Courage, rain and a holiday greeting

I am brave. I must be. I'm certainly no wimp. After all, I've just spent the past two weeks cruising around hippyville with my redneck dad, proudly sporting his NRA baseball cap. That takes guts, dude. Cojones. Yep. I got 'em.
Dad is gone now. He jumped on the big bird and flew home to the great Pacific Northwest, where the weather makes our storm today seem like a little sprinkle. It was very blustery throughout the islands, causing it to rain sideways here most of the day. The lanai got soaked. Our carport awning leg blew out and required emergency attention to keep the whole thing from flying away to Oz. It was way more exciting than Hurricane whats-her-name that blew through a few months ago. The surf is huge, beaches are closed and the news is reporting downed trees and flooded neighborhoods. But our weather pales in comparison to the 100 mile-per-hour gusts and driving downpours that have soaked my former homeland. It just goes to show you. The grass is always wetter on the other side (of the pond).
Dad will be telling and retelling his adventure, I'm sure, to whomever will listen for weeks to come. I can hear it now: "You wouldn't believe it, over there in that *&#@ Hawaii...."
He'll describe his mishaps at the Honolulu airport, which he calls "Honowoowoo" (he thinks that's pretty funny) and his travels on the wikiwiki shuttle, which he's dubbed the wikitiki (he thinks that's pretty funny, too).
Today, while the squall squalled on, I trudged along the treadmill, watching the water spit through a window that wasn't well sealed and listening to Cecilio and Kapono on the iPod. "Blue sky, sunshine.... everything is filled with good times....." Those guys cheer me up on a gloomy day. At about 43 minutes into my jog/power walk, the power went out. It came right back on, but it ended my cardio workout. Good enough. After sitting on my fat okole for the past two weeks with dad, I'm feeling pretty out of shape. It felt good to sweat.
Today is Hanukkah. Or is that Chanukah? Either way, it makes me pine for a little Adam Sandler:

...Tell your friend veronica, its time you celebrate hanukkah
I hope I get a harmonica, on this lovely, lovely hanukkah.

So drink your gin-and-tonic-ah, and smoke your mara-juanic-ah,
If you really, really wanna-kah, have a happy, happy, happy, happy
Hanukkah. happy hanukka!

A hui hou! Aloha!

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Fruity booty

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Mountains and Islands

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