The Scene
Here’s the scene where it went down but at a quieter time.
We visit the Kailua Open Market from time to time, but it looks like I missed the action.
Life
Remembering Rainbows of the Past
Thanks to the Greatest Legal Mind Ever, we had courtside seats for the Rainbow Classic back in the day. We sat on the baseline by the hoops and ragged the awesome opposition. Good times!
Here’s a blurry pic of big man, Tony Maroney.
And is this the Big Nasty, Corliss Williamson, from Arkansas?
Update: Talk about full circle. I only learned that Corliss Williamson is the head coach for Central Arkansas who the Rainbows play tonight. And the year the above pictures were taken was the first year of the Sheriff Center.
Remembering Italy
Trying to remember at least. I can’t recall where I took this picture while touring Italy. Was it Burano?
Holiday Gift Guide: BackBlaze Backups
Consider this gift for yourself. In this day and age of digital content, you absolutely need a backup of your hard drive. You never know when your drive will fail and trust me, it will. A local backup drive is a good start (especially if you’re running Time Machine via Mac OS X) but the next step for your backup plan is off-site, online backups.
I’ve been using BackBlaze, and it’s been going well so far. It literally took months for the initial online backup to complete, but I kinda expected as much moving over 260-GB worth of data. After the initial backup, new files and updates are continuously backed up in no time.
Cost is very reasonable at $95 for a two year plan so that’s like $50 a year for peace of mind that your data is safely stored in times of emergencies.
Give a gift to yourself and sign up for BackBlaze.
Blog Less, Get More Views?
Blogging around here has been sporadic but surprisingly, page views and visits have been increasing. Is this a delayed response from previous months when I was blogging more, or is this more indicative that blogging less gets more views? Hmmm…
Waimanalo Has a Pumpkin Patch
Out on the Windward side tucked away near the Ko’olau Range is Waimanalo Country Farms. Starting this year, this family farm started their own pumpkin patch for kids to pick carvable pumpkins.
Not as sprawling as the popular Aloun Farms pumpkin patch, the Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch is a good alternative for the Windward side. Although the farm is smaller, there are lots of pumpkins, a hay ride, a corn maze, and additional activities for the kids.
Here are some pics of what you can expect.
What else is in the Waimanalo area? Check out Dwellable.com to find out.
Memory Cards Are Cheap
Wow, the cost of memory cards have gotten really cheap. A 16-GB SDHC memory card at Class 10 speeds is only $25! Even if it doesn’t fully achieve Class 10 speeds, should be just as fast as Class 6 cards.
No UH PPV Problems for Us
For my first ever UH Football pay-per-view (PPV) purchase, there were no technical glitches as reported by some customers. I called Oceanic about two hours before kickoff and easily ordered the game through the automated phone system.
The High Def coverage looked great in UH’s 45-10 victory over Idaho.
Researching Photovoltaic in Hawaii
I’m on the solar bandwagon after hearing about its benefits from Wayne’s World. Getting a photovoltaic system for your home is a win-win scenario right now with the available (and generous) tax credits. In turn, you can curb or even “eliminate” your HECO electricity bill with power produced from the sun. Too good to be true? We’ll see!
What is Photovoltaic?
First a little background on photovoltaic systems. While I knew about solar as home water heaters, I hadn’t known about solar and PV systems to generate electricity for your home. Basically, solar panels are installed on your roof, take the sun’s energy, and converts it to electricity for your home. Depending on the quantity and efficiency of the PV solar panels, you can offset your monthly HECO electricity bill or (almost) eliminate the bill altogether (HECO always has a basic charge of $18 per month). The number of solar panels depends on your electricity usage, how aggressively you want to address your bill, and the type of panels themselves and could range from 8-24+ panels for a single family home.
The Sticker Shock of PV Costs
Yes, a PV system is very expensive up front. There’s definitely a sticker shock. But after state and federal tax credits, the net cost of what you actually pay is reasonable. Currently, installing a home PV system makes you eligible for tax credits covering about 60-66% of the overall PV system cost! So a $30,000 PV system could end up costing roughly $10,000 when all’s said and done (I make no promises with tax laws). A PV system could pay for itself in 6-8 years and from that point on, you could be making money with your electricity bill savings.
Finding PV Installers
Trying to find out about photovoltaic systems installers in Hawaii isn’t the easiest thing to do online. A quick Google search lists various vendors and several renewable energy articles but not much about people’s experiences with these companies. I’ll be blogging some of my experiences to fix that. 😉
So how did I find PV companies? Through scientific research, careful analysis, and umm, asking around. WW went with Sunetric and had a great experience. Another coworker recommended Alternate Energy, and lastly I saw a bunch of signs and flags for RevoluSun.
But you gotta stay tuned for more upcoming PV posts…
What to Expect from the Kaneohe Bay Air Show 2010
Here’s what you can expect from the Kaneohe Bay Air Show 2010… in pictures.
Lots and lots of seating but expected to be filled.
Emergency services and plentiful police (watching Fat Albert).
Aircraft, lots and lots of aircraft, both civilian and military.
Music from the Pacific Fleet Band.
Vendors.
The Mobile Gamer Guys.
It’ll be hot so visit the Farmers Hawaii booth for some breezy relief.
Amazed spectators.
Skydivers.
Fun for the kids.
Crazy stunt pilots.
Scenic views.
Of course, the high flying (and sometimes, very low flying) Blue Angels.
And there’s much, much more! Thanks to Pacific Command, Pacific Fleet, and the KBay Air Show!
See more pictures on Flickr.
Time for a Tivo Flight Check
Gotta do a flight check on my Tivo with a bunch of shows taking off this week.
Let’s see, the conclusion of Season 1 of The Gates should have recorded on Sunday. It ain’t a bad show, kinda a poor man’s Underworld but in a modern context where you’re the unusual one if you’re not a mythical creature.
For Monday, Hawaii Five-O premieres (in HD!!) along with Season 11 of Dancing with the Stars (also in HD!!).
Tuesday showcases Glee and even more DWTS.
On Wednesday, the behind-the-scenes Top Chef episode is followed by Top Chef: Just Desserts.
Hawaii’s Andy South and Ivy Higa continue their Project Runway journey on Thursday, and Mililani’s Maggie Q takes on the Division on Nikita. Grey’s Anatomy kicks off after a monstrous season finale.
Then it’s Friday and the weekend when I can watch all these hours of great television. Tivo, don’t fail me now!