As misplaced as this may seem, I am still going to believe in our Governor. Linda Lingle lived and worked here in our Honolulu. She lived and worked on the island of Moloka'i and started the Moloka'i Free Press, the community newspaper.

She knows how it is and how important it is to be local. She gets it. She understands Hawaiian issues. In the past, she has been a supporter of Hawaiian Issues.

So what priority goes over the understanding of these issues? Is it financial? The fact that we're in economic difficulties and have a budget to cover? Is it something that needs to be addressed legally? Is it something so simple that the rest of us don't see it?

My last blog may have lead people to think "What?! You listen to something other than Hawaiian Music?!" This may give you a clearer picture of what I like:

Hereʻs a paragraph on personal music preferences. Itʻs Not Over from Daughtry from the last blog entry is a sample of the kind of music from contemporary artists now that I like...the style...when Iʻm not listening to Hawaiian music (98% of the time itʻs Hawaiian!). So is a lot of 80ʻs music, early to mid 90ʻs. I have a soft spot for oldies though. In elementary school, I went thru a lot of music phases. I listened to country for 3 months non-stop, classical (actually only Mozart) for 4 months, I went thru extensive Beatles early days thru ʻ67) in about 6 months. Nothing but Beatles.

My parents were my Elvis influence. Especially the Elvis Live from Hawaii 8-track tape.

Today was a great day!! Breakfast was good; it was buffet but a lot of the food is made right there including the croissants and breads; they have the usual stuff...a nice blend of Japanese and American foods.

Hereʻs todays business report that Iʻll try to send to KGMB9 later (it never made it-my attempt at wireless internet was discovered and turned of by our hotel before I could forward to tv...only got it for the radio website lol :( ). Here at the Rusutsu resort, the story is the business or more so the lack of. Last year there were lines for everything. The food, the ski lifts, stores in the resort, restaurants...everything! This year there are no lines for anything. This resort is down to 30% occupancy. This resort is one of the busiest during the season, and even now. There are many other resorts that are doing worse.

Itʻs a cloudy day here in Hokkaido, but itʻs perfect as the snowfall has been consistent all day. Not blizzard, but a continuous slow snowfall. Iʻll get to skiing a little later. We sent our son off to his ski instructor who was the same one he had last year, and they were off to the slopes from 10am-noon.

At noon we met him at the eating place...and enjoyed eating ramen and pork cutlet. We talked story and enjoyed until he was off again to the slopes at 1:30pm.

Today Japan is playing USA in the World Baseball Series. My wife and I want to watch this!

Today we went to our Japan Family House in Yokohama. Everyone is away though, so we were the only ones there. My son grew up in that house before moving to Hawaii, so for him it was a nice but short homecoming. We were only there for an hour; we had to repack bags for the snow.

After spending time on the Expressway, we crossed over Rainbow Bridge on the way to Haneda Airport. Usually I drive, but today I didnʻt feel like driving. I LOVE to drive in Japan. Plus my AAA license is expired, so I canʻt drive in any foreign country at the moment anyway.

After a hour and a half train ride, 2 hour bus ride, weʻre here at Rusutsu Resort on the northern most island of Japan called Hokkaido, the resort is run by Prince hotels. Weʻll be here for the next 5 days.

I should mention why we are here and not spending our money at home.

Just the other night I was out at the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, put on by the UH Students up at the University of Hawaii Manoa Campus. Every year they work hard to raise funds because they believe in the search for the cure for cancer, and they know that funds are needed for support and research.

This weekend I was out at the Kamehameha Schools Ho'olaule'a. It was a wonderful event, as it is well planned every year. This years' Ho'olaule'a was especially stress-free; the parents that were in charge of the entertainers hospitality area had things very well in hand and well planned, they kept us well informed and helped us tremendously!!

During the event, I had to use the bathroom. Without getting too graphic here, I had to go #2, and had to find a place. I asked employees who told me that there was a bathroom that was not being readily used by the public, and that it will get me back to the stage area quicker. I thanked the employee and went to go find the bathroom.

While heading to the bathroom, I realized that this was the bathroom that was also being used by students who were performing or otherwise...as I entered the bathroom, no one else was there.

Congrats to my high school alma mater, the Konawaena Wildcats Basketball Team. Div I State Champs. However I couldnʻt help but appreciate Punahouʻs Girls. Late in the 2nd half, they were down by a bunch of points. There was some hard shoving and hard physical play. But when Konawaena got knocked down, Punahou girls extended a hand to pick them up. It really showed their determination, yet showed their class. Winning isnʻt always about "winning" so to speak, but the learning process of "how" to win along the way. I was impressed with BOTH teams and coaches. Congrats Konawaena and Punahou.

I've been a spokesperson informally for Hilo Hatties previously, and because I have such a wonderful relationship with a unique brand of people, I've done their Mahalo Parties for years...where they brought in different parts of the tourist industry and given them discounts either to showcase the Hilo Hattie brand to them, or just their way of saying "Mahalo" for all the business these segments of the tourism business has brought Hilo Hattie.

They were once the showcase of jokes of the kind of clothing that were bad examples of tourist fashion; with the whole family wearing what they thought was "Aloha" wear, with the bright orange looks that the whole family would wear; the kind that you would gift to that Uncle somewhere in the continental United States...the Uncle that you didn't exactly care for.

These days, it's much different. In the fashions that Hilo Hattie carries now, it's whole local families showing up to the lu'au in Hilo Hatties Fashions. From the boardroom and the CEO in the Financial District of downtown Honolulu, to someone from the west side headed to Kapolei to go to the new stores; From someone going neighbor islands on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to dinner out on the North Shore. It's the fashions of now, of a contemporary Hawaii.

If you still wanted to find fashions for that Uncle in the Continental United States, you could find something at Hilo Hatties...but this time, all your Uncles might be asking for theirs too.

http://www.hilohatties.com

I first heard about the Hawaii Football School when I was watching KGMB9. I had just finished my segment minutes before and I heard that Chad Owens was going to be on. I was excited since I hadn't seen Chad play, and I knew he had injuries in the NFL Season.

He told Steve that he was putting together a football school. Not just any football school, but one that taught the fundamentals of football while they were young so that way when they got older in middle and high school, there was no learning curve. They were already be ma'a to the game and they could jump right into it. They were taking all ages. It made me excited being a football fan!

My son is 6 years old. I didn't know if he would like football. However since he attends a bunch of football games that I'm working at, he would see it all the time. We bought him the playstation game NCAA Football' 07 so he's been playing football for a while. It's also the way I taught my wife football in general (she wanted to play so I taught her; she beats me now.)

Since my son started to attend HFS, he plays differently now. He watches the plays in slow motion. He sees the stance of the players and mentions (and points), "That's what we did in the last class!". He's started to put things together.

The coaches started changing how they teach too. They were always about football, team and working together, but in the last month they've been mentioning that schoolwork comes first before everything else. If they cna't do good in school, they can't do good on the field. They're setting them up for that long journey called middle, high school and college. I think it's a natural progression. They're also giving out awards monthly for excellence, inviting the kids to strive, to do better, to get recognized for it. It's been an awesome program that I'm glad my son is in on Sundays

Note: The coaches are all people I've grown up with in sports. They're some of the names we've heard associated with some of the greats in UH Warrior Football. OFten the coaches have been rotating out because Some are still active either in the Canadian Football , Indoor or European football leagues. Occasionally there have been "guest" coaches. Colt Brennan has come by. Timmy Chang when he's been in town. It's been kewl to see these coaches and people coming back to give back again.http://www.hawaiifootballschool.com