patrick.net

There are people in Coastal California that will get this, hand make you a surfboard to your particular skill and surfing location. They are called "shapers". Hand made. Fuck me, what a concept.

Hey, I just had steamed she-crabs for dinner.

DinOR, Sir I like the way you do business.

Actually Filipinos are more like the Italians of the Orient. Family, food and drinking, in that order.

Manila and Acapulco were sister cities for about 400 years though.

Granted I did venture out of Ca for 1 brief year to work in Portland, but I never changed my plates, and moved back as soon as I could. Better to suffer in sun than live in hell.

Spainish + Natives here = Mexicans.

Spainish + Native in the philpines = Filipinos.

Therefore, they are the Mexicans of the South Pacific.

DC? Where is that at?

My local friends automatically map that to "Daly City"

They also map "Down South" to Los Angeles.

astrid,

You are right though, the weather in the P.I can be rough. No question. It's harder on the gals b/c guys don't typically give a rip if they are in a rolling sweat.

The gals? They use umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun and bring along a niece or two to fan them while shopping.

Ahhh John Daly. I only travel west and south. Never East or North. The flag, afterall, does say, "California Republic"

I just got Le Samourai from Amazon, maybe I should drink every time Alain Delan takes out a gun...

Surfer X,

So true. Some of the Jesuits were so lazy they just named entire towns "Rodriguez". There. Were finished. From this day forth you are all Rodriguez's! Now where's my rum!

(It must have killed those guys that you can't grow grapes on the equator)

DinOR,

Who needs grapes when you have sugarcane?

'For dinner' is a wiser choice than soup... it's heavenly, but also coronary thrombosis in a cup. You're a foodie, aren't you?

HARM, I sense much anger, this is good, I'm your Father. Welcome.

It was my understanding that scurvy is the new polio.

astrid,

Maybe for a 3 month "holiday" sure, no problem. When you're stationed there for three freakin' years it is not without price. After you've been there for awhile you can tell the hardcore crowd b/c they've abandoned any notion of civility.

Toward the end of your tour/mission/staute of limitations you ARE the hardcore crowd! As in starting a fist fight over? What were we pounding lumps in each other's heads for again?

To those who disrespect the Golden State all I have to say is how are your fucking winter salads?

Assholes, time to put the snow tires on.

_______________
Sarcasm off.

I agree, but if you were b/r (born raised) in Santa Cruz, went to school at Cal Poly and live in $anta barbara, exactly where else are you going to live? You have no choice but to don the knee pads and take it like a man.

Take it, man! California uber alles!

Frozen fucking water all around your house for what, 3-4 months? What exactly is the pay off for that? The fucking carpet baggers will go back or die off, and then HARM, yes we'll have our comeupance.

HARM,

Yes I sense your anger too. Truth is, Northern Cal could be incorporated into Oregon (or vice versa) and never miss a stride! There are now enough CA's here that they really no longer "stand out". Now if you're from Chicago.....? Chances are you'll wind up like me and from a business/social standpoint gravitate toward other mid-westerners.

Is that an outdoorsy term or something?

I don’t like being outdoors. I went camping once in my life having moved out here. It was very disturbing. I couldn’t wait to get back to concrete and steel.

Man, no wonder you pine for NYC! You do realize that by living here you're in part paying a premium for the "California Lifestyle" that you don't take advantage of, do you? It's like wanting to live in Cupertino without having any school-age children. Why the f%^k would anyone want to do that?

You see, when the animal skin clad jackasses crossed from Russia into Alaska all those years ago, the stupid ones turned left, while the smarter ones went south until the bear skins came off.

Never violate precept one.

"Don't live anywhere that if you spend the night outside, in the middle of winter, you'll die"

whoops forgot the salient point, "outside naked".

Yes, you'll be a shivering mass of unhappiness but you'll be alive, that is if you live in $anta Barbara.

DinOR,

Do as Sir-X says, give in to your anger and physical violence, liver damage and teeth be damned!

Ever gotten shacked on a 7ft WNW left hand point break in NY? London? Talk to me when the sun comes out. Ever punched trough a 8ft wave at Davenport and had sunlight filter through the most beautiful aqua water you’ve ever seen only to come up on the other side and see otters, dolphins and whales?

Surfing is something to kill time while I wait for the ski season. ;)

Surfer X,

That might well be true. I'm told that permanent settlement in the Willamette Valley didn't occur until white settlers reached the area. For many years native peoples only came here to hunt, trap and trade in the summer months and high tailed it out of here when the first frost came.

Man, no wonder you pine for NYC! You do realize that by living here you’re in part paying a premium for the “California Lifestyle” that you don’t take advantage of, do you? It’s like wanting to live in Cupertino without having any school-age children. Why the f%^k would anyone want to do that?

Well I guess if you worked at Apple and wanted to walk to work you might want to do that. Or if you like really really really really liked Fontana's - pretty good place.

Apple, I'm sorry, is that an actual company?

Sir-X,

Following that logic, the bums in Santa Monica are some of the smartest people alive.

Exactly, and they have their own look.

I recommend listening to Everclear, "Santa Monica".

Which would you rather do, listen to the Chili Peppers, surf, have a Pacifico a taco and wear shorts, or scrape ice from your windshield, eat butter and watch 120 channels with nothing on?

astrid,

I've seen the end of the line w/ESQ (Extra Smooth Quality) Rhum and it ain't pretty. Perhaps skibum could shed some physiological light on this but when it's 90+ degrees out beer does not settle well. The minute you leave an a/c bar you feel like you'll faint.

Rum seems to "travel" better in the heat and it's not long before you can drink it at ambient temp. = recipe for disaster.

Peter P. no offense on the butter comment.

"Apple, I’m sorry, is that an actual company?"

Beats me, my Chinese assembled (probably with Japanese or Taiwanese chips) iPod says "Designed by Apple in California"... I'm pretty sure I sold my soul to Uncle Jobs...or would have if my soul hadn't already been shorted

Surfer X,

So be honest, b/c of the fact that it's like a "salt water lake" there really is no decent surfing in the Sea of Cortez?

Randy H, SQT, LILL, Cote' etal, it seems that HARM has lost the faith, I believe we need to stage an intervention. Arm yourselves with quacamole, burritos and bikini girls, we have work to do.

DinOR, kindly point your browser to "shipwrecks" and "zippers".

Yes, there is good surf in the Sea of Cortez, aka the Gulf of California.

I listen to a lot of Norwegian pop music and I strongly dislike both Everclear and the Red Hot Chile Peppers (come to think of it, I like zero Southern California bands, which is an accomplishment since I went to school there for 4 years), so I'm just gonna have to polish up on my scraping skillz...

Well I guess if you worked at Apple and wanted to walk to work you might want to do that. Or if you like really really really really liked Fontana’s - pretty good place.

Yeah, that would be a sweet daily commute - a nice stroll down DeAnza Blvd, stopping at the Marina for some dried cuttlefish on your way to work. What was I thinking?

astrid, may the fleas of a 1000 camels infest your boom box ;)

Which would you rather do, listen to the Chili Peppers, surf, have a Pacifico a taco and wear shorts, or scrape ice from your windshield, eat butter and watch 120 channels with nothing on?

If you're talkin' apres ski vs. apres surf, I'd rather be sitting in a hot tub under the stars than fighting traffic back from Santa Cruz or HMB.