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A very interesting article about a hotel in Japan that I thought was worth the read.

OH MAN, I haven’t posted for over 2 weeks, this is embarrassing. My online presence during the first two weeks of school was close to nil, as my friends on the mainland could verify. I was so focused on figuring out my classes and getting organized I really wasn’t thinking about this blog at all. I was trying to get this semester started off right and I think I have. One of the things you need to learn to do in college (or anywhere) is how to set yourself up for success and I want to make sure that was done. Now that I have the grove and swing of things down I think I can spread my attention out to things I enjoy. But first an overview of my classes.

This semester I am taking the following classes: General Oceanography 2, Intro to Communication, General Biology Lab 2, General Oceanography Lab 2, Cross Cultural Psychology, and Biological Oceanography. Lets take a look at some of these classes. General Oceanography is a continuation of the General Oceanography class I took last semester with an emphasis on physical oceanography and biological oceanography. It is taught by two professors who will each teach the section they are most strong in (i.e the physical oceanographer will teach the physical oceanography section and the biological oceanographer will teach the biological oceanography section). Intro to Communication is a “freshman” level class but you will learn that it doesn’t matter when you take the general education classes as long as you take them (except if they are requisites for later classes then you want to take them as soon as possible). General Biology Lab 2 is a class I withdrew from 2 semesters ago, though a rather unfortunate series of events I felt I was unable to complete the class and decided it best to withdraw. This sometimes happens while in college and it is OK. Biological oceanography is an almost graduate level class that focuses on the distribution of life in the ocean and what drives that distribution. Should be a very interesting semester.

I recently went hiking out to the Makapu’u light house with my res hall. We were treated to a special display by a juvenile humpback whale.

I have been recruited to take photos for Da Freakshow so I need to get back into the picture taking mode, as such I will be carrying around my camera on campus and taking photos hopefully of people…
-Andrew

Seems I’ve been away for longer than a week now (looks to be almost two). Here are some of my “adventures” for the past few weeks. Probably the most awesome thing to happen in class is the lab I did on the 18th. During this lab we performed a micro Winkler titration of the samples we had collected two weeks earlier. As any future oceanographer will learn in their studies, this method measured dissolved oxygen in the water. This was the final form of analysis we performed, the first two being a BOD Oxygen electrode which measured dissolved oxygen in the 10 or so sample we took while offshore. The other was using a lowered O2 electrode that was attached to a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth). The data was quite good if I might say so myself.

Thanksgiving was just last week. One of the common questions I’ve gotten is what people generally do for thanksgiving. I’ve seen many things happen, a lot of people just stay in Hawaii, some people use the opportunity to visit an adjacent island, others have their family fly out and everyone spends thanksgiving in the islands. I however, flew to the mainland to visit my family in Portland, Oregon with the intention of surprising the grandparents. I flew over on Wednesday arriving around 2100PST. From the airport we went almost immediately to get some crepes. The next morning I was left alone in the house with the task of cooking breakfast for everyone, and to surprise my grandparents when they arrived. It was a great success. Thanksgiving dinner involved a fried turkey, something I’ve never had before. The trip to the mainland was a welcome break to the activities associated with school. I returned to the islands on Monday and am now in the “home stretch” with only 2 weeks until finals week.

-Andrew

Every professor who has an office, and even some professors who don’t have an office, have office hours. For those of you who don’t know, office hours are when the professor is in their office and available to talk/help/tutor students like me (I’m wondering how many more times I can use the word ‘office’). I’ve been meeting with my calculus professor regularly for some extra help and I got to tell you… it has paid off. It’s always surprising to me how many people don’t visit their professor when they need the extra help. Go visit them, that is why they are there!

Image from NOAA via Honolulu Advertiser
One thing that is never uninteresting about Hawaii to me is the weather. This morning the air was incredibly clear. However a quick look at the latest satellite photos told of something else looming on the horizon. The islands were circled in stormy clouds. A look at the animation showed the storm was building and eventually going to dump lots of rain… we’ll see what happens later today, but I’m bringing my umbrella to class for sure.

-Andrew