Hawai'i II

This post will hopefully be more interesting than the last one (which mainly consisted of a recitation of flight times and places). I'm now transitioning out of vacation mode and into conference mode in Honolulu. Four days on the Big Island were amazing, and included snorkeling, a 4WD trip to the summit of Mauna Kea to see the observatories and go stargazing, hiking across a volcano crater and seeing the lava flow into the ocean. Today, on my last free morning, I went on a two-tank dive: first to the wreck of the Sea Tiger, and second to a nearby reef.

Although I'm about to go mingle with some work colleagues at the opening mixer, I'm still enjoying the Aloha spirit.

Hawai'i I

Woke up at 7AM on Thursday to meet my 8AM cab to LHR. Other than congestion due to a 'road census' (pulling over cars to ask where they've come from and where they're going) at rush hour, it was an easy ride to the airport. Twelve hour flight to LAX was less miserable than I feared, but unfortunately the selection of movies was atrocious (I tried watching The Taking of Pelham 123, but was basically bored before the credits finished). Quick layover (time for one Samuel at the LAX Chili's) and then onto the 5.33 hour flight to HNL. I tried to avoid snoozing, since I knew I needed to preserve my state of exhaustion in the hope of sleeping last night, but couldn't resist after a couple of hours and zonked out. Was totally wrecked when I arrived at HNL airport hotel at about 8PM local (7AM GMT Friday — exactly 24 hrs in transit) and did my best to sack out for the night. Woke up because the muppet who had this room before me left the alarm switched on for 4:45AM, and then dozed for a while. Sun has now risen, and my flight to the Big Island beckons. Aloha!

Bad luck charm

Of the four League Divisional Series I have an interest in three (can't muster any opinion about the Phillies/Rockies match-up), and I'm clearly a bad luck charm, as my teams are 0-7. Cards have already been swept and the Twins and Sox are on the chopping block today!