Mele Kalikimaka!

2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

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Instagram Widget Added

You may have noticed a link to my latest Instagram photo over in the right column. Feel free to click on it to view the photo and then take a look at the rest of my gallery.  I’m spending more time on Instagram than my blog so you might find it interesting to take a look at my gallery. Thanks!

Aloha ~ Dan

Not so Snowy

For the first time, I’ve had problems with making an online purchase. For the past couple of days, I’ve been going to the Island Snow website, a local company located in beautiful Kailua, that sells, among other things, some cool t-shirts, to order some.

But three or four times, after filling out the online order form their credit card processing company rejected my order due to a problem with my address. What problem I don’t know. I do know, from checking my credit card website, that the money part of the transaction is fine because the credit card company is showing multiple temporary holds in the amounts for the shirts I wanted to order.

So I contacted Island Snow and I got a nice email reply saying they’ve had to make changes because of the high number of fraudulent purchases. While I fully understand that identity theft is a booming and growing business, having been a victim of such theft twice, I still don’t know what the problem is and how to solve it.

So, it appears I will have to do this partly over the phone and partly via email. Sigh. The quality of life is starting to go down hill because of all these people stealing what is not theirs.

Welcome!

Welcome to everyone coming from fellow Daynoter Brian Bibrey’s site. Brian’s link to my humble neck of the Internet is much appreciate.

A friendly note to all who come here, this site began along time ago in a different format and covered whatever fancied my attention at the time. Now, it is focused on religious issues, especially those relevant as the history of this world draws to a close. Hence, if you are offended by such posts, please read no further.

For those continuing, my site switched from hard coded HTML to using WordPress. The site lost a lot in the translation but such is life, sometimes. So much of the early posts are gone, at least temporarily.

Some of the earlier posts still survive back on my seto.org site but I have yet to sort them out and link them to a page where Google can get to them. Be assured I will get aroundtoit Real Soon Now. By the way, I have some HOT beach front property on the Big Island that keeps on getting bigger, for sale. That, along with the Brooklyn Bridge would make a great graduation gift. [see that there? That’s called a joke. I did that a lot. Perhaps too much…]

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Aloha ~ Dan

Audi Progress Is…

Twitter friend @johngarcia is a second round @Audi http://www.voteforprogress.org/ contender. Audi will donate $25,000 to charity as part of the winning prize.

#DeskDiary
#ProgressIs

 Help John here: http://hnl.me/voteprogress

See the other entrants at http://commercials.audius.com/audiprogressis

Timid Souls

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

US President Theodore Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Merry Christmas!

Holiday greeting which is acceptable for dissemination to anyone, is politically correct and entirely non-offensive; yet contains no substance and is really annoying.

Please accept my non-denominational holiday wishes with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Only in Hawaii, Part 21

Thanksgiving lunch was Mexican from Senor Frogs. I had the chicken tacos, which look like spring rolls, but longer. While there, bells started ringing and four waiters emerged from a backroom dressed in costumes. One of them started pouring a blue looking concoction down the throat of a comely young woman and kept going until she gave up. They then went around the tables and did likewise to all there.

While at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, we also tried Wally Amos’ Chip and Cookies. We bought the regular chocolate chip, regular with macadamia nuts, and the oatmeal. Not bad. SWMBO is thinking of using the cookies in Christmas goodie (sp?) bags.

Dinner was a buffet from Hee Hing (Chinese). They also had prime rib and other entrees. The food was good but they were very busy (well, duh. -ed).

Lunch on Saturday was from PF Changs (they have a lunch menu that includes complete meals, rather than family style dining-is that new?). To start we had the spring rolls and then I had the Mongolian beef plate and SWMBO tried the lamb and a noodle dish.

Breakfast the next day was back to Tango (next to PF Changs). I tried the French toast, which was OK but if you are hungry, three small pieces of bread is not filling. I think next time I will go back to the hash and eggs. SWMBO had the eggs benedict and banana pancakes.

Aloha!

A Matter of Style

Honolulu Advertiser columnist/blogger/opinion-maker David Shapiro Twittered recently about a change in the AP Stylebook.

We don’t use the AP Stylebook as our main resource (we use The Chicago Manual of Style, The Red Book, The Bluebook, and Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style) but we have a copy for use when providing comments for our Public Affairs Office.

The AP book is interesting to me because it covers so many different parts of life. Whether how to spell barbecue, or that there are Baptist churches, but no Baptist church unless you are referring to a local church, and it’s Kriss Kringle, not Kris, the book covers all kinds of words and phrases.

On the other hand, I’m not sure I understand or agree with all of its choices. For example, using the word “none” with singular verbs and pronouns: None of the seats was in its right place. Perhaps this is grammatically correct, but it sure doesn’t sound right to my old ears.

In any case, if you are writing about the Americas Cup or America’s Cup (golf and yachting, respectively), the AP Stylebook can help clear away the confusion.

By the way, for those living in Hawaii, you might want to also take a look at columnist Catherine E. Toth.

Aloha!