February 2019 Journal Photos

Some interesting chess games I played against the computer this month.

FRC Build Season Week Four

February 1 fell on Friday of week four of Kalani High School's Team Magma (FRC 3008) build season.

Friday

Team members attend the daily tag-up meeting.

The daily tag-up meeting.

The programming test-bed robot is on the floor while students work to assemble the competition robot on the bench.

FRC Build Season Week Five

Monday

I arrived Monday, February 4, at quarter to five for a regular build session evening and stayed for an hour.

The robot is coming along with a driveable base. Front view.

Rear view.

Three quarter view.

The daily tag-up meeting.

Setting up the new 3D printer.

Chinese New Year

The Year of the Boar begins Tuesday, February 5, and is celebrated until the full moon lantern festival in two weeks.

From chess grandmaster Susan Polgar via Facebook.

Ready for the celebration.

Wednesday evening Andrea and I brought dinner to the robotics team. Here a student works on the secondary electronics board.

Mentors Donny and Wayland were there too and Mr. Lum (not shown).

Everybody's busy.

Table saw and mill work.

East Oahu Neighborhood Board Meeting

Andrea and I led a Kalihi Waena Elementary School tour at Manoa Heritage Center Thursday morning, February 7, and went to the beach in the afternoon. In the evening we attended the monthly Neighborhood Board Meeting at Grace Chapel on the makai side of Kalanianaole Highway.

Thursday afternoon we went for a swim. Fish school at lower left in the water behind the Aquarium.

We arrived at Grace Chapel just after sunset.

At the board meeting. A high school student (in pink shirt) talked about the need to regulate nicotine vaporizers.

Friday morning Andrea and I went to our appointments with the opthalmologist in Aina Haina.

Rainbow Bonsai Club Meeting

Andrea and I atteneded the monthly bonsai club meeting on Sunday morning, February 10, in Waimanalo.

President Ryan takes a vote on accepting the minutes.

After the business meeting I talked about my guava forest I brought for show and tell. Photo by Andrea.

Answering questions from the members. Photo by Andrea.

John talks about his ficus forest.

Alan talks about his fukien tea forest.

Ryan talks about his jade tree forests.

FRC Build Season Week Six

Monday, February 11, was a student day off while teachers had an event at the Convention Center, so the team was in the shop from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM. Andrea was chaperone that day, and I came in for an hour at lunch time and brought her lunch.

Students got down the pit booth frame pieces to get ready to ship to our first regional competition in Minnesota.

A temporary camera mount has been added to the robot for the programming team to test with.

Tyler and Noah work on the lift and scoring mechanism.

Meanwhile the PR team works in the cave.

Noah shows two team members how to use the NC mill.

Running the NC mill. Photo by Andrea.

In the afternoon I went for a swim and saw the fallen kiawe tree in Kapiolani Park. A winter storm approached the islands from the north.

Tuesday evvening Andrea and I went to the monthly Aina Haina Prepared planning meeting at Baptist Church in Aina Haina.

Valentine's Day

We had over an inch of rain in the rain guage on Wednesday morning, February 13, the day before Saint Valentine's Day. We got another inch during the day. In the afternoon, the Hau Tree Lanai called saying the restaurant was "flooded out," as we had had a reservation for dinner in the evening. So we decided to have dinner at home on Valentine's Eve.

Wednesday morning Andrea and I went to see our financial advisor in Ala Moana in preparation for tax season. We had lunch at
Islands in the Ala Moana Shopping Center. Then we stopped at Supercuts in Kaimuki and got our hair cut.

Thursday morning, Valentine's Day, Andrea made egg-hearts for breakfast.

It looks like the Valentine Fairy has been here this morning.

Friday evening I went into robotics. Students ponder painting numbers on the bumpers.

Installing a shaft onto the robot.

Working on programming the camera (green lights) for driver vision.

Walking for Tommy Waters

Andrea and I helped Tommy Waters for City Council on Saturday morning, February 16. We met at Cynthia's house on East Hind drive at 8:30 AM and then drove up to Hind Iuka and Mona streets to visit houses on the walk list and hand out flyers.

A portion of a Tommy Waters flyer. The election against incumbent Trevor Ozawa is a do-over on a very close election.

Why we support Tommy for the City Council special election.

Up on Mona Street.

Sunday morning Andrea took Mom for a drive and saw big surf all over the east shores. This is looking toward Kailua from Makapuu.

Saturday afternoon I photographed the books we have in the house and created a page of photos linked from my Literature page. I also linked them from my Our Home in Wailupe Valley page.

Presidents Day

Monday, February 18, was a school holiday and the last full work day of the robotics build season before the robot must be bagged for shipment no later than midnight on Tuesday, February 19. Andrea chaperoned in the day from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and a parent volunteered to be there from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. I came in at 11:00 AM and brought some fried chicken and potato salad for lunch.

We had 0.09 inch in the rain guage this morning making this the wettest February in Aina Haina on record.

Operating the NC mill.

Assembling the scoring mechanism and lift.

The programming team in the cave mapped the game controller interface.

Waylan came in and helped with assembly tasks.

Tuesday

Tuesday, February 19, was stop work day. The robot was bagged and sealed before 7:00 PM (midnight in New Hampshire).

Final assembly of the robot.

Painting the numbers on the bumpers and making buttons to give away at the competitions.

In the cave a frosted cupcake reenergization break.

The cascade lift works well.

Everyone is busy.

Wednesday morning. Photo by Team Magma via Facebook. Well done, team!

Sans Souci Beach

Andrea and I went to the beach Wednesday afternoon, February 20, after more than a week of rainy weather.

The sunny weather brought out the beach-goers on Wednesday.

Creating Oahu's Natural Hazard Mitigation Strategy Implementation Actions and Priorities

Andrea attended the disaster preparedness planning conference at the Blaisdell Center on Saturday, February 23. Lunch was served. I stayed home and mowed the lawn and worked to contour the ground in the back yard. I made myself a steak sandwich for lunch.

Introductory slide.

Attendees.

Tsunami session.

Sunday morning I seeded the contoured areas of lawn, mixing the grass seed with a cubic foot bag of potting soil, on top of six bags of
cinders, six bags of compost and soil conditioner, and two bags of sand.

Monday we went to the beach and it was a low tide at nearly a half moon. The sea water pipe at the Aquarium was exposed.

Bishop Museum: Kini Ke Akua

Andrea and I went to the Bishop Museum on Tuesday morning, February 26, to see the new Rapa Nui and Kini Ke Akua exhibits.

We arrived fairly early and I photographed this Rapa Nui style head in the front yard of Bishop Museum.

Photo by Andrea.

This wooden gate is new, a gift from New Zealand. Photo by Andrea.

A group was there building what appears to be a hale (Hawaiian style house).

A case of wooden figures inside the Rapa Nui exhibit.

Andrea read the description on the case of wooden figures.

Stylish dresses and wooden figures.

Photographs by Rapa Nui artists.

A wooden figure reclining in a nest.

Standing beside the hanging nest. Photo by Andrea.

Andrea with a model of Hokulea at the museum main hall.

Ku, newly donated to the museum.

Two large kii in the main hall, Ku on the left and (probably) Lono on the right.

Kii from Maui, one very old with its newer replacement.

After visiting the museum we drove to Waikiki for lunch at the Hau Tree Lanai.

I had the spicy garlic shrimp with white rice and Andrea had the seared ahi sandwich with French fries. Delicious as usual. Photo by Andrea.

I saw this image on Facebook. If only we had room for something like this. Looks like a table lamp, doesn't it?

Manoa Heritage Center Tour

Andrea led a tour on Wednesday afternoon, February 27, and I went along to assist. I carried some umbrellas in case of rain, but we didn't need them. Afterward we dropped off some papers with our tax preparer and then went to the beach for a swim. Then we walked to the Moana Hotel for cocktails and pupu at the beach bar in the Banyan Court.

Andrea led the small adult tour to the starting point in the front of Kualii (the name of the Tudor style house).

Three more joined us a bit late.

On the back terrace with the deck guns and whaler cauldrens.

Jenny and Keala in the office after the tour.

We sampled their new drink called a hukilau with Kula rum and a plastic cup to keep.

Lovely hula dancer.

Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com