From Want To Play A Game?

Backgammon is a board game for two players in which the playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice. The history of Backgammon goes back approximately 5,000 years.

And while there is luck involved, there is also a degree of skill.

My father taught me how to play "gammon" as he calls it, around the pool when I was about Ella's age. His first rule? You are not playing a game, you are playing an "opponent" and you should be aware before the pieces are placed and the first die is thrown, what your strategy will for playing that person.

Thanks Dad, your advice has served me well as a life lesson.

Backgammon, wanna play?

Summer is coming to a close and so is summer camp. This time of year always makes me a bit sentimental. Above is video taken from Summer Soul Surf Camp at San Onofre State Beach. Kids from all over the world come to San Onofre and surf, many for the first time. It was an exciting year for waves and I know there are a couple little girls out there who rode waves of a lifetime this summer.

It was really fun to hear Josh recount the two little girls who were just charging down waves for the first time in their lives. He said the surf was pretty big that day. Their parents looked on from the beach. Josh and the other instructors at Summer Soul Surf Camp in the water as a team covering each young surfer.

Out in the water the surf kept getting bigger. "If we saw fear in their eyes they had to go in. Nothing personal. You gotta want it."

And those little girls stayed out there and rode wave after wave. The instructors pushed them in and they got up, rode it in and came back excited for more.

And I walked away from that story with two really fun things to think about.

The first was Josh's stoke for their stoke. He was so happy for their accomplishment, for their courage and for their joy. "They were taking these Waimea stances ... and just going for it."

And the other fun thing to ponder was how that experience may have changed those little girls' lives. And I am not saying they will grow up to be competitive surfers, they may never surf again ... but they got up on a wave and charged it ... don't you think that would change your sense of self ...

especially for a little girl ...

and that to me was cool.

Stopped and showed off the new 3GS to Paul Gavin after lunch on the San Clemente Pier.