Some House Pics.

I wanted to post a few pics. of our place. I'm only showing you the outside of our home because the inside is pretty bleak. We do have a great front yard lined with huge hedges about 9 ft high, so it's pretty private. We also have 3 coconut trees in our front yard and a lime tree (which is currently bearing a lot of limes) in our back yard. The city has to come and pluck the baby coconuts off of one of our trees twice a year because it hangs over the street and is a liability. That's all we need...to get sued for a coconut busting out someones windshield!! We also have tons of exotic plants and trees only local to Hawaii (I can't explain further, cause I don't know what any of them are called). Basically our yard will need a lot of work to maintain, but we are going to try and do it ourselves for a while and see how that goes.

Our yard is also the summer home of the Geico Gecko...and all of his Ohana (hawaiian for family)!! Geckos are everywhere! They don't really bother you though because they move so quickly to get out of your way. Although they are making Jersey crazy because she sees them and then they are gone...she can never catch 'em! They also eat all the bugs...and there are a lot of those too. So geckos are our friends...they're pretty cute actually. Jersey has loved being able to be free in the yard. She runs around with fallen coconut tree frawns (is that the right word?). It weirds her out when we leave her out there though and if we go inside she sits by the screen door and doesn't play. She'll get used to her freedom soon enough I'm sure.

I'm glad to have Matt home for 2 weeks and I think we will get a lot done. On the docket for this week is getting Hawaiian drivers licenses' and a Hawaii tag. We also want to get up to the North Shore and hike Diamond Head. Most importantly, we want our stuff to get here so we can live normally again. Then I'll send some "inside the house" pictures!

Aloha!

"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing milkbone underwear"

I just looked at my schedule for the next few months and let's just say I got sucker punched! And my nose is still bleeding.

I finished my first week at Straub and it went swimmingly (I never really understood what this meant). 8 hour days, 11 patient averages, great staff, and smooth and timely care. Needless to say I was in a great mood and ready for a nice week off. Then I woke up this morning, got on the internet as all people hopelessly trapped by technology do, and checked my email. That's when I saw a message from the dude responsible for making the schedule. I opened it up and noticed that I work over both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Both! I knew that I would have to work holidays but I assumed I would get at least one off. And you know what happens when people assume. But then I also realized that these schedulers (who by the way are fellow MDs whose own schedules depend on everone elses, including mine) inexplicably gave me two weeks off starting today. This is strange, you see, because we are only supposed to get one week off at a time and nowhere else in my schedule do I get two weeks off. Well, then I noticed that this little shift pushed my schedule forward a week and had I only had the one week off I would have had Thanksgiving off and would only have had to work on Christmas day. And with this forward shift, the powers that be were able to get the time off they wanted. I've been a puppet, a poet, a pawn, and a king. But That's Life!

Anyway, we have been doing good otherwise. Our furniture still isn't here and we are living like crackheads in a house that is fitted with a bed, a small TV, a wiley dog and nothing else. The furniture will hopefully be here this week. And I have been studying, STILL, for my boards this Friday.

This week also had it's share of luck though. It turns out two of my fraternity brothers, Jim Pauciello and Jeremy Askin, are here. The former is on his honeymoon and the latter on vacation (you like that). We have spent some time with both and caught up. I haven't seen either in at least 3 years. We also went to a beach called Sandy's (we had mentioned it before) and tried to boogie board. We pulled out our $30 Costco Morey Mach 9 boards and excitedly entered the ocean with the biggest waves I have ever seen. Everyone else was going out with flippers on because apparently you can't touch the ocean floor where the waves break and need to catch up to the waves before you ride them. But the mainland howlies were ill prepared. After getting slammed 3 times, concussed twice, and laughed at by locals I called it a day. Meanwhile Elizabeth was pulling her bikini bottoms up from the only thing that caught them at the last minute, her big toe. These waves are beyond us. We need practice.

High-Ho, High-Ho...it's off to work (Matt) goes!!

And me too...hopefully!

Matt and I have had a whirlwind week...sorry for no blogs. We've had our ups and downs for sure! Where do I start... Matt went into work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of last week to get a badge, go through orientation, Hippa training, etc... That kind of thing stresses him out, but he was happy to get back in a hospital after a month and a half of not working.

On Tuesday we put our deposit down for our house...YEA!!! We will move in on Wednesday. We had to go to Sears and buy a matress set so we would have something to sleep on because none of our furniture is here yet. We're hoping it will arrive in the next week or so. Our new address is (as of Weds.) 6206 Milolii Place, Honolulu, HI 96825. It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom townhouse type of place with a private fenced in front yard (perfect for Jersey). It is in Hawaii Kai, a suburb east of downtown Honolulu. Only 2 more nights in this ROOM!! It's driving me crazy!

I did get out this week to a few elementary schools in the area. They are so strange looking...every classroom opens to the outside an they have these huge panel windows that they keep open during the day(I'm scared a birds will fly in the room!!)...no AC..but really not many places have AC here anyway. I had a few call backs from principals and am currently filling out the lengthy application just to sub. One principal at KokoHead Elementary said she was interested in hiring me for 15 hours a week to teach reading to struggling students...that would be perfect. We'll see what happens...

We had a fun weekend (kind of). One of Matt's faternity brothers, Jeremy Askins, and his girlfriend, Gina are on vacation here and so we met up with them Friday night at the trendy W Hotel on Waikikii. It was a lot of fun and we stayed out till 2:00...a first for us here!! I actually called my dad when we got home and he was at the Sunday morning farmers market...it was 8:15am in Georgia!! That was funny. We made plans to meet up with them the next day at a beach, but when we tried to leave the next morning we realized that our rental car battery was dead...and when we tried to jump it, that didn't even work. SO, we waited over 2 hours for the AAA tow service to come. Matt had to ride back with the tow driver to the rental car place and rent another car...that took forever. By the time Matt made it back to our place it was 5:00!! We were miserable!! On our way to the beach, his friends called and said that they were leaving...perfect!! We couldn't return to "the room" so we got burritos from Taco Bell and drove about 2 miles to these beautiful cliffs overlooking the ocean. We just sat there and ate and wandered around...it was awesome. We did end up meeting them at the same beach on Sunday...but the best part was as we were leaving, Matt got the new rental car(a Jeep Compass) stuck in the sand...I mean we were in a hole!! I was dying laughing...just our luck. His friends had driven away already. A nice guy, about our age stopped and helped Matt push the car as I had to step on the gas. Randomly the guy had a Penn State visor on and was a Penn State grad...small world! We got out, but we could barely drive home we were laughing so hard!

Matt is at his last day of orientation today and then will work the rest of this week. We'
ll try to keep blogging this week about the move, but we're not quite sure how our internet service will be. Also, sorry no pictures...I keep forgetting to take my camera anywhere. I'll do better!

Hawaii is on alert for hurricane Flossie, but it doesn't look like it's gonna come too near Oahu...let's hope...just what we need!!

Also, just for kicks I'm doing NFL fantasy football...crazy, I know. My draft was yesterday and I got Peyton Manning as my QB, The Ravens as my defense, Veniteirrri (sp?) as my kicker and Georgia boy, Downtown Reggie Brown (now an Eagle) as one of my wide-receivers. My starting TE is Jeremy Shockey and I got rookie RB Adrian Peterson...who knows how that will go. But for having absolutely no clue what I was doing, I think I got pretty lucky with my team. So Bill, Greg, Brady...and whoever else...Fantasy...BRING IT ON!!

Love to everyone,
E

Made it to the beach!!

Hey all. I have been told that some people are having trouble knowing which of us is posting which blogs, so this is Matt.

Well, we are getting settled into the Hawaiin lifestyle as best we can. We still can't pronounce any street names and have yet to eat poi, but we go to the beach pretty well and know how to relax. We have been exploring the island every day. And I think it is safe to say that we found a few places on Oahu that are about as close to paradise as we will ever get. Here are some pictures for you. We were on a beach yesterday in Kailua which, without a doubt, rivals anything Maui has to offer. Great waves, blue ocean, long beaches, no hotels, and a view of the mountainous terraine. I have never seen anything like it.

We hung out with Elizabeths' high school friend Sam Leathers at that beach. Here is a picture of him. He grew up in Athens and has lived here for the past 7 years. He is cousins with our wedding photographer. I also found out his grandfather, Red Leathers, played pro football for none other than the Philadelphia Eagles. So I even found an Eagles fan in Hawaii (greatest fans on Earth).

In our recent travels we also found a cool surfing beach called Sandy's and I am happy to say we found a place to live. After searching for several days, limited by the fact that we have a dog, we found a secluded 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in a place called hawaii Kai. It has a front yard, and yes it allows pets. It is located at the end of an inlet to a bay. Very cool area. Short distance to the beach and bay.

I start work next Tuesday and am now studying for yet another exam I have to take on Aug 24. After that, I can relax and enjoy paradise. Come visit soon, everyone.

Photo-Blog

Just a few pictures I thought you'd enjoy...and that I'm just getting a chance to upload.

A view of the HOLLYWOOD (in the back..it's there!) sign from atop the Kodak Theatre.

A lemon tree in Brady's LA yard...I thought it was so neat! The lemons were huge!!

And our lovely view from our temporary place...Matt studying for the boards and playing with Jersey all at once!

Enjoy!

Hawaii Kai: Day 2

Hey, It's Elizabeth. We are doing better today...getting used to our small space. I have to add that the "apartment" we are in is part of a multi-million dollar house in a very exclusive neighborhood (Hawaii Kai)...too bad we are living in a room in the basement!! The view is unbelieveable though! We are on top of a mountain looking down onto the ocean...and the breeze is great...we wouldn't need an AC even if there was one!

Yesterday was our first full day and we were pretty prductive. We spent the morning online looking for housing and actually made an appointment to see a duplex. The owner was a wierdo, but the place was decent. We have a couple more appts. today and this weekend. We are hoping to get out of this place in about 2 weeks. I'm trying to take advantage of the good parts while we're here though. Jersey and I went on a long walk yesterday afternoon down the mountain...it was gorgeous. I also made a trip to the grocery store which is called Safeway (strange). Even though we don't have a kitchen, I managed to spend $175.00!! So what they say about cost of living in Hawaii and high priced groceries is true!! Matt almost died when I got back. A small bag of dog food for Jersey was $15.00...and that was the cheapo brand (which I bought). We do have a college dorm sized fridge with a microwave on top and a toaster. It's amazing all the things you can cook in the microwave! We need to try and eat here as much as possible so we don't spend all our upcoming rent money on eating out.

Oh...we haven'y told you about our one stroke of luck!! When we went to pick up our rental car Wednesday night they were all out of the economy cars and had to give us a mid-size sedan(for the price of the economy)...A 2007 Honda Civic with 4 doors! It's really nice. Much better than a focus or yaris! When you have to rent a car for 2 weeks...that's important!!

Hope things are well with all of y'all. We did experience the "time zone lonliness" last night. We were so busy running around during the day and then when we wanted to call y'all and return your calls we realized it was after 11:00pm on the East coast...only 5:00 here and we couldn't call anyone...it was wierd.

We're going to another house showing today and another tomorrow so hopefully we'll have some good house news soon!

Love you!

PS: The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors are ranked 24th on the AP poll!! Go Warriors!!

Aloha

We made it! We are here! We picked up the dog and she is fine. There is a problem, however. The temporary apartment we rented is actually just 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. No kitchen and no livng area. One water source in the house. It is not conveniant at all. The only thing going for it is the view. I have already gone at it with the owner and the realtor (about how we were lied to) and we are getting out ASAP with a refund. I will post more later but we have a lot to get done right now. And so everyone knows, we are 6 hours behind y'all. Talk to you soon.