Keeping the Dream Alive

If living on a tropical island is so nice, is it possible to transfer that existence to the United States? I can't do anything about the weather, of course, but there are other things within the realm of reality.

Here are my strategies:

1. Stay in more frequent contact with friends: texting, calling, visiting.
2. Watch the sunrise. Thanks to the polution in Baltimore, the sunrise is quite beautiful. It's like a coffee commercial.
3. Say hi to everyone when I go running. People at Lake Montebello (where I go running) are so nice, they often say hello to me before I say it to them.

This morning some guy was rollerblading around the lake while playing the recorder. He played Greensleeves and Oh What a Beautiful Morning.

Oh What an Annoying Thing to Do

Is Hawai'i Really a Pacific Island?

This morning I went out running in Kaneohe, Hawai'i.

I passed a pretty busy intersection: Likelike Highway and Anoi Street.

There was a long line of cars stopped by the red light.

But in the direction that had a green light, no cars were coming in either direction.

Nevertheless, they all remained dutifully stopped and patiently waiting.

No one even honked their horn.

It was so cute!

My! How Americans have been domesticated!

Marooned!

On July 24 I went to Ailuk Atoll in the Marshall Islands for a week.

It was a week of utter isolation: I couldn't speak the language, there was no phone and there were no computers.

After my week was up, the airplane didn't come to pick me up!

For seven days I scanned the skies waiting for it to come. Seven looooooong days.

Finally, today the plane came. So now I am in Majuro.

The moral of the story: don't vacation in the Marshall Islands!