Gnarlsbad

I have to apologize

2008-08-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

We've had no posts lately. I've had visitors and then the website has just drifted into a sort of oblivion. We'll be at it again, I promise!

We have plans for this site. We're going to launch a apparel line. We want to have contests. We finally have money to do it all.

Anyways, I'm going to be recruiting other writers so we can keep a more steady stream of content.

Lack of Posts

2008-07-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, you may have noticed that we had a dearth of posts over the past couple days. Partially this is my fault since I've had visitors from England staying with me. Andrew seems to have gone into a coma of inactivity also so I'll definitely give him some crap for it.

The winner of What's the best thing to do on the beach? Poll is Watch the girls. It's a little pervy granted, but I have to agree. We'll set up a new one.

I'm going to change up the playlist today, so by the time you read this post it will have been modified.

Seems like we've been banned from blogengage until we get a domain, which I'll probably do today. Thus we'll have bypassed the block. It's not our fault they didn't respond to my email.

Take care.

Warning to Blogengage users!

2008-07-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm going to come clean. I hatched a little scheme yesterday at http://www.Blogengage.com . I realized that it only took 5 engages to get your post to the front page, and one of our posts had a legitimate 3 - so I convinced two of my friends to use their accounts to engage my story. Then I did it again, with another story - resulting in two of our stories being on the front page.

Bad move.

Granted, I wasn't entirely sure this was against the rules since it was commonplace amongst Digg users and such - but I should have listened to that little thing called morality buzzing in the back of my head. Anyways, the staff took swift action and our posts were removed from the front page, our account was banned, and our URL was blocked.

Swift judicial retribution, I'm sure.

Anyways I pinged off an email to the staff this morning:

Hey, this is the Gnarlsbad Blog we're curious as to why our account has been removed and our posts removed from the front page? Granted, we'll come clean and admit to having some of our friends engage our stories - yet we were not sure this was against the ToS since at social networking sites like Digg this is a common occurrence.

Thanks for the speedy response!

Hopefully we can get our account reinstated, I'll keep you posted with their response.

Just don't do what we did.

Roberto's Restaurant Profile

2008-07-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Every once and a while we're going to do a profile on a North County restaurant so that you can find out the best local places to eat. This happens to be the first one and it brings us to Roberto's.

I have to admit that I have a fair amount of nostalgia associated with this restaurant. I remember a lot of "burritos after the beach on a Sunday afternoon" here. Anyways, I'll be as fair as possible when reviewing the restaurant.

If you go here, and just want something solid, not to adventurous but filling go for the Bean and Cheese burrito. It's just something that you can't go wrong with. If there's something that I would avoid it would be the Chile Relleno burrito, there's no way you should pay $6 for rice, salsa and a really small amount of cheese - especially when its not even going to taste good.

The prices aren't bad. Plus, it is legitimate mexican food. It's not Taco Bell or the Green Burrito or some other faux food. On the level of quality you'll receive, I say it is probably slightly better than other places that serve real mexican food.

Another perk is that it's locations are right next to the beach, you could even walk there so you don't have to lose your parking spot.

The restaurant we went to was located at:

LEUCADIA
1900 Coast Highway 101 #D
Leucadia, CA 92024

And it's a Good Bet.

5 Prominent Brands of Sandals

2008-07-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

1. Rainbow

Rainbow sandals are unbelievably comfortable, durable, and just cool sandals in general. Although they may take a short period of time to be broken in, they will actually mold themselves to fit your unique foot shape, providing for the most comfortable fit possible. These flip flops last for years, and actually even come with a lifetime warranty.

2. Reef

You can't go wrong with a nice pair of Reef sandals. They're are comfortable and stylish, and are available in a huge variety of colors and designs. Some of the designs even offer cool additional features such as bottle openers, or hidden compartments for your "stash."

3. Havaianas

Havaianas flip flops are extremely popular, and I know that there are many people out there that are absolutely in love with them, but unfortunately I haven't noticed anything extraordinary about them. I mean, sure, they're relatively comfy, they're light, and they look okay, but honestly, you can say the same for a five dollar pair of flip flops from Target or something.

4. Billabong

Billabong sandals are generally of a simple but effective design. While they may not be the best, they are great, stylish sandals at a decent price. Another plus is that Billabong sandals are very popular, meaning they're available almost everywhere that sells beach footwear.

5. Crocs

Crocs sandals are some of the most ridiculously hideous things that mankind has ever created. I don't understand these things at all. They're not even comfortable! Unfortunately, I've had the miserable experience of actually wearing a pair of Crocs, and I found out that not only are they utterly repulsive, they begin to become really irritating and uncomfortable after any extended period of wear, due to all those bumps and crap on the sole. What the hell!

Where should you buy your board shorts?

2008-07-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little info blurb, San Diego won the best city in California poll by an astounding 85%! Which just means that the natural order of things has been restored. We'll add a new poll today and I'm going to switch up the playlist.

Yeah we know, summer started a while ago. You probably already bought a couple bathing suits - but hey if you have some extra cash we'll tell you where the best place to buy is.

1. Pac Sun
Let me start off by saying that the styles here were often overly grungy. The designs were a little clustered together and busy. That said, there were a lot of really cool designs here too. And at this store you get to peruse a bunch of brands at the same time, so I would definitely stop by if you can, or order browse their selection online.

These shorts they had were freaking sick:

So I give Pac Sun a 3.75/5.

2. No Fear

There's bad and then there's ugly. And unless you want to be a bro, I would avoid shops like this and Skin Industries. The shorts here were all $50 for uninspired boring designs that people who normally buy from there are accustomed to.

1.5/5

3. K5
At K5 you get something similar to Pac Sun with your selection of boardshorts. However, it seems that they have a better selection of styles. So they narrowly top Pac Sun.

4.0/5

4. Volcom
Somehow, you can get worse than No Fear. It's like they tried to be Pac Sun grunge and then quit in the middle leaving an unfinished mass of either really boring mono-color suits or completely unbelievably busy and ugly other shorts. I could never see any of my friends wearing any of these.

1.0/5

5. Polo Ralph Lauren

I'm surprised too. This is definitely a weird addition to the list - but they actually have a good selection of swim wear. Their gear is clean cut - basically an alternative to all the grungy stuff that's been up here so far. Be prepared to pay a premium for it - I mean it is Ralph Lauren.

4.0/5.0

2008-07-14T09:00:00.001-07:00

So this is our first post from a cellphone. Just thought i would chime in from work before my afternoon post!

Good Night

2008-07-13T02:22:00.000-07:00

No time for me to really write a post of any substance today, but I wanted to check in and mention that I saw David Beckham earlier today at Legoland where I work (Actually it was technically yesterday since it's 2:22 a.m. right now). There were a couple of security guys standing around, and he he was getting a caricature drawn of himself and his son... Which must have been a hell of a nerve-wracking experience for the artist. Just thought that was pretty interesting. All of my female coworkers went nuts anyway. No, I did not do anything to try and get his attention. Thankfully, I'm not like that.

Damn I'm tired... Good night.

The Best Place to Have an Unfettered Bonfire in North County

2008-07-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

Looking for a place to have a bonfire without all the rules that govern them in more public places? Or just want to try something a little more adventurous than the norm? We've got a spot in Carlsbad that can do just those things. You won't encounter anyone not young and limber here because you have to take a little walk, but its worth it for the fun you'll find.

So, you'll have to take the Coast highway towards Cerezo drive in Carlsbad before Tamarack Beach if you're coming from the South.

Once you arrive park your car in the neighborhood across the street if you plan on staying past the 11 o'clock roadside parking, if not then just park along the road.

You're going to follow the path off the side of the road down to the beach entrance. From the road sign pictured to the left the beach stairway is to the right.

(These are the pathways as viewed from the beach stairway) ->

Go down the stairway(it's big) and then to your right you'll see this hill as pictured below:

Climb the hill. After you have accomplished this and helped up anyone who didn't bring appropriate shoes you merely follow the ledge around until you reach one of the clearings on the cliff side that suits you and have some fun! Watch out for the pieces of glass that are sometimes scattered there though.

It's a well kept secret, in the night no one will be on the beach and you'll be hard to find on the cliffside, it's great because it is so reclusive.

Have fun, kids!

San Diego's Daily Picture

2008-07-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I found this cool blog while surfing the web today, it has a daily picture of various sights around San Diego, which are usually pretty neat. Check it out:

http://sandiegodailyphoto.blogspot.com/

By the way, I actually couldn't make it to the beach this afternoon; I neglected to notice yesterday that today was the only day forecasted as cloudy out of the whole week. We are planning on going to a bonfire tonight though, so you can expect to hear about that. Also Nathan will be doing a profile on what is basically the only spot in North County San Diego where it is possible to have a decent beach bonfire without getting rolled.

Wow, Beautiful Beach Conditions for the Next Week

2008-07-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

Now I admit that, as a freedive spearfisher, I'm slightly biased as to what constitutes great beach conditions, but I think we can all at least agree that relatively low wind, warm temperatures, and sunny skies are desirable traits. Not that every summer day in San Diego isn't like that, but what comes as a break about this coming week is the small swells, which to me is a blessing, because low swells means good visibility, but of course that's subjective. Here's how the surf forecast is looking so far, courtesy of MagicSeaWeed:

http://magicseaweed.com/Swamis-Surf-Report/293/

So I'm pretty amped for this week, I'll probably even hit up the beach in the late morning tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to take some nice pictures to post for you guys. If I decide to go spearfishing, I might even get some sick underwater pics.

Peace out.

Hancock review and other updates.

2008-07-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from seeing Hancock, and despite it's ugly 32% on Rotten Tomatoes I enjoyed it. I mean it wasn't epic, I wouldn't see it twice but for something to do on a boring summer afternoon it wasn't so bad.

And plus, what's more American than Will Smith and a July 4th release date? Grab some McDonald's with that and you might as well be in a wagon on the open range singing the national anthem.

In other news we're going to go mobile, so you'll get live updates and pictures from our phones. Should make for some more dynamic posts in our moments of inspiration.

Plus, check out these cool websites I found:

-

Animoto.com is a website that you can use to create unique music videos for your pictures. Yeah no more boring slideshows, you'll be the coolest kid on myspace/facebook if you use this website. Use this code to get benefits on the site "vimdjtpz"

- Check out http://www.retailmenot.com/ to access a huge database of online coupons that can earn you half off and free shipping on thousands of stores. Get some sick boardshorts.

I made an Animoto short about my cruise to South America for an example.

Hey There!

2008-07-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hey, you're probably wondering what this site is. The writers here(Andrew and Nathan) are wondering what this site is going to turn out to be.

We want to create a site that captures the SoCal lifestyle for young people around the world. We want to do beach reports, Mexican food reviews - you know what I mean. We want to get you the latest and greatest from SoCal.

We'll do reviews of beach apparel and clothing, we'll even upload and share some CD's of the local music scene. We hope that we can offer you an insight into SoCal so that when you visit or move here you can have a great experience or just so you can bring a little SoCal to your home.

I won't waste anymore time, let's get posting.

(Andrew on the left, Nathan on the right)

The Top 5 Exotic Health Foods at Your Local Health Food Shop

2008-07-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

As a Californian I'm happy to oblige to the stereotype that I'm a fitness freak. It's sort of like the stereotype that all Asian people are smart or all black guys have big - err you understand what I mean. Even if its not true, who's going to tell you that it isn't? I work at a smoothie shop for cash, and we get a lot of REALLY HEALTHY PEOPLE who come in. And I mean it, people who drink enough carrot juice to turn their skin orange and guys who load their system with enough anti-oxidants to satiate a horse. Well I got to talking with these people and I've compiled a list of the top 5 exotic health foods that you can get at your local health food store.

5. Acai (ah - sigh -ee)
Apparently it looks like a grape when growing on a tree but your local store probably gets it in packets like the one to the right(I apologize for the quality, I had to use a cellphone camera).

Acai is a Brazilian fruit that packs a punch - in bowl, smoothie or juice form. Supplying you with solid energy and these benefits:

Peertrainer.com "

Compared with raw cow milk, Açaí fruit pulp contains:

4 times more energy
3 times more lipids
7 times more carbohydrates
118 times more iron
9 times more vitamin B1
8 times more vitamin C
the same amount of protein and calcium
half as much phosphorus
and even fights cholesterol and free radicals"

The best part is that this fruit can actually taste good when mixed with banana and some granola. Unfortunately, the stuff coming up next is not nearly as nice to your buds.

4. Mangosteen

Mangosteen is a fruit from Asia that took us in the West a while to find. It is loaded with

Vitamin A and C, anti-oxidants and Xanthones.

Well, what's a Xanthone you ask? A Xanthone is a chemical compound found only in Mangosteen.Supposedly, this compound gives you abundant energy and is an apt training supplement.

Some people even reccomend drinking mangosteen in place of a rushed take out or fast food meal since its nutritional values are so full bodied.

3. Goji

Goji fruit comes from China and the Himalayas(the different zones have different looking berries). I don't like the name Goji, I prefer to call them the Fountain of Youth.

You see, Goji berries reduce the rate of cell decay and increase the production of new cells. In effect, they slow down the process of aging. The best part is that there is no possible way to overdose(unlike other health juices) so no worrying about getting sick!

If that wasn't enough for you Goji also has these benefits:

Richest known natural repository of carotenoids of all foods in the world.
Contains 19 amino acids and 21 traces of minerals
Has more proteins than whole wheat.
Large quantities of Vitamin C, Vitamin B and Vitamin E

2. Noni
To be honest I don't consume this one. I tried it. Yeah, I did - and it tasted like some one threw up in my mouth. But stay here because its benefits may outweigh its taste:

Noni.org :

"In animal studies, noni juice treatments prolonged the life span of mice by more than 75%."
"... Rich source of potassium..."
"The active ingredients are polysaccharides found in a polysaccharide-rich substance in the water-soluble fraction of the fruit juice. A novel trisaccharide fatty acid ester was recently identified from the fruits of noni. The fruit also contains the plant acids, hexoic acid and octoic acid, and paraffin."

So, if you can stand the taste it might be good for ya.

1. Wheatgrass(My favorite)

Medically, wheatgrass has been used for chemo patients because they don't have anything better. The anti-oxidants in a one ounce shot of wheatgrass are equal to the anti-oxidants in 2.5lb of leafy vegetables. It contains 13 vitamins, it converts cancer causing free radicals, it has huge amounts of crude chlorophyll, it can father your children - err ok maybe not the last one.

But it was used to restore fertility to sterile cows.

I used to do a double shot of this every morning, there is a man who comes in and buys 8 oz of it every day - it'll make you feel great. But remember, no matter what Jamba Juice tells you, don't take it with an orange - you might as well just been drinking bad tasting green stuff.

To illustrate the taste we had our friend try some: