The Power of Habit

The book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business was written by journalist Charles Duhigg who became interested in habits while covering the Iraq war after observing US troops quickly and calmly respond to attacks. He learned that most military training is teaching soldiers habits so they know what to do without thinking. The author explains how habits allow us to do complex tasks without thinking, like driving a car, cooking breakfast, and walking in a familiar place.

Much of the new understanding about habits is from Eugene Pauly who had significant brain damage caused by a viral infection at age 70. Though much of his brain was destroyed by the virus including his ability to make new memories, he was able to perform complex tasks that had been established as existing habits and create new habits. By studying Pauly, scientists discovered that habits are stored in the basal ganglia, the small primitive part of the brain. Habits make up over 40% of our daily activities, which makes us very dependent on this small part of our brain. If we had to think (in our cerebral cortex) through every action we take during the day we would quickly become exhausted and unable to function. Habits are instantaneous responses to stimuli; if a child jumps in front of your car you slam on the brakes without thinking.

Habits are described as behavior loops that start with a cue like being hungry, followed by a behavior, like cooking breakfast, and ending with a reward like feeling full.  All habits start out with a craving of some kind, like a craving for food, or a craving for stimulation or socialization. Habits effectively satisfy a craving by an automatic behavior.  This seems a bit simplistic of an explanation to me considering that habits can be formed without a craving through external pressures, like a job or by your own initiative.

Although habits are powerful and never really go away, they are also fragile and can be altered by small changes to the cue. An example given was the loss of customers to a McDonalds that moved just a block away; the cue at the specific place where drivers saw the McDonalds sign was disrupted and that stopped their behavior of driving in for food.

The author states that to gain control over a habit we must understand what craving is being satisfied by the behavior. To uncover the unconscious craving  we must experiment by giving ourselves different rewards. The author gives a personal example of his cookie craving in the afternoon at work. His routine was to go to the cafeteria, buy a cookie, and talk to people while he ate it. He didn’t know if the craving was for food, stimulation, or socialization. To test out food, he brought an apple to work and ate at his desk. This did not stop his afternoon cookie craving. The next day he went for a walk around the block and that didn’t stop his craving either. Finally, he tried leaving his desk to talk to people and that stopped his craving. So he set an alarm 30 minutes before he normally went to get a cookie in the afternoon and instead talked to coworkers for ten minutes and no longer craved his afternoon cookie.

I found the description of keystone habits very useful. Keystone habits are good habits that lead to developing other good habits. One example of a keystone habit is daily exercise. Once daily exercise becomes a habit, it can lead to a habit of controlling spending, drinking less alcohol, and eating less. For weight loss, keystone habits are keeping a daily food journal and recording your weight every day.  Studies have found people who exhibit these two habits lose more weight than people who don’t have these habits. I am trying to develop these keystone habits to see if they will help me take off the ten pounds I have put on since moving to Oahu.

Another keystone habit is keeping a “conflict planning journal”, which leads to preparation for difficult circumstances. By writing down ahead of time how you are going to deal with a conflict, for instance how will you deal with a really hostile customer, you will be less upset and emotional when it happens. Being less upset leads to other positive things.

The author described successful organizations that teach their employees habits to make their businesses more effective and profitable. Alco Aluminum increased their profits by 500% by developing safety habits in their employees. Starbucks teaches their employees communication habits to deal with hostile customers. A low ranked NFL team became top ranked by teaching their players better football habits.

Although some of the author’s claims in this book are thin and there is minimal discussion about how to create habits, I found the book worth reading and recommend it.  Five stars.

2017 Year of the Fire Rooster

It is time for our annual predictions based on the Chinese lunar calendar for 2017 Year of the Fire Rooster.  As we predicted, the current 2016 Fire Monkey year has been crazy and disorderly. The Monkey Year has seen lawlessness, extreme attitudes and deception. Unfortunately, the 2016's Star of Illness of the Flying Star Feng Shui chart brought us Zika, Hep A and other diseases spreading the globe. In contrast, the 2017 Rooster Year will be a time of rebirth, transformation, and growth.

The Rooster New Year starts January 28, 2017. It will focus on justice and efficiency and bring harmony, less violence, and more resources for growth.  Organizations like the police and military will regain favor. Loyalty, commitment, punctuality, hard work, patience, practicality, family values, and good physical appearances will be rewarded this year.

Replacing the Star of Illness at the center of the Flying Star Feng Shui chart will be the Victory Star which will make 2017 a great year for change and positive results.

During the last Fire Rooster Year, 60 years ago (1957) the Frisbee and portable typewriter were introduced, B52 airplanes flew the 1^st non-stop flight around the world and set a record at 45 hours and 19 minutes, US Congress accepted the Eisenhower doctrine (which allowed a country to request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was threatened by armed aggression from another state), Mao expounded his ideals in his speech “on correct handling of contradictions among people”, Great Britain became the 3^rd nation (after the US and USSR) to test nuclear bombs, the US army sold off their last homing pigeons, NYC and other cities ended their trolley service, the US Supreme Courts ruled that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment, the link between smoking and lung cancer was published, the 1^st submarine designed to fire guided missiles was launched, the element 102 (Nobelium) was discovered, the 1^st rocket with a nuclear warhead was fired in Arizona, the 1^st American ran the mile in less than 4 minutes, the 1^st commercial building was heated by the sun in Albuquerque, the US Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, Ford introduced the Edsel, B52 bombers started flying full time in preparation for a USSR attack, “In God We Trust” 1^st appeared on US paper currency, the USSR launched Sputnik with Laika the dog on board, the1^st US large scale nuclear power plant started generating electricity in Pennsylvania, the 1^st Fair Housing Practices Law was passed in NYC, the 1^st pneumatic pump operation on a dog proved an artificial heart was possible, an Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile test was successful, and Elvis Presley was drafted into the US Army,

The 2017 Rooster Year will be a substantial change of pace from the crazy Monkey year with sanity and order restored in the world. Even better, the year will be dominated by the Victory Star, so you can expect success in competition, business, and your career  This is the year to work hard, keep your nose to the grindstone, and achieve your goals.

Zika in Hawaii

Predicted spread of Zika virus-carrying mosquito in the U.S.

When we first heard about the Zika virus we were concerned that it would quickly spread in Hawaii’s tropical climate, like dengue fever recently has on the Big Island, and become a major health issue in the state.  According to our research, the worst case scenario for Zika is pretty dire.

Zika is not only linked to the serious birth defect microcephaly (abnormally small skull), it is also linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder in adults that can cause paralysis. For those who are healthy and not pregnant, they may get by with no symptoms or only experience mild, flu-like symptoms.

Although the disease seems far away, we have growing concerns after the CDC reported 157 pregnant women in the U.S. have tested positive for Zika and over 300 others have been infected primarily from trips outside the county.

Unfortunately, the Zika carrying mosquito, Aedes aegypti, likes warm, wet weather like we have in Hawaii. They breed in flower pots, tires, trash and small pools of water and live in and around homes which makes traditional evening insecticide fogging from sprayers mounted on trucks useless.  The Aedes aegypti's eggs can even dry out and cling to surfaces and come back to life during the next rain. The Aedes requires indoor and outdoor spraying and both the adult insects and larvae have to be killed to get rid of it. 

The virus has already spread rapidly on the tropical island of  Puerto Rico and is expected to reach the southern U.S. states as their warm, wet weather arrives. Although, the Zika carrying mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is not common in the northern states, like New York, they have, Aedes albopictus, another mosquito thought capable of carrying Zika. If we get warm, wet weather this year, much of the U.S. population may be affected by the virus.

Thus far congress has not provided the $2B funds requested by President Obama to protect against a Zika epidemic.  State funds are short for mosquito spraying and the Aedes requires high-touch, door-to-door spraying to eradicate. The concentration of people from all over the world in Brazil this summer for the Olympics has many concerned that it will even more rapidly spread the Zika virus world-wide.

So far, the only victims of the Zika virus in Hawaii contracted it outside the state. At this point it seems likely that the virus will spread to the U.S. mainland before Hawaii. But if the virus spreads as predicted, it is only a matter of time before it gets to Hawaii and much of the rest of the world with potentially catastrophic effects to us all. 

The Cycle of House Prices and Foreclosures

Our first experience with a volatile housing market and mass foreclosures was in Texas after the oil crash, in the mid-1980’s. Ten years earlier Dallas and the surrounding areas had a real estate boom from a surge in oil prices and influx of people attracted to the area by the new jobs. Even in the suburbs north of Dallas, like Plano where we lived, there were labor shortages and high real estate prices. Track houses purchased in 1979 increased 30% in value in just 3 years. 

By the mid-1980’s, the crash in oil prices was severe and the massive layoffs included many of our friends. Houses were rarely for sale in Plano, so it was a shock to see “For Sale” signs lining the streets. We watched dumbfounded as the super hot Texas economy and real estate market became a calamity. Half built skyscrapers stood idle. A huge new shopping mall near our apartment  had empty shops and tumble weeds blowing through it. The Texas economic downturn was steep with dozens of banks going bankrupt and thousands losing their jobs and life savings.  The federal government created a corporation to "warehouse" all the debt from home mortgages and commercial properties until an orderly market returned to sell them off.

We experienced the Texas boom and bust during our early years of working, and although we were somewhat on the sidelines without the income or down payment to buy a house, the experience left a big impression on us.  

Twenty years later when we saw the rapid rise in house prices in Santa Cruz County we got a terrible feeling in our stomach.  Based on our experience, it was only a matter of time before the crash. But our friends and neighbors were convinced that house prices only go up. They claimed that the 32% price increase in their houses over the past three years, from 2002 to 2005, was only the beginning.

At the end of 2007, real estate prices in Santa Cruz County started to fall. From 2008 to 2012, house prices fell 33%.  The crash crushed the buyers who had purchased their homes at the height of the boom.

Now we are living on Oahu observing the island’s housing boom.  The average price for a single family home is currently $725,000, a 12% increase over the past three years. Oahu’s foreclosure rate of 1 in 3200 homes is one of the lowest rates in the US. In contrast, Maryland, the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation has a rate of 1 in 537 housing units. 

The income needed to afford a $725,000 mortgage for an average Oahu house is $290,000 a year, based on the conservative qualification criteria of a mortgage not exceeding 2.5 times your income. In contrast, the average salary for job postings in Honolulu is $40,000, which is 31% lower than the average salary of job postings nationwide. In our central Oahu condo complex, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 parking spot, 1100 square foot condo is listed at $525,000 (with no amenities like a gym or swimming pool or common area). 

The high cost for a house on Oahu feels a lot like California in 2005, particularly when the low wages in Hawaii are factored in. Even so, house prices continue to rise.

The extreme cycles of housing prices has taught us to expect the unexpected.

The Dilemma of Renting versus Buying a House

Since moving to Oahu nine months ago, we have been perplexed about whether to buy a home or keep renting. Since we plan to move back to the Big Island at some point, our decision has to take into consideration the economy and inflation.  We could get financially crushed by buying a home if there is significant de-inflation on Oahu in the next 3 years.

The problem is we have conflicting views about whether there will be inflation or deflation in Hawaii. We have a list of things that will cause housing prices to go up in Hawaii and another list of things that will cause housing prices to go down.

Here is our list of some things we think could cause inflation in Hawaii:

1. If the U.S.’s military and defense infrastructure in the Asia - Pacific region expands, there will be strong demand for housing in Oahu.  Currently, the U.S. military presence in Oahu is down about 7% from 2012.

2. If the U.S. economy continues to improve and more jobs become available, Americans will have more money to spend on vacations and to visit Hawaii. Furthermore, Hawaii’s vacation appeal will increase if unrest spreads in vacation spots elsewhere in the world. Tourism on Oahu was up 4% this year. More tourism means more jobs and higher wages for residents which would increase the demand for housing.

3. If the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates low that will help keep the cost of a mortgages lower and the demand for houses higher.

4. The 76 million baby boomers are retiring in large numbers (some estimate over 10,000 a day). If even 1/10th of one percent of them move to Hawaii that would add 760,000 new residents to Hawaii which would increase the demand and prices for housing.

5. Affluent buyers from China and India may continue to buy homes in Hawaii which is already a positive factor in Hawaii real estate prices. 

Here is our list of some things we think might cause de-inflation:

1. The military presence in the Asia – Pacific region could be decreased by the next U.S. president and congress which would reduce the housing demand in Hawaii. Even cuts in military housing allowances for soldiers stationed in Oahu would have a negative effect on housing prices in Oahu.

2.  If the U.S. economy suddenly stalls, which some people think it might, Oahu could see a sudden drop in the number of visitors. There are numerous things that could tamper with the U.S. economic recovery. Robots and automation, for instance, are replacing workers in the U.S. in manufacturing plants, warehouses, and retail jobs. The rising U.S. dollar makes a vacation more expensive for visitors from Japan, China, and Canada.  A shrinking tourist industry would result in job cuts that would ultimately effect the demand for houses on Oahu.

3. Although the 76 million baby boomers are starting to retire in large numbers, they may not have enough income to move or even visit Hawaii.

4. Although lower oil prices have reduced the cost of airfares to Hawaii, they have also lowered the cost of driving vacations on the mainland which may reduce the number of visitors to Hawaii.

5. If the Federal Reserve raises the interest rates it will make buying a house in Hawaii much more expensive which could damper demand. An interest rate increase from 4% to 8% would increase a mortgage payment 54% percent.

Over the last year, more rentals have come available in central Oahu and many are renting for 10% less than last year.  Like many places in the U.S. right now, the current cost of a home in Oahu plus the additional expenses of owning is more expensive than renting. Our plan is to keep track of the cost of renting versus buying and watch for changes that may result in inflation or deflation. Right now, we believe the risk of a collapse in the housing market is too high to buy. 

2016 Year of the Fire Monkey Predictions

It is time for our annual predictions based on the Chinese lunar calendar for 2016, the Year of the Fire Monkey.  As we predicted, the current 2015 Wood Sheep year has seen some financial improvement of the economy and more jobs. Unfortunately, the strength of the hostility star overshadowed the normal calm and diplomacy that Sheep years can bring.

The Chinese Monkey New Year starts Feb 8, 2016. In contrast to the Sheep Year, the Monkey Year will be wild, crazy, and disorderly. Organizations and groups will find it hard to make progress during the constantly fluctuating Monkey Year; accomplishments and financial success will be through your individual efforts. This year will bring the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a contentious U.S. presidential election in November.

During the last Fire Monkey Year, 60 years ago (1956), Eisenhower was reelected as the U.S. president and the Olympics were in Melbourne.  The Soviets invaded Hungary, Britain and France bombed Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal, Israel captured the Straits of Tiran, and there was a military coup in Sumatra. Racial tensions were high in the U.S. and the Supreme Court ruled that race separation on buses was unconstitutional. Morocco and Tunisia gained independence from France, Sudan became independent from Egypt, an Islamic republic was formed in Pakistan, and the last French troops left Vietnam.

The 2016 Monkey Year will go by at a fast pace with lots of communication, humor and wit. This is the year for new thinking, new ideas, and inventions. It is a time for taking risks and wild ideas, but watch out for monkey schemes and deception.

Unfortunately, the year will be dominated by the star of illness, so you should guard your health and energy. Extreme views and lawlessness will pervade the year and it will be more difficult for world leaders to keep control.  The Monkey Year will be a great  for money opportunities, but make sure to keep safe, healthy, and secure.

Life on Oahu versus the Big Island

We recently moved to Central Oahu from South Kohala on the Big Island. Though we are still in Hawaii with its great weather and aloha spirit, the differences between the two islands are dramatic. It is a lot like the difference between living in one stop-light town in the Midwest versus an apartment overlooking Central Park in Manhattan, NY.

Crowds

Oahu is very crowded. On a recent Saturday night at Ala Moana Mall there were so many people we struggled to walk through the mall.  Less than half of them were speaking English. It felt more like being in Hong Kong or Tokyo than the US or anywhere else in Hawaii. Everywhere you look on Oahu there are houses, cars, and people which is a major contrast from the miles of desolate lava fields, acres of pastures, and empty beaches we are accustomed to on the Big Island. At our condo complex in central Oahu, cars come and go at all hours of the day and night,  a big change for us after years of living in a mostly empty (except around Christmas) condo complex in South Kohala.  All the people on Oahu keep things very lively and there are endless activities and events, but unlike the Big Island it is surprisingly more difficult to make friends.

Distances and Traffic

Everything on Oahu is only a short distance and if you are lucky and there is not much traffic, you can get anywhere quickly. On the Big Island, everything was a long drive.  It was a long drive for us to get to COSTCO and potlucks with friends in Kona from Kohala.   On Oahu we can drive to three grocery stores, Walmart, our bank, and 20 or more restaurants in our neighborhood in less than 5 minutes.  However, it recently took us 30 minutes to drive a little over a mile on a Saturday morning near Ala Moana mall when dropping someone off at the Convention Center. We rarely ran into traffic on the Big Island.  Occasionally, the traffic from the airport into Kona would jam up a bit and it was frustrating to get behind a slow moving truck, but Oahu has epic traffic jams which we just have to surrender to sitting in the car for a very long time.

Driving Style

Folks drive slower on Oahu than on the Big Island and the speed limits are lower. Honolulu police are out in force giving tickets to speeders, a rare sight on the Big Island. In our seven and half years on the Big Island we saw maybe a dozen people getting tickets, whereas, we see one or more cars getting pulled over every day on Oahu.  Driving in Oahu requires threading your car through tiny parking lots with tiny parking spaces. The freeways are massive in Oahu compared to the two lane roads throughout most of the Big Island, but the lanes are narrower and it feels like the cars are going to scratch the paint off your car as they pass.  Freeway driving takes a great deal of concentration on Oahu. There is just more room for cars and parking lots on the Big Island.

Shopping

Shopping on Oahu is amazing. There are so many stores and malls it feels more like New York or Paris than Hawaii. On Oahu every neighborhood has a wide selection of stores and there are numerous malls.  The Big Island is just not the place to be if you like shopping, whereas Oahu has an amazing selection of things to buy and great prices.

Food

Food shopping on Oahu is easy compared to the Big Island. There are numerous grocery stores with greater selection and lower prices than the Big Island stores. But Oahu does not compare to the Big Island for fruits and vegetables.  There are fewer Farmer’s markets on Oahu with limited selection compared to we had on the Big Island.  On Oahu, there is no place like Suisan or the Kona harbor with fresh fish and the amazing Big Island Beef is hard to find. Restaurants are abundant, excellent ,and affordable on Oahu, a very unfortunate thing for our waist lines. We never found a place on the Big Island that had consistently excellent food and service at an affordable price whereas on Oahu we have trouble deciding where to go among all the choices.

Weather and Vog

The weather on Oahu depends on where you live, just like the Big Island. We live in central Oahu where it is very rainy, similar to Hilo.  When we drive to west Oahu the weather is usually hot, dry and sunny, similar to Kohala. A bad Vog day on Oahu is like a no Vog day on the Big Island. We are happy to not have to deal with the Vog.

Rent and Jobs

Rents are substantially higher on Oahu than the Big Island.  We are paying $600 more a month in rent for a much smaller condo than we had on the Big Island. The same size and quality of rental on Oahu is about double the cost on the Big Island.  The driving factors for Oahu’s high rents seem to be the large number of soldiers who get a substantial housing allowance and the job market.  Getting a job on Oahu is fairly easy and although they pay better than Big Island jobs, the pay is still very low compared to the cost of housing.  The competition for housing can make it a challenge to even find a rental.

Beaches and Parks

The gorgeous white sand and black sand beaches on the Big Island are in a league of their own.  The famous North Shore beaches on Oahu are tiny with only a few places to  park along the road.  It is a big contrast to the Big Island’s long stretches of beach with large parking lots near many of them.  On Oahu, the malls are more accessible than the parks and trails and beaches.  We miss counting the turtles, talking to the eels, and enjoying the gorgeous scenery on our daily beach walks in Kohala.

We are enjoying our new life in central Oahu but we are missing the incredible outdoor lifestyle we had on the Big Island.

Surprising costs of an interisland move in Hawaii

Packing crates on the Big Island for Oahu

We always assumed that moving between islands in Hawaii would be much easier and cheaper than our move from California to Hawaii Island. The distance from Kawaihae harbor on the Big Island to Honolulu is only about 160 miles compared to 2300 miles from Oakland to Hilo, so we figured that the move would be less expensive and take less time. We were surprised to discover that the cost and complexity of an inter-island move is the same or more than our initial move to Hawaii from the mainland. 

The major expenses shipping between the islands include: 

• the materials and labor to pack everything to survive an ocean trip, 
• the labor to load a container or crates,
• the cost of transporting the container or crates to the harbor,
• the cost of shipping, 
• and finally transporting the container to a residence and unloading. 

It turns out the fuel savings from shipping the shorter distance between islands versus from the mainland is only about $200.

In Hawaii, Young Brothers has a monopoly on all shipping routes between the islands. Young Brothers prices are based on weight with a set amount for different types of items such as cars, containers, cement, etc.. They publish their tariffs on their website. They do not offer the type of moving services Matson does, like dropping off a container at your residence and picking it up. 

So, to move personal effects you need, at a minimum, a moving company to deliver a container or  wooden crates and transport them to the harbor. The cost of loading a container or wooden crates (which have to be covered with plastic) and transporting them to the harbor is the same or more in Hawaii as on the mainland. In addition, the cost of packing everything for transportation, including the expense of boxes and wrapping material, is also the same or more on Hawaii as on the mainland. 

On the Big Island there are only six companies authorized to move between islands including Big Isle Moving, Royal Hawaiian, Kona Transportation, and Town and Country Moving. The moving companies provide door to door services including packing, loading, transporting to the harbor, pickup and unpacking. You can save some money by packing yourself. 

The moving companies send a person to estimate the total weight of your effects and overall moving costs. Regardless of their weight estimate, you are charged the actual weight of the container or crates weighed at the harbor for Young Brothers portion of the shipping costs. 

We had three local companies provide us an estimate and were shocked at the differences. Their  weight estimates ranged from 9300 pounds to 6100 pounds. Their cost estimates, after adding in packing, supplies, and delivery ranged from $10,000 to $4,621. 

Although all the moving companies use Young Brothers and their tariff rates are fixed, the actual rates they provided varied from $67 to $59 per 100 pounds.  Their moving estimates included only about 60 cents of insurance per pound. Additional insurance, which we required, was an added cost. 

The actual weight of the four crates was 6800 lbs. The crates took over a week to arrive in Honolulu from the Big Island, which was almost as long as our 20 foot Matson container took to get to Hilo from California. On the bright side, all of our things made it safely with no damage. 

Crates arriving in Oahu

Overall moving between islands in Hawaii was complicated, expensive, and time consuming.  Our  challenge now is getting all our stuff to fit into our much smaller apartment. 

In our next blog we will tell you about all the things, good and bad, that are different  living on Oahu than living on the Big Island.

Our Move to Oahu

Our Oahu Apartment

We loved living on Hawaii Island for the past 7 years.  We were able to experience the culture, climate, and life styles of Hilo, Kona, and Kohala.  The beaches, food, people, and amazing activities on the Big Island have been a constant source of entertainment and enjoyment for us.  Even so, our endless wanderlust, made us wonder what it would be like to live on the other islands in Hawaii.

Our son attended college on Oahu, so we visited the island many times.  Although the noise and congestion in Waikiki was too much for us, we marveled at the shops, restaurants and sights to see elsewhere on the island.   There is also the draw of jobs, particularly jobs requiring technical skills.  We started looking around and found a great job in West Oahu.  Last month, we moved from Hawaii Island to find out if living on Oahu is as much fun as it looks.  Our move kept us too busy and overwhelmed to blog; but we are back to it now.

Although we are in Oahu, we plan to continue to update our HiloLiving website and calendar.   We still own property on the Big Island and consider it our home. 

Our next blog will be about our move from Kohala on the Big Island to Oahu.  We always assumed that moving between islands in Hawaii would be  easier and cheaper than our move from California to Hilo.  We were very wrong.

A Big Island Independence Day weekend

Turtle Release Ceremony

If you are lucky enough to be on the Big Island for Independence Day, you may find it difficult to choose between all the amazing things to do on the fourth of July.

If you are in the Hilo area, the town is having a huge celebration on the bayfront called the Hilo Bay Blast on Independence Day.  The day’s finale will be a fireworks display provided by the Lehua Jaycee’s at 8 p.m. from Coconut Island. You can start early on Saturday, July 4th  by participating in "A Salute to Our Veterans" Hilo Bay 5K Run/Walk at Liliuokalani Gardens at 7 a.m..  There will be prizes for age groups for runners and walkers and special prizes for Fastest Male and Female, Most Patriotically Dressed, Best Decorated Wheelchair, Largest Group, Youngest/Oldest, and From Farthest Away. A donation of $25 includes a T-shirt, bag, bib, a chance to win one of 128 prizes and have lots of fun. Proceeds go to the building fund to build a commercial kitchen for VFW Post 3830. After the run, a “Hot Rides Expo” will start at 9 a.m. in the parking lots and soccer field makai of Kamehameha Avenue and will feature hundreds of vintage and modified classic cars. Games, cook-offs, and music will be happening along Hilo's bayfront throughout the day. The Hawaii County Band will perform in the Mo’oheau bandstand at 7 p.m right before the fireworks. Lihiwai Street will be closed throughout the day and Bayfront Highway will be closed from 6 to 10 p.m. Parking will be available at the Afook Chinen Civic Auditorium  and a  free shuttle service will take you to and from the bayfront area from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can call 961-8706 for more information.

If you are on the west side of the Big Island and want to see fireworks, there are two choices.  

 

Waikoloa Beach Resort is having a day-long family-friendly celebration with fireworks. The event starts at Queen’s marketplace at 11 a.m. with live entertainment. During the day there will be carnival games, face painting, balloon sculpting, and Zoo Choo train rides.  At 3 p.m. the 24th Annual Waikoloa Rubber Duckie Race will take place at the Kings’ Shops, which is a fund raiser for the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaii. Adoption certificates for the rubber duckie race will be on sale until 3 p.m. on race day and offer a chance to win over $27,000 in prizes. Individual duckie adoptions are $5 each and Quack Packs are $25 each and include four duckie adoption certificates and one event T-shirt (while supplies last). There will be other festivities at the Kings’ Shops which start at 11 a.m. with a sidewalk sale, entertainment, and activities into the evening. At  4:30 p.m. the gates will open to Waikoloa Bowl at Queens' Gardens for the 4th of July Extravaganza. The free event will include live entertainment by Beyond Paradise and Johnny Shots. Bring a beach chair or blanket and enjoy a fun evening of music under the stars. Fireworks begin at 8 p.m.. This is a non-alcohol, non-smoking, and drug free event. 

 

In Kona, the 20^th Annual Kailua-Kona Independence Day Parade will start at 6 p.m. at the Kekuaokalani Gym/Pool Complex.  The parade will proceed along Kuakini Highway to Palani Road, Alii Drive and end near Walua Road, just past Coconut Grove Marketplace. A fireworks show over Kailua Bay will start at 8 p.m.. 

 

Volcano Village will have a fourth of July parade and celebration starting a 9 a.m. at the Volcano Post Office and proceed along Old Volcano Road to Cooper Community Center on Wright Road.  The parade will feature the Hawaii County Band, floats, antique cars, fire engines, bicycles, horses, and animals in costume.  A Silent Auction Benefit will be held at Cooper Center from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m..  There is something for everyone at this event and the proceeds benefit the Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Music, games, food booths, a craft fair, and prizes will take place during the day in Volcano Village.  You can call 967-7800 for more information.

 

If you are looking for something more unique, you may find Turtle Independence Day at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel a perfect activity for the day.  Every year on July 4^th, three and four year old turtles raised at the hotel are released into the ocean with big fanfare.  The beach in front of the hotel is gorgeous and everything is a celebration of the turtle.  The event will start at 10:30 a.m. and go until noon.  

 

A different sort of celebration takes place every year at Parker Ranch in Waimea at the Annual 4^th Rodeo and Horse Races from 9 a.m. to noon. Big Island ranchers will participate in races and rodeo events with Parker Ranch cowboys. You will see ribbon mugging, ranch mugging, dally team roping, Po'o Wai U and more. Keiki activities including roping practice and pony rides. There will be lots of food and mementos for sale at the Parker Ranch Store booth. The events will take place at the Parker Ranch Rodeo Arena in Waimea. Tickets are $10 at the gate or available in advance at the Parker Ranch Store in Waimea (at Parker Ranch Square). 


If you want to extend the fun into Sunday, you can take the family to the 2^nd Annual Sumerfest at the Shops at MaunaLani.  On Sunday, July 5th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the shops will host a 100 foot waterslide, games, and activities such as mini Kendama, carnival game booths, and Go Fish for kids. There will be free Billabong flash tattoos, free popcorn, and cotton candy, a balloon artist, a photo booth and more. You can visit specialty food booths such as Tommy Bahama Restaurant, Under the Bodhi Tree Restaurant, Sweet Eatz Gelato Truck, Kona Ice Truck and Cupcakes N Things. There will be music with DJ Ed Geer and fun games with great prizes from the Shops at Mauna Lani!  The event is free to the public. 

Even with so many events to choose from, our favorite activity is to go to the beach and enjoy the sun and surf. Happy Independence Day!!

Booming Hawaii Island - the off season that never came

It has been a strange Spring on the Big Island. Usually by this time of year it is very warm, the tourists are gone, and the residents that live full time on the island have the beaches and roads to themselves. This year the weather has been unusually cool, far cooler than it was this winter, and the tourists never left.  The island is the most crowded we have seen at this time of year.  The Mauna Kea Hotel is having a job fair this weekend, which is very surprising for this time of year.

In addition, new home construction seems to be booming on the island. On a drive to Kona yesterday, there was bumper to bumper traffic both directions with about half of the traffic construction trucks and  construction workers. Everywhere we look we see huge new projects being started. We are also seeing a lot  of older, presumably retired couples who appear to be setting up new households on the island. They are in Targets and K-Mart shopping for household supplies instead of souvenirs.

Our best guess is that what we are seeing is the result of lower oil prices which makes a Hawaii vacation more affordable than it has been in years by reducing gasoline expenses and air fares. We may also be seeing the first wave of the 77 million boomers starting to retire this year.

It is an interesting and exciting time ahead for Hawaii Island.

Vog and Snow

Snow and clouds cover Mauna Kea

Like most of the world, the weather on the Big Island of Hawaii has been strange this year.  Two weeks ago the island was blanketed in vog from our constantly erupting volcano.  When the winds finally changed, it brought a thick blanket of clouds, rain and very cold temperatures

The heavy vog (volcanic smog) hung over us for over a week as a southern wind blew it north covering the west side of the island. When the vog gets thick, some people have a reaction in their lungs. The lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand from volcanoes, Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, is actually the longest word in the dictionary.  In our case, the vog lowers our energy and we feel like we are down with the flu.  Our only recourse is to stay inside and run the AC to get some of the sulfur dioxide out of our air. 

When the winds changed we got rain with record cold temperatures for March.  Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are covered in snow with high winds and freezing fog. The huge Thirty Meter Telescope, under construction on Mauna Kea, was delayed from the blizzard.

While we bundle up in temperatures in the low 60’s (F), the ocean surrounding the Hawaiian Islands is not cooling down.  The water is warmer than normal by up to 3.6 degrees. Last week NOAA Climate Prediction Center predicted a 60% chance of El Nino conditions because of the unusual warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.  The effects of the El Nino last year produced 20 named storms in the Eastern Pacific, the most since 1992.

An El Nino means our cold weather will likely be followed by a dry summer and another active hurricane season.  

Hawaii Avocados

Hawaii Avocado Tree

Hawaii has over 300 varieties of avocados. The variations of shape, size, and taste are amazing. The avocado skins vary from pliable to woody, smooth to rough, and are green-yellow, reddish-purple, purple, or black in color. Some taste buttery and others are fibrous.

The majority of avocados found outside of Hawaii are the black-skinned 'Haas' which originally came from the Guatemala. 'Haas' do not grow well in Hawaii so we have numerous other varieties available in stores and Famer’s markets around the islands.  Over half of the commercial avocado acreage in Hawaii are 'Sharwil', a Mexican and Guatemalan cross.  'Sharwil' have small seeds and greenish-yellow flesh with a rich, nutty flavor which many consider far superior to ‘Haas’.

'Greengold' and 'Murashige' are other green-skinned avocados commercially raised in Hawaii.  However, 'Sharwil'  is the only Hawaii grown avocado authorized for shipment to Alaska and the US mainland in compliance with USDA requirements.

We love the many varieties of avocados and are happy that they are also a great source Vitamin K, Folate, Vitamin C, Potassium, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin E.   They also has Magnesium, Manganese, Copper, Iron, Zinc, Phosphorous, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), and Vitamin B3 (Niacin).  The avocado is a great source of fiber which makes it good for the digestive system and very filling.  Unlike other fruits which are mostly carbohydrates, avocados are mostly fat, with oleic acid which is a healthy monounsaturated fatty acid.

The plentiful supply of highly nutritious avocados in Hawaii is one of the reasons people in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy. 

East Hawaii Blue Zones Project

East Hawaii, which includes Hilo, was selected as one of 3 communities in the state of Hawaii as a Blue Zones project by HSMA, Blue Zones LLC, and Healthways Inc.  The Island of Kauai has been a Blue Zones Project pilot since 2013.

According to Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones, people in the Blue Zones he identified reach age 100 at 10 times the average rate.  Blue Zones LLC states that only 20% of how long a person lives is because of their genes; the other 80% is due to their lifestyle and environment. 

The Blue Zones project has best practices for communities to improve the lifestyle and environment for the residents. In Albert Lea, Minnesota, a Blue Zones project since 2009, the residents lost a total of 12,000 pounds, cut their health care costs, and added over 3 years to the residents’ average life expectancy.    

To be selected as a Blue Zones project, the community must have broad buy-in within the community including local leaders, schools, employers, restaurants, and grocery stores who agree to support the program.  In addition, at least 20% of the citizens must sign a personal pledge to take actions to improve their well-being which include eating wisely, moving naturally, making changes at home, connecting socially, and finding a purpose.

The personal pledges are based on 9 shared traits of the world’s longest lived people that Buettner identified.  Summaries of these traits listed on bluezones.com website include:

Move Naturally The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron or run marathons or join gyms. Their environments nudge them into moving without thinking about it.

Purpose Why do you wake up in the morning? Knowing your sense of purpose adds up to seven years of extra life expectancy.

Down Shift Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. The world’s longest-lived people have routines to reduce their stress.

80% Rule “Hara hachi bu” – the Okinawans say this mantra before meals as a reminder to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. That could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it.

Plant Slant The cornerstone of most centenarian diets are beans. They typically eat meat, mostly pork, only five times per month.

Wine  Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers, especially if they share those drinks with friends.

Belong Attending faith-based services four times a month adds 4 to 14 years of life expectancy.

Loved Ones First Centenarians put their families first. They keep aging parents and grandparents nearby, commit to a life partner, and invest time and love in their children.

Right Tribe They world’s longest lived people chose or were born into social circles that support healthy behaviors.

East Hawaii is the perfect place for a Blue Zone project as it already has many of the nine shared traits listed above. When we researched our book on “Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy” we found lots of reasons why people in Hawaii already live longer and have better health than the rest of the US. 

Why are People in Hawaii so Healthy and Happy?

We moved to Hawaii seven years ago to escape our stressful life in California.  We were out of shape, exhausted, and obese.  Fortunately, just being in Hawaii improved our health and helped us lose weight.  We have watched many other people lose fat  and improve their health by spending  time in Hawaii. We have even seen people who arrived in Hawaii barely able to walk with a walker become more mobile every month; some were ultimately able to walk freely without any assistance.

After completing our Hawaii Island travel guide, a friend of ours insisted that our next book be about why people feel so much better when they are in Hawaii.   We agreed that it would be fasinating to research the mystery of why every year residents in Hawaii are ranked the healthiest and happiest in the US.

We were not prepared for the shocking answer. We found hundreds of medical studies that completely contradicted everything we had been taught about what is healthy to eat. The diet we thought was healthy was actually harming our health significantly according to the health studies.

Our weight loss and improved fitness in Hawaii were due to high levels of nutrients in Hawaii’s food and environment, not because of the foods we thought were healthy.  Just by living in Hawaii we had stumbled into better health. The miracle health improvements we saw in ourselves and others were because of critically missing essential nutrients abundant in Hawaii yet missing on the mainland.

Our new book, Your Ideal Hawaii Health: Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy, answers our friend’s question.  The book cites the health studies  and tells our personal experiences of the changes we made in our diet and lifestyle in Hawaii that allowed us to achieve our health goals, improve our fitness, and increase our happiness.

If you are struggling with your weight, depression, or health conditions you may want to read the book and find out why just living in Hawaii can make you healthier and happier. 

Balmy arctic winter in Hawaii

Snow covered Mauna Kea

It has been a chilly winter on Hawaii Island this year.  It may be hard to believe that 61 degrees F is incredibly cold to us, but compared to our normal morning lows of 74 degrees, waking up in a room 13 degrees colder is quite a surprise.  On Oahu, temperatures in the 50’s were the coldest recorded in 122 years and far below the comfort level for those of us used to endless warm days.  Kauai and Maui have also broken temperature records in the 50’s this winter.

We have been bundling up in jackets for our chilly morning walks.  Visitors wearing shorts and tank tops give us funny looks as they walk by.  Mornings are the only time of day they are not overheated.   

 

View from Mauna Kea of the ocean below

Last year we had our warmest winter in Hawaii; most days the temperatures did not get below 81 degrees at night and it was over 100 degrees on our porch during the day in January.  This year is completely different with temperatures barely climbing to the mid-80’s during the heat of the day.

The cooler weather hasn’t dampened our enthusiasm for sitting on the beach to enjoy the ocean spray.  The whales have already arrived in Hawaii for the winter and we have seen them breaching.  It is unique to sit on the beach under palm trees and look up at snow covered Mauna Kea Volcano towering over us.   Where else in the world can you do that? 

Why Christmas is so special to us in Hawaii

The first Christmas I celebrated in Hawaii was in the 1960's when I was in grade school.  I remember vividly how wonderful it was to be warm, feel the sun on my skin, be outside without a coat, and swim in the ocean. I do not remember any gifts that year.  My Christmas gift was being in Hawaii.

When we came to Hawaii for Christmas vacation as adults, we enjoyed the decorations and all the fun events planned for the season by the hotels.  We made an effort to decorate a tree and string lights in our hotel room.  But our big Christmas gift was being in Hawaii where we spent the days in the sun and met people from all over the world enjoying the season.

We have always loved the Christmas season and the commercialization of the holiday has not lessened our joy of celebrating the birth of Christ.  Living in Hawaii, Christmas is more about fun and celebration and less about stuff.  We still enjoy the colorful decorations around town and Christmas tree displays at the hotels.   And seeing the happy, expectant faces of Christmas visitors arriving to the island brings back wonderful memories of our vacations. 

Mail Service Disruption in Hawaii

Living in Hawaii is always an adventure and this week it was the sudden lost of our US mail service.

When we moved to a remote part of the Kohala Coast  three years ago, we were surprised at how little mail was being delivered to our condo complex.  Only a dozen or so letters a day and a few packages were delivered most days to over a hundred units in our complex. This was in sharp contrast to the overfilled mail truck in our previous condo complex in Kona that kept the mailman busy for hours stuffing boxes.  We decided it was related to the unoccupied state of most of the units during the year.   At Christmastime the number of packages would always increase as the condos filled with their owners and vacation renters.

Since we regularly order from Amazon Prime, we quickly became familiar with the local carrier who was a contractor in an unmarked van rather than a postal worker.  Starting about a year ago, when Amazon’s Prime service with free shipping became more popular, we noticed a surge in the number of packages he had to deliver.  The rural carrier’s job lost its luster as his work day dragged out and he spent hours moving boxes.  Many times he would dig through the back of his van stuffed with hundreds of boxes looking for ours.  Most of the boxes were from Amazon and marked Prime or from some other retail outlet.  As shopping online increased in popularity our rural mail carrier became more and more miserable.

Last week were notified that our contract carrier quit and that mail service along the Kohala coast would be limited until they found a replacement.  We have had no mail pick up and sporadic deliveries of boxes by post office trucks.  Our location is about an hour round trip to the Kamuela post office. 

For us, and apparently many other people in our complex, being able to order products online with free shipping significantly lowers the cost of living in Hawaii and adds to the quality of life.  It turns out that having viable US post office services that can deal with massive numbers of packages, particularly during the Christmas season, is an important piece of living remotely in Hawaii.

Year of the Wood Sheep 2015

2015 Wood Sheep

It is time for our annual predictions based on the Chinese lunar calendar for 2015 Year of the Wood Sheep.  As we predicted, the current 2014 Wood Horse year has been fast paced, with explosive energy, expansionism, military power, economic change and chaos.  There are a couple more months of the Horse year ahead before the Sheep brings some calm to the global chaos and slows down the pace on February 19, 2015.  The Sheep is more stable than the Horse and prefers diplomacy and harmony to the Horse’s confrontation and demands for justice.

We find it useful to review what happened 60 years ago, during the last Wood Sheep year, to see how events may relate to today’s world.   The last Wood Sheep year, in 1955, was a year of many firsts in US consumerism. Disneyland opened, McDonalds opened, the Scrabble game and Lego came to market. New popular TV shows were introduced including the Johnny Carson Show, Gunsmoke, Lawrence Welk Show, Honeymooners, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Millionaire, and the Mickey Mouse Club.

Sheep years are known for diplomacy and during 1955 numerous treaties were signed including the Warsaw pact, USSR peace treaty with France and Great Britain, Turkey and Iraq defense alliance, British military treaty with Iraq, Belgrade declaration, South East Asia Collective Defense Treaty, and Egypt and Saudi Arabia defense treaty.  The Israel government was formed by David Ben-Gurion, the West European Union was established, and the Vienna Treaty restored Austria's independence.

The US and USSR performed nuclear tests and President Eisenhower’s “Operation Alert” exercise assessed the US readiness for a nuclear attack.  The first atomic generated power was used by towns in the US, the Atomic clock was developed, and the first nuclear powered submarine was tested. The military demonstrated self-guided missiles and the first seagoing oil drill rig went into service.

Politics in the US changed dramatically with the start of the civil rights movement after the arrest of Rosa Parks and other African Americans for resisting bus segregation in the Southern US.

On the economic front, the minimum wage was raised from 75 cents to $1 and GM became the first US corporation to make over $1Billion in a year in 1955.

The last Sheep Year in 2003, a water Sheep, was focused on the Iraq war and overthrow of Saddam Hussein.  It was also the year the Department of Homeland Security was formed.

Although Sheep avoid conflict and are quiet and calm, some of the previous Horse year storms will still be raging during the Sheep year.  Unfortunately, Chinese astrologers warn of the flying star of hostility and violence being prominent in 2015.  Conflicts around the world may increase and escalate.  Hostilities may overtake the benefits of the sheep year for some people. 

Sheep like to spend money and love being part of the crowd.  So expect some financial improvement in the economy and more focus on consumerism.  Some people will find it a great year to generate wealth.  Although most of the news is good for relationships, commerce, and wealth during the Sheep year, be careful of misunderstandings and hostility in your environment and the world in 2015.

If you are looking for a 2015 day planner – check out Your Ideal Hawaii Day Planner for 2015.