Ashland in the Fall

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Aunty

A small glimpse of Lithia Park

Last month, Aunty went to a 5 day clothing seminar with pal Diane Ericson co-teaching with Carol Lee Shanks in Ashland, Oregon.

What did Aunty make? Ha! Not much because having so many techniques, twists, and possibilities presented got rusty gears in Aunty’s head turning and moving again and Aunty’s hands didn’t know where to start.

The greatest message that Diane gave to us was to use the things you love the most.

Aunty is a hoarder of fabric, beads, and whatevers. Because of this, there isn’t much room to create in, much less have a working display board for ideas, treasures and pinups of parts. As soon as Aunty came home, a purging began, sort of Mari Kondo style. The message was to use the things we love the most and clear enough space to work. In the process of purging, the hidden treasures are coming to the surface again, and one of these days, Aunty will begin to create fabric masterpieces with the best of her hoard – though after the purge is done. (This may take awhile.)

A wonderful place to be

Ashland in the fall is a delight. It is a small town with everything you would want. Aunty had the absolute best facial at Waterstone Spa, connected to the Ashland Springs Hotel, a historic classy hotel where classes were held and accommodations for students were arranged. Each day was crisp and sunny with trees everywhere displaying the reds, golds, and greens of fall. Everyday, Aunty ate fresh salads and yummy soups, either at Lark’s in the hotel or walking down to the Ashland Co-op.

Cars stopped for pedestrians at every corner – which made Aunty remember a wannabe crossing pedestrian in Kapahulu who flipped Aunty the bird for not stopping for him as he approached the curb. He must have been from Ashland, lol.

Lithia Park is huge and drop dead gorgeous. Walking through it made me wish Jalna could see it. So many trees, set against even more trees, with bridges over a lively stream. Duck ponds with benches all around made for peaceful resting places.

Home with fresh eyes

It made Aunty sad to return to Honolulu with its high rises getting higher, way too much concrete and not enough trees. Our island paradise is losing its identity and roots to progress that isn’t always welcome. Auwe.

Sorry to be a downer. Hawaii is still beautiful with wonderful warm winters. Aunty will be concentrating on making her home a sanctuary and place to create. We each need to find our own space of contentment. Aunty will try to ignore the dang concrete and glass invasion. Maybe Aunty needs a shot of obliviousness.

The new iPhone 11 first thoughts

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Aunty

Way back when, AT&T used to give the newest Apple iPhone free for each line, every 2 years. Not sure how they did it but it was such a deal and opportunity, and Aunty used to have the newest phone until the free phone offers disappeared. After that, Aunty would make do with older models.

Aunty recently went to the Apple Store and bought herself a brand new wonderful iPhone XS and was happy as a bumblebee (are bumblebees happy?) until Apple revealed the debut of the iPhone 11 with 3 different models. Whaaaaa??? Suddenly, this bumblebee wasn’t happy, but the nice folks at the Apple Store assured Aunty that she could return her iPhone XS for a full refund if done within 14 days. Or, give Aunty a “rebate” of $100 because of the timing of the new product release.

AT&T makes the deal

Meanwhile, while google searching if the iPhone 11 was superior to the iPhone X, Aunty discovered that AT&T (our family plan) was offering a BOGO – Buy a new phone and get one free (up to $700 in value). Whoa Nellie, that sounded awesomesauce!

But it had a catch. The free phone offer was only if a new line was purchased, or a number ported over from a different carrier. NO problem! Brand new son-in-law’s Verizon phone line got ported over to Aunty’s family plan (welcome to the family, Jack!) and Aunty got her beautiful silver iPhone 11 Pro, and son-in-law got his new space grey iPhone 11 Pro that he graciously gave up to his brand new wife.

Big deal

The iPhone 11 Pro is really big compared to Aunty’s old iPhone 6SE. And much heavier. Much. It is also slipperier because of its rounded edges and thinner profile. So slippery, in fact, that it flew out of Aunty’s hands at the AT&T store, crashed on the tile floor to the gasp and intake of breath of everyone there – without a scratch, shatter, or damage! So, it passed the almost indestructible test with flying silver colors.

It does take getting used to swiping instead of pushing. And apps got a bit messed up because of the temporary storage in the iCloud such as Aunty’s Starbucks app which had to be re-enrolled on the new phone which Aunty realized after ordering an iced caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino at the drive through so she could get bonus points. It asked for user name and password and after several wrong guesses, Aunty was defeated and paid as a non member. Ah well. It is all good now once the super important secret notebook at home was consulted and user name and password entered correctly.

The camera to shoot for

This phone looks strange with 3 lenses. Aunty has no clue how to use it – yet. However, the camera is the reason that Aunty decided to go through the hassle of returning her brand new wonderful iPhone XS and going without a phone for a week. That, and the extra long battery life – 5 hours more than the previous model and wireless charging!

A picture taken indoor at night from 10 feet away was quite good. Surprisingly good, actually. The selfie above was taken at night with an auto flash that didn’t really flash. Pretty good and sharp, even with the mirror flip camera option, dontcha think?

Crushing candies

Candy Crush is more fun because the screen is so much bigger. It also seems smoother to play, with the explosions and falling rows of candy moving faster and with less jerk. Aunty is careful to limit her playing time because it really is a waste of time, just as Korean dramas are.

Ah, Korean dramas. Something that Aunty can do on her new phone because of the bigger screen.

Hmmm. Aunty thinks this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Cash or mortgage explained

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Aunty

A friend of our has a small remaining mortgage (~$65,000) at 2.75% interest. Monthly payment is almost $1000/mo for 7 more years.

Aunty thought that paying this off with available funds would be a smart move because then he won’t be paying $1000/month anymore. However, a visit to a trusted financial advisor (Jason Wong of Shiraishi Financial) changed that strategy because Jason said that the interest cost was so low, it would not be a good use of funds to pay it off and would result in lost opportunity to grow money. This sounded a bit confusing and it was bothering Aunty because she didn’t understand what that meant.

Until… a recent email post from Paul Tamashiro. Aunty doesn’t really know who Paul Tamashiro is. She just subscribes to his almost daily email updates because he used to have current mortgage rates at the end of each post. Well, he doesn’t have that anymore, but his articles are pretty good, and this one was excellent. It was titled “The Opportunity Cost of Paying Cash”. Aunty’s comment about this follows the article.

Here it is:

THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF PAYING CASH

When you pay cash for a property, you are missing out on the opportunity to earn a rate of return on that cash. In the illustration below, Option 1 is to pay cash for a $200,000 house. Option 2 is to use $100,000 of cash, and a $100,000 mortgage. If you go with Option 1, you’d be losing money by giving up the ability to earn a rate of return in an outside investment (such as stocks, bonds or another real estate property). If you go with Option 2, you’d be losing money by paying interest. You’d lose money either way.

These are the two questions you could ask yourself in order to find out which option would cause you to lose the least amount of money:

Question #1: What would be my after-tax interest rate if I used a mortgage? Mortgage interest may be tax deductible. For example, a 4.5% tax-deductible mortgage for someone in a 24% income tax bracket may only cost 3.42% after-tax (4.5% minus 24% tax benefit = 3.42% after-tax cost). For more details, please see my article called, When is Mortgage Interest Tax Deductible?
Question #2: What would be my after-tax rate of return if I keep my cash invested? Please see a financial advisor for more details on this.

If your rate of return on investments is greater than the after-tax cost of a mortgage, it may make more sense for you to use a mortgage and keep your funds invested.

Please contact me for more details, or if you’d like for me to run a cash vs. mortgage analysis for your situation.

Source: CMPS Institute

Funeral pictures and the new iPhone X

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Aunty

from “Miss Granny”

Miss Granny is still Aunty’s favorite Korean drama movie. A grouchy old lady who sacrificed her youth and life to raise a son who loves her – but still, she is a grouchy old lady that not too many people liked. One day she decides to get her funeral picture done because Korean funerals all have a nice 8×10 photo of the deceased looking their best surrounded with rows of flowers. She walks into a very good photo studio with amazing results.

Over a year ago, Aunty and a few friends hired Jalna to take our individual funeral pictures – several shots in various poses, and all in clear perfect flattering focus. These would come in handy for “that” day when a funeral picture is needed so our families don’t have to go scrambling around to find a smiling picture to put in the frame. Most local funerals that Aunty have gone to show a nice color photo of the deceased that has been cropped from a group photo, and not in the best of focus or setting because most local people don’t go to photo studios for individual head shots.

Then came the iPhoneX with portrait mode

And now, everyone can have a funeral picture of themselves, their family members, their friends, their dogs, etc. that is of Korean drama funeral worthiness.

Awesomesauce, really awesomesauce. Aunty is still learning how but all kinds of filters are available at the touch of a finger, sliding this way, that way, making backgrounds diffuse, disappear, get brighter, cartooney, etc.! There is more to find out – and one of the best bonuses of having an iPhone is the support at the Apple Stores and the nice folks there.

If you are ever at Kahala Mall and stop in the Apple Store there and say hello to Kale. Cracked Aunty up when he spelled his name K-A-L-E after pronouncing it Ka-lay. Super nice young man who would even make Miss Granny feel special.

An OOOPS update!!!

A few days AFTER Aunty got her new iPhoneX, guess what happened. Apple released its news of the newer iPhone 11! Aaargh!

However, because of poor timing, Apple will offer a credit of $100 to offset the pain. Or, better yet, if Aunty returns her “old” iPhoneX within 14 days, the entire charge will be reversed and Aunty can start over again and purchase the newest Apple phone beginning on Sept 20 either online or at the store. Aunty will do that but will be without a phone for a week. That is rather scary but then we didn’t have portable phones back in the day and meanwhile all the files will be stored in that mysterious iCloud until the new phone arrives.

Will it be worth the wait and inconvenience? Maybe so. The new iPhone has 3 (THREE) crazy looking lenses under super tough glass and longer battery life. Potentially Aunty can do awesome videos to post here. Potentially, possibly, perhaps. Another “we’ll see” in another chapter of Miss Aunty’s life.

Breaking solar deal, Craft Swap signup

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Aunty

Aunty had bought these solar LED accent lights on sale at Costco a few months ago for $20. It came with 4 glass box lights that could be screw mounted to fences, walls, etc. and powered by the sun. Since Aunty LOVES solar powered anything, it was a gotta try thing, and instead of mounting it on a wall, one was put next to the house in an area that only gets some morning sun. Well, lo and behold, it was enough of a “charge” and it helped to light up that dark section of the pathway all night as soon as it got dark!

This was good stuff and sort of expensive so Aunty had to be manju and kept the other 3 in the box to figure out where to put them for maximum use. The body was of metal and glass so sticking it on rock walls or in the garden where it could rust or break from a fall was out, and possibly mounting it on certain walls were options that Aunty procrastinated upon. After all, $20 for the 4 meant that they were $5 each, and these were special!

Until …. yesterday, when Aunty did a Costco Hawaii Kai trek and saw the boxes and a clearance price of $4.97 each! $4.97???? OMG, Aunty grabbed several boxes and told everybody in the store that this was the best deal EVER. Fo real! So now, Aunty is telling you readers (especially you, Jalna) about this super duper deal while it lasts. *note: these solar lights are sold out.

Craft Supply Swap II

This next one is also for Jalna because she is such a craftaholic. Kaimuki Library is having their second Craft Supply Swap session on Sunday, October 20! Aunty signed up for their inaugural one in February and scored great supplies for free.

First thing, though, is to get put on the list by dropping into the library and signing up or calling the reference desk 733-8422 by October 11 (do it sooner). Then, drop off craft supply stuff that you DON’T want or use according to their rules – i.e. new and unused good stuff by the drop off deadline of October 14.

Then you show up on October 20 from 2-3:30 in the basement meeting room and you receive your “tickets” for the stuff you dropped off, and with your precious tickets, you go shopping! *note: you must be registered with the reference desk and in order to get tickets, you need to drop off supplies in good condition at least 6 days prior to the swap day. There weren’t too many sewing supplies but had lots of scrap booking papers and plenty doo hickies and doo dads.

The best part about this Swap session was de-accessing Aunty’s stuff not being used but yet was good stuff. The bonus was going home with more stuff with possibilities – that might end up back at Kaimuki Library, lol.

Jalna’s nephew Colin’s Pork Chops

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Aunty

Pal Jalna has a great blog with travel journals, recipes, and photos that have so much joy that Aunty is a Jalna fan.

Recently, she posted about her 9 year old nephew Colin’s Vietnamese Garlic Pork Chop. It was so cute – his handwritten recipe, and looked so ono, Aunty had to try it because it looked easy.

It was harder than it looked and Aunty was missing several ingredients such as chicken powder, shallots, and fresh garlic, so Aunty made do with mushroom powder (Umami from Trader Joes), stalks of green onion, and some old chopped garlic in a bottle in the back of the refrigerator.

Harvesting and using lemon grass was treacherous. That plant is killer because of super fine, super sharp little needle hairs that plunge into the skin, even through surgical gloves. Ouch ouch ouch! To remove those dang prickles after the laborious process of peeling off the hairy leaves from the stalk and chopping into bits, Aunty slathered Elmer’s white glue on arms, hands, wrists, and wherever else came in contact with the plant from hell. After the glue dried, Aunty peeled it off in sheets and pieces. Note to Aunty – freeze the dang lemon grass next time or use something else.

Times Super Market had pork chops on sale for $2.59/lb so for $5.30, Aunty had 4 nice pieces to work with. It was super wonderful to clean the pork chops first with water, vinegar and salt in a large bowl, and then rinse and pat dry. That winner first step made the pork seem almost kosher and less stinky. Great tip, thanks to Colin!

Putting all the other ingredients together after the battle with lemon grass was easy except the Umami powder (as replacement for chicken powder) was so fine and dusty, Aunty had a coughing fit after shaking out a teaspoon of it. Actually, what IS chicken powder?

Aunty kind of coated each chop with the sauce, laid them flat in a single layer, covered them with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for several hours. It was easy to fry them with a bit of oil on medium heat (not too hot or it gets black) and, after plating it, put whatever sauce left in the pan over the pork chops.

It was SO soft, moist, and delicious! Not sure what did it, but it was! Thank you Jalna, thank you Colin! It was a great and successful learning experience.

Here is Colin’s recipe and his broiled version:

Caprese Salad

Posted on August 4, 2019 by Aunty

Aunty’s version before the olive oil, salt, and pepper.

If you one local like Aunty, you say “Capreez”. However, the proper way to say it is like one Italian, “Ca prez eh”, with the emphasis on the 2nd syllable and a rolling “r”.

On Saturday’s class at the Hawaii Potters Guild, pal Becca (from the East Coast) corrected Aunty’s pronunciation and Aunty told her that we say “capreez”. She couldn’t believe that, so Aunty asked a group that was gathered nearby if they knew what a “ca prez eh salad” was. One girl nodded gleefully and said she loved it. Others looked at me like, “huh?” until I said “capreez salad” and smiles broke out because now they understood. That was pretty funny.

Anywho, Aunty now makes ca prez eh salads because of how darn easy it is, and how delicious it is! It also helps that Aunty has basil growing like crazy in the garden.

How easy? Like 1, 2, 3 after cutting slices of tomato, slices of mozzarella logs or balls and trimming basil leaves.

After the ingredients are cut in their respective piles:

lay down a slice of tomato
put a slice of mozzarella cheese on it
put a basil leaf on the cheese.
Repeat 1-3 until done.

Then, sprinkle a little bit of Hawaiian salt and pepper (optional) and drizzle good quality olive oil on the salad. Many people also like balsamic vinaigrette drizzled. That’s it!

It looks pretty, is probably healthy, and when you pronounce it properly, you can kiss your fingertips and sound like an Italian chef.

Buon Appetito!

Another Epiphany

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Aunty

Epiphany definition: a moment when you suddenly feel you understand, or suddenly become conscious of, something that is very important to you.

(another definition is a powerful religious experience but that isn’t the one for Aunty’s epiphany today…. or maybe it is.)

Realizing that Aunty is in her final third phase of life, from Youth, to Working Adult, to Oldster is quite wonderful. Life in these golden years (with good health) equals freedom to choose to do the things I want to do and not do the things I don’t want to do. For example, Aunty does NOT want to babysit grandchildren on a regular basis and DOES want to pursue creating art and weeding. This is a not quite an epiphany but more of a philosophy.

Recently, several small and big changes and events have occurred and Aunty has sailed smoothly through them. Answers and inspiration seemed to show up randomly, or perhaps on purpose. Sometimes a chance conversation leads to a train of thought that helps solve a riddle. Sometimes making a wrong turn becomes the right destination. Sometimes flipping a book open on a page reveals a wisdom at the exact perfect moment of understanding.

This is exactly what happened this morning, as Aunty was clearing her ever cluttered desk of papers, bills, and books. “27 Flavors of Fulfillment, How to Live Life to the Fullest” is a book gifted from author Nathan Cain whom Aunty helped sponsor in his film “Cancer – The Integrative Perspective”. It was flipped and opened up on page 90. This section was written by Shelly Wilson with a paragraph titled, Tools to Discover the Truth of Who You Are. Skimming through, a statement jumped out at Aunty and became today’s epiphany:

I am a spiritual being having a human life experience.

Whoa. It was as if all the jumbled up building blocks suddenly clicked into place. Each of us is a spiritual being having a human life experience. Aunty read and re-read Shelly’s 5 pages and felt as if a great understanding of how life works was revealed.

Okay, so maybe Aunty is a bit off and people like my best and worst friend Cookie will roll her eyes because more evidence of Aunty’s weirdness has just show up. Regardless, Aunty just had to share her most recent epiphany which actually does feel like a powerful religious experience.

Amen and Namaste,

Aunty

Shorting out Short Term Rentals?

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Aunty

section of map showing current unpermitted short term rental units in the Kapahulu area

It is with mixed feelings that Aunty reports the passing of both Bills 85 and 89 at Monday’s City Council meeting. Bill 85 would have been the one to pass to totally stop the illegal short term rentals with strict enforcement and fines. Bill 89 allows for homeowners to apply for permits allowing them to rent out 2 rooms in their homes on short term basis. Everything else will be penalized and fined if they get caught. The Mayor will probably nix Bill 85 and pass Bill 89 because it is more in line with what he first proposed this year to allow more short term rentals.

The hundreds of testimonies of those who wanted to have all short term rentals legalized and permitted would admit to having unpermitted short term rental businesses and justify it by how great they are by supplying what tourists wanted and paying their taxes. Some of them were very brazen, some were humble. All were breaking the law.

How many of them, and how big a deal is it to them? Check out melekomo808.com for one of the illegal whole house rental units currently banking it. It is a drop dead gorgeous place on the beach in Kailua and looks like a high end Maui resort hotel. Rates are $5,000 per night with 6 night minimum stay ($30,000 for 6 nights). That kind of money motivates the push for legalizing short term rentals and encourages more investors to bid up our island properties out of reach for local families to buy and live in. Hopefully, when Bill 89 passes, enforcement and fines kick in – big time, and their profit motivation disappears. Otherwise it will be business as usual as the players in this field flaunt their illegal activity because civil action becomes a non event as it has in the past.

How invasive is our current situation? Check out airdna.co for a map of what is currently available as short term rentals through Airbnb and Vrbo rental sites. Enter “Honolulu” or whatever area you are interested. A map of the area will show purple, blue, or green dots indicating whole house, room, or shared room rentals. Most of the sites listed are for whole house rentals (purple dot). Each dot can be clicked on for details about nightly rates, but addresses are not listed, though you could do a guess on which house it is by the location on the map.

Just in the city area of Honolulu from Hawaii Kai to the airport, there are 7,527 active rentals, 86% of them are entire home rentals. The rental growth chart shows a history of the expansion ~ 2,500 units in 2016, and has grown to 7,527 units today in less than 3 years time. Some are legal because they exist in Waikiki, with special district status. All others are illegal.

These numbers are current to Airbnb and HomeAway rental sites. There are more sites that do not report to this market minding overview, so actual numbers are higher than shown. For example, right around the corner from Aunty is a short term rental house with tourists staying for a few days, coming and going constantly. This house is not listed on the map. A property on the next block with 2 big ornate houses that occasionally have large groups staying for a week or so are also not listed on the map. These might be listed on Craigslist or other rental sites that airdna does not track.

Aunty testified that the expansion of illegal short term rentals was not only because of investors’ motive for profit, but also because of the non-enforcement of our existing laws and piddly consequences.

Slowly, and insidiously, our residential neighborhoods have been invaded. They are not as obvious as monster houses, but they are just as, or more detrimental to our local lifestyle. Hopefully, with the passing of Bill 89 and proper enforcement that follows, we can protect our neighborhoods from unwanted changes.

***Want to protect our neighborhoods on the State level? Governor Ige has before him a Senate Bill – SB1292 – which will undermine our city county laws and recognize renting platforms such as Airbnb as registered agents of Hawaii, giving more legitimacy to illegal rentals by collecting taxes. Attached are 3 ways to reach Governor Ige. Aunty just did the second option and sent a comment to Governor Ige. He responded (a robo response but still informative) immediately. He has until June 24 to send in a notice of intent to veto, and then until July 9 to veto. Please ask him to veto SB1292!

FIRST – Phone GOVERNOR IGE’s office IMMEDIATELY [(808) 586-0034] before his voice mailbox fills up. Ask him to VETO SB1292 and tell him why. Let his office know that you are a voter, a taxpayer, and are upset that SB1292 might become law. Remind him of his 2016 veto message (attached)
SECOND – Send the governor your online opinion right now. Ask him to VETO SB1292. Click Comment to Governor Ige to be directed to his website. Remind him of his 2016 veto message (attached)
THIRD – Phone GOVERNOR IGE’s office [(808) 586-0034] again in by Friday. Ask him to VETO SB1292 and tell him why.

What do you love to see in Hawaii?

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Aunty

Aunty loves to see the ocean, mountains, sky, trees, and wonderful old buildings with character. What do you love?

If you love those modern buildings made of mirrored glass popping up higher and denser, then good for you – because that is what the developers are building, with the blessing of our city council, mayor, and departments.

If you don’t like them and want a rather easy way to say so, then please fill out an online survey that the Department of Planning and Permitting is conducting for the island of Oahu – called the Honolulu Public Views Study. They are collecting this information until this ~~Friday, May 31~~, so time is of the essence. Survey extended to June 15, 2019, hurray!

The link is:808ne.ws/citysurvey

Maybe this will help us keep our island saner and safer from the skyscrapers that threaten to turn us into a metropolitan concrete and glass corridor. Maybe, or maybe not. At the very least, we get heard.

by Aunty

a lot of stuff about almost everything

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