In Memory of The Great Bodhisattva

1996 to December 22, 2008
R.I.P. little brother.


Here's a link to a video tribute to the little guy: Click Here if you want to watch it.

Just messin' with Mac's imovie...

Neah Bay

Neah Bay, northwestern most part of the continental US, is home to the Makah Indian reservation (they hunt whales), and a beautiful, protected bay with glassy fun waves. At least when the offshores are blowing, which happened for us on the last day of our recent surfing trip there. This time it was Di, me, and Dave. Some pics below. The quintessential Northwest surf trip. Best part about it? Besides the waves on the last day? You can walk right from your campsite to the beach and into the water. Camping at the break is the way to go!





Cold? Nah.






Dave popping up on a good one.



What in the hell are they doing out there?






Blowin' their tops off.



Dave's got H2O in his ear.

Be An Island Unto Oneself

The Buddha's saying, "Be a lamp unto oneself," is sometimes translated as "Be an Island unto oneself." The pesky arguments over how a single word can be interpreted often muddy the clear water the Buddha was trying to create. Either way, lamp or island, I think the implication is the same. According to the Buddhist canon the Buddha uttered these words on his deathbed when asked by a weeping disciple what all of his followers were to do now that the Enlightened One was dying. The Buddha said, in so many words, Look Bro, I've given you the teaching, it's up to you to go practice it for yourself, the teaching and your own understanding are what you should rely on, not me or anyone else. Got it? I love that. No blind faith. No false prophets. It's your responsibility and it's your ass you've got to worry about.

I guess one of the reasons I'm drawn to individual sports (mountain biking, snow boarding, climbing) is because I like being an Island unto myself. Only I can screw this thing up. No one else to blame. You're on your own bro. Which brings me to the pith of this post: To describe our recent surfing trip to, you guessed it, an island. Vancouver Island to be exact, in the exotic location of Canada.

When Molly and Dave asked us if we wanted to go surfing in Tofino we said, well yeah, of course. I had read about it before and seen some aerial photos so I knew it was a place I wanted to check out. What I didn't realize is how beautiful the place would actually be when we got there. Now mind you, it's no easy place to get to. After loading up the van with the four of us, our gear and a black furry dog we drove north out of Seattle for about 2 1/2 hours into the hinter lands of Canada to the ferry terminal that would put us on a boat across the Georgia Straight and onto Vancouver Island. The ride across is 2 hours. And it is picturesque. Water. Mountains. And a ferry boat that makes Washington State ferries look like the USS Minnow. Once on the island you drive another what? 3 hours? But these three hours are broken up into 1 hour of highway and 2 hours of greenface hairpin dodge-another-pothole welcome to the Canadian Outback screechfest. But again. What beauty! Mountains. Lakes. And nothing nothing nothing else! This was going to be a wilderness experience I began to think, and how yummy was that thought!

Well to speed things along we finally rolled into Tofino (9 hours later) and literally fell out of the van. Edie was jumping up and down, scratching at the door to get out, something Di and I have never seen her do, and she's been on some wild rides with us! What magic there was in this place. Our campsite was up off the beach and tucked back into the trees enough to give us shade but close enough to listen to the breakers and smell the green ocean blowing onshore. Yeah, this was going to be a trip to remember. I knew it the minute I took my first breath.

So to speed it up even faster we took surf lessons on day two from Surf Sisters (yup, Dave and I wore the pink rash guards as only real men could do) and managed to talk a very reluctant Di into joining us. It was a foggy day but we nonetheless had a blast and learned so much from the sisters. We decided to rent boards on days three and four, or was it days four and five? All I know is that we surfed for three days in a row and we all pretty much ended up as posterchilds for BenGay. Here's the rhythm: Get up, eat breakfast, rent boards, go to beach with miles and miles of sandy shores and open breaks, surf, come in and eat lunch, have a beer (from the fridge in the van), surf some more, come in, have a beer, pack up, head back to campsite, have a beer, eat, light fire, have a beer, sleep. Now repeat as many days as you would like and make sure the weather gets nicer each day and the waves bigger each day as you go. Got that image? Yeah that's it...sit back and enjoy.

So this is the part where I connect back to the mystical beginning so as to not appear a total flake. About 5 a.m. on the last day of our surfing I awoke to the loud thud of a wave pounding the beach. Now the reason this woke me was because our campground was located in a small cove protected by two offshore islands so no big waves came into our beach. To get the big stuff we had to go down the road a bit and pick any one of the numerous beaches you want to surf. So this big wave, and two more that followed, popped my eyes wide open as I lay there in the van pondering what must be happening out there if these buggers made into our cove. Well sure enough, the swell had picked up and damn it was on!

As soon as we rolled up to the beach we were going to surf it was apparent that today was going to be different than the last two days. Today we were going to take a pounding and that's all there was to it. So be it. I've played with the beast before and I've taken my licks. Still, I knew what she could do so I was a little nervous I have to admit. Unless you've been rocked by the ocean you may never know true humility. Yes natural disasters will make you bow down to the earth and beg for mercy but we never willfully go out into a natural disaster. They happen and we pray. But to paddle out into something that could smother you like a tick, as if you're man enough to conquer it, and it throws a beatin' on you, well, that's how you learn respect in my book. That's how you come to realize your tiny little insignificance in this thing and that when you go out to tango with the green goddess you are my friend, On your own bro.

Needless to say Dave and I paddled out into the green water past the whitewater and tried our meddle at sliding on water. I will spare you the details. Just know that at one point I was caught in between waves, the biggest I've been in, after being thrashed by the first in the set so strongly that my board leash broke. When I popped back up to the surface I saw the next monster heaving behind me, my board (and my only real escape device should I need one) being pulled away from me, and I knew I had better swim as fast as I could and get to that board before the next wave hit because if not, the board would be taken in and I would be stuck out there struggling to try and get back in to the beach. There are rip currents out there and when the water volume amps up the currents amp up and next thing you know you're a sad ass Gilligan wishing for Skipper to come along and scoop you out. To up the dramatic effect try to picture that when a wave is moving towards the beach it actually sucks the water in front of it back towards itself so anything struggling to get away from it gets stuck in a bad nightmare swim-fast-go-nowhere scenario. This all happens in about 2.3 seconds.

So there he (me) is, wave barreling towards him trying to swim to his board, the merciless beast charging like a bull on meth. He can feel the cool wind the wave pushes in front of itself, he can almost hear it growl. Stop the dramatic soundtrack and cut to complete silence, slow the footage down to slowmo, now watch our perilous character reach the tail of his board just before the wave consumes him, slow down even more to milk this for all it's worth, watch as the wave barrels on and thumps the sandy bottom below as it crashes. The surface of the water where our character was last seen is now a frothy white, turbulent, humanless. And then...and then... cue the trumpets as he resurfaces, board in hand, ego in tatters. If you think it's over it's not. Look behind him as at least three more waves of this size are rolling towards him. Now watch as he shifts into survival mode and just paddles straight for the sand and his beautiful wife who when he finally makes it to the toe-touching point she says to our heroic wave-slayer, "What the hell's going on out there?"

Who could blame her. Picture this dude out there who's just getting clobbered one after another, diving beneath each successive wave, a watery ragdoll and the only thing I can think of to describe the feeling that said dude had at the time was, You're on your own bro.

Dave gets the big wave award as I watched him get up on top of the biggest waves any of us attempted. From my perspective, which was in the whitewater looking back into the waves, I saw him get up onto this beast, almost stand up, and then back off because he knew he was too late. Good decision bro, now here comes the next one. Again he's up on top of it, too late, back off, WHEW! But then my heart sank. And if I wasn't wearing a wetsuit I may have even shat myself. I knew he was too deep, the two previous waves slowly pushed him closer to shore and out of the green water zone and into the whitewater spanking zone. He was definitely headed for a pounding. He's paddling, I'm thinking don't do it, he turns and looks, the wave breaks, he smartly stays down on his board not attempting to stand up, rides out the thrasher (bouncing all the way) then stands up and rides the whitewater like a true champion. 9.3 for tenacity!

Di gets the award for smoothest pop up. Yes, she's surfing. The most aversive one in the group ends up with the biggest smile and coolest style. I've got pics to prove it.

I saw Molly popping up on day one so she gets The Natural award. By day three we were all pretty worked and I was contemplating not surfing at all due to a bruised rib from day one. Molly's back was tweaked so she rightly sat out day three. As I sit here now half-sneezing, yes HALF-sneezing because the pain in my rib won't allow me to consummate the blow (think of all that pleasure being taken from you just right before it happens because the pain in your ribcage stops you from going full bore), I'm beginning to think maybe I should have followed the example of the smart one in the bunch and watched from the sand that last day. Nah. I wouldn't change it for the world. Pain and all. I'd paddle out right now if I could. And afterwards I'd stand overlooking the harbor of Tofino and look out into the island-filled inlet, the snowy mountains behind, the Pacific Northwest Native American art painted on the sides of the buildings, the float planes tied to the docks, the surfer girl who rode her bike every morning down the bike path in her wetsuit with her surfboard strapped to her bike, the seals, the whales, crackers and cheese on the beach, wetsuits hanging between two towering Doug Firs....ahhhh Tofino. You are an island unto yourself.

J. Jason Graff


Yeah, that's "I don't want to do this" Diana there. Look at that form. Eddie would be proud. And that wave? Ouch!


This is known as "Fighting Monkey Stance." It's advanced. Don't try it.


After a long day of surfing a Pacific sunset would make anyone smile!


Classic pre-paddle out recon operation here folks. Should he go? What Would Eddie Do?


Bears? Where?


One happy family.


Molly's got dinner covered.


On second thought, maybe we'll go out to eat. Now this is the life!


Our cove.


Tofino harbor.


Location: Tofino, BC.
Travel time: 9 hour day from Seattle
Stoke Scale: Full On.
Overall Take: Paradise.

Actually, THIS is how it's done!

See there? That's why he's the man.

This is how it's done.

Got that?

Living in Sunset Hill with the stars.

Just another day hangin' out in our neighborhood with Robin. Turns out he's in town filming "The World's Greatest Dad." We ran into him on the corner and Di says, "Man, we were in San Francisco for 6 months and we never saw you." Robin replied, "Yeah, it's like Bigfoot."

Here's another of him warming up before the scene.

If They Come Back

If they ever return I will be here, waiting, waiting for the food they will bring, the food we've longed to obtain, the food and the biskets. Yes, biskets. Because that's how dogs spell them. B.I.S.K.E.T.S. And they are good. Good like butter fly wings dipped in brown bisket gravy dumplings. And Oh how I long for them to return to me to bring me those biskets. Please let them come. And let the snows melt. And let little showers of fragrant biskets rain down on us like the gods love us, like we've barked loud enough and hard enough to grow more biskets. Brown biskets. Brown like gravy.

God Bless America.

I know what you're thinking. She and McCain would make a great couple. Me too.

Thank you Molly!

For sending this along...

Stuff White People Like

This is funny stuff:

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Maybe they should add digital cameras to the list?

And they just keep coming...

Does your candidate inspire music?

Oh John McCain you sorry SOB

Here's the link if the video is not showing up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs

John McCain: Like hope, but different

Change baby!

This is one cool video:

This morning I woke up to a sea lion.

Diana's out of town, in Phoenix, so no, it wasn't her. Here in Sausalito we're overlooking the harbor and we're close enough to hear boats, seagulls, and the occasional drunk live-aboard. Well this morning at about 6 a.m. my ears were perked awake by the sound of a barking sea lion down in the harbor. Ar Ar Ar! That's what I heard. There are plenty of sea lions over in San Fran, but I didn't think any would venture over here to Sausalito. "That sucks," you say because I was woken out of my beauty sleep? Naw. Beats the times when I'd wake up in the middle of the night in Baltimore or DC to the sound of gunfire or police sirens. I'll take the barking sea lion any day. Besides, I'm headed up to Tahoe to meet Di and we're gonna spend her birthday there in lots of snow and sun. The barking sea lion was for me an auspicious sign!

Okie dokie, REALLY meet your new president!

Which one you votin' fer? click here











funny ain't it...

Enough of my whining, meet your next President

This is why I think we have our next President of the United States: Come get Obama'd

Now doesn't that feel good? Just what this country needs. A CHANGE.

Day two, no power

Yes, we were in another windstorm, and are without power, AGAIN. Is this our future folks? Hurricane Cat 5 winds in the mountains (156 mph, never happened before), flooding in areas never flooded before, drought like never before, etc...what's your "natural" disaster?

We embarked on our roadtrip/sabbatical because the windstorm of December 2006 in Seattle put a tree on our house. At the time I remember it being called the 100 year storm. Then about a month later it was called the 50 year storm, and now after the December 2007 storm that hit Seattle, I think it's being referred to as the "Maybe this shit will happen every year" storm. SOOOO we went through one of the windiest storms ever remembered in Pugetopia, we hit the road, next winter comes and another crazy storm comes and floods areas never flooded before in Washington state. Well here we are in the bay area and a windstorm comes through (like never before?) knocks the power out, and they're not saying when it will come back on. Hurricane force winds rocked the Sierra (like never before). Think mother earth is a tad bit angry at us?

Here's my plan. Diana and I have obviously offended the Goddess of Wind so I think I need to appease her in some way. We no doubt will have another run in with her so I plan to offer myself as a sacrifice. Remember the end of Dances With Wolves when Kevin Costner and Mary MacDonald are leaving the winter camp to go and plead the Lakota Sioux argument to the Fed in DC? They're both on horseback riding a narrow path out of the snowy valley and up above them high on a cliff face is Wind in His Hair, on horseback, spear in hand, and he is yelling at the top of his lungs, "Swameny chutonka o watchee!" He keeps yelling this, "Swameny chutonka o watchee!" Which if you're versed in Lakota means "I am Wind in His Hair, do you see me? Dances With Wolves is my friend!" Here the tears start rolling down your cheeks I know but look back at the screen if you can and notice Wind in His Hair. His hair really does have wind in it right there in that moment. Form meets function right? So I'm thinkin' during this next windstorm, depending who we visit next it might be near you, I'm going to climb up a tree like John Muir did during the peak of the highest gust, climb right up to the crown and hug that baby for dear life, and I'm gonna yell "I am Wind in His Hair! I am Wind in His Hair!"

Now if I make it out of that, one of two things will be accomplished I reckon. Either I will appease the Goddess and she will leave us to go and play in the North Pacific somewhere, or it won't work, she will still follow us, BUT, the next storm won't seem so bad to me. In fact, I might go ahead and take a stroll outside just to get some fresh air. Sounds like a win wind situation if you ask me. :)