Flu Bug

Yuck, I just got knocked out by a flu bug for a couple of days. Now I wish I had gotten a flu shot earlier this year. All the males in my family contracted it from my niece. I could tell we were all in trouble when we went to her preschool play and every kid in the room was coughing and sneezing. Talk about bio-warfare, those preschoolers can engineer some nasty germs! Anyway within the week my brother-in-law got sick, then my dad got it, then finally it got passed to me. Funny how none of the women in the family got the flu. Anyway, I was stuck in bed for a day with colds sweats, fever, body aches... well you get the idea, it was bad. Luckily I recovered in time to get on the plane to San Jose or I would be stuck in Hawaii till January 13th (can you believe every flight out was booked?). Good bye vacation. Anyway, I'm still a little weak, so I had to cancel my snowboarding trip to Mammoth for new years. Anyone in the Bay Area doing anything I can drop in on?

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas tree looks so calm right now. But within the next few minutes...

I hope everyone is enjoying themselves today. Don't drink too much egg nog. It's still early in the morning so my family hasn't opened presents yet. Maybe it's time for me to go wake everyone up...

In Hawaii, we don't have a fireplace, so my family uses the staircase to hang our stockings. Don't ask how Santa Claus gets in. I guess he has developed a separate skill set for Hawaiian houses...

Bowl Game Anticipation

Well, now that my Christmas shopping is pretty much done and I am relaxing at home, I am getting restless with anticipation for the Rose Bowl on January 4, 2006. I don't care whether it is a blowout, or a suspenseful, close game. I just want USC to win and make NCAA football history. I have already made plans to be in Los Angeles on the 4th, and though I do not have tickets to the Rose Bowl, I hope to find a good Rose Bowl party for the game. For now I guess I should just focus on one event at a time. Next stop: Christmas.

Toys R US Sale

Yea! Thanks to Cheapassgamer I knew about a $10 videogame clearance sale at Toys R Us. I went first thing in the morning and scored Blood Rayne 2 and Psychonauts for the PS2 and Resident Evil 4, Wario Ware, and Zelda: Four Swords for the Nintendo Gamecube. I love getting cheap games. Now I regret not bringing any of my gaming consoles home with me. I guess I will start my gaming marathon when I get back to California in January.

Toys R Us, Aiea store: I came, I shopped, I conquered

Sleeping Easy

A couple weeks ago I had not been sleeping well. The pressures of school kept me worried and stressed out. However now that I'm on vacation I have been sleeping very well. No insomnia here. I don't have much planned now that I'm not playing tour guide. Just got to do some last minute shopping for gifts... and maybe check on my grades for the quarter.

Shaved Ice

I hope you enjoyed the entries for the last six days of my vacation in Hawaii. From now on my vacation will just be hanging out with my family, so don't expect anymore exciting entries. Today Jeannette left to got back to San Jose and even put in some days at work before continuing on to Cincinati, Ohio. Brrr. On that cold theme, I just thought I'd write about shaved ice here in Hawaii. I don't think people realize how satisfying shaved ice is until they finish a day at the beach at Matsumoto's or Waiolas. Out of the six days we toured around the island, Jeannette and I had shaved ice four times. It's fantastic. For all those who don't know, come visit Hawaii, find a way to get to Matsumoto's or Waiola's Shaved Ice and you'll understand.

Hawaii - Day 6

Our sixth day in Hawaii drained all the energy out of us! Jeannette and I woke up early in the morning to see the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. To me the harbor looks so peaceful, just as it did during the eighteen years I grew up here. I can't imagine what it was like to see the Japanese planes strafing the harbor and ships exploding there. It must have been a traumatizing scene to witness.

After our visit to Pearl Harbor we drove into the mountains to stand atop the Pali Lookout. This is a high cliff set in the Koolau mountain range overlooking the north side of Oahu. These cliffs are the site where King Kamehameha I waged a fierce battle during his quest to conquer and unite the Hawaiian islands. The battle ended with his opponents being forced over the edge of the 1,200 foot cliff to fall to their deaths on the rocks below. Luckily, nothing of that nature happened to us as we took our pictures.

For our last activity of the day, Jeannette and I hiked the Olomana trail. This hike is so amazing for so many reasons. First, the entrance to it is difficult to find, so you really must know how to find it or be shown where it is. Second, the peak is really impressive and yet it is still requires a few hours to climb. Third, the climb is always challenging, requiring a little bit of rock climbing, but nothing to need to spend months training for. Fourth, the view at the top is amazing.

The view of Olomana from where we parked the car.

It's the attack of the pirate hiker (Aargh)

Look how red the dirt is in Hawaii (it's caused by a high iron content)

I guess Jeannette and I were really lucky because on Sunday (the day before) there were reported 30 mph winds in Kailua. There is no way we could have done the hike in those conditions. Instead, the day we went it was perfectly calm, and instead of the hot burning sun we had experienced on our days at the beach, we had some cloud cover to help us stay cool during the hike.

Almost there...

A taste of some of the rock climbing we had to do.

The view from the top. We're pretty far up.

Hawaii - Day 5

Jeannette and my mom at Dim Sum

Sunday was one of our least active days, yet it still seemed pretty busy. My family got up in the morning and went to church. Afterward, my mom and I took Jeannette out for her first taste of Chinese dim sum. It's too bad that we got there towards the end of the lunch session, otherwise Jeannette would have been able to try more of the standard dim sum dishes.

After lunch we had some time to rest, but my niece Lindsey made sure we didn't rest too much. She's so cute, but some times (ok, all the time) she can be a handful.

Lindsey striking the pose she learned while taking Christmas card pictures.

After our period of "rest" we jumped into the car and drove to town to get picked up by the tour bus to Germaine's Luau. Guess what? We were late. I'm glad the bus waited for us, but it was embarracing walking to the back of the bus with everyone staring at us.

The luau itself was pretty fun. Of course, it largely catered to tourists, but it provided an entertaining evening. As corny as the stage show was, the dancers had amazing skills. A tip for any girls reading this: take hula lessions or any type of polynesian dance lessons (especially Tahitian). The moves learned in those dances will make any guy powerless to resist you. I hoped to post some images of the dances, but the pictures we took do them no justice.

Hawaii - Day 4

A lot to write about, but I don't have much time. On Saturday we went started at the swap meet to buy some gifts. Jeannette is the first person I have taken that walked a whole loop around the stadium before buying anything. She ended up getting two shell candles, a dashboard hula doll, and a sarong. Next, we did a little shopping at Ala Moana until the set sank a little lower in the sky, then we hiked Diamond Head. For the last stop of the day we visited the National Cemetary at Punch Bowl Crater. Enjoy the pictures.

A picture of the interior of Diamond Head Crater. You can almost make out our car from here.

A view of Waikiki and the Southern coast of Oahu, as seen from the top of Diamond Head.

Be prepared to climb steps during the Diamond Head hike.

The view of Diamond Head from Punch Bowl. Beautiful.

The steps of the Punch Bowl Monument.

Our best Rocky impressions. I know... this is so wrong.

Hawaii - Day 3 Continued

Sorry about not finishing the last post. Sometimes vacations can be so hectic. About the Triple Crown of Surfing... It was amazing to see guys surfing such huge waves. I estimate the waves were between 15-25 feet high. We only stayed for about an hour or two, but we were able to see a run that scored a 9.8 our of 10. The surfer caught the wave and it crested into a perfect tube around him, and right as the tube collapsed, he shot out of the end and everyone cheered. (Um, I'm glad I'm not a surfing commentator).

After the surf competition, Jeannette and I went back to Haleiwa. OH yeah, and on the way there we stopped by the beach where the sea turtles live. Check them out.

While we were in Haleiwa we had a pineapple burger and fries at Kua Aina Burgers, then some shave ice at Matsumoto's Shave Ice. It is always so satisfying to have shaved ice after going to the beach.

And finally, for the last part of the day we stopped off at the Dole Cannery station to see some pineapples growing on the ground. Not too exciting, but something you should see in Hawaii.

Hawaii - Day 3

Today I went skydiving! Jeannette has gone about 22 times (was today her 23rd?), and she convinced me to come with her today. Our defiance of gravity was granted by the Pacific Skydiving Center. Jeannette jumped by herself and I did a tandem jump. I don't think I can begin to describe how fun it was in this blog, but it wasn't scary at all and besides the high cost of skydiving I would do it again. Five stars, I highly recommend for all you adrenaline junkies out there. Sorry, no pics from the air.

Next, we went to Banzai Pipeline beach to watch the Triple Crown of Surfing 2005.

Hawaii - Day 2

Today Jeannette and I went to Hanauma Bay, Waiola's Shave Ice, and Waikiki. On the way home we stopped for some malasadas (Portugese donuts) from Leonards Bakery. Pictures follow:

Some random guy taking our picture overlooking the bay

Hanauma Bay in the morning

Hanuma Bay in the afternoon

The sunset in Waikiki, as photographed by Jeannette

Hawaii - Day 1

Ah, it feels good to be home again. I am one of the lucky people that has no problem falling asleep on planes, so the early morning flights are beginning to become more appealing to me. If I stay up late the night before the flight, then I can usually sleep all the way through the fight and wake up right before landing. Today the five-hour flight was condensed into about one-and-a-half hours of consciousness. I only woke up to drink the complimentary juice and eat the meal.

Jeannette and I at Ko Olina

My friend Jeannette was able to come along with me for her first trip to Hawaii. Yea! I get to play tour guide again. Showing someone the sights of Oahu is always fun because it allows me to see things through a set of new eyes again. Today we were still kind of tired from all the travelling so we just went to Ko Olina beach outside of the Ihilani Hotel. Afterwards we ate dinner at Da Big Kahuna Pizza. I really like that place. It's a hole-in-the-wall place that has really good pizza and these excellent garlic cheese dots. If you're ever on Oahu, look it up. Tomorrow the plan is to go to Hanauma Bay and then site-see in Waikiki.

The sunset from Ko Olina beach

Last Wednesday's D&B

Last week the young engineer group at work had a dinner party at Dave & Busters. It was a Wednesday night but I was still very surprised at how empty the place was. They must have been so happy to have our large group come out and reserve a room for dinner. The food was pretty good, especially the mini pizza appetizers. After we finished eating, the hosts of the show put on a version of the game show "Street Smarts". It consists of three pre-recorded interviews with three people, in which each person is asked an indentical set of questions like, "Who is the president?" or "What number is identified by a baker's dozen?". The game aspect of the show is that the contestants must guess which of the interviewees either got a question correct or incorrect. I was surprised at how well the show was pulled off.

The only other event of note from last Wednesday is that we saw this guy who was an expert at the basketball game with the moving backboard. When I play, I usually score somewhere between 30 and 50 points (if I'm lucky). My friends are better and some of them score around 60 to 80 points. This guy was scoreing in the hundreds! I think I saw him score over 200 points, but I'm not sure cause the third digit of the score board can only display a one. It was amazing. I was totally humbled and will never play that game again if he is there. Another door in my life is shut.