Travels, Return to Hawaii, 2009

Click on any of the little pictures to see it at normal size. Click on the '=0=' after the picture to see it in giant size (about 2 minutes to download on dialup connection and larger than screen size). This could be useful if you wanted to really look at one part of the picture or to make a print.

=0=	=0=
On Friday, July 10, Bob called me at 6:30AM and asked me if I could help out on a telephone installation job. I was half awake (just finished my meditation and was doing my morning calisthenics) and didn't realize he was still working on a job in Maui and that I would be doing it alone. Yikes! I had the tools that Bob and Michael shared, but had never done a job on my own. However it turned out fine. I had never been in a check cashing place and discovered that I had a preconception that they were sleazes and scumbags (not based on any actual experience, just a pre-conception). It was really good to spend a few hours in the two offices as the women did their work. While there may well be some check cashing outfits which are scumbags, all the workers in these offices (National Money Mart) were women and they were conscientious, polite, and respectful. They were truly providing a needed service to their clients. So much for preconceptions. I documented the current line status (most was already correctly configured) and ran a new phone line and installed a phone jack in their safe haven (i.e. bathroom), shown here.	=0=
=0=	=0=
Both offices had a very good security system (which I will not describe in detail) with a thorough alarm system and vault. At the first facility I studied the alarm system pretty much only to discern that it was already connected the way the wanted. Doh! The second office went much faster as I just verified that the alarm system was correctly connected and didn't spend much time figuring out how it was supposed to be connected. Shown above and here.	=0=
=0=	=0=
They have two offices in Honolulu and apparently had a hard time finding a contractor to take the two jobs. After I agreed to the first job and Bob took it, they called him back and asked him if he could take on the other and he agreed that he (me?) would see if he could fit it in. It took me four or five hours to do the first (if you count the time getting the parts I needed at Home Depot), but the next went really fast, only a couple of hours. When I had worked for Verizon almost a decade ago I had worked as a telphone installation and repair technician during a three week strike so I was quite familiar with the required work but it was frustrating to not have all the tools and supplies which the phone company had just given to me (and they knew just what I would need, too).	=0=