Dream 3: Bong pogos into a river

Last night I went to sleep early. It seems that dual surf sessions tired me out too much to stay up past 8pm. Anyway, when the REMs started going I had a dream I was at a party for one of the studio mothers in the Philippines and my cousin Bong, who is not an actor, (I feel that actors are those who take to the stage rather than the silver screen) but a movie star in the Philippines, was doing a pogo stick dance with another movies star and they pogo'd into a river, which took them way down stream. The river was only 5ft deep but it was running so fast that he couldn't get himself out of it. So he practiced a technique that he learned while trying out for the Philippine olympic kayak team, (it was a dream so don't ask me why), to float feet first and keep your head up. So that is what he did for several miles, and we tracked him via helicopter until finally he was able to pull himself onto a fork in the river that wasn't running fast. He was saved, and that was it.

Random 'Rithmetic notes

Today I don't have much to write about, except that being a parent can be challenging sometimes. For example, I was going through my son's math workbook on his teacher's advice and noticed all the red ink for incorrect answers. I had tried to fix this prior by having him go to the math tutoring club after school but it seems that it didn't work, so I asked him to redo the day's math homework, and the wife and the know it all teenaged son started to get on my case for being too harsh. But I wasn't. At least I don't think I was.

Anyway, my son then went into his room on his bed and started to redo the math homework. When I went to his room to see how he was doing, he proceeded to go into his closet, turn on the light, and shut the door and did his math homework in there. So he was there for 30 minutes redoing his math homework. Now he is watching TV and asked if I wanted to watch SEINFELD, and I said yes. It was the episode where he was trying to get rid of his BMW because of the body odor left behind, which stank so bad that even the thief wouldn't steal it. What was your favorite episode of SEINFELD?

The Pictures below. . .

I've been working with the Hello image uploading app that was recommended to me by a master blogger with a "Sunny" disposition, so bear with if I mess up. At any rate, the watches are my father's current obsession, so much so that he bought three of them within a few months and even took me and my sister to a dinner at Tommy Bahama in Newport Beach that featured like minded folk who are obsessed with this timepiece.

The picture below that is my of two boys taken four years ago when we were living on Oahu. That shot is off Waikiki. We were heavily into water sports while living there. I had the time of my life just living and enjoying the simple life, surfing and working from home (I am a writer, which for the most part afforded me the luxury of working where ever I had an Internet connection, and I chose to move to Hawaii. When we started the company back in 1999, my only quid pro quo was I would do the job from anywhere that I wanted and it was agreed upon.

We all had visions of getting rich off the whole notion of an Internet startup but we were undisciplined at the time and blew through $3 million in less than a year. I was the fourth person hired when we launched in 1999 and we grew from an initial 12 up to 60 and back down to around 12 in one year. This happened when I was in Hawaii and partly due to it, and the terror attacks, we ended up moving back to Cali. We were about two years too late to catch the bubble before it burst, but the good thing is we are still in business and on the Internet, while thousands of other Internet companies that blew through more millions than us are gone, sitting in the digital dustbowl of the Web. It was a learning experience and still is, but I have no regrets.

from left, my PAM 000111, mom's PAM 000117, and dad's Luminor Marina

joshua and jeremy off waikiki summer 2000

No Swell

There hasn't been a swell since last week and I am dying to get tubed! I went out at Newport before work today to check it out and it was pertty flat. 1ft ankle slappers at best. The water has again turned a bit cold, around 60 degrees or so, and its only going to get colder. On days like these I wish I were back in Hawaii, at least there'd be some swell some where on Oahu. Or if it was flat I could at least go free diving off Shark's Cove or Hanauma Bay. I miss those days in Hawaii. Truly lazy days.

But its been flat.

After my session I noticed that there was some cracks on the rail of my board, right down near the tail. I am thinking that the leash is providing some serious stress in the tail area which resulted in the cracks. So I went to Surfside to buy some ding repair kit, and I'll be out of the water for at least a few days to let the board dry so I can patch the cracks. Pray for SURF.

The Cult that is Panerai

I joined the Panerai cult on my birthday. For those of you who aren't in the know, the Panerai is a timepiece created by the Italian military that enabled their frogmen to adequately carry out their attacks on the allied powers on time. The watch used an element that the company called radiomir that glowed in the dark, and on a 44mm watch face, was as bright as the glow in the darks even many feet below the ocean. My father, who as of late had been privy to Omega and Swatch watches prior to learning about the cult that is Panerai, bestowed upon me such a watch (he has given me all of my watches sans one), a PAM000111 to be exact. He already bought himself and my mother Panerai's and decided he needed to buy another one, for me. My mother's is a 00117 with 48 bling blings, so this one costs about the same money as a new Honda Civic. Crazy eh? Anyway, the watch company was acquired by Vendome a few years back, the same company that owns Rolex, Cartier, etc. Its a monster timepiece, very simple yet elegant at the same time.