This week I got the opportunity to head down to California with my Dad and brothers to go scuba diving. We’d been planning this trip for quite a while, but due to people constantly bailing out, we weren’t sure we were going to get to go until about 2 weeks ago. Luckily, we were still able to make it work.

On Wednesday morning we got up and on the road by 8am and drove straight through to Long Beach harbor with only a couple gas stops. After arriving at the harbor and putting all our dive gear on the boat, we drove into town and got some dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp house. After some fine seafood we went back and bunked down on the boat. The next morning the crew got the boat up and running around 4:30am while the rest of us were still sleeping. I finally woke up about 8 while we were headed across the channel to Catalina Island. After grabbing some pancakes in the galley, the captain shouted out to inform us that a pod of Dolphins was swimming along the bow of the boat. It was a good start to the day.

After arriving at our first dive location we all started getting our gear on. The fog that had rolled in the night before was still laying low on the island and the captain pulled out his bagpipes to play for us as we got in the water for the first time of the day. With the fog and the bagpipes, it was a little like diving off the shore of Scotland, but lots warmer. We made 4 dives that day at Ship rock and Two Harbors. The last dive of the day was by far the best as we got to dive through a cool kelp forest just outside of Two Harbors. We saw lots of starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers and we even found a random shark egg drifting along the rocks on the bottom. There were tons off cool overhangs and walls to explore and the visibility and colors were great. My Dad’s neighbor even caught a small octopus and brought it up to the boat. After diving that evening, we ferried onto the beach and had steak cook out on the beach.

Friday morning we got another early start and made 3 dives at Rock Quarry and Whale Rock. Again, the last dive of the day was the best and we saw multiple Spanish Dancers and even a horned shark. There were some great wall dives and we explored lots of cool terrain. Although diving through the kelp is one of my favorite things. I love the surreal feeling as the kelp sways back and forth around you. It’s like flying through a quiet forest, except the whole forest seems to move around you. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve experienced it, but it’s a cool experience.

After finishing up our dives we cruised back to the harbor at Long Beach and we all hopped in our cars and started the long drive home. We were all tired and sore and a little sunburnt so a long drive was the last thing any of us wanted to do, but we made it as far as Mesquite before crashing at a family friends vacation home. We slept late and after getting a big breakfast at the Casa Blanca casino, we finished up the drive home. It was a quick trip with lots of road time, but the diving was great and it’s always fun to get away now and then. We didn’t get any underwater pictures this trip, but check below for the pictures and videos we did take…

And here’s some video of the dolphins…

And here’s Captain Greg and his bagpipes…

So there I was just watching tv minding my own business when all the sudden there comes a knock at the door. I went to see who it was and it turned out to be Emily’s folks. We weren’t expecting them, but they often stop by to visit so I wasn’t really wondering why they had were here. Then Paul pulled a box out from behind his back and said Happy Birthday. To be honest, I had kinda forgot that my birthday is tomorrow, but now I have a whole new reason to be excited…

If you’re thinking “hey, that looks like an X-Wing Fighter Kite.” then you’re exactly correct. Now I just need a clear windy day to take it to the park and see if it really flies. You ready up there R2?

So I had to have surgery on an infected tooth this week. The infection was the result of a root canal that took place some time ago, but the point of this post is that this is only the second time I’ve ever been “put under” and I’ve decided I don’t like it. This is mainly due to the fact that there are gaps in my memory where I know I was awake enough to be mobile, but I don’t remember anything about them. At the risk of sounding to presumptuous, I have to think that this must be what it’s like in the early stages of Alzheimer’s (I just watched an episode of Scientific American Frontiers about memory loss the other day, hence the reference).

It’s just weird to think that my brain was working enough to get me from the Doctors office to the car, but I honestly can’t remember getting to the car or even getting home for that matter. I do remember talking to the nurse briefly as I woke up after the surgery. She asked me if I felt ok and if I was prone to puking. I told her I felt fine and that I don’t puke too often. Then she helped me stand up to move to the recovery room, but I don’t remember walking down the hall. I only vaguely remember laying down on the bed, but then I don’t remember anything until Emily got out of the car to get the kids from my mom. After that, the next thing I remember was laying on the couch at home. I don’t really even remember getting out of the car and into the house. It’s quite disturbing to think that I was up and interacting with people, but that I’m unable to recall most of it.

Anyway, the surgery went ok and aside from a little swelling I feel pretty good. My jaw aches a little, but for the most part there hasn’t even been any pain. I just hope the fix sticks and I don’t have to have that tooth worked on ever again.

Let me preface this one with the fact that I’ve seen WALL-E multiple times over the last few days. It was our Netflix movie last week and as such, was viewed far more than it might normally have been.

Anyway, the other night I was having a strange dream regarding the seemingly endless supply of energy that the Axiom ship (that’s the human “life raft” ship in the movie) seemed to have. As I dreamt, I recall wondering how, after 700 years, the ship was still able to power all the lights and billboards and robots and other electrically powered items on the ship. Keep in mind I was dreaming so the possibility of some alternate source of energy didn’t really enter my mind. I was thinking strictly in terms of energy storage circa 2009 so my mind was boggled while trying to figure out how they hadn’t run out of energy yet.

I pause for a moment here to acknowledge that to this point, there really wasn’t anything interesting about this dream. It might be an odd subject for a dream, but I’m sure many of you have had stranger dreams. However, the thing I found interesting about this particular dream is how it seemed to be a result of my physical situation at the time. I’m sure many of you have experienced something similar when you can’t seem to stop dreaming about water and then when you’re forced awake, you realize that you’ve never had to pee so badly in your life. Same sort of thing here.

As most of you probably know, I have a little ailment called Diabetes. One result of the medications that I take to control this ailment is that I occasionally experience the effects of hypoglycemia which is basically what happens when the sugar content in your blood gets too low. Basically, without a high enough content of sugar, your body literally runs out of gas and it results in weird side effects like shaking, sweating and loss of concentration. So to tie this back to where I started, as I lay there dreaming about power consumption in a fictional space and as I wondered how power could be maintained for 700 years without a recharge, it happened that I was at the time experiencing the effects of hypoglycemia. Luckily this condition tends to wake me from sleep (which, if any of you know how heavy a sleeper I am, you may find this rather miraculous). As soon as I woke up, I started to put the pieces together. As I rushed into the kitchen to shove anything I could find into my face I was a tad amused at how the brain works. I couldn’t help but find it amazing that as I lay there sleeping, my brain was still interpreting input from it’s surroundings and trying to put that information into some sort of context that made sense. I was literally running out of juice and my brain subconsciously turned that into an apparent need for a quick recharge via my hideaway solar panel.

It’s things like this that make me wonder about our true capacity for knowledge and learning. Brains are amazing things and it’s my opinion that they can do so much more than we can even comprehend presently. Guess we’ll just have to wait for that next sphere of existence to learn all the secrets. Until then, I should probably investigate some way to rig up a personal limitless energy supply so I can survive the next 700 years in space… or something like that.

So, just like last year, Emily and I had one night again this year where we got to get all dressed up for a night out on the town thanks to Omniture. Once again I went and got a tux and Emily found a fancy dress and we went uptown to the Grand America hotel for the annual Omniture holiday party. This years party was a bit more financially conscious (no more open bar), but it was still out of control. The food was pretty good and the atmosphere was fun and the entertainment was “uncomfortable” according to Emily. We had a good time seeing everyone all dressed up and listening to Josh James’ fairly comedic monologue. We played a gigantic game of rock/paper/scissors and didn’t win anything once again. It was a fun just to get out for the evening though. Thanks Omniture for a fun night out.