The Breaults visit Hawaii

Kim and I met when I signed up to go to BYU's London Study Abroad program back in 2003. Since then, we both went back to Provo and graduated and then I took off to Hawaii while she took off to Washington, DC. She came to visit Hawaii a few years ago and then came back with her mom later. So this was her third visit, although this time with her husband, Joe!

While they were here, we were able to meet up one evening to catchup. Romney and I took them to one of our favorite places: Menchies. It's a frozen yogurt bar where you have a large cup and can walk up to several frozen yogurt dispensers and put how much of whatever you want into your cup. Then you go to the toppings bar and do the same. Unfortunately, that's when your cup is weighed and you are charged according to how heavy it is. It's all the fad here lately with dozens of shops opening up all over Oahu. They had never been to one before so it was a nice surprise for them. Here's proof of our outing.



Kim and Joe, it was fun having you here in Hawaii again! Hope you liked it as much as we do.

Chinese New Year in Downtown (Chinatown) Honolulu

This Valentine's Day actually coincides with the Chinese New Year this year. Romney's family here in Hawaii will be doing a get-together the day before. Since we now live downtown, our neighbors, the Alexanders, invited us to go walk around with them to see all the Chinese festivities going on in Chinatown. Enjoy the clips below.

New Apartment

Romney and I moved at the end of November to a new apartment. We are still in Honolulu, just closer to our jobs. We were also ready for a change of scene and felt that Downtown Honolulu was a great way to see some change. There are lots of galleries down here and they do a free admissions once a month. I can now walk to work; it's like four blocks to the Archives. We pay about $100 more a month but we get a larger apartment (still a one-bedroom but more area), secured entry and parking, a swimming pool, and we are on the 26th floor so our view is spectacular. We are happy with our move and are glad to be done with the other place. Here is a short video of the sunrise on Christmas Eve from our living room windows. (I accidentally bumped the camera so ignore the sudden change in the horizon.)

Wii Virtual Console

I got $20 to download games from the Wii Shop Channel for Christmas. I already have a few games I've downloaded, but I find I don't really play them very much. There is one game that has made the whole system worthwhile: Dr. Mario. I used to play that game with my old middle high/high school friend Shane Harris. We'd battle it out all night. Anyway, here is the list of downloaded games I have (the ones with asterisks are the ones I just downloaded with the $20).

Castlevania (NES)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)*
Dr. Mario Online Rx. (Originally from NES)
Galaga (NES)
Mario Kart 64 (N64)
Ninja Gaiden (NES)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)*
Star Fox (N64)
Street Fighter II (SNES)
Super Mario Brothers (NES)
Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES)
Super Mario Brothers 3 (NES)*
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

Here's what I've got my eyes on still, for future purchase:

Double Dragon (NES)
Mega Man (NES)
Metroid (NES)
Super Mario World (SNES)

Where I am lacking is the WiiWare titles. I'm not too familiar with most of them. I know Justin and Tomoe downloaded the Tetris, so Justin, if you're reading this, do you guys still play it very much? I'm sure it's nothing like Dr. Mario with Tomoe, but has it remained a fun game? So, you gamers out there, throw me some ideas!

(Image from: http://graphicshunt.com/images/super_mario_bros-12814.htm.)

Farewell to Whitney

The State of Hawaii has been in a bad financial condition for the past year and a half. With the economy hurting, the State is suffering, too. Unfortunately, this has led to layoffs, bumping, and furloughs. One of our vacant clerical positions was cut last February, never to be filled again. Now we've lost Nicole's position, also a clerical position, and another clerk, Jerry, was bumped. Although Jerry's position will be filled by another State clerk from another State office, Jerry has already had to leave but the new worker hasn't showed up yet. That means that out of four original clerical positions, only one is left now. Not good for the Archives. Meanwhile, our newest archivist, Whitney, scared that her position would be cut, started looking for a new job back on the mainland. Well, she found one at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas and recently moved. So things at the Archives are quiet now. Here is a picture of Whitney at her farewell dinner that Romney and I went to.

Visiting Neighbors

Cheap Entertainment

Romney and I were pretty sad when our main source of cheap entertainment closed down just a few weeks ago.

Photo from scrivner of flickr.

Restaurant Row Theaters was the dollar theater of Honolulu. For a total price of $2.00 (pricing had recently climbed to $3.00) we used to be able to see some of the interesting, or not so interesting, movies just before they came out on DVD. The theater had a 50 year lease at $1.00 a year with the plaza it's in and it's been there for 15 years so far. But recently the plaza was bought out and the new owners are trying to "clean up" it's image. They think the cheap entertainment attracts the "wrong" crowd of people. (I guess that includes my wife and me along with the hundreds of other young couples I've seen go there.) So the plaza offered the theater millions of dollars and bought them out of their lease. Bye bye dollar theater.

Our last option for cheap movies is the "Red Box" or "DVDPlay" at the grocery stores. It's cheap and easy to use, although the movie selections are minimal. But, $1.00 beats the $10.00 you'll have to pay at the full-priced theater or $5.00 at Blockbuster to rent.

Picture from videobusiness.com