Talkin’ bout the ocean

If you ask me, the star of Pacific Horizons, the new DVD from Bryan Smith, is Paul Kuthe who is my choice for the Foam Cowboy award, 2007! (if there were such a thing).

Everyone Loves Hypnotoad

How’s this for an insight into madness. . . The new just released Futurama DVD contains this little extra; 22 minutes of Hypnotoad. Yeah, that’s 22 minutes of staring at this image with only momentary breaks for silly spoof advertising. To me, this is one of the funniest things I could imagine. Sad isn’t it?? Hmmm. So it’s Thursday night in Wisconsin and the Greenbay Packers are playing their biggest game of the season. (the one that thanks to a bunch of rich guys trying to get richer, few will see. . .) Well, here’s my plan. I’m going to listen to the game on the radio while Hypnotoad hums away on the television. Given that the Packers can’t seem to beg a win out of Texas, anythings worth a try. Go Pack!. . oh, All Glory To Hypnotoad!!!!

In for a Pound. . .

Money, its a crime.
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that they’re
Giving none away.
- pink floyd

As of today one pound equals about two dollars and seven cents. No wonder the news is reporting a British invasion this holiday season. Of course the lousy exchange rate has made it more expensive for those of us on this side to buy UK products or to travel. When I did a cash exchange on my way over this spring It was pretty sad. I handed the lady a couple hundred bucks and only get about half back. That’s one way to keep your wallet thin and comfortable in the back pocket. Oh well, we’re always screaming “Buy American”. At this rate we’re not going to have much choice. . .

Meet SPOT

This crazy little gizmo is the Peregrine SPOT Satellite Messenger. “SPOT” is much easier. For about $170 bucks the SPOT gives you a GPS Locater that can send out distress calls, request non-emergency “help” or just send out a quick signal that you are just fine. It can also can send out a “Track Progress” signal that saves your location and tracks your progress using Google Maps. Obviously they are going for the growing PLB market here. The SPOT is light, waterproof, shockproof, and it floats. (well, that’s what they say now. . . .)

Long November

November
It only believes
In a pile of dead leaves
And a moon
That’s the color of bone
- Tom Waits

work light. . . please. . .

Shine on, shine
on, shine on me
Whenever something’s missing
You’re exactly what I need
- Rascal Flatts

So if you’ve been following along here, you’ll know that I’ve had very bad luck with signal lights going back to when I first started paddling. In fact the first strobe I bought was at Canoecopia a few years back. I spent time talking to the rep from ARC asking all the questions a newbie asks to be sure they are getting just the right thing. Before you knew it, I was out the door with my new C-strobe in hand. Well, that and a bunch of other stuff.

Goodbye Explorer

So for one last trip from port I’ll ship
but next time back I’m swearing
I’ll settle down in my hometown
and go no more seafaring.

Of course we were all happy to hear the crew and passengers aboard the M/S Explorer are back on land and in good spirits. Hearing stories of a passenger ship hitting an Iceberg in cold waters can’t help but remind us of past disasters. Of course the Explorer was a unique “cruise” ship in that it took more adventurous types to places that most people would not normally want to go. From what I’ve read her passengers were particularly capable of riding out a 4 hour wait in the life boats and spoke well of the Captain and his crew.