Gamecocks!

Kyle's beloved Gamecocks are playing today, 2pm Hawaii time. Which means he gets to leave work early, and I have the convenient excuse of having to work. Don't get me wrong. I love football. I may even love the Gamecocks. But I do not love the agony or ecstasy that will no doubt ensue. Win or lose, the drama will be thick, every play will be analyzed over and over again.

Some may appreciate this. Some of you grew up with a team, went to a college with a great team, or even marched in a band for a team. I envy you because you have what it takes to watch these battles. I fear my heart is just too weak, my ego just to fragile, my excuses just not polished enough to explain away the possible losses that could be due to luck alone.

Good luck, Gamecocks. I will try to be there for you. Maybe someday I'll even be willing to leave work early to watch you play. Maybe that day will be today if I can get my act together. I promise I will try to do my best to be a fan.

Andre Agassi is the man too!

Did anyone catch the Agassi / Pavel match last night? I was more excited than I had been in years to watch tennis. Long points. Aces. Net play. This game had it all. Not to mention Agassi coming back from a 0-4 deficit in the 3rd set to win in the third tiebreaker of the match! Wow. Agassi, of course, will retire after this US Open which means any of his games could be his last. But he isn't going out with a wimper, that's for sure.

I was a Sampras fan in the days of the Agassi / Sampras battles. But I fear that Agassi may just have more heart than Sampras. I read yesterday that Sampras has come back from retirement and is playing some competitive tennis once again. Maybe we'll be treated to a reunion tour someday. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Mark Twain is the man!

Mark Twain spent a considerable amount of time in good ol' Hawaii (btw, please send back the Sandwich Island book you borrowed, soon to be Mr. and Mrs. you know who!). Yesterday, I was trying to remember his famous statistics quote ("There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics") when I found these other gems:

I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.

I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it.

I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

See this page for more Mark Twain quotes if he makes you giggle. Happy Friday!

Changes

I remember learning all the planets in the solar system when I was 10. I made a model of it right after I made a model of a black hole (fold a piece of black posterboard in a conical shape, and voila! A black hole!) Now, according to the powers that be, we have to relearn the planets of the solar system. Pluto is officially no longer a planet.

Percival Lowell, who the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff was founded by, was the first to predict that Pluto existed in 1905, but never saw it before he died in 1916. Only in 1930 was it discovered, and named after the god of the underworld (and the name was also fitting because it contained Lowell's initials). Now, 76 years later, we have to say goodbye to planet Pluto and hello to dwarf planet Pluto.

I'm not sure why it bothers me so much. After all, it is merely a logical change in definition (Pluto's orbit overlaps that of Neptune's and thus it can't stand alone as a planet). We are constantly learning more thanks to new technologies and ideas. We have to accept these changes and move on:

After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over. ~Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958

I can't wait until someone redefines a neuron in a whole new way. . .

Freshmen frenzy!

Not too much going on in paradise. K went back to work yesterday with the start of the UofH fall semester (he's so psyched to teach everyday of the week!). The campus, shown above, is bogged down with thousands of floundering freshmen. Yesterday, I was walking down the hall when someone ran up to me and asked "Where is Biology 101 held?" I guess I looked like I knew because I was wearing a lab coat.


Ah, to be a freshmen again. I have great memories from that year at Allegheny, but alas, a lot of terrible ones too. So, in honor of the start of the school year, I am listing the top five things I wish I would have known when I was a freshmen:

1. Ride a bicycle everywhere (this wasn't really possible in Meadville during the winter, but for four months of the year, it would have been fine)
   
2. Study outside, preferably by a pool or body of water
   
3. Drinking on weekdays is bad for Chemisty grades
4. Find a friend with a car and get off campus
   
5. Relax and savor your time

Lame list. Oh well. Feel free to list your own advice for the Class of 2010!

Long live the King!

The history of Hawaii today in the Advertiser includes this factoid:

1977: Elvis Presley dies at the age of 42. His first Island appearance was on Nov. 10, 1957, in a concert at Honolulu Stadium. His Bloch Arena concert on March 25, 1961, was a fundraiser for the Arizona Memorial.

Elvis made three movies in Hawaii (Blue Hawaii, Girls Girls Girls and Paradise, Hawaiian Style) and apparently visited here several times on vacation. Check out this site for more information on the King's time in Hawaii.

I am not a huge Elvis fan, but I think I should try to watch at least one of these movies. Does anyone have a favorite?

Almost paradise

I just finished reading Paul Theroux's Hotel Honolulu. Apparently it is a true story about his time as a manager in a worn-down Waikiki hotel. He tells funny short stories about his employees, guests of the hotel, and locals which made me laugh out loud. Some of the stories end kind of darkly with at least 5 of these forlorn souls committing suicide, and also there was considerable talk of the pests around Hawaii.

Recently, I posted on our mouse problem, which apparently wasn't the last of the pests to enter into our lives. I discovered something that looked like a tick on Gaffney about 2 weeks ago, and I took it to work to look at it under the microscope. This "tick" only had 6 legs, which was strange, since ticks are arachnids, so they should have 8 legs. I asked around and found out that ticks were pretty uncommon in Hawaii, besides Gaffney is on medicine that is supposed to prevent them.

Yesterday, the AP ran a story on bed bugs. Apparently they are making a comeback, especially in hotels in, gasp, Waikiki. I looked at the pictures carefully, and sure enough, that is definitely the insect I found on poor G. Today, K&I got bit for the first time, which led us to completely go crazy washing everything in our bedroom in really hot water and vacuuming the entire house. Hopefully they go away, but they are apparently really hard to kill without professional intervention. Sigh.

Theroux makes light of the pests of Hawaii, so perhaps I should too. As he writes:

In Hawaii there are always rats, and always sharks just offshore, and cockroaches patterned like tortoiseshell, and geckos and moths and ten kinds of ants. These were the certain proof and reminder that Hawaii was paradise.

Aloha, bed bugs...

Big Island Pictures

The pictures from our Big Island trip have been posted on Flickr. Some of my favorites:

The lone tree on the pali; we backpacked down the pali to Halape Shelter Beach where we camped here:

It was paradise.

We hiked out to the car, the last 1.5 miles was over 1984 lava:


We spent the next day exploring waterfalls,
watching sunsets over Maui,
and drinking Budweisers:
The final day we snorkeled and visited the lava trees:

K & I get to go back to the Big Island in October, when my parents are going to rent a house south of Hilo. I can't wait!

Fun with photoshop!

Look familiar to anyone?
Thanks to Anne-Marie for the panda image. If anyone wants to see more photo-shopped animals, let me know and I'll send you the forward.

I hope to post more pictures this weekend, especially of our Big Island Trip and our new addition to the family (suspense , no?). Have a great Friday!

Old Diamondhead

My favorite thing to do every morning is to check out the Honolulu Advertiser's daily photo diary of Hawaii's history. They post old pictures of the islands, such as the railroad picture I posted awhile back. Today, there was a picture of Diamondhead, looking down Kalakaua Avenue, which, today, is lined with high rise hotels:

1898:


Today:








Inspiration from the book, Arizona Then and Now. Happy Wednesday!

The best way to beat the summer heat!

Everyone knows by now that I am a super-nerd and I enjoy things like making ice cream by utilizing the freezing power of liquid nitrogen (-195.8ºC). Last Friday, I finally convinced the lab to do it. Tina, our microscopy lab manager, braved the terrible Honolulu traffic and bought our ingredients: heavy cream, half and half, sugar, strawberries, vanilla, and cocoa. The recipe is easy: take half as much cream as milk or half and half, add 1c sugar and 8 tbsp vanilla per every gallon. Add fruit or cocoa and mix well. Then slowly, add liquid nitrogen (5 x the amount of ice cream you want to make or until you can't stir the ice cream anymore), as shown above by Tyler (Kim's boyfriend), Kim (Tina's daughter), Tina, and Lisa (the astrobiologist who uses the microscopes). It took about a minute to have homemade ice cream and boy was it delicious! Here's what the strawberry looked like:

And here are happy Anna and Kyle eating it:
It was easily some of the tastiest ice cream I have ever had, although next time I think I would use half and half and milk instead of heavy cream, because it was a bit, well, heavy. If you have access to LN, I highly recommend doing this before the summer is over. Ai ā hewa ka waha (eat until the mouth can have no more)!

I need a pied piper...

I recently read that Western Oahu was having a mice problem, but now apparently the mice have migrated south and Diamondhead is inundated. Well, at least my house is. Kyle found the mouse about three weeks ago, and I didn't believe it existed until a week ago, when it scampered right under my nose in the cupboard where we keep the trash. I told my landlords last week and they claimed they had never seen mice in the house. Interesting story, until my sister found mice traps in the cupboard. So someone who lived in the house before us also had this problem.

So, on Saturday, I set out to catch the mouse. The traps in the cupboard were the type that are just sticky pads that the mice runs across and adheres to, thus ensnaring the poor bastard. "No poison", it proclaims! Well, that sounded great so I set one out behind the trash can. Not two minutes later, Gaffney perks up, we start to hear squeals! We caught him! Then, the horror ensues. What do you do with a mouse that is caught to a big sticky pad? I won't fill you in on the details, but let's just say it was not pretty and I was terribly sad about the whole ordeal. I had cats growing up, so I never had to deal with this before. Am I getting weaker as I age?

Anyway, I had pretty much gotten over it by Sunday, but then something happened. I was sitting around doing work, when Gaffney suddenly perked up her ears and ran to the cupboard. I laughed at her, saying, "Oh, there's nothing there." Just to make her happy, I opened the cupboard and suddenly another mouse runs across the trash can! I tell you, it's a plague! Two mice in one weekend! I couldn't bare to use the sticky pads again, so I set up an elaborate booby trap system and blocked off the holes it normally goes through. I fear that I will have to trap it soon, but I think I will use a good old fashion trap this time. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Goodbye, KK!

Sadness. My sister leaves today. We have had a really great time partying all around Oahu, but today she leaves me to go back to DC.

Here are some pictures from our adventures. Shown on the left: Katy at the Halona blow hole, although the blow hole itself is on the opposite side of this lookout.


The waves on Wednesday, when this picture was taken, were up to 8'. The eastern winds were gusting up to 50mph which causes some pretty erratic swells, making for some awesome smashing of waves against these volcanic rocks. This is the newest part of Oahu, so there is no reef to protect the cliffs here.

And here's a picture of me climbing down to the cove by the blowhole:

That's all for now. I am going to Waimanalo to play frisbee beach league after dropping Katy off at the airport. Back to da grind, bruddah.

We like to live in expensive places...

Hey y'all. I have been incognito this week due to my sister, Katy's visit. I will post pictures later (as well as Big Island pics that are still on Kyle's camera which is currently somewhere on a beach on the east coast).

Anywho, in some random news, it turns out that Forbes ranked Tucson #7 in the list of the most overpriced places in the United States. Tucson?!? I mean, I know that the housing costs have increased drastically in the last few years, but come on? Overpriced? I would die for Tucson prices again, given my current #4 ranking on the list. Check out Honolulu's median home price of $625k compared to Tucson's measly $250k! Maybe the prices really gone up that much in the six months I have been gone? Help me understand!

Potlatch!

Some of you may remember the first league team that Taryn created way back when, in what, 2002?


I have such fond memories of that team even though we only won probably one game the whole season. My favorite memories include: JT getting into fist fights in the end zone, the yellow team guy giving me a concussion, and Coach Steve. Chuck mentioned recently that almost everyone on the team are doctors now! We've come a long way (perhaps...)

With that in mind, I am very excited to announce a mini-reunion of sorts of the Orange Jail Team of yore. Taryn has put together a new team, the 30 year old Virgins! Some of the old team, plus some other Tucson folks and their random friends, get to play together this weekend at perhaps the biggest frisbee tournament in the country, Potlatch. The competition should be pretty fierce, but I have heard that it is mostly about having fun. So, off I go, north to Seattle tonight on a red-eye flight! It will be my first time off the islands since I moved here. As an added bonus: Miss Meg will be in Seattle too! Party, party, party! And hopefully no concussions...

Hot rail, hot rail!

One of the things I miss about Tucson is the sound of the train whistle at night and in the early morning. Oahu used to have a working railroad, the Oahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L) shown above, built in 1889. The train was primarily used for the transporation of pineapple and sugar cane from the inland to the port. During WWII, the train was used to transport troops across the island, but was used little after 1947. In 1972, it closed down all remaining operations.

Now the city is proposing to develop a light rail system, which at the cost of $3-4 billion has a lot of people talking about the future of transportation in Hawaii. When you come to visit, you will realize that the transportation in and around Honolulu is a mess. The highways were all built around the already developed city, and it is easily one of the most confusing and difficult places to drive in the country. For instance, the airport is approximately 10 miles from our house. On a good day, it will take 20 minutes to drive there. On a bad day (like the day we had to catch our plane to the Big Island) it can take 1 1/2 hours. There are just too many cars here and not enough road. I have heard that during tsunumi warnings, there are more cars than roads, so people end up just sitting in their cars waiting for the big wave to come take them away...

With more housing developments outside of town, and more people commuting into town for work, the light rail system makes sense. But where will the money come from? I don't know enough about it yet to have any sort of opinion, but I just wanted to bring up the topic to see if anyone has any ideas.

Have a great weekend! Kyle is away for a week, so I am going camping with Anna in Kualoa valley where they shot Jurassic Park and the tv show Lost. So exciting!!

Back to reality...

The Big Island trip was amazing! Above is a picture of the Ohia tree growing in 1984 lava (courtesy of Carolina). We walked for a mile on this to get to our car after 7 miles of uphill climbing with 40 pound packs! But what fun it was to reach the car, full of ice cold budweisers and fresh papaya.

Unfortunately, I am swamped this week with work, so I will most likely have to wait to post details and pictures. In the meantime, Carolina has already downloaded her pics from the trip which can be found here. Enjoy!

Big Island Bound

Tomorrow we are off to the Big Island to meet up with Brian and Carolina and do some serious backpacking. And by serious, I mean hiking on a volcano! Our rough itinerary of where we are going is on the map above. Pictures to follow the trip.

Love is in the air...

Presenting the future Dr. Mr. and Dr. Mrs. Dacks! Smiles abound! He asked her this morning on a beautiful summer day on top of Diamondhead! How romantic! Congratulations!

They are now the 4th couple we know to get engaged this year. I see lots of weddings in our future....

Here's the real picture, in case you want to actually see the view:

An accidental visit from Sam!

I have been meaning to update the blog, but things got hectic this week. Last Saturday, we were playing our last regular season game of the league frisbee, when I get a call from Sam, my brother. He is always flying somewhere in the world with the Air Force, and often times, they stop in Hawaii on their way to far off lands. This means that I actually get to see my brother more now than I ever did when I lived on the mainland. On this trip, he was supposed to come Sunday, gas up a jet on Monday, and leave by Tuesday. But, luckily for us, one of the jets was broken for three days. So instead of a quick visit, we got to spend some quality sibling time together. I also got to show Sam that Oahu is not just Hickam Air Force Base and Waikiki. We spent the week cruising around, basically going around the entire island except the Leeward side. His favorite part was the mountains, as we took him up to our favorite picnicking and grilling spot on top of St. Louis Heights. Here's a picture of us with Diamondhead in the background:

We also got to go snorkeling with the turtles at Shark's Cove, where we also took Ryan when he visited. It was more beautiful this time, and we saw 5 turtles, and touched the backs of 2. Sam's plane finally was fixed on Friday, so we had our final goodbyes after breakfast at Wailana Coffee House, our new favorite place to eat pancakes covered with coconut syrup! Yesterday was the Spring League Ultimate championships, where I am proud to announce, Team Brazil won the Beer (Loser's) Bracket! We were last place in the regular season, so this was quite a feat!


Back to the grind today, as I will have to work on a Sunday to get prepared for taking off to the Big Island next Saturday. Penny and Dacks come on Tuesday, which means cleaning the house and getting Gaffney ready for the kennel as well today. Ah well, I live in Hawaii, right? No complaints!