24 is cool

Twenty four is such a great show. I know that you may say that it’s cheesy and the acting isn’t great or whatever, I don’t really care. The show is freaking epic. I must say that my favorite character is Jack Bauer. That man is so legendary that it’s a real shame that he doesn’t exist in real life. Maybe he really does and he is singlehandedly saving our great country from terrorists. We just can’t know about him because his safety would then be compromised. Either way, Jack Bauer really adds to the epic quality. I guess he carries the show in a way.

            Otherwise, I haven’t seen the show in a while and it’s not as great as it used to be. It doesn’t seem as exciting and genuine as it used to but there are some qualities that make it even better. There certainly is a lot more money and effort going into making the series now. Every year, the plot progresses to a whole new level. In the first year, Jack only had to save the president. In the next season, there was a whole city at stake and implications involving the nation. In the third, the threat to the entire country was real because of terrorists. I lost track what really happened between now and then, but it mostly just dealt with more terrorists who had links to Russians. I despise Russians, but it turns out that they aren’t the greatest threat to our national security. It turns out that the threat comes from within or own borders and among the people who lead our country. Are the creators trying to tell us something. I just wish there were more people in our ranks like Jack Bauer. Someone that is brave, intelligent, skillful, and guided by good morals. Jack Bauer for president! 

A beautiful Sunday afternoon, and more about surfing

            Today is Sunday morning, and it is a beautiful Sunday morning at that. While it may be a little bit chilly, it is a perfect day in my opinion. There is a cool, stiff breeze and the sun is bright. While there are a few clouds in the sky, they are too far to the west to bother us, at least for now. It seems really beautiful to me, because it reminds me a lot of home. I was thinking about it this afternoon when I was going to get breakfast, and yes, I get breakfast at 2:00 on Sundays. So I thought, what is it about today that I find so pleasing to my psyche?

            Then it hit me. Today is exactly the kind of day that the surf is good back home. I know all of you blog readers might be getting tired of me talking about surfing and almost nothing else, but this hobby controls my mind no matter where I am and what disposition I am in. Even though I have been at school for a couple months, I feel that my surfing sixth sense is running strong. Back home, there was just something that I could feel in the air and I just knew that the surf was doing something special. What was it that I felt exactly? It’s pretty difficult to describe how I can tell, but it’s just something that is ingrained in me now. First of all, I can tell by the temperature and dryness of the strong wind that it is blowing almost directly from the northwest. In addition, I see the clear skies and feel the dry air, which is a common characteristic of a northwest wind. Then, I studied the trees and it looked like the wind was blowing from the northwest, judging from where North Campus and the bell tower are. And strangely enough, it’s like I am sensitive to pressure in the air. You may not believe me, but after checking the waves back home and studying conditions multiple times a day, it is something that has become fine-tuned. This tells me that there is a high-pressure over Chapel Hill, and most likely, all of Eastern North Carolina for that matter. The northwest wind tells me that the high pressure is pushing against a low pressure that is currently spinning off the coast. So what does this mean for the surf? The low pressure that should be there is sending significant waves to the East Coast, and probably Ocracoke. The Northwest wind means that the skies are clear and the wind is blowing directly offshore back home, which makes the waves super clean.

            This is basically just a hunch that I have. Sometimes when I have this feeling, I’ll go out to check the waves and find that the waves are small, even though the wind is perfect. So as soon as I got back from breakfast, I checked Surfline.com, my most trusted surf forecasting website. It turns out that the wind is blowing directly northwest, and there is a fast-moving low pressure near the outer banks. The near shore swell heights say there is a 10-11 foot swell for Sunday, but it is moving quickly and won’t quite show up that big. While it is probably overhead in the standout breaks of Hatteras and Pea Island, Ocracoke will probably be showing a chest to head high swell with super clean conditions. Now I’m just really, really sad that I am not out surfing like my friends most definitely are.

Getting Buff

            This weekend, I decided that I really needed to get out and get some serious exercise. I have been walking a lot and riding my bike up hill has given me some but it wasn’t enough. I decided that I had to check out the Rams Head fitness center because I need to take advantage of these facilities that are paid for in part by my tuition. Basketball is one of my favorite sports and I played that first. Unfortunately, I was really rusty when I got out onto the court. It seriously took me about 10 tries to make my first shot. I was quickly dragged into a full court game. I didn’t take many shots in the first game. I set up some good scores with good passes. Luckily, my defense wasn’t very unorganized and I got several good rebounds, a steal, and intercepted some passes. The second game didn’t go too well. I messed up some good drives with my uncoordinated shooting. I used to do well at laying the ball up but I was too slow in my movements. I shot around a little bit more and then went to work out.

            I like the weight and fitness equipment at Rams Head fitness center a lot. It’s all in very good condition, I think everything works how it should, and best of all, there’s TV! I’m just joking about that last part. I wasn’t too big on watching the TV when I was there. I’m too concerned with trying to get buff. I really have lost a lot of endurance and overall strength since before summer. I was in an athletics class back home during senior year. I stayed fit through summer but I haven’t had much physical activity since coming to Chapel Hill. Besides the fact that it’s good for me, I had a lot of fun and I’m going often from now on.

Presidential election importance pt 1

            Everyone knows that the elections are fast approaching but it hasn’t quite hit me yet the importance of this election and how important this month is. The result of this election guides the next four years of our lives differently than the other candidate would have. I like expressing my political views and with this election, I seriously can’t believe that McCain has as much support as he does. I feel like their supporters are just very narrow minded and don’t question their views or question what the candidate says to the American public. I question Obama as well and while I definitely find gray areas, I think that he is basically the only choice. It just really frustrates me how slim our choices are. To me, it seems almost like our system of elections is a failure because of the people we see before us. I agree that Obama is my favorite choice for the front-running Democrats, but there are others. Biden wasn’t a serious candidate for president, but in some respects I like him more than his running mate. As for McCain, the choice of his running mate should be all the more obvious reason that we cannot vote for him. The job of the VP is to be ready is something were to happen to the president and we need someone to take the helm.

            John McCain’s argument about experience is ridiculous. Both Biden and Obama are highly qualified and well educated. Sarah Palin is a joke for a candidate. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the millions of Americans that say they admire her and think she’s a good woman. She seems more cut out for the PTA presidency. Even as a governor, I think that she is way way way too ignorant, easily- swayed, prone to changes in decisions, and so on. I don’t ever see anything about any of her arguments that is foolproof against her opponents. I hope you all agree.