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!