AUWE

To whoever stole the laptop belonging to humorist David Sedaris. I attended his show at the NBC Concert Hall on Nov. 22 and was sad and angry to hear that the house he was renting was broken into and his laptop and other electronic equipment stolen. Whoever took his possessions should return them or will no doubt receive major "bachi" (bad luck/karma) on them and their loved ones. What a great welcome for Mr. Sedaris. — Disappointed Kamaaina

Sedaris is still reeling from the break-in and theft, especially of writings stored in his Apple laptop computer.

In a telephone interview Tuesday from Los Angeles, he described how he had rented a house in Kailua, getting there around 11 a.m. Nov. 22.

After unpacking, "We went into Kailua to rent bikes. While we were doing that, somebody broke into the house and stole my computer. And, the bag that my computer was in had my passport, so that was a drag."

The thief or thieves also took gift cards, although "the money isn’t that important to me," and he was able to get a new passport Monday.

"The main thing was my computer with all my writing on it. I thought I had backed it up, but I hadn’t backed it up. So, my writing (is) gone, basically."

The computer held writings from "all my past books, my future books, my diary …"

Despite that, Sedaris was able to inject some humor into the situation.

After his show, he said he met Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park from "Hawaii Five-0" and said "they were more helpful than the police."

Asked what feedback he did get from police, Sedaris said, "They really didn’t even ask what kind of computer it was (although he said he did describe it in his written statement). … I said to the officer, ‘Well, most often these things don’t get recovered, do they,’ and she said, ‘I’m sorry, no they don’t.’"

And while he is devastated by the loss, Sedaris said, "The good thing is that I had my reading that night, and so I met a lot of fantastic people and I realized, OK, it’s not everybody in Hawaii (that’s bad) — it’s just the jerk who broke in and stole something."

Question: Could you find out when construction on the second runaway truck ramp on the Pali Highway is going to be completed?

Answer: The targeted completion date of that ramp — just past St. Stephen Diocesan Center heading toward Kailua — is now late December.

The "anticipated" completion date of Oct. 31 couldn’t be met, mainly because crews and equipment were diverted to sprucing up the city in advance of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Honolulu.

Work stopped during the last two weeks of October as dump trucks, normally used to haul gravel to and from the ramp project, were reassigned to the cleanup of homeless encampments at 17 locations under the H-1 Airport Viaduct and on Nimitz Highway, said a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

After that cleanup the ramp was further delayed Nov. 1-20, during a "no-lane-closure restriction period," he said.

Earlier, work on the ramp was delayed because of a shortage of gravel. Work is anticipated to resume in early to mid-December and be completed in about one to two weeks, "barring any further delays."

MAHALO

To the gentleman who turned in my iPad at American Savings Bank on Bishop Street. I had left it on the couch in the lobby of the bank building at about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, and did not realize it was missing until 9:30 a.m. My only thought was that I could just about color it gone. But lo and behold, after checking with American Savings, I was told that a gentleman had found it. Unfortunately, they did not get his name. I just wanted to express my sincerest mahalo to him for being so honest. — Roxanne

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