He killed like a champion

Hunter S. Thompson on the Kailua Pier from the book The Curse of Lono. Click on the photo for a much larger view, it's easy to spot Kona landmarks. The book is going fast at the used book stores online, with only one printing it's probably one of HST's most collectible book. I borrowed a copy from the Public Library where quite a few copies have been stolen but they have a number of copies available for borrowing, I got mine in a few days.

Lots of great Ralph Steadman illustrations, Thompson mentions a "Mr. Ackerman" involved in his adventures. Now which Ackerman is this? Hmmmmm.

Non/Not-For Profit

An interesting website, thanks Ian, is GuideStar. Just plug in the name of a non-profit into GuideStar and see some interesting bar graphs. I plugged in some local charities and and it's amazing the kind of money some are making.

For those newspaper editors out there, just what is APME doing with your dues? Seems like they're collecting a bunch of it for what? One conference and some little ones each year? Fellowships? Doesn't look like they're spending much on that stuff. But they must have nice offices for their staff.

Snow Day - Adventure Wednesday

There was supposed to be four of us going up to the summit of Mauna Kea but two couldn't play hookey from work so Joe and I headed up for adventure. We were the only visitors on the summit for much of the time up there until a couple of vans filled with kids from Seabury Hall - Maui came up to play in the snow.


A silversword plant growing near the Ellison Onizuka visitor's center. This rare plant grows here and on the summit of Haleakala on Maui.


Me in red and Joe on the summit of Mauna Kea.


Joe headed over to Lake Waiau, I took a pass and stayed on the crater rim, I had been to the lake before and it's an exhausting hike in the thin air. Plus I got to take some photos from him. I was hoping the lake would be frozen over but it's been a couple weeks since the last good snowfall and the weather has been too clear to stay cold.


Kids from Seabury Hall go sledding down a cinder cone with an air mattress.


The kids romping around the cinder cone and heading for Lake Waiau, the summit of Mauna Loa is off in the distance. It was a beautiful day up there.


The submillimeter array on Mauna Kea.


The twin domes of Keck I & II observatory.

We're 1st Place! Amongst the losers.

Our walking team didn't do the most miles, a team of retired ladies who could walk all day took first place with 877.5 miles. Whew! A tough number to beat. We came in 2nd place (first amongst those who didn't win) at 671 miles for the six weeks. We beat a team of teachers by 28 miles. We did a last big push on Saturday where Melanie and I did 14 miles each as we were determined to past the teachers who had been leading us the past few weeks. It was also to make up for the lack of miles I had done in some previous weeks while others like Joe and Ron pounded away at the path pavement. Like a NASCAR racer we drafted the teachers during the weeks then passed them at the end. The teachers weren't too happy from what I hear.


Our team sans Melanie. Click on the image above to see who's who.

We got a bunch of goodies as prizes: Body Glove snorkle cruise for us, Kona Bowl bowling night, Jamba Juice certificates, T-Shirts, water bottles, and other stuff. I was on the 2nd place team last year too, next year we're gunning for the Elks.

Packed Postage

The post office was closed today due to the President's Day holiday and I tried to drop an envelope into the drive-thru mailbox but couldn't, it was absolutely packed and overflowing, really...stuff was sticking out of the opening. So I went inside the post office, the drop box on the wall was also packed and couldn't even be opened but a couple of inches because there was so much postage in it. I tried to use the automated postage center box, the thing wouldn't even open as it too was packed to the gills.

The population in Kona is growing at an incredible rate. The roads are choked with traffic, the post office closes for one day and every postal orifice is packed to overflowing. I finally had to just shove the envelope past the blockage and hopefully it didn't get damaged in there.

Top of the world

Here I am next to and about 100 feet above the Windy Bluff Cache site. Very windy and the 86' tall lighthouse feels more like 200' feet with the gusty winds, rusted through railing and platform which is about 8' in diameter. Story and photos will appear in West Hawaii Today sometime in the future.

Duke is Dead

Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide today, he was the basis for Doonesbury's Uncle Duke character. Thompson wrote the book The Curse of Lono when he visited Kona and Honolulu, it talks about the billfish tournament here and the Honolulu Marathon. I've never read the book as I've always had a hard time reading his work, I remember seeing a copy and paging through the bizzare colorful illustrations. If you have even a softcover copy of the book it has increased in value over the years.

An excerpt from the book with Thompson writing to Ralph Steadman:

It has made my life strange and I was forced to flee the hotel after the realtors hired thugs to finish me off. But they killed a local haole fisherman instead, by mistake. This is true. One the day before I left, thugs beat a local fisherman to death and left him either floating facedown in the harbor, or strangled to death with a brake-cable and left in a jeep on the street in front of the Hotel Manago. News accounts were varied....

That's when I got scared and took off for The City. I came down the hill at ninety miles an hour and drove the car as far as I could out on the rocks, then I ran like a bastard for the Kaleokeawe - over the fence like a big kangaroo, kick down the door, then crawl inside and start screaming "I am Lono" at my pursuers, a gang of hired thugs and realtors, turned back by native Park Rangers.

They can't touch me now, Ralph. I am in here wih a battery-powered typewriter, two blankets from the King Kam, my miner's headlamp, a kitbag full of speed and other vitals, and my fine Samoan war club. Laila brings me food and whiskey twice a day, and the natives send me women. But they won't come into the hut - for the same reason nobody else will - so I have to sneak out at night and fuck them out there on the black rocks.

Honu Art

I've been watching this artwork coming into shape at Kona Coast Shopping Center, today I got a close look instead of just driving past and saw it was a set for five honu (turtles). The center decided to put some artwork into the center of this bench area and I was also wondering what was going on the steel pole in the center of the honu, a flagpole? A fountain?


Then I noticed the artist talking to someone and cleaning up the area. He's Terry Taube and he's the artist creating this scene. Made of concrete it should be sturdy enough to withstand kids who will no doubt climb onto the honu and play in that area. I asked him what was going on the high steel pole in the center and he explained the steel sculpture animals that will go up top. I won't give it away here, if you're curious you'll have to ask Terry yourself when you see him working on the artwork. It should be done in a couple of months though some kind of blessing ceremony may be done in a week or so.

Terry pretty easy to talk to and is enthusiastic as he explains the reason for five honu and more insight into this piece of art.

Treasure Trove

Back over two years ago Karen and I hid a Geocache in North Kohala, we called it the Windy Bluff Cache. It's like a hidden treasure with your treasure map being the Geocaching website and your GPS unit. That was two long years ago since I visited the cache.

Today I had an assignment right next to the cache site so I decided to visit and see what I'd find or if it was even there. To my surprise not only was it there but the logbook, which obviously has been damp off and on at times, had a number entries in it. More entries than people reporting on the Geocache website. Obviously even people who have stumbled upon it over the past two years have written in the log and thoughtfully put it back into its hiding place. For that I'm grateful, even an entry by someone saying they were 'tweaking' put the cache back.

Click on the gallery above to see the contents of the Windy Bluff cache and pages from the logbook. I added a couple of things to the cache and put it back. Dummy me I forgot to put an entry into the logbook myself but I'll probably go back and put a new log into there, the current one has rust on its spiral bind and pages are slightly damp.

Mash-Up

What happens when you mash-up John Lennon, Lou Reed and Dubya?
Listen to this excellent mash-up mp3.

Friends and Family only

Okay, like many others I have a bunch of free Gmail accounts to give away. So if any friends or family would like an invite for a free Gmail account just email me. Gmail is very cool as it has 1 Gig of email storage, is free, has spam filters, works well on both Windows and Macs. So if you're tired of that spam ridden Hotmail account or if you just need an extra email account contact me, I can hook you up.

Super Bowl of ads

I didn't watch the Super Bowl, but I did get to see the ads thanks to this AOL site. Some are well done, some not so much. Judge for yourself.

Jain, not Jane

Got to hang out and talk-story with an old friend Jain. Hadn't seen her in years though she was living right here in Kona, maybe it's not that small of a town. Met Jain awhile ago via Cathi another old friend. Jain was Cathi's dive instructor.


Jain likes this photo better which will probably see its way to her mom. Jain's not a dive instructor anymore and you'll just have to wait to see what she's doing these days.

Looking behind the NPR curtain at the wizard

I love listening to NPR, their broadcasts are articulate and very intelligent sounding. Ever wonder how they do it? Talented on-air people and even more talented editors who really know how to cut-n-paste audio. Click on this paragraph to check it out. Anyone wanting to Podcast or broadcast spoken word shows should check it out.

Phat Tuesday

Today was my birthday, it was also Fat Tuesday, so we headed to Izakaya-Kai for sushi then later to Durty Jakes for drinks. Pirate goodie-bags filled with plunder and party favors provided by Jaymes.


Brian gets our waitress to wear a party hat and looks like she's either giving us two thumbs up or assuming a Power Rangers pose.


Jaymes and Maile at Durty Jakes.


Some birthday tequila at Durty Jakes for Mike, Brian and myself.


The mess we created at Durty Jakes. Lots of photos taken, most edited out here to protect the innocent.


Click on the image above to see some confetti and poppers going off.


One last note. My designated driver Carly had her car hit while it was parked in the Coconut Grove parking lot and we were in Durty Jakes. Looks like somebody in a white or light colored vehicle hit her car and busted her taillight along with scratching up her bumper. No note left, they just split.


Waiting for the cops. Broken taillight pieces on the ground. If anyone saw what happened or knows of anything just email me. I'm guessing it was the vehicle parked next to us though we can't remember what was parked next to us. Major bummer.

The Oregonian's mea culpa

Journalists should learn from this mistake or be condemned to repeat it. Reporters were misled and with no follow-up lies ended up on A1.

Friday nite

Travis and his new digital camera at Cactus Bar & Grill, he was announced there over the loudspeakers, celebrity status but no access to the VIP section. Then again Travis isn't female which seemed to be one of the prerequisites to getting into that VIP section.


The Maile and Andrea reunion at Durty Jakes. Buddahead was the band playing.


Maile with Mr. Wong's fedora.

Hard problems

You aren't normally supposed to see the insides of a hard drive case, but I screwed-up and flashed my bridgeboard with the wrong firmware so my firewire drive enclosure is kaput. Damn. Might have to send it in to get re-flashed as I can't seem to do it myself.


My hard drive now sits on my taken-apart firewire CD burner case, or I should say inside it, so I can access its contents. A pain in the okole.

Gone fishing for photos

Spent the day in Hilo running some errands and some shopping. Came upon a group fishing in Hilo Bay and a lady hooked a fish. I asked to take a photo and at first she asked if I was with some kind of FBI or government group regulating fishing so I told her 'nah' and she proudly held the fish out. The other guys fishing at first joked that she should throw it back as it was too small.


Actually getting the lady AND the fish wasn't so easy, the fish kept jumping and spinning around.


A grey day on the whole island and probably the state as a storm front moved in over the island chain. Click on the above image to see a 360 degree shot from Liliuokalani Gardens in Hilo. Had to meet Chika later for some photo help since her camera is somewhat broken. Lent her a camera and I was off back to Kona.