25th Island Wide Christmas Crafts & Food Expo at the Blaisdell

An Eco-Friendly Holiday Gift Idea November 21, 2011

With the holidays fast approaching, I wanted to help make people's shopping a little easier. If you have anyone on your list who eats food, I have a great idea for you: Eco-Chopsticks.

Changing Conversation on capsun.org with Livefyre November 14, 2011

Disclosure: Livefyre is the exclusive sponsor of BlogcastFM, where I serve as Editor-in-Chief and receive compensation. However, I was neither paid nor asked to write this post. I first saw Livefyre in action when my friend John Garcia deployed it on NonStopHonolulu.com back in August 2010. It took me a while to work out the kinks in [...]

Recapping BlogWorld LA 2011 #BWELA November 8, 2011

As I promised in my last post, I did attempt to liveblog from my BlogWorld conference. Unfortunately, time and technology prevented me from doing a true liveblog (where it is updated continuously). Instead, I tweeted like crazy from the conference and posted recaps to the BlogcastFM website. You can find a brief description of the [...]

Live-Blogging from BlogWorld LA #BWELA November 3, 2011

I’m currently in Los Angeles attending the BlogWorld LA conference. As part of my duties for BlogcastFM, I plan to live-blog (on blogcastfm.com) and live-tweet from the event which starts today and runs through Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. (Disclosure: BlogcastFM is an official BlogWorld Media Partner and I received a Full Access [... […]

Finding My Way – to BlogcastFM November 3, 2011

Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I always have to be busy doing something. It’s one of the many ways I take after my Chinese mother. I rarely take vacations, and when I do, they are usually a day or two. I have a day job, a side business, consult for several [...]

The Gender-Differentiated Surprise Effect: Surprises – Good Or Bad? October 26, 2011

Recently, I got to celebrate my friend Jenn’s birthday. And in typical fashion for an event planned by females, it was a surprise. A well-kept one, I might add, because this is what she looked like when she realized we were all gathered to surprise her: But that got me thinking about something I’ve thought [...]

Taking the Ten App Challenge October 24, 2011

A while ago, my friend Neenz Faleafine wrote a post about the 10 apps that she uses on her iPhone. I think you’re supposed to pick the ten that you don’t come pre-installed on the iPhone. So, if you could only choose ten apps that you could put on your iPhone, in addition to Apple’s [...]

Gathering a Goldilocks Group for Great Aloha Run October 12, 2011

I have a confession: I have never participated in any run/walk/race/marathon or similar event. You see, I always used to blame timing or inconvenience, but it was really about not having the desire to put myself through it, no matter how short or easy an event might be. Until now. I’m in decent enough shape [...]

iPhone 4S = iPhone For Steve October 6, 2011

After the premature, but not entirely unexpected, death of Apple founder, longtime CEO, and Executive Chairman Steve Jobs yesterday, there have been many tributes, remembrances and reflections. Originally, I was going to write something, but then I saw my friend Jonathan’s tribute, iThank Steve and honestly believe I couldn’t have said it any bet […]

Questioning My Apple Faith October 5, 2011

OK, it hasn’t been quite two months since my last post, so I am getting a little better at being more “regular” here. Anyone who knows me even somewhat knows I love Apple and all their products. I may not love their pricepoint, but I definitely love the technology, design, and how things just work. [...]

School Needs Your Help in Waimanalo August 16, 2011

For several years now, I have had the opportunity to work with the Waimanalo community on different projects. My work helping on a recent project led me to information about Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate School needing volunteers to help with a project this Saturday, August 20. WEIS serves students from Pre-Plus through 8th grade and [...]

Have A Heart: Help Shirley Remember Ryan August 4, 2011

Note: This post is not about my friend Ryan Suenaga, although I am fortunate to have had and I do still have several Ryans in my life. No, instead this is about another Ryan that was lost. My friend Shirley lost her husband Ryan in 2009. I had only known him a little, but in all [...]

A New Day for Hawaii News August 3, 2011

Today, the Star-Advertiser starts a new chapter in it’s life as it puts up the paywall to some of it’s content and requires paid subscriptions to access that content. While that decision has been complained about by many, Ian Lind did a great job assessing the situation, including what is and isn’t free, and some [...]

So Long Netflix, Hello Blockbuster? August 1, 2011

Probably the biggest non-US debt limit news to hit the internet last month was the Netflix announcement that they were introducing new plans and pricing that would effectively double the price for users wanting both online streaming access to the service and DVD-by-mail access. I’ve been a Netflix customer since 2003 and have been quite [...]

Invitation to Lunch with Senator Daniel Akaka April 13, 2011

Note: Deadline to RSVP is tomorrow to lizrath2008@hawaiiantel.net or 227-9612. Only available to the first 150 people. Pay $17 at the door. For both professional and personal reasons, I constantly monitor social media outlets, especially Facebook and Twitter, for what is being said about me, my boss, my friends, and others. There’s a lot of “nois […]

Tomorrow: Fundraiser for Rep. Della Au Belatti April 12, 2011

I rarely use this space to promote a specific political candidate’s fundraiser; today will be one of those times. Of course, supporting a specific person in general or their policies is a different story. If you read my tweets, you’ll notice that I often mention my friend Representative Della A Belatti (@RepBelatti or @DellaForHouse25). What amaz […]

Agnes Kalanihookaha Cope Day in Hawaii April 11, 2011

Like many who work for, with, or around government, I often have to be at the State Capitol during the legislative session (January-May). Almost all of the time, it’s for meetings or hearings – pretty straightforward and honestly fairly dull stuff. But every once in a while, I get to be there on a special [...]

Akaka Bill According to Akaka April 6, 2011

In my effort to share information on public policy issues that interest me, I posted the latest version of the Akaka Bill yesterday. While I definitely have an opinion supportive of the legislation and its intent, I haven’t had time to write a blog post. Instead, I’d like to post what Senator Akaka has to [...]

The Latest (And Last?) Akaka Bill April 5, 2011

Last week, on March 30, 2011, U. S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka reintroduced the Native Hawaiian Government Act of 2011 (the “Akaka Bill”) in the U. S. Senate, legislation he has sponsored for a decade in Congress. Congresswoman Mazie Hirono introduced identical legislation in the U. S. House. If you’ve read this blog, you know [...]

No Joke: Special Youth-Led Rotunda Roundup Tonight April 1, 2011

Noting that “The Capitol can be a mysterious and bewildering place to navigate on your own,” local non-profit Kanu Hawaii (@KanuHawaii) has organized Rotunda Roundups (PDF) as a way to “do it together and make our voices count!” As part of their Citizen Challenge 2011, This is a one-hour session usually held each Thursday between [... […]