January 30th Email

Aloha kakou,

Okay, things are in a bit of flux now. I just received email from Amelia saying that she doesn't have any reservations yet for the DHDH in June or July. I've told her to pencil us in for July but I wanted to ping everybody about that first. I'll probably have some major issues with it because of Aaron that I'll have to work through, but that's my problem.

How does everyone else feel about it? We're reaching a point where we need a slightly firmer commitment than before. If possible, I'd like an email from everyone saying something to the effect of "I'm xx% certain I'll be there for nn days". (Where xx is greater than 80). If you've got certain dates you can/can't be there, let me know. "I wouldn't miss 4th of July in (Hawai`i|California|Florida) for the world."

I really feel that the DHDH offers the best combination of size, location, and price.

"Think this through with me, let me know your mind"

Malama pono,
Chris P.

January 28th Email

Aloha kakou,

Well, as they say, "He who hesitates is screwed". I held off on reserving the DH Dream home pending my employment situation (all is well there - we start work soon) and now the house has been taken. This really throws things for a loop.

If we fall back to the Ocean Estate, we've not only got rental car issues, but we're also starting to pop over the cap I mentally placed on my outlay. The reason being that I can rent a condo for Sue and I and the kids for about 6k/month. I'd rather be in a house with all of you, but I'm a cheapskate. ;-)

One possibility is getting a couple of 2 BR condos at the DH Beach Hotel. They'd run about 6k each and possibly they'd cut us a deal for renting two. Then we'd have Chris and Clay in one condo and Bruce and the Makay/Payne clan in the other. This leaves Fred and Steve to fend for themselves and would make large group meals a hassle. But the location is primo.

Another option is going with the Gold Coast Jewel and a 1 BR Condo to handle the overflow. It would be weird having one person staying over there. But we could get a place for about 3k. It's walking distance to the house. If we combined the costs together, so that whoever is in there is not getting stuck, then we have a virtual 5Br on the gold coast for 15K.

Let me know your thoughts. I'm in a bit of a panic and calm soothing words from my friends would be a good thing. :-)

Malama pono,
Chris P.

January 22nd Email

Aloha kakou,

Not much new to report. I've been on hold while I wait to see what's happening with my job. Fred and I are supposed to be working on a contract at AT&T Wireless. At the last minute there was some hangup on some of the legalese in the SOW and now we're in some weird limbotic state.

I did trade emails with the owner of the DH Dream House. She said that we would not have to be there on a calendar month. Given that, I'm inclined to move us up a little bit to maybe the 3rd week in July for 4-5 weeks. This makes things a little easier for us (Sue and I) vis-a-vis getting the kids back to school in Sept. Chris mentioned he'd like to be there earlier. Fred has some cycling events in the summer (RAMROD and Tour de Montana) and I don't know if this would help or hurt for him. Anyone else have thoughts on it?

Malama pono,
Chris P.

January 6th Email

Aloha kakou,

I've been doing some more searching, but not coming up with much. I've added a 'scenarios' tab to the spreadsheet so that we can compare different possibilities:

Scenario 1:

We stay at the 4 BR Gold Coast Jewel. If Clay, Sue, and I are there for a month and Chris is there for 4 weeks, then Liz and Rae get a bedroom and Aaron sleeps on the couch. We'd have to coordinate the kids leaving before Bruce arrives, so that he'd have a room. And Fred and/or Steve don't even get an invite. This would be a bit crowded.

*Scenario 2:

The 6 BR Diamond Head Dream house. Same assumptions on Chris, Clay, Sue, and I. We'd probably bring the kids for 2 weeks. If Bruce comes for 2 weeks and Fred/Steve come for 3 then we have a rather attractive price point in a large, gold coast location. This place is starting to book out for 2008, so we might have to make a decision sooner than we want. All in all, this is probably looking best so far.

Scenario 3:

The 5 BR Ocean Estate at Black Point. This is kind of a fall-back of scenario 2. We're paying $1,000 more for a smaller house in a nicer, but less convenient location. Surfing Black point might be interesting, but I've never been out there. Walking into town would not be an option. A car would be required.

Scenario 4:

The over-the-top 5BR Shangri-La. Even if every BR was occupied for the whole month, we'd still be looking at $130/night. If we get to this point, I'd suggest we either get condos or consider staying up on the North Shore, or out in Hawai`i Kai.

As you might have noticed, we're considering bringing the kids for 2 weeks vs 1. Hopefully this isn't an issue for anyone. If so, let me know.

Bruce, I've still got you penciled in for 10 days because that was the last I heard from you. You are obviously welcome there for as long as you want!

Steve and Fred have been tentatively mentioned and contacted, but I haven't included them on the list. As we start to gel this a little more, we'll want to pull them in to the planning process.

As I've said before, I'm leaning towards an August trip. It works best for us with the kids being out of school. It gives Chris, Bruce, and I the best chance of catching some South Swell action! And the Slack Key festival is happening then. Let me know your thoughts on the dates (Clay has already).

I've attached the latest version of the spreadsheet. Just ignore the calendar tab; that will probably come into play later when we're trying to arrange bedrooms.

Malama pono,
Chris P.

Januray 2nd Email

Ha`oli Makahiki Hou,

Pehea kakou? Maika`i paha!

Hope everyone is well. I've kicked off the new year by doing a little web-surfing, in preparation for a lot of real surfing. I've attached the spreadsheet that I'm using for tracking all this stuff. Take a look at it and check out some of the properties, see what you think.

Random thoughts:

• I really love doing this. :-)
• If 4 bedrooms is big enough then the Gold Coast Jewel may be our best bet. I've traded some emails with the owner who seems like a nice guy. It's located right between Tonggs and Graveyards, so the surfing should be sweet. Note that the price on it is the only one that has the taxes included.
  
• If we have to go larger then the DH Dream House looks the way to go. I'm guessing that it's within a couple of blocks of where Kalakaua meets DH Road.
  
• The Kahala properties look very sweet. And surfing off of Black Point would be pretty nice. They don't have the easy access of the Gold Coast, though, and would necessitate a rental car or cars, and much travel coordination. Personally, I was hoping to rely on a bus pass.
• Chris - I don't know whether you're considering a week, a month, a day. :-) More is mo bettah, brah.
• I didn't put in time in the calculator for anyone except me and Clay. As you start getting an idea of how long you'll be there, let everyone know and the numbers will get much better. :-)
  

More to come.

Malama pono,
Chris P.