Homespun Honolulu

Apparently I missed this on the blogosphere wireless! Three or four years ago, maybe more, MyBlogLog was THE in thing in Social Media!

When I first started blogging, no, before I started blogging, MyBlogLog was the first place that I dipped my toe into the blogosphere.  I have not left the waters of the blogosphere since!

We have  until May 24, 2011 to convince Yahoo! that they MUST change their mind and work with the network(s) of bloggers to pass it on to capable and more-focused hands!

“Isn’t it reasonable that they would sell MyBlogLog so that you can maintain your communities? Isn’t it reasonable to expect that they would at a minimum protect your work by providing you the ability to move it over to a site like BlogCatalog or some other network?

BlogCatalog is willing to do whatever technical work is necessary to port their user base and go through all the spam and clean out the mess they have left. They have pilfered bloggers data only to leave bloggers hanging out in the cold.”

Well said!  We all need to stick with what we do best.  Yahoo! is wonderful, do not get me wrong.   They bring current news to the forefront and Yahoo! Finance is awesome!  We can talk all day about the wonders of Yahoo! email lists.  Yahoo! has their niche.  In fact, they have several!  Be reasonable guys, do not leave a sour taste in the mouths of the blogosphere.

BloggersUnite.org has much better things to do and big World problems where it strives to organize bloggers!  They have made this one of their causes.

What right’s do bloggers have in a community that they built especially when a corporation the size of Yahoo has made promises to focus on the site and turn it into something valuable for you? They made promises. Why should they be entitled to shut the site down to the detriment of bloggers who have supported them for years relying on the fact that Yahoo is one of the larger tech companies in the USA?

Isn’t it reasonable that they would sell MyBlogLog so that you can maintain your communities? Isn’t it reasonable to expect that they would at a minimum protect your work by providing you the ability to move it over to a site like BlogCatalog or some other network? 

Rant About It is ranting about it too!

Why?  BlogCatalog isn’t a public company so we can decide how and where to invest our money.  Our pride and joy is BloggersUnite.org a site designed for bloggers to unite around causes and make a difference.  What would a simple connection between MyBlogLog and BloggersUnite.org mean to the world?   One life saved  because one blogger from MyBlogLog didn’t know about BloggersUnite.org and now they do?  Perhaps more?

The cynic could suggest that MyBlogLog doesn’t know about BlogCatalog, that tiny company located somewhere in Texas.   The cynic would be wrong.   Greg Cohen of Yahoo and I spoke at SXSW a year ago about taking over MyBlogLog.  They wanted to know our plans.  We shared some of them though were not going to hand over the “sauce.”    Interesting enough even after laying out what we would do and how we could enable Yahoo! to save face, they would rather shut it down.

Since blogging is about transparency and social media is about transparency,  perhaps not total, though much more so than business has ever been,  here’s the outline that was sent to Greg and his Yahoo colleagues.    As the CEO of BlogCatalog I am still inviting Yahoo! to leave the door open.  Do not shut it.  We don’t want any of the “dots.”  

As you can see, the sour taste has already started.  Yahoo! does not want it anymore, so let BlogCatalog take it and restore it to its original happy place!

Let the blogosphere continue to love you, Yahoo!. Let it go!

Maybe we should call this the Spring Edition of the Carnival of Aloha!

Spring is in the air and some of our bloggers know it!

HawaiiVacationGifts asks What’s Blooming in our Yard? Cattaleya Orchids.  This post is over at Hawaii Vacation Gifts by Double Brush-Hawaiian Gifts & Blog.  Cheryl says, “I thought maybe with April having earth day this post would be relevant.  🙂 ”  I agree, and just in time!

Putting Cheryl and Sheila together brings back fond Carnival memories for me!  Hopefully they will agree.

Sheila tells us all about A Day Trip Island Hop To Oahu posted at Hawaii Vacation Advice – GoVisitHawaii.com; saying “Island hopping to Oahu is really pretty easy to do from the other islands. Here’s the plan we used for a day trip to Oahu from Maui. What an action packed, but very fun day!”  And a very successful one I might add.

Now all we need is a cup of coffee!

Malia Yoshioka presents Day Trip: Kona Coffee Country posted at WhyGo Hawaii, saying, “I recently returned from a trip to Kona where I was able to stay a night in the town of Holualoa in the “Kona Coffee Belt,” about 15 minutes from Kona. It was a wonderful getaway, higher up in the mountains with the cooler air and hundreds of coffee orchards. The farmers are all really friendly and passionate about growing some of the world’s best coffee. Just had to share!”

That sounds so wonderful, Malia!  I wanted to stay at Kula Lodge on our next trip to Maui (whenever that might be!) but hubby doesn’t like being cut off from civilization and modern technology.  A laptop will still work!  Nope, not good enough.  Gotta have the TV.  Their rooms have no televisions!

I pulled Cynthia in to help us continue with the admiration of our natural surroundings.

Cynthia wrote all about Waimea’s “Flower of Love” – The Agapanthus in a post over at Asynchronicity,  I just had to include it here! We’re only two weeks away from Easter now and Agape anything sounds good to me!

We do love our flowers and we also love our culture!  The Big Island of Hawaii gives us both, as you can see.

Pua had the urge to share Hawaii Hula Festival Videos with everyone, saying that “Big Island visitors [can] visit the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival at Easter in Hilo. Hula competitions which require tickets are sold out but Wedsnesday nights are open to everybody and of course all the other good stuff: Hawaiian art + crafts fair, grand parade through Hilo and more. Enjoy the hula in Hawaii!”  Great videos, Pua, thank you!

Being close to the the natural parts of our World is a wonderful thing.  There are times when the mountains and streams just seem to call to me.  Of course there are a few other events and places that speak to me as well!

Kalaeloa Raceway Park talks to me!  In its own way this little start-up has reached out to many people in the community.  For me it is the restoration of something lost to my strange mentality and to the O’ahu racing community some time ago.  After Hawaii Raceway Park shut some of us watched and waited for what seemed like forever — waiting for something or someone to come along and save, restore, or replace it!  As it worked out, all we got was more bad news.

Suddenly the most wonderful thing happened — Kalaeloa Raceway Park!  I know, I know, they’re thinking, “Whatta you mean suddenly?!?  We’ve been working hard to make this happen!”  I am so very proud of you guys!  Now, Kalaeloa Raceway Park (KRP) continues to grow and make the racing community happy and proud!  For the record, I do not race.  It was just part of my past that needed to be restored.  Don’t ask, just go with it.

I am also very happy and grateful for KRP’s sponsors:

I love all this entrepreneurial stuff! I hope this list of sponsors, that I swiped from KRP’s web site, continues to grow — longer and longer!

On that exciting note we conclude this chapter of the Carnival of Aloha. Submit your blog article to the next chapter by using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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While looking on Google Maps a few months ago, just to see what the King Kamehameha Statue looked like, I saw something I never expected to see.  I found the statue, yes, but there was something else in the picture that I thought would be fun to write about.  “Hey, that’s the little hotdog stand!”

Of course now I’m going to always think of them as Google-dogs.  The gang that serves those yummy hotdogs is always friendly and always smiling.  They are usually positioned just off to the side of the statue where the tour buses stop for visitors to see the King Kamehameha statue, Ali’iolani Hale, and/or Iolani Palace.

I think they should be marked as part of the tourist industry — they are, after all, there to greet the tour-bus passengers who are either curious or just plain hungry.  I just thought it was the coolest story to let them know that they’re “on the map!”

“So you saw us on Google huh?”

“Yep!  Sure did!”

Kind of makes it sound like they’re a pretty permanent fixture there!  Well, yes and no.

There is the story about the meter maid.  You know the parking Gestapo — the ones who put those $25 tickets under your windshield?  Well that’s how much those tickets used to be.  Who KNOWS how much they are now!  I don’t plan on letting any meters expire to find out.  A quarter in one of those darn meters doesn’t even get you very many minutes anymore!  I’m just saying.

Anyway, one day I saw my little Google hotdog friends parked on the opposite side of the street.  Apparently they were told to move across the street and pay the meter.  What??? But, you’re on Google Maps, they can’t make you move!  What’s wrong with them?!?

Okay, okay — I know that sounds a little silly but they were actually told to move across the street and pay the meter.  Sigh.

So, we just need to be sure we keep buying hotdogs so they can pay those dumb meters.

I mean, seriously, there are enough lunch wagons paying those meters and enough vehicles paying them when the lunch wagons are gone!  Even though I found it a little irritating, the hotdog people took it in stride and moved calmly and quietly across the street and paid the meter.  We all would have done that too, but probably not quite so quietly — I wouldn’t have been so quiet about it!

Small Honolulu Rant: “Then I’ll complain for you!” I said.  So this is my complaint!  So there!

You will be happy to know that it doesn’t hurt the flavor of the hotdogs to be on the other side of the street.  Thank goodness they serve sodas and nice cold water too!  Mom has always got to have her Pepsi — that’s a must!  I, on the other hand, always appreciate a nice, made-to-order, sloppy hotdog!

In spite of their Google claim-to-fame, they do move around so you may run into these Google dogs in the heart of Downtown Honolulu during First Fridays or in other places during other forms of Downtown festivities!  They are entrepreneurs who feed people — sounds good to me!  Besides, hot dogs are always better when served with a little Aloha!