Happy Independence Day! Got not one but two fireworks shows in Honolulu, after I'd been told that Hawai'i didn't really celebrate as much as other places.
First night in town, went to a little dive called Hank's Cafe. What a great place. Its probably the smallest bar I've been in (about the same size as the 1906 Earthquake place in Oakland), and Tuesday nights a couple of English guys (or blokes I suppose) stand around drinking and playing mostly Beatles covers. They've built up quite a band as well, though I get the sense that it changes from week to week, and you can tell that just about everyone in the place knows each other, which makes me the weird guy, but they didn't seem to mind to much. Listened to some fun music, had some weird conversations with a bunch of people, got cajoled into putting down my beer and singing a few songs (which were well received or at least nothing was thrown at me) and invited to come back next week. Which is impossible as I'll be on the other side of the ocean, but the week after, its a plan. This was one of the recommendations from Kim and I'm so glad she said it, I probably never would have found the place with her telling me (though I tend to run into little places like this pretty frequently, so maybe I should say I wouldn't have found it so quickly).
The rest is a similar story, wandered around the city, saw fireworks, had a lot of beer bought for me by the engineers who were off and enjoyed the hell out of myself. In other exciting news: I bought a ukulele! I've been going a little crazy not having my guitar with me, but it was just too crazy trying to get it through on the plane and carry it with me to the boat when I didn't even know where I was staying. So I had some cash left over and just decided to go for it. I love the little thing, its cute and fun to play, and I'm slowly learning how. Not too different from guitar, but you have to get used to how small it is and all the different chord forms.
Went back to the morning watch and 8-12 work watch schedule this week. Got a new spectrometer for doing boiler chemistry tests, so the 2nd and I spent some time checking it out and comparing the results to the previous machine. Did some more Excel computer work for the Chief. Starting to settle into a routine, which is good. Anyway, we get into Richmond tomorrow, and it will be a long day, so I'm off to bed.
Hawaii?! Ukulele?! Drunken singing?! Awesome! I'm so envious :) I, on the other hand, have nothing exciting to talk about other than work. You sound like you're having a great time :) I'm vicariously happy!
Posted by: Laura at July 17, 2007 7:34 AM