Monthly Archives: February 2005

Maui Wowee

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February 5, 2005 – Maui

And yes, we made it safely to Maui and pretty much went straight to Maui Tacos for some takeout and went across the street to watch the sunset at the park. Most days since then we’ve tried to make time to watch the sunset. And eat. A lot.

UPDATE: Chicago

We went to Maui Tacos one other time and they were just as good. We also went to a bunch of other new restaurants this time, missed some of our old favorites, and generally ate very, very well. Even the time we ate nothing but takeout food from Safeways – mmm, lomilomi salmon and Hanalei Poi, yum! And 1 1/2 inch ahi tuna steaks, mega yum.

Among other restaurants we visited:

Pupu Lounge (lunch)
KKO (Kai Ku Ono – dinner)
Kula Lodge (breakfast one day, lunch the next)
Hirohachi (dinner)
Hanafuda Saimin (dinner)
Kimo’s (lunch)
Cafe O Lei (lunch)
Fish and Poi (dinner)
Mala Tavern (catered dinner at Maui Arts and Cultural Center concert)
A beach restaurant in Wailea at some hotel

We managed to get out to two concerts as well:

Hawaiian Slack Key Masters – Tuesdays at the Ritz Carlton, Kapalua
Jason Mraz, Makana, and Tristan Prettyman at the MACC, Kahului

And yes, all three of the latter artists have journals on their websites – they’re a lot younger than most of the people appearing at the Ritz shows.

The concerts were an interesting contrast – the Ritz one was in a small meeting room-type theater and was very intimate and friendly, with some ladies doing pick-up hula (the type of hula where you’re asked to do it at your friends’ party because they know you’re really good at it). One lady was a Maui County inspector – she was great. Both were very good, but the second lady was just brimming with happiness at performing hula to the music of Dennis Kamikahi

The second concert was packed full of young girls and there was a certain amount of screaming. Jason Mraz was the headliner and was a very good musician – turned out to be a young slacker-type who claimed to be a geek. He was whip smart in his stage patter, too – picked up a can of passionfruit soda before he went on, and made “my passion” jokes the rest of the evening. Cute kid, will probably go far. It was much more of a slick production, and the catered food from Mala Tavern was awesome, to die for good. The lilikoi cheesecake? Mmmm.

Yep, it was a fun trip, and we got to hear some local music and some not-local music as well.

And more later, must try to sleep now.

Leavin’ On A Jet Plane

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February 5, 2005

And we’re about to board this bird and take off for Maui nonstop, where we’ll be for two weeks. This entry won’t go “live” until our return, however.

UPDATE: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Blog

And so, we’ve returned. I’ve got a boatload of photos to go over and update, including a bunch still in my camera on a very large compact flash card (not as large as David’s card, but big enough for my uses).

The flight return was not a simple non-stop, so we had a short layover in Los Angeles last night. Arrived in Chicago this morning before dawn, and spent the day pretty much conked out but not really sleeping much.

Work tomorrow. Eesh.

More in later posts.

Amazing Aftermath

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I am somewhat spoiled for the season finale of Amazing Race, but only in a few bare details.

Suffice it to say, I am NOT pleased. If what I read is correct, once again my favoritest, most deserving team did not come in first.

Dammit.

But then 3 out of the 4 remaining teams gave me the willies, so the chances of a completely happy ending were only 25%.

Arrrgh

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Due to circumstances entirely voluntary, I was busy the night of the Amazing Race finale, and haven't seen the finish and don't know who won. How the hell did this happen? Well, I planned an event a lot farther in advance than usual, and it conflicted with the finale. It's still on Tivo, but the same circs keep me from watching the show. So I won't be blathering about it until long after it aired, and then the next season (featuring more former Survivors, meh) will begin soon. I'm using David's machine, so it's entirely possible this post will be signed "david."

In Other Words

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It’s an extremely cool little book: In Other Words, by Christopher J. Moore.

David bought it for me because he thought I would like it, being addicted to words and also to nicely bound books like this one.

It’s a book of nearly-untranslatable but wonderful worlds from languages all over the world, and one of my very favorites is on the front cover:

duende [dwen-day][adjective]
This wonderful word captures an entire world of passino, energy, and artistic excellence and describes a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art. Duende originally meant “imp” or “goblin” and came to mean anything magical. It now has a depth of complexity and meaning that crosses artistic borders, from flamenco dancing to bullfighting. The Spanish poet Garcia Lorca wrote an eloquent essay on duende that explores the complex and inspirational flavor of its sense, and I know no better introduction.

I’m Who?

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Which Firefly character are you? – Quizilla

Hah! David took this quiz, and guess who he turned out to be?

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You are Captain Malcolm Reynolds, aka. Mal or
Captain Tightpants. You saw most of your men
die in a war you lost and now you seek solitude
with a small crew that you are fiercely devoted
to. You have no problems being naked.

Which Firefly character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

This is so my husband David!

And of course, I had to go in and re-cast myself, because the first time, I came out as Book.

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You are Zoe. While most others see you as a
stone-cold bitch and yes.woman to the captain,
you can be both a loving wife and quite
emotional – though you never let it show.

Which Firefly character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Okay, well, in a perfect world 15 years ago, maybe. They don’t have a wacky wisecracking middle-aged female character who would pop up from behind the bar and bash people over the head with a skillet.

Via Brutal Women. Very cool!

Augh! TAR! Bolo! No!

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This week’s show opens on a black screen, where plain white text informs you that the episode you are about to see was filmed in Sri Lanka before the December 26 tsunami. And there’s not much to say about that except that making the world a little smaller and more familiar is always a good thing, even when it’s a sad thing.

That blackscreen announcement was nicely done, and added a much needed grace note to the proceedings.

Yes, it’s another recap by Miss Alli – and this week, don’t miss the Amazing Monkey Edit! Sadly, it’s bye-bye Bolo and Lori, who didn’t do so well in Adidas Abeeba, and totally racked themselves in Shrieka Lacka.

If you’d like more Worldwide Words Pronunciation Fun with Bolo, those loveable wacky ATC guys at TARflies have written it all out in actual rhyming poetry.

And then the mini-recaplet for last night’s episode:

We’re off to China, where this week’s episode discovers its several themes. First, Rebecca loves to call El Hornio “honey” when she knows it’s going to annoy him, but not at any other times. Second, Kris and Jon have worse cab driver luck than anyone since Esquire, and that is no joke. Third, Freddy and Kendra are still pretty mad about that Yield, and they’re determined to make it up to Hornio, which they do — contrary to what I said in last week’s recap, because I am a goof. Anyway, there’s a mad rush to the finish between a Yielded and sucking Hornio and a cab-screwed Kris and Jon, and even though Kris and Jon almost get squashed by a taxi AND a bus, they do manage to land on the mat third, and Hornio finishes last. But like last season, they’ve elected to take four teams into the two-hour finale, so this is a non-elimination situation. Sigh. The one leg that doesn’t include ten instances of stupid, producer-forced bunching, and of course, it’s completely meaningless, because they’ll get fully bunched at the beginning of the finale. Speaking of which…the odds are three out of four that a team with at least one person I find completely objectionable is going to win. Yuck.

That would be “any team but Kris and Jon.” I know, I know. 🙄

You know, if Adam and Rebecca manage to survive the next leg and on into the final threee, I will just… be ill. Because far better teams than theirs have been sent to Sequesterville. And if Kris and Jon… gack, I’m horrified at the prospect that they might yet suffer the Fourth Place Curse, reserved for beloved, skilled and popular teams who done got passed up by far less deserving scumsuckers competitors.

Return To Flight: May 12 2005

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BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Countdown to shuttle return flight

And it’s about time. High time we got back into the space business and dealt with the challenges rather than just analyzing and memorializing them. We’ve been relying on the Russians to keep the International Space Station supplied, crewed, and (more or less) repaired and it’s time we got back in the game.

There’s an air of real purpose, a desire to convince visitors like me that technical problems have been overcome, that the can-do spirit that caught the public imagination back in the Sixties to the moon is alive again.

The truth is that Nasa desperately needs this next mission to work. Only the shuttle has the capacity to carry into orbit the building-blocks for the International Space Station (ISS) and there’s an eagerness to get that task over and done.

A new repair kit will be able to patch damage on the shuttle exterior

That would clear the decks for the more glamorous roles of heading beyond orbit to the Moon and on to Mars.

The viewing stands are ready. The broadcasting cabins of the television networks, installed for the moon shots, are poised.

I meet the man who, on that fast-approaching May morning, will utter those famous words, “give me a go or no-go for launch”.

Mike Leinbach seems focused but calm. So will he be nervous? Sure, he says.

He won’t be alone.

I’m a Space Age kid and it grieves me to think of the losses, but it inspires me to think of the gains. So I wish NASA all success and I wish the Return To Flight crew of STS-114 Godspeed aboard Discovery. Their mission patch design commemorates Columbia and the efforts of everyone involved in making the Return To Space possible.

The NASA website currently starts with a very nice musical/Flash tribute to three tragic missions: Apollo I, Challenger, and Columbia.

And You Thought Your Commute Is Bad

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ginmar has posted a few more pictures noting the last convoy her unit had to take, some details of her last couple of days at her old post in Iraq, and photos of things seen along the way on her unit’s last trip through Baghdad. She’s noted on her LJ that the party when she gets home will be epic in scope.

Some of the images are striking; she’s got quite an eye for the telling detail. I especially liked this one, with the rosary caught in mid-swing. I sharpened the lettering slightly to make it clearer.

Do not get between ginmar and chocolate; she has a rifle and knows how to use it.