Kayaking, Dinosaurs, Shooting Yourself

All my kayak gear came in at REI, so I had to ignore the oil spill and go paddling twice this weekend. I'm (obviously) still getting the hang of it, so I didn't go super long or far, just out along the Berkeley pier. It's also a little creepy when you have to park next to the oil spill response team's trucks and watch out for their boats dragging big balloon lines behind them. Anyway, no obvious oil slicks thus far, so it was good times. It's a blast to be charging out into open water with waves crashing on the bow, but coming back in it's a little nauseating and hard to stay in a straight line.

Why did nobody tell me about the existence of bike kayak trailers? That'd be so much cooler than driving the truck to the marina. [From streetsblog.]

Chuck Klosterman has a new book out that I devoured this week--Eating the Dinosaur. I love the essays on time travel and creative play-calling in football, and the ones on Kurt Cobain and David Koresh, ABBA, and TV laugh tracks are OK. The book has its moments of brilliance (best possible responses to real situations such as getting caught soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom or shooting yourself in the leg in a night club) but in general I'd say I could have done with less introspection. Klosterman turned in on himself and analyzed the act of his own writing and interviewing, and I would have preferred the usual humorous insightful writing and interviewing other people. It's no Chuck Klosterman IV, but it's worth reading.

Oh, and since I think Klosterman does a good job of saying how Plaxico Burress could've defended his actions after his shooting (sorry, too long to quote), here's what PB actually said, which doesn't seem to be that different.

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