Hawaii Entertainment Book 2007 Review

The new Entertainment Book for 2007 is out and I was able to get an advance copy from Tabasco Man(Thanks!)

There are less fine dining restaurants from last year's book. Last year there were 59 such restaurants, this year there are 46. At first I thought the book wasn't as good as last year's but there are alot of new coupons for good restaurants. I think alot of the coupons they removed weren't all that great anyways.

Here are my notables. All of them are Buy one get one free unless it has a % off


Restaurants - $

$5 off Chili’s – last year had $10 off
Yama’s Fish Market - $6 off – NEW!
Jack in the Box –Ciabatta sandwich - NEW! - Love the Ciabatta burger!
Asahi Grill – $9 off - NEW!– Heard they have good oxtail soup there.
Nico’s Pier 38 - $8 off - NEW!– Heard good things about their burger and most of their dishes
Sugoi - $8 off - NEW! – Heard they load the plate lunches here.
L&L - $6 off - NEW!


Restaurants - $$$$

Tokyo Tokyo - $42 - NEW!
Sam Choy’s – $30 - NEW!
Nick’s Fishmarket - $28 - Haven't been yet
Tanaka of Tokyo - $22 – The better of all of the chop the steak in your face places
Kobe Steak House - $20 - Not as good as above
Matteos - $27 - Kinda dark but good environment to make the mac-daddy moves. =)
Tony Roma’s - $15 - Love the ribs/chicken combo. Not a fan of the shrimp.
GyuKaku - $21 - NEW! – Good food / atmosphere. Kinda skimpy on the portions and it can add up
Don Ho’s - $19
E&O Trading Co. - $20 - NEW!
Yakiniku Toraji - $17 - NEW!
Komakata - $15 - NEW!– Good nabe here. Not as good as Imanas Tei
Verbano - $14

Things to do:

Polynesia Cultural Center - $40
Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park - $7 off adult, $5 off children
Sea Life Park – 25% off
Honolulu Zoo – Free admission
Bishop Museam – Free admission
Cirque Hawaii – 25% off - NEW!
UH Men’s Bball – upper level admission – Usually it’s only good for certain tournaments
Ice Palace – Free admission
Germaine’s Luau – 25% off
Magic of Polynesia – free admission
Hawaiian Brians – one hour free


Retail

Pier 1 Imports - $10 off $50 - NEW!
Bed Bath and Beyond – 20% off – NEW! – Even though we don’t have a store in Hawaii
Radio Shack - $10 off $40
KB Toys – 20% off
$5 off Grocery Outlet - NEW!


Notably missing were:

Hakone - Love their buffet! One of the best on the island that I've had.
Kai – Okonomiyaki – Heard good things about this place
Bedroq Bar and Grill
Consolidated Theatres
Olomana Golf Range – Free bucket of range balls
United Airlines
Norwegian Cruise Lines
Circuit City

Footlocker 30% off sale - Aug 24 - 27

30% off Coupon at Footlocker, Champs Sports and Footaction

Footaction

Champs

Random notes from Vegas...

- Free wireless at the airport
- Hard to find a power outlet at any airport for the laptop.
- Free wireless at Main St hotel in the lobby area
- 3-5-7 poker wasn't nice to us. Our money went fast. We saw one guy win $1500 though. Tipped the dealer $100. Kinda high?
- Liked Let it Ride, 3 card poker, single deck 21. Didn't do too good at Wheel of Fortune, Video poker, Megabucks.
- Paigow progressive was at $75k at Cal. Usually it doesn't get that high.
- Cal's food is better than Main st. Beer better at Main St.
- Bellagio's buffet is pretty good. $30. King crab legs, chilled though.
- First time at Tropicana since a friend's friend works there. Hotel isn't too bad looking. Old school.
- Dry heat still is frickin hot! It's like a sauna outside.
- Shuttle from Main St hotel to the airport is $6.50 each way. Takes about an hour though since they stop at diff hotels.
- Always make a trip to Bellagio to see what's in their Conservatory. This time there was a display with various national monuments all made of wood and natural materials. It was pretty cool.
- With United, you can print your boarding passes 24 hours before you get to the airport so you can go straight to the gate if you only have carry-in luggage.

Going to Vegas this weekend - Any suggestions

Just going for the weekend. Any suggestions for food or things to do? More importantly, where can I WIN Megabucks????

Interesting read in Midweek

Thought this was an interesting read on Ebaying in Hawaii although they've been covered in the Advertiser before. Didn't know the girl is the daughter of the owner of Roots and Relics. Now that guy is making a killing!

Cool Hawaii techno radio station

Only from 2pm - 2am and the signal isn't the best but the music is cool and different. I thought it was a signal coming from Maui but it's right here on Oahu. It's 101.1 fm on the dial.

Here's more info from their website:

"ENERGY 101 is the first radio station of its kind on Oahu. In fact, we are part of a brand new class of radio service called Low Power FM, or LPFM. LPFM's can transmit up to a maximum of 100 watts, have an antenna of up to 100 feet, be commercial free, locally owned and operated, and not for profit. Additionally, our current license permits us to broadcast 12 hours per day between the hours of 2PM and 2AM seven days a week. It's all the FCC will allow...for now. We think they might have been worried that Hawaii wouldn't know what to do with so much cool dance music being pumped out over the airwaves! Actually, there was so much competition for this frequency when we applied more than six years ago, that we had to agree to split our time with a radio station on the windward side of the island. Since they'll be broadcasting from Kailua, there is no way our signals will interfere but we have to demonstrate this to the FCC at a future date and prove to them that we can broadcast concurrently."

My next phone - Motorola SLVR

I finally bought a new phone - SLVR. Cost - $130 on ebay. Can't wait to get it....

Black Eyed Peas concert rocked!

Wow! What a concert! Tons of fun! Pretty much standing up and dancing the whole time! They played all of their popular songs. "Let's get it Started!" probably got the crowd the most excited. They made us wait for them to open as all of the groups do but it was still worth it. Took a whif of some some smells that seemed suspicious but made sure not to inhale. Fergie really made the show though. The crowd was a good mix of young and old. $2.50 for spam musubi and $2.50 for a bottle of water was a little steep but you gotta do what you gotta do to eat. $6.50 for 20 oz. of beer. U2 next??????????????

Round two at The Challenge at Manele!

Sunday we went to Manele Bay and played The Challenge. Although the course was not as difficult as Koele, it was still challenging. Almost every hold had something to hit over. Breathtaking views galore. Here's a pic of the resident golf pro showing us how it's done on the par 3:

The most breathtaking golf hole I've seen so far....

Flew over to Lanai for the weekend for golf and wow! Two of the nicest courses I've ever seen period. The 17th hole at Koele was THE most unreal hole I've seen ever. The drop is super steep and the view is absolutely gorgeous. It will be hard to find a hole that will top that one.

Fort Shafter's role in Pacific rises with plan

From the Honolulu Advertiser:

"Up to 1,650 more troops will be based in Hawai'i as part of a reorganization of U.S. Army, Pacific at Fort Shafter as a war-fighting headquarters with rapidly deployable subcommands.

An environmental assessment says that a 225,000-square-foot command and control center and multistory barracks for 150 soldiers would be built at Fort Shafter as part of the plan, and 450 more military vehicles will be brought to O'ahu..."

HQ21 Part Deux? Golf course expansion? BX expansion? More traffic? The possibilities are endless.....

Watada charged

"First Lt. Ehren Watada, who in June refused to deploy to Iraq, will have an Article 32 hearing Aug. 17 at Fort Lewis, Wash., unless the Army accepts a pretrial agreement offered by his attorney.

Watada, 28, has been charged with missing movement, conduct unbecoming an officer and contempt toward officials. His Honolulu-based attorney, Eric Seitz, said his client is willing to accept a reprimand, fine and reduction in rank instead of facing a court-martial."

Willing to accept a reprimand, fine and rank reduction? Geez. What a shame that he's from Hawaii in addition to being Japanese. I can't believe people think he's a hero. He's a coward period.

Zippy's Italian Grilled Chicken is junk

My friend said it was really good but the one I had tonight was really junk. Bland chicken and the pasta didn't taste that great. Should've stuck to Chili/Chicken combo plate. Cannot go wrong with that one.....

Guys, Increase Your Hotness

After figuring out that the Honolulu Advertiser blogs do indeed have RSS feeds, I subscribed to a few of them and came across this post. In Catherine Toth's Daily Dish, she points out ways that guys can raise their hot factor.

Her suggestions:

• Rescue a dog from on-coming traffic
• Cooking gourmet meals
• Reading a "real" book
• Wanting to watch a Chick Flick
• Taking charge when needed
• Just be like Wayne's World

Guys, let's take notice. And ladies, tell your guy he's hot when he takes charge or watches a Chick Flick. Being like Wayne's World is one tough act to follow.