Don't get your hopes up

I'm just dumping a few photos here for some friends, file size is too large to email so this is an easier way for them to see 'em...

But who knows...maybe this post will revitalize Horace. Only time will tell.

Regardless, it was a lovely winter morning at the beach.

Don't miss out! Craigslist deal of the day

Hooray, I've been looking for a dinged, yellowed, old, beat-up backyard board for the bargain price of only $250! Even better it looks like the fins are glassed on the nose -- perfect for those fins-first takeoffs I've been working on. Stoked!

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Surfboard – Troy Peters design - $250 (palo alto)

Date: 2010-07-19, 10:21AM PDT
Reply to: sale-ytxaw-1850421487@craigslist.org

Troy Peters Surfboard. Dimensions 78” x 18” at widest point and ~1.75” thick at thickest point. In very good shape. It is a Tri-fin board that has not been used in 3 years and used sparingly before that. Or will trade and add cash for a higher end road bicycle 52-54cm.

The American Way

Woman Suing Google for Dangerous Walking Directions

I'm sure this is exactly what our Veterans had in mind when fighting for our country.

RAIN

Seriously is it ever going to stop raining down here and start to warm up?? I dislike rain to start but I really dislike rain when I am trying to renovate and move in to a new house, and it inevitably decides to downpour when I have all the moving boxes and other projects outside. Enough already!!!

Addictions

I have resisted for many, many years...

But at the age of 30 I fear I am developing an addiction to caffeine, in the form of morning coffee.

I don't care what people say, to me, caffeine is a drug, just like anything else. Of course it is accepted in society and the side-effects are minimal, but it is an addiction just like anything else -- cocaine, heroin, marijuana...caffeine.

Rant over.

Maybe I'll be able to surf this weekend. The cold Pacific ocean water is a good caffeine alternative, I've found.

Go Suns

As soon as Jerryd Bayless tried to go for the highlight dunk instead of actually making points...and got sent packing in the process...this one was over.



Sad to see the Blazers season end but really, I'm not all that disappointed to see Phoenix moving on. Is there a more likable bunch in the NBA? Nash and Hill -- class acts. That video above is great. He got a bit fired up there. GIMME THAT ISH!!!! Watch the replay again and you'll hear him yelling after his block. I like to consider myself a pretty classy sportsman on the court myself but I woulda done the same. Bayless...gimme a break. Who do you think you are? Lebron? "King Bayless" I don't see that catching on.

Dwight Jaynes, an old columnist for the Oregonian and other Portland papers, has a good blog that is my main go-to for Blazers nuggets. I agree with much of what he says. McMillan -- COY?? Not even close. Guy is a disciplinarian and control-freak, and didn't make an adjustment all series. Of course I also know it is the players on the floor that ultimately decide what happens, and it's easy for a coach to look good when you have Nash running the show, making the right decisions. But I think all in all Miller makes pretty good decisions too -- as a coach he needs to realize that and give him some rein to do his thing. The whole fiasco with the whole first half of the season and coming off the bench, ridiculous. The player rotation and minutes? Also bizarre. As a player it's extremely difficult to make any sort of consistent contribution when you're getting only 15 minutes of PT yanked around all over the place willy-nilly. Shorten the rotation. This isn't the high-school JV where everybody should get some minutes (another analogy previously made by Dwight). Anyways all in all a frustrating season, insane injuries, and really rather demoralizing watching my team play. Read Dwight Jaynes blog for more, and, hopefully, next season, Blazers basketball actually is fun again. Even I have to admit it's gotten pretty stagnant and boring and, well, unappealing.

Go Suns.

sugar for breakfast

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is basically sugar...and wheat.

Yep just confirmed from the side of the box:

INGREDIENTS:
WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SUGAR...and then about 5 or 6 other things that basically also sound like chemical names for...well, sugar.

I feel sick.

DROID

Ha, no Flash.

Thanks Cory Caprista for bringing this to my attention. I don't know who is responsible for the original image...but whoever you are, nicely done.

No Stickers

No option to embed this video directly but certainly still worth a click and a moment of your time:

http://www.surfline.com/video/locals/epic-honolua-bay_42554

Really enjoyed watching that. Great waves and refreshing to see not a bunch of sponsored pros ripping -- albeit -- all those guys certainly do rip. Love the big guys shredding, local mokes!

Took this from the SurferMag forum.

As for my neck of the woods, got some fun waves with Joel this afternoon, beautiful warm sunny day at the beach.

untitled

McMansions: do not want

hate those things.

Andre Miller...

Drives the lane, splits two defenders, collects himself, rises up against Chris 'Birdman' Andersen, hangs in the air, at the last possible moment flips the ball over the Birdman's outstretched 7 foot wingspan...


As the ball banks in through the net, both players tumble to the floor...


Miller hits the ground, bounces right back up, runs down the court to play defense. 


Birdman...clutches his ankle, summons the training staff, limps to the locker room. Game Over.


Andre Miller, Iron Man. 606 consecutive games and counting. That's nearly 7.5 seasons! How he does these things time and time again amazes me.  Guy can't shoot a 3 to save his life, makes his living in the paint, drawing contact, finishing in traffic...over and over and over...every. single. game.


Great player. Love his game. Go Blazers.

Brilliant!

	1st Round	2nd Round	Field of 16	Field of 8	Field of 4	Finals	Champ
M I D W E S T	(1) Kansas (32-2) (16) Lehigh (22-10)	Kansas	Kansas	Kansas	Kansas	Kansas	Duke Tie Breaker: 151 (Total points in Final Game)
	(8) UNLV (25-8) (9) N lowa (28-4)	N lowa
	(5) Michigan St (24-8) (12) New Mex St (22-11)	Michigan St	Michigan St
	(4) Maryland (23-8) (13) Houston (19-15)	Maryland
	(6) Tennessee (25-8) (11) San Diego St (25-8)	Tennessee	Georgetown	Georgetown
	(3) Georgetown (23-10) (14) Ohio (21-14)	Georgetown
	(7) Oklahoma St (22-10) (10) Georgia Tech (22-12)	Oklahoma St	Ohio St
	(2) Ohio St (27-7) (15) UC San Barb (20-9)	Ohio St
W E S T	(1) Syracuse (28-4) (16) Vermont (25-9)	Syracuse	Syracuse	Syracuse	Kansas St
	(8) Gonzaga (26-6) (9) Florida St (22-9)	Florida St
	(5) Butler (28-4) (12) UTEP (26-6)	Butler	Butler
	(4) Vanderbilt (24-8) (13) Murray St (30-4)	Vanderbilt
	(6) Xavier (24-8) (11) Minnesota (21-13)	Minnesota	Pittsburgh	Kansas St
	(3) Pittsburgh (24-8) (14) Oakland (26-8)	Pittsburgh
	(7) BYU (29-5) (10) Florida (21-12)	BYU	Kansas St
	(2) Kansas St (26-7) (15) N Texas (24-8)	Kansas St
E A S T	(1) Kentucky (32-2) (16) E Tenn St (20-14)	Kentucky	Kentucky	Kentucky	Kentucky	Duke
	(8) Texas (24-9) (9) Wake Forest (19-10)	Wake Forest
	(5) Temple (29-5) (12) Cornell (27-4)	Cornell	Wisconsin
	(4) Wisconsin (23-8) (13) Wofford (26-8)	Wisconsin
	(6) Marquette (22-11) (11) Washington (24-9)	Washington	New Mexico	New Mexico
	(3) New Mexico (29-4) (14) Montana (22-9)	New Mexico
	(7) Clemson (21-10) (10) Missouri (22-10)	Missouri	W Virginia
	(2) W Virginia (27-6) (15) Morgan St (27-9)	W Virginia
S O U T H	(1) Duke (29-5) (16) ark/win	Duke	Duke	Duke	Duke
	(8) California (23-10) (9) Louisville (20-12)	California
	(5) Texas AM (23-9) (12) Utah St (27-7)	Texas AM	Texas AM
	(4) Purdue (27-5) (13) Siena (27-6)	Purdue
	(6) Notre Dame (23-11) (11) Old Dominion (26-8)	Old Dominion	Baylor	Villanova
	(3) Baylor (25-7) (14) Sam Hstn St (25-7)	Baylor
	(7) Richmond (26-8) (10) Saint Marys (26-5)	Richmond	Villanova
	(2) Villanova (24-7) (15) Rob Morris (23-11)	Villanova

Really, DUKE???? I just couldn't pick Kansas or Kentucky like all the other lemmings. Go Oregon -- Kyle Singler get it done!

UPDATE: I also couldn't figure out how to resize this image to get it all to show. So, this will have to do for now.

Depending on how my picks pan out, maybe I'll update this again in a week or so with the remaining portion of my bracket.

DUKE?


UPDATED UPDATE!!!!
Duke pick...Looking pretty solid right now! Nice work Blue Devils! Kyle Singler Oregon boy makin' good! Unfortunately for me though, a few of my other picks did not fare quite so well...so my best possible finish in the NCAA tourney pool is 4th. Yep, 4th, one out of the money. And we're not talking 6 pack beer money here -- 1st place in this pool takes home a solid $2G plus. Coulda come in handy right about now. 


There's always next year.

Filler

Derek Bockelman for Cole Surfboards and Naki Surf from jeremie brillant on Vimeo.


Not necessarily anything mind-blowing as far as surf vids go (I'm just too old to comprehend the skateboard surfing tricks) but...

I thought I'd post just for sole purpose of mentioning that wave from 1:02 - 1:15 -- how he does that huge stall to set up the barrel. Something I'm working on. Not in reeling overhead barreling waves, mind you, but just in the day-to-day stuff I surf, working more in tune with the wave rather than hightailing it out to the shoulder.

Nice job of avoiding other surfers on that wave as well, I might add. That is something I do have plenty of practice with. Blasted buoys!

Untitled

hands

I thought this was a great image. I pulled it off BogusBlog -- check the original posting and write-up of Pedro Duarte George, the photographer/artist responsible. Impressive work throughout -- but this one in particular definitely stood out.

I have great respect for people who actually build things, create tangible items, work with their hands. Maybe it's because mine spend most of their time just clacking keys on a keyboard. But I found this image very captivating, the juxtaposition of shaper and surfer, foam dust and sand, work and tan.

It made me want to go get my hands dirty. So I did, building (another) fence at the rental apartment. Now my hands are rough, calloused, and Selin doesn't like holding them.

The fence looks good. A little crooked though.

4-7 ft shoulder high to 2 ft. overhead occ. 8 ft. POOR CONDITIONS

Despite above report...

Got some GREAT waves today across town.

Sometimes, I wonder...are Surflie's surf reporters really that lazy/incompetent/misinformed...

or do they just purposely mis-report an odd morning/afternoon every now and again simply to appease the locals?

Whatever it is...

Keep doing it!

Entertainment

I enjoyed watching this ski/snowboard video.

Good footage, crazy tricks, and I enjoyed the song.

Oh to be a college kid again.

Thanks Taylor for finding this.

Pipeline(up)

Aside from the heavy spitting barrels...shallow jagged reef...and outside sneaker set closeouts...

Here's one more reason I won't be catching a wave at Pipe any time soon.

Paddle battle anyone??

Whoa!

Pic grabbed from the Surfline HD cam which I've been watching for the last 10 minutes. (surf stinks here right now, btw)

(but it didn't yesterday! Score!)

Forget *Mavs*...

...the real place to be today...was right out in front of Lazytown!! Going off! Surfed one wave from way outside Hook all the way past last inside section of Tiburones. For me, that's a first. Straight flying down the line -- my favorite, no turns necessary -- good as it gets. Sun even came out. Doesn't get much better!

** Unless, of course, you were competing. For those guys charging Mavs today...well...you can go wherever you want, whenever you want. I won't stop ya! **

SLATER!

What's this, Slates is playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this weekend?? Sweeeeet!

Notable for two reasons.

1) I did a FB work campaign for AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which was cool;

2) I wonder if the 9-time world champ will get any waves in during his little nor(cen)cal visit? How incredible would that be...have Kelly Slater show up at the Hook? Maybe he'll stay closer to Pebble Beach...Moss Landing? Monterey mysto spots? Fire up the jet ski at Ghost Tree? Supposed to be good solid surf this weekend. Wonder if he'll be on it. Or maybe he'll just play golf. Water is cold here, after all.

Anyways...I'll be keeping my eyes peeled. It would be pretty unbelievably epic to share a surf session with Kelly Slater.

Unless he burns me like the logger at 1:38 in this vid:

Rincon. The Surfermag BB (where I pulled this from) says the logger likely dropped in on him earlier. We may never know.

What's with the gloves??

SURF! MAVERICKS! WEEKEND! LONG Weekend! VALENTINES! SURF! EXCLAMATION POINTS!! SLEEP DEPRIVATION!

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Update! He did surf! Thanks for a couple comments confirming as much, and for Google search to find it. Here's another blogger's Slater story:

www.areyoubreathing.com/2010/02/surfing-with-kelly-slater.html

On a different note, always is interesting how and when people (besides my mom) find this here blog. One of my old posts from last year's Valentine's Day is currently blowing up -- 90+ hits yesterday. That's more than I had all last month combined!

strategery

Weekend Warrior Joel ponders his triumphant return to the water.

RW Beach, 1/31

Income Streams

Owning an apartment complex hasn't exactly proven to be an instant moneymaking enterprise (yet)...

but at least the laundry room keeps us supplied with a very steady source of quarters.

Leave me a comment with your best guess on how much money that is...I'll buy a beer for whoever is closest. (or a free load of laundry. your choice)

Surf

Fun surf on Thursday, had been a while so good to get a nice long two session day in. Here's a few shots I took before session #2, at a surf spot doing a very good job of pretending to be a different spot that it isn't. Kind of like the dude that's playing a dude disguised as another dude, but, not really. Great line. Funny movie.

Shooting from directly on top of the wave like that makes for an interesting perspective. Don't usually see the back side of the wave like that...were lots of these perfect little lined up triangle shapes coming through this particular day. Pretty nice. Looks easy, huh?

Unridden waves are nice too...

Took today off surf to get some more work done...on it full time tomorrow though. Hope for sunshine!

--------------

4/4 UPDATE for anyone who cares: instead of surfing on my day as originally planned I proceeded to get painfully ill. My guess is it was from THIS above posted surf day. Rain + Runoff = Runs (for me). Not fun. I'm finally feeling better now (managed to eat a whole breakfast burrito this morning, that's more food than I've consumed in the past 3 days combined!) but now, of course, the surf sucks. Lesson: Surf when you can!

(or perhaps lesson: don't surf after heavy rains because you might get really sick.)

(nah...that's lame)

(Lesson: Surf when you can!)

Rain

There's been a lot. Sorry, posts aren't that exciting, frequent, or really much of anything lately. Winter doldrums!

I've been struggling to find motivation lately. In blogging...but in other things as well. Like getting out of bed. It's 9:37 am and I'm still tucked in. The beck and call of my cereal bowl will eventually lure me out. Working (primarily) from home, as I think I've mentioned here before, has both positive and negative attributes. The trick, one I'm still working on, is finding the perfect balance of the two.

I hope the new fence I constructed last month at the rental property doesn't blow over. It's pretty darn windy out.

I wish I had some sort of raisin bran to eat. Instead I will have to settle for Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries. No, not real fresh strawberries, but the dried kind that are included in the cereal. They're really good for about 30 seconds and then they get too soggy. I actually prefer to pick them out of the box and eat them separately. Same goes for the Honey Bunches of Oats with Peaches. Those are better though; the strawberries have a bit of an odd, over-processed flavor to them, which is only enhanced by the milk. Peaches not so much.

UPDATE!!!!! I thought it semi noteworthy that immediately after this above post of utter rubbish, I promptly got out of bed, closed 3 sales that had been lingering around (remember, ABC), cleaned the apartment, and all in all was very productive and motivated. Blogging as a motivational tactic? Perhaps I'm on to something.

Oh, and the fence didn't blow over.

Pigdog

Knowing pigs are this awesome:

http://www.underweargoesinsidethepants.com/uploads/data/users/1/2010-01-12_155142.png

Just how insanely awesome would a Pigdog be?

(post in honor of Horace. Thanks Ashish V for the link)

Lazy

2009 2010: 12 days in...

Only two surf sessions.

Not gonna cut it.

Have Less

Why grab possessions
like thieves, or divide
them like socialists
when you can ignore them
like wise men?

- Natalie Clifford Barney

Quotation, format, post title and all stolen directly from Kurungabaa, one of the more eloquent surf-blogs I check on a regular basis. (Google Reader FTW)

And Natalie Clifford Barney, in addition to providing a great quote, also sounds like an interesting character. It is ludicrous that gay rights haven't progressed further since 100 years ago. Get over it, people.

and Happy New Year

A few snaps from a sectiony but fun November session at an appropriately named spot.

(thanks Colin)