shave ice & gelato

After work today, I decided to brave the craziness of the supermarket on my way home. Holiday shopping is always a special treat here in Hawaii. I headed to Safeway, hoping that I would find the perfect little turkey for Thanksgiving. Once a cart was located in the parking lot, I took the plunge without a list or even a solid plan. It was quite an adventure wheeling my cart up and down the aisles, looking for just the right ingredients and trying my best to remember what I needed to get to make my mom's ricotta and egg based Italian turkey stuffing.

Once my cart was full I found the line that looked like it would move the quickest and picked up a magazine to browse through while I waited. The People's Sexiest Men issue was out. There sure were lots of yummy guys inside this year's edition. If I was really thinking, I would have found the longest line.

As I reached the check out stand, I had this flash of grocery shopping in Italy. I must say that one of the things I am very thankful for here in the US is that we have baggers, especially on busy days.

There are only two events that have really intimidated me when experiencing life in Italy, the check out stand at the grocery store and the post office. In the grocery store, I always felt pressure having the correct change ready as big bills were not popular, letting the girl know that I needed bags and locating those bags, and of course bagging everything quick enough so that I did not hold up the line. I always failed when bagging and usually was on the receiving end of a few dirty looks. Even though shopping is not one of my favorite memories of Italy, it is always fun reminiscing, even about more stressful experiences.

When I left the grocery store, the rain began. This was one thing I was prepared for as rain was predicted and the skies were pretty gray when I arrived at the store and so at least I had my raincoat on as I loaded my cart and two cars fought for my spot.

I usually am not too thrilled about driving in the rain, but today, I experienced the most glorious sunset in my rear view mirror with a rainbow in front of me. This was my second "thankful” experience after leaving work.

I usually take the back roads when heading home from Safeway. The final stretch before turning into my townhouse complex is a long straight 2-lane road. The sun reminded me of a blazing ball of yellow fire. It slowly set behind me into the road. The sky was a deep pink and the rainbow was in front of me to my left. I was so mad that I did not have my camera with me. I thought about running in to get it when I got home, but just as I pulled into my parking space, it started to downpour. I was not as fond of the weather at this point as I had to lug my groceries all up to my place. By this time, the sky was getting dark and the sun had set. I guess you will just have to picture this glorious sunset instead.

Before my mom passed away, she typed up all of her recipes. This is something my family is very thankful for. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, my mom's stuffing was always the first thing to disappear and it was one of my favorite things she made. Some have tried to make this on the side, but it only comes out right when stuffed inside a turkey. I would guess that another type of bird would also work. Here is my mom's "famous" Italian Stuffing recipe just as she typed it, which was passed down from my grandfather's family:

TURKEY STUFFING, ITALIAN STYLE

This should be enough to fill a turkey from 15- 25 pounds. If the turkey is smaller you can fill the neck too.

Three very tragic and disturbing murders have taken place in the past two weeks.

Two weeks ago, a husband stabbed his wife to death several feet from the front door of her apartment in Kalihi. Jenny Hartsock leaves behind three children from a former marriage. Roy Hartsock has had 27 convictions dating back to August 1987, including assault, domestic violence, and burglary. Whatever happened to 3 strikes and you are out?

Last Wednesday, a man rammed into his ex-girlfriend’s car several times and then dragged her out of the car and proceeded to bludgeon her to death with the butt of a shot gun on a quiet street in Kailua in front of several horrified witnesses. One brave man attempted to help. He was sent to the hospital with head injuries.

Janel Tupuola leaves behind five chidren. She was trying to turn her life around and leave this horrible man. She had feared for her life long before she was killed. She was recently in hiding. He somehow found out where the babysitter lived and followed her last Wednesday night when she went to pick up her children.

This man, Alapeti Tunoa, has a long criminal history. He was arrested 67 times as a juvenile. He was also convicted for many violent crimes as an adult, including first- and second-degree robbery, and threatening to snap a man's neck for a gold chain, while riding the City Bus. He was currently on supervised parole after serving four years of a 20-year sentence.

Again, whatever happened to 3 strikes and you are out?

The following day, the third murder occurred. This murder has been the most disturbing, although they are all equally horrific and tragic. This murder involved a little child. A man tossed a little boy up into the air and onto the freeway while standing on a pedestrian overpass in the middle of the day. He then stood there and smoked a cigarette. Witnesses at first thought he threw a doll onto the freeway.

Cyrus Belt would have turned two on February 7th.

At first, it was thought that this man was the child’s father. He turned out to be the upstairs neighbor.

Cyrus was left with the mother’s boyfriend and her father on the day of the murder. Earlier in the day, Cyrus was found by the police wandering around the area. The boyfriend was working on his car and apparantly was not watching Cyrus and the grandfather was sleeping. The police returned Cyrus to his home. The boyfriend later left to pick up Cyrus’ mother. He did not wake the grandfather.

As more information has come out, it has been revealed that CPS (Child Protective Services) had been involved with this family. Cyrus spent four days in a foster home in June of last year after his mother failed a drug test. She volunteered to have Cyrus taken into foster care and then promised to seek treatment. She recently again tested positive for using crystal meth. CPS had a visit scheduled for later that day. It was too late.

Matthew Higa, the person who murdered Cyrus, had 12 prior arrests, but no convictions. He has a history of crystal meth use. He had been admitted to Queen’s Hopital as recently as December, 2007, after an incident at a Honolulu car dealership in which he locked himself in a car and refused to get out until officers were called to the scene. There are also questions about his mental health status. Although blood test results have not come back yet, it is has been reported that Matthew Higa was using crystal meth when he murdered little Cyrus. In my opinion, none of this excuses his actions.

There were many witnesses to both Cyrus and Janel's deaths. Both Matthew Higa and Alapeti Tunoa were arraigned in court yesterday. Both plead not guilty. This was very disturbing to me. I understand everyone has a right to a trial, but these men should have owned up to their actions and at the very least, pleaded guilty.

Changes need to occur now to prevent any more of these tragic and senseless murders.

It has been a difficult and emotional time for many. I have been brought to tears the two times I have driven under the pedestrian overpass where little Cyrus Belt was murdered. Please take a moment to remember Jenny, Janel, and Cyrus.

Wear RED, post RED, eat RED, drink RED. February 1st is National Wear Red Day to show support for women’s heart disease awareness. My hope is that with this day being targeted yearly to increase women's awareness of heart disease, women will become more aware of how important it is to be aware of staying heart healthy. My mom died of a sudden heart attack in February, 2000. I wish she was more aware of her risks.

Tips for Heart Health

* Don't smoke, and if you do, quit. Women who smoke are two to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than non-smoking women. Smoking also boosts the risk of stroke and cancer.

* Aim for a healthy weight. It's important for a long, vigorous life. Overweight and obesity cause many preventable deaths.

* Get moving. Make a commitment to be more physically active. Aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.

* Eat for heart health. Choose a diet low in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol, and moderate in total fat.

* Know your numbers. Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure, cholesterol (total, HDL, LDL, triglycerides), and blood glucose. Work with your doctor to improve any numbers that are not normal.

These are 2 of my favorite RED photos.

The first photo is of a red hibiscus flower. I took this photo for a photography class a few years ago.

The second photo is a photo which was posted on the Boston Globe website this past year. I believe it was taken during Spring Training. We don't have Willy on our team anymore but we still have Manny & Big Papi. GO SOX!!

I originally planned to post some pictures from my field trip today, but it was canceled due to all the rain we have been having and now I am home sick with no original thoughts...

So instead, I decided to do a post about Super Tuesday. I found this interesting interactive map on the BBC website showing all of the states involved in Super Tuesday.

The first thing I noticed when looking at the map was that Hawaii seemed to be missing.

That alone was not surprising to me as I still see maps of the US with Hawaii and Alaska missing, but on this map, Alaska was part of the map. After looking a little closer, I found Hawaii...above Alaska! It is bad enough when maps show Alaska and Hawaii next to Southern California or by Mexico, but this map could really confuse those who have geography issues.

I still have not forgotten a comment a friend from high school made to me one summer, when back in Massachusetts for a visit, after living in Hawaii for about 10 years. She asked me how Hawaii could be such a warm state if it was located right next to Alaska! After my initial shock, I proceeded to give her a little geography lesson. The the light bulb finally went on and she understood. I then wondered how many other people in the world thought Alaska and Hawaii were located right next to each other.

Back to Super Tuesday. I found this BBC site quite interesting and informative. Check it out if you have some free time. You can either click on one of the states on the map or you can click on one of the states listed in the little scrolling box and the delegate information for that state will show up in the larger box.

So, if you live in a Super Tuesday state, don't forget to get out there and vote!

Without getting too political, here is a screen shot of one of the widgets on my Mac:

349 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes & 45 seconds until Bush is gone...give or take a few minutes to upload the image and then get this posted. Still too many days if you ask me. Link to the Bush's Last Day website.

Today is "game night". We started having "game nights" at our school this year on Friday nights every now and then as a way to relax, spend time together in a non-stressful situation, and have fun together. There are board games, wii, this guitar game I just don't get, and Scrapbooking. I am a board game player. I love board games, always have, always will.

Leslie at Kaleidoscope asked on one of her posts what your favorite toys were as a child?”

This got me thinking about some of my favorite toys that I had as a child and how different childhood was "way back when" with the toys we played with compared to how childhood is today with the "electronic" toys kids now have.

These are the toys and games that stick in my mind as favorites: the Easy Bake Oven, my barbies, playing kick the can outside, and all the board games that we had as kids. I loved playing Mystery Date, Operation, Yahtzee, Risk, Rack-o, Uncle Wiggily, Clue, and Monopoly.

I did a search and found the following two YouTube videos that may bring back some memories. Did you own any of these original version games? And for those of you too young to remember or too young to have had any of these games, you sure missed out on some fun.

Remember Mystery Date? I always wanted to date or win? the "skier guy" but usually ended up with "dud guy".

I debated whether or not I should post this for a while after getting home tonight, but I decided that I just had to share. Along the lines of the terrible traffic situation where I live from my previous post, tonight's drive home was blessed with an extra added delight (I am being sarcastic). Warning...this post will get pretty disgusting.

After taking the turn off the freeway, I was "overjoyed" to find each of the two lanes as well as the exit lane completely at a standstill (being sarcastic again). It looked something like the picture below if it was set in Hawaii. When the traffic is backed up this much, it means three miles of moving at a snails pace, even when taking my little back way, which by the way half of Ewa Beach has now discovered.

I tried to think positively. I was almost home. Soon, I could have fun catching up on everyone's blog posts. I turned to the espn radio station, listened to the latest Roger Clemen's talk, and tried my best to stay calm. I was doing pretty well. Then, with about one mile to go, the light up ahead turned red. The guy in the truck in front of me opened the door and started spitting. Gross! I hate when guys do this. But that was not all he was planning on doing.

Next thing I knew...

(warning this is the very disgusting part)....

The Hawaii Democratic caucus will take place tonight. I wasn't even aware that caucuses took place in Hawaii before this year. The Democratic presidential nominee has always seemed to have been determined before our scheduled caucus took place in past years.

We also (in my opinion) have never had a voice during past presidential primaries and past presidential elections. The election has always been determined before Hawaii's polls were closed. Even during the Bush/Gore election, our electorates did not count because we don't have enough of them to make a difference either way, even when there was a "so called tie".

During most elections, the President has been declared (by the media) by noontime here in Hawaii and since I am not a "morning person", I usually do my voting in the afternoon, again not that my vote would have counted if I voted in the morning.

Because of this, I have always been frustrated with the election process BUT this year is a historic year for Hawaii. This will be the first time that Hawai'i will actually have a voice in helping to select a presidential nominee. I feel pretty excited about being able to be a part of this process. It is the first time in a long time that I have felt a little hope about the future of our country. For more on being able to be a part of the process, check out Teachick's Persnickety Tutu blog on the subject of using our voices to vote to make a change.

I am writing this quickly to try to remember everything. I am also pretty tired after not much sleep last night and a long night tonight and so I apologize for any grammar and spelling errors. Also, make sure to read my previous post before reading this post to get all the info in the correct order.

WOW, this was quite a night! I arrived at my voting site at 6 pm, 30 minutes before voter registration and sign in was scheduled to begin. There was already a huge line. I was lucky to get the last parking spot in the parking lot.

There were two lines, the shorter line for people already registered as Democrats and the longer one, where I stood for those not yet officially registered as Democrats. Obviously, you already had to be registered to vote to participate. I started to laugh to myself about Jill's "circus comment" (see comments from previous post). Besides the lack of organization with the possibility of people in the crowd getting upset, the only thing close to a "circus" was the one interesting woman with purple hair. Purple sweater, shirt, skirt, and hair!

As mentioned earlier, the Democratic Hawaii caucus turnout has never exceeded 5,000 people. Party officials printed 17,000 ballots. A record 37,182 people voted last night. The turnout was incredible! It was definitely a historic occasion that I am very proud to have been a part of.

I am too tired to think of anything else to write about today, so I will instead post a couple of photos with a link to the Star Bulletin, one of the local papers, where the photos are from and where you can read more info on the Hawaii vote.

The line at one of the voting sites (not my site):

Inside where the voting took place:

One more thing I wanted to add and then I will be done talking about the caucus. I asked quite a few of the "official people" last night what exactly a caucus was and how it was different than a primary. The best explanation I was given was that the Hawaii Democratic caucus was like a mini primary. We still cast ballots and vote for a candidate, but Obama or Clinton buttons, shirts, signs, etc. can be displayed inside the voting area and it is a little more informal. We did not raise hands like some caucus states did for a vote. We also did not vote privately in a little booth. It was something in between the two.

Yesterday, it was reported that on Thursday, Berani, a 245-pound male tiger wandered out of his cage at 8:15 am, before the zoo opened. He was out and about for 20-25 minutes according to most reports. When I googled "tiger & honolulu" today, I found out that the news of the tiger escape has hit the national news. Fortunately no one was injured and the tiger was able to be coaxed back into a secure holding room with a meatball.

A zookeeper neglected to secure two gates to the tiger exhibit after he and a female volunteer cleaned the exhibit and that is how he wandered out. He walked right by a volunteer, as if she didn't even exist, into another enclosed holding area. She quickly left the holding area, closed the gate, and notified a zoo employee who then called a code red. I am so thankful no one was hurt and that Berani was able to be contained or they might have had to put him down. The theory is that Berani was looking for Chrissie, his mate and that is why he didn't seem to notice the volunteer.

The zoo has apologized, the worker who did not secure the gate has been a long time employee and feels badly about it, and they will be investigating and planning additional security measures.

Gambling is illegal here in Hawaii. That makes my chances even more difficult than most to win the lottery. I would first have to be on vacation somewhere to legally buy a ticket because it is against the law to purchase a ticket from a mainland state lottery unless I was physically in that state. The ironic thing is that the top vacation destination for residents in Hawaii is Las Vegas. Some have tried and tried to get a lottery here, but those preaching the evils of gambling seem to win every time. I am sure they are the same ones flying to Las Vegas three or four times a year. I guess it’s one of those, "not in my backyard" things.

So, after that little rant, if I did win the lottery, what would I do? Since many of my fellow bloggers have already declared their intentions, I have an advantage of getting some great ideas to help me lay out my plan. I hope I did not miss anyone's post on winning the lottery. It has been fun reading what everyone else would do.

I have decided that my winnings would be around 200 million as Kim did in her post. You gotta pick some number and I thought 200 million sounded like an good amount to win. However I would take my winnings in euros instead of US dollars (smart huh?). I am not sure how much I would be hit with regarding taxes, but I am guessing I would still have plenty left to spend.

I have to say that I was quite impressed with how Deborah broke down her winnings by dollar amount. I think I would have to hire someone to help me figure that out even with “pretend money”.

So here is my list:

*The very first thing I would do would be to get season tickets for the Red Sox. Some of you may ask, what good would season tickets be since I live in Hawaii? Quitting my job would be the next thing I would do. I would then buy a little condo right in the heart of the city of Boston where I would spend time when the Red Sox were in town. I would invite friends and family to the games and make sure that someone would be enjoying my tickets when I was not in town.

I am definitely a night owl, no question about it. I have tried my best for many years to "fit into the land of morning people" but never with any luck. I can adapt for a day or two or perhaps a week, but I will never be as alert or as productive as I am in the evening.

There are four of us at my school who are all definite night owls. We dream of a school that would start at 9:30 or 10am. We would even be happy with a 9am start. Every day, we drag our bodies into work, always arriving last, right before the bell rings. We stumble down to our classrooms, trying our best to put on a cheery smile when one of our morning friends says hello in that "bright and cheery morning voice", while inside that cheeriness feels similar to fingernails scratching a blackboard. We are exhausted all week, never catching up on the sleep we need. It doesn't matter if we go to bed at 8 or 11 pm, we are still in a fog until at least 9 am the following morning. During school vacations, we start staying up later and later. We do our most productive work late at night. We could easily call each other at 1 am during our breaks and we would all still be wide awake. When school starts again, it is like dealing with jet lag, trying to adjust back to that early morning wake up call. The longer the vacation, the more difficult it is to adjust, but we never really fully adjust.

I did a little more searching on google and found an article which explains how some of us are neither early birds (larks) or night owls, but instead, hummingbirds. Here's an excerpt:

What makes some of us "night owls"--people who perk up in the evening and don't go to bed until 2 a.m. (or even later)--while others are "larks"--early birds who wake up bright-eyed and ready to go at the crack of dawn? The answer lies mostly in our internal body clock, which is largely determined by our genes. In addition to driving our 24-hour (or circadian) sleep-wake cycle, this clock regulates hormone levels, body temperature, blood pressure, alertness and performance ability.

The cycles themselves are controlled mainly by a region within the brain's hypothalamus known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus. This area responds to signals from the retina, specifically, the light that travels from our eyes to our brain, which is the most important factor in orienting our bodies to daytime alertness and night-time sleep.

But that's not the whole story. The "owl" and "lark" categories account for just about 30 percent of the population, explains Michael Smolensky, Ph.D., a professor of environmental physiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston and co-author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health (Henry Holt & Co., 2001). Smolensky says the remaining 70 percent of us are "hummingbirds"--people who can usually adapt when they need to, though it's easier or harder to do so depending on where you fall along the body-clock continuum.

The Canon PowerShot A70 was my first digital camera purchase back in 2003. I then decided I wanted a flip screen LCD and purchased the Canon PowerShot A95 in 2005. Meanwhile the LCD screen on my Canon PowerShot A70 one day went black, which meant it turned into a paper weight. Fortunately this did not happen on a trip. A few months after it died, I read that there was a recall. I sent it in to Canon and received the Canon PowerShot A520 in return. Both cameras served their purpose for a while. Last year I started to read about the new feature of image stabilization and started to look for a better camera. After some limited research, since my summer trip was fast approaching, I decided on the Canon PowerShot A570IS, which by the way cost double what it now costs :{. I was happy with this camera at first until the low battery signal started to show up all the time. I also started to notice that my photos were not as sharp in quality as those from some of the higher end cameras. The Canon PowerShot A570IS is a great every day camera, but I want more than just the every day photo and so once again, I have been searching for "the perfect camera" for my next trip to Italy.

For the longest time, I have wanted to buy a DSLR. I am in now way a camera expert so please forgive me for any camera lingo blunders I my make. I have spent endless hours on the web, reading through post after post and review after review on dpreview, as well as many other camera sites and blogs, and have come to the conclusion that the benefits of a DSLR include: better sensors (which seems even more important now since the recent point & shoot cameras have been packed with extra unnecessary megapixels), less noise and better image quality, no shutter lag, accurate view finders, and better creative control with the available manual settings and various choices of lenses. Of course the lenses add quite a bit to the cost, but if purchased over a few years, it would probably be a little more practical.

Yet, each time I start getting more serious about purchasing a DSLR, I start to think about the extra weight and the extra space that the camera & lenses will take up in my luggage, which is already usually overpacked. I also would want more time to learn the ins and outs of a DSLR before traveling with one. I have not given up on my dream of owning a DSLR, but for now, I am once again searching for the "perfect non-DSLR camera", but this time I want the camera closest to what I want from a DSLR camera.

My top priority in my quest for the perfect camera is the best image quality possible. I also want the option of manual settings, at least a little zoom capability, good macro capability, the least amount of lag in shutter speed, and some low light capability. My other wish would be better wide angle capability.

Over 10,000 people showed up the day Kmart opened back in 1988. Yes, you are reading correctly, over 10,000 people on opening day for Kmart!! People started lining up in the middle of the night waiting for the doors to open. I kept telling everyone it was “just Kmart”. I could not believe the hype and the insane number of people that camped out and showed up on opening day. I do remember going to Filene's basement in Boston with my grandmother when I was little and waiting outside for the doors to open and then watching in amazement when two people would fight over a shirt, but this was Kmart!

Tomorrow is going to be another crazy day in Hawaii. It is the grand opening of Nordstrom at Ala Moana. I am not getting anywhere near Ala Moana tomorrow or for the next few days. After 10,000 people showed up for Kmart's opening day, I can just imagine the madhouse.

I have to say that I am pretty excited about this store coming to Hawaii and am looking forward to shopping there. Hopefully I will no longer need to make so many online orders with all the new choices this store will bring.

In addition to Nordstrom opening tomorrow, there will be 30 additional stores, including Chico's and Lululemon Athletica, in the wing that attaches Nordstrom to Ala Moana and there will be a gelato bar located either in Nordstrom or somewhere in this new wing. Maurizio Grasso, who makes homemade gelato at his little shop in Honolulu will be providing the gelato at this gelato bar. I met him years ago while taking an Italian class. He is from Torino and makes great gelato. I am almost as excited about the gelato bar as I am about Nordstrom.

I know what I am going to be doing during my March vacation :-)

I am feeling much better today although I am still not back at 100%. With no energy for an original post, I am cheating a little with this puzzle.

I have seen many versions of this puzzle. I am posting the version from Peter Rohde's blog where you will also find the answer.

There are 5 houses of 5 different colors. Each house is occupied by a man of different nationality. The 5 owners each drink a different type of beverage, smoke a different brand of cigar, and keep a different pet.

The clues are as follows:

* The Brit lives in the red house.
* The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
* The Dane drinks tea.
* The green house is on the left of the white house.
* The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
* The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
* The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
* The man living in the center house drinks milk.
* The Norwegian lives in the first house.
* The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
* The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
* The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
* The German smokes Prince.
* The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
* The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

Question: Who owns the fish?

Warning...this is a long and rambling post. It is an example of how my mind works when trying to make a decision.

As many of you know, I have been searching for a new camera. My March 1st post, "my quest for the perfect camera", went into detail on the the camera features that are most important to me and the types of cameras I have been considering.

After hours and hours reading reviews, various photography sites, and finally going down to a camera shop, I "think" I have made my choice. The reason I say "think" is that I am still not 100% sure yet - I am probably 98.9% sure at the moment.

A week ago, I spent a couple of hours at Ritz Camera Shop in Honolulu checking out the various cameras on my list. I was very fortunate to find a knowledgeable salesperson that was willing to spend quite a bit of time with me. He patiently answered all of my questions and let me try out as many cameras as I wanted. He did not try to sell me on any specific camera and even ignored other paying customers while helping me. I kept telling him that I was in no hurry and I it was fine to help the other customers.

I first checked out both the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS and the Canon PowerShot G9 side by side. They no longer sold the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS. Right away I loved the size and sturdiness of the G9. It was lighter than I imagined. We talked about some of the pros and cons of each camera and I brought up some of the issues I had read about regarding the G9. I also handled the Canon PowerShot A650 IS. Again, I was drawn back to the G9. The salesperson then went through some of the features and settings of the G9. I loved the little scroll wheel and how many of the settings were so easily accessible.

I then wandered over to the DSLR section. I had to at least dream about buying a DSLR for a little while before making my choice. I started with the Pentax K100D. It was just too big for me. The store did not have any of the entry level Sony cameras. I then checked out both the Canon XTi and the Nikon D40x side by side. At first, I did not feel that there was much difference between the two cameras. I continued to play with each, going back and forth between the two, looking through each viewfinder and snapping a few photos.

2 more days until vacation begins - spring break!!




3 more days until my new refrigerator arrives!!





13 days, 3 hours, 5 minutes until Opening Day!!
Red Sox vs. A's - Both games will be played in
Tokyo, Japan and will be shown live on ESPN2
(at midnight Hawaii time)
Good thing I am a night owl.




86 more days until the school year ends!!





101 more days until...
I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...
and my trip to Italy begins!!




313 days, 10 hours until Bush's Last Day!!!!

As I mentioned in my "camera decision" post, Crutchfield's price for the Canon G9 was $449.99 along with free shipping! Wednesday morning (the morning after I decided on my camera), I emailed Crutchfield to confirm that Hawaii was included in the free shipping offer. When I got home from work that day, I checked my email and received a reply saying that Hawaii was included. I then went to the Crutchfield site to place my order. I found a note next to the Canon G9 price saying they were out of stock and more G9 cameras were not expected until April 14th. I was so disappointed! I really wanted to get my new camera during my break so that I would have time to devote to learning how to use this new camera.

Now I had to make a new decision. Should I wait until April 14th, order from Amazon and which meant paying a higher price and choose the free shipping option (which meant I might not get the camera until the very end of my break since Amazon often takes up to 2 weeks to ship something to Hawaii when free shipping is chosen), pay the additional shipping charge on Amazon to get the camera a few days sooner, or wait until Sunday for the new ads to come out, hoping that Best Buy or Circuit City would have an incredible sale (which was pretty unlikely).

I decided to keep checking Amazon in hopes that the price would drop a little for the next two days. If the price was still the same on Friday, I would order the camera anyways. Waiting until Friday also meant that I was taking a chance that the price of the camera could go up.

This morning, I checked the price again - no change. I almost ordered the camera during my lunch break but decided to wait until school ended and I went home so I wouldn't be using my work computer to make the order. When I got home, I turned on my computer, went to the Amazon site, and was surprised to see that Crutchfield was again offering the camera. I thought it had to be a mistake! I went to the Crutchfield site and indeed the G9 cameras were back in stock. Not knowing how long this new stock would last; I immediately got out my credit card and placed my order.

:-) My camera is ordered and should arrive by the end of next week!

Two months ago, my 15-year old trusty refrigerator started making some pretty spooky sounds as if it was possessed. I decided it was finally time to get a new one. My search for a new refrigerator included two canceled orders, becoming buddies with a couple of guys at Best Buy, and finally putting in a special order for a very ordinary refrigerator, but one that would fit in my tiny space. It took a month to arrive. I got the call yesterday that it would be delivered between 2 and 4 pm today.

This morning, I got up early and started on a major cleaning spree. I wanted to make sure my place would be sparkley clean and less cluttered for the delivery guys, not that they would really care. I threw out piles and piles of catalogs, boxes I had piled up in my outdoor storage space, and a few items that have been hiding in the back of my refrigerator for a few years. I live on the second floor and must have taken at least 20 trips up and down the stairs today. Because I still have some gunk in my chest, I am pretty wiped out after all those stairs. Now I knew that the delivery guys would not be peeking into my outdoor storage space, but I got on a roll. A little tidying up turned into a mini spring cleaning event.

I am happy to report that my new refrigerator was successfully delivered and is now sitting in the little corner of my kitchen. I can't believe how quiet it is. I even checked on it a few times to make sure it was still working. I am looking forward to a peaceful night - no more clunking sounds to wake me up :-)

I finally made it to Nordstrom today. If I had to choose one word to describe the store, it would be "expensive". I was shocked by the prices. There was not one sale (or at least I did not see anything on sale). For some reason, my memory of Nordstrom was quite different. I remember shopping there frequently. It was one of my favorite stores. I know I would not have shopped there if everything was as expensive as it was today. I guess times have changed. I also remember a great home department where towels and sheets were sold. I either missed that section or this Nordstrom does not have a home department. I will probably be doing most of my shopping at the Nordstrom Rack instead of Nordstrom in the future. I just can't rationalize paying $48.00 for a t-shirt type shirt or $98.00 for a pair of jeans.

My impression of the shoe section was not any better than the clothing section. When reading all the "opening store hype, the shoe section was described as having tens of thousands of pairs of shoes. In reality the shoe section seemed no different than the Nordstrom Shoe Store, which has been in Hawaii for the past few years.

The one shoe display which seemed a bit odd (or perhaps I am just not a stylish person) was the Uggs section. Maybe I am missing somthing, but somehow I don't associate fur with summer shoes. I had my camera with me but did not think to take a photo while in the shoe section. I searched online and found an example of the fur sandals being sold.

My plan for the day was to check out Nordstrom and then meet a friend at the new gelato bar. Since I was already in Nordstrom, I went to check out the gelato bar before she arrived. Once more I was a little disappointed. There were only a few flavors and no cones. For some reason, I imagined a gelato bar with more ambiance. The people who worked there were very friendly and gave me a few samples which were all delicious but the seating area just seemed a little too sterile.

I decided on plan B instead. I left Nordstrom, checked out a few of the other new stores nearby, and then waited for my friend to call. I suggested that we meet at the Coffee Company nearby where they also sold the same gelato from the same Gelateria store. This way, we could sit outside at a nice little table. I always love our get togethers which are all too infrequent. We spent a wonderful few hours chatting and catching up on things while eating delicious gelato together. It was definitely the highlight of my day.

I guess my expectations were just too high. Luckily I still have two more new openings to look forward to - Whole Foods (can't wait for this one to finally open) and Target! - a store I have never been in but have heard so much about.

Today... first day back to work after a wonderful, lazy vacation. Made tea instead of coffee to save some time. Spilled the tea on my carpet before leaving the house. Checked with google to figure out how to clean the carpet before the stain set in. Tried all of the suggestions with no luck. Left for work (late) and found out there was a 5-car accident, which meant major traffic. Amazingly got to work on time after taking the back way. Realized I did not have my school keys.

Had a vision of changing my classroom around after watching a video by "The Creative Curriculum" this weekend. Ended up moving most everything around, which meant emptying out a huge metal cabinet with 5 shelves of toys, puzzles, paper goods, etc. and emptying out my entire file cabinet. Tripped over a lego container and fell hard right on my butt with my back hitting the table when trying to move a shelf (I am now sitting on an ice pack and need to fill out a 4 page accident report). Cut my finger (very deep paper cut) when grabbing files to put back in my file cabinet. Tore the skin off the side of my big toe when stepping on the end of a hanging file. Stayed at work til 6 pm, but finished the room!

Stopped in the bank and waited in a very long line after leaving work. Went to Best Buy and Circuit City to check out camera bags. Stopped at the health food store to grab dinner. Just got home a few minutes ago. Stain on my carpet was dark and ugly. Sprayed a spot remover on my carpet and am letting it soak. Ate my salad and then started this post.

I think I should have just stayed in bed!

As my friend said, just think, tomorrow could not be any worse. Now I need to go find my keys.

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Today is also the end of two straight months of blogging. Jill wrote an excellent piece on this. I am stealing her words because I am too tired to think up my own:

For two months in a row, I blogged every day. I'm not really sure how I managed to accomplish that, but I did, and it's over. And so far, no one over at Slow Travel has laid down the gauntlet for April. Thank gawd.

I feel the same way. Thank you everyone for all of your comments. They definitely helped inspire me to keep on blogging. I plan to continue to blog, but just not daily.

Krista's post, "A Rose in Bloom", reminded me of the photo I took of this flower while hiking in Mürren, Switzerland a few years ago.

Does anyone know the name of this flower?? OR the type of bug??

Someone sent this to me today. I am not sure where it originally came from.
It is Friday!!! Enjoy :-)

LIPSTICK IN SCHOOL

(You've got to love this principal)

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.
Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers.... and then there are educators.

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE EDUCATORS..........

It started off as a normal day; groaning when my alarm went off, hitting the snooze button as many times as I could get away with, eating my cereal while checking out a few blogs, and realizing that although I plugged in my espresso machine, I forgot to turn it on, which resulted in leaving my house a little later than planned. A normal morning, with no major traffic problems reported and no problems expected getting to work on time. Little did I know...

While starting my car, I noticed a momentary strange sound but paid no attention and headed on my way. My big decision of the morning was deciding which way to go. There is the direct route (Fort Weaver Road - which at times could be called the road from hell) and then there are the 5 alternate routes. The question always is which way will get me to the freeway the fastest. I decided on one of the alternate routes (going by Holomua School) and was so proud that I chose the correct route. It is almost like choosing the correct curtain on Let's Make a Deal. I figured I saved at least 10 minutes getting through the first light on Fort Weaver Road by taking my little alternate route. And then it happened…just as I started to merge back onto the main road, my car stalled!!

I panicked. It was as if I forgot how to drive for a moment. My first instinct was to turn the key to try to restart the car. But then I realized that I would probably damage my car if I turned the key while in drive. By then the car was slowing down and nothing was working. I had visions of people behind me flipping out as I tried to get over to the side of the road. I was able to get over just enough for people to go around me without getting myself on the morning news for being the cause of a major traffic jam. I tried to start the car again a couple of times but each time it stalled.

A very nice man on a bike came to my rescue (well actually asked if he could help but there wasn't much he could do). I told him that my car just stalled and asked him if he knew what that meant. He asked if I had gas in the car. Yes, I had gas (thank goodness, that sure would have been embarrassing - although in the end a much cheaper problem). He then thought that perhaps it was an electrical problem but admitted that he was just guessing. He really had no idea.

Yesterday, I called my man, Jose, who has always taken care of me in the past when I needed any car service. He told me that he recently left Saturn and is now working for Ford. Even though he no longer works for Saturn, he asked what happened and was very helpful in telling me what I should do. He told me who to contact George, the service manager at Saturn of Honolulu. He said that if I did not get results there, to call the National Office.

I called the local office and left a message on the George's message machine (the service manager at Saturn of Honolulu). I waited almost two hours and then called back again. I asked if George was in. The secretary said he was in and out of his office but was working all day. She forwarded me to his message machine once again. I did not leave a second message since I already left a message once saying that I was upset with my service and would like him to call me. After waiting another hour, I called the National Office.

Once I explained the situation, the woman I spoke to apologized to me immediately and said there should be no problem in resolving the problem. She gave me a case number and told me that someone would get back to me hopefully on Friday (today). I reminded her of the time difference as I did not want to get a 3 am call.

Meanwhile, I continued to wait for a call from George, the local Saturn service manager. He never returned my call yesterday.

This morning I received a call about 9:30 am from the National Office. They have informed the local Saturn service department about the duplicate service. Supposedly the local Saturn service department is looking into the matter and is supposed to get back to the National Office so that my case can be resolved. The extremely kind woman, who apologized to me a few times during this call, told me that it may take a few days for the Honolulu Saturn office to get back to the National Office to get this resolved.

After speaking to the National Office, I called George once again. The person answering the phone said, "How can I direct your call". Instead of saying that I wanted to speak to George, knowing that I would most likely get his answering machine, I explained my situation and informed her that I have now have contacted the National Office but would rather resolve this problem locally. She then said, "Let me page him". After waiting a few more minutes, I was told that he was not answering his page. She said she would let him know why I was calling and would have him call me back. I wasn't holding my breath.

*EDITED 4-28-08
The host of photohunters, TNChick's beautiful beagle Zoey was found!

*I deleted all the lost info since it is no longer relevant. Thanks Leslie for letting me know the update today. I am sure TNChick is thrilled. What a nice happy ending :)

Here is the link to the story of how Zoey was found.

My brother, who works for Honda in Massachusetts, emailed after reading about my Saturn frustrations. He mentioned that I should probably focus on the local owner more than the National Office. He also said regarding the local owner that the reputation with the local consumers is worth more than an oil change. We shall see...

After continuing to wait for a call back from George, the service manager (who said he would give me a call back Friday afternoon - Kim does this sound familiar), I called Saturn again yesterday afternoon around 2 pm and asked for the name of the top person for Saturn of Honolulu. I then asked to speak to that person. He was not in. I was forwarded to his voice mail. I told him the long story. I started out telling him that I have been a very loyal Saturn owner, which was true and that I will be looking for a new car very soon and Saturn right now is not looking as a positive choice for me. I said that I am sure it started out as an honest mistake and all I was looking for was an apology and a refund for a service I did not need but because I have yet to even receive an apology from the local Saturn service manager and because instead of focusing on an apology, the focus was more on what I should be charged for, I was very upset. I continued by mentioning my brother's comments and I also mentioned that I was still waiting for George to get back to me to resolve this matter.

About an hour later the phone rang. Ernie, the top honcho, was on the phone. He began by asking how I was and then asked it if would be possible for me to come in to meet with him. He said he was not working (yesterday) but just came in to check his messages and would rather talk to me about my concerns in person. I set an appointment for Monday afternoon. I asked if I needed to bring in all of my paperwork. He said I could if I wanted to. I also asked about how long the meeting would last since I also had a doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon. He said it should take only about 15 minutes. This tells me that everything will be resolved to my satisfaction (and Jill, I think this is where the groveling will begin).

Thank you again everyone for all of your supportive words, and thank you Michael for your words of wisdom. At first I was just going to deal with the National Office, but you are correct, I should make sure the local Saturn is very aware of what is happening.

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.