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  • March 2010
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A sauna, the Sahara Desert, chicken noodle soup.  I kept thinking warm thoughts and, somehow, I survived another Super Plunge!

Thank goodness Mother Nature showed mercy on us and delivered a sunny day with little wind.  It was such a blast and all for a great cause.  Preliminary figures show the one-day event at Restaurant Row brought in more than $28,000 for Special Olympics Hawaii.

Nearly 100 people donated a minimum of $100 each and did a one-time plunge into this icy, 34-degree water.  The group included Honolulu prosecutor Peter Carlisle, members of the military and law enforcement communities, and a team from year-round sponsor Tesoro Hawaii.

Not everyone took the dip in a swim suit or board shorts.  This man jumped into the pool in business attire.  Also making a splash were Wonder Woman and a pair of vikings.

But the winner of the costume contest was Honolulu firefighter Anthony Sabatini, who took the leap in full hockey uniform.  Sabatini, who works out of the Waikiki fire station, also contributed $800.

This year, there were nine Super Plungers, including me.  Check out my form!  We each raised at least $1,000 and braved the frigid water once an hour for 12 hours, beginning at 6:30 am.

Thank you so much to the generous folks who donated money to Special Olympics for me:

che

Landon

Bryan Kam

Mike Harada

William Harrison

Richard Qin of Ricado’s Italiano Restaurant

Patrick McPherson

Jim Fulton

Garett Kamemoto

che and Landon are guys who regularly comment on my blog.  It was nice to meet both of you face to face!

How much is a human life worth?  If you kill someone, how much of your own life should you lose to incarceration?

In Hawaii, you’ll likely be charged with second-degree murder if you intentionally shoot, stab or beat a person to death.  If convicted, the usual punishment is life in prison with the possibility of parole.  Clean and simple.

But if you kill someone with a car, all bets are off.  The penalties for deadly drivers have been all over the place.

As Forrest Gump might say, a sentencing hearing for a vehicular homicide case is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you’re gonna get.

Today, Melandrew Taban was sentenced to 14 months in jail.  He killed his teenaged passenger and injured two others in a high-speed crash in Kunia.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12039340

A week ago, Billy Lamug sidestepped prison altogether.  Instead, he got probation and community service for killing two teens, and leaving another permanently disfigured, in a speed-involved wreck in Waialua.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12000854

Taban and Lamug escaped stiffer penalties because they had never been in trouble with the law before, and the crashes didn’t involve alcohol or drugs.

Remember, Joseph Calarruda?  He got a five-year prison term for killing a pet pig because he had a prior criminal record.  That’s a harsher punishment for the death of an animal.

What do you think about Hawaii’s sentencing guidelines?

Cyrus Belt and Alice Eli are two of the tiniest victims of violence that I’ve had to cover.  I look at the photos of them during happier times — with their big eyes and cute smiles — and my heart sinks.  On Thursday, the two men who hurt these precious babies appeared in separate courtrooms.

It was fitting that the cases went to court on the same afternoon.  Cyrus and Alice, while they never knew each other, shared a few things in common.

Both suffered their catastrophic injuries after being thrown.  23-month-old Cyrus didn’t survive his plunge off a freeway overpass.  Alice, then seven months old, was tossed around during an argument between her parents and now has permanent brain damage.

Both were living under woeful conditions at the time.  Cyrus’ mother admits she was busy smoking crystal meth, gambling and stealing.  Alice’s mother was only 16 years old — just a child herself — and was living with her baby in a van.

On Thursday, a judge handed down a life sentence for Alice’s father, Pulumataala Eli.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11973914

About two hours later, another judge returned a guilty verdict for Cyrus’ neighbor, Matthew Higa.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11973989

Perhaps these children have one more thing in common.  For all their suffering, hopefully they’re now in a more peaceful place.  Alice is in foster care, while Cyrus is dancing with angels.

I don’t like the cold.  I don’t do well below 70 degrees.  When I saw snow in Spokane, Lake Tahoe and Japan, I thought it was beautiful…for five minutes.

For me, “Oooh, aaah!” quickly becomes, “Where can I find some hot cocoa, four more jackets and a fireplace?”

Yes, I’m a wuss.  When it’s cold, my skin takes a beating.  My face starts to get dry and flaky.  My lips begin to crack.  I’m a train wreck on lip balm and lotion application overdrive.

But on Saturday, March 6^th, I’ll gladly get chilled to the bone by jumping into a pool filled with ice.  It’s the 2^nd annual Polar Plunge, a fundraiser for Special Olympics Hawaii.

In October 2008, about a dozen Special Olympics coaches, staff members and supporters took part in a Super Plunge.  We each raised $1,000 and jumped into the frigid water once an hour for 24 hours.

Let me tell you, taking the leap at 12 noon with a crowd cheering — not so bad.  Dragging your body, still frozen from the hour before, to the icy pool for the 2:00 am jump — brutal.

But all that suffering was for a great cause.  As a Special Olympics coach, I can see the positive impact sports participation has on people with intellectual disabilities.

Won’t you join us March 6^th at Restaurant Row?  You can do a one-time plunge by raising $100, or you can just come and cheer us on.  It’s a blast!

This year’s Super Plunge will be a 12-hour event (12 jumps from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm).  For that, each brave participant must raise $1,000.

I’ll be spending the next month trying to raise the money (did I mention tax-deductible?) and stocking up on my skin care supplies.

For more info, check out www.specialolympicshawaii.org.

Now that my head is out of the clouds and my feet are back on the ground, here we go…

I shot a hole in one!

I must have stepped in something nasty recently because my luck sure has changed.  Quick, someone, book me a flight to Vegas!

The miracle happened at the Waikele Country Club.  After a painful triple bogey on the 7^th hole, I took my grouchy boo boo face over to the par-three 8^th.

“How am I ever going to make the LPGA shooting triple bogeys,” I mumbled.

Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

I smacked my pink ball off the tee using a 7-wood and watched it land on the green.  It started rolling…and rolling…and rolling…and then disappeared.

“Aww man!  Now what?”

“Minna, the ball went into the hole!”

Really?  Holy duck.

The course marshal told me to report it to the clubhouse, so they can add my name to their Aces plaque in the lobby.

So here’s the question — is the hole-in-one golfer supposed to buy a round of drinks for everyone in his or her group, or for the entire clubhouse?

I’ve received mixed responses, and now I feel guilty about not taking care of every Tom, Dick and Harry sitting in the clubhouse that day.  Did I commit a golfing faux pas?

I recently pulled into a McDonald’s drive-thru because I had this huge craving for the Mushroom-Swiss Angus burger.  Yummy!  I ordered the meal with a coffee and crept to the front of the line.

When I finally got to the pickup window, I received my coffee and a bag of food, and went on my way.  It wasn’t until I reached a red light a few blocks down that I actually looked into the bag.

There staring at me — a box of 10 Chicken McNuggets and a double cheeseburger.  Nooo!

I wasn’t about to turn around, go back to the McDonald’s, look for a stall, park the car, walk into the restaurant, and get my order corrected because that would defeat the whole purpose of going through the drive-thru.  So I dug through the bag and mumbled, “This guy better have ordered hot mustard sauce.”

Score!  Hot mustard!

I felt bad enjoying someone else’s food, especially since that person probably wound up with my Angus burger, which I ordered dry (without any mayo).

This got me thinking about my drive-thru pet peeves.

I get so frustrated when I’m done ordering, I’m in a rush, and they keep asking me if I want more stuff.  I could say, “Hi, just a small coffee, please.  That’s it.  Nothing else.”  The following is still bound to happen.

“Okay, small coffee.  Any cream?”

“No, thank you.”

“Sugar?”

“Nope, I’m good.”

“How about a hot apple pie?”

“Augh!”

The other thing that drives me nuts is when the customer in front of me puts the car in park (always a bad sign), pulls out a list, and starts ordering for the whole office.  Hello!  Go inside and do that!

So what about you?  Any drive-thru pet peeves?  Or am I just becoming super grouchy with age?

Playing in the Sony Open Pro-Am was an experience I’ll never forget.  Here’s the story I wrote following my dream round.  The video is attached.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11819689

Here’s what else I discovered while inside the ropes:

Having my name announced on the first hole, like they always do for the pros, was a chicken skin moment.  I wonder if my regular golfing buddies will be willing to do that for me when we play this Saturday.  Probably not.

No matter how wonderful I thought my drives were, the pro’s hits were longer, straighter, better.  I was in awe.

Having a gallery applaud for me took some getting used to.  I always assumed something else exciting was going on.  My PGA player, David Toms, kept smiling and saying, “Tip your hat, they’re clapping for you.”  Clapping for me?

Having a gallery moan on my missed putts took some getting used to.  Normally, it’s just my friends and the birds seeing me choke.

It was the first time I had my own caddie.  Steve took great care of me — helping me with club selection, reading the greens, handing me water to keep me hydrated.  I felt awful when he had to rake the sand after my bunker shots.  We amateurs usually have to do that ourselves!

Walking 18 holes allowed me to think about each shot more.  But let me tell you, my leg muscles still hurt today.  How do the pros walk 18 holes five days in a row (the Pro-Am and then four days of tournament play)?

Toms engaged in conversations with each of the amateurs on our team.  He asked me about my job.  He asked me if I’ve ever met Magnum P.I./Tom Selleck.  He told me how much he enjoyed taking his wife to Pebble Beach when they first got married.

His caddie, Scott, keeps a photo of his three young sons in his course notes.  His boys look just like him.  He talked to me about the joys of being back home after so many weeks on the road.  Both of these men were so down to earth.

Dear Hawaii Now managers, I’ll be available again next year!

I don’t know if he’ll think playing with a group of amateurs makes him a “winner,” but the professional player that my team chose for tomorrow’s Sony Open Pro-Am is 12-time PGA Tour winner and 2006 Sony Open champion David Toms!

What do you guys think?

The Pro-Am draw party, which is a little like the NBA draft, was exciting.  The first PGA player selected was Vijay Singh.  John Daly also went early.

My five-person team — Toms, John Fink of KFVE, Robert Hiam of HMSA, Peter Kurano of Sears, and I – will tee off at 8:30 am.  Moanalua Golf Club General Manager Stephen Burke has agreed to be my caddie.

che, a regular contributor on this blog, told me to be on the lookout for celebrities.  I heard that stand-up comedian and actor Kevin James was at the draw party, but there were so many people that I never did run into him.  I thought I saw 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink across the room, but it might have been some other bald guy.

I did take this photo with Hawaii’s Ambassador of Aloha, Danny Kaleikini.  He’s such a sweet man and he will also be golfing in tomorrow’s Pro-Am.

The first week of 2010 was not a good one for me.  First, I was attacked by a duck (go ahead, take a moment to laugh).  Next, my car broke down and the repairs wound up costing about $700.  Then, while I was getting a rental car, I got stuck in an elevator.

Thank you to everyone who just gasped.  Many of you already know from following my blog that I’m claustrophobic.

I was stuck in that tiny elevator with three guys for about 10 minutes.  I asked them not to talk because it felt like they were sucking up all the air.  The poor guys had to stand there in silence until help arrived.

On Wednesday, however, the dark cloud was finally lifted.

News Director Chris Archer came up to me and said, “Minna, I have the assignment of a lifetime for you.  What’s your favorite sport?”

“Basketball!”

“Wrong answer.”

“Golf?”

That’s when Chris told me that I was chosen to participate in next week’s Sony Open Pro-Am.  Holy cow!  Little ole me golfing with an actual PGA player.  It’s like a high school drama student suddenly being asked to do a movie with Brad Pitt.  Gee whiz, let me check my schedule.

I was thrilled…and then terrified.

I won’t find out until Tuesday which pro I’ll be playing with.  Who do you think would be fun?

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to stop swearing.  I wouldn’t say that I have a potty mouth, but I’ll let a cuss word loose if the situation calls for it.

That resolution went out the door on the 12^th hole at Makaha Valley Country Club on Saturday, the second day of 2010.

Makaha East, as it’s commonly called, is one of my favorite Oahu golf courses because of the friendly staff and the pace of play.  I go bananas at crowded courses like Waikele, where there always seems to be a line of golf carts at each tee box.

As much as I love to play at Makaha East, I’ve never broken 100 there.  I’ve been close — a few 104s, a 103, even a 100.  For my first round of the New Year, I was going to do it.  I felt it.  I was psyched.

Then came the duck.

This duck hangs out by the green on the 12^th hole and, with all the bravado in the world, will go up to each cart to look for food.  It always pokes its head into the main cabin and then checks out the golf bags that are strapped to the back like it’s a cop with a search warrant.  This time, I had some crust left over from my turkey sandwich.

After I finished the hole and walked back to my cart, it happened.  The duck came up to me and bit my ankle.  I screamed, probably throwing off the poor guy teeing off on the next hole.

The funny thing is I had my putter in my hand.  Did the duck not hear about the peacock and the woman with the baseball bat in that same valley?  You’d think the peacocks would have held an emergency meeting with the other wildlife in Makaha to say, “Heads up, there are women with sports equipment out there and they’re not afraid to use it.”

I didn’t use my putter, but I certainly would have had a case for self-defense if I did.

Needless to say, I launched a cuss word and I was so worried about catching some duck disease that I ended up shooting a 101.  Augh!

For those of you wondering which word I used, hmm…what rhymes with duck?

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