Hawaii and Tahoe
I’m back in Santa Clara after a much needed break from work. Well, that’s a lie – I went to work last Tuesday for a few hours. But, I feel mentally rested, physically sore, and ready for 2009. Inspired by Wysz (I didn’t realize how much I missed him until I saw him this morning), here’s what I did the past few weeks:
Beaches
I was on the island of Oahu from the 23rd to the 30th, and tried to spend as much time as possible at the beach to get a tan. My relatives took me to a bunch of beaches:
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| From Christmas in Hawaii |
Kailua – on the north side of the island. Gorgeous sand, not very crowded. Obama was spending the Holiday’s nearby. We drove around looking for him but he must have been busy.
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| From Christmas in Hawaii |
Ko’olina – one of my favorite beaches. There’s limited guest parking so it’s never crowded and the sand is really smooth.
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| From Christmas in Hawaii |
Ala Moana – close to Waikiki and a good ‘local’ beach. This is a shot of Diamond Head from the boat harbor. I also went to Turtle Bay Resort, where Forgetting Sarah Marshall was filmed. I got a little darker but nothing too noticeable.
Family
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| From Christmas in Hawaii |
My parents and sister spent Christmas Day at my Aunt’s house, opening presents. Much appreciated gifts included a Lance Armstrong Livestrong shirt, Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope,” Hawaiian snacks, and a new Nikon camera lens. I received a cookbook too – maybe my family is trying to tell me something…
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| From Christmas in Hawaii |
Here we are playing Trivial Pursuit. I liked this edition because depending on your roll, you could get an easy, medium, or hard question. The easy questions were still really challenging!
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| From Christmas in Hawaii |
I also got to spend time with my two young cousins, Austin (6) and Tobey (3). They’re growing up so fast and Austin is already adept at playing Madden 09 on the Wii. Luckily he wanted me to be on his team so I didn’t get embarrassed by losing to a 6 year old. We never once punted the ball on fourth down. I wish NFL teams played like that too.
Food
There was also a lot of fooding – my Uncle is an incredible cook who made delicious handrolls, salmon, spring rolls, and eggs benedict (not all at the same time). We also made our pilgrimage to Waiola Shave Ice and ate out at a few Chinese and Japanese restaurants. It was a losing battle to avoid getting fat.
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| From Christmas in Hawaii |
That’s my cousin Austin with the local McDonald’s Deluxe Breakfast – eggs, rice, Spam, and portuguese sausage. I’m scared to look at the nutritional facts for that meal!
Phone
I guess this deserves its own entry, because I did manage to get addicted to my G1 phone over the past few weeks. I got a data plan right before I left for Hawaii, so I took the opportunity to play countless hours of Coloroid and Trap!. As mentioned earlier, I also used Twitter to quickly determine what happened when the power went out for a full night across the entire island. Being connected to 2G network is somewhat frustrating, but I think it’s a sign that I shouldn’t be too reliant – after all, why be on looking at a phone when you’re in Hawaii?
Fun
After an incredible time in Hawaii, I came back to the Bay Area on a grueling 12AM-7AM redeye flight. Since I had parked my car at the office and didn’t want to put anyone through the pain of picking me up, I took the Bart -> Caltrain -> Caltrain Bus back to work. That took my a total of 2+ hours, but as the cost of $6, I’d say it was worth it, and it did put some of my appreciation with our public transportation system. When I got to my car, I thought “what the heck, why not?” and threw my suitcase into my car and walked into the office.
The next few days were spent in South Lake Tahoe. I had a blast skiing on New Year’s Day, but had even more fun trying out snowboarding for the first time. It was (and I still feel) painful, but since my friends and I were all relatively new at it, we all suffered (enjoyed it?) together. Justin and Arden helped a whole bunch in teaching me what to do, otherwise I’m sure I would be a lot more sore. By the end of the day I could slowly turn in both directions – I just hope I remember how to do that the next time I go!
We played plenty of games, cooked some dinner, built a snowman, and lounged around the cabin watching TV and reading. All in all, a good time.
Now that I’m back, time to think of some resolutions.