Danette Goulet -- Editor’s Notebook

I’ve had enough people stop me on the street and ask, so I thought I’d

let you all know that Thanksgiving was a success.

As it turns out, my guest list grew from three culinarily challenged

and therefore easy to please males, to five -- with the new additions

being (get this) two gourmet chefs.

No problem -- right?

Smoked salmon bill bites and guacamole brie melts, followed by turkey,

stuffing, broccoli and mashed potatoes with gravy all topped off with

pumpkin chiffon pie -- and the only mishap was a melted plastic Pyrex

lid.

It still reeks of burning plastic every time I turn my oven on.

But the gourmet guests turned out to be delightful, grateful guests --

so all was indeed well.

Martha Stewart and Wolfgang Puck I am not.

But I did meet someone, in my journalistic travels recently, whose job

I would love if I were remotely qualified, which I also am not.

As a side note, this happens to me often. I did a story a puppy pastry

chef once and considered leaving all the glamour of the news biz to

create cannoli for canines just so I could have my dog with me at work.

But this time, the person whose career caught my eye was Adam Wright.

Surfers may know his name when they read his daily greeting on Surfline.

“Good morning this is Adam with the report for Thursday morning at 7

a.m.”

OK, so the 7 a.m. part does not appeal to me. But the perks have to be

worth it.

Adam, among other duties, compiles the surf reports along the coast of

California and reports conditions to site visitors. He also interprets

the data sent from satellites to the company’s weather and wave forecast

system, LOLA.

These are the things I am not qualified for -- here’s the part I envy.

I stopped in to the ground level Surfline office in Downtown a couple

of weeks ago and was greeted by a trio of guys who were all barefoot and

still wet from a lunchtime surf session.

I could just stop there, right? But no. I went back the next day and

interviewed a couple people. Those interviews were conducted in their

office above the movie theater overlooking the south side of the pier.

Among those I talked to was Wright, who told me, “It’s an unbelievable

job because all we do is talk about the surf all day long.”

And when they are not talking about surfing they’re out there surfing,

in the name of “research.”

If they get their work done and meet their deadlines, Wright said,

they can throw on a wetsuit and run across the street.

“We can go surf for an hour and not get a hassle,” said a barefoot

Wright.

Where do I sign up?

* DANETTE GOULET is the assistant city editor. She can be reached at

(714) 965-7170 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .