Foodening

There are a number of places to get groceries in Hilo. We started shopping at the KTA but now I shop at the Sac n Save because they're a full size market with cheaper prices and they're a couple blocks closer. Sac n Save also has one of those handy loyalty cards which can knock of %30 of the prices sometimes.
A couple of days ago we finally found the local fish market, Suisan. It sells fish caught by local fisherpersons. If you're not too picky about the cut of fish you can find some very cheap steaks. We got two Mahi steaks for about $8.

There's the Hilo Farmer's Market on the corner of Kam Ave and Mamo Ave. You can find grapefruits as big as your noggin, sushi made with spam, and 6 papayas for $1.

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.

you can take that to the bank

Getting a checking account at the First Hawaiian Bank is easy. I brought my Virginia license and my Social Security Card and I got an account. Didn't even have to show proof of residency, which I'd forgotten at home.
They are one of the few parts of the island that seems to be on top of the technology curve, allowing online banking.

So J alluded to this a couple days ago, but getting rid of (almost) everything you own isn't so hard. The hard part is convincing yourself you don't care about these treasured sentimental knickknacks long enough to toss them in the trash, then convincing yourself that you just did the right thing. And as it turns out, convincing yourself that you just did the right thing isn't very hard. Just keep telling yourself, "I never knew I was so amazing," and, "Is there anyone in the world as hardcore/awesome/much-of-a-genius as me?" (The respective answers are "HAHAHA" and "YES", but pretend otherwise.)

I'm not really sure why S&J think I'll have some sort of insight into the workings of the UH, but I'll tell you what I can. Basically, it's the same as school everywhere else. UHH is pretty cheap ($10k/year/out of state), and pretty small (only 3000 students), which means the profs are happy to help out with anything. So that's not bad. They're a little anachronistic, like the rest of Hilo... their computers are a year or two older than any comparable school, and their "introduction to computer gaming" course starts out with MS Paint. In Kansas this might be backwards redneck bullshit, but here it's delightful local charm.
At least, it damn well better be. Hawaiian Ethnobotany is everything I was hoping for, and it's nice to be taking CS classes focused on C++, but sometimes I wish they didn't feel it was necessary to have a different network login/password for each class, plus one for the library and one for the website. Oh yes, you read that right.

Anyway, the unemployed hawaiian student blues got me down, but I have a feeling that once I get some work I'll be back up here talking some bull about how people come back from Heaven just to spend their vacations in Hawai'i. Love and respect. Later.

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?

Another note about Packing.

(With a capital P.)

Originally we planned to send 3 boxes of 36in of depth; they came in a 3 pack from Office Depot for 12.99. The reason we bought boxes at all was that our previous move required us to ship 2 of our suitcases at an expense of $100.00 (!!!), so to save having to deal with moving our stuff aboard a plane, we bought giant, corporate cardboard contraptions.

In the end, we bought still more boxes, though they were much smaller and the reason was thus: The Post Office, despite it's insanely benevolent rates, does not ship packages priority mail that are more than 70 lbs. Our giant boxes are largely useless; they are good for shipping long/tall/awkwardly shaped objects, but not heavy ones. They fill up slowly and because packing well--ensuring everything you own isn't smashed to bits--requires you fill the ENTIRE box up with something (we used newspaper, magazines, sheets, blankets, and lastly plastic bags from the grocery store...dozens of them) every nook and cranny has to be packed. That's a difficult task when you are trying not to go over 70 lbs.

So, bottom line with packing for distance through the mail:

1) Priority mail is cheaper. 70 lbs though man...70 lbs.

2) Start saving up packing materials--smaller cardboard boxes, plastic wraps of all kinds, newspaper--way ahead of time.

3) Tape! Don't be stingy with the tape. If the box falls apart, it has to do the dirty work.

4) Label clearly; we splurged on fancy labels. But our stuff--each box insured for a 100 bucks--was nearly all sentimental and virtually priceless. Also, if you're recycling boxes (and we did this too), you'll have to cover up whatever writing was there before. Just mark that stuff out with a Sharpie, and stick the new label on top.

5) Have a reliable scale available at home, so you don't lug stuff to the P.O. just to lug it home again, rip it open, and remove a sweatshirt so it's below the limit.

6) Pack the box tight, pack it to the rim, fill every nook and cranny. Movers joke about people who pack their own boxes, because they don't fill them, and then open them up post-transport to find everything smashed.

The other amazing help is getting rid of nearly everything you own. But that has to wait for another post, acuz I'm huuuungry.