China...here we come!

We purchased our flights to China this week. To our great disappointment, the price went up $500 each from Sunday when we scoped out our tickets and Thursday when we bought them. We just sucked it up and bought them before they went up anymore. For an extra $29 each we also got the trip insurance.

We will be gone for 2 weeks, it will be the trip of a lifetime for us. We are super excited. We will visit Kevin & Angie in Qingdao, Katelyn in Changchun, and then see the sights in Beijing with Katelyn and Kevin and Angie. I can't wait to see the Great Wall, Forbidden City and go shopping at the Silk Market!

We are working on getting our travel visas and I already have my suitcase out. I can even start preliminary packing because anything I would wear in 50 degree weather in China is not what I would wear in 87 degree weather here.

Brian is going to visit the Wiedemer Clan in Oregon next week. His brother, younger sister and possibly his dad will be there. I will have a week of chick flicks and such. I am actually going to be working a lot in the next 6 weeks. I'm working a few six day weeks to help save up for our trip since I won't get paid for the time that I'm gone. I have to accrue vacation time with my new contract and I renew the last week of Sept. That means that I will have little vacation saved up. In addition, anything you don't use each year disappears. Its a pretty terrible vacation package....something I hope to improve on someday at my next job.

Surfing Pipeline

So- I surfed the Bonzai Pipeline on Friday....okay, so that's an extreme exaggeration of what really happened.

I signed up for a paddleboard excursion on the North Shore. There were 6 of us total and 2 instructor/guides. We put in the boards on Sunset Beach and then paddled 4 miles to Three Tables. We went through many famous surfing areas. However, its summer time so its flat out. There were little swells and since I rode on these little swells and didn't fall off my board....I count that as baby surfing...maybe.

It was fun. It took a couple hours. I would paddle along until my legs were shaking or the wind picked up and then I would sit on my board and paddle that way. But I only fell off once, and that was because the instructor collided with me. It takes a lot of balance to be on the boards, so I was really sore that night and the next day. My arms especially from all the paddling. I was grateful that I only had a couple extractions on Sat.

Today (Sunday), we went to the lagoon and layed out. I've got a good book, Sarah's Key. And it was nice and breezy.

We've also been enjoying our new board game, Redneck life. Its a take off on the game "Life". The winner is the person with the most teeth at the end of the game. You get married, divorced, and get into all kinds of trouble. Last time we played, I lost, with only 4 teeth remaining. I also ended up with 7 kids.

We are working on our China plans too. We hope to book our flights this week. This is really exciting. We are planning a 2 week trip. Also, I got invited to the Interdent (work) convention in Vegas this Jan. My airfare and hotel would be covered, so if Brian came we would just have to cover his airfare. We've never been to Vegas, so we are thinking it may be fun. We're not gamblers, but I really want to see Cirque du soleil.

Hope all is well!

Too much excitement

I wish I was telling you about some awesome things that we did or saw this weekend....but instead.....Someone broke into my bank account or has my debit card number and emptied out my checking account. The person bought several plane tickets. I had to block my card, cancel my card, fill out a police report at the police station, go to the bank. And it's going to take 10 to 90 days to get my money back. Luckily, Brian talked me into getting a separate online savings account that I have money squirreled away in. But, it is annoying and now I'm checking my account all the time...several times a day.

I have 4 different student loans plus my cell phone automatically deducting from my account. I am lucky I caught it and am able to get money in my account before my student loan transfers. If I have a late payment, it ruins my chance of getting a 0.25% reduction in rate after 36 months of payments (this adds up to big bucks).

We'll see how long it is before I get my money back...

New work schedule

Work has been very slow....very slow the past couple weeks. However, for when work improves...I was offered a new schedule for when Dr. Pelagio retires in November. Brian's schedule changed to Tues-Sat this month. This schedule is to stay the same until this Jan. At that time, it may stay the same or change back to Fri/Sun off. I have been trying to figure out what to do. I received a great offer! I will now work Tues-Sat starting in Nov. I will have two days off in a row (Sun/Mon). I will work on Sat's in Makakilo instead of Pearlridge. This is great...its a lot closer. I will be only 4 miles from work. Plus the Makakilo office is really great...newer, patients with good insurance and money. I will be the only Dr there and I will have 2 assistants so I can get lots of work done (Sat is only 8am-2pm). I will work Tues-Fri in Waianae. This means less driving in traffic! They are hiring another Dr. to work on Mon and Fri in the office which means that I can flip my schedule to Fri/Sun off if Brian's schedule goes back to that. Basically I will have a flexible schedule as long as I give 30 days notice of having either Fri or Mon off. I am very excited about these changes.

Beach Nerds

Brian and I worked Tues thru Sat this week and both had Sun/Mon off. Slight change in our schedules. Our schedules are going to be shifting a bit over the next couple months until I decide if I'm going to permanently change my schedule to Tues-Sat when Dr. Pelagio retires. The advantage would be that I work 2 more days a month and match Brian's schedule. The disadvantage is that I get little vacation time, and won't have as much flexibility for when people visit or I want vacation.

We went to the beach on Sun and today (Mon). We walked to our current favorite lagoon..number 2. Sun it was very windy and we were all bundled up. I couldn't snorkle much because the water was really choppy and my ears were hurting from getting pounded with water and getting water in them. So I convinced Brian to go again today..hahaha. We went from about noon to 3:30. Sounds like not long, but when you live here and have other things going on (laundry, dishes, bills) we don't usually spend a full day at the beach. Plus, the sun is very strong here. I got some better snorkeling in today. Saw a turtle, a school needlefish (about 20 of them), lots of bonefish, parrotfish, groupers, and various other tropical fish. Also, found these cute little baby fish all swimming at the rope line (the rope lets you know where not to swim past due to the current). They were the size of my fingernail. I never swim past the rope. Only tourists are that dumb.

Then we came home to watch some exciting DVDs on Veneers. We watched about 2 hours of veneer movies. It was nice to watch it together because we could discuss it. Sounds exciting, eh?! I have another veneer case tomorrow in addition the one I mentioned before. One of our staff members broke one off and now we are going to replace them both. Like I said before, I'm exciting to start getting into something different that extractions, dentures, and fills.

I've been continuing my Hawaiian quilting. I finished my Breadfruit pillow a couple weeks ago (took me 4 months). I am almost done with one with coral and yellow fish. I'm then going to make one for Dr Pelagio's retirement gift. I may also branch into totes as I've analyzed my tote that I purchased at the swap meet. At first I thought it would take me too long, but now, I'm faster. And...what's the rush? Quilting is meant to keep me busy so I'm not shopping online. And you can only have so many pillows in the house. Although, I don't keep a lot of my work. I only have three here that I'm planning on keeping.

Off to my haircut....shame on me...I've been growing it since the first week of May. But the new shampoo that Katelyn gave me is so good that I didn't need a trim.

I deal with the public...

Remember in the movie, "Office Space"....The guy, I think his name was Tom, he was the guy whose job it was to take the complaints from the secretary and give it to the engineers. They reason was, "The engineers can't deal with the people, I work with the people." I think of that quote about once a week.

That's because of the "I deal with people" patient. I get one every week. Its someone who hasn't been to the dentist in about 30 years. They tell me how important it is for them to look good to the public because of their job. I can usually smell the problem before I even look in there. Another one of those today....most of the time, its so bad, there is little I can do other that take everything out...unless they have about 20K saved up for a full reconstruction.

I'm working on a veneer case right now that I am excited about. I'm trying to branch out into some new skills. I've been doing more molar root canals. Now I want to get into more porcelain crowns, veneers, and some bone grafting. That's the thing about dentistry. You can never get too comfortable, because the technology and demand changes. Its tough for me to get a lot of these cases where I work because there is little value in having a nice smile here. But I get some eager patients from time to time.

My mosquito bites have almost all cleared up. The final count was over 200 bites. Brian put a blob of prescription cortisone on each one so we could count.

Death hike #2

Some of you may remember our first "death hike" on Oahu...Lanipo trail. It took us 8 hours, it was a high ridge, it rained, it was hot, Brian and I both fell at different times on the trail and when we got to the lookout, it was cloudy so we couldn't even see anything. We were very sore and tired and didn't want to hike every again.

Well...we had another one of those yesterday. It wasn't a high ridge hike, it was a nice valley hike. In fact, it was a repeat of the very first hike we ever did. It was Halloween of 08 and we did one of the two loops on the trail. Yesterday, we wanted to do both loops. BIG mistake!

We had to drive to the other side of the island between Kaneohe and Laie. The hike was in Kahana Valley. I sent a video of it last time we did it. There was a dam with water spilling over it that we had to walk over at the end of the trail. Last time the trail was muddy. This time the trail was VERY muddy. But we were better prepared. We had our water, food, hiking shoes, and water shoes. We had a can of bug spray and sunscreen.

It started out so humid that we were sweating before we got a half mile. I had sprayed us with our bug spray really well. It was so hot and humid. There was little breeze because we were in the valley and we were in very lush rainforest. Sounds exotic.....sort of like in "Romancing the Stone". Not so much. We were sliding in mud and I was getting attacked by mosquitoes. For some reason, they have absolutely no interest in Brian. We think they can't get through his man hair to reach his actual skin. The first stream we crossed we were rock hoping and I slipped off the rock and ended up stepping right into the water. So I had one wet foot within the first hour of the hike. We continued on to the point where we looped back last time. This time we wanted to take the extra loop.

We started the extra loop and were walking through all of these Hala trees. They look kind of like a cross between a palm tree and a pineapple plant. They have long leaves as a sprout (I use this term loosely as a sprout is still taller than me) that are thin, but the shape of an aloe plant. They have these spikes on the edge of the leaves that are sharp. They were scraping against my legs, which was making the hike not so fun. We went on for over half mile and hit a water tank and a fence. There is no mention of a water tank or fence in our directions. We are following the pink tags so we ended up walking all around the big water tank. There were also areas of previous taro farming. Taro is a traditional Hawaiian tuber that grows in loose soil with flooded fields. These areas were harvested but the dirt was all loose and wet. So when you stepped down you sank into the mud about 5-6 inches and hoped it didn't suck off your shoe. We finally decided that even though we were following the pink tags, we were not on the right trail and trekked back. We found the junction we missed and got on the right loop. This loop was supposed to be about 2 miles. Keep in mind that during this time, I resprayed my bug spray 2 more times. The mosquitoes were so bad that even when I was spraying my legs they would stay on my legs while being pelted with spray.

We started the loop we've never been on before. It was very wet, the trail was not maintained well. There was a lot of overgrowth. I ended up somehow running my leg into a big stick on the trail and it was swelling up right away. One of those real bad bruises. There were several rope sections where you have to hold onto a rope to get around a tree on a narrow spot. We kept coming to the Kahana stream and having to cross it. We decided to put my camera into Brian's bag. We had gotten a new waterproof bag so that we have someplace to put my new camera if we are crossing streams. I switched out my hiking shoes for my water shoes. The water felt so good and cold. The water was pretty clear so you could see where you were going. We ended up crossing the stream 10 times! I couldn't believe it. We would never have done the second loop if we knew there were that many crossings. Sometime during this time, I went to get out my camera to take a picture. Only, when we opened the bag, the inside was soaked! One of our water bottles leaked and my camera and video camera were soaked! We transferred the cameras to my bag and dried off what we could. But I didn't take any more pictures, because we wanted to let my cameras dry out before I used them. Brian got a bigger cut on his thumb from one of those Hala leaves and I had a few on my ankles. We had blisters on our heels from hiking in our water shoes. But it was so muddy and we were in and out of the stream so much, it wasn't worth it to wear our hiking shoes. We are definitely going to be watching out for leptosporosis. Its a bacterial infection that you can get from stream water if you have open cuts. So if we have flu symptoms in 14 days...

We finally got back to the junction where we take the loop that we have been on before. We get to the dam that we crossed before. Only this time...someone cut the rope that we used to hold onto to cross the dam. Not very nice! So now we had to slowly walk over the damn with the water rushing over it with no balance rope. Brian put my backpack inside his waterproof pack and went first. I followed carrying the hiking shoes (we crossed in our water shoes). We went slow, but made it without falling in. Then we were on the home stretch. We were making bets as to what time it was since we forgot our watches. We started at 8:40. We finally made it back to the car. It was 3:20! We figured we hiked 8-10 miles. We only stopped briefly for a couple minutes because I was getting bit by so many mosquitos. We were sooo tired!

I iced my leg to try to keep my bruise from swelling anymore. When I get bit by mosquitos, I don't usually start feeling the itchiness until 24 hours later. I felt tired, but good last night. This morning when I got up, I looked at my legs and it looked like I had the chicken pox! Red welts all over my legs. Barely any on my arms, few on my neck. I went to work and picked up some afterbite. Brian called in a prescription strength cortisone cream for me. I got home and started putting a dot of cortisone on each bite. I have 94 bites on my right leg (probably more since I couldn't see the back of my leg well) and about 70 on my left leg. I started to give up counting, since it was making it itchier. So tonight we are staying in and I'm trying not to scratch my legs. In addition, I've pulled out two thorns out of my ankles from those Hala plants. I have two more that I still couldn't get out, that's tomorrow's agenda.

Half way through our hike, I asked Brian, "Why can't my hobby be shopping?"

We will definitely have a hiking break for a bit.....

In case you were wondering....

In case you were wondering....yes, that is the Black Pearl sailing out from the lagoons. I was reading on the beach at lagoon 2 and I looked up and there was a pirate ship sailing out to sea. It went out a couple miles and next to it is a huge catamaran that looks like a barge. This week, I've seen it everyday on the way home from work. Some days, there are smoke machines set up on smaller boats near it to add fog. I was so disappointed that I didn't bring my good camera to the beach. There is some sort of rule that cool things only happen when I don't have my camera. So I snapped this with my camera phone. I am going to try to get more pictures on Sunday.

I'm Back!

I know its been a long time since I've posted. Maybe eveyone's given up on me. But I had so much to write about that I was overwhelmed to start so I will just do some fast forwarding and go from there.....

I had an AMAZING time visiting everyone at home. I forgot how much I missed the mainland. Shopping was so inexpensive, big parking places everywhere, very little driving time and traffic, lots of open space and lots of loving family and friends......

Dad and I went to a Cubs game which was so much fun! I saw Ronnie Woo Woo and he signed my new cubs cap at the game. We had the best seats too. It was just such a great day!

Mom retired and is now footloose and fancy free! It was the end of an era. I look forward to more visits and more phone time now that she's retired.

The past few weeks we have been doing the usual...beaching it and working. We also went to Ahi fever again. That is the largest fishing tournament of the year in the Hawaiian islands. Ahi is the Hawaiian term for Yellowfin Tuna. There is also Marlin, blue fin tuna (Aku), Wahoo (Ono), and Mahi Mahi.

They finally opened up the taco restaurant near us and its been fun. It definitely does not hold a candle to Rositas for me, but it is convenient and lively. Last weekend, they had there official grand opening and there was a salsa band.

I have off work the next two Saturdays and Mondays which is very exciting for me. We are going to Maui this weekend for the holiday and then Bryan and Emily are visiting us the weekend after that. We will be doing some sightseeing and hiking in Maui but nothing like the 13 miles of hiking on the Big Island. We want to do more relaxing and beaching on this trip. We have planned to do the drive to Hana and also to visit this irish bar that will have celtic music. Then we just want to hit some beaches.

I'm writing this before work so I don't have a lot of time to post pics....I will post a couple...

Dad's fish...

Dad caught a 47 pound catfish in the Mississippi this month....This picture is posted online he's so famous. For a fee I can get anyone a signed photo..

Best Ever!

It is sad how excited I am about our new mini mart! But it really brings up our level of living. We toured it tonight. It is awesome! Bad points...its a little overpriced. But not as bad as it could be. Some things are bad....$2 mac and cheese (that's only 50 cents more than usual) and $2.39 for a 2 liter (usually $1.40). But the convenience factor is huge! We can walk there in under 5 min. It has everything from sunscreen, to hats, tshirts, souvenier type jewelry...... Also, has some produce, a deli with some fresh food items. Nice deli sandwiches for $7 which is great since there isn't anyplace where you can buy deli sandwiches except subway. There is also a salad station where you can get a nice salad for $7. These are pretty good prices for Hawaii...especially in a resort. You can also pick up your basic tuna salad on white for $3.50. They have a special for breakfast $1 for a donut and 12oz coffee. But I can't drink coffee before doing dentistry and I haven't had a donut since we've moved here. I have enough trouble keeping the Hawaiian pounds off without eating donuts. Anyway...this place is great and whoever visits will love the convenience of being able to pick up the basics without having a car.

Last baseball game

We had another stressful week of dentistry....somehow we made it! Friday we went back to the beach we liked last week...Lahi Lahi beach. The wind was lighter so we got our tent up easily and spent a good 5 hours at the beach....reading, listening to music, and swimming. I also went snorkeling again. I was wandering around looking for fish and turtles and one swam right up near me! He (or she) was a pretty big Hawaiian green turtle (the main turtle around here). I stayed about 10 feet away and he ate away and didn't swim away. Then he decided to get some air so he floated up to the surface and I came up too. It was funny, he looked at me over the water and blinked...and I looked at him. Then he went down into the water and stared at me. Then, more air and more staring at me and blinking and then more staring at me in the water. This went on 3 or 4 times before he went back to eating. It was really cool!

I forgot that my swim shirt leaves a two inch gap before my bathing suit bottoms if I'm swimming around and I laid in the sun on my stomach for 20 minutes and so I burned my back. It only takes 20 min here for a burn....even if you go to the beach once a week!

We went to the last baseball game of the season today. It was fun. We had some friends that were supposed to come too, but they didn't show. So we just enjoyed our hot dogs, beers and peanuts without them. It was a beautiful day....low 80s and nice breeze and we were in the shade. Also, Brian saved me during the game. I leaned back in my seat and my hair got stuck between the back of the seat and the shoes of the person sitting behind me. I couldn't move my head and I was starting to panic. I whispered to Brian...."My hair's stuck on this guys feet! Gross!" My genius did the classic arm stretch to place his arm around my shoulders and then somehow applied pressure to my hair half way down (so it wouldn't hurt) and pulled it from the grasp of the yucky shoes and feet! My hero! Unfortunately, the "bows" (Rainbows) lost 10-7.

Big day tomorrow! Its the day we have been waiting for.....the market is opening! We have watched the construction outside our condos since we moved here. It has been agonizingly slow! The most anticipated arrival for us is the mini mart. It opens tomorrow and is open from 6:30am to 11pm, 7 days a week! That is unheard of here. Its hard to find a restaurant or store open past 9pm. It is supposed to have the basics including wine and some deli items. We will check it out. It will obviously be overpriced. But now, we won't have to drive to Kapolei if we are having a diet coke emergency. We're also hoping for some good beers, poke (hawaiian dish with raw tuna, soy sauce, and green onions) and ice. We have the worlds slowest ice maker in the world.

Also, saw the movie, "The Cove" this weekend. I highly recommend it. Its sad, but important to know about. Its about dolphin hunting in Japan. I'm recruiting Erin to help me get everyone to watch the movie. Then we can, you know, save the world or something.

Signing off!

Night on the town

Brian and I had a night on the town last Friday. We took off work on Sat and went out to the bars and restaurants in Chinatown (lots of cool places there and not touristy). I finally got to wear what I call my "80s prom dress" which isn't that 80s prom...but a little bit. I don't have a picture at this time, but I will post one sometime. We went to several places with our friends, Tony and Amber. I had blisters on my toes from my shoes, but it was worth it to get out for a night. We stayed at a nice hotel with a feather bed, down comforter and air conditioning that we don't pay for. It was nice. Then Sat we recovered, I worked on my quilting and Brian worked on his tan and read my Smithsonian magazine. These are pictures of Brian's pet. He lives outside of course and suns himself (herself?) on the lanai with Brian.

Sunday, we went to a new beach for us...Lahi Lahi beach. It is near Makaha beach on the west coast (our side). It was sooo nice. We set up our tent and enjoyed the views. The water was nice there and I snorkeled around. I saw a decent amount of fish. There were turtles swimming around but whenever I got in the water, I couldn't find them. The water was so clear, I could easily see the bottom in 20 feet of water. I saw a needle fish as long as me. But he was quite scared of me and swam away.


Monday I had off work. I met Amber and we hiked (climbed) up Koko head. This is a well known "hike". This is not really a "hike". It is an old rail line that goes up a 1100 foot mountain that was used during WW2 as a lookout or something. You basically go up the rail ties that are like stairs for 1100 ft. This is not a fun experience, but Brian was working and I wanted some exercise and some girl time. I realized after about 25 steps that Amber was about 10 times more athletic than I am. At about 600 feet, I almost threw up. But I just started taking more breaks. She was gracious in waiting for me. One section has the mountain washed out from under it so you are walking on the ties with no dirt under you (there is 1-2 feet between each tie). I took the side trail around that part on the nice solid ground. We got to the top in 45 minutes (last time she did it she got to the top in 25 min). We took some pictures and she went off on this other trail that was too narrow and steep for my tastes while I tried to catch my breath and not pass out. Then we went down. I told her to go ahead if she wanted to go faster and I would meet her at the bottom. I liked my rhythm going down of 10 steps with one leg front, then switch, then rest. She started running down the steps and then when she got about 100 feet below me she would turn around and run back up to meet me, then repeat. She probably did about 6-7 up and downs to me while I went down. She was happy with her good work out, I was happy with my slow and steady pace and it worked out well.....until I woke up on Tuesday and couldn't move my legs. Today (weds) is still really bad. I didn't sleep well last night because when I roll over, my legs would hurt.

Anyway....I would like to introduce a new section to my blog.....dental quote of the week. I get a lot of great questions and comments at work. Some more entertaining that others. Brian and I usually get something pretty good once a week between the both of us. It may be something people write on their health history, a question they ask, or even a really good name spelling. I'm going to share a couple of the past two weeks...

Read on a health history under..."Any surgeries or injuries not listed..."
Gamma knife to the brain

Name of the week...."Duhsten" (Dustin)

Quote of the week....
Patient: "Yea, I haven't flossed since I got my braces off."
Dr. Webb: "When did you get your braces off?"
Patient, "2003"

Patient: " One of my back tooth hurts"
Dr. Webb (tapping on a tooth) "Is this the one that hurts?"
Patient: "No...its the stink tooth"
Dr. Webb: "Which one is the stink tooth?"
Patient: "The one that stinks"
(Dr. Webb does not remove mask to determine which one, but eventually, patient says its the last tooth)

Rainy Day

We've had some Kona weather this week...which means rain, vog, and muggy weather. We went to baseball last night followed by a karyoke bar for a bit. It was fun. I especially liked the big Somoan guy singing "Sailing"...funny....

They give you Kim Chee as your free bar snacks....(spicy pickled garlicky Korean cabbage). Brian tried to order the most interesting thing on the menu...."peanuts and beef jerky". We were told that beef jerky was out of season.....

We watched the Hurt Locker the other day...movie with a message. We also tried to get Mother's Day cards at Target. But there were barely any cards left....there were only 2 grandma cards! And one was super religious. So today, its raining so I will try again by driving to the mall to find a Hallmark.

Another note is that on Monday, I snorkeled in Lagoon 2 with a turtle. Oops! I think I just "buried the lead". It was amazing! Aparently, turtles come into lagoon 2 all the time. We used to always go to number one because its closer and bigger. But now that there is lots of construction on the Disney hotel on lagoon one, we started to go to number 2 to avoid the noise. I snorkeled for about 20 min about 10 feet from it. He (or she) would look at me, and then go back to eating the plants on the rocks. You could hear him crunching on the rock. Then I realized that it was "Lucky"...I had heard that there was a turtle that swam around Ko Olina that was missing one back leg. And my turtle was missing a back leg. I am definately taking people to lagoon 2 to snorkel with the turtle. Its in shallow water with no waves, about 10 feet deep.

Another first this week was that DeDe brought in breadfruit. She steamed it and it was sooo good. She made it in honor of my new pillow I'm working on...breadfruit pattern. It is like a combination of squash and potato. She taught me to put butter and syrup on it and it tastes like pancakes. But if you put butter and sour cream it tastes like potatoes. We have two breadfruit trees in coconut plantation and I'm going to try to pick some....I don't think many people around here know what to do with breadfruit. But now that I can just steam it in my rice cooker for 25 min....I'm going to make it from time to time.

Signing off...need breakfast. I keep having typos because I'm hungry!

Lame

I've been reading Katelyn's China blog and I feel like my blog is now totally lame. I really want to visit her sometime this fall.

I was able to get a voucher for our flight to Molokai minus $20 each which I considered a real victory. The Molokai trail is supposed to be open again by May1st, but I'm not booking it again until we are sure its open. Construction usually takes longer than original predicted around here....for example...The shopping, restaurants, and mini mart they are building outside our apt complex was supposed to be open fall of 09. It is now the end of April and we have had two places open so far. The ice cream opened and the Hawaiian BBQ opened.

We haven't been to the ice cream yet....its $3.50 for a scoop (not big scoop) and I'm having a hard time accepting that. We stopped at the Hawaiian BBQ place (run by a Chinese family) last week. Hawaiian BBQ is not what mainlanders consider BBQ so don't get excited. They have local plate lunch type dishes. This is a meat item (usually fried or very fatty meat) with two scoops rice and macoroni salad. Brian tried to order the healthiest item on the menu chicken stir fry. He paid an extra $2 so he could have brown rice and lettuce salad instead of white rice and mac salad. Until this day we did not realize how bad someone could mess up stir fry. The chicken was too authetically chinese...chicken parts that were fatty and sinuey. The veggies were barely cooked (Brian even likes his stir fry veggies with some crisp to it still). And the rice was like mushy oatmeal. I didn't even know you could mess up rice like that...especially if you are Chinese. I, on the other hand, chose wisely...cheeseburger and fries. Nothing too exciting, but it hit the spot and I didn't have to drive to get it. Of course my fast food type burger and fries were $7, but I can still see myself on occation getting it. In the future I will try their Mahi Mahi plate (fried fish, rice, mac salad) because I think its hard to mess up fried fish...we will see.

I went back to the outlet stores the other day and hit up the Banana republic store. Now my jeans were on super sale! I got one pair for $25, and another for $8. Also, I found a white blouse for $13. Then I broke down and bought a beautiful strapless linen dress with embroidery. The dress has boning in it so it has a great shape and has a sweetheart cut in front (very flattering). This dress was not on sale much, but when I wore it to Roy's (restaurant) last night, I caught some people looking at it so I know it was worth it. Brian loves it too, but he likes a lot of things I wear.

Its all downhill from here...

Well, I realized its all downhill from here. I've peaked at 32. Three events happened that may never happen again.

First, yesterday, I tried in a bridge on a patient that spans 4 teeth and it fit perfect! No adjusting. This is unheard of. I've had it happen once before with a crown, but a bridge that covers 4 teeth?! This is a dentists dream.

Then, today we went on a hike to Kaena Point. It was nice 65-70 degrees and very breezy. Downright windy....Its a dirt road that has eroded to where you can't get down it all the way. The road/rail used to connect the north shore with the west side. Its a 5 mile hike to the point and back. It is a great trail to go on because there isn't really any change in elevation and easy walk along the road. Just a couple places where you have to hike up the hill where the road washed out. I think Uncle Gary would love to go there with us.


The area at the point is considered sacred to Hawaiians as it is the place where the soul jumps from when you die. In addition, the point also is a sort of nature reserve and is where Albatross and other birds and Hawaiian Monk Seals rest. There are only 1200 Hawaiian Monk seals left and only about 100 of them live around the inhabitted hawaiian islands. They are the only marine animal to only live in one place. And we saw three of them! Two were resting on the sand and one was off on the rocks. It was so cool!


Also, we saw a baby albatross. We were walking along the marked area and I looked down and saw this furry thing. It looked like a brown furry bear all curled up...until it stuck its head up and we saw it was a bird. I was sure a big mama bird was going to swoop down on us.

Now, the third miracle. After our hike, we went to the outlet mall (after a nap). We stopped at the Banana Republic outlet for Brian to pick out shirts. I was looking at jeans (in celebration of the low 70s these past two weeks), I grabbed a stack because as all us ladies know you have to try on about 10 pairs of jeans to find one that you like. I tried on those jeans and every single one fit me like a glove. It was crazy! They were all on sale for $40 or less. But I had to be practical since jeans season is short. I just bought one pair (until I sneak back without Brian and get one more pair- ha ha ha).

Just talked to Katelyn on Skype, she's doing great! Cold though, apparently in China they turn off the heat for everyone on April 1st. But she is having the adventure of a lifetime!


This was the latest pillow I made for my dental assistant, DeDe.

Total Bummer!

I am SOOOO disappointed! There was a mudslide on Molokai and they canceled all hikes and mule rides. Background story....

We had a tour booked with Damien tours for next friday. Its one of my Hawaiian adventure dreams. Its expensive, but it is awesome! Our flights were $300 total to get to the island and then the tour is $175 each. We were going to fly to the island at 7:30am, tour at 9am, return that night to go to work the next day. The tour takes you down the side of a mountain (26 switchbacks) on a mule, elevation of 1800 ft each way to the Hansen's disease colony. You get a tour of the area...Father Damien's church, etc. The views are supposed to be spectacular! Now, there is damage to the trail and everything is cancelled. Our tour money will be refunded, but I'm working on the flight.

We could still go, but Molokai is 20 miles by 6 miles and there isn't a lot to do other than the tour. We will look into what kind of adventure can happen if we rent a car and drive around. The trail may take over a month to repair....

To console ourselves, we are going on the Keana Point hike today. A hike to the end of the island after the road ends on the west coast. We've been wanting to do this for awhile, but its always too hot. There is no shade there. Its about 5 miles round trip with no real elevation gain.

By the way, obviously, since I am typing again...my thumb is much better!

Kitchen disasters continue...

This will be short because I'm typing with one hand. I was cutting kale last night and took off the tip of my left thumb. I can't get stitches because there is nothing to stitch too. Its not too deep, just a bit below the attached part of my nail, but I cant look at it, its gross. I didn't go to work today due to needing those pesky opposable thumbs. We just changed the bandaging and it really painful. I'm back to icing. Ironically....Erin did the same thing this week on her pointer finger.....we obviosly get this from mom. I'll keep you updated..

Pyromaniac Week

I've had a run of burning things this week...after the egg incident, the next day I made Chai tea from scratch and boiled it over and burned it to the stove. Then last night I made salmon burgers on the grill and put the cheese on it and caught the cheese on fire (the part that was too wide for the burger).

This picture is of me with the ginger I bought at Costco. For some reason, I decided I'd rather have $6 worth of ginger that drive to another store and battle with another Hawaiian parking lot (small parking places, one way in and out, kids jumping in front of cars). Brian said they looked like antlers. That's half the ginger I came home with. Looks like we're having stir fry, ginger lime chicken, chai tea, and ginger soy fish this week.... We also have lots of greens from the farm. I bought these special produce bags that are supposed to keep things fresh and a special lettuce keeper. They have been a dream! I rinsed and bagged all our greens last tuesday and now its Sunday and the greens are still fresh and not at all wilted. Wilting usually occurs in one or two days. And my lettuce keeper had my baby spinach fresh 5 days post expiration. Usually its wilted and rotting about 3 days before the exp date. Its nice to not be throwing away food.

I caught this guy in our bathroom this week. He was hiding from me in a water glass while I was brushing my teeth. He was very scared. I released him outside.

I got my new car battery on Fri, I wore my shorts and high heels but it didn't help me get better service...it still took 3 hours. Two blisters from my shoes for nothing...

I was back at my tropical drink goal this week....vanilla vodka, contreau, and sprite...with grenadine for color. Tasted like an orange push up.

Just another item burning in the kitchen

These were our vegetables from the farm for the week. From left to right....Turnips, Swiss Chard, Carrots, bag of parsley, Red Russian kale, Tatsoi (green beans..not pictured).

I made a soup last night and tonight we had steak, and sides of greens and turnips.

Today, Brian got his box of Ken's hot sauce. Sad to know how much we spent on his case of 6 bottles. But he loves them and they don't sell them here. Its a year's supply...

But the real reason I'm posting is because I just burned an entirely new item in the kitchen. I started boiling eggs...over an hour ago. In case you were wondering, you don't have to boil eggs for over an hour. Apparently, after that long, the water boils off and they explode with a large noise. Egg flies around the kitchen and it fills with smoke. Just so you know now.....Oh my god...Brian is in there eating one of the eggs now. He says they're still good if you don't eat the burned part. Oh, except the yolks are as hard as fooze balls.

No Mongoose Flu for me

Well, I had a couple days of a minor sore throat and then it was gone...no mongoose flu for me! We filled out our NCAA brackets this week and we will see if I beat Brian for the....well...actually he has never beat me. Hours and hours of basketball watching apparently does not help. I feel that lack of basketball knowledge is my asset. So far...I'm winning.

I went to a free hula class after work on Thurs. Its here in Ko Olina by the fitness center. It was one of the more fun things I've done here. Its every Thurs from 5:30-6:30. It started a little while ago, but its hard for me to make it there by 5:30 because I work until 5 and usually I run over. Plus, we don't work on Friday so Thurs night is our night to go out to dinner or a baseball game. So I won't be able to go every week. But it was fun, its a good mix of women from kids to grandmas. The teacher is a dancer from the Luau place down the street. The class even had a Ukulele/guitar player who sang. So we learn the steps and then we get to dance them to the live music. It was so cool! Something about dancing with the music and having the breeze come through.....very nice. We learned two songs..."Hanalei Moon" and "In Your Hawaiian Way". I was jealous that some of the girls had the special skirts that hula dancers wear...not grass skirts. They are made of fabric and are called pa 'u skirts. Don't worry, I'll make one with my sewing machine. I just need the right fabric. They look easy to make, they are elastic waist. There are several strips of elastic at the waist. I will ask around at work tomorrow.

I will get the music for my hula dances and practice. Then later I can start my career as a hula dancer. I can see it now......Webb's Hula and Dentistry....Maybe "Dancing Dentistry".....or "Graceful Dentistry" (no not that one, I tripped on a cord last week at work).

I started another quilting pattern. I actually have a couple going, but I get tired of staring at the same colors so I find it easier to do different ones on different days. One is for my dental assistant, DeDe. She asked me when I first started if I would make her one someday. Its pineapples and hearts in yellow on a khaki background. Let me know if anyone else wants one. Mom, I have a "u pick" for you. I have one done and another in progress you can pick. I will send pics sometime.

Sat we went out to Kanpai (sports bar) and Gordon Birsch. It was fun. My car battery is on its last leg. It is barely turning over. I need a new one, but Brian's neck was messed up on Sun. So it made it through another day. Brian may need to jump it tomorrow....

Anyone else watch the show "American Pickers"? Its pretty cool. They go to people's houses and buy their junk....They are always climbing around someone's old barn.

Brian's Mongoose Flu

Brian has continued to worsen this week. He starting coughing up blood on Weds and finally stayed home from work on Thurs when he completely lost his voice. Sat morning he felt better so he went to work. After work, he picked up our new farm veggies. I made a great soup last night with it. Some veggies I had and some from the box. Onions, celery, elbow macoroni, canned tomatoes, chicken from our cabinet. And Turnips, red carrots, fennel and greens from the box. We also (based on a tip from someone at the farm), made the broth base from boiling the greens from the carrots. It was actually good broth, actually tasted like carrots. We had the soup with a bit of cheddar on top (I love that).


Brian woke up in the middle of the night pretty bad again so today I am calling in and picking up some antibiotics for him.

On a side note, on Friday while he was resting I went to the store to look at insoles for my sore feet. I have been having pain in my arches and heels since we moved here. The symptoms are classic plantars facitis which is when your tendons in the bottom of the feet aren't getting enough support and then as a result tense up at the end of the day and at night causing pain. At the store, I walked on this thing that showed inprints of my feet. Turns out I have two different feet and there is good reason for my pain. The guy says, "Wow, you've probably never had a shoe hit your arch." My left foot has a very high arch and my right foot is an average/high arch. This explains why my left foot points so much nicer than my right. Anyway, I tried a couple pairs and picked one out. It was very expensive! But to be honest, I didn't care. I had spent a lot of time at a couple stores trying on tennis shoes and I would walk out with nothing beause I could feel the lack of support in all of them. I was going to buy new work and exercise shoes, but now I don't have to because of the supports. For those of you wondering, I never wear my work shoes outside of work because of they are dirty with whatever hits them at work (saliva, blood, flying teeth). I tried out my new insoles on Sat and my foot felt like it was stretching and at the end of the day...no foot pain. We'll see how it lasts. But I will be able to move these around to all my work, exercise and hiking shoes. Which is basically what I wear 80% of the time.

Well, I have to get ready to pick up Brian's meds. Also, I'm going to pick up my corned beef so I can make a st pattys day meal...

More baseball and a Hike in the Rain....

Last Friday we decided to go to another baseball game...hey, they're only $6! So we went to an afternoon game at 3:30. Unfortunately, there was this really weird weather pattern....rain. Ha ha ha! We ended up moving into the upperdeck where the roof covered us. It raining on and off so they didn't call the game. U of H played Citadel and ended up losing something like 9 to 5. This time we split a hot dog and one order of fries, a few peanuts, and only had one beer. Much better. Last time we ate too much and felt yucky. The game was a double header (two games for $6?!), but we only stayed for the first since we work on Sat.

Sunday, we decided to go on another hike. This hike was a couple smaller trails strung together. First, the Makiki loop trail- 3 miles, then the Ualakaa loop- another mile. The elevation gain was probably about 1000 feet, not bad. It started at this nature center that we didn't know existed. It was back in a valley kind of near where some of our other trails have been (mainly the Manoa trail). It was lush and beautiful. Brian and I had minimal directional arguments which was good. We ususally disagree on the interpretation of the directions. Directions are soooo bad here. And he was right this time (darn). This is a picture of people doing some sort of martial art stick fighting at a park (at 8 am on a Sunday) on the way to the trail.

The trail was very well marked. I was feeling a bit ridiculous because there were a lot of people on the trail and they didn't have anything with them and we had backpacks and I had on my fanny pack with my camera. We are always like this while hiking. We have all this stuff and everyone else has nothing. We have extra water, food, rain gear, bug spray, first aid kit, cameras, extra socks, even toilet paper. We even got lapped by a 50 year old trail runner. Although it didn't last long (my embarrassment) because then we watched this asian lady with her big visor (completely overcast and in the shady woods) beating her arms on a tree for exercise. And then after that.....it started to rain. Well, we weren't going to turn back because this was such an easy well marked trail and it wasn't raining hard. There were lots of people out (not like our usual hikes) and this wasn't a ridge, just a trek through the woods. Well, I wanted to keep my baby dry (my expensive camera) so I put on my rain jacket and stretched it over my fanny pack. Brian puts his jacket on too and looks at me and says...you look pregnant. I started laughing and we walked on. But now, Everyone was super nice to me! Everyone would say hi and move out of the way for me and let me go first. It was kind of nice. Brian's saying, "Great, everyone is looking at me like I'm making my pregnant girlfriend hike in the rain!" It was really funny! But I wasn't about to let my camera out. So we didn't get a lot of pictures or video. During the hike it was strange because I was moving faster than Brian. Usually, I'm trying to keep up and calling break time.

That night, we finally went to Haleiwa Joe's (in Kaneohe) and Brian got his prime rib. He's been wanting to try it for awhile. They run out so we had to reserve it. It was expensive, but good. It took up nearly his whole plate. It was very tender. I had the Opah (light white fish) with coconut curry and pineapple salsa (my favorite there).

We got home and that night Brian started having a very sore throat and fever. He couldn't sleep and ended up moving into the spare room so I could sleep. From there he has been getting worse and worse. He's been sleeping in the other room so his coughing won't keep me up and to try to keep me from getting this. This is the worst he's been since we had our disease after we got back from our Hawaiian scouting trip and when we had the "Mexican Sars" after we got back from Mexico 7 years ago.