Thursday, December 31, 2020

Friday 5 for December 25: Year in review part 2


From the Friday 5 website here are the last questions of 2020.

1. What did you learn in 2020?
  • Our freedoms can be taken away with an emergency executive order
  • Masks are expensive and I hate them
  • COVID-19 sucks
  • Americans don't value freedom - they voted for Biden and a progressive.
  • Americans don't want to Make America Great Again - sad. 
  • Dumb ass young people want a socialist government.
  • Rail is grossly overpriced and we still have to pay for it.
2. What do you regret doing (or not doing) in 2020?
  • I regret not going to eat at LikeLike Drive-In one more time (they closed in 2020)
3. What are you proud of doing in 2020?

There is nothing I can think of that I am proud of doing this year. The year was crummy. Plus I am not one that boasts about whatever I am doing.

4. Who did you get to know better in 2020?

Lisa

5. What do you hope to accomplish in the remaining days of 2020?

Well since I am answering this on December 31, there are just a few more hours left in the year. I did get the car safety checked and it passed yesterday. Another stupid government tax to be paid. Ugh.


Friday, December 18, 2020

Friday 5 for December 18: Year in review part 1

OK.. so the Friday 5 is wrapping up the year 2020 with part 1. Do I have anything good to say about 2020? Not really, but let me think.


1. Who made you laugh most this year?

Since I hardly ever go out, I am pretty much limited to the person I hang out with... so that would be my friend Lisa. We have some funny moments, though most of the time, I don't get her jokes. I am not a very comedic person.

2. In what ways was 2020 better than 2019?

If you asked what was worst about 2020 over the previous year, I could offer you a huge laundry list. About the only remotely good thing about 2020 and the whole mask wearing mandate, is that for many days of each week, I could skip shaving since most of my face was under the darn mask while I was out in public. 

During the early, all clamped down martial law like phase of the pandemic back in late March, driving in Honolulu was not so bad because traffic was significantly down.. but then many of the businesses were sucking up a lot of red ink due to the government shut down mandates. Several never recovered. Sad.

3. What was the best movie or TV series you saw in 2020?

TV series



1. Tales From the Loop (Amazon Prime)
2. Star Trek Lower Decks (CBS All Access)
3. Star Trek Picard (CBS All Access)
4. Fringe (old series, never watched before but slowly chipping away at 5 seasons of episodes; IMDB-TV/Amazon Prime)
5. Captain Scarlet (2005 reboot - Amazon Prime)
6. A Teacher (Hulu Basic) - I hope this story continues to court
7. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hulu Basic) - 1980s era TV version of the original British radio play
8. Star Trek The Next Generation (reruns on either CBS All Access, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV) - just fun to watch again.
9. Babylon 5 - (Comet TV until 10-2020) - reruns - fun to watch again.
10. Doc Martin (Pluto TV, Tubi TV) - just watching various episodes of Series 1 to 6 or 7. I'll wait for 8, 9, and 10 to show up on one of the free services in the future.

Movies

1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) - I did not see this until January 2020. This is significant for me in that it marks the last movie I ever saw in a theater. I don't think I will be going to those places anymore due to rising ticket prices, expensive food and of course the possibility of catching COVID-19. My movies days are over... onward to streaming or watching my old DVDs... plus I am done with Star Wars... Disney is now putting out way too much product for me to even keep up, much less care about it anymore.

2. Plenty of older streaming movies that I can't immediately recall on various platforms plus stuff from my DVD collection.

4. What was your favorite food discovery of 2020?

Haven't gone to a restaurant of any type since February 2020. Eat almost all meals at home. I am not a cook so mostly I make stuff I can heat up in the microwave... discovered CAULIFLOWER RICE this year... it is a good rice substitute that is supposedly not too fattening.

5. What’s something nice you purchased for yourself or received as a gift in 2020?


I have a "new" Apple iMac computer, "new" iPad and a new "PC Netbook". Two different friends gave them to me because they upgraded to the latest and greatest. I was pleasantly surprised with both. The iMac is a 2013 model but can still run Catalina (10.15.x); the iPad is a 2012 model and is hobbled with iOS 9.3... but it still works and I can do online stuff and play simple games with it. The Netbook is hobbled with Windows 8, but I am going to use this as a testbed to fool around with a Linux installation.... again.

Friday, December 11, 2020

Friday 5 for December 11 - Heigh Ho



The following questions come from Scrivener's weekly Friday 5 blog.

1. What do you do when it’s bedtime and you’re not sleepy? 

I think I do what millions of other people do... whip out their smartphone and browse the internet, watch videos or listen to music or an audio book. Lately I've been doing audio books, and some are real sleepers... they put me to sleep.

Music is also a good way to help me fall asleep. Some artists are better at putting me to sleep over others. Late night talk radio and some podcasts have the same effect.

Otherwise if I am really restless, then it is video time in bed... scrolling through many shows on Pluto TV or watching a wide variety of video content on regular YouTube... plane crashes, family blogs, car blogs, vinyl record blogs, tech blogs, news clips, music videos... yep... YouTube is still the best free video streaming platform to take to bed with you. Pluto TV is a good free streaming platform too since they have plenty of old TV shows, news and other stuff to watch. I love watching re-runs of Star Trek The Next Generation there. Hooray for free video streams on all platforms.

2. When were you most recently bashful? 

Can't think of anything recent, and if I did, I'd be too bashful to let anyone know here.

3. Have you seen a doc in the past nine months? 

Yes. Once for a stupid accident and then later for a routine check-up.

4. What’s got you feeling grumpy lately? 

COVID-19, Rail, Taxes and some personal things. Need I say more?

5. What’s making you happy today?

I will be depositing my late arriving, hard copy of my 2020 Economic Impact Payment Check of $1200 today. I wish I could just keep it as is because President Donald Trump's name is on it. It could be a collectible... but alas, I need the money, so to the bank I will go later today.



partial scan of my check

Friday, December 4, 2020

Friday 5 for December 4: Up and Away

Way back in late 1966 singing group The 5th Dimension had a top 10 hit with a song called "Up Up and Away".  I probably would have named this topic after that song.  Anyway, here are my five answers to this week's Friday 5.



1. What most recently made you feel elated?

Nothing has made me feel "elated". The closest I got for being "presently surprised" when friends recently gifted me with a 2013 Apple iMac computer, an older Apple iPad Mini (running iOS 9.3), and an old Acer Netbook computer running Windows 8.0. The Mac is working just great with Catalina (OS 10.15) and the iPad can get by with whatever iOS 9.3 compliant apps I can find in Apple's walled garden of an app store. The PC leaves a bit to be desired... however I have gotten it connected to my WiFi network, so that is good. Perhaps I may fiddle around with Linux on that thing if I ever can find time to be that adventurous.

2. Where is the slowest elevator in the universe?

Here in Honolulu there are two elevators that I know of. First off are the public elevators at the Hawaii State Capitol. When the place is busy it can be a long wait before one of the five available public elevators manage to show up. The freight elevator is the slowest in that building. State Capitol... you have the second slowest elevators that I know of.

Topping the list is the one and only 1927 era elevator that is still operational inside Aloha Tower, one of the popular tourist attractions in Downtown Honolulu. Up to last year, I used to love to go there on a Sunday (free street parking across Nimitz) to just hang out at the top floor (10th) and take pictures of any ships that were coming or going and many of the docked ones. While far from the tallest building in the city, it's harbor front location makes it an ideal place to capture some nice oceanside views from a free elevation.

I haven't been there since the start of the whole COVID-19 pandemic. Ugh. I miss the place. So yes, Aloha Tower elevator, you are the slowest that I know of.

3. When were you most recently in an airplane?

The last time I travelled off island was back in July 2019. It was a roundtrip on Southwest Airlines, Boeing 737-800NG from Honolulu to Kona and back from Kona to Honolulu. I was on the Big Island of Hawaii for almost two weeks back then. This was all before the COVID-19 crisis hit us. Now I have no desire whatsoever to travel anywhere off island in an airplane or ship. I just don't like the entire process of having to get tested, wear a mask and surrender personal information to more places that I can think of. What happened to our freedoms? Ugh!

The last airplane I rode was this Boeing 737-800NG on Southwest Airlines.

4. With what have you had it up to here? 

  • COVID-19 and all of its government imposed restrictions
  • Rail - Dumbest most expensive waste of taxpayer dollars in Hawaii this century. Now it is costing at least $11 billion and counting up to more! I hate paying taxes for this wasteful government project. Ugh!

5. What’s a good song whose title contains the word “sky?”

OK, another top 5 + 5 list is here:

  1. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - The Beatles
  2. Wheel in the Sky - Journey
  3. Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum
  4. (Ghost) Riders in the Sky - Johnny Cash
  5. Skyline Pigeon (piano version) - Elton John
  6. Bullet the Blue Sky - U2
  7. Yellow Sky - Book of Love
  8. Sky Pilot - Eric Burdon & The Animals
  9. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
  10. Eye in the Sky - Alan Parsons Project

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Friday 5 for November 27: Pandemic daze



Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

1. Where do you get most of your pandemic-related news?

Um... hate to say this... Facebook first and then verify the sources by going to the more traditional local news sites like Honolulu Civil Beat, Honolulu Star Advertiser, Hawaii News Now, Hawaii Tribune Herald. Nationally I will occasionally check what the networks are posting to YouTube, Twitter, etc. There are also the State and National health links such as CDC, and Hawaii Dept. of Health. Just letting you know these options vary in terms of timeliness and thoroughness of the coverage.

2. How do you feel about your local government’s leadership during this pandemic?

They are not very good at leading this crises. The Governor says you can do this or have to do that and the four mayors often disagree, like whether or not to quarantine all visitors for 14 days upon arrival to Hawaii or from within the islands of Hawaii. State says you get a negative test, and you don't have to quarantine. Counties are saying quarantine negative test or not... BAAAHH!!!!!! HUMBUG!

Best to just hunker down, stay home and not go out as often... thereby killing our economy even further than it already is. Hawaii's economy has been in the toilet long before the pandemic hit. We have some of the highest taxes in the nation, the highest cost of living in the nation and some of the stupidest public works projects in the making such as the $14 billion rail project that does not want to die and only suck more money out of the taxpayers.

Guess what? Many taxpayers have no jobs and can't afford the continual bombardment on our wallets. The tourists are not coming to alleviate some of that horrible rail tax collections, thanks to the insipid non-leadership of current elected officials. I don't see much change happening with the some of the recently elected crop of leaders coming into office.

We're doomed.

3. What does your favorite mask look like, and about how many masks have you accumulated?

First of all I HATE MASKS and the mask mandates. Ugh!

Favorite mask you ask? NONE. I only wear them because government requires me to wear them. More of our freedoms have been taken away in the name of safety because of the pandemic. 

I have about 8 to 10 masks of various quality. I am not a fashion guru or anything like that so I just go for something cheap and mostly plain colored... like the standard cheap ass light blue ones, or black or white cloth ones. I don't care much for patterns. I rather blend into the woodwork vs. stand out in a crowd.



4. Where have you most often had takeout during this pandemic?

I have not eaten at a restaurant since February 2020... my last restaurant meal was with a friend at LikeLike Drive-in. After 67 years in business and because of government closure and regulatory "martial" laws passed in the last 9 months, this restaurant and hundreds of others are now gone and closed forever.

I haven't bought a takeout meal from anywhere since the pandemic started. I just buy stuff that I cook mostly in my microwave and stay at home most of my days. Life is no longer interesting, much less fun.

5. What new interests, skills, or hobbies have you picked up since mid-March?

I'm mostly in a state of depression lately and some of my hobbies haven't interested  me much as of late. I have no motivation to go out to take photos or just see stuff. I am feeling so blah in this science fiction like, dystopian life we are now living in.

Learning the ins and outs of my recently acquired iMac with MacOS 10.15 is a new skill I am doing. I had to replace some of my older 32 bit MacOS apps with 64 bit compliant ones, several of which are new... so there is that. I divorced myself from the Adobe suite and Office because I hate subscription based software. Luckily some of the Apple apps and non-subscription software I bought years ago allowed transfer to new versions on the new Mac without incurring new costs. Thankfully I had kept most of the old software registration information, which meant all upgrades were free. So now I am learning a bunch of new versions of software I have used for a long time.

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Friday 5 for 11-20-20: High Voltage

From Scriverner's weekly Friday 5 blog: "This week’s questions are lyrics from AC/DC songs. AC/DC put out a new album last week and I’m rather fond of it."

#4 on Mel's Weekly Top 20 this week. | M4B Charts Central - user charts,

1. Are you ready for a good time?

In this day and age of social distancing, mandatory mask rules, and the limitations of participating in group activities, what I do for a good time is basically stay home, watch "TV", surf the internet and once in a while, venture out to take photos. I like spending time by myself.

2. What do you do for money, honey?

Currently looking for another job.

3. Who’s your friend and who’s your foe?

I am thankful for the friends that I have, and I just try to extremely social distance myself from any foes real or perceived. Name are not be revealed to protect the privacy of the individuals.

4. What do you do that’s guaranteed?

Up to my time of death I will do the following guaranteed processes:

  • Wake Up
  • Eat
  • Walk around
  • Watch videos and read stuff online
  • Listen to music, a podcast, the radio or an audio book
  • Perhaps read a book if I can make that a priority
  • Sleep

Repeat the basic cycle over again

5. Do you wanna journey?

I have no travel plans at all until this whole COVID-19, with all of its restrictions, mandates, masks, etc. are taken away and we revert back to the freedoms that we had in 2019 and most times prior to that.

Otherwise the only Journey I may get into is listening to album by the famed rock group.

Back to AC/DC... I think Power Up is a good commercial sounding album. They sound as fresh today as they did way back in 1980 or so when I became aware of them... yeah... kind of late considering they been making music since 1975... And now what, they are all pushing into their 70s age bracket? Rock has never sounded so good in 2020.




Sunday, November 15, 2020

Friday 5 for the 13th of November: It Can't Be That Bad...

Well I am not superstitious, but bad things always seem to happen, Friday the 13th or not. 

 Here are my answers to the questions this week. 

 Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there, then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website

 1. What movie makes you happy? 

A Christmas Story from 1983.. you know the one where the kid Ralph wants a Red Ryder air rifle BB gun.... "You'll shoot your eye out!" A great fun movie from start to finish, and the ending is good.

 2. What song makes you happy? 

OK... here's one....




Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Julie Andrews (as Mary Poppins)

 3. What food makes you happy? 

All kinds of food have the potential to make me feel happy. I guess I'll start with anything that has chocolate in it... candy bars, cacao bars, cakes, brownies, cookies, whatever.

I also like turkey and this month is prime season for that.


 4. Who makes you happy with just a text message? 




Lisa and I exchange text messages with cute GIFs all the time.

5. What beverage is most likely to lift your spirits?

I mostly drink water... so water it is.

Friday 5 for October 16: Set Em Up

 Friday 5 Answers for October 16, 2020

Well this is super late but at least never... ha!

Link Back - http://f.riday5.com/2020/10/16/friday-5-for-october-16-set-em-up/


Beware this may contain some spoilers if you haven’t seen these old movies.


1. What’s your favorite film set in space?


I love science fiction and movies set in outer space or about space…. That said:



My all time favorite movie just happens to be set in space, so yes it is an all time space film. This now classic movie separates old science fiction and fantasy movies from the modern. STAR WARS was totally epic. I never saw anything like it before that. It set the standard of movie enjoyment for which I grade all other movies since. “Luke, the Force is with you, always”.


"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" is my second favorite. “I am Your Father”!


In the Star Trek franchise there are many movies to choose, but the most spectacular one of them all is  “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”. Ricardo Montalban was great in this movie! “Khan!”


Adding “2001: A Space Odyssey” to this one because at the time I saw it in 1968 it was pretty darn trippy, and also a milestone in the development of modern science fiction film.


Best movie based on a true story set in outer space? Hands down to 1995’s “Apollo 13” by  Ron Howard. Great cast and even featured real live astronaut Jim Lovell in it at the end.


2. What’s your favorite film set at sea?



James Cameron’s
TITANIC (1997)...  The fictitious love story is what holds this film together which is an excellent docudrama of the unfortunate sinking of the infamous, unsinkable Titanic. Great characters real and imagined, big cast, good storyline, incredibly realistic special effects, great music, and the huge disaster! What’s not to like?


Other films set at sea that I liked over the years: The Poseidon Adventure (1973); The Abyss (1989): 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1956); Krakatoa East of Java (1969); The Final Countdown (1980); The Hunt for Red October (1990) and most recently Captain Phillips (2013) with Tom Hanks.


3. What’s your favorite film set in a non-U.S. city?


CASABLANCA (1942) - A great story of love and war set in Morocco at the start of World War II. I don’t need to explain it to anyone who’s seen it… and if you haven’t you should. It’s probably one of the greatest films from the 1940s ever made except for CITIZEN KANE (1941).... rosebud …

 

Other non-U.S. cities in film: Many James Bond movies occur in non-US locales, though they skip all over the world. Then there was a TV movie, sci-fi of course that I liked called CITY BENEATH THE SEA from around 1970.


4. What’s your favorite film set before the 20th Century?


The story of BEN HUR (1959) with Charlton Heston in the title role set in the time of Christ... approximately 20 to 33 AD. Always loved this movie from when I was a kid. "Ramming Speed"... "You live to serve this ship"... could almost qualify as a seafaring movie, but it is not. The chariot race is unforgettable and was the inspiration for the pod-race in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace". “Christ has risen”. They always play this at Easter on TNT.


Close second would be all of the "Star Wars" movies set "Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away".


Other before 20th century movies: "Gladiator" , "The Patriot”, “Braveheart”, “The Ten Commandments,” and westerns such as “Pale Rider,” “True Grit” and “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”, “Dances With Wolves”, “A Man Called Horse” and most of “Back to the Future Part III”.


5. What’s your favorite film set on a university campus?


Only a few come to mind. I think there are more high school movies than there are those set in college.

 

  • Legally Blonde (1999) - blonde law student saves the day

  • Rudy (1993) - he finally got to play!

  • The Paper Chase (1973) - law school students and stern professor

  • Animal House (1979) - Food Fight!!!!!

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Friday 5 for October 9: Role Play

  1. How do you think you’d do in learning to fly a plane?

I’m pretty good flying a plane on my Android device. Heh. But in real life, probably too complicated though I kind of know the basics since I watch so many aviation videos on YouTube. I guess I could learn to fly, but it is expensive and I am pretty much too old to do anything like that these days.

  1. How do you think you’d do hosting a nationally televised late-night talk show?

I'd rather do a late night radio show with a mix of news, politics, conservative opinion and music. I am not photogenic or entertaining enough to do late night TV. Plus late night TV is not like what it used to be when Johnny Carson was on the air. Today’s late night show are too left leaning.

  1. How do you think you’d do in auto body repair school?

Probably OK after taking classes in auto repair. One thing I know for sure is that older cars are probably easier to self service and repair vs. newer models.

  1. How do you think you’d do as the only occupant of the International Space Station for a year?

If it were not so dangerous, i think i would love to be up there doing whatever work i would be trained for. I can handle being away from actual people as long as I can remain in contact through email, text, chat, social media, voice and video. I would have 16 chances every day to take sunrise and sunset photos since the station orbits the globe 16 times a day.

  1. How do you think you’d do as a professional dog groomer?

I am not a dog person. I don’t like dogs. I would be a lousy groomer. I have no pets. They are just another mouth to feed. I do like cats. My sister has 4 of them. Good enough when I pay her an occasional visit.

Link back

http://f.riday5.com/2020/10/10/friday-5-for-october-9-role-play/

Friday, September 18, 2020

Friday 5 for September 18 - How are you feeling today

 


Questions from the Friday 5 site. http://f.riday5.com/2020/09/18/friday-5-for-september-18-how-are-you-feeling-today/

1. What were you most recently anxious about?

Finances, money.

2. What were you most recently apologetic about?

Getting Lisa upset.

3. What are you feeling cautious about these days?

Finances, money.

4. Heading into the weekend, what are you confident about?

The sun will rise, the sun will set - we will have day and night every day as it has been for centuries and all time. I am confident I will not be dead tomorrow, but beyond that I don't know. I am confident that I am a terrible predictor of the future.

5. What were the consequences (good and bad) the last time you felt adventurous.

I am rarely adventurous..... the last time I did something that was "adventurous" it turned out bad.

On March 3 of this year I tried out for free, a new type of electric scooter. Mind you I have never been on an electric transport device of any type except for a friend's Tesla Model 3 car.

The Tesla has 4 wheels. The scooter only 2 wheels. 

I got up on the scooter, held my balance for about 30 seconds. I did not realize how fast the tiny little electric engine on the scooter could pick up. I hardly pushed the accelerator toggle on the handlebar. Before i knew it the thing suddenly accelerated. 

I panicked while trying to find the button or whatever to slow the thing down.

Needless to say I lost control as me and that thing continued to accelerate and BAM! I hit a wall and fell head first directly into it.

The brunt of the impact fell not only on my head but also on my right shoulder and arm.

I was stunned and probably knocked out for a few seconds. I vaguely remember a scrunching sound.

And then the blood and some pain.

Fortunately there were a few people around to help me get up. Someone had some paper towels and i was able to hold them up to my head as I feebly walked away from the crash.

A good thing is that the scooter was not damaged, so at least I did not have to pay for damages.

Lucky for me a major medical facility was just a short walk away. I went there, got fixed up and was assured of no concussion. I did have big bandages on my head and shoulder. They gave some pills for the pain and I went home shortly after.

I gradually recovered and was at work the next day.

Here is a short list of good adventures:

2007 - Press tour and voyage on the Hawaii Superferry to Maui and back to Oahu. The ferry was a great idea. Too bad it went away.

2010 - Press tour on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. We sailed out on the huge ship, got to watch and photograph operations including aircraft take off and landings, and then flew back to Pearl Harbor Hickam on a large helicopter. It was the adventure of my lifetime.

2013 - Trip to the top of Mt. Ka'ala at the Waianae mountains by van. Photo op. That was fun and scenic.

___________________________

Please pardon the poor formatting on this post and others going forward. Google updated the interface on blogger and no longer supports my old browser which i cannot update due to the age of my Mac and the older OSX I have. I hate forced updates that render things obsolete. Arrgh.

With my router broken and my Chromebook rendered useless because of that, I am now forced to post with my Android phone. Do you know phone screen keyboards really suck?





Sunday, August 30, 2020

Friday 5 for August 28: Consumption

From the Weekly Friday 5.



1. What would you consider your most recent major purchase?

Haven't done any major purchases in a few years now. To me, major means anything over $100 for a tangible item. Financially times are way too tough and I really have to be tight on spending.

2. On what are you hoping to spend a good chunk of change in the near future?

Whenever that happens, in order.... a new Chromebook, a Mac Mini with monitor and keyboard, and possibly another car, most likely "pre-owned"... I have no idea when any of this will happen, but they are certainly not going to happen all at once.

3. When did you most recently resist the urge to splurge?

All the time. I am not a "splurge" consumer. I think about everything before I buy. That is why my wishlist on Amazon is dozens of products long. I only browse, but rarely buy.

4. When did you most recently experience buyer’s remorse?

Air bed. Twice now. Don't ask. I won't tell.

5. What’s something interesting you consumed this past week?

More streaming audio and video. I finally transitioned my large Google Music library over to the Google owned YouTube Music service. What a mess that created. Not all of my audio files moved and several of the playlists are a mess.

The YouTube app for mobile as well as the website is also a mess. There is no easy way to organize artists, playlists, albums, etc. On playback I cannot find the buttons to "clear queue"... No good way to drop songs one by one into a queue without having to include all the songs on a particular album or playlist. What a fucking mess.

On the other hand I am enjoying watching the new Star Trek Lower Decks animated TV series on CBS All Access. This may be the best of the recent spin-offs from the Star Trek universe. This one is a comedy of some sort and focuses on the Starfleet personnel that have to do a lot of the grunt work to keep a starship going. The starship is the U.S.S. Cerritos and its mission is "second contact".... mainly to take care of administrative stuff once the Federation establishes a new relationship with an alien world and culture.

What I like the best of the new series is that it occurs at roughly the same time as Star Trek The Next Generation.  I like the familiarity of the series as it relates to TNG and its two follow-ups, Deep Space 9 and Voyager... all of which occur in approximately the same time frame.

____________

For onebadscrivener:

Lovers and Poets, yes I started to follow Shannon Hurley and I think she posted that stuff to her website many years ago. She has been steady with Lovers and Poets though the duo is her and her husband. It was originally with another guy. My favorite Shannon Hurley song is "California" from 2008.

The funny video and song "We No Speak Americano" by Yolanda B Cool and DCup was a worldwide #1 dance and pop hit in 2010. "The name is a reference to the scene in the film Pulp Fiction, where the character Jules (played by Samuel L. Jackson) tells a female armed robber named Yolanda (played by Amanda Plummer) "Be cool!".... re: Yolanda be cool! I saw the video on YouTube and fell in love with the song... hehe.. yes, useless pop fodder right up there with "Fridays" and "Call Me Maybe". Useless but catchy music.



Friday, August 21, 2020

Friday 5 for August 21: One-decade rewind

1. What are some albums you really like from 2010?

By the year 2010 I was mostly buying digital singles from Amazon or iTunes. But I did get a few albums. Here are my top 10.

1. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor
2. Maroon 5 - Hands All Over
3. Neon Trees - Habits
4. Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops and Hooligans
5. Taylor Swift - Speak Now
6. Elton John and Leon Russell - The Union
7. Jack Johnson - To the Sea
8. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
9. Ringo Starr - Y Not
10. Selena Gomez and the Scene - A Year Without Rain

I really love the Caro Emerald album. It is played with regular frequency to this very day. Discovered her in 2009 on that now defunct The61.com website. She is my most played solo female artist on my Last FM.




2. What are some songs you remember fondly from 2010?

Kind of in numerical order,  here are 10 of them (in retrospect)

1. Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
2. Animal - Neon Trees
3. Misery - Maroon 5
4. Rhythm of Love - Plain White T's
5. Cool My Heels - Nikki Yanofsky
6. Back It Up - Caro Emerald
7. Alejandro - Lady Gaga
8. Hey, Soul Sister - Train
9. Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz
10. Just the Way You Are - Bruno Mars

Here are some other notables (in my book)

- A Year Without Rain - Selena Gomez and the Scene
- Bulletproof - La Roux
- I Heard of a Girl - Miss Li
- Back to December - Taylor Swift
- A Night Like This - Caro Emerald
- Walk With You - Ringo Starr
- I Saw The Rain - Lovers and Poets
- Colors - April Smith and the Great Picture Show
- Good To Be Me (Feat. Kid Rock) - Uncle Kracker
- The Sweetest Thing - Camera Obscura
- Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
- A Stitch in Time - Smashing Pumpkins
- We No Speak Americano - Yolanda Be Cool and Dcup - This one is for you Scrivener.



3. What’s your favorite movie released in 2010?

I hardly ever watch movies these days. It started from the 2000s as prices at theaters steadily went up. I kind of had to stop buying DVDs too as I had too much and pay cable was out of the question. In 2011 I cut my cable cord. I only watch streaming video and mostly only on the free channels.

That said the only two movies out of that list that I saw are the following:

- Shrek Forever After - Just saw this a few weeks ago on Tubi TV. Pretty good wrap for the franchise.

- Chronicles of Narnia - Voyage of the Dawn Trader - The only movie I actually paid money to go see at the theater that year. I had seen the previous 2 on the big screen in prior years. This was the 2nd best of the three movies, the original being the best one.

4. Which television programs* debuting in 2010 did you rather enjoy?

- Caprica - Sadly it was cancelled after 18 or so episodes. This was a good prequel to the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series of 2004.

- Hawaii Five-0 - I watched it regularly for the first 2 or 3 years and then grew tired of it. For 2010 it was not bad + plus it kept Hawaii's TV industry alive after LOST wrapped up that year.

- Storage Wars - I never watched this when it first came out, but watch it and its location centric offshoots on TubiTV or Pluto TV when I just feel like vegging out on something stupid. I like free streaming.

5. Which events in 2010 bring back good memories?

The most memorable events that bring back good memories in my life that year was spending a week or so with my Mom and Dad. Dad was in his last months of life. On several days he wanted to see different places on the Big Island where he grew up and lived. I drove Mom and Dad up to Pauuilo Mauka, Kalopa, Ookala and Laupahoehoe all in one day. The plantation camp that he grew up in was torn down years before we revisited the place in 2010. He was kind of sad. I shot a lot of pictures.

I also made a 20 minute video of him talking about some of the memories he had while growing up in Ookala. Here is a one minute clip of that video.




Dad passed away in November of 2010.

Second most memorable event of 2010 was doing a press tour for HawaiiReporter and sailing out on the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier that July for the RIMPAC exercises.

Friday, August 14, 2020

Friday 5 for August 14: 家


I don't know what the kanji character in the title means. I guess it has
something to do with this week's topic from Scriveners site. Dwellings, places you lived or presently are.

 1. In what forms of housing have you resided?

Single family home back in Honokaa Hawaii. Lived there my first 18 years of life. Belonged to my parents, but now with my sister. I have returned there many times over the past five decades. Love the place.

Dorms - A zoo while I was in college.

Off campus housing - While in college, I also had to share a dwelling with a smelly dog and bedbugs. At another place, I lived with a bunch of Japanese and two mainland Chinese students who occupied the kitchen cooking up all kinds of stuff when they were not away at class or studying.

Condo Dweller - Since the 1980s I have been in the same high rise condo that has been in our family since.

2. What are the best and worst things about the location of your home?

 Best things about my current location:

Convenient walking location to all major grocery shopping - Don Quijote, WalMart, Target and Foodland Farms plus Longs Drug. Those are the major affordable stores in my area of Ala Moana Center. Everything else became pricey over the years, not what it was like back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. I miss those days.

Living in the city you are close enough to decent medical facilities and
doctors.

Worst things about my current location:

  • RAIL and the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) now springing up around me. Arrrrgh!
  • Higher property tax assessments because of TOD and RAIL. I hate RAIL.
  • Increasing property tax rates overall. Even if you don't own property, high taxes and rail impacts you as a renter because landlords will pass that cost to you.
  • Higher HOA monthly fees, not like how it was before. Again RAIL and high property tax impacts.
  • Rising crime rate - there was another murder not too far away from my dwelling again this week.

3. Where would you keep a second home if you could have one?

I like Hawaii despite the high cost of living. The weather is fine. So I guess my choice for a second home would be somewhere back on the Island of Hawaii, just outside of Hilo past the humming bridge along the Hamakua Coast of Highway 19. It should be no farther than 15 minutes away from the convenience of shopping at Hilo but away from any possible lava flow danger that could head down Mauna Loa mountain.

Otherwise I'd be okay in Honokaa, Waimea, Ahualoa or the Kohala area in North Hawaii.

4. How well would you adapt to permanent RV life?

 If I moved to the mainland, I think I could do OK living in a decent
 RV. I just need a place to keep all of my records and CDs a good
 storage facility for the duration of such an adventure; youd have to go
 fully digital with music, movies, TV and books in order to maintain a
 large collection of entertainment and knowledge. My Google Play Music
 cloud would be great for that but now Google wants to end it and force
 us to move to YouTube Music I hate that.

 I watch a few video blogs about some people who live the RV life. As a
 photographer it would be a great opportunity to take pictures, pictures
 and even more pictures everywhere.

 The downside is trying to find someplace to lodge/park the rig, keep it
 maintained, fueled and supplied with necessities and also having to
 deal with um getting rid of the waste products. The other downside is
 finding some kind of revenue stream to pay for it all. That would be
 the most difficult part.

 5. Whats the prettiest thing to look at within five miles of your
 residence?

I am mostly surrounded by tall buildings and even more of them springing up because of the dreadful rail and TOD. Not much of a view to call breathtaking. However if I zoom my camera in close to the far west or east horizon, I can sometimes capture a somewhat decent picture like the one at the top of this post.

Friday, August 7, 2020

Friday 5 for August 7: Polarity

Questions from Scrivener's Friday 5 page.

1. What are the dumbest and smartest things you did this week?

Dumb - Put stuff off for another day. Quite frequent in my life.

Smart - Made a suggestion to a group and they agreed on it.

2. What are the worst and best things you ate this week?

Worst thing I ate: Probably any and all the foods my doctors advise against.

Best Thing This week: Bento bowl from Don Quijote (Chicken, rice, etc.) - also qualifies as one of the worst due to health, salt content, etc., etc.

3. When this week were you unhappiest and when were you happiest?

Unhappiest - When I made my dear friend unhappy. Sorry.
Happiest - When I got help with a couple of items.

4. What did you have too much of this week, and what did you have not enough of?

Too much - Anxiety.
Not Enough of - Money.

5. What are you dreading in the next seven days, and what are you eagerly anticipating?

Dreading - Bill payments
Eager For - Relief

Sorry can't be too specific on these.

Friday, July 31, 2020

Friday 5 for July 31: State change


From Scrivener's Friday 5 page comes this weeks questions.

1. What recently caused you to boil?

Anger. Not going to say what it was, but when I am angry I can boil. 212° and higher.

2. What often causes you to freeze?



When I first spot a B52 cockroach in my home. I freeze in fear first and have to force myself to go into combat mode, which is unpleasant and still fearful... especially when the dam things are hanging upside down on the ceiling and you try to get them and they fly!!!! AAAAAAARGH!!!!!

3. When did something evaporate into thin air?

A lot of things in my home seem to temporarily evaporate into thin air only to be found much later. Wallet (always need that), keys (need that), comb, small thumb drive, some important papers, whatever.

4. What recently caused you to melt?

My friend Lisa.

5. Among United States you haven’t visited, which would you most like to check out next?


Probably Utah. I have friends there and I think it my be pretty. Actually all states have their beauty and as a photographer I'd be happy to visit any of the ones I haven't been to and even the ones that I went to. It's been a long time since I been to the mainland.

In this COVID-19 dystopian world, it is highly unlikely that I will be going anywhere off this island soon. Too much regulations going and coming and I certainly don't want to do 14-day quarantine.

Friday, July 24, 2020

Friday 5 for July 24: Scattergories, Part 10!

It's that time of the year when we choose a random letter from the "nifty Random Letter Sequence Generator". This year I get the letter H.
Questions from the weekly Friday 5 website.

H

1. What’s something in your pantry, beginning with the letter?

Ritter Chocolate Bar with Whole Hazelnuts.

Ritter Whole Hazelnuts Chocolatre Bar
Ritter Whole Hazelnuts Chocolate bar.
2. What’s something in your car, beginning with the letter?

Hoses... A few of them are in the engine compartment of my car. They are necessary for keeping an internal combustion engine cool, flowing and running properly.

3. What’s something you miss, beginning with the letter?

Hair at the top of my head. I am not totally bald, but the top has thinned over the years.

4. What’s a character trait you admire but lack, beginning with the letter?

I probably could strive to be more healthy.

5. What’s a regular inconvenience, beginning with the letter?

Hassles - There are plenty of those in our lives, more so today with COVID-19 rules and regulations. It is a hassle to have to wear a mask almost everywhere in public. It is a hassle to have to deal with automated phone menu systems before you can reach a real person. It is a hassle dealing with customer service, especially bad ones. It is a hassle having to pay tax for stupid stuff like the rail every time you buy something in Hawaii. It is a hassle getting through security lines at the airport, and now more so with COVID-19 screening... which has made me a reluctant flyer to the point that I don't intend to go anywhere anytime soon. It is a hassle to have to find a free parking space in this town. It is a hassle paying bills too. Need I go on with this crap? Probably not.

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Friday 5 for July 17: Hopscotch and Crayons


Questions from Scrivener's Friday 5 site.

1. What was your favorite piece of playground equipment when you were a kid?

Back in the day (we're talking 1962 - 64) our elementary school had this sliding board that was built on a 20 foot embankment. On rainy days a small mud puddle formed at the bottom of the slide. It was funny to watch other kids go splash in the dirty puddle. I never did that part... Mom would have given me lickins'.

2. What do you remember about your first-grade teacher? Pick the earliest grade teacher you remember, if you don’t remember anything about your first-grade teacher.

Mrs. Higa was my first grade teacher. She taught us first grade reading. The three books we started on were My Little Red StorybookMy Little Green Storybook and My Little Blue Storybook. After we got through with those basic readers, we moved on to a book called The Little White House or something like that.

When I think back to those books, they were nice and conservative and achieved the goal of teaching us how to read and more importantly these days, espouse the values of what the United States is supposed to be like.

I wish I still had those books. Some of them are worth money today.

I am too fearful to find out what kids of today are learning. It seems like the curriculum is to lay blame on America and destroy our great country. If that is it, this is really scary for our future.

At the end of our first grade year, the school was getting rid of those books and they gave three of them to me. Less than eight years later, my sister who was eight years my junior, picked up those books and pretty much taught herself how to read before she got to kindergarten. I remember she asked me about words she did not know.

Cool when I think about that today.

Sorry the answer to this question is more about the readers and not so much about the teacher, though I have to give Mrs. Higa credit for teaching us the basics.

3. What’s an especially memorable field trip you took with a class in your very early years?

Yes there are at least a dozen field trips I can remember going with my class at various stages of elementary school. Here are some of my most memorable.

Fifth Grade - JPO excursion to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. This is one of my favorite places to go to, but I rarely ever go these days. Last time I went there was in June 2005.

Fourth Grade - Hilo to visit the Hawaii Tribune Herald where I learned that the Horoscope was a bunch of bullshit, because the person there told us when the teletype broke, someone on the staff would just write one up... of course this was in the olden days when there was no internet. They gave us rolls of blank newsprint. That was fun. On that same trip we also visited the Lyman Museum (the only time I ever been there), and Hilo Macaroni Factory where they used to make Saloon Pilot crackers. We got free crackers!

Sixth Grade - We went to Waimea to the old Kahilu Theater to watch a play... forgot what it was but the presenters were Honolulu Theater for Youth as I recall.

4. What are some fads you remember from your elementary school days? Did you get into them?

The Beatles- I had the pointy shoes. Heh. Parents would not let me grow my hair long. Had a couple of 45 rpm records... "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

Batman TV Show - with Adam West and Burt Ward was a big thing back in 1966. It was the first show I saw in color on a neighbor's TV set. We went to the full length movie that featured the TV cast. Fun stuff.

5. If your elementary school had food service, what’s a lunch you were especially fond of, and what’s a lunch you were especially not fond of?

Pizza was great. Shoyu chicken and rice was delicious as were most of the cookies.

There was some weird goop that passed for food that covered our rice. Not knowing what it was, we called it S.O.S. - Same Old S**t. We ate the bun, the fruit and drank the milk... but the rest went to the slop recycling counter... yuck... Haven't thought about that in ages.




















My second grade class, May 1, 1965.

Friday, June 26, 2020

Friday 5 for June 26: Tubular




1. What’s your least favorite episode of your favorite television program?

Babylon 5”, is one of my all time favorite TV shows ever. But just like any other show it did have a few dog episodes. The one that I don’t like is an episode called “Grey 17 is Missing”. It is about a big monster that lives an area of the space station called “down below” . Robert Englund, most well known for playing Freddy Kruger on the “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies played an eccentric leader with a small band of followers. I like Englund’s performance on the old TV series “V” that ran from 1983 to 1984.

Babylon 5 is available for purchase from Amazon or streams for free on Comet TV and STIRR.

2. Across its series run, in what way did a favorite television program get worse?

Babylon 5” ran for five seasons and completed most of its pre-planned story arc. However the show was almost going to be cancelled during the fourth season. As a result a bunch of episodes that would close out the story was squeezed into Season 4 making it a blockbuster season. However after they got a 5th season, the writers and producers had to come up with additional content to finish the story out. The middle third of the 5th season spent too much time on a sub-arc dealing with rouge telepaths that were held up at the station. Don’t get me wrong, “Babylon 5” was still a great series. It is just that the 5th season was weaker than the previous 3 seasons (2 - 4) and matters were not helped when one of the key actors left the series at the end of the fourth year.

The X Files” which I loved got worse from Season 7 onward. Cast changes and the storyline got tired. By the first end of the series in year 9, I wasn’t watching it very much.

3. Among television programs you like very much, which ended far too soon?

FIREFLY… It was one of the greatest space adventures that was cancelled way too soon! Ugh!!!! The show ran for only 13 episodes. They released a movie called “Serenity” to wrap up loose ends. That was OK.

4. Among television programs you like very much, which dragged on for too long?

The X Files - see #2 above

5. What are some lines of dialogue you love from a favorite television program?

The exchange of dialogue between Mr. Morden and Centauri attaché Vir Kotto when Morden asks him “What do you want”? Babylon 5 fans love this exchange and later to see Vir’s wish come true.



6. My Bonus List: Top 10 TV Shows (Changes from time to time) - Yes I mostly like science fiction.
  1. Babylon 5
  2. Breaking Bad
  3. Star Trek The Next Generation
  4. The X Files
  5. Firefly
  6. Fringe
  7. Tales From the Loop
  8. Battlestar Galactica (re-imagined)
  9. Star Trek (classic)
  10. Star Trek Deep Space 9

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Friday 5 for June 19: Under lock and key

This week's Friday 5 - Under lock and key. Yep. Welcome to our dystopian world where government overregulation has crept deeper into our lives and taken away many of our personal freedoms, thanks to COVID-19. What a bummer. Questions are from Scrivener as usual on this blog.

1. What’s your mask situation like?

My current inventory consists of 10 cloth type masks that sell for $5.99 a pack at Don Quijote. These are just those light blue generic types, which I have found last quite a while. You can hand wash them and let them dry in the sun. Use them again and again. Yes, I am cheap.

These are government mandated fashions. Why should I spend too much money on this crap when it doesn't really protect me.

I have two colorful cloth masks given to me by a friend. Thanks Sandra C. I am saving the one I have for myself and gave the other to my friend. The second set of masks was given to me by someone that work in the organization that I do their website for. I got two patriotic masks with the American flag and an eagle on them. Haven't used them unless I go to something that deserves me to be seen in them.

I had two black cloth masks that I first bought when this whole mess started for $5 each. They were nice. One thing that I have found is that the elastic straps on these masks break easily. Both of mine broke and I no longer use those masks. I refuse to buy anymore expensive masks if the straps are the weak point.

I also have two N95 masks that someone else gave me several months ago when this whole crisis was in its infancy. I dare not wear those in public. There may be people out there who chastise individuals who wear N95s because "we are denying healthcare workers from getting one"..... bull-crap.

A cottage industry has developed because of this government mandate, with individuals as well as small and large businesses selling masks, most starting at $5 to $6 each. High end ones go for a lot more. No thanks.

Government is forcing me under penalty of being fined to wear a mask. After my two initial masks broke, I decided no thanks to any pricey masks unless I can find one that looks this:




2. In what way is your life better today than a few months ago?

Up until recently it was nice to drive on the streets without too much traffic on the roads. Now that things are opening up again, traffic is spiking up to near normal levels. Other than that, nothing else is better.



3. What do you miss from normal living?

Let's see if I can come up with a top 10 list to this one....

  1. Being everywhere mask free. Duh????
  2. Going to work
  3. The monthly sidewalk sale for cheap records and CDs at Idea's Books and Music.
  4. Eating inside a restaurant
  5. Meeting my friends for lunch, even though I hardly did that.
  6. Be worry free about touching things or brushing up against people who may be carrying the COVID-19 virus. 
  7. I hate those places that require a temp check before entering. So far I am avoiding them.
  8. I cannot go to the Big Island of Hawaii without a) subjecting myself to quarantine (up to June 15) and now b) having to fill out some stupid disclosure form before traveling and then submitting it to the government so that they may contact trace you. Ugh! Plus wearing masks in planes, airports, etc. suck.  So sorry Southwest and Hawaiian Airlines.... I am not flying until everything about that process reverts to normal pre-COVID19 levels.
  9. Going to scenic points to take photos. Currently most of them are still closed I think.
  10. Freedoms we had before this mess started.

4. When this is over, what will be your major takeaway?

Will the COVID-19 crisis ever get over? Hawaii is spiking up again since more businesses and socialization opportunities have reopened. Could the state and the rest of the nation go back into lockdown mode later this year during the fall and winter months? We are half way now to a year with this thing.

Perhaps the major takeaway could be to change the leadership of our local government through the elections coming up this year.

Buy a dumb burner phone.

5. What are your feelings about getting back out there sooner, rather than later?

Just be careful. Avoid gathering with large groups in the same place for a length of time.... perhaps 10 minutes or longer. Good thing for me is that I am not a group type of person. I don't go to movies, concerts or other large gatherings mainly due to cost, so avoiding these will be easy.

Surely though, the state should open up to tourism again since no matter what everyone says, it will bring the economy back since there are so many people unemployed and many businesses dying on the vine.