Closure part 3

Last night marks the end of my food club. Mostly older ladies who have been thrilled to have a younger male presence were squirmy that I'm leaving. Some were sad, others looked lonely and lost. I couldn't find the right time to use my secret word but I got lots of teary eyed hugs and even a hand squeeze.

Definitely something that's changed my life since I started going in August. I have two excellent friends that made it an important part of our weekly routine. It changed my perspective on a lot of things and I'm sad I won't be going with them anymore.

Local kine grinds

8 days to go. The goal now is to pack everything and ship. Also to fill up on local food that won't be available en Mass. Musubi from 7-11, saimin, mauna pua, bentos and especially fresh fruit are all being consumed at an unalarming rate. I purchased some food to cover the few meals I'll eat at home but for the most part it's going to be getting what I can while I can.

My new favorite breakfast involves yogurt. Last week it was cereal and yogurt like I had in Sweden. This week it's vanilla yogurt with pineapple & bananas from the farmer's market. Pretty awesome.

I have a few food items to bring to the east coast with me but they'll be gone within a few days or weeks as I share and give them away.

I WANT CHOWDA has been in my lexicon for months now and soon I'll get to use it in earnest. What other delicacies await me in the frigid NE? I'll let you know.

For now, what food do you eat thats specific to where you're from? What do you miss when you are away?

Closure part 2

An ordeal has finally ended. 20 months ago I had my wisdom teeth removed. During that procedure the adjacent tooth's root was broken.

To CYA my surgeon paid for:

• A root canal which could not recover the tooth
• I then had another extraction
• A bone graft of someone else's bone shards and
• Another bone graft of someone else's bone shards
• An implant
• An uncovering
• A failed molding during which the implant was pushed up into my sinus
• A surgery to remove the implant impacted in my sinus.

When the implant made it to my sinus I couldn't form a seal in my mouth. I couldn't use a straw. Breathing vibrated the nerve in the open canal and was very uncomfortable. 

The new surgeon that removed the titanium implant said that the prosthetic tooth is not even necessary because of how much the teeth overlap, so the entire procedure could've been avoided.

My dentist is awesome though and when I went by today to show them the titanium implant I asked for copies of my X-Rays. They didn't know how to export them from the computer so they let me do it. They also gave me chocolate covered short bread cookies. I brought them tangerines.

Closure part 1

I leave HI in 3 weeks. Today serves as a good milestone for the beginning of the end. To help cope with leaving I'll write some cheerful notes about the communities I'll be leaving.

Tonight marks my last 2600 meeting in Hilo. This is a meeting I started over a year ago with a rocky beginning and a successful legacy.

It began with me, lobst4r and Kitten Viscous sitting around talking about data storage. Tonight had 6 of us chatting up a storm. A member from our church comes, a former engineer, it was like play time for him. He brought bricked Linksys routers and he was so excited that everyone was excited about them. When his wife came to get him I said "thanks for letting Jim come out to play!"

I have some awesome friends in this group and it has always been a pleasure to talk with people interested in the same things but with a different approach and perspective. No one else gets excited about neodymium magnets like they do.

There's a 2600 meeting about 1/2 hr from where I'll be in MA, I just hope they're as awesome as the group I'm leaving.

I'm glad the group will continue to meet after I leave.

Priorities

Someone special came to visit for Thanksgiving. It was exactly perfect. Difficult and busy but splendid and refreshing; it was needed. But now, after a week away, I'm back to work and it's taking a little getting used to. Getting the time off was easy, boss didn't even want a reason.
I took a break to go home and put on socks and shoes to cover up my pedicured toesies from the mocking eyes of middle schoolers.

My work friend asked how I enjoyed my vacation. I scoffed, that was no vacay! It was work, it was driving, it was expensive. My primary purpose was to take care of my girl and everything else was secondary. It's something I'd forgotten; to be so preoccupied with someone else.

Rental

We shipped our Suby Fozy yesterday and rented a car to make it to Kona. I returned it this morning. The price with Kama'aina discount came to a cool $40. Add the price of my forgetfulness in filling up the tank and that bottom line bottoms out to a ferocious $107.

The upside is that instead of taking a taxi home for an additional $15 I ran into a friend from church and scored a ride with her. One of the many ways in which Hilo shines.