Mele Kalikimaka

I had a good Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I tagged along with the roommates to some of their friends' house in Aiea. I was the designated driver, so I mostly got to bear witness to the high levels of cheer and good will towards men (and women). In many senses, it was a throw back to earlier times for me. Before that night, I hadn't played beer pong since college. It turns out I am pretty good (or I was the only sober one, take your pick). One of the hosts of the party and I went undefeated for the night, but he still ended up feeling the pain. Playing drinking games while the DD puts a lot of responsibility on your teammates.

On Christmas, the roommates and I had a big breakfast, opened gifts, and watched "A Christmas Story" for the majority of the day. Over and over. Later, I went to Tomollie's for Christmas dinner. Today the plan was to go out on my boat with a friend I knew in Japan, but he wasn't able to make it and the weather is turning south pretty quickly. Instead, I am spending a lazy day catching up on Facebook and listening to the Fleet Foxes on repeat. Kate recommended this band to me and I can't stop listening. If you like alternative folk baroque pop, you will love the Fleet Foxes.

I dropped Kate off at the airport on Christmas Eve after a week long visit. We had a lot of fun. I was able to take a few days off of work the week prior and we took a motorcycle trip to Maui. I was a bit hesitant due to the fact that it is the rainy season and my motorcycle fares even worse in the rain than I do, but luckily the weather was gorgeous the entire time we were there. The worst of it was a 5 minute sprinkling while on the Hana Highway.


The trip itself was a lot of motorcycle riding and a good bit of camping. I am happy to report that the panniers on the side of my bike hold the right amount of stuff for a no frills trip: a tent, two sleeping bags, cold weather clothes (for Haleakala), and food. We got to see a lot of sunrises and ride the entire coast of Maui. If you ever have the chance, I highly recommend traveling along the Piilani highway. I think it was the most beautiful stretch of road I have been on. Never mind the fact that it isn't really paved. The slow going gives you a chance to see it more closely. I'm no Ewan McGregor, but some more motorcycle adventures may be in my future.


We also went shark cage diving. It was pretty cool (cold in a literal sense). The weather held for us and we were able to see quite a few sandbar sharks. They were close enough to touch, but not at all threatening. They were sneaky, though. It's like they appeared out of no where. Being 3 miles off-shore in shark filled waters is a lot less intimidating when you are in a floating metal cage. I'm not sure I would have felt comfortable otherwise.


We also did some kayaking (I drowned her camera and killed it dead) and I dragged her to my work Christmas party. Other than that, it was a lot of hanging out. It was her Hawaiian vacation, but it felt like one for me as well.

This weekend is going to be a lot of hanging out and hopefully getting some work done on my car. Without getting too deep into the details, the inside of my car gets flooded whenever it rains. I tried fixing it by chipping the majority of the rust off with a screwdriver and hammer. After that I tried to fill the holes with cardboard, steel epoxy, and sealant, but I may have made it worse because I didn't have nearly enough epoxy and sealant. t won't even start. And the inside, which used to smell like a wet dog, now smells like a dead wet dog.

Wednesday Night People

Things have been moving along here in Hawaii. The weather has started to become more rainy and cloudy lately, but not to the point that you have to let it ruin your whole day. These past few days have been amazing. The vog has cleared and the clouds are staying away. The past three days have been sunny, clear, and in the high 70's. Who loves Hawaii? This guy.

I have been very busy lately. Ironically, that is due in large part to how much time I have had off of work. The month of November brought with it 14 working days. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that there is less to do, so the work days have been longer and busier. December should be a little bit easier. I am planning on taking some time off around the holidays, but at least I will be able to do what I need to do at work before then.

It has been a month and a half since my last post, so I should have a lot to add, but I can't think of it right now. What have we been up to? Well, my brother was in and out for about two months, there was stunt kite flying at the sand bar (the kite recently suffered a broken wing), Melissa and Michelle have each been to their last Wednesday night dinner, I have been kayaking to the Mokualuas a couple of times, I went to a fancy-pants dinner, the Wednesday night crew took a bike trip to Maui last weekend, and I ate my own body weight in turkey and stuffing over the past 24 hours. That's about all of the news.


We have been having a lot of fun on the water. I got a stunt kite on Amazon which, with a little practice, can be steered quite accurately. At the sand bar we have been having one person fly the kite while everyone else gets chased and/or throws stuff at the kite. I know that probably doesn't sound very fun, but trust me: you can't help but laughing. Also of note, before Melissa left for Florida to get married, she and I bumped the volleyball 116 times in a row. The previous record was 87. No big deal.

Our Wednesday night TV-on-DVD dinners has evolved into just dinner and conversation. Last year, when I lived in an apartment, it didn't really make for a relaxing setting. Noisy neighbors and tight quarters, as well a lack of a dinner table and chairs, meant that we were eating on the couch and facing the TV. Having a backyard with a lanai has changed that. I'm not really sure how the whole ordeal works, so we'll just say "Tomollie's future sisters in-law", Melissa and Michelle, have been coming over to eat with us. It was a lot of fun having them, but they have both seen their last Wednesday night TV-on-DVD night. Melissa left about a month ago to prepare for her wedding (she's marrying Tom's brother) and Michelle is moving off island next Tuesday. We do have a good number of new people in the mix, so maybe we can continue on with the chit chat.


I have an old/new roommate who I just met recently. She has technically lived here longer than me, but she has been gone for the last half a year. She got some major bonus points with me when I asked her to go kayaking with me and she said 'yes.' You would be amazed at how hard it is to get people to get in a boat with you sometimes. I also went kayaking with the Wednesday night people a few days after the roommate adventure. Twice in 3 days. Weird.


Last weekend the Wednesday night peoples (in case you aren't seeing the pattern here, the Wednesday night peeps are about my only friends...) and I took a trip to Maui. We left Friday morning on the super ferry, rented bikes, and pedaled (walked) our way to the top of Haleakala. 35 miles on a bicycle may not sound all that challenging, but let me add a few other elements: 8 hours of sleep in 72 hours, sea level to 10,023 feet, and no down hill on the way there. At all. It wasn't all that bad, but I really hit the wall at mile 32.

We made it 24 miles in the first 7 hours, which was Hosmer Grove at Haleakala National Park. I was determined to see the sunrise on Saturday morning since, for me, that was the one thing you have to see on Maui. No one else wanted to come with me, so I hung out a camp for a few hours, slept for an hour, and pushed on alone just before 1:00am on Saturday. Everything was going fine until about 3 miles from the top. I ran out of energy. I think it was a combination of tired muscles and sleep deprivation because I just wanted to lay down in the road and sleep. I pushed through and got to the top right around 3:45am and waited for everyone else, in the car, to meet me. At around 5:45 they finally pulled in. By that time I was in my sleeping bag, slumped over on the side walk, but still very awake.

Unfortunately, the sunrise was obscured by the excessive clouds, but it could have been worse. Apparently we narrowly missed a massive thunderstorm. Instead of the thunderstorm, we got constant rain on Saturday. At any rate, I made the final summit and headed back down to camp. The girls left for the beach for the day (even though it was raining) and the guys hung out in the rain, hovering over the fire. It felt a bit like a hobo village and the rain did not stop. That night I ended up sandwiched between two dudes in my tent because their original plan was to sleep under the stars. That doesn't work so well in a down pour and a two person tent doesn't work so well for three adult males.The rain let up around 4:00am. We woke up around 6:00am and were on the road by 7:15am. The trip down was way easier than the trip up. It took about 1h45m and the weather was beautiful. I think I might be doing that trip again in a few weeks, but on a motorcycle rather than a bicycle. Liquefied dinosaur bones are way stronger than my own two legs.

That's about all of the excitement. I went to a play called, "The Rabbit Hole" at a local community college. It was good. If you are in Oahu from now until mid-December, I would recommend seeing it. I also ate way too much food yesterday and today. I ate so much that I literally put myself to sleep. Around 7:00pm my forehead started bouncing off the table. I tried as hard as I could to be a good host and stay awake, but it was no use. I think someone laced my 4 pounds of turkey, stuffing, and cheesy potatoes. I was out cold. Just to make sure, I woke up this morning and finished the turkey, stuffing, and potatoes. Sure enough, I have been laying around the house, refusing to move, ever since.

Rhythm

Things have been fairly slow here in Hawaii, although I have done a few new things recently. One such thing is the tidal pools at Mokapu'u Lighthouse. I had sailed past the pools a few times, but never knew that you could so readily walk to them from the lighthouse path. I went with Tom and Hollie and some of their friends from Tom's school.

The pictures explain them better than I can, so I'll leave you to those, but the sounds that were involved do require some describing. Apparently the ground we were walking on was more of a ledge hanging over the water than a solid surface all the way down to the ocean floor. There were a couple of holes by the base of the hill and it was possible to see the water through them. The most interesting part of the holes was the way that the waves would make them breathe every so often. Besides the saturated air that would occasionally spout from them, the sounds made them an attraction. The sound was what one would imagine a giant ogre sounding like after being woken unpleasantly. It was a deep, angry sounding gasp that would come and go every so often. I guess you'll just have to trust me on this one: it sounded more like an ogre than water.


Later that day Tom and I rode up to the North Shore on our motorized two wheeled vehicles (by putting it that way I don't have to call him out on having a moped). I don't know if it was because I ran that morning right before hiking or if there was something misaligned in my spine, but the ride made me really sore. I was happy to get to Haleiwa where we had some good Thai food and shave ice. The ride back was less painful, but that may have been because we took the H-2 to H-1 to H-3, which was faster. The next day, we headed to the sand bar with Tomollie and their future sister-in-law Melissa (she is engaged to Tom's older brother Nick) and her sister Michelle.


The following weekend I tagged along with Tomollie and their school peeps to see a MUSICAL, Miss Saigon. I was led to believe that it was a play. It's not. It's a musical. It was good, but not at all what I was expecting. It was a sort of drama/comedy (dramedy?) with a good portion set in strip clubs. That's all fine and well until you learn (after the show is over) that the girls dancing in their panties are sophomores and juniors in high school. Call me an old maid, but something about middle and old aged men watching high school girls shake it just doesn't seem proper. I felt a little dirty. That's not to say that I didn't watch, but you get the point.

This weekend, a long one in honor of Discoverer's Day (or Columbus Day, depending on what you prescribe to), I did a lot of sleeping, reading, and spent some time at the sand bar. I ended up going to the sand bar alone since no one seemed really keen on going. It was a bit of a bust. The water was kind of gross and the weather was not ideal. Plus, I ended up getting a little sick to my stomach. I usually bring soy milk to drink, but I decided to go with apple and orange juice this time around. As you might guess, a gallon of fruit juice can make one's stomach a bit sour. Believe it or not, beer is what made my stomach feel better.


Since my trip back from the sand bar (in the pouring rain) I have been doing a whole lot of nothing. Reading, sleeping, swimming, and jamming out to The Polyphonic Spree. Tonight I have class and tomorrow is another Wednesday night TV-on-DVD. We are going with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in case you were wondering.

Vacation

Where do you go to vacation when you live in Hawaii? The answer, obviously, is the Upper Midwest: Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan.

The past two weeks I had a vacation on par with a summer vacation in grade school. No work, no pressing appointments, and no unwanted obligations. I slept 12 hours a day. I read 3 books. I saw family and multitudes of old friends. And I drove over 1,400 miles in my rental car with good company.

The impetus behind going back to the Midwest was Josh and Anna's wedding (if you scroll back to June 2006, you can see them in Hawaii). Josh is an old teammate/roommate/friend from college and he was always the main driver behind our house parties. Going to the wedding was eerily similar to having a house party on Spooner Street. A lot of the same faces (and most of the old roommates) as well as a lot of drinking. While I stuck with beer and White Russians in college, the wedding reception was a Russian one. That meant a lot of vodka (the following morning I learned that it was actually "too much" vodka).

An old friend from Hawaii, Juliet, was my original date for the wedding, but some last minute stuff came up and Kate was my 'knight in shining armor' (in reference to the rehearsal dinner at Medieval Times... it's a stretch, I know) and agreed to go with me. From what I remember, I had a great time. Plus Kate and I got a bonus road trip out of the deal, with bonus miles driven due to my poor route planning.

The ceremony itself was very nice. In true Josh and Anna style (maybe more so Josh), the atmosphere was very relaxed and jovial. Oh, and they got me a sweet "Madeline & Nine" flag for my boat, so not just Josh walked away a winner. Congrats to Josh and Anna!

After the wedding, I began the hibernation. I spent three days at my parents' house sleeping and reading. I was incredibly and blissfully lazy. Since the weather was cloudy and rainy anyway, I didn't even have to feel guilty about it. Perfect. I skipped a planned trip to Minnesota in favor of sleep. I would generally shudder at the thought of missing out on traveling just to waste the days languishing in my parents' solarium, but in this instance, I really needed the rest. Plus, I really cut down on my carbon footprint, right? I'm probably an Earth warrior now.

Next was the U.P. This year it was only Adam, Justin, and me. Only about half of the participants from high school, but I'm glad we got to make the trip. I got to catch up with Nic in Wausau, as well. He came shopping with us. Not for clothes, but for food. Much more appropriate.

The weather in the U.P. wasn't great, but it could have been much worse. We had some rain and some clear skies, but the most fortunate thing was that the bugs were by and large gone. One year we went up there in September and were forced indoors due to swarms of black flies. Not this time around. We were able to hit all of the wickets for a successful cabin trip: chop wood, cook meat over fire, bonfire on the beach, drink beer, play cards, beach walk, smoke cigars, and sunset photo. Another notable difference from high school was that the conversation focused mainly on insurance, home ownership, and affordable family cars. We are officially old(er), or at least the married guys with kids are.

(Note the wife and kids)

After that I spent three days in Madison hanging out with my sister and college friends. Beau came down on Tuesday and we went to the boathouse. At this point I should mention that I stop in to see my old coaches every time I am in Madison. Up to this time around, I never got any free stuff. That all changes when you walk in the room with a two-time Olympic medalist and world record holder. The T-shirts and hats were flowing like wine. I drank them in.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I love Madison. It is such a beautiful city. I'm happy that I had a chance to live there and I will probably live there again in the future. This trip really confirmed for me that when all is said and done, friends and family are the most important thing in life. Lately I have been looking into to building a sweet underground cabin in the Rocky mountains, but not being able to connect that with the people I grew up around turns that idea into a pretty postcard more so than a viable option for me. When I mentioned that at the cabin, the guys recommended that I get a sweet underground cabin in Wisconsin that they could help watch for me. Good idea, but not quite yet.

Back to Madison. While there, not only was I able to catch up with old friends, but I was able to see all of my old favorite places and drink all of my old favorite (and comparatively cheap) beers at the Great Dane and Essen Haus.

Lastly, I was able to travel to Milwaukee to see my little sister and meet her boyfriend before heading back down to Illinois. I crashed at Sheng's place last minute (thanks!) and found my way to the airport first thing in the morning.

Once back in Hawaii I set out for an overnighter at the sand bar. The weather at the sand bar was amazing and the fish were out by the thousands. Due to a lack of wind, the water was especially clear. Besides the schools of less exciting fish, we saw a hammerhead and a ray.

After getting some food at home I worked on my car a bit (but it still leaks oil...) and bought a slightly defective 42" Sony HDTV with some weird color patterns on a section of the screen. I really can't complain. I just did the math and it turns out I bought it for 6.8% of the original purchase price. That means that I more-or-less paid what the original owners did in sales tax for the whole TV. Even if it turns out to be a lemon, the risk/reward ratio was too good to pass up. I think this is the first TV I have ever actually owned. I've always just used roommates'. The only real downfall here is that now I can't pretend to be snooty and use the line, "I don't even own a TV," whenever I'm really dredging the bottom of the barrel in bouts of one-upmanship.

Yard Work

Tomorrow, Saturday, we are having a party at the house. I have been in San Antonio all week (I am typing this from the airport... free wireless!), so I wanted to get as much prepared last week as possible. For better or for worse, I was only able to work in the yard.

My roommate Valerie was trimming some vines and I joined her in the yard around 9:00am. Before all was said and done around 1:00pm, it looked like we felled an entire forest. After that I had to prepare for the trip. We'll see how much more house cleaning I get to tonight, but I'm guessing that after 14 hours of flights and layovers, I won't feel like doing much.



One of my pet peeves is low hanging trees. I like being able to walk without ducking, at least when I am outside. The yard is now very walkable.


Green waste pick-up is the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. We'll see how long it takes to stuff this, piece by piece, into the green waste container - twice per month.

San Antonio was a good time. I was recently promoted at work to a mid-level manager type position. One of the benefits is that I should get to travel more. This was my first trip since the promotion and I was supposed to take another one the first week of September. I think that is the same number of work trips I have taken in the last four years.

The Alamo. Pee Wee Herman, we salute you, but there is no basement.


There was an outdoor airplane museum just off I-410. This is an SR-71 Blackbird. The metal felt like aluminum foil. I still can't figure out of it was a real plane or just a replica. It seemed too light and thin...



And, of course, what is a work trip without experiencing something new with your coworkers? This was my first time getting serenaded by a mariachi band. Muy divertido.

Over the Mountain

This past weekend Paul and I went for a little hike. It was supposed to be a 14 mile, 2 day, round-trip excursion. The plan was to hike to the top of the Koolau ridge from the Honolulu side, to the end of the Stairway to Heaven , camp out, and return the next day via the same route. While that sounds simple enough, it soon turned into my own personal Vietnam.

The planning for this trip was minimal, at best. Paul and I had talked about doing the hike before, but never really all that seriously. I think it was Thursday or Friday that he asked me if I wanted to go and I said I would. Not because I really wanted to, but because it would be a good change of pace and because I would be glad I went once it was all over. The plan was for me to finally get my motorcycle brakes fixed (it only took 5 Saturdays!) and meet Paul at his place afterward. Saturday morning, I grabbed my pack, threw in a tent, sleeping bag, and camelbak bladder and was off.

We started a little later than planned, but were still on the trail at the reasonable hour of 2:00pm. We walked the jeep trail at a good clip and made it to the base of the mountain in an hour and a half. From there we began our climb. It is important to note that this particular trail is rarely used, probably because there is a perfectly good set of stairs on the opposite side of the mountain that brings you to the same destination. The trail from the backside is about 7 miles whereas the Stairway is only about 2. The lack of traffic has it's benefits and drawbacks. On the plus side, you have the whole mountain to yourself and get to enjoy all the raspberries you can find. On the down side, the trail can be hard to find due to the excessive growth.

The growth is what led us astray the first time. About 10 minutes into the initial climb, we started going vertical. At first it was fun. We were doing some easy rock climbing, getting to use our whole bodies to propel us instead of the typical hiking with only our legs. The trail was well worn in this portion because it seems that a lot of people have trouble staying upright (us included). We were sliding on our bellies and grabbing onto whatever we could find; roots, trees, clumps of grass, vines, rocks, etc. The fun was turned down a notch when we realized that we were 45 minutes into the climb, about 1/3 of the way up the mountain, and struggling to find proper holds. I'm a pretty tall guy and it was getting to the point that I was leaping from one foothold to grab the next tree up. I don't want to make that sound more dramatic than it was. The climb wasn't exactly vertical, but it wasn't exactly walkable either. It was very steep and getting steeper and required the participation of all limbs. It was after the first time I had to jump for a hold and was not able to find a safe place to go next that we decided to call off the hike for safety reasons.

As we struggled back down, we were trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the day. After all, we had a loaf of french bread and an angel food cake that we had to eat. By now it was right around 4:30pm and we were well worn, as well as covered in dirt, scratches, and sweat. As we reached the bottom of the trail I told Paul, "I don't remember that being vertical. There's a switchback trail around here somewh... there it is." Just like that we were back on track and on hour way up the mountain. It took less than 10 minutes on the switchback to reach the same height as the vertical climb.

We had decided to press on. We still had enough daylight to make it to the top and we didn't have a really good excuse to stop. At this point I should mention the poor physical condition I am currently in. I stopped working out regularly about 3 months ago. I have lost 12 pounds of mass in that time and all semblance of strength and stamina. I point that out so that you will believe me when I say that I about burned out my lungs out of my chest on the rest of the upward climb. Dizziness, panting, and an incredible burning sensation in my legs are what I got out of the next two hours. That, coupled with the previous 45 minutes of strenuous vertical climbing equaled finishing off my entire supply of water before we even reached the top of the nearly 3,000ft ridge.

Once we reached the top, with Paul out of water as well, we came to a decision point: do we turn around and return to the car or do we press on and beg someone to pick us up on the other side of the mountain. Because we already failed in this summit once and because it would be shorter to go down the opposite side, we pressed on. No sooner had we decided this, we came to our next obstacle: a dead body. Ok, ok, it turned out that it wasn't a real dead body, but just some contractor/construction plastic in the shape of a body. Looking back, it was probably a pretty funny site. Two guys yelling at a pile of plastic, looking for sticks to poke it with (how else would you know it was dead?), and trying to figure out the next move. In the end, with no poking sticks in sight, I ended up using my foot to tap the mummy shaped trail blockage. The plastic was empty. With that potential administrative burden removed, we pressed on once again.

Paul called our friend Ralia and she agreed to pick us up at the bottom. We tapped into Paul's secret reserve of Lemon Lime Gatorade (32 oz goes fast!) got our second wind, and walked along the wind swept ridge as the sun slowly dimmed behind the clouds.

As we approached what I remembered to be the top of the Stairs, a cloud from the windward side enveloped us. Timing is everything, it turns out, because that caused us to miss the trail. About forty minutes later, as the sun was giving off it's last glow, I realized that we had definitely gone too far. We were now at least one ridge back from where we needed to be. We had already doubled back once without success, but I was positive that we had gone too far... or had we? It was a long time ago that I last climbed this... So much indecision.

Long story short, we decided to set up camp, despite not having any water. Then we realized that we were extremely thirsty and at least 12 hours away from our next drink. We doubled back once more. We explored every trail and learned that we took the wrong trail while enveloped in the cloud. This is a good point to mention that I did bring a lot of safety gear for a situation such as this. I had a headlamp, Leatherman, rope, duct tape, and a lighter ready to come to our aid. I was so concerned about bringing that gear that I even doubled checked that I had packed it as we were locking up Paul's car at the base of the trail. For an unknown reason, I confirmed that I had my safety kit in my pack and then took it out and left it in his trunk. Bold move, I know.

We made our way down in the dark and hurried to meet our friend. Of course, nothing is ever easy, especially when you forget your GPS. We fumbled around in the dark woods for a while talking about how good drinking things would be... water, iced tea, Gatorade, juice, milk, and the like. Being really thirsty makes it hard to concentrate on anything but quenching that thirst. Score one for Maslow. Eventually linked up, made our way back to easily accessible water, and were back on track to self actualization.

The next day we went to the reliable old sand bar. Ralia came out with her very inquisitive 7 year old son. After doing my best to explain how a rudder made the boat turn, how an internal combustion engine turned the motor's propeller and how that in turn made the boat go forward, what a semi-circle was, why my boat didn't have a mast, and answering whether or not he could steer, we zig-zaggedly (the answer as to whether or not he could steer was "yes") made our way to the sand bar.

Today, three days later, my body is still wicked sore. On a positive note, I have decided that it is time to start working out again. I'm really not old enough to hurt this bad 3 days the fact.