Commitment

While the islands of Hawaii are one of the remote places on earth, it is a part of the USA. With the exception of certain rural areas and Ni'ihau, one could make the assumption that it is pretty easy to the things that we 21st century Americans have grown accustomed to, like say....saimin, or food in general? Making the assumption for Oahu, i think you would be spot on; a modern supermarket/shopping center/7-11 is just MINUTES from where you live. Unless you live at Turtle Bay, or Kaena Point. By minutes i mean pop to the store, pick up your twinkies and copy of 0-60 (or Automobile or Scientific American) pay the lady, go home. Total round trip, 15 minutes. If that.

Let us contrast and compare with rural Yamhill. Lets say you need a USB flash drive for your latest OpenBSD project or Hackintosh backup. Mcminville or Newberg? Fred Meyer or WalMart? East or West. Just to get there? Half an hour, maybe.

This means you are cruising down pastoral landscapes, while obeying any and all posted speed limits, cranking your favorite 70's era disco CD. The heater gently saute'ing your knuckles. Once you arrive and obtain your tiny piece of technology, you realize that you might as well get anything else you might need. Where is the Sambal? The KimChee? Paper Towels... we need this too... and food, that's going to run out. Ooo.... Steven Sagal DVDs..

You see how this is turning out? Even if you have a list, there is no such thing as a quick hop to the store. Unless you are going to the T&E General store.

So now, you head back to the vehicle and make the voyage back to Yamhill. While you and your knuckles are being slowly crock pot'ed by the heater, the strains of Meshuggah waft through the cabin. It doesn't make the trip any faster. Total elapsed time, round trip:

• If you are on top of it, and get what you need and BAIL: 1 Hour
• If you get side tracked, distracted or are prone to impulse shopping: 1.5 Hours to 2+ Hours
• If you said screw this, we're going to Portland: 2, 3+ hours
  
• If you decided to hell with it, i'm not going anywhere: 0 Hours

It's all about commitment..