No, not the market tanking again. That’s old news. Big news if you haven’t heard! You can see the AP report here!
If you’ve ever gone to DC to watch the fireworks, you know it’s ridiculous to try and find parking. Plus it’s always sweltering and humid. It might not be hot this Friday but the forecast calls for thunderstorms. What do the weathermen know though? That’s another story. I just heard on the radio that American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks, is performing on the National Mall too.
My friend Kevin called me yesterday to ask me what I was doing this Friday for the 4th of July. I said just having a couple people over. And that afterwards, some friends wanted to go downtown or Lake Fairfax to see fireworks. He then said something to the tune of how no one plans ahead of time. I told him I honestly didn’t care to do anything besides grill up some food and hang out.
The last time a bunch of friends went to Lake Fairfax, a few went at like 3pm just to camp out for a good spot. It’s like the time we went to Times Square for New Year’s Eve. It was freezing and we were blocks away from everything even though we got there four or five hours early.
Am I being a curmudgeon? Maybe it’s just me getting old but I’m over feeling the need to do anything special. This happens to everyone at every holiday. “OMG, what are you doing for [insert holiday here]?” I’ve seen and done it all and I don’t want to deal with the trouble of going somewhere way early or find parking. Everyone always gets their hopes up to do something cool and no one commits to doing anything. I even have friends who come out of the woodworks and only call me up a day or two before [insert holiday here] to see what I’m doing. I find this pretty lame, like the friends who disappear when they find a significant other. That is another story. Twice now, the wife and I planned a party only to have people not come when they said they would. This past NYE, we decided we’re not going to make a big deal of [insert holiday here] anymore. We don’t need to waste our time or money. If I am being a curmudgeon, I don’t care. It’s less stressful on me.
Yesterday I posted the biggest drawing using GPS and DHL. It turns out that it was all just a big hoax. I had a feeling it was a DHL ad.
Check out the BIGGEST DRAWING IN THE WORLD. It’s a self portrait this guy did by shipping a package all over the world via DHL.
I actually do recycle now. It all started when we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii. I think I found a greater appreciation for nature from exploring the islands. Maybe it was Jack Johnson at the Kokua Festival, reminding us to “Reduce, reuse, recycle.” It definitely wasn’t the weed-smoking hippies. I hate hippies. Now that I feel like I’m doing something good, I hope the trash companies actually recycle and not just dump it all into the trash pile.
Most of the food we ate on our honeymoon in Hawaii was awesome. All of the restaurants were very good on the resort we stayed at on the Big Island, the Fairmont Orchid.
In Kohala:
Brown’s was especially good so we went there a few times. The seared ahi salad I had was fabulous. It was a good first meal to welcome me to Hawaii. The food we had the last night we were there was great too. It was a little windy outside so everything cooled off fairly fast but it was still good.
The Thai restaurant nearby was unfortunately sub-par. There’s only one, so I’m not even going to bother looking up the name. It wouldn’t been ok, but the meal came out to be $90 after all was said and done for two drinks and two entrees.
There was a sushi restaurants at the Fairmont called Norio’s. People had been telling us it was really good so we were really excited. It was good but not as good as the hype. Plus it was quite expensive but to be expected on a resort.
In Hilo:
One of the concierges at the Fairmont suggested we try this place called Cafe Pesto while we ventured out in Hilo. This is en route to Akaka Falls and the Volcano National Park. It was a really good suggestion. The calamari was different but quite good. The poke salad I had was fabulous. I had never even heard of poke before. This is where I had my first taste of Kona beer.
In Kona:
While in Kona, we shopped around at this open air market and found quite a few things to bring back. We decided to eat at the food court they had and I gave in and tried dish they had all over the island, Loco Moco. It’s basically rice topped with a fried egg and brown gravy. Sometimes meat is added. Sometimes Spam is. The islanders seem to love Spam.
When we got to Honolulu in Oahu, there were a ton more restaurants to choose from. We just went on recommendations for the most part.
In Honolulu:
For our first breakfast, Theresa took me to Cheeseburger in Paradise. I elected to have a breakfast Loco Moco. I don’t think it was any lighter than a normal one.
We tried to offset some of our expensive meals that we had had, by going to cheaper places. We had lunch one afternoon at a Japanese ramen noodle house. I believe it was called Ezogiku. We had a big bowl of miso ramen, a plate of fried rice, and a plate of gyoza for $10. We both shared that and it was definitely enough to fill us up.
That brings us to the best meal we had during our honeymoon. It was also the most expensive by far. A friend had suggested trying out Sushi Sasabune. Her father has been going there for a long time. You’d better get a reservation before you try to walk in there. It was a Tuesday night and there were people sitting, waiting and the tables weren’t full. I suppose that way, they don’t skimp on service. We made reservations at the bar to have the tasting menu. It was quite an experience. Basically, you sit there and eat whatever the chef makes you. But you have to eat it however he tells you to. He’ll describe it to you, then tell you the proper way of eating it. For example, with or without soy sauce. Round after round, I was savoring every piece I ate. Of course you’re unaware of how much everything also. But hey, it was my honeymoon so I wasn’t concerned. It was bittersweet. I had just had the best sushi I’ve ever tasted but I knew sushi back home would never measure up.
I don’t know how people can go to Las Vegas often. That city definitely takes it’s toll on you. The first thing I wanted to do when I got back is take a shower. I felt like I needed to physically and mentally cleanse.
I took it easy on Thursday night because a few of us had a 9:00am tee time. Plus the round was $125 so I was not about to play all messed up. Regularly, the greens fees were like $159 but I found this website, VIPGolfServices, that offers discounted rates. On the 15th hole, Huan spotted an old guy skinny dipping in his backyard. We all had that “car wreck” curiosity but I fought the urge to gander. It’s like, “There’s not really an old naked guy over there is there?” I closed out the round with 3 pars and ended up shooting a 98. I consider that pretty good since it was my first time playing there.
I didn’t eat until after the round since I don’t like to play full. A few of us decided to make a run to In-N-Out for lunch. If you’ve had it before you know how good it is but the regular burger isn’t that big. That’s basically all I had to eat Friday. That proved to be a big mistake since I “celebrated” heavily that night. Not to mention we polished off a bottle of Macallan 12 year scotch I brought, after golf. That night we went to Pure which is in Caesars Palace. Pure is fun but be prepared to bring a lot of dough, especially if you’re going with a group of guys. The easiest way in that case is to get table service. The requirement for most places is a bottle for every 3 people. You do get treated very well if you do get a table.
Saturday night Tuan arranged for us to go to Aquaknox at the Venetian. Everything we had was pretty good. I’m pretty sure every restaurant in Vegas is good since all the executive chefs are very distinguished. After dinner we went to Tao also in the Venetian. It was pretty interesting as there were women sitting in tubs adorned in nothing but flower petals at the front hallway. Apparently, there’s a lounge area and a club area. You have to pay to get into the club area. If you’re ready to party, I wouldn’t suggest the lounge. But like every Vegas club, be ready to wait in line or get table service.
I may have excluded some(or a lot) of the details since you know, everything stays in Vegas.
Saturday morning I woke up and my throat bothered me a little. I believed it to be from smoking Friday night while out at Local 16 for happy hour. I had met up with Arvi and friends there to have a drink and hear about their adventure in New Orleans. They went for Arvi’s big 3-0. I tried to go but airfare killed my chances of going with my minuscule wallet and the pittance that occupies it.
Sunday morning made me sweat a little. My soreness in my throat had reached another level. I was a bit distraught. “This can’t be! I can’t be sick now, not this week!” I took everything that in my house that might help, Vitamin B12, C, and a multivitamin that probably covered those anyway. I even bought Airborne on a recommendation.
Monday was the same.
Tuesday morning I woke up and raised my fists in the air as if I had just won a marathon. I’m not on an antibiotic and still taking everything as a precaution. Why was this illness so alarming?
Tomorrow I will embark on the last big party of my “single” life. Several buddies and I will be making our way out to Las Vegas for my bachelor party. It has approached must faster than I expected. It used to be the midpoint between my wedding a few weeks ago and that freaked me out a little. Now that means the wedding is only a month away! I’m going to block that out of my mind this weekend. My goal is not to loose a lot of money and not to get alcohol poisoning. I think that’s a realistic goal. We will be staying at the HOTEL at Mandalay Bay. I’m quite excited to say the least. Friday morning 4 of us are playing golf at Las Vegas National. I’m looking forward to some West Coast golf again. I will definitely report back about the trip, but I’m not sure how much I can reveal.
