Tag Archives: 2009

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

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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.

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Lived Long, Lived Proud… Pontiac.

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On Monday, April 27th, 2009, General Motors officially announced the phasing out of long-running car brand Pontiac. To my moderate surprise, I find myself somewhat saddened by this news. One possibility why I feel this way is that I see myself as a car enthusiast, and another is that, in my 18 years of life thus far, nothing as substantial as the closing of major-car-brand Pontiac has been witnessed by me. Monday marked a big day in history, and in 2010, when GM completes the shutting of Pontiac’s doors, that day as well will make news headlines.

When I was younger, another branch of the auto industry disappeared from US markets… Plymouth. All I remember about Plymouth is that one of our family vehicles was a 1989 Plymouth Voyager, a gold-ish, wood-paneled caravan. It used to be my grandfather’s, and we acquired it when he became unable to drive anymore. The vehicle was like-new and even had plastic-covered seating. Our other family vehicle was a 1984 Plymouth Voyager Turbo. From what I read online, they were great cars. In more recent years, Oldsmobile (operated by Buick) has dropped from the market. I never followed the company and its vehicles much, but from various sources, it seems that perchance the Alero was one of the more solid (and last) of vehicles produced. I remember seeing an official RIP posting on Autoblog some time back in 2008. Lastly, on January 30th, 2008, Isuzu Motors announced the withdrawal of its vehicle sales in the US market. However, despite this news, they will continue to manufacture and sell commercial units, such as flatbed trucks.

Overall, I write this in remembrance of Pontiac. As the auto industry continues in its downward spiral, GM has even announced that the sale of its branches of Saab, Hummer, and Saturn will be determined by the end of 2009. How far will this economy collapse? It’s a shame how people claim that  providing a bailout for various American automakers is not the correct decision. It is in my opinion that people must look past tax dollars and “fairness” of such support, and rather understand that the American auto industry is vital symbolism of our country. The end solution to this crisis is obviously unclear, but we must only hope something changes soon, or else the image of American vehicles lies on the wheels of foreign producers.

And… An honorable mention to a brand of vehicle that failed… Daewoo, which just sucked – no excuses. Financial problems, a small vehicle line-up, cheap bang for the buck, and a simply terrible performance when it came to efficiency and safety led to the quick demise of the Korean company. Be warned, China… Be warned.

Spring Break 2009… A Devoted Synopsis

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March 20th, 2009 – March 23rd, 2009

Spring Break 2009… I don’t know what to say. I do believe, without a doubt, that it was the best spring break ever! San Francisco was the destination, and I was flying solo. The reason of the travel was to have a great time and visit my brothers who live in the city – the experience was more than great… It was impacting.

The last time I visited San Francisco was several years ago. It was a day excursion my parents and I took from San Jose (if I recall correctly). I am amazed how, although we physically passed through the city by vehicle, so much richness – so much content and culture and life was missed when visually sampling such an extensive social powerhouse through the millimeters-thick temperlite glass of a car window. We toured Pier 39, looked up towards the sky to acknowledge Coit Tower, grapvined our way down Lombard Street, and walked Golden Gate Bridge. At that time, whatever the age I was, I was so blind to how posh (yes… I said posh) and diverse this entire city was. Then again… I was young, naive, and still learning. Back then, we saw the greatest tourist locations (which was great), but in essence, we failed to discover the city’s heartbeat.

Spring Break 2009… I am so pleased that I was able to explore the city like citizen San Franciscans do throughout their daily lives. I was shown around the many characteristic districts of seven-mile wide but unfathomably deep San Francisco, such as the Tenderloin, Castro, Financial, Mission, Russian Hill, Golden Gate, Fisherman’s Wharf, and briefly North Beach. We walked so many miles zig-zagging block after block – but it was amazingly unforgettable.

I originally arrived in San Francisco and was startled to find out that my brother did not drive to the airport… Instead, San Franciscans commonly travel by public transportation, and taxi in more time-critical instances. We took a nice ride on BART from SFO to the Powell Street station. Then, for experience-sake, we hopped aboard a cable car that transported us up those infamously terraneous streets, and finally to the intersection of our destination. I stayed the three nights I visited at one of my brother’s apartment on metropolitan Russian Hill – I find the neighborhood very inhabitable to my likings. His shared apartment is on the third floor of one of those classically narrow, vintage buildings, and the innards are pretty comfortable in my opinion. “The Missing Sock” laundromat is just outside and up the street a few steps – über conveniently located and quite an accomodating touch to the traditional view of urban life. I love it! We dined at a quite few unique restaurants. Something I really enjoyed about San Francisco is the originality of the majority of its commercial composition. Chain/brand stores are quite stark, as SF strictly controls the flow of business such that money can be reinvested in its economy. This makes for a wonderful experience. Everywhere you go, everything is unique.

On the evening of Saturday, March 21st, we dined at a neat location just a few doors down from the apartment called Sushi Groove. This was like fine dining done Japanese style, yet with a casual atmosphere. We ordered a variety of different rolls – and now forever on I can really enjoy sushi. I never used to be able to tolerate such food – but since I was in such a glorious city having such an amazing adventure, I figured why not give something new a try. Sushi Groove changed my life… Well… It was definitely amazing, and later that week at the Washington Square Mall back in Oregon, I actually purchased sushi for lunch – something I had never done before. Another location that particularly strikes my memory was this café of which I unfortunately cannot remember the name. It was a long and fairly narrow coffee shop, and the lines of eager customers never died down. There were many people at tables chatting and doing work and conversing – it was definitely a social hotspot. The creamer in the coffee is poured at the end of the process, and the coffee people artistically swirl in a heart design – it’s something that makes you step back and consider the formulaic business routine of such companies like Starbucks. Back at home, Starbucks or Peet’s Coffee is the norm… but in San Francisco, the possibilities are endless – whether it be discovering all the neat coffee shops, finding the best laundromats nearby, learning the fastest public transportation roues, or checking out the finest meatmarkets.

We adventured to several different parks while I visited. On the first full day (Saturday), we played flag football at Golden Gate Park. On Sunday, I saw both Valencia Park (had a great hillside just to chillax on) and Buena Vista Park (had an awesome view of San Francisco – well worth the many steps and steep hills to climb). On Monday, we walked the Golden Gate Bridge – and that is when something really neat fully struck me. There is this skyscraper called Pyramid Transamerica in the Financial District – and among all the high-rise buildings, the Transamerica building is recognizable by it’s pyramid-like shape. It was so fascinating to truly see and grasp all the locations I had traveled within the past three days. I could see it from Russian Hill, Golden Gate Bridge, Buena Vista Park, and more obviously when I was at the Fisherman’s Wharf. I bled through this city, and now it bled through me. It was hard to leave for home that evening, and on the plane, I peered out the window onto the glowing city at night, and I watched it as long as I could before it slipped away from the edge of the window.

I had such an unforgettable time, and we did so much that I cannot remember it all and be able to blog about it in a semi-orderly fashion. I would return to San Francisco in a heartbeat – and I’m contemplating what kind of future I may have there if I choose to make it part of reality. I am saddened as I find myself readjusted to this life here in Oregon that I have know for so long – I miss the thrill, the adventure, the urban freshness – the life I lived for such few days. I guess one can say, I truly left my heart in San Francisco.