All of you MMA (mixed martial arts) fans out there, get ready, as next weekend there will be a MMA Expo at the Blaisdell! What is it? It’s an expo that will include local fighters like BJ Penn and Niko Vitale, MMA schools, MMA stores, etc. There will be over 200 MMA and fitness exhibitors combined. This is definitely one of the largest expo’s I’ve heard of here in Hawaii, and dedicated to MMA.

This is also a good chance to check out the seminars, demonstrations, and competitions if you are thinking of being an active MMA athlete. They will also have a jiu-jitsu tournament with and without gi’s. Big names will show up including BJ Penn and his students, UFC’s Kendall Grove, Jeff Monson, Ross Tha Boss, and Egan Inoue. Several clothing lines are also attending such as Throwdown, Fokai, Da Hui, and Quiksilver, just to name a few.

The expo will be held at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall on June 27, 28, and 29. Admission will cost $7 for adults, $5 for military, $3 for kids 7-12 years old, and kids under 6 is free. You can also go to the entire 3 day event for $18, in case you want to visit each day for their individual events.

Stop by and support the first ever MMA Expo in Hawaii!

The City and County of Honolulu is looking to ship out its trash to Washington.

Why not? We already ship our prisoners to Texas and Oklahoma. Why not send what’s ours away for other communities to deal with?

And of course it makes sense! It costs twice as much to ship it away then it does to take care of it here. Money well spent if it’s out of the way…

Seriously, I’m at a loss here. The ideas that come in to solve the challenges we face do not seem like they are adequately debated and/or thought through.

Look the rail situation. It gets more clouded each day. You got a 4 billion dollar legacy project that none of the current elected officials are going to have to with deal the endgame repercussions as it’s not going to be fully operational for another ten years. I predict that an Oahu Councilmember will run for a state elected office and get it and then hypocritically come down on the City when the **it hits the fan. Every week, almost daily, something new comes up with the rail. You got landowners that will now be forced out and “given fair market value” which I’d guess is no where near what they’d make if their business stays put and/or they were sell to a private investor.

I suppose that is the nature of politics. Again I ponder and ask, how does the community really get to weigh in? How does the Average Joe and Jill Da Kine’s voice concerns and remain in the know on it all? I never wanted to be a community watch-dog as Malia Zimmerman likes to call herself . But maybe that’s what it takes. More of us voicing our concerns in all media ways possible. I’m willing to bet myself and others in the community could connect better with the everyman and everywoman than some of the douche bags that be.

But then again, maybe I’m just an angry pedestrian.

Shoots.

JMAW

Well, I guess if I can’t make it to the summer concert of the year (the American Idols Live 2008 tour — David Cook rocks!), I will have to settle for Bayfest. The lineup is surprisingly good this time, though, and I might actually make it to Kaneohe this Fourth of July weekend to check out Live and Everclear on Sunday.

This summer will mark the 19th annual Bayfest concert, and while there is always a country star playing (this year it’s Rodney Atkins), there’s always a rock band in the mix.

Little Big Town and Rodney Atkins will play on Friday ($24)

Three Doors Down will play on Saturday ($29)

Everclear and Live will play on Sunday ($29)

Two day passes are just $48, and the three day pass is $58. Tickets are sold through Ticketmaster. Visit the Bayfest web site for more details.

Hallelujah!  The ugly black pipe that creeps along the Ala Wai Canal in Waikiki will be gone by the week’s end — hopefully.  Back in March 2006, the sewer line burst, causing nearly 100 million dollars to repair.  The big bonus here is that parking will be restored in a much needed area of town.

Now I’m wondering when, if ever, that old, ugly pipe that runs above ground on the median of the Kalanianaole Highway will disappear.  I have a feeling that project will be held off for quite some time, as there are no real problems with the Kalanianaole pipeline right now…

If you’re a regular traveling back and forth over the Pali you might have noticed an increase in a certain group of civil servants. I’m not talking about the group that’s put up the netting to prevent mudslides on the eastbound side of the Pali, or those that are doing the weed whacking and lawn maintanence.

No, I’m talking about all the police vehicles that are lining the roads these days on the town side of the Pali Highway. Mostly I’m noticing all the police motorcycles and the cops that are standing next to their bikes firing their radar guns your way as you speed around a corner.

Next thing you know, a half mile up the road is either another motorcycle cop or another cop car waiting for the radio from their other half about who was speeding (or at least I think that’s the way it goes.)

I’m not sure if there have been a lot of accidents on the Pali Highway lately that I haven’t heard of or what the deal is but the cops seem to be cracking down. Maybe it’s that the speed limit changes from 45 to 35 to 25 in spots on the highway and these cops are just taking advantage of all the sudden speed changes.

Whatever it is, slow down when you’re driving on the Pali.

Hawaii State Senator Ron Menor, a Democrat whose district includes Waipahu and parts of Mililani and Mililani Mauka., was arrested just after midnight this morning by police for allegedly Driving Under the Influence. Details were not released as to what police did to determine if the Senator was intoxicated.

Menor posted bail at $500 dollars shortly after and was released. Menor is the second Hawaii legislator to be caught for DUI in under a year. The first was former House Vice Speaker Rep. Jon Karamatsu. Rep. Karamatsu shortly thereafter stepped down from his post as Vice Speaker but remained in office.

It will be interesting to see how this effects the upcoming election. Both legislators are Democrats and the Democratic Caucuses reported record showings around the state. An up and coming Democrat could have a chance at landing the post or maybe a Republican for that matter.

In this world where one President did not have sexual relations with that woman while the next can wage an unpopular war that breaks records for debt, it’s a good chance both of these legislators will be forgiven for something as “insignificant” as a DUI.

What do you think?

JMAW

The City and County of Honolulu City Council members will be meeting to discuss the issue of mass transit on Oahu, the most populous island in Hawaii, for the 5th time, yes that’s five times, today.  The issue has been quite the nightmare and is being explored to death, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on where you stand on the issue.

For advocates of the issue, getting it right the first time is important, so it makes sense for the Council members to be in agreement before implementing a project that could rival the Iraq War in cost (3.7 billion cost, for one county, c’mon).  It’s also important that they hammer out a few details before breaking ground because some of the areas that have been selected initially (Salt Lake) don’t make so much sense (how about linking the UH campuses, another example of students getting it in the …).  Other benefits include clearing up traffic on the congested H1, H2, and at times H3.  Eh, here’s an idea, why not not build an H4, it’d be cheaper, nah, nah, I kid.

Opponents of Mass Transit argue the pollution family (noise, physical blight, and environmental impact) as the reason for not implementing this project.  Others are supportive of the project but wish a different type of rail choice was made over the more reliable but noisy steel.  There is a push to get the Phileas rail installed.  Phileas is a bus transit system that runs on a fixed track and the biggest thing I’ve heard about it is that it makes less noise.  

All this fuss about noise.  I wonder if it really makes that much difference.  I mean a leaf blower and a lawn mower are both loud in my opinion so does it really matter if one is louder than the other?

Will this issue be resolved today or anytime soon?  Is this just a legacy project for Mayor Mufi?  Stay tuned same rail station (that’s a funny one), same rail time….

Dunna dunna dunna dunna Rail!!! (Old School Batman reference just in case you no know)

Shoots.

JMAW

Since it’s opening on March 7th, Hawaii’s first full blown Nordstrom has been getting a lot of attention. I visited the Nordstrom located at the Ala Moana Center after the storm calmed down because one, I wanted to get parking, and two, it was just too crazy to be with so many people at the same time, just because it was a new place.

I have to say I was kind of impressed. Nordstrom is normally pretty expensive, so it’s not a place I would probably go to purchase things, but they did a pretty good job with the interior. What surprised me was two brands of clothes I didn’t think they were going to carry, which was Affliction (a lot of UFC fighters are sponsered and wear this clothing line and RVCA (pretty much use designs from various artists to support them). I own both clothing lines, and was very happy to see them there. Then again, the price was still pretty steep, with the Affliction costing around $55-70. But it was pretty cool to just see it there. Now there is another place to purchase Affliction clothing besides Blue Buddha on Kapiolani.

What was also pretty cool was the children’s section. Where they have the fitting room for the children, there was also a room for kids to play XBOX 360. This is a good place to have your kids just chill while you go off looking for clothes (well, one of you parents have to stay to keep an eye on them). Just offering something like that for kids to play was a cool idea.

We walked into the Cafe which was pretty much a cafeteria where you point at food, and the put it on your plate. It wasn’t too expensive, but still was more than I would normally pay. They have the cafe on the ground floor.

We visited one of the two e-bars, where they let you buy anything you want. Their menu didn’t look like they had more than 10 different items, but the lady who helped us said you could order any type of coffee beverage and they’d make it. Pretty cool if you ask me.

We did walk into the gelato bar, but didn’t buy any of it since there was a line. It looked pretty good, but they had limited flavors. If you want more flavors, I suggest going to Mondo Gelato on the Waikiki Beachwalk.

I guess Nordstrom is a good addition to the Ala Moana Center, since they cater a lot to the tourists who want to spend money, and the fact that Ala Moana has a lot more ritz-ier stores than any other shopping center on the island. Is it a cool place? Sure. Places to eat, e-bars to hang out, gelato for a date…it has it all. Would I purchase stuff there? Not likely, but it is a little more affordable than Neiman Marcus. Then again, they are both too expensive. Maybe after a few more raises…

And then there were three… soon to be only two.  Waialae Bowling Alley in Kahala closed last night after over fifty years of service.  The only remaining bowling alleys on the island of Oahu are Leeward Bowl, Aiea Alley, and Pali Lanes, which will be closing next year.  The down trend shows a decreasing interest in this sport that attracts mostly older men.

What ever happened to Rock ‘n Bowl or the hip factor in bowling?  Goodness knows I purchased my very own pair of patriotic bowling shoes and a maroon bowling ball back in high school, but now they are both stuffed somewhere deep in my closet of lost goods.  Maybe in a few years we’ll see another surge, but now we’ll just have to make do with playing it on Wii.

Yesterday at about 5:45pm, a black Ford Explorer ran a stop sign at about 60mph and slammed into a white car on Maluniu Avenue.  When the woman stepped out the car, which had spun around since the impact was so great, a man came out of his Ford Explorer, ran to the woman, and punched her in the face.  He then went back to his car and grabbed a gun, came back to her, and started clubbing her with the gun.  A neighbor tried to help the woman out, but the suspect pointed the gun at him and told him to step back, to which the woman tried to run away again.  The suspect then chased after her, hit her in the stomach, and when the neighbor tried to help again, the suspect hit the neighbor in the back of the head with the gun.  She tried to crawl away, but the suspect repeatedly beat her on the head again, then got in his Explorer and drove away.  She was pronounced dead by the time she was in the hospital 15 minutes after the incident occurred.  (Source: Honolulu Advertiser).

What is going on.  The suspect is believed to be her ex-boyfriend whom they both had a child with together.  The man was 6 foot 2 and 340 pounds.  I’m sure she couldn’t do anything to defend herself, and with a gun, most people who wanted to help would be scared for their own lives.  This is jsut messed up.  I can’t believe someone would go as far as beating up their ex-girlfriend in such a vicious way.  Maybe he wasn’t trying to kill her, but you have to admit that he was out to hurt her, and real bad.  To take a metal object like the butt of a gun and repeatedly hit someone…I don’t think anyone will escape without injury.  And from a 340 lb man?

Domestic violence is just not necessary.  It angers me that people to this day still hit their supposed loved one.  Why resort to violence?  What will violence ever solve?  It will only cause more conflict, and you can be sure they aren’t going to love you back as much.  Some men think that violence will empower them, so that their wife or girlfriend will do whatever they say.  Really?  Those guys need to get punished just to know what it feels like.  OK, I know I said violence isn’t the answer, but I was getting ahead of myself.  Anyhow, bottomline is domestic violence isn’t the answer.  It’s wrong, it’s messed up, and it will solve nothing.