Have Phone, Will Travel

Last year I took an extended trip to Latin America, a dream I had for a long time. As my husband and I prepared for our adventure, we considered what to do with our cell phone plans. We didn’t want to continue to pay the AT&T bill while we were abroad, so we looked into having our iPhones unlocked by AT&T, which turned out to be incredibly easy. I didn’t want to lose my existing cell phone number entirely so I opted to have the phone number ported to Google Voice, for a one-time fee of $20. With my number in Google Voice, I downloaded the Google Hangouts app, where I could send and receive texts and phone calls from my existing phone number. This works out really well to maintain that phone number without having to have an actual cell phone plan tied to it. Once the phones were unlocked and we began our journey south, we were able to purchase SIM cards in each country we visited. It typically went like this. We entered a country and in the first few days we would ask the locals about which provider had the best cell phone service. In South America, there are two pretty big competitors, Claro and Movistar, but there are others depending on which country you are in. When we decided on a provider, we would inquire where we could buy a SIM card. It was always an adventure trying to determine where to purchase the SIM card. In Nicaragua, we were sent to about 5 different stores before finding the right office. After purchasing the card, typically for around one dollar, we would visit a corner store where they would be able to load our cards with money so we could use the phone. In all of the countries we visited, the cell phone companies offered very cheap promotions when reloading a card. In Colombia, there was a promotion where you could have two chosen numbers and when you called either of these numbers, the first five minutes of the call was free. Making local calls, texting and surfing the web were quite cheap. I usually put a few dollars on my phone at a time and that was enough to get by for a few weeks. Any time I wanted to call the States, I would use the Google Hangouts app. With Google Voice, it is free to make phone calls to the United States and Canada. The process of finding, purchasing, and setting up the cell phones was a little tedious at times, but I happen to enjoy this kind of travel - where I get to interact with locals, force myself to learn the language, and learn about something I typically would not. So for me, the adventure of using an international cell phone was part of the fun. Plus I didn’t have to give up my existing phone number when I left the country. It was a win-win! ~Kate Waldhauser

And Now for Something Completely Different

Yes, it’s true. I had design work in a 4th Dimension database to do, and testing in a FileMaker one. There were end user questions to handle. But it was a beautiful, cool, misty fall day.

What wouldn't I do for that face?So, after answering the queries (we try to get to them in a timely fashion, even when the outdoors beckons), the dog and I jumped in the car and headed out to an off-leash dog park in Everett that has winding trails through acres of woods.

Post mud discoveryAs it happens, there is also a pond. And mud. Far be it from Tully to avoid either. What with the wooded trails, the undergrowth, the logs, the pond, imaginary squirrels to chase (I’ve never seen one inside the fence), and a few other dogs to chase through the underbrush, I now have an exhausted pup sleeping away the afternoon. Hurray!

There was also beautiful fall foliage, moss, bracket fungus, asters, large firs and pines, and all the other wonders of the Pacific Northwest in autumn.

Now I guess I need to get back to that 4D design work...

Note: This is an off-leash dog park (Loganberry Lane). Please obey your local leash laws.

~Alanna

Library of Congress

I spent the last four days in Washington DC. This was my 5th or 6th visit to DC, a city that I really enjoy visiting. You could spend months there and never see the same thing twice, and you would learn a ton.

On this visit I took in two sites I’d never been to before, the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Of course, seeing the declaration and constitution was great, but I was really impressed with the library of congress. The roman renaissance interior is pretty amazing.

Unfortunately, much of the library is not accessible to the general public, unless you go through the trouble to get a User card. We were going to go to the main reading room to work for a few hours, but when we got to the library it turned out that you had to go to the Madison building several blocks away to get the card. We ended up deciding not to do that on this trip, but maybe next time.

So if you want to visit the library of congress, including all of the stacks and the main reading room, consider stopping by the Madison building first and getting a Library of Congress User card.

--John Newhoff

The Drive to Ke’e Beach

Your correspondent, coming to you from the back of a minivan ( a grand caravan to be precise), reports to you on a drive from Poipu beach to Ke'e beach on the island of Kaua’i. Yes, I'm on Kaua’i for 10 days, apologies to those of you suffering from the recent snow in Seattle.

I've never been to Kaua’i, so this 1.5 hr drive is my first chance to see much of the island. Friends I'm with have been coming here since they were 6, so the trip is full of exclamations of 'hey, I stayed in that condo there when I was twelve' or 'look, that's where my sister Adrienne was stung by a jellyfish'.

In Kapaa now and we’re driving by the remains of the Cocoa Palms resort, destroyed by hurricane Iniki in 1992 and not restored or torn down to this day. It’s a very odd scene as you drive by.

Leaving Kapaa, the sun is starting to reflect on the mountains to the east and the mountain range called 'sleeping giant'. Quite beautiful.

Jurassic Park was filmed partially on Kaua’i, and so traveling around the island is in some ways a tour of of the film. We did a tough 10 mile hike out to the Na Pali coast from Koke’e state park yesterday where it turns it some of the first scenes in the first movie were filmed. Yesterday we drove by a very large meadow where the scenes of the herds of dinosaurs running were filmed, and just now we passed a turnoff to the house that was used for the park visitors center. None of this was intentional. 

We just passed a big rooster on the side of the road. Kaua’i is literally overrun with chickens that have escaped into the wild or descended from original wild Polynesian stock. We even saw some miles into the Na Pali coast backcountry.

Passing through the countryside near Kilauea (of lighthouse fame I'm told), the van has broken out into a Don Ho song, a somewhat frequent occurrence.  This time, it was 'Beautiful Kaua’i '.  More chickens on the roadside.

I've been in Kaua’i for five days now and I still haven't had a shaved ice.

Now driving out of Princeville and a very pretty view down into fields of Taro and other crops growing in Hanalei Valley.

Rounding the corner to our first view of Hanalei Bay, the car breaks out into song again. This time its 'Bali Hai' from the musical South Pacific, which was of course filmed right here in Hanalei Bay. So were scenes from the recent George Clooney film, The Descendants. We drove along the shore road and found the beach cottage where they filmed the scene where George Clooney's character confronts his nemesis.

Past Hanalei Bay the road narrows quickly and becomes twisty and turny and in a short time we're at Ke'e beach and our destination- the trailhead for the Kalalau trail. Ahead: 8 mile round trip hike up the Na Pali coast to the Hankapiai Falls.

 --John Newhoff

Coimbatore Space Festival, India

Vanakkam! (That's Tamil for "hello and welcome!")

My name is Rin Scherrer, and I am the most recent addition to the Portage Bay team. I join the group as a developer, but I thought I would introduce myself with a story of my recent excursions to Coimbatore, India for the first ever Coimbatore Space Festival! 

The Coimbatore Space Festival is the first of its kind in India - held at Bharatiar University in southern India, the festival was a collaborative endeavor between NASA (USA), ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), and DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organization).  The goal was to provide inspiration for children interested in astronomy, rocketry, and other space related fields. There was workshops for both students and teachers, lectures by prominent scientists on topics such as Women in Science and The Sun and Us, and hands-on activities designed to teach and inspire.

As its contribution, NASA sent 9 scientists and educational specialists with an astounding variety of workshops and activities. Two of these - myself and my partner - come from Grove of Hope, a non-profit educational group whose mission is to spread hands-on science education around the world.  I have been a volunteer scientist with Grove of Hope since 2009, participating in science caravans primarily in Morocco. Our contribution to the Coimbatore Space Festival was a workshop about Rockets! Aided by 20 english-speaking college students as translators, we discussed rocket theory, Newtons Laws, rocket structure, rocket uses, and many other topics. This was rounded out with demonstrations of different types of model rocket launches. Who doesn't like to shoot off rockets?! 

The other NASA scientists and educators brought activities relating to robotics, structural engineering, solar viewing, UV light, the solar system, and much more. 

For 6 days the festival brought in thousands of students, families and the interested public. Around 80,000 people visited the festival - nearly double what we expected! Most of these were school groups ranging from elementary to high school.  College students came on their own. Some buses drove students from over 6 hours away just for the chance to meet NASA scientists.  

I was blessed and honored to be involved with such an amazing adventure. I can only hope that our presence helped inspire young minds to pursue greatness in the sciences. 

Nandri! (Thank you!)

-Rin Scherrer

Rin and some of the fantastic volunteers!

Indian schoolchildren eagerly learn about rocket theory