Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now!!!

So... as many of you may know, Ashley and I have been saving up and planning a trip to Hawaii. For a Christmas and Birthday gift, my parents gave us some SkyMiles to use so we didn't need to pay for the airfare. How exciting, 9 days in an island paradise... just the two of us! Needless to say, we've been awaiting this trip with much anticipation and excitement.

The fates, on the other hand, seem to have lined up in an attempt to spoil our fun!

We leave tomorrow afternoon. The planning and preparations have gone relatively smoothly so far. We had saved up our pennies and were ready to have the time of our lives.

Up until yesterday afternoon, that is. And that's when the adventure began. I was making my merry little way to school for my last statistics class before the big trip and what are the odds? My car decided that it had had enough. Just pooped out right in the middle of the road. So I pushed it to the side of the road, called my dad and towed it over to our mechanic. All with the great prospect of a possible costly transmission repair looming over my head.

So we got home last night and started the packing. We figured, "Hey, they can figure out what the deal is with the car while we're on the beach. We're not going to let this ruin our vacation!"

Then, this morning, I stepped into our den to finish up some business on the computer before heading to work. And by golly... it wouldn't turn on. No matter what I did. D-E-A-D, dead! Not good. School projects that were due very soon, and many other important things were stuck inside that box. @#&!* Grrrrrr.

So, throughout the day and after a series of phone calls I found out that, luckily, the transmission on my car is fine (it just needed a new fuel pump), and my computer is resurrectable (provided I install a new power supply). So, that was relatively good news.

This afternoon, I picked up my repaired car and headed to the computer shop to get that taken care of. Just when I was thinking, "Well, things are turning out ok. Everything should be able to get taken care of before we leave." the phone rang.

It was Sue from Hawaii. She's the lady we're renting our condo from on Oahu (Ya, the place we're supposed to be sleeping at tomorrow night.) Apparently, we were going to have to cancel our reservation because somebody took out a phone pole with their car and the power was going to be gone for 3 days! What?!?! How does that happen? So anyway, after a futile search for other accomodations on such short notice, we were able to make some other arrangements with Sue.

So... one new fuel pump, one replaced power supply, one freak accident in Hawaii, and a little over $900 later... we're right back where we were yesterday morning! Except now our bags are packed, the fridge is empty (don't want to leave much in it for a week and a half), the mail is on hold and we're ready to go.

So HAWAII HERE WE COME!!! And nothing short of death itself is going to stop us!!!

P.S. We'll have a full report upon our return. Until then, Hang Ten!