Aaaand we're back!

Yes, I know.  It's been nearly a month since my last blog post and you're dying for an update.  Where have you been?  How's the pineapple?  How's the triathlon training?  Did you jump out of a plane yet?  Done anything cool lately?

Well, I have the answers to all those questions and more.  My absence was primarily due to being on vacation for 14 days on the mainland.  I was home for a few days and then went to Myrtle Beach, SC for 8 straight days of golf with my dad and some of his buddies.  It's an annual trip where we play a handicap-based tournament for a green jacket.  It's called the "Hack Master's" tournament in honor of the green jacket awarded at the actual Master's tournament.  I really thought I had a shot this year, but alas, I suck.  I played like garbage the entire week and was out of the running by the 3rd or 4th day.  Overall, though, it was a lot of fun.  We rent a condo for the week and do a lot of golfing, a lot of card playing, and a lot of drinking.  It was a good vacation.

Then I spent a few days at home before flying back to Hawaii.  One thing I experienced while on vacation may have ruined me for life.  I flew first class on my direct flight to New York.  It was an 11 hour flight and they gave me the option to upgrade so I took it.  I've decided that on long flights, it's the only way to travel.  I got a pretty good dinner (shrimp cocktail, pork chop, and ice cream sundae) along with all the booze you can drink. you also get to check 2 bags for free, which I needed because I had my golf clubs, etc.  Anyway, I stretched out completely, had my own tv screen, and a plug for my computer.  I ate dinner, got "sleepy" on a few drinks, put in a movie on my laptop and slept for a solid 6-7 hours.  It was the most enjoyable 11 hour flight I've ever had.

So now I'm back and have less than two months left in Hawaii.  I can't believe it's already July!  In a separate post I will describe my 4th of July weekend, but for the most part nothing exciting has really been happening here.  I am mostly doing the same stuff as before.  I have 24 days until the Honolulu Tinman Triathlon so I've spent the last 4-5 days getting swimming lessons to improve my stroke efficiency and to work on my endurance.  I still think I'm going to drown, but I am slowly improving, which is a good thing I guess.

My next couple months are going to be quite busy, though.  My mom and sister are coming for an 8-day visit at the end of the month, I am going to visit friends on Maui for a few days in mid-July, I have to pack up and ship all my stuff to Chicago before I leave for South America at the end of August, and at some point I should probably do some actual work.

St. Patrick's Day - Hawaii Style

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day.  As I've written about here and here, Hawaiians like to party.  They don't need a lot of excuses to drink in the streets, but when there is a legitimate reason, they run with it.  Naturally, as an Irishman, I was excited to celebrate my heritage.  Of course, by celebrate my heritage, I mean get excessively and inappropriately drunk while wearing shiny green attire.

Unfortunately, it all started poorly because I came to the block party straight from work.  Murphy's Bar & Grill hosted a huge block party with a dozen beer tents, four live bands, and bbq pits.  I walked over to meet some people, but alas, I wasn't wearing green.  It was cool to walk into the sea of green drunk people, but I stuck out like a sore thumb.  Nonetheless, I met up with some friends and drank some Guinness.  The night itself wasn't anything to write home about, but if you're ever in Hawaii for St. Patrick's Day, I highly recommend going to Murphy's block party.

Mardis Gras - Hawaii Style

Nu'uanu Street in Downtown

Do we celebrate Mardis Gras in Hawaii? Absolutely!  Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday," referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. As I have written about before, the Hawaiians take any excuse they can to get drunk and party in the streets. Mardis Gras is no different. The "festivities" start first thing in the morning with a tradition I can completely get behind: Malasada Tuesday! At Leonard's Bakery, sales for malasadas are five times greater on Fat Tuesday than any other time of year. A malasada is a Portuguese confection. They were first made by inhabitants of Madeira Island (off the coast of Portugal). Malasadas are made of egg-sized balls of yeast dough that are deep-fried in oil and coated with granulated sugar. A popular variation is where they are hand dropped into the oil and people have to guess what they look like. Traditional malasadas contain neither holes nor fillings, but some varieties of malasadas are filled with flavored cream or other fillings.

Malasada

Later on, Chinatown shuts down the streets, barricades everyone in, and the party begins. From 5:30pm to 10:30pm, the Arts District Merchants Association presented “Mardi Gras Carnival 2011."  The event, billed as “An International Celebration of Indulgence,” showcases authentic Mardi Gras - Carnival culture with unique and exciting food, music and dance from New Orleans, Brazil, Cuba. Live music went from 6pm to 10pm with bands featured on four performance stages spread out along Nu'uanu Avenue, Pauahi Street and Hotel Street.  Last year more than 10,000 people attended downtown Honolulu's Fat Tuesday celebration.

All in all it was a cool event. Everyone was running around in Mardis Gras masks and lots of women were running around in Burlesque outfits.  I would definitely not be surprised if there were more than 10,000 people this year.  It was packed.  I was surprised by the lack of alcohol.  I'm not suggesting that people weren't drunk.  They were.  I'm not suggesting alcohol wasn't served.  It was.  Compared to Octoberfest and Halloween, however, this was relatively tame.  At the other events it seemed like there was a beer or wine tent every few feet.  At Mardis Gras they just didn't have as many vendors.

Birthday Weekend

It's my birthday.  This weekend, we partied like it's my birthday (thank you 50 cent).  I also decided that I have no idea what I am going to do when I go back to the real world where 3-day weekends are not regular occurrences.  Furlough days are a gift from God himself.  All right, Friday night I actually spent doing nothing.  It was glorious.  I cleaned my room, did some laundry, watched Disc 2/Season 2 of Dexter (trying to catch up), and Sherlock Holmes.  The craziness began on Saturday.  I woke up and went to the beach.  Going to the beach on weekends has been a regular thing for me since I started training for the triathlon.  I go and swim in the ocean and then lay on the beach.  Yes, I live a tough life.  So I went to Ala Moana beach for a little while.  Then I went to Costco and came home.  When I came home, one of my roommates, "Alan," came in and said "we're going to dinner at Doraku."  He also informed me that my "no drinking" triathlon policy was being put on a birthday hold.

Aaaaanndd that's the last thing I remember.  Just kidding. I'll write a separate review of Doraku, but suffice it to say we had a lot of sushi.  We also drank two large bottles of Sake.  There were five of us that went (my two roommates, a guy who lives upstairs that we just met, and another guy my roommate Alan knew).  Overall, dinner was amazing and we had a really good time.  The craziest thing was Alan paid for the entire meal...for all of us.  I suppose dinner always tastes a lot better when someone else buys.

The night wasn't over, though.  From there, we went to Top of Waikiki, which is a revolving restaurant overlooking Waikiki.  They have happy hour from 5-7 and then again from 9-11. It was about 9:45 when we got there, so we all ordered the gayest Martinis ever.  Yep, five guys sitting together ordering pomegranate martinis with sugar on the rim.  James Bond would cry.  For anyone interested, though, all martinis are $4 during happy hour.

Top of Waikiki - Street View

Once we finished our martinis, we went to my new favorite spot in Waikiki - Rum Fire (separate review to follow).  Rum Fire is a restaurant at the bottom of the Sheraton Waikiki.  It's right on the water, tiki torches are lit all around, and they have $3 beer during late night happy hour.  However, this time, we started drinking Kettle One on the rocks.  This is the part of the night where things begin getting fuzzy.

Yep, it really looks like this

After one or two drinks at Rum Fire, the guys wanted to go to a club.  Now, for those that don't know me all that well, I hate clubs more than I hate museums, confused Asians who can't drive, and bananas.  As a general rule, if I make a conscious choice to hang out with you, I probably like you.  This means I find your conversation stimulating or you are an attractive woman who likely makes people jealous when I am with you.  If you have both of these qualities, you are probably high on my list of friends.  If we are hanging out, therefore, I want to be able to have a conversation with you or be engaged in some activity where I am entertained.  Clubs do not provide the opportunity for either.  Clubs are too loud to talk.  Clubs don't have places for me to sit.  I am a shitty dancer.  I think guys who go to clubs just look stupid trying to awkwardly hit on women without being able to talk.  So when the guys I was with suggested going to a club, I was less than enthusiastic.  However, being the good sport that I am, I let Alan convince me that we would have fun if he ordered "bottle service."

What's bottle service?  It's where we got a full bottle of Kettle One vodka, unlimited mixers, and a private corner booth in the club.  I don't remember the name of the club, but having bottle service definitely made the night more tolerable.  Of course, it might have had something to do with the fact that I didn't spend a dime the entire night.  So that was my Saturday.

UPDATE (1/25/11) - The name of the Club was Crazy Box, located at the Edition Hotel

Sunday a group of people from work went to my co-worker's pool side Cabana and watched football and grilled all day.  My co-worker "Joe" is the one I usually go surfing with.  His apartment is awesome.  One of the reasons is that on the 7th floor, there is a pool deck with 5 individual cabanas.  Each cabana has a cable hookup, grill, ice chest, and tables/chairs.  We brought down his flat screen TV, everybody brought food, and we just ate, watched football, and hung out by the pool.

The celebration didn't stop there, though.  My judge is a huge Green Bay Packers fan.  Yes, for all my Chicago readers, I'm sorry you had to read that.  However, his being a Packer fan has directly benefited me.  When they beat the Eagles, he gave us a half-day from work.  When they beat the Falcons, he took us to lunch.  When they beat the Bears, he brought in cheese danish, bagels, and ham & cheese croissants AND gave us a half-day.  We're predicting new cars if the Packers win the Super Bowl.  

Merry Christmas

Even though I am spending my Christmas freezing my butt off in Delaware and Chicago, that doesn't mean I have forgotten the Hawaiian Christmas spirit.  I don't have anything to write, so I will just post this video:

iChristmas

Using only iPads and iPhones, these musicians play some traditional Christmas music.  This is really cool.

Christmas Bar Crawl - Beer Reviews

As I wrote last week, I went on a Christmas bar crawl with a local homebrewing club.  I convinced a friend (let's call her...Cameron) to come with me and we were joined later by someone else (let's call her...Brooke).  Although she's great company, at 5'0'' tall and about 97lbs, my friend Cameron does not make the best drinking companion (she'll argue till the death, though, that she can drink anyone under the table).  I learned this last Saturday night when I had about 2-3 beers for every one of her drinks.  Fortunately, this gave me the opportunity to expand my beer reviews.  Unfortunately for me, this led to a few hazy memories of my liquid aloha-filled evening.  Nonetheless, it was a fun night where I got to sample a few new beers.


Here is the list of new beers, but you can read previous reviews here and here.  In no particular order, they are:

Primo Island Lager - Primo is Hawai’i’s original beer, dating back to 1897. This tasted very similar to a Longboard Lager or Stella Artois.  It had a light, smooth taste, golden color, and it's brewed with pure Hawaiian cane sugar. It was the perfect beer to just chill on a back deck and enjoy some breezy 80-degree weather. 


As with any Hawaiian beer, it's all about the culture.  The breweries try to embody the spirit of the islands, the people, and the culture.  One way the company tries to embody that spirit is on their website under a section called "Who Is Primo."  There, they profile various people from the island - a 75-year-old convenience store woman who is known for selling "her famous li hing mui, salty-sweet crack seed and cold Primo," a surf board shaper who carries on a family tradition, or an antique dealer who's been operating since the 70s.  


Lindeman's Pomme Lambic - Lambic is a "spontaneously fermenting" style of wheat beer unique to Belgium. Pomme is a type of lambic brewed with apples.  During the fermentation process, Brewers pump the wort into cooling vessels, open the windows and let the soon-to-be beer cool overnight where it's "inoculated by the yeast and other microbial flora of the surrounding air," according to Lindemans.  The Pomme Lambic was good, but a little too sweet.  It tasted much more like a cider than a hoppy beer.  The apple flavor was unmistakable and while good, it was a little overwhelming.  The bottle itself is unique in that it has a foil wrapper over a cork that must be opened with a wine bottle opener.  The most disappointing thing about this beer is its alcohol content.  At only 3.5% abv, it doesn't have anything to help overcome its embarrassingly sweet taste.

Hawai'i Nui Hapa Brown Ale - This is also a beer made by a Hawaiian brewery.  At the recent World Beer Cup, this beer won the Silver Award for Brown Ales and I can see why.  First of all, it has a very smooth taste with slight hints of nutmeg and cinnamon.  Small-batches are brewed with two-row caramel, roasted and chocolate malts. Then they use Hawaiian water to finish the fermenting process.  It's really good.


Now I know what you're thinking: Tell me more about this World Beer Cup.  Well, in 2010, 3,330 beers from 642 breweries located in 44 countries were grouped into 90 style categories. Entrants were judged by an international assemblye of 183 judges from 26 countries.  Basically, the mission is to educate the world about beer and bring together a variety of traditions from countries around the world.


Maui Coconut Porter - This one immediately threw me off because it was served in a can.  Very rarely have I seen porters or stouts served in a can (yes, I know you can get Guinness in a can). I said rarely.  Anyway, this Porter from the Maui Brewing Company pours a deep black-brown, with an opacity to it which causes the edges to glow slightly when held to the light.  Taste is smooth and full, and again extremely well mingled between the sweetness of coconut and chocolate, and the slightly more astringent roastiness.  This was another delicious beer.


Gordon Biersch Winterbock - Ever had Sam Adams winter lager? This tastes the same.

Supreme Court Christmas Party

When I wrote before that Christmas in Hawaii is a big deal, I wasn't kidding.  In addition to a Christmas lights parade downtown, there is also a boat parade showcasing Christmas lights, we had a massive office party with 100+ people last week, and yesterday the Supreme Court had its own lunchtime Christmas party.  Although it was nice, I don't think it holds a candle to ours.  It did last a lot longer, though.  We showed up at 11:30 and didn't get out of there until about 2:00.  The entrees were all catered and thus not nearly as much homemade food.  There was slightly more traditional Hawaiian food, though.

Christmas Tree in Supreme Court Lobby

I tried also Poi for the first time.  It was an experience, that's for sure.  Poi is a very traditional Hawaiian dish made from the Taro plant.  Poi is produced by mashing the cooked corm (baked or steamed) of the taro plant until it becomes a highly viscous fluid. Water is added during mashing and again just before eating, to achieve a desired consistency, which can range from liquid to dough-like (poi can be known as two-finger or three-finger, alluding to how many fingers you would have to use to eat it, depending on its consistency).  It's like a paste.  I thought it tasted terrible and had a bitter, sour taste.  Don't tell any Hawaiians I said that, though.  They'll kick me off the island.  I was sitting next to our secretary who basically pour herself a bowl and ate it like soup.  She ate it ALL.  Poi is like sex to these people...they love it.

Poi

Anyway, the rest of the party involved more door prizes.  Everyone picked a number out of a hat and then received a corresponding gift.  I got a big coffee mug and some Hawaiian-made coffee.  There were also gift cards, homemade energy bars (that are quite delicious - they're made from oats, chocolate chips, and molasses), and see's candy.  Unlike our office party where everyone walked around and mingled, the Supreme Court party had plenty of tables where people could sit and talk with their table.  While people sat and ate, there was also a professional hula dancer who performed.  Finally, they also did a law-related movie trivia game.  The twist, though, was that members of the judiciary would act out scenes from movies and the tables, as a team, had to guess the name of the movie and one of the actors in the scene.  Our table was full of judges and it was VERY competitive.  We were actually in first place throughout the game, but then ended in a tie for first.  It came down to a tie breaker, which was to guess the number of minutes Chief Justice Recktenwald has been in office.  We lost.  Very disappointing, especially because everyone on the winning team received gift cards to various places around Honolulu. I hate losing.

Christmas Bar Crawl - Bar List

I am naturally a shy person; however, I am also a big believer in putting yourself out there, taking risks, and meeting new people.  This is especially important when moving to a new city (which I have done 6 times in the last 8 years).  Consequently, a few weeks ago I joined a homebrewing club.  The group regularly gets together and shares homemade beer and snacks at someone's house or has group outings that are based around beer.  This weekend there was a bar crawl where the plan was to partake in beer specials at a variety of bars in Chinatown.  There were maybe 50 people who showed up, all wearing various Christmas costumes. My friends and I did not get the memo and showed up dressed normally.  Oh well, it was still fun.

We started at Don Ho's at Aloha Tower.  From there, we went to Bar 35 where I got to sample some more beer on the massive 196-beer list.  After that, we went to Murphy's Irish bar.  Finally, we ended the night back at Aloha Tower and the Gordon Biersch brewery.  Overall, it was a fun night.  Aloha Tower is right on the water, so when we were at Don Ho's and Gordon Biersch, we sat outside on the deck, drank beer, and watched the boat parade.  What's a boat parade?  Exactly what it sounds like.  There were more than a dozen sailboats and yachts sailing around the harbor decked out with Christmas lights.

Picture from Don Ho's deck

Since I have never been to some of these places, here is my review.  You'll have to forgive me, but my memory of the bars gets a little hazier as the evening wore on.  Without further ado:

Don Ho's:  This bar and grill opened in 1998 and is located right on the water at Aloha Tower.  There is both an outdoor and indoor bar serving typical bar food.  I ordered the kalua pork sliders, which were decent, but nothing to write home about.  The bar prides itself on its entertainment calendar.  They bring in singers and performers as well as host karaoke weekly.  Don Ho was apparently a big musician here and until his death in 2007, he spent five nights a week, center stage behind his Hammond Organ, singing some of his favorite songs and "talking story" with his audience.  When we were there, there was a chorus/choir of elementary school-age children singing Christmas carols.

Bar 35:  I have previously described this bar as a lounge with an outdoor patio and indoor couches.  Every Wednesday from 6-8pm there is a House of Brews beer tasting event with delicious pizza.  On Saturday, everyone hung around outside and drank beer on what was a gorgeous 76-degree night in Honolulu.  It is a really chill environment.  I think some nights they have live music, but when we showed up at 8:30pm on Saturday night, it was dead inside.  The beers can be expensive ($9), but they have happy hour Saturday night where you can find 130 beers that cost only $4.  They also have $3 vodka martinis.  One other fun fact: if you watched Hawaii Five-0 on Monday night (12/13), Bar 35 was actually a scene in the show.  If you are interested, you can watch it online at CBS.com.


Murphy's:  I had been here once before for happy hour and was not overly impressed.  When I went on Saturday night, though, I thought it was a great bar.  The bartenders were friendly and talkative, despite the fact that it was busy.  The service was phenomenal, despite it being crowded.  The beer prices were nothing special, but the environment was worth it.  If you like Irish pubs, you have basically two options.  They are actually across the street from each other: O'Tool's and Murphy's.  O'Tool's allows people to smoke inside.  Murphy's does not.  Murphy's is also much more well-lit inside and has less of a "dive bar" atmosphere.  The only downside to Murphy's is that the bartenders did not know how to properly pour a Guinness.  Yes, at an Irish pub they didn't know to pour halfway, let sit, finish pour.  What can I say, it's Hawaii.

Inside Murphy's

Gordon Biersch: This brewery originated in Palo Alto, CA, but currently operates 29 restaurants in the U.S., including Honolulu. Additionally, two Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants operate in Taiwan.  The idea behind the brewery is to serve traditional German beer.  They admit they don't do fruit-infused wheat beers or 100 varieties from around the world.  The brewery here is also at Aloha Tower and has both indoor and outdoor seating.  It is right next to Don Ho's, but I would recommend Gordon Biersch.  The service was a little better, it is much bigger so it is less crowded, and the prices are slightly better.  The menu options at Gordon Biersch is also much better.

Inside Gordon Biersch

Overall, the Saturday bar crawl was a lot of fun.  The best part was that you can walk between all of the bars without a problem at all.  All of Chinatown is also covered with Christmas lights this time of year and while it was weird to see Christmas lights in shorts, it was really pretty to see the city all lit up.  If you're in the mood for a Chinatown adventure, I recommend doing this lineup of bars and sampling the cuisine as well as the brews. 

Holiday Party

Office Christmas Tree

Today was our office holiday party, but in Hawai'i that carries a whole new meaning.  First of all, I know a number of lawyers at big firms where a holiday party includes a lot of alcohol and catering and networking.  It's not quite the same when you work for the Hawaii State Government.  We have 30 people who work in the office, but everything is about Ohana (family) here.  That means that when you throw a party, you invite everyone.  There were over 100 people crammed in our tiny office eating and snacking and having a good time.  It was during the day, which was done so more people could come.  It also means no outrageous stories.

Hallway Decorations

Setting up for this party reminded me of home, actually.  I have a pretty big family (8 aunts and uncles, 30+ first cousins) and holidays are our only chance to get everyone together at the same time.  The family Christmas party every year is a complete and total mad house with kids running around doing God-knows-what.  Everyone brings a different food item.  There are amazing smells wafting in the halls and kitchen.  There is always someone's girlfriend/boyfriend/random friend that no one knows.  We catch up on school, work, and life.  We also do a secret Santa where everyone gets the chance to do something nice for a brother, sister, or cousin.  It's my favorite time of year.
 

Dessert Table

Our holiday party was exactly like a family event at home.  The secretaries were amazing.  They got most of the food from caterers, but also made about a dozen homemade items.  There were TONS of homemade desserts, crab dip, crab/vegetable sushi, Bulgogi pork, Kalua pork, garlic chicken, chips/dip, pasta salad, and spinach salad.  Setting up for the party was a hectic dash to make everything come together, but somehow it did.  When everyone arrived, we were all milling around bumping into each other, meeting new people, and catching up with old friends.  On top of all that, EVERYONE also got a gift.  Nothing major, just gift cards, poinsettias, little christmas trees, tins of cookies/candy, kitchen supplies, or other random gifts.  Do people need the gifts? No.  But it wasn't about that.

Setting up the food table

I think sometimes people look at gift-giving as a hassle or burden.  Or maybe they think, "well, the person doesn't care, why give a gift."  Our secretaries went out and bought all these gifts, wrapped them ALL, and then put them around the office with an assigned number.  When people showed up, they picked a number out of a hat and had to find their gift.  Everyone had a great time searching around.  Not one secretary complained while they were putting in the time for this.  They had fun. Yes, I am traditional, that's true.  But it seems to me that Christmas is the one time a year where families get a chance to do something nice for each other. Who cares if it's small?  Gestures are a big deal and they mean a lot.

We decorated EVERYTHING

Recently some grinches people in my family decided they no longer wanted to do the secret santa.  They didn't want to spend the $20 on a gift card.  Not only did they not want to spend money on family, they didn't want to deal with the hassle.  Nevermind that they don't even need to buy a gift.  Whatever happened to making someone dinner as a gift?  Or taking someone to lunch?  Or babysitting?  This week I saw 6 secretaries wrap 100+ gifts for co-workers, colleagues, and people they didn't even know, all without complaining.  They made dozens of homemade desserts and entrees, all without complaining.  I think people who complain about having to go to the store to get a gift card might want to take the stick out of their ass.  So while Hawaii has its quirks, for sure, one thing I love about it is that everyone is family here and they treat each other accordingly.

Celebrating Repeal Day

What is Repeal Day?  Although someone told me recently that my blog has too much history and not enough salacious gossip, Repeal Day is worth mentioning.  I have been promoting this holiday for several years now.  There are not a lot of drinking holidays here in the United States, so here's one we can add.  Every year I make it a point to acknowledge the 21st Amendment's repeal of Prohibition.  This year, I found someone else who shares my passion and equally advocates a National Drinking Holiday.  He goes a step further and gives a back story:

Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day (March 17th), a national religious holiday in Ireland, is a feast day that commemorates Saint Patrick, the most recognized of the patron saints of Ireland.  It was originally a Catholic holiday but became a feast day in the 17th century. The Irish Society of Boston organized what was not only the first Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the colonies on March 18, 1737.  It was brought to the United States by Irish immigrants and is now celebrated by Irish and non-Irish alike.  Today, cities with large Irish populations host massive celebrations with parades, where scores of drunken fraternities swallow huge amounts of Guinness Stout, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Bailey's Irish Cream, and Mickey's Malt Liquor. Sometimes corned beef is eaten.

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is a Mexican holiday that celebrates the the victory of Mexican troops over the French occupational army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5th, 1862.  It has been adopted as a commercialized drinking holiday by the United States, where people flock to chain Mexican restaurants to gulp down huge quantities blended margaritas, shots of Jose Cuervo tequila and bottles of Corona beer. Chips and salsa are served.

Halloween
Halloween (October 31st) began as a Celtic Pagan festival, named as the evening (e'en) before All Hallow's Day on November 1st.  Halloween wasn't widely celebrated in the United States until the middle of the 20th century, and is now the sixth most profitable holiday for retailers.  It is celebrated by this country's drinking-age population in the form of dressing up in very slutty costumes and consuming large amounts of alcohol. Any kind.

Repeal Day is not widely celebrated in the U.S., yet its importance cannot be overstated.  It commemorates the anniversary of the day the United States repealed the 18th Amendment and gave Americans the constitutional ability to consume alcohol.  On December 5, 1933 Utah became the final State needed to ratify the 21st Amendment, which thus restored our sanity the American right to have a celebratory drink.  FYI, prohibition began on January 16, 1919 with passage of the 18th Amendment.

So why should we celebrate with a National Drinking Holiday?  First of all, Americans are always bitching about their "rights."  Well, here's your chance to exercise your rights. We have the constitutional right to drink. It's unpatriotic NOT to drink on this day.  Second, Repeal Day doesn't exclude.  Are you an American, or are you located in the United States? Congratulations, you're invited!  Being French on Cinco de Mayo is about as cool as being British on the Fourth of July.  But December Fifth is a day that's open to anyone!  Finally, it's easy!  There are no stupid outfits to buy, costumes to rent, or rivers to dye green.  Simply celebrate the day by stopping by your local bar, tavern, saloon, winery, distillery, or brewhouse to have a drink.  Pick up a six-pack on your way home from work.  Split a bottle of wine with a loved one.  Buy a shot for a stranger.  Just do it because you can.

While I recognize that Repeal Day was a Sunday this year, I spent the evening drinking wine on the beach.  What did you, dearly committed reader, do to celebrate this magical day?  Leave your celebration stories in the comments below!

Christmas in Hawaii

Where I grew up, it was always cold on Christmas.  It may not have always snowed, but the temperature was always around 30-35 degrees.  The days and weeks leading up to Christmas always involved getting bundled up before going outside, driving around looking at Christmas lights, and maybe even playing an occasional game of backyard football with a group of friends.  When I moved to Chicago for law school, it was really no difference. The weather was always freezing by the time the lights went up on Michigan Ave.  So it feels a little weird to see Christmas lights in shorts and a t-shirt, which is exactly what I did on Saturday night.

Christmas Tree outside of City Hall

I wrote before that Thanksgiving is not a big deal here.  Christmas, on the other hand, is a HUGE deal.  I now understand why it was so urgent that the clerks in my office meet to discuss holiday decorations.  Our office looks like Santa and his reindeer came by and threw up Christmas decorations all over the place.  It's awesome.  I love Christmas and all the decorations.  Along the same lines, this weekend was the annual City Lights parade and tree lighting in downtown Honolulu.  All day the city shuts down the streets and there is a Christmas festival with games and rides for kids, booths with food and drinks, and at 6:00 there is a parade followed by the tree lighting.  I didn't make it for the parade, but it's supposedly fun.

Barefoot Santa

The Christmas decorations are a little excessive, but that's what makes them awesome.  First of all, there is a barefoot Santa.  There is also a snowman holding a surfboard.  The pure ridiculousness of a snowman in Hawaii makes it fantastic! Everyone here gets so into Christmas that next weekend a big group of people already have plans to build ginger bread houses and drink mulled cider and mulled wine.  So even though it's 80 degrees and doesn't quite feel like Christmas, I think I can get used to the new warm-weather traditions.

Also, "Mele Kalikimaka" is Hawaiian for Merry Christmas.

Holiday Decorations

Let me just say that I am not a scrooge.  I like Christmas.  I like the tradition, the lights, the presents, and the general feelings of good cheer that envelopes everyone.  Does that mean that I want to brave the mall a week before Christmas? No.  Does that mean I want to sit around and bake holiday cookies with my mother and sister and talk about our feelings? No.  Does that mean I want to spend an afternoon with my colleagues decorating our office? No.  As I think I've written before, there are 12 clerks on our court and we are split between two rooms.  Despite having 6 people in a room, there is very little interaction between us.  The University of Hawaii kids talk to each other and largely ignore anyone else, which is fine with me.  I just sit down, do my work, and hang out with the other non-UH clerk.  Today we all received this email from our "Administrative Clerk."

Hi all,

Apologies for the short notice, but we need to meet tomorrow at 3:00 for two purposes. 

(1) We need to collectively create a hand-made holiday tree ornament, and I figure we could brainstorm for 15-20 minutes on what we'd like to do.  [Redacted] has pulled a few ornaments made by past year's clerks to give us ideas.

(2) After the brainstorm session, we need to decorate the hallways for the holidays.  Please be sure to get your judge's/JA's approval prior to participating in the decorating.

Thanks all, see you tomorrow at 3:00 in the library.

-[Redacted]

First, note the email's matter-of-fact tone.  You can disregard the "ask permission" section of the email.  This "decorating session" is not optional.  You may be wondering, what's the big deal? You don't have anything better to do.  You spend all your time blogging, anyway.  Do I have anything better to do than sitting in a room "brainstorming" about a stupid ass ornament? Yes.  I think the janitor is painting the downstairs hallway...I might go help him watch it dry.  Or maybe I want to just sit with my thumb up my ass.

Second, note the "urgency" of the email.  The email was on short notice.  In other words, this is so urgent that we can't wait until we get regular notice...say...Monday. Or even Friday.  No, "we need to meet tomorrow at 3:00."  When I started reading this I thought perhaps we were going to have to discuss a lack of production among the clerks or a serious case coming up for oral argument in December.  Nooo.  A "holiday tree" ornament.  That's urgent business.  Also, how long does it take to figure out a Christmas...err...sorry...holiday ornament?  No wonder Hawai'i can't figure out its budget issues.  It takes 20 minutes to brainstorm a damn ornament.  They're still brainstorming about whether to tell us we're in a recession.

Third, what the $#*! is a "holiday tree?"  Are we going to have some "holiday candles" for Jews?  No, it's a Christmas Tree and a Menorah.  I recognize that we are not necessarily celebrating the religious components of these holidays, but let's not pretend that they don't exist.  This is just political correctness gone crazy.  We know it's a Christmas tree.  Why hide it?  If you're the type of person to be offended by calling it a Christmas tree, do you feel THAT much better if we change the name but still display it prominently in the conference room?  Does this mean no Santa ornaments?  What about Rudolph?  See what happens when you get politically correct?  Maybe that's why we need to brainstorm for 20 minutes.  We need to discuss what's "appropriate."  With that said, do you now see why I don't want to spend my afternoon in a room with these people?  Just imagine how fun a group of "holiday-tree decorators" are at a party.

Gratitude Researcher Says Lawyers Aren't Very Grateful

I was reading some legal blogs today and came across this article that says lawyers are not a very grateful bunch.  First of all, what the hell is a "gratitude researcher?"  Apparently, there is a field of study - under the guise of psychology - that studies how people develop a "warmly or deeply appreciative attitude for kindnesses or benefits received."  Gag me, seriously.  Some people may read this and think gratitude is an important emotion.  It seems that "gratitude researcher" Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis would agree with you.  Apparently, this guy Emmons sat down and talked with a group of lawyers and had a rough time.  I'm not surprised.  He wanted to sit down with a group of lawyers and talk about emotions.  He claimed that he had never met a group of people more resistant to the idea of gratitude, except maybe teenagers.  You can read about Dr. Emmons' take on gratitude here.

Why are lawyers so resistant and ungrateful? According to Emmons, it's possibly because "some of the main obstacles to being grateful are fears of dependence, indebtedness, and loss of control. Lawyers are people who emphasize self-control and self-reliance. They don’t want to cede control to others or owe anybody anything. It may also have to do with lawyers being called upon to face and solve problems all day long. When all you think about are problems it’s harder to feel grateful."  It sounds like they're trying to say these qualities are a bad thing.  I think they're great qualities and I am grateful (see what I did there?) that I have them!

Being controlling, critical and cynical are great qualities for a lawyer to have.  If you’re a control freak, you’re less likely to make an expensive error when drafting a detailed document.  The entire legal profession requires noticing subtleties and having a keen attention to detail.  If you’re a critical thinker, you’re less likely to miss the weaknesses in the other side’s argument.  If you’re cynical, you’re less likely to be taken advantage of during the discovery process.  Of course, many people would correctly say that having these qualities doesn't mean we can't say "thank you" every now and then.  So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought about all that I have to be thankful for this year.  In no particular order:

- The old cliche never dies - I'm thankful for all the friends and family I have.  I have met many people out in Hawai'i who don't have great relationships with their friends and family (hence, they ran away to an island).  My friends and family, however, have all been incredibly supportive of the fact that I moved out here and have been tremendous listening posts...even when I don't always return the favor as much as I (possibly) could/should.

- Although I often complain that my job is boring and unfulfilling, I'm thankful that I have a job actually using my degree in this economy.  I know several lawyers, with ridiculous and spirit crushing debt, that don't have jobs at all.  And mine is in a tropical locale where it's always 82 degrees and sunny.

- With that in mind, I'm thankful I graduated law school.  There were a few moments over the last few years where I didn't think I was quite going to make it.  With all the challenges and difficulties associated with law school, the job searching, and the disappointments, I am thankful to have been able to successfully make it through to the other side.

- I'm thankful that so far, the challenging and scary endeavor of moving to an island thousands of miles from home has worked out so well.  I have a great roommate who has introduced me to dozens of people.  I have met some really friendly and welcoming people who have made my move here a fairly seamless transition.  I couldn't imagine tackling such a daunting challenge without them.  They're why I didn't spend Thanksgiving eating a microwaveable egg roll alone in my room.

- I'm thankful for the people who actually read this blog (and their comments! hint. hint.).  I'm sure it really is just a way for them to procrastinate or avoid work themselves, but I'm still grateful that they let me provide some entertainment.

Thanksgiving in Hawaii

Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.  With all the traditions and the food, what's not to love!? I come from a pretty big family (30+ first cousins on my mom's side alone).  We always get together for Thanksgiving and while it's a complete mad house with everyone running all around, it's always been one of my favorite times of year.  Thanksgiving is also great because of the traditions.  The weather is just getting cold and you have to put on a couple layers to play backyard football.  There is more food than you can imagine.  And everyone is just having a good time.

 Obviously, going home for Thanksgiving was not really a viable option this year (especially since we have to work tomorrow).  When I went to recruit my holiday foster family, however, I encountered something interesting.  Hawaiians don't really celebrate Thanksgiving.  Sure, we have the day off because it's a federal holiday, but no one really goes all out or plans big feasts or family get-togethers.   I have a theory as to why this is the case.  Thanksgiving is a quintessential American holiday.  Unfortunately, Hawaiians haven't really embraced being fully American yet.  New Year's is a MUCH bigger deal.  Actually, this year February 3 will be a big deal.  Why? What's February 3?

Chinese New Year.  Apparently there are major celebrations, fireworks, events, etc for the Chinese New Year.  It just so happens that usually the REAL New Year's coincides around the same time as the Chinese New Year.  So people usually make a bigger deal for those holidays.  Thanksgiving, as a result, is treated more as just a day off.  Have no fear...I found a group of true-blooded Americans who know the importance of taking a yearly moment to give thanks and remember that America is the reason that these un-patriotic Hawaiians have all the luxuries they have.  We are doing a fun potluck complete with outdoor eating, backyard football barefoot, and beer.

I hope everyone has/had a nice turkey day!