Here's a quick guide to all of the posts from our trip to Kauai, since some are already being pushed off the main page. I'm all done with the posts from the trip! Updated posts transcribed Wednesday evening:Varying definition of "security" Uncharacteristically nicely Ghost town Updated posts transcribed Wednesday morning:X's...
I miss the part of the flight checkin process where the ticketing agent asks me if I have packed my own bag. I would gladly trade all of this shoe removal nonsense for that question....
Rep. Barney Frank (D, MA) is my new favorite legislator. When asked if he thought that twelve of his Republican opponents voted against the bailout bill solely out of spite because their feelings were hurt by a "hyper-partisan" speech, he said that the accusation was ludicrous, and followed approximately with,...
The local news has been talking a lot lately about how the recession economic slump has had incredible impact on tourism, which is one of the principal components of the Hawaiian economy. Kauai doesn't seem to be too heavily affected—this is the beginning of the off-season here and the hotel...
I didn't bring the charger for the portable hard drive I use to dump photos for my camera's memory card. Although I've got a 60GB drive in this thing, I was only able to dump the 512MB card ~5 times before the battery on the X's Drive died. That's less...
This is the third of a three-part report. Also see the first and second parts. It wouldn't be a rental car report if I didn't complain about something.The soft top is too cumbersome to work well in most places. It's fine on Hawai'i (and probably most parts of the southwest...
We were searching for the end of the road on the Southwest corner of Kauai (at Polihale State Park) when we came across this—apparently DOE at Sandia has a facility way out on the beaches of Kauai. I don't blame them....
If you're ever on Kauai, be sure to visit Scotty's BBQ in Kapa'a. Best BBQ west of my buddy Rich's house. Ask to be seated in Chuck's section if he's working. He's a necessary part of the ambiance....
This sign is posted on a ramp ostensibly designed for handicap access—it's right next to a set of stairs. Maybe the ramp doesn't meet ADA guidelines (for incline?) and the placard is mandatory lest wheelchairers try to use it and find themselves exhausted halfway up....
I found a bug in the firmware on the Sony DSC-T1 camera, produced in 2003. When the internal four-digit image counter rolls over the 10,000 mark, it starts over twice: once after rolling over, and again after the first time you format the memory card. The sequence goes like this:9998...
Yesterday at a beautiful beach outside Hanalei I got dragged across the sand by a ~5-foot tall wave that came crashing onto the shore. Thankfully the resulting scrapes have almost completely healed already but this is a good reminder than when the surf kicks up, swim in slightly deeper water...
We had this tub of raw cocunut on our first day exploring Kauai. Coconut ... juice (? It's not really coconut milk) looks and tastes like sugar water but has the consistency of runny snot. It pulls out of the container in long strands and flies all over in the...
I'm sitting in front of the pool (with a notebook and a Piña Colada) and I have no idea what time it is. My cell phone is up in our hotel room and there are no clocks to be found. In fact, the timestamp on this post is just a...
We went to a luau tonight. Layla said it was, "a Polynesian lounge meets It's a Small World." Much like Small World, a luau really is worth seeing exactly once. Oh and the dinner was good. I recommend the beef. Everything you've heard about Poi is true—it's purple-grey, gooey, tasteless,...
We're watching the presidential debate for a few minutes before we split for a luau. One of the questions Jim Lehrer asked was about the likelihood of a terrorist attack on the continental United States. Apparently Hawai'i is on its own....
This is the second of a three-part report. Also see the first and third parts. When all you own is a hammer, the saying goes, all the world looks like a nail. The corollary to this is that when all you drive is a Jeep, everything looks like something to...
You may be skipping over most (all?) of the wordy posts I've written while on Kauai and unloaded at once on September 30, but if you haven't, you may be wondering why I'm writing so much instead of enjoying the island. Well on prior vacations I've taken any downtime (maybe...
I've never seen as many Chrysler Sebrings (especially the new model—but even including the older style) than I've seen here on Kauai. The Sebring, Jeep Wrangler, and convertible Mustang alone account for a sizeable proportion of the rental (and even non-rental) cars here. I'm really glad we got the Jeep....
I studied Japanese at school but it was primarily because I had an interest in languages (any of them, really) and because I needed a hobby. I've gotten back into it on and off in the years since I finished my undergraduate work, but nevef got too far since my...
The county of Kauai has an interesting solution to the problem of traffic on the main road into and out of its largest city, Lihue. Instead of the more traditional (and costly) solutions of adding lanes or demarcating and dedicating a lane to change directions with lots of fancy gates...
Cars rust like crazy out here. This is true anywhere salt and water are plentiful—but the effect is really dramatic on the Hawaiian islands since nearly everything here has been exposed to saltwater for its entire operational life—even in super-salty places on the mainland many vehicles only spend a fraction...
We took a helicopter tour of Kauai this morning. Incredible. Props to our pilot, Michael Gallagher, from Blue Hawaiian Helicopters. In addition to the videos I took during the flight, here are the takeoff (8.85MB, MPG) and landing (23.4MB, MPG) videos, since I'm a huge sucker for aviation stuff....
I've already forgotten most of the facts I originally intended to put into this post. See, Layla and I went on a 6-hour raft1 tour this morning to the West side of Kauai and, specifically, the cliff-lined Na Pali coast. We saw dolphins and giant sea turtles swim within 10ft...
Yes, I believe that is pen on my breakfast burrito. But a good burrito nonetheless—it reminded me of Burrito Tyme's in Socorro. Now all Kauai needs is a Chili Works transplant....
I sampled all of these coffees at the Kauai Coffee Company. This is the second photo I took in this spot. The first was to snag a shot of this awesome shirt....
I believe it is healthy to maintain a distrust toward individuals with heavily modified and immaculate full-size pickup trucks....
Both of the Hawaiian islands I've traveled to—Maui and Kauai—are awash in native culture. That's not to say native culture is now what it once was, but despite the onslaught of Westernism, the aboriginal Hawaiian way of life is very much a part of how things happen around here these...
This is the first of a three-part report. Also see the second and third parts. The American automobile industry deals frequently in iconography. Cars like the Corvette, Charger, and the F-150 stand as tributes to the history of domestic iron. Similarly, the Pacer and the interior of any recent American...
This is neat. Yesterday's flight into Honolulu took us over a submarine, ostensibly departing Pearl Harbor. The photo at right shows a submersible vessel up to its conning tower in seawater. Or a container ship losing another shipment of Volvos....
Note to self: after swimming in the surf, remember to fully enter the shower before removing swim trunks. P.S. This beach features less sand and more gravel....
The island nation of Kauai suffers from an infestation of ... chickens. Practically everywhere you go, you'll find at least a handful of chickens wandering around and making a ton of noise. They reportedly outnumber the island's human inhabitants. I haven't yet found an explanation why they're everywhere—besides, of course,...
It's not immediately clear what the designers of Honolulu International Airport were thinking when they added gates 65–80 onto the remainder. Entering the main terminal you're largely on your own to find them—most of the signage stops at 64. When you do find the escalator buried at the end of...
I took this photo a long long time ago but never got around to posting it. In fact, maybe I did post it. I can't remember. Nevertheless, I'm baffled....
An often entry over at Engrish sites like EngrishFunny.com is something like this, whose first character is regularly mistranslated. It turns out there's a great explanation of this machine-translation-gone-wrong over at the language log....
I abhor laugh tracks on television shows. Who ever thought these were a good idea?...
I mentioned earlier that the specs I implement are entering standardization. I just finished the first of a 3-day meeting to try to improve the docs and it's ... not at all what I was expecting. The environment is positive and productive, and things are remarkably efficient. Color me surprised....
Nothing says classy quite like plastic-chrome automobile accessories affixed with double-sided sticky tape....
I was originally traveling to Japan on business, and would be staying for a few days of vacation. Now that I've seen this page, I've changed my intentions: I'm now going to Japan solely to see the world's largest spatula. Any work I do there is merely coincidental....
Apparently this squirrel shows gratitude for getting some nuts by showing us his nuts....
I'm going to Japan later this year on business. For those of you who don't know, Japan is that island right off of Korea, known as a country where everyone eats raw fish with sticks, and where anyone can purchase myriad fetish accessories from vending machines. Also, they invented Pachinko....
I'm taking the Toyota in for its 20,000 mile service this morning. We've had this car since January 2006 so that means we've only been putting about 7200 miles on it each year—which is a little more than half the typical reckoning of 12,000 miles each year....
I'm totally sick of dealing with byte ordering. I'd be completely satisfied never having to deal with another byte ordering problem ever again....
Top three reasons why I might not:The Large Hadron Collider was turned on, created an uncontrollable black hole, and swallowed the earth Trampled by elephants Elvis reincarnates in my bedroom and gibs me because I was sleeping in his respawn point Update: Kyle recommends a site for receiving up-to-the-minute status...
The government has been putting it in our water (and oxygen)! Courtesy failblog.org....
Looks like the cats have a new little buddy....
Not all Engrish is from eastern Asia. Courtesy English Russia....
From the advertisement: Does your teen exhibit irrational mood swings, have a sudden lack of interest in school, get unexplained phone calls, or hang out with questionable friends? I did not immediately realize that this wasn't meant as a joke. Those things are all ... what teens do. All of...
Interesting trivia: Kamov is a Russian aircraft manufacturer that sells helicopters with coaxial contra-rotating main rotors. That means two sets of rotor blades: one on top, one on the bottom. They rotate in opposite directions. Kaman is an American aircraft manufacturer that sells helicopters with intermeshing contra-rotating main rotors. That...
Starter motor, driveshaft, kickdown linkage, cheap Chinese flare-nut wrenches, and bitchin' snowboard not included. Comes with ATF-soaked rag, 2x4s, and flattened cardboard box. Will not ship—local pick-up only. P.S. I just realized this is actually a photo of my new transmission, not the old core I pulled out of the...
I'm not talking about bathing suits. Remember the speedometer cable that caused so much controversy around here a few months back? Well, this is it—now removed from it's original home and tossed lovingly on my faux-woodgrain workbench. In case you can't tell from the photos, the plastic teeth are pretty...
I heard earlier today that Don LaFontaine passed away on Monday. Those of you who don't recognize the name would surely recognize his voice—he's the growly movie trailer voiceover guy. I thought a little bit about the number of times I've likely heard this guy announce films, but the only...
Hey hey, it's (mostly) done! The truck is running and I've driven it around the block. The new (used) transmission works far better than the original. The "mostly" part of that first paragraph is that I haven't been able to fit the second frame crossmember back into the truck. It's...
