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!

Modern Day Kamikaze

We extend congratulations to Andrew Millbrooke of Wahiawa, who with a few bad days on the job and a hasty click of the “Send” button has managed to unite the five branches of the military here in Oahu, something that hasn’t been done since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
Seems our Mr. Millbrooke is a waiter at a very popular North Shore eatery who had the unfortunate idea to write an op-ed letter to the Honolulu Advertiser in which he stated that all members of the military are bad tippers. Well, the military and non-military alike took up the cause and fired back over the course of the week, one of my faves being, “It seems that you don’t like your current job…May I suggest you show your true patriotism and join the military?” In his original missive, he all but said the name of the restaurant, and the owners had to send their own rebuttal on the subject, saying they do not share his views and the military is always welcome. No word on whether or not he was still employed there, but we can guarantee if he is, he is often requested.

“Bring Me the Beagle”

With these words, history was made at the Westminster Dog Show this week! Noel and I cheered along with the thousands in Madison Square Garden as Uno took the top prize. I’m sure most of you have heard the news or have seen this cutie making the TV rounds, but I just had to say kudos to the judges who chose the beagle over not one, but two (!) poodles with pom poms stuck to his/her shaved rear.
And if you allow me a quick PSA, if you or someone you know is thinking about getting a beagle, try a local beagle rescue group. Our beagle mixes were from the local pound and another dog rescue group, but we did try a beagle group, too. If you’re on the East Coast, anywhere near the VA / MD / DC area, check out www.brewbeagles.org. My sister-in-law got her two beagles from them, and continues to work with the group by fostering a third or fourth dog every couple of months. They hold an annual “BeagleFest” fundraiser which we attended one spring before we left the area, and it’s a riot. Think one big dog park – with about a hundred beagles. (Cal, our social dog, was gone in a heartbeat and we lost him for a bit. Brady, the shy one, stuck by our side.) Good memories!

Lost Child, Found Fashion Sense

I was shopping yesterday and temporarily lost Robbie in a department store. I found it hard to discipline him for not staying near me when he appeared after five minutes wearing these Versace shades from the nearby Accessories department!

Clooney won’t stump for Obama, but Noel will!

It’s Super Tuesday everyone. If you’re in a state where votes are being counted today, I hope you will head or have already headed to the polls. Hawaii is not a “Super Tuesday” state - we’ll be holding a caucus later in the month. However, Noel will be engaging in Super Tuesday activity as he plans to head downtown this afternoon to join a group of Obama supporters to watch Super Tuesday results coverage. Yes, you read that right! Noel is an Obama supporter. Last week he attended a meeting for potential volunteers, and plans to join the Obama campaign once he’s done with the Bar exam. I’m just happy he’s voting; for as long as I’ve known him he didn’t participate in any elections. And that he’s backing a Dem is icing on the cake! If he allows me to blog about it (and I think he will), I’ll be sure to provide any insider-information and nuggets from within the campaign trenches. He’s already provided a few nuggets on the varied personalities of fellow volunteers: The Collegian in Charge – 23-year old female lead volunteer, organizer of the volunteers. When she found out there were hopeful 15- and 16-year olds at the meeting, she barked; “You’re too young to vote. You’ll be babysitting while parents are voting at the caucus.” (!) The Army guy – another wannabe volunteer at the meeting last week. Iraq veteran, very much anti-Iraq. And then we have Noel, always having to make a joke, replying to the question, "Why are you here?:" “Well I saw the Obama girl video and that was pretty much it.” He later admitted to me that he was disappointed - he had hoped she would be there.

‘Elele Street? Hey, that’s us!

A water-dropping helicopter helped contain a stubborn brushfire yesterday afternoon in Makakilo. Fire Department spokesman Capt. Earle Kealoha said the fire scorched an estimated 50 to 75 acres on a hillside near 'Elele Street. No lives or property were threatened.
This is the Honolulu Advertiser picture and caption from last Friday’s paper. We had a brushfire at the southern end of the street. There were lots of fire sirens heard throughout the day and a HFD helicopter ran pretty low through our neighborhood, but other than Robbie yelling out “Fire! Fire! Fire!” whenever he heard the sirens (a bit unnerving), there was nothing to worry about. Matter of fact, ace fire spotter that I am, I mistook rain clouds in the sky up the hill for smoke clouds. I thought the helicopter shown in the picture was dropping water on the northern end (up the hill), but it turns out that it was picking up water and then dumping it south. So had the fire gotten out of hand, I would have been standing on our back porch while the fire ravaged our front door.

Family Storms Local Kinkos for Passport Pics

The family will be heading to Vancouver this summer to tag along with Noel while he attends a legal conference on immigration. In preparation for the troop movement, we applied for passports for the little ones. First step? Pictures. We knew it would be difficult, so of course, we tried to get a few laughs from it. And the Kinkos staff was more than willing to try to have a good laugh, too. Even the FedEx driver got into the act and tried to get Robbie to smile. Unsuccessful mission. We snapped a bunch of pics, and the one above was the best. Then they wouldn’t let us hold up Cub, so they threw a large white board on the ground between copiers and we placed him down on the floor. The photographer waited…and waited…and waited for a smile while we silently pleaded…and pleaded…and pleaded for her just to take the picture! She snapped it just before he started crying. The results are above. We tried one more time to place him down, but he cried immediately. So we went with what we had.
Two days later it was off the Main Post Office with applications in hand. I won’t dramatize events there as I am a stamp collector and don’t want the Post Office to hate me. Let’s just say Mission Accomplished and end it there. One funny note that I will add though – the Post Office employer literally takes one look at our pictures and says, “You took these at Pearl City Kinkos?” Umm, yes! And then he says, “We have had to call them recently to say the pictures weren’t acceptable. Looks like they’re getting better.” Those are the better shots?

And yes, all this just to go to Canada! Hopefully now that passports are in hand for all this will allow us more exotic trips in the next 10 years for which they are valid.