Maui Roads

check out the video Ryder posted on his blog on Dec. 8

http://www.ryderhesjedal.ca/

pretty neat. somehow Laird managed to get his shirt off

WhatsWithThat KidsHead

Legs are sore, eyes are heavy. Another week passes.

Some highlights, some mistakes, most certainly the "butchering" I did on my haircut on Christmas Eve. A little champagne and too much confidence left me with one of the poorest haircuts I've ever had.

I forgot to put the right gauge on the clippers, and the moment I touched the side of my head with them, "Bzzt." Oh shit. I just looked in the mirror, ad then debated about doing the same thing to the other side just to, you know even things out. jk.

My brother thinks it's hysterical, calls me "patches."

On the bright side when I'm down in Florida I won't be talking about talking to girls. In fact, I think girls will be talking about talking to me.

Daring eachother to ask me "What is wrong with your hair, did you have some sort of operation, are you sick, why is it a triangle, can I touch the "patch."

Oh well, at least I don't have any job interviews over break.

This weeks training was highlighted by some fitness tests and of course, swimming. More paddles.paddles.paddles. I'm gonna be RIPPED, come Spring!

I also got to find some meaning in the saying "you can always do one more." QCASSIDY has a run with Denton in "Once a Runner." The intervals just keep piling on and on, and after Cassidy completely blows on the last one, Denton announces he has another set to run, and another and...

Well this morning during the swim I counted wrong, and after what I thought I finished the set, I was feeling satisfied, my arms feeling like jello, sinking in the water. I was asked "Did I interrupt your break?" by the coach. "GET ON IT!" he says. And I'm off for another round, painfully slithering through the water. But hey I thought of Cassidy, and got it done, and thats it.

Rest Well

Oh for all the shit I'm getting from my brother, I need some revenge. So I posted the most ridiculous photo of him at the beach this summer when we thought it would be funny to go "merman."

back in Richmond

Home is great. Training is going well., just putting in some work making sure I don't get dropped by SG (bike racer)when I go down to Florida for some training early January.

This trip is looming, and I have to make sure I don't completely kill myself, so just a little bit of hard stuff, which is usually the fun stuff. Keeping in mind that spot on the Owen Cup loop where JZ thinks he will drop me (is this inevitable?), and that jackass who always plays "Sally Save Up" so he can toast me at the end of masters.

And about the hard stuff. If the hard stuff wasn't the fun stuff then whats the point of any of the stuff cuz the racing is certainly not going to be a taste of easy stuff.

It sucks when people complain about sets and times and intervals, (unless they are really fast of course, and the 1:10 on the 10x100 is just "annoying.") They've earned their right to complain. Everyone else, shut up. It's late, I need to chill.

Anyway not much of an update because A.) it's simply too late B.) I'm taking my blogging to the next level, just not this time


Rest Well.

WalkTheWalk

One of the things I share with my roommates is the fact that we lived on the same hall our freshmen year. As such, we enjoy many of the same jokes about school and friends. We share stories about the professors and students we know.

There's the prof with the man crush on my roommate.

The one who looks lost all the time.

There's the elusive "Steven Seagal," a student? who must have lived near us freshmen year. He got his name by ALWAYS sporting skintight underarmour tank tops no matter what the weather, black sunglasses, an occasional bandanna, and black cargo pants with black tims. And yes, "Steven Seagal," had a pony tail.

What made him so "Seagal" was his ability to surprise us. "Steven Seagal" didn't walk by you on the drillfield, or sit down next to you in class. He broke through a bush next to you, or jumped out of a tree by the bus stop. Putting you in total shock, and laughter at the same time.

Both scenarios are true by the way.

And after such impressive entrances he always just walked right by you, never even glancing at you as you stared him down, wondering "Who the hell are you?"

Of course any student will know the "Beat Box Kid." The name says it all. He walks around campus with one hand on his mouth beat boxing. It usually sounds like the same beat, but I don't really know, I don't beat box.

We often ask ourselves does he have conversations, does this go on in class, when does he eat?

To get an idea of just how big this guy has gotten on campus I'll share a story. I was at the bus stop waiting to go home. A girl sitting on the bench next to me was one the phone, and seemed to be doing most of the talking. It starts with the low steady thump of the beat "Beat Box Kid," is spitting. Then he's in sight, walking up the same sidewalk the bus stop is on. His eyes are pointed down at the ground. All the eyes on the sidewalk are pointed right at him. While he passes us, I smile, and my imagination runs with images of him sitting in the back of a quiet classroom struggling to keep his beat going without alarming the professor.

But I'm brought back to earth when the girl next to me yells into her phone. "WAIT, I can't hear you. That F**ing Beat Box Kid just walked by."

Another classic is "IPOD guy". IPOD guy wears high fashion clothes and WALKS THE WALK. He's also one for sunglasses, usually the shutter shades that Kanye made popular in the "Stronger" video. Ohh, and of course "IPOD guy" doesn't settle for a back pack, but well, a man purse.

"IPOD guy" came on the scene with his tenacious walk last year. He started small, I heard about him over dinner one night but hadn't witnessed the passion that was THIS walk until later in the Fall.

Most likely the walk stems from the music he's listening to. (if you hadn't gotten it, he always, always wears an IPOD) I saw him downtown, at dinner on a Friday night with the IPOD in!

As to what music he's listening to, I don't know. Be my guest to try and walk next to him and listen in. If you think you can match stride with a runway model, you're wrong. He's lost me on numerous occasions.

Now on a different tangent, both sorta related. My hair has gotten pretty long and needs a buzz. I wanted to put one of those lines in the front of the buzz that black guys used to wear. I don't know what it's called so I go online to look at a few hairstyles for men. Suddenly I'm introduced to the picture that accompanies the "shaved" hairstyle. I'm sure it's "IPOD guy's" dad.


If you know "IPOD guy" you realize how good this is.

Rest Well.

Break by Numbers

Over Thanksgiving break:

2-devoured apple pies
1-road race entered
3-times I was told by my brother I have no "social life"
2-chances to rant about all the things I hate about Jason Mraz
1-"Blue Hoods" reunions
33-hours in a car
1-race lost in a sprint
1-morning of leaves
2-guitar "lessons" given
3-small epiphanies
4-Sopranos episodes watched on the tready
2-snowballs
2-shutdowns
6-games of 21 (bball)
1-Santas meet


Rest Well.

CirclesOverSquares

I haven't done it in awhile, but in high school, I could dance. While riding today I realized cycling is just like dancing. Dancing on the pedals, a swift stroke. Dancing up and down hills, dancing over mountains. Moving to the rhythm of the road.

Respect

The market.

I'm addicted to this show. Wall Street Warriors.

Good "reality" tv. The second season is filmed just after the New Year. Subprime mortgages had already killed the housing market, and the crisis began to spread.

Watching Lance and Jim, two brokers pick up new accounts, assuage their clients, and make a long bet on SanDisk that has cost them millions is the most interesting of the profiles.

In the most recent episode I watched, Jim and Lance were pounding the phones, and busy with SanDisk financial statements. All to come to the conclusion that the stock is undervalued. They bought the stock at $44, the stock hit a high of $59, on the day the episode was filmed the stock was trading at $36. That was in February of 2008, the stock continued to fall, and during it's descent never again even came back near $36. It now trades at $7, with a 1yr projection of $14.

In short, I've learned a couple things from this show.

A successful hedge fund manager is interviewed at the beginning of one of the seasons.

Number one. His advice for junior traders is "once you make a profit, never give it back." Lance and Jim got greedy, and they paid the price for not respecting the markets.

Number two. No matter how professional, how educated, the markets are a craps shoot.
No one knows what the hell may happen right now. Unless you're playing with someone else's money, you shouldn't be investing.

Rest Well.

Hokie Open. Power Animal

Hokie Open this morning. 6k cross race on the Virginia Tech course. The field was made up of agroup of VT runners, some runners from smaller schools like Radford, some guys from the triathlon team, and a few unattached runners.

Ten minute warm up, and "hot stuff." I'm at the start line, toward the right behind the VT XC team. Without enough time to think the race was on. Focus. Leg turnover. Breath. Not that heavy, you're embarrassing yourself.

Sitting about 8-10 at 2k, holding onto a guy who was cut from the VT team. I'll call him "Billy," I think that's right. He was running steady and brought me through the first mile in 5:10.

"Well, that's a little faster than I've run in awhile."

Focus. Power Animal. Unleash the power animal.

I dreamt of the plains last night I felt the earth beneath my hooves
I felt the dust fly into my nostrils
I ran...

At 3k Billy gapped me and I put in a pathetic effort over a set of hills that lead us back toward the finish line for the second lap. Chris Brown, comes through running not all that fast but pretty smooth. I sit on his feet for a little, and we turn onto the second loop.

Chris Clarke joins us and pushes the pace through 4k. It's me Chris Clarke and Chris Brown, with the race up the road. I think we were toward the back of the pack, but I'm not sure.

A steady hill to lead us past the plantation a second time hurt the motivation a bit. I was gapped from Chris Clarke and Cameron Hanlin (who's ready for a great marathon next weekend in Richmond), made his way up, and looked stronger than me. I turned the corner at the cornfield and cruised down the hill.

Chris Brown made a strong move by me when we crossed the creek before 5k, he said something to pick me up, but when I tried to hop on his feet I was already gapped.

I caught up to their group at the bottom of the last hill, but the legs weren't really turning at that point. I need to get that bread and butter leg speed back. After the back stretch I saw Chris Brown put in a kick on someone, and I got fired up for the finish.

I came by Chris Clarke a little late, and had too much kick and not enough time to use it. Chris recently won the Lynchburg Ultra Series so it wasn't really anything to write home about as the guy's warm ups are probably longer than my long runs.

On the women's side Nicole Pederson raced to fifth with a smile on her face (I don't think it stops,) and Amanda and Karrie? rounded out the field.

All in all a fun effort. Nice Morning, completed by a solid breakfast, where everyone had to dash to go help time a home VT swim meet against Clemson.

These kids don't stop.

Below is a picture of Chris from Big Lick, he beat all the triathletes today, and got us all into this race. Good on ya Chris.

btw. the power animal is a joke.


Rest Well

Smack.Goes Without Saying.

Ice. Read. Shower. Write.

Staying on top of things this afternoon.

Today was not a very autumn sort of day. Sun blanketed the drillfield, and although the leaves are all in full color, and it should be chilly, the weather decided to match my mood.

Tuesday closed with me exhausted and sleepy. Wednesday rose with a victory.

As my mom wrote me, "Si, se puede!"

My feeling now is confidence. I am confident that Barack Obama will lead our country through the financial crisis. He will change our energy policy, and hopefully we will make progress in handing over more responsibility to the Iraqi military.

The troop surge is short term, (WHY? "Nearly 80 people (Iraqis plus coalition troops) are dying per day, and the U.S. cost of the war may exceed $1.2 trillion." MIT News but I don't see long term stability with our current strategy.

Must read the MIT News report. See the bond prices, really interesting.

As Stone Cold says "The darkest part of the night, is just before you see the light." Yea, John! He's the guy in the picture above.

I was in a band with these guys in high school, they're still killin it.

Show in Charlottesville, November 22 at The Outback Lodge.

Food Not Muck

"All I've seen are the commercials, and I'm like, I guess both these guys suck."

This is a comment from a friend of mine. This year an incredible amount of money has been spent on negative advertising during the Presidential campaign. As Campbell Brown wrote in Food banks instead of campaign ads in mid October there's certainly more important things to be spending money on.

Negative advertising really doesn't win any votes either. The WSJ has an article on the subject that I found in Brown's commentary. The article titled Ready, Aim, Backfire: Nasty Political Ads Fall Flat, reports that although McCain has run a higher percentage of negative advertisements he's still not reaching voters.

Good News. Schools turning up. I'm finally starting to see the bigger picture in the work. Rather than tests, professors mention jobs, what I will be expected to understand, and who I am competing with. I try to keep in mind some advice I heard, if you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss, they don't have tenure.

Tomorrow Eoin and some cyclists might come to "Trainer and a Movie." This week I will show Kill Bill on Tuesday and Wonderboys on Thursday while spinning on the trainer for about an hour. My hope is that after all the boring trainer rides facing the sun shining outside my window, I will be hardened up for winter, and ready to brace the weather. As John Delong said, "There is no outside."

Rest Well.

Punked

Quebec comedy duo pranks Gov. Sarah Palin.

This is classic.

See the story and radio clip here : TheStar.com (Toronto Star online).


Rest Well.

Go Paula

Paula Radcliffe won the NYC Marathon today. She's probably one of my favorite runners. There's so much talk about stride length, lean, toe strike, and cadence in running, but here's a runner who just goes out and SUFFERS. No finesse, just hard running. I was smitten after she limped through the finish line at the Olympics this Summer.





It seems like some athletes are able to extend their careers in sport today. The NY Times has a good story about the trend here. It seems that slowtwitch muscles, and the big engine required for some efforts in endurance sports (cycling, running, swimming) don't diminish until the athlete is in their early forties, and I've still had some wompings from masters swimmers and cyclists who are older than that.

I'm racing the Hokie Open here in Blacksburg this Saturday. My goals are to be happy with my effort, and have fun. The team I'm racing with should be fairly strong so a few of us may run the course this week. My run mileage is really low right now so no real expectations. Long run last week was fifty five minutes on the tready.

Don't forget to vote Tuesday.


Photo Credit: three60

The Look

JZ called me out last night.

“At Owen Cup I’m going to turn around and look you in the eye, and then I’m going to ride you right off my wheel.”



JZ putting “the look” on me, can I let that happen?

No

Rest Well

Going

Check out this article by David Brooks of the New York Times, titled "The Behavioral Revolution."

It's a piece explaining how some of the decisions were made leading up to the financial crisis, and how we perceive information to make decisions and justify our choices.

Off to class, this morning I ate breakfast like Phelps, you've heard the menu.

Rest Well.

Just wanted to say hi.

Went out for a SAYG ride a couple of hours ago, it could have been great. I was well dressed (it's raining), had some new music to listen to from "The Never." I was ready for a nice slow ride, admiring all the things you can't take in when you ride anything other than very, very slow. It's like you're in another world on the bike sometimes. Your view is confined to the wheel in front of you, and if you're really pro you always keep one eye on the powermeter. "Watts, Watts, Watts."

Todays ride was different. Maybe its the riding on the rollers, but the tires were not holding up. Two flats in two hours. One on the way out of town, that I fixed fairly quickly, and one just outside of campus next to 460. I was on the side of the road sitting on my bike in the rain hoping someone would give me a ride. I try to get a few drivers attention while they're stopped, getting ready to turn onto Prices Fork to head back toward campus. I got a lot of friendly waves. It seemed the more frantic I acted the more enthusiastically they waved back at me.

I found the situation kind of amusing. I was soaking wet, and could really only laugh at myself. Were the driver's waves a legitimate response, or were they just trying their best to not to acknowledge that yes, I was asking them for help, and no they weren't interested?

I was reminded of a recent "Car Talk" show, where the advice was given to a man who needed a warranty extended by the dealership he purchased a troublesome Nissan from. The man was instructed to call the corporate office and say "I'm in trouble, and I need your help." It's a simple, clear statement.

It's the line that saved me this afternoon.

For some reason the two times now I have stranded with my bike the savior has fit the same profile. Soccer mom's whiz by in their SUVs, with bike racks on the back of course, (the soccer moms are the most enthusiastic wavers by the way.) It's the old farmer with tools in his truck, probably on his way home from work that gives me a ride. The guy with hunting/NRA stickers who I expect to give me the finger as I signal to him.

So the man stopped in an old red pick up. I knew I may only have one chance. "I'm in trouble, and I need you're help." He said he would give me a ride, and the guy drove me right to my doorstep.

Sometimes I feel like I really can't count on anyone, but I realized I really can't count anyone out.

Rest Well.

Be cool

On my way home from campus I heard an interview on WUVT of Queen Harrison, the VT hurdler and 2008 Olympian. She spoke about her history in the sport, competition in NCAA and the Olympics and how she stays motivated and focused in training.

Really interesting. She talked about how variety in training helps her stay fresh and tuned up when the season comes around. Recently she's been focusing on shorter events like the 200, and she even has time for a little basketball. It's all about having a little fun everyday. This has been my focus over the past month, and it's really paying off. In the pool I feel so much stronger already, but I'm still trying to hold back a bit. It's hard getting walloped everyday by the "distance crew." Today was made especially exciting by my lunch before practice. 2 strawberry poptarts and 2 espressos. Good call eh.

BTW Virginia Tech lost to Boston College last night. Already some students have found a new target. Glennon's out, but Tyrod was the focus of the criticsm on the WUVT sports show after the Queen Harrison interview. Really guys, Tyrod's now 9 and 1 as a starter, and is playing with a brand new group of receivers, all red shirt or true freshmen. Give him a break, focus on the o line, as usual, and the receivers. Placing blame on another quarterback isn't going to get the team anywhere.

After being so impressed with Queen, and having heard that Tyrod is also a really down to earth guy, I found this. If you're a VT student it's worth a view, I'm really proud that he choose Virginia Tech, and I'm looking forward to the future.




Rest Well.

Wassup Rocka

Pinned down at this mornings swim, as usual a lot of kick, as usual I was the last of the distance crew to finish the main set (so I guess I didn't pin down, I was just there). I keep telling myself it's not the right time of year. The swimming has been the only consistent thing right now, I'm on the tready for thirty minutes three days a week, and three rides of an hour on the rollers.

My roommate brought a cold back with him from fall break so that's kinda put me down this week. I'm coming around though, wishful thinking maybe.

Epic soccer game Thursday night, and maybe some basketball tomorrow. Right now it's about finance homework. It's nice being in recession proof college. I feel safe, for now. Guess who was on campus recruiting last week. Freddie Mac. I really can't imagine what that interview might be like.

"So Sam, thanks for speaking to me today. Don't be intimidated, I know how you fell, actually I just put my resume out again, but YOU may have a solid future here."

Did you know Wachovia was one of the top five firms recruiting VT business students last year. Maybe I don't feel so safe.


Rest Well.

Feeling Small

It's a big wide world. I forget sometimes.

Here's a link to photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

His exhibit, Earth From Above is made up of 4' x 6' prints of images taken with an extremely powerful satellite. Not only is the scale of the prints overwhelming, but the color and textures are beautiful.


The weather is abnormally warm. A class that usually splits my day in half was canceled so I just sat outside of D2 with some guys that lived on my hall freshmen year . The university radio station WUVT is running "Radiothon," so we got to hear a lot of great indie music, while people watching and enjoying the sun.

They visited some friends from their high school at Georgetown, and had a good observation about friends. You know you have good friends when you don't see them for awhile and still feel like you know them. It's like although they've changed, and you've changed you both still know each other and can relate to each other.


Listening to Robyn, I think she's a big deal in Sweden, so hot right now.


Rest Well

Kinda of a Big Deal

Our planet.

In this upcoming election both candidates have openly said that global warming is a man made problem and each has different solutions.

Here's both plans.

http://obama.senate.gov/issues/environment/

http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/issues/65bd0fbe-737b-4851-a7e7-d9a37cb278db.htm



I'll post my thoughts on who really has solutions later. Right now it's about being informed.



I don't want to be training with a gas mask on in twenty years. Dave Zabriske said "exhaust is the new second hand smoke," I agree.

Rest Well.

Done Done

Two beautiful days.

Saturday morning. Two breakfasts, on the road to visit a high school friend at JMU.

Friday night was a failed cookout.

Our charcoal grill is fun size, and simply can’t stay hot long enough to allow veggies and different rounds of chicken, and burgers to cook.

So I threw in the towel. For some reason we had two George Foreman’s in our kitchen, so the decision was made to put burgers on the Foremans and cook the rest of the chicken on the grill.

I replaced my hamburger bun with the grilled eggplant, and packed the burger full of veggies (mixed greens, squash, avocado, and tomatoes.)

The drive to Madison took a couple hours. We left after swim practice, which included 1300 yds of kick in the main set, so I was done done. Given that I haven’t had a bike for the past three weeks though this isn’t really a big deal as the legs have been fresh this past week.

I talked JZ into going, although he’s saving his game for RunBikeSlam next weekend.

JZ is someone you want on these trips, he’s outgoing enough to meet people, and he’s low maintenance. His dinner/breakfast needs were fulfilled with a big box of strawberry pop tarts.

My friends schedule at JMU made me so jealous.
Linguistics
Italian
Dante
Negotiation
Plato’s Republic

What a stud. He gave us a tour of campus, and showed us a good time that night.

Anyway I’m back in Blacksburg. The sun just set and the night is cool. I’m listening to Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago,” and thinking about the upcoming week.


Rest Well.

Respect

I will learn to love the treadmill.




30 minutes three days a week, looking for inspiration...found it

Rest Well

Survival of the Fittest

Friday my MGMT professor pulled together Frank Beamer, Seth Greenberg, and Pete Hughs (V Baseball Coach) to speak to our class about leadership, and how each has managed their player’s and organizations to be successful.

Each coach had their own approach, as Greenberg said, “your style of leadership has to fit your own personality, you have to be comfortable in your own skin.” But on the whole, a lot of their ideas were identical.

Three likenesses between the programs: people, relationships, and trust.

Greenberg had an analogy for success in the first respect.

As a note, perhaps some of this is cheesy, but I’ve been an athlete/sports fan my whole life so the coach speak is second nature, just “another language.”

Anyway “You’ve got to have the right people on the bus.” You want to be leading the right people (in Greenberg’s case, attitude is not as important as talent is, no matter what he says. I was respectful enough not to ask how Jeff Allen snuck on his o so holy bus) It is up to the leader to choose whom to recruit, so the team reaches their goal. “They have to be in the right seats.” No brainer. Different people are suited to do different things well, but it really takes effort, often times through mistakes to find out what these skills are.

Secondly, all the coaches preached about relationships. Without speaking with their player’s I really can’t say for sure how much effort these guy’s put into this aspect of leadership. I can see building relationships to be difficult in a sport like football, with a season of fourteen or so games, and a roster of one hundred guys.

But it’s true that people don’t care how talented you are until they know you care about them. No one is willing to follow until they have a relationship/connection with the leader.

So once you have that initial relationship you need the trust there to really commit. I’m reminded of hypoxic set’s in the pool over the summer.I would swim 25-50 no breath, and hell yeah it hurt, but when the coach said up. I did the set.

My first week back at school, at the end of a Sunday masters swim the coach had us go off the blocks and sprint to the wall, followed by rest and a no breath, free return to the block, 25yds. I couldn’t do it but once. I was racing that weekend and didn’t trust that the coach had everything in line. Trust was missing.

Here’s a few things to think about.

If you have a problem, ask yourself, how many people live in China?

Answer, 1.3 billion. So no matter what happened to me 1.3 billion people don’t give a s**t.

Courtesy of Pete Hughs. He better know how to HTFU.

Boom Sucka

TV on the Radio has a new album out. "Dear Science". Funky dance beats, cool harmonies (they have two singers Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe), and some seriously confusing song lyrics. Does anyone know if "DLZ" was written about the US, or a lover. Anyway, it's fun to think.

This album is a lot more focused than "Return to Cookie Mountain." Some many moments of "RTCM" where filled with frantic overdrive and near rambling, but "Dear Science" really cleans up the sound, it's focused, but still pure to the music I love.

Photo Credit:100/6



Rest Well.

Playoffs

First playoff game tonight. Patrick, make me swift.


First time back in the pool last night with the team. Cut the swim short for water basketball. I learned not to challenge the VT Womens Water Polo team to play. I think one of the girls tried to drown me. Maybe I'm just a poor sport.





Rest Well.

Hear good music.

Share good music.

Justice - DVNO (LA Riots Remix)
Ratatat - Cherry (In Digital Form Remix)
Kanye West - Stronger
The Rolling Stones - I'm Free
Thom Yorke - Eraser
Coldplay - Death and All His Friends
Justice - Sure You Will
Cut Copy – Going Nowhere
MGMT (The Management) - Kids (original version)
MGMT (The Management) - Just Becuz
MGMT (The Management) - Hot Love Drama
MGMT (The Management) - Money to Burn

Rest well.

Hanging out

is what we do best.

Soccer game in the rain, with no worries and just a smile on my face, chasing the ball in circles.

During the first half I tried to tackle a player near our sideline. Unfortunately right as I began to leave me feet, I realized I had no idea how to execute a tackle. It was clumsy, my brother would laugh at me.

I kinda just jumped in the air with both my feet pointing down, like a spear aimed at the ball. It was successful, if technically flawed. I have a big bruise.

Besides soccer I've been thinking about this past season. This season was neither a success or a failure. It was. I learned a lot, and realize it is part of the process. I now want to turn to other things, finding energy in the mountains, and cool afternoons exploring the fields and farm roads past 460 on my bike. I will be at the Gorge next weekend, for climbing and exploring. It will be among other things a source of inspiration. Nights by a fire, and afternoons on the river, show me an inner love of adventure and play.

Finally coming around I feel some hope for next season. Hope is a great place to be.

A difference

I'm now a part of the internets. This will be exciting.