Happy Chinese New Year!

OK, so it's not until Monday the 26th, but Mondays are busy in the travel biz, and I may not get a chance to blog that day! So welcome one and all, to the Year Of The Ox. One of the main celebratory points with the Chinese New Year (it will be the year 4707 by the way, not 2009), is that it be spent with friends and family, enjoying food. See? That's the difference! Our New Year is celebrated by being with strangers and weirdos, enjoying mass quantities of liquor. Ancient American Secret: Ours sounds like more fun! Still, there is something to be said for both cultures, and the idea of food, friends and family sounds more like Chinese Thanksgiving. Except there's no turkey. Their New Year fare is more of chicken or fish, dumplings and pineapple, spring rolls, and a sticky rice pudding cake. I'm more partial to turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry, green beans and a big slice of mince pie with Cool Whip. I'm guessing they didn't have Cool Whip 4707 years ago, so they had to make do. Since the Ox is assumed to be female, it is also known in some circles as the Year Of The Cow. Being an Earth-sign in the Chinese Zodiac, that means she is also brown. We Americans prefer our sayings and symbols to rhyme, though, so you'd never hear anyone say "How now, brown Ox?"

What's new in Hawaii these days? How about this tour: Roughly 3 miles from Waikiki beach, a mini-bus full of tourists pulls up to a small, blue duplex built on what was once an ostrich farm for Hawaiian royalty. The driver points, and announces "On your left, ladies and gentleman, is the former residence of Barrack Obama's Kenyan father, and it is not out of the question this is where our 44th President was conceived." Yes, it's the local-man-makes-good story all over again, and the tourism industry is milking it for all they've got. Particularly with as hard-hit as the sightseeing and leisure travel market has been over there. But for people interested in all phases of history, it's a neat new addition to the standard Pearl Harbor and Dole Pineapple tours that have flourished for decades. Not much is truly new in Hawaii but this adds a new wrinkle.

SLOW NEWS DAY, small-town-style. A 39-yr. old Iowa woman has been arrested - not for what she did, but what she didn't do. Shelly Koontz was arrested Thursday night, on a fifth-degree theft charge. By the way, did anyone out there know there were at least 5 degrees of theft? 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon of course, but what are the 5 theft levels?

1) Stealing something really, REALLY valuable

2) Stealing something kind of valuable

3) Stealing something that people might actually give you a nickel for

4) Stealing your nephew's used, leaking "Whoopee Cushion" he bought last summer at the Joke and Magic Shop

5) Stealing ANYTHING in Iowa

Anyway, the story claims Ms. Koontz checked out "The Freedom Writers Diary" from the public library in nearby Jesup, Iowa last April. Police say the book, which is about a high school teacher's effort to inspire students to write, had a street value of $13.95. Court records cite witness testimony, that library employees tried repeatedly to contact Ms. Koontz by phone and mail, asking her to please return the book. A police officer even visited her home. Officials at the Buchanan County jail say Koontz was released after posting $250 bond, and a trial date has been set for this heinous crime. I'm expecting to see Nancy Grace do at least 3-4 months on this demon-of-a-woman, and I think we all feel safer knowing she's off the street. No, she's not in jail. She's just in her living room. You know, off the street...