The Focus of Attention

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a form of mental illness.

From personal observation, however, I suspect that minor OCD afflicts a large part of our population; how many of us, I wonder, must have a cup of coffee before starting work, or must exercise before breakfast, or must tie that half-Windsor knot exactly right (that's dating me)?

One of my OCD's is about correct grammar, spelling and word usage. But how can that be, since this humble journal is rife with such errors?

Here's the point: once I become aware of the error in my own work I am compelled to fix it. If I see the error elsewhere, I become oblivious to the rest of the message. An example of the latter is the image that a friend posted on Facebook about supporting fire fighters. "Affected," not "effected," is the proper usage, and the mistake is all I can think about.

I blame my sixth-grade grammar teacher, Mrs. Helen Matthews. Because she taught me so well, I suffer today.

Related: in the Austin Powers comedies various characters are so obsessed with the mole above a person's lip that it becomes the complete focus of their attention.

I Like the Old Rules Better

Microaggressions occur when people don't
conform to stereotypes (Buzzfeed)

Joe Biden, describing Barack Obama in 2007: [bold added]

"I mean, you've got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a story-book, man."

Mr. Biden's utterance was a textbook example of a microaggression:

a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)

His statement, meant as a compliment to Mr. Obama, instead was taken as evidence of an old white guy's unconscious racism.

Under the new morality what were once regarded as insensitive remarks to be endured by minorities, women, and other "marginalized" people is now justification for public shaming and even firing from one's job. (Disclosure: I have been the recipient of such remarks in my 40+-year career, and, yes, it was unpleasant, but c'mon, no one should be fired because my feelings got hurt.)

Perhaps you don't micro-aggress, dear reader, but do you micro-cheat?

Micro-cheating refers to “a set of behaviors that flirts with the line between faithfulness and unfaithfulness,” says Maryland-based couples therapist Lindsey Hoskins. But much like full-blown infidelity, Hoskins says it’s near-impossible to concretely define micro-cheating because “the line is in different places for different people in different relationships.”

Virtually anything, from Tinder swiping for fun to flirting with a cute stranger, could be considered micro-cheating, depending on someone’s values and relationship priorities. But Hoskins says some of the most common transgressions she sees include frequent text or social media communication with a possible flame, regularly talking with an ex-partner and growing too friendly with a co-worker.

God may have retreated from the world, but an implacable, angry Judge has arisen in His place.

The Sweet Spot

Names on the sign-up sheet were a bit sparse a week ago, but three families, without being asked, contacted your humble blogger to offer their help. And so it was that eleven cooks and servers showed up at Sandwiches on Sunday (SOS).

SOS, where five churches take turns serving lunches to everyone who shows up at the Fair Oaks Community Center in Redwood City, is one of the favorite outreach activities in our parish. I post a sign-up sheet but don't really have to since, as mentioned above, the families call me.

It's rare in business, and even rarer in volunteer organizations, to hit the sweet spot where everyone steps up and no one needs instruction.

Abilities Insufficient

After the fix

On the day before our Hawaiian vacation the GFCI outlet by the downstairs family room sink tripped, and no amount of reset attempts were successful. When we returned from vacation, we found that four outlets (three GFCI's) in upstairs bathrooms were also out.

There was a decent chance that my home handyman skills were enough to solve the problem; the house was constructed before building codes required that kitchen and bathroom outlets be outfitted with shock protection, and I had put in the GFCI outlets myself.

After half a day of diddling, including replacing some older outlets, I gave up. The local electrician had an opening on his calendar, and he was here in an hour.

Displaying competence way beyond my skill set, he tested all circuits on the main panel in a matter of minutes. Unable to find the faulty circuit, he went methodically through each of the outlets (our house has over 30).

Luckily, one of the first outlets--it was functioning, by the way--he examined emitted a faint crackling sound after he pulled it from the wall. He replaced the faulty connector (part of the original construction), and everything began working in short order. The whole process took one hour and cost $100, the best $100 spent this month.

This was the third occasion this year -- the first two involved plumbing -- where my abilities proved insufficient to the task. And no, I'm not discouraged; I learn more by watching the professionals after trying to fix the problem myself.

Good Now But Better Later

The late, lamented Hung Won (Yelp)

Due to the real estate boom good, cheap Honolulu eateries are being displaced by high-priced diners. One such example was the defunct Hung Won Restaurant, where $40 of takeout easily fed 10 people. It was one of my Dad's go-to places; the owner knew him, the food would be ready in 15 minutes, and Hung Won was only a mile away.

Scallops

Last week we had dinner with some friends at Hung Won's replacement, XO Restaurant. Having opened in May, XO's cuisine is small-plate Asian-fusion; it has gotten rave reviews. We phoned in a reservation, so there was no waiting when we arrived at 6. However, the dining room filled quickly because XO was understaffed. The two waitresses struggled valiantly to provide service commensurate with the menu, the wine list and the decor.

Duck

We ordered six small plates, plus two desserts. XO lived up to its reviews, each dish well-presented and redolent with flavor and texture. The dishes were spaced 8-10 minutes apart, which turned out to be our preference. (Frankly, I'm not sure that the staff were capable of bringing them out all at once if we had asked.)

Our meal took a good two hours, which was fine with us since we had a lot of catching up to do.

Pickled vegetables

I would come back again, but am not in a hurry to do so.

If I were going to spend $30-$50 per person (a meal for 10 at Hung Won, just saying) I'd wait a few months to give them a chance to work out the kinks in service.

We've Heard This Before

American capitalism is going through one if its periodic episodes of gargantuan infatuation. The analysis is familiar: "XYZ Corp is so big and so dominant that no one can possibly compete with it for the foreseeable future. It has the most money, it attracts the brightest people and ploughs $billions into R&D. Legions of lawyers and lobbyists protect its interests. Customers flock to it for its reputation of being the biggest and best, etc. etc."

(Graphic From Management Study Guide)

In the mid-1970's your humble blogger was introduced to the Boston Consulting Group matrix.

According to BCG businesses can be classified according to four types: stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs.

Stars- Stars represent business units having large market share in a fast growing industry. They may generate cash but because of fast growing market, stars require huge investments to maintain their lead. Net cash flow is usually modest. SBU’s [Strategic Business Units] located in this cell are attractive as they are located in a robust industry and these business units are highly competitive in the industry. If successful, a star will become a cash cow when the industry matures.

Cash Cows- Cash Cows represents business units having a large market share in a mature, slow growing industry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that can be utilized for investment in other business units. These SBU’s are the corporation’s key source of cash, and are specifically the core business. They are the base of an organization. These businesses usually follow stability strategies. When cash cows loose their appeal and move towards deterioration, then a retrenchment policy may be pursued.

Question Marks- Question marks represent business units having low relative market share and located in a high growth industry. They require huge amount of cash to maintain or gain market share. They require attention to determine if the venture can be viable. Question marks are generally new goods and services which have a good commercial prospective. There is no specific strategy which can be adopted. If the firm thinks it has dominant market share, then it can adopt expansion strategy, else retrenchment strategy can be adopted. Most businesses start as question marks as the company tries to enter a high growth market in which there is already a market-share. If ignored, then question marks may become dogs, while if huge investment is made, then they have potential of becoming stars.

Dogs- Dogs represent businesses having weak market shares in low-growth markets. They neither generate cash nor require huge amount of cash. Due to low market share, these business units face cost disadvantages. Generally retrenchment strategies are adopted because these firms can gain market share only at the expense of competitor’s/rival firms. These business firms have weak market share because of high costs, poor quality, ineffective marketing, etc. Unless a dog has some other strategic aim, it should be liquidated if there is fewer prospects for it to gain market share. Number of dogs should be avoided and minimized in an organization.

High-market-share companies, whether they are cash cows or stars, are very difficult to dislodge because, in general, their costs are lower than smaller competitors' and they have more reinvestable cash flow to maintain their dominance.

Today the evidence seems to suggest that the biggest companies are pulling away from, not regressing back to, the field: [bold added]

The biggest companies in every field are pulling away from their peers faster than ever, sucking up the lion’s share of revenue, profits and productivity gains...But new data suggests that the secret of the success of the Amazons, Googles and Facebook s of the world—not to mention the Walmart s, CVSes and UPSes before them—is how much they invest in their own technology.

IT spending that goes into hiring developers and creating software owned and used exclusively by a firm is the key competitive advantage. It’s different from our standard understanding of R&D in that this software is used solely by the company, and isn’t part of products developed for its customers.

Just like the "old" IBM, AT&T, Microsoft, GM and GE, the tech giants Amazon, Google, and Facebook appear to have unassailable positions in their respective sectors. Everyone else is at best a "question mark" and has to invest $billions just to be an also-ran. Everyone else may as well give up.

On the Edge

Nuuanu Stream by the Cultural Plaza

In the '50's and '60's the border of Honolulu's Chinatown was occupied by drunks and bums. (Diffident, therapeutic language would become de rigueur decades later.)

The Chinatown Cultural Plaza, built in 1974, was supposed to be the catalyst for a new Downtown. However, it never attracted the foot traffic that the builders dreamed of, and today the Plaza stores and restaurants are barely keeping it together. (We attended a birthday party there last week.)

The area hasn't gone to seed completely--and it's still much improved from 50 years ago--but a lot of money and time will be needed to make it a tropical River Walk. Chinatown teeters on the edge of growth or decay. In 30 years we'll say the signs were obvious, but today, not so much.

Sun Yat-Sen

Statue of Sun Yat-sen in Chinatown

Sun Yat-sen is a pivotal figure in Chinese history. Brittanica: [bold added]

[He was] known as the father of modern China. Influential in overthrowing the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1911/12), he served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China (1911–12) and later as de facto ruler (1923–25).

Sun Yat-sen is unique in that he is admired by both the Chinese Communists and Nationalists (Chiang Kai-shek, who would become the ruler of Nationalist China, was his protégé).

He is also revered by Hawaii's Episcopalians of Chinese ancestry. From the website of Iolani, originally the Anglican boys' school in the Kingdom of Hawaii:

He also is ‘Iolani School's most famous alumnus, known as Tai Cheong or Tai Chu when he enrolled as a 13-year-old boarding student in 1879. He graduated from ‘Iolani in 1882. When he first came to Hawaii, Tai spoke no English. His teacher Solomon Meheula asked him to first observe classes for 10 days. But Tai was a fast learner. When he graduated from 'Iolani, he won an award in grammar, which was presented to him by King David Kalakaua. After ‘Iolani, he attended Punahou School for one semester in 1883 before returning to China. His travels eventually brought him back to Hawaii five more times.

In 2016 Iolani celebrated the 150th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birth.

Breakfast at the Hideout

Savory oatmeal

The restaurant for our hotel, the Laylow, is called the Hideout (clever theme, no?). Though our intention was to dine elsewhere, the kitchen at the Hideout was much better than we had expected. We had breakfast there four times.

Oatmeal with fruit seemed overpriced at $10, but for $13 one could get "savory oatmeal" with cheddar, Portuguese sausage, poached egg, and mushrooms. Those ingredients work well with potatoes or rice, and it's not a big leap to imagine that they could mix with oatmeal. They did, and very well.

Back to Where I Once Belonged

While visiting my wife's home church, Epiphany, in Kaimuki I ran into my dad's first cousin, Jennie. She lives close to UH (the University of Hawaii-Manoa; also note how we don't say "to the UH", just "to UH", malihini).

Honolulu (pop. 400,000) still seems like a small town; I run into familiar faces on a daily basis. If a person is a kamaaina, chances are high that we have mutual acquaintances. I've been away a long time, but I don't think I'll have any trouble moving back.

A Fun Saturday Back in the 1950's

The banyan will also be there after I'm gone.

My parents often took me to the Honolulu Zoo. By the standards of today the Zoo was primitive, but it did have the basic bigs: lions, tigers, giraffes, seals, rhinos, gorillas, and elephants.

The hippos were usually submerged, and it was a treat to catch one of them in full view. I also liked to stare at the Galápagos tortoise, who, when they did move, moved with a slowness that was excruciating to a hyperactive child. The tortoise, like the redwood trees in California, would be there after I grew old and died.

One of my favorite things to do was to feed peanuts to the bears--yes, feeding was permitted. The bears would sit upright and wave their right front paw in a human-like gesture. I needed to make a long (for a 7-year-old) accurate throw to hit the bear in the chest, else the peanuts would fall into a pond, be snatched by a pigeon, or tumble into the moat surrounding the enclosure.

If I behaved, at the end of our excursion Mom would buy me a strawberry shaved ice, then use the exit-only revolving gate (now gone) by the concession stand to go to the car.

And that, kids, was a fun Saturday back in the 1950's.

Afternoon in the Sun

Gibbon exhibit: decline and fall not apparent

The youngster said he wanted to check out the Honolulu Zoo.

Later I discovered that he was looking for virtual animals, not real ones. The Zoo has rare Pokémon used in the augmented-reality Pokémon GO game, which seems to have gotten a second wind.

While the youngster was off looking for fake creatures, I enjoyed meandering about looking at the real ones. The Zoo seemed a lot smaller than I had remembered it; not only are childhood memories different from adult perceptions, but everything in Hawaii seems smaller once one has lived on the Mainland. The animal enclosures were much improved over the simple fences and cages of 60 years ago.

After finding the animals we were looking for, we both got shaved ice, the perfect Hawaiian ending to an afternoon in the sun.

Puakenikeni

The puakenikeni is a fast-growing tree that produces fragrant white flowers popular in leis. It's seen in many Island neighborhoods.

My friend picked puakenikeni flowers from his backyard and left them for us at the front desk in two gold containers. Over the remainder of our trip we watched the flowers turn from white to yellow to orange. The best presents are the unexpected ones.

Alan Wong's

"Da Bag" appetizer: I was taken aback when it arrived.

I was the only one in our party of four that had never been to Alan Wong's, one of Honolulu's best restaurants. (President Obama, known for his impeccable taste, dined at Alan Wong's every time he returned to the Islands for his vacation.)

The prime dinner slots on Saturday night were taken, so the only times available were 5:30 and 8:30. We chose 5:30 and were seated promptly.

In "Da Bag": Steamed clams, kalua pig, shiitake mushrooms

Service throughout the meal was excellent. The waiters explained each item on the menu and gave us plenty of time to make our selections. Each of us ordered an appetizer and entrée and split a dessert. The four fish entrées all were fresh, moist, delicately seasoned, and neither under- nor over-cooked. Portions were ample.

Though the restaurant fell behind schedule, and arrivals soon filled the small waiting area, they never rushed us though we had three years of catching-up to do with our friends.

The final bill, including drinks and tip, was roughly $100 per person. It may seem pricey, but Alan Wong's, IMHO, was a better value than restaurants costing a fraction as much. Yes, I'd happily go back, but there are so many new Oahu restaurants to try...

North Shore Excursion

Ukulele Site

As a child I heavily disliked the one-hour-plus trip to Oahu’s North Shore (it would be about 30 years before electronic distractions for children would become commonplace). I tried reading, which gave me a headache, and I could never fall asleep in the car like my Mainland cousins.

60 years later the drive was unpleasant, albeit for different reasons.

North Shore Goodies

The road from Haleiwa to Kahuku was still a nerve-wracking single-lane in each direction.

Surfers and swimmers didn’t bother looking for crosswalks as they ambled across the street; cars making a left turn waited interminably for an opening, and the numerous potholes and the crews called out to repair them certainly didn’t help.

Giovanni's

We stopped to browse the unique boutiques—the Ukulele Site had a fine collection of instruments, and North Shore Goodies made their own Island-themed peanut butter and jellies. Luckily my Hawaii ID card was still good, so I got the kamaaina discount for some of the purchases.

We sampled shrimp plates from two food trucks, Big Wave Shrimp and Giovanni’s.

Big Wave

Numerous locals had told us that Giovanni’s had the best shrimp, but none had actually tasted the dish (much as San Franciscans don’t dine on crab cocktails at Fisherman’s Wharf). One of the Haleiwa store owners had vouched for Big Wave Shrimp, so that afternoon we conducted a taste test. Well, sometimes conventional wisdom is correct; Giovanni’s shrimp was plumper and juicier, though the Big Wave Shrimp was certainly a fine dish with its more intense garlic flavor.

From left: Big Wave garlic shrimp, Giovanni's lemon-butter shrimp, Giovanni's shrimp scampi.

Is the shrimp truck experience worth the trip to Haleiwa? Maybe once, but unless I’m playing tour guide I wouldn’t go up there again, and certainly not on a weekend.