September 20, 2005

• We’re watching hurricane Jova (pronounced hoe-vah) here in the Central Pacific. Like the latest in the Atlantic, Jova’s been traveling slowly, at 7 mph. Currently, its forward motion, without any changes, will bring it right into the state of Hawaii. At this time, it’s still approximately 800 miles east-southeast of the Big Island. All the Civil Defense notices on the radio about it state that they believe that once it hits the cooler ocean waters nearer the island, it will diminish in strength. Its sustained winds at this time are about 115 mph, with hurricane force winds extending about 35 miles from the center & tropical force winds about 120 miles. They do say that even if it diminishes, we are in for some heavy winds & rains. We really don’t need those right now, since we’ve been deluged for the last 2 weeks or so! That is, here on the Big Island. The other islands are still quite dry, almost drought-like!

  
  

  What irritates me is that The Weather Channel says NOTHING about Hawaii’s weather! They act like we’re a foreign country, not requiring mention. I’m sure that those of you who’re in Alaska notice the same about your state with them. I even noticed that WeatherBug didn’t carry watches & warnings for Hawaii when I had it installed on my computer. I no longer have that program, not only because of that, but primarily because it became spyware that loaded a browser search hijacker on my computer. It took uninstalling WeatherBug & more to dump the browser hijacker. I don’t even trust The Weather Channel’s desktop weather program, since I know their website is loaded with third-party cookies & numerous ads.

  
  

  Hmmm… we now have THREE hurricanes in the Pacific. Besides Jova, in the Central Pacific, there are also Kenneth & Max. Some people aren’t taking any chances & are stocking up on hurricane survival kit stuff on Oahu. I really don’t blame them. During my last DAV meeting, our quest speaker was the local director of the Red Cross. He told us we don’t have enough shelters for people during hurricane weather. We do have places for people to go after a major storm, like my subdivision’s community center. We’re sorta SOL otherwise.

  
  

  My son was packing some of his stuff today to ship out via UPS, so he’ll have it in Colorado in time for his move-in to the college’s apartments. I tried to tell him how to pack his computer to protect the monitor. As usual, he thinks I’m talking out my ass with my suggestions, so did it his way. When we got to UPS in Hilo, I noticed their sign about how to pack computers & other electronic stuff. They’re even more picky than I am! They want at least 3″ of bubble wrap around the monitor! My son was primarily using clothes as protection for the monitor. We went ahead & shipped his second box (which I had tried to convince him to check in as baggage on the plane) of 54 pounds, at a cost of over $80. The guy told us that getting prices by phone (they had told my son about $55) & ‘doing it ourselves’ by getting the price online & printing out the shipping label would have saved us about $30. Damn corporate crap… price-gouging! The kid at UPS was sitting around, doing nothing until we showed up. One other customer came in shortly after we showed up.

  
  

  The computer is still sitting in my car right now. We went to a packaging supply store, but they’re closed on Mondays. Lame! Then we went to an independent packaging/shipping store (like Mailboxes, Etc) to find out what they charge to package & ship a computer. The girl said she had a guy who shipped his computer to California for $500! He bought the supplies & packaged it himself, but shipped it through them. Is that insane, or what?! Just the cost through them to ship is at least $200! At UPS, at the weight the box currently is, it would be $106. That store doubles the price. Forget them!

  
  

  We then went to Wal-Mart & bought more bubble wrap. The girl at the shipping place said they double box the monitors. That’s a good idea. In fact, I asked my son if there was a stuffed animal he wouldn’t mind sending to Colorado. That would make an excellent buffer for the front of a monitor. One thing I’ve also used to take up space without adding much weight at all are empty plastic soda bottles. They prevent items from shifting, can be partially filled with air so they can be somewhat shaped. Personally, I think they work better than many of the expensive packing materials used in shipping items. Both places also suggested styrofoam, even though neither had that.

  
  

  This would have been so much easier if he’d just backup his main hard drive onto his slave hard drive, remove the secondary hard drive to take with him, & buy a new computer once he gets to Colorado. DUH! That makes too much sense.

  
  

  I dropped my son off at the grocery store he used to work at, because he wanted to buy his Arizona Green Tea. From there, he planned to skate & hang with a friend who lives in Hilo. It’s past 10:00 pm now & he’s still not home. When I asked how he’d get home, he said, “I don’t know.” GRRR! I hate that.

  
  

  On my way home, I checked for sturdy boxes to put the monitor in. No luck. But I did accidentally notice something that I feel would be perfect as a buffer for the monitor. I bought the last 3 ‘Noodles’ pool floatation toys at Pahoa Cash & Carry. These are similar to the molded foam pipe insulators… the kind that have a slit their entire length so you can just pop them over exposed hot water pipes. The Noodles don’t have the slit. I imagine the pipe insulators would be cheaper than the toys, which were $2.19 each. Still, these weren’t bad for that price. If need be, we can even slit them in half, so there would be a flat surface to mount against the monitor, taping them onto the bubble wrap. Going by what UPS requires, I figure we can fold the bubble wrap thick enough just over the glass & wrapping one or two layers around the whole monitor. That should be adequate.

  
  

  In Hilo today, I decided I’d scope out their gas prices. Not good. They’re still between $3.659 & $3.679/gallon. I checked the prices out in Pahoa & was shocked to find that our newest gas station is already down to $3.189/gallon, yet Paul’s is now $3.679/gallon, up 2¢ from last week’s price. That surprises me, because Paul’s is usually the cheapest gas on the entire island! I’d have to assume that his is still up there because people just aren’t buying much gas lately. Paul’s not one to price-gouge, with anything. He’s usually the last to go up in gas price.

  
  

  I’ve been patting myself for not having bought gas at over $3.00/gallon. The last time I bought any, I paid $2.849/gallon. That was in late August. I just don’t drive much anymore. Also, what I’m now driving is an SUV… a Hyundai Santa Fe, with a 6-cylinder engine. It gets 18-22 mpg. My son claims the Elantra’s been getting him over 30 mpg. Hopefully, since I just had an oil change done on the Santa Fe, it’ll get even better gas mileage. The oil they took out was black. Normally, that’s one of the first things I do when I buy a used car. I’ve just been putting off doing so this time. I know better.

  • 4:11 am
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