Things are in a funk. I've been keeping my fingers on the pulse of technology in Hawaii and I can barely feel a heartbeat. This week has been especially listless. John Duchemin's articles in the Honolulu Advertiser bring to light how uneventful things are. His article on Tuesday, 6/17 about Landmark Ventures makes them sound about as exciting as dirt. In today's Advertiser, he writes about the biotech companies and the challenges they face to turn a profit. Biotech is supposed to be the hot topic amongst venture capitalist but if this article is any indication, it looks to me like it's pretty cold and stiff.
In another article in today's Advertiser, Ray Kamikawa, former state tax director defends Act 221. This is the Act that allow investors to put money into tech companies and get an equal credit on their State tax return. It was a controversial topic in this year's legislative session as the administration wanted to modify it quite drastically. Suffice it to say articles are still being written about how it should stay unchanged, which it is, unchanged. So where are the articles about money going into companies as a result of Act 221? Where are the hot prospects? Please don't tell me it's Landmark.
Personally, I don't think anything is happening. If the articles this week are any indication, things are pretty flat. I had a heck of a lot more fun watching the 10+ foot waves off of Ala Moana.
Almost 10 years ago I produced a couple of videos that ran on Olelo television. They were short pieces with the primary purpose of filling time between shows. I did this series of videos on native Hawaiian plants and called myself Herb `Aina. When I get around to it I might stream those on the Net.
So on Sat. 6/14 I had to attend an herb workshop at the Univ. of Hawaii - Leisure Program. I believe you can never do with enough leisure. Just smelling all those dried herbs is heaven for your sense of smell. The workshop was conducted by Thauna Abrin and Monique Yuen both Naturopathic Physicians. They covered topics like making teas and preparing a poultice. Both useful topics whether at home or in the outdoors.
One of these days maybe I put a herb page together. Most of the herbs covered in class were from the Western US where through years of traditional native American and European practice turned it into a science. The selection of all the right herbs to brew a tea for a particular ailment took years of developing. We're finally seeing the art move from folklore to clinical practice. And gaining acceptance.
So I went home with a couple of bags of tea, one a calming tea with lemon balm, oatstraw, chamomile and skullcap, the other an alterative tea for cleansing. Stay tuned, next week is the art of making tinctures and oils.
I finally got around to sorting through my digital photos. Sure beats waiting for the slides to come back from the processor. Selecting which ones get put in the gallery is a weeding out process. It's amazing how many shots need to be taken to get one decent one. If you are interested in checking out a few from Fiji go to the Gallery.
I still got Fiji on my mind. Today is Kamehameha Day and a friend and I ended up at Zaffron's in downtown Honolulu for lunch. Great Indian food and it turns out the owners are from Fiji. Nadi to be precise.
It was like eating in Fiji. There are some great Indian restaurants in Fiji. In Suva I ate at this place called Hare Krishna's where they made an assortment of vegetarian selections. Very ono. They also specialized in sweets which I highly recommend.
When I wasn't eating Indian food, I was eating Fijian. There are some striking similarities to Hawaiian food. They make a taro leaf that is like lu`au leaf. Taro slices, cook banana, clams, fish or chicken round out the meal. Their imu is called a lovo. I asked a few of the Fijians I met if they every pound the taro to make poi. Based on the look I got, apparently not. So far I've only found poi in Hawai`i. I wonder if poi is unique to the Hawaiian diet? I'll need to research that.
I tried getting back to an internet cafe but only got one more chance while in Suva. One hour of time was just enough to go through 800+ email messages over a span of a couple of days. Most of it was spam. Going through spam nowadays is like data mining. Only its the human is doing the data mining.
The long ride to the Fijian Resort was well worth it. We stopped in on Robert Stone in Pacific Harbour. It's a beautiful spot, truly an island paradise. Every morning Robert goes papio fishing in a canoe from a launching deck. Unbelieveable.
The Shangra-La Fijian is five star resort which I would highly recommend for anyone looking for some R&R time. Solitary walks along the beach are great therapy for the mind. If you take a moment to look at your feet you might find some cool shells. I would head back in a heartbeat. I know exactly what room I would request.
It's June 1st in Hawai`i and June 2nd in Fiji. Sounds like a good enough time for me to start my weblog. The flight to Nadi, Fiji from Hawai`i was pretty smooth except for a couple of bumps here and there. We stopped in Apia, Western Samoa for a quick refueling and continued our flight to Fiji. From Nadi, I caught a puddle jumper across the island to Suva. Lucky I brought my ear plugs cuz the props would have blown out my eardrums. I just happen to carry a spare in my fanny pack from helo flights to Kaho`olawe.
Suva is the same as I left it last year. The trouble with coming in on a Sunday is that everything is closed. It was a challenge finding a place to grab some lunch. A friendly Fijian policeman pointed a decent food court that served up a variety of choices, from Chinese to Fijian cooking. I chose Fijian which consisted of some taro leaf (cooked up like luau leaf) some taro, cooked bananas and ono clams. Believe or not this cost a total of $4.50 Fijian which equivalent to a little more than $2.25 US. Of course I went there again today.
It turns out today (June 2nd) is some sort of National holiday in Fiji but unlike Sunday, several businesses are open. Lucky for me I found this Internet cafe right on the main street not far from the hotel I am staying at. The cost for Internet time is $5.00 Fijian per hour. Beats the Holiday Inn which was kind of an rip off at $30.00 per hour. Unbelievable. I gotta find out how late these folks stay open. The only thing is, walking around at night here is not recommended. The crime rate is up and I don't need to deal with that.
My hour is almost up here but I will try to log in again when I get a chance. I start up my class tomorrow so I suspect I will be preoccupied. Stay tuned as this adventure continues to unfold.