Guns and Germs and Whatever

Yesterday, I spent a rather enjoyable afternoon with one of my right-wing-whacko-gun-nut friends. We loaded up a couple of packsacks with guns and ammo and headed over to a shooting range where we proceeded to liberate a few hundred rounds of lead from their casings. Lee had everything from 22's to 45's in those packsacks, and like sampling wine, we worked our way up from the 22's to the more serious stuff. I was pretty pleased with my performance considering I hadn't fired a handgun in over 20 years, and even then it was only a few rounds. Lee was rather impressed with my performance considering the fact that I'm a godless-faggot-loving-commie-pinko-gun-hating bastard. And on top of all that, I'm Canadian! I told him that all Canadians can shoot like me, so if the US ever decides to invade Canada, they better not misunderestimate their foes. After the range, we went over to his place where we proceeded to liberate a couple of liters of wine from their bottles. How's that for an All-American afternoon of guns and booze?!

My travel plans have changed. The Caribbean adventure has been cancelled, replaced with two weeks in Croatia at the end of May and beginning of June. It's actually two separate charters, with one out of Kremik (near Split) and the following week out of Dubrovnik. I booked the second of two boats that will be traveling together. I think we can put together a great itinerary out of the two bases. From Kremik, we can head north to a bunch of desert or near desert islands, and from Dubrovnik we can stop at several medieval island towns. I loved the last trip to Croatia, and wished I could have stayed longer and seen more. It's a totally different experience than the BVI. The BVI is like Disneyland for sailors, with great winds, warm blue waters, great snorkelling, lovely beaches, and night clubs and restaurants at every stop. But don't expect to take in any local cultural experiences, because as near as I can tell, there are none. In Croatia, you can sail in gorgeous waters and lovely scenery, but at night you tie up at a 1000 year-old sea wall in a town with real people actually living and working there. There are Roman ruins everywhere. The Croats are actually interlopers who only showed up some hundreds of years ago. Before that, the area was under Venetian influence, and before that was very much Roman. Marco Polo was born in Korcula, a lovely town that I visited the last time I was there, and will be sure to do it again next year. Another thing I'll be looking for are spotted dogs. The last time I was on the Dalmation Coast, I was quite disappointed not seeing any Dalmations.

Today I sent a letter to the immigration folks trying to get my citizenship interview date of January 14th back. I wish this was all over with and that I wouldn't have to deal with that bureaucracy any more. Getting any answers or changes out of them is next to impossible. Oh well.

Holy Cow!!

I've been playing crib for something like 45 years, but yesterday I had a hand that I'd never seen before. No, it wasn't a perfect hand, but it was awfully close. 28 points!!! Caroline was my unlucky victim, and even though she fought back strongly, she couldn't overcome a 28 point hand, and ended up losing what turned out to be a very close game. Very cool!

Happy 60th Jerry!

Last night a whole bunch of friends and family celebrated Jerry's 60th. Now that he's a responsible senior citizen of 60, he'll have to refrain from the behavior he exhibited in the BVI earlier this year. He said it was sea sickness, but we all knew it was really the multiple Wrecks on the Rocks that he consumed so happily the night before. For those of you who don't know, a Wreck on the Rocks consists of 2 shots of rum (preferrably Pusser's), 1 shot of coconut Malibu rum, 1 shot of pineapple Malibu rum, and a 1/2 shot of lime cordial. I was going to have these blown up to life-size photos (you can click on them for a larger view), frame them, and give them to Jerry as a gift, but on second thought, I decided to give them to the whole world via the internet.

Happy Birthday Jerry!!

Have any of you been following the presidential primaries? I especially love the Republican battles and the reactions of my right-wing-whacko friends trying to defend any of the candidates. Giuliani is a three times married, East Coast almost liberal (at least in his social views), estranged from his kids, and has all sorts of skeletons in his closet. Today I heard a great description of him. Not that he's like Bush, but more like a cross between Cheney and Nixon. Romney is the biggest flipflopper of all time, making John Kerry look like a piker. McCain sold his soul to the devil, i.e., Bush, long ago to keep himself a viable conservative candidate. I liked him in 2000, but he's long past his best-before date. Huckabee is an interesting candidate. He's non-threatening and funny, and comes across as the compassionate conservative that Bush said he wanted to be. But I have an innate fear of any Bible-thumper who dismisses evolution and feels that big cities would be safer if everyone were carrying handguns. And yes, I heard him actually say that. Ron Paul is a bit of a monkey wrench who's thrown himself into the works. He gets lots of support from the younger libertarian crowd, but unfortuately, I don't think he has much of a chance. He at least is authentic, even when he espouses some of his whacko views, like wanting to go back to the gold standard.

I'm glad to see that Obama is finally moving up in the polls against Hillary. This morning he was leading her in Iowa and catching up with her in New Hampshire. I wonder why it took so long, but maybe he was smart enough not to peak too early. Now throw Oprah into the mix, and Hillary's inevitability is no longer so inevitable. I also like Edwards, who has the most populist campaign, but I don't think he's got much of a chance. Like McCain on the Republican side, I think he's had his one shot a the presidency. In terms of experience and qualifications, Richardson is head and shoulders above the candidates in either party, but his candidacy has never taken off. If he could somehow convince the 20 million Hispanics in the country that, in spite of his name and lack of an accent, he really is Hispanic, he might have a chance. I think he'd make a great VP, maybe with Obama.

No one can energize the GOP like Hillary, so I really hope that the first time I vote for a president, I don't have to hold my nose and vote for her. Just as Bush senior in '92 reminded a lot of women voters of their first husband, I think Hillary reminds a lot of men of their first wife. Hectoring, lecturing, humorless, power-hungry and conniving are all words that come to mind when I think about her. I really hope that Obama kicks her somewhat oversized butt!

Good news, bad news

The good news is that I got the long awaited notice from US Citizenship and Immigration Services asking me to report on January 14th for my interview and citizenship test. The bad news is that I plan on being on a sailboat in the Caribbean at that time. The instructions said that if I couldn't make the interview, I should send them the notice and a letter explaining why I couldn't make it. The other side of the notice said I should call them, so I tried. After multiple levels of menus, I wasn't able to get through to a warm live body, so I thought that I'd go to the office in person and try and plead my case. But to no avail. I didn't get past the security guard at the entrance, who informed me that I had to send them a letter. So I did. But now that I've lost my place in the queue, I might have to wait until 2010 to get my interview. Oh well. I guess we'll see.

In other news, one of the things I forgot to mention in my last posting was that at Megan's suggestion, we all went to see the Nutcracker on Saturday night. I had never been to a ballet before, and neither had my Mom. It was a lot of fun, and no, I didn't fall asleep. I couldn't. I had Megan on one side, and Caroline on the other making sure I didn't.

Hooray for the Roughriders!!!

No, not Teddy Roosevelt's Roughriders, not the Ottawa Roughriders, but the one and only Saskatchewan Roughriders. And yes, for those of you who don't know, I was born and raised in Saskatchewan, so my pride is that of a native son. The Saskatchewan Roughriders won the Grey Cup yesterday, beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19. And also for those of you who don't know, the Grey Cup is Canada's version of the Superbowl.

Speaking of Canada, I just got back from there after delivering Mom and Marian to the Abbotsford airport for their flight back home to Edmonton. We had a very enjoyable weekend of eating, drinking, more eating, socializing, more eating, and catching up with the family. On Friday, we had my world-famous ribs at my place, on Saturday we had turkey at Caroline's, and on Sunday, Megan and Chris hosted us for Thanksgiving tacos. Who knows, maybe they've started a new tradition!

Here's Caroline and Chris enjoying their tacos, and Mom relaxing after the meal.

Megan and Marina and then Chris, Megan and Olive(r), their cross between a rabbit and a squirrel, more commonly known as a chinchilla.

Jenn and Ryan came over with Elise who enjoyed a moment with my Mom. Mom is obviously enjoying herself as well.

I don't have any travel plans until January, so I should be spending most of the next couple of months around here. I haven't decided yet where and with whom I'll spend Christmas. I may end up heading up to Canada to be with the family, but then again I may stick around here. I'm open to offers. Please write your ideas on the back of a $20 bill and send them to me. Multiple entries are encouraged. (My apologies to Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers)

Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig

Mr Incredible had a lot of fun at the Baja Ha-Ha kickoff party.

Here's Bob, Phyllis, and me. The intrepid crew of Gaia.



Here are some of the 178 boats that were supposed to have started the race, and some of the boats at Turtle Bay, our first stop.


I did like the ingenuity of the Mexicans, making a speed bump out of some old rope! Speaking of ingenuity, I earned a big attaboy from Bob (which I think just about wiped out all the awshits) for coming up with a fix for the water leak that sprung from out from a pinhole in his exhaust casting. I suggested drilling out the pinhole and installing a screw to seal the leak. It worked perfectly!


Here is some of the surf at Bahia Santa Maria, our second stop. The surf got big, it got dark, and 78 stragglers from the party (including yours truly) ended up spending the night ashore when the pangas (the local water taxis) quit running.




Fortunately, we had lots of food and beer to help us survive the night.


Here we are, approaching Cabo. Whew, we made it!!



In San Diego, I was amazed by the striking likeness to our Noble Leader keeping watch atop a restaurant. It was reassuring to know he was looking out for us.

The J-School was great! We sailed on a J-80, a light and fast 25' boat. We spent a day on basic sailing skills, one day on upwind techniques, one day on downwind, one day on starts, and one day doing whatever we wanted.

Mom and Marian are coming to visit this weekend, but other than that, nothing special is planned for a while. I may even have a chance to finish blogging on the book of Matthew, or have an occasional political rant. We'll see.

Cabo San Lucas

Well, we cheated death once again! I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Cabo, after having a good night's sleep (on land) and a fabulous shower.

This is just a quick update. I'll post more and add a bunch of pictures once I get to San Diego. Here are the facts:

Leg one- San Diego to Turtle Bay. 381 miles, 51 hours, 23 minutes. Consistent winds to 25 knots, 6'-8' seas. This was certainly a baptism by fire for me. It was the first time I'd sailed in open water, at night, by instrument. My first night watch alone, starting at 3AM was interesting, to say the least. Boat speeds were up to 12.4 knots!

Leg two- Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria. 240 miles, 41 hours, 24 minutes. Again we had strong winds, but only up to around 20 knots. We sailed wing-on-wing most of the way. It was less stressful than the first night, but exhilirating nonetheless. We had a huge beach party the second night there, but the pangas quit running due to darkness and dangerous surf. As a result, I and 71 other brave souls spent the night on the beach. We were about to start drawing straws to see who would be eaten first when the sun came up and the surf went down. We all survived.

Leg three- Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo. 184 miles, 28 hours, 36 minutes. This was the least eventful of the legs. The winds died down in the middle of the night, so we ended up motoring for the last six hours.

More to follow from San Diego. My battery is dying!