This last week (Wednesday thru Tuesday) I was spending time around the Big Island of Hawaii with my younger brother, Aaron, and his friend Randy.

What a trip it was.  I saw so much during the short amount of time we were on the island and so glad I was able to get away. It wasn’t the cheapest vacation, however for everything it cost me right around a thousand bucks.  Not too bad.  The flight there and back was only around $400 and we ended up spending most nights in the Kona Islander Inn which only ran us around $80 a night (with tax) for a place right in downtown Kona.  Our rental car ran us only $180 or so for the entire week we were there, and since they were out of the vehicle size we paid for, they gave us a free upgrade into a nice SUV.  The rest of the money was spent on food (expensive), drinks, entertainment, and gifts.  Overall, though not a cheap trip, it was still cheaper than most spend and it was completely worth it.

Dolphins Gone Wild

The first full day there we had a chance to get snorkel gear and found a great location to swim called “Pu’Uhonua O Honaunau” National Park.  This place was a great starting location that gave us a chance to try out our snorkel gear and see the beauty of the Hawaiian waters.  On our way out after a good amount of snorkeling, someone about to get in stopped us and asked if we wanted to see something cool.  Well, of course we said yes and he ended up taking us into the ocean a few hundred feet.  The water there was great though quite eerie since we couldn’t even see the bottom.  Next thing we knew though he had dropped a flower around 50 feet down, swam away, and in just a few seconds we were surrounded by wild dolphins!  What a surreal moment.  Something I will never forget.  The evening was spent reminiscing about what we saw and enjoying some good food and drinks.

Captain James Cook’s Monument

The following day we went early to pick up a kayak for heading out to Kealakekua Bay.  This is the location of Captain James Cook’s Monument which has some of the best snorkeling in the world; such a pristine and beautiful spot to swim and see the thousands of tropical fish around.  We kayaked from the Kealakekua Bay Park over to the monument and had such a thrill in this beautiful location.  Definitely a touristy spot for as in the couple hours we were there I saw half a dozen boats with people wanting to swim in the coral.  We followed this adventurous afternoon with another evening of meeting people and having a great time.

Turtles in the Sea

On our way around both spots we kept being told about seeing sea turtles, however never saw one at either location.  We then spoke to some locals who told us to check out a park at the end of Alii Drive called Kahaluu Bay Park.  This park was full of tourists and so we figured we’d find something.  We went out and began enjoying the snorkeling.  After some time just dabbling in the water we began to make our way out deeper and away from all the people.  On our way out we spotted a sea turtle swimming around.  What a site.  So graceful!  (I don’t have the pictures for this yet, but once I do, I’ll be sure to make an update.)  That night we ended up making a fabulous BBQ dinner of shrimp shish kabobs.  These were such a great finish to an already amazing day.

Aloha Hilo

Saturday morning we headed up North around the island to Hilo.  On the way there we stopped at Waipi’o Valley.  We didn’t make the hike down, but instead we went to the stop at the top and took in the beautiful view.

Taking off from Waipi’o Valley off to Hilo was a beautiful drive.  The east side of the island is very green and full of bright colors.  There were a number of spots we saw along the way that just took our breath away.

We reached Hilo around eight o’clock and checked into Uncle Billy’s.  This place sounds crappy, but it was actually quite a nice place to stay.  The view outside the room was great.  Hilo is very green and gets a ton of rain, but for being a college town, it was very lacking in its night life scene for being a Saturday night.  We ended up finishing the night early after having some food and a couple drinks.

That morning we slept in a bit and took some great shots of the Liliuokalani Gardens which is a block or so away from Uncle Billy’s.  This garden was fantastic.  I felt more like I was in Japan than Hawaii when seeing this park.

Astronomy Rocks!

On our way out of town we stopped at one of the best astronomy museums I’ve ever seen.  This amazing location was the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center.  This place had a mix of Hawaiian history and astronomy.  We ended up finishing our tour of the center with a planetarium show.  This show was called “We Are Astronomers” and had to of been the most informational and great looking planetarium show I’ve ever seen.

Because it was getting close to sundown, we had over an hour to drive up Mauna Kea Mountain to the peak (13,800ft) where there are 13 telescopes (12 observatories).  The drive up was quite intense, even in our SUV, driving up this mountain.  We even had to get out towards the top to get use to the lack of oxygen and to change into some warmer clothing (it was 30 degrees at the top).  Once we got to the top we found out that it was totally worth it.  There was cloud cover so we couldn’t see the stars (which really sucked), but it gave us a chance to talk our way into one of the observatories!  What an awesome opportunity that I knew I probably wouldn’t have again until my brother is working at one.  Thanks astronomer who snuck us inside!

We left with my brother saying that he is planning to attend University of Hawaii – Hilo when he gets his stuff together.  What an awesome opportunity that would be and I sure hope he can (so I have a place to stay).  He knows his stuff when it comes to astronomy and I know he will be successful if he sticks with it.  Good job, bro!

The mountain was tamed and we were off back to Kona instead of staying in Hilo another night.  This was a great idea since we enjoyed Kona so much more.

We arrived back into Kona around 8:30 and were able to check back into the Kona Islander Inn for a cheap price.  Thank goodness, we had no plans otherwise!

That night we went out and met up with a traveler we had met a few days ago and hung out with him.  After enjoying some drinks and food we decided to have him go with us in the morning to see more of the island.

Green Sand and Cliff Diving

That morning we got things together, met up with Matt, and grabbed some breakfast.  I then drove the almost two hours down to South Point.  This area is so dry and remote, but as we got closer to the water, we knew it was going to be great.

After getting down south we drove to a parking area and began our 3+ mile hike in flip-flops over to the green sand beach called “Papakolea Beach”.  The hike getting here wasn’t too terrible even though we were in flip-flops walking over lava rocks and dusty dirt trails.  The problem was just going around every corner expecting to see this beach.  After being wrong a dozen times, we finally made our way to this remote location.  What a site.  Tucked under wind torn rocks and a sandy ravine was a beautiful swimming cove at the bottom of the Big Island.  The sand wasn’t as green as I was hoping, but was still worth it due to the swimming conditions.  Be sure to check it out.  We left the beach and were luckily greeted by a local who takes people back and forth from this spot to the parking in his 4×4 truck.  How thankful were we to not have to hike back in wet flip-flops and wet clothes!

After getting back to parking we drove off to the South Point cliffs for some great cliff jumping.  We ended up meeting some locals who jump here all the time and with their lead Randy and I took our leaps of faith off the 50ft cliffs into the deepest blue water I have ever seen.  We followed this up by diving through the lava tube (a 20ft diameter rocky hole) which led into the ocean surrounded by rock which made us very cautious.  The two of us still jumped however not wanting to be outdone by the young locals.  Another place I truly recommend to go checkout.

We dried off, got cleaned up, and headed back to Kona where we had a great time meeting up with a friend of mine from Salem who now lives in Kona, HI.  A great ending to our last full day in Hawaii.

Final Day in Hawaii

The week went by so quickly, and though we saw a ton, we realize there is so much more to see in Hawaii, and even just the Big Island.  The last day there we were going to get tattoos, but we only ended up having time for one to get done.  Randy was the receiver who got a great tattoo of ‘Imiloa’s logo on his left calf; great tattoo and very memorable. We then got everything together and drove to the airport.  I dropped off my brother and his friend Randy who were taking off around 1pm.  I luckily had another six hours to enjoy in Hawaii, which I did!

I ended up meeting back with Matt and enjoyed some food and drinks over at the Kona Brewery.  Interesting to find out that all beer made in Hawaii never leaves the island.  It is tapped and distributed on the island only.  Everything that is in a bottle around the globe however is actually made in Oregon.  The water from Oregon is modified to taste like the Kona water.  Even bottled beer on the island comes from the bottling location in Oregon.  Crazy stuff.  The brewery itself was pretty cool along with having some very tasty beers.  A great place to go for my final location in Hawaii.

I said my goodbyes, and left to the airport for my flight home.  On the way I had a late flight, slept in the San Francisco airport for a few hours, and got back into Portland around 10am on Wednesday.  I was very glad to get home, but I sure miss Hawaii!!!  I can’t wait to go back…which will hopefully be sooner than later!

For more pictures of Hawaii, click here!

This weekend I did a lot, and then I didn’t do a lot.  It was pretty great.

Friday afternoon, I had a study session with my new flight instructor.  It was a good time.

Friday night and Saturday morning I spent my time playing pool in the Portland Tri-Cups.  We didn’t end up winning, but I got an awesome patch for getting an 8-ball break.  In fact, because of that 8-ball break, I beat a much higher ranked player, two matches to his one.

The rest of Saturday I didn’t do a ton other than try to figure out what I wanted to do that evening and playing some video games.  I ended up finally finishing the Tales of Monkey Island.  This is a five-part game which continues one of my favorite video game series.

That evening I ended up going on a walking tour around part of Portland themed around Ghosts. It was a private event for Couch Surfers.  There were around fifteen of us, of that I knew around four or five.  Afterwards we went to the Green Dragon in SE Portland.  Nice bar with a ton of beers.

Sunday was very relaxing.  I finally caught up on some sleep.  Beat another game I’d been meaning to play through, Braid.  This game is a really awesome time-based side scrolling game.  I’ve seen a number of components used in other games, but never done so well.  It was a great game, though the story gets confusing in parts.

The rest of the day was spent watching the first episode of the prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.  The first season was awesome and made me really want more.  Sadly though, I found out the lead actor who played Spartacus, Andy Whitfield, ended up being diagnosed with cancer.  This really made me bummed because he is an awesome actor that I wanted to see a lot more of.  Well instead of cancelling the show, they decided to come out with a prequel (I’m hoping until Andy gets fixed for the sequel to Blood and Sand).  So far, I’m excited for the direction of the show!

The evening was coming close to an end as I decided to finally watch one of the movies I have queued up.  What was the movie of the evening, you ask!?  None other than… “Machete”.

I enjoyed this movie.  The story wasn’t the most interesting, but the portrayal of the characters was hilarious and all for fun.  It also has one of my favorites, Jessica Alba, who looked so damn good.  If you get a chance and want to watch an action movie with a bit of humor, then check this one out.

That brings a close to my weekend.  Nothing too crazy, but overall it was great.

How about yourself?  Do anything awesome over the weekend?  Tell me in the comment!

Starting tonight, the pool team I’m the captain for will be going to the Greater Portland Area Tri-County APA Pool Tournament (Tri-Cups).

I’m very proud of the team and really think we stand a chance in placing in this tournament and moving onto regionals which would then lead to nationals in Las Vegas.

I wanted to share the address of the team where I’ll be keeping things updated that come to the pool team. Go to http://chalkandawepool.com

It’s going to be one exciting weekend for me and the rest of the team.

Wish us luck as we go and play our hearts out!?

Since I haven’t updated for a while, I figured I’d share what is going on.

As of yesterday, I have been working at my new job working at Coaxis (aka. Viewpoint Construction Software). I started on April 19th after leaving IGT on April 9th. The new job change was due to IGT deciding to close the Corvallis location and my desire to stick in Oregon. So far, it has been a wise decision.

I have really been enjoying the company and the location it resides. We’re located right next to the Hawthorne bridge off of Water Ave near OMSI in Portland. The building is very eco-friendly with lots of light and very open. Much different than any office I’ve ever worked in and I like it. The people are all friendly and I’ve felt very welcomed since I’ve started.

The first few days I was here I spent in Agile training with half of the development staff (30 peoples) and that was great because it gave me a way to interact with the others and allowed me to learn where we’re headed right from the beginning.

This was followed up with training on what I would be working on. It was a good week of learning the tips and tricks of how they do things here. After this it was quite slow before getting into our Agile teams, but now that we’re in them, things are ramping up.

The commute to work isn’t too bad either. Since they gave us TriMet (local mass transportation) passes, I’ve been able to have a few different options to get to the company from where I am living in Hillsboro: 1) drive my car (this takes me between 30 and 45 minutes), 2) walk and take the MAX/busses to work (this takes roughly an hour), 3) do a mix of bike and MAX (this takes me around 35-45 minutes). Having the options are nice to get here, but taking longer than 30 minutes to get to work is really getting annoying. Hopefully I’ll soon move closer to Portland so that I can cut my trip down to either just in biking distance (around 5 miles is what I’d like) or MAX/bus distance making my trip around 15-20 minutes.  Figuring out where to move will be a huge factor.

Where I decide to move really depends quite a bit. Christina (my girlfriend) is planning to move up here towards the end of June so that she can attend PSU (Portland State University) this fall. Since PSU is so close to where I work, it wouldn’t be difficult to just live downtown, however that involves me having to pay for monthly parking on top of expensive rent. I think I’d rather try to live on the east side of the river where there are more houses and free parking on the streets. Finding a house (instead of an apartment) will be difficult and possibly expensive; especially one with a garage.

Many options to choose from actually, so I’m excited.

Other news:

Christina is finishing up her degree at Chemeketa Community College which should happen at the end of Summer, and Remmington (aka Remy, the bearded dragon) is growing so much and is healthy! I’m going to have to be working on building him a new cage sometime soon!

Well that is my life update for the time being. Hopefully, and I saw this often, I’ll update quicker next time!

Last time I posted I was talking about some documents I’ve been reading. Well since then I’ve made a number of changes.

With the closing of IGT Corvallis at the end of June, I’ve decided that instead of moving to Reno for IGT, that I would interview around and see what I can find. In the few months I applied I was able to get three confirmed offers. Two in Reno and one in Portland. I almost had one in Corvallis, however they failed to get permission to seek a new candidate before they began interviewing candidates…silly companies.

Though one of the offers in Reno was great, I decided to stay in Oregon and accept a position in Portland with a company called Coaxis. They deal mainly with their software called Viewpoint Construction Software which I hear is quite popular with construction companies; which is a good thing for me that I get into a business that is still growing. It is quite exciting and I will be able to contribute quite a lot. The great thing about going to Coaxis is that I get to work with a couple of co-workers from IGT that are already there.

Moving to Portland will also be quite fun and exciting. I’ve been interested in getting up in the Portland area so I am happy to have the chance to move up closer to friends I don’t get to see as often as I would like. Though this means I’ll be farther from friends, girlfriend included, in the Albany/Corvallis area, it just means that I’ll have to make lots of visits to the area.

Lucky for me, I really like to drive my car and really enjoy spending time with friends that it’ll be a great time.

With this whole move and starting a new company it means the end to a current one. I am leaving IGT for the right reasons (for me), and because of this I do not think it will be difficult to go. I will definitely miss working with all the great people I have gotten to know over the couple years I have been there, but the work itself I feel satisfied with. I was able to see my work running in a casino, and the current projects I was developing passed off into good hands. Hopefully I hear from the folks working on the project I spent so much time on and how successful it will turn out for them.

IGT was a great starting company after graduating and I will always remember the experiences with such great people. I look forward though to my next adventures which are starting quite soon.

This Friday (April 9th) will be my last day with IGT, I am then taking the next 9 days to just relax and move up to Portland. I then start day one at Coaxis on April 19th (a day after my birthday).

Here is to exciting and wonderful new changes. And here is to hoping that the people I meet at Coaxis will be as wonderful as those I met at IGT.

Jason