Friday 5 for January 16, 2015: Home is Where the Hearth Is!

Haven't done one of these for a while.. but Scrivener hits on a favorite topic of mine... CLUTTER! Hah!



1. What is your approach to dealing with (or preventing) clutter?

I have none. I have plenty of clutter. The only things that I got rid of in significant numbers were VHS and Betamax tapes. My place is very small.

2. What kinds of (tangible) things do you seem to have an unreasonable time letting go of?



All of them: Record albums, 45 rpm vinyl singles, cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, books, camera gear, computers (I had to trim down to laptops, desktops take up a lot of space), old photographs, negatives, a lot!!!!

3. If you could start completely over with your existing living space (and money were only a slight limitation), how would you make it more suited to you and your lifestyle?

Clean out the clutter, slim down on the stuff I have, remodel the place so that it is more of a home office entertainment center. I'd like to get a big screen HDTV put in someday with a better sound system than I have now.

4. How many standalone small kitchen appliances do you own, and how many do you use regularly?

Microwave, toaster, rice cooker... those are the only ones that qualify as small kitchen appliances. Use them with some regularity.

5. What does your current living space really need more of? ROOM!

Friday 5 for January 9: Song Stuff

Well I guess I have to answer this one retroactively. The nice thing about Blogger is that I can backdate late blog entries. So here goes....

1. What’s a song that reminds you of your parents?

I wasn't at their wedding, but I think "The Hawaiian Wedding Song" was featured then.... way back in 1955. My Dad liked jazz music, big band... Lawerence Welk stuff. He also liked Hawaiian music, Arthur Lyman, Don Ho, The Four Amigoes and even some songs by Elvis Presley.

My Mom was mostly into country music and Hawaiian. However I remember her teaching us "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, "The Bunny Hop" and "Hokey Pokey" when we were kids.

In a nutshell, no one song reminds me of my parents but instead several of them.

2. What’s a song that makes you think of food?



"Junk Food Junkie" by Larry Groce from 1976... "in the daytime I'm Mr. Natural, just as healthy as I can be... in the night time I'm a junk food junkie, good Lord have mercy on me!"

3. What’s a memorable song from a movie soundtrack?

Theme from "Star Wars" - Song is so good that it is used to start all 6 movies so far. My top 10 movie soundtrack songs:



1. Star Wars - John Williams / London Symphony Orchestra
2. Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees (Saturday Night Fever)
3. Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland (The Wizard of Oz)
4. A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles (A Hard Days Night)
5. Theme From "Jaws" - John Williams / London Symphony (Jaws)
6. Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey) - Strauss / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
7. Lara's Theme / Somewhere My Love - Maurice Jarre (Dr. Zhivago)
8. Grease - Franki Valli (Grease)
9. Gonna Fly Now (Theme from "Rocky") - Bill Conti
10. Theme from the "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" - Ennio Morricone / Hugo Montenegro

There are many more.

4. What was your favorite song from 2014?



"My Silver Lining" by First Aid Kit got the most plays last year on my iTunes and iPods. I really liked that song. Haven't compiled my list of Top 100 songs of 2014 yet.


5. What are your favorite songs for when you’re behind the wheel?

1. Deadman's Curve - Jan & Dean
2. Behind the Wheel / Route 66 medley - Depeche Mode
3. Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
4. Breaking Into Cars - The Raveonettes
5. Love in a Trashcan - The Raveonettes
6. Slow Ride - Foghat
7. Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood & the Destroyers
8. Suzy & Jeffrey - Blondie
9. The Crunge - Led Zeppelin
10. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Friday 5 for September 12: Spending

Help fund Honokaa Peoples' Theatre digital projection system.

1. What crowd-funding projects have you supported? If you haven’t supported any, were there some that really intrigued you?

I am helping Honokaa Peoples' Theatre fund the purchase of a $60,000 digital projection system. The theatre in my hometown is somewhere that I spent a lot of time during my childhood and teen years going to and enjoying movies. It is one of those old, standalone, single screen theatres that surprisingly is still in business today showing movies, thanks to the dedication of its current owners. The place was built in 1930.

Time has caught up with the theatre and the distribution companies that send movies to theatres large and small are going 100% digital by the end of the year. That means no more film for small theatres like the one in Honokaa. They have to go digital or not be able to show movies at all. It would be sad if the theatre that I went to see such classic movies as The Sound of Music, Planet of the Apes, 2001, Mary Poppins, Star Wars, Patton, The Love Bug, Paradise Hawaiian Style, and many others would go dark.

The theatre has become famous in recent years after the Japanese movie Honokaa Boy was made there and premiered at the theatre in 2009. My Dad had a bit part in this movie and today the theatre has permission to show Honokaa Boy almost in perpetuity. I just saw the movie during my most recent trip to Honokaa, even though my family already owns a copy on DVD.

To find out more about Honokaa Peoples' Theatre and the crowd sourcing project to get the digital projector go to their website.

2. How much of your monthly bill-paying is done online?

I pay my storage bill, web hosting and domain bills, some credit card bills online. I still use old fashioned checks to pay other bills sent in the mail, like homeowner's insurance and taxes!

3. What are some of the more memorable things you’ve bought or sold in online auctions?

I've never sold anything in an online auction. I frankly don't use eBay very much, but I have been happy with some vintage Minolta camera lenses that I bought a few years back.

4. What experience do you have with purchasing digital entertainment (music, movies, TV shows, or live web shows, for example) online?

I'm an Amazon Prime customer and subscribe to the Prime streaming service where I get streaming movies, TV shows, music and free shipping for almost anything I buy there. I like Amazon Prime. Even at $99 a year it still is a good bargain if you spend a lot of time watching streaming video (with no commercials) and listen to record albums you never got around to actually buying. I also like to occasionally buy actual CDs and they have free MP3 files that go along with some CDs you buy, which means you don't have to rip them yourself.

I like Amazon Prime not because of the videos, music and free shipping but the fact that I only have to pay the bill once a year. That I really like because I am not a fan of monthly billing. Got enough of that.

I also buy digital music from Amazon as well as iTunes and occasionally smaller venders like CD Baby or even the music artists themselves.

I don't "buy" digital videos. I rather stream them from the many free sources available or through Amazon.com.

5. What kind of stuff have you bought or sold from personal online craft stores, such as are found on Etsy?

Nothing.

Questions generated from the Friday 5 blog.

Friday 5 for July 18 - All is Fair

A day late and a dollar short. From Scrivener's Friday 5...

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

1. How do you feel about carnival rides?

Too expensive to ride these days but still nice to photograph if admission to the carnival is free.

2. How do you feel about carnival games?

I never play them because I never win and yes, they are expensive.

3. Whats your favorite carnival food?

Carnival food is expensive, but who doesn't like cotton candy? I would put cotton candy as a favorite, but don't eat it often. Too much sugar!

4. Which animals do you look forward to seeing at the fair?

Humans waiting in line for tickets, rides, the sideshow, food and games.

5. How much does it cost to ride the bus in your city?

$2.50 a trip. Will probably increase when the stupid train is built.

Thanks for participating, and have a Tilt-a-Whirl of a weekend!




Riding The Bus is sometimes like a carnival ride. You stop and go, see strange attractions and take in strange smells. Oooooooh.....

Friday 5 for July 4: Schwag*

From Scrivener's Friday 5 site.



1. What’s the most practically useful article of schwag* you’ve ever received?

Pens are particularly useful especially when you have to find one in a hurry. Always seem to be a promotional pen in my house somewhere.

2. What’s the most useless schwag you’ve ever received?

Bumper Stickers - I don't like to deface my car and the sticky residue many leave behind after they are peeled off. Yuck!

Buttons - I never wear them.

Irregularly Shaped CDs - They can get suck in your computer!!!!

3. What schwag do you receive on a regular basis, and how do you feel about it?

Pens - I like getting them because I don't have to buy any! Second to that I would probably say T-shirts and then tote bags. Free tickets are good depending on the event.

4. What’s something that could reasonably be great schwag material but for some reason isn’t?

Flash media cards. Who doesn't need a free one every now and then?

5. What the schwag that’s physically closest to you right now?

Pens, tote bag, water bottle.

* From Wikipedia: Promotional merchandise, promotional items, promotional products, promotional gifts, or advertising gifts, sometimes nicknamed swag or schwag, are articles of merchandise (often branded with a logo) used in marketing and communication programs. They are given away to promote a company, corporate image, brand, or event. These items are usually imprinted with a company’s name, logo or slogan, and given away at trade shows, conferences, and as part of guerrilla marketing campaigns.



The schwag in these photos include pens, pencils, two campaign brochures, one for Chris Lethem running for Senate in the 12th District (Honolulu) and for Carol Kaapu running for State House in Kalihi. Other items include a flashlight, tire pressure gauge and a Michlen tire guy statue.

Friday 5 for June 27: I Scream

From Scrivener's Friday 5 blog on "I Scream".

1. What’s something this past week that made you slightly bananas?

I ate 3 bananas this week.

2. What did you do last Sunday? What are you planning for this coming Sunday?

Reviewed 389 photos I took the night before at a political fund raiser. The only plan for this Sunday is to go to the airport at 10 in the night and pick up a friend that is coming home from Bellingham WA.

3. What’s something you fudged this past week?

A report that pulled data from a spreadsheet.

4. What was this week’s most interesting scoop?

Something about another friend getting a new bed. Not elaborating here.

5. What was the cherry on top of your good or bad week?

Good: Being with my special friend who is not the friend in #2 or #4 above.

Next....

Frdaiy 5 for June 13: Shopping

Questions from Scrivener's Friday 5

1. Roughly how many plastic shopping bags do you think are in your house right now, and which store is represented most by them?

I have hundreds, maybe thousands of plastic bags in my home. I am stocking up on them because they will be banned by the environmental wackos and the government sympathizers come July 2015 here in Honolulu. It really sucks to not get a bag for free of any type at your favorite store. This is coming to Honolulu because the government and the environmental wackos think that bags harm the earth. I recycle the plastic bags I get from the store and use them mainly as trash containers instead of buying the more expensive "Glad" type of trash bags that come rolled up in a box. Why use those when stores give out free plastic bags? Have been going on for decades. Why do government think they can always change our behavioral habits? It totally sucks.

The store most represented in my collection is 1. Don Quijote followed by 2. WalMart.

2. Roughly how many gift cards do you possess, and about how much are they worth in sum?

Several, most of them being self bought iTunes gift cards from Apple. They are worth over $50 as a collection.

3. What’s an aisle at your favorite grocery store or drugstore that you pretty much never walk down?

Feminine hygiene products. Have no need for those.

4. When you shop for groceries, are you most likely to grab a shopping cart or a shopping basket? How often do you grab neither?

Basket. Use neither when I know I'm only going in for one quick item.

5. What was the last thing you purchased just in case?

In order - batteries, toilet paper and rice. Hawaii is too dependent on overseas shipping not to have enough of these items. What if there is a natural disaster or worst, a shipping strike?