Geeze I Love Computers...

If you look down at the last post, many of the terrain photos look the same. I took them standing on an axis and shooting Several photos for the purpose of a panoramic view; there is just so darn much to see...

I "acquired" an amazing piece of software that will automatically stitch the discrete photos into one panoramic, and it works!

here is the result...

The view from the top of the JCMT telescope...


Skipping town for the Memorial Day long weekend. Should have more photos for ya'll..

Life @ 14000'...

This isn't going to be a long post, just some photos. Yesterday I traveled to the top of Mauna Kea mountain, I believe it to be the highest point in north America! The peak of Mauna Kea is some 14000' (and change) with an atmosphere about 60% that of sea level. I did not notice many of the effects of the altitude that people said I might, which is a good thing. But I certainly did on some of the other people, shortness of breath, physical fatigue, etc.

We were up there to check the fitment of a device to added to the JCMT radio telescope and I took some of that time to take some photos.

Taken from the road to Mauna Kea...



Taken from the JCMT parking lot...



Backing Structure of the JCMT primary mirror...



SCUBA (an instrument), the second coldest place on earth(orange drum), 0.070K for those physics buffs...







The primary and secondary mirror of the JCMT...



Oh Canada...







Yes, That is in Kelvin...



And some of the terrain, Mars or Earth?...



































The highest restaurant in the United States...




that's it for now...

The New Wheels...

There are three bike stores in Hilo, "Hilo Bike Hub", "Pacific Cycles", and "daKine bike shop", daKine is a used (read stolen) bike store.

After wandering around all bloody day I finally settled on the 2004 Giant Rincon from Pacific. It is the largest and least expensive bike I have owned in many, many years. More price oriented because I already have a nice bike and big because I am planning on using it mainly for commuting; I didn't really want to start fooling around with 400mm seatposts and long stems and all that stuff to squeeze me into a 19" like my Brodie.

Everybody was really pleasant to deal with, I did like the boys at the hub better but they didn't have anything that would fit in stock and I don't want to pay shipping to "air" something from the mainland.

What's interesting is the owners of the two new bikes store are good friends there for I'm sure they are driving the bicycle prices in Hilo way up!

Well, here is a pic. from the Giant web site.



... And well have to see if we can get to the beach today...

The Job... err... Collaboration...

I started my Co-Op at the JAC last Monday, my first duties are to do something with there drawing management data-base, an excel spreadsheet?!?! I thought this was a government run operation?!?! This started out really rocky, they say that the drawing management is horrible and I agree, fully, but they aren't really sure how they want to repair it and heaven forbid moving a files around as it might upset someone!

THE JCMT sub-millimeter telescope has been in design since the late '70s... So 35 years of modifications, updates and additions makes for LOTS and LOTS of drawings. The mechanical drawings are pretty organized and pretty easy to file into something logical, but the electrical drawings... Oh god...

browsing though the electrical directories you can find something that are very well organized with descriptive file and directory names, great! And then there are some directory and file names like:

//xxx/xxxx/in_progress
(yet all the from "in_progress" are dated from '82)

or

//xxx/xxxx/in_progress/fred2.dwg

or

//xxx/xxxx/recovered_from_old_C/

or files with the exact same name and appear to be the same but one version is like 6 minutes older that the other... BLARG!

And then I meet resistance, as you can see the "recovered_from_old_C, or "work_in_progress" directory, well we could move that into a new directory that's name makes some sense, but alas no. The old electrical guy has been storing his stuff there for 20 years and doesn't want to move it to something logical, he would rather have a "new_work_in_progress" directory made where he can put the new stuff... BLARG!

They do promise me some real work by the end of the month... Here's hopin'...

On a very cool note, they are going to be sending me up to JCMT on Wednesday, yay. It is apparently an all day trip (there going to feed me, yay) where we make the accent to 14000' and look around. I'm not sure what I'll be doing up there yet, but it does sound fun.

I told you that the photos were coming...

It was Jeff's last night in Hilo, so we all went out for drinks. Much to my dismay they don't really have pubs here, just bars and clubs. We ended up hitting this place, don't remeber the name but is was pretty much the closest thing to a pub. If you were buying drinks, they would keep bringing snacks. Apparently draught beer is just something that don't really do in the US, everything comes from cans or bottles.

well here is a quick photo summary of things so far...
(after a brief pause from photobucket...)

** you have to have pop-ups ENABLED to get the larger photos!! **

This is where i work...



This is where i live...



I have to walk though this university to get to work...



This is Hilo from the parking lot at work...




and some photos from Jeff's fair-well event...
clockwise: Jeff(Arkansas/SanDiego), Dave(Philly), Ashley(Georgia), Fred(dont remember)...



left to right: Dave(Philly), Ashley(Georgia), Fred(dont remember)...



and a crazy tropical tree...



Stay Tuned... there will be more photos and stories...

Culture Shock...

Hilo, Hawaii is located on the east coast of the big island, however; unlike the rest of the pacific island cities it does not have a strong tourism economy. Its primary economies come from agriculture, corn and beef.

This caught me a little by surprise, and I got to find out exactly how nicely we have things up in good old BC, Canada. My first impression was how "ghetto" everything looked, most building are quite run down and constructed primarily with concrete block. Very depressing.

I am told that this cheap quick construction methods are apparently very common in tropical areas. Also many(most) of the houses here do not have windows, but have a frosted glass louvers. While houses don't seem to be a big deal here cars sure are! Brand new 4x4s seem to be the thing here along with really expensive wheels and super aggressive off-road tires, I'm not sure if that kinda thing is required here or not?

(I will get some photos for y'all PDQ)

My apartment seems to be a little bit of a party place, not all bad, but can be pretty noisy some nights. Pot is about as prevalent and carries the same public attitudes here as in BC, seems to be pretty easy to come by although I have not tried. I don't think that anybody gets IDed here as just about anybody can buy booze. The Safeway here has a better beer and liquor selection that many of the BCLs that I have been in; That is something that will take some getting used to, seeing beer in the same isle and Capt'n Crunch?!?!

OMG I must live on the noisyest street in Hilo, constant traffic combined with super aggressive off-road tires and/or "rice" mufflers definitely makes for some noise.

Apparently good old rock does not exist here, at least with the people that I have met (maybe is an American thing) but Top-40 R&B seems to all that anybody listens to.

I have already met some super cool people, although most are leaving for the summer. Hawaii seem to operate on a weird school year, exams finished on the 16 of this month. There had been some miscommunication before my arrival, and the apartment was not quite available for me when I arrived on he 14th. I was greeted by a super nice guy and acting RA, Arkansas Jeff. Jeff has been unbelievably helpfully in integrating me into "the Palms" and Hilo life in general, it is really too bad that he will be leaving Thursday morning. A few others that I have met; Julia a German chick on an academic exchange, Lana although I cannot remember from what state, Nora and her mom from Rhode Island also on an academic exchange (Nora, not mom), Gabe a dood from SanDiego, and recently Ashley form George.

It has been nice to be able to go out and do stuff after only being here a couple of days, it is WAY too hot to sit in an apartment and watch TV.

Ok, I'm here... Now what?

Well...

My story begins on Saturday May 14, 2005... Well it begins a little before that...

As a part of my Mechanical engineering studies at the University of Victoria (UVIC) we are required to perform ~400 hours of applied work study for graduation; and I was presented with this opportunity.

The last 3 or so weeks have been spend scrambling to put together passport and other such paperwork so I might be able to successfully enter the United States. This scrambling involved generally a lot of driving including a 2-day 869kms, Victoria down-and-back (yes, I know this is not the first time that anybody has done something like that, just thought I would share)

I packed up Thursday night, a computer tower, a 79lb suitcase (as the airline scale tells me), and a day-pack. I finished with a enough time to get one more evening with the old-old school, had a drink and some food with Simeon, Ryan and just about the whole Kamloops "East Side Mario's" crew.

Dad and I loaded up Friday morning, and fired off, down to Surrey to pick up passport and then basically kill time until my 8am flight on Saturday. We picked up the passport and then tried to find a card board computer box and packing material; suprisingly difficult. (is their any place else in the world, other than Richmond where there 4 computer stores on one block?). We Grabbed Supper at Hon's and I has a little more time to say some good-byes; John, Lyndsey and I grabbed a beer at one of the hotel pubs on SE Marine.

** Nobody should be offended by this... I have soo many good friends in the Vancouver area but didn't have enough time to see everybody, I apologize.

The next morning I found myself in waiting in-line at the Harmony Airlines desk at Vancouver International. Check-in, is well Check-in... Pretty boring stuff. I couldn't have asked for my experience with US-immigration ("Department of Homeland Security", good name guys?) to have gone better, They pretty much just waived me through. Which is pretty awesome, as that had the potential to make things very stressful, as they certainly do not have to let me into their country.

6.1hrs of flight later I found my self in Honolulu, it was about this time that I actually realized that I had left Canada. Its kind funny how that stuff works sometimes. I grabbed a quick bite, then took a 30min hop upto Hilo, where I will be staying for the next 8mo!

I was picked up from the Hilo, International Airport (about the size of Abbotsford Int.) By my Supervisor, Tomas's wife. She dropped me by my apartment the University Palms, Right on the edge of the University of Hawaii-Hilo Campus. The apartment is catering to the students and is set up much like the apartment style cluster housing at UVIC, yes I do have a room mate.

Testing The Blog...

pretty much that!