One of the things mentioned in this book is a game that rich dad developed to help teach people and children these lessons of finance an investing that are not taught in schools. The game is called Cashflow 101. I caught wind that there was a “Cashflow” event going on at Dave & Busters so I decided to check it out and play the game.

Cashflow can be thought of as a more modern and realistic version Monopoly. First you choose a balance sheet which determines your occupation, your income, and your fixed expenses. The game is laid out in two parts: The rat race and the fast track. You also choose one of the many “dreams” on the fast track. Starting out in the rat race, you roll the dice landing on payday squares, opportunity squares, market squares, and doodad squares…and go round and round collecting money, having kids, paying for doodads, and investing in opportunities.

You get out of the rat race by creating a passive income that exceeds your expenses.

Once your in the fast track you focus on growing your estate by buying/selling businesses and real estate. You win by buying your dream that you choose at the beginning of the game, or increasing your passive income to more than 50k per month.

Just playing a rushed version of the game that we never finished was extremely enlightening. There were several moments where things just clicked for me. The game is brilliant and I cant wait to play it again…and also in real life!

Today I sold the beloved Jeep. It was not practical for our needs and we hardly drove it anymore since we got the CRV and take the bus most places. It was a damn fun Jeep though and the ultimate island explorer. It will be missed.

Yesterday Emily and I took a drive over to the leeward side of Oahu. It felt like a whole different world over there. The climate is dry and desert-like, its not touristy at all, there are strips of beach lined with homeless people and their tents, and its very secluded. We were hoping that we could drive to the north shore through the dirt road that lines the nort-west tip of the island, but someone told us that its washed out. The road looks pretty hairy anyways. We’re going to go back soon and bring our mountain bikes to check it out because it looks amazing.

Some of the homeless people have made out pretty well for themselves. I was quite impressed by the homes people have built out of scrap wood, palm leaves, and anything else they could find.

It seems like the sky is much more open on the leeward side because there’s not much of an outer reef or foliage to block your view…just one large endless ocean.

Technically, Olomana is the name of the highest of the three peaks only, which is also the first peak along the Olomana Trail that links all three. The second peak along the trail is Paku’i, better known as Olomana’s “second peak,” and the third is Ahiki, better known as (surprise) Olomana’s “third peak.” The striking peak has been called “Oahu’s Matterhorn” by Stuart Ball in his book “The Hikers Guide to Oahu” while the translation of the Hawaiian name is roughly “divided hill.”

Legend has it that Olomana was a renowned warrior that was over 30 feet tall and ruled the lands from Makapu’u to Kualoa. The mountain was formed when the King of Oahu, Ahuapau, sent one of his foremost warriors, Palila, to confront Olomana. During the ensuing battle, Palila, gifted with supernatural powers, sliced Olomana in half with the top portion landing near the ocean while the bottom portion became Mount Olomana.

Geologically it’s in the center of the Ko’olau caldera, remnant of the giant shield volcano that makes up this part of the island of O’ahu. The mountains in the distance are the rim of the caldera, and these three peaks of Olomana are left over from lava that pooled in the caldera in it’s heyday, perhaps 2.7 million years ago.

The hike to the first peak and back takes about a 1/2 day but is very steep most of the way…with some climbing/scrambling involved. The view at the top is totally worth the effort though. I’ve heard the other two peaks are even harder…with the third peak bordering on extreme.

When I was at the top I took a 360 degree panorama shot and stitched them together in photoshop:

Map of trailhead, parking, and access:

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The Manoa Falls portion of the hike is a piece of cake…it has a nice groomed trail and is flat most of the way. Once you get to the falls (about 1 mile up the trailhead), the Aihualama Trail starts. The falls is a great point to relax and admire the beauty of the falls. There is a small and shallow pool you can swim it where the falls dump into. Water falling over 100 feet generates a nice misty breeze at the bottom.

The Aihualama Trail is about 2 miles each way, but is uphill the whole way and has a couple rounds of switchbacks. During this hike you know that there is an amazing view beyond the thick foliage, but it never really presents itself. You get a tiny glimpse at a couple of the spots along the way, but nothing to write home about. There are however a few really thick bamboo forests on this trail and a couple of the biggest banyan trees I’ve ever seen as well.

Round trip both trails took about 4 hours. Overall it was an amazing experience.


Manoa Falls - Aihualama Trail Location:

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Early this morning I headed up to the north shore to watch a pipeline surfing competition. On the way I decided to stop at Waimea Bay to see the Eddie Aikau memorial. Eddie was one of the two first lifeguards on the north shore…and Waimea Bay was his post. Waimea was (and still is) one of the most dangerous beaches on the island…generating some of the biggest surf, most vicious currents, and one hell of a shore-break that tends to suck out ignorant people. Many people have spent their last breath on this beach.

Eddie was the only surfer who had the knowledge, experience, and fearlessness to take on the lifeguard job…and in his years saved hundreds thousands of people’s lives. In fact he himself died in effort of trying to save the crew of a capsized boat on the way from Oahu to Tahiti. He was also a legendary big wave surfer of Waimea Bay. His story is fascinating and makes you fully respect the history of Waimea.

Here are some more pictures I took this morning:

Sometimes the internet ceases to amaze me. Yesterday I get a facebook invite from a friend that Don Ross (my acoustic guitar hero) and Andy Mckee (You tube rockstar with over 50 million views) were playing as a duet in the restaurant in the building where I work. It was the first show (in Honolulu) of a month long tour they’re running all over the US and other countries.

The show was in a very intimate setting…with only about 100 people attending. Sitting right in front of them was such a thrill…I cannot even describe the brilliance of these two musicians. They played a bunch of songs together as well as traded off on some solo songs. They’re both really funny guys, talking about how they came up with the songs and other various stories.

During the break I was able to talk to Don Ross for a bit and I told him how much I had admired his Passion Session CD and how I came to find out about the show…which he ended up talking about in front of the crowd

Don Ross has been around a long time and is not as well known as he should be. Andy McKee’s playing has been greatly inspired by Don which has helped him become famous on you tube. Being a humble guy and playing the back-up parts to his own songs that he wrote, Don teaming up with Andy will help him to break through new barriers in his success and get the recognition he deserves.

If you ever get a chance to see these guys, don’t miss it.

Mosquitoes: 1000
Cory: 75 and gaining.

Die bitches!

• 1) First, I have an eMusic account. Its $20/month, DRM free, and I get 50 downloads. The catch is they support mostly indie labels so the more main stream stuff is usually not on there. Since I mostly buy and listen to electronic music, more times than not the music I’m looking for is there.
• 2) If eMusic doesnt have it, I search on Amazon.com. They have an ever growing collection of 100% DRM free downloads…almost as big as iTunes. They have a lot of DRM-free music that iTunes does not.

• 3) If Amazon doesn’t have it, I search iTunes. They are getting to where they have a lot of DRM-free downloads for the same price as the DRM stuff.

I used to foolishly buy DRM music and will likely end up loosing that music as old DRM technology fades out. I’m really more tempted to use bit torrent to get music that I cannot buy DRM-free.

UPDATE:It appears as Sony BMG has been reading my blog, just a couple days after this post they announced that they’re going DRM-free. Haha, like they had a choice.