What with the nice weather, a nice swell and a mid-day dental appointment I played hooky yesterday and went surfing at the “good spot.” I paddled out with fellow Set Wasters Jim Lerer and Steve Braun. Though the surf was shifty it was worth it with such a beautiful day. Also, a shout out to Water Polo/Swim Guru, Mark Anderson who was in the drink with us as well as the bad-ass surfer and retired Fire Chief, Tim Eke. Fun was had by all.
There were even two male Sea Lions snoozing in the sun, on the beach, up in the Ice Plant.
Take a day every now and again. It’s good for your head.

I just got back the other day from a week spent in Santa Barbara. I haven’t been there in several years and was a bit bummed to see that State Street is looking more and more like an even-more-plastic-version of Orange County.
I also paid a visit to the Santa Barbara Surf Shop and what a great shop it is! It’s a great surf shop for having all of the gear a surfer needs to the amazing collection of historic surfboards that are hanging all over this huge shop. Man, looking at the old, balsa Yater’s was worth the visit alone. Reynolds Yater is one of the last great shapers from the golden era of surfing. If you’re ever in town, even if you don’t surf you should stop in and check it out because anyone with any amount of soul would definitely appreciate the art and craftsmanship that goes into his boards.
Oh, the last thing about State Street. I saw a white rat riding on the back of a calico cat, who was riding on the back of a dog as they were being walked up and down State Street. I know that sounded a trifle “Dr. Seuss” but it’s what I saw. In all of my travels half around this globe thus far I had never seen anything quite like that before.

I ended up watching the Academy Awards last night. One of a few surprises to me was the Borne Ultimatum winning anything! That movie made me wish I took Dramamine before I watched it and it wasn’t nearly as good as the first one was.
I was also surprised and disappointed by how tame and restrained Jon Stewart was. I guess he was too worried about pleasing the Hollywood machine. He lost a couple of points from me.
I really liked the film No Country for Old Men, though I was surprised by how many awards it won. I pretty much like most if not all of the Cohen’s films. However, was it me or were the Cohen brothers just a bit too smug and ungrateful? I can understand not really digging the whole, phony Hollywood scene but if you’re going to behave as if your mom has nagged you into taking out the trash I ask; Dudes, you’re grown men, why even bother to show up?
The event on a whole was pretty boring. Still, my biggest question is; how does one “judge” something as subjective as film?
I’m just glad that Juno got a few nods.

I'm now riding my old, beater 1967 Schwinn "Typhoon" with the huge, messanger-stlye basket on the front of it to work every day. I'm even running errands on it as well. Man, do those 4.1 miles (each way) seem a lot longer and a HELL OF A LOT HARDER on that thing, especially with a head wind. Still, the down hills are worth it. There is nothing like bombing a hill on an old tanker bike. Nothing.
Which reminds me, if you ever get the chance to rent (buy or borrow) a copy of the documnetary, Klunkerz do it! It pretty much covers the history of the Mountain Bike (which was done right here in Marin County)and is really interesting and fun. My buddy, John Pedersen's group; the Road Oilers has more than a few tunes in it and I even know a handful of the kooks in the film that were there (inadvertantly) making history.

As for me opting to ride the balloon tire bike over my titanium/carbon fiber bike is so typical of me trying to keep it simple. It seems most things in my life: transportation, surfing or whatever; One Fin, One Gear, One Kid, One World. I like it.

I had less than an hour to kill last night and I wasted that time watching TV. After I just wrote about how the writers strike is probably a good thing, less TV, blah, blah and I'm here writing about a lame-ass TV show.
Anyway, you wanna know what I wasted 40 minutes of my life on? A game show about being smarter than a grade school kid. If you haven't seen it, good! If you have seen it, do you feel as amazed by its stupidity as I do? Man, the questions were INCREDIBLY easy as they are for a bunch of grade school kids and, in this case one arrogant, ditsy blond who kept yammering on about every thought that bounced into her amply hollow head.
It seemed that every question that the host would ask the blond would boast on how she's really good at that subject and how she aced that course in college (must of been Whopper college)...and oh, the host is one of those "We're Rednecks" comedians from Comedy Central, Jeff Foxworthy; nice career move, Jeff. As if I didn't think you were funny in the first place, apparently you're not very bright either.

Now, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I answered every-single-question correctly almost before good 'ol boy Foxworthy was done reciting them from his index card. I was like Kevin Bacon from the film, Diner when he was answering the questions for a game show he was watching.

The final question for a million bucks, no less was; "Who was the first pilot to break the sound barrier?" Geez-Louise! THAT was the million dollar question? What the hell!? How stupid have we become??? Why not ask, "Is the world round?"
I sat there bored, finger on the remote ready to change the channel when I mumbled, "Chuck Fucking Yeager. Everyone knows that."
Well, apparently not everyone knows that.
To my astonishment the blond begins to roll her eyes sky-ward and begins to tell everyone how her favorite museum is the Smithsonian Aerospace museum in D.C. and then she rattles off some pseudo list of great aviators out loud starting with the Wright brothers! The fucking Write brothers!!! C'mon, sweetheart we're talking the sound barrier here not the Flintstones for Christ sakes!
After she recites Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart she then says..."Hmm...Howard Hughes was the Spruce Goose.....hm. I think it was Howard Hughes.

I could of won a million dollars last night but I really don't want to meet Jeff Foxworthy.


By the way...R.I.P. In The Nite Press (1994-2007)
My new "self-publishing" aegis is now; EL COMEX PRESS.

I know that I am not the most fashionable guy around. Heck, my son continually reminds me of this. I own a few nice suits and I clean up good but I’m no fashion magnet.
Well, an incident that happened to me yesterday proved my son right.
It was around 1 pm and I was working away at my studio when I figured I needed a quick break. I heated up the few pieces of chicken quesadia I brought from home (yeah, I’m hopelessly Chicano) in the microwave and then decided to eat them while I take a long walk as I do a few errands around down town.
On my way back from the computer store I was carrying a plastic bag with my small purchases in it and eating the last, little piece of quesadia while walking along a frontage road between the freeway and the old, abandoned railroad tracks. I was on my way to pick something else up and then grab a coffee to go and head back to the studio for more work. It’s a nice little 35/40 minute walk.
Suddenly, to my left a new, white Mercedes Benz slows down and comes almost to a stop as the window rolls down. I hear a familiar voice; “Hey, Jaime! Is that you?”
I turn to look to see who is calling me from such a nice ride and I recognize an old acquaintance, Dave who was a customer of mine when I once owned a record store.
“Hey, Dave! Nice car, bro!” I answer back.
“You need a ride?” was Dave’s semi-concerned response.
“Naw, I’m just out running a couple of errands. Thanks anyway.”
“Are you doing okay?” Dave says a bit more seriously than before.
“What? I…huh?” was about all I could muster when it finally dawned on me what Dave was getting at. Dave thought I was homeless.
“What the fuck, Dave? I fine, bro. I’m just out enjoying the nice weather we’re having.”
Dave looked really embarrassed as we exchanged a few more pleasantries and before you knew it we were both on our separate ways.
As I was done with the errands and returning to my studio I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a store window. There I was with my full salt & pepper beard, glasses with dark ski cap, beater pants and beat-to-shit Converse and an old, dingy zip-up hoodie sucking on my coffee and carrying a white, plastic bag. All I needed was a shopping cart full of belongings. I laughed out loud upon seeing myself.
Man, no wonder my kid shakes his head at me sometimes.

Is it just me or are we better off with the writers strike? It seems that people may be watching less TV because of the striking writers (meaning; no new programming) and I feel that’s a good thing. I’m not trying to be high-minded or self-righteous here. I’m not one of those people with the “Kill Your TV” bumper sticker affixed to my ride. No. I like to view the Lava Lamp with sound (aka TV) every now-and-again but it seems to me that as a whole we watch far too much TV instead of reading or listening to music.
Then again I have also noticed how most people seem to have either a cell phone or an ipod attatched to thier noggins, far too busy to actually interact with other human beings...well, unless they are on the other end of the cell phone. I just worry that the collective critical thinking is getting as flabby as our bodies are.
I notice that most of the people I come in contact with talk about TV show’s more than anything else. The only other thing they may talk about more is what they found/saw on the internet….seems appropriate here, doesn’t it?
Ah, but what more should I expect? When I do turn on my TV just about every-other-morning to the local news to get some weather up dates I first get inundated with what really concerns our modern American culture: Brittney Spears. Man, I’ve walked through puddles deeper than that.