Merry Christmas from Wave Shoppe

Photo courtesy of www.seaturtle.org

The folks at Wave Shoppe Hawaiian shirts want to wish everyone a merry Christmas!

Your Opinion Counts

We are working on purchasing fabric for our summer line and we were wondering what you thought of this print. It is a rayon fabric with hibiscus flowers and timeless Woodies. We are thinking about doing this particular print in men’s as well as women’s. Your opinion counts so drop us a comment and let us know what you think.

Awesome Waikiki Holiday Lights Tour

If you are going to Honolulu for Christmas we highly recommend that you check out the Waikiki Trolley Holiday Lights Tour!

Mahalo and mele kalikimaka

The folks at Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts

Top 5 Things I Do Not Need for Christmas

Hi Folks, I have been diligently busting out orders and exceeding our customer’s expectations (like the rest of you should be doing). But after a few weeks of emails, surfing the net and managing the business and my personal life, I finally concluded that there are some things that I just don’t want any more. So without all the fanfare here is my top five.

#1 Email offers from my competitors telling me that for “one week only” I can get 50% off my purchase. Come on people, what that really means is that you already jacked up your prices prior to sending you this offer and we will still hit record profit margins. Honorable mention goes to one that writes “Wear a tropical shirt now and then. Vow to watch more sunsets. And if you can't go slow, at least go slower.” I sure hope that is not someone’s native tong.

#2 Forum discussions about nofollow – All of you are sheep and I do not want anyone to ask me to participate in those discussions.

#3 Forum discussions about TBPR – Participating in such threads is concrete proof that you have been abducted; so for the rest of the year please do not ruin a good thread by bringing it up. People are so out of touch that they cant tell the difference between PageRank and TBPR.

#4 I do not want to hear the screeching drone of my manipulative x wife; my son still hasn’t received the Christmas gift she promised to send 2 years ago.

#5 Lastly I do not want anyone to have a bad Christmas, spending the better part of my childhood in foster homes makes me an authority on bad Christmas’s.

Having said that... We are not wealthy, but during the month of December we are offering readers of this blog Free Priority Shipping for any purchase over $25 You should take us up on the offer.

Enter Coupon Code: HOLIDAY2007 during checkout to receive free Priority shipping. Offer expires December 31, 2007 and you can not combine it with any other offers. Visit Wave Shoppe

10% Online Discount for all Holiday Shoppers

Aloha from the Wave Shoppe,
Have you made your list and checked it twice? Don't forget to add some of our beautiful Hawaiian shirts and dresses to your holiday shopping list.

Take advantage of our special offer while it lasts!

Order now and receive a 10% discount on any item in our store

Enter Coupon code: DAKINE2007 during checkout to receive your 10% discount. Offer expires December 10, 2007

You'll love all of the great money saving services and discounts we have to offer. Upon request you can get your purchase shipped in a holiday gift box, or gift-wrapped for free. Of course you can still get free Priority Mail Shipping and a free Hawaiian lei when your order tops $75.

There's never been a better deal . . . you don't want to miss it!

Shop at Wave Shoppe

Cyber Monday is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo

Well its almost that day of the year, the Monday after Thanksgiving whereas everyone transforms into on-line mega shoppers. And we all know that the Christmas holiday is the period where starving merchants pray for huge sales.

Myself I think Cyber Monday is just another fabricated marketing term that really doesn’t drive any more sales, in fact it’s possible that it harms the brick and mortar sites. Boos and hisses to those “come on everyone is doing it” buzz phrases.

Provide a quality product and you will have sales everyday; we don’t buy into Cyber Monday.

Furthermore I was reading an article today and I said to myself just who the heck is Keynote Systems; exactly how do they track my performance?

“Keynote Systems, which tracks the performance of Internet sites, historically has found that the biggest load on Web sites comes on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, not the Monday."

IMO most of the shopping is done when people are at work, when the boss man is not looking. So any weekday can be a good day for sales. Certainly the type of product being sold can be a factor, but for the most part the day of the week does not matter much.

I think that the best metric for measuring sales is to monitor the credit card companies and see what they reported as peak periods. Hmm wouldn’t it be cool to have regularly updated info via a RSS feed from the credit card companies. Cyber Monday is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo.

Happy Birthday to Me

Aloha, for those of you that don’t know me, my name is Charles. If you don’t know me that’s quite ok, I barely know myself. I really didn’t plan on a post today but then I remembered that today is truly a personal day for me.

November 9th 1998 is the day that I decided to stop drinking so today marks 9 full years without any alcohol.

To be honest I had a really great time when I was drinking but it seems that no one else did. But what ever, I am going to get myself a Häagen-Dazs ice cream bar and just kick it for the day.

Stop by and say Aloha, we follow.

Google TBPR is your Idol God

Mark that it is God that is worshipped in the form of the idol (TBPR) and not the idol as God (ranking money terms above the fold). And it is cast that the naive spend their days obsessing with the green bar while we are busy dominating the SERPS. God wears a Hawaiian shirt.

There you go, my spiritual post of the year.

Mahalo and remember to score a mens Hawaiian shirt, for you are the sun, dancing on the shore.

Hawaiian Words Hawaii

Hawaiian word meaning akamai is smart or clever and the ala road is not path lined with pineapples, say Auwe "Oh!” "Alas" denotes the surprise you just got when you entered our hale house or building. I am writing this to appease my favorite haole "not so caucasian person" Dale, formerly from the USA where any foreigner can learn the Hula classic dance of Hawaii. Kai is the mighty sea mastered by kane da man. Kapu taboo is forbidden like Hawaiian Hawaiian shirts, which should not be confused with kaukau, which is Hawaiian for food. Keiki is a baby, or child and kokua means something like help I have fallen on the lanai, porch, balcony or veranda and cant get up. Have pity and shower me with a lei which is a strand of flowers with leaves, shells, money or nuts.

Lua is a restroom in HI and I bet you are wishing I would say mahalo (thank you) but I want to tell you about the Mahimahi or as you know them from the Dolphin family, fish. Makai toward the sea because I am a malihini to Hawaii. Call me a stranger, newcomer or guest but dont head towards the mountains (Mauka).

Women in Hawaii really do wear Muumuu which is a long, loose-fitting dress that is loved by all ohana, family, and close groups of Hawaiian descent. When you sea food made by someone in a muumuu you will say it is ono (also a name for an island fish) or if they give you some pupu hors d'oeuvre or poi, which is a Hawaiian food, made from taro root, delicious. Puka means hole or opening and wahine are woman; pali is a cliff or cliffs that you jump off.

Pau means we are done, as in finished. Mahalo to E Noa for letting us have some fun with their Hawaiian words.

Let's Hula

Aloha everyone, how about a little love for a grass roots hula school in California.

According to their website, a family owned business named Let's Hula Dance Studio, located in the San Fernando Valley in Granada Hills, CA.

Hula is for all ages, if you are in the market for Hula lessons in southern California give them a shout. Let's Hula Dance Studio Schedule

Great article about sucky Wal-Mart

Time is running out for mega wanker Wal-Mart. Maybe there is a chance that mom and pop Internet merchants shall inherit the earth once again.

"The Internet has changed shoppers' preferences and eroded the commanding influence Wal-Mart had over its suppliers. As a result, American shoppers are increasingly looking for qualities that Wal-Mart has trouble providing." Read more about Wal-Mart's woes

New Tiki Print

Aloha everyone, its Friday and the start of another long weekend at Wave Shoppe.

We have about 1500 shirts in various prints to place in display packaging before Monday.

I have no idea how many shirts I have folded but it's a lot.

Amongst all other things, we have completed the Tiki shirt ahead of schedule and its now available for purchase.

The Tiki mask print runs up both panels and the shirt pocket is matched to the print.

Is Your Web Business a Target?

Is this you and your business?

Morning everyone! I was reading a post in a forum this morning and it simply amazes me when I see how vulnerable some of the web “businesses” really are. Most of what you read and hear in the forums is the steady drum beat of SEO. But this poster was commenting on how someone emailed him because the name he used was similar to his own and asked him to change it, (the names are not trademarked or brand-able). Now my take is that the guy that sent the email is just a big pussy and can’t take the heat. But more amazing is that the other guy does not appear to have licensed his business.

Listen up people, registering a domain is not the same as actually licensing a business in California and the rest of the USA for all that matters. Now there is a fair amount of smack in the forums about how one makes this and another makes that. I wonder if any of the web owners realize that they literally paint a big target on their web by not properly licensing it.

Is it worthwhile to engage in Negative / Positive SEO to deliver a knockout punch to your competition? Naaa if they are doing sales online just look them up online in the county records or call the county office, if they dont have a license, simply report them for failure to report income and pay sales tax.

Having said that, if you are truly committed to your business, you need to make sure you do it right. The financial and legal benefits far outweigh the few dollars you will spend on permits and licenses. If you do not, loser is the word that comes to mind.

Leis Review

Aloha everyone, while we think fresh Hawaiian leis are the best, there are situations that call for simulated silk leis. Our gripe is that lately a lot of crappy silk leis have been making it into the market. I.e. long spacers, small cheaply colored flowers, narrow weak thread, short in length, etc.

Well we decided to make our own to our specs, but we must admit that we made them overseas so we could compete with online stores like Oriental Trading. Overall we are quite pleased with the quality of the products we had manufactured.

Here is the deal: Wave Shoppe would like to get the word out as well as get some genuine input on the quality of our new leis. Having said that, purchase one or more Hawaiian leis from Wave Shoppe and post a review of the product. Email us a link to the properly credited review and we will issue you a complete refund for the lei or leis, less the shipping. Killer editorial reviews may even get a refund for the shipping.

We will make the offer good for all leis purchased during the month of September 2007. We are also limiting this offer to 2 free leis per review. You can buy all of the leis you wish, but we will only refund you for 2 and you will have 30 days from the date of purchase to notify us and collect on the offer.

The top 6 leis on the Web store are made by Wave Shoppe. Kukui Nut and Seashell leis are not part of this offer. Makalo, Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts

Labor Day Surfing

Many vacationers head to the costal areas of California or islands in Hawaii for a warm reprieve during the long winter months. The best times to hit the surf in Hawaii are from Labor Day through fall, which are outside the Aloha State’s rainy months (which start in November and end around March, approximately).

With HI having some of the best beaches in the world (California beaches are also nice), daunting volcanoes, towering mountains, glistening waterfalls, and vibrant flowers, the scenery here is nothing short of spectacular, and, at six hours from the West Coast (A.K.A Pacific Seaboard), you can be standing on the island of lanai in short order, watching the sun set behind the Pacific.

This Labor Day we are just chilling out with a few friends, with a trip to the always crazy Pacific Beach in San Diego, CA.

Wal-Mart Ends Layaway, Removes Fabric

Wal-Mart is now offering low income families a sharp stick in the eye! I was reading this article on MSNBC and the first thing that came to mind was corporate greed.

Wal-Mart, how will your customers get through Christmas now that you have done away with layaway purchases?

Wait, we know the answer, a Wal-Mart credit card with an interest rate that is now up to 27.49%

2 Headed Turtle(s)

Ok, is this 2 turtles sharing one body or 1 turtle with two heads? One of natures many mysteries, presented to you by Wave Shoppe. Have a great day everyone!

See Hawaii as did the ancient Hawaiians

See Hawaii as did the ancient Hawaiians and Captain Cook! According to the website, Ocean Joy Cruises will take you to the Unspoiled Waianae coastline where dolphins, turtles and other Hawaiian sea life play and flourish. Now normally I would say that’s a pretty bold statement, but one of my friends had the opportunity to take one of their tours and he said to me that
"you really do get to swim with the sea turtles in their natural environment" well that was all I needed to extend my endorsement.

I remember being in south Florida around Melbourne Beach to observe the green sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs, what an awesome experience that was. If your going to HI for some dolphin watching or snorkeling action, this is a must do cruise.

Five Random Things I Remember

Five Random Things I Remember (well sort of):

• Eating at the very 1st McDonald's: The first McDonald's Restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois by McDonald's Corporation founder, Ray Kroc, on April 15, 1955.
• Being scared shitless by the big blue Toys "R" Us Easter Bunny back in the early 60s.
• The underground bowling alley by the “Greeks” restaurant and the Glen Ellyn Theater, FYI There really were such creatures as greasers.
• Living with a colored family during in the 60s racial segregation (we were right next to the Billy Graham Center), not a very good place for a white boy!
• Actually seeing a comet burn through the atmosphere in the daytime, it was a totally awesome orange fireball.

What’s Your Favorite Ice Cream?

Aloha, now this is a company that’s well known and cherished by just about everyone that has a passion for ice cream. In Hawaii, the Farrell's franchise is owned and operated by E Noa Corporation, a Hawaii-based company specializing in providing sightseeing tours around the island. You may know E Noa from the trolleys they operate around Honolulu, prominently known as the Waikiki Trolley.

We all have our weaknesses and Farrell’s Ice Cream is certainly one of mine. I was looking over their menu and I think my absolute favorite has to be the Farrell’s banana split, check this out.

“This is the flagship of Farrell’s Fleet of Fabulous Fountain Fantasies. Three scoops of our creamy vanilla, rich chocolate & sweet strawberry ice cream smothered with chocolate, pineapple & strawberry toppings, crowned with billows of whipped cream, nuts & a cherry. Oh yes...& of course, a banana.”

What’s your favorite ice cream or concoction?

Plus Size Hawaiian Shirts

Every woman wants to look her best and Wave Shoppe is here to help. Over the summer we have received numerous requests for plus size Hawaiian shirts in sizes ranging from 1X to 5X, some of the emails were borderline pleas. We strongly believe that when a company claims that they listen to what their customers are saying, they had better be able to make good on that.

We are very happy to announce that our pattern maker has completed the patterns for our plus size Hawaiian shirts. Believe it or not there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before the plus sizes go into full production. Like we started out saying, every woman wants to look her best, and who better to help us make the perfect plus size Hawaiian shirts than our loyal customers. So we are currently cutting sample plus size shirts from each of the patterns and sending them to the ladies for evaluation. Once the ladies give us their feedback and hopefully approval, we will then go into production. Look forward to these plus sized shirts as they will be comfortable, as well as stylish and affordable. And most importantly, they will be cheerful and flowery!

Free Hawaiian Apparel E-Newsletter

Featured: matching mens and womens shirts

Ok we listen to our customers. It seems like it took us forever but we finally added a simple email sign up form for our current and prospective customers. Wave Shoppe does not do a lot of emailing but when we do we will use it to notify you of special offers, the latest information on upcoming Hawaiian apparel releases and special discounts that you can only get at Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts. You may find the form conveniently located on the Home Page of our Hawaiian clothing store and Blog. Mahalo everyone!

Macadamia Nut Therapy

Well today couldn’t get much better, it’s a payday Friday and when I arrived home I found a box of goodies from my bro over at Enoa in Hawaii. I definitely have time for a little old fashion macadamia nut therapy. Thanks Dale! Hopefully we can make it over for one of your personalized Pearl Harbor tours, after all it is Hawaii's most popular tourist attraction.

Friends of Aloha

Well my trip to Hearst Castle was quite interesting, sorry to disappoint but I am just way to busy to post any additional pictures. Actually I shouldn’t be blogging but what the heck. One thing I wanted to share with you was what happened while I was in nearby Morro Bay, which just so happens to be where my competitors Hawaiian store is located. Well in the name of making a long story short... I walked in and introduced myself, after Jim caught his breath he said “I admire you, because in a short timeframe you have managed to do what we have been trying to do for over 5 years”. Well that certainly caught me by surprise, not anything near what anyone would expect. All in all it was one of the most rewarding visits that I have made in a long time.

Probably more than once I wished that I took the route he did with Aloha Shirt Shop, which is re-selling fine Hawaiian apparel made by someone else, but ironically he countered by saying that he wished that he was able to get into manufacturing his own Hawaiian apparel like we do. What’s that saying about the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence?

So today production deadlines have slid terribly close to being critical. I could not help but wonder if Jim would be so willing to be in my shoes today, LOL probably not. But I am going to give Jim, owner of Aloha Shirt Shop, a lot of credit for what he has accomplished so far. The old store that used to be located down here in San Diego really never did his business justice, so I was pleased to see the new Hawaiian shirt store in Morro Bay; it is exactly what I hoped it would be!

Hearst Castle, La Cuesta Encantada

Well folks it’s Thursday and the start of my weekend. I am going to treat myself to a few well deserved days off and take a trip up the California coast in my Corvette to visit Hearst Castle. I have never been there but from what I hear the tapestries, art art and building structures are truely magnificent and a must see. Truthfully it’s the mediterranean/gothic look and feel of the castle that sucked me into going; I think all of the lion statues and overall mediterranean motif really cast Hearst Castle in its own dimension. When I return I will try to post some behind the scenes pictures of Hearst Castle, that is if I remember to take my camera.

U.S. forces killed on Memorial Day

We normally shy away from posting out political viewpoints on the Web, but its time for us to pull out of these places and start focusing on what needs to be cleaned up in our backyards.

To be honest I have no idea why we are even in some of these countries, isn't that something the UN should be handling? Regardless, when you see type saying "112 slain" its time to make some changes. Read more at msnbc

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the day of observance to honor those who died during each of the wars in which the United States fought.

MIKE, WE MISS YOU!

Thank you to all of the soldiers who died for our country. Taps is played at funerals to let the heavens know that a hero is coming.

Dont forget the men and women that are currently serving our country, hook em up with some goodies, we do.

Give Aloha for Fathers Day

Ok folks, Fathers Day is just around the corner. Yep it’s that magical time of the year when you try to suck up to your dad by getting him a gift. Being a guy I will assure you that it has a much different meaning then Mothers Day, though I am still not quite sure what it means the moms on that particular day. But I do know that you will be quite sorry if you forget.

Men on the other hand are fairly simple, especially when it comes to receiving gifts, because Fathers Day is the one time of the year that we can actually get a gift that we want without any repercussions.

Dad has probably been eyeing something cool for quite some time now (and no, not the sexy neighbor girl). But if you confront dad and ask him why he don’t just go out and buy it the poor guy will probably tell you that the misses won’t allow it.

But wait, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully all you boys and girls remembered to hook mom up with a gift for Mothers Day, so we can make the assumption that her defenses are probably at a all time low. Fathers Day could very well be the only day that you can fix dad up with something he really wants, of course you need to probe dads mind for the answers. Ha ha good luck! Please allow us to help you with that by giving you some insight on some gift ideas for Dad.

Tools: Yes tools still continue to excite us, dad doesn’t get a lot of recognition until something gets broken around the house and dad has to save the day by fixing it himself. How about replacing the tools you constantly lose or fail to return in a usable condition? Maybe think about getting him a good rechargeable flashlight and one of those 101 piece tool kits from Home Depot?

Clothes: Now here is where you can score extra brownie points. Most women do all of the shopping in the household which includes dads clothing. Shure we wear them with a smile, but I assure you there is a difference of opinion on what looks good and what don’t. But unless dad wants to do his own shopping, he proclaim that it all looks great and he will wear it. But in reality dad wants a car shirt so he can reminisce about the days gone by, back before he met your mom and when he had things.

Food: Any type of food will do as long as you don’t make dad pay for it and mom did not cook it. How about a grip of Chinese food carryout (let dad eat in front of the TV) or if you are by a casino, drive him to the buffet and let him pig out (take your car and burn your gas). Make it even better by giving him $50 of your own money to blow on the slots.

Well there you go, my top picks for Fathers Day 2007

Delete links to Maui Shirts

Ok I am simply floored, I was doing some phrase research on Google the other day and I ran across one of the most horrifying Blogs I have ever seen. The Blog states that it is authored Mickey Steinborn, who also indicates that he is the owner of Maui Shirts. This Blog is full of ramblings and rude comments about his customers. Now I don’t care one bit what people do in their day to day adventures, but you should never bite the hand that feeds you by posting negative comments about your customers on the Web.

In regards to my title, when you link to a site you are giving it an endorsement and guilty by association if the recipients are doing people wrong. But you can be the judge, at the end of this post I will provide you with the address of this site, and yes, I ask that you consider removing any links you may have to his Maui Shirts dot com site.

Below are samplings from the Blog, let it be known that we do not condone nor endorse anything that Mickey Steinborn has to say.

Mickey Steinborn: “They send me nasty email about my poor customer service. They point their finger at me. They shout with bold letters and complain that my customer service is poor. They go out of their way to leave negative feedback in the public forum. The say I communicate poorly. Well, when I run up a goof like this, I simply block their IP address, place their email in the spam blocker and get on with life and real people. I have tried to deal with these negative people. I try to reason with them. It’s simply a waste of my time. They are bent on screwing with me. I will not deal with people who want to bring me down to their level of incompetence.”

DoOD quit spending your time writing in your hateful comments in your blog and take a communications class at your local college.

Mickey Steinborn: “Vindictive Fat Lady with a hair ball stuck in her brain”

Ok that title alone clearly demonstrates that this post is full of hate aimed at plus sized people, a clear sign that some people should not interact with others, ever.

Mickey Steinborn: “Then there’s the sad, misguided customer from Amazon.com who is a 2X. I wonder if she is ugly too? Most big people are kind and friendly. Not this one. She didn’t read the size chart.”

Hmmm were those words supposed to attract more customers?

Mickey Steinborn: “I suggest a diet or date with Richard Simmons for this fat lady before she sings. She has the word kitten in her email address. The only thing kitten about this double X size of a woman is the hair ball she swallowed when she was younger. What an attitude. Vindictive, vicious and just plain stupid. She says my exchange policy is rigid and ridiculous”

Wow, if I took a wild guess I would say that this guy intentionally flamed and insulted this poor customer, and on the Web of all places. We love all sizes of people!

Why someone would feel so compelled to say such bad things about people is probably going to remain a mystery. But when people cross the thresholds of decency and write heresies about their very own customers and then allow it to propagate the Internet, something needs to be said.

Myself, I do my part to help customers as well as business owners, even competitors. A business owner with integrity would never post stuff like that about customers, but it’s clear that integrity is not included in everyone’s DNA. If your talking smack about your customers you should probably redeem yourself as quick as you can, at the very least you owe your customers a sincere and formal apology.

You may find these quoted excerpts at [blog dot mauishirts dot com]

Thanks for reading along and remember to say something nice about your customers! In turn they will say something nice about you!

Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts customer: “We just got our shipment. Thank you so much for your professionalism you make shopping the internet a Blessing Thank you, Ted W.”

Origins of the Hawaiian Shirt

The Palaka shirt’s fascinating beginnings, a Hawaiian staple using a unique material named Tapa.

Think of Hawaii and the first thing that comes to mind is the Hawaiian shirt. This well known garment is the Palaka shirt and has a long history. Little has changed throughout time including the material used. One cliché that comes to mind is ‘styles always come back’, for this shirt style has never gone out. One wouldn’t think of trees being used to make clothing, but for centuries it has been and still is used.

Used for ceremonial and functional use, the Tapa cloth is also found used for the ever popular Palaka shirts as well as wall tapestries in many Hawaiian homes. The Palaka shirt that uses this unusual material has an interesting story in itself. Coming from other countries in Asia such as China and Japan, the Hawaiian field laborers found in their hands shirts with tails. To help protect them from the hot sun the workers improved the shirts for more practical use by taking off the tails and making them of light loose fitting material instead of the rich embroidered silks they were originally made in.

These now traditional Palaka shirts are sometimes seen with the darker print on the inside showing the faded patterns on the outside. It appears the shirt is worn the wrong way, but this is really the way they were created to show the muted pattern. Usually found in traditional basic colors such as black or brown, but are also made in a multitude of colors and fabrics. Tapa fabric is not a very sturdy fabric and tends to be used more for the higher ceremonial purpose and special occasion. It is seen sometimes worn by government officials, chiefs and in weddings.

This material can be found in about every home usually on shirts, decorative quilts or wall ornaments. Tapa’s that are given by a chief or royal family holds more value and most often time will be displayed in the home. Because the process is completely made of and with natural sources it is friendlier to the environment. Even the brushes used to apply the natural dyes and paints are made from sticks with frayed ends. Simplistic and beautiful from a culture that respects nature and tradition in an ever changing modern world it’s good to know that with tradition the old customs of Hawaii still find a place in today’s society. Read the entire article on Origins of the Hawaiian Shirt.

Pets in Paradise

Meet Buddy and Cujo, our highly dysfunctional house pets. Now before you start to question how such cute looking animals could ever become dysfunctional, I ask that you take a moment to get to know them. Let’s start with Buddy the cocker spaniel, whose name alone should be a good indicator. The story with Buddy is that he hails from the south, though stories of trailer park dwelling can not be confirmed.

Legend has it that he lived with some drunken hillbilly that hit him a lot which eventually lead to Buddy being tossed from a pickup truck and left to fend for himself.

When I first met Buddy it was apparent that he assimilated his dig quite well, I remember the house having a ball hitch on it. So eventually Buddy moved in with me in this somewhat fancy town home community, to him it must have been a scene straight out of Beverly Hillbillies, he was in dog paradise. Now I admire Buddy, he treats all things equal, those BMWs and manicured bushes and plants were all treated the same, clearly there is no shame in his game.

So now that we have briefly touched on the genesis and evolution of Buddy, lets all meet Cujo, our 4 year old Pomeranian. Now here is a dog that’s a complete head case, we paid money for Cujo at one of those adopt a pet fairs in Balboa Park. When we adopted her we were told that its name was cookie and that it must have escaped from someone’s house. So ok, it would fit in the C4 Corvette we had back then, plus it was small enough to take for car rides so the adoption papers were signed.

OMG what a terror, what they failed to tell us is that it had not ever developed any social skills; personally I think someone tossed it out the door and the running away part was just a cruel trick. Nonetheless Peggy liked it and renamed it precious (we all know how that story ends) but amazingly after a few short weeks Cujo and Buddy learned to tolerate each other, like vinegar and oil. Around our house it’s pretty much nonstop mayhem with these dogs, Cujos acts of defiance and Buddys evil, but well executed trailer park antics.

Man don’t even make me tell you about the nerve racking snoring that these dogs subject me to at night. But this is what they live for, when they are not bothering each other they can be found lounging on their backs on the couch or trying to coheres me into giving them some of those expensive dog treats. They may well be pets in paradise, but one day I will get the last laugh. Hmm maybe I need a 3rd dog!

Chocolate Hawaiian Shirt Friday

Well folks you can tell its Friday, actually a pretty lackluster Friday. I originally started giving thought to planning out my weekend but the thoughts quickly shifted to my can of macadamia nuts, enhanced with sea salt. So basically here I sit with my macadamia nuts wearing a one of a kind chocolate colored Hawaiian shirt that looks something like a cross section of Hawaiian MilkyWay bar, except for that it is covered with sea turtles (Honu).

Its clear that I am not accomplishing much at the moment, but I am certainly enjoying my Hawaiian snack. Which brings to mind that eivissu has not yet sent me a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts, pay up eivissu! Well I will probably end up cutting an order for a customer and working on the website this weekend. But then if I get really motivated, I may just start working on my Hawaiian gifts for Christmas. If you are a good customer or in our elite circle of friends that serves up loving anchor text for the shirt shop, you usually get rewarded with a unique, handcrafted Hawaiian shirt from the Wave Shoppe.

Graduation Leis

Beautiful Hawaiian Leis have long been a part of the culture and tradition of the Polynesian People. Exotic, colorful Leis were made from island flowers, leaves and other natural items such as shells, feathers, twigs intertwined. Surviving the passage of time Leis are still an important part of Polynesian Culture, and many other cultures in society have embraced the spirit of Aloha by continuing the tradition of wearing and giving Leis.

In the US and many other countries, you can see bright, pretty, Hawaiian Leis at luaus, parties, weddings, and the ever popular backyard BBQs. A growing trend in the United States is the giving of Leis to High School and College Graduates to wear with their cap and gowns to graduation ceremonies. Does the average High School or College parent know about this new tradition? Am I the only parent in the dark? My one and only daughter graduated from high school this year and upon arriving to her graduation was so surprised to see a colorful myriad of Hawaiian Leis gracefully draping over the shoulders of the graduates. The graduation cap and gowns were black so the leis stood out and added such visual beauty to the outfit. I found my daughter and breathed a sigh of relief to see her wearing 2 leis that I later learned were given to her by a family friend. Yep here I am co-owner of a company that sells absolutely beautiful Hawaiian Leis and I didn’t know anything about the graduation lei tradition.

I was so grateful to my friend for giving my daughter the leis. My daughter came up to me afterwards and asked why I didn’t bring her some leis she was expecting lots of them from me and had even told her friends that her Mom would be bringing lots of leis and that she would share them with the few students whose parents didn’t realize that getting leis at graduation was a symbol of “future luck”. I decided there and then to reach out to other parents, aunts, uncles, and family friends to be aware of this tradition and prepared for it. SO whether you know someone who is graduating or attending a luau, party or backyard BBQ be sure to buy a lei for them and give them a little piece of aloha and good luck at the same time. Buy from WaveShoppe unless you want to make your own leis from flowers-feathers etc

A kid from Chicago

Aloha everyone, a few weeks have passed since we wrote anything (brain cramps), but I thought it would be fun to get off the beaten path and write about something quite different, me. See back around 1958 there was this women messing around in the back of a car and the next thing you know here comes little Charles. Well I hate to say this, but the guy who fathered me wanted nothing to do with me and it was the 50s, a time where illegitimate children and the families that spawned and harbored them were shunned.

So I was sent off to catholic charities and stuck in a place for unwanted children called the Cradle House. Enter my grandfather and grandmother, my grandfather was a dear man and immigrant from Poland, full of pride. He worshiped the USA so much that after he came through Ellis Island he lied about his age so he could join the military and serve his new country in WWI. My grandmother was from the Ozarks and she never had a job and never drove a car, but could cook and I would have put her up against Rachael Ray any day of the week. A few months after going to the Cradle House they claimed me and I lived with them for a couple of years until some social worker decided I needed to go to a home that they selected for me. I will always let my grandparents serve as my guiding light, my grandfather, an honored American hero, and my grandmother, a person with values that were in the purest sense.

My friend Raff Ahlgren, FOX 6 Community Affairs Director says I should write some books; after all I have the uncanny ability to remember events and words spoken to me like it was just this morning. Unfortunately a life full of repression and abuse is not what I wish to spend my time remembering.

Here is the short list: 5 abusive foster homes (which include my natural mother). Having to sometimes wear girls shirts from the Salvation Army because the foster homes could not justify spending their state issues check on me. Placement with a colored family; which just so happened to live next to the Billy Graham Center during the Martin Luther King civil rights movement. Being thrown through a second story window by a drunk that was pissed that he had no more silver dollars to steal from me (my grandfather had gave me a handful for every birthday). Not having the ability to develop trust. Having my front teeth knocked out because I drank somebody’s soda while staying at their house. Setting myself on fire and spending my entire summer vacation in a burn unit with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on 60% of my body. I eventualy got tossed out on th estreet at 16 whereas I worked as a farmer, welder, machine operator, truck/car mechanic, service man, warehouse worker, computer tech, management, etc. 2 failed marriages in 15 years.

On the subject of child support, please tell me why I still have to pay thirty thousand dollars in compounded interested on back support that’s been fully paid for quite a while? Does it matter if one of my emancipated children lives with me while the leaches continue to let my blood?

I am now currently employed as a manager for a crappy software company and the proud owner of two unique businesses, Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts and Film my Ride Picture Cars, I made them by myself. I am chairperson for some well know charitable events in San Diego and I funnel money to the needy and those that go without as deemed necessary.

Yes I know what your thinking, how on earth does this guy still function. Well some days I don’t, but I have managed to look past all this and I have even managed to develop some real friendships, ones that I sincerely believe are genuine in nature. My shirt shop is so cool because for once in my life I can do something that allows me the opportunity to truly express myself. Sure I could dwell in the darkness of my past but why? It’s an incredible feeling to make a happy looking Hawaiian shirt knowing that some other human being will be wearing it; they will be helping me disperse Aloha with good karma.

So the light at the end of the tunnel is quite bright and I am excited about the future. In just a few short years Wave Shoppe has quadrupled in size and revenues, and my collection of Hawaiian shirts is immense, not bad for a kid from Chicago. By the way I want to thank Janeth for the inspiration to hang my own laundry in public view. If you are ever in a position to don one of my shirts, be assured that it contains some rich history and some moral threads.

How many Hawaiian Islands?

Ok, just how many Hawaiian Islands are there? You may or may not know this, but did you know that what we refer to as the Hawaiian Islands comprise a total of 137 islands? I sure the heck didn’t know that, actually the more I learn about the islands, the stupider I feel.

We are constantly searching for link love from Hawaiian themed sites; but I feel like we have already visited every Hawaiian site ever made. So with nearly 137 Hawaiian Islands how come we have so few Hawaiian websites? It’s because they are all uninhabited, that’s why.

Below are the islands that are best known, but certainly not a comprehensive list of every piece of real estate in Hawaii that’s not covered with sea water:

• Hawai’i
• Maui
• Kaho’olawe
• Lāna’i
• Moloka’i
• O’ahu
• Kauna’i
• Ni’ihau

What intrigued me was the island of Kaho’olawe, which is theoretically “uninhabited” I could not help but wonder what it would be like to have my very own island. Just think, as supreme ruler and big kahuna of my own island I could do what ever I wanted to do, just like Kamehameha the Great did. To make life a little more interesting I could even weave a little technology into my lifestyle and create a vast network of Hawaiian websites with dedicated IP addresses and link all of them to www.waveshoppe.com

In the meantime I suggest that you quickly jump into your canoe and paddle over to your PC to give us some well deserved link love. KW: Hawaiian shirts Ha, ha, ha Charles, why should we even do something like this for you? Well folks, this act of kindness will not only improve your overall karma, but it will also earn you a make-believe get out jail free card that could be instantly redeemed if you are ever threatened with something like being thrown into the Fire Pit of Pele. Remember, you are not invisible and you can be found.

Ok enough of entertaining myself; today we are going to have a trivia question. If you go on a trip to Hawaii wearing a traditional black/brown Kukui Nut lei, what do the local natives do to your Kukui Nuts?

Yes, you will actually get a prize for having the best and most comprehensive answer. Our winner will receive a discount code for $5 that can be used to purchase any product on our site. But to keep things fair we need to have a minimum of 4 different user posts in the Comments before I will choose a winner (you have to have the correct answer). This offer is good until April 30th 2007 Get creative, it will improve your chances of winning some Aloha!

Waikiki Trolley Transportation

Aloha everyone, today I want to turn you on to a cool way to get around Honolulu, the Waikiki Trolley. This is a great way to visit historic sites, beautiful sceneries, and world-class shops and restaurants. This marvelous Waikiki trolley transportation service even offers three different lines!

This is Honolulu's only service that takes you to Honolulu's most popular tourist attractions and back to Waikiki, now that’s a deal. Their website boasts on-line discounts and trolley ticket deals that are hard to beat, how about $45 for a 2-adult 4 day trolley ticket, yeah baby that’s got aloha. And when you think it cant get any better, how about downloadable coupons for local shops offering gifts or discounts to Waikiki Trolley passengers, leaves you with extra $$$ for macadamia nuts and we all know how much we love those little jems.

Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts

Stroll on over to http://www.introducemyblog.com/ and introduce your Blog. Drop them some link love and you’re entered for a chance to score some yummy chocolate covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii.

Fabrics for Dummies

Well another exciting week has passed and another is about to start. Buying Hawaiian fabrics is a weekly task around here, but just this weekend I concluded that a lot of people couldn’t tell one fabric from another. So that poses an interesting question, just how do you tell what is what?

Our area of expertise is primarily all fabrics Hawaiian, which include cotton, cotton blends, polycotton and rayon fabrics. Cotton is obviously made from Cotton fibers and it’s probably the most popular and comfortable fabric for apparel. Polycotton is pretty popular because of its durability and wide array of designs available on polycotton.

Rayon fabrics are made from natural wood fibers and are probably the most underrated of all the fabrics, I think people confuse them with the polyester shirts back in the days of disco shirts. Shirts made from polyester are not bad, after all they do hold color forever but there is that stigmatism… one that the fabric may never shake off. Remember when bakelite was all the rage?

But if you were holding them in your hand would you really be able to tell what’s what? Believe it or not many of the fabric sellers cant either. So I developed a simple yet reasonably accurate way to tell, you will need a small piece of the fabric and a lighter or similar source of flame.

Take a small piece of fabric in question and light one corner of it, allow it to burn for about a second or two (observe the smoke and color of the flame) and then blow it out. Then take a look at the edge of the fabric where the flame was.

Cotton: Burns without any distortion of fabric, the fire line is very clean and even.

Rayon: Burns much faster and resembles burning paper, the burnt fiber will feel like fine ash.

Polycotton: Somewhat smoky burn, the fabric will curl while burning and the fire line will have a shiny edge to it.

Polyester: Noticeably more smoke than other fabrics and the fire line will look just like melted plastic.

SEO Hawaiian Style

Aloha boys and girls,
I got up this morning thinking I would write about Hawaiian shirts or something like that, but after checking the Google SERPS I changed my mind. As most of you have figured out by now I am a student of Gypsy SEO and I wanted to take a moment to pay homage to my teacher (he did say get a blog and write about whatever you have on your mind that day). See in the early days when I first met Gypsy on line in a forum, he gave me some advice and off I went on what sounded like an endless road to an unknown destination.

The advice was way too simple, basically all about staying on topic (which has evolved to themes). So about a year has passed since our first conversation and I have been a tireless student the whole time. My better half Peggy will tell you that I really do work 7 days a week and that my days are roughly 16 hrs long. It's all about being a geek, how bad do you want it?

Our primary business is manufacturing Hawaiian shirts and though it’s a niche it is quite competitive and obviously the money terms are a real bitch to rank. But I have stuck with it and Dave, owner of Reliable SEO, has continued to mentor me. I won’t say no one else has given me good advice, but Dave shines because he did not discount my sometimes-crazy ideas. Instead he would say something like “its possible” “lets research it more”, “did you see this about that” etc. Then I would really mess with his analytical mind and send him a picture of a new Hawaiian fabric, I think he cringes when faced with the unknown. Ha ha ha wait till he sees the crazy Hawaiian shirt I am making him.

Well back to this morning, I needed to take some pictures of some new products (like the bird of paradise shirts) but I figured that I would do some quick checks of the datacenters to see how our keywords and phrases were doing. In our business ranking “Hawaiian shirts” is like trying to rank “Hawaiian vacations”, good luck they say. Well long story short, we finally moved into the #2 position on the data centers that I queried this morning. Now I realize that this may not be some great accomplishment in the eyes of the veteran SEO people, but it meant a lot to little ole me, and I guess that’s all that matters, doesn’t it.

My next post will certainly be a bit more Hawaiian, but for now I have to get the pictures done (Peggy just told me I need to quit messing around get them done, today!), Mahalo.

Bird of Paradise Shirts

Aloha, today started out like every other day, too much work and not enough time to enjoy the finer things in life.

This morning I went down to the facility that cuts and sews our Hawaiian shirts to pick up a stock order.

But then my day changed for the better. One look at the new new print and I just could not wait to tell everyone about the new Hawaiian print we just completed. Its so hot!

Shirts are made from a fine cotton fabric that I picked up in HI; it’s black with green foliage, small crème yellow orchid flowers and bird of paradise. What I like the most about it is that the bird of paradise is to scale with the real plant. With so many of the fabrics available are not to scale it simply annoys me to no end. I mean how can you produce an authentic Hawaiian print shirt if the design is not proportionate or to scale.

Wave Shoppe is producing these bird of paradise shirts in matching men and women’s styles. It takes a lot of time to sew these shirts but it's always worth the wait. We expect to have the women’s aloha shirt with birds of paradise completed in about a week, but they can be pre ordered and we will ship as soon as they are in our hands.

If you are planning a trip to Hawaii we would like to recommend Hawaii Vacation Help - Visit them for fast, and best of all, free answers to your Hawaii vacation questions!

Da Kine Hawaiian Shirts

While "Da kine" appears in many contexts and refers to almost anything, it is also frequently associated with something good or genuine - "the best" according to some (as in the name of Duane Chapman's Dog the Bounty Hunter business, Da Kine Bail Bonds). Wave Shoppe Hawaiian shirts are Da kine of Hawaiian shirts you want to get for yourself. They will give you a genuine and unmistakable good feeling.

Mahalo

Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts