Hawaii and me: Part 2

Every time we returned to Oahu, I felt more and more at home. I remember being there when I was 19, and I was surprised to realize that I really knew my way around Honolulu. I had walked around that city so much while I was growing up, that I no longer needed a map or directions to get around. I thought "Wow, this is my second home!" By the end of that trip, I had decided that I would move to Hawaii.

Well that was easier said than done... I got married shortly after I returned (the wedding plans were already in the works before the vacation). I worked at a dead-end job for about a year and then went back to school at MHCC. I knew that I would eventually need to transfer to a University, so maybe this was my chance to move to Hawaii?

So, I got really serious about transferring to the University of Hawaii; I looked up apartments, areas, tuition, etc. I was so excited that it was actually going to happen! But then a coworker at Tyee told me that I shouldn't go to UH. She was originally from Hawaii, and she told me that the school was going through rough times and might even lose their accreditation! Right around that same time I started finding stuff about how the University of Washington had an excellent computer science department... Sigh, I realized that the quality of the school ought to take precedent over location, which meant... so much for Hawaii.

Seattle wasn't Hawaii, but it was still a great place. I got a bachelor's degree from a well respected school, met a lot of cool people, and got a great paying job at MS! But, after four and a half years of living in Seattle, we were ready to move back home. In the autumn of 2004, we sold our house and started looking for jobs in Portland. We were still looking for jobs when Christmas rolled around, and what a Christmas it was! My whole family spent three wonderful weeks on Maui.