The Hubnugget Team Marooned!

All too soon our week on Hawaii ended and with sad hearts we bid farewell to the many new friends we had made on the island. We all promised to return really soon.

Life in Hawaii seems to be going at a much slower pace than what we're used to but it sure didn't take long for realty to hit us right between the eyes.

Our return trip home to the cold winter had to be organized. After mulling it over the plan was that we would take a commercial flight and make a quick stop-over at Ripplemaker's so she could pick up her fancy-dancy plane and then drop us off, at our individual homes, one by one. (After all there are only 5300 miles, give or take, between Hawaii and her home... just a short hop skip and a jump) This way we could all enjoy each others company a little longer. ***Don't ask, it all made perfect sense to us all when we were planning our trip home by the pool-side with our Mai Tais***

Now before I go any further... how does Robert Burns's saying go? Do you remember? Something like this, right?

"...the best laid schemes of mice and men of't go awry...In proving foresight may be in vain and leave us nought but grief and pain."

With other words, no matter how carefully we plan we can bank on something going wrong... Yup, bank on it, it will and it did...

Over the week the Nugget-Pickers-Team (as I like to call us) read the hundreds of hubs that were submitted by the new hubbers, in this weeks three categories. As it was my turn to organize the hubnugget wannabe's into some kind of an order I decided not to take any chances with the three lists. (lately these lists have really been accident prone) Well, nothing was going to happen to them on my watch. 'No-sir-eeee-Bob'.

To safe guard them ,I came up with these methods:

• not trusting the airlines not to lose my luggage I mailed a copy to myself
  
• not trusting the Post offices/Pony express I sent a copy to my email addy
  
• a copy went home with Wendl, my homing pigeon
  
• a micro-fiche-d version was in the heel of my shoe (to make sure the secret stays safe I won't elaborate in which shoe, the right or left, nor will I disclose if the funky heel is in the brown, black or blue ones either...)
  
• the final copy, laminated of course, I sewed into the thigh pocket of my 'cargo' pants.
  

I was sure that out of the five copies one was going to reach home with me, safe and sound. (why I didn't send a copy to Hubpages headquarters as registered mail I also blame on those delicious Mai Tais)

Re-caping the happenings of our ordeal on that remote island is written without captions etc as I do not remember who all said what and when...

I already mentioned that the first phase of our trip home was by a small commercial airliner. We were soon to find out why they only charged half the price of all the others. The plane was kind of old looking but we tried to console ourselves that it had to be safe as it was a commercial deal-ee-o. The pilot who was chewing on a fat Cuban cigar introduced himself as Sean Connery (unfortunately not THE Sean Connery) and it was apparent within a few minutes into our flight that there were none of the regular rules and regulations on this airliner. Looking around at the team I was worried that we would all be tossing our cookies soon. Every-one's face was turning one shade or other of green and not only from the stench of that cigar but also from the shaking of that rickety plane.

We were flying low enough that we could see the ocean underneath us with tiny dots of what I assumed to be islands. It wasn't more than forty-five minutes into our flight that we noticed that there was something majorly wrong with the plane. The pilot's many loud curses were only slightly audible over all the horrible groaning and creaking of the plane. Next thing we heard was him shouting that he would have to put the plane down on one of the islands below us. Ripplemaker, the pro that she is, warned us quickly to put on our seat belts and to tuck our heads into our laps. None of us dared look up even when there was a funny whooshing sound almost like a door being opened and being ripped off the plane, and an odd diminishing shout that sounded an awful lot like "Geronimo..." . It felt as if the nose of the plane was heading straight for the ground. What seemed like hours of a loud cacophony of indeterminable noise took only seconds before we smashed into the rough and rocky terrain of the island. We tumbled out of the plane really shook up. SciPi Patty did a quick headcount. Luckily none of the team showed anything worse than scrapes, minor cuts and bruises. All were accounted for, except for the snake pilot Sean.

Having watched all the disaster movies ever to come out of Hollywood, I feared the worst and I shouted for everyone to ran away as far and fast as we could from the plane before it went "Boom".

We all assembled gasping, shaking and in shock on to the sandy beach half a football fields length away from the plane. Staring back where we had been just a minute or two ago, the almost setting sun glittering over the ocean made a fabulous backdrop for the high flames shooting from the left-over chunks of the plane.

Glancing around we sure looked a frightful sight. (Thinking back, now that I'm sitting safe and sound in my comfy chair in front of the computer) It really hadn't taken long, less than half an hour as a a matter of fact for all of us to take on the lost waifs images.

We had all plopped down onto the sand but this is when I had realized just what a strong bunch the 'Hubnugget-team' really was. We had all taken a bit of time to shake the what could have been a 'so-much-worse-situation'. Had filed it and then started to look around for ways out of the mess that we were in.

First we pooled all our resources.

Our wondrous supply list from everyone's pockets etc piled up in the middle of our circle was quite a mountain. 10 cell phones (7 almost out of juice), 10 partial packets of gum, 8 calorie wise granola bars, 3 almost full travel sized packets of kleenex (quite the treasures as I'm sure you understand), 1 package of Tic Tacs, 2 packets of breath mints, 4 foil wrapped alka seltzers, a travel size container of Tylenol still full, 2 small sewing kits, 4 safety pins which can also double as fish hooks (so I'm told), a couple of combs, a hair brush, some make up, a couple of sticks of lip balm and three tiny keyring flashlights.

Obviously we didn't have much in the line of tools or weapons as we had just been cleared through customs at the airport but Jason did have a small Swiss army knife.

We were able to send messages via our cell phones so there was a rescue team on the way for us. The flames of the plane had been high enough for a passing satellite to pin point our whereabouts. We were told not to expect the rescue team to arrive for at least 36-48 hours so our immediate plans were to find a safe place to spend the night... catch a couple of fish for dinner.... and relax.

It was decided to split into four groups and scout around. Total sunset was not far off so three of the groups would leave 'camp' and look around for ten minutes only, then head back. One group would head in-land and one each would head off along the beach to the left and right... the last team would collect up driftwood and try to get a camp fire going.

As luck had it the in-land team came back with a bunch of coconuts. They also found the ruins of an old sugarcane plantation only five minutes away from the beach. However not knowing what all lived on the island, further explorations had to wait until daylight.

The next two days were an extension to our holidays and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We spent hours exploring the island, baked fish wrapped in Banana leaves deep in 'sand-ovens'. Coconuts caused quite a challenge to open even with the old hammer we had found in one of the plantations out-buildings.

All in all it was quite an adventure, but we made it as a team. If we had to do it all over I sure as heck hope that it would be with the Hubnugget team...

You may laugh but I had come home to 4 copies of the hubnugget wannabe lists and the fifth set was still in my pant pocket safe and sound...

Update: the cowardly lion of a pilot was eventually found and picked up by the coast guard... he was quite parched and sunburned...

Total votes and voting percentages were as follows:

Entertainment and Media (49 total votes)

* Bettie Page: The Paradoxical Pin-Up (11 votes, 22%)
* Getting Started With The Ukulele (10 votes, 20%)
* Marriage & Monarchy (10 votes, 20%)

Business and Employment (105 total votes)

* Understanding SEO - The Definitive Beginners Guide. (52 votes, 50%)
* Make Money Online with WebAnswers (23 votes, 22%)
* Rocketman: My Asperger's Story for employers (13 votes, 12%)

Games, Toys, and Hobbies (201 total votes)

* Gomu Collectible Erasers (127 votes, 63%)
* Why does my computer keeps freezing up? or running very slow? (46 votes, 23%)
* Collecting Antique Vintage Signs (13 votes, 6%)

This week had a total of 355 voters which is absolutely fabulous. Thank you to all of you who have read and voted. The new hubnuggeteers and I appreciate it.

Congrats to all the nominees and winners alike. You did a great job.

Kindest regards Zsuzsy Bee

Now you may be asking how you can achieve all of that when you're still just a Hub-nuggeteer learning your way around here.

This is how: A few 'how to write' great HubNuggets Tips

• Build/Write your Hub on an interesting topic filled with original content
• Write from your experience or point of view
• About 750-1000 words or so is a good length
• Give it an attention grabbing title
• Check your spelling and grammar booboos
• Emphasize the content with a few relevant photos and/or videos
• Give photo/video source acknowledgements
• Move your capsules around to create an attractive layout, and preview your handy work.
• Add links and RSS feeds
• Add a news feed if you like.
• Now all that's left to do is hit that "publish" button, and watch your score rise. Your friends at Hub-Central will do the rest!

OR

The criteria to be considered a ‘hubnugget wannabe’ is as followes

To be eligible for HubNugget consideration you must have joined hubpages within the last 60 days, and have an author score of 75 or above. Your hub must have been published within the last 7 days, and have a hub score of 55 or above.

The HubNugget Wannabe is then chosen by the team and added onto the list of the current week's HubNugget contest.

Although this list of new hubber hubs is vast (thousands and thousands of hubs), the team narrows the number of choices down to just eighteen/six in the current weeks three categories. Those eighteen finalists are then showcased in the weekly HubNuggets hub, whereupon open voting begins via poll capsules.

That's it!

If you want more detailed information you can find it here or here http://hubpages.com/hub/HubNuggets-How-To