Monthly Archives: September 2009

Let it Rock!

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Today is the first day of classes, and really as sad as I am to see all the great times I enjoyed during summer break drift away, I must only look forward to the greatness of the year still to come. I have a relative academic goal in mind, a genuinely positive attitude, and a place to call home that is perfect for getting the job done. I will have to push my limits in comfort zone as I seek out opportunities to gain experience in the New Media Communications area of study – but I think I’m up to it. Ready or not, here I come.

Oahu ’09: From the Clouds

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September 9th, 2009 – September 12th, 2009

It was hard to see the last leg of our vacation waltz away. Just like the sun sets every evening, we knew this escape had to come to a close sometime. Farther up the north shore of Oahu, there is a popular snorkeling location known as Shark’s Cove. Though there are no actual sharks patrolling these reefed waters, it was certainly a hotspot for the many tourists. Due to my snorkel mask fobia, I stuck to trusty ‘ole goggles to perform to my sea creature spectating needs. A hint for all you fish-watching people, granola bars are an excellent magnet for the little nibbling monsters.

Friday, our last full day, was by far the most impactful of the trip. It was 8:30am, and after trucking northward up the island, we arrived at Dillinham Airfield. From here, I proceeded to temporarily sign my life away over a spanse of four pages as I prepared myself for the thrill of a lifetime. Suiting up, I climbed aboard the ultralight, steel-winged bird of Skydive Hawaii, and after about 10 minutes, I was crouched by the door and ready to fall from the clouds. My tandem master pushing away from the plane, it was like we were floating. With a 360-degree view of a ghaspingly-beautiful Oahu and blue waters, I was entranced in the moment. Not before long, Wyatt (tandem master) deployed our chute, and I suddenly came to my senses. Upon a very nice landing, I realized what I had just completed and was beaming ear-to-ear. Skydive Hawaii… The perfect vacation-topper and something I would do again in a heartbeat.

Oahu ’09 was a much-needed vacation with the family, but I think I’m ready to hit the adventures with a friend next time.

Oahu ’09: Suntan and Splendor

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September 4th, 2009 – September 8th, 2009

Today and the prior four days have been pretty nice. Sun, sand, and the splendor of warm ocean waters leaves an almost therapudic resonance in my mind. A waltz through the botanical gardens offered a bonding with the true nature of Hawai’i, yet while the achieved sunburn stings to the touch, at equal times it is almost delighting. Hence, do not heed this as a cue of masochism, but rather a common “no pain, no gain” phenomenon. The burn is like a trophy of coastal lounging and paradisal escape – similar to sending off a postcard in the mail. Frankly, it is superb to see the redness form into a golden tan – something I haven’t had in years.

Thus far, we have encountered one day of sub-par weather. Despite inaccurate, computer-generated forecastings, it has been very warm, less humid, and overall sunny and comfortable since then. We spent yesterday morning at Pearl Harbor where we visited the U.S.S. Arizona memorial. It was amazing to see drops of oil continue to constantly surface upon the ocean waters since the sinking of the battleship 67 years ago. It is almost eerie…

Completing our viewing of the memorial, the family and I set forth towards urban powerhouse and tropical paradise Waikiki. Finding public parking is not only a nightmare, but also expensive as well. Thereafter, we enjoyed the priciest lunch ever at The Grand Hawaiian. Seriously… A $19 “Big Island Cobb Salad”!… At least it was healthy. But it was still amazing. We were seated in shade directly next to the powder-like white sand beach with an impecable view of the breathtakingly clear and aqua-tinted ocean, with the bonus of infinite people-watching.

So, we finally found ourselves some real estate on the beach, rolled out our towels, buttered up in suntan lotion, and eased into the treasured waters of Waikiki with an emotional ecstasy. It was epic, and all that was missing was a Corona. The soft, sandy bottom was very shallow and extended outwards a good distance, allowing the hundreds of suim-suited bodies to bathe without the crowd. After much relished suntanning, we changed into dry clothes and hit the streets of this thriving city. The main tourist and hotel-row area reminded me of the Las Vegas Strip, sans the horrid dinginess, dirty prostitution, and suspicious pick-pocketers. It was golden. We decided to stride through the International Marketplace, where we cruised around looking at all the different things we could buy. We also saw the Apple Store of Waikiki, the largest Apple location I have seen so far. I can’t imagine how they could have enough stuff to fill that place. The standard stores, for example Brigeport Village, already seem too large in size. It was like putting everything that location has to sell into a place three times as big. Pointless?

Anyway… Am enjoying it all, although I am very excited to getting back to 24 Hour Fitness next week, and then moving into the new apartment in Corvallis thereafter.

Corona = 4
Mojito = 1
Bud Lite w/ Lime = 1

Posted from my iPhone 3G

Oahu ’09: Prologue

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Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

The time had finally arrived. After a sixty-eight day iGoogle countdown widget, a battery of day-by-day, hour-squeezed afternoons and evenings at work, and an intensity of multi-tasking life sequences, the vacation we had all been waiting for, Oahu 2009, was in our travel agenda. Our trek began at 5am, and we were all up preparing the Durango for departure to the airport. We loaded our rolling cubes of clothware into that beastly monster on four wheels and set forth to PDX. Check-in and all that jazz was accomodated smoothly, and soon enough we were aboard Hawaiian Airlines enroute to Honolulu.

After five-and-a-half hours, a ridiculous viewing of Night at the Museum 2, ten minutes of shut-eye, and a complimentary breakfast burrito, we touched down in Oahu where the beginning leg of our adventure officially started. Making our way to baggage claim literally a mile away via foot, I was strangely surprised to not only see one of those enormous double-decker Japan Airlines Boeing aircrafts, but also a group of Asians bearing white filter masks. It was something random I didn’t quite expect to see.

After we finally reached Alamo rentals and waited in line for quite a while, we loaded up our Suzuki Grand Vitara (should have gone with the Jeep Commander) and proceeded to navigate towards Costco where we would purchase some food for the rental condo located north in Hauula. The roadways in Honolulu are crazy – and my GPS not only took about 10 minutes to acquire adaquat signals, but also proved little help as some of Oahu’s highways traveled above the normal roadways, leading us wrong directions and announcing innacurate turn-by-turn cues. I resourced to my iPhone to achieve a quick GPS fix on our location. From there, I was able to manually direct us to Costco. But the fun doesn’t stop there. We turned into the wrong lane and missed the single unmarked entrance to the famous red-striped wherehouse. Fifteen minutes later, after negotiating cut-through roads, one-way streets, and a blocked-off road, we learned from our mistakes, arrived at Costco, sought out a parking spot, purchased lunch, got our groceries, lost ourselves attempting to head north to Hauula, and eventually pulled into Pat’s at Punaluu. It was exhausting.

Later that evening, we saw some unidentified flying objects which I am wholeheartedly speaking the truth about, were thrilled and baffled to oblivion, and finally headed to bed 10:30pm Hawaiian time zone.

That was our day of travel… A whirlwind in itself.

Posted from my iPhone 3G