My Surf Videos

I had always purchased my contacts through my eye doctor. It was pretty routine. I went in for an annual checkup, got my new prescription, and he took care of the rest. He’d give me a sample pair to hold me over till my order of lenses were delivered.  I never felt comfortable using an online service like 1 800 contacts or Vision Direct.

As a surfer, I must run through contacts like crazy. I refuse to wear goggles. Since my eyesight is terribly poor, I must wear my lenses. I’d say it’s quiet standard I lose a pair or two every surfing outing. For those of you who don’t wear contacts that might sound like a lot. But in a month if I go through 5-6 pairs it adds up. 6 pairs should last me 12 weeks, roughly 3 months. But that’s an expensive I’ve (sort of) baked into my expenses.

I’d say about a month ago I found out the savings I’d get if I used 1 800 contacts. The uncertainty about an online service went right out the window.  I even searched the web and was able to find a 1800 contacts coupon that saved me even more money and provided free shipping. I reckon over the year, I’ll have saved just about enough for a new longboard.  The contacts are the same and I’ve had no trouble with them. I highly recommend using them.

I think every kid grew up playing Nintendo or some other gaming console depending on their age group. My favorite game was definitely “California Games”. The graphics were so primitive but it is still one of my tops: surf competitions and skateboarding down the block. I have not purchased a new gaming system since Xbox, but I still think it’s sweet. The truth is the games cost so much and I overdo it with every new game I get, that after a few weeks I don’t touch it anymore.

Up until about a month ago I hadn’t played my Xbox in God knows how long. But then one of my friends, who has every game system from Atari up through PS3, introduced me to GameFly. It’s like Netflix for video games. I think my console is permanently on these days. I get two video games at a time and can keep them as long as I want. Then I just pop them in the mail and two new ones come. It’s definitely the smartest move I’ve made concerning video games.

Lately I’ve been playing Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer. I’ve had that for about 2 weeks now and no signs of boredom in the future. They have roughly a handful of surfing video games for most gaming consoles. I highly recommend trying GameFly. For those of you who are skeptical or are curious, you cannot go wrong with a free trial which gives you 10 days and 2 video game rentals. No commitments, no obligations, just play. Let me know if you try it out. The link above provides more information about GameFly, the free trial, and membership options.

I have now been living in San Francisco for the past few months. Parking in my neighborhood is $300 per month. As a result, I had to give up my P.O.S. car. Though I am able to take a bus to Ocean Beach, which is in the city for those unfamiliar with SF, my longboard doesn’t go well with the bus drivers.

I looked into CityShare and ZipCar, but the demand is so high in the city and the locations by my place only have compact cars in stock. Walking down near the Wharf, I stumbled upon Budget Rent A Car. I thought I’d go in and check out their prices. After speaking with a representative, suprisingly attractive, I felt the prices were a little out of my reach. She let me know that if I went online and searched for coupons, that I’d come across a handful of Budget coupons. She was right.

I stumbled upon a coupon site that had a few coupons for Budget’s rental cars, bookmarked it, and have been using it roughly every other weekend to save some dough. For all of you surfers and non-surfers, if you don’t own a car, I suggest you use these rental car coupons and save money.

After buying mysurfvideos.com, I was enticed to purchase a few more domains under niche topics that were interesting to me. I knew if I wanted to have an online presence, it wasn’t going to be in a general, broad category, in which I was an amateur at best concerning knowledge. And, since I am just one person and not a network, fighting for traffic and attention with major media networks was not a fight I wanted to ensue.

After doing plenty of research, reading domainers’ blogs, and checking a few books about domain names, domain registration, developing web properties, and monetizing, I decided I was ready to purchase a few domain names. After searching GoDaddy for endless hours, I came across a few domain names in which I purchased and parked. My day job prohibits me, for the time being, to develop more than a few at a time.

Why I titled this entry “my addiction” is because after the first week, I had purchased 15 domain names, the second week another ten, and now, a few months down the road have about 30 to my name. A few hundred dollars later, I realized I had plenty of domains to develop for the next year. Luckily, after reading through Go Daddy, I discovered I could park these domains, where I could collect advertising revenue.

This, in addition to coming across domain coupons I was able to get a discount on domain registration. Since I only buy .com domains, their $7.49 coupon deal really adds up when you start hitting double digit domain purchases. Also, the 10% off any order is great for larger purchases. So whether you are big time, or just playing around for fun on the web, I recommend checking out GoDaddy for all, if not most, of your needs.

Hey all, it’s been a few months since my last post. I’ve been travelling around the country visiting old college buddies and since I was hundreds of miles away from the ocean, I was not in the mentality to write about one of my biggest passions: surfing. It was just too depressing.

Therefore, I thought the best way to resuscitate MySurfvideos.com was to start on a funny and humorous note. Surfing the web, I came across a great surfing wipeouts video. You can’t help but laugh and howl at these monstrous and powerful, big waves that crash down on the surfers in the video.

Enjoy!

embedded by Embedded Video

I try to keep MySurfVideos on topic, sticking with actual surfing videos: surfboard, waves, bathing suit… But on occasion I drift off course discovering “alternative surfing” videos (as I like to refer to them). This really is a touching story.

embedded by Embedded Video

The stunt man, a German known as “the trainrider”, was diagnosed with leukemia, and the last year of his life was spent surfing on trains. Amongst the trains he surfed was Germany’s ICE train, with a top speed of 330 km/h. I rode that train from Berlin to Munich, and let me tell you if was fast! Simply… wow…..

Here’s a classic extreme surfing video that has been viral on the web for some time. I just stumbled upon it again, and had to watch it. The video never gets old.  But just in case you have not seen it, or feel the urge to watch it again, here you go!

embedded by Embedded Video

Quiksilver sure knows how to make a great advertisement. Pure genius!

Surfing in Ireland? Who would have guessed… That’s one bet I would have lost. But as you can see from the surfing video below, Ireland’s west coast has become a surf spot for big wave surfing over the past few years! The story illustrated in the video is called “Driven”, one of the most interesting surfing stories to come out of Britain.

embedded by Embedded Video

Surfers Alastair Mennie and Andrew Cotton share their first experiences as a tow team, training sessions, and big wave surfing runs. See one of the most incredible wipeouts in world surfing and many huge wave sessions since. I love their tagline: “Experience the work, preparation, motivation and total commitment it takes to surf big waves in Ireland.” To learn more about the surfing documentary and see additional footage check out Driven’s production site.

I am still determined to learn to windsurf as first discussed in a previous entry on how to windsurf. Putting aside the commentator’s goofy voice from the last video, we know how to assemble a windsurf board and the basics on standing up and turning the board.

As a proud millenial, whom expects instant success, I of course feel ready to start watching windsurfing videos teaching you how to do tricks. Forget cruising on the side streets, let’s hit the highway! But… I’m not a complete idiot who just goes out in the ocean and hits a whitecap full on… I come to the web to find instructional videos on windsurfing tricks: the first being an instruction on windsurfing forward loops.

embedded by Embedded Video

Jesse Brown, a windsurfing pro, explains a few simple steps to land a sweet forward loop. I’ve watched the video about 10 times now, and feel like I’ve memorized the steps in order. My neighbors probably think I’m crazy balancing my surfboard on the coffee table, but I’M DETERMINED!!! Jesse Brown makes it seem so simple and doable for the novice surfer. If you’re still with me and want to learn to windsurf, stay tuned for more how to videos, in addition to some sweet windsurfing videos that’ll make you want to master the art of windsurfing.

One of my old college roommates has spent the past few summers as a windsurfing instructor on Martha’s Vineyard - or as Bostonians call it “the Vineyard”. I informed him about my surfing adventures out here in NorCal and about my blog MySurfVideos.com. Of course, partisan to windsurfers, he recommended that while I have the opportunity of having the Pacific Ocean at my doorstep, that I give windsurfing a chance. Well Kurt, I’ll give it a try. I am always up for a new challenge.

Unfortunately, since I do not have the time right now with work, I thought I could get a head start in learning how to windsurf by watching how-to videos online. I know that you need to get in the water and jump right into it to truly become a windsurfer, but I thought that if you can learn a language or instrument online, I could learn the fundamentals and terminology to windsurf so that when I do get in the water, the methodology is second nature.

One of the first videos I came across that was a how-to windsurf was hilarious. The commentator sounds like a computer, or he is using a voice imodulator.

embedded by Embedded Video

Although the commentator is a joker and the music cheesy, it is a good introduction to windsurfing. The video gives you the basics on assembling a windsurf board, how to stand up on the board once in the water, and how to turn in different directions. All in all it’s worth checking out before heading into the ocean. Might even save you a few bucks on a first lesson, if not start you further ahead so you can get into cooler tricks, etc.

Stay tuned for cooler windsurfing how-to videos by professional windsurfers and you can learn how to windsurf along with me. Best of luck!