Honu!

From this weekend: I worked Saturday and Sunday, but had Monday off because of the holiday. I drove all over the freaking island, and stopped for a bit at Turtle Beach. There were six turtles hanging out that day. I took pictures for all of you. (You're welcome). The guy pointing is the Turtle Patrol dude (there are volunteers who are there to yell at you if you try to touch or poke or disturb them).

Monsoon and hiking (not necessarily in that order)

So I was off call this weekend, so on Saturday morning I decided to bail on the boring baby shower I was invited to and go hiking instead. A quick note: I know all of 15 people on this island, and the fifth baby of a friend and/or colleague here in Hawaii was born this morning. Seriously. Apparently fertility not so much a problem here. Baby gifts are going to freaking bankrupt me.

Anyway, I went to Manoa Falls, a popular trail not far from where I live. I got a late start and was worried that it would be exceedingly crowded. Instead, it turned out to be about perfect. There were three cars in the parking area when I left, but about 18 by the time I got back. There were few enough people that it was quiet and enjoyable, but not so isolated that I start wondering what would happen if my propensity to sprain ankles would rear its ugly head once again and no one would be around to carry me off the trail.

The only downside was that, because it's pretty much a rainforest, it was disgustingly humid. I started sweating during the process of switching from flip flops to hiking shoes in the parking lot (I believe excessive perspiration is a lovely genetic gift from my father -thanks, Walls!). I doused myself in insect repellent as well, as instructed, but still managed to get quite a few bites before the hike was over. Here are a few pictures, but I actually was relatively committed to pictures on this little trip, so I have several. I'll post a link to the album soon.

That was Saturday late morning. After I got home, I did laundry, played outside, then barbecued with some friends at the park near my apartment. Then, on Saturday night, the monsoon began. Let me start by saying that I have not used an umbrella since I moved here. Certainly we've had rain, but usually in ten minute increments followed by clear skies and sunshine. It rained from Saturday night until Monday afternoon virtually constantly. Still, under normal circumstances, I like days like these that virtually require laziness. Football in my pajamas (damn you, Redskins, for keeping 3 or 4 people unnecessarily alive in the pool), Sunday brunch, reading on the couch, an afternoon movie... all good things. But, it kind of sucked to have my weekend off call washed out. After 36 hours, pretty much the entire island is flooded, there's a bunch of sewage that ran off into Pearl Harbor, the South Shore beaches had waves of 16 feet (which is crazy), and it's been humid and sticky and gross ever since. Word on the street is that we were getting up to 3 inches of rain an hour, with a total of 16-18 inches over that day or two. My apologies to those whose homes and cars were damaged, but at least the local news now had something to cover. Seriously. Nothing happens here. A few weeks ago I saw a tv crew at one of the local hospitals to cover the birthday celebration for the therapy dog. Birthday parties for Labrador Retrivers make the 6:00 news (and may be the lead story).

More photos can be found here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=2q8ygh8c.1dmmsj94&Uy=-5b779r&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1

Quick story

Because clearly the great deal I got on the car I bought shortly after arriving here was in fact too good to be true, my car's air conditioning has finally and dramatically ceased to work. Long story short, I took it into a highly recommended garage to be looked at, and I was told the cost of fixing it would exceed $700. Something about corrosion to my evaporator... doesn't matter, not the point. The point is, to my great amusement, when explaining the mechanics behind said corrosion, the mechanic asked me "do you live near the ocean?" with no apparent sense of irony whatsoever. (For those not quite familiar enough with O'ahu geography to get the punchline - it's a small island. We all, by definition, live by the ocean.) He made my day.

I spent the afternoon at work looking online for Boston apartments. That's how sad I was to miss the World Series parade today.

Weekend Update

I had a lovely three-day weekend during which I didn't work a lick. Friday - the day spent at the beach and a Friday Night Lights-a-thon that night (people, are you watching this yet?). The season started a month ago and I hadn't watched any of it yet, so I caught four episodes between Friday and Saturday. Saturday morning, I did what I call 'gardening.' My attention has been drawn, however, to the fact that most people think that means 'planting.' For me, it meant general clean-up and pulling the plants from the ground that have died because I don't water enough. Still, it looks better, so maybe the next step will be to actually plant something. I also cleaned my house, watched part of game 3, then got bored with the lopsided game and went to a movie. I saw Lars and the Real Girl (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809775083/info), a film that I thought was lovely, but can see how it's certainly not everyone's taste.

More walking along the water this morning, baseball right now (I am not nearly as compelled this time around as I was in 2004. Is it because they already won a World Series? Because Wake's not even on the roster? Because the Sox had to go through the Tribe to get there? Because McCarver makes me want to beat my head against the wall? Because it doesn't feel like post-season baseball when it's 85 degrees out? I have no idea).

Tennis starts tomorrow night. I intended to at least take some serves or something before then so I don't humiliate myself (I haven't played since Rob and I last hit - fall 2006, maybe?). Yeah, that never happened. Bummer.

The newly cleaned and improved garden.

Gecko inspecting his newly renovated home.

Play ball (and other stories)

Okay, where to begin? In an effort to get back on track with the blog, I've got a lot of ground to cover. I've been in a bit of a funk since my return from the mainland. A day after my return, I woke to some back pain that isn't supposed to happen when you're 30. Deciding maybe I pulled a muscle carrying heavy bags or something to and from the airport, I decided I had no choice but to suck it up. Cut to two days later, and I could not move and/or walk due to the excruciating pain. Seriously. I was miserable. Four days after that the back pain was miraculously gone, but was replaced by some serious dizzy spells that I decided were associated with a near ibuprofen overdose from my attempts to curb the back pain. Good times. I called my doctor, but he is reportedly living it up on vacation in Boston. Born and raised here, apparently he decided to do a little leaf peeping (which is in my top five most hated phrases). Don't worry, parents, I'm still going to see him when he gets back just in case (special thanks to my friends whose response to my complaints were the more-excited-than-sympathetic "maybe you have a brain tumor!" exclamations). I have missed the fall weather, though, and get mildly frustrated when I cannot make phone calls after 5:00 pm to friends at home. Still, just tonight I walked outside and decided the weather was changing - it was downright cool. I promptly checked - it is 78 degrees out. After only six months here, it's possible that I would die in New England in January.

Anyway, I'm taking the day off tomorrow (though still on call) in an effort to have some fun and remind me of why I live here in the first place. Seriously, nothing's that bad if my complaints for this week were as follows: The library here sucks so bad that I had to call and speak to three different people to see why the current #1 NYT bestseller isn't even on their 'to order' list (I love you, Stephen Colbert, but do not pay full price for hardback books). I also called the Skippy customer service line because the $4 (on sale) jar of peanut butter I bought the other day was disgusting as a result of the heat it endured on its way to Hawaii. But things are looking up... there's a free taco coming my way next week (more on that later). Oh, and I got an email response to the complaint I lodged regarding the gropey shuttle driver at my Nashville hotel. Has anyone noticed my new love of contacting customer service agencies and not thought that I have now completely and totally turned into my mother? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Shall we talk about what I did this week? Sure! After much anticipation, I attended my first Hawaii Winter League baseball game. I learned of its existence very shortly after moving here, as one of the first things I did was research the options for minor league or college baseball. Of course, after some discussions with friends and colleagues here, it became apparent that I was the only one who knew the Winter League existed. I went on Tuesday night, after a quick stop at the outlet mall down the street (quick review: good stores, plenty of parking, but a bit of a disappointment after spending time in Florida where they build outlet malls the size of college campuses. If I were a tourist in Waikiki who took a bus all the way to Waipahu for that, I would have been mildly pissed). I wasn't expecting enormous crowds, but I definitely did that double-take 'this is it?' thing when I pulled in the parking lot. At the start of the game, there were maybe 15 of us, but another few dozen showed up by the end (most likely related to the players). Still, here's the thing: the quality of the baseball itself wasn't that bad (pretty decent pitching, pretty awful defense), the price was right ($5, obviously right behind the plate), I forgot how fun it is to actually hear the close-up crack of the bat after $20 bleachers seats in Fenway Park where you can't even see any of the players except the right fielder, and the quality of the hot dog was superb. All in all, not a bad night. Downside? You really did feel like the other spectators were looking at you funny if you weren't directly related to someone on the roster, and the park itself, while I wouldn't say is in a bad neighborhood, didn't feel exceptionally safe to me. I placed 3 to 1 odds (when betting with myself) on whether my car would be broken into before the end of the game. (It was not). How about some pictures?



The view from my highly desirable (but not at all difficult to obtain) seats. Actually, when I got to the ticket booth, the guy asked me, "where do you want to sit?" I had no idea. "Um, first base line?" Him, skeptically: "on the grass?" Me: "No, I'd like a seat." Cause of the confusion? There are bleachers behind home plate, and less expensive bleachers down the third base line, but nothing but grass along the first base line. Now I get it.

Those packed third baseline seats I mentioned. There were five people sitting there, and they got a special shout-out from the PA announcer. I also specifically remembered that he was local, as he asked "howzit?", a question I have been here long enough that I now answer without hesitation, rather than looking blankly at the person who asked.
The home team's dugout, which had no true bench, and enough chairs for about three players.

The old guy behind me took the picture for me. I felt this was a more than fair exchange after sitting in front of him for 5 innings at this point. He was completely blind and, after every play, would ask "did he catch it?" or "Was it foul?" and then actually question balls and strikes. Loved him.

This was my favorite part. There was, surprisingly, a mascot (that seemed too high budget for me). But, if you look closely, his jersey simply says "Hawaii." There's one mascot for four teams.

Surely, after that review, you want to hear more, no? http://www.hawaiiwinterbaseball.com/ I'm very seriously considering throwing myself a birthday party there next month. No kidding.

So, I suppose this is an appropriate time to talk about actual MLB post-season play. I did successfully jump on the Tribe bandwagon just in time to have my heart broken. Also, while I have just enough Boston ties that I will continue to root for them to win the World Series (now that the Indians are gone), I totally understand those people who are beginning to say that the Red Sox are the Yankees of this century, what with the payroll and the fans around the country with no true ties to Massachusetts in any way, shape, or form. Case in point? I met a lovely family at a barbecue that happened to coincide with ALCS Game 7, who were all about the Red Sox. Continuing questioning, though, revealed no New England roots (which I can't blame them for, because if you're born and raised in Hawaii, an arbitrary favorite team is acceptable in my opinion) as well as a non-existent understanding of Red Sox history pre-2004 ("Really? Manny played for Cleveland once?"). Perhaps the final straw for me, however, was when they instructed their small children to pray for the Sox prior to their meal. Hmm. Let's just leave it at that. Anyway, I'm just saying - I get why people hate Boston. And their fans. (Even though true Red Sox fans are among the most knowledgeable in the country).

So the World Series has begun, and while it's often cool that the games start at 2:00 pm here, I couldn't get out of work yesterday to watch live. Instead, I settled for gamecast and constant email commentary from Lano. Luckily, I didn't feel like I missed much when I wondered aloud if there should be a mercy rule of some sort. While 'working,' though, I did come across the free taco promotion on mlb.com and immediately inquired whether Lano knew about it. He informed me that Fox was promoting it incessantly (is there another way for Fox to promote anything?) and I was quickly obsessed with the elusive stolen base, as well as reading the fine print regarding contest rules. (Of note? The lawyers who write the aforementioned fine print apparently think that the plural of 'taco' is 'taco's.' It's not.) Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, Sounds of the Game offered us this gem (again, thanks, Lano) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QI8C9gW1Y0 , and now I cannot go an hour without saying "I ain't got my taco." I have no idea why this amuses me so. Anyway, Taco Bell, next Tuesday, 2:00-5:00, be there or be square. What a lovely birthday present for my brother.

And on that note, I've gotten three pages since I started writing this, which means the transplant gods are simply not going to leave me alone tonight when they know I want to go to the beach first thing in the morning. Boo.

Six weeks in review

So I've seemingly abandoned the blog for the last two months or so. The problem is mostly that I rarely bring my camera with me unless I have a particularly touristy day planned. Initially, I intended this blog to be more a tool for picture sharing. But, I quickly learned that A) I'm a crappy photographer and B) no matter how pretty it is in person, multiple mediocre pictures of a Hawaiian beach probably get old. Since the picture thing wasn't working out that well, I started trending more towards text, but A) my life isn't that exciting and B) my memory is even worse. So, if I go a few days without updating the old blog, I don't remember what I did anyway.

So. Here's the plan: I'm going to list a few of the many things I've done during this hiatus, in no particularly order, with varying amounts of commentary. If you have something to add, great. That's why there's a comments section. Otherwise, we'll all consider ourselves caught up and call it a day. Without further delay, the following are things I've done, places I've gone, and observations I've made in the last 6 weeks or so.

- Went to Nashville for work, stayed at the Opryland Hotel (that's the Gaylord Opryland Hotel to you, Becky), which is way too large not to have a casino. Saw old friends and colleagues from DC, watched the Tribe/NYY game, wrote a nasty comment card about the airport shuttle guy who was way too touchy-feely for me under any circumstances, and certainly after an 18 hour overnight travel adventure with delayed flights, missed connections, and more delayed flights.
- Speaking of casinos: went to Argosy "riverboat" (they tell me they have a captain and everything) Casino in Indiana. Hung out with the hardcore gamblers who are there in the morning. Lost money as always but was good luck for Walls, which also seems to be a trend. Learned to play Boston 5, which was fun (though it tends to be more fun when A) I'm winning or B) I'm playing with David's money).
- Went to see the family in Ohio. (That answers the 'what were you doing in Indiana?' question). Played with the niece, saw the family, went to Chipotle (which slightly supersedes Target on my 'list of mainland businesses that I really really miss'), celebrated Katie's sober 30th, enjoyed some fall weather.
- Gave a driving tour of the island to my aunt and the Canton, Ohio, contingency. I'm not sure if they can count as my first official visitors when their trip was planned prior to my decision to move, but nonetheless, they get that distinction for now.
- Joined a tennis league that started yesterday, but I haven't played yet. That was a bye week for me. Is it called a 'bye' in individual sports? It is now.
- Watched lots of postseason baseball, and did a decent but not fantastic job of jumping back on the Tribe bandwagon. Yesterday, for example, I had the distinctly Hawaiian pleasure of leaving work early for a 2:00 pm start. We went to the bar, and I managed to cheer for an Indians defensive move and a Varitek hit within the same half-inning. My allegiances are hard to remember, apparently.
- Went to a Thunderbirds Air Show at Waikiki Beach during Navy Week. This was actually a while ago and turned out to be one of my favorite things I've done here so far, but completely accidentally. I had heard about this event, but it wasn't a priority for me. I learned, however, that my plan to take a nap that afternoon would be quickly tossed when a plane flew directly over my apartment at the completion of the first trick (maneuver? I don't know what to call them) and was the loudest sound I have ever heard. Seriously. So I put on some shoes and walked to the park across the street to watch, and it turned out to be terribly entertaining and well worth my time. There are multiple You Tube videos for those interested.
- Read several books. Tested out new fall tv shows for replacements for my old favorite shows that were canceled (I know who you are, Veronica Mars).
- Saw at least six rainbows that were so spectacular that I always wish I have my camera with me (previously noted lack of photography skills aside). Sometimes you see two full ones next to each other. We didn't have that everyday in Canton. Or Durham. Or Boston. Or DC.

Hmm. This got long, and I really should actually do some work. Perhaps I'll do a Part II tomorrow.

ALCS

People. Stop asking who I'm rooting for in this series. While I'm certainly not the most popular person ever, there's something about a Tribe vs. Sox playoff series that makes everyone I've ever known crawl out of the woodwork and tell me why I'd be an embarrassment for rooting for one or the other. For the record, when I first moved to Boston, I actually would go to Fenway Park to cheer for the Tribe on their away games. I vowed I would never become one of "those people," (and I still contend that Sox fans never wanted to win that World Series) but eventually became everything I said I would never be.

So. Now I'm really far from Boston, but still follow them pretty closely. But, the team I followed for 20 plus years is making a run, and it's been really fun to watch. I think I lose either way. If I stay with Boston, I'm somehow ignoring my upbringing, if I return to support the Tribe, then I'm a frontrunner who only follows them when they're winning.

So, the plan is to try to root for Cleveland, and honor my Ohio roots (plus I'm in Ohio for the first two games). The reason I say "try" is that I have some fear that once DO or Youki or Manny comes up, I won't really be able to root against them, particularly after it took me a fair amount of time to sit down and even learn the names of the guys on the Tribe roster (thank God for Kenny Lofton). Oh, and when Wake pitches? Yeah, I'm rooting for him. That's not negotiable.

Finally, a brief comment on the Lebron James "scandal." Regardless of how you feel, traitor or not, the following is the crappiest excuse I've ever heard: "well, the Indians sucked when he was growing up, so it's okay that he picked another team." Yeah, he was born in 1984. That means he was 10 when they went to the World Series. And 12 when they lost to Florida. The Indians didn't suck when he was a kid. The Indians sucked when I was a kid. I think they finished 3rd in their division once or twice. We used to show up an hour before the game only to secure fantastic seats on the third base line with a section to ourselves. To cheer for who, Cory Snyder? Joe Carter? And we thought they were going to take us all the way. Not buying that excuse for a second.

Go Tribe. I think.