My Heroes

Zoe saved my life last night.

I woke up with a start a little after midnight when I heard Zoe chasing something around the room. At first I thought, maybe it's a gecko that wiggled its way into the house.

And then I heard it. The worst sound to have ever reached my ears.

It was slimy, slithering, and I can't even begin to use adjectives that would give it any justice.

I reached over to the night table, turned on the light, and that's when I saw what Zoe had cornered.

A centipede.

Now the Hawaiian centipedes are no laughing matter. They are ginormous. A good twelve inches of legs and tentacles. No good. Emily had warned me about these creatures, but to hear about one and to see one in real life are two completely different experiences.

In shock, I watched as Zoe clawed at the monster and backed up when its tentacles brushed her face. That's when I realized this thing needs to get out of my house and now.

I popped out of bed and rushed into the kitchen, looking for anything I could use to capture the sucker. I settled on a pair of scissors, a wad of paper towels, and a tupperware bowl (the kind you can throw away). Armed (and somewhat dangerous), I reentered the bedroom and scanned the area for any sign of the beast.

Zoe found it first.

It was slithering toward the window, so I hopped up on the bed, positioned myself over the darn creature and sliced it with the scissors. Only the scissors wouldn't cut all the way through. The monstrosity writhed and wiggled and tossed and turned and in a panic, I dropped the scissors and tossed the plastic box over the thing.

I stared in horror contemplating my next move. That's when I remembered there was a man in the house.

My buddy Nick and his lady-friend, Alicia, are staying with me for the week. I sheepishly climbed the stairs to the upstairs bedroom and knocked on the door attempting to wake up Nick. He came to the door, a bit worried from the sound of my voice pleading for the man of the house to save me.

On the short trip back downstairs to the master bedroom, I explained I had trapped a centipede and needed him to finish it off. He chuckled at the thought of me being deathly afraid of a tiny little centipede. And then he saw it.

"Whoah!" Nick exclaimed. "Now I see what the big deal is. That sucker is huge!"

Instead of killing the giant piece of slime, Nick picked up the scissors/bowl contraption and headed for the garbage outside. As the great assistant, I threw open the top of the garbage can and slammed it down tight after Nick had released the beast from the grasp of the scissors.

We both walked back inside, said goodnight, but neither of us were able to sleep for quite some time after that adventure. I was deathly afraid of waking up to find a monster of a centipede crawling next to my precious head on my pillow, and Nick, well, he just wanted to read his book (that's what he says at least).

Despite my love/hate relationship with the dog, I was very thankful to have Zoe around last night. Oh, so very thankful. After all, she and Nick worked together to save my life.

Ah, my heroes.

Sunset by Fire

I watched the sunset this evening while stuck in traffic.

The sky turned a brilliant shade of orange and enveloped every cloud in its path with its changing colors. The sun slowly disappeared behind the concrete wonder of Home Depot and made the staple orange trim of the store emit an electric glow.

My plan for the evening (spur-of-the-moment, mind you) was to head to the picturesque shores of Ko'Olina, sprawl out on the sandy shores of the Pacific, and watch the sun tuck itself in behind the mountains.

Obviously my plan didn't work out so well.

I hopped in my car, as planned, but was met at the bottom of the hill with one gigantic traffic jam. The highway was closed due to a brushfire a mile down and police were redirecting traffic through town.

I pondered turning around and going home, but due to my lack of time restraints (except for the key one of missing the sunset from the beach) and the fact that I would be stuck in traffic regardless of the direction I was traveling in, I continued on.

The air was filled with the smell of ash and the sounds of sirens could be heard rushing to the scene as we all slowly moved inch by inch closer to our final destinations. It was here, that I was fortunate enough to watch the sun set - even if my surroundings were not what I had hoped, the sight was still spectacular.

As I turned the corner next to Outback Steakhouse, the sky opposite the setting sun was illuminated by a full, magnificently colored rainbow. On my left was a rainbow and to my right, the sun setting over the smoldering wildfire. Ahhhh...

Traffic moved closer to the fires and I observed a firefighter emerge from the ash below, his yellow uniform barely visible beneath the layers of soot. He wiped his brow and stood to observe the now blackened fields below.

The fire had burned a rather large patch of land between the highway and Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park - just a few miles from my Hawaiian home. Firetrucks were scattered along the perimeter of the dark field, spraying water over the embers as they continued to glow.

I had finally entered the freeway just as the sun made its final resting spot below the mountains. The remnants of the sunset remained while I continued my drive to Ko'Olina. I parked at lagoon number three, popped out of the car, and briskly glided to the beach.

A few people were scattered about and I claimed a cushy hotel lounge, sprawled out, kicked off my slippahs, and watched the finale of the nature show before me. Twilight swept across the waves and the water sparkled like diamonds. The night air brushed over my shoulders and I let it envelope my body as I took in every tiny detail of the sight before me.

Every day I must remind myself that this place, this paradise, is my home...for the summer at least.

Banana Chasing

I chased a banana around Ala Moana Park this morning.

True story.

I woke up before the sun rose (a difficult thing to do seeing as how the sun here rises unusually early), put on my trainers, and drove to Honolulu to participate in the fourth annual Jamba Juice BananaMan 5K.

I got the crazy idea last night as I was surfing the internet for summer running/swimming races in Hawaii.

This little banana race just caught my eye and I thought, why not? I have plenty of time during the day to take a nap (or two) and decided waking up at 5am wasn't that bad of an idea. Plus, the thought of running a Jamba Juice sponsored race sounded appealing and it would make my buddy Harmon (a Jamba crazed fool) very proud.

Runners. We're odd.

I arrived at Ala Moana Park around 6:15am and joined the throngs of other crazy runners heading for the registration tents. I paid my race-day registration fee (money went toward the Muscular Dystrophy Association - another good reason to run - a worthy cause), pinned badge #333 on the front of my tank, and curiously velcroed the timing chip to my ankle (a Hawaiian running thing, I suppose).

The running crowd was smaller than what I had expected. But thanks to a DJ pumping out dance party music, those of us weary folks who just moments ago were struggling to pin on our bibs were now energized and raring to go.

And then we were off.

Now, the premise of the race was to chase bananas. No, really. There were 6 or 7 runners wearing lightweight banana costumes (I say lightweight since most of them could easily out-run me and the thought of a person in a 60+ pound chicken-like banana suit beating me at a 3 mile race, is just, well, sad). I'm not too sure what was to happen if you actually "caught" one, but needless to say the race volunteers were over-enthusiastically cheering us to "catch" the bananas.

I never caught a running banana.

Nor in all honesty, did I even try. But the absurdity of the whole race kept me thoroughly entertained as I circled through the park breathing in the salty-ocean air and catching glimpses of the Pacific Ocean and my favorite Banyan trees while I "zoomed" by.

30 minutes and 3.1 miles later and the race for moui was finished.

I thankfully gulped down a few bottles of free water, grabbed two bananas (the fruit, not the runners), and headed for the Jamba Juice line. What would a Jamba sponsored race be without free Jamba Juice? Gotta love the perks of races - free food, free t-shirts, and course, paying money to run.

With my green-tea Jamba in hand, I strolled over to Waikiki beach and cooled off with a little morning dip in the ocean.

Not a bad finish to a fun banana-chasing race on the island.

Tourist-Colored Glasses

I've spent the last seven days viewing O'ahu through tourist-colored glasses.

My dear friend, Carey Matthews, joined me on the island last week in search of relaxation, a bit of adventure, and some stories to bring home to Minnesota. Well, we found just that...and a little more.

In one week, Carey and I managed to cover pretty much the whole island. We rolled down all the windows in the truck, opened the sunroof, and blared tunes from my iPod as my trusty beach vehicle, the 1993 Ford Explorer, brought us from Kapolei to the North Shore to Kailua and of course, to Waikiki.

We meandered in and out of the artsy shops of the North Shore, sunbathed on Sunset Beach, and discovered a great little bakery in Halewia. We nearly blew away as we took in the breathtaking view from Pali Lookout and later took respite in the serene surroundings of the Byodo-In Temple. Great fare from Buzz's and shaved ice from Island Snow (my fave Kailua stops) filled our bellies and gave us energy for the hike through the mountains to Manoa Falls.

In a pre-celebration of Independence Day, we traipsed down to the end of my road, set-up lawn chairs on the hill (well, more like a mountain to me), and watched the fireworks in the distance fill the sky over Honolulu.

I was also hoping (and Carey gratefully humored me) to get a glimpse of the "once-in-a-lifetime" comet/NASA probe collision. We sipped our local brews as the sky turned dark and familiar constellations came into view...however, 7:52pm (local time of the collision) came and went without any great explosion to be seen by the naked eye. Arg....

July 4th was spent barbecuing and surfing at Barber's Point with a few of Mitch & Em's friends. Carey and I bravely waded into the waves and mounted our boards in hopes of, well, attempting to surf. My one (count 'em, one!) surfing lesson with the wife down in San Jose del Cabo came in handy as I attempted to instruct Carey on the basics of surfing.

My confidence soared as I successfully caught a wave (however, it was more of knee-boarding than surfing) and continued to paddle out time and time again hoping to get a hang of this surfing thing. Meanwhile, Carey was enjoying hanging out on her board in the middle of the ocean all-the-while watching me develop my surfing skills.

After exhaustion got the best of us, we caught a wave back into shore and refueled on brats and grilled corn-on-the-cob. We said our good-byes and thank-yous and headed for a night on the town in Waikiki.

Carey and I joined the throngs of tourists out celebrating the holiday and met up with Sidhartha, a friend of a friend, who was in town for a wedding. I happily took on the role of tour guide and led Sid and his posse of wedding guests from one fine drinking establishment (Duke's) to the next (Bobby G's).

Before we knew it, Carey had one day, one day only left on this beautiful island of paradise. And what a better way to spend your last day than in true Hawaiian tourist style. That's right. We went to a luau.

Carey and I put on our best tourist-like clothing and headed to Paradise Cove for an evening of feasting on roasted pig, drinking fruity beverages, and true Hawaiian entertainment. We were greeted with Mai Tais from a lady in a coconuts, had our photo taken with a shirtless oh-so beafy man, and learned how to shake our hips hula style.

The true highlight of the evening was the after-dinner show. The Paradise Cove dancers performed traditional hula dances and wowed the crowd with their Hawaiian moves and as a finale, death-defying fire twirling.

But no, our adventures did not end there.

On the way to the airport, we made one last stop at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet so Ms. Matthews could fill what little space she had left in her suitcase with a few island trinkets.

And with that last stop, Carey's vacation came to an end as the reality of boarding a plane back to Minnesota came into view.

We will both have our memories and photos of our great seven days viewing the island through tourist-colored glasses.

But I, my friends, still have 30 more days of adventures to go...