A Few Pictures in Passing

I tried to get the cat to take a sniff of the crab, but he was smarter than that. I was giving the old crab one last stretch before he went into the pot. 

Sunset sail on the Bay.

The ladies are enjoying the view from the bow.

Mark and Ben debate whether or not there is enough wind.

BOO! Check out our lame  Halloween costumes...I'm the 'Pulp Mill' and Justine is dressed like her mom 20 years ago....

All is Well in Humboldt

I don't want to rub anything in, but we have had some good surf around here for the past week or so. It has just been fabulous W/NW swell out there, it's been long swell lines and glassy conditions. The size has been in the chest to occasional over-head bomber waves. I've been surfing some seriously quality waves lately and I haven't surfed with more than a handful of guys out the entire time. 

On Saturday morning I drove around for almost an hour before I found a spot with another guy out. I ended up at the little rocky cove up north surfing 6-8 foot waves with two other guys. It was good to surf some juicy waves with consequence, I was starting to get a little lazy with workouts. There came a point on Saturday when I was caught inside during a sizable set. I could tell that there were several waves to roll through still and the large, barnacle covered rocks along the shore looked rather unpleasant to make contact with...I was pretty much running on empty and there came this voice in the back of my head that said, "I told you that you should be doing more push-ups". I ended up taking the rest of the set on the head and paddled back out for another hour or so of waves.

Since Sunday, the swell has been perfect for the beach right by our house. I'm sure it's still breaking as I type, but I needed a morning to catch up on news and reading. I really need to be on top of my game, events and politics wise, so I can keep the banter at the bar going.

Life has been good around here though. The past days have been great. I'll surf until almost noon, warm shower and then head into the bar for a day of shooting pool and pouring beers. Weekends are filled with beach days, sailing, and grilling out with friends. Last weekend my buddy brought over several dozen oysters and I was given some petrale sole. Nothing is quite as tasty as fresh, local seafood grilled out with good friends after a day filled with waves and sailing. 

I've been getting lucky lately with the food freebies. In the past few days I've been given two turkeys, dozens of Dungeness crabs, and more fresh fish than I can handle almost. Thanksgiving is going to be a good combination of classic Hoosier fare and fresh, local seafood.

I've been going on and on about how good things are here in Humboldt County, but apparently things are falling apart elsewhere in the world. I guess it's a combination of the usual bullshit of the world, typical media over-hyping, and gross government ineptitude. I won't piss and moan about things though, there are plenty of people doing that already. Plus, I start to feel like a real jackass when complain about all the wrongs in the world and overlook all of the great things that are happening. The US economy may be in the dumps, but we're all still way above the average person in the world when it comes to ease of living. Whenever the media hypes every little problem into the next world ending disaster and almost brings me to the point to total despair, I think back to the words of Hunter S. Thompson (I'm pretty sure)..."Pay attention to the media sparingly and then only for entertainment".

Election Day 2008

Happy Election Day everyone. Get out and vote. Or if you're like me and already sent in an absentee ballot, sit back and watch all the people wait in line on TV. Enjoy listening to the media bemoan how certain voting precincts have lines causing people to wait in line for hours and hours on end. Of course those horrible lines are caused by evil Republicans hoping to disenfranchise poor minorities and young people. It certainly couldn't be the fault of the individual election committees and certain precincts being organized and staffed by incompetent nincompoops. 

Our choices this year stink, or at least the two main party candidates stink and it'd take an act of God for one of my beloved third party guys to win. By the time I leave the bar tonight (working not drinking), the media is going to let us know who the President Elect is and I'm not excited about the prospects. It really sucks that the media pretty much blacked out any exposure for third party candidates. I don't know if you guys really looked over your ballots, but out here in CA I had the ability to vote for a number of non-mainstream candidates. Great thinkers and politicians like Bob Barr, Alan Keyes, Ralph Nader, and Cynthia McKinney (she's  kind of crazy) ran for President...but didn't get the nod from the media or any air time. I mean, honestly, the 24/7 media says the same damn thing dozens of times a day. Why wouldn't they recycle their clips less and get some different ideas out there. Nader and Barr were polling nationally at 5 or 6 points a piece and they didn't even participate in the debates. It's absolutely stupid that 'Joe the Plumber' gets to run his mouth on every station for a couple weeks and actual third party candidates can't buy five minutes on TV. I mean how silly is it that those guys are placed on the ballots in most states and they aren't even allowed to participate in public debates. These debates are even set up by the government (Presidential Debate Commission), but I digress...

It always boils down to Republican or Democrat, but the two major parties are so diluted and weighed down by phoney-populist ideas and corporate cronyism that nothing really ever changes. I mean, if you're serious about Republican ideas, i.e. smaller government, less government interference in your personal life, etc...then you should have voted for Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate for president. And if you are serious about Democratic ideas, i.e. bigger government, more social programs, etc...then you should've voted for Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney. If you are an 'Independent', then Alan Keyes is your man. If this is the first time that you've even heard that there were more than two candidates running, then I'm sorry to tell you this,but you've had your head up the mainstream media's ass for the past several years. I suggest that you immediately turn off CNN or Fox and seek out other sources for information that are not controlled by large multi-national corporations.

I'm sorry to go political on you guys. I'm just getting frustrated with the status quo and I'd like to see things get mixed up a bit. The debate has just become so mundane and dumbed down. It's all about sound bites and knee-jerk reactions. Oh well...I guess the beauty of America is that anyone can make the change happen and get the ball rolling. It all starts locally.

If you're still reading, thanks for letting me rant and vent. If you think I'm crazy, then you should go to the link at the bottom. It's my favorite author's publishing companies website. Read through some of his essays.

Stay tuned for more adventures. There is a solid NW swell filling in and the weather is clearing up around here. The weekend is almost here and I have a feeling that a trip is in the works.

http://www.banditobooks.com/ezine/home