A Day of Events

Today was full of little things that were just not regular things. Started off with a nice slider while riding my bike to school. I ended up spending the rest of the day with muddy pants and jacket (teach me to forgo bringing a change of clothes). After class I went to the Union for food where a homeless man was having a 100% psychotic episode. It was a little on the scary side because I didn't really know what was going to happen next. In spite of that the next irregularity happened when I was able to complete the first bit of dialog for a new project I am working on, again in spite of a girl sitting next to me who was wearing a skirt that barely contained her bosoms. Following that I went to class that was pleasantly redirected to spending the hour in the Museum of Fine Arts. That about sums up the irregularities

Toblog's photo: "Crossroads Mall"

Gulliver Speaks Truth!

Perhaps Jonathan Swift really has thought of everything to write a satire about. This is about the Yahoos, or primeval antithetical to the Houyhnhnms who are a race of horses who live the Vulcan way. Read: "It is observed that the red-haired of both sexes are more libidinous and mischievous than the rest, whom yet they much exceed in strength and activity." Sounds about right. Gulliver references the old Fire again with reference to a Yahoo who developed a violent crush on him. "neither was the hair of this brute of a red color (which might have been some excuse for an appetite a little irregular)." What did people think of red heads back then? Sure there's the whole Viking thing, but that was passé by the time Gulliver's Travels was written. I don't currently feel persecuted for my read hair, but perhaps me red haired brethren experienced major hardships and persecutions in the 18th century. I should start a society.

Picture: Red Hair In Red Land, Zion National Park in 200Past.

Retirement Time

Let me begin by apologizing for the novella length posts lately. I haven't been as sharp on it with posting and I guess that makes me a little more long winded than usual.

So the meat: I started volunteering at the Bike Collective, a non profit community bike shop and bike ed place. I go there Mondays from 5 to 9. I also paid work before that from 1 to 5. Problem. Now it is 1 to 4:30. Still a problem. I get very hungry around the 4:30 to 5 range. This problem is easily solved. There is a Taco Time right on the way to the collective. So I high tail it out of Waterford and head to Taco Time. I order a veggie burrito and a small Dr. Pepper. I dump the DP into a nalgene, eat as much of the burrito as I can in 15 minutes, then pack up the remains and head out. That is secondary to the post actually; my long windedness prevails. The main point is that there are an inordinate amount of 65+ singles and couples frequenting Taco Time. Today we're talkin 5 white haired couples, and 3 singles. That is just in the dining area, who knows how many I missed in the drive through (as I was walking out I saw a lovely old woman in her Buick lean far out the window and speak in the most perfect granny voice you can think of, "I'll have the Casita Burrito"). Most of the couples have a little routine too. One will get all of the fixins from the salsa bar while the other fills the drinks. Some rummage through the large stack of complimentary national newspapers (I swear these are there to cater to the geriatric patrons) and sit and read the national news as they eat their Barbacoa enchiladas. I hope I have a cool spot like Taco Time to go to when I am retired and hungry.

p.s. My original post title was Geriatric Tacos until I seriously grossed myself out. Snicker Snicker.

Photo: Me during lunch on the Yurt trip.

The Heat Of February

I went rock climbing yesterday. This is noteworthy because it is Feb. in SLC, UT. It is normally rather cold this time of year and I would be climbing ice, not rock. Here is an interesting anecdote about ice. One week ago I went snowshoeing with some homies of mine up little cottonwood canyon. On our way up (as with any time I drive up the canyon in winter) I checked out the ice climbs that form in the canyon. They looked fat, blue and solid. I decided it was necessary to climb ice next weekend. Well a major heat wave hit SLC and I spent my lunches outside. The weekend came and I talked to Braden and we decided that it was warm enough for rock, and not cold enough for ice. Sure enough, within one week the ice had turned into milky, air filled, slush, highly unsuitable for safe scaling. Ice. What a fickle thing.
So I went climbing. It was very, very good to get back on rock. I was a little rusty with gear placements but it felt good, I felt good, Brade felt good. We got into a minor epic situation where we rappelled down from a climb but the rope was too short so Braden set up shop on a 5" ledge and I rapped to him. We decided to just sling the rope over said ledge to rappel the rest of the way down to the next solid anchor. This was a little nerve racking because if you lifted to hard in the up direction, the rope would have come off and we would have made it to the bottom very quickly. (Pete, I thank my stars that you were not present. No offense, but I think this would have been very phobia taxing.) It ended up working out great, almost too great; the rope got stuck when we tried to pull it. After 5 min. of Braden practicing his magic rope wave propagation, I decided I needed to climb up and dislodge the rope. I only had to climb up about 10', and there were little cliff trees, but I still had to down climb unprotected. Long story short we made it down safely.
Braden made a good point: It is always fun to have the mock epic situations. These act like little training sessions in case we ever do find ourselves in an epic situation. Good point. I always liked them because they are kind of fun problem solving exercises, I guess that is good training too.

Picture: Climbing. Moab.