LIFE IS GOOD

My life has been up and down, but mostly good.  In this blog I've actually said that my life has been in the 99.99th percentile.  

• But part of that is because, over the course of time, Homo sapiens have had 117 billion births.  As there are now only 8 billion of us, and life today surely must be a lot better than in the past, that already places me at a great advantage, and you too.

• 
  I was born in 1940, a dark period in history when Hitler was conquering Europe.  The #1 song in the USA was I'll Never Smile Again, by Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra, with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers.
• But more than just that, after an acceptable youth growing up in Kakaako (Honolulu), not a slum, but definitely below average, I had a great final two years of high school and got accepted at Stanford University.

• 
  Life was generally fine there.  I read today an entry in Quora entitled:  Is Caltech the most academically difficult university?  I also got accepted there, and that would have been a difficult period for me.  Got my chemical engineering degree from Stanford in a little more than 3.5 years and left very confident.

• 
  For the rest of my life, life was generally good.
• Tough period after first graduating, for toiling in the sugar industry was the hardest job I ever had.  Mind you, I wasn't cutting cane, for I worked in factory, where my office was air-conditioned.

• 
  Best of all, after a few years, C. Brewer continued to pay me to attend graduate school at LSU in sugar engineering.  My life got better, for with a PhD in biochemical engineering, I joined the engineering faculty at the University of Hawaii.

• 
  One advantage of being a professor is you have three months in the summer to do whatever you want.  Me, I spent one assignment at the NASA Ames Research Center working on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and two summers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on laser fusion.

• 
  Then three years in the U.S. Senate, where I wrote original bills in hydrogen and ocean thermal  energy conversion, both becoming laws.
• Generally loved my 27 years at the University of Hawaii, for I taught computer and engineering courses only for a few years, with he rest of my tenure as a research director, the best job anyone can have on a university campus.

• 
  Retired a quarter century ago, but I still retain an office on the Manoa Campus.
• Moved into a retirement community a decade ago, which brings me to today and my good life at 15 Craigside.

The Royal Hawaiian Band comes to 15 Craigside almost annually.  Here with Karen Keawehawaii and Clarke Bright.  When he was a student for the University of Hawaii, a very long time ago, he worked for the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, which I directed.

We have several individuals also entertaining us weekly.  Here is Scott, where appetizers and drinks were served.

A short walk from 15 Craigside is Foster Botanical Garden.

My view from where I sit to compose each posting is this.

But then, it sometimes rains.

But always improves.

Then again, when Kilauea Volcano erupts, as is happening now, the VOG wafts over to Honolulu.

But my view gets good again.

I now and then use my University of Hawaii Manoa Campus office.  I was there this past week and saw close by Krauss Hall a beautiful magenta tree.  I once knew the name of this tree, so if you're interested, it's in this list.  Let me know if you find it.

Adjacent was another nice one.

There are more than a hundred flowering plant species on this campus.

Went to a special presentation by Dr. Genshitsu Sen, Urasenke Chadō Tradition 15th-generation Grandmaster in the new Bachman Hall Loulu Conference Room.  He is 102-years old and stood the whole hour of his talk.  Lot of distinguished looking people dressed in traditional and formal wear.  Had on shorts.

Yesterday, we celebrated Valentine's Day twice.  First, a Heritage Society luncheon at the Prince Waikiki Hotel.  The new president is Wendy Hensel.  Sat on a table with the current Dean of Engineering Brennon Morioka.  He told me something I find astonishing.  When I was associate dean of that college half a century ago, the largest department was electrical, with civil #2 and mechanical #3.  He said that today it is reversed, with the most students in mechanical and least in electrical.  In my days, we talked about abolishing the ME department because it was too small, with a fractious faculty.

Table setting.  Lunch of salad, chicken, dessert and something else.

Roses for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day Dinner.

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