Metal Feathers

We are visiting my parents place in Texas for Christmas. Dad is one of six guys that rent a hanger for their "Metal Feathers" airplane club. They build, restore and fly aircraft. Today the boys, dad and I went to Bourland airflield to see the newest addition to the Metal Feathers fleet. The plane is an RV-7 which the club has been building over the last 2 years. The plane is unpainted. It's still in its first 40 hours of flight which is the pre-certification period. After that time, the club hopes to paint the plane red, white and blue. I'm hoping I can help out some with the art video .

Take the Bus

Took the bus from Ward and Kapiolani today. I think if I lived downtown I'd only use a car on the weekends. The inconvenience of waiting for the Bus is easily overcome by the stress of driving and finding a parking spot.

Busted

One of my bucket list items was to surf Waimea Bay. I know better to do that when its triple over head. Today it was 8' HAW, 16' FACE so.. I went for it. I had an awesome time and caught about 8 or 9 really great rides. Huge drops, long rides. No crowds. Unfortunately, the session ended with a sickening crack on a steep drop. The board split from the pressure of the water. I felt it through my feet. I got a a groin pull when the board separated, and the fiberglass scratched up my back a little. All good, but the $600 board is totaled. It was on loan too. Looks like I'm taking Greg Adams board shopping Monday.

IITSEC

Congratulations Olen Bruce for making it into the now infamous quinnzblog, you will be immortalized along side the Ikaika pumpkin and countless surfing scabs. I got a chance to hang with Olen Bruce, Rich Williams, and some IT guy at the Alion party following IITSEC (iitsec.org) convention at the Orlando trade center today. I'm attending the convention this week. All kinds of excellent government and industry technologies are showcased here annually.

Halloween

We had a pumpkin carving contest at work today. Although the Makai engineering team didn't win, they were kind enough to let me take the entry home. Since Sue worked though, we put our kids together with the Mililani gang. No`i was a hula girl, Nate Spider-Man, and Ben a pumpkin headed -- headless horseman (sans stead). All of our kids tromped the area around Mililani Mauka Middle School, and we finished there for some community fun.

The pumpkin above is inspired by the Ikaika Polynesian Warrior Helmet. Greg hung the the pumpkin in a nice spot in front of a mossy tree in his front yard, then spot lit it from below... BOO! video

Maui Waui

The Adams came over and watched the kids while Sue and I skipped over to Maui for a day and a half of the weekend. My buddy Ian was manning the Specialized Riding tent during the Xterra marathon over the weekend which made accommodations easy. Saturday we visited the Maui swap meet and Tedeschi Winery up on the mountain. Sunday morning we made time for a snorkle in Kihei. video

Misses Nezbit

Enjoying coffee before work with Hunny, No`i and Snowy this morning in Ewa Beach. We've got a 'system' worked out now where we get the coffee from the Buck, and a tastey breakfast sandwich at the Subway next door. As No`i's appetite has increased, we've had to cut the sandwich 3 ways. Looks like Snowy is making a move for the leftovers here. Bad bear!

The Great Pumpkin

We took the whole family to the Aloun Farms pumpkin patch this weekend. The farm is kind of between Ewa Beach and Kapolei just south of H1. Although the grounds are set up for hay rides and carny stuff, we only had time to grab a pumpkin for each kid. All the orbs are layed out in a tilled field, vines already cut, and no plants actually there. We suspect that the great pumpkin fairy perhaps cuts them and brings them over from the other side of the field when no one is looking. video

Captain Kona Returns

Ian came back from his Specialized Riders gig at the Hawaii Ironman in Kona. It's probably the biggest event in that (masochistic) sport. I don't know much about it but here's a link to Ian's blog kine and you can probably dig in for yourself. Ian and fiance Mary are stopping back through Oahu on their way back to San Jose. 

I enjoyed a run up and down lagoon drive over lunch time with them both and look forward to more adventures with these friends until they depart Wednesday.

Pictured above: last years defending champion Chris "Macca" McCormack, Jr.

Hawaii Maritime Center

Today was probably the first big North Shore swell of the season. I paddled out at Chun's just a little after sunrise. It was a good session, kind of smallish, but I did manage to drop in and get some cuts back over the lip on the small board. 

Later on Sue tried for a snorkel, but the weather changed. I spent the evening watching the kids and editing more video from yesterday (the Hawaiian Maritime Center museum), and we watched an iTunes rented copy of Forbidden Kingdom before bed.

Aloha Tower Marketplace

This morning we all went to the Aloha Tower Marketplace for breakfast, pier-side perambulation and a trip to the Hawaii Maritime Center museum. After breakfast Sue noticed Naomi had a fever so we split up and the boys and I stayed in town and continued on to the museum. I got footage from both the Marketplace and the museum, but just edited the former tonight. Actually, truth told, the museum... not so great. Afterwards, the boys and I all walked into China town to swim at Uncle Eric's swanky bachelor pad and bum a ride in the Beemer back to Ewa. Busy day, lots of fun. video

Island Dream

Once a year the Waikiki Swim Club (WSC) does a small afternoon boat cruise for its members. We left from a slip at Ward Marina and sailed pretty much of the way to Diamond Head and back. Halfway there we all jumped off the boat to play in the water, and then climbed back on for potluck food and BYOB beverages. It was a beautiful Hawaiian evening and we enjoyed the sunset on the boats enormous pink sails. video

Blame Canada

Went surfing with my old highschool friend Ian today. Ian was passing through Oahu on the way to Big Island. He's headed there to help with Specialized Bicycles promotions at the Kona Iron Man. video

No Get Out Swims

Back in the day, when we had swim practice the day before someones birthday. The birthdayee often had to do a "Get Out Swim" in the last 15 minutes or so of practice. The coach challenges the swimmer with some impossible time, and the swimmer goes at it while teammates watch from the sidelines. Everyone is very excited because if the swimmer makes the time, the practice is over for the day. Otherwise some heinous last "set" is given for the whole team to do.

It wasn't a get out swim but Ernie Challenged us  with a very difficult, swim until failure set. The idea being, you'll never make the last repetition but go for it anyway! I made the free, the fly wasn't quite fast enough. No matter... it was fast enough for this old man.

Coffee with Suz

The Way I See It #292
The way we get to live forever is
through memories stored in the
hearts and souls of those whose
lives we touch. That's our soul
print. It's our comfort, our
emotional nourishment at the end
of the day and the end of a life.
How wonderful that they are called
up at will and savored randomly.
It seems to me we should spend our
lives in a conscious state of
creating these meaningful moments
that live on. Memories matter.

--Leeza Gibbons
Television and radio personality

Pailolo Channel Crossing

Honolulu Advertiser, Sept. 19, 2008: Duo Swims Pailolo Channel

O'ahu residents Quinn Carver and Bill Goding swam the 8.5-mile Pailolo Channel, from Maui to Moloka'i, in 4 hours and 23 minutes on Sept. 13. Due to the light kona winds, surface conditions for the swim were ideal, the duo reported. Maui resident Sidney Akiona provided navigational and boat support during the crossing.

More pics here

4/21: Got more pics from Syndey (boat driver) on a disc just last week. I put them on the pics site too

Naked Lunch

We had the annual company lunch picnic today. This year it was held at Ala Moana park across from the mall just outside of Waikiki. Sue and I dared to bring all the kids out to the picnic which started at 10. I also brought my board but didn't use it till the picnic was over. We all had bentos for lunch and played lots of team games like volleyball, 3 legged race etc. In one of the games, teams were required to make the longest line possible using only the articles of clothing they were wearing. As you can see from the picture Nate was ALL IN! (Video)

After we got home and got the kids in bed for some whopper naps, I headed down to Hau Bush to check out the big swell action. I ended up making the half mile paddle out to Sharks, and saw more about 10 others out there. Quite a crowd for Sharks! It was overhead and then some. I caught one wave that I rode so high and so long I eventually fell off because I was laughing too hard.

Good times!

Adventures At Wally

Here is a lame exercise in how to blog on a day that was completely lame. Turn it into a lame comic strip. People will read about your lame day and maybe not even know it was lame! For more lame fun, count the number of times I said lame in this lame entry. See you lamer!

Yokohama

Labor Day was today. Instead of doing the Waikiki Rough Water Swim and paying the $100 late registration fee, I just got up and did big run. Whatevers, next year, bla blah. Sue made a big family breakfast and we all headed up to the top of the Westside. Destination: Yokohama Beach, the end of the road. We enjoyed the beach for about an hour and a half and then headed back South. We stopped at the Makaha Resort on the way back and found that there is a decent casual dining at the Nalu Grill restaurant right near the golf course club house. I recommend the ribs!

Yokohama Beach Video Footage

Skittles

The last couple of nights have been open house "curriculum night" at Holomua Elementary. Different nights for different grades. We went early yesterday and brought a soccer ball to run the kids down in the school yard. Lately, the rainbows in Ewa have been intense right before sunset.

WFM

In order to help Sue satisfy her mainland fix I'm manny (man-nanny'ing) while she's out for the week. To get good quality time at the keyboard I have to work when the kids are sleeping. Here's me wearing baby-girl down before 11 o'clock nappies. I needed the excercise too, it was nice to get out of the house.

Magic Smoke

I finished up WFM tonight at about 11 PM, still amped up on RedBull I decided to run it off on my constant companion -- the treadmill. About an hour into Starship Troopers the machine started bucking, and it smelled like electric smoke was coming out. Of all the weeks to not be able to work out at home this is the worst! Oh well, maintanence scheduled for Sept.3, I'll have to find another workout workaround.

Koko Head

I was working through some issues with a friend today who suggested we hike the 1700 feet to the top of Koko Head. By the time we got there I felt I had a new perspective on things, ....and geography. I could see the island of Molokai, 23 miles away.

Aerospace Briefing

Something different, I went to attend the Aerospace briefing in the state Capitol bldg on behalf of the company I work for. Topics include: Aerospace in Hawaii, National vision for aerospace, multinational partnerships in Hawaii, Applications, related sciences, and eh?....Next Generation aviation and commercial space launch in Hawaii.

Mahina Butter

I put on the moon block and headed out with the Greg Adams lunartic crew again last night. It was pretty flat so we had to go some place shallow to get sizeable waves. We all paddled out to pull em out of the bowl. Ala Moana Bowls. Its funny that last night was the first time I've ever dropped in at this legendary Waikiki break, and it was completely empty. An hour before midnight was low tide, it was so shallow that if you reached all the way down paddling out, you would hit bottom (vana: sea urchin, or coral rock). Greg advised that if you wipe out, you should "eat it, lying flat". It was good advice, and I got home around 2AM without a single gash or vana spine.

The crew wants me to design a shirt for this multi-annual event, I got a first cut done yesterday afternoon. Its kind of a spoof on all the surf contests we have on island. I'm not done with it yet -- but I'm okay posting it. Feedback is good, thanks!

How Old Are You Now?

It was pretty small on the South shore today so I took Ben and the long board for some surf lessons. He caught one and rode it on his belly for about 40 yards. Meanwhile I tried to keep up with flippers and swim gloves.

After Sue headed out to work we went to the Strike Zone at Fort Shafter where Ilikea celebrated her 10th birthday. Pizza, bowling, cake, the whole nine yards. The kids were wired from all the sugar, lights and noise so I stopped by the park on the way home to let them run around some in the open air.

Awesome sunset tonight, and opposite it, a rainbow so wide I couldn't shoot it all in the same frame.

The Roof is on Fire!

The Suz and I went out for dinner at PF Chang's near Wards, while the kids were at home with a sitter. Afterwards, we went to a roof top party at the Windser. The party was hosted by Andrew's lady friend, Izumi. She had prepared some awesome Italian, and fusion style foods. We were full when we got there, we left REALLY full. Good times!

Gary Fisher Would Go

I biked to and from work today. On the way in, I went the back way. Instead of going up Farrington I stayed in the dirt by West Loch. Its creepy, dogs are sometimes left loose and there are some spots where the trail is out and you have to walk and carry. Even still, the rural route is just a little quicker. My trip in was under an hour. In the afternoon I set a new record coming home 1:03. I'm not sure why it's always longer coming back, I guess there must be more uphill, probably in Waipahu. Also, everything is harder at the end of the day. The iPhone helped too, a pleasant distraction.

Friends of Malaekahana

We took a Saturday morning trip out of the hale (ha-lay) in Ewa Beach and headed North for brunch at Jamesons. After grindz we continued on 83 past Turtle Bay until we got to the Friends of Malaekahana camp groups to meet up with the Ocean Pointe Posse (Launers, Savages, Yorks, Norbeys et al) as hosted by the Launer family. (video)

Homeless Computers

The company I work for donated 26 old computer systems and monitors to the homeless shelter today. They've been gathering them up from the office and home donations. I went with three others and their pickups to drop them off at the shelter. They use the systems to help residents of the shelter access information online, and manage the resources of the shelter. Very humbling experience. Of the 290 people in the shelter this week, 99 of them are children....

Can't believe it's been a week since I left for Vegas. Seems like I'm still walk'n around in the haze.

Viva Las Vegas

Flying out to a JIS reunion in Vegas today.

Bachelor Pad

Eric invited us over after work. The kids and I went swimming, hot tubbing, and bowling all inside his apartment complex. Everyone was pretty fried by the time we got home. The kids should sleep well tonight. Thanks Eric!

Training Swim

Bill Goding and I swam from Sunset Beach park to Lanis today. We are training to swim the Maui-Molokai channel. It took us about 2hrs 20min to do the 5 mile swim.

Tour de West Loch

It was pretty windy today, so despite reports of good wave size I went on a bicycle ride instead. I did a circuit through Iriqouis point and the opening of the harbor, then West on Fort Weaver, through Hau Bush, Coves, and White Plains and then back to home via Geiger road.

Got Tanked!

I took the kids to Schofield Barracks again after work, mauka side this time. We went to the Tropic Lightening museum on base. Allthough it was closed the kids did get a chance to play on some of the static tanks and guns out front. Before leaving the base and heading home, we stopped into the bowling lanes and had a quick game.

I had fun at work today, I figured out how to get a desktop Java app to take input from a Wii-mote. I proposed it as a way to demonstrate movement in a virtual training environment.

Passing of a Pachyderm

Over lunch hour I had dim sum (and then some) in China town with Eric again. We were full enough we thought it would be a good idea to take a two block hike up to Bethel St. for a cup of coffee at The Red Elephant before heading back to the office. Things seemed a little different at the typically hep coffee shop. I wasn't sure why at first, it just seemed a little more -- sparse. Then as we were fixing our Red-Eyes, Eric asked the barista for a refill in the artificial sweetener bin. The man behind the counter replied that they were closing tomorrow, and so they were just going to let stock run out, 'sorry'. Bummers.

(photo source)

Moonlight Session

This evening Greg and I went out for a full moon session at "Threes". At first I couldn't find them; I caught a few waves and ended up over at "Canoes" before I got out and walked back over to the jetty at the Hale Koa again. (Pro-tip: if you can't find a surf break, ask one of the metal detector guys on the beach). Threes was smooth, no wind, and almost overhead. Its a long ride to the right. There were about a dozen guys out and the sets kept coming, plenty for everyone.

Earlier today, work was good. I got RemTaskIf working in JSAF. After work I took the kids to Ko`olina Lagoon 1. Sue needed a break from watching the kids all day (summer vacation) and didn't have to work tonight. She headed North and went snorkeling at Three tables.

Bush Men

Grabbed a dawn patrol session this morning at Hau Bush, I was hoping it would stay as pretty as it was yesterday evening (super glassy). Maybe not quite, but atleast I was in the water this time. Good times. Picture was taken from the top of my car, look closely, the 3 spots in the distance are early risers already out in the water.

Jimmy Neutron

Went by the Launer's today and borrowed a few movies from them. The kids all agreed on Jimmy Neutron by the time we got home.

Backpack Back

After teh Suz went to work, we went back to the movie theatre and reclaimed Ben's backpack. The theatre manager at Pearl Highlands was very nice. Afterward, we had snacks and playtime at Blaisdell Park down the road. Ben played football with the kids and developed a heinous allergic reaction to rolling in the grass on the way home. Gave him Benadryl and Soaked him down in Baking Soda water before bed.

WALL•E

This evening we went out as a WHOLE FAMILY (epic!) to see WALL•E the new Pixar movie at Pearl Highlands Theatre. For the win, we smuggled in McDonald's dollar menu items in Ben's backpack. The kids really enjoyed the movie. Naomi got a little restless in the last 20 minutes of the film, nonetheless, I was still able to console her and watch the movie from the access aisle. Ben left the backpack in the theatre, but I called back when Sue figured it was missing. They have it and will hold onto it for us.

Waimea Bay Race

I did pretty well at the Waimea Bay race this morning. It's one of the four races in the North Shore swim series. Unfortunately I missed race 1 and will miss race 3 this year, so I won't be in the overall tally. There were lots of dolphins out in the bay during the race. I could here them chirping the whole time and saw four that swam right under me in a pod. After the race they were jumping out of the water and playing around, just a half mile from the beach

Ben's Horse

There was a Sharon's Horse in Muncy Pennsylvania. Who knew there is a Ben's horse in the middle of the Pacific? I took the kids to "West Loch Shore Line Park" today. It's a isthmus shape piece of land sticking out into the North East part of Pearl Harbor with beautiful landscaping and it's just off of Ft. Weaver. There are lots of gnarly trees to climb and at least a dozen small fishing piers and couple of gazebos bordering the park.

Love Boat

Sue and I had our 15th anniversary today. Sue left the kids with Destiny and met me at work. I pau'd at 3 turtles and we went down to Aloha Tower area and got pupu's at Don Ho's. We boarded the Star of Honolulu around 5 and sailed off to Diamond Head and back over dinner (crab legs and steak .. Sue not so hungry). The rocking kind of got to us, so we went outside.. much better. I'd recommend sitting in a non-enclosed dining room if we did it again. Sue got a ton of good pictures. This one... was taken by someone who only spoke Japanese and thought that a snapping handshake was amazingly funny (actually its just hopelessly 80's). After we got back in we just malled around some more and went to Gorden Biersch for a bit before heading back home. Good Times!

Free Gas

Biked to work and back today for the first time this year. I only stopped once on the way in to take this strange picture. Maybe I could sell to someone to make an insurance brochure or something. Yeah.

VHS

This afternoon I figured out a way to sample in some 20 year old VHS tapes my folks left with me on their visit here a few months ago. Weird seeing yourself walking around at age 15 sampled into the digital era.

Trek to Tracks

A first. We took the whole family to Pokai Bai. Daddy saw some spinner dolphins while we were there and swam out to say hi. Funny the sounds they make in the water. We splashed around with the kids. Naomi is getting comfortable in the water again, and will even float for a few seconds on her back. Okay! so what, she was wearing a life preserver :) On the way back from Pokai we scored the dollar menu at a West Side McDonald's and scarfed it down at Tracks beach. This was supposed to be a picture but I set the delay setting wrong.

July 4th at the Franklin's

Thanks to the Franklin's for an excellent Fourth of July dinner party complete with Hamburgers, red white and blue desserts and ...Panamanian rice! John and Susan even passed out pyrotechnics for the kids. Hip, hip hooray!

Hancock

Destiny babysat and Sue and I went out for dinner and a movie at Pearl City Highlands Mall. Hancock was a good movie. A nice departure from the typical Super Hero meets Super Villian formula. I wish the movie could of spent more time on the transition from Uber Bum to Super Hero, but I guess the whole thing has to fit in under 2 hours.

Ghost Fleet

With gas prices going up and my car always on the verge of break down, I opted to do my return commute on the bike today. I took the bike trail home (where I could). Here is a shot in my favorite stretch just as the trail starts coming into Waipahu at the very North West part of the harbor. This is where the ghost fleet is parked. The first time you see it it's kind of creepy. Anymore they look more like lazy giants to me.

Sunset after Session

I got into work today soooper early so that I could grab an after work session with Gene, John an dem. I cannot disclose where the session was b/c it is a SECRET SPOT (sssshS!! *spittle*). Anyway it was overhead and awesome. Gene and I had beers and pupus at Dixie Grill afterwards and I took Kam highway home. The sunset over the Waianae range was awesome. Little shafts of light came over the top like fingers.

Lagoon 4 Castaways

I took the kids to Ko`olina Lagoon 4 today after work. We had dropped by Sunny D's in Waipahu to see if they could fix Trib's Euk on the way out (they can't). After we left the lagoon Ben realized his slippers were missing. We doubled back to get them. The slippers were still there, white coral rocks on them holding them down. I got out with the iPhone and the Euk walked over to them and snapped this shot as the sun was going down. Yeah -- it's like that.

Pool Park & Sandwiches

After Sue went to work today we went out for some late afternoon fun
at the Thomas Gentry center.

Deep Blue

Went Scuba diving with Eric and Coach today. Eric got a deal on a boat leaving out of the Marina across from Ward Center. (video)

Hotty Spotting

Wasn't feeling too great today, but we did manage to go out as a family for dinner, and walk around in the park some. Here is Sue showcasing the new Arnette sunglasses. Do you think she likes them?

Coach Kaler on Island

My highschool swimming coach is on island for a few days. I had dinner with him, his son Eric and a couple of his friends last night at Gordon Biersch near Aloha Tower. Too much fun.

Central Oahu Recreational Facility

Sue packed us a picnic dinner. When we switched off the van today, I took the kids to CORP to eat and play in the park there. Went by Costco with the whole crew on the way home.