did you know:

(via wikipedia.org) Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the “working man”. It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a national holiday by Act of Congress in 1894.

at least it was designed as a day to just relax and get away from work, unlike memorial day which makes bbqs and wakeboarding seem a bit blasphemous. tonite i’m heading up to havasu with the wife, but i’ll be back on monday for some marine stadium wakeboarding/beach bbq’in if anyone is interested.

jebus christ this bitch is dumb. i’m guessing most people have seen this clip by now, but in case you haven’t, or even if you have, it’s a good 48 seconds.

with less than a month before summer ends, we made our first fresh-water trip of the year last weekend. on saturday the air temp was in the low 90’s, and the water was in the high 70’s/low 80’s. wakeboarding in fresh water is so much more pleasant since a wipeout doesn’t equal a mouth full of salt water, and as dave pointed out, seemingly less painful when you do fall? maybe the density of salt water vs. fresh water, or it might’ve just been in our heads but we were pushing ourselves and unlike most marine stadium trips, i have no neck or back aches.

taka’s figured out how to cross over the wake and isn’t just stuck riding on the right side of the boat anymore, and lauren is just on the cusp of getting the hang of it, so we got to spend our time just boarding and not teaching. we boarded for 4 or 5 hours on saturday, and then sunday morning we were out for about an hour or so until it started sprinkling so we packed it up and headed home.

the thing i hate about perris though, is that the majority of the people there either just bought a boat, or rented jetskiis and are learning how to use them for the first time, without using any common sense. at one point when i was pulling costin, a jetskiier was only about 10 boat-lengths behind him or so when we were crusing at 20+ mph. the dick was just following for almost no reason. when costin fell, the guy stopped right where he was and i guess was asking him if he was ok? anyway, i circled back and started yelling at him for following too close (this was an older black dude with his son on the back) and putting my skiier in harms way, bla bla bla, and he got all black and was like “don’t you disrespect me with that tone, yada yada” and was wanting me to apologize to him. i didn’t back down, ’cause he was in the wrong, and i was yelling ’cause i was angry+he was far away so i kinda had to. he even admitted that he didn’t know the rules. so we cruise back to the dock about half an hour later, and there’s like 10 black dudes standing on the dock, all standing next to the waterskii that had been ridden by the guy i yelled at! we circled back to think it over and decided that if they threatened to beat me over it, that i’d just go ahead and apologize. turned out that they barely even looked over at us when we docked, so another disaster was averted and it made for lots of funny, racist jokes at the camp fire.

after that story, don’t we look whiter than ever?! esp. with our wigga gang signs:

scenery at perris is much more interesting than the parking lots and houses that line marine stadium:

i’m not sure, but this might’ve been the first time shadow’s been to the beach. he goes to the local park and for walks around the house almost everyday, but since most beaches are off limits to dogs, until today he’s never seen the ocean. he was pretty excited just to walk around on the sand, and even though he doesn’t particularly like water, he was happy to splash around in the waves.

shadow’s not too friendly when it comes to other dogs, so this time we kept him on the leash and away from everyone else. he started barking a couple of times, but luckily the other dogs didn’t seem to care and we went on splashing around by ourselves. next time we go out, we might let him mingle a bit more.

the long beach dog park is about a half mile stretch along the beach, east of the belmont olympic pool. since shadow seemed to enjoy it so much and was well enough behaved, i’m sure we’ll be heading back soon.

the boat died in marine stadium last weekend. it actually didn’t stop running, but the overheat alarm and guage showed that the engine was running way too hot. fortunately, it was only me, dave and elaina, so we didn’t have a huge crowd disappointed, and luckily we were in marine stadium so it was easy to just walk the boat back onto the trailer.

when i got home, i pulled out the water impeller, and like i expected it was completely gone. it’s supposed to be replaced every year, and eric and i had just neglected to do it. i found a great volvo penta parts shop in sunset beach, that had the impeller, circulation pump gasket (i had accidently removed the circulation pump first, thinking it was the impeller, so i ruined that gasket in the process), and the hose that connects the thermostat housing to the circulation pump.

rainbow marine, the parts shop in sunset beach had an awesome old-timey feel, with old guys that knew everything about my engine. i had printed out schematics with part numbers, and they were able to grab me everything i needed without me even having to pull them out. the total was $80.76, and when i handed him 5-$20’s, he handed me one back. and while $0.76 isn’t much money, that kinda thing is going to make me a repeat customer, and as often as i require boat parts, that can translate to quite a bit of money.

after the gym on tuesday, i put it all back together, and the temp seems to be running at a cool 160F with the hose attachment, so on wednesday we’re gonna take it to marine stadium to test it out, since we’re planning on going to lake perris on saturday. btw, we’ve got 3 spaces left for lake perris if anyone else is interested in coming. we’re gonna wakeboard during the day, and then camp saturday night.

the pic at the top is the old volvo penta 825940 impeller. every fin is supposed to be as long as the one in the top-center!

my favorite lyrical rhyme of all time (kekeke) has long been from third eye blind - losing a whole year:

I took your stuff and put it in the basement
When I found out what the smile on your face meant

and then today i’m watching “the tube” digital sub-channel on tv and there’s a peter gabriel song called solsbury hill which has the lyrics:

Today I dont need a replacement
Ill tell them what the smile on my face meant

!

i have to assume this was just third eye blind paying homage to peter gabriel, but regardless i’m now conflicted about what my favorite rhyme of all time is. am i a poser for liking the 3eb version now that i know that it’s not completely original?

i was thinking about trying this jump, until chris beat me to it. needless to say, i didn’t bother after this:

the last time i went camping in catalina, i lost 5 pounds and most of my stomach lining from alcohol poisoning. this time was a bit less death defying, but overall just as fun. little harbor, catalina is about as hardcore camping as i do, being that you’re essentially stranded on the island for the weekend without stores or electricity, and can only bring as much as you can carry. but because of this, it feels like “real camping” unlike lake perris where if i really wanted to, i could just fold up my tent, put it in my car, and be back in my apartment in about an hour.

taka and i went snorkeling in the harbor, where the water was incredibly clear. there were fish and random sea life, and we had one of those advertisement-like romantic moments where we were swimming, holding hands and pointing out fish to each other <3! the beaches there are beautiful and clean… it’s insane that it’s only 30 miles away from mirky, long beach harbor. otherwise, we did all the typical camping stuff. ben and mike brought their guitars and for a while, the two campsites around us stopped talking or playing their own music and all sang along. these two cougars came over during one song, and were disappointed to find that we were all in relationships, except for ben, who wouldn’t put his guitar down for them =p

2 nights, 60 beers, and 7 sunburns later, we were back in civilized long beach harbor watching the video of lisa’s co-worker chris trying to jump over a 10′ across / 6′ deep ravine full of rocks and not quite making it. i’ll post it up as soon as mike sends it to me. cheers to another successful camping trip!

and not just a fake business week, but a full calendar one! not much blog worthy happenings i guess… not to say that there hasn’t been some fun stuff going on: ben’s birthday, alex’s baby shower, wakeboarding, weight lifting and cycling have been keeping me busy, but other than mentioning that it happened and that i had a good time doing it, it doesn’t make for much of a post.

i have however, employed the writing services of the lovely miss sanam, to provide celeb and other entertainment (kentertainment?) news and gossip to help make for a more well-rounded kentomatic reading experience.

we’ll hopefully have a formal introduction from sanam and have her first post from her on monday. sorry for this week’s laziness. stay tuned!

i edited together a few of the camera’s from costin’s show last month and made a action packed music video. well at least action packed in the sense that it’s packed with members of the action item. enjoy: