Where's the Loves?

For those watching the 46th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival last night, you may have seen my daughter in the Loves commercial. She and her hula mates got to be in it. If you look closely, behind Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, you may see my wife. Shhh. Don't tell her I told you guys.

It will air every night during the festival and also in the upcoming Keiki Hula Competition later this summer.

JT of White Light

Look at JT blowing his Sax.

I like your autograph.

Brutal

This is unreal.

My wife knew the victim professionally and is close friends with the victim's close friends.

Two young daughters. So sad...

She volunteered at her daughter's school today and this is what happens afterward.

Brutal.

Goodbye...

My wife's grandfather passed away this morning. He was 97 years young. A very amazing man. We visited him the other week and his mind was still sharp. You will be missed.

Namu Amida Butsu.

Second Half Begins

The second half of the Pac-10 season begins on Thursday for the UCLA Bruins. They are currently tied for first with UW at 7-2. They were struggling a bit, but had a strong week by beating down the bay area schools, Cal and Stanford. The fab freshmen are coming along. The Bruins are not just relying on jump shots and have been attacking the rim. The defense has also stepped up a notch. We shall see if they can keep it up in the second half. For the Bruins to win their 4th straight Pac-10 title, I think they can only lose one more conference game.

Just In Time

Got set up and I'm ready for the big game. Just in time.

Pac-10 Play Begins

The #12 ranked UCLA Bruins will open the Pac-10 season tonight on the road against Oregon State. The three-time defending champs will have a tough road to win a fourth title. I have been so busy that I have only watched four games this year. Those 5 freshman are pretty talented, but inconsistent. Guard Jrue Holiday is a starter and at times shows some unbelievable talent. Then the next game scores two points and five turnovers.

Darren Collison is looking and playing great. He is the leader of this team and if he has a bad game, UCLA is very vulnerable. Josh Shipp is still hot-and-cold. If he's on, watch out. Alfred Aboya is still a bruiser but has controlled his fouling. James Keefe has gotten a lot better on the boards.

UCLA has no inside game. Aboya, Keefe and freshman Drew Gordon are not the same as Kevin Love. Watching these five freshman play and compare them to K-Love is like apples and oranges. You really appreciate how polished K-Love's game was.

Their defense is good, but not as good as last year. Foul shooting is still a problem. They seem to be moving the ball around better on offense although the last few games have been against cupcakes so we shall see.

No matter though, I think the national championship has already been decided. Does anybody think that NC will lose this year?

Go BRUINS!!!

Not So Pathetic 10

Perhaps the Pac-10 will get a little more respect now that they have gone 5-0 in the bowl season. The only conference to go undefeated this season. So congrats to Oregon State, Oregon, Arizona, Cal and USC. Hopefully the Bruins will be in the mix next year. But now, on to basketball season.

Visit to the Old 'hood

Since I got married and moved to MM, I hardly ever go to Waipahu. I needed some car work done so I dropped my van off in the morning and did some shopping and stuff with the family to kill time. When my car was done my wife and children dropped me off to retrieve my car.

On the way home, I was following my wife and son, while my daughter rode with me. We were stopped at the traffic light in front of Waipahu Intermediate (Middle?) School. For those of you unfamiliar with Waipahu, this is a pretty high crime area. Just across the highway from the infamous Aniani place and a block from the "Pupu" area. I was just waiting until I saw a blalah nonchalantly jump out of the way of an SUV. I thought to myself, did that SUV just try to run him over? Maybe they are just friends and playing around. However, the blalah is not laughing, but yet he does not seem upset. He continues walking toward us like nothing has happened. The SUV in the mean time reverses and drives around and starts heading for the blalah again. The SUV speeds up and jumps the curb and nearly takes the blalah out. My daughter starts yelling "Oh my god, that car almost hit the man." The blalah then starts to yell and swing at the SUV. In the meantime the light changes so I cannot find out what happened.

I was laughing now, so I call the wife to see if she saw that and she says "Oh my god! What the hell is the wrong with Waipahu?" I'm laughing more now as the wife has never been fond of the Waipahu area. When we were dating and we would go to Waipahu, it seems we would witness something illegal or scary that would freak her out. I would tell her it's okay, just another day in the hood.

Does Size Really Matter?

I have been thinking for a while now about this so maybe you guys can offer up some advice. It is time for me to get an HD TV, however I do not know what to do. The room I will be putting this TV in has the space for a large screen. I do not want a DLP or a projector type set up. It is either plasma or LCD. The largest available here in the islands is the 65" Sharp Aquos LC-65D64U. It is an LCD but the reviews have been so-so.

I really like the 58" Samsung PN-58A650 (a plasma) which has excellent ratings. However the price tag is quite high at around $3,800, while the Sharp is around $3,000.

There are some 60" plasmas by Panasonic and Pioneer but those run well over $4,000 which is way out of my budget.

So do I get the better quality AND pay more for a smaller screen or do I pay less money but get a larger screen? Or do I just wait until more options come out for larger screens? Everyday I change my mind between these three options.

Help me out here guys. Does size matter?

Disney Groundbreaking

My daughter will have the day off from school tomorrow to perform with her halau at the groundbreaking of the Disney Resort at Koolina.

Maybe she'll be on the news or in the paper.

BBall Begins

UCLA's quest for another national championship began this week with two games in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. They crushed Prairie View A&M and barely got by Miami (OH).

As you know the team lost three players to the NBA draft (Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute), who are all doing well for their respective teams. They were replaced by the top recruiting class led by Jrue Holiday. I have not seen any of their games yet, so I do not know how these youngsters play. I just know that Darren Collison is back and he has bulked up at least 10 pounds. Josh Shipp is back, not sure if he found his shooting stroke. Alfred Aboya is back and he needs to keep out of foul trouble to be effective. Coach Howland would make everyone stop and run everytime Aboya made a foul in practice.

The guard play should be solid, but they will have no inside game or rebounding presence like they did last year. They said the Bruins will push the ball up and run more, but I don't see Howland letting that happen. Up next in this tournament, they will play Michigan at MSG. Hopefully it will be televised.

Go Bruins!!!

Exceeding Expectations

The UCLA Bruins picked up their first road win of the season by beating the winless Washington Huskies to improve their record to 4-6. I predicted a 3-9 season, so I guess they exceeded my expectations. They will go on the road again to play the Sun Devils and then finish up at home with USC.

QB Kevin Craft is still having it rough as he threw three more picks and got an earful from Neuheisiel.

'Tis the Season

Flu season that is. My daughter got it first on last week Sunday. Then my wife got it on Wednesday. My son got it last night. Poor thing as today is his birthday and we had to cancel his b-day plans. Guess I'm next.

We were all scheduled to get our flu shots next week. Too late. You guys better get yours.

Go to the (White) Light

Our very own JT will be performing tonight at Ige's with the group White Light. More info here.

Check out the "saxy" guy on the left in the video clip.

Go JT!

Cookie Time

Last night we got together at a friend's house to decorate Halloween cookies. Nine kids with over a 100 cookies to decorate. Even I made three. The children got all dressed up in their costumes and had a blast. I had fun too (notice the green bottle).

Win #3 for Bruins

The UCLA Bruins picked up their third win of the season by beating Stanford 23-20 on another come from behind drive by QB Kevin Craft. It was another ugly game by the QB, but in the end, he came through. Coach Neuheisel was about to yank Craft in the second quarter, but Norm Chow convinced him to stick with Craft. Good thing. It is pretty funny to see Neuheisel get into Craft's face pretty much after every series and scream at him. The kind of stuff Craft does is pretty questionable for being a coach's son. Usually a coach's son is smart, but not too good physically, but Craft seems to be both, not too smart and not too good physically. Oh well, you just gotta play with what you got.

Up next is Myong's Cal Bears, who got stomped by Arizona. The next possible win for the Bruins will be against the Washington Huskies. Since my expectations for this season is low, I do not get too upset when the Bruins lose. Every win is a nice surprise.