So this morning I got up bright and early (9am is early for a Sunday) to join the Surfrider beach cleanup at Ocean Beach. Surfrider is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to cleaning up the world's oceans and beaches. I volunteered with them last year and it was pretty fun. Last time I collected about two bucks in change and even found an ID card to Columbia University.

Today, I didn't find very interesting things, just dozens of cigarette butts and bottle caps. This was probably because I had a claw-grabber tool instead of my sand sifter pan. Oh well. It was nice and relaxing to just walk up and down the beach. It was a beautiful clear and warm day to walk on the beach and listen to the Bee Gees on my iPod. There were a lot of families with their children there. A lot of them let their children run around barefoot-- just another motivation to pick up the broken glass. A friendly tip to anyone who wants to walk around barefoot in Ocean Beach: don't. Wear sandals or Crocs (even if they're ugly). At least you won't cut your foot and need a tetanus shot.



But back to Surfrider. They're a great organization. They provide volunteers with rubber gloves or cloth gloves, grab claw tools, sand sifter pans, trash bags, and even Luna Bar snacks. At the end of it, they passed out free T-shirts. That's certainly one way to win my heart-- free stuff! But seriously, they're a fun, well-organized group. Here's their website if you're interested:

http://www.surfrider.org/default.aspx