We Be Bloggers

The Blog has Moved!

2010-09-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hello loyal followers!!

Just a heads up that we've moved our blog. The URL is still http://www.webebloggers.com, but we no longer host through blogger.com

If you're following our blog, then you might need to re-follow us to get the newest updates. Sorry for the inconvenience!

The Bridettes Hit Boulder

2010-08-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, some of my closest girlfriends converged on Boulder, and we spent the weekend celebrating my impending transition to married life. Robin was the first to arrive, and after a lovely lunch and a visit to the Boulder Safeway (yes, I know how to show visitors a good time!), we spent Friday afternoon hiking all the way to the top of Mount Sanitas.

More girls arrived, and we started the celebrations off posing with our new Quist doormat.

We did a mini-hike to the lower vista point at Sanitas to admire the plains.

Next was Banjo Billy's Bus Tour of Boulder. We hopped on and learned all about various crimes and hauntings all over town. The bus driver suggested stopping for some refreshments along the way, and his musical taste was impeccable, so we found ourselves sipping champagne and belting out 80's power ballads into his microphone (is it on? I'm not sure... maybe it's on. no, it's not on. or is it on?) along the tour.

After tapas and exploring downtown, we had manicures and prepared for our night on the town. The girls showered me with gifts (a day at a spa! a book with special memory pages by each of them! and some things not fit for mention on a public blog...), they surprised me with a giant veiled tiara (and pink tiaras for each of them!), and then we all headed out on the town.

We had dinner, started our own private dance party at Bombay Bistro, and ate the Forbidden Dessert (Pizookies at BJ's, which Jake is boycotting in the name of nothing-should-be-that-delicious). We had a lazy brunch the next morning, and while most of the girls headed to the airport, Tamar and I had a wonderful afternoon of talking and relaxing.

Thank you all for a fantastic weekend!

Spa Shower Weeeeekend!

2010-08-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last, my soon-to-be Mother in Law, who is about as fun as fun gets, threw a Spa Shower for me in San Francisco. I tell you what, I am a lucky girl!!

We stayed at the Marriott right in the heart of Union Square, and started with a fabulous lunch at a restaurant nearby.

Then we all headed over to the Spa to get pampered. The Spa Shower Program was clear: 1:30 - Be Ready for Pampering. And oh, I was, I was!

I was "showered" with gifts, some very special, and a whole table of fruit and tarts and sparkling juice was waiting just for us ("Samantha" the sign said!). The spa lady even had to chase away some spa shower attendees wannabees who were angling for the fruit! We had facials or massages, and we were so relaxed by the end of the pampering that it was hard to move.

But! We did move, and we got all dressed up and went out for an evening at Teatro Zinzanni, an acrobatic - dinner theater - musical show. Who knew it would be possible to hula hoop 12+ hoops, each at different heights, all at once?! It was fantastic!

And we were so close to the action that we had to move our dinners and drinks so the actors could prance around on our table for the finale. Yes, it was incredible. We shared a limo (yes a limo!) back to the hotel, and snuggled in after a truly FAB day.

Thank you, Beth, for a weekend I'll never forget!

Happy Wedding Day, Tamar!

2010-08-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, my good friend (and fellow "Moose"), Tamar, got married in a castle in Pasadena. We had a great weekend of celebration. Here's Clea and me, she in her beautiful pink dress...

... at the appetizer reception...

...with Jake looking all snazzy in his suit...

And then the wedding began. Tamar looked radiant. This picture doesn't do the moment justice...

And she marries Avi! Clea and I read a little passage in Hebrew. We think we did a darn good job, though the (many) Israelis in attendance might have thought otherwise. Yes, the more I think about it, the more I think it was thanks to *us* that Tamar became happily married!

And then we enjoyed an amazing party after, filled with dancing - from hip hop to the hora - and mountains of exotic fruits and desserts. It was fantastic! And there was love and happiness for the couple everywhere.

And the next morning, we all gathered for brunch on the beach.

Congratulations Avi, and Best Wishes Tamar! Love you guys.

The Rest of June

2010-07-08T22:57:00.001-07:00

Nearly a month since our last post, and so much to say! Well here's what we've been up to since last time.

I went on a stunningly beautiful hike all the way to the top of Mount Sanitas here in Boulder with my co-workers. I may have been the slowest hiker up the gigantic mountainside, but I was also the proudest when we finally got there:

Jake completed the Kansas half-Ironman over in Lawrence. Dad and I did an excellent job cheering him on.

I took a business trip to New York and Boston, learning all about how Twitter is used for businesses.

While there I got to meet up with Phil after some navigational challenges (apparently there's more than one Applebee's in NYC, who knew!) and join Mendel and Derek for some great Thai food in Boston. Mendel is working on launching his new startup, Smoopa.

Back in Boulder, we attended Caitlin and Cory's beautiful wedding, out in the country on a dirt road. We played Yahtzee and the reception and took copious notes all-around. The entire thing was gorgeous.

Also I switched from PC to Mac (gasp! so far so good...), we spent many days agonizing over the creation of our wedding invitations, we visited my family in Kansas for the July 4th weekend where we got to see Phil again and we all placed last in the annual bocce ball tournament (clearly we need practice!), and my good friend Gus came to visit us in Boulder (but we forgot to take a photo, drat! Yes, I said drat.). In the midst of all this craziness, our poor apartment has grown a bit (er, or a lot) messy (I actually got a blister from vacuuming it so much last night. Maybe we should do that more often?). Oh, and did I mention that I started a job? My official first day was June 1st and it's going great.

And... more again soon!

Road Trip From CA to CO, via So. UT

2010-06-09T07:23:00.001-07:00

I (Jake) took a road trip from CA to CO a few weeks ago. I decided to go the scenic route via Yosemite and Southern Utah. Here are some photos:

Thanks for visiting, Rocio!

2010-05-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

This past week, we got to hang out with Rocio, my Chilean friend who took a vacation from her yearlong exchange student experience in Davis, California to visit us. First we spent time together in Kansas...

And then we brought her home with us to Boulder! Here we are at the scenic overlook on the way home from the airport.

We took Rocio to our favorite ice cream spots (of course), with Caitlin we hiked to the overlook at Mount Sanitas, we toured Pearl Street and visited Chautauqua. Then this morning we took a bike ride out to the mountains on the Boulder Creek trail. It started to sprinkle on us, but we fought off the real rain showers with sheer willpower. Here we are being all outdoorsy and healthy:

It was wonderful to see you, Rocio! Thanks for visiting!!

I Got a Google High Diploma!

2010-05-17T21:00:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, I had quite the honor bestowed upon me: a 2nd high school diploma. I already had one from Topeka High -- and now, after acting as the commencement speaker for THS, I also have one from the one and only... Google High!

The graduation ceremony was especially important for me since I'm the 4th generation in my family to have graduated from Topeka High. But! I'm the first one to get a Google High diploma! I couldn't have felt more proud to have been asked to speak. 322 graduates plus their families makes for quite a crowd. This photo shows the graduates and maybe 1/3 of the onlookers.

I talked about working at Google, trusting your intuition, creating your own opportunities, finding value in failure, appreciating the now, and my really hot fiance (that last bit was everyone's favorite part!).

I wore my most fabulous shoes in honor of the occasion :)

And the THS, er, GHS team had just the right robe with my Stanford cardinal waiting for me. What a special day.

See?!

2010-05-12T06:26:00.001-07:00

Snowing?!?!

2010-05-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today is May 11th. And it is snowing. I love you Boulder, but really?!

Hello Emily and Ian!

2010-05-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

Em and Ian visited us a couple weeks ago.

(Well, they had all kinds of stories about how they were here to see Colorado, look at grad schools, la dee da, but *I'm* pretty sure they came just to see us.)

Here they are looking all happy:

While they were here, we had a couple of lovely dinners together with them and I spent a Sunday in Estes Park, exploring the wild. Holy smokes there were a lot of elk!

Oh yes, and also a lot of rocks. Some of them super interesting. Fortunately we had Ian the geological engineering expert with us.

Thanks for visiting guys, please come back! :)

Welcome to Boulder, Us!

2010-05-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had our May Day / Welcome to Boulder party at our apartment.

As we were shopping for party goods, the tulips downtown greeted us warmly.

About a dozen people came and we spent the evening chatting and snacking.

We had a wonderful time and are proud to know such cool folks. And now... we have officially been welcomed to Boulder, thanks to everyone who made it!

Giant Dandelions

2010-04-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

This week Boulder is full of giant dandelions. A little hard to see
size from this photo, but that dandelion is like 75% as wide as my
foot. Anyway, it's a beautiful sight walking around town :)

Jake Turns 30, Andy Marries Donna, and Other Adventures...

2010-04-14T17:21:00.001-07:00

So, we haven't blogged in a while... we're sorry. But we *have* been busy!

Three days before Jake's 30th birthday, we traveled to Kansas to visit the ranch where we'll be getting married in August. Isn't it pretty? This is Boris here in the foreground:

Then! 2 days before Jake's birthday, Melissa turned 28! We had a party and celebrated. Isn't she pretty, too?

Here she is with Roby:

And then! The day before Jake's Birthday, Andy married Donna! It was a beautiful ceremony, officiated by Granddad, with mountains of fabulous food to follow. There was also a lively dance party (well, mostly consisting of me, but I boogied all over the place).

And a photobooth... fun!

And at last... Jake turned 30!!!

Uncle Sam and Aunt Cheryl organized a great party for him at Bass Pro Shops (in this photo, everyone at both tables is celebrating Jake's birthday) and yes, there was even Princess Cake. What a weekend!

Happy Birthday, Jake!

And now we're back in Boulder, earnestly resolving to blog more often :)

The Toaster Showdown

2010-03-14T18:12:00.001-07:00

It's time to admit it to our friends and families: a conflict has been brewing here in the Crow-Quist household. A conflict of utmost importance (at least when you go to make peanut butter toast) and of the highest priority (at least in the southest corner of our kitchen): it's the battle between the toaster oven and the pop-up toast toaster.

The toaster oven is mine... isn't he red and shiny and beautiful? His name is Tony, and he's very versatile. He can make your toast with melted cheese on it if you like, he can cook you up a little personal pizza, he's multi-talented!

The pop-up toaster was a generous gift to Jake from Andy and Donna, who received a nicer toaster as a wedding gift and didn't need old whitey anymore. Those who side with him like to boast that he makes toast faster than Tony, he's smaller and more compact on the countertop, and they claim that he's brilliant and talented in a humble, understated kind of a way.

So far, Tony and old whitey are comfortably coexisting here on our countertop, both ready to make toast for you if you happen to visit us. But their futures remain to be seen...

Isn't the Crow/Quist household exciting?!

My First Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party

2010-03-09T20:29:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I took a trip to Springfield, Missouri to celebrate my cousin Andy's upcoming marriage to the all-around-awesome Donna.

First, there was Donna's bridal shower at the fancy schmancy country club. This was the first bridal shower I've been to, and it was lovely to have so much family all around.

Aunt Nancy drove from Topeka ( a 5-hour drive each way) *and* dodged a snowstorm just to be there for the afternoon. How cool is that?!
(Hint: very cool.)

After the shower, we "kids" went out for some crazy fun co-ed Bachelor/Bachelorette Party celebrations. Extra fun for me since it was my first Bachelorette Party (or Bachelor Party, for that matter) experience ever.

It was a wonderful weekend. There's nothing quite like fun times with family.

HRC, DWC, KU, and Chipotle

2010-02-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad joined us for a few days in Boulder last week. We kicked off the visit at the KU basketball game, where Tony joined us to watch KU *tie* with CU (at which point Dad was very worried) before finally winning in overtime. Amazingly, we ran into one of my grade school classmates at the game, too.

On Thursday, I took Mom and Dad for a walking tour of downtown Boulder. Just as I pointed out the Chipotle on Pearl Street, there was Jake! He'd had Chipotle for lunch, and before he hopped on his bike to head back to the library to work, we snapped this photo.

We also got to meet Mom's friends Amanda and Britt, we watched The Second City do their Chicago-style comedy act at the Boulder Theater, and the guys went out for a man-date to see Avatar while Mom and I fought the great Mall beast and talked wedding plans.

We Get to See Beth

2010-02-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

Beth visited us from California this past weekend.

We took her on a drive up into the mountains, and took turns getting our pictures taken with her:

She took us out to Indian food, we saw Avatar IMAX 3D together, we toured CU, we watched 27 dresses to get wedding ideas, we moseyed around Pearl Street, and we attended the Boulder Wedding Showcase (where there were many chocolate-covered strawberries calling our names: Beth! Sam! Jake! Eat me please!).

Thank you for visiting us, Beth! Please come back soon :)

Salt Lake City, Woo Hoo!

2010-01-28T19:36:00.001-08:00

Since we were in Salt Lake City last weekend, we got to see lots of fun folks, lucky us!

On Friday night, we took a snowy trip up to Park City, where we had a mini-iGoogle reunion with Ingrid, Kai, Jess, and George, who were apparently there to see some movies or something :)

Then on Saturday night, I got to meet Jake's extended SLC family for the first time. They're fun and lively all over the place! First, with a couple of Jake's cousins, Adam and Andrew:

Baby Niya, Summer, Amanda, and Stephanie:

Bellydancer (courtesy of the restaurant, not actually part of the family...) with Grandpa Q:

Grandpa Q and me :)

(the bellydancer is a hard act to follow...)

Jake's Uncle Rodger and Aunt Christie:

Jake's Aunt Lisa and Uncle Scott:

Jake and his Dad:

It was quite a party. Jake and I both embarrassed ourselves attempting to bellydance, Grandpa Q enjoyed flirting with the bellydancer, and much fun was had all around.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Dad!

2010-01-25T01:27:00.001-08:00

For the first time in 11 years, I got to be with my parents on my Dad's birthday this year.

We celebrated on 01-20-2010 -- a pretty cool date.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We're Engaged!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-06T22:52:00.000-08:00

That's right, WeBeBloggers became WeBeEngagedBloggers this Christmas.

And it was all thanks to our blog!

Well, maybe not *all* thanks to the blog, but it did play a part. Here's the story.

On Tuesday, Jake and I head to Kansas for Christmas. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my family. Then, late at night, when not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse (except Jake and Sam)... Jake says he's ready to celebrate our Christmas together.

So we snuggle up on the couch. But wait... first, he says, he'd like me to take a look at this blog post he's drafted. (We do this sometimes, review each other's blog posts before they go live.)

The post turns out to be a whole history of our relationship, from day one. Just as I'm thinking it might be a little long for a blog post (it's extremely long with dozens of pictures, and probably pretty boring to anyone who isn't us), I start to read about the history of our dating life in December. It talks about how he's been shopping for the perfect gift, and then...

...it mentions something about him going to visit my dad for lunch that previous Monday. At this point I think he's just making stuff up. He was in Boulder with me that Monday, and I could distinctly remember having dinner together with Jake that night, the day before we headed for Kansas.

But just as I start to say "That didn't happen!," I see these pictures...

So maybe he *did* have lunch with my dad.

At this point, my mind starts racing. I can think of one good reason he might have a secret meeting with my dad a few days before he gives me my Christmas present... but maybe that's not it, maybe there are other good reasons he would have done such a thing. I try to think of them. But I can't think of any.

So I start thinking harder about Monday, and I start to piece together what happened. Apparently he woke up at 4am, took a flight to Kansas, rented a car and drove to Topeka (where he was in the late morning when I called him to ask where the printer cable was), he had lunch with my dad, and then made it back to Boulder in time for dinner with me.

Wow! I realize it did happen.

So I finish reading his "blog post draft" (See! I told you the blog was a part of it!!),

and he hands me his gift...

...which, of course, turns out to be my engagement ring...

...which, of course, I gleefully, giddily, unhesitatingly accept

with shock and awe and all the love in my heart.

And there you have it. We're engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Moved In

2010-01-06T22:22:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Boulder on December 13th, and ever since, we've been moving in.

When we arrived, everything was neat, tidy, and bare:

But that changed quickly.

First, we unloaded a UHaul full of Jake's stuff and a storage container full (and when I say full, I mean really, really full) of my stuff.

Then, once our apartment looked good and messy...

...it was time to start furnishing and decorating the place.

We had to make tough decisions, like: what color should the hand towels be? It's so hard to envision these things without seeing them. So! Here's Jake, and then my toothbrush, each posing and a hand towel.

Then, where should we store our things?

Our costume supplies, for instance?

(Side note: trying on all of your costumes as you're working on storing them turns out *not* to be the most efficient way to unpack.)

And finally: how to decorate our place?

This lamp, which I saw in a store, most unfortunately did not get selected.

The good news is, we're getting close.

Today, our apartment looks something like this.

And soon, we'll be able to do things with our time other than unpack and spend money on furniture. Just think how much blogging we'll be able to do then!!! :)

Our First Hamburger Helper Casserole... EVER!!!!

2009-12-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

It is official: Sam and I now know how to make Hamburger Helper.

We were both astounded by how tasty our casserole turned out to be.

It's only our 4th night in Boulder, and we've already mastered the art of casseroles.

We are very proud of ourselves.

Behold, The Promised Land

2009-12-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

For millenia, mankind has sought a land of prosperity. A land full of nectar and honey. A land free of persecution that he may call home.

They should have just moved to Boulder, the single most greatest place on earth.

Sam and I have been planning to move to Boulder for months. Every annoyance of every other location would be compensated in Boulder, the land of perfection.

Some have accused us of placing our expectations too high. Some have even suggested that our expectations would skew our perception of reality.

They were all wrong: Boulder is perfect. The streets are paved in gold, money is meaningless, death has no grasp, and people embrace each other in brotherly love.

Even our journey here was a taste of perfection:

Me, after packing our Uhaul.

A photo break we took in New Mexico. We decide to go the southern route and avoid the severe winter storm warnings. (Glad we did!)

Another photo break in New Mexico (or Arizona?)

Sam, a few minutes after we cross the Colorado state line.

Sam succumbs to joy as we approach Boulder. She spontaneously starts dancing.

Anyway, we're here in Boulder, Colorado! Hope all of our friends and family will come and visit us soon.

One Blog-Post To Rule Them All: Two Weeks of Travelling in Japan

2009-11-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

Sam and I have been busy traveling around Japan. We traversed the entire country and took thousands of photos. Here's a small sample of the best photos we took.

In Kyoto, at Kiyomizudera Temple

In Nara, feeding the hungry deer.

At Lake Towadako. Beware of chipmunks?

The bus we took to Lake Towadako.

Lake Towadako, Japan's largest & deepest lake.

At Hiroshima, the eternal flame.

Fall Leaves in Kyoto

Shibuya, Tokyo. The world's busiest intersection.

Fall leaves in Kyoto

Our last day in Fukuoka.

Doug and Mickelle, who travelled with us for a few days in Kyoto.

Dinner with John, in Tokyo.

The Daibutsu, in Nara

Sam posing as one of the maidens in Lake Towadako.

More fall leaves in Kyoto

The Christmas display in Fukuoka.

Sam & myself in Shizuoka

A Geisha show in Kyoto.

Our JR-Passes, which allowed us to take the bullet trains all over the country.

A mega-pachinko parlor that ate $20 of our dollars.

Doug & Mickelle & Sam & Myself riding electric-powered bicycles.

Doug and Mickelle

Us with John in Tokyo

Sam, right before we ate Okonomiyaki (vegetable pancakes)

Sam & Myself in Northern Japan

We stayed at a traditional ryokan, and enjoyed a 13-course meal.

The view from our Hotel in Osaka.

Us in Kyoto

Me playing a dog-walking-simulation video game. I lost.

The A-Bomb dome in Hiroshima

Fall leaves in Hiroshima

Me in Shizuoka, where I used to live many years ago.

We've made it safely back home. We had a great time in Japan!

Chiran - Samurai Houses

2009-11-01T09:32:00.001-08:00

Another highlight in Chiran is the superb preservation of local Samurai houses. After the Kamikaze museum, Sam and I hitched a taxi to this little neighborhood.

There were about 7 fully preserved Samurai Houses & Gardens. Visitors are welcome to stroll down the street and walk around the gardens.

I looooove Japanese gardens, so this was quite a treat. Each of the gardens is meant to convey some deep abstract meaning.

After our stroll through Chiran's Samurai neighorhood, we catch a taxi back to the train station. We barely miss the train, and so we find ourselve near the ocean with an extra hour before the next train comes.

From the shore, we got a great view of the local exploding volcano. Apparently, it's no big deal to the natives.

Chiran - Kamikaze Museum

2009-11-01T08:26:00.001-08:00

We visited a very fascinating, albeit disturbing, town today. It's a town called Chiran, and it's near the southern tip of Kyushu, which is Japan's most southern main island.

Chiran is interesting because it was the most active airbase of Kamikaze pilots during World War II (specifically, the Battle of Okinawa, to which Chiran was the closest Japanese-held airfield).

A museum has been erected to share the story of the 1000+ kamikaze pilots. It was an odd sensation to stand here as Americans, but much to our surprise, we found the local Japanese very warm and friendly. It's a wonder how things have changed in 60 years.

(Unfortunately, the museum didn't allow cameras past the front door)

The museum was quite interesting. It had a large collection of personal memoirs and letters from the pilots. These are some interesting highlights (Note: I find this stuff interesting because I enjoy Japanese History, but I think most people will find it a bit disturbing):

(1) Most of the pilots were young, between 17-22, although we saw records as old as 32.

(2) Most of the pilots (~90%) died en route to battle. It's unclear if it was due to mechanical failure or actual gunfire from ships.

(3) The Kamikaze program wasn't limited to pilots ramming their planes into ships. Kamikaze were also ordered to collide with B-52s.

(4) Not all of the pilots were Japanese. ~10 pilots were from Korea (which Japan occupied during the war). Even more interesting was the American-citizen-turned-kamikaze-pilot. This American (I forgot his name), was of Japanese descent, born in Hawaii. When war broke out, he and one of his brothers came to fight for Japan. Ever more interesting is the other two brothers enlisted in the United States Military and fought in the European War.

The town is surrounded with these lanterns. One for each of the 1000+ pilots who died.

A replica of a 'Zero fighter'

Modern Chiran is also covered with many of these statues, the Goddess of Peace.

Aside from all that Kamikaze stuff, Chiran's actually a pretty nice place! Right next door to the Museum was a very active and friendly baseball game. Although-- they used an air-raid siren to indicate new innings-- something Sam & I found to be in poor taste.

Last Day at GenkiJACS

2009-11-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

Our days at Fukuoka's Genki Japanese And Culture School have come to an end.

The school has a going away ceremony, where each of the graduating students are presented with their diploma.

Our friend Philip graduated with us. He plans to stay in Japan for a few years, or until he gets deported back to France. His next destination is to be a ski instructor at some Japanese ski resort (nevermind that he hasn't skied in 11 years! He must have really impressed his new employer).

The school was so impressed with Samantha's last soiree with kimonos, that they decided to have another event, this time with super, high-class, uber-expensive Kimonos. They approached us and asked if they could use Sam's photo (along with some other girls from the school) on the website or in future pamphlets.

Teachers and students marvel at how well Sam looks in the Kimono. Meanwhile, Sam gains a new appreciation for the pain and agony Japanese women must go through to wear these things.

But it all pays off, we got some great photos.
Next: We'll be traveling around Japan for ~2 weeks, then back to the good old U.S. of A.

Calligraphy Class

2009-11-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

In our last week of school last week, I took a calligraphy class. We began by making stamps. Japanese people use a personal stamp for official documents instead of signing in pen.

Our teacher had done some research on the meaning of each of our names. At school I was known as "Samansa" (because the "th" sound doesn't exist in Japanese), so my teacher suggested I break down my name into "sa," which can imply small, then "man," which means 10,000, and "sa," which (apparently) means sand. Here my name is written in katakana at the top, and then broken into the kanji for small 10,000 sand below that:

So I traced the outline of my stamp and copied those figures onto paper inside of that outline. Then, flipped the paper over and wrote the mirror-image of my kanji onto the base of my stamp. Finally, I used a little tool to carve where my pen marks were.

Fun!

Once I had my stamp, I was ready to... create art! But first, I needed paint.

We were taught the traditional method of putting regular water into a special dish, and then using a stick of compressed ash (propped against the dish from behind, in the upper right of this photo) to turn the water black. We rubbed the ash stick against the bottom of the dish, so it would dissolve into the water, for a few minutes. The longer you rub, the blacker the water turns.

Then we learned how to paint the kanji for "dream" with the correct brushstroke order and everything. Apparently it's considered the most artistic if you can make uneven strokes, so that the lines aren't uniform, but rather have some character. For instance, our teacher showed us how to make a stroke so that the top portion of the line would have breaks in it as if there weren't quite enough ink on that part of the brush, while the bottom part was solid black.

Since I'm not too sure what this kanji is *supposed* to look like, it felt like a bit of a shot in the dark for me. The teacher would highly compliment a particular stroke every so often (while politely not mentioning the other strokes on my page), and I would think, "really? that one's good??" So it was always a big surprise finding out which parts I did well, and not so well.

And... voila! Mine is the top row, second-to-right here: the one with my stamp on it :)

World Samantha Day 2009

2009-10-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

Sam is in the habit of reading the NY Times every morning. What a surprise she had when she opened www.nytimes.com and saw this page under the NY Times URL.

Yes, Samantha Day (aka Sam's Birthday) is finally upon us. Let the rejoicing begin.

This year's theme: Nothing too material, but a nice relaxing day away from the busy lights and tight spaces of Japan. We're spending it at the local Grand Hyatt.

Compared to our cramped quarters, the Grand Hyatt is a football field. Moreover, it's next to a trendy strip of restaurant and movie theaters. We decide to go see "The Time Traveler's Wife". We both give it a big thumbs up.

We even had cake, complemented by Sam's favorite ice cream.

And of course, in true Samantha fashion, she gave me an "un-birthday" present. It was a super cool and uber manly Gorillapod, which I used to take this time-lapse photo from our hotel room. It's sooooo cool.

Happy Birthday Sam! Hope you enjoyed Samantha Day

Welcome to Fukuoka, Dr. Farley

2009-10-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

We had a special treat -- we got to meet up with another Topekan in Fukuoka! Dr. Farley, the President of Washburn University in Topeka, told us he was here on a business trip. Washburn and the University of Fukuoka are sister schools and have an exchange program among students. (But we know, of course, that he just came here to visit us.)

Before meeting up with us on this trip, Dr. Farley was part of a symposium, received an honorary doctorate, and also spoke to a group of some 1,000 people. Apparently he is the 5th person *ever* to receive an honorary degree from the University of Fukuoka. What an honor! To celebrate, we took him to a yatai stand for dinner and ice cream crepes for dessert.

Japanese Tea Ceremony

2009-10-24T04:06:00.000-07:00

Our school took a few students to a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. Jake was in class at the time, but I was able to go. It was in a traditional Japanese-style room, and before the ceremony started, they put us in traditional kimonos.

The ceremony includes lots of formal gestures. For instance, there is lots of bowing, and the level of respect you're showing in your bow depends on how your hands are placed in front of you and how deeply you bow, and maybe how long you bow. You are served a small sweet while your tea is being prepared. Then, when you receive your tea, you say to the person who received before you, "I will join you," and you say to the person next to you who hasn't received tea yet, "Excuse me."

Just one cup of tea is prepared at a time, each cup going through an elaborate preparation process that looks more like a dance than tea-preparation to me. Everything is incredibly precise: the movements are smooth and calulated, every item is placed meticulously in its exact place, often with a graceful hand gesture of presentation. For instance, the preparer pours half a ladle of water into the boiling water pot, and in the same movement, removes a full ladle of hot water from the pot. She then pours half of that ladle into a cup, and pours the other half (from a few inches above, so you can watch the water fall in) back into the boiling pot. She places the bamboo ladle in place over the pot in a graceful hand-swirl movement and then picks up the whisk to mix the tea. And on and on, the whole thing is precise and rehearsed and beautiful!

There are important rules for the guests, too. For instance, you hold the tea with one hand underneath and the other around the cup. Another important thing for the guests to know is the magic phrase to tell the tea preparer that your group is finished. Until you say it, the tea preparer is supposed to continue preparing tea forever and ever. Unfortunately, I forgot it already. It's a good thing I like tea...

For me, the kneeling was the hardest part. The guests are supposed to kneel in such a way that they kneel with their weight on their feet for the entire time... and that can mean hours and hours. Holy moly!

Fortunately, our ceremony was less than an hour long *and* our guide was very thoughtful about allowing us weakling foreigners to relax every so often, but my feet fell asleep anyway. I noticed that our teacher had no problem kneeling for the full time, but I cannot imagine sitting like this for hours. If I were forced to, I'm sure I would be the worst conversationalist in the world since I could think of nothing but my feet having fallen asleep. No wonder modern Japanese women seem to be able to wear high heels so effortlessly, even when walking long distances: they've had many years (generations!) of practice. I'm not sure it's that they have developed stronger/more flexible ankle/foot muscles, or if they're just better at tolerating the discomfort. Maybe both. Regardless, I have enormous respect for them.

The Search for Indoor Skiing

2009-10-22T01:53:00.000-07:00

We heard there was an indoor ski center in Fukuoka, so we went looking for it.

Along the way, we found... a boat race gambling facility! It seems that the races were out of town that day, but there were a few hundred people there watching the races on the facility's big screens anyhow. We stayed to watch for a little while.

And then we discovered... a building and some trucks that someone apparently mistook for the city of Chicago. Too bad they bought the signs before anyone was able to correct them.

Then we found... Hakata Pier. Although there were some people fishing here and it has a bunch of palm trees on it, the pier is not what I'd call glamorous. But! It does have a cool little 1-room museum that explains the basics of international trade by sea, and Hakata Port's role in the system.

Next, we discovered... a neighborhood in the Hakata-side of Fukuoka that where several shrines, lots of beautiful traditional-style homes, and even a Buddhist Temple stand. This first picture is a shrine: make sure to zoom in and see the raked gravel "lawn!" The second picture is the Temple, and the third is an ordinary road in this area.

Unfortunately though, when we finally found the indoor skiing facility, we discovered that it seems to have gone out of business.

Oh, well. We had a great day exploring anyhow. Isn't Japan lucky to have us here to discover all these interesting places? Otherwise they'd probably go undiscovered for years, or centuries maybe. Clearly they need us.

Yatai Stands

2009-10-21T03:15:00.000-07:00

Fukuoka (our city here in Japan) is famous for its "yatai stands." These are portable ramen shops. Every late afternoon, their owners cart these to busy sidewalks all over the city. Every evening, thousands of people sit at little stools and enjoy ramen that was cooked inside. And every night, the owners pack 'em up and carry them away again. Here's one on its way to being "unfolded:"

And here are several, in full swing.

We've only eaten at one so far, but the ramen and gyoza there were great!

Eating in Japan

2009-10-20T03:29:00.000-07:00

Japan has many, many, many great eating experiences to offer. The sushi is fresh and delicious, the ramen is yummy, the green tea is comforting (and free with many meals!), the yaki-niku is fun and tasty, and the ethnic food we've tried here (Indian, Mexican) has been amazing too. Even the convenience-store food, which I'd expect to be a little stale and icky in the US, is usually great here. At first I wondered how an egg sandwich from a convenience store could be "confident" (as the label reads), but then I tasted this one, and then I understood. It deserved to be confident:

But. Not every food here is great. So let me pay a quick tribute to a couple of the most unpleasant eating experiences I've had here so far. Consider this a warning, and please refer to this if you ever decide to visit Japan, so you can make sure you do not try these things.

First, possibly the greenest drink ever, certainly the greenest one I've ever had, this Fanta variation looks a bit like it came straight out of a chemical experiment. And it tastes a bit like that, too. It's not quite as bad as Coca Cola's Beverly drink, but it's not particularly good, either.

And finally, the two worst dishes I've had here yet: daikon with pickled plum sauce, and "natto." The pickled plum sauce looks a bit like strawberry or raspberry flavor, but don't let it fool you! It's not at all sweet, in fact it tastes like something went very, very bad. And in the case of natto, which you can smell from a mile away, something really did go bad: it's actually fermented soy beans. Sometimes we'll walk down the street and smell the waft of natto coming from a local restaurant or yatai, and make a mental note to never, ever go there. Having said that, many Japanese people, and even some (cough, crazy!, cough) foreigners seem to enjoy it.

So if you come to Japan, be adventurous and try what you must, but don't say we didn't warn you!

Kimono Wearing

2009-10-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

We took a 1 hour journey to Amazuki and participated in the kimono-wearing-festival.

We went with a handful of students from the school.

Sam is the star of the show. Jake takes the role of lead cameraman and backpack-dude

Amazuki is a remote little village. The main attraction is a 400 year old castle. It was the perfect place to walk around in a Kimono.

We enjoy walking around, soaking up all the history and culture Amazuki has to offer.

Of course, who cares about history and culture when there's a Coke Zero within reach?

Excursion to Umi no Naka Michi

2009-10-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip to Umi no Naka Michi, a beach not too far from Fukuoka. It was about a half-hour train ride away.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the sand, but we did get to enjoy the ocean...

... and the sunset...

Dipper Dan

2009-10-12T05:23:00.000-07:00

We didn't find a Jaketown or a Samanthaville yet, but we did find a "Dipper Dan" here in Fukuoka! They sell ice cream and crepes and yes, even bubble tea. It looks like a great place.

Corn-Flavor Ice Cream, followed by Horse

2009-10-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

Sam & I are connoisseurs of many types of cuisine. The other day, we decided to try a new first: Corn Flavored Ice Cream.

Sure enough, it looked like and tasted like corn.

What goes well with corn? The answer is obvious: horse. After all, horse meat is a traditional and uniquely rare delicacy here in Fukuoka.

Of course, this is Japan, so why not raw horse?

We check it off our list of things to try. We appreciate the local cuisine, but we probably won't be opening any fast-food-horse restaurants anytime soon.

Nakasu Street Festival

2009-10-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night there was a street festival in Nakasu, a neighborhood in central Fukuoka.

This band was playing that traditional Japanese song, "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In," as we arrived:

We enjoyed some festival food. As far as I could tell, this one was traditional Japanese delicious lasagna in a pita pocket:

Then the real action began. We watched these women carry each other (and the shrine of the God of Nakasu) on their shoulders while they chanted and bobbed to the beat:

We watched these men and women chant and dance while drinking "sake":

And we saw this lady perform with taiko drummers. She may be small, but her voice is mighty. She reminded me of a Japanese Dolly Parton, but Jake pointed out that there are *some* differences between the two:

Aerobie in Fukuoka

2009-10-08T05:08:00.000-07:00

Look what we found at one of the major department stores in downtown Fukuoka!

In the Subway

2009-10-06T04:39:00.000-07:00

This is the exit of one of the subway stops in central Fukuoka. It happens to be in the basement of a snazzy hotel, which might be why the place names are in Roman characters as well as in Japanese ones. I love this sign: it's such a perfect representation of how I find my way around Japan.

Eeny meeny miny mo...

(Turns out "eeny meeny miny mo" is actually the name of a fancy-schmancy mall that's connected to the hotel, but I prefer to think this sign is speaking directly to me.)

Shopping

2009-10-04T03:51:00.000-07:00

In the nearby department stores, you can buy a full-on kimono. You choose your fabric and they'll make you something like this. The pricetag on this red one says it's on sale for about the equivalent of $2,100 -- and then you also have to buy the waist sash, the shoes, the special socks, and so on. But, isn't it beautiful?

In another department store, we saw these pens. Holy cow, some of these cost over $1,000! They must be very, very nice pens. Personally I'm cool with Bic, though it may not be ideal for writing beautiful Japanese kanji.

Ichiran Ramen

2009-10-03T03:56:00.000-07:00

Following a tip, we went to a restaurant called Ichiran Ramen. They're unique because (1) they have some great ramen, and (2) because you eat a very confined stool area. It was a fun experience.

Yakiniku at Loft in Fukuoka

2009-10-02T03:43:00.000-07:00

We went to a yakiniku restaurant (where they bring us the raw ingredients and we cook our own dinner at our table) and ordered all-you-can-eat meals (a popular concept in Japan, $24 each at this place). Here's Jake... clearly excited about the niku.

It's a pretty view from our window seat to downtown Fukuoka.

It's hard to see in this picture, but our legs dangled under the floor at this place. That is, the table is at floor level, and our legs go under the table. I'm not sure how Japanese people sit down gracefully in their seats... I had an awkward little moment stumbling down there. Very Japanese.

Since shoes aren't allowed in the restaurant, the lobby has a locker room where you put your shoes while you eat. Here's Jake being full as he retrieves our shoes.

Small Victories

2009-09-30T06:06:00.001-07:00

So it turns out Japanese is a bit challenging. Compared to English, the word order is different (the verb always comes at the very end of a sentence), the grammar is different (it's important to learn the formal and informal ways to say everything -- it's like learning everything several times), the numbers are different (the number words you use to count flat things are different from the number words you use to count dates of the month, etc.), heck even the alphabets are different (as Japanese has several thousand more characters than we do). It's all hopelessly complicated.

And so, I'm learning to celebrate the tiny victories. I hope you won't mind if I share a few.

Victory #1: here's some of my homework this week. It's a speech I wrote about Topeka. I copied about 20% of it straight from the assignment, I had to look up a lot of the words, it's got several errors, and it only uses the 2 simpler alphabets (hiragana and katakana, no kanji)... but still, I wrote a speech in Japanese!

Victory #2: first a little back story. In my first week here, I caused a long line to form at the grocery store. Paying is hard! Here's why: first, there are two registers at the checkout. One tallies your total, the other is where they keep the money, and both have displays. Second, some of the coins don't have numbers on them. For instance, the 5-yen coin just has a bunch of kanji on it, and it's the same size and shape (including a hole in the middle!) as the 50-yen coin. So. If you're new to this system, and you're a customer, and you're not completely paying attention, and you mistake the total on the wrong machine's display for your own total, and you don't know a 5-yen coin from a 50-yen coin, you *could* cause a really long line to form while you try to pay. The very reserved checkout clerk was very nice about it. Still, no question, I caused a ruckus at the grocery store.

But! This week, at the very same grocery store, I had the very same checkout clerk. I'm pretty sure he wasn't thrilled to see me coming. But this time I was quick and I knew what I was doing and I paid with exact change. And when it was over, the clerk looked me in the eye, smiled, and said (in perfect English, of course) "good job." It made my day.

And finally: it was rainy this week, so I bought a fancy new $1 umbrella that I love because it's transparent so you can see out of it. But the other day, I accidentally left it at the convenience store. Ack! Several hours later, when I realized I'd lost it, Jake was in class, but I hurried back to the same store, explained that I lost my umbrella and asked if it was there... completely in Japanese!! The clerk looked behind the counter, found it, and handed it over. Oh, such pride! :)

Hopefully some of you had bigger successes this week than losing your umbrella and getting it back again... but for me, it was a big deal.

GenkiJACS Folks

2009-09-30T03:35:00.000-07:00

Every Friday, our school holds a mini "graduation ceremony" for the students who won't be back the next week. Every student gives a little speech and gets a certificate. Here's the school photo after last week's ceremony.

The people with certificates are the "graduates." I'm standing next to Tamara and in front of Mattias, both classmates from my first week of class. This week, Arno-san (front row-right) is one of my two classmates.

A few of the teachers are in there, too. The teachers rotate from class to class; we have different teachers every day, sometimes 2 or 3 or 4 teachers in a day. Yuji-sensei (far left-white shirt) was one of Jake's teachers today and one of my teachers last week, and we've both learned from Kazuyo-sensei (2nd-to-right, middle row) this week. Mae-san (front row, far left) is responsible for logistics and administration, so she sits at the front desk. We have short "good morning" and "see you tomorrow" conversations with her almost every time we enter the school or go home, she's very cheerful. In fact, all the staff is impressive -- bright, helpful, and kind.

Weekend Excursion to Dazaifu

2009-09-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

Sam and I decided to be adventurous and go to the small town of Dazaifu, about 30 minutes south of Fukuoka.

Dazaifu, as legend has it, is home to the God of Learning. It seemed like a good place to pay homage as we improve our Japanese.

The main street is a quant little block of tourist shops.

We try the local cuisine (baked rice cakes with sweet bean filling). This, of course, fails in comparison to the cute little dog that Sam fell in love with.

Jake tries to win back Sam's heart from the little dog by serenading her with ancient Japanese poetry inscribed on a big flat rock.

Thankfully, it worked.

We had a great time at Dazaifu. We recommend it to anybody passing near Fukuoka.

But wait! That's not all!

Before getting on the train to come home, we do some shopping. We find a post-card shop and receive some free gifts from the owner! Not the least was a private concert. His only request was that we explain the meaning of the song "Stand by me"

But wait! There's even more!

Thinking we had seen everything Dazaifu had to offer, we head to the train station and buy our tickets. To our surprise, we find a cat trying to steal money out of the ticket machine! It was a fairly cheap cat, it was only going after the ¥10 coins (~10 cents). Our theory: the ¥10 coin is the only brown coin, and so it might look like a very round and flat mouse.

Biggest Ferris Wheel in Japan

2009-09-21T04:22:00.000-07:00

Today we went with our new friends Dylan and Tamara...

to ride the largest ferris wheel in Japan (and what was the 2nd largest in the world until 2006)...

... yes, yes it's big. Especially compared to Jake...

and especially especially compared to our apartment...

It was a wonderful view from the top, even though it was a cloudy day.

So if anyone asks if you happen to know of anyone who's ridden the 4th largest ferris wheel in the world, you can tell them yes, yes you do!

Dinner Next Door

2009-09-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

Last night we decided to go next door to dinner. We almost didn't go in when we couldn't figure out how to get in the door. It was so very... small:

We ultimately decided to duck in the little door, which is apparently modeled after doors in traditional Japanese tea houses (and is the way you're supposed to enter). Once we got inside, the servers were very friendly and the place was very cozy. The workers kneeled here while they served us and while we ate. The food was hearty, the place was small, and the people were friendly: it felt a lot like eating at someone's house.

This style of food is called "oden." We had no idea what to order, so we asked them to just give us what they suggest. We received two servings of food and then personal little plates with a little broth in each one. Here is our first serving: (clockwise) tofu, sausage, egg, and radish. Everything was surpringly delicious!

Videos from Fukuoka

2009-09-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

Last Week: Kansas!

2009-09-19T03:53:00.000-07:00

After moving out of Hawaii, we made a stop in Kansas for my 10-year high school reunion and to visit my family. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold and missed most of the reunion, but we did get to go the tour, here we are with some of the reunion folks on the first day:

With Granddad (er, well, a picture of him anyway) in the Hall of Fame Room at THS:

And! Just in time for the last few minutes of a Friday afternoon pep rally in the "dungeon" (which is what they call the gym at my high school, I know not why...):

A New Home for Lulu

2009-08-30T20:12:00.001-07:00

We're T minus 2 days until our move, and we're proud to have found a great new owner for Lulu (our car). She seems responsible and thoughtful and, most importantly, very excited to claim Lulu as her very first car. Here's Jake with Lulu and Alex:

Avni and Her Subordinates Visit

2009-08-30T19:56:00.001-07:00

Last week we were lucky to have my good friend Resmi come visit us with her family: her mom, her husband Karthik, and the Boss of the Family, bright and adorable little 1-year-old Avni.

We enjoyed the Hawaiian sand and sun, tested the shaved ice, explored the North Shore, and ate good food. What a wonderful treat to have them here in Oahu for a few days :)

Tom Visits Hawaii

2009-08-27T17:02:00.001-07:00

My good friend and former boss came to visit us last week. Tom's two boys, Parker and Thomas came as well. The week was a great adventure, filled with more jellyfish stings and sunburns.

Welcome, Beth!

2009-08-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Sent from my iPhone

Hurricane Felicia, Day Two

2009-08-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

The news says that Felicia (now a tropical depression, they say) is making its "last pass" through the islands now. Sure enough, we're seeing a downpour. Jake is surprised that it's localized to such a very small area, but I guess we're new to this whole hurricane thing:

Even Hawaiian Hurricanes are Laid Back

2009-08-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

All of Hawaii has been in an uproar about hurricane Felicia. The first forecast said it would arrive on Monday. Then it was updated to Tuesday morning. It's almost Wednesday now, and the worst we've seen have been some partly clouded skies with light sprinkles. It seems like we will survive this terrible storm!

Kansas Man Of War

2009-08-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

DWC came with us to Sherwood Beach, a quiet and unsuspecting beach marred by many, many, MANY Portuguese Men of War Jellyfish.

The Portuguese Man of War found on the beach are very small. The 'head' is the size of quarter, with tentacles ranging from a few inches to a few feet.

Jellyfish usually swarm the beach 8-10 days after a full moon. We are still a week away from that time. And so, with no Jellyfish warning signs posted, we assume the threat is low. We (Dan & Jake) decide to ride some great Hawaiian waves on the boogie board.

After a few minutes in the water, DWC's foot is attacked by a Portuguese Man of War. DWC bravely fights off the beast, saving Jake and Sam from harm. (Side note: This marks the second time DWC has rescued a soul during his visit so far)

The sting of the Jellyfish packs quite a punch and leaves red marks on DWC's feet. The sting feels like a bad sun burn, but aside from the pain there appears to be no serious danger (allergies, etc).

After washing off with clean water, the sting subsides. We pat each other on the back for the many Man-Points DWC has earned. We celebrate with a manly sized pizza.

Big Island Adventure

2009-08-05T00:51:00.001-07:00

We begin our Big Island Adventure by traveling to South Point, the most southern point in the USA. We set out to see the fabled Green Sand Beach.

We come across a small patch of green sand.

After 2.5 miles, we finally arrive at the beach. The above photo doesn't do justice to the greenness.

Day 2: We start the day in Volcano National Park. We take an official tour and learn all about volcanos.

We also walk through a Lava Tube.

We were fortunate enough to see the lava flow. We saw plenty of spurts of red-hot liquid magma rising to the surface.

We spend the rest of the day touring the Hilo side of the island.

Day 3: We venture to Waipio Valley

We take a STEEP hike down to the water.

We make it back alive, barely.

Before flying back to Oahu, we explore more of the Kona coast.

Dad visits!

2009-08-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

...and we journey to the Big Island. Here we are after a wonderful day of green sand, flowing lava, and adventuring.

Climbing Mt. Fuji = 10,000,000 Man Points

2009-07-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

Man Points,

The essence of manliness.

Tyler, Gib and Myself (Jake) have acquired an unprecedented 10,000,000 Man Points.

Why? We have conquered Mt. Fuji.

Myself, Tyler, Gib. We're in Tokyo this week on business. We had a free day and decided to climb Mt. Fuji. It was a little colder, windier, and wetter than we anticipated. We took the above photo at the summit. The wind was so strong we could only stay for a few seconds. More than enough time to make history.

We learned the meaning of the word "Ganbare", which means to "hang in there". We shout "Ganbare" to the Japanese and they return the favor.

We see some spectacular views of the clouds.

Capitalism is alive and well on Mt. Fuji. We pay 600 yen (1200% markup) for a Cup of Noodles. In the cold wet wind, it's the best meal we've ever had.

We eventually reach the top. A Tori gate is all the separates us from eternal glory.

We feel camaraderie with the ancient manly Samurai who walked this mountain, cleaning up trash.

We arrive safety back to the base station in good spirits.

3D Printing Awesomeness

2009-07-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

Today I attended a conference of Hawaii's technology folks, a group called TechHui. One of the presentations was about 3D printing, and... HOLY COW it's incredibly cool! I had no idea that it's not just a thing of the future, it's a thing of the present. You can actually buy a 3D printer for your computer today. It prints the object you've chosen (including any gears, ball bearings, etc.) in the color you've chosen. The material is apparently a little brittle, but once you coat it with an "infiltrant" to strengthen it, the speaker said the item becomes almost as strong as concrete.

The speaker said these things range from $25,000 to $75,000. For inventors, that's already cheaper than having just 1 or 2 prototypes manufactured. And it has other uses. For instance, the speaker said that surgeons are using these to model where in a person's skull their brain tumor is. When the surgeon sees the skull in 3D, it's much easier to strategize about how to reach the tumor than if the images are just 2D. And they can practice surgery on the 3D model.

Here's a video about a 3D printer you can purchase for your office today. (It's a little long, if you don't feel like watching all 4 minutes just watch 1 minute from 1:40 to 2:40, it's soo cool! )

Maybe someday you'll be able to go to Amazon, click "One-click-printing," and print off those bookends you wanted right in your home. Oh, or if you need a new car? Just print one off.

WeBeBloggers Travel Tip #1: Travel with Good Company

2009-07-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sam and I have been traveling quite a bit lately. We've picked up some good tricks of the trade. Why not share it with the rest of the world? (And consequently boost our readership by providing actually useful information?)

So! Without much adieu...

TRAVEL TIP #1: Travel with Good Company

Long flights are much more enjoyable if

(1) you can share headphones,

(2) take embarrassing photos together on your mac, and

(3) most importantly, fall asleep on your neighbor's shoulders.

Jake Kills the Monsters

2009-07-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

Jake developed an addiction a few hours ago: an iPhone game called Crystal Defenders. As far as I can tell, he's doing an amazing job protecting us all from troops of evil monsters today. Thank you, Jake!!

Pictionary Art

2009-07-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

When Tyler and Jean visited us in Hawaii, they brought one of our favorite games with them: Pictionary.

In the new version of Pictionary, they throw in some twists to make the play even trickier -- sometimes you draw with your eyes closed, you draw 2 pictures instead of one, or you draw left-handed.

The games were *not* close. One team totally clobbered the other each time.

Here are the results from one round, where the drawers had to draw left-handed and the word was "Energizer Bunny":

The top one is Tyler's drawing for Jean, and the bottom is my drawing for Jake.

I won't spoil the surprise, I'll just let you readers come to your own conclusion about which team won this round and the game.

Fierce Bocce Ball Competition in Topeka Kansas

2009-07-05T22:14:00.000-07:00

The Crows, Quists and Gonzalezes combined forces today to participate in the annual Potwin Place Bocce Ball Tournament. We call ourselves The Killer Crows. Our huddle-chant is a terrifying "Ka! Ka! Ka!"

The competition was fierce. We utilize Tony Gonzalez's superb baseball skills and score many points.

Dan executes a perfect Bocce Ball Toss.

In the end, The Killer Crows secure 2nd place!
Woohoo! Ka Ka Ka!

Tyler and Jean Visit Hawaii!

2009-07-03T23:25:00.000-07:00

We had a great time last weekend: our friends Tyler & Jean came out for a short Hawaiian Visit.

Day 0: Tyler and Jean's plane is delayed 4 hours. (Ouch!) We celebrate their arrival with pizza and a midnight stroll to the beach.

Day 1: We take a visit to the north shore. Our fist stop is to Aoki's Shaved Ice Shack.

Our next visit is to Shark's Cove (not pictured), where we enjoy a few hours of world-class snorkeling.

Next, we trek to Waimea Falls

We win the prestigious Cutest Hawaiian Couple Award.

Tyler and Jean win the equally prestigous Cutest Mainlander Couple Award.

Day 2: Sam & I head near Kailua for a Tech Gathering, Tyler and Jean enjoy the Ko Olina lagoons.

Tyler captures a great shot of one of our lizard friends, hanging out on the window. (He's not as vicious as he looks, he's only ~1.5 inches long)

Day 3: Tyler and Jean ignore our suggestions to quit their jobs and join us in Hawaii. They leave for the airport and arrive safely back in Mountain View.

Tropical Turkey Sandwiches

2009-06-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

We like to make turkey sandwiches for lunch and enjoy them with some fruit while we take a 5-minute break from tip-typing on our little computers. Don't they look like waaay more fun to eat when they have little umbrellas decorating them up? Ever since Jake had this idea, I've been considering putting little tropical umbrellas on all my food.

Visiting Ashleigh and Giovanni

2009-06-20T02:35:00.000-07:00

Today I got to meet up with Ashleigh, who's from Topeka like me (yay!) and who also went to Concepcion, Paraguay with AFS like me (hooray!) and who's also living on Oahu now (whoopee!). We caught up over yummy Brazilian berry treats in Kailua.

And it was a pleasure to meet Ashleigh's 2-month-old, Giovanni. What. A. Cutie.

Giovanni was just adorable and very agreeable. In this picture I think it's clear that while I'm posing for the camera, he's deep in thought -- most likely contemplating the Iranian election situation. Don't you think?:

No Road Trips Here

2009-06-17T02:05:00.000-07:00

As I was listening to the radio in the car today, they played a Chevron commercial that said "Are you planning a road trip this summer? Maybe someplace exciting, like the mountains or the beach?"

Well. I would like to take this opportunity to reply: no, Mr. Radio, I am not. And let me tell you why. Because I, like many of the people who listen to your little radio station, LIVE IN HAWAII! If we decide to take a road trip, we are done in an hour, and then we have to turn around and come back, or else drive into the ocean. Unless there's a lot of traffic, in which case it *might* take an hour and a half.

Another option for us here is to drive in circles around the island for several days, thus *pretending* to be on a road trip. Let's say an average road trip involves 8 hours of driving for 4 days each. That means in our pretend road trip, we could cross the island about 32 times.

Which brings me to a very important question. If you see the exact *same* red Volkswagen Beetle several times on a single "road trip," do you get to claim multiple punch-buggy-red's, or does it just count as one? Personally I think that later sightings of the same punchbuggy should raise your total punchbuggy score exponentially.

In any event, No Mr. Radio, no Road Trips planned for this summer. But if anyone wants to join me for a Day Trip, come on over and we'll head to the ocean... way over on the far coast!

Surfing Lessons

2009-06-13T00:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took surfing lessons, and... well, let's just say that the Surfing won. Hungry rocks jumped off the ocean floor and attacked Jake's foot. My surfboard decided to get a little too friendly with my knee and something mysterious stung my thumb. Despite our best sunscreen efforts, our legs fried. The water threw us left and right and all over. I was so worn out that I wanted to curl up on my surfboard and take a quick nap (which, by the way, seemed totally doable except for the little problem of floating out to the great blue yonder). We finished so exhausted that we fell asleep as soon as we got home. At 3pm.

But deep down, we're really pretty proud: maybe the Surfing won this time, but we finished off fighting, and we've got battle scars to prove it!

Unfortunately we didn't get photos because we were, well, busy. But y'all sent such positive feedback on my dolphin drawings, I drew a new picture to show you what we looked like surfing (that's our teacher, Carol, in the background, cheering us on; apparently Carol *won* 2 National Championships in surfing, and placed 2nd in the World one year, holy cow -- she claims she likes teaching newbies best, but I can't help but think she must have been very bored watching us!):

The best analogy I can think of for surfing (and I hope all our hardcore surfer blog fans will forgive me here, but it's true) is sledding. It's reeeally fun for 10 or 15 seconds, and then you turn around and grunt and push (or paddle) and wheeze until you get back to where you started so you can go again. It's really hard, but those few seconds of flying are worth it.

So, we'll be back. Watch out Surfing, here we come.

Sam Expresses Coaster Anger

2009-06-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

Samantha is a peacemaker. She always turns the other cheek. She is a friend to all-- living, dead, inanimate.

Which is why I was shocked to hear her exchange these harsh words with one of our coasters:

"Listen you, I don't want to be unreasonable here... but you're pretty much the worst coaster ever!!"

Such rage! Such terror! Coaster tensions were running high last night.

Sam was referring to the fact that her favorite coaster has gone debunk. Somehow, it became soaked in water and shriveled up (see above). Of course, this effectively destroys any usefulness this poor coaster can provide.

Sam had zero sympathy for this coaster. Not only did she verbally scold it, she saw fit to strangle the poor creature.

Coasters everywhere, beware the wrath of Samantha Crow!

More Dolphin Sightings

2009-06-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

Ever since my blog post about the dolphins in our backyard, I've been trying to get a (real) photo of them. I took these from our balcony which is kind of far away, so unfortunately they're not very crisp, but I hope this gives you the idea. They're all over the place, and they just jump around like crazy, like they're dancing or celebrating or something! The one with the ship might help with size perspective, though I realize the ship itself looks a little like a toy here (!).

Anyway, this is the best I've got until I can convince them to keep jumping while I walk closer:

One Year After Google

2009-06-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the 1-year anniversary of my last day at Google (as well as our first date according to Jake's unique count), so Jake took me out on a fancy date to celebrate. Here we are looking all snuggly:

Polynesian Cultural Center

2009-06-11T03:03:00.001-07:00

Sam and I take an educational adventure to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

First, we learn how to make a new drink: Pina Colada ala Pineapple.

Next, we learn how to slaughter a pig and roast it in the backyard.

Finally, we learn how to walk on burning coals.

Dolphins in the Backyard

2009-06-05T03:59:00.001-07:00

Today Jake and I were sitting at our dining room table when something very exciting happened. Here's a photo of us getting all excited:

What was it? Well, we looked out to the ocean with our binoculars and discovered... a dolphin doing tricks! Here's a photo of that:

So we looked on longer, and more closely, and realized that there were actually lots of dolphins out there, all jumping around and doing tricks! Here's the picture I took of that:

It was like our very own private Sea World! I knew that dolphins could do good water tricks, but I didn't realize that they do them just for fun, even without any training or any humans to feed them treats when they do well.

Sometimes they would coast along the surface of the water just bobbing in and out, other times they would jump all the way out of the water and do a pirouette and dive back in. Or other times they would just wiggle around like they were dancing. You know how sometimes when you look at a dog he just looks really happy? (Sometimes because he's out of breath and panting which makes it look like he's smiling, but still.) Well these dolphins looked just like that, but in a dolphin kind of a way. So energetic, so free, so happy!

It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. What a day! If they stick around tomorrow, maybe we'll go see if we can visit them...

ps. You know how sometimes when you look at a famous artist's painting, you think "holy cow, I totally thought that was a photograph at first"? Well in much the same way, you probably couldn't tell, but for the sake of honesty I have to admit... the images above aren't actually photographs. We tried snapping photos but the dolphins were a little far away for good pictures (and they are very quick!), so I actually drew the pictures above on the computer. Still, I hope they give you a sense of what it was like to actually be there.

Lizard in the Lock

2009-06-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

The other night when we came home, Jake turned to lock the door behind us and discovered a friend who'd apparently gotten stuck there. (It's a good thing lizards can regrow their tails when they need to.) We think he might be related to the little guy who lives in our garage and greets us every night when we pull the car in by scurrying under the lamp to make himself visible. Or maybe not. Anyway, Jake the Hero was able to liberate this little guy and send him on his way. We wish our little friend farewell. Hooray Jake!

Nighttime Art and Shabu Shabu

2009-05-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, we went to the "Art After Dark" event that takes place on the last Friday of every month at the Academy of Art in Honolulu. They bring in several DJs and bar tenders and have a big party at the art museum. What a cool idea! Almost everyone there seemed to be beautiful, on the hunt for a date, and trying to pick up on each other. (We felt a little out of place.) When they wanted a quiet place to have that first or second conversation, they'd duck into a gallery and chat in the company of Gaugin or an ancient, artful Chinese rock. While we were there, Jake took this renegade picture of me with a Monet just before getting in trouble with the guard (apparently photos aren't allowed even without flash, oops).

After the museum, we went to a nearby restaurant for shabu shabu (a Japanese style place where they give you raw meat & veggies and a bowl of hot water and some yummy sauces, then you cook the meat and veggies in your water, dip it in a sauce, and eat up).

Everything was delicious, even the sweet potato (the purple round thing on the right) and the shrimp (thankfully Jake was the Hero and took responsibility for cooking the shrimp, which had eyes and looked pretty disgusting in their raw state):

Restaurant Decor

2009-05-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the inside of one of our new favorite restaurants, the En Fuego Grill & Poke. This particular restaurant decor -- a sort of hokey beach scene with random men sitting in the sky, climbing the palm tree, and jumping out of the bush -- would not have occurred to me if I'd been the interior designer. But we're starting to become regulars at this place, so clearly they know what they're doing...

News-Reading

2009-05-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

I've been reading some interesting stuff lately, so thought I'd share a couple articles that caught my attention.

First and Foremost. People. I'm not sure if you realize this, but today the New York Times online reports a *new* problem with American teenagers. It's not that each one sends and receives an average of over 2,000 text messages every month (holy cow that is mind-boggling to me though, I must be getting all old!), nor is it that they're bringing guns to school and involved in gang violence and so on (that was soo last decade). No no, this article highlights a new, harmful activity they're involved in. What is it, you ask? Hugging. Yes, that's right, adults today are concerned that teenagers have started hugging way too much. They say it's girls hugging girls, girls hugging boys, and boys hugging boys, they say there's just hugging all over the place. Not romantic hugging, no no, just incessant, friendly hugging. They say it's clogging up the hallways in the high schools and it must be stopped. I mean, all those principals and administrators who begged kids to stop shooting each other several years ago never expected it to come to *this*! It's just awful. That's why they're totally banning hugging in some schools now. Jake suggests that the high schools just tell the kids to go back to gang violence like in the '90s, anything to stop all this hugging! Here's the article. If anyone wants to host an anti-anti-hugging campaign, let me know.

Second, I came across an article in the Atlantic Monthly about how we think of ourselves. It suggests that each one of us is not a single, constant, personality, but rather a confluence of many different personalities, depending on what situation we're in and who we're with. It goes on to suggest that we even think of ourselves as different people in difference situations -- that's why it's hard for young people to save for retirement (because the old guy who will get the money 40 years from now seems like a totally different person from *me*) and why we act to discipline our future selves. This also explains to me why I can never remember my clever Internet passwords for various websites -- I was a different version of me when I thought them up than I am now! There are some other interesting tidbits thrown in too, like did you know that memory is situation-dependent? According to the article, "Students do better when they are tested in the room in which they learned the material; someone who learned something while he was angry is better at remembering that information when he is angry again...". Who knew! Even though I read this a few weeks ago, it's left quite an impression on me and I keep on thinking about it, so I thought I'd share. It's a little long'ish, but you can check it out here if you're curious.

And last, a few weeks ago I invested in a Kindle -- Amazon's electronic reading device which you can use to download and read newspapers, magazines, and books. And I think it's about to change my life. Not because it's so slick (it's not), but because it's so liberating! I wasn't excited to give up books (I love bookstores! and book-buying! and gifting and receiving books!). But now I feel like a much freer reader: I don't have to choose my next book days or hours before I'm ready to read it. I can decide *right now* what it's gonna be, and start reading immediately. If I go somewhere (dentist's office, beach, vacation), I know I'll have more reading than I could ever manage on this smaller-than-a-clipboard device that fits in my purse. I love that having a lot of books at my fingertips no longer necessitates having so_much_stuff. Not to mention price (apparently publications are much cheaper without printing and binding costs). This is a paradigm shift for me, and it's exciting. But it's hard to explain to my friends and family, so I keep reading articles about the Kindle, in hopes that someone else will describe it better. And today I found this one, where the author envisions what the future might hold for readers.

So that's that! A whole lot of words describing my recent notable reads outside the book realm. If you're feeling lonely for photos, not to worry, there will be many, many to come in future posts :)

Jake and the Giant Clothespin

2009-05-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! We discovered this in a craft store where we wandered while we waited for our sushi dinner to be prepared next door. I know the young folks are all wearing their jeans super baggy these days, but really, have clothes gotten *this* big?

The Ala'Moana Lantern Festival

2009-05-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Every Memorial Day, the city of Honolulu holds a lantern festival in Ala'Moana Park.

The public is invited to light floating lanterns in memory of passed loved ones.

People write messages for their loved ones on the lanterns.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nerdy Addendum: We saw this sign before the activities started. The intended interpretation was to signal people where to drop off their lanterns. I was in the presence of a fine lady, so I resisted my nerdy jokes. Maybe some of our CS followers will appreciate the wit and humor that could have been spewed forth here...

Possible jokes include:
(1)-- "Is that IEEE 754, or Natural (floating) Log representation?"
(2)-- (re: The sign being a flag) "So that's what a floating point flag looks like."
(3)-- (re: The arrow pointing the wrong way) "I thought they fixed the Pentium FDIV bug years ago."

Classic.

Paying Our Respects: The National Cemetery of the Pacific

2009-05-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Memorial Day. We decide to pay our respects by visiting the National Cemetery of the Pacific.

We scour the cemetery for signs of bagpipers. None can be found. We feel pity for Jake's cousin Amanda, forced into the annual Quist-Family Compulsive Cousin Memorial Day Bagpipe Viewing.

Jake, reading some of the names of WWII casualties.

Sam, reprezenting... With a 'z'.

Collage for 2,500 Miles Away

2009-05-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Aside from a small handful of special folks here on Oahu, it's sometimes a little lonely to think that our closest friend is about 2,500 miles and a great big ocean away. So I made this collage, printed it on photo paper, and posted it on our fridge, to help us feel closer to some of our friends and family. If you're on here, we see your shining face every day! And if you're not, send me your photo and I'll print it out and put it up, too :)

Sunny or stormy?

2009-05-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

I took this picture out our dining room window today. Here's why I like it: if you cover the left half and just look at the right half, it looks like a terrible storm is brewing. But if you cover the right and just look at the left part, it looks like cotton candy clouds on a sunny day. (In fact it was mostly sunny today.) Hawaii weather doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind!

Trekking to Kaena Point

2009-05-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Hungry for adventure, Sam and I decide to hike to Kaena Point, the most westward point on Oahu.

The trail begins as a dirt road, then quickly becomes a hiking trail.

Mysterious man-made structures. We wish my sister could be here and give us some official archeological input. She'd probably tell us it has no historical significance and it's not worth blogging about.

Sam, leading the expedition.

Jake, bringing up the rear.

Lots of rocks, arches, and weeds.

A very loud and unexpected blowhole. It scares the willies out of us.

Sam contemplates how to traverse the washed-out trail.

Success is ours. We arrive at Kaena Point unscathed.

We look back two miles and see how far we've come.

The tip of Kaena Point. The swells from the right come from Alaska. From the left, New Zealand. We feel very important and international.

As legend goes, one of those rocks was placed there by the God Kauai. God Kauai wanted to pull Oahu and Kauai closer together, so he threw a hook from this point to the Kuauian island. The Kauaian island was too stuborn and didnt budge. God Kauai tugged harder and broke off one of those rocks.

Sam, demonstrating the proper technique for walking on lava rocks.

Jake, checking out his new (and unhappy) haircut in the camera lens.

We really like Kaena Point. The white-to-black-rock dramatic scenery is pretty cool. We were hoping to see some turtles and/or seals, but no luck. Maybe next time.

Hawaiian Shirt

2009-05-18T01:02:00.001-07:00

Hawaiian Residence: check
Hawaiian Registered Car: check
Hawaiian Shirt: not-check

We realized that a critical ingredient of our Hawaiian adventure was missing: we didn't have any Hawaiian shirts! We decided to purchase this fine specimen from our local Target.

Mother's Day in Hawaii

2009-05-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day, Moms everywhere!

While Jake's in California with his wonderful mother, my own Mom and I celebrated with a lazy day here by the ocean where we watched boats visit and people snorkel, then dinner out (at Pho 808, of course), and then dessert at a trendy frozen yogurt place called Orange Tree where you serve yourself yogurt with exotic toppings (like red beans! and lychees!) and then you sit and eat your treat in a very neon-colored chair. Perfect for a warm day with my loving mother.

Hooray for my Mom being here for Mother's Day! Here she is at Orange Tree, looking very cute and mom'ly:

Revenge of the Nerds: Vegas Style

2009-05-08T11:36:00.001-07:00

While Sam & Helen enjoy the island of Oahu, I (Jake) am off to the strange and peculiar land of Las Vegas.

I am here on official duty to attend the Ruby on Rails Software Development Conference. Never before has there been such a gathering of pure geekiness. We find Las Vegas a strange location for this conference. Talk of 'MVC Architecture' and 'Proxy Gateway Caching' has no bearing with the local natives. Even our attempt to discuss 'Floating Point ALU Optimization' only seems to provoke them.

As the conference continues, fears grow as to how the locals will treat us. Fears of persecution run rampant. These concerns are well founded, as the following chart shows:

Anxious to avoid contention, we attempt to converse with the local population.

Unfortunately, the only way to open relations is to engage in the act of gambling. We all have strict moral reservations about this. In the end, we grudgingly decide it is necessary for the greater good.

Mick leads the charge. He picks the game of roulette. Within 5 minutes his $30 has turned into $120. The natives seem to warm up to us and engage in pats-on-the-back.

Inspired by the good will, Doug and I join in the game. We briefly enjoy some gambling success. However, Vegas eventually claims all of our money. We lose a collective $110.

Our act of gambling seems to have worked. The conference concluded successfully without any casualties from the natives. I arrive at the airport unscathed. Next stop: California for Mother’s Day.

Happy Birthday, Mom

2009-05-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Today was Mom's birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We celebrated by visiting Pearl Harbor...

...and then visiting Waikiki for some treats by the sea at the Moana Hotel...

...and finally for a dinner of pupus at Lulu's!

(I did not make this up. Hawaiians call appetizers pupus -- we ordered 2 of them for dinner, ahi poke and steak bites -- and the restaraunt was called Lulu's. I know what you're thinking: what a great idea they had to name a restaurant after our car! I think so, too. Obviously they must have seen us cruising by at some point and since our car is such a looker, they probably couldn't resist naming their restaurant after it.)

We also discovered a giant banyan tree today, where we walked through the roots that grow from the branches. Mom is so little here!:

We realized that it was the first time we've been together on her birthday since 1999.
Happy Birthday, Mom!

And while I'm posting, here are some pictures from earlier this week, too.
At the Waimea Valley Audobon Center and Waimea Falls:

With our yellow shave ice holders, ready to enjoy shave ice with red beans and ice cream at Matsumoto's on the north shore:

(Why they call it "shave ice" and not "shaved ice" I do not know. Just trying to be all local here...)

And enjoying an afternoon on the beach at Yokohama Bay:

Welcome to Hawaii, Mom!

2009-05-05T00:08:00.000-07:00

Mom arrived in Hawaii today. Before her flight got in, I went by the lei stands at the Honolulu airport, where this lady made this lei for mom:

And it looks great on her!

Then we headed to one of our favorite spots, Pho 808, where we tasted all kinds of goodies like summer rolls, pho, chicken salad, taro tapioca, sweet potato tapioca, banana tapioca, mmm...

Operation Garbage Day

2009-04-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

Something horrendous found its way into our garbage the other day. We can only guess at its composition, but it smelled like a rotting corpse, lathered with rotting milk, then sprinkled with skunk extract. It really really REALLY stank.

We keep the garbage in the garage as we patiently wait for garbage-day to come and save us. With each passing day the smell grows worse.

The night before garbage-day, we pull into the driveway and face the dismal fact: Somebody will need to take out the trash. This is an unpleasant duty, since the rank smell grows exponentially terrible as it is approached.

We pull straws, and unfortunately the dismal task befalls me (Jake). I sit in the car, trying to build the courage and focus to conquer my foe. Sam knows this may be the last she sees of me. She expresses her grief by playing with her camera:

Once I'm mentally prepared, we discuss our strategy. I will step out, take a deep breath, and attempt to open the garage door. Once the garage door is on its way up, I will run to safe distance and take another breath. Then, I will run to the garbage and pull it outside (all under the same breath). It's a risky operation.

We begin. For the most part, things go according to plan. Sam takes this action photo from the safety of the car cabin. Here, I have been holding my breath for ~45 seconds. The fumes from the garbage start to become visible.

After a few moments of uncertainty, we conclude that success is ours. The garbage is outside, ready to be picked up. Victory wasn't easy, but it smells much sweeter than we could have imagined.

Sam gets a whiff of the aftermath as she exits the car.

Hello, John!

2009-04-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

Our Google friend John, who lives in Japan, is in Oahu on vacation right now, so we met up for a beach lunch today. Yay!

The Debate Over Accessorizing Lulu

2009-04-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here in Oahu, a fierce debate has been raging this week. On one side of the debate -- we can call this the Utilitarian Allies side -- we have those who argue that, while certain Japanese cars may be reliable and affordable and worthy of pet names such as Lulu, ...

...they are undeniably lacking in cup holder space. Therefore, these reasonable folks contend that the clear solution for a car like Lulu is to get her a little plastic cup holder accessory to hold larger drinks like large-sized Cokes from fast food establishments and Nalgene bottles. On the other side of the debate are those -- we'll call theirs the Image Conscious side -- who believe that 2 small, can-sized "cup" holders ought to be sufficient. They further believe that it's not visually pleasing to add cup holders to cars and therefore the practice should not be used.

Well. Today, those on the Utilitarian Allies side made a dramatic move and invested $1.31 in the purchase of an additional cup holder for Lulu. Shortly after, those on the Image Conscious side staged a peaceful demonstration in protest:

To date, both sides have clung tightly to their respective positions and the issue has yet to be fully resolved. However, the two sides have come together in peace talks and a trip to Target in the name of accessorizing Lulu with air freshener. They chose a nice Aquablue flavor (whatever that means), deciding in unanimity against the apparently-extremely-popular-in-Hawaii "squash" scent:

Really? Squash??

The Quest for Culinary Excellence

2009-04-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

This looks like a good, sensible, healthy meal, right? Wrong. Magnify the image 625% and you'll notice that it doesn't look that appetizing:

Gross. The corn is soggy, the carrots are soggy, the pork is bland AND soggy. You might assume a total culinary novice prepared this meal. Unfortunately, that's the situation we found ourselves in last night. I (Jake) undertook a very risky culinary experiment which resulted in the above debacle. The experiment was so advanced that failure at this level could easily be mistaken for complete cooking ignorance.

Sam was gracious in her compliments for the meal. However, I knew that a point remained to be proven. We therefore undertook the challenge:

IRON CHEF HAWAII: The Quest for Culinary Excellence

Sam and I decided to have some guests over for dinner. Unbeknownst to her, this was the perfect opportunity to reclaim my throne as head iron chef.

Sam decided to prepare summer rolls: A tasty southeast asian recipe consisting of 11 herbs and spices, all wrapped in fresh rice paper. Not bad for a novice.

I decided to make Gyoza. Or "potstickers" in the layman's tongue. Many have died trying to conquer this dangerous dish.

We started preparing our meals as the guests arrived. Tensions were running high, one small mistake and the competition would be over. Unfortunately, Samantha didn't even realize she was in a competition. After roughly 45 minutes, our creations were complete. We let the guests decide the winner:

Sam, Sarah, Mark, and Dana: deciding the fate of the universe.

And, the results:

Sam's Summer Rolls:
QUANTITY: 2.0
TASTE: 3.0
HEALTHINESS: 4.0
TOTAL: 9.0

Jake's Gyoza:
QUANTITY: 4.0
TASTE: 3.0
HEALTHINESS: 2.0
TOTAL: 9.0

A Perfect Tie! Sam and Jake are declared co-victors in the competition. Again, Jake is the only one aware the competition, so the sweet taste of victory is only palpable to him.

We decide to celebrate by taking a midnight stroll to the beach:

Followed by a fierce round of Texas Hold'em. Dana, masquerading as a novice, cleans house.

Waikiki Beach from the Hyatt

2009-04-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

From the top of the Hyatt's parking garage that is... one of the best
views in town. Thanks to Mark for his tour guide prowess!

Hanging out at Sandy Beach...

2009-04-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

...with Mark, Dana, and Sarah! The waves are so strong today, they
came on the intercom to say that you shouldn't be swimming unless you
have swim fins and you know what you're doing. Still, there are lots
of suffers and boogie-boarders out today!

Flashback to California

2009-04-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, thank you all for your kind condolences about my shoes. I feel so loved!

Now, here's a quick flashback to our adventure in California, where we spent a week before arriving in Oahu. First, Jake's birthday! Well actually his birthday was several weeks ago, but here are some photos of his belated birthday celebration with friends and family at Zachary's Pizza, mmm...

Jake received very thoughtful birthday cards, created just for the special occasion:

Tyler, Emily, Beth, ...

and Jean and I all joined him for the event:

And there was a big birthday hoopla including the waitstaff's happy birthday rendition:

See, Jake is just having buckets of fun here!

And finally, we took an excursion down to Mountain View and visited my girl Avni -- er, and our friends Resmi and Karthik, too :) -->

A Night of Remembrance and Reverence: The Shoe Funeral

2009-04-20T00:42:00.001-07:00

Rest In Peace:

Samantha's Favorite Shoes

4/1/2008 ~ 4/19/2009

Tragedy is no stranger to the Hawaiian Islands. Samantha now has personal experience with this grotesque fact. Her favorite shoes have passed on.

The passing of the shoes was sudden, yet not surprising. The shoes were showing signs of wear with the initial loss of the protective paint (illustrated above). Samantha estimated the shoes would last another year or two. She was shocked when her toe strap tore out. All attempts to fix the strap have failed, and the shoes were pronounced unrecoverable at 8:00pm Hawaii Time.

Sam had a hard time accepting reality. She refused to believe that her shoes would never be worn again. After hours of denial, she finally accepted that her shoes had walked their last mile.

Jake uses his astute funeral skills and takes control of the situation. He acts as head mortician and guides Samantha through these troubled times.

We hold a funeral service for the shoes. Sam laments over the unfairness of life.

Sam can no longer fight back the river of tears.

Jake is elected special pallbearer. He swaddles the shoes in a protective Target bag.

Jake departs to inter the shoes in their final resting place.

Rest in peace Samantha's Favorite Shoes.

You will be missed.