Homespun Honolulu

If you drive around Honolulu International Airport for just a bit, you’ll see all kinds of interesting things. Almost exactly a year ago, I was meandering around the same area taking pictures of the lei stands. Just beyond the lei stands, you will see a rental car agency. Then you’ll see another. And then another.

So, this time, I couldn’t resist taking pictures of all those rental car places. This doesn’t even include the ones that were just outside of the airport grounds. Which one will I choose? I don’t know, the cheapest one? Which one is the cheapest? Are they going to want my blood type? You can tell that renting a car is not my favorite thing to do.

Well, since my car is still functioning at least reasonably well, I hopefully won’t have to face that dilemma any time soon!

But, what happens to the visitor who really needs a car? If they’re on Oahu they can always catch the bus or a trolley if they’re not going too far outside of central Oahu, but the adventurous visitor will need a little more control if they’re going to go exploring. They’re going to need their own car!

Well, in the interest of saving time and because I’m lazy, how about a place that compares them all and gives you the best rates and maybe any bonus offers? There is a Hawaii Car Rental site that does just that! What a great service — so you don’t have to call them all yourself. Check out their web address — Hawaii Drive-O, I love that! I was waiting for the theme song from Hawaii Five-O to start playing. Don’t worry, it didn’t.

More importantly, scroll down a bit and check out the little orange bullet points — no pre-payment or cancellation fees, unlimited mileage on all rental cars, no credit card to make your reservation and they all have air conditioning! Okay, those are just the ones that caught me… I’m sure the other points will be of even more interest to people who travel a lot.

The biggest concern that came to mind while I was thinking about what to do with these impulse photos, was what to do on the other islands where they don’t have the public transportation system that we do on Oahu. Guess what? They’ve got it covered! There’s a link that covers Maui Car Rentals quite nicely.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, what about the biggest island where people need a car the most? They know that Hawaii Island Drives! Can you imagine being on the Big Island without a vehicle? Wait, it gets better… there’s also a map on that page that shows Kauai and Molokai as well!

Wow, they’ve even got Molokai covered? That is some serious visitor care! Actually, this is some serious customer care — for both visitors and kama’aina. If I were going to Molokai, I wouldn’t even know where to start! Uh, the phone. That’s all I would know. Then, while I would probably get a car to drive, I would not necessarily get one at the best rate.

I’m bookmarking this place. They even have a sitemap with an abundance of links and a wealth of additional information. Contact Hawaiian Discount Car Rentals so you can ask them to, “Book ‘em, Danno!” Sorry, I couldn’t resist saying that. I told you I liked that web address!

While Honolulu welcomes the Pro Bowl back to Hawaii, the NFL is looking into other locations and bigger monetary gains.

You know, while I was watching things unfold around here last week, I couldn’t help but focus my mind on how the media kept talking more and more about the Pro Bowl leaving Hawaii for another location.

The fascination and attraction is still very strong here. People here love to interact with these stars that they otherwise would never see, except on television. We’re isolated and can’t just travel across state lines to attend the next game. This is the only pro football game that Hawaii gets to experience live.

What Will the NFL Lose?

Is it an idle threat or are they really going to pull this venue out from under us? I heard a comment on one of the news channels that people loved it because it gave them the chance to visit Hawaii and enjoy the game.

For both the participants and the fans, I can’t help but think that pulling out of Hawaii may change the face of this happy and fun event to one of mere obligation for all involved and a little bit of extra spending money.  That’s if you can get them to go at all.

There was also talk about having the Pro Bowl on the weekend before the Superbowl. My knee-jerk reaction to that idea was an instantaneous one: “Are you nuts?!?”

Can you imagine the pandemonium in a city expected to host these two large media events back to back? The stress of back-to-back events like that would be huge! Where would people stay? Would there be enough hotel room space to support such a venture? Of course, on the flip side of that, would there be enough people who even show up to fill those rooms?

Another comment flying around was that players in the Superbowl are not going to play in the Pro Bowl for fear of injury. Good point.

What Will We Lose?

Let’s think about this. While we do pay out a handsome amount of cash to host this event, we receive a lot in return. NFL Charities does a lot of charitable giving in conjunction with the Pro Bowl. They give handsomely every year to youth-related programs and/or projects — to the tune of roughly $100,000.

This year, NFL Charities gave $1 million to assist with the construction of a new youth center in Nanakuli.  Whoa!  Thank you for the generous gift!  That is a much needed and much appreciated donation!  Or, was that guilt money?

Somehow, the Pro Bowl seems to be losing its charitable nature. Some other comment flying around stated that the NFL is looking to capitalize more than they do, i.e. “the bottom line is the bottom line.” I understand that, but I have an ugly feeling that the NFL may actually end up losing revenue. How do you entice players and their families to give up a large chunk of their time to go to one of the other states in the middle of winter?  Why would they want to make that trip to a place they may visit often already anyway?

They’ve been talking about Florida a lot. Florida is a great place but if you think Honolulu’s humidity is bad, wait until you try Florida’s!

Of course I have no idea what it’s like to endure a Florida winter. It may be that the heat and humidity are more tolerable in the winter time. Of course there’s always Disney World.

I don’t think you’ll find too many big red Cardinals dancing the hula in Florida, or anywhere else for that matter. Even the mascots were enjoying themselves.

If this was an idle threat on the NFL’s part, I think everyone heard it loud and clear! Not only was the Pro Bowl one of the hot topics all week long, it was a focus of several businesses and it attracted more media attention than usual. At least it felt that way.

Even to get most of these pictures I had to creep behind the sound people and buck the media cameras to get closer. I’m sure I ticked some people off but so be it.

The way it stands now, I have one more year to try to get better pictures but that may be the end of it. The Pro Bowl is scheduled to be held in Hawaii in 2009 but it is unclear where it will go after that.

Just before posting this I saw that a site posted some commentary written by someone who attended the game! “Alright,” I thought, “now I can get some real scoops!” Well, since everything I had heard from locals and on the news was positive and people were having fun, and since everyone seemed happy, either to be here or to have the NFL stars here, I couldn’t help but think that maybe this guy should have stayed home and rested.

I fully understand his feelings and I respect them. But, if that is how people are going to respond to the Pro Bowl in other places on the mainland, I would be even more concerned about this idea of changing the venue for this event! Maybe he was bored with us and our refusal to turn Kalakaua Avenue into a college frat party. I just think that we recognize these visitors as professionals who have come to share their time and talent with us, and we treat them as such.

My feeling is that people should urge the NFL to keep the Pro Bowl here — to give us, and to give themselves, their staff and the players something to cheer about! We love you guys and we like it when you come down the hang out with us for a while! You guys worked hard all season and we want you to have just a little down time to recover!  “Before you roll those dice, Baby think twice!”

The security of our personal information has always been a high priority but never as high as when the Internet became so popular. We’ve all heard the horror stories and we still have people living in fear of Internet commerce, and other types of financial transfers. I still remember the stories about restaurants and not letting your credit card out of your site for fear someone will lift your information. And on and on it goes.

Many of us have gone the other extreme — we’re too comfortable with our financial transactions, both online and elsewhere. Are we too comfortable? Have we let our guard down too much? How can we protect ourselves and still enjoy the paperless lifestyle we’ve come to enjoy and relish? Well, lifelock seems to think we have become too comfortable but they want us to maintain the lifestyle to which we’ve become accustomed.

This is particularly difficult for Hawaii when we’re all the way across the ocean and have to rely very heavily on paperless transactions. We can’t just drive to that store that has what we want. That realization started me thinking.

While looking through the LifeLock site, I couldn’t help but decide that their CEO, Tod Davis, is a crazy man. He put his social security number online… in big numbers… in the middle of the page! Is he really a crazy man? If he believes in his company that much, then I’d say that is business marketing at its finest!

Anyway, just to skim the surface, here’s what caught my attention — if I lose my purse to another glass-breaking thief at 7-11, here is what LifeLock will do for me:

If your wallet is ever lost or stolen:

We’re here to help! Just give us a call and a WalletLock Specialist will help you contact each affected credit card, bank or document issuing company, cancel those accounts and complete the paperwork and steps necessary to replace your lost documents*, including your credit/debit cards, driver’s license, social security card, insurance cards, checkbook – even travelers checks – at no additional cost. You’re even covered overseas. *Pictures, cash and other monies are excluded. Member is responsible for all applicable fees charged by document issuing companies to replace lost or stolen documents.

“Now way?!? Really?”

Did I fall for it? You bet!

**This page is your receipt, please print it and retain it for your records**

Congratulations on becoming a LifeLock member, you are now protected by our $1 Million Total Service Guarantee.

Note: In order for LifeLock to proactively communicate with you regarding account status information and service updates it is very important that you include *@lifelock.com on the “allowed” list in your anti-spam filter for both your e-mail and your internet service provider (ISP). If you have questions about how to do this, please contact your ISP.

Your membership has been processed using the following information:

* You have elected the following membership plan: monthly, which includes a recurring payment of $10.00
* The number of family members protected is: 1

Thank you and welcome to LifeLock!

Okay, so now I’m covered. Hooray! Don’t worry, I picked their site apart, called two of their phone numbers and read their agreements. They’re all working and there are live bodies, corporate offices and all kinds of reassuring things. While they’re not going to cover anyone for not paying their bills on time, we can at least relax and only worry about that part.

Through all of this I couldn’t help but be reminded of that blogger in England whose blog was stolen out from under him recently. Identity theft is an ugly thing! I wish someone would create a program like Lifelock for blogs! I love LifeLock’s ideas and it sounds like a great service. Now if someone could come up with BlogLock, I think I would pay double for that service! I would love to lock my blog up but, for now, I just locked myself up!

With so many companies turning the management of retirement funds over to their employees, many people are baffled about just how to handle this new duty.

There are a lot of people and websites out there who are offering assistance to people in need of investment guidance but this one has a bit of a twist that I have not seen offered in exactly this way. TheBuyList.com gives investors the opportunity to set up a list of their own stock picks and then compare them to the picks of the professional investors buying assets for various mutual funds, etc.

This site will show you which funds bought a particular stock, how much they bought or sold of that stock and what other securities they bought as well. The idea is that you can compare your decision making to that of those actually involved with the buying and selling of the things your contemplating purchasing. It’s fascinating to look at!

Not only do you get to compare your stock picks with the professionals, you also get to see just which stocks are making up some of the mutual funds you may already own or are looking to purchase. Not all reports are free but, depending on how extensive your portfolio is, you may find their nominal monthly fee to be a very good investment. Only you know what your assets are and just how extensive your own research is.

Do you ever wonder where to invest your funds, retirement or otherwise, and contemplate which stocks to buy? You might want to start some of your research at TheBuyList. Now if they could only add historic prices for these stocks we would have it made!

Technorati Tags: investing, mutual funds, stock research, stock tips, TheBuyList.com

I may be dating myself with this, or at least my longevity on the Internet, but, I remember the company, VistaPrint, from days gone by. They made business cards for free a very long time ago. Now that’s a marketing technique from the past. Well, it must have worked at some level because, man, you should see them now! They’re offering all kinds of things to put your logo or picture on… a lot more than business cards!

The thing that caught my eye and started my mind thinking was the custom postcards. I couldn’t help but think we could use our photos (the good ones of course) to make postcards unique to our blogs, our islands, our cultures, events, whatever, that are not available anywhere else. Then, we can use them for just about any purpose — for sending holiday wishes, reminders, notices, all kinds of things!

Vista Print has taken things a step further at this point — they will even take a mailing list that you provide, and mail the cards for you! This may not work very well for holiday greetings to family and friends, but it sure works for business marketing and fund raising organizations!

I’m trying to date them but I really don’t remember exactly when they appeared. They may have come on the scene about the same time that eBay did. Yeah, I remember that too. My desire for my own identity makes me lean towards products like this. I think the bloggers and online businesses that are offering, or have offered, their t-shirts for sale or as gifts. I think that is so cool! Yeah, they do that too. Anyway, to answer the title question and hopefully not date myself even more in the process, “they’ve come a long way baby!” Now if I can just design a logo or come up with the perfect picture…

Whether you live in Honolulu or not, it’s always good to know where the Cheap Hotels are! If you don’t live here but intend to visit, the reasons for this are obvious. If you do live here, the various disasters that can and do happen, and the occasional need to do some termite tenting certainly make it beneficial to keep track of the current list of inexpensive places to stay!

What caught my attention was that this site has a blog of its own. I appreciated reading a post that talked about the Honolulu Academy of Arts and I wanted to slap myself for not knowing that the Academy does the once a month thing on the last Friday of the month! Considering all of the hype surrounding First Fridays and Third Thursdays in downtown Honolulu, you would think that I would have known better! Thirty lashes for me on that one!

In addition to my missing the obvious, I also discovered a couple of things included in their list of activities that I want to explore further! I’ll have to link back to them, as embarrassing as it is, to thank them for drawing my attention to some of these things.

For those of you who are writers and/or bloggers, they also have a Writer’s Network which you can join if you want to write about your city! Here’s what they list as the benefits of becoming part of their writing network:

• Enjoy access to over 18 million visitors a year.
• Make contact with other writers from your area and around the world.
• Refer employers to professionally published examples of your writing.

Is it me or does this sound like another networking opportunity? You just never know where you’ll find hidden treasure!

We were in the mood for Greek food the other day so we decided to go to the place with the easiest access. The Greek Marina in Hawaii Kai is easy to find, easy to park, easy to get into and comfortably unpretentious.

I have a passion for moussaka and my mind focuses on it as soon as Greek food is the topic of conversation.  So, since I was focused there, that’s what was for lunch!

Moussaka is a dish of eggplant and hamburger that is to-die-for delicious. This one was not the best they’ve ever made but it was still good. It was… missing something but we couldn’t quite figure out what. Oh well. The salad as good as always but it can always have more feta cheese!

I do love those Kalamata olives! They are an acquired taste but they’re almost a necessary condiment when eating Mediterranean foods. I don’t know, they’re just a culinary must-have!

Cheese, or the lack thereof, is always the problem with spanakopita (spinach with feta cheese baked in dough), which is another thing that I should have ordered. I’ll just have to order some next time. There’s a good reason to go back!

There’s a little window into the kitchen where the waiters and waitresses pick up the plates of food to be served to their patrons. I couldn’t resist that photo opportunity!

These are grape leaves that the chef has separated with slices of tomato and cucumber. I like grape leaves very much but I haven’t tried theirs yet. There’s reason number two to go back!

Hummus is also something I like but I’m not too worried about not having tried any. What I am irritated with myself about is my failure to try their baba ghanouj — a roasted eggplant dip that I absolutely love! There’s a restaurant in downtown Honolulu that makes some really awesome baba ghanouj and I really wanted to compare the Greek Marina’s to theirs. There’s reason number three to go back!

Since we’re talking about Greek food, I guess I should mention that they also have souvlaki. I have very little interest in souvlaki because it’s not exotic enough, or not definitively Greek enough, for me! What is it? Well, to me, it’s nothing more than your choice of meat (usually lamb or chicken) on a shish kabob. It is well marinated, but I always look for things that I cannot get elsewhere!

Now for dessert! Most people are familiar with baklava and this one looks like it was loaded with pistachios! I didn’t try it, but Mom, who is the biggest critic of bad baklava, says it was delicious.

This mural covers most of one of the walls in the restaurant. It is a very representative mural of the Greek Isle of Santorini. What a beautiful place — so fresh looking in its blue and white buildings and surrounded by the beautiful blue ocean! Picture perfect for sure.

The service was great and our waitress was very sweet and patient. The staff were all very good about humoring me with my picture taking.

Greek Marina
7192 Kalanianaole Hwy. E-126
Honolulu, Hawaii 96825
Phone: (808) 396-8441

You can find out more about Koko Marina here and, after you eat, you can walk around a bit and look at some of the other shops and businesses. Koko Marina calls itself, “The last stop on the way to Hanauma Bay.” I had to think about that statement for a bit and, you know, I think they’re right. I’ll talk about Hanauma Bay in the not-too-distant future, I promise!

Animals are such wonderful advertisers! I couldn’t resist sharing this little cutie when I saw him! He belongs to The Lead Dogs, Marketing with More Bite. With a slogan like that, how could they not have a canine represent them?

Marketing has become a hot topic and there are companies now looking to combine their Internet marketing with their other brick and mortar avenues! The Lead Dogs have listed ten impressive ways to improve on your marketing efforts here, and you can even download a copy of their $127 “Marketing Wisdom Report” for FREE! There is some very well thought out material and it’s certainly worth taking a look at! While it may not all pertain to you, there are certainly pearls of wisdom to be had.

Even though blogging is not their primary focus, you can still pick up some really useful tidbits from their site and maybe even refer your friends in need of marketing for their business to The Lead Dogs Sales Lead Management.

If you read through some of their materials you will see just how appropriate that little canine is to their strategy. They do not give up on their prospects and they’re “like a dog with a bone” — once the strategy is in motion, they don’t let go. That canine is definitely a good rep!

Most people in the self-employed world tend to be more conservative about what they deduct in the way of business expenses. (I said most.) It’s good to have someone in the know to share these things and make you feel more comfortable about what you’re doing.

Back in September, Kelly Phillips Erb from Tax Girl wrote a guest post on Problogger.net and offered:

46 Tax Deductions that Bloggers Often Overlook

Figuring out what constitutes income in the blogging world is pretty easy. But what constitutes a proper deduction is another story - and bloggers usually err on the side of not deducting enough (and not the other way around).

Don’t get caught leaving money on the table. Here’s a list of potential deductions that you might have overlooked. Consider:

1. Monthly Hosting Fees
2. Annual Domain Costs
3. Design/Logo Fees…

…Now you have to go here to get the rest of the article and Kelly’s (the Tax Girl’s) disclaimer… and to keep me from being on the wrong end of their ire! Besides, the comments are full of even more useful information and idea sharing!

There are 43 other items on that list so you have to go see it and print it or bookmark it or whatever! These guys don’t need any help from me from a link-love standpoint, but in the interest of my tax-paying, American readers, I’m sending you guys there to see for yourselves!

I thought this was a wonderful post and have been sitting on it since September. It is interesting to note that a lot of these deductible expenses are applicable to just about any line of business, provided they aren’t Blog specific. April 15th is creeping up on us quickly, just like it does every year, so I thought I would do my blog-specific, civic duty. If all else fails, call the IRS and ask them!

Garran, if you’re still there, and anyone else who’s interested, the Tax Girl addresses the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) issue as well.

Or, you can do what I do every year — depend on TurboTax! They will walk you through your return (self-employed or not) and answer questions for you and keep you informed about changes in the Tax Laws that may or may not apply to you!

The beauty of taking the TurboTax route is that they hold on to your information from year to year so you can refer back to it while you’re there and as you complete your current-year return. My biggest suggestion… DO NOT FORGET YOUR PASSWORD!

They will keep your return, but not your login information. It’s part of their security. If you forget it, it’s gone. So don’t forget it!

For a lot of people, it certainly evokes several of those four-letter words, or phrases (ahem). It was a painful reminder from one of the news channels last night that the IRS is going to started accepting electronic returns the other day, January 11th to be exact. Isn’t that nice of them? Hmmm… I guess that’s for people who don’t work for an employer or those who work for employers very gifted at getting those W-2’s in the mail before January 31st!

While our taxes are due on April 15th (which will sneak up faster than you think), returns for S corporations are due on March 15th! Yikes! It’s more than likely that a lot of the little businesses we blog about are S corporations. If you’ve had self-employment income, i.e. money made outside of your established employer, on a regular basis, then you’re already aware of those nasty self-employment taxes too! I thought self-employment was supposed to be a good thing. Well, according to what I have been reading, S corporations don’t pay as much of that dreaded self-employment tax.

There’s one designed for us. It’s not cheap but it beats the alternative of seeking legal assistance! Besides, my experience with the State tax office is that they are always willing to help you if you are trying to follow the rules and do things correctly. They appreciate that!

I’ll talk more about taxes, I’m sure, as April 15th gets closer.