Volcano National Park

The trip to Volcano National Park! In pictures, as they speak more than words!

We stayed in the Camper Cabins inside the park itself. These were great! A double bed and a bunk bed, outside a table and a grill, shared bathroom (for the 12 cabins) with hot water showers! The cabins were $55 a night and came with all linens and blanket. We were lucky it wasn't cold at all when we were there, but we did bring extra blankets as they suggested. They were right in a stand of Eucalyptus trees, so smelled wonderful when the breeze was blowing!

The first day we arrived we just drove to the park, checked out the visitor center, checked into the cabins and then did a drive around to the Jagger Museum, which is a far as the road that usually circles Kilauea goes right now, as the volcano has been very active since March 2008. The above photo is from an area called Steam Vents - water dripping onto the hot rocks below comes out as steam.

The summit of Kilauea volcano - the caldera in the center is called Halemaumau, where the volcanic gas has been coming out since last year.

The gas coming out has Sulphur dioxide in it, so much of the park is closed right now to keep people out of the gas. We were lucky that we had such clear days and the wind took the gas away to the other side of the park (the part that is closed).

A first night G&T with dad at the Volcano House....:0)

The second day we continued our drive around. This is a Tree Mold - where the lava solidifies around a tree (which is wet so cools the lava) and then the tree burns away, leaving these holes in the ground. They looked almost man made!

I like finding these - a USGS marker. This was near the top of Kilauea.

At the end of the Chain of Craters road you could walk across a road that was covered by lava in 2001. Some of the signs were still there....:0)

A short hike to these ancient Hawaiian Petroglyphs. I really enjoyed seeing these, and the 4 mile round trip hike.

That evening we went on a short 2 mile hike to some Sulphur Vents - where sulphur gas is coming up slowly from the active volcano. Though the gas is coming out really slowly, they form these yellow crystals and the whole area was just covered in tens of yellow vents.

The third day - an early morning to go out on a boat to see the lava pouring into the ocean. We started at 3am! There are some pictures I posted previously, so won't repeat, but this shot from the way back gives you an overview of the lava flow. That was a really amazing trip. The rest of the day we drove up to Mauna Kea outside the park and explored a little of Hilo by car.

The last morning we also started out early to visit the Thurston Lava Tube before the crowds arrived. We got in there before everyone and were the only ones, which was nice so we took our time and explored.

We then decided to do the Kilauea Iki trail (a small caldera to the side of Kilauea), which took us down inside a crater and back up the other side - a 4 mile circle. This photo is inside the caldera after the initial down. The floor of the crater was a lava field, it was amazing to see it up close.

On the crater floor there were a number of hot vents too, showing it is still active below our feet.

Looking back over the trail we just came, ready for the last stint back up the walls. It was a nice hike, took about 2.5hrs and we stopped and looked and photographed a lot too, so it was relaxed. After this we ate and headed out of the park. I got on a plane back to Oahu and Dad and Sanchia kept on going around the Big Island and then Maui. They come back tomorrow and we have a few days together again before they head out on friday.

Plants of Volcano National Park

There were some beautiful plants in the park, here are just a few.

This one was actually from Mauna Kea and is for Ann V. Silverswords.

I'm not sure what this little flower is, but it was so beautiful to me. Just small little clumps with ~10 of these pink "bulbs" on them. Anyone know what these are?

The difference between the lava and the rainforest was both striking and beautiful. These are the leaves of Tree Ferns, one of the oldest living species, around in the time of the dinosaurs.

The flower of the Ohi'a tree, called a Lehue. This flower is the official flower of the Big Island of Hawaii and they can start growing on a new lava flow within 100 years - hardy!

Weekend yet?

What a week - I would say definitely time for the weekend, but this weekend, i'm up before 6am on both Saturday and Sunday! Tomorrow Jenna has a practice SAT starting at 7.30am, so i'll take her there and then head into work to continue either moving or writing lectures. As much as I feel i'm dying for a lie in, it'll be good to get a head start on the day. Around lunchtime i'm then helping out at the SOEST Open House. Today we had 4000 kids come around - ish! It was fun though, lots going on, and it's good to pass on what we do to the public.

Sunday I am running in the Komen Race for the Cure with Jenny, and potentially Hannah in the stroller, but Jenny hasn't decided as yet. I had little Hannah for half an hour today while Jenny helped with the "Earthquake" simulator. She yelled for about half of that, poor thing has two teeth pushing through.

The other exciting thing of today is that I got locked out of my office - amazingly I didn't lock my keys inside (a common issue with me and keys), but the lock actually broke. The maintenance guy climbed through the roof to let me in, and then they came and repaired the lock for me. The move is exactly where it was a few days ago - half there. I'm actually using my new office, and all the big stuff is in, but all my books and papers etc. are not. Maybe i'll get to it this weekend. I have 4 of my 13 lectures written, which is good. I've done all the hard ones, now on to Deep Sea Biology, Coral Reefs and Invertebrate Zoology - all subjects I'm familiar with and enjoy, so i'm hoping those will go quicker.

Hope you all have a good weekend - big hugs to the Kings in particular, hope your weekend is restful and enjoyable.

My old office - knowing I was moving I didn't tidy for a while.....

My new office, a real office rather than a cubby, and even a window!

And, because it was there, the awesome sunset tonight!

I'm moving office....

An excuse to start a post is not my favorite way to go, but I am - I am moving offices, so it's likely to be a few days before the sum up of my trip to the Big Island. This week has been more than a little crazy. Things have come back to bite me from a few weeks ago, i'm desperately trying to get ahead on writing these undergrad lectures (two (of the hard ones) totally down out of 13...), I am looking after my friends/landlords daughter Thurs - Mon (she's 15, so pretty independent, but needs driving to school, cooking for etc.) and now, i'm supposed to be moving offices.

The word came this morning, the previous occupants got their orders and were out of the office by 10am. I, however, am somewhat less organized. I swept up and moved a shelf around, but other than that haven't moved a single item. Ug. Tomorrow I have some extra hands to help out at 10am, which means I need to organize enough early tomorrow morning so they can help move the big stuff out for me.

So my apologies, it might be the weekend before I get the rest of the photos up or really talk about the trip, but that just means I get to look over all those photos again and remember the trip...:0)

Lava

So many different kinds....

Shiny lava

Orange and red drippy lava

Stretched lava

Old and young lava

Lava that looks like a ducks head

Naughty lava

Ropey and smooth lava

Tricolour lava

Very naughty lava

Molten lava

Pahoehoe lava

And my favorite. Purple bubbly lava.

Teaser...

Back from Volcano National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii and all I can say is WOW! It's too late tonight to play with photos too much, but thought I would give you these two "tasters" from the trip - lava entering the ocean at Waikupanaha, from the Pu'u O'o crater of Kilauea volcano, more tomorrow -

Lava has been flowing from the Pu'u O'o (Hawaiian - High Point on the Sky) crater of Kilauea volcano since 1983. Kilauea is the most active volcano in the world, and one of two active volcanos within Volcano National Park. We went out on a boat trip early one morning to watch the lava flow into the ocean, it was awesome.

Molten lava at over 2000F flowing into 70F seawater. Streams of glowing lava peeked through the clouds of steam.

Off to see the LAVA!

Tomorrow i'm off to Volcano National Park on the Big Island for a long weekend with Dad and Sanchia - I can't wait!

It's a little bittersweeet, as I am so behind with work after last week, and I hoped to be much further forward with my undergrad lectures, but this has been planned for a while now, so i'm determined to put it behind me for the weekend, enjoy it and come back refreshed and ready to put in some long days and nights to get it done when I get back. There are still a lot of things going on at work that are unresolved, so i'm also feeling unsettled because of that too. One good thing did happen today, I finally got a check from my insurance company for Canada, not as much as I was hoping, but I guess it is what it is, going to the emergency room is just expensive, period. But it's something and it came faster than I thought it would, and right before this trip, so thats good....:0)

So tomorrow - the Big Island - my first trip there too! We're staying at some cabins inside the park, sounds pretty sweet! I'm just about packed and i'm so ready for bed - hope everyone has a good weekend, get ready for some LAVA photos on Monday!

Some photos from yesterday -

I met up with Dad and Sanchia for lunch (and a Mai Tai!) and we decided to drive over to Haleiwa. We grabbed a shave ice from Matsumotos on the way over and went to one of my favorite places on the island - Haleiwa Beach Park. This beach has never failed me yet for turtles, and yesterday was the most ever - six lying on the beach and dozens out in the shallows. Can you spot two in this photo?

They are just gorgeous. And have I mentioned recently I love my camera? The zoom is fantastic for photographing these guys without getting too close.

A large hibiscus tree in the park. I just love hibiscus.

Monday

Why is it if something is going to go bad, it always HAS to happen on a Monday? What is it about Mondays? Today at work just sucked. Politics, and it turns out I might have spoken too soon with the work visa situation. As it's totally unresolved i'm not going to go into details right now - i'm okay, just maybe not as okay as I thought I was, and feeling somewhat screwed over - watch this space.

This evening was nice though, I bugged out of work at 3.30pm and went down into Waikiki to meet Dad and Sanchia. Picked them up from their hotel and headed into "the strip". Walked around, introduced them to Dukes, and then we headed up to Diamondhead Road to watch the surfers as the sunset. Then on to the Kona Brew pub for some dinner. Yum, and an extremely full belly! Now its only 9pm and i'm totally wiped out, didn't sleep well last night (HOT and sticky right now), so i'm hoping i'll just crash tonight.

Having a Mai Tai at Dukes. Don't even ask what dad was doing with the straw....

Watching the surfers at Diamondhead.

Two mongoose came out to entertain us.

Torches at the Kona brew pub. I love taking photos of these torches, occasionally you just get a really good shot. To qualify, I don't think this is a "really" good one, but it signifies a relaxing meal.

A week in the Life - Saturday - last day!

Well, the last day of one full week. It's been a weird week, so not as helpful to me as I hoped, but still interesting to try and think back each night on what went on in the day. Not a productive week, hectic as usual but just in a totally different way.

Morning - woke up at 6.30am, so desperately wanted to go back to sleep but wouldn't happen, made a cup of tea and took it back to bed. Answered a couple of work emails, emailed with my friend Laura for a while, checked up on blogs and facebook. Got out of bed at 9.30am, breakfast of two english muffins with jam, orange and pineapple juice. Put dog cookie dough into the breadmaker to knead, went to the post office then went and vacuumed and powerwashed my car, it had been a while...:0) Came back, rolled, cut out and baked the dog cookies. Lunch of a tropical smoothie and some carrots with goats cheese.

Afternoon - Sanded the bottoms of some pottery, vacuumed. Left the cookies to cool and headed into work. Literally just sat down at my computer when Jenny called - her car had broken down, and though her husband rescued her and Hannah and brought them home, they needed to go and jump start the car and Hannah had fallen asleep. So went and sat with Hannah the doggies while they went, she woke up literally 5 mins after they left, but that was okay, we got some snuggle and play time. Luckily the jump start worked! I headed back, but decided to head home rather than work, did a bit on my lectures, but mainly doodled on the internet and Amazon ordered some books (work related mainly). Ate an ice-cream bar and a popsicle, hot and sweaty day, and the more I stay at home the more random food I eat, not because i'm hungry, just because I am there. Sigh.

Evening - Headed back over to Jenny and Dougs, picked up a pizza on the way over that we shared over a few beers. Caught up which was nice. Talked about my upcoming Big Island trip (with my dad and his wife), Jenny has been there a lot, so it was great to get her opinions. Came home, watched a little trash TV, did the washing up, cleaned up my eye (looking oh so much better, but still too icky to go for a run, which sucks more than I ever thought it would) and am now in bed and am going to watch a little netflix (Grey's Anatomy) before dropping off . It's pouring out there, so cool tonight, maybe i'll sleep better.

Breadmaker dog cookie recipe

Today I thought I would bake some dog cookies for my pals Barkley and Goofey and was pulling out ingredients. I don't have a mixer and suddenly a lightbulb went off - why don't I get my breadmaker to do the hard work! I've never tried making dog cookies with yeast in them either, so did an internet search and came up with a recipe, which I heavily adjusted to make the below. I've learnt over the years not to be scared adjusting recipes for dog cookies (using dog-safe and healthy ingredients - low fat and no salt being the big ones) and when on the Cape used to save leftovers (meat juice, meat scraps, even veggies) to bake in cookies for Riley boy. Though todays didn't use any leftovers, it would be super simple to do.

To the breadmaker add -

- 2 cups warm chicken broth

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 2 cups whole wheat flour

- 1 cup bread flour

- 1/2 cup cornmeal

- 2 tablespoons minced garlic (dry)

- 1 teaspoon dried parsley

- 1 teaspoon yeast

Put the breadmaker on the dough setting and let it do its thing. Once done, roll out (add flour if a little sticky) and cut into shapes on a baking sheet - I personally like bones, but I don't think the dogs mind.

Bake for 45mins at 325F. Brush with egg or milk glaze and return to the oven for 30 minutes or until golden. Turn the oven off, crack open the door and leave the cookies to cool in the oven.

Once done, put in an airtight container and use liberally!

A week in the Life - FRIDAY!

Friday friday, and boy was I ready for it to be friday! What a week!

Morning - woke up at 6.30am (I never set an alarm, I always wake up early so don't need to), made my cup of tea and wrote a long thought out work email. I hate getting emails I need to think about in the AM, but it does get it done before I go to work, so I guess it's good in that way. As a consequence was late getting a shower and breakfast (kashi cereal from costco!) and didn't finish my tea, so put it in a thermal cup and took it to work with me. Got to work at 8.45am, caught up on some other email bits and pieces and then interviewed an undergrad at 9.30am. She was nice, an older student. She applied after i'd already hired this other girl, but had a good resume, so thought I would interview her to know for later (i'm hoping to employ a second undergrad after xmas). Showed her around the lab. 10.30am and had a visa meeting, took over an hour but we figured it out - I now have a job until July 2011! I'll still be applying for more permanent positions, but it does take the pressure off. Doodled on facebook and blogs for a bit. Met Jenny and baby Hannah for a Jamba Juice lunch - I need to go back to packed lunches next week, but am trying not to be too hard on myself about the 3 Jamba's i've had this week, at least they're packed with vitamins which my immune system desperately needs right now.

Afternoon - Finished up a job application to Maine and sent that away. Was on a roll so also wrote, finished and sent an application to San Diego too. Have a couple more on my pile to apply for, but ran out of steam on those at that point. The AC is out at work, it was 85F in my office. Ish. The secretary came around and was taking orders for fans, not a good sign. I'm just glad it's not in my lab - my freezer doesn't take well to heat, not to mention you wouldn't be able to thin slice wax in 85F, it would melt! Helped a colleague find some maps and talked over some antarctic results i've had recently. Looked in on my undergrad assistant (have I mentioned how awesome she is recently?). Got a phone call from the "ass scientist" (as I am now calling him), we chatted for a while, basically he wanted to see if I was going to rat him out to the funding agencies for him being an unethical ass. I'm probably not, but I deferred saying I was just busy and couldn't deal with it right then. Needed a chocolate bar after that. Luckily I had one in my desk. Unfortunately I had two in my desk and ate two. Then went to a TA meeting for the undergrad course I am teaching in Nov/Dec - I hadn't met some of the TAs on the course so that was good. Then came back to my office, worked on my lectures for two hours and set off home at 5.45pm. Got in, threw a load of laundry on upstairs (I use my landlords/neighbors./friends washing machine - it's in the same room as the cat litter. Now I like cats, but I hate cat litter, so disgusting and stinky. I would never have an indoor cat), did some washing up, had a large piece of banana bread with nutella.

Evening - After doodling about whether I actually wanted dinner or not, I had tricolour pasta with a tomato and cheese sauce. Was yummy and I made enough for tomorrow. Jello for dessert (there is something about cold jello in hot hawaii). Now watching TLC and am planning an early evening. Will start to tidy up, Dad is arriving on Sunday (staying in Waikiki) and would like to reorganize a couple of things in here before they come over.

And, my eye is actually looking normal today. It's still gross on the corner and I still have a large dressing on it, but my actual left eye now matches my right. I no longer look quite as much like i've been punched and people have commented on that. I've been amazed by the concern for me this week, it's been quite sweet. Either that or everyone is just nosey.

Picture of the Day - my office is littered with little 'animals'. Items usually given, sometimes collected on travels. Here are my three little devil duckies from BL, who sit on my desktop in honor of my Mac Guru. I'm sure there were 5 to begin with, maybe they'll turn up in the move........yes that move, that was supposed to happen nearly a month ago, may actually happen next week. Like the AC, i'm not holding my breath.

And......

Visa paperwork done.......I have a job until July 2011! 

Woo hoo, and phew! 

All be it at 75% salary, but i'm hoping projects will get funded and in January that can change, just going to be a little lean for a while. The important thing was to extend my visa as far as possible, so i'm pleased. So pleased in fact, i'm catching up on blogs rather than filling in a job application.....must get back to that though......:0)

A week in the Life - Thursday

Morning - Woke up at 6am, got my cup of tea and wrote a few work emails in bed. Hot pack, eye looking much better today! In work for 8.30am, morning coffee and answer some more proposal related questions, searched for a battery for a lab timer, couldn't find one. Meeting at 10am about my visa stuff cancelled until tomorrow, so wandered over to the bookstore to buy some batteries. Went by the SEM lab and popped into their open house - saw the coolest new microscope set up - microtweezers. They actually use a laser beam to move cells around, or cut cells out of slides. Really really cool. Took some sandwiches, pineapple and diet coke from their open house back to my office for lunch.

Afternoon - Had a long conversation about science ethics to a grad student today (the one who's other advisor is an ass...). I am not good at being a hard ass with students, but it needed to be done, eventually as a grad student you have to start making your own path and choices and not blindly following advisors. Nobody else is going to stick up for you in this game, so being collegial and easy to work with makes life so much more fun and easy. Worked on my undergrad lectures a little. After that went back to the open-house and watched the presentations, saw a colleague on the way back and we went for coffee and stood chatting about projects, ethics etc for a good hour. 4pm and a text from Jenny said pedicure time! Headed out of work early and met Jenny in Manoa for pedicures, little Hannah was as active as ever! Headed home via Safeway, had dinner (pizza and salad) and then headed to meet at Jenny and Doug's for a trip to Costco. The idea was to do it after Hannah was asleep but she refused and yelled the whole way there and the whole way back, she just doesn't like being confined! Back at home and an ice-cream bar and Grey's Anatomy. I have to read through a two page preproposal before bed, i'm working up to that. Need to wash out my eye again too, feels great but needs a new dressing.

Roll on friday!

Picture of the Day - a previously missing sock! I don't lose socks very often, in fact probably less than a half-dozen in my entire life, but when I do lose one, it's invariably a nice, expensive one. This fancy running sock has been missing since I dog sat for Jenny and Doug back in July and she just found it behind Hannah's crib! I've missed this pair.....welcome home sock!

Learn something new everyday.....

The reason local anesthetic can really hurt some people and not even be felt in others? 

pH

How different the pH of the anesthetic is vs the tissue it's being injected into will determine how much it burns as its going in. Also for how well it will work too. I know i'm a wimp with needles, but at least this semi-explains why the local burns so freaking much (i'd never had one before Canada)........

A week in the Life - Wednesday

Somewhat "closer" to a normal day today......!

Morning - woke up at 5am, eye felt much worse so got up and checked, and yes much more swollen than yesterday! Argh. Cup of tea and a hot pack to encourage it to drain, which it is now most certainly doing! Breakfast of homemade yogurt, an english muffin and jam, antibiotics and painkillers, wrote a couple of emails. Got into work at ~8am, had my first cup of coffee. Nice woman in the department came in and gave me the numbers of her dermatologist who she loves (so i have an appt with them next week) and their doctor in case I need another one - it's so nice to get recommendations, I find it so hard to do the doctor search. 9am went up to the Dean's office to sort through my work visa paperwork. Slogged through for half an hour, now waiting on the secretaries to do some more, and have another meeting tomorrow. Getting there. 10am meeting with the undergrad officer to "train" me in how to pay my fabulous undergrad assistant, that took about an hour. Back and another cup of coffee, couple of work phone calls and some manic emails flying around about (yet more) proposals. Stomach is off (from antibiotics) so had a Jamba Juice lunch with a colleague, talked proposals and how to deal with this students other advisor.

Afternoon - Finally caught up with this students other advisor. He's the type of scientist who gives scientists a bad name, and I never want any student who ever comes through my lab to be like that, and that's all i'm going to touch on the subject. Undergrad assistant started at 1pm, showed her how to stain slides and set her off sectioning and staining. She's still fabulous! I can totally just leave her to it and I love that, and she seems to really enjoy it! Came home at 4pm, via the bank to drop off a check (finally reimbursed from Canada) and then home. Pulled off the dressing on my eye and had a good clean - phew - looks so much better now! Totally gross, but it's doing what it needs to do! Lay on the couch with a hot pack on my face and dropped off for half an hour. Went upstairs to pay my rent check, chatted with Alison and Les on the deck and watched the sunset.

Evening - Put some banana bread into the breadmaker, dinner of couscous and chicken and vegetable stir fry. Made some soap (from bases so not the cold-pour), watching the third series of MI5 from Netflix. Pulled the ingredients out of the freezer for a tofu indian curry for tomorrow (one of the Dean's secretaries told me I had to eat spicy food to fight infection, she's so cute!), and i've been looking forward to a korma for a while, maybe i'll see if Laura can come around, pay her back for taking me to the doctor yesterday.

Picture of the day - the beautiful sunset tonight, very orange!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Happy Birthday nephew Jack!

Seven this year, who would have thought it......

A Week in the Life - Tuesday

What an interesting week to do this. Not totally representative I promise - maybe i'll just have to do it again in a few months!

Morning - so i'm going to admit to taking some left over painkillers from my arm last night to help me sleep, and as a result slept right through to 6am and woke feeling refreshed. Got up and put the kettle on and then sunk a little bit, my eye was not looking any better, in fact more swollen. Sigh. Cup of tea in bed while writing emails, caught up with some antarctic buddies and then shower and breakfast of oatmeal (with raisins and cranberries). Went into work at 8am, had a cup of coffee, tried again to raise this faculty from yesterday to talk over this issue (which I am still too mad about to talk about), but did not connect. Wrote a few emails. 10am and my meeting with a student and postdoc to knock their heads together about some samples (not my students, but over a histology issue, so I offered to help them figure it out) . Actually went really well, both willing to share and compromise and we worked out a good plan. Took them to the lab, taught the postdoc to section on the microtome, left them to it at 11.10. Cancelled my other morning meeting as the only time the Dr could fit me in was 11.30. Laura came with me in case I couldn't drive back. He tried numbing it (why does that bit hurt more than anything??) with limited success and so started draining. He was super nice and gentle, but I worry he wasn't harsh enough on it so hasn't drained it enough, but he was worried about scarring. He wants me to see my eye doctor, so i'll try and get there tomorrow, and I guess if it needs more draining my eye doctor will probably do it.

Afternoon - Laura did drive me home (first time she's driven in the US - woo hoo Laura!), more because i was trying to keep pressure on my eye than I couldn't, it was helpful. Picked up more antibiotics (ug). Came home had a cheese sandwich, celery and carrots with goats cheese for lunch. Hot cloth on the eye, some crappy TV and a nice nap. Finished the National Geographic proposal and that got submitted - yay! Wrote some more emails, talked to the student and postdoc to check they did okay after i'd gone and they did great. The afternoon kind of whiled away after that, did a little on some job applications (hoping to finish one this evening), vacuumed, napped, hot clothed, doodled on facebook and blogs, ate some chocolate (thanks Mum!). Opened a parcel from Nicola, that made me smile! Started working on another crochet project. Dinner tonight was the last of the tuna pasta bake (one of my favorite dishes, I don't care how boring it is!) and an ice pop, watching Cake Off on TV (i'm addicted to that show!). Watered the garden, the lettuce is really coming up now, as are the beans. Had a gecko drop on me when I opened the door. It happens a lot, but still scares the shit out of my everytime.

Tonight more hot cloths, hope to finish at least one job application. Sigh, another not too productive day, but tomorrow promises to be a busy one, so I guess chill now, as i'm going to have to face people tomorrow with a face that still looks like i've been in a fight. The student today was cute, she said she hoped I had won.

Hope you've all had a good tuesday!

Picture of the Day - my owwie (post draining, and no i'm not gross enough to actually show it). Shame i'm not teaching this week, the undergrads might have sat still and listened.....

No dice

Or should I say no draining....ug. So not looking forward to this day.....

But I want to be a lion....

My friend Annette just sent me this. It made me laugh and feel less sorry for myself.....:0) From the Cheezeburger collection

A Week in the Life - Monday

Blah. That should be the title of this post. I guess after such a fun sunday it was inevitable monday would suck. Basically I got very little sleep last night as my eye was really sore and just not draining. It looks so ready to go. So when I finally gave in at 6 am and got up I decided I would just run into work, get some work to take home and work at home all day.

Morning - This morning I woke up early, went straight for the hot cloth to try and encourage this abscess on its way. Unfortunately when I have the hot cloth on there I pretty much can't do anything else, as a) it hurts and b) my eye ends up being totally covered and I have to hold it on there, so I find it impossible to work on the computer. After my breakfast of tea, berry smoothie and english muffin and toast I took a hot shower (again trying to encourage it to go) and headed into work. Dropped by the lab and looked in on a student (who's first words were "wow, are you okay?" at the sight of my eye). Tried to deal with a major issue with this students other advisor that i'm just so angry about I don't even want to deal with it, maybe for another post (and after emails and playing phone tag all day we still haven't resolved it). Finally got to my office and downloaded a bunch of files onto a drive to take home. Stopped by the post office on the way home and into Safeway and grabbed some fresh juice (orange and pineapple), grapefruits and some cheese (comfort foods) and went home to tylenol, more hot cloths, goats cheese and carrot snack, and actually a nap, that was nice.

Afternoon - uploaded a bunch of files online to a proposal i'm trying to submit, discovered i'm still missing some small vital information from collaborators (argh - this proposal is so futzy), emailed a lot of work stuff (actually caught up with some emails i've been needing to write so that was good) and did some online research for another proposal (too many proposals). More hot cloths, more tylenol, more crappy TV. Lunch of Sunchips, a chocolate bar and a cheese and lettuce sandwich. More hot cloths and my eye is still sore, emailed my friend Jenny to see if she would be around tomorrow to get me to and from the doctor if necessary, she will so that's good as i'm pretty sure I won't be driving after that. I'm so hoping it drains before then, I am so not looking forward to having it done right there, right on my face. Unless my eye does it's thing overnight, i'll call the doctor in the morning and get in in the afternoon (I have meetings all morning) to get it drained. Then a migraine decided to hit (nice timing), so more hot cloths and Imitrex and another half hour nap (that stuff knocks me out). Migraine is still with me which is a pest, but it's gone to a low level which is better. It just got really hot in here too with the afternoon sunshine.

This evening, I have left over tuna pasta bake for dinner, i'm going to try and go out for a short walk just to get some air, more crappy TV i'm sure. What an unproductive day. Ug.

Update - well the evening wasn't a total wipe out (though still not a highly productive day) - I went for a 30 minute walk which made me feel more up, watered my garden and then sat on the couch and edited a 2 page pre-proposal. Then ate my tuna pasta and a banana for dinner. I'm also on my last day of steroids, so am having a (weak) G&T to celebrate while catching up on blogs.

Picture of the Day - the view from the couch.

A Week in the Life - Sunday

What a fun and relaxing day for my first "Week in the Life" post!

This morning - I woke up at 7am, but managed to roll over and go back to sleep until 8am, got up and got a cup of tea, small berry smoothy and some Jaffa Cakes (thanks Mum!) and went back to bed. Sat emailing and doodling on the internet (facebook!) until 10am. Nice! Got up, ate some oatmeal with cranberries and raisins, showered, worked a little on a christmas craft project, did the washing up, cleaned the kitchen (including the microwave - man that needed it!), packed up all my camping gear finally (from Canada!), did a bit more on the craft project and sat down to watch TV while having a cheese sandwich and two large glasses of Nuun electrolytes (still trying to rehydrate after a 12 mile run yesterday). Emailed some more, looked around for fun things to do on the Big Island when my dad comes over next week (he and his wife are over for two weeks - we're all going to the Big Island for 3 days, then they're going to island hop - so fun!).

This afternoon - chatted with Laura R. (from Woods Hole) on the phone, talked about a proposal we're debating submitting, caught up on business, whined about bad scientists, it was good to catch up! Then drove down to Laura G's and we went to Home Depot. Bought some herbs and pots for my front porch, a stepladder for my lab and she bought some anti-cockroach materials (draft excluder tapes, not chemicals). Then off to Waikiki, we had ice-cream in mind. I had a voucher for the Cold Stone Creamery, but after driving into Waikiki, I found I had left it at home. By this time our hearts were set on ice-cream so we went for it anyway. It was the Honolulu Century Ride today (112 miles - the ride that inspired part of the IronMan - alongside the Waikiki Rough Water Swim - 2.4miles - and the Honolulu Marathon - 26.2 miles) - so Kapiolani park was really busy, but we found parking and walked past a lot of tired looking cyclists. I had a Mint Oreo creation, it was very tasty, and we sat on a bench facing the ocean and caught up on gossip. After we decided to walk through Waikiki, it can be quite fun just people watching, and Laura wanted to find a present for her sister. Well, we ended up at the Royal Hawaiian, also known as the Pink Palace - the oldest (and most expensive) hotel on Waikiki, and well, the bar was calling, so we sat down on the exclusive Patio and had a $10 Mai Tai (actually, not a bad price for Hawaii) and some fries. It was a gorgeous spot I have to say, I haven't been there before.

After drinkies we walked back through Waikiki (where a drunk had collapsed in the middle of the street and there were a gazzillion police cars, ambulance and fire trucks around) and back to the car. Dropped Laura off, came home, potted my herbs and am now watching Extreme House Makeover, one of my favorite programs. Dinner, not sure, still full on ice-cream and fries, so maybe i'll just go for a sandwich or english muffin and jam later. I need to vacuum, so will pull up stakes in a minute and do that.

Hope you've all had as relaxing and fun a sunday as me (or more so!).

Picture of the Day - The view from the Royal Hawaiian Patio Bar, Diamondhead Volcano.

Happy Weekend!

A day of ups and downs, luckily the ups came at the end of the day. This morning I woke up with..........you guessed it.........another abscess. Ug. This time right by my eye. Luckily small so it's barely noticeable. Back to the doctor, and he wasn't worried about draining it, so just keep an eye on it (ha ha) and do the hot compress thing, hope it does it's own natural thing. This one apparently looks like a blocked duct, supposedly common in hot and humid Hawaii. The steroids are working though thank goodness, much much less itchy.

But the day got much better. I snuck out of work today and had lunch with Jenny and Hannah at Chilis, was so nice. Then I had an undergrad lab assistant start this afternoon. This is a girl who has worked with one of my grad students before, so I knew she's super nice and motivated. I'd finally come to the conclusion this week that I just don't have enough time in the day to do everything, and i'm not getting in the lab as much as I would like to (ever?). I'm struggling with my salary at the moment, so it seemed hard to consider hiring someone, but I need publications right now, so bit the bullet and just hope to hell I get funding in January.

So I hired a lab assistant. I would love to hire an already trained person, higher up, but undergrads are cheap in comparison, and this girl has asked me a few times if I could teach her histology. Histology is one of those things you just get or you don't and struggle (it's called more of an art than a science), so it could have gone either way. She was awesome, totally got it, a notetaker, and said after 2 hours slicing on her own that she had fun and really enjoyed it. So i'm excited, this could really help me get back on track with results. Cross fingers it continues this way!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

A week in the life....

I had some time this morning to catch up with some friends blogs and have noticed a few posting "a day in the life" type posts. Steffi set out a day comparison between her and her husband, and Mark posts his daily activities (including miles driven, cycled, walked and run) while his wife Cheryl is away in Antarctica (and if you haven't checked out their Green-Build in New Hampshire, you really should!). 

So this got me thinking - where does the day go? Why do I always seem to get home and feel like I have done nothing all day? Can I be more efficient in my day? 

So I have decided to do a weeks worth of posts - one post a day, with my daily activities listed out (i'll carry my trusty notebook to make sure I don't miss anything - or I may update throughout the day). Everything, from meetings to doodling on facebook at lunchtime to what I had for dinner. May not be the most exciting week of posts for you guys out there, but it might just help me pin down ways i'm not being efficient with my time. I'll start on Sunday! 

And as I enjoy seeing what people get up to on a day-to-day level - anybody else want to join me in my "week in the life"?

I was right.....

Perfect.

The Itchy and Scratchy Show!

Well, i'm still itching. Still itching since I went to Canada. That is nearly 2 months now. Not only is it driving my totally insane (esp. since it just got really hot here in the last few days) I am also terrified i'm going to get another abscess in my other armpit (which is now raw again). So I finally went to the doctor today and i'm now on steroids for a week to try and sort out whatever it is (he thinks some kind of allergic reaction). Blah is all I can say. Blah. But if it stops me itching, it'll be worth it, my skin has just had it. And it would be nice to be able to wear deodorant again sometime soon........as i'm sure my co-workers will agree......:0)

Monday

What a day. I'm toast and it's only 5.30pm! I had several phone meetings to do today that started at 8am, followed by sitting in on my undergrad class to watch a lecture by the other professor (geologist). Now that was interesting. Times have oh so changed. 

None of the undergrads know me yet, as I don't start teaching them until November (Science of the Sea - our basic undergrad course that has 400 students in it from across all disciplines). I snuck in and sat at the back left hand corner and watched. Watched as people walked in and out throughout the hour. Watched as people (20 at my count just from the ones I could see!) doodled on Facebook throughout the entire class. Watched as cell phones were brought out and many texts sent. Watched as earphones were plugged in and other material read through. All while the class was in session. I still remember a lecturer stopping the class, walking to the back and prodding a couple of people who were sleeping in my undergrad days! To the geologists credit, he just kept on going. I guess you develop a knack for ignoring it and ploughing through, getting to the students who are listening. Disheartening though! 

I went primarily to watch a new system being used for the first time in this class - iClickers (picture above). I then went to an iClicker class for faculty. It's a very cool system, and chatting to the geologist after (who has been teaching this portion of the class for over 10 years) he is totally sold on them - he said that even last year, before these were used, he used to get less than half the class attend, now it's almost everyone every lecture. Basically every student has one of these handsets (we were told today that over 3000 students at UH now have one) and they have 5 buttons on there. They cost the students $36 and the same ones can be used in any classes that use them (and more and more are), for all their years at university, and when they finish, they can sell them back to the university for 50% of cost. So they're totally accessible to all. Throughout your lecture you throw in multiple choice questions that the students then use the handset to answer.  Once they've all "voted" you then get a bar chart up on the screen seeing how the class answered. 

This can be used in 2 ways - 1) to see how the class is absorbing your material, and re-covering concepts that are not understood, and 2) to mark attendance. All the data is stored from all your classes, so what we are doing in ours is giving out 5% of marks for attendance (so just answering a question per class - you can only miss 2 classes) and 5% for getting the right answer on those tests. On average we'll put in 2 tests per lecture. Pretty cool, I would have loved this when I was a student. The class I took today showed different ways to integrate it into your lectures, so i'll definitely be using some of their suggestions, and am actually excited to start using them. 

And then I had a meeting with a grad student to go over her progress and where she's headed. I enjoy talking to this student, she's fun and totally motivated. And that was my day. One meeting to another......now home to eat, clean up and write. And rest my sore body from yesterdays hike! 

Mt Olympus

Today was an awesome day, so much fun! I went for a 6 mile hike up Mt Olympus with my friend Russ, followed by a swim at Kaimana beach and a "Cheese Burger in Paradise" (yes, it's owned by Jimmy Buffet). I'm now back in my apartment nursing my dehydration, stiff legs (I did a ten mile run on saturday too!) and bruised butt (and by bruised, I mean BRUISED).

I wish I had taken a photo of me on this hike, but I forgot. By the end of the hike I was literally covered in mud, all up my legs, my butt and my arms. It's a typical Hawaiian muddy trail, but also steep and really slippy in places. I managed to take a good slip (one of many by both of us) onto a tree root, my right butt cheek is now black. At least the outcome is indicative of how much that hurt, I hate it when you take a good tumble and don't even have a bruise to show for the pain. I've also ascertained my Keens might be beyond their useful tread-life. I kind of knew this, but was hoping to eek them out a little longer....

The hike (topographic map here) -

The trail on the Wa'ahila Ridge trail. This is looking back into Waikiki.

Some beautiful views of Diamond Head volcano.

Looking down Manoa Valley (right - where my house is) all the way to Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. Palolo valley is on the left, we're right up on the ridge between them.

After two hours walking up the ridgeline we finally came to Mt Olympus - this photo is taken from the top looking down to Kailua, on the windward side of the island (the opposite side from where I live, and the opposite from the previous photo). It was gorgeous, but a little cloudy, so this photo looked better in sepia.

Kailua town. It was getting pretty cloudy up here, but otherwise we were lucky with the weather, no rain.

There was a short trail down from Mt Olympus towards Kailua that we investigated, it didn't go too far though. But there was a ton of Korean hikers sat on the Mt Olympus viewpoint, so we didn't feel like sticking around there too long.