...oil = housing...

Just like the housing market 5 years ago, the veil of confidence in our near 100% reliance on oil is starting to fade, quickly. We actually believed the Housing boom was a natural result of momentum, an economic boom in a time where we felt we were invincible, and it came crashing down on us so hard, throwing the entire global economy into tumult, and leaving us with a giant % of the population still unemployed, still wondering how they'll get out from their overwhelming mortgages.

In short, there was no backup plan for the Housing boom - everyone was reaping the benefits without thinking about the consequences.

Oil is the same exact thing. BP, and hundreds of others of companies, are allowed to stick giant tubes into the earth, drag up all the oil they need to as quickly as they possibly can, and it seems that nobody, no entity, no governing body, and certainly not the world's population, asks the following question:

"But what if it all goes wrong?"

Well, it's all going wrong. Today they are going to try to plug up a gushing oil leak with mud and cement. Mud and cement. They are saying it is 70% likely it'll be successful. It is 30% that it won't be, and they have no idea how to fix it.

There really was no consideration taken if things went badly, and they have, and we are all left to deal with the consequences. We all assumed, didn't we, that there would be a backup plan. If the oil pipes leak, or crack, or if a rig blows up, we have a contingency, right?

No, we don't. I didn't know that, did you?

I can't get this scene out of my head: You walk into a grocery story and you are in the milk aisle, and all of a sudden an 8 year old boy with his mom starts throwing all the eggs, smashing all the cartons of milk, spilling cottage cheese on the cereal boxes and spreading mustard all over the deli meat...and the parent looks around at everyone in the supermarket and says, "boy, we sure do have a problem on our hands, don't we!?"

BP is acting like they have now joined the rest of us as victims, and actually, it appears that way. BP is acting like they are only responsible by default - that they are only responsible b/c they are the only ones responsible enough to fix it. Except they can't fix it, either.

I saw someone from the Coast Guard on TV the other night saying that BP was the only group qualified to come up with a solution, but they can't find one. What happened to us? Are you telling me the smartest of our Army Corp. of Engineers cannot takeover with hostility BP's assets, tools and brainpower and find a way to plug this leak?

It leads me to the final conclusion that there is absolutely no solution to this. Oil will gush in perpetuity, until there is no oil left to gush, which, of course, nobody knows when that wlll be. I asked Alison and Wizzy last night if we will be dead by the time oil reaches the beaches of Montauk, Duxbury, Santa Monica, etc...

But I think I'll live to see it. I am starting to completely believe I am going to live to see the time where our oceans are overtaken by this demonic sludge.

All of this leaves me so hostile towards Cape Codders who still are mad about their view being ruined by Cape Wind. The ultimate irony will be when their precious views are "marred" by the amazing view of natural wind power turbines...combined with the fact that they are forced to dip their toes in jet black ocean sludge.

...Potter at Universal, Orlando...

As many of you know, Universal Studios is opening a major addition to their Orlando Islands of Adventure Theme Park, which is based on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The addition opens in June to the public, but my mom who is a part of the Travel & Tourism Industry was able to view the theme park in a preview capacity.

While she wasn't able to see and do everything that will be open in June to the public, what she saw sounds eerily like what a "post" would sound like from a first year at Hogwarts to their parents at home...

Check out my mom's email below about her experience. After reading this, I'm pretty sure a November trip will be in order for me & Al...

It was all I could imagine it would be. Just walking through the gate into Hogsmeade it really did look like this:

only everything was closer together. The shops were so much fun, seeing all the merchandise you read about on the shelves… priceless. I bought Pumpkin Juice (which was delicious as I had it for breakfast the next day) Bertie Botts every flavor beans, chocolate frogs and some black licorice for Dad that was supposed to be the clippings from a Chinese man’s beard. The shop with clothing was making a killing as many Potter fans were buying Quidditch jerseys, etc. and the wand shop also had an incredible amount of people looking if not buying. There was a line of folks waiting to see what wand would choose them but I didn’t wait. Lots of stuffed cats and rats and owls for sale. The restaurant was called Hogshead and although not open we could walk through to see the inside and the menu which was loaded with typical English food choices. The tables and chairs were made of heavy, dark wood… very pub-like.

The major ride wasn’t open but it is in within Hogwarts which is at the end of the street and built up on a huge stone ledge and we were able to walk through the ride that started in the greenhouse and went through the school corridors which included the talking pictures in frames. There were a lot of accoutrements to look at as you wove your way through the halls and, at one point, Dumbledore (hologram as opposed to audio animatronics) offers his advice from a balcony in his room. Just before you would get on the ride (which I believe is MOM-like and 3-D) Harry, Ron & Hermione speak to you from a balcony just before using the invisibility cloak. Upon exiting the ride you go through more hallways with newspaper articles that move and more talking portraits. Moaning Myrtle also speaks from the girl’s public convenience!

I would say it’s definitely worth a visit.

...2010 Cape Relay...

I am not going to do a traditional writeup of the weekend of the Cape Relay - it feels like it'd be too tedious and I honestly don't think I could paste together all the events in any kind of real order, but I do think I owe the weekend some kind of posterity, aside from the flip videos I have stored on the old hard drive.

The Cape Relay for those who don't know, was/is a 12 person relay running race that started in Quincy, MA and went 198 miles (or so) to Provincetown, MA, which ran overnight and without a break.

We threw together a squad that really had 1 common thread - every single person on the team is a great person. Nobody cared how fast anyone could run (I'll get to that later), and some of the people didn't know each other well, and had only met once or twice, or maybe not at all, but that didn't slow our team down at all in any way.

In alphabetical order by first name: Allan MacLean, Alison Fisher, Andy Wurtzel, Brian Cullinan, Jeff Graham, Josh Shea, Kristen Graham, Lauren Epstein, Marc Johnson, Nick Fisher, Rich Sanda & Steve O'Keefe made up the team. If you know any or all of them, you cannot argue that 26 hours in a row with this group, with basically no sleep, is a recipe for awesome awesomeness.

Here are a few things that come to mind that serve as big time highlights of the weekend:

1. The weather was incredible. As a matter of fact, the single biggest "i am not sure if i want to do it ever again" factor is that the weather could not be better than it was. yes, it was a TAD hot on Sunday, but overnight we had temps in the 50s and I, for one, sweat like a pig during my 4.8 mile run at 2:45 AM through Marstons Mills.

2. Running alone at night in the dark, but knowing you are part of a collection of hundreds of teams, is a completely magical experience. You know nobody is around you, and you cannot see anyone, but you know there are at least 175 other people running somewhere within 50 miles of you, and we all have the same goal. I don't know if anyone else got choked up by that thought, but I did.

3. Our team came in 10th. We had zero, literally zero, expectations or thoughts that we'd perform on any kind of real level. But we did. We came in 10th place overall out of nearly 200 teams. That is something I still cannot understand.

4. I am not entirely sure, but I think that every single person ran their 3 legs faster than they had anticipated doing so. I know I broke my goal pace by 2 seconds/mile.

5. The team came together in a really magical way for the last 4 legs of the race. Starting with cheering on Al MacLean, and the ensuing handoff to Steveo, which led to his amazingly grueling run, was really awesome. Steve was the MVP of the weekend, in my opinion. He blasted through his first 2 runs, and then was greeted with not only the most exposed to the sun leg of the whole race, but arguably the most difficult given its 8 (or was it 9?) mile distance. Steve did it all with a smile, kept us entertained and had a great time to boot.

6. Getting 2+ hours of shuteye on the front lawn of Nauset Regional High School was really exciting. We fell asleep with barely anyone in the grass or on the lot, and ended up waking up to a sea of sleeping bags and vans. A crazy irish team talking too loud, a bunch of people looking like they had been through hell, and all of us excited about our final leg to finish off the race. I just can't describe it all.

There were plenty more highlights, there are moments I'll never forget and the pictures and video I have tell a huge story in my brain.

This is what I think I have to end this with, and I'm sorry if it comes off as preachy.

I cannot stress enough how good it feels to set some kind of goal, in this case a physical one, and accomplishing it. Furthermore, I cannot express how gratifying it is to have people around me in my life that enjoy setting and reaching goals with me. Every single person on the team had a great time, and it was because of every other person on the team.

I don't know what miraculous twists of fate occured to all of us that allowed us to land on the same small plot of earth together and become friends, but it is beyond unreasonable that we managed to find each other, not screw it up, and work on working on it together.

Thank you to the Windham Whippets, the 10th place team at the Cape Relay, 2010.