Love of Water Sports

Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about boating, skiing, SCUBA, etc. I didn't even know about the other kind until my first year of medical school. I couldn't figure out how SCUBA diving was at all a risk for HIV. Someone had to explain it to me.

Anyway, I love the water, and my dad has owned several boats over the years. The first one we got was a rubber raft with an outboard motor, and the last one was a 26 footer with a queen bed and small galley.

I thoroughly enjoyed those boats, but I don't think I would ever own one myself. When we would go out, we had to hook up the boat trailer, check the lights, drive this massive thing down the freeway (another point: you'd better be going local, because it's not like you can have your 26 footer as "checked baggage" on your flight ... even on Virgin America), pay for the use of the boat launch, park your truck (another side point: have to have a truck big enough to haul your boat) and trailer, and finally you could enjoy the boat. Once the day was over, it wasn't really over, because then you had to take the boat out of the water, drive over to the boat rinsing area to give her a terse cleaning, drive back home, then give her a real cleaning (or else you have a stinky boat that may even start growing things, and if you went into salt water, you can't let that sit in the engine).

[gasp]

Then there's the fact that you had to buy the boat, and unless you are rich, you've probably got a loan on it, which means interest payments, plus vehicle registration, onto which they add a luxury tax. Don't forget you have to maintain proper, functioning safety equipment aboard, plus boat insurance, and we always carried Vessel Assist in the event of an emergency (we never had one, but we did cross another boat that was stranded - without safety equipment or a radio - and we radioed for help for them ... didn't envy their rescue bill, nor probable coast guard citation).

Bottom line, for as much as I would probably use a boat, it would be more financially sound for me to rent rather than buy. Not that I've tried to rent a boat ... though back in the day, my family rented boats for a week at a time out on Lake Mohave in Arizona. We weren't rolling in dough, so I imagine it wasn't Bill Gates-type expensive. I calculated it once a few years ago, and I found that I could rent a yacht for a week for what my dad paid annually to maintain his boat. Granted, then I'd have to crew the yacht, but the point is that owning is very expensive.

If you own a boat, make sure you use the hell out of it every year, or you're throwing money down the ... poop deck.

Don't forget to check out the e-book at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32964
Hopefully I'll have a novella available by the end of this month! Tell a friend!
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New Year's Celebrations

Happy New Year everyone!

What did you do at midnight New Year's Eve? Being a Los Angelino, I watched the big ball drop ... in Times Square ... at 9 PM.

What is up with that? I live in Los Angeles ... even if we allow New York to claim the spot as the most important city in the US, we have got to be the second. So why do I have to watch a re-run of the New Year that New York rung in at 9 PM???

So I was watching the festivities on TV, and after New York did their thing at 9 they threw it over to Nashville.

Really? I mean, LA is way more important than Nashville.

But apparently last year they thought, "Hey, New York drops a ball, why don't we drop a guitar ... a giant guitar made of lights ... The Nashville Guitar!"

And this year New Jersey got in on the action! They dropped Snooki at midnight. Personally, I think I'd have dropped her long ago, but that's me.

So New York has a thing, Nashville has a thing, Jersey has a thing ... when does LA get its thing? And what would we drop? I mean, what are we most known for? A giant silicon breast?

We're also famous for TV and movies...so do we drop a studio executive? A roll of film? Dropping film may be difficult ... it's almost impossible to get anything green-lighted in Hollywood.

Maybe we need to follow Jersey's example of dropping celebrities who need to disappear. I'd say maybe Paris Hilton, but she's already sorta gone. Las Vegas dropped her already. We still have Lindsay Lohan, though...she's a good candidate for 2011. Or maybe Mel Gibson. I'd say Charlie Sheen, but he always bounces back, and we'd have to do it all over.

This could be good. We could export this to other states, or even countries. El Paso can drop a giant gun pointed at Juarez. Meanwhile, Juarez can drop a giant lit up 15 year old Coyote with a target on his chest.

We're not even the first country to ring in the new year ... that really goes to New Zealand or Fiji. We're pretty much the last ... I mean, between Alaska and The American Samoa. I think maybe we should coordinate it so that the (whatever) drops are progressively more interesting, reaching a final climax with the last one of the 24 hour period.

Fiji, we could start off dropping a ... palm tree?

Beijing could drop an egg roll. Actually, I guess if they drop an egg roll they'll have to drop one every hour ...

London can drop an effigy of the queen.

New York can have their ball, then Nashville with their guitar. Mexico City will have to drop a Mariachi player. We'll need something for Mountain Time ... that could be Arizona, they can drop an illegal immigrant. Oh! Or a prisoner from one of Sherriff Joe's prisons! Or Wyoming could drop a cowboy. Or we could have Utah drop a Mormon missionary.

Okay, so then we have Pacific time, and we can drop a giant breast over the Staples center. Or maybe US Bank - you can see that from Pershing Square. Or that new Ritz Carlton/Marriott ... you can see that from the Staples Center. California is known for its water activities ... maybe we could rig it with a giant fountain to gush atop the Ritz Carlton at the New Year ... it already looks like a giant penis to me.

Of course, then there would be no topping that. After Los Angeles we pretty much have Alaska and Samoa. Oh, there's Hawaii - they could have a hula dancer hula her way down a pole. Still, there's that one last time zone that includes Samoa and some Alaskan islands. I don't think Samoa is going to get us too excited, so I think the last celebration of the year should be a husky frontiersman, and at midnight he fires a blast killing Alaska's giant pain in the ass grizzly momma, Sarah Palin.

Don't forget to check out the e-book at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32964
Hopefully I'll have a novella available by the end of this month! Tell a friend!
And please write a review on Smashwords and/or Amazon.com.

Indio, CA

So, I have a confession. In my younger days (no, they didn't call me Delta Dawn) I got sucked into buying a timeshare. After a while, I wasn't sure it was such a great idea. I liked the properties at which I stayed, and initially I didn't have much of a problem finding availability. Maybe I'm a bit too snobbish, but most of my problem was the other owners - they were a bit trashy.

A while ago I decided I would stay in Palm Springs over Christmas to be near my family. There are two main resorts in my program in the Palm Springs area - one downtown and one way out in Indio. Now, what I know about Indio is that kids that are kicked out of Palm Springs High went to Indio High. Still, from the pictures on the website, the Indio resort looked a lot nicer than the Palm Springs resort, so I reserved there.

Oh...

My...

God!

I drove into the resort, which seems like it is way off in the boonies (really less than 5 minutes from major shopping centers), and saw the parking lot filled with Lexuses (Lexi?), Mercedeses (Mercedi?) and even a Bently! I checked in with the nicest lady and then headed for my condo, passing a pond/river that surrounds the whole property. I entered my unit and, from the front door, I could see the large private balcony off the living room. I stepped outside and was greeted by a spectacular view of the river, which widened just outside my building to allow room for an island on which there were barbecues and picnic tables. To my left and right were Jacuzzis. Back out the front door, a great view of the 18th fairway of Terra Lago.

Wandering around the property I found beauty all around. I found heated pools and a "lazy river," fountains shooting water three stories into the air for kids to run through, a gym for those over 18 years of age, a game room with foosball, billiards, table tennis and video games. Yes, Downtown Palm Springs is quite a trip from Indio, but to be honest, I never felt a real need to drive all the way there. Everything I needed was either on the property or within a 5 minute drive of the resort.

Interestingly, prior to making the reservation I was concerned about the noise at the resort. I read several reviews where prior guests complained that the walls were thin enough to allow neighbors' conversations to drift in and disturb them. Next door to my unit was a family with 3 children between the ages of 7 and 12. When I could see them, they were very active and rambunctious. However, whenever I was inside my condo, I only heard the noise I made.

Indio has been reborn in my mind. No longer is it the home of "continuation school," but a beautiful and peaceful place to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Don't forget to check out the e-book at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32964
Hopefully I'll have a novella available by January! Tell a friend!
And don't forget to write a review on Smashwords and/or Amazon.com.