Just a quick note!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we've arrived safely (over a week ago) and all is well. Well . . . as well as can be expected without furniture and comforts. And we still have another week without those comforts.

I can't post any pictures yet because our card doesn't fit the laptop. :-( We finally got internet on Thursday. HALLELUJIA!!!! I can't believe how much we depend on the dumb thing. And I guess no one in our neighborhood uses wireless, so we couldn't log on.

Right now our furnishings consist of 2 queen-sized air matresses, 3 beach chairs, a boogie board and an ironing board (that was luckily left in the house here). With creativity these can be configured into "dining tables", "desks" and "entertainment centers". Scott thinks we've moved to the ghetto. For some reason, they don't care about their yards in this neighborhood (unless they are Japanese) so it looks totally dead . . . especially our yard. Maybe the water is expensive, like everything else here. We are currently looking for another place to live.

We've had a lot of frustrations, like trying to get our car registered, they inform us that we need to have "hawaiian insurance" first. So we call Geico, have them switch it all over to hawaii, call upon a new friend from the ward that we've only met once, for the use of internet, who has to call her mother because hers doesn't have a printer, and we all go there to print out the new "hawaiian" insurance, then run back to the place to get the car inspected just so they can then tell us that they don't accept copies, or email printouts, it has to be the original!!! OH FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!! Apparently 'hawaiians' have a problem with giving you all the information upfront that would be helpful. Is this their way of messin' with 'haoles'? I'm sure they get a big kick out of it. The other frustration, or shock rather, was when I called to get the electricity switched to our name. They asked if we'd had an account with them before, of course the answer was no, so they said it would be a security deposit of . . . are you ready for this . . . $909.00!!! WHAT? Yeah, that would be based on the 2 highest months at this particular property. HELLO, WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE BILLS!! And honestly, we can't figure out how they got such a high bill in one month to begin with because there is no a/c in this place. I said I'd call back later. We still haven't done that because we're waiting on all the reimbursements and paychecks that should be coming. Oh, and Scott's first check from work won't come until NOVEMBER!!! (so if any of you out there owe us money, now would be a good time to pay up, and soon).

On a more positive note, today was General Conference. It starts at 6:00 am for us. Yes, that would be 0600, bright and early. But the bright side of that is, we are done by noon! TADAH! But running off to the beach didn't happen because then Scott had Priesthood at 2:00 pm, but then we're all done by 4 pm, so the beach will most likely be in the forecast.

Well, that's it for now. We have some great pics coming as soon as our stuff arrives. Sorry it wasn't as quick of a note as I thought it would be.