Monkey in the Monkey Pod Tree!

Today we have to go home -- boo. But at least we'll get to see Spammy,
Musubi, and Tiffknee. Yay!

Update 4/12/8 East Coast time: Now we are home. Since we had problems with getting a stable internet connection for my computer at Rebecca's house, I didn't post as many pictures as I would have liked while we were away. So now I'm going to add them in to the posts I made from my phone.

The monkey pod tree that Kenji is hanging from is at Moanalua Gardens, a privately run park near where Rebecca lives. Moanalua Gardens is home to the famous corporate icon, the Hitachi Tree. Our visit was an unsuccessful attempt to find letterboxes, but we had fun nonetheless.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of Japanese tourists taking photos of the Hitachi Tree. :)

Don't steal $5,000 and run away when you are 15

Thursday morning we enjoyed brunch with Rebecca at Duke's in Waikiki.

I noticed this little girl watching Rebecca, and I made the mistake of telling Rebecca she had an audience. Rebecca then launched into a ten minute one-sided conversation with the little girl telling her she should always listen to her parents and that she should not steal $5,000 from them and then run away when she is 15. I think the little girl's parents were feeling frightened yet entertained all at the same time. ;)

Shirokiya Day

Wednesday was a pretty rainy day so we spent most of our time shopping at Hilo Hattie and visiting Ala Moana. We think it's cool that you can now drive through the mall (between the old part of the mall and the new Nordstrom's wing), but the new stuff really isn't all that exciting. However, Shirokiya is still fun. :) I like their pretty new mochi ice cream display.

Before we found the new mochi ice cream display, we had a little bit of eats from the Shirokiya cafeteria upstairs. Kenji was feeling a bit under the weather and got a little boost of energy from a chicken teriyaki musubi. I of course had some peanut butter-filled mochi.


I found a cute egg with chicken legs-shape masher. Of course I had to get it because it says "Mashy" on the package. Plus the package says it's perfect for mashing eggs and potatoes too (little do they know I will also use it for mashing apple and pear sauce).

Happy Birthday Dave!

Gramma's House

We took a picture of Gramma's house so she can know it's ok. :)

Battlecat Rebekkaka Action Figure Museum!

Zippy's Saimin

With a little fishcake! :)

Mud

A giant slice of mud pie is the perfect ending to a very muddy hike up
to Wiliwilinui Ridge. Yum!

Cotton Candy Man

Above is Kenji in charge of the cotton candy machine at Ange's 1st birthday party at Ala Moana Beach Park. Between the cotton candy, the Dora the Explorer bouncy house, the cheat pinata and all our friends, it was a real good time.

I think the adults may have had more fun with the bouncy house than the kids did, though the kids definitely had more energy.

Proof!

The Rest of Friday

Yep so now we're back at Rebecca's and I can post the other pictures we took while out vacationing today.

I began this morning by taking a little walk in Salt Lake. Then Kenji dropped me off at Ward Centre and I got my nails and hair done at Paul Brown. The lady who did my manicure is named Helga and she was a lot of fun to talk to, 

and she gave my hands and arms a nice massage that wasn't like beating me up like the massage I got yesterday. :)

After that Kenji and I went to see the movie Juno at the dollar theater. We were planning to go see Cloverfield, but we arrived at the theater at 1:30 pm or so only to discover that Cloverfield wasn't scheduled to start until 4:30 pm. It was a good thing because I think I enjoyed Juno a lot more than I would have enjoyed Cloverfield.

Next we drove by Kenji's old apartment on Date Street on our way to get some Jamba Juice in Kapahulu. We took our Jamba Juice to Kapiolani Park where I tricked Kenji into taking me for like a three mile walk all the way around the park and through Waikiki and back. Along the way we visited the ocean at Kaimana Beach where we stuck our toes in the water for a few minutes. We also said hello to the fishies in the tank that's in the front of the Waikiki Aquarium. The candy cane strip shrimp is getting big. I 

tried to take a picture of him but he was mostly hiding behind other stuff in the tank.

So as I mentioned, we walked all the way through Waikiki and boy were we surprised when we got to Lewers Street. This picture on the right was taken from the Ewa side of the street on the second floor. Back before we moved away from Hawaii it used to be that you couldn't even do that. Never mind all that green grass you see there and the little fountains you see there. All the junky buildings must have been knocked down and are now all rebuilt, set back from the street in nice curvy lines and filled with two stories of trendy shops and restaurants. Instead of having our dinner in any of these new places we went around the block to Arancino's on Beach Walk and had prosciutto and arugula pizza. 

Even though we really didn't pig out we felt like we did. So we slowly wandered back through Waikiki towards Kapiolani Park. Along the way we saw a couple of hula shows going on, and right near the second one I got a free hug from a guy holding up a sign that said "Free Hugs". He was hanging out on the side walk with a girl who was also holding up a free hugs sign. You can kinda-sorta see the guy in this picture but not the girl. They were cute and were getting lots of hugs from passers-by.

I took the free hugs picture from a little patch of grass we decided to lie down on for a while to digest our pizza. This was the view we had looking up. Not bad for a junky phone picture in the dark.

With pizza sufficiently digested, we continued on poking along down Kalakaua. We visited the ABC Store and then while we were looking at Indian Head coin necklaces in a jewelry store window we heard the usual Friday night fireworks going off way down by Magic Island. I was able to catch a glimpse of them from where we were standing. 

Well, I'd love to be able to show you that picture and also the one I took of us in the mirror at Bubbie's, but there seems to be something really wonky with my computer and the cable modem at Rebecca's house and it's taking forever for me to upload my pictures to Blogger. I wanna go to sleep already and plus my battery is starting to get low so maybe I'll try to finish this post tomorrow!

Mochi Ice Cream Yum!

More Waikiki Friday

Huh?

So we're at Jamba Juice on Kapahulu, and they are playing Rockin
Around the Chistmas Tree. What gives??!

Aloha,
Marsha

Sent from my iPhone

First Date Place

It's closed now, so I took a picture while the floor is still there...
Along Kalakaua, near Kalia...

Today in Waikiki

Genki Sushi Stinkeye Sign

Zippy's!

So we were telling Tiffknee and other NJ friends about Hawaii plate lunches and how they come with one scoop mac salad and two scoops rice. Today Kenji and I went to Zippy's for chili and rice, and he got his plate lunch style with a hot dog.

Anyway here's the before...

And here's about a minute and a half later...

The End. :)

We're in Hawaii!

Last night we arrived in Hawaii. We are staying with our friend Rebecca, but before we went to her place, we stopped in at Long's to pick up some NyQuil since we were both feeling a little funky. It was really cute, as soon as we walked in, we both said, "Mmmm... smells like Longs!" It was like being home. :)

This morning we slept in a little bit and then went to get massages at noontime. I have not gotten massages very often, and I think this one must have been the first real massage I ever had. It kinda felt more like getting beat up. I'm still all sore in my shoulders and neck! But maybe it will feel good in a few days.

This evening we went to yooj with HTDC friends and our former landlady at Brew Moon. It was fun to see everyone and catch up over greasy pupus and drinks.

Now Kenji is playing the original Super Mario Brothers on the Wii with Rebecca's boyfriend Mark. They're up to world 8 already. Ok gonna post pictures of our Zippy's chili lunch and then it's time for bed!

Game Two

...Was not as good as game one because we lost 5-4. D'oh!

The Rest of the Game

So I was trying to blog while at the game yesterday, but for some reason my cellphone service went kapooey and I was unable to upload anymore photos. Oh well, it's not so bad because now at least I can crop the photos, like this one of The Other Kenji. We were sitting in left-center field, in the first row, right above the Mariners' bull pen, were we got to watch Kenji Johjima warming up before the game.

You might have been able to see us on TV had anyone hit a home run our way. But since no one did, here we are as the pixelated specks we were, sitting just above the left edge of the Dodge sign. This is the bleachers section - the only section in the ballpark that's not quite protected by Safeco Field's retractable roof. Sometime during the fourth or fifth inning we got rained and hailed on!

Anyway this was the first time I've ever been to the opening day game of any sports team, at least that I can recall. It was fun to watch the opening ceremonies and see the players run down the red carpet from right field.

I started taking pictures of the players running out onto the field and then realized that I was never going to remember which player was which since they come out so teeny-tiny. So I made it a point to take Ichiro's photo last, that way I'd at least know which one he was. :)

After all the players were introduced, a giant US flag was brought out onto the field and the National Anthem performed by Seattle Opera tenor Marcus Shelton. And that's about the time I realized I wasn't able to send blog posts anymore so I stopped taking pictures.

Between the cold, the precipitation, the first inning home run by the Texas Rangers and the lack of scoring by the Mariners, it was shaping up to be a pretty crummy game. But then somewhere around the sixth inning things started to turn around. By the 7th, the Mariners had scored five runs and the sun even made an appearance. Then JJ Putz made an appearance in the bull pen below us and I took my phone out for one last picture. :)

The Roof Opens!

Mojo Risin'

Proof

View from where we sit...

...and this is the first time I've been here with the roof shut!

I like this stadium...

... They've got relish!

(Unlike Yankee Stadium...)

On Our Way to Opening Day!

WTP???!!!

WTF??? Snow on the Cherry Blossoms???

This post could also be titled: March -- In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion!

Forest Flowers

Also while we were hunting for Spooky Forest at Timberlake Park, I spotted this little gang of flowers. :)
UPDATE: I learned today (March 30) from Kenji's mom that these are Trillium flowers, and they are illegal to pick in the State of Washington (and in some other states as well). I didn't pick them, or step on them. I only took pictures.

Lemonade, Zen Fruit, a Spooky Forest and a Big Ride

Today is our first real day of vacation. Yesterday only sorta counts because it was a travel day. Plus before we flew away I still did my rounds of delivering books to old folks for the library.

Anyway on our first real vacation day we got out our letterboxing stuff and went to Robinswood Park in Bellevue and found Lemonade and Zen Fruit. They were cute stamps and the clues straightforward.

After we did a little bit of shopping at Bellevue Square Mall, we decided to find Spooky Forest at Timberlake Park. Unlike the previous two, the clues for this letterbox were written in a story-like manner, and not straightforward at all. Maybe Kenji and I are just not creative enough in our thinking to figure those clues out. We think we found the spot where the letterbox is supposed to be... but either that's not the hiding place or Spooky Forest has gone missing.

But our trip to Timberlake Park wasn't a total bust. It's definitely a cool little park to hike around in - lots of interesting lumpy, moss-covered trees to see, and there's a little man-made cave (which we believe to be a part of the Spooky Forest clues).

After we decided to give up on Spooky Forest, for no particular reason I decided to check around the bottom of another tree - like the cave, we think this tree was part of the clues, though not the actual hiding place. Around the back of the tree I found a little cubby hole, and sure enough when I looked inside I spotted a little package containing a stamp and a logbook. It wasn't until we were about to stamp our logbooks that I realized this was not Spooky Forest but a different letterbox - Big Ride - that we weren't even aware of. :)

UPDATE: I got a response to the message I sent to the keeper of the Spooky Forest letterbox. She says that the tree we thought was the hydra (the hiding spot of the letterbox) was not the hydra. So we were looking in the wrong spot.

Tiffknee and the Gollywokus

Tiffknee is going to kitty-sit for us, so tonight we took her out to dinner... at Tiffknee's! (See Tiffknee posing with her paper napkin ring.) (BTW they spell their name wrong!)

After dinner we went to Tiffknee's apartment for yummy chocolate peanutbutter eggs that Tiffknee's mommy made. That's when Tiffknee taught us her family's word, gollywokus. Gollywokus is an adjective meaning askew. It may also be an adverb. But I'm not sure since so far I have heard the word spoken in context only once or twice.

Chairs that match!

And the other thing we did today was go get some dining room chairs.

Yesterday we stopped to Pier 1 Imports to look for something else. Then we saw they had these chairs on clearance for $88 apiece, which is pretty inexpensive for relatively nice chairs. Anyway we went back there this evening to pick up four chairs. But when we went to check out we found out they were actually marked down to $59. So for less than $30 more than we originally planned on spending, we got six chairs instead of four. :)

Oh, and we fit ALL SIX in the Fit. Ha!

It only took like four years

Since we got married, we've had this 16" x 20" photo from our wedding just hanging out in the plastic sleeve it came. And probably for about the same amount of time we've had this mango wood frame with.

While Kenji was burying the Direct TV cable and putting together the chiminea in the backyard, I finally figured how to matte this photo so that it would fit with this frame.

Burning Sticks

Yep so we have all kinds of sticks that fell all over our yard during the winter. A couple weeks ago we piled them all up against the fence behind the garage. We thought we might have to haul all the yard waste to the dump or something, but then one of Kenji's co-workers suggested we get a chiminea and burn it in the backyard. So last night we went to Home Depot and got this one and Kenji put it together today, and we burned a nice little pile of sticks. We got plenty more to burn but we can do that some other time.

It was fun and it smelled like when we used to have bonfires in the late winter/early spring in the woods in back of my mommy and daddy's house. :)

Ohyeah, you might notice that Kenji has his finger in a splint. For some reason he likes to fall going up the stairs and this time his pinky bonked into the wall and now it's all bruised. Yesterday it was all swollen up looking like a little black and blue snowman!

I don't want to be a network administrator!

Today was a really not-fun day at work. For the last week and a half we've been having serious issues with the network, including losing wireless access for people using laptops, certain people's sudden inability to print, extreme sluggishness when accessing files on the server and also with our accounting system. That last one is the most problematic because without that system, we can process orders, create invoices or pay bills.

By Friday last week the IT consultant we work with had the wireless connectivity up and running again, but the accounting system was still sluggish, but at least it was usable. On Tuesday of this week, I had a network guru friend of mine come in to look at our network and make some recommendations for improvement. She also tried changing one or two things to see if she could improve the performance of the accounting system software. Wednesday everyone was happy because MAS500 was working like a dream - perhaps even slightly faster than it had before our problems began last week.But today was the worst. Things started off okay... well MAS500 was slow again, but not as slow as it had been last week.

But as the day progressed, it got slower and quirkier. Users were getting all kinds of error messages, they kept getting booted out of the system, or they had problems logging back in. And today I got to be the one people looked to for help - and since network administration really isn't in my skill set - I really had very little to offer. So I did what I could - gathered as much information as I could when errors came up and reported them to our MAS500 consultant, tried some suggestions from our regular IT consultant, made a date with Embarq to come check out our modem (since it has an amber light where it is supposed to be green), and told people they gotta cut down on the size of their email inboxes.

So I definitely feel for the other people who have had to play default network administrator person even though, like me, that's not in their skill set. Even if it those skills were in my skill set, I'm pretty sure I still would not want to be a network administrator. I miss Steven!

No Belkin Money for Us...

On Friday I received this letter from the Belkin Settlement people:

We have received your Refund Notice along with the documentation that you recently submitted for the Shannahoff v. Belkin, Case No. CV 06-1474-GPS settlement. Based on the documentation provided to the Settlement Administrator, it has been determined your claim is invalid due to the following reason:

The purchase of your Belkin product was after the March 31, 2006 deadline. In the process of obtaining court approval of the Settlement Agreement, it was determined that product packaging for Belkin Wireless Products sold after March 31, 2006 did not contain the allegedly false or misleading statements as claimed by the plaintiff. Therefore, persons who purchased a Belkin Wireless Product after March 31, 2006 are not entitled to receive a refund or promotional discount.

Bummer!