18% More Balance

AnOde to Some Code

Today I engaged in a friendly IM battle with someone doubting the power of Google Reader, so let me just take a sec to espouse it's virtues. Other people like Pipes or iGoogle homepages. Not me. I freaking love Reader, and it works for me perfectly. No, I don't have a deal with Google. It's that awesome.

(Don't understand RSS feeds? You look at lots of blogs, so you need some sort of RSS reader that piles them all up, looks at them for you, and shows you only the new stuff. Then click on one page every day instead of 70 or whatever.)

Recently, it looks like more people are "sharing" items in their Reader, and I can't even say how awesome that is. Y'all who are sharing stuff: thank you. The most interesting stuff comes my way because you're clicking on the little "share" thing. You know who you are.

Yes, oversharing happens with some folks. And yes, I've seen some aggression in the "share with note" feature. I so don't care.

Here's my point. If a piece of code is going to save me hours a week or more, watch my news, keep me updated on my peeps, read what they're sharing, and keep my inbox clear of update-notifications, color me grateful. That means more time doing real life. Best o' both.

In fact, I have that same enthusiasm that hit me when I got my first email account in the 90's. I doubt there's a better way to do what Reader does, but if you know a way, I'll listen. Technology rules.

Free Drum Project

Maybe a year ago, I started begging publicly for spare drum parts. I used to play in middle school, and it was fun. Why not relive the dream, right?

So, one guy last year had a snare he didn't need anymore. Then, last weekend, I secured a kick drum (rusty), two cymbals, and some sticks. Then, by chance, a rummage sale in Bayside had a kick pedal and cymbal stand. I'm in business, baby!

Workarounds: cat litter box is the snare stand, excercise ball is the stool.

Drums are fun. They really are. The problem is that I suck at them. I've recorded them, and they sound good enough. They sound a lot better coming of of my Reason sampler, due to my near total lack of skill.

You know who really loves my new drums? Sara. I'm. Not. Being. Sarcastic. At. All.

So it goes. I'm on the prowl for more parts. Know anyone?

Still looking for: floor tom, rack toms, hi-hat, hi-hat stand, cymbal stand, and a stool. You know how to find me.

Look out, Jens Henneman.

Last full day today

Surfed a reef in the middle of Hanalei bay this AM by myself (and a turtle); overhead in the sets. That's about as good as it gets. Checked out Wailua falls later. Meanwhile, down at Kalipaki (photos), the surf looked micro and playful. Surfed there last week; a 30 year old flight attendant drowned there yesterday. How?

Tomorrow evening, after cleaning this place, we fly to LAX/SFO/ACV, red-eye style.

It's been fun here: not too long, not too short. It'll be good to see the pets and even better to get Sasha back on her routine. Yes, it's good to keep them flexible, but man, can I get an "amen" for predictable nap times? Glory be.

Back to Humboldt at 10:30 AM local time on Tuesday.

Hawaiian Sovereignty: Haole-style

Since arriving, we've heard a steady trickle of talk related to Hawaiian sovereignty. Some of it has been direct (there's a good radio show devoted to it), but most of it has been indirect: a comment here, a bumper sticker there. That's their original flag (not "state flag").

Without going into the whole history, it's your basic colonial imperial story:

In 1893, Queen Lydia Liliuokalani was deposed in a coup organized by Sanford Dole, (the pineapple/banana guy is on the left, see how comfortable everyone in the photo looks?), and supported by US marines. Five years later the islands were annexed. American, Japanese, Chinese, Portugese, and other groups populated the island, crowding the indigenous culture. Statehood followed in 1959, and the Hawaiian-ness of the island has slipped ever since.

So, yeah, that's exxxtreme Manifest Destiny for you. What makes it different from the US's treatment of Natives on the mainland? I don't want to get into "Whose injustice is greater," because there's more than enough to go around. Suffice to say that the relative recency, isolation, and cultural unity of the Hawaiian people are a unique situation.

Can the sovereignty movement take off? It seems to be gathering followers. Apparently there's a Hawaiian government of sorts that's been meeting formally. There are a series of blogs that follow it, and again, bumper stickers, posters, slogans, anthems, etc...it's all in place.

I asked our neighbor here about it. He said that most people who are into it are sort of like voter-fraud conpiracy nuts: right about everything, fighting the good fight, but basically kooky. (Our neighbor, by the way, has lived here since '62 and is pro-sovereignty in a "Sure, that'd be nice" way.)

He also said that any such independence would be fraught with problems, not the least of which that Hawaiian-ness, for now, has racial undertones. Also, the islands depend on the mainland's insfrastructure, food, and funding.

Sara and I have been trying to think of a single reason that Hawaiian sovereignty shouldn't happen, and we've come up with crap: world maps and US flags have to be redesigned, Hawaii might just get taken over by China eventually anyway, economic collapse would lower local quality of life.

On the other, much larger hand, freedom and self-determination are pretty sweet. Same for preserving cultural identity.

It does seem that a lot of these grievances are in the past, and there's not much you can do about that. As for current oppression, who knows. All I know is that, since we've been here, I've noticed that white people aren't doing undesirable jobs (gardener, street sweeper, line cook, busser, etc).

Could total sovereignty work? How would it happen? Given the low profile on the mainland, total independence looks impossible. Maybe they'll shoot for a Puerto Rico deal. The Dalai Lama's only asking for cultural autonomy for Tibet from China, so who knows what Hawaiian leaders think they can/should get. (Speaking of Tibet, there are so many comparisons, I'm not even going list them.)

Either way, are we missing something, or is there a moral wrong waiting to be righted?

So, yeah. Food for thought from some dumb tourists who've been here maybe a month, collectively.

Waimea Hiking, Kohana Plantation

We took a side trip a few days ago down to the south/west side of the island, which is leeward and essentially arid. The Waimea canyon was our first stop, and yeah, it does basically look like a smaller Grand Canyon.

The next stop was Koke'e State Park, which is the inland access point for the Na Pali coast. It's not unlike the Lost Coast: too steep, remote, and isolated to develop. Big mountains drop down to the coastline. We hiked around in there, and the going was slightly tough. All in all, it was the most incredible trail we have ever hiked, ever. It's that awesome.

After that, we hit up some shave ice, and then it was off to surf Pakala. Someone tipped me that Pakala was the longest left in the world. I don't know about all that, but it was a long, clean, workable wall that A-framed overhead and just kept going. Lots of goofy footers in the water here.

Today was the first day on the whole trip that I didn't catch an overhead wave. The north shore is showing a small swell tomorrow, which means I'll probably try SUP surfing. Today didn't disappoint, though. We took a train through an old plantation, fed some tiny pigs, and went to the beach. Snorkeling rules. I saw an octopus!

Anyway, we keep kicking around more interesting stuff, like the pros/cons of hotel accomodation, Hawaiian sovereignty, and island culture, but somehow we don't blog it. Maybe later. The sovereignty is particularly interesting to us.

By the way, I'm warming up to Jahwaiian music.

Kauai: Pictures

Kauai: Field Notes

So we've been driving around, listening to local radio, which has been fun. I'd recommend it to anyone when traveling. Or whenever. Anyway.

There's a whole station of nothing but "Island Music" called "Surf 95.9." I think Joel Agnew (who lives on Maui) works for the radio group that owns it, because I swear I heard his voice on a PSA.

Right now you're like "Island music? Lots of ukelele?" You wish.
Oh my. That music is terrible. Tear-uh-bull.

What's it sound like? Let's start with a pop-reggae base, then:

1. Dumb the lyrical vocabulary down to about the 8th grade (strike 1)
2. Use synthesized horns that do not sound remotely like horns (strike 2)
3. Remove any hint of real percussion, replace with mid-80s drum machines (strike 5)

Jah-waiian, they call it, and it hates subtlety as much as it hates graphic design. Besides rote calls for revolution and one-love, you can enjoy love songs and party jams, with song titles like "Love Song" and "Party Jam."

OK, I guess it's only as terrible as pop on the mainland (New Country Music, I'm looking at you). Just with, like, worse production value and lyrics that scrape out new depths of meaninglessness:

"Haleakala, the temple of the sun....
"We're just having fun. No need to run, no need to packa gun."
(Repeat 12 times)

Oh man.
Right then, I bet the songwriter was like "Let's see....I've got two things that end in 'un' and I need a third..." and didn't rightfully reject the very first idea.

Like anything, it's just another example of the mainstream giving you the dumbest version. There was a killer show on KKCR that had more traditional island music, songs of sovereignty, and some scratchy recordings of old-timey Hawaiian stuff that was truly compelling.

To Jah-waiian's credit, it is relentlessly positive and upbeat, which is preferrable to bad-boy anthems. Also in the "plus" column is that at least it has a local feel. And the station has a strong colloquial sound with Pidgin-accented DJs. It's ad breaks sound full, so it's got support. So, more power to them. We're listening, right?


____

Before leaving, I brought a hat from Target. Twelve bucks to keep skin cancer at bay? Fair enough. Yes, I knew it looked really touristy. Sara has now ruled that it looks *far* too lame, and historically, she often let me take "lame" right up to the limit with nary a complaint.

So, while she was with Sasha, I bought a new hat. Upon seeing it, Sara has ruled against that hat, too. She said it was a "jerkface" hat. Tourist or jerkface, I should stop buying hats. I'm not sure which one is worse.

You make the call:












___

Sasha can now say "Bellybutton" and show you where it is. She can also climb up to the couch herself.

Sara and Sasha finally got some sunny beach time (it's been cloudy/windy/rainy/sunny). I think a little sunburn might have occurred.

Sasha's whole sleeping and eating routine has been pretty rough. Her Girl Interrupted shenanigans just led to a screaming fit at 10pm, which is two hours past her regular bedtime. Supposedly, since we're not killing her, we're making her stronger?

_____

If someone said, "You must eat your way to the bottom of this bathtub full of creamy, crunchy Moana Loa macadamia nuts," there would be zero hesitation on my part. Who doesn't love those nuts?

Kauai: Just The Facts

• Lodging: Townhouse in Princeville, North Shore Kauai
• Price: Free
  
• What This Place Kicks: Ass
• Example Set By It's Owner: Inspiring
  
• Times Locked Out Accidentally: 1
• Attitude: Aloha
  
• Weather: More clouds than sun, with some super-intense rain
• Flash Floods Escaped: 1
• Amt. Of Rain Leaked Into Rental Car Via Surf-Rack Straps: Approx. 3 Cups
  
• Surf Sessions: 3 1/2, in as many days
  
• Board: 9'6 Hap Jacobs epoxy noserider
• Noserides: 3
• Mustache Rides: 0
  
• Swell: NW 6 @ 12, E wind (offshore)
• Shark Advisories This Week: 1
• Shark Advisories This Decade: 1
  
• 
• Sasha Sleeping Pattern: Erratic
• Sara and Mike Sleeping Pattern: See above
• Most Reliable Pancake: Banana w/ Macadamia Nuts
  
• Wild Rooster Count: Unknown
• Closest 6o+ Half-Deaf Groovy Surfer/Diver: Next door
• Location of Skunky Odor: See above
• Hottest Trend on the Water: Stand-Up Paddle Surfing
• Worst Thing Since Surf Leashes (According To Codgers in the Lineup): See Above
• Radio Highlight: KKCR (Think tropical KMUD)
• Live Music Highlight: Melama Pono Allstars' saw-player
• Sasha Lowlight: Mike allowing the usually free-standing baby-framepack to topple over, face-first, in the sand with Sasha strapped in it
• Sasha Highlight: Flirting with chickens and catching her first wave
• Plans: Zero
• Chilling Level (Expressed as a Guitar Amp Setting): 11
  
• Number Of Perfectly Good But Empty Waves: Unknown
  

Thrilla In Manila

First Disc Golf game:
September, 1995
First Ace:
March 8, 2008

Every dog has his day.

Sasha Hits The Gym

The music is in Dutch, in case you were wondering what those clunky/sexy sounds were.

Scott Miller Hates Sasha

Noted Virginian, songwriter, ex-V Roy, and raconteur Scott Miller has arguably the best piece of band merch I've ever seen.

It's his most popular item, and it's really true. He hates babies. Get your baby-hating onesie here.

Nobody needs reminding that, on the live V-Roys record, Scott Miller is the one that starts the heartbreaking "Sorry Sue" by yelling at the audience: "SHUT UP, I'm being sensitive!"

Subterrenean Trasnmissions From Mt. Shasta

I guess it's all weird when you step back and look at mysticism, superstition, religion, new-age, or whatever. From a skeptical viewpoint, L. Ron Hubbard's volcano-aliens aren't any more unbelievable than a guy turning rocks into bread or the Dalai Lama's reincarnations. But who am I to judge?

So, we all chipped in and rented a cabin in Weed near Mt. Shasta. And this cabin was awesome! It was also loaded with books, DVDs, and the occasional poster describing what's underneath Mt. Shasta. A whole cult of futuristic aliens!

We all flipped through a book describing this whole deal. Then we watched the DVD of the 2005 Quad-channeling conference.

If memory serves, here's the nutshell of what the Shasta People believe:

The city of Telos is a mile beneath the mountain, and it's stocked with over a million Lemurians, who are in some way involved the people of Atlantis. They look like you(if you're seven feet tall and blonde), except more they're adorned with all sorts of new-age accouterments. These Lemurians are much more evolved than us, perhaps because of the permanent spring in Telos, or maybe it's their amino-acid supercomputers. Or maybe that's where Ashtar from Galactic Command enters the story. Either way, they live in a state of permanent bliss, man. Again, no judgment.

So, I talked about this at work. This woman calls up right as I was trying to clear out.

Her: "I heard you talking about the Shasta thing. I actually went out there for the '95 convergence. It was pretty incredible. On the full moon I swear I saw people coming out of the mountain."
Me: "That's nice, but..."
Her: "And we went out to Weed to check out this woman's TV set. It was totally unplugged but you could see an image of the Virgin Mary."
Me: "Thanks for the story. I have to go because..."
Her: "And the one of the people went to channel with one of the Lemurian priests up on Shasta and just totally disappeared. Never seen again, but the clouds over the mountain really looked like UFOs. It's a heavy place."
Me: "I really have to go now."


Our own non-alien trip was quite nice, actually. The dry mountain air cleared up my drippy nose, which was great. Good company, improv disc-golf in the snow, Guitar Hero III, plus I got some weak-kneed snowboarding in. Sara knitted as much as possible. Good times.