Author: Richard (Page 4 of 35)

I’ve so neglected my blog, but like some others I know, the drive just isn’t there right now (well OK, it hasn’t been there for me really for over a year). I keep telling myself I’m going to start posting at least once a month, but then another month goes by (never was good with New Years resolutions either).

There have been a lot of shifts and such going on, not only in the larger global picture, but also on a personal level. I really do think that winter solstice 2010 was actually winter solstice 2012 (Mayan calendar). This was a substantial winter solstice from so many perspectives.

Things are going well here in Hawaii. Kilauea and Pele had a romp this last week or so and the Pu`u  O`o crater floor collapsed. If that weren’t enough, the lava level in the vent at the Halema`uma`u crater within the Kilauea Caldera dropped nearly out of sight (from around 230 feet below the crater floor to over 660 feet), and a rift opened up between a couple craters and Pele put on a grand show with some lava fountains along the rift reaching nearly 100 meters in height. Some of the cracks in the rift zone appear to by over 50 feet wide from the images. Not sure if it is mostly over or not. Things were kind of quiet down there this morning. You can take a look at some great images and videos of the goings on if you wish.

This image was snapped from my back door the other night, and yes, the sky was purple. No photoshopping at all. You can click to see a larger version of it.

Hopefully it won’t be months before I post again.

I had forgotten that my vehicle inspections were due this month (January) so today I was in a rush to first off, find a place that could do both of them today, and secondly get going early enough so that I could get both of them done. I grabbed the envelopes out of my vehicles so I could inventory the stuff and make sure I had everything that was needed, and started making calls.

The first place I called was the dealership, and they could not get me in till mid-week. Not an option. I then called the place down south that had done them originally and found that they were no longer doing them, but they gave me the name of a place just south of them that they highly recommended. I called and told them the story and they said they would work me in.

I headed down there to get one vehicle done and discovered that when cleaning out the envelope I had taken out the current insurance card. I was miffed at myself since they had been so kind and it was a hour round trip to get back to the house and get the current card which was laying on my desk. Of course, what happened on the way back on the narrow two-lane road? I get behind a person that was traveling at half the 30MPH speed limit and did not pull over to let me go by (most times people driving slowly on the island will). I took a deep breath – OK, many of them on the drive back to the house – and told myself, everything is fine, it will all work out (still slightly miffed though).

I grabbed the card and headed back along the same road. What did I follow all the way? A school bus that stopped what seemed like 10,000 times to let children off which meant I had to stop behind the bus and wait. Again I kept telling myself, everything is fine, it will all work out. I was more concerned about messing up the people at the shop who were so kind to work me in when they really didn’t have any openings in their schedule.

I finally got there, the inspection went off without a hitch and I headed back to pick up my truck. Yes, if you are thinking ahead, behind another school bus that stopped it seemed like 100,000,000 times.

Finally got the truck and headed back down (behind another school bus that made 100 billion stops of course). Finally got there and while waiting for the guy to finish all the paperwork, we were both chuckling about my bad traffic karma, and he said, “this is the wrong island to be in a hurry on” and I agreed with him.

There have been a number of times I’ve headed off in a hurry and the Island has dropped anchor on me and slowed me down. Luckily I’m not the hurrying type anymore, and the only reason I was sort of miffed was that I was putting others out due in part to my inattention.

Moral of the story: slow down, breathe and enjoy life.

View north from Keck 1

This image is from one of the Mauna Kea Weather Center web cams on top of Mauna Kea. As I write this it is 27 degrees F (-2.5 C) and the road is closed. Another huge storm is moving in Wednesday and Thursday so there will be even more snow up there and of course rain down here.