Hiatus '10

This November's beach trip was a good one. Like last year, it lasted about a week and a half- I wanted to stay but had to make it back to Raleigh before driving up to PA for Thanksgiving.

When I first got to the Outer Banks, there had been another Nor'easter that decided to set up shop off the coast. Fortunately there wasn't any rain, but there was a lot of wind, and at one point the ocean was hurling 15-20 footers, and it wasn't clean at all. Even if it was clean, hauling my 9'2 out there would be the equivalent of making out with a revolver.

The wind was blowing 25-35 and it was a little chilly because of that, but it almost felt good for some reason. Maybe because the air smelled clean, like salt, instead of exhaust.

And just as I like it, an empty beach. The color in this picture is a perfect depiction of stormy, fall obx weather:





I wasn't complaining about the windy, overcast weather because I pretty much had to work the entire time - we're busier than hell, which is also awesome.





Britton came down for part of the time to do work from here, too, so it was oyster time. The shack down the road has the best oysters I've ever had. They're referred to as crab slough oysters, which are picked about 10 miles down the road near the Oregon Inlet. Because they come from brackish water, they're really salty, and sweet. Also, about half them have tiny little pea crabs in them. You can pick them out or eat them- apparently they're considered a delicacy. I bit into one accidentally but threw him out instead of eating him; I don't know if I can get down with that. Since I'm interested in about everything in the world, I looked them up and learned that they are the smallest species of crabs known on the planet. On top of that, it turns out that they are also a pain in the ass to the oysters, since they eat the same food the oyster does.

Since I'm a nice guy, when I find these little turds who make life harder for my delicious oysters, I don't kill them- I'm all about second chances (Mike Vick is my quarterback). I place them on the counter top and play a game called "whoever makes it to the ocean lives." None of them have made it yet, but at least they get a shot. This year, we lined a few of them up on the counter in front of one another to see if they'd fight. Sure enough, a scuffle followed.




It's funny watching them fight, since they pretty much move in slow motion. I had my money on the guy on the far left, but the guy he was fighting scored a take down early on, so that was reason enough to feed all of them to the dogs.

This was the kind of thing we had to resort to, since fishing was out of the question due to water and weather. I was a little bummed out about that. Britton and I had a few bottles of scotch ready. Considering our natural fishing prowess, experience, and ability, combined, I figure we really only had about a 3% chance of actually catching something. Everyone knows that drinking scotch while fishing would take it to somewhere between 6 and 7%. Oh well.

Jack was happier than a pig in shit, since the beaches were wide open to run.
















Jensen came down late in the week, and over the weekend some friends, Brittany and Jeremy came down as well. For the last stretch of the trip, it was just me there. The weather shaped up a bit, and every evening around 4:30, like last year, you could catch a pretty mean view from the back porch. Since there aren't many tall trees, you get a clear view of the sky, which is painted all sorts of colors by the sunset.





Since I had only a few days left and was bombarded with conference calls all day, the weather cleared up and the ocean calmed down. I spent a few days alone with the dog, and really didn't want to leave. There's something that fascinates me about the solitude of being out there alone and I can't quite figure it out.

When I was on my last few conference calls before hitting the road, everything being packed up, I had to stare helplessly at the ocean doing what it does best in the fall: 3-4 foot, clean, peeling waves. It was as if the ocean was taunting me, and I had no time to suit up and paddle out. I would've done anything to have had another few hours to catch a few of them, sit out there, maybe sing to myself. I literally left with a lump in my throat. To make matters worse, my friend Dooley called and said he was down in Rodanthe to surf for a few days. I haven't seen him in about 4 years now, but couldn't meet up because I had to hit the road.

I kept complaining to Jack that I didn't want to leave. He doesn't speak English, and I don't speak dog, but I'm pretty sure we were on the same page.

Bummer.



It's little trips like these that I live for. Leaving is always a little bittersweet, but it's almost Thanksgiving and I can't wait to get back home for a little to see the friends and fam.

My Own Beer

I've been looking into brewing my own beer for almost a year now, and after digging through craigs list for a while, I pulled the trigger on some equipment last week. Three days later (this weekend) I brewed my first batch--an IPA. I made about 5 gallons of it, which will give over two and a half cases of beer, roughly. I won't know how it turns out for another 3-5 weeks, so we'll see, but I can say it tasted pretty delicious before going into the carboy to ferment.

Anyway I'm like a little kid with this stuff already. I've already made my own recipe for a brown ale that I plan on getting going this weekend before I head to the beach. I've also been cruising the online forums to learn more about the process. These people in the brewing community are like mad scientists, talking about measurements and percentages and chemical reactions. Another funny aspect of it all is that if you go to google videos and look for some how-to vids, you'll notice that about 80% of the guys in the videos look like the type you wouldn't allow within 100 feet of your kids on the playground.

Anyway I plan on getting another few gallons racked away to do their thing over the next few weeks while I'm on the coast with some good friends and the Jackson dog.

New York City

I haven't written anything in a long time- like everyone else on the planet I've been really busy.

Wedding season has come to a close for Jensen and me this year. We've been to approximately a thousand weddings starting back in the spring, and the grand finale was one of Jensen's sorority sisters' weddings in Brooklyn, NY.

Now I've never been to New York City accept when I was 12- I got to explore the city back then for 15 minutes or so i.e. buy a genuine, high quality rolex for $15 and eat a slice of pizza. Pretty awesome for a kid huh? Well it was immediately ruined by having to sit through a 3 hour musical. Now I could probably get down with a play once in a while, but musicals are number two on my list of most hated things in the world, sitting right behind number one, parades.

But that's beside the point; this time was much different. Contrary to what my expectations were going in, turns out I liked it a lot. Mattafack, I loved me some New York City.

The first night we were there was the rehearsal dinner (Jensen was a bridesmaid) and all kinds of drinking. The second day the girls had to get together 6 hours before the wedding for 6 hours of hair and makeup, so I set out to meet the two other guys we were with, who were staying in a hotel in another part of Brooklyn. The hotel calls a cab service when you need to go somewhere, so I hopped in and gave this lady the address--something something 3rd street. I must've forgot to specify Brooklyn because a half hour later we were stopped at what we thought was the address but there wasn't a Super 8--I read the address again and she said "honey we are in Manhattan." So I guess you need to specify the borough, too (I don't know how this shit works, I'm from Collegeville, PA).

My screw up ended up taking me all around the city and getting a tour from Ramona, my cab driver. Turns out she's half Dominican, half chinese, and has been cabbing it for 23 years. I learned about the different sections of the city and her family and the struggles everyone 'cept the rich folks are going through. She explained that property taxes and insurance for running a business are almost impossible now, and people who have been open for more than 40 years are closing their doors. Insurance alone for a dry cleaning business can get upwards of 16k per month, when it used to be $350 - ouch. She was only referring to China Town. I can't imagine what it would run in the other parts. Makes you wonder what's gonna happen to the entire town when everything get's that pricey. The rest of the trip I kept trying to figure out how some kind of a frozen yogurt shop could ever stay open on Broadway, and exciting things like that.

So after my tour (which thankfully only cost me 25 bones) I made it all the way back and met up with the guys for food and beverage. The wedding was awesome, and the day after that was awesome, too.

One thing I noticed was that there are a lot of funny, actually pretty friendly people...not just the assholes you hear about- but there are a good number of them, too. It's a good place to go if you need to blow off steam and are tired of being friendly. I think some people there are so brash because they're expecting to get it anyway in return. I held the door for some lady and she looked at me like I was St. Peter. It was cool seeing all the different types of people there, and if get tired of one scene, you just go to another part of town.

I was thinking that big cities would have more superficial people, but it seemed to be quite the opposite. Everyone is in too much of a hurry, or too stressed to really give a shit about anyone else. I could have had a green monkey sitting on my shoulder the entire trip and maybe gotten one or two double takes.

But yeah, I loved the place, and would love to go back once in a while, so if anyone's ever down for it (and i've got the money), I'm all for it.


Almost hiatus.

Today Just Screams Fall

I've had to fix a bunch of stuff around the house lately, and today I patched up the approximately 1000 dings on my surf board...only 7-8 years overdue. It's 75 and cloudy today, but for the most part it was the half-assed cloudy, where the sun's actually peaking out for most of the day, but you don't really notice it. Anyway it got me thinking that I'm ready for the fall.

And with the fall comes my hiatus, which I can't wait for. I pretty much disappear off the face of the planet and head to the Outer Banks for a while. Last year it was for about a week and a half, the second half was nature's choice, not mine; a huge nor'easter came through and trapped me there when I was about to leave. A few people came down on the first weekend with me, but Jack and I stuck around for the rest of the time.

It's dead quiet there in the off season. I work throughout the day, which means I'm on the phone all day, but other than that, I don't really have much contact with anyone else. I don't even turn on the TV while I'm there. Every evening, I sit on the back porch with Jack, my guitar, sometimes a beer. It's therapeutic. This was my view last year, sans sunset due to the weather at the time:




Here are the outer edges of the huge storm starting to roll in over the water. It was dead calm when I took this, but what came after were sheets of rain and constant 50+ mph winds for 3 days:


The house was shaking from the winds, rains pounding all of the windows, water coming in through the window and door sealing, and I kept my eye on the dune in the case that the water made it over, which would mean that it's time to get the hell outta there. Here's what Jack thought of the chaos:




There's something that fascinates me about the Outer Banks in the off-season. The place is almost eerie when all the crowds leave and everything is still. It's is a barrier island, subject to heavy erosion. What intrigues me the most about the island is that it's the one place I've seen in my lifetime where you can witness mother nature actually winning the battle with man--it's humbling in a way. What used to be dunes and houses just a few years ago is now ocean again. Every major storm that comes through, including last year's nor'easter, takes a few houses with it on its way out.

I'll be heading out again within the next month and a half, most likely early November, when the weather is still bearable. The Jack Dog will be in heaven--cool weather and a beach with no people means no leash. He's gonna be running huge circles in and out of the water.

I'll be sure to eat oysters and take pictures.

Disregard this if you didn't go to college with me.

But if you did...................















Ladies and Gentlemen, Pat McCauley.

West Virginia

Whenever I drive up to Pittsburgh to spend a few days with coworkers, I look forward to driving through West Virginia. Lately I've been making sure to stop at New River Gorge. It's that big bridge you see on the back of West Virginia quarters. The thing stands 900 feet above the river; think about that for a second.

Sure it's touristy, but it's a pretty awesome place. When you stand at the overlook, vultures are riding the thermals at eye level. It's best on a windy day- the only thing you can hear are gusts of air, and if you are lucky, a few local rednecks mumbling. It's got a kind of feeling to it that's hard to describe; almost sacred. It's the kind of place that makes me wonder what everything was like before modern civilization.


Once a year, people who have more balls than me take part in Bridge Day. This is the one day a year when you are allowed to base jump off the bridge. I'm good with jumping out of airplanes, but I had some lunatic strapped to my back and a reserve set on auto deploy in the case that he or both of us were unconscious. Not the case on Bridge Day; my guess is that on Bridge Day, reserves are weak sauce.

Anyway check it out if you pass through; it's worth a 15 min break from a long haul.

So listen up people. It's quick stops like this that make me think about the last year and a half of my life, and I've got something to say about it. Because of the nature of what I'm doing in my career, I don't make boat loads of money quite yet. In fact, there have been many times where I've barely been able to make ends meet, and if you haven't been there before, it's more stressful than you can imagine. But at the same time, I've never had more freedom or learned more about myself and other people than I have since the beginning of '09. Before that, I was working in a job where I didn't even realize I was unhappy until I quit. I may have liked most of my coworkers and made decent money, but I was in a rat race and lacking one thing: Hope. The only thing I ever had to look forward to were weekends and holidays.

If you are in a job that doesn't satisfy you, for your sake and others around you, look elsewhere. When I did, I realized that without that hope or satisfaction, I just hadn't been myself. I almost felt the need to apologize to friends and others who were around me during that time. I don't expect this to inspire anyone to take action, but if it does, good.

Amazing what some bridge in East BF, West Virginia, can do to someone.

Just Saw a Great License Plate

Yesterday on Walnut Street I was swinging back from grabbing a movie and stopped at a red light. In front of me was a tan Chevy Silverado. I was waiting for the light to change and just looking around, when my eyes took me to this guy's license plate. Between where his plate said North Carolina and First in Flight, in great big blue letters, was:

DNKYPNCH

Clearly the DMV isn't up to speed on foul humor. The driver looked like a normal, middle aged guy. He either lost a bet or really doesn't give a shit...either way it's hilarious.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photo proof. My cell phone is old school and the picture I tried to take didn't turn out.