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| I don't know if anyone still reads this, but I'm doing my best to contact everyone I know to tell them about Project Michelle.
One of my good friends from UC Berkeley has been battling leukemia for over a year. She was diagnosed in February 2007 with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a form of leukemia that can be fatal within months. She immediately went into treatment and was told that she was completely healthy in February this year. But early last week, her doctors told her she had relapsed. To make matters worse, she learned she also has a tumor growing on her brain. Although Michelle is only 26, her doctors say she must find a bone marrow match by June 21. That's less than six weeks away! You can read more about her ordeal at www.projectmichelle.com.
Michelle's friends and family have been trying frantically to get people to register as potential bone marrow donors to help find Michelle a match. Although a match will likely come from a person of Michelle's
ethnicity (Vietnamese/Chinese), it's possible that a match could come
from a different ethnicity. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE register to be a potential bone marrow donor as soon as you can. Registering is an easy, painless process that requires only four quick swabs of your cheeks. It's free. And you can even do it from your home.
You can request a home kit from http://www.aadp.org/pages/register.php or here. When you register, please add a note that you are registering for Michelle Maykin. That will expedite the processing and testing against Michelle's tissue type.
Project Michelle has also been organizing bone marrow registry drives across the country where people can register immediately without waiting for the home kit to arrive. A calendar of the drives is at http://www.projectmichelle.com/drives.html. The website also has information on how you can organize a drive.
Right now, there are very few Asians registered to be potential bone marrow donors. Project Michelle's goal is to add 15,000 more. So please spread this message to everyone you can and help save Michelle's life!
Steve
P.S. - A common misconception about donating bone marrow is that it is a painful, invasive procedure. But over 70% of donations are similar to donating blood. So please don't let the fear of pain deter you from saving somebody's life.
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| There are two beaches on Kauai that have each been rated as the #1 best beach in the United States.
My favorite is Hanalei Bay.
The sand is fine and golden. The water is as clear as a pool. It doesn't get much more crowded than it is in the picture. And this is the view of the backdrop.
It's gorgeous.
Last week, we drove to Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific."
And on the way up, we saw a mother hen and her little chicks.
Walter, Niki, and I took a few days off of studying to go to the Big Island last wednesday. Unfortunately, it rained every day we were there. But we still got to see some pretty cool things.
This is a black sand beach that was practically deserted.
I say practically deserted, because there were a few people who I think were living on the beach. They looked like they hadn't bathed in weeks; they had hammocks and swings set up on the beach; and I think they were using the rocks and tree branches as dryers/closets.
Next we went to the volcano. Kilauea has been erupting for a long time and actually causes the Big Island to keep growing. Unfortunately, the parking lot was 6 miles away from where the lava actually flowed into the ocean. So for us to see anything more than a steam plume from 6 miles away, we would have to go on a 12 mile hike. And since we didn't leave Kauai just to see steam, we did the hike.
It was like walking through Mordor.
Volcanic rock up and down from 6 miles. With only a prospect of seeing live lava at the end.
The rocks got really shiny as we got closer.
The fumes coming out of the ground were sulphuric and contained glass particles, which wasn't very pleasant.
The park rangers caution everyone to stay at least 400 yards away from the edge because the edge can be unstable. It's often just newly formed lava that can fall into the sea at any moment. In fact, in May of this year, 16 acres suddenly just fell into the ocean and a bunch of people died. Unfortunately, you can't see much from 400 yards away. And after hiking 6 miles, I wasn't going home without seeing lava. So I crept to the edge and saw the lava flowing into the sea.
Our pictures of the lava are pretty underwhelming, but that's because the steam kept blocking our view. And we weren't quick enough to get a picture in the brief moments when the steam cleared. But trust me, it was cool.
The next day, we went to the 400 foot tall Akaka Falls.
Again, gorgeous.
After the waterfall, we visited Kekaha beach, which required driving 1.5 miles on bumpy unpaved road through an old lava field. But it was worth it because when we got to the end, there were less than 10 people on the beach.
The beach is unusual because it has "salt and pepper" sand - tiny pieces of volcanic rock mixed in with the golden sand.
We also saw a bunch of sea turtles about 15 feet from the beach.
The Big Island also has a beach that has been rated #1 - Hapuna beach. Unfortunately, I think we've been spoiled by all the great beaches on Kauai because we were all disappointed with Hapuna. Not nearly as nice as Hanalei Bay and too many people.
Lastly, we tried to see the "green flash." Supposedly, when the sun sets on the horizon above water, you can see a green flash of light right as it drops below the horizon. We couldn't see anything. But the sunset was still beautiful.
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| After graduating from law school in May, I decided to quit the law and bum around in Hawaii for the rest of my life. Haha, I wish. I'm actually studying for the bar exam here, on Kauai. Three other friends and I rented a house on the east side of the island. Even though we slave away for hours every day learning the law, we still find time to roam the island and explore.
Some companies here discriminate and give discounts to Hawaiian residents (which, by the way, is Constitutional as long as it is for recreational activities). So we all decided to get Hawaiian driver's licenses to establish residency. I didn't study for the test but thankfully, I passed. Since I have to get a CA license when I move back, I thought it would be funny to make a face on my Hawaii license. So when the dmv guy counted to three, I looked like this:
But after he saw the picture, he said, "Hmm...I think we better take another one." So this is what I got:
"Yeah...that looks a little more natural."
Last week, we paddled down the Wailua River to and hiked a mile and half to a secluded waterfall.
We all tried to stand directly under it, but the water came down so hard, it was crushing and painful.
We also found this trail . . .
which led to . . .
my favorite place on the island. There was a 20 foot waterfall coming down from a cliff that we jumped off and a rope that swung out over the middle of the pond.
It wasn't crowded and the water was the perfect temperature.
We also swam with manta rays and sea turtles.
For some reason, there are wild chickens all over the island. Whoever taught me that roosters only crow at daybreak is a liar. Roosters here crow all night long. I couldn't sleep the first few days because roosters kept me up all night. I think they don't sleep. They just roam the island at night waking people up for fun. Then they walk around looking all innocent during the day.
On Sunday, we went to Taste of Hawaii. It featured 50 chefs from top restaurants in Hawaii along with several breweries, wineries, and other beverage providers. Four and a half hours of ridiculously good food and drink surrounded by what was aptly named "Smith's Tropical Paradise." I forgot to take pictures because I was too busy eating, but the dishes looked similar to these:
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