Getting vaccinated for COVID-19 in Honolulu was a pleasant experience

  Today, we got our first COVID-19 vaccine shot in Honolulu, Hawaii. There was no hitch of any kind and everything went smoothly.

The vaccination for senior citizens started from Jan 25. The registration for getting the vaccination was available on line. The registration begins with choosing a date and time on the Queens Hospitals online forms. 

A day before the vaccination, there was a telephone call to verify the details of the folks receiving the vaccine and making sure they show up.

The vaccination was provided at the Blaisdell Center, a landmark community facility in Honolulu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_S._Blaisdell_Center

Photo source: Facebook

Folks receiving the vaccine need to line up (of course mask and distancing was mandatory) for entering the registration and the vaccination seats. There were helpers to assist seniors who did not bring in the Covid-19 safety questionnaire, an important document for addressing any safety issues.

After verifying the registration information, folks were guided to the vaccination seats, that took place in the entrance of the concert hall. There was no need to line up as there were plenty of stations. The details of the person receving the vaccination was verifieed one more time. They were especially careful of people who had previous history of allergy, vaccination or food related. Folks who had allergy hsitory were asked to wait for 30 minutes after they took the vaccination. The following is the detail of the immunization recieved:

MODERNA Covid-19, mRNA vaccine (PF) 0.5 mL IM

The second shot is scheduled after i month interval.

The experience was pleasnat and the execution was faultless. 

Here are some pictures of the day:

Line up to enter

Register

Wait for a short while after the shot

Get a badge to show that you are vaccinated.

Don't waste your time ordering grocery from Amazon Prime Now in Honolulu

We have tried couple of times in Honolulu. It accepted our orders all the time but always failed to deliver. You get a message that it failed and a charge may temporarily appear which will be zeroed later.

However, amazon.com continues to show these pages and the ordering app is working great. Don't expect any delivery.

You may get the delivery if you are lucky. However, you cannot plan on it.

8/28/2020

One of our neighbors got some grocery delivered. However, the order was not delivered in its entirety as the inventory does not adjust automatically. 

Does a spider dream of Waikiki?

It is time for introspection and looking out for things that one may not notice usually. There are always wonderful and deadly(New Corona Virus) things in nature. They humble us and bring us to our knees. We have come a long way from our primitive beginnings, but have we really conquered the world with our superior knowledge.  We probably have made just a little nick in knowing the existing universe.

Here is an arresting picture of the clear skies by Ben Lockett that appeared in BBC's article. The photographer found easy to capture this courtesy of corona virus with no flights spoiling his picture.

Here is my attempt to capture a spider's web on my lilikoi (passion fruit) creeper. I tried to juxtaposition Waikiki in the distance and barely made it.

Best place to see Orchids

We recently visited the Big Island, the largest of the Hawaiian Islands where the big, bad volcanoes are bellowing lava and gases and destroying homes. We skipped the volcano area and visited this nice Orchid Gardens.

Here is a video of the garden:

I could not sign up for Coinbase in Hawaii!

CoinBase is a San Francisco based company that does digital currency business. I just wanted to set up an account (free) but since I live in Hawaii, I was rejected right away. I could not buy Bitcoin again (the last time it was lower than $350)

Hawaii is one of the states that the Hawaii's Division of Financial Institutions, "determined that licensees who hold virtual currency on behalf of customers must maintain redundant fiat currency reserves in an amount equal to the aggregate face value of all digital currency funds held on behalf of customers".

This translates to CoinBase to hold cash reserves (or equivalent assets) in order to do digital current business in Hawaii. The fiat money is same as the redundant collateral.

Coinbase of course does not want to commit to this and therefore they cannot do business with a Hawaii resident. They are therefore OUT.

My election vote from Hawaii

I went down to the school nearby to cast my vote. There was no electronic machine, but two sheets of paper vote, one of which was mostly to do with 2016 Charter Amendments on two sides of the sheet.

There was some crowd but not a whole lot, not the crowds I used to see in Plainsboro, New Jersey.

Of course I had made up mind about the candidates and my interest in Democratic party had faded after Bernie got out of the race. I really need to see new faces; hear new sounds and hear new (rhetoric).

I am looking at the TV screen and Hillary seems to be lagging... Tomorrow morning we will hear the complete story.

Here are some pictures of the election locale:

That's disgusting, Mr.Bourdain

This is one of the most disgusting things I saw recently. This is from one of Mr. Bourdain's trips to Hawaii where he goes octopus fishing near one of the islands. Two grown up men going and beating up on a little octopus hiding.

 

Mr. Bourdain picks it up at the end of his spear, while his colleague, a native of Hawaii takes a piece of wood and beats it up.

Mr. Bourdain then starts sucking..(looks like). How did he bring him up to do this, I wonder? Probably he could not forget the taste he acquired in Korea for this.

looks like eating live octopus is not far fetched and they have even some kind of name (Sannakji) in Korean for this live octopus dish. It appears it is on the menu in one of those places in Brooklyn, New York.

Shame on you CNN for airing this disgusting episode! CNN airs the following program:
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown - CNN.com