Jeff in Maui

Another Trip to Paradise

2006-02-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

Home Sweet Home

2006-01-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

After a month and a half of sleeping on the couch and that cot I finally have my own room! I actually have closets, a bed, a dresser and my own tv! The days of living out of my suitcase are long gone and I don't miss them at all. It really feels nice to finally 'move in' to the house. I guess it's the small things that make a difference huh?
Aloha!

A birthday to be remembered....or not

2006-01-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

Today I finally had some time to get the pictures from my birthday onto the computer, so here they are. We started out playing ping pong and drinking Cristal, then we went to Fred's for dinner and then to Mulligan's on the Blue. From there, I don't know...

2006 - The Begining

2006-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years!
Last night was a good one. I went out and partied with some new friends from work and it didn't stop until 5:45 this morning. It started at a bar called Life's A Beach, then moved to another bar called Neptunes, then to Ryan's house and finally down to the beach. It was the best New Years I've had in a while, considering I was moving to Temecula two years ago and last year I was driving back to California. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.
Happy birthday Dad!!
Aloha

Christmas - Hawaiian, Jersey, Italian Style

2005-12-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was unlike any other. First of all, I had to work. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I didn't really get to relax and lay around all day watching basketball and football games with my bros. Nor did I get the royal breakfast treatment of my Dad's sausage biscuts and gravy or my Mom's french toast, bacon and eggs. I got cold pizza left over from my Christmas eve lunch/dinner.
When I got to work it was a little slow. Some of the servers were bitching about being there and having to work when it was so slow. This didn't last for long. About an hour later I was face down in the well banging out bloody mary's and guava mimosa's like a maniac. The people were just a little slow in getting there, but once they did it was busy. It was the busiest day I've had at the old Seawatch and it was pretty fun. Everyone was in a good mood which reflected in their tipping of the bartender. Nice.
After work I came back to the house and relaxed for an hour or so. Then Kevin and I headed up to Rick Pounds' house. Rick is a guy I met through Kevin, he's retired and plays golf almost everyday. He's from Jersey and is a riot. He's always got either something to say or a quick comeback to anything you say. A real funny guy. His house was awesome. It's in the same neighborhood as our's, but definitely not in the same price range. It's three stories with a flat top roof with ocean and town views.
The first difference in the Christmas meal was that everyone was barefoot wearing shorts and aloha shirts (all slippers are checked at the door in Hawaii). The second was that I actually ate my dinner outside on the wrap around lanai. No way you could eat a Christams dinner outside in Oregon.
The third difference was the food. I usually have the more traditional American style dinner with my family of meat and potatoes. But this spread was Italian. We had all sorts of good stuff like homemade meat balls, roasted shredded pork, pasta dishes, roasted red peppers, and chicken skewars. It was a fun night.
So, I guess this Christmas was a good one even though I didn't get to be with my family I got to spend some time with new friends and people I hope to know for a long time.
Aloha and Mele Kalikimaka!!

Maui Prince

2005-12-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Today after training I went to the beach in front of the Maui Prince. It was my first time there and it was pretty nice. They have lawn chairs out there, probably for the guests of the hotel, but there was no one using them so I figured I'd put one to good use. I could only hang out for about 25 minutes because I had to pick Kevin up from work but I made good use of my time. I swam around for most of it and found a snorkel and mask on the bottom of the ocean as well as a lawn chair! I returned the snorkel and mask to the little activities shack, my good deed for the day, and the chair was upside down with just the legs sticking out of the sand so I just left it there. Here are some pics from the beach.
Aloha!!

La Perouse

2005-12-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

Howzit!!
Today, after work (I'm still training at Fred's), Kevin and I went down to La Perouse. La Perouse is a little cove at the very end of the road past Big Beach and the other cove my last snorkeling adventure was at. You go past pretty much all of the houses and civilization on the road and end up in a lava field. It was kind of murky because we went at about three o'clock in the afternoon but the reef was cool and there were some nice fish to check out. I saw at least ten different species, most of them I posted pictures of in the first snorkeling post, but there were a couple of new ones I hadn't seen yet.
I just can't get over the fact that everyone I know is basically freezing right now, and I'm going snorkeling. I mean, I had the air conditioning working hard in the car today and my family is dealing with temperatures in the 30's. I really dig it here.
Anyway, one of the pictures is of the cove I was at, one is from the road to the cove (looking back up the mountian), and the other two are of road side stands that serve 'ono grinds' for people coming to or from the beach. There were a few more food stands on the road but they shut down before we came back. I'll post pictures of them later.
Aloha,
Jeff

Mike's Birthday

2005-12-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Mike's birthday so we went down to the beach they call 'white rock' and had a little fun tossin' horse shoes and drinking beer. Chillin' on a beach in Maui with the sun going down and the waves crashing having a good time with friends, it doesn't get much better. We got there about 45 minutes before sunset and played into the night. It was a full moon, so once the sun went down we waited for the moon to fully rise and then played by moonlight. It was sweet. In the first shot you can see a horse shoe flying across the the picture. We grilled up some sausages and hot dogs but my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get any shots of the feast. The players included: Mike, Keith, Brett, Jay, Kevin and myself. In two of the shots you can see a house in the background. It's Clint Eastwood's. Aloha!

Between Shifts

2005-12-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

Aloha! So this week I've been training down at Fred's Mexican Cafe, it's been fun so far and I think it's going to be an awesome place to work. The prices are right for both food and drink, so I think there will be a lot of local traffic. Monday and Tuesday I also worked the night bar shift at The Seawatch. Yesterday I decided to take a little break in between shifts and go to the beach. I went to one called Kamaole 1. There are three "Kam's" along South Kihei road and Kam 1 is the most northern of the bunch. Here's a few shots of the place. The boat has been sitting there for about two or three weeks, I don't know why. Shoots.

Oh yeah, I thought I saw my good buddy Justin there. If you click on the picture in the middle, I thought he was the guy in the bottom left of the shot, in the speedo. But when I got up there I realized that the old guy filled out the speedo much too much to be Justin. :)

The Seawatch

2005-12-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

Aloha once again. Here are some pictures of the place I've been working at for the last few weeks. It's called The Seawatch and it's located at the Gold and Emerald Courses at Wailea. It's right accross from the pro shop where Kevin works. You can't really beat the view. People tell me that during whale season, the next three months or so, you can see them jumping and playing around in the ocean from the restaurant. Every night the servers usually end up playing photographer for the guests when the sun goes down. It drops into the sea just to the right of the two islands, Molokini and Koolawe. It's a pretty cool place to work.

Right now it's about 80 degrees outside and I'm chillin' in my surf shorts with the windows open and the birds singin'. Hope it's not too chilly on the mainland!!

Aloha,
Jeff

A few more pictures

2005-12-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Aloha, I know that I haven't really posted much for the last few days but I've been busy working and trying to get a second job. I got the second one yesterday so I drove by the place today and snapped a shot of it. It's called Fred's Mexican Cafe and it's still under construction.
The other pic of Mimi's Karaoke Lounge is somewhere my good buddy Kevin took me, as a joke. He said they'd be showing the Monday night football game there and that drinks were cheap. He was correct on both accounts however, he neglected to inform me before we entered the joint that it was a 'hostess bar'. When I walked in I knew something wasn't right. It was dark and there were seedy lookin' asian men all over the place accompanied by girls who looked like they weren't there to watch the game. Mimi herself sat us in a booth and asked us if we had been there before. "No" was of course my answer and Kevin said "maybe once or twice" with an evil grin on his face. She then asked us what we'd like to drink, we told her, and she proceeded to let us know that the girls can sit with us while we watch the game for a cost of $20-$1,000. We respectfully declined any "company" for the moment and when she left I looked at Kevin and he was laughing his ass off. We pounded our drinks and left quickly. Kevin is sooo funny, huh?
Aloha,
Jeff

Sunday Football

2005-11-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in every man's week when it's his time, this time occurs on Sunday. When the tv gets turned on and he tunes out, for about 6 hours nothing matters except scores and highlights, instant replays and penalties, birdies and bogeys. You get the point. This Sunday was a fun one. Kevin and I went up to Mike's house armored with sandwiches, chips, beer and a jug of Carlo Rossi (the finest of shitty wines). After a number of cocktails Kevin passed out, not unusual for older men. We only let him lay there for a quick nap and then made him rise and drink once again. I battled boldy against Carlo.

Mike had four tv's set up in a sort of sports bar arrangement and we did not miss a minute of action. At the end of the day we went down to Shaka's Pizza for yes, another sandwich, and devoured them with a manly, drunken passion. The day was complete. Then we walked in the door to see our roommate Judah on the couch, see the pic.

We had our day, we had our "man time" and it was glorious.

A day of thanks and a day of giving

2005-11-28T13:10:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in Maui. Sounds good doesn't it? Well this year I had a rather unorthodox holiday since every family member of mine was at least 2500 miles away. Kevin and I made it work though. We started the day by eating leftovers from the night before, kind of ironic. Our "brunch" consisted of homemade open-face philly cheesesteak sandwiches and, of course, MGD. We woke up late, around noon or so, so drinking beer with breakfast was acceptable. It was thanksgiving after all.

After "brunch" we headed down to the Blue Course at Wailea for a round of golf. The previous time we played Kevin gave me 4 strokes and I won. This day was no different. Kevin again gave me 4 strokes and it was a match to the very end. I think next time I'll only get 3 out of him. He actually beat me in stroke play, but we were playing match play and I got him. So, a picture of my "champion's swing" and celebratory drink in the Irish pub, Mulligan's, after the round was in order.

Then there was the decision of what to do for dinner. Go to some people's house we don't really know and eat their food or, go to Denny's. The land of the 'superbird sandwich' was a no brainer. Now, we are in Maui here and this was no ordinary Denny's. It's located about a block from the beach and had a pretty nice view, see the picture, so although it felt extremely odd eating thanksgiving dinner at Denny's, it wasn't all that bad. We follwed the meal with a few more cold ones and passed out on the couch, a normal ending to thanksgiving indeed.

The Crib

2005-11-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention that I have not posted any pictures of my actual house. Thanks mom. So here are a few shots from outside and inside 'the crib'.

One is a front view, my house is the one on the right. There are also shots of the kitchen, family room and two of the backyard.

So now you can see where I be chillin'.

Later dudes.

The Fish

2005-11-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, so when I went snorkeling I took along my underwater camera for it's first spin. I have little to no knowledge of how the thing works so I basically wasted a roll of film. However, for your viewing pleasure, I downloaded some pictures off the internet from real photographers of some of the fish I saw. It was pretty cool seeing all of these different species and once I figure out my camera I'll be posting some pictures I actually took. Aloha.

p.s. I almost stuck my hand on that eel's head. Needless to say I was shocked when I saw it and nearly soiled my surf shorts. But after I backed up (very quickly) I gathered myself and went in for a closer look.

Another day in Kihei

2005-11-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, so as promised here are a few pictures of my 'bed'. One is with me in my humble abode and the other is just straight 'bed and closet'. Not bad huh?

The other pictures are of a bay I went snorkeling at today. There is one of the bay looking from the lava rocks I walked out on. I think the tide was low when I got there because when I left the water was a bit higher and splashing up onto the rocks more.

There's one of a small tide pool and it has a few little fishies going after something. I think it was a little dead fish maybe. Ruthless little bastards. One is of my ugly mug, sorry about that.
One is of a sign that was at the beach I snorkeled at and the one below and to the left of it is a shot of 'big beach' taken from the road that led to the snorkeling beach. It's the beach I went to yesterday, and it's pretty big.
That's all for today!!
Aloha

Pictures from my house

2005-11-18T23:56:00.000-08:00

So here are a few shots I took in the old house tonight. All of the clothes on the floor is what I'm refering to as my 'closet' at this point. I'll be posting a picture of my 'bed' later.
The two sunset pictures are from right outside the house looking towards the ocean. They are the same pictures basically, I just adjusted the color setting on my camera to make one appear more blue.
As you can see, we have a pet. I call him 'the gecko'. He's been hangin around ever since I got here and probably long before that. One of the shots is him enjoying a little snack. You can click on all of these pictures to make them larger, but I'd really suggest checking that one out, I think it turned out pretty good.

Ok, until tomorrow or the next day, shoots.

Some more pictures!!

2005-11-18T18:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here are some more pics of my first Hana trip. One is in front of a local market called Hasegawa'sGeneral Store. I'm sure it's been there for years and it probably will be for many more, hopefully.
The next one is a shot from the passenger side of the Jeep we rented and it's at the very begining of the jungle. This is about as wide as the road got the entire journey, until we got back around the island towards Kihei.
The next one is one of the beaches we 4x4'd to and it's looking back upon the sea cliffs we drove along.

There's one of a cove where there's a little opening in the rocks, I just thought it looked cool. I took it from the Jeep as we were moving so it's not all that great, sorry.
Next to that is a picture of one of the waterfalls that's right next to the road. I didn't even have to get out of the car for this either. There are tons and tons of waterfalls in the area but you have to hike a bit to get to most of them. On my next trip we're going to do a little hiking, this time I just got the overall layout and geography of the place.
The next picture is from the first beach we 4x4'd to and is looking back up the mountain. You can't really tell through the picture how truly lush and green everything is. It's like Jurrasic Park or something.

The next one is of the first beach in Hana we came to. It's a pretty small and remote town, there were only two boats in the bay.
The next one is of the first fruit stand we stopped at to get some lilikoi. It's a passion fruit that you cut in half and then suck the seeds and shit out of. It's got a little tang and lots of sweetness, a good balance to it. I'll get a picture of what it looks like next time, my hands were too messy to touch my camera when I thought about it.
Next to that is another shot of the first beach, that's our Jeep in the right corner.
Finally, there is a picture of a little valley looking up the mountain.

I've got some more pictures I will post, but the the trouble is getting a good internet connection. Our neighbors have wireless networks but it's kind of hit or miss whether or not they come in.
Well, I gotta go so I hope y'all enjoyed these pictures. I'll try to get some of the local wildlife in my next post. There are all sorts of birds and things everywhere.
Aloha,
Jeff

Some pictures

2005-11-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

So, aloha everyone! Here are some of the first pictures I've taken since I got here. The bottom right is of South Kihei Road, I walked up and down it for like two hours the first full day. The one next to it of the 18th hole at the Emerald Course at Wailea. Top left is the cove where a lot of people surf. And top right is the 1st hole of the Emerald Course.
There will be many more to come....