A day to remember

like everyone else in hawaii and the world, i am keeping a close watch on this tsunami that's suppose to hit hawaii any moment now.......

i was awakend by the sound of the emergency sound system at 6am saturday morning. radio and tv news were broadcasting tsunami warnings here due to the earthquake in chile the night before...

after making coffee, i remember that my car was almost empty on gas and decided to drive to the mauka gas station (a 5-min drive) only to find that most of mililani mauka residents already beat me to it...a long line had already formed. i started in line at 7am and exactly 8am when i finally drove away from the gas station.

nothing extra-ordinary is happening at this point...hoping it stays this way! that it's all but a big drill!

well im always amazed how i get out of the impossible, stressful situations i get in everytime i travel standby...and it seems to me, with all the years traveling standby on united, every single scenario seems to be getting worse.....and this last trip from vegas was no exception. I knew even before i left that flying out of vegas would be risky to say the least, so i made sure i had a confirmed ticket on us airways (coz it was cheaper) for the short haul from vegas to sfo and then i would standby home from sfo (going into vegas wasnt too bad). Even w/ my confirmed ticket, problem would arise--without anybody's fault coz it was weather delay into sfo---low clouds or something according to the agent....fine....2hrs later, plane finally took off....knowing fully that i'd miss my scheduled connection on ua when i arrived. altho there were 2 other flits to oahu yesterday--both were full of confirmed passgrs who also arrived late due to the same problems i had...so i knew those honolulu flts would be packed w/ standby revenue people (no chance for people like me)....Next option was to fly to maui or kona...next flt to maui was leaving at 405pm and i was still standing at the ticket counter (outside security checkpoint in sfo!) at 335pm talking to a fellow agent to try to move my trip to maui instead..after checking me into that flite (by now it's 340pm) she said to run like hell because if i didnt make this one, there would be a very good chance overniting at the airport with the rest of the standby employees. I didnt train for marathons for nothing! i RAN! all those trainings came in handy! exactly 4pm i reached the gate podium and seeing the gate bridge still open and 3 agts talkin among each other, i handed one of them my pass and said 'am i too late?' 'No-you're good...we're actually waiting for 33 connecting passengers from a plane that just landed now..here you go' and she hands me a boarding pass that read 4A!!! getting on was big deal enough but first class? i couldnt believe my luck....of course, it was more than luck! God is FAITHFUL every time!
Oh, and hawaiian air put me in their first class seat too from maui to honolulu---at that point i didnt really care if i sat in the very back because i was already on local soil but God was being generous again...just showing off HIS love for me!

not sure what i did to deserve the title of this year's employee of the year in my department at the newspaper but i did! my boss broke the news this morning as soon as i came in and as always, a dinner is set for the formal recognition on sunday 2/21. The last time i attended one of these formal dinners was the year i got hired (2000). Altho it comes with a pretty darn good dinner at the Honolulu Country Club, i didnt plan on attending again this year; in fact, i am already scheduled for a much needed vacation that same week....

A month into the spring semester and still whining how hard my subjects are:Biochem and Microbiology. Then i read somewhere of a quote by someone (i forgot who) that (and im paraphrasing here) sometimes opportunities come disguised as hard work that's why some people miss them. And i began to look at my situation a little differently. yes im not a math or science geek but this could be my opportunity to LIKE math and science...see i've never really had these type of courses on my last college degree back in the day so i've not been exposed to them yet.....i could really learn something new this semester and i'm not just talking about microbes and organic chemistry...