Peaceful 'Ohana
General
大震災への援助
Mar 30th
昨日Ｒｏｓｓへ買い物に行ったら、店内アナウンスで日本の震災の被害への寄付を募っていました。
キャッシャーでまた「ドネーション（寄付）しますか？」と聞かれました。
先日はラジオであるレストランが今日の売り上げの１００％をＲｅｄ Ｃｒｏｓｓ（赤十字）に寄付するという話がありました。
日本への義捐金を作るためにＴシャツを手作り、販売している人がいます。
私がアロマオイルを買っているヤングリビング社のニュースレターにも、Ｊａｐａｎに寄付という文字が。
電話会社は日本への国際電話を3月末まで無料で提供していました。
いたるところで日本への援助を目にしたり耳にします。
私自身も友人に誘ってもらって、ワイキキで街頭募金をしたり、物資を送る手助けをしたりしました。たくさんの人たちが、日本を助けたいと思ってくれています。
災害はとても悲しい出来事ですが、遠く離れた人たち、また日本人ではない人たちまで、応援しているという暖かい愛に感動しています。
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Help Japan: LivingSocial matches donation to Red Cross
Mar 17th
You’ve seen the images and videos of the devastation in northern Japan. Right now, LivingSocial is matching all donations to the American Red Cross to help those quake and tsunami victims. Donate $5 and $10 will go to Red Cross! It’s a limited time, so, act quickly to your donation dollars go further.
When you sign up for LivingSocial you’ll also have the chance to get local deals, generally 1/2 priced items for places in town that you might not even have heard of, like Groupon.
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Hitting the Sweet Spot with Amazon: Free Shipping to Hawaii
Jun 30th
For those of us living in Hawaii know, when sites say “free shipping” they often don’t consider Hawaii as part of that. And for some reason, many of their shipping methods then change from 2-3 day to only overnight express for $20 or more, making that sweet deal of $5 HMDI cables look pretty crappy.
That’s why so many locals love Amazon. If you spend $25 per order from Amazon (and not on their “other” merchants selling within Amazon), free shipping includes Hawaii!
So, how can you get every order to be $25 or more when you only want a book for $19.99? What about some of the other THOUSANDS of things that Amazon sells- clothes, toys, games, soaps, food, movies, etc. Surely there’s something there you could use to save yourself the $5 shipping charge. Just get to $25 and free shipping.
One of my favorite sites for finding good deals is 
Slickdeals.net”>Slickdeals.net – lively discussions, free alerts for keywords (like “Amazon”, “slack guitar”, or “Wii”), and their sister site SlickFillers.net. With Slickfiller you type in the amount needed to get to $25 ($5.01 in this case), and it will present a list of qualifying items from Amazon you can add to your cart. Slick! So instead of spending that $5 on shipping, you got a “free” children’s coloring book or stickers.
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Celebrating 50 Years of Diversity: East-West Center
Jun 7th
Intercultural weddings bring together a weaving of styles and traditions that may be strange at first to those unfamiliar. Right now, the East-West Center gallery is currently running an exhibition on Wedding Ceremonies around Asia-Pacific. Highlights include weddings from China, India, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. This “Golden Ceremony” exhibit is part of the 50th Anniversary for the Center, created in 1960.
The gallery, located inside Burns Hall on the University of Hawaii Manoa Campus, is open weekdays 8-4:30pm. Paid parking is available through UH. If you can’t make it to the gallery, you can check out some of the images virtually.
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What could be more Hawaiian: Spam-flavored Mac Nuts!
Apr 18th
Imagine the look on your friend’s face when you bring them a bit of Hawaii with these new Spam(R) Macadamia Nuts! (Travels better than Spam Musubi’s!)
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More Guilt: "Save the Planet: Have Fewer Kids"
Aug 5th
Those who are concerned about their “carbon footprint” have started looking at individual’s decisions, including those about reproduction.
A study by statisticians at Oregon State University concluded that in the United States, the carbon legacy and greenhouse gas impact of an extra child is almost 20 times more important than some of the other environment-friendly practices people might employ during their entire lives — things like driving a high mileage car, recycling, or using energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs. [LiveScience.com]
It does make perfect sense. And, yet, we have another child coming soon…
Should there be a limit on how many children a family can have, as they do in China?
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Zen Apps for iPhone/iPod Touch
Jun 18th
Here are some great iPhone/iPod Touch apps that, while not strictly “Zen”, they do help to calm the mind (or at least remind me of my time in Japan). You’ll find these all in the iTunes App Store:
Koi Pond — beautifully done with sounds accompanying the koi (Japanese carp). Feed them, scare them (my two year old loves that), or just watch them swim around. $.99
iZen Garden — you are your own monk at a famous rock garden. Rake the stones however you desire. Shake to reset. (There are several of these type of apps now, ranging from free to $2.99.)
Bloom — from Brian Eno, this musical and visual app treats you to a break through subtly-changing, repetitive sounds and images. This is great to hook up to speakers as background music while you work. $3.99
Bowls — can’t afford a $300 Tibetan “signing bowl” but love that droning, melodic sound? This app lets you “play” several different bowls as a way to relax your mind. $1.99
iBonsai — grow your own beautiful bonsai plant in seconds, then, move it around, shake it to remove leaves. Snap a picture and email to a friend. Then repeat… $.99
iKoto — the sound of the koto for me is very relaxing. So to have the ability to play a portable koto wherever you go — with some songs already pre-programmed — is a great way to take a mental break. $1.99
Easy Relax — choose where you want to go and let the sounds of your new “environment” relax you. From Hawaii Vacation to Fishing Time, Blossoms from India to Jungle, all within your reach. $.99 (There are many of these ambient sound apps available, ranging from free to $2.99.)
TanZen Lite — OK, this isn’t actually relaxing. It’s a game. And it can be a damn challenging game at that. However, it reminds me of staying in an ryokan in the mountains with my wife and one of these games was there. We sat watching the snow on the mountains in the warmth of our room silently playing this game.
There are apps for Chakra, meditation, Buddhism, you name it and there’s probably an app for it…
Hopefully you could find something that might help you stay in peace…
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Kid-friendly iPhone and iPod Touch
Jun 17th
If you’ve been thinking about an iPhone or iPod Touch, or already have one, here’s some pretty cool things you can do that will provide even more value to you as you extend it to your family; I’m talking about making it “kid-friendly”.
I moved from having Palm PDA’s for years to an iPod Touch. The Touch does all the things I needed my T|X to do (wireless, applications, calendar, note taking, etc.) but with a much better web browser, incredibly easy-to-use iTunes integration, and — with using Plaxo — syncing my calendar between work PC and home Mac.
But the apps are what really make this thing kid-friendly. My two and a half year old sees me working on it and says “I play papa game!” He loves to try out the fun of using that touch screen to make things happen. And, as I’ve learned from other parents, having an iPod Touch/iPhone that can hold MOVIES can be PERFECT for long flights, like to Japan! This device has probably helped lower my blood pressure level significantly (no more wandering child, screaming of boredom).
So, here are a couple of great toddler-friendly things for your iPhone or iPod Touch:
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The Onion News presents a view into our future
Jun 16th
This was a very funny clip from the Onion News Network — something that living here in Hawaii I see all the time. Lots of tourists, each with cameras, cell phones, or video cameras, taking images of almost everything they see.
Looking to the future, this can only happen more and more; cheaper and smaller recording devices with greater storage space and ease of use, means that soon everyone will own and use these all the time. (I know it’s happened to me! 
)
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The Daily Show's take on News Channels
Jun 16th
I had to post this even though it’s a little old; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart did a review of the “flavor” of the different news channels: Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. While it might not be completely accurate, it’s still very funny:
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