Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

I saw this on my good friend Jeff Rosenbaugh's blog and had to post it as well. This video is incredible and inspiring. You could even go so far as to say that it is incredibly inspiring.

Quack Quack – Duck Beach 2009

Behind every stereotype lies some fragment of truth.

I first heard of Duck Beach on February 10, 2009. Why is that date etched in my memory? It’s not. I had to look for it in Gmail. But from that very first moment, I knew I wanted to go.

Here’s a little background: every Memorial Day Weekend, hundreds of graduated LDS singles gather in Duck Beach, North Carolina. They rent multiple beach-front mansions and spend 7 days playing volleyball, swimming, tanning, and socializing. Some have described Duck Beach as “Spring break for Mormons,” although the funniest description I heard was “EFY with bikinis”.

My spot was secured with a $300 payment (a bed for a week and food for 4 days). Flights from Boston to Norfolk, VA are $150. The rental car worked out to $35 per person. Round up, and we have a $500 vacation.

Whenever Duck Beach was raised in a conversation, party lines were drawn. The two factions were the “Duck Beach is just an excuse for people to throw their morals out the window and play for a week” and “I’ve actually been to Duck Beach and it was incredible”.

Last summer I went on a similar trip, the Massive Moab Trip, and it was phenomenal. Absolutely incredible. I had no doubt that Duck Beach would be the same.

It was.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and went immediately to the beach. After 30 minutes, the sun disappeared behind the clouds and we promptly all fell asleep on our towels. I cannot begin to describe how relaxing it was.

Sufficiently rested, we headed to the houses to get moved in. Friday night was a social night. Dinner was simple – frozen pizzas – but most people were more focused on mixing and mingling. The atmosphere was very friendly and laidback. Everyone was open and fairly genuine.

Aside: I’m currently in a relationship. A very good relationship. This was something that I brought up early in all conversations, because in an environment like Duck, you need to get that out there. The cool thing is that I still got to know tons of people. They weren’t all there to hook up. The vast majority of attendees were there to have fun and meet people. Period.

Friday evening consisted of hot tubbing and ocean runs. When you move a limb rapidly in the ocean under the night sky you can see the plankton light up. Magical.

Saturday was the day of the volleyball tournament. I got to the beach at 10 AM and didn’t leave until 5 PM. Lots of sun and volleyball. This would be a good time to mention that I am a firm believer in sunscreen. I lathered on the SPF-30 every few hours and didn’t get burned.

My team won all the games on our court but got completely decimated in the first round of the tournament. Oh well. I was already sick of volleyball by that time anyway.

There was a dance party at one of the houses Saturday night, but that’s not really my thing, so I made only the briefest of appearances.

Sunday – church in Kitty Hawk (Wright brothers, anyone?) was overflowing, brunch was elaborate, and the acoustic night was talent-packed. I signed up to play but made sure I was early on the list, so I wouldn’t get intimidated by everyone who is way better than me. I think it went okay.

Monday – Beach! Beach beach beach! I wasn’t as diligent with the ’30 and I got sunburned. It happens. Monday night BBQ, pictures, goodbyes. Hot tub. Karaoke night. Hearts (I won). Sleep at 4 AM.

Tuesday – Beach, pack, goodbye, fly, bus, train, bus, home.

You’re tired of reading and I’m tired of writing. But Duck was so relaxing and fun.

Total Immersion Swimming

I heard about this from a TED talk (of course). My High School swimming career was short yet action-packed. As a diver my freshman year, I managed to break a swimmer's tooth in half, split open my knuckle, pop my right eardrum, and get swimmers ear in BOTH ears.

Sophomore year I tried swimming. After a quick pop of the eardrum, I stopped. Junior year was the same. The doctor told me to stay out of the water. But just like I don't listen to my grandmother, I don't listen to doctors either.

I'm going to try this.

I See Dead People

They say that New England in the Fall is one of the most beautiful sights in the world. When I arrived in Boston, I was excited to see the beautiful leaves.

As horrible as the roads are in Boston, they did do one thing right – keep the houses away from the highway. My drive to work from Allston to Natick ends with several miles of heavily-forested road that are absolutely breathtaking.

I did embark on one leaf-peeping adventure last fall (see my previous post), but there are two that I didn’t do:

1) Drive the Kangamangus Highway

2) Go to Mt. Auburn Cemetery

Brooke came out to visit a few weeks ago and we took a Spring trip to the Mt. Auburn Cemetery. It’s quite close to my house and the drive takes less than 10 minutes. The composition of the cemetery is gorgeous. It is the combination of the old gravestones, the thick trees, the family plots, the ponds, and the center tower that give Mt. Auburn its ambiance.

I still want to go in the Fall – but I’m glad I took the time to see it in the Spring.

Scrub-a-Dub Carwash

Repetitive tasks are the bane of my existence. I’m horrible at those things that you have to just keep on doing over and over again: trimming my nails, shaving, getting haircuts, doing laundry, eating, and washing my car. You see, I just wish there were a more permanent solution to those things. But until I save up enough money to get laser hair removal on my neck, I’m just going to bite the bullet.

It recently became painfully apparent to me that my car needed to be washed. It’s May, and I believe there was still some winter salt on the undercarriage of my ’01 Honda. The birds had also decided that my car somewhat resembled a litterbox, and decided to leave me numerous little surprises.

On my way home from dropping off my fellow skydivers, I passed a Scrub-a-Dub carwash and impulsively torqued my steering wheel and screetched into the lot. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday, but the line was only three cars long and it was moving very quickly. I paid my $10 and sat in my car, waiting.

My eye immediately went to a series of signs posted on the side of the building. One read “If you’re not satisfied with your carwash, we will wash it as many times as it takes for you to be fully satisfied.” Another read “New cars wash free.” Seeing these triggered a memory of seeing a similar Scrub-a-Dub sign in a tollbooth saying “First time washers wash free.” I wished I hadn’t already paid.

My car passed through the wash rather uneventfully. However, upon exiting I noticed that my hood and passenger window still had bird decoration on them. I hopped out of the car and saw that underneath the spoiler was pretty dirty too.

I re-entered the line for the wash, put my name on the clipboard that the attendant handed me, and got it washed again. Much better. As I pulled out of the wash, I noticed a special area to my right. There was a sign that said “Customer Satisfaction Area.”

The Customer Satisfaction Area consisted of a cart with clean rags and spray bottles. I took advantage and got all those little spots on my car where the auto-wash was lacking.

At this point in the post, you’re probably wondering “Why is he still talking about washing his car?” It’s the marketing of the thing! They’re giving customers what they want! It was an incredible customer-focused experience. They listened to their customers and brought out towels. They agreed to re-wash if things weren’t perfect. In essence, they made sure that I had a positive experience. And will I go back? Absolutely.

Check them out http://www.scrubadub.com/