Eight to ten days after the full moon, box jellyfish descend upon Oahu's beaches, threatening Hanauma Bay and Waikiki tourists with their stinging nematocysts. One species, the sea wasp (Chironex fleckeri), is:
"claimed to be the most venomous marine animal known," according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science. They state that it causes excruciating pain to humans, often followed by death, sometimes within two or three minutes, and that the chance of survival if stung while swimming alone is "virtually zero."
The body of Chironex is the size of a basketball.
Luckily, here in Hawaii, we have the Carybdea alata and Carybdea rastonii species. They're not so big (less than 6") and not so bad (only cause anaphylactic shock in the lucky individuals allergic to their venom) as their relatives in Australia. One of the ladies in my department, Angel Yanagihara studies their venom and goes on regular collection trips in the middle of the special "8th night".
I would also like to comment about the figure the author of the Wikipedia article chose for the box jellyfish. It is a drawing by Ernst Haeckel, my new favorite scientific rebel who apparently made up some data to support his pet hypotheses. A case of artistic license, maybe? Some of his famous "fakes" were included in the embryo drawings, shown here in Romanes's 1892 version where the background has been changed to white from black:
He later admited that 6-8% of the images may have been "falsified" (translated).
Tomorrow, we plan on going to the North shore to snorkel Shark's Cove. The jellyfish are not so prevalent up there, so we should be fine. I am more worried about riding up there on the back of Megan's motorcycle. An hour and a half on a cruiser. I can't wait...
The Big Island has had three earthquakes this week, two at 3.5, and today's at 2.1. No tsunamis have formed, but I have a feeling a bigger earthquake may be coming soon. The Hawaii Electric Company (HECO) has replaced their ill-fated mercury containing switches, with new ones so our electricity should fortunately not magically disappear during the next earthquake. Note to engineers: do not place a movable liquid in a switch when the liquid may move from the shaking of the ground.
And did you know, "The brain is the only organ that hates crime"? I love Achewood.
The Maui Land & Pineapple company, the last exporter of canned Hawaiian pineapple, is ending its operations on June 30. This marks the end of 100 years of canned pineapple exports from the state of Hawaii. The loss of the cannery is, "is a victim of cheaper overseas producers" like Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ecuador. Moreover, it marks the decidely necessary, but disappointingly bitter shift from Hawaii's agriculutural heritage to one of land developers and tourist dollars. Aloha, canned pineapples!
Don't worry, though, Hawaii still exports fresh pineapples! For now, anyways.
p.s. I don't really believe this is a UFO. This is actually a picture I found on the internet. In the "Where's Waldo?" tradition, I have hidden the words, "Katy sux" somewhere in the picture. Can you find it, Katy?
The science journal, Marine Biotechnology picked my image of a Labiodocera sp. copepod for its cover for next month! Last June, a colleague here at U. of Hawaii, Gabor Macz asked my boss, Petra, if any of the local copepods expressed green fluorescent protein (GFP). Petra, who was in Maine at the time, asked me to take a look. We discovered that the local species, like some of the other Labidocera, likely contain (a previously undescribed!) GFP in the female sex organs.
Here is the caption for the image:
Confocal microscopic image of the Pacific copepod Labidocera muridae with green fluorescent protein-like fluorescence. Colorful fluorescent proteins (FPs) occur in hydrozoan, anthozoan, and copepodan species, and are the source of exciting research opportunities and technological development. Copepodan FPs are among the brightest FPs in general which lends special value to this class of proteins. FPs have been used to address questions relevant to evolutionary and developmental biology and aquaculture. Photograph by Dr. Caroline Wilson, University of Hawaii, 2006. See the article by Mocz, pp. 000-000.
For the first time since I have lived in Hawaii, I feel like I am home. It happened this weekend when I was down at Kapiolani Park hanging out with a bunch of friends at a pre-Kokua fest party, when I looked up at Diamondhead and realized that it was my backyard. I live here, and I like it here. And I think I get to stay at least one more year, so I better take advantage of all that Hawaii has to offer.
The feeling was accented by a weekend of parties, starting with a Thursday surprise party for my friend, Kim, at the Ice Palace. Kim used to be a semi-pro figure skater, so it was only fitting to take her to the only ice rink in Hawaii for her 30th birthday. Then, on Friday night, the Sally's camped at Bellows beach, easily the most beautiful stretch of beach on the island. Saturday was the Kokua festival (I got to hear Jack Johnson and Eddie Vedder do a duet, but didn't actually see them since I didn't go into the show. One just needs to set up camp behind the Waikiki shell to hear the bands. Incidentally, this is where Kyle and I "watched" Hootie and the Blowfish play last spring.) Finally, Jake is in town, so we went on what is easily the most beautiful hike on Oahu yesterday, the Maunawili falls trail. People go to the falls and jump off; we saw about 4 guys do it; one came out with a bloody lip from the impact. It was pretty sweet.
Tomorrow begins a new experiment and my list of experimental necessities includes beer, earthworms, and different kinds of shrimp. The beer is for the boat driver, and the animals will hopefully be my control group. If all goes well with this experiment, my boss wants to send a paper to Nature. Hah! We shall see, we shall see!!!! Experiments never work that well, do they?
Aloha! K and I are back on the islands, and the weather this week has been BEAUTIFUL! This morning, we went to our new favorite place to take the dog, Kahala (Waialae) Beach park. Apparently, it is a sought after destination for beach weddings.
Speaking of weddings, we had a great time at both Dacks and Penny's and Lane and Anne's weddings last week. I would show you pictures, but our camera display died. I did manage to take a picture of Nate hanging out with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, at Solar Culture in Tucson:
Jake told us the afternoon before the show that Casiotone was playing that night, along with XiuXiu, two of Kyle's personal favorite Pitchfork-recommended bands. So we rounded up a posse (Julia, Jake, Nate, Elaine, K, and I) and went to what was easily one of the craziest shows I have ever been to. Awesome music, but the hipster kids just don't dance anymore. At least we had 40 oz. Tecates to make the evening go faster...
In DC, we went to the National Gallery, the Native American Museum, and saw beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere. What a great time of year for a wedding! Also, it was the first time I was back on the east coast for spring in probably 8 years. Spring is my favorite time of year, mostly because of Easter. This year, there is a party both on Saturday and Sunday thanks to all the April babies around the isle (I'm one of 8 frisbee players with birthdays between now and the 18th). And of course, my niece turns 1 year old tomorrow, so Happy Birthday, Megan!
Love is in the air this week! We're off to Tucson this afternoon for Dacks and Penny's wedding on Sunday. Then, on Tuesday, we leave Tucson to travel to Lane and Anne's wedding the following Saturday in Washington, DC. Congratulations also to Anne-Marie and Kevin who are getting married that same Saturday.
Some inspirational quotes for the occasions:
I got gaps; you got gaps; we fill each other's gaps. Rocky
What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. Leo Tolstoy
Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation. Oscar Wilde
If you live to be a hundred, I want To live to be a hundred minus one day, So I never have to live without you. Winnie the Pooh
RIP Blazer. Wait, what? It's going to be fixed? For virtually nothing? How could it be?!?
Just got this email from Kyle (the f-bombs have been edited):
God Bless the motherf-ing internet.
We destroyed the car on Thursday. Burnt the cylinder valve which was my worst fear. That is why it was loping. No pressure.
If we had known this, the next step would be to sell the car at auction for $300 bucks or so. Not get it fixed.
The call I just got was from the owner of Artesian who told me this. And he also told me that his guy (the guy I spoke to) did not tell him that I had said the engine was loping. Otherwise - he would not have wasted the time and effort on a car worth $3000 at most.
Later when he ran it and saw what was happening, he asked his guy if I had mentioned the engine and he was forced to admit as much. So this guy is in big trouble.
We - on the other hand - are in great shape. They are going to take the next week or two and fix this (a $3000 job at minimum) for free and only charge me the $650 for the radiator and pump work.
I am beside myself with joy. What a f-ing prince this guy is.
Artesian. Tell everyone you know. I told the guy I would flood him with referrals but he said they already had more customers than they can handle. They don't advertise and he was confused how I even found about them.
Whales! Alaskans and Tucsonites! Cleveland State Vikings! Leaky radiators!
It's been a busy week.
Last Saturday, Rob, Jana, Nate, and Elaine all came to town. They rented a beautiful house on the North Shore and we spent Sunday (and Thursday) eating, drinking, and snorkeling with them. The whales were out in abundance as well, and you could look off their front porch at any given moment and see them frolicking along the reefs. Here's Jana checking them out:
We also drank "Mai-tais" and Miller Lites. A drink for each hand!
On Sunday, we took the crew to our favorite snorkeling spot, Sharks Cove. We enjoyed Miller Lites in the sun-warmed "hot tubs" on top of the rocks. Apparently, on Tuesday, Sharks Cove became Sharks Bay, as the famous north shore waves came in and inundated everything, including the roads. North shore pictures are posted here if you want to see the rest of our adventures.
A spring break coaching trip also brought my friend, Dave, to Hawaii this past week. Dave and I played tennis together at Allegheny, and we hadn't seen each other in probably 5 years. He is an assistant coach for Cleveland State now, and the men's and women's teams came to play the local Hawaiian teams (who, by the way, are really, really good). Dave and I had an awesome night in Waikiki on Wednesday, drinking Killian's and messing with cops by jaywalking right in front of them so we could get our picture taken with Duke Kahanmoku statue. Just like old times... Finally, on K's and my way back from the North Shore on Thursday, our Chevy Blazer's radiator gave out, leading to some sort of miserable spurting of the water pump whenever the accelator was pressed. After a brief respite of steam streaming out of the hood beside the highway (where are the Green Angels when you need them!!!), we sputtered our way to the local Chevron where there just happened to be a willing tow truck driver (how do you say "tow truck" in Pidgeon?). He towed us home for $65 (which turned out to be twice that amount by the time you added "mileage"). But, I was happy to be home to the poor Gaffers who had been home alone all day.
Now, slightly sick from all this running around, I will relax on this St. Patty's day and thank the basketball gods that Ohio State didn't bite it this morning by losing to Xavier. I picked OSU to win it all, and that would have seriously messed up my bracket. Corned beef and cabbage for dinner, and maybe a Guiness or Boddington to remind us of St. Patty's days of yore. Hanging out with old (and new) friends this week really made me appreciate all those good, good times (you know, the ones we will always remember....)
Don't make fun of me (especially Brian who I know owns the whole set), but tonight I am watching The Godfather for, what I believe to be, the first time. K was floored when he discovered this the other day, and immediately put it at the top of the Netflix queue. I am excited to see it, especially since K's making me a dinner of insalata caprese and vodka penne, accompanied by a cabernet (French, damn it!)
Here in Honolulu, February / March weather means rainbows. You can imagine my surprise, then, when last Sunday my mother asked how much snow I had (oops, wrong daughter!) Trade winds bring the rain and it dumps on Manoa Valley, and since we live on the sunny side of Manoa, we get to peer into the beautifully refracted light almost every day. The Hawaiians, which are sometimes known as the "Rainbow people" have a rich mythology concerning the rainbow. My favorite story:
Lono – Ancient Tiki God of Fertility and Peace In Hawaiian mythology, Lono is a fertility and music god who descended to Earth on a rainbow to marry Laka. In agricultural and planting traditions, Lono was identified with rain and food plants. He was one of the four gods (with Ku, Kane, and his twin brother Kanaloa) who existed before the world was created. Lono was also the god of peace. In his honor, the great annual festival of the Makahiki was held. During this period (from October through February), all unnecessary work and war was kapu (taboo). This is also the season of taxes, olympic like games and when chiefs regrouped their forces (and organized campaigns ironically).
Damn. I should have read this before February ended. Now I guess I have to do some unnecessary work (manscripts, argh!). At least I got the taxes paid and out of the way!
For more Hawaiian myths and history, check out this website.
Last Friday I went with some friends to the Honolulu Academy of Art's "Art after Dark". Basically, this is the Academy's way of making some extra money and getting people to come to the gallery to enjoy all the beautiful and amazing art. The theme for last week's event was "Bombshell" and it included a live jazz band with swing dancers, a catered bar and grill menu, and of course, all the galleries were open until 9pm. And the bonus: the mingling of all the beautiful, young professionals actually dressed up without a single aloha shirt in sight. Don't get me wrong, I really dig the causal vibe here, but it is nice to see a man in a polo shirt now and again.
The biggest surprise of the evening for me? I had no idea we had such amazing art on Hawaii. A lot of the collection were pieces shipped at the turn of the 20th century to one of the wealthy mission ladies, Anne Rice Cooke. She collected an array of Asian art, as well as some amazing pieces you would see in a French museum. The most interesting tid-bit? This Gaughin, Two Nudes, is the only one of his Tahitian paintings to hang in a gallery in all of Polynesia. And boy, was it beautiful.
Next month the theme is "Let them eat cake" and I am really looking forward to it. I didn't make it to the Impressionist gallery in the Academy, so this will be my first stop next time. I also plan on exploring the Hawaiian gallery a bit more, including this exhibition on Hawaiian drawings. Anyone want to come with?
So K and I went to both Dawkins lectures these past few days. The first, "Queerer than we suppose: the strangeness of science" was the public lecture, given at 7pm Tuesday night. It started 40min late due to projector issues and hundreds of people needing to be accommodated on the outdoor lanai because the ballroom was too tiny. As far as we could tell, pretty much everyone there seemed to be an admirer; K and I were both surprised at the relative lack of protestors, although there were some Humanists holding down their corner in bright yellow shirts.
The talk was genuinely intriguing and basically touched on parts of his new book, The God Delusion as well as older ideas from The Selfish Gene. Loaded with lots of examples from nature, he talked about arms races that drive evolutionary change. I was most impressed with his ability to answer questions from the public. One of Dawkins' least favorite questions was asked after the talk, "What are we going to evolve into next?" Dawkins replies, "Silicon robots, of course!" followed quickly by "Actually, I have no idea."
Yesterday's talk (sorry, I don't recall the title), at 3:30pm, was a mish-mosh of examples which Dawkins used to show that life will always evolve to fill in certain niches, and that there are evolutionary commonalities that will arise in some form or another no matter what. In other words, repeated patterns will always emerge in life that evolves in the same context. For instance, "the" eye has evolved at least 40 times because light waves are useful for living in the world we live in. Had we lived in a different type of world (ie. a dark one) we would most likely not develop eyes. He called our niche the "Middle World", where our scale of distance and time are not tiny nor cosmic, rather in the middle. Our brains, therefore, evolved to perceive these middle functions, and can probably not comprehend either the very small or the very large. Thank goodness I finally have justification for not being able to understand the end of A Brief History of Time. A weight has indeed been lifted from my sorry shoulders.
Of course, a Dawkins talk would not be complete without a hit at the Creationists. When asked what he thought about people who believed the world to be designed, he answered, "They are not properly functioning human beings" and they are "missing the excitement of the universe".
While I agree that the universe is pretty exciting, it is hard to think about a world in which human beings are entirely secular. Not everyone gets to sit around and think all day and be paid for it after all (lucky bastards!). Perhaps I will comment more on this topic another day, but in the meantime, I just want to add that Dawkins himself admits that he is just a middle-minded man who can't possibly comprehend everything either. So we should probably not ask him what he thinks about the South Park episode anymore, because he apparently did not get it. By the way, Kyle's student asked Dawkins before his first lecture what he thought about the South Park episode. He said he wished they would have gotten a better British actor to do his voice, har har har. Then, he grabbed the students pen and whistfully autographed his kitten-decorated Econ folder. "To John, may you evolve into something great".
What a busy President's Day weekend! K and I played and watched Ultimate frisbee in the 20th annual Kaimana Klassik Tournament. Here is a picture of the Lady Sippin' Sally team:
K was on the men's Sally's team, but I am pretty sure after 3 handles of bourbon, rum, and tequila, they were not quite organized enough to take a picture. What a crew.
Tonight is the Richard Dawkins talk. K told his students they would get extra credit if they could go and then write a paper relating Dawkins' ideas to economics. The students had no idea who Dawkins even was until K mentioned the South Park episode in which Ms. Garrison and Dawkins, er, um, hook up. Dawkins comments on his website:
Finally, I have repeatedly been asked what I think of South Park and of Ted Haggard’s downfall. I won’t say much about either. Schadenfreude is not an appealing emotion so, on Haggard, I’ll say only that if it wasn’t for people of his religious persuasion, people of his sexual persuasion would be free to do what they like without shame and without fear of exposure. I share neither his religious nor his sexual persuasion (that’s an understatement), and I’m buggered if I like being portrayed as a cartoon character buggering a bald transvestite. I wouldn’t have minded so much if only it had been in the service of some serious point, but if there was a serious point in there I couldn’t discern it. And then there’s the matter of the accent they gave me. Now, if only I could be offered a cameo role in The Simpsons, I could show that actor how to do a real British accent.
I can't wait to hear him talk about selfish genes, buggering, and other hot topics. Full report in the morrow, ladies and gents.
Pro Bowl this weekend, ya heard? Last football "game" of the year, which is fortunate for poor Kristen, and also fortunate for us because it means a big block party down the street tonight. K and I even got invited to a big kegger so we could preparty down in Waikiki before the event. Too fun.
This afternoon, Gaffers and I decided to go check out the festivities down at Kapiolani park. We got to see lots of fun games (kick a field goal, run a 40 and have it timed, watch cheerleaders, etc) and there were even some football greats signing autographs. We got to see Bart Scott! Yeah, I know, Bart Scott! I couldn't believe it. I was easily within 50 yards of him when I was kindly asked to leave due to my and Gaffney's excessive drooling. Apparently, LT and Troy Polamalu were supposed to be there, but Bart Scott, man, that was better by far than seeing those guys. Speaking of awesome guys, Steven Jackson is sponsoring a party down at the W tonight. Maybe I'll get to touch him! Or at least thank him for the 359 fantasy points he scored this year, leading me to a fantasy league championship (Thanks, SJ!)
We aren't actually going to the game (or probably any of the above mentioned parties, except, of course the kegger. Who could miss that!). Kyle predicts the AFC will prevail in the big game. Peyton, after all, received more votes than any other player in the league. Who do you think will win? Cast your votes now! Or don't. It is, after all, just the ProBowl.
The weather doesn't change much here. The Kona, or southwest winds, are fairly uncommon, as the typical winds, the trades, blow from the east probably 300 days of the year. So, when I rode my bike to work yesterday morning, it was quite surprising to have a tail wind pushing me up the hill. Welcome, Kona winds!
Now, on the leeward side of the island, where we reside, the winds were around 15mph. But yesterday, my lab mate and I had to go out collecting on the windward side. One would think that the east side of the island would be protected from the winds coming from the west since there is a huge mountain range in between. Not so. Our little vessel was tossed back and forth on the open seas as 30mph wind gusts tossed waves over our bow, water spouts surged from all sides, and our poor little precious copepods were jostled to death by the swaying of the boat. I thought poor Agnes was either going to get sea sick or fall off the boat every time she had to pull in a tow. We finally called it a day, with few copepods and even fewer spots of dryness on our sea- and rain- soaked bodies. Fritz, our boat driver, calls the rain a "fresh water rinse". I like that euphemism a lot.
The good news? Kona winds bring volcano smoke from the Big Island. Actually, this tends to cause allergies in people, but it makes for beautiful sunsets. So, today I plan on going down and enjoying the weather after work. If you would like to read more about the winds, or see pictures of the "devastation" look here.
This week, the University of Hawaii had the honor of hosting arguably one of the most famous scientists in the world, J. Craig Venter. I went to his talk on Wednesday afternoon, entitled, "Genomes, Medicine, and the Environment". I was pretty excited about the event; it's not everyday you get to be in the same room with a scientist that receives over $100 million in funding every year. A real businessman, which is why I really like this picture. Dr. Venter and Mr. Hyde...
The introduction to the talk, given by our interim med-school dean, Gary Ostrander, summarized Venter's various awards, papers (33 pages in total for his CV), but also interesting tidbits like how Venter is on the Sci-Fi channel advisory board. When Venter finally got to speak, he began with a history lesson of every genome he has ever sequenced which includes a bacteria, a fruit fly, a mouse, his dog, and himself. It turns out he is more related to his dog than a mouse; of course, he used this information to break out the ol' "I look like my pet" joke. Perhaps he will enter in the contest next year, but instead of a photograph, he'll send the DNA sequence alignments.
In the "environment" part of his talk he summarized his new task of taking water samples all over the globe and sequencing whatever he finds. He does this by traveling around the world on his sloop, putting a bucket in the water, size-filtering said water on the boat, freezing the samples, and then fed-exing them to the sequencing facility in Maryland when he reaches a port of call. What a life! The results so far are kind of interesting: there is a lot of genetic diversity that has likely evolved as a result of the environment in which the animal resides. For instance, things that live around the turquoise blue waters of Bermuda have different photoreceptor genes than things that live in the fresh, green water of the Panama canal. Pretty neat.
Eventually, Venter would love for everyone to be able to sequence their own genomes, and we would all be in a data base showing all our sequence alignments. Thus, we could determine which part of the genome is responsible for X and Y diseases by looking at what sequences people with those diseases have in common. It's probably not this simple, but the implications of the way we address disease with designer genetic tools are very exciting. At this point, everything Venter is doing has been determined to be ethical and lawful, but who knows what the future holds. I think our generation will probably be treated with designer genetic tools. Will we live longer? Venter addressed the question from the "youngest" member of the audience (>65 year old man) with the statement, "We are not directly looking for longevity genes, no". Too bad.
K, G, and I have been here one year now. Living in Hawaii has been both amazing and amazingly frustrating, but after one year we are finally getting a grip on island living. So, in honor of the year in paradise: The top 5 amazingly frustrating reasons not to live in Hawaii: 1) The streets are too narrow for our large automobiles!!! As illustrated in this picture, taken at Bellows Beach after my unfortunate run-in with an ill-placed garbage can on a narrow street last Wednesday night (note the passenger side mirror):
2) The ticks are relentless....poor Gaffney 3) It is the most expensive place you will ever live. Ever. 4) We can't go for long drives on the island. First, it is an island, so there are no long drives. Second, the traffic is here is miserable since every family has an average of 2 cars and it is an island with not many roads. 5) It is 2,500 miles to our nearest friends and family.
And now....The top 5 amazing reasons to live in Hawaii: 1) You can camp on the beach, any time of year. The picture to the right was taken at Bellows this weekend. I would have taken more pictures, but the battery in the Cannon Powershot died (has anyone else had this problem with their Cannon battery? It doesn't hold a charge anymore.) 2) The food is incredible. I mean, just incredible. Japanese noodles (udon) are my current favorite thing to eat ever. 3) The people we work with are amazingly nice and accepting 4) The weather is perfect. You get to wear slippers (flip-flops) to work everyday of the year.
and finally, 5) It is amazingly beautiful here. I feel like we have just begun to discover all the intricate details of this place, but I am not concerned. It took about 4 years of Tucson to appreciate all the back country, all the twists and turns of the light during the different seasons, etc, etc. We will be in Hawaii at least another year, and I hope in that time, we will grow to love this place and ignore the top five frustrations! Aloha!
Snowed in Tucson, ya heard? The picture is from the Computer science webcam, on top of Gould-Simpson. I bet the skiing on Mt. Lemmon is superb today. Some of my favorite days of playing hooky from grad school involved driving up Mt. Lemmon to play in the snow, ski, eat pie and drink cider, even mountain bike. I miss you Tucson!
The big news in Hawaii this morning...University of Hawaii quarterback, Colt Brennan, decided to stay and play his senior year! Taking advice from his old high school teammate, Matt Leinhart, Colt decided that $25 million dollars was tempting, but not as tempting as the glory that will come when Hawaii beats Boise State next year for first place in the WAC. I guess this was really a hard decision for him, as you can tell from this picture where he is CRYING! Now, I am sure it is a bit disappointing to turn down money. But don't worry, Colt. Next year is going to be fun! Maybe K and I will actually dish out the money for season tickets to see the glory!
Not much else going on in the Aloha state. It snowed on the Big Island a week or so ago, but from the sounds of it, y'all have been going through actual winter so I will not bore you with the details of our camping on Bellows beach this weekend. Pictures to follow if you so desire!
Aloha, everyone! I hope your holiday season has been as amazing as ours. I will indulge with you some details, and try to reassure you that K did not spend his whole holiday putting together the "Best of Christmas songs" YouTube video list. Don't worry, there's always next year...
Christmas eve was spent on the North Shore with the straggler Sally crew (our frisbee team). Lisa (the girl in the Santa hat below) rented a condo up there and invited all the people who stayed on the island for a nice pot luck dinner overlooking the beach. It was an amazingly good time full of Secret Santa surprises, rubber band balls, and lots and lots of cookies. (Thanks to Buffy (green shirt) for the picture).
K and I had a nice Christmas morning with our newly acquired gingerpeople ornaments made by Megan, complete with Ultimate frisbees. They were hung nicely on our "Christmas tree", which was actually some pine branches I found on the side of the road. Christmas trees are ridiculously expensive here.
On the 27th, Kyle dropped me off at the airport for my big trip to Georgia to see my now 9 month-old niece, Megan. I took a red-eye to Dallas, via Maui, and then landed in Atlanta at 11:30am. I met up with Chuck Derby, who works at Georgia State. We toured his lab and downtown Atlanta, since I had never been there before. My brother, Sam, picked me up around 6pm and we attempted to leave Atlanta. After two hours we finally passed the first exit for Jonesboro, Brian's hometown (me thinks!), which is probably 10miles south of Atlanta. Our bellies and bladders finally got to us a half hour later, and we got off at the next exit in Jonesboro and we looked for the Chick-fil-A advertised on the side of the road, which unfortunately we could not find otherwise I probably could have eaten in, if I'm not mistaken, one of the first places B ever worked! Ah well, maybe nextime! The slow traffic was due to a burning truck we found out much, much later, but eventually we arrived at Sam's house, south of Warner-Robins.
I spent the week playing with the baby and all the neighbor's kids as well. My parents came down for a few days, so it was nice seeing them too. I'll post pictures later, when Cheryl, Sam's wife, sends them to me. Kyle apparently spent the week actually working. Oh, and watching a lot of football too. And Arizona Wildcat basketball. In case you hadn't heard, the Wildcats are amazing this year, minus the Wash State loss of last evening, in overtime. Bear Down!
I arrived home last night at 10pm. No problems with luggage, and all the Bermuda rum and ginger beer (yum, Dark and Stormy's, yum) I bought made it home safely. And then I got to see Gaffney's super wiggling, squirmy smile greet me in the car. When I got home, Kyle had another surprise, waiting in the recess lighting in the kitchen:
So deep they can drive me to this, my list of the best tracks of 2006.
Despite my efforts to the contrary, the list is weighted heavily toward tracks I heard first this fall and thus are at the sweet spot for me. Since my hard drive on my laptop is pretty small, a lot of older stuff gets put on the big drive and is a pain in the butt to search.
I am not including links to the songs but I think all of the songs are either on the Summer Mix or the soon to be emailed Winter Mix.
20. Decemberists. The Perfect Crime #2. Crane Wife just missed this album list because I really haven't given it a good listen. I just listen to O Valencia! and this track.
19. Easy All Stars. Let Down. So these raggae guys decided to recreate OK Computer! song for song but in reggae fashion. Sounds awful huh? I would have thought so but then Pitchfork told me it was cool so I got to listen to it. C and my brother were not convinced by the argument. Anyway this song is the best. No Surprises is - ironically - surprising.
18. Medeski, Martin, Wood, and John Scofield. Julia. Yes. It is a cover. But what a cover.
17. Professor Murder. The Mountain. This song is nice but I think it needs a little more cowbell.
16. Phoenix. Consolation Prizes. See the video included for their #1 album.
15. Herbert. We're in Love. So very smooth.
14. Malajube. Pate Filo. In 2006, I redicovered music videos. I think I thought I was too cool for them but then we rented a DVD of Spike Jonze's old videos and I was hooked. Before he was wiping the tears from Sophia Coppola's eyes, he directed the awesome Happy Days themed Weezer video, Buddy Holly and some amazing videos for the Pharcyde. Anyways - I found this video on Youtube and I was hooked on the tune.
13. Asobi Seksu. Thursday. I download a bunch of Japanese stuff because Pitchfork says I should. And then I can't bring myself to listen. I am getting old and new sounds frighten me. Especially after I listened to Boris. But I think you will be pretty happy with this little track.
12. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Bobby Malone Moves Home. This year, I got into some sad music. Okkervil River tricked me with some upbeat tunes on their first album but the majority of the album is just hilariously sad. Then I finally listened to SilverJews after initially judging it "terrible." Caroline was justifiably ticked as she had pushed it a long time before I listened again on the advice of Ace Steamroller. Finally - this album. It's sad and gay as hell. What's not to like?
Here is a hilarious video someone made of their own sad life with the sad song over top:
11. Gnarls Barkley. Smiley Faces. I will assume that if you are reading this, then you are alive and therefore have heard this song.
10. Tilly and the Wall. Lost Girls. This gets me every time they get to that chorus.
Warning! This video contains tap dancing.
9. Final Fantasy. He Poos Clouds. I honestly don't know which is worse. The name of this band or the name of the song. I like the video though.
8. Lupe Fiasco. Kick Push. Finally - a great hip-hop song about skateboarding. With this song and an I pod, I might actually give it a go.
7. Whitest Boy Alive. Golden Cage. That bass line to start is just too much.
6. Gil Manteras Party Dream.Emotion Road. This is the song Rant sang for us. I do not know the actual lyric, but it sounds like "No more monkeys jumping on the bed. Grab a piece of chicken, rub it on your head." That can't be right.
5. Soulwax. NY Lipps. "I'm getting loud with you!"
4. The Pipettes.Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me. Hetreosexual males, try and control your emotions here:
3. Girl Talk. Bounce That. Breeders sample. Stevie Wonder sample. Garbage sample. It is all about transitions.
2. Vetiver. I Know No Pardon. Try not to get choked up listening to this.
1. Royksopp. What Else is There? (Trentmoller Remix). C and me saw Royksopp in Hollywood with a good man. And this is the version of What Else is There that they did. It came out in Dec. 2005 but screw it. If it can score this high this many months later, it deserves the top spot.
15. M. Ward.Post War. When I think back on the opportunity to attend the Bright Eyes / M. Ward show at Plush in 2004, it makes me growl.Especially because I would have cried through Bright Eyes's set and then punched him in the face. Support the Troops!
14. Joanna Newsome.Ys. At this point, I still prefer Milk-Eyed Mender but 2006 was the year I finally came around to Joanna.After someone told me she was cool, of course.
From Milk Eyed Mender:
13. Lily Allen. Alright Still. What do you know?– I am listening to it right now!I knew a feisty little 9-year-old girl who was going to get a (burned) copy of this in her stocking, until C pointed out the lyrics focus exclusively on flaccid penises and getting in cat fights.
12.Best of Death Row Records Vol. 2. – You may not know this about me: I missed the beginning of white folks listening to rap music back in 1989.I was listening to the oldies station.So imagine hearing 2Pac for the first time after all these years.Yeah it's– pretty fantastic.
11. Belle and Sebastian.The Life Pursuit. Welcome back to my year end list guys.See you back here next time you make an album.
Sorry about all this but damned if I don't love Youtube. This is from the (incrediblyibly good) Coachella DVD. Old song but check that sky.
10. Herbert. Scale. This is the future of electronic music.Sounds a lot like the past of pop music.Good for a party or headphones.
9. Oh No! Oh My!Oh No! Oh My!This list is a bit contrived in that I just don'’t really listen to albums much anymore.My I did listen to this one.Because it was the only unscratched disc in the car for a while.And it is testament to the consistency of this pop gem that I was able to do this for at least five listens.It's a new world.
8. Gil Manteras Party Dream. Bloodsongs.OK -– so this technically 2005.But I have a big (figurative) stack of late 2006 albums here that I haven'’t listened to so late 2005 entries get counted.Besides, I didn'’t hear them until this summer when I actually saw it lip-synched (with routine) by one Ranty McDingDong.And I liked it.Immediately.
What is it?Ummm. Check it out here:
7. Girl Talk. Night Ripper.Guaranteed crowd pleaser.No multiple listens required.Pop it in and enjoy.Mashes appeal to our basest desires.So it is nice to see this, the musical equivalent of the Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger. That is - the very best of the worst. And if I have made myself unclear - this album is completely wicked.
6. Tilly and the Wall.Bottoms of Barrels.More Tilly and the Wall to cry over.Especially that Lost Girls track I put on my Summer Mix.Gives me the chicken skin.
5. RockPlaza Central.Are We Not Horses?Called by some wags a mix of Neutral Milk Hotel and the Shins.It is a concept album about android horses ala Blade Runner . . . wait . . . come back . . .
Here's is their awesome cover of Justin Timberlake's SexyBack set to the video of same:
4. Band of Horses. Everything All the Time.Like My Morning Jacket?High Lonesome Sounds?High Altitude grasslands?Awesome -– me too.
3. Hot Chip.The Warning.What no more horses?Top three are always tough to sort out.Fortunately, my top three are all overly clever white males my age making pop music.And I fall hard for it.
2. Whitest Boy Alive. Dreams.Straight up, Erlend Oye is my fricking hero.Every song he touches is pure gold.This is basically a Kings of Convenience album with a little more bump.Every song is perfect.
1. Phoenix. It'’s Never Been Like This.Look -– I don'’t make any excuses.I love pop music.And several times this year, I have turned to Caroline and said: this is the freaking album of the year.2006 Phoenix is 1995 Guster.And not 2006 Guster who, I think it is safe to say, are done now.
Interested in owning these albums? Drop me a line and I will provide. Stay tuned for the top tracks of 2006.
And please tell me what you think would have made my list if I had just listened harder and/or had your refined tastes.
Today G-fresh turns the big 4!!! That is 28 in human years, which means Gaffers and I are the same age! Yeah!
Please enjoy this photo gallery of the most wonderful, good-looking, well-mannered (well, at least around people, not other dogs), most popular, well-loved dog on the island of Hawaii and beyond!
And happy birthday also to all you December babies! I have been to three birthday parties already this month, and I know of at least two of you readers who are nearing their third decade! What's up with all these December birthdays?!?
Today is the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Memorial services are being held today in Hawaii, and all flags are being flown at half-staff to remember the service-people and civilians who died that day.
The NY Times sent a reporter to follow the rebuilding of the fleet after the attacks. Apparently, all his reports were sequestered by the government at the time, and only have recently been released. The paper published some excerpts from the stories today. The Honolulu Advertiser also has a nice story about a man making what will likely be his last trip anywhere to visit the memorial today.
I find it really eerie that all of this took place 15 miles from my door. Could it happen again? Maybe. People at work like to scare me by talking about attacks from North Korea. Another high price for living in paradise, I guess...
In other Hawaii news, Colt Brennan, the UofH quarterback, was not considered as a finalist for the Heisman award. Better luck next year, Colt!
Hope everyone had a great Turkey day. Here are some pictures of our adventures at the Mushroom house, our home away from home for a few days while Kyle's brother, Keith, and his wife Christina, were in town visiting. The house was on the windward side of the island in Kualoa Valley, home of the velociraptor scene in Jurassic Park (which, incidentally, was showing on AMC Thanksgiving evening!) The house was gorgeous, and luckily there were no tsunamis from the mini earthquake Thanksgiving morning. Mad props to the service we rented the house through: Vacation rentals by owner, which you can use to rent places anywhere in the world for reasonable prices. I can't wait for the trip to Maui (hint, hint, Keelay...)
Overall, Thanksgiving with the Hamptons was a rocking good time. I can't wait for the next visitors, but currently we have no scheduled guests...Who will be next!
Hey y'all. K and I will be partying, Ultimate style, out at Waimanalo this weekend for the Hopu Ka Lewa Tourney! I am really excited. Camping on the beach, boat races at dawn, 4 games of frisbee per day....K is not so excited about that part, but I think we have enough male subs that he'll be fine. And how can you complain when you get to wake up to this each morning:
Gaffney's favorite part? Chasing these little guys!
Enjoy your holiday weekend.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Medeski, Martin, and Wood have a new collaboration with John Scofield.
I only mention it because their cover of Julia just gave me the chills.
Today in the mail, I got a copy of this book, Pro Evo. Apparently, I am not the only one who has received it or been totally weirded out by its presence. From the few internet reviews I found, the book is a religious and/or political statement sent out randomly to people, especially emotionally fragile women (thanks "Mad_scientist", the sole Amazon reviewer of the book). Besides my obvious delicate nature and need for careful handling, I do wonder how I got on this mailing list. Was it you, Dacks?
Tomotom Stiftung, the author, has some interesting things to say. His main premise is that what you should be doing makes you feel joyful, and what you should not be doing saps you of energy. Your purpose in life, you may wonder? "To be a transition and step in the course of evolution." Can we live forever? Only if we evolve ways to "transplant healthy brains from their dying or hopelessly damaged bodies" and thus reach "such a high level of consciousness that (our) further development would proceed more rapidly and efficiently without death."
Intriguing, and I have only just skimmed the contents. It sounds at least entertaining. If anyone is interested, I will gladly send you the copy when I'm done with it. Or maybe, if you are female and emotionally excitable, you will be sent one of your very own!
Happy Halloween! I got a lovely email last week from Miss Meg regarding the stellar tradition of making Halloween gingerbread houses. Who better, then, to do a guest post for today's events. Here are Meg and Shiloh's thoughts on the spookiest day of the year:
Hello, all!!
Please enjoy our Halloween haiku:
First gingerbread house
Cayman bound girlfriend and I
Happy Halloween
OR, if that doesn’t work for you, then perhaps a short narrative will.
It could have started as a Nightmare on Elm Street, had I not moved to Blacklidge and then Dale Avenue most recently.This Halloween, we Saw the opportunity to make a gingerbread house on Friday the 13th.Even though we wanted to kill each other at times, we resisted the urge to Scream or have her Lone Star self yield the Texas Chainsaw out in the shed.The Scary Movie in our kitchen played out quickly enough that we finished the house, pictured below.Since she leaves in a week, we will not replay this Nightmare Before Christmas.Our first gingerbread house may be the last for quite some time.
(Personally, it’s getting harder and harder for me not to bite off a corner.)
Meg and Shiloh send out a Happy Halloween to all.Go Orange!!
My department head just sent me this delightful little video of yet another terrifying potential calamity threatening our home.
Do note that living as we do on the backside of the giant crater pictured in the video, we would have ample time to scramble up the slope of the crater.
With thirty minutes warning, I imagine that we would not be alone.
For only 5.5million dollars you can own your own Hawaiian Island! Does anyone want to go in on it with me? I promise to look after it!
In other "island" news, last night, K and I discovered that Coconut Island, home of the University of Hawaii Marine Lab is Gilligan's Island! This makes me very happy indeed, because Coconut Island is where I depart for all my collection trips. A couple times, I have thought it was a very familiar place, and now I know why!
The final piece of island news (no quotes this time, peeps) is that I may get to go on a cruise in February to collect animals around the Hawaiian Islands. Deep sea zooplankton! I am so EXCITED!
That's all for Friday's Island news. If the news here has left you disappointed and yearning for more, check out Phillipe's Friday Facts. I am thinking about using his celebrity disguise as a Halloween costume.
Last night I carved pumpkins with the Sally girls and I couldn't help but reminisce about the good ol' days when I actually lived in a place with seasons.
I miss fall. There I said it. I am jealous of everyone who gets to smell fallen leaves, feel the crispness in the air, wear a whole different set of clothes, and contemplate the knowledge that the days will only get darker, shorter, and colder before the long winter of snow starts.
Fall is not going to happen here.
The only distinct features of fall here include: a) The sun setting at 6pm and b) the waves are once again enormous. Here's a picture of Sandy's yesterday, the body boarding beach on the South Shore:
The other good features about fall here are that the temperatures go down a whole 2 degrees and the trade winds came back after a long October of humidity, vog, and no wind. I am longing for the rainy season, which begins soon too. From what I understand, that feature marks the beginning of "winter".
I live in a tropical paradise, and I still find something to complain about! Enjoy your fall, everyone. I sure do miss it sometimes, especially today, thanks to this picture from my mother of Maple Lake in WV.
Well, the earthquake did relatively little damage here in Oahu. But things are still crazy. On Monday, we discovered mushrooms growing on our doormat. Our lanai never gets any sunlight, so we have our own miniature rainforest!
And yesterday, after frisbee, we came back to our car only to discover a mass of feathers on the front of the hood. My immediate thought was that someone had placed a dead animal there. After all, we were up in one of the valleys and we had taken over the local hooligan football players fields to play Ultimate. As we got closer, we realized it wasn't dead. It was a chicken! And it was not going anywhere. I poked and prodded it, only to move it closer to the wipers, which it firmly attached itself to even as K turned them on. You should have seen this thing, going back and forth and back and forth, as Gaffney drooled in the backseat! Finally (and this was like 5 min later), I shoved it off into the road. We wished we would have had the camera.
So, why did the Roman chicken cross the road?
Drum roll, please......
She was afraid someone would caesar.
More jokes here and please feel free to come up with your own. They have got to be better than that one.
Hi everyone. The power is back on so I can announce to the world that K, G, my parents, and I are all safe and sound in Hawaii. Of course you probably all knew that before we did since the only source of news yesterday was from the am radio, and sadly, we only have radio in our car which we were not supposed to drive yesterday because there were no traffic lights for directing traffic. Thanks for all your notes and I would have written back sooner, but internet doesn't work without power either.
The quakes made for an interesting day, to be sure. I was in bed dreaming, when suddenly I was awoken by a rumbling which seemed to start in my belly, and then move to my extremities. Either I was having a very strange bowel movement or it was an earthquake. I say to K, " I think it's an earthquake". His eyes get a little wider and then we hear our landlord yell, "Get in the doorways!" We bolt. Gaffney barks, as the rumble continues. And then it stops. Minutes later, I am sitting on futon wondering what to do next, when I pull out my computer and check the local news website. Suddenly, no power. And another rumble. We decide to get the hell out of the basement.
The day continued with a rain-soaked walk down to the Diamondhead Grill; they had no power but had the great entrepreneurial insight to put every single food item they didn't have to cook out on tables. I bought breakfast and a little lunch thinking that there may be a rush on food later. The rest of the day, the place was slammed. And most of the stores, while open, would only allow a single or a couple of customers in at a time to prevent looting. The store worker would guide them in by flashlight, and charge cash, since the credit card machines were down, and then they would write down the purchase on a piece of paper with a pen. There was talk of price-gouging on the North Shore. Mahem I tell you ! Oh, and did I mention how the loss of power caused kids to PLAY IN THE STREETS! I reflected on this awhile, and got a tad sentimental like most folks, until one of the kids forgot how to catch a football and tore off our driver-side rearview mirror. I couldn't really be mad, I mean, it was an accident, and they were bored out of their minds. What a crazy day.
We ended up cooking dinner on the charcoal grill. My parents were thrilled since everyone else at their hotel was eating cold sandwiches. An impromptu feast of tri-tip steak fajitas, complete with onion and corn, served with Tecates and an Oregon Reisling my summer student had sent me and I was "saving for a special occasion". 'Tis as special as it's going to get, I hope.
The power came back on around 8pm, and by that time I had actually fallen asleep since candlelight isn't really bright enough for reading.
Today, I have no doubt that work will be full of crazy adventures like ours. I can't wait to hear everyone's stories of braving the elements. And this experience of course, begs the question (at least in my mind): Which was scarier: the rumbling in our bellies, or our inability to blog about it? A day without electricity is a strange day indeed, but not nearly as strange as it could have been. I hope the rumbling in the earth stays benign, the electricity stays on, and the water keeps running. At least until I can get to the store and get some more Tecate.
