As I was watching the season opener of Laguna Beach, I realized that a common thread through many of my favorite shows are that they make me cringe with embarrassment for the characters on the show. Some other great "uncomfortable" shows:
Joe Schmo Temptation Island Curb Your Enthusiasm Seinfeld
What are some of your favorites in this strange genre?

Wow, I haven't posted here in a while... We're in the final stages. The baby could arrive any day. Yikes!!!

"SCIENTISTS have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans." Read more...

I had to read this one twice. It's crazy!

Kelly and I have been working our way through "The Wire" and are half way through Season Two. As with the drugs sold in East Baltimore that drive the show's narrative, "The Wire" is incredibly addictive. Last night we were down and out, looking for our fix of the next three episodes. I called our local video store to see if they had disc 4, season two, and the voice on the other line said, "Yes, but we're closed." Thankfully, the nice man on the other line must have sensed my desperation. He offered to let us pick up the video after hours, as he was stuck at the store backing up their computer database anyway. When we went by to pick it up, he explained that he too had seen Season One and knew how addictive it was. I told him we were fiending, and thanked him profusely. Four Star Video has earned a customer for life.

As our son continues to grow in my wife's womb and we've become less mobile, we've found ourselves watching more and more TV. This weekend we had the big discussion: Are we being dumbed down by the current crop of shows on TV, or are there simply more great TV shows now than there ever have been? We settled on the latter.

Not surfing related, but Kelly and I found out on Friday that our child will be a boy. (Due August 1st, 2005) It's a strange thing to find out, as it makes it much easier to imagine the child's life unfolding before us. "It" has suddently become "him."

Almost all of our surfboards have a nickname:

The Brotherhood
The Royal Charlie
The D**k
The Blueberry
The Red Bingers
The Raw Banana
The Creamcicle
The Stiff Peter
The Bordello of Blood
The Potato Chip

I finally found a new board -- a Roger Hinds 10' noserider. What shall we call it?

There's something about surfing such that no matter how many boards you have, you always want more. Right now I have my peepers peeled for an epoxy surftech board. I made the mistake of riding Jim's 9'6" McTavish and now I'm hooked and want one for myself. So light, so floaty, so strong.

It's been too long since I've posted and I'm so depressed about the election that I must turn my attention away from the news and toward surfing.

Winter is here, and I've had some really amazing days lately. We went down to Pleasure Point a few weeks ago, but that place is simply too crowded. The waves are great, but it's guaranteed that you will be dropped in on every time you catch a wave. I'd rather slum it at Linda Mar and catch 20 so-so waves than catch 5 perfect waves with clowns dropping in left and right.

Anyhow... Looking forward to checking out the hellmen at Maverick's at some point -- maybe this weekend? I hear there's a massive swell on the way.

I haven't been surfing much this week due to work and a general need for sleep. I'm heading to Big Sur this weekend, and hopefully will find some nice waves.

This story is incredible.

"SAN CLEMENTE, California (AP) -- A surfer says the swell he was riding on a recent trip turned out to be more than just a wave -- it was a whale.

Spyros Vamvas, a 60-year-old San Clemente therapist, felt the ocean swirl under him and was lifted up by the giant mammal.

"All of a sudden I just felt, wow, this huge noise and bump," said Vamvas, "and it lifted my board up. I'm looking down, and there's just swirling water and I see barnacles on the back of the whale. I'm used to dolphins. This was different. It was huge."

Witnesses at Lasuen Beach on Monday morning began yelling.

"We were all screaming, 'Oh my God!"' said Mona Ferner, who was playing volleyball with her sister when she spied the whale.

Vamvas had no idea how big the whale was. Others on the beach guessed between 15 feet to 30 feet long, meaning the whale was likely a juvenile.

Vamvas, who has been surfing since he was 12, said the whale lifted him gently. "I never changed position on my board," he said.

Those who saw the incident said that after setting Vamvas back onto the water, the whale turned and headed out toward the open sea.

"It looked like the whale was obviously spooked," said Marine Safety Capt. Bill Humphreys, one of several lifeguards on the beach.

The sight of the whale scared a number of surfers out of the water, Humphreys said. Vamvas was the only one left in the surf line as the whale approached. Witnesses said he was looking out to sea in search of a wave and didn't appear to see the animal heading his way.

Vamvas said that his 6-foot, 10-inch surfboard wasn't damaged, though he did pinch the middle finger of his left hand between the whale and his surfboard."