Superbowl Sunday

Suppose I should weigh in regarding this Sunday’s match. Seeing how my beloved LT is not at the Superbowl, by default, I am throwing my vote the way of The Giants. This is largely due to the fact that I just don’t want The Patriots to win. Yes, I admit that they are probably the best team ever with Brady, Moss and Maroney filling out the key starting positions. Still, I just don’t like Mr. Perfect – Tom Brady – with his good looks, dimpled chin, flawless QB record, and supermodel baby mama drama. I’m just not having any. On the other side, there is Eli. Yes, he is whimpy looking and for much of the season seemed to lack strong leadership abilities on the field. But look where he got his team. The Superbowl. There was Troy Aikman commenting on most of their games throughout the season, and he hated him. Even when Eli would pull out a W at the end of the game, Aikman never had anything good to say about his QB abilities. I remember this being very apparent during the game between The Giants and The Steelers. Aikman was so complimentary of Rothlesberger, and so harsh of Manning, and yet who won? The Giants.

So my vote goes for Eli Manning and The Giants, but I’m not betting on them to win.

Pictures today

Venice pier looked decent today. Fair + shape, 3 -5 foot, racy hollow waves with totally makeable shoulders. Very cold out.

No one out on the north side??? Only about half a dozen on the south side.

Still very dirty.

Saturday was going off – it really was

I don’t have pictures from Saturday at the Venice pier, but it was good. Really good. Solid 4 – 6 foot with bigger sets, crossed up peaky swell, offshore winds, sunny. The only problem was that it had rained significantly, so the bacteria and trash factor was major. Because of the usual post rain crap (literally), there weren’t very many people in the water. But for those who dared to paddle out, it was good. No thanks. Not for me – even if I was strong enough paddle out – not going to risk the nasty, nasty bacterial infection potential.

No paddling next weekend

It has been raining a little bit the past few days. Not enough to keep me out of the water if I were to go out. However, today the forecast is for major rain, with more to follow over the next couple of days. Looks like this coming weekend will be a no-go for me after all. Hurumph. PT says the past two sessions have been very good. She says I look good and should be just fine for paddling. I guess ANOTHER week of strengthening will only help. I think I will be done with PT by end of January. I will have to continue to do my strengthening and stretching exercises at home on my own, but the majority of the work is done. I would say that I am at about 80% recovery in terms of both range of motion and strength if I compare it to my left arm. 80% @ 8 weeks….hopefully 100% @ 12 weeks. Surgery works, kids.

No paddling this weekend

So I chickened out. I did not paddle out this weekend after all. I met Annika at the pier bright and early on Saturday morning and it was cold. Really cold. There was a stiff offshore breeze blowing and the high tide swamped everything rolling in, causing the waves to break right on shore, not that that mattered to me since I was only “paddling”. We stood around for about 1/2 an hour and watched, and we were both very uninspired. I told a couple of other people hanging out and waiting to see if the conditions improved as the tide turned that I was thinking of paddling out, and when they heard it had only been 7 weeks since surgery, they were like, “No, don’t risk it. It’s too soon. It’s not worth it.” I then proceeded to talk myself out of it. It had less to do, however, with the act of paddling. That, I was certain, wouldn’t be a problem. It had more to do with getting into, and more specifically, out of the wetsuit that I was afraid of. Frozen clawed hands grabbing at thick, difficult to maneuver neoprene was what sealed the deal for me. I did not want to wreck my new shoulder by trying to pull my way out of my 4/3mm wetsuit with frozen hands. And Annika was not inspired at all to paddle out either. So instead, we went to breakfast for a big chow down.

Gametime decision and I just didn’t feel up to it. (Neither did my man, LT).

At least for me, there is always next weekend…

A time for paddling

Well. I have officially decided to paddle out tomorrow for the first time since surgery. It will have to be a final game time decision when I get to the beach in the morning, but forecasts are for small, high tide surf, which will be perfect. I haven’t been in the water since Thanksgiving, however, and I know the water temperature has dropped several more degrees. I haven’t worn booties yet, and I haven’t really even worn my 4/3mm wetsuit, both of which will be a requirement for tomorrow. But I am so excited. This also means I can start to think about my next surfboard purchase. Hmmm. Let’s see what happens over the course of the next four weeks…

PT Rocks, Part III

So, six weeks since surgery and I am doing sooooo well. At least that is what my physical therapist tells me. I’ve always been a high achiever. Seriously, she has me doing full body holds, and reps with heavier weights, all of which I am doing pain free. She did find a part of my rotator cuff that still has quite a bit of scar tissue to break up (that’s when I yell ouch!!!), but she said it was totally normal, and as she keeps moving it, it does feel better. So the good news is that if the waves aren’t too big this weekend (cuz I can’t really duck dive), then I’m am going to go for a paddle. I won’t call it a surf, because I am not technically going to paddle for waves and try to pop up and catch anything. I am mostly going to paddle for 20 – 30 minutes to break up scar tissue. This Saturday will be the 7 week mark. Pretty damn good if you ask me.

Venice Pier Surf Report

No pictures but it looked good this morning. Sun – out. Winds – calm. Shape – good. Swell – head high. There were about a dozen people out on each side, but spread out with room. South side looked a bit better. Weekend should be good.

Pictures today!

First – pictures from Venice Pier.

There was definitely swell in the water, but it looked hard to catch. They would set up on the outside and then keep rolling, rolling, rolling to the inside.

Or they would break on the outside, and turn into fat mushburgers…

And below, my two favorite nerds!!!

Surf report

It rained all weekend = don’t go in the water.  Of course many won’t heed the warning (urban runoff, elevated bacteria, large debris, blah, blah, blah).  I didn’t do surf check so I’m not even sure if the conditions would merit the risk.

On a positive note, Chargers won their wildcard game yesterday.  LT da man.  Nuf said.  (I bet BP doesn’t understand a single word of this sentence . Ha.