If They Could See Me Now That Little Gang of Mine

Happy Anniversary Keao!!! Today Keao and I celebrated our one year anniversary. We actually celebrated last night with a night in Waikiki, but since it's a leap year this year, a full 365 days did pass and today is actually day 366 (but who's counting?). I can't believe this year has gone by so quickly. It just seems like last week we were buying our first Christmas tree (Keao wrote about it here) and then heading to N'awlins for the Sugar Bowl! But seriously our first year was filled with so many highlights and absolutely zero lowlights. It's been a wonderful year.

So last night we decided to go to Alan Wong's for dinner. My classmate, Dr. Janel, and her husband, Dr. Matt, gave us a gift certificate as a wedding gift so what better occasion to use it? When I made the reservations they asked if we were celebrating any special occasion. Of course, I told them we were celebrating our wedding anniversary (I was kind of hoping they would give us a free dessert or something, but no such luck) and asked if they had a dress code (gotta ask right?). They asked me to wear a dress shirt, slacks and a dress shoes and they just asked Keao to look pretty (no problem there). So we arrived at the restaurant and I thought, "so this is how the other half lives..."

When we sat down and got our menus, I figured out why they asked if we were celebrating anything special. Can you figure it out as well?

They put our names on the menu...how cool is that?

The restuarant was really nice and well set up. It was busy yet relaxed (and it was quiet enough to have a nice conversation). I always judge a restaurants service by the water test. If my glass ever gets empty then they fail the test. Alan Wong's did not fail. They kept my water full and my bread dish (they literally had a waiter walking around giving us hot rolls as soon as we finished the one we had).

The bread was great, the chili-pepper butter was better (but the company was the best)

The menu was a little overwhelming because they had so many great sounding selections. I wanted to try a little of everything, but I didn't think I could finish everything so I decided against ordering multiple items. We did, however, order an appetizer to share and then an entree each.

The Char Siu Quesadilla was the perfect blend of sweet and savory

Keao ordered the Seafood Bowl (look at the lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops and clams!)

I had the Surf 'n Turf (which included lobster bisque and a lobster tail on a the steak)

We were so stuffed we couldn't even order a dessert! It was okay though because I had a little dessert planned for later in the evening (it's not what you're thinking sickos). When Keao and I got married, we had our reception at the Officer's Club on the Marine base. But, because we had a lunch wedding reception we had to leave by 3:00pm and we never got to eat our cake (or cut or serve it). Thanks to our friends Derek and Kristie our cake (the whole cake) has been patiently sitting in our freezer waiting for the day that it would finally be eaten.

So being the traditional guy that I am, I brought the cake with us. Keao didn't want to eat it, but I kind of forced her to eat some. It is, after all, tradition.

Even after a year, it still looks delicious

Well, one year down and a lifetime to go. I'm totally looking forward to it!

Bathroom Comics III: the Dating Edition

One part of my job that I absolutely love is when people fall in love and start dating. It's so nice to see love in the air and men and women figuring out that the opposite sex do not always think alike. Actually when I see that last part in action it reminds me how happy I am to be married knowing that I won't ever have to go through the whole dating process ever again (just one of the many perks to being married).

With that said, much has been written about the different way men and women see the world. Many a comic has built their entire career exploiting these differences. Tim Allen and Ray Ramano immediately come to mind. In fact, one time Keao and I went to watch a stand up performance by one of her favorite comedians, Sinbad. I won't get into details (ask Keao) but she tried to rat me out and say how I'm always late for things and it completely backfired! So much so that the Supernanny made her apologize to me! What a great evening...

But I digress. I remember one time reading a Far Side comic in which there's a dude in his bed getting ready to sleep and he's pondering if this particular girl is thinking about him. The thought bubble read something like, "I wonder what she's thinking about, I wonder if she's thinking about me? I hope she's thinking about me..." Then there's a picture of the girl in her bed and she's thinking, "You know, I really like vanilla". I think that sums up the great divide that's between men and women. I tell you, it's amazing anyone ever gets married...

Just one example of when good intentions aren't well received

This reminds me of some people I went to high school with...

This was me in high school (except a lot cooler looking)

Big Boxes are Fun!

You know there's something kind of special about those old mom and pop stores that are disappearing way too fast. I remember going to Arakawa's as a kid buying my very first baseball bat, glove and cup. Years later who would have thought that I would end up sitting next Mr. Arakawa (of Arakawa's) at football games? He's such a nice old man. It's sad to see men like him go out of business because they can't keep up with the Wal-Mart's and Costco's of the world.

So today I had to go to Costco to buy some things for the Courtyard Cafe. No big deal right? I mean it's Thursday and it shouldn't be too crowded. WRONG! I didn't realize it, but today was the first day of the coupon sale. Augh! It was so crowded. It was like Christmas time crowded. There were cars waiting for (stalking) people to go to their cars and leave so they could take their parking space.

Well, after driving around for a bit, I found a good spot (kind of far but in the shade) next to the cart return. Nice! I only drove around for 5 minutes and I just happened to see this guy leaving. It was almost too good to be true! No one was around and he was leaving and so I turned on my blinker and got set to snatch a good spot. Actually, I did get the spot with no problems (see: no drama) and I went into Costco to buy my things.

I've always wondered how the parking lot can seem so crowded and yet the store doesn't seem crowded at all. Not to say that the store was empty, but it didn't see too bad. Apparently everyone was leaving when I was shopping. I didn't think about it at the time, but everyone leaving probably left with shopping carts and those shopping carts have to go somewhere. Well what do you think happens when that little cart return fills up? I'll tell you, it overflows! This is what I saw when I returned to my car from shopping for 20 minutes in Costco:

Not just one, but like 20 people decided to leave their carts right in front of my car!

I couldn't believe that people could be so thoughtless! How did they think I could get out? Would I crash through like Knight Rider? Of course not! I mean, even if I could move the carts where would I put them?

With a silent sigh, I had to walk all the way back to Costco to find a parking lot attendant to move those carts. Here's a better view so you can see how blocked in I was.

If only I had turbo boost...

But of course there is the funny side of being a big box retailer. Sometimes you have to move so much inventory and they're in such big boxes you don't really care what hits the floor. I mean, it could be in good condition or bad condition. It could be properly marked or improperly marked. In case you're wondering what I mean by improperly marked, I saw this little gem at Sam's Club.

Not real sure what they're selling, but I don't think I want any

I bet that kind of stickering never happened at Arakawa's (at least not on Goro's watch).

Well, hopefully I'll be able to share with you what has been happening the past few weeks. It's been busy. I did see a Tiger Shark when I went diving (no, I didn't have to cut anyone and swim away) and I also spent a day at the Children's Church camp. I'll try to post more pictures and stories soon. Until then, go buy some Jelly Ass and bring it to church so I can sample.

Taking You Back to the Old School Cause I'm an Old Fool

One of the nice things about growing up in a church and being an active part of a youth group is having your life fairly well documented through pictures. Every now and then one of these old pictures will pop up and someone will send it to me. I suspect that they are probably cleaning up around their house and they stumble upon it and since I'm in the picture they can't possibly throw it away and therefore they feel compelled to pass it on to me.

When I was in high school I was part of a singing group called Soldiers of Light. SOL, as we liked to call it, comprised of some of the better singers at Hawaii Baptist Academy (we had to audition to get in) and our mission was to spread God's love through singing. We mainly sang at different churches and other Christian venues and we even went on tour to Kauai and the Big Island.

Every year we were encouraged to audition for the Hawaii All-State Honor Choir. I don't want to brag, but every year I auditioned I got in. I didn't go my sophomore year because I didn't know anyone else going, but I did attend my junior and senior year. It was a blast. For one thing you got to meet people from all over the state. It was really fun going to different places and seeing your friends that you made.

The most fun part about the choir was the camp. For three days straight all we did was sing, sing and dream about singing. We were sequestered in the hills of Makakilo at Camp Timberline being directed by world class choir teacher Dr. Rodney Eichenberger. For a kid from a small, private high school it was a blast!

Well a few weeks ago, my friend Kelehua sent me a picture from our senior year in high school. Although Kelehua went to a different school we went to the same church and knew a bunch of the same people. You'll notice that we're wearing the same sweatshirt (from a church camp called Revolution State). Ahh, those were the days.

L to R: Eric, Kelehua, me, Amber, Janel, some dude, Deanna, some girl. Keiko, two other people

I also dug up a picture of my friend Ted when I think we were in 9th or 10th grade. This one is from Ben Parker elementary when we used to have church in the cafeteria. Since we were in a school we had to set up and break down church every weekend. I'm sure this is from a Sunday night when we were breaking everything down.

We were a lot smaller back then (well one of us anyway)

Although this is not super old school it has a lot of old pictures in it. Keao and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary later on this month and since not all of you attended out wedding I thought I'd show you the slideshow that we showed at our wedding. It's in two parts with mine being first and hers being second. In the upcoming weeks I'll try to post some pictures from our wedding and our honeymoon since most of you have never seen any of them (they're hidden safely on a disc somewhere secret). For now enjoy...

Scott's portion

Keao's portion