Easy Reader

After waiting for what was for me a long time (plus, every time I remembered I wanted it, it was out of stock), I finally got a Sony Reader the other day. Although I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, I'm enjoying it quite a bit -- it really is easy to read whole books on it (I'm reading The Google Story right now), but there isn't enough current content for it for most consumers. Thanks to the forums at the great Mobile Read website, I'm able to make my own content, though -- still, it isn't as easy to "rip" a book as it is a CD.

The Hog Spot

My new blog is "The Hog Spot" ... this blog will exclusively focus on Harley stuff, while this blog stays up-to-date on general Dave-n-Laurel stuff.

Hog Tales

I took my bike out for a short ride today, to go to the Harley shop and spend the gift card that Laurel got me for my birthday. Along the way, the Hog got mad props and I reminded myself to never leave home without a camera again! While I was parking in downtown Seattle, someone yelled, "NICE BIKE!"

Then, as I was walking to the shop, I saw the "Free Hugs" girls (although I didn't partake; since I didn't have a camera, I'm linking to my friend Rob's flickr site, with a similar event he captured in South Korea!)

As I left the shop, a caliente Latina girl asked if she could "ride my bike" and have her picture taken. I was more than happy to oblige (her dad took the snaps while I fumbled for my camera phone and didn't get it out in time). Then her dad wanted to sit on it and have his picture taken, and at that point, I was kind of stuck saying yes.

At the shop, I got a neat HD jacket that I'd never seen before, and an HD Zippo lighter.

Harley Santa

Thanks for the Harley Santa, Irene! How often do you get a gift from your mother-in-law that sends you running, laughing, to the video camera, even after 12 hours of traveling?

Back in Seattle

We made it back, all in one piece (although Dave's toe is a little sore from dropping his 62-pound suitcase on it).

Chasing waterfalls

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Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Nothing particularly noteworthy about this picture, although Laurel took a nice shot and I don't look immensely fat in it. This waterfall walkway had been under construction for most of our visit and finally opened today -- it seems that the hotel was just waiting for their "good" guests to arrive before really turning on the charm.

Spam and Eggs

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Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Here is a picture of our lunch at Tex (not including the malasadas for desert). Click on it to see the notes in Flickr describing the feast, but basically these are the two standard "Big Island" meals. Laurel had a "plate lunch," which is two scoops of rice (she had fries instead), one scoop of macaroni salad, and your choice of any number of main entrees (she got beef curry). Dave had "Spam Loco" which substitutes Spam for the burger patties in what is normally a "Loco Moco" -- two scoops of rice, topped with two burger patties, topped with two fried eggs, and all of it covered in gravy.

A much better dolphin video

This time, we caught them doing flips in the air! (You can hear me saying "Got it!" and another person exclaiming similarly, as we had both been standing there quite a while waiting for them to do something other than eat fish.)

The big (guided) tour day

We spent (very nearly) 12 hours on a volcano tour today. Here is a picture of the exact moment when Laurel realized that Dave would likely never let her live down making him go on this tour:

It wasn't really that terrible, just a little long and heavy on the botany, bird-watching, and Hawaii geologic trivia. This did give Dave time to do some of his favorite things, including dozing, taking photos, and making jokes. Examples:

• In response to almost every question involving "How did X get to Hawaii originally?" "God's will!" (quietly, just to Laurel) (and by the way, this was never the "correct" answer)
• Tour guide points out a type of tree and calls it (in very precise Hawaiian pronounciation) an "ovaheya." Dave: "If that's an ovaheya, what's that ova there-ya?"
• Guide: "How are lava tubes made?" Dave: "When a Mommy and Daddy lava tube love each other very much ..."
• The group is told that Hawaiians would strip dead bodies of all meat and only bury the bones. Someone asks, "What did they do with the skin and muscle?" Dave: "You've heard of SPAM, right?"
• Lady on her own, trying to horn in on our tour guide's knowledge: "What's the name of that tree?" Dave: "Kevin."

The photos did come out really neat, although the comment from Mum will surely be, "Sure are a lot of pictures of rocks."

And here is a bonus movie:

Windmills (in motion) and ancient art (like stone)

Today, we saw windmills, actually moving this time:

Some scenery:

Some petroglyphs:

And some other cool things:

Just your standard ocean waves video

Donkey Balls -- the best treat in Kona, apparently

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Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

We rented a car today and circumnavigated the entire Big Island. We stopped in Kona, where the guidebook said the best treat in town was Donkey Balls, but we didn't read that until after we had taken this picture and left (they are just mac nuts covered in chocy). We also drove to the southernmost point in the US, called South Point (in the flickr pix, it's the place with the windmills and the ocean). The last stop was Hilo, for pancakes at Ken's ... yum.

Telescope trip topo

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Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

While on the way to Mauna Kea, I used the great little GPS that comes for free with Microsoft Streets and Trips 2007 (itself free, if you happen to work for the mapping group at Microsoft) to track our progress from the coast (left-hand side of map) to the summit of Mauna Kea (right-hand side).

Telescope day!

We spent the day (and most of the night) trekking to one of the few places in Hawaii where you need to wear an artic parka: The peak of Mauna Kea, home of several astronomical observatories. At 13,500 feet, the air is thin and the temp plunges! After a few minutes watching the sunset from the peak, we drove back down and got a guided stargazing tour.

Plenty of pix on Flickr and this short video from the mountain:

Upcoming activities

Tomorrow (Tuesday), we'll be going to Mauna Kea. This is a tour that picks us up from, oddly enough, a nearby Starbucks, and then we drive for a couple of hours away from the 80-degree weather and up to the point where we need parkas!

On Saturday, we're going on a tour to look at lava flows (don't worry, respective Mums!)

Sometime in-between, we're going to rent a car for a day and see the town of Kona. But otherwise, it's all relaxin' and maxin' for us!

Dolphin movie

Hawaii photos, updated regularly!

As we take photos during the trip, I'll be uploading them to this photoset on Flickr. So check that link daily, at least! (Or, you could just go to my Flickr homepage, which shows the most-recently-added photos first.)

The Birds

We're in Hawaii!

It "only" took 12 hours, door-to-door, but we're finally in Hawaii, chillin' at the resort and watching, yes, It's a Wonderful Life.

Cubism

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Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Another patent cube, this one for IM Presence on Mobile Devices ... note the 2004 date. This was an old patent they never sent me a cube for, and I finally got it today!

New Virtual Earth release!

The first full release of Virtual Earth that I've been involved with is now live on the net! Check out a great overview of the new features here.

So ... much ... pizza

So ... much ... pizza
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

This feast preceded our "holiday bowling party" today at work!

Just a general update

I finally got my Harley back -- after almost one month in the shop. They basically just dropped the ball completely on the bike's paperwork, and it got lost in the shuffle until I finally hounded a person directly about it. Well, the bad news is that they basically found nothing wrong with the bike, they just charged the battery and left it at that. I have a feeling the battery just isn't holding charge, as I keep it on a Battery Tender almost all the time, so I just took the bike home and ordered a new battery for it on the net.

I haven't had much time to ride the bike, though, since today I got up, didn't feel so good, and immediately decided to just go back to sleep, and slept till 4:30 p.m. At least now I'm well-rested.

I did get my new 10-megapixel camera ... it's a bit more bulky than I'd like but still pretty small, with a great viewfinder screen. Expect lots of Hawaii pix from it!

I also got a new 500-gb hard drive. Laurel and I both have one, so now we have a terrabyte of storage ... wow! I still remember reading programs off cassette tapes.

iCup

iCup
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

The iCup is here, at long last. ... I got a hot chocolate as my first cup, since I'd already had a coffee this morning. Actually, this is on the first floor of our building, but our floor's kitchen area is being worked on right now, and should be ready in time for my afternoon coffee! I think having two of them is smart, as there could be quite a queue for them. However, they were empty this morning as no one knew about them yet.

3 years, 5 more megapixels

My Sony DSC-T1 recently "died" (everything seems to work except that the images come out completely black, which seems like an indicator that at least one thing isn't working correctly). I happened to find its original box today, and it turns out I ordered it exactly 3 years ago -- as a Japanese import. It was hard to believe back then that you could get such a small 5-megapixel camera. I'm replacing it with a 10-megapixel camera, the Sony DSC-N2, which should arrive by Wednesday. Which means my "pocket" camera will have 4 more megapixels than my DSLR, but more important than megapixels are lenses and, unfortunately, photographic skill.

Aurora Laurelias

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Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

I've posted some pix of Laurel's new scooter -- including this one with the remote flash giving her a glowing backlight.

Dan's got gas!

Our friend Dan, who was able to fix the gas fireplace at our Thanksgiving getaway, sparing us all from freezing that weekend, offered to fix our gas fireplace, too (we have two; the downstairs one hasn't worked for a year). After looking at all of the connectors, Dan left without success -- or did he? About 30 minutes later, the fireplace started right up! Dan's just a natural with the natural gas, I guess!

Vespa for sale!

That didn't last long.