My Redbox rental blunder

I was in Lubbock over the weekend. While there, I was curious if there was a Redbox in town and if so, how close to my hotel because I had a coupon code for a free rental that expired on Sunday the 21^st. I found one but didn't really find a movie that I wanted to watch and I really didn't have much time to watch it between the activities for which I was in Lubbock. So, I just closed down the Redbox app on my phone.

Late Sunday night, I get home and think I'll use my coupon before it expires on some random but hopefully good movie. I open the app, find a movie, add to cart, enter promo code and as I hit the checkout/confirm (whatever it is) button, I realize too late that it still has the Lubbock location selected. So, I reserved a freaking "free" movie in Lubbock but I'm now in freaking Dallas!

So, that's my weekend blond moment. I've screen captured a portion of my receipt for all those that give a shit to prove my blondness. No big deal really because they send me coupon codes all the time. I just hate wasting "free" stuff and doing silly stuff like this...that's why I'm Absent-minded Jay.

Taos, NM July 2012

I thought I'd share a few more links and opinions on places (mostly restaurants) we visited during our trip to Taos, New Mexico this summer.

The second day we were there we went to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. I've been there before and so has the family but we stopped by there once again. Mainly, we stopped there this time because it was on the way to another destination we wanted to visit. This time, however, was a little different than the others. The west side near the rest area was a lot busier than the last visit AND they had one side of the bridge closed due to construction. They were doing something on the east side of the bridge before you cross it as well as painting the bridge white, I think. That's why one half, the sidewalk part anyway, of the bridge was closed. This time there were more vendors selling shit out of the back of trucks, cars, card tables as well as a smoothie bus near the rest area. There were more motorcyclists as well. We were going to walk across the bridge again just for old time's sake but decided it wasn't that big of a necessity. The bridge is still a pretty cool landmark and the scenery on and around the bridge can be breathtaking. Instead of wasting anymore time, we decided to head on to our original destination: Wild Rivers Recreation Area.

The Wild Rivers Recreation Area contains a lot of hiking trails that allow people to hike from designated areas at the top of the Rio Grand Gorge down to the bottom right to the river. That's what we wanted to do, hike, because the last time we visited there were bad wildfires and they would not allow anyone into the Carson Forest or ANY trails because of a burn ban. If you were caught, they'd fine you $5,000. So, this time, we were doing whatever we could before any damn fires decided to jack with our chances to "roam the plains" of New Mexico. Once we entered the Rec Area, we drove for a bit until reaching the first picnic area. We stopped to take some pictures and use the restroom. We moved on down the road to look for a hiking trail. The next area we came to was the first area with a trail down to the river below. I don't recall the exact name of the trail but it said it was a moderate hike at 0.4 miles. We decided this would be a good one to start out on since it was 0.4 miles and we didn't know how much further down the road the next trail was or how long it was or its rating. As always, walking down is always easy. The trail was "maintained" in the sense that it did have large, stacked rocks along the trail to mark it as well as keep it clearer of debris and help keep people from sliding/falling down the side of the Gorge easily. It zigzagged until about 50 feet from the bottom where there were a lot of reed-type plants before reaching the sandy bank of the river. One child said they spotted a snake of some sort black-colored about 3-4 inches in diameter but it slithered away too fast for me to look back and catch a glimpse. Once we got to the bank and then the water, we found a few more snakes about 1/2 inch in diameter and about 6-8 inches long. I guess they were just garden snakes, a kind of grayish color, but I'm not sure. They moved fast on land and water. We decided to trek along the river over large rocks/boulders. Jumping and climbing from rock to rock and occasionally having some "flat" areas to walk along. We walked and climbed about a mile before we realized that we'd have to go back to our original entry trail because there were no others we saw along the way and we didn't know how far the next one was if there was one ahead of us. To add to the strenuous exercise of up and down over rocks and sand, the sun started coming out from behind the originally cloudy sky to make it much hotter than when we started. Luckily, I was carrying 8 20oz water bottles in my backpack along with large bottle of Gatorade and some granola snack bars. I was prepared. The trek back was much harder because we knew where we were going and we were looking forward to getting there as soon as possible because we were getting very tire and hot. I told the kids to take off their shirts and put them in the river to get them wet. It's a fairly fast flowing river in most parts so it's cleaner and way less polluted than more stagnant ones like the nasty Trinity River in Dallas. I told them that the shirt would probably be dry by the time we got back to the start of the trail to go back up the Gorge. We took frequent breaks along the way to make sure we had energy enough t get back up the Gorge. Okay, I wanted to make sure I would have enough energy to make it back up. So after awhile we make it back to the trail to go up. I went through the reedy foliage first because the kids weren't too keen on running into any critters while trekking through it ahead of me. We got through without incidence. The trek up was way harder than down especially after our two mile trek along the river and back. The steepness of the trail was felt (by me mostly) way more going up than down. We made it after 3-4 breaks on the trail where I wanted to be in air conditioning right then and there. We finally made it to the start of the top of the trail where there was this covered picnic table. I took an extended rest here because it was shaded and high enough out of the Gorge where we got a pretty good breeze. It was good times and I wanted to take a nap. Eventually, we got back to the car and decided we'd had enough hiking for the day (it was about 3-4 hours). We originally had grand plans to hike a lot more but we realized we did hike a lot. Not just up and down the Gorge but also the climbing over rocks and boulders along the Rio Grand River and back. So, we got good exercise and the amount of hiking in that we wanted even though it wasn't at multiple locations. Good enough. We drove back to our location in Taos and picked up dinner on the way.

One day we were driving to Santa Fe. We took what they call they high road to Santa Fe. Along this road or a just short jaunt off of it, there is a restaurant called Rancho de Chimayo. I've heard many people brag about this place...the food and the ambiance of it. The restaurant is in what looks like it used to be a residential house that someone expanded as the business grew. It is a nice setting for a restaurant. It reminded me of a southern plantation type house especially on the inside. Not that I've ever really been in one but what I've seen portrayed in TV/movies. There is no air conditioning in the place and it didn't seem to need it at the time we visited which was about 11:30 a.m. They have some quaint outdoor seating that you have to climb stairs to reach. It's like the front parking lot area of the restaurant is on flatland but behind the house there is a big hill that they had to expand into and up. After we were done eating and checked out, we walked up the stairs to an area that I did not know was there. At the very top of this outdoor area of the restaurant, there is a aquaduct (I guess that's what the locals would call it). It's a modern-type aquaduct in the sense that instead of the natural dirt/mud or wooden it was more like a cemented channel. It was only about two feet wide. I was told that this is the same channel that is used by many of the locals to get water. The aquaduct comes down the mountain bringing the water from melted snow or rains to the people below. I noticed it was almost overflowing and they said it was unusually high this year. That's a good thing I guess but I don't know if it is as a local because too much water means too much rain or too much melting...who knows. Anyway, all the food we ordered but one entree was pretty good. I mean nothing made me say, "Damn!" but not many things do. The entree that lacked in taste and goodness was the stuffed sopapilla. The plain sopapillas with honey were good but this entree was not. The inside was fairly tasty, it was like taco fillings inside, but the red sauce on the outside tasted like it was syphoned from a Spaghettios can. Don't get me wrong. I like Spaghettios with its sauce but I expected something more from a "fancy" restaurant entree. We finally left for Santa Fe. I'd talk about Santa Fe and what we did there (really just visited the Indian Museum) but this is a Taos-ish post.

Another popular venue that we were told about is The Old Blinking Light which is now out of business. My wife and kids had eaten at this place a couple of years before with my in-laws but I did not take that trip with them and therefore missed this supposedly "great" place. We happened to stop by this place on the way to somewhere else because it has a liquor store attached to the restaurant building. Well, apparently the liquor store is the only thing left operational. I guess people will always go out to buy liquor no matter how bad the economy is but they won't always go out to eat. So, I can't give any opinions on the restaurant (and wouldn't have anyway if it was still open because we were only stopping by to get wine and not eat at the restaurant) but I can tell you that the entire place looks like s dive. The areas of the restaurant were gutted and the liquor store felt more like a bait and tackle shop.

One area of note is the Taos Ski Resort. We didn't visit it this year but we have previously. It's interesting that a ski resort is open during the summer. It's smart for business, very smart. Seasonal business is good or even great but when there are multiple ski resorts in the general 10-50 mile radius it's good to be able to make some dough during the off-season. So, the Taos Ski Resort is 'open' during the summer. It's mainly for the hiking trails, some restaurants, some shops, and the ski lift. That's right. They run the ski lift during the summer. I've never been on one but I wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity. My youngest is scared of heights and was scared shitless to go on the lift but did it. It's kind of freaky. To be on this bench seat hovering and climbing over rugged, mountain terrain below at anywhere from 30 feet to 100 feet or more is kind of nerve racking. I think it's one thing to see snow (not from personal experience) because it shows a uniform, flat surface but to see the jagged rocks and shit is a bit daunting. To know that you could easily slip off the bench or the cable could snap, making you 'splat' on the terrain below is not a pleasant thought. To add to the nerves, whenever someone gets on or off the lift, it slows down a bit which makes the liftchair you are on sway in a teeth-chatter-causing way. After a few times, you get used to it but when it's the 1st one or two, it makes you want to piss yourself! Anyway, the base is at 9,207 feet and the ride up from there was about 10-15 minutes. I say that put us up around 10-11,000 feet. We hung out at the this area for a little bit taking pictures of the landscape and breathtaking views. We started to walk up a trail towards Wheeler Peak but the youngest started feeling light-headed. Part of it was the stress of not wanting to get on the lift in the first place and then adding the altitude probably didn't help. I had the young one rest (lay down on a picnic) bench a little while before we rode the lift back down to get something to eat and drink to help overcome this dizziness feeling. After about half an hour, we rode back up. I didn't want to stress the kids out too much so we didn't try the trail again to Wheeler Peak. I'd say we got up the trail the first time to about 12,000 feet before having to turn around so I'd say we were close enough to the Peak's height of 13,161 feet. How much difference could we see in 1,000 feet of forest and mountains? Not much. We rode around the lift a few more times before getting a little bored. The area was getting a few more guests for the restaurants, shops and lift so we decided we done for the day. We'd been there for at least 3-4 hours. It was a great, beautiful day to enjoy nature and the vast scenery. The family will remember that visit for years to come within our memories as well as actual photos and video.

Dining at 5 Star Burgers in Taos, New Mexico

Took my kids to 5 Star Burgers in Taos, New Mexico. We went for lunch on the recommendation from another person we know that just happened to be in Taos and already dined here.

After squeezing into our parking place because some dipshit moron doesn't know how to park into one space, we entered the doors to 5 Star Burgers. An older waitress approached us and sat us at a table/booth near the door. It wasn't a bad seat until the weather started getting rainy-like outside and then everytime someone opened the door to come in or go out, it was windy at our table! Luckily, this was few and far between so it was tolerable.

The woman took our drink orders as soon as we were seated and said that so-so (I didn't get the name she said) will be with you in a little bit. "In a little bit" must mean something different in Taos than in my head.

It was about 10-15 minutes and we still had our menus on our table and no one had come to take our order. The father of the family on the table/booth next to ours said something to me that I didn't catch at first. He repeated, saying, "Hey bro, it looks like they've forgotten about you. Nobody has taken your order, yet?" I said, "Yes, luckily we're not in a hurry but it would be nice if someone came by." He said, "Where you guys from? We are from Las Vegas." I said, "We drove through Las Vegas on the way to Taos. We are from Dallas." He said, "That's the problem with these places. You go somewhere that has good service but terrible food. And then other places have good food and terrible service." I said, "It's been the latter for us."

About five minutes later, the gentleman waves over a waitress and says, "Excuse me. I've already paid out my ticket but this nice man and his two kids have been sitting here for some time and haven't had their order taken!" She looked at me and said, "So, are you saying you'd like to place your order now?" I said, "Well, yes that would be a good thing!" She took our order and walked away. I thanked the man from Las Vegas as he rose to leave the restaurant. He told me to "have a great day and enjoy our vacation."

After the Las Vegas man leaves, the three of us see our waitress (her name was Monica) speak to one of her coworkers while pointing in our direction. I don't know what was said but we assumed it wasn't good. Once again, we already hadn't started well with dining in a restaurant in Taos.

We got our food about ten minutes after ordering. I ordered the Bison Burger medium rare with Swiss cheese, recommended by the Las Vegas man, while my kids decided to split the Taos Burger and a side of fries. The waitress was very nice and cordial and all so I guess the initial "lack of attention problem" was behind us. This was further cemented as the case as she was very attentive to ask about needing condiments as well as her quick response to have a Diet Pepsi ready to replace my almost-done Diet Pepsi.

The fries were very good. I'm not a connoisseur but I've had me many a fry and these were at least in the top five. The kids thought they were pretty good as well. They also said the Taos burger was pretty good. It was juicy, tasty and big enough for them to share. It did come with fried green chili peppers that they didn't particularly like but did like the burger overall! I thought the Bison Burger was pretty good. It was juicy, cooked like I asked and pretty tasty. I can't say it's better than any other bison burger that I've had but I wasn't disappointed.

Checking out was quick and painless unlike my vist to Applebee's. I think I left Monica a 20% tip even though initially we had to wait to order. She did make up for it with her attentiveness after the fact.

I guess I would recommend 5 Star Burgers for their fairly tasty burgers but I would definitely enter the Taos location knowing that you should not be in a rush to eat and run.

Dining at Applebee's in Taos, New Mexico

Took my two kids to Applebee's in Taos. We were promptly seated but took a little bit to get waited on just for our drink order. We were 1 of 3 tables...1 person at 1 tbl, 2 at another, and 3 at our table...Dalena was working at the time. I heard her tell a coworker she was swamped. The 1 person was almost done with his meal. The 2 people had already ordered and we only had our drinks. I've worked as a waiter and that in no way is called SWAMPED! Dalena was very nice and apologetic though. I just don't think waiting is for her as it requires multitasking and she didn't seem to have that skill.

Anyway, we ordered a full rack of baby back ribs with fries, the grilled garlic sirloin (medium rare) with a cream spinach filled portabello(sp?) mushroom cap topped with parmesan cheese, and the classic wings with honey bbq flavor. She read back our order correctly as well.

About 5-10 minutes later, a "chef" (I assume) came to me and said that they are out of the cream spinach. I was actually looking forward to it and joked with him about leaving. I asked if he had or recommended anything else to fill the mushroom cap. He um-ed and uh-ed and said "Well...?" I finally said how about creamy mashed potatoes. He said, "Ok."

About 10 minutes later, we get our food. The ribs looked fine but how can you mess them up? My sirloin looked good but the portabello cap was nowhere to be seen. I did have a huge portion of mashed potatoes and it seems that the meal already came with potato chunks which I must have missed. The classic wings looked good too. We started to dig in.

My youngest loved the ribs and fries. Again, how can you mess these up?

I found the portabello cap under the generous serving of mashed potatoes. I ate it and the mashed potatoes but not the potato chunks...not because they were bad but because I just wanted the mashed potatoes. The sirloin was cooked half right. Somehow they were able to cook half the sirloin at medium rare and the other half at medium. That's new for me as I've only experienced the entire steak under or over cooked. It was still flavorful so I did not complain.

My oldest bit into the classic wings to find that 1) they were boneless and 2) they were original/classic flavor. I waived over Dalena and told her the order was for the classic bone-in wing with honey bbq flavoring. She proceeded to tell me that I ordered it wrong. She said she heard boneless classic wing and classic meant the typical buffalo spice flavor. I told her that boneless or bone-in is not the problem but we wanted honey bbq. I said she even read back our order stating bone-in with honey bbq. So, this time I clearly stated AGAIN we wanted bone-in with honey bbq flavoring. She was prompt with putting in the correct order and we got it within 10 minutes.

I judge a waitperson's tip partly on how effective they are with refilling my drink. I drink soda like some people chug beer. If I have to wait for my next sip too long, the tip goes down. Dalena was very good with all our refills...especially mine.

Finally, it came time to pay the check. When she brought the check, she explained how she had to add then remove the wings to get it to the kitchen and blah, blah, blah. All I cared is that I wasn't double-charge because we would have had major issues if it was.

By this time the two other tables had left (-3 ppl) and she gained two other tables (a family of 3 on each of the two). She had barely taken the drink order of the table behind us. Again, she felt overwhelmed. She passed our table and grabbed our payment so quickly that I didn't get a chance to ask her for a to-go box BUT she also never asked even though half a rack of ribs were left as well as half the wings. So, I get up and walk toward the men's room which happens to be right next to the register where she's putting in the order for the table behind us. As I approach, I hear her tell a coworker that the guy (at table behind us) wants a Miller Lite but "there isn't even a Miller Lite choice on the register." I reach the register and I ask her for one to-go box while I think to myself that the restaurant probably wouln't sell a beer that isn't in the register/computer. I don't know that for a fact but it was just curious how frazzled she was.

I returned to the table and write out my check with the tip. The tab was $51.21. I almost always start out the tip percentage at 20% for true waitstaff—not those buffet restaurants where someone clears your used plate and refills your cup like at Golden Corral or China Super Buffet. Because Dalena messed up the wings and tried to blame it on me, I had to go below the 20%. I almost just did 15% which I typically don't go below because I've been there as a waitperson and know how it sucks. However, I decided she did make it right and after fixing the order, she apologized for the error. I decided to go with 17%.

My overall experience with this Applebee's is that I will not be stopping in again when I'm in Taos nor will I be recommending it to anyone I know who may be visiting Taos. With the lack of having the actual food items to serve that are listed in the menu and the just-acceptable service, I cannot say it was a good experience for us. I have been to Applebee's in Dallas, Texas without any issues quite a few times so maybe it's just a Taos thing.

25th Anniversary of the Challenger tragedy

So, the word about town is it's the 25^th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. Click here for a good article with pics and vids over at Gizmodo.

I remember exactly where I was when it happened. I was in 3^rd period science class in 9^th grade.

I remember my teacher, Mrs. Allen, wheeling in the TV cart—there weren't laptops or video projectors available at the time. My science teacher was so excited that she wanted all 20 of us to be quiet when they weren't really saying anything on the TV that was important.

I remember the teacher in the next class came over to watch as well, bringing his students into our already crowded classroom. Now there were around 40 of us.

I remember being pretty interested in the launch. Not because I was a space fanatic but just because I always wanted to fly and space launch was pretty close and probably fantastic in itself. I also just like seeing rockets launch. I'm a boy. What else do we care about at that age but electronics, sports and planes/rockets (I liked girls too but that's another story).

I remember the count down.

I remember it starting to lift off.

I remember the flames and all the smoke coming out of the rockets.

I remember how cool it looked on the 27-inch tube TV.

I remember it getting higher and higher.

I remember seeing this quick, smokey explosion thinking this was when the booster rockets separated.

I remember seeing the two booster rockets bow away from the cloud of smoke between them and start to wiggle into their own random flight pattern.

I remember not seeing the shuttle continue its ascent.

I remember my teacher looking at the other teacher wondering what had happened. Both were confused.

I remember silence in the classroom. Then...

I remember the commentator saying something like, "Where is the Challenger?" and "They seemed to have lost contact with the Challenger" and then after a few minutes or ten, the realization happened. NASA reports that the Challenger space shuttle has exploded and all crew members have perished.

I remember Mrs. Allen crying, subtly at first and then somewhat hysterically. She bolted out the classroom door into the hall and continued to cry.

I remember Mrs. Allen composing herself and then wheeling the TV cart back out to the hall and into another room where she and a few other teachers continued to watch the drama. I think it was smart of her to do this for the students and her as well.

I remember going home later in the day and knowing what had transpired but it really not affecting me personally. I knew it was tragic. I knew it was historical. But what did a 14-yr-old boy really care about in the world?

As a mature adult, I look back and I feel for the families of the crew. I understand this now as I have a family of my own that I care for and raise. I also see that if I was a kid and my mother/father had the opportunity to go into space it would be the fucking coolest thing EVER! In fact as a parent, if my child had that opportunity, it would still be the fucking coolest thing but I would worry in the back of my mind.

So, as an old guy, I say to those young and old: Remember the events in your life directly and indirectly, big and small, because one day you will say, "That was the fucking coolest thing...EVER!"

The sky is on fire

 

Sunset on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii

 

A mountain range of clouds

 

Some thoughts on our trip to Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii

I haven't really had time to write about the family trip to Oahu. I finally took some time to fill out the survey on Expedia, which is the service I used to book our flight, hotel and rental car. I thought it was the least I could do to let other people know about our wonderful trip. So without further adieu, please enjoy a somewhat brief summary of our experience.

---

ASTON WAIKIKI CIRCLE HOTEL check-in:

---

Showed up. Signed in. Room was ready. At 1st, didn't have available parking under hotel but by the time I unloaded car, they said they had something available. Immediately headed up to room (13th fl). I expected a little more/different but it turned out to be pretty decent, albeit sparse, accommodations.

---

ASTON WAIKIKI CIRCLE HOTEL review:

---

Very nicely located. About 2-3 blks from Intl Market area near the Zoo but right across from beach with "closed-in" lagoon-type area. Ocean front balcony (extra $) made all the difference from the 13th fl. Just awesome! The room was smaller than expected but we weren't there to spend time in our room--just needed a safe, good place to stay overnight & why pay extra for in-hotel bar/restaurant when the point is to enjoy the island. It was basically a tiny efficiency apt w/o the kitchen. Very close to convenience stores & restaurants. Having parking underneath the hotel was a blessing as well as being 50 ft from the beach. Complimentary Kona coffee from 6:30am-9:30am but would be nice to have it go later. The wife & I definitely missed "anytime coffee" like at home. We didn't know what room we'd have until arrival which could have made the stay different but 13th fl was the best (only goes to 14 floors)! Will definitely request in the future if possible. High enough to help drown out late night street noise but insulation to the outside was lacking. It didn't wake me but it was noticeable. Able to check out free beach towels, boogie board, beach mats, air mattresses & surfboards (I think). We donated 2 pairs of cheaply-priced goggles & snorkels. Only big issue--some guests would smoke on the balcony which I believe was illegal & the hotel didn't police that well. Other than that, we had a blast & would recommend for motel/inn-type dwelling because of the sparsity of the room. In our opinion, it was worth it.

---

WHICH AREA/NEIGHBORHOOD IN THIS CITY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TO YOUR FELLOW TRAVELERS:

---

Keneke's in Waimanalo - great food and good serving size for the price. Also, the shave ice is one of the best (according to them and also my kids)!

Nuuanu Pali Lookout - on a clear day, great views and photo ops. Can see "Chinaman's Hat" from here.

Polynesian Culture Center - especially the Rainbows of Paradise and evening shows, like Ha. Individual "villages" time shows were not spaced/scheduled properly so have to hope you pick and choose the good ones and the good ones are dependent on what you personally think not anyone else.

Diamond Head - heck of a hike but well worth reaching the top. Great views.

Hunauma Bay - very nice beach and snorkel area.

Makapuu Point or here - another hike but not as strenuous as Diamond Head. Great views.

Snorkel dolphin excursion in the wild versus captive. Can't ride or touch the sea life but we saw 100s of spinner dolphins and 5-7 sea turtles. Also, got to have the dolphins swimming and jumping along the boat at a good 30-40 mph. The kids loved it.

Aloha Flea Market - save your money for the Flea Market rather than buying near your hotel. Only open Wed, Sat, Sun, but can get twice as many shirts or whatever than at a convenience store or the International Market Place. Trust me on this one! If wasting money is okay to you, then you can forgo the Flea Market.

Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial - I think this is self explanatory.

So, much more we wanted to do but didn't get to and we were there for 12 days.

---

GETTING AROUND:

---

We rented a car as part of our package but they do have daily rentals of scooters all along Waikiki Beach for what I would say minimal costs. We walked around most of the places near our hotel. I'd say we probably walked about a 2-mile radius to window shop at stores, find restaurants or just plan walk around in the gorgeous weather because it's much faster than driving a vehicle, especially an automobile. They do have very good bus transit according to our hotel desk.

---

SHOPPING

---

Aloha Flea Market is the best place to find the cheapest prices on this and that, knickknacks, T-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, necklaces, bags, etc. You name it, you'll probably get it there and cheaper!

International Market is second in price. Still not as good as the Aloha Flea Market but better than local stores and shops. It's also more convenient than the Flea Market as it's open all day, every day and is probably more convenient to most of the hotels on Waikiki Beach.

---

DINING

---

Almost every big restaurant has a buffet. There are some that are just as costly as a buffet but you get small portions. I like to get my money's worth but also didn't want to eat a buffet for each meal every day. Fast food restaurants are a wash as you can get an entree at a "fancy" restaurant for about the same price or a few dollars more. Sometimes getting out of the touristy area will help find a "hole-in-the-wall" place like Keneke's that produces some of the best food I had on the island at a very reasonable price! There was also L&L Hawaiian BBQ restaurants (which has come to the mainland--in fact there is one in Plano, TX). L&L is good food but it's not as authentic as they think it is. I think the chain concept has diminished their quality or people on the mainland just don't know authentic "Hawaiian" cuisine. I'm not saying it is bad food. It had a lot of food choices compared to Keneke's but it wasn't better tasting.

Waboba Water Bouncing Ball

While we were in Hawaii, this product could be found at every ABC Store and just about any other beachfront store for $19.99. It can be found here for $9.99 plus s/h. If you know in advance of your beach trip, it might be worth picking it up for cheaper because I'm sure any touristy beach will overcharge for this thing.

I don't know the big deal with this is. It doesn't "bounce" on the water. It's more like a "skip" like when you skip a flat rock across the water's surface but this isn't going to poke an eye or knock teeth out.

Needless to say, we passed on this little gem.

The Dole Plantation needs serious help implementing new technologies

 

This is a netbook and TV at the Dole Plantation on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i. The funny thing about this is that there were four big, flat-screen TVs like this one with four separate netbooks attached in a similar manner. I didn't understand why they didn't just run four VGA cables from one netbook from a separate room or just one netbook attached to one TV but running a VGA cable to each of the four. I also wonder if they have a way to remotely access each of the netbooks to change the slide show that is displayed or if somone has to get a step ladder and type away on each netbook for changes. By the looks of the way the netbook is facing downwards, I'm thinking the latter.

There will be more photos and a post(s) on our recent trip to O'ahu but I had to get this posted before I forgot about it.

Is Expedia.com profiling?

So, the wife and I are looking into trips to Hawaii. I put in a search from Dallas, Texas to Oahu Island for flight + hotel + car on Expedia. I get a long list of hotels all over the island.

One of the things that caught my eye was this picture. It's almost like they are telling me that they have Asian/Pacific Islanders at the 800-number to help me because that's the location to where I'm interested.

I wondered what image it would show if I selected Buenos Aires, Spain, France, or Russia. I don't know their reasoning behind it but it didn't make me feel like calling her because she appealed to the demographic of the area to which I was wanting to travel.

It's all in the de-"tails"

So this is a little weird...okay, a lot weird...but that's just how my demented mind works.

A couple of months ago I took the kids and some of their friends to see The Mustangs of Las Colinas. It was a nice day, albeit very windy, and we were all feeling kind a bit of cabin fever because it had rained for a few days previously. The ground was still wet around the house and neighborhood so it wasn't ideal for them to play there. So, a short road trip was decided.

I initially wanted to take the friends to The Mustangs and then the Fort Worth Water Gardens because they'd never been to either but we ended up just going to The Mustangs because one of the friends had to be back home by a certain time to turn around and go to a sleep-over at a friends. Maybe next time.

Anyway, while at The Mustangs, I took a lot of pictures...of the kids, the 'Stangs, the buildings. I noticed something interesting, odd, and disturbing about the detail in some of the Mustang statues.

I won't go into the details but you can basically see what I would be typing about if I typed about it.

I know it's sick, just down right sick! :-)

Chevy Volt

Saw an article about the Chevy Volt. A plug-in electric car.

It's a novel concept but isn't plugging in the car going to tax the house power which in turn will make the power plants churn more which in turn will cause more air pollution? So is that still considered a 'clean' automobile?

I'm not an engineer but it seems like a logical theory to me.

Icy "waterfall"

Took this from a gas station on our way back home from our trip to Illinois. I believe this was somewhere in Missouri probably south of St. Louis.

Gas at Valero

Valero station. Corner of Glade Rd and Hwy 121 in Grapevine.


Sent on the Super Jay Network from Super Jay's BlackBerry®

Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Combo

Taco Bell at I35 and NW Hwy.

Just because I can.


Sent on the Super Jay Network from Super Jay's BlackBerry®

In the news 01/11/2010

Apparently there was some deal on Sunday where a small group of random people took their pants off to ride the DART system. Harmless stunt or criminal activity? For me it would depend on how the drawer-droppers looked physically. Shallow I know but who would want some 5'2" 300# man or woman sitting with their pants off ANYWHERE much less on a rail train? The girl in photo one of the slide show is acceptable. I think it's good that people, apparently a few were strangers to each other, can come together for a little harmless fun. Yes, I would have some splaining to do if my kids saw this but they would have just thought the people were silly and dumb for doing it in the freezing cold.

Unlike the lady that threatened to call the po-po, I would have first inquired to WHY (because there for sure would have had to be a reason). After that, I would have assessed if a po-po call would be needed.

Also, unlike the quoted "wanna-be-a-cop-but-can't-pass-the-academy" transit police, I also don't think it is a crime (disorderly conduct is way too broad...I could let a horrible smelling fart on the train and they could call that disorderly conduct if someone wanted to complain, yeah?)...

Uh, oh...tangent! Why do the DART transit police need to have Dodge Chargers as police cars? I mean they are train cops so they should really only need something like a Kia to get them from train stop A to B or they could take the damn train! Leave the driving pursuits to the real po-po.

Okay, back to our regularly schedule program...

Anyway, I've done some work since then and I've lost my train of thought...as if I had one. So, click here for the story while it lasts at Dallas News.

---

Live Long and Prosper!

---

Hummer H3

Was behind this person at the Whataburger drive thru on Freeport Pkwy and Hwy 114 in North Irving and thought to myself, "Self, this does not look like a Hummer." From this angle it could be any kind of SUV. It makes me wonder if anything has changed other than the girth of the vehicle.

Oh well!


Sent on the Super Jay Network from Super Jay's BlackBerry®

If you see her...

A few weeks or so ago, this person pulls in front of me to go around another car. Not a huge deal, except for the fact that I'm in the fast lane trotting at about 67 mph when she pulls basically right in front of me where I almost tapped her into next year! She was in the middle lane behind a car going 55 mph while she was going about 58 mph. She couldn't wait until I flew by her or slowed by 3 mph for a bit.

I hate asshole drivers like this. Needless to say, I had my digital camera with me and snapped a photo of her ass for all the blogosphere to know she's "estupida."

So, if you see her, don't physically harm but do mentally anguish by driving by her while honking and flipping the bird.

For point of reference, this is heading west on Highway 183 aka Airport Freeway in Bedford, Texas. The overpass you see is the Euless Westpark Way/Murphy Drive and the exit to the right is the 183 to Hwy 121 ramp. See map.