Since the PB beach riot during Memorial Day a few years back that led to the alcohol beach ban, its been harder and harder to enjoy the beaches during the summer.  I remember heading down to the beach when we were going to SDSU and burying a few kegs in the sand and having some of the most epic beach parties ever.  Memorial, Labor days, and 4th of July’s where PB was completely packed and parties raged from sunrise to sunset.  Now, we have to be god damn lawyers just to figure out a way to pound a few Natty lights with some sand between our toes.

Last years Floatopia went off without any major incident.  There were cops all over the place, and they had the area pretty well locked down.  Sheriffs, Coast Guard, and Lifeguards patrolled the water from boats to make sure that no one had too much fun.  We took the Calabria out and threw down anchor in the morning for what we thought was going to be a great day of partying and watching the aquatic shenanigans unfold, but the cops made sure that no one was going to have too much fun.  We weren’t allowed to go any closer than what seemed like 500 feet from shore.  We were tied up with our buddy Aaron’s Super Air Nautique, and they came by and made us untie because they were afraid of someone falling in between the boats and drowning.  Then we anchored out of the way by ourselves, and were constantly harassed by the sheriffs because we had the music up too loud.  They claimed that if anything was heard from 50 feet away we would receive a ticket for disturbing the peace.  All-in-all, they do a damn good job to harass everyone just trying to have a good time.  Its a far cry from Labor Day 2008 when we had topless girls on the boat partying over in sail bay and there wasn’t a cop in site.

Well this year, the Floatopia organizers are back with a new idea.  Since the city banned drinking on the beach and now drinking on the water in tubes or inflatable craft, Floatopia has now become ROWTOPIA.  The organizers are recommending that people show up in rowboats or any type of actual boat, where it is legal to be drinking.  However, as a boat owner, I’m well aware that the operators of any boat are subject to the same DUI laws as driving a vehicle on land, so someone will have to be responsible for keeping themselves under .08 (I had to take one for the team on this last year.  But with a $60,000 boat – I’m not looking for any DUI’s!).  I foresee quite a few arrests and DUI incidents this year with drunk college kids who rented paddle boats, and ticket-hungry cops who want them to pay for their ignorance.  I also see some probable cause for them to make tons of arrests because people will be tying these boats up together to form a floating party pad, a-la Copper Canyon in Havasu.

Overall, I’m sure it will be a decent event, as even last year didn’t get too crazy.  They’ll keep putting out new restrictions and people will keep figuring out ways around them.  Pretty soon you won’t be able to even look at the beaches in San Diego in case someone gets offended that you glared at them and sues the city.  At some point, we (collective, San Diego residents “we”) need to just stop for a second and say Hey, what the fuck.  Is this shit really necessary?

Check out some articles to see how the news is blowing it out of proportion and further propagating misunderstanding and misinformation…

http://www.10news.com/news/24833524/detail.html

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/feb/21/return-floatopia/

Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an exception to let you know that we’ve reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched within Gmail in February of this year.

Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.

The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users’ concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at http://www.BuzzClassAction.com.

——————————————————————–
This mandatory announcement was sent to all Gmail users in the United States as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043

They link over to the website dedicated to the issue:  http://www.buzzclassaction.com/

I don’t think that Google did anything heinously wrong and blatantly created a huge privacy issue here.  Sure, buzz sucks, but you were prompted to which contacts you wanted to share information with, and what accounts you wanted to link, etc.  But of course, someone saw an opportunity to sue them and see if they could make a quick buck.  I like how their settlement is to set up a $8.5 mil fund to increase online privacy awareness.  But do you think that will make any of us read privacy policies and terms of use?  Probably not…

Is it just me that thinks that Google should stick to the things they do best (maps, email, search…) and give up on the already crowded social space?  Thoughts?…

1.  One of my favorite Saves the Day songs and videos – Shoulder to the Wheel

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPqgXquPN8Q

2.  Can’t forget CADILLAC by MEST:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeLyLjYcOl4&ob=av2n

3.  Three’s a Charm by The Starting Line

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Z8yZFV4bc

4.  The Anthem by Good Charlotte, who can forget this classic!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=desJKYvdq9A

5.  So many great Sum 41 songs, but Still Waiting is one of the best!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO-mSLxih-c

Anyway, here are some awesome shots of random sights from my Dad.  My favorite is the Cadillac Ranch in Texas – I’ve seen pictures of this for years, and they always pop up on the HAMB every now and then too.  Would really like to see this in person at some point, because I love anything that has to do with classic caddy’s.  Something about those huge fins on a ’59 that I just really love!  Enjoy!

Sometimes it just seems like I’m not doing anything that great. Your life gets into a rut sometimes and you have to spin the tires to get out of it. I have been working for ESET for nearly a year and a half. Its a great job, but the same thing every day really begins to get monotonous. I suppose some of it is just that I dream of doing big things, but can’t figure out a way to get there. That and maybe that I haven’t really taken any time off since I started working here (I Have 91 hours of vacation time saved up!).

Well this one has definitely changed…I finally got out of that rut and am on to bigger and better things.  Who knows what this new job has in store for me, but its bringing a much needed life change.  Will be able to update more on that soon.

When things start to blend together into one constant stream, what do you do to differentiate one day to the next? Weeks tend to blur by, Monday turns into Friday, turns into a quick weekend where I try to accomplish everything I didn’t have time to do during the week, and the loop starts over. My roomate Adam recently said – “What would you do if you didn’t have some project to accomplish on the weekends”. True, I always am working on something – fixing a motorcycle, a truck, the boat. When do I have time to just sit back and enjoy the shit I worked my ass off to get? My brother and I do web site and graphic design as a side business, and most nights we come home from work only to turn on our computers at home and work on another project until nearly midnite.

Some of this is different, although much is the same.  I think working in a career you can’t really get out of the monotonous cycle of daily life.  Weekends are your chance to mix it up, and with a flexible work week coming up at my new place, it will be much better.  I am no longer friends with that old roommate Adam…he was part of a much needed house cleaning of throwing out friends that really did nothing for me, and caused me a lot of problems.  Good riddance, and makes room for better friends.  I also don’t do much website design anymore since I went back to school for my MBA – that takes up the majority of my time after work now.

But god damn it sometimes I just want a cigarette, and to have the conversations I used to have with the people I used to have them with. Maybe its just changes that come with age and maturity, but life used to seem a lot more passionate. Things used to be bright and colorful when you didn’t know where you were headed. Not that anything is bad now by any means, but it just seems to flow from one day to the next seamlessly, when it used to be clear, concise days of achievement and down time, where things could be accomplished at any time of the day or night. Now my life is blocked out from 8-5 monday through friday, rushed from 5-10, and hectic on weekends. This can’t be the way it was meant to be enjoyed? I’m not complaining by any means, and my tastes are way too rich to be enjoyed as a bum just living on the beach, but god damn it I have to figure out the way to live my life in a manner that keeps my fire burning, because I am quickly realizing that this is not it.

This is the major thing that really made me realize that not a whole lot has changed in the past couple years.   I still feel this way.  Still looking for someone or something that really gets me interested.  I don’t know why the days and nights seemed a lot longer back then, but they seem a whole lot shorter now.  I still haven’t figured this out, but I’m moving on to a new chapter in my life that might help get me a little closer to the answer.  I don’t have shit figured out, but you’ll hear it from me when I do!