Sunday, September 23, 2007

Breakfast in New Orleans

The Famous Beignets From Cafe Du Monde





Cafe Du Monde - Orignal French Market Coffee Stand on Decatur Street

Sunday In New Orleans

When my travels include a Sunday - it is fun to find a local church (preferably liturgical/High Church) with a sense of history to worship in on Sunday morning. My favourite is to find a church I can walk to from wherever I am staying. Even better if the congregation has a social conscience/outreach into the surrounding community. I know it is popular these days to be have trendy and contemporary services that cater to popular culture. Half the time the references are to TV shows and movies I have never seen and they fly right over my head. For me there is something very powerful about an old church with a sense of history, an order of service with roots in the past and a building that resonates with the imprint of generations of saints that came before. It has a powerful energy I really connect with.

I stayed Saturday night in the French Quarter - so it was just a short stroll down the street to St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. St. Louis is the oldest continuously operational cathedral in the United States. The acoustics are beautiful - the words of the reader and the songs of the cantor were hauntingly beautiful as they echoed off the high ceiling.

The homily was about helping out our neigbours and reaching out to the poor and needy. There were several powerful illustrations about how neighbour reached out to neighbour in the aftermath of Katrina. Friday there had been a storm warning and some fears that the area was going to be hit again. As the priest spoke words of comfort, encouragement and of God's provision in adversity he also talked about the importance of being prepared. Everyone chuckled when he said, 'I know this time to pack more than the suggested two days worth of clothes when we are told to evacuate'.

After the service I met a Mexican exchange student who was in town for the semester for Post Doctoral work. She came up to ask if I was a student and inquired about some of the differences between how the mass is celebrated in Mexico and the United States. It seemed too complicated to explain I do not participate, since I am not catholic -- so I relied on my knowledge gained from listening to the Busted Halo Podcast to help answer her questions. We had a good visit and I even put aside my normal shyness and tried to speak a little with her in Spanish. I haven't spoken in over a month and I am getting rusty again.

St. Louis Cathedral Across Jackson Square



Inside The Cathedral



Churches I have attended on recent travels

Christmas 2007
New York City, NY USA
St. Patrick's Cathedral

Canadian Thanksgiving 2007
Vancouver, BC CANADA
Christ's Cathedral

Christmas 2006
Denver, CO USA
St. Johns Cathedral

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Saturday in New Orleans

After walking the beach in Biloxi Saturday morning I headed down to New Orleans.

I really wanted to do a driving tour of the city and see first hand the aftermath of the Katrina - but I had been warned that doing so on my own may not be safe. In the end I opted to take the direct route to the French Quarter and spend the afternoon strolling the streets - browsing in the shops and enjoying the street performances.

I have this weird irrational fear of going over big, high, long bridges. I almost always want to be the driver rather than the passenger - until it involves going across aforementioned bridges - then it is "hello, my turn to be the passenger".

Somehow when I made my plans I neglected to notice that between Biloxi and New Orleans that there is a rather l-o-n-g causeway that you must drive over. Fortunately, I didn't realize this until I was on it - by then it was too late and there was really no option but to keep going. As I passed over, the fingerprints of Katrina were evident in the pillars jutting out of the water - reminders of a previous version of the bridge.

One thing I learned on this trip is that there is a whole lot of nothing between Biloxi and New Orleans. It is an hour and a half of swamp and trees and very few freeway exists.

You know you have reached the outskirts of New Orleans - when an eerie feeling of abandonment starts to descend. Entering New Orleans, you are surrounded by communities of blown out homes on either side of the freeway. Very few cars or people to be seen. But, then every once in a while you will see in the midst of devastation a home or two that has been restored. There is a car in the driveway and lights on in the house. You see evidence that slowly, very slowly hope and restoration is returning.

The French Quarter itself is up and running and shows very little evidence that Katrina passed through. However, when you leave, you only need to go a block or two and once again you start to see blown out and abandoned buildings.

I had a wonderful time Saturday afternoon walking about and exploring the French Quarter. The Fleur De Lis was all over the place - to me it is the symbol of Quebec ... so I would do a double take everytime I saw one.

Fleur De Lis at the Entrance of the French Quarter



One of the things I really enjoyed was all the neat old buildings with cool wrought iron balconies and gardens.





Since I only had one afternoon to be a tourist in New Orleans - I decided to take an organized tour and learn some history. The horse drawn carriage tour had been recommended - so I decided to go for it! Our horse drawn carriage had 6 people on it. All of them were from California. My United States History isn't all that strong - so the significance of some of the places/event were kind of lost on me.

Tour by Horse Drawn Carraige



Earlier in the day I had tried to visit St. Louis Cathedral. However, I could not get in because a wedding was in progress. Turns out that if you are married in the Cathedral - the wedding is followed by a parade down Decateur St. The parade passed by just as we were pulling out for our horse and carriage tour.

Wedding Parade



Everywhere I went the streets were alive with performers and vendors. I could spend the whole day walking around soaking in the sites and sounds!

Street Performers



In amongst the festivities and merriment there were vestiges of Katrina.

Thank You Note In A Shop Window (click to Enlarge)

Peace from New Orleans

Biloxi Beach

Fingerprints Of Katrina







T-Shirt and Souvenier Shop Blown Out



Menacing Skies Over Biloxi After Tropical Storm 10 Passes By




From the City of Biloxi webpage
9/21/2007
Evacuation recommended for residents of campers, trailers
Residents of FEMA trailers, mobile homes or other similar structures should leave the immediate areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and seek shelter in a sturdy structure, emergency management officials announced today, and residents in low-lying areas should be prepared to move to higher ground, if weather threatens.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Airplane Reading

Today I flew from San Diego to Biloxi via Atlanta. I decided to use the time to catch up on some reading. For the San Diego leg I read several chapters of the book Head First Java. I generally find technical reading to be a necessary evil. I need to do it to keep my skills current so I can earn a living - but, it is the literally equivalent of eating saw dust. Dry and not very tastey. Fortunately, this particular book was actually more entertaining than most.

To reward myself for persevering through four hours of technical reading - I spent the second leg reading The Illumined Heart by Frederica Mathewes-Green. My flight out of Atlanta was delayed for several hours-- so I was able to finish the book in one sitting!

Here is a great quote from the book:

In communities, at work, but particularly in familes, people are put together in something like a three-legged race. God means us to cross the finish line together, and all the other people tied together with us play some part in our progress.

Bundled together in familes, a giant seven- or nine- or fifteen-legged pack, we seem to make very poor progress indeed, and fall to the ground in a bickering heap with some regularity. But God has put us together - has appointed each other person in your bundle specifically for you, and you for them. And so, "little children, let us love one another" with might and main, and keep hopping together toward the finish line.


I highly recommend another book by the same author - At the Corner of East and Now: A Modern Life in Ancient Christian Orthodoxy

I spent the early evening after my arrival on the internet checking out storm warnings. Looks like while I was in the air the Biloxi area opened storm shelters and was on alert for Tropical Storm #10. There was a newsman all day reporting from the beach across from where I am staying tonight with weather updates. There was some light rain today and there may be some heavy rain and thunderstorms tonight -- but looks like the storm has headed inland and is weakening!

CDN Dollar !!

Yesterday for the first time in over 20 years the Canadian Dollar was on par with the U.S. Dollar.

Click here to read about it.

The Wolf Blitzer of Day Time TV

It all started when Ellen did a promo for season 5 calling herself the Wolf Blitzer of day time TV.

Since then from the red carpet, to the CNN situation room, and daily talk they have given shout outs to each other and the story has continued to spin.

Click here for the latest CNN coverage and analysis of the Ellen and Wolf situation.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Quote of the Day


I believe there is a plan and a purpose for each person's life and that there are forces working in the universe to bring about good and create a community of love and brotherhood. Those who can atune themselves in these forces - to God's purpose - can become special instruments of his will.

Coretta Scott King
1969 Autobiography
My life with Martin Luther King Jr.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Under The Pier

Today I have been running around doing errands and tieing up loose ends before I head out to Biloxi. One of the elusive items on my packing list for the trip is "Avon Skin So Soft". Apparently, the Gulf Coast has these nasty biting bugs called chiggars/noseums -- and I have been told that one of the best ways to ward them off is with the aforementioned Avon product. Alas, I don't have an Avon lady or time put in an order with one. Late Monday night I sent out a distress e-mail to my local friends, hoping to score someone with a hidden supply of the fragrant bug repelling juice. Lucky for me, one of my friends had some on hand. This evening, I combined picking up the Avon bug juice (wow, is it *very* fragrant) with dinner and an evening walk on the beach. Last time we walked on this beach,we checked out the cool cottages on the pier - this walk we decided to change things up a little and explore the beach underneath the pier!

It was a nice cool evening. Cool enough that I could actually get away with wearing a jacket! As we head into late September early October I am programmed to anticipate the change of seasons. I have been really missing the transition into fall - tonight's weather was perfect! It reminded me of a cool fall evening walking along the shore of Lake Ontario.

I am now officially between jobs. It is a great feeling! I am enjoying not being chained to my desk typing all day. I start back to work on CDN Thanksgiving. Until then, time to enjoy the break and do my small part to lend a helping hand down on the Gulf Coast. Hard to believe two years have passed since Katrina ripped through the area.

Evening at the Beach



Under The Pier



Beam



Wearing a Jacket and Lovin' It!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Festival Of Friends

5 April 1975. Burritt's Rapids
Written After Loosing A Child To Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Bruce Cockburn
From The Album In The Falling Dark

An elegant song won't hold up long
When the palace falls and the parlour's gone
We all must leave but it's not the end
We'll meet again at the festival of friends.

Smiles and laughter and pleasant times
There's love in the world but it's hard to find
I'm so glad I found you -- I'd just like to extend
An invitation to the festival of friends.

Some of us live and some of us die
Someday God's going to tell us why
Open your heart and grow with what life sends
That's your ticket to the festival of friends.

Like an imitation of a good thing past
These days of darkness surely will not last
Jesus was here and he's coming again
To lead us to his festival of friends.

Black snake highway -- sheet metal ballet
It's just so much snow on a summer day
Whatever happens, it's not the end
We'll meet again at the festival of friends.

Listen

8 Principles For Life

Borrowed from this book

  1. Begin your journey with God
  2. Choose your traveling companions wisely
  3. Place high value on wisdom
  4. Leave your baggage behind
  5. Own your faults and weaknesses
  6. Embrace problems as gifts
  7. Take life as it comes
  8. Love God with all you are

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Cutting Cantelope

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the grand opening of LaJolla Community Church. This spring we bought a "fixer upper" in the heart of the UTC area. Since then lots of elbow grease and love has gone into reversing years of neglect. Today the place was a buzz as everyone rallied to put the final touches in preparation for tomorrow's opening.

I have spent many a Saturday morning weeding the front garden. Sounds like a contemplative, outdoor, solitary activity that I would enjoy. Turns out weeding is not my calling. I was secretly happy to see that the garden I once tended is now a concrete patio!

Now that weeding is off the table - it is time to explore uncharted territory and expand my work day skills.

Today's mission was to dice cantelope for the brunch tomorrow. If you know me - I am, shall we say, "domestically challenged". In the kitchen my specialty is grilled cheese and soup. At Thanksgiving or Christmas I can be convinced to to chop or dice -- but only if I am given specific instructions.

It started out simple enough - a bag of cantelope to be peeled and diced. It took a couple of tries, but I start to get the hang of it and plod my way through the first bag. I start to gain confidence - yes, I can do this job!

Just as I think I am wrapping up -- in comes Eric -- when I am not looking he quietly drops off another bag of cantelope. Over the next couple of hours this routine continues. Just when I think I am about done - another bag appears. Now Eric swears that in total there were only 30 cantelope -- but after several hours of dicing I am sure I must of peeled and diced hundreds of them!

Fruits of my first hour of labour



The final (really!!) melon



Sign announcing the grand opening

Rockin' Out

Official Link on Ellen's website to Kayne's suprise rockin' performance of the clean version (*relatively* speaking) of Stronger.


N-now th-th-that that don't kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can't wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can't get much wronger


The City TV (a "funky" Toronto television station) broadcast




Daft Hands - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger


Friday, September 14, 2007

Go Ye Now In Peace

Choral Benediction From Connecticut Congregational Church

Go ye now in Peace
And know that the LORD is beside you
His is always there to guide you
As you go on your way

Go ye now in Peace
And know that you LORD will never grieve you
Know that his hand will never leave you
He will give you courage

Go ye now in Peace
Peace
Peace

Jena 6

We want to emphasize that the hanging of a noose from a tree is not a prank, it is a hate crime.

- Rev. Ernest Johnson

Click here for a recent blog about the Jena 6.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Thought For The Day

Part of the noble task of our vocation is to help people discover the hints of eternity that dwells within them.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

September 11th

Today is September 11th. Hearing the date said out loud ushers in a sense of melancholy.

Today I want to take time to stop and remember the events of that day six years ago - not only to remember but to honour those who tragically lost their lives and their friends and families who were forever changed.

So ofen I go to work and sit there heads down at my computer for nine or ten hours - focused on the task at hand and secretly counting down the hours until I can escape. Today I do not want to race through my day as if it is a chore. I want to savour each minute of the day. To feel the sadness and to give thanks for my abundant blessings.

I decided at lunch today I would run an errand and head up to Encinitas to a funky bead shop called "Beads, Crystals and More". The owner behind the counter is greying and his thinning hair in a long pony tail. He has half a dozen beaded necklaces around his neck - and clearly the 60's were good to him. I enter a little nervous and out of my element - but with clear focus on my mission. My sister gave me a cool pendant last winter. I put it on the moment I opened the parcel and have worn it non-stop ever since. After months of continuous wear, the leather chain is worn and tattered and about to give way. The bead store lady, who looks like a modern day flower child, greets me and and in short order a new piece of leather is cut. In under 5 minutes and less than $5 I am heading out the door with my pendant around my neck.

pendant necklace



Since I have made the trek to Encinitas - I decide I might as well stay for a bit and enjoy lunch. Right across the street from the bead place is an outdoor restaurant called The Potato Shack. Perfect! I am in the mood to stray off the healthy eating path and enjoy some fries. It is a beautiful day - wonderful opportunity to sit outside to eat and enjoying the funky Encinitas vibe. I lived in Encintas for several years - this little mid-day trip is reminding me how much I miss the ecclectic grove here.

As I sit down to lunch I remember once again that today is September 11th. A quietness comes over me and I am transported back six years ago. I remember my drive to work that morning. I was rushing to make a mtg but found myself stuck in traffic in an area where there should not have been any traffic. I was grid locked for more than an hour - yet I never turned on the radio. There was this weird inexplicable feeling that something was terribly wrong - still I resisted turning on the radio to find out what. It wasn't until I arrived at work that I found out about the planes hitting the towers and that the weird traffic chaos was because the military installaions were on high alert and personnel had been ordered back to base. I remember that night coming home from work. Almost everyone had been sent home from work earlier in the day. Our company somehow pretended it was business as usual and so we worked out the day. When I left work there were no cars on the road, no one walking on the street, it was deserted. Everyone was huddled in their homes eyes glued to the T.V. watching the footage of the planes hitting the towers and the walls and walls of missing person posters. I too went home and turned on the TV and sat mesmerized by the images. In the six years since I have never again been able to bring myself to watch the footage from that day.

The lunch hour has gotten away from me and it is time to head back to work. I decide to drive back along the coast. There is something magical and healing in the beauty of the ocean and sand bluffs of our coast. As I drive I say a prayer for those who lost so much 6 years ago. I pray for peace and with a grateful heart give thanks for the hope of a new day.

Tonight I will watch the film The Guys. It the true story of a Fire Chief in NYC in the days following 911. No political overtones or shmaltzy sentimentality - just the true story of everyday people in extra-ordinary circumstances.

Site of the Twin Towers - Christmas 2006



Wall of Missing Person Posters at the WTC Visitors Center



Hope

Monday, September 10, 2007

Sunday, September 9, 2007

The Weekend Draws To A Close

It is Sunday night and that means the weekend is drawing to a close.

This was one of those 'perfect' weekends. The heat wave finally broke and we are back to the normal idyllic San Diego weather.

After work, Friday, I went by the beach and played in the ocean for a while. I caught some great waves and rode them in on my boogie board. Afterwards I sat by the water's edge to read for a bit before heading home. My reading was cutshort as I started to shiver in the cooler evening air. It felt good to be shivering after suffering in the heat last weekend.

I enjoyed a beautifu quiet and relaxing weekend of reading at the beach, napping, playing in the ocean and walking along the beach. The water is beautiful and warm right now. Perfect for enjoying - no need of a wetsuit!

This evening I went for a walk along the beach in PB with Alice. Tourmaline is her beach - it is new to me. We walked all the way down to the pier. I had never been to the pier - so I wanted to check it out. There are cute little cottages -- as walked by we peered in the windows and I dreamed about what it would be like to have a cottage on the ocean. We joined the crowds at the end and waited in expectation as the sun sank into the horizon. There is something magical about an evening walk on the beach and watching the sunset!

Cottages On The Pier



Everyone Stops To Watch The Sunset



The Sun Sets

Earthquake

Shortly after 6 am this morning the Pickster hopped on top of me in bed trembling and holding on for dear life. Normally she makes a more subtle entrance and tries not to wake me up. This was a full on frantic pounce that jerked me awake from a dead sleep. I petted her and calmed her down and fell back asleep. I didn't give it much more though until I heard we had an earthquake this morning. Now I realize the source of her anxiety. These seem to be coming with increasing frequency. I hope it isn't a warning of bigger things to come.

Burst of microquakes hit off La Jolla
SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES
10:50 a.m. September 9, 2007

LA JOLLA – A pair of very small earthquakes centered 8 miles off La Jolla rattled some coastal San Diego residents awake Sunday, but occurred about 30 miles away from the epicenter of a larger quake that struck late Saturday.
Sunday morning's first quake struck at 6:11 a.m. with a magnitude 3.7. A 2.7 temblor struck at 6:40 a.m. Both were centered seven miles beneath the ocean floor, according to automated seismographs operated by the U.S. Geologic Survey and a consortium of universities.

A series of more than a dozen very-small earthquakes centered off the La Jolla and Pacific Beach coasts have erupted in the past week, including an magnitude 3.2 quake that hit at 12:10 p.m. Friday, and a magnitude 4.0 that hit at 7:48 a.m. Tuesday.
At 7:34 p.m. Saturday, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck 26 miles southwest of Camp Pendleton.

The epicenter of that earthquake is about 30 miles away from the center of the rash of microquakes off La Jolla, according to seismograph data from the universities' network.

Chicago Sun Times

Open letter to Owen Wilson
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI
Religion Writer


This is a bit of a departure for me, as I’m not in the habit of writing fan letters.

In fact, the last one I sent was a bubble-lettered note to the actor Jon Cryer about 20 years ago in the wake of his earth-moving (for a 16-year-old alt-chick from the suburbs) portrayal of Duckie Dale in “Pretty in Pink.”

But under the circumstances, I thought it was OK to err on the side of sycophancy. So …

Thank God you’re still with us, brother.

Please don’t try that again. We need you.

And by we, I mean the world.

As you well know, these are precarious, fraught times we live in, and the one thing we cannot bear to lose is our sense of humor.

To paraphrase that great celluloid shaman Elwood Blues, you, Mr. Wilson, are on a mission from God.

Just a ‘TV friend’

Laughter is carbonated holiness, and you, therefore, are a holy man, at least according to the theology of Anne Lamott. She’s my favorite writer, a funny lady who is as acquainted with melancholy as she is with humor.

I once asked Annie whether she thought we — people — could be grace for one another. “I think we can hold space for other people,” she said.

In that way, you have been grace for me. On certain overwhelming days, when it’s hard to catch my breath and bleakness curls around my heart like a purring cat, I can reach for any of your films — “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “Life Aquatic” or “You Me and Dupree” — and laughter liberates my soul. Your words, written or spoken, sometimes provide the space for joy where it felt like there was none.

Thank you for that.

Now, I don’t know you from Adam. You’re just a “TV friend,” as they say. Still, I can’t help but believe that the common thread in your character portrayals — whether it’s whacked-out-on-mescaline Eli Cash, self-effacing fatherless Ned Plimpton, or tiny-cowboy-with-a-Napoleon-complex Jedediah — is the inherent you. The Owen-ness. It’s a certain empathy — profound tenderness, really — that makes the ridiculous compelling and buoys tragedy to comedy.

Seeing with God’s eyes

It is precisely because of your wounded-ness and the visible cracks in your veneer that your characters transcend two-dimensional clownishness.

You are the ne’er-do-well we root for in spite of himself (and our own judgementalism). You bring out the best in us and make it easy to forgive setting the living room on fire or crashing our wedding (or funeral). You are the mensch, the fool for the Lord, the stranger whom we let in, the divine comedian.

One blogger, a journalist who apparently knew you in Austin, Texas, back in the day, described you recently in a heartfelt essay as “a human sunbeam in the abyss.”

I’m guessing, given recent events, that kind of description may seem laughable to you. Still, that’s how many folks perceive you even if you can’t see it yourself. And sometimes strangers can see us far more clearly than we are capable of seeing ourselves. If we’re really lucky, they might see us with God’s eyes.

I had to chuckle at one of the news reports about your hospitalization that breathlessly reported you had visited a Santa Monica church the Sunday before the incident, “either out of desperation or devotion.'’ Really, I can think of no better reasons to go to church. After all, to quote Annie again, the best two prayers one can offer to the Creator are: “Help me, help me, help me,” and “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Should you find yourself back at that church or another, please know it is meant to be a shelter in the storm, the place where brokenness is the only prerequisite for membership, and where grace is shared by the bucketsful.

Know that you don’t struggle alone, that you have kind company during dark nights of the soul, that you are lifted in prayer by those who know and love you best, as well as by those who only know you as the voice of Lightning McQueen.

Please let others hold space for you until the encroaching shadow of despair passes. And it will.

And when your contagious laughter bubbles to the surface and overflows once again, know that you are in the presence of the holy.

We need you and the peals of holy laughter you inspire.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Friday, September 7, 2007

Celebrating A Successful Code Release

The life of a DBA means lots of lonely nights and weekends doing code releases from home with relatively little fan fare. The only time anyone gets excited about data is when it is wrong.

In the software world data and databases is normally the core of the system -- but I have to tell you it doesn't make for very good dinner time/party conversations. No one says - hey cool you're a DBA (Database Adminstrator) ... or wow you shoot data around between systems for a living.

So what a suprise when at 5 pm as I was set to roll out some new code ... I found there were literally 15 people who were staying after hours and hovering around in excitement waiting to see the results of the release. Wow, all of a sudden I had a glimpse of what it must be like to be one of the 'cool' front-end folks. Half an hour before the rollout we got request for changes to main screen of the application. It had been 5 months since I made the original changes and I had to dig deep to even remember what they were. After 3 hours of on the fly work - we had the last minute changes implemented. There was alot of high fiving, hooting, hollering and a little happy dance when we finally got it. Below is a somewhat blurry picture of me standing proudly in front of a TV running the upgraded code (our product is web based and runs on TVs in Hospital Rooms).

One of the cool perks of this job is that there are TVs all over the place. At first I was totally jazzed thinking I could take a late lunch and watch Ellen live. But, alas, they have a DIRECT TV feed but no local channels. All the CNN you want - but no dancing with Ellen :-(

Friday Peace Post

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Thought for the Day

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

The Pickster Helps Out With My Spanish Studying

Hanging out for the evening with my Spanish flashcards and my cat.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Crocs!

I am not what you would call an "early adopter". Working in tech you'd think I would be one of those folks that has to have the lastest and greatest. Reality is - I didn't get a DVD player until the guy at Blockbuster gave me the dropped draw shocked look when I tried to rent a VHS movie. Apparently, they hadn't stocked VHS tapes in at least a year ... maybe two. The guy behind the counter couldn't even remember how long it had been. Gotta admit - sometimes I live in a cultural vacuum. It has been 3 or 4 years since I had rented a movie!

After the fateful Blockbuster trip I finally broke down ... took a trip to COSTCO and I came back with a TiVo with built in DVD player and burner. The TiVo was probably over the top for someone with basic cable who hardly watches TV. But, truth be told -- it is like high speed internet access -- once you have it there is just no going back.

All of this is a pre-amble to say I finally have jumped on the CROC bandwagon. Probably not quite as over the top exicting as my TiVo or MacBookPro purchases... but still pretty darn cool. Yup, I love my CROCS.

BTW, it continues to be freakin' hot here in So Cal. Crocs are perfect for wearing around the apartment in this heat -- a bit more civilized and hygenic then my normal barefeet routine.

Here I am proudly showing off my new Crocs. The funky hair do is because I just got out of the pool. The only way I can stay sane in this heat is to stay submerged.



Monday, September 3, 2007

Flashback To Friday

Friday I was pretty tired after the late night grunion adventures. But, not so tired that I couldn't celebrate some more! After work Myra and I went boogie boarding at Cardiff State beach. The water had cooled a little - but it was refreshing!

Having Fun In The Ocean

Dance Party III

One more day.... tomorrow Ellen is back with season 5!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Sleep For The Hot and Weary

It is HOT HOT HOT HOT here in San Diego. If you don't believe in global warming swing by my apartment (a.k.a. the oven). It use to be you didn't need air conditioning in these parts. No one I know has it - but I have to say the last few days have been unbearable. I didn't get a wink of sleep last night. It is compounded by stressing over making a decision. I am not a good decision maker.

A friend sent this verse to me. A great thought for the day - words I needed to hear!

"I will lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

It's Hot, Hot, Hot. It's Hot, Hot, Hot !!

As you may have gathered by the title of this blog - it is freakin' hot her in Southern California!! Even with the fans going the Pickster and I are beside ourselves and tossing and turning all night with this heat. It is too hot to do anything but float in the pool or jump in the ocean.

Tonight I went for a walk on the beach with my friend J-. It was suppose to be some respite from the heat. Well even walking on the beach by Scripps Pier it was hot hot hot!

It was also this freaky, hot, humid, hazy and blurry night!

O.K. this is a bad picture... but you get the idea.

J- on the beach. A hot, humid, hazy and blurry night!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Saturday - Labour Day Weekend

Happy Saturday!

I spent this evening with Alice and Olivia.

It has been a scorcher of a day. We went down to Tourmaline beach to seek some respite from the heat and watch the sunset. It was nice and cool at the beach and there were lots of surfers out in the water.

We walked down toward the pier and had fun splashing about. By the time we got back to the car - Olivia's dress was dripping with ocean water and she was wearing a big smile. A sure sign we had a good time.

Once back at the house we had craft time and made a picture frame out of popsicle sticks. To round out the evening we built our own home-made pizzas -- with all the trimmings!

Alice and Olivia Skipping Down The Beach



Beautiful Summer Sunset