Chris is ASE certified

I have been extra proud of Chris this week.  He passed some professional certification tests and he is helping me write this post about it. Chris is the owner and operator of a motorcycle repair shop and there is more to that than I think most people realize. Cars keep getting more and more sophisticated especially with their electronics. These days, it seems like whenever the "service engine soon" light comes on, it is not something mechanical but always some electrical component you never heard of, that has failed. As complicated as cars have gotten, motorcycles have gotten even more complicated than cars. The modern motorcycle has every electronic control apparatus that modern cars have and even more. Both cars and bikes have throttle by wire, closed loop feedback fueling, antilock brakes, traction control, stability control, etc. Both will have a ton of sensors, actuators and controllers.  The level of sophistication is amazing and they keep getting more complicated every year. Unless you are on a Harley Davidson.  They still have the engineering sophistication of an off-brand riding lawnmower (Chris does not work on Harleys for this reason). A sporty sedan, like a 2015 Jetta SE Turbo, has 170 hp and a weight-to-horsepower ratio of 18 pounds per horsepower. A new sport bike motorcycle, the style Chris rides, has 200 horsepower and will have a weight-to-horsepower ratio of 2.2 pounds per horsepower.  The motorcycle will give you a thrilling ride but it will cost a bit more than the Jetta. These modern bikes get their performance from highly advanced engineering. Besides all the electronic engine management that cars have, bikes will also have computer controlled variable length intake tract, one or more computer controlled exhaust tuning valves, and a few bikes even have a miniature 6 axis gyroscope under the seat to computer manage wheel spin and wheelies. So there is a lot more to repairing these machines than just tasks like tightening the chain and changing tires. When complicated machines need repair, Chris likes to say, "If the human mind can engineer it, then the human mind can comprehend it in order to find the problem." So Tuesday, Chris traveled to a testing site at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and took some tests to see if he is comprehending it. Turns out, he is comprehending it quite well. With a score of 94 percent, he passed the tests and is now ASE certified in the areas of Electrical/Electronic Systems, Engine Performance, and Engine Repair. That's amazing for somebody who is self-taught. Passing the tests has boosted Chris' confidence. Before this, he never really knew where his skill level was, because he has never worked with another motorcycle mechanic and has not been able to compare his skills with anybody else's. Chris might have been reluctant to assess his skill level, but his customers have been giving him 5 star ratings on YELP! for years. I am proud of what he is doing with his shop. Here is a link to Chris' website: Kona Motorcycle Shop

See if you can get this sample question right from one of the tests Chris took.

A swim fit for a king

I had such a great time with Tara Brown competing in the 1.2-mile King's Swim in Kailua Bay on the Fourth of July. It seems like every year when the race come around I tell myself, "Next year you should enter." This year Tara and I encouraged each other to give it a try.

I've been swimming in Kailua Bay for years and started swimming regularly with Sarah Jasper after work. She would drag me out there in pouring rain or ridiculous surf or chop, which is usually when we had the most fun. Eventually, I started swimming with fins on and making it all the way to the 1.2 mile buoy, but I had never tried swimming that far without fins until a couple of weeks before the race. About a year ago, Chris and I also took a swim lesson, which improved our stroke, made us faster, and made it feel more comfortable and effortless to move though the water.

 I had hoped to be able to do the race in less than 50 minutes. My time was 46:06 and I came in 184 out of 262, which I was really happy with for my first time around. It was really exciting being in the water with all of those people thrashing around and it was hard to get my heart rate relaxed at first. I know I could improve my time with cardio training because I was pretty out of breath.

I was very impressed with how well organized the event was, and everyone received a nifty King's Swim bag and there were tons of really great door prizes given away at the awards ceremony, too. Well done, Kona Aquatics, I am super excited to do the race again next year to see if I can beat my time.

Swimming is something our town does really well. There are a lot of athletes here and dozens of people swimming for exercise first thing in the morning. The race, and my morning swims take place at the same spot where Ironman World Triathlon begins with a 2.4-mile swim. Conditions are usually fantastic, especially first thing in the morning. I usually go a couple days a week before work and sometimes see the akule baitball or dolphins. What a great way to start the day.

My mom took this photo of the start of the race.

Thank you, Kona Aquatics, for posting photos of the race on Facebook I hope you don't mind me using this one of me at the finish of the race.

A photo I took of dolphins during a recent swim in Kailua Bay.

Nematode cooking was worth the work

With the help of my husband, who has a degree in diversified agriculture and is an experienced soil scientist, I have developed an interest in gardening. Some foods, such as honeydew melon, tomatoes and pineapples just aren't very good in the store, either because they are selling commercial varieties that ship well and look good but don't necessarily taste good, or the produce is picked too early. In addition to our garden produce being of higher quality than store bought goods, I also like that fuel wasn't wasted flying the fresh food in from the mainland or another country, and the food we grow is free of pesticide. Aside from all that, I've found there is simply something satisfying about getting my hands in the dirt and successfully growing good food.

I even look forward to throwing on my rain coat on wet nights and hunting slugs. I pick them up with chop sticks so my hands don't get slimy. Our biggest nemesis by far has been the root knot nematode. The tiny worm-like critter is too small to be seen by the human eye. It lives in the soil and can only travel an inch a year. Yet, they reproduce like crazy and bore into the roots of plants until the roots are knotted and practically destroyed, depriving the plant of nutrients and water. When Chris lived at lower elevation, he solarized his garden using a layer of black plastic and a layer of clear plastic to heat the soil until the nematodes were killed. At our new elevation of 1,500 feet, most days cloud over by 11 a.m. and the soil never gets hot enough to kill the nematodes. We also tried planting sun hemp and mustard greens that are supposed to deter nematodes, but this did not help. We got fed up and replaced all the soil in our garden with new soil, only to find that soil also contained nematodes. Finally, we acquired a used water heater and modified it so it would heat water to a boil. Chris built a frame just the right size to hold a tank full of water (he can do math) and that frame let the hot water soak into the soil and heat it hot enough and long enough to kill the nematodes. In areas of the garden that are sloped, the fame didn't work so well, so he welded a steamer and fed a hose from the water heater to the steamer. It produced plenty of steam and it did work, but it took a long time, tons of electricity and was so labor intensive we gave up on that method.

Since the hot water treatment, the garden has done amazingly well. The plants grow larger, produce much more food and don't turn yellow and die prematurely. It was a lot of effort, but the garden has never looked better. And because we have a photovoltaic system, we didn't have to pay for the electricity to heat the water.

The salad contains only fixings from our garden.

The garden kicks butt now that the nematodes are dead.

Our sweet peppers never looked so good.

Chris takes the temperature of the soil with a meat thermometer while his steamer heats up the ground.

Chris prepares the frame that will be filled with hot water.

Various produce from the garden. (The pineapple was grown in soil that hasn't yet been treated for nematodes)

Colorful carrots, corn and another pineapple.

Chris' steamer in action