June 23, 2007

Another Rockin’ Girl Blogger

Ruth, over at There Are A Million Stories” was kind enough to tag me with the Rockin’ Girl Blogger Badge. I already tagged several people with it last week, but I’ve made a new friend recently who definitely rocks, so I’m passing this one on to her! So Janna, come get your badge! Those of you who haven’t met Janna yet should really make an effort to do so. She’s the kind of gal I could spend a day furniture shopping with, or maybe watching chick-flicks with while stuffing our faces with chocolate-covered orange slices. Her wit is sharp, but she rarely uses it to cut down her visitors, so go check her out.

Janna, copy the badge above and paste it into a post on your own blog. Then you need to find five Rockin’ Girl Bloggers (or more if you want!) and tag them. Spread the love!

Technorati Tags: blogs, meme, Rockin’ Girl Bloggers

Flight 29 Down

Look what I found, sitting out at the marina right here on my coast.

If you don’t watch kid programs on TV you won’t know why I recognized this wreck of a plane from across an acre of parking. Sure enough, when I got closer, my suspicions were verified.

If there’s any doubt in your mind, do a comparison with this photo from Discovery Kids. The windows and paint job are identical. You can even see a ladder-like configuration of rivets just to the right of the rear window in both pictures.

There’s a pirated video on YouTube that shows the plane, sans wings, in one shot. That shot also confirms that this is the same plane.

The inside of the plane has beeen gutted and the fuselage is ripped open in two areas. The larger opening is covered over with cardboard, and some electronics are exposed in two panels nearby. I was surprised to see a circuit board still intact and surprisingly clean. It almost looks like you could plug some network cables into the side of the plane and download its flight data.

By the way, if you haven’t discovered it yet, Flight 29 Down is a great kids show on Discovery. I first watched it because I enjoy seeing shows that are filmed locally. It’s a hoot to see scenery and recognize it as something familiar. I found the story interesting and kept watching. Kind of like Lost with a planeful of kids instead of adults, and with teen angst providing the drama in the place of diabolical corporate conspiracy. Quality programing you might enjoy, too. That’s skeet’s tip of the day.

Technorati Tags: airplane, flight 29 Down, photos, wrecked plane

June 22, 2007

Pau hana Friday

My Waikiki condo inspection this morning was uneventful. As I was stowing my gear in the trunk I looked up and noticed a small area of damage to some wood framing installed to support the roofing of the low steel-framed carport. One two-by-four diagonal brace was split and there was a scrape on adjacent framing, as if maybe a truck with a ladder rack
had been a little too tall for the structure. I took my probe back out of my trunk to investigate and was rewarded with a face full of drywood termtie pellets falling from the framing. That’s poop, to the uninformed. Detached structures are usually disclaimed in my reports for condominiums, but I asked the realtor representing the buyer if it should be included. Yes, because the stall would belong to him specifically and was not a common element. Not a major problem, but the real estate closing which was scheduled for early next week will likely be delayed until treatment can be arranged. Sucks, but things like that happen when they wait until the last moment to schedule an inspection.

The view is looking out over the Ala Wai Canal from the sixth floor lanai of the condo. Up until recently the scene would likely have been more populated. Fishing and paddling (by canoe clubs) have moved on to other sites because of contaminated water in the canal. Still, a pleasant scene with Ala Wai Field, Ala Wai Elementary School and Ala Wai Golf Course providing a park-like buffer between the canal and Kapahulu. The little slice of Diamond Head, doesn’t hurt, either.

It’s a few minutes before three. I have one report to complete and I’ll be pau hana (done with work!) Let the weekend begin!

Technorati Tags: condominiums, Hawaii, inspections, photo, real estate, termites, Waikiki

June 21, 2007

Photo contest

I really enjoy using photographs on my blog. As I’ve stated before (was it here or elsewhere?) I like to illustrate my stories with photos, and I enjoy seeing and sharing stories inspired by photos. I’m a rank amateur with a camera, but I’ve gotten some very encouraging feedback on a few of my photos and even some suggestions that some of them should be entered in a photo contest. I filed that away with “folks saying nice things because they like me” until just recently. Now that I have photos that are accessible to the public online I’m rethinking and exploring the idea of photo contests. People who don’t know me are viewing my photos and have been very kind. I’ve decided it’s time to revisit the question of whether or not my photos are good enough to enter into a photography contest. I’ve selected what I believe are the “best of the best,” either because I like them or because of the feedback I’ve gotten. Here they are:

Should I even enter the photo contest?

I’m not much into public humiliation. I know that some of these photos are good, but not whether they are good enough to enter into a photo contest where they will be seen by tens of thousands of people. We’re all friends here. I can take it on the chin if y’all tell me I should wait until my talents have matured (that would be a nice diplomatic way for you to put it, right?) I’d much rather hear it from my friends than to enter pictures in the photo contest and invite the scorn of the masses.

You definitely should enter the photo contest!

Whether my own photographs are ready or not, I know that some of you are very skilled photographers and should enter the photo contest. The Pictures.com Free Photo contest has over $100,000 in prizes. A single photograph could win you $10,000, so I’m expecting you to enter your best work. Entering the photo contest is easy as pie.

Photo contest entry is easy

As you can see, it’s a simple three-step process to enter the photo contest. Fill out the submission form, accept their terms and then upload and categorize your photo all from one page. The photo contest submission form is short and as non-inturusive as these things can be. They don’t even ask for a phone number, so you won’t need to worry about getting tele-spammed. I’m expecting quite a few of you to pick your best photographs and submit them into the Pictures.com Free Photo contest. You know who you are, so don’t make me go looking for you with my nagging face on!

Categories for the photo contest:

There are ten photo contest categories to select from:

Animals and Pets
People
Travel
Children
Sports
Nature
Action
Humor
Portraiture
Other

My photo of Lance would fit nicely into the pet photo contest, and I like Auntie Ukelele of the Bathouse for the people category. I’m not sure about the boogie board boys. Sports or action photo? And the boy being arrested - is that action or people? I don’t think of things like photo contests when I’m taking photos. I just see something I like and do my best to shoot it. I’m not sure about the plumeria buds photograph either. The rules state that photos entered in the photo contest cannot be artificially enhanced. The plumeria buds were cropped from a larger picture, much like I do with the puzzle piece for my weekly photo contest. Is that artificial enhancement?

So there ya go. Now it’s your turn. I need you to do two things for me. Tell me if I should enter the photo contest, and, if so, which photo you think is a winner. Then click the link and fill out your own entry for the photo contest. If you’re entering photos you have posted on your blog or somewhere else online, I’d love to get a link so I can go see them.

I don’t ask for much, do I?

Technorati Tags: sponsored post, photo contest, photos, photographs, photography contest, Pictures.com

Veto for stem cell research

President Bush has again vetoed allowing federal dollars to be invested in human embryonic stem cell research, stating that it “crosses an ethical line” and “violates the sanctity of human life.” The president instead endorsed other types of stem cell research.

Hillary Clinton, one of Bush’s most vocal opponents, was quick with her rebuttal: “This is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science, politics before the needs of our families.”

I’m not asking for your politics or religious beliefs as concerns stem cell research (unless you want to state them, which you are certainly welcome to do.) If I knew how to post an anonymous poll for this post I would. Instead I’ll ask you what I believe is a straightforward question. The presidents job is to do the will of the people. Many polls say that the majority of the American public favors federally funded research using embryonic stem cells. Other polls show the opposite finding. So that’s my question to US readers, and I’d appreciate it if you would answer, with or without additional dialog.

Do you believe that federal dollars should be used for embryonic stem cell research?

My Digg buttons never work. Digg it here!

Technorati Tags: CBS News, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, human embryonic stem cell research, TheNewsRoom

Sandcastles

Everyone is thinking about vacations this time of year. As the sole proprietor and lone employee of a small business, vacations are a luxury I can’t put on my agenda very often. I can dream, though. I can dream about spending time with family and friends and about exotic locations that would be fun to visit. How nice would it be to combine the two and meet my entire family and all of my friends at a vacation resort where we could spend our time relaxing and catching up with each other? I just used a really neat tool to help me visualize that. Everyone should build Sandcastles some time in their life, cool ocean breezes blowing and surf shushing in the background. I built mine and can use it to help me picture that perfect vacation.

I’ve looked at the other sandcastles people have made and I’m a little embarrassed to display mine. I’d like to think that I’m not lacking in imagination. I think the missing ingredient for me was a child to help me see the possibilites while I was playing with this fun application. A child would have added more color and tossed a few seashells and beach toys on the sand around the sandcastle. Maybe I should borrow one of the neighborhood kids and let them help me build another one.

Go build your own sandcastle! The tools are easy to use and it’s a fun way to take a break. The finished castle is an ecard, so you can send it to all your friends and share the fun. Post me a link in comments or send me the ecard, too, so I can go visit your fantasy sandcastle.

I’ve been wanting to take a diving vacation with Beaches in Turks & Caicos ever since I got certified to dive. One of these days I’m going to figure out the magic formula that will let me close my business down for a week or so without offending all of my clients. Maybe we can all go diving together then! Until then, I’ll keep taking mini-breaks and building virtual sandcastles.

Technorati Tags: beach resorts, kid-safe online fun, sandcastle builder, sandcastles, vacations

Tuesday Teaser Photo Proof

Sorry folks! No winner this week.

Suni guessed that it was a reflective road sign.

Kat guessed that it was a reflective street sign.

Neither of them was told no, though all of the other answers were emphatically negated. They were told instead that their answers were too generic. Even though I “don’t give hints,” that was a hint! Maybe it was too subtle. No one googled street signs and had a “Duh!” moment.

Rule number three came into play:

3. Answers must specifically identify the item. For instance, if the item depicted were to be a button on a remote control, the answer “button on something electronic” would not suffice.

I hope you all feel that I’ve played fair. The photo is in keeping with my selection criteria that the item must be something common enough that most people are familiar with it. (FYI - the other thing I try to do is to avoid being US-centric. This same towing zone emblem is used in Europe, though I don’t know about other parts of the world, and is considered an international emblem for towing zones.)

The prizes for this week will carry over to next week. The winner next week will receive two linky-love post and will have two entries in the gift card drawing at the end of the month.

Technorati Tags: blog contest, contest, photo contest, photo puzzle

June 20, 2007

Rockin’ Girl Blogger

Beth thinks I rock! How cool is that! She gave me a Rockin’ Girl Blogger badge to put on my blog. I think that’s pretty cool, but I gotta tell ya it’s been a while since anyone called me girl. Maybe I can convince other people that I’m still a girl, too, then I could get me some child life insurance. No one wants to sell life insurance to anyone who’s over the hill, so maybe if I show my agent my shiny new Rockin’ Girl Blogger badge he’ll come up with some options for me, ya think? The possibilities are staggering. I could afford to go to Disney World if they’d let me pay the kid rate. Haircuts for half the price! I think I’m gonna find me a jewler to make me a badge I can wear everywhere I go. You think that would work in place of a driver’s license when I need an ID? Okay, the plan needs a little work, but I see discounts in my future.

I know some other gal bloggers who rock and I’m gonna leave it up to them whether they think they qualify to be called girl or not. Such a personal thing, it should be left in their hands, right? Here are some of my Rockin’ Girl Blogger friends:

Ms. Kat rocks my socks. There is nothing she can’t do. I’m convinced of it!

Suni is a girly-girl but rough as nails … or bulletz!

Kate wants us to think she’s venomous, but I’ve got her number. She’s got a soft spot. I like that in a girl!

Angie loves being a girl and wants everyone to know it. I think she’ll be proud to have this recognition!

Kara has flowers on the pink header of her baby blue blog. Girly? You bet!

If I tagged you, it because I know you rock! You get to put the Rockin’ Girl Blogger badge on your blog. You get to tag other people and give them the badge too, if you want - I’m not picky. If I didn’t tag you it’s not because you don’t rock, it’s just because I have a termite report to write and I’ve run out of time. How girly is that? Go ahead - grab a badge! Tell everyone you’re a Rockin Girl Blogger, too!

Technorati Tags: blog memes, bloggers, women bloggers

A little off track!

I didn’t get to do my follow-up story about my community yesterday. Didn’t get much of anything done. I spent several hours fooling with new security software because Norton turned on me and was not allowing me to view things I needed to see, like images on my own blog. I think I’ve got everthing good to go now, but it may take me a day or two to catch up on things I need to do.

I’m off to find some tiny critters. Hopefully will have some blogging time this afternoon when I return!

Technorati Tags: blogging, frustration, Norton, security software

June 19, 2007

Hawaiian Discount Car Rentals

When you come to visit me on Oahu I’ll probably take a few days off to show you the wonders of my island paradise. There’s a secret cove where the green sea turtles gather that you won’t find in any guidebook. We’ll enjoy some local plate lunches and spend a day Waimea Falls, too. I can’t close my business for days on end though, so you’ll need to check out Car Rentals Hawaii while you’re making your travel arrangements. Their corporate contracts are with Thrifty, Avis, Budget, Enterprise and others, so you’ll have a world of cars to choose from. Whether you select a luxury sedan, a van with room for the kids or a Jeep Wrangler for off-road fun, their Car Rental Fleet has what you need at affordable prices. And, hey - don’t forget to ask about a free upgrade when you make your reservation.

There’s an inter-island airfare war going on, so I recommend you take advantage of it and visit the outer islands, too. I can tell you all about my favorite places on the Big Island, like the hidden path where anthuriums grow like weeds in the forest. I don’t know Maui, Molokai or Kauai, though, so check out Hawaii Car Drives for help planning your itenerary. Their site descriptions, travel tips and descriptive information will help you decide jut where you want to go and what you want to do.

Give me a few days warning before you come. I’ll get the guest room ready and arrange for a few days off so I can help you get a good start on your island-hopping Hawaiian adventure!

Technorati Tags: car rentals, Hawaii car rentals, Hawaii vacation