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.