Where Hawaii Ranks 22

CNBC has issued its ranking of the 50 states in various business categories. Hawaii ranks dismally in several categories, making the top five lowest in several categories. This is not new information.

Hawaii has always been known as a business and tax hell.

Hey, but at least our quality of life is high. Guess paradise does have its perks.

Worst for Business

1. HAWAII
2. Rhode Island
3. West Virginia
4. California
5. Nevada

Worst Infrastructure

1. HAWAII
2. Connecticut
3. Vermont
4. Rhode Island
5. Maryland

Highest Cost of Doing Business

• California
• New York
• HAWAII
• Massachusetts
• Washington

Highest Cost of Living

1. HAWAII
2. Alaska
3. Connecticut
4. New York
5. New Jersey

Best Quality of Life

1. HAWAII
2. Vermont
3. Minnesota
4. Nebraska
5. (Tie) North Dakota and Maine

Creations By You

After one of our doctors' appointments, the wife asked me if we could go to this little craft store just down the street from his office. Being the nice guy that I am, I say okay.

Now ... I'm not a real crafty sort of guy, but I didn't want to hang around in the car waiting in the hot sun for the wife to spend a long time jabbering with the store people inside the air-conditioned shop, so I parked the car and went inside.

First of all, no frigid air conditioning. But they did have a couple of fans blowing the cool air around so that was nice.

I just happened to have my Sony digital camera with me, so I snapped pictures ... pictures that I can share with you, just so you can see all the stuff they have available for crafty souls unlike me:

Creations By You, 1801 Liliha St  Honolulu, HI 96817. Phone (808) 536-5255.

Bad Jobs: Assemblage

I got an email the other day that was chock full of humorous pictures. The email was titled, "I Only Gave You One Job to Do ..." After changing my underwear from laughing so much, I thought you might enjoy them. So they'll be posted in a few batches; no description necessary, the pictures are self-explanatory. Here's the first group:

 

 

 

 

 

What You Remember Depends On ...

While browsing through some Peter, Paul and Mary songs on YouTube the other day, a user comment caught my eye.
 

The song was "Leaving on a Jet Plane," the classic folk-style song written by John Denver in 1966 during my college years. At the time, Denver's titled it "Babe, I Hate to Go," the closing line of the lyrics. He put it on vinyl with 15 other songs and gave the 250 pressings to friends and family.

Peter, Paul and Mary changed the title and included it the following year (1967) in their album, Album 1700. The song became a big hit two years later (1969) when they released it as a single.

Whenever I hear the song, I have images of myself boarding a Boeing 707 jet with my young wife and child to visit family in Hawaii. I also remember two Peter, Paul and Mary live concerts that I went to in college – Honolulu (1963) while at the University of Hawaii, and Long Beach (1966) while at Woodbury College.

"Leaving on a Jet Plane" also evokes wonderful memories of our folk-singing group, The Januaries, and our college performances in the Los Angeles area.

What the commenter (obviously much younger than I) thinks of when he hears the song is Ben Affleck (the character A.J. Frost) singing it as he says goodbye to Liv Tyler (the character Grace Stamper) in the 1998 disaster film, Armageddon.

What you remember sometimes depends on when you were born. The much-older me rustles up images of meaningful true-to-life experiences, and the much-younger he remembers artificial popular culture.

It's hard not to feel sorry for these young people. But wait! I think that's what my dad said about my generation.

 

What Are 'Dungarees'?

Dungaree: Coarse, thick twill-weave cotton fabric, often colored blue. Derived from "Dongri," a village near Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). Often thought synonymous as denim, but the coloring method differs. Dungaree is colored before weaving, denim after.

I'd heard the word used off and on when I was younger, not so much today. In fact, other than the Pickles comic strip above, the last time I heard it was when I was editor of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply employee newsletter and was trying to identify a worker in a picture I took so I could mention his name in the caption.

The section chief picked up his phone and called one of the supervisors to confirm if the man in the picture ("the one wearing dungarees") was indeed John Doe (name changed to protect the innocent).

The word then entered my realm of "Never to be Heard Of Again." Now why in the world do I still remember that incident?

Hey, You Guy-y-y-y-ys!

Remember the opening of PBS’s The Electric Company (1971 and later)? Or, Sloth in The Goonies (1985)? The signature line of both is “Hey, You Guy-y-y-ys!”

It seems it’s coming back. No, not the kiddie TV show. No, not The Goonies movie. And no, not Chunk’s good friend Sloth. “You guys” is coming back, mostly in restaurants.

When the wife and I went to breakfast recently at Kenny’s Restaurant in Kalihi, the hostess referred to us as “You guys” four times as she led us to our table, and once again when she asked how our meals were when we were done.

Whenever a group is served at restaurants, pay attention. Chances are that at least once, the waiter will address your group as “you guys.” It seems to have been taught to young waiters at the Waiting Academy’s English 101 class.

The term is kind of like today’s version of the Southern “y’all.” It’s completely superfluous and I guess is unintentionally meant (how’s that for an oxymoron?) to inject a friendly, informal reference to a group of people (e.g., customers, fares, tour groups).

“You” is not only singlular, it’s also plural. Why don’t they just say “you” and drop the “guys”? It’s so … low class, and “you guys” presumes a close acquaintanceship that really does not exist. I want my waiters to be prompt, friendly and helpful. Not my buddy.

Is that okay with you guys?

Branching Out

There it was, a new branch greeting the bright sun of a spring day, just poking out of a tree in my San Jose son's back yard.

Even that little insect on the left leaf wasn't bothering the twig. The burgundy-wine-colored leaves were flourishing.

It brought just a touch of joy into my heart. Everything strives to live, to grow, to be relevant. Even a tree. And I was thankful that it was sharing its optimism in the world with me.

Popcorn Rock: Day 21 (The End)

Well, I think this is the end. This is what the Popcorn Rock project looked like yesterday on Day 21. Not too much different from Day 17, so I’ve decided to end the experiment.

All in all, it was okay. A bit of a disappointment, though, I must say, because I expected something a little more spectacular. Was I doing something wrong? Or did I just get ahold of a wimp Dolomite?

No matter. It was interesting to watch the Aragonite crystals form, and indeed the big mass on the tip of the rock does look like popcorn. In my opinion, it was a success. Not the best I’d expected, but good enough, and that’s pretty rare for me to say that.

Normally, “good enough” is not good enough. But what the hell, huh?

Octopus Trees 'De-Tentacled'

The Octopus Trees (Schefflera actinophylla) situated in our neighbor’s yard and abutting the stone wall that separates our driveway from their property, had a haircut yesterday

The long branches have been cut down, opening up our view of the ocean once again. The owners of the property are doing some major renovations to the house, in anticipation of a family member’s arrival in a couple of months.

It’s been a few years since the trees were trimmed ‘way back, so it’s a joy to see a lot of blue sky once again. Although, the trimming looks a bit haphazard, as a few branches are sticking up higher and remind me of a bad haircut with tufts of hair poking out from a moppet’s mop on top of his head.

Oh well, who am I to complain? The sun is shining, the breeze is wafting more, the poor doves have nowhere to perch in anticipation of Craig’s feeding them, and I’ve been reminded once again.

I need a haircut.

Your Colo(g)n(e) Smells Good

Since I talked about funny language problems a few days ago, I thought I'd share this picture of actual Twitter tweets that I found on the Internet.

Mind you, I know exactly what these young people are talking about. They're talking about scents. Cologne, to be specific.

The problem is, they're spelling "cologne" the way they pronounce it ... without the "g" and the "e." Which is okay, unless somebody reads what they're typing.

Then, it enters the realm of surreal reality (if there is such an oxymoronic thing). Check out these American kids' tweets: