In case you need a laugh...
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Friday - Song of the Day (Gettin' Over You)
This song has been in my head all this week and now that its Friday, I feel I can take their subtle hint and PARTY!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Linstead Pursuit Race of 2010
View Linstead Cup Race 2010 in a larger map
Sailed in the Linstead Cup Pursuit Race last Saturday. It was hot as hell out and muggy to boot.
It was a typical sailing race. We all got there mostly on time, our battery was dead so we had to race around to find a different one that would power the instruments. The first alternate we tried was almost dead and only had enough juice to make the instruments whine like crazy. The second one held up after we cleaned the connection. We didn't get the best start because the wind never holds up away from the line like it does AT the line so we were a bit behind there. The good thing was we didn't go aground like two other boats and our boat did a few years back so that was good.
We came in not quite middle of the pack but the boat we were sailing on was built for lighter winds (so my Captain tells me). Overall I think we did ok but it took too long to get the spinnaker up (my fault) because we had to switch which side we put it up on (Captain is never at fault - see previous fault) although there were too many hands trying to help which merely complicated things. Other than that, I would say we really held our own.
Good crew, good race, cold beer - hard to beat that on a Saturday.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Kevin Costner and the BP Oil Spill?
The V20
Costner has been working on this technology for 15 years, and invested $20 million of his personal funds to support the project. He says he was inspired to work on this project after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 and the making of Waterworld, which despite being a box office bomb, I rather enjoyed.
He has even testified before Congress.
For more info:
Energy Boom Policy
BBC
Ocean Therapy Solutions
Examiner.com
Playing Catch-Up
Man have I been busy!
I've moved into an apartment in DC recently and the amount of things to do in addition to being kept busy at work has really cut into my blogging time. That being said, I figured I'd breeze over my Memorial Day weekend which I mentioned I would write about. I won't be doing it much justice but that's gonna happen so just be forewarned.
We left for Ocean City about 8 in the morning on Friday and that was definitely the right choice. We didn't hit any traffic. Got a speeding ticket in Delaware where the speed drops from 55 to 35 around a corner where the speed limit sign has to be obscured because no one in my car saw it; myself included - obviously. I still have to pay that soon.
We get there and this place is huge! Granted it was for 17 people but it sure looked it too. We were on 144th street so we're pretty much in Delaware and not Maryland but we were right next to the beach, a pizza place, a liquor store and the bus stop so we couldn't ask for more. Grabbed some lunch at a pizza place right next door and watched a terrible movie, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. It is seriously a terrible movie but hilarious after a few beers. I won't ruin the ending for you but the scene where the shark jumps and latches onto a flying plane is sooo bad that it needs to be seen. I had gotten it from Wal-Mart for $5 about a week before, anticipating how bad it was going to be and I was not disappointed. Still, the $5 dollars was worth it after watching this a few times.
Anyhow, people started arriving and we basically just hung out and partied for a bit; played some beer pong and strolled on the beach afterwards.
Saturday everyone headed down to the beach and hung out, got a bit of a tan going and splashed in the freezing cold water if they were brave enough which of course, if you're going to go to the beach, you have to go in, so of course I did.
We saw a flying advertisement for a Hooters bikini contest and we realized how much they probably needed our visual acuity and judgement - so we went. It was less than expected and it was only about 20 mins despite what the ad told us (Hooters Bikini Contest! Hot Babes! 1-3pm!). The waitress was a bit slow but new on the job so we cut her some slack. However, when we asked where the closest ATM was, since she couldn't split the check, she directed us half a block down to a CVS instead of the one that we found in the restaurant by the bathrooms. That's ok though. We wish you luck Sharon.
Naps were the afternoon activity of choice and afterwards, we went in staggered groups to the boardwalk (in both time and inebriation). It was a long bus ride from 144th street down to 25th. We met some girl who was so drunk, she wanted us to just call her "crazy face". And we still do. CrazyFace was accidentally(? - she was really looking to get some as she so bluntly told us; "I can't WAIT to get some D*@k!") flashing all of the people sitting on the other side of the bus and for a mid-thirties kinda gal, it was a tad unclassy. The 17yr olds were all in the back of the bus texting each other about how crazy CrazyFace was.
After we finally got down to the boardwalk, we walked around a bit, getting some fries, ice cream and daring each other to do the sling-shot cage ball thing in the carnival part of the boardwalk. We were pretty low-key the rest of the night since it took us another hour and a half to get home AFTER we caught the bus which alone took forever (45 mins to an hour). 2 of our friends just walked back (130 some odd blocks) and beat us there.
Sunday, after hitting the beach for a bit and catching up on some reading, we started up the grill. Cooked up some hotdogs and hamburgers after finding out at least three members of our group were vegetarians - including Girlfriend! [Sigh] alas... Maybe we'll be prepared next year with some tofu-burgers. Anyhow...we grabbed some more beer from up the street and started pre-gaming for Seacrets. The pong tournament had some unexpected winners and by about 8 we were ready to go.
Seacrets (49th street) was a pretty jumping place and I would highly recommend it. I wish I could have had more time to explore but one of my friends needing finding so after I did that, I ended up keeping track of him for pretty much the rest of the night. Probably saved me a bunch of drinks that I would have bought otherwise. We tried waiting for the bus again but since the buses were less than consistent, we opted for cabs back to the beach house. We poured most of friends into the taxi with one sober person and Girlfriend and I said we'd wait for the next one. We found the next one after walking about 20 blocks north. The taxi driver spoke Russian so I thanked him in Russian as he dropped us off. The A/C in that cab was glorious.
Our friends who waited for the bus showed up about 45 mins later even though they'd caught the bus 10 mins after we left.
Monday was spent cleaning the beach house, sitting in traffic for about 5 hours and calling my grandfather.
All-in-all, a great Memorial Day Weekend.
I've moved into an apartment in DC recently and the amount of things to do in addition to being kept busy at work has really cut into my blogging time. That being said, I figured I'd breeze over my Memorial Day weekend which I mentioned I would write about. I won't be doing it much justice but that's gonna happen so just be forewarned.
We left for Ocean City about 8 in the morning on Friday and that was definitely the right choice. We didn't hit any traffic. Got a speeding ticket in Delaware where the speed drops from 55 to 35 around a corner where the speed limit sign has to be obscured because no one in my car saw it; myself included - obviously. I still have to pay that soon.
We get there and this place is huge! Granted it was for 17 people but it sure looked it too. We were on 144th street so we're pretty much in Delaware and not Maryland but we were right next to the beach, a pizza place, a liquor store and the bus stop so we couldn't ask for more. Grabbed some lunch at a pizza place right next door and watched a terrible movie, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. It is seriously a terrible movie but hilarious after a few beers. I won't ruin the ending for you but the scene where the shark jumps and latches onto a flying plane is sooo bad that it needs to be seen. I had gotten it from Wal-Mart for $5 about a week before, anticipating how bad it was going to be and I was not disappointed. Still, the $5 dollars was worth it after watching this a few times.
Anyhow, people started arriving and we basically just hung out and partied for a bit; played some beer pong and strolled on the beach afterwards.
Saturday everyone headed down to the beach and hung out, got a bit of a tan going and splashed in the freezing cold water if they were brave enough which of course, if you're going to go to the beach, you have to go in, so of course I did.
We saw a flying advertisement for a Hooters bikini contest and we realized how much they probably needed our visual acuity and judgement - so we went. It was less than expected and it was only about 20 mins despite what the ad told us (Hooters Bikini Contest! Hot Babes! 1-3pm!). The waitress was a bit slow but new on the job so we cut her some slack. However, when we asked where the closest ATM was, since she couldn't split the check, she directed us half a block down to a CVS instead of the one that we found in the restaurant by the bathrooms. That's ok though. We wish you luck Sharon.
Naps were the afternoon activity of choice and afterwards, we went in staggered groups to the boardwalk (in both time and inebriation). It was a long bus ride from 144th street down to 25th. We met some girl who was so drunk, she wanted us to just call her "crazy face". And we still do. CrazyFace was accidentally(? - she was really looking to get some as she so bluntly told us; "I can't WAIT to get some D*@k!") flashing all of the people sitting on the other side of the bus and for a mid-thirties kinda gal, it was a tad unclassy. The 17yr olds were all in the back of the bus texting each other about how crazy CrazyFace was.
After we finally got down to the boardwalk, we walked around a bit, getting some fries, ice cream and daring each other to do the sling-shot cage ball thing in the carnival part of the boardwalk. We were pretty low-key the rest of the night since it took us another hour and a half to get home AFTER we caught the bus which alone took forever (45 mins to an hour). 2 of our friends just walked back (130 some odd blocks) and beat us there.
Sunday, after hitting the beach for a bit and catching up on some reading, we started up the grill. Cooked up some hotdogs and hamburgers after finding out at least three members of our group were vegetarians - including Girlfriend! [Sigh] alas... Maybe we'll be prepared next year with some tofu-burgers. Anyhow...we grabbed some more beer from up the street and started pre-gaming for Seacrets. The pong tournament had some unexpected winners and by about 8 we were ready to go.
Seacrets (49th street) was a pretty jumping place and I would highly recommend it. I wish I could have had more time to explore but one of my friends needing finding so after I did that, I ended up keeping track of him for pretty much the rest of the night. Probably saved me a bunch of drinks that I would have bought otherwise. We tried waiting for the bus again but since the buses were less than consistent, we opted for cabs back to the beach house. We poured most of friends into the taxi with one sober person and Girlfriend and I said we'd wait for the next one. We found the next one after walking about 20 blocks north. The taxi driver spoke Russian so I thanked him in Russian as he dropped us off. The A/C in that cab was glorious.
This is most of our group that was still around for Sunday evening.
I'm the tall one in the back with the beard.
On the far right is my friend Dan who is a film director/editor/writer and teacher.
Our friends who waited for the bus showed up about 45 mins later even though they'd caught the bus 10 mins after we left.
Monday was spent cleaning the beach house, sitting in traffic for about 5 hours and calling my grandfather.
All-in-all, a great Memorial Day Weekend.
Test Update 1
This is a test to see if I can update my blog from my phone.
- Apparently this email works to send it to my drafts which is still good...
- Apparently this email works to send it to my drafts which is still good...
Test Update
This is a test update to see if I can update my blog from my phone. It'd be pretty sweet if this works.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.5
Friday, June 11, 2010
Abby Sunderland - Knocked Down but OK
Sounds like Abby is fine. Word on her blog and others is that she was knocked down and dis-masted but the rescue plane has gotten there and a French fishing vessel was on its way. She has reported that she is fine but that is about all that is known as of right now.
Earth
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Movin' Out - Billy Joel Style!
I hope to discover some, but not too many, this weekend as I wait around for a Comcast tech to hook up the TV and internet and a delivery van to drop off my bed. I'll find out I suppose...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Hurricane Musings 2010
I figured that when my insurance company, USAA (great company BTW), sent me Hurricane Preparedness stuff, it was just another email that they send out every so often. I missed the memo that it was National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Anyhow, it seems that this season is going to be a bit rough in terms of hurricanes. At least that is what the NOAA is saying, and I kinda trust them. Well...theres definitely a 75% chance that I trust them on any given day.
The currently accepted reason for this more intense upcoming hurricane season is the warming weather trend that has been happening the past few years (AKA the weakening of El Nino).
If you're interested in tracking some of these storms, a good website I found was Moreweather.com's Atlantic Basin Tropical Weather Page. Personally, I love Weather Underground as most of you could probably tell by the widget on the uppermost right corner of this page.
If you want your own Hurricane Tracking Chart, there is one available here.
If you're interested in how the Atlantic Basin hurricanes are indices of climate change, thats available here. I didn't read it but it looks interesting if you have the attention span.
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