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Sheraton Waikiki Staycation, Part Deux

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A short staycation at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel with its Helumoa Playground was simply not enough. I said we’d be coming back, and so there we were, playing in the kid friendly pools and reheating in the hot tubs and eating well. Check out some pictures.

Some of my favorites.

From Sheraton Waikiki Staycation #2
From Sheraton Waikiki Staycation #2
From Sheraton Waikiki Staycation #2

Are we going for Round 3 any time soon? You’ll have to wait and see!

On a Productivity Kick

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Recently, I’ve been on a kick to increase productivity and find better ways of getting things done.  Nothing too extreme, mainly streamlining, learning from others, and finding productivity aids.  Here’s some software that I’ve looked into.

MenuCalendarClock.  Okay, not a true productivity enhancer, but Apple’s own menu clock wasn’t the greatest, and I wanted a quick way to view a calendar without bringing up iCal or Entourage.  Heck, I’ve been “testing” MenuCalendarClock for over 1500 days and finally paid my dues (and registration fee).  Since MenuCalendarClock syncs with iCal (or Entourage), you also have a fast way of viewing what’s coming up on your schedule.

Evernote.  To collect notes, images, and all kinds of other tidbits, I’ve been using Yojimbo, primarily for its syncing ability with .Mac/MobileMe.  I can save something in Yojimbo, and it’ll show up on my sync-ed computers.  But something happened that broke the synchronization and fixing it sounds hard.  So this is an opportunity to reassess what’s out there, and that’s where I heard about Evernote.  Evernote is impressive.  At its core, it functions similarly to Yojimbo, but its ubiquity is way better.  Evernote syncs to its own servers and has apps for mobile devices, a desktop app, a web interface, a mobile web interface, and ties to Twitter.  You can tweet to Evernote, and it’ll save that tweet in your Evernote Notebook.   Yojimbo is limited to a desktop app only.

The main drawback with Evernote is the cost for the premium service.  An annual cost is $45 but includes additional services and features, but over time, this price will definitely add up.  For now, I’ll try the free service and also look at SpringPad.

Transmit.  I haven’t made the switch to Panic’s Transmit FTP client.  I’m still using Fetch, but I keep reading great reviews for Transmit.  And my version of Fetch (v5.3) is not eligible for a free upgrade to the latest 5.6.  What’s the big deal with an FTP client?  I’m not really, really sure hence me staying with an out-of-date Fetch, but if productivity gains are there with FTP, I just might have to move to Transmit.

Backblaze.  To backup all this productivity, I’ve been looking at Backblaze.  Amazingly, this service backs up majority of your data to its online service so that you have an off-site backup.  This save-your-butt solution goes for $50 a year without any data storage limitations.  Backblaze will not backup single files bigger than 4 GB, but that’s okay with me.  I’ve heard of Mozy, Jungle Disk, and Carbonite, but the “unlimited” data storage for Backblaze can’t be beat.

Alfred.  Back in March, I asked about Mac app launchers.  Marvo highly recommends LaunchBar, Foojish uses Butler, and Steve mentioned Google’s Quick Search Box.  LaunchBar might be overkill for me and costs $35.  Butler really wasn’t what I wanted, so I quickly gravitated to the free and usable Quick Search Box.  While it worked, it was slow and would crash several times in a week.  I recently moved to Alfred and am pleased.  It’s fast, does what I need, looks modern, and is free!  But it is in beta status.

And there you have it, my recent kick looking at productivity enhancing apps and services.  What are yours?

First Run in Awhile

It’s been close to 5 weeks since I last ran so who knew what this first run would be like. According to Nike+, I ran 2.28 miles in 22 minutes and 23 seconds (that’s 9’48” per mile) and used my Power Song on the home stretch. Felt pretty good though the legs are little wobbly now. I’m sure it’ll be worse tomorrow.

A Re-Grand Opening of Foodland

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I don’t exactly know what a “re-grand opening” is, but Foodland just had one. It looked more like a small renovation with moderate changes in layout and look. There’s now an expanded organic food section and the deli/ready made food area features an olive bar and home made gelato. I think this Foodland location is gearing up to combat the coming of Whole Foods.

Mother’s Day Brunch at Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room

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This year we tried the Mother’s Day brunch at Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room in Macy’s Ala Moana. Cost was $45 per adult (under 6 years old is free). Not bad at all. There were a variety of quality dishes instead of masses of “fillers.” The crowds were reasonable, and we weren’t packed into an overcrowded dining room

One small negative was the placement of the buffet food stations. Due to the small size of the restaurant, the food stations were spread out in the main dining area, the bar, the waiting area, and in the Macy’s special events room (where we were seated). So you have to walk around a bit to get your food. And you know going to buffets is all about being lazy! 😉

The desserts were fabulous and my favorite li hing tomatoes were on the menu. To top it off, Alan Wong himself visited each table, welcoming moms and their families and even taking countless group pictures. Here he is checking on some dishes.

Worth going back next year? You bet.

The Embrace of Mercy

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On the eve of Mother’s Day, the USNS Mercy docked in Hawaii to take on supplies and personnel before launching on its Pacific Partnership 2010 mission. Thanks to the graces of Pacific Command, the Pacific Fleet, and Naval Region Hawaii, a group of local bloggers, tweeters, and social media mavens was allowed to tour the Mercy, speak to its leadership and crew, and document every aspect of this unique visit.

This is my experience.

About the USNS Mercy

Globally, the US Navy has two hospital ships in its fleet. While the Atlantic is under the care of the USNS Comfort, the USNS Mercy embraces the Pacific region. In stark contrast to its grey-hulled Navy brethren, the USNS Mercy is visually distinct, coated white and prominently displaying the Red Cross to signify its medical mission.

Also, the heritage of the Mercy is one of a converted oil supertanker, not built in the Naval shipyards. Within the Naval fleet, only an aircraft carrier is physically bigger than the Mercy.

The Floating Hospital

The obvious way to describe the USNS Mercy is it’s like a hospital, a floating hospital. Walking the expanses of the ship was just like walking the halls of any major hospital – an emergency receiving area, radiology with a CT scanner, sterile operating rooms, intensive care units, physical therapy, a blood bank, an eye clinic, a pharmacy, and patient wards (with a capacity of 1000 beds) were all there.

However, getting on a floating hospital does require a special ambulance though.

Staggering Logistics

Once you understand that the Mercy is a moving hospital, guessing at the staggering logistics and special requirements follows. Traveling to Pacific countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste during Pacific Partnership 2010 (PP10), language issues are resolved by translators who are part of the crew or volunteers from Non-Governmental Agencies in host countries. Medical expertise comes from a variety of sources and is tailored for the mission at hand. Crew members are not assigned to the Mercy on a rotational basis, but from the 18 months of planning for PP10, medical skills are identified then assembled. Even veterinarians and biomedical equipment repair personnel will be participating. Supplies are continually taken on at every port stop and stored in any available free space.

The Teamwork of Roles

The successful operation of the Mercy lies in the teamwork of the crew as they each perform their vital roles. There are three primary roles on-board represented by the three leaders of the Mercy. From my understanding, Captain Lisa Franchetti heads the overall Pacific Partnership 2010 mission for the Mercy, Captain Jeffrey Paulson is chief medical officer, and Captain David Bradshaw is in charge of the operation of the Mercy.

The crew is composed of military personnel (about 1200) and civilians (about 66), and each member also has additional roles such as firefighters and to even defend the non-combatant ship if attacked.

Comforts

While the USNS Mercy is prepared to handle medical emergencies, familiar comforts are available. The primary dining hall provides meals around the clock, and yes, they serve Starbucks coffee.

To keep the crew physically fit, spaces are converted to make shift but well equipped gyms.

Takeaways

So what are my personal takeaways after touring the USNS Mercy? It simply goes like this:

Amazed, overwhelmed, awed, honored, and lastly, thankful…

More Pictures of the USNS Mercy

More Coverage of the USNS Mercy Tour

Sign Him Up!

My pal JoJo has a future, in dancing or as a runway model, I don’t know. Check out his moves at the 1:00 minute mark.

Civil Beat on the Airwaves

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On Wednesday’s Bytemarks Cafe radio show, Burt and Ryan interviewed some of the talent from local startup Peer News.  Editor John Temple and Developer Ryan Kanno talked about Civil Beat, its background, its goals, and just about everything else.

If you missed the show, it’s now available for listening (the Civil Beat interview is about half way in).

I’m not going to rehash the conversation since you should really listen to it yourself (especially at the 28:07 mark), but there were some personally memorable moments.

Did I mention the 28:07 mark of the podcast?  That was memorable. 😉

I couldn’t believe the issue centering around the use of PayPal for Civil Beat.  This topic went on for several minutes.  Yeah, you gotta have a PayPal account to sign in to Civil Beat and also to pay for your subscription.  PayPal is like the biggest online payment system so this makes sense.  And um, isn’t there like a link between PayPal and eBay, and eBay and Pierre, and Pierre and Civil Beat? Hmmm…  As to the comment about only techies using PayPal, here’s a response.

Ryan Kanno: You don’t have to be tech-savvy to use PayPal. My father isn’t tech-savvy and he’s on PayPal.less than a minute ago via webHonolulu Civil Beat
civilbeat

Then came the talk about design and aesthetics.  Uh oh.  Design and what looks good are tied to personal tastes. Oh that jab about Civil Beat looking Web 1.0-ish had to hurt! But the Civil Beat team has a thick skin.

Web 1.0 eh? Missed my chance to use a <blink> tag I guess. #becivilless than a minute ago via Tweetiemirthlab
mirthlab

I haven’t listened to the entire podcast again, but was there only one caller (albeit with a multi-part question)?

Still, all around a great interview, especially at the 28:07 part. 😉

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