Out of the house at 6:45am for a couple of Sausage Burritos from McDees to nosh on the road.
8:15am to 6:45pm in the studio being trained to be a “glory hole bitch” ¯ OK, that’s my phrase. The “glory hole” is the opening with much big flame from which all things arrive.
Here’s a great little video of SurfBetty making martini glasses with me as the assistant:
I didn’t get home until 8pm, didn’t get a steak into me until 9:30pm, which meant I stayed up late.
It’s always fun when friends swing through town on their way from London to Seattle to Portland to Denver, then Miami, Boston, back to Denver – at least that’s what I remember the schedule being.
It’s probably been ten years since we’ve have seen each other – was it on Lopez Island, or at their Pied-à -terre in Paris. I know it has been more recent that when I went to the Greek island of Sifnos for their 10 anniversary party since it’s now been 23 years they’ve been together.
I found the general location on Google Earth:
The town at the upper near right is Kastro, and their 6 hectare property (just shy of 15 acres) sits on the hillside looking towards the seaside town half a mile down a donkey path. The path in the other direction in half a mile gets you to the helipad.
With SurfBetty joining us for dinner and threw 4 smoked priprika links on the grill along with a couple of pounds of boneless country style ribs I’d been marinating all day. SB brought kale which he steamed, I did some asparagus on the grill, and a feta raspberry vinaigrette tossed salad made the meal.
Couple of bottles of French Red Wine washed it all down.
Damn fine time. Too bad SM leaves in the morning for the rest of his work trip.
I should have spent the day working on concepts for a client’s launch site, but didn’t. I did get the gathering registrations up to date and made a couple of stunning loaves of bread:
Fresh from the oven.
SurfBetty was running a little late from one of his clients and didn’t show up until 7:30, but did show up with a box full of all the stemware that we blew yesterday.
Three tall ones, seven short ones, and an orphaned bowl from a bad punte removal. No word on final pricing (assume north of $50) yet so if any of you loyal fans want a martini glass that Uncle Markie helped craft, get those wallets ready as we’ll be blowing again on Saturday.
Dinner was a couple of veal loin chops, oven roasted potatoes, a big salad, a bottle and a half of red and much good conversation, as usual.
Today was the first overcast day of our visit – pretty amazing considering it’s the rainy season. SurfBetty was back from the beach at 8:30 this morning – the water was just too rough and it was beating him up, blowing him all over the place, and generally just fatiguing him.
Breakfast was toast and a couple of sunny side up eggs (didn’t break either of the yokes this time), lunch was a couple of roll-ups made from last night’s jambalaya which had soaked up all the liquid while stored overnight in the fridge.
Finally finished The Thirteen Petalled Rose by Adin Steinsaltz – A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Belief…. How’s that for some light vacation reading… seven days to get through 181 pages of dense material… rereading paragraphs when my mind started to wander. In the second to the last chapter, entitled Mitzvot, one of the easier chapters, I came across this lovely quote…
“Eating is not a hedonistic act, it is a ceremony.”
Next up is the J.A. Jance, J.P. Beaumount mystery, A More Perfect Union…. Much more like beach reading. Now if the sun will just come back!
SurfBetty was back in the water in the afternoon with the fins and snorkel which I was planning on leaving here – but SurfBetty is going to haul home, though probably in the backpack I picked up yesterday. No late afternoon surf since the conditions are just too choppy – didn’t make for good snorkeling either.
But at 6:30 we are off to a Hula presentation on the beach, just a couple of blocks from the hotel. Well, SurfBetty was down there… I started watching 60 Minutes with John Gotti (captivating) and was getting ready to head out the door when a huge squall rolled in and according to SB they shut down all the electricity to the stage… so no Hula for me. Glad I was slow to leave the room.
This is a SurfBetty shot from last night’s show. And of parrots nibbling on them….
And here is where we are hoping to have lunch on our final day, the Pink Palace, a.k.a. The Royal Hawaiian.
The Sheraton Waikiki is next door – they were just building it when SurfBetty was here at 13 – 40 years ago.
Dinner tonight is saffron rice with mushrooms and onions, and chicken thighs with a little BBQ spice on them, fried in the Wonder Skillet™, with the rice done in the Pyrex Dutch Oven. More Kitchenette Kooking™ tips!
SurfBetty no surf this morning… something about sleeping in – in anticipation of a red-eye flight back to the mainland this evening at 10:30pm.
As we look back on the week plus, this shot never got posted, and SurfBetty finally agreed to it. It’s a take on the old Coppertone® commercial from years ago:
It was from his first day of surfing, and the resulting burn from where he missed slathering up.
Got to go pack, I’ll update this at the airport later today…. Come back for the update.
EARLY EVENING UPDATE!!!!!!!!
A lovely lunch at the Pink Palace, a.k.a. the Royal Hawaiian — SurfBetties only previous Hawaii experience… no kitchenettes but I’m guessing a much better view.
SurfBetty had the Royal Greek Salad, I opted for the poke trio (octopus, shrimp, ahi) — apparently that seafood poisoning isn’s stopping me from having seafood.
Back to the hotel to lay about the pool and lobby area — SurfBetty went to return some coral to the beach as I mentioned something about it being bad JuJu to take rock or coral off the island.
Shuttle was 15 minutes late, but still got us to the airport by 6:45pm (for our 10:30pm flight). And that crazy Alaska doesn’t open it’s check in counter until three hours before flights, and we had to check-in with all the luggage we had This has happened before and it’s a gripe…. that and the fact that it took THREE terminals to finally find one that would print our boarding passes — really — one of the machines wasn’t even loaded with paper for either of the printers attached.
Baring that MINOR snafu — by 7:30pm we were in the Delta Sky Room having drinks courtesy of the reciprical agreements between Delta and Alaska Airlines.
And who knows — now that FaceBook is free on Alaska through the end of February, might post from 30,000 feet before we get our of range. Aloha Waikiki, hello Bellingham — luckily I can slept in the car on the way down (and while SurfBetty packs for his cleaning trip to Seattle.
Out of the house at 8:30am and into morning rush hour traffic. I can’t imagine doing that drive every morning. It didn’t start to normalize until past the University District. I didn’t make it to Camano Island until 10am.
By eleven the studio has been rearranged to move from a one-person blowing operation to a tag-team of blower and glory hole bitch. In the four hours that we blew we were able to make two of the tall double martini glasses, two of a single martini glasses, and two cordial glass prototypes. At three, SurfBetty’s ex-wife and still good friend took over for another couple of hours (this after she spent a couple of hours mowing the acre and a half of lawn).
Being relieved of my blowing duties, I moved to the kitchen to prep dinner while they continued to work.
Here is a wonderful shot of one of the whiskey glasses SurfBetty blew with another green assistant a couple of weeks ago:
Dinner was a pork loin roast with Caribbean seasonings, steamed asparagus, a green salad, and wine for SurfBetty and myself, and grape juice for Joanie.
The plan for tomorrow is that SurfBetty will get up early and blow, I’ll get up when I feel, and we’ll work on a new project for a couple of hours before he goes back to blowing for a bit before needing to clean up the shop, clean up the house, clean up the lawn trimmings as the studio owner returns tomorrow night.
The new project? One of the piece and SurfBetty and Joanie blew over the weekend was a superb screw-up. Putting the foot on a wine goblet, it broke off the blowing stick but didn’t hit the ground, so they grabbed it and put it in the annealler. What I saw reminded me of a shaman’s rattle, or talisman there being just enough of a hole to insert dried beans and then seal the hole. So, tomorrow, that’s what we are going to try and recreate on purpose.
SurfBetty was up and out early… the routine continues… but now with a new twist… I can actually cook a decent breakfast. Yesterday’s score of the electric skillet ($5 !!!)
Too bad I broke the second yolk… and speaking Kitchenette Kooking™, notice the butter “dish” at the upper right hand side of the skillet – it’s a washed out smoked oyster tin.
Nothing on the agenda today other than spending a little time in the sun and continuing my readings on Jewish Mysticism … such nice light vacation reading.
The Girlz called at cocktail hour to invite us up to their rooftop deck… I accepted, but SurfBetty headed back to the beach for another surf session – and I used this as an opportunity to copy the SurfBetty CD from the first day with the professional’s shots of SurfBetty in action.
Back at the room we used a third of the chicken stock (the rest has been frozen into ice cubes in the single tray they provided) to make an Italian Sausage Dirty Cajun Rice dish with a side salad (leftovers from this will be used for lunch time roll-ups).
Very quickly settling into a routine here… SurfBetty gets up at 5:30am, get’s the coffee made, gets his breakfast in him and then is out the door as the light is starting to break over the horizon. It’s the quiet time on the water in terms of people, and closest to the low tide, so better waves are coming in. Today’s waves were at 0-1 feet, 1-2 feet expected in for tomorrow.
Me, I sleep in, wake up to hot coffee, have my quiet time, work on the blog and basically putter until SurfBetty is back from the beach around 10 or so.
The Girlz, a.ka. Dos Lesbinas, have borrowed a car from their local friends – as we find out during the day of driving, a truly local “Hawaiian Jalopy”. Definition – a car that still runs, but many of the things on the car don’t work, but there are too many things wrong with it to justify the cost of fixing it. The list…
Power steering pump is shot – drives like a battleship
Speedometer intermittent
Owner filled it up with oil in front of the Girlz’ condo when dropping it off for them
But the radio and air conditioning work, unlike their other car they offered – and, all-in-all, don’t look a gift car in the mouth. If it gets dinged, no big deal – smashed, bigger deal, but not much.
First stop is Leonards for these Portuguese filled donut things called malasadas. I’m not much of a donut fan, but the are damn tasty – and always fresh out of the fryer.
Up the HI to the old North Shore highway (99) with a stop in Haleiwa for refreshments for some, and Hawaii license plates for myself and Julian (nice ones – state vehicle plates at 50% off).
Next stop was Pipeline – the famous North Shore surfing spot. We really lucked out here… easy parking for “The Battleship” and a shady spot on the beach to watch the surfing.
Jeanne and SurfBetty thought about trying out the boogie boards we had with us – I was making the argument that when there are two red flags flying (no swimming and serious rip tides) that it might be best left to the pros.
Next up it is shrimp truck time …. First up, Giovanni’s north end location (south end location just south of old Haleiwa town):
$13 for a plate of Shrimp Scampi with a side of hot dipping sauce, two scoops of rice and a wedge of lemon. Damn messy, damn tasty.
Back to Pipeline to see how the waves had changed in a couple of hours… the rest of the crew on the beach, me at a picnic table watching the White Rasta massage guy work over surfers.
With a quick stop at a fruit stand, we are off to the other famous (of many) shrimp trucks to try the deep fried coconut shrimp at Macky’s.
Ambiance wasn’t as good as Giovannis, but the coconut shrimp were very rich – we just got the shrimp, not the sides, so we each had two shrimp, which was perfect – I can’t imagine how I’d feel after eating an entire plate of shrimp that rich.
We take the direct route back to Honolulu (H2 to H1) to save a little time, but it still doesn’t stop us from getting caught in rush hour traffic on the way back to Kmart/Salvation Army on a supply run for the Girlz. They need glassware, a plunge blender (for smoothies) and a yoga mat… and I, of course, have to see if there are any new shirts or maybe even an electric griddle.
Jeanne snagged two glasses, I got a Hawaiian Airlines wine glass for my collection, and most importantly, I found a really cheap (because of one broken handle) electric skillet — $5.00! And it works – plugged it in and 5 second later the thing was getting toasty. Score! I guess that means tomorrow’s post will all be about kitchenette cooking.
After a further supply run to Safeway (with Jeanne parked for half an hour in the loading zone because of the steering) we were all frazzled and ready to part company after a long, lovely day.
SurfBetty and I ended up just having a poo-poo platter around 8 and calling it dinner, and then called it a night.
When SurfBetty came back from the beach, we were off on the “efficiency run”… take the Hilo Hattie shuttle to the main Hattie store, drink the juice, cruise through the store, out the exit, down the Nimitz two blocks to hit, first, the Salvation Army:
3 quart Pyrex Dutch Oven
Blue Tag 50% off 100% silk Tommy Bahama second label pea green shirt
Then, off to the Kmart across the street for:
Microwave omelet cooker
Tons of groceries
Back to Hilo Hattie to catch the shuttle back to the hotel.
Got the call from Darcie and Jeanne who are staying in a condo over Hulu’s – which is the gay bar in Waikiki – that’s nice. Apparently a good bar with a view of Diamond Head.
Within the hour they are over for a poo poo platter which then turns into a light dinner… don’t we look slightly out of focus on the balcony?
Looks like we are going on a road trip tomorrow. WooHoo! Darcie and Jeanne’s friends have a car to loan us tomorrow so we can take the island tour… something about a shrimp truck somewhere. It’s Darcie – I’m signing on.
After the girls were gone, and the dinner dishes cleaned…. It was time to put the Dutch Oven to use… making chicken stock in a microwave. Who would have thought – less than an hour later, we have eight cups of chicken stock (complete with using the left over lime rinds from our drinks, but only a couple, to give it a little zest). The quest is to figure out how to cook decent meals in a limited kitchenette – trust me, at the Salvation Army I was looking for 1-2 burner electric grills/griddles/burners which extended into the Kmart camping section looking for camp stoves, etc. In the end, we are making do with the microwave and the Pyrex Dutch oven…. I hear you can do Prime Rib in one.
FYI – it’s about 40 minutes to make chicken stock from bones and water in a microwave.
Hell, we even recycled the upper plastic cover from the grocery store roasted chicken into a fruit bowl for the bar.
Who would have thought that Darcie and Jeanne would have booked a trip in September and SurfBetty and I booked in December without any communication would have resulted in being a block and a half away from each other somewhere in Hawaii.
Just another day of screwing around on the ranch followed by an impromptu dinner invitation from Swanda. It a great deal: I bring the protein; he provides the salad and booze. And I pick up my accumulated packages while I’m at the apartment. Of the three packages awaiting me, one was for Swanda, one was for Hummingbird (from Canada who also uses us as a mail drop) and the one for me wasn’t the one I was expecting, so it was unexpected, as you would say. A t-shirt from the Oregon Department of Kick Ass from their last Kickstarter campaign and a Ring sweatshirt that I’m guessing belonged to her deceased father as we are/were about the same build.
Dinner was simple peasant fare of little lamb chops and a lot of cole slaw, washed down with a little whiskey for me, and not sure what Swanda was drinking (could have been water!).
It was an early meal and an early departure, which was good since SurfBetty showed up to drop off the talisman that we blew on Tuesday morning and picked up all the sample martini glasses for sorting, grading, final punte remains to grind off, feet (opposite of the bowl) signing and separating the firsts and the seconds (for pricing).
The first picture is of one of the talisman (filled with black beans to also make it a ceremonial rattle) and this semi-hand-blown oversized Cuervo 1800 Tequila margarita glass that I found in a thrift shop on my way home from blowing the talisman. I find it humorous since the wraps we were trying to apply are almost exactly the same colors as the ones on the margarita glass. It’s a cheap thank-you present for SurfBetty for the four days of blowing.
And our second and final shot of the day is of the talisman themselves shown in the order that they were blown. The first with its intense orange wrap over the swirled globe and filled with black beans, the second a plain swirled globe (the unopened martini bowl) filled with un-popped organic corn kernels, and the third (also filled with black beans) with a plain clear globe at the top and single bands of orange and black on either ends of the stem.
They are so gorgeous that now I have to make presentation boxes for them. And SurfBetty still has to swing buy and do a bit of grinding on the top and I need to find a better seal than a piece of scotch tape (cork? rubber? silicone?).
This week’s trip is mostly a mileage run from Bellingham to Maui because I got it for $300 round-trip. And it’s like 5,500 flight miles (11,000 including bonus miles for being MVP Gold). Plus, I got upgraded to First Class in both directions!
Bellingham is about two hours north of Seattle – and morning traffic wasn’t particularly good, so add at least another 30 minutes. Parking right in front of the terminal is $12 a day, $4 a day if you want to do off-airport parking and shuttle it.
This is what I look like at the end of the drive:
Catnapping on the furniture.
And the flight is going to be longer than normal – they are reporting 125mph headwinds. So long that we have to stop in San Jose for more gas. Since I’m in First I don’t care about the delay, especially since Alaska has offered everyone on the plane an eVoucher for $100 off their next flight.
Just the pretzel pack and drinks BLI-SJC, lunch on the SJC-OGG (Maui) leg. And it wasn’t the new “small plates” menu. That might be a stretch for Bellingham catering to pull off:
Today’s menu – being in 4D I had to wrestle to get the last piece of fish:
It was a fun ride getting into the airport at Maui – the pilot pulled up at the last minute and came around for a second try. Once I got outside I understood why – 20mph winds with 70 degree rain. It was so fun inspecting a rental car for prior damage while getting soaked. It was just nice to get checked into my room – though I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. Far corner of the property away from the beach, view of the parking lot.
For dinner I tried out the restaurant attached to the hotel – hoping it would be acceptable because I didn’t want to go back out in the storm…turns out it reviews fairly well on Trip Advisor, and confirmed when I saw the people dining there – TONS of locals with a few hotel residents mixed in:
I order from the Filipino section of the menu:
I went with the combination Adobo chicken and the Pork with Peas & Pimientos:
With a scoop of rice and the overly-mayonnaised macaroni salad. Back to the room after dinner to work on the Evan Williams and Diet that I picked up at the Walgreens on the way to the hotel.
Turns out I got the worst room in the place from the parking lot conversations outside my window and the handicap entrance door banging all night. Stopped by the office late morning so see if I could switch rooms – nothing with a king-size bed ready to move into – I told her that the chances of me getting “lucky” on this trip were slim, so I happily accepted a slightly smaller room with two queens (bed, not boys).
And the view is much better than the parking lot!
I’m liking the digs much better, but I’ve got errands to run – time to hit the thrift shops for bargain Hawaiian shirts! And did I score!
I especially love the Hello Kitty baseball cap which I needed because I forgot a hat on this trip – a no-no for a bald dude. And I picked up a little poke at Whole Foods for an afternoon snack!
And one of my favorite shots from the trip:
Cocktail. Shorts. Barefoot. Poke. View. Life is good. Speaking of views – beautiful sunset on from my little porch:
After checking out Trip Advisor reviews, without driving for a bit, I was best off back at Tante’s Island Cuisine. Last night I started the meal with a “martini up” and got this (after several back-and-forthes with the waitress who definitely wasn’t skilled in any cocktail knowledge – and I was amazed it was on the menu since I didn’t see what looked like a bar to me.
Old-school two parts gin, one part dry vermouth. Tonight’s “dry martini-up” came a little closer, but still a little heavy on the vermouth. I’m thinking this is more of a beer place:
On tonight’s menu was the mixed platter with the teriyaki beef, kalua pork, purple potato salad, panko crusted fish, pasta alfredo – a cornucopia of food regions!
Just FYI – these two meals have also served as my brunch as well – two for the price of one!
Those who follow my posts know that I find a certain fascination with what various hotels call “ice buckets” – today’s example is your 32oz Styrofoam cup that these folks use in place of ice buckets:
At least you can assume nobody has thrown up in a disposal oversize cup (well, maybe).
Morning comes and its time for the final selfie from the hotel:
Maybe I should have booked another night, but alas, I have to work my Friday shift for the month. Time to head to the airport, gassing up the car along the way – nice 1951 F100 (last year before they went to the F150):
Got the car returned (once I found the rental return place, which isn’t that close to the airport), and found this amazing hot dog stand in the airport – two bad I was full from the leftover Kalua Pork and Teriyaki Beef!
Had a couple of drinks at a Sammy Hagar bar in the airport before boarding the direct (this direction) flight back to Maui.
Think I was working on a blog post, or maybe I was just killing internet zeros and ones.
Different menu for the return flight:
Should have gone for the Bulgogi – the Mahi Mahi was a little on the dry side – live and learn. I cared more about getting the potatoes rather than the rice, but the salad was excellent!
Fight was running late so I didn’t get to Bellingham until almost 11pm – good thing I’d arranged with SurfBetty to crash at his place – not good to drive two hours after drinking for five. And it was really good to catch up with him – don’t get to spend enough time hanging out with him. And drink into the night we did for in the morning I need to be up at 8am so I can open the shop at noon.
He was kind enough to send me off with home homemade bacon/eggs/cheese sandwiches.
It was a good day for getting books into the Libboo system. I completed:
The Anthology of Sign of the Times
One issue of Sign of the Times — A Chronicle of Decadence in the Atomic Age (Volume 5, Number 3)
Piglettè Issue 17 (Kansas City)
The Piglettè issue will be Libbo’s first ever graphic novel. Hopefully in the next couple of days, these will post to the Amazon and Barnes and Noble sites. I have all the files from Piglettè Number One (Argentina) converted and ready to assemble.
Today’s Swanda health update:
After a couple of rough days, Chris is back in the saddle again. That saddle being about to have normal paced conversations (45 minutes with his boss, 15 with me) rather than the winded couple of words at a time conversation of the last week or so. He is regaining some strength through his Physical Therapists which means he’s been able to start standing (though it doesn’t sound like for long periods of time) and moving to his wheelchair to sit for a couple of hours. They have also been working on getting his legs and feet cleaned up (lots of cracking and calluses) so they are looking better than in the previous months.
Truly, I was amazed in the change in just the last day, I saw him Thursday afternoon as he was sort of in and out of nap zone, but today on the phone he sounded like the Chris from early December. He is still on the oxygen mask at night, but during the day he’s back to just the oxygen tube.
His sister Janet showed up this morning and will be with him through the weekend.
Dinner tonight with SurfBetty whose computer has been in my “rehab facility” to free up more space on his QuickBooks machine. Yep, a laptop devoted to one program. Cheaper than upgrading QuickBooks 2003 to QuickBooks 2010 (which runs on Windows 7).
Marinated flank steak, slaw, saffron rice for SurfBetty. Nice meal.
Four people spent the night in the condo… Joe, CaddyDaddy, SurfBetty, and, of course, me.
SurfBetty was up and out early, and the three of us packed up all the remaining food and booze and were out the door at 11:30. With no cooktop, that meant breakfast as back at the house rather than in the penthouse. You’d think they could have made the penthouses with a full kitchen. I can understand the rest of the rooms at the Camlin, but I guess they think that since you are in the big city that you won’t be cooking your meals.
The afternoon was spent unpacking, repacking, and generally cleaning up the place a bit. Nothing like multiple trips to leave you with stuff lying around everywhere.
Dinner tonight is via a Groupon Coupon for Shilla, a Japanese/Korean restaurant that I have long loved.
Sadly, the bloom is off the rose and all we are left with is thorns. It wasn’t that bad, but it’s under new ownership and management and things have gone downhill. The best example is our in-table grill wasn’t working and we were given a portable one which hogged most of the table. In the end it seemed like a lot of money for the quantity and quality of the experience.
And now we know why they have been offering Goupons.
This is Joe’s last night in town, back to work he goes.
The flight isn’t until 6pm, and even though it’s out of Bellingham (2 hours north), it still means there is time in the morning for more sanding and sealing. I’m looking forward to 3 days to let my carpal tunnel built-up subside.
Left a little early to hang out with SurfBetty for half an hour before continuing onto the airport which is about 10 minutes north of him. He was working on getting the photo studio set up so he can photograph all his new glassware so that then I can put together a website to sell it all. Finally, a paying gig!
While at SurfBetty’s place I got THREE text messages from Alaska Airlines. My 6pm flight is now at 6:47pm, my 6pm flight is now at 7:45pm, and my 6pm flight is now at 6:45pm. The flight was an hour and 20 minutes late getting in from Las Vegas, but we did actually get out of their at 6:45. Before I go further, check out the new Bellingham Airport Terminal:
Really nice, and free wi-fi. And there is Mr. Lobster having a Diet Coke while he waits to load.
He’s from Boston, the plane says Alaska, and we are headed to Hawaii, in STYLE.
Yes, Mr. Lobster had a First Class seat to himself for the whole trip. I do think he may be getting spoiled. Actually the other two bulkhead seats were open in first class as well, something I’ve never seen flying out of Seattle (and the reason I flew out of Bellingham, for the free upgrade, and, of course, the miles).
It was after eleven (plane landed on time at 9:20, having made up the 45 minute delay) by the time the turtle-like hotel shuttle got me to the Royal Kuhio to pick up the key, walk to the Fairway Villa, dump my bags and head out for groceries. Talk about a convenient location, the Food Pantry (the largest grocery store in Waikiki) is at the end of the block from my condo. Score.
Picked up breakfast stuff and some poke to nibble on with my nightcap.
Checked email (phone tethered to computer, no free wi-fi), logged in to Alaska Airlines and found I’ve been upgraded for the return (red-eye) trip on Thursday. Same seat, but less food. No full dinner as they are expecting you sleep, and with the selection on the DigiPlayer, that might we what I do. On the way over watched two movies: Win Win, and some middle-kid coming of age story, Adventures of a Geekie Kid or some such thing.
As I was getting dressed this morning I realized that I haven’t worn long pants all week. It’s a nice feeling.
Today’s mission is to hit the Hilo Hattie giant tent sale. Don’t know what was wrong with the shuttle bus, but it took almost 50 minutes for it to show up at the stop down the street.
Big deals were to be had in their parking lot under the tent – tons of $9.99 shirts all the way up to 5x… some (like one of the ones I got – the red one) marked down from $53.99.
The only problem for me was that the2XL selection was pretty well picked over – apparently there are a lot of chunky guys here in Hawaii. The sandals were $2.99, the backpack $8.99 and the license plates and T-shirt were from previous shopping expeditions.
Got a little sun in the afternoon before turning my attention to dinner. And here is your Kitchenette Kooking™ tip of the day… use the frozen cubes of chicken stock to keep the ahi and octopus pupu platter chilled.
Dinner tonight was a jambalaya with Portuguese sausage and a side salad – after the substantial pupu platter after SurfBetty returned from his late afternoon surf.
Then relaxes on the lanai (that’s white person for deck):
And then for cocktails on the deck in his new shirt and hat combo from the Food Pantry:
Before a surf and turf dinner (Mr. Lobster being the Surf!):
Meanwhile, I’m the one who spent most of the day hunched over a computer (well, except when I went out with Señor Lobster to get a Hawaiian shirt and hat for him).
And I almost forgot to give you the video of the room — which someone already commented on YouTube about my “puke video” camera work:
That video is for SurfBetty to see if the room is better than ours in February.
Yes, once again I flew to Hawaii, this time by myself, this time just for the miles.
Miles? Really? Well – its 2715 miles each way for a total of 5430, and as an Alaska Airlines MVP Gold I get a 1005 bonus, meaning 10,860 miles in my account (sadly the bonus miles do not count toward Elite Qualification for next year, so I’m a little over 10,000 miles shy of MVP Gold for 2016). With the price I paid for the ticket ($282.40), that means a cost per mile of $.026 per mile. Anything under $.05 is considered good since I can usually get about $0.10 worth of value out of miles since I usually use them for international business class tickets.
But don’t you have any pictures? Of course. Here is my “office” at Scotty Browns Social House whose Wi-Fi seemed to be down:
And the funniest sign to see in a secure area of the airport (i.e. past security):
Yep, Firearms Prohibited. It’s Washington State Law that all drinking establishments have that sign.
Got upgraded to First Class on the way to Honolulu…so I was comfortable and fed (though I’m getting a little tired of the same meal for the last three trips):
Since the flight was a little early, I actually got to check out the Delta Sky Club and see their new room and see the hostesses I know so well. Nice digs:
Unfortunately the booze is no longer self-service since the front desk doesn’t have a direct line-of-sight to monitor the bar. Still had time for three cocktails and some snacks.
Even with the sleep on the plane I was DOA (Dead On Arrival) in Bellingham. Got to the car and took an hour and a half nap before driving home and taking another hour nap before leaving for Olympia and the College Recognition Dinner at The Evergreen State College.
I think that means it was a REALLY LONG day – all in the pursuit of miles and status.
Starting to work our way through the leftover food in the fridge… the last two eggs for breakfast, and a bagel with a salmon shmear. Yum.
Overcast in the morning, but perfect for hanging out on the Lanai working on the J.K. Jance detective novel.
2pm found me craving a meal out so down the street to Tiki’s I went – it’s on the second floor of the Aston Waikiki with a nice view of the beach. Oddly enough, my visit coincided with happy hour (2-5pm) so a couple of margaritas on the rocks to go with my grilled pastrami on rye – terribly Hawaiian, don’t you think.
Got back and settled in on the Lanai… and then the maids came… off to the pool with me, let them work in peace.
And at the pool is where it happened… I finished the book. Six hours to knock off 345 pages of pulp fiction… after taking a week to slog through 181 pages of religious texts. I wonder which was better for my soul?
The Girlz called for cocktails on their rooftop deck, so off I went – that will also make the Jameson last through the evening. And I was able to get a better flamingo shot looking down on the Honolulu Zoo…
SurfBetty was out on his last surf run of the trip unless he goes early in the morning.
Dinner was leftovers… got to get rid of the rest of the gin, whiskey, and wine… though when you put your glass in the ice bucket while having wine with dinner… it tends to end up like this:
That’s it for today for tomorrow brings the return to the doom and gloom of winter in Seattle.
Work then swing by the shop to pick up some of the goodies I’ve ordered over the last couple of days.
With baking bread (and cleaning up) there isn’t really any time to play with the toys. And we didn’t seem to get a run going, though he did 12 bottles open for tomorrow. Didn’t even get my compost crock lid reglued – must have been having way too much fun – as this barbeque abuse photo shows:
Dinner was sort of Greek inspired – seasoned lamb, tzatziki, the salad was a raspberry feta vinaigrette. Now how I forgot to open the Retsina I’ll never know.
Guess I’ll be pouring the Retsina for SuperModel who arrives on Saturday on the direct flight from London.
Needless to say, it wasn’t an early night. Luckily SurfBetty is sleeping over on the office bed.
Leave a passing comment »