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Overheard: Majuro

derek — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:11:37 +0000

Overheard at potentially the best hotel/restaurant in Majuro:

Guy A: Did you get that rat yet?
Guy B: Which rat?
Guy A: The one running around the kitchen.

Hmm, this cant be good. Then I heard rumours of the staff getting a $5 bonus for each rat dispatched after hours.

Freaky Awakening

taro — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:48:45 +0000

Now that’s a freaky way to wake up, civil defense sirens going off at 6AM, lieing in bed a bit disoriented trying to figure out if its test day, but thats a few days away. Turn the radio on and the siren is for real. A tsunami warning has been issued projected to arrive around 1100 Hawaii Time. No estimates on size issued, just that there is something significant expected, unlike the past little events that were almost unnoticeable. Our house is not in the innundation zones so we wont need to evacuate. We shall see what happens.

Beer Is Good – Hitachino Commerative Ale 2009

taro — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:01:03 +0000

Discovered at Foodland Farms this Hitachino variety I haven’t seen elsewhere. Pours with a pretty good head, cloudy medium dark brown. Touch floral aroma and hint of spices but not strongly hoppy. There’s some sour in there, and a bit of lingering bitter. Reading the label tells of vanilla, corriander, orange peel, but this is no Hoegarten, which I just happened to have had one earlier. Though not offensive, it does not appeal to my tastes. High ABV of 9%. Not quite 3 out of 4 drunken monekys.

Ugh

taro — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:50:05 +0000

So much for that theory, the cough is now going nuts. No amount of of cacao is doing any good, but neither is the OTC cough syrup supressent. Couldn’t manage another of those expectorant pills, and I couldn’t find expectorant only syrup. Sheesh, we’ll see if I can get a good nights sleep or not. Sucks.

Released from Atooi

taro — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:20:40 +0000

Oh my, what a day. After my oh so rough day on Atooi (barely made it in time for flight) yesterday, went to Mr. Ojisan for dinner. Only Yuki was there (aside from cooks). Keiko came by after a meeting, then Yuko called and came by. It turned into a nomi-kai. They then called Santa-san (thats what
people call him), he’s apparently the #2 guy at Tokkuritei. It was quite an amusing night.

Where There’s Smoke…

risu — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:20:06 +0000

That’s not right. A dark, dynamically moving column of smoke was rising from the area bounded by Kahekili Highway, Kea’ahala Road, and Anoi Road. Could have been a structure fire, or something burning in the wooded area. I didn’t see or hear any emergency vehicles. After work, I rode my bike over and did some recon. It was a structure fire at: 21.410377,-157.8063 (just put the coordinates into your favorite internet mapping site).

Beer Is Good – Hitachino Real Ginger Brew

taro — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:25:23 +0000

The last of the Hitachino varieties that Maruka has brought in, the Real Ginger Brew. I popped this open tonight with a little trepidation. I know I like ginger ale, but this kind of ginger ale? Pours with a good head, semi-cloudy medium brown. Strong spice aroma. It would take me a while to identify if I didn’t know what it was, but if you know then the aroma is unmistakeably ginger. It’s actually an intriguing aroma, but unfortunately I don’t like the transition to the taste. What bothers me is that it is sweet, which then kind of masks the strong hops and bitter. Fairly alcohol high at 7%.

I have to say I really don’t care for this one, and I don’t think it’s so much the ginger as the other flavors. If I were offered this another round, I would pass on it and give it a 1 out of 4 hopped out monkeys.

Mystery Slave Labor Camp

taro — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:47:44 +0000

OK, got the counter shaft bearings changed out on the transmission, but yikes…. Finally got a complete shop press together from Blue Sky Hawaii, the China special tools place. And this piece of equipment is particularly dodgy. Ok, I concede that it worked. Barely. One point wishing I had a Lexan shield to hide behind in case bits went exploding. The thing is pretty light gauge and is made to rack. There is no way to get it to work straight. To be honest, I’m not sure it was worth the 200 plus bucks. I suppose if I think of it as how much I would have paid a shop to do the same, then ok. But the crookedness bothers me, I think I did a straighter job with my home made extracto/instalo tools I made years ago, and pressing in these bearings crooked is not good.

Modern conveniences good

taro — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:12:45 +0000

Had another one of those, WTH have I been doing all these years?! moments. Started on rebuilding the AE86 transmission. It’s got some decades worth of spooge accumulated all over it. I’d been poking at it with a screwdriver and spraying it with citrus degreaser every night throughout the week. Today decided to attack it, and this time I picked up nitrile gloves. Never really liked using mechanic gloves when wrenching. These nitrile ‘rubber’ gloves were one size fits most, and as such were loose on my skinny hands, but they still worked fine. And damn they keep your hands clean! No scrubbing multiple times with handcleaner and nail brush. And I’m sure much better for skin.

So with these gloves, and the other previous WTH item, the air impact wrench, I’ve made easy progress. The input bearing is indeed toast, wonderful amount of play on the input shaft. Getting the output housing off I see shiny bits of metal stuff floating around. Hm, not something I wanted to see. We shall see how all the gears and bits look soon….

Hitachino – White Ale, Red Rice Ale

taro — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:24:59 +0000

More of the Hitachino Nest beers available imported, I had the white ale a couple days ago. Poured with moderate head that dissapated pretty quickly, but bubbles carry on. A cloudy light yellow. This is a white similar to Hoegarten, has added spices of corriander and orange peel. Pleasant aroma. The spices are subtler than Hoegarten, making for a nice drink. I think I like this one the best so far, 3 out of 4 lightly drunk monkeys (5% alcohol).

Red Rice Ale – specified on the label as brewed using red rice, definitely no German purity law brew here! And as such, it tastes like it. Poured with large head (think I may have pour a bit more aggresively), cloudy medium dark amber/red. Didn’t detect any really distinctive odor. Definite sweet, dangerously close to a malt liquor. Nicely controlled bitter finish, but honestly there was little that appealed to me. Not one of my faves, 2 out 4 rice fume burping monkeys (long after finishing, after taking a shower even, rice aftertaste).