Arrival, Uncle Aki, and the Kitchen Door
The flight over was rather uneventful, though it was a little bumpy. I found myself in an extremely lucky situation - no one had the seat next to me. It's the little things that make me smile. Another thing that makes me chuckle - someone always thinks that the plane has overshot the runway, because they've never flown into Honolulu before, and don't know that the plane has to take a long turn around to get into position to land. Then someone else wonders why we aren't landing on the small military airfield. Haha. The plan bounced a bit on the landing, much to the delight of a few small children in my section. "Let's do it AGAIN!!!" they shouted.
It was good to see uncle Aki again; he doesn't seem to have changed much at all since the last time I saw him. One thing I can always count on when driving in Hawaii with uncle Aki: complaints about how people drive in Hawaii. He told me the story of how he went so far as to call into the Japanese radio station to talk about how bad Hawaii drivers are. To be honest, he isn't wrong. They are even bad with shopping carts.
The other thing that is very reliable about uncle Aki is his uncanny ability to stretch out a story. I asked him if there had been much damage to their Long Island house from Sandy. 20 minutes later, he was still talking about how he knew a guy that was a carpenter...
...I later learned from Marissa that the biggest problem was that a tree fell on the shed.
Before I took Aki to the airport for his flight back to New York, Grandpa had me repair the kitchen door. Apparently, it was hanging a little crooked. I gathered that Aki had done a little work on it, but not the way Grandpa wanted it (I know, I know, what a surprise: Grandpa and Aki not seeing eye to eye on home improvement). This is the difference in the home repair assistants:
-Aki likes quick, practical solutions. This results in workable repairs that tend to irritate Grandpa.
-I have the ability (and all the time in the world) to figure out what Grandpa is telling me to do. This results in repairs that meet Grandpa's requirements, but often lead to unintended consequences and 15 minute jobs that take all day to finish.
-My dad actually knows how to do whatever needs to be done.
So, the good news is that I managed to get the door back on the frame, and it still closes. Somehow. Grandpa is happy, and Aki said (as he always does) that it looked very professional.
It was good to see uncle Aki again; he doesn't seem to have changed much at all since the last time I saw him. One thing I can always count on when driving in Hawaii with uncle Aki: complaints about how people drive in Hawaii. He told me the story of how he went so far as to call into the Japanese radio station to talk about how bad Hawaii drivers are. To be honest, he isn't wrong. They are even bad with shopping carts.
The other thing that is very reliable about uncle Aki is his uncanny ability to stretch out a story. I asked him if there had been much damage to their Long Island house from Sandy. 20 minutes later, he was still talking about how he knew a guy that was a carpenter...
...I later learned from Marissa that the biggest problem was that a tree fell on the shed.
Before I took Aki to the airport for his flight back to New York, Grandpa had me repair the kitchen door. Apparently, it was hanging a little crooked. I gathered that Aki had done a little work on it, but not the way Grandpa wanted it (I know, I know, what a surprise: Grandpa and Aki not seeing eye to eye on home improvement). This is the difference in the home repair assistants:
-Aki likes quick, practical solutions. This results in workable repairs that tend to irritate Grandpa.
-I have the ability (and all the time in the world) to figure out what Grandpa is telling me to do. This results in repairs that meet Grandpa's requirements, but often lead to unintended consequences and 15 minute jobs that take all day to finish.
-My dad actually knows how to do whatever needs to be done.
So, the good news is that I managed to get the door back on the frame, and it still closes. Somehow. Grandpa is happy, and Aki said (as he always does) that it looked very professional.
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