Fun Day at KITV

It was a different day at work today.

I gave a tour (2 actually) to the Pacific Rim Bible College media class. My friend Tim Savage leads that group among all the other things that he does at New Hope Oahu. He is a big time director/producer who now has made overseeing New Hope's media ministry his full time (more than full time) job. Tim is the
only one who is in both pictures. He still finds time to teach and mentor, and to do projects like these!

"The Revival" - (Sheraton Keauhou Bay)

"To James With Love" - (Sheraton Moana Surfrider)

It was also the night of the Gubenatorial debate. The station was buzzing with activity. I had to make sure that all the opens and graphics were ready and working, but I got to leave before the actual debate.

Outside every political group and their brother was sign waving. It took me about 4 minutes to cross the sidewalk and pull out of our driveway. It was a mad house!

Nice to be home and start my vacation. I'll be off next week and have some planned and unplanned time to enjoy. The kids are on break too, so we'll all be home together.

The box, the wrappings and the bow

Oh My Gosh! A few weeks ago the boys and I went to a hunting and fishing day event at the Koko Head Crater shooting range. There we really enjoyed ourselves at the archery range. It was something we could all do together.

Last Saturday I went down to Island Archer and looked around the store. I found the staff there very helpful but we were a little overwhelmed by all the gear.

Forward ahead to Wednesday, a box from my parents arrives in the mail. It is my birthday present and I'm told I can open it now or on my birthday. Well, Wednesday is our small group bible study, so I decide to wait 24 hours, and open in with my family on Thursday evening.

After dinner, we clean up and I pick up the box. I start to tear little holes in it to tease myself and enhance the anticipation. "Ooooo, it's made in America!" I say as a reveal a small corner.

"Just open it!" everyone else yells in unison.

I giggle because I love opening gifts this way. The anticipation is so much fun. It is like being next in line. Being next in line is sometimes more fun then being "up". When you're next you're filled with anticipation about it almost being your turn, (but it's not your turn quite yet). I love that!

Anyways, I eventually did open the box and I couldn't believe that my parents actually sent me a complete bow set with all the accessories! Oh.....My......Gosh! I was stunned! (Thanks Mom and Dad!) I spent all evening attaching the bits of bowtech to it and test fitting parts.

I do need a little help with it. I'd like the draw length to be a little shorter (it is adjustable) and I'd like a pro to check out all that I did to make sure it is right before I start sending arrows through it. I'd also like to adjust the draw weight down to it's lower range while I start out.

There is an archery range within 5 miles of home, so I really want to go visit it soon!

Peace, Love and Oh...My....Gosh!

Rich

Digital Camera Fun

We love our little digital camera. I think we got it at Costco for around $199 before our vacation. It is so small that it is easy to keep handy. It takes great pictures too. We love it!
Casio EX-S600

HealthComm Go-Kit

I just participated in my first HealthComm communication check-in net today at 11:45am. Each hospital has an identical portable radio station called a "Go-Kit", which can be quickly set up in an emergency and can connect all the hospitals together with Civil Defense, Blood Bank, Dept. of Health and Red Cross to provide communications in the event of an infrastructure breakdown (like what happened with Katrina(pdf) and Iniki).

I met Jim and Don there and we set up in a small utility closet because that is where our antenna drop is. We checked in and tried our newly mounted and installed antenna which worked great. I'll be doing this as a volunteer once a month to insure that our equipment is operating and ready for the real deal. (In the event of an actual "Real Deal", I would most likely be doing my job at KITV, helping get information out.

It feels good to give back a little with this new hobby.

LOST-Season 3 Premiere

That was fun! Last night we got to see the premiere of Season 3 of LOST. It was fun and we got the VIP treatment because of KITV. We got to sit right in front of the screen and hangout around the outskirts of the red carpet. Check out these photos!

The bottom of the world!

Hurray!

My first week of being into ham radio (1 month ago) I made it a goal to contact someone in Antarctica. I thought it would be so cool for someone in Hawaii to contact someone in Antarctica via a walkie-talkie! Well I have been trying ever since and I have finally been successful! Bryan and I both spoke with KC4AAC at Palmer Station, Antartica at 7:15am HST.

I spoke to the communication technician there named Bede and he said it was -10 degrees celsius and there was a light snow falling and the ocean was lightly frozen (slushy). I could see the conditions there via their webcam. He said if it wasn't so far away, he'd run over and wave!

It is the end of winter there and they are heading for summer (southern hemisphere).

 He has been a part of their 16 person skeleton crew keeping the station going over the last 7 months.  He is orienting his replacement as he prepares to go home to New Zealand. He has served not only at Palmer Station, but also at McMurdo Station (virtual tour), Scott Base (history link) and the South Pole. He said Palmer Station is downright balmy when compared with the South Pole station.

Palmer Station studies the polar marine biome with research focused on the Antarctic pelagic marine ecosystem, inclusive of marine sea ice habitats, regional oceanography and terrestrial nesting site of seabird predators.

He had to get back to work (Saturday is a work day for them) but maybe we'll talk again sometime.

Peace, Love and Brrrrrrrr (-10 degrees!),

Rich

Kinda quiet lately...

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Just hasn't been much I felt driven to blog about.

What's going on this week? Well, Emily starts watching Bryce Houghtailing today. She will be his regular baby sitter weekdays for the next few years. I think she is happy to have a baby in the house again. She is a really good caregiver and I know it will be a thrill for her to watch Bryce grow to school age.

Bryan is away at camp with his class from Hanalani for the next few days. They are at Camp Mokuleia on he north shore and he could not wait to go! He was downright giddy about it, squealing randomly as we taught him to pack because he could not keep his excitement all pent up. This is the same camp he went to last year where he got to do a tree-top zip line and go ocean canoe paddling. I have no doubt he is having a great time.

Bradley is missing his brother some, but enjoys having the computer and TV to himself, and has been spending his free time writing his own comic book called "Tigerman!" (Rowr). He has 2 episodes written already.

Tonight I will be attending the Emergency Amateur Radio Club meeting for the first time. I talk to many of the members each night and just got my license when they were meeting last month. In fact, TODAY I have had my amateur radio license exactly 1 month. In that moth I have already spoken to Minnesota, Tennessee, Australia, South Africa, and have made contacts via satellite and was even able to hit the Haleakala repeater from my home and meet a Canadian ham (bacon?) from Vancouver who has been in this activity for 45 years and is completely blind.

I'm looking forward to taking a week off October 9th through 13th for my birthday. I want to go through last years leadership conference DVDs for some of my time, and I want to spend a day hiking. The rest of the time is mostly unscheduled and what is cool is that the kids will be off for the week too.

That's what's going on. Thanks for checking in!

Peace, Love and Grace,

Rich

Primary Elections at the Capitol

I was part of the KITV crew at the capitol. My job was just data entry. I would type the results into the computer from the printouts provided by the state. It is mostly a lot of sitting around with moments of intense activity. I've done this every elections for the past 12 years.

Election results can be found here.

Hunting & Fishing Day

The Koko Head shooting range hosted an all day hunting and fishing day to benefit the Hawaii Food Bank. For every can collected you could get a coupon for one activity. There was casting contests, archery, .22 through .45 shooting ranges (both rifle and pistol). There was trap shooting and muzzleloading section, and even an airgun range. Because the kids were young there wasn't too much we could do in the firearms parts, so we spent most of our time at the archery range. We had a blast! and learned a lot.

Hey Em, I think I know what I would like for my birthday!

That Big Radio in the Sky

Bryan did a great job calling for the International Space Station this morning (3:50am!). He woke up right away, tracked the progress of the ISS and kept calling for it every 10 seconds:

"NA1SS, this is KH6BRY."

Unfortunately no one was available to talk with. We are going to keep trying throughout Ansari's time there, and even (more casually) after that. Someday he'll make a connection.

KITV Cappuccino Riot

This little machine has been the center of the biggest brew-ha-ha at KITV that I've seen for some time. Apparently Lion Coffee, a KITV client, asked if they could demo this fancy cappuccino machine in our lunch room. As soon as it arrived, word spread like wildfire! Everybody was hovering and cooing over the new machine.

It is actually quite sophisticated. It will make hot chocolate, hot chocolate with milk, cafe americano, cafe latte, cafe mocha, french vanilla latte, cappuccino, espresso, and more that I can't remember. I think everyone that first day had 3 cups! It was a smashing hit. The entire station was happy and buzzed! I doubt anyone slept that night.

Well that was the good news, free coffee for a few days. Now the bad news. The Sales Dept head didn't check with the GM if this would be OK. They just gave it the go ahead as a favor to their client. Turns out there is no way the station is paying for this! It is a $6000 coffee maker that needs constant maintenance and cleaning and doesn't have the ability to be coin operated. More so, the station has had a 15 year agreement with a vendor who provides and services our soda and snack machines, who also provides a humble coin operated coffee machine that just makes black coffee. From the GM's perspective, the worst thing that could happen was that we would want the new machine!

Well, that's exactly what did happen. Nearly 50 people, now hyperenergized by massive amounts of caffeine and sugar, don't want to go back to the simple cup-o-joe we have had for the last 15 years. Every corner of the station is filled with little pockets of wide eyed employees trying to figure out how we could get a machine for the station! Form a coffee hui, trade for air time, get our vendor to buy one, ... the ideas have been endless and some have been very creative. In fact there has probably been more creative energy put into how to keep this coffee machine than has gone into any of our newscasts!

Today was supposed to be the last day. We've already run out of the chocolate mix and the powdered milk mix supplied for the demo. Someone refilled the bean bin with their own beans to keep the coffee flowing. It is like prohibition is coming to KITV. Everyone is trying to get their last french vanilla cappuccino before they pull the plug on our dreams. I almost expect little home-made espresso and cappuccino machines to start a black market supply of the precious beverages. Some have likened it to throwing a hungry dog big red steak and then taking it away immediately after he smelled it.

We could learn something about marketing from those Lion Coffee guys.

Along The Way Home...

Meet my new friend Alex.

Alex was on his way home to Waipahu after dropping off a family member at the nursing home when he ran out of gas. Alex told me he ran out of gas around 1pm. I found him at 6:15pm! I was flabbergasted!

I happened to have a bottle of "Emergency Rescue Fuel" with me, which we put into his van. He crawled in and tried to start it, but after his earlier attempts to get the thing going, he had drained the battery! Fortunately he had some jumper cables so we jumped his battery and it started right up.

I went over to shake his hand and say goodbye. I had a hard time understanding everything he was saying. The freeway was loud and he had a heavy accent, but he seemed genuinely moved by the help God had brought him. There was a cross on his neck and hanging from his rear view mirror. I wonder if he was praying. When I was driving home today, I just felt like I had to stay in the right lane.

He told me he had to get to Waipahu to pick up his 4 kids. I showed him pictures of my kids. We shook hands and and said our goodbyes. He asked for a business card and I gave him one of my "Spread The Word" ones.

Maybe I'll hear from Alex again sometime. I think it is kinda ironic that he ended up in my blog titled "The Fuel Depot".

Vote!

I didn't want to deal with the crowds to vote on Saturday, so went over to Honolulu Hale to vote early. Be sure you get out and vote!

The entire expanse of the human experience...itty bitty living space

I'm a bit of a space geek. Yes I loved Star Trek, I camped out for opening night of the "Empire Strikes Back". I regularly check on the progress of the Nasa Mars rovers and the Cassini mission (among others).

This week the Cassini probe was going to be in the shadow of Saturn for an unusually long time (12 hours). This allowed them to take some rather remarkable pictures toward the sun, something they can not usually do in order to protect the equipment. They found a new ring around Saturn, but what I find much more facinating in the pale blue dot. See it there? Upper right quadrant?

That is a picture of you, and me, and everyone else in the world. That dot is just a few pixels wide. On this magnified image you can just make out the "lump" of the moon. That lump represents the farthest man has ever traveled.

All my life has existed within those pixels. Everything I know, everything I've heard, every person I've met or will ever meet,...within those pixels. All of human history, from the 2006 elections back to the invention of fire,...within those pixels. Our vast libraries, containing volumes and volumes of resources, the "bottomless" internet, every noble act ever done or shameful thing hidden, is hidden within those pixels. All life as we know it, whether animal, botanical, bacterial or even viral, as far as we have been able to determine, is reserved for this dot in the expanse.

We are unique, and precious, and we should start seeing everything around us as unique and precious too.

Peace, Love and Precious Pixels,

Rich

Surf's up!

Crazy Hat Day!

This week is spirit week at Hanalani Schools, which means each day the kids will be doing something different. Today is Crazy Hat Day!

Kickin it at Starbucks!

This message was sent from Rich's Treo 650.

We've been busy...

We have been pretty busy lately! I'm worried that I won't blog because there is too much to cover, so just incase let's LIST the recent developments:

• I had a wonderful experience at the Apple Store getting our trackpad replaced. Very efficient and professional.

• Bryan and I attended a 2 day hunter training class. It was very intensive! We were constantly moving on to the next topic. Bryan came through like a champ, despite the pace being much faster than 6th grade and being up 2 hours past his bedtime on Friday night! We learned hunting ethics, conservation, survival/first aid, bow/muzzle loading/pistol/rifle safety, went through extensive slides for wildlife identification/protected species reporting, hunting laws, gun laws, hunters code of conduct, and field dressing game (let's just say it doesn't involve changing jackets outdoors!). At the end there is a 100 question test. Bryan and I scored a 91 and 97! Now we can apply for hunting licenses, apply for firearms permits, take advanced classes (advanced bowhunting, compass & map, etc). All of that was provided free to us. We had a good time and learned a lot.

• We have been talking regularly with Dave in Harrismith, South Africa (ZS4DT). We have been enjoying getting to know him and his family. He manages a satellite TV equipment outlet in Harrismith, South Africa, takes his family to church each Sunday, and owns and sails a 20' catamaran on a lake there. I have really enjoyed talking with him each weekend, even if it is just for a little while.

• Bryan and I have gotten our NEW callsigns! We applied for vanity callsigns the week we received our original ones, and they have finally been approved. They are KH6DAD and KH6BRY. Can you guess whose is whose?

• I have been tracking the ISS and ham radio satellites a lot lately, trying to "hit more birds" and have been talking with another ham radio operator who has a passion for these as well (AH6RH, Ron). Ron told me late Friday night that he has applied for Bryan to be put on the schedule for a ham radio contact between himself and Anousheh Ansari, the first female space tourist.

"she will travel to the International Space Station September 18 as part of the Russian Soyuz TMA-9 "taxi mission," will attempt some Amateur Radio contacts while in space. Earlier indications from Ansari, 39, were that she had decided not to get a license and would not do any ham radio contacts. A tentative schedule calls for Ansari to speak with students at George Washington University, her alma mater, on Friday, September 22. "Anousheh wishes to talk with US-licensed school children in random QSOs," ARRL ARISS Liaison Rosalie White, K1STO, says. "She will be on the air at various times from Thursday, September 21, until Tuesday, September 26, using RS0ISS." Because of third-party traffic rules, Ansari may only speak with Amateur Radio licensees."

Bryan may be the only active licensed school aged amateur radio operator in a 2400 mile radius! (If he's not we'd like to know that too!) If he get's the contact he may have 5 minutes all to himself to speak with Ansari! The most hopeful contact time ends up being 3:50 am Saturday morning for us. No promises and there are lots of variables, but it sure is fun to think about! My new friend Ron has also lended us some equipment to allow us to increase our maximum output power from 5 watts to 35 watts! That should be more than enough to make a solid contact.

Hunter Education Class

Bry and I are spending all day at a DLNR Hunter education class. We're learning about ethics, rules, equipment and techniques for hunting in Hawaii. Just finished a class on bow hunting and muzzel loaders. The firearms section is next.

This message was sent from Rich's Treo 650.

At the Apple store

Our laptop began showing some trackpad button problems. (It's used nearly all day, everyday!) Apple replaced the whole keyboard/trackpad portion for free because it is still under warrantee! The whole experience was quick, friendly, didn't involve standing in lines and didn't cost me a penny! Awesome!

Apple is the bestest!

This message was sent from Rich's Treo 650.