I woke up to 1/2" of new snow on the ground today, and it's still coming down.  I'll bet those red-breasted robins that came back a couple of weeks ago are scratching their little heads about now. 

I don't care.  The countdown is now officially at 30 days!  I can almost hear the surf outside my beachfront condo in sunny Maui!  Mmmmmmm....the smell of the ocean.... I love it.  Time to start visiting the tanning salon so I don't broil like a lobster.  Nothing like sex on the beach.  (and I'm not talking about the alcoholic beverage!)

The place we've chosen to stay came highly recommended to us by two of my husband's co-workers who make annual trips to that island paradise.  The GM for his company also gave us a copy of The Ultimate Maui Guidebook and highlighted some of the "must do's" for us.  As you can see, if you visit http://www.noelani-condo-resort.com/
it is within walking distance of a nice beach, and a 5-minute drive from what is touted as "the best beach in Maui."  The other really exciting news is we will be there during whale migration season.  I've seen all kinds of marine life in my forays to the Gulf of Mexico, but have never seen a real whale swimming in the ocean!  I can only imagine how beautiful one of those majestic creatures will be up close and personal.  I've heard from other people who've been on whale watching excursions that it is one of the most awesome sights in the world.

I made my grand return to the office yesterday.  Remind me to never get sick again.  I went in with the intention of staying only "a couple of hours" only because I figured after being knocked flat on my back for four days, that would be all I could handle.  As it turned out, I was there until 6 pm last night.  As I mentioned in a previous post, my boss has also been very ill recently (hence, how I and half of my co-workers got sick) and she is the one who does my job when I'm not there.  Needless to say, much of my job didn't get done.  Since I handle accounts receivable for the company, it's pretty important that the money gets deposited into the bank, even if I'm not there to do it.  She was still working on a huge stack of checks that had come in the two days I was off.  We had a brief meeting when I arrived, and she told me to just go ahead and post yesterday's receivables, and she would finish the backlog herself.  When I finished and ventured into her office mid-afternoon, I found her with her head down on her desk, sound asleep, the pile of checks still in front of her.  I sent her home, and stayed myself to finish the backlog pile.  So much for my first short-day back....  But, the good news is, she was actually doing the posting on the computerized system that I created and set up!  In the past, it was always done on an old-fashioned hand-written log.  What a time-waster, not to mention a whole new experience in writer's cramp.  I did away with that system about 3 years ago, setting up the whole thing in Excel complete with checks and balances and a reconciliation so that it's nearly impossible to make a mistake.  When you're dealing with OPM (other people's money) mistakes are intolerable.  They tend to get a trifle miffed if you don't credit their account properly.  My boss is they type that doesn't accept change well, so to see her actually using this "new" system brought joy to my heart.  I'm feeling a LOT better about taking off for a week to go to Maui.

Maui!!  I'm going to Maui!!  In 30 days!!! 

Happy blogging.