Cynical Nation

Okay, I'm back, and I've officially decided that every place that's not Hawaii sucks (sorry, PE.) We spent about half the time doing tourist stuff and the other half getting (re)acquainted with a side of the family that my wife hasn't seen in years and whom I'd never met at all. For those of you who don't know, my wife is a blue-eyed blonde of Scandinavian descent, and I just think it's a hoot that she has all these browned-skinned surfing Hawaiian relatives, but there you go.

Anyway, we had a blast, but when I started going through my photos I realized that very few of them are fit for public consumption (i.e., do not contain me in a swimsuit.) There are a few exceptions, however, particularly the ones I took at Pearl Harbor, so I'll post a few of those.

It was a beautiful, sunny day when we went to pay our respects to the USS Arizona, as this picture of the flag flying over the memorial illustrates.

Part of one of the turret foundations on the Arizona is still partially above the surface.

And if you look closely at the right-hand side of this picture, you can see some of the fuel oil that's still leaking from the Arizona at the rate of about a quart or so per day. If you stand there long enough, you'll see a few drops of black oil rise to the surface, spread out, and then turn into a filmy rainbow before dissipating altogether. It's weird to think that this oil had been trapped inside the ship for 66 years and finally emerged only as we were standing there watching.

We also got to meet Pearl Harbor survivor Sterling Cale, who was a US Navy Corpsman on December 7, 1941. Cale was active in the recovery efforts following the attack and told some truly horrific stories. Once again, I couldn't help but believe that men were made of stronger stuff back in those days. Cale is not only a hero, but a living museum as well. I find it incredibly sad to think that the survivors of that day are leaving us at an alarming rate and that one day soon there will be no one left.

Ah well. On a lighter note, check out Missy the sea turtle. We caught her sunning herself on Oahu's north shore. Missy is a year or two older than I am, and a few pounds heavier, although she looks neither. That thing on her back it what's left of a GPS-type thingie. The scientists thought it would be cool to track a few of these turtles by satellite, but the guys have a way of effing up the transmitters.

All right, I won't bore you with any more. I'll just say that the coolest part is that it turns out that they have TVs in Hawaii! That means I got to see both 24 and the season finale of Battlestar Galactica during our trip. So stop reading now if you don't want any BSG spoilers.

So Tigh is a Cylon, huh? I guess that explains why D'anna apologized to one of the final five in her vision. But haven't we seen Tigh age? What about those flashbacks to a young(er) Tigh and Adama, long before Adama took command of Galactica? Are cylons supposed to age like that?

And although I'm glad to see Starbuck again, I'm still very nervous that she's going to end up being a cylon as well. There are five missing models, but only four met at the "All Along the Watchtower" rendez-vous on Galactica. That, to me, suggests that the fifth model is not on board the ship. Perhaps Baltar is off the hook, but Starbuck, it would seem, is suspect numero uno -- assuming, that is, that she exists anywhere other than in Lee's head.

Oh well, I guess we gotta wait until 2008 to find out. That sucks.