Saturday, January 28, 2017

You know there's something I really don't like, going to sleep at night and everything is working properly on your computer and then you wake up in the morning and no Internet! This is something I don't understand. Nobody touches it, nobody moves any wires and without access. Fortunately it only took me about 20 minutes on the phone with the service provider. It was all on their end and they had to refresh it there.

Yesterday we celebrated Matthew's fourth birthday and here is what his birthday cake look like.

The kids are growing up so fast.





I'm including a couple of links to YouTube. The first one is the video I made at the pipeline. You may or may not like this type of thing and of course you really don't have to watch it. Due to circumstances beyond my control, waiting for Andy and Autumn to arrive at the airport and their plane was canceled, I ended up getting to the North Shore at 3:30 PM. As you will see I'm videoing into the sun which is never good. But if you persist you will see a couple of good rides and get a view of the surrounding area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVdWVWH4FI&t=6s

The next video is of  Waimea Bay. This video came out really good, the problem I'm having is with copyright issues to the music. I select certain songs usually Hawaiian to go with these type videos and then I run into copyright infringements. Make sure your monitor is set to HD.

It was the day before I was to come home and actually was the day that Andy and Autumn were going to the airport. We loaded up all their luggage and headed to the North Shore. We had breakfast at the Haleiwa café. This café is a throwback to the 60s. I'll put a couple of pictures and their either today or next week. Unfortunately I have a 7 AM appointment so I'll have to run pretty soon. After breakfast we went to the famous to surf break in Haleiwa. The waves were just too big for this break. So we headed further down the road and when we rounded the corner I could see that Waimea was breaking. It has a beautiful beach and we had a great parking place. As you will see from the video I tried to scan the entire area in 360° so you get a feel for what it looks like there. The surf was breaking a little over 1800 feet from where I launch the drone. It really was a good day for videoing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs_Hb6us8UQ&t=213s

That's it for today I need to hit the road. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Maranatha,
Frank

1-21-17 Sat. late

I am back in Santee. I finally got home just before Midnight. I came back with a cold and hurt my back loading and unloading luggage on the way to the airport. Heavy bags and I can't even blame Harriet for all the weight.

This was the first time in Hawaii that while I was there 2 big North swells came through. One a few days after I arrived and another 2 days before I left. I will post the video links to the videos I made. I have over 150 GB of pics and videos to go through.

The flight home was the fastest trip ever. Just under 5 hours. Normally traveling from Hawaii to San Diego is about 5 hours 20 mins. We had a tail wind that reached 151 mph! Normally it is between 70 to 80 mph.

I missed my Girl. You know going to the places we went there are good memories and yet there is the emptiness that my Girl was not with me.

Hopefully by next weekend I will have some links for you. Have a great week!

Maranatha,
Frank

Monday 1-16-17 still in Hawaii

Andy and Autumn made it here a day late. They arrived on Sat.. These next two pics were taken this morning at Duke's.

 They are working me a like a rented Mule. We go non stop from early morning till night. Andy likes  Kiteboarding, so we go to whatever part of the Island has the  best wind.

Last Sat. before I picked them up in the morning, I went to the North Shore again. I got up really early on Saturday morning and drove to Haleiwa. The waves were forecasted at 10 to 12 feet and it was pumping. I don't take a lot of pictures since I have the opportunity to use my Phantom 4 Pro drone and take high definition videos up to 4K. I did take a couple of pictures when I was moving the drone into position. The picture was taken at about 150 feet off the surface of the water. You can get an idea of the size of the waves when you look at how small the people are that are sitting on their surfboards. When I get home I will edit and compile all these videos into the best shots and post it to the YouTube. Then I will supply a link so that you can view the videos.

I got to Haleiwa before first light and waited in the car. Because I had to pick up Andy and Autumn at the airport, I had a three or four hour window and I didn't want to waste any time.  While I was waiting for someone to get the waves and had allowed I met this man named Sammy. This was his favorite surf spot. He gave me the full scoop. See picture below.

There are some really good surfers and I got some great videos.

Andy and Autumn went to a luau this evening and I passed on it. Harriet And I had gone to one before and it was a lot of fun but once is enough.

This gives me the opportunity to up date the blog.This may be my last trip to Hawaii. It's just not the same when my girl's not here.

We are heading back to the North Shore tomorrow to chase the winter Andy.The next picture is of the beach where we were at when Andy launched his kite. I got some great videos from up above as he was moving along at a really good clip.

That's it for tonight. I hope you have a great week!

Maranatha,
Frank

1-14-17 Hawaii

I meant to do some more blogs but have been so busy running around the island. I was working on putting together a video for our church, that will be played on Sunday morning. It's amazing how time-consuming making a short video really is and I have greater respect for people that make movies.

The bad news is that my friends Andy and Autumn did not make it to Hawaii today. They were supposed to leave San Diego at 10 AM on Hawaiian Airlines which is the same flight I took on Monday morning. At first it was delayed one hour and then they said 1 PM and then 2 PM and finally they canceled the. Very disappointing!

The first really big swell for 2017 came to the North Shore starting to build yesterday and it should reach 28+ feet by midnight tonight. Since I didn't pick up Andy and autumn from the airport this afternoon I drove up to the North Shore along with 10 million other people. Everybody wants to see the big waves not just the tourists but the locals also. I'm going to attach a couple of pictures. I took mostly videos in 4K resolution and they came out fantastic, but unfortunately I can't post those to this site. When I get around to editing and putting them together, I will post it to YouTube and then give you the link.

I must tell you that I've been surfing for 50 years and what I saw this afternoon as I first got to the beach was nothing short of amazing! The waves are so huge and powerful, they must be seen in person to be believed. My immediate thought was, I wouldn't go out in this even in my prime. When I was here with Harriet the last time in May/June 2014 they had a big swell come through the south shore and I surfed waves that were 10 to 12 feet, but they pale in comparison to the ferocity of these waves.

The first picture is of the lineup and you really can't tell the size of the waves until a set rolls through and there's a person actually taking off on a wave. They are minuscule compared to the size of the wave. The next picture with the palm trees is a sunset earlier this week from my hotel room on the South Shore.

 To be perfectly candid with you I still miss my girl. Everywhere I go, there are memories of our trips to different areas including the North Shore, Dole plantation and the list goes on.

Maranatha,
Frank

1-11-17 Aloha

I promised an update.  Well the flight over was a rough one. I got sick on the plane. Let me back up. I eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast every morning and I don't get sick. I have flown on planes at least a few dozen times without a problem.

When I got to airport I ate a banana and when I we board the plane they gave us some snacks. A few hours later, before they served lunch I had to threw up. Not very good place to get sick. Fortunately I was in the first row of seats and real close to the head.

Enough of the bad news. I made it to the hotel. It is right across the street from the beach and centrally located.

The date is wrong on  the picture and I have get that fixed.

I am heading to Dude's this morning for breakfast. I will take some pics from there. Its the million dollar view and the food is great. Then I will go to the swap meet at the Aloha Bowl. I need to get another large suitcase and some T shirts. I am planning to go to National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. It is in the Punchbowl crater. I was planning on making a video for our church that they will show on Sunday. "Perched picturesquely in one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring natural settings, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (also known as Punchbowl Cemetery) is the official resting place of more than 25,000 veterans who bravely fought for our country within the armed services."  Harriet and I would come here to pay our respects to the brave men and women who gave their lives so that we could live in freedom!

Yesterday I drove East and took some videos that I will make into short edited video and I will put a link in future blog posts. Here is a picture taken at Sandy Beach Park, shortly after  sunrise.

OK, I am off and running. Check back in a few days and should have an update.

Maranatha,
Frank

1-7-17 Sat Getting ready for my vacation

Only two more days before I get on the plane and head over to Hawaii. Last night we had a really great Bible study. We are currently in the Book of Acts on Friday evening Bible study. We did all of chapter 8. If you recall, it's the chapter where Philip goes to Samaria and preaches the gospel and there's a sorcerer by the name of Simon who was greatly respected for his sorcery abilities. And when he saw the miracles that were done by the hand of Philip and of course when Peter and John came, Simon offered money to purchase the power so that whoever he lays his hands on would receive the Holy Spirit. Of course he was rebuked by Peter. That's where we get the term Simony. It is the term that is used to denote the purchase of becoming a bishop or cardinal in the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. That practice is named after the Simon in Acts chapter 8.

Then in the same chapter you have the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. That's a really great too.

I've come to a dilemma, what do I pack for my trip? Harriet used to do all the packing and I can't find her list anywhere. So I will do the best I can and whatever I forget, I guess I'll have to purchase there.

I've not been able to go surfing since I paddled out with Harriet's ashes on September 6, 2014. I have tendinitis in my right leg/thigh and I'm not unable to stand up without assistance (if I am on my knees). So my surfing friends said that they're going to install a walker on my surfboard so I'll be able to stand up and walk to the nose. I have been involved with surf photographer for quite some time probably about two decades or more. Before Harriet got sick I was looking into purchasing a drone, so I could use it to take photographs and videos of surfing events and my friends. When Harriet got sick I put that on hold. Two months ago I put all my camera gear for sale on eBay. It sold very well. I keep everything in excellent condition so it was like new. I used the money from the sale of my camera equipment to purchase a new high-tech drone. It really is incredible, the advances that they've made even the last three years. This particular model has avoidance sensors on the front, back, sides and bottom. To help you from crashing into things.I had a couple of inexpensive drones that I purchased previous to this one and I used those to learn how to fly. You see when a drone that is less than 1 ft.² and is a football field away in distance or further, it is very difficult to see perspective wise which is front and back. These drones have what is called FPV which stands for first person view. You have a screen on your transmitter that allows you to see exactly what the camera on the drone sees. The drone that I purchased has ability to fly 4.3 miles away from the transmitter. But the FAA has rules and they say you cannot fly further than line of sight which is probably 1000 feet and cannot exceed an altitude of over 400 feet. Even though this drone can go a couple miles up in the air, we are limited by common sense and the FAA rules. You don't want to get in the way of low-flying planes and cause an accident.

The first time I flew over the water at Torrey Pines Beach, it was kind of scary because you have all this money invested and if you make the wrong move, it goes down into the water. Now that I've flown it a number hours over the water it builds confidence that it will work properly and as long as there is no pilot error, you're doing okay. On December 29 I went to 15th St. in DEL  MAR where my friends are, and took some videos of them surfing. I edited the video and posted it to YouTube. The link is below. If you click on it it will take you to the video and it's about three minutes long. You must understand that this is my first attempt and I was very careful not to get too close to the surfers. I've gone out one more time and taken videos and the confidence level is higher so I'm videoing a lot closer to the surfers, but I am not posting that video because it doesn't have my friends in it and I didn't want to go to the trouble of editing it. I had nice Hawaiian music tune picked out and when I uploaded to YouTube they said there's copyright infringement so I could not use that music. The music that I used is what YouTube provides that is free of copyright.

Yes I'm taking the drone to Hawaii and I'm going to do a lot of videography of some of Harriet's and my favorite spots for surfing and just because of the beautiful scenery. It should be interesting. I will post those and as I mentioned in the previous blog, I will probably blog about every other day while I'm there with pictures and video links. I look forward to videoing Andy and his kite surfing, it should make interesting viewing.

I just checked and you cannot click on the link below, you're going to have to copy and paste it into your browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYyA45u2uQ4

The message and preaching tomorrow is about faith. Of course I'm using the text in the Book of Hebrews chapter will 11:1-2. I hope you'll be able to make it to church tomorrow and praise the Lord, the Creator, Our Redeemer!

Maranatha,
Frank