Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2009 November
2009 October
2009 September
2009 August
2009 July
2009 June
2009 May
2009 April
2009 March
2009 February
2009 January
2008 December
2008 October
2008 September
2008 August
2008 July
2008 June
2008 May
2008 April
2008 February
2008 January
2007 December
2007 November
2007 October
2007 August
2007 July
2007 June
2007 May
2007 April
2007 March
2007 February
2007 January
2006 December
2006 November
2006 October
2006 September
2006 August
2006 July
2006 June
2006 May
2006 April
2006 March
2006 February
2006 January
2005 December
2005 November
2005 October
2005 September
2005 August
2005 July
2005 June
2005 May
2005 April
2005 March
2005 February
2005 January
2004 December
2004 November
2004 October
2004 September
2004 August
2004 July
2004 June
2004 May
2004 April
2004 March
2004 February
2004 January
2003 December
2003 November
2003 October
2003 September
2003 August
2003 July
2003 June
My Links
My Coffee Site
Kona Coffee Video
Website Hosting
Kona Coffee Farmers Association
My Hawaiian Site
NEWSLETTER
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
| Lists are like music to my ears |
| 10.30.05 (11:22 pm) [edit] |
Lists are like music to my earI guess it is my analytical side that makes me write lists and rank things. Here are a few reasons I say that. When I was a disc jockey, I used to write down what I wanted to say. Part of the reason was because I was afraid that I would forget exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is that I was afraid I might say the wrong thing and get myself or the station taken off the air (this was before shock jocks become the vogue). Finally, I used to write down my patter to ensure that it would fit in the time allotted. Although we were a middle of the road station and played just about anything, we also tried to use various ways to make the competition sound bad. None of these ideas were ours, but that did not stop us from using them. It was a time of “Air Personalities” rather than Disc Jockeys. A DJ might spin records but an Air Personality might spin tales and magic! We also adopted the idea that you NEVER have dead air. If there were a few seconds of dead air, listeners might tune away, thinking their radio had drifted. Many of the radios (and I’m dating myself) had twist dials rather than digital tuning. As one song ended we would start the next and fade them together. As the songs stopped and started, we could fill the remaining time with talk. We tried NEVER to stop a song, talk and then start a new song. Because we were segueing songs together we could use jingles such as “Less talk, More music”. Many of the jingles became a driving force in radio. Pepper Tanner had a set that was quite popular and one might sound like “Muuuuusic, that’s our middle name, 77 Muuuusic, W A B C” or a jingle might be “Less talk, more music, more music, less talk”. The listener THOUGHT you were playing more music because you kept telling him you were! There were actually ways to ensure that you played more music. One way was as mentioned, cram the songs closer together. Another way was to only play the shorter songs. Shorter songs allowed you to play more music per hour. At the time, most stations played either 45’s or albums. Big stations recorded their music on tape cartridges very similar to the old 8 track tapes. Often DJ’s (or Air Personalities) also had the ability of playing records on a turntable. Those turntables were driven by a little rubber wheel rubbing against a metal surface. As that wheel got used, bits of rubber wore off and slowly, the wheel became smaller and the record sped up slightly. Stations took advantage of that and started making those wheels a bit smaller and sped up the music. When listeners heard your songs they were exciting and fast paced and surprise, the competition sounded like they were dragging (which they were because their music was actually, measurably slower)! Oh we were devious, weren’t we? Faster songs, shorter pauses and up-tempo stingers and jingles made it an exciting time. Another thing I write down is a list of things to do. I have lots of unfinished projects and lists SOMETIMES help me prioritize tasks. As I write this, I’m listening to the top 100 singles from each year 1970 to 1989. In Winamp you have the ability to rate a song and I’m randomly going song by song and ranking them 1 to 5. My rankings are 5 for songs I really like and could listen to often, 4 are songs that I enjoy but might tire of after a while, 3’s are songs I could take or leave, 2’s are those that I can listen to occasionally but would never purposely listen to and 1’s are songs that could disappear off the earth and I would not care. It will be interesting to sort the list when I’m done and see which artists I really like. Don’t assume that because a group or artist has hundreds of songs that if I like some then I like them all. I also have no idea why I like certain songs. I’m sure some just bring back good memories, but others are just up-tempo and I like up-tempo music. Perhaps when I’m done with this ranking it will turn out that most of the songs have something in common. Perhaps they all have good drum solos or a harmonica in them. Perhaps they all have the same beat. This just in, Belinda Carlise (Heaven is a Place on Earth… 1). Sorry! One year I decided to see how many Trick or Treaters I had and how often they came to the door. This way I would know whether I needed to make up little bags in advance. I ended up charting this in a spreadsheet! I had 125 kids that year and the largest group was 8 at a time. Most times it was 2 kids. Carpenters (Close to You… 3). Paul McCartney (Jet…4). Raspberries (Go All the Way… 5). Survivor (Eye of the Tiger… 5). In a previous Blog I mentioned tracking the temperature inside a mini refrigerator. I can’t stop this! J Some songs are just embarrassing to say I like, although on second thought, perhaps not. I seem to remember a friends son saying he likes some music from the 50’s and this guy was just recently out of High School. Perhaps some of these songs really are timeless. My musical tastes are probably considerably wider than most people. For hours on end I could listen to Jazz, Rock (Classic not acid rock), Easy Listening, New Age Jazz, Classical, Folk, Country (except Bluegrass). Harry Chapin (Cats in the Cradle… 3). Carole King (One Fine Day… 4 [would have been 5 if done by Lighthouse]) J By the way, if you want to win a radio station contest that asks “Which album did this song come from”, if you don’t know, say “The Best of…” J Although Mike Posts’ The Rockford Files Theme gets a 4, Hawaii-50 would get a 5+ J I liked a lot of the Drifters songs, the Beatles, certainly the Beach Boys and so on. I met a few of the Original Drifters, almost interviewed the Beach Boys, interviewed a group calling themselves Dawn, yet was not any way the real group. One of the Stadler Brothers stopped by the station once and my college dorm resident manager once cut a record called “Too Many Women on the Jury”. I wish this blog made more sense. I’ll make a note of that J |
| Savings |
| 10.28.05 (9:12 am) [edit] |
|
I was watching Oprah yesterday where the topic was saving the environment; primarily stopping the loss of life as we know it. Leo DiCaprio was speaking about cutting back on fuel use to help reduce weather problems caused by Global Warming. At least the point was made that not all scientists agree that Global Warming is the problem others think it is. I personally agree with this. I do try to practice some forms of conservation, but sometimes it is not easy. It is difficult to weigh conservation with being cheap. In some places in the country, residents are encouraged to recycle items, but then are charged extra to have those items picked up. When you look through the supermarket aisles for items in reduced packaging, those purchases may cost you more than ones in more intricate packaging. I personally use fluorescent light bulbs for a number of reasons. Here in Hawaii we pay a lot for electricity and any way to reduce that cost is helpful. Fluorescents cost more up front, but save you a bunch on electricity and also generate less heat. With less heat you may also reduce your cooling bills. I have replaced the spark plugs in my truck and will have an oil change soon. These help with fuel economy and unfortunately, I only get about 17 MPG but had to buy a utility vehicle that had 4-wheel drive for the farm. I do plan trips into town because of the distance and costs involved. It is not easy to plan these trips to avoid retracing step AND to compare prices at the same time, but it is possible. Here many houses are designed to capture the trade winds to cool the house, and to keep overhead sun from heating the house too much. As I have said before, I do have a bit of a problem at night because the temperature does drop down cooler than I like. A small cover keeps me toasty warm at night. Although I use a washing machine and try to make full loads, the machine does not have the ability to adjust water level. Luckily the water cost here is low. I am lucky that I can use a solar clothes drier, which I built myself. It involved a trip to ACE Hardware to buy 2 pulleys and a long rope…. Works like a charm. I want to replace my water heater with a tankless system, which would only heat the water on demand. This can save lots of money over a regular heater which cooks water all of the day and night to keep it up to temperature. Many people never flush their tanks and end up losing efficiency because of it. I suggest anyone who wants to flush his or her tank, go to a hardware store and ASK how to do it, or look for instruction on the Internet. It involves turning off the heat source, draining and flushing the tank, refilling the tank and then starting the heat source again. You do NOT want to heat the tank without it being full! This procedure can be done every 6 months to a year or more often if you have lots of sediment in your water. On Oprah there was a suggestion of unplugging electrical items when not in use. Many of the suggestions were “OK” but I suggest that many may be of dubious savings. For example, one suggestion was to unplug the toaster when not in use. Unless your toaster has some kind of timer or clock, unplugging it will not help a bit. They suggested unplugging cell phone charges from the wall when not in use. Although the charger will use a small amount of current when not in use, it uses more when actually charging the cell phone. Clocks use very little current and may be a better choice than a battery operated one where the battery may contain toxic materials. Here in Hawaii we generate electricity in many different ways because we cannot just run a big extension cord to another state as they can on the mainland. Thus we tend to think a bit more about conservation, yet may have less ways to actually conserve. When we create trash, we also have to bury or ship our trash off island to get rid of it. It is always something to consider when buying things. In stores I see lots of local fruits and vegetables for sale. That is great because we don’t need to import as many items to consume and that saves trucking and shipping costs and thus reduces the amount of fuel used to get items here. Because we consume AND produce items, we help to fill empty shipments heading back to the mainland. You can help by purchasing more Hawaiian goods J On another topic, you may have been following the recent events around the world with disasters and storms effecting areas, which grow coffee. Hawaii has been lucky to escape these problems and this year looks to be a bumper crop for coffee. Early returns show tremendous yields! As for me, I’m still clearing parts of the farm and getting the area ready to plant little keiki plants. It will take 9 months or a year before those plants are ready to go in the ground. Photos will be posted soon as I prepare thousands of these little plants! In the meantime, for those who like to conserve a bit of money, I have an Ebay sale for 1 pound coffee bags with free shipping. I also will be offering sales during November and will have some Gift Baskets available for Christmas. Since I don’t sell enough of those to order non-coffee items in bulk, I usually just browse the stores to see what is on sale J The 2006 calendars are in stock and posted on the website at ItsKona.Com http://www.itskona.com |
| Getting Cold! |
| 10.24.05 (12:41 am) [edit] |
|
The weather across the country is getting colder. Thoughts of pumpkins and frost come to mind. The fall colors soon turn to winder grays. Parts of Florida may soon be under water again and my heart goes out to them. Here on the island, I have been clearing some brush off the farm. I bought a brush mower but still have problems because it uses plastic lines instead of blades. They supplied 10 whips, which I used up in the first 4 hours. They come like 10 per package at about $8. I bought a reel of plastic line and will make my own! While clearing some brush I removed my goggles and turned around, allowing a branch to hit me in the eye. I don’t think I have any debris in there, but rather that the eyeball got slightly scratched. Tears don’t appear to wash anything out, so I’m sure it is an irritation. It is very uncomfortable and that eye hurts. It appears that I picked up a cold. While that sounds pretty common, it is the first cold I have had here in years. Although cold germs are common, I found that because I’m on a farm away from the general public and don’t fly as much as I used to, I don’t get as sick as I used to. I know others who always seem to get a cold after flying and that might be how I caught this one. I just visited someone who is sick after a flight to the mainland. In ancient times (what we call pre-contact) the natives here did not know disease like we do. Once ships began to arrive, so did all the diseases of the world, including smallpox, measles and so on. The Hawaiians had no natural defenses for these diseases and most lost their life to what we would consider rites of passage in life. Perhaps a hot cup of coffee will chase these troubles away. Until next time, Aloha! |
| Run Like The Wind |
| 10.21.05 (7:39 am) [edit] |
|
Run Like the Wind The 2005 Ironman Race is now history, although parts of it will be broadcast on the Outdoor Life Network and then again in November on NBC. It was a personal triumph for the participants and a great way to showcase our beautiful island and state. Some of the participants are just leaving town, having stayed to visit for a while. Recently we have often seen two cruise ships in town on certain days. I believe that I heard this is only happening for another few weeks and then we get back to a regular schedule. I also understand that Maui will become a popular cruise ship departure site. Speaking of traveling between islands, there is at least one new airline, Mesa Airlines, which is expected to start running passengers interisland near the beginning of the year. All major interisland airlines are currently running a half price sale through the end of the year. And speaking of running, many Floridians are set to run from hurricane Wilma and hide somewhere away from yet another path of possible destruction. Here in Kona it is business as usual, warm, trade winds starting again and the smell of plumeria and quava in the air. I’d like to stay awhile and chat, but I have to run J |
| And Miles To Go... |
| 10.16.05 (12:21 am) [edit] |
|
And Miles To Go Before I sleep! Woke up this morning and watched some of the Internet feed of the Ironman Competition which runs today in Kona. Although I wanted to go up and watch and cheer on the athletes, my destiny lay towards the South. While competitors swam, biked and ran along the West side of the Island, I headed South past South Point (the Southern-most point in the US) and on to a town just outside of the National Park called Volcano. I met with the designer of the new Kona Coffee Council website and went over the details with him. We also enjoyed a cup of my Pele’s Passion coffee, which I took with me. After the meeting I continued counterclockwise (East and North) to Hilo where I did some shopping/ I missed the Office Max sale by 1 day (it starts Sunday). It looks like there are some good deals. Perhaps I’ll order them over the Internet and have them delivered. I received a dinner invitation in Kona and that meant I needed to take a shorter route than I took to get to Hilo. I wanted to head across Saddle Road which crosses the middle of the island, but it was very cloudy up there and getting dark fast. Saddle Road is so bad that rental car companies will not let you take their cars on it and although it is not a really bad drive, clouds and inclement weather can cause real havoc along the route. I would not want to get stuck up there because in most places there is nowhere to pull off the road. The shoulders are sharp lava rocks! I opted for the Northern Route, which continues counterclockwise and through Waimea. As I left Hilo there were 3 guys hitchhiking. I picked them up and two sat in the back on the truck bed with their bicycle. The other guy sat up front. The talk was interesting and kept me awake. As we rounded Waimea we had to keep to the upper road as the lower one was still closed because there were still Ironman athletes on the course. I dropped the guys off by Longs Drugs and continued down to dinner. I was surprised to find a birthday cake also (Sunday is my birthday). During dinner we listened to the Internet feed of the race and I saw a few runners come by our location and heard clapping and cheering outside. After heading home I again brought up the feed and watched from 10pm on. At 11:46pm there were still 9 runners left on the course and I think they will all make it in before the Midnight cutoff. I was not able to cheer them on in person but I certainly did so in spirit. Unless you watch these men and women struggle to compete, you really can’t understand some of the sacrifices they have made. Most know that they will not win a prize or even finish in the top half, yet they compete anyway. Some have personal reasons, some have public reasons for competing. Some are in great shape as they cross the finish line and others look as though they may have to crawl across. In a recent race, one man did crawl. As I watched the last of the race I saw that besides friends of the racers there continued to be local volunteers and visitors to cheer on the racers. Everyone racer gets cheers and congratulations and is reminded that they too are Ironmen to finish the race. As I watched, an 80-year-old man crossed the line and not long after, a man named John finished. John has full-blown ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). These men had been racing almost 17 hours and I can tell you, I would never have been able to compete let alone finish. My hat is off to each person who competed and even to those few who had to bow out for whatever the reason. Until next year! P.S. I still have a couple of bags of coffee left on the discount caode IRONMAN. Order quickly before the thrill of the race wears off and the reality that I'm giving everyone a discount hits home :-) That discount is 15% off anything ordered! Just enter the coupon code IRONMAN at checkout time over at ItsKona.Com! |
| Tired Today=1, Tired Saturday... Thousands! |
| 10.14.05 (1:18 am) [edit] |
|
Today I was tired, but nothing compared to the rolls on Saturday when thousands of athletes compete in the 2005 Ironman competition here in Kona. Before I begin, let me say that after moving some furniture and running around town looking for a dishwasher, I found myself in a Jacuzzi with a number of men and women from Japan. Most of them are participating in Saturday's race and the gentleman next to me appears to be an Olympic athlete from Japan. The race seems to bring out the best of the best :-) Here they will be running, swimming and bicycling around some inhospitable parts of the island, and I'm racing around in my truck (sometimes with the air conditioner running). I feel so bad about that! From their website at http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/... here is how it started and a bit about the race 1978 DURING THE AWARDS CEREMONY FOR A HAWAII RUNNING RACE, A DEBATE ENSUES AMONG COMPETITORS ABOUT WHO IS MORE FIT -- SWIMMERS, RUNNERS OR OTHER ATHLETES. ONE OF THE PARTICIPANTS, NAVY COMMANDER JOHN COLLINS AND HIS WIFE JUDY, DREAM UP A RACE TO SETTLE THE ARGUMENT. THEY PROPOSE COMBINING THREE EXISTING RACES TOGETHER, TO BE COMPLETED IN SUCCESSION: THE WAIKIKI ROUGHWATER SWIM (2.4 MILES), THE AROUND-OAHU BIKE RACE (112 MILES, ORIGINALLY A TWO-DAY EVENT) AND THE HONOLULU MARATHON (26.2 MILES). "WHOEVER FINISHES FIRST WE’LL CALL THE IRONMAN," SAID COLLINS. FIFTEEN MEN PARTICIPATE IN THE INITIAL EVENT HELD ON FEBRUARY 18; 12 COMPLETE THE RACE, LED BY THE FIRST IRONMAN, GORDON HALLER. HIS WINNING TIME: 11 HOURS, 46 MINUTES AND 58 SECONDS. Now we fast forward and find that Saturday up to 1800 competitors will be on hand to share a purse of $580,000! What a far cry from its beginning. The course here in Kona will be A 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike race and 26.2-mile run. Competitors have 17 hours to finish. Cutoff times are also applied to the swim (2:20 after start of race) and the bike (10:30 after the start of race.) The end of the race will have 25,000 people cheering them on. What a great day to be in Kona! Unfortunately, I'll be over in the town of Volcano (near the volcano) working on the new Kona Coffee Council website. I had considered actually volunteering at Ironman this year, but things did not work out. Although I have had a couple of minor personal sucesses in sports, they pale in comparison to people willing to subject themselves to this race. In some cases, the race course might present them with temperatures upwards to 100 degrees. They may literally be placing themselves in personal danger if they do not heed some of the warnings of race officials. Although I cannot be there in person, I wish all the contestants good speed and safe travels. I hope that each athlete exceeds his/her expectations and takes pride in the fact that they were able to compete with some of the best in the world. |
| Poverty |
| 10.12.05 (9:31 pm) [edit] |
|
The Oprah show today covered poverty (with a capitol P). She visited some homes near here home and saw people without water. Anderson Cooper talked about Hurricane Katrina survivors and their woes and finally, Maria Shriver interviewed people in the South. The Shriver report especially caught my attention because I used to live in between the two cities she visited. Coeburn Virginia was right next to where I went to college and Hindman Kentucky was 38 miles from where I was a DJ in Jenkins. I watched the report closely to see if I recognized any landmarks, but did not. There are some similarities between where I live in Hawaii and those places in Appalachia. Here many people live in homes that would not be considered livable. On my island, there are developments, which have no running water, some with no electricity or phone service (and cell phones may not work). We have one if the highest tax rates in the country. Some products here are expensive because they must be shipped in. There are major differences though. On the mainland, the employment rate in those areas above is low. There are few jobs available and they are far away. Because of the weather, people may not be able to grow their own food. Here luckily, we can grow just about anything we want and in fact, it is almost impossible NOT to have a green thumb here. If you want to trade vegetables to neighbors or make some money for odd jobs or working on a farm, it seems pretty easy. Just in the reasonably small town of Kona there are at least 3 outdoor farm markets. Entrepreneurs can make jobs in this area because we have a high tourism industry. A few miles from me guys help put kayaks in the water and get paid to do it. Up county a fellow turned a water causeway into a water ride and charges a ton of money to tourists. If you enjoy fish, you are just a few miles from the ocean. If the climate bothers you, there is a place on the island that would better suit you and you may be able to find a different place to live. So I have to admit that I feel blessed to be able to live here and I don't mean to say that everything is great here, just that we have a few more opportunities than they do back on the mainland. In an area that is not a tourist area, it is difficult for people to create jobs and to better themselves easily. I have no answers or solutions, I just have the ability to write and hopefully get people to think. |
| Ironman Sale |
| 10.12.05 (6:55 pm) [edit] |
|
I am back from the mainland and have just roasted some 100% Kona Coffee and would love to ship it out! Because the store was down for almost a month, some of you have been rationing your last delivery. Perhaps you are looking at the thermometer and hoping that you can still eek out a wekend or two of outdoor fun before the rain and snow sets in. A piping hot cup of my Kona Coffee will chase those winter chills away. I also know that some of you are saying "This guy is nuts! It stays hot here all the time!" To you I say two words... ICED COFFEE! (see http://Snow.ItsKona.Com) This month Kona again hosts the IronMan Competition where International athletes compete in a grueling swim, run and bike around the west side of the island. In celebration of the competition I offer you the following competition... If you are one of the first 15 people to order, I offer you 15% off anything ordered! Just enter the coupon code IRONMAN at checkout time over at ItsKona.Com! Then enjoy the Aloha I send out :-) Mark |
| A Real Tempest |
| 10.12.05 (6:46 pm) [edit] |
|
A common expression is "Tempest in a Teacup", but recently the coffee world has been hit with its own tempest. Two items come to mind and I will only touch on them because most readers here could care less. The first involves the Kona Coffee Council. The allegations sre that the Vice President got carried away with a task he was given, changed some documents, mis-spoke the facts (interpret that as you will) and was subsequently voted off the board. Although he would have probably been forgiven if he had apologized in the heat of the moment, it now appears as though he is in a downward spiral. He called a public meeting asking for the expulsion of those board members who voted against him. I'm sure it is nothing personal though :-) The second event has been widely reported in the press. The Specialty Coffee Association (SCAA). Its Chief Operating Officer resigned and minutes later it was determined that the COO (whose nickname appears to be "Scooter") may have scooted off with an early retirement present, when hundreds of thousands of dollars of money were discovered missing! In the scheme of things, our problems are mild compared to the SCAA and I wish them luck finding "Scooter"! |