Turns out that someone (or maybe someones) are actually reading this journal from time to time. So, I need to become much more diligent about actually clicking on this link, logging in, and writing. The previous post came while we were still in Maui, several weeks ago.

We’ve finally had some snow. Not much, just about four inches, but enough to be called snow. The weather has also turned quite cold as well. The front walk needs to be shoveled — even though it’s a south-facing sidewalk, the sun hasn’t become warm enough to melt the snow. City ordinance says we have twenty-four hours after the end of the storm to shovel the walks. I’m in violation!

Maui was a great experience. I’d highly recommend a week or two on the island for anyone. Don’t plan on it being a relaxing vacation, however. There’s so much to do that one week isn’t enough. Next trip we’ll put Sunday in the middle of the trip so we can have an automatically slower day to rest up from the previous few days. I’ve thought about what I liked most about Maui. The sights were beautiful, the weather was lovely, the ocean was pleasant. But, overall I think it was that Maui was much different than I had expected. I was thinking we’d be in a jungle, kind of like the Philippines, that it’d be hot, and that the mosquitos and bugs would be out in abundance. None of those preconceptions were valid. I don’t think the weather got about 85 degrees while we were there, and there was always a breeze to keep things cool. The air was not very humid. The western side of the island, where we spent most of our time, was actually quite arid — no jungle here! And finally, we had a great time. We’ll definitely return. I’d be quite happy to spend a fair amount of time on Maui.

In the meantime, after returning from Maui, I made a quick trip to California on business. I convened all of my managers as well as their managers and supervisors in California for a planning / goal setting / motivational meeting. The economic climate is not improving with any speed, so the next six to twelve months will continue to be very tight. Helping them to understand how tight things really are was an important part of the offsite. To emphasize that, we didn’t even go offsite for the offsite meeting! It was held in a conference room at the facility in Milpitas, California. We had a good time, however, and the time together seemed to be very well spent. Best part of that trip, however, is that I’m staying home for all of February! No travelling anywhere in February. While that doesn’t help rack up frequent flier miles or flight segments, I’m quite happy to spend a month at home.