Pro Bowl

I know i've been a bit lazy the last few weeks. I don't have the motivation to write things right now. For some reason I've also been quite tired recently.

Quick overview of this last week. Friday, went out with co workers to Home Bar and Grill. Saturday, went scuba diving and then helped a friend move across the island. Sunday, I volunteered at the Pro Bowl official Tail gate party and also went to the Pro Bowl. I have some pictures from scuba and the Pro Bowl, which I will try to get up sometime soon.

Dr. Martin Luther Jr. Weekend

Three day weekend! It's hard to remember what I did this last week since, it seems like the week is going by both slowly and fast. Saturday, I spent about 2 hours surfing at the beach and just relaxing outside when I could. Sunday, after church I went to the Pacific Aviation Museum of Ford Island. The museum still needs a bit of work, but it isn't bad for being only a couple of years old. Monday, I tried going scuba diving, but the conditions were bad so the company cancelled the trip. I'm trying to reschedule it for some time. I ended up seeing the Martin Luther King Jr. parade though in Waikiki. Part of it was good, although some of it I didn't understand why they were in the parade. I have pictures from this weekend, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. And yes, this is not very informative.

New Year, New plans

So, I flew home on Tuesday, found out that we had class that day, great right, missed one day of work and have to make up 4 hours of class. Oh well. It wasn't that bad actually, well I hope at least. The rest of the week went by pretty fast since it was like 3 days at work! On the weekend, I went hiking on the North shore at Keana point with a friend. I didn't realize that it was a somewhat long hike. If you want, you can hike around the tip. It's also one of those places that you can go "4 wheeling". I had to avoid getting hit by cars. The preserve though at the tip was pretty cool. The preserve is for these pretty large birds seen below. 

There is a small "lookout" at the point, but I thought the view was the main thing that was awesome. You can see the West side of the island from there, and if you look the other way, you can see the North side of the island. 

The water view was pretty nice. There were tide pools all over the place and the waves were a decent size. I need to get the photo from my friend that he took of me, he is just a bit slow on sending it to me. 

On our way back, we saw a monk seal come up from the ocean onto land. It was pretty cool to see it come out of the water. If you look closely, you can see it. It kinda blends in with the sand and rocks in the foreground. 

I also totally forgot that I was suppose to be at my "Uncle's" birthday party. I was about to order dinner with my friend at a Saimen place when my other uncle called to ask where I was. Well, needless to say, we had to leave the restaurant and I had to go home, change clothes to something decent and then rush down to town to get to dinner. I actually only missed the soup and salad part of the meal, but I quickly caught up. Yep, it was a good time with the family and extended family

Lastly, I finally got a used surfboard last night. I was going to get it for $50, but when I went out there to meet the seller, she ended up giving it to me for free! Now I just have to get a leash for it.

2012

So I missed last week. A combination of being lazy and at home and not really having a computer with me since I was traveling all added up to not getting a post written. I left Hawaii on the red eye flight on the 21st and got into Denver the 22nd. It was a pretty nice flight. Newer Continental plane compared to the overused and horrible United planes that I'm used to. The only bad thing (but also was a blessing) was that the TV monitor was broken for my seat. Well I got to sleep instead, so I think that was better.

My sister got me a massage for Christmas so I actually used it that Friday since I wasn't sure what I would be doing after Christmas. It was pretty good, not the best, nor the worst that I have had. I then traveled to San Diego with my family to spend Christmas with my grandparents and to celebrate their anniversary (Christmas Eve). I had a great time down in San Diego, although we had some problems with the hotel. Now when you make a reservation, do you not notify people when you make a change to the reservation? Well that's what happened to us. I guess the assistant manager at the Residence Inn extended the room for the people staying in the room we were going to have and then changed our reservation to two separate rooms right next together without regard to call and let us know that that was happening. It was horrible when we found out since it was like 9pm when we were trying to check in. The poor guy had to call around to find us an equivalent room.

Christmas day was nice and relaxing. My grandparents and Uncle, Aunt and cousins came over to the hotel room to eat dinner and to celebrate Christmas. My aunt makes some excellent food. Ahh, I could eat pretty much anything she cooks.

The day after Christmas we went to Sea World. I have a pass that I can go pretty much all of 2012, so I might have to make a stop in San Diego to go next year. Also, I also try to get a military discount but the lady at the ticket window actually read the card and said it was only for active military. So, I have a beef with that. Granted I am thankful that military people sacrifice their time and their lives to keep our freedom, but I think if you have a goven't ID that says you work in an affiliation with the armed services, we should also be eligible for benefits that the military people get. One we keep everything working in tip top order so they can do their job. If we didn't do the work, they wouldn't be able to effectively serve.

So Sea World, ever since the Shamu accident at the Florida Sea World, the shows have lost its glamour and awesomeness. The trainers don't really interact with the animals in the tanks like they used to, such as riding the animals, and then also getting thrown into the air by the animals. It really is quite sad. It's more like a theatrical story with more video pre done than any actual animal training. Another thing is that the shows all look sexist since most of the trainers that are seen are women. Nothing wrong with women, but in the past there used to be an equal amount of men and women that did each show. The prices for food though were not outrageous at all surprisingly. There are still good deals that can be found if you look for them. My sister went around the park collecting different smash pennies (well ones she liked at least).

I will have to add pictures of the shows later when I can download the pictures from my camera to the computer.

I did get to go skiing once when I was here in Colorado. I went with my friend David Do and his brothers to Winter Park. It's been sad on the amount of snow though that the mountains have seen. For some reason, this year, Denver has seen more snow than the mountains. Oh side note before I forget again, when I landed in Denver from Hawaii, it was snowing and 21 degrees. We had a "white Christmas" in Denver this year. Back to skiing. The snow was alright, though it was icy and most of Mary Jane wasn't open at all which was a shame. I had a good time though and I would say we skied for about 6 hours. A good amount of time. I did get a military discount at Winter Park.

While I was here, I also got to catch up with some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. I met up with Pearl Shields, a friend from high school, for breakfast one day. I also got to catch up with some friends at church and just see what's new with them and their lives. It was also interesting to note that there were a fair amount of my friends that got engaged in the last few weeks. Great for them.

I went downtown for New Years Eve. It was pretty crazy down there. It was pretty cold too. Good thing the 35+ mph winds stopped by the time it was night. I took the light rail from over by my house (my dad and sister dropped me off after going to church) down into town. I didn't realize that there was a concert at the convention center either which I guess kept people from getting too drunk and on the roads. I met up with my friend that was at Denver Christmas Conference (Chris Bostic) and got to catch up with him before he went to the final session for the night and the New Years party that they were having. I ended up walking 16th street mall a few times from end to end and trying to stay warm and awake till midnight. They had a TV and camera set up at 16th and Champa and I ended up down there before ringing in the New Year. I made it onto the big screen a few time when we were all waiting for the new year. After ringing in the new year, fireworks went off at both ends of the mall. I do have to say the fireworks were a bit lame.....I guess I've just been spoiled by awesome firework shows when I was in college. I did have an interesting and random thing happen to me after the fireworks were done and everyone was dispersing. So while I was getting ready to leave, someone came up and asked if my name was Josh, and I said yes. She then asked if my last name was Lau and I was like yes. Anyways, she remembered me from a conference that we had met at like 4 years ago, which is pretty cool. Amanda went to Northern Arizona. Anyways that was my random occurrence within the first hour of the new year.

Like I said, I got dropped off at the light rail station, so I decided to stay with friends who were at DCC instead of trying to battle my way onto the light rail back home and wait for my sister to pick me up at the station. I ended up going to the dance and party at DCC for a while with my friend Karman, who I was going to stay with. I saw some of the Mines people. I do have to comment that there were a lot less than in previous years that were at the conference. I also saw Michael Ehrenfried there, who I met my freshmen year and he is the volunteer staff person at Mines for Cru. Anyways, we had about as much interaction that I have had after the first year with him. So very comforting that he doesn't care to catch up. Anyways, I got really close to the speakers at one point and my ears were ringing for a while after.

I had breakfast with Karman in the morning before my dad picked me up and Karman going to the last sessions of DCC. It was great catching up with him and Bostic while I was able to at DCC. Now to today, Monday, I ended up going to Golden to hang out and meet with people there. I met David and Evan at Chipotle for lunch, although I had to wait like 30 min for them to show up. I think they were playing video games and lost track of time. I also got to see Steven Bates and my friend Jeff. I wasn't planning on seeing Jeff, but he came to pick up some food for his wife who was working. I got to catch up with both of them briefly. I was going to climb South Table as well with some other friends, but I ended up staying at Chipotle talking longer than I was expecting.

I got a tour of the new expansion fo the Brown Building, it's a pretty nice building actually. I also saw the new center connecting building of Weaver Towers. Personally, the new connection is the only thing awesome about Weaver Towers now (besides the new windows that you can open in Weaver). I think that they should tear down each tower and build something modern to go with the new center piece that they are building. It would be a better investment and use of the land. I also went around campus to see the construction and anyone that was around. I found out that they are doing "class" photos now either when they do the M climb or sometime with CSM101 gathered. All the freshmen are "marched" into the year that they are suppose to graduate in. A Pizza Hut Express is also being put into the Digger Den. The new petroleum hall is coming along though. My guess it should be done in time for next school year. Petroleum will finally get out of Alderson!!! I went back to the His House with David and Evan and watched some music videos. I was going to see my friend Chris, but he and his wife was still up in Idaho Springs, so I wasn't going to be able to see them at all. I did end up seeing Karma, DStew, Drew, Drew's new gf and his cousin. Wes also ended up showing up at the house right before I was about to leave, so I ended up staying longer than I was planning. I also saw Preston while I was walking around campus.

Overall, I had a great break and was glad that I got to come back to Colorado to visit family and friends. I don't know if I will come back next year though, only time will tell. I'm thinking about going to Asia sometime this year, so if you want to come, I'd be happy to have you along.

Almost CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Yes, less than a week away now! Can you believe how fast this year has gone by? It has just been totally amazing.

So of interest of what I found out last week on Thursday of all days, was that we had a potential government shutdown....again. I guess it was actually the 4th potential shutdown this year, but I had only heard of the other one that was in March. I personally think that the media was told not to report the dramatics of the shutdown so not to bring up the deficiencies of the US government Congress and their decision making (or lack of), but I could totally be wrong. Maybe just in the backwater fringes of the US (aka Hawaii), we don't get the news passed down to us. Anyways, the House and the Senate passed something and the US government is at least funded to the end of the year. I personally wouldn't have minded the extra time off if they didn't pass the budget extension.

Friday, I hung out with a different group of friends. We ended up going to Kakaaka Winter Wonderland and when I got there also realized that it was Eat the Streets. I guess since next week is Christmas, they decided to move Eat the Streets up one week and also put it in promo with the first weekend of the Winter Wonderland. So the Winter Wonderland, was let's just say, interesting. The synthetic ice was interesting to say the least. From the picture in the link above, you would think the rink would be a a decent size, well that was a wrong assumption for sure. It was actually pretty small. It was overall a good time with friends. I tried tacos at Eat the Streets while I was waiting for my friends. I had the taco sampler from Xtreme Tacos and then a curry taco from another truck. I put lime on the taco, but I don't think it was very good with they lime.

Saturday, I actually spent most of the day outside and with one of my roommates out at White plains beach over on Ewa side of the island. He has his mom in town and another friend and had a cook out with his friends from work. Basically it was a great time outside and away from work. 

Sunday, I went to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The movie was actually really good for being the fourth movie in the series, and Tom Cruise being like 50+. The action was good as well and rottentomatoes.com gave it really good reviews (95%). I would highly recommend going to see the movie. I was also trying to see Sherlock Holmes (and today, I found out that my friends saw it on Friday....), so I'll see if I get around to seeing that later. 

Only two more days till I get to go back to Colorado :)

Time is flying

It's almost the end of the year! I will fill this in more tomorrow. I'll be coming back to Colorado just after Christmas. If you want to do anything, let me know.

Friday, I went out to Soul de Cuba which has amazing food. We were originally planning on going to JJ Dolan, but it was way too crowded and we weren't going to easily get a table for 9 there. There is a picture of what I had below. It was absolutely amazing. I was planning on having dessert, but I was too full, so I will have to try the dessert some other time. I will be going back there sometime.

Saturday, I had the finals for the Fall Ultimate league that I was in. It was pretty much 8 hours of playing ultimate. We won our first game, but we ended up losing our second game to the team that would end up winning it all. I was actually glad that we didn't win the second game because I don't know if my legs would have lasted another game. The final game though was pretty amazing, since they were tied until just before halftime (game to 15). After that though, my friend's team started pulling ahead with back to back scores. It was a good game. I ended up being the "official" score keeper. 

The league was having a end of season party at O'Toole's. I ended up going, and I was only planning on staying for a few years, but I ended up staying 4 hours. I did though end up talking my friend Rick into coming out. He brought some coworkers. It was also the pre-evening to his birthday, so after I left, I guess he ended up having a very fun time afterwards having a bit too many drinks. Sunday, I was going to hang out with friends, but I had to work the recording since the boss was sick and I needed to be there. It ended up working since they canceled on surfing and just had lunch instead. Lunch was a Todai's which is an all you can eat seafood and sushi buffet. If you go on your birthday, it is free for you (with proof of your birthday and at least 3 paying friends). It was a good time and all and good social time. 

I went into to study a for a few hours for my test that was today (tuesday). I also go a massage which was absolutely amazing, although I am pretty tight in a lot of the muscle groups. I think I'm going to have to get more more frequent or until things are as tense. 

One other thing, it is the rainy season here and it has been raining pretty well this last week. Also, when it rains, all traffic seems to stop and functionality of driving, well sensible driving that is. 

Let Christmas time begin!

This year just continues to fly by. Man, it's already the first full week of December, can you believe it? I sure can't. Last week was the last week I have Ultimate frisbee on Friday. Thank goodness because driving all the way across town to play at the same time as rush hour(s) traffic is just a pain. I did though talk to three people on the phone while I was in traffic. It was pretty good catching up with people. Interesting thing though when I was driving to Ultimate was that I saw 6 ambulances on the freeway. Yes, six. It was strange to see two at first, then I kept seeing them. For some reason there were a lot of people that needed ambulances Friday night. Hopefully people weren't getting too crazy pre-gaming the First Friday celebration.

We ended up winning our second game of Ultimate after losing the first. It was also interesting to find out that we were play to 13 (instead of 11) during the second game, when we were at 11. Thanks for the horrible communication of the captain. Thank goodness I only have one more week of having him as my captain, well at least for this league. He is a great player, just a horrible captain and team leader. I didn't get home until after 2300 that night as well. Needless to say, I was pretty tired by the time I got to bed. The best thing was though, the next morning, I wasn't sore at all. I must have stretched enough after playing!

Saturday, as I stated earlier, I wasn't sore at all in the morning. I ended up going into work for a few hours to study after taking an easy morning. I was going to go to Electric beach with some friends but when I got out of work, I found that they had decided to reschedule because of adverse conditions. I decided not to go back into work to study, but to instead go downtown to watch the Honolulu light parade and the lighting of the tree down in town. I didn't know that a parade could last 2 hours. Yes, 2 hours, and it wasn't even on par with the Macy's parade or other large parades. Granted it was still good for being in Hawaii. The lights for the tree were LEDs as well. I couldn't figure out where they got the tree though, they had a sound system set up, but a very bad setting. You had to be right next to the tree inorder to hear anything that they were saying. As you can see from the pictures, I was across the street from the tree. You'll also note that there is a very annoying bright light on the right side, yes, they did some bad planning on keeping that light on when the lit the tree. If only they had people thinking ahead would things be better out here for events.

I think the best "float" that I saw was the garbage disposal guys. Yes, if you look closely enough, those are Angry Birds. It was the only float that I took a picture of, so I guess it must have stuck out pretty well for me. I think the best band was the fire department's bag pipe band. All the high school bands didn't do it for me, and besides, bag pipes are amazing. 

I think though the most exciting thing that I learned this previous week that one of my good friends had accepted Christ I guess between the time I left and when I talked to him this past week. I believe it was a while ago, but I just found out this past week. It was pretty exciting and all. I'm glad that he found Christ for himself and that he came to that conclusion himself instead of myself or others just forcing religion on him. I guess we just have to remember that we Christians influence the lives of our friends around us by the things we say, the actions we do, and the things that our friends pick up that we have no idea that they are watching/looking for. I just pray that I can be a good witness to my friends at work, which sadly I have to say, most dont' care anything for religion, and especially God. I just pray that I can reach out to my friend Rick, who I have a heavy heart for right now.