Happy Halloween
31 October 2005
Happy Halloween!

Near Shore Swell Model - Delray
28 October 2005
This weekend looks to shed some light on our downtrodden situation. The surf looks to blow up to 8ft over the weekend, starting out with a head high wind swell tomorrow morning. Yes, finally some surf! With the fish in ding-repair mode, the squash-tail Lost board will finally get some action.

Slowly Getting Back To Normal...Sort Of
28 October 2005
After only an hour in line for gas I finally managed to fill up the Jeep for the next few days. I've stripped the doors and roof off so as to get better gas mileage, but we'll see how long that lasts when the rain returns this evening. At least the weather has been absolutely gorgeous since right after the storm so we're surviving in stride. Things are slowly getting back to normal. They say that some of Florida will be without power until November 23rd. Ouch.

Ok, That Sucked!
28 October 2005
Well hurricane Wilma is gone but the aftermath really sucks. I lost a window at 5:30 am - that's a great thing to wake up to let me tell you. So I rushed to nail a tarp up in my living room to keep the rain and wind out. At least it was cool down here afterwards. It seems a though Boynton Beach (where I live) went through the eye. Very strange to walk around in the eye of a hurricane. The second half of the storm was worse than the first but my building was situated so that I didn't receive nearly as much wind. So I sat and watched Office Depot shopping carts fly down the street from my dining room. Now we're all just dealing with the lack of power, water, gas and perishable foods. I finally have power at my house but I'm one of 10% of South Florida who are lucky enough to be on a main power grid.

A Rainy Weekend Ahead
21 October 2005
Looks like we're in for some serious rain over the upcoming few days. Wilma is taking her sweet time making her way in our direction. It now looks like late Monday/early Tuesday when she'll be trashing the sunshine state.

Hurricane Wilma
19 October 2005
Fred must have really pissed her off his time. We've got a category 5 hurricane that could make a big right hand turn from the Yucatan and head right for the west coast of south Florida. Keep an eye on this one folks, it could cause some serious problems in the very near future.

Flat And Poor
18 October 2005
No waves in the forecast. As a matter of fact it looks pretty grim for the next week or so. There seems to be a minor wind swell in the water today but we'll see if it lasts until 6pm.

Surf Filled Weekend
17 October 2005
Saturday and Sunday were supposed to bring us some serious waves and I guess it kind of did. Head high sets on the outside at Delray on Sunday but the only problem was that you had to wait at least 6 minutes in between sets. Overall it was a good weekend for surf. Only injuries this weekend are a tweaked neck from a nasty wipe out and a banged up 6'3" Fish (shortboard).

Oops
17 October 2005
Sorry Ramil, looks like the boys in Green couldn't quite handle the Crimson and Gray (35-21 Final). Also my Bengals won this weekend. Season record so far 5-1. Holy shit! We actually have a good record this year!

Ohio State vs. Michigan State
14 October 2005
Ramil's team of Michigan State Spartans will be facing off with my Buckeyes this Saturday around noon. Your going down, Ramil! Let the trash talk begin!

Surfline East Coast Alert
13 October 2005
Oh yeah, the weekend is looking prime for surf. Surfline's calling for 5 feet on Saturday and 6-7 feet on Sunday. All thanks to that huge low pressure system stretching from Maine to Puerto Rico. Sweet. It looks like the entire East Coast is going to get some swell. I'll be hitting Delray early Saturday (or as early as I can). The only sad thing is that there's nothing in the for cast up until then. Oh the suspense!

The Bamboo Room
12 October 2005
Ramil and I checked out one of his favorite local venues last night. The Bamboo Room in Lake Worth. A pretty cool place, very chill and laid back. Next week we're heading back for an acoustic show. Should be pretty good.

Waves Are On The Way
11 October 2005
I just checked the LOLA swell model for South Florida and it looks like we may actually have some waves this coming weekend. It's going to be flat as a lake until then but we'll take what we can get.

Bengals?
10 October 2005
As I was flipping the channel last night I was overjoyed at the discovery of the Bengals game on TV! Yes, and it was early in the first quarter too so I was stoked. Until, that is, I saw them play. It's been a while and yes, I'm still a Bengals fan but hell man, they blew. I actually couldn't make it through the end of the game but I could already see it was the Bengals of old on the field. Dropping any opportunity to win. Final score against Jacksonville 20-23. Better luck next week I guess.

Weekend Surf Recap
10 October 2005
Looks like we had a little surf over the weekend. I spent most of the afternoon down at Delray riding some nice little waist high sets in crystal blue water. Sunny and warm, just how I love it. More rights than lefts this weekend but it was all good. Ramil joined me on my second session of the day. Sunday held nothing in the way of surf all day.

New Furniture
10 October 2005
Saturday morning my new furniture finally arrived. Now all I need to do is settle on a color for every room and paint. I'll try and get some photos up on the site later this week (tonight's cleaning night).

Ramil's Page
10 October 2005
Check out Ramil's SmugMug page here! Great shots bro.

Raining Again
7 October 2005
Wow, the third straight day of rain down here and it's getting on my nerves. I actually made it out to Boynton Beach last night for a short little surf session. The waves were few and far between chop and you pretty much had to be at the right spot, at the right time. My final ride in I had a nice cover-up. Great way to finish up the session.

Ready To Paint... Almost
6 October 2005
I've been to Home Depot twice, and Lowe's twice and I still can't bring myself to buy a gallon of paint yet. I've spent countless hours here looking up paint harmonies and design ideas for my new place. Hopefully I'll be taping and painting my bathroom this weekend but we'll see.

Sweet Camera Man...
5 October 2005
I just got my mitts on this little beauty today. The Canon PoweShot SD30 finally arrived at my local camera shop here in Delray. I love it. It's small, sleek and extremely versatile (as I found out by reading the manual). What can I say, they make great camera's

Steve, Don't Eat It!
5 October 2005
Silkworm Pupas - gross.

LOL (Laugh Out Loud)
4 October 2005
Investigators Blame Stupidity In Area Death - The Onion.

Big Wind Chop
4 October 2005
Whew, the waves are getting crappy. The large band of tropical storms off the coast are kicking up some gnarly wind chop but it's almost too blown out to ride. Boynton wasn't great yesterday and after paddling around for about an hour I caught only 2 rides with the 8'2".

For All Of You Guys Out There
3 October 2005
Probably the best idea I've seen so far. SaveMyAss.com has a service to keep you out of the doghouse! Awesome.

Wind Chop And A Wet Jeep
3 October 2005
Surf wasn't too bad over the weekend. The wind swell picked up yesterday afternoon with and so did the rain. I was fortunate enough to get caught in a downpour with the top down on the Jeep yesterday so today's a dry out session. Just trying to evade that mildew smell right now. I just hope the sunshine continues today.

Damn Server Issues
2 October 2005
Monday morning with no server access and no damienkomala.com. What gives? Looks like Assorted Internet is screwing up once again. Sorry folks.

Hangovers Suck
30 September 2005
Ugh, went out for a few drinks last night and I'm paying for it today. Slow, irritable and tired. I just want to go back to bed.

Our Waveless Situation
28 September 2005
After hoping for some decent surf for two days, Tuesday fell way short of any expectations as far as surf. Up coast in Jupiter and north there's a decent swell in the water but who's got the gas to drive an hour or more north after work for waves?

Weekends Are Still Too Short
26 September 2005
Not a bad weekend. I spent most of it down in Miami with Barrie. Sushi with her friends in the grove on Saturday night and then ran back to Delray/Boynton for an afternoon surf session with Ramil on Sunday. Mellow waist high sets and an uncrowded line-up. Nice.

Grrrrrr, Bad Mood
23 September 2005
Crappy weather, rising gas prices, no front porch and minimal waves. Yeah, I'm in a crappy mood today. At least it's Friday and the only thing that means is that I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Maybe I'll get lucky and see some waves this weekend. That'd be nice.

Ooh, It's Cold
22 September 2005
No I'm not talking about the weather. The water last night was surprisingly cold for a change. It was still pretty choppy and at times a bit mushy, especially on the outside. I stayed out for about 2 hours and caught my fair share of good rides including a head high right. Of course it was shore break and it beat the hell out of me but it was fun.

3-5 Ft. And Poor
21 September 2005
The waves are still rolling and I'm betting on low tide at Delray. Hopefully we'll get a little cleanup but I'll surf it as is. Now just counting down the hours until 5!

Victory At Sea
20 September 2005
The surf is up, and way too choppy to be rideable at the moment. Last night's little surf session was pretty much a bust. Lots of paddling around and very little surfing. Hopefully tomorrow it'll clean up before the swell vanishes all together.

Tropical Storm Rita
19 September 2005
Well the first of the rain bands is beginning to hit us now and for the most part it's just random heavy rain. The storm track looks like it'll miss us completely. Key West and Miami may be in for some heavy weather though.

Another One!
19 September 2005
Key West has been officially ordered to evacuate so yeah, there's another storm coming our way. It should arrive sometime tonight or tomorrow. Hopefully it'll bring some decent waves as a sneaker swell through the Bahamas. We'll see. It'll probably be wind chop.

Goodbye Ophelia and Great Surf
19 September 2005
Saturday and Sunday both had some small waves to offer over the weekend. Very small (like knee high) but still rideable. Looks like that's the end of that excellent swell.

Weekend Outlook
16 September 2005
Looks like another sunny weekend ahead of us (barring the minor isolated showers). Surf looks weak at best but I'll be happy if I can just get in the water and catch a few little rollers on Sunday. Have a great weekend everyone!

Another Ding, Another Crack
15 September 2005
Last night was spent fixing my long board after what looks to be a solid beating at Boynton on Tuesday evening. Not only did I get a small hole in the side but one of my fin plugs was impacted once again (damn you, rocks!) and now with no front porch to fix it I had to make due in my living room. Which is no place for fiberglass and resin. Luckily I have a new clear repair kit that doesn't smell at all, but it's still messy. Ah well, that board is loaded with "character" now.

Rubble For A Front Patio
15 September 2005
That's right, the other day I was surprised to come home to no front screened in patio. It's completely Gone! Screen, ceiling and all. I assume there was some water damage by looking at the remains of my porch lying on the ground but who knows. Now there's a team of "Latin Americans" working on it and hopefully will be replacing everything soon.

Surfing Ophelia
14 September 2005
We love this storm here in South Florida. For over a week now it's been a big wave producing system. Take a look at the photos Ramil's wife Cameron took of us on Monday night. Last night's surf session was as good one as I headed out to Boynton. By the end both my board and my foot had some bangs and bruises but it's nothing a little peroxide and fiberglass can't fix.

We Still Have Waves!
13 September 2005
Even though I was completely exhausted after work yesterday I still found the energy to go out to Delray and catch a few waves with Ramil. Ramil's wife Cameron was also out there taking photos of us at play so hopefully I'll get those up shortly. It was a lot of fun and it felt really good to get back in the water. Now, I just hope we still have some swell from that storm up north left when I get off of work today.

I'm Beat
12 September 2005
Well it's early Monday morning and I'm wiped out. Barrie and I arrived in West Palm Beach last night after our trip from there to Pennsylvania, to Cincinnati and back in two and a half days.

Happy 50th Birthday
12 September 2005
Last weekend was a whirlwind tour of the midwest it seemed as Barrie and I were given the chance to fly to Pennsylvania to see my Dad for his 50th birthday party. Happy birthday Dad. Along with seeing him I was also able to visit with my Grandmother Komala, Sheizka (my twin sister) uncle Eric, Sarah, Kim (Dad's girlfriend) and her kids as well as aunt Sandy and her husband Shane (and their kids). It was a house full of family and a good time.

Saturday held a flight to Cincinnati to see my Mom, sister and friends back home. Overall it was around 7,000 miles in 2.5 days. A huge thank you to Kim, my Dad's girlfriend for the opportunity to come up and see my family and friends last weekend. Thank you so much. I love you all.

Later
9 September 2005
Have a great weekend everyone! I'm outa here.

Glassy
8 September 2005
The swell may be going out from the latest tropical disturbance here in South Florida but at least I was able to head out last night and catch the tail end of it. Boynton was showing some infrequent though very glassy waist high sets yesterday. Long, fun rides (taking care to avoid the rocks) on the old 8'2" Kechle. Thanks for the heads up Diana!

Wow!
7 September 2005
An iPod phone?! Are you kidding me?!

Jack Johnson Concert
7 September 2005
Last night Mary, Dan, Ramil and I headed down to the Jack Johnson concert in Mizner Park (Boca) where we enjoyed free lawn seats outside the pavilion. A cooler of beer and some folding chairs and we were happy. Good show though we couldn't see the stage. Hey, it's one of the only "free" things in South Florida.

Falling Behind
7 September 2005
Sorry about that everybody. It's been a busy few days around here and I'm just now getting a good breather during the day. Lot's of surf to be had over the weekend an Ramil and I took advantage of that for sure on Monday afternoon. Big, head high waves on the outside and overall a ton of fun!

Website Launch
7 September 2005
Well, it's finally up and running. The new PetAlive site that I've been busting my ass to finish on deadline as well as keeping some serious marketing efforts up and running. I guess I can say I'm never bored here in the office.

Boynton Beach!
2 September 2005
Finally the deal is closed and I'm officially in debt and I'm not talking about a few thousand dollars. $164,000.00 dollars in debt and even more if you want to do the math on the interest. All that for a one bedroom condo 3.5 miles from the beach.

Whew Did That Suck!
1 September 2005
Well, yesterday was actually worse than I had anticipated, and I anticipated pure hell. I still haven't closed my loan as of 8:32am which is supposed to happen in the next few hours. I actually did a dry close last night so they could give me the keys at 10pm. It was a long, hot day of loading a rental truck (not U-Haul, they can kiss my ass) and then waiting for hours and hours for a final closing time. NEVER use NationPoint out of California for a loan unless you live in California. They put me through so much hell I can't even put it into words. So after my first night in my new condo I'm absolutely exhausted. I got about 3 or so hours of sleep before getting up and coming to the office today.

My New Place
30 August 2005
Whew, this has been a mission so far but finally I get to do my final walk through of my new condo today over lunch. Luckily they'll let me move in before all of the final paperwork is signed (since my bitch of a roommate wouldn't give me an hour let alone a day). So tonight I'm finally beginning to move into the new pad (thank God). I'll probably post some shots if I think about it from the new place.

Last Weekend
29 August 2005
Finally a relaxing weekend. Ramil and I spent a few hours each day surfing at either Boynton Inlet (my new home break) or at Boca's South Beach Pavilion. Not bad overall surf but it was definitely long board time. Mushy and choppy.

Another Notch In The Belt
26 August 2005
Yup, that's right, we're still here and I've got another notch in the 'ole hurricane belt. This one was minor compared to what we had to endure last year. I didn't even lose power for more than a few minutes at a time and the only damage around here was a few downed tree branches and some minor roof damage so certain places. I think Miami got hit the hardest and that's simply because they received a ton of rain and flooding is still a problem down there. Overall I think we're lucky. I never did get a chance to surf the storm surge. By the time I got off of work the wind was all over it and the waves were like a washing machine. No thanks. But hey, we may have some residual surf for the weekend to look forward to.

Meet Hurricane Katrina
25 August 2005
That's right, our first official hurricane of the season. Yesterday's surf session was the result of some strengthening wind and a very large storm heading our way. Hell, last year I'd have been worried. This year, get the short boards out boys and girls - let's go surfing!

Happy Happy, Joy Joy!
24 August 2005
After the last few weeks it was about time I heard some good news! I finally got the loan for my condo approved and signed off so I'm now good to go! Hell yeah, I'm about to dance around the freaking office! That and we now have a tropical storm off the coast of Florida to produce some serious surf over the next few days so yeah, you can call me a happy camper.

The Predicament I'm In
23 August 2005
Life sometimes puts you in the shittiest of predicaments and mine is no picnic. As of today I have still not heard anything from my loan company as far as final approval on my loan. I'm now in a serious time crunch to get this thing done. If it fails to get approved I have to: A - Start another loan. B- Find some place to live for a few weeks since my bitch of a roommate won't extend my lease to keep me from being homeless while I try to get another loan pushed through. C - Organize and stress about yet another mortgage company. D - Ask... no beg, for an extension to my realty contract and hope they don't tell me to fuck off. D - Get the four grand I no have in SGROW back in my IRA before they charge me way too much in early disbursement fees. E - Put all of my shit in storage while I'm homeless. F - Pay for yet another appraisal of the property ($300). G - If all fails start the entire mind numbing process over again from looking for a property in a saturated market and loan approvals, closings, appraisals and I still won't have a place to live! And all of this is hinging on whether or not NationPoint will give me an answer or not. The constant and two and half week nail biting waiting game has pushed me back to smoking cigarettes and enduring sleepless nights. And to add insult to injury there's still no freaking surf!

Surfless Weekend
22 August 2005
Surf outlook has been extremely depressing lately so Barrie and I headed down to Miami to check out a local indoor rock climbing gym. It's been a couple of years since I was on a wall but most of it came back fairly quickly. Three hours into it and I was back to climbing 5.9's and 5.10's. Ok, mostly 5.9's.

Un-Fucking-Believable
19 August 2005
You got it folks, I'm back where I was last week at this time, waiting for an answer and enduring yet another nail biting weekend (except this weekend there's no surf outlet to pursue). Here's the story - they lost my fucking file when sending it over to Corporate for approval! It took two days to find it and now it's finally where it should have been last Friday at this time. So all I can say now is FUUUUUCKKKK! Here we go again!

For Those Of You Pulling For Me
18 August 2005
Well, still no word yet from my guy in California on my major stress campaign. I'm still on high alert as to what the hell is going on with this thing but I'm hanging in there. I've already gone through half a bottle of PureCalm this week and it looks like I'll need the rest over the next couple of days. All I want to hear right now is good news but any news would be nice. For those of you looking to get into this kind of shit, be prepared for the biggest pain in the ass you'll ever know. Thanks to all of your concern so far. The waiting game will soon be over (hopefully).

How Many Calories Do You Burn?
17 August 2005
From the off-color humor index here's Calories Burned During Sex.

Wedding Crashers
16 August 2005
I've got to add this one to my DVD collection when it comes out. Barrie and I went to see Wedding Crashers last night with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, holy shit it was funny as hell. I'd actually just start laughing out loud after the movie was over just recalling particular scenes. Vaughn was brilliant - the perfect "that guy". You've got to go see this one!

Saturday's Surf Trip
15 August 2005
A well needed surf trip up to Sebastian Inlet was definitely a good time. Ramil, Dan and I loaded up the car at 5:30 am for the 2 hour drive north. Early in the morning the wave was a little punchy and powerful but very shallow. After the tide began to fill in it became a lot of fun. Just what I needed to get my mind off of all of this real estate stuff. We ended up surfing until around 3. All of us where completely spent by the time we loaded back up for the return trip. Sun burnt, sore and completely surfed out. Excellent.

More Waiting To Come
12 August 2005
Well, it looks like I'll be waiting for another 4 or 5 days to get an answer from my mortgage company. They now have to send it to corporate for approval and now have 4-5 days of unbelievable stress to endure. What a mission. I'm going to be so gray by the time I find out what's going to happen with my life from now on. There's not much more to say or do unless I can come up with nine grand in a hurry - it's out of my hands.

Weekend Surf Trip
12 August 2005
Looks like the boys (Dan and Ramil) and I will be heading up to the Sebastian Inlet, dog early on Saturday morning, to catch the swell radiating from the tropical storm off the coast. My SuperFish has been repaired and I need a day on the waves… badly. - No news yet on the condo. Should find out today around lunch time.

Hoping For Some Good News
11 August 2005
Hopefully I'll find out some time today whether or not the deal goes through. Wish me luck.

#$!*&^%!!!!
9 August 2005
Don't ask, just frustrated. No surf, no news.

Dance Like No Body's Lookin'
8 August 2005
If you need a Monday laugh, here's your fix.

Sunny And Mellow
8 August 2005
That pretty much sums up the weekend. Hanging with Ramil on the beach on Saturday and Sunday busting out the old chess board and ukulele on the beach. As well has spending time in the sun at Barrie's house chilling by the pool. Very relaxing weekend - now into organized chaos - hello Monday!

Here Comes The Weekend
5 August 2005
Not much surf in store for us in South Florida this weekend so not much to get excited about. Have a good weekend everyone, see you Monday.

Gotta Make Space
5 August 2005
Wow, I'm quickly running out of space on my server so I've decided to remove a couple of the less popular albums. Don't worry, I still have them there's just no need to take up server space with them at the moment.

Huge Congrats To Sammy
4 August 2005
My buddy Sam (guy on the right) got hitched last weekend. Looks like I'm the last one left! Here are Craig's photos of the event. Good luck bro.

More From Costa Rica
4 August 2005
More photos are now up from Costa Rica/Nicaragua. I finally got around to getting most of Johnny's photos up. Take a look.

Too Busy To Think
3 August 2005
Full speed ahead it seems. Sorry guys for the lack of news over the last few days. It's been a hectic week so far and it's only Wednesday morning. The condo is coming along on schedule (so far) and work here in the office has tripled. So this month is turning out to be fun. Here comes the gray hair!

Better Than Nothing
1 August 2005
Sunday's little trip with Ramil up to Ft. Pierce wasn't a complete waste. Little knee to thigh high rollers with occasional waist high sets, perfect for my 8'2" Kechle (long board). All in all a pretty good sunday. Road trip, surf, sun and then a visit to his friend's barbecue for lots of food and a few beers. Hey, it's better than nothing.