My declaration:

"Oh mighty whale of the ancient waters, how lonely you have become since we last met. Your predicament made doubly misfortunate by being frozen and displaced. Blast this dreaded mountain! The Wizard who did this to you shall be punished, I will see to it!

How I remember when you once roamed free in the deep blue, swimming freely with your brethren. You amazed the fishes and dolphins with your wide swagger and generous smiles. I even remember the battle between you and the Wizard in the western beach, where you fought for seven days and seven nights. When no mortal swam to the front, you put your life on the line. You did what needed to be done.

How many summers have you endured without the refreshment of the cooling currents? How many winters of rain and frost have you been damaged by? The children have no understanding of your pain. While you don an iron grin of pride, I know deep down you yearn for vengeance, and possibly, justice.

I am sorry to admit that since the last time we have spoken, I have not honored my promise to you. I found two of your brothers, fallen to the same fate as yours. Just like you, they are alive, but frozen. I shall redouble my efforts into finding a cure. Stay strong old friend, the day of returning you to the Oceans is not far now.

You are a Hero amongst whales, and how true it is that “Hero” is a posthumous title given to those underappreciated. I remember, and so shall them all."


I finally got the shots and video out from my camcorder from Saturday. I decided to honor the one public object that I found under-appreciated by many. He overlooks most of Berkeley, and faces the Bay Bridge over Tilden Park. I bet you guys all know about him, but not as well as I do (or at least my story says).

What happened:
1. write something about the giant Whale on top of the Lawrence Hall of Science.
2. Call up Loki to see if he wanted to see the whale.
3. Success!
4. Get gear, camera - uh camera? Oh snaps, the siblings took it with them to their Oregon trail (trip). No matter, take the camcorder? I'm sure Loki has a camera.
5. Drive up... but uh, Strada Cafe is right there... ok, get one cup before we go.
6. A bit of people watching before we go? I mean, the writing's already finished.
7. ... an hour later...
8. We meet at the Whale, but all the lights were off. Sure, we can use flash right? No... Astronomers were there, hoping to see a shooting star (or some other event of cosmological significance).
9. Loki takes a few shots, OMG! (Obviously muted grunt) no more batteries, let's try our cell phones. Heck, lets try the camcorder.
10. Astronomers leave, lights turn back on, huzzah!
11. Camcorder is out of focus, why? oh... it's on 25x zoom. Common sense is not part of my (or our) repertoire.
12. OH NO, more people come. Let's take the picture from behind the whale...?
13. Ok, let's get the hell outta here!
14. Success, on the way back we saw curious people going up to the back side of the whale to read my little note.
15. Drop off Loki in a highly efficient manner, the speed of our deployment was as calculated as a bank-robbery.
16. Got a call 5 mins later, "uh... I think we switched camera bags."
17. Doh!!

here's the video finally. sorry, it feels like the Blair Witch Project.