shave ice & gelato

view from the bus stop:

Continue reading "more photos of Cortona" »

Recently there has been a rash of spam filling up everyone's email boxes. Jerry wrote a great post about spam (the email kind). I thought I would write about the other kind of spam.

Spam is big here in Hawaii (not the email kind but the processed meat kind). You know, that mystery meat surrounded by that gooey slimy stuff packed in a tin can. According to Wikipedia, in Hawaii, spam is so popular that it is sometimes dubbed "The Hawaiian Steak." I can definitely attest that people go crazy over their spam here. Spam is a very popular ingredient in all kinds of potluck dishes. Spam musubi is the most popular way spam is eaten. People have spam musubi at the beach, on a hike, for breakfast or lunch, and for a snack. It is also one of the most popular foods you will find in lunches on field trips. You can even buy spam musubi at 7-11 and you will find spam on the menu at McDonalds. This past Saturday the 8th annual Waikiki Spam Jam took place to collect cans of food for the Hawaii Foodbank. Check out the spamjamhawaii website for more information on this festival. The goal of the Spam Jam festival is to collect 5,000 cans of food for the to support the Hawaii Foodbank.

And now for a blast from the past...

Monty Python - Spam

The question is...do you like spam?

I still have tons of photos to share from my trip to Italy last summer. Because some of my photos would work better in a slide show type set up, I finally learned how to make a picasa web album slide show today. I have not posted any photos of Cortona yet. I decided to make my first slideshow of a hike I did in Cortona in June 2007.

After a long train ride to Cortona, finding a taxi, settling in, and having lunch, I spent my first afternoon in Cortona hiking up to the Sanctuary of Santa Margherita and the Fortezza del Girifalco. It was a long hike uphill. Although it was a hot afternoon, the views were spectacular. When I finally reached the top, I arrived at a huge church, the Sanctuary of Santa Margherita. It was unfortunately closed when I arrived.

I continued walking a little further uphill to reach the Fortezza del Girifalco. The cost to enter the fortezza was 3 euros. There was only one other person visiting this very peaceful fortezza while I was there. I first spent about 30 minutes walking along the wall that surrounded the perimeter along the top (similar to the fortezza in Montalcino) enjoying the views and the cool breeze. I then spent a little bit of time checking out the rooms inside. There were a few art pieces hanging in one or two of the rooms. Although the other rooms were empty, they were also peaceful and cool. After an enjoyable visit, I headed back to town, taking a different path, which took me along a few windy roads through a beautiful area of the town.

This week's PhotoHunt Saturday theme is Time:

Mondovì

Saluzzo

Continue reading ""time" ~ PhotoHunt" »

Tomorrow we are going to Kualoa Ranch. You may recognize the area from films and TV shows. Jurassic Park, Mighty Joe Young, Pearl Harbor, Windtalkers, Godzilla, 50 First Dates, Tears of the Sun, Fantasy Island, ER, and Lost have all been filmed here.

We will be visiting the fish ponds first. We will throw nets in the water and catch little shrimp (and then throw them back). Then we will go to the ranch to feed the cows, horses, sheep, etc.

I am hoping for nice weather. The past two times we have gone it was raining or rained the day before. It can get pretty muddy. I am hoping for a sunny day tomorrow.

I am not a fan of long drives but love the views on the way to the ranch. This area of the island is so beautiful. Although I mostly take photos of my students when on field trips, I try to sneak in a few other shots when I have the chance. These photos were taken at the fish pond area during last year's field trip:

Continue reading "field trip to Kualoa Ranch tomorrow" »

I will begin with the interesting news. Yesterday morning I experienced a pretty significant dizzy spell while in the shower. I have had a few dizzy spells in the past, but nothing like yesterday. When I finally made it to work, I listed my symptoms to a few friends. Vertigo was the guess most had. I googled vertigo but that didn't sound right. At my appointment, I described my symptoms to my doctor. I was amazed that she knew the cause right away. She said it was vasovagal reaction. When I got home and googled this term and it all fit. For years I have had this happen and now I finally have a name for it.

Basically something makes the blood stop going to my brain and instead it goes to my legs and feet, making me dizzy. Technically (quoted from MedicineNet.com): “Vasovagal reaction: A reflex of the involuntary nervous system that causes the heart to slow down (bradycardia) and that, at the same time, affects the nerves to the blood vessels in the legs permitting those vessels to dilate (widen). As a result the heart puts out less blood, the blood pressure drops, and what blood is circulating tends to go into the legs rather than to the head. The brain is deprived of oxygen and the fainting episode occurs."

A tilt test is how vasovagal reaction is formally evaluated. I shudder when imagining having this test done. I wonder if this is why I don't do well with carnival rides and get car sick on bumpy and windy roads. This was the interesting news I received at my doctor's appointment.

Continue reading "the interesting and the shocking " »

I arrived at Saturn about 15 minutes before my appointment this afternoon. A young man greeted me at the door. I told him that I had an appointment with Ernie and mentioned that I was early. While I waited, one of the other sales people asked me what my appointment was for. I stated, customer dissatisfaction. A few minutes later, the young man who earlier greeted me at the door sat down next to me and asked if I minded telling him why I was not satisfied (I think he was just nosey). As I started to tell him what happened, he interrupted me, saying, "Oh you're the one with the problem with the 30,000 mile service". I thought that was interesting.

At that point I was escorted into Ernie's office. I went through the history of what had occurred and again said that I was sure it was just an honest mistake, but since George has yet to get back to me, I was quite upset. I also was not happy that George kept insisting that I came in for a tire rotation. Ernie then took out the print out he had with my service record showing that I had my 60,000 mile maintenance service in January 2006 (right before my warranty ran out) and confirmed that a mistake was made. I mentioned that it was not the 60,000 but the 30,000 that I was being charged for. He said they were all the same - 30,000, 60,000, 90,000, which really confuses me since I presently have 52,000 on my car, so why was both services done way before I hit that amount of mileage. Maybe they should call it "so many years" service. He then looked at all of my paperwork and nodded to himself when seeing that I did indeed have my 30,000 maintenance service done before.

Ernie said he would like to have George come in to help get this straightened out. I really did not want to talk to George but said that was fine. I said that I did not want him to now "make George apologize", and then went into my fake apology spiel pet peeve about people saying they are sorry when they don't mean it, and gave the example of when I ask two of my preschoolers to apologize, they both say "sorry" but they don't really mean it. He laughed. He told me not to worry; he would not force George to apologize in front of me. Ernie was actually quite nice. We chatted a bit about my job, etc. while we waited for George to arrive.

Continue reading "solution to my expensive car problems" »