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Our house has a radiant heating system in the concrete slab. Ever since I started running that more aggressively (it's on a solar collector) it hasn't been a problem. If you keep your books in an enclosed bookcase you might consider adding one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D1WYXR0/
I put one in the cabinet under our kitchen sink and it made a huge difference.
Here's some objective analysis:
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Powerful-Hurricane-Lane-may-veer-toward-Hawaii-week
Unless it stays south I don't see how we're getting away from having a lot of rain.
I found a super-cool website a few weeks ago, and "discovered" Fernanda on it, before I noticed it in the news. To me, it doesn't look like it's weakening yet, and there are two more storms behind it that have strengthened considerably in the past 24 hours.
Watch it on windy.com. Amazing graphics!
As for wired internet. Your two basic options are: Oceanic Time-Warner (cable modem) and HawaiianTel (ADSL modem). Not everywhere has a choice of both options.
If you don't have those two options for wired internet your wireless choices are: Aloha Broadband (need a fixed base station parabolic dish to receive from their transmitter, unlimited usage, not available everywhere), AWS Wireless (Uses WiFi, spotty coverage, you can also use them one-off, I tried using them for a day right in Hilo and hated it, they may have improved but I doubt it), Exced (satellite internet, bandwidth usage caps but there are early morning hours where you are not capped, uses basically DISH-TV type of receiver), Hele (3G modems on a system using Oceanic backhaul, slow and spotty, usage caps) and the usual suspects of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
If you want to throw-back to the 1990s you can get a dial-up account for your modem equipped computer, flex.com does $9.95/month dial-up with zero tech support (that's how they keep the price low). Of course you're going to need a phone line to connect.
If you want 'free' internet. Currently HawaiianTel is offering free WiFi hotspots at some community centers in Puna due to the lava flow emergency. McDonalds has free WiFi along with Safeway, Starbucks, Prince Kuhio Plaza (you'll need to join their free club online), various coffee shops like Cruzin Coffee in Hilo, Public Libraries, main Hawaii County buildings (they don't allow YouTube, facebook but you can easily bypass the firewall by using a VPN or http://anonymouse.org). If you have a Time-Warner email address then you can log into their WiFi system in spots like Hilo using your roadrunner email login.
Basically, you want the male or female version of these. Wal-Mart should always have them.
As advised by /u/KaneHau, buy a roll of duct tape and shove it in your backpack. If your cheap Chinese child-labor boots magically come undone from Pele's lava fields of justice, you can bandage them back up and walk out again.
And if you were inclined, you could take the soles off the boots and replace them with car tire rubber instead. Should last a bit longer, especially if you attach it with some small nails as well as glue.
Jan Feb are in the rainy season.
The best hidden gem i've found on this island is relaxation. so uh... look for some visits with cows , dolphins or manta rays.
First time to hawaii and you arent going to Oahu?
Oahu is what people think when they think hawaii. big island is hawaii but its not as touristy as oahu is. hard to explain but its like oahu is disneyworld with a wonderful city and things to do. big island is like going camping out in the middle of nowhere. if you drive an hour from volcano, theres a costco in kona. as long as that is what you are looking for (quiet calm camping), then enjoy. otherwise i'd recommend getting off of the airplane in oahu, where they have more regular bus service and excellent uber/lyft/taxis. as well as all the usual hotels, restaurants etc.
big island is fun, but its no oahu is what i'm trying to say. oahu has great beaches. big island has sharp lava rocks, lots and lots of them. bring good ocean shoes, and good hiking shoes.
be sure to check the night stargazing tours at the volcano park. cant beat the view of the stars in the middle of the ocean. just dress warm its cold up on the volcano.
Made a home for 5 little girls that showed up at our place last year. Four of them went into friend's freezer and we lured a little boy in there with Home soon after. Awaiting another batch of bacon seeds...
https://rumble.com/vf7ylb-the-girls-in-their-new-home.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=2
I really like this electionic dry box, it's great for camera gear and the big model would probably work fine for books.
Another option would be one of those Pelican dry boxes but they aren't as cute.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09484BQBJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_YP959JFMP7DYNM5G99DQ
Thanks for laying it out for me. All I know about Hawaii public education is elementary school on Maui. (I went to private school there from 7-12 before moving to the mainland for college.) So I know it's all one big DoE but I have a kid's point of view about how the system works.
The placement sounds like it could be a hassle. For me, I could imagine living anywhere on a small island like Maui, but on the Big Island I really want to live near the inlaws and other friends Hilo side. Just gotta wait for who needs someone, eh? I guess hiring is a mysterious process all over. I guess it's probably easier to jump schools as an internal transfer, eh.
As for teaching wisdom and tips, I just finished my first year teaching, so I'm no font of knowledge. I am reading an interesting book right now by Big Island-born former teacher Frances Kakugawa. It's called Teacher, You Look Like A Horse! It's got lots of anecdotes and poems and meditations on how to open up and give room for student learning. Although it's not a guide to teaching in Hawaii, it is pretty interesting to read about Hawaii schools and students. There's a good SPED chapter, too.
We did Big Island Eco Adventures and had a BLAST. It's part hike / part zipline adventure thru some beautiful scenery with 7 or 8 lines, each longer faster and higher than the one before. Our guides were awesome and it was an unforgettable experience.
Weather Underground also has a good page with hurricane info; the automated pages are updated a couple times a day:
https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/
...then there's this page, which makes it super-easy to see what's going on with wind patterns:
Lots of fun just at the Hilton with their lagoon and stuff.
Do some Geocaching while you're on the Big Island, it's like a real-life treasure find, just make sure you bring some trinkets to drop into the caches. http://www.geocaching.com
Besides the ocean there's kayak adventures to take, you CAN do Mauna Kea but only go up to the Visitor Information Center where they have the nightly star tours for free. It's at about 9,500' in elevation, about the same air pressure as the plane cabin you're riding in on. Just don't go to the summit until she's older.
Get Shave Ice to eat in Kailua-Kona (in Hilo they sometimes call it Ice Shave). Tropical Dreams Ice Cream is made on the Big Island. While in Kona go to Higashihara Park where they have a big kid's wooden playground that's like a castle and stuff.
If you have to drive near the fire area you may want to stop and take a break somewhere before getting stuck in traffic. It's at a standstill out there due to the closed roads. Download the app Waze and get a preview of what traffic is like. Or visit with a browser at https://www.waze.com/livemap
If you can go with any kind of enclosed space, I can't recommend these enough https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Eva-dry-333-Renewable-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0XFCS They are much better than silica gel packets that need to be baked or wastefully thrown away. I have several of them in things like pelican cases, tool bags, storage bins, and closets. The ones in sealed containers can go two months before re-drying, the one in a closet I dry every couple weeks, your experience may be different.
I’ve seen quite a few small mantas and only one big one. Scares you because you first think TWO SHARKS! Then you realize it’s the wings... anyway I got this case ind I’ve been very happy with it.
Depends on how close you are to the transmitters, how many obstructions are in your way and your home. I live in Hilo and use Amazon's amplified antenna, but the amplifier made the signal worse so I don't use the powered booster, I just plug the cable into my TV and it's fine. I went with this more robust antenna Several of the transmitters are on the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.
If you have a fairly clear path to the transmitter a plain flat unamplified antenna will do. I used this at first (the Amazon 35 mile range antenna) but due to foliage I had to get the 60 mile antenna even though I only live a couple miles from the transmitter. I resold the 35 mile antenna to a neighbor on the 2nd floor and he gets a perfect signal. Here's what I use. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MFXNQBU/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Amazon units are just copies of existing designs so the others should perform similarly.
I've tried a lot of things. Tango is good but it works really slow, takes 3 months because it's a birth control. I've had best results with https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HFNDYO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is another bait recommended in the fire ant lab presentation they have on their website. It works in 3 days instead of 3 months.
Best bet is to find the closest personal weather station on wunderground, and look at the 10 day forecast. For example here's the page for the weather staion at hilo highschool: https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/hi/hilo/KHIHILO18
I bought this at the beginning of the pandemic, $230, thats in your price range. The semi-weighted keys are pretty nice. Just a simple piano.
if you're just strapped to get a phone have you looked at walmart? they sell a dick load of cheap "prepaid" phones that you can just toss a sim card in..
The climate in Waimea has shifted a lot in the past 30 years according to the folks that did our solar panels; used to be in-town Waimea was a lot cloudier, now we average quite a bit more sun. It'll still be wet on the wet side, but maybe not as much as you're hearing from old stories.
Dehumidifiers will help for enclosed spaces, especially near ground level. For fully closed closets or cabinets I've had great results with these GoldenRod dehumidifiers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D1WYXR0
It's basically a low-wattage heater. Works miracles, totally maintenance free, but it can attract bugs because they like the warmth. We used rechargeable dessicant packs for a while. It was OK, but we didn't notice as much of a difference.
If you have one, run the heater from time to time to bake out the moisture in the house. We have a hot water circulation system in our floor, it runs off solar and gets good work done on sunny days. Airing out the house is also important, maximize those sunny days. If there's a plant shading the house or trapping moisture near it, maybe it needs a trim. Check the rain gutters too, make sure the runoff is deposited away from the foundation, makes a big difference.
Lectron Level 2 EV Charger... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079NTNJ5C?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
cool, Im in waimea but im giving blood on the 19th in hilo if you want to meet up. not sure where you are, not familiar with the car, but if it takes the j1772 it should work. thanks
Oh I replied to the wrong comment, I was looking for the Groupon tour but only saw for my kona adventures and not haw8aii island Ocean tour
Edit : found it, https://www.groupon.com/deals/hawaii-island-and-ocean-tours-manta-ray-snorkel
My aunty told me about this app with good deals sometimes discount Hawaii car rental . It was cheaper than Expedia when I booked 1 way rental hilo>kona couple years ago. Airport Hertz did give me a super shitty older sentra with iffy brakes, but not sure if they suck or I got that because the low rate paid. I did get a credit after emailing customer svc, so it was free
One of the main spreaders of the frogs wrote a book in 2005: Panic in Paradise: Invasive Species Hysteria and the Hawaiian Coqui Frog War
>According to medical anthropologists Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer, the frog war is a carefully planned fraud, motivated by corruption and conflict of interest, and rooted in a philosophy of hate and intolerance for non-native species.
Guy's name was Sidney Singer, or close to that. He was unapologetic. Tribune Herald had being article on him in the 1990s.
He wrote a book; here is link: Panic in Paradise: Invasive Species Hysteria and the Hawaiian Coqui Frog War
>According to medical anthropologists Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer, the frog war is a carefully planned fraud, motivated by corruption and conflict of interest, and rooted in a philosophy of hate and intolerance for non-native species.
I use RadarScope for Android. It's $10/year (there's a tier 2 for $99/year).
It's the best radar app I've found. I don't understand 2/3 of the settings (much of it is geared towards meteorologists and storm chasers) but it works great at a glance to give you a heads up when rain is about to hit.
You can get rechargable silica gel beads for cheap. I used to use these in mesh bags that are used for wedding favors.
This guide has a lot of the trails that were at one time word of mouth. I give a copy of it to anyone visiting the Big Island.
I ordered the Amazon Basics bench, which shipped free. It's decent, though not for pressing hundreds of pounds. I also ordered a pair of dumbells that also shipped free. 200 pounds of total weight
I put one of these in the cabinet under my sink and it made a huge difference:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D1WYXR0
I wouldn't be shy about putting them in any closet, assuming it has power, and is normally enclosed. We're not on the wet side, so we don't have to go to quite the same length-- most of our storage is open, except in the kitchen.
I also tried rechargeable dessicant units, those help too, but the improvement wasn't as pronounced.
With Prime, and a single item, Amazon will use USPS and USPS is using mostly air for mail to and from Hawaii, regardless, so two days. The only other transportation option is a container ship taking at least a week from the mainland.
https://www.amazon.com/GFORTUN-Cable-Plastic-Batteries-Holder/dp/B06XW8QC6N/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1544194998&sr=8-7&keywords=3+aa+battery+holder
There is an enclosed one for $7. Prime subscription more than pays itself off on Hawaii island with free shipping, free streaming movies, free music, free e-books.
I have one.
I also have the ends.
I'm on Hilo side if you can find a way to get over here, but I don't have plans to head over to Kona anytime soon.
There are couplers you can get that might save you from running an entirely new cable. I have some cable you can have, but not 150 feet. (it's maybe a 50 ft. cable)
It would be pretty easy to put an end on wherever the cable broke, then use a coupler to join to the 50 ft. piece I have.
Not sure if any of the office stores carry the couplers locally though.
You might have to wait for amazon for that.
Any enclosed cabinets are going to retain moisture. Most houses should be built with this in mind. If you absolutely have to have something closed in then yes, you'll want something in there (full dehumidifier, heating rod, rechargeable dessicant) to absorb excess moisture. These work great for me:
In order of preference considering cost, bandwidth and performance:
* Spectrum (aka. Oceanic Time-Warner) - Cable Modem
* HawaiianTel - ADSL Modem
* Aloha Broadband - Wireless Modem
* Exede - Satellite
* Cell Companies - Hotspot devices
Purchase your own Cable Modem to save on the leased cost from Spectrum. I bought an ARRIS SURFboard SB6190 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem, which is a bit overkill on features, from Amazon. I got a used/refurbished unit so I saved about 25% over a new one. I already had a WiFi router so a built-in one wasn't needed for me since this unit has no WiFi.
You MUST use the ADSL Modem which HawaiianTel leases. You can't buy your own ADSL Modem, I tried, won't work on their system.
One of the benefits of going with Spectrum is that you can use their hotspots all over the islands and mainland. So let's say you're in Pepeekeo you can grab a coffee at Low Store and hop onto the hotspot there.
I'm in that little subdivision right across the highway from the beach; its a magical place down here. There's a few great books on Ka'u you should check out, this one is available in the book store at the national park too.
Found it on Amazon, seems pricey though for only used copies.
If you can't find a shop anywhere might be quicker to expidite mail order via Amazon these adjustable ones until you get home to order real ones if you're visiting. There's a slight possibility a local store, like Walmart/Target may sell this. http://smile.amazon.com/Adjustable-Eyeglasses-Variable-Prescription-Technology/dp/B01BTY2BDO/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1464382546&sr=8-2&keywords=adjustable+glasses
The other thing you could do is if you can wear contact lenses most eye doctors keep those in stock so you can get those immediately. For contact lenses you can go to an eye doc at like Walmart, get the prescription then buy the contacts at Costco if you have a membership there as it's cheaper that way.