Mele Kalikimaka means Merry Christmas in Hawai`ian. I only wish I could be on the islands this Christmas time… here’s why…

• The only snow you see is in a cone shaped cup and covered with syrup.
• Santa arrives on the beach in a canoe.
• Aloha shirts and muumuus are worn to Christmas services.
• Winter clothes are a sweatshirt, a jacket and shorts.
• Little Jimmy and little Mary are little Kimo and little Malia.
• Diamond Head is majestic and green.
• “Silent Night” is played on the ukulele.
• It’s macadamia nut candy instead of fruitcake.
• You leave your slippers and sandals at the door, not your snow boots.
• Fans wear tank tops to the Aloha Bowl game.
• Little boys want a new boogie board instead of a shiny new sled.
• “Big girls” wish for a Hawaiian heirloom bracelet.
• Sushi and passion orange juice are left out for Santa.
• You have to build a fireplace to hang the stockings.
• Families enjoy their Christmas meal at the beach.
• The little angel in the kindergarten play wears a haku instead of a halo.
• “Me ke aloha” (with love) is written on Christmas cards.

So Mele Kalikimaka everyone… Me ke aloha!

The Mega Millions Jackpot is estimated to be $225 million dollars on Tuesday night. I am buying tickets.

If I win, I have already informed my co-workers that they will not see or hear from me. I will send them all postcars from Hawaii. My boss will receive a special postcard, informing them that I quit.

I need to win. Anyone have any lucky numbers they want me to play for them? I’ll share, I promise.

My friend Kelly told me she that she wanted me to lei her when I got back from Hawaii. So I took her up on the offer and gave her a really good lei, one of my best actually. Getting lei’d by me apparently really made her day. She even took a picture of the event afterwards. See how happy she is? You can click on the pic to make it bigger.

Enjoy your lei, Kelly! Aloha!

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Five details about you:

1. I drink way too much diet coke.
2. I can sleep anywhere, in any position, at any time.
3. I am a chocoholic.
4. I’m pretty anal about keeping my house clean
5. And yet, I’m a total packrat.

Five details about your appearance right now:

1. I’m only wearing my boxer shorts
2. My arms, legs, and face are tan, the rest of me is not.
3. I need to shave
4. My legs are still peeling from the last sunburn I got
5. My knuckles are always dry.

Five things you did yesterday:

1. Went to work.
2. Bought a lot of diet coke
3. Straightened up the house
4. Watched TV.
5. Bought some new DVD’s

Five memorable things you did in the last year:

1. Went to Hawaii… twice.
2. Paid off my car!
3. Watched Auburn Football have their first 13-0 season (should have been national champs!)
4. Went to my 10 year high school reunion!
5. Started my blog!

Five favorite movies:

1. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
2. Gladiator
3. Braveheart
4. Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom
5. Godfather

Five things that make you happy:

1. Sleeping Late
2. 80’s Music blasting!
3. Driving with the car windows down in the Spring/Fall
4. Vacations/Weekends
5. Sex

Five things that impress you:

1. Intelligence
2. Ability to meet their own goals
3. Beautiful smile
4. Sexual skills.
5. The ability to go head-to-head with my stubbornness.

Five things that don’t impress you:

1. Lack of Intelligence
2. Conceitedness
3. Bitchy-ness
4. Perfectly manicured ‘good looks.’
5. Show-offs.

Five things you can’t live without:

1. Email!
2. Caffeine
3. Ability to see and hear the Ocean
4. Sleep
5. Love

Five things that turn you on:

1. Confidence
2. Neck and Shoulders
3. Legs and Thighs
4. Beautiful Smile
5. That cute little giggle.

Five words that describe you:

1. Stubborn
2. Independent
3. Intelligent
4. Trustworthy
5. Lazy (sometimes! Hey, they can’t all be good!)

Special thanks to Rickie… but I don’t think she knows I stole this from her.

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Have you ever “Georged?”

You know, played along with WheresGeorge.com, the website that tracks the natural circulation of American money?

I have. I’ve been a “Georger” for three months now and it’s interesting to see where my money goes.

How does it work, you ask? Well, you just log in, enter the serial number that’s on the face of your bill, your series number, and then just submit it to the site. Then you either mark your bill (or not) with the web address and send it on it’s way. Hopefully the curiosity will get the best of someone, or you’ll find another “Georger” who will put the serial number in the database again… then you can see where and how far your bill has traveled.

I had one bill I spent in Hawaii follow me back to Georgia. That was weird. I also had a “hit” only hours after I had input the bill and spent it. Some bills took two months to hit… some haven’t hit at all…

But it’s interesting. It only takes seconds to enter your serial numbers… if you’re interested in seeing where your money goes, you should check it out!

You’ve all heard it… It was in the closing credits of “Finding Forrester”, it was in “Meet Joe Black”, and “50 First Dates”. If you’re an ER fan, you might remember it from the episode where we said “Goodbye to Dr. Green”. It’s that haunting, heartfelt rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”.

Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole was one of the most fondly remembered Hawaiian music artists and composers in the Islands. His smooth, passionate voice covered an extraordinary range of vocal octaves. He sung equally well in his Hawaiian native tongue as well as in English. He was a brilliant musician. Iz was nicknamed “The Gentle Giant” by his many admirers. He is also noted for being among the few pure-blooded Native Hawaiians in the world. He was described as always cheerful and positive, and was best known for his love of the land and of the people of Hawai‘i.

As his career progressed, IZ was known for promoting Hawaiian rights and Hawaiian Independence, both through his music (whose lyrics often stated the case for independence directly) and through his life.

Throughout the latter part of his life, Iz was considered obese and at one point weighed over 750 pounds (340 kilograms). He suffered several hospitalizations and died of weight-related respiratory illness on June 26, 1997 at 12:18 a.m. at the age of 38. The Hawai‘i State Flag flew at half-mast throughout the day. IZ lay in state at the Capitol building in Honolulu, where over 10,000 came to pay respects over the course of the first day. His ashes were scattered into the ocean at Makua Beach.

Like you, I’ve heard his work before… He became famous outside Hawai‘i when his album Facing Future was released in 1993 with his medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”. But I had never heard of anything but the medley. I heard more while in Hawai’i and now I’m hooked. I bought two of his albums, ::amazon(”B00000JFG3″,”Facing Future”)::, which debuted at #25 on Billboard Magazine’s Top Pop Catalog chart. and ::amazon(”B00005O4UG”,”Alone In IZ World”)::, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s World Chart and #135 on Billboard’s Top 200, #13 on the Top Independent Albums Chart, and #15 on the Top Internet Album Sales chart.

If you haven’t heard of IZ, or only know of his one song, you should check him out. ::amazon(”B00000JFG3″,”Buy the albums”):: I bought. I’ve listened to them time and again already between the plane ride home, in the car, and at work Monday.

Aloha ‘oe… farewell to thee. Today is my final day on the islands of Paradise and I thought I would leave you with the translated lyrics to a song, written by Queen Lili’uokalani, the last queen of the Hawaiian Islands. She dedicated this song as her farewell to her beloved country upon her removal from the throne.

Today, as I bid farewell to my beloved Hawai’i, I too must say “Aloha ‘oe”….

Original Lyrics (Hawaiian):
Ha`aheo ka ua i na pali,
Ke nihi a`e la i ka nahele,
E uhai ana paha i ka liko,
Pua ahihi lehua a o uka.

(Chorus)
Aloha `oe, aloha `oe,
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo,
One fond embrace a ho`i a`e au,
Until we meet again.

English
Proudly sweeps the rain clouded by the cliffs,
As onward it glides through the trees,
It seems to be following the liko,
The ahihi lehua of the vale.

(Chorus)
Farewell to thee, farewell to thee,
Thou charming one who dwells among the bowers.
One fond embrace before I now depart
Until we meet again.

Lili`uokalani was the last queen of the Hawaiian Islands. Her rule lasted from 1891 to 1895. She was born Lydia Paki Kamakaeha Lili`uokalani in 1838. Her parents were councilors to King Kamehameha III. Young Lydia attended the Royal School which was run by American missionaries. In 1862 she married John Owen Dominis but he died shortly after she ascended the throne.

Lili`uokalani’s brother, King David Kalakaua, ascended the throne in 1874. He gave much governing power to a cabinet composed of Americans. As a result, a new constitution was passed which gave voting rights to foreign residents but denied these rights to most Hawaiian natives. Lili`uokalani succeeded to the throne upon the death of her brother in 1891. When she attempted to restore some of the power of the monarchy that had been lost during the reign of her brother, she encountered the revolt by the American colonists who controlled most of Hawaii’s economy. In 1893, U.S. marines called in by a U.S. minister occupied the government buildings in Honolulu and deposed the queen. The colonists, led by Sanford Dole, applied for annexation of the islands to the United States. Queen Lili`uokalani appealed to the U.S. President Grover Cleveland for reinstatement.

Despite President Cleveland’s orders, Dole established a provisional government in Hawaii. His forces put down the revolt by the royalists and jailed many of the queen’s supporters. In 1895 Queen Lili`uokalani was put under the house arrest in the ‘Iolani Palace for eight months after which she abdicated in return for the release of her jailed supporters. In 1898 the Hawaiian Islands were formally annexed to the United States. In the same year Queen Lili`uokalani composed a song “Aloha `Oe” (a tale of two lovers as they reluctantly depart) as a farewell to her country. She was released as a private citizen and lived at Washington Place (320 South Beretania Street) in Honolulu until her death in 1917 following a stroke.

The other night, I went out to dinner at a local Bar & Grille here on O’ahu and on the TV, everyone was watching women’s professional log rolling. First of all, I didn’t know there was such a thing. Second of all, why are Hawai’ians interested in log rolling? I will admit, it’s quite entertaining, watching grown women try to knock each other off a log using nothing but their feet. What’s even more fun, is watching them fall in the water. It must be one of those lumberjack sort of things because everyone was from Wisconsin. Is there nothing better to do in Wisconsin than roll logs?

On another note, apparently, I’m in the wrong business. I should be in the conveinience store business in Honolulu. You can’t more than half a block without running into an ABC Store here. ABC Stores are little stores that have a mixture of everything from souvenirs to groceries. They’re apparently open 24/7/365, as some most of them don’t even have exterior doors on them. I’m guessing security isn’t much of an issue in an ABC Store. There may be more ABC Stores on this little 30 mile wide island than Wal-Marts in all of the mainland, and I’m totally serious when I say this. These guys have cornered the conveinence store market on O’ahu.

Last night, I walked through Waikiki and stopped by some of the cultural events. Of course, these hula girls attracted my attention. Before any of you perverts say anything, they’re all in their 20’s. It’s quite amazing to watch these girls wiggle those hips. It’s easy to stand there transfixed by this amazing dance for hours. I know I stood there watching much long than I intended.

My trip here is winding down, unfortunately. I have about 36 hours left to decide if I am never going home.

Aloha!