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Stuffs

The vog was thick as toolie fog today, so we spent most of the afternoon indoors. This morning, however, we ventured to the Maku'u market, where we had a taco and some Thai curry for breakfast. I love being a grown up. You can do or eat whatever you want, when you want, where you want. One of the local county council members was there. She actually holds informal town meetings and talks story with constituents at the market. That's a pretty cool idea, if you ask me.
Some of my tea cuttings are beginning to grow. A couple of them are ready for slightly bigger pots. It won't be long before they'll be big enough to put in the ground. Once day, I may actually be able to brew a cup of tea from leaves I've actually grown.
A very interesting Hawaiian man came into the winery Saturday. He was very knowledgeable about the island and encouraged us to pay attention to it; to learn what it is and what it provides. "Take some time to stop and smell the roses," he said. He knew about the history of volcanic activity on the island, the flora and fauna, the history of humans and development. I wish I'd had more than a couple of minutes to talk story with him. He was accompanied by and 80 year old man of Japanese descent. This man had been instrumental in the building of the Mauna Kea access road. The younger Hawaiian man had worked with the older Japanese for many years and was taking him around the island to see locations the older man had not visited in awhile. There was a very obvious friendship between them, built on mutual respect.
We're still trying to pawn off some bad wine to our customers. The problem is that in a tasting room, people actually get to taste the product before buying. So they can tell with a sip that the stuff is crap. We make two types of Symphony wine; one dry and one sweet. A recent batch of the sweet stuff came out dry and bland. I have been telling customers that this particular batch of the wine is tasting a bit tart and less sweet than usual. That is an extreme understatement. Not many people like it, so we can't sell it. I first suggested dump the stuff, write it off and move forward. "Management" said that was not an option. I then suggested we earmark the bad bottles for distribution rather than the tasting room. People don't taste wine before they buy it at the store, after all. Management thought this was a brilliant idea. Nobody, however, has taken any action to pull the crappy wine from our shelves. I don't mind selling stuff, as long as what I'm selling, be it a product or a service, is of high quality. I don't like selling crap. I won't lie about the product, so if someone says the wine tastes like Robitussin, I don't disagree. Actually, I think that comparison doesn't do justice to most cough syrups on the market, which actually taste pretty good compared to this particular batch of wine.
The other wines are actually tasting pretty good. The Hawaiian Guava recently won a silver metal at the Pacific Rim International in San Bernadino. Not too shabby. It's not a wine I would buy for myself, but it is a very rich and flavorful sweet, fruit-blended wine. The blush is darn tasty too. Still a bit sweet for my taste, but it has a very tasty, unique fruit flavor. It's made with Jaboticaba, a tropical berry.
Tomorrow, it's back to the gym. Flabby flabby flabby......
A hui hou. Aloha.

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