From right: Becky, her father, and her sister Jen enjoy the view on a boat ride Dec. 22 up the Wailua River.

A shot of one of the many chickens and roosters that roam free in Kauai. They were once cooped up, but they were freed when their cages broke during Hurricane Iniki in 1992. We’ve also seen geese, spiders, and red-tailed boobies (that’s a type of bird, you pervert).

Becky looks out on a scenic view in the Wailua River valley Dec. 22.

Shortly after getting leid at the airport on Dec. 21, Becky wears her lei.

USC’s women’s volleyball team — ranked #1 for almost the entire season — completed their season of destiny by winning the national championship Saturday, 3-1 over Stanford, the only team that beat them this season (3-2 on Nov. 2).

It’s USC first national title in women’s volleyball since 1981, the year I was born.

Hooray for the Women of Troy!!!!! Fight on national champs!!!!!

Just flew to Kauai. Furthest west I’ve ever been. Bee-yoo-tiful view from plane.

There are some new vacation pictures in the right column. Check ‘em out! :) And keep looking over there: I’m going to start posting my Hawaii photos to the right-hand photo blog, where they naturally belong, instead of putting them in this news blog, where they take up way too much download time and leave the homepage’s appearance unbalanced.

Are you looking for photos that have scrolled off the homepage already? Click on the “all photos that have ever appeared in this space” link at the bottom of the right-hand column.

In other news, Trent Lott is gone, as you undoubtedly already know if you haven’t been living in a cave all day. Mississippi Republicans are ticked off, but InstaPundit.com — a conservative blog site that helped whip up this controversy in the first place — says good riddance. His replacement will be Bill Frist of Tennessee.

And the Lakers suck.

Friday night fireworks on Waikiki Beach!

A woman feeds the fish Dec. 20 inside a Waikiki hotel’s massive indoor aquarium.

On Dec. 20, Becky and I visited Pearl Harbor and saw, among other things, these rusted remains of the U.S.S. Arizona, whose sinking on Dec. 7, 1941 killed more than 1,000 sailors.

A mysterious fire burns on the horizon, as seen from Waikiki Beach on the morning of Dec. 20.

Becky’s footsteps are about to be washed away by a Pacific Ocean wave along Waikiki Beach on Dec. 20.

Becky walks along Waikiki Beach just outside our hotel on Dec. 19.

An aerial view of Honolulu and Waikiki, seen from our Hawaiian Airlines jet as it neared the airport Dec. 19.

Becky cuddles with a Christmas present that she gave me, a plush dolly of Stitch, during our long Dec. 19 flight from Phoenix to Honolulu.