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Author Topic: Some Days Are Better Than Others.  (Read 4381 times)

Offline punatic

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Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« on: November 11, 2011, 06:14:30 pm »
Some days I sit at my computer and do research, write reports, design systems...  Those days I can listen to music, have streaming TV up on one of the monitors, chime in on this forum.  Good stuff that pays well.

Then there are other days that are like today.  I am in the basement of an oceanfront mansion in Kona sweating my ass off.  I am replacing the port seals on five RO pressure vessels and installing new membrane elements in each of the five vessels.  Normally this would be pretty straight forward, but these are 4 inch pressure vessels, so it is really tight trying to fit my bigass hands in there to install the new port seals.  My hands are sore and cramping from the tight work.  All 11 seals have been replaced, so I'm taking a break.  Next up is installing the new membrane elements.

This work does not pay as well as the in front of the computer stuff, but it is a necessay job.  I get paid to operate and maintain this RO system.  The operations part is a cakewalk.  The maintenace part can be a bee itch sometimes.

The RO system provides irrigation water for the mansion grounds and makeup water for the swimming pools.  The water comes from a brackish well.

I am certain you all know who owns this home, but I cannot say who it is.  I have a nondisclosure agreement in the O & M contract.

Breaktime is over.  Time to head back to the sweltering basement.  It is oceanfront, but the basement may as well be in the Mojave for all i can see from down there.
There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.


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Offline bo

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2011, 06:48:09 pm »
Quote
I am certain you all know who owns this home, but I cannot say who it is.  I have a nondisclosure agreement in the O & M contract.

It has to be Don Ho.

Offline Hokerer

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2011, 07:31:37 pm »
Quote
I am certain you all know who owns this home, but I cannot say who it is.  I have a nondisclosure agreement in the O & M contract.

It has to be Don Ho.

Naw, I bet it's Robin Masters
Joe

Offline bo

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2011, 07:34:20 pm »
Quote
I am certain you all know who owns this home, but I cannot say who it is.  I have a nondisclosure agreement in the O & M contract.

It has to be Don Ho.

Naw, I bet it's Robin Masters

After thinking about it some more, it has to be Jack Lord.

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2011, 08:36:53 pm »
I'm voting for Tia Carrere, I think she's Hawaiian.  Schwing!
Tom Schmidlin

Offline tubercle

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2011, 09:32:31 pm »
I'm voting for Tia Carrere, I think she's Hawaiian.  Schwing!

Schwing indeed!

Or as we say down south, Shaaazzzaaaam!
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Offline euge

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2011, 11:13:13 pm »
Quote
I am certain you all know who owns this home, but I cannot say who it is.  I have a nondisclosure agreement in the O & M contract.

It has to be Don Ho.

Naw, I bet it's Robin Masters

That was my first thought!

Come on puni you can't drop something like that and not tell! LOL

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline punatic

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2011, 03:02:55 am »
Quote
I am certain you all know who owns this home, but I cannot say who it is.  I have a nondisclosure agreement in the O & M contract.

It has to be Don Ho.
Naw, I bet it's Robin Masters
That was my first thought!
Come on puni you can't drop something like that and not tell! LOL

OK, but you can't tell anyone else.  It's Robin Masters' estate.  Magnum isn't here any more.  He moved to NYC to be the police commisioner. ;)

Jack Lord and Don Ho are no mo.

Tia and I pal around all of the time.  Her little sister Lilo is a real PIA sometimes though. :D
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 03:09:01 am by punatic »
There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.


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Offline punatic

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2012, 11:31:21 pm »
Today I went to the summit of Mauna Kea to collect water samples for analysis from the Gemini North Telescope facility.

After I finished collecting samples I gathered some snow to put in my cooler to cool down a couple of six packs of this beer:



W. M. Keck Observatory is the two white domes.  NASA Infared Telescope is in the silver dome.  Haleakala (80 miles away in Maui) is visble just above the silver dome


Once I had logged the samples into my lab, I took my family, visiting from the mainland, to the beach in Waipio valley for the rest of the day to "Celebrate"  ;)

Some days are better than others!
There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.


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Offline euge

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2012, 12:13:01 am »
What a beer to "celebrate" with! ;)

Looks like you are on top of the world!
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline phillamb168

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2012, 12:14:17 am »
That sounds like a challenge Carl. Now to see where I can go for a photo that beats that one.
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Offline blatz

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2012, 07:00:57 am »
nice pic!
The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

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Offline ibru

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2012, 01:14:13 pm »
Great picture, Carl!  I remember the clouds moving in on the west side of the island every afternoon last summer. We flew over Mauna Loa while flying around the island. I remember seeing the observatory to the north. It was an awesome flight. There was a rainstorm the night before making the waterfalls on the north coast amazing.

Doesn't the Waipio Valley have a big tara farm? For some reason I remember hearing about it.

Nice place to take the family for an outing!

Bruce

Offline punatic

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2012, 01:15:31 am »
Waipio Valley is one of my favorite places in the world.  It was once one of the most important places in Hawaii.  It is certainly one of the most beautiful.  It is thought that in precontact times as many as 10,000 people lived in the valley.  Kalo (taro) grown in the valley once fed most of Hawaii Island.  The best kalo, which is used to make poi and laulau, is grown in flooded fields, much like rice paddies.  On April 1, 1946 a major tsunami swept through the valley, wiping out all of the structures there.  The salt water intrusion ruined the soil for growing kalo.  Not many people live in the valley now.  Time and lots of rain has flushed much of the salt away.  There is some kalo grown there now, but nothing like back in the day.

There is only one narrow and very steep road (25% grade) to enter/exit the valley.  Your need a 4x4 to get in and out.  The hike down into the valley is not easy.  The hike out is brutal.  So it is a bit isolated and less visited by tourists.

The "dry land" part of the movie Waterworld was shot in Waipio Valley. 

.
There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.


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Offline pinnah

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Re: Some Days Are Better Than Others.
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2012, 06:28:53 am »
 Sweet.  I love places like that, although I have yet to get to those islands.
We really should start the Celebration thread, with photos of folks at cool spots holding a Celebration. ;D

"Precontact".  That is funny.