Gadget Gypsy

Thursday, August 12, 2010: Work today from 7:35am to 2:05pm.

By 2:45pm: driving to Kona on a partially routine shopping trip and to pick up an item that had been back-ordered.

By 6:45pm: All items checked off the to-do list in quick order and I begin the drive back home...

Approaching the airport intersection, my car displays a well overheated status...I was glad airport was the next turn, and I dive into the first location that seemed to make sense - the Rental Return lots on approach to the airport.

I owe a great big Mahalo to the Alamo rental return employees! Theirs was the first lot that looked inviting to an ailing vehicle not of their own fleet.

They let me allow my car to cool down sufficiently and then loaned me a water jug so that I could fill the radiator. It took a bit of time for it to cool sufficiently so that I could safely add the water.

Well, that would have been great if my radiator cap hadn't have suffered a huge going-to-pieces When I took off the cap, part of it remained in the radiator fill spout and part of it bounced off in the dark not to be seen again. I managed to remove the piece that was blocking the spout and filled the radiator when it had cooled; but the cap would no longer make a seal.

Oh boy. Andy was doing an all-niter on Mauna Kea. Now what to do?

I called the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station and asked for him. He was in the middle of a "Star Tour" and would call back. Several minutes later when he did call back, I explained the situation. After I called the insurance, I determined that the best thing to do was to call a tow truck. Thankfully, there had been a tow company dropping off a vehicle earlier; and one of the Alamo guys suggested writing down the phone number.

I called T&T Towing 24 Hour Service, and they dispatched a truck right away. Alamo was forced by liability issues to request that I move my car off their lot and they were VERY polite about it as well as helpful. I limped my car off the lot (and watched as the temperature gauge quickly began to rise), and found an area by the curb that was not painted red to wait.

In about 15-25 minutes, the truck appeared down the street and I waived him down to show him that I had moved the car. He quickly, but carefully put my car on the wheel lift; and we were off. I was finally home by 10:00pm! Thank you T&T for being there and not breaking my pocketbook!!!!

Thus I walked to work and back home again on Friday; while allowing Andy to enjoy the whole night at 9200 feet observing the Perseid Meteor Shower and taking astrophotos. I am sure he will soon post some of the results to his Blog "A Darkerview"!

Starfish Date 20100711.0900 D1:

Surf Forecast called for choppy conditions on both East and West sides of Hawai'i today. We decided to go for a drive to check out Diving conditions at End of Road Puako.

It was Fantastic!!!!! It was in just the right position to be sheltered from the brunt of the wind, surf and surge. Although the water wasn't as clear as we have seen it, it was better by far than I was expecting. Almost no noticeable surge either, unless you held still enough for a few minutes and made conscious note of it.

We decided to go south today, and it turned up a new specie or two of Marine life. Due to the lack of surge, I got to enjoy the dive more instead of fighting to keep my position while I was looking at one bit of coral or another. Realizing that without a camera the dive is much more relaxed for me; but oh, the pictures I do not get...

Like the Garden eels at about 60': 'Thick Cotton Ropes' AND Summer Diving as well as Stout Moray posted by Darkerview.com.

...

I love my MacBook; however, even a Mac wants some extra attention sometimes. Especially, with all the possible threats out there in cyberspace.

On Thursday, June 23, my MacBook encountered a file on its hard drive that was too confusing for it to sort out so it subsequently decided not to boot. I investigated it long into the night then decided to take it to see a Mac Doctor at Mac Made Easy on June 24 for a 'Physical Exam'!

During data backup, a file was discovered (title something like ...~.gif) that the backup kept failing on. We finally had it move this file to the trash, and immediately emptied the trash. Then the backup was started again. This time it worked; and when the Mac was again booted into Mac OS, it made a complete and 'Happy Mac' boot. A full scan with Mac Tech Tools turned up no further issues with the directory structure; but a surface scan shows one error. It is not a serious error and is probably related to the Boot Camp partition so I carry on for now.

Now, I just finish putting Mac back as I had configured before and 'Business as Usual'

With Apple gaining in popularity, be certain that they will also draw the eye of a few 'Crackers' (Hackers with Mal intent) as well!

HAPPY Computing!!!

After watching the video, I agreed wholeheartedly with the Subject title of this message when it was sent to me by my sister, Darcy!

The explanation read as follows:

This is the new "wear your seatbelt" ad the UK is doing - started by some guy not hired to do it, but because the cause is important to him, he came up with this idea, and now it's being hailed across the world as a beautiful' commercial. ...

I work at a pre-school ... Well ... In a round-about way, that is... We do try to teach the children to "share" ... Sometimes, maybe they get a little "carried away"?!?!? It's still the best job I can remember working in my experience!

Continuing recovery from an unknown-not-before-dealt-with virus that my immune system was not prepared for, I remained at home while Andy packed up his gear and headed for Puako End of Road dive site

While Andy and others were diving; and I, not having any new underwater photos to post my "WAAAAH" around, watched my favorite prime time shows online and found this video! ... Then linked to this video.

Since none of our usual group had "Slingshots", I sure am GLAD that Andy and our diving group buddies only encountered a few Reef Sharks on their Sunday dive without me... ...


This way to "Disclaimers, propaganda, and defense pitches" -->>>>

You guessed it! This year ON Valentine's Day, February 14, 2010, we volunteered at the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy Visitor Information Station (VIS) on Mauna Kea. Again!

I guess I liked it so much last year that I actually suggested volunteering at the VIS again this year as our Valentine's Day togetherness. As Andy says, "Once; a fluke. Twice; a coincidence. Three times is a problem." But in this case, three times may just become a tradition?!... Have to wait for next year's story for that determination...

Andy 'promised' me "a nice, secluded Valentine's Day lunch and dinner at the 'exclusive' Hale Pohaku Café on Mauna Kea" last year then again this year Well...actually, it was I who suggested repeating our volunteering at the VIS on Valentine's Day this year like we did last year.

Once we got to cleaning eye pieces after lunch, we were happy to find that many of the eye pieces were being cleaned more often since our last maintenance run. They were still showing signs of cold-finger drops; but not as apparent as our previous maintenance run nor as depressing.

Last year on Valentine's Day was our first year volunteering at the VIS to do telescope maintenance for our Valentine's Day togetherness. You can follow my link to Valentine's Day 2009 to read about our fun during that first adventure. This year the cleanings went much faster, and there were fewer that had to be retired due to excessive wear. We also did the maintenance and cleaning in the Bookstore building this time. It was warmer and more fun because visitors were curious and asking great questions.

We only had time to clean the eyepieces and repair a couple of the wiring cables to telescope 'go-to' control paddles before it was time to close up for the night. I guess we will need to schedule another maintenance run to work on the many Dobsonian telescopes, and other astronomy equipment - before the end of 2010!?!?!

Andy did bring home some needed repair work in the form of "A Box 'O Broken Telrads".

IT WAS ANOTHER VALENTINE'S DAY WELL SPENT AND THOROUGHLY ENJOYED!!!!!

Wishing YOU... Happy Valentine's Day, and Happy Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger) on February 14; and Happy Presidents' Day on February 15!

While reminiscing about my past two years and some events that have brought me to this point in my life, I rediscovered this post of my creating GadgetGypsy.com (my Blog); and my inspiration to do so...

Mostly migrated from GadgetGypsy.Xanga.com, with some. No. MUCH revision (I am liking this CSS Web Design and the flexibility that I get on my own site)!...

In September 2008, I an encounter with a 'wild hair'; and decided to learn some Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) Web Design. Now, if you know me, you KNOW that I HATE programming! I can usually puzzle it out, and manage a decent program; although, it takes me a looooooong time all the while hating the process. However, since I started my first Blog on Xanga.com, and watched what was possible from viewing AND reading the posts at DarkerView.com, I have taken new interest in Web Design through CSS!

However, I WILL NOT ever bend to referring to CSS as 'programming' any more than I will give in to the construct that Pluto is no longer classified as a planet (<-- In my 'book', this should read: "Pluto IS, was, and always shall be no longer classified as a planet!!!!") Otherwise, many of my exams in school become null and void; and should not have been used in calculating my grades!

I believe CSS to be scripting because it is not as abstract and looping confusing as the programming in 'C' language that I had to learn and use while taking classes for my Management Information Systems/Operations Management (MIS/OM) Bachelors of Science (BS) degree at the University of Arizona with all those 'for' and 'if then' statements... I was often ending up in a nasty loopy mess that made my head spin!?!?!?

What an awesome way to go whale watching!!!! Okay. So...it was quite early to get up on a Saturday; but it was sooooo worth it! Just after New Year's, Andy registered us to participate in the 2010 Santuary Ocean Count on January 30, coordinated by the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Check out the many links and bushel loads of information that they provide on their site.

'Bright' and EARLY on Saturday morning, January 30, we met the group at Kawaihae harbor (about 7:00am) and consolidated some vehicles then proceeded to the site that we were assigned to for the Ocean Count. The site had a GREAT 180 degree view from north to south of the Kohala coastline near Kawaihae on the Big Island of Hawai`i! We all signed in and gathered the papers that we would need for recording the Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) data. This was to include a tally for the # of adults and the # of calves in each pod, and a tally for each time one of several behaviors were exhibited during each half-hour increment from 8:00am to 12:00pm. Followed by one final count-only period from 12:00pm to 12:15pm.

We all got settled in our chairs. We got our paperwork with writing implements, and our binoculars close at hand...and...at 8:00am began the count. Working in pairs, one would call out location, how many in the pod, and behavior observed; and the other would rapidly mark the tallies in the correct box on the paper. There was a lot of activity during the full four hours, and the time flew by! The Humpback were numerous and active on our west coast shoreline! We seldom had opportunity to just sit back and talk story; but we did get some casual conversation inserted into the very occasional lull. Captivating conversation at that! This made the time pass by even faster. The lowest number of whale spotted from our site in any half-hour block during the count was about 11 adults. The calves were rare early in the count and then reached a count of four in two or three of the mid-count time slots.

The Read Aloud America Read Aloud Program (RAP) is once again seeking volunteers to be volunteer readers as well as volunteers who can substitute as readers on short notice. This news is from Hawaii247.org! There will also probably be a need for volunteer escorts to assist in getting groups to the assigned reading rooms and back to the cafeteria.

More information on the schools offering the RAP and the dates each will be presented may be found here --> Read Aloud America Read Aloud Program (RAP) as well as contacting the representative for Read Aloud America RAP at 756-2348 for more information (this information is listed in the Hawaii247.org article linked above).

I first had the incredible Privilege to be a part of this GREAT Program in Fall 2008 at Waikoloa Elementary School as a Reader Escort! As you can see from the post that I made after the first night of the RAP sessions in August 2008, it was an awesome experience! It only got better from there right down to the very last night that was a mix of laughter and joy as presentations were made; and a tone of melancholy for the end of this wonderful, semi-weekly event.

It was very similar and just as FUN at the Waimea RAP during the same time frame. They staggered alternate nights and dates to make both possible as well as making it possible for me to volunteer at both!

I gained an immense amount of information and ideas in addition to an understanding for what keeps the attention of the children.

If it is possible for you to go and sign up, please do! They can usually put any and all volunteers to helpful tasks; and the rewards are numerous.

My Prayers of Comfort go out to each and everyone effected!

What more reason is needed than these to Google Guava Recipes?

Today was the day! Do not get pulled over while operating a cell phone or other electronic items without a hands-free device in your vehicle. It will cost you $$$$$.

Hope you have a Safe & Happy New Year filled with GREAT things!



May the events of the coming year be better than years gone-by!

Wishes of HEALTH & HAPPINESS to all who stop by this way!!!!

Posted here for the first time!...