Category: The DayBook

Just enjoy a little quality time with a sea turtle. Honu in Hawaiian. (about one minute.)

Small bump in my universe. I ordered an external drive. USPS says they delivered it. Hotel says nope. “I was at the Desk at 1:27 and no package arrived for anybody”. I choose to believe the hotel. This is not worth getting my granny panties in a twist over. Maybe it will show up. Or maybe it won’t.

Best to follow the “Advice from a sea turtle”

-Swim with the current.
-Be a good navigator.
-Stay calm under pressure.
-Be well-traveled.
-Think long term.
-Age gracefully.
-Spend time at the beach!

“Think long term” – It isn’t worth annoying the hotel staff over the missing drive.

Billy wanted to go upcountry and take in a polo match or two. So, we put on long pants, grab jackets, borrow a car and off we go. Polo on Hawai’i Island is not fancy.

Of couse, I don’t have anything approaching appropriate camera gear. But, that didn’t stop me. Heck, I think the little 45 second video even turned out OK. Upped my recording and rendering to 4K. Maybe I will like what YouTube does with it better. Give it a look in full screen.

Billy thought that this guy was going to fall asleep or die. But his owner said that he was 21 years old and his regular job was being a cattle horse. He sort of considers polo silly and doesn’t like it. But, he still had to go for a chukka or two.

I was sort of iffy about going, but followed Carlton’s “Shut up, suit up, show up” rule. Had a great time.

It really is pathetic when you call cutting a papaya in half, scooping out the seeds and scooping in cottage cheese “cooking dinner”. I added a fine slice of banana bread. And, finished off the rest of the coffee. Sounds like dinner to me. I had to wash a knife, spoon, and coffee cup.

My legs were rested up enough 45 minutes in the ocean. Starting to get a little cool. Might be time for the wetsuit soon. I am a little too big for my wetsuit. Which is why I haven’t needed it yet. An insulating layer of blubber, you know.

Today’s video is 36 seconds.

Note to Carlton: Cliff’s kids invited me to Thanksgiving Dinner. It was so sweet that I almost got a ticket back East. But, then I remembered that (1) I have given my room at The Asylum away to a friend for her brother who is visiting for Thanksgiving   (2) Three storms are lined up for Wednesday and (3) The cost of that ticket, even in the cheap seats, will buy a lot of rice and spam for the local food bank. A hui hou, my friend. A hui hou.

You know, I am not a person of faith. In my life view dead is dead. But, wouldn’t it be nice if I were wrong. And… but that would get really complicated. What if I had two really great husbands. And what if they had other women? Lots of parallel universes?

My legs are unhappy today, I almost didn’t go out to the old airport with Billy. But, I went and was rewarded with the fine sunrise. And, I could see snow on Mauna Loa. More snow on Mauna Kea.

Listening to my body – I decided not to swim today. My legs have to work extra hard to make up for my arthritic shoulder. And, it was pretty choppy. I sill logged 9,000+ steps. Decided that I couldn’t live without cottage cheese. And, I had to hit two banks before I got money. It is all good. I have money and cottage cheese. (which I plan to eat with my excessive supply of papaya). Damn, cottage cheese is an archetypical old woman food, isn’t it?

I absolutely love the ocean. Always amazed at how much better I feel after some ocean time. Mentally and physically. Years ago on of the hospice organizations had an ad on tv. A strong young man was carrying a frail old woman in a muumuu out into the waves. I so understand that. Don’t imagine that is a service The Asylum hospice provides. I had a Park Service friend in North Dakota. Her Mom was in hospice and wanted to go on a snowmobile ride. It happened.

Have my best day with the GoPro. Until today, it would do basically whatever it felt like doing when I was in the water. Turns out I assumed when GoPro said the touch screen doesn’t work underwater they meant it do not work. What they meant was it did not work correctly or consistently. So, when I grabbed it with hand – anything could and did happen. RTFM. Discovered. Screen Lock.

This one is about 90 seconds.

While I was having dinner, the cruise ship left and a fine misty rain arrived.  Fortunately, I was having dinner on my very own lanai – so, I just enjoyed it. Without getting the least bit wet.

And, if you are looking at this soon – Puff the Magic Dragon showed up at sunrise this morning.

I did get wet today. Took the GoPro out for a little swim.  Little one minute video. It looks like crap in full screen from YouTube. Think maybe I am trying to understand too many new things at once. But, as a vintage person, I am not sure I have time for serial understanding.

I should have an opinion about the impeachment proceedings. But, I keep coming back to “Elect a clown. Expect a circus.”

Over the last few days, we had “interesting” weather.  They even had a little hail on Oahu. A news segment to explain hail was required.

Had a fine swim this morning. Photo-wise not so great. But, it was good to be out in the ocean. A little video – one minute. Close encounter with Marian.

After my swim, I return home for an afternoon of reading, napping and figuring out what I can do better with the GoPro/iMovie tomorrow.

Come 5 PM, I was starved.  I scrambled eggs. Served with avocado toast.  I was going to make “coffee pot soft boiled eggs”, but that doesn’t always work out and I was hungry. Microwave scrambled eggs always works.

November is pretty laid back at the hotel. Later in the month a bunch of German runners show up. They hang out here for about a week and then go over to Honolulu for the Honolulu Marathon.

It rained rather much last night. Knocked out the wifi, so I couldn’t ask Alexa what time it was. Life is tough.

The rain and today’s wind made the ocean not so very inviting today. So, I walked around the end pier practicing with the GoPro.

;

It is about a minute long and I haven’t a clue what I am doing with the audio.

And I am loving the lazy island life. But, I did break down and do laundry today. Reading, playing with the GroPro and iMovie. Thinking about taking myself out for dinner tonight. Oh and the BIGGEST COCKROACH EVER had taken up residence on my wetsuit. It scuttled off under the bed. Hopefully, it will decide to leave my room. Before it has babies or I encounter it again.

Speaking of babies. I left my pregnant grocery store orchid with a trusted midwife. It bloomed.

Lazy Sunday in exciting Kailua-Kona.

Took a lot of video today. But nothing worth knitting together.

During breakfast this morning, the local biker gang rumbled through town. A standard crematorium remains box wrapped in lei was strapped to the lead bike.

A local musician had a very well attended memorial service today.  The music is reported to have been killer.

Even funerals are island style.

Took the new GoPro out for a nice snorkel run. I am sort of underwhelmed by it’s still photo ability underwater. But, it could just as well be my fault. GoPro actually started out as a 35mm film camera. I was just shooting generic jpgs.

But, I have a little one minute video. Mostly, I just had a good time out in the ocean.

Thanks, Steven for confirming what I suspected. 720p isn’t all that different from 1080p when processed by the YouTube blender. So, from now on I will use 720p. Wifi is pretty slow here.

Not only does it say “Abstinence makes the church grow fondlers”, but it has another sticker that says “Predator” that appears to be advertising some product or service.

How can you not love these guys. And, they are very fat and fluffy looking. They had better be careful as Thanksgiving approaches.

Turtles today. I experimented with 720p vs 1080p for YouTube. The turtle footage was taken this morning with the Pixel 2xl. As for the GoPro. I took pictures of my fingers with it. The videos are about 40 seconds. they are identical. I just rendered them in two “sizes” out of idle curiosity.

This one is 720p

This one is 1080p

Yes, I lasted an entire 2 weeks without an underwater camera. But, why hold out any longer? Sprung for the newest GoPro. Why?

1. I am on this video learning kick. And, GoPro really is a video camera.
2. But, some of the GoPro shoot RAW still photos too. This one included. So, I figure it will be a good wide-angle still camera for travel.
3. What’s not to love about a camera that will almost fit in an Altoids box?
4. Years ago a played with Billy’s GoPro and I was stunned by it’s image quality vs the cheap point and shoot underwater cameras that I have always used.

So, far so good with the new toy. But I *hate* the “new improved” battery door. I can bearly get it open and then closed again. Pretty sure the designers were men with very strong hands and thumbs. They should have asked their Granny to try to get the F-ing door open.

This movie is 1080p and a little over 2 minutes long. Maybe tomorrow I will find more fish. Take a look at it. There is a big dog and the snuba guy. but not many fish. You know, I think that YouTube squashes my stuff so 720p is as good. Lots to learn.

I figured this out today. Don’t know why it took me so long. This is what I figured out. Moving to an old folks asylum – no matter how you tart it up by calling it “Senior Living”, sends a message to the world that you are old and no longer give a shit. Wait – friends at the Asylum – how many times have you heard a younger person talking about “I know this woman, she is 88 and still lives in her house and mows her lawn”.  This is considered a good thing, something to strive for,  a worthy goal. Moving to an old lady’s home doesn’t send a good message.