Angstronomy

Chris had gone to school at the Hulaversity of Hawaii, so he was psyched about taking me to the Pacific-famous "Sam Choy's" for breakfast. After scanning the menu, I figured I'd try a Sam Choy's Special, highlighted in blue -- the Poke Platter with eggs and fried rice.

Now.

The description said it was fish. It did not say that it was tuna tar tare, a barely grilled cubed pink fish. Thanks for the assist, there, Chris, just smiling to yourself there on your side of the table. "Well," he said, "you seemed to know what you were doing."

It's apparently pronounced, "Pokey," too.

I think the waiter knew I was from outa town.

Had time to knock out some more trinket shopping -- bought a kick-ass yellow Hawaiian shirt with palm trees, turtles, and ukuleles (Hawaiian for 'jumping fleas' don't you know) -- before heading back to base and lunch with COMPACAF followed by a short flight to Maui. There we transitioned to an Army HH-60 helicopter for a fun and thankfully smooth (nary a barf bag needed for the Mrs!) 20-min flight above the clouds to an AF space observatory on a 10000-ft peak jointly managed by Space Command and the AF Research Laboratory. Got to learn about its history, some of the ongoing experiments, and the mechanics involved in replacing the coating on the 3.6m antenna (the DoD's biggest) -- they cook a sugar-cubed sized piece of aluminum and spread it onto the surface so it's no more than 960 atoms thick. Only every 7 years or so.

Windy drive down the mountain, we dined at the fairly ordinary Kula Lodge but with a great view of the inlet dissecting the ocean. By the time we got back to Oahu, everyone was too beat to go out again. The downside to these trips is traveling to a new place nearly every day, requiring us to repack a suitcase nearly every night. I seriously deserve a medal.

Windy. Pronounced "Whine-Dee". Not "Win-Dee." English is hard.