I Am Paying Attention

I am paying attention - just not on the daily blog. Also, I figure there is already soooo much material out there in the ethersphere, my daily input would be di mimus. How about Tina Fey as Impalin? Epic. How about Palin as Impalin? How about here supporters arguing her benefits and aplitude? No one can blog this stuff. It's real TV. Like a drink of spring water in the desert, there has been surf to distract us from the politcal meyham. So---

7 September – swell actually picked up. On the buoys, it shows that it wasn’t the swell as much as the direction that kicked the swell up. Out at the Bay buoy, the swell registered 2.6 feet at 17 seconds from 210.

8 September – surf was on all day. I surfed the Steps, First Bowl, until my arms fell off and I was thermally drained. Great sets, overhead waves, patchy fog and just a breeze. The Monterey buoy showed the swell at 3.2 feet, 17 seconds, from 195. The Harvest Platform showed 3.2, 17 seconds, from 215. I think the 215 is important – the best direction for the Bay.

9 September – surfed Tiburones as the swell continued to show. Buoys showed the swell at 4 feet, 17 seconds from 195. I started at Bol Primero and then moved down to Tiburones. My first real session at Tiburones this south swell season, and it was way cool. Head high to over head and firing.

10 September – Tiburones for another helping. The swell poured through for the fourth straight day. Hot Dog, Shane Grom, Kneeboarder “shacked” Roy, Bert, Denny, Wells, and the peripheral LBs. It was great fun, started out grey and went to sun with slight wind. There were plenty of waves for all. When Tiburones is good – its way good. Boyz were splitting the right and left with stereo barrels; bombs coming through with rides down toward Privates; and the inside speedway boogie was holding. I know I speak for the boyz when I say, “I’m baked”. The buoys show about 2.4 feet at 17 seconds from 190. Second buoy check in the evening shows 3.6 feet at 14 seconds from 190 – some of my favorite numbers.

11 September – Swell a bit smaller, but still making a stand. Although work precluded me from participating, I did stop to check the Point. I saw great waves – First peak was overhead – down to Tiburones – where shoulder-high walls were cranking. Buoys stay strong 3 feet at 14 seconds from 195.

I read this on the Net - “Even in a political culture accustomed to truth-stretching, McCain's skirting of facts has stood out this week. It has infuriated and flustered Obama's campaign, and campaign pros are watching to see how much voters disregard news reports noting factual holes in the claims.” What popped out at me was the part about the voters noticing the McCain doublespeak. Lets face it, when it came to the Iraq war, and the Bushspeak that propagated the airways, it was a proven fact that the voting public, lied to as they were, bought it hook, line, and sinker. There was the mushroom cloud, mobile chem weapons labs, Al Quida, and “they’ll welcome us with flowers”. A study was done that correlated the voting public's belief in shit with their propensity to watch those news programs that most vigorously peddled the shit. Now the question is, “will the voting public question the McCain doublespeak train.” Why ask?

12 to 15 September – south swell residual slips through, and every once in a while, a slide is possible through the submarine net of kelp. That said, today’s session showed promise. The buoys read 2.3 feet, at 17 seconds from 190. I rode a few at First Bowl, and it did appear to be picking up. We shall see.

“As it happens, though, not that long ago we had a rare political moment in this country, a moment where the public sat up and took notice of economic policy -- and spoke out and made its voice heard too. When George W. Bush made it to term #2, he decided to try to privatize social security to reward his supporters on Wall Street with a new source of capital, customers, and fees. (Those would be the same people whose firms are now cratering under the weight of the bad debt they recklessly took on while Republican regulators looked the other way). But as it turned out, we Americans were not about to let our elected representatives turn over our social security taxes to Wall Street financiers to gamble with if it meant losing the guaranteed income that has allowed millions upon millions of American seniors to live out their sunset years with at least a basic measure of dignity.” I reprint this to suggest that what Bush did not accomplish for social security was accomplished with health care.

Sure, now you can have a HAS – health savings account – essentially add banks to the list of those siphoning off your health care dollars without providing health care. Supposedly you set up an account with pre-tax dollars up to a limit, and use those dollars for your very large deductible. What I found so far is the bank is charging me fees, so that my initial set-up deposit of $100 was worth $80 within a month – and I hadn’t even used it yet. So that’s how these fuckers keep you paying all their favorites off. No bid contracts with your tax money, performance out the window (the private sector can do it better – Blackwater?), privatize services, short-term profit over people.

16 September – see 15 September except for the kook who dropped in on me thereby hacking my board. Buoy shows 2.2 feet at 14 seconds from 200 degrees.

17 and 18 September – History repeats itself. Surfed First Bowl and Second Bowl. The water was pleasant, the sun was out, and, while it was windy, it wasn’t as bad as the kelp that appeared as the tide dropped. No complaints.

19 September – I’m not sure, but it appears the swell picked up. Got some bombs at First Bowl, and saw some bombs go through Second Bowl, although I only snagged a few inbetweeners at Second Bowl. For sure – not many places where consecutive days can be pulled together. We are lucky. I am lucky. I’m not sure what the ocean was giving up, but the buoys showed 2.8 feet at 14 seconds from 175 with 4.3 feet at 12 seconds from 275. In any case, the combo seemed to work.

I am sure you are all aware of the crisis in the financial sector. We, the taxpayers, will pay. Those who benefited will be mostly be untouched; the rest of us left in the slag with a higher national debt per capita and other more direct challenges. On a positive note, some of the generic media outlets – not many, but some, have surmised that if Wush got his way, privatized social security – aka – Wall Street with our Social Security Trust, SS would have been destroyed – and I don’t think Corpgov would have bailed us out. Or maybe they would have – if we can’t consume – what use are we?

20 – 24 September – Surfed the Steps on the 20th, got a couple, but you could tell the foreign students were back in town (foreign = anyone from over the hill, to the south, and to the west). The swell from Friday had all but disappeared. Surf depressed? We need a bail out.

29 & 30 September – After a lay off of five days, a small south started to show on Monday. At the end of the day, I was at home dicking around, when the Zealand at my house informed me there were waves at the Steps. I had looked at it during the day, and it was flat. But, maybe conditions had changed. I took a chance and went down with my stuff. Sure enough, a little south line rolled through First Bowl, and I could see south lines moving through 38th. I went out, low tide and kelp, but rode high and got a few before dark. I followed up today and got some fun waves at First Bowl, Second Bowl, and Tiburones. The swell before the swell is always sweet. The news is probably out, and the Internet swell is around the corner. Tonight the buoys show 2 feet at 14 seconds from 205.

1 October – Quickly – surfed the Steps; the news is out. Buoys showed mixed swell with the strength coming from a groundswell at 4.3 feet at 14 seconds from 280. It translated into waist to slightly overhead surf – a little slow at the shoulder, but fun. Supposedly more to come – masses too. Biden imPalined tomorrow. I’m going to watch a surf video – how about it DYSM?

2 October – Just five waves. Surfed Segundo Bol shoulder to just overhead. Swell seemed steep with the swell skimming past the reef providing peaky waves with all sorts of shoulder. It was windy and the weather was just waiting to go from fall to winter, At the same time it was warm and muggy. Buoys showed two swells. One from the south, 2.1 feet at 17 seconds from 200; the other was 6.5 feet at 10 seconds from 265. The masses sensed the bounty; and when I was leaving an entourage of pros had arrived. I knew the mayhem was about to begin.

3 October – Surfed Tiburones in the late afternoon. The west swell was dying, and an underlying south swell was providing support. Got a few fun ones, but critical length was quickly achieved as masses left their other pursuits. I took my leave.

4 October – No surf for me today; football was my day. Zealand told me it was small and crowded, and my first look at the buoys suggested this was so. Yes, it’s true, I never saw the ocean myself all day. I’m talking about a virtual surf check. Anyway, 11.4 feet at 14 seconds from 280.

“An American member of al-Qaida pointed to economic troubles in the United States as proof that "the enemies of Islam" face defeat” – A page out of the Ronny Regan cold war playbook?
Drill, Baby, Drill – I heard them. Drilling is safer now with the advances in technology. Heck, even the fish like the drilling platforms. Drilling off the coasts will not cause environmental damage. Wait – this just in - Hurricane Ike's winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data. They’re just fucking liars. Period. Smoking doesn’t cause health problems either.

6 and 7 October – Didn’t get to surf the weekend – but had great fun with my brood at the football matches. Got back to surf on Monday and Tuesday, had fun in the water, and felt like I didn’t miss a thing. Good First and Second Bowl at just overhead to chest high. And the Humpback whales clearing the water just outside, unreal.

I’m frustrated hearing people say that the O-job hasn’t articulated his plans, like there is enough time in a question and answer debate or quick campaign stop. Plus, time is required to digest. How about a webpage with the details - http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ - and McCain – I mean equal time - http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/. The difference between the two are exposed by just considering the issues listed – check it yourselves.

8 October to date - the surf disappeared only to make a quick reappearence today. Critical legnth was a factor, as well as the kooks claiming "I and I didn't see you". But they couldn't bring down a beautiful day. How about SeaGreen out in the surf ?

One should count each day a separate life. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)  ¶ 9:19 PM