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Crowds Watch the Christmas Tree Lighting at Castle Medical Center

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And I ain’t kidding. The Castle Medical Center has its Christmas tree lighting ceremony each year. We decided to attend the event this year, and apparently so did everyone else. I must say whoever did the advertising for the event should be recommended. This was the most advertisements I remember for this event, and it was very effective. Everywhere we went, there were crowds and lines of people.

We got to the trolley stop in Kailua town after 6pm for the 7pm ceremony and waited in line.

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Trolleys would come by but some already had passengers, making pickup of waiting people more discouraging.

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While I don’t mind a round trip trolley ride through Kailua town, I think this should have been disallowed 30 minutes prior to the tree lighting to maximize awaiting passenger pickup. That and while one trolley would load and unload passengers, a second trailing (and empty) trolley would have to wait before it could take on passengers.

Once we got on the trolley (around 6:57pm), it was a nice short ride until we hit the neighborhood around Castle. With so many cars parked alongside the small streetways, a two-lane street easily became a single lane and trying to fit a trolley through there took some driving skills. The entire time though, our trolley driver was in good spirits making the best of the situation even making jokes about where everyone was going.

When we arrived at Castle, guess what awaited? More lines. But this was a line of people leaving the event before the lighting.

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The tree lighting itself was fast and kind of impressive, but by that time, the kids had tuned out.

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Everyone perked up a bit when Santa made his entrance.

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Here’s a closer shot of the Christmas tree.

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We did manage to get a kids tattoo and some flashlights, but the free Starbucks coffee and water were already wiped out. Getting out of the event took some time as well and probably the time spent going to and leaving the event was longer than our stay at the event.

So thanks to the Castle Medical Center for hosting the event and annually decorating their landmark tree. But maybe the advertising (and crowds) needs to be reduced next year.

A few more pictures from the Castle Medical Center Tree Lighting.

Quick Review of Xtremetacos

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So the next generation of lunch wagons aka Lunch Wagon 2.0 is sweeping Hawaii. If your meal ain’t on wheels, then it ain’t Lunch Wagon 2.0. While most of these mobile eateries are located in town, Xtremetacos caters to the Leeward side with some treks into town.

I caught up with Xtremetacos at Stuart Plaza, right outside of Club Join Us. You can’t miss the big yellow truck known as “Ignacio.” Fearing Black Friday-like craziness, I got there early and had to wait just a bit, just enough time to snap some pics.

The menu is straightforward, but I don’t remember seeing the popular Mediterranean Falaco advertised. Also their Twitter special wasn’t announced until much after they opened. I should have asked if there were any specials. 🙁

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/xtremetacos/status/9740263689814016″]

So I ordered a chicken burrito and went with the X and XX sauces. The XX teared up my eyes a bit, so I don’t know what the potent-est XT would be like. The $6 burrito was hefty, dense with chicken, beans, and rice. While the chicken was plentiful, the taste was on the blander side of flavor. I was definitely full after eating my meal but next time, I’d go wet with enchilada sauce instead of dry.

Would I go again? Yeah, but I’d have to try one of their specials for some extreme tastes.

Can I Have One Strip?

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So I was at a Safeway deli, and an employee was there buying lunch. He asked for a chicken strip, a single strip! The strip got weighed, bagged, and paid for and off the employee went after asking for a bunch of condiments and chee-hooing the cheap price of his lunch.

In honor of this employee’s one strip, I present one rib from I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.

Black Friday Shopping at Windward Mall

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A late night/early morning start, camping out for hours, waiting in long lines, pandemonium to get limited specials – that’s too much Black Friday shopping for me. Instead, I headed to Windward Mall for some mid-morning shopping. Don’t get me wrong, the usually idyllic mall was crowded, and the parking lot was full, but it wasn’t that bad. The shopping at Macys was brisk but if you could resist the frivolous buys, there were good deals to be had like 2-for-1 toys!

Keiki enjoyed the indoor play area which wasn’t as full as I thought it would be, and the mall security did a good job keeping the older, bigger kids out. The most unique item I saw at Windward Mall was this shirt made for true social media geeks. Can you relate?

From Black Friday at Windward Mall 2010

To top off all this shopping was a live DJ spinning some serious tunes at the new Kazu Couture. I didn’t go into the store but watched the music mixing action through the window.

From Black Friday at Windward Mall 2010

Signs of Hawaii: Goats 4 Sale

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I thought a sign advertising Goats 4 Sale was isolated to the Windward countryside, but no. Apparently goat sales are popular on the Leeward side too.

Goats 4 Sale on the Windward side

Goats 4 Sale on the Leeward side

The advertising must have worked since the signs are no longer there.

Remembering Rainbows of the Past

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Thanks to the Greatest Legal Mind Ever, we had courtside seats for the Rainbow Classic back in the day. We sat on the baseline by the hoops and ragged the awesome opposition. Good times!

Here’s a blurry pic of big man, Tony Maroney.

And is this the Big Nasty, Corliss Williamson, from Arkansas?

Update: Talk about full circle. I only learned that Corliss Williamson is the head coach for Central Arkansas who the Rainbows play tonight. And the year the above pictures were taken was the first year of the Sheriff Center.

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