Eighty year old Merrill Smith can see again. The Hilo man slowly began losing his vision over the past few years, but thanks to a revolutionary surgical procedure his eyesight is improving.

He said: “Actually I couldn’t see faces and I had a lot of dead spots where I was looking. Where ever I concentrated on would just go behind the fog.”

According to this article, Hawaii is one of the first states to offer this procedure:

But lucky for the Hawaii Island man, who used to be a finish carpenter and mechanic, a new technology utilizing an implantable eye telescope is now available in Honolulu.

“So just like the telescopes we use to look at the stars it’s the same magnification principals but literally in a microscopic version,” says Dr. Michael Bennett of the Retina Institute of Hawaii.

Ten centers across the U.S. offer this new technology and Honolulu’s Retina Institute is the only one in the state to offer it.

“That is, the telescope itself, the image goes through the front part of the lens and is projected onto the front part of the retina,” Dr. Bennett says.

Smith is highly optimistic about this amazing new surgery. He said:

“I am right on the edge of being able to read. I mean, I got an idea, it gets clearer and clearer everyday.”

And the best news of all is that this $15,000 procedure is covered by Medicare for those who qualify. It just goes to show you that amazing things are happening in our great state.

  by  istolethetv 

Hilo Hawaiian Hotel where my family and I have gone for decades to eat at their buffet has recently hired a new chef. Chef Khamtan Tanhchaleun was recently hired to fill the shoes of Chef Piet Wigmans who recently retired.

This article says:

Tanhchaleun will lead the food and beverage team at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, including the hotel’s award-winning Queen’s Court Restaurant, known for its inventive approach to traditional Hawaiian cuisine and its focus on fresh, local ingredients.

Tanhchaleun, a long-time Hawaii resident, is a native of Laos with extensive culinary experience. He began his career at Waikiki’s notable Michel’s at the Colony Surf in 1972 where he quickly worked his way up to sous chef and sommelier.

Tanhchaleun followed his training at Michel’s with extensive world travel and further training. In 1990, he returned to Hawaii to open the food and beverage facilities at the Hawaii Prince Hotel and Golf Club, where he remained employed until joining the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.

So it appears that my taste buds will be in good hands. Aside from the food, what I like about the Hilo Hawaiian is the excellent views it has of Hilo Bay. The only bad thing about the dinner buffet is that since Hilo Bay is located on the East Side of our island we don’t get to see spectacular sunsets during dinner. But our sunrises are quite nice. Unfortunately, I’m not the biggest fan of big breakfasts, I prefer dinner buffets. So there…

Hilo Gas Prices hit a new high of $4.70 per gallon this week. But cheer up. It could be worse. Our neighbors on Molokai and Lanai are now paying more than $5 per gallon. I guess it is time to take my horse out of the barn and leave my car in the garage. Oh wait. I don’t own a horse.

According to the folks at HawaiiReporter Oahu dealers only make $0.10 to $0.12 per gallon and their profits actually go down as gas prices go up:

Bill Green, an energy consultant and the former owner of Kahala Shell in East Oahu, said Oahu dealers make about 10 cents to 12 cents per gallon, and as the prices go up, their profits actually decrease. That is in part because credit card fees rise percentage wise as sales do. In addition, it takes more cash to fill the underground gasoline tanks, with many dealers having to take out loans to fill their tanks.

I found this to be very interesting and very counter-intuitive. But I guess it makes sense. So when do I think gas prices go down? Probably when we discover oil in Hawaii. Barring that I suspect that it would take a massive economic downturn to put a dent in rising gas prices, so I’m a little afraid to wish for lower prices. Or if we all went Amish and stopped using cars, maybe that might have an impact.

Surprise, surprise: according to Pacific Business News Hawaii gas prices keep on going up. The average price of gas in our great state is now $4.44 and this really sucks. But look at the bright side, if you want  to drive from one side of our island to the other you only need to travel 100 miles or less. In my car that is only 4 gallons of gas. To drive from one side of the mainland to the other it is around 3,000 miles. I don’t want to think about how much gas that would take.

Anyway Pacific Business News says:

The statewide average price for a gallon of regular unleaded was 24 cents higher than a month ago and 42 cents higher than a year ago, according to AAA Hawaii, which this week released a survey in which 66 percent of Hawaii residents said that the high gas prices were affecting their household budgets.

But I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to tell you that higher prices will affect family budgets.

Hilo’s very own Lincoln Park has been closed for repairs. It turns out that the rubberized surface is cracking and falling apart according to hawaii 247:

The Hawai‘i County Department of Parks and Recreation announces the closure of portions of Lincoln Park in downtown Hilo.

Several holes have developed in the rubberized surface of the Dr. Ruth E. Oda Playground located within the park, Deputy Director Clayton Honma said in announcing the temporary closure to undertake emergency repairs.

Parks maintenance staff has performed inspections that determined the fall zones in certain areas of the playground are unsafe due to the weakened surface.

In fact, this past week, my friend’s kid noticed this and was trying to put pieces of the rubberized surface back into place. You might think that this is no big deal. But her kid is only 51 weeks old. He turns 1 this week.