The Power of Sir
After the packers hauled all our crap away, the base provided us with loaner furniture and a washer/dryer. We discovered this weekend that the dryer wasn't heating (and it takes approximately six hours to dry clothes without heat, FYI).
So, apparently the Hubster (aka "Sir") and I (aka "Justawife") each decided to handle the situation.
I called housing. I expected them to take a week or more to fix it, and was surprised when they told me they would send someone to 'take a look at it' between 1-3 on Wednesday. 'Taking a look at it' may or may not mean the same as fixing it, but it was a start, right?
The Hubster (aka Sir) contacted a 'Sir' at Housing. They said they would take care of it as soon as possible, most likely today.
Less than an hour later they arrived with apologies and a brand new dryer, tags still attached.
I need a title. Obviously "Justawife" isn't cutting it any more.
posted by Haole Girl Monday, May 19, 2008
@ 3:08 PM
Attracting the Crazies Yet Again
The Hubster hates being home on packout and moving days, and I don't blame him. There's always a bit of weirdness going on with our movers.
Take this week for example.
Packing out is a three-day process, usually two days of packing followed by one day of loading everything onto the truck(s). The moving company we had this time did a pack and load each day, which was awesome - our house was cleared gradually and we didn't have to live among cardboard and clutter while we waited for it to all be loaded.
Day one was uneventful.
Day two took a turn toward the bizarre early in the day.
The Big Guy of the three-man crew asked to use my phone. Not a problem.
I happened to be in the Blonde One's room at the time, which was just around the corner from the kitchen where he was using the phone. I heard him dial several numbers, but there was no conversation.
A few minutes later, my phone rang and when I answered it, it was a woman asking if I had just called her.
I told her I didn't, but someone else in the house may have called. I handed the phone over to the Big Guy who acted confused by the whole thing. He had a brief conversation, then hung up.
A few minutes later the phone rang again. It was the same lady asking who I was, then asking to speak with the Big Guy.
This happened two more times within an hour.
Finally the Big Guy came clean. The voice on the other end of the phone was his ex-wife and she was demanding more support. He called her from my phone, then hung up just to "mess with her".
She kept calling back to find out who I was, and why her ex was at my house.
The next time she called, I handed the phone to him and stood there until he told her the truth. My kids don't even pull crap like that.
Day three didn't turn weird until the afternoon.
I think the Big Guy felt bad for his behavior the previous day because he showed up with a large bag of "grinds of da kine!" (grinds=food; da kine really has no translation)
He explained that his girlfriend (NOT me!) works at Zippy's (the Hawaiian version of Denny's) and always brings home leftovers at the end of the day. The previous night she had brought home a bag of ham/cheese croissants, hotdog croissants, and some chicken wraps.
He declined my offer of refrigeration and plopped the entire bag on the kitchen counter, where they sat all morning. Keep in mind that this is May in Hawaii, we currently have no tradewinds, and we only have air conditioning in our bedrooms.
The Big Guy and his Two Accomplices went about their business, wrapping, packing, and loading throughout the morning, taking occasional breaks for 'da grinds'.
Early afternoon came, and the Big Guy was complaining of stomach pain. He asked if I wanted the other half of his chicken wrap, because it didn't seem to be agreeing with him. (Ummmmmm................no?) Almost an hour passed, and he was doubled over in pain. He asked if I would call an ambulance for him, then changed his mind and headed to the Diva's bathroom where he spent the next thirty minutes.
Meanwhile, the Two Accomplices continued working, sort of. Accomplice #1 slowed the pace, then had to go lie down in the truck for a long time. He came back just in time to take his turn in the Diva's bathroom while the Bug Guy took his place in the truck.
Accomplice #2 did the best he could, but by that time most of the wrapping and packing was finished. Loading the truck was a two or three person job.
Eventually they gave up and said they would return in the morning for an unprecedented (for me) fourth day of packout.
It's been a freakin' long week.
In spite of everything, I am optimistic that they did a good job, but I won't really know until I see my stuff again in July.
I'm hoping I don't open a kitchen box and find some grinds of da kine in there......
posted by Haole Girl Friday, May 16, 2008
@ 11:35 PM
So It Begins
Everything we own (except 1,000 pounds and six suitcases not to exceed 50 pounds each) is on its way to the Mainland. The remaining 1,000 pounds will leave in early June, and we will be on a plane soon after.
Moving sucks.
More on that after I get some much needed sleep and a Margarita or two.
posted by Haole Girl
Maybe She'll Get Her Own 900-Number
I'm not sure what disturbs me the most about this story - that the Blonde One can do this with a straight face, or that the guidance counselor actually believed it.
The Diva is majoring in kinesiology, with a pre-physical therapy focus. Kinesiology is the science of human movement, basically how the body functions and moves.
So, the Blonde One was talking with his school guidance counselor this week, and she asked about the Diva and what she was studying in college.
The Blonde One inherited the sarcasm gene, which runs rampant in our family. I'm positive it is a dominant gene, because I'm constantly surrounded by smartasses, and they all seem to be related to me.
He told the counselor that his sister was a kinesiology major.
The counselor gave him a blank look, then asked what "kinesiology" was.
The Blonde One jumped at this opening.
Blonde One: She's studying to be a psychic.
Counselor: Oh. (long pause) I didn't know you could major in that.
Blonde One: It pays really well if you have a degree.
Counselor: She's a very smart girl, I just never pictured her as a psychic though. I'm sure she'll do well.
posted by Haole Girl Friday, May 09, 2008
@ 4:23 PM
Craigslist Crazies
We have a love/hate relationship with Craigslist.
We've had some very good luck selling things on Craigslist, but have also run into more than our fair share of freaks.
Like the lady who wanted to buy the Diva's vehicle.
The Diva has been trying to decide if she should keep her vehicle or pay $1,000+ to have it shipped to the Mainland when we move. She finally decided to list it on Craigslist just to see if she got any offers. If it sold, fine. If not, we'll ship. No big deal.
She listed it about a month ago for the Blue Book value, $7,200. Almost immediately we received a call from Crazy Lady, who seemed quite normal at this early stage of the game. Crazy Lady had been looking for that make/model, and was very interested in the Diva's vehicle. We talked for several minutes, and she told me how much she loved that make/model, she only drives that make/model, and would love to take it for a test drive before buying it. Then she said that she could not go above $6,300.
We said we would consider it, if it meant a quick sale.
Crazy Lady drove the vehicle and raved about how much she loved the make/model and wanted to buy the Diva's vehicle for $6,300. She asked if we could meet her at her bank the following morning to do the transaction.
Awesome, right?
The next morning when we met her at the bank, she said she wanted her mechanic to take a look at it first. We were okay with that, so we headed over to the auto shop and took a ride with the mechanic.
We drove around town while Crazy Lady asked about the quality of the vehicle in general, and the quirky noises of the Diva's vehicle. The mechanic said the make/model tends to run forever with few problems, then addressed each quirky noise she asked about. All in all, the mechanic said it was an excellent vehicle, and the little quirks could be fixed for under $200.
We drove back to the bank, where Crazy Lady said that based on her mechanic's recommendation, she couldn't offer us any more than $5,800 for the vehicle.
Huh?
She said the repairs would cost a few hundred dollars, plus the vehicle didn't have a cassette player and she would have to install one. It has a 6-CD player, but she only listens to cassettes.
I told her we wouldn't sell for $5,800. After some negotiation, we agreed on $6,000 only if we could complete the sale the following day.
The following morning she called and said that her friend told her we were taking advantage of her status as a single, older woman, and that she shouldn't be paying any more than $5,500.
So now we've gone from $7,200 to $6,300 to $6,000 to $5,500.
I said, "No thank you" and ended it there.
She followed up with an e-mail detailing why she should only pay $5,500 for the vehicle. Most of her rationale was that she was borrowing the money from a friend and wanted to pay it off in ten months. Her payment of $550 was going to strap her for those ten months, which was somehow our fault.
Fast forward to this weekend.
The Diva took her expensive sound system out of the vehicle and re-listed it for $6,300.
The first e-mail we received was from Crazy Lady: "I sure wish you had offered it at that price when I was in the market for a vehicle a few weeks ago."
WTF?? Then she would have tried to get it for $4,600??
Idiots.
posted by Haole Girl Sunday, May 04, 2008
@ 11:20 PM
You Told Them WHAT??!!??
A conversation on the way home from church today:
Me (to the Diva): You need to let them (her employer) know that you are moving in a few weeks.
The Diva: I did. I just feel bad because I'm the only one who really does anything there, and they depend on me.
The Hubster: I'm sure they understand. They know that military families move a lot.
The Diva: Oh, I didn't tell them we were military.
Me: You didn't?
The Diva: No. I didn't want to get into all of that.
Me: What did you give as a reason for leaving?
The Diva: I just said that my parents were separating, and I was moving to California with my mom.
posted by Haole Girl Monday, April 28, 2008
@ 12:51 AM
Weekend Fun
This weekend I planned to hike the Koko Head 'stairs'. It's a pretty intense hike, more of a workout than a hike though. I've done them twice before, and they were on my list of things to do again before we leave Hawaii.
The 'stairs' consist of 1,100+ railroad ties from an abandoned trolley running up the steep side of Koko Head. For us short people, that's 2,200+ steps because the railroad ties are just far enough apart that they require two-stepping. This is Koko Head:
The stairs run up the right side, and start out at a somewhat gradual incline, but become much steeper the further up you go. Near the middle is a bridge which crosses a gully. That's a bit scary because if you make a slight misstep, you could easily break a leg.
Since the Hubster was moping around the house and grumbling about being bored, and because he seems to think I never break a sweat hiking, I invited him along. Two birds, one stone.
We used to live less than a mile from Koko Head, but he never paid much attention. As we approached the area, I pointed out the faint trail running up the side of the mountain. When I told him we would be hiking that trail to the top, he thought I was kidding.
I parked the car and we headed off in the direction of the stairs. He (somewhat quietly) grumbled under his breath. He hates hiking.....it reminds him too much of his early days in the Marine Corps when he was at The Basic School and had to do long hikes ('humps' in Marine Corps jargon) through the forests of Quantico, and had to use his land navigation skills to find his way out.
Once we hit the bottom of the stairs, he realized this wasn't going to be easy or a ton of fun. This is the view from near the bottom:
There were a few other people out there that day, and one who left an impression was a woman in black yoga pants and a white tank. She ran right past us as we were trying to focus on one step at a time. Before we had even reached the top, she came flying by again on her way down.
The views are amazing from the top. You can see everything from Diamond Head to Hanauma Bay to the Mokes. There are some trails at the top, and I usually wander off in a few directions before heading back down again. The Hubster wasn't in a mood to do any more hiking, so I snapped a few photos before we headed back down. Here's Hanauma Bay:
We were just starting back down again when the woman in the black pants and white tank reached the top again. We couldn't NOT say anything. After a quick comment about how she was putting us all to shame, she laughed and said, "I have four kids. You want to stay home with them? I do this on weekends because it's fun compared to being with four kids all week."
We laughed (with her) and headed down the hill. I heard the Hubster mutter under his breath, "Her kids must be real bastards if she does this for fun...."
Going down is a bit scary, because momentum carries you faster than you want to go. The stairs go most of the way to the baseball fields, then the trail leads to the parking lot beyond the baseball fields. Here is a view from near the top, and the scary bridge:
The closer we got to the bottom, the less the Hubster grumbled.
After we finished the hike, we went over to Sandy's and took surfer showers at the beach then headed off to the Olive Tree Cafe for a great dinner. It was awesome, as always!
posted by Haole Girl Sunday, April 20, 2008
@ 11:11 PM
Genetics: Payback Time
Phone call from the Blonde One this afternoon:
Mom? I'm filling out this emergency medical form for graduation. I have a quick question for you....there's a section asking what to do if your child is injured and none of the emergency contacts can be reached. The choices are: Allow a school official to treat your child; Transport your child to the nearest medical facility; or Other. I said 'Other' and on the line I wrote, "I do not authorize my child to be treated in any way or transported. Instead I would like him to be offered as a sacrifice to Pele, the Goddess of the Volcano.
Is that okay? And can I forge your signature at the bottom?
posted by Haole Girl Saturday, April 19, 2008
@ 1:14 AM
