Saturday, February 7, 2015

NOAA's New Facility - Daniel Inouyne Regional Center


http://www.hok.com/design/type/government/national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration-noaa/

Aloha Good People!
Today I had the good fortune to visit and get a tour of this amazing facility.  Thank you to everyone who showed up and participated.  The Monk Seal Foundation invited their volunteers to a pot luck and get a tour of this place.... we were so lucky to have many of the folks from NOAA attending and showing us around.

I was overwhelmed with emotions of joy and pride today..... I was so happy to see many familiar faces that I don't get to see as often anymore..... I was thrilled to see a huge turnout of so many newer volunteers. This is in itself would have made for a great day (not to mention all the delicious food).... But above all else touring this AMAZING place genuinely made me happy for all the folks at NOAA/NMFS .... they finally have the tools, and resources needed to get their work done efficiently...  it's been a long time coming..... NOW I don't want to give the impression they are not in need of more funding.... I just think they are finally able to get the work done in a state of the art facility without scrambling to find the resources, locations and hauling equipment from one place to another...... now they need the rest of the funds to continue the work....

THANK YOU to all the volunteers..... thank you to the NOAA team.....
and to my old buddies .... it was soooooo wonderful to see all of you today!
with love and respect to you all..... da blog lady!

1 comment:

barbara said...

It was fun talking to the old volunteers and meet the new ones. I hope you guys come to help out on the west end when we call.

The NOAA Home is awesome, state of the ark stuff. Thanks to Tracy, Charles for the tour of the TANKS that held the four seals recently. Through your voice, your stories, I felt the hard work, your compassion for the seals..and the success stories with the new facility.

Thanks to Captain Bryan??? on the Sette, that ship is awesome. To see where the teams have to live on for 5 and 1/2 days out to NWHI is just incredible. To hear of the 57 tons of debris NOAA has picked up in the NWHI..wow!! Where does it all come from??? Glad you guys are out there to pick it all up.

When we hit the necropsy room, the smell was there..Tracy said..TURTLE.

To see the operating table, the machine that pumps life into a seal during the operation..emotional for me. Hearing what went on that day on Dec 31, 2014...chilling. Thanks to all who saved the BENNY that night. God bless you all.

And in the end, it was talk story of our work as volunteers, meet new faces, PIG OUT on so much food.

Its always wonderful to talk to Tracy, Mark, Charles, Chad, David, Brenda, and a surprise...Miss DONNA DA BLOG LADY, in person on our table. Been a long time seeing ya kid.

Met Les and her Kimo..met up with Liza DOLITTLE??? Ha, ha, looking forward to showing you around our part of the Island and hopefully a seal or two.
Thanks Melanie, for the shirts, thats funny...and for the nice card with Irma and Kea. Great shot.

To the lady in the suit from the Big Island, nice to meet you. Seeing the skulls on the table of the Mediteranean and Monk seal..wow. Great suit.

Well, I hope I got to thank all the folks who were at the meeting..Oh...Mrs Dunlap, I was so happy to see you back home. You looked so nice in your GREAT HAT, lovely outfit...I wish we had more time to TALK. Hugs to you.

To Jean and Diane...always fun to be with and talk SEALS.

Happy to see Jeff Walters, see his family too.

It was nice to get away from a beach for one day..meet all the folks in one place...in good company.

Oh and to the lady with the sphere in the front of building...hope your hip feels better..appreciate your talk, to see the HUGE TSUNAMI on the sphere..amazing stuff.

To Pat Wardell...Prayers with Dad.

Mahalo guys, it certainly was a great IRC experience!!!!!

OH AND TO WARREN, out at Paradise Cove for taking a very long watch with HAUPU who finally landed at Paradise Cove. I appreciate your text messages on her behavior while we were at the meeting. God bless you Warren, you are certainly appreciated. And thanks for taking out the equipment we put out early morning...Hope Haupu is OK after her LOGGING DAY in lagoon 4.

Hugs to all.............