Local News
November 15, 2006
A couple of interesting things happening this week.
First, there was an earthquake near Japan last night and it generated several mini tsunamis which did hit Hawaii. I say mini because as far as I could tell, when they came in, it was just like high tide – just a little higher than normal. I suppose it could have been a lot worse, but thank goodness it wasn’t. I don’t think there was any damage anywhere. A couple of beaches and harbors closed, but that was about it.
I guess I don’t really worry about tsunamis since I live on a hill and am not very close to the ocean. I mean, we can see the ocean from the house, but it’s not in our backyard or anything.
Also, a comprehensive no smoking ban goes into effect tomorrow. Honestly, I think it sucks. Sure, I can agree to the no smoking in restaurants, but smoking is also going to be banned in bars – that’s okay, but smoking is also going to be banned in outdoor bars. Not cool. Well, it’s not like I go to bars anymore, but I do occasionally and most places here have an outdoor smoking area. These are going to banned under the new law. Smoking is also going to banned with 20 feet of any entrance or ventilation intake of any establishment open to the public. So no more smoking at the coffeehouse for me.
I did quit smoking for awhile. I lasted over a year, but then I started up again when I got really stressed out earlier this year. Well, I guess the ban should be some motivation to help me quit again.
We are also finally getting closer to building a light rail system here. That is unless the city council rejects the request. I swear, this city is so ass backwards sometimes. I think the first proposals for a light rail system were about 10 years ago and I remember that a lot of people opposed the project because the rail system would be an eyesore in Hawaii. :dizzy: I always thought that was such a stupid argument – especially considering the amount of development we have here. The eyesore thing is actually a reason why we have no billboards here. Billboards would ruin the scenery. Oh give me a break. If people are opposed to progress because it would ruin the scenery, why aren’t people out there protesting all of the high rise buildings going up in the downtown area? It just makes no sense to me.
I really hope that this rail system goes through. Traffic in Honolulu is horrendous. A few months back a highway had to be closed for like 12 hours because of an accident. It caused traffic jams everywhere. I mean I think it took some people 8 hours to get home when it normally would have taken then an hour. Just normal rush hour here is crazy too. There was this one time my friend Fred and I headed to Ala Moana beach to go walking. Now, it would normally take maybe 15 minutes to get there from where we live, but since we went in the afternoon, I think it took us close to an hour to get the beach.
It would be great if more people took the bus, but the bus costs $2 now – one way and the buses are rarely on time. At least we have access to Google Transit now. The transit system in Portland was just so awesome. I just loved the trip planner at TriMet. I know a lot of bus routes in Hawaii changed when I was away and at least I can use the Google Trip planner now if I ever need to ride the bus again. It’s just too bad that the buses here aren’t hooked up to GPS like the ones in Portland, so you could get transit information in real time.
Anyway, I am just rambling right now.
Filed under: Whatever
