Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' how...
Come on and safari with ME......

Granted, it's fairly warm here on the Oregon Coast. As I write this, there is no snow, and no ice. And, when the rain subsides, it's pretty nice. Actually, for quite a few days in a row, there was no precip, and although it rained yesterday, at about 4pm, the sun broke thru. So I dropped what I was doing...which wasn't all that much...and headed for the local beach. Of course, as I've written in this blog many a time, my feet and knees aren't all that good. But they're better than they were. What's nice about the rain which falls on the beach, is that the rain solidifies the millions of extra-small sand particles on an ocean beach, and makes for some very pleasant walking. And when I got to the beach, the tide was waaay low, which meant there was more of the beach to walk on. Although, it's best not to get too confident. I find that even though the tide may be low, every now and then, the water "knows" where I am, and if I'm not careful, my shoes will get soaked. When that happens, there's no high water flow in back of me, or in front of me, but right where I happen to be walking. Is the ocean psychic? It sure seems that way sometimes...either that, or I'm paranoid, which is also possible.

The weather around the nation has been really wacko this year, as just about everyone across this fine land of ours will attest. And, it's the same here. First, there was actually a little bit of snow and ice here this winter. Locals say it had been so long since any of that happened down here. I think I am responsible; the ice and snow followed me down from Idaho. And then, the temperature here ended up in the 60s last weekend. I made it a point to go to the beach last Sunday so I could actually say that I had experienced 60-degree weather in February, something quite novel for this former landlocked vagrant. So, as I was walking down the beach, I saw a group of people (a family or two) near the water's edge, and included in that group were two young girls in swimsuits, one of them in a 2-piece. In FEBRUARY. "Aw, come on", I thot, "I know it's warm for February, but the water can't be that warm!" Although those girls were in the water for quite a while. But...no, it wasn't that warm. How do I know? I saw some guys out in the surf, wearing wet suits...and they were doing this...

This photo was taken a while back, on the stretch of ocean beach where I was walkin'. (No, I didn't take it; I stole it from the local newspaper's website.) On this stretch of beach, the waves don't get all that high, which may be a blessing, since, if a surfer wipes out, tons of water don't relentlessly pound him. And, these surfers were out there at least an hour and a half, during the time I walked up & down the beach and rested in-between. They were having their fun, and in my way, so was I. And I don't need much. Just a bottle of Pepsi to take with me and an old log somewhere on the beach to sit on. "Beach therapy", I call it. And it's free. And I'm totally comfortable with staying on the beach while others surf. Fine with me! Especially in February!

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And now on to some other topics:

ANNA NICOLE SMITH, the bombshell celebrity, passed away today. I admit to watching her reality TV show when it hit the airwaves some 4 years ago. And I always thot her "lawyer", Howard Stirn, was more than just a lawyer. Even someone as dense as me can sense these things. So, why did I, or anyone else for that matter, watch that train-wreck of a TV show?Well, it was oddly fascinating, since her lifestyle was so far-removed from mine (and virtually everyone else's). She wasn't bad to look at, either; what can I say...and when I heard the news this afternoon, well, that's the first shock I'd had in quite a while. When you see someone on TV, you think you know them, at least a little bit.

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A former mathematics teacher of mine, Mr. DALE TRITTEN, passed away last month. I had almost flunked out of both Algebra and Geometry classes in high school. I tried and tried and tried to learn, but I just couldn't understand those forms of math AT ALL. It was all I could do to get a "D". In both classes. So, when I began classes at North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in 1973, and found out a math class was required for my major, I thot, "uh-oh!!!" But Mr. Tritten was different. His hair was on the "long" side of things, and he had a very comfortable and engaging way of presenting his subject. And, me, the math idiot, actually got a "B" in his class. Flash-forward to a couple of years ago; I saw him walking on an exercise trail, and I stopped him, and told him I remembered him because he was the first teacher I'd ever had who actually got me to learn fairly-complicated math. And he was beaming with an ear-to-ear grin. I suppose that's the ultimate compliment for a former or current teacher. I am not kidding when I say he was one of the nicest human beings I have ever met.

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I've noticed something that some WEATHERCASTERS say that just kinda hits me wrong. I know they try to be folksy, because it's always important that the TV audience is made to feel comfortable, and all that. But...it really sounds weird, when I hear a weathercaster say, "I THINK that the current weather pattern is gonna change for this area, bla bla blaaaaa..." THINK? THINK? You mean you don't know for SURE? Maybe it's their way of saying in subtle fashion that they have no more of an idea what's gonna happen than the rest of us. I think, basically, if you look at the satellite picture of the cloud cover and turn down the sound so you can't hear the weathercaster, you're probably coming out ahead in terms of information. Aside: At a radio station I worked at, our always-drunk chief engineer, who also did the morning show, referred to weather forecasting as "weatherguessing". And maybe he was right.

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I think there is a market for a new Cable-TV channel; I'd call it "Junk-TV". You know, "all junk, all of the time". For starters, I'd put "Talk Sex With Sue Johansen" on that network instead of Oxygen-TV, where I found it one nite while aimlessly channel-surfing. The things she talks about! Omigosh. And, the fact that she looks like the great-great-great-great-great-great Grandmother of Barbara Bush's most distant relative doesn't help things either. I'm sorry, but she just grosses me out. Ack. Another program comes from Court-TV: "Dangerous Police Chases", where oddball motorists risk the lives on everyone on the planet by trying to flee from the cops. Well, fess up...we all love to see a big huge car crash every now and then, don't we? So, let's move that one on over to "Junk-TV" too. How about one more candidate for "Junk-TV"? Send all the "Will and Grace" episodes over there too. Wait, that one belongs on yet another soon-to-be network: "GARBAGE TV".

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I don't post as often as I used to, and while there's nothing especially relevatory about this particular submission, at least it's updated. Somewhat, anyway...