One time, I was sailing a Shields....(may this never happen to me)



Fishing boat runs aground
Neighbors get an early wake-up call when a vessel crashes into rocks below their homes. No one was seriously hurt.

Sorry if you have to sign in to the LA Times website. It's free, but the picture tells the story.

Everybody and their mother.

Afternoon tea in Newport Beach. My nephew was there with his mother. My sister with her mother. My wife and her mother. My sister-in-law and her mother. My other sister-in-law and her mother. Lest I forget my brother-in-law and his mother. A few fathers here and there. Perhaps I've double counted a couple of mothers. I think the South Africans were troubled that tea was served at 2PM instead of the traditional 4PM.

On a technical note, I'm quite certain that I don't care for the new blogger format. Anybody have any suggestions?

Has it been three weeks already? Time flys when you're...well I'm at work today, and time is not flying. Not much new, except that Nico has finally made it over the hill. That's right: the big four-oh. You read it here....on the internet. It must be true.

In sailing news: here are some pictures of the beginning sailing class I'm assisting. If you don't feel like looking through the 80 or so pictures, here's one of me (aboard a Boston Whaler) serving as rescue boat for a capsized Capri 14.2. (or is that Catalina 14.2?)




In other sailing news: Shields racing starts this Wednesday. So far, Wedensday night is a UCI only event as the South Shore Yacht Club is apparently going bankrupt. Please donate to the boat fund; when I've raised $90,000, I promise to buy a boat and join the South Shore Yacht club with any monies left over. (Providing they still exist).

Capri racing today...or more correctly Catalina 14.2 racing. (It's a long story). Nico and I were the first place co-ed team. I must say, Capris are much more difficult to sail than Lido 14s. But enough about sailing. Blog traffic has fallen off recently. Only one thing (other than Quizno's Sponge Monkeys) can pick things up again: Uma Thurman. That's right Uma Thurman pictures. I have finally figured out how to post pictures on this thing. What better way to start off than with Uma Thurman pictures? Sorry, Uma Thurman is not nude, but she is holding a priceless Hattori Hanzo sword.
Anybody seen Kill Bill Vol. 2? Super Cool.

Please write your congressman before you eat that next mad cow burger.

DOA prohibiting company from testing beef
There is a company in Kansas that processes beef, and, in order to make sure the beef is safe, the company now wants to test every cow for Mad Cow Disease. The United States inspects the smallest amount of cattle of any developed country, and we do it as a favor to big agriculture companies and food processors. But Creekstone is offering to test these cows the way they should be tested. They have already spent $500,000 for the testing equipment and facility. Other countries are not buying our beef specifically because we don’t test our cattle thoroughly. So you’d think the industry would be ecstatic about Creekstone’s offer. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has prohibited Creekstone from testing the food supply. Why? The DOA is worried that people may think there is a problem with the food supply. Clark would like someone from the DOA to come on the air and explain what the DOA is thinking. They’re spending our tax dollars to try and stop this. The agricultural industry is obviously more concerned with making profits than they are with whether our children live or die.

I had no idea!!!! http://pacificaresucks.com/

There's more:
Anti-Union Negotiating Tactics
Rx Solution’s (Rx) immediate
agenda was to destroy the support for
PACE. At the first meeting they
demanded transfer of 20% of the unit
jobs to a non-union facility 90 miles
away. Many of the affected included
top union supporters.
Rx also has refused Union Security
clauses, Union Leave, and Seniority
Rights.
They insist on retaining their Merit
Pay System.
They want to subcontract bargaining
work at management discretion, even
allowing supervisors to do any and
all bargaining unit work.

Incidentally, I happen to like merit pay. I guess I never was cut out for that union stuff.

Today's Latin lesson:

Signed up for Capri racing today. The online form asks for University affiliation. All the graduates always fill in "alumni"...obviously incorrect as it's plural. As I am no longer staff, I went with "alum" (instead of my usual "alumnus"). Nico had to do one better: "alumna". I think she had help from dictionary.com.

On to the Latin lesson:

alum: An alumna or alumnus.

alumna: A woman graduate or former student of a school, college, or university. (plural=alumnae)

alumnus: A male graduate or former student of a school, college, or university. (pluarl=alumni).

Usage Note: Alumnus and alumna both come from Latin and preserve Latin plurals. Alumnus is a masculine noun whose plural is alumni, and alumna is a feminine noun whose plural is alumnae. Coeducational institutions usually use alumni for graduates of both sexes. But those who object to masculine forms in such cases may prefer the phrase alumni and alumnae or the form alumnae/i, which is the choice of many women's colleges that have begun to admit men.

In an otherwise slanted article:

Most pharmacists are working on 1 percent to 2 percent net profit, said David Breslow, CEO of United Pharmacists Network International in Los Angeles, which represents 1,100 pharmacists.

"What I don't understand is why there is this feeling that pharmacists are supposed to sell drugs at actual acquisition cost," he said. "When you go to the Gap and buy jeans for $40, would it surprise you to find they paid $20? Why is the same thinking not applied to drugs?

"The fat is at the (drug) manufacturer level. Those are the people who are making obscene profits."

Because, Mr. Breslow: When it comes to my health, money is no object.

Any comments from you socialists out there?

Still recovering from the last marathon (Dr. Foot says I have a neuroma), I had resigned myself to not doing anymore distance running. And then here I am at work...working along and I get this email delivered to my Inbox:

PacifiCare is excited to announce its sponsorship of the first annual OC Marathon, taking place Sunday, December 5, 2004.

The 26.2 mile course is tentatively scheduled to begin at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, with the scenic route continuing through Irvine to the Spectrum and finishing at the Newport Dunes via the Back Bay. The course will provide a fast-paced tour of Orange County, showcasing both its history and beautiful scenery...

Seeing as how my boss is telling me to run, if I further injure my foot, is it a work injury? Anyway, I have it penciled in...anybody want to run with me? It's just like the Huntington Beach Marathon, only you don't have to worry about being mugged...oh, except for that part in Irvine.

This year's resignation letter (Sent to my boss and co-workers via email):

It is with great pleasure that I tender my resignation, effective immediately. I will soon be fulfilling my lifelong dream of opening a floating ice cream parlor/soda fountain on Newport Harbor. (Something similar to Forbes Island in San Francisco). If funding allows, I also plan on including a small pharmacy in the back. If any of you are interested, I will be needing a few good employees on both the ice cream and pharmacy ends.