Well, again not much to report on the sight-seeing side of things. A few minor adventures but the first institute is over with except for the group dinner this evening. Let's see, yesterday I finally went to dinner with Lisa and Graham to Buca di Beppo. It was good as usual, and it was national lasagna day, so for every entry you got a free lunch lasagna. That meant the three of us had lasagna to take home. We then went to the movies, to see Inception once again. I admit I started to fall asleep (lack of sleep, a beer at dinner, a warmish theater...) but it was mostly close my eyes and listen. I did perk up after about an hour into the movie, when my butt started to ache from sitting for most of the day.
When we got out of the movie, we decided to take the bus home. It was 11:15, so we walked to the bus stop. About 11:30 we got on the #6 bus, that would take us back towards campus. Only we found out that the last of those buses runs at 9:30 in the evening. The driver said we could take the #1 bus home, at least to the intersection of King and University, about a mile or so from campus. Only we had to drive back in the opposite direction to downtown business district of Honolulu and then wait for the bus that came at 12:35 am. By the time we got home, it took over 2 hours (we should have taken a taxi) and I didn't get to bed until 2:30 or so. Then it was off to the last presentations this morning.
This afternoon was laundry, buying a new notebook (I have used up two since I got here!), then running to mail another package of stuff to myself in Florida, as well as doing some last minute grocery shopping (some drinks) and some stuff for tomorrow morning. A visit to the drugstore, and then the walk home. Starting Sunday, the walk to Safeway or my morning exercise becomes a half mile longer. Which is a good thing when I got exercising early in the morning, but it will be a bitch to carry groceries home.
Tomorrow I move to the new residence hall. This time I go from a single dorm room with bath to a four bedroom suite with a shared bathroom. The upsides: A/C and its brand new. The downside: shared bathroom with 3 strangers. I'll let you know how it goes. I also have to waste some time tomorrow, checking out at 10 but not able to check in until 2 pm. Lisa and Graham are going to stay down at Waikiki their last night here. I will probably join them for dinner before the WWII Workshop starts on Sunday morning.
That's it for now. I'll post pictures when I take more of them.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday 7/29
Yesterday was a double class day and then a late dinner. The time between 4 and when left for dinner at 8:30 was spent putting out fires at home and finishing up my presentation for today. I also had to be up at 3:50am so I could attend a meeting virtually in Melbourne for the assessment committee. I never really got back to sleep, but I did manage to survive the day. Late dinner (we had to wait an hour) was at the Japanese sake bar/restaurant we ate at last time. I got the same thing, the Sushi B combo and a bowl of rice. It was good, not that expensive, and by the time I got home at 10:50 I really didn't want to do much of anything.
Today was an early morning exercise routine, a late shower, run to the last lecture of the institute, then lunch (which was spent revising my presentation) and then back for an afternoon of presentations. Other than some evaluations to fill out, more presentations tomorrow morning, and then a group dinner tomorrow night, we are done with the institute. I am not sure how my presentation went on the course I was designing, but Lisa's went pretty well.
Tonight I think Lisa, Graham and myself are going to head to Buca di Beppo for dinner, and then maybe a movie. Tomorrow I have to do laundry before I leave Lincoln Hall for the new residence on Saturday.
Anyway, that is for now. A short update because of all the work that had to be done.
Today was an early morning exercise routine, a late shower, run to the last lecture of the institute, then lunch (which was spent revising my presentation) and then back for an afternoon of presentations. Other than some evaluations to fill out, more presentations tomorrow morning, and then a group dinner tomorrow night, we are done with the institute. I am not sure how my presentation went on the course I was designing, but Lisa's went pretty well.
Tonight I think Lisa, Graham and myself are going to head to Buca di Beppo for dinner, and then maybe a movie. Tomorrow I have to do laundry before I leave Lincoln Hall for the new residence on Saturday.
Anyway, that is for now. A short update because of all the work that had to be done.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Royal Palace Pics 7/27
King Kamehemeha in front of the Judiciary Building
Picture of the Royal Bandstand on the Palace grounds
Royal Barracks across the Palace Grounds
Royal Palace Front
Royal Palace rear and the tour entrance. They make you wear cloth booties on your feet to keep the highly polished floor from being scratched.
Royal Hawaiian Crest
Queen Liliokolani
These are pics of the Hawaiian Legislature building
Picture of the Royal Bandstand on the Palace grounds
Royal Barracks across the Palace Grounds
Royal Palace Front
Royal Palace rear and the tour entrance. They make you wear cloth booties on your feet to keep the highly polished floor from being scratched.
Royal Hawaiian Crest
Queen Liliokolani
These are pics of the Hawaiian Legislature building
Tuesday night, 7/27
Long day today, short blog update. I will upload pics in the morning. However, there aren't a lot of pics since the palace doesn't allow interior photography. Sigh.
Morning was spent working on my project for the EWC, and I eventually finished the first draft right before I typed up this post.
A lunch lecture (and free lunch) about globalization in South Asia with a former high ranking UN figure. It was Thai food, which was pretty good, and the lecture was pretty good, but he was under time constraints and he ran very quickly through his material in just 50 minutes. Compared to some of the other people we have heard from, I wish he had a full 3 hours. Then it was back to the dorm at 2 pm, and I quickly ran off to Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu. I loved the palace and the self guided audio tour which took about an hour. I bought a few trinkets, and then took the bus back because we had a movie tonight. It was the worst movie in the world, and I mean I have seen bad movies, but this was 174 minutes of pure 1970s Indian schlock. It's considered a great movie in India, especially when it was released, but it was bad. I want my three hours back!
Then it was off for frozen yogurt with Lisa, a walk across campus discussing what we did today and some personal things that we have been discussing throughout the trip, and then back to my room around 10:15. More work on the project, this blog and bed soon. However, I have to be up at 3:50 in the morning so I can attend a committee meeting at Florida Tech. That should be fun. I might be able to get back to sleep, who knows.
Anyway, only two more days of this workshop and then a day off, before starting the WWII workshop.
Morning was spent working on my project for the EWC, and I eventually finished the first draft right before I typed up this post.
A lunch lecture (and free lunch) about globalization in South Asia with a former high ranking UN figure. It was Thai food, which was pretty good, and the lecture was pretty good, but he was under time constraints and he ran very quickly through his material in just 50 minutes. Compared to some of the other people we have heard from, I wish he had a full 3 hours. Then it was back to the dorm at 2 pm, and I quickly ran off to Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu. I loved the palace and the self guided audio tour which took about an hour. I bought a few trinkets, and then took the bus back because we had a movie tonight. It was the worst movie in the world, and I mean I have seen bad movies, but this was 174 minutes of pure 1970s Indian schlock. It's considered a great movie in India, especially when it was released, but it was bad. I want my three hours back!
Then it was off for frozen yogurt with Lisa, a walk across campus discussing what we did today and some personal things that we have been discussing throughout the trip, and then back to my room around 10:15. More work on the project, this blog and bed soon. However, I have to be up at 3:50 in the morning so I can attend a committee meeting at Florida Tech. That should be fun. I might be able to get back to sleep, who knows.
Anyway, only two more days of this workshop and then a day off, before starting the WWII workshop.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Mighty Mo Hiccup
The photo uploader is having issues...I'll post the Mighty Mo pics tomorrow.
Sorry for the wait.
Sorry for the wait.
Pirate Ship Pictures 7/25
The ship has some barges and a crane on the left side, but it is the Black Pearl.
If you download the picture and blow it up, it can show some of the detail. As I said, I hope to have better pictures in a week or two.
If you download the picture and blow it up, it can show some of the detail. As I said, I hope to have better pictures in a week or two.
Monday 7/26
Okay, it has been a busy two days. Today was spent returning the rental car begining at 6:20 am. It took 20 minutes to drive to the airport, and 90 minutes or so to make it back to campus by 8:05 am. The rest of the day was busy with double classes, a quick lunch on campus, and then back to my room tonite to do work on a couple of projects as well as solving a small avalanche of email that has cropped up with a project from back home. Right now, at about 8pm my time, I have scrounged together dinner from groceries I had in my fridge: Hawaiian turkey salad (mayo, chunk turkey, scallions, raisins and pineapple), a banana, some canned pineapple and a diet coke. Dinner of champions!
As for yesterday, it was a bit of a fiasco that finally turned into a win. We left early: Lisa, Graham and myself to head to the Polynesian Centre on the north shore of the island. We drove over the mountain to Kane'ohe Bay via the Pali Highway through the mountains in the center of the island. We then drove up the Kamehameha Highway along the coast. At one point we stopped at the harbor at He'eia where we took pictures of the Black Pearl, the ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean films. They are filming PotC 4 here in Hawaii and the crew were prepping the ship. We didn't see anyone famous, but that ship was cool enough. While my camera only has it as distance, and I'll try to blow it up, Lisa had her camera with her and her zoom took decent pictures. When she gets back to the states, since she left her camera cord at home, she will send me pics and I will post them here. That turned out to be the high point of the morning.
After a very scenic drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center, it turned out that despite my guidebook, it was closed on Sundays. So we continued around the island, past Banzai Beach (where the huge waves are in the winter) back to the North Shore, and then back to Honolulu via Schofield Barracks. By this point Lisa was getting cranky, Graham was tired, and I wanted to do some sightseeing, but I caved to Lisa's demand to go to the beach. I drove her to Waikiki and then drove all the way back across Honolulu to Pearl Harbor. I finally reached PH around 1:30 pm. I got the last remaining ticket for the 2 pm boat to the Arizona Memorial, as well as buying a ticket to see the USS Missouri, where the peace treaty was signed with Japan in 1945. It was a good afternoon touring the memorial and the big battleship left the way it was after its 1980s refit and its service in the 1st Gulf War. Missile launchers, phalanx CIWS, and Harpoon launchers, along with the original 5" and 16" naval guns, were the only weaponry on the ship. All the 20mm, 40mm and machine guns were removed, including most of their gun mounts. As you can see from some of the pictures, early 1990s computers were still left in their offices, and one of the tour guides told me that they basically had the ship turned over to them in 1992, and while the computers were wiped, they were not removed. In fact, most of the weapons (except the missile launchers and Harpoon launchers) might even still be made active with some minor work. How safe they would be was a different matter.
I came back to campus around 5:00, tired, sweaty and exhausted. Lisa and Graham got dinner down in Waikiki and I did some work in the room. Around 8 we went to the grocery story for the last time (where I got a sandwich for dinner and the fixings for today's dinner) and then came back, watched some tv, did some work, and called it a night around 11.
Tomorrow we have the morning free, but I have to work on my project for Thursday/Friday's presentation. Then we have a lunch program, then are free around 1:30. I will probably head off to the Royal Palace in the afternoon, then back in time for the movie at 6:30. The rest of the week is a double lecture on Wednesday, lecture on Thursday morning, presentations Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, then a final dinner on Friday night.
Saturday morning I have to check out by 10, but I can't check in until 2 pm in my new residence for next week. Lisa and Graham are headed to a hotel in Waikiki for their last night in town, then they are leaving for the states on Sunday. I am sure I will repeat myself over the next few days, but it doesn't hurt, I think.
Anyway, I am going to post some pictures, probably in three chunks: pirate ship pictures, the Arizona memorial, and then the Mighty Mo.
As for yesterday, it was a bit of a fiasco that finally turned into a win. We left early: Lisa, Graham and myself to head to the Polynesian Centre on the north shore of the island. We drove over the mountain to Kane'ohe Bay via the Pali Highway through the mountains in the center of the island. We then drove up the Kamehameha Highway along the coast. At one point we stopped at the harbor at He'eia where we took pictures of the Black Pearl, the ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean films. They are filming PotC 4 here in Hawaii and the crew were prepping the ship. We didn't see anyone famous, but that ship was cool enough. While my camera only has it as distance, and I'll try to blow it up, Lisa had her camera with her and her zoom took decent pictures. When she gets back to the states, since she left her camera cord at home, she will send me pics and I will post them here. That turned out to be the high point of the morning.
After a very scenic drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center, it turned out that despite my guidebook, it was closed on Sundays. So we continued around the island, past Banzai Beach (where the huge waves are in the winter) back to the North Shore, and then back to Honolulu via Schofield Barracks. By this point Lisa was getting cranky, Graham was tired, and I wanted to do some sightseeing, but I caved to Lisa's demand to go to the beach. I drove her to Waikiki and then drove all the way back across Honolulu to Pearl Harbor. I finally reached PH around 1:30 pm. I got the last remaining ticket for the 2 pm boat to the Arizona Memorial, as well as buying a ticket to see the USS Missouri, where the peace treaty was signed with Japan in 1945. It was a good afternoon touring the memorial and the big battleship left the way it was after its 1980s refit and its service in the 1st Gulf War. Missile launchers, phalanx CIWS, and Harpoon launchers, along with the original 5" and 16" naval guns, were the only weaponry on the ship. All the 20mm, 40mm and machine guns were removed, including most of their gun mounts. As you can see from some of the pictures, early 1990s computers were still left in their offices, and one of the tour guides told me that they basically had the ship turned over to them in 1992, and while the computers were wiped, they were not removed. In fact, most of the weapons (except the missile launchers and Harpoon launchers) might even still be made active with some minor work. How safe they would be was a different matter.
I came back to campus around 5:00, tired, sweaty and exhausted. Lisa and Graham got dinner down in Waikiki and I did some work in the room. Around 8 we went to the grocery story for the last time (where I got a sandwich for dinner and the fixings for today's dinner) and then came back, watched some tv, did some work, and called it a night around 11.
Tomorrow we have the morning free, but I have to work on my project for Thursday/Friday's presentation. Then we have a lunch program, then are free around 1:30. I will probably head off to the Royal Palace in the afternoon, then back in time for the movie at 6:30. The rest of the week is a double lecture on Wednesday, lecture on Thursday morning, presentations Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, then a final dinner on Friday night.
Saturday morning I have to check out by 10, but I can't check in until 2 pm in my new residence for next week. Lisa and Graham are headed to a hotel in Waikiki for their last night in town, then they are leaving for the states on Sunday. I am sure I will repeat myself over the next few days, but it doesn't hurt, I think.
Anyway, I am going to post some pictures, probably in three chunks: pirate ship pictures, the Arizona memorial, and then the Mighty Mo.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Saturday 7/24 pics, part 2
These are all pics from Schofield Barracks and the 25th Division Museum.
Underneath this field, and the vents, lead to the underground WWII communications bunker.
The next few pics are of D block of barracks.
This is the 25th Division Museum, which used to be the base library.
Prisoner of war uniform and restraints.
Soccer ball handed out to Iraqi kids in 2004.
Example of a Vietnam tunnel rat going down a tunnel in-country.
Underneath this field, and the vents, lead to the underground WWII communications bunker.
The next few pics are of D block of barracks.
This is the 25th Division Museum, which used to be the base library.
Prisoner of war uniform and restraints.
Soccer ball handed out to Iraqi kids in 2004.
Example of a Vietnam tunnel rat going down a tunnel in-country.
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