She's Baaaaack!

She's baaaaaaaack!!!.....Darlene, that is.....and Honolulu missed her. Yep, the company was kind enough to send her back for a 10 day visit instead of me taking a lot of time off to get home. In light of her excitement, I thought I'd stir the pot a bit and find something flashy to pick her up in, so the fine folks at National Rental Car hooked me up with a new Sebring convertible.

Oh, by the way, you can click on most of these photos for a larger view.

She arrived late Wednesday night and spent most of the day Thursday recovering from a very long flight. While Maui is her first choice, she does enjoy Waikiki and does a lot of people watching.

Friday afternoon, we hopped an Aloha flight over to Maui, dropped in to the Maui Dreams Dive shop and booked dives on the Maui Diamond II for Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday's trip to Molokini crater was interrupted several times by whales. Each time we spotted one within 100 yards of our trajectory, we were obliged by law to stop. Really, there were no complaints because we really enjoyed the sights of the whale calves cruising around our boat.

Arriving at Molokini crater, we suited up and after a briefing from the dive masters, took the plunge into 50' waters with 125 foot visibility. Now that's great visibility. I've seen worse on dry land back home in Louisiana.

After that dive, for reasons still unclear to me, we decided to head back toward Wailea Point on Maui. While it was still a great dive, it didn't have the visibility of Molokini. Our dive master has a favorite spot she likes to go to where there's a lot of native species of fish and sea creatures and gets pretty excited about it, so off we went to greet various fish, shrimp, mantas and turtles.

One thing that kept us mesmerized was the constant sounds of the whales in the water. We were never without that sound and made you wonder if you might find yourself face to face with one at any moment 50 feet below the surface.

Late Sunday morning, we met a Maalaea Harbor and cast off up the coast in the direction of Lahaina. The water was pretty choppy at first and again we had to stop several times to let the whales get out of our way. At a distance we were treated many times with breaches out of the water. Our destination was the sunken schooner, Carthaginian lying at 95 feet. It had been in the Lahaina harbor for a few years and eventually towed out to sea where it had been sunk for recreational diving. Captain Don had arranged to rendezvous with a small submarine that brought tours by several times daily. It was pretty neat, seeing the masts, ropes, and cables still attached. We were somewhat unclear as to whether we were the attraction for the tourists in the sub or they were the attraction for a bunch of divers. Either way, it worked out.

The late afternoon dive brought us back to a Manta Ray cleaning station where cleaning wrasse (fish) would eat away algae from the gills and bodies of the manta rays. The mantas are graceful creatures that seem to fly through the water and remind you of stealth fighter planes as they bank over you. The trick to seeing mantas is to stay low in the water and ignore them. The moment you rise up high or head in their direction, they leave as quickly as they come.

As bad as we hated it, we were back on a plane to Oahu Monday afternoon with photos, memories and just a little salt water still in our hair.

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Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ms Darlene had to go back. We had a wonderful time here and she hated to go but knew she had to. Sometimes, you have to face reality and realize there are other things and people needing attention.

She was supposed to arrive in New Orleans at 8 AM Sunday but since this was Delta, she was on, you have to either expect delays, missed connections or lost luggage. Never would she have dreamed that the last leg of her flight to New Orleans would have generated so much excitement. As it turns out, just as the plane was coming into Louis Armstrong Airport, they lost power from one of the engines. According to Darlene, there were a few tense moments when the pilot said there was nothing to worry about because he and the co-pilot had to do it a couple of times before. I don't know about you, but I'd think once was enough. Anyway, they did land safely even though firetrucks were chasing the Delta flight down the runway as it taxied in.

Hallelujah, she's safe! Personally, I think she's earned her wings.

The Dishwasher (or C R gets job offer)

Monday

C R Albritton

Arriving back at the hotel after work Monday, I parked the car and immediately walked several blocks over to the Cheesecake Factory looking for an early dinner (supper back in Louisiana). I didn't even change clothes from work because usually the wait is from 30 to 50 minutes. Sometimes, you can slip past the long line, make your way back to the back bar and order from a stool if you don't mind eating at a bar.

Running a gauntlet of waiters and patrons I approached the bar and saw absolutely no one sitting there nor was there a bartender. It had not entered my mind that since this was Monday, the bar was closed but just as I was about to turn back, a guy rounded the bar coming from the kitchen about 4 or 5 steps in front of a tightly grouped gaggle of subordinates.

Let's stop here and set this up. The mannerisms of this guy was almost a comic version of the "Jack MacFarland" character on the Will & Grace sitcom and the way his followers waddled after him made him look as if he was really the head duck there. When he stopped, his posse, still in formation, nearly tripped over each other.

Before I could turn and dismiss myself, Mr Duck was right in my face (not hostile). With a small stack of papers in his hand, he pointed and shook them at me in time with a staccato voice saying, "I_can_use_you_right_now_I_need_a_dishwasher_just_fill_out_ these_papers_and_get_to_work!

Halfway apologetically, I said, "Nope, I was just hoping to order dinner from the bar."

Mr Duck, without missing a beat, pulled back his paper to his shoulder, arched his wrist then lightly snapped it at me as if there were an imaginary insect between us and said, "nnnnnnnnnnnnn....No!"

"Adios", I said. as I turned and went the opposite direction. His entourage let out a couple of muffled giggles, whether at him or me, it's anyone's guess. I suppose I'll never know how that job offer would have turned out.

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Dinner At Denny's

Tuesday

Sitting in Denny's on Kuhio Street, Honolulu, I scanned the menu trying to find something to eat that didn't have a bun wrapped around it. I had decided on the Grilled Seagull...er.. Chicken Salad and was patiently waiting for the waiter to get to me to take my order.

There was an older gentleman, probably in his late 70s, seated near me and was having a difficult time communicating with what was probably an eastern European waiter.

Let's call the waiter Ivan and the older patron, Walter.

Ivan: "Vhat vould jew like fah dinnah, sir?"

Walter (loudly): "What do you get with this?", pointing at a picture on the menu.

Ivan: "Dat comes vith two side otters."

Walter(loudly): I don't know what this is!"

Ivan: "Dat is a chicken fried steak, sir. Vhat vould you like fah your side otters?"

Walter(loudly): "Medium well!"

Ivan: "Vell sir, it comes vell done."

Walter (loudly): "No, I want it medium well!"

Ivan (getting a bit loud himself): "No sir, it hast to be vell done because is a hamburger steak, battered and deep fried and you need to choose two side otters!!"

Walter (loudly): "It says "STEAK"....and what is a "side otter"?"

Ivan (louder): "It's a deep fried hamburger and it comes vith mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, cole slaw or french fries dat you choose two of!".

By now the commotion has attracted the attention of management and they shuffle poor Ivan off to probably the potato peeling machine.

The manager trainee asks Walter, "What would you like sir?" Walter points to the chicken fried steak and says, "medium well". The manager trainee says, "Yessir, that comes with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables", nods affirmatively and takes off.

Walter sits there, shaking his head and mumbling to himself, "How can it be a steak if it's a hamburger?"

Rest In Peace Robin

Robin Theresa Parent Guedry Broussard March 14, 1955 ----- February 1, 2008

Click Here For Obituary Information

Rest in peace, Robin Broussard, rest in peace.


Robin & Gary

YEAR OF THE RAT

Ah so, Grasshopper.

February 7 begins the Chinese New Year, Year of the Rat. but Honolulu kicked it off early Friday, February 1 with Lion Dances in Chinatown.

After changing clothes at the office in Aiea, I headed back toward Honolulu & Chinatown. Already, the street department had placed "No Parking" signs along the streets, so I drove around several blocks looking for a place to park. Finding a Jaycee parking lot just off River Street, I wandered Chinatown for an hour or so checking out the stores, restaurants and the curiosities.

Vendors were beginning to set up food booths along the streets and shop owners worked toward bringing in boxes of merchandise still on the sidewalks. I bought some food in a little restaurant while waiting for something to happen.
Troupes of mostly young people gathered on the sidewalks trying to stay dry while showers of rain intermittently blew across the city.

Six O'clock came and the police began blocking off streets while more people began to thicken the sidewalks. The adage, "It's better for people to think you're stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" came to mind, so I didn't ask what or how all this "Lion Dance" thing worked. I had assumed there was going to be some kind of Grand Marshall with a formal parade but as it turned out, groups gathered all over the area on Beretania, Hotel and River streets. Somebody said, "there's the mayor" so I figured I must be in or near something official. I turned and saw an entourage with a very tall man in the middle of it. He stood at least a head taller than the nearest Chinaman around.
Within a few minutes a lot of noise began. Trust me it was A LOT OF NOISE. Firecrackers like you have never heard being nearly drowned out by drums, cymbals and gongs sounding much like pots and pan from Mama's kitchen.
Two young men donned each of the many Lion costumes and danced in the area, amidst the smoke of the firecrackers and deafening sounds of the drums, gongs and cymbals.
The dancers went to various businesses where they frightened the evil spirits away by dancing vigorously around the firecrackers and eventually entering the business itself. I watched as they went to all the banks and several other businesses. I wondered if there was a bank around that wouldn't let them in.
Between business blessings/dances/enchantments or whatever they truly were, lions would accept gifts from individuals in the streets. They stepped up and offered gifts of money to the dancer by handing it to him through the mouth of the lion. Feeding the kitty, so to speak.

It was a very friendly and non-intimidating evening.

Saturday morning was much of the same except more food, more people and much better light.

After a couple of hours of this, it was apparent that I'd be filling up my hard drive with more and more photos.
Here's a link to a YouTube video. It is not by me.

With that in mind, I made it back to my car and had lunch. What you ask? Panda Express of course.
Ironically, it was going on the same time people in New Orleans were kicking off Mardi Gras and much safer, streetwise.
These photos are posted at http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=51473102%40N00&q=yearoftherat&m=tags or the slideshow at http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=YearOfTheRat&m=tags&w=51473102%40N00