Back from Roosterville

We had a fantastic time in Kauai, HI. View the pictures here.

- Our hotel room/condo at the Hideaway Cove was amazing! It must be one of the best places to stay in Kauai. We loved the location, the landscaping, the furnishings, the kitchen, the bathroom, the decor, and most of all the helpful and attentive staff, Dianne and Susie, who were always available to make sure we knew the best places to go and things to do. It was so great to be able to make our own breakfast and lunch to avoid that icky feeling one gets from eating out for 3 meals a day. The snorkel gear they rented to us was very high tech and prevented us from inhaling the usual several gallons of salt water.



- The Kauai Hyatt is a stunning resort. While we wouldn't have wanted to stay there longer than a couple of nights since it's very touristy, the grounds were breathtaking and it had by far the coolest pool I've ever seen. They greeted us with beautiful leis made of real flowers and kukui nut necklaces which I made the man wear long enough to get a picture. There were parrots, doves, art galleries and gorgeous gardens inside the main lobby. The poolside par served the most amazing, decadent blended drinks like bananas with raspberries, chocolate and macadamia nuts.

- Snorkeling at secluded Tunnels Beach on the North Shore was incredible. There was a huge reef very close to shore which meant we could just swim out a few feet and start seeing the beautiful fish. The scenery was truly picturesque and the neatest looking birds kept coming up to us when we were sitting on the beach. At one point two boys went out with harpoon guns which made us a touch nervous but fortunately they didn't hurt anyone.

- We went on two kayak/hike tours. One was with Outfitters Kauai and took us through the Wailua river up to a beautiful waterfall where we had lunch and went swimming. The other was with Princeville Ranch Adventures which took us down a stream with a thick tree canopy, then on a short hike to ziplines which we crossed twice, then ended at another waterfall. We were fascinated by the Walking tree, called the Hula tree, since it gradually makes its way toward water over the course of its lifetime.

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- We also took a sunset catamaran dinner cruise (with Blue Dolphin Tours) around the island to see the Na'pali coast, which is very inaccessible, and saw dolphins, sea turtles, and a mountain goat. They told us to take Dramamine beforehand, which we did reluctantly since I didn't think we'd get motion sickness, but we were very glad that we did because the ride was incredibly bumpy! The scenery was awesome and we saw the biggest, fullest rainbow we've ever seen. At one point the crew started to play "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic and encouraged everyone to take pictures at the part of the boat the juts out into the water (think "I'm King of the world!!!"). While we thought that was really cheesy we still went ahead and got a picture.



- I don't think pictures can do Waimea Canyon justice. I could easily spend a week just hiking there!



- On our last night we stumbled upon fantastic, fresh Italian food at a hidden gem of a restaurant called Pomodoro.

- You'd think that at least one of the travel guides on Kauai would mention the fact that the island is overrun by a tropical blend of wild rooster birds. I call them rooster birds because these chickens are disproportionately male, seem to have bred with other tropical fowl, are Technicolor, can be found perched in trees, and sound their cock-a-doodle-doos alllllll day long starting at around 4:00 am. We snapped photos of some in a tree next to where we were eating dinner at the Waimea Brewing Company (along with a couple of kitties) and at the side of the road on our way to Waimea canyon.



- Another Kauai mystery is their strange taste in desserts, starting with the prevalence of bizarrely flavored sawdust discs manufactured by the Kauai Kookie Company. It seemed as though everyone wanted to feed these to us despite their obvious lack of flavor (i.e. chocolate). They love their Lappert's ice cream which we found to be so-so (though I'm not sure if I'm a credible source given that I love Baskin Robbins!) and a huge thing over there is shave ice over a scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, which is actually quite tasty.

The trip was a huge success and I'd recommend Kauai to anyone looking to getaway to a beautiful and quiet place.

My Daft Punk concert review

I feel the need to append to the post so that it actually provides some useful information for those considering going to see Daft Punk live, since I have had the honor, as opposed to my whining about how I missed their most recent LA show. Because, when I actually did see them live at Coachella 2006, it was rather impressive, so I would highly recommend shelling out whatever ridiculous ticket price they are charging to make sure you've had the experience at least once. Granted, we'll never know if it's really them in those robot costumes, or if they're laughing their way to the bank while sipping Merlot on the French Riviera as some hired guns pose in their place, but the show is positively electrifying and draws a fantastic, energetic crowd. My only caveat is that reports from people who have seen them twice suggest that the show doesn't vary too much from one to the next, so you may want to reconsider parting with $50-75 a second time round. They are certainly up there with similar acts like the Chemical Brothers, and my enjoyment of the show was comparable to when I saw Orbital, Underworld, Faithless, Moby and other seminal dance acts, though I still maintain that nothing is better than Orbital live. Continue reading if you want to learn about how taramosalata really doesn't keep well in the fridge beyond a day or two.


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Well, I have to say, the Daft Punk concert did not turn out so well for me. While they rocked the LA Sports Arena I was at home, in bed, writhing around in agony with my first ever case of food poisoning (earlier this month I was treated to my first ever migraine... some month!) My friends managed to sell my ticket and had a great time in my absence, but then this morning pretended that the show was actually substandard and that they missed me the entire time. I knew they were lying, but I didn't mind.

Since early yesterday afternoon I've been subsisting on the occasional saltine, a banana that took all day to eat, a few bites of chicken soup, and some diluted apple juice. At this point I think the queasiness is a direct result of starvation, but the thought of eating makes me cringe. And I love food and am pretty much always hungry so this is an unusual feeling for me. At least I may look a tad better in a bikini when I'm on vacation. Or once I get my appetite back maybe I can gleefully gain back any lost weight by eating dessert with every meal (including breakfast) and a lot of chips, or any other foods I normally don't eat much of.

Cars are expensive

I took my car in for an oil/filter change today. I went to the dealer because that's where I'd always gone while the warranty was still in effect since they would often find and repair things for free. This was my first visit since then, and it didn't occur to me to seek out a less expensive option. After hearing that this particular oil change was going to be 4 times as expensive as the others because they were rotating my tires, I left with the gas-guzzling mystery make loaner car they gave me and returned to work. They called me a few hours later to tell me about 'a few other things' that were wrong with the car. After rattling off a lot of terms I'd never heard of before (serpentine pulley anyone? how about a breather hose kit?) they informed me that the total charge would be $1200. When I brought the car in everything was fine, except the knob that controls the temperature had snapped off - I'd called before and they quoted me $10 to fix it. $10 somehow turned into $375 and they managed to find 3 other things that needed to be done. Last time I was there I got out for under $50!

My coworker suggested I look for Saab mechanics in the area so I found one online that looked reputable and requested a quote. He came back with prices that ranged from 10-70% of what the dealer was charging, including a $35 fee for fixing the knob. Had I gone to him for everything I could have spent one third of what I would otherwise have forked out and saved around $800. Fortunately I only allowed the dealer to perform the absolutely essential (still questionable) tasks and I can still go to this guy for some of the more expensive items. Allegedly if one plans to eventually resell a luxury car there is supposed to be some value in having the dealer perform maintenance, but I can't imagine that it would make that big of a difference. I don't like knowing so little about this thing in my life that costs me so much money, so I think my boyfriend and I are going to take an auto-mechanic 101 class at some point to feel less in the dark. For now I am just going to try to not think too hard about how much cash this oil change has wound up costing!

And I thought I was a frequent flyer...

Today I came across this article on mileage runners, described by Wired as "a subculture of airline hackers who specialize in accumulating frequent flyer miles at low cost." Apparently they congregate on FlyerTalk to trade tips and information on how to accomplish their goals, as well as Trip Planner, where they can purchase rock bottom fares. I am on my way to check these sites out, hopefully to find affordable round trip airfare for two to Edmonton. To anyone who thought I was obsessed with frequent flyer programs, you ain't seen nothing yet!

I am the electronics fairy

Over the past few weeks I've given away two cell phones, a tv, a stereo, my tivo box and an unused pair of headphones that double as earmuffs. Usually I ebay my electronics but some of this stuff was questionably functional - the tv had 5+ neon spots on the screen and a DVD player nearly as loud as a blender, the Treo froze constantly and frustrated me to the point of getting a Blackberry, the stereo was over 10 years old with a broken 3-disc changer (but working dual tape deck!), the tivo frequently recorded the wrong channel, and I don't really need earmuffs in this heat. The recipients were all thrilled, however - the tv went to the delivery people that brought the new one, the stereo to a college student from Craigslist looking to hook up an external source, the tivo box to a friend who is using an alternate setup which will most likely fix the channel issue, the Treo and cellphone to a Verizon-run recycling and charity program, and the headphone/earmuffs to a friend who was moving to Boston. I guess one woman's junk really is another person's treasure!

Counting down the days until Kauai and cracking the Hotwire code

So it turns out that all of my time and effort has paid off and I should be on the beach in Kauai, Hawaii in a couple of weeks. My superstar travel agent scored us deeply discounted tickets for direct flights on my airline of choice and managed to book us the emergency exit row seats up front. At the same time I found a magical 5 night vacancy at a reasonably priced, small inn that had received glowing reviews everywhere I looked. We found discount codes online to rent a convertible for the week, and when we went to find a hotel for the last 2 nights we hit the jackpot on Hotwire. My friend had advised me that the Hyatt was the only resort worth staying at in Kauai, and when we searched Hotwire for available rooms, a 5 star resort came up in the results. There are several big hotels on the island, so we weren't sure if we should roll the dice (Hotwire doesn't let you know the name of your hotel until you've already paid). Then I noticed the TripAdvisor rating and review count at the bottom of the description page. We loaded up the TripAdvisor page for the property, and sure enough, both numbers matched up. We went back to Hotwire, pulled the trigger, and voila - we scored a completely unaffordable luxury resort room at a price we were happy with. The staff at the first hotel have booked all sorts of outings for us - snorkeling, hiking to waterfalls, ziplines, sea kayaking, cruise, etc so it should be a great mix of relaxation and fun. I'm really looking forward to it - fingers crossed that nothing comes up in the next couple of weeks cause this trip is non refundable!

Justice has been served!

The defendant: Not guilty

"The people's" prosecution lawyer: Guilty of being outrageously long winded despite having no evidence, boring us to death, and wasting our time and taxpayer's money by keeping us in trial for a full week over a neighborly dispute about a broken car window.

The real justice: At 4:07 today the jury went into the deliberation room and emerged 12 minutes later to deliver the fastest verdict on record at the Hollywood Courthouse - one minute before closing time - besting the previous record by 50 minutes, despite the Bailiff's recommendation that we go home and begin at 9:00 am on Monday (one fantastically brave juror spoke up and insisted that we be allowed to use the 15 minutes). She had barely just brought the evidence to us and the judge hadn't even finished typing up the instructions he'd just read when we informed her that we were ready to go back to the courtroom and wrap up this trial. Only one juror had any questions about which way to vote on one of the four charges and we successfully peer-pressured her into folding quickly so we could finally leave this inane case behind us. The main topic of our deliberation was how something this trite lacking any evidence whatsoever got to court in the first place.

Gotta love America!

Jury duty: How I went from from proud and patriotic to cynical and pissed off in 8 days

Seriously, I'm still on jury duty. For the world's most boring. case. ever. While I still can't talk about the specifics of the case I can tell you that I hate everyone involved in it. I hate the lawyers for asking so many questions and one in particular for being redundant and totally incompetent. I hate the judge for allowing this stupid case to get to court. I hate the defendant and the alleged victim for making a minor skirmish into an 8+ day trial. I hate the courthouse for only letting the trial run for a few hours a day with far too many breaks, dragging it out indefinitely. I don't hate any of my fellow jurors yet but that could change if we have a long deliberation. Since I hate everyone equally I feel totally impartial and able to make a fair decision on the case, but I will do everything I possibly can in my power to avoid serving jury duty ever again after this experience. I feel like I'm the one serving time for a very minor crime someone may or may not have committed - where's the justice in that?

Phone jacks anyone?

On and off over the past 3+ years I've noticed a few handmade posters scattered around my neighborhood with large block letters that say "Phone Jacks" followed by a phone number. I always thought it was odd - who needs phone jacks? - and that it must be a front for something deviant, but never called. Finally, after seeing another one the other day I did a Google search and found this article by a blogger who shares my suspicions (but worded them more eloquently.) My boyfriend Googled the number last night and said that the listing gave a strange name and a zip code. We're working up the nerve to call. None of my friends have noticed the posters and I haven't dug up any additional articles or posts about it, but perhaps someone will see them and come across this page with their own theories!

I need a vacation from planning my vacation

Maybe if I weren't so picky planning a trip wouldn't take me several frustrating days of poring over guide books, online recommendations and TripAdvisor reviews. But having traveled extensively over the past 2 years I know all too well the consequences of not carefully considering the choice of airline (it really pays to be loyal), flight times (avoid connections at all costs this summer), hotel (say yes to a/c and no to spiders) and parts of town (far, far away from the riff-raff and masses of tourists). Because I knew I had jury duty I didn't plan anything in advance, yet feel the need to take a vacation right now I'm also battling inflated last minute airfares and scarce hotel availability. I think I may bite the bullet and pay a fortune for a flight on a reliable airline where I have status and we'll get the roomy exit rows with minimal connections since the increasingly frequent horror stories of people getting stranded for days at a time don't exactly foreshadow a relaxing vacation. This will enable us to get the last minute rate on the affordable hotel so I think it all evens out. I look forward to a time in my life where I can actually plan more than 2 weeks in advance and don't feel like I'm scrambling!

Dreaming of eating random things

Lately I've been noticing an odd trend with my dreams. They've become more vivid and often involve overly indulgent eating. On several occasions I've woken up elated to discover that I did not in fact eat an entire bowl of icing or 10 pieces of birthday cake, despite it being a very pleasant experience to dream about. The other night I awoke with a strange taste in my mouth and the memory of having eaten one copy each of the most recent Good Charlotte and hellogoodbye cds (I have never heard the former and I work with the latter). It's not as though I don't eat a lot during the day or never indulge in sweets so I have no idea what's causing this recurrent theme! I bought a large container of mint chocolate chip ice cream to be safe though, just in case I was really depriving myself. All in the name of dream therapy...