Bradford Ohana

New Blog

2011-12-09T13:20:00.001-10:00

The powers that be refuse to give me my password for this site (I am writing this via an e-mail address I set up). I applaud them on their security procedures, but it is a little frustrating. So with that said, I created a new blog.

http://hapaohana.blogspot.com

Nothing there yet. But at least I can't use the "I can't access my blog" excuse for not writing.

Hapa in Hawaii usually refers to someone who is part "White." Hapa is the shortened version of Hapa Haole. Since we are a mixed-race family, I felt that this would be a good name.

Am I back? (I am if you can read this)

2010-11-16T13:58:00.001-10:00

I've wanted to update this blog for quite some time. The problem has been technical (actually I forgot my username/password and google is amazingly strict on giving out this information). So I gave up and felt better about being considered lazy in writing/vice trying to send out new links to another blog I may or may not update frequently. I found a back door I hope will work after going through the sent items of a very old e-mail account. I still can't log in, but can update the blog portion. I can't link to any pictures, or change the way this page looks. I can't edit what I post and I can't keep out spammers if they show up. I can however, if this works, blog. And I guess that's what this is all about. Nothing fancy, just writing.

A Second Look

2008-07-13T22:08:00.003-10:00

There are times when I am at sea I go outside for some fresh air in the evening. When the moon is not out, you can hardly see your hand in front of your face. Some people don't stay outside long enough for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. They miss out on the remarkable celestial show you get when out on the ocean. The entire horizon is uncluttered by land, nothing to block your view. 360 degrees of star gazing pleasure. The first time I waited outside long enough to see "all" the stars, I couldn't beleive my eyes. Constellations you've seen in books, are clear clear as "day". You can actually see the milk of the milky way with out a telescope.
I often wonder, how many times we see something initially, and don't bother to wait and give it a seoond look. It's not dazzling to our senses, it doesn't automatically catch our interest, and so we find it boring and not of use. There are times when I've seen something a million times, and suddenly realize that I haven't been seeing the whole picture. Of course looking twice can also find the ugliness of something as well. Like looking at what you always thought was a pot of gold, and finding out that what is actually there is a pot of..well crap.

Day Three

2007-05-06T23:13:00.000-10:00

Rockin and Rollin

We're starting to hit some heavy weather. People who have not been on a ship during rough weather have a hard time understanding how it would be like. Just imagine taking your workplace and then randomly rotating it upwards of 20 degrees either to the left or to the right. Everything must be tied down. Sailors learn this lesson fast. Chairs go sliding across the room, equipment and paper could go flying everywhere. My mouse slid off my desk and on the floor (thank god it didn't break, it's hard to get spare parts here.

Luckily I have never been one to get sea sick. It's a pretty Big annoyance. Typing at the computer and then having to stop to hang on for my life. Walking down passageways are interesting. Everyone looks like a bunch of pin balls being flung from one wall to the next. Our racks (beds) have straps in them to keep us from falling out, I'm sure I'll be using mine tonight.

Day Two

2007-05-05T23:33:00.000-10:00

Cinco De Mayo Underway!
I didn't even realize what today was until dinner rolled around. We had probably the best meal I have eaten on the ship. The cooks went all out with a mexican dinner, enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, fresh salsa, guacamole. I ate way to much and I'm sure my stomach will be telling me this as I try to sleep....it was worth it.
Tomorrow is Sunday so we get to sleep in a little bit. It's nice to have one day where we can rest some.

Breakfast: Bagel with Cream Cheese
Lunch: BBQ Pork Sandwich
Dinner: Way too much Mexican food

Day One

2007-05-04T22:29:00.000-10:00

We're off to deploy.
It doesn't matter how many times I have done it, this days always brings the jitters. It starts off waking up at home, knowing that I won't see the people I love for quite some time. I finshed packing all my last minute items and load them in the car. By this time Lynette has already loaded the kids and we are ready to go. Off to McDonalds for one last breakfast together. The kids want the Big Local breakfast platter which has eggs, rice, spam and portugese sausage (we are in Hawaii in case you didn't know).
As I am eating I try to pay extra attention to the kids and let them know things are going to be ok. They understand that daddy has been gone before, but never this long. You see, the last time I did this, I had no children. I can see that Lynette is a little bit anxious, but I know she'll take care of everything back home, she always has and I trust her completly.
We finish breakfast and I need to report to the ship. We say our good byes, and I see my family driving away. My heart sinks and I look to the ship and make my approach. Families are gathered around the ship as everyone is saying their goodbyes. Husbands and wives are crying, Wondering if everything is going to go smoothly. Will she be ok back home? How are the kids going to handle this? Will he be safe on the ship? Will he remain faithful? Will she remain faithful? Most of these fears others have don't phase me. I have complete faith in my wife, for you see we Love each other, and true love never fails. I say a quick prayer for my family and all those famlies in the Lake Erie "Ohana".

Dear Lord, please protect all of us as we deploy. Please watch over our families and comfort them while we are gone. Make sure everyone remains safe as we go out to defend our country. Please guide these Sailors to make the right choices while they are in far away lands. Help ensure we have a safe voyage home.

The ship got underway uneventfully and we are out doing what we do best, drilling, training, and telling sea stories. Once we leave the harbor, no more tears for we have a mission to complete and tears seem to be a sign of weakness. We are all stowing away our personal items we have brought aboard, new laptops, ipods, video game systems, candy. I can't beleive I brought this much stuff and that it actually fits in my lockers.

Lunch: Spaghetti
Dinner: Steak and Potatoes

Hawaii Earthquake

2006-10-21T07:48:00.000-10:00

Last week we had a series of earthquakes here in Hawaii. I was on my ship that morning (24 hour duty) sitting in my office. Suddenly the whole ship began to shake as if we were running our engines at full power. When you are on a ship you become keenly attuned to all the ambiance noise and movements that happen. Tied to the pier not much is going on, so to feel the ship shake was quite an oddity. We had just come out of a maintenance period in dry dock a few days earlier and I personally thought that maybe we were taking on water or something. It took about 30 mins for the news to hit that we had a major earthquake.
I am still trying to figure out the physics behind feeling the shaking in the water. We do have mooring lines that are attached to the pier, but they are loose enough that they wouldn't have shaken the ship. The earthquake was side to side motion (not up and down) which may have moved the water enough to cause the shaking. I'll just add this to my list of things I have done that most people have not. Felt an earthquake while floating on the water.

Caleb, try eat your tofu

2006-05-11T17:14:00.000-10:00

You see, his tofu miso soup was too hot to eat in the beginning. While he was waiting for it to cool down he started to play and forgot about his soup (one of his favorites). That simple phrase coming out of my mouth made me realize how much my life has changed in the last 11 plus years since I moved to Hawaii.

1. Caleb. A fathers concern that his son eats his food before it becomes too cold.

2. Try Eat. The Hawaii Pidgin language is hard to describe. If you think about it too much, it sounds fake. My wife and I don't really speak it too much, but on occasion it slips out. I compare it to someone moving to Texas and using the word "ya'll" by accident.

3. Tofu. Before I moved to Hawaii Tofu was one of those things that health nuts eat. The food in Hawaii is so unique because there are so many different cultures here. People don't eat tofu because it is healthy. They eat it because it tastes good (in that tofu assumes the taste of anything you cook it in. I wonder if you fry tofu in bacon grease, would it taste like bacon?). But since there aren't too many meat and potato places, or Mexican food places, I was forced to eat new food. I love sushi, Korean BBQ, Thai food, etc. I take my shoes off before entering a house. When I go home to Texas I miss eating rice at almost every meal.

I'm not sure we'll stay in Hawaii our whole lives. But I do know that I would make the same choices I did to get here, if given the opportunity.

Caleb and Lynnete Were Hurt

2006-02-16T20:44:00.000-10:00

Last Wednesday (8 Feb), Caleb and Lynette were hurt in a freak accident. They were walking to Caleb's school when a tire fell of the axel of a moving boat trailor. Lynette was pushing Noah in a stroller and Caleb was walking right behind them. Lynette saw the tire, pushed Noah out of the way and then went back for Caleb. The tire hit her right leg really hard and then went straight toward Caleb. Two skull fractures, fractured chin, fractured jaw at both mandibles, three lost baby teeth (four after an operation) and a lung contusion. Caleb had to undergo surgery to put plates in his chin, pins in his jaw, and now his jaw is wired shut to allow healing. Caleb was released to go home last night. I'll write more, but wanted to thank all those who were praying for him. We now have to deal with feeding a five year old a diet where he doesn't have to chew (extremely challenging). There are still a few issues with his skull fractures, but the brain membranes were not broken and it appears there was no brain damage. Lynette's right leg is still injured and she has appointments set up to figure out how severe the injury is (no broken bones, but probably some ligament and joint damage). Caleb has recovered remarkable well and we continue to pray for a safe and quick recovery. He should be back in school in about a month.
I'll write more later on the whole event from my perspective. The accident had lots of island wide news coverage. Here's a link to an article in one of our papers.

Haze Gray and Underway

2006-02-04T20:58:00.000-10:00

I've been so busy this last month, it is hard to put down in words. I recently transfered from my cozy office job sitting on top of a hill with a georgous view of Pearl Harbor, to the USS LAKE ERIE at Pearl Harbor. Sea duty for me. The title of this post refers to the color of U.S. Navy Ships (haze gray) and being at sea (underway).
My new job is extremely challenging, but still fun. I have 4-5 people working for me (scary), so I am not only responsible for my work, but the work of junior Sailors as well. This is my first major leadership position, so I have a little adjusting to do.
For those who are not familiar with life on a ship, I will briefly try to describe it. My office is on a ship. Wether we are tied to the pier (inport) or at sea (underway) I work on the ship. The ship has 6 different duty sections. This means that while the ship is in port, I must spend the night on the ship once every 6 days to do various different duties. And obviously, when we go to sea to train or do various exercises, I do not get to go home.
My bed on the ship is called a coffin rack. The bed lifts up like a coffin and under the bed is a locker for my clothes and gear. The beds (called racks in the Navy) are stacked three high. I have a middle rack (rank has its privileges) so I don't have to climb up, or lean down to get in it. The space to sleep in is essentially a box measureing 6 feet long, about 2 1/2 feet high and 3 feet wide.
I am short a person in the office, so I have been working from about 6:30 in the morning till about 5-6 at night. This is very different from my last job and I have noticed the kids are having a little problem adjusting to it. Lynette is very supportive of me, even though I know she is frustrated by the long hours, she doesn't take it out on me. She realizes how hard I am working, and supports me through this transition.
My ship's main mission right now is being a test platform for tracking and destroying ballistic missiles. Imagine this, finding a multi-stage ballistic missile on radar, firing another missile at it, hitting the part of the ballistic missile that has the warhead on it (in outer space). Pretty cool technology, and yes this is a part of the U.S. Missile Defense that the current administration is developing.

Because Sunday Morning is Only the Beginning

2006-01-06T22:13:00.000-10:00

Before our move into our new house we threw away tons of crap that we had been holding onto for one reason or another. Old papers, computers that don’t work, things that we had no idea why we held onto them. We had two VHS tape storage units that were collecting dust in our huge walk-in closet. In the age of DVDs and DVRs, I couldn’t remember that last time I actually used a VHS. We threw away those tapes we knew we would never watch again. I came across a tape that had a label that read simply, “Do Not Erase”. Not remembering what was on the tape, I popped it in my VHS player (which amazingly enough still worked). What was on the tape brought back many memories of sleepless Saturday nights with a good friend of mine.
The show was called, “Discovery Television” or “DTV”. The original creator of the show was another friend of mine, Darrell Lindsay, who named the show after our church’s youth Sunday School, which if I remember right was called “Discovery Sunday School” or something like that.
Barry Brake took over the production of DTV after about a year or so. DTV had an amazing audience of about 100 or less Junior and Senior High School students who attended Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio. It was basically a way for us to make announcements for upcoming events, and also find ways to bring a smile to the student’s faces.
I helped Barry produce the DTV for about two years, and I think his music gig schedule got busy the last year and I produced on my own with the help of some other interns who worked in the Student Ministry.
DTV was basically creative stupidity at its best. We used no video editor, had no computer to do special effects. Pause and record on the 8MM videotape machine which had a cool feature to add a sound track over the video we were recording. Barry is the type of perfectionist who spent over an hour figuring out how long it takes the machines to actually start after you press the record button. All you had to do was count “1, 2 and…” and then what ever was on the screen was getting recorded (this was so ingrained in my head that I still think that in my mind while making family movies).
Here’s an idea of some of the things were in the show…
1. Behind the Bedroom Door. With the permission of the Student’s parent, we would go in and videotape the person’s room while they were away. Embarrassing pictures, love letters (remember e-mail wasn’t used by many), stuffed animals hidden in a closet of a 16 year old baseball star. You could walk in the classrooms and see everyone’s face turn white when the Behind the Bedroom Door intro came on. Each person fearing it was their turn. All good fun.
2. Beer Pressure. One of the topics during our weekly outreach meetings was “Beer Pressure”. To advertise we went to one of the local bars and grabbed an empty 12-pack of beer bottles. It took a great deal of coaxing for me to lie down in the empty bottles and say “Come on, you know you want some. Everybody’s doing it. What are you a Wimp? A Chicken? You’re a really wimpy chicken! “ The whole time I was sloshing a bottle full of water all around. The lesson for the week was to talk about the pressures of underage drinking.
3. The Pulse. Barry would go around and hang out just outside the local high school campus’s and interview students on a variety of topics and issues that were happening at the time. Now-a-days someone who did that would probably be arrested. Picture it, a man in his late 20’s, a video camera, and talking to young boys and girls.
There were so many classic episodes in my mind that’s it would be impossible to put them all down. I was disappointed that in my rush to join the Navy, I didn’t get all of my favorites recorded. One in specific I was looking for was an advertisement for PowerSource. It was a clip from a Barney show (yes the purple dinosaur) where the kids were singing around giant bowels of cereal and fruits. We wrote a song and Barry quickly came up with the soundtrack of really cheesy children music with a terrible synthetic trombone. I can still remember the song even though I don’t have the video to go along with it. “Power Source is a nutritious part of your Wednesday. Power Source is so much fun to do. You can have, lots of apples, bananas, and cereal too. Basically you’ve got nothing better to do”. And then Barney came on and said “Come out to Power Source, where this week we’ve got Purple Pepperonies.
I’m almost sure I have the only remaining copies of DTV. I quickly digitized what I had, and now it sits on my computer, and a compact disc as a 700mb file of sheer silliness.
And for those out there asking the question, yes, I still think that while I was in college, I had more fun on Saturday nights than my friends who were out being the typical college students.

Support our Chinese Magnetic Ribbon Makers (an actual bumper sticker I saw)

2005-10-03T16:51:00.000-10:00

Ok. I don’t know what people are doing on the mainland, but in Hawaii I am seeing more and more of those magnetic ribbon supporting some cause. It started with support our troops, and then has moved on to other things like breast cancer (And why just breast cancer? Yes, it is an important cause, but I think more people die of prostate cancer each year. Why just single out one type of cancer research?). I know that some people sell the ribbons promising that a certain percentage of profits will go to their cause. But others just sell them at the counter with no promise of supporting anyone but the people who make and sell magnetic ribbons.
Not that I don’t appreciate seeing the support, but how else are you supporting the cause? For example, how are you supporting our troops other than buying a magnetic ribbon? Do you pray for them? Invite single Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, or Airmen over to your house for Thanksgiving? Do you volunteer for the Red Cross at military hospitals? Or do you simply buy a magnetic ribbon and feel your duty is done?
It’s not just magnetic ribbons that bother me. I can’t count the number of times I have been cut-off on the highway and even one time given the bird by someone who has the Christian Ichthus symbol on the back of their car. I know no one is perfect, but if you are proclaiming your faith on the back of your car, maybe being courteous on the highway would be a good way to witness.
It’s the faith without works dilemma that bothers me. It’s applies not only to religion but to every aspect of your life. Don’t simply stop at buying the ribbons. Find ways to support whatever causes you are trying to promote. Go ahead; buy the “Live Strong” bracelet. But I am sure there are other things you can do to support the cause other than following a fashion trend.

Heightened Memories

2005-09-22T11:35:00.000-10:00

I went outside for a breath of fresh air during a 12 hour shift this last Tuesday Night. It had recently rained and the smell of wet grass brought on many memories of high school march band. We would practice early in the morning and the grass was always wet from the morning dew. There was a distinct smell that plagued the band hall for the entire football season. This smell brought back memories of marching on the practice field, road trips, half-time performances. I find it interesting that something as simple as an odor can instantly bring back memories. I've noticed several different "smells" that do this for me. The smell of any type of burning incense brings back to me a series of worship services my youth group at church had one month. There is an air freshener that was used in bootcamp that still brings back haunting memories of endless pushups and receiving an ass chewing over not properly making my bed.
I think the sense of smell probably can define events better than say hearing or feeling. I can hear a sound that sounds familiar, but it doesn't really do anything as far as bringing memories instantly to my mind. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird that odors do it for me.

House buying

2005-09-12T13:14:00.000-10:00

OK, I know it's been 2 months since my last post, so for the 2-3 people who read this I have been busy buying a house.
I had no idea the amount of work it takes to purchase a property. The hills and valleys of we got approved, we need this to get approved, will the house appraise good, it's a very stressful event. I don't remember my parents going through all of this, but they were pretty good about not showing too much stress in front of us kids.
So we expect to close on our new townhome on 23 September. 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath, 1325 sq feet. Of course this is in Hawaii so the price is astronomical. I am excited about owning our first house which essentially puts us in extreme debt...mixed emotions.
We started the purchase before the Katrina disaster. Now here we are buying a fairly decent house while the lives of people in other places are completely destroyed. It's hard to feel thankful for the blessings of our lives, when I also feel guilty about those who are left without.
Thank you God for all you have provided.

E-books

2005-07-11T11:24:00.000-10:00

There is nothing like the feel of opening up a brand new book, the feel of the pages between my fingers, smelling the ink, and wondering what adventure awaits, what piece of knowledge is going to impact my life. There are many books I want to read, but don’t necessarily have the funds to buy them, or the time (or will power) to go down to the library, find the book, check it out, and then be forced to read with a timeline knowing I have to turn the book back in or face a late fine. So, I’ve been researching electronic books. I found Project Gutenberg, and am amazed by the number of books available to download for free. Of course they are not new by any means, but older texts. Authors like H.G. Wells, Victor Hugo, David Hume. I don’t understand copyright law too much, but I know that after a certain period of time, works can be released without charging a fee. So I won’t be able to download the latest Harry Potter book for free, but I hadn’t planned on reading it regardless.
The problem is the books are all in .txt format. Which makes it easy to open, but not much else. I tried downloading a book to my IPAQ to test the technology, but only got frustrated. Every time I would turn the IPAQ off, or run another program, I would have to start at the beginning of the file and scroll down to where I had left off. No book marking features at all.
After researching how to fix the problem, I chose Microsoft Reader as my solution, basically because there was a free no frills e-book authoring tool for the Microsoft Reader format. It’s actually pretty cool. I can set up how I want the book to look like (font, font size, etc) in Microsoft word. I prefer a sans serif font for lighter reading, and a font with serifs for more critical reading. And then convert it to the Microsoft Reader format.
My first attempt is a book by Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince. I had overheard a conversation at work that a certain person had a Machiavelli leadership style. The book is supposed to be a guide for rulers, which some people have taken in today and use as their leadership or management style. As a Sailor, and a supervisor, I figured I would read it just to keep up with my Military duties, not that I will apply what Machiavelli is stating. Here’s a quick quote that covers the basic theme of the book.

Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.

Total Time spent formatting: 1.5 hours
$ Saved by not buying book: $4-$15
Is it worth it? Probably not. Would have been quicker to go to the library. But hey, it looks cool!

Hawaii Farm Fair 2005

2005-06-26T18:33:00.000-10:00

Flag Burning

2005-06-22T11:26:00.000-10:00

The house has just passed a proposed amendment
concerning the desecration of the American Flag. It
Reads:

"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the
physical desecration of the flag of the United
States."

And now the amendment has been sent to the senate for
final approval.

The American Flag has always been a part of my life.
Boy Scouts, High School ROTC, the son of an Army
Officer, The Navy. I remember carrying the American
Flag down the isle of our Sanctuary next to the
Christian Flag during Vacation Bible School as a kid
while everyone was singing Onward Christian
Soldiers. I have participated in many color guard
ceremonies where the U.S. Flag is paraded for everyone
to see. I have raised and lowered the flag numerous
time onboard a U.S. Navy Ship. I am heartbroken every
time I see the flag being burned at a demonstration.
HoweverMy feeling has always been that the Flag
stands for freedom and one of our basic freedoms is
Freedom of Speech and Expression. Even though it
pains me to see the flag desecrated (I even get upset
when someone folds it wrong), I dont think the
constitution should be amended to take away one of our
basic rights as an American.

The message or the messenger?

2005-06-20T17:19:00.000-10:00

I was going through some old papers and found a pamphlet that a well intentioned officer made me read at my first command. Elbert Hubbard's A Message to Garcia. It's a short article about initiative and pretty much blind obedience. The officer was quite proud of himself when I asked if I could make a copy of the pamphlet. Little did he know I was not awestruck by the original story, but by the way it had spread around the world.
Elbert Hubbard had written the short article in about an hour or so, basically filling space in a newspaper he helped publish. Pretty soon they were getting requests for copies of that edition and was amazed that his Message to Garcia was the article everyone had requested. The day after he received a request for a thousand copies he received a request from the president of the New York Central Railroad for 500,000 copies. Hubbard then gave them permission to reprint the article themselves in pamphlet form.
A Russian Prince who was the director of Russian Railways read the pamphlet, had it translated in Russian and gave a copy to every Russian Railway employee. From there it spread to Germany, France, even China. It was translated into every major language.
During the Russian Japanese war, every Russian soldier was given a copy of it. The Japanese found the pamphlet on Russian Prisoners, had it translated into Japanese, and gave it to every Japanese government employee, civilian or military.
After you read the article you can see it is not very complex, and in my eyes not very inspiring. What is it that caused this article to have over 40 million copies printed by 1918, a feat that had not been accomplished by any author of that time while they were still alive. Was it the message? The Author of the message? Or key messengers who knew how to deliver the message? (And for the Marshall McLuhan fans we'll totally ignore the idea that the medium is the message.) I find it intrigueing how simple ideas are spread under the right conditions.

Local Culture

2005-06-14T19:37:00.000-10:00

As an Army brat I've had my share of pulling up my roots and moving to new places. We were lucky that I was able to go to High School and two years of college in San Antonio. My father retired in San Antonio so in my mind that has always been my home, even though I only lived there for six years. I started thinking about it, and I've lived in Hawaii longer than I have anywhere else. I never thought that enlisting in the Navy would give me the chance to plant my roots in a more permanent place.
The local culture here is different than anywhere back on the "mainland". Even though there are a million people here on Oahu (an island that can easily fit inside Loop 410 back in San Antonio), the local attitude is to take a step back, relax and realize things happen in their own time. Hawaii is a hodgepodge of many different cultures blended into one. A true melting pot.
A few years ago I heard someone saying that it takes about 6 years before the locals start to accept you. Of course you don't walk around with a sign with an arrival date written on it, so it has to be something else. It takes about 6 years to become adjusted to the culture here. Time to unwind I guess. I don't really notice I've changed until I'm hosting guests from the mainland. I don't get frustrated when I'm standing in line and the cashier is "talking story" with the customer. If at a restaurant my food is a little slow, I don't automatically start figuring out how much tip I won't be giving the waitress. Just because someone speaks "pidgin" (a local style of broken English), doesn't mean they are ignorant.
I don't consider myself local, or kama'aina, yet. And I'm told you're not truly local unless you can answer the question "what high school you wen go?", and answer with a local school. However I have always felt welcome here and accepted even though I am haole.
Just an idea of the melting pot here? My children are half haole (my side obviously), and then a mixture of Hawaiian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Irish, and Filipino.

Innocent Vs. Not Guilty

2005-06-14T02:53:00.000-10:00

I'll preface this post by saying I am not a lawyer or a master of the English language by any means. I'll also go on to say I have not been following the Michael Jackson case that much. But I am annoyed by the T.V. reports and new articles saying he was proven innocent. I don't remember too much from the two business law courses I took in college, but I do remember that a trial does not prove someone is innocent. It just proves they are not guilty. And there is a difference. Not guilty simply means that the prosecution has been unable to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Innocence implies blameless.
Also, the words "innocent until proven guilty" are not in our constitution. It is implied from the Fifth Amendment which states:

"...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law..."

And believe it or not the concept of innocent until proven guilty was not created in 1776. The idea can be traced to ancient Greece, Rome and it could be argued back to Deuteronomy.

So, Michael Jackson may be innocent, but our courts only found him not guilty.

Sailor Shot...by another Sailor

2005-06-13T19:51:00.000-10:00

A Sailor in Pearl Harbor from the USS LAKE ERIE was shot this past Thursday night by another Sailor. Friendly fire? Nope, some sort of altercation.

A sailor from the USS Lake Eerie was shot on the Pearl Harbor Naval Station Thursday Night. The shooting happened at about 6:30 pm. A Pearl Harbor spokesperson says the sailor was standing in a parking lot of bachelor enlisted quarters at the time. He was taken to the Queen's Medical Center where is listed in critical condition. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service took 3 suspects into custody...as well as a weapon. It is investigating the motive for the shooting.

The great thing about the military is that people are recruited from all walks of life. A bad thing about the military is that people are recruited from all walks of life.

My Precious.....

2005-06-12T00:37:00.000-10:00

About 2 months ago I went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay for the first time (I know...I've lived on Oahu for over 10 years and just went there. I'm pacing myself and not doing everything at once). The bay is a state wildlife protection area and the snorkeling is the best in the U.S. Before you can swim, you have to watch this 15 min video on water safety and how not to kill the reef. After the short video, you are allowed to make the trek down this really steep road and then venture out to the water. I helped my wife setup our blankets, chairs, and various required beach toys for the kids before gearing up myself to go out in the water (my wife doesn't swim).
I decided to break the first rule we learned in the video and snorkel on my own. I swam maybe two feet before finding wildlife under the water and knew I was going to have a blast that day. It's impossible to describe the abundance of beautiful fish and coral here, you just have to go see it to understand. Why it took me ten years to do this I'll never understand.
Towards the end of my first swim of the day, I saw something shiny out of the left corner of my fogged up goggles. Stopping to investigate I saw something metal partially buried in the sand next to a small piece of coral. The closer I got the more I realized it was a ring. I snatched the ring from its underwater resting place and the first thing that came to my mind was a vision of Gollum's friend from The Lord of the Rings doing the same thing. The whole time I was swimming ashore I kept thinking, my precious, my precious.
I couldn't find a lost and found there at the bay, so I took the ring home. It's a rather plain silver wedding ring made by James Avery. The ring is apparently worth about $40 brand new. After researching how much the ring is worth, I did a quick google on lost wedding bands and Hanauma Bay. Apparently there is a treasure trove of gold, silver, platinum, and diamond rings waiting to be found under the water.
I couldn't find anyone describe the ring I had found, but there seemed to be a similar story for each lost ring. Of course they were all lost while swimming, but each person's story focused on the beauty of Hanauma Bay, the amazing fish they found, not on the actual loss of the ring. The loss was just mentioned in a, oh by the way this happened fashion. The human race just went up a notch in my book. Most people were able to focus on the amazing experiences they had at Hanauma Bay, and not on the fact that they lost a sentimental piece of replaceable jewelry.
I feel guilty now for having this ring for some reason. I might go back to the Bay and return it to the approximate same place I found it....but it's my precious, they can't take away my precious, we earned my precious didn't we?
What do you think I should do with the ring?
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I blog now?

2005-06-10T22:03:00.000-10:00

Well here's the start of my blog. Not really sure what I'll be talking about, and I am pretty sure people don't want to read this anyways. It's funny how people will look at a guy keeping a journal and think that's a bit odd, but a guy with a blog is the "in" thing to do.
What to expect here? A little bit of everything I hope, along with some cute pictures of our children Caleb and Noah.
Please feel free to add comments. .