Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - Back in Hilo
Speaking of which, we are getting geared up for this year's event by bringing back the brick pit (18" x 8' box full of 50 pounds of Lego) for demonstration purposes. Outside of the Robotics Hall, outside of the mall adjacent to the Sears truck court will be our Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) underwater robotics demo, test drive. A large inflatable wading pool will be the home for several pre-built ROVs that visitors will be able to operate. Hilo Intermediate School and Kaumana and Haaheo Elementary schools will be demonstrating their ROVs as well. The Nawahi Lego robotics program will have Lego Mindstorms robotics parts and microprocessors for kids to explore. Of course one of the biggest draws will be the FIRST robots, and we're hosting a couple of them at this year's event. If you like robots, don't miss this year's AstroDay Festival at the Prince Kuhio Plaza, this Saturday, May 3rd from 10am to 5pm. Soright? Soright.
Monday, April 28, 2008 - Promotions on O'ahu
After having flown out of Hilo after our participation in the inaugural AstroFest Hawaii event at the 'Imiloa Astronomy Center, I hopped on a plane and flew over to O'ahu for some promotions work for AstroDay. Only a couple of hours for sleep before hitting the road at 4:30 am in order to get to some television studios in time for their Sunrise programs. First up was KGMB. I got on the air with Grace Lee of the KGMB Sunrise Show and we talked about the upcoming event, with b-roll of previous events featured. I thought we had a good segment, albeit short with one small issue: KGMB posted the incorrect phone number for contact information for the event. We asked that they post a correction during the show, but I was not able to stay to see if that was broadcast because it was back on the road to the next studio. Tiny Tadani has his own cable television program on OC16 with simulcast on the radio. Tiny is a bit irreverent and a fun guy to be around, so my time on the air with him is always a lot of fun. This time I brought in a mini-DV tape of the event highlights from last year produced as a music video featuring Brittni Paiva and her song Journey Home. Tiny's studio doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a major network news station, but he makes do with what he has. The highlight video was played on another camcorder, with his studio camera aimed at it's LCD panel. Low tech, but it worked and it gave Tiny's audience a visual and audio perspective of our event. Throughout the day it was off to other media stations, KHNL on Sand Island Access Road, KHON on Piikoi across from Ala Moana, and KITV off King Street. We also visited the newspapers to deliver press releases and photo CDs. All in all, it was a most productive day at work before I headed back to Ewa Beach and my mom and dad's house for a session in the ocean. South swell is picking up, and today's late afternoon/evening session was in 3-4 foot waves in wind blown, bumpy conditions. The trades are blowing offshore/sideshore at Shark County (my home break during hanabuta days) at 15-20 mph. My Chuck Andrus 8'10" roundpin mini-tanker was working well due to its strong, thick glass job (heavy weight) helping to smooth out the ride and ease takeoffs. Can't wait to see what the ocean offers tomorrow!
Sunday, April 27, 2008 - Weekend Work
Outreach office, as we were involved in two major events in Hilo. Saturday was the third annual Big Island ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) Regional (BIRR) underwater robotics tournament at the Sparky Kawamoto Pool. The theme of this competition is "Diving to the Deep: Uncovering the Mysteries of Mid-Ocean Ridges", with twelve teams from Connections Public Charter School, Hilo High, Hilo Intermediate, Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii, Kealakehe Intermediate, Waters of Life Public Charter School, Waimea High (Kaua'i) and a home-schooled team. Cindy Fong and Pascale Pinner, Hilo Intermediate School science teachers co-coordinated the event with support from Dean McMahel and Mike Bechtel. Kenyan worked the crowd as the Master of Ceremonies, while I functioned as a photographer and videographer. There was a lot of fun at the pool by students of all ages - even the little ones. On the shallow end of the pool, a "Keiki Honu Hale" (baby turtle house) was set up for elementary students to try out their Scout Class ROVs. Kaumana and Haaheo Elementary Schools fielded entries and both teams did very well for rookies. As for the bigger kids, the BIRR competition offers something a little different than other robotics competitions. After all, water and electronics are a wonderful combination to play with, if your waterproofing is tight. This year we saw many teams go down in flames due to camera failures - we're not sure, but it could have been due to a bad batch of cameras from the factory since all of the teams received their components from the same source at the same time. Even so, it was a great lesson to be learned for all of the students about Murphy's law and building redundancy into the design. Sunday was a special event of a different nature: the inaugural AstroFest Hawaii, sponsored by Big Island Toyota at the Imiloa Astronomy Center. My seven year old son Kaipo and I ran a button making booth in the morning, while Kenyan finished up the day. Kids of all ages (and I really mean ALL ages) colored designs of a star or the Big Island, after which we pressed them into buttons that they can wear on their clothing. The activity also encouraged participants to bring their buttons to AstroDay for a free prize. I saw some very interesting and some very beautiful designs throughout the day and hope that we see some of our artists at the Seventh Annual AstroDay Festival next Saturday, May 3. Hope to see you there too!
Friday, April 25, 2008 - Time Evaporation
I can honestly ask "Where does the time go?" as there never seems to be enough of it lately. Its not that I'm inefficient or wasteful of my time - we have been pumping out a volume of work befitting an office with at least three times the staffing and budget. Thanks to Kenyan we have been able to keep up with the demand of our community for our services, while still remaining on course for our major events and special programming. For most people, the output of the IfA Office of Science Education and Public Outreach may seem overwhelming, but for us its just business as usual. Because of this time evaporation, I have not been able to keep up with this log and much has transpired over the past week that I wasn't able to share with you. We've been collecting prize and gift donations from numerous sponsors and supporters of our program, continued to promote the event on the radio and through flyer distribution. Kenyan also hosted a robotics booth at the Keaukaha Elementary School Ohana Night on Wednesday, and I presented a Keynote presentation to a group of high school seniors and juniors on careers in astronomy and industries that support astronomy. We also received favorable indications that we will be funded for our Hawaii STEM Academy summer enrichment program - nothing is guaranteed but word is that its a 98% go. Of course, I'll believe it when we see the check, but it doesn't mean that we'll wait until then to begin preparations and promotions for our summer program. We're about a month and a half behind schedule at the moment, but I think we should be able to do it...if we don't have more time evaporation ;-)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - Ad Copy Out
I managed to finish off artwork and ad copy for radio and newspaper advertising. I printed them up, and proceeded to meet with ad executive Kelly at Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Kelly was assigned to our event about years ago and has caught on to our modus operandi very quickly. She has also been instrumental in getting us great advertising rates, graphic layouts and newspaper ad placements. Although we miss our previous ad exec (I see Marie out in the surf lineup at Waiuli from time to time), Kelly has helped us streamline the process of developing our advertising campaign. Next, it was off to a couple of radio stations to drop off ad copy. In the case of New West Broadcasting, Trish has also been working with us for about three years. Like a machine in motion, the crew at New West has always been top shelf in designing informative, attention-grabbing commercial spots on their airwaves. DC, the morning DJ on their FM station B97 has been our Master of Ceremonies since our very first inaugural event back in 2002, and we are happy to report that he will be back for our AstroDay festivities. I even had a chance to step back into the studio with DC and catch up with each other and promo AstroDay on the air. Back on the road to meet JE at Pacific Radio Group. JE is our official voice of RoboFest (while DC is our voice of AstroDay). Between the two radio groups, we hope to reach a broad local demographic encompassing the entire Hawaii island. Back at the office, I start working on getting interviews on Oahu broadcast and cable television stations, while burning data DVDs with our event press release, event flyer, poster, logo images and pictures of past events and a music video featuring Brittni Paiva with clips synced to her live performance at last year's event. All packed with printed versions in a customized 9x12 envelope, ready for delivery.
Monday, April 21, 2008 - Robot Roundup
I thought we had the layout of the AstroDay Festival solidified, but some opportunities presented themselves and before I knew it my whole world was turned upside down. Not that this is anything unusual by any stretch of the imagination. Standard Operating Procedure you may infer. While walking through the old Elections Office at the Macy's for Men wing of the mall, I entered into a catacomb of oddly angled rooms corridors and wound up in a small conference room that would be the location of the Starlab Planetarium. It was beyond the conference room that interested me. A spacious open room begging for a chance to embrace human contact again. A perfect venue for a robotics demonstration and exhibit, with one exception: it was buried deep within the bowels of the mall. How would anyone know there would be robots in this room? Enter Bruce and Deanna. Bruce is a teacher at Waiakea High School and Deanna works for the county. Both have a passion for robots, and both have worked with us on the Robotics Hall at AstroDay and our RoboFest event. They'll find a way to make this room work - I'll need to work on redistributing exhibitors into the Macys wing to replace the relocated robotics exhibits. This last minute move is going to be difficult, and will create a little more work for a some of us - but in the long run I think the result will be a higher quality experience for our event visitors and our exhibitors. At least we'll have a large enough space for the FIRST robots to move around in. We'll build it and (hopefully) they will come.
Sunday, April 20, 2008 - Catchup Sunday
I took some cracks to my ribs last Tuesday when the surf at Honoli'i was pumping. Although I continued to surf that day, and four more days, I awoke to a stiff and sore mid-section and could just roll myself out of bed. A good day to catch up at work with little distraction and a lot of time. I managed to print up all of the AstroDay flyers, package them into envelopes addressed to every public, private and charter school on Hawaii Island. I also designed a couple of "teaser" posters hinting at the return of AstroDay to the Prince Kuhio Plaza using stunning Hubble Space Telescope images. I also finished designing and printing up the AstroDay exhibitor table skirt banners and sorted them out by mall wing. When setting up at 7:00 Saturday morning, the fellows will appreciate the fact that the banners are in order and they don't have to hunt for them in a pile of banners. Took me eleven hours to do it, but I feel somewhat comfortable in where we stand with respect to AstroDay preparations.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - AstroDay Mapping
We had an AstroDay Planning meeting at the Prince Kuhio Plaza today, with mall General Manager Kimberly Shimabuku and Marketing Assistant Glenn Manaba and SEPO Outreach Assistant Kenyan Beals. We were able to hash out some details for our event, including the location of our underwater robotics demonstrations, scholastic robotics demonstration, Kids Corner and center stage. We are looking at wrapping up most of the logistical planning. The underwater robotics demonstrations and hands-on discovery zones will be located outside the IHOP/Macy's mall entrance against the Macy's wall inside of a loading zone area separate from the main parking lot. The scholastic robotics will anchor the Macy's wing and be outside Macy's mall entrance. The Kids Corner will be housed in the vacant former Suncoast store in the Macy's for Men wing. Subaru Telescope coordinates and operates the Kids Corner each year, and we wanted to provide a clean, safe, location for the Kids Corner and Subaru Telescope. Centerstage will be located near the center of the mall outside Radio Shack, but will be oriented a little differently as an experiment in floor management. We hope to complete the layout map sometime this week and have it published on this website for the convenience of our exhibitors, staff and volunteers.
Monday, April 14, 2008 - BIRR Steering
Kenyan and I attended a Big Island ROV Regional (BIRR) Steering Committee meeting today at Hilo Intermediate School. The BIRR is an underwater robotics competition that utilizes Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) to undertake a set of tasks and activities that simulate real marine science. The ROVs are constructed of common household plumbing PVC pips and couplers, bilge pump motors and propellors, and built by middle and high school students. The competition will take place at the Kawamoto Pool in Hilo on Saturday, April 26, so the Steering Committee has a lot to talk about today. Hilo Intermediate School teachers Cindy Fong and Pascale Pinner are co-leads, with Dean McMahel, Mike Bechtel from HELCO and Bess Jennings from the Department of Education joining us. Our discussions today covered issues of donations, underwater video camera setup, parts and materials that are needed, and event assignments. This will be the third annual event for the Big Island ROV Regional on Hawaii Island, and we are delighted that this year along with the Ranger class ROVs, there will also be a Scout class for younger children in elementary school. Kaumana and Haaheo Elementary Schools will be represented at the event, which will take place next Saturday, April 26 at the Kawamoto Pool in Hilo. Hope to see you there!
Thursday, April 10, 2008 - Air Travel Issues
I've spent a good deal of time planning, arranging and booking travel plans for next month. I need to get to Seattle for an astronomy workshop in early May, and to St Louis for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Annual Meeting in late May / early June. In the past, these types of travel planning were a cakewalk - just log into an airline or broker website and find, make and pay for your reservation. After Aloha and ATA Airlines went belly up earlier this month, things have been in somewhat chaotic. First and foremost, I would like to offer my condolences and best wishes to the workers who lost their jobs and more. Many thanks to Hawaiian Airlines for increasing the number of flights serving interisland travelers. When I had initially explored the cost for airfare two weeks ago, I found great flights at a low price. Today, I discover that the Hawaiian/American Airlines flight I had selected had mysteriously disappeared. Kenyan informed us that American had to cancel a thousand flights for the purpose of grounding planes to upgrade them to current FAA compliance. I found a suitable alternative, but noticed that prices across the board had gone up slightly. The other strange thing I noticed is the disparity between booking a flight from Hilo as opposed to Honolulu (and booking the interisland travel separately). Booking a flight from Hilo to either destination were between double and triple the cost of just flying out of Honolulu. Okay, so I'm spending far too much time dwelling over all of this and employ the assistance of our very capable Administrative Officer Carrie Masanda. Carrie's great and she saves the day for me and puts together a travel plan. Thank you very much Carrie and I wish you also did outreach coordination, fundraising, program development, event planning and life management. I could sure use the help.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - O'ahu Work
Five meetings in two days on the island of O'ahu, spanning locations in Honolulu, windward and leeward coasts. What connects all of these appointments were drives on H3 and H1 freeways. Although built to relieve O'ahu's congested roadways, I cannot help but feel trapped on these clogged arteries as I made my way from meeting to meeting (its a good thing I accounted for the delays and built in some buffer time between them). Equally congested, if not worse is the Fort Weaver Road that connects my parents' house in Ewa Beach to the rest of the island. Plagued by overdevelopment in the region, Fort Weaver Road has been playing catchup since the 1980's when the first subdivisions began displacing the sugar cane fields. I find myself in traffic that strains my patience and tests my compassion for what seems to be an overabundance of inept and/or oblivious drivers surrounding me. But these tribulations on O'ahu's roadways really serve to re-calibrate my perception of what "traffic" really constitutes. Without these experiences, I would continue to bemoan the fact that my being in a line of ten cars constitutes a traffic jam in Hilo. So although I do lose some quality time in my life while driving on O'ahu's roadways, it is always comforting to know that this is a temporary condition and that streetside solace is just a plane flight away. Good thing I'm writing this at the airport on my way back home to Hilo.
Saturday, April 5. 2008 - Merrie Monarch Parade
After a dawn patrol surf session at Honoli'i this morning (2-3' waves with sloppy conditions), I headed back home to pick up my son Kaipo. The occasion was to join our Mauna Kea Observatories colleagues in a marching unit at the Merrie Monarch Parade today in Hilo town. Although the weather was overcast and rainy from dawn, by the time we assembled in the soccer field fronting Kamehameha Avenue, the clouds had parted and the sun was shining brightly. I had purchased eight bags of candy to pass out to the kids in the crowds lining the streets during the parade, unbagged them and stored them in a backpack. Kaipo was assigned the task of candy distributor (which was kind of scary because I had no assurance that he would employ a strategy that ensured "one for the kids and one for me ..."). The Merrie Monarch Festival is a big deal here in Hilo, with hula halau from all over the world competing in several categories throughout the week. The parade features floats, marching bands, and pa'u riders on horseback. I must admit that I had a lot more fun at the parade than I expected - I saw many people in the crowds who recognized me, and had a blast giving out candies to folks along the parade route. Many thanks to Koa Rice for organizing our marching unit and I am looking forward to participating in the event again next year.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - AstroDay Preparations
This will probably not be the last entry on this subject as we have just begun to scratch the surface with our preparations for the Seventh Annual AstroDay Festival. But for the time being we have booked all of our musical talent (and had to actually turn someone down, which is something I really dislike doing), and have 23 exhibitors and a smattering of donations. The more I do this, the more I am coming to realize that organizing the AstroDay Festival is a full-time job for at least one person. In a perfect world, that would be the case but since it isn't we are making do with what we have at hand. I am glad I have Kenyan on board to assist with a lot of the work, otherwise I fear my head would explode. I was able to crunch out an AstroDay Festival promotional video for our segment on Living in Paradise (in the usual turnaround of a few days). I was hoping to include a promo of the AstroFest event at Imiloa the preceding Sunday, but did not think it prudent since the event is by invitation with only a few tickets being allocated for the public. I wouldn't want to cause a run on local families getting excited about attending an event that may not have tickets for them. This is unfortunate since my hope was to develop a closer tie-in with the AstroDay Festival, but we are planning on developing a strategy that ties the two events by hosting an activity at AstroFest that requires the participant to return for AstroDay to receive a prize. I hope next year to have time to develop a more coherent, cohesive plan for expanding AstroDay into a week of events and activities featuring all of our partners on the mountain and all of the wonderful educational outreach services they provide.