WINward not WINDward

As most of you know I work for General Electric (GE) as a Regional Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Leader.  I work in the GE Energy part of the business where I supervise all Wind Projects and Services Sites in the West & Northwest of the states.  I’m currently being trained to cover the Aero product line in my region, basically they are gas turbines used for power generation.

Recently, I  traveled down to Denver to meet with one of our customers.  I flew in the night before the meeting since it was early the next morning and an all day event.  When I get to the hotel and get my stuff to my room, the customer and their contractor reps are at the hotel bar waiting for me to head out for dinner.   I dropped off my luggage and meet up with them at the bar.

Now I have had correspondence via email and conference calls since April with these guys and I couldn’t believe for the next 5 minutes discussion was going to be.  I introduced myself to the 6 guys at the bar and they go right to “Hey how cool is that your last name is WINDward, and

you work in the Wind Industry”  then the others decide to make a joke of it before I could set them straight and say it would be cool if my last name was “Tagline” (rope used to stabilize loads the cranes lift) or “Nacelle” (the generator that sits on top of the wind tower and rotor connects to).

The Rotor is being lifted to be attached to the Nacelle (generator) and the Tag Lines (rope) are being used to stablize the load as it is lifted

I was blown away I was having this conversation once again especially since my emails I send to them clearly states Mark Winward but I guess they were holding on to the chance I had misspelled my last name.  Anyway so after minutes of talking about how it was destiny and how they should change their last name because how cool my name was I had to break it to them and let them know that even though close to being sheer coincidence that my last name was not what they wanted it to be.  After the disappointment they continued a couple more minutes about what last names would be cool to have that are Wind Related.  Though the inital meeting with these gentlemen was partially awkward they ended up being really nice guys and the meeting went well and they didn’t hold my disappointing last name against me.

A couple days before I flew down to Denver I made a last-minute trip to Hawaii to check on the two sites I have out there.  Yes I didn’t take Allison like some of you keep teasing me about, and trust me I would have taken her but out of the kindness of my heart I made the decision that it wouldn’t be the best idea.  Let me explain that last statement.  Not only will I be working most of the time so she would be stuck enjoying the beaches by her lonesome, but also have no transportation due to me taking the vehicle to the Wind Sites.  That doesn’t sound to bad or actually sounds even better that I’m not around right?  Well, as I land in Maui, this keeps sounding better as I write this, right?  Well when I get to my hotel, merely 50 yards from the waves, it turns for the worse.

When I was asked to go audit Hawaii, unfortunately with the economy the way it is, I have a budget for the year and being November my budget is almost dried up.   I had to make my budget work if I were going to audit my sites in Hawaii.

I made the executive decision that I would not stay at the $200+/night (Corporate Rate) Hilton or Marriott resorts that were really nice and close by but I would try out a local hotel or should I say motel for $88/night (Corporate Rate).   Yes, I did some research because an $88/night hotel in the state s won’t get you to nice place but something clean.  Well, $88 doesn’t get you that in Hawaii even though some reviews seemed positive.  I would have rather stayed at Motel 6 than this place.

The Maui Lu resort is nothing like a resort that I was accustomed to.  The grounds are nice with all the palm trees and just a walk across the street and you are on the beach.  But the positives stop there.  They don’t have internet in the rooms, so if you would like, you will have to pay to use the lobby computer per minute…or if you have a laptop, as myself, you would have to sit in the outside lobby.  If you don’t know Hawaii, it can get hot and humid…so not having A/C to do hours of emails wasn’t about to happen.

Shot taken in Kihei at 6 a.m. of the moon and if you look closely the Wind Turbines are on the ridge of the mountain

The 3 nights I stayed at the Maui Lu Resort I never saw one person use the pool, which seemed clean or should I go further, I only saw 3 people the whole time I was at this place.  I definitely wanted to cancel my room after the first night and change hotels.  But these places in Hawaii are smart and take half of the total bill and charge you weeks in advance before you arrive so canceling isn’t an option like at a Hilton family hotel.

Beach in Wailea on the island of Maui

The rooms…I believe they were built in the 60’s…one building closest to the beach had been marked off as “Do Not Enter” due to the building had been falling apart and abandoned for who knows how many years.  It looked as if it could have collapsed at anytime–but they kept the grass green with daily watering.  The room I stayed in should have been condemned also.  The place was disgusting…carpets were stained, the shower curtains had stains, and the sink had a permanent yellow stain from the dripping faucet that would not stop.  There were holes in the baseboard in the bathroom and instead of fixing the hole they put a tile baseboard to cover them.  The towels seemed clean but all edges were frayed, not sure how long it has been since they purchased new linens for the guests.  It may not sound that bad, but if you saw this place, you wouldn’t let your family endure the stay and I’m glad I made that decision.  Even though some of my reasoning of not bringing her along may have been financially based and for that, I’m sorry Allison.

Public beach in Wailea looking at the Wind Turbines

On top of tower #3 of the Kaheawa Wind Site looking at the Southeastern Part of Maui

There were some good parts of the trip…the weather was really nice on the beach.   I was able to visit them after work.  Also, I was able to climb one of the Wind Turbines in Maui and I sat up there for a good 10 minutes or so and took in the spectacular views and, though windy up there, it was relaxing and peaceful in a way.  Then I made the decision that my next trip to Hawaii I would bring Allison to experience this with me.

Pakini Nui Wind Site just a few miles from South Point (Southern Most Point in the U.S.A)

I headed to the Big Island for a couple days and the hotel, though a local place was actually really nice compared to the Maui Lu.  There are a couple nice beaches in between all of the volcanic rock in Kona that I didn’t experience last time I was here.  Plus, I would really like to go visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the Big Island.

Steam from the lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean

All in all I completed all the audits I set out to do and glad Allison didn’t get to experience the Maui Lu, but I am excited for our next visit.   Even though it will cost some money, because Hawaii is not cheap; the weather and beauty Hawaii has to offer will be well worth it.