Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Beach is Back, A Rechristening, Carly Simon and Ketchup

Yes!
The beach is back!
Thanks to the funny kine weather we've been having, the sand has been creeping back up on Kailua Beach.
Here's an image from November:



As you can see, on the far side of boat ramp, the beach is nearly washed out. That thingy near the water line is an erosion barrier.
The water was getting so close to the trees, a crew had to remove one that was becoming a hazard.
Here's a pic from today:



There's got to be at least another twenty five yards of shore line there. The sunbathers must be happy.
I've seen this kind of thing happen before at Makapu'u Beach. Famous for body surfing, the beach undergoes a drastic change depending on the seasons. In summer, the beach is nice and wide with lots of sand. During the winter, when the waves get big, the sand sucks out and the waves break farther out. I remember almost drowning there during one winter break.
Anyways, the unusual weather that brought the sand back in to Kailua Beach is also bringing in some gusty winds. For the last week, I've been battling crosswinds during my rides.
I've not been having fun.
Probably why my heart rate is on the high side too.
So today, I decided to take a break, a recovery day so to speak, and take out the Beach Bike.
Well, I no longer call it the Beach Bike.
For one thing, I almost never take it to the beach. I mean I get close to the beach, like right there, but I'm always just passing by.
I guess I could call it the Passing By The Beach Bike, but that's a bit too long. If I abbreviate it, PBTBB just doesn't roll off the tongue.
So, I have decided to call it what it feels like I'm pedaling when I'm pedaling into the wind.
The Barn Door.
I was going to call it a Four By Eight Piece of Plywood, but that's even worse than Passing By The Beach Bike.
FBEPP isn't much better than PBTBB.
I also thought of calling it a Boat Anchor, but that seemed sort of cruel.
Besides, I use Boat Anchor for some of my heavier pieces of pottery.
So what does Carly Simon have to do with all this?
Well, she was married once to James Taylor and one of her songs was used in a Heinz ketchup commercial.
Lemme just check to make sure they spell it ketchup and not catsup:



Okay.
Since I mentioned the ketchup, you should have figured out that the anticipation here is at an all time high.
According to the tracking, the Package is in Honolulu awaiting delivery to my doorstep.
This has possibly been the longest four days of my life.
Okay, not really.
But:
I may not sleep tonight.
I may not go to work tomorrow.
I will keep tracking the Package until it is no longer humanly possible.
This better be better than ketchup.

4 comments:

dogimo said...

I can't believe you had to google the spelling of how Heinz spells ketchup. Even HUNTS doesn't spell it "catsup"!

limom said...

The Flat Tire is dedicated to delivering the most current, precise, and factual information available.
Besides, I wasn't sure. Here it's Del Monte FTW.
I always wondered about catsup. Is it a regional thing like Hellman's?

John Romeo Alpha said...

I am going to run some searches on a popular e-commerce site for 'catsup' now to see if they start blasting me emails along the lines of "You have recently shown an interest in tomato-based condiments...", and if so, if they respect my regional preference for "catsup".

limom said...

I'm bracing myself.
Using the word catsup in an unapproved zone could set off civil defense sirens, cause servers to crash, and send NORAD into DEFCON 1.