Hot Hawaiian Summer

It's funny, I never used to care about the weather.  Back in Omaha, I usually only checked the weather when the sky started turning different shades of green or when I when I was going to try and fit in a round of golf.  One of the most common statements I would hear prior to the big move was "I could never move to Hawaii, I enjoy all four of the seasons" or "Hawaii? Isn't it pretty much the same temperature every day?"  Well I can tell you with a certainty, Hawaii does have "weather" and it can change from day to day just like any other place. The thing is, I don't think you really notice until you've spent some time here because it will affect your routine. Windy and/or Cloudy? Your snorkeling buddies are totally going to cancel your Sunday AM dive.  No wind? Its going to get a bit warmer and there is a good chance you wont see a good sunset for a day or two because of the VOG. Rainy? Hope you have a good book downloaded because finally you have an excuse to stay indoors. Hurricane/Tropical Storm brewing in the vicinity?  Time to put on some body armor and brave the crowds at Safeway and Costco. See? Weather...

Well we just happened to have a Tropical Storm in the area last week which affects wind on the island.  I was initially worried we could get rain, but the storm shifted northeast and suddenly we were in for a hot, HOT weekend.  Add to that the fact that we have guests in town, staying in the condo would just end in some sort of  luchador-style cage match. If only I had some sort of frozen confection to keep everyone cool....

I was honestly worried about how I would fit an AD reference in this week

  That being said, there is really only one thing to do. Stay inside and run the AC?  At $0.35/ kwh that is just not an option.  So we headed west. Since rain was no longer an issue, I figured we would take our guests west to Lahaina. Funny story, Lahaina was originally named Lele, which apparently means "Relentless Sun" making it a questionable choice for a day trip on a particularly sunny day. Nonetheless, we ended up at one of my favorite spots to snorkel: Kapalua Bay. I'm assuming a short post followed by some pictures would  be sufficient. Enjoy! Photo Credits: My sis-in-law

Kapalua Bay

humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Everyone crowding around a Sea Turtle that came close to the shore

If I had $100....

....I'd be short $13.96 at least according to this recent study by the Tax Foundation.  I'll wait for the collective "Duh" to die down. The truth is this while it isn't surprising it is interesting seeing it laid out visually.

If you've ever been to Hawaii, there is a pretty good chance that a small part of you wondered if you could live here. Nothing puts paradise in perspective like stepping inside a local grocery store. Those stories you hear about the cost of a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk are accurate. Unless you come from an area in the light yellow, you probably did a double take when filling up your rental car with gas. I think back to our first trip to Costco and Wal-Mart (movers tip: never... ever go to both in the same day unless you have made an appointment with a suicide prevention counselor). We were in desperate need of basically everything. Funny how the teller at Costco and I had two completely different reactions to the total reaching $400. I started reconsidering just how badly I needed that 50 ct box of Rice Krispy Treats and she just yawned. Next on our way to Wal-Mart , Rice Krispy Treats in tow (don't judge me), I set a mental budget of a couple hundred dollars. Once again, I was shocked at how much we paid for so little. To be completely honest the sticker-shock subsides after a couple of weeks. Well at least until we received our first electric bill! Suddenly I'm walking through the house shutting off lights, and teaching lessons about energy conservation the only way I know how. J. Walter Weatherman-style

".. and that's why you never leave a room without shutting off the lights."

All told I think it takes about a month before you acclimate to the high cost of living in Hawaii.  The addition of a Target didn't hurt either. Their prices are only marginally higher than they were in Nebraska so it has offered a bit of relief. Meal planning is key. I watch cooking shows during my downtime which used to mean I'd get some inspiration and then run to the store to buy whatever spices and ingredients we didn't have on hand. Now it just means I live a little more vicariously through the hosts. Occasionally splurging to make a special meal. 

Another area that I had to make major adjustments is in my business. Fortunately I have a job working for a software company on the mainland so I didn't have the difficult transition a lot of people do when moving to Hawaii. To keep me out of trouble I've almost always had a side business.  It doesn't take long to realize that most businesses here have a paltry web presence relying on Yelp and TripAdvisor to communicate with potential clients and visitors.  Most business owners fall into one of 3 categories. 1) Lives off island (I'm looking at you Canada) 2) Is doing "fine" with their current amount of exposure and isn't interested in increasing their web presence. One guy even seemed like he wasn't entirely convinced this whole internet thing was here to stay. or 3) I found WordPress and know just enough to make a few simple changes and am interested in customization as long as I don't have to pay the going rate.  Tough crowd.  I came here thinking that I would be able to fill the web development void, only to find that it's not as lucrative as on the mainland. I've since been in contact with several designers/developers that have had to keep their mainland business contacts. If you are planning on moving here with a similar skill set try not to burn any bridges as you leave town. Looking at the info-graphic below really puts things in perspective. See the average business owner that lives here in Hawaii doesn't have any breathing room in their budgets. Same goes for the wealthy, they seem even more judicious with their spending. Probably why they're living in a house with a view and I'm living in a condo.  So what do I do about my situation? I pivot. Following the lead of successful businesses here on the island I'm going to focus my efforts on visitors who most likely live in a state where the dollar goes a bit further (Sorry D.C.) More on that as the story develops. 

So is it worth it? For people that move here expecting to maintain the same lifestyle probably not. In fact just about everyone here knows at least one family personally that moved here thinking they were going to be on vacation 24/7. Most of them are gone inside of 6 months . For those of us willing to cut back and enjoy all that Hawaii has to offer it's absolutely worth it.  Speaking of which, I'm going to pour myself a hard-earned and over-priced drink and enjoy the rest of this beautiful day.

(Click the pic to go to the source)

A tribute to the best blog post in the world

Wow, it’s been like two months since my last post. In honor of my return to bloggery, I typed up this awesome 3 page post while I was on the road somewhere between Grand Junction and Las Vegas. I finally had a few moments where my only option was to just sit there and enjoy the view. Let me assure you that Southern Utah at 2 am provides the same clarity offered up by sensory deprivation tanks.  Sadly, I lost that post because I plugged my laptop into a non-working outlet at our hotel room.  Thanks Embassy?

Anyway instead of trying to repeat what time-travelers will eventually recover and call “The Greatest Blog Post Ever Written”, I figure I’ll just give you a brief synopsis of where we are in the grand scheme of things.  So just for clarification, this is not the greatest blog post ever written… it’s a tribute. (Jack Black fans cue smirk)

The last two months have been a whirlwind of activity. You may recall that we had moved out of our house a few months ago and had parted with the majority of our things. Well the time came for yet another culling. This brings us to Reality Check #1.

Reality Check #1 – Be prepared to doubt yourself

Think about the last time you moved. How far was it? Most people have enough trouble moving across town or to another state. Now imagine if you had to do that move again all in one shot. No looking back, no second trips. Try to think of everything you need to fit into the fewest number of boxes possible, knowing that if it doesn't make it you will have to buy a replacement. Not only that but leave behind all of the people you have regularly associated with for the last decade or more and realize that the majority of them will not be able to visit you. You start to question, do I really want to do this? I can honestly say that for a moment, I wondered if I was just putting my family through too much.  That moment of self-doubt didn’t last very long. I quickly realized that what we are setting out to do is the impossible. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Reality Check #2– In Hawaii your options are 1) Deal with it or 2) Deal with it

I just discovered this lovely little rule yesterday. 6 months of planning basically blew up in my face, and apparently it happens all the time. Saturday, my bro-in-law and I drove from Denver to Los Angeles to drop my car off for shipping to Hawaii. Turns out that despite having a reservation and arriving on the correct day, Pasha Hawaii decided that their ship was full and that my car would be coming two weeks later than I had planned. Wait what? Oh it gets better. The customer service reps helpful advice was that I could let the car sit in the secure holding area, or I could come pick up the car. I politely (Yes… politely) explained to her that we are flying to Hawaii the next day and that we need our car as soon as possible. Her response was to repeat the above options. That little snag doubles my rental car budget. So I picked “Deal with it”. I just going to have to learn to roll with the punches. After all within 24 hours I was expecting to be diving into the nearest ocean. Yeah not quite… Turns out we chose the busiest day of the year for flying out of LAX. Despite leaving at what I thought was plenty of time, we arrived too late to check in for our flight. Oh and were also notified that Delta decided to move the departure time forward 10 minutes to get out early. Really Delta? Way to overachieve. So again we were forced to “Deal with it” and were informed by Surly Agent #1 at the Special Services Counter that we could fly standby on the 6 pm flight (Oh only 10 hours later? Awesome). When I asked what our chances were she couldn't even look  me in the eye to tell me it wasn't going to happen. Here is where things get less crappy though. After getting through security, I started reviewing our options and ended up tweeting Delta Assist. Best decision I've made all day. The agent on Delta Assist was responsive and very helpful. Eventually she got us confirmed to Hawaii via San Francisco and Honolulu. We will arrive at 8:30 pm.

Getting ready to board the first leg of our trip so I’m going to save and upload this. More updates as soon as I’m able. I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammatical errors…