Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Next time some fool from California whines about "oooh, the rates went up 50%, pity me", they'll be bitchslapped into next week with the observation that "oooh, they went up 50% -- now your electricity costs just over 1/2 of what we pay in Hawaii." Stupid Californians don't know what expensive electricity is. Imagine a standard 3 bedroom house where 90% of the bulbs have already been replaced with compact florescents. We don't use the clothes dryer and instead hang our clothes out to dry. The house has no heater or air conditioner to suck up electricity. The average electric bill is $200 a month. Yes, I'm serious. So, California? With all due respect -- bite me
posted by JohnD (Acting Mayor) 7/24/2001 06:00:52 PM

Friday, January 05, 2001

We may be entering the final days for my mother. She's fading fast.
posted by JohnD (Acting Mayor) 1/5/2001 12:20:38 PM

Wednesday, December 27, 2000

I know it is a violation of Federal law to bother or disturb sea turtles. But what if you're innocently snorkeling and the current catches both you and the turtle and the two of you bump into one another? 'Cause that happened to me yesterday. Both the turtle and I stared at each other in shock and swam away as fast as possible.
posted by JohnD (Acting Mayor) 12/27/2000 01:07:24 PM

Wednesday, September 27, 2000

I love the Farmer's Market here. Twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday), all the booths are loaded with great stuff. Today I bought 2 lbs of purple sweet potatoes, 3 cucumbers, a head of romaine lettuce, and huge bundles of basil and cilantro. Total cost: $5. I was already stocked up on mangoes and papaya, but at 50 cents each, I almost bought more papaya.
posted by JohnD (Acting Mayor) 9/27/2000 03:56:56 PM

Monday, September 25, 2000

You know, mlrlizard would love Hawaii. I think gecko's outnumber people here. They are everywhere.
posted by JohnD (Acting Mayor) 9/25/2000 01:13:16 PM

Thursday, September 21, 2000

Well, we signed the papers (actually David signed them and I sat there), so as soon as everything is recorded, we'll officially own the house. In honor of that, we planned a couple of low papayas (don't get as tall as standard papaya trees), a fig tree, an orange, some flowers and a coconut palm. Mmmm....fresh fruit from the yard.
posted by JohnD (Acting Mayor) 9/21/2000 12:58:44 PM

Tuesday, September 19, 2000

OK, sorry I'm been a bit out-of-touch the last few days. We've been moving into the house. Saturday afternoon/evening was spent unpacking the container of household stuff and getting it into the house -- and every waking moment since has been consumed by unloading it. Bonus: the guy we hired to help us unload the container (works days for a moving company, but we hired him privately) was the epitome of Hawaiian hunkiness. Thoroughly cute. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of his tan, shirtless body, but I thought he might consider that weird and creepy.

Yesterday, we found out that the VA gave final approval for the loan. Hooray! The bathroom downstairs was "in question" because it may not have been built to proper building codes, but we signed a letter to the VA saying basically "we know it may not be up to code, the house is 75 years old and that's a risk. We'll take that risk." and that apparently appeased them.

Yesterday was also "termite inspection day". Termites in Hawaii are nasty vicious things. I mean, its not like Alabama, where there's a slight risk of termites. In Hawaii, your home will have termite problems. Its a given. In fact, the inspector is going to recommend that the sellers be made to perform a "termite tenting" where they cover the entire house with a giant plastic cover (yes, I'm serious) and gas the living hell out of it. No one can enter the house for nearly 2 days but the killer gas gets into everything and wipes out any bug known to mankind. Its sounded very 'shades of E.T.' to me, but apparently its done all the time here. In fact, its recommended for older homes every 5 or 6 years just to be safe. Also, that Sentricon system for termites you see advertised? Vital.
posted by JohnD (Acting Mayor) 9/19/2000 01:28:51 PM

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