We are back in KC now.  Frankly I am too depressed about the whole situation to even write about it.  Sigh.  It’s cold out.  Sigh.

We got back yesterday and immediately crashed for about 16 hours.  Man that flight from Honolulu to Dallas is BRUTAL.  I guess you gotta get there somehow though.  A boat would be even slower and I can’t swim that far.  I need to learn how to sleep on the plane I suppose.  I will keep the summary of the vacation on the succinct side:  It was good.  We did get rained out two days, which was kind of a bummer.  Supposedly they only get six inches of rain annually at the beach we were at, and I think they got the entire amount in those two days.  So THAT kinda threw us off our game plan.  Other than that, you know, nothing really to tell.  We’re pretty low-key on our trips.  I’ve got over 900 meg of pictures to sort and post, to hopefully quiet Carl’s complaining, but that could take a while.

All is still well in sunny Kauai.  The sun is shining, the beaches are warm, and the waves are breaking.  Saturday we moved from our timeshare property to a nice 4 bedroom rental right on Poipu Beach; a nice little upgrade.  My chief concern with the new digs was the lack of high-speed Internet access, but my fears were allayed upon finding a nice strong wireless signal from some benevolent neighbor.  Now my only worry is the #)$*%^ ROOSTERS THAT @#$(*$%^ CROW ALL #$&%^$ NIGHT LONG!!!!  DON’T YOU EVIL CREATURES EVER SLEEP???!!!!  Feral chickens aside, we’re having a heck of a nice time.  As of this writing, Colleen is upstairs preparing a hearty breakfast of pancakes and eggs, after which there is a very solid chance we will go sit on a beach.

We’re out of town, so let’s keep things brief.  We kicked off our bi-annual Kauai vacation on Saturday with a rather miserable flight.  Nineteen hours from the time we left our front door until we opened the door to our hotel.  Sheesh.  After taking a little siesta to adjust to the 4 hour time change, we settled into our routine of snorkel, eat, sleep, snorkel, eat, sleep.  Things are good.  Seeing some whales, doing some relaxing, that kind of stuff.  Of course I managed to sunburn my melon right off the bat, dang it.  Get it out of the way, I guess.  Haven’t even taken my camera out yet, so no pictures to post.

Due to the recent outpouring of passionate opinion on the message board, I put up a BBQ Survey.  It will be available for 30 days.  This is the first link that came up when I typed in “free survey page”… There well might be something better out there.

I was the poor oncall sap this past weekend, so not much in the way of “fun” to relate.  Friday night was Doni’s office Christmas party, so hopefully Christmas is now officially OVER.  We went to that dinner theater out behind Microcenter; The exact name escapes me but I am sure everyone is familiar enough with the “Microcenter” landmark to know what I’m talking about.  (If you’re not, you should be.)  That was pretty good entertainment, as office parties go.  Dinner was very good, and then was followed by a play.  (Hence the term “dinner theater” I assume.)  I appreciated the performance very much, especially in the sense that it removed any sense of obligation to interact with anybody.  Anyway it was a decent play… And then we went home.

Saturday I was SUPPOSED to be driving to Hasting, NE for a big “Army buddy” reunion.  Alas, I got caught up in the whole oncall thing and had to cancel the trip last minute.  This threw me into a rather bitter funk all day, so I just sat home and pouted.  Actually I did make it out of the house to take Gabe out for a while, since it was such a nice day.  THEN I sat home and pouted.  I was somewhat amused by the dozen or so voicemails I got from the Nebraska crowd, but I have to think it would have been more entertaining to actually be there.

Sunday I worked on my fancy “new car.”  Doni scored a company car, so I commandeered the Accord.  I guess we are going to sell the Civic, which makes me a bit sad.  Personally I would rather hock the Accord but hoity-toity Doni won’t drive the Civic.  Sheesh.  So, I moved my XM receiver over to the Accord and took the bike rack off the Civic.  I am planning to move my super-duper Polk Audio speakers to the Accord too, but haven’t decided if that’s worth the trouble.  Anyway, after finishing all that, I took Gabe to a “play date” out in Olathe and wore him out, then went and watched the Pittsburg/Cincy game down at the Brooksider.  I was still pouty about being oncall, so I refused to have fun of any type though.  I was somewhat comforted with the thought that in another week I would be laying on a beach, kicking off two weeks of lethargy.