shebesosilly2

Hawaiian Humane Society needs you!

shebesosilly2 — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:31:36 +0000

If you remember from October, Hawaiian Humane Society asked for more pet foster parents. While they have seen a marked increase in trained animal foster care program volunteers (+60 since the call went out), there’s still a need for pet foster parents.

2010 accelerated foster parent volunteer training sessions, held on-site at the Hawaiian Humane Society facility in Honolulu:

Saturday, January 16 from 10 – 11 AM
Wednesday, February 10 from 6 – 7 PM
Tuesday, March 16 from 5 – 6 PM
Sunday, April 18 from 10 – 11 AM

View Larger Map

Contact Bianca Trombi at 356-2217 or btrombi@hawaiianhumanesociety.org for more information or to sign up!

Sunshine on a cloudy, voggy day

shebesosilly2 — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:40:19 +0000

Today was voggy, overcast, little muggy, with an occasional trade. Canceled any plans to exercise outdoors and thought I wouldn’t find any bright spots…

Beautiful orange Hibiscus outside my apartment

I was OH SO wrong! The burst of color immediately caught my attention and brought a smile to my face. I could be wrong, but some colors always seem bolder, richer on cloudy days. Either that or (more likely) I’m just never paying any attention when I run out during the day. For those of you braving the cold weather on the mainland, my apologies for rubbing our warm weather into your frozen, wind-slapped faces. Feel free to comment, but honestly it’s no wonder the Snow Birds come flocking to Hawaii every year!

There are so many external stress factors out there. Please be sure to take a moment and enjoy the little things. This Hibiscus did the trick for me today!

Here’s to a Happy & Prosperous 2010!

shebesosilly2 — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:00:13 +0000

Hou’oli Makahiki Hou! (“Happy New Year” in Hawaiian)

As January 1, 2010 (or 010110 for you uber-geeks out there) comes to a close, I wish everyone all things good — luck, health, spirits, relationships, and business!

One quote I am particularly fond of recently: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain!” ~Vivian Greene.

In 2010, may you dance like you’ve never danced before!

Honolulu City Lights

shebesosilly2 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:50:08 +0000

While not quite Rockefeller Center, it’s always a great pleasure to see the Honolulu City Lights. The mini-carnival atmosphere is quaint and family-friendly.

Honolulu City Lights, December 2009

I went at least 5 times this year, twice with Hawaii International Child as a volunteer on the trolley. One couple came along, using the night out as their date night sans keiki. Very cute! On my personal visits, it was a nicely lit evening walk after holiday feasting. (Nice prescription for food comas!) I wish there were more events like this in-town, but perhaps that might be too garish for the city. Maybe next year, I might try the horse-drawn carriage ride. Eh, I guess I take delight in the simple things sometimes.

Enjoying my holidays! How about you?

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

shebesosilly2 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:42:46 +0000

I’m a great fan of Roald Dahl’s work, most notably Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and his deliciously dark short story, Lamb to the Slaughter. Over the weekend, I happen to see HBO’s behind-the-scenes special for a stop-motion animation adaptation of Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. With ever unique director Wes Anderson at the helm, the “Making of” episode quickly caught my drifting attention.

You could see the level of detail in the characters and scenes. Compared to other stop-motion animation films, the textures really seemed to standout and make Mr. Fox’s world as realistic as stop-motion can be. As I mentioned in an earlier post, CGI and 3D animation are great and the way of the future. It’s just nice to see old-school craft still in action.

As he frequently does, Anderson cast many of the same talent from his earlier films — watch Rushmore, The Life Aquatic, or The Royal Tenenbaums and you’ll see what I mean. He has added George Clooney and Meryl Streep this time around, and I did chuckle when Jason Schwartzman described himself as their love child. It was hugely entertaining to see how they recorded George Clooney’s voice for Mr. Fox. George Clooney running about and acting silly? Can’t beat that in my book! Most of the time, voice actors are stuck in the studio, standing in front of the mic. This change-up during recording should add more depth and realism to the vocal performance. I listened to bits of the soundtrack online and it’s quite whimsical and very appropriate for the movie. Par for the course, Mr. Anderson.

It’s been a couple years since I’ve seen a major release stop-motion animation film in theater. I’m definitely looking forward to Fantastic Mr. Fox, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll brave the Black Friday crowds at Ward 16 or Dole Cannery. This latest stop-motion animation film should be screening somewhere near you Thanksgiving Day.

Tech Antique Only a Geek Could Love

shebesosilly2 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:52:27 +0000

I’ll start this post off by openly declaring “Yes, I am a packrat!”

In digging through boxes in storage, I came across a bit of an antique from childhood, my TI-99/4A. I remember the excitement when we got this back in the early 1980s. It doesn’t seem to work anymore, but I can’t believe I still have it! To my horror, I also found the cartridge for Laws of Arithmetic. (Loads of fun, that one. Thanks Mom, Dad.)

TI-99/4A and cartridges unearthed from storage

I suddenly remembered the first real video game I ever played at home, and continued digging for it. Sadly, no It took a break for dinner and more digging, but there it was – Hunt The Wumpus! If you’ve never heard of this game, basically you’re hunting down a monster in caves, in the dark of course, armed with only arrows. You narrow down its location based on how bloody each cavern is. Once you think you’ve got it cornered, you shoot an arrow to kill the beast. If you’re wrong, its jaws come crashing down on screen and it’s game over. How I hated seeing that image…

Hunt the Wumpus game cartridge

Apparently, there are some online versions of it available. I might check those sites out, but first hints at “geezer” and I’m outta there! I need to spare my mid-30s self from that indignity. I also have the cartridge for Ambulance, which as you would suspect involves getting patients from their homes to the emergency room before they die en route. That was actually pretty fun to play too! I must say I enjoyed the unexpected blast from the past. Maybe I’ll get back to my original treasure hunting goal – digging up and possibly tweeting from my PowerBook Duo 210 from college.

What was your first video game and console? Bonus points if you still have it.

I heart Christopher Walken

shebesosilly2 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:24:58 +0000

The man is funny. His strange cadence of all things endears him to me! I’m SOOOO glad I found his appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC.

His interpretation of Lady GaGa’s Poker Face will keep me satiated until his next performance (be it SNL or movie or other TV performance).

Gotta have more Walken…

Bravo TV Video – It’s Natalie Portman!

shebesosilly2 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:48:35 +0000

I’m long overdue for blogging about Top Chef, which is undoubtedly one of my favorites shows on TV. I generally tire of shows after about 2 years, but I skipped season 2 and most of season 3 (for some reason). It’s great to see what they throw at the chefs and serving Harvard grad and vegan Natalie Portman at Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak at the MGM Grand tops the list this season. You have to love the expressions on the chefs’ faces during the reveal.

Who will survive tonight’s (October 28) episode? Tough to say since the chefs this season are quite talented. For me, it’s a toss-up between the Bryan Voltaggio (consistent, calm, cool, collected), Michael Voltaggio (daring if not arrogant and obnoxious as seen on TV), and Kevin Gillespie (culinary creations come naturally to him, but he’s a ‘pig’ man by his own admission). I’d really like to these three compete in the final. The jury is still out on Jennifer Carroll — she fizzled during Restaurant Wars and that’s hard to forget. Her perfectionism may get the best of her unless she can focus like she did earlier in the season. And then there’s dark horse Robin Leventhal. Supposedly she’s “at home” with this challenge? This I gotta see.

I’m sure the knives will be out but what will they be serving???

Losing Track of Time or No Time?

shebesosilly2 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:51:05 +0000

I’ve been mulling over the recent air travel incidents, and I have to ask if multi-tasking is a good thing. You have to give some credit to the two Northwest Flight 188 pilots for taking initiative on flight crew schedules, but dock them BIG time for time and place.

The smart decision would have been to remain on-task — safely flying a passenger plane to its destination. I’ve had moments where I’ve been so focused on a specific task that I’ve missed reminders on my PC or iPhone. I didn’t have people’s lives in my hands though, and I wasn’t 91 minutes late in getting back on track, or letting someone know I was delayed. Couldn’t the work schedule wait until they were on the ground? Did they have something already planned that had to be done as soon as they arrived? (I doubt the last point since the pilots overshot their destination in the first place.) If you’re going to be that focused on an administrative task, you’d better make sure you’re on terra firma and not in a moving vehicle, or operating machinery of any kind. Consider it like taking medication that could impair your senses. (Sadly, many people probably ignore those well-folded, finely printed warning booklets too.)

If the pilots wanted to multi-task (or felt they had to), they could have traded off schedule updates and plane controls. This would have kept one of them actively monitoring gauges and flight status, and communications with the air traffic controllers. Perhaps this was also aggravated by our American tendency for short attention spans and the rushed on-the-go lifestyle? We spend more hours working, but get less accomplished than the majority of our global counterparts. Do we try to do too much and sacrifice quality (and possibly lives)? Maybe this was their regular flight and they just felt comfortable cruising along, thinking they had plenty of time to complete the schedule? Hands down, poor judgment reigned supreme. Licensed revoked, both pilots will have plenty of time to think about the decision they made.

Is it that hard to find a pilot with a one-track mind???

Hawaiian Humane Society Needs Foster Parents

shebesosilly2 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:34:08 +0000

The Hawaiian Humane Society has an urgent need for new volunteers for its foster care program. Foster care can be short- or long-term care for animals too young for adoption, animal rehab, military pets, etc. This also includes emergency pet fostering for individuals or families who are suddenly hospitalized or need temporary assistance caring for their pets.

Help local animals in need by becoming a pet foster parent.

Accelerated foster parent volunteer training sessions planned on the following dates:

Saturday, November 14 from 9:30 – 10:30 AM
Wednesday, December 9 from 3:00 – 4:00 PM

If you are ready and able to help, please contact Bianca Trombi at 356-2217 or btrombi@hawaiianhumanesociety.org to sign up.

Wishing I lived in a pet-friendly apartment…