Foggy sun

Morning sun veiled by the persisting fog as Lyle and I walk on Adams
Avenue watching the street vendors set up their booth for the fair.

Afternoon walk

Enjoying the beautiful weather with Lyle. Walking along the Promenade
in Mission Beach.

Honolulu

Hiking up to the top of Diamond Head crater. Really, who needs a gym
membership? I get fresh air, an awesome workout, and enjoy beautiful
sceneries. Definitely a bit more challenging than my walks in San
Diego. I think it's time I upgrade to Cowles Mountain.

New Toy

My laptop died a month ago while I was on vacation. It is a few years
old so I knew that would eventually happen. I don't have any
information on it that is not backed up somewhere else so I never was
overly worried. I still was very careful with it and nothing bad ever
happened, except for a can of diet Sprite I spilled on the keypad
once. My luck was that the soda had no sugar and the machine came back
from Dell a few days later working like before.
The one thing that I only did on the laptop was my finances. I did
regular back-ups though, but where are they? On the laptop. Not very
smart.
Since my return I have been trying to find out what is wrong but keep
on getting the "blue screen of death" no matter what I do. No online
forum, no support chat have been able to help me. I didn't want to
take it to be repaired and have to pay the price for a new computer.
Well yesterday I got so frustrated that I went to the store and bought
a MacBook Pro. I was going to wait until my birthday next March but
figured I would just give myself an early present. The machine is
absolutely beautiful. I don't think that anybody can beat Apple when
it comes to aesthetics or usability. Is the stiff price tag worth it?
Well I guess that is why I live in California and not in a small town
in Nebraska. We have to pay for what we truly want.

Simple fun

On Saturday while Dani was running some errands, Alexandra and I went
to the park and played on the slide for an hour. We went up and down
at least a hundred times, racing, tumbling and laughing. Those simple
pleasures are so rare nowadays. I know that in a few years, like most
kids, Alexandra will be playing with her Nintendo DS, or surfing the
Internet, or saying how bored she is because she's not allowed to
watch TV. But for now, she is still laughing at her uncle making funny
faces, or tickling her and I will enjoy that as much as I can.

What a difference a day (or 2) makes

I was scheduled to leave Guadeloupe on the 25 of August but couldn't get a seat on the plane to Miami (the joys of flying stand-by). The agents were neither nice nor helpful, but I was at their mercy and had to be "nice" no matter what since they have the power to give me a seat or not. I was not stressed or upset (except for the wasted afternoon at the airport) and decided to try 2 days later.
The agents working that day were different ones, and from the "Bonjour, puis-je vous aider?", I realized that this time I would be cared for in a totally different manner, wether I ended up with a seat or not. The details would be boring, but even though the flight was scheduled to be full, I did get on the plane and went to introduce myself to the Purser, Muriel, and the Captain (general courtesy on another airline) who were both very nice. Muriel, right away told me to take a sit in Business (our discounted tickets are for Coach only). At the stop-over in Haiti, all transit passengers had to disembark as well and I was a little worried because this is the segment that is usually oversold. We got back on the plane and Muriel offered me the same seat, again in Business. I was in Heaven. Both Muriel and her co-worker Sylvie, took excellent care of me and were a delight.
I have dealt several times with different airlines and can never understand when people are mean to others, especially when doing the same job or working for the same company or in the same industry. I know that we have rules that we have to follow, but sometimes bending the rules just a little bit, helps someone or changes the whole experience altogether. I believe that was my best experience with Air France in all the years I have been using them to go to Guadeloupe either from Paris or Miami.
It doesn't take much sometimes to help someone out if one is willing to. The little gestures can make a big difference and one day the roles might be reversed. They do say "what goes around, comes around".