Surf Board in Hand - The Dilemma

The more people you get involved in a decision the harder it is to make. Remember those times you tried to pick a place to eat, with a group of friends, and everyone has a different opinion? Well that's what happened to me on Sunday. I wanted to go surfing with a bunch of people on Sunday and each one of them wanted to go to a different spot. Frustrating.

Here were the choices: Half Moon Bay, Pacifica, Bolinas.

How to choose? Too many options.

One of the people I wanted to go surfing with is not from the area, and just started surfing not long ago. He would talk up Bolinas as the greatest place to surf ever. For the purpose of this blog I'll call him Surfer 1.

"Bolinas is great, there is no one there. It's a perfect beginner wave. Everyone will have a blast." - Surfer 1

"You will have a much better time at Bolinas than Pacifica or Half Moon Bay" Surfer 1

Wow I started thinking, this place sounds great we should go there. I was set on it.

I went out on Saturday night with my girlfriend, and we started talking about the dilemma. Where should we go? Bolinas, Pacifica, or Half Moon Bay? There happened to be a surfer from the area present. When my girlfriend mentioned Bolinas. He told us to absolutely not go there.

He proceeded to tell us a story about how when he was surfing there a seal jumped onto the nose of his board to get away from a great white shark.

Apparently Surfer 1 didn't get the memo. Bolinas is list on the list of the top 10 shark infested beaches in the world. Maybe that's why there is no one there?

I texted Surfer one on Sunday morning. I said, I didn't want to go there because of all the sharks.

This is what he texted back:

"I guarantee you'll have more fun at Bolinas" - Surfer 1

Surfer 1 went to Bolinas, the rest of us went to Half Moon Bay.

I had a great time... but not as good as Surfer 1, or this guy:

They put WHAT in my ketchup?!

I don't know about you, but I love ketchup. It's really the only redeeming feature of french fries. I seriously love the stuff. It's great. Ketchup has a special place in my heart.

For some reason, just on a whim, I decided to take a look at the ingredients of the ketchup I was eating.

Guess what the number one ingredient is? It's not tomatoes. It's high-fructose corn syrup . Yummy? Wait isn't that the stuff they put in Sodas?

It's much cheaper than sugar. The corn lobby seems to think it's fine:

I always listen to the corn lobby, they are my best friend in the whole world.

All sarcasm aside, look at the labels on your food. High Fructose Corn Syrup is everywhere and it's more addictive than crack cocaine.

Surfs Up - I'm Spicoli

Surf Board, Bicycle, Muay Thai? Surf Board, Bicycle, Muay Thai?

That's a snap shot of my thoughts over the past couple months. I've been trying to decide what to get first.

I broke down and bought a surf board yesterday. The temptation was too much.

I'm planning on surfing it Sunday. It will be my first time surfing a board I own.

It didn't happen over night:

• Usage of the word dude is up 100%
• Usage of the word rad is up 150%
• Sunshine increase 1000% from Seattle levels.
• Owns 1.0 Surf Boards

I've been converted, Californiacation is complete (Don't sue me Chili Peppers).

Surfs up!

Wild Goose Chase - Literally

I'm sure you have heard the term wild goose chase.

A couple days ago I went on an actual wild goose chase.

There is a goose on Lake Merritt. He's different from all the Canada geese. He's unique, a lot of people think he's a hybrid.

He stands out among the crowd. He's a leader, all the Canada Geese follow him where ever he goes, to the ends of the earth. They will follow him across the road, causing short traffic jams.

He's no chicken. No punch line. Just Traffic.

When I see this goose, I can't help but smile. This goose is so cool he's got me chasing after him. Imagine a celebrity, that's a goose. Everyone around the lake knows him, bird and human a like.

My girlfriend and I were walking around the lake looking for this guy, wanting to take a picture of him.

Then she turns and says to me "You realize we are on a wild goose chase right."

I've used that saying so many times, but never really thought about going on an actual goose chase. I mean who really does that?

It got me thinking maybe I should be turning more obscure phrases into actualities? Maybe that's why the English language is so hard to learn. A goose chase?

I got two really random idea's from this whole adventure. One is a blog dedicated to the literalization of phrases. You could have a picture for a different one each day. For instance the phrase: Cut the cheese, you have a picture of someone actually cutting a piece of cheese.

Sounds stupid? That could be my book deal!

The 2nd crazy idea is to start a Twitter page for the Lake Merritt Goose. Everyday it would say this: Honk Honk Honk Honk Honk.

I guess that's not very different from what ever other celebritie's Twitter page says...

Eat that Frog

"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." - Mark Twain

Okay, I didn't write a blog post every week. I didn't write a blog post every day. I'm barely at one a month. Want to hold me accountable for something? It's blogging.

I had such grandiose visions for this blog, massive readership, book deal, fame and fortune. The only thing I forget is that the main part of a blog is actually writing something.

Here is my new goal, I am going to write a blog post every day. It's my frog.

Why not write about my wacky adventures running through Spanish Harlem, at 2 AM, while eating the best pizza from the East Village and discussing cannibalism on the subway with some weird hipster? That was last week...

Or the week before that where I met up with some great friends in San Diego, and went surfing and met a sage like 10 year old that knew more about surfing than I did? I have a feeling he will be a legend.

There is no reason not to write, the only reason is I've been lazy.

Thanks for calling me out on it everyone. Tomorrow I'm going to write about a wild goose chase.

Not a wild goose chase in the figurative sense... an actual literal, wild goose chase...

I hella love Oakland

I don't think I mentioned I moved to Oakland from San Francisco. That's kind of a big deal...

I see shirts that say "I hella love Oakland" kind of like the I love New York T-Shirts, but with Hella added in there.

I personally like the word Hella. It didn't really fly on the East Coast, people criticize it. They don't understand the beauty and nuance of the word. That's okay with me, but I'll hella keep using it.

I hella love Oakland. It's a great place to live. No longer am I dealing with psycho bums of Christmas past that populate the Tenderloin, not by a long shot. I'm living it up by Lake Merritt.

It's weird you cross the Bay Bridge into Oakland from San Francisco and a few things happen.

1) The temperature goes up 10 degrees

2) The rent goes down by about 40%

3) Crazy bums planning for global Armageddon and shouting at the top of their lungs, almost non existent, Okay i think I saw one..

4) Despite what you might have heard, you don't actually get shot.

Okay a quick note on that last one, for some reason when I was moving a few people, I'm not going to name names, Told me I was going to get shot....

It's really not like that here. It's a vibrant community filled with some of the most friendly people you will ever meet.

Most people I've met from San Francisco shun Oakland like it's a third world country. To them I say, take a walk through the Tenderloin.

I love it here.