Weight Loss-- My Personal Story

2017 marked the beginning of resetting my life after hitting rock bottom. I spontaneously decided to share my story, on New Year's Eve December 31st, 2018, despite being out of my comfort zone. I recently made revisions to the original story with additional details of what I've been doing to help lose the weight I've lost up to this point.The photo on the left was taken in January 2016, while the photo on the right is a current one. I've lost 170 pounds thus far; however, I'm hoping to shed an additional 80 or so pounds.

The decision to return home to Hawai’i was initially to fulfill a request by a childhood friend’s Mom who was dying from cancer, had requested to see me one final time. I was able to fulfill the request 24 hours before she passed away, which made me feel good.

 In the meantime, I decided to finally take care of an issue that dogged me for a very long, which was my weight. Looking like Fat Albert or Fred Flintstone had taken its toll on me, so I decided to finally do something about it. I had no specific reason to return to California at that moment in time, decided to primarily focus on getting my weight down after many failed attempts.

Starting all over again has been quite a growing experience. Throughout the past year plus a few months, I've worked at shedding the excess weight off of my frame, with the love & support of my family. Rebuilding my self-esteem, self-confidence, self-worth proved quite the challenge, it’s startling how it affects you over the course of time when you don’t have them.

When my weight tipped the scales close to 480lbs, the scales enjoyed a laugh fest. Living in San Diego for 13 years, I was frequently asked how the hell you allowed yourself to get that freaking heavy. The finger could only be pointed at me for not doing something about the excess weight sooner. Losing weight needs to be done for the right reason and not for someone other than you.
Having the support of my family has been pivotal in remaining motivated to keep going.

The process of losing weight isn't a quick fix, regardless of what method works for you long-term.
There are countless well-known diet programs proclaiming using their specific program will help you lose weight. There are various weight loss surgeries available to help you lose weight; however, many risks come with doing any of those surgeries.

I personally have never believed in any diet programs as I couldn’t see the logic of spending so much money on the food each program uses each month. The weight loss surgeries cost a bundle of money regardless of which one an individual decides upon. Friends had tried persuading me to undergo weight loss surgery to help lose weight. The various surgeries do come with serious risks that could affect the individual for the rest of their life. I opted not to do use that procedure as something didn't feel right about doing it.

Part of my weight gain was due to medical issues I'd been having that I wasn’t aware that started in late 2005 lasted thru 2009. It wasn't until 2009 when my 3rd Kaiser doctor finally told me what caused my weight gain at such a rapid rate. My doctor mentioned that my adrenal gland had been overproducing insulin that caused my body to feel like it was on a sugar high for 5 years. My blood pressure was dangerously high because of that, the previous two other doctors hadn’t cared enough to find out why.

I felt a huge sense of relief that a doctor had finally taken the time to find out what was going on with me medically speaking. There were moments I felt I wasn’t going to be around too much longer. My doctor prescribed strong medicines that helped return my adrenal gland return to normal production levels while also bringing my blood pressure down.

The other medical issue was being diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2009. That diagnosis really startled me but after a while, it explained a lot. When your body doesn't get sufficient amounts of rest daily it catches up to you. I was reluctant initially to get a machine to help sleep well because the thought of sleeping having to use a machine each time you slept unnerved me. It wasn't until late 2011 when my Mum persuaded me to get the machine with no feet dragging allowed.

In January 2012 I was fitted with a Bi-pap machine that I use till this day. During the course of 7 years, I had forgotten what a good night sleep felt like until using the Bi-pap machine. I never realized how much it actually affected me not getting a good night’s sleep.  Individuals with OSA are rarely aware of difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. It is often recognized as a problem by others who observe the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body. OSA is commonly accompanied by snoring. Some use the terms obstructive sleep apnea syndrome or obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome to refer to OSA which is associated with symptoms during the daytime.

Some adults with OSA are obese. Obese adults show an increase in pharyngeal tissue which causes respiratory obstruction during sleep. Adults with normal body mass indices (BMIs) often have decreased muscle tone causing airway collapse and sleep apnea. Sleeping on the supine position is also a risk factor for OSA. The supine sleeping position generates mandibular retraction and tongue collapse which constitutes an anatomical basis for respiratory obstruction during sleep.

Symptoms may be present for years or even decades without identification, during which time the individual may become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with significant levels of sleep disturbance. Individuals who generally sleep alone are often unaware of the condition, without a regular bed-partner to notice and make them aware of their symptoms.   For those of you with sleep apnea, I’m saying this from personal experience, those who have asked me about it. Getting sleep apnea under control is vitally important to your overall health and well being. There have been many stories of famous celebrities, sports figures, etc who were diagnosed with sleep apnea and did nothing about, ultimately ended up dying.

The biggest complaint shared with me from those who have sleep apnea or a loved one is using either a C-Pap or Bi-Pap machine. The C-Pap machine involves the use of a full mask going over your nose, generally for people who need higher air levels. The Bi-Pap machine used nasal pillows that fit under your nose, held on by headgear. The Bi-Pap machine is assigned to people who don’t require such high pressure, it’s a machine I’ve personally been using.

The last medical issue was my weight which ballooned faster than helium filling a birthday balloon. I told my best friend "I got myself into this mess, I'm going to get myself out of it" When I returned to Hawaii in Sept 2017, to attend the funeral of a beloved friends Mom, I decided to finally make the effort to become healthy again. Carrying around that much excess weight for so long had me missing out on so many things I couldn't do because of my weight.

The changes I’ve made that have helped me lose so much weight have been changing what I eat on a daily basis for breakfast, lunch, dinner. During the course of living in San Diego, I could often be seen eating out at any number of fast food restaurants. There were periods of eating home cooked meals; however, because of my job as a cab driver, those moments were few and far between. I had strayed away from eating healthy all those years; the end result is in the photo.

The other things I’ve been doing to lose weight have been walking 4 miles each morning, plus exercising without the use of any apparatus. I’m doing exercises that I had done while in high school to get back into shape and I’m having fun doing them. The exercises take a little longer to complete but I’m motivated never to give up.

People are welcome to ask questions in Private Messages and they'll be answered. This is a rare moment where photos of me are posted; I rarely post photos of myself on social media because of a bad experience that happened 20 years ago.


Update 2/17/2019

For the first time in 15 years, my weight is under the 300 pound level, with my latest weight coming in at 293 pounds. I'm hoping to lose an additional 70 pounds which would bring my weight to around 220-225. 

Deputies Called to Florida Shooter's Home Weeks Before School Tragedy

In the months leading up to the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, sheriff's deputies were called three times to a South Florida mobile home where accused gunman Nikolas Cruz was living, WPTV in West Palm Beach is reporting.

Cruz lived briefly in a Lantana, Florida, trailer park after his adoptive mother had passed away. It is about a half-hour to the north of the school.

And now, WPTV is reporting Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies responded three times to the mobile home during his short stay.

According to the television station, deputies once came after a report of a fight. Another time they came for a welfare check and still another for a report of a weapon.

And the Palm Beach Post said logs provided by the sheriff's office portrays Cruz as "a disturbed and potentially violent 19-year-old."

According to the Post, a Nov. 28 sheriff's report noted a woman identified as Rocxanne Deschamps, who was helping out Cruz, said he told her he recently had bought a gun and was going out to get it and "tons of ammo."

The woman said Cruz "has used a gun against [people] before" and "has put the gun to others' heads in the past," the Post said quoting the log entry.

However, this is not believed to be the AR-15 rifle used in the Parkland slayings, the Post added. Cruz ended up calling 911 to say he had left the mobile home to go to a park after Deschamps's son, Rock, threatened to "gut him" if he returned home, the newspaper said.

The next day, Deschamps's son called 911 to say the two men had a fight and Cruz had punched a hole in the wall of the mobile home and was breaking things.

Cruz later told deputies he "was sorry for losing his temper." Deschamps told deputies he "did not want (Cruz) to go to jail," WPTV said. The two men later hugged.

A short time later, Cruz moved in with James and Kimberly Snead in Parkland in Broward County.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know," Kimberly Snead told the Sun Sentinel. "We didn't see this side of him."

Commentary: Everyone effected by this senseless tragedy still have raw emotions and are demanding lawmakers do something immediately. A Florida School Teacher who had recently been named teacher of the year, has had the best response to what changes need to be made and where it needs to start.
“Until we, as a country, are willing to get serious and talk about mental health issues, lack of available care for the mental health issues, lack of discipline in the home, horrendous lack of parental support when the schools are trying to control horrible behavior at school (oh no! Not MY KID. What did YOU do to cause my kid to react that way?), lack of moral values, and yes, I’ll say it-violent video games that take away all sensitivity to ANY compassion for others’ lives, as well as reality TV that makes it commonplace for people to constantly scream up in each others’ faces and not value any other person but themselves, we will have a gun problem in school,” she wrote.

Guns have been a constant in America, she wrote, arguing that what has changed in our society is that children no longer “understand the permanency of death.”

Though she “grew up with guns,” Raley wrote that healthy doses of fear and respect for authority kept her out of trouble.

“My parents NEVER supported any bad behavior from me,” she wrote. “I was terrified of doing something bad at school, as I would have not had a life until I corrected the problem and straightened my ass out. My parents invaded my life. They knew where I was ALL the time. They made me have a curfew. They made me wake them up when I got home. They made me respect their rules. They had full control of their house, and at any time could and would go through every inch of my bedroom, backpack, pockets, anything!”

She led up to a plea for parents to “STEP UP” and be “the parent that actually gives a crap” about their children’s lives.

Instead of attempting to be another friend, Raley said what kids really need is parental guidance.

“Being the ‘cool mom’ means not a d— thing when either your kid is dead or your kid kills other people because they were allowed to have their space and privacy in YOUR HOME,” she wrote.

The thought of shooting someone never crossed her mind, Raley argued, not because there were no guns in the home, which there were, but because she was “taught respect for human life, compassion, rules, common decency,” and most of all that her bedroom was subject to inspection at any time by her parents.

“And they were going to know what was happening because they loved me and wanted the best for me,” she wrote.

Her post gained widespread support across the ideological spectrum, as she conspicuously avoided the hot-button issue of gun control.

“I didn’t bring up gun control, and I will refuse to debate it with anyone,” she concluded. “This post wasn’t about gun control. This was me, loving the crap out of people and wanting the best for them. This was about my school babies and knowing that God created each one for greatness, and just wanting them to reach their futures.”

The real answer to a major problem we've been having too much of in schools lately. New gun control legislation isn't the answer so desperately needed to fix the problems with shooters using guns in schools to kill innocent lives.

 

Hawaii worker who sent false alert had problems but kept job

HONOLULU — Hawaii emergency management officials knew for years that an employee had problems performing his job. Then, he sent a false alert warning of an imminent missile attack earlier this month.

The worker had mistakenly believed drills for tsunami and fire warnings were actual events, and colleagues were not comfortable working with him, the state said Tuesday. His supervisors counseled him but kept him for a decade in a position that had to be renewed each year.

The problems in the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency went beyond one troubled employee. The agency had a vague checklist for missile alerts, allowing workers to interpret the steps they should follow differently. Managers didn't require a second person to sign off on alerts before they were sent, and the agency lacked any preparation on how to correct a false warning.

Those details emerged Tuesday in federal and state reports investigating how the agency mistakenly blasted cellphones and broadcast stations Jan. 13 with a warning that led hundreds of thousands of people to believe they were about to die in a nuclear attack. It took nearly 40 minutes to retract it.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi resigned as the reports were released. Officials revealed that the employee who sent the alert was fired Friday. His name has not been revealed. A second worker quit before disciplinary action was taken, and another was being suspended without pay, officials said.

"The protocols were not in place. It was a sense of urgency to put it in place as soon as possible. But those protocols were not developed to the point they should have," retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira, who wrote the report on Hawaii's internal investigation, said at a news conference.

A Federal Communications Commission report revealed Tuesday that the worker who pushed out the alert thought an actual attack was imminent. It was the first indication the alert was purposely sent, adding another level of confusion to the misstep that created panic at a time of fear over the threat of North Korean missiles.

The worker believed there was a real attack because of a mistake in how the drill was initiated during a shift change, according to the FCC, which regulates the nation's airwaves and sets standards for such emergency alerts. The employee said he didn't hear the word "exercise" repeated six times, though others clearly heard it.

There was no requirement to double-check with a colleague or get a supervisor's approval before sending the warning statewide, the federal agency said.

"There were no procedures in place to prevent a single person from mistakenly sending a missile alert" in Hawaii, said James Wiley, a cybersecurity and communications reliability staffer at the FCC.

Compounding the issue was that the state Emergency Management Agency had no prepared message for a false alarm. The FCC criticized the state's 38-minute delay in correcting it.

In addition, software at the Hawaii agency used the same prompts for both test and actual alerts, and it generally used prepared text that made it easy for a staffer to click through the alerting process without focusing enough on the text of the warning that would be sent.

"The reports from the FCC and the state of Hawaii demonstrate systems and judgment failures on multiple levels, and they reinforce my belief that missile alerts should be handled by the federal government," said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, who plans legislation to give federal officials that sole responsibility.

The FCC said the state emergency agency has taken steps to try to avoid a repeat of the false alert, requiring more supervision of drills and alert and test-alert transmissions. It has created a correction template for false alerts and has stopped ballistic missile defense drills for now.

Earlier this month, the worker who sent the alert heard a recorded message that began by saying "exercise, exercise, exercise" — the script for a drill, the FCC said. Then the recording used language that is typically used for a real threat, not a drill: "This is not a drill." The recording ended by saying "exercise, exercise, exercise."

Once the employee sent the false alert, he was directed to send a cancel message but instead "just sat there and didn't respond," the state report said. Later, another employee took over the computer and sent the correction because the worker "seemed confused."

Gov. David Ige was asked why Hawaii didn't reveal details about the employee earlier, and he said it would have been irresponsible to release statements before the investigation was complete.

Ige has asked the Hawaii National Guard's deputy commander to prepare another report on what needs to be changed in the emergency management system overall. The first version of that report is due in two weeks, with a final version due in six weeks.

It's quite pathetic that the state worker who sent the false missile message unfortunately had possible mental issues, as far as his co-workers and boss were concerned. It's turning out that the procedure where this employee worked at wasn't properly set-up, as this recent incident proved. It's unfortunate that the administrator resigned as the official reports were released to the governor, etc.

Hopefully in the near future such an incident won't occur again, where the worker(s) don't know what to do or aren't properly prepared in case another false alarm occurs.

Minutes passed before Hawaii called feds about bogus missile alert

It took Hawaii officials more than 20 minutes to contact federal authorities to seek guidance after realizing they had sent out a bogus alert saying there was a missile headed toward the islands.
 
The Federal Emergency Management Agency told The Associated Press Wednesday that it received the call from Hawaii at 8:30 a.m.
 
FEMA spokeswoman Jenny Burke says federal employees gave guidance during that call.
 
In the end, it took nearly 40 minutes after the first alert was sent for the state to send another mobile alert informing residents and tourists that there was no incoming missile.
 
A missile launched from North Korea would take about 20 minutes to hit Hawaii.
 
The state said part of the delay in sending the retraction was because they were awaiting FEMA approval. FEMA says the state did not require federal approval to cancel or retract the incorrect alert.

Should military be allowed access to state system for attack alerts, retractions?

U.S. Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Colleen Hanabusa are asking the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services to look into giving U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) access to Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s alert system.

Always Investigating was the first to report that HI-EMA’s alert system is one of only a handful in the country that does not allow access to other agencies, so any retraction would have to come from HI-EMA.
After a HI-EMA employee accidentally triggered a false missile alert that sent the entire state into a panic Saturday morning, it took the agency 38 minutes to send a follow-up alert that confirmed it was a false alarm.
Hanabusa says the military would know better than anyone if an attack is imminent, so why not have them issue any type of correction?
“If PACOM says it is or it isn’t, one or the other, that in fact that’s probably the best information that we have, and I think that’s what’s needed in this process,” she explained.
Hanabusa says it would only apply to alerts that involve the military, not natural disasters, and that this oversight will help restore public confidence in the system.

“I think the people of the state would feel a lot more confident if they knew there was a check on a check on a check,” Hanabusa said.

Other checks include the Federal Communications Commission. Hanabusa says investigators will be coming to Hawaii Wednesday, and will be looking into why some cell phones did not get the alert.

“The bottom line is this is the way we’re moving, to notification and alerts, so we have to be sure that it all works appropriately, and I think that’s what they’re coming in to find out,” she said.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz is calling on the FCC to make its own recommendations while Sen. Mazie Hirono questioned Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, on how to make the system better.

“Do you have the responsibility to convene state emergency managers to make sure that each state has an alert system that functions properly?” Hirono asked.

“We do request a variety of information from state locals on their alert warning systems as part of our threat assessments conducted by FEMA,” Nielsen replied.

On the state level, lawmakers will hold a hearing Friday. Gov. David Ige and HI-EMA administrator Vern Miyagi will be present.

Last Saturday's incident makes you wonder whether HI-EMA officials even knew what the heck was even going on during those uneasy 38 minutes, where neither local resident nor tourist knew what to expect, because HI-EMA officials were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Hopefully during a future event HI-EMA officials will actually have their act together, not have their respective heads up in the clouds. While a 10 year employee got transferred to another department, I wonder what the political fall-out will be from this incident. 

Botched test of alert system leads to 38 minutes of terror

After people across the state were told for months to prepare for a possible nuclear attack from North Korea, for 38 terrifying minutes on Saturday morning the deadly moment seemed to have arrived.

A state employee in a Diamond Head bunker clicked his mouse twice and informed a million and a half residents and tourists that the missile was on its way.

“THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” the warning stated.

No, it wasn’t a drill. It was a mistake. “Human error,” said Gov. David Ige.

A mistake that left many shaken, angry and questioning the credibility of their government.

Tourists in Waikiki were asked to go into the basement of their hotels, passengers at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport were not allowed to check in and were sent down to the baggage claim area, and families at parks ran to their cars for shelter.

Cellphones were jammed with people calling family and friends to find out what was going on or simply say a final goodbye.

“Today is a day most of us will never forget,” Ige said at a news conference in the same Diamond Head bunker from which the fake warning was sent. “A day when many in our community thought that our worst nightmare might actually be happening.”

He said he was angry about what happened, apologized for the pain and confusion it sowed, and promised to improve the emergency management systems. The confusion caused by the human error was compounded by a lack of procedures in place to revoke the false alarm, causing the 38-minute delay before the state sent out a text correction.

“We are doing everything we can immediately to ensure that it never happens again,” Ige said.

The trouble began about 8:05 a.m. when an employee was running through a routine test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert System in the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency headquarters inside Diamond Head crater.

THE WRONG BUTTON

The employee clicked the wrong button on a computer screen, selecting the missile alert message rather than the test alert that would have sent a message that stayed within the building. The employee then clicked a second button to confirm he wanted to send out the erroneous alert.

The employees in the center did not know that they had issued an error until they got a phone call from officials looking for more information.

About three minutes after the alert went out, the head of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, state Adjutant Maj. Gen. Joe Logan, verified with U.S. Pacific Command that there was no launch and notified Honolulu police.

Thirteen minutes after the erroneous text, HEMA finally posted to Facebook and Twitter that it was a false alarm, but it would take another 25 minutes for a correction text alert to go out.

Vern Miyagi, administrator for HEMA, said the agency had to wait until it received authorization from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send out a retraction. The correction was finally sent at 8:45 a.m.

Ige said part of the reason for the delay was the state didn’t have a process in place to issue a cancellation and the correction had to be done manually after receiving federal approval.

The Emergency Alert System is a national network with local access for disseminating civil defense and emergency messages. Correction alerts, however, are not authorized for the system, which was the reason the state needed federal approval before sending the retraction.

SOME SIRENS SOUND OFF

Adding to the panic, some military bases voluntarily activated their sirens due to the false alarm, said Richard Rapoza, spokesman for HEMA.

Windward Oahu resident Diane Pizarro said she was at home with her family when she received the alert and heard sirens start to go off.

“That gave more credibility to the text,” she said. “It was several scary minutes with our children, who were terrified, before we saw a tweet that it was a false alarm.”

Miyagi blamed himself for the error.

“I accept responsibility for this,” he said. “This is my team.”

He said he spent the last few months trying to prepare the state in the unlikely event of a nuclear attack from North Korea and set up a warning system.

Miyagi said while he regrets what happened, it brought awareness about what to do and expect in such an attack.

“Please keep in mind that again the threat is there,” he said. “If this comes out, you’re only going to have 12 to 13 minutes of warning for the actual event. Please take this to heart.”

Ige said the missile alert test has been suspended until procedures are reviewed and measures are taken to prevent a repeat of the error.

In the future, officials will require two people to confirm the activation of the notification system for tests and actual missile launches, he said. And a cancellation command has also been put in place.

Officials said a formal preliminary report of findings and corrective actions will be issued next week.

The Federal Communications Commission said it was launching a “full investigation into what happened.”

Jessica Rosenworcel, an FCC commissioner, said, “Emergency alerts are meant to keep us and our families safe, not to create false panic. We must investigate and we must do better.”

POLITICIANS SPEAK UP

Hawaii’s congressional delegation and state lawmakers were quick to add their voices to the growing chorus of officials calling Saturday’s mistake unacceptable, and pledged to investigate what went wrong.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was among the first people to start alerting the public via Twitter that the emergency warning was a false alarm, saying at 8:19 a.m. that she had confirmed with officials there was no incoming missile.

She later tweeted, “Our leaders have failed us for decades, refused to take this threat seriously and prevent a nuclear North Korea, and the people of Hawaii are now paying the price.”

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said in an interview from Washington, D.C., that President Donald Trump has failed to ease tensions with North Korea, putting Hawaii in danger.

“The tensions between the United States and North Korea are not helping at all, which is one of the reasons that the state of Hawaii has to even attempt to do its best to be prepared for a potential missile strike,” Hirono said. “The goal should be to prevent these missile strikes from happening to begin with. That means that we need to strengthen our diplomatic route to creating stability in the Korean Peninsula.”

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and candidate for governor, who was on Oahu on Saturday, said she plans to initiate the congressional inquiry process when she gets back to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, who was also in Honolulu when he got the alert, said what happened was “totally inexcusable.”

“This false alarm caused real harm across the state. People were in tears, people were sheltering in place, businesses were shuttered, nobody knew what to do. But more than that, we need to be able to rely on our emergency notification system so that when we see or hear ‘this is not a test,’ we need to be able to rely on that 100 percent,” he said.

Leadership in the state House and Senate pledged to investigate the incident. A joint informational briefing has been scheduled for Friday before the Senate Government Operations and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs committees, and the House Public Safety Committee.

Commentary: The false missile alert yesterday in Hawai'i caused unnecessary panic and anger amongst local residents and tourists visiting from around the country and the world. What made it extra frustrating was the Hawai'i Emergency Management Agency took way too long before sending the message out that it was a false alert. While officials tried explaining yesterday's events during various news briefs, it seemed the clearest explanation didn't come until much later in the day. Hopefully another incident like this doesn't occur anytime soon. 

UPDATE ON THIS STORY!
Hawaii worker who pushed button reassigned after bungled missile alert.

A Hawaii emergency management employee was reassigned and the state agency he works for has received death threats amid fallout from the botched ballistic missile alert that triggered panic across the island paradise, officials said Monday.

The 10-year employee has been temporarily reassigned, pending an investigation into the incident, to a job that "does not provide access to the warning system," the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

The agency created to protect the lives of Hawaiians now must also deal with death threats. Emergency management spokesman Richard Rapoza confirmed to USA TODAY that the agency received the threats via anonymous telephone calls.

"We understand that members of our community are angry about Saturday's false alarm, and we are looking at these messages as individuals blowing off steam," Rapoza said in a statement. "While we take any threat against our personnel seriously, we are doing our best not to escalate the situation."

Hawaii is about 4,500 miles from Pyongyang, and the vocal military threats from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are taken seriously by state officials. The state has been working to upgrade the missile warning program.

The chaos began Saturday at 8:05 a.m. during a routine internal test involving the state's much ballyhooed Emergency Alert System.  But the employee hit the live-alert button by mistake, and at 8:07 a.m. this alert was erroneously pushed to cell phones across the state: "Missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."

Three minutes later, the agency had confirmed that there was in fact no missile threat. Police were quickly notified and social media announced the mistake. But the text explaining the error wasn't sent for 38 minutes, in part because no such text had been pre-scripted.

The result was controlled bedlam as Hawaiians dashed for cover, hid in their basements and reached out to friends and loved ones. In Manoa, the Durkin family huddled into an underground bunker built in their home after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

"We just started throwing supplies into the bomb shelter and closed the top and got on our phones to look for updates," Paraluman Stice-Durkin told Hawaii News Now. 

Gov. David Ige quickly issued an apology for the alert.

"I am sorry for the pain and confusion it caused," he said. "I, too, am extremely upset about this and am doing everything I can do to immediately improve our emergency management systems, procedures and staffing."

Changes are already underway. Alerts now will require activation and verification by two people, the agency said. And a cancellation command has been written and can be issued within seconds of an error.

President Trump even weighed in, suggesting that federal officials will become more involved in Hawaii's notification program. And Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said his agency is investigating.

"Based on the information we have collected so far, it appears that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place," Pai said. "Moving forward, we will focus on what steps need to be taken to prevent a similar incident from happening again."
What'll be interesting shall be when an actual alert is sent out, whether or not residents believe it's the real thing. H.E.M.A officials certainly have egg on their faces after Saturday's debacle, reassigning a 10 year veteran, makes you wonder why the incident even happened in the first place.