wish i had more time to show off but...

I just got home and have to leave tomorrow very early...so these pics will have to suffice:
first of all: I biked up haleakala on a fixed gear bike! (note the clouds below where I'm standing at the summit) - this ride was about 40 miles long and 2 miles up!


and on our second to last day there was a huge swell on the north shore - 20 foot waves!:


the spray from these waves hitting the rocks was gigantic - probably 50 feet or more




more pics will be forthcoming, but before I get to them I have to fly to DC, meet with a bunch of folks on the hill and at the FCC, as well as have a numbering meeting, and write an abstract on net neutrality for a conference next year...ugh.

to make matters worse, it's supposed to be down to 35 at nights while I'm there!

the whole thing makes me want to jump off a cliff!!!!

more reasons to love hawaii

a trip to sandys: (and a hot girlfriend):


a little body surfing sand rash on nakana (it's always the last run ya know):


a trip to doris duke's crib for a little swimming action with mary and amy:

oahu rocks

i know i know, it's like san diego or something. but it's beautiful too. just leave honolulu. ethan, scott, logan and I snuck onto some closed park land to get reborn in a waterfall (you literally had to crawl up through a shoot with water rushing down)

check this out:
logan eating after our swim:


aram jumping down the waterfall:

manoa valley inn seriously sucks

So we've been staying in the Manoa Valley Inn in Honolulu for Logan and Melissa's wedding. The experience at the supposed bed and breakfast has been terrible. The "honeymoon suite" we're staying in is way over priced, moldy and smells bad. The TV doesn't work (why bother having one), the owners' dogs run around all over the place and have fleas. The owners seem to get into fights with each other about the dogs and take it out on the guests. The parking lot is too small for the number of rooms and parking is very hard nearby because of the school. The parking matter is made worse by the fact that the staff that's working on the new bathroom (which if they don't put in a new hot water heater won't even get a full tub's worth of water that's warm) parks in all the spaces with no respect to guests (blocking them in etc) - so does the owner and his/her family. Instead of storing the construction equipment in the garage they store it on the sidewalk to the back of the property. This means you have to walk in wet grass to get to your room. And if you thought you were going to just walk through the house to get there - you're wrong! They don't give the "honeymooners" a key to the house, which means you have to walk around the back through the storage area.

But wait - it's get's better! Asking for glasses for wine will get you yelled at, as will being around when the wife discovers the dogs are out - yes: she will blame you for letting the dogs out even when her husband does - let's not even mention how irritating it is to have dirty miniature poodles humping on the porch and begging for food when you're trying to hang out. No wonder you get bitten by fleas when you sit on the back porch.

They won't replace towels, even if you drop them on the floor as directed, which means you're always using a wet towel because it's so humid there. The bathroom floor has floor carpets that reek of urine on hot days too. And the hot water runs out almost immediately and is almost impossible to adjust when it's there.

The owners also are irritated if you leave the fan or air conditioning on (either) and will turn them off, which means it's really, really muggy when you come in every time. Lest I forget the "honeymood suite" is underneath a mango tree so you'll get mangos dropping on your heads at all hours.

But it's better than that: The next door neighbors are section 8 housing!!! great!!! Little kids screaming, drunk adults yelling at each other and the smell of next door 's smokers are terrible.

It's probably better to call this place a hostel than a b&b and I would strongly recommend staying somewhere else. Really the single most crappy experience I've ever had in a hotel/b&b environment.

DRM only applies to other people

HAH! I must admit I'm rather enjoying Sony's ass whooping on this DRM stuff.

The latest news is their anti-piracy cum snooping/virus injecting product XCP contains violations of open source copyrights. Whoops. No, clearly this isn't Sony's fault, as they bought the service from first4internet, but hey, it is really funny no?

Oh let them be

Now, sure they haven't had a good album in, well, decades. And sure, they're old. But I've seen them live before. They put on a good show. Just let them play some music...

Rolling Stones Spark Noise Complaints

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- It's only rock 'n' roll -- but they didn't like it.

Officials received a deluge of complaints from residents who live near SBC Park, where the Rolling Stones played to a packed stadium Sunday night. Neighbors complained of windows and floors vibrating.

''I've got no artistic judgment against the Rolling Stones, but just because they're too old to hear their music doesn't mean their music has to be so loud,'' said Ted Weinstein, who said he heard noise from the concert from his home miles away.

Bob Davis, executive director of the city's Entertainment Commission, said his phone started ringing as soon as the Stones began playing.

the expression

see what I'm sayin' beeyatch!? does come to mind

things some people clearly think about

Georgia law provides an exemption to age requirements for marriage when the female applicant is pregnant.

So, what, exactly is the blue box?

The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace?

huh? (nytimes link, thanks greg)

"Take your rootkit and shove it"

what a great quote. especially to a country music act's manager. I guess this whole Sony SNAFU is starting to get a bit more attention. This particular quote from was from the NYTimes on hostility to a band on Sony. No real need for a link.

I'm NOT in denial

over and over again I am just amazed at the pumped in lushness of this desert. They have rolling hills of grass here. Is this what we're using all that water for? Can that be? It's frankly amazing that people are so comfortable with denial here.

class action for the classless

Sony, which my bet is will have its ass handily sued via a class action, finally kinda acknowledged that ''XCP'' is a really, really bad idea. The question now is, how much with this cost them. My guess is 200 bucks per user. Seriously. Lets see, you load software onto a person's computer (without their knowledge) that hackers take over to send personal information to them, not sony. I see the grokster as precedent on this one too. Serves them all right.

palm springs eternal

there is an air of unsustainability, and a total disregard for it, here. Actually, less so in palm springs than in indian wells, where I am staying for NARUC.

I do have to very, very highly recommend the japanese/mexican joint tanpopo loco - on highway 111 in dessert palms or indian sands or some name of some area that's indistinguishable from other areas down here. The important thing is that the place is in a strip mall on highway 111 at San Pablo and it was totally awesome. really good japanese food and really good mexican food - at the same time. Plus they're flexible about off menu items!

first pinochet, now fujimori

okay, they're not quite in the same league as far as murderous South Americans, but it was still good to hear that arrogance got the better of Fujimori and he thought he could freely leave absurdist Japan's shelter. At least we know Kissinger will always have a place to retire...

more tolerant or something

“It's gotten rave reviews from the international community,” she said. “I don't know if they're more tolerant or something, but they're viewing it as a great Western movie.”

this from the wyoming tourism board...apparently those damned gay cowboys are making wyoming look purdy to them inherently gay europeans.

best quote in the article (drudge of all people) is some playright saying:
“Don't try and take what we had, which was wonderful -- the cowboys that settled the state and made it what it was -- don't ruin that image... There's nothing better than plain old cowboys and the plain old history without embellishing it to suit everyone."
ummm...I'd say okay but you're kidding right?

dinner at marc's

a very good dinner at marc's place. the ratatouille was spectacular. the company was as well. hooray!

olives!

mary and I are making olives at home. three kinds. you're all welcome to try some when they're finished.

I suppose her father was killed by indians right?

McCain also questioned Griles about his relationship with Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy. The senator said Abramoff directed at least four of his tribal clients to give $250,000 to the group.

The council was founded by Norton and conservative activist Grover Norquist to promote Republicans' environmental agenda. Federici took over as president when Norton was named Interior secretary.

''Documents obtained in the course of the investigation suggest that Mr. Abramoff might have had his tribal clients pay so much because he perceived that CREA's president, Italia Federici, would help him get inside information about, and possibly influence, tribal issues pending at the Department of Interior,'' McCain said.

Federici did not appear at the hearing despite a subpoena. Her lawyer gave reporters a copy of a letter sent to the committee saying she planned to be at the hearing when it originally was set for Oct. 26, but could not attend the rescheduled one on Wednesday because it was the anniversary of her father's death.

ed threatens google/ed threatens apple

so ed whitacre waited until the day the FCC agreed to enforce a two year net neutrality committment from SBC (as part of a merger condition) to basically threaten the entire internet with extorsion. spectacular. The funny thing is it happened the same week another ed (bronfman this time) lambasted Apple for limited content price flexibility on media sold at the itunes store. Similar parallels in my mind; different eds on different sides of the coin