October 27, 2006
Kim and I flew into Hilo October 17th and immediately picked up our rental car which is essential for getting around in Hawaii. The earthquake of October 15th really didn’t affect us at all since most of the damage was on the west side of island near Kona where we weren’t until late in the week.
We camped the first night at Arnott’s Lodge which is a pretty cool hostel just outside of Hilo. Hilo is a pretty quiet town, so we got some ice cream and groceries and that was about it for night life.
We drove down to the southeast corner of the island where we saw a macadamia nut factory, a black sand beach that cut me up a little in the waves, where the road ends at a lava flow, and stayed at Kalani. (more…)
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October 18, 2006
Kim and I flew into Oahu Monday evening. We caught a shuttle downtown to Waikiki to stay at a hostel for the night. Yesterday we hiked to Diamond Head crater, which gave us a nice view of the city. We hung out on the beach at Waikiki for a little while before we took a shuttle right back to the airport to catch a flight to the big island of Hawaii where we are now. Today we’re going to get all our permits in line for the Na Pali coast on Kauai and figure out camping in Volcanoes National Park.
October 15, 2006
It was nice to go to someone else’s wedding so soon after working so hard on my own. The weirdest part of this wedding for me was that the ceremony was at 10:30 in the morning while the reception was at 6 at night. It was held in St James Cathedral and was a very beautiful ceremony, even if it felt really long to me. It may have felt longer than it was since half the ceremony was in Vietnamese and I didn’t understand it. There was definitely a different feel to having a wedding in a big cathedral than having it outside too.
After the ceremony Kim and I went and had breakfast with Jacob, Waleska, Jesse, Deborah and Wes at Julia’s. Then we all went home and lounged around for the rest of the day before the big (and I do mean big) party later.
The reception was held at China Harbor and would estimate there were close to 300 people. I keep wondering where all these people were at the ceremony since I only estimated about 50-60 there. There was so much food, especially seafood, that I thought I was going to burst. Most of it was pretty good, but I just had to stop eating after about the 5th course or so and go for a walk. After all the eating and dancing we hung around and talked for a while until cake was served, and by then it had been a very full day of wedding so we called it a night.
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October 6, 2006
The wedding was better than I ever expected. Everything seemed to come together for a really magical evening. The weather was good, the food was good, the music was good, the dancing was a blast, all the vendors we hired turned out great, the staff at the Inn was great, the people were amazing. In fact, I’ll have to do separate posts for each of the vendors as they deserve the props and web linkage, just not in this post. As with all weddings, there wasn’t enough time to talk to everybody. It was wonderful to see so many friends and family all together. I doubt I’ll have that many friends and family together at once again unless I start throwing huge parties and paying to fly people in.
I was a little worried about the weather considering it poured on Kim and me Thursday night while we were camping in a slightly leaky tent. It turned out to be very nice the day of the wedding though, even if it did pour the next day for our picnic. We got to have the ceremony outside, and the leaves were lovely. Sierra threw leaves instead of flowers.
I wasn’t supposed to see Kim at all the day of the wedding until the ceremony, so it was amusing trying to avoid each other around the Inn. I went for a run by myself that turned into a tromp upstream in my drenched shoes since I wanted to cross and run on the other side but fell in. I later went for a walk with Brian and Bridgid up one of the hills. The day of the wedding was pretty chill up until the ceremony since we had been running around like crazy taking care of details the few days before. I’m glad Kim hasn’t been in school or working the last few weeks so that she had time to take care of so many details.
The ceremony started a little late since Kim had to get into her beautiful dress that her mother and grandmother wore that I saw for the first time as she came down the aisle. I’m glad she doesn’t wear stuff like that often though because it was hard to be
around her without pulling her veil or stepping on her bustle. I liked the part in the ceremony where Bill and Sue asked who supports this couple and all the guests say we do. The whole ceremony was nice and I’m looking forward to getting a copy of the video from it.
After the ceremony Kim and I went off alone to do pictures. I think one of the coolest little details that the Inn at Baldwin Creek had setup was assigning Kim and I our own personal attendant. A girl name Laura, who is the daughter of the innkeepers, brought Kim and me drinks and appetizers all through the evening so that we didn’t miss out while everyone else was at happy hour. After some nice shots by the creek we did group pictures. Ugh. This was the only hard part of the whole evening. We had group photos too close to the tent with all the food and drinks and people kept wandering off, so it was hard to get all the photos done.
Having the tables mixed up and facts about people at the tables was probably one of the best ideas of the evening. Everyone was talking to each other and enjoying themselves. Just those little ice breakers were enough to really make people a lot more comfortable. Neither Kim nor I was that hungry, which was a shame because it was good food. Nathan’s toast was very good and funny. I got him and the fathers big beer glasses with their names on them. I kinda wish I’d gotten myself one they were so cool. Nathan and my dad were drinking out of his the rest of the evening.
The first dance went of very well. I hardly even remember it, it went by so fast, but I do know we got some of our snazzy moves in. The bubbles were a nice touch. Kim and her dad’s dance went great too, even when they had to adjust to having the song go longer than expected. After the first dances the dancing didn’t really stop the whole evening except for the cake cutting and garter toss. I danced with my grandma and mother and I think just about every girl in my family. The DJ did great. There were a few songs where Kim and I were wondering why he was playing them, but it was because people had requested them. Whatever kept people out dancing! There were dance circles and a conga line, and Kim looked awesome in a lot of pictures with her dress spinning. Nathan dove for the garter, and Roslyn dove and rolled twice for the bouqet. Steve ended up putting two garters on Roslyn though since Nathan was MIA until the first garter was on.
I think we ended the party at a good time, because I know my feet were tired and I think a lot of other people were beat from the non-stop action. Kim and I hung out for a little while with the people staying at the Inn, and then we left them to enjoy being alone for the first time as a married couple.
The next day we were late getting to the picnic with all the details and packing we still had to take care of, but it turned out to be fine since nobody got there at 10:30 anyway. It was pouring at the Branbury State Park, but more than 30 people showed up anyway. We all huddled under the picnic shelter and talked for a few hours. It was nice to get to spend some more time with people we didn’t get to at the wedding the night before.
The rest of the trip we returned Kim’s grandma’s car to Southington, hung out with Dan for an evening, and spent the day with Stephanie and Marc in New York. It’s always fun to visit New York, and it’s great now that we know some friends there. We walked around Central Park for while and played with hula hoops at the edge of the park before catching the subway to the airport and home. Going back to work was soooooo hard, but at least it’s only a few weeks before we leave for our honeymoon in Hawaii!
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September 21, 2006
Nathan was up for the day with his time off from the busy fire fighting season, so we ignored the rain and went for a hike. I did this a few weeks ago with Jake, but it looked much different in the rain. The stream we hiked up was a lot higher and it wasn’t really possible to keep your feet dry. I still jumped in the lake once we got there, but it was COLD! This is really a beautiful day hike. It may be my favorite in the Cascades so far.
It was good to see Nathan, even if for only a short time. I had no idea he was sporting a mohawk these days. I told him he should keep it for the rehearsal dinner, but probably shave it off before the wedding. He had a long drive ahead of him after the hike, all the way back to Central Oregon.
September 16, 2006
I’ve begun to treat my hypothroidism again instead of ignoring it. I made a post almost two years ago about hypthyroidism when I was first diagnosed, but after not liking the way the levothyroxine made me feel, I quit taking it and thought I would just exercise more or eat better. I think I’ve done both over the last few years. I eat much better thanks to Kim’s love of food and her new culinary abilities, and I’ve been more physically active than when I first began my job by biking to work, doing Aikido and most recently by training for a half marathon. After seeing next to no results in weight loss I did some more research, something I should have done years ago.
I ordered some books from Mary J Shomon, a patient advocate who has thyroid problems and writes about them. I heard about here from a nutritionist who after talking with me convinced me that some form of hormonal treatment may be necessary to achieve the health goals I have. After reading through Living Well with Hypothyroidism and What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Hypothyroidism by Ken Blanchard, it comfirmed the idea that I needed some medical help with this problem.
I don’t like taking pills, even multivitamins. Probably my main reason being that I don’t like having one more routine to do everyday, although I also believe that most things that people take pills for can be much better dealt with by changing diet, exercise or stress in your life. So I begin taking medication hesitantly and will keep an eye out for a more natural remedy. So far I’ve been taking it again for close to a month and don’t really notice much of anything different.
September 15, 2006
I’ve been keeping up my dream log pretty well. There were a few nights that I didn’t get very much sleep and couldn’t remember any dreams. I’ve been state checking a ton in waking life, looking for wording that changes, asking if the people around me are people that really might be around me, and every so often I hop and see if I can start flying.
So far no luck flying in real life, but the other night I actually noticed that as I was walking I kind of floated along every few steps. Then it hit me! I was dreaming! I was so excited that I then immediately woke up. Very lame.
The next night the dream I was having right before I woke up had all sorts of dream signs in it but I just couldn’t recognize them well enough. I was hanging out with high school friends again, there was a guy at the side of the Burke Gilman trail trying to sell me a lucid dreaming kit, and I even started doing the float walk again. Each of these instances seemed a bit odd to me, and I don’t even remember how I rationalized them or if I did, but it didn’t hit me until my alarm clock woke me up that I was getting prime signals for lucid dreaming.
Definite progress. I can’t wait for more.
September 9, 2006
I’ve finally decided to get serious about this lucid dreaming thing and bought a book that seems to come highly recommended called “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming” by Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold. Stephen LaBerge has years of experience researching lucidity at Stanford, and started the Lucidity Institue, whose website seems to be the best resource for lucid dreaming on the internet, lucidity.com. A lot of the book’s basic info is available on the website for free, but I only paid $2.50 for the book on half.com since it’s old (1990), so it’s well worth having a something I can read in bed easily.
So far I’ve been keeping my dream journal up to date about a week and doing critical state testing the last couple days. That’s where I stop and ask myself if I am dreaming during the day to form the habit so that I’ll more likely do so while I’m dreaming. I sporadically have been writing my dreams for the last few years, but never this regularly. I’m remembering my dreams more easily and noticing when I wake up during the night, something that apparently happens quite regularly but we usually forget like dreams.
Besides the practical how-to aspect of lucid dreaming in the book, there’s a lot of other interesting information, psychology and philosphy. There’s also discussions of what lucid dreaming can possibly be used for with lots of step by step exercises. If anyone is curious about lucid dreaming or needs a good motivator to start learning, this book is a great inexpensive tool. I would definitely try this before buying any of those $50+ courses or gadgets for lucid dreaming you see on the internet. I’ll definitely update this post when I have my first lucid dream.
September 5, 2006
This is the blister I got from running a week
after the event. Healing nicely, eh?
I ran my first half marathon this weekend. It was the Super Jock n Jill Half Marathon in Woodinville WA. It feels great to just have done it, and I ran it a bit faster than I thought I would considering that I haven’t been training all that long. I think that’s in large part because most of my training has been running home from work, which is 7.5 miles almost all uphill, which goes a lot slower than this flat course. There’s a hill to run up and come back down between mile 6 and 10, but it’s mostly gradual. I was on pace to finish under 2 hours at mile 10, but I totally ran out of gas. 10 miles was already farther than I had ever run straight through before. The last 3 miles were HARD! I felt really dehydrated and there was only one water stop in those last 4 miles I think. I had no idea how fast I would finish, so I told Kim 2.5 hours and I ended up coming in at 2:10. I have one really big blister on my right foot and am sore, but feel great about the run otherwise and am considering doing more half marathons before I work up to a full marathon sometime next year.
August 14, 2006
Kim and I took off for the Olympic Penninsula this weekend to camp near the ocean. The drive there took soooooooo long. It took us 2.5 hours to get on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. We hiked in Friday night to camp near Wedding Rocks, some petroglyphs. Afterwards it was time to do the hike back out and the drive home. It was great to have a relaxing outdoor weekend with no phones, computers or even many people.
