I thought it was time to write another web page and just looked back to see where to begin. I can’t believe it has been 9 months since I last wrote. I guess the excuse is that 9 months ago is when I started working again. Both Neil and I were unemployed for a while so we were able to enjoy Maui, do some diving, hiking and sunset walks. We started counting fish on our dives which you can see on the REEF diving webpage! We discovered a reef about 1 K off our beach from the kayak and named it Neil's Reef. We have surveyed it 6 times. We also discovered two other reefs as we explore offshore from our beach with our underwater scooters and named one Nan’s Reef and the other Anchor Reef. I have been practicing with the digital camera and underwater housing and Neil is already an excellent underwater photographer; I have put some new pictures out for you to enjoy.

 In November we both interviewed with a new computer school here in Kihei, and in December we started teaching again. The school, Computer Training Schools of Hawaii, is located just 3 miles away from us in Kihei. It offers a full range of intensive courses and Microsoft certification testing. I have been teaching the Introduction to PC and all levels of the Microsoft Office courses. The courses are designed to cover a large amount of information in 8 hours (split over 2 days) and it’s up to the student to do their own practice afterwards to retain the knowledge. What I love is the part time schedule; the courses are usually scheduled Monday to Thursday and sometimes I only work 4 hours a day. It’s perfect for me!

Neil taught two classes before Christmas break and then got an opportunity that is taking up all his time. He connected with some people in a start-up company who needed some design and software work. In late December, he started basically working full time on the project with them. They are developing a video-on-demand system that will be sold to cable TV companies, used in universities, resorts, corporate training centers, etc. He is doing software design and development, and he can work from home.  The only problem is he seems to work too much but the important thing is that he loves what he is doing.

At the beginning of the year we acquired a new centerpiece: a beautiful blue beta fish. He is named Alfonzo, alias Elvis, also known as Laurence Fishbrain, and he entertains us each mealtime dancing around for food pellets with his blue suede fin flipped back. He knows where his food bowl sits outside his bowl and he will dance down to it and then up to the surface to look for his treats. Neil loves to do science projects and decided to grow mosquito larvae for Alfonzo. I just asked that it be done outside so we didn’t have them maturing into the flying mosquito stage inside. Alfonzo LOVED them. The food pellets just float on top and he can just pick them off. But the larvae swim and give him the challenge of the hunt. However, he got so he would see the scoop coming in the water and he would just go lay on it and pick out the larvae before they had much a chance to swim out.

In April, we hiked 4 miles into the Haleakala crater and spent the night in Holua cabin with a group of friends. It was really beautiful and so much warmer than I expected. We climbed through an impressive lava tube near the cabin that we had never been through before. It is an open walkable passageway with some tall ceilings for much of the way. Still it is very dark in there, and our little flashlights were just enough to keep us all from tripping over rocks and low ceiling areas. We had an incredible sunset with the sun highlighting the mountain to the east of the cabin making it look like it was floating on clouds. And the clear starry sky was gorgeous. You could see so many stars from there without the interference of civilization lighting.

Quentin vacationed on Maui in May with his new sister Sophie plus mom Vajra and step-dad Peter. It was nearly a year since we had seen him and I really enjoyed playing with him in the park and at the Aquarium. He is getting so big at 3 ½! They are still in Ireland for another year. You can check out more pictures of him on Quentin's 2004 webpage.

Ariann, Neil’s younger daughter, graduated from High School in June and plans to attend University of California, Santa Cruz this September. We flew to the mainland for graduation and then extended our time to almost 3 weeks to visit both sides of our families. I decided the trip deserved its own webpage, so you can go there to read more about our family visit trip.

We have had many wonderful visits here on Maui with friends and family this last year and we look forward to more in the coming months. Please come visit us in Maui!