Variation on a Bumper Sticker Idea

Good lord - it's March of 2008!! Not that the month or year has any great significance on its own, but sometimes time passes surprisingly quickly (a phenomenon I rigorously try to avoid), and it's a bit shocking to actually look at the numbers.

But, since it is 2008: Where's my army of robot servants? And my flying car? And my vat-grown organs?

(Credit to John, with slight variation, for that last one - he wanted vat-grown feet).

Random Thoughts - Food

My box of Shredded Oats has a panel headed "Dietary Features." That seems to imply there also exist Dietary Bugs.

Hawaii Trip IV

That's "Hawaii Trip 4", not getting a needle in the arm - thankfully, as this trip (in contrast with some others) did not involve any trips to the emergency room.

You know how when you get a long, detailed letter or email, you don't get around to replying because you know you're going to write a long, detailed reply, and thus you never feel like you have time to get started? In the interest of avoiding that, I will put up no pretense of covering everything which has transpired since my last post, or even my whole trip to Hawaii.

While I did go to school in California for a bit over a year in 1999-2000, I don't consider myself to have "moved away" from Hawaii til I went to Arizona in 2002. Since then, I've made 4 trips back - the most recent being last week. I'm planning to write til I get tired, which may not take long since it's 1:42am.

Day 1: Critterboy in Paradise

The first bit of the adventure started before we had even left. My idea of packing for Hawaii consist of throwing some clothes, a tent, an air mattress, and a sleeping bag in a suitcase. Even that is optional; I am, after all, going to where I used to live, and my parents have extra of most things, including my old stuff. John, however, had all sorts of elaborate gear he wanted to bring - scuba gear (entailing finding stuff in the garage, a daunting task a best), camera gear (entailing repacking elaborate carrying cases), and the combination of the two - underwater camera gear (some special silicon grease from Japan, and I don't know what else). Since we didn't actually get started packing til midnight, we were up til 3am getting the basics, plus scuba and camera, together, and the poor underwater photography gear never made it at all. I did feel rather bad about that, since John takes great underwater pics, but I consoled us both by saying that I do go back every year; this time we could just enjoy looking at things and not worry about the pics.

So, after 3 hours of sleep, we set out for the airport and our 6.5 hour mainland - Honolulu flight, 5 hour layover, and 45 minute puddle hopper to Hilo. After a great dinner at Ken's House of Pancakes (Mc Donalds : Fuddrucker's :: IHOP : Ken's - 'nuf said), we headed back to my parents' house, and within 15 minutes of getting there, caught two coqui frogs, including one tiny one, not more than 3/4 of an inch long. I'd always thought of the coquis as evil - obnoxiously loud, not to mention disrupting the local ecosystem. John, however, loves critters of all kinds, especially tiny frogs, so he was thrilled. In my years living there, I'd only ever paid attention to the plants, and never the animals - except to the extent of, say, trying to destroy slugs when they ate my sunflower sprouts, or moths and butterflies when they made cocoons in my banana leaves.
Thus we had great complimentary knowledge - he pointed out birds and lizards and weird sea life to me, and I pointed out plants to him.

Stay tuned for "Day 2: This Is Not An Auto Shop", in which the author's MacGyver-like father drives down a mountain in a truck that is not, um, "working".