So today is my Dad’s Birthday. I am sure he will be so busy today that he will not even get a chance to really celebrate it.

I know he did go deep sea fishing Sunday, I can imagine he was in hog heaven with that adventure. I remember as a kid we would go fishing all the time. I loved these adventures, he knew all the “secret spots” to fish all over Ireland, we have fished in lakes high up in the Killarney Mountains to the hidden run offs from the power plant outside the city. One of my favorite things about going fishing was it always meant I would be given a large snickers bar (they were called marathons in Ireland) and a Fanta soda drink. It was important to make this last, because this would be lunch and dinner, we would fish until it was dark. Sometimes he would bring me down to the whistling bridge to fish for an all nighter. At the time the whistling bridge was a huge new bridge that connected the outer city of Limerick to the inner. The reason it was called the whistling bridge was due to the fact there was a flaw in its construction that caused the wind to flow through the rails a certain way that caused this low sounding whistle or moan that could be heard for miles. They have since fixed that problem. There is a privileged kind of feeling a young boy gets when his dad takes him out for an all night fishing event that involves hanging out with men on a bridge well into the morning. You become part of a guys club, “the anglers” is what I remember us being called. We are a long way from that bridge now, but the memory of all those nights and the sound of the bridge singing through the night are not that far away at when I think about it now.

Happy Birthday Dad, thanks for all the good times.
Love Greg.

Being as I have Darth Tater and sits on my monitor at home and watches over me. I just had to post this picture I found today.

In this photo provided by Hasbro, the latest Star Wars Mr. Potato Head character ‘Artoo Potatoo,’ is shown for the first time in Hasbro’s showroom at the American International Toy Fair, Monday, Feb. 13, 2006, in New York. Behind ‘Artoo Potatoo’ are the previously released characters ‘Spud Trooper,’ left, and ‘Darth Tater,’ right. (AP Photo/Hasbro, Ray Stubblebine)

As a Valentine treat, here is some Valentine Legend:

According to one legend, Saint Valentine actually sent the first ‘valentine’ greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor’s daughter — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed ‘From your Valentine,’ an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It’s no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

Ok, finally I am getting around to making the final Hawaii post.

Day 5: This was an exciting one, especially for me. 1st there was Leonards which is this little bakery in downtown Honolulu. They had the best malasadas in the world! We went back there again that day, and the next and the next day after that. Yum. We then went off to Hanauma Bay where I got to swim with a giant seal turtle, that was one of my favorite things on the trip. He was huge! I have never seen so many different kinds of fish in all my life. After here we went on to our new accomodations at Bellows Airforce Station. This was a wonderful place for a family of four and thus Survivor Ohau was born. That evening we took a drive around round top mountain, the houses and views were breathtaking.

Day 6: We stopped at Byodo-in-Temple and rang the giant bell which is a sign of peace or something. It was just fun to ring. Then it was off to the macadamia nut farm. This is where we all got a free gut full of nuts and coffee. I liked the kona coffee nuts. One of the must things to do in Hawaii is to stop at a shrimp truck and buy some freshly cooked shrimp, this was very yummy, but very messy. For $35 an hour you can catch your own shrimp in a pond behind the truck. That was just weird, and a tourist trap.

Day 7: Today was beach day. I gave it a shot body boarding, along with Dad Colson, that was a lot of fun. We then did some sea Kayakin. We saw another turtle out swimming, he popped his head up and looked at us, made a comment about us being a bunch of nards and then went on his way. Being as the waves were so big we thought it would be fun to ride one in on the kayak.
All I remember is hearing “GUN IT!” and us riding this huge wave into shore until the nose of the kayak hit the beach and Dad C. comes flying over my head and we go into this death spin under water, all I could think was to hold my breath and ride it out. That was one of the scariest moments I have had in water, but well worth it!
We saw a nice waterfall where they were about to film a LOST episode in the coming days, that was pretty cool. Then it was operation “Amazing Race – Foodland Edition” we were all assigned specific items to get at the Foodland so we could have a grill out that night, we all tuckNrolled from the van at the door and were in and out in under 20min. Goodtimes. Grilling didn’t turn out to be that quick. I think we started grilling at 8:30 and it was almost midnight before we got to eat, it was the wind you see.

Day 8: Today we had our Aloha breakfast compliments of Bellows, Jackie won the drawing like she always does. Got herself a nice t-shirt. We made our daily 7-11 stop and moved on to some gardens. That was very nice indeed. Made our way through the pineapple fields and on over to the Bonzai Pipeline. This was amazing. The waves were huge! I would have watched all day. There was a photographer there from sickshots.com taking photos with this powerful lens. Here is a link to the photos he took that day.

Day 9: Jackie, Dad C. and I all got up early to see the sunrise, we hiked in the dark to the lighthouse lookout and watched the sun come up, it was very cool. We made a pit stop and Magnum PI’s house, lets just say someone put the P in PI there. We then ventured on down to the spitting cave! This was scary being as it was on a cliff with no guard rail. The cave spits as water is pushed in and out at high pressure. Very cool to see. Momma lost her hat in the wind, Dad C. went to the rescue. This caused some nerves to be on edge, so it was seeya! spitting cave! That evening we watched the sunset from the other side of the island, and it brought a nice end to a wonderful trip.

That is the end of that.

Who is Peyton Manning? That was the question I was asking myself as I stood in front of an entire church congregation this Super Bowl Sunday morning. You see at church this morning there was a ticket drawing, and sure enough as they called out the numbers mine was picked. So I go up on stage and I am presented with some choices, I can keep what I have won which was a Falcons 2006 calender, or I can pick what is behind door #1 or door #2, so I pick door #2 and everyone is every excited, because door #2 is a huge suprise. It is a signed #18 Manning hat from the NFL team “The Colts” everyone gasps! so I am up there sweating trying to think who in the world is Peyton Manning? I know he must be famous, I know it must be sports, is it football or is it baseball? I have no idea. The award for best performance for being real excited and not know why goes to…..me! So of course after asking some sports fans and doing a google search I now know who Peyton Manning is and what an honor it is to have his signed hat. Go Colts! or whatever.

One of the few good things about driving out to Perry everyday is getting to see the sunrise in the morning. This morning was one the most amazing I had ever seen. Something about how the clouds were hit with the light from the sun made them look like embers of a fire, they were bright orange and red. At one point I drove by a small pond on Moody Rd, and the bright glow of the sky lit up the pond to give this really cool effect. It was breathtaking.

I am working on the Hawaii post, so it will be coming soon!