Muck!

We had a lot of fun with a rainy, mucky hike on the Aiea Loop trail Saturday. We got into a mud fight. Jeff won!

--jess

Back to school...

Well, I have been working out my class schedule today. I've also been working on some requirement technicalities with George Washington University. I am tentatively looking at the physician assistant program there because there's a decent possibility Washington, D.C. will be Jeff's and my next stop. I am crossing my fingers; the requirements at GWU are a little easier than some of the other schools I have looked at, so I will probably be done at the end of this semester - after I take the GRE, of course. But the one thing that might get me is psychology, believe it or not, because I haven't taken any psychology courses since 1999! So right now, I am waiting for a response from GWU as to whether some of the crazy honors classes I took at USC will satisfy the requirement or whether I need to get myself into abnormal psychology this semester (which, admittedly, would probably be a fun class anyway, and I wouldn't have to worry about a lab). I gave up on getting into anatomy and physiology; UH has given me way too much grief, and I didn't feel like fighting with anyone else - not to mention that it's one of those year-long courses, so I probably would have had to start in the middle. I'd like to have it before I start a PA program, especially if my contemporaries have it, so maybe I will look into it somewhere other than UH.

I am very, very much looking forward to going to a school other than UH, but for now, I am doing the best I can with the hand I've been dealt.

So anyway, this semester so far, I am registered to take the second halves of both biology and chemistry with labs, and I might be adding abnormal psych into the mix. I also am going to take the GRE, which means I probably should be preparing for the GRE. I found out I can apply to GWU's 2008 PA program as early as May - and that is early!!! The program runs from August 2008 full-time straight through August 2010. Other schools are slightly different - some start in June instead of August and graduate in May or December or other random times. It is going to be tough, but I am looking forward to classes a little less boring than introductory biology and chemistry!!!

--jess

Merry X-mas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

- Jeff and Jess

December 23, part two

After leaving Australia around 9am December 23, we got back to Oahu around 9am December 23! I guess it's only fair since we lost December 16...

At the left is Jeff and me with Gilbert. The background is fake, but the koala is real! He is full-grown, warm and soft and smells like eucalyptus. The picture was taken at Dreamworld, a theme park in Queensland. In the continental US, we're very spoiled as far as rides go, but I can't think of many US zoos that would let you snuggle the animals!

Speaking of, they also let us feed the kangaroos!

Before we went to Dreamworld, Jeff and I did a bit of bushwalking in the subtropical rainforest - the Hinterland area that is just west of the posh hotels of Surfer's Paradise. The first day we saw the Natural Bridge, which is on the Binna Burra side of Lamington National Park. Just beyond the waterfall is a glow worm cave. We were there during the day, so it wasn't dark enough to see them fluoresce, but we did see a bunch of bats flying around!

As you can see from the picture to the right, Jeff loves Spongebob.

We rented a car, and Jeff enjoyed driving on the other side of the road. Australia was a lot like America except some little difference...for example the sign to the right that perplexed both Jeff and me at the public toilets at Mount Tamborine. The water was definitely discoloured, by the way. Ew. And just so you know, you can't tell whether the water swishes the other direction in the toilet because they flush pretty much straight down!

I'll close with the picture Jeff took of the flying tiger at Tiger Island at Dreamworld. They had a tiger show that really reminded us that tigers really are just huge cats with big claws and sharp teeth. If you look at our photo album, you can see a white bengal tiger climbing a big post as well as a few other animals like emus, the leech that vampired my left foot (I didn't get the one that got my right foot), mullets, etc. We saw Wallabies when we were hiking around in Binna Burra, but the pictures were very dark - suffice to say that they are little kangaroos and very cute. I wanted to take one home with us. I don't think customs would know how to handle that though!

--jess

Not pictured...

Beside Jeff, I am actually there with my head stuck in the sand, much like an ostrich, but we cropped that part out!

After Thanksgiving, I hit the landslide into finals, so I've pretty much had no life since then. We've also lost two part timers at the office, so I am picking up more hours. After my finals we're heading to Australia, so our next entry will most likely be post Australia, maybe before Christmas and maybe not. So Mele Hamikimaka from Jeff and me!

-jess

On Island

I returned from underway the day before Thanksgiving. Jess had been entertaining my parents and Scott, of course, but due to the lack of preparation time, we ate Thanksgiving lunch in the Paul Hamilton Wardroom with the Captain and his family and a few other of the ship's Officers. Afterward we went to Kaena Point (below) and enjoyed the sunset on the beach.

We spent Friday on the North Shore prior to taking the folks to the airport; it was sad to see them go, but I think we all had a good time together.

The past couple of weeks have flown by; I think we are using the time to get used to each other, and this is the longest stretch we've had together since August. With the exception of a brief trip this weekend, it'll be the longest we'll have together prior to me deploying. We are, of course, looking forward to visiting Gold Coast, Australia in the next few weeks, but since we will be back before the holiday, we're thinking of spending Christmas on the beach.

This is a flower we saw on a black sand beach on Hawaii back in October. It was isolated, and I thought it was amazing to survive where it was.

- Jeff

Making good on promises...

Remember how I said I would post the picture of the Mini stuck in the sand once I figured out how to get the photo from my phone to the computer? Well, I figured it out!!!

(More update on Thanksgiving etc. after my test tomorrow)

--jess

The Days invade Oahu

John, Leslie and Scott arrived safely Friday afternoon and have been thoroughly exploring the island!

Saturday I had to work and get my phone taken care of - it was quite inconvenient having a phone that didn't work consistently when there were visitors on the island and I knew Jeff was coming back sometime Wednesday (today!). So the fam hung out at the Hale Koa in Waikiki, which has some fantastic swimming pools.

Sunday we took an awesome North Shore excursion. The picture at the left was taken at the Audubon Garden at the bridge near the waterfall. We took the Old Stream Trail to get there, which is a natural trail up the hill on the other side of the stream from the paved trail at the garden. Scott ran ahead, and John and Leslie enjoyed the scenery.
The Old Stream Trail comes out pretty close to the waterfall, which was bigger this time than it was the last go round. John and Scott took a good beating in the falls while Leslie and I chatted on the shore.

Scott claimed the banana trees aren't all that enormous, so I took the photo to the right at a worm's eye view.

After the Audubon, we enjoyed the shrimp trucks and shaved ice near Turtle Bay and shared our leavings with a family of chickens. I didn't take pictures - if you're that interested, you'll have to come out and experience it for yourself!!! Scott wants to live and work in the blue shrimp truck; he still has yet to call a family meeting with John and Leslie to discuss the idea.

Last we checked out the tide pools at Pupukea. It was a very full day!

Monday I had to be a square and take a chemistry test, so everybody else went to Kaneohe, and Scott found a skin board. And yesterday, I worked all day and got updates from the Punchbowl, the Dole Cannery, and the North Shore, so it sounded like they had another full day before we had dinner in Mililani. I'm picking up Jeff this afternoon, so the next entry will probably have more of everyone! I'll close with a picture of the moth John found at the Audubon garden.

--jess

Makahiki

Yesterday I volunteered at the North Shore Makahiki festival. It wasn't exactly what I thought it would be - a lot of it was very commercial, people seeing how much they could get away with charging for a surfing t-shirt. But I met some interesting people. Butch (pictured below right) is on the board for several nonprofits along the North Shore. He also is an incredible artist - the things on the table (it's not a very good shot, I know) are all things that he carved himself with, with the exception of a few ancient Hawaiian artifacts in the koa bowls at the end. He also hand carves the trophies for the OP Pro competition (which started today), and they are gorgeous.

I ended up helping out with a group called Hui Malama O Pupukea-Waimea, which is a group that watches a bit of protected shoreline between, you guessed it, Pupukea and Waimea, to make sure that people are using legal nets to fish, not hurting the turtles, etc. They do several snorkel outing per month to count fish. I met a nice couple in the group who were from, small world - North Carolina (Cary!) and Pennsylvania. They now live right on the North Shore with a view of the ocean.

The food was pretty good, local grinds. I had some lau lau (chicken wrapped in a ti leaf and steamed), various flavors of macademia nuts (there's a plantation on the North Shore where you can get mac nuts and kona coffee samples for free), and, of course, Hawaiian shave ice. We finished up just in time for a bit of live music and a sunset over Haleiwa Harbor.

--jess

Halloween, surfing, etc.

I can do Halloween, etc. because Halloween wasn't all that interesting out here - the kids trick-or-treat from their parents' cars, and I had a grand total of three! They were dressed as "terrorists" in black hoodies and sweatpants, faces covered. Nice to know that terrorists are so easy to recognize. It made me miss Columbia, because every year I had something to do that involved getting dressed up and seeing lots of *creative* costumes, like "Roy gets attacked by a tiger."

Jeff headed out again on Monday, so we didn't get a whole lot of time together, especially since two of the days he was back, he had duty. But the time we had was very good, and he'll be back again soon for Thanksgiving. His parents and brother, Scott, are also visiting around that time, as are Annie's parents, so Annie and I have been compiling a list of things for visitors to do while we're at work/school/everything else. Hopefully John, Leslie and Scott won't mind being the guinea pigs, but if the list works out, we'll use it for whoever decides to visit us on Oahu.

This go round, I've been spending more time in Haleiwa because it is *relaxing* and full of nice locals - a great break after commuting to Honolulu during the week. I haven't taken any pictures yet because the weather's been bad, but tomorrow should be a prime day for that, and since it is a state holiday, I have the day off! I am thinking I'll get up early and take a drive along the North Shore to walk around and take some pictures. Surf's supposed to be up 8-12 feet on the North Shore tomorrow.

Speaking of surf, I'm working at Makahiki Festival 2006. Makahiki is the Hawaiian new year, and the festival is going to have some surf films, local music, a keiki (kids) area, and lots of opportunities to learn about Hawaiian traditions. It's also the official start of the surf competition season, even though a competition is currently taking place at Sunset Beach, the 23rd annual Xcel Pro Competition. I don't know what kind of turnout the festival will have; it didn't seem like many people knew about it, but I'll be hanging out with people from the Audubon anyway.

--jess