A snail in a spinning vortex

May 30, 2012

Sigh. Phenomenally frustrating day at work. I thought as of yesterday we had everything sorted out with the project. However, as of today everything is up in the air again. Scrap the IRB (Rob and Alex: again, not "I Rake Buffalo") proposal I've worked on for days. The plan now is to do a sexual health survey with some family planning, some STD/STI questions, and then some Intimate Partner Violence/Sexual Violence questions. I really don't know but we have to get this sorted out and moving soon. Still waiting on the NISVS questions from the CDC. Just frustrating.

In the meanwhile I'm working on a database for the Domestic Violence Fatality Review. I spent the day trying to learn enough about Microsoft Access and SPSS (a statistics program) to learn how to export a big Access database into SPSS. At the end of the day i finally got it figured out and working. However, Ann and I looked at the data and it is such a mess that we decided it would be better to just set up the SPSS database from scratch and enter the data ourselves. There are only 40 case studies to enter. Again, FRUSTRATING. A whole day of work swirling down the toilet. On the other hand, I learned a bit about Access and I am going to learn a LOT about SPSS which is certainly good for me to know.

Trying to stay positive about the project but it is hard when I've been working on this for almost 2 weeks and it just changes drastically so all the work so far has been pretty useless. The Domestic Violence Fatality Review (DVFR) is a great thing to work on, especially with setting up the SPSS database and learning all that. I just am not sure if that'll fulfill the terms of my internship since it is a different project. I'm going to give it to the end of this week and see if we get these issues resolved. I'll be meeting with Ann in the morning to go over all these issues on my project, plus set up the codebook for defining the database variables for the DVFR.

After work I was very frustrated and spent some time talking to the ladies at work about local restaurants and things to do,  then meandered a bit on my way home to enjoy the scenery. It was a good way to try to mellow myself a bit. It rained, but it took me 2 blocks to figure out it was rain and not a sprinkler or something that the wind blew an occasional water droplet on me. I took some pictures of some plants along the way. Even frustrated I was thinking of everyone back home and wanted to share some of the beauty around here. I enjoy the beds of little cactus (cacti?) that people use as almost a ground cover here. The second has lovely red and purple coloring which is very vibrant. The bottom makes me smile. A lot of yards have these and to me they always look like little patches of tentacles. Baby Cthulu plants or something!

Yesterday evening I made the black bean soup and rice. I took it for lunch today and ate half and brought the other half home. For dinner I finished that and had some toasted multigrain bread with some of my yummy fresh butter with Hawaiian sea salt.

Also, here is a picture of the entrance to my house. The second picture is two leaf patterns that were pressed into the cement when it was poured to make that decorative pattern. It is pleasant to see when you walk in and out. The third is a plant that is at the entrance. We have three of them in pots there and it is just a little bit of lovely color to greet us as we enter and leave.

I watched a old movie tonight from 1960 called "Under Ten Flags" about a German ship that sank Allied ships during WWII. Then for something completely different I started watching "Frances", a biography about the life of Frances Farmer. I won't finish it tonight, I'm pretty tired. Send hopeful thoughts that we get th project straightened out tomorrow. I suppose I'm learning how government works - in its own time reality at the speed of a snail in a swirling vortex. It seems like every step forward is caught up in that swirling mess and you never know if you'll be a step ahead or three behind. Goodnight my friends and family, time for sleep.

Me ka aloha pumehana, (With kindest regards, warm aloha)
~Melissa

My internship project details and a productive day

May 29, 2012

First the bad news - Somehow all my pictures from today deleted when my phone ran out of charge :( So no pictures for today unless I can miraculously find them stored somewhere.

Now on to the good news - I had a wonderful day :)

Today was an extremely productive day at work! Ann had appointments most of the day so we had a brief powow and came up with the list of things for me to do. Ann had picked up a nice bookshelf someone was throwing out so we hopped in her car and brought it here to my house. We also watered the garden and I collected mangoes that had fallen to put in the "please take these" area. Susan (my office mate) worked half a day today, she is out till Friday at a wedding on Maui. So my office was super quiet and I spent the day working on my project.

To understand what I did today I first need to describe the actual project I am here to work on. As stated early on I was awarded a position here in Hawaii with the Hawaii State Department of Health, Maternal and Child Health through the Graduate Student Internship Program (GSIP) funded by The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The project deals with developing a survey instrument for measuring prevalence of intimate partner violence and sexual violence here in Hawaii. Women are by far the greater number of victims of these types of violence though men are also victims. Understanding the distribution of this violence aids in developing prevention programs and interventions to reduce this violence. That is where my project comes in, in developing a survey instrument and a pilot test of that instrument to assist in finding this needed information. For information about my specific internship:

Internship summary The Maternal Child Health Branch (MCHB) at the Hawaii State Department of Health is one of three Branches under the Family Health Services Division. The FHSD provides oversight for the Hawaii State Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant Program. The MCHB supports a continuum of prevention services available to children and families in the State of Hawaii. The MCHB collaborates with public and private agencies, and statewide initiatives to decrease barriers to service delivery and ensure that the services provided are accessible, culturally and linguistically appropriate and responsive to community needs. The MCHB also administers a statewide system of services to reduce health disparities for women, children, and families of Hawaii.

Purpose This internship is designed to assist in building the capacity of the MCHB in development of an updated prevalence/victimization survey related to all violence topics. Current data are limited to programs statistics, police or other criminal statistics and extreme cases (deaths or hospitalizations and ER visits). The last prevalence study on violence (specific to sexual assault reporting) was conducted in 2000.

Goals A useable survey questionnaire on domestic violence, intimate partner violence and sexual assault designed to assess prevalence of victimization among Hawaii's diverse women. This survey will be designed in different formats for (1) a landline and cell phone survey (2) an online survey and (3) a survey for use with program/service clients.

Objectives The objective is to provide updated and accurate population -based prevalence data on the extent of the problem of violence in all it's forms among women in Hawaii. The results will be compared with what is known in the systems and program based statistics.

Data or analytic tasks and activities involved Literature review on available population based violence survey methdology and questionnaires as well as design and piloting of the survey with service/program clients and as an online survey.

So, what does this mean to the everyday person? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) results earlier this year. The project will be based off of this survey. The data for Hawaii is not available because the sample size was too small in most categories. Therefore they want to conduct their own survey here to get the data. The overall project will include 4 main parts: 1)Survey development, 2)Phase I-a pilot to test the survey instrument and gather preliminary data, 3)Phase II-full implementation of the survey instrument to gather data for analysis, and 4) Analysis and reporting of the results.

My job is broken into several parts:
1) Preliminary project design and planning - laying out the scope of the project, a reasonable timeline, and goals to be accomplished. This includes getting the actual NISVS from the CDC. 
2) IRB development and submission - The IRB is the Institutional Review Board. The IRB reviews research proposals to ensure they meet ethical guidelines and cause no harm to participants. Rob - no IRB does NOT stand for "I Rake Bears" although it does seem that way sometimes. :)  Phase I will be conducted solely among University of Hawaii students, faculty and staff. Phase II will include this group and others. Therefore, I have to write and submit IRB requests to both the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii State Department of Health.
3) Survey development - based on the NISVS a new survey instrument will be developed utilizing questions from the NISVS and others culturally appropriate for the complicated population of Hawaii. A LOT of reading of research and learning about the different nationalities and cultures in Hawaii make this extremely challenging. For example, the State Department of Health has to translate forms into 16 languages/dialects to address the mixture of Japanese, Chinese, Fillipino, Hawaiian, American, and each dialect of the Polynesian islands. The mixtures of nationalities and cultures is immense. Determining how to address questions on this delicate subject in a culturally sensitive manner is challenging. I am fortunate to have the NISVS as a basis to work from. Overall, we believe that the majority of the survey will come from the NISVS with some questions omitted and only a few newly developed questions. The survey will then be prepared for online distribution by entering the survey into Survey Monkey.
4) Phase I implementation - recruitment of University of Hawaii students, faculty and staff via social media and electronic invitation.
5) Analysis of Phase I - the survey tool itself will be analyzed and changes made as necessary. In addition, a database will be developed to facilitate data compilation. Also further data analysis of this Phase I pilot data to compare university responses versus other populations later will occur. 


Due to time constraints I will be responsible for 1-3 but if time allows I will also work on 4-5.

So for now I am working on parts 1 and 2. The prelim work is going well, I am waiting on the CDC getting the NISVS to us. Hopefully within a couple of weeks. They have responded that they are working on getting it to us. I'll know more on this next week. Today I did a lot of work on the IRB proposals.This is really challenging because we have to know specifics of the project to include int he IRB, which we have been working on developing last week and this week.

For lunch I went to the Kapiolani Community College cafeteria again and had a wonderful BBQ chicken quesadilla with grilled veggies, spanish rice and pico de gallo and guacamole on the side. I normally dislike guacamole but here it tastes light and fresh - what I imagine green would taste like :) It was super delicious. KCC has a culinary program and the cafeteria food is all prepared by the chefs and future chefs and served by them. This means it is sometimes a bit slow but VERY VERY yummy food. I sat out on the lanai and enjoyed a gorgeous ocean view and lovely breeze while I ate.

For the afternoon I worked more on the IRB proposal. I also put together my first deliverable for my GSIP requirements. The first deliverable is a Detailed Work Report giving basically the information I just listed above in greater detail. In other words, what I'm doing while I am here. Again, I couldn't do this until we had determined a lot off the prelim work on the project. On my way out the door I chatted for a bit with the new division chief who officially takes over tomorrow. Nice conversation.

At home I chatted a bit with folks from home then went downstairs to cook. I started the black bean soup that Rob and Alex sent ingredients for in the care package. I also braved trying out the rice cooker. While things cooked I helped Nikki reorganize the kitchen area for us upstairs folks including moving the new shelf in to replace a broken one whose shelves were being held up by the toaster and a bottle of ketchup. I finished cooking and divided up the soup into storage containers and the rice into ziplocs. This will be perfect to take to work for lunches the next couple of days. i am still full from lunch so I didn't eat any tonight.

I tried the soup - HOLY COW. Rob and Alex sent a baggie of seasonings to add. Apparently they like it MUCH SPICIER than I usually make mine. Thank goodness for the rice to have it over and hopefully mellow out the "Melt Your Eyeballs" spiciness level. I'll be sure to keep a big bottle of water handy for lunch!

I cleaned up my dishes, got everything put away upstairs in the fridge, showered and am now ready to put on a movie and get some sleep. I am thinking maybe the old  1959 version of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" with Pat Boone. Should be a nice old movie to relax and wind down with.

Aloha ahiahi ia oukou, (Good evening to all of you)
~Melissa

Memorial day walkabout (lots of pictures)

May 28, 2012

Today I went for a walk. I picked the opposite direction I had headed before which ended in Waikiki. I ended up finding some of the gorgeous homes of the super rich here. I took took some pictures of the plants I saw along the way and a REALLY cool gateway.

I found the ocean! It was very very windy this morning. I took some pictures and video of the ocean and the waves crashing against the rocks in the distance. I picked up a few small pieces of coral that way broken off and washed onto the shore to take home as gifts for folks. I won't break off living coral, but if it is washed up I think it is ok. The bottom three are videos, I have also put them on YouTube for those that can't see them here.

More walking through some of the gorgeous homes in this area. Jeff, I took the first picture specifically for you, look at the really cool window on this house. It is right across from the beach. I saw it and know you'd find it cool :) Susan, the second and third are for you - I think these are called Birds of Paradise in the second picture and the third I have no clue but they looked neat.

A couple more neat pictures. These palms look melted or something. they remind me of Dr. Seuss trees! Next is a picture taken across a local park, it shows some gorgeous scenery. The last is called a Monkeypod tree. I love these trees and you may have noticed I put lots of pictures of them on here. They drop these brown pods whichlook nasty but horses LOVE them because they are full of a sweet goo.

A new type of palm I haven't seen before and the gorgeous gates on that property. plus another neat gate from another multi-million dollar home.

I found Kahala Mall. I'm not a big mall person but they have a drugstore (needed a replacement alarm clock) and Whole Foods attached to the mall. So I went in and got my few groceries and had lunch. There are some things i just can't get at the farmer's market. I got some rice, some corn chowder with lemongrass, 2 ears of corn (I just wanted 2 instead of 7 so couldn't get only 2 at the farmer's market), a fresh loaf of multigrain bread (I've finished off the rosemary baguette), and a grapefruit.I got a cup of the beef bourguignon stew for lunch and ate it outside at a table in the shade.

This is Michael, he is homeless. He walks around with a duck on his head. the duck's name is Dougie. He solicits money from people to take pictures of him. I wouldn't pay him because he was drinking beer and I'm not going to support a homeless man drinking. He let me take a picture of him and the duck while they were resting outside the mall before they started searching trash cans. Homelessness is a HUGE problem here. the cost of living is very high and a lot of folks just sleep on the beaches or in the parks because with this weather they can. Most of them are not native. the locals say that a lot of them were given one way tickets here from california and other big cities so they'd get dumped here and no longer be an issue from their home city. I don't know if it is true, but I know a LOT of homeless are here. If you're going to be homeless it seems like it would be better here where the weather is always decent temperatures than freezing in New York or somewhere super cold. Like I said, I don't know if it is true or not. Regardless, here is the duck man - he is a local celebrity of sorts.He is usually in Waikiki but today he was out at Kahala Mall. He found a transfer bus ticket in the trash and headed back to Waikiki as I was waiting for my bus.

I rode the bus home and climbed the ginormous hill of death back to my place. It is REALLY steep - especially carrying groceries. I got home and did my laundry. $2.25 a load to was and dry, so $4.50 a load total. I hand wash a lot and leave it to air dry so this is my first and only load of laundry since I've been here. So I got that done and chatted a while with Nikki and her boyfriend Dave. He leaves Wednesday to go back to California.

I'm watching a WWII era movie on Netflix "Too Young the Hero". It is a true story about Calvin Graham who at 12 (he looked older) managed to join the navy in WWII and was sent to Guadalcanal. It being Memorial Day it seemed fitting. My blisters are done for the day and my muscles are tired. I walked for about 5 hours today, a little over 5 miles total. I'm ready to relax and call it a night.

Aloha nui loa, (Much love, fond regards)
~Melissa

Sleepy Sleepy Sunday

May 27, 2012

Sunday. My plan for today is simple. Sleep. Read. Sleep more. Read more. Eat in there somewhere. Sleep again. I am desperately trying to let these blisters heal up so I can get to walking.

I need some suggestions for some good books. Anyone have any they would recommend?

We just had 2 new people move in today. Erin and Jen. They are both downstairs. They are here with NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration). They are doing a 2 month internship with them.

We also had a lady move upstairs. Her name is Ren. She is Japanese and a friend of Sayuri, who came here right before me. Also upstairs we have Nozomi who has been here a little while.

Within the next few weeks we'll be full up with females. I have no idea what the males house is like. Nikki said she is turning people away because we are full. Kayla (who I met my first night here) is moving out, she got an apartment. She has been here a year. I don't know if her room is already scheduled to be filled or not.

I got instructions for where the locals go to the beach. It is about a 45 minute walk. I am not going to look for it this weekend but maybe next weekend.

I also talked to Dave about snorkeling. He is a serious diver and we discussed Hanauma Bay. He says it is a great place. It is apparently different depths so you can start very shallow for beginners and move into the deeper areas as you get more experienced. They also have lifeguards on duty. perfect for a beginner like me! I need to figure out how to get out there and try it.

No pictures for today, sorry :(

I'm specifically delaying writing about my project here because we're tweaking it. I will have more specifics this week when I get back to work. I WILL share the info about it, I just need to iron out some details with my boss.

Aloha,
~Melissa

Market and care package

May 26, 2012

Happy Saturday!!! As of this morning I have been here 2 weeks and a day. Really only two weeks since I got in late Friday night and basically just lay down and slept. However, I've had a week of tourism and a week of work. So to start my Saturday I went to the Farmer's Market as usual. I only took one picture there since I forgot to charge my phone last night and it was about dead. I wanted you to see the carrots that they sell here. The round little balls on the right are orange carrots. The small colorful yellow, pale orange and purple ones on the left are also carrots. They are really neat. I'd love to make a dish and serve it with all those pretty colors in it, I bet it makes some amazing presentation to the food.

I got some broccoli, 2 Japanese cucumbers, 3 limes, and a rosemary baguette. We have the community garden at work so I didn't need much. I also still have mangoes and apple bananas. I spent $9.00 total. Then I went in search of my new things to try for today. I got a fruit lassi from the juice people. It was yogurt, cheery juice, pineapple, and something else I can't remember. Very tasty. I tried to take a picture but my phone was too uncharged. I also got some spring rolls from the vietnamese food stand. 2 Shrimp, 2 chicken and veg, 1 banana. I took a picture of each with the lassi once I got home and plugged up my phone.

The shrimp roll is on the bottom right, with the tail sticking out. There is one GIGANTIC shrimp in there, maybe a prawn, all wrapped in a crispy wrapper. I had two and they were yummy!The one on top is the chicken and veg. It is unlike the ones we have at home. Tasty but nothing exceptional. I had 2 of these and was getting full. The one on the bottom left was the banana roll. It was a perfect dessert to finish with. It had an apple banana (they call them sugar bananas) which has some cinnamon sprinkled on. The deep frying of the wrapper brought out the sweetness of the banana. It was delicious! I only had one and am GLAD I didn't get two.

My plan for today is to rest. I am extremely tired. I woke up with a bad headache. Just from allergies so nothing bad. After putting my market stuff away and finishing my food I tried messaging some folks back home but they are actually out doing things today. I decided to lay down and take a nap. the rest of my day is not going to be exciting. Read, nap, take it easy. I plan to go out tomorrow and explore more, so today is for resting.

Meanwhile, my care package!!!! I got home from work and found a box at my room door. WOOHOO! It was like a birthday present. Thank you Rob and Alex for getting me such a fun box together. It is a great mix of things.

They sent a nice big floppy lightweight t-shirt that says "All American" so nice to wear for Memorial Day on Monday :)  It is on the bottom so hard to see. Band-aids and neosporin in case my blisters need the help (hehehe). A mini kite for those constant ocean breezes. Glow stick bracelets because it gets dark earlier here (grin). Nutella because it's just freaking awesome and yummy. Three types of tea because I have been craving tea (Indian Darjeeling, English Breakfast and English Afternoon). And a box of mini moos because they know I drink milk/cream in my tea! A roll of tie dye duct tape (because it's ALWAYS handy). A super soft small stuffed black and white kitty (I do miss my kitties from home). And yummy nummy soup fixins including a can of chicky broth, can of black beans, can of diced tomatoes with chilis and a baggie of all the dried spices needed. The dried spices made the shirt and box smell DELICIOUS.

A super big thanks to you both for the care package. I feel uber loved :)

As a side note, Alex graduated from Lafayette High School yesterday evening. A big congrats to her and good luck for all her future plans. Time flies for certain. It doesn't seem like it has been long enough for her to already be looking at colleges. Alex graduated with several AP exams under her belt and great grades that landed her some good scholarships. She also was a SCAPA student for her incredible voice and was on speech team for many years and did very well with that. Everyone that is privileged to know her are proud and happy that she has become such a beautiful, brilliant and talented young woman. She and her dad gace permission for me to post her graduation photo.

Malama pono, (take care, be right)
~Melissa

Friday, work and lunchtime wandering

May 25, 2012

I came into work to a delightful gift on my desk. Susan (my office mate) had picked some lovely flowers from outside and placed them on my desk as a welcoming present.

Work itself was slow today. I put together a rough draft for the IRB application in about an hour, which my only thing to do for the day. IRB stands for Institution Review Board. This IRB is for the University of Hawaii since we want to give students a survey. The IRB is basically an ethics council that makes sure what you are doing is ethical and not harmful. I'm going to make another post about the project and all that. After my hour of work I did a computer safety module and quiz that I am not required to do. It was about password safety and all that . I finished that before lunch. Susan and I decided to go to Kapiolani Community College cafeteria so we walked there. Here are a bunch of pictures from that trip.

This was my lunch. It was a roast beef hash patty, mash and mac with gravy. The patty was shreds of roast beef (very tender and tasty) mixed with chunks or potato, hand patted into a patty and pan fried till the outside was crispy. Interesting option for leftovers. The mash was mashed potatoes, not from instant. Both of these smothered in a brown gravy. Then of course the macaroni salad that seems to come with everything here. This was the mini plate lunch. I was stuffed and cannot imagine eating the full plate which is twice as big. This rankes in the top two unhealthiest things I have eaten while here. The second picture is Susan's lunch, which was a Hawaiian hot dog (a HHUGE beef frank topped with grilled veggies and jalapenos) and a cup of minestrone soup.

Outside the cafeteria is a peace pole. This is a worldwide effort to place these peace poles. On one side it says "May peace prevail on Earth" then repeats that in a different language on the other 3 sides.

Here are some plants and trees I thought looked neat.Also some type of nut that fell from a tree. It is soft and you step on it and it squishes, so not hard like the acorns and nuts that fall at home. I don't know what it is.

This was my favorite. It is a little plant whose leaves look just like butterfly wings.

We cut through Leahi hospital grounds to get back. They run a thrift shop open 2 days a week. I want to try to go next Wednesday. Here is an article with info about the thrift shop. The proceeds go to assist the hospital with a wish list for the adult day care, long term care, and hospice programs. Some items on the wish list that have been purchased from thrift shop proceeds are a handicap accessible van for the patients. Also, they can take some patients on trips to Waikiki for picnics or other outings.

After this it was back to work. I took these 2 pictures climbing the stairwell to my office. This stairwell is open to the outside with bars to prevent falling, and the top is a huge open to the outside window. This is right across the hallway from my office so this is my view.

I spent the afternoon reading the roughly 300 page 5-year plan for violence prevention for Hawaii. Then it was home and a package was waiting for me! I'm not sharing it till tomorrow's post :)

My first work week is finished. It was very slow, but that is expected since we are waiting on the CDC to get us what we need to get going. Now for the weekend :)

Aloha,
~Melissa

My office and some work folks

May 24, 2012

Today I woke up at 6:30 before the alarm. I actually got to sleep in late today since my first task was to meet with IT who didn't come in till later. I was lying in bed trying to make myself go back to sleep when the alarm went off. I went to turn it off and popped off the on/off button. Meanwhile the alarm still was going off. Trying not to wake up the entire house I scrambled and moved the dresser and yanked the cord from the wall. One would think I'd be very awake by then. Anyone who knows me, however, is quite aware I can lay back down and go right back to sleep. Which I did, till 8. So I got ready and headed in to work to arrive at 8:30. I had a delightful surprise when Lori called me into her office and gave me a couple of manapua. This is Lori.

Manapua is the Hawaiaan term for these chinese dim sum breakfast rolls. They are a sweet yeasty roll cooked with something in the center. Sometimes it is sweet fillings and sometimes meats. The ones this morning were a sweet shredded pork. Just think of it, a sweet pork filled fresh sweet yeasty roll. Yum. Nummy bread and incredible edible pig. FREAKING AWESOME. I had some guava nectar with it. Wonderful breakfast.

Next I hunted down Earl, the IT manager. We finished getting my computer set up. This is Earl. Earl has a puppy at his desk in the IT room, I'll try to get a picture of him tomorrow.

After getting it all set to make sure it was working we moved me down the hall to my new home. I will be sharing Susan's office. This is wonderful. This is Susan.

So I set up my desk and work area. After some tweaking for my software to get some updated versions of things I got started. We contacted the CDC to get me what I need to start the next step of my project, so while waiting I did some research and wrote up a proposal that Noella needed for a meeting tomorrow morning. She deals with Adolescent health. I will try tomorrow to get more pictures of people and explain what they do. This is Noella.

And this is our invaluable secretary!

So here is a view of my desk. During the massive research and read session, then after I was done writing the proposal and tidied for the day. I can't stand to have stuff cluttering up my desk. I had a lot of material to sort through, read, organize in my brain and get written into a proposal for why we need to develop a program. It is regarding a family oriented approach to teen date rape/violence and domestic violence. Because family is so important in this area of the world the family must be on board with the ideas of healthy dating relationships and that dating violence and domestic violence are not acceptable, normal or ok. So, regardless, I had about 3 hours to look over a LOT of material, find more online, and compile it all into a 5 minute presentation and end with a proposal for the presentation and discussion panel (complete with name of those to invite to be on the panel) for the September conference being held here (more about it tomorrow also). As a side note, I love my two monitors. People here thought I was nuts for wanting two hooked up till they saw me working today. Efficiency is a great thing. I think half of them want dual monitors now! I also found out that the name for this generation of kids is "Plurals". Pretty stupid name actually. We have the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Milenniums, and now Plurals. Yeesh.

And here is my door.

And the view from the hallway beside my door. Yes, that is the ocean. It is not a very clear picture due to the screen being int he way. The hallway is open to the outside.

So I finished my day and was walking out of the building. I saw a pretty flower and had to take a picture. Susan i hope you are especially enjoying the pictures of all the flowers and plants, I have you in mind when I look for new ones to take photos of and post.

So I came home and ate the other half of my subway sandwich and a cup of coconut tapioca (not as good as I hoped, but now I have tried it). I'd skipped lunch after the two yummy manapuas for breakfast. I had some water at lunch but otherwise wasn't hungry. I watched a subtitled movie called The Last Train which was very sad. It was a fictional dramatization about the trip in the train to Auschwitz during WWII. Then I watched Forever Strong. That was a really good movie... Think We Are The Titans rugby version.

Now I am sleepy and it is time for bed. I can't believe a week of work has nearly passed. I'll tell more about my project tomorrow. I will actually be working on it tomorrow for a bit so I'll have more info about it fresh in my brain.

aloha ahiahi ohana, (good evening family)
~Melissa