A Tropical Pre-Christmas

Hello and Merry Christmas to you all! I have been a bad blogger this week and slacked off; please forgive. I did not want to post without some of my Hawaii photos and they were all at home on my desktop. By the time I would have synched my laptop and tried to work on the entry at work, it was way too much effort. Hopefully this post finds all of you where you hope to be for the holidays.

I arrived in Honolulu last Friday around noon. I left a rainy, foggy, cool SFO airport and boarded a somewhat familiar United Boeing 777-200 for Honolulu International Airport. We landed 5 hours later to a gorgeous and breezy day in paradise. I made my way to my hotel and then crashed for a bit. I went out Friday night and bumped into friends I have known for years. Hawaii is such a small place, no matter where you go, it always seems that you know someone.

On Saturday, I walked over to Ala Moana Shopping Center and did some Christmas shopping for friends and such. One of my old managers from CPK in San Mateo is the GM of the Ala Moana restaurant. I chatted with him for a few minutes and caught up on gossip about friends and the company. I headed back to Waikiki and headed out again for a fun night out. There was a platoon of soldiers just back from Iraq, so they were partying pretty hard. It was fun to meet up with some of America's Finest.

Sunday morning, I headed out on a hike around Diamond Head close to the area where I lived back in the 90s. It proved to be a gorgeous day as always and here are some of the photos I took along the way.


Waikiki from Queens Beach. Always a beautiful site.


Looking up at the side of Diamond Head Crater from Diamond Head Road.

The view from Diamond Head Road. I used to live just around the point from the peninsula you see in the photo.


The view of the Ala Wai Canal from the Diamond Head side of Waikiki. BEAUTIFUL.

Sunday night, I caught up with one of my cousins who has been in Honolulu for the past couple of years. She cocktails at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and reminds me a lot of who I was at her age. Hawaii is a great place to discover who you are because you are so removed from what you grew up with. There is no question that the islands have played a huge part in who I am today. She and I tore up the town for a few short hours. She stumbled home and then to work by 10 AM, I barely made it back to my hotel room, woke up the next day with an extraordinary hangover, and am proud of the fact that I did not vomit. A feat I was not so successful at in Japan when I was 20, right Mike? :) I rarely drink, so when I do consume too much, it is not a pretty site.

I rented a car for the rest of the day and tooled around the island checking out what has changed since I last was there. I definitely miss living in Hawaii, it does have a certain attraction. At the same point, you are so far removed from everything that I would feel somewhat stifled being there full-time at this point. Maybe some day, maybe. The island breezes always beckon me. I flew home on the red-eye arriving in San Francisco Tuesday morning to the cold and the fog once again. It was nice to arrive home to my own bed though. I believe the older you get, the better home feels.

This week, I have been working non-stop. I am having dinner with friends tonight to celebrate Christmas, but am then working most of the next couple of weeks. I am headed to Colombia in February and would like to get the Christmas presents paid off before I head out again.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are and that Santa lays off the coal and brings you what you want this year.

Cuidate y Feliz Navidad a todo!