Greetings everybody.   Wow, the year is just flying by.  I cannot believe we are in September.  This month brings much dismay, as it is the end of the fiscal year and the end of my 30’s.  Who ever said life begins at 40 is one lying SOB.  What does one really have to look forward to…hair falling out, teeth falling out, and sagging undercarriage?   I guess it eventually means a trip to hair club for men, the dentist for false chompers, and cosmetic surgeon to get the boys sinched up…laid down some money, get a few stitches and come out singing, Papa’s got a brand new bag.  Hey, at least you now know what James Brown was singing about.  Anyhow, September is causing me grief with work and my age.  I know I will get relief in Oct with regard to work but I will still be 40. 

As most of you know, I accompanied another group on a trip to North Carolina for some wreck diving.  I submitted a trip report in a separate correspondence.  The diving was great and I recommend this trip to our club.  For a relatively inexpensive weekend trip, it is hard to beat.  Well I guess the run up on gas due to Katrina increased the overall cost of the trip by as much as 25 percent. So inexpensive may be a bit inaccurate.  We bitched about gas prices all weekend and mulled over alternatives to oil.  I suggested we should consider grinding up old people…get some gas and get em out of the fast lane...double bonus.  One of the Rec2tec divers reminded me that I will be a senior citizen some day.  But hey, until that day…If it’s less that two dollars a gallon, I say filler up with some Soylent 87 octane.   Also on this dive trip, I finally got to whip it out.  My sausage that is… OK, my safety sausage, get your minds out of the gutter.  Another diver and I learned what an important piece of equipment a safety marker can be.   I covered that story and the subsequent close encounters with a shark in the dive report.

Several Kittyhawk are still planning to hit Panama City Beach in Oct.  So far it looks like it will be Steve, Barb, Randy, Jeff Beaty, and myself.  I’m still tentative as I may be stuck supporting work related meetings…damn job getting in the way of having fun again.  We can discuss the trip at the coming meeting.

In other news… The SODA dive shop is relocating to another store in Kettering .  They are advertising big sales on most of their inventory.  It is a good opportunity to pick up some new equipment and cheap prices.  They will also open a store north of I70 in early October.  I am happy as I will not have to go that far to get an air fill.   The Rec2tec bubbas have invited us to participate in some of their trips next year…they are looking at Brockville , Thunder Bay , Tobermory, and NC again.  I’ll probably do a few more quarry runs this year. 

Well…that’s about all I know.  We will see you a the meeting…