Well, another week in Berkeley means afternoons free. Kirk works the 4AM to noon shift. Today, we decided to have lunch and see a movie. There's a fantastic little...food court, I guess it would be...over by Borders (near the Theatres). It has lots and lots of food options - quite the multinational smorgasboard. It is, by far, one of my favorite places to go for "fast food" here. Today I had "Gung Bo" - a chinese dish made from chicken and vegetables with lots of spices, served over rice. Kirk tried a shish-kabob from the Afghan place. It was tasty but way too much food.

Afterwards, we went to see Invincible, the new Disney movie. It received a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so we decided to give it a try. It was actually quite enjoyable - it was an inspiring story, told with humour and grit, with a good dose of reality thrown in.

Labels: Food, Movies, Travel

Today, it was time to move from the B&B in Kula, down to one by the beach in Kihei. We had a nice slow, relaxing start this morning. Breakfast at 8 (again, delicious pastries and fruit). Then, we both did some packing. Kirk had just taken his vicodin and was feeling dizzy again, so we took a break. He played WoW - I tried bz for a bit, but was too laggy. So I watched another movie (last night, we watched Capote - very good), Walk the Line, about Johnny Cash. It was pretty good, albeit longer than I anticipated. As a result, we didn't make the noon check out, but Michael was fine with it.

Eventually, we loaded our car - we had to put the top down to fit everything in it, said good bye to Michael and Gabby (Gabby is Michael's adorable, hyper yellow lab) and then headed down the hill towards Kihei. Technically, we weren't supposed to check into our new B&B until 4, but we were hoping that at the least, we'd be able to drop off some luggage and go have lunch.

When I made reservations for our upcoming accomodation, I spent a lot of time trying to find someplace that was both affordable, near the beach AND available. With it being the weekend before Labor Day, many places seemed to be booked up. We narrowed it down to two places, and settled on (don't laugh at the name - I certainly didn't choose it) "Maui What A Wonderful World B&B". I had booked their cheapest room, the Master Suite. We found the place using the map from the website (it was easy to find, actually), and then were able to check in 2 hours earlier than we were expected. To our surprise, she upgraded us to the Garden Suite, because it was available. It's much bigger than we expected (but doesn't have the double shower heads that I was expecting - oh well).

Once we had unloaded our poor car, we headed off to find some lunch. Both Michael and Eva (who owns the current B&B) recommended the same place - Cafe O'Lei. We figured we'd try it out. The atmosphere was nice. We sat at a table by the window that had sheer curtains hanging between it and the tables on either side of it - providing a semblance of privacy that would otherwise not be there. The menu was varied, and very reasonably priced, to our surprise. We each had lunch for under $10 - including entree, rice and salad. For Maui - that is a VERY good price!

Afterwards, we dropped in to the local general store and poked around a bit, then back to the B&B where Kirk resumed his WoW game. Tomorrow, we are thinking about a trip to Hana, depending on how his back feels.

Labels: Food, Movies, Travel

Okay, okay, so it's been a bit of a movie week in Berkeley - what do you expect with all the rain. I loved Hotel Rwanda (as I mentioned last time). Yesterday we saw one i won't recommend (The Wedding Date). Today, we saw a guffawingly hilarious move with Will Smith - Hitch: The Cure for the Common Man. I didn't know quite what to expect - especially after seeing yesterday's movie (rated PG-13 and all about sex). This movie was a breath of fresh air, rather than being another tired remake of a long worn-out story. We laughed, or should I say giggled, chuckled and even guffawed, throughout the entire picture. Will Smith is deliriously funny (as usual). But the supporting cast were stars as well. If you want to see something thoroughly enjoyable, go see Hitch!

Labels: Movies

Tonight we went and saw a fabulous movie, Hotel Rwanda. Based on a true story, the movie tells the story of the civil war & genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994, while the world stood by watching (and doing nothing). Don Cheadle's performance was possibly the best I've seen in a year, and is certainly the best I've seen from him ever. The movie is rated PG-13, and may be a bit violent for the younger children, but it is certainly an excellent depiction of this horrible historic event. I give it 10 thumbs up (I borrowed a few for this purpose).

Labels: Movies

There's nothing like a summer barbeque to help you relax. Tonight, we tossed some ribs on the barbeque and sat down to a couple of movies with our yummy beef, and a great fresh salad. This week is going to just get busier and busier as we get closer to the weekend, so it was nice to have some down time. A silly little comedy (13 Going on 30) was a nice mindless (but cute) movie to start with. Then, we saw Africa: the Serengeti (an IMAX) movie. Both were enjoyable and just what we needed.

We have a busy weekend coming up with a luau on Friday, a wedding on Saturday, a barbeque and family gathering on Sunday and then, Camp Jeep next week. Oh - we finally got our jeep lifted! It was a mere 2.5 inch lift, but it is amazing how much taller it looks (especially with the same tires on it).

Labels: Daily Life, Movies, Offroading

We had a fabulous day on our little holiday! After spending the morning at church, and the middle of the day watching our newest series from Neflix, Alias, we held an impromptu barbeque at our house. We had planned to go to a friend's house, but they went out of town at the last minute.

We had 3 couples come over to barbeque - a BYOM (bring your own meat) kind of affair. It was really nice to have folks over to our apartment.

Just as Kirk was getting our little barbeque going and the meat all laid out, the gas ran out! Uh-oh! He and Mike walked to the grocery store across the street to get more, but they didn't have any! (I got a call from Kirk when they were on their way back, "Fire up the broiler"). Notwithstanding that little glitch, the food all came out great and it didn't spoil anything (except, perhaps, Kirk getting to barbeque OUTSIDE).

Afterwards, we headed down to the beach to watch the fireworks. It was a beautiful display! And we had the added pleasure of being able to see another display just down the beach from us in another town! (Two for one!) All in all, we had a great day!

Last Friday, we also got to go see Spiderman 2! For the record, it was MUCH better than the first one, in my opinion!

Labels: Events, Friends, Holidays, Movies, TV

If you haven't seen Step into Liquid, you SHOULD! It's out on DVD now and totally rocks!

Labels: Movies

Despite the fact that June gloom has arrived just on time, it is not truly summer until you've grilled out. Today, Kirk built a cool little platform so we could grill out without hunching down on the ground or having to go downstairs so we weren't under the eaves. As a result, we declared it "officially summer" in with some grilled burgers (I didn't have enough notice to do anything more complicated than that). (Next, we're going to have to go to church on the beach to make it indisputably summer.)

We watched a bit of the Lakers game (they lost) and then turned on one of our Netflix DVDs. Let me just say, we LOVE Netflix! What a deal! Tonight, we watched "The Company", an interesting film, almost in documentary style, of a ballet company. The cinematography was wonderful! Last night, we saw a really great,hilarious French film with Jean Reno, "Wasabi".

Labels: Daily Life, Movies