I am back with an update. I seem to go through cycles of posting every year or two.

I have been very busy working. Things are going really well and I have some interesting opportunities that I am pursuing. My Kona coffee spa line has been a big success. Plus, it is fun to create something that you really enjoy. It also gives me something to do with the coffee & espresso grounds! I have also been spending a lot of time working on developing a clothing line (just tees for now) to accent the handbags, jewelry, and footwear that I have been creating. I think I am really going for a “lifestyle company” concept. It is great fun…

Not much else is going on right now - things are just sailing along smoothly. Alternatively, I have been working so much that I haven’t paid attention to much else! At any rate, things are going well.

I just finished reading Cyrano de Bergerac and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I enjoyed Cyrano greatly and disliked Lady Chatterley’s Lover. It is most certainly not Lawrence’s greatest work. Why do most people actually enjoy it? I thought it was extraordinarly shallow and lacked the depth that The Rainbow had in great amounts. I still think The Rainbow is his finest work only equaled by Women in Love. Sons and Lovers was very good but it was not of the same caliber as The Rainbow. Any opinions or thoughts?

The only other thing that I have been doing is creating new and unusual beads and strange art with polymer clay. I will have to post some of the things that I have been creating. I am thinking about getting into making stained glass. I talked with a stained glass artist and he passed along some suppliers and other people to talk to about it. It seems like it would be very interesting. Unfortunately, I don’t have a kiln so I would not be able to do some of the things I would want to do. I might think about getting into using a torch. We shall see!

I did have to check myself into the hospital last week for some tests.  That was a thrill.  I was having some gall bladder pain (definitely not the first time) and went to the doctor to chat about it.  They did a ton of blood work and sent me to get an ultrasound of my gall bladder.  That was a total waste of time.  The idiotic technician at the hospital spent an hour and a half probing my abdomen and she couldn’t locate my gall bladder!  She found my liver, spleen, kidneys, and stomach.  She even built a 3d model of my internal organs but she could not locate my gall bladder.  She asked me twice if I was there because I had it removed!  She also lost my file and had to go search for it.  She did the ultrasound in some hallway with a half curtain - I had to get undressed in front of people!  It was my first time at the delightful Hilo hospital and hopefully my last time.  When she finished the ultrasound she did not know what she was supposed to do with me.  She said she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to take me to the surgeon for a consultation or if she was supposed to release me.  She decided to release me since she couldn’t find my gall bladder and therefore it must not be a problem!  That place is a hell hole.  Anyway, I did all of my labs and I am waiting for the surgeon to call me and setup an appointment.  Of course, I will never let anyone cut me open on this island for any reason.  They would kill me.  In the mean time, the doctor said I could develop gangrene of my gall bladder from the chronic swelling and infection.  Or I might already have it…  Good times!

Anyone else taking up any new and fun hobbies? Anything exciting going on? Any interesting politics, books, or information to discuss?

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The Hilo Valentine’s Show that I did this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday went well. The Chinese New Year celebration brought in many customers to my booth. However, on Sunday business was dismal thanks to the decent weather. It was a bit early to be doing a Valentine’s show but it was fun, I made a ton of contacts, and many of my regular customers came out to buy from me.

I managed to convince many men that they should buy gifts for their wives, mothers, daughters, aunties, etc. It is rather humorous to me that men will say things like “What do you think my wife would like?” How would I know? The best men were the ones that took cell phone photos of *everything* I was selling and then waited for a response from their wives before making a purchase. That was great. Valentine’s Day is such an absurd holiday anyway…

To add to the horror of selling at a Valentine’s show, some guy informed me that he was “looking to settle down” and asked if I would like to go to dinner with him. It would seem that I found another potential husband at the show! Brian says this guy has a lot going for him – he’s well traveled, exotic, educated, has a good job, would be less annoying and demanding, and has nicer diamonds in his earrings than I have on my wedding band. Brian has proclaimed that I now have “options.” Apparently, Brian’s other “option” is about 18 and on crack. I think my option is better, thanks.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I leave to go to Georgia for two weeks to visit my family, scope out potential venues for shows, and relax a bit. When I return, I will have a huge show in Honolulu to do, Brian is having a colleague visit for a week, and then his parents are coming for a visit. It should be a busy month!

Now, if I could just get rid of this migraine…

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While driving home from the post office, it occurred to me (as it has numerous times) that Hilo really is a special place - the whole Big Island is, really. I saw the older retired man on his bicycle that picks up trash everyday without fail in Hilo with his “Drive with Aloha” sign and his bulging bags of trash. He does a lot for the Hamakua coastline by picking up any and all roadside trash that he sees. A person like him would never be seen in LA, Atlanta, or New York and even if they did exist they would be labeled as crazy. However, here in Hilo, everyone smiles and waves at him - he’s a fixture around here. Many other people in Hilo do something to help make it what it is, however, that particular individual does something unique.

In large cities, people tend to be fearful of the homeless and worry that they might harm them. Here, however, I feel very comfortable about rolling down the window and giving away food without worrying about something bad happening. People here seem to be genuinely kind and good. However, they are trying to pass a panhandling ban for the whole island (like they did in San Francisco) but it leaves me wondering how these people will get the food they desperately need.

Having previously lived in Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Columbus I can definitely say that I would never have left the doors unlocked or open for any reason unless I was entering or leaving the house. I would freak out about every little noise and worry constantly about being murdered, raped, or robbed by someone. Now, living in Hilo, we tend to leave the doors unlocked (during the day) at the house and I don’t worry about people coming in to harm me.

I really think that the sort of kindness that exists around here is special and unique - this sort of thing can only exist when conditions are right - when people are not constantly threatened by crime, hatred, and cruelty. I never actually saw this sort of kindness when I lived on the mainland or special people doing things they were not asked to do for gain.

I think you can only truly appreciate Hawaii and all it has to offer when you learn to trust and embrace humanity again.

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The Superferry was never given a warm welcome on any of the neighbor islands. Many of us that live on neighbor islands would prefer to keep our islands rural, peaceful, less built up and polluted, and with less crime than Oahu. I know most polls show that a strong majority of the people that live on Oahu support the Superferry. I also don’t understand why someone would want to ride six hours (give or take) each way to go to another island just to be able to take their own car. Renting a car is often less than $20 a day so I don’t understand… When/If the Superferry comes to the Big Island I could drive two hours to Kona, board the Superferry paying a fare for myself and my vehicle, ride six hours, kill a bunch of sealife, and then arrive on Oahu. Alternatively, I can pay $39 (or less) to fly to Oahu in 30 minutes and rent a car for less than $30. I fail to see how the Superferry is a better option. The best part is the fact that they don’t seem to have thought about Hawaii’s very rough winter seas. If I board a boat in December (which oddly happens almost every December) I always vomit. Most of the people riding the Superferry lately seem to be vomiting as well because of the rough ride. Now, this taxpayer subsidized, environmental hazard, military transport, crime bringing, sea behemoth has had to cancel voyages because of the rough seas. People are being stranded and many are very angry because of this. Big surprise.

Anyone actually been on the Superferry?

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I think things will finally be returning back to normal since the holidays are over.  Brian and I went on a vacation to Kauai and had a really nice time.  We did some hiking, kayaking, and sailing and had quite a bit of fun.  It did rain quite a bit and because of it I was unable to go SCUBA diving but we did get to see a number of whales and dolphins while sailing.  We tried to go hiking on the Napali coast but it was raining, windy, cold, and muddy so we were unable to do the swamp and ridge hike.   We did, however, get to see the Napali coast from the SCUBA boat and it was stunning. Unfortunately, rough seas and a storm turned us around before we were able to see the whole thing.  We have also decided that Kauai should be renamed to the Chicken and Mud Isle instead of the Garden Isle…

The holidays were uneventful for me as I don’t really do anything for them.  Brian went to California and will be back in a week.  I have been using my spare time lately to do oil pastels and I am having a lot of fun with it.  I’ve been doing a lot of sketches and have decided to do a Viking mural of some kind on a large canvas that I bought.  It will definitely be a long-term project…

I also finally got around to watching the latest documentary by Michael Moore - Sicko.  It was really rather interesting.  We have certainly had our share of health care related issues living in Hawaii.  Interestingly enough, we have had a good experience with Kaiser Hawaii (although I have heard bad things about Kaiser on the mainland).  Anyone else see his film?  Any thoughts about universal health care?

Anyone do anything fun or interesting for the holidays?  What do you think of the assassination of Bhutto?

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I have not posted in a while because things have been quite hectic here.  I am flying to Honolulu this week to spend a couple of days with my parents, go shopping, and visit Pearl Harbor before they come back to the Big Island to stay with us and have a rousing Thanksgiving.  I have also been planning the trip that Brian and I are taking to Kaua’i in December.  In addition to all of that, I have been preparing for various exhibitions that I will be at later this month and December.  I am also in the midst of rehab for my knee which the physical therapist says that I will most likely need surgery to correct.

On Friday, Brian dropped me off in town (Hilo) and I walked around while he went to Honoka’a.  I finally went to the Pacific Tsunami Museum - it was great.  I also went to the Kress Cinema downtown ($1 theater) after I walked several miles and saw the Mr. Bean movie - bad, very bad…  I spent time in Kalakaua Park and had a lovely afternoon.

We also went up to Mauna Kea in hopes of seeing snow but it had already melted.  The standouts of the evening were seeing the Milky Way, Jupiter, and a string of comets.  The last time we were up there with Brian’s parents we got to see the International Space Station move across the sky.  Mauna Kea really is the finest place in the world to stargaze (obviously).

While hiking at Kalopa State Park, Brian and I ended up on a pig trail and both got stung by bees.  I lost all feeling in my leg and bottom that evening and then slept for about 16 hours because of the bee sting.  It has been over two weeks now and I still have pain and redness from the sting.  Brian got stung on his back but he is doing fine.

I have been reading a large number of books on the economics of the poor - very interesting reading…  I will talk about that in a later post.

Brian and I have been watching StarGate SG-1 now that we have finished Star Trek Voyager.  It is unique and interesting…

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I cannot think of a single reason that Walmart exists other than the fact that they deliver low prices. They buy products from developing nations that have few (if any) labor laws and treat employees inhumanely. If that was not bad enough, they often put smaller local businesses out of business in whatever locality they occupy. They provide low paying jobs with health insurance that the employees cannot pay for with their meager salary. Walmart is also responsible for bringing the coqui frog to the Big Island. They also use way too many plastic bags and do not encourage proper bagging procedures thus causing waste and harm to the environment.

In light of these issues (and others) the Big Island should be having a public hearing for a proposed bill to ban big box retailers. Kauai has already banned big box retailers. It should be interesting to see how this issue unfolds…

Popularity: 20% [?]

Naturally, I am always interested to look at my website stats to see who came here, from what search engine, etc. This time, I was most interested to look at my website stats to find my top referrers. Among some of them were Australia, Sweden, Netherlands, Singapore, China, Japan, Norway, Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, UK, Czech Republic, Seychelles, and others - I wish those people would post as it would make for a most interesting discussion.

I also found some somewhat disturbing stats. Here are a couple of other visitors: US Military (16 visits this month) & US Government (1 visit this month) and ARPANET (15 times this month). Last month, the US Military visited 2 times. Am I becoming a threat? (lol) Am I on some list of potential terrorists? It is certainly not a secret that the US Government tracks the movements of environmental and animal activists. However, I do not belong to any organized groups - so it is curious. Perhaps, because of the current administration they are tracking all known vegetarians. Ha.

At any rate, I invite the US Military and US Government visitors to post and let everyone know why they had DU on the Big Island and lied about it, why so many feral cats on Mauna Kea have leukemia from DU, why the people living in Waiakea have been breathing in DU and have had problems [respiratory, cancer, etc], why they say DU is safe but have training videos that speak to the contrary, and what they are going to do about it? Feel free to post.

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I was sitting in my office working on the computer when I saw this huge Rottweiler [not on a leash and being chased by a teenager] running through our front yard. I heard this screeching noise (like a cat) and thought that the Rottweiler must be chasing one of the feral cats around here. Wrong. It ripped our neighbor’s Chihuahua off its leash right out of its collar and ran into our backyard. I heard a ton of noise outside and then Brian told me that the dog had something in its mouth and that I would not want to see it. It was our neighbor’s dog that was in the Rottweiler’s mouth. The poor little chihuahua was killed. We were heading over to her house to tell her what happened when the boy who was chasing the dog came with his Dad to bring her dog back to her. It was immensely sad and a horrible way to meet some of our neighbors whom we had not yet met. Now, we are not so sure that we want a dog here anymore. People around here have an affinity for Rottweilers and Pitbulls and they do not treat them well and they often are not on leashes or escape killing animals or harming people.

Brian memorialized this event on his blog as well.

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Between the Hawaii Superferry and the military Hawaii has its hands full.

The Superferry is this ridiculous boat that will take you and your car to a neighbor island. It is not your typical open-air ferry but instead is some kind of luxury boat complete with a restaurant, tvs, and a bar. Having priced a Maui to Honolulu journey it appears that it will cost about $270 for an adult for the roundtrip including your car. One of the most irresponsible aspects of this is that they have a bar where you can drink and then get in your car and drive drunk off of the boat. The boat ride between Maui and Honolulu would take about three hours. The average interisland flight costs about $39 one way (and often only $19 because of special fares). To fly from Maui to Honolulu you are in the air for less than 20 minutes. I heard that on the inaugural journey that people got seasick. Given that people got seasick during the summer I can only imagine what would happen in December when the swells are huge and often times over 20 feet. If the price, sea sickness, and long voyage were not bad enough it only makes it worse that they will be wasting a ton of fuel, dumping sewage in the ocean, disturbing marine life, and overall creating an ecological problem in Hawaii. I hope the Superferry fails.

The military located off Saddle Road on the Big Island has been found to have Depleted Uranium which they have long denied having - this same thing has occurred on Oahu as well. Many of the feral cats on Mauna Kea have a type of feline leukemia - gee, I wonder why? Fortunately, this is all coming out at the same time that the military wants to increase training exercises around all islands (read: dump more toxic materials into the ocean, frighten people and wildlife, kill endangered species, pollute the air). Fortunately, they are having a public hearing on this issue on Wednesday. I think I will go to hear what people are saying.

*Update*

I was reading on surfingthetao.com this bit about the SuperFerry - makes for interesting reading, I think:

“Most interesting is – no surprise here – the military finds them quite useful. In fact this article points out that there are far more fuel efficient and less environmentally dangerous vessels in existence, but they weren’t chosen for Hawaii. Why? They can’t carry Stryker Brigades, hummers, helicopters, and other equipment (which could even become contaminated with depleted uranium). The article goes on to point out that the Chair of the Superferry board is John Lehman, a former Navy Undersecretary during the Reagan years and member of the 9/11 Commission, and claim, “The Superferry was foisted on Hawai‘i to meet a new mission for the US military. That mission: To have civilian looking high-speed military transport, manned by subcontractors, available at short notice to deliver assault troops and equipment, anywhere in the Pacific.”

Surprise, surprise.

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While this is not usually in line with things I comment about I simply could not resist saying something about Michael Vick.  He must be the most idiotic person in the world to potentially ruin his football career because he was not able to find a proper financial adviser.  Dog fighting?  Is that really the proper place for someone with many many millions of dollars to be putting money?  Was this not obvious to him?  Did he even have a financial adviser at all? Exactly how did he plan to report all of that illegal income?  This guy really must be the absolute most stupid person playing football today and that is saying a great deal, I think.

Here in Hawaii we have not been hit with the tsunami (which is quite good) from the Peru earthquake.  We did, however, have an earthquake at 2:20 this morning which woke us up and sent us into the doorway.  I think it was a 3.8 - something like that.   We are well.

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We have been making hurricane preparations today for Flossie (which I accidentally called Floosie) - filling up the ofuro (Japanese soaking tub) with water, filling up a 5 gallon container with water, taping up our picture window in the living room, moving plants, taking the recyclables to the recycling center (made a whopping $8), took out the trash, unplugged everything (except this laptop), and went in search of batteries (I got the last pack of C batteries at Ace, yay!), etc.   I also made about 20 cups of rice and we have a ton of MRE TastyBite Indian food so we are set for weeks if necessary.  Of course, our neighbor next door has made no preparations and they have a bunch of stuff sitting out in their yard which I hope will not come flying through our windows. They have cancelled school for tomorrow  on the whole island.  The storm surge is predicted to be about 20 feet in Hilo - it could cause massive flooding.  We are hoping for the best.

Also, we had a rather big earthquake here just a couple of hours ago - a 5.4-5.7 just south of Hilo so it was quite close.  It was from Kilauea - maybe a new vent opened - we shall find out soon I am sure.  We have some broken glasses and knicknacks and a few pictures fell off the wall.  A bunch of stuff fell out of the cabinets as well but we are fine.  Also, when we went downstairs I noticed a bunch of water on the floor of the basement and apparently the ofuro leaked during the earthquake.  So, Brian sort of cleaned it up and I moved all of our shoes so hopefully we won’t have to deal with that issue anymore tonight.

The county is pretty much saying that the power (and Hawaii has no backup power) is going to go out which in turn means that the stores will be closed, no gas will be available, no water can be obtained through the faucet - but we shall see.

At least we have one working phone that does not require electricity.

More later…

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Brian’s parents just visited and we had a grand time.  We went snorkeling in Hilo several times and had a great time seeing the variety of fish out and about.  I saw my first snake eel and later snake eel babies.  On Brian’s birthday he and his father went hiking in North Kohala and had a lot of fun exploring Polulu Valley and the neighboring valley.  We also went to the Lava Tree State Park down near Pahoa.  We also visited the astronomy center at UHH (Imiloa) and did star gazing on Mauna Kea.  The evening on Mauna Kea was less than enjoyable for me though - I was car sick on the hour long ride to Mauna Kea which was further exacerbated by taking a 1 mile walk at 9000 feet mostly uphill on the way back at sunset when it was about 50 degrees.  I felt horrible the whole night but fortunately I woke up feeling better the next day.  We also visited the Kaumana Caves but I did not walk very far as my shoes proved to be inadequate for the task.  I think everyone had a good time…

Brian and I also went to an rough water  race while his parents were visiting.  We checked it out and I am currently thinking about doing the 2 mile Kealakekua Bay rough water race.  I surely will not win but I think it would be a lot of fun.  Brian is now using this as yet another excuse to talk me into doing qualifying races for the Ironman.  I think I will pass as I am not interested in dying before I turn thirty, thank you very much.

I was also able to bodyboard at Hapuna and was able to ride one absolutely perfect wave and a bunch of not so perfect waves.  I did get a nasty burn.  While in the water I was trying to remember why I had made such a big deal about wearing my board shorts but I could not recall why - it became obvious to me later when my derrière burned.

While at Kona Bay Books, Brian spotted Da Jesus Book - the Pidgin Bible.  Seriously, I am speechless.

In other news, the Big Island is getting Target, Circuit City, PetSmart (I think), PF Changs, and Office Max all on the Kona side.  I am not exactly excited.  I like Target and would gladly trade in Walmart and Kmart for it but seriously we don’t need all of those stores.

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It is really quite odd living in Hawaii.  When I lived on the mainland I was very interested in politics and was very concerned about domestic and foreign issues.  I have found that living in Hawaii has really changed my level of interest in world politics.  We really do live in our own little isolated world here.  Brian reads the news more often than I do so he tends to keep me abreast of world politics.  Occasionally, something he mentions piques my interest and I look into it more.  But frankly, security here is relaxed and our way of living is just not bothered by terrorism and all of the other things that people worry about living on the mainland.  We are so far removed from living like that - it’s like living in a pre-911 society, really.  I think I am done rambling…

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At 7 AM this morning we were awakened by an earthquake that registered at 6.6-6.7 and it was shaking our house like a jackhammer. It lasted about a minute. Fortunately, Brian got us to safety in a door frame and we waited it out. Shortly after that, a 5.8 hit further off the coast and the house started swaying side to side - we could even hear it creaking and it felt like being in a small boat with big swells. Stuff was flying out of our medicine cabinet, out of the linen closet, books were hitting the floor, and a frame fell and broke but I would say we escaped with minimal damage… Our power went out and we could not make calls. The highway north of us is shut down because of rock and landslides and Waimea is apparently cut off from everything due to land/rock slides on the Hamakua coast as well as the highway to Kona. Apparently, the roof at Safeway and Walmart in Kona caved in or collapsed. People apparently saw buildings in Kona split apart and saw giant cracks. We have heard that Kona and Waimea have a lot of damage. We heard that a landslide occurred in Kealekekua Bay down by Napoopoo Beach (hope no one was kayaking or snorkeling down there). Hilo seems to be the only area on the Big Island with power but most things seem to be closed except major retailers. We are OK though…

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