Where Do You Sleep?

We had tithing settlement last night.  It was the best one we've had yet with the kids.

• They almost all came into the bishop's office within a few minutes of our turn starting
• They actually stayed in their seats for most of the meeting
• They didn't write on the walls with markers
• They had a great learning moment with our bishop

Sure they were wild and crazy and chased around the gym and halls while we waited for our appointment.  But hey, we've had worse ... much worse.

Our bishop was great.  He thoughtfully and kindly taught our children not only why we pay tithing, how the Church uses tithing funds, and the importance of declaring our tithing status with the bishop each year.  

Then the bishop asked each child to state whether or not they were "a full tithe payer."  It was nice watching our girls cheerfully and excitedly blurt out "yes!" when each was asked.  When the bishop asked our son, we had to pull the ear buds of Mommy's iPod out of his ears to compel him to hear and answer the question.  He answered "yes," but was obviously annoyed at the interruption of his search for Star Wars video clips.  (Isn't technology great at keeping kids still for at least a minute or so?! :)

The best part of the meeting was when our bishop asked us all if we had any questions.  Our son and younger daughter shot up their hands, eager to ask a question.  Our son was called on first.  He asked some vague question that was probably loosely relevant to the purpose of the meeting.  Then the bishop called on our daughter.  I was charmed by the way she grinned with little bright white teeth gleaming and her head slightly cocked to one side as she asked, "um ... where do you sleep?"  It was so adorable to witness her naive, but sincere curiosity in such a simple little question.  The thought of the bishop taking up residence in a Mormon church, huddled in some corner classroom on a cot was so humorous to me.  And never mind the thought of the poor former bishop, released just a year ago, displaced from his "home" just days before Christmas.  Of course the bishop was very kind in his answer.  He just smiled, perhaps holding back a chortle, and answered simply that he was just like our family, and had a home nearby, with a nice warm bed to sleep in.

Of course, to our young daughter, it seemed natural to assume that the bishop lived at the church building.  She only ever really saw him at the church.  Or, at least, if she did see him elsewhere, he wasn't dressed up in his suit.  This was her first year in the main primary as well.  So she is still learning so much and figuring out how things work.  And of course, she had seen lots of the church building, nearly every hall, chapel, and room.  There was a kitchen, and bathrooms.  But she hadn't ever come across a room with a bed in it!  Hmmm.

I guess it just goes to show how much the bishop really does do for us.  It truly is nearly a full-time job in and of itself, despite the lack of pay.  Yet the bishop, of course, still has his own family and non-ecclesiastical career to maintain.  It truly must be possible only with a great deal of divine help.  It's definitely a post I would not feel up to holding.  I am extremely grateful to those whom the Lord does prepare and help to be called to such a position.

Aloha!

So, I've been sent on another business trip to Hawai'i.  OK, so big deal.  It's not all fun in the sun and relaxation in a tropical paradise.  No really, it's really not.  I'm not kidding.  Oh, whatever, believe what you want.

This trip is all the buzz back at the office.  Everyone seems to have heard about the program that has sent people to Hawai'i.  "Oooh, now that must be a really tough assignment." [Insert sarcasm here.]  It's kind of ironic that one of our smaller programs is getting so much attention from so many people in the office.  I hear several may be attempting to discover "legitimate" business reasons to come join the traveling team to meet with customers, etc., especially the etc.

Seriously, it's not all it's cracked up to be.  Sure we do get a little bit of time to enjoy the sites, sounds, and especially tastes of Hawai'i.  But there are serious down-sides to it too.  Take our schedule, for example.  This week we meet at the hotel resort at 1 AM to begin our travel to the work sites.  The travel time on Maui from the hotels in Kihei to the summit of Haleakala is about 90 minutes.  I'm currently on the Big Island.  Our travel time from the resort at Waikoloa to the NOAA facility near the top of Mauna Loa is closer to 110 minutes.  Then we work at the site for about 6 to 8 hours; our time is limited on the sites because our customer is worried about long-term exposure to high-altitude conditions.  So we do our experiments and collect our data, and turn around and go back down the mountain.  So basically half of our 24-hour day is spent at work, during not-so-enjoyable hours of the day, and a third of that time is spent traveling.  And please note that it is not necessarily pleasant travel.  It's mostly motion-sickening winding switchback roads.  Here on the Big Island, it's also a very rough, pothole-filled road much of the way.  Right now, I also don't have a car.  So for any personal time remaining, I'm mostly limited to the locations within walking distance in the Waikoloa Beach Resort, which is about 20 miles away from anything else of significance on the island.

The worst part about it is how much I miss my family while I'm here.  Sure, my co-workers, other contractors, and the customers are all really pleasant people to live and work with.  But being away from my spouse and children for four weeks is definitely no picnic, neither for me, nor for them.

That said, there are still some really neat things about the trip.  This is my second time doing this for the company.  Last time, I got to bring Rae out for a few days before we started our work.  We stayed on Oahu and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center, the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, and other neat sites.  But it was really sad to send Rae off on one plane towards home while I got on another flight towards work on Maui.  But I've also been able to see a fair amount of the islands of Maui and Hawai'i.  The road to Hana is really beautiful.  And seeing live volcanic activity in action at the Hawai'i Volcanos National Park was really amazing.  I've really enjoyed visiting the La'ie Temple and the Kona Temple too.  Yes, the food in Hawai'i is really delicious too, when we get a chance to enjoy it.  Most restaurants have limited lunch and dinner hours that don't match well with our work schedule.  Much of the time they are only open when we need to be sleeping to get ready for an early start the next morning.

In case you are interested, we are testing a faster-than-broadband Internet-like connection.  I was a lead developer of the networking software for this product.  We are testing our network connections between the two mountain tops.  I have been told these two volcanos are the only two such sites at a great distance from each other, but still within line-of-sight of each other anywhere in the USA; hence the reason for this location.  What we are working on is really cool technology and actually one of the most exciting parts of this trip for me.

Here are some more pictures of my trip this year.

Wii, je suis Fit

I'm still persisting with my Wii Fit exercises.  I've passed the 100-day mark and my fit piggy bank is now silver.

I have found this to be one of the most amazingly motivating things for me.  It's a great mix of excellent design with really cool technology.  I'm always a sucker for that kind of thing, hence my addiction to Apple products.

I don't have time to do much with it, but I try to do it every day of the week except Sunday.  Mostly I just do push-ups/side planks and jackknives.  The balance games are sometimes pretty fun too.  I'd love to take more time to do the yoga, but just can't find enough time for it when I work out in the mornings.   I love how I can really easily track my  BMI and weight each day.  It's exciting to work toward a goal.  The only thing that bugs me about it is when it switches trainers on me occasionally.  Maybe if the lady trainer looked as good as Rae that would be OK ;)  But otherwise, No Thank You.  Now I just wish I could have it with me when I travel. :(

Who knows, maybe with persistence, some day my arms won't be so pencil thin!