Todd's Blog

Update (August 2012): Michael F () wrote: In regards to Grey Boat schedule & new landing: http://www.hookelenews.com/revised-schedule-for-intra-harbor-shuttle-operations-beginning-oct-1-announced/ Also, no priority for Navy active duty & civilians anymore. Update/Disclaimer: As of April 2009 I no longer live in Hawaii. (military giveth, military taketh away) Therefore I can not vouch for the currency or accuracy of the information below. If anybody out there who still lives in Hawaii does have more current data on the grey boat schedule, please feel free to send me a link. I'll post it right here at the top. Thanks, Todd Originally, I was a little reluctant to post this due to possible security concerns. But over the past couple of months, I've had quite a few requests for the Grey Boat Schedule . And, since it's readily available to civilians at the Iroquois Point Island Club resident services office, I figure it can't hurt to put it online and make thi

Working up at Wheeler Army Airfield, there's always something interesting going on. All of our helicopters do a wide variety of training every day. In this photo, a UH-60 Blackhawk is practicing buck drops near the approach end of the runway. The Waianae mountain range is in the background. Stay tuned for more Hawaii Pictures of the Day .

You know, one of the hardest things about working online ... especially for those who are attempting to make money with it ... is finding a niche (ie, topic or group of topics) that you're passionate about. Too many people make the mistake of trying to write about making money . ... not realizing that unless you're already making good money, and have useful information to share, this is a very, very hard way to put extra cash in your pocket. Another mistake that people sometimes make is to choose an overly broad topic, that they may only have a passing interest in. Believe me when I tell you, this can actually make it harder to come up with interesting things to say ... especially if you have even a hint of a perfectionist streak. So, what's the best solution? To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I'm yet qualified to offer up that advice. I've spent over a year blogging, and I've just recently discovered my own personal "niche" ... a subject in w

Ok, so I know it's not the North Shore or anything, but I took my kids to White Plains beach near Barber's Point yesterday. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, and shallow water near the shore. Obviously, most of my picture were of them. But, since I had my camera and a moderately long lens (Canon 70-200 F4L) I couldn't resist taking a couple of shots of the many surfers who were out enjoying the waves. I've got many more pictures in this set ... I'm sure you'll be seeing a few more in the coming days, weeks and months. But for now, please enjoy this Hawaii Picture of the Day . Aloha, Todd

For people who've spent any amount of time on the windward side of Oahu, the image above may be a familiar sight. It's a CH-53 Sea Stallion flying out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay. I took this picture from a pontoon boat out on the bay (which can be rented from the base if you take an extra day to get a license). We spent the day sitting out the sand bar drinking a few beers and taking in the sights. Now, after I got done having a little fun in photoshop, I'm not so sure this isn't more of a "painting" rather than a photograph ... but I think it's still cool enough to be today's Hawaii Picture of the Day . Aloha til next time ... Todd

No, that's not me in the picture ... but it gives a pretty accurate idea of how I feel on most Saturday afternoons. I'm not sure if this guy brought his own hammock, or if it just happened to be strung up between these two palm trees on Waikiki beach ... lol, wouldn't that be a find. Either way, it sure does epitomize what many people imagine about living in Hawaii . And because I'm all about nice relaxing images, this hammock on the beach is today's Hawaii Picture of the Day . Aloha til next time. Todd

I had to bring my camera and tripod to work today ... apparently I'm the unit's "camera guy". We needed to have a flight picture to celebrate our recent award as the Air Force Weather small unit of the year. This is a pretty big deal actually ... for a unit to win an Air Force level award. Our Major is a good writer, I'm sure that helped ... but, I'm also sure it didn't hurt that we were in Iraq pretty much all of last year. At one point, almost everybody in our unit was either deployed, or returning from deployment. And apparently we did a good job. ;-) Anyhow, this is the image that will probably end up hanging on our wall. Until then, it will just be the Alohateam Hawaii Picture of the Day .

One of my favorite things about living in Iroquois Point is that it's only about a 10 minute walk from my house to the beach. As far as swimming goes, to be perfectly honest, it's a little bit rocky ... but the kids seem to enjoy it anyway. And as far as the views go ... well, it is Hawaii :) Palm trees, green water, and a nice sea breeze. Who could ask for more? Oh yea, and if you look real hard, you can see a rather famous Hawaii landmark ... the big pink hospital on the hill called Tripler. I hope you enjoyed this Hawaii Picture of the Day . Aloha til next time ... Todd

Given the positive reaction to yesterday's post, I thought we'd keep today's Hawaii Picture of the Day in the same "neighborhood". This is a picture of the outside of our house. We live in the Puuloa section of Iroquois Point; just down the street from the Elementary School and mini-mart. If you look over the top of the house, you can see the big mango tree out in our backyard. For those of you who have seen this area in the past, you may notice some pretty significant changes. About 2 years ago, Ford Island Housing (the leasing company) planted new grass, and painted the outside of every house in this area. Besides the red trim of our house, there is also Blue, and even one with a green with purple trim (it looks better than it sounds). It's a 30 year old house, but not terribly different than most military housing ... and the price really just can't be beat. Hope you are all having a great night ... aloha, Todd

Aloha, Today's Hawaii Picture of the Day is going to be a little bit different. One of my readers, Lorie, left a comment the other day about she used to live here in Iroquois Point. Since she went to the trouble of providing her old addresses, I thought it might be fun to take a quick drive by and snap a "how it looks now" picture. lol, I felt a little sneaky, and a was just a tad bit worried that somebody might call security on me. But in the end, no harm was done. And the picture above is what Lorie's old house looks like in April of 2008. Enjoy. Todd p.s. if you're not lucky enough to be here in Hawaii right now, but there's something specific that you'd like to see a picture of, feel free to shoot me a note through the contact form up above. I'll be happy to see what I can do.

In addition to sunsets and palm trees, rainbow pictures are instantly recognizable as a symbol of Hawaii. This morning as I was driving over to Schofield to get some Diet Mt. Dew and a Local Bento, I noticed a little rainbow up over the Waianae mountains. Since my camera was sitting in the seat next to me, I decided to snap off a few shots, just to see what it would look like. Although I would strongly caution against taking pictures while driving, I think this one came out good enough to qualify as the Hawaii Picture of the Day . Aloha til tomorrow ... Todd

That's pretty clear cut and simple isn't it. I don't care how much money you make (or intend to make), if you're spending inordinate amounts of time on the computer, you are NOT successful ... at least from my point of view. So, here's the trick then ... How do we go about developing a successful (online) money making venture while only spending an hour or less a day on the computer? I think one of the first steps is to adopt this motto that I heard on Mark Yarnell's Holy Grail CD ... Do one thing, do it well, finish it . I like it. Catch up with you again soon ! Todd

As I said, we went out to Bellows again yesterday afternoon. There are two sections of beach at Bellows. One side is open to the public on the weekends, then a little further down, there is a whole other section that you have to show your ID card to access. This is where the cabins, the tennis courts, the golf driving range, picnic areas, play grounds and small exchange are located. It's also one of the best places on the Island to enjoy beach going in relative seclusion. This picture was taken about 5:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon. Where else in Hawaii can you enjoy a beach this beautiful with literally not another soul in sight? I hope you enjoy this Hawaii Picture of the Day .

We took a trip out to Bellows today to visit with some old friends who are staying in one of the cabins. I also brought along my camera to get some pictures. Sometime in the next few days (maybe even tomorrow), I'm going to do another full post about some of the fun things to do out at Bellows. But in the mean time, I got a nice sunset picture of Chinaman's Hat Rabbit Island, with a really pretty reflection in the foreground water. I hope you enjoy today's Hawaii Picture of the day . Aloha til next time ... Todd

High Cirrus clouds in the tropics always produce very pretty colorful sunrises and sunsets. The image above was actually one of the very first Hawaii Pictures I ever took ... a couple of years ago, the first time I lived here. I know it's kind of cliche, with the silhouette of the coconut tree in the foreground. But, I really liked the colors. So, this pink sky sunset shot is our Hawaii Picture of the Day . Aloha til next time, Todd

When I was searching for a house here in Iroquois point, one of the things that attracted me to this one was the big mango tree out in the back yard. The fruit is just coming into season again. Besides the obvious, being able to walk into my back yard and pick fresh mangos, one of the things I most enjoy about the tree is the wildlife it attracts. One day I looked out back, and I had a mongoose, and about 10 different species of birds having a feast in my yard. I didn't grab my camera quickly enough to get a picture of the mongoose. But this little green guy, which my friends and I used to call "Banana Birds" when I was a kid, was having a nice little meal just outside the sliding glass door. This is today's Hawaii Picture of the day. Aloha, Todd

It's really nice when the beach is only a 10 minute walk away ... it's one of the good things about living here in Iroquois Point. Sometimes, just to relax, I like to take a walk down there with my camera. Our particular beach has a lot of rocks along the shore. And here in Hawaii, where there's rocks and ocean, it's inevitable that you'll find crabs. I thought this guy had some pretty interesting colors. This little crab is today's Hawaii Picture of the Day .

I only have a few minutes to post tonight ... it's my night to put the kids to bed ;-) I did manage to get out with my camera for a little while this evening though. I took quite a few picture, but this one of some nice Hawaiian flowers in the early evening sunlight fits best with the theme of Hawaii Picture of the Day . Enjoy. Aloha til next time ... Todd

Wheeler Army Airfield is located in central Oahu, and is home to the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade. Basically, this where the helicopters that support Schofield Barracks live and train. I've worked here as a weather forecaster for about 2 years now. With all the aircraft, and the weather associated with our location on the middle of the Island, it's can be a great place to take interesting pictures. Today's Hawaii Picture of the Day , is actually one I took the other night. The easterly trade winds were just coming back, but there was still plenty of moisture and instability from an upper level disturbance to our southwest. The result was a pretty dramatic sky scene when I made a long exposure (luckily I had my tripod in the trunk). I hope you enjoy the photo. Aloha til next time ... Todd

I remember when I was a kid, one of our favorite things to do during the summer was to jump on our bikes and ride over to Pearl Harbor to to look at the ships ... Well, some of us never grow up :-) Whenever I get the chance, I still like to go sit out at the mouth of Pearl Harbor and watch the Navy ships go in and out. One of these days maybe I'll even be lucky enough to catch an aircraft carrier during one of their frequent stop overs. Until then, this lovely ship is today's Hawaii picture of the day. Aloha, Todd

The Aloha team loves to get down to Waikiki beach. And one of the most famous sites on Oahu is Diamond Head. This is a bit of a different angle than you may have seen before. And it's today's Hawaii Picture of the Day .

I just got this in an email at work. Apparently from reliable sources ... On 4/01/08, the city and county of Honolulu will launch a 30-day speeding ticket frenzy. The city estimates that 9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets. 1 million will go to pay police overtime. There will be 50 police on duty at all times patrolling the 9 main thoroughfares. They are the following: H-3 both directions H-2 both directions H-1 both directions Pali Hwy Likelike Hwy Nimitz Hwy Kalanianaole Hwy Kam Hwy Farrington Hwy Now 5 mph above the limit can justify a ticket and every officer is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 minutes. They have issued 30 brand new unmarked cruisers and they are bringing all their part timers on full time. Not that we shouldn't observe the speed limit all the time, but it looks to me like April would be particularly good time to give our lead foot a rest. Aloha ... Todd Update: Woops, apparently my coworker (and me by extension) g

Ok, so playing golf is quite a popular thing to do here in Hawaii ... and Hickam AFB's Mamala Bay course is a great place to do it. (I plan to do a full review of this golf course in the near future). But ... It's not everyday here in paradise that you run into to golfer in a Kilt. Just the novelty alone qualifies this as today's Hawaii Picture of the Day . Aloha, Todd

After working the swing shift this evening, I just couldn't go to sleep right away. Luckily the beach here a Iroquois Point is only about a 10 minute walk from my house. So I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed out to get some night shots. I took quite a few shots, but with just a quick run through, the patio chair above is my favorite, and therefore the Hawaii Picture of the Day . (shot with Canon 20D, Tokina 17mm lens, f4.5 20sec) Aloha til next time ... Todd

We all know how much fun Hawaii traffic can be. It's even worse when you come around a corner to see a major problem, and it's already too late to turn around. Well the other day, I was checking out tweeters in my local area on a site called (surprisingly enough) TwitterLocal.net . One that caught my eye was KTLink It's basically real time traffic reports from the Honolulu Police Department. It took me about 2 seconds to decide to follow them on my own Twitter account You can follow them too at: http://twitter.com/ktlink Here's what it looks like in Twirl: Aloha, Todd

Ok, so the Hawaii version of 12 days of Christmas uses the main line "One Myna Bird in One Papaya Tree". Well, I know it's not Christmas time, and technically this isn't a Papaya tree ... But, I swear that silly song was in my head when I took this picture ... today's Hawaii picture of the day . Aloha til next time ... Todd

Ok, so it's a bit of a play on words. But, with the recent bankruptcies of both Aloha and ATA airlines, I thought this was an appropriate picture of the day. I never did get the opportunity to fly inter-Island on Aloha. But, my kids have flown on ATA several times now when they've gone to visit their mom on the mainland. I actually still have to book a flight home for my son later this summer. I have a bad feeling that ATA's misfortune is going to end up hitting me in the wallet. Oh well, such is life. Aloha til next time ... Todd

The Plumeria is a popular flower here in Hawaii. They grow pretty much everywhere. They come in a variety of colors ... the most prevalent seem to be white, yellow and pink. Plumeria are often used to make homemade lies here in Hawaii. Next time you're at the airport, I bet you'll see a few in yours. This is the seconds installment the Alohateam.com "Picture of the Day" ... a two fold effort to provide additional content for this blog, as well as encouraging me to take my camera with me more often when I go out. If you have any picture requests, feel free to shoot me a note through the contact form. Aloha, Todd

I had a chance to get my camera out again this evening while I was at work. There weren't many high clouds tonight (which are the key ingredient to a good sunset), but never the less, I was able to get this silhouette shot of a palm tree with some nice pink clouds in the background. I hope you enjoy ... Aloha til next time ... Todd

So, we visited the doctor yesterday morning for Ana's 5 month ultrasound ... It's going to be a girl !!! Her name will be Jayden Taylor Morris. Here are some of her first pictures:

"True Happiness is not Having what you Want ... it's Wanting what you Have" I've always loved that quote. ... mainly because of the simple truth behind it. Obviously, I'm a big fan of goal setting. And I have nothing at all against the desire to achieve "more and better". But ... If you ever let your happiness depend on getting something that you don't have yet, you're probably dooming yourself to a pretty unfulfilled life. Being able to honestly appreciate the gifts we already have in our life is always the necessary first step to attracting "more and better". Are you Wanting what you Have today?

Update: lol, I'm not going to change the post below, but let's just say that I know believe I was DEAD WRONG. I love BANS ever since I figured out what I was doing wrong . Don't misunderstand, the tools provided by EPN are a huge improvement over CJ, and will definitely provide some interesting additional ways to promote the program. But if you're really serious about trying to make money with the eBay affiliate program, I definitely believe that BANS is the way to go. ... Just a prediction. The new Ebay Partner Network launched today ... I just got done signing up. Not really too much there yet. But, I did find the "Widgets" section to be pretty interesting. See the screen shot: Basically all of these widgets (and especially that first one) look like they'll allow you to put "live" ebay listings on a blog or websites ... filtered by category or keyword. Essentially the same thing that BANS does. Here's the thing though ... When these