As summer wanes

As summer heads into fall I have to wonder where it went. Every year it seems to go so fast and when I look back on it I never seem to have done all the things I wanted to. Mind you the early part of summer was not very good this year with way too much rain and not enough sun to be able to get out and enjoy life. I did manage to get in a trip to Hawaii with my girlfriend and a really neat dive with manta rays while I was there. that was an experience I'll never forget. The rest of the trip was just as good, we got to see a lot of the Big Island and went snorkeling with a sea turtle. Hawaii is a great place to visit but it's darned expensive. One thing I have managed to do to the fullest extent is get out on my bike. Unfortunately I haven't been able to squeeze in any long distance trips yet. There always seems to be something in my life that gets in the way. That's the way it seems to be with my life. I can look back and never seem to have done anything exciting but there is always something to occupy my time in one way or another. And the older I get the more I want to squeeze into the time I have. One of these days I'll get things sorted out and nothing will get in the way of the stuff I really want to do.

The last few days have reinforced the power of Mother Nature in my mind. When she makes up her mind to piss on us there's not a darn thing we can do about it. The city along the river and all of downtown have been evacuated due to flooding and estimates are that about 100,000 people or more have been evacuated. That's about 10% of the total population of the city. It's going to be interesting to see how long it take them to clean up and repair all the damage after the waters go do. I've heard upwards of $400,000,000 dollars so far. The insurance companies are going to be busy. One of the things that really gets me is the number of people who had houses along the river, that are now underwater, bitching about why didn't the city do anything to prevent this. Since any land along the rivers around here is extremely expensive, I'm guessing the people that live in them are all fairly well off. I'm not sure what they expected the city to do. It seems to me that building your house next to a river that is known to flood occasionally is just inviting trouble when it does. Some people are never happy i guess. One thing about all the rain is that it really makes it hard to get out and do anything outside without coming back looking like a soggy tshirt. I'm not adverse to water but it would be nice to see the sun once in a while and have some dry land to play on. I have vacation coming up and I'm at a total loss as to what to do with it. I was thinking about going out to see my son but apparently he is going to be away at a ball tourney for a few days. I'm thinking a camping trip would be a good idea. A bit of rest and relaxation in the wilderness and the possibility of a fresh caught fish dinner sounds very appealing at this point in time. I haven't been out in ages and it would be nice to get away from the city for a while. I'll have to give that more thought and see how the weather shapes up in the next few days.

It was recently pointed out to me that it's been almost a year since the last entry in my blog. I know I tend to forget things now and then but I didn't realize it had been that long. So here I am to recitfy the situation. I am of the firm opinion that in order to be a politician you must be lacking something in the areas of morals and common sense while at the same time having an overwhelming sense of righteousness and the desire to make sure everyone thinks like you do and believes what you do. More and more I see some of the most nonsensical and/or hypocritical garbage coming out of the mouths of politicians. Maybe it's just me but I really wonder what happened to common sense and caring. Apparently it went out with the dodo bird. I'm not sure what's up with the weather around here but I'm not liking it. A couple of weeks ago I was out riding my bike and enjoying the sunshine. I woke up this morning to a foot of snow on my car. Needless to say I didn't ride the bike into work. I did however get a boot full of snow while trying to clear the car off so I could get out of the driveway. I knew there was a reason I kept my winter tires on this long. I am really looking forward to my vacation this year. My girlfriend and I are heading off to Hawaii for a week. It's the first time either of us have ever been there so it should be an experience. One of the highlights of the trip will be a dive that I am doing. It is going to be a night dive to watch the manta rays feeding. I guess they get a bunch of divers on the bottom with lights that they all shine upward to attract the phytoplankton. The concentration of plankton attracts the manta rays who proceed to chow down on the organic buffet. If it's as I expect it to be it should be an amazing dive and I hope to be able to get some video of it with my gopro. So with another day alone at work, anyone feel like bringing me some donuts? I'll take you for a ride in the sim. :)