oopshaha!

Completely missed out on the month of September! Another year older, not necessarily wiser. Nothing spectacular happened, that warranted a blog entry, and I haven't worked on any fractals recently either. However, Apophysis 2.08 beta 2 was quietly released, so I will be playing with that to see what I can come up with.

I added a link to my favorites (Check It Out) list, for Lunch In A Box, an absolutely wonderful blog/site written by a SF Bay area mom. It's all about bentos, as well as preparations and recipes. I've always loved bentos, but despite the fact that mom was Japanese, I never had them prepared for me as a child. Growing up in Hawaii, I did buy the occasional Zippy's Zip Pac...and even had the opportunity to have authentic bentos while traveling through Japan in the early 80s. Thanks to Biggie at Lunch In A Box, I've decided to get into making bentos. Of course this means being stocked with proper supplies! mwaahaha! I love shopping so... I've already found some great bento boxes and supplies during my trip to Hawaii, and more recently on my trip to Beaverton's Uwajimaya asian market. Because of my odd-ball rotating shift work schedule, I probably won't be taking a bento lunch to every shift, but it will be a (good) challenge to keep on it as often as possible. Plus the portion control will be a tremendous help...health-wise as well as financially. :)

Another vacation

Went to Hawaii again, same time as last year, but for a shorter time. It's getting crazy expensive to travel these days, although I would love to make it an annual occurrence. As expected, I had a great time visiting with my good friends Cynthia, Mariellen & Andrew, and Jessie. We managed to get in touch with Audri, and she joined us for some of the fun. yay!

We did the usual Made In Hawaii Festival and the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet....I was in shopping heaven! We also had fun at Krazy Karaoke in Pearl City! It never fails, we go to karaoke to sing, and end up spending half the time laughing till our stomachs hurt! While we were roaming the MIH show, I bumped into a long-time friend, Gail. It was awesome seeing her again, it had been so long since the last time. She had worked for Aloha Airlines for almost 30 years, and unfortunately, the airline recently went under. All those years, and no retirement. :o(

The weather was totally awesome! The food was excellent! It was a very short 5 days (4 not counting travel) that went by so quickly. I was exhausted by the time I got back home, needed an extra day to recover! I also managed to snag a good deal on upgrading to first class on both flights to and from Honolulu! woot! It helped tremendously to be able to stretch out a little. :o)

Thanks, once again, to my friends, for making my visit a memorable one! Here's to many more visits! Love you guys!!

Mini Vacation

I just finished working six 9-hour days, and yesterday would have made 7 days. I opted to take one day of leave and tack it onto my regularly scheduled 4 days off...so, five days off will do the trick I think! Not doing much during this mini vacation...although I would love to head to Portland for a day, gas prices won't let me do it for now. I may try in a few months. So just sticking close to home, running errands and doing house chores...how fun.

Summer

I have finally updated Firefox to version 3, and all add-ons are current and work with this version. My fave skins, macfox and macfox II, have yet to be updated. I'm not alone in hoping the author is actually working on it, as there are a lot of comments asking for an update since 3 was released. Fingers crossed. Now I can blissfully use both IE7 and FF3, about half and half between the two.

It's been either hot or very warm, and on top of that very smokey and/or just hazy. I don't mind the heat, in fact I don't mind working out in the field in this heat. I just don't like battling with the wasps and yellow jackets, ugh! Been pretty busy at work, ever since Jim left. Sometimes I feel like I'm climbing that giant sand dune...keep sliding back down. I'm hoping they hurry and select someone for the HMT vacancy, especially with Co-op experience, major plus!

Going to Hawaii again next month! woohoo! It won't be for as long as last year's trip, just couldn't get myself to fork out the extra bucks this time. Prices have gone up across the board...airfare, hotel, rental/gas. :o/ I'm looking forward to seeing Cyn, Mariellen, Jess, and the rest of the gang! I'm also looking forward to checking out the Made In Hawaii (MIH) Festival and the Aloha Stadium Swapmeet. :oD Oh, mental note...gotta remember to hit the Costco while I'm there, lots of local goodies and great prices. Oh darn, forgot that the airlines are charging for checked baggage, and overweight baggage. I'll probably mail stuff to myself again.

Haven't had a chance to play with Apophysis lately, but I did manage to render one from my June parameters...

It's a new year

As I look back on 2007, it all seems to be a blur already. Not sure if it is because I'm getting old(er) or perhaps I'm just focusing on what's ahead. Here's to the possibilities and probabilities that may, and will, unfold in the bright days ahead. :o)

A new flame fractal...somewhat fitting for the new year. Dreamcatcher.

Merry Christmas!

In Memory

Michael, the troubles and tears of this world are behind you. Look not at what was, but ahead of you, what will be. May your journey be of quiet peacefulness. You will be missed.

In memory of Michael Pintoff

Nov 1955 - Oct 2007

Mahalo to my friends

Well thankfully Hurricane Flossie decided to spare the islands from a potentially messy situation, and afforded me nothing but beautiful weather during my entire visit. I had a wonderful time! Being back home, and seeing my friends again, is one of my favorite things. It's funny...no matter how long I'm away from the islands, when I'm back it's like I've never left! When I meet up with up with my friends, we always have a great time...lots of fun, reminiscing, and of course lots of laughing. The spirit of Aloha really does go much deeper than just the greeting itself. It is the very essence of the islands, it's in the people. I am so looking forward to the next time I can visit! Mahalo to Cyn, Mariellen and Andrew, Jess, and Patty! I miss you guys already!

Vacation in paradise?

Look out Hawaii, here I come!! I've been counting down the days until my trip back home, for the past six months or so! Now it's almost here, yay!!








what the...






...guess I'd better pack my raincoat

Strands

More catching up, as work gets in the way. Going on a day-trip in a couple of days...taking my friend Patty to Portland for a trip to our favorite asian grocery "superstore", Uwajimaya...then to a nearby Trader Joe's! Shopping bliss here we come!

Summer is here...

107 degrees in the shade on the 5th. Glad I didn't have to be outside for work. Meanwhile, it was a little "warm" down at my old stomping grounds, Phoenix...checking in at 116. But it's a dry heat. Saw Transformers the other day, and though it has gotten mixed reviews, I found it to be a lot of fun. CG animation rocked, and so did the soundtrack.

Catching up on some flames. New version out, 2.06...actually now 2.06c. Things change quickly, don't blink like I did, otherwise you'll be pulling your hair out trying to figure what went wrong.

Coincidence

Last night, while at work, bits and pieces of a very old song kept going through my head. I have no idea how it started, and I didn't even know the name of the song or who the singer was. It was a tune I remember hearing when I was very little, something my dad used to play on his reel-to-reel stereo. Funny thing, I don't remember the whole song, just a few lines and melodies from it. It brings back good memories from way back.

What little I knew of the lyrics, I decided to try to Google. After about three tries, I came up with the proper title and several names of artists. By chance, Diann had XM radio playing on the 60s station. I asked if she knew of the song. Yes! Search results yielded quite a number of artists that sang the tune, and I have no idea which one my dad used to listen to. However, one of the artists, Hank Snow, an old country singer, might be the one. My dad liked to listen to the older country western music, such as Hank Williams Sr.

The odd thing...while I was checking the results, and looking for any samples to listen to, I started to hear the tune again...only not running through my head, but on the radio! It was not a vocal version, but an instrumental, but there was no doubt that was the same tune! Wow, I think dad had something to do with this. Anyway, the song "White Silver Sands" was originally sung by someone named Don Rondo (never heard of him either). Diann seems to thing there was another version done by Pat Boone. Don't know if I'll ever get to actually hear it again...for now, I'll just settle with my version. :)