4th of July 2008
What better place than Kaneohe Bay to spend the 4th of July? With the Kaneohe Marine Corp Air Field as a backdrop, and people enjoying the freedom we have here in America.

Captain Doug
Doug Smoyer keeps one of his two boats moored by his home on Kaneohe Bay and we were thrilled with the invitation to come along and just kick back and do whatever we felt like for the afternoon.

Joan Smoyer
As Doug safely piloted us out into the bay, wife Joan was content ro catch some rays.

iPhone Working Everywhere
I was happy to find that my iPhone worked just great on the bay, allowing me to stay in touch while enjoying the trip.

It’s a Japanese Thing
Masae was busy shooting photos of us all.

Sandbar
And the mass of boaters and party goers found the Kaneohe Bay sandbar the ideal place to kick back, eat, drink, swim, and even play volley ball in the water.

Hey Doug and Joan,
Mahalo for a great day, I hope we can do this again soon.

Waikiki Sailing Yacht Races

One of the real highlights of being on Oahu is watching the weekly yacht races off of Waikiki.

The best way to appreciate this event is to climb aboard a friend’s motor yacht, loaded with friends and goodies, and get out there with them.

Doug and Joan Smoyer

Our hosts on many of these Friday afternoons are Doug and Joan Smoyer. Joan owns Noa Noa and Doug is… well, I like to call him “Mr. Retail”. No one knows more about what’s going on in the world of retail than Doug. I treasure any opportunity I get to be with Doug.

Whale Watching

On this particular evening Masae was the official whale watcher. She spotted a mother whale and calf that were spouting about a hundred yards from the boat. 

I just “kicked back” and enjoyed it all.
Mahalo Doug and Joan

After a relaxing Kaneohe Bay day aboard Doug Smoyer’s yacht, he leaned over to me and said, “We need to do this more often”.
That was quite a lesson for me. After spending 17+ years of exchanging business ideas and suggestions with Doug, this may have been some of his best advice yet.
Being an admitted workaholic for almost a half a century, I have seldom taken enough time to stop and smell the roses (or salt air).
This day on Kaneohe Bay with Masae, good friends, fine wine and some tasty snacks was indeed memorable.
Don Ho’s words, “Keep your toes in the sand” were ringing in my ear.

Whenever I have the opportunity to sit and talk with Doug Smoyer; president of Retail Strategies, the thoughts and ideas that come up should be documented.
Too many times we meet, get excited about something, and then go off to our busy businesses leaving gold on the table.
Today, Masae and I are headed out to Kaneohe Bay with Doug and his wife, Joan (Owner of Noa Noa), on one of his yachts, and I am sure that we will return having had a good four hours of fun and fruitful discussions.
I am going to propose to Doug that on future get-togethers that I capture the essence of our discussions and post it right here for all to see today as well as in the future.
Stay tuned for photos from today as well as the outcome of this “proposal”.