Posted on January 13, 2013January 26, 2013

Google Apps for Education Hawai’i Summit

google

Had a blast at the Google Apps for Education Summit this weekend. Learned a lot and made new friends. Here is the link to my notes and takeaways on my school blog. Here is the Twitter hashtag, #gafesummit.

phoenix

Walked over to the University of Phoenix for the two-day conference. My first time there. There were about 200 participants.

terminal 10

The keynote was held across the street at the Aloha Tower’s Terminal 10. Soundcheck 1, 2, 3….

kope

We were treated to baristas from the Kope coffee catering company.

Shared my iPhone keychain/tripod and got tweeted. Should get commission….

Enjoyed all of the sessions. Looking forward to sharing at school. And looking forward to next year’s summit. See y’all there.

Posted on January 8, 2013January 9, 2013

Wicked Honolulu

So blessed to have seen Wicked last night! It was amazing! Went with a bunch of friends from church. Here’s a pic of “the cousins.”

Actually purchased the ticket back in 2011 at a group rate (when I could still afford it.) It was so worth it. The production was great. The story & storytelling were amazing. The music was inspiring, and the two leads were fantastic. I highly recommend it.

This was the last play that I absolutely wanted to see. I’ve seen the “Big Four,” Phantom, Les Mis, Cats (hated Cats,) and Miss Saigon. I’ve also seen Rent, Beauty & the Beast, Grease, Chicago, Lion King, Chorus Line, and High School Musical (hey, it was good.)

Go see Wicked. You’ll definitely be “flying high, defying gravity….”

Posted on November 29, 2012December 7, 2012

Natatorium Service Project

Participated in our Kamehameha Schools service project for the Waikiki Natatorium today. I was unable to attend my scheduled event at the fishpond yesterday, but I was able to make the switch.

On the way, I stopped for breakfast in Kapahulu. But I digress….

Parked across the street at Kapiolani Park.

Here I am standing in front of the Natatorium. You can read about its storied history here. I hope that it will be restored. It would be such a shame to lose it.

Our service project was specifically the removal of invasive limu (seaweed) that is harming the coral reef (just beyond the Natatorium and fronting the Waikiki Aquarium.) This effort is led by the University of Hawai’i. They provided two scuba divers. Our volunteers consisted of snorkelers who transported the bags from the divers to the shore. We also had a group of people collecting the limu in the shallow waters. My job was to dump the bags into bins that were rolled up to the sorting tables. Here are more pics from the Star-Advertiser.

All together, our 65 volunteers removed over 1300 pounds of invasive limu. A truck transported the limu to the nearby Honolulu Zoo for composting.

After rinsing off, we had a nice bento lunch under the banyan trees. (I’m so glad that we didn’t have to eat the limu.) It was a great time of bonding and fellowship.

It truly was a “good and industrious” kinda day. Imua….

Posted on November 16, 2012November 16, 2012

EdTech Retreat Waikiki 2012

What a treat! Had another great experience with the KS EdTech Team at our annual retreat. It was all about team bonding and team building.

I decided to walk on over to the Hyatt Place Hotel in Waikiki. Not a bad view for a morning commute (click on the pic for full size.) Met a coworker for breakfast at Eggs ‘n Things Express.

We were given these cool new team shirts at the hotel and walked on over to the Honolulu Zoo for our community service project. (No, we did not have to clean the animal cages.) One group pulled weeds, one painted, and my group made paper mache balloons to “enrich the animals’ experiences.” My specific job was to tear up newspaper into strips. Yes, we were strippers….

We had free time in the afternoon and went to the International Marketplace. These goofballs decided to buy matching $3 t-shirts to impress the ladies at dinner. Aren’t we cool? (OK, we do look like Power Rangers.) But in fact, people were so impressed that about a dozen went back to buy these t-shirts.

We capped off the evening at Tiki’s down the street.

Our 2nd day consisted of a session with Ka’ala Souza on team excellence and customer service. It was outstanding. His message on empathy is especially relevant in this day and age.