A Day of Animals

Nick and I spent several hours exploring the great wild (located just at the edge of waikiki). My favorite pic was that of the Tiger jumping randomly into the air:

Why does education have to conflict with freedom of expression?

So there's this article in the NYTimes that tells of a 4-yr old getting suspended because he doesn't want to cut his hair--he likes it long! The school board has a dress code, which has a ban on Beatles haircuts! Wow! Where in the world did they come up with this, it's ridiculous to think that a child's hairstyle is going to affect their learning or distract others from their learning. The article quotes a board member who basically says that the parents have to choose between the child's education and letting him pick his hairstyle!!! That's terrible, why can't he have both, there is absolutely no sane reason why he shouldn't be able to. It saddens me to hear that in America, the land of the free, 4-yr olds can't even go to school with a haircut they like.

There's a First Time for Everything

This spring break has been one to remember.  I had so many first time experiences that made the trip so worth while.  Side Note: It's moments like this that motivate me to continue along this path currently before me.  Although I find graduate school challenging, the opportunities that have arisen since my time there has made me appreciate the difficulties I'm experiencing. 

Just for an overview, I flew into Seattle, WA  and stayed with Dave's friend Nick for several days.  This was followed by a 2-day road trip down through Washington, Oregon, and then into the Redwood National Park in Northern California.   So this was my first road trip as well as my first time in Washington and Oregon! Also on my list of firsties was watching lacrosse, hiking in the snow (in the Iron Horse Park) and a whole lot of animals: giant sea anemones, star fish, leather stars, snakes(!), and hummingbirds,  Some other things of note that I have seen before (once or twice) but are still really cool: bald eagles, bats, hail storms, and lots of beautiful rivers and lakes!  I felt so lucky to be able to experience all of this on the trip that I can't find the words to express the peace and excitement that this trip elicited.  

 

The Complication of Clean Oceans

     So there's an article in today's Honolulu Advertiser about Honolulu's push for the state to revise their water quality standards.  Their goal is to reduce the fines being charged against them for previous sewage discharges.  For each Clean Water Act violation, a fee of $32,500 will be charged, so the fines would total up to hundreds of millions.  I don't know exactly who these fines go to and what they will be used for, but I did find a site (http://www.house.gov/visclosky/hr1549.htm) that states there's no provision guaranteeing that these fines will be used to help correct the water quality problems. There was an Act introduced in 1999, HR1549 (check out http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.1549: ), that proposes to use the money collected from fines to clean and improve water quality in polluted regions.  

     It seems counter-productive to charge the city this large amount of money, since a good amount of money is lost to fines, making it more difficult for the city to upgrade their sewage treatment system(?).  Another article does mention that these environmental groups think the money is better spent on the upgrade, so hopefully that will happen.  

Change...

I spent a wonderful evening at Uncle Pat's place, smelling the familiar limu coming from the shore right next to his condo. The sunset was beautiful, the evening was very peaceful and was followed by a night in Waikiki at the Surf Shack. That was a great way to spend the evening, dancing with friends to some of my favorite music, reggae. Eek a mouse and BET were playing and that was quite a treat. It was absolutely wonderful, a night of strength, healing and renewal.....

Beach day-Waimanalo

Since we all craved the white sand, crystal blue ocean and the intense heat of the sun after our vacations away from the islands, some of the firsties united to spend an awesome day at Waimanalo.  The boys of the B225 office showed off their badminton skills (which by the way they developed in B225) both in and out of the water.  Kirsten and I tossed around a frisby, while getting tossed by manini waves, it was a blast.  We finished up with a delicious BBQ, where we had some awesome chicken and very tender steak (that sadly I forgot to bring salt to season it with).  It was interesting to hear the discussions between Andy and Tony, who have very differing views on war and utilitarianism.  Tony is very set in his thinking, which really seemed to inspire Andy to try to sway him, but ended with Andy giving up the conversation since they weren't getting anywhere.  It always makes me wonder whether people are afraid to challenge their own thinking or if it's a person's solid belief in what they believe that creates difficult conversations like the one between Andy and Tony.

My first blog

In setting up my blog, I found this interesting saying, it goes a'ole ka 'oia'i'o i loko o ka moe (there is no truth in dreams). It seems really insightful while entirely open to interpretation, the best kind in my opinion. Here's to blogging, providing a little of my inner monologue to the rest of the world!