Work, School, Work, School!

I've been attending a training class on Microsoft's Sequel Reporting program. It's not the official name of the program, but then I'm not exact on most programs. Just so long as it works and does the job.

I love the program, actually. The instructor is from India, a young man, and quite knowledgeable on the product. In spite of his thick accent, I managed to glean a lot out of him. He left me his email so I can keep in touch with him should I have any questions.

At the end of the day, I feel saturated with information from the class. Little time to assimilate very much.

It ends this Friday. After which, I'll celebrate with a little drink at the Sand Bar. Wonder if Freddy is bartending? Maybe I should take him some Thanksgiving leftovers?

So Much For the Thanksgiving Weekend

This is my first year of ever having to work on a Thanksgiving weekend. Ordinarily, it's four days off to properly digest the gargantuan servings of the past Thursday.

Work. It never ends, even in beautiful Hawai`i Nei.

Now, if I could just find that small container where I stashed that last slice of dark meat . . . there you are. Come to Papa!

Working After the Feast

It sucks. I needed a set of pulleys to maneuver me around the office after yesterday's oink fest. And there's more turkey left. Ugh!

Oh well, as long as there's some leftover cranberry sauce . . . and don't forget the small slice of pumpkin pie . . . that should make the leftover turkey taste just fine.

Ah yes, there's that little bit of mashed potatoes. Can't have leftovers without the mashed potatoes!

Thanksgiving In Waikiki 2005

Oy . . . I enjoyed stuffing the bird, but now it's payback time. All the flavors and aromas have taken their toll on my gut. Another slice of pumpkin pie? Another scoop of dressing? Oy . . . dare I nibble on that remnant of cranberry?

Clouds cleared for today, the previous days' of rain a memory and with that in mind, I was a whirlwind as I prepared the condo for the getogether today. Kasper was a big help, chasing the Hoover as I cleaned the wet vacced the floor, both lanai and inside. I didn't want anyone to have dirty feet from my tile floors. The dirt sux in Waikiki. One day of cleaning and you have to do it all over again a day later.

Potatoes were peeled and cooked, the turkey was packed with Tom's marvelous rice and Italian sausage mixture, draped in bacon and coated with butter. Damn the cholesterol! I wanted my triglycerides! Yeah baby! The bird went in at 11:30am.

By 2:00pm, Dwane and I waited for the family to arrive. Valerie, Doris and Brenne arrived first, bringing two pumpkin pies and a still hot dish of bread stuffing. Valerie had me try a taste. If my stomach had arms, it would have reached out for more! Very good.

Blackout

Couldn't have happened at a worse time. For people living in a high rise condominium, a blackout sucks rocks.

Coming home from work in Honolulu, I found a bunch of people milling around the neighborhood. I thought nothing of it until a lady who lived in the next building mentioned that the power was out all over the place. She gave me no specifics at the time. I hoped it was only her building and not ours. Boy, was I wrong.

It happened around 10:30 A.M. while I was at work. Some telephone lines (all termite eaten) gave way, crushing a car, or so I'm told, and kaboom, no power.

Save the Thanksgiving goodies! Luckily, Valerie's power came up at noon that day. Her fridge worked and so she helped Dwane and I to salvage some of our groceries.

Sucks to be us.

Sundays won't be the same

Sundays won't be the same
Originally uploaded by SkipAlidon.

Now, Keith, buddy, do normal people do this for the best bartender in Hawaii?

No way. But with us, yes way.

Luv yuh Bavaro!

Keith's Last Shift

At the end of the bar
Originally uploaded by SkipAlidon.

It was a bummer that first Sunday in November, when we all got together to wish Keith a fond Aloha. The good ones are the first to go, or so goes the saying (oh Gawd, I used a cliche!)

The Sand Bar won't be the same without yuh, buddy!

Jimmy Hiroshige

Jimmy graduated from Radford back in 1962, about the time I was still attending Aliamanu Intermediate. Now he works in HMSA, like me, and I have to admit that when I first saw Jimmy, I wondered why he looked familiar. Let's face it, the island population was not that dense back then.

For us, saying it's a small world is a truism.

Memories

Yes, it's that time to start remembering about the good old days . . . dontcha just hate that?

I came across some great shots from the internet regarding my high school days at Radford High School. Most of the photos were before my time, but some were definitely from my time and so good to see.

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/radford/sixties.html

One individual of note became famous after leaving the island. She doesn't remember me, and rightly so, I was just a teeny part of her experience. I'm glad she did so well and IS doing well.

Bev Bloomberg

Graduated from Radford High School and was in my graduating class. I hear she became an executive producer of Happy Days. Remember that one?

Bev was always active in school activites where I was just a wall flower . . . so sixties of me.

Athena!!!

I had to post these. Athena held a Halloween bash at the Sand Bar and I missed it. She looks hot hot hot hot! Hotter than Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke!

The Sand Bar is a fun place with good people and lots of laughs. You can actually sit and have conversations at the Sand Bar and not deal with disco speakers.

Thanks for the photo, Dwane.

Thanks, Athena, for the sexy pose!

Grundy

When Grundy leaves the island for long periods of time, the neighborhood watering hole is just not the same. The kids love him. Dwane and I treasure him.

His wit and savy are flames to moths like me. His stories are priceless and his poetry is riveting.

"One One was a race horse and One Two was one too, when One One won one, One Two won one too!"

He's going to leave us briefly again for the mainland. Sure wish he lived here instead, but hey, he's got a life!

A Holiday Rambling

It's Not Even Thanksgiving Yet and already we are already scrambling to choose which restaurant to hold our “Employee Appreciation Luncheon”. I don’t care what the policy . . . I still like calling it a Christmas party. Merry making is what it’s all about during the Christmas holidays. I have to admit, sometimes I get into the “politically correct” mode, but with Christmas? Come on. Get a grip. Christmas is a real, established holiday. It isn’t like a typical Hallmark holiday now is it? I mean, Grandmother’s Day? Pfffft. Puh-leez!

Shaddup Skip!

Okay, I'll behave . . . getting off track. Anyway, we've come down to just three places to choose from. My original choice didn't come up. I guess most people don't care for Mexican food as a "Christmas" meal . . . hmfph. I settled for Hanaki's, a small restaurant in Manoa that is, I've heard, like Todai's in Waikiki, and the selection is pretty good. I'm game for a new venue. For such a small island, we have a ton of Asian cuisine of which I was raised on.

Today is the last day to choose. Keeping my fingers crossed for Hanaki's.