Kaulapi World

Decided to take a mental break from studying, clean up around the house, run some errands, I have a few days more for my 3rd final than I had for the first two. Plan to get back in the grind later this afternoon, maybe try a different coffee shop for a change of scenery.

Went up to Maryland to pick up another earth box, potting soil and some starter plants. Starting earlier this year to take advantage o the good weather and maybe get some more veggies and herbs this summer than last. So far its looking like grape tomatoes, thai basil, italian basil, japanese eggplant, chinese squash, beans two types of goya. Last year I think I started it up too late in the season by the time the plants started producing it was getting too cold and they died off.

In driving up there I noticed that the only zipcar available was a civic hybrid, something that I had been meaning to test-drive, but never got around to. It pretty much drives like a regular automatic car, with the exception that there’s this battery gauge that swings from “assist” to “charge” depending on if you’re climbing up hill, or breaking. Also the engine cuts out when you’re sitting at a stop light. I suppose it takes some getting used to, I remember talking to someone a few years back when these cars first came out and she was concerned about not having the power or control over the car. I figure as long as the thing doesn’t die on you who cares about power.

Driving up to Maryland I passed a couple of signs at $4.01 a a gallon. Thats a big chunk of change for transportation. When prices of a good or service doubles and triples in a short time frame of months or years, you either adjust your consumption behaviors or continue to throw money down a hole. It seems to be the big story in the news lately, although a lot of media time is being spent on people bitching about oil company profits when they really should be talking about the inflation caused by monetary money supply games. The scary thing about the energy costs going up is that you really can’t hide from it entirely. Even if you cut down on your driving, take the train or carpool, you end up paying for it at the grocery store since most of everything Americans consume is trucked in. While gas was $4.00 a gallon, diesel fuel was $4.22 at that same gas station.

I’m a big fan of zipcar after being a member for close to 2 years now. Being that I don’t have a parking space, and pretty much take the train to work and school, it makes a lot more sense to just rent a car when I need it rather than have to car payments, and insurance and worry about street parking permits. But the biggest benefit especially late is that the gas is free with the rental fees. I remember talking to someone at a party once who scoffed at the idea of even using car sharing programs, something to the effect of how she would never date someone that showed up in a zipcar. This was right before she started complaining about finding parking that night and how the price of gas which was then about $2.00. Lucky for me I was already happily attached at the time, but it kind of got me thinking about how ironic the statement is.

I suppose this is a girl who would appreciate a guy with the big bucks who could afford to blow money on her on top of having money to spend on a nice set of wheels. Then again when you really think about it, if the girl was really smart, she would realize that a guy who was economically aware to discern from good and bod choices would have even more money to spend on her. Then again, this type of guy probably would want nothing to do with such a money grubbing date.

At a certain price, paying for a certain good or service becomes impractical, and consumers seek more affordable alternatives.

Late April, and the finals crunch is here again. Been MIA from this journal for almost two months total now this year, its been hard to keep up with the posts with everything going on. Aside from getting flooded this past weekend, I also got to do some work travel, headed up to Philadelphia and Orlando for a few days. Had a chance to have dinner with my cousin and her husband at a place called Monk’s in downtown Philly, they had a variety of belgian beers, pretty tasty burgers, and a bunch of steamed mussel pots. Have to say that I was pretty impressed with how vibrant the downtown area was even on a weeknight, it kind of seemed like a scene in between NY and DC.

When I was on break from the conference I walked around the mall that was adjacent to the hotel. During lunch I got a good cuban plate at the food court, it was a no brainer to go there instead of the McDonalds, Panda Express and all the other standard food court fare. Happened to check out a surf shop that had a lot of brands from Hawaii, the kind that I used to check out a lot growing up. After a few minutes walking around I happened to glance at my reflection in one of the mirrors of myself wearing a coat and tie with the surfboards and racks of boardshorts behind me.

About a week back into classes and work is picking up as well. Looking like a busy spring is in store for me on many fronts. On a side note, I got a chance to make wonton, some for saimin and another batch to freeze for later. It had the flavor and feeling of home.

Still following the primaries for the upcoming 2008 presidential election, have to say that I’m still a little torn on the prospects that I’ll most likely be considering come November. I’m always amazed at how US politics has become a warped version of reality TV and a strange never ending talk show in which candidates field questions and are continuously giving speeches and smiling so hard that it hurts.

Meanwhile, AFC championship is coming up, New England v. San Diego in a rematch from last year’s divisional, this time the stakes are higher as the winner goes to the Superbowl in Glendale, AZ in a few weeks. Read an article online about how both Jr. Seau and Rodney Harrison were both former Chargers before coming to New England, but Harrison was able to get there in time to get a superbowl ring or two while Jr. is still gunning for his first in 18 years. Reading about the pursuit of perfection at a professional sports star level puts things into perspective, it shows the drive and dedication of some athletes to stick with goals for years and years. We’ll have to see how this season plays out, I have a feeling that this season will be memorable thats for sure.

Back home in Honolulu for a few weeks on a belated vacation and chance to not worry about work and school and what not. It’s been a little short of a year and a half since I’ve been in Honolulu, a lot of things have changed by way of the local businesses, it almost feels like I’ve visiting an entirely new city. Went to the Mai Tai Bar at Ala Moana, it had been several years since I had been there, I remember back in 2000, 2001 it was a brand new hang out and ended up becoming a sleeper success of sorts. I imagine that they originally thought it would be a place for shoppers and tourists to relax during the day, but instead it became a total local hangout pretty much 7 days a week. Natural Vibes was playing last night, I was reminded that they played at our Senior prom way back when they were still mostly a local reggae band.

Monday after fliying in we went with my folks to this Japanese izakaya in Mo’ili’ili that used to be this old drive in dinner next to a cemetary. The place had a very authentic Japanese feel to it right from when you walked in the door, and a whole bunch of interesting menu items, some traditional, some more modern. Dad wanted to sample some shouchu, since they had a special anniversary price. Its a lot like Awamori, but usually made from potatoes or brown sugar instead of rice. Not quite as strong either.

It has taken a few days to get used to the time difference, and get familiar with home again. I’ve been reminded that this gap in time has been the longest I’ve been away from home, during college and grad school I at least made it back 1, 2 times a year either for the holidays, or to take a class at UH. The professional career life and legal training in DC is another animal all together. Of course there is the perspective that living away from Hawaii provides you. I am constantly reminded how crazy and intense DC, such a concentrated amount of federal and commercial power in a tiny corner of the country, yet the far reaching affects of which can be felt here in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

Walking around my house late one night after my parents were asleep on the first night back brought back a lot of memories from my childhood, pictures on the shelves, my mom’s pottery, dad’s cluttered medical journals, the wild and living jungle in the backyard, the creaking floor in the living room. for the most part it seemed like a dream digging through old things in my old room it was almost like a different person used to live here a long time ago. Most notably are all of the books that I had accumulated through my years after I got back from Madison, when I was taking night classes at UH-Manoa and Kapiolani Community College and frequenting the few used bookstores in Honolulu. There was an old book I came accross written on the price of paradise, namely, the economic price of living in Hawaii. It was written almost 15 years ago, but some of the lessons I think are very relevant to this day.

Linkes 8/8/2007 Summer Vacation Edition
Bottle Cap O Rama
Demographic shifts in Hawaii
Tsukiji Fish Market (the restaurant)

Finished up my Corporations exam tonight, and I’m officially done for the summer now. As usual, I’m not sure how to gauge how I did. If its anything like how I did this past year, then I’ll be pretty happy with the results whenever they come in. I have to say that this is one of those classes that I think I got a lot out of regardless of how it turns out on paper. In all honesty I never thought I would find a class on corporate law as interesting as I did, I think part of it was the professor, but also the content of the course kept me pretty engaged in the material all these hot summer nights.

On the flip side it was pretty hanging tough through the last couple months or so, it was really like my spring semester didn’t end and carried on through the summer. looking back I realize that I have gone through the equivalent of 1 and 3/4 of law school, which would make me unofficially a 2.75 L going into the fall semester. not too bad considering this is my third year of night school, at this rate I may have the option of getting out a semester early, finishing 3.5 years total while working full time. It was really non stop, going for about 2 and a half years, I’m surprised I haven’t lost my mind just yet.

I’d like to think that I may finally be getting a real hang of things, at least the surprises and volume of material doesn’t seem as crazy, I’m able to read things quickly and get to the bottom line pretty quickly. All skills that might come in handy one day for sure. One thing for sure, It’ll be nice not having to rush out to catch a train at everyday during rush hour to head up to class, or lugging my laptop and textbooks everywhere I go. I’ll enjoy it for about a month before the next semester starts up again.

Earthbox update, I set up a flickr account to post some of the pictures. The humidity and heat are doing the plants well, the goya is now climbing up the net mesh and tomato plant stalk. I ended up saving some seeds from the chinese bitter mellon in place of the cilantro. we’ll see if that one sprouts as easily as the okinawan goya.

Linkes 7/5/07 - 7/16/07 (Law school notes edition)
Greatest boom ever, or just another bubble?
7 Sacred Pools of Oheo on Maui.
Web Back Machine - blogs and websites engraved in e-stone.
$12B a month. nuff said.
Talk about lowering the security clearance standards.

This morning, feeling even more like crap and looking at the forecast of 18 degree weather and possible snow, I decided to play it safe and take another sick day. Hopefully this isn’t the start of me getting burned out, since I think theres a lot of reason to be, especially looking back on the past year. I’ve been running on empty almost non-stop since about a year ago when I started the spring 2006 semester. I jumped straight from being a 1L (1E, depending) into summer school which the particular class happened to continue on from May to August right before the next semester. Then this past semester carried on through most of the break, finishing up my clinical work and then I jumped into the next semester. Amazingly I didn’t really get sick at all for much of 2006, either I was being healthy, or maybe my body was just running on adrenaline the whole year and I was just toughing it out.

All and all its been relatively nice and relaxing staying home, aside from feeling like total crap I have to say its nice to just lounge around, sleep in, watch some TV, make some saimin and otherwise just get some rest. It really has been ages since I’ve been home without some work deadline, exam, or paper breathing down my neck. Thats what I’ve been telling people lately, when I take a day off or make good a flex schedule I’m actually allocating time to study and study. I think the biggest change is the role reversal of sorts, instead of coming home late for a change I’m being domestic. Time fo stey home, cook rice.

Had another strange dream last night where I was at some kind of a Jamaican restaurant of sorts and stumbled onto a weird high school reunion on a long table that filed the entire room and went on and on. Had a few awkward moments in trying to explain what I’ve been up to for the past several years, and all that stuff. The dream went in sequences, in which I ran into a number of people with whom I haven’t talked to in years. I also remember eating a lot of jerk chicken and thinking that it was a pretty good place, I need to come back.

Just last week I went to this really good seafood place downtown and had one of those crab and oyster towers. I always see other people ordering them but I’ve never been able to answer to those sea otter cravings. I was pretty amazed at the number of fresh Hawaiian fish they had available on the menu. It was all and all pretty pricey, but impressive.

Linkes for 1/25/2007
Medicare costs and other problems.
Graphical breakdown on the costs of Iraq war.
More discoveries on MRSA infections
God who wasn’t there Documentary
More Youtube finds:
Fantan Mojah Live - Hungry and Others
Boy Ken featuring Tony Curtis - Pretty Looks
Metis - Mi Strong Woman

Originally I reserved this tag 1.4.07 to get me to write a new year’s entry, but never got around to it. Jase is right to bug me for more timely updates but I’ve been pretty strapped for time getting ready for the next semester and taking care of some other things. What I did do was collect some linkes for the day in things I read up on that sparked my interest:

Raising compassionate children as opposed to selfish bastards.
New congress’s agenda for the first 100 Hours and another take on it here.
An interesting a blog about money found on the ground - and invested.
Upcoming Court Martial of Lt. Watada and the media circus.
More evidence of global warming 2007 to be the warmest year ever?
DC area housing: Cityline @ Tenley | North Cleveland Park | Reno Road

“Yosenabe - Okinawan Sweet Potato Version”