Some days I sit at my computer and do research, write reports, design systems… Those days I can listen to music, have streaming TV up on one of the monitors, chime in on this forum. Good stuff that pays well.
Then there are other days that are like today. I am in the basement of an oceanfront mansion in Kona sweating my ass off. I am replacing the port seals on five RO pressure vessels and installing new membrane elements in each of the five vessels. Normally this would be pretty straight forward, but these are 4 inch pressure vessels, so it is really tight trying to fit my bigass hands in there to install the new port seals. My hands are sore and cramping from the tight work. All 11 seals have been replaced, so I’m taking a break. Next up is installing the new membrane elements.
This work does not pay as well as the in front of the computer stuff, but it is a necessay job. I get paid to operate and maintain this RO system. The operations part is a cakewalk. The maintenace part can be a bee itch sometimes.
The RO system provides irrigation water for the mansion grounds and makeup water for the swimming pools. The water comes from a brackish well.
I am certain you all know who owns this home, but I cannot say who it is. I have a nondisclosure agreement in the O & M contract.
Breaktime is over. Time to head back to the sweltering basement. It is oceanfront, but the basement may as well be in the Mojave for all i can see from down there.
W. M. Keck Observatory is the two white domes. NASA Infared Telescope is in the silver dome. Haleakala (80 miles away in Maui) is visble just above the silver dome
Once I had logged the samples into my lab, I took my family, visiting from the mainland, to the beach in Waipio valley for the rest of the day to “Celebrate” ;)
Great picture, Carl! I remember the clouds moving in on the west side of the island every afternoon last summer. We flew over Mauna Loa while flying around the island. I remember seeing the observatory to the north. It was an awesome flight. There was a rainstorm the night before making the waterfalls on the north coast amazing.
Doesn’t the Waipio Valley have a big tara farm? For some reason I remember hearing about it.
Waipio Valley is one of my favorite places in the world. It was once one of the most important places in Hawaii. It is certainly one of the most beautiful. It is thought that in precontact times as many as 10,000 people lived in the valley. Kalo (taro) grown in the valley once fed most of Hawaii Island. The best kalo, which is used to make poi and laulau, is grown in flooded fields, much like rice paddies. On April 1, 1946 a major tsunami swept through the valley, wiping out all of the structures there. The salt water intrusion ruined the soil for growing kalo. Not many people live in the valley now. Time and lots of rain has flushed much of the salt away. There is some kalo grown there now, but nothing like back in the day.
There is only one narrow and very steep road (25% grade) to enter/exit the valley. Your need a 4x4 to get in and out. The hike down into the valley is not easy. The hike out is brutal. So it is a bit isolated and less visited by tourists.
The “dry land” part of the movie Waterworld was shot in Waipio Valley.
Sweet. I love places like that, although I have yet to get to those islands.
We really should start the Celebration thread, with photos of folks at cool spots holding a Celebration. ;D
As far as better days, how about this: by switching from Orange to Free, we just went from paying close to 220eur/month for our home telecom + cell phones to paying… 45 eur/month. TV internet phone is 30, my cell with 3G data is 15, and my wife’s plan is free. all of this with no contract to sign. That’s FTW if ever.
