YONDER BREAKS

Pancakes were always fun to make for me, mostly because you can pretty much add anything you want and, in the correct proportions, it will likely work out. Of course, in high school, my cousin, sister and I got a little crazy, putting random candies (notably Nerds ) in our pancakes, but still, they weren't terrible.  With our daughters, I try to keep it a little healthier, though the stray chocolate chip pancake is still acceptable and encouraged. This morning, I was making a set of nice blueberry pancakes, with a few chocolate chip cakes in between for good measure. I noticed, however, that as I scattered the materials on our pancakes, I was being much more generous with the chocolate than the berries. How are my proportions? It was a subconscious decision, but sparked an idea: how much of our lives are filled with "chocolate" and how much are filled with "blueberries?" What I mean is, is the media and content you fill your mind with life-giving or junk? Of co...

Years ago I wrote one of my favorite pieces on the joys of surfing tiny waves . All this time later, I'm still having new experiences that support the same thesis: it's not the size of the wave that matters, but the fun you can have on any wave. I decided to write on our calendar every time I surf this year, just to get a gauge of how much I'm surfing. Early in January, I wrote my first mark with pride -- a good start to the year -- and then didn't surf for about five months...I had an ear infection and some subsequent stubborn fluid in my head, causing several doctor visits, including an order to not surf until I figured it out. Follow that up with COVID-19 and closed beaches, and it's easy to imagine how such an atrocity could occur. First surf of the year: January 2nd In May my first session back was a scary night surf at Leo Carillo with my good friend Russell, which was instigated because I wanted to surf the bioluminescent algae phenomenon that was hi...

Dads are kind of dumb sometimes, right? Just look at decades of television with bumbling Homer Simpsons and selfish Tim the Toolman Taylors . They usually figure out their faults at some point and "learn a lesson," (do they?) fixing everything before the half-hour is up. Though I am a huge   Home Improvement fan, and also enjoy The Simpsons, I decided years ago that such portrayal in media was bad for dads as a whole. It kind of gives us an "out" on responsibility. "Yeah, we're all dumb, so we'll just make our paychecks and hide in the garage until...well, until it's all over I guess." Dads are much more than we are usually shown, but stereotypes are there for a reason, and sometimes even the best dad has a foolish, selfish moment. I had one of those moments recently, so I thought I'd share the tale, because it's a pitfall I see a lot of dads fall into. First iteration of our track. We recently bought some blinds that came wra...

When Katie, the girls and I moved back to Los Angeles back in 2018, I never expected to discover the strong musical community that I did. Thanks to my long-time friend and collaborator Ben Boquist , I was invited to a weekly songwriters group hosted by the talented Cortney Matz at the Hollywood co-working location, Epiphany Space . I was a little nervous to share that first night (which happened to be an open mic with a very kooky featured artist doing some sort of beachy Jim Morrison style of performing), but wanting to be bold with music upon arrival in LA, I jumped right in. The warmth and appreciation that that group presented to a stranger was wonderful. As the weeks and months went on, I became more and more involved in the group. Quickly I learned that if I didn't come with something progressive (to me, at least), then I wouldn't get much of a reaction from the group, and so I worked hard to have a new song every week. Over time, I developed a larger repertoire, and m...

Have you ever had to fix something that you didn't break? Maybe your kid broke your neighbor's window, or you're helping someone fix a car who obviously didn't take care of it, causing the problem in the first place. It's annoying, to say the least. Yesterday, I was working on a green trash can that I borrowed from my neighbor, because we were clearing out a lot of brush from our backyard and needed the extra can. We've had it for several weeks, so I wanted to return it, but when the trash man (or woman -- no prejudice here) came, he must have dragged the can when he dropped it, causing the rubber part of one of the wheels to fall off. It doesn't roll well and I didn't want to return the long lost can damaged. But for the life of me I could not get that stupid rubber wheel back on! I became increasingly irritated as flashbacks of a lifetime of working on cars with stuck bolts and water pumps not coming out right (my most recent job) came floodin...