Quick "hike" up Koko Head...last of the year!

Rest of the set here.

Cookie Grandpa

My Great-Grandpa Honorio "Henry" Badajos passed away May 8, 1994 (He was 82).  Earlier in 1994 I had an assignment in my Hawaiian Language class to interview one of my kupuna.  My kumu, Vance "Hailama" Farden, was giving extra credit if we video taped the interview.  Because I needed the extra credit I decided I would video record an interview with my Great-Grandpa, Grandpa Henry.

The video was shot on old VHS and I transferred it to digital (via miniDV).  The quality of the video isn't that great, and in some spots the tracking is off causing severe white noise (both audio and video).  I've supplemented those part with subtitles.  My brother Travis was the cameraman and many of the shots were done handheld.  I've processed the video to make it less "shaky" which is why the border seems to be "fluid" sometimes.

Tomorrow would have been Grandpa's 98th birthday (He was born on December 30, 1912)!

Enjoy!

Best cellphone mod ever!

Earlier this year Sommer and I finally dived into the smartphone world.  We had taken baby steps and went from our old dumb-phones (Motorola v330) to Blackberry Curves.  But it was a bigger step going to our current cellphone.  We both got Samsung Galaxy S phones (we're on T-mobile, so we got the Vibrant variant).

A few weeks ago I ordered a front facing camera (ffc) as the Vibrant does not come with one.  But...after reading this thread in the XDA forum, I bought one...but never got around to installing it.  Until now.

Here is what the phone looks like naked:

On the top left you can see the old camera. Just above the back facing camera is the spot where the ffc will go.



You can see the hole in the backing where the new ffc camera will go better in this pic (there is still paint on the inside of the screen that will need to come off):



I pulled out the old camera (the ffc replaces the back camera in one unit) and used goo gone and some q-tips to slowly and gently remove the paint on the inside of the glass (soak the q-tip, then rotate it in the hole, "rinse & repeat" until the paint comes off...took about 20 minutes and about 10 q-tips).

Once done, soak another q-tip with windex and clean the "hole"...

Now I have a clear area in the front glass for the ffc to look through:



Installed the new ffc (the chip for the ffc snaps into place where the chip for the old camera went).

Now I have a new ffc on my phone! best mod ever!!!!



Here's some other guys pictures that might show what happened better:

Old camera on the left, new one (with ffc) on the right:


The new camera snaps into where the old one used to go:

Honolulu City Lights

Sommer bored, so we went and took some pictures of the city lights...

You can see the rest here.

Christmas Eve

The Moon on Christmas Eve:

Haiku Stairs: Take Two (12.18.10)

UPDATE:  Haiku Stairs is closed.  Access to the Stairs requires permission from numerous public and/or private entities that currently do not offer access, including the Board of Water Supply, City and County of Honolulu, and the State of Hawai`i.  Please support the efforts of groups like the Friends of Haiku Stairs to educate and pressure the State and City & County to reopen this historic and breathtaking treasure of Hawai`i.

Saturday, December 18, 2010, got to the first landing just as sun was coming up:

We were really cruising.

First "house":

Almost to the top:

Almost there!

Tons of pics from the top:

Hadn't seen one of these in a while:

Someone had attached a Marine Corp. and Samoa flag on the building at the top:

If you look down the backside of the building...more stairs!

And...TRASH!!!

Headed back...

Artistic shots:

Giles family pictures

The Giles (a family in our ward) asked me to take their family Christmas pictures. These are the ones they wanted...