Happy Turkey Day

Just a short post to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that everyone got to enjoy a good feast with friends and family.

I did some pondering last night as to what I'd say if someone asked me "What are you most thankful for?" And, I came up with all sorts of ideas and thoughts, but all of these ideas shared a common theme. I'm most thankful for ALL of the people in my life who are and continue to be supportive of everything I've done and am doing. To those people, I say, "Thank you!"

Randomness for the week:


Steven and Dr. Skouge shooting a segment on
multimedia technology at the office a couple
weeks ago.


Ms. Steinlager Hawaii at
RoundTablePizza during
the Fresno St. vs Hawaii
game on November 12;
one of the few highlights
of that night!


Another rainbow over the UH Football practice
field last week, ain't it beautiful?!

A Different Kind of Entry

A "retro" posting if you will. It's actually Saturday, November 13, 2004 now; I intended or hoped to create this post on Friday at the time shown, so I'm going Back to the Future, if you will.

Click here for my video journal for the day

Please provide me with ANY sort of feedback, especially for this entry, so I know if this will become a regular component to my blog.

Happy Aloha Friday to you all!

What to do When Life Throws You For a Loop

No, the UH Warrior team's horrific dismantling at the hands of Boise St. about a couple weeks ago did not cause me to enter a state of depression! I've been neglecting my blogging, and have been pressured to get back into the routine! Thanks to those people who have been nudging me ever so slightly to get back into a routine - I need that from time to time and will expect support from you!

Yes, the Boise St. debacle was ugly, sickening, sad, etc. Let's pretend that it never happened, shall we?! Dr. Skouge (Jim) and I settled on such an agreement and it seems to be working out just fine! The team bounced back, as I knew they would, this past Saturday against Louisiana Tech and their awesome running back, Ryan Moats, who Coach Jones described as a "studly version of Barry Sanders." Woah, that's quite a compliment! Maybe that's an effective strategy, to compliment the opposing team's star in such a way that he almost feels pressured to live up to the hype?! Ah, THAT'S why Coach earns his big bucks! In all seriousness, there was some major coaching to do in the week leading up to Louisiana Tech...there were much more than just physical hurting going on within the team; psychologically the team NEEDED the win. Winning cures everything.

Timmy Chang...all-time NCAA yards-passed record holder. Congratulations to TC and the UH program as a whole. This record reflects the great receivers that Timmy had the privileged of playing with, i.e. Ashley Lelie, Justin Colbert, Craig Stuzman, Jeremiah Cockerhan, the great offensive lineman who provided him with much needed protection to throw the ball, i.e. Kynan Forney, Adrian Klemm, Vince Manuwai...in other words, the record is NOT Timmy's alone, and he'd be the first to admit this...it's a team accomplishment! Timmy will go down as the all-time great passing QB of UH history; he can establish himself as one of the "great QBs" of Hawaii, if he can lead his teammates to a bowl game this year. That journey begins tomorrow at Fresno St. He needs to win the "big" game, that's what great players do...stare adversity and challenges in the face and find a way to WIN!

Nick Rolovich is probably still the greatest QB of the Jones era. Had he played here for all of his 4 years, he would have demolished Ty Detmer's record easily. His command for the offense was such that it was masterful each time he stepped onto the field. He might have struggled at first, but he used those experiences and channeled them into a positive, making sure he learned the offense inside and out. Nick was the man!

Anyway, a lot more has transpired besides UH football games since I last blogged. The University of Hawaii at Manoa's campus got flooded badly. The heart of the University, its library suffered greatly! Valuable pieces of information were damaged beyond repair, a tragic incident indeed. Elevators are still out of order...the lower campus structure's main elevators have been down ever since the flooding occurred. The elevator at Kuykendall Hall was damaged as well, causing my class to be re-located. We were back in Wist 135, which has won my award for being "the WORST room" on campus! It was absolutely frigid last night, everyone was miserable sitting in an icebox for about 2 hours. We ALL couldn't wait for class to end! Thankfully, I dressed for semi-cold conditions, as Jim's office is on the cold side...but not THAT cold; my long-sleeved turtle neck provided some protection, but I was still freezing!

I got out of class, and my tray was all frosted! That's just crazy. Something needs to be done to make that classroom more conducive for learning.

Hopefully, the campus will be up and running at full strength in the coming weeks. It's amazing what mother nature can do!

Yesterday, I received a great lesson by observing Jim handle a situation that could have quickly gotten out of hand. Sometimes we fall victim to having a certain expectations out of people. I can't reveal complete details of this since it just wouldn't be right. In a nutshell, Jim and I expected an interaction with a visitor to our world to go a certain way, but it went in a direction NONE of us could have predicted. The lesson I took from this was that you can't allow your personal judgments come in the way of conducting yourself in the most professional manner possible. So, when life throws you for a loop, you must stay the course, remain true to YOUR values, all the while respecting other perspectives. Furthermore, everyone deserves respect, no matter how "out there" their ideas may or may not be. Very impressive stuff, Jim, very!

I'll be busy in the coming days with my academics. There are also exciting opportunities that have opened up for me of late. I'll take full advantage of these opportunities, for I know that great opportunities don't present themselves everyday. I'll also keep in mind that I am only ONE person; I can't do everything and be everywhere. It's called setting priorities and pacing yourself appropriately. I'll TRY my best, though! I will be writing about these opportunities in future blogs, they're still in their initial planning stages, so nothing has been cast in stone; but the possibilities sure look bright!

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Mortar Board's recent chicken fundraiser, spearheaded by Chanel. This event was a great, great undertaking and one that brought huge success for the club. Chanel did a most wonderful job in organizing this event; the club's fortunate to have her and she represents Mortar Board's ideals so very well.

Congratulations to everyone who went out and voted in the recent election. Despite the outcome not being what many hoped for, the bottomline is that people felt a need to have their voice heard, and what better way to do that than to VOTE. Personally, I was and am surprised by the outcome of the major political race....one that you kind of shake your head at and shrug in a puzzled state.

A sincere thanks to those of you who do take the time to read and check my blog on a regular basis. I'll really make an effort to get back to the habit of updating on a weekly basis!

Randomness for the week:


A disco ball inside of Shafter Bowling Alley.
(No significance, I just thought it was a cool little shot I captured)


Timmy Chang and offense moments before his
record setting pass against Louisiana Tech.


Where's TC? He's in this crowd (I'm 99.9% sure!)

Click here for video of the record setting pass (Warning: Video is very amateurish, but video nonetheless!)


Mortar Board's Koala Moa Chicken fundraiser
this past Sunday.

Until next time, have a great week!