Archive for June, 2006
Posted by derrick on
June 30, 2006
“Show me your hand, Logan,”
Logan obeyed.
“Do you know why you have this?” he said,
tapping the palmflower with an index finger.
“To tell my age,” said Logan.
“And how old are you?”
“I’m six.”
And what happens when you are seven?”
“It goes to blue… and I leave the nursery.”
- from logan’s run
Ok, so it’s the day AFTER my birthday. Hmmmm. Seems to be just like the day before and surprisingly just like yesterday actually. I did have a good day. I just couldn’t bring my mind to attach any significance to the whole thing. I woke up, I didn’t work too long, then I went off to the lake to play. In the evening I was back home eating white cake with white frosting and watching old episodes of “Thin Blue Line“.
Posted by derrick on
June 29, 2006
The grocery store’s the super mart, uh huh
Little girls still break their hearts, uh huh
And men still keep on marching off to war
Electrically they keep a baseball score
- sonny & cher
Well I hope you’re not too sick of my little parlor trick infatuation recently. But for me it’s been another little epiphany. Another step along the path to boat control. By now you know how that goes with me, I get zoned in on an idea and just have to see it through.
Posted by derrick on
June 28, 2006
Heaven’s in here
Among the twilight and stars
-bowie
Ok, Let’s do this today. Each one of us take a moment to go to
Rotem Ron’s Journal and post just a quick note of encouragement.
Yes, that means YOU too. Rotem is now on her way south down the Eastern coast of Iceland in her attempt to become the first person to solo circumnavigate this island nation. Not quite half way it seems to me. (oh, one third according to today’s post!) I cannot even begin to express to you the true breadth of this challenge. Rotem is amazing! (or crazy, or both). Ahead of her yet Iceland’s wild south coast awaits. I can’t help but think of Shawna and Leon’s presentation about their circumnavigation with Chris Duff. It seems that on the south coast the steep unprotected black sand beaches presented a nasty challenge for the team. These steep beaches dropped into a big dumping surf that no one in their right mind would want to launch into or try to land in. They would try to just stay out on the water as much as possible. But sooner or later you need to land and that means getting back out again. So each day they would draw lots (or something to that effect) to see which poor sod would be last to launch thus receiving no help from the other two. The last person off the beach would just have to accept that they would be getting a merciless beating at the hands of the sea. Sometimes facing many attempts to escape before they could finally break through the angry surf. Shawna said that most of the time the guys were honorable and did not leave her in that position. Heck I wouldn’t want anyone leaving me in the position either!!! I don’t envy Rotem taking this on alone. So if you’re reading today,
why not take a moment and let her know we’re thinking about her.
In other news, Misha Hochman and Alon Ohad are setting off on July 1st to circumnavigate Ireland. (by kayak of course). Their website is here. This is their follow-up to their 2005 circumnavigation of Tasmania. One thing quite interesting about this trip is that they going to include a few of their fellow Israeli kayakers along the way who want to gain expediton experience. They take an active part in all the expedition preparations and gain experience for their own future trips. Cool concept! Gadi Goldfarb with join them for the SE, S and SW coasts, Inna Hoichman will then switch with him and paddle on the west cost. You can follow those updates here.
I think that’s it for the moment.
Alright, so where are you going now? Click Here. (and post. .!)
Posted by derrick on
June 27, 2006

Communion

Relaxation

Balance
Cheetos!
What’s this about? Well, I’m turning 41 in two days. Reed sent me my new cag in 5 days! Now that’s beyond amazing. . I’m finding a new way to play with my kayaks. Standing gives you a new understanding of secondary stability. Gryphon did his first trip around the lake in his own kayak. Oh, yeah, towing a kid three miles is exhausting! How’s that? After seeing that long discussion about commercialism in kayaking on QajaqUSA I thought I’d just post about nothing. . .
. . .nothing at all.
Posted by derrick on
June 26, 2006
Nothing too prosaic
Nothing too archaic
Here’s your wakeup call
We are provocation
We are instigation
Here’s your wakeup call, your second call
Balls. All you need are,
Balls. To succeed are
Balls. All you need are
Balls. All you need are,
Balls. To succeed are
Balls. All you need are
- sparks
Ok, so here’s something I picked up from Shawna and Leon of
Body, Boat, Blade that’s just too good not to share. Balls. I’m using tennis balls but I think anything that floats would be ok. Well, they don’t even have to float but if not, you may end up replacing them a lot.
Posted by derrick on
June 25, 2006

We had a nice evening out under the stars chatting all about kayaking. We even beat the lightning that was slowly sneaking up on us. I was asked by someone recently if I liked public speaking because I seemed really comfortable leading on the water. My answer was that I do feel comfortable “On the Water”. On land my nose itches and I feel a bit like I’m diving 100 feet down into a glass of water. I always have a nagging feeling that everyone is expecting something else and are just board silly with what I’m actually talking about. I’m not sure what I think they were expecting. . . jugglers maybe? Anyway, I guess you’d have to ask the audience how it went. One thing is sure, I’m really learning to hate computer projectors!
Thanks to the folks at Mirror Lake State Park for inviting me back.
Posted by derrick on
June 24, 2006
As the people here grow colder
I turn to my computer
And spend my evenings with it
Like a friend.
I was loading a new programme
I had ordered from a magazine:
“Are you lonely, are you lost?
This voice console is a must.”
I press Execute.
- k. bush
To offset my post yesterday I should mention a good customer service experience. Thinking about that email yesterday really makes this one shine. Nothing more than a kind email from Reed. When I sent out my order for my new cag last week my silly browser blocked the confirmation page so I could not be sure the order went through. Ok. Well, off goes an email to Reed. Can you believe I got back a very cordial, detailed email to tell me the order went through, they have my measurements, and that hopefully they will get it out to me in just a couple weeks. Oh yes, and it was signed.
Thank you, Heidi. I appreciate do that!