Black Pearl Sightings

Argh, ahoy ye mateys and scally-wags ye olde Black Pearl (actual name: "Sunset") is moored up in Ko Olina for the making of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (or uh, is it the Pacific?). Anyway, no reports of actors on island yet. Just the boat.

Sue originally got the scoop from a friend at work. Addam heard that the Black Pearl was on island last weekend, and decided he wouldn't rest until he found out where she was in port. We followed his tweets until the search ended at the Ko Olina Ocean Marina.

Today further photographic evidence was provided by Bill and Pat Goding. They cruised the marina just before sunset and took these pictures.

Thurs Feb 25, update: Honolulu Advertiser article

Valentine's Day

When you think Valentine's Day, you think "Biathlon" right? Well, we have been. The Waikiki Swim Club hosts a series of (run/swim) Biathlons every year. The last one is on Valentine's Day. I've never participated in it before, because I never knew a runner I felt comfortable smooching at the relay exchange. Enter Sue! Sue picked up the gauntlet and started training (specifically for this event) since November of last year. She did awesome, training over 14 miles a week for the last several months, by the day of the biathlon she was down to a nine minute mile! This was her very first athletic event, and a first for us as a family.

The event had several awards. The oddest one was in "The Best Kiss" category. At the run/swim exchange, the hand-off is done with a kiss. Ben took this picture (left) 3 seconds before Sue planted one on me. When I turned to go, Sue slapped me HARD on the butt. There was a loud *CRACK*, I yelped and went off like a shot. It also netted us 2nd Place in the kissing contest. In the event over all, we placed 8th in the married division. Only about 6 minutes short of the 1st place winners. Awesome!

We went out after the race to Cheeseburger Waikiki to celebrate what will probably become a new tradition. Later that evening, we got a sitter to go out and do Valentine's Day properly. We relived the race over dinner at Buzz's Steakhouse in Pearl Ridge and after dinner went and saw The Wolfman. It was a good movie, and went well after our bloody rare steaks; Yum!

Cavalry

The coin-op horse in the Waikele factory outlet mall kept the kids busy while I shopped for a Valentines Day present. The whole cavalry rode one steed while I was perfume shopping for mommy just a horseshoe's throw away.

LOST

The final season of Lost started last night. On Oahu that's a pretty big deal. The show is filmed here on the island, and the first episode of the season debuts on the beach at Waikiki with many of the Lost cast and crew present.

As I have a weird sciencey job on the same island as the DHARMA Initiative (the mysterious organization in the Lost series), I figured I needed a work uniform to match. DHARMA has all these icons for the different stations on the island (ie: "The Pearl", "The Swan"), and each has its own icon inscribed within a shower-drain octagon shape.

To be part of the Initiative, I need an icon for my 'work-station' too. See, that way I'll blend in. Last night I took some Illustrator artwork and cut it into a stencil. I got out an old T-shirt and some acrylic paint. Voilà, I'm official. By the way, I used the art on this shirt and published it to Cafe Press. You can get your own DHARMA/Referentia coffee mug here.

Naomi's Birthday

(click on picture for video)

Everything is so amazing and nobody is happy...

The Apple iPad came out today. For those who have been hiding under a rock, or have nothing to do with current technology, it's like a computer with a built in pressure sensitive tablet. No keyboard. If you've seen an iPod. It's kind of like a giant iPod. You can browse the internet, call someone, listen to music, watch movies, view your pictures etcetera, all from a device 9 inches diagonal and half an inch. Wow.

The community had mixed reviews, but mostly negative. It was kind of like, yeah, yeah, this is basically something we've seen before. What's the big deal? Yeah it's bigger, more apps, yeah it's only about $100 more than the iPod I bought last year. So what?

For those with that point of view, please, take a minute and watch this video. At the very least you will probably laugh at yourself.

My Shoe Fell Off

Jerky Boys? No. I had these great pair of leather clogs perfect for the workplace. I left them in a box in the tropical heat for too long I guess. I rediscovered them over the weekend and donned them for work today. Stoked. As I got out of my car, the ball of the sole fell off. The rest of the soles turned into rubber rocks the size of kitty litter pellets before 10AM. Sabotage