A Slice of Summer in SoCal

Got back from an incredible trip to San Diego. I managed to complete an aquathlon, my PADI scuba certification (open water diving), and learned how to surf.

Surfing

I've always wondered how it worked. Like most things, it's one thing to read about the mechanics of a physical hobby like surfing and another to experience the mechanics first hand. Feeling the water rush up against the board as the tide comes in was incredible. The water creates just the right amount of stability to pop on to the board and to stand on it. My cousin says I was "barrelled" - I think he was being a bit generous.

Aquathlon

I participated in CROCfest, a local adventure store was running an 800m swim + 5K run event to support a local children's hospital. I was able to break in my Xterra wetsuit for this event. I was surprised at how buoyant the suit made me in salt water, compared to the DC tri, which was a freshwater swim without the suit.

I'm still ridiculously slow in the water and I plan to focus my training regiment for distance and speed the next couple of months in the pool. It's a challenge I'm looking forward to tackling in preparation for the Nation's Triathlon.

PADI Scuba Certification

This was a heck of a good time. I completed the online course work for the cert and I managed to complete my required dives in 2 days. I went through the OEX shop in La Jolla for an individual training session. It was a very crawl-walk-run styled program.

Pool Training

Day one consisted of pool work, a 20 ft dive, and a 30 ft dive. In the pool, I managed to complete all but one task with little difficulty. The mask clearing section was difficult to master. Having to stop breathing through your nose is a bit challenging to learn. I caught myself breathing in water at the most inappropriate times.

The Shore Dive

We kitted up on the beach, walked about 20 feet into the surf, inflated our BCD's, donned our fins, and swam out about 50 ft from the beach to begin training.

The 20 ft dive wasn't too bad. My equipment worked well, we went down and I had an opportunity to watch bat rays and schools of sardines go about their daily business. the thermocline wasn't too bad either. At this point, my instructor snapped a photo for me (and I snagged one of him) for my family to check out, we surfaced, took a break and walked through the second dive.

At 30 ft we started running through the testable material. I had some issues with mask clearing (breathing strikes again) and had to surface on a couple of occasions to clear it. I passed the test but the seal on my mask kept breaking (breathing out of my nose) as we were swimming around the bottom of la jolla. My instructor could tell I was getting a bit tired and irritated. We surfaced, and headed back to shore.

I was completely drained that evening as the current had been working against us heading back on to the beach.

Reflection

Overnight, I spent sometime reflecting on the dives from that day and realized I had been viewing this entire experience as a challenge to be faced head on. For some it probably is, but, I've had my share of physical challenges and this really isn't the same type of experience. It's not really a contest, it's more like learning to walk.

I was sapping the fun out of it. I recalled my instructor saying, if you're not having fun doing this then something is wrong - he's right. I came out here, spent a good bit of money for training, and I was supposed to be having a life affirming experience! That wasn't quite settling well with me. After some thought, I concluded that I was putting a lot of stress into it, I was fighting the ocean.

Here's where I get a little zen about diving. You are immersing yourself into an environment that, quite frankly, isn't your own turf. If something goes wrong, the worst thing you can do is freak out. You have to relax and submit yourself to the ocean. This was a similar idea I carried with me through a number of challenges in life and it seemed to be a particularly powerful metaphor for scuba. Your becoming a part of the ocean by diving. You can't fight the water, because you're a part of it.

Shore Dive Deux

On day 2, I headed into the water with my new, enlightened, mentality. The process was incredibly more enjoyable and fast. We wrapped up my final qualification dives. We trained at 30 ft, and my final dive of the day took me to the La Jolla Cliff - 47 ft from the surface of the water.

The final exam consisted of more mask clearing, emergency surfacing techniques, underwater buddy assisted breathing, and some underwater navigation.

Navigation was really interesting. I've done landnav with the Army and it's a pretty intuitive process, underwater, I was a bit shocked at how easy the current can work with/against you. The aquaticnav is based on a couple of different techinques, the most interesting was to use PSI to track distance (versus a pace count).

When it was all said and done, I spent sometime chatting with my instructor, completed my dive log, traded contact info, and headed back to my family's place.

Inception, a movie about the nature of truth and perception

Great movie, can't encourage seeing it enough. The ending didn't surprise me much and, honestly, anyone trying to make sense of it - I think - missed the point of the movie.

It's not about the dream. It's about the reality you are willing to accept. Does it really matter if it's a dream or not? If you accept your reality as truth, then you will never have a nagging doubt about your experience because you've accepted it.

The main character made peace with his inner demon. The same is true of the heir of the dying business man. The exception is that instead of attaining truth through a lie, the inception, the main character finds his truth through a resolution.

The question the film poses is more about ideas. If you accept an idea as true and original, and you really believe it, does it really matter if you come to that conclusion via-vis a deception? What is originality anyway? Where do people get ideas? Does it really matter if it's all staged or fake if you believe it's true?

I found that concept very thought provoking. It reminded me of the Turing Test.

Family

My family out there is doing incredibly well. My cousins are on track, my uncle and his wife are doing really well, and my niece and nephews are growing up fast and are in great spirits. I'm looking forward to heading back out there next year.

Next goal for 2010/2011? My Kili climb!