poke

I love poke. My favorite is spicy, it's Sriracha mixed with mayonaise on ahi, but I'll eat almost any kine poke. It keeps my diet rich in fresh fish, some of it caught locally. On gym days I like to eat a large amount of it several hours before, for the protein.

Sometimes I eat an entire pound of poke. Eating a pound of raw fish is sometimes an endurance test. I love raw fish, but still when I'm done my body recoils and it's not sure what just happened. It's a departure from my diet of old especially from the mainland. But I like to enjoy this opportunity while I have it.

Today is gym day, so I stopped at the fish market to pick up an ahi steak but they were sold out. To substitute I grabbed a package of tako, octopus, and I just finished half a pound of that. Again my body isn't sure about such a large amount of octopus with no chaser.

Forester is credit to team

I've been putting extra work and care into my Forester recently. I never imagined I'd drive an SUV, but it fits my needs pretty well. It has AWD, lots of cargo space in the back and the Weather band.

• I just had it detailed. Mind you I don't pay for this, it's a work exchange for computer repair
• I bought new floor mats with red dragons. They look completely rediculous.
• Applied Rain X to all windows and exterior mirrors
• Bought a CD folder for the visor.
• Registered an account on SubaruForester.org and found a way to disabled the seatbelt alarm firing more than once.
• Removed the license plate covers, so now I only advertise for Subaru and not the dealer. Currently looking for awesome replacements.

These are minor things but they make a difference.

Precious

I was reading about secret societies. I came across the Order of the Engineer. They follow a code of ethics regarding engineering. Its purpose is to foster pride and resonsibility in your work. I think it's awesome. It's not a secret society, it's not used to make extra money or get a job. It's about being pono with your work. They get a plain stainless steal ring.

I'm a member of several clubs as outlined in the previous post, none of which have rings or formal introductions. I was lamenting not being a member of any clubs like that when I look at my left hand and saw my wedding ring.

I've tried to talk about this to a couple of friends, neither of whom are married and one of which cannot legally marry. I came across like an asshole I think, pushing my marriage in their face. Now I'm going to try to explain myself here and likely present myself as an asshole to a much larger audience. I feel vulnerable when I'm not wearing my ring and confident when I am. It's a heavy ring, platinum and silver, very comfortable and fits well. It was made by a wonderful and akamai friend as a wedding present. I'm very proud of it. My pride is not meant to be exclusive. I think everyone should be able to marry if they want. I will likely talk about my stance on marriage at another time, this post isn't about that, but about membership in societies.

Jessie and I once had wooden rings we got in Spain. I broke mine catching a Frisbee the week we got back.

A frequent ring I see is the class ring. I never wanted one from high school and I certainly did not want one from my community college.

What groups are you a member that are significant? Do you wear any jewelry that shows your membership?

Chip off the old block

I've been clearing out the house of man that died recently.

The culmination of a lifetime of stuff means what? You can't take it with you and that's a good thing. The best thing is when that stuff finds its way into hands that really need it. I've taken 3 or 4 boxes of office supplies and globes to my school. The principle's eyes lit up and said "this is like Christmas for teachers!" Everywhere, all schools and Hawai'i in particular are having funding troubles, we're hit pretty hard with no funding for supplies. These go a long way.

I packed my car to the gills with model trains and gave it tot he Laupahoehoe Train Musem who's wide eyes and "we can't thank you enough"s were good proof we'd found the right home.

Canes and walkers given to veteran's societies.

I've taken home about 15 Asimov books, 3d glasses, small screw driver sets for computers, 10 Dave Brubeck CDs, an out of print Nichols and May CD.

Short Circuit DVD which I keep trying to convince K will be useful preparation for his Master's program with AI.

It's a strange thing to get to know someone after they died. So many small little hobbies of his overlap with mine and several things on my list of ideas to explore have found their start with things from this man's legacy.

I am doing this pono. By appreciating the things he left behind and giving them new life, not just dropping them at the thrift store it makes me feel good cleaning out his home, his bed room and his life. I can only hope that someone does that same with my stuff when I'm gone.

Introvert, thy name is extrovert.

I have my own time and no one to share it with, so I joined as many clubs as I could find that would have me.

I'm now:

• Along with K, the most truant member of our church; having not missed a day since I've been back.
• A member of a scrabble club that meets every Friday at the mall
• The founder of a small but successful 2600 meeting the 1st Friday of every month
• I go to meetings and walk on Thursdays.
• I have friends outside of work and home.
• I'm getting much closer to finishing my archery target, then I'll be an archer again.

I feel very much like the Yes Man.

tracking

Several months ago before I went on my O'ahu trip I heard something on NPR while shopping for supplies. It was a medical comedy sketch. I enjoyed it but was too focused with the task at hand to complete the listening and find out who it was.

Months later I found motivation to track it down. I emailed Hawai'i Public Radio and they eventually told me it was mostly likely a syndicated show out of Cleveland hosted by Robert Conrad. I found their programming schedule and emailed him for confirmation; it was Nichols and May, a comedy duo. The album I'd heard was called Nichols and May Examine Doctors.

Turns out Nichols also directed the Catch 22 film.

There isn't much to see on Internet about these two, YouTube has a few clips though.

Because of Math

I fill my car with premium. It's more expensive, but less so now than when i was in High School. My senior year gas was $.82, $.92, $1.02 for low, mid and high grade, respectively.

So it was a 24% increase from low to high grade.

A decade later gas prices a have more than tripled. But the difference between low and high grade has remained the same. Now it's $3.05, $3.15, $3.25 again for low, mid and high grade, respectively. But now there's only a 6.5% increase from the low to high.

You should still put in whatever your manual suggests.

Guess

It'll be the longest since the beginning. I'm trying to keep it in perspctive. enjoy the benefits and not focus on that hard stuff. Sure I'm getting a lot of stuff done.

My salt and alcohol intake has increased dramatically. So have my chores, focus and work. That's not the balance I'm willing to keep.

"Why don't you want this product?"

"Because of math"

Mutilation! She loves me again.