Hawaii Ski Club – April 2009

  President – Toby Kravet – 808-224-1065
Vice President – Jonathan Carr
Treasurer - Geoff Chu
Cathy Lau
Jon Kleinschmidt
Momi Kleinschmidt
Roy Manzoku
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   Club Historian
   Jo Yee
   Newsletter Editor
Toby Kravet

May 2 (Thursday), 6:00 P.M. General Membership Meeting at Seven Palms, Navy-Marine Golf Course Club House, 943 Valkenburgh St., Honolulu, Hawaii.

May 11 (Saturday), 10: A.M. Tour of U.S.S. Missouri. As of this Newsletter, we still have 3 tickets available. Contact me via email or phone (see above) if you are interested.

May 17 (Friday), 4:30 P.M. Pau Hana at Pinky's Pupu Bar and Grill (formerly known as Pinky's Broiler), 970 Kalaheo Drive, Kailua.

June 1 (Saturday), 8:00 A.M. Community Service Project: Painting at Farrington High School.

June 6 (Thursday), 6:00 P.M. General Membership Meeting at Seven Palms, Navy-Marine Golf Course Club House, 943 Valkenburgh St., Honolulu, Hawaii.

June 22 (Saturday), Morning hike, tentatively planned for Pu'u Maelieli, the ridge behind Temple Valley shopping center (separating Kahekili Highway from Kamehameha Highway. Stay tuned.

June 29 (Saturday). Assisting the Institute for Human Services (IHS) in serving the noon meal to the needy at their Iwilei headquarters. Stay tuned.

It turns out that I was a little premature last month when I stated that the ski season was over for all but a few. It turns out that more than a few were up in Montana, North Lake Tahoe, and Utah, to mention those whom I heard from or about, and late season storms were hitting. According to a friend in Utah, however, fresh snow in the morning would normally turn to mush by noontime.

As I reported in a separate email, at last month's General Membership Meeting, you voted me in for another term as President along with Roy Manzoku, Jonathan Carr, and Cathy Lau for new two year terms. Jon and Momi Kleinscmidt continue with the second year of their two year terms. At last Thursday's Annual Board Dinner for new and departing Board Members, the new Board elected Jonathan Carr as Vice President and Geoff Chu for a new term as Treasurer. Our By-Laws permit the Board to appoint interested members to fill the unexpired terms of mid-term "departees," and we have two vacancies (those of Sandy Herron and Kevin Okawa) which we can fill. Please contact me (contact information above) if you are interested in joining the Board.

Thus far, your new Trip Committee is being chaired by Jonathan Carr and will be assisted by Cathy Lau and Craig Shaffer. Susan Murata, who retired from the Board, Chair of the Trip Committee, and as an official member of the Committee, nonetheless volunteered to handle initial contacts and negotiations with the tour companies. THANK YOU, Susan. We have already begun the work of organizing next year's Hawaii Ski Week at Sun Peaks, Canada for, hopefully, the usual last week in January and are looking at a possible second trip to Steamboat Springs, one of the two second place winners, in late February. We, however, are stretched pretty thin and really can't ask the same team to put together and run two separate trips. In the past few years, since we began offering two "official" trips, there has been early evidence of a second or "splinter" group which was really interested in the second location and volunteered to coordinate the trip. If you are interested in going on a second trip, probably to Steamboat Springs, in late February and are willing to put in a little work to make it happen, please let me know N-O-W. By the time you get actively involved, initial contacts with the tour company will have already been made and the specific dates and pricing established. Work would include, but not be limited to, periodic contact with the tour company, insuring and logging payments, assigning people to rooms, planning and coordinating get-togethers and other activities on the trip, and "counting heads" (on the plane, on the bus, etc.) as necessary.

As you can see from the above schedule, we already have a host of activities planned for the next two months and hope to continue this through the summer and into the Fall. The idea for the Battleship Missouri tour, and the tickets "themselves ," came from a non Board Member who thought it would be a nice activity for the Club. You don't need to be on the Board to contribute. If you have any ideas, let me know.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Seven Palms Bar and Grill (formerly Sam Sneads)
Navy-Marine Golf Course Club House
943 Valkenburgh St., Honolulu, Hawaii
May 2 (Thursday) 6:00 P.M.

Come to our General Membership Meeting at the usual location on May 2 . Although the meeting doesn't "officially" begin until 6:00 P.M., many members start coming at 5:00 for drinks, dinner, and "talking story."

Thanks to Sylvia (Sam) Wright, we will be touring the Battleship Missouri, berthed at Ford Island, on Saturday morning, May 11 at 10:00 A.M. The plan is to assemble at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center no later than 10:00 A.M. where we will exchange our tickets for actual passes and board a shuttle bus to Ford Island for a guided tour. Following the tour, we will return to the "mainland" where those interested can lunch at Schooners (a periodic pau hana location for the Club). To get to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center from either Central Oahu or Honolulu turn onto Kamehameha Highway from the H1 freeway, turn into Pearl Harbor at Arizona Memorial Place (traffic light and clear signage), and look for parking. The Visitor Center is the same location from which you would tour the Arizona Memorial. As this is a weekend and parking could be "tight," I would recommend getting there around 9:30 A.M. Although most of the tickets have already been distributed, we currently have three tickets remaining. Please contact me via phone or email (see above) if you wish to use one of the remaining tickets.

Following an eight month absence, we are returning to that favorite haunt of the Windward crowd, Pinky's Pupu Bar and Grill in "laid back" Kailua. Set beside a canal, the restaurant is decorated in art deco Hawaiiana (rattan, canoe paddles, sculptured fish and tiki torches) is brightly lit, even around a horseshoe- shaped bar near the entrance. The family-casual menu is local all the way and has an extensive pupu menu. This is a great location for all, including families and those who don’t drink alcohol. Pinky's is located at 970 Kalaheo Drive at the intersection of Kalaheo Drive and Mokapu Blvd. If you are coming from Honolulu/Pearl City side via the H3 or Likelike and continuing down Mokapu Blvd., it will be on your right (Aikahi Park Shopping Center will be on the far side of the intersection on your left). You will have to take a right onto Kalaheo Drive and then a quick left (if there is no traffic) or turn around a little ways down Kalaheo and drive back to get into the parking lot. Of course, coming down Kalaheo from Kailua town, the turn into Pinky's is "mo easy." There are small tables in the bar and longer tables in the restaurant, and history at this venue (we've been here a number of times) tells us that we will be seated in the restaurant after our group reaches enough "critical mass" to justify it (to the restaurant management). See you at Pinky's

COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT
PAINTING FARRINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
June 1 (Saturday) 8:00 A.M. - Noon

The ski club will paint buildings at Farrington High School in MAROON. Please come to help. There is more painting to be done than we can finish in four hours and the more people we have, the more we can cover. Supplies, tools, and lunch will be provided. Let me know if you can make it ( roy@hawaiisnowskiclub.com ) Any Farrington grads in the club? Farrington is located at 1564 North King St. between Houghtailing and Kalihi Streets, just makai of the freeway. Parking can be accessed by turning into the campus off North King St. just past Houghtailing.

ROY

I have to admit that I was skeptical about Geoff's choice of a place that looked like a "road house dive" on Ualena St., in an industrial area by the airport, as the site for our April Pau Hana and was even more skeptical when, upon arrival, I spotted two members (names withheld) sitting in their car in the parking lot apparently waiting for some support (protection?----from me?) before walking into the establishment. Lo and behold, four or five members were already there when we arrived, and the group ultimately swelled to sixteen or seventeen. It was a simple, square room ringed by electronic dart and other machines, filled with non-descript cafeteria tables and two pool tables, and we often had to shout to make ourselves heard above the Karaoke. The food, however, was as good and cheap as Geoff had advertised, and by the time I left at 8:15 p.m., much later than from most Ski Club Pau Hanas, with a bill of only $18.00, I counted half of our crowd still there playing pool. Who knew we had "Minnesota Bill" and "Fast Eddie Chu" in the Club?

Despite the slightly overcast sky, eighteen Ski Club members and their guests, only three shy of the twenty-one free tickets issued, showed up at the Mokuleia Polo field for what turned out to be the most exciting game we had yet seen. In seven chukkers (seven and one half minute periods), Wealth Strategy Partners pulled ahead, from being down three zip, to win the match in convincing fashion from NOH foods, and, during the game, we saw several players make goals (and dramatic misses) with sudden breakaways from the middle of the field at full speed gallop: How they manage to keep hitting the ball while barreling straight down the field is beyond me. Also, we were treated to a large number of sport parachutists, including at least three tandem jumpers, landing on the field at intermission. Between the refreshments we brought ourselves and those purchased from the vendor at the field, we were well fed and well lubricated for a fine Sunday afternoon in the country. -----and except for a few random sprinkles, we stayed dry.

If you are on Facebook, add the HSC as a “friend.” You will be up-to-date with recent HSC activities that members upload. The HSC Facebook page has photos from members on ski trips and at Club activities. You can also include your personal photos and announcements relating to the club for all HSC members to view.

Contributions from the membership to future newsletters are encouraged and will be greatly appreciated: Please e mail them to Toby (see Contacts) no later than 9 calendar days from the end of the month. Thanx much.