.:JuSaMee:.’s Neighborhood

Yah yah, I know, Target, who cares.  Well apparently, 1,800 Hawaii people in the 1st half hour at the Kapolei Target alone care.  BTW, that number doesn't include the other Target in Aliamanu that openned at the same time.  Might I add that I've been to Target on my many vacations to Vegas and I'm not really a fan, but I thought I'd check it out.

 

 

Notice those familiar balls?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kinda reminds me of Kmart, only upscale.

 

Love the carts though.  They're so...futuristic.

 

Just some ongoings of Hawaii.

So we're cruising around Kalihi looking for a good place to eat before we start work and up pops The Original Pancake House.  Yah, how much "Original" pancake houses have you seen?  Anyway, this is how it looked.

 

It's one of those lovely "hole in the wall" places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My very heavy Portuguese sausage omlette and hash browns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My fellow coworkers, Rob and Sam, digging in to a nice breakfast.  The atmosphere was great.

 

 

 

 

Yup, those that want to know the ongoings of Hawaii.  The kapolei Costco is finally done and their grand opening is tommorrow.  Woo hoo!  Now I can walk over there for $1.50 hotdogs and soda.

 

Wow!  I haven't posted in while.  It's that damn Facebook I tell you.  Ever since I signed up for that all I do is play games and update my status.  It's crazy.  Anyhow, this is our going away party for Troy.  He's actually just moving to our town office while we get a new trainee.

 

Here's our makeshift kitchen/conference room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was in charge of the teri-chicken.  It was my first time using an electric grill.  I wasn't impressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn' that look delish?  We were kinda going for a Japanese themed luncheon.

 

My plate.  Yes, I ate it all.  Had to jump on the tredmill after, but it was worth it.

I admit it.  I'm a Chilis fan.  I just love the food they serve there.  I'm not one of those fancy-shmancy type people that need the fine dining experience.  I'm all about feeling good and having a being comfortable.  Hence, when my friend Rob from an old job started his first day at this job (he's lucky I got him the ins) and our mutual friend Kasey from that same old job wanted to have lunch, yup, we headed of to Chilis.  Nothing fancy, just good food and friends.

 

Here Kasey opted for the healthy choice of Salmon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob who said he was gonna start dieting after this got himself the apple wood bacon burger.  Now that looked really good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me, I'm sticking to a healthier meal.  got the turkey sandwhich.  Yah, yah, I didn't eat most of the fries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a kind of action shot of the two.  Kasey's looking to get her i.d. out for some drinks and Rob's just making a funny face I guess. LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a side note, here's Honolulu's finest about to arrest one of our security guards.  Yup, one of our "Security guards"...wtf is up with that?!  Who hired this guy?  What, no background checks?  BTW, check out what the cop on the grass is staring at.  Can we say "booty"?

...Wowbama... Bamatastic... Obamastock... 3 million men and women march... WTF?!  That was a crazy day!  I've never seen anything like it or was even interested in politics until President Obama came along.  On that very day he was inaugurated, people from all over the world came together to celebrate a "new hope".  Although it was just words, it was comforting, it was incouraging, it was what the people needed to hear at a time when the world is in a slump.  It was that speech that a good football coach gives to his team when it's half-time and they're down by 3 touchdowns.  It can be done.  It will be done.  We need to do it together.  That's what I got from his speech.  It was the first time since President Kennedy that a President asked the people directly to get invloved and do something about it.  Goosebump moment.

Anyway, did you see that Neighborhood Ball hosted by President Obama?  Did you know that was the first "Neighborhood Ball" ever and that President Obama wanted it opened to the public so tickets were free.  Never has that happend in the history of our nation.  This guy is so genuine and down to earth, I can't believe he's our President.  It amazed me more to see BIG TIME movie, TV, and music stars agasp at being able to see and be a prt of the celebration.  Beyonce' was crying and in disbelief, world famous Beyonce' was like a little girl seeing her idol for the first time.  Oprah had to stand in the crowd, not on stage, even one of the richest women in the world was just a part of the crowd.  And, I've never seen Denzel Washington ever come out to do any kind of hosting.  That was probably the biggest event of the year.  I mean, was anybody watching anything else?  If you happend to miss it here's some clips.

 

 

OMG.  I swear I got goose bumps and almost cried watching this moment.  It was as if there was no war, there was no economic turmoil, there was no hate, there was only this moment in time.  Priceless.  Make a commercial out of that.  BTW, I do have the President speech that i'm going to upload but i have to shrink it first.  Other than that...relieve the moment in history again.

Obama day at last, thank God we have Obama day at last.  I'm sure the whole world was listneing and watching as Obama was signed in as the 44th president of the United States.  It gave me chills up my spine to hear him deliver his speech of "picking ourselves up and dusting ourselves off" and starting a new.  Kinda reminded me of the ending of Deep Impact.  Did you get thet feeling too?  Anyway, I'm glad the the wheels of power has changed hands and that no matter what we all will be moving in a more posiitve direction under the leadership that represents what an American is all about.  I just wanted to post some pictures of what today was like when Obama became president, to remind me of where i was and what i was doing at the time.  Go O'bama!!!

 

It couldn't have been a more beautiful morning in Hawaii.

As you can see, even the sun wouldn't let the clouds cover up this day.

Do you see how still it was?  Hence, the Earth stood still on this historic day.

Whoa!  It's been a while since I uploaded any new posts.  I tell you, it's that damn addicting Facebook.  I just can't seem to pull myself away from it.  If I'm not checking it on my computer then I'm checking it on my phone.  Did I mention I got a new phone. It's sooooo sweet.  I'll save that for another day.  Anyway,  a friend of mine sent me this cool commercial that I thought was classic.  Looking for that new perfect home?

 

Yeah, more food.  I swear I put on like 15lbs working over here, but the food is outrageous.

 Our theme for this year was "finger food" so everyone either brought something or bought something.  Most of the items if not all can be eaten in one bite.  That was the plan at least.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a look see at the  teri meatballs, teri furikake salmon, stuffed mushrooms, Hong Kong noodles, baked shrimp and chicken.

 

Stuffed mushroom and ham.

 

This is Tom's famous nishime dish.  There's pork, carrot, and some other goodness wrapped in seaweed.

 

 

For those not in "the know", this sliced meat is called "pipi kaula".  It's our local version of smoked beef/jerky.  It's an excellent combination for beer.

 

No new years is new years without some fresh island poke'.

 

Of course we have the sushi platter.

 

Now the line begins fo' grind. Guess who's first?  Yup, it's that Tom again.  This guy was made to work here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two kids are salty because they had to set up but have to wait in line.  Ho hum...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom and Troy loading up.

 

Poor thing.  How come the ladies go after the guys?  BTW, I'm one of the guys but I'm still taking pictures so I haven't gotten any food yet either.

I'm a gentleman like that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhhhh. Finally got my plate and it's loaded with goodness brought from above.  Damn it's good to be working in Hawaii with awsome coworkers.

 

 

Here's just about everyone that could fit on the tables.  There's about 7 of us that are sitting where I'm taking this picture from.  Too much good food, not enough space. 

Well, Happy New Year to you all and hope you have another great one.

It's party time, or it was.  One of "the boys" planned to have a birthday party out in Waikiki in the newly openned Yardhouse.  We also had some of the crew that moved off island returning to visit their family and friends so it was a reunion/b-day party.  Anyway, the reservations for 20 was for 9pm at the Yardhouse and we thought we'd roll down by 8pm to get an early start.  1st off, there's only valet parking there.  2nd, it's frickin $6 for 4hours of valet parking plus the tip. 3rd, I drove up the ramp because I didn't know it was valet to begin with.

Anyhow, we get to Yardhouse and we were just gonna sit down and cruise with some beers but the place was frickin packed.  Luckily our friend reserved a spot for 20 but we wanted in now so we put our name down...how long was the wait list?...2 hours.  WTF?!  We were hungry and in need of alcohol. So we decided to walk across the street to Senor Frogs which was much more empty.  And this is why...

 

..OK, not yet.  1st, these are the out of towners.  From the left...Ric (Fremont, Cali) Garrett (Japan, who knows), and Austin (Japan, don't know either).  Btw, that arm belongs to Rob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's Rob.  Hahahahaahaha!  He was hungry.

 

Anyway, we sit down and our waiter hands us menus written in Japanese.  We all were born and raised in Hawaii and with the exception of the 2 guys that are living in Japan, we don't speak it.  In fact, we were speakin gin "Ingrish" when we walked in the door and asked for a table for 9.  WTF?  OK, OK, it's Waikiki and there are a lot of tourist.  I only gave our waiter a little grief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Austin hands me over a specia treat from Japan. He claims it's some hangover medicine that will save me from the headaches and beer sh$ts...we'll see.

 

BTW, I did drink it.  At first I felt like puking because it tatsed like downing a spice rack , but I did feel OK the next morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is why I am never going back here.  They make everyone wear these silly balloon hats and do a train dance around the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't let my pictures fool you, the food wasn't that great.  We should have killed time at PF Changs instead which was even closer to the Yardhouse.  Anyway ,on to the Yradhouse.

 

Here's a pic of the Yardhouse at Waikiki in the background.  Oh, that's Grant a.k.a. "G-money" waiting for us.  IDK who the guy in the red hat is.  Now, this place was rockin and the cool spot to be in.  There was @$$ galore for both guys and girls.  If your in Waikiki, cruise on over here.  It was a good mix of locals and tourists alike.

 

So with a little cohersing we got to dominate our 2 tables for 20.  There's Jamie a.k.a. "J-fuzz" on the right and Garrett a.k.a. "GC" on the left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Austin a.k.a. "Harold and Kumar look alike" trying to be cool texting.  Yah, he so much looks like Harold.  Remember, he's the one who hooked me up with the herb remedy.  Hahahaha!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the birthday boy arrives after like 30 mintues.  The name is Tracy, but we call hime "Tre" a.k.a. "Tre-dizzle".

 

Tre's wife Dawn a.k.a. "D-cups" laughs at Tre's porn site on his iPhone.  LMAO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ooops.  Food!  Yah, I was kinda feelin good so I totally forgot the food shots.  At least I got this one of GC's island style poke'.

 

Here's my first order of beer.  Yah...the sampler baby!  5 six ounce glasses of pure heaven.  Beer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Harold" and "G-money" get the "beer by the yard" deal.  I ended up getting 2 more of those afterward.

 

OK.  After about 3 hours and with 20 minutes before we leave Jeff a.k.a. "J-town" rolls in.  "Harolds" all drunk by then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of Tre's other friends from UPS showed up to party the night.  Here's Tre and Jason a.k.a. "mack-daddy-one".  He ended up talking to some pretty hot girls who was actually with some guy.  Helps to have a group of 20 backing you up I guess.

 

OK.  This dude never drinks.  Last time he got drunk he pulled out his "pee-pee" and showed all the girls.  LMAO. Nah nah nah.

This was the second table behind us that Tre was on.  See that big "bruddah" in the red shirt in the back.  That was our "bouncer" for the night.  It was a good time drinking and a better time spending it with some old friends.  Next time, barbeque at my house.  Woo hoo!!!!