Yesterday we did a lot of hanging out with islanders — I really enjoyed getting to see the geeks I met in Austin again and it was equally fun to finally meet the oh so lovely Hawaii tourism folks in 3D, along with a handful of other bloggers, nerds, and tech addicts.
Our day included Vietnamese food, chatter about transit, leis, menehune, fruity drinks, mobile technology, cameras, chatter about traffic, friends old and new, handshakes, fruity cocktails, stories about lava, stories about the Superferry’s impact on snack importers, hula dancers, chatter about ukuleles, terrific Hawaiian music, nerds in Hawaiian shirts, chatter about new media, great big hugs and a lot more.… continued…
We’ve been watching stuff get made, lately. We are a regular, uh, what’s that show called where you get to watch stuff get made? I can’t remember, but we’re like them. We visited an olive oil press and a coffee roaster in Oregon and today, we went to the birthplace of the KoAloha Ukulele.
The shop is a tiny place, when we were there four or five guys were working in the production area while from upstairs, the sound of melodic strumming spilled down the stairs.… continued…
- Tragically hip Japanese kids in t-shirts that have English text that makes no sense.
- Surfer dudes with mahogany tans who, upon closer inspection, are a lot older than you’d guessed at first glace.
- Pushy time share salesmen who pretend they want to give you sightseeing advice.
- Bossy yet weirdly helpful food court employees.
- Haoles who should have worn a lot more sunscreen.
- Hot girls in tiny bikinis with tinier dogs. Really, who needs three miniature pincers?
We’re on the 9th floor of the Outrigger Reef. There’s a dark blue line on the horizon where the water meets the sky. There are two white sailboats just below that, where the blue color lightens to gray just a little, and then it fades in to a pale green. If I walk to the balcony and look to my left, I see Diamond Head in perfect detail against the pale blue sky.
Looking down, I see the tops of yellow umbrellas against the golden sand of the beach.… continued…
