Here are some surf yarns from over the years.

If you're an IT executive, or interested in how information-technology executives strive to get better value out of their technology investments, see jsw's IT journal.

An adventure yarn about surfing, sailing, exploration and discovery. I dreamt this up as I was thinking about the words in the title, each of which can be used to describe surfing. The act of riding a wave is at the same time rhythmic, graceful and beautiful. I've arranged the story in three parts, each an allegory for one of the words in the title.

The story also conforms to an archetypal theme in literature (one which I studied in a class at Boston University one summer): the journey through the cosmic axis. This journey is undertaken by someone who travels across the water to a distant and strange land. While it might mirror reality, it is not the corporeal world, and not everyone can see it. On the way there, the person goes through a series of hardships -- lessons -- that lead to a better understanding of himself or herself, and better understanding how the universe works.

Ulysses went through the cosmic axis. So did Captain Willard in the film, "Apocalypse Now," looking for Colonel Kurtz, and based on the Joseph Conrad novel "Heart of Darkness." So did the characters in James Dickey's "Deliverance." There are countless other examples in literature and film.

I think that every time we surf, especially in bigger waves and more difficult conditions than we're accustomed to, we journey through the cosmic axis as well.

Thanks to John Milliken for help editing the first two chapters!

A ninety percent factual story of learning to surf in San Francisco. Thanks to Kevin O'Driscoll for adding coherence and eliminating confusion in my first draft.

I originally wrote this in my journal when I lived in San Francisco (it must have been 1993). I was sitting on the downsloping berm of the sand dunes, facing the ocean, probably drinking a 40oz. or two....:). Just something I was havin some fun with. Not a true story, obviously, more of a parable?

I tinkered with it a bit. As my old English prof used to say: "All good writing is rewriting!"

(With homage to the verbiage of Edgar Allen Poe, whom I was reading at the time.)