I’m on a surfing hiatus. Not entirely by choice. There’s just nowhere within an hour or two of here that isn’t frozen solid at least a hundred feet out. Figuring that it’ll be a few weeks minimum before I can get back in the drink, and I suppose by then I’ll be in another hemisphere. So probably the end of March will be the next time out. Or maybe I can squeeze a ride or two in in early March.

I’ve been trying to retain that feeling from Saturday night. You know that post concert glow where you feel puffed up and completely happy. Downloaded a bunch of concert footage and other media after a three hour nap this afternoon. Neat thing about Sigur Ros is that they encourage sharing of their concerts. Here are some FLAC audio files from the Calvin College concert.

Sigur Ros Calvin College Early Show Download (.torrent 422 mb)

Just got back from the Sigur Ros concert at Calvin College (I don’t know how they keep pulling in these stellar groups). Unbelievable. Just an absolutely mesmerizing experience. It was such an expansive overpowering sound live, especially when mixed with a swirling backdrop of colors and shapes.

Setlist:
01 takk/glossoli
02 ny batteri
03 saeglopur
04 untitled 1
05 untitled 2
06 untitled 3
07 gong
08 andvari
09 hoppipolla/med blodnasir
10 olsen olsen
11 svo hjott
12 heysatan
13 untitled 8

Surf Report # 13

Location: Grand Haven, MI – North Pier
Time: 9:00 am – 10:00 am
Air Temp: 24° F
Water Temp: 34° F
Wind: From NW 15 mph
Waves: 5-8 feet
Gear: 5/3 wetsuit, 5 mm boots, 3 mm gloves, .5 mm hood

Writing this for yesterday’s session. Super cold out in the morning, definitely the coldest “feeling” day I’ve been out. When that first wave slapped me in the face followed by a maelstrom of wind, flying ice chips, and more breaking waves all around me, I have to say it was a little disconcerting. My face went completely numb after that for about five minutes but then I started to get my bearings back and had a blast for the next forty five minutes. Lots of really big waves today, so lots of fun rides. Made a few more bottom turns, but nothing spectacular. Also had a really fun ride where Dan and I both caught the same wave and stood up about thirty feet apart. That right there made the whole day worth it. I got out of the water with a pretty substantial layer of ice caking my upper body including a large chunk of hair frozen into my hood. That wasn’t the most pleasant extraction process.

Updated forcast for the morning. Even bigger…

Friday
Northwest gales to 35 knots decreasing to 30 knots in the late morning and afternoon. Blowing snow in the morning. Snow showers in the morning…then numerous snow showers in the afternoon. Waves 12 to 16 feet subsiding to 6 to 10 feet.

Crazy. I guess we’ll find out in the morning if it’s even worth making the trip out. By the that I mean if it’s even posible to make the trip (road conditions) and if it looks safe enough. Crazy.

Let me just say that I love Nike commercials. It’s almost a given that I’ll enjoy any new Nike commercial. Not that I necessarily love the company or even the product they produce, just the commercials. It’s just so easy to get inspired by some peppy ethereal music and shots of an athlete training like there’s no tomorrow. It works for me at least.

Nike broke their usual mold just a little with their latest ad when they tossed in some AC/DC as the backdrop. I think it works though and here’s why. It’s not the lyrics…

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

Hey there, all you middle men
Throw away your fancy clothes
And while you’re out there sittin’ on a fence
So get off your ass and come down here
‘Cause rock ‘n’ roll ain’t no riddle man
To me it makes good, good sense

Good sense
Ow
Oooh yeah

…because it would certainly be a stretch to say that they have anything to day with athletics or the pursuit of physical fitness. And I don’t think it’s overtly the way the music makes you feel (say, if you heard the song without the images). So here it is. It’s the pace of the song and the way it mirrors dragging yourself out of bed and plunging into exercise. It starts slow, almost reluctantly, picks up the pace, picks up the pace some more, then boom, go go go.

I guess I don’t know why exactly this would be inspiring, but I suppose it helps you picture athletes cranking up their day even when you feel like doing the opposite. I think anyone who’s ever done the early morning training thing at least will definitely identify.

Anyway, I looked around on the Internet trying to find the extended 60 second version of this commercial for download and couldn’t find it anywhere (I like the way the ocean swell rolls through in the surfer scene in the long version and I think the build up is more effective) but couldn’t find the commercial even for viewing anywhere but nikeair.com. Long story short, I eventually gave up and just made my own copy of the commercial. So here it is for download if anyone’s interested. The commercial is called Awake.

Download Nike Awake Commercial – WMV format – 3.63 mb (zipped)