Welcome Home! (Now you can get started on that laundry…thanks!)

~ K ~ 3 Comments

Last Sunday, with the roar of the Boeing jetliner, I returned back to Seattle from my vacation to the Big Island (Hawaii). Besides my imaginary stalker Cyndi and my wife, a few of you devotees of my Worthless Advice know, I like to visit Kauai when I head to Hawaii. Note: my parents still live on Kauai (and I went to school there).  This year, I couldn’t squeeze a Kauai stay into my travel and vacation plans.  This vacation,  I spent the whole ten days on the Big Island this time around.  The other amazing part? The vacation was just with my wife and no children.  It was surreal.

The Big Island is “big”. It is twice the size of the other Hawaiian Islands added together. It is as big as the state of Connecticut (roughly 4000 square miles). One major drawback: Not as many sand beaches as compared to Kauai.  But you certainly do get a lot of driving time in with the distances between the tourist sites and there is no traffic jams. At least, we didn’t experience any. Coming from the Seattle area, it was heaven to drive in clear open roads. I would compare it to driving in Eastern Washington.

 
My wife and I enjoyed the Big Island. We even tossed around the idea of doing what my parents did 30 years ago: move to Kauai and live there.  I could do school photography there and here in the Seattle area. Commuting back and forth on an airplane twice a month.  She could get a job making hats out of coconut palms and giving cat massages.  Mr. Whiskers would love that!

  
You’ll be please to know, that I came home to at least seven loads of laundry. I guess the laundry fairy was out on vacation as well. Oh wait, I was just informed by Mr. Whiskers the cat litter box was also neglected.  Thank goodness the garbage and recycling made it out to the curb and back again with my divine guidance. 

 

Let’s NOT answer your question….

~ K ~ 3 Comments

Have you perfected the skill of not answering questions?

A recent example of someone not answering a question was on the tv show: “Hawaii Life”.  I was watching the HGTV show “Hawaii Life” and the buyer asked her real estate agent: “Is there a lot of noise from the pool?” Her agent’s answer: “That is something to consider.”  See, you don’t answer the question but you give an answer that is just an answer.

Which makes me wonder: Do you give the best answer or do you just give an answer?

Or do you offer a question as the answer to the question?

Example: How much does that cost?

Answer: How much do you want to pay?

Again, not an answer but you opened your mouth and said something to fill the void.  You didn’t not answer them.  You could have also said “That looks like the color pink.” Both answers got you and them to the same place…nowhere.

Of course you can’t answer every question fully. In case of the real estate agent, she doesn’t know how loud it would be to live next to the swimming pool.  Who would?

Enjoy not answering any questions by offering answers that don’t answer the question. Confused? So is everyone else.

Oh, by the way, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow.

~ K ~ 5 Comments

So even if you have been married a few months, a few years, or a few decades, you should get the spouse an expensive gift to show your true love. At least every time I purchase a Valentine’s Day card, I feel like I’m buying a very expensive gift. Those cards are expensive. 

However, if I don’t buy the card, I look like an insensitive jerk. Ah, well played Greeting Card company, well planned. You know even if my wife says “you don’t need to buy me anything, honey” that I’d be a fool to listen to her.  Because if I don’t buy that expensive card, I’m the husband that “forgot” about Valentine’s Day. My love is only shown through a pricey greeting card’s well polished verse of undying love, gratitude, and admiration.

Oh, and let’s not forgot about what sentiment we need to profess in this greeting card. If we go with the funny card and our spouse wakes up in a bad mood, we look like someone that doesn’t take our love seriously. But if we go with the seriously one and we are known for our funny nature, we are guilty of not being concerned about our choice of Valentine’s Day cards.   We picked a serious card because we didn’t care enough to look through the 863 different cards available.

I like the funny ones but depending on the mood of your spouse (on Valentine’s Day morning), you are risking a day…a week…a month…years of how you were an insensitive dope who chose the wrong Valentine card.

Yeah, so good luck with your card choice…choose wisely.

“Let’s Go Make Some Bad Decisions!”

~ K ~ 2 Comments

I have on my iPhone, in my notes app, a list of T-Shirt sayings ideas.  These are random sayings I think would make great T-shirts.  Some are sarcastic sayings, some are worthless advice sayings, and others make no sense at all but quite are catchy.

The title of this blog is one of those sayings. Of course, I didn’t make that one up. It appears inLet-s-go-make-bad-decisions-Women-s-T-Shirts a few movies, on memes, and in song lyrics. However, it inspires me to think of weird sayings I could add into my own personal list of clever and witty sayings. Sayings that make no sense, yet if you put them out in the world, someone would adopt it, and make it their own motto, and it would become a part of popular culture.

The hard part is trying to keep what you hear in popular culture out of your own creative thought process. If I Googled half the sayings in my little note app, I’m sure you could find them in a movie I watched, a novel I read, or a song I heard. You could copy a cleverly written prose as your personal mantra, however, give credit where credit is due.

Now, to help you in your quest to be unique as possible, here is a saying you can throw into a conversation sometime. It makes no sense, yet if the listener thinks a bit about it, it might make sense.

Today’s saying: “Just hanging out with dogs and monkeys.”

Let’s throw this into a conversation with your friend. Your friend asks you “What are you up to this weekend?” Your new answer: “Just hanging with dogs and monkeys.” Which they might think is your family…other friends…your adult soccer club. It makes them think they know what you are talking about, but they don’t. (In Australia, you might have to modify it to “dogs and kangaroos”.)

Now try it with a co-worker. They ask “How was that meeting with the marketing team?” You talk about how productive it was but then throw in “You know, after it was all said and done, it was just hanging out with dogs and monkeys.” They will either nod their head in agreement (because they think they know what you are talking about). Or they will ask you what you mean. If they ask, you can say “Certainly, you have been in the same situation.” Again, you aren’t offering a definition or an answer but does it really matter? You’ve answered them but didn’t answer them.

If you work in a school, this saying could fit into everyday school life and no one would bat their eyes. Everyone knows kids are dogs and monkeys.

Enjoy another worthless advice nugget from Kevin to get you through the day! And remember that you are just hanging out with the dogs and monkeys today.

A Visit to the Big Seattle Boat Show!

~ K ~ 3 Comments

Sometimes I come up with some odd ideas on what I should be doing with my life.  Last summer, I had the strange notion that I should be a yacht salesperson.  I honestly thought it would be a fun and glorious summer job.  Sitting at my desk at the marina, the sun shining outside, the wind gently blowing, and the yachts gleaming outside.  Rich people would just stop by, I’d take them out for a test cruise, and I’d sell a yacht a day.

Luckily, my laziness and my desire to enjoy myself kept me from a life of khaki slacks, boat shoes, and washing seagull crap off some yacht on Lake Union.

Instead of becoming a boat salesman, my son and I went to the Big Seattle Boat Show yesterday.  Now, I haven’t been to a boat show since I was a kid so this was both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing because it is extremely fun to see the variety of yachts and boats available (and this was only the ones they could bring inside on trailers).  A curse because the boats I like are in the price range of $600,000 to $900,000.  Sure, I could get by with a smaller boat but once you look at a $800,000 yacht, the $225,000 is small and not really up to your standards.  The $1.3 Million yacht wasn’t even that attractive.  I would have to pass on it.

I would also like a yacht that isn’t too big where I would need a crew to run it.  I want to be able to handle it with myself and my wife.  I know; I’m a bit picky when it comes to big boats.

I also wouldn’t mind a retired classic Coast Guard cutter or even an older working boat (tug, fishing vessel) that had some space on it.  Retrofit that baby with some modern electronics and you’d a vessel that would have some style to it, yet be fun to be on.

 

However, unless I win the Power Ball Lottery, I won’t be buying a new boat anytime soon.  Besides, who wants to worry about having to find a boat slip, fueling it up, getting through the Ballard Locks?  Am I right?

Let’s hear all about You!

~ K ~ 4 Comments

What have you been up to?

Don’t you hate that question?  Depending on the person, I always take a moment to reflect on what I have and haven’t been doing.  During this short moment of self-reflection, I have to decide whether or not I should be thinking about what I have done or what I haven’t done.  What is my mood at that particular moment….am I sarcastic? Am I excited?  Depressed?  Is the typical Pacific Northwest mood affecting me?  Is the rain getting me down?  Is my Facebook envy getting the better of me?

Today, I might say:

Well, I haven’t been posting on my blog…

Well, I haven’t been doing as much work on being a passive income (business) like I should….

I haven’t been working on my school photography business like I should…

Or preparing my business documents for my tax accountant like I should….

On the flip side, my positive outlook would make me reply in such a manner that my life is going awesome!

Well, we got our Phantom 3 drone 90% repaired!

I published two blog posts today and I’m on my way to uploading the third.

I finished the novel Doctor Sleep by Stephen King and the other three books I’m reading are holding my interest for the time being.

I’m thinking about writing a science fiction novel or even a romance novel (who careIMG_9082 (1)s that I’m not the least bit romantic…I know my book will be a bestseller!)

And today is actually sunny here in the Seattle area so I’m in a delightful mood.

So…what have you been up to my dear readers?

 

 

Phantom 3 Drone Repairs (Update)

~ K ~ 2 Comments

About a week and a half ago, I crashed our Phantom 3 drone because I was being stupid.  Needless to say, we ordered replacement parts and my son installed them.  Everything was running but we had some issues with the camera (2.7K camera).  It was a bit slated and it seemed to be getting jammed,  My son’s attempts to correct it failed and I made the executive decision to just go ahead and buy a new camera.  A new camera was ordered and should arrive on Monday.

The other part that was broken was the compass.  This part was replaced fairly easily.  Thank goodness for YouTube and other people flying the Phantom 3, and their repair videos.  YouTube makes life a lot easier for us, don’t you agree?

Here’s the video just before I crashed during a flight over Lake Union.

Drone Crash Update: Replacement Parts have been ordered!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

After my drone crash and my son’s lecture to me about proper flying techniques, we assessed the damage and figured out the parts we needed to order.  Prior to my son and I assessing the damage together, I had taken the drone into a local drone shop in Bellevue for some input and assessment.  They seemed pretty knowledgeable and give me a quick assessment.  The motors appear to be OK (I thought so as well).  I wanted my son and I to have the chance to look over the drone together and then make a repair decision.  As you can clearly see from the photos (in my last post), the camera was torn from the gimble (broken yaw arm).  Since the camera is detached from the gimble, the camera cable ribbon is also sheared off and needs replacement.

DJI doesn’t seem to sell just the gimble part to their cameras.  They would like you to replace the camera (ours is the Phantom 3 Advanced model with the 2.7K camera).  Cost of the replacement camera is $409 (not included any taxes or shipping fees).  I found a couple of different suppliers for the yaw arm ($50-$99) on Amazon and Ebay.  I purchased the camera cable ribbon directly from DJI for $35 plus $10 shipping.  I did find that online at other suppliers for cheaper but thought I’d better go with OEM parts for the cable ribbon.

One of the landing gear/skids was cracked but we will glue or use epoxy that together.

The last part I broke (but I think that it may have been broken when my son and this friend were trying to push it back together) was the compass on the Phantom 3.  The compass appears to be in one of the landing skids.  The compass itself wasn’t broken but the small cables were cut in half.  I think they were sliced when my son and his friend tried to push it together.  That cable couldn’t be fixed so I ordered that part as well (roughly $20).

Crash of the Drone

~ K ~ 5 Comments

So….

I’ve been practicing my drone flying skills and decided to fly the drone around Lake Union a bit today. I got some nice footage of some boats, saw a sea plane landing, and then managed to crash my drone.  Actually, the drone belongs to my son and myself. As you can imagine, it was hard to tell my business partner I crashed the drone this morning.

I was flying an old ferry boat and got too close to the barge that is docked next to it. I realized that I was too close and attempted to go up which is where I got into trouble.

Once the crash occurred, I pretty much thought my son was going to kill me when he found out. Why bother trying to find it? I was a dead man.

Nevertheless, I threw the controller and the drone backpack into the back of the car and raced to the crash site.  I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to find it or be able to get to it. This is a “working” lake (meaning there are barges, fishing boats, sea planes landing and taking off) in Seattle and the drone was probably at the bottom of the lake.

I did find the drone laying on a barge and was able to recover it.  Below are some photos and the actual drone video crash footage of the damage.

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Drone video footage of the ferry “Ocean City” in Oro Bay on Anderson Island, WA

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Anderson Island, WA – Drone Footage of ferry boat “Ocean City” in Oro Bay

Enjoy this drone footage of the retired ferry boat “Ocean City” now docked in Oro Bay, Anderson Island, WA.  Oro Bay is located in the southeast section of Anderson Island.  The ferry boat “Ocean City” was actually sailed over from the east coast of the United States via the Panama Canal.

Interested in learning more about the ferry? Click:  “Ocean City” Ferry Boat information

Here is another article (from 1998) from the AP News: Floating RV Park?

A 1993 Seattle Times story: Oro Bay Ferry

Flying the drone on Anderson Island, WA