HOTEL WAIKIKI

Sunday's Fruits of your Labor

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Saturday's Sunday

At 6:20pm, the inaugural rain storm of the winter season made it's entrance in Waikiki.  It might be a wet winter this year.  Which isn't all bad.  Hawaii needs the rain.  Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink, the Islands being anchored in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with the nearest oasis in Palm Springs, California.  Anyways, motoring around Diamond Head crater today, I passed packs of bicyclists practicing for tomorrow's Century Run, an annual 100-mile bicycle race around the island.  I don't believe "wet" is conducive to a safe bicycle race.  So they might be in for it.  Just thought of something.  "Wet" is also bad for a motorbike and it's rider (me), too.

Friday, already

Note the bricks epoxied onto the median strip of this parking lot ramp.  My guess is that the strategically placed bricks are there to deny skateboarders their thrills on the now "yellow brick road."  Warning signs probably didn't work.  As if warning signs ever did.  To begin with, the fact that a median strip was at all necessary is a clear indication that drivers using the parking structure ramp didn't confine themselves to their own side of their lane.  A glaring omission, try look, they could have, but they didn't....paint arrows.  A down-arrow.  An up-arrow.  This is the kind of world we live in people.  Promise me then you'll do your utmost starting tomorrow to make the world perfect.  Now, your idea of what comprises a perfect world may not jive with the next person's concept of a perfect world.  But that's irrelevant.  Rather, what's important is your "mission," should you agree to accept it.

If the Mountain Don't Come to Muhammad....

rode Iron Horse inside Diamond Head crater today just so that I could remember what "quiet" still was, and once inside my ears started to ring from the sounds of silence ambient within the giant natural amphitheater, and just in case you're curious, I was indeed mindful of not bleeping my motorcycle's throttle in consideration of others on the pilgrimage, or else they would get pissed off.  Pictured above is a narrow tunnel bored through the caldera of Waikiki's very own volcano, still extinct the last I checked.  I have a story that relates to the last post in which I discussed the distraction inherent in taking photos just to post on your blog while you're visiting any kind thing or place.

Frequently I run into Curtis Iaukea in Waikiki more renowned by his pro wrestling title of "The Bull."  So we was talking story yesterday, and Mr. Iaukea was recalling his high school days at Punahou, and one day a school official notified him that the football coach wanted to see him, and when he reached the coach's office, he saw this well known local photographer standing with camera ready, and at that very moment, Iaukea realized that the only reason why this particular photographer was present, was to take his photo to include it among the local newspaper's All-State Football Players' roster.  Thus with a congradulatory flash of a camera's light bulb, he became informed that he was picked as All-State in his sophomore year.

Read All About It

Tonight's topic du jour is "should a post on a blog be accompanied by photos?" Imagine what the front page of a newspaper would look like without any photos. Ditto for any periodical as well. However, the fact of the matter remains that personal blogs are not paid subscriptions. Bloggers may display a tip jar or a wish list somewhere on their sidebar, but a solicitation from the blogger directed to his or her readers which even approaches the tenor or an inference of a mandatory "you want me to pay you to read your stuff" plainly won't sell, and might illicit a "why don't you pay me to read your blog, instead." Currently, even mainstream media websites offer readers free viewing of their news stories....with a simple registration requirement. In that way big media capitalizes on the associated ads on the visited webpage. Bloggers with huge readerships can get somewhere around $70 for every 1000 unique daily readers from advertisements. But a blogger would need 5o,ooo-6o,ooo average readers per day to earn a decent living under that formula with money to spare to buy American opium....a gallon of gasoline.

Anyways, just a few years earlier from today, posting pics on a blog was cumbersome and the Internet ran on too slow a speed for any color photo to completely load up under an hour. Nowadays, posting photos is a breeze and and on the receiving end, today's bandwidth makes possible instant downloads. So why any hassle for a blogger to include a descriptive photo or whimsical graphic as an visual aid to any subject whatsoever under discussion? Allow me to answer my own question with a story similar and quite common to the majority of those who blog. I went to the Waikiki Zoo one day. It was crucial that I bring along my camera with me.  Why?   Because, I could thenafter illustrate a story of my zoo adventures with the Pulitzer photos of the zoo animals that I so cleverly captured inspiring all 5 of my regular readers to swoon after reading my magnificient post lavishing me with previously unheard off accolades declaring me the next Dr. Dolittle, thankyou. Btw, my zoo post, replete with photos, was excellent. Was, period. Also, it's simply a fact of life on the Internet, that new readers whom just discovered your blog will never read your past stories ever after the sun sets on the digital day. Oh, did I actually enjoy the zoo excursion, itself, trekking amidst the savannah with my camera glued to my eye socket with my every step....No.

A Beach is Suppose to have Sand?

They're been trying to extend the beach off Waikiki for decades, but protest from the surfing community always succeeded in persuading the City to shelve the projects.  The orange area in the map above sorely needs sand barriers, but previous proposals for extensions of Waikiki beach have always been directed at the beach to the right of the orange-area and I've been surmising that the $700 million luxury Trump Towers, currently under construction nearby the orange-area, is behind the change of venue, behind-the-scenes, that is.

Oh Valkyrie

Your humble correspondent stumbled upon a Valkyrie motorbike just last week in real life.  Powered by 6 cylinders, with an individual carburetor for each cylinder and an individual exhaust pipe for each cylinder.  6 in, 6 out.  Close up, the engine of the Valkyrie looks prehistoric, forged out of metal by an ancient civilization in 1 million BC.  Normally, no modern day major company in their right mind would allow this departure from the fashionable.

If memory serves me right, the Valkyrie that I saw, did not have chrome on its engine, and a non-chrome engine would be my own personal preference.  Chrome distracts from the almost sci-fi effect of the sci-fi engine.  Valkyries went out of production a few years back, but Valkyrie motorbike clubs worldwide continue to ride the beast.  Feel free to enlarge the pics....at your own risk.

The Idiot from Texas Speaks

Every time Mr. Bush speaks about things related to ending the Iraqi War, Bush sounds like someone who borrowed a $20, and the borrower swearing that he'll pay back the lender the next week.  Then next week arrrives and still nada.  You know the con.  How many speeches has Bush delivered to the American people proclaiming significant progress accomplished by the "U.S." so far in Iraq despite facts to the contrary?  Last night, Bush stated that he'd follow his top general's advice and reduce the number of US troops in Iraq.  The catch is that the overall number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq after such a drawdown would be on the same level of the pre-surge numbers.  If that's a troop reduction, then I have a bridge to sell you.  And some WMD's thrown in for good measure.  Perhaps, Operation Troop Surge was a decoy.  Impeachment ain't.

Thursday's Thunder

What might these people on Fort DeRussy military beach in Waikiki be scanning the skies for?  Answer.

As usual, the U.S. Air Force's precision flying team put on a spectacular show.  On top of that, today's demonstration was just dress rehearsal for the real event scheduled for this Saturday....whatever that might be in celebration of.  Yeah, I dunno, myself.  It's been years since I watched the Thunderbirds perform, but due to the sound system available today, the air show was professionally choreographed replete with music played in sync with the Thunderbirds' aerial maneuvers a few of those seemingly a scant hundred-feet above the water.  The pilots definitely buzzed the surfers offshore.  I overheard some lady in the crowd telling her child that one of the Thunderbird pilots was a girl.  And I don't think she meant Tom Cruise from the movie Top Gun.  Anyways, you know the sound that the jet after-burners make, it stays with you for a while after the show.

Driving By

From the campus of Kapiolani College with Koko Head crater on the left and the Hanauma Bay horse-shoe crater on right.

I was scheduled to bring in Iron Horse for servicing at the motorcycle dealership at 8am this morning, but I woke up at high noon....today being Saturday, of all things.  Called the dealership service dept. and the gentleman on the other end of the phone reminded me that the periodic service appointment after the initial 600 miles on a new bike is important.  That makes me feel bad in the sense that a minor factory problem or oversight if left undetected could cause major damage to a brand new motorcycle engine.  I'm at 700 miles already.

For those visting my blog from other parts of the World Wide Web, Kapiolani Community College pictured above is situated on the back slopes of Diamond Head crater on hilly terrain.  The hills in that area is why I like to take motorbike excursions around the perimeter of the campus and on the campus streets, itself.  Nice workout.  Quite scenic, too, from various points along the makeshift route.  Back at the beach, there's another surf contest currently taking place.  I noticed as I was driving by.

"End of the Week" Post

This is just da kinda thing that might make mainland people think that Hawaii people, stupid.  This lolo just finished surfing, has his car parked on a side street just across from the beach, on a one-way street, takes off his wet surfing trunks so he can change into something dry, has the front door open, driver's side, so pedestrians can't see him changing bare ass behind the driver's door, but did I not note that this is a one-way street, such that, every car making a left turn into the side street can't help but get a full glimpse of the crack of his ass, approaching from behind the unsuspecting nudist.  You've seen foreign visitors where they drive on the left-side of the road, walking hawaii carefree on the street, itself, because it appears there's no traffic apparently in front of them in presummed approaching direction.  Until they get honked back onto the sidewalk.  However with the lolo butt-man, things are in the order of a different magnitude.  Stoopid....

#2....This is just da kinda thing that might make mainland people think that Hawaii people, stupid.  Local boy starts asking people around me for the time of day.  There's only bums sitting around me.  And they don't pack watches and couldn't care less about the time off the day.  Local boy walks up to me and asks me for the time which I answer by pointing him in the direction of a convenience store about a foot away and informing him that the store has a clock inside.  Go check for your own self.  He takes the opportunity to start pouring his troubles on me.  "They just kicked me out of a church because I was snoozing."  I remind him that, "you not suppose to sleep in the church."  "But people dooze off in a sitting position."  I remind him that, "but you went into the church for the sole purpose of sleeping....you never just happen to dooze off by miscue."  Walks away.  Starts making arm-and-fist motions to me.  And also disgruntled orations.  Been up too long I guess.  I demur that perhaps we should not be having this discussion, actually phrased, "shut the fuck up," with candor.

Tuesday's Tuesday

Today, I was kicking back at Kapiolani Park in Waikiki near the unofficial soccer fields, enjoying the fair tropical weather while Iron Horse grazed under my watchful eye, then the soccer moms started arriving on a mission and nudged me and Iron Horse out to the fringes of our pasture.  You can see how trampled the grass is in the picture above from soccer practice.  That's a kiawe tree (K-ah-vee) in the left middle ground.  And the promotory of Diamond Head crater in the background protruding above the trees in the park.  The moral of tonight's post is to enjoy it while you can, otherwise, tomorrow might find you too busy to do just that.  And the next day too.  Then your tour's over and....

A Labor Day Meal

Either I didn't remember, or I never actually knew the specific name of this kitchen "appliance," to begin with.  Tonight, I stumbled upon a picture of a Toas-Tite so captioned at Slashfood.com.  I have owned several of these Toas-Tite's in the past, but they were all thin reditions of the authentic model shown above, probably knock-offs.  Guess what item I'll be shopping for tomorrow.  That is, down memory lane.

Being Creative

I was riding on the Ala Wai Blvd. on my bike bike, not my Iron Horse motorbike, and it was such a pleasant bike ride ever since they've repaved the road, which btw happens to be just outside my apartment.  The repaving has been completed about a month, now.  While peddling a bicycle, there are few things that pamper your hiney as the smoothness of a newly paved roadway.  In comparison while work was in progress.  Especially then for bicyclists.  They only repaved half of the Ala Wai Blvd. since the other half of the boulevard still has the plastic water-filled barracades protecting our Waikiki's glorious 4-ft. diameter sewer pipe.  The barracade is set up on the parking lane, so I guess they decided to stop repaving at a certain point, preferring to repave in full during a later phase, not to only have to return later to repave the parking lane that they had to skip over.  That is, eventually, if and that, the Waikiki sewer pipe project is ever pau (finished).  On the other hand, if they were to temporarily relocate the barracade, Murphy, himself might slam his SUV into the unprotected section of sewer pipe, and all the humanity that would ensue. 

While I was sitting on a curb wall outside my apartment building about 11 o'clock last night with barely any traffic on the Ala Wai Blvd., this skateboarder zooms by my sentry post riding on the street itself.  Ala Wai Blvd. is a one way street and the speedster was skating in the wrong direction.  Why not?  No cars.  For all intents and purposes, that's the equivalent of adding 2 plus 2 together.  Usually, people skateboard down the length of the sidewalk between the street and Ala Wai canal.  Obviously, the new asphalt tarmac was too much to pass up.  Nonetheless, there's a bike lane demarcated on the Ala Wai Blvd., itself, but the skateboarder wasn't using the bike lane even though it would still be traveling in the wrong direction.  You know the sound that a skateboard makes on asphalt or on a concrete sidewalk.  This skateboarder was wheezing down the middle of the street.