Learning to surf in Barbados

Surfing has always been an activity I've wanted to try in my adult life.  A major stumbling block in this endeavor, up to now, has been opportunity.  Unlike skiing, surfing isn't something the novice generally designs a vacation around.  At least I've never thought about it.  I live reasonably close to the Delaware and Maryland Beaches but body surfing and sun soaking has always been the name of the game out there. That and I have yet to witness people getting any sort of instruction on the beach. Trust me, a good lesson is key.

Deb and I took a trip out to Barbados recently to visit a friend and stumbled upon a little free time during our last day there. Actually we had the whole day to ourselves and I pushed for surfing lessons pretty hard.  My wife was quite nervous about the idea partly because she didn't know whether she could do it or not. I'll give you one guess who the better surfer turned out to be.  It must be because she's shorter. By the way, this video is pretty much all you need to know about Barbados.  Remember what I told you about a good lesson. Well, the instructor is a big part of that. I can't imagine a better guide than Jonathan (Jona) from Barry's Surf Barbados Surf School.  He had us up on the board almost immediately.  It was apparent after watching other instructors on the beach that we lucked out.

I picked this video because I think it best captures the proper technique to successfully stand up on a long board.  That and it's the only video I had. The hardest part for me was remembering to look up toward the beach.  Your tendency is the check out your feet placement after standing up but that will almost assuredly put you in the ocean. I'm a little wobbly there at the end but to my defense, it was my third time out that day and the sea was rough my friends. Well, rough for a land lover. Definitely something everyone should try at least once.

SCUBA Evan

Thought I'd share an actual adventure with you for a change.  Deb and I went to Sandals Montego Bay for our honeymoon a few months back agreeing to find some much needed relaxation there.  That lasted all of about one day.  I've always been a big fan of snorkeling and decided before the trip that I wanted to try scuba diving while down in the Caribbean.  Deb, always up for an adventure, was in as well.  The only prior knowledge of the different accreditation levels I have before sauntering up to the dive shack was "resort training" and probably something more involved than that.  Apparently you can get learned up to three ascending recreational classifications while at the resort.  They are: resort, supervised, and open water.  They made a pretty good case for taking the open water course and we, after some deliberation, anxiously signed up.  The open water certification allows you to  rent equipment, request air fills, and dive without any higher supervision, provided ya do so with a buddy.  Now, it did cost a little coin and it did involve four certification dives over three days with a decent amount of coursework and studying but afterward we totally agreed it was worth it for a bunch of reasons.  Most notably, our life long certification allows us to dive where ever we want without an instructor and we got to do our dives in 85 degree crystal clear Caribbean water.  Beats a freezing flooded rock quarry in Pennsylvania any day. 

If you're thinking about doing something like this, there are a few things you may want to be aware of before hand.  Our swim test was 400 meters in the pool.  Probably a good idea to warm up first or make sure you didn't imbibe too extravagantly the night before prior to embarking on this non-trivial task.  Moving on to coursework, be prepared to invest a few hours reading and taking practice tests during your down time.  We were given a video with a non-functional dvd player.  The book would have to do.  When it comes to the actually diving, don't psych yourself out.  Breathing while submerged under 40 feet of water is not a natural environment for humans but the equipment is safe and thanks to your redundant regulator and your buddy's redundant regulator, you are never without air.  

Now for the fun stuff.  Diving is truly a unique and exhilarating experience.  You get to witness the beauty of the underwater kingdom firsthand and observe the colorful and interesting creatures within it living and playing in their natural habitat.  I think I'm hooked. 

I'm crazy bout those cupcakes cousin.

There are many places to find out about local/popular eateries around town... weekend insert, internet, word of mouth, doorknob hangers, etc. Personally, I prefer Lonely Island SNL Digital Shorts for all my foody info. Check out "Lazy Sunday" to see what I'm talking about. Deb and I hit up NYC recently to see some friends and do some exploring. While there are many cultural and historic sights to see, Magnolia was definitely on the top of my short list of things to do. If you ever find yourself in the city, do me a favor. Get yourself some cupcakes and a carton of milk. Pick a cushy swaft of grass and chow down. You can't go wrong, I promise you. But be prepared to stand in line. The place can only fit like eight people, six if they really like cupcakes. Wasn't too bad though, well worth the wait.

DFL !

There's nothing wrong with being dead last if you're doing it for a good cause. Headed out a little while back for the annual SMASHED DC Scavenger Hunt. Now, with a little cross team teamwork and possibly a bit of dishonesty, we actually managed to win the thing last year. Sometimes you have to play above the rules. And winning is all well and good but we needed more of a challenge this year. That and we felt like fraternizing a little more along the course. Contrary to what you may think, coming in last is kind of hard to do. We needed to actively try to get rid of points both real and fabricated. We got a kick out of making people sing Def Leopard songs for fake points. It's the little things.

Our Team theme was "isn't it obvious". In a nutshell, we all dressed to a rhyme scheme. For instance, Cuckoo Hebrew, Haiku Guru, Blue Crew, Voodoo. You get the point. We made people guess the theme and no one did. I guess it wasn't that obvious.

Club 1139 Excellent Adventure

So here's what we built for our latest 80's party. If you try hard enough, I think you can guess the theme. The idea first came to me when my roommate Rhett and I were studying for our high school history final. I was kind of stressed cause if I didn't pass, my father was going to send me to a military academy. And that was a real possibility since I know nothing about most pop culture historic figures. I thought, if only there was a way to travel back in time and accidentally gather up said figures due to situationally comedic events that necessitate their coming back to the present with me just in time to help us give our history final oral presentation. Then I thought, wait... this was kinda already done in a movie and besides, everyone knows that you totally need a flux capacitor for time travel. So we axed the time travel idea and decided to build the phone booth anyway. I painted the whole inside black and mounted a couple black lights to its ceiling so party goers could write anything they wanted on the inside walls with a highlighter pen. Indecent verbiage and caricature was kept to a minimum. Best thing about the booth... it was still standing when the party was over. I don't know if that's saying more about the quality of the party or the construction of the booth. Nah, it was all booth baby!

Whitewater in West Virginia

Met my sister in West Virginia a little while back (July '08) for a little camping and white water rafting trip. Never to miss an opportunity for adventure, Debbie decided to accompany me. While it was her first time out, I had already gone once in Colorado a few years ago. A good time was had by all. However, I can say with certainty that I will be seeking a bigger class of rapids on my next outing. The 4's on the Lower New River still provided a good amount of energy but the time to really go is on the Upper Gauley River in late September when the annual fall releases from Summersville Dam create some really great drops... or so I hear. I'll have to try it for myself. Probably not this year though. It took about 5 hours to get there from DC. It's time to think about saving those road trips for ski season. It can't get here fast enough.

SMASHED Idiotarod!

Ok, the 2008 SMASHED Idiotarod was a few months back but totally worth a late post. for those who may not know, SMASHED is a DC philanthropic organization dedicated to enabling the childish side of any who wish to participate in their charitable outings. For instance, why else would we race shopping carts through the streets of downtown DC if not to let loose a little and help out a worthwhile charity like Miriam's Kitchen.

We ended up finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack but that's Ok cause it really isn't about winning for me. I just like decorating the cart and the afterparty... which was a total blast. And I think the cart turned out really well too. Thanks to Debbie Lee for thinking up a great theme. I wanted to give the cart that "puffy" look of the unmistakable 70's style TPIR sets. It was actually pretty easy to pull together with some semi-stretchy lime green fabric, medium density cotton batting and a few pieces of rigid cardboard. And of course no project is complete without hot glue and duct tape.

And the search is over.

The battlesnake has lived a few places throughout his life. Mostly here and there and back again, but he hasn't quite found that little patch of the earth's crust to call home. "Where do I fit?" That is one of the more recurrent questions I've been asking myself lately. That interrogative is not easily answered however. There are many geographic, personal, professional, and psychological elements to consider before making such a decision. Maybe I'll try a little mind mapping in lieu of the usual pros/cons list. Looks like it's a better way of organizing one's thoughts into a more readily "felt" format.

But why go through the trouble when the answer to that which haunts my waking thoughts is so easily answered in Front Royal, Virginia. It's on a sign gosh darn it! Signs are to be respected and adhered to without question. When was the last time you failed to yield when staring down a metallic yellow triangle? Guys, ever walk into the ladies room cause the skirted stick figure didn't apply to you? Didn't think so.

Living there won't be so bad. The town does have more 7-11's per capita then any town in the cosmos. (I can't confirm that) And Shenandoah National Park is a stone's throw away. The Bomb will love that. Or maybe I'll move to Key West for the winter. Yeah man, screw signs!