Fan Club

There is a South swell in town for a while, so Hau Bush was looking pretty good. We did something very different this morning. Suz and Gnomes dropped by to watch my morning session today. So much more fun with family on the beach. One ride I got to ride from the outside all the way up to the sand and watch Naomi's eyes get big. Thanks for coming! video

Trinity

We've been getting back in the church habit lately. Here's a pic of the children's sermon at Trinity United Methodist Church in Pearl City. Afterward, we all went down the hill to Chuck E Cheeses for lunch and Nates belated birthday celebration.

Monsters vs Aliens vs Punks

The whole family swung by to pick me up after work. We chowed at the McDonald's near the Sand Island access road and then went and saw Monsters vs Aliens in 3D at the Dole Cannery mall. The movie was campy and fun. The giant female protagonist has the same name as my wife, so there were lots of great one-liner quotes in the film to chuckle about later.

Happy Birthday Walrus

It is Nate's birthday today, He's six! He lost his two front teeth earlier this month. I took a minute to Google up some pictures of walrus before the bus came this morning. Here is Nate in his school uniform (a T-shirt) showcasing his Animal-Planet dentition.

Brain Storm

My boss asked me to white board some technical solutions for an issue we are resolving in an upcoming SBIR. During idle discussion moments I humored us both by sketching this Don Martin homage. By the time our session was over, the illustration was truly representative of our state of mind.

Kaua`i Trip

Some call Kaua`i the "Green Island" or the "Emerald Island" of Hawaii. These are catchy names, but one that might suite the island best is the "Feral Chicken Island". Story has it that early Filipino residents brought their chicken livestock and fighting cocks to the island in early history. Then recently, hurricanes (Iniki 1992?) tore open several coops, freeing the fowl. They now roam and reproduce in the wild without any predators to keep them in check. Sue and I saw several of them in markets, along roadways and even walking into restaurant areas on our recent trip to Kaua`i. video

Tower 1E

I took a long lunch yesterday to go on an errand with Sue. I had an hour to kill after I dropped her off on Bishop Street, so I went down to visit Bill at the Ala Moana beach park. Bill is a lifeguard there. He was holding about 200 more of Jeff's images and movie shorts from our Kealaikahiki swim. After pulling the files onto my laptop, I still had time to crank out one kilometer ocean swim before swinging back into town to get Sue. I'm still pretty stiff in the deltoids and triceps from last week, small recovery workouts have really helped ease the tightness.

(4/17: added J.Koz pic of Bill swimming at Ala Moana)

World's Longest French Fry Discovered

Sue and the kids got back from their impromptu two week trip to her folks town in PA. After pickup at the airport we celebrated the return with a dinner at Sam Snead's Tavern. Ben has been an avid Guinness Book reader lately, is this fry a candidate?

Homecoming

Sue and the kids are coming back after spending the bulk of the kid's 3 week school break with Grammy and Grandpa 'Puffos' in Pennsylvania. Gramma Lee and Grandpa Darrel have been visiting with me and waiting for their hugs here in Honolulu. Don't make a big deal out of it, if the house is cleaner than Sue might expect. We've been busy!

(4/14: Added Suz iPhone shot of kids on the DFW skylink)

Kealaikahiki

I can't believe it was only yesterday that Bill and I were face down swimming over ten hours of impossibly blue Hawaiian ocean. Today I took a 3 hour nap, worked on my taxes and tried not to scratch the 5 dozen or so tiny jelly fish stings all over my body from yesterday. As the evening rolled in, we downloaded our depleted iPhones, cameras, video cameras etc. I'm hoping to get some more footage from Jeff later on. For now though. I threw together this video montage from about 5 different sources just to have something to get out. Check back, I'll work on a better edit as more footage comes in.

A word about Jeff our paddleboarder/gopher/lifeguard/line-of-site-scout. The word is: "stud". How many of us bitch and moan when we have to paddle out to a break a quarter mile off shore? Yeah, I thought so. Jeff: 17 miles, AND while toting water, cameras, power gels etc. He didn't have his paddler 16', he didn't even have a life guard 12' board. Jeff WORKED with a 9'6 all the way to Lana`i. Thank you Jeff! Btw: check Jeff's blog for more pics etc. from the crossing.

(4/12: changed the video link, YouTube was muting the audio.. DRFM issues w/ Linkin Park I guess)

(4/13): pics posted on mobileme

(4/17): Honolulu Advertiser article on this (pic incorrect though)

Made It

Kaho'olawe to Lanai 10 hrs 24 minutes. Above: Bill (also), Jeff (escort and paddler) and me

Off to Maui

Doing the channel swim tomorrow

Double Rough

Swam the Waikiki Double Rough Water course today with Bill (left) and Rick (right). Swam the course in (QC) record time. To the buoy in 53 minutes, back to the beach in 46. Bill estimates its about a 7k swim. This was our final distance training swim before doing the Kealaikahiki channel together next week.

In other news I had an impromtu dinner of peanut butter sandwiches, Costco frozen meatballs and chocolate milk for tonight here at casa del bachelor. Mom and dad are rolling into town tomorrow so the nutrition is probably looking up.