They changed my travel plans yet again. It looks like I won’t be California city-hopping after all. Instead, I’ll just fly to San Francisco and stay there for the whole week. Who knows what will happen after that. Not quite as much of a Road Warrior, eh?
This is a crazy project. I never seem to know where I’ll be from one week to the next. Stability? Future Plans? What’s that?
I have discovered an interesting site which specializes in diving news. It’s called Dive News and I have incorporated the most recent headlines in the bottom of the right hand pane of my site. So, all you divers: if you want some news, just scroll down and click a headline…
They have a nice logo, too…
Well, it looks like I may get to travel even more next week. First, I’ll fly back to Orange County where I’ve been going for the past several months. Then, I’ll fly up to San Francisco. That’ll be cool. I haven’t been there in quite a while. Of course, this time of year, it’ll be kinda cold. But that’s okay by me.
These last two days I have been working in Long Beach. I don’t really like this part of Long Beach. There are no good restaurants here. Tomorrow, I get to go back south into Orange County again.
It makes me wonder sometimes: why do I travel? I travel for work almost every week. Then, when I go on vacation, what do I do? I travel! I go far and wide! Am I insane? Sometimes… I just like to go and see…
After a fun-filled, exciting, relaxing vacation in the island paradise of Hawaii, I’m back to work in Orange County. It’s not much, but at least I can still see the Pacific Ocean. In a couple of weeks, I might get to work in San Francisco.
It felt strange to get on a plane so soon after an eight hour flight and after only spending a day and a half at home, and even more strange to come home to Houston when it’s colder there than where I came from! I more frequently travel back to Humid Houston from some other cold, snowy place – like Minneapolis. Yes, I know it’s a run-on sentence, but I’m allowed. It’s my site and it’s not like very many people read this…
Anyway: I’ve also posted underwater pictures of the dives. We will slowly be adding the names of the fish [including their Hawaiian names] to each picture. That way, you can search and find the exact fish you might be looking for. One day, maybe I’ll retire and just be a professional photographer… That would be fun. But, as you can tell from my pictures, I may have talent but I need training, practice, experience and better equipment… It’ll take time, but I’ll do it.
So: the journey to paradise is about to be over. We all have to go home sometime. Funny thing is, as much as I love this place and enjoy just being here, I’m longing for my home: I want my bed, my clothes, my house: my space. It’s strange how no matter how cool things are where you go that you always have to have a place to come home to. We’ve done many exciting things here: dove in lava-based coral reefs, seen exotic fish, gone through rain forests, met famous people [for those of you fantasy buffs, I met Terry Brooks and his wife.] and otherwise saw many breathtaking landscapes. I think I’ll definitely come back.
But I want to go home now.
Well, we are now back on Oahu from the Big Island. After days of diving, swimming, driving around on the lonely island (I say lonely because there seems to be no people on that island except at rush hour) we have returned to ‘civilization’. I’m not going to stay online too long, but I wanted to make a posting to let the world know that I have found my new home! (No, Mom, don’t panic… I can’t afford to live here…) I’m going to try to post some pictures soon.
Off we go! We have departed for Hawaii and are now at the airport awaiting our flight. It’s pretty early for us – we had to be out before the sun came up. Luckily, all the traffic was flowing inbound and NOBODY wants to leave! It seems that the Superbowl we are escaping is drawing flies like…
So we lounge in the President’s Club using their free wireless network while we waste time before the flight. It’s kinda cool, really. I’m glad they put this here. Now, I can do more work when I travel! … well, maybe not…
Aloha!
Speaking of diving: Laura found a great deal on the dive computer I have been waiting for. It’s a Cochran Gemini that will do multiple Nitrox mixes and allows for decompression diving with different gasses. Not only does that mean I have the computer I thought I’d be buying next year, it means that now Laura has a dive computer! She has my ‘old’ one. Now, my old one is one model down: the Cochran Gemini Plus and has only been used on 30 or so dives, so that means two dive trips. So: we both have Computers, BCs, Regulators… basically, we are all stocked! We even have new boots as the old ones caused raw spots on our feet. These new boots from Poseidon are much thicker – I think they are made of 5mm neoprene… maybe even 7mm. They fit wonderfully and have a firm sole. My old ones didn’t. Laura got new, shorter fins so that she won’t feel like she’s kicking herself.
It may seem like we’ve spent a lot of money, but in fact we got most of these items on clearance for less than half of what they cost retail. That is very handy! Next on my gearing up list is a new BC for me. Laura has a nice back inflation BC which helps her to balance better, while I’m stuck with the one I had from the beginning. It’s not bad, but to prepare for cave diving (which the new computer and high performance regulator are good for) I need a back-inflation, redundant bladder BC that will hold doubles. I’m leaning toward OMS for that. We’ll see what’s available by the time I get ready to purchase.
And speaking of gear: I seem to have misplaced my gloves… Has anyone seen them?
Well, soon Laura and I will be departing to Hawaii. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are really looking forward to it. I don’t think it could come at a better time. The project I’m working on is at a slow point – several sites are finishing up and won’t need my help after this week. The schedule for the next sites hasn’t started yet, so I’m in kind of a holding period. So, I will disappear!
I have never been diving in Hawaii, but I hear that the sea life is fantastic. Large mammals: whales, dolphins, etc. and large fish like sharks and manta rays often are seen. In fact, one dive operator advertises that between dives, they go whale watching or swim with dolphins. I’m all excited, now!
Well, I did it. I completed the firmware update for my Vetta. Now, it is software-identical to the Vetta II. I even was able to keep my preconfigured favorites. It has tons more amplifier models to chose from and some more effects. Of course, I have to re-learn a few things: the old amp models are named something else now. I will say, though, the sound is awesome.
I’ve been playing more now. I have not played in a while because life and work have kept me busy and far away. However, I make it a point now to play on the weekends when I’m home. I don’t want to lose my skills and it always makes me feel better when I play. At least I found the new feature called “half power”. I won’t blow the windows out by accident now!
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