DIS and DAT

It's the end of the week and I'm clearing my desktop of photos.  An update of golf and health:  I now carry with me a bottle of Gatorade?  If my pulse rate increases past 100, I take a swig or two, and the rate drops 10 to 20 points, with the blood pressure increasing.  However, this is good because most of the time it is too low on the golf course.  Diamond Head is somewhat green this year for mid-summer.  

Here is a strange looking pigeon and a red crested cardinal.  I haven't yet seen a Blue-Bar Pigeon at the Ala Wai Golf Course.  But pigeons and cardinals are prominent here.

Pearl's cousin from Hilo sent me photos of two Gold Trees doing well at the Hilo Municipal Golf Course.  They are perhaps 40 feet tall.

Anthuriums and pikake in my apartment doing well next to my computer where I'm composing this posting:

I wore this shirt for dinner the other night and someone asked me why.  It's a long story, but let me shorten it by referring you to the right column, where the most read blog of this site is THE WONDER OF QATAR.  That was nine years ago when the government of Qatar paid me to consult on the future of energy.  You can then scroll down further and read some of those postings from November of 2010, when I was in the midst of one of my world journeys.

Oh, I'm wearing it because the government gave me this shirt, which was then worn by the Barcelona soccer team.  Well, until recently.  It was reported this week that Barcelona, which received $200 million over the past few years, cut off their link with Qatar, gaining a reputation for fostering terrorism.  The front of the shirt says Qatar Foundation, which sponsors the team.  Here to the left, star Lionel Messi.  We are the same height and weight:  5'7" and 159 pounds.  I was once 5'9".

The poker group went to Assaggio at the Ala Moana Shopping Center and I was impressed.  I had avoided this restaurant for, maybe two decades, because it wasn't Italian enough and looked dingy.  Today, bright, busy and Italian.  I had an osso buco.  While the marrow was stingy, they apparently added more on the side.  The servings are huge.

Sekiya is another restaurant to which I returned after a long absence.  Their take-out service has generally been abominable.  Even Trip Advisor agreed with me.  I think this is their latest review.

Yesterday, however, quick and friendly.  One problem with their kind of okazuya is that the food is cold.  However, I was on my way to my campus office, which has a microwave oven.  The lunch was most satisfying:

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There are twin typhoons in the West Pacific.  

Lekima was a Category 4, and just barreled into China's Zhejiang Province, south of Shanghai, as a Category 3:

Typhoon Krosa at Category 3 looks particularly lethal, where it is moving into warmer waters with low wind shear, and very slowly. Looks like, though, that there has been a slight weakening, but weathermen are still mixed on the exact track, for the influence of Lekima has increased the uncertainty.  What looked like landfall over Kyushu by the end of this week will now be mid-week.  Going to Japan?  Be very careful.

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