IASA #4-39

Goats getting bolder since Lapakahi closed due to Hurricane Lala; there were 17 right in front of visitor center!

 

IASA #4-38

After storms, mouse population exploded; Lapakahi visitor center now home to at least 3 mice.

 

IASA #4-37

Mo'o inspects cats on their way to annual vet check-up. 'Alani (far L) is not amused.

 

Rough Night

I crawled in to bed about 7 pm last night. I was feeling very cold, my joints were aching a lot, & I had a really bad cough; my throat was so raw & sore I wanted to tear it out! It would have been less painful! Yesterday morning, when I took Mo'o out I noticed that my knees were aching; my 1st thought was that I had forgotten to take my collagen supplements for a couple weeks, but that wasn't it; I have been pretty consistent with taking the supplements because they do help my knee pain. My 2nd thought was, "Oh, no! I'm getting old!" Which is unavoidable if one continues to be alive. In hindsight, I see that it was the beginning of this illness I am dealing with. The knees stopped hurting once the fever passed.

I had a very active evening. I felt like I was surrounded by faceless black humanoid shapes that kept crowding me. I kept pushing them away & grunting at them. (Not sure why I had no words.) It reminded me of being at a shopping mall during the holiday shopping sprees; one of my least favorite places. The black shapes were about a head taller than me; much like being in a shopping mall frenzy. But there was one other shape there that was a little taller than the other shapes. It was standing behind me but not pushing up against me like the other shapes. The taller shape was also pushing the other black shapes away from me & giving me more room to move. I was grateful for the help from the taller shape but I still tore up the bed! My sheets & quilt & pillows were thrown all over the place when I woke up this morning! No wonder I felt like I did not get any rest last night.

I woke up about 6 am this morning; even though I was still in really bad shape I had to let Mo'o out. Fortunately, she responds to voice commands so I was able to tell her to go to the back door, then let her out & have her take care of herself the rest of the day. When I brought her in this evening, I also used voice commands; I am so glad she responds well. I would not have been able to chase her down to get her back in. Right now she is in my room in her guarding position between the door & my bed, chewing on one of her bones. I think I might let her stay in my room tonight. (Usually she patrols the interior of the house & alerts me to strange noises or actions. Like an earthquake; although I usually pick up on those before the temblor arrives.)

FYI This is the 1st time since I moved to Kohala 4&1/2 years ago that I have been so sick that Kai was concerned that I live by myself. And that's only because he happened to call me when I was in the middle of a coughing fit. When I moved to Washington, I never told my mother about being sick or doing things she would not approve of (like skydiving), I felt it was better to keep her in the dark so she wouldn't worry. I tend to do the same thing with Kai. (He rarely reads the blog so is unlikely to find out about this. DON'T TELL HIM!)

Going back to sleep now. 

Love Crossed

I finished watching Love Crossed tonight. It is a modern romance with feudal Chinese undertones. Why am I watching a modern romance? One of the You Tube videos I watched a couple months ago on learning a new language said watching shows in the language you are studying helps you learn the cadence, pronunciation, & new phrases in that language; & then this popped up when I opened Rakuten Viki. I decided I better add some modern shows since there would not be much use for the common phrase in feudal Chinese shows, "I must be punished! Kill me!" Now I know how to say, "I like you" in Mandarin. (Chinese culture, both feudal & modern, is apparently shy about stating unequivocally that you love someone unless you really, really, really, Really, REALLY love someone. So saying, "I like you" is a big deal. Not sure why they allowed "love" to be in the title.) 

SPOILER ALERT - The feudal Chinese undertone in Love Crossed is in the hidden familial relationship between Xu Nian, leader of the Y4 Love Boys, & the head of the entertainment syndicate as well as the true back stories of each of the other Y4 Love Boys. And also the plotting, keeping secrets from your "like" interest, & miscommunications. For most of the characters there is a happy ending. (Obviously not for the villains.) FYI It is in the "Once Is Enough" category of my Asian Series Rabbit Hole document because no horses, swords, or martial arts. (Well, there is a little bit of martial arts near the end but nothing spectacular.)

The head villain. Somewhat Darth Vadar-looking; always in black but no helmet or sword.

Today I discovered using a Hawaiian keyboard in Linux is more involved than on the Mac. I need to configure the compose keys (that are already pre-made in Mac OS). So bear with me while I figure that out. And I also may need to add additional software for Mandarin in Hanzi & Pinyin, so donʻt look for any of those any time soon. This is likely because there are fewer Linux users wanting to type in Hawaiian or Mandarin so a quick key type of thing like I had in the Mac OS is a little more cumbersome. Itʻs a good thing I am not afraid of going down that path. 

How I discovered that I have additional work to get the Hawaiian & Mandarin to work on the Framework is because I started working on the posts for the days I was in WA. The 1st one I worked on was for 09/28 when we built my new Framework laptop (that I am using to write this post!) That was the primary reason for going to WA at this particular time. Click here to check out the updated post!

Another thing I discovered is that Linux makes you do additional steps to make sure you really want it to do something. Like when I go through my photos to select the ones I will be using for the blog, I turn the ones that are not in consideration sideways. With Mac OS I just rotate it & move on to the next photo. With Linux I have to also click on the Save button for the change to take effect.

The original.

Rotated it so I know not to use it. But it asks me to Save! Mac OS does not do that.

Now Saved, so Linux let's me move on to next step.

While those things involve a couple more steps, & over my lifetime might add up to significant amount of time, what I like about Linux is that it doesnʻt automatically do things like update your operating system without you knowing it or downloading stuff from a zip drive that has been plugged in to your computer. For the updates, I have to click on the notification in the toolbar, answer"y" (yes I want to update), then enter my password before the update will begin.

It asks if I want to do the update.

I said "Yes", so now it asks for my password.

It shows me the list of updates & asks if I want to proceed with the updates.

It starts updating with little yellow cʻs chomping along like Pacman!

As it finishes each update it gives countdown; right now it is showing 5 out of 285 done.

It rained on & off today.  The day was mainly overcast & had some light drizzle for most of the day. But then, every so often it would pour. Especially in the afternoon & evening. The cats slept through it.

At 12:22 pm.

At 2:19 pm it was raining so hard you could easily see it on all 4 cameras.

At 2:19 pm.

At 2:49 pm.

At 2:59 pm.

At 11:15 pm.

I forgot to get on to Lingopie today. I sort of made up for it on Duolingo; I started 1st thing this morning when I woke up. That is my usual time to do my Duolingo lesson; today it was Hanzi practice! 

Only the last stroke was missing.

My pronunciation is getting better!

Later, while waiting for my breakfast order at Motek Bakery, I did a couple more lessons on Duolingo. I am glad I paid for the Super Duolingo so I can make unlimited mistakes & still continue learning. With the regular it is like playing a game where you have "life points", when you lose them all you either have to watch ads to get some back or wait until you are refilled the next day.. That was very frustrating when I started Mandarin so I started an annual subscription. (Iʻm pretty sure it will take me at least a couple of years to finish all the Mandarin lessons on Duolingo!) 

On these "Translate this sentence" ones they give you a bunch of words. 

Then you figure out what the sentence is using those words.

Knowing some words gives me a good chance at guessing the rest of the words.

And also their word order.

These phrases are a little more difficult.

These are sometimes difficult.

I need to add lines linking the pairs.

There are no hurricanes, storms, or disturbances expected in the central Pacific area for the next week. But there is a hurricane in the eastern Pacific named after Trudy! 

The next episode of the eruption of Kilauea is currently paused after the end of Episode 55 yesterday.

Taking a Little Longer

It is taking me a little longer to update the posts I started when I began my visit to WA in late September. I am on the learning curve for the new-to-me Linux OS. Learning how to down load photos to the laptop, sort them in to the proper folders for the blog, then label them, & insert them in to each post has been tedious. And a week's worth of reading for the last planning commission meeting did not help matters! That is why the only new things you have seen are the IASA posts. Hoping to get a full post out to you some time today. 🤞

IASA #4-36

 

Watching friends Gage (2nd from R) & Kate (far R) playing volleyball at Keauhou Bay.

IASA #4-35

I was fortunate to be able to attend the memorial for my long-time friend Tong.

10/06 Short Version

Kai did the final touches on the Framework, adding an ad blocker, teaching me how to transfer screen shots, & getting rid of some things that were slowing down the start up time. Check back later for details.

Cousin Tomiko knows Kai likes coffee, so she suggested he try Boon Boona for his morning caffeine fix.

After we got back from the coffee run, I did my final packing & added all the things that were either frozen or cold.

Then we headed to the airport for my flight home that left just before 6 pm. 

My large suitcase weighed 52 pounds & the small one was 34 pounds; although I could pay $100 for an overweight bag I think 75 pounds is the limit for those so getting that 2nd suitcase was a smart move.

10/05 Short Version

We had lunch with Shabbir & Ruquyi at Kabob Korner. Check back later for details.

While Kai had Persian tea with lunch, there was not enough caffeine for him so we stopped at The Muse for him to get his fix.

Unfortunately that stop meant we missed seeing Gary when we dropped in at Z Sport where Kai gets his car serviced; but we did get to visit with his son Chuck who is now running the business. 

We stopped at Value Village to pick up a small rolling suitcase since I am allowed 2 bags for free; I am pretty sure I will not be able to pack all the omiyage in to my  large suitcase & still stay under the 50 pound weight limit.

We had dinner with Bo & Barbara at Fisherman Jack's.

Then we headed to Renton to cousin Karen's house since the ferry 'sick out' made the sailing schedule unpredictable for a trip to Bainbridge Island to spend the night at cousin Tomiko's house. 

10/04 Short Version

We met with Mary Ellen at her house; she had left a meeting early in order to see us. Check back later for details. 

Later me met with Barb for dinner at Yemeni House in Lynnwood.

10/03 Short Version

I was fortunate to be able to go to my friend Tong's memorial during this visit. Check back later for details.

After the memorial I got together with former co-workers Keith, Beth, Patrick, Ken, Dorothy, Shawn, Darla & Clarissa.

Later I had lunch with Darla & Clarissa at Thai Fusion

On the way back up to Darla's, we picked Kai up at Anne & Mary Kay's where he spent the night so I did not have to make a 2-hour round trip to drop him off at his house after Chinese movie night.

Later in the evening, Kai got Thunderbird email installed on the Framework laptop.

IASA #4-34

Kai taught me how to build my own Framework laptop!

 

10/02 Short Version

Darla & I met Keith at Thai Thai Restaurant for lunch. Check back later for details.

After picking Kai up, we picked up dinner at Phoenix Pavilion.

We took the dinner to Anne & Mary Kay's where we had Chinese movie night! 

 

10/01 Short Version

I burned Kai out by being too energetic so I was on my own today while he slept to get recharged. Check back later for details.

I visited with cousin Scott, his wife Wakana, & their dog Momo.

Later I went to the Everett Trader Joe's to visit my friend Gulshan.

Then I joined Darla for a tasty dinner made by Jim!

09/30 Short Version

The hard drive that Ben sent arrived a little after lunch today; Kai transferred the data from the MacBook Pro to the Framework. Check back later for details.

I check the security cameras almost every morning to see what the cats are doing; today I saw there was a pig in Denaʻs yard last night! 

We started the day with breakfast at Good Bagels. 

Then we stopped in at the Sea Bear Cannery store to pick up omiyage. 

 

09/29 Short Version

Since we are waiting for the external hard drive from Ben to arrive, we visited with friends up north today. Check back later for details.

We met Lani for lunch at The Lunchbox Diner in Mount Vernon.

Then we headed up to Bellingham to visit with Carole & Norm.

We had dinner with them at Texas Roadhouse.

Framework 13

The main reason for my visit to WA this time is for a new laptop; specifically to build one. When Kai was visiting me in July we discussed replacing my 8 year old MacBook Pro. Initially, we talked about getting a new MacBook laptop from the Apple Store when we went to Honolulu. But then he asked me if I would like a laptop that I only needed to replace failing parts & not the entire machine; that appealed to me very much. He also asked if I would like to switch over to using the Linux operating system; that also appealed to me. He then told me about the Framework brand of computers. He also explained what we would need to order & about how long it would take to put it together & have all the information from my current MacBook Pro switched over to the Framework. So we made plans for the parts to be mailed to him & for me to spend time in WA learning how to put it together & start using the Linux OS.

We ordered a Framework 13; it is a laptop with a 13.5" screen similar to the size of my current MacBook Pro. Now if I need to replace a part I just need to order the part, drive 1 mile to the post office when it arrives, pick up the part, drive back home, & plug it in! May be 15 minutes at the most. Unlike with the MacBook Pro where I have to drive 1 hour to get to Kona & drop it off, then come back on another day to pick it up; a total of 4 hours driving! For the Framework, everything is labelled & has QR codes that provide links to more information on the installation. 

Kai showing me how to get to website.

Kai with the parts box.

All parts laid out.

We started around 10 am & were done putting it together about 12 noon! It was very easy & simple; things basically plugged in to other things. It did make it easier that Kai was there to point out where to plug things in & what kind of angles I would have to approach the different spots in & how much force I would need to ensure the part was making proper contact. Here is the inside of the Framework.

This part arrives already assembled.

Kai shows me where memory goes.

And how to install it; I added other portion of memory.

Look! The battery is replaceable!

I like that they list the Framework team!

Once all the internal pieces were installed, we worked on the exterior parts. There were different options for colors of the input cover & the bezel. We had also selected the 4 different expansion cards (ports) to be installed.

The input cover, aka keyboard.

Backside of input cover.

Connecting input cover to rest of computer.

Ta-da!

Once the input cover was attached, we were able to turn on the power to the laptop. Of course, since there was no operating system installed yet, it only showed some lights. We also installed the bezel which is the part around the screen. I chose a clear bezel so the parts underneath it are visible. When the cover is opened it is immediately noticeable that it is not your usual laptop so no one can mistakenly think it is theirs. 

We have power!

The clear bezel ...

... now installed.

Then we flipped the laptop over & began installing the 4 expansion cards. I have 2 USB-C ports, an HDMI port, & a DP port. If things change, I can easily change the type of ports I have on the Framework instead of having to buy a new laptop. 

No cards installed.

Adding a USB-C card.

Adding an HDMI card.

These are the 4 cards & their locations on the Framework.

 

Kai then installed the Linux operating system on the laptop. He is an avid proponent of using Linux. But up until recently, you really needed more recent programming background than I have in order to work with a Linux OS. Things have changed enough that he feels it is now at the level that someone with even some old programming background like I have can easily use Linux as my operating system. (I was once offered a position at the National Marine Fisheries Services' Montlake Lab as a programmer. But I would not be allowed to go out on the boats so I declined the offer & took my chances trying to get in to a fisheries biologist position. Biologists with programming backgrounds were rare at that time.)  

It tells you where to go if you need help installing the OS.

But Kai didn't need that.

Here's what he was looking at.

The Cachy version of the Linux operating system is what Kai installed for me. The start up screen gives me access to some tutorials & other information; I can turn it off after I have explored different things.  

Before this comes up, access to OS is available as soon as computer boots up.

Kai starts to configure things for me.

Not sure what this screen is about ...

... but we are all done!

Kai then tried to see if he could move things from my old laptop to the new one with the external hard drives he had. But 2 were not working & the 3rd was too full. So we had to go to Best Buy to get an external hard drive. Because of the cost of memory due to crazy trade wars by Orange He Who Shall Not Been Named, many manufacturers are holding off on production so reasonably priced external hard drives are hard to find. And when they do show up they are immediately snatched up. The only ones we found were outrageously priced so Kai decided to try another route to getting one.

Kai checked in with his friend Ben to see if he had a spare we could buy from him. He did not. But unknown to Kai, Ben ordered one from Amazon using an old store credit that he had; then messaged Kai saying to expect it to arrive in 2 days on Wednesday! I will be sending Ben a Thank You package of Ka'u coffee & Honoka'a chocolate after I get back home! 

We had started out the day with breakfast at The Store; they have an amazing variety of muffins! They make so many varieties that what is available is different every day. Some are seasonal; like pumpkin pie spice at this time of the year. During fruit season there are lots with fresh fruit. They also have a small selection of sandwiches & other food items. And coffee. Kai always gets coffee with his muffins.

Display case at The Store; options change every day.

Later we had dinner at Fidalgo Drive-In; I tried the Tillamook cheddar burger. Can't remember what Kai had. There was nothing spectacular to report about dinner except that they are really a "drive-in" where they will come out to your car & take your order when you park in the designated "drive-in" spots. Though I don't know why you would want to eat in your car; I only did that when I was stuck out in the field far enough away from an eating place that it did not make sense to drive back in to town for lunch. We chose to eat in the restaurant portion.

All the thumbnails of the cats that showed up on the security cameras were of them in the cat yard. Yay! No delinquent kitties!

The 4 on the bottom right are of Mo'o.

 

My progress on Lingopie has been steady but slow. I am glad I can watch it anywhere I have Internet access. I am still at remembering about 70% of the earlier words that I learned. 

Progress on Duolingo is a little harder for me to judge. There are some parts that I am very good at & others that I am really lacking. On the plus side, it is really exercising my brain!

This tracing part is really easy!

This is more difficult because I need to remember the Pinyin that goes with the Hanzi.

If I don't know these, I can usually figure it out by elimination.

I am sort of getting the hang of the pronunciations.

  

Episode 55 of the eruption at Kīlauea is still elusive. There is no prediction as  to when it will begin.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Dorothy, Hannalee, & Sheryl!