- New Job
- Award
- Hawaii
- Thanksgiving 1982
- Neighborhood Watch
- Connie’s New Job
- Struggling With My RA
- Additional Information 1983
As I sit here and begin to write about our life starting in 1982, I find the memories are not as sharp as they were for other years.
New Job
As we started the year, I do remember that Connie was not very happy working at First National Bank. She stayed through most of the spring and then quit. She was not quite there for two years, but it was the right decision. Connie just did not think it was very professional and they might not make it. Now when she had started, she had talked me into buying stock in the bank which ended up being worthless when a bank that started after them bought them out.
I was doing ok during this time as I had no installations going on, so I would devote some of my time to another group in our division which was developing a new system for small companies that sold group insurance. They had a lot of new people and I would work with them and sometimes stay to 7 pm and help them with different things that they needed. During late spring or early summer maybe around June, Connie took another job as an administrative assistant to the president of and environmental company. He owned the company and Connie, really enjoyed working with all the engineers there but not so much with him. After starting to work, she found out that he had 8 administrative assistants over the past year. It wasn’t that he was that hard to work for, it was just that he was very strange.
Award
In August of that year, we had a meeting with the whole Life Insurance division, like we did every year. We had over 300 people in our division, so it came as a shock to me that I was awarded the Most Valuable Person in the division that year. It was humbling as we had a lot of great people who I thought deserved it more than I did. After that, the division manager called me in and offered me a team leader job on a new project called “The Insurance Machine”. I had worked on a large insurance company’s software when I first started. I decided to turn the job down. It was a great opportunity, but I prefer to stay working on the software for smaller companies where you were exposed to all the functions of an insurance company rather than just one department.
Hawaii
It turned out to be a good decision for me because, in late September, I was selected to go to Hawaii, as we would be doing a study for an insurance company there and trying to sell then our system and services.
It also turned out well for Connie. I told her that if we sold the deal, there would be a good chance that I would be asked to move there. Also, Connie was going to be able to come over for two of the four weeks I was there. The person Connie was working for would not give her the time off to go to Hawaii, so she quit and told him that there was a good chance she might get to move to Hawaii. It was a good time for her to leave that company.
There was a little concern before we took off to Hawaii. Two of the guys were going to share one two-bedroom apartment. There was another two-bedroom apartment with two baths. They want to also send a lady on the study team. So, this young lady whom Connie and I were very close to and her husband were asked to check to see if our spouses were ok sharing that apartment. Neither one of our spouses had a problem. But it did not matter as a couple of weeks before we left the company in Hawaii ended up getting an additional apartment for the young lady. There would be another three people coming and we would all overlap, I went for the first 4 weeks and some of the other came the 2nd week and stayed through the 5th, week. Others came the 3rd, week and stayed through the 6th, week. Luckily, I was selected to be in the first group to help establish a connection with their companies’ management team.
On Columbus Day Oct 11th, 1982, I along with 3 other people left for Hawaii. It was Monday and since the flight was so long, we were booked in business class which made the travel so much better. I remember the first thing I did after unpacking which was around 3 PM local time. I headed to the beach and found a payphone to call Connie. It was about 9 PM her time. I was so happy as she would be coming over this coming weekend with the lady who was part of the study team and whom we were good friends with. Connie was excited too as she was going to be there for two weeks, and she had left her job at the environmental company.
The salesman had planned the study to implement our system at the company in Hawaii very well. Normally we work long hours and weekend doing a study. But his time we finished by 6 PM every day and had the weekends off as they knew some of our spouses would be coming over. The third week I was there and Connie’s second week another gentleman and his wife came over. He was only going to be there a couple of weeks, but it did give Connie someone to tour the island with that 2nd week while I was working but she seemed to do just fine the first week because she knew all the busses to catch to get to the major attraction.
We definitely enjoyed Pearl Harbor but the thing I think we enjoyed most was spending all day on Saturday at Polynesian Village. We got there around 9:30 that morning and did not leave until after 9 that evening. It was probably the best day we had while we were there. We enjoyed going to some of the nicer restaurants where you sit almost right on the beach and watching the sunset.
There was a show on TV while I was over there called Magnum PI that starred Tom Selleck. We were at a company called Grand Pacific Insurance whose offices were located right across from the city hall. One morning everybody started talking and gathered at the windows directly across from the courthouse. They were filming Magnum PI that day. It was funny a truck drove up they offloaded the Ferrari he drove. He got in it drove about 100 feet and got out. He then walked toward the courthouse while they loaded the Ferrari back onto the truck. So much for him driving it.
Connie had learned that on a lot of Sundays, he went to this one place for brunch. So, guess what we booked a brunch one Sunday at that restaurant. We got there at ten and stayed until three, but he never showed up.
These are some pictures from the two weeks that Connie was in Hawaii with me. I have included a couple of pictures from the Polynesian Cultural Center as that was our favorite place. I also include a view of Diamond Head from our balcony.
Click on an image to make it larger — Sparkie
We had two shelties at the time, Peaches and Misty and I can not remember who took care of them. I came back from Hawaii on November 7th and Connie had come back the week before. It was so nice as I had been there for 4 weeks and Connie was with me for the 2nd and 3rd week. I remember arriving at the airport that Sunday with a crate of pineapples as I wanted to give one to everyone in the office.
Thanksgiving 1982
November came and for the second time, we had my mother fly out and spend Thanksgiving with us. Since Connie was not a great cook and my mother was so we decided to order our Thanksgiving meal from one of the grocery chains. It as a fun weekend as I got to take my mother to where I worked so she could see my name on the plaque of Most Valuable Player. It was great as I remember we had a really good time that weekend. I remember us going to some of the shopping malls and we also hit the famous Christmas Tree Store. The weather was nice not too cold, not too hot, just enjoyable. I did not realize it at the time but that would be the last Thanksgiving I would spend with her. Looking back, I remember the first Thanksgiving when Connie and I were married and how much we enjoyed that meal with my parents.
I cannot recall anything special about Christmas or New Year’s Eve. I know at that age we usually went out to celebrate New Year’s Eve and I am sure we did then.