Skittles

The last couple of nights have been open house "curriculum night" at Holomua Elementary. Different nights for different grades. We went early yesterday and brought a soccer ball to run the kids down in the school yard. Lately, the rainbows in Ewa have been intense right before sunset.

WFM

In order to help Sue satisfy her mainland fix I'm manny (man-nanny'ing) while she's out for the week. To get good quality time at the keyboard I have to work when the kids are sleeping. Here's me wearing baby-girl down before 11 o'clock nappies. I needed the excercise too, it was nice to get out of the house.

Magic Smoke

I finished up WFM tonight at about 11 PM, still amped up on RedBull I decided to run it off on my constant companion -- the treadmill. About an hour into Starship Troopers the machine started bucking, and it smelled like electric smoke was coming out. Of all the weeks to not be able to work out at home this is the worst! Oh well, maintanence scheduled for Sept.3, I'll have to find another workout workaround.

Koko Head

I was working through some issues with a friend today who suggested we hike the 1700 feet to the top of Koko Head. By the time we got there I felt I had a new perspective on things, ....and geography. I could see the island of Molokai, 23 miles away.

Aerospace Briefing

Something different, I went to attend the Aerospace briefing in the state Capitol bldg on behalf of the company I work for. Topics include: Aerospace in Hawaii, National vision for aerospace, multinational partnerships in Hawaii, Applications, related sciences, and eh?....Next Generation aviation and commercial space launch in Hawaii.

Mahina Butter

I put on the moon block and headed out with the Greg Adams lunartic crew again last night. It was pretty flat so we had to go some place shallow to get sizeable waves. We all paddled out to pull em out of the bowl. Ala Moana Bowls. Its funny that last night was the first time I've ever dropped in at this legendary Waikiki break, and it was completely empty. An hour before midnight was low tide, it was so shallow that if you reached all the way down paddling out, you would hit bottom (vana: sea urchin, or coral rock). Greg advised that if you wipe out, you should "eat it, lying flat". It was good advice, and I got home around 2AM without a single gash or vana spine.

The crew wants me to design a shirt for this multi-annual event, I got a first cut done yesterday afternoon. Its kind of a spoof on all the surf contests we have on island. I'm not done with it yet -- but I'm okay posting it. Feedback is good, thanks!

How Old Are You Now?

It was pretty small on the South shore today so I took Ben and the long board for some surf lessons. He caught one and rode it on his belly for about 40 yards. Meanwhile I tried to keep up with flippers and swim gloves.

After Sue headed out to work we went to the Strike Zone at Fort Shafter where Ilikea celebrated her 10th birthday. Pizza, bowling, cake, the whole nine yards. The kids were wired from all the sugar, lights and noise so I stopped by the park on the way home to let them run around some in the open air.

Awesome sunset tonight, and opposite it, a rainbow so wide I couldn't shoot it all in the same frame.

The Roof is on Fire!

The Suz and I went out for dinner at PF Chang's near Wards, while the kids were at home with a sitter. Afterwards, we went to a roof top party at the Windser. The party was hosted by Andrew's lady friend, Izumi. She had prepared some awesome Italian, and fusion style foods. We were full when we got there, we left REALLY full. Good times!

Gary Fisher Would Go

I biked to and from work today. On the way in, I went the back way. Instead of going up Farrington I stayed in the dirt by West Loch. Its creepy, dogs are sometimes left loose and there are some spots where the trail is out and you have to walk and carry. Even still, the rural route is just a little quicker. My trip in was under an hour. In the afternoon I set a new record coming home 1:03. I'm not sure why it's always longer coming back, I guess there must be more uphill, probably in Waipahu. Also, everything is harder at the end of the day. The iPhone helped too, a pleasant distraction.

Friends of Malaekahana

We took a Saturday morning trip out of the hale (ha-lay) in Ewa Beach and headed North for brunch at Jamesons. After grindz we continued on 83 past Turtle Bay until we got to the Friends of Malaekahana camp groups to meet up with the Ocean Pointe Posse (Launers, Savages, Yorks, Norbeys et al) as hosted by the Launer family. (video)