While we have been here for just under four months, my mind has already begun to think about making plans for our return to Hawai‘i in late-June or early-July. With the turmoil in the airline industry I don’t want to wait too long before making arrangements. I also need to talk to M?lia’s school here and make sure that everything is in place so that her classes will transfer properly to her school back home, though we know already some classes won’t. Time has certainly flown by here, but I still do have a lot of work to do on…
Queenstown was a blast!
Our family spent three nights and two glorious days in Queenstown (in central Otago, Aotearoa) this weekend. The weather was spectacular – just a bit nippy in the mornings and evenings, but very comfortable all day with no rain (or snow!). We took an Intercity Bus from Dunedin to Queenstown ($19 each way when booked online), with two brief pit stops along the way. It takes just a bit over four hours each way, and the scenery varies between boring (look, more sheep!) to spectacular scenes right out of Lord Of The Rings. I’ll do a full report later; just…
iTunes 8008 Download Errors
A few weeks after we moved into our flat in Dunedin, I began to experience some very strange errors when downloading TV programs and movies from iTunes Music Store (iTMS). After beginning the download, I would see the “time remaining” indicator jump from a few hours remaining to just a few minutes. The number would then climb a bit, and then I’d get an 8008 error, along with an indication that the file was corrupted. After a number of attempts I noticed that the file always stopped on a multiple of 10Meg, plus .1 megabyte (70.1, 80.1, 120.1). It would…
Facebook Announces Localization Application
I stumbled across a post a few days ago that announced that Facebook now has an application for user translation/localization of the user interface. That’s something I’ve wanted for a long time – the ability to localize the interface into Hawaiian. If you have a Facebook account and have a few minutes, please make a post in this discussion thread and request that they allow a Hawaiian localization. I’ll do the work. Scott, you need to round up a bunch of Cornish speakers and see if they can keep up with me. Five or six might stand a chance 😉
My del.icio.us bookmarks for April 11th through April 21st
These are my links for April 11th through April 21st: Motorists in Samoa will drive on left from next year – Samoa's controversial Road Transport Bill has gone through Parliament, so drivers will switch to driving on the left. I can't imagine what kind of carnage would occur in the US if it ever decided to switch from the right to the wrong side of the road Cool Tool: Zamzar – Zamzar offers a robust, quick, and excellent conversion service: you upload the file you'd like it to convert, select the output format and your email, and you're off.
Writing About Writing
I’ve always enjoyed writing, but have always been a “stream-of-consciousness” kind of writer. I’ll sit down with an open word processor document, type, and just go with the flow and see were it takes me. A quick spell-check follows and away it goes. When I wrote my MA thesis (in Hawaiian), I sat down and wrote out each chapter in long marathon sessions. Of course there was a lot of editing, tweaking and additions along the way, but the gist of the chapters and overall structure of the final product was very much like the first drafts. My supervisors were…
Hau‘oli L? H?nau e M?lia!
It’s our daughter M?lia’s 17th birthday today. My wife went shopping for a birthday card earlier this week and found this. The girl in the photo is the splitting image of M?lia when she was three or four. It made me think back and try to remember if we have any picture of her in that pose – that’s how spooky the resemblance is.
My del.icio.us bookmarks for April 5th through April 8th
These are my links for April 5th through April 8th: Kona Brewing makes list of largest U.S. craft brewers [ HonoluluAdvertiser.com ] – Hawai'i-based Kona Brewing Co. ranks as the 24th-largest craft brewing company in the United States by sales volume. Craft brewers are defined as small, independent brewers. Their Fire Rock Pale Ale is my fav. I miss it down here. Aboriginal music gets an angelic new voice – Music – Entertainment – smh.com.au – Interviewing Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is very, very different. He speaks little English. He lives on Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land. He…
Hack To Hacks
I’ve changed the name of the blog from Culture Hack (singular) to Culture Hacks, in anticipation of the arrival of my long-time friend and Celtic cousin Scott Waters. Scott use to run a blog called MacHelpMaui, and did a podcast of the same name with his partner Carmen Gardner. Scott recently ditched his blogs and headed off to Cornwall to spend time with relatives and get back into his art. Scott and I had talked about going into business together on Maui at one point back in the 1980s, but it didn’t pan out. As it is I’ve relocated southwest…
On The Downhill Slide…
While we don’t have an exact departure date yet and my math skills are dubious, I am fairly certain we have just passed the half-way point in our stay in Aotearoa and in less than 12 weeks we’ll be jetting back home to Hawai‘i. While I experience doubts during the course of each and every day regarding my process, when I look at the body of research I’ve done – books and articles read, reviewed and re-read, not to mention massive amounts of writing – there is no doubt that I’ve made a great start toward my Ph.d. Much credit…