We wondered how our four cats would respond when we walked into the house on our return to Honolulu Tuesday night.
We didn’t manage to remain silent as we came in through the garage, and then unlocked the door from the garage into the house. So the cats had at least some warning.
Here’s a short, rather chaotic, and unedited video of what greeted us as we opened the door and walked in.
Hint: Kali was more interested in checking out the garage than she was in welcoming us back!
We got up this morning and discovered little on hand to eat for breakfast, prompting us to head for Koa Pancake House in Kaimuki.
It was about 7:14 a.m. by the time we had parked, registered with the Park Smarter app, and looked up to find an incredible morning rainbow spread across a clear blue sky!!
Welcome home!
We arrived in Honolulu a few minutes ahead of schedule Tuesday night.
I have a scheduled meeting with my Honolulu oncologist next week to set up the schedule for chemo and immunotherapy. That’s where the rubber hits the road, I guess.
And now a series of new decisions have thrust themselves into my immediate attention.
Here’s an example.
Our lease on a 2024 Nissan Leaf expires in September, which entails a choice. We can buy the vehicle outright at a price set in our original lease. We can sign a new lease on a new vehicle, which the dealers are always happy to
accommodate. Or we can just turn the car back to the dealer and walk away. Or, of course, shop for the best deal on a new or used EV from other dealers.
And here’s the problem.
I can no longer assume that I’ll be around to see the end of a new 3-year lease, as things could take a bad turn for me during that time frame. I’ve been handling our financial affairs, including keeping track of car expenses, etc., and I would want to leave the least possible mess for Meda to have to deal with if I were not here or no longer able to manage these affairs.
Buying the car would not be wise, since EV prices have dropped since 2024 and today, meaning we would be paying too much if we purchased pursuant to our original lease contract.
So do we need a car or not, given the uncertainty about my own future? We don’t drive much at all, not more than 4,000 a year. But we do have good friends in Kaneohe and in Kaaawa, and having a car makes it possible us to visit them somewhat regularly.
To complicate things, Meda basically stopped driving several years ago as I took on our routine chauffeur duties faster she retired from UH. So if I were gone, leaving a car in the garage would create a big headache for Meda to sort out.
We could go carless, but it’s not a simple decision. At least one of our closest friends made this move several years ago. With ride share and delivery services, and our central location in Kahala, it would probably work, although I’m not sure how we would continue to see our windward friends.
I haven’t done even a rough assessment of whether going carless would save or cost us money compared to a new lease or purchase of another vehicle.
And giving up a car is a wrenching rite of passage to a different lifestyle with lots of psychological and social implications.
Meanwhile, the clock on the soon-to-expire lease is ticking.
Next step for me is to solicit your advice. Please feel free to share by commenting here or via email ian(at)ilind.net.
Then I’ll likely talk to the dealer and find out how they see our options.
I learned this week that the State of California has now officially designated the site of the First National Surfing Championship held in November-December 1938 in Long Beach, California, as an official Point Of Historical Interest
The historical designation was approved by Armando Quintero, director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, in April 2024.
My dad, then a 23-year old active in the Long Beach Junior Chamber of Commerce, was one of the key organizers of the 1938 event. He learned to surf while a junior lifeguard in Long Beach. At the end of his life, he told me he had never been a good surfer. But he was an excellent and enthusiastic organizer who pulled together the Long Beach Surf Club and then drew the Junior Chamber into sponsoring a forward-looking First National Surfing Championship held in Long Beach in November and December 1938.
Conducted over two days in November and December 1938, the contest was the region’s first surfing and paddleboard competition billed as a national event. The Championships was both a successful visitor attraction for the city and a notable contest for Southern California pre-war surfers and paddleboarders. The event brought 50,000 visitors to Long Beach’s West End shoreline to watch more than 100 competitors.
Check out more of my dad’s photos of the 1938 event.
There were no waves, at least on the first day of the event, but as the caption on one of his photos of the event noted, it was “a good day for paddling,” and they made do with surfboard and paddleboard races and other events. And with major press coverage by the Los Angeles Times and the Long Beach Press Telegram, the event drew crowds!
Congratulations to the sponsors of the historic designation, the San Diego-based nonprofit Sea of Clouds, and the Surfrider Foundation, Long Beach Chapter.