The house needs no work, we are pretty sure no termites and it will make a perfect place to entertain guest and not have to run the A/C 24/7 as it is at one of the highest points in Honolulu and is a corner single level home with 1600 square feet of space and I am pretty excited about moving.

Getting through escrow will be the fun part, the sooner the better

I told my wife a minute or two later to start packing my suitcase and I called work. As would be expected the base was on lock down already, and only essential people were being let in. I was essential so I got dressed pretty fast and got in the car and speed to work.

I think the next time I saw my wife was two days later, and I was only home to pick up my suitcase.

While I cannot talk about much that happened after that, or where I went, what I did, or what I saw. I can say that the missions and the flying will have memories that will last me a life time.

While I am no longer out doing what I do the best, I am proud to have done it while I did, and look back at my 24 years of active duty service with a lot of pride and look forward to the next phase of my life.

But until my next phase in life starts I am going to enjoy some down time re-charge my batteries. Meanwhile for those of you on the front lines go kick some ass, take some names and don’t ever let those evil bastards do this to our country ever again.

To those that protest about the war you better wake the hell up and remember that most of these fanatics don’t care if you protest all they want is you and your families dead.

The Honolulu Super Ferry met every state guideline and rule required and yet for the first time a shipping company is being required to get an environmental impact study completed when they have the most green and advanced ship in our harbors.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see the ongoing political games that are going on here. This state is beyond anti-business. Being a business owner it shakes my resolve and confidence in a already over taxed and over regulated atmosphere.

If I were the Honolulu Super Ferry I would flip the legislature, the governor and the citizens of Hawaii the bird and leave. The impact would resonate for years and business here would be crippled.

If they resolve to stay then every company small or large that wants to open up shop here needs to be held to the same standard. See how long companies like Matson, Hawaiian Airlines and others would stay in business if they were required to do a environmental impact for every new ship or aircraft they put in service here in Hawaii.

Seeing how the folks in Maui and Kauai don’t want ships in their harbors, well lets see how loud they squeal when all shipping is halted into their island harbors while environmental studies are undertaken on every other vessel coming into their ports.

One week with no gasoline, no fresh milk or vegetables and other supplies and I can guarantee the small minority of liberal fanatics would shut their traps. When the power plants ran out of oil because of no deliveries, then those protesting can live with nature, by contributing to the environment their human waste as the sewage processing plants over flow with non processed sewage. Let them bury their garbage as well, as their will be no fuel for the garbage trucks.

This states legislatures, and annoited court judges all have failed this state in a significant way, and if the Honolulu Super Ferry leaves It will be their collective fault.

For the most part schools in upper class Neighborhoods are better equipped and teachers fight to teach their, in areas where the Neighborhoods are lower the schools are generally very bad.

Part of the issue here is that their are no local school boards. The state has a single elected school board that is largely political and in no way can keep up with all of the various issues in the hundreds of schools here.

This state desperately needs to switch to a local school board system and the state department of education needs to turn 90% of every dollar that is alloted by the legislature to the schools equally based upon student population.

Parents like me have no choice but to supplement classroom time with outside tutor support. Most people cannot afford the $10,000 per child cost to put kids in private school each year. A large number of military families home school their kids for fear when they return to the mainland that their kids will no longer be competitive and their chances of getting into a high ranked university will be slim.

The sad part is most people here do not care and yet millions of dollars a year are fed into the education system here and nothing has helped. Maybe home school is the way to go for my family but something has to change.

This has now changed, and I am now going to become what I would call politically active here in Hawaii. As a small business owner I understand the constraints of doing business in this state, and I also see the stranglehold the Democrats have on the political process here. The abuses they get away with makes me sick to my stomach and would not be tolerated in other States.

Not to mention the taxes being laid on us for the ridiculous rail project that will cost billions and line the pockets of construction companies and make the unions stronger. The rail will not cause traffic relief. Simple fixes to the current infrastructure would provide immediate needed relief to the 100's of thousands that site in the parking lot of the expressways here.

This state has a boat load of problems, and sadly the state legislature has had their way for to many years. There has been only one democratic process and that is what the democrats in the house and senate in Hawaii want. If the Republican Governor tries to veto a bill the legislature just holds a special session and over rides the veto. I like the Governor but her hands are tied and legislature treats her as a puppet.

The democrat controlled legislature have free reign to do what they want to do, with no accountability. Largely because people in this state don't vote for candidates on issues they vote for candidates that wave to them while they are driving to work.

It is time for this nonsense to end and for people in this state to wake the hell up and see what is happening. No longer can Hawaii we be ruled and dictated to by one party, no longer should the school system which is one of the worst in the nation be allowed to continue to flush the education of our children down the drain. It is time to start making people accountable and cleaning house.

Case in point the democrat controlled legislature is about to over-ride every bill the governor did not sign or vetoed. She has asked for cooperation not partisanship.

I support the Governors open letter and urge each legislature to really examine what the Governor has presented.

Never ceases to amaze me that their is such a dual standard in this country. The backlash will be very significant on this, it would have bode her well to stay in jail. The Register

I am still busting out a degree and have 5 classes left which makes it nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Overall I guess life is pretty good. My mom is doing ok and my niece is on the mend from the accident that took my dad from us.

It is a truly a miracle that she is still alive. My grandparents on my moms side are not 98 and 96 respectfully and when I was home last week I set them down in front of a camera and recorded some family history starting in 1907 and getting through the mid 1950’s.

Those tapes are worth their weight in gold. Lots of interesting things going on almost to many to blog and some business stuff that I am pretty excited about as well.

We have decided to wait a while and hope that the housing prices here in Hawaii cool a little bit. A $4000.00 a month mortgage payment is so over the top I cannot even imagine writing the check for that amount each month.

I have neglected this space way to long but it is time to update it more often.

I have walked into absolute dumps that would be worth more burned to the ground listed for $650,000. I have walked into Town Homes that have less than 1100 square feet with three bedrooms for $600,000 with a monthly maintenance fee of $600.00. I have seen homes that were priced at a good value but in a school district that ranked at the absolute bottom of the scale.

I have walked through beautiful sub-divisions with model homes to die for that are listed at $550,000 yet the test drive to get to the main highway from the location averaged a hour plus an additional 45 minute commute. The distance travelled in one hour was less than 3 miles. Not to mention those homes are in another crappy school district.

Not to mention a Job market that absolutely does not support at estimated $4000.00 a month mortgage payment. Bankers are more than happy to finance you a home where they know you will be spending as much as 60% of your base salary on a mortgage payments.

Heck we have not even talked about Electric, Water, Sewer and Garbage. I’ll be honest with you, this is a housing market that is completely out of control and for the life of me I do not see how people are able to afford these type of mortgage payments based upon the economy.

So here I sit making a significant salary and completely demoralised that we are finding it near impossible in buying a home at our self imposed cap. Something has to give because if a guy like me that has significant resources is scared of the housing market then I cannot even imagine what others are thinking.

The state simply has to get off their ass and do something because as much as I love Hawaii the shitty schools and crazy home prices is making me look eastward and making me consider packing my suitcase and getting the hell out of of here.

I have not advertised these services in the past as they have come primarily through referals, but now that I am ramping up to go full time in the space. I thought it was time to advertise publicly that I am available. While not usually necessary I am also available to travel worldwide.

Feel free to contact me if you are in need of expert help in getting your project off the ground or back on track. ceo@rawvoice.com

Deep in my heart I know he is in a better place but man it sure does not make it any easier here. Every person goes through this at some point and I guess I need to be happy that I had 42 wonderful years to know him and build my character from his influence and guidance.

It's kinda weird people ask me all the time how I get everything done that I get done. It's pretty simple I come from a family that knows how to work more than it knows how to play. I am easily frustrated with people who appear or are lazy. I also was raised with the understanding that nothing in this life comes easy generally everything is a challenge. I also realize that at some point this Anger phase will pass but the Irish comes out in me even now and I am still pretty mad about loosing him. I guess thats my way of dealing with it so if you run into me and I give you the stare you better move along quickly :)

News Link:
Photos of Accident
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News Story

As an update we arrived at my mothers home on Tuesday morning. The number of people that were their supporting her was awe inspiring. We all quickly got to work taking care of arrangements, not only did we have a funeral to plan with the myriad of details that need to be dealt with we also had a surviving niece in Intensive Care 3 plus hours away that even tonight is not out of the woods with significant spine, head and abdominal injuries. So your thoughts and prayers towards her recovery is appreciated.

This tragic event happened at the busiest time of the year for of my parents business, (they are produce brokers) with two coolers full of produce. The largest cooler is 64ft by 32ft and 18ft high and is nearly full of peaches, apples and pears which were all scheduled for delivery this week. With the largest delivery truck destroyed in the accident and with their operation having been a 2 man show, we now have a monumental task ahead of us in the coming days as we try to get the product delivered before it spoils in the bins and get cooler cleared before a 1000 bushels of fresh picked peaches arrive Tuesday.

As we have dealt with this loss as so many others have I must say I was nearly brought to my knees on Thursday when we had almost a 1000 friends, family, customers and of course family show up during the visitation period, it was an experience that I will never forget everyone waited for hours to talk to immediate family members. It really helped in the grieving process and reaffirmed what I already knew about my father.

As I close this out for now as we have a very long weekend ahead of us I again want to say thanks again for all the support and kind words. Hold your children tight and make sure that you make the best of every day that is given to you.

Todd...