Hawaiian Airlines

Update: 12/31/09
Gonna take the red-eye to Vegas tonight (10:55pm). I believe this will be the first time I will spend New Years on a plane flying over the Pacific.

Kauai Trip: 8/22/09 -8/23/09
Yeah, I know I haven't updated this blog in a while. My excuse was that I was waiting till I really had something to blog about... namely my trip to the garden isle of Kauai!


The last time I journeyed to Kauai was aboard the Superferry Alakai. Let's just say I didn't make it there. See My Superferry Adventure!


Interisland Terminal


Hawaiian Airlines has been recognized as the most on-time airline in the nation. True to form, I left HNL to Lihue on time!

Kauai... here I come!

VOG

Sunny Day

Voggy Day

Whenever you can't see the Koolau mountains, you know its bad!

My cousin from Long Beach once called and asked me how things are here in Hawaii. I told her that everything was fine except that the sky reminded me of Los Angeles. I explained to her that in Hawaii we have something called VOG (the Hawaiian equivlent to SMOG). Volcanic smoke from Kilauea produce natural pollution which can engulf the entire island chain.

Any Kine #1

I was paying my electric bill at HECO (Hawaiian Electric) this morning and saw this sign while waiting in line.



Definition of word of the day : LAUD
1) Praise, glorification 2) A hymm or song of praise (The free dictionary)

I learned something new today!

"The Rock" Obama

A classic SNL sketch parodying our Hawaii-born president Barack Obama by another former Hawaii resident; Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The Rock also appeared in another SNL sketch called Hawaiian Holiday. He played a disgruntled local hula dancer who had some choice comments for tourists. The skit didn't sit well with our lieutenant governor (Duke Aiona) who said the skit "went to far". Eh, take it easy Duke... Wuz jus fo fun!

To my friends in Japan and around the world - Sorry, looks like you have to be in the USA to view Hulu... YouTube perhaps?

BJ Penn

UFC 94 Special edition poster

UFC Lightweight Champion, former Welterweight Champion, the first American to win the World Ju-jitsu Championship, The accolades go on... Tonight, the Hawaii native has the chance to become the first champion to hold two UFC belts at the same time.

It's no secret that many in Hawaii are cheering for BJ to win. However, not EVERYONE in Hawaii thinks he WILL win. His opponent, (current Welterweight Champ) George St. Pierre beat Penn by split decision in 2004 and looks to be the better fighter even now.

Who am I rooting for you ask? Well, BJ has two things going for him. For one thing, I have to root for the Hawaii guy (no exceptions). The other is the fact that he is the underdog going into the fight, and you gotta go with the underdog right? (Go Cardinals!) One may not agree with his trash talk and bravado but you have to respect him as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Black Friday?

You tend to take things for granted (like electricity) until its gone. Tonight, Oahu suffered a island-wide power outage due to a lightning strike to a transformer. Luckily, I made it home safely and used a battery pack to power a small radio. Some speculated that it was a terrorist attack while the President-elect Obama is in town. I heard another rumor that there was a nuclear explosion on Kauai and the EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) blast blew out Oahu's power grid (If that were true I probably wouldn't be writing this:)

Barack Obama - Hawaii's own

Update: 12/26/08:
Obama is on Oahu spending Christmas with his family before heading to the White House. This is also his third trip to Hawaii in the past year. On Christmas day, he visited troops having dinner at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base.




Pictured above, Mike - future cover model

Election Day 11/4/08 @ 6:15pm
It's official! The United States of America has its first Hawaii - born President! On a sober note though, my prayers go out to Obama's family for the loss of their Grandmother who died just two days before this historic day.

Even though Obama was not my pick for the White house, I do have to say... "Eh, da Hawaii - boy did good!"

Honolulu City Lights

Imagine how all this looks like at night!

Have a blessed Christmas everyone!

Honolulu Marathon 2008

Update 12/14/2008:
Last year, I ran the Honolulu Marathon 10k just to get a feel for the race. This year, I decided to run the entire 26.2 miles. How did I do you ask? Well, I was able to run for 23 miles continuously and finished the marathon in just over 5 hours. Will I run the marathon next year?... We'll see!

Original post 10/13/07


Here are some photos from Kalakaua avenue. I had just finished doing the 10k and was heading back toward Ala Moana



I'd hate to be the workers who has to pick up all those cups!

Affordable Housing

Update: 9/26/08

A new affordable condo is planned near Ala Moana. Tentatively called 1226 Waimanu, this 5 story condo will be directly across the ewa end of Ala Moana Center at the corner of Piikoi and Kona St. The location is also within walking distance of Ward Center. 1 Bedroom apartments are slated to start at $308,000.

Original Post: 9/23/07

Country Club Village 6 is an affordble condominium in Salt Lake that will be built in 2009. 1 bedroom apartments starting at $218,000.

Being a prospective first-time home buyer (Key word: prospective) I decided to see if I would at least qualify to purchase a unit. I got to the sales office at about 12:30pm. The office (trailer) officially opened at 10:30am.

As I approached the sales trailer I quickly noticed the long line before me. The line was at least 2 city blocks long. However, I was still able to see the front of the line so I decided to wait. Talking to people in front of me (in the back of the line) I heard horror stories of people who had been in line for two days & nights! After waiting for an hour, A security guard basically told us that we had little chance of getting in before the office closes a 4 pm. He did however told us we could camp there for the night... I decided it was time to leave.

I always heard of the shortage of affordable housing on Oahu. Today, I got to see it for myself.

4th of July @ Magic Island

Pics by S & H

On July 4th, A few friends and I helped to set up a beach bbq at Magic Island. For those of you who have never been to Magic Island on the 4th, here is what you can expect.

1) To get a good spot you can either sleep-over the night before or be at the entrance to Magic Island at 4 am.

2) Choke (plenty) cops to enforce no fireworks rule till evening and drinking in the park.

3) Long lines for the bathroom - even longer for the ladies!

Was it all work it? ... Sure it was! I got to play some V-ball, hang out with some friends and ate some awesome grinds!

See you next year?

The little things...

Photos taken with a Canon 300D / 75-300 IS lens

Many times I go through my day without noticing the little things that make life beautiful. Someone once said that "life is in the details", I find this to be true.

KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Team Xbox Website

Happy Kamehameha Day! (June 11th).

A state holiday in Hawaii, Kamehameha I was a Hawaiian Ali'i (King) best known for unifying the islands of Hawaii.

If you're a DBZ fan, you gotta love this trailer! The US version of the game comes out on June 10th.

The old and the new

University of Hawaii - Hawaiian Studies taro patch.
In the background you see the constuction of the new UH dormatories.

Test Drive Unlimited - Racing on Oahu!

Audi TT in front of my "virtual house"



Not quite as nice in real life...



The game allows players to race around Oahu neighborhoods including mine!



IGN Trailer

I'm not a gamer, but when I heard there was a racing game based entirely on Oahu, I had to see for myself. The game came out on the Xbox 360 nearly a year ago with various other consoles later. I bought a copy of the PC version on Ebay for a good price.

Hawaii... A melting pot of cultures

Wah Ngai lion dance



Hawaii Matsuri Taiko

Himig at Indak Pilipino

In Hawaii, we love to celebrate our diversity in cultures. Imagine, all of this to celebrate the opening of new car dealership! (Photos taken with a Nikon D40x & Canon 300D )

Dolphin Quest - Kahala

I took some relatives to Waialae beach park and walked over to the Kahala (Formerly the Mandarin) Hotel. We got there just in time to watch the Dolphin Quest trainers feed the dolphins and interact with guests.

Great Aloha Run - 2008

The starting line near Aloha Tower


Finish line at Aloha Stadium

This was my second Great Aloha Run and the first time I actually ran the entire 8 miles! How long did it take me you ask? My time was a little under 1:15 and I averaged a 9 minute mile. Running with a friend really helped me to push myself. My goal was simply to run the entire course.

Next race: Honolulu Marathon 2008

Hawaii Superferry

Today I booked a seat & space (for my car) on the Hawaii Superferry. I read the newspapers this morning that they were offering $5 one-way fares. As soon as I was able, I booked a round trip ticket. The total price was only $20 (including taxes and fuel surcharge) Not bad, I think! Looks like you can expect some blog entries from the garden isle of Kauai!

Wanna know how it went? check out My Superferry Adventure!

Traffic

Keep in mind, today is a Saturday...

Traffic on Oahu is unlike LA traffic or even Tokyo traffic. Some would say its worse, others would say that its the same. This week, school is back in session for thousands of private school students and university students. This means more and more cars on the road. I have friends who live in Ewa Beach that leave their houses at 5:00am so they can hit only MINIMAL traffic.