This is how we do: Hawai'i

I've been officially unemployed for about a month, but after a dozen interviews, a few companies, and a couple offers, I'm very close to be back on my feet again, soon to start work - praise God! 

BUT, we unfortunately (ha!) planned a trip in January that a couple of my friends and I would go to Hawaii because Fred had a timeshare that otherwise would have gone to waste.  So being the good friends we were, we had to go to Hawaii to help him use that timeshare.

    Dear William Shatner,

    Thank you for fighting for my airline ticket and rental car.  I'll use Priceline again someday.

    Love,
    Jon


Day 1: The Arrival

We arrived on Delta airlines, which I don't think we will ever take again, for quite many reasons: they rescheduled our flights, messed up one of our itineraries, and didn't feed us.  Despite the inexpensive price, we will chose to pay a bit more for a better airline and hopefully have more accomodating experiences in our travels.

One of the first things we did upon landing was to EAT.  We then picked up our rental car from the airport, checked into our 2bd/2br timeshare, dropped off our luggage, and went back to the airport to fetch Fred, since we would practically require an SUV to transport all our luggage.  Afterwards, we grabbed some dinner and went to a local bar (The Red Lion) where Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell lost me $1.50 in a wager to Chris.  That was half the price of a pitcher of beer!

Day 2: Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Many years ago, a volcano erupted and created a crescent-shaped bay of volcanic rock.  Over the following years, coral crew on it and fish started to inhabit that coral.  Thousands of humans go to snorkel with the fish, since these fish were absolutely fearless.  Now, the government came in and charges $10/person to get in.  But it's okay, because Hawaii only has 4.35% sales tax anyway, so they need to get money from somewhere.

For this trip, I took my Sony dSLR with the F/2.8 constant lens and my Olympus 1030SW underwater, all weather camera.  I attached it to my pants with a binder clip and a carabiner -just as McGyver would do.  

Hanauma Bay is EXTREMELY clean and the water is crystal clear. 




Hawaiians are very laid back, as shown on the beach here.  They achieved this rating by passing our empirical test of not stealing our backpacks as we snorkeled for hours.

 

The fish were so friendly they nibble on you as you swim. 



 

This was certainly a trip to bring the underwater camera.

Day 3:  Parasailing

The next day, we decided to go parasailing, since none of us had the pleasure to ever be a human kite.  It was an enjoyable experience, which was very calm from start to finish.



The captain was very skilled, professional, and allowed me to take pictures, even as he sold the film to other tourists for $25 a pop.

Chris and I then quelled our insatiable appetites for internet at the local Starbucks while everybody else napped and vegged in the timeshare. 

Day 4: Hiking, Surfing, and a Luau

Diamondhead Peak
Seeing how yesterday was our chill day, we had to do something exciting on Day 4.  Our day first started off with a hike to Diamondhead Peak, a hiking trail that has been largely commercialized so that seniors and children alike can find the shortest, quickest, paved path to the top of this military lookout, not for its extremely functional purpose of  lookout tower, but rather to take pictures of each other and soak in the scenery. 



It was a short hike, but well worth it, as the scenery was truly an eclectic one of beach, civilization, and forest.

 


Learn how to Surf with Ben Chang, Waikiki Beach
No, Ben didn't know how to surf either.  But as we would have it, he took lessons and attempted to impart the knowledge to us. 

We'll go surfing next time.  For real.  And hopefully we'll live two small blocks from the beach again. 

Surfboard rentals: $10 per 2 hours. 
Looking like an idiot surfing on the shallow end with no waves: Priceless.


Germaine's Luau
Arguably one of the best Luaus for our age category, they performed dancing, fire twirling, and other forms of entertainment as we gorged at their endless Hawaiian buffet. 

If I ever date another dancer, I hope she's a Tahitian hula dancer.

Day 5:  Pearl Harbor and The Bankrupt Mall

Alternating between up days and down days, on this down day, we decided to pay a visit to the historic site of Pearl Harbor. 

They let you look down a periscope and mess around on their [probably broken/defective] equipment.



It took all of one hour until we got bored and decided to bail, to go to the Ala Moana Shopping Center.  Owned by the now-bankrupt General Growth Properties, this mammoth of a mall features a giant food court and parking lot.  There's also a Macy's there too, since Macy's are everywhere.  Then we had some good local fun around Waikiki.

We went "clubbing" at the famous Lotus Night Club in Waikiki.  It was a pretty wack waste of money and doesn't deserve a picture.  Chris, Fred, and I stayed fenced in a 30 square foot bar area, because the venue is too lazy to patrol for underaged drinking - thus they kept the 21+ away from the sub-21 crowd - which was pretty much the rest of the crowd - and of whom did not dance.  I don't know why those others were there if for neither drinking nor dancing, but we weren't willing to find out.  We left quite swiftly.

Day 6: Kayaking and Snorkeling in Kailua Bay - Sharks Cove | Michel's French Bistro | Level 4

Another fun-filled exciting day, we took the rental car to the north shore of the island to hit up Kailua Bay and Sharks Cove.  We started off paddling from a river and toward the three independent islands - a flat island, a peaked island, and another peaked island which doubled as a bird sanctuary. 

Paddle, paddle!!

We swam in the tidepools, embracing the developing life forms in the natural ecosystems.  They probably didn't like our smelly feet, but they didn't complain



The view from our private island was great.  But our sole proprietorship was shortlived as invaders were soon ashore.

Michel's French Bistro

Alex had the great idea to go out for dinner at Hy's Steakhouse.  I wanted to eat somewhere in Hawaii where we could not eat anywhere else - something Hawaii may be known for, something exclusive and refined.  So I did what anyone else would do: I went on Yelp.com to see what restaurants were poppin'.  We came up on a three-way choice between Hy's Steakhouse, Alan Wong's, and Michel's French Bistro.  The latter two weren't walkable distance, but Chris, the self-proclaimed resident foodie, motioned for an executive decision once he heard Michel's served an exceptionally famous Lobster bisque.

Michel's is located right on the shore of Waikiki Beach with an extremely upscale decor and open air front to the ocean.  We were seated right at the banister of the restaurant, overlooking the rest of Waikiki and there was even a fireworks show - how romantic - but we were just four straight dudes.  All but the entrees are prepared right at your table to your specific preferences.  The food was as delicious as it was expensive, but overall it was certainly satisfying.  And yes, the strangely untraditional lobster bisque, which was more liquid than thick, was delicious.

Level 4 Super Club

Level 4 was just like Level 3 in Hollywood, but even bigger, since it's a converted concert hall-turned night club.  Ironically, it's also in a shopping center, but on the fourth level, rather than the third.  The crowd was very much like Los Angeles with a little bit of Vegas flair to it.  Overall, it wasn't bad but the touristy crowd makes it very clique'ish and difficult to assimilate.

Day 7: Leaving on a Jet Plane

The cost wasn't too bad, the timing was great, the weather is similar to Los Angeles with a hint of humidity, the people are friendly, and we get phone reception and internet.  Yeah, I think we'd go to Hawaii again. 



Until next time, beaches!!

This is How We Do: Vail, Colorado

Hand Animals

Remember when you used to get bored in class and you drew on your hand or your friend's hand?...

...Yeah, well, my drawings never looked like that.

Happy Birthday to ME (and you too, possibly)

I turned a quarter century yesterday as my Facebook page was inundated with birthday wishes. Originally, I was going to go to Vegas this upcoming weekend, throw out a mass invite for anybody that wanted to come and rent a few rooms for everybody to stay in. It's probably not the most baller idea ever, but a friend of mine, Jimmy, showed me to take care of your friends when you can. But most people I've talked to have plans on differing days of this weekend.

So instead...

WE'RE GOING TO GO SNOWBOARD.

Yup, we're going to utilize those free lift tickets we got at SkiDazzle. Saturday 12/13/08.  Let me know if you want in!

Present for Myself

So the question posed to all my friends, as with every year, is "what do you get the guy that has everything?" Chris had an ingenious idea of getting me a European license plate (the long style) with my license configuration custom stamped into it. It was a great idea. But after he gave it to me, I told him I kind of already have one. Yes, I already have customized plates from the other side of the world. Kudos and thanks to Chris though. I will cherish it like my last one.

In the end, everybody just took me out to dinner which was supposed to be a small affair, but we constantly ran out of seats or stood, and they bought me drinks and food. That's not a bad gift at all.

But the question still remains: what is the ultimate present for myself? Short of exotic vehicles I shouldn't own at the moment, I have decided to plunge into my motorcycle fund which was intended for this:

And I picked up one of these:

Don't worry, it wasn't THAT much of the motorcycle fund, haha. "What the hell is that?!" you ask? No, it's not just a Nissan Maxima, but it's called a "beater" for the lack of a better term. See, when you don't want to put your miles on your nicer car, you buy a junky car to drive to and from work, on snowboard trips, to Vegas, through da hood, and so on.

Some more pics of my beater. I'll replace these with real pics of it later but this is fairly accurate.

Toplessness Just Got Better

If you have never cruised at a high speed with a wind screen on your convertible, YOU ARE SORELY MISSING OUT.

SkiDazzle Goes Extreme

They had a big halfpipe at SkiDazzle, a snowboard/ski convention, this year. I must admit, it was quite entertaining!

Let's Play a Game

So it's been a while since I've been to 99 Ranch Market. And while busy tending the cart, I had a bit of free time on my hands. You let a bunch of Asians run a super market, they'll run it like Asians. That means overcrowded tanks which translates into many casualties. This game is called "Find the Dead Fish."

So for starters, here's an easy one:

In case you don't know, fish don't swim upsidedown.

Let's mix it up a little bit more:

Hint: Fish don't swim vertically.

Alright let's move to tank #3. It's a bit harder (and there are two)...

It's kind of like finding Waldo! Hope you enjoyed it!

Tiger upgrades cars, Titans lose their shirts, and Wash Your Hands

Tiger Woods Loses Buick Sponsorship
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/24/news/companies/GM_Tiger_Woods.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008112412

I think Tiger will be very relieved to find out that Buick has retracted his sponsorship.  Why?  Apparently you have never driven a Buick.  Maybe he can take this opportunity to get a sponsorship from a car manufacturer that makes quality vehicles!  It's a wonder how Cadillac stock didn't go up when Obama was elected president...but then again, Cadillac is also tied to General Motors.  If this continues, our next president will be rollin' a bulletproof Camry.

Perhaps the Aston Martin DB-S, eh Tiger?  I've seen a couple of these around lately and I think you'd look great in that!



Titans, the Undefeated Team, Defeated

It was bound to happen.  If you flip a coin 10 times in a row and come out with tails every single time, you'd bet that the 11th would be tails too.  And that's where everybody lost their heads.  When people look at the Tennessee Titans, they looked at a record and not a team.  That's the biggest fault of sports betting - you become so enraptured by past win-loss statistics, you forget what you're betting on - a team that barely made it past a lot of tough situations.  In hindsight, I still would not place my bet on that game (Chris, being much more ballsy, bet successfully against the NFL's Tennessee Titans), but you knew it was bound to happen.

Even Jimmy, our oracle of sports betting could have called it, had he not been busy keeping his property from being overrun by small dogs.

Common Decency, the Unwritten Law

I saw this sign in a restroom recently and it made me think.  I'm totally a guy that thinks common decencies should take precedent over written law.  There are just simple social procedures that people should and shouldn't do in this age.  That applies to everything from personal hygiene to taking off your cap during the national anthem. 

But when "being liberal" and defying these traditional precedents is the cool thing to do these days, what do I know?

Pics from the Road

The happy Porsche [Cayman] owner heads toward his morning track day:

The sad M3 owner and his Burberry baby seat:

The other unhappy M3 owner (me) who drove so hard the cords separated from the treads (it's like this around the entire tyre):

...Thank God for run flat sidewalls; And good thing I have spare sets of wheels.

The most mature of senior citizens:

The equally mature pro-gay, pro-abortionist:

Liberalism is the cool thing to do these days, kids!