Soul Surfing

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a surfer. I don't want to surf, I want to be a surfer, to understand the waves and the ocean and the magnificent hydraulics involved. My best friend in junior high started buying Surfer magazine in 6th or 7th grade and we taped pictures of our favorite surfers in our lockers (Tom Carroll, Martin Potter, Mark Richards) . In Steamboat Springs, Colorado I guess this was our way of getting outside of the skiing/powder worship that surrounded us. Ever since I have been drawn to pictures and video of surfing, the way the rider is dwarfed by a huge wave, poised in a barrel of pure energy.

My fascination with surfing has never taken me to actually try surfing. I don't think I have even held a surfboard. In fact, I am pretty terrified of being way out in the ocean, contending with all that salty water, reefs, rocks and of course sharks. Yes, I probably watched Jaws at just the right age to be permanently damaged (you know what I mean, I'm sure). Now I feel too old and out of shape to ever pursue my surfing dream, too far away and too afraid.

But when I see a rider paddle up and stand, descend the face of a huge wave, bottom out and settle into a perfect tube, then get shot out in a blast of spray, it means something to me. Maybe I was a big wave Hawaiian surfer in a past life, maybe I just yearn to be at the mercy of nature like that. To ride a wave seems to be a beautiful act of freedom. Poised perfectly at ease in the void as the world swirls around, timeless and without fear.

Lame Town Revived

OK, let's try this again. Despite the fact that nearly two years have passed since the last post, I guess I'm back. There are all these cool templates now and the fonts are so much better. So I'll be back here again for a bit, ranting and raving alongside the social media tools that can now make blogging so much more interactive than way back in 2009. Or maybe it's just me, I'm probably more willing to just well, blog, and not worry so much about HTML codes and embedding media players. So yeah, I guess I'm back.

Chappelle and Chip

Health Care Primer

If you care at all about health care reform in America but can't quite grasp the complexity of all the issues, a great place to educate yourself is with two recent episodes of This American Life. First check out this episode, then move onto this episode. Great stuff on doctors, patients, the role of government, insurance, and even some history on how we got into this mess. Very informative.

Spare Some Change?

Change. Hope. Great ideas for a Presidential campaign against an old white guy associated with one of the most evil administrations our country has ever seen. But, uh, where is all this "change" we were promised. Still fighting two wars, and considering sending even more troops into Afghanistan, the so-called "Graveyard of Empires". Still upholding all of the provisions in the Patriot Act. Still seeing juvenile Democrat vs. Republican antics on every contentious issue. And now the health care reform issue. Clearly the only reform we are going to see will be that allowed by the big drug and insurance companies. Follow the money and corruption it becomes clear that we will not be seeing a change any time soon. Obama was the lesser of two evils in 2008, and IMHO until we see a viable third party emerge that will continue to be our "choice".

Grasshopper R.I.P.

I never realized how much Kwai Chang Caine influenced me
as a boy until I saw "Kung Fu" again a couple years ago.
This is a classic lesson from Master Po. Live it.

Tag It!

I gots my stencils, I gots my cans.  Now I just gotta design my attack on the public canvas.  Whatcha gonna do?