#a couple of years i went to omaha beach on this day | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

networkingdefinition · 5 years

Text

Hawaii Quotes

Official Website: Hawaii Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

• A dreaming vortex is a place where it’s easy to change. You come to a dreaming vortex like Hawaii to step from one dream into another, from one world into another, to change, in other words. – Frederick Lenz • A travel agent told I could spend 7 nights in HAWAII no days just nights. – Rodney Dangerfield • According to a new study, Hawaii is the happiest place in America to live. And I thought it was just a great place to pretend you were born in. – Craig Ferguson • America has always been the richest and most secure, and sometimes the most dangerous country in the world. In the early years, the danger was to everybody near us, slaves, Native Americans, Mexicans. It finally expanded in 1898 to the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. – Noam Chomsky • Apparently President Obama’s favorite cocktail is a martini. When asked how he likes it, he said, ‘On the beach, in Hawaii, in 2017.’ – Jimmy Fallon • Are we as willing to go into debt for the work of God as we are for a vacation to Hawaii? – Erwin W. Lutzer • Are we going to New Orleans?” “No”, she said, backing out of the spot. “We’re going to West Virginia.” “I assume by ‘West Virginia,’ you actually mean ‘Hawaii,'” I said. “Or some place equally exciting. – Richelle Mead • As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii. – Tim McCarver • As a territory, American Samoa has no representation in the U.S. Senate, and we Samoans lost a respected and powerful ally with the passing of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. – Troy Polamalu • Barack H. Obama is a landmark presidential figure as the first black, multiracial, multicultural president from Hawaii and the Pacific. – Dinesh Sharma

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hawaii', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Barack Obama isn’t pointing to anyone, and certainly doesn’t like it when others note (correctly) that his influences were the likes of Saul Alinsky, the Chicagoan and modern founder of community organizing, or Frank Marshall Davis, the communist journalist and agitator from Chicago who mentored Obama in Hawaii in the latter 1970s, and who Obama warmly acknowledges in his memoirs. – Paul Kengor • Beating the drums for Hawaii is not hard to do… the place just grows on you. – James MacArthur • Before I became a fighter pilot, everyone said that women didn’t have the physical strength. Well, I had just completed the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. – Martha McSally • Being in Hawaii, it’s almost impossible not to be fit, I think. – Henry Ian Cusick • Come with me while the moon is on the sea The night is young and so are we Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii And mine could all come true This magic night of nights with you – Leo Robin �� Donald Trump has made it clear that certainly over the last few years that President [Barack] Obama was born in Hawaii. – John Lewis • Ever since I was young I understood the whole meaning of life isn’t how much money you accumulate, how much fame you experience, it’s how many lives you touch, how many faces you bring smiles to. I see myself back in Hawaii doing something in the community to improve the lives of young children. Everything I’ve done is to prepare myself to give back. – Manti Te’o • Every city I go to is an opportunity to paint, whether it’s Omaha or Hawaii. – Tony Bennett • Every time I flicked channels, there I was, talking. I was talking too much and writing too little. So Naomi and I went to Hawaii. The phone was cut off and we lost touch. This gave me the chance to have a good think about my life. – Joe Eszterhas • For a while I got into the South Pacific theater of World War II. I read “American Caesar” by William Manchester, the biography of General MacArthur. Because of that I ended up reading “Tales of the South Pacific” by James Michener and then because of that reading his “Hawaii.” That is what happens. – Dave Barry • For many years I had allowed my second husband to take credit for my paintings. But one day, unable to continue the deception any longer, I left him and my home in California and moved to Hawaii. – Margaret Keane • For me, the magic of Hawaii comes from the stillness, the sea, the stars. – Joanne Harris • For some reason my father saw no problem with us pplaying “barbie and ken go to hawaii to save their marriage by picking up another couple for sexy good times,” but if barbie and ken had gone to hawaii to “rescue another couple from a crazed kidnapper,” that would have been wrong. – Michele Jaffe • Good schools, good jobs, good government. These are not unreasonable demands. But sadly, some of our people have already lost heart and have left Hawaii to look for these things elsewhere. – Linda Lingle • Grew up in Hawaii that gave [Barack Obama] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to trust, you know, in his fellow, you know, white countrymen in a way that I, for instance, you know, and the vast majority of black people I know never really could. – Ta-Nehisi Coates • Growing up, the ukulele was always a respected instrument. It’s a big part of our culture. It wasn’t until I started traveling outside of Hawaii that I realized people didn’t really consider the ukulele to be a real instrument. – Jake Shimabukuro • Have you guys ever ghost hunted in Hawaii? No? Well, I have this fat friend… I shouldn’t say fat, that might offend him, but he’s Samoan and claims to have seen ghosts. – CM Punk • Hawaii ain’t a bad place to work. – T.I. • Hawaii can be heaven and it can be hell. – Jeff Goldblum • Hawaii doesn’t win many games in the United States. – Lee Corso • Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is a beautiful place to bring up a family. – Henry Ian Cusick • Hawaii is a small, close community. – Jake Shimabukuro • Hawaii is a special place because we have a very diverse population there, who are very respectful and tolerant of those who have differing opinions and different views. – Tulsi Gabbard • Hawaii is a unique state. It is a small state. It is a state that is by itself. It is a-it is different than the other 49 states. Well, all states are different, but it’s got a particularly unique situation. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is absolutely beautiful. – Rachelle Lefevre • Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace. – Paul Theroux • Hawaii is paradise. It sounds cheesy to say it, but there’s music in the air there. – Bruno Mars • Hawaii is the best form of comfort for me. When I die, I want to be cremated, and I want half my ashes spread in the Pacific around the island, the rest on the property. – Richard Pryor • Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and many Hawaiians or part-Hawaiians surf, but in the rest of the United States it’s a pretty white sport. – William Finnegan • Hawaii made the mouth of her soul water. – Tom Robbins • Hawaii was beautiful of course, we played at Turtle Bay an amazing resort right on the ocean. – Natalie Gulbis • Hawaiis own Patsy Mink served as the first congresswoman of color and first Asian American woman in the House; she later sought the Democratic Party presidential nomination. – Colleen Hanabusa • Hawaii’s the 50th state? I thought it was a suburb of Guam. – Bobby Heenan • Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not. – Wayne Allyn Root • Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance, which expresses all we see, smell, taste, touch, feel, and experience. It is joy, sorrow, courage, and fear. – Robert Cazimero • I am privileged to be able to work for the people of Hawaii in whatever capacity. – Tulsi Gabbard • I bought almost every single thing that I furnished my house with at the Salvation Army in Hawaii. All second hand. Some of them are kind of retro, and some of them you’d never know. – Evangeline Lilly • I can’t even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it’s so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It’s very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven’t been to paradise if you haven’t been to Hawaii. – Bruno Mars • I decided that we’d have to take our chances with the law and get the hell out of Baltimore. I thought of seeking asylum in Canada or Australia or England, but I didn’t want to leave the United States, because for better or worse I’m an American, and this is my land; so I decided to fight it out on home ground, and finally we hit upon Hawaii, because of the liberal atmosphere created by its racial admixture, and because of its relatively large population of Buddhists, who are largely nontheistic. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • I dive all over the world: Fiji, Australia, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and many other places. – Frederick Lenz • I don’t care about the money. I’m just interested in the perks. I’ll do a series if I am picked up by a limo, work only until 4, and the show is shot in Hawaii. – Harry Morgan • I don’t care where [Ted] Cruz comes from. I don’t care where the President comes from. Day one, I opened an investigation on a fraudulent government Hawaii document, period, on a birth certificate, so if you can say Cruz has fake documents, okay. – Joe Arpaio • I don’t have any simple things. I only have things like a gold-studded leather jacket. Then I’m going to Hawaii and I’m asking myself “Do I pack it? It could be cold.” I’m inventing scenarios where I could wear it. – Shaun White • I don’t like to spend money when I’m traveling. I like to go places like Hawaii and not spend money. I splurge on time. – Jonny Weston • I don’t look down on tourism. I live in Hawaii where we have 7 million visitors a year. If they weren’t there, there would be no economy. So I understand why a tourist economy is necessary. – Paul Theroux • I ended up in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, operating out of Ayuka field in Hawaii. – Louis Zamperini • I got into this little habit of architecture and building. I designed a house in Colorado and one in Hawaii. The idea is supposed to be build and sell – but then I can never bring myself to sell them. – Trey Parker • I grew up in a musical family; the majority of my growing up was done in Hawaii. It’s what we do. You sing, you dance, you play ukulele and you drink. – Dwayne Johnson • I grew up in Hawaii and I think those islands are some of the most amazing places on the planet. – Mateus Ward • I grew up in Hawaii so I was outside a lot playing in the water. – Kelly Preston • I had actually been going to Hawaii for quite a while before I ever picked up the uke. I think with anything new you’re going to get more enjoyment out of it if it comes to you quickly, and the uke facilitates that. – Eddie Vedder • I had done ‘Die Hard’ and it was somebody’s franchise. I actually just got done with the ‘Hawaii Five-O’ pilot and I was developing some things of my own. So ‘Total Recall’ one of those projects that I read wanting more not to like it. – Len Wiseman • I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I’m in love with it and it’s home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place. – Shailene Woodley • I hate painting with a broad brush, but I think the birther thing, at its root, is racist. The guy was born in Hawaii. A black guy is president. It’s cool. Get over it. Just deal with it. There’s nothing you could show these birther people that would shut them up. – Henry Rollins • I have never been afraid to tackle tough or controversial issues, but I have always done it with the intent to do what I was elected to do, and that is represent the interests of my constituents, the working people of Hawaii. I feel that we are facing some of the most difficult issues in recent history with regard to food security, a widening income gap, and the rapidly increasing rise of the cost of living in our State. I know that the office of Lieutenant Governor can do more to address these issues. – Clayton Hee • I have to say, though, that somebody pointed out to me on YouTube that Conan O’Brien was being interviewed, and he was talking about how, oddly enough, he went to see that movie [South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ] in Hawaii with his girlfriend or wife or whoever, and he didn’t even realize his character was in it. But there he was, and he said, “This voice comes out of me, and I’m thinking, ‘That’s not me! Who is that? That doesn’t even sound like me!’ – Brent Spiner • I just got back from Hawaii on Saturday, and it’s so depressing how quickly all the stresses and the stressful energy of L.A. comes bombarding back. Everyone’s in a rush, you’re annoying everyone, get out of their way, everyone’s most important than you are, has got somewhere more important to be – very draining town. But I still love it in many ways. I wouldn’t leave California. I think it’s a fantastic state, if you can’t be in Hawaii all the time. – Natalie Maines • I know I can serve Hawaii and our country well in the U.S. Senate, know we can mount a solid statewide campaign, know we have a good chance of prevailing. – Ed Case • I know that some of those plans [of the North Korea] could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. – Hillary Clinton • I love Hawaii. I really enjoy surfing in Oahu, and Waianae is such a great area. And Maui – I like Maui a lot, too. – Troy Polamalu • I mean, Hawaii is beautiful, but the world is full of beautiful places. – Robert Kiyosaki • I remember watching Swan Lake and everybody looking exactly the same, but being able to relate because they were the only company I had ever seen even on video that had Asian dancers. The Asian community in Hawaii is actually almost as dominant as the Caucasian community. I thought “I can relate to that company because they look like people that I see every day.” They weren’t all little stick-thin Russian ballerinas. – Joan Chen • I see life everywhere I look. I get the energy off the water. Hawaii really, when I am there, it feels like how we are supposed to live and how it’s supposed to be: slower, just appreciating our surroundings. I love the people there and the aloha, the history. They’re really rooted in something. – Natalie Maines • I shined off high school band, marching, jazz studies. At the time I was too cool for school, I had this professional gig and I was going home taking a shower and heading to downtown Hawaii, Waikiki. – Eric Hernandez • I still consider myself a little, fat kid from Hawaii. – Robert Kiyosaki • I take golf trips with my brother or with friends. We usually go to Pebble or Bandon Dunes. One year we went to Hawaii. – Greg Maddux • I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don’t bring puka shells back. You’ve got to be careful of your vacation purchases. – Joshua Homme • I think I was a mermaid and I used to swim the shores or Hawaii and used to pop up and see coconuts and pineapples everywhere. – Ella Henderson • I think somebody like Wes [Anderson] has a very good sense of style and is original. I think my sense of style got a little bit better after I was exposed to you guys at Valentino. Because I’m just in Hawaii and Malibu; it’s just kind of T-shirts and surfing-type stuff. – Owen Wilson • I think that being isolated from the Hollywood world of premieres and red carpet events was probably good for me because I could ease into those at will and by my own choice. But in other aspects, when it comes to fanfare, Hawaii is nuts and in L.A. they’re all so jaded. They don’t care. – Evangeline Lilly • I think there’s a really great amount of potential for Hawaii to become an example of what’s possible with renewable energy because there are so many renewable resources here: energy, solar energy, and wind energy. There’s so much potential here. – Jack Johnson • I thought my book was done, then we went to Hawaii and the whole last chapter happened. – Mariel Hemingway • I truly believe the brightest days lie ahead for the Great State of Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster – close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were. – Tulsi Gabbard • I want people to think of Hawaii and think of palm trees and magical islands and Bruno Mars. – Bruno Mars • I want to stay in Hawaii a little while. I’m kind of liking it over there. – Josh Holloway • I wanted to go back on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I did it. One of my favorite shows is ‘Hawaii Five-0.’ I went on, guest starred. I wanted to be in a film, did ‘Tasmanian Devils’ in Vancouver. Wanted to host a show, boom, did it. – Apolo Ohno • I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii – Steve Case • I was born in Hawaii, but I was raised in Iowa. – Jason Momoa • I was in Jersey when the whole World Trade Center thing happened and I felt powerless. So, I went to Hawaii and did a surf movie. It’s kind of fluffy. – Michelle Rodriguez • I was introduced to skateboarding through my father. He was a surfer back in the 50’s & 60’s in Hawaii, where my parents grew up. They later moved to California and I was born. Skateboarding was the thing for surfers here in California in the 60’s and my Dad immediately made me a homemade board. – Christian Hosoi • I was just asking Chad [Myers], how can you get a volcano in Iceland? Isn’t it too- when you think of a volcano, you think of Hawaii and long words like that. You don’t think of Iceland.You think it’s too cold to have a volcano there. – Rick Sanchez • I was over there in Hawaii. I was there on the big island. The ‘Big Island’ – that name cracks me up. First of all, it’s not that big, so I’m pretty sure a guy came up with that name. – Carol Leifer • I was raised all over. Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, by the time I was 11. – Jeri Ryan • I would love to rent a little cottage or cabin in Colorado and learn to ski or snowboard. And on the warmer side, I also want to rent a house in Hawaii and learn to surf! – Karlie Kloss • I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song. – Joni Mitchell • I`ve always thought of him [Barack Obama] and from conversations know him to be a guy who takes the long view, who doesn`t get too high, doesn`t get too low and seizes the opportunities when they`re there and knows how to ride the wave. I ascribe that to Hawaii. He`s a body surfer, so he knows how to get on the wave. He knows just the right time. – Howard Fineman • I’d left Hawaii twice in my life, so I’d been on an island my whole life. I had no clue. I didn’t know how to live in a city. – Maggie Q • I’d love to be [one of MacGyver’s buddies]. I’d watch that one and just think, wow, what a life. Living in Hawaii, driving around in someone’s Ferrari, and solving mysteries. – Rhys Darby • I’d love to go somewhere warm, somewhere near the beach and somewhere with a cool culture. It could be Hawaii, Cuba, South America – anywhere that has a cool culture and a beautiful climate. – Steve Nash • If a nation’s security is only as strong as its weakest link, then America may be in serious trouble. Hawaii may be our weakest link and could have a serious impact on our nation’s immigration policy. – Joe Arpaio • If there’s a Disney animated feature based in Hawaii, I knew I had to be part of it. I’m very proud to be from Hawaii. There was no question the role was mine. – Tia Carrere • If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week we’ll have to fight in San Francisco. – Lyndon B. Johnson • If you don’t have at least a working knowledge of the Hawaiian language… you can’t chant well. You cannot… receive the images of poetry paints for you. It’s like having peas and no pod. – Keali’i Reichel • If you want to surf, move to Hawaii. If you like to shop, move to New York. If you like acting and Hollywood, move to California. But if you like college football, move to Texas. – Ricky Williams • I’m a surfer at heart. Both my parents moved to Hawaii in the 1970s, where they met and became Christians. Then they taught me and my two brothers how to love the Lord – and how to surf! – Bethany Hamilton • I’m not sure it’s possible to stay in Hawaii. It’s kind of impractical. – Terry O’Quinn • I’m of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent, and was raised on Hawaii. – Tia Carrere • I’m quadracontinental. I’ve got a life in London, New York, L.A. and Hawaii. – Rebecca Mader • I’m still a little girl in Hawaii, I have the same friends I had when I was a kid who love me for who I am – not what I do. I never got caught up in the club scene or took wrong roads. – Kiana Tom • Imagine, if you will, you’re sitting at my desk in Hawaii. You have access to the entire world, as far as you can see it. Last several days, content of internet communications. Every email that’s sent. Every website that’s visited by every individual. Every text message that somebody sends on their phone. Every phone call they make. – Edward Snowden • In Hawaii they say, “aloha.” That’s a nice one, It means both “hello” and “good-bye” Which just goes to show, if you spend enough time in the sun you don’t know whether you’re coming or going. – George Carlin • In Hawaii, if you’re invited to dinner, it’s assumed that the children are invited as well. On the islands, no one treats children like they’re not part of the conversation. People talk to children as people and include them in adventures and conversations. – Gabrielle Reece • In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley. – Bruno Mars • In Hawaii, the environment is fabulous. In Malibu, the people are fabulous. Our family unity is tight, and we have the Pacific Ocean outside our door in both places, so there is consistency. – Laird Hamilton • In Hawaii, there are 50-year-old grandfathers, because they got married so early. – Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa • In Hawaii, they’re happy to hear that you’re filming a show. They love it that people actually come and make use of their beautiful landscapes. – Rachelle Lefevre • In Hawaii, we go to this wonderful place, all families. My wife and I go directly from breakfast to a beach chair where we read all day. My daughter goes from water to pool to running around with friends she meets, some of whom are regulars there. – Stephen Collins • In Hawaii, we greet friends, loved ones or strangers with Aloha, which means love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of real hospitality, which makes Hawaii renowned as the world’s center of understanding and fellowship. Try meeting or leaving people with Aloha. You’ll be surprised by their reaction. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to you. – Duke Kahanamoku • In Hawaii, we have something called Ho’oponopono, where people come together to resolve crises and restore peace and balance. – Duane Chapman • In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago. – Mark Twain • In the case of Five-O, I believe it was a combination of many ingredients – timing, chemistry, Hawaii. – James MacArthur • Indian-styled garments are very popular in the U.S., especially in areas near the beach, like Hawaii and Los Angeles. – Maggie Grace • Insiders say Obama’s pretty comfortable around actors. He should be. He has been ‘acting’ like he was born in Hawaii for a long time. – Craig Ferguson • It doesn’t matter if the Republican or the Democratic candidate wins the governorship [of Hawaii]. Either one is already in the kingdom. – Ed Silvoso • It doesn’t matter to me where Barack Obama goes. If he wants to go to Hawaii because it’s his home state, fine! Hunky-dory. Plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller dittos. – Rush Limbaugh • It is really so nice here-country-busy-busy with so many different kinds of things-… I must say I feel far away in another world here-… always we go to a new place…the people have a kind of gentleness that isn’t usual on the mainland. – Georgia O’Keeffe • It’s easier to be healthy in Hawaii than it is, almost anywhere else I’ve lived. You spend a lot of time outside, in the ocean and on the beach. – Terry O’Quinn • It’s good to visit Hawaii if you’re seeking power. You don’t really need to live here. Just to come over for a week is enough. Switzerland is another spot like this. It’s very similar. These are the two clearest spots, Switzerland and Hawaii. – Frederick Lenz • I’ve always been under the impression that it would be such a bummer to be in a peaceful place like Hawaii or the tropics and be stressed about catching waves. – Shaun White • I’ve been surfing for a couple years, in the offseason in California and in Hawaii. I’m not very good, but it’s just something that to be out there in the water, no cell phone, no music… very few sports are as pure as that. – Troy Polamalu • I’ve enjoyed the accommodations offered by police departments from Florida to Hawaii. Any time I saw a badge, something in me would snap. – Grace Slick • Jason Lee is the most famous actor from Hawaii I can think of. – Tia Carrere • Life is very nice in Hawaii. I rent a place that has its own cottage so when my friends and family come to visit, they have somewhere nice to stay. – Jorge Garcia • Make good the good in you…and you will slowly steal into the Hawaiian heart, which is all of softness, and gentleness, and sweetness. – Jack London • Many believe that Hillary Clinton was channeling President Obama during her recent speech in New York City. She focused on equality, justice, and how hard it was for her growing up as a young black man in Hawaii. – Jimmy Fallon • Many exhibits from this aquarium use Hawaii’s abundant natural daylight. This allows Waikiki to display only live coral, which creates beautiful exhibits. It’s also a world leader in the propagation of live coral. The aquarium features some unusual and rarely seen species, including the chambered nautilus and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. – John Grant • Most of my ukulele heroes were traditional players from Hawaii, like Eddie Kamae and Ohta-san. There may not be uke stars in popular culture, but there are certainly pop stars that play uke – George Harrison, Eddie Vedder, Taylor Swift, Train, and Paul McCartney. – Jake Shimabukuro • Most of the time, I’m working in places I’m not familiar with. Sometimes it’s Slovakia, and sometimes it’s Hawaii. Not to bash on Slovakia, but I really did enjoy Hawaii. – George Clooney • Most people are walking around the city like corpses; they aren’t alive enough to notice the trash. They come from other places and they see it as a big garbage dump. Do you want to live and work in a garbage dump? I don’t. That’s partly because I grew up in the most pristine environment possible – Hawaii, where it is sacrilege to leave your garbage on the ground. – Bette Midler • My boyfriend, who I love to death – he’s only 17 so he’s the youngest guy I’ve ever dated – he just moved here from Hawaii to be with me and I met him when I was 10. Anyway, in Hawaii they have such a different mentality and different priorities. – Nikki Reed • My father is Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; my mother is half-Irish and half-Japanese; Greek last name; born in Hawaii, raised in Germany. – Mark Dacascos • My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer. – Bruno Mars • My husband is from Hawaii and his father who was also born in Hawaii was a teenager when Pearl Harbor happened, right before church and he ran up and got on the roof of his grandfather’s house and watched the planes go over. – Sigourney Weaver • My kids have never known me not working on The Bachelor. But they’ve lived in Paris and Italy and been to Hawaii and Bora-Bora with me, and it’s incredible to me that they’ve had these experiences. – Chris Harrison • Not very many companies go through Hawaii on their way to anywhere. San Francisco Ballet was the only company I remember, and Bolshoi, coming through Hawaii when I was younger. – Joan Chen • Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us. – Randy Alcorn • One volcano in Hawaii, one volcano in Indonesia, produces enough gases in the atmosphere, which include those natural elements that are in the Earth’s crust, that, uh, kind of make all the, you know, the science that we have about what we produce, moot. – Jim Gibbons • Over the years, I’ve traveled to many places for inspiration and research, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, California, and Hawaii. – Jennifer Chiaverini • President Obama and his family are spending the holidays in Hawaii, and while they’re gone, they got a fence jumper to house sit. Tomorrow, he will be in Hawaii playing golf with Raul Castro and the Pope. – David Letterman • President Obama has decided that he wants his presidential library to be in Chicago, not Hawaii. Today Hawaii’s governor said, ‘Great, who’s going to want to come to Hawaii now?’ – Conan O’Brien • Running gives me a clearer perspective on the world, and it makes me feel special. I’ve never been a traditional tourist. I’ve always seen the world by running, and that has allowed me to view things in a different way. Places look different in the early-morning hours, when the streets are deserted. – Grete Waitz • Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. – Isoroku Yamamoto • Since my mom is the President of Ballet Hawaii, I’m always in touch with stuff going on. – Joan Chen • Six years ago, I completed the premier episode of Hawaii Five-O, and Jack Lord and I immediately realized that we had a good series, that this was a success such as we’d never hoped for! – James MacArthur • So it was a really pleasant surprise when [Independence Day] turned out to be a successful film. I don’t know if you’ve heard that they’re going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I’ve actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch. – Brent Spiner • Some people say Hawaii is spoiled, but I don’t think so. It’s modern. It’s a part of today’s world. – James MacArthur • Somehow, the love of the islands, like the love of a woman, just happens. One cannot determine in advance to love a particular woman, nor can one so determine to love Hawaii. – Jack London • That isn’t to say that Hawaii’s better. On the mainland, everyone seems to be trying to get somewhere. Kids are taught to shoot for the moon, to believe in their ability to do anything, to follow their passions. In Hawaii, you’re stuck in the middle of the Pacific, and it can be difficult to see how you’re going to follow your passion from there. – Gabrielle Reece • That’s a traditional Samoan dance. I was lucky that I was able to fly my cousins, who are professional dancers, up from Hawaii and they were able to be in the movie with me. We had a great time. – Dwayne Johnson • The Aloha spirit is something that is very special and very meaningful to us and our Polynesian culture. Those of you who have had the opportunity to visit Hawaii, or any of the Polynesian islands, know that it’s a very special thing. It’s an intangible, and when you get off the plane and have your feet on the ground there, it energetically takes you to a different place. – Dwayne Johnson • The band would play on the night off for the local hotel bands and we’d back all the different acts. So I’d been advised by good friends of mine to come back to Hawaii. Oh, I loved Honolulu, playing at a place right on the beach at Waikiki! – Martin Denny • The beauty of Hawaii probably surpasses other places. I like the Big Island and the two mountains, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, where you can look out at the stars. – Buzz Aldrin • The best thing about wearing black is that you can hide pretty easily, unless you’re in like Hawaii, then you can’t hide. – Gerard Way • The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station. – Liliʻuokalani • The day before I left to fly in New York, I went in the ocean and was just lying on my black looking up at the sky, which was that Hawaii blue. Just that moment was worth the entire thing. The ocean is everything. It can heal you. – Gavin Rossdale • The five principles of aloha, when practiced together, awaken our awareness of our human potential and the sacredness of our life. – Paul Pearsall • The mindless rejoicing at home is really appalling; it makes me fear that the first blow against Tokyo will make them wilt at once…I only wish that [the Americans] had also had, say, three carriers at Hawaii. – Isoroku Yamamoto • The number one issue that Ocean Mysteries has opened my eyes to is, no matter where you are, whether you’re on a beach in Hawaii, you’re diving in the Pacific, you’re in a remote archipelago, or you’re in the middle of nowhere – I am blown away and sobered and crushed, emotionally crushed, by the amount of marine debris, of garbage, that is now in our ocean. – Jeff Corwin • The one we keep pitching and there are no takers is The Fabulous Baker Boys Go to Hawaii. There don’t seem to be any takers on that one! – Beau Bridges • The paintings are transferred from my computer to a disk, and I can hand it to the printer this way; or I can modem the painting to the printer over the phone lines from my house in Hawaii. – Buffy Sainte-Marie • The person who betrayed you is sunning themselves on a beach in Hawaii and you’re knotted up in hatred. Who is suffering? – Jack Kornfield • The sentiments in Hawaii about Washington’s failure of leadership are no different than the rest of the country. – Ed Case • The smell of the sea, of kelp and fish and bitter moving water, rose stronger in my nostrils. It flooded my consciousness like an ancestral memory. The swells rose sluggishly and fell away, casting up dismal gleams between the boards of the pier. And the whole pier rose and fell in stiff and creaking mimicry, dancing its long slow dance of dissolution. I reached the end and saw no one, heard nothing but my footsteps and the creak of the beams, the slap of waves on the pilings. It was a fifteen-foot drop to the dim water. The nearest land ahead of me was Hawaii.- Ross Macdonald • The spiritual destiny of Hawaii has been shaped by a Calvinist theory of paternalism enacted by the descendants of the missionaries who had carried it there: a will to do good for unfortunates regardless of what the unfortunates thought about it. – Francine du Plessix Gray • The U.S. started with no stars. In fact, it started with a completely different flag. The last two were added in 1959, Hawaii and Alaska. – Juan Enriquez • There are many things I’m looking forward to in 2013, both personally and professionally. Plans for new restaurants in the U.S., including Eataly Chicago, are underway, and I’m gearing up for the 2013 Ironman world championships in Hawaii – if I’m lucky enough to get a spot! – Joe Bastianich • There are several states where you can get married. But I think I can say without fear of contradiction, ‘Paradise awaits.’ We’ll be happy to welcome you. And if you do get married in another state, think about honeymooning in Hawaii. – Neil Abercrombie • There are spirits in Hawaii. They’re very protective and very good and they watch over these islands. I must confess, they’re not entirely happy with what they see, with the way the civilization is moving. But they’re patient. They’ve been here for a long time, and they’ll be here long after the human beings have ceased to inhabit the islands. – Frederick Lenz • There is one bright side to this, said Fang. “Yeah? What’s that?” The new and improved Erasers would mutilate us before they killed us? He grinned at me so unexpectedly I gorgot to flap for a second and dropped several feet. “You looove me,” he crooned smugly. Holding his arms out wide, he added, “You love me this much.” My shriek of appalled rage could probably be heard in California, or maybe Hawaii. – James Patterson • There’s nothing – there’s nothing – as action-packed as ‘Hawaii Five-O.’ – Michelle Borth • This sounds cheesy but when I would get in discussions with people about religion or spirituality, a lot of people would say, “I believe God is nature, there’s God in that tree” – and I would think, What the hell are they on about? But it was about four or five years ago in Hawaii where that all made sense to me and I got it all, and I felt God was in the trees and in the grass and the flowers, and I completely understood. – Natalie Maines • Though there is something cruel about being in Hawaii and you have a computer in front of you the whole time. – Justin Theroux • To be honest I don’t watch the show, I don’t watch any TV, so I have no idea what the show is about. I go to Hawaii, shot my scenes and script and ‘Ciao.’ I’m not a ‘Lost’ fanatic and it’s a disappointment for thousands people and friends that are dying to know what will happen. They know more than me. – Sonya Walger • Waterworld was the best time of my life. It was physically demanding, but it was fun. I mean, you’re in Hawaii for nine months shooting on the water every day. – David R. Ellis • We are truly the land of the great. From the rock shores of… Hawaii… to the beautiful sandy beaches of… Hawaii… America is our home. – Sarah Palin • We have great cities to visit: New York and Washington, Paris and London; and further east, and older than any of these, the legendary city of Samarkand, whose crumbling palaces and mosques still welcome travelers on the Silk road. Weary of cities? Then we’ll take to the wilds. To the islands of Hawaii and the mountains of Japan, to forests where Civil War dead still lie, and stretches of sea no mariner ever crossed. They all have their poetry: the glittering cities and the ruined, the watery wastes and the dusty; I want to show you them all. I want to show you everything. – Clive Barker • We have North Shore, Hawaii and Lost all there, so they have softball tournaments between the casts. It’s hilarious. – Josh Holloway • We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny. – William McKinley • We packed up all the worldly possessions we could carry with us and took the next flight to Hawaii from Washington. It took just about every cent my family had to our name just to pay the plane fare. When we arrived, we had about $15 left among us. We were really in pitiful shape. But we were together, and we were alive, and this was all that mattered. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We shot on location in our very first weeks, in our very first shows. I would like to go on location again, Hawaii would be good!! But normally, we tape five days a week in the studio starting at about 8:00 a.m. and continuing until about 8:00 p.m. – Juliet Mills • We were just floored by the kindness of the people here. The minister of the Unitarian Church in Honolulu invited my family over to his office the day we arrived and told us to make it our headquarters while we looked for a permanent residence. When we couldn’t find a place for about a week, he let us live in the church; that’s ironic, isn’t it? But it points up the vastly different intellectual atmosphere that prevails here in Hawaii. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We were on the island of Hawaii. I think I was there three months. It was fantastic. It is not much different than films. It depends on the television show but much of television today is as good or better than most films. – Bo Derek • Well, filming in Hawaii, you know, is a blessing. It’s one of the most beautiful places on this planet. It has a very mystic energy which informs you as an actor. – Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje • Well, President-elect Barack Obama and his family are gonna spend the holidays in his home state of Hawaii. And you know who couldn’t be more thrilled with this? The press, the reporters who follow the president. Well, think about it. After eight years of spending every holiday cutting brush in Crawford, Texas, they get to go to Hawaii! – Jay Leno • We’ve had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, Aug. 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital. – Barack Obama • When I get in the sun I get very tanned. You can’t tell me from the native fishermen in Hawaii or Mexico. – Desi Arnaz • When I’m in New York, I bike everywhere. I have a couple of bikes stored over at Ed Norton’s. It’s the only way to go. But in Hawaii, I drive. I have a little Volkswagen Bug, from the ‘Drive it? Hug it?’ phase. I run it on biodiesel. – Woody Harrelson • When Japanese went to Hawaii they would go straight and buy the same thing that they would buy in Japan. They just got it cheaper, which they liked. And so they would still eat the red bean ice cream or the green tea ice cream, but they didn’t really take advantage of the variety and it wasn’t clear that they cared. – Sheena Iyengar • When people are worried about the future, they don’t take trips to Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • When you go to Hawaii, it’s all about “Aloha.” It means hello, goodbye and I love you. – Gabriel Iglesias • Whenever I finish a book, I go off and have some kind of adventure. Having had an adventure in my writing chair or on my writing sofa, an internal adventure, then I need to balance that off with an external adventure, so I’ll go tramping through Africa or whitewater rafting or float to Hawaii in a martini shaker or something. – Tom Robbins • Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? – Steven Wright • With my being from Hawaii and being very family oriented I don’t really have a fear of a tragic ending. I dont see any tragic ending for me. – Bruno Mars • With the departure of Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D), who is running for the governorship of Hawaii, and with the tragic and very sad passing of my personal friend Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots. – Eric Massa • You are the lei I entwine with the beauty of your smile. – Robert Cazimero • You know, I think there was a point in time when people didn’t really understand how birth certificates were kept in the state of Hawaii, and now, I think that it’s been pretty much disclosed that they used to have a long form and now they don’t have a long form. Arizona used to have a long form, we now have a short form. – Jan Brewer • You know, or three kinds of ice cream bars and you’d see this and like this… okay they could clearly benefit from some more choices and I remember having these discussions with the Japanese because they you know they often like to go to Hawaii for vacation because it was definitely much cheaper for them and I would ask them, “So when you go to Hawaii, you know do eat all these other things?” – Sheena Iyengar • You think that you can hide; you think you can lay low? I’ll roll up on your ass like Hawaii 5-0! – Busta Rhymes [clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'i', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_i').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_i img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

0 notes

equitiesstocks · 5 years

Text

Hawaii Quotes

Official Website: Hawaii Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Hawaii', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_hawaii img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Barack Obama isn’t pointing to anyone, and certainly doesn’t like it when others note (correctly) that his influences were the likes of Saul Alinsky, the Chicagoan and modern founder of community organizing, or Frank Marshall Davis, the communist journalist and agitator from Chicago who mentored Obama in Hawaii in the latter 1970s, and who Obama warmly acknowledges in his memoirs. – Paul Kengor • Beating the drums for Hawaii is not hard to do… the place just grows on you. – James MacArthur • Before I became a fighter pilot, everyone said that women didn’t have the physical strength. Well, I had just completed the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. – Martha McSally • Being in Hawaii, it’s almost impossible not to be fit, I think. – Henry Ian Cusick • Come with me while the moon is on the sea The night is young and so are we Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii And mine could all come true This magic night of nights with you – Leo Robin • Donald Trump has made it clear that certainly over the last few years that President [Barack] Obama was born in Hawaii. – John Lewis • Ever since I was young I understood the whole meaning of life isn’t how much money you accumulate, how much fame you experience, it’s how many lives you touch, how many faces you bring smiles to. I see myself back in Hawaii doing something in the community to improve the lives of young children. Everything I’ve done is to prepare myself to give back. – Manti Te’o • Every city I go to is an opportunity to paint, whether it’s Omaha or Hawaii. – Tony Bennett • Every time I flicked channels, there I was, talking. I was talking too much and writing too little. So Naomi and I went to Hawaii. The phone was cut off and we lost touch. This gave me the chance to have a good think about my life. – Joe Eszterhas • For a while I got into the South Pacific theater of World War II. I read “American Caesar” by William Manchester, the biography of General MacArthur. Because of that I ended up reading “Tales of the South Pacific” by James Michener and then because of that reading his “Hawaii.” That is what happens. – Dave Barry • For many years I had allowed my second husband to take credit for my paintings. But one day, unable to continue the deception any longer, I left him and my home in California and moved to Hawaii. – Margaret Keane • For me, the magic of Hawaii comes from the stillness, the sea, the stars. – Joanne Harris • For some reason my father saw no problem with us pplaying “barbie and ken go to hawaii to save their marriage by picking up another couple for sexy good times,” but if barbie and ken had gone to hawaii to “rescue another couple from a crazed kidnapper,” that would have been wrong. – Michele Jaffe • Good schools, good jobs, good government. These are not unreasonable demands. But sadly, some of our people have already lost heart and have left Hawaii to look for these things elsewhere. – Linda Lingle • Grew up in Hawaii that gave [Barack Obama] a kind of optimism, an ability to see things, you know, and frankly, an ability to trust, you know, in his fellow, you know, white countrymen in a way that I, for instance, you know, and the vast majority of black people I know never really could. – Ta-Nehisi Coates • Growing up, the ukulele was always a respected instrument. It’s a big part of our culture. It wasn’t until I started traveling outside of Hawaii that I realized people didn’t really consider the ukulele to be a real instrument. – Jake Shimabukuro • Have you guys ever ghost hunted in Hawaii? No? Well, I have this fat friend… I shouldn’t say fat, that might offend him, but he’s Samoan and claims to have seen ghosts. – CM Punk • Hawaii ain’t a bad place to work. – T.I. • Hawaii can be heaven and it can be hell. – Jeff Goldblum • Hawaii doesn’t win many games in the United States. – Lee Corso • Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is a beautiful place to bring up a family. – Henry Ian Cusick • Hawaii is a small, close community. – Jake Shimabukuro • Hawaii is a special place because we have a very diverse population there, who are very respectful and tolerant of those who have differing opinions and different views. – Tulsi Gabbard • Hawaii is a unique state. It is a small state. It is a state that is by itself. It is a-it is different than the other 49 states. Well, all states are different, but it’s got a particularly unique situation. – Dan Quayle • Hawaii is absolutely beautiful. – Rachelle Lefevre • Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace. – Paul Theroux • Hawaii is paradise. It sounds cheesy to say it, but there’s music in the air there. – Bruno Mars • Hawaii is the best form of comfort for me. When I die, I want to be cremated, and I want half my ashes spread in the Pacific around the island, the rest on the property. – Richard Pryor • Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and many Hawaiians or part-Hawaiians surf, but in the rest of the United States it’s a pretty white sport. – William Finnegan • Hawaii made the mouth of her soul water. – Tom Robbins • Hawaii was beautiful of course, we played at Turtle Bay an amazing resort right on the ocean. – Natalie Gulbis • Hawaiis own Patsy Mink served as the first congresswoman of color and first Asian American woman in the House; she later sought the Democratic Party presidential nomination. – Colleen Hanabusa • Hawaii’s the 50th state? I thought it was a suburb of Guam. – Bobby Heenan • Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not. – Wayne Allyn Root • Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance, which expresses all we see, smell, taste, touch, feel, and experience. It is joy, sorrow, courage, and fear. – Robert Cazimero • I am privileged to be able to work for the people of Hawaii in whatever capacity. – Tulsi Gabbard • I bought almost every single thing that I furnished my house with at the Salvation Army in Hawaii. All second hand. Some of them are kind of retro, and some of them you’d never know. – Evangeline Lilly • I can’t even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it’s so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It’s very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven’t been to paradise if you haven’t been to Hawaii. – Bruno Mars • I decided that we’d have to take our chances with the law and get the hell out of Baltimore. I thought of seeking asylum in Canada or Australia or England, but I didn’t want to leave the United States, because for better or worse I’m an American, and this is my land; so I decided to fight it out on home ground, and finally we hit upon Hawaii, because of the liberal atmosphere created by its racial admixture, and because of its relatively large population of Buddhists, who are largely nontheistic. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • I dive all over the world: Fiji, Australia, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and many other places. – Frederick Lenz • I don’t care about the money. I’m just interested in the perks. I’ll do a series if I am picked up by a limo, work only until 4, and the show is shot in Hawaii. – Harry Morgan • I don’t care where [Ted] Cruz comes from. I don’t care where the President comes from. Day one, I opened an investigation on a fraudulent government Hawaii document, period, on a birth certificate, so if you can say Cruz has fake documents, okay. – Joe Arpaio • I don’t have any simple things. I only have things like a gold-studded leather jacket. Then I’m going to Hawaii and I’m asking myself “Do I pack it? It could be cold.” I’m inventing scenarios where I could wear it. – Shaun White • I don’t like to spend money when I’m traveling. I like to go places like Hawaii and not spend money. I splurge on time. – Jonny Weston • I don’t look down on tourism. I live in Hawaii where we have 7 million visitors a year. If they weren’t there, there would be no economy. So I understand why a tourist economy is necessary. – Paul Theroux • I ended up in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, operating out of Ayuka field in Hawaii. – Louis Zamperini • I got into this little habit of architecture and building. I designed a house in Colorado and one in Hawaii. The idea is supposed to be build and sell – but then I can never bring myself to sell them. – Trey Parker • I grew up in a musical family; the majority of my growing up was done in Hawaii. It’s what we do. You sing, you dance, you play ukulele and you drink. – Dwayne Johnson • I grew up in Hawaii and I think those islands are some of the most amazing places on the planet. – Mateus Ward • I grew up in Hawaii so I was outside a lot playing in the water. – Kelly Preston • I had actually been going to Hawaii for quite a while before I ever picked up the uke. I think with anything new you’re going to get more enjoyment out of it if it comes to you quickly, and the uke facilitates that. – Eddie Vedder • I had done ‘Die Hard’ and it was somebody’s franchise. I actually just got done with the ‘Hawaii Five-O’ pilot and I was developing some things of my own. So ‘Total Recall’ one of those projects that I read wanting more not to like it. – Len Wiseman • I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I’m in love with it and it’s home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place. – Shailene Woodley • I hate painting with a broad brush, but I think the birther thing, at its root, is racist. The guy was born in Hawaii. A black guy is president. It’s cool. Get over it. Just deal with it. There’s nothing you could show these birther people that would shut them up. – Henry Rollins • I have never been afraid to tackle tough or controversial issues, but I have always done it with the intent to do what I was elected to do, and that is represent the interests of my constituents, the working people of Hawaii. I feel that we are facing some of the most difficult issues in recent history with regard to food security, a widening income gap, and the rapidly increasing rise of the cost of living in our State. I know that the office of Lieutenant Governor can do more to address these issues. – Clayton Hee • I have to say, though, that somebody pointed out to me on YouTube that Conan O’Brien was being interviewed, and he was talking about how, oddly enough, he went to see that movie [South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ] in Hawaii with his girlfriend or wife or whoever, and he didn’t even realize his character was in it. But there he was, and he said, “This voice comes out of me, and I’m thinking, ‘That’s not me! Who is that? That doesn’t even sound like me!’ – Brent Spiner • I just got back from Hawaii on Saturday, and it’s so depressing how quickly all the stresses and the stressful energy of L.A. comes bombarding back. Everyone’s in a rush, you’re annoying everyone, get out of their way, everyone’s most important than you are, has got somewhere more important to be – very draining town. But I still love it in many ways. I wouldn’t leave California. I think it’s a fantastic state, if you can’t be in Hawaii all the time. – Natalie Maines • I know I can serve Hawaii and our country well in the U.S. Senate, know we can mount a solid statewide campaign, know we have a good chance of prevailing. – Ed Case • I know that some of those plans [of the North Korea] could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. – Hillary Clinton • I love Hawaii. I really enjoy surfing in Oahu, and Waianae is such a great area. And Maui – I like Maui a lot, too. – Troy Polamalu • I mean, Hawaii is beautiful, but the world is full of beautiful places. – Robert Kiyosaki • I remember watching Swan Lake and everybody looking exactly the same, but being able to relate because they were the only company I had ever seen even on video that had Asian dancers. The Asian community in Hawaii is actually almost as dominant as the Caucasian community. I thought “I can relate to that company because they look like people that I see every day.” They weren’t all little stick-thin Russian ballerinas. – Joan Chen • I see life everywhere I look. I get the energy off the water. Hawaii really, when I am there, it feels like how we are supposed to live and how it’s supposed to be: slower, just appreciating our surroundings. I love the people there and the aloha, the history. They’re really rooted in something. – Natalie Maines • I shined off high school band, marching, jazz studies. At the time I was too cool for school, I had this professional gig and I was going home taking a shower and heading to downtown Hawaii, Waikiki. – Eric Hernandez • I still consider myself a little, fat kid from Hawaii. – Robert Kiyosaki • I take golf trips with my brother or with friends. We usually go to Pebble or Bandon Dunes. One year we went to Hawaii. – Greg Maddux • I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don’t bring puka shells back. You’ve got to be careful of your vacation purchases. – Joshua Homme • I think I was a mermaid and I used to swim the shores or Hawaii and used to pop up and see coconuts and pineapples everywhere. – Ella Henderson • I think somebody like Wes [Anderson] has a very good sense of style and is original. I think my sense of style got a little bit better after I was exposed to you guys at Valentino. Because I’m just in Hawaii and Malibu; it’s just kind of T-shirts and surfing-type stuff. – Owen Wilson • I think that being isolated from the Hollywood world of premieres and red carpet events was probably good for me because I could ease into those at will and by my own choice. But in other aspects, when it comes to fanfare, Hawaii is nuts and in L.A. they’re all so jaded. They don’t care. – Evangeline Lilly • I think there’s a really great amount of potential for Hawaii to become an example of what’s possible with renewable energy because there are so many renewable resources here: energy, solar energy, and wind energy. There’s so much potential here. – Jack Johnson • I thought my book was done, then we went to Hawaii and the whole last chapter happened. – Mariel Hemingway • I truly believe the brightest days lie ahead for the Great State of Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster – close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were. – Tulsi Gabbard • I want people to think of Hawaii and think of palm trees and magical islands and Bruno Mars. – Bruno Mars • I want to stay in Hawaii a little while. I’m kind of liking it over there. – Josh Holloway • I wanted to go back on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I did it. One of my favorite shows is ‘Hawaii Five-0.’ I went on, guest starred. I wanted to be in a film, did ‘Tasmanian Devils’ in Vancouver. Wanted to host a show, boom, did it. – Apolo Ohno • I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii – Steve Case • I was born in Hawaii, but I was raised in Iowa. – Jason Momoa • I was in Jersey when the whole World Trade Center thing happened and I felt powerless. So, I went to Hawaii and did a surf movie. It’s kind of fluffy. – Michelle Rodriguez • I was introduced to skateboarding through my father. He was a surfer back in the 50’s & 60’s in Hawaii, where my parents grew up. They later moved to California and I was born. Skateboarding was the thing for surfers here in California in the 60’s and my Dad immediately made me a homemade board. – Christian Hosoi • I was just asking Chad [Myers], how can you get a volcano in Iceland? Isn’t it too- when you think of a volcano, you think of Hawaii and long words like that. You don’t think of Iceland.You think it’s too cold to have a volcano there. – Rick Sanchez • I was over there in Hawaii. I was there on the big island. The ‘Big Island’ – that name cracks me up. First of all, it’s not that big, so I’m pretty sure a guy came up with that name. – Carol Leifer • I was raised all over. Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, by the time I was 11. – Jeri Ryan • I would love to rent a little cottage or cabin in Colorado and learn to ski or snowboard. And on the warmer side, I also want to rent a house in Hawaii and learn to surf! – Karlie Kloss • I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song. – Joni Mitchell • I`ve always thought of him [Barack Obama] and from conversations know him to be a guy who takes the long view, who doesn`t get too high, doesn`t get too low and seizes the opportunities when they`re there and knows how to ride the wave. I ascribe that to Hawaii. He`s a body surfer, so he knows how to get on the wave. He knows just the right time. – Howard Fineman • I’d left Hawaii twice in my life, so I’d been on an island my whole life. I had no clue. I didn’t know how to live in a city. – Maggie Q • I’d love to be [one of MacGyver’s buddies]. I’d watch that one and just think, wow, what a life. Living in Hawaii, driving around in someone’s Ferrari, and solving mysteries. – Rhys Darby • I’d love to go somewhere warm, somewhere near the beach and somewhere with a cool culture. It could be Hawaii, Cuba, South America – anywhere that has a cool culture and a beautiful climate. – Steve Nash • If a nation’s security is only as strong as its weakest link, then America may be in serious trouble. Hawaii may be our weakest link and could have a serious impact on our nation’s immigration policy. – Joe Arpaio • If there’s a Disney animated feature based in Hawaii, I knew I had to be part of it. I’m very proud to be from Hawaii. There was no question the role was mine. – Tia Carrere • If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week we’ll have to fight in San Francisco. – Lyndon B. Johnson • If you don’t have at least a working knowledge of the Hawaiian language… you can’t chant well. You cannot… receive the images of poetry paints for you. It’s like having peas and no pod. – Keali’i Reichel • If you want to surf, move to Hawaii. If you like to shop, move to New York. If you like acting and Hollywood, move to California. But if you like college football, move to Texas. – Ricky Williams • I’m a surfer at heart. Both my parents moved to Hawaii in the 1970s, where they met and became Christians. Then they taught me and my two brothers how to love the Lord – and how to surf! – Bethany Hamilton • I’m not sure it’s possible to stay in Hawaii. It’s kind of impractical. – Terry O’Quinn • I’m of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent, and was raised on Hawaii. – Tia Carrere • I’m quadracontinental. I’ve got a life in London, New York, L.A. and Hawaii. – Rebecca Mader • I’m still a little girl in Hawaii, I have the same friends I had when I was a kid who love me for who I am – not what I do. I never got caught up in the club scene or took wrong roads. – Kiana Tom • Imagine, if you will, you’re sitting at my desk in Hawaii. You have access to the entire world, as far as you can see it. Last several days, content of internet communications. Every email that’s sent. Every website that’s visited by every individual. Every text message that somebody sends on their phone. Every phone call they make. – Edward Snowden • In Hawaii they say, “aloha.” That’s a nice one, It means both “hello” and “good-bye” Which just goes to show, if you spend enough time in the sun you don’t know whether you’re coming or going. – George Carlin • In Hawaii, if you’re invited to dinner, it’s assumed that the children are invited as well. On the islands, no one treats children like they’re not part of the conversation. People talk to children as people and include them in adventures and conversations. – Gabrielle Reece • In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley. – Bruno Mars • In Hawaii, the environment is fabulous. In Malibu, the people are fabulous. Our family unity is tight, and we have the Pacific Ocean outside our door in both places, so there is consistency. – Laird Hamilton • In Hawaii, there are 50-year-old grandfathers, because they got married so early. – Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa • In Hawaii, they’re happy to hear that you’re filming a show. They love it that people actually come and make use of their beautiful landscapes. – Rachelle Lefevre • In Hawaii, we go to this wonderful place, all families. My wife and I go directly from breakfast to a beach chair where we read all day. My daughter goes from water to pool to running around with friends she meets, some of whom are regulars there. – Stephen Collins • In Hawaii, we greet friends, loved ones or strangers with Aloha, which means love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of real hospitality, which makes Hawaii renowned as the world’s center of understanding and fellowship. Try meeting or leaving people with Aloha. You’ll be surprised by their reaction. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to you. – Duke Kahanamoku • In Hawaii, we have something called Ho’oponopono, where people come together to resolve crises and restore peace and balance. – Duane Chapman • In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago. – Mark Twain • In the case of Five-O, I believe it was a combination of many ingredients – timing, chemistry, Hawaii. – James MacArthur • Indian-styled garments are very popular in the U.S., especially in areas near the beach, like Hawaii and Los Angeles. – Maggie Grace • Insiders say Obama’s pretty comfortable around actors. He should be. He has been ‘acting’ like he was born in Hawaii for a long time. – Craig Ferguson • It doesn’t matter if the Republican or the Democratic candidate wins the governorship [of Hawaii]. Either one is already in the kingdom. – Ed Silvoso • It doesn’t matter to me where Barack Obama goes. If he wants to go to Hawaii because it’s his home state, fine! Hunky-dory. Plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller dittos. – Rush Limbaugh • It is really so nice here-country-busy-busy with so many different kinds of things-… I must say I feel far away in another world here-… always we go to a new place…the people have a kind of gentleness that isn’t usual on the mainland. – Georgia O’Keeffe • It’s easier to be healthy in Hawaii than it is, almost anywhere else I’ve lived. You spend a lot of time outside, in the ocean and on the beach. – Terry O’Quinn • It’s good to visit Hawaii if you’re seeking power. You don’t really need to live here. Just to come over for a week is enough. Switzerland is another spot like this. It’s very similar. These are the two clearest spots, Switzerland and Hawaii. – Frederick Lenz • I’ve always been under the impression that it would be such a bummer to be in a peaceful place like Hawaii or the tropics and be stressed about catching waves. – Shaun White • I’ve been surfing for a couple years, in the offseason in California and in Hawaii. I’m not very good, but it’s just something that to be out there in the water, no cell phone, no music… very few sports are as pure as that. – Troy Polamalu • I’ve enjoyed the accommodations offered by police departments from Florida to Hawaii. Any time I saw a badge, something in me would snap. – Grace Slick • Jason Lee is the most famous actor from Hawaii I can think of. – Tia Carrere • Life is very nice in Hawaii. I rent a place that has its own cottage so when my friends and family come to visit, they have somewhere nice to stay. – Jorge Garcia • Make good the good in you…and you will slowly steal into the Hawaiian heart, which is all of softness, and gentleness, and sweetness. – Jack London • Many believe that Hillary Clinton was channeling President Obama during her recent speech in New York City. She focused on equality, justice, and how hard it was for her growing up as a young black man in Hawaii. – Jimmy Fallon • Many exhibits from this aquarium use Hawaii’s abundant natural daylight. This allows Waikiki to display only live coral, which creates beautiful exhibits. It’s also a world leader in the propagation of live coral. The aquarium features some unusual and rarely seen species, including the chambered nautilus and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. – John Grant • Most of my ukulele heroes were traditional players from Hawaii, like Eddie Kamae and Ohta-san. There may not be uke stars in popular culture, but there are certainly pop stars that play uke – George Harrison, Eddie Vedder, Taylor Swift, Train, and Paul McCartney. – Jake Shimabukuro • Most of the time, I’m working in places I’m not familiar with. Sometimes it’s Slovakia, and sometimes it’s Hawaii. Not to bash on Slovakia, but I really did enjoy Hawaii. – George Clooney • Most people are walking around the city like corpses; they aren’t alive enough to notice the trash. They come from other places and they see it as a big garbage dump. Do you want to live and work in a garbage dump? I don’t. That’s partly because I grew up in the most pristine environment possible – Hawaii, where it is sacrilege to leave your garbage on the ground. – Bette Midler • My boyfriend, who I love to death – he’s only 17 so he’s the youngest guy I’ve ever dated – he just moved here from Hawaii to be with me and I met him when I was 10. Anyway, in Hawaii they have such a different mentality and different priorities. – Nikki Reed • My father is Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; my mother is half-Irish and half-Japanese; Greek last name; born in Hawaii, raised in Germany. – Mark Dacascos • My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer. – Bruno Mars • My husband is from Hawaii and his father who was also born in Hawaii was a teenager when Pearl Harbor happened, right before church and he ran up and got on the roof of his grandfather’s house and watched the planes go over. – Sigourney Weaver • My kids have never known me not working on The Bachelor. But they’ve lived in Paris and Italy and been to Hawaii and Bora-Bora with me, and it’s incredible to me that they’ve had these experiences. – Chris Harrison • Not very many companies go through Hawaii on their way to anywhere. San Francisco Ballet was the only company I remember, and Bolshoi, coming through Hawaii when I was younger. – Joan Chen • Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us. – Randy Alcorn • One volcano in Hawaii, one volcano in Indonesia, produces enough gases in the atmosphere, which include those natural elements that are in the Earth’s crust, that, uh, kind of make all the, you know, the science that we have about what we produce, moot. – Jim Gibbons • Over the years, I’ve traveled to many places for inspiration and research, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, California, and Hawaii. – Jennifer Chiaverini • President Obama and his family are spending the holidays in Hawaii, and while they’re gone, they got a fence jumper to house sit. Tomorrow, he will be in Hawaii playing golf with Raul Castro and the Pope. – David Letterman • President Obama has decided that he wants his presidential library to be in Chicago, not Hawaii. Today Hawaii’s governor said, ‘Great, who’s going to want to come to Hawaii now?’ – Conan O’Brien • Running gives me a clearer perspective on the world, and it makes me feel special. I’ve never been a traditional tourist. I’ve always seen the world by running, and that has allowed me to view things in a different way. Places look different in the early-morning hours, when the streets are deserted. – Grete Waitz • Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. – Isoroku Yamamoto • Since my mom is the President of Ballet Hawaii, I’m always in touch with stuff going on. – Joan Chen • Six years ago, I completed the premier episode of Hawaii Five-O, and Jack Lord and I immediately realized that we had a good series, that this was a success such as we’d never hoped for! – James MacArthur • So it was a really pleasant surprise when [Independence Day] turned out to be a successful film. I don’t know if you’ve heard that they’re going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I’ve actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch. – Brent Spiner • Some people say Hawaii is spoiled, but I don’t think so. It’s modern. It’s a part of today’s world. – James MacArthur • Somehow, the love of the islands, like the love of a woman, just happens. One cannot determine in advance to love a particular woman, nor can one so determine to love Hawaii. – Jack London • That isn’t to say that Hawaii’s better. On the mainland, everyone seems to be trying to get somewhere. Kids are taught to shoot for the moon, to believe in their ability to do anything, to follow their passions. In Hawaii, you’re stuck in the middle of the Pacific, and it can be difficult to see how you’re going to follow your passion from there. – Gabrielle Reece • That’s a traditional Samoan dance. I was lucky that I was able to fly my cousins, who are professional dancers, up from Hawaii and they were able to be in the movie with me. We had a great time. – Dwayne Johnson • The Aloha spirit is something that is very special and very meaningful to us and our Polynesian culture. Those of you who have had the opportunity to visit Hawaii, or any of the Polynesian islands, know that it’s a very special thing. It’s an intangible, and when you get off the plane and have your feet on the ground there, it energetically takes you to a different place. – Dwayne Johnson • The band would play on the night off for the local hotel bands and we’d back all the different acts. So I’d been advised by good friends of mine to come back to Hawaii. Oh, I loved Honolulu, playing at a place right on the beach at Waikiki! – Martin Denny • The beauty of Hawaii probably surpasses other places. I like the Big Island and the two mountains, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, where you can look out at the stars. – Buzz Aldrin • The best thing about wearing black is that you can hide pretty easily, unless you’re in like Hawaii, then you can’t hide. – Gerard Way • The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station. – Liliʻuokalani • The day before I left to fly in New York, I went in the ocean and was just lying on my black looking up at the sky, which was that Hawaii blue. Just that moment was worth the entire thing. The ocean is everything. It can heal you. – Gavin Rossdale • The five principles of aloha, when practiced together, awaken our awareness of our human potential and the sacredness of our life. – Paul Pearsall • The mindless rejoicing at home is really appalling; it makes me fear that the first blow against Tokyo will make them wilt at once…I only wish that [the Americans] had also had, say, three carriers at Hawaii. – Isoroku Yamamoto • The number one issue that Ocean Mysteries has opened my eyes to is, no matter where you are, whether you’re on a beach in Hawaii, you’re diving in the Pacific, you’re in a remote archipelago, or you’re in the middle of nowhere – I am blown away and sobered and crushed, emotionally crushed, by the amount of marine debris, of garbage, that is now in our ocean. – Jeff Corwin • The one we keep pitching and there are no takers is The Fabulous Baker Boys Go to Hawaii. There don’t seem to be any takers on that one! – Beau Bridges • The paintings are transferred from my computer to a disk, and I can hand it to the printer this way; or I can modem the painting to the printer over the phone lines from my house in Hawaii. – Buffy Sainte-Marie • The person who betrayed you is sunning themselves on a beach in Hawaii and you’re knotted up in hatred. Who is suffering? – Jack Kornfield • The sentiments in Hawaii about Washington’s failure of leadership are no different than the rest of the country. – Ed Case • The smell of the sea, of kelp and fish and bitter moving water, rose stronger in my nostrils. It flooded my consciousness like an ancestral memory. The swells rose sluggishly and fell away, casting up dismal gleams between the boards of the pier. And the whole pier rose and fell in stiff and creaking mimicry, dancing its long slow dance of dissolution. I reached the end and saw no one, heard nothing but my footsteps and the creak of the beams, the slap of waves on the pilings. It was a fifteen-foot drop to the dim water. The nearest land ahead of me was Hawaii.- Ross Macdonald • The spiritual destiny of Hawaii has been shaped by a Calvinist theory of paternalism enacted by the descendants of the missionaries who had carried it there: a will to do good for unfortunates regardless of what the unfortunates thought about it. – Francine du Plessix Gray • The U.S. started with no stars. In fact, it started with a completely different flag. The last two were added in 1959, Hawaii and Alaska. – Juan Enriquez • There are many things I’m looking forward to in 2013, both personally and professionally. Plans for new restaurants in the U.S., including Eataly Chicago, are underway, and I’m gearing up for the 2013 Ironman world championships in Hawaii – if I’m lucky enough to get a spot! – Joe Bastianich • There are several states where you can get married. But I think I can say without fear of contradiction, ‘Paradise awaits.’ We’ll be happy to welcome you. And if you do get married in another state, think about honeymooning in Hawaii. – Neil Abercrombie • There are spirits in Hawaii. They’re very protective and very good and they watch over these islands. I must confess, they’re not entirely happy with what they see, with the way the civilization is moving. But they’re patient. They’ve been here for a long time, and they’ll be here long after the human beings have ceased to inhabit the islands. – Frederick Lenz • There is one bright side to this, said Fang. “Yeah? What’s that?” The new and improved Erasers would mutilate us before they killed us? He grinned at me so unexpectedly I gorgot to flap for a second and dropped several feet. “You looove me,” he crooned smugly. Holding his arms out wide, he added, “You love me this much.” My shriek of appalled rage could probably be heard in California, or maybe Hawaii. – James Patterson • There’s nothing – there’s nothing – as action-packed as ‘Hawaii Five-O.’ – Michelle Borth • This sounds cheesy but when I would get in discussions with people about religion or spirituality, a lot of people would say, “I believe God is nature, there’s God in that tree” – and I would think, What the hell are they on about? But it was about four or five years ago in Hawaii where that all made sense to me and I got it all, and I felt God was in the trees and in the grass and the flowers, and I completely understood. – Natalie Maines • Though there is something cruel about being in Hawaii and you have a computer in front of you the whole time. – Justin Theroux • To be honest I don’t watch the show, I don’t watch any TV, so I have no idea what the show is about. I go to Hawaii, shot my scenes and script and ‘Ciao.’ I’m not a ‘Lost’ fanatic and it’s a disappointment for thousands people and friends that are dying to know what will happen. They know more than me. – Sonya Walger • Waterworld was the best time of my life. It was physically demanding, but it was fun. I mean, you’re in Hawaii for nine months shooting on the water every day. – David R. Ellis • We are truly the land of the great. From the rock shores of… Hawaii… to the beautiful sandy beaches of… Hawaii… America is our home. – Sarah Palin • We have great cities to visit: New York and Washington, Paris and London; and further east, and older than any of these, the legendary city of Samarkand, whose crumbling palaces and mosques still welcome travelers on the Silk road. Weary of cities? Then we’ll take to the wilds. To the islands of Hawaii and the mountains of Japan, to forests where Civil War dead still lie, and stretches of sea no mariner ever crossed. They all have their poetry: the glittering cities and the ruined, the watery wastes and the dusty; I want to show you them all. I want to show you everything. – Clive Barker • We have North Shore, Hawaii and Lost all there, so they have softball tournaments between the casts. It’s hilarious. – Josh Holloway • We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny. – William McKinley • We packed up all the worldly possessions we could carry with us and took the next flight to Hawaii from Washington. It took just about every cent my family had to our name just to pay the plane fare. When we arrived, we had about $15 left among us. We were really in pitiful shape. But we were together, and we were alive, and this was all that mattered. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We shot on location in our very first weeks, in our very first shows. I would like to go on location again, Hawaii would be good!! But normally, we tape five days a week in the studio starting at about 8:00 a.m. and continuing until about 8:00 p.m. – Juliet Mills • We were just floored by the kindness of the people here. The minister of the Unitarian Church in Honolulu invited my family over to his office the day we arrived and told us to make it our headquarters while we looked for a permanent residence. When we couldn’t find a place for about a week, he let us live in the church; that’s ironic, isn’t it? But it points up the vastly different intellectual atmosphere that prevails here in Hawaii. – Madalyn Murray O’Hair • We were on the island of Hawaii. I think I was there three months. It was fantastic. It is not much different than films. It depends on the television show but much of television today is as good or better than most films. – Bo Derek • Well, filming in Hawaii, you know, is a blessing. It’s one of the most beautiful places on this planet. It has a very mystic energy which informs you as an actor. – Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje • Well, President-elect Barack Obama and his family are gonna spend the holidays in his home state of Hawaii. And you know who couldn’t be more thrilled with this? The press, the reporters who follow the president. Well, think about it. After eight years of spending every holiday cutting brush in Crawford, Texas, they get to go to Hawaii! – Jay Leno • We’ve had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, Aug. 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital. – Barack Obama • When I get in the sun I get very tanned. You can’t tell me from the native fishermen in Hawaii or Mexico. – Desi Arnaz • When I’m in New York, I bike everywhere. I have a couple of bikes stored over at Ed Norton’s. It’s the only way to go. But in Hawaii, I drive. I have a little Volkswagen Bug, from the ‘Drive it? Hug it?’ phase. I run it on biodiesel. – Woody Harrelson • When Japanese went to Hawaii they would go straight and buy the same thing that they would buy in Japan. They just got it cheaper, which they liked. And so they would still eat the red bean ice cream or the green tea ice cream, but they didn’t really take advantage of the variety and it wasn’t clear that they cared. – Sheena Iyengar • When people are worried about the future, they don’t take trips to Hawaii. – Linda Lingle • When you go to Hawaii, it’s all about “Aloha.” It means hello, goodbye and I love you. – Gabriel Iglesias • Whenever I finish a book, I go off and have some kind of adventure. Having had an adventure in my writing chair or on my writing sofa, an internal adventure, then I need to balance that off with an external adventure, so I’ll go tramping through Africa or whitewater rafting or float to Hawaii in a martini shaker or something. – Tom Robbins • Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? – Steven Wright • With my being from Hawaii and being very family oriented I don’t really have a fear of a tragic ending. I dont see any tragic ending for me. – Bruno Mars • With the departure of Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D), who is running for the governorship of Hawaii, and with the tragic and very sad passing of my personal friend Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots. – Eric Massa • You are the lei I entwine with the beauty of your smile. – Robert Cazimero • You know, I think there was a point in time when people didn’t really understand how birth certificates were kept in the state of Hawaii, and now, I think that it’s been pretty much disclosed that they used to have a long form and now they don’t have a long form. Arizona used to have a long form, we now have a short form. – Jan Brewer • You know, or three kinds of ice cream bars and you’d see this and like this… okay they could clearly benefit from some more choices and I remember having these discussions with the Japanese because they you know they often like to go to Hawaii for vacation because it was definitely much cheaper for them and I would ask them, “So when you go to Hawaii, you know do eat all these other things?” – Sheena Iyengar • You think that you can hide; you think you can lay low? I’ll roll up on your ass like Hawaii 5-0! – Busta Rhymes [clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

0 notes

glanzer2 · 5 years

Text

You probably want to read it, so here it is… EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED ON OUR ROAD TRIP!!!!

Day 1: Austin-Dallas-Tulsa

The trip got started bright and early Thursday morning. In a very rare instance of John out-sleeping me, I woke him up. “John, wake up, it’s time to go on our trip!” The boy leapt out of bed and threw his clothes on. We said our goodbyes and were on the road by 8am.

The first item on my to-do list was brunch in Dallas at the acclaimed Maple Leaf Diner, a Canadian themed breakfast spot. Johnny opted to eat only a scone, while I snarfed down an eggs Benedict. The most difficult driving I encountered on the trip was in southern Dallas on 35-E, where road construction had the interstate down to two very narrow lanes. I was in the left lane attempting to get around a semi, going 75mph, with literally two inches of space on each side between a concrete barrier and the truck. White knuckle driving, indeed.

North of Dallas, things cleared up and it was a pleasant drive to the small town of Denison, TX. I stopped to see the birthplace and museum of 34th president Dwight Eisenhower. Johnny screamed, pouted, and threw a fit that we stopped because it interrupted his watching of Ghostbusters cartoons. He perked up though when he remembered he had $50 of souvenir bucks for the trip, and bought a cheaply made army tank kit from the gift shop. Onward we went into Oklahoma, where I came upon a famous peanut shop, the Peanut Shoppe. We loaded up on peanuts, pretzels, taffy and jerky and hit the road again. Later, I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to buy the boy some fruit at a roadside fruit stand. Even then, the shop proprietor gave him a popsicle. He fell asleep as we headed up the turnpike to Tulsa.

Upon arrival in town, we checked into our cozy little Airbnb and relaxed. The boy would have been highly content staying at the house for the rest of the day, but I coaxed him into the van and over to Tulsa’s renowned park, The Gathering Place. Wow. This park had it all. Apparently the heir to an oil fortune donated $600MM to construct the most amazing playground I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. We played in 100º heat for two hours and left with both of us soaked to the bone. We returned to the Airbnb and showered, and planned our dinner. Johnny wanted pepperoni pizza, so I texted my company’s CEO and asked if he knew a good spot. My company, ConsumerAffairs, is based in Tulsa, after all. That was part of the reason for stopping there overnight. Rather than direct us to a good restaurant, he instead invited us over to his house for dinner. John played with my boss’s two kids while I enjoyed a couple beverages with the adults. Good but late night! We were asleep around 11:30.

So long, suckers! Road trip ahead.

That’s why this place is famous.

Big silverware

John enjoys breakfast at the Maple Leaf Diner in Dallas

My tasty Canadian eggs Benedict dish

John and a patriotic horsey

The boy pays his respects to Dwight Eisenhower

The Eisenhower house

The boy was saying “I like Ike!” by the end of this visit.

Peanut Shoppe sign

The Peanut Shoppe was a fun stop for some road snacks

Roadside fruitstand. Yes.

All tuckered out by 3.

Wow, cool Airbnb!

The American Pie family in the Airbnb house was a nice touch.

The Gathering Place in Tulsa is le-GIT. Coolest playground/park I’ve seen.

Day 2: Tulsa-Independence-Topeka-Auburn

We awoke and headed to my office first thing in the morning, where every Friday they cater breakfast and have an all-company standup meeting. I was called to the front to say a few words, and was surprised when my colleagues pulled out masks of my face, forming a Glanzer flash mob. How welcoming! We had plans for more Tulsa stops, but it was raining heavily so we just hit the road north into Kansas.

I stopped near the small town of Independence to check out one of the Laura Ingalls homesteads. John again showed zero interest of this roadside attraction and sulked on the front porch, refusing to budge. As we were there alone, way out in the country, I left him to sort out his feelings and explored on my own. He later perked up and wasted a few bucks in the gift shop on a log cabin toy and a cowboy that grows in water. In town, we spotted a free zoo, so I pulled over. Turns out it was the zoo where the original monkey blasted into orbit was from! A bit of space history. We motored on north through miles of rolling prairies of eastern Kansas with virtually nothing to stop and see.

Finally we made it to Topeka, where I had a handful of items to check out, but we wound up visiting only one—the Evel Knevel Museum, which is inside a Harley dealership. If you ever get to Topeka, it’s worth a visit! We each took our turn on a virtual reality 4D bus-jumping motorcycle experience. While it made me a little nauseous, Johnny loved it and went twice! We were running a little behind schedule, so I skipped plans to see the Brown vs Board of Education building and state capitol and ventured on into Nebraska, where we arrived at the home of Dorrie and Ken Heronimus, parents of my good friends Jason and Jeff LaPlant.

The Heronimuses and LaPlants were very welcoming. We enjoyed a home-cooked shrimp boil dinner and caught up. Once nearly inseparable, I had not seen either LaPlant brother since at least 2012. Johnny was wound up on sugar and caffeine and put on quite a display of silliness in the basement, whacking people with pillows and stealing socks. In the morning, we enjoyed a tasty biscuits/gravy breakfast and headed out.

First to work! John enjoys breakfast at ConsumerAffairs in Tulsa

Johnny poses with the Glanzer masks made by my colleagues

Ingalls gift shop

Ingalls porch

This Laura carving is guaranteed to haunt you in your dreams

John was furious with the stop-off and vowed to stay on the front porch.

Pa built that with his own two hands!

The Ingalls’ shanty

The Ingalls post office

The Ingalls schoolhouse.

A very interesting exhibit – home to the first monkey in space. In… Independence, Kansas? Apparently so.

Angry like a lion

You guessed it – another stop, buddy boy!

Some Knevel jackets

Outside the refurbed Knevel bus

Evel’s cushy lounge in his bus

Evel himself

Ready for his first VR experience

Johnny loved the VR Knevel experience

Some Knevel toys

Jeff meets Johnny

Jason meets Johnny

I reunite with the LaPlant boys after far too long

Day 3: Auburn-Vermillion

The long drive along I-29 through Nebraska and Iowa was uneventful. Sure, I could have stopped off and done some fun stuff in either Omaha or Sioux City, but in the end the boy was sick of stopping, and I am already quite familiar with that area of the country. So, we cruised straight into Vermillion, SD, home of my sister’s family. Jordan and her boys Hudson and Colton were eager to take Johnny to the town’s new pool. Johnny had a blast swimming with the cousins all afternoon. In the evening Jordan left for a photo shoot and Abul and I were in charge of heating pizzas for dinner for the kids, but wound up with black smoke billowing out of the house. 13-year-old cousin Emmy graciously volunteered to babysit the younger kids so the adults could enjoy a trip to the bars. Some of Jordan’s co-workers joined us and we were out til around 1am. I’d venture to say not everyone woke up feeling terribly perky, though I was A-OK.

What’s this, daddy?

Swimming, swimming, swimming… so much swimming.

I later found out I was using the little kid tubes.

High dive, no floatie… what could go wrong? Yes, I did have to jump in and rescue him.

Vermillion pool

Fun in the cousins’ room

Big dog

Cousins and dog

Pizza and cousins and screens

Trampoline time! I guess this beast was laid to rest after we left.

Abul stokes the flames

Dessert on the trampoline

Bar fun in Vermillion with the old gang!

Abul bought a growler to pass around AT the bar… I like this guy!

Vermillion bar

Day 4: Vermillion-Sioux Falls-Watertown

We made the quick drive north to Sioux Falls primarily so I could get fitted for a tux for a friend’s upcoming wedding—I had to get fitted there or Des Moines, so it worked out well that it happened to be on the path. We also wandered the mall, ate lunch at Huhot Mongolian Grill, and I saw Falls Park for the first time. Afterwards we headed north to Watertown, specifically Lake Kampeska, where good friend C.M. Walsh allowed us to stay at his family’s lake cabin free of charge for two days. I could have just headed to the family farm in Carpenter, but I figured this would be more fun. Brother Alex and his family joined us at the cabin Sunday night, and we enjoyed dinner at The Prop and then swam off the dock until dusk. There were no late-night shenanigans this time!

The legendary DakotaDome, last thing we spotted leaving Vermillion

John climbs the rocks at Falls Park. An adventurous little scamp.

My first trip to Falls Park. Some South Dakotan I am.

Taking in the beauty of the falls

John was getting a little too close to the water for my taste

Nice.

Lunch at Huhot. Sioux Fallsians love this spot.

Shirt shopping for Luke’s wedding

Culver’s at the world’s largest single story mall

Cute little niece Auden sucking down some lemonade at the bar

4 of the 5 cousins who bear the Glanzer name. Edie not present.

My dollar bill (borrowed from Alex) immortalized on the Prop’s ceiling.

What’s a trip to a SD bar without some video lottery? Alex won big.

Some evening swimming off the Kampeska dock

Swimming at Kampeska

Look there, nephew John, a beached whale!

Swimming at Kampeska at sunset

Sun setting on Kampeska

Cousin hijinks at bedtime

Not at all edited sunset

Day 5: Watertown

The first day totally off the road was spent at the Walsh family cabin. I did, however, make a quick trip into town for breakfast groceries. There was more swimming in the morning, and around noon my parents arrived. The original plan was that Dad would be bringing his boat and we’d spend the day zipping around the lake tubing, but due to mechanical problems the boat was left at home. Instead, it was just a lot more swimming and a little kayaking. Some of the adults did some quality day-drinking, otherwise things stayed pretty calm and some of the kids even napped during the day. At night, all the family left for home. John and I were faced with a tough decision of following them out to the farm for the night or just staying in Watertown at the cabin. Seeing how going to the farm would have added 125 miles of driving onto our trip, we opted to just stay by ourselves at the cabin and bid the family adieu.

Breakfast fixins from HyVee

Lunch moments later!

No boat, so… more swimming!

Grandma Marcie and Grandpa Dick bask in the hot summer sun

The view from the kayak

Not our first or second kayaking adventure

Alex wears a very small life jacket to kayak

Me in the kayak on the rough waters

Toss the kids in

Farewell for now, grandson

Grandpa and John say goodbye

Ouch! Back injury for boy

A safe return to shore

Day 6: Watertown-Minneapolis suburbs

After packing up the cabin in the morning, John and I embarked eastward for the first time on the trip, heading into Minnesota on backroads due to road construction. As I approached the Twin Cities, we stopped in Chanhassen at the site of my first job, Microboards Technology, better known today as Afinia. There, we were given the tour of the changes to the building since I last was there in 2011. It was a very weird feeling being back there—in some ways it felt like I had been to work just yesterday. So little had changed. The personnel was almost all people I had known from before. I walked into a bathroom and immediately remembered every word to the Abraham Lincoln poster hanging on the wall. Johnny, needless to say, was bored senseless.

Next, we had a pretty wide open agenda. It was only 2pm, and we had a couple hours to kill. There were numerous friends, restaurants, bars, or attractions I could have taken the lad to, but he wanted to see his Grandpa Steve and Granny Anne, so off we went to Bloomington to visit with them for a couple hours. After being carted around for 1,300 miles and stopping for many piddly things, John looked perfectly content to just stay at his grandparents house and play Legos all night, but it was not to be. I loaded him back in the van and headed to Eden Prairie to visit friends Liz and Curt right before their big move. John was forced to acclimate to more new friends in short order, and just as they were getting acquainted, we loaded up and headed further west!

We arrived in Minnetrista where our friends the Walshes were enjoying National Night Out, serving root beer floats on the street corner. After Johnny and his old buddy Lorenzo got reacquainted, they attempted to have a sleepover. Naturally, Johnny wound up in bed with me again. I was up relatively late catching up with Walsh and Sarah, but we just ain’t as crazy as we used to be. Midnight was about all I could handle.

Microboards still looks about the same as I left her

Amuk the elephant, Microboards’ famous mascot.

John got some brief Lego playtime in with the grandparents

Popsicles with the Burke-Assmann kids

More new friends

John and Lorenzo get reacquainted

National Night Out in Minnetrista… it was a par-tay!!!

Bedtime for the boys

The boys’ sleepover lasted all of six minutes

Day 7: Minneapolis

This day was 99% based around the Twins-Braves day game at Target Field. It was a scorcher, too. Our seats were in the direct path of the sun and there was nowhere to hide. Before the game even started, we were seeking shade. John burst out in tears in the top of the first. I assumed it was because he was hot and uncomfortable, but it was due to the Braves hitting a pair of solo homers! This poor kid, what have I set him up for… The boy pleaded to leave early many times, but was bought off with sno-cones and mini donuts. As we departed the stadium in the eighth inning, we popped into a lower-level section to see if a friend was sitting there. He wasn’t, but we snagged some seats near the playing field and immediately had a foul ball wiz past us, and were spotted on the JumboTron. As we left the park for good, an usher asked if the boys wanted to go on the field and run the bases… of course we did!

The kids seemed to enjoy the experience, but I am sure Walsh and I were even more eager to step foot on the sacred grounds. I attempted to film ourselves running the bases, which was a mistake… I should have just enjoyed the moment. The kids were both out cold in the car on the drive home, and it was an early bedtime for me on the couch as we attempted to watch TV with Mr. Bradley Feeney.

Lorenzo and John at First Ave

In our seats, in the sun’s direct path

Me at my favorite place on Earth

Popcorn and a cap were first on the order for the boy

Grainbelt Nordeast, a Mpls favorite

Popcorn in the shade

The kids were being filmed for something… I wonder what?!

The boys meet TC Bear

Cooling off at the Bat & Barrel

Braves and Twins duking it out

The Twins rallied a little while we were sitting here

Just after the Twins turned a triple play

The boys stack hats on Walsh

Walsh and Lorenzo on the warning track

Me touching home plate

The boys at the Twins dugout

John and I on the field

Walking the field

Me at the dugout

Day 8: Minneapolis-Wisconsin-Iowa-Galena, IL

We said goodbye to the Walshes and headed to the Minneapolis airport to pick up Lauren and Edie for the Poulter family get-together. This was the part of the trip we probably would have done in some form, week-long road trip leading up to it or not. Johnny sure missed his baby sister! We loaded them in the car and made a quick pit stop for breakfast at Hot Plate Diner. The road to the northwestern corner of Illinois took us through Iowa and Wisconsin where we saw some surprisingly nice scenery.

The ride with the baby in tow certainly slowed things down compared to just the boys. We had to stop off fairly often as she was screaming and sick of the car. Around 4:00 we got to the small town of Galena and headed out into the country to the Eagle Ridge Resort. Lauren’s family arrived from around the Midwest throughout the night and we hung around chatting and such.

Good to see Pops again!

Siblings reunited after a week apart

Edie at a random Iowa gas station

Edie and I enter Wisconsin briefly

Edie frolicks in the meadow

Our townhome at the resort

The Farmstead townhomes at the resort

The van reached the elusive 55555 on the way to Galena

Edie makes her Wisconsin debut.

Day 9-10: Galena

The time at the resort was mostly very laid-back and relaxing. There were a couple of connecting townhouses rented out, a floor for each family basically. We ate all meals in, with different groups in charge of preparing each meal. Activities during the day ranged from swimming and pontoon rides to horseback riding and board games. But swimming at one of two pools seemed to be the kids’ preference. One day while Lauren was out with Johnny and the cousins, I took Edie into town on my own and saw the home of former president Ulysses S. Grant. Edie, unlike her brother, was a good sport and posed nicely for all of the pictures I asked for without making a fuss.

Baby hanging in jammas

A hearty breakfast

The cousins

Swinging

Cousins on a swing

Giant checker board

Baby swimming

Family swimming – man I’m getting sick of typing captions, can you tell?

Grandpa Steve and Edie

Tim and kids

Baby on daddy belly

Caption

John and great uncle Dave pontooning

The navigator

Pontoon

Resort pool

Edie getting a history lesson

Ulysses S. Baby!

Edie and the first lady

Birthday cake time for Julia

Happy birthday

Poulter siblings and offspring

Three girl cousins born within about a year of each other

Glanzer family normal

Glanzer family crazy

Day 11: Galena-St Louis-Rural Arkansas

When the Poulter family fun was through, the Glanzers hit the road around 10am and started south towards St. Louis. At one time, it was believed that the drive home would be just as leisurely as the first two days. John and I would dump the gals in St Louis at the airport to fly home, and we’d take our time seeing fun sites, and grazing parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Unfortunately, we received word too late in the game that John had to be back in Austin by Monday at 4pm for kindergarten orientation, which did turn out to be very important and something we would have regretted missing. So out went the fun and it was pedal to the metal. We dropped Lauren and Edie at the airport around 5:30pm Sunday, giving us 22.5 hours to make it 14 hours back to Austin. Even though there was a more direct route through Missouri that connected back with I-35, I decided to do something different and see a part of the country I’d never visited before.

So, we went south of St Louis through Mark Twain National Forest. It was very nice scenery and very minimal traffic on a 4-lane divided highway for hours. When we finally hit the state line in far northeast Arkansas, however, the roads turned to two lanes, the sun went down, and towns were very sparse. At this point, John was sick and tired of the trip and regretted not flying home with the girls, which at one time was on the table. He bawled and bawled. So I gave in and let him grab whatever junk he wanted at gas stations to calm him down—he bought a toy gun, Gatorade, and M&Ms. It quieted him down for a while, but soon he was bawling again. He cried himself to sleep as we continued through Arkansas well into the night.

I had made the decision earlier in the night to try to pull an all-nighter, so I stopped for coffee at every McDonald’s on the way. But at 1:30, even though I was still feeling alright physically, I was getting blown off the road by semis on I-30. I kept spotting deer in the ditches, and was afraid of hitting one, so I was going at best 58mph. I guess the semis wouldn’t have cared too much if they hit one cause they kept blowing around me at 80mph. So, I finally vowed to pull off at the next lodging sign I saw. It happened to be a random motel called the Southfork Inn, outside a town called Gurdon, Arkansas. I buzzed on the intercom holding a limp child, asking for a room. I got the key and tossed him on the bed. Despite being wildly caffeinated, I quickly went to sleep. I got about four solid hours before waking at 6 to continue onward.

Day 12: Gurdon-Texarkana-Austin

The final push was Monday morning. A road-weary Johnny was promised fresh donuts for the drive, but had to settle for pre-packaged powder mini donuts from a dumpy truck stop. We reached Texarkana, and I had the option of heading south towards Shreveport or heading on west towards Dallas. It wouldn’t have been too much further to hit the Louisiana border and then drive over to Austin, but I decided the quickest route was best, and continued on towards DFW, site of the worst traffic of the trip. And once again, upon reaching the giant metro, it was more white knuckle driving. I regretted the decision to cut a few miles off and visit a new state only to wind up back in that mess. With a brief stop here and there for snacks, we finally reached Austin around 1:30 and had arrived home with 3,008 miles on the van. So close to a round 3,000!

The IA/IL border

Roadstop rest

Bye girls! Dropping Mama and Edie at St Louis airport

Sun setting somewhere on the road

A fricking exhausted kid

Wiped out at the rural Arkansas roadside motel

HOME AT LAST

Post-Trip Thoughts

Unlike last year’s Black Hills trip, I returned home from this trip feeling very good about the things we were able to do and see. I upped my game tremendously in terms of pre-trip research this time around. I had about three possible attractions in every town between Austin and Vermillion to stop off and see, and every time the mood struck, we pulled off and saw one of them. The trick for researching fun road trip to-do items is not to rely on sites like RoadTrippers.com or RoadsideAmerica.com or whatever. Strictly Google the town, and Google provides a “travel guide” with top attractions. That’s where I found almost everything fun we did. No, we didn’t do everything on my list due to time constraints, but the fact that we did even half of them is pretty amazing.

We also had a blast catching up with old friends, colleagues, family and strangers along the way. Special thanks again to the Carmans, the LaPlants and Heronimuses, the Krogmans, and the Walshes for their hospitality!

What might I do differently if we were to do this trip again? For the first three days, nothing. Those days were perfect! Day 4 where we went from Vermillion to Sioux Falls to Watertown, I rushed things a bit. We could have easily found more interesting things to see on the way. I was anxious to get to the Walsh cabin, believing the whole family would be there when we arrived. But it turned out we had several hours alone. I might also have gone out to the farm for a day instead of spending two nights at the cabin. We were sad to not get to see Grandma Bell! Same goes for the drive from Watertown to Minneapolis… we made great time and got into town early, but didn’t really have a plan. I should have thought that out a little more and capitalized on a rare free afternoon in the greatest city on earth. After that, there wasn’t really much room to rethink things. The Galena part was pretty well structured, and the drive home left for virtually no lallygagging. I think it was the right amount of time to be away… Johnny was sick and tired of it by the very end, though, so I wouldn’t have extended it any. And I came back to work very refreshed.

Future Trips

Oh, my 2019 does not slow down at all. In the coming months are trips to Tulsa, a mystery Luke Katuin bachelor party destination, Des Moines for Luke’s wedding, probably Tulsa a second time, and maybe even a 10-year wedding anniversary trip in November if we can make it work. But for road trips like this? I fully intend to do something of this nature every year from now on. The kids have long breaks from school and daycare, and I work remotely and have a great PTO plan at my job, so it should be easy to get away. Also, I kind of enjoy driving in general. I get to drive outside the Austin city limits so infrequently, it feels very good to just hit the open roads for an extended period of time. I just wish I could avoid Dallas! The kids probably won’t actually enjoy long car rides for a while yet, but they will learn to like them eventually. I remember distinctly in 1991, nearly 9 years old, so stoked to go on the 7-hour drive to the Black Hills. I sat in the backseat of the Oldsmobile with a notebook and wrote down everything I saw on the way: every town name, every attraction, etc. But to that point in my life trips were extremely rare/nonexistent, so of course it was a thrill.

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing every detail about my journey.

Road Trip 2019 You probably want to read it, so here it is... EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED ON OUR ROAD TRIP!!!!

0 notes

mmahi-blog · 6 years

Text

My Life On Mobile

Day 1

Baseball is a Simple Game

So, I've embarked on my journey to be totally dependent on my mobile phone and iPad mini for the next five days. It shouldn’t be too hard since I’m constantly on my phone tweeting, posting social and checking a million notifications from news feeds to sports scores.

It will be interesting to see how reliant I am on the desktop, laptop and my 75-inch screen tv (I love that thing).

For this journey, I’ll be using my Samsung Galaxy S8 Andriod version 7.0, my trusty iPhone 6s Plus IOS11.4 and my mini iPad IOS 11.4.

I’ll be using these devices to watch TV, check my email and manage my social media campaigns at work as well as everything else I need to do digitally.

I’m a huge college baseball fan. Love my Titans and am seriously bummed that we didn’t go to Omaha this year. That’s another story. So I thought I would see how well ESPN covered the College World Series and how they keep fans connected via mobile.

I would have to say that ESPN does mobile well. They have an incredible app which pushes notifications for scores, upcoming games, and news (Does anyone think LeBron will come to LA?) UPDATE: HE IS A LAKER, WOW

ESPN is truly a global company.

ESPN uses a mix of geographic and demographic segmentation strategies to address the various factions of the sports world. They basically selectively target and focus on different sets of customer groups. Since ESPN was founded in 1979 it has emerged as a world leader in the sports media/entertainment network and broadcasting business.

I love their commercials and marketing campaigns because they appeal directly to the sports-minded viewer and they reflect the tone of the broadcast giant which is informative, entertaining and at times very funny.

ESPN, like many other media companies, is up against the emergence of online streaming sites, social media, and other digital platforms all vying for ESPN’s customers.

ESPN has a fantastic mobile presence but to view their premium content you are tied to a cable subscription or some streaming platform. They have been slow to embrace the cord-cutting features like offering a premium site that you can subscribe to and not have to be tied to a cable subscription, They recently added ESPN + but I’m not sure it is enough and that the company needs to get in the business of mobile platforms that are used by their demographic which is 10- to 45-year-old, males. They are losing revenue and laying off staff just like other media companies so I suspect this technologic disruption is top of mind in their marketing strategy. The problem is they are tied to contracts with sports leagues and cable companies.

Back to Baseball

Oregon State defeated a feisty Arkansas team that ultimately lost the series with a blown play in the bottom of the ninth inning. I know this because even though I was at a concert at the park I used my Samsung phone and the ESPN app to watch the game and listen to the smooth sounds of a Carlos Santana tribute band (I also started following the band on Facebook after they announced they had a site).

I was also able to check my emails, text messages and stay connected with friends, family and work while at a park with hundreds of music fans.

It was a great way to end a long day.

DAY 2

@CSUF is #MyTopCollege

Spending the day disconnected from a desktop computer is tricky business for a guy who makes a living doing social media and online engagement. But it has forced me to pay more attention to my mobile experience and whether I am getting everything I want and or need from it.

Today, I planned to purchase a few items on Amazon via my mobile app. I tend to do this kind of buying on my desktop because for some strange reason it feels more secure.

But Amazon’s success is because of its mobile marketing strategy. It’s as easy as picking the item and hitting the one-click option.

The beauty of Amazon is that its mobile site is truly mobile. Way too many retailers have really bad sites which lead to poor customer experiences. I went to check out Old Navy for a few items and to compare it to Amazon. The web page is mobile responsive and you have a good menu setup but what I found annoying was after a few seconds on the site a window popped up asking for my opinion about the website. I don’t have an opinion after a couple of minutes. Perhaps that comes after the purchase?

Amazon, on the other hand, does several things right including great big Calls To Action and a consistent design between mobile and the app which means either way you go it’s familiar and easy to navigate. They also highlight other items people have purchased similar to what you are picking.

I finally ended up not buying anything but my searches led me to a few things I want to get later so I’ll definitely be back.

@CSUF Social Media Campaign

Today, I also spent a significant amount of time checking on our official Twitter and Instagram sites. The ForbesEDU #MyTopCollege social media contest which we are leading in the large college division. I was waiting for the week 2 results so I needed to routinely check in as well as continue encouraging our followers to post why they love @csuf and why it is their #MyTopCollege.

If I’m in the office, I typically do this all on the desktop with several tabs open so I can bounce back and forth between platforms and the Forbes site. Being restricted to just my mobile device was a little funky but it all worked out and gave me some insights about the platforms.

Twitter

Twitter is a fantastic mobile app and it does what it supposed to do, just ask President Trump.

Twitter has been in a slump but recently there has been some growth and I believe that the strategy of increasing the number of characters from 140 to 280 is a reason for that growth. They listened to their customers and it has made a huge difference.

The big keys with Twitter are the public nature of Twitter and its advanced search features.

Twitter marketing expert Mark Schaefer illustrated this well in a recent Social Media Examiner podcast:

“To demonstrate, Mark did an experiment with a local pizza place, which had tried Facebook ads without any success. Mark suggested the owner use advanced Twitter search - Mark showed him how to set up a stream with every conversation that was within five miles of the zip code that mentioned the words “pizza,” “restaurant,” “dining out,” or anything like that.

On average, someone in the area mentioned pizza every 20 minutes. The tweets might have been silly things like, “Oh, I can’t believe how stupid I am. I just dropped my pizza face-down on the floor.” Mark suggested tweeting the person back, “We’re going to deliver you a new pizza.” It doesn’t matter if the customer didn’t buy the dropped pizza from you. You become a legend. Another person complained about slow delivery from a competitor. Mark suggested the pizza place owner respond with, “Next time, try us.”

I love Twitter for all these reasons and they need to continue developing and marketing these features that set them apart from Facebook and Instagram.

Engagement is the key to winning #MyTopCollege and our loyal Twitter followers are a reason we have won the past four years.

Forbes mobile website

My second observation from today’s check-ins with the Forbes website had some negatives.

The website is mobile friendly with a stacked theme. Great menu and pretty intuitive. So, it’s easy enough to navigate and get around.

But what was frustrating was how Forbes released the results. They have all the right elements for the contest such as a landing page which highlights the posts from schools around the country, a map showing the leaders and a results list.

They updated the list around noon which put us in first place for week 2, but they didn’t have a story up so there was nothing to verify or link to share with our followers. That came an hour later. Maybe not a big deal but it should have been done at the same time.

The other and bigger marketing fail is how they actually do the contest. #MyTopCollege is a great summer engagement contest but how they pick posts is spotty and they never spelled out when they start counting new post from week to week.

I believe this lack of transparency and detail is why participation from year-to-year has declined significantly.

The smart things ForbesEDU Twitter account does is engage by retweeting and liking the post from around the nation. A classic Twitter marketing strategy and keeps people engaged.

Lastly, they tweet reminders and challenges to specific schools to get involved. Calling out specific schools is a great way to target an audience and make it feel like they are special.

So, we ended the day finding out @csuf is still in first place. I posted on Twitter and Facebook to update our followers and also used some words from Forbes to fire up our followers to not let up because Long Beach is chasing us.

DAY 3

Weekends are for Leisure

Saturday on mobile started out like most of my days.

6 a.m. Rise and shine. Checking email, text messages and ripping through our social media notifications to see if I received any comments or questions from our followers that need to be handled.

7 a.m. At the gym watching the knock out game between France and Argentina on my iPad mini while cruising along on the treadmill. Again, ESPN’s mobile app is a lifesaver for sports junkies and their update notifications are the best.

I use a couple different mobile fitness apps. The beauty of these is that they are recording your progress in real-time. MyFitness app is the one I use and it does what it is marketed to do. Notifications to remind you to eat, walk, sleep, workout or just get off your butt. What I love about these types of apps is that they do all the work for you. I don’t have to log all my hours by hand although I do manually insert my food choices. in a fitness crazed society mobilizing health is a win-win.

8:30 a.m. Back home, checking emails and sports updates on the soccer match. Made a healthy breakfast from a recipe I found on my health app while at the gym this morning. Mobile once again making my life easier.

I’m a huge news junkie. I was in the newspaper business for 30 years so reading the morning paper and news notifications is in my DNA. Mobile makes that part of my life a lot easier but at times frustrating.

The Feel of News Print

The great part of having your news delivered via mobile is that it’s right in your hand and available wherever you are at. The worst part for my generation is that I miss the feel of newsprint in my hands and the opportunity to sit down and take a break with a good read. I get frustrated that papers still try to hold on to the legacy design of a printed newspaper in their e-editions. Millenials and Gen Z don’t care if it looks like a newspaper. They don’t have that expectation and eventually boomers will be replaced and the newspaper consumer will demand and expect a mobile, multi-media digital package.

Papers like the LA Times and OC Register have true mobile sites that are easy to navigate and give unique content like video, interactive graphics, and forums to talk about the article or issue. Papers really need to kick the newsprint model to the curb and embrace a digital look. The key is figuring how to make money at it. The industry’s failure to get in the mobile/internet/digital business years ago is why it is failing. They were disrupted by Craig’s list and citizen bloggers who they dismissed as a fad when in reality they were the future.

Got a mobile update from ESPN as well but nothing from OC Register or LAT.

CNN Breaking News: France knocks superstar Lionel Messi and Argentina out of the World Cup, beating them 4-3 in the first game of the Round of 16.

Writing on a mini iPad is fun. Right?

2 p.m. Took a trip to Costco and did some weekend shopping before heading out to friend’s house for dinner so I used my mobile devices to get around, check prices and reviews of a couple products I was buying.

Costco’s website is optimized for mobile. Not the greatest design but functional. The bummer was the mobile app. It’s the same as the website and hard to navigate as a first time user. They key in on member only savings but don’t you have to be a member to get savings anyways? That’s the point, right?

Costco Mobile Optimized Website

Costco Mobile App

A few things wrapping up Day 3.

-- Google Maps. Not sure how I ever managed before this app but I’m lost without it. I used the Waze app as well to see which worked better. I preferred Google because it’s pretty straightforward and gives you voice directions.

WAZE

Waze is unique in that it highlights traffic, accidents, road hazards etc inputted by users. It’s a little distracting and kind of a lot of work. But it has a great design and lot and lots of people love it.

HQ Addicted

Once at our friends’ home, I really didn’t engage with my mobile devices until right before 6 p.m. when our friends received a mobile alert that HQ was about to start.

Ok, I was hooked. What a blast and it’s all about mobile engagement, socializing and just having fun. The marketing strategy is pretty cool. At a certain time of day the trivia contest is on, it last 15 minutes and you ultimately have a few thousand winners at a very low payout. The key is that people are talking about the brand and that’s money. Will it last longer than Pokemon Go? We’ll see.

We wrapped up our evening with creme brûlée and a wonderful strawberry cake and most importantly conversation. (Photo shot with iPhone)

Day 4

Sunday is Funday

The one thing I have noticed through this process is that I have a routine.

Up at 6 a.m. checking emails, text messages, overnight news and sports scores all on my iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.

I read my newspapers on mobile apps and watched one of the most exciting World Cup games I’ve seen so far. Russia takes out Spain with penalty kicks.

While I was watching the games on my ESPN app I was thinking how cool it is to be connected via mobile. This week’s video points out that mobile use is growing at a rapid rate and will eventually outpace the desktop.

I listened to a lot of music on my mobile this weekend.

So are you a Spotify or Pandora person? Here are my reasons for Team Spotify

Pandora simply can’t keep up with Spotify’s versatility and usability. Pandora came first but Spotify made it better and even beats out Apple

Sure they have Pandora Premium which means users can finally listen to a massive collection of specific songs and albums at their pleasure, but Pandora is playing catch-up at this point, and it’s pretty far behind.

Spotify has better social features, better apps, and more value for your dollar.

Pandora simply fell into a trap and didn’t continue to innovate at a fast enough rate. Lesson is never get too comfortable in this new frontier.

Take a Moment

Otherwise, I didn’t do much on my phone or other mobile devices today except crank up Spotify and hang out at the pool with the grandkids, bbq and try to unplug.

UPDATE: LEBRON IS A LAKER!!

My phone went off later that evening with alerts about King James. It just kept ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping !!!! Mobile at its best or worst if you are a Clippers Fan!

Day 5

Mondays Always Make Me Happy

Not sure what it is about Monday but it gives me the feeling that I have a whole new fresh start on life and this time I’m going to get it right.

Today is the start of a holiday week. The Fourth of July is in the middle of the week and I have a ton of stuff to get to before heading out for what I hope will be an extended weekend. We will see.

So, back to my mobile journey.

6 a.m. Up and first thing in my hand before even a cup of coffee is my iPhone. Checking and answering emails, text messages and reviewing the news that Los Angeles is now the center of the universe or one would think with the coming of The King.

7 a.m. I’m getting ready and I get a mobile notification that Forbes #MyTopCollege third week theme is up. So, I craft a tweet and let our followers know to tweet or post on Instagram about the impact study abroad has had on their lives all the while wondering will anyone post on a holiday weekend. Will they? I sent out a distribution list email to about 75 people on campus helping with the contest and crafted a post for Facebook using my iPad mini.

8ish: Read as many of the breaking news reports in my stream and glanced at top stories in my OCR and LAT apps. By now I have been bombarded with news stimuli from several sources all via mobile. That would never have had happened 30 years ago when I was in the news business. You would check a few newspapers, listen to KNX and watch the local broadcast channels ABC, NBC, and KTLA. That’s no longer the norm. It’s all in the palm of our hand.

A quick breakfast while watching the Today Show on my iPad mini. I hate it when going into a holiday they have a segment on dieting. Really? Dude, I’m eating hot dogs, ribs, burgers and a few adult beverages. But that segment reminded that maybe I should have all that fun in moderation. Sucks getting old.

Work: Kind of the same routine. checking emails, text messages and notifications on my phone and tweeting about #MyTopCollege.

Instagram is an app I use a lot for personal pleasure and work. Today was no exception. Went out and grabbed a photo, posted and in four-plus hours I have more than 900 likes. It’s the beauty of having over 20,000 followers and knowing what types of images my audience likes and the captioning.

So why is Instagram so good?

• Instagram is easy to use, great for in-the-moment experiences, you can edit on the fly and it is highly visual. People love photos. It’s different from apps like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, mostly because of its simplicity. My student audience loves simple. It’s also not limited to one function like LinkedIn which is for professional networking. It’s kind of the people’s app.

It’s not perfect

• You can’t publish links in your Instagram posts, so it’s harder to lead people back to your site. There are ways around this which also include an app called Link Tree but it’s not ideal. The upside is limited spamming. Not meant for text and conversations are limited so no flaming Tweet wars which actually may be a good thing.

At the end of the day its simplicity and visual impact is what is important about Instagram and is the No. 1 reason it is our fastest growing platform with huge engagement numbers.

My Mobile Life Summary or Kind of Day 6

This really isn’t Day 6. It’s actually Day 5 since I started a little behind so forgive me for taking a little liberty with the assignment

This weekend was also kind of crazy. Our main sewer drain was clogged and we knew this time it was going to need a little more than a snake and some hot water.

I was on my mobile device a lot getting in touch with the plumber, texting back and forth and trying to see how much a sewer line repair would be running me. The cool thing is I was able to do all that and still go swimming with the grandkids because of mobile. All that was handled with a call, text or a quick check of local plumbers on Yelp and Angie’s List.

Reflecting on the five days using mobile.

I miss my desktop and laptop. I’m kind of old school but very tech savvy and use mobile more than most. I grew up pounding a typewriter, struggling with an old Radio Shack TRS 80s, putting change in a public phone and taking notes on a notepad. The desktop is my connection to those days and it just feels right.

That said I am extremely mobile. I noticed my routine and it centers around checking in on my email, text, social posts and Googling stuff I don’t know or need to research. It’s amazing how dependent I am on digital and mobile.

I have a million apps on my iPhone, Samsung, and mini iPad. I use email, text, camera, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, a few other social media platforms, and tools like iMovie as well as some productivity apps like Word, Google maps, and a calculator. The other zillion apps basically sit there and one or two may be used once or twice a year.

Here are a few things I learned about mobile sites.

Keep calls to action front and center.

Keep menus short and sweet but let them do some heavy lifting.

Keep getting back to the home page easy.

Keep in mind people are there for what they want so keep promotions simple and don’t let them steal the show.

Keep your search front and center. People use the search function a lot and they need to know where it is on your mobile site. Make the searches relevant to what your customer wants.

Keep customer engagement top priority. If they have a question, don’t leave them hanging. Customer service is key on mobile.

Keep the purchasing function as easy as possible. Don’t make them work too hard to check out.

For me, sites like Amazon and Home Depot (I’m a DIY kind of guy or more like take parts back until I get the right one) check off a lot of these bullet points.

So, all in all, it was an interesting week. I am now aware that I am totally addicted to my phone or in reality, it is part of who I am and what I do. I embrace the new technology and understand that eventually mobile will be how the majority of consumers do business each and every day. The same is true for education and many of the same principals can be applied to higher education websites that are too stuffy and not mobile.

But at the end of the day, I know that it’s time to take that phone and capture a moment in time that is just for me.

Aloha

0 notes

mnranger5 · 6 years

Text

14th Annual 12 Bars of Christmas, 12/1/17

For the 14th Annual 12 Bars of Christmas, we were lucky enough for Josh, Melanie, Alissa and Jeff to visit. While Alissa and Jeff have come to 12BoC in the past, this was the first time for Josh and Mel.

Josh arrived on Wednesday night after a long day of driving and shopping at the Medford outlet. While I had my doubts that Medford was still open for business, let alone a relevant shopping center, Josh shattered that belief by showing up with bagSSSSS of clothes from the outlet mall. He said the deals were “too good” to be true, AND, that they’d likely be stopping again when departing Minnesota.

After some catching up and some male bonding time for Josh and Aidan, we headed out for dinner at Carbone’s. Since we were too big to fit in one car, Aidan suggested the idea of girls in one car, boys in another. There were no objections. And so began the Aidan/CrimsonGuard ( errr, I mean Josh) bromance. The car ride consisted of Aidan quizzing Josh on his favorite Call of Duty weapons and nothing else. Once we were at Carbone’s, I taught Melanie the fine art of losing money at pull tabs while shockingly, Aidan talked to Josh about COD. The pizza was fantastic. With only a few pieces left on the tray, I asked Aidan if he wanted another piece, to which he responded that he was full. Then, Josh grabbed one of the remaining squares of pizza. Aidan looked at the pizza with new found interest. All of a sudden, he was still hungry, and wanted another piece – “If Josh is hungry, then I am hungry.” The drive home was a carbon copy of the drive to Carbones and culminated with Aidan, Crimson and me playing Call of Duty together for a couple of hours before bedtime.

On Thursday, Josh and Mel spent the day at the Mall of America and the Eagan Outlet mall. When I got home from work, Aidan and Crimson were already trashing the German forces at Omaha Beach. Once Ashlynn was done with dance, we all went to Osaka Japanese Steakhouse for dinner. While all the girls sat around Dyan and I, Aidan instinctively sat at the other end of the table, right next to Josh. No shocker there. Everybody did saki shots, even the kids (lemonade). The culinary show was fabulous, one of the best we’ve seen. Dinner was over for Josh when he said he was “stuffed.” On cue, Aidan also announced he was full too (even though he had a full plate of food in front of him). Of course, he was…

The kids also announced to the waitress that we were celebrating an early birthday for Uncle Josh. Therefore, he got the customary Japanese birthday serenade with all the kids laughing at the face mask he had to wear.

And when we went home, you guessed it. Aidan and Crimson were back at the Germans while Dyan and I were putting the girls to bed. Around 11, I headed to the airport to pick up Alissa and Jeff.

On Friday morning, Josh and Aidan played games on Josh’s iPad while everybody was getting ready for the day. Aidan, continued his worshiping of Josh. He even went as far as memorizing Josh’s iPad password so that he could log in for Josh when Josh wanted to get on his iPad.

After a busy morning in the office, I headed home at noon to rendezvous with the fam. They had gone to breakfast at Suzie’s Kitchen and did some shopping at the outlet mall. From there, we headed downtown for lunch.

Lunch was kind of a big deal. Josh informed us he’d never had a warm lobster roll, but had really wanted to try one. Lucky for him, we have a restaurant in Minneapolis that serves the best warm lobster rolls that I have ever had. It’s called Smack Shack, and they are known to serve the best lobster ______ (fill in the blank with rolls, tacos, mac & cheese, salad, etc.) in the Twin Cities. My buddies, Jeremy and Scott, were able to join us for the annual pre-12BoC lunch and everybody ordered lobster rolls. Jeff also ordered the cheesy lobster artichoke dip for the table to share. Like always, everything was outstanding. Josh’s only regret was that he didn’t order two sandwiches. Alissa on the other hand could not decide on beverages, going for some kind of berry beer/wine to a craft wheat beer. I was lost with all the beer facts her and the server were discussing. Coors Light for me please.

After lunch, we all checked into the hotel and then made our way to the first bar, 508 Bar, to sell wristbands. By 7PM, most of the wristbands were sold, and several drinks (and a couple of shots) had already been consumed. With my work obligations complete, we were free to explore downtown Minneapolis on the balmy 40 degree evening.

Our second stop of the night was The Pourhouse, which is where things started kicking into high gear. My toe tap became a full blown hip sway as the music pulsated through the club.

At the 3rd and 4th bars of Christmas (Alibi and Exchange), festivities really got going. Josh and Melanie did shots! What?!? Yep, they did! It was around this point in the evening that Jeff found a bicycle reflector on the street. While nobody knows why he picked it up in the first place, I think everybody was happy he had it as the night wore on. The bicycle reflector made it’s way into numerous pictures throughout the night.

The 5th Bar of Christmas was Last Call, a new addition to the pub crawl just hours before the start of the event. Vodka Red Bulls were a $3 special, so you know what Josh was drinking…

The 6th Bar of Christmas was Cowboy Jacks where we met up with my friend Travis, and his girlfriend, Kristy. After more shots (Fireball I think?), the toe-tap-turned -hip-sway had now moved to my arms. Now this was a party. Not going to lie, I was a little disappointed Melanie and Alissa didn’t ride the mechanical bull here.

The 7th Bar of Christmas was Rouge at the Lounge, and I don’t remember much of this bar – I know we weren’t there very long, nor did we stay long at the 8th and 9th Bars of Christmas which were The 90’s and Gluek’s. Gluek’s is a German bar, and a bar Melanie could have spent the entire weekend in.

Our 10th, and final bar of the night was Lyon’s Pub. The adult beverages were now in charge. They were calling the shots. By the time Bon Jovi’s, Livin’ On A Prayer Came on, we were knee deep into a full blown dance party. Josh was drinking watermelon Jello shots while Alissa, Dyan and I were drowning in Fireball. It was the perfect way to end the night.

Although I do not remember this picture, nor the purple lighting, I am told it was taken outside of our hotel on the street. Ain’t she a beaut Clarke?

At 2AM, we had a one block walk over to the Westin where somebody had the brilliant idea of meeting up in just 6 short hours for breakfast (I think it was me, but maybe it was Josh?)…

8AM came early, like four hours too early. We all met in the lobby and made a quick three block walk to Keys Café, a Minneapolis breakfast staple. We all loaded up on grease and carbs, something to soak up everything we drank the night before. After breakfast, Josh and Melanie parted ways and headed home (with a stop at the Medford outlets I am sure).

The remainder of the day was fairly relaxing. We went out for burgers and did a little shopping for ski gear, but once we were home, we lounged on the couch playing the awesomely vulgar game, Cards Against Humanity. After a good night of sleep, the girls and I took Jeff and Alissa to the airport at 6AM.

This weekend was my 14th Twelve Bars of Christmas celebration. We have thrown some great parties, several which stand out in my mind like the year we had 6,000 participants (2012) and the year we had a foot of snow and shut down 1st Avenue (2010). But none of the previous 13 events I created hold a candle to how much fun it was to have my family participate in the event with me (and thousands of my closest friends.) The laughter, stories and reminiscing with the Bland family made this event the new standard to live up to. The 2018 invitations have been extended. Let’s do it again!

0 notes

drylandlit-blog · 7 years

Text

BY STEVEN GRAY

Spoiler alert: the films discussed in this essay include Saving Private Ryan, The Stoning of Soraya M., and Zero Dark Thirty.

My parents didn’t own a television until I was twelve and they limited our viewing time. My mother would say: “You should learn how to entertain yourself.” I didn’t have that many channels but I also didn’t have commercials so it wasn’t bad advice; however, it left me vulnerable whenever I was exposed to someone else’s television. I wasn’t used to how coldblooded it was. I was haunted for months by a TV show I saw at my grandmother’s house: two young men were confronted by a street gang in the 1950s; one ran away, but his friend was beaten to death. When you’re five or six years old that is hard to process.

Forty years later (more or less) I was visiting my parents in Southern California. We hardly ever watched movies together since my father and I can talk for hours and my mother’s taste in movies was different than mine. We were watching a war film though, and when it was over they yawned and said goodnight and went to bed. It hadn’t phased them, but I sat there stunned and wide-eyed as the ramifications were hitting home.

One scene in particular: an American soldier encounters a Nazi in a house in a French village. They fight hand-to-hand, having run out of ammunition. (I’ve read about the lack of realism in war films where soldiers shoot their weapons for far longer than the weapons’ capacity for ammunition.) The American pulls a knife but the German grabs his wrist and overpowers him. The American ends up on the floor on his back with the German on top. The knife hovers over his upper torso, pointed down, and his resistance is ebbing as he tries to keep the knife away from his heart. The director (or the screenwriter) adds an insidious note to this life and death struggle. It takes on an intimate tone as the German leans down and whispers in the soldier’s ear about giving up and accepting death. The knife sinks into his chest and it is over.

When the German leaves the room, he passes another American soldier on the stairs. The latter has a rifle but is so petrified with fear he can’t use it. The German walks by him like someone whose spineless existence is not worth acknowledging. By that time I was floored and cursing Spielberg (or the screenwriter Robert Rodat) for the diabolic genius of the scene, however much it favored the Nazis. Fortunately they lost the war.

I had been exposed to quite a few films by then, but nothing like Saving Private Ryan (1998), especially when the soldiers land on Omaha Beach and walk into a buzz-saw. It took up half an hour at the beginning of the film and is so well done that veterans with PTSD are warned about viewing it.

Another film I found disturbing was The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008). Instead of hundreds of men being gunned down on the beach, here is one woman buried up to her waist while men throw rocks at her (including her son and husband). It’s a clumsy form of execution and it goes back thousands of years. Even worse, she hadn’t committed the alleged crime (adultery).

It’s an American film, set in Iran, and based on a book by a French-Iranian journalist, Freidoune Sahebjam. The film got mixed reviews, which was a little surprising. Rotten Tomatoes said it “…drowns out its message with an inappropriately heavy-handed approach.” Those hands have rocks in them. People were shocked and put off by the stoning scene. I thought the film was well done, however brutal and direct and hard to watch at times. The woman’s husband is such a slimy-casual sociopath you’re hoping he steps on a landmine. His marriage was becoming inconvenient and he found a way to get rid of his wife. Simple as that.

Other aspects of the film are not so simple and are addressed in this article, “Sensationalist Film Exploits Human Rights Issue in Iran.” Stoning in Iran is very rare. “[T]he Head of the Iranian Judiciary announced a moratorium on stoning back in 2002… Sadly, at least three people have been executed by stoning since then. Interestingly, all three were men.” Meanwhile, in the US over 1800 women were killed every year between 2003 and 2012. (In a third of the cases the men were husbands, boyfriends, exes, etc. In half of the cases the men used a gun.) And too many films require the death or terrorizing of a woman in order to generate a plot.

In The Stoning of Soraya M. a woman is executed by a method found in biblical times. In Noah (2014) you have a biblical story where the human race is condemned to death by the god of some delirious wishful thinkers in the desert. The only people who will survive are Noah and his family. The movie is ridiculous and disturbing. Noah plans to stab his daughter’s baby with a knife for theological reasons. The main problem is the original story from the Book of Genesis (in the Torah and the Old Testament). I wrote about it in an essay entitled, “Neo-Noah: The Bastardization of a Jewish Myth.”

I should note that I’m not including slasher films in this essay. I’ve seen very few and those were enough. The gore is unbelievable these days (and that’s just on Game of Thrones). It makes you wonder what sort of repressed urges are lurking in directors and viewers.

There are films I find disturbing which I’ve never seen. For example, J. Edgar (2011). The reviews were lukewarm. The screenplay is by one of the Hollywood castrati. It has no balls.

From The Guardian:

The movie does not quite reclaim Hoover for gay history, neither does it exactly claim a tragic status for Hoover’s imprisonment in the closet, nor quite suggest that his tentacular empire was a symptom of sexual repression. There is a weird, muffled neutrality to all this, a lot of pulled punches and fudged issues, as if screenwriter and director have made an uneasy alliance to create a Hoover they admire from different angles: the fictional love child of Harvey Milk and Dirty Harry. And there’s an infuriating final twist that sneakily preserves the movie’s impartiality.

It is unconscionable to cover such a vile person as J. Edgar Hoover with a “muffled neutrality.” He was head of the FBI for nearly half a century, during which time he was more intent on persecuting pot smokers and people in the civil rights movement than organized crime. “We want no Gestapo or secret police. FBI is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex-life scandals and plain blackmail… Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to take over, and all congressmen and senators are afraid of him” (“The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover“). That is not a leftwing radical speaking, it’s Harry S. Truman.

Hoover looked like a toad who wore his mother’s clothing with a gun in his hand (“FBI agents upset over movie alleging J. Edgar Hoover was gay“). So who do they get to portray him? Leonardo DiCaprio. Talk about historical revisionism. It makes you wonder about the extent of government propaganda in our culture. It has always been there to some extent, but the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 “explicitly forbids information and psychological operations aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion.” That was nullified by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in 2012 (“The NDAA Legalizes The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public“).

We now have films like American Sniper (2014), glorifying a mercenary killer with a thousand-yard stare. And Zero Dark Thirty (2012) which exploits the dubious story of Osama bin Laden’s assassination in 2011 by U.S. Special Forces in Pakistan. Keep in mind that the FBI has stated it has “no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11” (FBI says, “No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11”). We have no evidence that the unarmed man in his fifties who was shot when American soldiers broke into his home was bin Laden. There were no photos or DNA test released, and the body was quickly dumped in the ocean. Supposedly he lived for years near a Pakistani military base and they didn’t know he was there. Even more suspicious: since the operation was run by the CIA any records of it cannot be accessed by the public. (The investigative journalist Seymour Hersh thinks the raid was staged.) And the film, which tries to put a positive spin on torture, was secretly aided by the CIA. (Read “Hollywood History: CIA Sponsored “Zero Dark Thirty”, Oscar for “Best Propaganda Picture” and “The director of the CIA secretly helped produce Hollywood’s biggest movie about the Osama bin Laden raid.”)

Then there are the 9/11 films which I refuse to see (except for the documentary Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup (2009)). There are several films about Flight 93, which is said to have crashed in a field in Pennsylvania when the passengers tried to take back the plane from the hijackers. It was probably shot down by a fighter jet since debris was spread over miles of countryside. The alleged crash site has little or no wreckage (“Highjacking The Highjacking: The problem with the United 93 films“). The films conform to the official fairytale of 9/11 and I find that disturbing, especially when someone like Oliver Stone makes a middle-of-the-road movie about a couple of responders trapped in the rubble. “World Trade Center doesn’t do much with 9/11, except to sentimentalize it for popular consumption” (Slate). Like that hadn’t been done already.

There is another aspect of movies which bothers some people: the casting. It’s an ethnic minefield, for one thing. Movies were invented and developed by people of European descent, but that doesn’t mean a white person should portray someone of a different race. When a famous white actor is used it may have more to do with box office concerns than racism, but tell that to those who want to see their own kind on the big screen.

There was a controversy about who should portray Frida Kahlo (who was Mexican and Jewish) in Frida (2002). They ended up with Salma Hayek (whose background is Mexican and Lebanese). It was a semi-obtuse choice, but imagine what a travesty it would have been if Madonna had gotten her clutches on the role (she tried to). Many people objected to Zoe Saldana (who I liked as a blue-skinned alien in 2009’s Avatar) in the role of a darker-skinned Nina Simone (Nina (2016)). A woman wrote the screenplay and directed the film, but according to the Guardian “… it is an inept, cliché-ridden story edited together in a treacly and cheap manner.”

I mentioned the miscasting in J. Edgar, but why would Leonardo DiCaprio play a sleazy stock broker in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)? Is it anti-Semitic to have a Jewish actor play a Jewish swindler? For that matter, why would the more positive role of a writer, David Foster Wallace (a Gentile), be given to a Jewish actor? (“Why The End of the Tour isn’t really about my friend David Foster Wallace“)

Other films I found disturbing:[1] The Deer Hunter (1978) – not so much when they’re eating monkey brains, but the Russian roulette scene (one of the actors reminded me of my brother). Repulsion (1965) by Roman Polanski – a woman is cracking up and cracks appear in the wall. Some people find his past disturbing and won’t go near his films. Inland Empire (2006) – David Lynch is one of my favorite directors but this one got away from him. He didn’t even try to make sense of it. I walked out of the theater cursing.

There was a short film I walked in on one afternoon at the Art Institute. The theater was nearly empty. A man on the screen was slowly and methodically disemboweling himself with a sword.

[1] I knew a sensitive and religious woman who would watch the most gory films, the kind I won’t go near. My father doesn’t go to the movies anymore because the sound-system in the theater is like a giant robot stomping on people. My mother-in- law hated The Revenant, mainly for what happened to a horse (she has two horses). My wife found Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas too disturbing to watch, along with Fatal Attraction (a rabbit is boiled) and Jaws (she saw it as a young girl). She got tired of a TV series, Mad Men, because of how women were treated in the 1950’s. No brides were burned, but many women were prevented from living up to their full potential.

Steven Gray has lived in San Francisco since the 1970s. His most recent book of poetry is Jet Shock and Culture Lag. He writes reviews for www.litseen.com.

“Miscasting, Propaganda, and Psychologically Twisted Violence: A Look at Disturbing Films” BY STEVEN GRAY Spoiler alert: the films discussed in this essay include Saving Private Ryan, The Stoning of Soraya M., …

0 notes