers like the president suggests? I'm a retired teacher. I KNOW how insanely stupid this is.

But that would be another post.

Another Safety Bar

Art put safety bars in mom's bathroom, the guest bathroom and our master bathroom when we did the renovation 10 years ago.

When we added mom's safety bars, I clearly remember her saying with a huff, "I'm not that old, you didn't have to put those in."

She's glad now.

We thought we were well safe guarded against falls.

And then one night I stepped out of the shower from the side that didn't have a grab bar. My foot was wet and missed the bathmat. It slid out and I barely caught myself with my other foot. It was a very close call and I guess I must have shrieked.

I'm sure it wasn't a really loud shriek, but I guess it unnerved Art.

We went to Home Depot and bought another grab bar.

I've had several friends who happen to be seniors suffer a terrible fall while walking their dog, tripping on a curb,etc.

I nearly joined their number and shudder to think of the injuries I might have suffered.

And there it is. All done!

We've tried to make things as safe as possible around the house, but you never know.

Lightning Show

The other morning Art went out to get the paper and came in excited saying there was an amazing lightning show outside. We called mom and the three of us stared out the window at the spectacular sky.

We had the worst time trying to capture the lightning bolts.

Taking burst shots didn't help much.

We finally ended up taking videos and hoped to get some shots from the videos that I could use for this post.

Not the best, but it captures a little of the awesome fireworks that nature provided us before the sun came out.

Our Favorite Celebration Meal

This past Christmas we had a fabulous meal that we loved so much, we repeated it for Valentines Day. Now we're thinking it's going to be our favorite celebration meal from now on.

It all started with our splurging on sea scallops at Sam's Club. It was a bit pricey, but we decided to get it since scallops is one of her favorite food.

I was a bit nervous about cooking the scallops since we tried once before and it was a bit tough. This time we looked online first. Good grief! I discovered what we did wrong the last time. We OVERcooked it.

The recipe I saw online said you're only supposed to pan fry the scallops in butter or olive oil for 5 minutes at the most. It made all the difference.

We bought the same sushi (S Nigiri) from Kozo Sushi. That green lump on the plate is wasabi to dip in the sushi. Mom made miso soup with daikon and okra. I made the green salad with Italian dressing. Another very important part of the meal was the sake (yes, it's true) that my brother and sister-in-law had given mom for Christmas. It was wonderful and complemented the meal perfectly.

Dessert was fruitcake with whipped cream.

There were NO leftovers!

Great Aloha Run #10

The day came for the GREAT ALOHA (Charity) RUN/Walk.

I got up at 3:00 AM. The timer was set for us to get up at 3:30, but I must have been too anxious. The forecast now said cloudy until 7:00 and then scattered thunderstorms.

Doggone it! We packed our two umbrellas and got plastic bags to line the car seats.  We figured we were in for a drenching.

We left the house at 4:55 and arrived at the stadium by 5:10. Traffic was moderately heavy to get to the Aloha Stadium.

When we got to the stadium we saw that the parking lot was already getting full. We walked to the shuttle buses.

As we were boarding the buses, an on air radio station announcer asked who had done the Aloha Run for 5 years. He then asked who had done it for 10 years. We raised our hands. He asked what our secret was. Would you believe Art pointed at me? The announcer called out, "Happy wife, happy life." He then advised the crowd to follow the "veterans."

Tsk! I didn't have the heart to correct the situation and tell him it was all Art's doing.

We boarded shuttle buses to take us into Honolulu.

We arrived in Honolulu in about 20 minutes.

The many lines to the bathroom were super long!

We then met up with our friends, Al, Kris and Eleanor. Remember how I mentioned that this is our 10th Great Aloha Run? They have done it for 30 years!!!

We'd met them there last year so it was fun to see them again in front of the Aloha Tower.

The GAR announcer boomed out that there were over 19,000 people running or walking the course this year.

A little before 7:00 the Star Spangled Banner and Hawaii Ponoi (our state song) was sung.

The military and ROTC then marched in formation.

I'm all for this sort of military parade. I wondered if they actually marched the entire 8.15 miles to the Aloha Stadium.

The starting line was in sight as we inched our way forward.

And then the race (sort of) began.

Governor David Ige waved as we walked passed his bus.

We could look back and see the Aloha Tower in the distance along with some tents of the homeless. It was a sobering sight.

I don't know why getting to that 1st mile seemed to take as long as it did. There were high school bands along the way to keep us entertained. I don't think there were as many as last year. They might have stayed away because of the expected thunderstorms.

The bathroom lines here were just as long as before the race.

We've almost always gotten to the Watanabe Floral store too late to receive a rose. I was waiting for one and they ran out, but Art found another lady who was passing them out and got one for me and for Al. They gave out a plumeria clip also which I put on my hat.

Balloons really added a festive feel to the race.

The race course is laid out well because once the sun starts to get higher in the sky, most walkers are under the viaduct.

First aid stations were available at intervals and there were medics along the way who were keeping a sharp eye on all runners and walkers.

I love walking under the shade of the viaduct.

Well... maybe not love, but it's better than walking in the sun.

I didn't see a lot of costumes this year.

There were these two guys who might have been Ghostbusters?

Then there were these ladies who show up every year with their t-shirts that spell out ALOHA. This year they spelled 2018 GAR ALOHA. They were being interviewed in that top photo.

 AT LAST!

We got to the 5th Mile marker.  I took an Advil for my knees along with an energy bar.

Taiko drummers banged joyfully away before we had to leave the lovely shade of the viaduct to walk out into the sun again.

More radio stations were along the race course.

Art had to carry our roses in his backpack so we wouldn't have to hold them.

Our two mountain ranges could be seen clearly.

Ummmm.... not a thundercloud in sight.

Cars on the freeway honked at us as we walked over them.

I've seen this wonderful fellow before pushing his grandmother in a wheelchair. It was so touching!

Seeing the 10 K sign is great fun, but it's really only 6.2137l miles. There was still a ways to go.

There seemed to be a LOT of water stations. I know I should be drinking more water, but I passed most of them by because I didn't want to need the bathroom.

We passed the rail where it ended near the stadium. It starts in Kapolei.

And then, there it was! The ALOHA STADIUM!  I didn't get overly excited though. I knew better. There was still a bit of a walk.

However, I was able to let my brother and sister-in-law know that we were safe so they didn't have to be our standby emergency  contacts and could enjoy the rest of the day. (Thank you, Nancy and Dennis!)

FINALLY!

There's the 8 Mile marker.

We walked into the stadium to get our bananas, water and Powerade drinks and FINISHER t-shirts.

We stopped at Applebees to grab a celebratory lunch before returning home.

The rose and flower clip are my trophies for taking part in the race.

And Art? It's all about that t-shirt!

Preparing for Our 10th Great Aloha Run (Walk)

I groan every year as we prepare to do the 8.15 mile Great Aloha Run on Monday (Presidents Day). For the first 7 years I always told my brother and sister-in-law to be prepared to pick me up if I'm not able to finish. On the 8th, I expected to finish. Now that I'm at the 10th... I hope I finish. Once I have this walk (no, I don't run) done for the year, I feel a sense of relief that I have another year free again where I don't have to think about it.

Why do I do this? I'll give you one guess.

Yup. Art. He feels that so long as we are doing this I would feel like I need to keep fit.

I am writing this post on Saturday. When you read this I'll already be getting up to go into Honolulu for the walk. I'll post about the actual walk to go up on Tuesday.

On Saturday, we went to the Blaisdell Center for the GAR EXPO to pick up our race/walk bibs. There were a lot of happy, excited people and everyone seemed to be in high spirits.

There were lots of booths selling items for serious runners. Ummm... We passed them by. Well, I did anyway.

The route runs from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium.

We have our racing bibs pinned to our lucky shirts. Art is planning to carry this light backpack with all our supplies. I packed some snacks, Aleve for my knees, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, hats, umbrella, and light jackets for the cool morning.

Fingers crossed that all goes well.

Uh oh... Forecast is for rain in the morning. Arrrghhhh...

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year, everybody!

According to Wikipedia:
"Lunar New Year is the first day of a secular, sacred, or other year whose months are coordinated by the cycles of the moon." 

Actually, a lot of Asian countries celebrate the lunar new year. Mom likes to celebrate it just so she can have Chinese food which she loves. It's embarrassing to admit, but we pick up Panda Express which is also one of her favorite take out meals.

I recently saw an article about lotus root in the Star Advertiser. It stated:

"In Chinese culture, the lotus is a symbol of endurance, persistence and hope. Its beautiful flowers and the useful plant grow out of adversity — mud."

I didn't know this.

Mom always prepared lotus root (hasu in Japanese)  as kinpira (sort of a teriyaki type sauce).

Art insisted that he preferred it like his mom used to make with vinegar, soy sauce and sugar, but he didn't have a recipe. He asked his sister and although she remembered the dish, she couldn't remember the recipe either.

Well, Art searched the web and cookbooks and came up with something that he thought would taste like what his mom prepared. Mom and I loved it!

He made so much sauce last month that he'll be using left over sauce to cook these roots for lunar new year today.

I told him to find the recipe so I could put it on my blog, but try as he might he couldn't find it anywhere. I hunted for it too and somehow, it's gone. He really needs to write these things down.

Instead he came up with this song.

" MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh no!"

Very funny!

Blogger Error!

Have any of you (Blogspot users) been getting this message from Blogger when you click onto your website?

When I refresh my page, my blog does come back. Sometimes, I have to refresh my page twice to get my blog back, and it's annoying.

Whatever the case, I just backed up Musings on Wordpress and then made it Private for only my eyes.

Juuust in case.

Staying Together

Art and I were at the City Hall satellite station waiting to pay for our property tax. Yes, I know we could mail it in, but for some reason Art likes to pay it in person. That way, we can do some shopping and maybe go out for lunch later.

After about a 20 minute wait, we got to the Express counter. The young woman was very efficient. While she worked stamping all our paper work, she asked how long we were retired and then said, "I hope my husband and I are like you guys in another 20 or 30 years."

We were rather taken aback and asked why.

"Look at you guys," she said. "Here you both are together and you look so happy. I want that."

Art and I don't hold hands. I wonder if we ever did. We don't say, "I love you." We're just happy and comfortable together and wouldn't know what we'd do without the other. So I guess, even without the public physical confirmation, she somehow picked up that feeling of comfort and affection.

 Art and I left the building and smiled at each other. It was nice.

We are wishing the same contentment for the sweet young woman and her husband too.

And ummmm.... when she said she wanted to be like us in another 20-30 years, it would have been more accurate to say another 40-50 years.

Happy Valentines Day, everybody!