Robin Williams on Ellen Degeneres

I don't know why, but I've had a ball coming across these. Good way to start the new year.

russell peters comedy now

Stand-Up Comedy: Arab-American comedians in New York

Enjoyed this a lot.

I Still Enjoy The Fruitcake Lady

I love the Fruitcake lady. She's bold, honest, sassy, off-coloured, and she's most likely dead. Sad, that.

November Begins

. . . and the world is just as crazy, especially here in Hawaii. This ferry business has really confused a lot of people. No one knows who to trust regarding the ecological safety precautions, if they'd been observed or what . . . It's a nice looking boat. It's modern. It looks clean. I hear there are monitors that would help the superferry in steering clear of large sea life, whales in particular.

My stance on this superferry is that it would be great for the islands all around, but the powers that be went about setting this up along shifty lines, bypassing protocols that should have been observed. There were a lot of people who thought they had jobs and lost them. No money making means no employee staff. I'm surprised the CEO hadn't walked out on the islands sooner. I would not have blamed him, nor the investors of this venture.

As a bystander with no clout in this situation, I can only shake my head. Will somebody with some brains take the helm please?

I hear the service will start November 15th. We'll see. I wonder if there will be further demonstrations of violence against fellow islanders using the superferry?

Shameful lot.

Samhain Babe

Not many suited up for the festivities this year, but there were the faithful. Darla dressed as Maid Marian, I think. She loves to play during this time of year . . . I mean nicely. Get your heads outta the gutter!

Blast From My Past

Thanks, Walt, for the picture. Man, was that really me over 40 years ago?

This was taken at Aliamanu Intermediate just before going to the Poly Cult Center.

Brennen's Last Nite

The Top of Waikiki turns slowly, about one revolution per hour, where you can scan the horizon while you dine on steaks, pork chops and various delectables.

Dwane misses him already and he hasn't even left yet.

When I feel I've over done it on vacation

I just take a look at this and feel MUCH better . . .

Chris From Canada

Senior Frogs Opening In Waikiki

What fun!

If yuh gotta go, you may as do it in style while at Senior Frogs!

Duck Tours

Taking the Duck Tour today entailed a trip to Hanauma Bay, snorkeling and roasting under the July sun. My skin feels the tightness setting in. Soon my skin will peel like strips of bark.

Brennen took some photos underwater, catching some good shots of the surviving sea creatures. The bay's reef is trampled by looky-loo visitors. Sad, really. Nature boy would have something caustic to say, no doubt.

A van took us back to Koko Marina where all this began and there we boarded the Duck, a big yellow amphibious vehicle that was built to last for just a few months during WWII. Someone had a good eye to keep them working all this time.

A Hawaiian girl drove the land routes of the Duck and gave some interesting points to the things we saw around Hawaii Kai, Kai being short for Kaiser, the one responsible to developing that area of the island. Captain Ron took us out on Maunalua Bay for a brief tour of the bay. Short and sweet, but interesting to see that the boat could still float and function without falling to pieces . . . I was sure it would at the time.

All in all, a fun way to spend the day and all for $40.00 a person. Quack Quack!

B's Back In Town

. . . and getting older. He's taller and has a lot more hair these days.



We went for a ride on the Maita'i catamaran and got toasted by the sun. I can still feel the heat on my face. Ow.

This was taken back at the Sand Bar with B sitting a respectful distance from the bar. Hotel policy is silly since it serves food on the premises. The policy goes against all protocols and good manners. It's as if the hotel management doesn't trust their employees, like the bartenders, not to serve alcohol to someone that is obviously under 21.

If My Nose Was Running Money

A hoot to listen too.

Young Men And War

My Two Cents:

I finally got to meet T's nephew, D, along with his friends who are also serving in the Marines. The resemblance is uncanny, a young T, and just as real a human being as T. Can the world be so lucky?

D is in the Marines, training here in Hawaii. The odds that he would be here on the island and T bumping into him at the Waikiki Sand Villa Resort checking into a room was an amazing work of bon chance.

Hearing T and D talking, solidified the stories T told us of his nephew and brothers and sister. What a family. T's really proud of D. Easy to understand that.

It pains me that he may have to go to Iraq, unless there is a sharp change in war plans. To join the military puts you in a position to pull duty you may not care for. I wonder if he understands that? I convinced myself that I did when I joined the Army and ended up going to Viet Nam. I realized, of course, I didn't have a clue. And me from a military family!

My wish for D is that he does his duty well and not succumb to the propoganda machine worth a couple of long paragraphs, but I shan't go there.

I don't care what some people may negatively say about a young person serving in the military. It can be done if you remember who you are, where you came from and why you joined in the first place. From what I've gathered from T, D's a fine boy from a good Italian family with good solid upbringing. My wish is that T's nephew survives the military unscathed.

He's no terrorist for the US of A as some would suggest. He's just a boy who feels he's doing the right thing. I can understand that.

Had a ball playing with these photos. That Picasa is a handy program.

Cinco Di Mayo

Cinco Di Mayo

Tom brought his sombrero and we all had to ham it up. Julie, Romana and Loretta looked good.

Erin Go Brah!

Erin go brah!

God, what a bunch of boozers. Found this one on my harddrive and forgot to post it. The Power Rangers

Jody Ballesteros

Remember this face. I remember her coming to work for HMSA five years ago, a young kid. Still is.

Now she is going to be a famous comic. I took this picture of Jody on her last day at work. That was on April 17th. I didn't know she had given notice. I was stunned!

She owes me a dollar. Heck, she can keep it. She'll just have to take off a dollar from my ticket when she appears on Def Comedy shows, or has her own television show.

She'd make it work.

We'll be routing for you Jody. Good luck!

Aloha Don Ho

Auwe, so sad. At first, when I heard that the local talent Don Ho passed away, I thought it was a joke, and a tasteless one at that. Another era marked for history among the islanders. Auwe.

Good-bye Don. You will not so easily be forgotten. I'll still hear your songs in my mind and I'll certainly keep them in my heart. Thanks for the songs that kept my head on straight when I lived on the Mainland. Thanks for the songs that brought me back home.

Sing with the angels.

St. P's Day

Kahi came on shift and looked like he had a hangover, but actually, he's a dad and the kids are tiny, so you can deduce that he's been busy changing diapers and bottle feeding the tikes all day and night.

Nah, sounds more interesting that he tied one on, yeah?

St. Patrick's Day (night)

St. Patrick's Day In Waikiki.

Megan joined us to help celebrate the begora thing. She's the next best thing to sliced bread.

Warm Winter

Omigosh! Warmest winter we've had in a long time. Last year, we were tempted to build arks so we could collect two of every creature on the island, but now? The warm days, and warm rainy days at that, were different and, I dare say, welcome. Never cared for the cold. Cool days are fine, but cold? Nah.

This can only mean one thing, if we have nearly rainless winters. Dry summers. Brush fires. Doom, gloom, despair, water rationing and more construction on the water table lands (a smart move by some college graduayte (misspelling intended).

Saint Pat's Day is tomorrow. The boys will be out celebrating their Irishness. I'll be drinking green drinks (mmmmmmmm). Gotta find a shamrock to go with my green shirt. Betcha Dwane's got a million trinkets I can choose from. Dontcha Dwane?

Whoops, One Too Many Beers?

And this was just after his third beer.

Happy Birthday Tom

Tom returned from Las Vegas where he met his familia and from what I understand, he had the time of his life. He's not a gambler . . . no, really, he's not . . .

His birthday today. We decked him with a couple of leis and handed him a card rubbing in the fact that he was getting older. I think people like that.

Drinks all around. Don, Bob, Dwane and I met him at the Sand Bar and toasted more times than I could count. Good thing he took time off tomorrow.

New Dawn?

Saddam is dead. Think that will improve things? I am leaning toward the opinion that it won't help much.

Even with a new Congress, I tend to believe it will not improve with the new members holding the reins of power, however fragile their grip. Sorry, Ms. Pelosi, but I see little changes for 2008. Call me a pessimist.

Knowing humanity as I do, and I'm no expert mind you, the "Culture of Corruption" is here to stay for a loooooooong time.

Resurrection

I think I'm feeling better. Had a real bout with body pains and aches I thought not possible for the human body to endure.

I slept like for more of the day and well into the night. Dwane thinks I should see the doctors, but I think I just need to hibernate a little more to feel human again. Sux to feel like an animal.

Come sleep, take me!

The Weather Outside Is Frightful . . .

Seems like Hawaii is still trying to adapt to the changing of its axis. Cold one day, warm the next. Chilled one day, sweaty armpits the next. Gawd-awful!

High winds pretty constant and I'm wondering if I should really take out that old sweat shirt and wear it to work.

Nah, there's no snow outside. This is Hawaii!

The New Year Begins

How do we do it?


Dwane and I have been together for almost 14 years. We knew each other since we were well into our middle age. Now, we're really hitting the wall . . . okay, kidding.


Sitting in the new part of the lobby, the Sand Bar moved to, I feel, a nicer location. It sure was fun. Poor Dwane had a slight cold, but he fared well, seeing in the new year.


What the heck was I smiling so much about?







Gundy's picture.


Though he passed on, his spirit is with us still. We dressed him up for the new year.


What a guy.













Happy New Year Bob! Love the hat.









Of course, you can't have a celebration without our bud, Tom.

Happy 2007 everyone.

Can we hold off on the drinking for a while? I'm really think we need to exercise some temperance.

Who laughs!!?