I left my social security card back in the US in the “important papers” box. We can’t remember where we actually left that box! Did we leave it with our friends in Pocatello? Did I put it on the shelf in the guest bedroom at Heather’s in North Salt Lake, or is it downstairs in that house? Perhaps it’s in the safe in the storage unit. Obviously it’s in a Very Safe Place. However, in order to get a Hawaiian Residence Card (good for lots of discounts) and to get a BYU-Hawaii id card, I have to have my social security card. So today I bit the bullet and drove to Honolulu to the Federal Building to apply for a replacement card.

The office opens at 8:30am. Google said I’d need an hour to get there, so I left at 7:30am this morning which turned out to be about an hour later than I should have left. The rush hour traffic into Honolulu was absurd. I finally got to the building about 8:45am but there was no public parking anywhere around the building. There is a huge parking lot around the building, but nothing for the public. I circled three times trying different side streets until I found a parking garage three blocks away on a side street.

When I arrived back at the building at about 9:30am I got into a line of a dozen people or so waiting to go through the front door and through security. The security guard at the door first checked your ID and then let one person at a time through the door. After emptying pockets and putting that plus shoes through the luggage scanner I walked through the x-ray scanner and, of course, the suspenders and the titanium knees set off the alarms. That meant a hand scan. It was only when all that was done and I had collected my stuff that the next person was allowed through the door. Two hours later after I finished my task at the social security office the line to go through security was more than fifty people long. Absolutely absurd … our government working for us (not).

When I got to the social security office and checked in, I waited for an hour and a half until my number was called. Two minutes later the replacement card was on order. I had to show my passport as identification and turn in the form. The card will arrive in the mail in about ten days. He didn’t say “business days”, but I suspect that’s what was implied.

Because I was already down that direction, I drove over to Costco and filled up with gasoline ($2.729 a gallon versus $3.289 up near home), picked up a loaf of bread, bought a hot dog, and drove home. I arrived back home at 1:15pm, five hours and forty-five minutes after leaving this morning. It doesn’t seem like I got a lot accomplished for the amount of time spent….

We had a pair of sister missionaries over for dinner this evening. These two came out from Utah but are Tongan and do a lot of work with the Tongan community when they’re not at the Visitors’ Center. They are both top notch missionaries and it was delightful to get to know them a little bit better.

Preparation Day is over. It’s time to go to bed and get some sleep. We’re working the afternoon shift tomorrow and Saturday. I wonder how much tile still remains to be chipped off in the fountain pool?

Life is somewhat drowsy….