I feel guilty about having abandoned my blog. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's more that I feel guilty about never writing anymore. I need to start doing more things instead of feeling guilty about things I don't do. It's just that I spend nearly 10 hours a day in an office. And for what? $30K/year? Bogus. I wish I had more free time, more time to do what I actually want to be doing. So I should make it happen, right? John has been strongly urging me to become a teacher, like himself. He has some good points - you get tons of vacation time and your day is free after 4pm. Not too shabby. I'm starting to seriously consider it.

So guess what we did... Maui. Yep, we did Hawaii. It was fantastic. We've decided to move there in 2010. Why 2010? Because we're actually being realistic about it, that's why. We would need the next year and a half to save money, pay off any debts, and scout for jobs. We really truly want to make it happen. I think I would be so much happier. As soon as I got back to the office yesterday, after being away for nearly two weeks, I became instantly depressed. I need to get back to nature; that's where I'm the happiest. I said the same thing when I left Colorado. So I'm going to make it happen.

But as I was saying, John and I went to Maui for 7 days. We were on the move the whole time: driving, hiking, snorkeling, body surfing. And when we did decide to spend a couple relaxing days vegging out on the beach, we traveled around to survey what different settings the island had to offer. We drove around the entire perimeter island - with the exception of about 10 miles of coastline that were prohibited by the rental car agency - and inland to both the massive Haleakala crater and the western mountains. We stayed in Kihei, which is considered South Maui. South Maui has exquisite beaches and isn't nearly as commercialized as West Maui, where many of the expensive resorts are located. Our Bed & Breakfast was serene and cozy with rolling grassy knolls and lush plant life, located directly across the street from the beach - seriously, about 25 feet away. Of course we did the drive to Hana - saw plenty of majestic waterfalls and played in the waves in South East Maui.

I'm considering making my Flickr account private - something about having all my photos available on the internet has become unsettling. But at the same time I want my friends and family to be able to access them without having to register for a Flickr account. in the meantime, I'm posting my 700 and some odd number of pictures to my account - yes, you read correctly, 700+. My upload completion is only at 8% after 30 minutes for this very reason. I'll post a link when it's all finished, probably in about 2 days at this rate.

So there's my long overdue update. Hopefully I'll start feeling more inspired to post soon.