New and Different

I've been working all weekend. So to get out and offset spending a holiday weekend in the office, we took a trip out to Shenandoah National Park. I'd never been there before. It is so beautiful. Breathtaking views in all directions, and tons of deer.

I must have seen a hundred deer. They just stand by the road and watch you drive by. No fear what so ever. Not good, but it is what it is I guess. You can tell the city drivers. They drive 5 mph and stop dead in the road every time they see one. I can just imagine it "Look honey, a deer. Hey kids! Look!" Probably the same people that feed them and make them so tame. It's not the deer you have to watch, it's the damn city drivers stopped in the middle of the road watching the deer. Sigh..

The plan was to go night hiking so I didn't take my camera with me. Not really the best decision I've made this week. But I'll definitely be back, so I can take pictures next time.

This picture is from the Shenandoah Park Website. And actually it was pretty humid out yesterday so the visibility was about the same. I'll replace the pic as soon as I go back and take a few of my own.

So I'm sort of a scaredy cat. I was a little apprehensive about hiking through the woods at night. I mean, bears, coyotes, you never know what's going to be out there. But our night was absolutely uneventful in the danger category, and highly therapeutic.

It was just a short hike to test out the knee and get rid of my cabin fever. Probably 2.5 miles round trip. But it was awesome. We hiked down a trail that followed a stream. We listened to the water the whole way. The reason we chose that trail was the waterfall at the end. The path didn't really get close enough to see the falls. But we heard them. The hike back up was good exercise for my knee as well. Today my knee is really pretty normal. There's hope yet.

The very last part of our hike was down a small portion of the Appalachian Trail. We passed another hiker who remarked "that's not something you see every day" about meeting us on a trail at night. He was right. And it was sort of inspiring and comforting all at once. It's nice to know there are others that share your interests and posses that calm energetic quality that I think we all associate with the "outdoor" population. There's a certain romance to a lifestyle that embraces the outdoors.

Just before we got to the car we stopped to stargaze. It was a wonderfully clear night with not much moonlight providing perfect visibility. There were, of course, millions of stars, a few satellites, and then finally, the coveted shooting star. "okay, we can go now.."

It was probably 11pm when we started to head back. And to round out our adventure and accompany our 30 mile drive back out of the park, we picked up an interesting radio station. From the top of the mountain you pick up a huge variety of stations, many competing for the same frequencies. But the one we landed on was Dr. Drew (from MTV's Loveline) and Adam Corolla (from the original Man Show). People call in asking questions and making comments. It's the weirdest of the weird, but highly entertaining. Last night was unofficially "I'm attracted to transvestites" night. I mean, after an awesome hike, a beautiful night, and some stargazing, you sort of just say "well, I suppose.."

When (if) I grow up

Ever reason with yourself? I mean, not out loud. (I would never do that.) But like, try convince yourself that something is okay?

I am a Web Developer. I got my degree in Applications Software Development. But I don't really like what I do. I mean, it's alright. But I don't love my job. I like the people I work with, and a lot of the things I do, but I don't like just sitting around coding all day.

Duh, what did you think you were going to be doing when you went to school for programming??

Yeah, I know. But I just wanted to get through school, and I was already on my second major. I didn't know what else to do, and it was easy, so I stuck it out. I mean, I'm not hopeless here. I have a bachelors degree and they pay me to do what I learned in school. I'm good at my job. I'm just not in love with it.

I always have this guilt about wanting to change careers. I haven't been out of school that long. And I'm using my degree. But I want to do something different. In fairness, I never went through school intending to be a developer. I had more of a management career in mind. And I'm doing exactly what I had planned to do, get some experience under my belt and then move on. But now I'm also interested in pursuing my personal training and getting into nutrition.

So this morning, I reasoned to myself that I like some web development. And just because I don't want to be a code monkey forever doesn't mean I'm "betraying" my education. I'm growing. Yeah, that's what I'm doing. Growing. I could use my education to make web pages. Or get into some web design. I'm just giving myself choices. Right?

I'm not sure if it's working yet. But I do feel a little bit better every time I reason with myself. I'm glad we had this talk...

Tragedy at sea

Volvo Ocean Race Update

Since last Thursday ABN AMRO TWO has lost a crew member to the sea, Movistar has abandoned ship, ABN AMRO TWO turned back to pick up the Movistar crew, and yet the race continues. Nobody ever said it would be easy. But you're never quite prepared for what can happen.

Photo from www.volvooceanrace.com

You might be a redneck

S2H and his brother are both alumni of the Wanakena Ranger School in Upstate New York. A bunch of people from his brothers class still get together a couple times a year for campouts and parties. The first time I met them was at their annual cabin party. When we pulled in they were having axe throwing competitions and chainsaw relays. Yeah. You'd have to see it to believe it.

A couple of weeks ago S2H and I met up with them in the Adirondacks for a camping and rafting trip down the Hudson. Sadly, there was no axe throwing this time. So you're thinking.. the Hudson? Same river that's like a quarter mile wide, runs through NYC and is disgustingly dirty? Yeah, but way up in the Adirondacks before it gets big, polluted and flat.

Saturday night we camped in the middle of Adirondack Park. It was gorgeous. We lounged in front of the huge fire the boys built. It was so hot we all had to sit ten feet from it to keep our skin from melting off. Then they went and got a lot more wood. Boys.


When I woke up I realized we had pitched our tent about 25 yards from a beaver damn. Now tell me that's not awesome. I hiked around the pond, and took a few snapshots of the damn and beaver den before we headed off to the river.

I'd never been rafting before. And I'm not gonna lie, it was cold. We lucked out with a gorgeous sunny 65 degree day, but the water temp was still only about 40. Our saving grace was the full wet suit and booties we each rented from the rafting company. It took about five hours to paddle the river. We had a blast. Our guide Mark rocked. He has been rafting the Hudson for 16 years.

Seriously though, if you ever get the chance to go, it's awesome. Of course, Spring is the best time to go because the water is up. But if you want to bust into the sport easy, check it out in the summer!

Adirondack River Outfitters

The (Star)buck stops here

There are some things I just won't do. And on the top of that list? I will not drink green tea lattes. Even though they're probably good for me. Not even for Starbucks.

The one I got yesterday actually made me want to vomit. Who on Earth actually likes these things??

They taste like grass. And I totally like grass. You should have seen it when I went to dump it out. It was like green sludge on the bottom. Yuck. They've gone too far this time.

Announcement

I would just like to say that it's Wednesday and I'm sore. But I am not surprised. I think this means I'm growing as a person.

Some might question my sexuality

But I don't think that's entirely fair. If I lived with a male, perhaps.. but since ER and I have no readily available male.

Oh now stop it.. I'm not going to talk about that.

I'm talking about grilling!! ER bought a grill! And we have been grilling like fiends! We are awesome. We have had at least one barbeque every week for the last month. Birthday parties, friends from out of town parties, just because we're addicted to our grill parties.. you name it.

Sooo yummy. Besides, how else were we going to use the five pounds of garlic ER bought??

Bum leg blues

I hurt my knee again. It's bad this time. I'm giving up all of my classes. Two of them just for the next couple of months. But the rest of them permanently. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. It's like watching all of my hard work in building up these classes this past year just slipping away. You never realize how much you love something until you have to give it up.

What am I going to do with myself? I can't rock climb. No mountain biking. I mean we're down to the basics here. Walk carefully, don't do something stupid like climb a flight of stairs. I hurt my knee again a few nights ago in my sleep, just moving wrong. And I hurt it the other day just trying to put my knee brace on. That's about the time I broke down into tears. I'm so frustrated and angry. Self pity sucks, but I can't help it.

For a while my knee really seemed to be improving. I felt 100%. But all the nutrition in the world isn't going to help when I push too hard and tear tendons right? I need to learn to take it easy. I guess my body is screaming that loud and clear now. I had an x-ray. Waiting on the results of that. Hopefully this week I'll get in to see some type of knee specialist. I just can't wait any longer.

I did get these springy shoes though. They're z-coils. They feel awesome. Like walking on a cloud. Granted, they're a little strange looking. But people just sort of expect things like that out of me so I bet they don't even look twice. "There she goes again, more voodoo".

Longing for the sea

Sailing is one of those things that makes my heart ache. I want so much to be out on the water, setting the sails, plotting a course, visiting far away places.

The Brunel Crew getting ready for NY

This past weekend we went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor to see the Volvo Ocean Race Open 70s and Extreme 40s while there in port. They've just completed the fifth leg of the race and will leave this Sunday for NY. It gives me chills to see the seven boats remaining in the race all lined up at the dock. Each of them bares the names of the sponsors and carries with it the hopes and dreams of so many different people. The boats are undergoing as much maintenance as they can handle while they're in port. The crews are enjoying some much needed food and rest. And race fans from all over the country have flocked to the Harbor to see the boats and experience the race.

Movistar came away with the In port Race title.

Saturday we got to the Harbor while the 70s were out competing in the In-Port race. Nothing to see, the boats were out in the Chesapeake. But the Extreme 40s were playing around in the harbor. It's thrilling to see forty foot catamarans flying a hull in the tiny little Inner Harbor. There couldn't have been more than 10 knots of wind, but no trouble for the sleak cats. They popped their hulls out of the water with ease. Sunday we returned just in time to watch the last tour of the 70s leave without us. Bad timing. We stood on the dock watching the tour guide walk the last group past the boats. I just knew he was telling them something intensely fascinating. I wanted so much to be on that dock inspecting every piece of hardware, every line, every inch of those boats. Not that they would let us on board, but it would have been awesome just to get close.

Finally last night we took one last trip to Baltimore and barely made the last tour. PHEW! Sooo worth the wait. We had a fantastic tour guide. She was an adorable librarian, clearly a sailing enthusiast, and very knowledgable about the race, the boats, and the crews. And Oh My God are those boats amazing.

Movistar - still going strong

There are lots of different sailboat races. The Volvo takes place every four years and is one of the more publicized races. Crews of ten (down from twelve four years ago) race around the world stopping along the way to compete in In-Port races, make repairs on their boats, do some PR and rest. There are more extreme races like Around Alone, now called 5-Oceans, where a single sailor races around the world stopping at various ports. And crazier yet, the Vendee Globe solo non-stop no assistance circumnavigation, the Everest of Sailing Races. The World Sailing Games are starting in 9 days and the Fleet and Match races of the America's Cup Season has been ongoing since 2004. They will end with the climactic Louis Vuitton and America's Cup Matches in 2007. It's a huge World of excitement, but sadly not that well known in the US.

A member of team Erricson

Weekends like this one make my dreams of adventures burn strong and inspire me to work toward a life on the water. I feverishly search for ways to spend more time on a boat. Could I quit my job? What if I moved to Annapolis? Would I be able to crew on someone's boat for the weekly races? What if I take lessons? Could I buy a boat? It's contagious too. Even Steph, who hasn't ever sailed, caught the bug. She was swept up in our excitement and now is eager to try sailing too.

Good weekend.

Ow.

Dude, I am so sore. It's sort of awesome to feel sore. As long as I'm not too sore to move. I like it because it's proof that I didn't just imagine going to the gym yesterday, it makes me feel less like a slacker, and it means I kicked my class' butt last night! Yess!! Besides, it's fun to say "woah, I totally kicked my own ass!"

Today, it's my upper back and chest. I did most of a chest workout before class so I fully expected my chest to be sore. It's awesome. The perfect soreness where I take a deep breath and feel my serratus tightening around my rib cage just the right amount and my pecs burn when I try to hold my arm out. But my upper back was a little unexpected. Sweet. I'm totally getting better at this teaching thing.

But my consistent surprise at my soreness sort of makes me wonder. I had the following conversation with MM this morning. I'm not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

GOSH! I'm totally sore!
Well, you had class last night.
Yeah but I must have worked them really hard.
Dude, you're sore every Wednesday.
Really??
Yeah.
Like, just lately? Or forever?
Well, like months.
That's forever. GOSH! I'm totally clueless!

I wonder if I look at everything with such skewed perception??