Saturday, Nov. 29.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I spent mine in Hilo, checking out the town and finding me and Jess a place to live. Hilo is a cool, funky town with a lot of character. It's truly old-school Hawaii. The picture to the left is from the parking lot at the airport. It probably would have been way cooler if I would have walked in between those two trees and got a shot of the huge volcano. I had a good time in Hilo. The first day I got there I was wiped out, felt like crap and spent the first four hours walking around in the rain. After I got checked into my hostel, I passed out and then woke up feeling refreshed. For those who haven't stayed in a hostel before, it's an experience. A weird experience. It's like staying in someone's house with a bunch of strangers. In most cases, these strangers are from different countries and speak very little English. Imagine 15 to 20 people, all from different backgrounds -- speaking different languages. Lot's of head nodding and confused looks. I only wish the Latvian guys thought it was a good idea to wear clothes in the bathroom. They were waaaay free and easy. The hostel was set up in a way in which you could stay in a dormitory setting or get a private room. After taking a tour, I went with the private room. It's pretty basic -- you get a bed, a night stand and a lamp. For $60 a night, what do you expect really? So, after my nap, I got some dinner and then hit a local bar for some drinks. The bar was pretty packed and I ended up drinking with some local folks. The people on Hilo were a lot more friendly than those on Kauai. I drank my share and went back to the International House of confusion and culturally acceptable nudity. Woke up the next morning, and got some coffee from the only place open in Hilo on Thanksgiving. The weather was great on Thanksgiving, so I took my boogie board and headed down to the local surf spot, Honolii. The waves were decent and I had some fun and then headed back to hostel, hoping not to catch Claude and Veeder after their showers. I went back to the bar that night and drank my dinner, as there were not any options for food on Thanksgiving night. It's no big deal, I am capable of roughing it. Oh, I nearly forgot. Early on in the day on Thursday, I went and looked at a house for me and Jess. It's a great house, 3bdrm, 2.5 bath, about 1,700 sq feet on a nice lot. The house is in a great neighborhood, about a 10 minute walk from downtown and about 2 miles from the brewery in Hilo. It's got an ocean view from the front and was perfect for me and Jess. As luck would have it, I locked up the place and left Hilo feeling pretty damn accomplished -- and slightly scarred from my encounters with Claude and Veeder. I got back into Kauai about 11 a.m. on Friday and went straight to the beach. Today, I kegged out 1,000 gallons of beer, ate some dinner and am now relaxing. Looks like I'll have most of tomorrow off, before some filters on Monday. Take it easy, everyone. Aloha.