Malasadas

From left: cinnamon sugar, mango custard, haupia (coconut), and chocolate

I finally tried the famous malasadas at Leonard's Bakery. Apparently malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts) are really popular here and the local knowledge is that Leonard's are the best. I haven't tried any at another bakery, but I might have to agree based just on my tasting. The cinnamon sugar (and its friend, plain white sugar) is the traditional malasada, without any filling. Cinnamon is my favorite dessert spice, so this flavor of malasada is my favorite. The outside is a little bit crunchy and the inside is soft and doughy and sooo good.

I also really liked the mango custard, which was a big surprise because I'm usually not a big fan of mango. But it was the flavor of the month, so I had to try it. The coconut and chocolate flavors were fine, but I won't choose them again.



Leonard's Bakery was one of those places that everyone was telling me to try, so I'm glad I did. However, malasadas are definitely a once in a while treat =)

The same day I went to Leonard's, I tried a new beach. "Walls" (as the kids in the YCC call it) is actually right next to the beach I usually go to. But, as you can see from the picture, part of it is walled off to create a fairly still swimming area. I prefer it to the beach I had been going to because it's easier to cool off in this water. Kuhio Beach is right on a reef, so it's hard to walk in the water. Plus, at "Walls" I don't have to be dodging boogie boarders trying to take my head off.

What's it all coming to?

Sometimes I feel like the world is doing its damnedest to see that my idealism is destroyed. I've been strangely emotional about the news the last few weeks. This morning I actually cried a little in my cube when I read about the SCOTUS decision overturning the DC gun ban. Personally, I don't see how anyone can read the Second Amendment and not see how it's completely archaic, but that's less the problem than the tears are. (It also didn't help that Barack Obama's response to the decision said a whole lot of nothing that was meant to keep gun owners at bay.)

I've been listening to a lot of the radio show Democracy Now: The War and Peace Report lately. I had a backlog of podcasts that I hadn't listened to yet, so I would catch up on them during my commute. Way too often my eyes would well up while I was listening on the bus. And no one wants to be the girl crying on the bus. That's just too sad. I don't quite know what my problem is.

Yes, the news is sometimes unbearably depressing, but I should be able to keep it together. Sometimes it's the good news that makes me cry, which is even stranger. And with that rave recommendation, everyone should listen to this radio show!! You can get podcasts for free on iTunes, and their website is

I've been thinking that maybe what I need to do is start trying to do what I can to make things better. So, I gave money to the World Food Programme on Monday. That's one place where I know for sure that a little bit will go a long way. (If you're not ready to give money, at least click on the FreeRice.com link at the bottom of my blog and play the vocab game -- it's fun, you're learning, and you're helping feed people!)

There was a guy, Derek, who sat next to me in one of my last English classes at UCSB. He couldn't believe my idealism, but said that it was because I was 20 and hadn't seen reality yet. He promised me that after law school I would be cynical and a Republican (gasp!). Well, the latter isn't happening anytime soon, and I'm just hoping the tears don't indicate the end of my idealism and the onset of cynicism.

I'm Back!

And now I'm on wheels! Sorry for the prolonged lack of posting. Getting home at 8pm, showering, and eating dinner doesn't leave much energy for heading up to Safeway for some internetting. But now my life is going to have so much more room for fun: I bought a moped!

I had been spending 4-5 hours a day either on the bus or waiting for the bus. That needed to change.

I did some research and heard that the moped place on Kapahulu (the street I live off of) was the best. They've been in business for a really long time. I stopped by on my way to the beach on Sunday and ended up not making it to the beach. I talked to the two guys working (one was the owner) about what I needed and for how long and they said my best bet would be to buy a used one. They definitely thought I'd be able to make my money back when I sold it in November. So, after a long test drive with Garrett on a moped next to me, I ended up buying the thing.

The test drive was a bit frightening, but after Garrett shouted at me to "Be loose!!" a few hundred times, I started to relax. I had to tell him that this was me "loose." Apparently Garrett liked me just as I was, shoulders up to my ears and all, because not only did I walk away from the shop with a moped, but I walked away with his number too.

I wasn't comfortable enough to ride it to work yet and got home too late to practice on Monday and Tuesday. So tonight I was able to get home before dark and I went out riding for about a half hour. I especially needed to practice my moving left turns (turning when you're not at a full stop). But now I think I'm ready and I'm going to try riding it to work tomorrow. This is going to shave so much time off of my commute!

Plus, now I feel like some sort of Hell's Angel. Talk about silly. I'm most comfortable going 20-25 mph, and when I get above 30 I start to feel shaky. Luckily most of the streets around here have speed limits of 25 or 35, so I fit right in.

Riding around is a lot more fun than I expected, so I'm excited to try it for my commute tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

It's after 8 and I'm going to go home and watch a movie. Stay tuned for my upcoming post about malasadas...the food item most likely to threaten to throw my working out off track...and they're sweet! Who knew a doughnut would be more craveable than french fries?

Random USFWS Moment of the Day

Today I had to call someone and ask this question: "Can Americorps interns use firearms?" No, they cannot.

*One of our refuges traps and then shoots mongooses (mongeese?). Hence the firearms.

My Trainer

I met my trainer on Friday. It's pretty clear why I was matched with her. She's got a bigger booty (her word) and you can see right away that she's been damaged and has had body issues. That's what brought her to personal training. I like her though, and the way my abs feel today makes me think she's good at what she does. And she works out at Cross Fit, that crazy gym where people do pull ups with free weights between there knees...

My Reward

My hot pink toenails in my new Havaianas -- I'm a total convert, by the way. The old guy staying in the house right now made fun of me, asking if the toenails will glow in the dark. He's not all that nice.

I finally got a manicure and pedicure yesterday, as my reward for starting personal training. I imagine that someday working out will produce its own rewards, but right now I'm exhausted and still trying to wrap my head around going to the gym six days a week. So I get a reward. Of course, I was less sure of the brilliance of this idea when the woman doing my pedicure picked up my foot, saw the bottom of it, and wrinkled her nose in a look of disgust. Yes lady, I know my feet are callused and blistered! That's why I'm getting a freaking pedicure!

I had to get up and go to the gym Saturday morning, so that wasn't fun. I came home and went to the beach, but by the time I walked to the beach all I wanted to do was take a nap! I've really been worn out this week. On the way to the beach I stopped at the library and got What is the What by Dave Eggers, which I'm very excited to read.

Joel and I went down to Waikiki because we were hoping to catch the documentary they were showing at "Sunset on the Beach." They set up a big screen on the beach that I go to and show movies every now and then. It's kind of like Screen on the Green in DC, but on a much smaller scale. Unfortunately, it was a short documentary and they showed it before Daddy Day Camp, with Cuba Gooding Jr. Needless to say, we went to a bar instead of watching that award winner.

We went back to Lulu's, where we watched the Lakers-Celtics game. However, at 10pm it turned into "the only party in town where it's 18+!" As thrilling as that would have been, we decided to take off shortly after they started handing out wrist bands. It was very much like a high school dance in the way they placed chairs around the room, facing in to the dance floor and underage guys all clinging together (mostly military). My favorite part was that the bar handed out glow stick bracelets to the underage guys so that they stood out as much as possible. Joel's favorite part was that you could only get one beer at a time from the bartender. We left pretty quickly after we discovered that.

Crippled by Squats

My quads are so sore today that I feel like an old person when I have to lower myself onto a chair or toilet. But hey, bonus to living/working in federal buildings: you get the great handicapped bar to help lower yourself down in every bathroom!

I had thought that google's new public transit function was the greatest thing, until it put me on the wrong bus to the gym yesterday. I was going to Manoa, a place I'd never been, so it took me a good while to realize that I wasn't in the right place. I was in Manoa, just up in the hills and not anywhere near the marketplace. I called the trainer I was meeting, told him the situation, and he said he was already in the car, so he'd just come pick me up. The ride was very appreciated.

The gym is a small, private facility. There are three rooms: two for strength training/stretching/abs, and one for cardio. That way it's always just you and your trainer in the room. This is so appealing to me because I tend to get really self-conscious working out in front of people. The trainer went over the whole program, talked about goals, and then we did a workout. Hence the sore legs. And, I'd like to mention, ab exercises involving a medicine ball are brutal.

The strangest part was when it was time for stretching. At this gym stretching is done a little differently. The client (me)lays on a massage table and the trainer "stretches you out." Trainer guy commented that I was pretty flexible, and I wanted to respond, "Yeah, I bet everyone's pretty flexible when you're the one pushing their leg into their chest because you can't feel the pain to stop!" But I didn't. I was just glad I'd shaved my legs.

As we were leaving - oh, he gave me a ride home too because it was raining and he had to go pick up his wife anyway - there was a really heavy man working out with one of the trainers. I was told that he had been getting ready to have gastric bypass surgery when he decided to give this gym a try. He's lost enough weight now that surgery isn't an option. You've just gotta love that.

I'm going in today and get to have my measurements and "before" photos taken. Fun. I'll be training with someone - the guy yesterday was the owner and he'll match me with another trainer - on MWF and then I'm supposed to come in on TRSa for cardio. It's going to kind of take over my life, but I think in a good way. Maybe someday I'll be buff enough to be the governor of California.

Yay for SCOTUS

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061201695.html?hpid=topnews


They did a good thing, despite Roberts and Scalia doing their level best to stop it. It's reading comments like his in this article that remind me of Jon Stewart's accurate assessment of Scalia: "Wow, Scalia is a huge dick!"

Oh Boy

So a couple of days ago I made an appointment for a personal training "consultation" at a private gym here in Honolulu. It's about damn time. Anyway, the guy I spoke with is the owner and he seemed really great and understood that I was hesitant, etc., and the call went fine until he told me to be ready for a workout today. Just so we could "see where I am." Um, I'm at the beginning? I got a voicemail from him a little while ago confirming our appointment for today and the message ended like this: "Come ready to workout. Get ready to LOCK! Let's get you fit!" Super. Now, I'm not entirely sure I know what it means to lock, but I don't like the sound of it. My anxiety about this went way up after that call. I'm sure I'll survive, but I doubt I'll enjoy it.

Turns Out I Was Actually Right

So I should probably add that he is still in school and works part time at a restauratnt in Waikiki and told me that he got called in to cover someone's shift and that's why we couldn't watch the game. I may have been slightly too harsh below. But still.


Justin just blew me off for the game. Via text. Awesome.

Killing Rats

Good morning everyone! I got into work early today so I could leave in time to watch the Lakers-Celtics game with Justin. Yup, he called yesterday, so it turns out that I was wrong to think I'd never hear from him. Since I was unwilling to get to work before dawn, he's going to DVR the beginning of the game and we'll just start it when I get there. Isn't technology fantastic sometimes?

I'm exhausted though. I was up fairly late helping Joel and Dave string bait. I know that sounds weird; I'll explain. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture and they shipped it off to Palmyra on a cargo plane this morning. I'm going to ask joel to take a picture of the bait for me when he gets to Palmyra in a couple of weeks.

So stringing bait...Oh, quick point! This was placebo bait; there was no poison in it. These guys are doing predator control on Palmyra: "we're eradicating invasive mammal species in order to protect endangered seabirds." Um guys? It sounds much better when you just tell people that you're killing rats so they won't eat seabird chicks. Apparently a lot of the rats spend all their time in trees, so in order to get them, you have to have bait in the trees. The bait is in these little nuggets about an inch long and Joel drilled holes through each piece. Then a bunch of us took cotton string and threaded three pieces of bait on one end of the string, double knotted it, and repeated on the other end. It was a lot harder than it sounds once the string began unraveling and we couldn't get it through the little holes.

The really cool thing about this placebo bait is that it has a biomarker in it. Basically it's some non-harmful something that glows in the dark. That way after they distribute the bait and trap the rats they can see which areas of distribution were most effective because the biomarker will still be on the rats. Crazy. Part of their study will be marking down what part of the rat's body had the biomarker on it: mouth, body, tail, anus. It's not often I get the pleasure of hearing the word anus bandied about in civilized conversation. I was sitting next to a guy with dreadlocks though; seems like my whole world is changing =)

Anyway, it was a nice little mindless way to spend the night after I'd spent about 40 minutes going three blocks on the bus -- a water main broke on the main street of my bus route. I got off and went to the mall instead.

Ok, I'm going to go before I make this post so long people just don't read it!

Internet Musings

The whole blogging thing is kind of weird, once you really pay attention to the fact that this is on the internet and there's really no stopping anyone from passing it along to someone else. I would rather not self-edit or self-censor, especially because I'm not taking the time to journal for myself in addition to the blog, but it's hard to forget that people will be reading what I write. Maybe I should just journal and then take excerpts of that and put it on the blog. Any thoughts?

Really good day

Yesterday was a great day, one of those days where nothing really special happens, but it's still a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

I woke up around 8:15 (without an alarm clock!) and chatted with one of my new housemates for a while. I was heading off to the beach, but we made plans to go watch the Lakers - Celtics game at a Waikiki bar. Yay! I would have company!

I spent the morning at the beach, getting some "color" and listening to a girl refer to her friends as hookers and whores. She then proceeds to get on the phone and tell someone that she hasn't met any hot guys yet and really needs to find a one night stand. Not five minutes later, her boyfriend shows up! I really just wanted to turn around and tell him to run away and not look back. Well, with a girl like that it's probably pretty hard to miss the signs of what you're getting. Just keep your fingers crossed it isn't herpes.

Side note: My current beach read is The Omnivore's Dilemma. I suggest everyone pick it up and start reading. It's insightful and informative about food and agricultural issues that I only had a very shallow knowledge of. I dare you to read the first section and not see your grocery store completely differently.

Joel and I went to Lulu's, a bar/restaurant in Waikiki right across from the beach I'm usually at. It's a second story bar with open space where the windows should be and it has a great view of the beach. I really liked how laidback the atmosphere was and I was sold when three young teenage boys came in to watch the game and the waitstaff was completely fine with them sitting at a table just drinking water.

I was so happy to get to watch the game. With the 3pm start time out here I'm lucky if I get to listen to the game on espnradio.com -- DOI doesn't block that one! Ok, here's a question for the sports fans: why the hell hasn't anyone mentioned Lamar Odom two-handedly throwing the ball at a Celtics player on the floor?? No foul was called but they replayed it a couple of times and it looked like Odom was just being violent. I feel like it's at least worth a mention.

Getting to hang out with Joel was such a nice change of pace for me. He'll be here until the 15th, so I have a friend for about a week =) It's nice just to be able to sit down and talk with someone who's interesting and is actually interested in what I have to say too. I don't feel like I'm asking for much! And, as a bonus, Joel and Dave (his friend from work) should be back in Honolulu for a couple of days on July 5th or 6th. So, I've been promised a birthday celebration when they're in town. I know it's silly to worry, but knowing that someone will be around to celebrate with me makes everything a little easier.

Bunkhouse Bummer

I got a copy of the bunkhouse calendar for June and July today. Apparently I only get one night alone each month... That's going to be hard on me. When I spoke to Henry before I came out here he told me May and September were usually busy, but other than that there would just be a couple of people here and there for a night or two. Turns out they've altered their policy somewhat and are letting paid employees stay there when they come through, rather than just the volunteers. That means I get roommates all the time. Guess I'll just have to spend more time at the beach. And, remind myself that it's free!

Slapstick Abounds

Your mission: pick up a lei and get it to the airport before the plane takes off. The reason: the people you work with are incapable of planning properly. Your helper: Abe, the little Filipino contractor.

Some people from my office are going to Midway this morning to celebrate the anniversary of the battle at Midway. Apparently there's a big group of old people going up with them (WWII vets, etc.). So it's a big thing that they do every year, and they put a lei on the monument to commemorate the event. Well, they ordered the lei, but no one picked it up.

I got about three panicked phone calls from Jane this morning before we finally had a plan. Is Suzy there? No. Is Chuck there? No. Ok, I'm going to need you to find the van keys and go get the lei and bring it to the airport. Take Abe with you and he can just jump out of the van to get it because it's hard to park in Chinatown. Um, ok, sure.

It all seemed pretty straightforward, except that it might be pointless because we have about a half hour to get it all done. Doable though. And then we see the van. Refuge vehicles are parked three deep in the garage, and the van is at the back. So I have to do a turn with about 487 points just to get out of the spot: five minutes of Abe's little hand waving, waving, waving, and then STOP! It's always fun for me to maneuvre a minivan around SUVs and big cement poles.

From that point on I had a constant mental soundtrack of the music in an old Charlie Chaplin film; throw us in black and white and take out the sound, and you've got yourself a classic.

There was plenty more action in the same vein -- trying to find the lei shop, lots of pedestrians with canes walking in front of me, pulling over anywhere and putting on my emergency lights (thank god for government plates!) -- and then Abe almost got hit by a bus with the lei in his arms. "Well, at least I would have died serving my country! After twenty years in the Navy, that was the most dangerous assignment I've had!"

We made it to the airport in time, but then I got a bit close to the curb and might have had a tire on the sidewalk and security was staring at me...Abe jumped out with the lei, the security guard comes over, and I thought I was getting kicked out. And that's when Jane walks up to the car.

If this had been a movie, that's the point at which I laid my head on the steering wheel and the horn honking takes you out as you fade to black. It would have been so poetically perfect if they kept just missing each other. But, I sent her back inside, the lei was handed off, and Abe was back in the van. I think we have an unbreakable bond now.

We get back to the parking garage, and that's when I realize I'm going to have to repark the van in that back spot. Abe did it instead and I got to come put my head on my desk.

Fade to black.

I have a friend!

I think so anyway...

Coffee with Justin last night went pretty well, for all of my nervousness beforehand. He's really nice and a gentleman - got there early and texted to let me know, kissed me on the cheek when I arrived, got up and got me a straw for my iced tea, little things like that are always sweet. I don't know if he would end up being a good "match" for me, but we can definitely be friends (yay!). He's seriously cute though. A little college boy still. I mean, he's in college, so it makes sense, but I keep feeling like I want to be with someone who's grown up already. We'll see.

We were talking about basketball and the NBA finals start this week and I mentioned how it will be crappy to watch them on the bunkhouse tv, with it's hanger and aluminum foil antenna (no kidding). So he told me how he has high def blah, blah blah, and that I'll have to come over and watch with him (also yay!). When we said goodbye he gave me a hug and said we'll have to do this again. And I said, definitely, we can watch basketball! And he laughed and said yes, that we'll be in touch.

So, now it's just waiting to see if we will, in fact, be in touch. I really want this whole looking for friends thing to start to pan out.

So the coffee date was my scary/brave thing for yesterday. Today it's going to be driving a giant SUV to the North Shore. I'm going back up to the refuge to meet some people from local schools who will be using it as an outdoor classroom. Maybe I'll get better pictures of the coots this time, haha.

Sunday Morning

Good morning everyone! Well, it's actually afternoon where all of you are. I'm hanging out in Safeway, trying to update this thing, post pictures, upload the rest of my pictures onto Flickr, download updates and new podcasts...my computer is being stubborn and doesn't want to do everything at once.



I'm going to post some pictures up here, and then put the rest on a Flickr site, so that the blog doesn't get overloaded with my twelve pictures of the North Shore as seen from a moving minivan. Here's the Flickr website http://www.flickr.com/photos/waikikicolleen/



Friday was a bit of an interesting day. I had finally been here long enough that I was feeling homesick, or friend-sick as I've come to think of it, and if I'd been in DC I likely would have sequestered myself in my office and taken some time to recover. Not an option here. I went to have Henry (my boss) sign the form authorizing my bus pass benefits and we chatted about work for a while. He looked at me, full of parental concern, and asked how I was. My eyes welled up and I was instantly mortified and tried to cover it by saying that everything at work was great, that I'm just tired, adjusting, etc. He was very nice about it and I made it out of his office without actually crying. At the end of the day Jen and I were talking in my cube and Henry came in and wrote something down on my notepad -- it was his unlisted home phone number and cell phone number. Jen teased him, saying that he'd never given her his numbers, and Henry was kind enough to say that Jen has parents here and if something happened where I needed help, it would be awfully hard for my parents to get here. He neglected to say, well Jen, you've never cried in my office. I'm to call him if I need anything, even if it's just a restaurant recommendation. He'll even make exception to his "no bail money" policy for me. Because you know if I need bail, something has gone terribly wrong.


I'm going to go see Sex and the City with Jen this afternoon. She's in much the same situation in Santa Fe as I am out here -- you're new, it's hard to make friends, and you work with people decades older than you. It'll be fun to go see it with a girlfriend. Although, I'm supposed to see all cheesy girl movies with Karen, so this might be a poor substitute =)

It's amazing how many hours of the day are beautiful out here. By 730/8 am it's sunny and warm, moving to hot, all the way until 6 or 7pm. It's great because I'm able to come home after work, change, and still walk to the beach and get some nice weather and beach time in.

I spent most of the day down on Kuhio Beach yesterday. As I was walking down there I realized I'd forgotten a book so I stopped at the library and got my Hawaiian library card. It's a statewide library system, so they'll actually ship books over from the other islands if you want them. Crazy. Anyway, it clouded over around noon, so I went and read in Kuhio Beach Park and got lunch, and then it was sunny again. It was a bit of a lonely weekend, but my worst case scenario of laying on the beach and reading really is pretty great. I've read three and a half books this week...looks like I'm back to my old self. I might make a dent in my list after all!

The Department of Interior basically blocks any website that I would want to use, except Gmail and my blog. I don't have any chat capabilities at work, so that's a bummer. Ashley, tell Caitlin they even block Meebo! That being said, it's hard to catch up with all of you on the east coast, so I love the blog comments or emails I've been getting! Keep 'em coming; it's always good to feel connected.

Signing off for now!

What I wrote Wednesday night

Ben is a bit older, probably late forties, early fifties. He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, but one of those guys who you pity a little. It’s just him and his fish tanks back in Florida. He’s already cleaned the whole bunkhouse, including throwing away all of the nasty stuff previous guests left in the fridge. Ben’s so eager to have people to talk to, so ready to tell people his stories that I can just see in his face that he’s normally pretty lonely. But I guess that’s kind of what I’m doing; I want to keep you all updated, but it’s also a way for me to have my stories heard.

It was a sad realization for me today that Jen, the one person I know here, the one person I can consider a friend, is leaving on Friday. I’m going to have to start making a real effort to meet people outside of work here. (The people I work with are all significantly older than me.) It’s easy to think of things to do and ways to meet people, but it’s hard to actually put it all into practice. I know I’m good at meeting people and making friends, and it seems like I shouldn’t have a problem, but just because I’m good at it doesn’t mean it’s not difficult for me to walk into a room not knowing anyone. You’ll hear how it all turns out.

There’s a website that is kind of for online dating, but also geared toward “making friends” – one of the boxes you can check off. I thought it could be a good resource for me out here, that I could look for people who were also new to the area and we could band together. However, Safeway’s stupid wireless filter apparently marks it as inappropriate and won’t let me view it. I’ll have to see if I can find free wireless that lets me see it.

Before I got here a guy on the site who lives here actually started emailing me, so I’m in touch with him. Luckily I can still email him via the site with my blackberry, and now I have his phone number, so we’ve texted a couple of times. I’m nervous about actually meeting him though. The site has this gimmick where you can rate people (for your own edification, they don’t see the ratings) and if someone rates you highly on looks and/or personality, the site will email you and ask you to rate a few people with that person mixed in. If you both rate each other highly, you get an email telling you so. That’s how this guy (Bryan) started emailing me. He rated me highly, I decided to try out the rating thing when I got the email, and I guess we both liked what we saw and read. It’s a strange new world we live in, isn’t it? But now I feel like there’s all this pressure if we meet in person. I really just want to tell him that I just need a friend, that the whole “rating” thing doesn’t matter. I feel kind of silly and pathetic about doing that, but as Mom says, honesty’s always the way to go. And I tend not to be able to hide my discomfort with situations like this. We’ll see. I’d probably be less nervous if he didn’t have those big brown eyes that have been my downfall before.

Oh! Some of you heard before I left that I would likely be going camping with the Youth Conservation Corps crew (YCC) in Kauai. Well, I will be going, but I get a bed in the house on the refuge. Just the kids and their leader have to sleep in tents. I’m not disappointed to be missing that personal growth opportunity. I’ll be in Kauai July 9-12th, so no one plan their trips for that time! The YCC is going to do work at a different refuge each week for five weeks, and I’ll likely get to go out with them at least once each week, which will be really interesting and a lot of fun. I think I’ll be skipping the day they dissect bullfrogs!

We got three new houseguests tonight. They leave for Midway on Friday. Two of them are a mother/son duo. Mom – don’t you want to go spend a few months on a remote island doing conservation work with me? They have a bowling alley!