It is about 815p right now, probably 85 degrees and it just started pouring rain. I like it when it pours at night because it usually provides a little breeze and the noise is soothing. That was for you Jerry.

The last couple days, I've been sitting in on a jury trial. That's been sometimes interesting and sometimes frustrating and boring because of the defense counsel. The prosecutor, Moi, is from Seattle and even though he's a Coug, he's a good attorney and has done a nice job. I'm mostly just watching, taking notes and making a very few suggestions.

Running was less bad today. I already feel quite a bit better since starting that. I keep running into obstacles when putting that stupid machine together. The first obstacle was laziness and that persisted for a couple days since I was dreading it after my first day at it. The second problem was that I don't have any tools here and I reached a point where I needed at least a wrench. So I bought a monkey wrench. That worked for a while, but now I'm to the point where I need another wrench to hold the other side of a bolt from spinning. Today I went to buy another one or a socket set (even though I have one en route), but the hardware store was closed. Now I decided I'm just going to borrow tools.

So far, Meg is coming out here on April 26 and leaving May 3. My parents are arriving July 1 and leaving July 8. If you would like to come at those times, I think we'll be heading to Western Samoa for a few days for both. You are certainly welcome to head out whenever you can make it. I have a guest bedroom, and once my stuff gets here, I can fairly comfortably sleep 6 guests and could easily cram more in. Another really good stint to come out here would be over Labor Day since it would save you and me a day off, or Veteran's Day if you want to wait until then. Or, if you wanted to wait until Christmas, I think my parents, Meg, and Andrea are going to meet me in Fiji. I'll probably be there something like Dec 20- Jan 2, but I could probably go a little longer if adjoining days work for anyone to hang out in Fiji. Or whenever for visiting AS, just let me know, its no problem for me at all.

If you want to hang out here, and you really like snorkeling, you could easily entertain yourself doing that for a week. There is great scenery here around the island. There are a couple good hikes to tops of mountains and a few good hikes to beaches, and a good hike through a jungle valley. I have done zero hikes so far, but that is what I hear. As far as nightlife, that's pretty much a negatory- at least as far as I hear. There are some cool places to hang out, but you pretty much have to bring your own group as most places are dead. Apparently the exception is the bowling alley. I haven't been there yet, but I guess it has a busy bar/danceclub part to it, at least on weekends. It's also a doable walk from here. I've only been a few places, but based on what I've been told, there are only a couple really good places to eat on the island so this isn't a dining destination, unless you count eating what I cook (which as you know can be pretty good - occasionally screwed up though (bread, rice, too hot, etc.)). There aren't big beaches here like at Long Beach or Ocean Shores for example. Here, the beaches aren't very wide between their start and the water. Plus, usually, at a beach, the water is shallow (maybe 2 feet deep) and stays shallow for maybe 100 yards where the waves break on the reef. Even where the waves break, the water is usually still not deep. The good snorkling places have trenches between the beach and the reef break. For example, at Tisa's Bar beach, once you go out maybe 40 yards, there's a 60 foot deep trench. That's great because there are just tons of fish there and you don't have to worry about getting scraped on the reef. But on one half of $2 beach, it just stays 1.5-4 feet deep way out to where the waves break. As far as I know, Tisa's is the only bar on the beach. There are a few other places on the water, but there aren't really beaches there. So that's some of what I know so far, but I've maybe seen 1/3 of the island, probably less actually. What would you like to know about here?

I know this is quite a ways in advance, but I was just sort of loosely planning out my vaction time for this 2 year term. Is anyone seriously interested in going to the Olympics in China? If it isn't terribly cost prohibitive, I'd like to do it for 2 or 3 weeks, but I'm probably not going by myself. This is way out in advance too, but unless something stops me, I'm going to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, so pencil that in for big trips if you are interested.

I was glad that it wasn't the M's who horribly overpaid Gary Matthews Jr., now I'm really really really glad.

I am irritated that the Sonics didn't trade Rashard though. Now we're going to lose him and not get anything. I know that sometimes in the NBA, losing a guy is better than taking on crap longterm contracts, but it seems like we could have gotten an expiring contract and a draft choice at least: something like Grant Hill and a #1 for Rashard? If they draft a center this year, it better be Oden (and not Oden Tyvand).

Now the rain has stopped.