Friday 5 for September 25

GETTING TO KNOW YOU
from Scrivener's Friday 5

1. What are the titles of the last three books you read all of?

• The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkein
• Outcast, Stallion of Hawaii by Harlan Thompson
• Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media by John Stossel
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (read it twice in the last couple of months; its simple, nicely illustrated, will be a movie, how can it have more dialogue in a movie, there is not much in the book!)

2. What are the titles of between three and five magazines you subscribe to or used to subscribe to?

I used to subscribe to these at one time or another; today I have zero subscriptions. The web is more timely.

• MacWorld
• MacUser (defunct)
• MacAddict (defunct)
• Popular Photography
• Modern Photography (defunct; merged into Popular Photography)
• Hawaii Business
• Consumer Reports

3. What’s on your night table? (we figured this one was borderline, since it involves the bedroom, but if the vibe is right and you preface the question with the background story I told above, you could make it work)

I live in a studio apartment so I don't have a night table, but a general table with too much stuff on it to mention. A laptop computer and my Nintendo DSi are couple of items that are on it.

4. What are the three best things that happened to you in the past seven days?

• I woke up and did not die in my sleep
• There were no earthquakes or other natural pheonomena that destroyed my home or killed me
• I am still borrowing my friend's MacBook Pro and loving it.

5. What was your senior yearbook quote, and what would your yearbook quote be this year if there were such a thing?

I don't think I had a senior quote. Unfortunately my high school yearbook is like 250 miles away from me on another island at my parents' place. I was on the yearbook staff as sports section editor of all things. I am not a huge sports fan.

If there was a yearbook quote for this year... mine would be "Liberals are dangerous; America's going to hell because of them."

Friday 5 for Sept. 18: What's It Take?

1. What does it take to get you to grab the mic and sing in a karaoke room?

MONEY and plenty of it. I won't do embarrassing stuff unless somebody pays me. Yes I'm no fun, but then I don't sing in public either.

2. What does it take to get you to give up a whole Saturday to hang out with people you don’t like?

Again, MONEY and plenty of it (more than pictured above). Why would I want to spend a whole day with people I don't like? Ugh!

3. What does it take to get you out of bed without your hitting the snooze button?

Not much for this. I am a relatively light sleeper. External noises early in the morning will get me up - car alarms, sirens, garbage trucks, rainstorms, thunder, lightning... you name it, I'll wake up. I don't have an alarm clock so I don't hit snooze either. I get up go on the internet to do stuff like answer these questions.

4. What does it take to get you to take someone else’s turn at a really unpleasant task at work or home?

MONEY is a good motivator.

5. What does it take to get you to eat something you really dislike?

MONEY and more of it the grosser the food is.

Questions from Scrivener's Friday 5 weblog.

9-11-09: Strange Days 9-11-01

Original image from Brandon Loy's tribute page.

Found this most timely Friday 5 set at Cinn's Friday 5.

[01] Where were you on September 11, 2001 during the attacks on NYC, DC, and Pennsylvania?

I was at home asleep in Hawaii but woke up to unusual chatter on our talk radio station. Turned on the TV shortly after and "oh my God!".... For us in Hawaii the attacks occurred at the 3 or 4 am hour. Most people were asleep. After we got up, we were all glued to the TV with edgy caution, disbelief and fear that day.

[02] If you live in or near the three cities, have you been to the memorial sites?

Nope. I live too far away. We have a couple of memorials in Honolulu.

[03] Do you think our country is more or less safe than that date eight years ago?

Safer thanks to the efforts started by the administration of President George W. Bush.

[04] Do you think that the Obama administration will be able to keep terrorists at bay as effectively as the former administration?

I hope so. But I don't trust our current president.

[05] How will you spend this day today?

At work and perhaps reflecting on this later this evening.

Reply to the Other Friday 5

Starting with this post, I'll make an occasional reply to this Friday Five.



Summer Travel

1. Will or did you go on vacation this summer?

I was planning a trip back home to the Big Island of Hawaii in July but I got sick on the day I was supposed to go. With great financial penalty from the airline, I had to cancel my trip. Good thing because I got even more sick after the cancellation. This was in July. I have since fully recovered.

2. Where will/did you go?

Planning to take cancelled trip in October. I always go back to the Big Island of Hawaii at least once or twice a year.

3. What do you like about the place?

My childhood home, my parents and most of my relatives also live there.

4. What don't you like about the place?

Employment opportunities are less than they are in urban Honolulu, and access to major medical care is limited and very expensive because people have to spend big money to come to Honolulu for better care.

5. Where do you want to go next summer?

The Big Island again. I haven't gone out of the State of Hawaii since 1993. Too expensive to travel and I don't like the thought of being on a two engine jet traveling for more than 5 hours over 2,200+ miles of water. In the olden days jet aircraft had 3 or 4 engines. Built in safety redundancy. Sure, today's twinjets are certified through ETOPS regulations... but still... 3 is better than 2 and 4 is better than 3. Give me the days of the Boeing 747 again.

That all said, I live in Hawaii so if I take a day off or get the weekend off, just going to Waikiki or the beach could be a vacation.

Friday 5 for Sept. 11: Bottles

Better in the Bottle Originally uploaded by ɱΛ††

1. When did you last drink something out of a glass bottle?

Hamakua Soda Works on the Big Island used to sell glass bottled soda water in the 1960s and early 1970s. After they went out of business, perhaps in the 1970s I either drank a Coke or 7up out of a bottle last. I don't do beer or alcoholic beverages of any kind which means I don't drink out of any current glass bottles these days.

2. Whose energy would you like to bottle for those future listless days?

Reddy Kilowatt because he was so electric! I can't live without electricity.

3. How many plastic bottles are there in your shower, and what’s in them?

None at this time.

4. Who in your life could be described as lightning in a bottle?

I don't know anyone in my immediate circle that is much like lightning in a bottle.

5. You’re playing Spin-the-Bottle with your sixth-grade classmates. When it’s your turn, to whom do you want the bottle pointing?

Never played that game, which means I don't know what the significance of pointing the bottle at someone is. Sorry.

Questions generated from Scrivener's Friday 5 weblog.

September 4's Friday 5: More or Less

THE FRIDAY 5

1. In what way this week were you reckless?

About the most reckless thing I do is eat too much of the wrong type of foods.



2. In what way this week were you shameless?

I took my own photo with my Nintendo DSi and modified it in "Flipnote Studio." I could upload the animated flipbook photo to Nintendo's partner site called Flipnote Hatena. I won't.

3. In what way this week were you fearless?

I generally refrain from doing really stupid and foolish things that require me to leave fear behind. No bungie jumping, pole vaulting, freeway racing or anything like that for me.

4. In what way this week were you thoughtless?

I am usually void of all thought when I am asleep.



5. In what way this week were you doubtless?

I know for a fact that whenever I turn on and use my Macintosh computers, I am confident beyond a reasonable doubt that I will never get a nasty Microsoft Windows malware virus or something.