tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90583842024-03-13T19:20:36.082-10:00Voice of the 13th Generation13th generation n. The generation born between 1961 and 1981, so-called because they are identified as the 13th generation since the founding of the United States.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.comBlogger931125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-85098679168576155572011-11-10T23:19:00.001-10:002011-11-10T23:20:55.346-10:00Punchbowl Crater, Manoa Falls & Our First VisitorsI can't believe it's been two months since I last posted, but as expected, once work got going for me, my spare time dwindled. So as not to let too much more time pass between posts, it seemed appropriate to update the blog.<br />
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We've been living in Hawaii for about two and a half months now and although the initial excitement has died down, we are still exploring the island and discovering new things every so often. As I've mentioned before, we live in an area of town known as the Lower Punchbowl due to it's proximity to the base of a large extinct volcano. Several weeks ago, we decided to pay the Punchbowl another visit and check out what appeared from a distance to be a lookout point on the edge of the rim. It did not disappoint and I was able to get a new perspective of the city of Honolulu and can even identify more of it now that we've been living here for a while.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TmiyyHYDnbc/TrzZgzFFAzI/AAAAAAAABzo/BqTjH_Fbv0M/s1600/IMG_0415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TmiyyHYDnbc/TrzZgzFFAzI/AAAAAAAABzo/BqTjH_Fbv0M/s320/IMG_0415.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown Honolulu looking towards Eva from Punchbowl Crater.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnRaVJjrzuU/TrzZbYg1D6I/AAAAAAAABzg/uFMgs_qA_5U/s1600/IMG_0414.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnRaVJjrzuU/TrzZbYg1D6I/AAAAAAAABzg/uFMgs_qA_5U/s320/IMG_0414.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown Honolulu from Punchbowl Crater.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3zu1EHI9pn0/TrzZV0PiItI/AAAAAAAABzY/1syNpRfWR00/s1600/IMG_0413.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3zu1EHI9pn0/TrzZV0PiItI/AAAAAAAABzY/1syNpRfWR00/s320/IMG_0413.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown Honolulu from Punchbowl Crater.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YoaWE6fdYns/TrzZl5a3VsI/AAAAAAAABzw/jw8exT6_T7k/s1600/IMG_0417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YoaWE6fdYns/TrzZl5a3VsI/AAAAAAAABzw/jw8exT6_T7k/s320/IMG_0417.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking towards Waikiki and Diamond Head from Punchbowl Crater</td></tr>
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A few of weeks later, Roxi and I decided to go for a hike in the Manoa Valley to see Manoa Falls. Hiking in the jungle was nice but challenging despite the path. The valley gets quite a bit more rain than the area where we live, which made for some very muddy stretches on the trail. Eventually, we made it to the falls and although we were a expecting a larger waterfall, it was still a very beautiful hike and we noticed another interesting perspective of the falls on our way back down the trail. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwBH5dcpppA/TrzcRe-DtpI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/OYNE68mJHfs/s1600/DSC07543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwBH5dcpppA/TrzcRe-DtpI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/OYNE68mJHfs/s320/DSC07543.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Manoa Falls</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-93dqZk2RaHo/TrzcbGK40hI/AAAAAAAAB0g/kBpZ0cf3M14/s1600/DSC07545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-93dqZk2RaHo/TrzcbGK40hI/AAAAAAAAB0g/kBpZ0cf3M14/s320/DSC07545.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Manoa Falls</td></tr>
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Being on Oahu is great but living so far away from family can be hard at times. We've been looking forward to a home connection and last week we got it when Roxi's parents, Vicky and Larry, visited us. It was great having them around and very exciting to share some of our favorite things on Oahu and do some things we hadn't even had the chance to do yet.<br />
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On their first weekend in town, we took Vicky and Larry to the North Shore via the Pali and Kamehameha Highways around the windward side of the island. No trip over the Pali would be complete without a stop at the Pali Lookout.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vz4giwfcmno/Trze5QiV2UI/AAAAAAAAB0w/LSGk38u0bFU/s1600/DSC07645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vz4giwfcmno/Trze5QiV2UI/AAAAAAAAB0w/LSGk38u0bFU/s320/DSC07645.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vicky and Larry at the Pali Lookout.</td></tr>
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We spent the rest of that afternoon at the Turtle Bay Resort lounging on the beach and swimming in the cove. Roxi, Vicky and I even got to see a young sea turtle surface in the cove several times before diving below and presumably swimming out to where there were fewer humans around. As the sun began to set, we headed towards Haleiwa stopping at a few scenic areas along the way. We were losing light very quickly but decided to make one last stop at a beach near Haleiwa that Roxi and I had previously seen a large sea turtle while swimming in the cove. We got more than we bargained for at this stop as there were two very large seas turtles basking on the beach. Although Hawaii law prohibits getting within six feet of the turtles, it was amazing to get to see them from that distance. Roxi managed to take some excellent photos in the waning sunlight.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G47mBw2YTrs/TrzgrI6M1PI/AAAAAAAAB04/vFsW97CaZ6Q/s1600/DSC07654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G47mBw2YTrs/TrzgrI6M1PI/AAAAAAAAB04/vFsW97CaZ6Q/s320/DSC07654.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Turtles near Haleiwa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CH_GYgtr9Dw/TrzgwGRYMPI/AAAAAAAAB1A/ZY33ircdNrE/s1600/DSC07664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CH_GYgtr9Dw/TrzgwGRYMPI/AAAAAAAAB1A/ZY33ircdNrE/s320/DSC07664.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Turtles near Haleiwa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-knPzx3BXZaw/Trzg2FZ1PuI/AAAAAAAAB1I/aoQqma8MLik/s1600/DSC07665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-knPzx3BXZaw/Trzg2FZ1PuI/AAAAAAAAB1I/aoQqma8MLik/s320/DSC07665.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Turtles near Haleiwa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0fbxaldveKA/Trzg7dZ3axI/AAAAAAAAB1Q/l_vg1vToQ8Y/s1600/DSC07667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0fbxaldveKA/Trzg7dZ3axI/AAAAAAAAB1Q/l_vg1vToQ8Y/s320/DSC07667.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Turtles near Haleiwa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cnKXOjwv1RI/TrzhAyq6pOI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/mX7U0Gbi_cw/s1600/DSC07672.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cnKXOjwv1RI/TrzhAyq6pOI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/mX7U0Gbi_cw/s320/DSC07672.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Turtles near Haleiwa</td></tr>
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Later in the week, we went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, a first for all of us since Roxi and I had not had time to make a trip there yet. Hanauma Bay is an old volcano crater whose eastern end has completely eroded allowing the sea to fill it and create a unique and amazing coral reef within its bowl. It is without a doubt, the best place I have ever been snorkeling. The colors of the fish were so vibrant and they never seemed bothered by our swimming around them; that is until Roxi and I saw an eel. We're not sure what type of eel it was when we first saw it hiding in some coral but we were amazed and in awe. As we looked on, the eel started to make what seemed to be aggressive movements towards us. At that point, we came to our senses and moved away as quickly as possible without further agitating it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BxRqvjR7ans/TrzkLNcGvAI/AAAAAAAAB1g/0o6yqZrbFWU/s1600/IMG_0499.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BxRqvjR7ans/TrzkLNcGvAI/AAAAAAAAB1g/0o6yqZrbFWU/s320/IMG_0499.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanauma Bay from the rim of the crater.</td></tr>
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Sadly, all good things come to an end; Vicky and Larry left last Saturday to return home but not before we all got to see a double rainbow. It sure made sitting in the Honolulu traffic much easier to handle!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-po9BruOYI/Trzmk9oY9UI/AAAAAAAAB1o/mKwubnzRph4/s1600/IMG_0501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-po9BruOYI/Trzmk9oY9UI/AAAAAAAAB1o/mKwubnzRph4/s320/IMG_0501.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Double Rainbow!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-56230686829001796452011-09-10T10:30:00.000-10:002011-09-10T10:30:19.425-10:00...Two Weeks Later Part 4: All We Need Now Is Our CarOn Sunday September 4, Roxi spent a fair amount of the morning continuing her lecture preparation but after lunch we decided that it was time to make the drive up to the North Shore. With it being a holiday weekend, I was expecting some heavy traffic but we didn't really experience too much and arrived at the North Shore in about an hour. The view as we drove up the Kamehameha Highway was beautiful!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5v-uW-giz9I/Tmu7kLtAzKI/AAAAAAAABqE/EzzYpeYjtmM/s1600/DSC07519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5v-uW-giz9I/Tmu7kLtAzKI/AAAAAAAABqE/EzzYpeYjtmM/s400/DSC07519.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North Shore of Oahu</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North Shore of Oahu</td></tr>
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The traffic got a little heavier as we made our way through the town of Haleiwa but thankfully the majority of it was going in the opposite direction. After driving a little further, we spontaneously stopped on the roadside where several other people appeared to be enjoying a beach. We unloaded our things and set up on the very rocky beach. Signs around the beach informed us that this was a basking area for sea turtles and instructed us to remain at least six feet from any turtles. There was even a volunteer on the beach monitoring the area to make sure that any sea turtles approaching from the ocean would not be disturbed by the many swimmers, snorkelers and paddlers.<br />
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We headed for the water and it was very cold! It seemed colder than the water in Waikiki although it's hard to imagine there being that much of a temperature variation. We decided to sit on the beach for a few minutes and let the sun heat us enough to offset the temperature of the water. After a little while, we tried again but the water was still very cold. We decided to just bite the bullet and dunk ourselves and that did the trick. It was a pretty calm afternoon with most of the waves breaking far from shore leaving us to slowly bob up and down in the rocky cove. We floated out pretty far on boogie boards, but once we started to notice an increase in rocks and coral under water, we paddled a little way back to shore. I certainly didn't want a trip to the beach to end with one of us getting some nasty cuts from shallow coral.<br />
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As we continued our relaxing float, we began to drift further out so we again paddled ourselves closer to shore. When we were about halfway back to shore, I noticed a rock protruding from the water that I hadn't noticed before. As Roxi and I steered away, I noticed that the rock had a little head protruding from the water in front of it. I realized that this was no rock but rather a sea turtle attempting to swim to shore! We were only about eight feet away and it was huge! It was amazing, but a little terrifying to imagine this sea creature attempting to surface from underneath you as you swam unsuspectingly. I'm sure the turtle would be equally surprised and scared but it wouldn't change the fact that it was a giant sea creature!<br />
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We watched as a snorkeler was swimming directly towards the turtle and shouted warnings so that he wouldn't swim into it although he couldn't hear us with his head below water. The turtle began to go underwater just as the snorkeler reached it and he reacted a lot calmer than I would have in the situation. He was visably and audibly excited and came up out of the water to tell anyone nearby what he saw. We talked for a second before he put his head back in the water to see the turtle again. As slow as turtles are on land, they must be pretty fast underwater since none of us could spot it or any evidence of movement in the area. After a few minutes of scanning the ocean floor through the crystal clear water, we gave up. Any one of the large round rocks we could see might have been the turtle but it certainly wasn't planning on surfacing again while we were around.<br />
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We paddled back to shore and sat in the sun to dry off a bit. After we got a little too hot, we decided it was time to move on to another spot on the North Shore. When we visited the area for our honeymoon a few years ago, we spent an afternoon at the <a href="http://www.turtlebayresort.com/">Turtle Bay Resort</a>, so we continued our drive north along the coast to the hotel. One of the great things about Hawaii is that there are no private beaches. Even if you own a home on the beachfront, state law prohibits private ownership beyond the line of natural vegetation. As a result, you can use any beach you want so long as you do not cross private property to get there. We arrived at Turtle Bay and made our way to the public beach access area. We decided to have a beer and an appetizer at the beach side bar and grill and enjoy the afternoon. Just as we sat down, it started to drizzle but this did not cause anyone sitting in the uncovered patio to move indoors. As with most Hawaii rain, it was a very short shower. It actually gave us the opportunity to see a double rainbow! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me to capture it and become part of the internet <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/double-rainbow#.TmuyO08mb28">meme</a>. <br />
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After our snack, we took a walk along the beach and the volcanic rock. As we walked on the coarse pumice, we couldn't help but think of the volcanic formation of the island so many eons ago. It was also fascinating the see the vegetation that has managed to survive and even thrive on what seems like inhospitable terrain. Along the walk we also noticed deposits of salt that were the obvious remnants of puddles of seawater that had long since evaporated. I sure hope that children in Hawaii appreciate all of the amazing geology and earth history that they are privy to but I'd imagine that, like most youths, they take where they grow up for granted to some degree. If some of the local radio commercials I have heard are any indication, there is a desire for young Hawaiians to move to the Mainland for various reasons.<br />
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As the sun began to set, we began our drive back to Honolulu. Shortly after leaving Turtle Bay, we passed one of Oahu's only wind projects, the recently completed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahuku_Wind_Farm">Kahuku Wind Farm</a>. I loved the way the turbines looked on the hills and despite it's small size, the farm generates a considerable amount of power. In a place where almost all of the electricity is generated by burning imported coal and oil, it certainly seems logical to capture the resources of the wind and sun to reduce the reliance of off island energy sources. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kahuku Wind Farm</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kahuku Wind Farm</td></tr>
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Our Labor Day, Monday September 5, was spent at the apartment working. Roxi was busy getting ready for her first day of class on Tuesday while I worked on organizing things on my computer. I learned several years ago that if you don't keep up with your computer files, eventually you will have a mess (and lots of duplicates) on your hands. Although I've only had this computer since April, I have been working on consolidating all files from my previous three computers onto it and then working to create a master backup on an external hard drive. I know what you're thinking: "Wes, you're in Hawaii and you're working on your computer instead of going to the beach!" This is true but like I try to remind myself, this is life in paradise not a vacation. I have to utilize this time for my personal projects before I start on my work projects because...well, you can see my blogging activity over the last year. I can't say with certainty how much time I will have when my work commitments kick in about a week from now. <br />
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On Tuesday September 6, we were up early and eager to see about finally getting our car. Since our arrival in Hawaii, we've been in a rental car as our vehicle has been making its journey across the Pacific by ship. Since we dropped it off at the port in Long Beach, we've been able to keep tabs on its progress through the shipper's website. We've seen the status change from "Delivered at Port" to "Loaded onto Ship" to "In Transit Aboard Ship" until finally over the weekend it was listed as "Arrived in Honolulu." Late Sunday evening, the status had changed to "Estimated Available for Pickup on 9/6/11." Needless to say we were excited so we fully intended to pick it up on Tuesday morning before Roxi had to be on campus for her classes that afternoon. Unfortunately, as of that morning the status had changed saying that our estimated pickup day was back to 9/7/11. We were a little bummed, but since that had been the date we were expecting since we dropped it off in Long Beach, we weren't too heartbroken. It gave me the opportunity to get our things in order for the vehicle registration process.<br />
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That afternoon, I dropped Roxi off on campus for the afternoon and I took care of some errands. As usual, the traffic was pretty bad in Honolulu so errands that should have only taken about an hour wound up taking me most of the time that she was in class. So right around the time I was finished with my errands, she called me ready to be picked up. I'm very glad that we are located as close as we are to downtown, otherwise the commuting and traffic would really get to both of us! Roxi had a great first day and enjoyed meeting her students. All in all it was a good and productive day for both of us.<br />
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On Wednesday September 7, we were up early and eager to get to the port as soon as possible to avoid a repeat of the long wait we had dropping off the car in Long Beach. We beat the rush, but we still had to wait but only for about twenty minutes this time. The convertible made it and although it was a little dirty, it was otherwise in the same condition that we left it in! We signed our release paperwork and then headed to airport to return the rental car. As soon as we were done with that, we put the top down and made our first drive together in Hawaii in our convertible. As usual, the traffic was bad because it was the morning rush hour, but at least we were doing it in style. <br />
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So after two weeks in Hawaii, we were finally done. We had found an apartment, furniture, gotten oriented to life on the island and finally had our car. The last six weeks have been stressful and challenging but they've also been exciting and rewarding. If we'd had more time to prepare, I honestly don't think that we would have made the move so smoothly. And we certainly couldn't have done it without our friends, both old and new. Thanks to everyone who have helped us along our way! Mahalo!Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-32944148755459552852011-09-08T19:13:00.000-10:002011-09-08T19:13:41.319-10:00...Two Weeks Later Part 3: Getting Settled InOn Tuesday August 30, we awoke in our Waikiki hotel renewed by the knowledge that we had secured an apartment and that we could move in as soon as we had furniture. All of our utilities would be covered in our monthly rent except for internet so I set about to getting us connected as soon as possible. After getting our appointment set for Wednesday between 8 AM and noon (got to love those reasonable installation windows!) we left the hotel to start getting furniture and other household items.<br />
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Our first stop was the mattress store that we had visited the afternoon before. We were able to ensure delivery by Wednesday afternoon. So with those two tasks completed, we set about to stocking our kitchen. We made a trip to the very busy but affordable Wal-mart to buy essential kitchen ware, bathroom items and a couple of fans. Because of the mild climate, most places in Hawaii don't have air conditioning and if they do, it is in the form of a window unit or two. Central air in homes seems to be a mostly unnecessary expense. From spending a little time in our apartment the day before, we did find that it was a bit stuffy, even with the windows open so fans were definitely in order to circulate the natural airflow.<br />
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After getting our new purchases to the apartment, we rushed back to the hotel to enjoy the free weekly happy hour drinks in the lobby. The happy hour was literally sixty minutes keeping in the spirit of the continental breakfast they offered in the morning, but the drinks were very good so I wasn't complaining. We were originally planning to check out on Thursday September 1 (hoping that<br />
would have found an apartment within a week of our arrival) but since we were going to be able to stay in our new place a day early, we made arrangements to check out accordingly. The hotel served us well for our first week on Oahu but we were ready to be cooking meals in a real kitchen and having a lot more space.<br />
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That afternoon/evening, we got our things packed up and then headed for a visit to the beach one last time while we were still within walking distance. We made it to the beach just in time to enjoy the sunset. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diamondhead at Dusk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset at Waikiki</td></tr>
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We celebrated our move with overpriced Mai Tais at a hotel bar. They were good but they really gouge the heck out of tourists in Waikiki! As we were heading back to the hotel, we stopped in at a little Japanese restaurant for a sake and a sushi snack. Tempura avocado is pretty tasty! After that it was off to bed for us since we had to be up and out of the hotel early so that I was at our apartment by 8 AM to wait for the cable guy.<br />
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As planned, we woke up very early on Wednesday August 31 to check out of the hotel and get the rental car packed up. We easily made it to the apartment before 8 AM and began the waiting game. We only had a little while to wait before the cable guy showed up to install our internet. By 9:30, we were ready to go and I had the router up and running as well. With our mattress delivery not scheduled until 2 PM, we decided to check out some furniture stores for a couch, chairs and computer desk. I am always amazed by the ludicrous prices for furniture. Even on the Mainland I think that there is a real disconnect between what you pay and what you get when it comes to furniture, but then again I am a function over form kind of guy. New furniture was really not in our budget so we did some searching on Craigslist to try to locate a few items.<br />
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We didn't want to limit ourselves to Craigslist so we followed up on a recommendation that our realtor friend Sandy gave us about a place that sells discount furniture that was previously in hotels on the island. We visited it and found a few pieces that we liked right away and others that we thought might be worth getting. We weren't ready to commit to some of the things right away but we did opt to purchase a TV and large mirror for very reasonable prices and we were able to move them in our rental car.<br />
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With some comparison furniture shopping finished, we headed home to await the arrival of our mattress. Again we had a window (only two hours this time) but they arrived just after 2 PM and were in and out in a matter of minutes. We spent the rest of the evening making some dinner, getting our new apartment organized and Roxi also continued her class preparations.<br />
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On the morning of Thursday September 1, Roxi continued her class preparations while I continued trying to find furniture options on Craigslist. After a few hours, we decided to make a trip to the western side of the island to visit a Target store in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapolei">Kapolei</a> where we still had a valid gift card from our wedding nearly four years ago. It was a long drive even though it was only about twenty miles away. Traffic on the freeway was terrible and it really made us glad that we had such great advice about where not to look for an apartment. It wasn't even rush hour and we crept along slowly for miles. Since then, I've heard that there is a plan in the works to build a commuter train from Kapolei to the airport and downtown Honolulu but it is years away at best. It's a shame really because it is evident that there is a real need for a reduction in the cars traveling in both directions on a daily basis.<br />
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After completing our shopping at Target, we rushed (as quickly as possible with the traffic) back to the HPU campus in downtown Honolulu to pick-up Roxi's desktop computer that we had shipped from Memphis about two weeks before. We made it in time to pick it up before the office closed for the day. It was nice having it again not just for making Roxi's work easier, but it has such a large monitor, we routinely use it as a TV to watch shows on Hulu. Thanks to some Craigslist work, I had located a used printer/scanner/copier for sale that we picked up on the way home. Craigslist is such an asset in a place like Hawaii; so many people move the the islands for a short time and for various reasons return to the Mainland. It doesn't really make much sense to ship things either way unless someone else is paying the bill (i.e. company relocation package) so there are constantly nearly new items for sale on Craigslist.<br />
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After another long day of work, we decided to hit the beach for a walk. We made it to Ala Moana Beach (just west of Waikiki and less crowded) just after sunset. We took a leisurely stroll along the beach watching the last of the surfers paddle in for the day. Even though we don't live by the beach, we are a very short drive even in afternoon traffic so this will be a nice option for an afternoon activity.<br />
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Roxi had work meetings on campus on the morning of Friday September 2 so I stayed at home and did laundry and other domestic activities. I should have squeezed in some blogging but instead I caught up on several episodes of Master Chef and Hell's Kitchen. Roxi can attest to my man crush on Gordon Ramsey and his slew of reality TV shows about cooking.<br />
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Friday afternoon, we continued our search for furniture, revisiting some stores and reconsidering some items that we thought we might need. Ever since we sold most of our things in Memphis, I am really hesitant to repurchase a lot of items. I love this stripped down lifestyle and I want to keep it this way for as long as possible. We survived for seven months in the Netherlands with hardly any real possessions; we can certainly do the same here as long as we always remember what a pain it is to get rid of stuff when it's time to move.<br />
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We didn't really come to any decisions about furniture other than that we weren't about to spend over $1000 on a couch. After another long day of searching for furniture, we decided to return to Ala Moana Beach for what was left of the afternoon to relax. With the sun going down, it was a bit too cold to swim so we sat with our feet in the surf for at least an hour and half just relaxing and discussing our move so far. It was a really nice time even though we barely got in the water. After returning to our apartment and doing a bit more research about furniture options, we called it an early night determined to complete our search on Saturday. <br />
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On Saturday September 3, we decided it was time to cross furniture off of our list once and for all. We returned to the Inter Island Hotel Furniture store and selected a great computer desk and office chair combo, a coffee table and two oversized chairs. We may get a couch in the future, but at that point, we were happy to have a couple of comfortable places to sit. The only snag left was delivery. The store had great prices for the gently used items and a very reasonable delivery rate since we lived relatively close, but they told us the earliest we could expect our furniture was September 14! That was too long to be sitting on beach chairs so Roxi pleaded our case and the salesman was able to arrange delivery for later that afternoon. We were so excited that this would be done!<br />
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After leaving the store, we searched Craigslist for any moving sales and found one that looked good in Kaneohe. On our way up the Pali Highway, we stopped at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali_Lookout">Pali Lookout</a> to the get some pictures of the Nu'uanu Valley. It was very crowded, windy and cold up there so we didn't stay long but it was a breathtaking view to say the least.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nu'uanu Valley and Kaneohe Bay as seen from the Pali Lookout.</td></tr>
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After our brief stop at the Pali Lookout, we continued down to the town of Kaneohe to visit a moving sale. We didn't get a lot of items but we were in need of some coffee mugs, wine glasses and a few other sundries. Although our furniture wasn't scheduled to be delivered for another couple of hours, I didn't want to dilly-dally; so far all of our appointments and deliveries had been early in the specified time windows. Sure enough, as we drove back to our apartment, I received a call from the movers asking us if we were home and ready for delivery. We were about ten minutes away as were they, so we rushed to beat them there. Thankfully we arrived a couple of minutes before they did. As with all other deliveries so far, they worked very quickly and in a matter of minutes our apartment was furnished!<br />
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Roxi spent most of the rest of the afternoon working on her class preparation while I tried to straighten up around the apartment now that we were essentially set up. I did a little more searching on Craigslist for a TV stand to complete our furnishings and made arrangements to pick one up on Sunday morning. I have been amazed at how much we have been able to accomplish in such a short time, but I suppose making as many moves as we have made over the years has made us very adaptable!Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-57700307843615480752011-09-07T21:54:00.000-10:002011-09-07T21:54:29.301-10:00...Two Weeks Later Part 2: The Apartment HuntRoxi and I woke up at about 5:00 in the morning on Friday August 26. Between our excitement, anxiety and not having made the adjustment to our new time zone, we couldn't sleep any longer. We made the spontaneous decision to drive to the east end of Oahu to watch the sunrise. We didn't quite make it in time see the actual event but we did get to enjoy a quiet morning at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halona_Blowhole">Halona Blowhole</a>. The tide wasn't quite ideal for the water to spray up through the rocks but the views of the morning sun and island of Molokai were both breathtaking.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise at the Halona Blowhole in East Oahu</td></tr>
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After enjoying the natural beauty of East Oahu, we headed back to the hotel for breakfast before we were set to meet Sandy to talk about our apartment hunt. I liked our hotel but what they call a continental breakfast wouldn't even be considered a snack in most places. They basically had sliced bread that you could toast and/or butter, banana nut muffins, some kind of breakfast cake and there was a lady making pancakes on a portable griddle. It was included in our room price so I made sure to punish them for their meager offering but Roxi wasn't of the same mind as me. On subsequent days she chose to forgo the breakfast altogether.<br />
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After breakfast we met with Sandy, our realtor connection, to talk about parts of town we should investigate and see some apartments that she had made appointments at for us. She really gave us a crash course in Honolulu neighborhoods and steered us away from areas that offered much cheaper rent but ridiculously long commutes. Oahu's dirty little secret is that the traffic is horrendous. There are a couple of "interstate" freeways on Oahu and at many times of the day, they are more parking lots than roads. As a result, the surface streets around the freeways are also terrible during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Oahu is not big and commuting for work is common, but a few miles on the map translate to an hour or more in the car one way!<br />
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We settled on searching in the downtown area and adjacent neighborhoods. Sandy had made an appointment for us in a downtown high-rise so we visited it and were actually quite pleased with what our money could get us in Honolulu. It was not going to be an palatial apartment but it also wasn't going to be as bad as many of the tiny studios that we were expecting from our online research prior to arriving on the island. <br />
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After our time with Sandy, we compared our notes with ads on Craigslist and in the newspaper. Roxi and I were able to make several appointments during the afternoon and by the end of the day had found two studio apartments that were at the low and high ends of our budget that we could actually see ourselves living in for at least six months. Housing is very competitive in Oahu and even if you have had an application accepted, there is no telling how many other qualified applicants are vying for the same space. So we had no guarantees but were given encouragement from the leasing agents for the two apartments. After a long day we called it night feeling a sense of progress in our Hawaiian adventure.<br />
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We woke up very early in the morning on Saturday August 27 to get ready for a faculty orientation event that Roxi needed to attend for Hawai'i Pacific University. She will be teaching classes at the downtown campus but this orientation was being held at the Loa campus over the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%CA%BBolau_Range">Ko'olau Mountains</a> northeast of Honolulu. The drive from Waikiki up the Pali Highway is beautiful and capped off by an amazing view of the towns of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kailua,_Honolulu_County,_Hawaii">Kailua</a> and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Kaneohe</a> from various spots along the road.<br />
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I dropped Roxi off and headed back to the hotel to do much needed laundry. We hadn't had the opportunity to wash clothes since we had been in Lafayette more than a week before and we were running low on a few everyday items. While I was waiting for clothes to dry, I did some more research on Craigslist and in the newspaper to find an apartment. A few hours later, I drove back up the Pali Highway to get Roxi and we decided to take a drive down to Kailua and see what we thought of the area. It was definitely more suburban and calmer than Honolulu, but the beaches were very crowded for the weekend and we felt like this would probably be too far out of the way for a commute to the city. On our way back to Honolulu, we had time to stop at a food truck for some delicious garlic shrimp! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Pali Highway</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Pali Highway</td></tr>
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After a few hours rest back at the hotel and still more research on apartments, we played tourists and had a sunset dinner at the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Hula Grill</a> along the beach at Waikiki. After dinner we went for a walk along the beach and tried to remind ourselves that despite all the stress and hard work we were doing, we were getting ourselves set up to live in paradise.<br />
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We slept in a little on the morning of Sunday August 28, but were still up and out of the hotel rather early. Roxi was busy at work preparing syllabi for her upcoming classes but we took some time out to visit another potential apartment on the west side of Oahu. It was another strong contender. On our way back to the hotel, we paid a visit to Chinatown. Based on our realtor friend Sandy's recommendations, we took some time walking through the markets and getting some very fresh fruits and vegetables. We also marveled at the multitudes of fresh meats and fish that were available as well. Roxi made a few mental notes about potential gumbo ingredients. <br />
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We decided to have a dim sum lunch at Mei Sum and it was fantastic. Not only was the food outstanding, it was the best value for our money at any restaurant since arriving on Oahu. I have a feeling that we will be eating in Chinatown quite a bit! After lunch we did a little more exploring of the area before heading back to the hotel. Roxi continued working on her class preparations while I returned to the grocery store to get a few more things we had run out of. Roxi spent the rest of the evening working on her classes while I completed several apartment applications and emailed them on to the leasing agents and/or owners.<br />
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Monday August 29 was more of the same. Roxi was working on her class preparation and I was making contacts with apartment leasing agents. We left the hotel at around noon to head to an appointment to see a place not too far from downtown. We drove by before our appointment and thought it looked promising. It was cluster of bungalows as opposed to the larger apartment buildings that we had been looking at. We met with the agent about thirty minutes later and were pretty amazed at what he showed us. It seemed like a pretty great deal although it was at the upper end of our price range. We talked with him about ourselves and he urged us to fill out an application on the spot.<br />
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After Roxi and I left, we were discussing the possibility of the apartment we had just seen and decided to start thinking about furnishing whatever we ended up getting. We were looking at mattresses when I received a phone call from the agent that we had met with only thirty minutes earlier. He had spoken to the owner and she had given him the okay to rent us the apartment. I was so shocked at how quickly he got back to us that I was lost for words. I told him I had to talk it over with Roxi and that I would call him back in a few minutes. Roxi and I went to a Starbucks to discuss the pros and cons of the apartment. Besides being a little bit more that I wanted to spend on rent, there weren't really any other cons. I called the agent back and we made arrangements to review and sign the lease later that afternoon.<br />
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After Roxi took care of some paperwork at the HPU downtown campus, we went to the leasing agent's office, reviewed and signed the lease, paid our deposit and first months rent and were given the keys to our new place in Hawaii! It is located about a mile north of the heart of downtown Honolulu where both Roxi and I will be working yet it doesn't feel like we are living downtown. It is in an area called the Lower Punchbowl named for the proximity to the extinct <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punchbowl_Crater">volcano crater</a> that is a few hundred yards from us that is now the site of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Memorial_Cemetery_of_the_Pacific">National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific</a>. It was such a relief to find an apartment and be done with that stage of the process and it only took us five days! The next step was to furnish the place but that work would start in earnest on Tuesday.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3IH14ZQBzBE/TmhwBy5QmFI/AAAAAAAABpo/srchnx839Us/s1600/Punchbowl.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3IH14ZQBzBE/TmhwBy5QmFI/AAAAAAAABpo/srchnx839Us/s400/Punchbowl.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lower Punchbowl: Our new neighborhood in Honolulu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-81270583291785275782011-09-06T22:07:00.000-10:002011-09-06T22:07:34.555-10:00...Two Weeks Later Part 1: Los Angeles to HonoluluI had planned to be much better about updating my blog during this transition, but in our defence, we had a lot going on and limited internet access until late last week. So without further ado, here's a part one of what we've been up to since my last post:<br />
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After a week of driving from Memphis to Hermosa Beach, CA we had our first multi-night stay in the same place since we left Lafayette on August 20. I woke up pretty early on Wednesday August 24 and set out to get our car ready for dropping of at the shipper later that afternoon. This mainly involved me getting all our personal belongings out of the car and giving it a thorough wash. Although the Autozone and carwash in Hermosa Beach were only a couple of miles away, the whole process of washing the car took about two hours because of the ridiculous amounts of traffic. Little did I know that this would just be the beginning of my experiences with gridlock.<br />
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After washing the car and having some lunch, Roxi and I borrowed my brother Garrett's car so that we could caravan to the port in Long Beach to drop of our car. The process wasn't terribly complicated so much as it was a lot of sitting around and waiting our turn. Apparently, Wednesdays are the last day to get cars on the next outgoing ship so they are the busiest day of the week at the port. Had we known this, we might have planned our travel accordingly, but there we were. In reality, it wasn't so bad but we did have to wait about an hour before they processed and inspected our car. <br />
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With that finished, we headed back to Hermosa Beach. We spent the rest of the afternoon and much of the evening relaxing. Rather than cook dinner again, we went out to eat with Garrett and Nicole and tried to fathom what we were about to do. It still seemed so unbelievable!<br />
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On Thursday August 26, I woke up early as usual and set myself to getting us ready to make it to the airport on time for our flight. Roxi and I did I final luggage check, loaded up Garrett's car and said goodbye to Nicole as she left for work. Garrett dropped us off at LAX on his way to work and now it was really setting in: we were about to travel to Hawaii on a one-way ticket!<br />
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Check-in went pretty well although we found out that we had oversold tickets. It really seems like that is information that you as a consumer should be privy to when you purchase a plane ticket. I certainly would have considered a different flight if I had been given notice that this was an oversold flight. But since I had been in this position before, I wasn't worried yet. My biggest concern at the moment was getting through security and to our gate.<br />
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Security proved to be a much bigger deal than check-in. We had so much stuff packed tightly into our bags, I guess we both seemed suspicious. Roxi and I both had no trouble going through the body scanners but our carry on bags were completely unpacked and checked through by screeners. When they were done going through our things, we were left to repack our bags as best as we could in the middle of the airport. Again, it wasn't so bad but it was still <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater">security theater</a> as far as I'm concerned. <br />
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We got some breakfast and checked-in at the gate and we were still on the oversold list. This made Roxi a little worried but since I'd had this happen before and made it on a flight, I was still okay. Sure enough, ten minutes later when I checked with the gate agents again, they had our boarding passes. Not long after, we boarded our flight and there was no turning back now...we were island bound!<br />
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The flight from LAX to Honolulu was only five hours and we slept for much of the time. Before leaving Garrett and Nicole's I had downloaded a few movie rentals from iTunes so we watched one of them when we couldn't sleep anymore. By the time the movie was over, we were in range of the islands and Roxi took a couple of good pictures of the Big Island and Maui before we had to put our electronic devices away in preparation for landing on Oahu.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kKk2XZpvV9Y/Tmb_TrJIogI/AAAAAAAABpI/qZFKRDPbHL4/s1600/DSC07484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kKk2XZpvV9Y/Tmb_TrJIogI/AAAAAAAABpI/qZFKRDPbHL4/s400/DSC07484.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Big Island</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Big Island (left) and Maui (right)</td></tr>
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After we landed and got our bags, we had a long wait to get our rental car but eventually we made it out of the airport area and began our adventure on Oahu. We had so much to do it was a little overwhelming but we were both hungry and we happened to find a great fish taco restaurant called <a href="http://www.wahoos.com/">Wahoo's</a> and had a delicious lunch that was so large, it would end up being our dinner as well.<br />
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After lunch we decided the best thing to do was to check into our hotel so that we could feel grounded before we tried to tackle our next orders of business like finding an apartment. We had found a good rate at the <a href="http://www.aquaresorts.com/oahu/aloha-surf-spa/home/">Aqua Aloha Surf & Spa</a> in Waikiki and it turned out to be on the same street as the hotel we stayed in on our honeymoon! Needless to say, we were familiar with the area which was a plus since there was so much that was still unfamiliar to us about the island. Twenty-eight days after deciding to make the move to Hawaii, we were here and pretty proud of ourselves for accomplishing so much in such a short time.<br />
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Thanks to our friend <a href="http://www.har.com/AWS/AWS.CFM?AGENT_NUMBER=580691">Jay Mac Sanders</a> in Houston, we had a connection with a Realtor in Honolulu who was going to help us figure out where we should try to find a place to live. We talked to Sandy shortly after checking into our hotel on Thursday afternoon and scheduled a time to meet on Friday morning to start looking at rentals. Feeling like we had accomplished a fair amount of business, Roxi and I rewarded ourselves with a trip to the beach. We dug through our luggage to find our swimsuits and headed for Waikiki Beach. After the very short walk we got in the beautiful blue water that was the perfect temperature for the heat of the afternoon and had a relaxing swim. We still couldn't get over the fact that we were in Hawaii!<br />
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After the swim we went back to hotel before venturing out to the nearest grocery store to stock up on supplies. We had to constantly remind ourselves that although we were in paradise, this is not a vacation but rather a change of venue for our lives. We had booked the room we did so that we would be able to make dinner and lunch and save our money for living expenses for the next year or more. We drove to a nearby Safeway which seems to be the chain grocer on the island. I knew that groceries would be more expensive in Hawaii but I was shocked by some of the prices. Even more surprising was the amount of savings that we could get if we had a club card. After getting our essentials for our first week in the hotel, I took a chance of asking about a club card at the service desk. Since I couldn't prove I had moved to Hawaii, I wasn't sure that I would get a card, but they gave me one and told me to enter my address online when we were settled in an apartment. Score!<br />
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We took our groceries back to the hotel had some dinner and settled in for bed. It had, after all, been a very long day considering that we added three hours with the time change. We were exhausted and knew that we had several more long but exciting days ahead of us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7un77UKysq8/TmcHHWnhtRI/AAAAAAAABpQ/XKDytANnvf4/s1600/Day+9+Map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7un77UKysq8/TmcHHWnhtRI/AAAAAAAABpQ/XKDytANnvf4/s400/Day+9+Map.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 9: LAX to HNL: 2,556 miles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-90196016552842990972011-08-24T18:09:00.000-10:002011-08-24T18:09:27.813-10:00The Last Day...Of Driving: Day 7<span id="goog_1011150873"></span><span id="goog_1011150874"></span> We woke up pretty early on Tuesday morning because Amy had to leave for work at 9:00. Being a school teacher, Jason was already long gone but we had gotten a good visit in during the time we had on Monday night.<br />
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The last leg of our trip would take us all the way to the Pacific coast to my brother and sister-in-law's place in Hermosa Beach, CA. Google said that it would take about six hours but at only 400 miles we thought it should be closer to five (assuming we maintained our pace from the previous few days). Garrett and Nicole wouldn't be home until after 6:00 so we thought we'd spend a little time in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area.<br />
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We took a drive up north to see Frank Lloyd Wright's <a href="http://www.franklloydwright.org/fllwf_web_091104/Home.html">Taliesen West</a>. Since it is still a private residence, you can't do a self guided tour and the shortest organized tour they offered lasted an hour. We really weren't in the mood for a long tour so we looked around the bookstore and left to find somewhere to eat for lunch. After driving around aimlessly for a little while, we wandered into old town Scottsdale where we found a nice bistro for lunch. <br />
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After lunch, we started the drive across the desert. On our way out of Phoenix we stopped for gas and were so overwhelmed by the heat. The area is really pretty but it is just too hot! It was great between the hours of 8 pm and 8 am but by mid-day the temperature was well over 110 degrees. Phoenix must be really nice in the winter for so many people to endure the heat.<br />
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The drive was going well until we hit the California state line and the speed limit dropped way down. That coupled with lots of road construction dashed our hopes of making it to Hermosa Beach in five hours. The slow down and anticipation of completing our drive really made us weary. For the first time in a week, we were suddenly fed up with driving. <br />
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As we got closer to the greater Los Angeles area, our progress was further impeded by an increase in traffic and multiple highway interchanges. The last seventy or so miles was the roughest. It seemed like it took us two hours to drive that last stretch but by 7:15, we were unloading all of our luggage into Garrett and Nicoles apartment in sight of the Pacific Ocean.<br />
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At 2,261 miles, our drive was complete! We've come a long way: only one week earlier we were doing our final packing in Memphis and beginning this journey.<br />
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Garrett and Nicole's freezer had stopped working the day before and they were forced to cook their frozen Cajun food that they had acquired on their last visit to Louisiana. Darn! We ate some fantastic chicken sausage, crawfish and crab pies and crab cakes. It was a great way to end our trip!<br />
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After dinner we were understandably exhausted. Garrett and Nicole had work in the morning and we had some final business to take care of Wednesday so we went to bed knowing that our time in the car was over. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 7: Gilbert, AZ to Hermosa Beach, CA, 414 miles</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span id="goog_1011150873"></span><span id="goog_1011150874"></span>Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-35334436151306262432011-08-23T05:29:00.000-10:002011-08-23T05:29:14.079-10:00The Longest Day: Day 6The next logical stop after we left Fort Stockton, TX would have been Tucson, AZ. This would break up the 24-hour trip from Houston to Los Angeles into three 8-hour days. However, our good friends Amy & Jason recently moved from Memphis to a suburb of Phoenix so we thought we could drive the extra two or so hours to get us there. <br />
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It wasn't a bad drive although it was a long time to spend in the car. It helped that in the process, we changed time zones twice at least making it feel like we weren't in the car for ten and a half hours. We had to make several stops along the way for gas and just to take short breaks, but thanks to the 75 mph plus speed limit along the way, we made it to Gilbert, AZ by 6:30 pm Pacific Time (Arizona does not observe daylight savings time).<br />
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Jason had some late work meetings, so we spent some time visiting with Amy and prepped for a cookout by the swimming pool. Amy and Jason have a butcher shop nearby so they had gotten four beautiful steaks for us to enjoy for dinner. After Amy cooked up a few sides, we took the food and some beer out to the pool.<br />
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The desert heat is definitely different that the southern humidity heat that we are used to, but it is still hot. Even after dark, it was still warm enough that pool was a welcome respite from the heat. Jason made it home around 9:00 so we grilled up the steaks and did some more swimming. We had a great time with our Memphis friends, but are sad that we only had one night to visit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 6: Fort Stockton, TX to Gilbert, AZ, 657 miles</td></tr>
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Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-89874314079043381442011-08-23T05:15:00.000-10:002011-08-23T05:15:02.231-10:00On The Road To Nowhere: Day 5We had a leisurely Sunday morning continuing our visit with the family but we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We had so much leftover barbeque, Roxi and I made some sandwiches for the trip and packed up more of the leftovers for a couple of days worth of lunches down the road. We gathered our things together and began our drive at noon.<br />
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Texas is a big state and proud of it; upon entering the east side of the state on I-10, the road sign happily announces that you are 880 miles from El Paso on western end of the state. Driving across the state in one day takes an enormous amount of stamina and several drivers. We decided it would be better for us to break things up unfortunately there isn't a lot of civilization between San Antonio and El Paso on I-10. We had made arrangements to spend the night at a hotel in Fort Stockton which is apparently a popular stop for travelers making their ways across the Lone Star State.<br />
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Google Maps told us that the drive would take eight and half hours but it did not account for a speed limit increase once we got past San Antonio. The posted limit went from 70 to 80 MPH and it made quite a difference. With only a few stops along the way, we arrived in Fort Stockton at 8:00 pm. The town is a dingy, dusty town that only survives because of travelers like us. Thankfully there is a place to stop during the long cross state drive, but I will be happy to spend the rest of our nights of this trip with friends and family.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 5: Cypress, TX to Fort Stockton, TX, 502 miles </td></tr>
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Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-30427256036820591732011-08-21T17:46:00.000-10:002011-08-21T17:46:12.244-10:00Short Drive to H-Town: Day 4After two days in Lafayette, the day had arrived for us to continue proceeding west. Luckily, we were in for a short trip as we only planned to go as far as Cypress, TX northwest of Houston to visit my parents and my youngest brother's family.<br />
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After packing up the car and getting Jupiter set up for her four month stay with Roxi's parents, we got on the road. We had one more stop to make in Rayne, LA on the way to Houston to visit Roxi's grandfather and some of her aunts and cousins. We spent about an hour and half visiting and then hit the road once and for all for the day. <br />
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Lafayette to Houston is a short drive that we have made many times over the years so it was an easy afternoon. We arrived in Cypress at about 5:30 to find that my family had planned a Hawai'ian themed birthday/going away party for us. I'm not one to make a big deal about my birthday and this year I was especially preoccupied with all that has been going on with our move, but it was nice to be with family for the afternoon.<br />
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We had some great barbeque brisket, turkey and chicken with all the sides. Throughout and after dinner we were thoroughly entertained by my nephew, Caden, including his modeling a grass skirt. Driving across the country is no small task, but getting to visit with family and friends all along the way makes the journey much better.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caden Models His Luau Attire</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 4: Lafayette, LA to Cypress, TX, 245 miles </td></tr>
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Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-70755869001460515522011-08-20T02:36:00.002-10:002011-08-21T17:41:58.123-10:00A Brief Sojurn in Louisiana: Days 2 & 3After a full day of packing and traveling on Wednesday, we were excited about the prospect of getting some rest at Roxi's parents' house for a couple of days. Our original plan for the move was to be packed up and out of Memphis on Friday August 19. Thankfully, we finished packing on Wednesday which gave us the opportunity to leave early and spend a few days with family before continuing our journey.<br />
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We spent much of the day Thursday recuperating from the busy Wednesday but we also did a little work. We unloaded a few small items from the car that would be staying in Lafayette.<br />
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There is a much more direct driving route from Memphis to Los Angeles, but our motivation for the detour was to visit family before we moved. Besides getting two days with Roxi's parents, Roxi's sister's family made the trip from Florida to see us before we left. Before they arrived on Thursday afternoon, we had the chance to visit my grandparents as well. So Thursday ended up being a very relaxing family day.<br />
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Friday was much the same although Roxi and I did take some time to go through our luggage and make sure that everything we had packed was really essential. We were both able to remove a few items thus lightening our load. I took care of my to-do list arranging things for the rest of our trip (hotels, car shipment verification, etc.) and then focused on family time the rest of the afternoon and evening.<br />
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Roxi's brother's family drove in from western Louisiana to visit and Roxi's dad made a fantastic seafood gumbo for dinner. We had a very nice family meal and the first of my two family birthday celebrations was capped off with an assortment of deserts that Roxi's mom and sister made.<br />
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Today will be a hard day for us: we say goodbye to our cat Jupiter for the next four months. I was never really a cat person before Roxi and I started dating, but Jupiter is my adopted pet now and I will miss her so much. She is in good hands here in Lafayette, but she doesn't like it when one if us is not around. I only wish there was someway that we could make her understand that this is in her best interest. Despite all the other things that we have to do to get to Hawaii and get settled in, I think that this will be the most emotionally difficult.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-20275902805601589172011-08-18T10:53:00.001-10:002011-08-21T17:42:44.181-10:00Go West, Young Man...Far West: Day 1Three weeks ago today, Roxi was offered a teaching position at Hawai'i Pacific University in Honolulu. Of course we were excited but there were so many things to plan for: Roxi is required to be there by August 27, we had to figure out what to do with everything in our apartment and we had to figure out where we would live on Oahu. The prospect was exciting but extremely overwhelming to say the least.<br />
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This didn't exactly come out of the blue. Roxi and I have been scheming on how to get to Hawai'i for a while now but didn't expect it to happen so soon. We spent our honeymoon on the island of Oahu three and half years ago and of course we loved it; it is paradise after all! As long as we've been together, Roxi and I have never really agreed on where we would to settle down. I don't care for extremely cold winters and after years of life in south Louisiana, Roxi is tired of the endless summer heat and humidity. I would prefer a Stateside life while Roxi has dreamed of living abroad. Six or eight months ago, we discussed the possibility of Hawai'i. It seems that the islands offer everything that we want: a moderate climate and an idyllic setting that is part of the United States but feels foreign thanks to the cultural differences and the fact that is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.<br />
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It is a daunting task to try to make such a major move given several months notice but it is even more extreme when you have about twenty-eight days. This process has been stressful but it has also been extremely liberating. When we moved to <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2009/01/planes-trains-automobiles.html">The Netherlands</a> a few years ago, we stored our things in a POD and arranged for them to meet us in Memphis when we returned to the States. When we opened the POD and saw our things after nine months overseas, we couldn't believe that we had actually paid to store so much junk. We decided that we would not repeat our past mistake this time. It made more sense to sell everything and only take with us what we truly need.<br />
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The process of letting go has been a very rewarding and freeing experience for both Roxi and I. We have come to realize that so much of what we have are just things, many of which we don't use often enough to keep. What's more, nearly everything is replaceable if we want it again. Of course there are a few items that have sentimental value and those will be saved and graciously stored by our parents, but everything else is just stuff. I've always tried to be a practical person but now, if there isn't a frequent and practical use for an item, I will not be buying it.<br />
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After three weeks of planning and several moving sales, yesterday we loaded up our remaining things along with our cat Jupiter, and left Memphis, our home for the last two years. Although we have gotten rid of nearly everything, we are taking a car to Hawai'i because it will be a useful thing to have plus it is a convertible and what better place to have one than a tropical island? Very practical if you ask me! We are shipping our car from Long Beach, CA but to get there, we are taking a trip through Louisiana and Texas to see our families. The full trip will take us 2250 miles but we are fortunate to have friends and family along the way who we will also be able to visit.<br />
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Sadly our cat Jupiter will not be able to travel with us to Hawai'i. Hawai'i is rabies free and there is a strict protocol for any pets entering the state. After proving that the pet is rabies free by blood test, there is a 120-day quarantine period that can occur either Stateside or in a facility in Honolulu. Neither option is great but it is better for Jupiter to stay with family for four months than to stay locked up on the island in quarantine. As of today, Jupiter passed her blood test and the clock has started so she will be able to join us in four months. It will be hard on us and her but it is in everyone's best interest this way.<br />
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We left Memphis at around 4:30 pm yesterday afternoon, several hours later than expected, but we made good time and managed to arrive at Roxi's parents' house a little after midnight. It was a long day of packing and driving but it was nice to get the trip started and finish the first stage of the process. We will be spending the next two days here in Lafayette getting Jupiter acclimated to her home for the next four months. Stay tuned for daily updates as we make this trip and begin a new life in the 50th state.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 1: Memphis, TN to Lafayette, LA, 443 miles </td></tr>
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</a>Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-34609440195597414152011-07-07T13:34:00.000-10:002011-07-07T13:34:41.725-10:00My Long AbsenceOne year and three days: that's how long it's been since I've written a word on this blog. But you already knew that considering you can see my last post below.<br />
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I never intended to take a break from blogging, let alone one that lasted this long. But life happens and days become weeks, weeks become months, etc.<br />
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"Life Happens." As dramatic as that sounds, I haven't experienced any tremendously life changing events in the last three hundred sixty-eight days. I started working at a new job on July 5, 2010 and have been pretty much staying very busy with that since then. Honestly though, I think that Facebook and Twitter really dumbed me down to the point that I felt like I could get away with writing one hundred forty characters to convey a message rather than a couple of short paragraphs. I suppose it's just a testament to our ever shortening attention spans.<br />
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I'd like to think that this will be the first of many new posts but I also had the idea to blog two days ago but just couldn't do it.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-63150991605768286072010-07-04T11:32:00.000-10:002010-07-04T11:32:00.700-10:00America the BeautifulI recently returned home from a week long trip to central Oregon. During my time in Sunriver and an overnight trip to Portland, I was reminded of the beauty and geographic diversity of the United States. It's been quite a while since I've been out West. Sure I visited <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2007/09/long-long-overdue-update.html">San Francisco</a> a few years ago, but it's been several years since I've gotten out into the open countryside. I've always liked to take drives to explore places I live or am visiting. Relatively early in my life I was introduced to the concept by my parents as we took all of our family vacations by car. We drove to save money but an added bonus was an appreciation for driving across this massive nation of ours to see some pretty amazing natural wonders. Driving through the high desert of central Oregon, seeing the majestic beauty of the Cascade Mountains and getting an aerial perspective of the sprawling Great Salt Lake prior to a layover in Salt Lake City really makes me want to renew my exploration of the United States and all of it's natural beauty. I love America and hope that I never take for granted how lucky I am to have been born here.<br />
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Happy 234th birthday America! I love you and wouldn't want to be anywhere else!<br />
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Great Salt LakeWes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-32085728879608004272010-05-31T18:19:00.000-10:002010-05-31T18:19:23.528-10:00"The End" - Further ThoughtsAfter a week, a second viewing, a couple of podcasts and several websites, I have reached more conclusions about the LOST finale. Although I stand by most of my <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/05/end.html">initial interpretations</a>, there are a few things that I have changed my mind about. Chief among them is the status of Ben in the flash-sideways world. I had originally thought that his reluctance to enter the Church indicated that he was not yet dead in the real world. On further reflection and some brilliant insight by my friend Stacey, I see now that Ben too was dead as the entire flash-sideways world was a part of the afterlife. The sideways world was an environment to rectify the character's human lives and in some cases come to terms with their flaws and failings. This is not to say that it was Purgatory in the Catholic sense because not everyone was suffering for their past transgressions. True, Ben was feeling guilt about some of the things that he had done in his life, specifically his treatment of Alex and Danielle Rousseau, but it was self imposed and may have been a byproduct of his Island enlightenment at the fists of Desmond. Although Ben was sometimes a part of Jack's life, he was more tied to Alex, Rousseau and probably a number of Others. When they have all been Island enlightened and come to terms with their pasts, together they will be able to enter the Church and move on as a group.<br />
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I've also had a chance to think more about the implications of the supposed detonation of Jughead at the end of Season 5. At the beginning of Season 6, we all thought Juliet had split the timeline by setting off the H-bomb, but the more I have thought about it, this is likely not the case. The bomb did not detonate when Jack dropped it down the shaft and we all assumed that Juliet detonated it by repeatedly hitting it with a rock. I have been under the impression that because of the electrical anomaly at the future site of the Swan Station, the detonated H-bomb served to propel Jack <i>et al</i> back to their present time (2007) while also creating a timeline in which Oceanic 815 never crashed. At the end of the finale, I was left feeling that Jughead had been a red herring along; a plot device used to get all of our characters back to 2007. Now I'm of the opinion that Jughead was never actually detonated. When we were first introduced to the Swan Station in Season 2, Sayid remarked on the amount of concrete being excessive even going as far to compare it to the containment of Chernobyl. Furthermore, in Season 5, Daniel Farady told the young Eloise Hawking that the Others must encase the leaking Jughead in concrete. I now feel that the Incident was not the destruction of the H-bomb but rather the attack on the Swan Station construction site by what appeared to be Hostiles. After they vanished and the Dharma Initiative picked up the pieces, they encased the core of Jughead in concrete and built the rest of the station as planned. The time-jump by Jack<i> et al </i>was caused by the mysterious elctrical properties of the Island in order to get them to where they were supposed to be in time. Perhaps that's a little far fetched but seems par for the course on such a mysterious and powerful island.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-25768206392799693762010-05-23T20:24:00.000-10:002010-05-23T20:24:04.270-10:00"The End"It has all been building to this and, no doubt, there will be people that will be disappointed with the final episode of LOST. Granted, there were things that I was still hoping for but in the end, what we were given was a beautiful finale that moved me to tears on more than one occasion. My sadness was certainly related to the fact that the series was ending, but there's more to it than that. Before the sci-fi and mystery, this show was about characters and the resolution of some of these stories was so touching after all this time that I couldn't hold back my tears. Even when I was crying, I was laughing at myself for being so broken up about these fictional characters, but for the record, I also cried when characters died in <i>War and Peace</i>. And truly, two out of my three crying jags during the finale were actually out of joy rather than sadness. There will be many who consider this finale a failure on par with The Sopranos (which I liked, by the way) but I consider it a success.<br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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Let me start by saying that there is no way that I will be able to say everything that I should in this single blog post. Roxi is out of town right now and has been intentionally putting off watching the last few episodes of LOST so that she can have a nice marathon to finish off the series. I plan on watching the finale again when she watches it later this week. For tonight, I will hit on the high points and post as many companion entries as are necessary in the next few days.<br />
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In the past few weeks, I have started to enjoy the flash-sideways storyline more and more. It started with <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/04/happily-ever-after.html">"Happily Ever After"</a> and has continued ever since. For a plot device that I was suspicious about in the beginning, I was surprised how much I've ended up enjoying it. I specifically liked the emotional experience of "Island illumination" that the characters were having. So that brings us to tonight. As much as I enjoyed seeing the Island story come to a close, I was mostly effected by flash-sideways illumination events. And even though they all had strong emotional resonance with me, two of them in particular brought me to tears. The first was the interaction between Sun, Jin and Juliet. It was great seeing Juliet again and it made sense that she would be the OB/GYN attending to Sun in the sideways world. I was surprisingly not very sad when Sun and Jin died in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/05/candidate.html">"The Candidate,"</a> but I guess it had been pent-up all came out when they had their simultaneous flash of the Island in tonight's episode. I was overcome with emotion but also found myself laughing when they started speaking to Juliet in perfect English.<br />
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The second time that I became emotionally devastated was when Kate, Claire and Charlie had their flash when Aaron was born. I was okay until Charlie came back with the blanket and then the waterworks were unstoppable. I suppose it was residual emotion from Charlie's somewhat untimely death in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2007/05/through-looking-glass.html">"Through the Looking Glass,"</a> but I just couldn't stop crying. Like I said earlier, I actually started laughing out loud at myself for being so effected by these scenes but I was just so happy for Sun, Jin, Charlie and Claire!<br />
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As expected, the concert at Pierre Chang's museum was the culmination of sideways Desmond's work to get most of the Oceanic 815 passengers together. Of course there were the stragglers like Sun and Jin; Sawyer and Juliet; and Sayid and Shannon but thankfully they had other help in experiencing Island enlightenment.<br />
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On the Island, things played out mostly as expected as far as the Jack vs. Locke storyline went. It was a pleasant surprise to see that both Jack and Locke were humanized as a result of Desmond's extinguishing of the light in the cave. It certainly made killing the Man In Black a lot easier. I only wonder why Jack didn't become a new Smoke Monster after reigniting the light in the cave. I was really expecting Jack to be the new Smoke Monster to Hurley's Jacob. Many of us have been expecting that Hurley would be the actual replacement for Jacob and it was very sweet to see him ask Ben to become his equivalent of Richard. It was even nicer to see him thank Ben for being the best Number 2. Here's a thought about Ben: when he didn't join the Oceanic passengers in the church, I don't think it was because he was not welcome. Instead I think it was because he was still alive on the Island as the replacement for Hurley after he died in some future time.<br />
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The obvious big topic of controversy and discussion will the be final few minutes of the episode; Namely that Jack went to his father's coffin only to find it empty...again. The revelation that Jack was dead initially caught me off guard and my mind race to explain how and why all the other Oceanic passengers were in the church. But as Christan explained, everyone dies sooner or later. Everyone was gathered together because they were so important to each other at that time in their lives. That is quite a change from what Jacob said about their lives in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-they-died-for.html">"What They Died For."</a> They went from being flawed and alone in life to having an extended family on the Island. <br />
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So what are we to make of the presence of Hurley, Kate, Sawyer and Claire in the church? As I said earlier, I feel that this gathering occurs sometime after Hurley has passed on the stewardship of the Island to Ben in the future. Kate, Sawyer and Claire were seen escaping the Island with Frank, Richard and Miles. But they may not have ever made it home. The plane may have crashed. Or on a lighter note, they may have made it home and lived out their lives. But in the end, they too died (will die as the case may be). The point is that at some point all these Island souls meet up in this church as they move on to the next life. <br />
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My third and final bout of tears came in the ending moments of the series as Jack stumbled his way back to the bamboo forest where he first awoke on the Island. As he laid down, I was fine but when Vincent came out of the jungle and laid down next to him, it brought up memories of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Bark">"Jurassic Bark," </a>the most touching and cry-inducing episode of the Futurama ever. As Vincent laid down and rested his head next to Jack, I couldn't help but cry. And as the corporeal form of Jack closed his eyes for the last time, I felt that it was a perfectly poignant ending to such a fantastic television series.<br />
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Of course there were open storylines that I knew would never be closed and others that I thought for sure would see resolution, but like life, some things are just left as questions. It has been a hell of a ride. There were some down times and things that I would have done differently, but I don't think I ever would have come up with some of the amazing stories that the writers of LOST have crafted for the past six years. All good things must come to an end and I am at peace with that but I will miss seeing these characters in new adventures for a few weeks every spring. So long LOST. Thank you for such a great story that has made me think and kept me guessing until the very end. It has been a pleasure.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-11294139957480676872010-05-19T05:41:00.000-10:002010-05-19T05:41:03.636-10:00Ubee's Open MicThanks to Nic Chimenti for a nice writeup on <a href="http://trivianic.com/2010/05/open-mic-night-may-11-2010-ubees/">Trivianic</a> about last week's <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/05/msa-open-mic-night-at-ubees.html">open mic</a> night at Ubee's featuring myself and two other songwriters.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-55363567716666386742010-05-18T18:19:00.000-10:002010-05-18T18:19:55.694-10:00"What They Died For"I've said it so many times this season, but I have to say it again: I can't believe LOST is almost over! It really boggles my mind that this season has gone by so quickly yet maintained the typical pace that LOST has managed these last few years. Sometimes things felt rushed and sometimes things seemed very belabored, but by and large, the story has managed forward momentum. I know that sometimes watching on TV and waiting a week or two between episodes has seemed bad at times, but rewatching the previous seasons on DVD has almost always redeemed any slow parts of the series. At times, I have been critical of LOST but what kind of fan would I be without gripes or nits to pick from time to time? When I sat down to write this post a few minutes ago, I hadn't intended to start this way or go on this long, but I guess this is me eulogizing my favorite show. I know that there's still one seriously super-sized episode left, but I couldn't help but feel a little sad as I watched the post-episode promo for the finale on Sunday. It has been quite a ride and although a part of me would love more LOST, I realize that all good things must come to an end. I respect what the producers of the show have done even if I haven't always been pleased with the way they brought us to where we are now, a mere two and a half hours from the final credits. Even though I was a late comer to watching the show (I saw the first two seasons on DVD) I have been a devoted fan since I had my mind blown by the Season 1 Locke-centric episode "Walkabout." It was then that I knew that LOST was something different altogether. But I digress...the truly sad goodbye will come on Sunday night. <br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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A week after the most <a href="http://www.tvfanatic.com/2010/05/lost-producers-respond-to-defend-divisive-episode/">divisive</a> episode in the history of the series, I was very curious about the follow-up. For the record, I enjoyed <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/05/across-sea.html">"Across the Sea"</a> even if it was perplexing at times. If nothing else, it was essential for tonight's episode. I was very glad to see Desmond again even if it was only in the sideways world. I really thought he was about to run Locke down again so I totally shocked when he got out of his car and beat the crap out of Ben...just like old times! Ben even had a flash of Desmond beating the crap out of him at the marina in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2009/04/dead-is-dead.html">"Dead Is Dead."</a> But Desmond wasn't done yet! He turned himself in to Sawyer who put him in a jail cell with Sayid (very glad to see him again!) in a cell next to Kate. I didn't realize they keep men and women in the same holding area but whatever. Desmond still wasn't finished gathering up sideways Losties thanks to a deal he made with Ana Lucia who released them to Hurley while she was transporting them to county lockup. I loved Hurley's line asking if Ana Lucia was coming with them. His meeting with Libby had an even more profound effect than I had thought! It appears that the climactic meeting of everyone in the sideways world will be at the benefit concert at Miles' dad's museum.<br />
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Meanwhile, elsewhere in the sideways world, Locke got religion. He became a the man of faith that we all know and love when Ben told him what Desmond said while beating the crap out Dr. Linus. So Locke has decided that it is indeed time to fix his legs. Speaking of Ben, he got invited to dinner at his favorite student Alex's house with her mother. It goes without saying that it was nice to see Danielle again especially all dressed up like a normal person as opposed to a crazy Island hermit. After dinner, it almost seemed like there was a love connection between Ben and Danielle. I could be reading that wrong but it sure seemed like something to me. I still have no idea what will happen when all the sideways characters get together in the finale, but a fair number of them are setup for the meeting and I'm sure the rest will be drawn together by Desmond during the epic finale on Sunday.<br />
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Back on the Island, Jack, Sawyer, Hurley and Kate were understandably upset by the deaths of Sayid, Sun and Jin but action Jack knew what to do. After sewing up Kate's wound (mirroring Jack's post-crash surgery in the "Pilot"), Jack began leading the survivors in search of Desmond. Sawyer stopped Jack along the way to ask about the bomb on the sub. I really felt for Sawyer and his feeling of guilt and responsibility for Sayid, Sun and Jin's deaths. Jack really stepped up and said some very comforting things to Sawyer and I liked Jack for doing it. Not long after, Hurley saw the boy Jacob and followed him to find the full grown Jacob who told him that the end was near and that he needed to see the survivors.<br />
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Meanwhile, Ben, Richard and Miles were still on a quest to get C4 to destroy the Ajira plane. However, they were ambushed at Ben's old Dharma house by Charles Widmore and Zoe. Unfortunately for everyone, Locke was not far behind. Widmore and Zoe hid, Miles ran and Ben and Richard attempted to confront Locke. Suddenly Richard was attacked by the Smoke Monster and seems to be dead and gone. I'm not totally sure we've seen the last of him, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he was gone for good considering how characters are dropping like flies now! If he's gone I must say Richard, we hardly knew ye. Please give Frank our condolences if you see him in the afterlife of secondary characters.<br />
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. Just when I thought Ben had turned over a new leaf, he double crossed Widmore and Zoe. After quickly dispatching of Zoe, Locke offered to spare Penny's life if Widmore told him how and why he returned to the Island. I was surprised to learn that Jacob told Widmore to return with Desmond. As Widmore was telling Locke about the importance of Desmond, Ben shot and killed him. This is just getting ridiculous! Ben asked Locke who else needed to be killed which disturbed me. But then again, he could be pulling a long con on Locke. At least I hope he is!<br />
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Back at Jacob's campfire, the remaining candidates questioned Jacob about his motives. Apparently Jacob brought them all to the Island because they had lonely lives and they needed the Island as much as the Island needed them. And Kate was crossed off the list in the cave because she had Aaron and wasn't alone anymore. But she was still a candidate and she could have the job if she wanted it. After last week, I really didn't care for Jacob and although he made some good points in his explanation, he still came off as pretty selfish. He said that he was letting his replacement choose because he never got the chance to decide if he wanted to be guardian of the Island. Of course, Jack stepped forward to be Jacob's replacement. It felt right even though I haven't always been on Team Jack. Jacob turned water into wine or something for Jack to drink and told him where the heart of the Island was. Jack drank and became like Jacob.<br />
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Finally, Ben and Locke trekked to the well where Desmond was supposed to be but apparently, besides not killing him, Sayid also left a rope for Desmond to escape. According to Locke, Desmond is the fail safe in the case that all the candidates are killed. I have a feeling that Locke plans to throw Desmond into the light to make him a Smoke Monster but his unique resistance to electromagnetism will backfire on Locke and probably destroy him.<br />
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This penultimate episode was a pretty standard setup for the finale to come but I loved all the moving parts and placements of the characters. With a two and a half hour finale though, I wonder if our game pieces won't be shuffled around more before the final acts. I wonder how many, if any, of our Losties will survive the finale. Only time will tell but I am on board and ready to roll with whatever they throw our way on Sunday. I'd like to hope for something mindblowing but will settle for a good episode of a great show.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-70500405916349704492010-05-11T21:30:00.003-10:002010-05-11T21:32:43.561-10:00MSA Open Mic Night at Ubee'sI played three songs at the Memphis Songwriters Association open mic night at Ubee's on Tuesday night.<br />
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You can find out more about my music at <a dir="ltr" href="http://www.last.fm/music/Wes+Raine" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://www.last.fm/music/Wes+Raine">http://www.last.fm/music/Wes+Raine</a>.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-73322625661247070622010-05-11T20:49:00.000-10:002010-05-11T20:49:48.656-10:00"Across the Sea"I can't believe that there are only two more episodes of LOST left...Ever! Of course one of them will be two and a half hours long but still, that means that there are only three and half hours of LOST left. And I still have no idea how it will end!!!<br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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Well this was certainly the most unconventional of unconventional episodes. I'm thinking of it as a companion piece to <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/03/ab-aeterno.html">"Ab Aeterno;"</a> heavy on the mythology of the Island, Jacob and the Man in Black while being almost entirely devoid of any of the regular cast members. And for that matter, the only appearance of any regular cast members came in the form of a clip from the Season 1 episode <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/House_of_the_Rising_Sun">"House of the Rising Sun"</a> giving context to the <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Adam_And_Eve">skeletons</a> that Jack and Kate found in the caves. Adam and Eve are the Man in Black and his adopted mother. Their bodies were placed in the cave after the Man in Black killed his mother and Jacob killed the Man in Black. So the mystery of Adam and Eve is finally solved and I'm satisfied. I suppose it could be considered strange that Jack estimated the age of the skeletons at 40 or 50 years when they were actually hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. But they also had the gift of near immortality so I guess their bones age very slowly as well.<br />
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This episode started with the birth of Jacob and the still unnamed Baby in Black. I liked that each was swaddled in a burlap cloth of their respective colors. From the very beginning they were marked so to speak. Unfortunately for them, their mother was brutally murdered by the woman who helped her deliver them thus setting up what would become the first in a long line of parent issues among those associated with the Island. The murder seemed very unnecessary at first but it became clear that this adoptive mother felt a very strong distrust about other human inhabitants of the Island. Some of her ranting and raving reminded me very much of Rousseau's solitude. <br />
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Jacob and the Man in Black's birth mother came to the Island from a ship wreck but there were other survivors. One day Jacob and the Boy in Black stumbled across some of the Others (?) and followed them to their village. When they wanted to know more, their adopted mother showed them the secret of the Island and told them that one of them would be in charge of protecting it some day. Later, Boy in Black saw a vision of his dead mother that Jacob was unable to see. Boy in Black proclaimed that he was special. After what his ghost mother told him, Boy in Black wanted to leave the Island but Jacob didn't so they went their separate ways; Jacob stayed with their mother and Boy in Black went to the village. <br />
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Years later, Man in Black and the Others had figured out a way to find the secret of the Island and use it to leave. It was very cool to learn that they had dug wells to investigate the magnetic properties of the Island and were working on installing the donkey wheel. Unfortunately, Man in Black's mother stopped him, killed all of the Others and filled in the well. In retaliation, Man in Black killed his mother but was caught by Jacob who was very unhappy about it. Jacob took Man in Black to the special place and pushed his unconscious body into the cave. After his body was eerily pulled into an underwater crevice, the light went out and the Black Smoke emerged. Shortly afterwards, Jacob found Man in Black's lifeless body and he placed it in the cave with their adopted mother as mentioned earlier.<br />
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After last week's episode painting Locke/Man in Black in the most malevolent light possible, this episode made me sympathetic to his plight. I don't condone what he has done to all the people he has killed, but it certainly seems like Jacob hasn't made his existence easy. Of course, he isn't actually Jacob's brother anymore but rather some kind dark yin to the light yang that is the secret of the Island. I also found it very interesting that not unlike Richard Alpert, Jacob seems a lot less enlightened the more we learn about him. Perspective is such a key concept in LOST. It looks like Locke/Man in Black wasn't telling stories when he told Kate that his mother was crazy just like Claire will seem to Aaron. I know there is not enough time left in the series to learn Jacob and Man in Black's mother's backstory, but I suspect that she was recruited just as she "recruited" Jacob to take over her job. <br />
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There really isn't much left to say about this episode. It was very good and very necessary but it still doesn't give me enough clues as to what will happen during the rest of the series. I just can't believe that LOST will be completely over in only twelve days!Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-5085075880688730782010-05-04T18:49:00.003-10:002010-05-07T07:05:27.260-10:00"The Candidate"Glad to have LOST back after a week off even if there are only three weeks left of the series. <br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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I find myself very conflicted about this episode. I really enjoyed some of the flash-sideways story but I was a bit disappointed with the outcome of the submarine escape attempt. But as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself. In the flash-sideways world, the more things change, the more they stay the same for Jack. He saved Locke's life but he was not content to stop there. He really wanted to perform another surgery to help Locke walk again and damn if he was going to take no for an answer! Turns out Locke was a candidate for a new surgical procedure. It was interesting to see that in the sideways world, it was Locke's fault that he was in a wheel chair and his accident made Anthony Cooper a vegetable. Good old Jack tried to talk Locke into surgery one last time and after a fine performance by Terry O'Quinn, Locke rolled out of the hospital presuming to never see Jack again. I have my doubts though since Jack is starting to notice how many Oceanic 815 passengers he keeps running into (nice cameo by Bernard). It was also interesting to see that Locke had a vision of his Island life and spoke about it while sleeping.<br />
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Back on the Island, Jack was still convinced that he shouldn't leave and Locke was trying to convince him otherwise. He at least got Jack to go along with him to rescue Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Jin, Sun and Frank from Widmore who had locked them up in the polar bear cages for old time sake. I've had my doubts about Locke's plan to fly off the Island mainly because the Ajira plane was too busted up to make any more trips. It was nice of Widmore's people to build such a nice wooden staircase with railings up to the cabin door of the plane. It seems like they should have spent more time working on the sonic fence though. Once Locke found the C4 in the plane, I knew that he had plans to use it against our candidates, I just didn't expect the payoff so soon. So it was off to the submarine instead. I'm not sure what Sawyer had planned for dealing with Locke after he was in the water, but Jack did his part. Whatever the plan, it changed when Kate got shot. I've been expecting something like that to happen for the better part of the season, I just didn't expect what happened next.<br />
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Before Jack got on the sub, I saw Locke pull the old switcharoo with their backpacks so I expected Jack to unknowingly carry a bomb onto the sub. Of course Jack never expected to get on the sub but once Kate got shot, Jack had to play the hero and bring her on board. I liked Jack's attitude once they found the bomb. From his time with Richard Alpert and the <i>Black Rock</i> dynamite, he was certain that Locke couldn't kill them or he would have done so already. His logic seemed pretty strong considering what he'd witnessed recently, but Sawyer wasn't buying it and really, who could blame him? I knew that Sayid still had some good in him and it was pretty clear that he was going to sacrifice himself at some point. So I was not surprised to see him take the bomb and head for a secluded part of the sub but not before he told Jack where to find the still living Desmond.<br />
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So with an explosion, Sayid departs this second life and the series, that is until we presumably see a ghost version of the Iraqi appear to Hurley. What I did not see coming was the fallout from the explosion. This is also where I started to feel a little cheated. First, big metal door knocked Frank out and that was all he wrote! So long Frank...we hardly knew ye. He was my favorite new character introduced in Season 4 and I was so happy to see him back on the show last season and become a regular cast member this season. I haven't loved the progression of his character this year and am disappointed that this was how he exits the series...not with a bang but a "Oh Hell!" <br />
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But they weren't done killing off characters yet! Apparently the explosion trapped Sun against the wall of the sub but I didn't think the writers actually had it in them to kill three characters in one episode. Turns out I was right...they killed four! Four freaking regular cast members in one episode. I knew that not everyone would make it out of the series alive, but I thought they might be spread out over several episodes. But that's not how it was to be. Sun could not free herself from confinement and Jin would not leave her so they stayed together to the end. Another child is orphaned by the Island. I guess I was supposed to be extremely saddened by their deaths, but I felt like it was missing the emotional heft that some other deaths have had over the years. Maybe I was numb from the carnage that was occurring but death by drowning has already been done and to much better effect by Charlie in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2007/05/through-looking-glass.html">"Through the Looking Glass."</a><br />
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The producers have always said that the Island is a dangerous place and it stands to reason that a lot of people would die if there were an explosion on a submarine. It's really a wonder that more of the candidates didn't die as a result. So we bid adieu to Sayid, Sun, Jin and Frank. I will miss them but all four have been underutilized this season and that has been a shame.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-21104325544649040852010-04-20T18:00:00.000-10:002010-04-20T18:00:44.073-10:00"The Last Recruit"Lucky 13. Only five hours of LOST left, presented over three Tuesdays and a Sunday in May. That's right...if you didn't glean it from the post-episode preview for the finale event, there will NOT be a new episode next week. I repeat: NO NEW EPISODE NEXT WEEK! Instead ABC will be airing a re-run of <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/03/ab-aeterno.html">"Ab Aeterno"</a> which will presumably be an enhanced version. So LOST will officially conclude without ever completing an uninterrupted season which ABC has been promising since the second half of Season 3. Granted, there was a (somewhat) unanticipated writers strike during Season 4 which created a hole in the schedule, however there were gaps in the schedule in Seasons 3 & 5 despite promises of "no breaks" and "no repeats." So is there an upside to this? There is, in a sense. As stated above, the last three regular hour long episodes will air on May 4, 11 & 18 (all Tuesdays) followed by the two-hour series finale which will air on Sunday May 23. So in the end, we will see the last three hours of LOST over a five day period. So it goes, I guess.<br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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If there is one word that describes the way I felt while watching this week's LOST episode, it would be "anxious." There were so many times I was just anticipating something really terrible happening. It was a palpable sense of dread. I suppose it's because with so few episodes left, I would not be surprised if there were a shocking death coming before the finale. I don't know who it might be but I'll admit that I am very worried about Desmond. I don't think that we've seen the last of him but I am concerned. But I'm getting ahead of myself.<br />
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It seems that we have now passed the point of single character-centric episodes. Damon and Carlton hinted that this would be the case earlier in the season so I expect that going forward, we will see stories in remaining episodes following multiple characters as flash-sideways threads are brought together and pieces are set on the Island stage for the final act. Since the flash-sideways were made so important by <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/04/happily-ever-after.html">"Happily Ever After"</a> and <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/04/everybody-loves-hugo.html">"Everybody Loves Hugo,"</a> I found myself enjoying this week's multiple storylines converging and all of the characters crisscrossing with one another like never before. As expected, we see hit-and-run victim John Locke arriving at the emergency room at the same time as gut-shot Sun and shell-shocked Jin. It appeared that Sun had her Island flash when she recognized Locke on his gurney. So when will Sideways Locke have his flash of the Island? And did Jack have his when he recognized Locke in the operating room?<br />
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I was very surprised to see Sideways Claire intercepted by Desmond on her way to visit the adoption agency. Not only that, but I was definitely not expecting Sideways Ilana to be the lawyer that he was trying to get Claire to meet. But the gears immediately started turning in my head and I realized that Ilana was probably also Christian Shepard's estate attorney and so we would get the Sideways Jack/Claire meeting foreshadowed in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/02/lighthouse.html">"Lighthouse."</a> The Sideways Sawyer/Miles/Sayid interaction was very interesting especially considering its placement relative to the Island Sayid story arc. I'll revisit that in a bit. And of course the Sideways Kate/Sawyer interaction was nothing shocking. As has been the case all season long, our flash-sideways stories were all left with dangling threads to be picked up again in the remaining episodes of the show.<br />
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On the Island, we got a major download right away during the much anticipated conversation between Jack and Fake Locke. I was pleased that Jack asked Locke point blank if he was the one posing as Christian Shepard on their third day on the Island. I was equally pleased to hear Locke admit that it was. Very cool. As many of us long-term LOST fans have begun to suspect, all of the castaways have been manipulated by both Jacob and the Man In Black for a long time. Now it would seem that Jacob conducted his business off-Island while the Man in Black has been manipulating everyone from the moment they arrived on the Island. <br />
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After a demonstration of power and an ultimatum by Widmore's people, Locke sends Sayid to take care of his dirty work with Desmond. Like I said before, I am concerned about Desmond's future. I wasn't so much last week, but Sayid seems like he has nothing left to lose and would have no qualms about offing the Scotsman. However, Desmond's questions to Sayid were very prescient and seemed to indicate that he knew that Locke had promised things that could only be given to Sayid with a great price. Was this Desmond's attempt to get Sayid to have a flash of his sideways life? This would make sense as it really would be the kind of deal the devil would make with someone. Nadia would be alive but not with Sayid. Not to mention that Sayid would be in jail thanks to the quick work of detectives Sawyer and Miles. I was very anxious, but I did find the conversation between Desmond and Sayid very moving and I even felt a little sad that this was how Desmond would die. Since we didn't see him again, I feel like Desmond is still alive for now but I will remain very worried about his future.<br />
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I've never been too keen on any plans involving the sailboat ever since Sayid and Jin royally screwed the pooch with it in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2006/10/glass-ballerina.html">"The Glass Ballerina."</a> But I guess since Sayid and Jin weren't involved in this plan, things worked out well. Sawyer and Kate found the boat and rendezvoused with Jack, Hurley, Sun and Frank. Unfortunately, crazy Clarie followed them and was allowed on the boat. What could possibly go wrong? And just when I started to like Jack, he had his weird standoff with Saywer prompting him to jump off the boat and return to Locke. I have no idea who is right and wrong in this fight, or if it will even be a clear dichotomy when all is said and done, but this shuffling around of the pawns could get very tedious if kept up for too long. In any event, Jack arrived back to Locke just about the time that Sawyer <i>et al</i> were greeted as unwelcomed visitors by Widmore's team. Thankfully Jin was still with them and the very very long overdue Sun and Jun reunion finally happened. Sun got her voice back and all is right with the Kwons...for now.<br />
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Widmore's team bombarded Locke, Jack and the Others but Locke was able to move a dazed Jack to safety. We are left to believe that Jack is now officially on board with Locke. I disagree. If Jack is to be the new Jacob, he's probably right where he needs to be to help contain the Man in Black. But what do I know?!? There are three more episodes left to move this pieces around the game board several more times before the finale. Despite my anxiety, I enjoyed this episode even if it was a lot of set-up for future events and machinations. I especially liked the increasing connections between flash-sideways characters. I'm not happy that it will be two weeks before we find out what happens next but I suppose we must make the best of it. After all, there is so little LOST left, we must savor every minute we can get!Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-24652733378537396402010-04-13T19:57:00.000-10:002010-04-13T19:57:48.247-10:00"Everybody Loves Hugo"Another great episode of LOST tonight! The story is really getting amped up and I like where it appears to be going even if this denouement means that the show must end. You know what they say about all good things... <br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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I'm starting my blog a late tonight as I was busy earlier playing some of my <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Wes+Raine">songs</a> at an open mic night at a local restaurant. As a result this may be a more abbreviated entry but once I get going it's hard to stop so it may end up being like a regular episode blog. I just finished watching the episode and DAMN! Things are getting crazy and I like it! Good to see Michael and Libby again especially in their respective contexts. It was nice to finally get an answer about the whispers, but I wonder if I'm alone in my feeling that my speculation was more satisfying than the reveal. Don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative to know that the whispers are the souls trapped on the Island as a result of the wrongs they did during their lives, but it's somewhat of an anti-climax. I am thoroughly enjoying the season, but as these lingering questions continue to be answered over the remaining episodes, I wonder if I will feel excitement, frustration or ambivalence about them. For now, I'm enjoying the ride.<br />
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It was very exciting to see Libby again! It was especially interesting since it was sideways Libby and she was "crazy" which was somehow causing her to "remember" her Island existence. I was also very glad to see both Island and sideways Desmond working to fulfill their destinies although I am a little worried about the nasty fall that Island Desmond took down the well. As far as sideways Desmond goes, great to see him seeking out the Oceanic passengers to help them connect with their Island consciousnesses. The gentle nudge that he gave Hurley paid huge dividends. Roxi and I were both pretty overcome with emotion when Hurley saw flashes of his other life after his kiss with Libby. What an awesome awakening! But now what? When sideways Desmond completes his mission, will the timelines merge? Will characters have to choose which world they want. Can both worlds continue to exist in a parallel fashion?<br />
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I am really looking forward to seeing what is next for sideways Locke. During that final sideways scene, a lot of thoughts were going through my head. Here's a summary:<br />
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<blockquote>Is sideways Desmond planning to talk to sideways Locke?<br />
What would be the point since Island Locke is dead!<br />
Who would sideways Locke have to talk to in order to have flashes?<br />
Charlie and Desmond both experienced Island flashes during near death experiences.<br />
Desmond is going to have to run over Locke!<br />
Desmond is about to run over Locke!<br />
Desmond just ran over Locke!</blockquote><br />
Since sideways Locke appears to still be alive, I'm thinking that we will see him experience Island flashes next week. But what will that mean for the Smoke Monster who is the "substitute" Locke on the Island? Will this somehow restore Island Locke's consciousness to the Smoke Monster's manifestation of Locke?<br />
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I was gobsmacked by Ilana's sudden and violent death. In the back of my mind, I was expecting it since she was really handling that dynamite too roughly, but I was still shocked when it happened. Good thing that won't happen to anyone else now that Hurley destroyed the <i>Black Rock</i>. But will we ever get any more of Ilana's backstory? Is it even important? There were several shots of Hurley's shifty eyes during the episode. I wonder if he has a plan or if he's under the influence of other forces. He just delivered the remaining candidates and an airline pilot to Locke. I hope he knows what he's doing!<br />
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Alpert, Ben and Miles went off together to destroy the plane, this time with Dharma hand grenades. I don't think they'll be successful. They mentioned taking an outrigger. Will we finally see the other side of the outrigger shootout that we saw in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2009/02/little-prince.html">"The Little Prince?"</a> And as much as I hated the "Sun has aphasia" device from <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/03/package.html">"The Package,"</a> I was glad that we didn't have to see her writing a lot of notes to Jack this week. I also felt a sympathy for her when she scanned the people in Locke's camp and saw that Jin was not among them. Will they finally be reunited next week? I think that next week they will finally see each other for the first time since <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2008/05/theres-no-place-like-home-parts-2-3.html">"There's No Place Like Home."</a><br />
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There is most certainly a lot more to say about this episode, but it is late and maybe less is more in this case. The bottom line is that this was a great episode with a lot of meaty storylines. I continue to look forward to the momentum that has been generated over the past few weeks. Please feel free to remind me of anything that I missed in the comments and if I think of anything else after some sleep, I'll make sure to update this post.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-75008293905250544742010-04-06T19:02:00.004-10:002010-04-06T19:03:50.708-10:00"Happily Ever After"Episodes like this make me so satisfied that I've stuck with LOST through the ups and occasional downs, but it also makes me a little sad that it's almost over. Time is really starting to run short; there aren't that many episodes left and a lot of story seems like it still needs to be told. If this were any other show, I would be getting worried at this point, but since season finales are always top-notch, I think the series finale will be quite satisfying.<br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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Finally, the long-anticipated Desmond episode! With the actor's <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/henry-ian-cusick-1011377.aspx">off camera troubles</a> last year, I was worried that Desmond's role would be cut out completely this year much to the detriment of the overarching story. Thankfully, for this and presumably several more episodes, we get our beloved Scotsman back! It's quite amazing really to think that some of my favorite characters from the series were not introduced until the second season. I can only imagine what LOST would have been like if <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0015382/">Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje</a> had never got <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1553848,00.html">"island fever." </a> But I digress.<br />
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With a Desmond-centric episode, you never know exactly what you're going to get, but it's guaranteed to be great. I'll be the first to admit that I was very confused and frustrated the first time I watched <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2007/02/flashes-before-your-eyes.html">"Flashes Before Your Eyes"</a> during Season 3 but it's because it was such a jarring change to how off-Island stories were told up to that point in the series. Since then, I've come to expect to be challenged by the storytelling devices. Perhaps the most challenging thus far has been this season's flash-sideways device. Many viewers, including myself, have questioned their purpose and are left to wonder if we should even care about that version of the characters. I can now say that the answer is a resounding yes!<br />
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As usual there are several questions that arise from this episode but it seems that we also got a really huge answer regarding the nature of the flash-sideways. All season long, the characters in the flash-sideways world seem to have moments of <i>déjà vu</i> or some sort of knowing glance at someone they've never met. It's been subtle but they are there at some point in every episode (excluding <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/03/ab-aeterno.html">"Ab Aeterno"</a> of course). There was nothing subtle about the moments of <i>déjà v</i>u for Desmond though, but that's to be expected for someone whose consciousness can travel through his lifetime. Still this was a very different flash. The effects of Widmore's electromagnetic field device forced Desmond's consciousness to travel into his sideways timeline. <br />
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Desmond had three very important sideways encounters that indicate that he's not the only one who has been having what many viewers are now calling "bleed-through" from the Island timeline. His first with Charlie got the ball rolling and made Desmond to start pondering true love. What really shocked him was the flash of Island-Charlie's dying moment from the Looking Glass Station when it appeared that sideways-Charlie was about to suffer a similar fate. Couple that with his vision of a happy life with Penny while he was in the MRI tube and things started getting really heavy for Desmond. His second important encounter was with Eloise Widmore <i>nee</i> Hawking. At first it was a normal enough conversation, but after Desmond heard the name Penny (Milton!) and wanted to know more, Eloise turned into the more ominipotent "Flashes Before Your Eyes" version of herself. She certainly seemed to know more than she let on about what Desmond might or might not have been experiencing at that moment. Before Desmond could leave the museum (Charlotte and Pierre Chang's museum of course), he had his third important encounter with Eloise's pianist son Daniel Widmore (!!). Daniel saw a beautiful blue-eyed redhead eating a chocolate bar one day and knew that he was in love with her even though they'd never met. That night, he dreamt a series of mathematical equations that only someone who studied physics for their entire life could conceive them. And then the bombshell (zing!):<br />
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<blockquote>Imagine something terrible is about to happen, something catastophic, and the only way to stop it is by releaseing a huge amount of energy, like setting of a nuclear bomb....What if this--all this-- this wasn't supposed to be our life? What if we had some other life but for some reason, we changed things? I don't want to set off a nuclear bomb Mr. Hume; I think I already did.</blockquote><br />
The flash-sideways just got very interesting.<br />
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Desmond's meeting with Penny at the stadium was perfect. There she was running the stairs and I was half-expecting to see Jack running them as well so that we could come full circle from Season 2. Although their conversation was very different from the highly emotional climax of <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2008/02/constant.html">"The Constant,"</a> I found it equally touching. There is something about this couple that I find more compelling than any other romantic pairing on the show. After their reunion in "There's No Place Like Home," I was sure the Desmond-Penny storyline would lose some of it's luster, but their meeting at the stadium was just as powerful if not more so. After all, their handshake brought Desmond's consciousness back to the Island timeline and made a believer out of him. He is on board now and he understands that to keep the life he has, he must fulfill his purpose on the Island.<br />
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There are a couple of things that concern me about his "destiny." The first is that Widmore told him that he would have to make a sacrifice. I am worried that his sacrifice might end up being similar to the one that Dogan had to make...something along the lines of having to forgo ever seeing Penny and <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Charlie_hume">Charlie</a> again in order to save their lives. My second concern is about Desmond's willingness to join Sayid without question even after he ambushed and killed some of Widmore's people. Is this all part of Jacob's plan? Is Desmond's destiny to defeat the Man in Black by appearing to join him? Just when I thought that was it for the episode, we got a thought provoking sideways story coda. Desmond set a date with Penny and then returned to the limo where he asked George (I loved seeing Minkowski get more screen time in this episode than he probably had in all his other appearances combined) to get him the passenger manifest for Oceanic 815....he needs to show them something. Is this finally the beginning of the convergence of the flash-sideways with the Island storyline? I think so although I'm not exactly sure how it will be accomplished. I'm guessing that this newly imbued-with-knowledge Desmond has a plan to get all of the should-be-Islanders together in LA for a meeting...there's work to be done!<br />
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Great episode, maybe the best of the season for me although "Ab Aeterno" is certainly a strong contender. LOST is living up to my expectations this far. Sometimes I'd prefer more forward momentum, but as long as we get stories like we have recently, I'll be a happy camper come the May 23.Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-16229190639500684962010-03-30T16:22:00.006-10:002010-04-06T17:49:40.909-10:00"The Package"Hour 10-of-18 of the season is history. We are officially careening towards the end now as we have passed the halfway point. Where will it go from here?<br />
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STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br />
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The long awaited Sun and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Jin</span> episode finally happened and I was foolishly expecting them to actually be reunited on the Island. Now I just hope it happens before the final episode. I like them and their being separated for so long is really getting boring. So it was nice to see them "together" in the flash-sideways. As was noticed by sharp eyed viewers of <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/02/la-x.html">"LA X,"</a> they were not wearing wedding rings and Sun was addressed as Ms. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Paik</span> by airport security. It was nice to see that they are a secret couple in the flash-sideways world even if fate has not brought them together as husband and wife. It was not surprising to find out that Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Paik</span> knew their secret and wasn't happy, but it was sad to learn that he ordered <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Jin's</span> murder at the hands of a very creepy Martin <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Keamy</span>. The whole thing was an obvious set-up from the beginning because even gangsters know that if you want to legally bring over $10,000 through customs, it must be declared. So not only did Mr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Paik</span> want <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Jin</span> dead, he was going to screw over the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">hitman</span>!<br />
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It was very funny so see that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Keamy's</span> interpreter was none of than a two-eyed <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Mikhail">Mikhail</a>. It was even funnier to see him lose his eye when shot during <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Jin's</span> escape. On the subject of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Jin's</span> escape from the freezer, I was actually very nervous when <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Sayid</span> hesitated to help him. In fact, I really thought <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Sayid</span> might kill him since he effectively witnessed <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Keamy</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">et</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">al</span></span>'s murders. But in the end, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Sayid</span> did just enough to help <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Jin</span> escape. My intuition told me that we were not out of the woods though so I was not surprised to see that Sun was shot during <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Jin's</span> skirmish with Mikhail. And she was pregnant! But that's were the flash-sideways ended making me again wonder if and when a grand payoff will come. Will all of our characters eventually end up in the same place at the same time soon? Or are these stories simply the lives of the characters if Jacob had never gotten involved? Or is it what their lives will be if the Man in Black successfully escapes the Island?<br />
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Speaking of the Island, that was a very strange scene at the beginning of the episode with the night vision <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">POV</span> of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Widmore's</span> army. It seemed unnecessary. But we did learn that Locke's plan (or at least what he is telling everyone) is that he intends to fly the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Ajira</span> plane away from the Island but he can only do it if he has all the remaining candidates with him. That means he has to get Sun just in case she's the "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Kwon</span>" on Jacob's list. But that would be easier said than done. Locke also tells Claire that Kate is not a candidate but she will be useful in getting the other candidates on his side (i.e. Jack) but after he's done with her, Claire can do what ever she likes (i.e. kill Kate). <br />
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Okay, now here's my big quibble with this episode and I think that LOST should be better than this. After being knocked unconscious while running from Locke, Sun wakes up and has lost the ability to speak English. LAME!!!!! This is a legitimate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark">shark jumping</a> moment, unless....the Man in Black may have powers we don't yet know about including the power to take things from people, like Sun's ability to communicate. There are so many biblical references in this show, Locke might as well have the ability to confound people <i>à la</i> the Tower of Babel. He undoubtedly caught up with her after she was knocked unconscious and had ample time to work his magic, cast his spell or whatever he does before Ben found her. I hope this is the reason for her aphasia and not just a horribly cliched plot device. <br />
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While Locke was chasing Sun around, his beach camp was attacked in order for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Widmore</span> to kidnap <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Jin</span>. Seriously, will Sun and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Jin</span> ever be together again? When he woke up I was trying to figure out where <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Jin</span> was and enjoyed learning that it he was in fact in <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Room_23">Room 23</a>. Riddle me this: we have been led to believe that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Dharma</span> was exploiting the unique properties of the Island but the video in Room 23 mentions Jacob by name so were they also brought to the Island as part of the contest between <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Jacaob</span> and the Man in Black? If so, why were they purged by the Others who are presumably disciples of Jacob? Why would Jacob's people kill, especially after what we learned about Richard last week and his feelings about murder?<br />
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<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Widmore</span> had a couple of interesting conversations tonight. First, he talked with Locke on the beach of Hydra Island. Nice to see that the temporary sonic fence actually kept Locke out...or at least that's what he'd have <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Widmore</span> believe. Curious that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Widmore</span> doesn't know what Locke is but says he is a "combination of myth, ghost stories and jungle noises in the night." So how much does <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Widmore</span> really know about the Man in Black and Jacob for that matter? One thing is for sure, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Widmore</span> is definitely not on Locke's side. The second important <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Widmore</span> conversation was with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Jin</span> who got to see pictures of <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ji_Yeon_Kwon"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Ji</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Yeon</span></a> for the first time. Very good acting by Daniel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Dae</span> Kim in this scene. Apparently, if the Man in Black <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">get's</span> off the Island, all of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Losties</span> and their loved ones will cease to exist. Very interesting.<br />
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So who is "The Package?" Why it's our old long lost fan-favorite Desmond Hume. So what's the story with that? Eloise Hawking told him last season that the Island wasn't done with him yet and I've certainly felt that he would become important to the Jacob/Man in Black rivalry if for no other reason than that "the rules don't apply to him." But how did he end up on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Widmore's</span> sub? Last we saw him, Desmond was in the hospital recovering from being shot by Ben at the marina. Charles <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Widmore</span> and Eloise Hawking were seen talking outside of the hospital. So did <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Widmore</span> abduct Desmond then or did he keep an eye on him for a later kidnapping? Perhaps we will find out next week. <br />
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That's about it other than a note to ABC: don't put a stupid countdown clock over the lower right corner of the screen! If Jack didn't reiterate all of Sun's notes to him, I wouldn't have known what the hell was going on! "V" is an okay show but there have only been four episodes...it definitely doesn't deserve a countdown clock!Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9058384.post-44178058423263568062010-03-23T20:07:00.004-10:002010-03-24T05:10:19.731-10:00"Ab Aeterno"I'm a little late getting to blogging tonight as I was a little late getting to watch the episode...thankfully the Tivo worked and I added an extra few minutes of recording having been warned about the extended length of the episode. I have a few thoughts but I'll probably forget most of them before I get to the end of this post...it's late and I need to be up for work in a few hours!<br /><br />STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!<br /><br />Roxi and I were out tonight hosting one of her former dissertation advisers who is visiting Memphis to give a talk in Roxi's department tomorrow afternoon. We didn't start watching the episode until about 11:30 tonight and Roxi didn't make it through. I was determined to see this story though after these three years of waiting. All week I have been trying to temper my excitement and expectations about Richard Alpert's backstory as I felt that I could only be disappointed if my hopes were too high. All-in-all I really enjoyed the episode but as usual, my imagination probably caused me a little cognitive dissonance. Don't get me wrong, I think we learned a great deal but I guess I had hoped that we would see even more. But a new episode of LOST is better than no LOST at all (what will become of me in a few short weeks?!?).<br /><br />It was certainly curious how the episode opened with an extended version of the Season 5 finale scene showing Jacob's meeting with Ilana. I wonder when we will get the proper flashback treatment for the mysterious protector of the Candidates. Back on the beach as Ilana explained her purpose to Jack et al, I was a little creeped out by Hurley standing by himself speaking in tongues (being from South Louisiana I learned French in high school not Spanish so it was gibberish to me). When Richard said that he didn't know what Jacob wanted him to do and stormed off the beach, I knew that he was headed for a meeting with the Man in Black.<br /><br />The last time that Richard was mortal was <del>240</del> 140 years (bad late-night math) before the Island present of 2007. Any significance to that amount of time? I'm not sure yet but it was sad yet unsurprising to see that his pre-Island life wasn't any easier than anyone else stuck there. After he accidentally killed a man trying to save his dying wife, Ricardus was sold into slavery to <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Magnus_Hanso">Magnus Hanso</a>, great grandfather of Dharma Initiative financier <a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Alvar_Hanso">Alvar Hanso</a>. The mystery of the destruction of the statue was finally solved as we learned that it was destroyed by the <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Black Rock</span> as she ran aground on the Island. That was one hell of a storm! Not unlike the wreckage of Oceanic 815 in the jungle, the Smoke Monster made short work of all of the survivors except Richard. Instead, it chose to "scan" him in the same manner that we saw him/it scan Mr. Eko, Juliet and Kate. It was no real surprise to see Richard's dead wife appear to him which I'm presuming as actually one of the Smoke Monster's many forms.<br /><br />The really cool stuff happened after the Man in Black (back in Season 5 form) released Richard from his bondage on the condition that he help get rid of his nemesis. Curiously, the Man in Black gave Richard the same dagger to kill Jacob that Dogen gave to Sayid in <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2010/03/sundown.html">"Sundown."</a> Furthermore, he gave him verbatim instructions on how and when to kill Jacob. Richard fails in his mission when he has the crap beaten out of him by Jacob. But then things got really interesting as Jacob explained what the Man in Black was trying to achieve and how disastrous it would be for the world if he did manage to escape the Island. Also of note: Jacob said that whatever Richard did before the Island didn't matter. Why can Jacob only offer to grant some of Richard's wishes but not all. Why can't he reunite Ricardus with Isabella? What's the reason, it is the same as why Dogen could only save his son if he never saw him again. The blessing/curse.<br /><br />The Man in Black was disappointed in Alpert but not so much that he shut the door on any future "professional" relationship between the two. This of course turned out to be precisely the reason for Richard's lone trek through the jungle. Thankfully, Hurley had Isaballa's ghost guidance keeping Richard from embracing the darkness much to the chagrin of Fake Locke who we saw looking on in disdain. I was expecting the episode to end at that point, but we got the extra little tag of Jacob and the Man in Black discussing the Island. Unless we are getting more of a smokescreen(!), we can be fairly certain that Jacob's mission had always been to keep the Man in Black on the Island. But is there something more sinister to Jacob's motivation? If we found out definitely, I don't think it will happen until the series finale.<br /><br />Well, I am officially beat. I know I must have left some things out of this post, but it is late and I am tiered. If I think of anything else, I'll update this post accordingly so stay tuned. I no find myself in a recurring experience: waiting for the next new episode of LOST next week. Goodnight LOST fans.<br /><br />UPDATE: Two things I forgot to mention last night:<br /><br />(1) Hurley referred to the spirit inhabiting Locke as "The Man in Black," which is what we have been calling Jacob's nemesis since <a href="http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/2009/05/incident.html">"The Incident"</a> but this is the first time that he has been given any sort of "name" by someone on the show.<br /><br />(2) When Richard saw Isabella on the ship and hears the Smoke Monster outside, was the Man in Black in two places at once? Up until now, we have only seen the Man in Black either in a human form or as the Smoke Monster but not both at the same time. So was it the Man in Black taking the form of Isabella or was it someone else...perhaps Jacob?Wes Rainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12624854227387496406noreply@blogger.com1