Unexpected Developments

The announcement that Senator Daniel Akaka will not run for re-election in 2012 came as a surprise to just about everyone ... I'm sure there were some insiders that were privy to the information before it was released, but for the most part it was a stunning revelation.

The usual praises and well wishes are flowing now ... great statesman, served the interests of Hawaii well, etc., etc., etc. I wonder if anyone is going to do an honest, close examination of the good senator's record and how effective he was in reality. If the definition of effective and good is the fact he voted along with Senator Daniel Inouye then yes, he probably was.

There has to be a higher standard set for our elected representatives and given that senator Akaka is a member of the party that got us into the current fiscal mess and helps perpetuate the status quo, it can be said with certainty that he really was't as good for the state or effective as people say.

Gubernatorial Idiocy

Here we go again ... tax and spend and tax and spend ... ad nauseum. I should have posted a prediction so that I was on the record for saying this is exactly what our current governor was going to do regardless of all the rhetoric he spewed during the campaign.

Abercrombie the Zombie makes a lot of noise about raising money for the budget, but what he ought to be focused on is reducing the amount of spending being done and the level of waste. He's a typical Washington D.C. bureaucrat with the financial savvy of a kumquat. And the lame-brained legislators go along with it and are of the same deficient mentality.

Tweeting birds

The parakeets are tweeting ... yes, they invented tweeting regardless of what anyone else says. The seem to have discovered the newspaper that lines the bottom of their cage, too. I heard noises coming from the cage like they were crawling around the bars, but they were near the edge of the cage chewing at the edge of the paper under the grate.

At first I was concerned, but apparently it's perfectly normal for them to do this so I'm not going to worry about it since, from what I've read, newspapers now use soy based inks in their pages. I'm not sure why they started chewing on the paper now, but it could be the way I positioned the newspaper when I cleaned their cage this time. We'll see what happens later.

Post-Christmas

Had a pretty good Christmas ... lots of food, family, presents ...

First Christmas in the new place ... closed on 10/30/2009 (Yay)

Added two new tweets to the family, no not on twitter, actual tweets. A pair of budgies (or parakeets if you prefer) named Kirk and Spock. One is yellow and one is blue so it should be obvious which is named which. (pics to follow for those imagination challenged)

They're pretty quiet for the most part, but I'm not sure if that's because they are just getting used to their new surroundings or if that is how they will be. They did "talk" a little last night, oddly enough every time I ran the kitchen faucet.

Spock was eating a lot of millet the past couple days. He's turning into a real oinker. I went to bed and he was pecking away at the millet and when we got up this morning he was pecking away at the sprig.

They both sleep differently ... Kirk sits on his perch, fluffs up and goes to sleep. Spock sits on his perch, tucks his head back and goes to sleep. They both preen and stretch a lot, though ... then again, what else to do when you're a bird.

Sunny day ...

The weather is fairly nice today ... good day for the beach. Unfortunately I'm stuck inside and left to staring out the window at the sunshine. I did take a walk outside, albeit for only 5 minutes, but it was a nice breather to warm up.

Happy 4th (Belated)

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. Mine was enjoyable and restive ... Transformers 2 on IMAX on Friday (big robots on a big screen), sunset dinner cruise and fireworks on Saturday, quiet Sunday. Too bad it had to end with work again on Monday. I managed to get some great photos from the boat and the fireworks were awesome.

Cheese-head on Parade

I'm not sure how I got on Abecrombie's email list, but I got another spam-out from his office regarding healthcare reform. The problem with his kind of reform is to spend more money and try to give more people more things for free which isn't fixing anything. Part of the problem is the plethora of stupid lawsuits that doctors face for every little thing they cannot control or should not be held responsible. There really needs to be tort reform which would do much to decrease healthcare cost mostly because doctors would not be required to pay out the yin-yang for their malpractice insurance.

Interesting-sounding Movies

Transformers 2 comes out, technically tomorrow but apparently some people have already tossed it out onto the web... big surprise there. It's one of the movies I wanted to see that's coming up, the trailers and previews look good (at least the special effects are awesome) We'll see if they came up with a decently written script.

Icky weather

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring ...

Actually, it's not really pouring but it is raining. I'm looking out of the window and the mountains are almost totally obscured by the rain and clouds. I should bring a digital camera and snap pictures to upload into the post ... it seems to add a little je ne sais qua to the entry.

Surprise day off

I actually had Kamehameha Day off from work which is surprising since most people don't have it off. I would much rather have other days off, but that's another discussion for another time. Anyways, I spent the late morning and early afternoon hiking up Diamond Head crater. If at all possible, start the hike earlier in the morning because it is dang hot at midday and there is no shade until you get to the top. You see a lot of people going up and down wearing odd things. One woman was wearing a dress, another older Japanese tourist was in a polo shirt and slacks, another woman was wearing golden sandals... definitely not stuff you ought to wear when hiking. The view was fabulous at the top, you could see the other islands on the horizon.

The panoramic pic is actually 7 shots stiched together using Microsoft's Live Photo Gallery program. It's free and works pretty good.

After hiking, I drove over to Haleiwa for Matsumoto's shave ice. Another place to go early if you are able since it was really crowded. I stood in line for probably over 20 minutes for my large rainbow shaved ice with ice cream.