Pardon me while I try to make a buck

I was talking with moneywise girlfriend and fellow blogger Elsamart recently and she encouraged me to add banner ads and links to my site via Google Ad Sense. I've known about the program for a while now, but for whatever reason I hesitated. I realized the other day that I'm being silly for resisting and I would take the money under other circumstances. I was even listening to the "clang clang clang" of my neighbor's trash falling into the dump truck the other day and thinking, "Ching ching ching! Those bottles are all 5 cent redeemables! I should raid their trash next time they throw another party!" So let's do the ads! In exchange for your clicks, I pledge to increase the frequency and uniqueness of my content, or just make it more fun. I've got lots in the pipeline. Please stand by!

Memorial Day at Punchbowl

Every year, local boy scouts work feverishly to place a flag and a lei on each gravesite at Hawaii’s National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, or simply, “Punchbowl,” in time for the annual Memorial Day service Monday morning. Three years ago while still on maternity leave with Robbie, I headed out to see it for myself. Of course I was a bit late, but that worked out for the best. While I didn’t get good parking, I did manage to see the end of the ceremony. After its conclusion, I wandered around the grounds and the gravesites and was amazed that within 30 minutes of the ceremony ending, the cemetery had nearly emptied out. Most of the folks and cars were gone, restoring the peace and dignity of the site.
I didn’t make it back this year, but over the weekend I found some images from that day. Pictures posted here were taken with a film (gasp!) camera and have been scanned. In the past three years, I think I remember reading that one of the Unknown tombs from Pearl Harbor has been exhumed. Remains were DNA tested and they were able to identify the service member lost. Not sure which one, but seeing gravesites like this that still remain are very moving.

Annual Lantern Floating at Ala Moana Beach Park

A relatively new tradition in terms of Memorial Day events, and uniquely Hawaiian. Thousands come to Ala Moana Beach Park on Memorial Day to see paper lanterns float out into the water at sunset, each one in memory of someone or something. (This year they even offered free parking and shuttle service from the Convention Center as parking and traffic had been nightmares in years past as the event grew and grew.) I've been meaning to go each year we've been here, just haven't made it. Yesterday we spent the afternoon at a BBQ on the beach on the other side of the island and afterwards headed straight home.
The local news report is above, copied from the Honolulu Advertiser pages. But I like this amateur video below, also grabbed from the Advertiser. It starts out with just music and a close-up of the lanterns, then eventually you hear what I imagine is a Dad yelling, "Hey!" after a wayward child, and ultimately more crowd noise, breaking up the mood a bit. It probably gives you a better idea of the night!

Vog pictures: part 1 of ?

Here are two pictures of the vog taken in our neighborhood last Friday. I've been waiting to post them because I realized after taking them that I don't have any "base" non-voggy shots to compare them to, therefore the impact isn't that great. I've been waiting for a day to get a clear shot as the vog has lifted a little bit, but it's been raining. So, maybe someday comparison shots to come. In this second shot, a bird is perched on the tree top.

Great Hawaiian Rubber Duckie Race

This event happened a few months back, but it was fun and unique, and I took pictures I’m just now getting off the camera (!) so of course want to share here. The local March of Dimes affiliate hosts an annual Rubber Duckie Race on the Ala Wai canal, the manmade canal which more or less divides Waikiki from Honolulu. For a $5.00 donation, you can sponsor a rubber duck that is later tossed into the Ala Wai (as shown below). The current carries the ducks to the finish line a few hundred feet away, and the first set of ducks plucked from the water are recorded. Those with winning ducks receive prizes. Good prizes! I don’t remember any of the prizes but one…a free iPod. And that was for 7th place. I can only assume prizes 1 – 6 were pretty good, too.
I’d heard about this event every year since we arrived, but never got into Waikiki to see it. This year it happened while Noel and Robbie were back East, so I figured it was the perfect time to go. I dropped off Cub with Grandma and Grandpa and then walked over to the race site. As usual, I was cutting it pretty close and nearly missed the big start. All the good “first row” views were gone, so I quickly sized up the crowd and positioned myself behind a short Japanese tourist that I thought I could shoot over. Results are not that great, but I hope they give you a hint of just how much fun this was to watch. Pure silly joy. You can’t see the numbers on the ducks so there is no way you would know if your duck was in the lead or close to a prize, so you just watch and smile.
And the winner is… What you can't see in the pic is that nearly half the ducks were carried by the current and slammed into the wall on the Honolulu side of the canal. The winner came from the middle of the pack.

Preschooler makes stage debut

Here’s our favorite, oldest son performing for the first time in front of a crowd. For his elementary school’s annual May Day Pageant last Friday, the preschoolers performed “The Hukilau Song.” I misunderstood his teacher earlier in the week and I thought they would be singing the Hukilau song. So I asked Robbie a few times what he would be singing and if he wanted to practice before the big day, and he promptly belted out the “ABC song” each time. I thought, oh boy, this might not be good! But as they hustled the youngsters onto the field and started the music, I was relieved that they in fact would not be singing, but performing a preschool-appropriate hula-ish dance. They are pictured above in their lineup, just seconds before the music started. Robbie is the third from the right (or fourth from the left, whichever way your brain works better). He looks very small among those he is pictured with, but he’s in a class of mixed ages from 3 to 5, and he’s the youngest by far.

We’re new at this, but we did shoot a video of the performance which we hope to post soon. (Read: We've got some editing to do!)

Vog = volcanic fog

Scrabble players and crossword puzzle junkies, today I am your new best friend! I share with you a new (at least to me) “-og” word: vog. Due to heavy volcanic activity on the Big Island during the last four-plus weeks, vog is currently blanketing the islands. From the untrained eye it just looks really, really smoggy, almost smoky. It’s made up of sulfer dioxide and other particles spewing from the Kilauea Volcano and it is wreaking havoc on just about everything. Flowers and crops are at risk, not to mention people with weakened immune systems, kids, etc. I can even feel it a little bit (stuffed nose, a little harder to breath) and I breeze through the change in seasons and don’t have any health and/or allergy problems. Stay tuned, I hope to have a picture of it posted within a few days.

Might Mo’ to get mighty mo’ money (and other local news)

The historic WWII battleship Missouri, moored in Pearl Harbor for the last ten years, is scheduled for a makeover. For whatever reason, they’re already reporting that in over a year it will be dry docked for a short period and will get a $9 million dollar cleaning, err, capital improvements. $9 million!

In other big money news, Dog the Bounty Hunter will return to TV this summer after a half-year hiatus due to a wee little vocabulary snafu late last year. This should surprise no one as his show and merchandise are cash cows for the A&E cable network. His publicist (yes, he has one) has been working overtime this week preparing a media day to announce the season 5 premiere scheduled for July. Dog and his wife Beth were pictured in yesterday’s paper looking somber – no doubt at request of said publicist – alongside a smiling African-American man draped in orchid lei who appears to be thinking, “I can’t believe this guy said some stupid things and here I am getting a trip to Hawai’i.” Obviously any coaching on part of the publicist fell on deaf ears.

And finally, in news closer to home, Noel was fired from the downtown firm he'd been working with since early April. Last week Tuesday two partners came in his office late in the afternoon (after he had worked all day drafting a document) and they had the “Yeah, this really isn’t working out” conversation. It wasn’t a surprise and Noel couldn’t be happier. They watched him pack up his things, paid him until they end of the month, and escorted him out of the building. In a stroke of good luck, karma, and timing, he entered into a working partnership with another lawyer in town on Friday. His new business partner even baked him a congratulatory lemon cake when she heard the news that he passed the Hawaii state bar. Yes, he passed! Coincidently, his sister (who sat for the Maryland bar the same days that he sat the Hawaii bar) also found out that she passed her second bar. Now the Tipons have the coasts covered – Tricia is licensed in New York and Maryland, while Noel has California and Hawaii covered. Congratulations Tricia!

Guess who?

Last night we met Noel's parents for dinner at the Ala Moana Center. While waiting for our reservation, we ran into the nearby Banana Republic. Somebody likes to hide behind the men's shirts! The friendly staff only asked us to stop doing this once.

After dinner we went to the relatively new Nordstroms for a card member-only special after-hours event. Festivities included free food and alcohol (!) with a DJ playing music. (He was set up next to the idle piano on the bottom floor. I defintely missed the tranquility of the traditional piano playing, but can see why they wanted the DJ - I think people were buzzed on free pupus and club music and probably spent more.) It was fun. Hopefully we'll get another invitation for their similar fall event - and have more money to spend then. ;)

The stamp geek in me comes out to blog

Coming out on the heels of Lei day, I found out this morning that a new postage stamp will feature a well-known author adorned with a lei. From usps.com:

On May 12, 2008, in Washington, DC, the Postal Service™ will issue a 59–cent, James A. Michener definitive stamp. This stamp in the Distinguished Americans series honors James A. Michener who is best remembered for his novels, often multigenerational sagas that focus on the history of a specific place while spanning vast periods of time.

Designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, and created by Mark Summers, the stamp art is based on a photograph of Michener from the late 1970s. In both the photograph and the stamp art, Michener is shown wearing a Hawaiian lei around his neck.

The Duke statue in Waikiki may be adorned with lei 24/7, but he didn't get one in his stamp. From surfingmuseum.org:

This stamp honors Hawaiian swimmer, surfer and Olympic Games gold medalist Duke Kahanamoku, who was renowned not only for his athletic prowess but also for his grace, humility and good sportsmanship. He is widely considered to be the father of international surfing, and for much of his life he served as a living symbol of hospitality and goodwill to the rest of the world. The portrait on the 2002 stamp, an oil painting by Michael J. Deas, is based on a 1918 photograph from the collection of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Visible in the background are depictions of Diamond Head and two surfers riding a wave at Waikiki Beach.

May Day is Lei Day

In Hawaii, they celebrate Lei Day on May 1st. In recognition, ladies are supposed to wear a mu'umu'u. It borders on acceptable, but I think you can also get away with wearing a Hawaiian print dress. Liking neither of these options, I chose to bead a hibuscus cuff bracelet. It's shown on the left. I didn't get too far, but will finish it soon. ;)

In the Commissary the other day, there was a woman wearing a mu'umu'u. Robbie spots her and calls out, "Ghost train!" after something he's watched over and over in one of his favorite DVDs. A train in GeoTrax land ("It's Trax-tastic!") is trying to scare other trains by pulling a large sheet over itself and sounding spooky horns while cruising through tunnels, aka the "ghost train." I laughed when Robbie spotted the dress as it did kind of look like the fabric the Ghost Train drapes on itself. Luckily the woman had no idea!

It's also a day where local musicians hold annual concerts. There are also lei making contests and other fun stuff. Most of it is around Waikiki, so we won't be joining in on that either. But Happy Lei Day anyway!

Friday Funnies

It's been a rough week here with Robbie getting sick early in the week and missing three days of school, then Cub catching his bug and having a rough couple of days, too. I saw this little bit in the latest Hawaii edition of the AAA (Auto Club) member magazine and literally laughed out loud. It's a bit cruel to laugh, but I needed it.

"We at AAA Hawai'i want to help mature motorists drive safely. To further that goal, we sponsored Hawai'i's first CarFit event in January. Said one 70-year-old participant, "I loved it. When I drove into the parking lot, they checked to make sure I was wearing my seatbelt. They showed me how to adjust my steering wheel and explained that I need to be able to see over it."

Folks, I couldn't make this up if I wanted to! Driving for 45-50 years (and that's a conservative estimate) without being able to see over the steering wheel!? My apologies to all the shorties, but I'm still cracking myself up over here.

If we can get the kids' noses to stop running for about five minutes this weekend, we're hoping to take some pictures to include with upcoming Mother's Day cards. That's about it for us. Hope your weekend is as ambitious as you want it to be!

And the preaching continues...

While a few people are still talking about Earth Day, thought I would share one more thing with you...

Ever wanted to be an early adopter? Here's your chance! So it's not a tech gadget or a fashion trend, but you will still be making a statement. Most of us are now adopting the use of resusable bags for shopping, but we're still putting produce in plastic and those bags are also filling up the landfills and spilling into our oceans. So I started using resusable cloth produce bags at the supermarket and Farmers' Markets, too.

I saw Ecobags.com spotlighted on Oprah's Earth Day show last year, and finally got around to ordering these bags late last fall. They're great and definitely cut down on the plastic. I have to be the only one using them in Hawaii - or at least at the Barber's Point and Pearl Harbor commissaries - but the cashiers are slowly getting used to me! I have a half dozen in mixed sizes and I throw them into the wash with the whites every couple of weeks.

That's it from me on the subject...really! Thanks all.

Stop that junk mail! And recycle because you probably live in a civilized state.

It’s Earth Day everyone! My turn to hit you over the head with earth-friendly ideas. These tips for stopping junk mail may look familiar; they were provided in USA Weekend over a month ago and I saved the page. I think the site www.greendimes.com will do these for you for a fee, but here’s a helpful list for all of you do-it-yourselfers.

1. Get off the lists. Go to dmachoice.org and click on "Remove my name from those lists." That lets you register with the Mail Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association to get off mailing lists. Online registration is free (or $1 through the mail) and is good for three years. This move alone should stop 80% of unsolicited mail within four months.

2. Don't register products. Your proof of purchase of a new product serves as a guarantee of warranty for that item, so you don't need to fill out questionnaire-style product registration forms (unless you're concerned about recall alerts). They're used for mailing lists. And never sign up for contests and sweepstakes.

3. Squash the offers. To stop preapproved credit offers, have your name removed from lists supplied by the major consumer credit reporting companies. Visit optoutprescreen.com or call the toll-free number 888-567-8688; with both methods, you're covered for five years. You also can opt out permanently by phone or by mail using a form found on the website.

4. Remain anonymous. Supermarket loyalty cards enable marketers to track buying habits and can generate unsolicited mail. Sign up for cards using a pseudonym like Jane or Joe Shopper, with no address, to preserve your anonymity.

5. Stay vigilant. Buying online is the main culprit for catalog overload. When you make a purchase, immediately send an e-mail to the company or call its toll-free number and ask that your name be removed from the mailing list. And the new catalogchoice.org lets you choose which catalogs to refuse.

While we’re in the vicinity of the subject of recycling, allow me to gripe about so-called (not by me) paradise. I was truly shocked when we moved here three years ago to discover Hawaii didn’t have a curbside recycling program. Anywhere. They have some large recycling dumpsters, but not too many people use them and therefore, surprise! The landfills are filling up fast. I tried to use the dumpsters, but discovered recently that I had been illegally dumping. True story – so used to being able to recycle cereal boxes and other light cardboard packaging with other paper items, I diligently saved all my recyclables in a corner of my garage, loaded the back of the car every month or so, and drove to the drop-off station. The dumpsters have recently had a paint job and with that, new signage that read, “No cereal boxes” next to the paper window. Huh? What am I supposed to do with them then? I guess I’m forced to put them in the landfill??

A curbside recycling pilot program rolled out in two areas last year (not where we live) and is scheduled to be expanded to more parts of Oahu. But don’t hold your breath. The headline screams, “Recycling to expand,” but the fine print states Kapolei/Makakilo program to start in May, 2010. And that only includes cans, bottles, some (not all) plastics, and newspapers. That is no typo people. We will not have a functional recycling program for over two years and it won’t even be comprehensive. Bring me the Governator! I never thought I’d ask to borrow him, but he would whip these morons into shape in a week or two, I’m sure. Want a battery recycling program? Give us about 50 years, please, before we figure that one out!

And what also strikes me as un-earthy, it was noted in today’s paper that Oahu will be getting its first Steve & Barry’s store in the Waikele shops. I’ve never been in one, but not being much of a fashionista, they don’t strike me that great. Maybe I’ll check it out sometime in the next few weeks.

For Dad

If my Dad were alive, he’d be turning 65 today. Although we lost him suddenly when I was in my late 20s, I’ll always be grateful that as a girl the best person I’ll ever know is my father. Even if the day comes when I discover I’ve lived more than half my life without him, he’ll always remain the person I aspire to be and who continues to inspire me.

Words still don't describe how much we miss you, Dad. Happy Birthday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

At midnight tonight, unlike many, many others here and on the Mainland, I won’t be ordering up my last green beer. I’ll be quietly “aging out” of the coveted 18 – 35 year old demographic. That’s right, tomorrow morning when I awake, I will have magically transcended into the 36-45 cluster, or, gasp, is it 36 – 50?!

What happens now? Does my say in anything matter anymore? Will I ever be bothered with an exit poll again? On second thought, do they even bother with exit polls in Hawaii? Depending on the time of year, we’re 5 or 6 hours behind Eastern Standard Time and usually just a few dots within a square in the lower-left corner of the election night coverage screen in which you can barely make out if they've colored it red or blue. Since statehood 50+ years ago, I don’t think any election has hinged upon Hawaii’s voter turnout!

So I throw this question out to our friends at www.navalgazing.com – does the Wilton School have a cake design for me?

Preschooler Publishes First Blog

Robbie turned 3 on Wednesday and started preschool this week. He is doing well. Loves the toy trains in the classroom and recess. He wanted to say a few things:

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Alien Baby No More

Here's the first recorded shot of Cub smiling. He's actually been smiling for months now, we just haven't gotten the camera out to capture it. I got this yesterday, shot a few more shots, and then the camera battery went dead! Oh well, we'll try another session this weekend.

Why do I call him an "alien baby?" We got the passports for the boys a few weeks ago. They don't glue the picture you submit into the book anymore, they scan the image instead. And somehow in all of that processing they add an orange-pink glow to the picture. So Cub's shot was even more funny - they cropped it tight so his round head fit the frame and then added that tinting. Alien baby! I was a bit relieved that pictures of him like the one above are doing his cuteness justice. Here's his other favorite thing to do - hand in the mouth. Very baby and very cute!

Hawaiians Let Their Blue Flags Fly

I grew up in a state with primaries. I had always thought that a caucus was a vote and that equaled a primary, and didn’t give it much more thought. So, as the Hawaii caucus came closer, I thought I would head to the local polling place sometime during the day, cast a vote, and be done with it. Well, a caucus is not a primary!

Noel caucused on Tuesday at the local middle school. I thought I would be going, too, but opted out late Monday night when I learned more about the Hawaiian caucus that I’ll share with you. It’s not an all day thing. You caucus at a pre-set time – in Hawaii, it was established that the caucus would start at 7:00 PM. And because the Republicans are doing their own thing later this year, it would be for registered Democrats only, but you could become an instant Democrat by filling out a form on the spot. A caucus is also a day that the Dem party convenes and holds meetings. Therefore, they had hoped that once everyone was assembled, they would shut the doors (Noel originally claimed they would lock the doors! How draconian!), discuss party business, then get down to the vote part. And get this: Noel also thought that you would have to walk your ballot up to the candidate’s representative. No silent vote, private ballot, or collection box. I burst out, “So when I vote for Hillary, you’d know?” Oh dear.

But the final blow for me? No kids allowed - only persons of age eligible to vote. We got a little lazy around here. We could have driven into Waikiki and picked up Noel’s Mom to baby sit, but the long round trip didn’t seem worth it. As Noel is an Obama volunteer, we thought it was pretty important for him to get involved, so I stayed home. (I was hoping to do some sort of campy live blogging, but it didn’t pan out. Obviously, as I’m just posting this two days later!)
Here’s the first shot: Chaos! The turnout blew all sorts of expectations.* In our district alone, 600 people came out, whereas in 2004 only 40 showed up. There were reports that some people lined up for two or more hours in other areas. Noel’s Dad circled the parking lot of his designated caucus, couldn’t find anywhere to park, and turned around and headed home. Back in Kapolei with Noel, there was a shortage of pre-printed ballots (shown below, printed eons ago in the political realm) and folks resorted to writing the name of their candidate on random pieces of scratch paper. (Noel later discovered there were a ton of blank ballots and brought a few home, he didn’t know who had misplaced them.) And no, they didn’t lock the doors. They took care of the voting immediately (they had a collection box for votes), and once that was complete, a huge proportion of the voters went home. But Noel stayed around and that’s when it got interesting!

Noel’s ultimate goal is to attend the National Convention as a Hawaiian delegate this August in Denver. To get there, he has to first become a delegate for the State Convention to be held in May where they will vote for national delegates. So the small group of people who hung out after the voting were given a chance to nominate themselves for the state convention. There were about 6 people interested. The organizer asked them who had been a delegate in the past. Three people raised their hands. Then the organizer said, “OK, anyone have any problem with giving the ones who haven’t gone a shot?” So Noel was in! Noel overheard the female companion of one fellow who raised his hand ask him, “Have you really been a delegate in the past?” And the guy sheepishly shook his head no. Honesty paid during this round.

So, off to the State Convention we will go in May. I can tag along as a guest to some of the events (well, with a nominal guest fee) and I’ll have to shake my wallflower tendencies and get out there and campaign for my man. Noel is already working on his talking points.

* In the Sunday paper, Hawaii Senator Inouye wrote a piece in support of Clinton. Trying to discredit Obama’s Hawaiian roots, Inouye wrote: “(Barack Obama) went to school in Hawai’I but he went to Punahou, and that was not a school fro the impoverished.” I’m happy to see that many people still read the paper here. Folks went nuts over this comment, and I think it brought people out against Hillary instead of for her. Punahou is a private school, and true it attracts top athletes and white people (female golf phenom Michelle Wie and...er, well, white people) but according to alums and not-alums alike it is not elitist. And if he hasn’t already shot a future re-election campaign in the foot, Sen. Inouye, one of the state’s nine super delegates, stands by his commitment to vote for Hilary at the National Convention. It’s his right, but goes against the will of the Democrats here, who voted 3:1 in favor of Obama.

A Valentine to you!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! The sentiment shown above was created by...guess who? I bought a bunch of Necco candy hearts the other day and was trying to go all "food stylist" and get fancy with a picture. While arranging them on the table, Robbie takes a few and starts playing with them as well. I look over to see what he did, and realized he had created my money shot!