misterdillon

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Matador makes its Debut




So, I had been hankerin' to get out to the beach and get my new surfboard in the water. We left a bit after 3:40 and we didn't get to Ships Bottom, NJ until close to 6:15 cause I missed my exit off the NJ Turnpike, and we were driving around in the woods of New Jersey for two times too long. Guess I should breakdown and get a GPS thing for the car.


But back to the surf. Keep in mind, that I gave up surfing when Noel was about 2 and a half months old because it wasn't fair for me to take off after I got home from work every night, leaving Diana with a new baby. Noel is 14 next Saturday, so it's been a long time.
But here's the thing, I had this G&S board, three stringers, wood block tail, tri-fin. We lived about three miles from the beach when we were in San Francisco, albeit that surfing Ocean Beach is like a head kick. I paddle out today thinking it is all going to come back to me.

Let's think about this. Of course, exercise one for a guy who hasn't been working out is getting on my wetsuit. My wet suit is also about 16 years old. It is one in a long line of suits. Prior to Christmas my sophomore year, we used to use 'farmer john' dive suits or anything we could borrow. My folks bought my first wet suit for Christmas my sophomore year. I was pretty stoked. That was an $80 gift, a high ticket item. It zipped across the shoulders instead of down the spine. I later bought a cool O'Neill, which was important to me, since I had seen Jack O'Neill drive around Santa Cruz, and wanted to support the local business. The last suits I had before this one were mostly 3/2 and I'd usually stay in the water until the onset of hypothermia... black middle finger, white pinky & ring finger, heavy shivers. So the last time I was in the market for a wet suit, I decided on a 4/3 for some warmth. That makes sense, and hey it paid off since the water here on the East Coast is even colder than Northern Cal (at least in the winter and spring.) But here's the thing. Just like economics, there are trade-offs.

Paddling out was no problem... but paddling for the waves? That 4/3 suit is pretty restrictive, so, Since I haven't been paddling in ages, man, I got a workout. Anyway, I was glad to get in the water, and vow to get into shape. It just seems that over the last 11 years I have been so busy. Sure it is a drag to have to take two hours to drive 95 miles to the beach. But that is still better that 4 hours one way, as was my situation when we lived in Las Vegas. I am looking forward to getting the whole family into surfing, because the Shepley kids surf, and I can't wait til a future date when I am wealthy enough for vacations, and we can go on surf and dive safaris in Costa Rica and Hawaii and other exciting locales.
I really appreciated the family supporting me by making the trip just so I could be happy in the ocean. I know the kids were really hoping to see me get up. Hopefully we will get back on a day when there are waves, and I am in shape to paddle fast enough.

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Tuesday, April 08, 2008

The nature of man and of God


Another thought, (thanks Greeks!)
Originally though about at 2:34am Sunday, Aug 5, 2007

So I was thinking about God as I wrote to my nephew Troy recently, and I thought of a quote, but couldn't remember it correctly... I just looked it up and here is where my "if horses had hands" thought comes from, the Elegies of Xenophanes #57 chapter 2 his writings on Science and Religion written sometime between 600 BCE and 420 BCE we can't be sure when he lived...

(14) "But mortals deem that the gods are begotten as they are, and have clothes like theirs, and voice and form.
(15) Yes, and if oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands, and produce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and make their bodies in the image of their several kinds.
(16) The Ethiopians make their gods black and snub-nosed; the Thracians say theirs have blue eyes and red hair.
(18) The gods have not revealed all things to men from the beginning, but by seeking they find in time what is better.
(23) One god, the greatest among gods and men, neither in form like unto mortals nor in thought
(24) He sees all over, thinks all over, and hears all over.
(25) But without toil he swayeth all things by the thought of his mind.
(26) And he abideth ever in the selfsame place, moving not at all; nor doth it befit him to go about now hither now thither.
(27) All things come from the earth, and in earth all things end.

I love this concept (especially 14-16) and I love that a man thought of this over 2500 years ago…

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Tonight in the woods in the backyard



After dinner tonight, Connor and I walked through the woods behind our house, in spite of the prickly wild berry starts and some other thorny stalks. We took fallen tree logs for bridges back and forth across the creek. Ahead of us, we saw a family of six white tail deer, (they often come around and we see them in our neighbors front yard across the street and in our front yard from time to time. I'll try to get a photo of them.) They would advance and then we'd see them again further down stream. We hiked up the hill on the other side of the creek to the ridge. The dead fallen leaves of many seasons lay on the ground. The hill was still and we followed the deer path. As the sun was setting we crossed down through a dale and up again to the next ridge.
At the top we found a stone hearth with a fallen chimney and the outline of a foundation of a very small home, but nothing of it remained except the foundation's outline and fireplace and toppled but in tact chimney. Along the southwestern ridge near the foundation were a few patches of bright yellow daffodils. The whole time I wished I had the camera. The sun set and we looked back toward our house, a half a mile away. Connor said it was just like we always wanted except no pool or aquarium. (When we lived in Las Vegas, one of the first places we visited near our home was Bass Pro Shop with their interior waterfalls, duck ponds and aquariums.) Connor mentioned that it was cool to see the deer, ground hog, and fox that we have seen all around our house. There are also many robin redbreasts. The sun was gone. The oak, hickory and liquid amber stood all around us. 'I guess we should go back now," said Connor.

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