By Paul Honda
paul@hondareport.com
Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2007

In the summer of 1982, I began applying for work at different establishments in my beloved Mo'ili'ili neighborhood.

I wanted a part-time job. I knew I'd do well. All my industrious efforts prior to that, from my Star-Bulletin paper route to my stay-after-practice mentality in sports, made me think that it would be a piece of cake. Work? Heck, I work already, and I don't get paid (I quit the paper delivery business at the end of eighth grade), and I love it.

Twelve applications later, Burger King finally hired me. The wanted me to work immediately. Of course, this was two months after I'd interviewed. "We lost your application," they told me. So I spent the next few months plopping hamburger patties onto that insanely effective conveyor-belt grill, nuking cold cooked patties to make Whoppers, getting burger grease all over my arms (ouch) and dealing with BK's UH football promotion (2-for-1 if you wear your button after a UH win).

I think back, and wonder, if I could do it again, it would be different. In the 25 years since I flipped burgers for a whopping (no pun intended) $3.43 an hour, it's easy to recognize that there's nothing better than identifying your world and making a buck off it.

If that means getting a degree in earth science (I think that's what they call it) and become a forest reserve ranger, beautiful. If that means majoring in sports medicine and mending injured athletes for life, awesome. It's not about greed. It's about recognition of what natural instincts and talents you have, and rolling with it to the fullest.

One of my drawbacks was my inability to notice that the world was going techno while I refused to use A) a cellphone, B) a new car (always bought used), C) a personal computer, and D) the free market.

Yes, the free market. In a global economy, or as Ira Rohter used to echo, the Global Village, technology is king. Now that China is bigger, broader and badder in the capitalist world, it doesn't really get much better for techno freaks who understood the power and challenge years ago.

By the time I finally got a cellphone (a work requirement around eight years ago), I'd missed the evolution of technology. Microsoft was healthy and gargantuan. Dell had gone from a one-man custom pc maker (working from his bathtub) to a billion-dollar corporation, and Apple ... the company that made the computers we used in our offices at West Hawaii Today (1993 is when the beautiful machines arrived to replace our MicroTeks), didn't quite register in my head yet.

By 2003, I finally tired of crappy Toshiba laptops and bought my own PowerBook. The power of Apple has captured me like no other piece of equipment. Ever. Still, even with the eventual coming of the iPod, I was one of the dinosaurs who didn't realize the revolution had arrived. Both iPod and iTunes turned the music industry upside down, but with major sales in the last three years, Apple's stock has shot through the stratosphere.

On deck? The iPhone. I have no clue how good it could be. I don't even have a new cellphone. The model I have is a used one passed down from my sister. If the iPhone has the same effect that the iPod did, it would be insane to ignore Apple again. Of course, the iPhone will retail at $499, quite a bit more than an iPod. But the Apple name, the quality, the Cool Factor, are all just undeniable.

Of all the products you've ever owned, of any brand that you're loyal to, has anything stuck so well like Apple's products? You might say McDonald's. Even Nike, though Under Armour has a lot more room for growth. (Shoot, even my nephew uses their gear.) Longs Drugs! Even though Longs is a California-based chain, they've been here long enough for me to consider them local, and more importantly, well run. Longs has great financial fundamentals as a company, and I'm not surprised.

The iPhone comes out in a few months, and by then, Apple will be even more glamorous than it is now. The growth curve is still on (49.3 earnings per share!), and probably will still be after iPhone matures. Apple keeps looking forward for the next cool tool of tech. I just wonder how many people will be able to make some captial gains by owning a piece of Apple the company.

After all, recognizing technology — superior technology — and acting on that is surely an efficient way to make money.

Save money, get Apple. Or flip burgers, spend the money. The choice would be so simple.

Oh, to be young again.

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