All the time I get people asking me where do I come up with ideas for these columns.  To be honest some of the time I just turn on my computer and something pops into my head.  Other times I have thought of something ahead of time and have a general idea of what I am going to say and then it just comes out as I type.  When I was first doing this I used to reread my stuff and add this and edit that and primp and agonize over every sentence.  But as the years have gone by I have realized that sometimes you can ruin the taste of the soup by overcooking it.  So now I pretty much write it and give it a once over for blatant errors and send it.  I have to disable my spell-check because the dictionary and I have a huge difference of opinion. 

Much of the time I get ideas from my email.  People write in stuff that sparks that little flickering brain cell that holds my memories.  Or they will offer up a good idea and I will run with it.  And I get press releases all the time.  Somebody is always sending me stuff about some new product or new this, that or the other thing that they would like to get some publicity about.  Most of the time it isn’t anything that I would write about.  But every now and then something catches my eye and I read it and figure it is worth writing about.  Today is one of those days.  

What caught my attention was an email that said something about Robert August and wheelchairs.  So I’m thinkin’ yeah, Robert is getting up there.  Poor dude is finally in a wheelchair.  Bummer.  I still remember him as the hot surfer, yet extreme socialite, in High School who wore light blue cashmere sweaters and button down Madras shirts and had all the hot babes.  I always wanted to be like him except minus the sweaters.  He was almost too cool for comfort.   And geeze, now he is in a wheelchair???   Poor old geezer.  But, I bet he has some hot grannie rolling him around and helping him put in his teeth. 

But then I read the press release and to my delight it wasn’t about Robert being “in” a wheelchair at all.  He is involved with the Free Wheelchair Mission and is helping with the distribution of a shipment of 550 free wheelchairs in Costa Rica.  Robert is like me; he spends a lot of his time in Costa Rica and has a home down there just like I do in Mexico.  We are still in quest of the “Endless Summer.”  (OK, I could not resist that, sorry)

Robert, as most of you know, is a Huntington Beach local and one of the largest surfboard builders in the world.  He was the star of the all time classic surf movie “Endless Summer,” released in 1964 by Bruce Brown.  He has been an icon in Orange County for almost a half a decade. 

Robert, son Sam August and female surf sensation Mary Osborne are scheduled to host and participate in the distribution of these mobility-giving chairs, as well as narrate a series of short form video documentaries on the event which is to be held this month in Costa Rica. These video segments are being produced by Endless Fun Productions, and will stream over Free Wheelchair Mission’s website, as well as be made available to broadcast outlets around the country and podcasts on the web.

“This project is going to reflect the connection between humanity, nature, and the human spirit,” said Free Wheelchair Mission Marketing Manager Jonathan Abramson. “I believe this project will break new ground and show people throughout the world the beauty of the people that receive our wheelchairs through the perspective of these legendary surfers.”

Free Wheelchair Mission is an Orange County based non-profit organization committed to providing the gift of mobility to the physically disabled poor in developing countries.  This is a very cool thing and I am stoked to hear that Robert is taking part in it.  And I am happy that my old, and I mean the term old as….well..ok…old…pal Robert is not actually in one of the chairs himself yet.