Weekend Events

311
Friday 311 played the Kona Brew Pub. I was fairly impressed with the performance, the concert was even more fun than I expected. I love their distorted rock guitar sound, and their island style and rhythm made for some good dancing music. Throw in a bunch of great friends and a few ice cold Fire Rock Pale Ales and you've got yourself a great evening.

End of the World
Saturday we had breakfast at Aloha Angel Cafe before going to End of the World. Sarah spearfished, Nate and I cliff jumped and Nadia worked on her tan.

Pine Stumps
Sunday I went to church and surfed Pine Trees. (or Pine Stumps as Ken now calls it) It's one of the best places in the whole world and seeing bulldozers clear the land for 500 luxury homes and a golf course makes me sick. To add insult to injury they put wood chips down over the worst parts of the road, so driving my Jeep down there isn't even fun anymore. I saw a Pontiac Sunbird down there for crying out loud! It's even more disgusting to think that when I drive over those woodchips I am running over what used to be the famed Pine Trees that were recently cut down and mulched. Kinda like chopping up a good friend and throwing his body parts out in the street for public display. Trust me, this won't be the last I write about the tragic devastation of Kohanaiki.

Can a baptism get rained out?
My other Sunday excitement came when I went to a baptism/ pot luck at Old A's. I have been attending a different church lately (Grace Community Church, which I find to be totally awesome) The weather held out but it looked like it would start pouring buckets any minute which made me wonder, "Can a baptism get rained out?"

Hail-y Cow!

This photo and headline courtesy of Ilona. It hailed today up mauka in Captain Cook. (all of us at work missed the fun) Ilona's husband, Dave, took this picture of the hail piled up on his lanai about 20 minutes after if fell. He said it was marble size before it started melting.

Nothin' New

So my life isn't ALWAYS exciting. Today Sarah and I went for a swim in Kailua Bay. There was a lot of wind chop so we drank plenty of salt water. I dove down about 10 feet and watched the water's surface thrash about and listened to the chain from the buoy clinking and clanking. It was peaceful and creepy at the same time. We spotted some Spinner Dolphins off the end of the pier.

What's up with all the darn Kai `Opua Canoes in the swim area in the bay? They have an entire ocean yet they choose to paddle in the swim lane. Sarah almost got nailed today by a one-man.

We watched Jarhead last night. That movie is a piece of crap. Don't rent it.

Tomorrow is the 311 concert at the brew pub. That's something to look forward to.

St. Patrick's Day in the Morning

I was actually playing "St. Patrick's Day in the Morning" on my fiddle at 7:30 this morning in the front yard with my ridiculous clothes on. Yes, I even ate me Lucky Charms for breakfast. Now that work is pau, I'll move on to black-N-tans.

Important Documents

I broke the advertising sales record for my territory in February. It was crazy busy, especially considering I was only at work for two weeks in February before I went on vacation. But the madness paid off- and I am not talking about my commission check. Dianne worked like crazy to hold things together while I was gone and Tom and the rest of the Five Star team even presented me with this dandy certificate in our recent team meeting. It's nice to be appreciated.

The second important document is my NCAA bracket. I'm not normally a sports fan, but the tournament is importnant to me now because I have ten bucks on this bracket in the WHT basketball pool.

Fun with the Girls

There's never a dull moment when there are kids running around. We had a great visit with Lydia, Camille and Jen. We worked puzzles and told knock-knock jokes, played at the beach and ran through the sprinklers. I especially enjoyed spending time with Jenni and taking her to some of our local watering holes.

It sure was hard to send them back to Indiana. Especially the kids because they change so fast- they'll be really different next time I see them. But I am grateful for the time we had together and look forward to our next set of adventures, whenever that will be.

Hiding in the Fort

My nieces and I built a fort on the lanai using a tent and some blankets. It was a big hit!

Hay is for horses (and so is my dad's lawn)

The animals in my neighborhood were particularly noisy last night. The horses that live in the field next to us stomped their hooves and brayed. Dogs barked. And howled. Finally, my dad got up. The next thing I heard was, "Shoo! Shoo!"

I got up see what he was shooing. There stood three horses in our front yard, chomping away on my dad's prized green grass. No wonder all the hee-hawing and hoof clomping was so loud. The horses were right outside my window. It hilarious to watch three horses roam the neighborhood, strolling down Walua Road as if they owned it. I hoped they'd still be around in the morning so they could intimidate the parade of chatty women who walk their rat dogs down our street each day. Instead, four police cars came and lead the horses back into their field. Too bad the Kona cops aren't as skilled removing the druggies from downtown Kona.

Home Sweet Home

It's a bummer when a vacation ends, but Hawaii's not a bad place to come back to. I forgot how green everything is! Even returning to work wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I was greeted by several pictures on the bulletin board of the Olympics with my face photoshopped in- I guess I did the bobsled, luge, ski jump and I even got married on my vacation. That's what I get for leaving photos of myself laying around.

The Kids Are Here
My sister-in-law is here visiting with my 2-year-old niece, Camille, and 4-year-old niece, Lydia. It's pretty wild to have kids running around the house.

Orchestra
This weekend our community orchestra (the Kona Ohana Orchestra) played a concert at the Aloha Theatre and another at Hualalai Academy. We prepared so long for the concerts it's a shame they're over already. We used to be called Kona Chamber Orchestra but after three years of having the name the Kona Music Society demanded we give the name up to them. They say they used the name years ago and it still belongs to them. We don't think they ever had the name to begin with. What a crock.

I Beat the Boss
Peaman was the other highlight of the weekend. It was a 1/2 mile swim and 4 mile run, but I only did the swim portion. It took me 20 minutes and 12 seconds. The exciting part is I beat Tracey. Not by much but I beat her. I beat the boss. I beat the boss. I beat the boss. Victory is sweet!