Fun Photos

For those of you who don't know, I like to take photos. I'm super amateur, and don't have a great camera, but that doesn't stop me from having fun.

Here are some of the ones I'm really happy with that I've taken in the last week.

Updated Yurt Photos! (because I know you're dying to see them)

Update:
We've added the interior paneling on the guest/control room after installing the wiring and the soundproofing material. We installed the big window between the rooms. Also, we built a ladder and a railing for the loft. It's all coming together quite nicely, and I hope to be painting in a couple of days.

Round House Kick! (Ow! That Yurts!)

Alternate Entry Titles:

Yurt So Good (C'mon Baby Make a Yurt So Good)

Yurt Time Is Gonna Come

Hey everyone!

I was going to wait until it was all done before I posted any pics, but so many people have asked about the yurt and requested yurt photos that I've decided to break down and put something up now.

As many of you know, Skye and I are building a yurt for me to live in while I'm working here on the farm. If you don't know what a yurt is, you will soon. I was pretty excited about the idea from the start, and I think that when it's all finished it's going to be a great place to

live.

When I arrived here, Skye had already set the foundation posts and started the framing.

After finishing the framing, we added plywood panels as the sub floor.

Once the floor was done, we put up the lattice walls and the doors. This proved to be the easy part.

Then it was time to put up the rafters. The rafters run from a tension cable along the top of the lattice walls to a center ring that is supported only by the rafters, and the rafters are supported by it. The center ring is about five feet in diameter, and the rafters (there are 50 of them) are about seventeen feet long. The trick to this is that you set two of the rafters in place along the tension wire, and then lift up the edge of the center ring (still on the ground) so that the rafters sit flush. Then you're supposed to lift the ring as high as you can, take two other rafters and insert them into the center ring. Then using the rafters, continue lifting the ring up and the seat the rafters in the tension cable above the walls, thus holding the ring in place.

Easier said than done.

Skye and I tried it once by ourselves, and failed miserably. Very very luckily for us, that was the weekend that Kaleo was in town, and she came over to help out. With her help we were able to get the center ring lifted, and the remainder of the rafters set into place. We never could have done it without her.

Also during the rafter installation, we encountered a few other issues. For that, I suppose you need a little bit of back story. Skye acquired this yurt in trade for editing a video project for some folks on the other side of the island. That was a good deal. The tricky part is that these folks had not properly installed the yurt when they were using it, and a strong wind blew it down. Skye already knew this, because he had to order two new walls and a new center ring. What we didn't know is there were other parts that were slightly damaged from the previous structural failure that required our attention. Nine of the rafters, for example. After one totally split and fell (that was scary) we started looking at the others and had to do some mending. But, we eventually got them fixed and all sat in place nicely.

Then it was time for the roof. Ugh. The roof is a single piece heavy-duty tarp of sorts. It probably weighs around 250 pounds. Add in the water that the rain had added to it over time, and I'm guessing it was over 300 at time of lifting. The way you install it is to lift it through the center ring, and then unfold it on top of the rafters. At this point, we made the best decision we've made since I've been here, and we rented some scaffolding from Home Depot. Using some rope and the piping of the scaffolding as a sort of makeshift pulley, we were able to lift that stupid roof, four inches at a time, up to the center ring.

After all of that, everything else was pretty easy. We put up the walls and wall insulation, we leveled the doors, added the skylight dome, and tied everything down. And with that, technically the yurt itself was done.

But of course we decided to do more. We decided that the best thing to do would be to build a loft above part of the floor so I could sleep up there, creating more useful room on the floor. The way it worked out, we're going to enclose the room under the loft for use as a guest room (with exterior access) and as a soundproofed control room for recording. Skye even had a few sliding glass doors in the yard he bough from a hotel that was remodeling or something, and we've turned one on it's side to create a 5'x8' window from the control room to the main room. AND the neighbors, Puggy and Linda, happen to have a old Hawai'ian Tel phone booth (complete with bi-fold privacy doors) in their yard they're going to let us have to convert into a vocal isolation booth!

It's going to be sweet.

I know you'd think that once the yurt was done that the interior work would be easy and go quickly, since we're inside and out of the rain. But noooooo........ the rain wouldn't let us off of the hook that easily. It turns out that when it rains enough, the road to the yurt becomes impassable. Not even the farm equipment can get up that road when it's muddy (and it is really muddy). So all of the lumber had to be hauled up that hill by hand. And today all of the scaffolding (due back at Home Depot) had to be hauled down by hand. Slippery messy work. But once summer comes around and the road dries out completely, we're going to spread some rock on it, and that should solve the problem in the future.

But for now, we've just about got the interior framing done, and then we'll be putting up the paneling for the walls and the floor of the loft. At that point, I'm moving in.

We've decided to try an epoxy flooring, and see how that goes. It should be durable, easy to clean, and cheaper than vinyl. That way, if Skye and Kaleo ever decide to move the yurt, they're not wasting any flooring. Then I'll go get some area rugs or some carpet remnants or something, and throw them down.

Once the flooring's all done, then we're going to address the issue of electricity. Right now, the house on the property is powered by solar panels. In the case of long rainy days, there is a gas generator to help recharge the system. It's a good system, and completely off of the grid, but the weather really plays a role in how much power you have on hand at any time, and you've got to be very conscious of your power consumption and battery usage. So we've decided that we're going with hydro power for the yurt. We're going to start with a small system that pulls water out of one of the on-site streams and runs it through a small turbine which will generate power, much like a water wheel. We think (depending on line loss due to resistance) that we should be able to power the yurt completely as well as supplement the existing house's power supply all off of that one small turbine. If it works as well as we think it will, we'll start looking at installing a larger system using the other two creeks on the property to create enough power to run a small wood shop as well as any lighting and other equipment necessary to use for farming (green houses, garages, etc.) It's all pretty exciting.

Hawai'ian Word of the Day: "Kelekele" - mud or muddy

Blog Blog Revolution!

Attention all blog readers!

Kilzer has informed me that he has changed the name of his blog (and cancelled the old one) so update all of your links and go check out his blog!

http://kilzingyousoftly.blogspot.com

Also, Jonette has started up one of her own!  So go check that out too!!!

http://jericoco.blogspot.com

Current Cast of Characters

Hey everyone.

Sorry it's been a while. We've had a break in the weather, so Skye and I have been working a lot on the yurt. Also, Kaleo was in town, so I moved over to the neighbor's property for a bit. My phone's been out of commission, and my computer's power supply finally gave up the ghost. But I should have the phone running again tomorrow (I hope), and UH Hilo's best tech guys are trying to repair the power cable to my computer as we speak, so hopefully that'll all be resolved tonight. If not, I'll be ordering a new one, as I should have done months ago. For now, Skye's been nice enough to offer to let me use his Mac Book....so if there are any errors in this post, blame it on Steve Jobs.

I know some of you are really curious about the yurt, but I'm going to hold off on that until it's done and I can post pictures of each step. Should be good to go by the weekend. Then it's on to the hydro-power project! (I'm pretty excited about that)

So...yeah. No yurt info....pineapples are still coming up, and should be ready to start taking the first few off in the next 4 weeks or so....but I thought I'd take this time to tell you about all of the characters in my life at the moment, so when I say "Skye" or "Kaleo" or whatever, you've got a good mental picture and can follow along more easily. Sound good? Ok. Let's get it going.

SKYE

(no photo available)

aka: Kalewa, aka: Boss
Role: Property Owner/Partner in Crime
Basic Skills: Operate power tools - Drive tractor - Configure/maintain networks - Cook tasty meals
Unique Skills: Only person who can play a guitar solo on the farm - Can drive farm equipment within half an inch of other vehicles/buildings/structures/etc. - Can provide an applicable quote from either The Simpsons or Futurama for nearly any situation
Attributes: Happily married, land owner, surprisingly long hair

KALEO

(no photo available)

aka: Kaleoooooo, aka: Bosslady
Role: Property Owner/Skye's Wife
Basic Skills: maintain healthy relationship with husband while away at school - make sure we're eating right
Unique Skills: Can keep Skye and myself in check regarding our crazy ideas (mostly) - best at guiding a rafter to the yurt center ring while sitting on a ladder (seriously, we tried and could hardly do it without her) - bakes bread and (oh, you know this is the clincher) pie. 

(mmmmm pie.....)
Attributes: Happily married, land owner, surprisingly long hair (ha ha ha)

KIKO (English translation: Spot [seriously....that's what it means])

aka: Keeks, aka: Beeks, aka: Squeaks, aka: Deeks, aka: Squeaky Squeaky, aka: Freeks, aka: Bosslady
Role: Be a dog
Basic Skills: Property security - run - play
Unique Skills: Super photogenic - will bark at any sound of an unfamiliar car or the sound of the chain on the gate being moved
Attributes: spotted all over - likes to beg for table scraps - jumps with joy on a regular basis


LUANA (English translation: To relax, to be content)

aka: Lu, aka: Lu-lu, aka: Lu-dog (any of you seeing a potential problem here yet? therefore), aka: Red Leader (I started calling her that the first day, and now she usually answers to it)
Role: Be a dog
Basic Skills: Property pest control - run - play
Unique Skills: Can escape from anywhere at will - is the fastest dog on the farm - has selective hearing (that is, stubborn....or maybe just obsessive)
Attributes: big floppy red hound dog ears - sleeps like a log once out - can wander/hunt in the rain without thinking anything about it


HONI (English translation: To nuzzle, like with Eskimo kisses)

aka: Hones, aka: What's up hones?, aka: It's Hones, alright, aka: Parrot Cat
Role: Be a cat
Basic Skills: Property pest control - run on the roof before dawn
Unique Skills: Can leap from the deck handrail to the roof (amazing) - is good at catching things (mice/rats/lizards) but is bad at keeping track of them once caught
Attributes: more like a dog than a cat - cool to hang around with - like to headbut you gently when you're petting him


POPO (English translation: both "black" and "bundled up")

aka: Popes, aka: PoPoPopoes, aka: Shrimps, aka: Poparino
Role: Be a cat
Basic Skills: hang out - cuddle up in your arm while watching TV
Unique Skills: Can sit in the kick drum of the trap set for hours on end - can hide under the futon or in the pineapple plants outside and make me worry she's been carried of by a large bird or Mothra or something
Attributes: She's a little black cat who was born with a genetic disorder where several of the bones in her back legs are fused together. So she gets around at a slow pace, but is such a bundle of love that she's adored wherever she goes.

FRANK

aka: Frank the Lizard, aka: Frank the Chameleon, aka: Frankie Green Face
Role: Be a lizard
Basic Skills: Property pest control - escape Honi
Unique Skills: Can supposedly change colors, but I've yet to see it - can move his eyes independantly
Attributes: scaly green skin - 4 legs - clamp (or clamp-like) jaws

MOTHRA (English translation: Mothra)

aka: Oh crap! It's Mothra!!!
Role: Be Mothra
Basic Skills: Fly around - Terrorize the cummunity
Unique Skills: Can shoot lasers from it's eyes - can pick up and drop large objects on people
Attributes: hatched from an egg that emerged after an undersea tremor

So that's about it. Those are the major players in my day to day life these days. There are some other folks you'll hear about from time to time (Souza, Linda and Puggy, Steve, etc.) but I think I'll get around to them when I start having some tales to tell that involve them.

I Live!!! / How I'll be Living

Yep. I'm a survivor.

First of all, I took my first solo venture into town. It's going to take some time to get used to getting around, especially since all of the street names are in (believe it or not) Hawai'ian!

Take Kamehameha to Kinoole then to Kanoelehua to Komohama to Puainako....after a while, especially through the rain, they all start looking the same. But somehow I made it to the store, and to the gas station and back again without incident. Hooray!

Another tale of survival: We had our first noticeable earthquake today. Magnitude 4.0 off of the coast.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/hv00033291.php
Of course, I've been in some minor earthquakes before, low rumblers is all, but this one was just one big THUMP. I was over at Linda's at the time, and it felt like someone had backed the tractor into the corner of the house or something.

I knew in moving out that the whole island is a volcano, but I guess I never thought about the subsequent earthquakes that go along with that. Live and learn, I guess.

Anyway, on to the more detailed aspects of my life here.

Work:
As you all know, I'll be working on the farm here. I'll be doing typical yard work (weed whacking, maintenance, weeding, that sort of thing) and once the crops start coming in I'll be doing a lot of harvest work, and then maybe doing some selling at the farmer's market in town.

As some of you know, I was thinking that I'd grow the produce for, make, and sell salsa at the farmer's market. Alas, upon visiting there since I've been here, there are now two (not even just one!) salsa stands at the market. Dang. Dang dang. Double dang. So if any of you have any ideas about what I can grow/make and sell, they'd be much appreciated.

I know that it may be difficult to come up with ideas without seeing the market firsthand, so sometime in the up and coming weeks, I'll put together an entry all about the market, and the people there (as soon as I get to know a few of them)

Apart from the work on the farm, I'll also be working for Puggy (sp?) and Linda down the street. Turns out they're the largest koa dealer in the world (talk about starting at the top floor!). For them I'll be taking over some of the things that Skye's been doing for them, being computer work (selling wood online) and manual labor (planing, grading, and sorting lumber) and some craftwork (turning bowls).

Living Quarters
For the moment, I'm crashing on Skye's futon. His wife, Kaleo, is at school on Oahu, and only comes back once every two weeks. Once we get a few days of no rain, we'll finish the yurt, and I'll be there permanently. Until then, I really don't want to be butting in on the newishlyweds' rare time together. So if they yurt's not built by this Thursday, I'll be crashing for the weekend in a shed that Puggy and Linda have on the property next door to us. (expect pictures of this one). But either way, no matter what, cross your fingers for a few dry days. I only need three.

That's about it from here at the moment. Hopefully it'll be a couple of days before I can write again, and then I'll be doing so from the yurt.


Hawai'ian Word of the Day:
Ao Pua'a: This is another two-parter. The area we're in is known as Ao Pua'a. "Ao" means "cloud" and "pua'a" means "pig". This area is called Ao Pua'a because in Hawai'ian folklore, Pele would hunt the boar, and the boar, to escape, would change into a cloud and hide in this valley. Mainlander translation: MMmmmmmmmm bacon cloud........

Who'll Stop the Rain

Have You Ever Seen The Rain? (both CCR)
The Rain Song (Led Zeppelin)
Rain (the Beatles)
Rain on Me (The Who)

There are tons of these songs floating around out there. I don't think anyone who wrote them lived in this much rain. We had over 72 hours of non-stop rain, with the first break being this morning. Now it's raining again.

Don't get me wrong, I really like it. It's nothing like the rain in Colorado. But given the local sentiment towards it, I'll eventually get frustrated with it. That's sad. So I'm really trying to stay optimistic about it.

The downside is that unless we can get three days of no rain, then we can't get the yurt up. I'm very excited to get the yurt up. It's in a great location on the property, and once it's up, I'll have a place to unpack my clothes and hang up my pictures and such.

So I'm thinking that I haven't really been clear about what all I'll be doing here, and how things are set up now in the interim. I think tonight I'll take some time to walk you all through the people and pets I'll be around, what I am and will be doing, and all of that kinda stuff.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to wander into town and try not to get lost. Wish me luck, and stay tuned!! :)

Kilzing You Softly (With His Words)

ha ha ha ha... I crack me up. :)
Anyway, it turms out my good friend Kilzer is starting a blog of his own. And thank goodness for that. He's way funnier than I am, and I'm sure he will totally kick butt with his blog.

I've added a link over on the right side of this page, that keeps updated with his latest blog entry. Or, if that doesn't float your boat for some strange reason, go check it out directly:

http://thedeclarationofkilzpendance.blogspot.com/

"The shareef don't like it (dum de dah dum dum)
Rock the Kilz Blog
Rock the Kilz Blog"

ha ha ha ha yeah.... I still crack me up.

Settling In

Time to update on a few interesting things, I think.

Since I've arrived, it's rained every day. Not all day, but the only sunshine I saw was right when I arrived on the islands. Everything's either soaked or damp, and the solar panels on the little house are struggling to keep up enough power for the daily household stuff (like charging my laptop to write this blog)









Despite the rain, things have been interesting, and the time has been flying by. Yesterday I met one of my employers, Linda. She and her husband sell koa wood online to surfboard makers, luthieries, and other woodworkers. She seems very nice, and they've got a good operation over there. I'm excited to jump in and start helping out over there.


Also yesterday, there was a nice treat out behind the house. An 'Io, or Hawaiian Hawk, was perched in a tree about 150 feet from the back porch. My puny 3x zoom on my camera really doesn't do it justice:

So I had to get all MacGyver on it. I mean, how often do you get an endangered species hanging around outside your kitchen?

So I took some binoculars that I've borrowed from my dad, and I set the camera to 3x zoom, and the glasses are 10x zoom, and I shot the photo through the binoculars. And SHAZAM! My own telephoto lens. :) The photos came out a little blurry and a little grainy, but the idea's there, and you can tell it's an 'Io. So I'm pretty happy with it.


Despite the pouring rain, this guy sat in that bare tree for over three hours.

I tried some new food yesterday.... it's called rambutan. It's an odd, hairy, red fruit that looks like a sea creature more than typical fruit. You bite through the skin, and peel the top off, and then pop the pulpy fruit into your mouth and chuck away the skin. It's like a giant green grape that's meen peeled, and it has a seed the size and shape of an almond in the middle. It's not as tart or as flavorful as a grape, but it's not bad at all. A nice little snack.

That's about all that's truly newsworthy at the moment. I'm sure once the rain lets up for a while we'll get to work on the yurt. the neighbors have offered to chip in and help set it up when we're ready.

Hawai'ian Word of the Day:

Kaiwiki - "kai" means water and "wiki" means fast, so kaiwiki means "fast water". Therefore the street I live on is named for the many quick streams in the area.

The Voyage Over

As you know, I made it here in one piece. The trip went pretty well, all things considered, and here's how it went down:

Matt was kind enough to let me crash at his place the night before I left. Quality time spent with Kono and Oscar (the cat who looks like an Ewok). We got in about 2 hours of sleep, and then headed to the airport.

The flight to San Francisco is ok. I've got the window seat. The person behind me kept farting. On the descent into SF, we enter a cloud bank and lightning strikes the plane. At least that's what it looked like. It may have been just off of the tip of the wing, and it may also have just been static discharge from the plane coupled with static discharge from the clouds, but I happened to be looking out of the window at the time and saw it and it looked and sounded a lot like lightning. Very exciting.

Unfortunately, the plane left DIA a little late, and took it's time in the air, and we touched ground 30 minutes later than we should have. Then we took the scenic route around the tarmac, I suppose because of the rain. We finally de-planed in Terminal 3, and I saw that my flight to Honolulu left form Terminal 1. I started following the signs, and very quickly found that
a) the signs aren't very clear
b) Terminal 1 is a very long way from Terminal 3
and c) I've got 20 minutes before my plane leaves.

So I'm hurrying along, and I finally come to a sign that says Terminal 1 is off to the right, and I look, and there's a security guard and another sign that says "Exit" as well as "Any return to the airport will require passing through security." So here's how it went down:

Cameron: [pant, pant] hey...[pant] is this really the way to Terminal 1?
Security Guard: Yeah.
Cameron: [deep breath] But this says that I'm leaving the secure area....
Security Guard: Yep.
Cameron: So I'm going to have to go through security again?**
Security Guard: Uh-huh.
Cameron: And this is the only way? You've gotta be kidding me!** I mean, I've got [looks at cell phone] 14 minutes left before my plane leaves....
Security Guard: Then I suggest you quit asking me about it, and get moving... it's a 7 minute walk just to the terminal.
Cameron: Crap!**

** <---areas edited for content.....gotta keep this blog PG. My nephew might be reading some day

So now I'm running. My two carry-on bags are (of course) both backpacks, so one is on good, but there's no good way to carry the other. My shoes are still untied from when I went through security at DIA, and I'm starting to feel the annoyance of a blister forming on my right heel. But no time to stop! Must...catch... the plane! <--my best William Shatner impression here

And then, the hallway ends. There's a big arrow on the wall, with Terminal 1 painted above it, and it's pointing at the door to the parking lot. Seriously? But no time to stop now... I've still got [looks at phone] 7 minutes! So I run outside, and follow along the wall. There's a makeshift canvas hallway out there... I guess they're doing construction or something. I pass a guy in a uniform going the other way.

Cameron: Is this the way to Terminal 1?!?!?
Security Guy on Break: Ha ha ha Yep!
Cameron: Thanks! (by this point I'm already 50 feet past him, still running)

Finally there's the door, with the words "Terminal 1" written above it, in glowing letters like a beacon in the night to wayward air travellers, offering comfort and relief at finally reaching not your destination, but the place you need to go to to reach your actual destination.

(sidenote: I remember thinking as I saw the sign that underneath the words "Terminal 1" that they should add in small letters "at the farthest possible geographical distance from wherever the hell your first plane landed." I'm thinking of suggesting this to the airport administrators, and since they're doing construction already, I think it'll be easy to do)

I check my phone. The plane leaves in two minutes. I'm not going to make it. Especially since I have to still go through security. So I jog up to the Hawaiian Airlines counter (I would have walked, but I wanted to make sure it still looked like I wanted to make my flight, so they'd be nice and put me on another one).

I get there, and there's a hippie in front of me. Not a cool old "I really stood for something in the 60's" hippie, but a neo-hippie... some college-aged kid who likes to smoke weed and have dreadlocks and listen to Phish and Bob Marley, but still wears $150 shoes and has a $500 back pack with a Grateful Dead patch on the side.

Hippie: I have to get on this flight, man! I've got my ticket right here!
Lady at the Counter: I'm sorry. They've already closed the doors, and they're not taking anymore passengers.
Hippie: Where's the love, man? Just because I was getting in one last bong hit with my bro-hams and showed up at the airport 4 minutes before my flight leaves doesn't mean you can keep me of of the plane, man!
Lady at the Counter: I'm sorry..ahem..sir.... but there's nothing I can do. They've already closed the doors, and have probably already left the gate.
Hippie: Well.... ok.... whatever, man... so, like..you know... can you hook me up for the next flight?
Lady at the Counter: Since you showed up late, all you can do is book another ticket yourself for the next flight.... tomorrow at this same time.

At this point, I have to speak up:

Cameron: Excuse me.... I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was supposed to be on that flight as well, but my last flight on United from Denver was late, and I only got off of the plane 20 minutes ago, and I ran 34 miles here from Terminal 3, all the while with this one stupid backpack flopping around because I already have another backpack on so this one has nowhere to go, and I think I'm getting a nasty blister on my heel....do I have to wait until tomorrow as well?
Lady at the Counter: Yes, sir.
Cameron: But it's not my fault I was late... it was United's fault!
Lady at the Counter: Then, sir, I suggest you talk to United and get them to put you on an earlier flight. It's their responsibility at this point. The best I can do for you is to put you on the flight tomorrow.
Cameron: Ok... that makes sense. I can do that. [looking around] Where's the United ticket counter?
Lady at the Counter: Terminal 3, sir.
Cameron: [has visions of lunging over the counter and choking Lady at the Counter until Security Guy on Break shows up to arrest him]

[phone rings behind the counter]

Lady at the Counter: Excuse me, please. [answers phone] Lady at the Counter, how can I help you?....... Uh-huh.... Yes, two of them..... Yes........ Uh-huh....... But one of them's a neo-hippie..... Yes, Widespread Panic t-shirt and everything.... No, he doesn't reek of patchouli......Ok. I'll let them know. Thanks. [hangs up phone] Ok, they're holding the plane. You've got to hurry and go right now!!! GO GO GO GO GO!
Hippie: Sweet, Dude! Let's do a bong hit to celebrate!
Lady at the Counter: No time! You've got to go now!
Hippie: Why are you always trying to harsh my high, man? Seriously... it's so uncool.

So I take off running again, only to stop 148 feet later at airport security. Fortunately, the line is short (I'm assuming because most people have either given up or died of exhaustion before reaching Terminal 1). There are two octogenarians in front of me. I ask if I can have cutsies, as an entire plane of people wanting to get to Hawai'i (and yes....now that I live here I'm obligated to add the apostrophe) are waiting for me.

Male Octogenarian: Listen, Sonny! We've spent the last 47 years trying to get here from Terminal 5, and there's no way I'm letting you get in front of me here!

So I back off and wait as patiently as I can in line, looking over everyone's shoulder, tapping my boarding pass on my hand, and generally appearing like I really really really have to pee, and the only bathroom in the world is on the other side of security.

Finally I make it through. I get to my gate. They let me in. I get on the plane. Everyone gives me the stink eye. I tell myself "Don't.... don't look at it. As long as you don't make direct stink-eye contact, you'll be fine.... Besides, they don't know it's United's fault. United, and whoever designed the San Francisco airport....") So I sit down. The guy next to me is asleep, and has somehow used half of my seat belt.

Cameron: Excuse me....
[pause]
Cameron: Um.... pardon, sir.....
[pause]
Cameron: [pokes guy on shoulder]Pardon me....
[pause]
Cameron: [puts foot in other guy's foot space]
Other Guy: Hey!
Cameron: Oh hey.... sorry to bother you, but you seem to have half of my seat belt.
Other Guy: Huh? Oh...yeah.... I guess I do. Sorry about that. I couldn't figure out why I had two buckles and no flat part, so I just tied them in a knot. Here you go. [hands me my piece, and I had him his part with the flat piece]

Turns out, he's a really nice guy named Steve who was born in the US, and his parents live near Washing DC, and he's spent the last 15 years out of the country doing marketing for various firms all over the world. He spent the last three years in Kenya (at which point I became convinced he's really Jack Bauer).

Finally, after NO in-flight movies, and "lunch" that consisted of 6 potato chips, a turkey croissant sandwich the size of a silver dollar, and two Oreo cookies, the 5½ hour flight finally ended.

Once I made it to Honolulu, I fired up the laptop and saw I had about 15 minutes of power left. Better to save that for once I'm all the way to Hilo. So I pack it all up, and head to the bar. Since I've got two hours to kill, I get a beer and strike up a conversation with the guy next to me. As I sat down, he was trying to explain the concept of common denominators to someone over the phone. "Must be a work call," I thought. ha ha ha.

Anyway, I go on the flight to Hilo from Honolulu. I was excited because I had the window seat again. I thought I'd have a shot at checking out the volcanoes at first, and then trying to look for Skye's place as we started the descent into the airport. I walk along the aisle, checking out the people along the way. It looks to be about 20% tourists, 20% people who live on the islands, 40% neo-hippies, and 20% undefined from first glance. I find row 23 and there are two older folks, sitting in the middle and window seat.

Cameron: Um.... I think I'm in Seat F.
Old Lady: Ah...yes.... we save it for you. [pats aisle seat]
Cameron: Yeah...[thinks about the trouble of explaining it given that it's only a 45 minute flight] Ok... that's cool. I can sit here.
Old Lady: no no... I saw the sign up there [points at overhead compartments] D...[points at husband] E.....[points at herself] F! [points at aisle seat]
Cameron: Gotcha.... well... sure. I'll just sit here then. [sits in aisle seat]

Turns out Mrs. Tanaka (that may not be her name, but it's the best I can do) was quite talkative, and told m all about their trip to California, and then to Vegas for 4 days, and how her son is growing apple bananas (more on that another time) near where I'd be living, and how she knows people in Colorado, and how she likes the mountains and such.

I got all of this before take-off. Once the plane got on the runway, she either fell asleep or started meditating. I couldn't tell. Mr. Tanaka said nothing.

The flight to Hilo was easy and quick. I really wanted to be looking out of the window, but since Mr. Tanaka was hogging it, I instead looked at the Hawaiian Airlines magazine in the seat pocket in front of me. Turns out that recently Hawaiian Air opened up a direct flight to Manila. Good to know.

About 30 minutes in, Mr Tanaka spoke. I thought he was talking to his wife, and I was knee deep in an article about a guy who photographs waves. But then he said it again. I looked at Mrs. Tanaka, and she was still in hibernation, so I looked up at Mr. Tanaka, and he was looking at me, thumbing at the window.

Mr. Tanaka: Lots of snow on volcano.
Cameron: [looking out window] Wow... yeah.... there is a lot of snow up there....

It was pretty impressive. When people who are not Hawai'ian think about Hawai'i they think about surfing and beaches and palm trees and basically the tropics. But the volcanoes here are at 13,700 feet, and get snow on a regular basis. The west side of the Big Island is dry ad arid, and the east side (where I'm at) is rainy and lush. I read a blog from someone once who stated that the Big Island had "Four seasons in one day," which of course made me think of the Crowded House song that you're probably not familiar with, but it's true. There are four seasons happening all the time on this one island. It's crazy. And many thanks to Mr. Tanaka for sharing that perspective of it with me.

So we landed. The plane stopped. Mrs. Tanaka woke up from her trance. I got off of the plane. Skye was there waiting for me. And (a great big And), given everything that happened in San Francisco, my baggage actually showed up. I don't know how it happened, and I wasn't expecting it, but there it was, spinning around the carousel with all of the other luggage.

The lesson learned here? Terminal 3 is much closer to Terminal 1 if you're baggage.

On the way out of the airport parking lot, we noticed three neo-hippie chicks walking along the road to the highway. Two of them I recognized from the plane. The third I'd never seen before, and was carrying a baby. Seriously. A baby. So we stopped and picked them up and gave them a ride to the highway, where they were going south and we were going north.

Crazy hippies.

So, the bottom line is I'm here, and I had a mostly good time getting here, and I'm surrounded by neo-hippies, most of whom have babies. :)

I've Arrived

Yep. I made it. Safe and sound. And by some odd miracle, so did my luggage.

What's that you say? Unbelieveable? It's true. My luggage made it here with me.

I want to write more, I feel I should write more, and I will write more.....but not tonight. Right now I'm tired, I've got a nasty blister on my heel that needs serious tending to, and my laptop needs some sorting out, all adding up to the fact I don't think I would type right now would do the experience any justice.

That and I'm pissed that my countdown's not counting up once it hit the target time. I'll have to fix that tomorrow somehow.

Besides, I've got a whole new perspective on things thanks to Lizzie and her mad YouTube searching skills. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus
(I'd embed it, but they won't let me....stupid technology! ha ha ha)

So good night to all. Expect to hear more from me and my adventures of air travel tomorrow.

My Life Out of Boxes

So..... I'm not taking back anything from the last post. I'm just adding some additional thoughts.

While I got all caught up in the interesting and surprising idea of packing things up and leaving them behind, and how that relates to the people I'll be leaving behind as well, I skipped right over one important fact:

Unlike the possessions, stowed away in dusty boxes waiting to be reclaimed, you, my friends and family, will find a way to come along with me. Whether it's through warm emails letting me know you're thinking of me, collaborating musically online, nosing into my business (ha!), living vicariously through my blog (fueling secret dreams of becoming a pineapple farmer), or taking the time to send me pictures, videos, and quick notes about your kids, your drunken Vegas adventures, the waffles you made for dinner, or whatever, you all have found a way to tag along with me, stowed away in my heart. And that's something no mere item could do (except maybe my guitar, but that's a different story :) ).

So here's to my great and amazing friends. You're sweet and hilarious and interesting and surprising and absolutely wonderful. It's not fair that a guy should be as lucky as I am to have you. I raise my coffee cup and toast you all, hoping you're not too hungover this morning to enjoy it. :)