Less than one mile from home...

Keith and I are having a contest to see who can take the most beautiful picture less than a mile away from home. Since the picture of Kyle's nose was taken over a mile away from home, it cannot, unfortunately, be entered into the contest. So, instead, I give you Queen's beach at sunset. Over 1 million people a year get to see this very same sight, although the sun only sets over the ocean during the fall-spring months.



The winner of the contest gets an all expense paid trip to.....


their own backyard! Yeah! Way to go Keith! We ROCK!

Broken nose, broken dreams

The picture says it all. All it took was Ben's backhand huck into Kyle's bridge of his nose. Dreams of future beauty contests shattered as blood spurted everywhere from the one inch gash of Kyle's face. Sure to scar, he laid there, paralyzed, knowing that when he got up he would be a different man, an uglier man with a big gash on his nose. Just to be sure, he reached into the gash; oh yes, that was cartilage for sure. Girlfriend, thinking it was a punch in the face, brings over a cold MGD in lieu of ice, only to see all the blood and know she will spend the night in the ER holding boyfriend's bloody ice on his soon to be diagnosed broken nose.

One drive to the ER, one X-ray, one crazy lady on meth who pulled out her IV in the waiting room when not "treated properly" and then bled all over everything including 2" away from poor Kyle's shoe, and 5 stitches later (by the most handsome doctor I will ever likely see; sorry, Rob, he looked like Jude Law but HOTTER), we left for home, a team. Team bloody nose.

It was a not-so-fitting end to Kyle's perfect week of South Carolina beating Kentucky (#7 in the AP), his department talk that went "awesome" and his beloved stock holding strong. Right before the accident he said to me, "I have to be careful. Everything is going so well."

ESP? Self-fulfilling prophecies?

Nah, just bad luck.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Society for Broken Noses.

Athletes for Aerosmith

Did you know that Hawaii is further away from the mainland than any other island chain? Maybe this is the reason why we don't get a whole lot of bands "passing through" here. The few that do are typically big names like Pearl Jam, Gwen Stefani or Kanye West (Kyle and I went to see him when we first moved here; it was cool except we couldn't really see him over the screaming girls holding their arms up to take pictures from their camera phones; boy did I feel old). We also get some old guys like Hootie and the Blowfish or Earth, Wind, and Fire that are probably here to take a cheap vacation. In any case, K and I feel quite deprived after listening to some awesome bands in Tucson.

So when it was announced last week that Aerosmith was canceling their Maui show for reasons unknown, no one was suprised. A lot of big name bands, like U2, have cancelled their shows here. I think they get to the end of their tours and just don't want to make the trip. I can't really blame them, it is far away.

But it turns out Aerosmith is still doing a concert for the Toyota dealers convention here on Oahu. Toyota is renting out the baseball stadium at the U of Hawaii for the festivities. And get this, the $500,000 to rent the facilities is all being given to the athletic department. Classic. The university really knows how to allocate funds. Maybe it will go towards improving the facilities; the football players really could use some soap in the locker room, after all. They also took out the speedbumps on lower campus so the buses bringing people in didn't have to slow down. This made me pretty excited, since I have to go over these bumps on one of my ways to school. Actually, this is now my preferred way to / from school because there are ZERO police officers that can give me tickets there...

Hawaii plays Idaho tomorrow. If they win, it will be one more step towards Colt Brennan winning the Heisman trophy. Colt winning a Heisman would be a huge boost for Hawaii. I think the university may even spring for some soap, even without Aerosmith's help. Good luck, Warriors!

Not a day over 50...

My mother, Susan, turns 60 today. Happy birthday! I'm pretty sure she'll be around for many, many more years. Her father lived to be 87, her mother 83, her grandfather 92, and her 90 year old uncle is still alive. Long live the Kaminski's!

In other news, I got my first traffic violation yesterday. $219 for failure to stop at a stop sign....on my bicycle. Yes, on my bicycle. Also, failure to register my bicycle and failure to use the bicycle lane. Other than the bicycle lane issue, I am sadly guilty of said "crimes", but in all accounts I am quite sure this police officer was either very angry at something other than me or was filling a monthly quota of traffic violations. He was very, very mean to me.

I was upset yesterday, even in tears (because a bad day only gets worse when you find out you have to pay $219 for riding your bike home in the rain). Today, I have quietly resolved my anger into a steady rage complete with the telling of the story to get sympathy at work (everyone with one notable exception agrees it is an outrage; notable exception is the overly rational boyfriend). By tomorrow, I am sure I will develop a quiet desire to break every law possible just to see how many bad things I can actually get away with. And then, by Friday, I will return to rational mode and pay the ticket because I don't want to bother with it or think about it further. After all, do I really want to spend a day in court? The only easy way to get to downtown is on my bicycle, and I am reticent to be in such a public arena on the ol' Voodoo. Voodoo, I am not mad at you, I am mad at the man.

Stuck in Houston

Traveling to/from Hawaii can be a big pain in the ass. Having to get off the plane after you have already gotten on it? Even a bigger pain in the ass. It is perhaps one of the most annoying features of traveling I have experienced. Twice. Both times going to Hawaii.

I have to wonder what kind of special checks / balances a plane traveling to Hawaii must go through. Did they forget to put in extra fuel? Do they stash a few parachutes for the pilots that didn't quite make it there? Naive to these issues, I just get to sit here and stew and contemplate the greater "good" that will come out of this: I will arrive safely at my destination hopefully only 2 hours late (or so they guess). But those 2 hours in Hawaii mean the difference between no traffic and traffic, which is the most important feature of scheduling an arriving flight to Honolulu as far as I am concerned.

In the future I will not have so many beers the night before getting on a plane (Thanks, B! Durham was kick ass!) AND / OR not leave on a 6:15am flight from the east coast when I haven't slept the whole week. These are valuable lessons learned in a life that seems to short to spend sitting in airport. Ah well. Just a part of traveling to the Big Rock in the sea.

UPDATE #1 (12pm): Two hours have now come and gone; they said it will be another 90 minutes. The altimeter/ barometer are leaking and / or not aligned. From Wikipedia:

A pressure altimeter (also called barometric altimeter) is the traditional altimeter found in most aircraft. In it, an aneroid barometer measures the air pressure from a static port outside the aircraft. Air pressure decreases with an increase of altitude — about one millibar (0.03 inches of mercury) per 27 feet (8.23 m) near sea level.

They are currently "trouble-shooting" by taping said static port with bright yellow tape and attaching another port to what I guess is a pressure gauge of some sort. Continental has given us free food vouchers, coupons for up to 25% off your next flight, free drink vouchers, and they are having a raffle to give away 5, $100 vouchers before we get back on the plane. It's just like the circus! But without cotton candy, elephants, or most notably, children laughing.

UPDATE #2 (2pm): "Mechanics don't know what is wrong. They're going to keep trouble- shooting. Another update in an hour...looking into getting a new plane." I am preparing myself for a night in Houston. I think it is time for a drink.

UPDATE #3 (2:30pm): I WON!!!! I was one of the 5 lucky bastards who won a travel certificate!!! Forget the circus, this is just like VEGAS!!!

UPDATE #4 (4:20pm): The rush from winning the travel certificate wore off very quickly. But luckily, now I can relax. They got us a new plane with a new altimeter and I should be home by 8:30 Honolulu time. I will use my drink voucher to drink a bloody mary or a red wine and pass the hell out. This is the last update. Deadwood in Houston, signing OFF!!

T-birds and aloha

This weekend is the beginning of the Aloha festival, "Hawai'i's premier cultural showcase, a celebration of Hawai'i's music, dance and history intended to preserve the unique island traditions". I only heard of it for the first time earlier this week; I guess I completely missed it last year. But this year, I am teaching so I have to keep up with what's going on in my student's lives.

Plus, how could you ignore the Aloha festival when the Thunderbirds were practicing twice today for the festivities (also to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Air Force). Here is an awesome image of the T-birds going over the surfers at Ala Moana Beach Park (from the Advertiser):



The festival kicks off with a parade on Saturday, which will likely cause a lot of downtown traffic, meaning I have to leave for the airport earlier than usual. Transportation is constantly on my mind these days since I "commute" 13 miles to work twice a week to teach and it can take up to an hour to get home. Anyway, I will be heading to Durham, NC, to present my research to a bunch of myelin experts (small meeting, less than 30 experts in myelin evolution; I am sooooo nervous). Along with teaching, this talk has been consuming all my energy; I promise to update more after I get back.

Lunar eclipse

We stayed up last night to watch this beauty. Copper moon. It was so cool. Image from the Honolulu Advertiser.

TBBB and lots of other things

Lots of exciting adventures have occurred since Flossie failed to come for dinner. Meg ended her wonderful visit, and it was so AWESOME having her here. I hope she will send along some of the pictures of her time here since we still don't have a camera.

And then, last weekend was the Tweedle Beetle Beach Battle (TBBB). I was co-director of the tournament, which essentially means that I had to make sure the keg arrived on time. K and I also made mixed cds for the event; if anyone wants one, let me know as there are leftovers...

Here are some pics from the tourney. The beach where we play is right next to a military base, and they were having "maneuvers" that weekend, so Kim awoke to a lovely scene of 20 National Guardsmen/women in uniform above her hammock. Classic.



Gaffers always looks miserable at the beach. Especially while I am eating hot dogs..



We played afternoon ultimate, but everyone got tired, so it regressed into Double Disc Court (DDC) to allow people to practice for the Hawaii State Overalls this weekend:



The players:



Enjoy the pictures. I am off to work, where I have to cram in a day and a half's worth of time into one half day. I started teaching this week at Leeward Community college (Anat & Physio), so I am now working two jobs (and likely getting paid less in the process...oh silly me.) The good news is that K and I are going sailing this afternoon with one of his students he met this summer at a workshop. I'm really looking foward to being out on the water at sunset. I am going to try to take pictures with our broken camera and hope for the best....

Pathetic

WORST. HURRICANE. EVER.



And, to top it off, the tsunami warning from the earthquake in Peru has been canceled.

The "weather" here. Pathetic. Absolutely abysmal.

updated weather

it's getting windy!!!


FYI: The hurricane is hitting the Big Island currently and they're expecting 10" of rain, 50mph winds, and 30' waves. Oahu (where we live, 2nd of the larger islands from the top) is not supposed to get more than 3" of rain, >15-30mph wind gusts, and 6-8' waves.

Just in case you were worried...

Look who's coming for dinner!

Flossie Friday?

Hurricane Flossie is fast-approaching the islands of Hawaii. It probably will end up going south of us, but it is exciting to think that we may actually get some weather around here.

Meg is coming this weekend and we are planning to go to Ka'ena point Saturday night to watch the Perseids meteor shower. Gaffney is very pumped to see her friend, Meg, who is the only person ever to send the poor thing any mail.

Last Sunday, K and I finally ventured to the Maunawili trail and then to Lani Kai beach. It was a wonderful afternoon, especially since K and I discovered wild mountain apples were ripe and ready for picking. Here is a picture of a mountain apple:




Mountain apples have a texture a lot like pears, and taste sort of rose-watery; it's a nice, light flavor, perfect for a summer treat. "Picking" the apples involves shaking the tree and trying to catch the fragile little pears before they hit the ground and explode into a million pieces. So, you can imagine my excitement, when K grabbed a tree full of very ripe fruit, shook it vigorously and then, and then, got COVERED with fermented fruit shards. The best part? He actually caught one despite the deluge. Too funny.

And finally, happy 28th birthday to my lil' sister KK. Party hard, KK!!

RIP LaCretia

Yesterday, Kyle discovered our pet gold algae eater, LaCretia (similar fish shown, our camera has been broken since March), at the bottom of our fish tank sucking on what appeared to be not algae at all, rather one of our larger snails. That was certainly surprising.

"Oh", he says, "LaCretia is not eating the snail; the snail is eating LaCretia. She's dead."

And so ends the tragic life of our little one, leaving us with a mere 13 fish, forever destined to the same fate as our little algae imbiber. LaCretia was a good fish, although I did find her skills of late to be dropping considerably. But she lived probably a good 2.5 years or so (I have had her only a year; I inherited the fish from a friend leaving the island).

Which begs the question: do I get a new algae eater if I, myself, plan on leaving?

and, inevitably,

Should I really be keeping fish in an aquarium anyway?

I like my fish. I like coming home from work and watching them dance around in the water, with ol' Blacky, the shark, chasing the striped ones whom we haven't bothered naming. I like taking care of something too, which I'm sure is some kind of deep mothering affectation I can't completely satisfy by having a dog or a boyfriend. The fish just seem to be there for me, which is why the loss of one is not entirely ignorable (although, admittedly, the small tetris disappeared a long time ago, and I have no recollection of when it died or got devoured at all...)

In any case, I am sad to see the little one go. This loss comes at the end of a summer of many changes: friends leaving the island, my grandfather's passing and subsequent cleaning of his entire house full of memories, and the end of me playing around as a student, and starting a job as a teacher. The inevitable progression of life. I guess I will have to embrace it; I'll go to the pet store tonight and pick out a new algae eater. I hope it will live up to the legacy that was LaCretia.

And now the future...

There is an interesting comment string on the Scientist online today. Does tenure need to change? The overwhelming majority of those writing in seems to be against the tenure process as it is today. Too much emphasis on publications and grant money, and not enough emphasis on innovation and student support. It looks like a lot of bitter postdocs are waiting in line for jobs. Ah, I should get out now while I still have my sanity.

Tuesday update: The link above should work now!

Lost days of my youth, and such and such

Life goes by in a blink of an eye. I realized today I had not updated the blog in quite some time, and my only excuse is that I have been busy building sandcastles.*



Just kidding, I have never and probably will never build anything this cool in my life (although my knitting is coming along well, I don't think building scarves and hats count; btw, Lisa, I loved the "neurotrans-knitters" group. too funny). If you would like to look at more awesome sand art, check out this website. I have seen sand art like this only one time in my life, in Siesta Key near Sarasota, FL, during one of the AChemS meetings. A nine year old girl was the artist. Some people have all the skills...

I hope to get some sandcastle builiding in this weekend while camping with the Sally crew at Waimanalo beach. That is, of course, if I get all my real work done!

* Technically I have actually been writing a grant, rewriting a manuscript, preparing a frisbee tournament for August 18, preparing to teach Anatomy and Physiology this fall, preparing for a workshop in Durham in September, taking care of the dog since I'm by myself since K is on the east coast partying with Bart and teaching workshops, and last but not least, preparing to leave for the east coast this Thursday to go to two weddings, visit with my family, clean my grandfather's house, and maybe sit by the pool one day and enjoy the upstate New York summer. This has been the busiest summer I can remember, and I don't think it will let up until Christmas. C'est la vie!,

with love, Caro-whine

The Line abides

Episode 56 is a big disappointment

So far, Episode 56 is about as exciting as Star Wars Episode 2 (ZING!). After the initial new crack formed, little lava came to the surface. The earthquakes stopped, and the flow into the ocean that has gone on steadily for years, also stopped. Apparently, the lava is being rerouted, but no one knows where. Could it be that we won't have to hike 3 miles the next time we go to see it? Oh wait, I forgot, Kyle and I only walked one mile and then collapsed (Brian, Dacks, Penny, and Carolina went further, but they too, turned around. Hiking 9 miles with packs in the same day probably did not help...)

Here is the update. I hope this isn't the end of the volcano as we know it. That would make me sad. How sad? As sad as this girl:

Episode 56

The volcano gods are smiling. A new crack in the Kilauea crater formed this morning resulting in a new lava outflow. The geologists thought something big may happen after a series of hundreds of mini earthquakes hit on Sunday.

See info here and here.

This is the first time there has been a change in the lava flow since K and I have lived in Hawaii. We may have to plan another hiking trip to the Big Island, although I expect Halape Beach, where we stayed last time, is going to be a prime tsunami target after any major changes. Here's Halape after the October 6.7 earthquake.
You can see the plume of brown water from the rock slides:



Can't wait to see what the gods have in store for us next!

Happy King Kamehameha Day!

Today is a state holiday in Hawaii, which means no work! Yeah! King Kamehameha (Kah-may-ha-may-ha) established the united Hawaiian islands in 1810 by brute force and, oh yeah, guns. If you ever visit Oahu, you will visit the Pali lookout where Kamehameha's troops forced thousands of the other guy's men over a three hundred foot cliff to their deaths (when the Pali highway was built in the early 1900's, the engineers discovered several of the skulls). Once, he was reported to carry a 1000 lb. rock between villages without dropping it. What a guy.

To celebrate the day, I am going to work at home. Part of working at home is procrastinating, so I decided to post some pictures of some of our latest adventures.

First, I reported a couple weeks ago that I was going to ride around the whole island on the back of a motorcycle. It was amazing, and now I want to own one.

Here is my driver, Megan, and I cruising around Makapuhu:


And here is the hang glider who flew above us (can the sky get any bluer than this?):



It was Kim's first time driving around the entire island. She was nervous, but she finished in record time!



And Andjrez and Brandee completed the biker gang:



And then last Friday, we went to the top of Kokohead to watch the almost full moon rise. It was a beautiful hike, although a bunch of us got cold in the 75d winds. Pathetic, I know.

Here are Kim, Kim, Kyle, and I overlooking Hanuma Bay:


Enjoy your King Kamaehameha Day, wherever you are!

Slight update...

Hi y'all. Things have been busy here. K just finished teaching / running experiments and I am in the tangles of collecting the last data for a paper. In the meantime, we have been checking out the best bread puddings the island has to offer (thanks Honolulu weekly's article) . So far we have tried "European with a twist" and "The best of both worlds". The Grand Cafe and Bakery (B of BW), by the way, has an excellent outdoor patio where we also enjoyed smoked salmon and regular eggs benedict, the best corned beef hash since Ghini's in Tucson, and apple banana french toast with vanilla gellato. I am drooling just thinking about it now.

What else, oh yeah, I am seriously considering buying everyone this for Christmas. After all, who wouldn't want a deed to a piece of an island that may or may not break the surface of the ocean in the next 10,000 years?!? (Mahalo, Meg, for this article!)

Well, I am off to go collect slipper lobsters today. And by collect, I mean I need to go meet a guy from NOAA who will present one to me in a wet cardboard box. What fun!

Who needs men? Not sharks!

Hawaiian waters are full of hammerhead sharks. One of the guys we play frisbee with even studies their electromagnetic sensing capabilities. And now, researchers have discovered that female hammerheads can reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis.

The last line of the article reads:
“I would be concerned about a lot of other things than whether or not a female shark can get a date for an evening."

It makes me giggle to think about sharks looking for dates.