Big Island

Jeff and I took a trip to the Big Island for the Ironman World Championship in Kona this weekend. This is a picture of the athletes checking their bikes as the sun came up.

We had all day Friday, most of the day Saturday (we decided not to stick around for the entire 8+ hours of Ironman racing) and all morning Sunday to explore the island a bit.

We took A LOT of pictures, but I am going to post just a few. You can look at the rest by clicking on this link. Jeff and I are really looking forward to going back when my parents visit in January - they have a room booked at the lodge at Volcanoes National Park!

Akaka Falls, over 400 feet! This is near Hilo, just a little drive and a short hike at the state park.

Jess climbing a tree near Hilo.
View on a trail near the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden.



Jeff climbing rocks at an unnamed black sand beach at the end of The Road to the Sea.













Deserted black sand beach!

Check out the link earlier in the entry for more photos, and feel free to give me an email if you want to know what anything is! It was a terrific weekend, and I think Jeff particularly enjoyed getting our 4x4 Jeep very, very dirty. That was definitely a good move; most of the interesting stuff on the Big Island is difficult to get to! We didn't get to see nearly as much as we'd like, but at least there's next time! Personally, I think the Big Island is much cooler than Oahu.

--jess

I'm Back, Briefly

I returned yesterday from six weeks of training for deployment. USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) was conducting a variety of training exercises with Carrier Strike Group Three, which includes the USS Okane, USS Antietam, USS Preble, and USS John C Stennis. Unfortunately, I'll only be in the area for a week before I'm headed back to continue training.

Jess didn't mention that we rehomed Kitsune. Unfortunately, with her busy schedule and my not being around, we weren't providing him the sort of attention he needed to learn to be a good dog.

- Jeff

All shook up

Power's back!

For those of you who haven't heard, either from the news or from Leslie or my mom calling around (they were two of four people I was able to talk to today because the phone circuits stayed busy), Hawaii was hit by a 6.6 magnitude earthquake around 7:07 this morning. I was already awake; I'm used to getting up around 5:20 to get ready for the bus during the week, but Sundays I take my time. Only today was different because Zeke started freaking out around 20 minutes before the earthquake hit. It was very unlike him; usually if he's mad at me because his litter box is nasty or because he's out of food, he'll cry for 2-3 minutes before he gets distracted and leaves me alone, but today he cried louder and louder, and when I came out of the bedroom, he was pacing all over the place. I think he probably felt something strange.

I was in the process of emailing Jeff when it hit, and when the first little shakes hit, I deleted the first message to write something along the lines of "Waitasecond, was that an earthquake?" before the house started shaking to the point that I was wondering if I'd gotten on the bus, fallen asleep and dreamed I was inside the house. I leapt from the couch and ran for a doorway - isn't that what they always tell you in middle school? - and waited there for the shaking to stop. After that, I had just enough time to send the email to Jeff and do enough Googling to find out that earthquakes are often a natural tsunami warning...then the power went off!

I didn't think it was that big of an earthquake; then again, I had nothing to compare it to. I heard some of my neighbors moving around, so I went over to my neighbor Jan's house to see what was going on - she grew up here, so I figured if anyone knew about earthquakes in Hawaii, it'd be her. No one really knew anything at that point, but we checked on each other from time to time. She got a little crack in her wall from the shaking. Our place appears to be completely fine. While it was shaking, the biggest thing I was worried about was the enormous, heavy Dali print that was a real pain to hang up, but Dali made it through just fine, as did Zeke, Kitsune and me.

The house was pretty dark all day because it was pouring rain; I think that probably had a lot to do with how long the power was off. So while I had daylight, I studied for the chemistry test, and once it started getting difficult to read, I cleaned the house some, well, as much as I could do in the dark and without using much water. Jan had lent me a little radio, so I knew that we shouldn't be using much water because the treatment facility wasn't running at capacity, people weren't leaving from the airport, etc. This was the hardest I've missed Jeff since he's been gone; I was thinking about what people did to entertain themselves in the evenings before there was electricity, and things came to mind like checkers, chess, poker, bridge, maybe some crossword puzzles, live theater... That stuff's a lot better with two! I kept listening to the radio; the numbers kept crawling up, "Power's been restored to about 5% of the island...10%, 20%, 35%..." So now I know we're toward the end of the line when the power goes out and has to be turned back on methodically!

I dozed off aroudn 35% while reading some biology with a flashlight. It hardly seemed like the sort of reading you would sneak after lights out at camp, but that's what it felt like. From what I understand, class isn't canceled tomorrow except for at ten schools on the Big Island (I hope this doesn't affect our trip next week!), but I am one of those rare people who is happy about it; if the test were rescheduled, it'll probably be Wednesday, which is when I am picking Jeff up - and needless to say, I would much rather spend time with him than take a chemistry test!

--jess

Travel plans and kitty cats

Jeff's going to be back Wednesday, for those of you who don't know!

As for me, I have a chemistry test Monday and a biology test the next Wednesday, so I've been diligently preparing for both so Jeff and I can have fun for the brief time he is here.

I'm not sure if I've written anything about our travel plans:

Jeff and I are going to Kona on the Big Island next weekend for the Ironman World Championship! We are staying at an interesting place called Pineapple Park, which is basically a hostel with some private rooms. So we'll be sharing common areas (bathroom, kitchen, lanai) with other travelers on the Big Island. I stayed in a hostel before in Washington D.C. and loved it - I was there for a weekend last year and met a friend I still keep up with who loves in Oklahoma. It's usually a bunch of foreign backpackers, but I figured it would guarantee an interesting experience. We'll be leaving early Friday morning (yes, I am a bad girl skipping class) and coming back Sunday evening, so in addition to the race Saturday (where we'll be volunteering in the transition area), we'll have a little time to explore the island in a rented 4x4. I'm thrilled to be getting away from Oahu for some quality time with Jeff!

The BIG travel plans are that we are going to Australia! Everything is worked out - my parents gave us an extremely generous wedding present of a week of their time share, which we traded in to get a resort in Gold Coast, Queensland. There are lots of interesting things to do around there. We're leaving Oahu December 16 and departing Australia on December 23rd, which means we're going to be back in Hawaii, wait, I am not sure if I have this right...about the time that we'll be hoping the plane doesn't hit Santa's sleigh. So Jeff and I will have gone from never having flown together to two trips within a couple of months, and I will have the first stamp in my passport! And I am sure most people would argue that living in Hawaii is a 18-month honeymoon, but really, I think Australia is more of the official one.

I'm considering getting involved with a second nonprofit here on the island, Hawaii Cat Friends
. Basically the group tries to control the feral cat population on the island by catching them, spaying or neutering them, and releasing and monitoring them. There are so many feral cats and dogs here, something that dates back to the Polynesians bringing them on their ships when they first got here. This wouldn't be as regular of a thing as the Audubon, which I am doing weekly; it would be meeting up monthly to search for and trap feral kitties so that they can be neutered and released. Being a cat detective in Hawaii sounds like way too much fun to pass up!

--jess

Hanging out in the jungle again

Sorry for the gap in posts - lately things have been pretty routine with work, school and transit!

Today was my first day volunteering at the Waimea Valley Audubon Garden. By far the most interesting thing today was being practically swarmed by Hawaiian moorhens (or 'alae'ula, which stands for something along the lines of "red skull" because of their beaks), which is the guy at the beginning of the post. They are very endangered (there are only about 500 left) and native only to Oahu and Kauai - but we saw a bunch of them at the park today! The tags on its legs tell you two things - the blue and silver ones on the left leg tell you that the bird came from the Waimea Valley, and the colored band on the right leg is unique to that individual bird, like its name. After I snapped the shot of this one, we were joined by a bunch of his/her (you can't tell the birds' sex visually; males and females look exactly the same and sex is determined by a blood test) buddies. Two of them were "posturing" which is a behavior similar to chickens preparing to fight - head down and feathers ruffled. Sure enough, there was a moorhen brawl just feet away from the volunteer coordinator and me.

This next picture is of a jackfruit tree. I drank a snapple or something like that that was made of jackfruit, only I had absolutely no idea what a jackfruit is. So those enormous fruits in the tree are jackfruits, and they are delicious. If you have ever had a fruit beverage that you have never heard of, it is probably from here, things like breadfruit, star fruit, dragonfruit, etc. Dragonfruits are interesting looking, but I would have absolutely no idea how to eat it!!!

Last but not least, the tree at the end was my favorite thing that I saw today. The formal name is entada monostachya, and it is from the West Indies to Guiana, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. This one was planted from a seed in 1977.



I am keeping up with the online album of Audubon pictures, and they aren't all posted here - so if you want to see what I am seeing, you can always go to this site.

--jess

Audubon

When Annie called early this morning to see whether I was up for a trip to the Waimea Valley Audubon Park, of course I said yes. I mean, who in their right mind would give up an opportunity to go somewhere and drive really, really fast?

I had a much shorter trip than they did, and they found parking at Waimea Beach Park, which is pretty much impossible because it is the most popular beach on the North Shore. I started looking around on my own and instantly noticed that I loved this place, so I looked into volunteering now and then. Some highlights:

This is a 2,800 year old extinct species of tree. I don't remember the name of it, but it's just awe inspiring that when they cut this tree down it had 2,800 growth rings, and someone, maybe even several people, counted them all. I am not sure what the Japanese means; maybe someone who knows their kanji can translate it and send it to me!

There was an awesome waterfall at the end of the trail where you can borrow life jackets and float lazily in crisp, cool freshwater. This is Dan, Annie and me doing exactly that!

The hibiscus hybrids were pretty spectacular. This one was my favorite because of the shape and the vibrant color.

Last, but certainly not least, this photograph is not zoomed! In fact, this guy rather rudely gave me the brushoff he was exiting the dining area. But in his defense, one of the waiters was irrate at him and his lady friends for disturbing the customers, so he was forcibly asked to leave.

I took LOTS of pictures - there are more photographs if you click on this link .

Other than that, I heard on the radio today that Pat Benetar is playing with the Honolulu Symphony in a couple of weeks and I would LOVE to go!!!

--jess

Photo album

This is a pretty tree I pass every day on the way into school - it is near the Sinclair Library on UH campus. I think it is a rainbow eukalyptus. The photo doesn't really do justice to all of the colors that are in the bark, lots of yellows and pinks and oranges. The bark is very smooth, and I've read that they are one of the fastest-growing trees in the world - they can grow up to 100 feet in seven years!


This is the building where I work. It's on Nuuanu (you pronounce both of the U's in that) Avenue in Honolulu. Strangely enough, right across the street is a 7-11, and two blocks down is another 7-11. It's a residential area about a ten-minute brisk walk from the bus stop, which is between Chinatown and the capital downtown. As you can see, the building looks pretty small and old - and that's an accurate description. Dr. Pang is probably one of the hardest working doctors I've ever seen - the office is open six days a week, and he often even sees
patients even on days the office is closed. This is the first office he had when he split off from his father's practice, and he admits that he outgrew it years ago - but this is one of a lot of things he does so that he can keep costs low for the patients. He's very big on not wasting anything - and that includes time and money
looking for different office space!

These are pictures of the buildings on campus where I have class - chemistry is on top (did the word "Chemistry" written over the door give it away?) and biology is below. Go ahead and pick on me for getting a much tighter shot of the chemistry building; biology was giving me so much grief this week that I didn't want to risk being struck dead in my tracks by a ray of pure evil originating from that building. Luckily everything is worked out now; it just took multiple frustrating conversations.


This is the Queen Liliuokalini student services building. I don't think the buildings on UH's campus are anywhere near as nice as the ones at USC, but you have to keep in mind that Hawaii was very, very poor before it became a state. The mountains are nice...there's usually a pretty decent breeze on campus, but most days start out with the rain when there isn't a cloud in the sky. So, just like Mililani, there are a lot of rainbows in the Manoa valley.

Last but not least, this is a mural at the Campus Center (I know, original name for a student union, right?). I just think it looks neat. There are a lot of stairs going up from this direction, but there are something like four different entries to that level. It's a weird building.

So now you guys have an idea of what I see on a daily basis. Sorry I don't have anything more interesting to report - I do have two tests next week, after all!

--jess

Holding down the fort

I definitely like the blogs with photos better, so I guess that means I need to have some adventures while Jeff is away!

Jeff left for six weeks underway on Friday. He should be pulling into San Diego sometime next week, where he'll visit some of his buddies from when he lived there before. We looked into flying me out there to meet him, but unfortunately I have tests in both of my classes next week, so it won't work.

Tuesdays are long; I work the entire time the office is open, which meant I was away 12 hours yesterday with commute time. This is definitely a tough schedule when a new dog is in the picture. I don't know why I always thought going back to school would be the best thing ever. I think it'll be great once I am learning something, but at the moment, it feels more like I have to prove to everyone that I already know it because the classes are so easy. It feels like high school.

Needless to say I am learning much more at work than I am at school these days!

It's going to be a very busy week for me due to a screw up in biology lab - the lab met on Labor Day when the rest of the university was closed. An email was sent out two days before, but my email address was incorrect on the list. So I showed up Monday prepared for the lab they did LAST Monday. I am a little peeved about their resolution - I can't make up the lab because they no longer have the materials I need, so now I have to find a bunch of things they looked at through a microscope *online* and draw them - completing a lab report as if I were actually there. This is on top of the lab report that will be due next week and the lab report for Chemistry. It hardly seems a fair resolution that I should have to do more work than the students in the lab did when the instructors were the ones that messed up!!!

So my exciting plans for the rest of the week are doing three lab reports, Thursday, taking Kitsune on an outing or two (hopefully) and studying for tests in both classes next week. Fun stuff, huh?

--jess

Order in the blog!

Time for me to attempt to restore a bit of chronological order to the blog... Jeff and I had a pretty amazing Labor Day adventure and I've also started another job - and right in the middle, bam, my train of thought was derailed by some crazy person hauling a crane through an H1 overpass!!! (In case you were wondering, I have elected to stay on this side of the island today because I don't imagine the problem was resolved overnight)

Mini adventure
Jeff and I did mostly home improvement over the weekend, but I really wanted to fit in some beach fun time - especially since he is going underway for a month later this week. So Monday we bought boogey boards and set off in the Mini searching for the perfect wave. We mistakenly chose the North Shore, which is glassy and perfect for swimming this time of year, so we ended up going west along the North Shore toward Kaena Point from the other side. It's really an interesting area! From the road, we saw some white swells at a decent pull-off spot. The sand seemed a little loose, so I was just starting to say, "Jeff, we're going to get stuck," when, you guessed it, we got stuck! Unfortunately I didn't have the real camera with us - just my cell phone - and I'll come back and edit this entry with pictures of our beached Mini once I figure out how to get those pictures from my phone onto the Internet. Luckily there were some pidgin-speaking locals there to help us get it out - we pushed and pulled and managed to get the car out without having to get a tow truck. Thank goodness the car is so light!

Jess's new job
As you could probably gather, I am pretty happy about it. The commute is pretty horrible (well, especially on days when it takes seven hours), but it's worth it because I've learned more in one day on the job than I have in two weeks of school. The staff are nice and extremely helpful, and the doctor is efficient and a notorious grammar fanatic, according to the staff (I think my writing skills helped me get the job). I can tell this kind of work wouldn't be for everyone, because part of it involves cleaning medical instruments that get pretty gross. I always thought there was some magical, never-ending supply of clean supplies in examination rooms. Definitely not the case! It would have been a huge sign that I am going in the wrong direction if this job grossed me out or made me uncomfortable, but it looks like all systems are go!

--jess

A long, long journey

I'll start on a good note by saying that my first day on the job was pretty excellent. I am sure I will write more about it later...

It is 11:35 at the moment, and I just walked in the door at 11:17 after getting on the bus at 4:30 this afternoon. After getting on the bus at 6:30am, it made for a long and frustrating day, but apparently someone who probably should have been chlorinated out of the gene pool decided to drive a truck towing a crane under an H1 overpass, knocking it out and shutting down the only cross-island intrastate around 3:40 this afternoon (RIIIGHT during rush hour, of course). So there were millions of people trying to cram on a closed highway, onto detours in various places, and when that didn't work, they started going circle island and cramming that, also. Various radio stations were suggesting everyone who was in Honolulu just stay in Honolulu for the night; needless to say, it was too late for me, as I was already on a bus that wasn't letting me off any time soon - it felt like the stuff bad action movies are made of. I finished the Salman Rushdie book I was reading and was disappointed I hadn't packed Jeff's GameBoy - luckily some of the folks in the back of the bus were good conversation. The bus wasn't as packed as usual, so no one stood up the whole time; however, it was a 4:30 bus and most people hadn't eaten since lunch, so people were cranky, tired, hungry, thirsty, and pretty much everyone had to urinate. A few people didn't make it, which made sitting in stopped traffic for a few more hours very, um, aromatic. I was definitely happy to get home and definitely not as happy as I could be about living in Hawaii - it doesn't really bode well for any kind of disaster situation if one accident can shut down half the island.

Kit and Zeke were just as happy when I got home as I was; they were both out of food, and poor little Kit was bored outside all day, but I was too beat to play with him much before putting him to bed. But I am not too beat to relate my little story as it's happening...and now, it is time for me to go to bed as well!

--jess