What does Chris do for work?

"So what exactly does Chris do for work?" This seems to be a question Jackie hears often. To help answer this question, we have compiled a few pictures to illustrate what it is I do. But before I get to that, here is a quick summary. I work for the University of Hawaii at Manoa Oceanography Department as a Marine Instrumentation Technical Associate. Basically I am our labs technician/engineer for designing and creating mounts and brackets for underwater/marine instruments. It is alot of fun and can range from using PVC to high quality 316 stainless steel and even some titanium. I have just completed the UH scientific SCUBA diving class and will begin to be the lead diver for our diving operations as well. What I do is actually quite a difficult question to answer because my job changes all the time.

A breif summary of some of the things I have done at work are as follows...

- Before the UH job I went on a NOAA ship for Marine Debris Cleanup in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. See our previous posts for more pictures (2006).

cutting net

big net

looking for net

lunch break with an endangered Monk seal

hauling in a big net

- Boat driver for many of our diving operations and equipment testing

- Design & fabricate mountings for our instruments

We now are using video cameras for wave data. This one is in Waikiki.

Portable sand mounted tower
for video cameras that measure wave swashing on the sand.

Acoustic sonar mount
(measures sand ripples and scouring)

Drifter
(this one is still in progress, but measures currents by using GPS)

Wave and Current instrument mounts
(this is for the ones we use most often. We have measured waves and currents at Waimea, near Haleiwa, Pipeline, Waikiki, Guam, and many other places)

- I Helped to Install Tide gauges In Lanai HI, Cape Verde, Senegal, and the Azores.

Lanai Tide Gauge

- Most recently I went to Guam to install a bunch of wave and current profilers. I also got to help deploy a wave buoy.

sensors ready to delpoy

new sensor on left, after 3-4 months on right
reef edge sensor !DANGEROUS!
I got knocked over twice by waves and drug ~15ft across the reef
Diving the drop off just outside the reef edge sensor

This is Science?

wave buoy

- The Professor I work for and I have also been writing a paper on sea level extremes (tides vs storm influences)

ca-ALLL on super Chicken...bock, bock, bock, bock

I LOVE DISNEYLAND!

More Grandpa photos

Grandpa Julian

I will miss you Granpa Julian!

My dear sweet Grandpa Julian passed away in the morning on April 8th 2008 at age 87. His wife Doris and 3 of his children have passed on before him so I am so excited for their reunion. He will be missed by his 5 children and 35 grandchildren. Oh did I forget to mention he has 38 GREAT-granchildren? He was a fighter pilot in WWII, and there are not many that have survived as long as he did. He was also one of the most faithful and obedient people I have ever known. Chris and I are now grandparentless so if anyone wants to offer their grandparent as a temporary fill-in we would much appreciate that. The picture above is of My grandpa, Uncle Kim, his son Scott, Aunt Mignon and some cute great grandkids that I hopefully can meet in Utah this week. When I get home (April 21st) I will post some cool young pics of my grandaddy. He was a handsome man!

My sister Joni made a list of her favorite Grandpa moments and I wanted to share them:

1. Grandpa and I trying (unsuccessfully) to save the peach tree on the side of the house at Shiloh Ranch.

2. Grandpa pruning the trees in the backyard of the white house making a big pile of branches we played in.

3. Grandpa giving "the test" to inititate the in-laws with a napkin (wing, wing, wing!)

4. Grandpa watching Marti and I hula dance in the backyard of the white house. He was always very sweet to Marti.

5. Grandpa listening to me play and sing with tears in his eyes. He always believed in me.

6. Grandpa taking bath's and using the door as a giant fan to air out the bathroom.

7. Grandpa eathing with his face as close to the food as possible.

8. Grandpa giving Darron Nielson and I marriage counsel even though we weren't dating.

9. Grandpa was never afraid to show his emotions or say "I love You".

10. Grandpa always had a special respect for mom, his little "Julie Bug". He was so proud of her.

11. Grandpa always went swimming with us at the Century Drive House.

12. Grandpa always smelling of "Old Spice".

13. Grandpa would come with us to the old ward on Bernard St. and everyone treatied him like a general authority because of his general authority length prayers.

14. Grandpa always took a moment to look you straight in the eyes before he hugged you. I could FEEL him say " I love you" before he said it. He made you feel like the most important person on earth.

15. Grandpa had a laugh that could topple tall buildings in a single bound. His sneezes could move mountains. I should know because I inherited his sneeze and dad's belch. James got the brains, I got the belch. What a world.

16. How many pale yellow station wagons were there?

Here are some words of advice that my Grandpa gave to my oldest Sister Jennie. He told her to teach this to her kids:

“Satan’s influence is rampant in the world. It is time to “circle the wagons”. As a family, he wants us to draw strength and testimony from one another.

“Take time to teach the children about the Iron Rod”

“Always be honest. Always be honorable.”

“Remember- There is no failure until we give up. We must never give up.”

He said to put a cute little sign in the kids’ rooms: “Don’t give up on me- God isn’t through with me yet!”

“Do you know if Jacob Alexander is a Bishop, Stake President, or General Authority in the making? How differently we would treat people if we knew what they will become.”

He said to take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Write:

Who you are What you do
(person’s name) things we do- good and bad

“Always separate the person from the negative action. Treat people as they can become.”

“Tell the children, individually, that the Savior died for us all; but he would have done it even if it was just for one person. Just for you. Just for me. His love is that great.”

Finally, he said, “Parlez-vous francais?”

“Je parle francais un peaux” I replied.

“Chevrolet Coupe-ay?” he returned!!!

Waimea on Sat. 4/5/08

There is nothing funner than watching the tourists under estimate the power of the Waimea shore break.






Mullet Eye candy...

This guy lost his pants because his friends pulled them off. We all watched him get pounded and roll in a wave...naked! It was hilarious.

Watch Chia Grow!

Cha

Cha

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Chia!
I always wanted one of these.