As most folks in Hawaii know, there has been this war going on between the Governor and the Labor Unions over what is the best way to proceed with how to address the budget shortfall. The Governor proposed a three day furlough but the unions balked and opposed it. Basically it was just a pissing match to see who had the biggest cajones. The unions are upset because they feel the Governor is taking their power, the Governor is upset because she feels the unions are too strong and they are stepping into her authority.
Well the Governor in her infinite wisdom decided that since the courts told her she did not have the authority to unilaterally furlough state workers, she does have the unilateral authority to fire a bunch of state workers. With this I agree with the Governor. She has the responsibility to make sure that the State Budget is in balance and the largest portion of the balance sheet for the State is salaries.
On a side note I think that the union should have took the furloughs. It would have given state workers the opportunity to find other work to make up for the loss in wages from the furloughs. Instead they decided that it would be better to have our salaries reduced by 5%. The sad part is the furloughs had an end in sight, albeit two years, but still an end. With salary cuts, well that usually ends up being permanent.
So here we are now and the Governor is laying people off. I think that is ok, the unfortunate part I got caught in that sting and have been layed off.
Here is my letter:
I know this sounds bad, but it truly isn’t. I am pretty stoked actually. The truth of it is I am pretty happy, because it is awesome how all things work out the way God plans them. I have taken the bar like a million times, ok it was only six, but still a lot of times. I have come so close so many times, but I think that this last time is the one. How convenient that my layoff date coincides so closely to when I get bar results.
The other thing doors open when others get closed. I am applying for jobs in Washington DC and in Texas and this could be really good. I am super stoked about everything. So who knows when this will all work out but I am confident that God has a plan for me and I am excited to be in His grace and glory.
Posted in philosophizing on February 10, 2009 by JohnJohn
I love bacon! It ranks up there with butter and sugar. Apparently I am not the only one, there are websites about bacon and you can buy bacon floss, and bacon mints, and just about bacon anything you can imagine. The most amazing thing appeared like magic in a recent New York Times blog – called Bacon Explosion.
My coworker came over to my cubicle and just said bacon explosion! I was like what, and he was like just google it. Talk about a work time distraction, after quickly googling it I was hooked, I couldn’t work the rest of the day. I had bacon on the brain. Of course he told me this the week before the greatest sports weekend in Hawaii (BJ Penn would be fighting, and unfortunately getting his A word handed to him by, GSP and three people with Hawaii ties would be playing in the Super Bowl, Travis Laboy, Aaron Francisco, and Chris Kemoeatu) I had to make this.
So I did a practice run the night of the fight and I made one for the day of the Super Bowl. IT was amazing. The prep work wasn’t all that bad and it looked good even in just the prep stage, something beautiful about a bacon weave!
Beginning of the bacon Weave
the weave completed
Ready to Roll
Ready to put in the ghetto smoker
The hard part was smoking it to perfection. I don’t have a smoker so I had to improvise. Basically I soaked a bunch of hickory wood for a few hours and then put it in a foil pan. I put the foil pan on top of the propane burner and turned the flame up to high. It started to smolder and started to smoke! This was nice, it gave the bacon explosion a nice flavor.
you can see my improvision with the woodchips on the right
The lesson learned from my first attempt was make sure that the Bacon Explosion isn’t directly over the smoldering wood chips, cause when the Bacon Explosion starts to drip all the yummy delicious bacon grease on the wood, it will flame up. And here it is the final product and juicy, flavorful, delicious wonderkin ….. BACON EXPLOSION!
notice the wonderful crispy bacon swirl
Ready to be eaten
If you are brave enough to take on this wonderkin of flavor the recipe can be found here.
Haha not that I have a huge readership like Mikespace’s blog or Pastor Scott’s Thoughts, but as some of you who do read this on some what of a regular basis may have noticed I have been absent for a couple of weeks. Well first of all I just got lazy and second of all just dealing with some personal issues. I wasn’t going to share these issues cause well they are personal, but I decided that well I should.
So as most of you know I want to be a lawyer. In order to be a lawyer you need to pass the bar exam. Well I have taken the bar exam three times and this past Saturday I found out I failed for the third time. Now this might sound like a bad thing, and it kind of is, but not really. Don’t get me wrong, it sucked to find out that I failed again, and for a little while I was riddled with doubt about my self worth, and it kinda felt like I got sucker punched by Fedor, but after about ten minutes it passed.
I know that probably sounded weird so let me kind of explain. I guess first of all I have to say I know God has a plan for me. He pretty much says it all in my verse, and by my verse I mean the verse that pulls me through a lot of the rough patches in life, the verse is Jeremiah 29:11. It says For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
It is so comforting to know that God has a plan for me and it is a good plan. It helps to know that the bad things, well they aint from God. He is pretty clear that He is going to prosper me, He will give me hope, and He will give me a future. This is something that has been troubling me for a while. I guess I just get impatient. I really need to remember that awesome song from the music machine – have patience. In His timing these promises will all come to fruition, I just need to be patient and do the things that He wants me to do.
Patience is not the only lesson to be learned here. There is also perseverance. What’s the big deal about perseverance you may be asking yourself. Well if you are a Christian perseverance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not fail us. This hope that Paul talks about is not like I hope I win a million dollars or I hope I catch a fish on my next trip, that hope will disappoint us. The hope that Paul is talking about is a hope that will not fail us, its like money in the bank, you know its there and you know its good. You can count on it filling your heart with the love of God.
Even if you are not a Christian perseverance still has some value. Perseverance makes the value of your accomplishment that much sweeter. If we don’t fail we don’t know the joys of success. We have become a society that expects everything to be handed to us right away, when we want it and how we want it. But that leaves us empty without a sense of accomplishment.
Failures also teach us how to succeed. Even the greatest people of our time and the greatest athletes have failed. Kaala sent me a video of Michael Jordan’s failures. In it he talks about how his failures have led to his success.
So in the grand scheme of everything where does this leave me. It leaves me in a pretty good spot. Why? Because I know I am right where God wants me, and while at times it is frustrating because things are not happening in my time, I can rejoice because they are happening in God’s time and I can stand firmly on His promise that He has a plan to prosper me and give me a hope for the future. Even though there are tough times in this life I can rejoice because I am blessed. I have been given one of the most awesomest families ever, the coolest friends, a home, a job, food on the table, a comfortable life, dreams that will come true, and the ultimate gift of eternal life.
the envelope please…………………….For those of you who were wondering what your choice in Ice Cream flavor meant, here it is
* If you like vanilla, you are colorful,impulsive, a risk taker who sets high goals and has high expectations of yourself. You also enjoy close family relationships.
* If you like chocolate, you are lively, creative, dramatic, charming, enthusiastic and the life of the party. Chocolate fans enjoy being at the center of attention and can become bored with the usual routine.
* If you like butter pecan, you are orderly, perfectionistic, careful, detail-oriented, conscientious,ethical and fiscally conservative. You are also competitive, aggressive in sports and the take-charge type of personality.
* If you like banana, you are easy going, well adjusted, generous, honest and empathetic.
* If you like strawberry, you are shy, yet emotionally robust, skeptical, detail-oriented,opinionated,introverted and self critical.
* If you like chocolate chip, you are generous,competitive and accomplished. You are charming in social situations, ambitious and competent.
According to the official taster for Edy’s Grand Ice Cream, the flavorology research is fun “food for thought” to discuss around the dinner table. Before serving dessert, ask your family and friends to name their favorite ice cream flavor, then give them the scoop on their personality, the taster suggests.
The flavorology research also compiled a compatibility chart for ice cream lovers.
If your favorite flavor is:
Vanilla you are most likely to be compatible with someone whose favorite flavor is vanilla.
Chocolate compatible with butter pecan or chocolate chip.
Butter pecan compatible with butter pecan, chocolate and chocolate chip.
Banana compatible with all flavors.
Strawberry compatible with chocolate chip.
Chocolate chip compatible with butter pecan or chocolate.
So as many of you know, I love ice cream. I would eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner cause I like it that much. I love ice cream so much I even worked at baskin n robbins for like almost seven years. I also like personality tests, they are kinda funny and entertaining to me. Well guess what I found an ice cream flavor personality test, so here it is. Pick a flavor, and tomorrow I will post what your choice says about your personality. By the way to make this legit you should post a comment with which flavor you chose. As for me it was a tough choice, cause I loved all the ice cream flavors listed, and since they didn’t actually have my favorite I went with my favorite of the bunch. I chose Chocolate Chip. Anyways so here are your choices:
A national manufacturer of ice cream, Edy’s Grand Ice Cream, commissioned an ice cream flavorology study to determine how ice cream preferences relate to personality. The study, conducted by Dr. Alan R. Hirsch (M.D.) Neurological Director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, revealed that distinct personalities correspond with ice cream flavors.
When we were young, children really, we all had dreams. Some of us dreamed that one day we would rule the world as the leader of the greatest country in the free world, while others dreamed of the family, house, and white picket fence. No matter what the dream was, it was important to us. How important was it really? How many of us achieved our childhood dreams?
Let me take a little detour here and go off on a slightly different tangent. Recently my uncle was diagnosed with Pancreatic and Liver Cancer. As you can imagine, this was a fairly traumatizing event for my family. My good friend Scott, being the cool guy that he is, sent me a link of a video of Professor Randy Pausch’s final lecture at Carnegie Melon University. Carnegie Melon had this program where they asked distinguished faculty to hypothetically give a “final” lecture on what deeply matters to them and what wisdom they would try to impart if they knew it was their last chance. Mr. Pausch, is an innovative Computer Science Teacher who is recognized for his work in virtual reality. He was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in September 2006. In August 2007 the cancer had spread and he was told he had, maybe six months, to live. In September 2007 he delivered his now famous “Final Lecture.”
His final lecture inspired me to look at my dreams and just take a look at life. I always appreciated and was very thankful for my life. I have, up to this point, lived a very blessed and wonderful life, but have I achieved my dreams? What are my dreams?
So here I am, sitting in my room, late on a Friday night contemplating what those dreams are. An hour has passed and yet I still can’t think of what those dreams are or even were. As a child I was given every opportunity. I know my grandparents hoped I would follow in my grandfather’s steps and become a State Senator. I knew my parents wanted me to be a productive member of society and to be happy. But what did I want? Truth is I liked the easy road, kind of being pointed in a certain direction, and for the most part having my path laid out for me. I came to realize though that is not really my dream, that is not my wants, that was not my real desire. So I look back and think what did I love.
I always loved sports. I was never that good at them, although I did have my fair share of athletic accolades, but I loved them. It didn’t matter if it was boxing, baseball, football, hockey, basketball, if it was a sport I loved it. So I think my first dream was to be a part of professional sports. This is a dream I guess I am still working on. The cool thing is, this was a similar dream of Randy Pausch’s. He never achieved this dream, but he learned a lot from sports and right now that is my accomplishment, I have learned a lot from sports, but if it truly is a dream you can accomplish it. I guess I would say that if nothing else I got experience, which according to Mr. Pausch is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. Now tt would be easy for people to say well you are not big enough, fast enough, smart enough, or athletic enough to be a professional athlete or be a part of professional sports. This would be a true statement, but really those things are all just brick walls, and as Mr. Pausch likes to say brick walls are not stopping points, they are tests which are in your path to prove how much you want something. And if I really want this I will overcome the brick wall and make this dream a reality.
After writing all of this, I realized that another way to figure out my dreams was to look back on life and see what brick walls I faced and climbed over. I think part of my family’s hope for me to be a politician included things like becoming a lawyer. I didn’t go to law school for them, I went because God called me to, and I found I really enjoyed the law. This adventure of law school was not without its brick walls. When I first applied to the law school I went to, because I was called to go there, I didn’t get in. I was put on a waiting list probably because I didn’t have the grades or what not. Haha in fact I didn’t even have the grades coming out of high school to get into the University of Hawaii. My first attempt at college didn’t go that smoothly. My second, third, and fourth attempts didn’t go much better, but I persevered and pressed on. Eventually on the fifth try, I graduated from college, nine and a half years later. Anyways so back to the story at hand, so while I was put on a waiting list I moved to San Diego, even though I did not get into law school yet. I knew that is what I wanted to do and that was the school I wanted to go. As a little side note I did get into UH’s law school, but I didn’t go there because I wasn’t called to and well haha I wasn’t good enough coming out of high school so haha why should I be good enough now, haha ok. Anyways so I am in San Diego and not admitted to law school. Soon enough the call came and I was admitted to California Western School of Law. One brick wall climbed on my way to becoming a lawyer. Then I found out I couldn’t get my school loans. This wasn’t stopping me either. Instead I went to different banks and scoured the internet for the law school loans I needed, and you know what I found them. So now I am in law school, but as you probably guessed from my many attempts at school, school is not my thing, so I struggled. But I knew I wanted this and so I pressed on and in two short years Brick Wall number two was scaled. I came home to Hawaii and took the bar exam, not once, not twice, but three times and I still don’t know if I have passed (I will find out in May). Brick wall number three, I am almost over that one and will keep on climbing that suckah until I am over. So what was my other dream, it is to be a lawyer. Which sort of I guess is related to the dream about my career. In terms of career, my dream job would be to be a District Court Judge in Kaneohe. Within that I would love to be a public defender and a JAG officer that serves in Afghanistan and Iraq, on my path to achieving that dream of being a district court judge.
In terms of my personal life, I guess there is a dream there as well. I want the beautiful wife, 2.3 kids, and house on the ocean with air conditioning and a pool, which I guess is kind of weird because I don’t really know how to swim, but those are the things that I love. While this dream has not been achieved yet either, a lot of brick walls have surprisingly popped up already. Buying a house is a tough chore living in Hawaii. When you had student loans that are larger than some folks mortgages well it makes it even tougher, but I will not let that stop me, no instead I will climb that wall, maybe sit at the top and look at the amazing journey I have been on and turn to face the future that awaits me. I also haven’t found the wife yet, which sort of precludes the 2.3 children but again that is just another wall to climb.
So those are my dreams. These are the things that I am willing to fight for and persevere for. These are the things that I am willing to sacrifice for. These are the things that no brick wall, no matter how huge or how imposing it may seem will stop me from achieving. I guess the last thought before I wrap this up will be this, and again another quote from the amazing Mr. Pausch, We can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. What are you willing to do to achieve your dreams? Will you let brick walls stop you and make you turn tail and run or will you climb those walls, maybe changing the way you would have played the hand that is dealt to you.
Posted in philosophizing on February 10, 2008 by JohnJohn
When I think of the month of February I think Lincoln’s birthday, the bar exam, and maybe Mardi Gras, but walking through the stores I notice a lot of red and all these specials for heart shaped nonsense, and I realize valentine’s day is also in February. Which reminded me of an email I got a few years ago which I am going to post here, but let me put a disclaimer here real quick…I do not endorse the language used in this and therefore will edit all curse words with symbols and this is meant to be funny so laugh.
Hearts and roses and kisses galore...
What the hell is all that s%^t for?
People get mushy and start acting queer
It is definatley the most annoying day of the year
This day needs to get the hell over with and pass
Before i shove a dozen roses up Cupid's a$$ I'll spend the day so drunk I can't speak
And wear all black for the rest of the week
Guys act all sweet, but it soon will fade
For all they are doing is trying to get laid
The arrow Cupid shot at me must not have hit
Because I think love is a crock of shit
So heres my story...what else can I say?
Love bites my a$$...F@#k Valentines Day!
Haha so this is not really how I feel about Valentine’s Day, I don’t like it but I don’t hate it. I also don’t like Christmas. Actually I totally dig Christmas and Valentine’s Day, I just don’t dig the commercialism. Like seriously what’s up with Valentine’s Day. Why is there supposed to be one special day when I have to show the person I love that I really love them? This totally doesn’t make sense to me. Shouldn’t you be showing that kind of love and affection on a fairly daily basis? And if you need one special day a year, shouldn’t that be something like an anniversary? I think of myself as a capitalist, but it just seems wrong that companies would prey on people’s insecurities of love and relationships and exploit them to make a buck.
The same thing applies to Christmas. Christmas has become about gift receiving and selfish motives. What it is really about is celebrating the birth of Jesus, and celebrating God’s ultimate gifts to us bananas. If we can’t recognize that then what’s the point. It is very easy to get caught up in all the gift giving and commercialism, but really we all need to remember the reason for the season. I guess I could go on and continue to rail on holidays, but thats not the point. I just wanted to vent a little on the craziness of holidays.
A LITTLE NOTE BEFORE YOU READ THIS BLOG POST: READ THE WHOLE BLOG POST DON’T JUST GET NUTS AT THE FIRST PART WHICH IS SAID WITH SOMEWHAT TONGUE IN CHEEK KIND OF HUMOR so here it goes.
Tonight on the news I was quite stunned to learn that the VOG that is enveloping Oahu is not VOG (Volcanic Smog) but COG (California Smog) from the wildfires. Attending law school in California I realized that California is the most litigious state in the nation. On that note I think it would be funny if the State of Hawaii sued the State of California for something like negligent infliction of emotional distress, polluting our air in Hawaii, blah blah blah. Give California a little taste of their own medicine, what a way to get them and other states across the nation to think about good tort reform, and I used the term good tort reform, not necessarily limiting damages like they are trying to do in Hawaii. Could you imagine Gov. Terminator you have been served with process.
OK so now for the true seriousness of this post, hopefully you are laughing at my little attempt at humor, although the truth of the matter is that the California Wildfires are not really a humorous event. It is a truly saddening event and a tragedy. Many people lost their homes and all of their personal belongings. One of the saddest things that these people lost is their memories. Many of them lost wedding photos and other items of sentimental value. So a bunch of way cool people in Southern California are getting together to try and help by starting the heirloom project. The heirloom project is a bunch of professional photographers who are getting together to offer free portrait photo sessions to help these people start some new memories and in a small way to make up for their losses. This is an awesome project and you can read more about it at www.projectheirloom.com . If you have any questions you can contact my cousin’s wife, who is a professional photographer and a participating member, at nelyphoto.com. If you have something to offer or you were one of those families that lost a lot of your memories in the California wildfire contact these guys at heirloomproject.com or any of the individual photographers. Your love and aloha is appreciated.
This was a tough weekend. My job ended on thursday with the end of the legislative session. Friday I was denied unemployment benefits. Saturday morning I discovered my breaks were no good and that it would cost three hundred bucks to fix. Saturday afternoon I found out I did not pass the bar exam. All in all it was a tough weekend, especially on Saturday. It left me in a haze of bewilderment and confusement. I had never felt so ashamed and hurt before, the nice thing was I had friends who were comforting with their words. They were very encouraging.
Anyways I got home Saturday afternoon and I was having a hard time focusing. I kept trying to think where did I go wrong. I was studying about fifty hours a week, was that not enough? Did I spend too much time working, was sixty hours a week too much to work while studying for the bar? Did I not pray enough? Did I sin too much? And as I laid in my bed contemplating this I heard Jesus saying to me that it’s ok, and that he was in control. That I shouldn’t be disheartened and that if I keep my faith and eyes on him, He will carry me through. And so I was comforted by His words and I went to sleep knowing that it was going to be all right.
I woke up on Sunday morning, went to church, and began to break the bad news about the bar to my fellow brothers and sisters. I think they were more sad for me than I was for myself. Al ot of them had spent a lot of time praying for my success, which really is not my success but God’s success, more about that later. After service I had a chance to talk to Pastor Kaala and we made a coffee meeting which is code for going out for a surf session on Wednesday, and in the middle of the conversation, he said I have a word for you – “Lazarus”. Now he didn’t know what it meant but he felt like God had given him a word for me, and so I decided I would go home and read and meditate on it.
The story of Lazarus is pretty famous and is found in John 11. In this story Jesus finds out that one of his friends, Lazarus, is sick and dying. After He finds out that Lazarus is sick He says “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” This was the first thing that struck me and began to resonate in my mind. It was like God was telling me that this bar thing, which you(which is me) think of as a setback is not the end of the world, but through it Jesus is going to be glorified. Jesus hung out for a couple days before going to Lazarus, when he gets there Lazarus has already passed on. Jesus then comforted the sisters and one of the truly amazing moments was he wept. Jesus had so much love for these people that he felt their suffering and pain and wept with them, even knowing that He could and would raise Lazarus. At this point Jesus rolls up to the tomb and has the people remove the rock, and He calls out to Lazarus to come out. His prayer was the second thing that hit me and similarly to the first, Jesus prays “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” In this personally troubling time I know that Jesus will be glorified and that people will come to know him because of this.
The enemy, that would be the devil, came to steal, kill, and destroy. If I give in and let him keep my spirits down, he wins. Instead I choose to glorify Jesus for the goodness and all the blessings he has provided me in life. I am truly blessed with amazing friends, the best family anyone could ask for, opportunities (like law school, work, and so much more that many others do not have), and Grace. SO I truly have nothing to be sad about, Jesus is going to use this for His glory just like raising Lazarus was used to glorify the Father. Now let me throw out a little disclaimer here, I am not saying that Jesus caused me to fail, do not think that is what I am saying, but I am saying that Jesus is going to use my shortcomings and mistakes for His glory. I don’t know who reads this stuff, but if you are reading this and want to know more about Jesus feel free to hit me up or if you are struggling and need prayer, again hit me up and I would be more than happy to pray for you. Read more »
I am not sure when it happened, but lately I have kind of become a cynical jerk. Haha I know it is hard to believe but I have. I don’t know if it is the building I work in(I think politics can have such a negative effect on people) or the people I work with(some who are quite negative and are a real drag). I try to stay positive and happy, but it seems harder and harder these days. It is not that I am unhappy, but instead of just rolling with things, I seem to be lashing out a bit. Not in a violent or destructive way, but in a smart alleck kind of way. I am the kind of guy who will work 37 hours straight without any sleep go home crash out for a few hours and come back to work and work for another 30 some odd hours straight without any sleep again. I will come to work with a fever and work through a migraine. I expect the people I work with to put out the same kind of effort without complaining. Work needs to get done, we are paid to do it, and that is that. I am not sensitive to the fact that some of those people have other health issues, family issues, or a different mind set, so when they don’t hold up or complain, I tend to become a smart alleck. Well some of my coworkers have told me this and apparently I am the office meanie and jerk because of this. I try not to be that person but it is becoming increasingly difficult.
Today, while walking out to lunch, I was strolling along. It was raining and I was getting soaked. I was at a corner waiting for the traffic signal to change, when this beautiful lady turned to me and asked if I would like to stand under her umbrella with her. It was a very nice offer, which I declined, and thanked her for. We had a brief conversation while crossing the street until she had to turn off to her building. It was so nice though to see that people can be kind without any intentions or alterior motives. It reminded me that there are good people in this world and that a few rotten folks shouldn’t spoil the lot. It reminded me that even in quote unquote bad circumstances people can still be nice. It definately has motivated me to be nicer to people and try to be sensitive to their feelings. If we all could be a little nicer, what an impact we could have on the world.
