The Power of Water

I think everything big and interesting likes to happen Thursday night Friday morning. Last week (well two weeks ago), it was the crazy thunderstorm and losing power and this week it was the 8.9 earthquake in Japan that sent a tsunami wave throughout the Pacific Ocean. Also of note, the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) pulled into Pearl Harbor Thursday for some Liberty and to get some supplies before heading off today for her home port.

So what everyone wants to hear about....the tsunami warning/tsunami in Hawaii. First off, I ended up watching the tsunami that hit Japan live Thursday night before I went to bed. It was pretty unreal. Granted most everyone on the Mainland wouldn't hear about the earthquake and tsunami until Friday morning when the video that I saw live would be replaying on every news station and over YouTube and the Internet. It was pretty amazing how powerful water is. You watch it from the helicopter perspective and you're like "that's not moving pretty fast" but then you think again, that is moving buildings, cars, boats, all at a significant pace, wait that is moving pretty fast and it's still going, not slowing down at all. When a wave can carry burning buildings without putting them out, yeah that's some fast moving water, and a lot of it. I was also impressed that I did remember a lot about tsunamis from Earth and Environmental Systems (the class in which most people sleep through). Needless to say, the media (and some unfortunate people on the Mainland and boat owners here in Hawaii), learned the hard way and was amazed that tsunamis are actually more than one wave. Yes, you heard right, more than one wave. The wave that did the most destruction in Japan was actually the 10th wave that hit them. Granted, they were in fast succession since the epicenter was close to the islands of Japan.

Hawaii was ready for the tsunami waves that were predicted to hit the islands around 0300 Friday morning. The Pacific Tsunami center sent out the warning and advisories pretty much immediately after the earthquake hit Japan. It was amazing that they kept upgrading the earthquake as well. First it started off as a 7.9 magnitude, the upgraded to a 8.8 magnitude and finally to a 8.9 magnitude earthquake. Now 8.8 to a 8.9 magnitude earthquake may not seem like a lot, but you have to remember that the scale is on a log scale. If my memory serves me correctly the waves reached the Hawaiian islands about 0330 first on the island of Kauai. A few minutes later, it hit the islands of Oahu and Maui and then finally the island of Hawaii. The highest surges I believe were seen to be about 7 ft surges. On Oahu, the north shore saw about 6-7 ft surges and the boats harbor up there I think saw some damage. In Waikiki, there was only about 2.3 ft surge. Waikiki is protected by lots of reefs that help break up the wave surges. The East side in Kailua saw about 0.1 ft surges (yeah big numbers) and in Pearl Harbor, a half meter surge was seen (don't ask me why it was reported in meters when the others were reported in feet).

I was safe for it all. I live outside the evacuation zone. Some of my friends that live in town and in Waikiki evacuated to people's places that were outside of the evacuation zone. The USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN stayed in Pearl Harbor, the Navy obviously thought it would be safe and the wave height that was predicted wouldn't affect the carrier at all. I got woken up by the tsunami alarms at 0130 and went down to watch the TV to see what was happening. I guess I slept through the 1000, 1100, and the 0000 alarms that had gone off earlier that night. The news just kept replaying the tsunami wave footage from Japan which started to get depressing and how to prepare for the tsunami wave here in Hawaii. The news also had a camera crew up on Diamond Head where there is a spotlight from a private resident (I believe) that gave a view of the ocean so they could watch the wave come in. I ended up sleeping down in the living room with the TV on in case anything happened. Most interesting thing was that I ended up going to work at my normal time in the evacuation zone even though the "all clear" hadn't been given. The reason being was that the emergency phone number in case of emergencies like this still said to report to work at normal times, the radio station(s) that give information about the shipyard didn't have anything different and the one TV station that gives out information (which I was watching) also said nothing about anything different. Only after I showed up for work did I learn that we weren't suppose to come to work until the "all clear" was given (which was about 1000). The guards at the gate still let me in as well. Needless to say, I have experienced my first tsunami warning this past weekend.

As I stated earlier the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN came into port on Thursday. Air craft carries are a whole lot larger than a submarine. Granted, you think that is common sense but when you work on submarines it kinda just gets filtered out. I tried going to the USS ARIZONA Memorial on Saturday to get a water close up picture of the carrier, but the earliest tour time was 1200 which was a bit late (it was 0830 when I got there). I did not want to wait that long and I had something else at 1100. So, I went for the next best option. I went onto Ford Island and got some pictures from the bridge and the island. I also went to the pier on base and got some pictures from there. I didn't get a chance to tour the aircraft carrier :-( maybe the next one that is in port. The number is also lit up very patriotic at night. I did get some great pictures from the USS ARIZONA Memorial sight since the carrier was docked basically right next to the memorial.

Saturday lunch/early afternoon was my church's water baptism/potluck on the north shore at Haleiwa Ali'i beach park. We had 18 members of our church get baptized on Saturday which was pretty amazing. A whole family, some couples, teenagers, and a few young kids got baptized. Truly was a blessing to encourage them during this time. I again ended up taking food home after the potluck was done. Not that I'm complaining or anything, it's nice taking food home. Kinda like college....free food....but instead of catered food here and there, it's home made food and most of the times not American style food. Awesome free food compared to college free food. Free food is free food though. I also brought a Ultimate disc to the potluck and threw the disc around. Granted I have to admit to shame that the disc is a Wam-O disc....yes poor quality....I dont' want to hear about it. It still was good and in a sense better since  the people I threw around with weren't the greatest. a Wam-O disc is alright getting knife-bladed into the ground. I don't feel as bad.

Sunday I went to church and then to the beach with some friends down near Kailua. The beach was a great time, relaxing and just having fun. Went snorkeling for a bit then just hung out on the beach for a greater part of three hours. Bad thing was that I got a pretty nice sunburn during those three hours. Sunlight reflecting off of water just give such an intense dose of radiation, something like that. Needless to say, I have some color after going to the beach. Not lobster red, but still a slight red color. I wonder how my haole friends turned out after that time at the beach.

That is the greater part of last week. I did give blood and the lady that drew my blood, yeah she ended giving me a bruise. Not quite as big as the one I got from Dr. Neeves, but still a decent size bruise. I guess the Blood Bank of Hawaii want's me to start donating platelets next time. They are much more on top of asking me to do that than Bonfils was. I also found out that my logic board for one of the USB drives is dead, so it will have to be replaced. The store had to order the part so I get my computer for a few more days before I have to turn it over to get fixed. The extended warrantee is actually paying off for once. I will have to ask them how much it would cost if I didn't have the warrantee when I drop it off. P. S. Ashley, you seem to keep moving your day of your postings. Also, you should wear Orange on Thursday, although it would probably clash with your red hair.