Had a moment of weakness on Friday. I was standing on the beach just as the sun was starting to make enough light to see, shivering from the cold. For some reason I had decided shorts and a tee shirt was a good outfit to wear for 6:30 in the morning, it wasn't. So there I stood with all my gear looking at the ocean and thinking "Damn, it's cold!". I almost didn't go in. I finally sucked it up and went in, and it turns out the water was far warmer than the air and it was good.

I think I disappointed the guy in the picture. He was waiting for some carrion.

The standing invite I have out now has ten people on it, and I find maybe two (including myself) show up. That's fine. I don't expect other people to show up, but I use them to motivate myself to get my ass out of bed at 5:30 in the morning.

I still haven't bought a surfboard. Kevin Six and I went out to buy one last weekend, it is always good to go out with somebody who really knows their stuff. He skimmed through the used ones on sale muttering to himself, no good, no good, good but too expensive. There weren't any that met the good and cheap criteria. We even went to CostCo, since they sold surfboards earlier in the year. They were all gone. So I am still without a surfboard and just using the boogie boards. Kevin mentioned that I should wander by garage sales and any surfboard eight feet in height and $50 in cost could be considered a good one. The search continues.

I did see a used surfboard with green camouflage, not sure what that designer was thinking. The camouflage was on the top of the surfboard, so it won't be confusing sharks and it'll really stand out if you look down from above (unless you are caught in a seaweed jungle). Maybe the pattern was meant to be ironic, it's really anti-camouflage.

I'm writing this in the coffee shop while Kat and her theatre group are having a post-mortum of the show they put on. It is also the last meeting they will have as a group since four out of the five of them don't want to continue with the 'collective'. I'm sitting sitting as far away as possible. Things rarely end cleanly. I'm hoping I'm wrong about that.

It is also filling up with gay men and their little dogs. At least they are all well behaved ... the dogs, not the men. Okay, I take that back. Time to start stuffing muscle relaxants in to little pieces of meat.

Kat is still enjoying the massage courses. She was naming off all my muscles the other day, I'm always impressed with that because that kind of information never seems to stay in my head. I must have a filter that labels it 'not important' as soon as I hear it and shuffles it off to the damaged section of my memory. Same place that foreign language information is sent.

October is here and it is going to be busy. The latter half of the month is going to be full of things to do, including the short cruise. I'm still debating on whether to try and see as much as possible on the ship, or just sit on my ass for a few days and relax. I'm thinking the relax bit. Our friend Kevin has been adamant that no matter what happens he wants a fruity drink with a little umbrella in it. We've decided we have to hit up a dollar store and stock up on little umbrellas so we can throw then in everything he drinks.

Those of you with gmail accounts may have seen strange emails showing up in your inbox. Seems gmail will send emails that seem to be addressed to you, to you, even if they aren't exact. I have sent plane tickets addressed to Phillip Dean back to people (she had a son named Phillip Dean) and I know that Branpford House needs the parapets and rear wall repaired (mostly to "hack off loose render and to renew as necessary", hell who doesn't need that?).

This morning I was sent congratulations on taking up the responsibility as Dean of Philosophy at JDV (the Pontifical Institute of Philosophy and Religion). Seems somebody from Institute Mater Dei was interested in a visit, how exciting! To top it off I received the "Minutes of the Philosophy Faculty Council Meeting" which ended with:

The meeting was over by 4. p. m, with tea. (my emphasis)

That's the way to run a meeting. I'm moving to India and taking up philosophy. Namaste.

By the way, while looking up 'namaste' on the web I found out that Yoga is dangerous to Christians. You've been warned. I didn't get 1/3 of the way through that rant, and that site is Not Safe For Work if you work in a secular environment.

P.S. The meeting Kat was at did end quietly. I knew you were worried.