and Hawaii...

I am sitting in the "World Club" lounge in the Honolulu airport after a few days of rest and relaxation in Hawaii.  The lounges rock, and come in handy if you're on the road (or flying) nonstop and need a place to just chill.  Ya get snacks, drinks, t.v., and some other cool things.  One awesome thing is that that alcohol is complimentary and endless.  Some lounges let you pour your own drinks, the Minneapolis one, the one im in in Honolulu, its sick.  Now if i were with friends, they might as well hand us a fifth and tell us to go to town, but since im by myself, well......its hand me a fifth and i go to town..... JOKING!!! If anybody travels with me in the next year and we go through one of those places on a connection, expect to get a buzz on at airports compliments of NWA, Alaska, or Delta.   Its definitely a cool thing to have access too. Anyways, I had a seminar in Seattle on Thursday and that went off without a hitch and i flew to Hawaii afterwards.  Talk about a long flight, but  of course its well worth it.  Stepping off the plane into the humid air gave me the feeling satisfaction of knowing that I am someplace that I can relax.  During the seminar i started out in a suit and tie, but by lunch had slipped into my board shorts and a tshirt through on some sunglasses and went swimming in the beach which was about a block away.  I came back from lunch with wet hair and a wet tshirt.  After everbody went back into the seminar room, i went back out, got some Cheeseburger in Paradise, (Thank you very much Jimmy Buffett) and checked out the scenery.  Maybe a little unprofessional, but come on its HAWAII BRAH!!!!  SHOCKA!!!!!! (I know, i know I'm a loser.....)  The hotel I was in was the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio, which is like a block from the beach and in the heart of Waikiki.  It was an awesome hotel with incredibly comfortable beds and a 52 inch flat screen tv that swiveled so i don't have to move my fat ass into the position i find comfortable, the tv can do it for me.  I was on the ninth floor, which is about 1/4 of the way up on the building, but the view was still amazing of the beach and ocean.  

After the seminar I went back to the ocean and swam around for about 2 hours just lying in the sun and enjoying it while I could.  I met my sister Erin that night and we went to Sensei, a Japanese Sushi restaurant that was ridiculously good.  After that experience there, I came to the conclusion that one of my goals in life now is to go to a sushi restaurant/bar where they don't speak a word of english just so i get a full experience and know that its all authentic.  (I know thats stupid, but its the experience ya know?) After that, we were both tired, and I knew i was on vacation, so we went back to the hotel and i crashed hard.  We woke up at about 8:30 and it was pouring rain outside.  We got some awesome coffee at a place called Honolua Coffee Company down the street from our hotel and searched for a jacket cuz i forgot to pack one assuming it wouldnt rain, yes im stupid and dont prepare for weather.   Im glad I had gotten my rain-free swim in the day before and enjoyed the lil bit of sunshine i was given.  Now although it was raining, it was warm rain, and swimming felt great, so the eventually  we decided to go surfing.  Well we met up with one of Erin's friends Heidi and she had boards for us and took us to Diamond Head point where there was some good breaks.  There were a ton of surfers out there and being, a howly (native slang for tourist/whitey) and a fairly novice surfer, i was pretty intimidated.  Intimidation aside, i rode one or two nice waves and had some sicky sicky gnar gnar wipe outs, but we had to get back on land so Heidi could get to work that night.  It had been raining hard for about 3 hours now, and the streets were starting to flood.  It was ridiculous, Heidi said that having the street flood in Oahu wasnt out of the ordinary.  After a day of surfing, there is nothing more satisfying then showering, because your tired/sore and you have sand and sea film/salt all over you that you can now wash off.  After the shower we went downstairs and were hungry.  So we went to an ABC store and got....you guessed it, more sushi.  its was actually really good considering it was from ABC, which is comparable to a 7-11 Hawaiian style and are literally on every corner.  We walked all around Waikiki and looked at shops and once again around 730 had gained an appetite and were hungry again.  We went to a place called the Yardhouse, which is a cool sports bar in the middle of all the shops and has like 100 beers on tap.  It was awesome.  After having a solid meal and some beers, we kind of couldn't figure out what else to do, so we walked around and would sit down wherever we decided looked cool.  One place we sat down and ordered a raw seafood plate.  It had salmon, halibut, squid, tuna, octopus, eel, shrimp and all sorts of seafood.....raw (hence the name).  There was something on there though that if i remember correctly looked like baby poop and we all know that when my nephew leo goes boom boom.....my mom serves it for dinner...joking.....(too far/disturbing/gross?  really?  whatever go fuck yaself)  so i tried it, and the texture made me want to kill myself and the taste was kinda horrendous as well, so i stayed away from that.  Soon Erin and i cleaned the plate and left back to the hotel.  This morning I woke up, had a fruit parfait which was awesome, some horrible "bold" Starbucks coffee and came to the airport.  

This week was the best yet, and i assume will be the pinnacle of relaxation/fun for my traveling schedule for this job.  I'm also happy the Cougs won and am REALLY looking forward to coming home for Thanksgiving.  Once again, this job is rad cuz i get to experience cool things and meet new people while at the same time gaining frequent flyer points and hotel points, but most things are more appreciated if experienced with other people you are close to and care about.  I know i know, totally hallmark saying, but its true.  I got some cool stuff including those chocolate covered macadamian nuts which are so good they're disgusting and have officially started a tradition of getting a shot glass from each state I have been to after Steve told me it would be a good idea.  I am in Seattle tonight and tomorrow, go to Portland on Tuesday and am back in Seattle from Tuesday night until Sunday, which is awesome.  Hope all is well and I am off to fly back to beautiful Seattle.  Deuces from Honolulu Howlies....

A hook haka hiki, cmon ya wanna lay me, pass the poi mahalo..... (Waynes World anyone?!?!  AAAAHHHH whatev...)