Errands, campus and the yard guy

I got a lot done yesterday: got a PO Box at the Kahului Post Office (had to have the clerk show me where it was since many of the box numbers were rubbed off...why?); got a storage unit to stash all the boxes of stuff for a couple of months, opened an account at the credit union, got my MCC photo ID and UH email.

The MCC campus seems weirdly unpopulated. I guess 4,000 students can spread themselves pretty thin.

Central MCC campus

My building: Kupa'a

When I returned to the Hibiscus Room I visited Ruby the macaw. That beak looks extra sharp - no poking fingers through the cage wires!

Ruby the loudmouth macaw

I walked around Wailuku looking for a likely place to scrounge up some dinner, without much luck. Since I wasn't able to locate the market that showed up on my BlackBerry navigator, I ended up with a pile of Chinese buffet that was edible, but more or less overcooked and unappetizing. It was somewhat improved by two Steinlagers, but just barely. I'll put out a little more effort next time.

It was a noisy evening in the Hibiscus Room, what with the yard guy raking and chopping and mowing and leaf blowing all directly outside my window. It takes a lot of work to beat back the ever-encroaching Hawaiian vegetation.

Menacing vegetation threatens the doorway to the Hibiscus Room.

But after sunset, things gradually quieted down until all I could hear was the fan in my room.

A good first day

After I arrived at the airport in Kahului, retrieved my bag and picked up my rental car, I headed over to the Maui Community College campus right behind my new co-worker Joie, who had come to meet me at the aiport. We went straight to the cafeteria, run by the school's culinary academy. As Joie told me over a plate lunch of chicken katsu, one has the opportunity here to become either very fit, or very fat!

I spent a couple of hours with Joie, met Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto, Vice Chancellor Suzette Robinson, and several other people who I will have to be re-introduced to, and saw my new office space before I gave up for the day and headed over to my temporary digs in the Hibiscus Room at the Wailuku Guest House. I was warmly welcomed there by owner Maureen and her two very friendly dogs who were jumping in and out of the salt water pool. If you're not a dog lover, this might not be the place for you! (Also, if you don't like the sound of an extremely loud and vocal ruby macaw, but more about that later.)

After a quick trip up the street to the mini-mart at the Chevron, I was back in the Hibiscus Room, drinking a Steinlager and catching up on email. All in all, a good first day.

Three more days

This week has been a whirlwind of packing, list-making, and middle-of-the-night anxiety. It still is not sinking in that in three days I will be in a new state, in a new job, on an island in the middle of the ocean.

I know I will miss all my good friends in Idaho. But I've moved so many times and had good friends move away, and still kept in touch with most of them, so it doesn't really feel like I'm saying goodbye. There are always opportunities to get together again.

Reunion with the Knoxville gang.

And of course there are other things I will miss about living in Idaho:

Baby elk peeking in my window.

 

The view from my front yard.

But there are things I won't miss at all:

My icy driveway.

Shoveling snow.

 

Looking for my car.

I feel like I've fully lived the Idaho experience, especially over the last six years up here in the hills. I'm looking forward to my new life in the islands. Going native!

Last day at work in Kaneohe, 1997.

A re-creation of the night my bike light was stolen

It was a dark and stormy night on the outskirts of boner-land. A moron lurked in the shadows, his neanderthal brow furrowed in concentration. He gazed longingly at the sleek, black headlight perched jauntily on the handlebars of the bike locked to the rack. Dimly, in the recesses of his unwrinkled cortex, he was aware that the device could bring light to his shadowy, filthy cave. The she-thing would be pleased. Looking furtively over his hairy shoulder, he made a sudden move and grabbed the object he coveted so dearly.  But it refused to come loose in his hand and he howled in frustration at the heavy clouds that lumbered overhead. Looking more closely, he spied the strap that held the light to the handlebars. A dull red gleam appeared in his greedy eye and he unsheathed the knife he had acquired the night before from the weakling he had left unconscious under the bridge. Slicing through the thin strap he howled again, this time in victory, and held the trophy high in the air, grunting and hooting in triumph and glee.

Pookie, Bert and SpongeBob are ready to move to Maui

A Green White House

I was interested to read on Sierra Club's GreenHome website that President Obama intends to seek LEED certification for the White House - a challenging goal considering obvious requirements for security and historic preservation, but one that is definitely achievable according to Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and President of the U.S. Green Building Council.

According to the article, White House environmental advisors are:

"...looking to reduce the carbon footprint of the White House by implementing computerized energy management systems, automatic light sensors that turn off in unoccupied rooms and low-flow water valves. Paints and sealers with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), biodegradable cleaners and recycled equipment will all be used by White House groundskeepers and engineers, according to a White House spokesperson. Window films that will lower UV rays and save energy will also be added."

Now I wonder who will be in charge of the documentation for that project? Wouldn't that make a great case study for a green building class?

Small Pieces, continued

The Making of a Serious Employee
An Interview with Jonas “Small Pieces” van der Winkler

Today’s interview takes place in Jonas’s “Deep Thoughts Study”, a dark-paneled and heavily curtained room. The curtains are drawn and the only light in the room comes from a 40-watt desk lamp that is trying valiantly but unsuccessfully to banish the deep shadows.

Q. Uhh…what is that on your head exactly?

JvdW. This? Oh, this is my thinking cap. It helps me keep my thoughts focused. That’s why it’s pointed on top. That’s the focal point.

Q. Oh. Well, let’s get some background information if we could. What were you like as a child?

JvdW. I was a very serious child, naturally. When my pet hamster died when I was five years old I learned that life is no laughing matter. I gave such a solemn eulogy at Hammie’s funeral that my entire family began sobbing uncontrollably. That’s what got me started officiating at all the neighborhood pet funerals. I still get requests to appear at functions that require a particularly heavy note.

Q. I see. And just how did you get your nickname, “Small Pieces”?

JvdW. Well, that’s a funny story…

Q. Do you mean funny – strange, or funny – ha ha?

JvdW. What?

Q. Never mind. Go on.

JvdW. Oh. Well, you see, I never enjoyed going to those childhood birthday parties although fortunately, I wasn’t invited very often. But what was even worse was when it was MY birthday and all those happy idiots would come over to MY house and scream and run around and break things and eat large, large pieces of MY birthday cake. It gave me nightmares. I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, “NO! NO! Take SMALL PIECES!!! SMALL PIECES!!!”

Q. That must have been very traumatic.

JvdW. Oh, it was. You can’t even imagine. I have it under control now, mostly, but every now and then I have a little flashback. Just a couple of months ago I was attending a very nice birthday luncheon for one of my coworkers. All was well until they brought out the cake and I just blurted it out, “SMALL PIECES!!” I pretended to laugh it off of course.

Q. Of course. What else could you have done?

Small pieces

One of the greatest things I've learned in the past month has really helped me deal with not giving in to procrastination. Thanks to Meggin McIntosh, "The PhD of Productivity"  (http://www.meggin.com/) I no longer wait for that imaginary "block of time" that I think I need to accomplish the tasks on my to-do list. Instead, I tackle much smaller pieces in the much smaller periods of time that I actually have in between interruptions. If I have 10 emails to send, I'll take a few minutes to send one at a time instead of putting off all 10 until I have two uninterrupted hours. It's amazing how much stress relief you can realize from finishing one or two small things.

Thinking about finite tasks instead of large goals has really helped prepare for my upcoming move. I can usually find some task that fits into the amount of time I have before my next scheduled appointment or meeting. I can pack one box. Or I can empty one cupboard. Or email one friend. And I continually make progress towards the larger goals, which then get smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

I know this is nothing new - I've been telling myself to approach my work this way for a long time. But I kept putting it off until I had a bigger block of time to make my to-do list...