Aunty and Mary

When Uncle and I first got married we had a cheap full size bed with springs that squeaked and sagged in the middle right away.  Of course we were younger and didn’t know better or have money to spare.  It costed less than $200, brand new.

As we got older, we become pickier, and one of the most important purchases we made was buying a good bed.

At Slumber World (702 S. Beretania St in Honolulu), beds are everywhere on the entire 2nd floor and the choices seem to be confusing.  Not to worry, Mary Racca-Ventura to the rescue.  Mary is the bed sales manager of all the stores.  Petite, dynamic, and personable, Mary will listen, process what she hears, and then steer you to the best bed for YOU.  This means lying down on many beds to test them out.

Back then, it was hard to choose because Uncle liked to lie on his back and have a firm mattress, and Aunty was a stomach sleeper and liked the soft beds.  We settled for an in-between compromise of a TempurPedic king bed with a slightly firm mattress that was too hard for stomach sleeping but perfect for side sleeping and better for the back.  A better option might have been separate twin mattresses – one firm, and one soft – put together with a bridge like joiner.

Those commercials are true

The bed felt like a cloud.  Sleep came easily and bodies felt great in the morning.  The bed was rather pricey but came with a 20 year warranty.  8 years is the average life span of regular spring mattress beds – though most people do tend to keep the same bed for ages longer.  If your body, especially your shoulders, ache in the morning, it could be because your bed is too old and you need a good new one.

The nice staff at Slumber World

Honorable Warranties 

The next good great bed Aunty bought was a smaller bed with a very soft mattress.  Such a delight to face plant and sleep stomach down from time to time!  Mary suggested a special mattress protector that zipped on and off and had dri-cool technology.  This was quite expensive at $130 because Aunty was used to getting cheap ones on sale at Ross.  However, Aunty splurged because of the convenience of zipping off the topper to wash, and then zipping it back on after.  That was 5 years ago.

This past week, when changing out the sheets, Aunty noticed some flaking from the mattress protector after zipping off the cover.  Hmmm.  It was just the underlayer and didn’t affect the top at all but Aunty decided to call Slumber World to ask about it.  After a few minutes of explaining the issue, the salesperson pulled up Aunty’s purchase history and said that the mattress protector had a 10 year warranty and that she would have a brand new dri-cool mattress protector to replace the old one.  What a pleasant surprise!

Satisfaction all around

There is a saying that you get what you pay for.  Slumber World is not a place for bargain shopping but it is the place to buy quality beds with great customer service and good warranties.  As we get older, we need to spoil ourselves.  One of the best ways to do that is having a bed that feels like a cloud.

Just writing this makes me want to go to sleep, and so I will.  Make a wish, close your eyes, and good night!

Aunty goes to City Council meetings to testify against Airbnb proliferation in Hawaii because of alienating neighbors who want stable places to live with those who want to profit from renting out their rooms to short term visitors.  Aunty rarely takes a taxicab, much less Uber, which young people use a lot.  This post is about new tricks for an old dog.

On Airbnb

On a recent 2 day trip to California to attend #1 son’s swift and unpredictable courthouse wedding, Aunty decided to find a hotel near his house, but son found a room a few minutes away on Airbnb for $89/night with private bathroom.  The pictures looked nice and had high positive reviews, so Aunty opened an account with son’s referral link (guest must have their own account) with a very thorough application process, and booked for 3 nights.  Aunty was ready to for her trip!

After taking forever to get off the skinny and long Hawaiian Airlines plane arriving in Oakland late at night, son and fiance met Aunty at curbside and we were off to a house owned by Doris, whom Aunty never met/knew/spoke to.  Since Doris was on a trip and returning the next day, the house was empty and cold.  Son figured out how to turn on the heater and then Aunty was on her own.

Such a surprise!  The bathroom was drop dead wonderful with tiled walls and floor, fantastic soaps, and artistic touches and windows that brought joy to the space.  Bathing in cold weather is BRRRR! but do-able with a lot of hot water.

The next morning, Aunty explored the garden, parlor and kitchen, discovering great art with more artsy decor pieces and arrangements.  The house was so charming and wonderful, as was Doris when we met her later that evening.  We didn’t see each other more than a couple of times after that because she was off to her business and Aunty was mostly with son and new wife and family at dinners, shopping, and such.

Staying at Doris’ place was a great new experience that opened up Aunty’s eyes to the positive aspects of Airbnb from a guest’s standpoint of price, convenience, and location.  It fit Aunty’s bill perfectly because there were NO suitable hotels near my son, and the house was comfortable, quiet, and safe.

After this very positive experience, Aunty has a slightly different opinion about Airbnbs.  Because of its vetting process for both sides – guests and owners, quality and safety are ensured.  However, Aunty still feels that having strangers (even if they are good strangers) in our local residential neighborhoods can be disruptive.  Allowing a few to lend out their rooms or houses might open up the doors to more rooms and houses on the short term rental market – and then there goes the neighborhood for the sake of profit in the homeowner’s pocket.  Not in Kaimuki, please.

On Uber

Aunty’s return flight to Honolulu was leaving at 9:00 in the morning.  Aunty does not like early morning flights because the whole day is shot and getting to the airport 2 hours ahead of time is unpleasantly too early and inconveniences family or friends for rides.  Even though #1 (and only) son insisted he didn’t mind driving the 20 miles and back that early in the morning, Aunty was adamant and insisted on trying out Uber.

This took a bit of time to set up and download on Aunty’s iPhone, with more vetting, a selfie picture, and input of credit card info.  We tested it out the night before from son’s house to Doris’ house.  What a BAM! awakening!  It was like a movie picture segment of inputting a destination on a map (it already knows where you are), choosing your type of ride (regular, luxury, shared, etc.) and then confirming.  The smart phone screen will show the progress of your ride along with name of driver (Jamell), type of car (Nissan Rogue), and arrival time – which in Aunty’s case was 1 minute.  One minute!  Sure enough, a grey Nissan Rogue pulled a U turn in front of son’s house, and there was Jamell – who looked like a younger heavier version of Will Smith.  Eight blocks later, we rolled to Doris’ house.  Aunty thanked Jamell, and he drove off into the evening.  NO cash/credit card/or tip was exchanged.  SO easy!

The next morning, Aunty opened the Uber app and requested a ride to Oakland Airport ($28.41) in a Subaru Legacy driven by Hakan, a bakery shop owner from Turkey.  He helped Aunty with her 2 heavy suitcases (Trader Joes, IKEA, 4th Street in Berkeley) and we were off and arrived safely and in good time for Aunty’s flight home.

Once home, Aunty got to rate each driver (high marks) and give them a tip.  SO easy!  This is going to definitely put taxi companies out of business because there is hardly any wait time, no phone call, and total transparency on who the driver is and how much it will cost.  Uber may be going public soon and that will be a stock that Aunty would want in her portfolio.

Eyes opened

It was a very very good trip with happy events and learnings.  Aunty never thought she would stay at an Airbnb and/or use Uber but this proves the adage, “Never say never!”  Who knows what is next?  Sky diving, bungee jumping?  Er, ah, eh.  Absolutely NEVER.

Our youngest daughter Rosie used to go to a hair stylist that she thought was the best, but we were never impressed.  One day she decided to cut her hair to shoulder length.  It was so bad, she went to her boyfriend’s barber/stylist, Mai at Mai’s Beauty & Barber to get it fixed.  For less than half the price, Mai styled her butchered bad cut into something really cute and flattering.  Each time she went to Mai, she looked better and better.

Our oldest daughter Malia wanted to see Mai, and so we both went to check her out.  Surprisingly, Mai is not busy, or we were very lucky.  We got back to back appointments the next day.  The shop is just off the busy corner of Kapahulu and Campbell Avenues in a rather dinky old building across the street from Zippy’s.  Phone number 808-734-0344.

We were warmly greeted by Mai and Mary, and instantly, the rather bleak old place was pleasantly transformed into a nice neighborhood shop like a diamond in the rough.

For $35 (plus a nice tip), Malia’s long scraggly hair was washed, cut, and styled into a sophisticated, easy care hairdo that she just loves.  She looks younger and her good features pop out.  Amazing what a good hair cut can do for a woman.

Mai made sure that she understood what I wanted (VERY important), gave a few suggestions, one of which was to cut bangs to look younger.  Aunty cannot handle bangs because they get in the way so Mai respected that preference and, after a nice shampoo, began to expertly cut and style Aunty’s hair – to perfection, exactly just right.  What a joy, what a find!  An undiscovered treasure with reasonable prices!

One of the items on Aunty’s want list at a nursing home would be to have someone wash her hair, so Aunty asked Mai if she would do shampoos on a weekly basis, without styling, and what the price would be.  “$10”, she said, and so Aunty is now planning on treating herself to that luxury soon and often.  Mary could do the shampooing and when a trim is needed, Mai would be Aunty’s stylist. (update:  Mary is no longer there.)

As we left, Mai gave us hugs and beneficial wishes.  Such a nice lady.  So glad that she was also one of the best hair stylists that Aunty has ever had, because we will definitely see her again and again.

Aunty and the good looking Gas Co boys

Aunty has gas, always has and probably always will.  Stove, water heater, dryer.  Since global oil prices have come down, our gas bill has dropped from $70 to $40/month.  We also have solar panels that save us big bucks on electricity every month.

We could switch completely to just electricity since new appliances are now more energy efficient, but cooking with gas is quite nice, our gas dryer works on a standard 110v electrical outlet, and in cases of power outage, we still have hot water – a necessary luxury, in Aunty’s book.  Unfortunately for our neighbors, we are the only house with gas, so the entire block is affected when the lines are checked or upgraded.

Just recently, we had to have our gas line relocated because of a new carport that we were having installed (for a later post).  Two days before the Gas company was scheduled to arrive, road signs up and down our street were erected – NO PARKING, Subject to Tow.  Painted lines were drawn on the street near our gas line and property.  The neighbors were a bit huhu – “You da one making the trouble!” – they said good-naturedly (or at least Aunty hoped they felt good natured).

“Sorry, so solly, my bad” was the only thing Aunty could say, because Aunty did feel bad.  For the first time in decades, our street was in beautiful shape after the City had recently dug, graded, and repaved with 2 layers of quality asphalt.  Having our gas line relocated could mean tearing up the gorgeously perfect road in order to run new lines and then getting a patch job weeks later.

The day of happening

Early on the scheduled day, our street became packed with various trucks and vehicles for the gas line relocation job.  The supervisor on the job was an old friend and nemesis (from high school soccer), Adolph Samuels.  If there was anything that was out of place on that day, it was seeing Adolph emerge from a small nondescript Toyota Corolla that looked like it belonged to a little old lady.  He used to match the green Gas Company macho trucks that anyone could spot around town.  It was like seeing a rooster wearing an apron, so Aunty had to laugh, so solly.

Cones were lined up and a traffic control person directed the almost non-existent traffic on our very slow street.

The existing gas pipe was located and trenched with shovels as well as a little hop toe digger backhoe trenching even deeper close to the street on Aunty’s side.  Across the street, a big square hole was cut open with a powerful super bladed machine operated by a specialist from a concrete coring sub-contractor.

Four more people arrived from Hawaii Gas, and Aunty called them the white people because they were fair and did not look like they were there to dig.  These were from the company’s safety division, to make sure that safe and proper practices were in place.  Two of them were company attorneys, all of them wearing safety helmets, all of them really nice and easy to talk.  It felt very comforting to know that safety comes first and that it is taken very seriously with this company.

It was a very exciting busy day as well as a very fortunate day because the street did NOT have to ripped open.  The new replacement gas lines were blissfully threaded through the existing old pipe deep under the street asphalt and re-routed so that they were completely out of the way for Aunty’s new carport.  Booyah!  This was all done without a single hitch or unexpected problem, and after the lines were run, they were strapped, and reattached to our gas meter.  The water heater was started up, stove and dryer checked, and all was well.  They even cleaned up the yard so it looked even better than before!

The bill

This was a really big job with a lot of people involved, all of them skilled and good at what they do.  If Aunty had to hire the various jobs out it would have cost thousands of dollars and extra careful coordination.

Instead, because Aunty is an existing Hawaii Gas customer, it was $Free, nada, zippo, gratis.  The only expense of the day was providing bentos from Kokorotei (another post one of these days) for lunch, which is what Aunty likes to do whenever we have construction going on at our house.

Aunty also got the chance to pass out her logo magnets with the Garlic Mayo Shrimp recipe and 5 rules of wealth during their lunch break.  The “boys” were all good natured and good looking and put up with Aunty popping in and out to see how the job was progressing.

New gas

New customers will have to pay for their gas lines to be installed, as well as having to pay a plumber to run the gas lines from the meter to their appliances.  Most of the neighbors that Aunty spoke to were happy enough with just electricity.

If, however, in the future, they do decide to have gas like Aunty, the Gas Company will give rebates towards the purchase of new gas appliances as well as give Aunty referral fees.  How can the company afford to do that when they only collect $40/month from Aunty?  Aunty was worried but reassured by the boys that the company is in good shape because most of their business comes from commercial accounts such as hotels.

Aunty was very pleasantly surprised at the super job the good looking Gas Company boys did.

If you decide you want to join with Aunty and Jumping Jack Flash (it’s a gas-gas-gas!), then call Aunty’s pal Sharon Shigemoto at (808) 535-5933 and the job will be set up by Adolph Samuels in his leetle Toyota Corolla.

Also, if you get stuck with cold water only in the case of electrical power outage – remember we had one whole night one time kinda long time ago? – you can come take a bath at Aunty’s house, in the dark.  Bring your own towel though, okay?

Uncle fought a battle against cancer and blockage from when he was first diagnosed in November of 2013 with stage IV appendiceal cancer after surgeons at Queen’s Hospital performed a right hemicolectomy.  In the ensuing months, which turned into a year, Uncle was in and out of the hospital for various reasons.

We left Queen’s for the last time under the care of Hospice Hawaii.  This is Aunty’s review.

In the beginning

The initial support and attention as we prepared to leave Queen’s Hospital was top notch.  Dr. Liane Tokushige, the director of Hospice Hawaii, came to meet us and go over what could or could not be provided, with some wiggle room for options.  She is a petite beautiful woman with MD qualifications in various fields.  Very humble, very sweet, very caring.

We left the hospital the day after that with a specialist accompanying us to a waiting transport service, all arranged by Hospice Hawaii.

Any necessities such as a wheel chair, suction compressor, oxygen, walkers, hospital bed, etc. would be provided and set up at home.

Home at last

The first evening home was a big transition, figuring out a new IV system as well as learning about different drugs to provide Uncle comfort.  We had visits from 2 nurses, one who did the “admission” procedure and later another nurse who dropped off more bags of saline for Uncle’s IV drip.

At this point in time, we were not giving up, and we continued with alternative means of getting nutrition into Uncle despite his blockage (which seemed to be clearing) as well as receiving natural treatments for his cancer.

Two days later, nurse Oma, came to check in on Uncle as well as see what else Uncle might be needing.  Oma became Uncle’s case manager.  She had a gentle touch and we were glad to have her on board.

A social worker, Mimi, came by to offer help if needed.  Very soft spoken nice lady, easy to talk with, respectful of our hopeful beliefs.  It was a busy beginning.

On call if needed

Hospice Hawaii has a 24/7 system.  On the 4th night home,  Uncle was in discomfort and having a hard time and we weren’t quite sure what to do.  Send him to the hospital?  Call 911?  We called the Hospice Hawaii main line for advice.

The hospice on call nurse came to our home and told us to dose him with the pain and anxiety meds, which took a little while to kick in, but helped somewhat.  We were informed that going to the ER or hospital would mean giving up all Hospice Hawaii services.  The hospital would do emergency procedures, tests, and constant hustle and bustle versus dosing Uncle with hospice drugs at home to make him comfortable.

His dressing was changed, taking much longer than we were used to.  Although this first on call nurse was very nice, he did not instill confidence in his abilities with us.  We were used to the high professional and quality standards of the nurses at Queen’s Hospital.  The main thing though, was that Uncle was in less pain now.

At the end

With each passing day, Uncle became weaker and weaker, and thankfully in less discomfort as time went on.  His body was shutting down and after a week of being home, Uncle gently passed on, very peacefully, at home.  We called the Hospice Hawaii hotline and a very capable and caring nurse came out to check Uncle’s vitals and call for his final arrangements.

To hospice or not to hospice?

On a prior discharge, Uncle went home on “home care”, which meant that we were still able to see doctors, have tests done, be on IV nutrition, aggressively seek treatment if desired.

When Uncle was discharged on hospice care, test, treatment, doctor visits, etc. were not covered.  The goal and purpose of hospice was to provide comfort, period.

Hospice provided us with on call nurses, a case manager, support staff, and setting up the home with whatever (i.e. bed, walkers, oxygen, etc.) the patient needs.  This was a great service and the biggest difference between hospice and home care was being able to call someone, at any time, for whatever reason.

“Home care”, which is a regular discharge from the hospital, provides the patient with whatever he needs, i.e. nutrition, follow up visits, and treatment for the ailments.  The only option for professional help in Uncle’s case was once a week visits from a traveling nurse who drew blood for lab tests, took vitals, and changed Uncle’s dressings.  It did not cover the costs of a hospital bed and other items of support unless the doctor prescribed them.

The best of both worlds, Supportive Hospice

To have the staff, meds, and equipment needs met by the Hawaii Hospice organization was great.  Being able to also have lab tests, doctor treatments and therapies would be even better.  This is supportive hospice.

Supportive hospice is a brand new program that is now covered by HMSA.  It is not yet covered by the awesome HMAA (our health insurance plan), so we did not have this option.  If we coulda, we woulda.

Aunty hopes you never have to go through the trials and heartache of your loved ones in or out of the hospital.  However, if you do, Hospice Hawaii provides a transition bridge between the hospital and home.  It is a great service.  Mahalo to Hospice Hawaii.

Back in November 2013, Aunty attended the first HIMA meeting, not really knowing what she was getting into.  Aunty went just to support Randy Fujinaka’s new venture because Randy is such a good guy.

George Del Barrio and Thomas Trentz were the main speakers.  Tom’s presentation was good – high tech power point slides and how to reach and utilize the internet to help market ourselves.  Geebz’s (George Del Barrio) was much more informal and spontaneous, using social media as the springboard.  Both were experts in their fields, and Aunty learned tons!  The following month’s meeting featured Kristen Robinson – a powerhouse in social media marketing.

For $10, HIMA provides a nice meeting at the Manoa Library (lots of parking), food (!) and water, and dynamic experts on timely topics sharing their techniques and wisdom.  After that first meeting, Aunty gladly signed up for her annual membership of $100 with HIMA.  We even got door prizes, and Aunty met so many others in the room by networking and talking story.

On the first Tuesday of each and every month, we get treated to great speakers that can help ANYBODY who has a business or a need to get their needs out.  These meetings are events that get the light bulbs popping on in our head.  They help us find our genius, our roadmap, our growth.

Here is a link to the March 4th event, starring the owner of Big City Diner (yum!) and how he incorporates Twitter into his business model, as well as other business insights: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hawaii-internet-marketers-association-march-4th-event-with-lane-muraoka-tickets-10652681457

Hope to see you!