Breaking Away for the Clean, Crisp Waves in Tahiti By Rockin' Fig & Dave, \o7 Rockin' Fig is Rick Fignetti, a Huntington Beach surfer/shop owner. Times staff writer David Reyes has reported on U.S. surf teams competing in Bali and Brazil. and \f7
From 'Hat' to Tails, Fred Astaire Is Tops By Mark Chalon Smith, \o7 Mark Chalon Smith is a free-lancer who regularly writes about film for The Times Orange County Edition. \f7
Touch of Thai and a Peak Experience By Benjamin Epstein, \o7 Benjamin Epstein is a free-lance writer who regularly contributes to the Times Orange County Edition\f7
Step 1: Read; Step 2: Write; Repeat as Needed By T. Jefferson Parker, \o7 T. Jefferson Parker is a novelist and writer who lives in Orange County. His column appears in OC Live! the first three Thursdays of every month. \f7
Microsoft's Moment to 'Open' Windows? By Michael Schrage, Michael Schrage is a writer, consultant and research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He writes this column independently for The Times
PLATFORM : Compassion, Please \f7 and \o7 HERBERT PARDES, a professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University, comments on the suicide of presidential aide Vincent Foster and the misunderstanding of psychological pain: