Flashback Weather

It's a bright sunny day but the air is quite cold, by Bay Area standards anyway. My cab driver today told me about ice on his windshield this morning that he had to scrape off. You should have met him, he made my day. Older Russian guy with a thick accent who knew some Filipino. Cracked me up. Not only that but he got me to my destination utilizing fast shortcuts, that was much appreciated, but I digress...I think we hit as low as the high 20's last night. News said something about cold air from Canada. Speaking of which I do hope our Hockey teams does better this year against them but yet I digress again...Anyway days like this makes me want to put on my trail shoes and head for the hills. It's like excercising in an air conditioned room, you get to have it both ways; a sunny day and cool temperatures. Now for the flashback part.

Thinking about this reminded me of my freshmen year in the University of Hawaii, back then I worked in the records department part-time. Our schedule was very flexible because they just assumed we had our classes and school related stuff to take care of. I usually came in the afternoons and I would have always have the radio on. Transferring old records from microfiche to the "Wang" computers was an extremely boring process. Anyway one afternoon the news broadcasted the coming of new swells to the west side of the Island, perfect waves for surfing they exclaimed. In ten minutes I was on my way home. In another half hour I was out on the rocks with my boogie board and fins, about to join all the other folks who had gotten out early to take advantage of the surf. In Hawaii the weather is almost always great but good surf is harder to come by. Everyone on the beach was in a good mood. Some kids remarked how the day was interrupted for a couple of hours by a shark that had wandered in. Everyone got out for a couple hours. It must have been during lunch because from what I saw everyone was back in:) Although once I got in the water I wished I had a surfboard, at least those guys have their legs out of the water and travel much faster on the surface. We don't have Great White sharks in the islands but we do have the next terrible thing - the Tigershark.

Nevertheless I had a great time, fear left after the first wave. Back then I couldn't imagine ever leaving the islands or having a lifestyle other than the one I had. My attitude and outlook back then is no different from the one I have now for the Bay Area. Hmm...something to ponder about. Great, like there isn't enough in my head already!