Winter Mornings


7:15am today

I pulled the camera out for a quick snap of the bad weather pounding Honolulu today. Usually you can see a view like this out our window for sunrise:


>7am sunny sunrise morning

The tourism board of Hawaii would love to let you believe it never rains on the Islands and surely it will never rain on your vacation. Nothing could be further from the truth. It rains all the time and depending on what part of the island you live on, it ALWAYS rains. We get lots of rain as we live right below the mountain range and misty rain seems to always fall from the sky. Its nothing to make you pull out the umbrella but its enough to make you pull off your sunglasses for a quick wipe.

Today happen to be one of the worst days in a while.

The rain and winds rattled the windows and woke us up in the middle of the night. The traffic is at a complete stop on the highways this morning and the rain is causing flooding in some parts on Oahu. Its not a great day.

Winter season, roughly November through Jan/Feb, will bring bad weather and rain to Hawaii. Several years ago, it happen to rain more than 40 days STRAIGHT! You can’t help to feel bad for all those tourist who arrive from their snowy homes hoping to have a perfect tropical vacation. I’ve seen rain fall for days and sadly see jets ferrying tourist off the Islands as the sunny skies break open.

Its a sad fact, rain falls in the winter on Hawaii. To me it happens to be the most depressing time. You get so used to having sunny bright days and cool weather. Donning a rain coat or perhaps socks and sneakers (as opposed to flip flops) is tough. Hey–I lived in New York along time and remember freezing ears, frozen toes, and red noses. My first experience with snow was “wow, its snow!” but once you have to cross the icy cold streams at the intersections, you quickly come to hate that lovely winter wonderland.

Either way, most tourist who come to Honolulu during the winter season can’t all be doing that bad. A quick look at the weather across the US and the globe today:

Thursday, Dec. 10, 2008

New York: 41 F, overcast
Los Angeles: 65 F, cloudy
Chicago: 34 F, PC
Dallas: 49 F, clear

The Globe:

London: 37 F, hazy
Sydney: 64 F, rain
Tokyo: 57 F, clear
Riyadh: 59 F, PC
Berlin: 36 F, drizzle
Paris: 37 F, clear
Buenos Aires: 75 F, clear
Mexico City: 57, clouds

So I guess where ever you are, the weather today isn’t all that bad. A bad day in Hawaii is always a good day anywhere else. Heavens—its Hawaii!

$1,000,000 and change

I found a bunch of money in my closet today. Sad to say its kinda worthless to me in Hawaii as all the value is only in memory.

I don’t know where or who gave me a million Turkish bucks as I’ve never been. I wished they’d given me a bunch of Euros or dollars. I think it was Adrian in Switzerland.

The only real value is probably the Singapore $2 dollars. The rest is well, I shouldn’t say as the dollar isn’t too high and mighty right now. Yet I sure could use more of them.

Time Magazine Barack Obama

I got several emails in the last few weeks from friends and strangers alike telling me of my back page shot of Obama and his kids in the Time Magazine Nov. 17, 2008 issue…seems its a commemorative issue and many many many people are gonna be looking at my picture. Actually, the cover, back cover, and back page, imho, are probably the most important…back cover usually an ad so the back page is just as good.

The shot of Obama and his kids on the beach is starting to become legendary. Lets hope my royalties are just as legendary…HA!

Here’s the page…click on the Time Magazine above and it will take you to the actual page.

I also wanted to also make special notice of a picture I recently scanned…its a picture of me…and I don’t usually like to brag on myself but I do say, Patrick Sison took a nice photo. Its not so much me but the fact that his psyche captured a mirror image of me. Patrick is probably the most unsung talented image maker I’ve ever encountered…even in college, Patrick was is the best. I think he has always been in touch with his inner self to capture really amazing pictures. And to think, the bastard was fiddling with my camera at the time on the streets of NYC. I really do miss New York…and Patrick for that matter.