Wednesday, Jan. 28

Hi everyone. Howzit? Doing good here. I am pretty wiped out... We've been brewing double batches all week and have one more to do tomorrow. We brewed out Humpback Blue on Tuesday. That beer is a kolsch-style ale that is light in color and bitterness. It's a nice easy drinker and sells pretty well for us. From now until the end of week, we're brewing our Volcano Red Ale, which is an American Red Ale with a pronounced hop character. The Volcano Red is also one of our best sellers. I have to work on Saturday as well and am contemplating taking Sunday off. Work has been really busy, but it's been great too. It's certainly a challenge, but that keeps things interesting. Jess and Berkley are doing good, both continuing to get used to Hilo and living in Hawaii in general. So far neither have any complaints. However, Berkley does miss his dog door and thinks his new dog bed we bought him is so-so. We're thinking about going over to Kona on Sunday to boogie boarding and then do some Costco shopping after that. I'm looking forward to spending some time in the ocean. Right now, Jessie is cooking some dinner with stuff she bought at Farmer's Market today. She really likes the market and I'm enjoying having someone who enjoys cooking dinner. When we were apart, I ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and microwaved veggie burgers. I also did my laundry without separating whites and colors and frequently used waay too much soap. Alright, time for me to eat dinner. Hope all is well with everyone. Aloha.

Sunday, Jan. 25

Hello everyone. Howzit? Doing good here. We've had a pretty busy and productive day here so far. Jess and I got up about 7:30 a.m. and went down to the gym, where she got a membership. We hit the treadmills for 30 minutes and then got on the ellipticals for another 20 minutes of cardio. Jess loved the gym and were hoping to meet up for workouts when our schedules allow for it. After working out, we hopped into the landlords junker and went over to the recycling center and the dump, where you can dump your trash for free. Trash removal in Hawaii is really expensive and most people just throw their trash in the car and get rid of it at the dump, where it's free. Hawai'i also has a bottle return, so we took back our bottles and got a whopping $6. It's only five cents a bottle/can. We then went over to Island Naturals and did a bit of grocery shopping before we hit the brewery to pick up some growlers and feed the brewery cat. That pretty much cleared us for the rest of the day, but Berkley needed a walk so we took a nice stroll downtown and ending up walking about two miles by the time we got home. We've just been kicking back for the past hour or so and don't really have any big plans for the rest of the day. The weather today is pretty decent with short rain showers in between periods of sun and clouds. Temps are in the mid 70's. Hope everyone is doing well. Aloha.

Saturday, Jan. 24

Hi there. Howzit? Doing good here. Jess and I had a great day today. We got up fairly early and headed to Hapuna Beach, which is about 65 miles from Hilo. As we found out today, it was worth the drive. Hapuna is a half-mile long white sand beached on the Kohola Coast of the Big Island. The weather was good, about 80 degrees with a slight breeze from time-to-time. As luck would have it, I forgot the boogie boards today and the waves were about 2-4 feet -- perfect for riding. We spent the entire morning and some of the afternoon soaking up the sun and enjoying the warm ocean water. It was one of those days here where you just kind of look around in awe of everything, hardly believing that you actually live in this place. When I came to Hawai'i as a visitor, I always wondered what it would actually feel like to live here. Sometimes, it's a pretty overwhelming feeling. Most days it's hard to wipe the smile off my face. As I've said before, it's entirely possible to have a bad day here, but when things are going well as they normally do, it's almost an unreal feeling to be here. Alright, enough Hawai'i gushing from me. After we left Hapuna, we headed back to Hilo and went to the bastard version of Costco called "Cost You Less." It's a poor attempt at a Costco copycat and has the feeling of shopping in a garage. Sure, you can get 12 gallons of mayonnaise for $8, but I think I'll save my bulk shopping for when we're on Kona side. We did snag Berkley a new dog bed, which he seems to appreciate. Just finished up eating dinner and reading the newspaper. We were contemplating a trip to the Emerald Orchid, the local bar in Hilo, but we're both pretty wiped out and I think we'll opt for drinks on the front porch and call it an early night. We're going to get up early tomorrow and go work out at the gym and then do a bit of grocery shopping. Hope everyone is doing well. Aloha.

Aloha!

I hope you're all doing great..It's raining in Hilo a bit this morning. It's the first time I have seen any rain here. I apologize for my delay in writing..I've just been soaking it all in...
I made it!! Berkley did great, and adapted to Hawaii in about a minute, it seems. The travels to Covina/LA went well. The Pruis took off from port yesterday, and should be here in 2-3 weeks. Berkley and I did have a nice evening in the hotel in LA, then a whirlwind trip through the airport, but it went super smoothly...Berkley checked in easily, with an unbelievably helpful air cabby, or whatever they are called. I owe it to Walshman for the really great plan of action. Thanks! We flew, we arrived. I sweat, as did Berkley, for a good 3 days. We reunited with John and we're all still revelling in it. So nice to be around my best friend and partner in crime again. :) Hilo is amazing. So quirky and different and local. There is hardly any tourism at all, and mostly just people living. This side of the island is interesting...(not that I know any other side)..there's not really any beaches. The island is young. Here, there is new lava rock going right up to the ocean. So, there are county parks with man made lava boulder-created coves, sandy bottom...the sea crashes over the break and spits foam and water 30' in the air. We forgot our camera, or there would be a picture (instead of words) right here. The water is warm, and regardless of the lack of true beach, it is tropical and amazing. We have a view of Hilo Bay from the house. And..oh, the houses...the architecture is absolutely lovely. The houses are all small to medium size plantation style homes....think corrogated tin roofs with alcove-like porches, stone steps, which are covered in moss and flowers, leading up to the front door. It's truly beautiful. And this house, our house, is a 70 year old plantation style home. It has plenty windows and doors everywhere. Hardwood floors and old door knobs with skeleton keys. It's big, beautiful and dreamy..John really rolled the dog in the rug with this find.
So, I've been getting accustomed, or as much as one can in 9 days. The Farmers Market is more amazing than I expected, with so many tropical fruits and lots of vegetables and crafts and flowers...It's bustling and busy and is full of great deals on delicious things! Speaking of delicious things, I'm hungry now and going to close.
Lots of love to you. ~Aloha

Wednesday, Jan 21

Hi everyone. Howzit? Things are good here. We have both been pretty darn busy. Me, working like crazy and Jess getting acclimated to Hilo. I've been brewing a lot lately and working with the guys on staff to get things streamlined and make things more efficient overall. It's a somewhat difficult process, but it will be worth it in the end. So, yeah, I worked today and then went to the gym after work to spend some time on the treadmill. Jess got up early and went to the farmer's market and stocked us up on food. She really enjoys the Farmer's Markets. I promise, Jess will be posting soon. I am growing tired of blogging about her in the third person. It looks like I will actually have the weekend off, so maybe we'll get out and do a little exploring. I am ready for some beach time, personally. The weather has been really nice lately, mostly sun and a few showers here and there. I will wrap up my work week with a good amount of cleaning and then make the schedule for next week on Friday. I am also meeting with on of the investors for Hawaii Nui on Friday to discuss writing a blog for the Brewery's new web site. She really wants me to do it, so I think I will give it a shot. Alright, time for some drinks. Aloha.

Sunday, Jan. 18

Hey everyone. Howzit? We are doing good here. I finally got a day off today and Jess and I took advantage of some great weather and spent most of the day at Richardson's Beach Park, which is about four miles from the house. Hilo, being on the volcano side of the island, doesn't have the white sand beaches that most associate with Hawaii. There are pockets of sand, but for the most part, there's a good deal of lava rock on the Hilo side beaches. We found our little plot of sand, got some sun, did some swimming and just relaxed. We also stopped by the brewery today so I could check on two fermentations. I pitched new yeast for the brewery on Friday and was anxious to see if things were taking off. Both tanks are fermenting well, which will allow us to supply the entire brewery with a new, clean strain of yeast. Last night, I took Jess to one of Hilo's local bars, The Emerald Orchid, for some drinks. The place got pretty packed and we lasted until about 11:30 before walking home. It's great to be able to walk home from the bar and not even have to think about driving. Other than that, Jessie did some laundry today and I cut the grass, which was getting a bit overgrown. I forgot how much I missed the smell of freshly cut grass. Well, it's back to work with me tomorrow. I will get Jess to post her thoughts on Hilo very soon.

Wednesday, Jan. 14

We're BACK!!!! I picked up Jessica and Berkley yesterday at the Kona Airport. Both arrived safe, although Berkley was very eager to get out of his airplane kennel. We had a great ride back from Kona and spent the rest of the evening checking out the house and having drinks. Jess loves the house and Berkley seems to have adapted pretty well, however, he won't go down the basement stairs for some reason. All three of us got up early this morning and after Jess and I got back from returning our rental car, she and I headed down to the Hilo Farmer's market where we stocked up on good things like tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, avocados, star fruit, lilikoi, rambutans and a really cool flower arrangement. After that, we headed back home and took Berkley down to Hilo Bay off Banyan Drive for his first Hawai'i swim. He did really well and didn't hesitate at all to head right into the water. In fact, he submerged his entire body underwater twice to pull up rocks. We walked down Banyan Drive after that and checked out a spot called Coconut Island, where we saw a sea turtle swimming in the bay. The turtle would poke it's head completely out of the water from time to time. It was pretty cool to see. Jess and I spent the remainder of the afternoon checking out some local shopping in Hilo and capped things off with her first ever trip to Jamba Juice. She's been cleaning the house up a bit and is getting ready to cook some dinner. We had a great second day together and unfortunately, I have to return to work tomorrow morning. We're going to be filtering and then double brewing on Friday and Saturday. Hope everyone is well. Aloha.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hello Everyone! I hope you are well. Happy New Year! John has relocated to Hilo. He has no computer there. I have been outrageously busy wrapping up all the loose ends for the move, which is in 2.5 days. Hence the lack of posts. We apologize for our absence. We will begin posting once again, once I get to Hilo with the computer. I arrive on Tuesday 1.13.2009. Until then...Aloha!