PCB Day 2 (am)

So far, so good.

Apparently, Panama City Beach CAN handle the three of us. However there are two more on the way. So you never can tell.

Currently I'm sitting on the deck of our awesome hotel, overlooking the beautiful (but roaring) Gulf. I just brewed our second French Press of coffee for the day, and the one and only Ashley "Speed Racer" Long is sitting next to me, feet propped up and munching away at Honey Nut Cheerios while people watching below.

There are two individuals who just entered the Gulf wearing iner tubes around their waists. Great for kiddies, but no so great if you're 35.

And if the inner tube barely fits around your waist, you might (just might) want to reconsider.

(We just harbored a bet that the iner tube people would be the first ones to get knocked over by the 2-4 foot swells.)

The morning dawned bright and early. Well, not exactly bright, but early.

Awoke to the sweet sounds of the crashing Gulf at 5 am. Mary had insisted that we leave our door open - and for the most part, its working out great. We can hear and see the water. But everything in our room is coated with slick moisture, brought about by the infamous Florida humidity. I am very careful when plugging in appliances to brew coffee.

But electrocution hasn't stopped me yet (knock on wood).

Did I mention that I've brewed 2 French Presses worth of coffee?

Thought so.

Shortly after waking up, I headed off to the local Aquatic Center, and knocked out my water run and swim. As the conditions of the Gulf are not condusive to long distance swimming, I figured I'd get my 45 min swim in the relative safety of Long Course Meters.

However, it didn't stop me from practicing a few entries with Mary and Ashley. And I had a blast.

The feeling of dashing in (carefully - I timed my approach during the smaller of the waves, as to avoid any impact with my back)), feeling the water on my body, jumping headlong into the green waters, and kicking my heart out was wonderful. And once we got several meters from the beach, it was the best feeling, just riding up and down and up and down and up and down...

At one point, I yelled, "Watch out!" to Mary. She panicked and swam towards me, and then got pummeled by a wave as I ducked under.

When I surfaced she was laughing, and joked, "I thought you saw a shark!"

Apparently I'm not the only one with sharks on the brain.

I don't know what else to say.

Mary has joined us on the balcony, and our room is now being cleaned. It is disgusting: coffee grinds all over the sink, dirty towels on the floor, garbage full of girl stuff, underwear here, bras there - the usual.

What else to say?

Uummm - for the first time in my life I tried sucking on a Nuun tablet. Without the water. Apparently Desire Ficker does it: and what works for her, should work for me, right? At least that's what Mary said while popping half of one into her mouth. Ashley got the other half, and me - being the HTFU'er that I am - popped the entire thing in.

Word to the wise: don't try this at home.

It was one of the most disturbing feelings that I've ever experienced in my mouth. And I know that's probably not saying a lot - but the combination of flavor and fizzy was overwhelming. Yuck. I was the first one to spit it out.

Then again, I did have the entire flippin' thing in my mouth. I was disturbing to say the least.

Other highlights include: too much suncreen application. I would not be doing my job as the WBS if I allowed my girls to get burned.

So if they looked as white as ghosts, well, the'll have me to thank for it later.

Additionally, when Mary and I were sitting on the deck at 5:45 am, we spied 4 young lads galavanting towards the surf. Were they drunk? We were unsure, but watched with great delight as they took turns playing in the surf. I was slightly tempted to flash then - but as soon as that though came into my mind, I quickly pushed it away.

Where did that come from?

Perhaps from the last time I was on vacation at the beach with Nathanile, I may have flashed a passing helicopter. But I was too inebriated to remember.

Ah - those were the good old days.

Ahem. Moving on.

Now, we just spied Elizabeth Fedofsky's husband's fat twin. The guy was rinsing a wetsuit and had the biggest grin on his face. So cute!

But he looked up our way after Mary took a picture. A little obvious perhaps, but then again, we're on vacation at the beach.

Overall, so far so good. We're off to the expo in a few minutes to get packet pickup, and then return for bike cleaning and some shopping. Can you believe that this hotel doesen't serve fruit for breakfast? So wrong.

And now I must go.

But not before I mention that our iner tube friends gut got pummeled. And there's only one that's still in the water. He looks to be okay - but you never know. We'll have to stick around to find out.