Google contact

I've been collecting contact methods from Google.

I got a:

• a phone call from them when signing up for Google Apps for Your Domain
• postcard for registering a business on Google Maps
• text message for signing up for Voice
• They even mailed me stickers

Pretty soon we'll go on a date.

Headphone cable

I have a fancy chair thanks to Vincent, it's seriously comfortable but the arm rests like to wrap my headphone cable around itself. It's so frustrating because it likes to tangle itself around the arm rests, wheels and base of the chair. For a while I was clipping the cable to my shirt and that helped a little bit but I don't always wear a shirt (cat sound!) at the computer. Today I had an epiphany and used a small hook to manage the problem. The majority of the cable sits on the other side of the hook creating enough weight to keep the cable retracted on that side instead of pooling around the chair.

'Ohana

Big Island Ohana Cafe. Owned by a father and mother, run by daughter and son. I never knew their names or their nationality. They had vintage signs on the wall and still offered banana splits and malt milk shakes. They were cash only.

When I moved here I ate there a couple three times a week, usually getting bacon cheeseburgers, fries and a drink for me and my boss. The store changed owners and my shift moved to the evening when BIOC was closed so I stopped eating there.

We started going to church and would eat lunch at 'Ohana Cafe every Sunday. Over the summer my hana'i nephew paddled every Saturday morning and we took him there for lunch afterwards.

We went often enough that they let me order off menu. I usually got fish over fried rice with eggs over medium. It was fantastic. Jessie got the same thing every time, which with their accent, was pronounced "Frenche Toast."

They closed 2 weeks ago.

Update:

BigIslandVideoNews.com has video of the corner being torn down. It may have been ugly but I don't see 15 new parking spaces being better than the 'Ohana Cafe.

Tsunami drill

Every month they sound the Tsanmi warning alarms as a test. This month they organized a complete Tsunami drill.

I was unprepared, I didn't bring water or really know what to do. So I set out to keep the kids in line as we made our dry run from the school to the edge of the airport where we waited in the sun for 20 minutes for them to open the gates. We walked with 700 kids across the tarmac of Hilo airport to then sit for 2 hours waiting for a bus ride home.

The kids did not take it seriously, they were rude and didn't follow directions and were plagued with selfish behavior as previously mentioned. In the event of a real Tsunami they might focus a little more because it's serious, but they'd also be under prepared and there would be a lot more chaos around them.

Tsunamis are a very real thing here. There have been serous ones within memory for some members of the community and the kids' families, so it's not like an abstract idea. I wish I knew how to convey the serious nature of this threat and the benefit of being prepared and focused.

The reality is that if a Tsunami hit where we are most vulnerable most of that area would not survive, there isn't enough time or organization to get everyone out.

The price of island life.