Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Slow, but moving...

(Full moon hike at Makapu Point)

Yet another crazy week in HI. Work has been REALLY slow! Luckily I made two key sales yesterday. On Thursday Julie and I headed up to the North Shore to surf for a bit. It was a beautiful drive as usual and we surfed some solid 3+ ft waves at Puena Point. I was still a bit sick and only surfed for about an hour, but Julie rocked it for a solid 2. Thursday evening we took a hike up Makapu Point under a full moon. It was an amazing hike with good friends, steep off-road trails, and a few bottles of wine at the summit. Saturday night Julie helped one of her friends with save the date cards for her wedding. I ended up getting talked into shooting pool at a friend’s house and then going out to the local bar for a while, to check out Natural Vibrations, a north shore reggae band. Sunday Julie got up early for a bike ride with friends on the North Shore. I stayed home and got a ton of odds and ends done with the house all to myself. We also managed to watch Sweeny Todd at the local $1 theater and cash in our recycling. We made $22! Monday night was full of the normal debauchery at the 651 and again grew in size. I did manage to finally get out running this morning with my sweet new shoes, thanks Heather!!!
(Shot ski with the housemates on Monday night)

I have been in touch with many of my B-more people and really miss all the friends and family. Hopefully the snowboard crew has a blast in Vermont this weekend. Be sure to check out the hilarious video below. Jib Jab is a great website with some hysterical political cartoons (check out "This land",http://www.jibjab.com/originals/this_land, from the last presidential election). Until next week, peace…

Sunday, February 24, 2008

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Valentines


(Valentines Day)
-Julie's Words-
Bryon surprised me with an amazing valentines day.  Everything was a secret.  First he gave me a very classy reading lamp for our room.  Then we went on this hike of Kahana Valley in Kahana State Park.  It was very steep and scrambly and what I didn't know was that Bryon was carrying a bottle of wine, wineglasses, cheese and crackers the whole way!  After lingering at the top, checking out the spectacular view, for awhile.   I was whisked off to our next stop, which was watching a romantic movie that just came out, "Fools Gold".   Finally he took me out to dinner at a Thai restaraunt I had been wanting to try.   I thought this was especially thoughtful because Thai is not his favorite.  He topped it all off with some chocolates.  You know how I feel about chocolates!  He totally blew me away with this romantic series of events.  Do I have the best boyfriend ever?  I think so.   Hope you had a great Valentines day as well!   

(The summit spread.)
(Julie enjoying the refreshments.)
(The ridge down the center of the photo is what the trail follows.)
-Bryon's Words-
The trail we hiked is called the Pu'u Piei.  It gains 1,700 ft in just over a mile and involves a lot of scrambling through the dense vegitation.  A slow week besides our very busy Valentines day.  Julie was sick for most of the week, and then passed it on to me:(  This post is a day late because I felt awful last night and had to get to bed.  Hopefully everyone else is feeling well and staying healthy. Peace...

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Work Hard, Play Hard

(Shannon, Julie, and Catherine)

(Julie with a helmet urchin, "Ke'ukeuke")

(Julie with a little "Captain" in her.)

(Layson Albatros)

-Julie's Words-
The hike to Keolu Point, the western-most tip of Oahu was enchanting.  I went with my friends Catherine, Shannon and my room mate Aaron.  We did not get a very early start as was originally discussed because we had been out late regaling Kailua with some spectacular Kareoke.  The hike goes along the shore line of the North Shore.  There were some cool waves, but the only surfer I saw was a turtle.  The Ke'ukeuke I am holding in the picture is an urchin that grows on the rocks in the tidal zone, right where the waves are crashing.  I love to pluck them off the rocks and see the glowing purple creature under the helmet.  He reaches out his little tentacles searching for something to hold on to, sometimes my hand.  Don't worry I put him back after the photo op. Urchin Paparazzi that I am.  It happens to be Albatross nesting season and I was eager to get a glimpse of these amazing birds.  We saw many and quite close too!  They are large birds, very gracefull in the air and downright silly looking walking around on land.  Once we got to the point we were rewarded with lots of great whale watching not too far off shore.  There were at least 4 or 5 whales blowing and breaching and doing their humpback whale thing.  Did you know that during the breeding time in Hawaii the mother whales don't eat anything?  The krill, their food does not live in our waters.  After the hike we went out to dinner in Haleiwa town which is the quintessential North Shore Surf town, and the only restaurant were you can get somewhat decent Mexican food on the island.  A beautifull day was had by all.  I wish you were there! 

-Photos provided by Julie this week.-

-Bryon's Words-
A trying week, to say the least. In the end I lived by the motto: “Work Hard, Play Hard.” On the work side of this equation I’ve been doing little to nothing at Land Rover, as customers just aren’t coming in. Apparently the current US economics have slowed car purchases to a crawl. I’ve grown to be impatient about things like this and have been more than a little frustrated at having nothing to do, and having tons of work to be done at home. On that front, I have been working until the wee hours of the morning every day on the Baltimore City Yacht Association DVD for the ’07 race season. I should wrap it all up tonight and ship it off in the morning, in order for it to be shown at the Commodor’s Ball this Saturday evening in Baltimore.

On the play side of things I got out in the water a little last Thursday, but the winds were just too light to get going on my kiteboard. I’ve been down to the beach a few times this week with my gear, but the winds have just been to light. Apparently this week was meant for big parties instead of outdoor excursions. Thursday night was again open mic night at one of the local bars in Kailua. Our roommate Aaron can sing and plays a mean guitar. On Saturday night I was talked into a night of Kareoke, at the local bowling ally bar no less! I learned a few things with this excursion: Julie and I can’t hold a tune, Aaron & Shanon can sing, and Yeager shots don’t go down well after a night of drinking beers. On Monday night we again hosted a big shindig at our place, again with about 20 or so friends. The party just seems to get bigger and crazier each week. This week it ended at around 2 am! It was a good time, but this week I had to work through most of it as the deadline for the BCYA DVD is fast approaching.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Sweet Kite Dreams

Yet another busy week in the life of Bryon. I finished the month strong at Land Rover and managed to make enough money to continue living in HI, and even pay off a bit of my business debt. I’m hopeful that things will continue to go well, as I already made a big sale on the 1st of this month, and I’m working hard every day to make things happen.


(A typical sunset over Honolulu. I shot this out the window of my car while sitting in traffic.)

Julie had a rough week at work as the weather didn’t cooperate very much. It was mostly windy, rainy, and cold the whole week. Conditions not very conducive to kayaking and windsurf lessons. Julie is taking on her new responsibilities as a manager, which is keeping her in the shop quite a bit. She also got to go on a cool hike with one of her new girlfriends this past Sunday.

I’ve continued to put a lot of energy into Kiteboarding. Going out every chance I get. Thursday was a frustrating day for me, as I just couldn’t put everything together. I went out Sunday before the Super Bowl for about 3 hrs on my own and had an amazing breakthrough session. I was able to stay up wind, stay on plane, and execute powered jibes. I got caught in a gusty storm front, but handled the situation fine and had an amazing time going super fast across the water. I can’t wait to put more time in out on the water!

The big project for this and next week is the Baltimore City Yacht Association DVD that I’m compiling from all the footage I took from this past years racing season. I just received my computer and got it up and running with all of my editing software and new monitor. I have 21 races to compile onto a DVD with photo face and case sleeve to be shown and sold at the Commodore’s ball on the 16th!!! I figure 90+ hrs of work that has to be completed in the next 7 days. I doubt I’ll be running, kiting, or sleep much over the next week!

Last night, Monday, we had our weekly house party at our place. It is turning into quite the social gathering with about 20 people stopping by for the festivities. Julie is quite the host, making up a huge taco spread for dinner and organizing all the other food bits that others brought with them. This week the whole house was utilized: the big kitchen table, the bar (of course), darts, foosball, guitar hero, the hot tub, and our roommates amazing musical talents on the guitar. Our friend Umut came over with his motorcycle, a Triumph Daytona 675 sport bike, and I finally got the chance to take it for a spin. I’ve been itching to ride a bike since I’ve been in HI, and riding this high end sport bike was a real treat. Someday I might just have to get another one for myself:)

I hope that everyone is staying well. Keep the emails and phone calls coming and don’t forget that you can post comments on this blog. Peace…