Aloha ʻoe

Our time on Diamondhead is drawing to a close this week, and since we still have to clean the house, I don't know if I'll have much time to post. What I hoped to do was provide lists and lists of wonderful things about Hawaii that I will miss, but instead, I will summarize our lives here with some photos. Thanks for reading, and aloha 'oe, or May you be loved and greeted.

Big Island, June 2006, Hike to Halape through Volcano Ntl Park; we'll miss the free coconuts

The Sally Ladies


The North Shore in the winter



Sunsets


The wildlife

And last, but not least, Nani Lēʻahi,
the ʻāina (land), the moana (ocean), and the lewa (air).

Aloha, Oahu! We will miss you.

Our last holiday weekend

Holidays are a big part of Hawaiian culture. There is not a month that goes by without a 3 day weekend, and Memorial day is exceptionally awesome because of all the fanfare here for WWII vets.

We had a pretty good weekend. Here are some pictures of our last big weekend of fun.

Saturday: Hartlenz Lab going away luncheon at the Oahu Country Club:


Magnified view of my awesome orchid lei (I absolutely love the tradition of giving leis. They are so beautiful!):


Sunday: Polo match on the North Shore (K's student gave us free tickets)

Monday: We went to the movies (Iron Man) and hung out in Waikiki. I am going to miss being able to walk to the beach. I know you feel sorry for me...

Almos pau

Done with school, almost done with work, our stuff is slowly getting packed and shipped. Phew. It is really happening. We're leaving.

The Hawaiian word for "end, completed, finished, etc" is "pau". We use this word a lot.

"Pau hana": Happy hour
"I'm pau": I am taking my cleats off because I don't want to play frisbee anymore.
"Almos pau": Not quite done.

In the last case, pau is coupled with "almos" a pidgin word for "almost". It is hard not to pick up some of this vocabulary. My favorites:

da kine: this can mean virtually anything but typically means something so totally awesome it can't be expressed any other way.

ono kine grindz: really awesome food; see the food blog if you don't believe me:

hana hou: do it again; one more time; an ovation; also, play one more point at frisbee

howzit: coupled with bruddah, this would be a way to say hi to a dude

da menehune cockaroach my tent pole: Menehune are the mythical creatures that lived in Hawaii before the Hawaiians. They like to steal things. The menehune always steal things when we camp.

I wonder what kind of new languages we'll learn in Ohio? Hmn, maybe Seneca (Ohio means "beautiful river"). Or maybe not. Either way, last day on Oahu ("the gathering place") is June 13th. And if you're around Tucson, we'll be there until the 24th. Let's hang.

One thing I won't miss about Hawaii

Thursday afternoon town-bound traffic. Today was my last day making this drive. Good riddance.

A big mahalo to those of you who tolerated my phone calls while sitting in this madness. You kept me sane.

Our new house.

The Moaʻa are back

We played our league frisbee games at Waimanalo beach last weekend. This is what a typical day at Sherwoods looks like:


This is how it looked last week:



Notice how you can't see Rabbit island. Or the top of the ridge.

Was it a storm? A forest fire? Industrial pollution? No, it was vog. The Kilauea crater has been spewing sulfur dioxide gas now for weeks. When the Moa'a- the northeast trade winds- are not present, the gases collect over the islands instead of blowing out over the Pacific. Last week the levels got higher than usual, and many people, as written about in this NY Times article, have trouble breathing. Despite the air quality, we played three games of beach Ultimate, and even managed to win one after being back by 5 points and playing savage.

Speaking of Ultimate, this Friday's game included the allotment of game points to the fastest sprinters on each team. Each person would have to run the length of the Ulti-field, against the tradewinds that had since reemerged, uphill. Lo' and behold, our practice team race was won by K, which meant that he would run against the fastest guy on the other team. It turns out that the gentleman he would be running against was not only the fastest man on the red team, he was also recently voted as the fastest guy on the island by an unofficial poll done by the women on the island, myself included.

You probably know where this is going, but I could hardly believe it. I have NEVER seen K run so fast, or so well. He came from behind and charged ahead, winning by at least 2 feet. Boy, was he excited, and, admittedly, I was pretty excited for him. Later he informed me that he almost puked beforehand (thank goodness no blueberry bagels or purple gatorade were involved), remembering all the jitters of mountain bike races of the past. But he swallowed his puke, ran that race, and WON that race.

Good job! Way to be a winner. They'll always remember you on Oahu.

Pictures!

I finally took some time to post our travels of the last month. A huge thank you to our friends for getting married in such beautiful places. From late March / early April. Click on "Costa Rica trip" and "North Shore" to see more photos.

Costa Rica trip:

Valle de Orosi

Volcan Arenal

Steph and Mau's wedding

North Shore:

Skydiving:

Katelyn and Joe's wedding at Camp Mokuleia

As a post script, I would like to A-M for letting me use her Costa Rica tour books (don't worry, I won't send them back! I passed them on to my tennis buddies). In your honor, the picture below was taken while listening to Mason Jennings play last weekend at Kokua Fest. Did you know he was born in Hawaii? We didn't actually go to the show, but it sure was nice hearing his soothing voice as we sat under a Diamondhead sky. We're starting to get a little sad about leaving...ETD June 13th!

Experimenting with a little widget in the sidebar.

UPDATE: Buggy as all get out. Looks like you can pick individual tracks in the radio feature but if you want to move to another track, you need to refresh the browser window. Fun tho.

Shhh...don't tell my mother

We're doing this on Saturday. Our friends, Katelyn and Joe are getting married and this was their idea of a pre-wedding ritual.

Very, very excited. And terrified too.

UPDATE: We survived. And it was totally, totally awesome. I'll post the pics/video soon. Ryan and Julia are visiting today so we're going surfing for the first time, yeah! What a great weekend.

ʻōhio in Hawaiian means to fart

It also means windy too.

For those of you who begged, we are moving to Ohio for several reasons. Reason numero uno is that I got a job teaching at Denison University, a school not unlike my alma mater, Allegheny College. I actually went to Denison once to play tennis, as they are both in the same conference (NCAC, ya heard!) K is probably going to teach somewhere nearby, as there are approximately 50 schools in the greater Columbus metro area.

Reason numero dos (sidenote: did I mention we are going to Costa Rica Saturday for my friend, Steph's, wedding? She is marrying a Costa Rican, ooh lala. I am trying to practice my Spanish. Does anyone remember how to ask for a tow truck :) ?): It is time to leave Hawaii. Hawaii is a wonderful, magical, exciting place full of wonderful people and incredible geology. But it is 2,500 miles to anything. Which includes family. And all our old friends. And our stuff that has been in a storage locker for 2.5 years. And getting things 2,500 miles from anywhere means they cost a lot more. Which is fine if you make a lot of money. But, sadly, we don't. Not only will we make more money in Ohio, but the money will buy us a lot more stuff!

Reason numero tres: I'm ready for a change. My research is awesome, and I get to work with wonderful people. I am hopefully going to get at least 3 pubs from what I have done here, although the establishment keeps rejecting my one primary paper (it goes against a DOGMA!). But, the primary project is winding down and I really enjoy teaching, so I am going to get to teach neuro courses and develop labs for them. Very cool. I actually get to apply the stuff I learned in school. That = happiness!

Of course, living in a place that means "windy or to let wind" means that there will be alot of changes. Winter. Commuting via car instead of bicycle. The conservative masses of people on the east coast (anything east of the Mississippi is considered east coast to Hawaiians). But there will be good things too: like having our bicycles back, getting a kitty cat, and looking forward to whatever comes next. The job is only for two years. Then, who knows, we could be moving to a neighborhood near you! (preferably on the west coast :) )

A new beginning

The new vent near Kilauea finally spewed enough lava to reach the ocean. See story here and USGS update here. They plan to open a new viewing area this weekend. I think I may try to go to the Big Island soon to see it; it won't be a 3 mile walk this time, wahoo! Who's with me?

p.s. Other new beginnings...and the end to Nani Le'ahi. We're officially moving back to the mainland in June, so it's now or never for visiting. Of course, there's always a chance we could move back. I met a guy yesterday who may be hiring in two years when the mainland gig is up. Where will the wind will take us next? Ohio. It's kinda like Hawaii but not. At all. More later...

Shout outs to some cuties....

Yesterday, K and I went to Rumi's first birthday party. One of the guests brought her pot-bellied pig, Frederick, to the party. He was soooo cute:

Check out the link above for more pics. Kaveh takes awesome photos.

Frederick actually weighs less than our little pot-bellied piglet:


And, without further ado, the most awesome dog ever:


From the wide world of the internet. K has too much time on his hands.

KK turns 21!

500+ people are supposed to show up today to play in a frisbee tournament here on the isle of Oahu. This is the 21st year of the tournament, and it is supposed to be awesome. Playing up on the theme of turning 21, expect gambling, lots and lots of imbibing, and plenty of corn-tossing, rowdy good times.

Here's our team photo from last year. Eight returning players, and some newbies. Viva la Sally ladies!

The end of an era?

First, Lute Olson goes on hiatus and now Bobby Knight retires mid-season? They're not allowed to just leave! I grew up watching these guys coach!* Sigh, I must be getting older.

*(okay, I didn't actually root for Arizona until I went there, and only after they lost to Duke in the national championship game in 2001, but I DID attend a Bobby Knight basketball camp when I was 15. I won a signed Damon Bailey shirt for having the best foul shot percentage and refused to wash it until he was famous. Still waiting...wonder what happened to that guy. Oh. Yikes. So I guess I can wash the shirt now?)

A wai malama (A water month)

I ka wai kau a Kāne me Kanaloa, he wai puna, he wai e inu, he wai e mana, he wai e ola, e ola nō.

(Water given by Kāne and Kanaloa, spring water, water to drink, water for power, water for life, may there be life )

As you can probably imagine, water is central to our everyday living here on the island. From a brisk ocean swim every Sunday (the water is a cool 77d this time of year), to the invariable morning showers on our bike rides to work, we see and feel our fair share of water. Every day in January, and I mean every morning and every afternoon, I saw a rainbow. No pots of gold so far, but I intend to keep on looking anyway...

Water, and particularly the ocean itself, were at the center of our lives this month (and I am stretching the month a bit to include Christmas), so I thought I would pay a special tribute to 71% of our world. Today, I realized just how much I am going to miss it when I am gone from Hawaii. What a wonderful place to have lived, in the center of the Pacific, out on a big rock in the middle of it all.

Without further ado:

Water for fun: Christmas eve road biking trip to the top of Makapu'u; a storm blows in



Water for viewing only: K's dad in town: North Shore Waves >20ft (1/9/08)


Water is power: Near-death experience, Shark's Cove. Just after this picture was taken, an enormous swell came in and all of us almost floated out to sea:


Water is beauty: A North-shore sunset:



Water for research: Zooplankton collection on the R/V Klaus Wyrtki , Captain Tom (1/23/08):


Water for life: Some of my friends from and near the sea:

Hawaii hermit crab, unauna

Euphausiid sp. (12x ~ 4mm in length)

Candacia aethiopica

Gaffers wilsonae
Bellows Beach on the windiest day of the year (1/25/08).
We slept in our car that night because the wind knocked the tent over.

Water for birth: The age of Aquarius:

The happy water-bearer eating a marshmallow on his birthday camping trip.

Water is for drinking: Unfortunately, we did not take pictures yesterday on the sailing trip with Kyle's former student. We saw at least 4 whales, stood at the bow of the boat and took on 8 foot swells, and drank enough water in the form of Miller Lite to have to run to the bathroom as soon as we docked.

Water finale: And who can resist some water (and marine invertebrate) humor:

“Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen.”
Stephen Wright

Ahhh....

From the Hopu tourney in November. Gaffers turned 5 recently, so this is her belated birthday celebration! Or maybe it is her early birthday celebration. We are not completely sure of her actual birthday, but if you want to mark your calendar, Auntie Meg, we celebrate on Dec. 12.