Good morning and greetings, springtime freshness fans. As we all know, last Wednesday was the first day of spring, also known as the vernal equinox or thank God it’s not winter anymore. It’s a day when the equator, the center of the sun and my car’s brakes are fully aligned, which includes a free rotation of my seasonal conciousness.

For the next three months and throughout the NBA playoffs, the sun will gently warm my heart and the northern hemisphere, which will bring smiles to those living in the Mountain West and Great Lakes region and New England states, where recently it has been colder than a reception for Mel Gibson at a B’nai B’rith luncheon.

On the first day of spring, temperatures were up to 25 degrees below my usual scoring average, with more snow than you could find at a Pablo Escobar stash house. The calendar may have read late March, but the ground was snow covered and frozen, which reminds me of the Woody Allen line, “Who bothers to cook TV dinners? I suck them frozen.”

So how cold was it? It was so cold down at a city morgue, you couldn’t tell the stiffs from the guys who worked there. A guy fell out of bed and his pajamas broke. Republicans were actually hugging Democrats while waiting for the bus. A chicken was seen walking down the street with a cape on. Sherwin Williams needed a third coat. And it was so cold that a guy saw one dog trying to jump start another. At least that’s what he thought he was doing.

The arrival of spring also means thousand of college students heading south across the border to sunny and cartel free Mexico, to celebrate and inebriate the annual ritual of spring break. We’re talking places like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. Myself, I was always more interested in fast breaking than spring breaking, as because of my Quaker upbringing I don’t drink alcohol or jump off balconies from my hotel room.

I know the draw of surf, sand, suds and sun is a powerful one, but boozing it up was never my thing, as it interfered with my study of the Torah. I’m just kidding, I was always much more of a Kaballah man. But those decapitating cartel boys, who have total disregard for bystanders, umpires and referees would deter me from heading south to where the party never stops. But being a tanned hard body, I can still relate to the words of Robin Williams, who says “Spring is nature’s way of saying, let’s party.”

So on that note, we’re heading down to Mexico. In a story written by Mark Stevenson for the Associated Press, scientists reported last week that the number of Monarch butterflies making it to their winter refuge in Mexico dropped a shocking 59 percent this year, falling to the lowest level since comparable record-keeping began 20 years ago. It was the third straight year of their decline of the migration from the United States and Canada to spend the winter living in mountaintop fir forests in central Mexico. Six of the last seven years have shown drops, and there are now only one-fifteenth as many butterflies as there were in 1997. This is not good news as I have spent half my life chasing the bright, elusive, butterfly of love.

So what are the reasons? The World Wildlife Fund, one of the groups that sponsored the butterfly census, blamed climate conditions, jealousy of moths and agricultural practices, especially the use of pesticides that kill off milkweed, the Monarchs’ main source of food. The butterflies breed and party in the U.S. in the summer, and then migrate to Mexico in the winter. Mexico says they have down their part to protect the butterfly reserves by eliminating large-scale illegal logging and promoting the movies of actress Salma Hayak, who once said, “I keep waiting to meet the man who has more bats, er balls than I do.”

The loss of milkweed in the U.S. makes it hard for the butterflies to lay eggs, and for their young that do hatch to find enough food to grow to maturity. In addition, unusually hot or dry weather can kill eggs, meaning fewer adult butterflies. South of the border, unusual cold weather, lack of water, tree cover and mariachi bands means that Monarchs are less likely to survive the winter and reach adulthood. And thus they will never see Eva Longoria’s new reality TV show, “Devious Maids,” based a Mexican series that that follows four maids who work in Beverly Hills but dream of their own success. And all this time I just thought she was a desperate housewife. Or as the former Mrs. Tony Parker once put it, “I find it a turnoff whenever men aren’t into some kind of sport.” And that, my friends, is why I watch NBA TV.

Lincoln Brower, an entomologist at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, says, “To blame the low numbers of monarchs solely on what is happening north of Mexico is misleading. Herbiciding of soybean and corn fields that kills milkweed is a serious problem, but the historical decline over the past 19 years has multiple causes. All three countries need to face up to the fact that it is our collective activities that are killing the migratory phenomenon of the Monarch butterfly.” So some fingers, including the middle, are being pointed. And I believe it was either actress Jessica Alba or Mexican writer Oscar Funetes who said, “What the United States does best it understand itself. What it does worst is understand others.”

The head of Mexico’s nature reserves, Luis Fueyo, said there are still some problems to be solved at the wintering grounds in Mexico, including some scale-logging and water availability. The Monarchs don’t drink any water throughout their long migration until they reach Mexico, and the mountain streams in the area have been affected by drought, human use and pinata parties. No butterfly lives to make the round-trip. The millions of Monarchs cluster so densely on tree boughs in the reserve that researchers don’t count their individual numbers but rather measure the amount of forest they cover. It’s just another reason why they can’t see the forest through the trees.

This winter, the butterflies covered just 2.93 acres, down from 7.14 acres last year. That doesn’t bode well for us, as who knows what we’ll be seeing this fall in the eucalyptus groves at Natural Bridges and Lighthouse Field. It doesn’t sound promising. So the final word on this situation south of the border comes from Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who said ” I would rather die standing than live life on my knees.” Viva la revolution, and for you Elvis and Ann Margaret fans, “Viva La Vegas.”

For today’s photo enclave, I’m featuring a group of butterflies at play. The final shot shows the Monarchs clustering in the trees at Natural Bridges State Park. When you look up at this sea of orange and black, you’re viewing one of the true wonders of nature, as their migration north to reach this safe haven, much like me trying to get back down to my high school weight, is brutal. Or as Jennifer Aniston once said, “I love the feeling of being in love, the effect of having butterflies when you wake up in the morning. That is special.” I can relate, as I’ve always savored the early stage of being in love, when I woke up feeling like a happy caterpillar.

On to some late night humor. “A guy in Great Britain found a way to make cars run on coffee. The good news is if cars start running on coffee, it means once again I can smoke at the pumps. Are you folks excited about St. Patrick’s Day? It’s the day I tell Irish jokes written by Jewish writers.” – David Letterman “To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Carnival Cruise had all their toilets overflowing with green water.” – Jay Leno “For many colleges, this is spring break. College kids will go to places like South Beach to make mistakes they will cherish for a lifetime. Spring break is an important American tradition. It’s how we grow a new crop of MTV teen moms.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Last night on “The Tonight Show,” during the monologue Jay Leno called NBC executives “snakes.” The response came quickly. “Jay Leno has crossed the line and gone too far,” responded the snakes. The new show “Bates Motel” premiered last night. It was very suspenseful. The whole time watching it I was thinking, “Will that guy get stabbed? Will he survive to see the next week?” I’m sorry, that’s while I was watching “The Tonight Show. Julius Caesar was romantically involved with Cleopatra for 14 years. After he dumped Cleopatra, there were rumors that Julius Caesar fathered an illegitimate child by a housemaid. But those rumors turned out to be false. It was actually Caesar’s cousin, Julius Schwarzenegger.” – Craig Ferguson

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul announced that he supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Or as illegal immigrants put it, “Who do you think’s going to build that path?” Kate Middleton revealed that she wants to have a boy, but Prince William is hoping for a girl. However, they both agree that no matter what gender it is, its nanny will love it just the same. Burger King is now offering a turkey burger on its menu. Or as horses put it, “Nope, still us.” There’s talk that “Today” show host Matt Lauer is the top choice to replace Alex Trebek when he leaves “Jeopardy.” Or as Alex Trebek put it, “Who is Matt Lauer?” – Jimmy Fallon

So that’s our Monarch update. I hope you have been relishing the incredible play this week of LeBron James and of March madness, as we are now down to what my daughter will be turning in August, the sweet sixteen. Enjoy the week and the celebration of matzos. We’ll catch you shocking the world by going alley-oop crazy and pulling off the biggest upset in the first round of the NCAA playoffs. Aloha, mahalo and later, Florida Gulf Coast University fans.

Good morning and greetings, baseball playoffs fans. The weather on the central coast went wild and crazy last week, as in a 24-hour period, we went from Indian Winter to Blazing Saddles. To kick off October, the mercury skyrocketed like the price of gas, as the thermometer hit triple digits with an impressive 100 degree showing. This sudden heat wave caught tourists and local shamans in this normally Mediterranean climate off guard, as there is usually separation of fog and state.

I don’t want to say it was hot, but I was sweating like President’s Obama’s advisors after the first debate. I hadn’t perspired like that since the mailman arrived years ago with an envelope containing my SAT scores. As Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson once said, “The person who scores well on an SAT test will not necessarily be the best doctor, lawyer or businessman. These test do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perserverance or the potential to one day become an unpaid blogger.”

Because of the intense heat, I had to get out of the kitchen, so I grabbed my camera and headed up to the Alan Chadwick Gardens at UC Santa Cruz. Formerly known as the UCSC Garden Project, this two-acre wonderland was created back in 1967, when I was still two years away from my non-life changing Woodstock experience. What kills me today is that I can’t find the ticket that I bought for this blessed event of peace, mud and music. I could sell it on E-Bay and be set for life, or at least through Groundhog Day.

The Garden was created back at a time when the redwood forests were being bulldozed, and there was a need for something as beautiful and as natural as my skin tone. I remember years ago, as a premed law student at UC, going to the garden to cut fresh flowers, which was an option for all students in the honors program.

It was a place where I sought refuge from the pressures of endless studying, intensive paper writing and full-court hoops action at the East Fieldhouse. And all that peace, love and full-court happiness led me to getting my degree in sociology, which today, with $1, will get me a USA Today and all the pie charts I can eat.

So I headed up to the garden to go one-on-one with nature’s blooms. But then, in the words of Gomer Pyle, “Surprise, surprise,” as when I entered this orgainic arena in search of a floral appetizer, I was greeted with the Monday’s special, medallions of butterflies, who were flittering and fluttering all over the hillside. It was quite a pleasant surprise. Or as Russian poet Boris Pasternak once said between shots of vodka, “Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” I’d go with a new car.

I paused at this beautiful sight and thought, love is like a butterfly. It goes where it pleases and pleases where it goes. I can very much relate to these little self-propelled flowers, as we delight in their beauty, but rarely admit the changes they have gone through to achieve that beauty. As a former hand model, I’ve been through it all. As George Carlin said, “The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.”

So it was mid-morning on the first day of October, and it was already so hot, even Donald Trump’s hair wouldn’t have gone outside. On my way up to the university, I saw a guy holding a sign, “Will work for shade.” I walked by a woman wearing a pantsuit without the pants. Bottom line, it was scorching. How hot? My sweat was sweating.

As I walked up into the garden, I saw that the fruit trees were exploding with apples, a scene that reminded me of a dream I once had about being trapped inside a jar of Mott’s raspberry flavored apple sauce. I believe it was Johnny Appleseed’s nutritionist who said, “Great trees give more shade than fruit, but we’ll let the redwoods to speak for themselves.

So back to this upper westside Garden of Eden. I had gone in search of the beauty and colors of the autumn flowers. But instead, what really got me excited was the plethora of butterflies, who were sucking down the sweet nectar like it was a carton of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice.

Now, I admit, I’ve been a loyal Tropicana man all my life. However, I was recently introduced to some Odwalla 100% Pure Squeezed All Natural Orange Juice and it blew the Trop right out of the park. That’s nourishing the body whole. There’s an old Japanese proverb that says, “The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” Or as I once googled my rabbi, if nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies. Or need for rainbow calendars.

So today’s photo gallery offers up the best of my journey to the Alan Chadwick Garden. While I was shooting away, the hummingbirds were on full alert, zooming around from plant to plant, enjoying the best of what the nectar gods had to offer.

I relished the benefits of this brief, unexpected heat wave, which lasted another 24 hours before the natural coastal air conditioning kicked in and the fog returned with a vengeance. I think my morning could be summed up by the words of Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, who tweeted while stand up paddling down the Amazon, “You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life when we fully allow the unexpected to happen.” And that’s why I carry the American Express card. Never leave home without it.

On to the late night. For tomorrow’s debate, President Obama’s advisers have been working with him to keep his responses short. In fact, the only words the president plans on saying are ‘bin Laden’ and ‘dead.’ That’s it The presidential debate is on Wednesday. Mitt Romney has been preparing for the debate by debating a Republican senator who plays the part of President Obama. Meanwhile, President Obama has been preparing for Romney by debating an ATM machine.” –Conan O’Brien

“Well, last week in Vermont, the guy from the Dos Equis beer commercials — you know “the most interesting man in the world” — he hosted a fundraiser for President Obama. See, that shows you how things have changed. Four years ago the slogan was hope and change. Now it’s ‘stay thirsty my friends.'” –Jay Leno “It’s rumored that in a recent Univision interview, Mitt Romney wore makeup to appeal to Latino voters. I can’t wait to see Romney’s appearance on BET.” –Conan O’Brien

“The first debate is tomorrow night and I heard that the Obama campaign is a little worried because during his flight to Nevada on Sunday the president watched four hours of football instead of studying — although it did mark the first time all year that Obama has actually seen something get passed.” –Jimmy Fallon “Today was not only the first presidential debate, it was also President Obama’s 20th wedding anniversary. I think the president got a little confused. At one point, he told Michelle that she was out of touch with the middle class and Romney looks as beautiful as the day they first met.” –Conan O’Brien

“The presidential debates were earlier tonight, and I think most of the nation’s all thinking the same thing – just one more day until Thursday Night Football.” –Jay Leno “Arnold Schwarzenegger was on ’60 Minutes’ promoting his book. He said you can’t run from your mistakes. You have to confront them. Yeah, especially if they look exactly like you and keep calling you dad. “In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book, he says his first clue that the housekeeper’s son was his was when the boy started looking like him. His second clue was when he was the only Mexican kid with an Austrian accent.” –Conan O’Brien

That’s another blast for October. And speaking of blasts, on Saturday, an Arctic blast swept over two-thirds of the country, bringing snow, freezing rain and 74 record-low temperature marks. Sheridan, Wyoming, was a toasty five below. Check, please.

So we’ll catch you being the first player to win the baseball’s triple crown since 1967 and being a team that was picked to finish last, only to end up in first place on the last day of the season, the only day in which you were on top. Aloaha, mahalo and later, Miguel Cabrera and Oakland A’s fans.

Good morning and greetings, I can’t believe it’s not butterfly fans. Well, we had our three days of summer this week, as a glowing yellow object appeared in the morning skies, accompanied by a backdrop of a large blue canvas. The temperature in Santa Cruz hit a record 101 degrees on Tuesday, as locals rejoiced and salsa danced in the street at this belated turn of events. But then on Wednesday, the fog blew back in, bringing with it that lovely gray curtain that has blanketed our cold water paradise all summer.

This is not to complain, as I prefer this cool, dreary gloom to the sweltering heat that President Obama is feeling in the White House. Even Michelle going sleeveless is not helping on the domestic front. On Thursday morning, Jason asked me, “Dad, why is it so cold?” I replied, “I don’t know son, maybe because a quarter of the country is hungry, another quarter is jobless, another quarter is being foreclosed on and the rest are watching the stock market tank. Well, either that, or it’s just a low pressure system that’s dropping over central coast.”

You may be wondering, what brought on our 72 hours of summer last week? The mini-heat wave was stoked by a high pressure system that was double parked in the white zone over Northern California. This pressure system, which is the same one Jason experienced last Tuesday afternoon when he went for his driver’s test, surpressed the army, navy and marine layer that usually keeps coastal temperatures Kool and the Gang. Thus came the sizzling triple digit heat, and I’m not talking Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. And yes, Jason now has a license to drive but has vowed to work his midrange game.

So, with summer still on the calender, I thought I would chase the bright elusive butterfly of love. For today’s photo ensemble, we are checking in on the fluttering world of butterflies. Five of the images were taken less than a mile from my compound here on the highly desirable upper westside, and if you really want to get upclose and personal, shots one, two and three, which were easy as A,B,C, were taken in my front yard. The butterfly relaxing in the sand was shot at up the coast at Ano Nuevo at my annual Navy Seals reunion.

There is so much to know about these little creatures, so thanks to our friends at www.thebutterflysite.com, here are some fun facts about the world of entomology. Remember, here at Sunrise Santa Cruz, if we don’t have the answer, we’ll make it up. And if you have to wonder if it’s true, well, it’s probably not.

There are about 24,000 species of butterflies in the free world and Canada. Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to an almost huge 12 inches. And in a survey of 1,000 females butterflies, 90% said that size does matter.

Most butterflies live 20 to 40 days, which does not encourage investing in time shares or setting long-term goals. The longest lifetime of an adult butterfly is 9-10 months, in which time they marry, raise children, send them off to college, divorce and then split the proceeds from the sale of their cocoon.

Butterflies can see the colors red, green, and yellow, yet seem confused when they approach a traffic light. Butterflies can see ultraviolet light (light invisible to the human eye) which makes the markings on flowers and vegan restaurants very vivid to them and guides them to the nectar tubes and tofu salads. Some butterflies have ultraviolet reflectants or markings on their own wings which are visible only to other butterflies or really wealthy moths.

The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per hour, with a maximum of 10 miles per hour when flying in a school zone. Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees, unlike myself, who will not fly unless I’m packing enough Sun Chips and tri tip sandwiches to keep me munching from takeoff to landing.

Butterflies taste sensors are found in their feet, so they taste with their feet to find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to lay eggs on for their caterpillars’ food. That’s why many people won’t risk embarrasment of taking a butterfly to a party, because you never know when its going to put its foot in it’s mouth.

Butterflies have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, called the exoskeleton. This protects them, keeps water inside their bodies so they don’t dry out and saves a hell of a lot of money on Halloween costumes.

The wings of butterflies are actually transparent. The vivid colors are due to overlapping bright scales, which they also use to weigh themselves. Their wings have 125,000 scales per square inch. Compare that to a human head, which has only about 100 hairs per square inch or Bruce Willis, who has none.

Many butterflies have intricate patterns on their wings which are intended for camouflage and showing off to relatives at family gatherings. The patterns are also useful in courtship rituals and knitting and crocheting. Butterflies fly in circles around one another to find a mate, which is very similar to the way I first approached Kim Guarnaccia at my first school dance.

Much like the thighs I use to make chicken parmesan, caterpillars are boneless, but have over 1000 muscles. Butterflies can’t hear, but they can feel vibration which works best when hiding from predators and bill collectors. And after bees and professional athletes, butterflies are the second largest group of pollinators in the world.

And finally,you’re probably wondering, what’s the difference between a moth and a butterfly? Well, moths twitter and fly at night and rest with their wings open. Butterflies facebook during the day and rest at night with their wings closed. And before a big game, one might experience butterflies, not moths. Personally, I had ice water in my veins so the subject and predicate never came up.

Not much this week on the late night front, but here’s one for Sasha and Malia.
“President Obama could not wait to get on vacation. As soon as the plane landed, he grabbed a couple beers and slid down the emergency slide.” –David Letterman

So that’s our last blast for August 2010. We had a beautiful sunrise on Saturday morning, which of course came on the only day this summer I slept past 6 am. I woke up to see clouds in the sky that were just minutes earlier full of color and immediately ran to my computer and googled the word “karma.”

For the sake of love, peace and my personal happiness, I’m not going to mention the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq or the Yankee’s starting rotation. But God bless our troops and the military families. They know what sacrifice is all about, and I’m not talking about a bunt to move the runner into scoring position. So enjoy the late summer action and we’ll catch you on the disabled list. Aloha, mahalo and later, Steven Strasburg fans.

Good morning and greetings, Supreme Court nominee fans. Each week, I parade to the the cyber confessional as we take a look at something from the skies and byways of this cold water paradise called Santa Cruz. Well, today, travel and leisure lovers, we are headed to an exotic land with warm water, a place where iguanas, jaguars, ferraris and crocodiles live amongst the rain forest like ebony and ivory live in perfect harmony.

In late June, I loaned my brother Brad my most valuable possessions, my son Jason and daughter Aimee, and they passported south on a trip of a lifetime to Costa Rica. Despite Aimee’s camera breaking on day two, they still took hundreds of pictures and were left with stronger impressions then Dana Carvey performed on the Tonight show last week. Today we present you with part one of two guest blogs. So without further ado, in her own words, soon to be 12-year-old Aimee Jennifer Gilbert.

When I think about my trip to Costa Rica, the one word that describes it is AMAZING. It was an exotic, wonderland full of creatures I had never seen up close.

My favorite animals were the Capuchin or White-Faced monkeys. As you can see in photo #1,one of the Capuchins is eating a coconut. They were literally right above our heads as they ate. The best part was that after they were done eating the fruit, they would drop the peels on us.

Capuchins are omnivores and eat fruit, crabs, bird eggs and small lizards. Their job in the eco system is to clean fruit off the forest floor. One day, as we were going to the beach we looked up and saw 15 of them in the trees! My uncle said he saw one trying to unscrew a light bulb that was attached to the tree. Another had a baby on its back. Then, all of a sudden, they all jumped off the trees and ran across the street. It was a great, modern, third world country moment.

The second picture is the best from our whole trip. We were on a hike witnessing huge spiders, exotic birds, and forest crabs, when we noticed three sloths in a tree, which is very unusual because you rarely see sloths together. We took this picture with the help of our tour guide by using a telescope.
This three toed sloth was coming down a tree when it turned to us and smiled. Sloths are very lazy and can sleep in one place for three days straight! They curl up around branches or hang by their hands and stay still so predators don’t notice them. Sloth’s hair is often covered with a coat of blue-green algae during the rainy season because it provides a camouflage!

The third picture is of a Jesus Christ Lizard. They are named that because they are known for crossing still waters in a nearly upright position! We saw this beautiful reptile sitting on a log at the beach on one of our hikes.

The last three pictures are butterflies from our first hike in Arenal, which is the home of a very active volcano. Costa Rica’s butterfly species make up approximately 90% of all Central American butterflies. The first butterfly photo is of an Owl butterfly. This butterfly is different from other butterflies because of its unique tan, black and blue wings. It is occasionally a pest to bananas.

The The next butterfly is a version of a Blue Morpho. The Blue Morpho is the most common butterfly in Costa Rica. Seeing all the butterflies was incredible and something I will always remember.

That’s all for now and I hope you enjoyed this guest blog. Back to you dad.

Thank you, Aimee. As you can see, I did not include the always popular “editors comment” after each paragraph, as I wanted Aimee’s voice to come through proud and clear, although I was as tempted as South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford on a fact-finding tour in Argentina.

On to the late night boys. “Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings are under way. It’s interesting. Political experts say that if Republican senators attack Sonia Sotomayor too harshly, they could alienate Latino members of their own party. This may explain with Republicans opened every question with, ‘As a huge fan of Santana.'” –Conan O’Brien “Everybody knows Sotomayor will get confirmed. Even the GOP can’t take her on, because she is the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court, and they don’t want to offend Latino voters. That’s why they no longer talk about the ‘border fence.’ It’s now called the ‘welcome wall.'” –Stephen Colbert

“Today, the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor got under way. And, of course, people have opinions on both sides. Critics of Judge Sotomayor claim that she has a bias against white people. But this morning, she proved them wrong by showing up at the hearings wearing a Coldplay t-shirt and carrying a yoga mat.” –Conan O’Brien “People in New York are especially excited by Judge Sotomayor because she comes from the Bronx. In fact, Judge Sotomayor famously presided over the landmark New York City case, Shut Up vs. No, You Shut Up.” –Conan O’Brien

“I thought it was fascinating how the New York papers covered the All-Star Game and Obama throwing out the first pitch. New York Times said that Obama threw a perfect strike. Daily News said he threw a ball. The New York Post said he was making out with Kate Hudson.” –David Letterman “This weekend is the 10th anniversary of ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ President Obama recently said SpongeBob is his favorite cartoon. He loves to watch that silly little guy run around and say crazy stuff, annoying everyone. Reminds him of Joe Biden.” –Craig Ferguson

“You remember Dick Cheney, who was the Vice President for eight years with George W. Bush? And we didn’t think much about Dick Cheney and then one day he goes hunting, boy, that changed everything. Well now it turns out that for eight years, Dick Cheney had a secret hit squad to assassinate al Qaeda leaders. And the team was unbelievable. Here’s who was on the team: Lee Marvin; Jim Brown; John Cassavetes; Telly Savales; and Trini Lopez as Pedro. Now here is the thing. Here are the two sides of this. The ying and the yang. Idea was we’d kill off al Qaeda leaders. That’s the ying, I guess. The yang is completely illegal. But, listen to this. Before you make your judgment, before you decide, if it weren’t for Dick Cheney and his secret assassination squad, Osama bin Laden would be alive today.” –David Letterman

So that’s it for part one of riding the roller Costa Rica. I would have loved to been riding shotgun on this photo journey, but I’m highly allergic to piranhas. Next week it’s Jason turn, as we’ll swirl inside the mind of a 15-year old point guard on his first adventure outside the country.

So enjoy the long summer days and we’ll catch you down the third base line. Aloha, mahalo and later, Derek Jeter fans.