Yesterday was a blur of running shorts, keg stands, and two-hit fights (EMILIO!!!) Without a doubt the highlight for me was this photo I managed to catch. My roommate Drew marked this girl with a water balloon from 25 yards away, and I froze the moment of impact. Click the hydro-carnage for a slideshow of the marathon through my lens, and then start thinking about what you’re going to do to contribute next year.

Well that was fun.

Less than a month go, a freak post-Thanksgiving snowstorm turned my new neighborhood into an automotive skate rink. Sliding my car during the California rainy season apparently prepared me for getting to work, only to turn around and work from home.

Now flash forward to Thursday afternoon. The rain was falling hard and a high wind advisory was in effect until Friday morning. Wyatt and I got in the car to get groceries from the Trader Joe’s less than three miles from our apartment. On the way to TJ’s we saw I think three cars with their owners sitting on their roofs, trapped in flooded bits of road.

After getting our food and sloshing through traffic, we were two hours deeper into the storm and the wind was picking up. While we ate dinner and watched some tv the power started to stutter a few seconds at a time, at which point I unplugged non-critical electronics (read: the Wii and Mac Pro).

The wind started to wail loud enough to raise our heart rates, and so we geared up to go outside. Wyatt threw on his foul weather gear, while I put on a shirt, tie, and suit jacket and grabbed my camera. We walked down to Juanita Beach, pausing to lean forward on our toes and have the wind hold us upright.

We sprinted down the path past the beach to avoid getting our faces sandblasted. With the waves crashing over the retaining wall I had Wyatt man the camera while I did my best to report the weather. On our way back we passed a pre-teen on a razor scooter whose parents must have already blown away.

Getting back into our apartment, I quickly determined that the weather report we shot wasn’t what the broadcast professionals would call ‘visible’ or ‘audible’, and continued to veg out. Shortly after Wyatt went to bed, around 01:00 on Friday morning, the whole room went black and stayed that way. I took a quick shower and got in bed, only to wake up to my alarm clock six hours later to an utter lack of electricity.

I got my car and headed to work, driving gingerly past blacked-out traffic lights and generally moving slowly in order to appreciate the damage. Everywhere I looked there was debris and various pieces of trees, from piles of branches blocking sidewalks to entire 40 foot pines fallen against the sides of houses. My commute to the office took about an hour (which is only about 15 minutes longer than the average and yet another demerit for this area), only to find my entire building was out of commission.

I went on a search for petrol that ultimately proved fruitless, getting home around noon. I unplugged all of our gear and then set about all the energy-free tasks I have a bad habit of putting off. I cleaned the entire kitchen and prepped laundry and mail shredding.

After Wyatt got home I rewired our entertainment equipment while he assembled all our candles. Once the sun went down and the clock reached about 18:00, we geared up to head across the lake in my thirsty car. Seattle thankfully had power and was otherwise just clogged with traffic. I got gas, dropped him off to meet Marlo, and went to get sushi with Mr. Drenning. We did some cafe relaxing and then returned to the House of Goza, where it became clear I would be staying.

Wyatt and I drove back to our place yesterday afternoon to find a freezing-but-lit apartment. I slammed the heaters into overdrive, taking advantage of the 72 hour deficit in our energy bills. Everything seems back to normal now, though January’s only a couple weeks away :P

have a relative advantage living in Man vs. Wild?

Some lunatic Brits have leased an island from the Fijian government. Their venture, Tribewanted, involves 5,000 people who will pay for timeshare slices of a south Pacific island paradise. 100 people at a time will be on the island for 7, 14, or 21 days to help to develop a functional, ecologically-friendly community.

The first tribespeople will hit the island September of this year. Once there, they’ll address issues of infrastrucutre, culture, education, and most importantly adventure. The island’s development will be captured on film and broadcast through the website for the rest of the world to watch.

There are all sorts of interesting questions related to technology and it’s role in a remote, clean-slate community. How do you implement reliable electricity at low cost? Do you use that electricity to run lights and radios, or just limit its usage to communications? What sort of devices will function effectively and over the long haul in that environment?

I’d love to cover this for 10. Give me a ToughBook, a camera, a VOIP phone, and a plane ticket. I’m gone!

(via BoingBoing)