Home Sweet Home

September 11, 2016

Ginger spent the weekend at Tails of Hawaii.

When she is there she spends nearly every moment in the play area pacing around looking for an attendant to play with or other dogs. We check on her via their webcam and whenever we do she seems pretty happy to be there.

She gets pretty tired from all the walking around so when I picked her up and brought her home, she had a bath, ate and then...

Cousins!

September 9, 2016


This weekend was our annual weekend with Juliet's cousins and their families.

When the boys were younger (Brent was 2 or 3 when we started) we would spend 4th of July weekend at Camp Erdman for their Family Camp. We eventually had a group of about 20 to 25 people with parents and kids. Those were really fun times.

Recently we have joined the Olipares' at their vacation club weekend at Aulani. (can you say Glamping?) They are fortunate to have access to a 3-bedroom unit at the end of the buildings and it easily fits about a dozen of us overnite and more during the days.

It is a beautiful property.

This year was special because Kimi went to the Disney Character breakfast on Sunday.

We really appreciate them letting us join them.

Post game Wrap

September 4, 2016

So after the Hawaii-Michigan game it was back to

Where I found some

And some

And watched

Jump Man

September 3, 2016

Hawaii's game against Michigan was the Wolverines' season opener and this season U of M became the first school selected to wear Nike's new "Jumpman" football uniforms with the Michael Jordan logo instead of the "Swoosh"

To commemorate the new association MJ himself was in the Big House as an Honorary Captain.

Game Day: The Big House

September 3, 2016

Began the day hustling to be sure I was able to secure a Field Pass for the game. Many thanks to Coach Stutz for the offer.

I was only hoping to join the team during their Friday walk-through in the stadium but was overjoyed to receive his offer of a pass for the game itself!

So here I go...

Once on the field it was time to bring along two favorite teams with me - Go 'Cats! Mountie Up!

The Home Sideline and luxury boxes.

The boys were ready.

It's Motown

Afternoon. September 2, 2016

After lunch we headed to the little house that birthed Motown Records.

It was humbling to hear about the performers who grew up in the surrounding neighborhoods and were gathered in this little unassuming house to produce music that changed the world.

The rules do not allow any cameras inside so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE1TLOp6oCk

Seeing Detroit In the Morning

September 2, 2016

Early breakfast at the Volt Restaurant/Lounge in the Marriott. (Interesting that this hotel only has one bar/restaurant that is run by the hotel.) Then we loaded up in our buses for our tour of Detroit.

First stop was the Ford Piquette Plant which was Henry Ford's first manufacturing facility. This is where the Models A thru T were developed and produced.

We made a few other stops before lunch including Comerica Park where the Tigers play.

By and large, the city is kind of depressing as you pass closed factories and largely vacant neighborhoods. That said, there is a major redevelopment happening in the area around Comerica with the owner of the Red Wings building a large, new stadium and a lot of infrastructure and housing development in the area. I found out that the same people own both the Tigers and the Red Wings - the Little Caesar family. Pizza! Pizza!

I hope they are successful in revitalizing the area and the city in general. We stopped at several old office buildings that showed how magnificent the architecture was in the town's heyday and it would be a shame if those fell to the same kind of destruction that you read about in many other instances because of economic strife.

Touchdown: Detroit

Apologies for the late posts but traveling made up-to-date posting difficult.

I will post the date of the photos.

September 1, 2016

Flew in to Detroit from Las Vegas in the afternoon.

This was taken as we were over the shore of Lake Michigan. Detroit was still about an hour away. I was surprised by how much farm land there is in Michigan. Nearly all the land from the coast until we passed the suburbs of Detroit consisted of small farms.

As I was riding in the cab to my hotel I spied this...the Hawaii charter plane at DTW.

I joined the Panda Travel group at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit. It's a premier hotel in the expansive complex that is GM World HQ. This is the view from my 16th floor room. It was mostly the opposing skyscraper in the Ren Cen but you could see some of the town and water.

I met up with fellow Tsaikos, M/M A-house and we decided to head to nearby Greek Town where she wanted to try Five Guys. Mmmmm...no argument from me.

After that, it was rest up for a day of sightseeing.

On the rolling hills...of Vegas

It's Game Week of UH versus Michigan and I am en route to Detroit with a 1-day layover in Vegas.

Reading about the progress of Hurricane Madeline in Hawaii and I'm glad that it is reportedly on a rapid decline in strength.

Hoping for equally favorable reports about Hurricane Lester as it approaches Hawaii this weekend.

Also hoping for some good fortune today in the casino!

More to come...

Get Chance!

It's an old skool island expression, actually an expression with two sides...

Perhaps more often stated is the negative version..."No mo chance!"

Loudly stated when confronted by those who question the loyalty of a sports fan, this phrase reflects an obstinate view that all is lost, there is no doubt that we are outmatched, outclassed, out of our wits and otherwise should be left out on the curb for collection.

OTOH, "Eh, get chance!" represents the hope of "punchers" everywhere that given just the right circumstances, confluence of fortune, and general "dog luck" a victory (or series of them) is within grasp.

Over the past several years, and in particular the past two seasons I freely admit to have been in the former camp. Dutifully, attending home games quickly became more of an obligation than entertainment. (Eh, we already bought the season tickets...might as well go!) Weeks became weaks and then weakers as the UH football program sank deeper into its morass.

Then came the change(s) that most wanted to see happen and in comes Nick Rolovich and his coaching staff. With memories of past glory being pushed to the forefront by his "we can be great again" mantra many fans were buoyed as the team went through Spring football and Fall camp.

Having attended a spring practice and the Spring Fling thing I was not totally sold on the whole "greatest turnaround season" thing of a past coaching turnover episode. The difference this time was that the outgoing regime seemed to not have had the recruiting acumen to spot, nor the desire to actively recruit football talent. In other words, and as no slight on the players that were on board, the cupboard was bare. Pile on that as Rolo would relate the returning players were psychologically beaten as "Chow Time" came to a close.

But given the time he and his staff has had since taking up residence in the Quarry, I began to see the things that Rolo was doing to get the buy-in from the returnees and I got a sense of the hope that he was selling to the newcomers.

Much of it could be seen on the TV from the Sydney Cup yesterday. A group of Tsaikos gathered at my home to watch and I could sense everyone's apprehension prior to game time about what to expect this season.

• how bad was it going to be?
• will the defense be any better?
• could the offense be any worse?

No one was saying these things but I'm sure most were thinking them.

With the attempted onside kick to open up the game came immediate interest because it was a signal that things were NOT gonna be the same. A quick score by Cal and I did not sense from anyone that "oh no, here we go again" feeling. And it was a good thing...a quick TD for Hawaii and the Rolo Era seems to be on its way along with the feeling that...

EH, GET CHANCE!