Oh my goodness

It has been a long time.  KWBerta has AML so I'll post mor on that laters

Dad's BBQ Pork Micro Style

Gez. No post since January.  

Gee, dude ur phat and lazy for sure.  There is a good reason(s) but I digress. 

Years ago, I had a party and wanted to BBQ a pork shoulder.  So, I asked my Dad for his red meat rub recipe ”formula”.  What I got was, “Hmm, Son I’ll make you some”.   In typical dad fashion, not only did he deliver the rub but also showed up to watch the progress. “What is that?...Where is your mop son?...Didn’t I teach you how to make a decent mop for the mopping sauce?...no thermometer, how do you keep the coals at the right temperature?  You need more mesquite!”  Sigh… I guess that is how you learn.

Anyway, last week my friend invited me to this party at a private beach house and I volunteered to make a BBQ pork shoulder.  FYI Guam more so that the rest of the US thinks BBQ is grilling.  There are two decent BBQ place here but the rest are just grill masters.  So, here I am in Guam with no BBQ smoker to my name and yet I have volunteered to do real BBQ.   Task one find pork shoulder; Payless nope, California mart nope, Cost-u-less nope, Island Fresh nope.  I just default to a small picnic butt that will work best cause like I said I don’t have a real smoker neway.

Basic Red Meat Rub

Rubbed to be forgotten

Next step was the rub.  Pretty easy except I ended up buying some really large jars of spices.   I think I’m gonna make a big batch of rub to give some small jars away for Christmas presents.   Proceeded to prep the meat just like Dad schooled me.  Scored the meat fat side in diagonal criss-cross fashion then rubbed down the   pork the day before and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.  The rub was a simple mix chili powder, garlic salt and onion powder, brown sugar, plus some other secrets.  I “Rubbed it and forgot it” overnight in the fridge. LOL.

Mopping Sauce w/Mop

Just a paragraph about the mopping sauce.  Saw some BBQ show on TV that used apple cider instead of apple cider vinegar with the red pepper flakes so I tried it.  Well 50/50 mix of cider and vinegar.  And yes Dad had I had real mop just didn’t shred a white tee-shirt.   Next time I’ll stick with apple cider vinegar…smile it is better.  I think you need the vinegar to offset the alkali of the pepper in the mopping sauce, it also adds a tangy flavor.

 

Any real BBQ master would have looked at my grill and walked away, Dad included.  It is a cheap (less than $15.00) home depot special.  It doesn’t even have a bottom vent.  In one word it sucks but did that stop me?  Hells no.  proceeding fearlessly.  Found this bamboo charcoal that is the shit.  The stuff burns even and well. The stuff is square and comes in a box…how weird is that.  Locally there is a wood called tangan-tangan that’s a great smoking wood.  The stuff grows all over the island except in Home Depot, so I bought a small bag of mesquite.  Talk about lazy -  in fact locals would argue that it took more effort to go to Home Depot than to walk to the nearest vacant lot and just cut some tangan-tangan down but, hey obviously I’m not local.  Last grille note is that I also used a small aluminum drip pan in the base of the grille, since it doesn’t have a bottom outlet.  Because I didn’t want the mopping sauce to smother the coals and mesquite.

Offset lid to for airflow

Ok so the next day comes and I really don’t fell like spending all day mopping and BBQ’n.  Wake up early to get started , fart around and the next thing I know it is 2pm.  Egad so I finally light the coals and the pork is cooking nice and slow by 3-3:30pm.  Good thing I didn’t find a pork shoulder I would have been mopping till 2am.  With no lower vent to control, I used the lid and just cocked it on top leaving about a ¾” offset to allow air to the coals.  All throughout the day I feed charcoal and mesquite chips through the grille.  Sometimes I had to slide the grill and meat over to get the larger chucks of wood and charcoal in, precarious but doable.  Caution - my maximum bed of coal was maybe 6” in diameter so need to be very tuned to micro fire management.

See the drip pan?

That is it! Tend fire, mop, rotate, tend fire, mop rotate…repeat till the meat is tender.  Don’t forget the KFC coleslaw...it is the best with BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.  Oh yeah, the party was cancelled! 

All done at about 1am

So the adventure continues....

This Thanksgiving I went to Japan on a whim.  I must say that going to Japan by oneself and not knowing a lick of Japanese wasn’t the smartest thing to do.  The target destination was a place called Fuefuki in Yamanashi prefecture.   A town in the middle to the world renown Japanese grape region.   How did I pick this region??  Friend I met on Guam was working there so figured I’d go visit. 

Grape vineyard in the center of town

Grapes on the vine

OK, some background info on Fuefuki it looks like a nice inland valley that in my opinion could have been a swap at one time (lots of water/storm drains everywhere).   I think in the late sixties bubbling hot water came up thru da ground so now the place is a mecca of Japanese bathhouses along with being the fruit including wine grape region of Japan.  





Well apparently the same weekend as the US Thanksgiving Holiday was some Japanese national holiday..long story short, all of the hotels were booked for the weekend….fuck it I went anyway.  Wine country why not?  It was beautiful the weather was like August at home but dryer.

Getting there was easy.  I had a Delta ticket that was due to expire on the 31^st of Nov.  so I used it.  Business class to Japan, Oh yeah Baby!  The sad part is I don’t/can’t drink like I used to so the few glasses of champagne didn’t make the upgrade worth it.  At the airport, everybody speaks plausible English so finding the right bus line to Fuefuki was easy.   You could also take the train, but the trip has about 4 transfers with a few minutes between to find the right train.  I figured bus - no transfer - straight trip.  So far easy Parcheesi.  I passed thru the Yasmanashi Tunnel about a week before it collapsed whew!

So my friend meets me at the bus station and takes me to this hotel that at least has a room for Thursday and as luck would have it there was a cancellation..wooo hooo.  Lodging was solved for the four days I was there.  The next day I set out to explore.  It was pretty cool though I didn’t do any bathhouses…hello I don’t even enjoy hot tubs and sitting around with a bunch of men in sulfur fumed water just wasn’t interesting.  This place was clean.  Guam is dirty. Why so many Japanese tourist go to Guam is beyond me.

Trip Highlights

1. Went to this family restaurant and ordered from the pictures what I thought was chicken.  What I got was the cartilage tips at the end of chicken breast.  It was weird, they had a sliver of meat and chicken skin.  The order was about ten 1-1/2” pieces.  The place had little inset gas-fired hibachi’s that let you cook the food.  This is easy -  I cooked those bad boys till they were crunchy, then shootz it was all good.

2. Shopping hmmm, well Japan was a little colder than Guam and I needed a jacket/coat.  So I hit the mall and a few clothing stores hoping to find some warmth.  Damn I’m not the biggest dude but the XL, and XXL’s where too small??  I guess I didn’t see the big and tall store.  Neway, I find a vest that is tight but hell, it’s a down vest on sale a size XXL.  A bit later, back at the hotel I notice the snaps and zipper are on the wrong side.  Apparently I have a woman’s XXL (hey it was on the men’s rack, how am I s’posed to know?).  I swear to God I didn’t see any Japanese women that weekend that would even remotely be a XXL.  Thinking about it I’m not sure I have ever seen a size XXL? 

3.       Fuefuki has a bargirl Karaoke district which isn't much different than what is in Guam.  It is funny the places in Asia that I have been, there are always no local women.  I must go to the "non-local" places.  This one  joint had a high yen “bingo” game in the back?  I think the term bingo was lost in translation.   OK so the next night I went looking for a Jazz club and saw this club called “Night and Day” a piano bar.  Can’t go wrong with that, Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra right?   It was cool owned by this older Japanese guy ….that spoke English yea!  Lol he made me sing a karaoke song (nope no jazz slightly misleading) I selected Johnny Cash, but when  Helen Reddy “I Am Woman Hear Me Roar” came up Tak throws me the mic and says sing while he accompanied me on the piano.  Needless to say, I have a new song in my karaoke repertoire.  They were great ppl, warned me to be careful walking home and then sent a bottle of local wine to the Hotel. 

Ok so it is time to leave and catch the bus back to Narita.  That was the most difficult part of the trip.  We go to the train station and ask about bus tickets because it is also a bus stop.  No luck at the train station info booth.  No English but my friend knows Japanese so we get a number to call for the bus line.  He he I call the number later and we communicate only just enough for me to understand that the woman on the other end of the phone cannot speak English. 

OK no problem I got this.  Next step Google translate Bus to Narita and ask the desk clerk to help.  


Done! I have reservations but no ticket.  With a reservation, you have to go to the convenience store with a ticket kiosk.  



I handed the clerk the paper with reservation confirmation number for him to operate the kiosk (which is all in Japanese)  after the BAS vs BUS spelling incident I finally have a ticket.  With ticket in hand the Bus/Plane trip back to Guam was without incident.

GM#2 - Another try at the ginger martini

So the other day I’m at the California Grocery store (Guam is funny the Korean Grocery store is called California ?) and saw these awesome humongous ginger roots. Yes indeed!! This is an omen to have another try at ginger martinis. Honestly, what else do you do with ginger roots that big? Anyhoo G-Daddy buys two big ass roots of ginger.

This time is going to be different. I’m gonna do it right.

Step two Grab some cheap rum, Virgin Island rum from St. Croix. No good dark rum on Guam, but last time that made the martini’s too dark. This time we are going for appearance, presentation, and taste. Gez, I just can’t do white rum it has no flavor.

Step three. Get a juicer, ain’t none of this silver bullet pint sized food processor action like last time. I borrow a juicer from a friend of a friend and proceed to burn the unit up. Hmm… I guess ginger was a bit dense for that juicer, seriously what a major mess. The feeder housing dropped into the grinding wheel and then plastic shavings got all into the juice. Then, I tried to use coffee filters to strain the slurry, the fines in the mix just clogged the coffee filter. Note from attempt GM #1. I did look for cheesecloth lol saw it the next day at the store, have now for GM#3

Repeat step three. This time I don’t full around - I buy a juicer. None of this Hamilton Beach plastic crap. I go with the Jack LeLanne’s Power Juicer Pro with special extraction technology, designed for performance and taste “as seen on TV”. This baby is stainless steel construction with a way better/bigger motor, and yes I did peal the ginger first. Holy cow!! The juicer 2000 did the trick. I’m all for high extraction technology.

Yield, three potion bottles of ginger syrup. That seems to be the default value. Kmart had the really cool stopper bottles. Last time I had to drink three bottles of sake for the bottles.

I also used white sugar, but I didn’t simmer the mixture for very long, just enough to dissolve the sugar. Mistake I had semi-sweet ginger juice but, not ginger syrup.

Mixology

Equal parts ginger syrup and rum. Mix in shaker filled with ice and serve in chilled martini glasses. The result was mixed (lol yes I was being punny). I personally thought the drink was too gingery, that in itself wasn’t a bad thing. Next time though I think I’ll rim the glasses with sugar. Still can get the color looking like something you really want to drink. The muddy browny yellow just isn’t that appealing. Need to get the MIHOTT opinion on that.

Conclusion, drinkable but nobody asked for another.

What I Got in Hawaii

While in Hawaii I wanted to get some artwork or something to remember the experience.  Problem was I also wanted something practical and functional.  Eureka, how about ukuleles.   Man,  Craigslist is the place for get ukes on Oahu.  So on the Big Island koa trees grow with really good grain, ukes with koa bodies have a nice deep rich sound.  haha I hear you people..."Yo G, do you know how to play ukulele".  Well, dat aint da issue I'm workin on the playin stuff.



Kimo Jones #247

Koa w/ebony frett board. Haven't figured out a name for his fella yet.  This is the only one that I brought new on-line.   I think the guy is in Kialua but, not sure?  http://kimosukes.weebly.com/    

King Kamaka



Full name King Koa Kamakamaka.  Oh yeah,  this baby is strung with a low G which is perfect to bring out the rich sound of the koa.  Got him from a guy in Mililani, he also threw in a little amp.   You could tell he was sad letting it go, was moving on I guess.  Never showed me the uke he was keeping.



Mango Baby



Mango Baby is injured,  Segundo dropped her and she needs to be fixed.  Needless to say I'm not happy.  She is a Tangi concert w/ebony frett board.  Tangi, he has stopped making ukes.  She has a really bright sound with an internal pick-up.



Blondi Blonde



Ok,  so one could say I have a thing for tall blondes.  Blondi is big and I have no clue what type of wood she is,  perhaps a tiger maple but I think the grain pattern is too tight.  The deal went down in the Ala Moana Mall parking garage.  I left the Koa Boyz and Baby at home, only have Blondi here in Guam.

Guam Breadfruit

Hey ho

Long time no post, well quick update I'm in Guam. Interesting place lots of ppl in denial...I mean hopeful that U.S relocation from Okinawa will happen. More on that later. Been here for almost three months saw my first tree snake the first month. Ain't seen one since. Well, just up the street is a bread fruit tree. So I had to try cooking one.

Well, after looking up how to cut and peel in the internet I fried that puppy up. The long and short of it is breadfruit is pretty bland. Very starchy like plantains, I used butter and had to cook on a low heat, just soaked up the butter. Next time I'll try peanut oil and a higher heat. seasoning is the key, I kept it simple celery salt and pepper but easily could have gone the sugar, cinnamon...sweet route.

There u got it just a quick update on the Guam thing. I need to get more active through, so next on the plan is to find a dive buddy. Got the dive gear here so I gotta use it. I also owe a Guam summary ... s'plain the denial comments

November KAF Update

Ok it is past time for another KAF update. G-Daddy is done with the “Hawaii Project” final close –out has been a bitch and I’m free. Here is the Kick Ass November summary.

11/1 – I left Hawaii for Troy Michigan to visit USNCB Force. Had a great time cept lil’Ricky chewed my glasses. Spent week visiting The Force with 2 of those days in Lansing visiting KC. Highlight was the Motown records museum. OMG The Force dives like crazy in motor city. Egads I washed my cell phone. OMG it is impossible to buy an unlocked cell phone anymore.

11/5-11/6 Hungout with old college friend in Lansing MI. It was great lol we hit a couple of bars downtown. Dude is from Wasilla so we had great fun talkin about Sarah and the state of American politics.

11/8 – Fly to ATL and pick up big sis’s car. Start road trip to Emerald City. Met The Adventure (TA) in Atlanta. The car condition was a questionable 1996 C220 with 256,000+ miles. Lol my brother was posed to meet me but that didn’t happen. I had to pay the 200 bucks to get it out of hawk from big sis’s mechanic….arrgh family. Car condition summary after the mechanic “looked it over”. One trash bag of garbage and misc items for donations, gas gauge doesn’t work, gas leak somewhere, turn signal not working, no licensed plate lights, coolant leak somewhere. The overall male opinion is “sis sell the car”. Neway the GREAT ROAD TRIP had started. Gas gauge solution, use the trip odometer and only drive 300 miles between fill ups. Get this TA had a plane ticket to AZ based on the condition of the car just in case.

11/9 – Start of the GREAT US ROADTRIP Atlanta to Seattle 3700 miles with a side bar to Sierra Vista, AZ. First, leg ALT to HSV and met some friends of TA there. Car did OK so we pushed it to Florence AL. Hmmm weird noise started like sirens couldn’t determine where it was coming from. The take the back roads off the plan and now we need to stay on the interstate total lack of confidence the car will make it.

11/11 – Tried to contain TA’s geocaching addiction but that didn’t happen. Hit Texarkana with a geocaching vengeance, found 4. Met an interesting local(?) that gave us the town summary. The old railroad depot was vacant so of course we had to check it out, alas there was nothing of interest. Did find a house worth painting. Was hoping the travel/any from work would revise the watercolor urge but had/has nothing. Texas is huge took three days to get across that place. Figured out the gas leak/smell, it happens whenever the gas tank is filled too fast. Saw my first wind farm, I want one. Visited friends of AT’s outside of Dallas, she knows ppl everywhere.

11/13 – Get to TA’s place in Sierra Vista on Saturday did laundry and “rested” B4 the second half of the trip. Rested means ripped up living room carpet, mounted flat screen TV on wall, fixed bath lavatory drain, installed wireless router. Man was that rejuvenating.

11/15 - Hit PHX for CO2 capture burner mtg. Been talking with this friend of mine about being a PM for several coal and oil fired power plant burner replacement projects, for like almost 5 years. Come to find out the “investor” is waiting for the Mexican Government to redeem some 1913 Govt. Bonds lol roflmao… OK it may turn out but, I’m a little less confident it will happen. As my friend would say we should know by tomorrow…

I was also to meet a man about a solar panel/farm idea of met. My idea - The solar panel COOP farm, a simple plan. Buy some land, let ppl buy shares in the COOP, share in this case means PV solar panels. It is like this, most ppl don’t want to put panel on their house. Typically, old houses aren’t designed to incorporate several 3’x7’ solar PV panel arrays on the roof. The utility company will only let residential owners use the roof-mounted equipment to offset the utility cost. Hell in Hawaii, the electric company is claiming that to many residential installations will destabilize the grid WFT?? The total “collective” can sell the power generated to the utility company at peak cost and all of the members can benefit (meaning a monthly check) from the sale of power. The PV farm COOP can support a battery storage/inverter station so the grid stabilization think isn’t a factor. lol yeah I’m looking to buy some desert land in AZ near a power transmission lines hopefully for real cheap. Well that is an entire BLOG entry in itself.

11/16 – Well the second half of the trip had to pick-up the speed. So headin north yuk worst hotel of the trip was come rundown casino outside of Las Vegas. Barstow smells and looks really rough, the passenger side turn signal flew out of the car and the lens cover separated and flew over the roof. Amazing enuff it didn’t break or get run over by a semi tractor-trailer. Had some shipping tape in the car and ghetto’d the bad boy right-up. The coolest things on the California portion; 20 mule train BORAX mine (would have asked for the tour but, I just taped the turn signal back on the car), viewing the freight train on the Tehachapi Pass Loop, looking towards Death Valley, the orchards, Corning for olives and virgin oil.

11/17 – Oregon, sis’s lil car on the mountain, it was tough. But it did OK until Portland, it was raining cats and large dogs, the check engine light comes on, the add coolant light comes on. Lost all confidence in the car…call all my friends and family in Seattle and put the warning out that if the car dies in route send help.

11/18 - Lesson learned is dat sis’s little car don’t like to be pushed. After a nights rest, can of oil, and more antifreeze it purred into Seattle just fine. Had enough time for TA to geocach at the old Olympia brewery birthplace of Oly Pop!. Saw Aunt, Uncle, cousins and old college friend. Spent the night at D&S’s place, smile I actually “jammed” with D on guitar and, me on my ukulele lmao. I guess I learned something in Hawaii.

11/19 – Whew! dropped the car off at the shipping place and caught the plane home. Landed in ANC, it was 8 degrees F. Segundo picked me up at the airport. WTF, who leaves Hawaii to go home to ANC in the middle of the winter?

11/26- Took Segundo to Juneau to visit Primo and his GF. Primo cooked dinner at his roommates hse (not GF but, an older woman with young daughter). Great food, he slow roasted the turkey, it was a good time. We geocached the day after it was a good time. Lesson learned quit drinking with children, Primo is an angry drunk. New worries as a parent, oh well it never ends.

Well woo hooo it is good to be home. I have tickets to the AIFF and my birthday is coming up. Lots of house stuff to do. Let the rumpus begin. Christ I need to figure out what is next, again that is another BLOG entry also.

KAF Update

Sorry for the lack of post all. Not that I haven't been having fun but project close-out has been a bitch. So I guess fun has been under achieved. However, I did go to the Big Island on Labor Day. A buddy of mine has taken it upon him self to document the health and location of Wiliwili trees on the island, freelance environmentalism. So we spent the afternoon hiking and locating these trees.

Mature tree, about 100 years old we figured??

Wiliwili tree seeds






Nice grove of trees.

The last groves of trees was a turkey roost, alas no turkey but we did find a turkey feather!
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You could see/feel the spirit of this old tree, its is dying, note orange color.
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Here is all of the pics from that day.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6jvDj02rIx0MmY5NTc5M2ItMGU1MS00MWU2LTgyYjEtOWQ3OWVmNjEzZjg4&hl=en

Ginger Syrup - The Mixology Experiment

In an effort to be healthy I have been going to the local farmers market on Sundays for my fruit and veggies for the week. Well this one booth had these big ginger roots, I had to buy one. Great! So I asked myself, "Yo, what do u do with this big root-o-ginger?" Ahh yes, the answer was easy, make ginger syrup for ginger martinis. Note, how easy I stray from the "healthy lifestyle" pursuit.

Quick e-mail to M.I.

G-Daddy to MIHOTT
OK , I got this big chunk o'ginger. so what is ur recipe for ginger syrup. Can I make it with dark rum??

MIHOTT to G-Daddy
Equal parts water, sugar & Ginger (peeled & chopped). I usually do med to med high heat & stir a lot up front while the sugar is melting, then let it simmer until it's syrupy, about 30 min. That's it for the syrup.

For the martini, I experiment, usually 1/2 rum, 1/2 syrup or do thirds with triple sec.
Good luck!

Well for starters, no dude is gonna peel ginger root. Look at that thing, its alien. I just cut it small enough to go in my Black and Decker One-Touch chopper. Presto I got at least a pound of finely chopped ginger root. Now I happen to enjoy dark rum. So with that said I figure I'll go all dark and use dark brown sugar also. With those small deviation I proceed to make my own batch of ginger syrup.

OK so I melt the sugar in with the ginger and have this nice rich brown liquid...with all kinds on ginger peel pieces floating on the top. No worries, the house is equipped with a small strainer and I proceed to fish most of the chopped pieces of ginger skin out of my precious syrup. Simmer for 1/2 hr to 45 minutes. Hmmm, Doesn't look so bad.


I happen to have some blue sake bottles and some extra corks. So there, I have ginger syrup.

CONCLUSION: Let's say that for a first try I found all of the mistakes. Honestly who likes a brown martini? What was I drinking...I mean thinking? The dark rum was too strong, it clashed with the ginger. White rum next time.

Same with the brown sugar, white sugar next time. Oh yea, and if you don't want to peel then you need cheese cloth (hmm perhaps coffee filters will work). The strainer doesn't get all of the fines.

Good things. I got two containers of sweet chopped ginger root I have been cooking with. Ginger teriyaki tuna!!. The pineapple was great alone without any rum. The rum is great alone without any ginger. Mix the syrup with sparkling water for really good ginger ale.

Kick Ass Fun Update

So here is what I have found. I have the best Super Bowl Sundays if I don't watch that goofy football game. So for the last two Sundays in a row I have hit Ward's Rafters. What a funky place. The third story of this woman's house in Kaimuki...who would have known??

http://www.yelp.com/biz/wards-rafters-honolulu

On Superbowl Sunday was, "A Tribute to John Coltrane". Man that was hot.

Here is the play list for you jazz purest.

1st Set
Bessie's Blues
Good Bait - sweet
I Mean You
Lazy Bird - waltz
The River
A Love Supreme - dudes, tore it up way to close a set!!! Satomi was just awesome on piano

2nd Set

Giant Steps
Moment's Notice
Ohm(sp) Original composition I thought is sounded like the funky part of The River
Something about John Coltrane - Flute
Impressionsw/Neil on Sax also for duet/ Neil can blow also....sigh started thinking about work on this tune.

3rd Set

In Walked Bud
Mister Day
The Creator Has a Master Plan - a Pharoah Sanders tune

This Sunday was just as good. Valentines Day, Mom and Pop's anniversary, which leads to an entire separate blog post. In Summary, that was two Sundays in a row of kick ass fun!

Where was all the Fun and Happiness???

LOL.... back in April I posted some "short term goals" 30-60 days. Well with the year ending I figure I'll give a brief summary.

Lose weight...Yes I did. I even kept it off thru the holidays.

LEED AP... Yes I did. Now the good sustainable green building folks want me to select a speciality by 2011 so I'll have to get PDH's for that. Arrrgh

30+ engineering PDH's for my 2010 AK engineering license...Yes I did This was pretty cool.

Scuba Diving.....No, I didn't. Nothing, zippo, didn't even get wet. How lame is that? the most fun thing one that stupid list and I do nothing. yo G-daddy ur priorities are really f'd up. Sigh my pursuit of water colors was down also. I did only 7 post cards and 6 of those were Christmas cards of the same thing.

Years ago I had a TAB business with some college buddies. It wasn't a huge money maker but, every year we would have a big pizza super bowl party (hey, it was tax deductible). So at the party I would announce the word of the year. Remember Peewee's Play house? ok I digress. The phrase for 2010 is "Kick Ass Fun". I am going to focus on kick ass fun. This will be the one of the funnest years of my life.

Not saying 2009 wasn't fun. A few friends did come visit me on Oahu. I did get to the Big Island. Had a fun road trip from Denver to AZ thru New Mexico. However, more Kick Ass Fun in 2010 will be had by all.

Primo and Segundo on da island brah!

CHECK IT OUT!!!

Primo and Segundo were in HI for Christmas.

The highlight was a night at the Dragon Upstairs Lounge in Hono Downtown Chinatown. Another awesome Jazz show, the drummer was choke as they say in the 808


They also got to pound sweet rice to make moshi(sp) for the new year. I guess rice pounding is a Japaneses new years tradition. The neighbor does this every year and he invited the boyz and I over.

Moshed sweet rice...., yup I know that was takin grammatical liberties with conjugation.

The moshi production line.

Three of us at the bar, he he it reminded me of going out with Pops .

No Pain, No Gain or Make Lemonade w/o Sugar

YOW

A lot has happened since the last post.

Amazing, I passed my LEEDS AP test. Hey don’t ask I needed a 170 out of whatevah and I got bare minimum 170. Postponed it from 6/19 to 6/23 and passed the buggah! OK so I met the pass the LEED AP exam goal.

7/15/09 the house I’m renting was jacked. Bastards stole my laptop, back-up HD, Nokia N82 cell phone, both ukulele’s a KoAloha and my KPK, GPS (old as it was), check books and bank files. Bitches took my water color paints and pencils. Took a month to cancel checks, get new accounts (in Alaska), and file fraud alerts at all three credit agencies. The police file was closed in a day, so much for Hawaii 50 in the year 2009. Now I have chains on both gates…kinda silly for a house with jalousie windows and ¾” T&G walls. I mean a tweaked out Samoan could just go thru the wall.

So then I start having dizzy spells. Dr. puts me on the EKG machine and goes hmmm perhaps you need to see a cardiologist and take a baby aspirin daily. Of course then I feel my heart and carotid arteries start throbbing. The dizziness gets worse and so next week I see Doc again which is followed by an immediate head CT scan. Good news here, the small growth in my head is identified as my brain and no tumors or aneurysms are waiting to explode.

But in the back of my mind I think well maybe it is the HBP meds. So I’m now I’m mortified G-Daddy has heart disease. I stop drinking and coffee, and start popping aspirin daily. In addition, I was told to get a HBP machine so I can track my pressure at home. (Why would a doctor tell an engineer to collect and plot data points?) So I’m taking 20-30 readings a day just waiting for the big one to hit me. To be honest, Doc also said it could be stress and do some stretching, exercise, try yoga. So after living in fear for three weeks, I finally get to the cardio stress test. The cardiologist was hilarious, great stand-up. Long story short heart is healthy, changed HBP meds, and dizziness has somewhat subsided.

The point is add the; house break in, HBP meds dizziness side effect, the heart disease scare, plus work stress (next Blog entry) Woo Hoo!! I lost 8 lbs. So, I’m gonna claim an 80% on the lose weight goal.

No Diving
2 more CEU’s more to follow

Ouch... That did hurt

Well that didn't work. Just highlighted how unmotivated my sorry ass is lately. Here is the goal progress summary:

1. Lose 10 lbs (first step in getting off HBP meds those things SUCK). This is a bigger than losing weight, I really want to get on a “whole health” mind set. Eat better, drink less, exercise more. Simply put I’m struggling with mortality. I haven't lost a fucking pound. Hell - no hiking, no rollerblading ,no nothing, this weekend.

2. Go diving, hell I have the gear, I’m in Hawaii. WTF?? Nope didn't do any of that.

3. Pass the LEED AP exam. Test is in June, need to get study materials. Well, I got the materials the test is on the 20th need to learn over 400 pgs in 6 days. Christ i really don't give a rip about LEEDs

4. Christ! I need 30 hrs of PDH’s to keep my license current. First step of this one is in motion. Will be in San Diego in May to attend a seminar but that is only ½ of PDH’s don’t know whether to plan another seminar or collect the remainder on-line. Canceled the SD seminar... lol pig flu worries ....more folks have it here in Hawaii. So the next attempt(s) is to go on-line. And yeah I'm stuck with a nonrefundable ticket to SD. Did attend an Hawaii AIA/ASHRAE "Mold in the Building Environment" brown bag luncheon. 2 PDH's down 28 to go.

Whew!! good thing it was only 4 goals. Folks, the long and short of it is I'm not going to be able to work another 15 years unless I find something more gratifying. The struggle for legal tender just to be part of the great US consumer economy has TOTALLY lost its appeal.

I guess a few simple goals won't hurt?

Howzit, folks yes it has been awhile. I was in Anchorage last weekend. Yeah yeah I know I didn’t see everyone (including Mom). Smile... telling folks here in Hawaii that it was almost 50 deg F. in Anchorage on Sunday makes them shiver. Nevertheless, it was nice, the sun was out, and it was a beautiful day. Anchorage was pretty dusty but hey that is the way the place is b4 the first spring rain. Well, OK maybe a bit dustier than normal due to volcano ash/dust. Primo and Segundo are doing well in the house. lol Primo’s cat is on the new version of Google Earth runnin across the street.

Here’s the deal. I’ve been slacking lately so I need to publish some goals. I need to get back to posting on a regular basis. Both are ways to keep life moving, the proverbial killing two birds with one stone. These are only short-term goals 30-90 days

1. Lose 10 lbs (first step in getting off HBP meds those things SUCK). This is a bigger than losing weight, I really want to get on a “whole health” mind set. Eat better, drink less, exercise more. Simply put I’m struggling with mortality.

2. Go diving, hell I have the gear, I’m in Hawaii. WTF??

3. Pass the LEED AP exam. Test is in June, need to get study materials.

4. Christ! I need 30 hrs of PDH’s to keep my license current. First step of this one is in motion. Will be in San Diego in May to attend a seminar but that is only ½ of PDH’s don’t know whether to plan another seminar or collect the remainder on-line.

My Dad

Well some of you may know that my Dad died on Nov 2, 2008 in Soldotna. So I flew that night back to Soldotna via Anchorage and arrived Monday morning at 7a to help Mom with the service and all. It was snowing in Anchorage and 4 degrees F in Soldotna when I landed. The service was nice, on Thursday the 6th, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (yes is that a good Catholic Church name or what?). My ex-wife flew in from WA and my sons came down from Anchorage. I being the only one of my brothers and sisters to show up (that is an entire other blog post) said a few words at the service. So I want to share those words with u’all also. I really didn’t write any of it down so I’m paraphrasing and adding in the things I missed also ;-)

Let’s see first I thanked my ex-wife for showing up, her and Pops were always close. Second, I named all of my brothers and sisters and thanked everyone on our behalf for coming to remember our father. Then I told about the different sides of Dad that I fondly remembered.

Soldier Dad- Pops served 30 years in the US Army. 3x combat veteran, a tour in Korea and 2x in Vietnam where received a Silver Star. Soldier Dad would send us cassette tapes every 1 or 2 weeks. He sent me a map of Cambodia and Vietnam and with each cassette he would send the coordinates of where he was located on a slip of rice/tracing paper so I could overlay it on the map and see where he was. Pops used to let me stay up and watch him shine all of his brass and place his ribbons on his uniform. He would shine everything down to the last oak leaf cluster. Soldier Dad gave me his field jacket in high school so I could be cool, taught me how to spit shine my shoes for ROTC. He gave me his special forces pin to wear on my Boy Scout cap.

Outdoor Dad- used to take all of us camping. We would load up the Olds Vista Cruiser and go to Fielding Lake or the upper Chena River. We would catch lots of graying and cook them, wrapped in foil, seasoned with lemon pepper, roasted on sticks, over the fire. I caught my first fish with Outdoor Dad; it was a rainbow trout at Otter Lake on Ft. Rich I think I was 9 or 10. I was too squeamish to clean or eat it, which didn’t sit well with neither Outdoor Dad nor Soldier Dad for that matter. I’ll talk more about this with Cooking Dad. Outdoor Dad took me hunting, skeet and trap shooting he was a great shot I was not. We used to go fishing on Ft Wainwright behind the golf course. Armed with a thermos of russian tea Outdoor Dad would catch a graying or two with his fly rod and bait us up for burbot (a fresh water cod like fish). We would drink tea in the summer twilight and dad would reenact how he would call pigs in his youth. Pops would go, “Wooooooooo PIG pig pig pig” with his voice dropping lower and deeper with each pig. At the end, it was so deep it would sound like James Earl Jones.

Then there was Fun Mischievous Dad - he used to play cards with us and would slap card on his forehead. Dad was fun to play cards with. One weekend or spring break when I came home from college mom was getting on Pops about something so he decided that we (he and I) needed to go to the hardware store. Which was followed by a side trip to the VFW, where we proceed to get rather tipsy (everyone should get drunk with his dad at least once). I think Dad just wanted to give mom other options upon our return home.

Cooking Dad – Most of you know Cooking Dad. He could fry fish in a deep fat fryer and still have spotless glasses. Cooking Dad to assist Outdoor and Soldier Dad made me clean fish, cut up meat and chickens to overcome by blood and guts phobias. Of course, the next step was start the grill, seasoning the meat advancing on to cooking it. Yes, Cooking Dad taught me how to cook on the grill. Some things Cooking Dad would not do. One year I was having a construction party for some work at my house in Anchorage an I asked Cooking Dad for his gumbo recipe. Pops laughed and firmly said, “NO, son how many ppl are you inviting”. Me made a huge pot of gumbo for all and then billed me for the ingredients. Hmmm... now that I think about it the same thing happened years before when I asked for his red meat rub recipe.

Well, those are the sides of dad I shared with everyone that day. I ended reading a poem about Pops, I wrote years before. I left out many facets of my Father; Rule Abiding Dad, Discipline Dad, Fastidious Dad, to name a few. Pops wanted his ashes spread in the flower garden at home. With single digit temperatures in Soldotna, the spreading of ashes will not take place until the spring. I love and miss my Dad

Hnloah G-Daddy Exploring The City

What up, Yo

Sorry haven't been posting much. hell it is Sept and I have had only two post this year better step it up. First can you believe it I had the nerve to complain about $3.75/gal gasoline... duh what a bargain that would be now?

No doubt you have seen the Labor Day dive pictures so I'll spare y'all those details. The superferry over to Maui would make a great post in itself. The highlight of the trip was in Lahaina when this guy thought Heavy P and I were a gay couple and tried to sell us sea salt expholiating skin cream and some other great skincare products. I think it went over HP's head. nuff bout Maui.

This post is about me celebrating Segundo's 21st BD. Since he is back home in Anch I celebrated it without him. I got a ticket off of HPR (Hawaiian Public Radio) to a jazz concert, the ticket was only 20 bucks!!!. man-o-man let me tell you about this show. First in was in dwntwn hono in Kakaako (I think) at the Atherton Studio. The place seats maybe 75 ppl max, last night there was only 35-45 ppl there. The groups is Bop Tribal www.myspace.com/boptribal Yo dudes and dudettes, they tore it up. Do you get the picture? An awesome jazz show, in a small venue, for only 20 bucks??? In Anchorage, you would have never got tickets, this place was smaller than Bernies upstairs.

So here is what I thought of the show. The thinker is the trumpet player, DeShannon Higa, the majority of the tunes where his composition. He let that fact speak for itself and didn't hog the playing time and showcased everyone else. Ho! don't get me wrong dude can blow and jam he just didn't Bogart it on his compositions.

Satomi Yarimizo played the piano. Wow, she also had a couple of compositions both I really dug. It was a pleasure to watch her play, like a willow tree, she swayed and flowed with the energy of each tune. There was nothing slight or demure here. At times sure her play was was gentle but, girly girl could kick it with the boyz no problem. She was on time.

Playing Tenor Sax, Reggie Padilla. Hell i don't know what i liked best either when he and DeShannon played together or when Reggie would hit a groove, then it was just plain intense.

The drummer Von Baron, well I though his performance was crisp, clean and professional. Dude appeared to be a serious percussion technician. These all are meant to be good adjectives. Von Baron got down to business and went to work! I'm no musician but I swear at times his playing would pull that little extra sumpin, sumpin out of Paddila. My only complaint was the sandpaper effect on a couple of pieces but, hey that is just me.

The bassist Jon Hawes had the only amplified instrument, they swore his big upright was on the way. Dude gots to be real good to hang with the rest of these cats but, I wasn't moved greatly by any of his solo's. I think I heard synergy with Satomi lots of times; again, I'm no music anything.

Overall the show was sizzling. Of the first set I particularly liked Tipsy Island, I don't know, it seemed to me to be the first tune where the jitters were gone and I was hearing a tight quintet. My second fav of the first set was, Flowers Smell Better in June, it swung! The second set was just fuckin tight. I LIKED EVERYTHING!. seriously it was all good. They hit the Thelonious Monk tune, Green Chimneys, red hot and smokin no wonder they took a break before that last number. All in all it was a great show!!!

Gasoline cost in AK vs HI

PISSED

So I don't get it? I'm back in Anchorage for a week, and the price of gasoline is $3.75/gal. The price in Hawaii is $3.65/gal. What the fuck? How can this be? Alaska has the North Slope, 3 refineries and gasoline cost more than in Hawaii? Then to add salt in the wound the "Dubya" and the entire Alaskan congressional congregation, wants to open ANWAR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) for oil development. The jerks say it will lower the cost of gasoline in America. Bullshit, if the gasoline price in Alaska is higher than Hawaii right now! How is opening ANWAR gonna do anything for the price of gasoline in the United States in the future.

Duh …Exxon and Conoco-Phillips will just make more money.

If anyone really believes opening ANWAR will lower the price of gasoline then I have some weapons of mass destruction located in Baghdad to sell you. ARRRGH

My Lil Corporate Chronicles

So the 1st post of 2008 should be a Chronicles post.

Hawaii vs Australia

Everybody ask, so G when r u goin back to work? Yo dude whaddup with that down under gig? Well the answers are; I’m back to work soon and the Aussie gig is dead. Most of you know that I left the RMI in August and was hangin in Anchorage waiting for my security clearance to go to Australia. I had the medical evaluation, polygraph test, psycho evaluation and field officer conducted interviews of friends and associates, in Sept. Hell I even got the visa in my passport. Well after 60 days… I got impatient (cute flowers).

So….my buddy Heavy P working in Oahu passed his employer my resume. His company flew me to Hono in Dec. I had a good interview and long story short they offered me a job. To which I said. “I need to give the Aussie gig 90 days to tie up the security stuff, if no word in 90 days, then I’ll take the Hawaii job.” To be cool told the Aussie folks that I need to know if I have a clearance or not in 90 days or else I’m gone.

Here is the kicker 90 days was the 12/15, I tell the Hawaii job I need till the 12/20 (95days). So 12/21 rolls along and I say Hawaii woo hoo. I get an e-mail from the Aussie folks on Jan 2…” I had a message from security this morning and your approval to brief was received 12/19/07.”…(that pissed me off since I asked specifically for any news about clearances on the 20th) basically the rub is two fold. First, I don’t care what the fuck, it shouldn’t take 90 days to let anyone know if they have a job. I was given four different report to Aussie dates: 11/3/07, 12/14/07, 1/11/08, and the last straw 2/8/08. Dudes in the future don’t give a report date until the security issues are complete. Changing dates just pisses ppl off. Hello?... ppl make plans based on the information given. Second, if someone knows about a long lead important items like the security clearances, DON”T SIT ON IT OVER THE HOLIDAYS….jerks

It is simple really. Company A (facilities) will have taken over six months to get me on the job site (Australia) after accepting the position. Company H (construction) will have me in Hawaii in less than 45 days after the job interview. Duh? Doing great in 2008 Oahu here I come.

PS The real bummer is I really wanted to go down under

G-Daddy 2007 summary/update

It has been a good year. I spent the first 8 months of this year in the RMI working on Kwajalein. It was way cool, learning to dive, a trip to Majuro, then to Micronesia and visited Kosrae and Pohnepe. Hangin with The Adventurer made kwaj the greatest. We got black pearls in Majuro, visited the copra plant. We had dinner with the US Ambassador and his wife. Majuro was boss. Then MI Hott came out for a visit, she tagged along with me and The Adventurer on our Micronesian sojourn. So kudos on the first 8 months of 2007. So, yeah I got the adventure thing down so so.

Then I came home, hmmmm home has not been that happy. For Thanksgiving I went down to Mom & Dads (in Soldotna 150 Miles south of Anchorage). Dad with PTSD + depression, Mom dealing with Dad, and Mom after her knee replacement. That was a new first for me, old parents are worse than children. I coached coed geriatric physical therapy for Mom and Dad. I got all of the lingo down cold. Up, down, 1,2,3,4,5...hold release, again, last 5,4,3,2, done…switch legs, next exercise.

Royalties you ask? How is that going? Slow. Did some water colors in kwaj but none while at home. Honestly, I think it will take 10 years+ to get to a point where I’ll be able to sell prints or anything. Just keep trying. But hey the popularity of this blog is growing like some asian economies. The Gigantic Coconut Crab Movie isn’t in the can either plus I missed the Anchorage Film Festival this year. Not happy bout that. I guess I can post the second clip. I have about 5 scenes that I need to edit and three I still need to film. Movie making is equally as hard as water colors…yo

I’ll close with a lack of job rant. I’m pissed at the Aussie job, the report date first was Nov, then Dec, then Jan, now they’re telling me Feb. Fuck that crap. I guess the security clearance background check thing is the hold-up. Hell I don’t even wanna a clearance, don’t wanna know any secrets either. I had no God damn intention to be in Alaska for December duh it is 5 F. outside right now. I ain’t waiting for the Aussie gig. Let’s be real… what incompetent sits around for over 90 days waiting for a job. In addition, it is just plain fucking rude (not no mention unprofessional) to expect someone to do that. The process stinks, they should 6 sigma this shit ….hissss. lol that would make it take longer. So… I had a job interview in Hono last week with two other résumé’s pending in Hawaii also. No word from any of them yet.

Yup, if you were reading between the lines I was in Hawaii for my birthday. My old buddy Heavy P is working a construction project there. Ole HP got me the interview. He has a place near Haleiwa on Oahu. That was fun cept for that head cold but who cares, I was in Hawaii and it was cold back home.

G-Daddy at home in the north