Random Saturday thoughts...

It was a pleasure watching college football today, because I was watching Vanderbilt go a historic 5-0 over Auburn, as opposed to Tennessee, who appeared to struggle against its non-conference Northern Illinois opponent. I'm actually grateful that one wasn't on television... Still, I am glad to be able to cheer for some college team from the state of Tennessee.

I went grocery shopping today and then called my mom to do a price check. She spent $500 in all of September to buy groceries and other supplies (laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc.) for three people. My trip to Safeway today cost me $197.94, and that was using my Club card to get discounts, and that was for 2 people for one week.

When I told her my grocery bill, she paused a moment, and asked me for how many months was I buying these provisions?

Then we went through a few items. A box of Nutrigrain bars - $5.55. "I think I pay about $2.50 for mine," she said. A 10 oz box of couscous - $3.89. "I know I didn't pay that." A half gallon of whole milk - $4.79. A pause on her end. "That's really expensive." A 4-pack of Charmin toilet paper - $4.99. "Were those at least the double rolls?" I think so. A variety pack of melon chunks - $9.99 "Good heavens." That's about as strong a talk as Mama gets.

I told her that I got one thing that I thought was a bargain, a can of diced tomatoes for $1.25. A pause on her end. I can sense this was no bargain. "Was that a name brand?" Yes, Hunt's. The Safeway brand was $2.59 a can. "Good heavens. I think I paid .58 at Walmart for their store brand."

I think I'm going to have to just go home and bring back a suitcase of staples. As a United frequent flyer, I can check bags for free.

Really rantin' now about Citibank...

I'm at Sears shopping for curtain rods. I pull out my Citibank United Airlines Miles card. It is denied, for a relatively small charge of $95.24. This is odd. I just checked the account a few days ago and paid the bill.

When I get home, I call the number on my card. I talk to Phillip. He tells me the fraud advisor saw something on the card, tried to call me, couldn't reach me, and has closed the account. Phillip and I go through the usual drill, address, phone number, last payment, mother's maiden name, day of my last period, the whole bit. Then we go through the last few charges, again, all small, and all legit.

But my account is still canceled and they will be sending me another card with a new number.

Next, I get a recording telling me some kind of mess. That really makes me mad. Don't cost me cell phone minutes for that.

I call back to talk to a fraud advisor. When I finally get through to one, I explain that I want to know what caused them to cancel my card. He won't or can't tell me. He says even though there were no fraudulent charges on my card, they receive "reports," one of which indicated that my card was a possibility for fraud. But no further information.

I suspect it's the fact that I have updated the address info twice on the card in the past three months. Once for the temporary PO box address we set up before we moved, and then more recently for the move to our house. But I just want someone to tell me that. And if that's what caused them to make the decision, fine.

Or has something happened because of the Macy's card that I just applied for this week? Now, without knowing their concern, I feel like I have to check all my financial records and possibly even sign up for one of those identity theft services. It's unnerving not knowing what they saw that spooked them.

I can't believe I'm not entitled to know more details about some potential fraudulent situation so threatening that they just closed my account. Didn't even send me an e-mail, which is odd, too, since I get lots of e-mail from Citibank about my account.

So that's what I'll be doing for part of my weekend. Here's hoping you have more fun with yours....

Brief rants

Side by side fridge / freezers - whoever thought those were a good idea? How do you easily store your pizzas? And that water / ice in the door stuff - what a pain. Ours leaks a lot.

We're liking the oven, but still need to break out the manual to use half the features. And I get confused easily and end up turning off the whole thing when I just want to turn off the timer. But I'll get there....

But that ceramic cooktop - whoever thought those were a good idea? Didn't like the one in Germany. Not too fond of this one.

We're about to watch "House." At 7pm. That's not right either.

What can I say - it's one of those cranky days...

More Little Things....

Just a quick note on the little things that get me all a-twitter. For example, having our own mailbox is just ecstasy. For the first time ever, I can put outgoing mail in our very own mailbox! All of my previous residences, from college onwards, have been in multi-family dwellings and I had to always go find a post office box somewhere in order to send mail.

Overseas, of course, we had to go to the APO on whatever base we were at. Mailing stuff always seemed like a chore. And I'd forget a lot. Sometimes I'd carry the letters or bills in my purse for days.

But now, today for example, I had two envelopes to get in Monday's mail. So what did I do? I sauntered out into the street and plopped them in our very own mailbox on its very own pole. Put up the little red flag. Yeppereee-roonie. AND one of them was a DVD in a padded envelope AND I didn't have to go somewhere and fill out a customs form.

Yes, I'm sure many of you, gentle readers, are looking at this with a blank stare. Eva's sniffed too much pool chlorine, you're thinking. No, just basking in the normal everyday American life...

Another weekend, another football game

I am sitting here watching the UT-Auburn game, which so far, is not as bad as the UT-Florida game from last week. But UT is still losing 7-3.

I wanted to post my experiences with the Symphony Chorus and at Dollywood with my family that both occurred several weeks ago. (And UT just caught up a bit with another field goal, so we're 7-6. Could be 7-14 if those field goals had been touchdowns....)

A Day at Dollywood Splash Country!
Whenever I have to go to the east coast for business, I try to drop down to Tennessee to see the fam. We usually try to find somewhere else besides Woodbury to rendezvous. Last April, we met up near the Opryland hotel and enjoyed their spa and some shopping. We all got pedicures then, and I still have the pix of our pampered feet.

This time, they picked me up at the Knoxville airport on Friday evening, and we headed to a cabin near Pigeon Forge in order to spend the next day at Dollywood’s Splash Country, the waterpark also owned by Dolly Parton. It’s only open in the summer, and its last weekend was the 13th/14th of September.

For its last weekend, season pass holders could bring a friend for free. Since Lu Ann and Savannah are season pass holders, Mama and I became their friends for the day.

Since two of us got in free, we indulged in renting a “Riverside Retreat”. These are a little hard to describe – think of a small cabin with just one wall… It also had a roof, and in one corner, a nice-sized TV (we watched part of the football game on it) with cable channels. It also had a phone so you could order lunch, and a table for six.

Underneath the TV was a corner cabinet with a lock so you could lock up purses and wallets when you all wanted to go enjoy the park. Just outside on a concrete slab were four full-length chaise lounge chairs, so all together, there was seating for 10. There were also privacy curtains if you didn’t want everyone staring into your space as they walked by. We also had a chalkboard on the front with our last name (Curlee for this adventure), and a small whiteboard inside to leave notes.

That shelter made the day much more pleasant, especially for Mama. Though it was great to have her join us on the Lazy River ride, I was glad she had a place out of the sun. She brought a book and did some reading while the rest of us did other things. Lu Ann took a little nap on one of the chaise lounges, and Savannah and I ran around much of the afternoon.

Savannah is great at making new friends, which she did, a little girl named Kinsley (Mackenzie? Something like that….). I also made new friends with her dad, Mike, and his girlfriend Anita. Anita was very excited about the fact that I lived in Hawaii and was gracious enough to ask several questions. We rode one of the category 4 rides (the scariest) several times, and Savannah rode another “4” ride by herself. It looked too scary to me! So what if I’ve skied the Swiss Alps at 12,000 feet.

The only thing I didn’t get to do that I kinda wanted to try was the wave pool. But considering I’ve gotten to enjoy real waves for most of the last two months, I probably didn’t miss much…

The weather was perfect for a water park, about 88 degrees, so it was very pleasant to stand around wet most of the day. We closed down the park, leaving about 6:20 (it officially closed at 6pm). The employees were very good about it; guess they’re used to people like us.

That evening we tried out the hot tub in our cabin (“Gone Fishin’”), and had Stouffer’s lasagna for dinner. The next day, we sat around and watched football until I had to go back to the airport.

We also managed to play several games of air hockey at the cabin, and I refused to let Savannah cheat or change the rules. She told me I need a kid so I can understand her better. Oh, I think I understand her just fine. Tee hee. I’ve been eight…

I really enjoyed the cabin, too. I still love being in the mountains. At times it got too cold for me inside with my newly thinned tropical blood, so I sat outside on the porch in the rocking chair (of course…), and just enjoyed the fresh air.

I probably won’t get to see them again until March, when I next have to go back to Ft. Meade. I was able to upgrade on United for three of the four flight segments I was on, but was surprised to find that domestic first class is still not as ritzy as international business. Where was my little amenity kit with eye shade and toothbrush? My footrest? Well, at least I got fed and had free wine. The food was pretty good.

I couldn’t upgrade on one segment and OH MY GOODNESS. How awful that was. At least I had an aisle seat, but the man next to me was too big for the middle seat, and I had to sit pressed up against a stranger for 5.5 hours. That was just miserable. The man in front of me was a bit large as well, and he reclined into my lap. I was trapped! And I was in the last row of the plane, so I couldn’t recline at all.

So that’s why I say – JUST STAY HOME. Don’t fly anywhere. It’s too painful. But if you have the urge to go somewhere, for most of you, the Smokies and Pigeon Forge are a driveable getaway.

First Symphony Concert
On Sept 7th and 8th, the Symphony Chorus had its first performance with the Honolulu Symphony. We didn’t do too much. We sang the anthems for the country and the state, and then sang a chorus in Latin to go along with a Brahms overture. Chris came along to see it on Sunday, though we had trouble hooking up in the audience. He said he couldn’t see me, but can always pick out my voice. Ah, the wonderful lies husbands tell…

He commented that we were all wearing the same dress. Yes, I said, we need to project one voice. He asked how we all found the same dress, and I said they’d been ordered from a factory and I got to buy one from a previous member. “Buy one??” he said. Yep. I didn’t tell him how much I pay in dues…

But it was fun to get my feet wet and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season! Between the upcoming business trip and the very recent move into the house, it was hard to enjoy the moment, so I’m looking forward to the next real concert in December. One woman next to me scolded me for moving during the music. Well, the way my back was hurting, it was either move a bit in rhythm or randomly twitch. Standing still was just too painful. I didn’t point out how much she talked backstage when they told us to strictly be silent.

Upcoming Entries
Stay tuned for :

• Report on the International Women's Leadership Conference, an initiative Governor Lingle sponsors every year. Many inspiring speakers and a great day!
• More on the neighborhood and daily life - I think we're the only house that doesn't have at least three cars...
  

Election results and a little football

Now it's Sunday and I'm again watching football and reporting on the local elections. Tampa Bay is trying to tie Chicago in the closing 24 seconds. Won't further discuss the results of the UT-FL game yesterday.

Still not sure what "NS" means. But in those contests, like the mayor's, if someone got 50% of the vote, then that would be the end of that. However, in the mayoral race, the incumbent got 49.86% of the vote, so he will be on the ballot again with the next highest vote getter in November, Ann Kobayashi. Mayor Mufi is pro-rail; Ann K is against it, so it may be a one-issue race.

Tampa Bay has tied the game!

Regular readers may recall my previous whinings regarding traffic here. It is definitely one of the major quality of life issues on the island, and a rail solution has been proposed. But it's going to be expensive ($5bn), and the opponents claim it won't be used enough to significantly decrease the vehicle traffic. The initial proposed route also doesn't include a spur to the airport or even to Waikiki. But it's hard to tell, because there doesn't seem to be a definite plan.

As someone who loves jumping on a train, I'd use the rail to get to the downtown area. I'd probably go to the big fancy mall a lot more often with rail. But by the time it's completed, we'll probably have moved on, so it really doesn't matter to us personally.

Other solutions include adding a deck to the current highway system that is just for buses and high volume vehicles. The argument is that this allows more flexibility than trains. (Not sure I get that...) Honolulu's current bus system has won awards, and at some point soon, I plan to try it to get downtown. It doesn't have any cool doubledeckers like London, though.

And then there's the type of train. Some people refer to it as "light rail." Others say, no, no, no, it's going to be steel-on-steel and that's not light rail. So the debate will continue, and both sides have had some pretty rabid commercials.

But they've got to do something. Chris and I both had meetings last week in the Waikiki area, and on Friday, it took him 90 minutes to get home. Earlier in the week, I drove down there around 11:00am, and it only took me 40. We both think the traffic here is worse than the Washington beltway.

So that's the mayor's race - two NS candidates in November. In a couple of other races, I was glad to see that other people felt the same way I did about the crackpots. But that's democracy in action, I suppose. Anyone can run, but we don't have to elect them. In the at-large schoolboard election, where there were 9 candidates in the primary, we were instructed to vote for three. The top 6 vote getters will proceed to the general election.

Two out of my three candidates were in the top 6. One of the people who had no info sheet at the official election site is in the top 6. I guess people who have been here longer know something that I don't.

Schools are another issue here in Hawaii. We have trouble recruiting people to come work here because of the poor quality of the public schools (and the generally high cost of living). I don't really know the school issues, but I believe Hawaiian schools generally score poorly on the nation-wide tests.

While I'm watching football and typing this, Chris is mowing the grass, making me feel guilty for not being more productive. We have a good amount of cloud cover this morning, making it cooler, but even on cloudy days, we still have plenty of blue sky peeking through. A day of complete cloudy gloom here is pretty rare, which is good, since we had enough of those in Yorkshire to last the rest of our lives.

As I close, Tampa Bay is driving. I don't really care who wins, the Bears or the Bucs, but it's been fun to watch a good football game. (Er, did I mention football starts here at 7:00am?) I hope that's a good omen for the rest of the day!

Crackpots in Paradise

I am sitting here doing the wireless thing with my Mac while watching the Tenn-FL football game. Good thing I have something to distract me from the 17-0 score. *sigh*

Today is the primary for Hawaii elections, which I don't completely understand, since all candidates from all parties seem to be on the sample ballot I looked at, and since the candidates in the local races (mayor, school board) all have "NS" after their names. NS? Not Sane? No Salary? Ninja Salutations? I'm assuming that means there's no party affiliation, but I am puzzled by the NS designation and can't seem to find an explanation.

I have read the literature that has come to the house, much of which has focused on a local Senate race and the incumbent's recent DUI. After reading his statement on the official elections site, I am definitely voting for the non-incumbent. He gave no details at all about what great things he has done in office, just vague generalities about how important he's been and what a great job he's done. And in this day and age, if you've had a drink or two, CALL A TAXI. Especially anyone in a public office - part of the job is setting an example. There's no excuse to drive under the influence. None. The woman running against him seems to have something to say for herself, and she's been on local boards, so she gets my vote.

There are two school board races, one that has three candidates and I'm supposed to vote for one, and another which seems to be an at-large race, and I'm supposed to vote for 3 candidates out of 9.

In the first school board race, one guy's statement really made him look like a crank. He carried on about how terrible the schools are and told parents not to wait, but to home school. Hmmm. Another of the three didn't put any statement at all out there. Hmmmm. Not much of a contest really. Thank goodness the third person did put something rational out there, so at least I can feel comfortable voting for her.

In the other race, again, two of the candidates put no statement on the election page. How odd. Here's your chance to express your views (okay, you only get one page) for free, and it seems like it's the most logical way to reach people like me trying to do the right thing and understand who I'm voting for. And they don't do it. Are they too disorganized? Stupid? Don't care? Definitely no vote for them. Of the others, five look like viable candidates, so I have to whittle it down to three. Not sure yet who I will pick.

Well, I have done my due diligence for my civic voting responsibility, so time to turn back to the game. Oh, great, Tenn was on the 3 yard line and fumbled. Tenn could still come back. Stranger things have happened in college football. Go, Big Orange!