At Palmer Station....

Lat – 64’S 46.43
Long – 64’W 03.68

We’ve arrived at Palmer station – which means internet access and so I can post up some photos from the last few days! Think I’ve just about got the email blog posting all okay – will promise to write more when we get underway again.

Last few days have been pretty mundane, long transit this one and it’ll be good to get the science going in 2 days. Yesterday was a welcome change though – the day started at 6am when Polish scientists from Bellinghausen base came out to collect some boxes we’d carried over for them. All loaded smoothly onto their zodiac, though I was shocked at how much went in there!


Everything including the toilet (2 composting toilets in the card boxes) - the Polish picking up their gear...

Next we moved on to Copa field station – this is a US field station of just 6 people that is set up to monitor the penguin population and their associated predators (skuas etc). We had a bunch of supplies to drop off and as a welcome treat (and bonus for carrying gas tanks and boxes) we got to walk around the base and island for a couple of hours, look at the penguins and stretch legs, though the weather was a little damp, it was really nice to get out. More penguins than I’d seen last time, there were Gentoos and Chin straps, and lots of skuas flying overhead. Lots of babies too which were oh so cute!


Copa Field Station - never thought I would see a green lawn in the Antarctic but there we go.....

Feeling like kids on a field trip....Stian herding scientists off the Zodiacs to take our taste of the shore and penguins....

Gentoos (young and old) with the Gould in the background....


Feed me mamma......
Chin-strap penguins looking all dignified on the rocks.......they don't hang out with the likes of the Gentoos.......

Post-field-trip - Angelo demonstrating how we had to disinfect our boots after stepping on shore - to stop the spread of flora and fauna between islands..

Tonight we are at Palmer, then tomorrow we head out and are finally on our way to get the science started. Not sure what day of the week it is anymore, but we’ll be on station day after tomorrow at around 3pm…..

Cruise website...

The scientists from NCU are posting a website from the ship - here is the address

http://antarctica-ncsu.blogspot.com/

A post for Ellen B. at WHOI

Ellen you better be reading this.....:0)

Giellermot said to say hello - he lost your email address when he was moved to the Palmer, but is now back on the LMG - i'll give him your email address, but his regular LMG account will work.....

Peninsula tomorrow...

Lat - 60'S 41.71
Long - 60'W 38.61
Water Depth - 3647m

Tomorrow we'll be at the Western Antarctic Peninsula. We have some
supplies to drop off at Bellinghausen field camp and then at Copa
field camp and then we'll make our way down to Palmer Station, we
should get there day after tomorrow. The weather has been fantastic -
as flat calm as traversing the Pacific and the sun has been shining -
the Drake has luckily not held up to it's name - please please please
hold out for our next cruise in April!

All very mellow so far, just about have everything set up and ready
to go, have to sew some flags tonight to put on some instruments
we'll leave on the bottom for a year (the flags are on there so that
when we come back to get them we can see them on the sea surface),
maybe i'll start to make up my many noxious chemicals for the trip,
get that out of the way.....

Entering the Drake

Nice mellow day today - didn't get out of bed until 9.30am - woo hoo!
Meeting after meeting from there on though. First meeting of the day
was the fire and safety meeting - how to put your life jacket on,
where to meet if there is an emergency, who to go to if your toilet
overflows.....all those fun things. Second meeting was Stian's gig -
outside safety, when you can go outside etc., last meeting was then a
chemical safety meeting and lab use. The first day of a cruise is
always this way, and it doesn't matter how many times you go on
cruises, you still have to have these meetings everytime you sail.
Then a siesta, dinner and now i'm sat in the lounge writing emails
while some people are watching a terrible movie!

Tomorrow we'll have a couple of science meetings, set up equipment
and chemicals, and generally get organised. It's still 4 days from
Palmer Station though (our first port of call), so we're still 6 days
away from starting science - which really means time to get other
work done too (writing papers.....), so should probably get into that
rhythm sometime too............now it might be time for another
siesta......:0)

And we’re off…….

The truck has arrived early (or just a miscommunication as to when it would arrive……who knows…..), so tonight at midnight we are off. I’m rushing around so will keep this a short one – no matter how many “extra” days you get at port the last afternoon/evening is always a run-around……

Next post will be underway and hopefully in the Drake Passage…..

as per popular request, Stian working on the blocks this afternoon.....

Stian and my cabin, i've never stayed in a 'crew cabin' before, always a 'science cabin' - they are so much homier - carpet, TV, fridge, larger bathroom (one you can actually get changed in!) even a computer in there. Nice.


One of the labs today (see as compared to yesterday!).

Ug.....

And there is me trying to be helpful........while Stian was out lugging science gear around and generally working his ass off as he always does, what do I do but decide to do our collective washing........so now I owe him a new iPod nanno (I forgot to check pockets...)........what a day.......

Stian ever the optimist though, looked at me as I was in tears telling him what I did, and he just laughed, gave me a big hug and a kiss and said "yes! Now I get to get a new nanno with the video screen on it....". Thats my techno boy...:0) And he managed to salvage the earphones...

In Puntarenas

After three days of traveling finally arrived in Punta Arenas without any trouble (if somewhat tired and travel weary) on Monday, met up with a work weary Stian, good to see him again. The last few days have been spent loading and unloading, unpacking boxes and repacking in shelves and cupboards. Chasing chemicals and equipment yet to arrive, running around and a lot of standing around today waiting for other people to move their stuff so you can get to yours.

No one is in so much of a hurry anymore either, which seems to lead to more waiting around - we’re now delayed headed out until Friday evening at the earliest it sounds like – some of the crucial equipment has yet to arrive and is (hopefully) at the moment on a truck coming down from Santiago – a long drive that involves going into Argentina and back into Chile, as there is no road through the Patagonian fjords. Not that I am really complaining (except that I would really like this cruise to start!), as over half of my chemicals have also not arrived, so it gives an extra few days for them to get here – as those are not critical enough to hold the ship up for (well, not critical enough to the chief scientists – for me, they are pretty critical, one whole slab of my work would be cut out of this cruise without them)........so lets all pray to American Airlines to let them on the flight tonight......

Today we did move out of the hotels and onto the ship, so at least we don’t have far to go to go to work, so that makes a good extra hour of a lie-in in the morning!

Hope you all are well out there, I’ll try and make another post on here with photos before I head out.
The Lawrence M. Gould at the dock.


The Goulds butt....

A cruise ship the Marco Polo was pulled up opposite us today too, so we looked like a midget for the day.....



And this will eventually be where I will be set up in the lab.....or maybe.....they keep changing their minds as to where they really want me.......doesn't make it easy to unpack!

Dallas....

...and now in Dallas.......yet still less than 1/2 way to Punta Arenas, Chile......

On my way....

At Honolulu airport about to get on the plane........woo hoo!

Where are we going??

So here is a map of the Western Antarctic Peninsula - where I (and Stian) am headed on the 14th Feb - 17th March. I've posted this map small at the top of the blog as i'll be emailing posts from the ship with our coordinates on it so you can see where we are - but it's a little small, so here is the map larger too. Stian is already on his way to Chile, I'll be headed down tomorrow evening - takes 3 days from Hawaii to get to Punta Arenas - ouch!

Ah...

To post pictures via email, you have to compose the email in HTML -
which I will not be able to do from the boat...:0(

No photos...

Well folks, it doesn't look like photos are going to work by
emailing. Bummer as they are supposed to, and it would be cool to
post some Antarctic photos directly from the ship rather than having
to catch up later, but alas. I've tried minimising to beyond small
and they won't come through. I also have an email into the "help" so
maybe something will come up....

Testing Testing

Todays moan and groan will be posted by email (hopefully), to test
this out before i head to sea on saturday. The theory is I can keep
this blog updated while down in the Antarctic by sending posts by
email (as we don't have internet access). I'll put a picture on the
end of here too, just to see if that works.

Today (and it is only 10.30am) has been a typical "Hawaii" day. A few
days ago I went to the local post office just down the road from my
house, a parcel I sent to my older brother in the UK for Christmas
never got there, so I wanted to register it as missing and get the
insurance claim underway. This post office is just a small one, so I
couldn't do it there and they told me to go to the Ala Moana post
office. Although Ala Moana is less than 3 miles away, it still takes
30 minutes to get there, and in after work traffic, considerably
longer. So I decided to go there this morning first thing. I get
there and the guy behind the counter says "Oh no, we can't do that
here, you just have to call this number and register it as
missing".......now why couldn't they have told me that at my local!

I then went to the AT&T store to get my phone signed up to work while
i'm in Chile (for emergencies). The girl behind the counter asked me
where I was going, I said Chile, she then asked "so where in Africa
is that?". Nice.

Parking also drove me crazy, the multistory lot was again full (at
9.45am!!!), so it took me a good 40 minutes of driving around to find
a space. Needless to say i'm now at work and steaming. Need to go and
get a coffee, that might bring me down a little.....

So here is a picture (I hope) of me and Kate....I miss you Kate!

Recycle those crocs.....

http://www.solesunited.com/index.html

Shrove Tuesday

The remains of Liz (friend from when we did our PhDs together and now she is a Pdoc here!) and my "Pancake Day" feast. A UK tradition, somewhere along the line it came from religion (beginning of Lent - Shrove Tuesday), but I like to have an entirely non-religious pig out - Pancakes (crepes), lemon, sugar and a nice G&T.........ahhhhhhhh........

Now i'm lying in bed stuffed, updating this blog and swatting mosquitoes away......the wet weather has brought them out in force, we're on "flood watch" by the way........flood watch in Hawaii.......thought i'd moved on from that when I left the England...........

Dr Waller

Back at work today, back to the grind, back to not being paid properly, not being able to print anything, not having a phone.........just continues.....oh well.....

I went to the stockroom today to pick up some supplies before I head to sea this weekend, first time I had been there so had to set up an account. After the third time of me being asked who my professor was and me saying "me" they finally got it and let me order things. Sometimes looking young really irritates me, yes I know it shouldn't, but being carded the whole time and no-one believing you're really faculty until you shove it down their throats really starts to piss you off...... 

It did feel good after that point though having the three ladies follow me around saying "Dr Waller, do you need another box?", "Dr Waller, can I help you find something?","What else do you need Dr Waller?".........I usually hate the Dr Waller thing, but after that, it did feel good.......:0)

Silly Eggs

This post is for Lala. For lunch today I had "silly eggs and toast" (aka poached eggs) and it made me think of the egg loving Lala....:0)


Today has been mellow, full of little achievements though - I got my number plates for Beach Belle, groceries for this week, a step stool so I can reach the kitchen cupboards, unpacked, did my laundry, watched the Patriots loose the SuperBowl :0(, vacuumed, cleaned, sorted through three unsorted boxes, and updated my blog...:0) I also had to run the air conditioning today - not because it's too hot, but because it's so wet! It's apparently been raining heavily since I left (and still is now) and Grodnick is really damp. The air conditioning really helped to dry it up in here though, as well as washing and drying sheets and blankets. Makes me worry a little about leaving for a month next weekend though........am i going to come home to a house of mold.........

The Grand Canyon

Back from a camping trip to the Grand Canyon with Stian and Lily. Was alot of fun, and the canyon is totally spectacular (well, who didn't know that!). Last Monday we hiked down the Kiabab Trail to the Bright Angel Campground - right at the bottom, by the Colorado River and Phantom Ranch. Tuesday we did a day hike along the Clear Creek Trail - unfortunately not making it to the waterfall at the end.....if there is indeed a waterfall, which with how dry it all was is a little dubious. Weds we had a lazy day around the campground and Phantom Ranch - slept in, wrote postcards to be delivered by mule (you post them at the bottom and they are carried by mule to the top and posted), played Uno and Balderdash and generally relaxed. Thursday we headed all the way out (the original plan was to stay at Indian Campground ~1/3 of the way up, but the pull of hamburgers and a shower were too great) up the Bright Angel Trail.

Amazingly, though the day before was a snow/rain storm and we set out on Monday in drizzle, the weather was on our side, we had some spectacular views all time and never once got soaked. It was cold now (ice on top of the tent in the mornings), but really not too cold which was great. To be honest, I couldn't imagine hiking the canyon in mid summer 105F heat with tons of tourists around - I guess my theme of visiting National Parks in the winter is still holding true!

Friday we then had a "fat tourista" day and did the car sights around the South Rim (pulling up in the car, winding down the windows, taking photos, pointing at how beautiful it is, then driving off), stopping in the gift shops and generally having fun. We then headed back to Flagstaff, walked the Art Walk in the evening, and went to bed early for an early start (for Stian and I anyway) for the airport in the AM. Thanks to Lily for being our tour guide!

I'll let the pics tell the story.....

Any feature of this size, the pictures are never going to do justice to, but here it is - the Grand Canyon. Right at the bottom you can see the Colorado River, and thats where we headed.

Headed down the Kaibab Trail, an overcast day, but at least it didn't pour on us!

At the bottom - the Colorado River - and you can just make out on the left the roofs of buildings that are part of Phantom Ranch and the Bright Angel Campground. The Campground and ranch itself and further into a tributary on the left.

A mule team coming into Phantom Ranch......mules, not donkeys....:0)

My cutie all tucked up in the tent on our lazy day.

Lily and Stian standing on one of the bridges over the Colorado River.

On the way up....at the bottom of the Bright Angel Trail it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt to hike......

.......at the top there was snow!

The Daily Mammal

This is a cute blog, just featured on blogspot. Another thing that has made me smile this evening!

http://dailymammal.blogspot.com/

So this hawaiian translation made me laugh, which in itself is a miracle today. Long day, long story, been on the phone twice with Stian tonight sounding like moaning mertlye so not going to repeat it here.....lets just say it's 7.30pm and i'm in bed....

"He lumi maika'i keia e ku pololei ana i ke kanaka peke"
This is a wonderful room for a dwarf

From the "Slightly Bent Hawaiian Phrases" website

Tomorrow I am off to see Stian and go camping in the Grand Canyon (can we all say brrrrrr). An unexpected trip, but if I don't get out of here I feel like my head is going to explode, so it was nice of Stian to let me tag along...........

Minus the boxes

Well, okay, so it isn't sunday anymore......but I am finally, mostly, unpacked.....or at least as much as i'm going to before heading out this weekend to see Stian and the Grand Canyon.....:0) Today I came home early as a new fridge/freezer was being delivered, so thought it a good time to update the blog. I have to say i'm totally amazed - my apartment has 34 steps leading up to it - steep steps at that - these two large Hawaiian guys just zipped down the stairs with the old fridge, zipped back up with the new one, and even took their shoes off at the door! Amazing, esp since I thought efficiency didn't exist here....I eat my hat!

Here is my new fridge in place, plugged in and even cleaned!







The "Watling Complex". To the right is the A-Frame - Paul and Kristen live in there, on the left - lower is Grodnick (me) and upper is Les, Alison and Jenna. Pretty nice huh, even in the rain...:0)

Closer shot of Grodnick. I basically live under the upper deck, but still have lots of sunlight (windows on 3 sides) and I get the great views of Manoa Valley.

My front deck with my cute little swing-seat. Yes, I need a shoe rack.....

Shoebox!

Well, I'm in! Jenny helped me move all my junk today, went surprisingly fast, so have spent most of the afternoon and evening unpacking. I'm pooped, so this is mainly a picture post. Hopefully some "unpacked" pictures tomorrow....

My shoebox! This is standing right up against the corner. You can see off to the right is the separate kitchen.

Inside the galley kitchen - for storage space it's actually larger than my kitchen in Falmouth! I'm at the very end, to my left is a fridge.....still no dishwasher....one day!

The back deck - I need to take a photo of the front deck but it's covered in boxes right now. There is a really cute swing seat out front. Here in the back there is room for a small table and two chairs, so i'm on a mission to find some, as the view (below) is fabulous....

What I will be waking up to each morning, pretty sweet.

It's friday.....

Ahhhhhhhhhh is all I can say. I've been here nearly three weeks, can hardly believe it. Today I got an account number for my start-up money - woo hoo! Now I can start to get all those things like an IP address, a photocopy number, a telephone........that is I can on tuesday, as i didn't have the number until all the secretaries had gone home and monday is a holiday........:0)

A comment from Dave on my previous post got me thinking. He asked me to show some pix of my science on here. Science. Of course! That is why I am here. So i've just looked through a bunch of pictures that reminded me why I love doing what I do. And that all the cr*p i've been through this week is worth it, because it means I get to keep doing what I love to do.......you probably didn't know you did it, but thanks for reminding me of that Dave! So here are a few pix from the deep - I don't have many here with me tonight, but i'll put a few more up in the coming weeks. Here is also a link to my podcast (scroll to Deep-Sea Corals), which has lots of cool pictures and video in..........but your not allowed to laugh.....esp at my mixed up UK-USA hybrid accent.....





I love this photo - it's a deepsea jellyfish that happened to get caught up on the lens of a camera we were dropping to the bottom - Deepstaria enigmatica

It's a deep-sea coral (~1000m) and it's purple.....we were meant for each other!

Today I also got a letter from Callie - thank you! So I thought I would post a picture of Calyfield - this is a hydrothermal vent on the Galapagos Rift, in 1679m of water, that I helped discover in 2002 on a cruise that took place just a few days after Callie was born. This is a picture taken out the window of DSV Alvin by either me, Tim (my pdoc advisor) or Phil the pilot. Pretty cool huh.

***If you wish to use these pictures for anything, please contact me and i'd be happy to help you***

Ug....

....trapped a nerve in my neck again.....this time reaching to grab something off my desk...........just in time to move house in 2 days........ug ug and double ug

Swim and a Mai Tai

After work today I went for a swim at Waikiki and then a mai tai and dinner at Dukes on the strip with Liz and Chris. Was nice to get out, remind myself why people keep telling me i'm lucky to be in Hawaii. It was beautiful, and even relaxing, i've been such a miserable cow all week, just seemed to wake up Saturday morning in a bad mood and let it continue. Tonight it had a brief respite which was nice, and I think I am feeling a little more up than the weekend. I now have a desk, I have a chair, I have a monitor (found my one from my "home" boxes), I have filing inserts (still haven't filed anything), I have $6K of startup promised (not received) - still no phone, grants, account numbers, full pay, pay direct to my bank, IP address or credit card - but the desk and chair are nice.....Three more days and i'll move into the shoebox.

Interesting fact : - The Mai Tai is a well-known alcoholic cocktail purportedly invented at the Trader Vic's "Polynesian-style" restaurant in Oakland, California in 1944

Kulia i ka nu'u

"Strive for the summit"
This was the motto of Hawaii's Queen Kapi'olani

Ahhhhhhh......

Traffic is driving me crazy!

Monday the students came back, I helped Jenny take Goofy pup to the vet at 8.30am, we were back by 9.30am and headed straight to work. There were no parking spaces on campus. I had to street park in an area where I had to move my car at 2.30pm. Ug.

Today I got into work quickly, was at the campus at 8.15am, BUT it took me 30 minutes to find a parking space in the multistory lot.....

Never again will I complain at having to drive around for 5 minutes to find a space in Woods Hole....

Crazy cat lady....

It's been a weird weekend, been grumpy most of the time with little reason. In many ways I think i'm still feeling displaced, not quite settled as yet - next weekend I move into my shoebox, and am really looking forward to having my own space again - it seems like forever since i've really had somewhere to unpack to and space of my own to do only what I want in. Jenny and Doug have been fabulous, as was Nicola and family last month, but it's been such a long time since i've lived with anyone that i'm just so looking forward to having my own space again. Feeling pathetic, like i'm turning into the crazy cat lady, only without cats. And i've been missing Riley pup so much this last few days.

Today was even busy too, went out to the North Shore with Les and Anne (one of his graduate students from Maine), will post some pics tomorrow when I download. Was fun, I just wasn't totally in the mood I, need to figure out how to relax my brain more I think. We even had giant shave ice, which was so tasty - sugar and ice, how can you go wrong?

Les, Anne and I on the beach....shortly before getting covered with a wave










Anne and I, with our giant shave-ices












Waves never look as big in photos as they really are. These are 20ft plus - all beaches closed. Pretty awesome, even covered my new car in sea-spray!

Orientised.....

Today I went to "New Faculty Orientation"....and was fully orientised......was actually pretty good - I picked up two major things that struck a chord -

"It doesn't matter what position you have, it doesn't matter where you are, only your attitude to the task matters" - Hamilton - School of Arts and Art History

"If anyone asks you to be the chair of a committee as a new faculty member, it's insane" - Robinoe - Zoology Department

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep and cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

- W H Davis 1871 - 1940

Hawaii Time

I was told by many before i got here that I would soon come to recognise the term "Hawaii Time", and indeed it now makes perfect sense. Many things here move much slower than the mainland, everyone takes things at a gentler pace. This sounds like a good thing, until you try and work here. Most people who stay have found their own way of working around Hawaii Time without it driving them nuts, many people never find a way to deal with it and leave. I've had my own dose of Hawaii Time here at the university, but i'm still laughing about it and it isn't driving my completely insane yet, so maybe i'll make it. Here is my list from my arrival here at UH - more for me than anyone else, just as a reminder -

- No chair at my desk (ended up buying one yesterday)
- Desk nice, but drawers rusted shut
- Sharing an office but only one phone
- And that phone is on the other side of the office from both of us
- Have a filing cabinet, but no inserts to be able to put files in it
- Three grants transfered from WHOI in November gone missing
- One grant paperwork found tucked in the secretaries drawer without being submitted
- Other two never found - restarted all the paperwork
- Can't print grant paperwork as I don't have an IP address
- Can't get an IP address without a grant to charge to
- 6K of startup promised turned into 3K (better turn back soon)
- Can't get to startup account because fiscal office is closed because the building has no power
- As grants not here only getting 75% of salary not 100%
- Can't backdate pay to recoup what i've lost
- Can't get a monitor for my computer as I don't have a grant number
- Tried to get a UH credit card, but fiscal office shut
- Particular fiscal officer to sign credit card is also on holiday until Feb
- Can't get another phone put in without a grant
- Found another desk in the campus warehouse - woo hoo!
- Desk will be delivered anywhere in 2wks to 2 months

Felt very circular yesterday, maybe today will straighten out. I'll probably keep adding to this list i'm sure.

To do list......

35 items.........how does it build so fast!

Quote

"There are some things women don't do. They don't become Pope or President or go down to the Antarctic"

Harry Darlington
Chief pilot on Finn Ronnes 1946-48 Antarctic Research Expedition

All coming together.....

Well, I have to say, today is really the first truly, overarchingly, relaxing day i've had since I arrived here. Yesterday I spent 5 (yes five) hours at a car dealer and have come away with my first ever new car (gulp, gasp, NEW, I feel like a grown-up....I also feel like i'm going to be paying for it for the rest of my life...), and today the morning started with confirmation I will now be living in a basement studio (aka Grodnick) belonging to friends Les and Alison. It's a shoebox, but one with at least a separate kitchen to cook in, is bright and airy, and is in a great QUIET part of the city (no traffic noise, V. close to UH too), so that has made me very happy and much more relaxed about being here. I move in on the 20th.

So in 6 days, I have:-

- Gone kayaking on New Years day
- Started a new job.......my first 'real' job
- Set up my new office
- Unpacked 1/3 of the boxes I shipped out here
- Investigated and signed up to use the histology lab, TEM and SEM facilties
- Unpacked all my samples
- Got a car (a new car.......gulp)
- Named the car "Beach Belle" (to those who remember my Isuzu 'Belle Star' you will know why)
- Put a roof rack on the car
- Found a place to live

Not bad for 6 days if you ask me. It might well be time right now to head to the beach. That is if I can pluck up the energy and peel myself off the couch.....










The Beach Belle. A 2008 Mazda 3. Showing off her new roof racks in the last photo. Still in disbelief I actually ended up with a new car.....but I have to say, I LOVE it.......

It's official....

woo hoo! Love how they chose the picture of me with my eyes closed.......

Bark Bark

I've substituted playing with children to playing with puppies - Jenny and Dougs cute doggies Barkeley and Goofy. They always say never work with children or animals.....how do I get a job playing with both???




Barkeley, the leader of the pack...










And Goofy, the very new addition from the puppy pound. A seven year old lab mix, Goofy was in the pound for a year and is a skin-and-bones nervous wreck right now. At somepoint his jaw has been broken so he has an eye tooth sticking out the right side of his mouth. He's totally afraid of everything, every little bump and bang, every person who walks in, every noise in the street sends him cowering in the corner and pacing. He'll get better, and already is getting there, but I ask anyone out there, how can you treat any defenseless animal like that?? Especially one as cute as Goofy. Nothing upsets me more.

Paradise?

So i've been here four days now, and I have to say am feeling overwhelmed and a little depressed. I'm trying to kick myself out of it, as how can you be depressed in Hawaii for f**ks sake? A combination of looking at poky little run-down apartments going for $1500 a month, getting lost numerous times around the city in my rental car and feeling like i'm never going to be able to navigate around here, the weather is mostly just grey and pouring with rain (I even got cold last night), a small insignificant bag of basic (nothing fancy) groceries cost me over $100, and just the constant traffic noise no matter where you are.

I know that looking for somewhere to live is always depressing, as you see twenty terribles then one good. And the prices are actually not far off Cape prices, but the space that you get for it is so much smaller, far worse condition, and nothing I looked at yesterday even had a square foot of space to garden in (alas my plans for a square foot garden might be going down the toilet).

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone - I hope it brings everything you wish for, and is even better than the last.

I'm on the road again but have reached my final destination - well for now anyway! I got into Honolulu yesterday at midday, poor Stian driving me to Oakland airport at 6am! I was greeted on the other side by a smiling Jenny and Doug and a beautiful Lei which just smelled wonderful (and still does). We went out to "Dukes" for lunch, came home, took a short nap then headed to a New Years party. I lasted until 9pm, when Jenny very kindly took me home, was in bed by 10 and asleep by 10.30pm. Well, at least I made it to San Francisco's New Year!

Today has been a lazy and wonderful day, took the kayak out and got it wet at the beach, with a very green looking Diamondhead volcano providing the immediate scenery. Caught a few small waves (I have to relearn kayak surfing!), then headed to a mexican for some lunch. I'm now about to take a shower and a nap and continue with the lazy New Years day theme!

Hope you all had a good one, hugs.





My wonderful smelling Lei from Jenny and Doug, what a good start to my new life!












And an even better start to the New Year!