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!!!