Honolulu Rail

Another thing that we really liked about Europe and are missing in the US is rail transportation.  It is nice to be able to travel across the country and read a book, take a nap, or get up and walk around at the same time without having to worry about driving.  In fact, this is what allowed us to live for over a year without owning a car.  Also, in general rail is much, much more fuel efficient than driving personal cars (especially when it is one person per hummer on a crowded highway).  When my grandmother was a girl she used railroads to travel, but they have almost completely disappeared now in the US.  We use words like train station so infrequently in American English that these became some of the first words we adopted and used regularly in Germany.  We would say Bahnhof (train station) and Hauptbahnhof (main train station) in the middle of an English sentence.  As fuel becomes more expensive it seems inevitable that we will have to return to--at least some--rail travel.

There is a plan to put in the beginning of a public transportation rail line from Kapolei to Honolulu here in Oahu.  Here is a link to the project's website. 

Rail has been the hot topic on the radio every since arriving in Hawai'i.  Eventually, some day, it would be wonderful to have a rail system around the island, and it would be nice to use to commute to work, and probably save us a lot of money, instead of driving our van back and forth every day.  However, almost everything I have heard on the radio has been largely negative about the rail project.  In 2008 53% of the island voted in favor of rail (link) but, every since I arrived, people have been trying to get decisions changed and preparations stopped to prevent the rail system.  Now ground has been broken and work has started constructing the line, but the fight goes on and more than one of the people running in the next elections has made stopping rail a major part of their platforms.  Sure, there are things I would change about the rail line, like stops near our house and my job so that we can use it, but a new rail system has to start somewhere.  And, it would be great if it was half the price with no cost overruns, but public transportation is something useful that the government can provide with tax money.  What alternative is there?  This would also give an alternative to people that do not have cars.  Even if the rail doesn't come near our houses we can potentially use buses to connect to it.  Finally, the rail system would benefit all of us whether we used it or not, because of lower traffic congestion and less pollution. 

We were able to sign a house-to-house petition in support of the rail project.  Here are some example links of the discussion in the news: (one) (two) (three) (four)

We're not in Germany anymore... Auto mechanics.

My last post about Germany and German culture was quite negative.  So now I am going to post something topical that is an unexpected positive in Germany.  In our experience, auto repair and car mechanics are priced very reasonably, especially in comparison to the US.  You might be paying the equivalent of $9/gallon for fuel, but you don't have to auction off an arm and a leg on ebay to pay to fix the car.

Maybe I am unlucky, who knows, but I have rarely had a good experience with auto mechanics in the US.  In the end I often have to take the matter into my own hands, which costs me time, but usually I do not have the money to spend to pay what auto mechanics demand.  For example, once when we were living in NY we had to replace the windshield wiper motor, I was busy with my job so V took it to a shop.  They took out the motor and then wanted to charge an unbelievable amount of money for the labor.  I absolutely refused.  (Replacing the windshield wiper motor is a very easy, almost trivial, thing to do.)   I went to the shop but they had taken the old motor out, put it somewhere in their shop, and refused to give it back to me to try to force me to pay them to do it.  Instead, I took the car, went to an auto parts store and bought a new wiper motor, then to a junkyard and got an "arm" to connect the motor (for $5) to replace the one they took out.  However, the junkyard lost the acorn nut that fastened to the end just before giving it to me, then couldn't find it, so I had to go to a hardware store to get that...  Then put it in and hooked it up in something like 10 minutes.  I even remember T « helping » turn the socket wrench to attach it (he was very little then).  I could not get the core charge refunded on the old motor because the mechanics refused to give it to me (and I was not comfortable calling the police to get them to return my property because I had not paid them for the initial "labor"), but taking the core charge was still far cheaper than paying them to turn a wrench for a few minutes.  If however, and this is a repeating theme, they had charged a reasonable rate (worthwhile, or possible, for me to pay them versus doing it myself); I would have paid it just to save time and fuss. 

These and other experiences made me very apprehensive about going to a car repair shop in Germany.  However, our car developed a funny oil leak from near the end of a tube next to the engine and we needed to fix it.  We were living in an apartment without any tools, and I have yet to see an auto parts store in Germany like we have in the US.  So we took it in, the guy there was very nice, took a look, replaced a part that cost 8 euros, and that was it.  We asked to make sure, did we need to pay more for labor, etc., and he said it was nothing...!  A total of 8 euros for the ring.  We were both very pleasantly surprised.  Later we took the car back to the same place and each time the repair was very reasonable and hassle free. 

In contrast, we are currently attempting to get a safety inspection to renew the registration on our van here in Hawai'i.  I made the mistake of assuming the auto dealer that I bought the van from had updated the safety inspection, but they had not.  Then a letter from the DMV came in the mail and I was surprised that it cost $340+ for registration renewal.  (Perhaps this is normal in the US; it has been so long I can't remember how much it was each year in NY).  V took it to a shop for inspection and they wanted $1,000+ to approve it!  I do not have this much money available to spend.  They demanded new front tires that had a $500 price tag alone, and wanted to replace the two headlight units (the entire thing because the individual parts are not sold individually) for $100s of dollars, claiming that they were broken and out of spec, plus a few bulbs needed replacing... 

So naturally we refused to pay them for the repairs (we couldn't even if we wanted to).  They gave V a blue form and the woman at the counter clearly said that we give that to the DMV for a 30 day extension to get the repairs made and finish the safety inspection.  If we returned to them the followup inspection was free.  The front two tires were indeed worn.  We replaced the back ones since buying the van and I planned to replace the front ones sometime in the next few months anyway, so we went to Costco and got them replaced for less than $300.  Then we picked up some replacement bulbs for a few dollars and changed out one of the license plate bulbs (that I didn't know existed) and another anonymous bulb on a back light.  That part was ridiculously easy. 

Replacing a bulb on one of the rear light units.

The headlights were claimed to be « broken » because back when I replaced the bulbs there were these funny wire clips that didn't want to go back in, and as far as I could tell didn't do anything important so I left them out.  V's hands are smaller so she popped them back in.  Obviously the entire headlight unit did not need to be replaced. 

So, we made all the repairs for ~$310 instead of the $1,000+ they wanted, and went back in to get the safety approval.  They asked where the receipt was, so we gave them the white piece of paper that had the info from our first safety inspection, but what they actually wanted was the blue form for a receipt.  We told them we sent it to the DMV (I mailed it along with a form from the DMV, asking for a safety form, and a check for the renewal) as we were told.  They said they needed it for the followup inspection and denied saying we should send it to the DMV.  The woman behind the counter, the same one as before, said, oh no, we should have "walked" it into the DMV and showed it to them for the extension, not mailed it to them.  It had the things that needed to be checked on it...(i.e. the "cheat sheet") and they absolutely had to have it for the free followup inspection.  Whatever, we paid another $20 to do the inspection without the blue form they told us to send to the DMV and walked to get something to eat while waiting.  Then, when they were done they had found all these new things that were wrong that they didn't see before.  Two more (tiny front parking) bulbs needed replacing.  I asked why they didn't see it the first time and they said that we must have knocked them loose when we worked on the headlights (implying we should have had them--the professionals--do it, but it was pure nonsense, the bases are not even in contact to be knocked loose..) and, surprise surprise, the headlight units again needed to be replaced.  This time it was because the plastic was too foggy to properly aim the lights for alignment.  But they could do a special "headlight restoration" procedure for us, that was cheaper than replacing the units.  Still this was 100's of dollars.  I asked why the headlights became so foggy between our visits and they didn't have a snappy, lay the blame on us, answer for that one.  I was irritated and let V to finish talking to them while I walked out to the the garage and had the guy show me exactly which bulbs needed replacing now.  Then we took our van and went home.

I picked up a sandpaper adapter for my drill and some fine sandpaper disks and grinding compound, all for just under $20, and using my drill sanded down the headlight covers then polished them to get rid of the foggy plastic layer.  (Why it fogs over so bad I have no idea, the plastic over the bulb next to it stays crystal clear; it makes me suspect this is engineered obsolescence to sell more units over time.)

Before.

Part way thru grinding.  I'm starting to get worried at this point.

Finished product.  Crystal clear!

Then I pick up replacement front parking bulbs, but they don't fit.  I used the computer key at the store for the make, model and year of our van to pick them out, and went back and double checked to make sure, but it gives completely the wrong bulb.  (Later I checked online and other people have reported this as well--for years now.  How hard is it to fix this on a computer system?)  You have to buy these bulbs in pairs (as another way to sell more) so we had an extra bulb from the rear plate light that we replaced.  We popped the plate light right in the socket for the front parking light and it worked.  So we bought another pair (for the one more we needed) and put them in the front parking lights.  (They were burnt out and, by the way, after seeing them on we realized they had never worked since we had the van; not "knocked loose" as the mechanics blamed.)  The right one was easy and took V 5 minutes.  The left one required the intake hose, battery, battery pan, fuse box, and half the air filter be removed to pop it in.  Again, why can't cars be designed better⸮  If there were just a few more inches of room all the extra steps, that are not particularity hard but are irritating (now the clock has to be reset...), would be unnecessary. 

Stuff removed and pushed out of the way to replace a light bulb.

Stuffed back in...

So finally everything is fixed again, except for the headlight alignment, and we take it back, for the third time, for the alignment and safety inspection form.  There are a lot of comments like, we don't know where you took it to get this done...  Implying we should have paid them more to do what we did.  Anyway, it is in the shop and we are waiting nearby when V gets a phone call that the inspection is done.  When we walk back we see that they parked our van in the lane out front, not even in a parking space, ready to drive away, rather than leaving it in the garage or in a parking space as before.  They say we need to get the headlights aligned; we already knew that from the last inspection.  I thought that was what they were doing while we were waiting.  I ask them to please go ahead and do that, align the headlights.  She acts surprised so I try to be polite and ask them to please go ahead and align the lights.  We need to hurry and get the safety inspection done because we are running out of our 30 day extension for registration renewal.  Then the woman says there is no extension for registration, saying "if you're late, you're late" flippantly.  I say that is not what we were told here before.  And she says we are wrong...  So I say, we are new here to Hawai'; can you please explain how this is supposed to work.  (And I am trying my best to be patient and polite.)  She said we do the inspection, you have 30 days to get it fixed, it comes back from the DMV,  we put the stickers on the car, ...  I asked, what comes back from the DMV?  She says, I never said that.  I say, those were your words, you just said it comes back from the DMV.  I just want to be clear so I know what I am supposed to do (is "it" transmitted electronically by them, by mail, do we have to take a form...?).  (This is beginning to feel like the everlasting "missing forms" mystery in Germany.  I wish I carried a tape recorder for these situations.)  She acts flustered, stares at my shirt for a moment, then starts over at the beginning in painful detail, talking to us like we're children.  We check your car, you have fixed what is wrong, then take the yellow form to the DMV, there is no 30 day extension, .... on and on.  Finally we get to the headlight alignment and that it will cost ~$40.  I sign the work order and she takes a copy.  There is another copy still laying on the desk so I ask if it is my copy.  (Not having the right copy cost us $20 at the beginning of this.)  She and the other woman at the desk ignore me entirely; I'm right there in front of them.  Instead they start talking to V about F, is she heavy to carry; blah blah blah, and are making sounds and faces at F.  I ask again if this is my copy pointing at the paper.  Then V picks it up and asks, "is this our copy" and the other woman finally says yes.  ?   There is some weird passive aggression going on.  I ask, can you please tell me how long it might take.  She reluctantly says 40 minutes while looking away from me and the other woman calls out loudly for us to wait there in the waiting room because it is nice and cool with air conditioning (I'm suspecting this is an indirect way for them to say we are not from Hawai'i and work out some passive aggression).  We go out the door to walk around for a while during the wait and are about 20 feet down the sidewalk when a guy comes running out holding, what else, one of the clips from the front headlight.  He says to V (not me) "this just fell out" when they opened it up and it will need to be put back in.  V said, it's easy, you just pop the two ends in beside the bulb and tighten down the screw next to it with the stubby phillips head.  He pauses for a second staring at the clip, because this response from V was not what he planned, then says without eye contact, it will cost an extra $50.  V looks at me and I say that's it; we're going somewhere else.  We take the clip from him, go back in take our keys, and drive off to look for the DMV to get some answers from their side. 

What gets me in this last part is that we tried to pay them to align the lights.  We already paid them $40 for three safety inspections, when it was supposed to cost $20, and were about to pay $40 more for the alignment, but they tried at the last minute to jack that up to $90 so we walked out.  If they had just done what we had agreed on they would have made more money.  ?

We don't know where the DMV is so I drive to the library next to ask the security guard.  The difference between talking to the people at the auto shop and the security guard are like night and day.  He is friendly and polite and gives me the directions.  I thank him and am on my way.  No fuss, no drama. 

At the DMV I try to explain what is going on and show the woman behind the desk the form from the inspection.  (Later, V describes her as unengaged and dreamy.)  At first she is confused and thinks we are shipping a car here from another state.  I tell her no, that I bought it here in Hawai'i, ...  Later, she says all we need to do is get the headlights aligned for the safety check.  We explain that we are trying to get the safety check, with three attempts already, but that each time we go they are finding new things wrong to fix.  She seems to ignore us pointing at the latest safety check form and saying no, it says here you just need to get the lights aligned.  She does not directly answer our question about the non-existent 30 day extension.  She just says that we need to pay an amount for registration that is higher than before (with the late fine added).  I say I already sent them a check and can I have it back first before paying again.  She asks if the check was cashed yet; I say no.  She asks if I have had it returned (hmm...); I say no.  She says, well it was probably just lost in the mail (as if this is a perfectly acceptable excuse).  Anyway, while she was polite, it is clear that not much more clarity will come from the DMV office, so we return home and V puts the headlight clip in, again, and tightens the screw holding it down securely. 

I look up reviews from other people on Yelp for the auto mechanic shop we went to--a national chain.  They are given the lowest possible score and many people described the same problems we had.  So I look up a mechanic in the area with a high review score--not a national chain.  We drive to his shop and I make an appointment for a safety inspection for Friday afternoon.  My fault, I should have done this to begin with. 

To be continued.

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Update:  We went to the new shop this afternoon; locally owned, not the national chain.  Everything was much more professional.  He said it would be ready by 4pm; it was ready at 3:45.  Cost $15 for the inspection, period.  They were very clear and courteous and told us exactly what we have to do next; 1) take the blue form to the DMV to renew the registration, 2) bring it back to them and they put on the new stickers.  Simple, clear.  I know exactly where I am bringing the van next time.  We then drove straight to the DMV but were 5 minutes late.  They closed at 4pm and are not open again until 8am Monday.

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Update: Monday morning, we went to the DMV office, showed them the blue form and wrote a check.  They gave me a new registration and a sticker to take back to the inspection station.  (Why can't we just put the stickers on ourselves?)  We drove to the station and they put the stickers on the van and gave us a yellow and pink form.  I asked what they were for and they said the pink one was to keep in the van as proof of inspection and the yellow one was to give back to them when I get it inspected again.  (Who says Germany has more paperwork than the US?) 

Energy Production in Hawai'i

Hawai'i is in an amazing position to take advantage of renewable energy.  There is great potential for wave, wind, solar, and geothermal here.  Despite this, 90% of energy production comes from oil imported to Hawai'i, which makes this one of the highest rates for electricity in the nation (link and link).  This is crazy.  In response people have started putting up solar panels on their homes and now Hawai'i is the second in the nation, per capita, for solar power use.  Companies have sprung up that will install panels on your house for free, and you pay your (lower) electric bill to them to recoup the cost.  This allows homeowners to get into solar without an upfront money barrier (besides owning the home of course).  However, there is an attempt here to stop solar.  I heard it on the radio driving home from work and couldn't believe it.  Recall that electricity is run as a monopoly that is coordinated through government regulations, and does not operate as a free capitalist market.  The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has set a limit of 15% of energy that can come from renewable sources, the rest has to come from oil!  On the radio I heard that several areas are at this limit and there is effectively a moratorium on adding solar in some neighborhoods (but I have not been able to verify this last point independently).  This is being fought by several solar and renewable energy organizations that are managing to get some amendments made to the ruling (link).

To Kaneohe on the H3

Today we drove over the mountains to Kaneohe.  I tried making a time lapse video again.  It rained on us along the way.  So I will try to get a clear video later on.  The bikes in front of us were "Sons of Hawaii, Motorcycle Club, Oahu."  Our route is in red/orange in the map below.  It is a spur off the last route on the H1. 

Fastening Freestanding Shelves to the Wall

This is something of a boring post.  We mostly stayed home and cleaned today.  However, F is walking around now and pulling herself up on things.  The stand that we have M & V's reptile and cricket rearing aquariums on has been bothering me.  So I picked up some hooks to fasten in the wall and drilled holes for them.  Then tied the stand to the wall with some jute cordage so she can't pull it over. 

Also, last weekend, or was it the weekend before, we went out for a drive around the island, for the first time.  It had been very windy and there were some impressive waves crashing into shore.  Unfortunately I left my camera at home.  We also saw a monk seal for the first time floating nonchalantly out in the waves.   You can't actually drive around the entire island, the NW point doesn't have a road connecting around it, but we made the biggest loop possible.

Kapolei to Honolulu on the H1

I used packing tape to fix a camera to the van's dashboard and set it on a 1 second delay between shots.  Then I made a video out of the photos using virtualdub to stitch the images together at 10 frames per second (10x speed), with 50% compression (Microsoft Video 1), and windows live movie maker to further compress the video (for "windows phone large").  Then uploaded it to youtube.  You can get an idea of what driving along the "main street" of O'ahu (H1 and H201) is like at 8am on a weekday. There was some rain and traffic congestion (but traffic wasn't backed up too bad), which is normal.

The blue line in the map above shows the route.

Barber's Point Beach Park

About once a year I take the kids (or one of the kids) with me to work.  For various reasons today, March 1, turned out to be a good time for this.  Last night I asked M and T if they would like to come with me today and they were eager to come along.  It was going to be a long day so I decided to first take them by a new (to us) park in the morning for a bit.  We went to Barber's Point Beach Park.  It happens to be in a very industrial part of Oahu, with oil refineries, etc.  There is also a lighthouse there that I think it is named after.

Here is the lighthouse (white) in the background with some radio towers off to the right.

When we pulled into the parking lot a steel recycling plant was visible right next to the park.  There was a huge pile of metal and a "claw" picking up pieces and putting them on a belt.  I thought it was a interesting juxtaposition, an industrial plant with twisted rusted metal next to a park with picnic tables and the beach.  So I took a picture of the kids with the plant in the background and talked to them about how they were recycling metal to use again. 

M has her ears plugged because it was noisy (and both the kids complained that it smelled funny). This is not the best picture in the world, and normally I probably would not have posted it. 

Then we started walking toward the beach.

Part way there (seconds after the walk to the beach picture above) a truck pulled up quickly in the parking lot, parked diagonally across two spaces, and a man jumped out and came toward us.  He shouted "stop" half way to us as we were walking to the beach.  I stopped, looked at him, and said "yes?"  The kids sensed he was being aggressive and moved behind me.  He was wearing jeans and a fluorescent shirt that looked like it could be a work outfit.  He walked right up in front of us, blocking the direction we were going (the beach) and said we were not allowed to take pictures of "the plant."  I said OK, don't worry, we're going over to the beach.  He said he needed me to delete the pictures.  I asked why and he repeated we were not allowed to take pictures.  I said this is a public park and he said he needed to see me delete the pictures while glancing down at my camera.  I wrapped up my camera, put it in my bag, clipped it shut and told him I was not deleting my pictures.  All this time he is inching closer to me with an aggressive stance and is right in my face.  He said "who are you with?"  "What" I ask perplexed and he says "tell me who you're with." I say "I am with my kids."  He says, you have to delete those pictures and I need to see you do it.  (He keeps cutting me off and saying things before I complete my sentences.)  I try to diffuse the situation by telling him to calm down; we're not doing anything wrong; I am at a public park with my kids.  He is a very big guy that is obviously trying to intimidate me.  He doesn't back down and it is getting worse so I tell the kids, "go to the car" and turn to walk quickly behind them back to our van.  He follows on my heels saying something but I don't stop to turn around.  To the kids credit they do exactly as I say immediately without argument.  They are in the van buckled to go as I get in.  The crazy employee jumps back in his truck and pulls to the end of the drive to the park and pauses there, just out in the road, watching us.  (I wonder if he is going to try to block us in.)  He waits until I back the van up to turn around; then he pulls away back toward the recycling plant.  Then we leave.  (Perhaps he was waiting to harass us more if we didn't leave--from a public park that we had every right to be in.)  This is essentially the first real negative interaction I have had with anyone in Hawai'i. 

(Before this the worst was overhearing "Haole" (Hawaiian derogatory term for white/European people) as I walked by, but I had no idea if it was directed at me and it is easy to shrug off since I have put up with that kind of thing before in other places.  Also, I've only heard this a couple times over six months.)

By the way, there is a lot of information available about the legal rights of photographers in public places with references to exactly this type of situation.  Here is a link, and here. 

After this incident I look them up.  Below is a map of the park from a google earth screenshot.  

On the far left you can see the white lighthouse.  In the middle is the park.  To the right is the steel recycling plant.  It is Schnitzer Steel Hawaii Corp.  They have a website (http://www.hawaiimetalrecycling.com/).  This is a local branch owned by Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (http://www.schnitzersteel.com/).  They have public outreach plans for Earth Day 2012 (link) and local company history (link).  On the main website there is info for investors and even a list of "values" of the company.  I wonder if the executives know that their employees are harassing families at the park next door? 

It might be fun if a flash mob of people showed up to take pictures of the plant from the park.  Any suggestions on a date and time?

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Update: If anyone is interested there are much better pictures of the plant taken by other people and available online.  Here are a few:

 By Jimmy Havok at Panoramio. 

By Amy at her blog. 

At the state Department of Enviromental Services. 

Also at the state DES. 

Also, I came across this article.  It turns out that this Schnitzer Steel scrap yard get a yearly $1.9 million dollar subsidy from the city of Honolulu and that it is using the subsidy to undercut competitors like Paragon Metals and maintain a monopoly on the island.  (Also see here for unfair advantages given to this company over competitors.)  In reading more about this company, it is clear they are working hard to improve their public image by doing recycling outreach to the community, cutting up discarded fishing nets, recycling tires, etc.  And recycling is vitally important in general (I was trying to talk to my kids about recycling using the steel scrap piles as an example when this all started).  However, I found out they have also been taken to court for allegedly dumping recyclables into the city landfill.  And here is an article where a court injunction is being sought to stop them from dumping mercury into an Oahu landfill to save money (and their competitors who do not do this are being penalized, link).  Despite this unfair advantage, stock rating companies have noted that Schnizter Steel (SCHN) has low cash flow and dividends, which makes it unattractive from an investment perspective compared to rivals.  It appears that there is quite a bit of intrigue going on with this company.  It is also ironic that their actions to avoid attention (harassing us in the park) has led to me being more curious about what is going on over there.  If they repeat this with enough people and other organizations Schnitzer Steel may come to understand what Oogway meant in Kung Fu Panda, "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."

Kealia Trail

We went for a hike last weekend on Kealia Trail.  The trail is behind an airport so it is imposing to get to.  First we had to drive in on an access road at the end of the runway, with signs that say no entry all over the place.  Then park next to the runway, with no fence separating us or anything from the planes.  Then the first part of the hike has "restricted area" signs all over the place.  Anyway, once you get past all of that it is a nice little hike. 

M found a large ant nest.  There are no native ants, bees or wasps in Hawai'i, but now they are everywhere.  We even had a nest of ants in our printer for a while, little smashed ants would be on some of the pages we printed out, but now they have moved elsewhere. 

The trail is very rocky.  Below M is "lifting up" a boulder to see what is under it.

We just went for a short hike, partway up.  I hiked the entire trail before the rest of the family moved here, it keeps climbing all the way to the end.  I didn't want to push the kids too much; I wanted them to enjoy it so it is easier to go for more hikes in the future.  Plus V was carrying F the whole way.

Valentine's Day

Yes, I know, it was two days ago.  I just now found the time to update the blog a bit.

A year ago on the 2011 Valentine's day I was here in Hawai'i for the first time interviewing for my new job.  The only time I had been in Polynesia before was a work trip to Auckland, New Zealand in 2005.  The 11-12 hour jet lag from Germany to Hawai'i was horrendous, and there was a long London to San Fransisco flight in the middle of the trip.  (The New Zealand trip also had quite a bit of jet lag starting from Dulles on the East Coast and a nonstop Los Angeles to Aukland segment--after that I didn't want to get back on a plane for a while.)  But in the end both trips were well worth it. 

I actually arrived the day before on the 13th.  It was quite a shock to be in cold dark snow covered Germany one day and on the beach at Waikiki the next.  I got a sunburn instantly, before I could walk to / find a place to buy sunscreen.  So I had a bright red face during my interview.  I also had hardly any warm weather clothes; I didn't even own a pair of shorts.  It is funny now, I have only worn shorts this year and can't remember the last time I have worn pants. 

It had also been years since I had been back in the US, so it was odd hearing so much English being spoken and seeing signs in English; also using dollars seemed strange.  All the bills the same color and the dimensions were off.  Also, I could get iced tea to drink, which is one little thing I missed, but I kept trying to order in German and having to stop myself and use English. In talking to people I realized my English had become stilted.  I talked very simple and plainly and avoided colloquial phrases, because I had usually been talking to people in Europe who did not use English as a first language.  Also I tended to overuse "this" instead of "that" like Germans do when they speak in English. 

I joked with V that I got us a trip to Hawai'i for Valentines day but I forgot to bring her along.

On the way back V sent me a text to see if I made the flight to San Fransisco.  I wrote back that actually I was on the N. Shore in Oahu and wasn't going back to Germany.  We joke with each other all the time and I knew she would see through it but she said she had a shock for just a second and thought I was serious.

Tan Lines and Mosquito Bites

I just realized I have not worn socks or shoes yet this year, 2012, just flip flop sandals!  I am inside most of the day, but still I am getting tan lines on my feet from the flip flops (plus a few mosquito bites).

Drive to Hawai'i Kai

This weekend we took a drive to a new part of the island.  We loaded up in the van and went to the eastward point called Hawai'i Kai. 

A shot back into the van, for fun T decided to wear his sheriff outfit. 

M with her hair braided. 

Here are some random (non-postcard quality) pictures through Honolulu and along the way to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Diamond Head in the background. 

Then on to the Hawai'i Kai.  It is a very rocky coast with lava cliffs. 

At this point we started having car trouble.  (The next thing to replace is the radiator.  It has a slow leak, but we keep water stocked in the car because of this and I topped it off before leaving.)  I didn't expect this and I thought we had the radiator under control.  We coasted into a scenic overlook parking lot; we gave some time for everything to cool off and settle so I could check on the water and oil, so I snapped some pictures while we were waiting. 

You can also see some other islands from here.  Here is a picture towards Maui and Moloka'i; they are faint in the distance. 

Also,  further out and a little more to the south you can see the big island of Hawai'i!  In the shot below I zoomed in.  I know it is faint but it is there on the horizon.  The peak is Mauna Kea, 13,796 ft, the 15th highest peak on earth.  However, it appear to be lower than Maui because it is farther away, 175 miles or 0.7% of the earth circumference.  I suspect this is why this area on Oahu is called Hawai'i Kai.  In my beginning understanding of Hawaiian, kai means salt water, sea, ocean.  So this is the Hawai'i (big island) Sea of Oahu. 

Also, T got out of the van with his outfit and hammed it up a bit. 

That is "sting" written on the side of the shotgun.  It is a reference to a sword named sting in "The Hobbit".  By the way, he sawed off the nerf gun himself, which resulted in the foam darts shooting much further than before. 

When I looked under the hood I realized I had made a mistake.  I was distracted when adding water before we left (I was holding F in one arm, talking to T, adding the water with the other) and forgot to fasten the cap to the radiator securely, so the water had boiled and vented out.  No more holding the baby and carrying on unrelated conversations while working on the car.  By now the engine had cooled and we added water, so we went back part of the way but it started making a strange sound it hadn't made before.  So we pulled off the road to let it cool and check it again.  We took the opportunity to grab some Chinese fast food for lunch.  We hadn't eaten out as a family in a long time and it doesn't help fix the van if we get upset and don't enjoy ourselves a little whenever possible.  (Like living in the moment in Ivan Franko's A Parable of Life, see also The Mahabharata 11:5, which the poem is based on.)

Then our luck started turning a little more for the worse.  The first sign was our fortune cookies.  They were both empty.  V took the kids window shopping while I checked the oil, it was fine but a little low, so I walked to a gas station and bought some oil to bring it up a bit.  I messed with the connection hoses on the radiator.  There was a place where the connection was loose and corroded, and that steam vented out of slowly when the engine is hot.  Usually I keep duct tape in the car but we had taken it out to use in one of our projects and left it at home...  I fastened everything as well as possible.

Then, while going to get V and the kids my camera fell out of its case onto the ground.  This has never happened with me before, and a camera should not be dropped like that.  I checked it and it seemed fine with just a scuff on the outside of the lens body.  Apparently the clip that holds the camera in the case wasn't secured all the way.

We walked around a costco a bit "window" shopping then it was time to head back.  I got back out on the road and we went for a few miles then the engine started making noise again and heating up.  I pulled off to the side of the road and checked again.  It was venting steam and the water reservoir was down again.

At this point a police truck pulls up behind us with lights going.  I tell him we are having radiator trouble and ask if he has any duct tape.  He doesn't but firmly tells us to get off the interstate.  I explained that we don't know the area around here and he says to pull off at the next exit and U-turn.  I top it off with more of our water and he escorts us with lights going.  We pull off and he pulls across the opposing lane to block traffic while we turn.  There is a shell station and a chevron ahead.  I get in the lane for the chevron but then he pulls up beside us and says to go to the shell station because it is a service station and the chevron is just a filling station.  This is a problem because I have boycotted shell for 16 years since the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa.  (There are only a few companies I boycott and/or do not buy stock in, Shell, Caterpillar (see here and here), Dell (here), and the country of Israel (here)--some people make fun of me for this, but I decide where I spend and invest my money.)  However, I have a cop with lights going telling me to go to the Shell station, so I resolve not to spend any money.  I pull in and the police go away.

It happens that there is a free water dispenser so V gets started filling up.  I go to the service guys and ask for some duct tape.  At first they seem to ignore me, so I go back to the van, but then a few minutes later one of the guys brings me some duct tape.  We have the water topped off again, double check all the caps and connections, and head off, without spending a penny at shell!  We made it back home this time without having to stop again.

As soon as I have enough money, I'm going to get the corroded connections to the radiator fixed up.

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Update:  I am a bit confused over place names.  Now it seems that Hawai'i Kai is a development to the west of the easternmost coast area.  I have heard this point referred to as "Lanai Lookout."

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Update:  I was really confused; actually my source was wrong.  The islands visible in the distance are from left to right; Molokai, Maui (behind Molokai) and Lanai (separated off to the right, now it makes sense this is "Lanai Lookout").  The Big Island is not visible.