Props and Slops: December 29-January 4

IN MEMORIAM

• Claiborne Pell, former U.S. Senator (January 1).  Sen. Pell is best-known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, a Federal grant program that provides need-based grants to low-income college students.  I got one during my undergraduate years and am grateful to Sen. Pell for having the vision to help someone like me afford my college education.

Now, here are the top and bottom performers as I saw them this week:

HAWAII

• Props:  Mokulele Airlines for coming to my brother’s rescue when 2008 Slop of the Year go! Airlines gave away his seat even though he checked in over 30 minutes prior to departure.  After being shuffled and passed around at go!, he was able to walk over to Mokulele’s counter and get booked on the next flight.  They were able to book and board him in less than 90 minutes.  Must be all the aloha those former Aloha Airlines employees are displaying.  Don’t worry, he is never flying go! again and, at least for now, is more passionate about his disdain for them than I am.
• Slops:  Valley of the Temples Memorial Park in Kaneohe for digging up a grave without properly notifying the family members.  They claim it was an emergency due to flooding, but the pictures show a different story.  I’m also concerned because I have a few family members buried there.

GEEK/TECH/BLOG

• Props:  My fellow blogger, Quilly (@quilldancer on Twitter). First, she included Capsun’s Corner in her “The Best of 2008” post.  Then, she joined Where’s George? after yesterday’s post about the project.  Yes, joining or enabling my addictions hobbies puts you on the short list for Props.
• Honorable Mention:  Blogger and PBS Hawaii CEO Leslie Wilcox for sharing several beautiful computer wallpapers.  They come with a January 2009 stamp on them, so I’m hopeful that this may be a monthly feature.
• Slops:  JournalSpace for not properly backing up their data and losing every piece of every blog that was there.  The domain is now for sale on eBay.  Hmm, I wonder if this should have gone under the “In Memoriam” section.

POLITICS/GOVERNMENT

• Props:  Gov. Linda Lingle for partially complying with the Hawaii Supreme Court decision regarding Board of Regents nominees by nominating individuals for five of the six positions.
• Slops:  Always-Bellyaching Charles Djou for saying that the honest and passionate Kirk Caldwell has “…been exceptionally partisan, and I hope to hear his views on how he will handle a nonpartisan position at City Hall.”  See it in David Shapiro’s column by scrolling all the way down for the quote of the week; don’t miss Shapiro’s final say on Djou.

That’s it for this week.  Be sure to visit next week for another edition of Props and Slops, my favorite feature on Capsun’s Corner.

Mahalo!

Tagged as: caldwell, djou, journalspace, leslie wilcox, lingle, mokulele, pbs hawaii, pell, props and slops, quilly, regents, valley of the temples, where's george