Visitors Bring Wind!!!

(Julie and Lauren enjoying a hearty breakfast under the Hawaiian sun.)

Once again when visitors come to see Julie and I they bring with them strong winds.  Cheers to that:)  I got four days of kiteboarding over this past week!  I'm now able to ride way up wind, keep in relative control in gusty conditions, and jump a bit.  I had a few sessions where I was out on the water for over 1 1/2 hrs.

(Bryon body dragging off the beach while trying to dodge the kayak, windsurf, and kite traffic in Kailua Bay.)

Julie and I also were able to get out Yacht racing on Friday evening in some heavy winds.  It was quite fun, but the boat didn't do to well in the race.  We were actually 4 min late to the start due to a torn jib sail while hoisting.

(Friday night yachting in Honolulu)

Lauren came to visit us for the week, getting in late Saturday evening.  She has been busy exploring the island, relaxing on the beach, and trying to fight off the jet lag.  Lauren also got to experience St. Patrick's Day Hawaiian style, a drunken block party in China town!  It was a bit crazy, even by my standards, so after I had the obligatory Guinness we headed home.  Luckily Julie and I will have some time off later in the week to spend with her.

The exciting news for the week is that Julie is now the official boat painter for the only outrigger canoe manufacturer left in Hawaii.  She started her training tonight.  Stay tuned for updates on this exciting new project.

Sadly I'm still feeling really sick, even though I've been trying to ignore it for some time now.  I also got REALLY sun burned on my face while kiting Sunday.  On top of it all I was helping out a kiter on Sunday, that had no clue what he was doing, and ended up putting a big hole in my foot.  It's healing up well, but hurts like hell and is keeping me off the water, even though the wind is still blowing!

Offroading, Sailing, and Sickness

(Julie enjoying her birthday in a Land Rover with her new hat on.)

It has been a really long week here in HI.  Julie and I both worked this past Thursday, our usual day off.  Julie had to put in some extra hours so that she could take some time off next week while Lauren Honeycut comes for a visit.  I worked 12+ hr days Thur.-Sat. at the dealership and the Honolulu Car Show.  The dealership has been a ghost town this month and I'm hoping that all my time at the show will result in some sales.
(16 Rovers cruising around Kualoa Ranch)

(A Range Rover having some fun on the obstacle course)

(My loaner LR3 in the valley at Kualoa Ranch)

Sunday was the action packed day of the week.  It was Julie's 28th birthday!  I can now call her my old lady:)  We first attended the Land Rover Wheels event at Kualoa Ranch, the set location for movies like Jurasic Park, 50 First Dates, Windtalkers, Mighty Joe Young, and many others.  This is a quarterly off road owners event put on by the dealership.  It was a beautiful day and it was great fun thrashing a Land Rover in its natural environment.  After the Wheels event Julie got a call to go for a practice sail aboard the boat she has started sailing on Friday evenings out of Waikiki.  I tagged along and had a great time out on the water for a few hours.  I might have to join the crew for a few Friday night races:)  After the sailing we headed over to Hawaii Kai for a birthday dinner at Kona Brewing Company.  We had a group of about 11 people for a big dinner and some quality micro brew.  We were exhausted after the long day and went home to pass out, at about 10pm.  I know, sad isn't it.  Oh, I forgot, Julie was asleep within 5 min. of leaving the restaurant:)

The last few days I've been really sick actually.  My throat is all messed up.  I passed out on the couch last night and didn't wake up to go to bed until about 2:30am, hence the reason this blog entry is a day late.  Hopefully everyone else is doing better than I.  Keep in touch. Peace...

(Julie out on the 40ft Benetoau 1 toner sailboat)

(This is the Mercedes, the yacht that we took out whale watching a few weeks ago.)

-(Just realized that I didn't put up a post last week!  Sorry about that.  I've been in a bit of a funk here lately.  Besides a drive around the North Shore looking for surf, not finding any, and taking Julie shopping on Thursday the 28th there wasn't much to report.)-

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…

Don't send a lame eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

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...

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.

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…