Diving the Dam

Drove down to Austin this past weekend with the Gibson family for another round of Lake Travis scuba diving. This time, I broke the 100 ft barrier for the first time out on Windy Point. Let me tell you, it was dark, cold and the visibility was shit. But the experience of going beyond that arbitrary level was mildly intoxicating. We finished off the weekend with a wall dive at Mansfield Dam. The picture above is a photo of the constructionn of the dam back in 1940. If you look carefully you will notice the geometric "columns" that flank the base of the dam. Each of these columns are covered by thousands (?) of iron gates. At 107 feet down, the gates were extended as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was kind of scary for some reason. The visibility at the dam was great. A 33 minute dive almost drained my single tank and really clued me in to how important a proper dive light can be.

Celebrating in Dallas

I haven't worn contact lenses in almost seven years but I decided to throw my lot back in with the lensed this week. Signed up for an eye exam and I'm wearing a pair of test lenses for a week. Yesterday was the first day and I must admit it was a little bit uncomfortable. Today wasn't so bad, although things weren't helped by the fact that my company had a party yesterday to celebrate our contract with FedEx/Kinko's. The soiree was held at Dallas' Ghostbar, high atop the new W Hotel. It's arguably the trendiest watering hole in the metroplex. On the weekend it's frequented by the likes of Maverick Stars and superstar guest DJs. It's one place I would never go to on my own, but hey, if the company is picking up the tab...I'll have a single malt, please. In other news, I joined up as a member of DAN (Diver's Alert Network) and am making plans for my first saltwater dive at the Flower Gardens in the Gulf. Oh, and I promised Tiffany that I'd take ballroom dancing classes with her. No laughing...I'm a sensitive guy.

Scuba Weekend...and a Spring Blizzard

Took advantage of my Easter vacation time at work to head down to Austin to do a little diving at Lake Travis. Mike Gibson and I left town around 8pm Thursday night and made our way through the traffic to North Austin where we stayed at Layne and Kendra's. This was my first time diving Travis, so I was pretty excited. Our initial plan was to dive all day Friday, including a night dive, and then come back Saturday morning for one more dip before heading back to Dallas. I reached my deepest level of diving so far (84 ft) and made my first penetration of a wreck (somebody's submerged sailboat). Had a great time. We got in three dives. I was exhausted but was ready for more the next day. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. A cold front blasted in from Canada and showered the Central Texas area with an ice blizzard, which shut our Saturday plans down -- cold. The high was in the 40s and there was literally snow on the Spring bluebonnets! At one point, Mike had to pull off the road on the way back to Dallas because we couldn't see anything -- a total white out. I was disappointed but I was so tired and sore that it felt good to be able to get home, take a shower and stretch out. Looking forward to a trip to the Flower Gardens this summer.

Rosie's Views

I must say I'm really surprised at the amount of controversy surrounding Rosie O'Donnell's recent 9/11 Truth comments on ABC's The View, although I'm not surprised about the pummelling she's taking for them. I never really thought much about ol' Rosie until she started speaking out on this subject...something that is apparently a no-no in this day and age. I think it's hilarious that my lib friends laugh at any notion about an inside job conspiracy (yeah, you read me right) but are completely unaware that they are sharing the exact same "opinions" as Bill O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin -- both hateful, screwed up wingnuts. Anyway, here's a link to 17 questions every American should ask about 9/11.