Thursday, June 17, 2010

Writer's Block..

I'm sure it's been more than a week since I've posted anything here, since it always seems like about a week goes by and then I think, "O snap.  I should have something to say by now."  And I usually do.  Something's happened that's kind of silly and I can pull that out of my hat and entertain myself while I re-create my encounter or thought in font and then hopefully entertain the couple of you who read whenever you get around to logging onto the "internet" and typing in the 'pad's url.  But today I don't really have much to say.  Maybe just a bullet point or two..
- I've been listening to my iPod on shuffle lately.  I have 969 songs on there right now and I think just about all of them are acceptable tunes to go out to if I encounter an automobile while on my two wheeler.  I find it comforting that if I go down and someone comes onto the scene and checks my iPod they won't be able to say "He was listening to THAT?!  He probably deserved his fate.."  I'm fairly confident my taste in music would please most any audience.   This being said, I prefer to not get runned over any time soon..
- I rode up to McDonald's just now to try to find some inspiration to type, and all I found was an ability to get my computer on the "internet."  This is only the second time it's happened but both times have gotten me pretty steamed.  I don't particularly enjoy dining at McDonald's.  I come for the "internet."  A cheap meal is a nice perk onto that.  But I don't come for the meal.  So when the "internet" doesn't exist when I get settled here I leave feeling a little flat.  
Today was a little different than the first time because I had a nice talk with a guy named Marty from Chino, CA.  He's a fine fellow, fine enough that I let my McChicken get cold while we discussed Maui development, California politics and various other topics.  Today talking to a person was better than talking to a computer screen.  So, a kind thank you goes out to Marty.  Cheers.

Monday, June 7, 2010

It was all good just a week ago..

Last week for Memorial Day I grabbed dinner at Hula with some promo that I had.  Nothing like a delicious dinner when only a tip is needed.  Yum, yum.  I had been meaning to do this for a long time so it made my day when I remembered my camera as I was heading out the door for work, and I remembered after work that I had it, too.  It was a big day.  I woke up from a beach nap as the sun was setting so I snapped some shots to get into the mood..

I messed around with the "Sunset" setting but it kind of sucked in my opinion.  The 16x9 wide angle is a nice touch, though.

I just need to break down and spend some dinero on an SLR.  Ya...maybe tomorrow...or not.


Post-sunset, tasty treats were everywhere..

They were so tasty, in fact, I forgot to take pictures before going to town on the plates..
These are my favorite dish on the menu.  Poke Tacos.  There were three...but two disappeared before I was reminded of my intentions to document the meal.  It's raw yellowfin, ahi, tuna with sautéed onions with a wasabi drizzle and stood up with fresh avocado.  They're out of sight.  Every time I have dinner I get an order.  If you looked up "tasty treat" in my dictionary you'd find a picture of these.  And a picture with all three of them.  Because that would probably look a little more professional..

This was a crispy beet and asian pear salad, with a side of feta..

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Busted up from the sauce..

I didn't have a whole lot to do yesterday so after spending the morning sleeping in and the afternoon at the beach I figured I might as well have a few cocktails as I didn't really have much else to do.  So in the middle of watching Toy Story and The Incredibles on one of the kiddie channels...might have been ABC Family...I took a quick two-wheeled trip to the grocer and picked up a bottle of Jimmy Beam and some cola.  I toyed with going with some ginger ale but they didn't have any ginger ale in cans so I settled on the cola.  Now I'm second guessing my choice because some ginger ale could probably help settle my belly ache right now.  O well...hindsight is always 20/20.

This is actually kind of silly but while I was at the beach I was thinking quite a bit about useless nonsense and Disney World came up inside my noggin.  O, actually I first started wondering whether the little kids who take vacations to out here really appreciate how good they have it.  But before I could finish that thought I started thinking about how even though I didn't grow up filthy rich we were barely broke (any chance I have to throw out that Peter Gunz thought I'm going to jump on it..) and me and the fam were able to go to Disney World twice (TWICE!!) when I was a youngster, and that that was pretty damn cool.

But before I really thought more about it I went back into little kid mode and started wondering what little kids think of the Magic Kingdom these days...like, there are a bunch of new movies that have come out recently and I have no idea how they're being incorporated into the setup down there.  Do little kids still get jacked up when they see Cinderella's castle and Snow White and Pluto, or do the new youngsters not have any idea about the original Disney storylines?  I know Disney keeps re-releasing their old animated stuff on DVD and every new technology that comes out, but do little kids STILL enjoy them?  They should, right?  I mean, those movies were already pretty old when I was little and I still liked them a lot and still enjoy watching them every chance I get, but for whatever reason yesterday I got a little flat thinking that maybe the new kids on the block only care about the Ice Age characters and the Incredibles; the Pixar-style movies and that they've forgotten or don'r care for the old-style animation and fairy tale storylines.  I hope that's not the case so if any of you out there work with or, gasp, HAVE little kids then let me know if kids still think Lady and the Tramp is the bees knees.

And what about things like the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse?  Does some of that stuff just become relics that are more for parents than for the kids?  It's just weird how out of touch I feel about this sort of thing.  I WANT ANSWERS.  I feel like even though a movie like that was still pretty old when I was little me and all my friends had still seen it and enjoyed it.  But, shoots, that was damn near 20 years ago.

Long story short I think I need to make it to the greater Orlando area in the next year or two to see where things are at.  This thought has perked my interest.  Do people even still think Disney World is cool?  I know I still do...and imagine it now on PED's?!  UNREAL.  Like Maine: Worth a visit, worth a lifetime.

--

O, this didn't come to me yesterday but happened when I typed Cinderella: I'm sure it's already been made but Sinderella would be a pretty solid porn title.  You could go a lot of directions there, what with the evil stepsisters, fairy godmother, the prince...furry animals.  Things could get out of hand pretty quickly.  Porn industry: Take notes.

I'll leave you on that.  Cheers.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Some Memorial Weekend ballyhoo...it's a long one, read on for some goodness..

Last Friday I had tentative plans with a friend for a "Friday Funday."  The last time we got together for a "funday" was when I wrecked my bike awhile back, so let's just say this Friday had a lot to live up to.  It did not disappoint, and I didn't even have to wreck my bike at the end of the night.

I wasn't working so I spent a pretty exhausting day lying in the sun and then got a ride down to Lahaina to meet said friend, Anna, at the bar she works at.  We had no plans, other than probably drinking some frothy beverages.  Upon my arrival she showed me a picture on Craigslist of a car she had fallen in love with, a 1980 Corvette, that was across the island in Haiku.  She immediately called the guy and told him not to sell it because she needed to buy it, and surprisingly the guy acquiesced to her request and said he'd hold the car for her.  Now all was had to do was get to Haiku without a car.

We hustled (literally hustled; we had to run a quarter mile or so and it sucked..) to the bus and hopped Maui's finest public transportation to the airport so she could rent a car, as it was Friday after 5pm and Enterprise is most certainly NOT there to pick you up after 5pm on a Friday on Maui time.  NO worries.  But by the time we make it to Haiku it's pretty well dark out and this car has been sitting for a couple of years so the guy she's buying this gem from suggests we should wait until the daylight to drive it out of there.  
O, a short aside here that I forgot.  While we're on the bus she calls the owner to make sure it wasn't sold yet before she went ahead and rented the car...and he says no, it's not sold, but it need a battery.  So while we waited for the bus to the airport we ran to Sears so she could buy a big ol' car battery, then brought it on the bus to the airport and the shuttle to the rental car place with a bunch of tourists.  Welcome to Maui, indeed..
So essentially we drove to Haiku for no real reason Friday night as we decided not to drive the car out that evening.  But he did fire it up, and man, I felt the rumble in my loins.  It's got a 350 under the hood.  It's pretty impressive.  So in the end Friday Funday needed to continue into a Saturday Funday.  
Another aside: Anna cannot drive a stick-shift automobile.  The aforementioned 'Vette is a 4-speed stick.  That was where I came in.  I was the wheel man who was in charge of driving said 'Vette from Haiku back to the airport so Anna could drop off the rental, and then we'd both proceed back to the westside where I could drop said 'Vette at her place.  
Cue Saturday morning.  I have to work at noon-ish so we hustle up and get on the road early as it's about a 70 minute drive and we're going to have to stop at the airport to drop the rental off on our way back through but all's good as we get back to the scene of the 'Vette by 9:30am.  Cash is exchanged, I hop in the driver's seat and we shove off.  And that mother fucker (I'm really trying to cut down on profanity here but this whip just draws the cuss words out of me..) is scary fast.  It's light as a feather and has a big old engine in the front and is rear wheel drive.  Let's just say the ass end likes to get out and around.  The gearbox is a little sticky so I'm trying to be gentle and this leads me to rev and spin a couple of times.  I've never felt like more of a man than I did behind the wheel...and it lasts for all of about 3 minutes as it runs out of gas within spitting distance of the nearest gas station.

No sweat, Anna runs up to the station in the rental to get a can and I sit by the car to direct traffic around the bird so as not to get rear ended.  There wasn't really a shoulder so I was more or less in the road...sue me.  Anna heads up and gets gas, we get back and throw a couple gallons in the tank...and she keeps stalling out.  ZOINKS!  Anna calls the guy and he swings up as she's getting more gas and he pours some gas in the carb and she fires up good like, so I drive to said gas station and we throw some gallons in her.  All's well; it'll be a little tight on time but we'll make it back just fine.  Five hundred feet from the station she stalls out.  Again.  DOUBLE ZOINKS!!

I'm getting a little nervous now.  I'm over an hour from Ka'anapali and it's getting on 10:30, and I don't like thinking about being late.  She calls the guy again but he "went into town and doesn't have a cell phone" says his son, of course, so we're seeming to be swimming up shit creek without the proverbial paddle.  I take it upon myself to pour some gas in the carb and she fires again...then stalls.  So I pour more gas into the carb (feeling like a badass man each time, as I now have gas and grease on me..), fire it up, get it into reverse and hammer back towards the gas station, stalling out once in the middle of an intersection but repeating the process to get it parked off the road.  Early on I damn near got hit be a speeding local in a jacked up Nissan Frontier but I shook that off and we made it back safe.

But this still leads to us being in Haiku and it getting close to 11am.  Neither of us is impressed, as she bought a troublesome car and wanted to talk to the guy again...but I just wanted to get back to the westside for work.  After some debate back and forth she gets a hold of another guy who knows slightly more about cars than I do who lives on the westside so I make it back for work and she picks this guy up, drives BACK to Haiku, and ends up getting it towed home so it can be worked on.

O, and it gets better: We documented some Saturday portions of Friday Funday.  Enjoy.

This was what we drove up to...and trust me, the dirt road looked A LOT more inviting in the pitch dark..

Anna and her new friend...talking shop..
And yes.  I'm god damn jealous of that beard.

Now on to the bread and butter..

And..
It's guy talk...you wouldn't understand.  And I know what you're asking and the answer is yes.  Those are flaming seat covers, and no, Anna did not pay extra for them.