The race went really well and I got sunburned. Left home at 5:20 am, got home at 7 pm, really, really tired now. I'm off to bed now with plans to give the details with photos tomorrow.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
How Do You Mend A Broken Heart?
Ok, it's not really a broken heart but that sounds much better than 'how do you mend a slightly kicked around and mistreated heart', now doesn't it? One of my many CL adventures was actually giving me the illusion of potentially working. Granted things were moving at glacial speeds, but still. He had all the trimmings of an acceptable partner: a wickedly irreverent sense of humor, fun, kind, easy on the eyes, taller than me, and seemingly interested in me. Ya, well, that's kinda where it all falls apart now isn't it? I got an email from him Saturday (email and IM were our primary modes of communication) stating that he's started seeing a new someone and the relationship is taking a new development and he wants to see where it goes without having to explain hanging out with me, hope you understand. OUCH!
So, what do you do when that happens? First I was very sad (approx 2 hrs), then I was rather pissed off (approx 30 min), then I reposted my ad on CL and went out for game night (approx 4.5 hrs) with Diane, Dave, Kristi, and Dave's older daughter, Nikita! By the time I got home there were four responses to my ad in my inbox. One was obviously a scammer. One was 'I'd love to meet you'. Yup, I'm sure you would! I wrote back asking his name, age, and some interests. Thought I'd give him a fighting chance before I kicked him to the curb. He answered "Name is Moe, age 53, interests and desires are fun and travel and passionate love." Ya, ok, next please!
The last two were definitely interesting, articulate, and funny. John and Paul (I'm hoping George and Ringo will write soon, too!) seem quite nice. One lives in Olympia which would be very hard. To one of them I wrote "My glass half full attitude compels me to toss my hat out again and keep trying (re e-dating). At worst it's worth a laugh with my friends and a post on my blog!" He seemed to think that was an acceptable penalty. I spoke with one on the phone this evening ... for an hour and a half! There was laughter from both of us, sharing from both of us, and the conversation never felt stiff or awkward. I'm looking forward to meeting him sometime soon.
While I'm still a bit disappointed about the other guy I seem to have plenty to occupy my thoughts these days. Besides, we have our first OC6 race of the season this Saturday down in Portland.
So, what do you do when that happens? First I was very sad (approx 2 hrs), then I was rather pissed off (approx 30 min), then I reposted my ad on CL and went out for game night (approx 4.5 hrs) with Diane, Dave, Kristi, and Dave's older daughter, Nikita! By the time I got home there were four responses to my ad in my inbox. One was obviously a scammer. One was 'I'd love to meet you'. Yup, I'm sure you would! I wrote back asking his name, age, and some interests. Thought I'd give him a fighting chance before I kicked him to the curb. He answered "Name is Moe, age 53, interests and desires are fun and travel and passionate love." Ya, ok, next please!
The last two were definitely interesting, articulate, and funny. John and Paul (I'm hoping George and Ringo will write soon, too!) seem quite nice. One lives in Olympia which would be very hard. To one of them I wrote "My glass half full attitude compels me to toss my hat out again and keep trying (re e-dating). At worst it's worth a laugh with my friends and a post on my blog!" He seemed to think that was an acceptable penalty. I spoke with one on the phone this evening ... for an hour and a half! There was laughter from both of us, sharing from both of us, and the conversation never felt stiff or awkward. I'm looking forward to meeting him sometime soon.
While I'm still a bit disappointed about the other guy I seem to have plenty to occupy my thoughts these days. Besides, we have our first OC6 race of the season this Saturday down in Portland.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Da Grind 2007
We had a really great practice tonight. I have that good, tired, been exercised feeling. In my undying yet unsuccessful efforts to try and get to bed early I'm only posting a very short message tonight.
I was looking for outrigger videos yesterday and this morning and I found this one of Da Grind sponsored by Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC). If you pay very close attention at time stamp 1:22 you will see me! I'm wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt and have a neon green fanny/hydration pack on. Also at time 5:12 you can see our crew. I am in seat 4, remember seat 1 is the front and you count back.
I'm hoping to be less tired tomorrow night and plan to actually write something!
I was looking for outrigger videos yesterday and this morning and I found this one of Da Grind sponsored by Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC). If you pay very close attention at time stamp 1:22 you will see me! I'm wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt and have a neon green fanny/hydration pack on. Also at time 5:12 you can see our crew. I am in seat 4, remember seat 1 is the front and you count back.
I'm hoping to be less tired tomorrow night and plan to actually write something!
Monday, April 21, 2008
some cool videos
I'd hoped to write up a bit more this evening but have been distracted. Someone was asking me about outrigger and to illustrate what I was talking about I found some cool videos on YouTube. So here you go:
Some Molokai Crossing.
A women's change out crew.
Some outrigger surfing. I want to do this one day!
Some Molokai Crossing.
A women's change out crew.
Some outrigger surfing. I want to do this one day!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
"it really tied the room together"
Have you seen the Big Lebowski before? It's all a case of mistaken identity between 'The Dude' aka Jeffrey Lebowski and a millionaire of the same name. Best viewed while drinking white russians. Jeff Bridges plays "The Dude".
I knew they dropped a lot of f*bombs in this movie but I didn't realize quite how many. I found this little film on YouTube and they said "The F count of The Big Lebowski I think is 281, this isn't all of them!" It's been cut together hilariously and about halfway through Sam Elliott pauses to ask if he 'has to use so many cuss words?' Funny!
I knew they dropped a lot of f*bombs in this movie but I didn't realize quite how many. I found this little film on YouTube and they said "The F count of The Big Lebowski I think is 281, this isn't all of them!" It's been cut together hilariously and about halfway through Sam Elliott pauses to ask if he 'has to use so many cuss words?' Funny!
Sploosh!
We had a good practice yesterday, worked on starts and turns for the race. It was pretty cold, far too cold for late April! I really hope next weekend at the Rusty Iron the weather is more typical of late April. I think we are as ready as we are going to be for next weekend. Following practice Minnie and I went out for a short OC1 paddle since we hadn't gone particularly far during practice.
On our outbound leg I realized I haven't huli'd my new boat yet. I thought it might be a good idea to do that sometime, not on the outbound leg, though. I waited until I was quite near the beach and then I tried to fly the ama (paddle with the ama or outrigger out of the water), got a paddle stroke here and then another. I began to think this was pretty cool ... just as the boat started to go over! Sploosh! It then took me a while longer to climb back aboard than I expected. I was able to get back on and paddle in relatively quickly.
Back on the beach I noticed a pronounced degree of squishing and squelching with each step! I tried to drain out some while I put my boat away. Back in the apartment I managed to leave wet footprints from the entry way into the kitchen and over to the bathroom. But now I can say I've huli'd and gotten right back up again.
On our outbound leg I realized I haven't huli'd my new boat yet. I thought it might be a good idea to do that sometime, not on the outbound leg, though. I waited until I was quite near the beach and then I tried to fly the ama (paddle with the ama or outrigger out of the water), got a paddle stroke here and then another. I began to think this was pretty cool ... just as the boat started to go over! Sploosh! It then took me a while longer to climb back aboard than I expected. I was able to get back on and paddle in relatively quickly.
Back on the beach I noticed a pronounced degree of squishing and squelching with each step! I tried to drain out some while I put my boat away. Back in the apartment I managed to leave wet footprints from the entry way into the kitchen and over to the bathroom. But now I can say I've huli'd and gotten right back up again.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Nexus Pass
A Nexus pass is a must have for anyone making regular trips across the US/Canada border. If you've crossed recently you may have seen the line for Nexus card holders. Yup, it's the line with NO WAITING and easily identified while you sit counting blades of grass on the side of the road waiting for the line to move at something greater than glacial pace.
For a mere $50 you can get a pass allowing you to use this lane for 5 years. If you make 6-8 trips per year across the border this $10 per year investment can save quite bit of time. I went online in December and filled out the application. Among other things they want to know every address you've had for the past 5 years, employment history, passport number, drivers license number, and all the other information needed for a thorough background check. Then you punch in your credit card number and hurry up and wait for them to get back to you.
About 3-4 weeks later I got notification that I could now make my interview appointment. The earliest appointment was for April 16 at 11 am! A fellow paddler, Doug, had his appointment the Monday before and he sent out a message describing his experience. Sounded rather daunting, big scary people with guns asking lots of questions, took him around 1.5 hours. I brought some work along to do while I waited and my birth certificate, which wasn't on the list of things you had to bring but Doug said they asked for anyway, gave him a hard time for not having it too. I passed my documents to the not so scary guy and was told to go wait outside next to the guy who needed to learn a little dab'l do ya with regards to the cologne.
I was called in within 10 minutes to be asked a handful of questions first by the US customs agent: why do you want a Nexus pass? race outriggers monthly or so; have I ever been arrested? no; ever had a DUI? no; basically ever got caught doing anything wrong? no. I got caught up talking about outrigger with both customs agents. Then he took my photo digitally and my finger prints, also digitally. Now time for a repeat performance of all the questions with the Canadian customs agent. We went through the questions pretty quickly and then she wanted to pick my brain about outrigger. I gave her the condensed version, my contact information, and days and times of our practices. I was completely done in 25 minutes and that was including all the gabbing about outrigger and now I have my Nexus pass. Wahoo, time to go to Canada in the fast lane, except the my next race there isn't until Memorial Day weekend.
For a mere $50 you can get a pass allowing you to use this lane for 5 years. If you make 6-8 trips per year across the border this $10 per year investment can save quite bit of time. I went online in December and filled out the application. Among other things they want to know every address you've had for the past 5 years, employment history, passport number, drivers license number, and all the other information needed for a thorough background check. Then you punch in your credit card number and hurry up and wait for them to get back to you.
About 3-4 weeks later I got notification that I could now make my interview appointment. The earliest appointment was for April 16 at 11 am! A fellow paddler, Doug, had his appointment the Monday before and he sent out a message describing his experience. Sounded rather daunting, big scary people with guns asking lots of questions, took him around 1.5 hours. I brought some work along to do while I waited and my birth certificate, which wasn't on the list of things you had to bring but Doug said they asked for anyway, gave him a hard time for not having it too. I passed my documents to the not so scary guy and was told to go wait outside next to the guy who needed to learn a little dab'l do ya with regards to the cologne.
I was called in within 10 minutes to be asked a handful of questions first by the US customs agent: why do you want a Nexus pass? race outriggers monthly or so; have I ever been arrested? no; ever had a DUI? no; basically ever got caught doing anything wrong? no. I got caught up talking about outrigger with both customs agents. Then he took my photo digitally and my finger prints, also digitally. Now time for a repeat performance of all the questions with the Canadian customs agent. We went through the questions pretty quickly and then she wanted to pick my brain about outrigger. I gave her the condensed version, my contact information, and days and times of our practices. I was completely done in 25 minutes and that was including all the gabbing about outrigger and now I have my Nexus pass. Wahoo, time to go to Canada in the fast lane, except the my next race there isn't until Memorial Day weekend.
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