Before They Are Gone

This is an example of three completely unrelated events being a "coincidence" because my brain skipped around a bit in the last few minutes.

Event 1: A few weeks ago I rode my motorcycle to a party on a beach front property on the North Shore.
Event 2: I have been thinking about buying waterfront property.
Event 3: "An Inconvenient Truth" won the Oscar for the best documentary today.

Here's how they are all related: I have been thinking about buying some waterfront property lately, especially after the great party on the beach a few weekends ago, and the fact that Mike's family cabin on Lake Superior is one of the greatest places I know.

I rode my motorcycle (the red one) to that party because I had been having some problems, but I made the decision to spend $800 to fix it rather than call it a lost cause. It still isn't fixed properly. The idling varies between 2 to 4 times faster than in the past. At any rate, I'm thinking that I may sell my motorcycle before I leave for Australia in June, so I want to use it as much as possible. However, it is the rainy season and I rarely ride anymore.

It may or may not be true, but after seeing "An Inconvenient Truth," I believe that water levels will rise and possibly inundate any waterfront property that I may buy, which would make it a big waste of money (not to mention all of the environmental issues, et cetera). Perhaps I should buy something a few meters above the current water level and just wait for it to become waterfront property. It would be cheaper...

Back on the Water

Today was a good day. I finally made it back on the water. I went to the Sand Bar (should that be capitalized? It's a place name, but also very general... Where are the English teachers out there? Mrs. Halberg?) with some family friends. A guy I rowed with in college used to live in Hawaii and his older brother is still out here. His dad has been out here visiting for the past week and a half and we were able to take out a still bruised, but functional, Madeline & Nine today. He told me that the last time he was sailing was when he was helping a friend sail a boat from through the Mediterranean from Greece to Turkey. They arrived to port on September 11th, 2001 and weren't allowed to leave for over a week. There were no major mishaps today except for the boom episode (next paragraph) and a near miss (definitely less than a foot) on a reef.

As for the condition of Madeline, she took a fair beating in the wind storm we had a few weeks ago. I kept forgetting to bring my camera during the storm, so I can't really prove it, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that the waves were over 4' at times and the winds howled up to 72 mph, averaging about 40 mph, for almost a full week, day and night. There was some damage all around. Note the concrete and wood dock in the picture. The entire marina looked like that. The above picture was taken after three weeks of ongoing repairs. The day after the storm subsided, it looked like a demolition crew had been through there.

I thought that I had fixed, or at least covered, the problems with my boat yesterday. I spent 9 hours fixing her, but as we were sailing back today, the boom (the long bar where the base (aka the foot) of the main sail slides into) fell off. That was just one of many injuries. I'm not sure if I already wrote about it, but the storm caused my tiller to break off, but not before it rubbed through about a quarter inch of fiberglass in all directions. The wind raised my front hatch from it's base and tore off the arm holding it in place, then snapped the frame and plexiglass into two pieces. It even caused half of the metal surface on one of the hinges to come off, somehow. Luckily the hatch was still attached by a screw when I went out to replace the mooring lines half-way through the storm. My chaffing gear in the front actually chaffed a hole through the fiberglass. Three of my mast stays came off, with one of them starting to fray (nothing a little duct tape won't hide). Everything on the inside made it's way to the floor and the six inches of standing water. Note the broken handle on my grill from when it fell to the floor. Also note the sweet U-bolts now holding it firmly in place (never-mind the peeling walls in the background. They are supposed to look like that, I swear.). No more flaming cheddar-wursts flying through the cabin. Bonus.

All in all, I'm glad to have a more-or-less functional boat again. The weekend was spent entirely on the boat, but it was not wasted. Fixing things is pretty fun, especially when you don't make it worse than when you started, which is what I usually do. Now that she is in 'ship shape' (but not really), I would really like to get back out in the ocean. Mike and Sheila, I hope Claire likes the water.

Lastly, on a completely separate note, you really need to see the picture from our last viewing of Arrested Development a week ago. All in all, it is probably the worst picture I have ever seen. That in itself makes it awesome.

Xin Nian Kuai Le?

"Happy New Year" is the title of this post; however, there wasn't really anything going on in Chinatown today. I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting to see the dragon rolling up and down the streets with fireworks, drums, and gongs. Nothing. It was a ghost town. So much for that idea. Maybe the big celebration won't start until this evening.

At any rate, we did get some dim sum, which is always good. And the restaurant FINALLY started making my favorite Chinese desert, dan ta, which is an egg custard in a flaky crust. As Derek described it, it's like flan inside of baklava, only less sweet.

Another fun part was that Dani came with us. She had never eaten dim sum before, so we had fun explaining all of the different dishes and how to order. For anyone who has never had dim sum, I would say that the best part is the wide variety of dishes. People just walk around with carts full of different foods. Some are steamed, some are pastries, some are roasted meats, many are wrapped in noodles or breads. All you have to do is point to what you want, they put it on your table, and they put a tic mark on your bill. All dishes cost the same, or different colored plates represent different prices. It keeps things simple.

In the end, our day of celebration consisted of dim sum in Chinatown and about an hour of walking around. The Year of the Boar did not start of so exciting. Fittingly, we did eat quite a bit though.

Check it out! Former Chinese President Jiang Ze Min got his green card! It must have been after his term ended in 2003.