chinese new year

The Chinese new year festival was held yesterday in Kalakaua park. There's plenty to eat, $18 shirts to prove you went, Wadaiko (Japanese drumming), ice shave, cute girls, chinese dragon dancers and a great place to take kids.

Flight addendum

Cheap inter islands flights can be found with Go. Home of the $25 Hilo -> Honolulu flight if you book early enough.

Merrie Monarch

The Merrie Monarch festival is going on. If you ever want to go, buy tickets in January 'cause I hear they sell out in February.
If you want to go to the free shows get there early. We arrived about 15 minutes before it started and we couldn't get in.

This is a once a year chance to see some super hot Hawaiians dance. I'm really sorry we missed it.

Furniture

When we moved into an actual house 10 days ago we had to leave our matresses behind, I've been sleeping on an air matress with the missus and K on the floor with my sleeping bag. No furniture. The kitchen is well stocked thanks to some fore thought on J's part.

We went to Smith's Trading Co. yesterday to look for whatever we could find. This place is great, it's just a big warehouse filled with mattresses and stoves and chairs and all manner of things from hotels. When hotels upgrade their furniture the upgrade ALL of it, somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 rooms. That's 200 beds, chairs, mini fridges, tables and TVs. Sure they're scuffed from years of people not caring about them but they still work just fine and they're a steal compared to buying new.

We scored 3 chairs, 4 tables and 2 mattresses. It's a really nice upgrade from an air mattress to a king. Now our house looks like a hotel room. No room service though :/

Moving again

We found a house with a month to month lease and I've been working on getting the right money to the right person but that right person isn't making it terribly easy.

He told me to send a check for the deposit and 1st month's rent. I asked him who should I make it out to and where should I send it. He didn't respond but all his emails have a link to the realty company at the bottom so I checked their site.

I sent the check to the company at their address. A few days alter I find he doesn't actually want the check sent there. He wants it sent to this new address. Fine, canceled original check for $25 fee and cut a new one to the new address this time with $14 fee for express mail to guarantee next day delivery. A few hours after that's done he writes me that the check needs to be made out directly to him, not the company.

Three checks have been mailed so far. None of them valid.
It's Friday, we're supposed to move in on Sunday.


It doesn't help that he lives on another island or that he went on vacation for a week while he was waiting for the check.

recycled bicycles

This is about finding a bike in Hilo.

I highly recommend Da Kine Bike Shop. The owner is on vacation right now and the guy that's been working there in his off hours, John, has just been incredible. K and I bought bikes for $250 with a 30 day warranty. My bike had a few problems which were unforeseeable until I started riding, and I wreck my gear. From computers, clothes and my body, I destroy everything. So this bike. Anyway, John fixed my bike and told me some maintenance tips for the future. The guy is outstanding.

talent

Arrive with some money. Enough to pay your rent, groceries and mad cash for a few weeks. It may take some time before you can find work, enough work work that pays well enough to support you.

I am lucky enough to find a job within a week of moving. The pay seems legit, but I'm not sure how it'll measure up to my expenses. If after you've searched all over town, pillaged the classifieds and still can't find gainful employment, make your own work. If you have a skill, any skill, you can probably find someone that'll pay you to use it.

Put up flyer's at an Internet cafe, KTA, Farmer's market and the University.

A note about parking

(with a lower case p)

Driving seems like such a waste here. What better way to take in a tropical island than on bike or foot? There are no parking meters here and not much traffic, so driving might seem ideal. Consider the costs of everything involved with a car. Gas, insurance, maintenance, pollution, space, noise and the list goes on. Used cars are expensive with the lower price tags at around $4,000. My bike costs $250.

You can rent a car, scooter or taxi if you want to take a longer trip perhaps to the Volcano. But until then, why not get a bike?

Weather the weather

We arrived on Jan 9th 2007 late late at night. It was misting. It has rained everyday since we arrived. Sometimes I can see the sun for about 20 minutes. Most of the time it's raining and misting.

Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. Our studio apartment has a beautiful view. Water fall into a small pool that creates another water fall into a larger pool suitable for swimming. It was quite cold but very refreshing and a very nice.

It's very very humid here, the temperature is mild but the humidity makes me sweat when I do more than just walk. I am hoping this weekend will have some warmer weather so I can hit up a beach.