Spiders and Needles....

Oh what a day I have had!!! The title says it all... but let me explain a little further...

So on Friday I went on another site visit. This one was up on the mountain in some fallow pineapple fields that we will be converting to a new golf course and some houses. Kris and I went out in the Pinzguaer. Here is a picture of Kris in the Pinzguaer.

I am so lucky to work in a place that is so absolutely beautiful! Here is a picture of what we were there to take pictures of.... the view from the new clubhouse in our Mauka Golf Course.

It truly is breathtaking up there and it will be a great place to sit and relax after a great round of golf. Can you tell I LOVE my job?!?! Well I do :)

Ok so now to the real story. So Friday afternoon Kris and I were up playing in the mountain and taking pictures. When we got back to the office I noticed a little bug bite on my left shoulder just above my arm pit. I didn't think much of it... I get bit by mosquitos here ALL the time.

Friday night I noticed that my arm pit, lymph node area was a little sore. By Sunday night it was HURTING. I had a hard time sleeping and it hurt to move my arm to do my hair and put clothes on. Two things that are somewhat necessary when getting ready to go out of my room or to work. So I toughed it out one more day thinking it would go away. It didn't. Not only that but the pain started moving around going lower into my body and very close to a female body part that is near and dear to my heart. I decided I needed to take care of this before I lost a bump I had become somewhat attached to.

This morning I called the doctor and described what was going on. The nurse who I was talking to asked me how quick I could get into the doctors office. I said I was on my way and off I went, panicking the whole way into town and sure that I was going to be told I had west nile virus or something equally horrible. I was seen fairly quickly by the doctor which didn't add any comfort to my already swirling mind. Oh my goodness if they are taking me in this quick, I most surely am on my deathbed!! So the nurse takes me in and does all the regular stuff. Weight (ICK!) Height, blood pressure and so on. Then she takes me into the exam room and starts asking all the standard questions. Then she hits on one that made me almost pass out. "When is the last time you had a tetnus shot?" Did she just say SHOT?!?! Oh god. Oh no. "Ummmmm I'm not sure" I answer in a very small voice, hoping against hope that she thought I said something like yesterday or last year. She says ok we'll go ahead and get that taken care of for you today too. Oh crap I have to get a shot!?!?! NOOOOOOO!!

Then the doctor comes in and examines my owie and probes my armpit a bit. She tells me that I have been bitten by a spider. Probably a Cane Spider or a Brown Recluse Spider. She says that these types of spiders actually insert venom into its victim (ME!) and that is why it itches. I ask her in what I consider a very calm voice "Ummm am I going to die from this?" She laughs and tells me that no I will not die from it but that the venom is hanging around my lymph node and has inflamed it while my body trying to take care of getting rid of it. She said it can take a couple of WEEKS for this process to take place. Oh great how sexy is a red puffy armpit?!! Not a great accessory when trying to talk to cute boys. *sigh*

So THEN the nurse comes back in and jabs my arm with a needle! I think I took it pretty bravely. I mean I was laying down with my face turned in the total opposite direction of her with my hand covering my face so I didn't see even a hint of the needle. And as soon as she rubbed my arm with the alcohol swab I broke out in a sweat. But other than that, I was VERY brave.

Stupid spiders and needles. I hate them both! Just typing this blog has made my armpit hurt! Stupid spider!!

Did you know I'm BRILLIANT??

Yes folks it's been confirmed. I am BRILLIANT.

So I'm taking a Microsoft Access class with one of the ladies that I work with because I'm working on a few projects that I feel like I could use Access to better manage these processes.

Anyways... I'm sitting there listening to the instructor who loves the sound of his own laugh so much that he tells really really really bad jokes just so he can hear himself laugh. So he's going on and on about tables and databases and all sorts of really interesting (yawn) information about Access. So I cut in and say "So what you are saying is that the grounded fields in the query object relate back and are grounded to the table where it was created."

His next words I will never forget. "YOU ARE BRILLIANT!!" He says. "It took me years to figure that out and you grasped it without me even saying it. Really Brilliant!"

Yes folks.. it's been officially confirmed by an instructor!!

I am BRILLIANT.

Thank you and good day!

I can't escape it....

Well I guess there is no escaping what you are. No matter if I moved halfway across the ocean and have tried to change my life. I guess it doesn't really matter at all... you can't change who you are at the core.... and I guess what I am most is a BIG HUGE NERD!!!!

What? You ask in shock and surprise. Tina is a Nerd!?! You can hardly believe it! Yeah right...

Well I am a nerd this week because I like many other total dorks out there spent my Friday night at the Borders in Whalers Village eagerly awaiting the arrival of my brand spanking new copy of the 7th Harry Potter book. I actually have proof... My friend Julie and I went and someone took a picture for us...

That's Julie wearing her Harry Potter hat and me holding a Borders bag because we won a game. Yes we were even there early enough to play the various games they had for the group. I had a great time. It was a really neat way to spend a Friday night and I really loved how everyone was there and excited over a book. I guess people do still read!!

I have also decided that I am just NO good at the whole dating thing. Once I'm actively talking to someone, I seem to do ok. But getting to that first step is just so hard for me. I think I am missing the all important radar that some women just seem to naturally have. I had my eye on this one guy and starting getting myself a bit worked up about him. I really developed a bit of a crush actually... only to find out that he has a girlfriend! I could have sworn that he was interested! I guess I mistook interest for him just being a nice guy. Maybe I'm just not used to guys being nice?!?! Who knows. So the only other guy in the picture is a really really nice guy that seems to have sort of latched himself to me, but I am in no way attracted to him. Why does it always seem to work like that?! It's SO frustrating!!

So on my hike last week there was one guy that works for the same company and he works in Pu'u Kukui so it's a slightly different department. Meaning I work for the same company but not really with him. He's a nice looking guy, but not really someone I was really looking at. Then at the hike he was walking around without his shirt on. Ok this guy is SUPER cute! hehehe So now I'm trying to have one of my friends do some research for me to see if he is available. He stopped by this morning just to say hi... something he has never done before... so maybe... just maybe...

Other than that everything else is just going on along!!

I'm a hiker!!

Who knew that moving to Maui would inspire me to become a hiker?!?! Saturday morning I got up early and gathered my "hiking gear". Namely a new backpack that I bought and some really cool hiking pants. A girls gotta have the right clothes!! So anyway off I go to meet a bunch of people I don't know to go on a hike into the Pu'u Kukui Watershed to VOLUNTEER to go pick WEEDS. Yes that's right. I volunteered to go pull weeds.

Ok just so everyone doesn't think I've totally lost my mind... well maybe I have but if you could see this mountain you might understand. It is SO extremely beautiful up there. It's a rainforest and the portion that we went into is a conservation area and the managers of the land are trying to keep as much of it native Hawaiian as possible. There are very few people that get to go into the preserve and one of the ways to go in is to volunteer. I had an amazing time and totally loved it. I think I might actually enjoy hiking. It really helps that there are no snakes here in Hawaii.... but still it is just so dang beautiful I can't help but want to be outside and in the remote places that not very many people are allowed to go.

Other than that I haven't really been doing too much. Work is going really well. I had a presentation today to show what I have been working on and it went extremely well. I rolled out a new network filing structure and was prepared for some resistance but found none. Everyone seemed very pleased with what I had come up with and is anxious to put it into every day use.

I'm still feeling very lucky and blessed to be here and to have so many great things going for me. I hope some of my friends and family get to come out here soon and see me!!! I miss seeing everyone I love!!

Great Weekend!!!!

I had a great weekend!!! Friday night I went out to dinner with my friend Julie. We went to Leilani's and sat at my brothers table. He's a waiter there! It was a great night, very relaxing and enjoyable!

Saturday morning I got up at 5:15 and got myself together for my very first hike! Yes, that's right folks... I went on a hike! ME!! Here is proof!!!

Kris took this picture for me so I would be able to prove that I actually went hiking. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is up in the West Maui mountains!! The hike was called the ditch hike and we went because the guy that runs Kapalua Water Company goes once a month so he can check his equipment and monitor the rain levels and flow rates of the streams and rivers that feed the irrigation waters for agriculture and Kapalua Resort. Maui is a truly beautiful place to be but walking up in the mountains where most people can't go really transports you into a nearly pristine environment. It's also called the ditch hike because we literally went walking through ditches that were made in the early 1900's. We had to wear hard hats because the ditch tunnels are not that tall and the rocks on the ceiling are not level. So we wore hard hats to protect our heads! Which was a good thing because I actually conked my head on a rock at least once and if I didn't have the hard hat on I would have been hurting!!! Here are some more pics from the hike...

I'll post more pictures on my flickr account if anyone is interested in seeing more!

Sunday I went and played golf! I really love playing golf and I forgot how much! I'm very excited that my golf clubs will be here on Thursday so I will be able to go practice!

All in all a great weekend!!!

I feel human again!!

So much better than I did a few days ago!!! I went to the eye doctor on Tuesday and he gave me a pair of trial contacts!! I can not believe how much I hate wearing my glasses. But I now have brand new contacts on and they are great. My new doctor told me that the lense type I was wearing before was 20 year old technology and he switched me to a new brand of contacts that were brought to market in the last year. So not only do I have new contacts but they are better than the ones I was wearing before. I should be able to see better now :)

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!! I worked during the day because it is not a mandatory holiday here. I decided to save my holiday pay for another day! Maybe if my Mom comes out to see me or something. Anyway after work I went down and found Amy and some friends at the Marriott in Kaanapali. We bbq'd and played in the pool until it was dark enough to go sit by the beach and watch the fireworks they were setting off in Lahaina. It was a really nice night and I got some super cute pictures that I will have to post later because I don't have the cable for my camera at work. All in all it was a great day... I hope everyone else had a great day too!

My golf clubs should be here next week and I can't wait for them to be here!! I haven't really played much in the last week or so, mainly because I hate wearing my glasses and I felt like I wouldn't be able to play with them on. Now that I have contacts back I feel like I can do all the things I love doing, including golf!!

Not much exciting going on but things are still going really well.... :)

Sunday Musings

So it's Sunday and I'm sitting in my very cute apartment watching some golf on T.V. I've got nothing super exciting to post but thought I would update my blog all the same.

Nothing too exciting happened this week with the exception of my contact lens drama. I have good news on that front, I got an appointment for Tuesday so I don't have to wait two weeks wearing my glasses. That is a great thing because I really don't like wearing my glasses in public! I talked to a lady that works in the optometrist office and she assured me that she would be able to send me home Tuesday afternoon with new contacts. PHEW!!

Something exciting but only for me... I found a website that specializes in shipping golf clubs!! I scheduled my pickup and will have my golf clubs by the 12th of July! They will pick them up from my mom's house on Monday the 8th and deliver them to my office on the 12th! And it only cost $100!! How cool is that? I am super excited because I haven't been playing all that well with my sister's clubs and have been reluctant to actually work on my game at the driving range with clubs that aren't mine. So I'm pretty excited to get my clubs here!!

Yesterday I spent the day at Amy's house playing with the kids while they were out on the slip and slide and a little wading pool that Amy bought for them. I had a great day being Auntie Tina. I always do when I get to hang out with the kids :) I will admit though that around 3:00 my patience was wearing a bit thin. Not because of Jaxson and Maddox but because a few of their friends were over and by 3 there were 8 kids in the house. I am really not used to that much activity!! Not only that but Maddox gets pretty territorial when another little one is around. I was playing with a little baby named James who is 8 months old and Maddox wasn't having any of it. It was funny. Once all the extra kids left we sat around and played on Doug's new Wii! It was a really fun day... but it was nice to get home to my nice quiet apartment :)