A L O H A   and   M A H A L O

Aloha and Mahalo are two of the most widely used words of the Hawaiian language. You hear these words everyday and almost everywhere in Hawaii. All residents of our beautiful islands - the young and the old, the rich or the poor, Hawaiian or not ... they all know these two words by heart.

Aloha means many different things. It can be used to say hello, goodbye, welcome, love, good wishes, and also to express compassion and caring affection. It is a word which easily rolls off one's tongue like the soft breezes and gentle waves that come to our beautiful islands.

Mahalo simply means thank you. Just as in any other language, it is used to express gratitude or appreciation ... as for a gift, a favor, and the kindness or generosity of others.

With these two words, allow me therefore to extend to you warm greetings of aloha and mahalo for visiting this Web site. Hopefully, this visit of yours will not be the last one and that you will be back many more times yet.

If you don't mind, allow me now to introduce myself. My name is Juny Pilapil La Putt and my numerous friends in cyberspace also know me as "The Hawaiian WebMaster." From the caricature above and my photo to the right, I guess you can definitely tell that I am a male. I just wanted you to be sure about it for there have been many of my cyberspace friends who thought I was a female ... I guess it is because of my first name. Actually, this name was derived from Junior, which I am. My grandmother found it easier to just call me "Juny" and ever since then I was known by that name.

I really do not know what you want to know about me in the first place, and why. Sure, I can tell you a lot of things about myself, however, I might only bore you with useless and unnecessary details. Well, what the heck! This is my Web page anyway and I think I am at liberty to do as I please, right? Of course, I know that you can always skip this part and go elsewhere instead. Well, this is a free country and it is your choice and not mine. I leave it all up to you then.

I originally came from the Philippines and immigrated to this great country, the United States of America, and have been a resident of the State of Hawaii since March of 1987. I have been to this country twice before. The first time was in 1975 when I came on a Fulbright scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the Ohio State University. Seven years later I came back and joined the University of Maine at Orono as a Visiting Fulbright professor. It was during this stint that I started researching and writing my 5 books in surveying & basic computer concepts which are now used as textbooks in most engineering & technical schools in the Philippines.

Earlier, and back in the Philippines I was with the Philippine Military Academy for over 17 years where I was a member of its military academic faculty. I also had the opportunity to teach civil engineering subjects at the Mapua Institute of Technology (my alma mater) and the University of Baguio which are in Manila and Baguio City, respectively. During my first year in Hawaii I also taught at the Honolulu Community College before finally joining the Building Department of the City and County of Honolulu as a building official.

I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers of the Philippine Army after graduation from college and passing my board examination. As a volunteer, I joined the 1st Philippine Civic Action Group which represented the military participation of the Philippines during the Vietnam War. I had a two-year stint in South Vietnam and having earned 13 medals and decorations, it was one of my most colorful and memorable assignments in my military profession. I only served the Armed Forces for 21.5 years and decided to optionally retire with a full colonel's rank. Just prior to my retirement, I was the deputy executive director of the National Cartography Authority which is now known as NAMRIA.

Upon my retirement, I returned to Baguio City and established the Baguio Research & Publishing Center which took care of publishing and distributing nationwide the 5 books I wrote. I also worked full time as Head of the Dept. of Surveying and the Computer Center of the University of Baguio. However, barely three years later I decided to bring my family to America ... to allow my 3 daughters and 2 sons to find for themselves quality education and better opportunities in life ... this I believe was the best decision I ever made for my children, my wife, and myself.

Well, I guess this is about it. I did not intend to make you read my life's story. Too bad, I was also intending to tell you about the "the girls I loved before." On second thought, I think I will just leave this part instead for Julio Iglesias to sing.

To spice things up, next time I will insert more photographs from my collection ... just in case you might want to take a look at these. They say that pictures do "tell a thousand words," and if they really do, I will portray as many here so I can tell you a million things about myself ... without having to write anything further. How's that? And before you go anywhere else, hopefully within this Web site, let me once again say "ALOHA" and "MAHALO" for dropping by and if you have anything to tell me, just send an e-mail, okay?