Just got home from The Contamporary Museum of Honolulu’s August Moon wine tasting fund raiser at The Edge at the Sheraton Waikiki. I was one of the featured artists at the “Drawn Out” venue table of artists who all donated their time and talents to create artwork on the fly for sale to the attendees to whip up some much needed cash for the museum. Traffic going into Waikiki was horrendous (Saturday? go figure) so I got there a little late (Sorry, Waileia!) – I really should have known better. I managed to draw two pieces – an oni gnawing on a skull, and two nekomimi girls in a box. Both pieces sold almost immediately. Whee! Cade ended up with my last minute scribble “Tio Muerte contra El Prehensilo”, which was not ready for prime time. I am a little curious as to who bought my pieces… Continue reading ‘No Good Deed Goes Unpunished’
That was fast! Just as I was hopping into car to move out of driveway, our maillady pulled up, gave a toot, parked, locked her front doors, and pulled a box out of the back of her truck. Could it be my parts already? The box looked smaller than I expected, but judging by how she moved, it had some heft. I’ll be darned, it was my order from Weir Performance! So what was in this box of goodies? Continue reading ‘KAAZ’
Sunday, 01 August 2010
Following a clear Saturday, Sunday broke clear, then flipped into alternating periods of rain and sun in increasing frequency. The call went out when it was sunny, but the clouds had closed in by ride time. Chris was champing at the bit to get on the bike, and Jeff and Root seemed enthused too. Ckucke texted me before roll-out time, asking about the weather. I walked outside, and after a brief inspection of the conditions I could actually see, I texted back that I thought “it would be OKâ€. When I left home, I could see Mt. ‘Olomana, but before I even got to Pali Highway, all had gone white and the roaring downpour began. I became skeptical about our chances of riding, but I figured I’d get a little closer to Waimanalo before calling it. As suddenly as it started, the rain stopped passing Castle Hospital. Ckucke had called to say he was running late, so I told him not to panic when all heck broke loose on the Pali. Waimanalo exists in its own microclimate and seemed to have missed the major precipitation. The edge of a rainsquall just caught us as we were gearing up to ride, but it soon passed and within moments, the sky was blue again and ground had dried out. The trail was much less forgiving: The areas under tree cover were damp, but not slick. Continue reading ‘Rain, Rain, Go Away’
The Monday after riding Ditch hungover, we took a run down St. Louis. After a hard charge down Upper Dumps and a grind back up to the dirt jumps, we headed down Mainline into the clear sunset. The light was pretty and made for nice photos, but it made riding challenging. Bright glare and dark shadows in the open areas forced the switch from visual cues to inertial guidance and memory going through the jumps and berms. Even so, there was a good flow going on. Somewhere along the last pitch, Ckucke got a pinch flat and had to run out the finish. Dinner was at the Vietnamese place on the top of Wai’alae. Root and I ordered stuff with vermicelli, but got stuff with rice. Oh well. At least they got the “stuff” part right…
Pictures here
D = 4.54 km (2.82-miles), Vavr = 12.2 km/h (7.5-mph), Vmax = 36.7 km/h (22.8-mph), T = 23-minutes
So a young woman, born and raised in Kailua is walking along the beach with her dog, and a pigmentally challenged individual says, “Hey, what are you doing here? Locals aren’t allowed here!”
. o O ???
With the air asset rotations out of MCBH diminishing as RimPac winds down, Windward residents may have noticed that bright light has replaced jet sound at night out over the bay. No, those alien abduction lights aren’t some black project: They’re illumination for night shooting of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie at He’e’ia Kea pier. The Black Pearl is tied up along the North side of the pier, off the tips of the slips. There is also some stuff staged at the old ‘Ulu Mau village site, and further down the road before the straightaway ends. When I detoured by tonight on the way home, they had four or five light booms shining full blast, and billowing clouds of Hollywood smoke flowing across the water and onto the shore. You can sort-of make out the masts of the ship in the center of this grainy spy picture.
The third Coedo beer available here is this Kyara. Pours a medium light amber with a small head and moderate carbonation that lasts. My nose is still messed up, but some smell is returning. There’s an aroma I have a hard time placing, I think if I had to say, I’d say grainy. Initially there’s a bit of that malt liquory taste and tongue feel, but it fades quickly away. There’s some of that sweetness too, but its nicely moderated and balanced by the bitter. A nice beer, I just wish it didn’t command such a premium price.I’d give it a solid 3 out 4 monkeys.
Chris finds interesting stuff while browsing in unexpected places. He alerted me that he found some Purell in foliage green bottles at the Downtown Fisher Hawaii. I stopped by the Kaka’ako location and found some on a mid-aisle end cap after wandering the aisles of office supplies for a couple of minutes. The 89ml (3 fl. oz.) extra durable foliage green MDPE bottle has finger-grooved sides and is marked NSN 6508-01-535-5409. They were priced at $2.69, so after local sales tax, it was $2.82 – much less than the MSRP! The bottle is about the same size as a 20-round 5.56 NATO magazine (12cm tall x 6cm wide x 3cm thick), so it will fit in a strobe/compass pouch (empirically tested in the Blackhawk STRIKE version of this size pouch) or other similarly sized pouches. Good to have on the trail to clean the grubby hands before digging into the snacks or performing first aid.
Highly recommended
Four out of four alcohol-vapor-buzzed gear monkeys
Although the weather was looking good at the tail end of the week, we didn’t want to fully jinx it by getting all worked up for a Sunday ride, so we played it low key. The weather was clear and hot all Saturday, so the Sunday ride was on. Chris had last minute babysitting duties, Root had plans with relatives, and Ckucke was MIA. Jeff, Sara, JT, Dr. Paul, and Danny were at the trailhead when I arrived. I was feeling a little hung over from wine with osso buco the night before, so I was off the back from the start. My legs were burning at the first left turn after the gate! JT was hanging too, having survived a fried food and beer fest on Saturday, so he was my compatriot in suffering. After climbing up Government road to the side loop entrance, I aired down the new Rubber Queens, but ended up dropping them too much, as the ride felt like dual flats after that, and I heard a couple of bottom-out bumps on roots as the underaired tires pinched flat. Before the drop, I pumped them back up, maybe too much, as they were squirrely loose on the way down. I backed them off a little to about where they were when I started (40 psi front/50 psi rear) and all was good from then on. Continue reading ‘Hanging Sunny’
Friday looked good on the internet cameras, but when I got home, it was somewhat overcast. Since I was talking to Chris about riding, I felt it was almost my duty to get out on the bike. It was too hot at home to stay inside, so the decision to go out was an easy one to make. Being a furlough Friday during summer, the traffic was fairly light. I did see Blockman, but he didn’t get in my way this time.
D = 12.86 km (7.99-miles), Vavr = 18.3 km/h (11.4-mph), Vmax = 36.7 km/h (22.8-mph), T = 42-minutes