yikes...what happened to December!

Wow, it's December 26 and I hardly posted for December...sorry!

It has been a busy month! I took time off from the job hunt for some much needed R&R in Hawaii. Ten days in Oahu in the town of Makaha did the trick. It was wonderful, but in the nature of staying with my blog theme, I'll tell you about the traffic hell we encountered. The west side of Oahu doesn't usually receive high winds, it is the leeward side of the island...however, the first few days I was there the weather decided to play it's own game.

The first night we were there 24 power lines blew down on the only road out of town creating a 3 1/2 hour traffic nightmare. Power did go out at the hotel, but the electric company re-routed the power grid and the hotel was left dark for only about 10 hours. Some of the areas along the down power lines were out for at least 3 days...probably more. My hat goes off to the electric company there in Hawaii and how fast they replaced those lines. We contemplated changing hotels and going to the much dreaded Waikiki area so we didn't have to spend 3 1/2 hours each morning driving the 16 miles that got us out of town and the 2 1/2 hour drive back each night. Under normal circumstances we could drive to the north shore in about an hour, but the first day out it took us 4 1/2 hours. We could have opted to stay at the resort, but since this was a surf vacation, you need to go to where the waves are good.

The first day we endured the long drive was only about 6 hours after all those lines blew down. The local police were still directing traffic through the non working traffic lights and detouring traffic out of the lanes where some of the power poles were laying across. When we drove back through that night the electric company was out in full force. There must have been 50 or more electric company vehicles working working on those lines...and over 100 men and women out there in the dark. To me it looked like at least a week long project to restore it all. The following morning when we headed out there were even more power company vehicles and an even stronger workforce. It was truly incredible. They worked straight through for three day until all was up back as it should be.

As for the rest of the vacation...it was awesome! If I ever figure out how to upload pictures onto my blog space I'll share them with you. I also got some really good wave footage on video!

I got back on the 13th of December and eye surgery scheduled for the 14th. I had two procedures done to my eye. I had some Salzman Nodules lasered off of my eye and also had a pterygium removed. To difficult to explain what these both are, so if you are interested in learning more just google it. They did knock me out so I slept through the 45 minute operation. They did it through heavy sedation, which I am really glad they did because apparently they gave me shots in my eye...they also cut out two section of the white part. I have at least 6 stitches in my eye. Kind of gross so I hope you aren't eating while you read this. It feels okay now, but it's still red and my eye is all puffy. I had a great doctor. If you ever have eye issues I can give you my personal recommendation for Dr.Demartini in Walnut Creek, CA. He is wonderful!

Okay, one more bit of news....I START A NEW JOB TOMORROW! I won't be taking BART to work so I may have to rethink the name and original premise of this blog. I do have one blog entry from a ride I took on BART into the city last week, but I'll write that maybe tomorrow.

I hope you all had a wonderful Hanukkah or Christmas or what ever you celebrate. For me it's not so much about the holiday, but the spirit, the coming together of family and friends and the goodness that mankind hopefully shares in more abundance with each other at this time of year.

I'm glad that 2007 is coming to a close because it was kind of a rough year for me. 2006 wasn't such a hot year either.So here's to looking at all the wonderful and positive things I'm hoping that 2008 brings my way. Fate wouldn't dare bring me a third lousy year! Watch out 2008, here I come!