Oh...so THAT'S why they call it a STING Ray!

It all makes sense now!

This morning I drove down to Carlsbad to hang out with my brother Noah and his family. They didn't have any plans today and I didn't have to go into work until later in the afternoon, so we decided to hit the beach.

Noah wanted to try his hand (and feet) at surfing, so we had our wetsuits and my board and a wide open ocean to give it a go. He went out for a while and did far better than I ever did my first voyage into all things surfing.

When he tired, he came back in and we traded places. I went out and started having some fun with the board. After a while, I came in, and he not being ready to go out again, let me take a second hit at the waves.

This time, however, as I was walking out into the ocean, when I reached a point where the water was about to my thigh, I felt a sharp cut across the side of my right foot. Thinking it was a piece of glass, I figured I better head back in and assess the damage. When I got close enough in that I could lift my foot out of the water, all I saw was blood POURING out of the side of my foot.

Keep in mind, 3 or 4 weeks ago, there was a fatal Great White Shark attack about 4 miles to the south of where we were.

So I hobbled on into the beach and sat down to start cleaning the wound.

Fortunately, after wiping away most of the blood and all the water that had mixed with it, the cut wasn't near as bad as it had first appeared. It was only about an inch long, but pretty deep. It was still bleeding quite a bit.

I want to pause now and thank all of Corporate America for their generosity when it comes to t-shirts. Those logo emblazoned team-building promotional items make great make-shift bandage wraps.

So as I am soiling my latest t-shirt, a local beach comber strolls by and asks if I got tagged by a sting ray. I told him I was pretty sure it was just a piece of glass. He told me that I will know in about 5 minutes if it was a Sting Ray or something else.

Sure enough, within 5 minutes my foot felt like it was on fire, wedged in a closing vice, and crushed under a 5-ton elephant. (Not that elephants actually get that large...but you get the idea.)

Well, I had to head into work, so I cleaned it up the best I could, hopped-along to my car and drove for the next hour or so back to the office. All the while, my foot was throbbing like a love-sick swooner's heart as he stares at a picture of his gal. Only it hurt too.

Long story short...about 3-4 hours later, it stopped hurting all together and I now have a clean slice right across the inside of my foot.
My friends have said that I am now, officially, a Local.

On another note...happy Mt. Everest Anniversary! It was on this date in 1953 that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the pinnacle of the tallest mountain in the world. A truly remarkable feat!