I am back with an update. I seem to go through cycles of posting every year or two.

I have been very busy working. Things are going really well and I have some interesting opportunities that I am pursuing. My Kona coffee spa line has been a big success. Plus, it is fun to create something that you really enjoy. It also gives me something to do with the coffee & espresso grounds! I have also been spending a lot of time working on developing a clothing line (just tees for now) to accent the handbags, jewelry, and footwear that I have been creating. I think I am really going for a “lifestyle company” concept. It is great fun…

Not much else is going on right now - things are just sailing along smoothly. Alternatively, I have been working so much that I haven’t paid attention to much else! At any rate, things are going well.

I just finished reading Cyrano de Bergerac and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I enjoyed Cyrano greatly and disliked Lady Chatterley’s Lover. It is most certainly not Lawrence’s greatest work. Why do most people actually enjoy it? I thought it was extraordinarly shallow and lacked the depth that The Rainbow had in great amounts. I still think The Rainbow is his finest work only equaled by Women in Love. Sons and Lovers was very good but it was not of the same caliber as The Rainbow. Any opinions or thoughts?

The only other thing that I have been doing is creating new and unusual beads and strange art with polymer clay. I will have to post some of the things that I have been creating. I am thinking about getting into making stained glass. I talked with a stained glass artist and he passed along some suppliers and other people to talk to about it. It seems like it would be very interesting. Unfortunately, I don’t have a kiln so I would not be able to do some of the things I would want to do. I might think about getting into using a torch. We shall see!

I did have to check myself into the hospital last week for some tests.  That was a thrill.  I was having some gall bladder pain (definitely not the first time) and went to the doctor to chat about it.  They did a ton of blood work and sent me to get an ultrasound of my gall bladder.  That was a total waste of time.  The idiotic technician at the hospital spent an hour and a half probing my abdomen and she couldn’t locate my gall bladder!  She found my liver, spleen, kidneys, and stomach.  She even built a 3d model of my internal organs but she could not locate my gall bladder.  She asked me twice if I was there because I had it removed!  She also lost my file and had to go search for it.  She did the ultrasound in some hallway with a half curtain - I had to get undressed in front of people!  It was my first time at the delightful Hilo hospital and hopefully my last time.  When she finished the ultrasound she did not know what she was supposed to do with me.  She said she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to take me to the surgeon for a consultation or if she was supposed to release me.  She decided to release me since she couldn’t find my gall bladder and therefore it must not be a problem!  That place is a hell hole.  Anyway, I did all of my labs and I am waiting for the surgeon to call me and setup an appointment.  Of course, I will never let anyone cut me open on this island for any reason.  They would kill me.  In the mean time, the doctor said I could develop gangrene of my gall bladder from the chronic swelling and infection.  Or I might already have it…  Good times!

Anyone else taking up any new and fun hobbies? Anything exciting going on? Any interesting politics, books, or information to discuss?

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I apologize for not posting over the last couple of weeks. I was in Honolulu for a few days visiting with my parents and going to Pearl Harbor. I was able to take a tour of the USS Missouri and that was really very interesting. It is not often that civilians can take a tour of a battleship that was recently decommissioned. I was also able to see a nuclear submarine that was in Pearl Harbor along with an array of other ships. I also spent some time shopping for new clothes in Honolulu - fun, fun. After that excursion, my parents flew back to Hilo with me. It was not a fun visit - we did absolutely nothing. My father literally would not leave our living room because he was watching TV on his laptop the entire time. They complained about it being too hot all the time (it was actually cold) and complained about the people - well everything. My father also cornered Brian and talked to him for about three hours and told him we need to move to Florida because it is so great (so great that my parents moved from there). Brian was in a horrible mood the whole time, my parents spent the entire time planning where to sit on the plane ride back and complaining about how long it takes to get here (yes, it does when you don’t take the direct flight you should have taken and instead get stuck with 6 hour layovers so you can save $5).

After all of that, I had to get ready for a “trunk show” for all of my handbags, Swarovski flip-flops, pareos, and jewelry. I had a terrible first day but the last two days were fabulous. Several people actually had me autograph the items! It was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to my next show and I was also invited to take part in a show that is by invitation only - so I am thrilled. My jewelry was also a hit and the cruise ship tourists loved it. A number of people told me I should open my own store on the bayfront and everyone was very complimentary of my products. The hours were extremely long - I arrived at 7 am and left after 8 pm and had to get up early and go to bed late to get things ready. It is a lot harder to work 13 hour days when you have to interact with people constantly compared to working 13 hours at home! I think I caught some kind of virus from the show - probably a result of being around all those people, handling money, being in recycled and air conditioned air, and keeping long hours. I have also been having gall bladder attacks again (I had a severe one in Honolulu) so I am currently taking care of that. Fun.

I am in the process of setting up my kitchen laptop since Brian just got a new laptop and he is having a great time getting it ready to use.  I finally decided on some  kitchen software - The Living Cookbook - it seems to be the most robust program in its category and it does exactly what I want it to do. I should be able to synch it with my new cell phone when I go get a new one.

Our trip to Kauai is coming up next week after Brian gives his final.  Hooray!  After that, Brian will be heading to California to visit his family for Xmas.

More later…

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I am working towards a launch tomorrow of Katy Johnson Resort Wear. I currently just have a few additional things to do - setting up the payment information and also finishing up pictures and some inventory related things (like sorting through the hundreds of flip flops I have). I am excited. Things are moving along nicely… Now, I only have to get my advertising campaign ready to go ASAP.

I actually helped my Dad work through his internet related woes this evening and the venture was successful. We did not even butt heads in the 1.5 hour long phone call. Hooray. The ENTJ and INTJ can get along, it would seem.

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I stayed up all night working on my business website.  I am utterly exhausted.  I tried to stay awake with caffeine [Diet Coke] which I now dislike with a passion.  Never one to really drink soft drinks I must say that drinking enough to stay awake was a rather disgusting experience.

At any rate, my plans to work on my business website were foiled numerous times.  First, the ZenCart template was horrible and continued to not do what it should do based on the code.  But it appeared that the custom template was making calls to other pages that were inconsistent with what is typical.  So, I had to scrap that.  I moved on to osCommerce but it was lacking in features compared to ZenCart (it’s sister cart) and I had a number of other problems that I had with ZenCart.  Finally, I settled on CubeCart - which I had actually dealt with long ago and did not have a problem with it.  It is less robust than ZenCart but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - especially when I am crazy from lack of sleep.  Fortunately, I actually have the website operational.  I just need to add the stock and photos of the products then I will be ready.  I suspect everything will be [properly] finished by tomorrow.  I would hate to launch when I am crazy from lack of sleep.

In retrospect, I realize now that I am just too old to pull all-nighters like I used to do as almost everynight.

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I have been extremely busy lately. My launch is soon (hopefully this week) and things have been crazy. I have constantly having tension headaches and migraines and therefore living on Excedrin (not great, I know). I am also exhausted but I slept in this morning so hopefully I will be more productive.  Nonetheless, things are getting done. I just sent my product hang tags off for production and should have them in about a week. I currently have my business cards being re-designed and my website header was just completed so the website is nearing completion. I am also waiting to ship off some fabric to be cut but that will have to wait since I require bags from FedEx to ship the rolls of fabric to the cutting facility.

I am also very proud of Brian and how he is learning to manage his own blog. I think it is great that he finally has a blog. He also said he would never teach online a long time ago - but he is doing that now as well. He is finally embracing technology. Hooray for him!

I still have a great deal to do and little time to do it all in!

More later…

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Brian’s parents just visited and we had a grand time.  We went snorkeling in Hilo several times and had a great time seeing the variety of fish out and about.  I saw my first snake eel and later snake eel babies.  On Brian’s birthday he and his father went hiking in North Kohala and had a lot of fun exploring Polulu Valley and the neighboring valley.  We also went to the Lava Tree State Park down near Pahoa.  We also visited the astronomy center at UHH (Imiloa) and did star gazing on Mauna Kea.  The evening on Mauna Kea was less than enjoyable for me though - I was car sick on the hour long ride to Mauna Kea which was further exacerbated by taking a 1 mile walk at 9000 feet mostly uphill on the way back at sunset when it was about 50 degrees.  I felt horrible the whole night but fortunately I woke up feeling better the next day.  We also visited the Kaumana Caves but I did not walk very far as my shoes proved to be inadequate for the task.  I think everyone had a good time…

Brian and I also went to an rough water  race while his parents were visiting.  We checked it out and I am currently thinking about doing the 2 mile Kealakekua Bay rough water race.  I surely will not win but I think it would be a lot of fun.  Brian is now using this as yet another excuse to talk me into doing qualifying races for the Ironman.  I think I will pass as I am not interested in dying before I turn thirty, thank you very much.

I was also able to bodyboard at Hapuna and was able to ride one absolutely perfect wave and a bunch of not so perfect waves.  I did get a nasty burn.  While in the water I was trying to remember why I had made such a big deal about wearing my board shorts but I could not recall why - it became obvious to me later when my derrière burned.

While at Kona Bay Books, Brian spotted Da Jesus Book - the Pidgin Bible.  Seriously, I am speechless.

In other news, the Big Island is getting Target, Circuit City, PetSmart (I think), PF Changs, and Office Max all on the Kona side.  I am not exactly excited.  I like Target and would gladly trade in Walmart and Kmart for it but seriously we don’t need all of those stores.

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On Sunday, Brian and I spent the day hiking on Mauna Kea at about 10,000 feet.  It was also misting, foggy, and about 55 degrees.  We had a great time but were completely exhausted after we finished hiking.  Altitude hiking really takes it out of you…

Brian’s parents are coming to visit next week and we should all have a lot of fun hiking, doing water activities, etc.

Also, Brian has decided to go to China for a year to work at a university there.  That should be interesting.

More later - I’m too sleepy to function properly at the moment.

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