Gimp had a good time riding some waves back in the Thanksgiving time of year. Looks cold, but fun and really freakin' uncrowded (photos by Notorious N.i.k. Patantyus):
TUESDAY December 30th, 2008
You may have seen pictures of this crazy surfboard made out of cardboard--I saw it and was blown away. It looked amazing and it minimized the environmental cost of surfboards... now if it could work, be strong, and be easy to make we might have something. Haven't heard anything else about these boards until today when I found the guy's website. It's an amazingly detailed website and the guy is basically doing all this work out of his garage--someone give this guy some start-up / development money.
Loving this. Seriously, this is why I am friends with John DiGenni:
John is right on with his analysis. Brooke and I are completely guilty of projecting a personality onto Jake. And this personality is so unrealistic, so fantastical that no one would ever believe it. This personality is of a being who is a great friend to us, who would do anything for us, who runs a guest house (among other things), knows how to play a rusty trombone, and who is dating his godmother's daughter who happens to be his mother's god daughter.
I mean come on, that sack of walking fur and drool has some kind of spell on us...
What a crazy doggie! Yes he is! Yes he is! Cute li'l doggie woggie shmookums....
MONDAY December 29th, 2008
Today's date is whatever F12 on my Mac says it is. Funny that we rely on computers so much... for everything, really.
Working in the office is torture--the building is empty, the atrium is full of paint chips (blown off the girders during the last storm), and my office is usually pretty cold. It's a no-brainer: the home-office is where it is for this week. I've got the dog, the nice gas stove heating the house, and a nice comfy corduroy couch.
On my last trip to NJ, I went through some of my trove of historical items and found this:
This letter arrived with a mix tape made by the Zeus when I was living down in Florida (1st year of college). In classic Zeus style, he included a bunch of crap in the envelope--stickers, coupons, etc. While, it is a possibility that I had his Bouncing Souls and Get Up Kids CDs, but I definitely would not have taken his Dave Matthews Band CD. Notice the guy is wearing platform shoes inspired by the movie I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
SATURDAY December 27th, 2008
Got a bunch of things here... let me dig through the bag...
Things you should see...
Shephard Fairey's TimeMagazine cover:
There's some neato photos of Barack from the early 80s.
Also, we recommend seeing Marley and Me. Owen Wilson is funny, Jennifer Anniston is hot, and the movie makes you feel good... until the end when the entire movie theater will be bawling their eyes out. Grown men, little girls, little boys, all crying. Sad.
Here's B and J. P was probably working on his computer or something.
THURSDAY December 25th, 2008 CHRISTMAS DAY!
Ok! OK! Merry Christmas! If you are even checking this website on Christmas, then maybe you're more bored than me (a possibility).
Well, I'm actually making this on Christmas Eve. Brooke and I just got back from a big dinner, then we went to the Comedy Store (you don't want to know how that was...). Anyway, the night was fun and I've uploaded the very last bit of video I have from our wedding.
It's good.
Real good.
It's the last two songs the Soul Cruisers played and all the cool people can be seen. See it for yourself:
Tomorrow, Brooke and I will be chilling out. Most people are out of town and our friends that are still around, they will be forced to be with their girlfriends all day.
WEDNESDAY December 24th, 2008
Man, the days are flying by now--time for some Christmas tree photos (click around on the ornaments):
And a Christmas hello from Jake and Davis:
TUESDAY December 23rd, 2008
As we approach the Christmas holiday, we're receiving lots and lots of seasons greetings... makes you feel like an adult (or something). Lots of pictures of kids in Christmas outfits:
My nephew Wesley Ryan Andrews
Emily Logan
And then, there's this from Robyn Alley:
MONDAY December 22nd, 2008
I'm updating the Brian/Becky Pellini wedding website with a bunch of photos I took from their photographer's website. Click on through here to see them:
SUNDAY December 21st, 2008
I'd like to offer my apologies to all the PRafterDotCom readers out there--in the words of one loyal reader, "It's been really lame lately and I've been thinking about canceling my subscription".
To all the loyal, lovable readers across the universe, I promise that in the future you will always get your money's worth...
Ryan Miller has been productive and reproductive--check out the spread on the Surfing Magazine website:
Funny, I didn't know Ryan was a "Photograhpher".
And I guess that Matty Pellini put a ring on lovely lady Tara's finger... back around early November? PRafterDotCom was completely out of the loop on that one... or I just forgot immediately after hearing it (a possibility in these hectic times). Congratulations!
This is the only photo I have with both Tara and Matty. Sorry.
SATURDAY December 20th, 2008 (continued)
Been working on the site, reading science papers, playing with the dog... no waves today and I've been working so hard these past few months that I feel good just chilling today.
While I'm working at home, I have some of these Whale Wars episodes playing in the background... so painful to see the ineptitude of the crew. So. Very. Painful. Really, it would have been better if I never knew what happens on that boat. The stupidity of the crew means that at some point someone is going to get hurt (or worse) because of bad crew judgment and bad leadership.
I was thinking that these guys need a professional captain calling the shots, but they basically chased away two very experienced mariners in this season. If you care, check this video to see what calm, experienced leadership looks like.
SATURDAY December 20th, 2008
Alright. I'm finally done with last week's AGU conference and things went well!
Last week I:
Met a lot of great scientists
Made some new friends
Ate a lot of good food (Millenium is a really good, but pricey vegetarian place)
Learned a lot about beer (my travel partner/hotel sponsor Evan is a true beer lover)
Walked many miles around San Francisco's Mission and Tenderloin districts
Saw the singer of These Arms are Snakes break a bottle and then cut himself with it
Saw a lot of strange people on the streets of SF
And got my post-graduate school plans finalized
Generally speaking, a productive week.
Here's some images that sum things up:
We drove up the 5, this is the "grapevine". Remarkably clear skies and green hillsides because of the rain.
Stayed at the Rex hotel--named after a dog that used to hang out there. There's a dog in the lobby all the time (a pug).
San Francisco's Union Square with cable cars.
It rained. A lot.
The people making the badges at these conferences are notoriously bad spellers. In previous years, I was surprised to see that my friends hadn't spell-checked their own badges... on the second day of the conference someone points out that my name is spelled, "Patrick Pafter" and then I notice that I study "Oceanagraphy". I just kept it that way--too much hassle to get it changed.
This guy was holding mistletoe over everyone walking down busy Powell street, demanding that they kiss. He wasn't asking for money, just wanted people to kiss under the mistletoe. Weird, but not unexpected.
Meanwhile, people are reproducing!
Isabel Miller (or Seymour?) with Tina Seymour (or Miller?) showing her love.
Congratulations to Ryan and Cristen on their healthy, cute, and hairy baby. Looks like she's got dad's bushy hair already.
SATURDAY December 13th, 2008
Working on some final prep. work for this week's meeting and watching my second episode of Whale Wars... without commenting on the effectiveness of direct action versus peaceful protest, I have to say that these people are some of the biggest morons I've ever met.
While I would never say I'm an veteran seaman I have spent about 2-3 months on working boats and I have an idea what it takes to work on deck. You need practice to make sure people know what they're doing and most importantly, to make sure they know what not to do. Working on deck is not intuitive and you need to have military precision if speed is the primary goal, which it is with this crew. In one episode, they completely failed in their primary mission (annoy whaling ships) because they didn't know how to launch boats quickly or safely and on top of that, two people were injured.
The crew on the Steve Irwin (including the captain) are really, really lucky no one has died yet.
Lucky for them, it's fascinating to watch this show.
FRIDAY December 12th, 2008
Cool stuff at Scripps--our "boat" that flips 90 degrees and becomes a free-standing "Research Platform" in the middle of the ocean. Appropriately, it is called, "FLIP".
Dang, I thought yesterday was Tuesday and now I'm realizing the week is almost over.
Well, I'm starting to get back into this website thing now that I'm ready for this meeting in San Francisco. I'm presenting my research (what's done so far) as a poster and here's a tease:
Yeah, you can't see too much, but that's ok because none of it is published and I wouldn't want to tip off all of my fierce competitors...
Just wanted to show off the lovely layout of my poster. I'm proud.
Yes, that is something like 5 years of work... actually, I have more, but that would take another poster.
WEDNESDAY December 10th, 2008
I hear there is some big surfing board stuff over on the Sandwich Islands. I guess some guy knows some guys that I know and they partied like they won a surfing board contest:
THURSDAY December 4th, 2008
This was totally worth waiting over two weeks for me to update:
Probably the strangest / greatest music video made in the '80s.
Help out A Wish from a Fish: A fundraising event for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation I hear that it went well, Click here!
I still want a poster...
PRafterDotCom Top 5 (20081229):
(1) Warm fire on a cold San Diego night.
(2) Cinnamon. Love it. On everything.
(3) Mad Men. From the RJD2 theme song to the accurate portrayal of the chain-smoking people in the '50s and '60s, it's a great show.
(4) Seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel.
(5) Last.fm... reminding me of all the bands I forgot I liked...
PRafterDotCom Playlist (20081230): Flashback to stuff I forgot I liked.
(1) Husker Du (2) Orchid (3) Saetia (4) Drive Like Jehu (I really forgot that they were any good) (5) Reversal of Man
Those were the days... what happened to all the good bands?
--------------------------------------------- LINKS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH PRAFTERDOTCOM (what I do when I'm cruising the internets)... --------------------------------------------
My nephew Wesley Ryan Andrews 
Emily Logan 
Galapagos/Mexico Trip
