167 posts from 2008

First stop...lunch.  We have class in the building right across this place but never had a chance to try it out.  Everytime we pass by there would always be a line going onto the street but this time we beat the crowds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I opted for the pork udon.  For some reason I was hungry for some noodles in soup and this is what I call comfort food.

 

OK.  It wasn't anything special but it was a nice lunch that wouldn't way me down.

 

Since we had a 1 hour and 15 minute lunch break I decided to break out my folder bike and cruise it down to Point Panic and get in some surf shots.  The waves were up on the south shore and I weather is spectacular.

 

 

 

How's that for perfect weather.  Sand, sun, surf.

 

In Hawaii, the girls rip just as much as the guys.

 

 

Here's some dude going backside on a nice set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to body surfing, the guys at Point Panic are some of the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer in Hawaii on the south shore is hard to beat, well except for Winter on the North shore.

 

On a side note, see the old man in the middle?  That's our boss who got a concussion while surfing the swells off Diamond Head.  Apparently he got hit on the head by someone's surfboard and was very close to meeting his maker.  Fortunately for him there were some really nice people out there who made sure he got medical attention right away.  Here's just some of my coworkers visiting him at the Rehab Hospital of Hawaii.  The old timers in good shape and should be returning to work some time soon.

Well I'm back at downtown Honolulu again for another week long class.  The bad thing is all the traffic I catch coming from Mililani, although being summer there is less of it, the good thing is all the different places I get to try to eat.  Our first stop on our downtown lunch quest is a little place we found on a "Best of Honolulu" site.

 

Kafe Europa is a small little eatery found on Alakea street in downtown Honolulu.  It's flavors are Armenian with some local flare.  I'm always into trying new things and have always seen Armenian food eaten on the Travel Channel and it always looked so good.

 

The only question is...what to get?  I must admit that everything on their menu is something I wanna try.  they seem to use a lot of what I like....hummus, pita bread, shaurma sauce.  Mmmmmmmm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I found amazing is that this place was nominated for "best pastry" in Honolulu.  See the chiller in the front?  That's where they keep a variety of different pastry.  I'm here for lunch so I decided on...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There it is.  My lamb shaurma pita.  It was absolute heaven.  I've never had shaurma sauce which is made out of yogurt.  I need to get the recipe.

 

I leave you all feeling hungery and wishing you were heare to see this sunset.  Gotta love to be in Hawaii in the summer.  Next time...surf pics.

I'm always doing stuff in my garage, either waxing my truck or working on my bike or just some house hold project.  The only problem I have is that the developer only put one regular outlet near the front of my garage.  Ever find yourself needing just one more outlet for all your gadgets?  Ever wondered how to install an additional outlet?  Well lucky for you I'm installing my own outlet.  Why pay a electrician $100 for something that only costs around $20 to do?  First...

 

I have to pick a spot where my outlet will go.  Here's a nice area on the opposite side of my current outlet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is to trust my instincts and find the studs so I don't make multiple holes all in my walls.  Thank goodnes for stud finders.  It took some confidence building but I cut a hole through my wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step is running current from a completed outlet on the other side.  Here I'm taking an in house outlet and using it as a hub for my garage outlet.  BTW, before doing any electrical work make sure you turned off the power at the circuit breaker.  I learned this the hard way one time at work.  Current running through your body kinda sounds like a buzzing sound.  Haha.  Don't fool around with it.  OK, next is....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step is to choose and install your outlet.  Since this is a garage outlet that might have the chance of getting wet, I chose to use a GFCI version that will cut off the power if it ever contacts water.  Trust me that it's $15 well worth it.  Oooooh, you see the blue outlet box.  I used the "old work" box that I bought from home depot.  All you do is pop the wires through, shove the box in, and secure it with screws that pull wedges that holds the box in place from behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it.  A fully functional GFCI protected wall outlet installed in about 30 minutes and only costing me $20 to do.  Keep in mind that I watched many home improvement shows, bought books on home improvement stuff, researched on the internet, and have done other electrical work around the house.  So if your not 100% sure you can do the job...don't.  Hire a licensed electrician to do it for you.  Good luck.

Apparently a developer named Motor Development International (MDI) has come up with a concept to beat these outrageous gas prices that seem to keep rising with no end.  Founder Guy Negre has come up with the first car to run on compresseed air.

 

This is the CityCAT which costs about $12,700 US but will only cost about $2.00 to fill up the air containers.  How far and fast will compressed air take you?  According to developers you can expect to reach a top speed of 68 MPH and travel about 125 miles before needing to repump.  BTW, if you don't have a chance to stop of at the compressed air station then you can plug your vehicle into any wall socket and in about 4 hours you'll be ready to rock.

 

The first country to be using these vehicles will be India.  They predict that Europe will soon follow.  What about the US?  IDK, 68 MPH in a tin can box?  Kinda sketchy.  Now if everyone had to drive one of these boxes and they restricted it to 45 MPH, then maybe.  Who knows?  I'm just glad that there's people and countries out there trying to find a better way of doing things.

A man joined a very exclusive nudist colony. On his first day

he took off his clothes and started to wander around the area.

A gorgeous petite blonde walked by, and the man immediately

got an erection.

The woman noticed his erection, came over to him and asked,

"Did you call for me?"

The man replied, "No, what do you mean?"

She said, "You must be new here. Let me explain. It's a rule here

that if you get an erection, it implies you called for me." Smiling,

she lead him to the side of the swimming pool, laid down on a

towel eagerly pulled him to her and happily let him have his way

with her.

Later, the man continued to explore the colony's facilities. He

entered the sauna and as he sat down, he farted. Within seconds

a huge, hairy man lumbered out of the steam room toward him.

"Did you call for me? " asked the hairy man.

"No, what do you mean?" replied the newcomer.

"You must be new." answered the hairy man, "It's a rule that if

you fart, it implies that you called for me." The huge man easily

spun him around, put him over a bench and had his way with the

newcomer.

The newcomer staggered back to the colony office where he

was greeted by a smiling, naked receptionist, "May I help you?"

she asked.

"Here's my membership card. You can have the key back and

you can keep the $500 membership fee."

"But, Sir," she replied, "you've only been here a few hours. You

haven't had a chance to see all our facilities."

"Listen lady, I'm 68 years old. I only get an erection once a month,
but I fart 15 times a day. I'm outta here."

 

You gotta admit that made you chuckle if not laugh.  Hope you have a good positive outlooking day!

So this whole weeks been about going to classes in town.  Our instructor happend to be the Assessor for Cambridge out in Massachusetts and all he would talk about was the Boston Celtics.  Sorry but Hawaii folk favor LA Lakers.  Anyway I wanted to share some pictures of How beautiful the weather is on Hawaii and the places that we visited while on break or out for lunch.

 

I thought this was really cool.  Can you believe that this park is on the top of a six story building in downtown?  Isn't it a relaxing get away from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the view from a top the University of Phoenix building.  How's that weather?  It's a great time to be in Hawaii.

 

 

Here's the place we went for lunch on Wednesday.  It's the Honolulu Cafe that sits Diamond Head side of the building we were in.  It looked really "yuppie" so we all decided to have lunch there.  I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere that reminded me of a Las Vegas type of eatery in Ceasar's Palace.  Maybe it was just the pillars and painted clouds on the ceiling.

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhhh, food.  I decided to go with their special of the day for $7.95.  It's basically a 1/2 of a deli-sliced turkey sandwich with a included mesculine salad and a bowl of freshly made cream of mushroom soup.  It was a perfect lunch for me, healthy and hearty.

 

While walking around town to burn off some of the calories we noticed some drums in the distance and decided to check it out.  They had a Taiko performance in the middle of one of downtown.  Not one of the best performances I've seen but entertaining none the less.  I love the sound of Taiko drums playing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we went to Fort Street Bar and Grill for lunch, which happens to be the "sister" restaurant of island famous Side Street Inn, mainly because it was right in the same building and the menu looked "outta site." 

 

Yes, as you may have noticed I got the spicy chicken just like the other day from Aloha Tower.  What can I say? I love this stuff.  I was quite surprised that these guys had a nice area to sit down in the back and eat while watching TV. BTW, this was just their mini-plate for $5.25.  What a deal? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, since Chinatown basically connected to downtown we decided to stroll through the area to check out the sites.  Here's what I got...

 

 

 

Might I add that these guys were still alive squirming in the box.

 

Anyone like head?

 

I was surprised to see a tour group walking through this area.  I thought every place had a Chinatown and that it was all the same.  I would have told the tour guide to take us to the beach instead.

I haven't been to Aloha Tower Market place in years.  We used to go there a lot mainly for drinking a couple of beers next to the ocean and under the stars.  Now days we just do that at each others houses, so this was a real treat to go back and visit my old hang out.  I actually have a week long of classes which is why I'll be spending all this time in downtown Honolulu.  Hopefully we'll be checking out new places to eat and different sites to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's what the inside of the mall looks like.  It's a real open-air-tropical feeling.  Although it's not that big or have a huge selection of store like Ala Moana, it's still a cool mall to just relax and enjoy.  I would say it's more of a restaurant mall, with little side shops to pass the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's where I decided to get my plate lunch from.  This is one of the smallest food courts around.  You can choose from Kabuto (Japanese), Subway (Americana), Aloha Tower BBQ (Local Favorites), or Mama Mia (Italian).  I decided to go with Kabuto because they had this awsome looking spicy chicken that was calling my name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's my spicey chicken plate with tempura.  It was delish and had just the right amount of "hot" to keep the palate wanting more.

 

See that prominade looking thingy out in the distance?  That's where we decided to eat "al fresco" style.  Out in the cool ocean air, watching the ships go by, enjoying good company and good food can't be beat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the spectacular view.  That's the Star of Honolulu out there.  What a great lunch.

 

I'll end it with a pic of the Falls of Clyde.  It's one of the oldest sailing ships around, I think, and it resides next to Aloha Tower pier.  Kinda reminds me of The Piratesof the Carribean.  Arrrrrh mate.

So I took a couple of days off for my birthday and because we had a state holiday in the middle of the week too.  Upon my return to work, my coworkers went out and got me some island famous Liliha Bakery Coco Puffs.  If you've never had one, it's like a Krispy Kreme donut on steroids stuffed with chocolate pudding and a dallop of buttery sweet cream heaven on top.  If they ever make another Indiana Jones movie, it would be titled "Indiana Jones and the search for the Coco Cream Puff."  Hahaha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just so happened, we also ended up doing field work in the Aiea and Moanalua region so we stopped by the old 99 Ranch Market for lunch.  Of course I had to get me fave, cake noodle-minute chicken-ung choi-with black bean sauce, that weighed like a dictionary.  Anyhow I ate this whole plate.  Wow, that was good.  Then on the way home we stopped over at Waikele shopping center for some shaved ice. 

 

It was a good day.  Then again, everyday is actually a good day, it depends on your perspective right?

I know I've been feeling stressed out over these damn gas prices.  It seems like everyday I drive past any gas station the price keeps rising and rising.  I never remember the gas prices doing that a couple of years ago, why only now?  You see how stressed this makes me.  Anyhow, someone sent me this cool email about letting the stresses go and I wanted to save it somewhere that I can regularly access.  Think of this like a storage drive that you can share with the world.  Here it is...

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8oz. to 20oz.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance."

"In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work/life down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow."

"Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested Life is short. Enjoy!"

And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

1* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

2* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of reading it.

4* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8* Never buy a car you can't push.

9* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

10* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

11* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12* The second mouse gets the cheese.

13* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

15* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

16* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once

17* We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

18* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

 

Does that help any?

Stoooooooked again **singing happily**.  I got me another bike, but this time it's a folder.  With all these outrageous gas prices and the forecast for prices moving up to $5 a gallon by summer, I need broaden my options.  I would rather not catch the bus, but it seems like the only other option and with my new bike it makes catching it a little more fun to do.  Oh BTW, the type of bike I got is the 2008 Dahon Boardwalk S1 bike.

 

I must admit that I thought these 20" wheeled bikes looked kinda dorky at first, kinda like a clown bike.  At least that's what I thought of whenever seeing one, then I started seeing more and more of these things around.  I decided to browse the web and noticed how a lot of people would change out parts and make these bikes look pretty cool.  For those of you that have never seen one of these things folded, here's an example. 

 

How sweet is that?  It folds small enough to fit in the back trunk of your car or if you ride the bus, take it on the bus too.  Fully stocked like this, the bike weighs about 25lbs and that's chromoly steel not aluminium.  I'm not into all the mud guards and rack things so they're coming of as of now.  Now they have other folding bike brands like Bike Friday and Brompton but I kinda like the look of the Dahons and the price was within my range.

 

Here's how it looks for now.  A little more aggressive styling without the fenders and rack.  Eventually I would like to change out the seat post and seat to make it a little more lighter.  The handle post/bar  was going to be the first thing changed but was told by Dahon (through email) that I can't upgrade that part in this bike, kinda bummed about that and hope that they figure out some kind of adapter for it.  I've seen pics of other people who have cut the bar and placed a stem on the stock piece along with a new bar.  I just basically want a more agressive looking bar in black but we'll just have to see about that.  If anyone out there knows how I can tackle my handle post/bar problem please let me know.  Then of course I wanna change out the cranks just to give it a little more styling and again to drop some of the weight.    For now, I'm just stoked to have one.