Homespun Honolulu

Checking back in with the Sony Open, Parker McLachlin moved up the leader board today! His score is currently Par -6. You know what’s scary? I actually understand what I just said.

Parker “made the cut” but Tadd Fujikawa did not. I don’t exactly understand what Parker made the cut for, but he’s doing nicely and that’s what counts!

I love that my camera is a Sony taking pictures a the Sony Open. So many people are enjoying this event and I am glad that the weather has really been cooperative! I still think that this game would be much more interesting if we were actually participants. I also have a very bad feeling that this is a very expensive hobby or sport! The Sony Open wraps up on Sunday.

In this case, we’re taking from Jones to pay Frazier! Apparently, while the University has agreed to buy out Herman Frazier’s contract for $312,510, the University is also nailing June Jones for $400,000 for leaving before his contract was up. Some even used the word “defected.” That’s a pretty strong word. Whatever, I have no problem with either end of this monetary circus. Just do it and get it over with.

So, the Jones money will go to pay for the Frazier contract. After that is taken care of, the University will still have a few dollars left over from the whole fiasco! They can use that to pay for… um… soap for the athletes? A new roof for the leaking library? Other repairs/restorations that have been put on hold for who knows how long? How many millions of dollars will be coming from the Sugar Bowl?  Whoa da shame dis kine!

I don’t know what the priorities will be, or what the University plans to do first, but whatever it is, just fix it! I’m not trying to be flippant — I’m an alumni and it’s getting embarrassing. How could things have been left in such a state of disrepair for so long?  This is not the school that my parents were so proud of and it’s not the same place I went to school.  It was old, yes, but it wasn’t dilapidated!   As the University celebrates its centennial, as much as I hate to say it, it’s a pretty tarnished celebration.

Let’s see, and the State of Hawaii has done what exactly, to help with these much-needed repairs? Nothing? Oh, that’s right, Lingle’s not an alumnus is she? Tsk, tsk, tsk, oh well. Okay, now I’m being flippant, but justifiably so.

I’m glad this has all come to light because, now that we’re aware of it, we can continue to harp on things until they’re taken care of. The public schools are bad enough, but this is truly embarrassing for a college-level, educational facility! I’m certainly not going to tag this article as “sports” because it’s anything but.

A few years back, Tiger Woods put golf back on the radar for the non-golfing world. Hawaii has a lot of golfers. We have a lot of beautiful golf courses! It’s now the time of year when the Waialae Country Club on O’ahu welcomes the PGA Tour and the Sony Open! Mahalo to the Sony Corporation of America for the pretty logo!

The purse for this event is a whopping $5.3 million and the winner will take home $936,000! Wow! We do have a player to watch, or at least I think we do. Tadd Fujikawa will be playing and, although he doesn’t live here now, Parker McLachlin is actually from here and graduated in 1997 from Punahou High School.

Parker McLachlin played in 28 events in 2007 and took home purses totaling $627,582. We’re in the wrong profession guys! I think we should start learning how to golf! For all of you young ladies salivating over Parker’s income potential and/or his blue eyes, Parker is very married! You can learn all you want to know about him at his official website.

For those people, like me, who don’t know golf very well, it helps to understand some of the terminology. Some good words to look up might include words like par, bogey, birdie and eagle. It will make it much easier to enjoy the game if you understand what on earth they’re talking about! Wikipedia has a very nice glossary of golf terms!

Players have been here for a few days and they’ve been puttering around out there but the official tournament will run from January 10th thru January 13th, that’s Thursday thru Sunday. I may not watch a lot of it but you can bet I’ll be checking the scoreboard to see how Tadd and Parker are doing, and to try to learn a thing or two about this stuff.

In recent months many of us have been so pumped up and excited about the University of Hawaii football program. We were looking forward, already, to the next season! Suddenly we were given the shocking news that we were about to lose the coach! No, he won’t go. That’s crazy. He would never leave us! Um, he’s gone.

The outcry was immediate. Sign holders were out along the corner of University Avenue that skirts the University of Hawaii campus.

The media, of course, were on it instantly! There was a lot of commentary to be extracted from this group of protesters!

There had to be someone to blame. It was much too easy to find a recipient for the rage and hurt felt by the fans.

This was someone we just recently learned so much about and had grown to respect for his genuine caring of the students.

There was a new-found admiration for the support given by Jones to several of the students to help them overcome some personal issues.

Surely there is someone responsible for Jones wanting to leave. There must be someone to blame!

There were signs waving and horns blasting like you wouldn’t believe! The fans were not at all happy to see things fall apart like this when the football program had just gotten it all together!

Everyone certainly seemed to be on the same page. There may have been mixed emotions about June Jones’ sudden departure but one thing was certain — something had to be done!

Well, for all of the protesting, sign waving, horn blasting and alerting of the media, Herman Frazier, the Athletic Director who has been blamed for many of the problems recently, is gone as of this afternoon.

The University bought out Frazier’s contract and basically kicked him to the curb. An interim director is in place until the Board of Regents can deal with the situation.

This lady wanted to be sure I got a picture of her sign so I want to be sure and include it. I too heard this statement from Colt Brennan.

Next step? A new coach. Bobby Curren, of 1420 ESPN Radio fame, called in to the afternoon show and said how the choice of Greg McMackin for head coach would be a good one. Greg McMackin is a defensive coach and he’s also an author. He has written a book called, “Coaching the Defensive Backfield.” He’s familiar with the program, familiar with the players, he’s experienced. Sounds good to me!

Whatever the case, we’ll get through it because we’ll stick together. It’s ohana time, Hawaii! Let’s support the team because now is when they need it most!

Well, if you have champagne taste while on a beer salary, you’re bound to find out how the two go hand in hand! There’s good news and then there’s some not-so-good news.

There were loans processors in Honolulu, like Home 123, that used to have offices around town and they used to process loans for borrowers who fell just below the prime level, or worse. Although they themselves did not service the loans, this particular loan processor was affiliated with, or maybe even a division of, New Century Financial Corporation.

New Century Financial was one of the hot topics on the financial radar when they began to slip into the abyss back in March of last year. Eventually New Century went into bankruptcy, relatively recently. What about Home 123? *Poof!* Gone. There was an office of at least ten or so employees, maybe more. They lost their jobs, obviously. The borrowers? Their loans are being serviced by another company acting as a collection agency of sorts and these borrowers will be fine as long as they keep their noses clean.

Did the sub-prime fiasco hit us? Yeah, it did. But, and here comes the good news, some “real” borrowers with only the best of intentions were able to have sub-prime lenders like Home 123 bail them out of financial distress and help them consolidate their debts by making loans to them even though their credit was in the tank.

Of course the interest rates were so exorbitant you might want to call it “bale” since most borrowers in that classification now have their financial hands bound like a “bale” of hay. At least, theoretically anyway, they can now better manage their monthly expenses. Those high-interest, monthly payments are what they are, but it’s still less for those who were dealing with credit card debt!

There are still sub-prime processors around so don’t panic yet. There are also places that will help you find someone who is willing to assist you with managing your finances. And, that includes loans for people with bad credit. You can always check to see if places you run into have a local connection. I know Countrywide has offices in Honolulu and what little I have heard about them has not been negative.

There is one word of caution when dealing with those organizations designed to help you deal with your creditors. If you enlist their assistance, that too will end up on your credit report. So, beware!

The best news? Well, I was told, because I’m nosy and I asked, that some lenders “don’t worry as much about loans made to Hawaii borrowers because Hawaii has a good payback record compared to other states.” Really?!?

As much as this whole thing was and is a terrible mess, and as touchy a topic as it has become, I am so proud of that statement! Okay, so we have people who overspend and we keep getting ourselves into credit-card debt, but at least we try to pay it back to the best of our ability!

The morning news this morning showed clips of the University of Hawaii Band during the half-time show yesterday. When I heard what they were playing (Over the Rainbow) I almost lost it! I’ll wager that there isn’t one Warrior fan out there that has not wanted to cry, or at least been a little depressed for a while. I felt it very strongly yesterday and I continue to struggle with it today.

Apart from all the drama I’m very proud of our team! They did everything they needed to do, and then some, to get themselves to a BCS game! OMG! That alone is enough to write about. They did it! They were there!

Part of the beauty of the whole thing was that the poor, beleaguered city of New Orleans, that so needed a shot in the arm, got a good shot from Hawaii residents! I know some of those residents may be feeling down about the outlay of cash, but we showed out support for our team and helped another tourist destination in the process!

If there is one thing that needs correcting, it is not the team or their coach. Why do I say such things? Well, let’s see…

June Jones is going to sign his new contract soon, right? What do you mean there is no contract?!? What are you talking about?!?

Talk about being conspicuous by its absence!

Colt got into a little bit of injury trouble yesterday but it worked almost like a passing of the baton to Tyler Graunke who stepped in as he has done a few times this past season. Tyler has himself one hard act to follow but he has already shown himself capable and I’m sure fans can’t wait to see how far the team can go next year!

I was reading an article about the game on the sports page at Yahoo! and I noticed something in the right-hand margin. There was a link to this picture and when I saw it I was kind of at a loss for words and almost lost it again.

Here they are — our Ambassadors of Aloha spreading the aloha spirit across the nation.  This team’s spirit is infectious! It’s not just Colt, look at all the white jerseys sharing a moment in prayer with their opponents after the game was over.

This is what it’s really all about! Yes, “dreams really do come true” somewhere over the rainbow, all you have to do is “BELIEVE!”

These last few days before January 1, 2008 are worse than waiting for Christmas! I’m not the girly-girl type so nail biting is no big surprise but this Sugar Bowl anticipation stuff is driving me crazy!

At least the University of Hawaii Athletics Department was kind enough to set up a space for Ryan Grice-Mullen to keep us posted, blogger style, of the team’s activities while they’re in New Orleans. My only gripe is that there is no place for us to leave comments or ask questions. Of course we do need to realize that if there was a place to comment, etc., there would be so many comments that Ryan would never make  it to practice!

I “borrowed” this picture from that same UH website — thanks guys.    I can only hope that whoever is manning the website over at the University will let us know that they did receive a track back or something so they know we’re reading it!

HEY RYAN… WE’RE READING IT!!!!!!!!!!

I did receive a phone call from the UH Alumni Association yesterday. They were looking for alumni to renew their memberships and show our solidarity. Of course having the phone call come in from California didn’t help their case, but I fell for it anyway.

I know that as I’m typing this, more and more Hawaii residents are disembarking aircraft and heading for hotels. The excitement has got to be huge over there! It is here too! I think I’m going to have a cup of tea… with a lot of SUGAR! Thank you to New Orleans for hosting this event and I hope they get a nice boost to their economy because of it!

Don’t forget about us back home you guys! We’re excited and ready to scream and holler loud enough for you to hear us all the way over in the “Big Easy!” Stay safe, stay strong! GO WARRIORS!

February 18, 2008! I’m excited! I love this event! I talked about the 2007 Great Aloha Run at the beginning of the year. My biggest problem is that I now compare every other running event to this one. That’s very unfair for me to do because the others pale in comparison.

I’ve already signed up. If you have n0t signed up yet and you want to participate, you’ve still got time to sign up — either online or by printing out the form and mailing it in. If you forget, you can always sign up at the Expo that will be at Neal Blaisdell Center on February 15th, 16th and 17th!

Active.com sends great emails if you sign up for them. They sent one recently with this neat little advertisement for personal reflectors, pouches to tie to your shoes, ID bracelets and all kinds of useful things. I have my eye on three of the items they have.

I thought about it and these would be great for anyone exercising in the evening or in the rain.

They’re good for runners and bicyclists as well! For the record, I checked with HPD and it’s okay to wear those little blue lights, as long as it’s not on your motor vehicle!

There’s nothing more heart warming than this wonderful scene. The morning sky is lighting up, we’re singing the Star Spangled Banner and the Honolulu Fire Boat is sending a watery salute to the participants of this much-anticipated, annual event. It’s all about the aloha!

FEES AND DEADLINES:

• Early Entry with Training T-shirt $35 until 12/2
• Regular Entry $35 until 1/19 then $40 until 2/2
• Register at GAR Expo, Feb. 15 – 17, NBC Exhibition Hall $45, Cash Only
• Keiki (5-12 yrs)/Seniors Entry $25
• Child under 5 yrs in Stroller Entry $5

Run, walk, it doesn’t matter! This is a community event like no other. (Okay, okay, I’ll give up that position to the UH Warriors, but aside from that…) Not into running or walking but still want to get involved? They’re looking for volunteers!

Come on you guys! It’ll be fun! Community participation was high last year and I’m sure it will be again!

The annual Honolulu Marathon is a huge attraction. The 35th annual was not exception. People came over from Japan, Ethiopia, Russia and all over the World to participate in this race. We even had a Danish prince! Some runners participate to see how well they do against the clock. Others just want to say they did it!

There are a lot of people who just don’t understand why anyone would want to put themselves through such an ordeal. Still others wouldn’t miss it for anything!

It was raining early in the morning but it cleared up as the morning wore on. It was still overcast and void of our beloved trade winds, but it was still a beautiful morning. — hot and muggy but still beautiful. Read the rest of this entry »

Maybe not the winner of the coveted Heisman, but certainly the winner of the hearts of Honolulu and of the hearts all over the State of Hawaii! He had the stats, he has the talent, he is a senior, but, so be it. Being in third place got him there! He should have been there last year but that’s okay, he was there this year and he was part of the 73rd Annual Heisman Trophy competition.The good part? Since Colt is not coming home with the Heisman, that means he’s not going to be subjected to the Heisman curse! That means that the Warriors should come away victors from the Sugar Bowl! According to the other part of the curse, he should also have no trouble with the NFL draft. But then, we already knew that.

Okay, putting away my crystal ball and the urban legends, I just had a couple of quick thoughts that crossed my mind. Apparently someone called into the sports radio station 1420 this morning and suggested that the University of Hawaii Athletic Department retire his number. Good idea! I like that idea! I’m sure Colt will go in the first round of the NFL draft! I will follow his career as I’m sure many other Hawaii residents will as well.

University of Hawaii’s Athletic Department has certainly put Hawaii on the collegiate map many times in the past. We have enjoyed the winning seasons of the Wahine Volleyball team and the Rainbow Basketball team, but, this year, the Warrior Football team has gone above and beyond to bring home some much-needed financial support for the University.

Thanks you guys!  Looking forward to the Sugar Bowl!