da Kine Rising Tide

From the Other Coast Hi, guys, Sorry I have been remiss in adding to this blog. I hope to be a much more frequent contributor especially because I am in New York City this week, learning about multimedia technology to enhance my blog. The course is called "Backpack Journalism in a Digital Age," presented by the World Journalism Institute at King's College, a Christian school headquarted in the Empire State Building. Very cool class, classmates and instructors. More later.

Some blog trivia: On average, a blog is created every minute. The average readership for a blog is 1. A blogger commented in the latest issue of the Society of Environmental Journalists' quarterly journal that a blog is like a hungry puppy. You need to feed it at least twice a day, and then it gets hungrier -- and needs to be fed even more often. This reminds me of a phrase well-known to those who labor for wire services (a wire service is a news service that operates 24/7, such as The Associated Press, or Bloomberg, or Reuters, or Agence France Presse, or Deutsche Presse Agentur): A newsperson's job at a wire service is "feeding the beast. "

On Monday evening, as Surfergrl was about to make dinner, she turned on the kitchen light and saw ... GASP!!! the biggest cockroach she's seen since leaving Hawaii to go to college. This roach was THREE INCHES LONG! (Am now going to abandon the third-person ...) I have since found out from longtime beach residents that roaches and ants are as much a part of life at the beach as the sand and the ocean. A big roach is OK, I'm told. You just tolerate its presence, and it will eventually scuttle away, back where it came from. One should be alarmed should one spot a bunch of baby roaches. Then you probably need to get out the insecticide. At least the ants in my apartment are the small black ones. I crush them and leave their carcasses where they lie, hoping that the bodies will send out signals that their brethren should stay away from this dangerous zone. +++ At 5 p.m. local time this Saturday, Aug. 16, CNN will carry a live broadcast of the Rev. Rick Warren's forum in Lake Fo...

It's supposed to be a hot day today, so the grayness laying over the coast should dissipate by the afternoon. I hope.

I've found out that Sen. Barack Obama will be back in Orange County on Aug. 16. He and his Republican presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, have accepted an invitation from the Rev. Rick Warren to speak at Warren's church in Lake Forest. Warren told The New York Times that he will NOT ask them any "gotcha" questions. Maybe Surfergrl will get a chance at an autograph from Obama. Rolling Stone magazine's latest issue features a wonderful cover photo of Obama.

For starters, I am planning to use a bodyboard to ride the waves. The water is not quite warm enuf for my taste, so I will be wearing a Roxy wetsuit. On my feet I may wear my brand-new aqua-colored "booties" for surfers. They provide total protection for one's feet. I say "may" because, so far, I have not seen any surfers at Newport Beach wearing any kind of footgear. The sand in the ocean here is so nice and free of debris that the surfers apparently consider it safe to stride into the water barefoot.

No, Surfergrl did NOT get to see Sen. Obama in Newport Beach. The fundraising event was by-invitation-only, and the Democratic Party headquarters in Orange County wasn't answering the phone that Sunday. You might ask, couldn't you try to get an autograph or glimpse the Presidential Democratic Nominee as he entered the Balboa Bay Club? Nope. Hotels typically have secret passageways, hidden from public view, to allow famous people to enter and exit. Oh well, maybe another time.