Should be Renamed UberPeople

This is for sure a Really Hawaiian thing – where else could can you watch someone swim, bike and run around an Island inside of 3 days? We see it all here in Hawaii.  This is the destination spot for tri-athletes.  And this is the ultra event for tri’s.  First you swim 6.2 miles (on average about 3 hours), then you bike for 261.4 miles and then you run for 52.4 miles.  Each day goes from 6AM to 6PM – whatever you can do in that time period is registered and at the end the daily scores are added up and a winner announced.  Who the heck cares about the numbers, just being invited to compete (it’s invitational only) to this event is phenomenal. There are no prizes, no cash, no live web video, no more nothing.  With limited sponsorship and a reputation that few can even comprehend, this 26th annual event was none-the-less amazing to watch and attend.  Our timing was perfecto!  Above are shots of the first and second place winners and then photos our friend Laurie Beers, a super friendly lifeguard in Hawaii who has completed this event 7 times.  Good GREAT job Laurie!

The support teams for these “uber” athletes are family and friends.  For three very concentrated days they support their athlete with all sorts of needs – from fixing busted equipment and managing all their housing and nutrition needs to running along side for motivation.

The energy amongst the teams is friendly and very supportive.  Overall, Ultraman is really just a bunch of nice people who have accomplished their goal and are not there for the money, media or attention.  Hardly any locals knew this event was going on – there were no water stops by volunteers, the need for VIP hang tags or the aura of a spectator sport.     These uber athletes mustered the courage to go it alone, no hurrahs, no big bands, no TV sponsorships. These are one very dedicated group.  Congratulations Ultraman (people).  What’s next?

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays in Hawaii that doesn’t really make sense and in fact kinda upsets a lot of people.  The smart ones have adopted Thanksgiving in typical Hawaiian style and kept just the best parts. Being together with your ‘ohana and cooking great family tradition are the two best parts of this holiday celebration in Hawaii.

While searching for someone in the Islands who blogs Hawaiian holidays we came up sort of empty.  Until we found another source that lead us to …. Lori!  Lori is amazing – well at least her words and pictures are – and if those don’t lie then we have a really big find here.  Lori lives in Oahu.  She combines local Hawaiian recipes and ingredients into yummy things.  She has a special on Hawaiian Thanksgiving which we’ll be featuring in 1-week. Stay tuned as we divulge all of ori’s details.

This month we introduce a “linked up” SHOP page on the website.  One more step forward in making it easier for the consumer to buy really Hawaiian products online.

Not all the great companies we find have a website let alone a shopping cart or e-commerce with even PayPal.  So instead of waiting we decided to  build a website where vendors can list their products for sale, link to their articles on our website and receive direct communication from the user.  The vendor fulfill the orders, we just pass it along, handle the secure transaction and completely alleviate the need for a website and e-commerce, both very costly monthly expenses.

The buyer receives a professional, secure, trusted and robust shopping experience.  More on all this in the coming months.  The new shopping system in scheduled for Spring 2010.