Hawaii Diarii, Day 3 (prelude)

It's 10:15 local time, and I haven't left the room yet, which must be driving Housekeeping nuts.

I was out until midnight at the bar, so in the true spirit of someone who hates early mornings - even sun-filled, warm, breezy Hawaii early mornings - I set my wakeup call for 9. And woke up, again, just before 8.

But after some contemplation, I decided to stay in bed. I've declared this slacker day, or at least slacker morning. Why?

Because I desperately want to watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. And it's on at 2 this afternoon, right in the middle of the day. I'm rooting for Carolina for a few reasons - a group of ex-Pens/Flyers, the guy at work who loves his team so much he brought a WHALERS jersey the other night for Game 5 - and they're in the midst of choking away a 3 games to 1 lead.

And hey, I thought about it in that hour between my awakening and the wake-up call (when I wasn't dozing) and I realized - what's the point of vacation if you can't do what you love? I love watching hockey.

So I'm off to the sports bar to see if they'll have the game on - and to see if their breakfast is any cheaper than the first place.

Then I'll wander some more (I pondered a return trip to the beach, and a slight hankering for sushi), maybe go back for some of those short ribs... and then, hopefully, catch the game somewhere more interesting than my room.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

p.s. I'm almost done with the CW book, so my next bit of beach reading might be the equally intellectual, but far less intelligent-looking "Next Man Up," as John Feinstein spends a year with the (hated) Baltimore Ravens, offering an inside look at life in the NFL. I can't resist books like that - a year behind the scenes of a sports team - even if I do hold a grudge against the Ravens for the 2000 AFC championship game.

On to the next part!