Session 112 - July 31 - JTY

Thursday July 31, 7-8:30 AM, 6'8 Taylor

Thursday morning surfhunt wound up with Ramin and I out at the JTY making the most of the peaky rights coming through entirely too un-often. But when they did, they were fun, shoulder high or so bowly walls that Ramin put to good use on several occasions. I tried to follow suit with mixed results, just couldn't seem to find that sweet spot, but still got plenty of waves just none worth remembering. Or blogging about. Over and out!

feel the burn

Went hiking on Sunday morning, Purisima Creek Redwoods. Off of Skyline Road and HW 92, overlooking Half Moon Bay. The hike was nice, although it was too cloudy/foggy to see much of anything. And it did remind me that, I grew up hiking in probably some of the most beautiful hiking trails in the US -- thank you mom and dad for dragging me out there on those long, hilly, high desert central Oregon hikes. Breathtaking country.

But Sunday's hike was still pretty. And fun. And I liked this picture I took, which was actually the only reason I started this post, get to the point already, sheesh, do you always have to write so darn much???

Session 111 - July 29 - LM

Tuesday July 29, 7-8:30 AM, 8'6 Pariah

Flattown! We got to get Ramin a longboard. Rangled up a few guys and met at Linda Mar with goal of 6:30, I was pullin' up the rear (as usual) and got there at 6:45. Sorry to keep everybody waiting. Ramin had actually moved on further down the road to check another spot, but reported back it wasn't much either...so he came back to LM but didn't join us in the water (see above, he needs a longboard). So Adam and I paddled out and made the most of the situation, what're you gonna do we're there, make the most of it. And it actually wasn't half bad, kind of fun in a playful get out there and mess around way. Left the leash on the beach hidden with a patch of seaweed and that made each wave interesting and a challenge, which was a good call for this morning's conditions...it may have been 2-3 feet and poor+ conditions but not having that ding string security blanket made each ride a fun and something-to-focus on endeavor. Happy to report I only lost my board all the way to shore once, actually on my first wave when I subconsciously forgot I didn't have a leash. Kept track of that fact from then on out and managed to keep my board and body pretty well attached. Fun to do, and yes it does feel pretty cool to paddle around w/ no leash...I did find myself bending my knees upward whilst paddling a little more often than usual, illustrating to anyone who cared to notice that look at me I don't need a leash, my board goes wherever I tell it to...yes, so vain, so vain...

Adam I hope had fun as well, and as I always say, it's always good to just get out there and get wet and paddle and get some exercise and start your day out right.

But, yeah...is it August 15 yet?

Session 110 - July 26 - Hook

Saturday July 26, 7:15-9 PM, 6'2 KS

Water was warm, but not THAT warm...put on a wetsuit for this sunset-session out at the hook. I fixed my bike tire (again), hopefully for the last time, and pedaled over. Not too bad of a crowd but not the greatest waves either...but it's fun to try and keep up out there. Good mix to the long slow rollers of my afternoon 38th session. Had a lull from about 8:30-8:45 that cleared most everybody out, and then it made up for lost time, wave after wave, as is always the case right when the sun goes down.

Funny thing I ran into not one, but two surfing coworkers today...Tuyen getting a lesson out at 38th earlier, and Matt R walking in from 38th after his session as I was pedaling over to the Hook. Must be summer!

Session 109 - July 26 - 38th

Saturday July 26, 1-3 PM, 9'6 FSC

Cruisin', dusted off the 9'6 and went out to 38th as it was looking pretty fun there, I like to surf there when the left is working. I like to surf there even more when it's so warm I don't need a wetsuit...as was the case with this day. Trunks and the 2/1 Oneill top, was feelin' good out there, really warm. Water was nice and fresh and there was no wind and lots of sunshine. A few others trunking it, and a lot of people sweating in their 4/3's and booties. Get a clue! :) Had a fun session but never got to the nose, pretty soft waves. One of these days. It was really crowded going right, obstacle course.

street surf

I am blatantly pilfering this from the first post position off the Surfrider Oceans Waves Beaches blog, but hey...it's good stuff. I've been neglecting that longboard skateboard under my bed for too long, time to get that out and go for a cruise! Where exactly is this amazing stretch of pavement? These guys are pretty incredible on those boards BTW.

Session 108 - July 24 - LM

Thursday July 24, 7:15-9 AM, 6'8 Taylor

Didn't quite make my 6:30 arrival time, but was pretty close. Close enough that there were only about 3 other cars in the parking lot. Unfortunately, even at 6:45 AM, only 3 cars in the parking lot is usually not a good indication of surf quality...I checked it for a bit and it didn't look that great. Guys way down at Boat Docks where it was pretty clean. But I had the 6'8 not the 8'6 so wanted some more juice, drove the 10 minutes down to Montara and wasn't a single person in that lot, and I don't want to surf there alone, so back to LM. Suited up and got in. By now there were 10 cars in the lot. And...surf was fun! Pleasantly surprised. Once out there it was pretty clean, wind wasn't bad, sideshore/offshore combo, and there definitely some swell in the water. Surfed all over, from south of Taco Bell to the pump house to slightly north of pump house...some good size north to get the pulse going...got pitched on one or two and backed off one or two as well...good summertime reminder that while I've progressed a LOT in this past year, I've still got a long ways to go.

Session 107 - July 22 - Hook

Tuesday July 22, 6:30-8:30 PM, 6'2 KS

I'm all caught up! Left work on Tues and got in a surf at home. Got a flat tire though and had to walk my bike home, that was a drag. Surf was pretty fun, not epic, but fun, and not that crowded. Some long waits between sets -- south swells -- love 'em, hate 'em.

Goodnight.

Session 106 - July 19 - the bu

Saturday July 19, 2:30-5:00, 6'2 KS

Yep same as prior posts, read the Road Trip post. Consistency.

UPDATE! Now with pictures. Malibu party wave! Yes that is 5 people up on one wave. Plus the SUP way out on the shoulder. But you know what seemed good about it? From my vantage point on the beach, it seemed like everyone was having fun. The skilled surfers used the others as added excitement and obstacles, the beginners blindly got in the way and did their thing, and it just seemed to work. Course I couldn't hear or feel the exact vibe out in the water, but that's what it looked like to me. I surfed around the point at a completely different spot, better waves...less sharing.

Session 105 - July 19 - VC

Saturday July 19, 8-10, 6'2 KS Fish

I am not going to recap this session...I blogged about it in my prior 'Road Trip' novel post. So you can read about it there. But I am a stickler for consistency so to keep consistent with my formatting efforts I'm just putting this in here as a placeholder.

Road Trip!

I'm behind, again, on blog posts. Busy at work, busy weekend, and behind on the zzzzzz's. I'll knock some out here real quick though -- speed blogging style. For those who don't know, speed blogging means: no editing at all, no thought, just straight from mind through fingers to keyboard, no pausing, no stopping, and usually means little coherent thought formation process. Also means very little to no backspacing -- my normal writing style consists of of lots of backspacing. I'm a good in-action editor, editing while writing. I do a lot of that. But not when speed blogging!

One other thing about speed blogging is it usually means really long, really wordy, really boring blog posts. So be it. Read at your own risk.

ROAD TRIP! Selin and I road tripped down to LA this last weekend. Andy C's bday, the big 2-8, so headed down south to ring it in with him. And yeah I won't lie, also to surf some warm water south swell. Gotta keep it honest here. So we got Friday off, and headed out around 10 or so on Friday morning. Loaded up the Yaris road warriormobile with the 6'2 Kirkshapes fish, my 3/2 wetsuit, which I was really hoping to not use (and didn't, but maybe should've), a few changes of clothes...and a box of cereal. Quaker Oat Squares. That's one of my favorite cereals.

Wow, Showgirls is on VH1 right now. It is unbelievable how unbelievably BAD this movie is. I'm watching it just not believing how terrible this acting is so far. But I can't stop watching it for just that very same reason. Damn you VH1!

Road trip. One good thing about not doing drugs very often is that, when I do do them, they really work! I'm talking about caffeine people. Selin insisted on an Egg McMuffin to start her road trip, so who was I to argue. I complemented my McMuffin with a big cup of coffee...and wow that thing had me WIRED for a solid 5 hours after. No dozing off from this driver. Crazy that stuff, it really is a drug. I challenge you every day coffee drinkers, give it up for a while and see what happens. It's a drug that your body and your mind becomes dependent on...just like any other drug. Moderation is key. And yes, sister Maddy, I'm talking about you here. I know you are NINETEEN years old, but that stuff just isn't good for you.

We cruised all the way down to Ventura and stayed in a Pricelined hotel in Oxnard for the night. I went to check out the surf at Ventura fairgrounds but didn't get in, wasn't that much to get excited about and kept the missus company instead. We bought Batman tickets in advance, went to downtown Ventura, walked around and had dinner, and then watched Batman. Good movie, dark, and a little pretentious and overbearing at times, have a little fun, but that wasn't what this Batman was about, and it was done well, really well, for what it was wanting to do.

Wow, Showgirls has gone from bad to worse...she is now trying to dance. And is terrible. What is this actress's name again? the main character, Saved By the Bell fame? This movie was career suicide. Enough Showgirls sidenotes.

Saturday morning woke up early and drove back to Ventura fairgrounds again. Was a lot of hype around south swell for this weekend, but in reality I think it turned out to be a bit of a bust. At least it wasn't hitting Ventura fairgrounds much, at least not Saturday morning. But there were still waves, of the slow mushy variety...but it looked fun and I'd come all that way to surf so that's what I was going to do. Despite the fact that of the maybe 100 people in the water, only TWO of them were not wearing wetsuits, I decided 2 is better than zero so put on my 2/1 rashguard top thing and paddled out. It was cold.

But surfing w/ no wetsuit is amazing. Incredible what dropping those maybe 6 or 7 pounds will do to your paddling and quickness out there...well worth the (slight) shivering. Anyways as mentioned above the surf wasn't that exciting, in fact all in all a pretty forgettable session, other than the no wetsuit part. I caught some lefts, I caught some rights, I linked a couple sections, especially on my last wave where the left I was taking met up with this sideshore wave and I joined the sideshore wave and rode it all the way in...it was fun. It's always fun to surf a new spot, add it to the list.

Around 10:30 I went back to the hotel, showered, woke up Selin (who whenever we go on vacations always winds up getting lots of sleep, and is really well rested and energized. Myself, on the other hand, always wake up at the crack of dawn to go surf, and then I get back and it's time to go out and do something with the day when really, honestly, I'd kind of just like to take a nap. But that is the price you pay, whoever said this surfing thing was gonna be easy?) and we hit the road for the remaining hour or so drive to LA. In LA, we pricelined another hotel, and wound up staying about halfway in between Santa Monica and West Hollywood, location worked out pretty good and the hotel was really nice. Hyatt Century City I think. Recently remodeled rooms, really hip. Trendy. And a great deal, Priceline, nicely done. To get there, we drove down PCH. 1st time driving that stretch of the famed HW 1, pretty stretch of road, can't compare to our NorCal counterpart but nonetheless some good scenery to take in. We checked a few spots along the way, in the end wound up at Malibu, hoping to run into some celebrities. But there were none, no Matthew Mcconaghey in the water, just a lot of dudes noseriding their 9'0's on the inside and a lot of dudes on 6'0s out in front of the lagoon. I joined the 6'0s in the lagoon, and actually had a really fun session....again no wetsuit, but the extra hour of driving made a world of difference, water was really comfortable, couldn't ask for much more. Swell had filled in a bit more and was hitting Malibu better, so surf was actually pretty fun, nice, fast, walled up rights, pretty punchy waves, a whole lot of fun on the 6'2. I felt I surfed it pretty good, got a lot of waves, had sort of an in between spot where I could catch a lot of waves and not be in the thick of the really tight, really competitive crowd at the main peak. It was a lot of fun, and yep, another spot on the list...Malibu...California Classic.

Andy's bday was a good time Saturday night, dinner, some drinks, and a bit of the Hollywood club scene...Goa. Fancy place, but is it really that much different than any club anywhere else? I guess I've never just been that impressed by the club scene. Too cool for school. LA clubs seem just like any other club anywhere else, just with a lot more people standing around in front. But it was nice to be connected, DD and friends hooked it up and we had a table and got to go right in, VIP, happy birthday Andy.

Sunday we slept in, hung around Melrose Avenue for a bit, Selin checked out some shops, and we made the trek up I5 to home. Yeah I had another coffee on the way, and it worked just as well as it did on the way down...better watch myself, on my way to coffee junkie status!

Bedtime, alarm set for 5:45 Linda Mar dawn patrol.

Session 104 - July 15 - Hook

Tuesday July 15, 7-8:30, 6'2 KG

My all-afternoon meeting (see below) ended a bit early yesterday, affording me a good opportunity to get over to SC and enjoy a little lazytown beach shack time. So that's what I did. Got home, after-school-snack bowl of Honeycomb, hopped on the bike and pedaled over to the Hook. And, whatta ya know, some solid fun looking sets rolling through! Where'd that come from! Not much of a crowd and some real fun chest high waves. Things had picked up since the morning, and actually was pretty consistent and not much waiting, so got my fair share of waves...high tide so a bit backwashy but still working, just with a slight little bump to make things interesting near the end of every ride. Fish worked well, caught a lot of waves, generated some good speed to keep up, fun session. Even getting out was no hassle, not always the easiest on a high tide with a little swell as waves come crashing right up to the rocks and can send you tumbling if you mis-time things...no sweat. Got home and ate more Honeycomb, this time with a beer (not so after-school-snack any more am I!).

Woke up at 5:30 this morning hoping for a repeat, but in my exuberance had forgotten to see what tides were up to, negative low around 4:40 or so, so while still waves and still definitely worthwhile it wasn't more than waist high so I opted to laze around instead. Was awake from biking so just hung out, nice to be up that early, real quiet, and took my sweet time getting ready for work. Good pace, could get used to that, too bad I need to sleep. (and work.)

Speaking of work, back to the all-afternoon meeting mentioned above: I'm helping to plan the '08 company picnic this year. No small undertaking, I'll say, we're talking some ridiculous attendance numbers here. Part of the festivities will be a Googler talent show, and yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of being on the judging panel...I'll leave this short as I need to get some (actual) work done now but there are some impressive hidden talents running around the Googleplex. Fun afternoon and glad to be involved in helping put things together...and maybe just a little bit wishful I had kept at those piano lessons my mom made me take for just a bit longer than 2 weeks...but hey I was a kid and there was basketball to be played, outside! Piano?? Bah!

paDANG

A Taiwanese fishing boat ran aground at Padang Padang in Bali several days ago. Here is some additional detail, in the form of an email that was posted on Surfer message boards from someone who knows what is going on over there:

UPDATE!

The plan is to move all liquid off of that boat today, and set up some kind of harness system to facilitate pulling it off of the reef. Tomorrow am on the high tide we will try to remove it.

IF we can't get the boat off the reef by tomorrow am.. it's done.

This ideally would have happened today, but the tug boat etc.. couldn't get here..

It is a huge concern that sometimes the swell maps are off a bit.. and this is cutting it so close. Once that first line of West Swell begins to show... this is going to change everything.

Another thing.

Assuming we can get the boat off of the reef. We STILL have a huge clean up operation on our hands and have Only tomorrow to even think about it. The bottom of Padang is Littered with So much Dangerous Crap.

Knives, 1000's of Stainless, BIG, Fish hooks, All sorts of Ropes and cables.. So, please keep in mind that in a best case scenario, the boat get's off of the reef.. We still need to do an immediate clean up. Figuring that there will be spillage in even the best case scenarios.. add oil and sludge into the equation. PLUS.. we will have swell filling in. Bottom line.. IF we can get the boat off of the Reef tomorrow am.. We are going to need all hands to help. IF not.. we have a much bigger problem on our hands than many may be aware of. In any case..

We can probably use all hands, and boats or skis.. And any way things go there is a LOT of clean up work to be done in the next two days BEFORE the swell hits..

thanks for any help. and thanks for ALL of you who are commiting financial support to the costs of finding a solution to this. Not sure if many people realize what is really going on down there in the line up at Padang.. but I believe it's worse than most people think.. The words Environmental Disaster are not being overused here. If you are coming down to help out.. Bring some old clothes, old shoes, and some kind of face mask. It's a mix of Diesel, Motor Oil, and Rotting Shark Carcass in the line up at Padang these days.

Here's to hoping things work out. Never been to Bali, but it is high on the list.

Session 103 - July 12 - WC

Saturday July 12, 11-2, 7'6 Kingfish

Despite my best efforts, still haven't figured out how to translate brain waves into ocean waves...spent all weekend trying my best to channel some mental energy directly into the ocean, still no luck. I will say though that if there was surf worth surfing anywhere around these parts over the weekend, we probably were on it Saturday...as good as it got across the whole county. Met up with Carl, Mike, and Ramin and busted out the big guns, the 7'6 kingfish, fun board, haven't used it in a while, forget how much of a beast it is. Beautiful warm day, a little overcast at the start but progressively burned off throughout the session, warm, clear, blue water...WARM! Heat waves...good for thin wetsuits, bad for wildfires.

Got a bunch of waves, walked off down the beach a bit for our own peak nobody was on, fun but fast waves, good for practice. All in all a pretty fun day. And Carl was stoked as well, saw him catch a couple really good waves...breakthrough day for him where he's no longer just riding whitewater, actually was in the curl on a couple. Nice to see and glad he had a good time out there...good beginner's weekend.

I tried to surf again on Sunday, but there was nothing worth getting in the water for. Was up in SF so checked Ocean Beach, Rockaway, LM...no go...were plenty of people out at OB but despite trying to convince myself otherwise it really was slop, so I hiked up a hill a bit and read my book instead. A good reminder why I live in Santa Cruz, I love it there.

In other news...El Salvador. I booked my trip just now. HUGE thank you to Jim from Surfrider for inviting me on the trip, can't wait...Is it August 17 yet?

Session 102 - July 11 - LM

Friday July 11, 7 - 9 AM, 8'6 Pariah

Making the most of this heat wave, headed back up to LM to see what I could find. Gotta love this warm weather, get to shed the booties, the less rubber the better...was downright comfortable out there this morning, water probably about 60 degrees and sun shining.

Conditions improved throughout the morning, one of those sessions where you keep telling yourself 'this will be my last wave I need to get to work' but then you kick out (or more likely get closed out on)...but instead of continuing in to the beach you unconsciously point your board seaward and before you know it are paddling right back out for another one...no complaints here. Was joined by Manabu and Ren, always nice to have some friendly company. 2nd session on the 8'6 Pariah rescue-operation and continued to like it, worried after every thumping I'll surface to find it broken in half but so far so good, repairs holding up well. Surf was about head high, bigger on the closeout sets, but with the longboard can actually get into those closeouts early enough to make it fun...especially w/ the wind blowing pretty hard directly offshore, holding things open for juuuust long enough to entice you into that drop-in and race the closeout lip scenario, time after time...(I won a few races this morning, but the ocean is still quite a ways ahead)...

My shoulder held up well and while it was bothering me a little bit, didn't put too much of a damper on the session. 4 Advil first thing in the morning probably had a little something to do w/ that.

Excited for the weekend!

FWD: Stud Rooster

My Grandpa forwarded this to me in email just now. Grandpa is a fan of email forwards. But who am I to question his wisdom? :)

STUD ROOSTER
A farmer went out one day and bought a brand new stud rooster for his chicken coop. The new rooster struts over to the old rooster and says, 'OK old man, time for you to retire.'
The old rooster replies, 'Come on, surely you cannot handle ALL of these chickens. Look what it has done to me Can't you just let me have the two old hens over in the corner?'
The young rooster says, 'Beat it: You are washed up and I am taking over.' The old rooster says, 'I tell you what, young stud. I will race you around the farmhouse. Whoever wins gets the exclusive domain over the entire chicken coop.'

The young rooster laughs. 'You know you don't stand a chance, old man. So, just to be fair, I will give you a head start.' The old rooster takes off running. About 15 seconds later the young
rooster takes off running after him. They round the front porch of the farmhouse and the young rooster has closed the gap. He is only about 5 feet behind the old rooster and gaining fast. The farmer, meanwhile, is sitting in his usual spot on the front porch when he sees the roosters running by. The Old Rooster is squawking and running as hard as he can. The Farmer grabs his shotgun and - BOOM - he blows the young rooster to bits. The farmer sadly shakes his head and says, 'Damn... third gay rooster I bought this month.'

Moral of this story?
Don't mess with the OLDER GENERATION
age, skill, wisdom, and a little treachery always overcome youth and arrogance!

Believe that, all you young whippersnappers!!!!

Session 101 - July 8 - LM

Tuesday July 8, 7:20-9:20 AM, 8'6 Pariah

Surf! Felt like a long layoff, I guess because it was, what, more than a week since my last session? It certainly felt like more than a week, as on my very first wave I completely bailed it and wound up messing up my shoulder in the process. For those who don't know me, it seems like lately my body has been in a permanent state of disrepair, lets recap recent years...torn meniscus knee surgery, that took a good 8 months to recover. I finally was feeling better from that and tearin' it up on the bball court and I then had to go break my ankle. Now THAT took at least a freakin' year to heal, those things take forever (it doesn't help surfing on it and ignoring it for a couple months though). Anyways I'm just now feeling better from that and getting back out there playing basketball, but yeah just the every day aches and pains stick around a lot longer than they used to, something is always hurting. As for my shoulder, I first dislocated it back in like my freshman year of college, playing pickup basketball at Timberhhill Athletic Club in Corvallis. Since then it's been an ongoing nuisance, as it will from time to time, I can hear whatever is in there sort of tear and the shoulder wants to separate again, never had it completely dislocate again to the point of having to put it back in place, but it sure does strain itself and come pretty close. It's been particularly prone to doing this while paddling for a wave, although...I hadn't had it happen for quite some time, like more than a year. Very consistent surf and exercise keeps those shoulder muscles in pretty good shape which I think definitely helps. Anyways this diversion is winding up a lot longer than I had planned but yeah, yesterday, my first wave, I ate it and heard that godawful tear sound in my left shoulder and felt the pain after. I shrugged it off best I could and continued my session, and it actually didn't affect me too much (aforementioned cold water surf therapy) but I'm feeling it now, my left arm is barely functionable. I hope it feels better soon. Old age.

Whoa back to surf though, I used that 8'6 longboard ding repair project FINALLY for the first time! Got to say I was pretty happy with my ding repair work, once I got it in the water and was able to rub off all the excess white resin dust it actually looks halfway decent, quality of my repair work improving. That board was a lot of work but a good buy at what I paid for it, $100. It's probably been actually surfed no more than 10 or so times, as the deck is pretty pristine, but wow those ~10 sessions were one hell of a battle because it has a ton of battle wounds. Two big fin gashes, a stress fracture on the bottom, and dings on the nose, rail, and tail...all fixed now and good to go. I liked the board, particularly because it fits into my Yaris and I don't have to deal with roof racks. So it's a good board to keep in Mt View as my San Mateo longboard option. Although I will say it's kind of in the no-man's land of surfboards for me, at 8'6 it's not long enough to be a true longboard, at 8'6 it's obviously not a shortboard, and it's not really a hybrid either...it's ideally a perfect board for someone small, say about 5'3 115 lbs or so...like maybe...Selin! Congrats sweetie I think we have a new board for you. (ie that is an excuse for me to keep the board and not sell it) (Although it is a great board for Selin and I bet she'll like it).

The surf was actually OK, good for the longboard, but it was doing a lot of the normal LM backing off or closing out, gotta be quick to make anything work on waves like that. I got some fun ones though going left. Also of note was my friend from work Carl Damerow, who joined us along with one other surfgoogler, great as always to have company, including the always trustworthy surf companion Manabu as well. This marked Carl's first weekday pre-work surf, and hopefully he had a good time out there...the sun was shining and weather was beautiful and warm.

Long post, thanks for reading if you made it this far. I'm going to go look for an ice pack.

Poker gods

So I'm watching the World Series of Poker final table on ESPN2 right now. Not exactly post-worthy, but...in the last two hands, several lunatics have made an extreme point of praising the lord, raising their arms, looking to the sky exclaiming (among other things) 'Make him a Believer Make him a Believer father'...

over a card hand.

Sure, a card hand with potentially millions of dollars riding on it. But still...just seems a bit selfish and silly to me to think God really cares whether that 7 hits on the river or not. I'm sure there are more important things to worry about.

Now with video, thanks YouTube.

xtreme bicycling

Now it's never nice to laugh at the pain of others...

but...

I couldn't help myself.



Pain For Laughs 20 - video powered by Metacafe

It has got to be about 100 degrees here tonight. I am sweating like a maniac. Dawn patrol tomorrow, LM, be there!

Tivo Basketball World Championship July 1

That's right folks it's time for more pulse pounding Tivo basketball action...FULL COURT.



Nice game-winner by Yosuke. Nice post-game commentary by Joel.

Independence Day

Off to the heartland again...Champaign, Illinois! Flying into Chicago tomorrow morning, rental car for the 2.5 hour drive south to Champaign, and then settling in to see the sights, sounds, and experiences of Selin's childhood. We're making the trip for her 10 year HS reunion, which should be fun and a good prelude to my own 10 year HS reunion, which will be next month in Corvallis.

Little known Champaign, IL fact: It is the birthplace of non-other than the famous rapper Ludacris. Who knew? Mean streets indeed!

Happy 4th of July weekend everybody, have fun.