The World According to Josh » Travel

What Hawaii Is to Me

Josh Haley — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:11:12 +0000

(The following is a paper I wrote for my Hawaiian Studies class over 4 years ago, but it is all from the heart and true still.)

Hawaii is home. I was born on Oahu in Honolulu, where I lived for my first 26 years. It did not take long for me to find out what a melting pot of cultures Hawaii is, and struggled to find where I fit in. Being considered “haole” my whole life, I was often picked on and ridiculed by others. I tried to not let this get to me as a youth. I was busy falling in love with Hawaii and all it had to offer in beauty and culture. I noticed that I was living among Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Samoan, Tongan, Portuguese, Hawaiian and others as well as mixes of each. I found that Hawaiian and Chinese was a very common mix among Hawaiians that I knew growing up. I spent much time at the many beautiful beaches, hiked mountain ridges and swam under waterfalls, enjoying and eventually taking for granted my surroundings.

My father was a professor at the University of Hawaii in the department of Zoology. He embraced the Hawaiian culture after moving to Kaneohe from Texas. He bought and taught himself ukulele and played and sang for me as a child. This inspired me to learn to play and sing Hawaiian music myself. Some of the music was more jazzy than traditional Hawaiian, and I would learn later that it was the foreign influence on Hawaiian popular music that brought forth songs like “The Hukilau Song”, and other songs in English that were not originally sung in Hawaiian.

I was a city boy, and either caught the bus, walked or rode a bike to get where I was going, since having a car in Hawaii was more of a luxury than a necessity for us as a family. I had to know the streets of Honolulu well so I would not get lost. I came to know the streets of Makiki , McCully, Moilili, lower Manoa, Kapiolani, Kaimuki and Waikiki very well, down to how long each traffic light would take to change. I also knew where to get the best cracked seed snacks and plate lunches and shave ice. We never made a trip back from the North Shore without going through Haleiwa to stop at Matsumoto’s for shave ice. As a youth, I figured everyone in the world took their shave ice with azuki beans at the bottom!

I found out through a handful of trips to “the mainland” to visit family in Texas that there were a LOT of things I enjoyed in Hawaii that were not available anywhere else. I remember the frustrated look on the face of the cashier at a McDonald’s in Texas when I kept trying to describe my breakfast order of Portuguese sausage, eggs and rice. Things are different outside of Hawaii. This made Hawaii even more special to me. I miss it when I am not there.

I embrace being a “local”: I learned and spoke pidgin and proper Hawaiian phrases, as well as proper English, I participated in May Day ceremonies, sacrificed my physical health for “ono grinds” and gave and received hundreds of leis in my life there so far. I brag about my heritage to others, even though I do not have any Hawaiian blood literally running through my veins. To me, what matters is being able to say that I have the Aloha Spirit, which is palpable to anyone who tries to see it or feel it. I am proud to be from one of the hubs of the Pacific and the world, “The Gathering Place” of Oahu.

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A Beautiful Day in Houston? Really?

Josh Haley — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:44:35 +0000

Days like today are hard to come by. Houston’s weather is usually either cloudless but insanely hot and humid or thunderstorms all over the place. I have no idea what the actual temp is today, go look it up, but it just felt good walking outside this morning.

Interesting how traffic wasn’t so bad today. Perhaps a lot of people got “sick” today? Sucks for me, as I actually am a bit sick, but have to work (Downtown) nonetheless.

Enjoy it while it lasts. Tomorrow it could be gray and dreary or hot an humid all over again.

call in sick, clear day, houston, weather

I’m Truly Speechless – A Portuguese Sausage Comparison Article

Josh Haley — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:15:00 +0000

When I see dedication to portuguese sausage like this, it makes me smile, knowing that someone else in this lone dreary world gets it…like I think I do. You have got to read this guy’s blog on Honolulu Food! At least look at the pics!

http://tastyisland.wordpress.com/2007/05/13/the-great-portuguese-sausage-shootout/

Josh

PS – I will dream up some wonderful reward for the first person to give me a source for ANY portuguese sausage in the Houston, Texas area! Please?

food, honolulu, honolulu food, Portuguese sausage

NYC Pipe Blast Montage – I Created/Edited This One

Josh Haley — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:55:11 +0000

Here it is. I finally got permission to post it.It took a few hours to edit and even more to gather the footage, but only seconds to decide what music to use. I think it came out pretty well. Even if the music isn’t your thing (Metallica – One) you may still appreciate it in the context.

Enjoy,

Josh–

Click here to view the embedded video.

explosion, manhattan nyc, medleh group, midtown manhattan, montage, pipe blast, youtube

Hawaii Part VI

Josh Haley — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:10:12 +0000

Today was our last day for this trip. We fell asleep accidentally last night when we had planned to do all of the packing. So we spent this morning doing it all. No worries since our flight is a late night flight so we had all day to play one last time. Trish found a way to stash all of our loot in our bags. She had the foresight to buy a decent suitcase while at the swap meet Saturday. Were it not for that moment of split second decision making, we would not have been able to fit all this stuff into our goodie bags! Yay Trish!

We checked out of the hotel and drove down Kalakaua Avenue to Eggs n Things, a popular breakfast spot and one of Trish’s favorite places to eat. The waiting list was about 45 minutes long, which was all the time we had on our street parking meter that we had just fed coins into. So we blinked and pouted at the cashier/hostess and she asked if it was OK if we sat at the “bar” they had, which was the shape and look of a very large surfboard. We agreed and were seated in about 5 minutes, bypassing about 20 people who were waiting before us. Sorry guys, our meter is running and we gotta et moving!

I had the biggest, baddest Portuguese sausage omelette on hash browns and some sourdough toast. Trish ordered the famous buttermilk pancakes, and we shared each others’ food. It was some of THE best pancakes and the biggest Portuguese sausage ANYthing I had ever had! Good call Trish! I had never gone there my whole Hawaiian life. It was about time.

We then moseyed (mosied?) over to the ABC store (one of like a zillion on the island) and window shopped. See, we were just about out of money by then and had to keep things simple. We went to 7-11 once more and I took pictures of the display case where the bentos, musubi, sushi and other yummy things are. So pretty dat one! I wish we had such options in Texas.

We then went to Ala Moana again to walk around the top floor since we pooped out after only two floors last time. So old, yeah, us? They really did change things up there. They have restaurants up there and more stores. Ala Moana is metastasizing! Sheesh! I can still remember playing in the sandbox right out in front of the mall, lower level, by the Keeaumoku side of the parking lot. That’s been gone a while, but.

We had to go to Longs one more time, just cuz. They have SO much of everything. We even saw this one local Asian chick putting on lipstick in the mirror in the makeup section, and it wasn’t her makeup and she wasn’t buying the stuff she was using, so….dang that’s just tacky.

I got a couple of trinket gifts for some of the people that I have to go back home and work with just about every day. A little kindness goes a long way there, I believe.

We got all pooped again (tired feet mostly) and left Ala Moana for good. We got a wild hair and decided to go up to Tantalus over Makiki, my old stomping grounds. The road was closed so we had to just stop in front of some rich dude’s house and took photos of Honolulu from the street. Not too shabby of a view I must say.

We then drove up Manoa Valley just cuz and took lots of pictures of the valley and the luch front yards all over the place. On the way down Punahou street I remembered to snap some photos of Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, where Sarah was born. I know she will be very interested to see these pics. She really wanted to come with us on this trip. We have to bring the whole family next time for sure.

Trish wanted to see the Pali lookout on this trip and we still had many hours to use so we drove on up Pali Highway to the lookout. It was very windy today, perhaps having something to do with hurricane Flossi on its way over, changing air pressure and making wind. It was a blast up there! Lots of people were leaning into the wind and jumping up and landing a few inches downwind. Everyone, young and old, was acting like kids, including us! We took some pics. The view is still quite breathtaking from up there!

We drove down toward Kaneohe and hopped onto H-3 to see the sights on that newer freeway. It was a smooth ride and afforded us some spectacular views of the Ko’olau mountains up close. I videotaped almost the entire stretch of freeway on my phone while driving. Should be up on youtube later tomorrow. The freeway dumps you into Halawa, right by Aloha Stadium, where you can connect to H-2 or H-1, which is what we did.

We had the idea that we should spend some of our last few dollars in Hawaii on Grace’s chicken katsu plate lunches, which we did with no hesitation. We got the food to go and drove down to Magic Island for a pre-sunset picnic. It was SO peaceful there. I really think that’s my favorite spot on the island. Diamond Head is the backdrop to the east, where you can see the Ala Wai boat marina and people surfing out at Kaisers, all of this in front of the famous Waikiki skyline leading to Diamond Head. Just classic Honolulu to me, and I love it and always will. The breeze was perfect and the water was gorgeous!

The only thing left to do after that was to top off the gas on the rental car, turn it in, check in at the airport, grab a diet coke and a seat at one of the airport cafes and sit and blog this day’s activities on my little phone. I am amazed I have been able to keep up on it all with this little phone! It sucked not having internet access at all at our hotel, but it all worked out OK.

So we bid Honolulu a fond Aloha for now. Until we meet again.

Josh–

PS – this trip was Super Kawaii! That’s Super Cute in Japanese!
PSS – uh..yeah we are Harajuku lovers, ya!

Diamond Head, Graces Chicken Katsu, graduation, Hawaii, hawaiian food, honolulu, korean bbq, Magic Island, plate lunch, student, travel, travel log

Hawaii Part V – Graduation Day

Josh Haley — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:08:47 +0000

Today was a perfect day! I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Hawaii at Manoa!!! I finally did it! The commencement was brief and painless and the feeling was almost overwhelming. To my right was a bored japanese/maybe portuguese guy playing with his new iPhone the whole time, and to my left was a tall skinny Filipino dude who was smiling the whole time. He took a moment to congratulate me right before we walked from our seats to get our names read.

I was a bit nervous, I’ll admit. But when I heard my name, pronounced correctly even…I was just floating! I pumped my arms into the air as I walked over to shake the dean’s hand and receive my diploma (a holder for one anyway), have my photo taken and was even on video for a bit. I was able to shake hands and give a hug to Tom Bingham, my old band director and music academic advisor. He is one of the good ones, and yes, happens to be haole. coincidence?? hmmm. Anyway it was really good to see him and to have him see me finish that degree!

Trish was in the audience videotaping and taking stills of me during the whole thing. Corey Nakayama was there too. It was good to have him there. He videotaped the whole thing and handed me the dv tape after. Nice yeah?

Also in the crowd to see me graduate were Todd and Hazel Anzai, who came to see me aftrwards and we took pictures and talked for a long time out in the sun at the UH baseball stadium where peeps met the graduates after the ceremony. They invited us out to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, and we had an absolute blast talking about all kinds of stuff. I am overwhelmed by their generosity and friendship. It is so great to have great friends that are fun to hang out with, even if they live 3000 miles away!

After a wonderful lunch at CPK, as it has been referred to, and after having the carribean jerk chicken pizza (oh my yes…yum!), we said our goodbyes to Todd and Hazel and went strolling through Kahala Mall, which we had not done yet on this trip.

The place changed a bit, but it’s such a small mall anyway so it wouldn’t take much to make it look different…and we stopped into Sanrio, a little japanese “Hello Kitty” store for lack of a better term, and got a few cool items for the kids, and found some of my favorite gum there too. It’s this fruity flavored gum that comes in a wrapper that has a temporary tatoo on the inside of the wrapper (called Fusen gum). I use to mess with those when I was a kid. Funny how now I don’t let my kids mess with temporary tatoos huh? Hypocrite, but hey, it comes with title of parent, I have learned.

While at that mall, we popped into a GameStop to see if they had the Nintendo Wii console in stock. They said they were out but they knew who would most likely have them in stock. I thanked the guy for the info and left. After going back to the hotel to change, we then went to “Toys N Joys” to see about getting a Wii. They had them in stock!!! We got a Wii!

bachelors degree, california pizza kitchen, graduation, jerk chicken pizza, kahala mall, music major, university of hawaii, university of hawaii at manoa

Hawaii Part IV

Josh Haley — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:39:21 +0000

Saturday in Hawaii…started out with Trish sneaking out of the hotel to do some grocery shopping. I was sleeping in anyway thanks to the late night I just had playing guitar hero II with Corey. Trish came back with biscuits from a bakery nearby. They were huge and yummy! Hit the spot.

We were slow to move but we did manage to get up and out over to the swap meet they seem to have every Saturday at Aloha Stadium parking lot. We got there a little late since they close up shop at about 2 or 3 but we did miss the heavy rain that was there earlier, so that was good.

We kinda went nuts on buying all kinds of stuff. I can’t remember all of it right now but that’s ok. It was very hot and muggy while we were there but we still had lots of fun.

When we came back to town, wondering what and where to eat, I couldn’t think of anything that I really wanted besides mexican food. So we went to Compadres for nachos and to relax. It was very nice.

We sat rihgt at the window where you can see Ala Moana park and the people that walk through or around it. We also got the fish tacos, and I gotta tell you…those were really really good! Yeah, it seemed kinda lame at the time to go have mexican food in Hawaii rather than plate lunches but I guess I was in a plate lunch overload or something so the chips and salsa really hit the spot!

After a little walking around at Ward center, we drove around Magic Island and Ala Moana park. It’s so cool to see these people that used to be me and my family, getting out of the water and having picnics and playing in the sand or grass.

We then drove down to Kapiolani Park by the aquarium, parked and walked over to The Wall to see the sunset and to watch the sand volleyball players. Trish used to be one of those girls, wearing just a bikini, diving all over the sand to get the ball back over the net, getting sand all over! She ran into an old friend and we chatted a while. I took a bunch of pictures of the volleyball action and the ensuing sunset.

We were beat after all of that so we went back to the hotel and chilled and crashed for the night. So old and boring yeah? heh heh.

ala moana park, aloha stadium, chips and salsa, fish tacos, guitar hero, Hawaii, kapiolani park, magic island, mexican food, plate lunch, plate lunches, playing in the sand, volleyball action, volleyball players

Hawaii Part III

Josh Haley — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:34:59 +0000

Wow! Aloha Friday here in paradise was great! We got out of the hotel and began our search straightway for Portuguese sausage eggs and rice, which is literally the breakfast of choice for many locals here. So much so that they have it at McDonald’s. That was yummy! We had that and decided to do a bunch of video today and drive around the entire island.

We headed towards Kaimuki and stopped at Leonard’s bakery for some famous and incredibly delicious malasadas, which must be some ancient word for “greasy spongy sugary yumminess” in some language here. Nobody can touch the perfection level given you at this place for malasadas, hands down. We ate most of the ones we bought right there in the parking lot, cuz they’re SO good hot!

Then we proceeded to go through Kaimuki and Kahala and take Kalanianaole Hwy over to Hawaii Kai where we used to live. We stopped by the old town house and videotaped it in its current state, just cuz. It was such a perfect day to drive around the island, I must say. We saw Sandy Beach on the east side as we went around the bend over to Makapuu and Waimanalo. The view and the water were gorgeous! It has been too long since I had seen that area! The colors in the water were so many shades of teal and green and blue and my polarized sunglasses made the colors pop out even more.

I told Trish about the time I almost drowned at Makapuu beach…I was boogie boarding and got pounded into the rocky area. I lost my board and was getting pounded over and over by the set that came in and got my legs scratched up really good on the rocks. But I made it! Thank God!

As we drove through Waimanalo, I remembered much simpler days, although my days were in town and Waimanalo is beautiful country tucked beneath what I think is the most breathtaking part of the Ko’olau mountain range. The whole time on that side of the island, we drove past school after school that was right by the water. That’s just so cool!

We made our way over to Kailua and drove through Lanikai and got lost for a bit (sheesh! some local I turned out to be) and saw some cool homes by the water. Trish and I have teased each other about the idea of coming back to Hawaii to live, and where we might want to live, all things considered (read: money not being an issue). We always come back to Lanikai for some reason. It is neatly tucked away and such a beautiful beach town. Maybe it’s the haole in me or something, cuz there are a lot of haoles over on the Kailua side for sure.

We took the long way around Kaneohe Bay next. It’s a winding road right on the waterfront. Once we made it around, we soon found ourselves out by Chinaman’s Hat or Kualoa beach park. We stopped there to stretch and take photos and some video. Trish went “swimming” up to her knees for a bit. It was so soothing to hear the little waves lap up on the shore. It’s like, but even better than, those Corona beer ads that put you on a beach and make you feel relaxed etc by the gorgeous water. sigh….that’s my Hawaii right there.

We also saw some Portuguese Man of War on the sand. Three within a 9 foot stretch of beach. That’s the risk you take when you swim on the windward side of the island..the jellyfish blow right on up and can sting pretty bad. Knock on wood, I have never been stung in my lifetime thus far! We took some more photos and carried on towards La’ie.

I used to make that drive alot when I was in college out at BYU in La’ie. It doesn’t really get old, it’s so pretty. Once there, we stopped for photos at the PCC and the temple, then drove over to BYU campus to show Trish where my dorm was and where I played music and so on. She says I already showed her all of this long ago when we were first dating or married. Oops!

We proceeded through Kahuku and you’ll never guess what we saw, correction, I saw first! Cows! “Look a cow!” I yelled. “I win! HA HAAAAAAA!” we always play this game in our family while in the car, if you are the first to see a cow and you say “look a cow!” you win. What does one win, you may ask? Haley family bragging rights, that’s what! And I won the contest all the way over in Hawaii! Booya! Trish was a good sport, letting me rub it in BIG time!

We stopped on the north shore at Waimea to see the younger generation have their turn having fun jumping off “the rock” that is there on the beach. That place is really crowded now!

We stopped at Matsumoto’s in Haleiwa for shave ice, but the line was about 30 people strong and we were not THAT hard up for it so we kept going.

We drove through the old pineapple fields on the way through the valley under the Waianae mountain range. It is always awesome to be near those mountains. I think of December 7, 1941 sometimes while I look across that valley and see how easy it looks to fly a plane through it, below mountain peak levels. I also think of the history with the pantations and see all the old red oxidized dirt. I also see the shortcut home from the north shore. It’s a beautiful side of the island.

We made it back into town and stopped to eat and shop at Ward Warehouse. Trish saw an old co-worker friend at Executive Chef where she used to work when she was putting us through school. We then proceeded to eat two huge Korean bbq combo plates! Yum! The Korean lady serving us cracked me up! You get 4 choices of side vegetable with the combo plate and as soon as I say the first choice, she says “and?”…uh…uh….and some kim chee “and??”…uh..uh…the pressure! It was freakng hilarious! It was just like in that movie Dude Where’s My Car? when the lady at the drive thru kept saying “an den??” ha ha ha ha! “no mo an den!!!”

Trish decided to then relax at the hotel and let me go play at Corey’s house (apartment now). We sang a little karaoke and then stayed up till 3 playing guitar hero on the playstation. Dude!!! That game so totally rules! I am definitely going to try to get my hands on that very soon!

It was quite a fun filled day!

BYU, Hawaii, hawaiian food, honolulu, korean bbq, Leonards Bakery, malasadas, plate lunch, Portuguese sausage, student, travel, travel log

Hawaii Part II

Josh Haley — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:19:44 +0000

Since writing yesterday, so much has happened! I finally met up with my academic advisor, Jeanne Oka at UH Manoa. She is super nice and we were able to give her the gift we brought over for her: a Texas shaped cutting board and a graduation announcement and a big hug of thanks. I had even thought of a joke before coming to Hawaii for when I would be presenting this to her but I forgot to use it when the time came…I would have bought you cutting boards of the Hawaiian islands but it would be hard to set them all up, spaced out just right and it would be pretty hard to keep your veggies on a tiny Oahu or Maui, you know? Ok it was funny when I said it out loud, not typing it with my thumbs on my little cell phone like now…sheesh!

OK so then we went to the UH bookstore and they had tons of school pride gear, some of which I just had to buy. Once we were ready to pay, we realized we didn’t have Trish’s wallet, the one with the card we are using for purchases on this trip. So I hiked back up the hill to get it from the car and all was well.

After seeing the bookstore and deciding not to buy the foam shaka one might use at a UH football game…we checked out the cafeteria at campus center…Dude!!! They have a built-in Yummys korean bbq in there!!! It smelled soooooo good when we walked inside.

It was too early for us for lunch anyway so we postponed that for a bit and went across the way to Kuykndal 103 where I used to work for CIS, the center for instructional support on campus. I spoke with Clifford Fujimoto for a few minutes and remembered the good old days. He said they were retiring the video editing booth, of which I was the master back in the day. I told him about my stint in the news and how my experience at CIS totally got me the job and made it possible for me to provide (sorta) for my family and have a little fun doing it too. My video skills still come in handy all the time now and might actually be a huge thing pretty soon if things work out and I successfully make a career change…but shhhh! that’s a different blog k?

We then made it towards Edmundson Hall, home to the zoology department that my dad was a huge part of for about 30 years or so. For some reason I felt like I had a right to go there and see my dad’s old office and lab, which I spent countless hours in, studying, napping, doing chores for my dad, sitting in on these impossible exams he would give his histology students. I had no idea who might be in there now and what it would look like, and was resigned to chicken out when Trish tried the doorknob and it was locked. Seconds later, the door opened and it was a younger guy who looked friendly enough that he just might believe the crazy story I was about to lay on him.

I told the truth to this guy, that this office and lab had been my dad’s for about 30 years and it had sentimental value to me as his son, and that I would really like to be able to see it again. He cheerfully agreed, invited us in, and even allowed me to take video of the place, which I did thoroughly, with the intent to show my dad and for posterity’s sake anyway. That office was my dad’s second home. It was where he could get away and think and do research and he also spent many hours there on personal time doing church duties and writing talks and all kinds of stuff.

Because the place meant so much to him, and because I have so many memories of the place, it means a lot to me and I was very happy to have seen it and be able to document it for him/us and the whole family. It was a bit shocking and sad, however, to see that none of the original furniture, equipment or layout was still there. The place had been turned into a non-teaching research lab for genetic marine studies. I got it all on tape. I don’t know why but that moment is a huge highlight of this trip so far, to do that for my dad. I hope he is as happy to know what came of his home away from home.

We then walked back uphill to the institute of religion and video-documented the place, chatted with Nancy Navas again, and we were on our way.

We went down University Avenue to our first studio apartment as a married couple down on Varsity Circle. Wow! What memories that came flooding back! We have definitely been blessed in our lives. That place is such a hole! But we made it home for the time we were there, you know? That reminds me, I want to go see and document Liona Lanai apartments…the one bedroom hole we lived in last before leaving Hawaii.

We moseyed down Beretania street and over to Young street to see if Meyong’s bbq was still there. NOOOOOOO!!! That place, a house really, was no longer there. Reminds me of the fate of my own house on Young street further down…demolished and paved over for a pet clinic. Nice.

So no “BEST EVER” mac salad and bbq chicken from Meyongs anymore…sigh.

Trish convinced this nice lady at the 76 gas station that she was pregnant and was about to pee all over the store floor, so she let her use the employee bathroom. It amazes me that you can’t count on any place around here for a pulic restroom like you can in Texas, California, etc. At least we found a merciful cashier, and I begrudgingly (HA!) made a purchase of a cold diet coke while there to make the restroom gift more valuable to business. heh heh.

We poceeded to drive down Beretania and I saw my old elementary school (we had also seen my middle school earlier…Washington Intermediate. I glanced over to the bike racks at which I got picked on by a filipino dude who was sour that his ex girlferiend was into me…drama!) and it brought back some vivid memories.

We ended up at Ala Moana and started our trek from the Sears/zippy’s side. I documented the Zippy’s fry-cook area where my brother Morgan worked for quite a while as a teen. He’s a bad-ass cook now too!

Ala Moana has changed SO much! like…you can’t even get into the bottom floor parking due to constsruction. And most of the stores we saw were just high-end uppity rich-people stores that I am normally not interested in even if I had money…which I don’t.

We did get to eat at Makai Market…at poi bowl, where we got the local boy specials…kalua pig, pork laulau, poi, lomi lomi salmon, chicken long rice and haupia. YEAH BABY!!! That was a LONG time coming! It was so cool to see the people there at Makai Market. Mostly locals lined up at poi bowl, and others were getting pizza and other haole food. You can have just about anything there. And there were a lot of cute chicks all over the mall too. Don’t worry, Trish knows and she thinks it’s funny.

By the time we were done with Ala Moana, our feet were pretty darn sore. Remember, we did a bunch of hiking around UH campus the first half of the day. We went back to he hotel (The Pagoda hotel, btw) and rested for an hour before deciding to go over to the huge wal mart/ sams club one block away from here. You know how wal marts on the mainland have a McDonalds right at the entrance? Well this one has an L&Ls!!! A very popular plate lunch place here in Hawaii and even over in california. I had to get something there! mini loco moco and a mahi burger deluxe! chee huuu!

We combed every aisle of Wal Mart and sure enough, as I had predicted, they had all manner of aloha-style goods, like aloha print seat covers, coolers, sleeping bags, aloha shirts, you name it. We got a bunch of stuff!

We made it back to the hotel and had a great night together watchin Japanese TV. yeah..Japanese TV. some newscaster was talking then they went to video of a scuba diver in a pool, jumping around on a pogo stick underwater. Those crazy Japanese! ha ha ha They are EVERYWHERE here! You thought there were too many Mexicans in Texas?? This place is a little Tokyo! They didn’t nickname my high school here Tokyo High for nothing you know!

I am loving every second of it!!!

bookstore, graduation, Hawaii, hawaiian food, honolulu, korean bbq, plate lunch, student, travel, travel log, warriors

Back in Hawaii Episode 1

Josh Haley — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 04:26:55 +0000

I can’t seem to get online on my phone to myspace anymore, so I am commandeering this PC at UH Manoa, since I still have a valid student username and password! Heh heh!

So…I’m back in Hawaii and the feelings are very strange. Things are so different now that it’s hard to imagine living here again. Things look so dilapidated in the spots I have driven through so far. We got off on Kinau street, near my old stomping grounds when I lived on Young Street here in Honolulu. The dairy building that was on the corner of Beretania and Keeaumoku is gone. Just a dirty lot now. Weird. And there’s an entire Sam’s club and Wal Mart right on Keeaumoku…I never would have thought that would all fit there…and there it is, in spitting distance from Ala Moana! As if the intersection at Keeaumoku and Kapiolani needed more traffic, right?

This place really looks like it took a huge beating! But that’s just my initial reaction. I still have a few more days to let this all soak in and to see the other parts of Honolulu and O’ahu that have inproved somehow over the time.

So far we have driven to 7-11 and had manapua! And a diet coke, of course, and the requisite 7-11 tuna sandwich I used to get all the time in my college days before my 7 am Spanish class at UH Manoa. Still tastes the same! But it’s over 3 bucks for the small sandwich! AIYA!

We drive by where I was born, the old Kaiser hospital site, where the Hawaii Prince hotel now stands. That changed a long time ago when I was still here in Hawaii. They used the explosion of the building (demolition) as footage in a Magnum PI episode. I tell that to fricken everybody I know for some reason, heh heh. I even made a memory in that new hotel once. I was on a date with Marie Badger, to see a movie at the Marina Twins (that’s gone now too…it’s an Outback…sigh). We sat in the lobby of the hotel hanging out and waiting for the movie time, and we got waited on and she got an orange juice. I don’t remember if I got anything. What I do remember is that when I put down the 10 dollar bill to pay for it, she told me to just leave the money and go, not wait for change. In other words, tip pretty well. That was an interesting lesson. That, and the way she told me she HAD to have her own package of red vines at the movie! My kinda girl.

So then we drove to Ala Wai boat harbor and I pointed out where Shannon Phelps (another girl a dated long ago) used to live…and then Trish was all like..”uh, pretty cool to bring me all the way over to Hawaii for a second honeymoon just to show me where you spent time with all your girlfriends!” HA HA HA HA! She was messing with me, it’s all good.

Then we drove through Waikiki, Kapiolani park, and up and around Diamond Head, up Kapahulu, left on Waialae, and then onto H1 in morning traffic (lame) and right back off onto University Ave. We went up to the Institute of Religion, where we went to church as students. We met up with Sister Navas, who was there back in the day and we chatted for over an hour about all the changes that have occured and so on. She’s really nice.

Now we are on campus at University of Hawaii at Manoa, from whence I shall graduate this Sunday! I am waiting in a waiting area for students who need academic counseling. Jeanne Oka is my advisor and we dropped by to give her a gift and to say thank you. She stuck with me these past 9 to 10 years on making sure I could finish my degree and not just let is slide. I would not have been able to know what to do if it wasn’t for her, really.

I sent her an email and am hoping she comes out sometime soon. But for now, this room is very well air conditioned, and has internet access, so that’s just peachy with me!

More later, if I can get another chance to use a PC online!

Josh

hawaii prince, honolulu, kaiser hospital, kapiolani, magnum pi, manapua, travel, tuna sandwich, uh manoa, valid student, wal mart

Airport Blog

Josh Haley — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:56:11 +0000

We are at IAH airport getting ready to board our flight to Honolulu…my home of 28?? years, my birthplace and the only place I know all the streets and local secrets to.

I am tapping this blog out on my cell phone. The Moto Q is a pretty cool little device. Anyway, just in case myspace decides to eat this blog like it has others…I will keep this short.

I will not have a laptop with me on this trip (there’s no wifi at our hotel anyway…whats up with that?) but will be doing most if not all of my online stuff on this phone. That’s pretty fricken convenient!

We are very excited to make this trip and I can hardly believe that we will be eating plate lunches within the next 10 to 12 hours! OK..nuff about all that for now. Will write more once we’re there.

Josh

blogging, honolulu, iah airport, moblog, moto q, myspace, plate lunches

NYC

Josh Haley — Sun, 06 Feb 2005 17:45:00 +0000

I got to see New York City for the first time in my 33 years. It was a brief trip, but it was enough to get the idea just how overwhelming it is. I was sent by my company to the LegalTech trade show. My boss Tony came as well. We flew into Newark, NJ and caught a train into Manhattan (Penn Station) and when you get out to the curb, it looks like this:

(You can click on the pictures to get the full sized version)

I had to get a picture in front of my favorite news channel’s big sign, of course.

We caught a cab to our hotel…

and let me just tell you…cab drivers don’t care if they’re about to hit pedestrians. They will plow right through you if you are in the street and not supposed to be there. They can change lanes very quickly and get honked at quite a bit. But it’s THE most effective way to get around quickly in Manhattan.

We then made our way to the Merrill production shop there in NYC. I wanted to see how Oleg, my couterpart there, was doing so well with blowbacks, scanning and e-discovery work. This image shows the blowback section of the production floor.

About 5 Imagerunner 105′s surround a worker who is using Zprint to do a “measley” 86K page job. These guys mean business.

Back to the city itself… we just happenned to stumble on a familiar spot in Times Square, so I had to get a photo.

We made it across the street over to the Hershey’s store and got some free samples. Yum. Later, we walked back towards our hotel and stumbled upon the Ed Sullivan theater, where David Letterman does his nightly Late Show. Had to pose there too.

Later, we asked for a median-priced steakhouse for dinner. A lady at a hotel sent us to Gallagher’s. We got there and I had a 40 dollar top sirloin steak. And that price doesn’t include a potato! Yikes! If that’s median-priced, I sure need to stay away from expensive! Tony had the 38 dollar prime rib and we were both quite happy with the quality of fod and service there.

Then the hotel room…The next morning, my view out of the room was like the following two shots:

It was very cold, but not quite as cold as it was the night before.

So we made it to the trade show, and saw a bunch of companies with which we do business, as well as others that we had yet to hear of. We collected lots of gadgets and freebies that each booth would give away. Mostly fun stuff for the kids that I brought home. One of my proudest takes was a useful keychain separator I talked our direct competition Pitney Bowes out of.

Merrill was there, in its 3-booth-wide grandeur. This picture doesn’t capture it here, but there was quite a buzz at this booth. That’s good news for our company.

After the show, it being Tony’s birthday, we went to a bar and grill a couple of blocks over and had dinner to celebrate. Tony was able to hook up with some of his friends. Here’s a shot:

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel, then hiked up to Central Park and walked around a bit amidst the snow. Upon closer inspection, we realized that much of the snow near the entryways and sidewalks was “yellow snow”. Nice. Here’s a shot of me on one of the walkway bridges with some huge buildings in the background.

We also saw children playing soccer, and we noticed an unused baseball diamond behind them. If you could see through all of the trees, you would see the rest of Central Park.

We noticed on our short hike that Carnegie Hall was just right there. THE Carnegie Hall. Wow.

Just down the street from here is the Brooklyn Diner. We stopped in there for some breakfast. It was interesting how they had little plaques of famous people’s names bolted to each booth where patrons sit. We sat at a booth where Gloria Estefan once sat, as well as Kevin Spacey and a few other I can’t remember. Our waiter mentioned to us that Sir Paul McCartney himself was just in the diner about 5 minutes before we got there, and was sitting in the booth right next to ours. Wow. That’s the closest I think I’ll ever get to a real Beatle.

We then caught a cab down to the southern tip of Manhattan to see the World Trade Center site. Here are some photos of that sobering experience.

Then a short walk towards Wall Street brought us to a lunch cart, selling yummy Mediterranean chicken gyros. I had one to go and ate it in the cab on the way to JFK airport.

From the cab, going over one of the many bridges there, we could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

That’s the last picture I took of NYC. I obviously need to go back again sometime and see the million things that I missed. But it was a quick business trip, so it had to end abruptly.

That’s about it! I (heart) NY!

+josh

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