"Rod & Reel..." 'An Anonymous friend from Homer Alaska'

Thank you to the anonymous guest blogger from Homer Alaska for this wonderful fishing story...

Photo of sunset over Cook Inlet-Homer, Alaska, courtesy of the Anonymous blogger!

A woman goes into Cabela's to buy a rod and reel for her grandson's birthday. She doesn't know which one to get, so she just grabs one and goes over to the counter.

The clerk was standing behind the counter wearing dark shades.
She says to him, "Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me anything about this rod and reel?"

He says, ?"Ma'am, I'm completely blind; but if you'll drop it on the counter, I can tell you everything from the sound it makes."

She doesn't believe him but drops it on the counter anyway......

He says, "That's a six-foot Shakespeare graphite rod with a Zebco 404 reel and 10-LB. Test line. It's a good all-around combination, and it's on sale this week for only $20.00."

She says, "It's amazing that you can tell all that just by the sound of it dropping on the counter. I'll take it!" As she opens her purse, her credit card drops on the floor.

"Oh, that sounds like a Master Card," he says.

She bends down to pick it up and accidentally farts.

At first she is really embarrassed, but then realizes......there is no way the blind clerk could tell it was her who tooted. Being blind, he wouldn't know that she was the only person around?

The man rings up the sale and says, "That'll be $34.50 please."

The woman is totally confused by this and asks, "Didn't you tell me the rod and reel were on sale for $20.00? How did you get $34.50?"

He replies, "Yes, ma'am. The rod and reel is $20.00, but the Duck Call is $11.00, and the Catfish Bait is $3.50."

She paid it and left without saying a word...

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)

If you would like to express yourself about any subject you feel passionate about, please  feel free to submit a guest blog to dakinetalk. Please limit guest blogs between 200-500 words, along with a short bio and photo of yourself. Send all blog submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  who knows your blog could go viral!

"New Job, new perspective..." 'Judith Whitehead' (Inspiration Monday)

Judith Whitehead is back guest-blogging on this Inspirational Monday about how every day is Thanksgiving ... Judith lives in Amherst N.Y. has worked in the ophthalmology field of medicine for almost 30 years...

Times are tough for many not knowing where their next meal may come from. Many people are one step away from being homeless...

Sometimes we can get in a rut, going to the same job every day, mindlessly getting up every morning

and going to work to bring home a paycheck. After several years of doing that, I woke up one day and

decided I needed to work at a place where I could make a difference. I needed to contribute to a place

where my work meant something and I could give back and feel fulfilled at the end of the day.

So after several months of searching for the right position, I found a medical practice where I could

utilize my medical and people skills more fully and could feel that I can do something to make a

difference in someone’s life at the end of each day. It is so easy to get complacent in our lives and to

just go along and get along every day. We have such little time to leave our mark on this world; It’s

important to give back somehow to people who can benefit from our help and touch their lives in some

small way.

Each medical practice has a certain culture of people it is comprised of depending on where the practice is located. As it turns out, I have found myself working in an area of Buffalo that has some of the most needy patients of all. They are people from all walks of life, professionals’ as well as nearly homeless enter our doors every day of the week. They are all in need of medical attention and they all share a common bond; they are all human being in search of care.

In all my years of working in the health field,I have never felt as lucky as I have lately. Over the last few months I have met such a variety of needy people that have no fall back network, no family or friends to count on and who are in such need of medical attention. Their stories unfold in front of me each day and range from despair to success as I work through their patient history. I cannot help but compare their lives to mine and it has made me realize just how lucky I am to be part of a loving family and group of friends; some of them will never experience what I have had all my life. Many of them are of limited financial means and have put their health on the back burner for many years, now it is catch up time to fix what been broken for so many years.

 For many, food and housing takes precedence over health and well being. As their stories unfold each day in my work area and they share what has happened in their lives, I feel lucky to be part of their health care plan and only hope it is not too late for so many that have gotten to this point of sickness and despair.

It once again reminds us that many people living, especially during these shaky financial times, how

fragile life really is and that we are all just one step away from homelessness, unemployment and

despair. None of us really take the time to realize each day that we have a warm place to live and food

to eat each day; something that many of these people worry about 24/7.

Especially during this time of year, when the holidays are approaching, we need to take some time to

realize what we have. I have begun to observe this fact every day I go to work and feel more grateful

than I ever have for how lucky I and my family have been. When you have the opportunity to swap

stories with the needy, you really see the great amount of lonely, needy and unhealthy people that still

remain out there with no support system and nowhere to turn. Thanksgiving will take on new meaning,

especially this year for me.

.

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)

If you would like to express yourself about any subject you feel passionate about, please  feel free to submit a guest blog to dakinetalk. Please limit guest blogs between 200-500 words, along with a short bio and photo of yourself. Send all blog submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  who knows your blog could go viral!

"Occupy Wall Street..." 'Obama Da Dog'

 Laughter is sometimes the best therapy say's Obama Dog....  This blog also appeared as an opinion article in the Kauai Garden Island News on 10-16-11; "Dazzling hypocrisy;
http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_b7aa3dcc-f7d7-11e0-820b-001cc4c002e0.html   

From the Internet, a viral poster... http://tal9000.tumblr.com/post/11346882337/image-a-group-of-protesters-presumably-at

Wall street seems to be America's current scapegoat for all our problems. There is a new movement called 'Occupy Wall street' that is just starting to come into it''s own with protests all over the country even including Kauai island in the middle of the south Pacific.

America is all about free speech and like the sixties many things were changed through protests. Whether you agree or dis-agree on the current movement, the one thing we can all agree on is that America is the greatest country on earth where we can all speak our mind.

 I am here-fore  enclosing my favorite words of a recent poster entitled, 'Occupy Wall street,' I feel it says's quite a bit. Enjoy...

"Here is one of the many fun ways to enjoy the dazzling hypocrisy of the Occupy Wall Streeters. “Join us as we organize against corporations, using social networking (by corporations), smart-phones (by corporations) serviced by wireless carriers (that are corporations), wearing clothes (made by corporations), capturing it all with cameras (made by corporations), and getting there via cars, buses, bicycles, and shoes (made by corporations). We deserve more from these greedy corporations. Join us afterwards at Starbucks!”

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)

If you would like to express yourself about any subject you feel passionate about, please  feel free to submit a guest blog to dakinetalk. Please limit guest blogs between 200-500 words, along with a short bio and photo of yourself. Send all blog submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  who knows your blog could go viral!

"The Green thing.." 'Marvin Gross'

Marvin Gross a financial advisor from Western N.Y. tells us about keeping the environment clean...

 

The environment responds graciously with a rainbow when we treat the Aina (Land) with respect

The Green Thing

 In the queue at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

 The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

 The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

 But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.  We washed the baby's nappys because we didn't have the throw-away-kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me down clothes from their brothers or sisters,not always brand-new clothing.

 But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the whole wall. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

 When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

 Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on
 treadmills that operate on electricity.

 But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then. We drank from a tap when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got blunt.

 But we didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service driving huge four wheel drives.

 We had one power point in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)

If you would like to express yourself about any subject you feel passionate about, please  feel free to submit a guest blog to dakinetalk. Please limit guest blogs between 200-500 words, along with a short bio and photo of yourself. Send all blog submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  who knows your blog could go viral!

"Detritus...." 'Michael Herr' (Aloha Friday)

Renowned author Michael Herr is back on this awesome Aloha Friday talking about 'Detritus,' a word I needed to look up!(any disintegrated material; debris)
 Make sure and check out Michael's website at; http://www.michaelherr.com/

'Detritus,' can be many things to many people, "remember one mans (kids)meat is another mans poison..."

ALOHA FRIDAY

October 14

It's Aloha Friday.

Detritus

Detritus — the remains of something broken down or destroyed, or something discarded as in rubbish.

I began thinking about the detritus of my own house, my own life, the other day. In a moody sort of way I began looking around at how my life is reflected in the things that I have accumulated. I thought back to when I had to clean out my parents' house after their deaths. I filled a dumpster with their collected dreams, hopes and memories. I filled only the front seat of my car with their things that still seemed to matter.

I wonder if my son will go through the same experience when he has to clean out the current home of my wife and I. What will he make of all the little ceramic knickknacks that my wife has collected over the years? She remembers where she picked up each of them. The tiny porcelain acorn from Heathrow's Duty Free shop. The many Winnie-the-Pooh pieces from our visit to Hartfield in Sussex. Her collection of egg-boxes — ceramic, wooden, metal, plastic and even actual eggs. Hundreds and hundreds of egg-boxes (including one signed by a great-great-great granddaughter of Faberge).

What will my son do with my collection of Japanese netsuke? Some modern, some very old, some erotic, some strange. Made from either wood or ivory. Collected over the past forty-plus years. Will he sell them? Will he give them to some museum?

What will become of my collection of billy clubs and blackjacks? Again, some very old. Some from other countries. Since they're mostly illegal to carry, and mostly difficult to sell, my son will probably trash most of them.

The artwork that has meant so much to us? Again, collected over the years to remind us of where we've traveled and who we were at that time. The hula dancer lamp from Kona? The ceremonial boomerang? The didgeridoo that I've never been able to play? Will they find new homes on eBay?

Books? What will become of our books? Nearly four thousand books fill our house. Books that have carried my wife and I to lands far and near, fanciful and real. With electronic books taking over the world, I hold out little hope that our massive library will go anyplace but to the nearest landfill.

I see all of our collections as detritus. Rubbish that no one else will want. But to us . . . this is all the repository of beautiful, wonderful, treasured memories. And after we are gone, our memories will be gone too.

Detritus. Just detritus.

Much aloha.

check out Michael's website at http://www.michaelherr.com/  buy all six books for only $18

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)

If you would like to express yourself about any subject you feel passionate about, please  feel free to submit a guest blog to dakinetalk. Please limit guest blogs between 200-500 words, along with a short bio and photo of yourself. Send all blog submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  who knows your blog could go viral!

"Loco Moco..."chopsticks or fork..?" 'Obama Da Dog'

Obama da dog blogs about her favorite plate lunch, da loco moco...

Loco Moco, Hawaii's favorite plate lunch! This photo was shared through Google chrome.

This blog also appeared as an opinion article in the Kaua'i Garden Island news on 10-15-11. http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_98db46b2-f6f5-11e0-8c35-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

Hawaii is  famous for their plate lunches. Plate lunches are served at many restaurants and food trucks. Plate lunches usually come with rice, or chow mein, macaroni salad, kimchi, or green salad and a Sumo wrestler portion of an array of entrees inclusive of but not limited to shoyu chicken,  shoyu pork, curried stews, steak and hundreds of other mouth watering entrees.

One of the most popular comfort plate lunches in Hawaii  is a dish called a 'Loco Moco.' Loco moco  is a "mountainous meal consisting of a heap of white rice topped with  one or two  hamburger patties and topped with one or two sunny-side-up eggs, and then smothered in gravy. This dish is popular anytime of the day and is a candidate for the Cholesterol Hall of Fame.  As you eat, break the egg - then blend the burger, egg, rice, and gravy on your fork or chopsticks for each bite for a real taste of paradise."

There are many  who claim to have invented the  Loco Moco, however  it is generally agreed that around 1949, either the Lincoln Grill or the Cafe 100 (both in Hilo, Hawaii) created the first mouth watering plate dish of Loco Moco. According to the locals, the dish was invented for teenagers who wanted something different from typical American sandwiches and less time-consuming than Asian food. The nickname of the first boy to consume this concoction was Loco ("crazy" in Portuguese and Hawaiian pidgin). Moco rhymed with loco and sounded great,Therefore history was made  and  'Loco Moco' became the name of the dish.

'Loco Moco' is also famous for takeout along with many other scrumptious plate lunch choices. With all this said I still find it ironic that every-time I go to order a plate lunch to go, the servers give me a fork and my Asian friends chopsticks just because of my looks. This used to bother me because I am an  avid user of chopsticks and believe food tastes better against  wooden chopsticks than a plastic fork. Normally I would correct the server and ask for chopsticks, however when 'Loco Moco' is concerned  a fork, spoon and preferably a shovel would be most practical....

 The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)

If you would like to express yourself about any subject you feel passionate about, please  feel free to submit a guest blog to dakinetalk. Please limit guest blogs between 200-500 words, along with a short bio and photo of yourself. Send all blog submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  who knows your blog could go viral!

"Follow in the county's carbon footprints." 'James "Kimo" Rosen'

I am a critic of the county of Kaua'i however I am pleased when they do good things and I would like to share a recent opinion article I wrote  that the Kaua'i Garden Island News published ....
http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_f7fa19b4-f3d2-11e0-8604-001cc4c002e0.html

Douglas Dunn with his New Nissan Leaf, total Electric car. The county of Kauai just purchased five Nissan Leafs! Hallelujah! Read Doug's LTE, "Kicking the habit," in yesterdays Kaua'i Garden Island news  for more insight into the Nissan Leaf.  Go to; http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_c8550d90-f30f-11e0-8161-001cc4c03286.html

Follow the county’s carbon footprints

I am proud of the County of Kaua‘i. Yes, you heard it right, I am proud of the mayor since, according to The Garden Island news, some Kaua‘i county employees will soon be driving Nissan’s electric Leaf car.

The county purchased five Nissan Leafs through a grant by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The cars have arrived and a few county employees are being trained on their operation.

The county will be installing 10 charging stations at various county facilities. The Nissan Leaf has excellent reviews and, according to my friend in San Diego, it is the quietest car he ever drove. It’s no hybrid; it’s 100 percent electric.

This all translates to savings for the taxpayer since these vehicles never need gas, oil changes, tune-ups, valves, rings, pistons, timing belts, transmissions, transmission fluids or shifting gears to interrupt acceleration, carburetor or air filters, radiator or coolant or hoses to maintain regular power-train maintenance and last but not least no smog checks ever.

Congratulations (Ho‘omaika‘i ‘ana and Mazol Tov) for one of the best investments aside from the pedestrian trail that the county has ever made. We need to follow in the county’s footprints.

http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_f7fa19b4-f3d2-11e0-8604-001cc4c002e0.html

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)

If you would like to express yourself about any subject you feel passionate about, please  feel free to submit a guest blog to dakinetalk. Please limit guest blogs between 200-500 words, along with a short bio and photo of yourself. Send all blog submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  who knows your blog could go viral!