seconDBrown

Date: 2009 June 5

Primary location: Baltimore, MD, USA

Activities: Up in the middle of the night due to 6 hour time difference

Food: n/a

Traveler blues: I miss Hawaii

0314 EDT:
My last day in Hawaii was rather busy. I woke up late due to me going to a club in Waikiki (just as hood as any club in Baltimore). I’m not a big club person. I had to pack my bags early since I had to check out by noon and planned on heading to North Shore with Samantha. I had no idea that I’d accumulated so much stuff (resulting in my luggage weighing 16 pounds over the limit and a $50 charge). By the time I finished packing, getting my bags downstairs and storing them, I’d found out that we were to be joined by Maki and some other guy (Zeus). I paid $5 to store my luggage (2 items) while visiting North Shore.

Zeus wasn’t ready when we were so we went ahead to Ala Moana (transfer point) to get some grub. Since it was before 10am when we arrived some of the restaurants were still getting reading for business. I ended up getting a Açaí Jamba Bowl from Jamba Juice. I believe that Maki had a bacon and egg crossaint and Sammy had a slice of pizza (veggie) from Sbarro. We had to wait a bit more for Zeus to arrive so Maki ran off to buy a bikini. Sam and I pretended to not be sleepy. :p After Maki returned we waited outside for approximately 20 minutes before Zeus arrived and another 15 for The Bus afterwards. The bus ride to North Shore is roughly 1.5 hours from Ala Moana. It has to get on the freeway and there are a few long stretches without stops. Oahu is larger than I realized.

When we arrived we were in a tourist area. You know how I feel about such places. However, the place was a decent photo spot. Zeus ran off to get a bite. Sam, Maki and I wandered around town. There is a long stretch from where the bus drops you off to the beach. Beyond the tourist zoo, along that stretch is like a large spread out farmer’s market with shops and other businesses in between. The area is rich in clothing and accessory shops as well as food and art, ala farmer’s market. We had an extended stay at the art gallery (WOW). I wanted to purchase soo many pieces but, small prints started at $25. There were no less than 6 that I intended to bring  home with me before I took a sober look at my finances. All of you art lovers will have to wait.

We eventually came across a shaved ice shop. Again, delicious. I had a Blue Hawaii which is composed of Pinapple, Coconut and Vanilla mixed together. We had a good time here but, unfortunately due to Sam needing to get back to hang with one of her friends and my flight we didn’t make it to the beach. This is likely to be a good thing since Sam was painfully sunburned and my shoulders were nearly mush from surfing. Maki more or less lives in Hawaii and Zeus will be there until sometime tomorrow (Friday there) not to mention that this is his fourth trip in the past few years. He works at a rock gym and planned to do a bit of climbing while there. Jeff would kill me if I climbed with someone else, lol; I’ve only been out once. Actually climbing should work the muscle groups that I need to use for paddling while surfing so this is looking a little more promising. I’m not so bent on surfing North Shore but, I do intend to give the waves a better effort.

This was a good trip and I can’t wait to return. I’d say that I’m glad to be back but, there is no real benefit in lying.

Side note: the weather here (Baltimore) is insane. Since I’ve been in town (not a full week yet) once again I’ve dealt with extreme heat and awkward cool periods. The heat pulls nearly all of the energy out of my body whereas the cool times are manageable but not predictable so my clothing is normally not suitable. The one thing that I can say that I’ve enjoyed since I’ve returned is that there was a thunder storm (good sleeping). Apparently we have had them for two nights in a row; I slept through the first night. The second occured just after I’d fallen asleep so I hadn’t had the opportunity to depart from earth :D.

June 5th, 2009 | Tags: art, expenses, Hawaii, North Shore, reflection, Traveling, Trips, Vacation | Category: Hawaii | Leave a comment

May 28th, 2009 | Tags: dissertations, ELT, Hawaii, JET, M.S., surfing, Traveling, Trips, UH, UV, Vacation | Category: Hawaii | Comments (3)

Date: 2009 May 27

Primary location: Waikiki

Activities: Sleep, research (wiki data)

Food:

• PB&J
• Dole fruit cups (Sale: 2 for $4 @ Safeway)
• Japanese rice and veggies from a food vendor in Ala Moana ($5.75)

1244 HST:
I considered going to a Ph.D. dissertation defense today at 10a.m. I didn’t get moving quick enough to catch The Bus. Tomorrow is a M.S. dissertation defense which I will need to get to at 9a.m. I was supposed to goto Diamond Head today but, I’m not sure that tat will happen due to the rain. I’d also like company but, I can’t find the lass that I was going to venture with me. She’s on the females only side so I can’t knock on the door or anything.

I’m actually rather sleepy today. I stayed up last night poking around with the wiki. I have all of the basic program info for ICS entered. I now need to store info about the individual classes and work out a desired course or potential courses for myself. I will also need to perform both tasks for LIS and then figure out how I will marry the couple. I can see now that I’m leaving my bragscape.

Diamond Head is open until 6pm. If I don’t go today I’ll aim for dawn tomorrow. I CAN DO IT! << tis sad, the need.

I’ve been watching Monkey Magic all week and I’m nearly done; I’m on episode 12 of 13. I wonder if Chali has finished it.

RETROSPECTIVE (2009 May 28 1130 HST):
Samantha and I climbed Diamond Head after walking the 2.3 miles there. We each had a 20oz. thirst quencher which was nearly depleted by the time we reached the entrance to the hike. When you get there you have to hike 0.6 miles to the peak. It starts with a paved path. Next is a broken cement/gravel/dirt path. Then there is a set of steep steps. The steps lead to an inclined tunnel. The tunnel leads to another (steep) set of stairs which leads to a short tunnel. The short tunnel ends at a spiral staircase which leads what appears to have been a bunker. You have to climb through a raise, narrow opening to reach the outside of the bunker and you then continue along a path which leads to yet another set of stairs which finally result being near the top of the mountain. There was a group of two couples at the peak when we got there (they actually passed us on the way) who took our picture. You can check facebook for the photo.

My waistline has shrunken. We did a good bit of sweating; all of the text on my Ravens t-shirt was soaked. Needless to say, by the time we reached the top we were both speaking affectionately of our friend, the nap. We decided that it would be best if we caught the bus back to the hostel. Our stomachs started grumbling so I mentioned that we could get food near Ala Moana. After getting changed we headed out.

On the bus we discussed iPod libraries and our choices of music, even to the point of swapping iPods to check things out. She has a decent library so I’m going to need to scope it out again before I head out tomorrow.

When we arrived at Ala Moana we hunted around for food. Originally Samantha had a craving for pasta; I can always manage pasta provided that it fits my diet… it didn’t. We went in our own directions then met at a Japanese place that sold Teriyaki and Garlic/Ginger rice and noodle dishes. I ordered Veggies with Garlic/Ginger and Sam ordered Beef Teriyaki. <the food was smashed> I then took her to Shirokiya because they had stuff that I thought she’d be into based on our discussions. Unfortunately the store closed 6 minutes after we arrived. I bought a L’Arc-en-Ciel CD based on her recommendation (also good price) from BOOKOFF.

We then walked to Don Quijote because she mentioned that she wanted some Furikake (振り掛 / け/ふりか). We bought shaved ice before going into the market. It was her first time having anything like it.  I bought some stuff to do my maintenance since my hair has me looking like a caveman.

We had to fight ourselves to stay awake on the bus on the way to the hostel. When we got back we hopped online to handle updates; I fell asleep while at the table. Sam woke me up and sent me to bed. <I felt like a kid>

May 27th, 2009 | Tags: Ala Moana, Diamond Head, dissertations, Hawaii, hiking, music, research, The Bus, Traveling, Trips, tunes, Vacation, wiki | Category: Hawaii | Comments (3)

Date: 2009 May 26

Primary location: 

Activities: Zoo, ICS advisor

Food:

• PB&J
• Ocean salad
• Garden burger from Coconut Cafe

Traveler blues: More potheads

0927 HST:
I woke up at 8:30 today, the latest I’ve awaken since coming here. I am going downstairs to get the standard issue (PB&J) then head to campus. That campus is light years beyond mine. Actually, I need to see if there is a Starbucks in the campus’ area so I can start the wiki.

1003 HST:
Looks like I’m going to the zoo today. I have about an hour to get ready.

0153 HST:
I went with two of the ladies in my hostel; one Japanese the other Chinese by way of the Phillipines. Both are 映える (はえる) and more importantly they are decent — that’s sort of hard to find in Waikiki. The zoo is literally two blocks from where I’m staying. <try inserting a map> I enjoyed the trip to the zoo but… I forgot to take water with me so I had a dehydration moment. Also, the battery in my camera ran out of juice;  I guess that I have been taking a lot of pictures. I dumped about 470 pics on the way to the zoo to make room and thought that my battery was sufficiently charged. I did manage to take a few pics before it kicked out on me. 

One of the ladies lost her flip flop and had to sneak down below the bridge to get it. Photos are on the way.

I guess I’ll have to charge nightly. I’m also going to need to find some way to regulate publishing my shots. I haven’t been doing any modifications (tuning)  but, I need to be more selective of which I send to the server to save space and time.

I am going to head back to UH now. I wanted to update my Symantec first since it hasn’t updated since April 4th. It seems that I don’t use this machine online very often. Laters!

1730 HST:
I’m just getting back from meeting with the ICS advisor and poking around campus to get other information; I think that he is a really cool person. He discussed the program with me and gave me some pointers for this step of my life. I still need to update the wiki. That would have potential made the discussion more beneficial.

I plan to attend a discussion tonight  on campus at 7:30pm that is open to the public. The title is “What’s New On the Moon” and it is given by Dr. Paul Lucey. See http://www.higp.hawaii.edu/prpdc/ for details.

I’m off to see my wiki. The wonderful wiki of mine. Good evening.

1806 HST:
I finally caught a few mosquito bites. That’s somewhat impressive that it took nearly a week before the first occurance. This is actually the first through fourth occurances, all at the same time.

RETROSPECTIVE (2009 May 27 1224 HST):
I didn’t make it to the talk. I started nodding off after getting a bite to eat. I’m heading over to campus tomorrow to hear a M.S. dissertation defense.

May 26th, 2009 | Tags: Hawaii, mingling, Traveling, Trips, Vacation, zoo | Category: Hawaii | Comments (6)

Date: 2009 May 25

Primary location: All over Honolulu

Activities: Took pictures of the UH campus, visited another supermarket, another trip to Shirokiya

Food:

• PB&J
• Shaved ice cone (rivals Laurence St.)
• Ocean Salad (Seaweed Salad)

Traveler blues: surrounded by potheads

RETROSPECTIVE (2009 May 26 0044 HST):
Since the majority of the places that I’d like to visit on campus were closed in observation for Memorial Day I found myself taking pictures of around the campus. By 6pm that had been my only major activity. I decided to head back to Shirokiya to see if they had a Region 0 (Region Free) DVD player since they sold Region 2  (Japanese) movies. While looking I stumbled upon a food section of the market. Not a single DVD player is stocked there, including Region 1 (US). After poking around a bit I found a guy that pointed me to Don Quijote supermarket. There is a Nihon video store across the street from there and another Japanese bookstore. <insert pictures> I found a Coby DVD for $30. I’m generally opposed to cheap tech but, a $30 Region free player may be worthwhile. When I priced one online they ran upwards of $100. I also picked up a pound of ocean salad which is what we in Baltimore refer to as seaweed salad.

When I got back to the hostel the British roommates were chatting with the new Californian about hip hop. I had to get in the discussion. They were focused around popular types like B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace), 2Pac (Tupac Shakur) and… Little Wayne (who cares?). I brought mention to a few other folk that they should have exposure to and one of them played a few tracks by a British artist (can’t remember the name now as it was a British example of gangsta rap).

I sat on the balcony for a bit to try to map some of the classes in the wiki but, I started nodding off. I’m still having the lag. I can at least say that I read through the pamphlets; although, the length of the text is less than manyby childrens books. Nonetheless they included good informatiion.

May 26th, 2009 | Tags: Hawaii, Memorial Day, Region 0, substance abuse, Traveling, Trips, Vacation | Category: Hawaii | Comments (2)

Date: 2009 May 24

Primary location: Waikiki, Honolulu, HI, USA

Activities:

• Got lost
• Visited a Japanese Market

Food:

• PB&J
• Fresh Chestnuts
• Garden burger from Coconut

1700 HST:

This is the first time that I’ve had a chance to post on “the day of” in a few days. I’m not terribly upset about it since I’m having a good time over here. I’m still looking forward to getting back to the campus. I can’t remember my wiki settings; I don’t think I have anything on there so I may just reinstall.

Today I intended to head to the Oahu Church of Christ, as I said in the Day 4 post. Unfortunately I had a late start. I still went out to try to find the place. Apparently they moved. The address that I had was near (walking distance to) Ala Moana Center. The location on their website is on the opposite end of Honolulu. No worries, yah.

I decided to walk around the area. I talked to some guys from Bose to see what they’d recommend to help me consolidate my components. I considered taking in a movie but, decided to make my way back to Waikiki to get caught up on stuff. I had a long conversation with Micah; we hadn’t talked for that long in a long while… cool beans. My battery got low while I was waiting for the bus so I had to cut the conversation “short”. Starbucks seemed appealing on the way back with their Frappachinos and WiFi. I uploaded the remaining pics from Days 2, 3 and 4 and labeled up to Day 3; however, I haven’t posted them since there are so many.

Gotta hit the bathroom now, laters.

1925 HST:
Storms brew quickly out here. I looked up and saw a small bit of dark clouds about 10 minutes ago. Now the sky is about 45% filled with them. These clouds are dark like soles after walking barefoot through corn fields. This is going to be great. I just remembered that my camera can handle video. I’ll post it as soon as I get it reencoded for web usage. I suppose that I could just send it to youtube. Yeah, that’ll work.

 They are heading in my direction now. Initially they were moving east. I’ll sit indoors now.

RETROSPECTIVE (2009 May 25 1201 HST):

The storm passed over the island.

May 24th, 2009 | Tags: Hawaii, Traveling, Trips, Vacation | Category: Hawaii | Comments (1)

Date: 2009 May 23

Primary location: Waikiki

Activities: Shopping at Ala Moana

Food:

• PB&J (That’s grape jelly)
• All you can eat pancakes from IHOP ($4.99)

Traveler blues: Mobile phone isn’t picking up EDGE in most of Waikiki (Vancouver had dual EDGE).

RETROSPECTIVE (2009 May 24 0133 HST):
When I woke up yesterday, I hadn’t the foggiest idea of what I would do today. Two of my roommates (a couple I believe) planned to go to Pearl Harbor. I thought that today might be a good day for it so I got in gear to go. While at the bus stop the lack of a data connection got under my skin like baddies in the red light district so… I proceeded to hunt for a T-Mobile store. Apparently there are no actual T-Mobile stores around this immediate area. The people I asked sent me to TCA Wireless [in Shirokiya (a Japanese Department Store)] in Ala Moana Center (the mall).

I trekked to the mall via the no. 8, the ride was about 40 minutes. (Mental note: there is an actual T-Mobile store in Kahala Mall). Approaching the complex I was slightly confused since the only thing in my view was a parking garage. This place is like a hybrid between a mall and an outdoor shopping center. If you are from or are familiar with the malls in Baltimore, consider the shoppes of Arundel Mills styled as the complex that houses Best Buy downtown (making sufficient accounts for size of course).

I walked around a bit and when I couldn’t didn’t find the store I walked into Sam Goody (insert Puff Daddy phrase here) to request directions. Apparently my tech is doing the notification bit again; I set off the sensors as I entered. I believe that this is the first occurance with this unit (AA1). One of the girls (ladies) told me to head upstairs. Of course I hadn’t the slightest clue that there actually was an upstairs until that moment. I found that I could get upstairs by way of the food court (the only multi-venue area that isn’t outdoors). Walked around a bit more, no wary of entering stores since I’m a bit far from home to get bailed out of jail (I don’t know how often people’s tech sets off alarms over here). I asked the customer service desk guy how to get there when I saw him (he wasn’t in the booth my first time passing by him). Alas I am equipped with specific directions. I think I just had a Samus Aran moment.

Sidenote: The neckbrace that my father gave me when I was a teenager didn’t work much for me; unless of course I just don’t know how to use the thing.

Shirokiya looks like a real Japanese department store, not the glossed up ones that are plagued by American/European influence, but a down to earth establishment. Of course, I had the tech support standard technically inept moment. My phone works at Ala Moana. Bully! I loaded up on maps while I still had a connection.

I came across BOOK-OFF, new and used bookstore. I applied to this place to help me get on my feet when starting uni (worldwide term to refer to a university or university level programme). Here I loaded up on manga ($4 max for Japanese manga and $1 for less popular Japanese manga). I had to get Japanses since I need Japanese text to help me learn to read. I also picked up the Japanese version of Talkman.

The manga that I bought will be listed here:

• もやしもん (Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture)
• ほしのこえ (Hoshi no Koe / Voices from a Distant Star)
• <3 samurai issues>
• <small seemingly childrens books>

Talkman is a Japanese game/application to help people learn foreign phrases when visiting other countries. The Japanese version includes Japanese, Korean, Chinese and English; this version is also bi-direction, meaning it can be used from any included language to any other included language. The North American and European releases are downloadable but, require you to purchase each language pack seperately; the languages differ also but, I don’t recall which languages are included in this version.

I caught the no. 8 back to Waikiki and stopped at IHOP to get some grub. I noticed a sign in there window advertising a $4.99 all you can eat pancake option, so I ordered it. I managed 6 fluffy six or seven inch diameter pancakes before tapping out.

Afterwards I walked to the hostel and attempted to start translating one of the manga books. I woke up just a bit before 10pm. That’s when I started tussling with the connection to add pictures for Day 2. I am a good bit behind, I know. (I just remember that I originally intended to referred to myself in this blog with lowercase i’s); that was completely off topic.

Somehow I did manage to acquire a connection in my room; maybe the rain had something to do with it. Eventually the connection lost a bit of quality so, I decided to come downstairs. Quiet hour had already come so nobody was in the lounge. I decided to use the internet cafe to give me stronger access to the signal. Here I sit, on this laptop typing the very words of this sentence and I am discussing it not because it is particularly important but, because I need sleep and am tired enough to find this amusing.

Anyhow, I’m going to upload the last two days pics and try to title and caption them before heading to bed. I need to get up early tomorrow so I can visit Oahu Church of Christ (one of my church’s “sister” churches).

At some point I want to visit Pearl Harbor, the zoo and the aquarium. I would also like to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center (big cultural introduction luau). I also want to find some free stuff. I don’t have myself spending $120 on a luau right now. Oh, I just remembered, I want to see the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park but it is on the Big Island (Hawai’i). I want to go there anyway. I’m told that that is where true Hawai’i is found.

NTS: complete wiki setup and create articles for UH, LIS, ICS, food nutrients and matierials, and Japanese stuff (kana, terms, history, manga, anime, movies, etc. Also customize blog theme and customize tumblr to match blog.

May 23rd, 2009 | Tags: Ala Moana Center, anti-theft device, BOOK·OFF, EDGE, Hawaii, IHOP, Japanese, Manga, Shirokiya, shopping, T-Mobile, Talkman, Traveling, Trips, Vacation | Category: Hawaii | Leave a comment

Date: 2009 May 22

Primary location: Waikiki, Honolulu

Activities: Visited University of Hawaii, Slept

Food: PB&J for breakfast, Smoothie from D-Spot at UH, Ono vegetarian and cheese from Ono Cheese Steak

RETROSPECTIVE (2009 May 23 1254 HST):
I’ve been without internet for the majority of today. Somehow my phone can no longer use the data connection; as a result tethering is useless.  I am at Ono Cheese Steak taking advantage of their free WiFi.

The British guys left around 8:30am so I waited for them to leave before showering. Body Wash in the ABC Stores costs about $10. I bought a bottle of shampoo for $3. By the way, ABC stands for All Blocks Covered. They are literally all over the place in Waikiki.

I figured that since I more or less came here with UH as my primary interest, I should visit the campus. I found out that the no. 4 bus, which is a block from the hostel, goes directly to the campus. Buses here issue transfers like Baltimore did in the early to mid 90s. A one way trip costs $2. When I got to campus I found a campus map to lead me to the Admissions office. The campus is huge; one of the largest that I’ve visited. I hoped to be able to get information on the LIS and ICS programs from there. Fortunately they did not have info on specific programs but, the admissions officer (student worker) pointed me to the (Pacific Ocean Science and Technology) POST building and informed me that both of my desired programs are in the same building. Sweet!

As I proceeded to the POST building I noticed a line of people outside of a small stand (shoppe). They had a sign that reminded me of the snowball place on Lawrence St. where nobody remembers its name. Actually, this place had smoothies. All sorts of natural fruits, sorbets, soy milk and some other stuff. I’m going back to the campus on Monday so I will try to remember to take a picture of the sign. I got a 32 oz. smoothie for $5. GiGi’s, my favorite sandwich shoppe while in uni, has 22 - 24 oz. smooties for about $5. Many places back home approach $6. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! Thick, rich and naturally sweet.

After talking to people and getting information I headed back to the bus. I got lost a few times on UH’s massive campus. I left campus in time for me to get back to the bus and use the transfer (they have expirations).

When I got back to the hostel I took an extended nap.

(more to come)

May 23rd, 2009 | Tags: GiGi's, Hawaii, ICS, LIS, smoothies, Traveling, Trips, UH, University of Hawaii, Vacation | Category: Hawaii | Leave a comment

It is FANTASTIC!

The first class section has diagonal seating.

Each seat throughout has a touch screen with USB port and the aisle seats have power outlets.

This is Air Canada.

May 21st, 2009 | Category: Hawaii | Comments (2)