Travels, Return to Hawaii, 2009

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I have a great love of 'fish and chips' as epitomized by Long John Silver's (LJS) or Captain Dee's, which used to be large national chains. Their 'fish and chips' have been refined to be really fine, much better (too my taste) than you can get most anywhere else. However, over the years their respective chains have become more spotty with some areas with no shops and some with only a few. Anyway, on TV in Honolulu I saw an ad for 'fish and chips' for $1.99. It also said to check as not all locations are participating. So, I googled and found that there was only one LJS in Hawaii. I called them and verified that they were the only LJS and that they were not participating, they charged $2.39 for 'fish and chips'. That seemed a little odd, but I guess for one store it wouldn't justifiy editing the video to list the price which that store charges. How odd. Anyway, that LJS was due North of Ewa Beach (my previous hang out) and there was a very nice typical U.S. style residential neighborhood there (a like Florida, say). The LJS (above) was also an A&W, which mostly meant a special beverage dispenser (also above) with frozen mugs. There was a Goodwill drop off, shown here.	=0=
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In the same shopping center there was also return center for bottle deposits (see the Reynolds Recycling trailer. Surprisingly this was one of the nicer and more convenient places for getting your deposit back and that may explain why only 30% of Hawaian bottles are returned for deposit instead of the usual 70% most states get. That raises the question of whether a tax on beverages make sense (since it really is mostly a tax and not a deposit return mechanism. There was also a Wal-mart so I got the last food I would need before I left and got gas, not full, keeping it below a quarter tank so there wouldn't be a problem shipping my car. On Tuesday July 14, I dropped off my car at Horizon Lines, the same place where I picked it up, but there was a huge line of tractors pulling shipping containers into the port, delaying my drop off by a few minutes. It turns out they recommended I drive around the trucks (in the opposing traffic lane) as they were in a different queue. What to do? I had really packed my car with miscellaneous items, all generally out of sight, under towels and blankets and such. The inspector called me on it, but when I asked to see the manager as I would need a refund on credit card as I wouldn't have time to arrange shipment for the stuff and get my car back in time for the shipment and would instead just sell it. They decided to let me slide.... Whew! That was a relief.	=0=
After I dropped off my car, Bob picked me up at the port and we headed to the Waikiki Sheraton where we had a job that had been deferred from Monday. That went very smoothly, we even had a DSL line to fix at a neighboring hotel, the Moana-Surfrider. That was our first visit to their communications room. Afterward, we were right in the area and it was the perfect time (about 5PM) to visit a old favorite restaurant for Hawaian food, Ono. I got a sampler (plate special) and it was great to taste some of their culture, especially poi, which you have to taste to really appreciate.	=0=
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The waiter took this picture of us. Cool!	=0=