Country Hopping

Accessing wireless from the airport terminal does make you wonder how easy it could be to hack into personal info while I'm in the network, but I'm putting concern aside to blog, for a change.
Having just spent the last 11 days in the Pacific Northwest, Heather and I now sit in Portland International Airport on our way to NJ to bring in the new year.
We had a great time visiting family in friends in the rain, traveling to different parts of the region in the rain, skiing and snowboarding in the rain, celebrating Christmas in the rain, and doing anything else outside, in the rain.
To it's credit the PacNW has a mild climate and the lush landscape helps you forget just how much it precipitates. It also makes you notice, even appreciate, the fact that it's not raining, which is something you definitely take for granted in Hawaii. Don't get me wrong, it rains in HI, but the difference is you may not even leave the beach when it's happening.
Christmas was great and we feasted at Heathers' mom's house the day before Christmas eve with alot of her extended family and friends, the feasted again Christmas Eve, and again Christmas day, and feasted one last time tonight, prior to our departure. As everyone knows and expected, Tracey over-fed and we all over-ate.
In our 11 days we managed to visit with Riley and Mary in Auburn and all the Western Washington crew, immediately followed by a night in Heather's hometown of Ellensberg to cowtip and see just how many boys in love with Heather are still serving drinks or waiting tables in town.
We tripped up to Wenatchee next to get in a day of skiing/snowboarding and see all the apple-capital family and meet Chaun's new Sally. Sally and Chaun took us down to Washougal just outside Portland and 4 days later it brings us to the present.
Boarding now so more to follow soon. It was FANTASTIC to see every one of you, thanks for making the first part of our trip so memorable.

Hawaiian Christmas

This post was written on 12.14.05

Christmas in Hawaii is a lot like kissing your dog; a sweet gesture but missing the essential ingredients of purpose and reason. In the same way your dog might appreciate a little action every now and again, the big picture is that no matter how much you love your dog, he still licks himself clean, with occasional snacking.
I understand if the island can't quite get into the holiday spirit, being that it still feels like July. The season here brings a lot of tourists, which makes it no different than any other time of year, and its hard to decorate without snow as a theme; that would just be silly.
That said, people don't really get jazzed about the holiday, a vacation/celebration from the norm, perhaps because every weekend brings them that vacation most long for all year (and it seems even during the week for some locals). They seem to lack the zest for the holiday that mainlanders due if for no other reason that it's cold as hell in most places of the US and it gives us something to do inside.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

A lunatic at the Miami International Airport got himself killed yesterday after running from Air Marshals and reaching into the bag he claimed carried an explosive device. See the news article at Fox.

Now you know civil rights groups are going to have a field day with this one, not to mention he's Ecuadorian-American by decent. The press and certain leaning politicians will call this an atrocity that the innocent man was murdered by a federal officer and never had the life-threatening explosives he announced he had.

To the Air Marshal that shot him, I say job well done. Now that sounds harsh and I don't proclaim the victim's death like some battlefield victory or college football win, but it's admirable and comforting to see the systems put it place after 9/11 actually functioning at an effective level. We had been told air security systems were put it place for our protection, but that one averted would potentially could have lead to another national tragedy, amist all the criticisms recently plastered by the media over the lack of security improvements discussed by the 9/11 commission, instills a bit of faith in the system.