tales of a 20-something

who would've thought?

2011-11-17T20:44:00.002-05:00

this cannot be coincidental.

2011-10-27T23:13:00.003-05:00

wisdom from Cadillac Desert

2011-10-03T22:27:00.004-05:00

how now brown cow of an audience [insert brown claw here].

in a Natural Resource Law class our textbook had a nice long excerpt from Mark Reisner's Cadillac Desert. i love this book. it kind of gives you that "i'm ed-ju-ma-kated" feeling. whoop. anyway, here's a good bit,

"By the late 1970s, there were 1251 major reservoirs in California, and every significant river -- save one -- had been dammed at least once. The Stanislaus River is dammed fourteen times on its short run to the sea. California has some of the biggest reservoirs in the country; its rivers, seasonally swollen by the huge Sierra snowpack, carry ten times the runoff of Colorado's. And yet all of those rivers and reservoirs satisfy only 60 percent of the demand. The rest of the water comes from under the ground. The rivers are infinitely renewable, at least until the reservoirs silt up or the climate changes. But a lot of the water being pumped out of the ground is as nonrenewable as oil."

... still with me? still wanting more? .... ok... but only since you begged for it.

"During the first and only term of his presidency, Jimmy Carter decided that the age of water projects had come to a deserved end. As a result, he drafted a "hit list" on which were a couple of dozen big dams and irrigation projects, east and west, which he vowed not to fund. Carter was merely stunned by the reaction from the East; he was blown over backward by the reaction from the West. Of about two hundred western members of Congress, there weren't more than a dozen who dared to support him. One of the projects would return five cents in economic benefits for every tax payer dollar invested; one offered irrigation farmers subsidies worth more than $1 million each; another, a huge dam on a middling California river, would cost more than Hoover, Shasta, Glen Canyon, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee combined. Carter's hit list had as much to do with his one-term presidency as Iran."

and one more passage from Cadillac Desert...

"The Colorado... has more people, more industry, and a more significant economy dependent on it than any comparable river in the entire world. If the Colorado River suddenly stopped flowing, you would have two years of carryover capacity in the reservoirs before you had to evacuate most of Southern California and Arizona and a good portion of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The river system provides over half the water of greater Los Angeles, San Diego, and Phoenix; it grows much of America's domestic production of fresh winter vegetables; it illuminates the neon city of Las Vegas, whose annual income is one-fourth the entire gross national product of Egypt -- the only other place on earth where so many people are so helplessly dependent on one river's flow. The greater portion of the Nile, however, still managges, despite many diversions, to reach its delta below the Mediterranean Sea. The Colorado is so used up on its way to the sea that only a burbling trickle reaches its dried-up delta at the head of the Gulf of California, and then only in wet years. To some conservationists, the Colorado River is the preeminant symbol of everything mankind has done wrong -- a harbinger of a squalid and deserved fate. To its preeminent impounder, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it is the perfection of an ideal"

"24 Hours of Abysmal Let-Down"

2011-09-18T13:18:00.005-05:00

[this is an article I wrote for class, which was going to go un-published until I realized that I have you, dear blog, to use as an outlet for my rantings. my coffee beans and i stayed awake for as much of the webcast as possible (24 hours, people) in writing this review]

“24 Hours of Reality” - the world was watching with high hopes.

The webcast was a project by Al Gore under the auspices of his organization, the Climate Reality Project. “24 Hours of Reality” was a live broadcast from 24 global locations, one in each of the 24 global time zones. The production logged approximately 8.6 million views.

Unlike An Inconvenient Truth, which was wildly popular and ultimately helped earn Gore a joint Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, “24 Hours of Reality” failed to capitalize on the local expertise of its 24 unique presenters in every corner of the world. In fact, the same presentation was given in each location with the very same set of slides, photos, and footage -- give or take a few.

“It was a let-down of abysmal proportions,” I concluded to myself in writing this article.

The webcast felt like a D.A.R.E. campaign, targeted at keeping viewers off CO2 and off the GOP. Viewers were inundated with combat tactics for arguing evil-doer climate change skeptics, who often resort to using “ridicule in the face of facts,” said many a presenter in many a language -- because, as I mentioned earlier, all the presentations were all the same.

So, what are these combat methods for confronting skeptics, you ask?

“Act now. Speak up. Win the Conversation. Choose Reality.” Yes Watson, Gore and the Climate Reality Project might be onto something big here - elementary, you might say.

The GOP-bashing [though sporty to watch] made it clear that this webcast was timed with upcoming elections in mind. We saw the Republican Party’s finest, John Boehner, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and others, speak out against the “climate change theory.”

Boehner earned himself the limelight for a handful of daft comments in pre-recorded footage. “Look at a volcanic eruption; I’ve seen science reveal that this could be 50 or 1000 times man’s involvement in terms of creating CO2,” he said.

“I like the 50 to 1000 year range, I’d like to get away with that,” followed Evan Williams, the environmental economist who hosted the UK’s presentation from London. Naturally, Gore’s slides showed that the CO2 admitted from a volcanic eruption was a mere pittance to what humans emit.

In a moment of chivalry during Gore’s wrap-up presentation in New York City, he acknowledged his sentiment that Boehner does not intend to deceive people. Rather, Boehner is fueled with foul science from “carbon polluters” -- a mafia-like bunch we heard oodles about. Not coincidentally, “the carbon polluters are the biggest source of campaign money”, said Gore.

That said, “24 Hours of Reality” was not completely bereft of brilliant science and compelling evidence in the case for climate change.

“Being a climatologist, people always ask if I believe in global warming,” said Stanford University assistant professor Noah Diffenbaugh at one of the panel discussions. “If you believe in thermometers, you have to believe in global warming. It’s a matter of observation.”

A hefty amount of the presentation’s data corroborated what most of us already know. Positively common-sensical. Earth’s weather cycle is getting stronger and contributing to the severe natural disasters that are increasingly being called “the new normal.” The weather is so wonky because humans have been emitting an excess of CO2 gas that is trapping heat in our atmosphere, heat that is moving water around in ways never seen before. Check. Check. Check.

It is unclear who the target audience of the webcast was. For those who have been with Gore since he first became a “climate guy,” most of the webcast’s information lacked a novel “wow” factor. It was also painfully repetitive, and -- yes -- an abysmal let-down.

For viewers [somehow] relatively new to climate change, the webcast was a beacon of LED-kosher light. “I logged on hoping for extra credit in Science. I’m leaving with information I wish I knew sooner,” commented Rayleen Paret, presumably in a high school somewhere where the climate change unit hasn’t penetrated the classroom.

Despite political undertones, excessive repitition of the same facts, and bizarre tactics for converting skeptical bullies, if Gore’s effort made a difference in educating even a handful of people, it was entirely worth it.

Forbes did a good job summing up my sentiments on the webcast by writing,

"In “24 Hours of Climate Reality,” first airing Wednesday at 8:00 pm Eastern Time, Gore presented an hour-long sequel to his disastrous “An Inconvenient Truth,” followed by 23 hours of semi-reruns of essentially the same presentation. By hour three, it felt like being stuck in the Twilight Zone forced to watch 24 straight hours of the same Family Matters/Urkel rerun on the WB – only worse. At least Urkel is annoying and mildly amusing on purpose; Al is these things by accident."

For the record, I loathe Forbes for it's right-wing bias in it's media. It's a huge problem that Americans choose publications that affirm their personal beliefs (e.g. I love reading Grist, and my [few] GOP friends put stock in Fox News). Is there any longer a market of news consumers who want the truth? Sometimes I wonder.

rawr

2011-09-18T13:01:00.001-05:00

back from a trip to Kilgore, ID for some rock hunting... plus some boating in there as well. i find myself increasingly fascinated with the earth's bounty.

card shopping, are we?

2011-09-07T16:07:00.003-05:00

I just went card shopping and I saw two new categories: Adoption Child and Divorce Announcement.

This seemed like pertinent information for the blogosphere.

the miracles of science

2011-07-21T00:36:00.001-05:00

armpits deep in ocean currents and wildfire reading. so far, i think i kind of like this jazz.

24 Hours of Reality

2011-07-13T10:45:00.002-05:00

well Mr. Gore is at it again. i won't bother writing much because this video sums it up.

they got me; i'm interested. i guess i'll 'see' you all at the webcast in September? might be good, this thing.

confessions of a noir nerd

2011-06-03T16:03:00.008-05:00

i don't like Oregon pinot noir.

this conclusion comes after a bout of wine tasting in the Yamhill and Willamette Valleys when a friend was visiting... plus a few bottles from the Columbia Gorge consumed during play time.

Oregon pinot noir tastes like volcanic ash. any label that makes a 'fruit-forward' claim is doing so based on comparison to other basalt-tasting bottles. i hate saying that, really, because i flippin' love this place. but i feel compelled to stand by my palette and confess that the pinot here is... different.

Oregon pinot is earthy. i've mistakenly picked up on what i though was botrytis only to be told it was the driest vintage in memory. that's because normal Oregon pinot smells like mushrooms and has a prevailing dirt-like taste.... and you know what? PEOPLE HERE LOVE IT.

i miss the supple bouquet of a lightly-oaked Tasmanian pinot noir. the bounty of fruit on the palette tastes rich and complex, yet seductively light. it does not taste like Thor just exploded a volcano plug of hot, molten alcohol directly into my mouth. no no, we've got two completely different experiences here.

anyway, i just can't do it any longer. i can't keep saying 'mmm' every time i taste an Oregon pinot. no more please. of course i'll continue to utter my compliments in front of winemakers and vested parties, but it's time i be honest [mostly with myself] and accept that i just don't like pinot noir from here... even though i like just about everything else around this place.

flying off of Everest

2011-05-28T23:26:00.003-05:00

for real.

check out this guy!

most kayakers who've been to Nepal know that Babu Sunuwar is one of the best paddlers out there. a few also know that he's a pretty badass paraglider. true story. i reckon even fewer people know that Babu and a mate just summitted Everest, tandem flew down, and should be now putting on the Dudh Kosi River that flows off the side of the mountain.

anyway, it's pretty big news in the adventure community. read about it here.

in that picture you might also notice something a little familiar from my old kayaking days. that helmet! i traded it for some paragliding lessons a couple years ago, and now that old yellow thing is on top of Everest. makes me look at what I've accomplished since then... very little, unless you count bing words on the scrabble board.

anyway, hats off to Babu and Lakpa Tshering Sherpa -- you guys rock.

oh this is so cool

2011-05-20T16:53:00.003-05:00

hi people! i've been absent from the welcoming world of internet connectivity lately because i've been paddling my buns off for the Eddy Flower Vertical Challenge.

but i did see something cool today. well, several things actually... like an eagle 2m away from my boat.... but that's not what i wanted to share.

check this out:

so you can sell or send your hard to recycle metallicized plastic trash (for me, this is mostly candy bar wrappers with the occasional energy bar package in there). they sell it to other people who make things like this:

or they have it recycled. i think there's even something where you can get paid for what you send and/or have the proceeds go to a charity. it's called TerraCycle. learn it, use it, love it.

definitely a good find for today, along with that eagle on Bull Run. life is alright this week!

Han Son Doong waterfall -- first descent up for grabs

2011-05-14T11:11:00.004-05:00

I woke up to a surprisingly interesting chain email in my inbox. This seldom happens.

Han Son Doong is a cave in Vietnam near the border of Laos that was first discovered in 1991 but not explored until 2009. So as you might have guessed, this waterfall is underground. This waterfall probably has a dozen or more gargantuan rappels to even see it, so this makes it more an opportunistic first descent if you happen to be a geologist posted here or something. However, there seems to be a whole underground river as well for at least part of the cave. Observe.

Anyway I'm going to go help replace a carberator (something I also seldom get the chance to say), but if you're keen to see more pictures of this thing labeled as the world's newest biggest known cave, email me and I'll add you to the forward list of people getting the Han Son Doong cave email so I get good luck for the next 40 years or something.

one thing i love about my homeland

2011-05-13T16:12:00.004-05:00

oh sheesh. i've been back in the U.S. for two weeks now, staring down a stay of two years for grad school.

in the spirit of thinking positive, i'm going to share with you one thing about U.S. domestic living that should be a practice world-wide. ready?

here in my homeland, when you have outgoing mail with stamps, you can put in in your mailbox (the one right outside your door) and the mail guy will pick it up for you when he drops off your daily mail. sounds simple, i know, but i have yet to visit any other country where this is the norm. canada comes close, but suburban mailbox systems are vastly different.

doesn't that just make sense? i think so too. it's a positive start as we try to improve this big crack-hole of 300 million people. never mind the postal system is bankrupt.

alright, just some verbal drabble to break up the day.

all that glitters is GOLDEN

2011-03-16T19:48:00.002-05:00

huh huh heeeey!

i am experiencing eastern BC mountainy goodness this week. and yes, it's good. day one and i'm sore from sideways ripping through the trees and steepies with good friends. oh yeahhhh, my soul is smiling.

here's a peek,

loooove it.

cutting back on meat to combat climate change; here's what smarter people have to say

2011-03-12T13:00:00.004-05:00

I'm working on a wee wittle project that is examining food choices as a battleground for combating climate change. Yes, it does, in fact, feel supremely good to be using my brain for a green cause once again.

Anyway, the evidence I'm finding that food selection is a major way to shrink our environmental footprint is ASTOUNDING. The carbon-cost of beef is enormous! So I thought I'd share some snippets. None of these are my words, but they're the most important ideas of what I've stumbled across. This is also a convenient working bibliography for this project. Two birds, one proverbial stone.

"Eating Less Meat Could Cut Climate Costs" by Jim Giles

"Cutting back on beefburgers and bacon could wipe $20 trillion off the cost of fighting climate change. That's the dramatic conclusion of a study that totted up the economic costs of modern meat-heavy diets.

The model takes into account farmland that is used to grow extra food to make up for the lost meat, but that requires less area, so some will be abandoned. Millions of tonnes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, would also be saved every year due to reduced emissions from farms.

Beef is particularly damaging. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is released from flatulent cows and by manure as it decays. Furthermore, to produce a kilogram of beef (2.2 pounds), farmers also have to feed a cow 15 kg of grain and 30 kg of forage. Grain requires fertiliser, which is energy intensive to produce."

Here is a link to the full academic study that was the foundation for this article, Climate benefits of changing diet

"10 Eye-Opening Facts Every Meat Eater Should Read by Elizah Leigh on www.thisdishisvegetarian.com

1) While transportation systems around the world are responsible for producing 15% of our planet’s overall greenhouse gases -- which, in light of our 7 billion global population isn’t a terribly surprising figure -- global livestock collectively produce a whopping 18% of our planetary carbon emissions. Incidentally, they also plow through 1/3 of our world’s grain crops...hungry little critters....

3) Of the 41 million beef cattle slaughtered each year in the United States, the average consumer eats a full 62.4 pounds in the span of one year. The 500 calories of food energy in a one pound steak requires 20,000 calories of fossil fuels, the majority of which is consumed through the crop cultivation process. (As an interesting and slightly related 'aside', half of America's entire water supply is reserved expressly for the bovine population. Glug glug glug.)...

"Sizing Up Our Food's Nitrogen Footprint" by Emily Gertz

"When measuring our food's environmental impact, carbon isn't the only important element to consider. Calculating a food's "carbon footprint" can tell us how much climate-altering greenhouse gas we emit when growing and transporting it, but estimating the meal's associated nitrogen pollution accounts for the excess nutrients that create oxygen-depleted dead zones in our oceans...

...Red meat topped both footprint lists, making it the food with the greatest impact on both climate change and eutrophication: Eating a pound of beef creates about 22 lb of greenhouse gases and about 2.5 oz of nitrogen pollution. Cereals and carbohydrates had the smallest footprints, with each pound of food releasing only 3 lb of greenhouse gases and almost no nitrogen pollution.

But many foods had diverging impacts on the climate and coastal ecosystems. Dairy products landed at the bottom of the carbon footprint list with carbohydrates, but sat second only to beef in eutrophication potential, releasing 1.1 oz of nitrogen pollution for every pound of food produced.

And that dairy-produced nitrogen pollution adds up: According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, the average U.S. American consumes 10-times as much dairy foods as beef each year, which translates into about 42 lb of nitrogen pollution per year compared to almost 9 lb released from beef. Meanwhile, people's annual dairy and beef consumption emits about the same amount of greenhouse gases."

"Which Is Better for the Environment, Local or Vegetarian?" from www.eatanddrinkbetter.com

"The most significant way to green your food choices is by cutting the meat or animal products as much as possible, especially the red meat.

“Different food groups exhibit a large range in GHG-intensity; on average, red meat is around 150% more GHG-intensive than chicken or fish,” the authors write. “Thus, we suggest that dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household’s food-related climate footprint than ‘buying local.’”

In the end, the researchers found that cutting the meat and animal products or even just cutting back on the red meat one day per week is more significant than buying all your food from local sources."

Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and other goodness from the 50s

2011-03-08T15:01:00.004-05:00

I've just finished reading another Bill Bryson book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. I seem to be becoming a bit of an aficionado.

It's a [hilarious] must-read memoir for anyone who desires to comprehend people who grew up in the 50s and 60s (like my parents, for example). Bryson goes over the prevailing themes of this era: the Red Scare, the wacky foods, and the infatuation with home appliances to name a few.

Bryson's recollection of food from the 50s and 60s had me thinking back to my own adolescence, and *aha* something came to mind. In anyone else's family was it a treat to have carrots and cabbage molded into green Jello? I thought this was unique to my own nuclear bunch, but this concoction is still alive and well on the internet -- a resonating icon of the 50s, sort of like atomic radiation.

Actually it's pretty good; I happily consume TWO of my daily 'strive for five' in a green wiggly format. Truthfully, Jello was one of my favorite desserts growing up, and I'm glad to see it put to creative uses. "J-E-L-L-O.... It's alive!!!"

the incredible, edible egg[plant]

2011-02-26T22:20:00.009-05:00

I have a fetish for eggplants. It's been over a year now since they've been a staple in my veggie drawer. Something has possessed me to share my greatest eggplant exploits tonight. Maybe it's the 20cm of snow accumulating outside, or maybe it's the abnormal amount of time I've spent on food blogs lately -- thus impelling me to share my own culinary adventures. Anyway, tonight is an ode to the eggplant, may our relationship continue for many years to come!

Top 5 Favorite Uses of Eggplant:

Eggplant Parmasean: This is one of my favorite dishes, gracing Italian menus the world wide. It is made more or less like lasagna but uses eggplant strips in lieu of flat noodles. I first made this using a recipe from the foodblog, Judy in Her Natural Habitat, and I don't hesitate to guide you in the same direction. Oh yeah, bring on the marinara, parm, and eggplant hot and steamy goodness!

Eggplant Loaf: This is a mondunsko original. I use a basic carrot bread recipe (try this one from AllRecipes) but substitute shredded eggplant for the carrots. If I have zucchini, I'll shred some of that in there, too. This is not to be confused with the "eggplant loaf" that vegetarians eat to fill the lack of meatloaf in their lives -- however that's another great use for our adorable eggplant.

Eggplant Spread: Rachel Ray calls this one 'Poor Man's Caviar'. I keep it in the fridge as a good spread for sandwiches: the eggplant version of hummus, if you will. I make mine a little different than Rachel Ray does. I start by skinning the eggplant and slicing it [horizontally, into circles], which I then lay on a baking sheet. After drizzling them with a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, they bake for about 15-20 minutes. When they're out of hte oven they go straight into the food processor with about two tablespoons of mayo, two cloves of garlic, and a generous pinch of salt. Voila! Put it on a sandwich and fall into a sweet eggplant stupor the way I do. Ahhh.

Stuffed Eggplant: hands-down the backyard barbeque summer-time favorite. Let's start by cutting the eggplant lengthwise and laying both halves face down on a plate with a bit of water -- put the plate in the microwave for 2 minutes, or until the flesh of the eggplant is soft enough to be scooped out (you may have to add more water for subsequent trips to the microwave). Set aside this flesh, we'll use it for the filling. In a small pot, boil about a cup of rice with chicken stock until it's tender. Simultaneously, keep a skillet going with the eggplant flesh and any other veggies you can muster (my favs are bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms). Season to taste and add the rice. Lastly, scoop the filling into the eggplant halves, sprinkle with parmasean, and stick on a covered grill until the eggplant skin looks a bit droopy. Devour and enjoy.

Fried Eggplant: I know I know... Americans have a tendency to fry everything... land of the deep-fried Oreos. And the deep-fried Snickers bar. Eggplant, too, falls into that category of delicious things to fry. Slice your egg-shaped-plant and coat the slices in flour. Bathe the floured slices in a bath of beat eggs and a bit of milk and then roll the slices around on a plate of stale bread crumbs (I save all my breadcrumbs in the freezer and cash them in for recipes like this one, chaa-ching!). Now for the frying part that you've been waiting for: fry your gooey, crumbly slices in a pan with about a centimeter of vegetable oil until lightly browned and crispy. Sprinkle with sea salt. I love dipping these in ranch dressing. It's a bad habit picked up at my alma mater -- does everyone know that central Pennsylvanians dip everything in ranch? They're onto something great. Soulfood.

I just reviewed that list of my top favorite uses of eggplant and it struck me that I consume the most eggplant in my grilled cheese sandwiches. I should've shared that with you in the beginning. Ahhh, such a great veggie. I hope to have a garden-full someday, and then the experimenting will really begin!

All images courtesy of GoogleImages.

a photo a day keeps the adventure here to stay

2011-02-25T00:03:00.012-05:00

Over the weekend I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival, an annual event that leaves patrons inspired to nourish a passion for the outdoors.

Towards the end of last year's wine harvest, I had the chance to kayak down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. It was absolutely incredible. I won't bore you with words, because that isn't what this post is about. But I took a lot of photos (we're talking 8GB), and I thought I'd try and share one a day in honor of the Banff Fest. Let's see... I went six days ago so I owe you all six shots. Here goes,

Vulcan's Anvil

Trinket from a Medicine Man

Arizona Cottonwood Trees

Point of No Return

Zen in the Cave

Scramble on the Little Colorado

Alright... we should be even now. I'd like to try and contribute a photo a day. It will give me some incentive to get out and about Whistler with my camera, which I haven't done yet.

Photography Month: whooopeeee!

buddha's hand?!

2011-02-19T11:48:00.003-05:00

I've been spending an ungodly amount of time perusing food blogs lately. "FOOD" has just become a new bookmarks tab. I think it's something winter does to me.

Anyway, just this morning I came across "Buddha's Hand" -- it's a fruit that looks a little bit like a lemon version of Captain Davey Jones in Pirates of the Carribean, Dead Man's Chest.

Observe:

Possibly one step closer to Nirvana for discovering this?

After wiki-ing around for a bit, it seems like Buddha's Hand pretty useless as a fleshy fruit for consumption, but the sheer surface area of its tentacles make it popular for its zest. It's originally from North India or China, just like the real Buddha!

One use of Buddha's Hand is in homemade limoncello from 52 Kitchen Adventures, enjoy!

That's a wrap, folks. More food discoveries to come.

first breakthrough of 2011: The Whislter Power Cookie

2011-01-13T20:57:00.004-05:00

hi.

long time, no blog.

it's a good winter, yeee haw! it's definitely harder than i realized to rock up to a ski town like whistler and expect to be laying tracks on the goods like you do at home. this place takes time, it's a tough nut to crack. anyway, i'm chipping away and blazing trails (or something to that effect).

in my full circle return to the snow (this kayaking thing was a big three year distraction), i've been on a quest to find the perfect [affordable] power food to keep in a backpack during a full day on the mountain.

the light bulb is on, people.

after spending december playing with various dough varieties, i've opted for an even simpler, more 'kellogg' formula. behold:

THE WHISLTER POWER COOKIE:

--one package of marshmellows
--one smidge of margarine (let's say a tablespoon)
--two big spoonfuls of peanut butter
--one cup of trail mix (preferably with chocolate)
--about six cups of all-bran cereal flakes
--a small handful of granola (optional)

you're probably getting the picture... they are more or less rice crispy treats but more tricked out with fiber and chocolate. melt the butter and marshmellows in a medium-sized pot. when the mixture is fluid, mix in the peanut butter and granola (optional). pull the pot off the stove and fold in the all-bran cereal and trail mix until it's all equally coated with marshmellow-goo. spread the mixture into a greased pan and let cool for about two hours. slice, dice, wrap up and stash away for big powder days.

that might be my only contribution to society in 2011.

i guess this is a moment of clarity?

2010-10-16T16:12:00.004-05:00

What a year. Another birthday come and gone.

I've had a hard time making plans lately. Ambitions don't add up to reality. But something I saw recently oriented me in a wintery kind of direction -- at least for a little bit. Towards the end of the summer in BC I saw a postcard photograph of a waterfall, and as soon as I saw it I realized that I have to see this thing, haha. No really, it's amazing, and I think it's the 'straw that bent the camel's back' or whatever, that led me to want to stay in BC for the winter.

This is Helmecken Falls in Wells Gray National Park (near Clearwater, BC). It might as well be bizzaro-land. This waterfall, some 400ft tall or so, makes an ice cone for about a third of its height every winter. Have you ever seen anything so pulse-rattling?

This is defo photoshopped. But you get the gist of what a crazy ice cone this is.

Anyway so that was the deciding factor. I wanted to do a winter. And then I saw this and thought that BC is where it's at. I love it there. I sort of wish I'd found it 10 years ago.... but I'm not sure I would've loved it as much.

So northward we go. No work permit (but not for lack of trying), no job. Just a meager savings from an Oregon wine harvest. And a few cases of wine.

2010-06-17T13:32:00.005-05:00

oh wow, really good news on the car front. not even a week after 'she was serviced last week that son-of-a-bitch little 'check engine' light was back on so i took her back into the repair shop. i was secretly hoping they messed up something when they did the timing belt, so maybe they'd fix more things for free but that didn't happen. what did happen was one of the service people gave me HONEST advice. my car is fine. oh my god, how refreshing is that? i kept waiting for the part where he said, "just kidding! your hunk of metal needs a new rocket booster!" or something. but no, i took a deep breath for the first time in any automotive repair setting. what a good feeling.

you know, people [by 'people' i mean mechanics] always look at women with their cars kind of how women look at men with houseplants. one entity is simply not capable of properly caring for the other. i have resolved to try harder to properly look after my car. i just read an encouraging online story about someone who replaced their own sparkplugs. that could be me someday! well, maybe not someday soon. but it could be.

that said, I'm loading up the wagon [Oregon Trail style] and am getting ready to head west. where dreams come true and stuff.

before closing this, I want to share an innovative... thing... from Tasmania for all you gardeners out there. check this out.

heart-shaped strawberries! does home gardening get any more fun? no, i think not.

on the topic of gardening, my cab franc vines are growing like they're on 'roids. which possibly they are because i saw someone spraying the neighbors lawn the other day. grow little ones, mama needs the bottle.

!(#AH#@$&@)(!~!!!!! subaru makes me #)($&@!#)&!*(!#@@!!!!

2010-06-08T07:16:00.003-05:00

The past three days have been simply a delight! Stohlman Subaru, in Tysons Corner, Virginia has been tremendously helpful. At their going rate, the regular maintenance on my Legacy (now at 120,000 miles) will cost $3850, effectively totaling the car.

But do you know what has been really worth four figures? My conversations with their service people. They remain professional, upbeat, and enthusiastic even as they tell you you're about to shell out three months salary on your [used] car.

Forget medical emergencies or car accidents, simply owning a Subaru in working order is the quickest way to bankruptcy in this neck of the woods! Here's how it goes.

"hello, i'm calling because i got an email from you all about a 120k mile check-up."

"yep, you need to bring 'er in, those things are important"

"right-o, how much do i owe you?"

"that'll be $650"

[internal frown and self-restraint of desired profanity outburst. they want $650 to check on a car that works fine. ok, i choose to believe you on this one, subaru people.]

"oh, and it looks like you didn't have your timing belt replaced at 105k, but don't worry, we can do that for an extra $1750"

"UHUUUHHUHH!!!!?!? $1750? we're talking about a green station wagon, not a rocket ship, right?"

"haha well no, but if we do the timing belt we also do the water pump, the seals, and a few other items. it's also probably not a bad time to get your head gaskets replaced"

"and tell me, how much do those run?"

"we'll do it for $1750 [insert wink]. and i'll even give you 10% off [another wink]."

"ohh ok. well that sounds fabulous. let me call you back when i'm able to auction off my first-born offspring."

[naturally, i call another subaru mechanic and he says he can do it for $750. the last timing belt i had replaced, in 2002 on a '95 ford escort, costed a whopping $156. inflation is a killer.]

back in the service department. "hello! i'm here about my ever-so-important 120k check up and a possible timing belt replacement. let's forget the head gaskets for now, someone told me you don't really need them anyway [this elicits a hilarious expression from the service rep, "well i don't know about that, ma'am"]. i found another guy who will do the timing belt for $750; can you guys match that?"

"well sure! if you JUST want the timing belt done then we can do it for $750"

"oh, i'm sorry, i thought i originally asked for just the timing belt"

"it's just that we usually replace a number of things when we take out the front of the engine. we don't normally deviate from our package repairs"

"do those other things need replacing?"

"to be honest, probably not"

[you are shitting me]

"but we replace them anyway so folks don't have to come back in. saves us some time too having to take out the engine like that."

Anyway, I'm at Panera right now while they're working on my timing belt and the cracked boot of a front wheel drive joint. When we saw this it became apparent that the 120k check up was probably going to have to wait until 140k. I'm already excited for what kinds of new things my fine-working-car will need by then. Oh sweet joy.

Key Learnings: Past Three Weeks in Tasmania

2010-03-07T19:33:00.005-05:00

Not a whole lot going on here.... this one is a rant, read at your own risk [of boredom].

On Nature
You can't really get angry with nature. I came here anticipating 12 hr shifts every day, but if the grapes aren't ripe (as they aren't) -- then there is no work. There is no one to blame. There is no use re-calculating forecasted net earnings for the harvest. There is just waiting.

I have gotten a few good days work in the vineyard, where I've been meeting the acquaintance of Tasmania's revoltingly large array of spider species. Here are some Google Images of the Huntsman Spider -- my new arachnid friends.

Pretty cute when they're on the back of your neck.

On Boredom
Boredom only becomes intolerable when you have nothing good to look forward to. I've been keeping busy with 1) writing [of postcards, articles, in my journal, anything], 2) fitness [i'm going to train for a marathon again and not do it], 3) crocheting, and 4) cooking up a hurricane. Somehow with all that there seems to be copious amounts of free time. I guess this is the consequence of living in the wop wops with no car. It's an 80 minute run to the nearest store.

Oh, and I forgot 5) Life Planning. I'm at that age where I should probably be getting my first promotion and a raise in the office but by-passing that lifestyle has me sitting here, ranting, and thinking about how long I want to be a gypsy moth for. I reckon we're down to the final months of this lifestyle. I miss using my brain.

On Undergraduate Degrees
Whoever said your selection of an undergraduate major is not that important was full of shit. I was one of the many who believed that an undergrad degree is more or less just a certificate of your intellectual capacity to succeed in any career field. I still believe this is true.

However, if you're one of the silly folks who wants to pursue graduate studies, you -- like me -- will find that the fields you might study are very much limited by what you studied in undergrad. I want to study economics, but a genuine interest is not enough! You need mathematics! You need an undergrad degree in Economics! Not Marketing! Woe is me.

But if you want to study something like Beer-Brewing or Oenology, they'll take anyone.

On Baking
With my copious amounts of free time I've been evolving into a regular little Betty Crocker. Just this week I've pounded out a zucchini loaf, blackberry cobbler (hand-picked, it kills more time), mushroom and leek quiche, and -- my proudest concoction -- BANANA BUTTER. Only in the past few months have I dabbled with preserves (see Chili Jam) -- and I love this side of cooking.

I'm going to go back into bread this week... bread keeps me on my toes. And I have access to a refrigerator full of wine yeast. You think the Pinot Noir or Savvy yeast for the Italian loaf?

On Exercise
Long ago I made the mistake of listening to music during my cardio workouts (fancy words for plodding along the tarmac). Now I can't exercise if I don't have music. But I am adapting myself to listening to audiobooks instead of music. I'm on Disc 4 of The Kite Runner right now. Marley and Me happened last week. I can 'read' and 'run' at the same time; I take a weird kind of glory in multi-tasking.

On Tasmania
It is beautiful here. The landscape is very similar to the Eastern United States. All the snakes are poisonous, all the spiders look menacing (but are benign I'm told), and the roo's make good steaks. This is wild country.

Tasmania's wine climate is slightly different. It reminds me of the movie Bottle Shock: "Not bad for kids from the sticks." They struggle to ripen the fruit, as does any cool climate area. And there isn't any old world feel to the way things are done here. The big wineries are holdings of conglomerate companies, whereas the little guys are simply one-family vineyards outsourcing their wine production. That's a lot of dis-organized ideas at once.

Anyway, here's a look at Cradle Mountain. We hiked this beaut a few days ago on one of the other slews of days off. It was niiiiice!

I promise you a better quality blog post for next time. Cross my heart. Big love from spider world, MG

--- WAIT, just in by text, regarding the jar of banana butter I sent to the Spanish employees: "Hi! Thanks clown for the banana butter. I haven'nt ate it. We hope that it doesn't kill us. See you." ---- those payasos better love it.

not a myth

2010-02-07T20:54:00.003-05:00

I made muffins today from scratch (is that a raised eyebrow I see?) and I opted to hand-mix the [microwave melted] butter and sugar and eggs -- and I just want to share with you that the outcome NOT the same as using an electric mixer. The verdict is that you should use an electric mixer whenever you make muffins. Even though it makes more dishes to wash.

Do you know why Wendy's burgers are square? Because Dave Thomas's grandmother told him to never cut the corners in life. True story.

snow-shovelers' best friend

2010-02-06T22:06:00.004-05:00

i had a moment of brilliance this morning during my morning of combat with the driveway. spraying the shovel with Pam, makes the snow non-stick and you can get rid of each shovel-load in one go.

same principle as eggs on a skillet or cake in a pan. i can't believe i haven't thought of this sooner.

flashback to Norge - Amnesty International free Hu Jia campaign

2010-02-04T08:53:00.006-05:00

I'm putting together a small talk for my office on my recent travels and one video has just re-surfaced that I thought blog-worthy.

Ekstremsport Veko (Extreme Sports Week) in Voss is one of the best multi-sport events in the world. There are paragliders, base jumpers, kayakers (duh), extreme skiiers, climbers, and dozens of other athletes in the melee.

When I first got there we had a chance to be a part of an Amnesty International filming effort to highlight a partnership with Ekstremsportveko for the Free Hu Jia campaign.

Hu Jia is a political prisoner in China for supporting a nascent democratic movement, his environmentalist views, and his work in HIV/AIDS awareness in China. This video pushes an interesting message from one socialist country to another.

Anyway, you can see the video here! I couldn't post it directly, but if you click the picture it should take you there.

I'm pretty sure Hu Jia is still in prison, proving that extreme sports don't offer any jail-breaking attributes; but at least more people are aware.

how many chances to you get to be filmed from a helicopter? haha, not many if you're not of the Young Gun persuasion.

ENJOY!

why waste money on new tires?

2010-01-24T11:25:00.001-05:00

observe a lesson from the car people in India. reduce, reuse, recycle.

re-treading told tires... maybe they are on to something.

Nepal Moment #654

2010-01-18T15:36:00.003-05:00

[the following is an excerpt from my journal, 11/14/2009. I don't know why this is in the third person... but if i ever go insane let's peg this as the onset.]

Whilst sitting down for a banana lassi and alu parantha, the writer notices a cockroach scuttling up her chair. It evades the first several swats with the menu, but the commotion alerts the waiter to come and assist. The waiter is successful in violently killing the archaic beast with the afore-mentioned menu, and then gently places the menu back on the table adjacent to the no-longer-appetizing parantha before he smiles and leaves. What a guy.

I'm not usually grossed out by bugs (ok, maybe that's a lie), but in my on-and-off residencies in Pokhara this year the cucarachas were unusually prevalent. At one point I recall struggling to kill one monster that I found on my bed, when by accident I stepped on another. You know it's too many when you are inadvertently stepping on them.

funny man from 35 years ago

2010-01-16T14:00:00.002-05:00

"I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago."
Sir George Porter, quoted in The Observer, 1973

Friday Factoids from the EPA

2010-01-15T15:15:00.004-05:00

It's been a [pleasantly] busy week at work. At some point while I was scouring federal websites, I came across these items on EPA's page. Interesting enough to pass on.

OK! That's it! See you later!

Lolita

2010-01-04T15:01:00.002-05:00

As I make an effory to be more studious in 2010, I thought I may use this blog to share some of what I've been reading. This will coerce me into writing short, concise, summaries that I haven't been compelled to do in years. Step One of the resurrection of my brain.

Lolita, by Vladimir Nobokov, is a novel published in the 1950s that follows a French immigrant pedophile through his mental turmoils and intimacies with his 12 year old stepdaughter. The narrator, Humbert Humbert, is wretchedly in love with 'nymphets' (very young girls). Humbert chauffers Lolita around the U.S. trying to hide their grossly inappropriate relationship from hotel room to hotel room. As Lolita drifts away from him, his mental instabilities become clear -- ending in a murder that puts him behind bars.

The writing style of this book is uniquely its own -- I have never read another piece quite to this tune. The reader is enamored with Humbert Humbert from Page One. His candor on his own weaknesses makes the reader trust him and believe in his integrity. I'm embarassed to admit that I made it about half-way through the book before I truly ascertained that his relations with Lolita were grossly unethical. He's just such a likealbe guy.

It's no surprise that Lolita has become a classic. It is an in-depth look at a psychopath, seemingly harmless, but tormented by his wrongful lust for his teenage stepdaughter, Lolita. Yet, he remains honest and transparent through the whole account. It evokes a mix of sympathy and outrage -- a twisted love story of the ages.

I should also note that I didn't realize this was a fictional story until reading the Epilouge. Nobokov tricked me. But overall it was a superb read -- I highly recommend it. If I had the motivation to make a list, it would be a favorite book of late 2009, no doubt.

pulley magic

2009-12-28T18:00:00.005-05:00

umm pfffff, have you SEEN this?

It's an add-on for any carabiner that turns it into a pulley. You can pack 'em in your PFD like skittles. This product is called the ULTRALEGERE from the petzel peoples. I really like this idea... it makes pulleys much less of a hassle to carry.

Here's what it looks like on its own:

As great as the pulley things are... they really can't compete with the Anpanman Bento box maker. This is what every kid really wanted from Santa:

Ohhhh isn't it beautiful? I'm in consumer mode this week.

the great debate: Spectra vs. Poly-Pro

2009-12-28T15:49:00.007-05:00

I'm on the market for a new throw-bag. Don't kayak with me until I get one.

In Nepal this year our group came upon a boat severely pinned. So severely pinned that it snapped one throw-line and ended up taking about an hour and four vectors to un-pin. yay, an SRT practical.

Anyway, this past trip made me confident that the more challenging the whitewater you want to paddle, the better your gear needs to be. I hate it when kayaking gets expensive.

It wasn't until actually looking around that I realized how much more expensive Spectra is, and how much better quality as well. I'm not sure that people really realize the difference (I certainly didn't until a river companion emphasized the importance to me... over a pinned Magnum). The local kayak shop doesn't carry any Spectra throw-lines, but here's a picture from CKS... essentially the same throw-bag (with carabiner) and the price difference due to material.

So what is the difference in quality?

I found a really good reference page, have a look. The following is paraphrased.

Polypropylene

Mediocre UV resistance (poor longevity)
Very low specific gravity (it floats well)
Stretches relatively little

Spectra

Lighter than Kevlar and does not absorb water
Excellent UV resistance
Very strong, low stretch fiber
a.k.a. "Ultra high molecular weight Polyethylene"

There you have it. As soon as I get my first paycheck I'm going to make an order... chaa-ching. Is the price worth the product? In this case it's appropriate for me and the river things I like to get into. For $30 extra hopefully it's worth your buddy's buns too. Spectra up, wurrrrld!

baby birds in Nepal

2009-12-27T12:40:00.017-05:00

After paddling the goods in India, I rolled over to Nepal for the rest of my stay. I had made plans to get a tutor in India to help me study for the GREs but that was soon 'indefinitely postponed' when I realized that I'd rather to stay on vacation the whole time. Yep... one of those decisions of responsible adulthood.

Last year in Nepal a kayaker-friend of mine, Billy-Bob of the mighty UK, learned to paraglide. And he loved it. Looooved it. He is now a wicked paraglider terrorizing the airways of NZ. I've always had the inkling in the back of my head to give it a go, but the cost has always been an obstacle. I tell myself, "save it for when you're old and rich". Age will probably come before riches... and it gets more expensive every year... sooo? I sold all my kayaking stuff and made it work!

I opted to do the ParaPro 1 course with Blue Sky Paragliding in Pokhara. Blue Sky has a few kayakers in their business, and Billy had nothing but good stuff to say of his experience with them. I'd intended to stay on for ParaPro 2 and maybe ParaPro 3, but inhospitable conditions pushed back the course for a number of days I couldn't afford.

Me at take-off... essentially you just stand there until a friendly bit of wind blows your way, at which point you take off and run like a bat out of hell off the side of the mountain (ok, it's more of a hill). starting at 1200m here.

Sebastian exhibits the perfect take-off. Seba is also a sky-diver, and is pretty good in the air.

Dimitri follows suit. Looking good!

Baby birds do fall out of the sky. Haha, urrr this is my first landing... there was a miscommunication over the walkie-talkie on which way to pull the risers and I ended up in the power lines. No harm done!

Sebastian (FRA) on the other hand, executes one of his textbook landings. He's greeted by an onslaught of kids eager to fold the glider for a whopping 10 rupees each.

And last but not least... the obligatory shot of yours truly flying like an eagle. Or maybe a duck or something a little less... 'awesome' than an eagle.

All in all it was a fabulous experience. Even if I never get to paraglide again, the money was worth the four solo flights I did do and the instruction was top-notch. After the course, kayaker friend Babu took me on a 'special' tandem flight. I'll write more on that later... for now I have to get back to studying for the GREs. At home, without my brilliant Indian tutor...

victory over Chili Jam

2009-12-20T18:23:00.000-05:00

During my stay in the UK I had the chance to peruse some of the cookbooks in Ali and Tom's flat and I came across a recipe for Chili Jam. The recipe you see below isn't the same that I initially saw, it's actually from my other good English friend, Gordon Ramsay.

The chili jam was a great hit in the office and at a Christmas party later on. Receiving approval of the office-eaters may have been my single most glorifying moment of the holiday season. Serve with crackers and cheddar cheese. It also goes great on bagels with cream cheese. People love spicy/sweet!

Original Recipe

12 large fresh chillies (use gloves)
1 large red onion, finely chopped
8 salad onions, finely chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped
6cm cube of fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Slit the chillies lengthways, and remove the seeds (or you could leave them if you like it very hot!) Chop the flesh finely. Put the chillies in a saucepan with the onions, garlic, ginger, oil and sugar. Heat gently until sizzling, then cook on a medium-low heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally until the sugar starts to caramelise. Add the vinegar and stir to deglaze. Continue to cook, until the liquid evaporates. Mix in the oyster sauce, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season, then pack into clean, sterilised screw top jars. Cool and chill.

Chilli Jam a la Moi

Instead of red chillies, I used 7 jalapenos, 3 banana peppers, 3 green chillies, and one red bell pepper (it was too green-looking without it). Also, since we don't really have 'caster sugar' in the U. S. of A., use brown sugar instead (I'm not really sure what 'caster sugar' is). When you add the oil and sugar, it actually takes more like 45 minutes to an hour for the sugar to caramelize. I added a squeeze of maple syrup somewhere in the sizzling period. The oyster sauce should be added at the end so it doesn't get cooked away. It sounds gross, but it's more or less just like soy sauce (and you can use soy sauce as a substitute if you can't find oyster sauce at the market).

Voilia! You are now a domestic super-hero.

travel epic, Rishikesh (IND) to Pokhara (NEP)

2009-12-19T10:38:00.010-05:00

I was just going through pictures from long-gone kayaking times in India this year and I came across a group of photos that adequately portray our miseries trying to get to Nepal.

Scene 1 -- Last night in beautiful Rishikesh! After 2 1/2 weeks of exploratory paddling, 5 first descents, and some good times, I'm sad to leave little loco India.

Scene 2 -- Suspension breaks in our 4x4 to the border. No worries! This happens a whole lot. One 80 minute break and about $9 later we're on our way.

Scene 3 -- Someone put up a stupid arch at the border in Banbasa so we have to walk kayaks through (I got to ride! Girls don't carry stuff - wonderful policy).

Scene 4 -- Cross the border into sweet Nepal, amen! We barely make it through before closing... and when we make it across we find that no buses are leaving until mid-day tomorrow. What to do now? People, WE ARE ON A SCHEDULE! We opt to charter a bus to Pokhara -- haha, we showed you! Some wait with our stuff while the Nepalis try to price-gouge our situation, we send in the negotiators.

Scene 5 -- and then... an accident. Typical. We approach and for a brief second everyone looks at the gorras instead of the accident. Then they go back to staring at the pile-up. No constructive movements are made to ameliorate the situation.

Scene 5.5 -- Thorpie lends his guns. What a guy.

Scene 6 -- On our way again! Riding on the bus roof is undoubtedly the best way to travel.

Scene 7 -- Nobody takes photos anymore because things start to get not-so-funny. The bus engine cuts out and we spend a few hours in and out of different repair shops on the way to Pokhara... then, kaaa-pooot. Bus won't start anymore. So sad. The group collectively suspects that it's the fuel pump -- and they're right! So we take turns manually pumping the fuel pump to get the bus a bit further down the road (in 90degree weather). Then the bus says, "sorry you assholes, i'm tired" and refuses to start again. The bus-owner finds us a shuttle to Pokhara (only 2 hrs away, so close!) and we make it there by late evening.

Scene 8 -- We pay the driver and find a hotel. Then we go straight to Everest Steak House for a feast. No shower. No unpacking. Just feeding.

In retrospect, I guess this trip was kind of funny.

First Descents in Uttaranchal, India

2009-12-18T21:40:00.006-05:00

Here's a quick report from paddling in Uttaranchal, India. James Thorp, Leon Bedford, and Santiago Indalecio lo Greco, and myself (Monica) headed over to the Alecnanda drainage area to find some of India's covert creeks. When paddlers think of kayaking in India it's typically big-water visions of the Indus, the Zanzakar, and the Ganges that fill their agendas.

India's creeking is top-notch, and well worth the trip. The season is a bit later than the big water behemoths. We started our trip in late September and caught good flows throughout our two and a half week stay. Another group had been to the area and 2007 and they gave us some excellent beta, as did Shalabh Gahlaut of Kayak India. Information seems to change every year, namely because of the copious small scale dam projects that dry up a number of these rivers.

The rivers listed below were some gems we deemed worthwhile to pass on. As with any exploratory kayaking trip, we had a number of 'busts' as well -- but the goods were good enough to make up for the doosies. Enjoy!

Upper Nandakani
Put in: Kanol bridge (possible to go higher)
Takeout: Ghat
Distance: 12km
Grade: 4-4+

The Upper Nandakani is home to some excellent medium-volume boulder-garden creeking. It served as a good warm up for our group -- first run of the trip! The riverbed is open and all the rapids are pretty straight-forward, kayakers should be wary of logs.

Thorpie in Boof-Under-the-Log rapid.

Balikila
Put in: Mandol bridge (any higher is a boulder choke)
Take out: Chamoli (confluence with Alecnanda)
Distance: 10km
Grade: 4/5
Flow: 8-12 cumec (If the bottom part looks like a Class III scrape then the upper is probably good to go).

From Chamoli the Balikila looks like a dinky little Class II-III tributary to the Alecnanda; but higher up the rapids abound! Most of the river is Class IV boulder-hopping. In the crux section, about 1/3 of the way into the river, the river walls start to tighten up and scouting gets more difficult.

Class V scouting -- Leon goes and reports back that it's good to go in the section leading up to the waterfall.

The first part of the steep section has a stair-step rapid best run on the left. After that comes a 3m drop that can be scouted from the rocks in river center.

Santi likes big boofs for breakfast.

After a wee bit of slack water and a really shallow boulder garden, the next rapid is Caroline's Crack. This waterfall is a tight squeeze, but pretty harmless overall. It's possible to scout/portage from the left.

Leon 1st-D-ing this thing. And naming it after his girlfriend, haha, what a guy.

After the drop the river gets progressively easier – and more rocky – until the confluence with the Alecnanda. This run is best saved October, high flows in the Gorge might be a bit scary.

Kali Ganga [of the Mandakini], also called ‘Saraswati’
Put-in: temple 8k upstream of Kalimath
Take-out: confluence bridge with Maduanga
Grade: 4/5
Length: 18km
Duration: best split into two days
Flow: 15-20 cumec

We found a great hotel in Kalimath and ended up making it our base while we poked around this region; Kalimath became our 'Indian home' -- complete with Indian family and friends. At the put-in of the Kali Ganga there are two very low-volume tributaries that flow together at a temple; the one on the left is dammed but the one on the right has a few good rapids in its bottom reaches that we nabbed.

Past there the river picks up really nicely with some challenging Class IV/IV+ creeking. There were a few portages, but for the most part the river remained pleasantly engaging from start to finish.

Leon navigates the a rapid on the lower part of the Kali Ganga. Busy busy!

Monica gets bored of the action and starts attaining back to the put-in.

The section below Kalimath is stacked with good rapids. In general it’s a bit cleaner and more open than the upper, but there were still some sieves and logs we had to negotiate. Both sections were really quality runs, some of the best kayaking on our trip.

Thorpie makes a friend. Is this bad karma?

Maduanga
Put-in: ????
Take-out: confluence with Kali Ganga/Saraswati
Grade: 4

We bush-whacked up the side of this river (with porters) for about 7k before seeing a road at a quarry on the other side [insert dumbfounded expressions]. As far as we could tell the river looked flat above this point. We then back-tracked with the boats back down about 2k around a heinous boulder-choke-sieve-party to put in for about 5k of runnable whitewater. It was a lot of effort for a little piece of river, but the paddling we did do was superb. It was mostly Class IV with a big water feel to it. If it continued on like that [more than 5k] it would’ve been worth the walk (by 'walk' I mean individual Indian safari).

Bhilanga
Put-in: dam about 7k above Ghuttu
Take-out: Ghuttu
Grade: 4/5
Length: 7km< Duration: 4 hours
Flow: 15 cumec

This is a phenomenal piece of river - one of the best creeking fields in Uttaranchal. Aaand, we got to do it on my birthday! How many people are lucky enough to paddle a big first descent on their birthdays? Last year I was having a big birthday stomach sickness in Nepal -- so the paddling this go around was redemption.

Our friends said the section of the Bhilanga from Ghuttu down was one of the best runs they did of the trip. Regrettably, this was dammed about 10k in and left only a trickle of water. However, the upper reaches (upstream of Ghuttu) packed some great action.

Thorpie setting safety at high noon on one of the bigger rapids of the Upper Bhilanga.

Monica enjoying the fun as well! Forwards this time -- good to spice things up.

Lining up for the lip -- Thorpie makes it look good.

This was my favorite run of the trip. But maybe that was just because it was my birthday, haha. Actually all of it was pretty good. I love India-land -- good ju-ju going on there.

After the Bhilanga and an unfortunate shoulder dislocation, we opted to head over to Nepal to paddle for a few weeks before the others headed off. Nepal is a tad more 'tourist-friendly' than Uttaranchal (read: alcohol and steak), but for a kayaking adventure slightly off the beaten track, India is second to none.

Mission: SUCCESS

Monica G.

soloing the sun kosi

2009-12-18T19:39:00.018-05:00

Prologue
The idea of soloing the Sun Kosi came to me when I first arrived in Nepal this year. I'd already sold my Nomad not too long after the India crew left, which left me a great opportunity to pick up a long boat for the trip. I ended up with a yellow Tornado from Charlie at Ganesh Kayak Shop in Pokhara -- what a beaut! The Sun Kosi is a 'must-do' on any river list of Nepal, but I've never been able to fit it in until now.

The Sun Kosi snakes from the Tibetan border (where it's called the Bhote Kosi) and flows all the way into India. My agenda had me paddling about 300km from Balephi to Chatara. Also called the 'Golden River', the Sun Kosi is one of Nepal's most famous rafting trips for its scenery and friendly whitewater.

The following notes are excerpts from my trip journal.

Day 1 - Girl Makes Fire
A bit of a later start than I wanted today... but I managed to get on the river by 11:00. My watch was an hour off (how long has it been like that?) and I missed the Last Resort bus. The local bus did me right though. When I first set off I passed about 3 funeral pyres within the first few hours. I'm going to ignore this as NOT an ominous message from the water dieties. I've been reading The Alchemist (Paulo Coehlo) lately, and it illustrates omens as the language of the world. I can never figure out what the world is trying to tell me anyway, so the bad start is a write-off.

I've just succeeded at making fire (wiping sweat off brow). In The Alchemist, Coehlo tells us that when you want something bad enough, "the whole universe conspires in your favor". If this is true, then the universe definitely helped me with fire. Hopefully I can repeat the feat tomorrow. To my regret I'm not really one of those mountain, survivor types. But I aspire to be.

Day 2 - Harkapur Day
People of the world! There is no greater feeling than watching the bow of the Tornado hover above the wild river and carry you on your chosen line -- WHAT A KAYAK. Why did we ever switch to shorter boats?

I arrived at Harkapur around 2:00 this afternoon. The beta other paddlers gave me was spot on, and for that I'm grateful. The whole of the Sun Kosi chokes itself down, creating a set of beastly-looking rapids -- Harkapur 1 and 2. I opted to run the sneak line on Harkapur 1 -- and did so without a hitch. Harkapur 2, however, made me a little more nervous and I decided to portage after about 10 minutes of deliberation. A Nepali boy in an inner tube made the same decision (he definitely thinks I'm a wimp,). The rapid is not really that hard. It's just a big wave train... but the chance of flipping was greater than I cared to risk. I hope I didn't make the wrong decision... I guess I'll know if I'm still thinking about it in a week or so.

I pulled over once for camp already, but then realized it was only 3:30. Since then there've been a few bigger rapids; I think I just passed Dead Man's Eddy, but I'm not 100% sure. It's been really overcast the past few days and it's hard to tell dusk from just being overcast.

Someone just found me in my little cove (I'm in the middle of nowhere). Before he saw that I had dinner on the fire (baked beans and corn -- sustenance of champions) he motioned his hand to his mouth, presumably asking if I need food. His offer reminded me how lucky I am to have the opportunity to do a trip like this in a country where the people are so benevolent. I can't think of another place in the world where it would be safe for someone like me (no y-chromosome) to do this kind of trip.

"Cove Camp" -- Night 2

Gourmet dinner for one.

I'm beat today. Total distance had to have been over 100km. Oh, and I paddled by a cave full of bats in the morning, that was neat. They were really loud. It would be way more of an extreme trip if I killed something and ate it, but making fire is enough for me now. Next time.

Day 3 - Gorge Rapids
Today was... surprisingly good! I was expecting a low-action paddle out, sort of like Day 1, but instead the rapids abounded. The landscape distinctly changed into more 'jungle' after the first few hours of paddling. After the transition to jungle I came across several long class III-IV- rapids, culminating in a 10-15k gorge (pool-drop, everything scoutable). A few of the rapids were worth scouting, and I was really content with my lines and successful descent of the gorge. Nothing too tricky, but enough to keep me on my toes.

Out of the Jungle - self-portrait #48 out of 362.

The final 4-5 hours of paddling were grueling (maybe 30-40k?). It was a struggle to keep a steady pace, albeit a slow one. My hands are nearly raw, and it's taking a lot of self-restraint not to pick at my blisters. I caught myself talking a lot to... myself today; not quite like Hanks and Wilson, but just enough to keep my little brain working within the boundaries of sanity. Songs, too. It is shocking how many songs I know. Until 2:00 today, I hadn't seen anyone else on the river. But low and behold, at 2:00 I found an Ultimate Descents raft trip!

Seban and Mahindra were on the oar rig -- two guides with whom I worked a Karnali trip last season. The told me I was only about an hour from the take-out -- which was really good news to hear. I opted to crash at their camp for the last night and catch their bus in the morning -- definitely a good plan. Camp crashing means... hot dal-bhat! I'm amazed at how quick 3 days of solitude has gone and passed... it seems like ages ago I was just on my own going at a snail's pace scouting the gorge and poking through the flats.

Epilogue
For obvious reasons, a self-supported multi-day trip comes with a certain amount of risk. And it's a bit lonely too. However, this was exactly the kind of mission I needed [and sought] to affirm my judgment and confidence on the water -- kind of like a crash course in self-reliance.

The immense feeling of accomplishment after this cruise down the Kosi makes the effort worth it. This definitely wasn't as fun as it would've been if I'd been with a cool group of buddies, but the experience would have been entirely different. I guess this is the same principle behind why trouble kids get to do so much community service, it's not 'fun' but the experience is meaningful.

Aside from that the facial expressions from the U.D. guides was priceless, haha. They asked me, "Moni where are your other friends?" and I turned around and said, "Oh shit! I haven't seen them for like 3 days".... and Mahindra and Seban just look at each other like Harry and Marve in Home Alone. The visual I have of their faces is too funny.

Hahaha, alright, that's it for now!
Monica G.

home sweet USA

2009-12-17T21:51:00.001-05:00

hi, i'm back.

jeez it's been awhile... i've been a pretty poor blogger the past 6 months i've been away.

anyway, here's something for you! Santi is putting together a video of his adventures... included is our india trip. check out zee wee wittle trailer. i'm stoked to see what he puts together.

cheers, yo!

behold

2009-12-17T11:07:00.000-05:00

Is this thing beautiful, or what?

I'm not sponsored by Astral or anything (not sponsored by anyone actually, cough cough), but this PFD is gorgeous. Rastafari and made in the USA... and so steezy!

I need a new life jacket. Unfortunately this beaut sets you back about $240. I also need a new full-cut Rocker. And a new kayak. I sold all my kayaking stuff in Nepal for paragliding lessons. The decision is coming back to haunt me. "Luckily" I can't kayak for a bit anyways, I'm having massive ear troubles.

OK, that's it, back to work.

Wear your ear plugs, kids. Or you'll end up like Warren from 'There's Something About Mary'. Dire straights.

wash, rinse, repeat

2009-09-25T07:12:00.002-05:00

writing to you dearest from Edinburgh. i love this place, it's artsy and hip and the scenery is amazing. it irks me to pursue higher education in some form... easier said than done. none the less, i'm going to start GRE bootcamp from Delhi, with a tutor and all (I hope).

if you'd asked me a month ago what i'd be doing right now i wouldn't have told you that i'd be going back to India/Nepal. that was pretty far off the radar. but such is the case, the icing fits the cake, and off we go again.

i want to write about how this whole year has come full circle but i can't write clever sentences anymore, haha. i do, however, notice that i have the exact same stick of deodorant that i bought in Kathmandu this time last year. it's not even that well-used, heh. it's amazing how you can lose important things, like bivy bags, and still have the same deodorant stick or hair tie for so long. funny things, folks.

alright, that's it for now, just a quick update from me. love you all -- im terrible at blogging.

Lower Rauma, git some

2009-08-27T12:40:00.003-05:00

Round #2 of gettin' the goods goes down tomorrow. I'm an excited little girl.

Photo of Round #1 courtesy of Tim Ripper -- England's finest.

something is amiss

2009-08-21T06:55:00.003-05:00

brace yourselves, this could be an ugly one.

i have a little problemo. i have no passport. i'm actually getting neurotic to the point where i'm convinced it's been stolen.

you see, five weeks ago i sent it to the Indian Embassy in Oslo for a tourist visa. wham bam, fast-forward to present times and i still don't have my passport, much less a visa. i leave norway soon. if i don't leave soon, i will run out of money. candy is really expensive here.

the Indian Embassy does not accept phone calls, nor does it answer emails. the American Embassy, somewhat to my surprise, doesn't really care that much. that just leaves little old me to stress and pull out my own hair.

if they received my passport in the mail, sent me confirmation that they received it, and then don't give it back, that is stealing -- right? i feel like i might be on the cusp of crazy right now. my argentine roommates are kindly reminding me how much American passports sell for on "the black market". i don't know where that market is, but i want to go. i would probably sell my passport there anyway, seems to fetch a good price.

this is an S.O.S. from Sjoa. if you have any friends at the Indian Embassy, drop-kick them for me. thanks.

an update, you say?

2009-08-18T11:21:00.007-05:00

hello friends! are there any of you left? i've been a bewy bad biddle blogger.

anyway, things are still peachy in Norway. my initial plans to head to India got nixed when the Indian embassy wasn't able to process my visa in time to catch the POMEs i was hoping to paddle with. that said, kayaking trip to India in August 2010, anyone?

that brings me back here to Sjoa, stressing about my passport for the last 45 minutes. I probably should have started stressing awhile ago, but im lazy about stress. i still don't have my passport back from dear little India.

in related, more positive news, i'm booked to the UK the second week in september. this is exciting! this is the motherland! im really stoked to visit some familiar faces that i've met whilst traveling -- should be very exciting. oh, and im looking for casual work -- let's throw that out there. tell all your friends.

ok enough "admin vortex" stuff. here are some peektures from the past few weeks! eeep, long time no write.

the bachelor line-up at Sjoa's notorious Pimp n' Ho party. bang bang!

also during Sjoa festival is the Amot boatercross -- here's a peek. i ended up doing alright here, and the prize money helped me abstain from my bi-weekly ATM tours for awhile. this is possibly the first time that kayaking has ever paid for kayaking in my microcosm.

ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the RAUMA. let's say it again: RAUMA. this is mini-Huka Falls on the Upper Rauma, but the Lower has just come in and it's got some real goodies. I'll post pictures later... that one warrants its own entry i think. the Rauma is a later season run (i.e. right now) -- the goods are good.

alright alright, that's all i've got for now. it's time i be productive, contribute to dinner or something. good times chilling in Sjoa!

yours truly,
Norway's resident cowgirl (ok, fine... cow-chaser)

Valdall Summer Games 2009

2009-07-12T17:30:00.010-05:00

the afore-mentioned kayaking festival turned out to be a wicked good time! all week there was good creeking with good company. and did i mention the strawberries?

here are a few highlights... Stordalselve Gorge... dropping this 6-7m commits you to running the rest. luckily it's a pretty good note to start on. Jay starts us out right,

next up comes the rapid named "Must Run." you perceptive ones out there will gather that this is, indeed, a must-run rapid. it's a bit nerve-wracking because it ends in a hole and it's impossible to set safety until one person nuts up and runs it. luckily Matias was that guy in our group. for the most part we had good lines here, here's Espen givin' er

anyway, the Gorge carries on like this for about 3km. even though the rapids aren't particularly easy to portage, they're all scout-able and straight-forward. i really enjoyed this section... such good ju-ju going on.

there were countless good runs like the Stordalselva in the Valdall area. but one river, a really special river, stands out in my mind.... MYKLEBUST! better known as 'Mickey Mouse' river for it's Disneyland-like qualities for whitewater enthusiasts.

the festival organizers, a strapping group of young local boys, put together an awesome race on le Mylkebust. the race was amazing. the river is fast on its own, but when you paddle yourself faster it starts to feel like time-travel. yeah, pretty fast.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

aaaand the daily dose of requisite debauchery.

another beautiful day wrapping up in Norway.

there wasn't a women's category in the race, but i was pretty stoked to come out with 4th overall. i have a feeling this event, and the Valdall Summer Games in general, is going to get more and more popular in the coming years. right now it's super grassroots, in a good-vibe hippie kind of way. pay your entry, winner takes all. i love it even though im 50Kroner poorer than when i started, haha.

anyway, im going to wrap this up for now... we're back in Sjoa staring down 3 days until the epic Pimp n' Ho party. Valdall was one of my favorite places so far, definitely a must on any Norwegian road trip.

many thanks to the event organizer's... the farmer for the field... the slackliners for slack-lining drunk, you were fun to watch.... the strawberries for being amazing.... the Myklebust for rocking my socks off....

for the record, i'm not taking any new drugs. i just flippin' love it here.

2009-07-06T23:24:00.000-05:00

NORDIC FREESTYLE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009
Bubble Machine, Sjoa River, Heidal

PHOTOS

Hi friends... just a few pictures from another kayaker. I'm not really that great at taking pictures, so they're cheap enough. In addition to Paypal... I also accept chocolate and beer. And boxed wine. Especially boxed wine.

Much love!

jordbaer in valdall?

2009-07-06T14:59:00.000-05:00

hi folks... just made it to the next kayaking festival. i'm not sure what to call it, i've heard 'trash camp' used, but most people just call it the place with the strawberries. regardless, i'm pretty sure it's going to be a wicked fun time. on Sunday, the event program reads 8-9am: Walk of Shame. haaahaha funny norsk.

up until now we've been hanging out in Sjoa. i got to watch the Nordic Freestlye Championships, which was entirely inspiring for a playboat-trainwreck like moi. it was the first event I've ever been to where there were more women than men competing. flower power! or something?

last night we stayed over in Skjaak last night and i got to paddle with some Germans this morning on the Ostri Gorge. somebody turned the juice on for sure, because we finished the run just as the shuttle came into park. 13 minutes maybe?

it had a big water feel to it... and today i had a mini-revelation that paddling big water successfully is exactly like walking a slackline. i can't walk a slackline to save my life (but i've been trying this week), and i'd peg my big water skills at a healthy 'mediocre' plus.

the secret to slackline, according to Anders, is to look ahead of you. in big water, it's so easy to become preoccupied with your immediate obstacles... but you really need to be looking ahead for the next big eat-you-alive hole (or other obstacle) before you come up on it and it's too late to correct... the infamous 'bitch-slap' ensues.

today was about as straight-forward as read-and-rally big water can get... but we were in a gorge, with only a few eddies, and i found myself stressing about what i was currently careening over instead of what was about to knock my socks off 10 meters ahead. regardless, it was a good refresher, i haven't been on any big water for awhile... mm mmm good!

alright, this is probably the last post for awhile... i'm off to sleep at trash camp. eating strawberries tomorrow. maybe some kayaking or something. only time will tell.

urrrrr -- Ekstremsport-Veko

2009-06-26T05:49:00.004-05:00

ok people... so the photos i alluded to in that fun image below are going to take a wee bit longer to make it to the web. and im starting to think that the photo site wasn't such a hot idea... after all, when you go to all the fun events, you're there to rock rock and not to take photos of everyone else having a good time. internet here is way too slow to upload the peektures i did take.... so project is on hold for the forseeable future. anybody want to shoot for PotomacFest?

things have been SO GOOD in Voss. i had the hardest kayaking day of my life yesterday... i feel like i've been hit by a train (10x). the Brandseth race was wicked fun... i had some pretty shit lines, but still managed to make finals. my phase of 'shit lines' culminated in my accidental drop into an undercut... and kind of a bad one. the paddle is still in there, but luckily the big ol nomad floated us out and i hand-paddled across the finish. and then promptly swam the next rapid because i cannot hand-roll to save my life. good times.

as if the race section of the Brandseth wasn't enough of a bitch-slap for the day, i rallied to the Upper Brandseth (rising fast, getting scared) for the team race. two local girls, Mariann and Liz, took care of me and showed some great lines. i'd only done the river once before, but a wee bit lower. anyway, the team race was a nice finish to a day that could've just ended in trainwreck.

alright, i'm off to sit in the sun. it is painfully hot here, the sun is brutal. and i am hungover. typical.

cheers from Voss!

dropping money in Norway

2009-06-24T06:08:00.003-05:00

Money Drop.

i think this waterfall is a staple for visiting kayakers... it looks good in photos, has minimal consequence, and you can do it like 500 times without getting sick of it.

anyway, we camped right next to this bugger for a few days... and took some photos. because we like photos of ourselves doing fun stuff.

Monica staring down the gun barrel.

Nini doing same same.

this one might nab Great Falls as the best breakfast huck. mmm mmm good. great with eggs.

2009-06-12T15:52:00.000-05:00

the "higher education" debate

2009-06-11T10:32:00.002-05:00

I'm having one of those weeks where I perpetually wonder what the hell to do with myself. I thought times like this would subside after undergrad, but it appears that they don't.

So naturally, I look to grad school. I love online-shopping for graduate programs. I wish I could plan peoples' classes and extra-curriculars all day long.

However, seeing as my undergrad degree is borderline useless, I'm starting to think that maybe trade school is a better bet. And hella more fun.

Because aside from schedule planning all day, I'm pretty sure that I'd really like to make things like this for the rest of my life.

It. Is. BEAUTIFUL.

life and times of Ed Gaker

2009-06-08T19:41:00.006-05:00

Ed Gaker.

The name brings an onslaught of particular memories and river days. Gauleyfest, for one. Ohiopyle, for two. and COLORADO, for three. Especially Colorado.

Ed is a believer in people. He makes you feel like you can do something -- and I recall always feeling like I was in good company when Ed was on the river. I remember getting a very much needed rope while being beat-down in a hole... above a slide... you know the story.

Things got better when Ed met Sarah. It's not very often that couples my age (early 20s) simply work out the way they do. They bring out the best in each other, yet each one is a flippin' blast to be with on their own. Each one is an incredible person on their own... and together the chemistry was full of potential -- Dow Human Element style.

so here's a tribute to Ed. Beer in one hand, throw rope in the other. Dear Ed, give us some rain to time to time! We love & miss you like crazyfolk.

I just saw that video on YouTube... Ed Dorado is no joke. Ed at his best!

i miss the PSU bandits... haaahah

2009-06-07T21:08:00.001-05:00

10:06pm, Sloane:
ok well have fun in norway and try not to poop your pants

10:07pm, Monica:
haha um yeah its a constant uphill battle isnt it

cow burps -- a factor of global warming

2009-06-05T10:14:00.003-05:00

i really want to write articles like this for a living

Greening the Herds: A New Diet to Cap Gas

i mean that -- this shit is brilliant!

who knew that each cow produces 200-400 lbs of methane per year? and we all know that methane is the super-evil cousin of CO2. let's see... about 20 times more evil. ouch.

Ad-Sensible?

2009-06-03T07:28:00.002-05:00

uhhh hahaha i just looked at these AdSense blurbs, which are supposed to be indicative of the content on this blog. The one I see says, "Kayaking Singles"... but I think they change around. Haaaahaha, actually, Google probably has a satellite targeted at every user, catering ads to their unique auras. I also see on that says "Food Flavors" -- that is definitely me.

Ad-Senseless

2009-06-02T19:59:00.003-05:00

notice anything new? there are a few ads on the sidebars... feel free to scroll your mouse over them a few thousand times... all the AdSense monies go straight into the travel fund! go ahead, click through to a few... make me swim in pennies!

thanks guys! i owe you cyber-patrons a beer or two! call me out on it anytime.

[after re-reading this i'm mortified to witness my profane abuse of the exclamation point. in the spirit of blogger transparency, let it stand. !!!!]

Havasu Falls on the Grand -- up for grabs?

2009-06-01T10:24:00.003-05:00

in my morning pilgrimage to the NYTimes, i saw this article, detailing the change that took place during last year's rainy season, check it out

here's a pic... it's a big waterfall. it used to pour striaght out of the opening but now it protrudes out sideways. hard to tell how deep it may be at the bottom.

sweeeeet.

miracle of dalbhaat

2009-05-28T08:45:00.003-05:00

dearly beloved, we gather here today to fully appreicate the miracle of dalbhaat.

Photo by ChristieG

it hails from the Far East... Nepal to be exact, but different variations can be found in India and neighboring countries. essentially, dalbhaat is just lentils and rice, but when you eat it everyday (sometimes twice a day) for two months straight, you really learn to appreciate subtle nuances in different dalbhaat dishes.

i am writing this because i've had a week-long yearning for dalbhaat. in Nepali, "Mala bhok lagyo." Feed me.

i really think this can be a successful niche product for kayakers... i'm imagining a Hood-River-Thai-Shack version of this Nepali wonder. for a flat rate you get a bottomless pit of food. just like in Nepal. except for here you won't have to throw eblows to cows and stuff to eat in peace.

...someone capitalize on that and get back to me...

stupid buttons...

2009-05-27T15:16:00.005-05:00

hi, i'm just sharing this because it took me 45 minutes to figure out. do you want to make a button in html?

here's what the coding should look like: verbatim from the example above (substitute your own tag/text/info):

that picture is small... but i don't feel like fixing it.

all this should be simple, right? damn you wednesday cosmic forces... you know what it is? it was these guys ' x ' instead of those guys " x ". over and out.

tradgedy of India's westernization

2009-05-21T09:01:00.003-05:00

i just came across this article in the NYTimes. it's beautifully written and expresses my sentiments to a tee. enjoy.

Will India Lose Its Charm as It Becomes 'World Class'?

oh... and reason #987623 why Google brightens my day, every day.

cheerio then, I'm going to take the sunshine and puppies and rainbows to Capitol Hill this afternoon. busy day. the sarcasm permeates... oh fuck yeah.

blog fail

2009-05-18T20:24:00.002-05:00

hi guys, i've been meaning to write but the editorial juices just haven't been flowing lately

any... day.... now.

S.O.S. protocol in the office

2009-05-08T17:22:00.003-05:00

hello! on this beautiful friday i want to share that i've fine-tuned my office-emergency protocol. here's the emergency plan of action.

1) as soon as shit hits the fan, run to the receptionist's desk and shove a handful of M&Ms in mouth

2) frantically look for every IT person in the office, pretty much anyone who knows more than me. we really need some kind of sophisticated symbol for this... like batman has the batsignal, i really need to be able to flash a hands-free headset or something.

3) now, when the smarter person gets to the problem area, you can expect that whatever the problem was will simply go away in their presence. because that shit happens with comptuers.

4) endure the 'you are a moron look'

5) when something combusts again, repeat step #2, possibly with a detour for more M&Ms. be sure to check hands for candy-coated stains.

6) rely on the smarter person to solve problem, then apologize profusely to everyone around you who thought you were a contributing member of the IT bomb squad.

anyway now it's friday and i won't have to do that again for at least another two days. sweet sweet weekend! kaaaa-pow!

from the Express this morning...

2009-05-06T16:36:00.002-05:00

"There were a couple of legitimate, regular feijoas and then there was this little fella that looked just like a kiwi."

--A New Zealand mom describes finding a fruit shaped like the nations symbol, the kiwi bird. A businessman bid NZ$1,000 for the odd feijoa at an auction.

here we go, peoples, feijoa fruit! ....oh i miss little things like that from aotearoa

girls gone wild!

2009-05-05T21:18:00.017-05:00

back in sweet home Virginia! i feel like i should post some kind of synopsis over the last 7 months and share some kind of internal revolution that i've undergone... but nothing like that has really happened... haha bet i fooled you with the title of this post, "girls gone wild," but you see that tag-phrase works like a charm to pull in hits from Google searches. i know these things. that is why you should hire me to work independently on your firm's Google AdWords or Search Engine Optimization campaign.

but anyway, back to the trip. one of the major things that was different from this trip than trips in the past was how many girls i got to paddle with. in fact, i think it was about even boys and girls, which is super-rad. so here's a quick tribute to the girls, may you ladies rock rock forever!

starting in Nepal with the infamous Christie G -- this girl can rip, probably harder than you. one of the best to be on the water with (...and at the bar with, haha)

here's a shot of the 10 Nepali women who participated in the Himalayan Whitewater Girls program... they're here with the first Nepali women to have summited Everest at the ending ceremony of this year's training

and a shot of the Kiwi girls who poured their hearts and souls into the program -- wicked fun group!

aaaand here's a shot of our all-girls rafting team for the PeakUK Rafting Event... muahahah, second to last but we had a helluva a lot of fun.

sooo from that photo... you'll probably recognize a familiar face from Uganda! Nini brings the best of Norway, she is funny, she can drink, and she is balls out on the river.

Alison is from Canada... but she studied in Norway and thus absorbed the balls-out-ness that Norwegians seem to have. she will probably be a better kayaker than all of us in less than a year.

now on to New Zealand? here's Karen and I after a work stint at the Blisstick factory, we rallied on a mini-road trip between Tihape and Rotorua --- some park n' huck... some play... good times!

and there is Stacey-boop! Stacey is pretty much a pillar of sanity when you need it the most, and a badass kayaker. we ran all the goods on the Coast, hiiiya!

the kiwi girls from Nepal threw down pretty hard at Buller... fluoro theme was something they were born for. haha i love this group---they live like rock stars!

sooo anyway... that's the gist of it. i'm leaving out countless faces, and i owe a tribute to the fellas I suppose too (esp. the English!)

wicked trip... wash, rinse, repeat all over again in 6 weeks! no attention to that whole "money" issue....

gandy

2009-05-05T17:51:00.002-05:00

this one is from the momma email archives....

ahhhaha it's good to be home! more interesting posts to follow, i hope.

whoops... didn't realize it came out so small, click on it and it'll open a window for easier reading

greetings from slave camp

2009-04-19T22:33:00.002-05:00

hello peeples.

it's me again. on one of my hard-to-come-by days off. 3 days off since march 9th. now ordinarily you'd assume i was swimming in cash and set to have a wicked good time in norway, but that's actually not quite the case. you see, my post tax earnings only equate to about $6 USD per hour. even at 86 hour weeks that doesn't add up to a whole lot. but fear not, i'm on the prowl for more work, yet again.

so how are things with you?

i wish i had more interesting things to write... but i don't really. 12 hour days make life boring... eat. sleep. work. my favorite routine.

ok then, cheers until next time! "next time" might possibly be in the motherland! oh jimminey jippers!

safety girl to cellar slave

2009-03-27T23:57:00.005-05:00

wine season is in full swing... the grapes are finally ripe and ready for mushing!

sooo when you don't have a day off for 14 days... you start to miss the stupid things like sitting on a rock by yourself for 80 minutes with a throwbag while the emcee periodically orders a dance off between the safety people.

and i miss the shit-your-pants kind of fun that big air brings to the table.

oh.... and swimming in front of a bunch of people... those are good times too.

wait! and how could i forget landing on your head!? everyone needs a good face-plant from time to time. i love the weekly whiplash. what did i say i missed again?

good times at buller. photo from Timmyboy Ripper.

A Gift for the 'Beav

2009-03-23T21:03:00.003-05:00

haaahahaa... here's a funny commercial from NZ tv that i'm compelled to post. somebody send this to the Smeal College of Business. stat.

also a tribute to the Beaverlodge. wwwahaha

foto-reel from NZed

2009-03-23T19:03:00.003-05:00

Bullerfest Maddness

Arahura with Charley B.

mmmk that's it for now... wish i had some pictures from Hoki Wildfoods Fest but I lost my little beat-around camera. go figure. i blame it on the booze. wine pics from Blenheim to come!

Goody Goody Gum Drops

2009-03-21T20:49:00.003-05:00

hi. one more thing, one more pinnacle of my happiness and sanity [and forcasted obesity?] in new zealand... Goody Gumdrops ice cream.

wish i had the time to write more on it... but i don't. just trust me, it's amazing.

Synopsis of the Past Three Weeks. Ready to Rant.

2009-03-18T01:14:00.002-05:00

OK! I don't have time to write anything organized or short or sweet... so here we go, verbal vomit.

Let's start with Bullerfest. Bullerfest is quite possibly the finest kayaking event I have ever been to. Every night was a party, in fact, this marks the start of what became my wild Cancun-esque pre-work binge of a whole week. Sweet sweet glory.

Anyway, the races themselves were 'fun as bro' -- even in the rain. I managed to tweak out second place in the Big Air, despite my dismal post from before (and a dismal 3 day hangover0. Sophie jumped in to save me from embarassment of my shit handroll... amen for that girl! The kiwi girls went huge at the fluoro party, putting everyone to shame. SHAME! but really, it was one of the raddest theme parties i think i've ever been to. the rest of the event was awesome... big elbows being thrown in Boatercross. I feel pretty flattered to have been spun-out in semi-finals by Nikki Kelly, even though she's still breast-feeding and stuff. I should go running or something.

Anyway, Bullerfest paved the way for what I like to call Most Epic Week of Boating Ever in and around Hokitika. I met up with Sean and Ben and the North Carolina boys and we fired off some goods. Started the week on the Arahura with homeslice Charley B, just the two of us boof and rallying, sweeeet... then Upper Kakapotahi at a much more in control level than last time... then, oh yes, the biggest day ever. Upper Hokitika followed by a 6 hour dance party for Sean-o's birthday. I think I was snoozing with a pitcher in my hand I was so beat.

I have a separate post drafted on the Upper Hoki. You know what's special about it? I wrote it... on... paper. Since I am now computer-less and perpetually far from internet, I've decided to make myself do writing exercises. I have these dillusions that maybe someday I'll be able to write the odd article or two for extra spending cash. But first I have to do exciting things to write about, I'm still working on that part.

Did I mention this was a rant?

After the wicked week in Hoki we rallyed back to Queenstown -- my homecoming! -- for the Citroen Extreme Race. Without any arrogant stroke-by-stroke details, let me briefly say that this is one of the best big water rapids for an extreme race. It's hard to hit the same line every time. Going Left is fastest but dishes up a bitch-slap. If you're out of breath when you flip you mgiht swim. All the components of a good race. I barely missed 1st... but ran the brass-balls line so I feel good about that. Ted said it gave me some big badass points. Which is all I really want anyway.

After Citroen... a 9 hour power drive up the coast by Sammy, here I am in beautiful Bleheim working the wine harvest. I've already drawn a few conclusions about wine people --- an elaboration:

There are some serious wack-jobs. People who ask you what to do with used tea bags and stuff. Just smile and nod and answer all the stupid questions and you'll be fine.

There are also some sensible down-to-earth people. Bless them. They know a lot about making wine and they're generally very generous with their knowledge. Just don't fuck anything up.

It is kind of like Real World. Example, after only 9 days in our house together (10 people, one bathroom) there are already two couples. Hahaha... freshmen year?

Wine harvests almost always follow the kayaking seasons... am I the first to acknowledge this?

The wine harvest is good... I'm learning heaps and i'm lucky to have one of the non wack-jobs as a mentor/supervisor. I'm on Fermentation Crew, we add the yeast and stuff. Which is kind of a fickle process but I don't know much about it because I'm still doing general slave labor.

Alright that's it. I'd better go because I have to ride my way-too-small Fisher Price bicycle 5 miles back to the house tonight before it gets dark. Did I mention that i also share a van with 10 people? Times like these I really regret the demise of Big Brown Betty (see below, and never bring it up again).

Bye bye people... if you don't hear from me until May it's because I'm drowning in wine. Envy me. 12 hr shifts start next week! eeeee!

kiwis is super-good at geographing!

2009-03-18T01:08:00.003-05:00

a quick excerpt from a convorsation at a bar over St. Patty's:

kiwi girl: where did you say you were from? Tennessee???
american girl: haha no not Tennessee, but close... I'm from Virginia, just above
kiwi girl: oh, right! then how do you know Andy?
american girl: i met Andy during the kayaking season in Nepal
kiwi girl: is that near Tennessee?
american girl: ummm.... kind of i guess

but to be fair, she was really really drunk. and got glow stick in her mouth. hahahaha, good times in the southern hemi

humility is....

2009-02-28T20:19:00.001-05:00

... swimming in front of 180 people and hearing something on the mic about "hand-rolling lessons"... haaaaa

streaming to you live from Bullerfest '09. rock rock. it's boat ramp time.

R.I.P. Big Brown Betty 1982 - 2009

2009-02-22T22:01:00.003-05:00

this month i've suffered a loss on par with the day Alexander Supertramp shot the moose in the movie/book Into the Wild. i killed my own car.

here is a picture of her in the glory days. pretty pimp kayak wheels, no doubt. it costed about $450USD, and i have to admit that it's the first car I've bought entirely on my own.

so for you car-idiots (like moi), here are a few lessons i learned the hard way.

Cars need oil. Haha, and if you don't add it, the tank acutally will run dry. When this happens, the engine "seizes" and pretty much dies. It's not repairable and it's kind of heart-breaking. And everyone will think you're a moron.

Older cars have TWO dipsticks. Does everyone know this? Because I didn't. One is for the gearbox and one is for the engine. If you think your oil looks good, think again, because cars aren't that easy and there might be a hidden dipstick somewhere. Duh.

If your car is totaled becasue it ran out of engine oil, your friends will laugh at you. Secondly, any guy friend will suddenly evolve into your Dad and tell you that you should've known to put more oil in. You will feel very very stupid.

that's it, i'm over it. hopefully the next car that crosses my path will last longer than 4 weeks. oh, and did i mention that i signed up for Automotive Engineering class when i get home? yeah, that's not true, but it should be.

oooof. haha, wait until you see the next car...

my new best friends

2009-02-22T18:32:00.007-05:00

hi everyone. i still have nothing useful to say. but here in New Zealand I'm making heaps of new friends! little treasures I've clearly neglected in Easters-past.

let me introduce you to all my new buddies.

first, there's Cream Egg; he's the original, the classic. I could eat him for breakfast, lunch, and dinner---just like gin and tonics. He loves me back too, he makes me feel all warm and tingly inside when it's been raining for four days straight and all my clothes are moldy. yep, this is definitely who you want in the trenches taking grenades with ya.

i can't find a picture of Peppermint Egg but any picture wouldn't really do him justice anyway. he is a beaut. in my withdrawl from York Peppermint Patties i think Peppermint Egg is my soul-mate / rehab counselor. he is good anytime, all the time. you can see him in green down in that Egg House picture. he makes me feel calm, cool, and collected during "snack time" on the river when all I really want to do is shit my pants deciding if the rapid is more dangerous than the portage. yay. you get the sensation?

this is Caramel Egg. i actually don't really like him so much but I buy a lot of him to give to other people so they don't eat the ones I like. he seems to be the most popular with the masses, next to Cream Egg. you will probably like him too. he just makes me want to brush my teeth 3904785 times.

Mad About Chocolate Egg [insert picture of Egg and Dieties here]. this is Cadbury's best kept secret, and I'm pretty sure we don't have these in the Western Hemisphere. It's a Cadbury egg that is actually a chocolate truffle. I know, look out Godiva and Russel Stover. the magic hens at Cadbury are shitting competition in this guy. No picture available, this is clearly a big secret.

This is Egg House. this is what you typically see in most fine Cadbury distributors around New Zealand. they cost about 50 cents each, worth every penny. seeing this thing is like seeing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. it's all i look forward to really.

so there you have it. my new friends. i hope you guys like them! mm mmmm good.

has anybody actually seen an Orange Creme Egg? i can't decide if it;s a myth or not. if you find them, please send me 500 and i'll give you my soul in return.

this blog

2009-01-27T00:59:00.000-05:00

really sucks

2008-12-04T07:59:00.002-05:00

ok.... not much time to write, have to pack for 4am flight soon... but here's a briefing on India and my experience thus far, just arrived yesterday after doing the land bus (42 hrs) from Kathmandu. that's right, land bus. with two kayaks. I AM WOMAN.

THE GOOD

City Center has the most beautiful western enterprises... McDonalds (McAloo burger, anyone?), TGIFridays, KFC----pretty much exactly what I wanted after eating slop from pots for 2 days.
cheap clothes! i now have one new pair of sunglasses, one wide leather belt, hot little indian shoes, and a new billabong shirt.

THE BAD

instead of people hairs in your food, there're cow hairs. mmm mmm good.
anywhere you go solo the men ask where your husband is. sooo i just tell them he's shackled to the kitchen where he belongs
the shoes i bought are way too small for me but i love them.

i've eaten 7 Snickers bars since leaving Kathmandu... it's the only food i love that doesn't make me shit.

THE UGLY

the bus ride was pretty ugly. i found someone else's booger on my face at one point. from the filthy curtain i suspect
diarrhea. i have no shame about it. going on one week of this stuff. andy too, we're train-wrecks.

ok that's it for now... MUST PACK. more to come later. PROMISE!

......

2008-11-22T00:21:00.002-05:00

i don't read the news as much as i should here in my little Nepali Nutshell... but this is pretty flippin' good news I reckon. Hilary for Secretary of State, sounds good, really really good. read about it

all the other headlines are about the economy going down the shitter. from an interested party abroad, i can share that the Dollar is holding way better than the Pound and the Euro. It's even gone up since I first got here, whoopwhoop.

back to civilization

2008-11-20T23:46:00.003-05:00

ok... it's been while since my last check-in. fear not, friends, i'm alive and well and kicking--all that jazz. just got back from an 8 day trip on the Karnali in western Nepal (the 'wild side' of the country). it was SO GOOD. so so good. big water, big waves, some nice big juicy rapids. good food, good people... so much 'good'... and 'big'.

after Karnali i rolled over to Bardia National Park for a jiffy---and that was also pretty rad. did a quick elephant safari, which is really really neat... animals in the jungle don't give two shits about you if you're on an elephant. definitely the best way to see wildlife. otherwise you have to climb trees to safely watch the rhino. true story, haha. they are big beasts, makes me wish tehre were still dinosaurs kicking around. love those big fucking herbivores!

ok i'll write more on all that later... in non-related news,

eeeiiii dunnit

i did something vewy vewy stupid.

haha, i bought round-trip airfare from Delhi to Uganda for December. it's not really a trip i can afford. and i'm not that great at play-boating. but the Nile is going to be drowned here before too long and it's now or never. as Kiffe put it "you'd be stupid not to go". so there. justified.

more to come... pics from Karnali pending. i promise. i seem to have become separated from my stuff lately... haha shiiiiit.

beeee-----ew ew ew

2008-11-05T02:08:00.002-05:00

hahahhaaa! ok good day here... three days of rest and we're getting antsy. went to yoga and meditation this morning with Christie-pie, that was pretty sweet. Yoga was rad. Meditation was different than I expected. I thought we were going to sit down and chant "OM" together and visualize mountains and springs and other calm stuff but instead we danced like we were on LSD for 30 minutes and then "meditated" for the rest of the time. i fell asleep for the last part but it was still a pretty cool start to the day.

after a morning of 'zen' we booked it to the internet to see who'd won the elections... and, well, you know the rest. DAMN GOOD! i just started reading Obama's book 'The Audacity of Hope' today --- the man is an artist with words. i'm excited for things to come, despite the current "down-the-shitter" status of the beloved motherland.

tomorrow we're off to Marsyangdi, one of Nepal's finest. it's condemned to be dammed in a few months, so this really is the last call. after that we're off to Karnali for 10 days... where I'm going to crash for a bit to bond with some elephants. then back for the PeakUK event and a few other errands to wrap things up in Nepal.

speaking of last call, I didn't realize how little time the White Nile has... so Ive been looking at flights to Uganda a bit. impulse trip to Africa, maybe not the best idea. but if not now, then when?

alright I'm going to try and sort out a few things for Karnali -- talk to you chikky-pies later! psssst... thanks for checking up on me!

foto-dump

2008-11-02T23:42:00.003-05:00

before this trip i fantasized about being a diligent blogger... but those fantasies have gone straight to shit, haha, there are way better things going on here!

here's a quick photo-dump of a few things we've done so far... otherwise, check the PPS blog for some of the kayaking stuff.

From NEPAL 2008

whoops dunno why they hell they're so big

update from nepal land!

2008-10-23T01:13:00.002-05:00

well well well, hello there! i wish i was able to post radical pictures about my fabulous river trips thus far... but i seem to have acquired a virus on my camera card (actually like 12 viruses. virui? haa). i also forgot to log-out of facebook one day at a cafe and seem to have had my password changed. maybe this will finally be my epic departure from internet social networking. shit, i hope not. im not ready to divorce zee 'book.

almost as soon as i arrove i met a snazzy crew of Scots and we were able to pound out a sweet day on the Bhote Kosi before rolling over to Pokhara. from there I've mostly been paddling with a British friend, Ali and a new German friend, Sonja. We've had a rockin' good time!

biggest trip thus far has been on the Modi Khola... it entailed a one-day trek in with porters, followed by two days of class IV+ bliss. our first day ended up being a 'mini-epic' but the second day was all good hustle and flow. definitely a great trip. pretty taxing on the ole' cuerpo... im getting in shape for sure!

i'm back in Kathmandu for a bit to collect Christie and Andy from the airport. Ali and I had a pretty good booze night last night, felt so good to get a little party on! haha fun times. debauchery. we defy the 11:00 curfew, waaaa! not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow... the plan was to hit the Bhote Kosi again but ther've been some riots and road closures that might make it too stressful for the payoff. vamos a ver.

alrriiiiight---pictures to come i hope! this is such an awesome kayaking destination... really, can't believe how sweet it is. alright! later on folks!

23 in Kathmandu, womp womp!

2008-10-09T23:38:00.002-05:00

just arrived.... HUZZAH!!! i can't think, mostly because i've been awake for awhile. so here are my thoughts/findings, bulletized.

kayak was... FREE!! waawawa! always a good way to start the trip... everything else was less than a kilo within the weight limits. so i guess that was a little close.

Malaysia Airlines has by far the highest quality service i've ever seen. but don't eat the food. i tried each flight and am still feelin' it. it speaks to me.

Doha, Qatar. i had a sick little 6 hr layover in Doha. as soon as they opened the plane hatches we could feel the sauna from outside. it's so flippin' hot there they only do flights at night. otherwise the tarmac (sp?) is all mushy.

nearly every single person in the airport (Qatar) is dressed as a stereotypical 'terrorist'. it's mortifying to imagine what would happen if even a small slice of this population demographic landed in an american airport at once. TSA would have a field day. ill-guided republican protectionists would tackle at will. i actually like the tunic look... simple and chic.

aaaand last but not least... NEPAL! so many kayakers here. right away i saw a familiar british face at the airport and there are heaps of the plastic things in the hostel. good omens.

OK thats it for now... i should get off the internet and figure a few things out, yeeeehaw.

the final countdown

2008-10-08T11:56:00.003-05:00

currently staring down about 8 hours time remaining in the homeland. i'm still struggling with my luggage; i have so much stuff for the Nepali Girls Program--sittin' heavy. and even expecting one more package today. wheeeee-ooo.

the biggest stress is traveling with all my 'goods'. luckily i'm part pack-mule and can carry it all (barely). we're talking a kayak, 4 paddles, a bag full of 8 spray skirts, PFDs, and so on and so forth. plus my own meager clothing. it is over the weight limits. i'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

it's been such a nice few days at home. i hit the 'Po on Monday followed by a few drinks at the Irish Inn with good friends and it adequately summed up the summer here. aside from a sometimes insane work schedule, all the days spent have been enjoyable. i've fostered a new-found reverence for the Potomac and it's community. it's different than a lot of boating hot spots, but it's a good scene none the less.

alright... better get back to packing. i figure if i re-shuffle things then maybe i can make them weigh less? otherwise there's going to be an ugly showdown at the airport.

Crack Attack

2008-10-03T15:10:00.008-05:00

mmmk... these shots just surfaced from Mark Maskell who was an innocent bystander at the Falls back in June. Awesome shots, he's got a $1300 camera and puttin' it to good use!

the Crack on VA side (adjacent to the Spout) is pretty rad... it's somewhat elusive, it's runnable margin is only a few inches. This was my first time on it and all went well. yip yip

ian, brett and i contemplate the foam.

alriiiiight... headed for some last laps on the falls this weekend. jeeeea!

Center Lines in September! wheeee

2008-09-30T20:52:00.005-05:00

mmk mmk something bezerk happened to the 'Po and it came up hella nicely this weekend... Center Lines have been holding strong for two days now. A testament from Mr. Devine (yellow) and myself(greeeen) on an after-work lap:

that's right... comin' atchuu like a spider monkey!!! waaaaa!

foto-dump

2008-09-30T20:29:00.004-05:00

we took some shots at Center Lines today and as i was uploading them i realized i had a little forgotten treasure trove of photos from the Upper Yough a few weeks ago... enjoy

crew above Mushroom Cloud

team Ireland learns zaaa Mushy is sooo much fun!

Patton takes a double-surf with Holly & Matt

Jake executes a textbook exhibit of the "custy dump"

Isaac getting vert in the maw at National

baby lean back, lean back

the rest of Ireland enjoys National... yea boys!

Andy deep in thought, as usual

so there you have it... a rockin' good day on the Upper... as always. mmm mmm take me back.

the curse

2008-09-28T21:44:00.005-05:00

i just saw this trinket on Melissa's myspace... from one gypsy to another; hits home

"They rove the field
they ride the flood
they climb the mountains crest.

For theirs is the curse of the gypsey blood
and they know not how to rest."

leave for Nepal in 10 days... time is a'tickin'. had a good day on the 'Po with the slalom nerds... they're a pretty sweet bunch. definitely something i'll have to invest more time in when i get back.

before leaving... here's another tribute to gypsies. this one came off a bottle of bourbon.

"There's a race of men
who don't fit in.
A race that can't sit still.

And so they break the hearts
of kilth and kin,
and roam the world at will."

Cheers to 'zeee gypsies!

Key Learnings: This Week

2008-09-26T09:48:00.008-05:00

ok... this week has been pretty good. someone in the office has bestowed an interesting project upon me. bless their little buns. i'm sick of dominating spider solitaire.

here goes, things i learned this week that might make your life easier. maybe not.

1) "Passive Electioneering": ... i know... whaaaa? I'm not sure if this is just an intimidation thing or what, but I figure it's worth passing along:

It has a creepy chain-email vibe to it, but there are a few other websites confirming the gist: read here and here. so there you go, play it safe, dress down for the polls and vote your itty bitty heart out.

2) Embedding Music Into a PowerPoint: seems easy. but that is a lie. if you want to embed music (versus just linking to it), the audio file can only be in .wav format (no .mp3's allowed). which brings me to my next point, and most valuable piece of this rant in general,

3) File Conversion Magic: these two websites are god-sends for hack-ass IT people like myself. First, behold http://www.media-convert.com/... and it's brethen http://www.zamzar.com/ They're actually pretty incredible... with these two sites, you can change any file type, to just about anything else. That sounds stupid, so let me share some scenarios that can demonstrate it's value:

with Zamzar you can copy a video file from a URL (*gasp!*) like YouTube and recieve it in an edit-able format... .mov, .avi and such. happened to me this week folks

back to Bullet #2, if you want to embed an audio file into powerpoint and only have .mp3's like the rest of the world, guess what, you can get it in .wav!

your t-shirt vendor reigns from his own universe and only sends you graphics in never-heard-of formats like .eps. now you can convert it yourself! yay! happened in my old job a bunch... geez, if only i'd known!

you ran into a client and want to show them the latest designs but just have their computer... convert your .psd files to .jpgs and open them without photoshop! victory!

you see people... the possibilities of this are endless. really!

4) Newest Danger at Great Falls: is the mud. hands down. i sank in waist deep yesterday and lost a shoe. it's like quick-sand but super-gross.

5) Buses to NYC: BoltBus is the cheapest... but they have a crazy ticket scheme. Listen to this, the first person to sign up pays $1... then as the seats fill up they get more and more expensive. I reckon GoTo Bus is the best booking service... kind of like Expedia but for buses. And they tell you which buses have WiFi... sweeeet!

On that note... I'm off to NYC after work to visit Rach. Amen, the weekend hath come.

waste = food

2008-09-25T08:19:00.002-05:00

it all comes back down to that folks... WASTE = FOOD. you know the deal, every output is an input... blah blah.

really great article this morning on constructing homes out of recycled shipping containers---like what you see on the back of semi trucks---those things. read about it

i can recall my dad saying that whenever he was in India and new people would move in the shipping trailers were always super-hot items with the locals. and you know what they'd do with them? they'd live in the damn things. hahaha such an awesome idea.

i have a visual of my first home being 9 of these things stacked jenga-style in the backwoods of Tennessee. b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l.

Gauleyfest 2008

2008-09-23T14:14:00.009-05:00

i made it a point this weekend to take a bunch of cheesy Gauley photos but my efforts have been thwarted by the tragic demise of my camera. down to davey jones' locker she goes. R.I.P. Olympus Stylus 790W. i just sent 'er in for warranty so hopefully i'll be able to post about a camera resurrection before leaving for Nepal.

but you know who did take a lot of good pics? Leisure Sports Photo in Fayetteville did!

here are a few fav's from our group... and from the fest in general:

Geoff with his 'supplies' sinking the stern

Susan in her big black beast of a boat, lookin' gorgeous!

Sean doing something rad in the t-canyon. can you tell it was all about the long boats this weekend? that's right, we enlisted for a Friday marathon.

and yours truly plowing through the mar

we pushed out a marathon on Friday, and two laps on the Upper Sat and Sun... all trips were pretty good! Saturday, especially, was a super-fun day of carnage-spectating and general debauchery into the wee hours of the night.

Gauleyfest Saturday is the best time to witness some crazy happenings, like these things,

I don't know how this is even possible at Pillow rapid... haha one raft hitting Pillow, one kayaker boofing Volkswagon, and one swimmer hostage in river center. aaahahahahha

this is Amos. Amos has been a river guide for many many years, he's usually the one throwing the rope, hahaha, so I have no idea what's going on here.

hahah and this is just one more reminder why swimming is so much flippin' fun

whelp, I think that wraps up another fabulously fun Gauleyfest! i'm going to miss all you wild West Virginia patrons... i'm going to miss you mucho! imminent departure to Nepal is finally starting to sink in

PA Renaissance Faire 2k8...

2008-09-17T09:45:00.006-05:00

...because pirate hookers are people too.

this weekend i mosied on over to middle-of-nowhere, PA for the Renaissance Faire. after having a hangover the size of Katrina on friday and a 4 hour Greyhound bus ride in traffic, the weekend fun factor was looking dismal. wait for it.... wait for it.... BUT, the weekend turned out beautiful and we ended up having an awesome time!

i'd only been to the ren faire as a kid, but going as an adult [of age] really gives you a whole new standpoint on the event. this is a place where you can wear whatever you want. really anything--though 16th century attire is by far the most popular style of dress. and without the blinders of my 8 year old virgin eyes and ears, i noticed a few more things...

like these. plenty of these at the ren faire. like i said, wear what you want. or choose not to wear.

the jousting and horse-games aren't real, much to my dismay. but it's still a pretty good show and i can definitely see how much fun it'd be for a kid

aaaand the ren faire pirates. a group of up-to-no-good swashbucklers who keep things interesting all day

the ren faire is actually a pretty sweet event. for adults that never quite out-grew the Robert Jordan/Brian Jacques fantasy era, the Ren Faire is probably the only place where they can let loose and make-believe whatever the hell it is that floats your boat, and not be judged about it.

for the rest of us, the ren faire is a sweet all-day festival with A) good beer, B) guys that call you "m'lady," C) jousting, D) pirates, and E) good artesian shopping. it's truly an eclectic gathering of people.

anyway, it turned out to be an awesome day. the other good part is that we were stuffed and passed out by 10:30, which is how i imagine real adults having 'wild weekends'. i'm almost there, almost.

sunday we hussied on over to Chocolate World in Hershey for their free ride and free chocolate samples. i love candy factories, they're amazing. it was there that we met these girls:

and alikened them to another three ladies we know:

hahahah... just kidding. well, kind of. alright that's it from my end. go to the Ren Faire if you can, it's rad.

getting excited for...

2008-09-16T13:22:00.003-05:00

GAULEYFEST!

i think this weekend is going to be my first trip to west-by-god-virginia since Gauleyfest last year. Wild and Wonderful. mm mmm good.

needless to say, i'm getting pretty excited. gauleyfest has opted to expand the festival into friday night as well, doubling the pleasure, doubling the fun.

anyway... what's going on at gauleyfest? no Wave Sport Open this year. but there is a Dagger green boat being raffled off at the Dagger booth. IR is setting up a booth for the first time in years... aaaaand word on the street is that there's a rock-paper-scissors tournament of champions at Liquidlogic. All this in addition to a party with 679 of your closest friends!

two... was it two? weekends ago i rafted the Lower Yough w/ Mabel, an amiga de Chile, and it was a pretty bomber time. great weather, good lines, good surf in Swimmer's... geez i think rafting might be up there on fun factor with kayaking.

and i also came across this vid on youtube from someone in the southeast... nice tribute to isaac.

shit, i have absolutely nothing good to write about (see earlier post as evidence) and nothing to do at work. really, not a thing. bear with me readers. i promise to get something interesting up here. stat.

the sky is falling

2008-09-16T09:00:00.007-05:00

Today's morning headlines:

1) Lehman brothers declares bankruptcy.
2) Merrill Lynch taken over by Bank of America.

take a minute to catch your breath.

Merrill Lynch is the company that spawned the metamorphosis of average Joe's and Jane's like you and me into small-time long-term investors. They have to be one of the U.S.'s largest brokerage firms, if not the largest. And what about their kick-ass bull logo? What is BoA going to do with that?

Lehman Brothers. This company pre-dates the Civil War. They're like the cockroach of the money world, never extinct. Until... now. I don't think anyone was surprised when Bears & Sterns went under... they were doomed when the NYSE went automated anyway, but Lehman?

OK... i just re-read this and had a revelation that this is BORING! more exciting things to come. i promise. i hope. kayaking stuff on the agenda, that's always good.

oh, but wait, before i go and leave you with the impression that the economy is a shit-hole looming towards disaster... here's a snapshot of this twenty-something's own investment portfolio. showing you that shit hasn't REALLY hit the fan quite yet. not if you don't have a lot of money anyway.

that brings me to another point, you can be a bum and still have dem dollars and bills stashed up for when you're an old geezer. for real!

2008-09-11T07:42:00.000-05:00

the following just surfaced in a BBC news article this morning----

"It's like a really bad Disney movie. The hockey mom... from Alaska and she's the president and it's like she's facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink and it's absurd... I want to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. I want to know that. I really do. Because she's going to have the nuclear codes."
--Actor Matt Damon

teehee. i think he's onto something.

i'm ig'nant

2008-09-10T12:46:00.008-05:00

am I the only one who didn't know that there IS a woman on the presidential ticket? i feel stupid. bi-partisianism has definitely put blinders on my scope

ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Cynthia McKinney from the Green Party

i'm embarassed to admit that i had no idea a woman was running, with another female VP candidate at that. like most legit Green party candidates, McKinney seems to have an arsenal of activism experience and even authored the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (whatever the hell that is... sounds accomplished though).

bow chicka ow ow. this kind of sounds like an interesting ticket. i mean, it doesn't really stand much of a chance, mostly because the election is about healthcare, terrorism and matters other than the environment... but i think it's still pretty rad that these women are out boasting the 'green theme' loud and proud.

you go girls.

and on a different note, Grist.org has compiled a nifty little spreadsheet on each candidate's environmental stance. looky

here

guerilla [eco-]warfare

2008-09-09T11:56:00.005-05:00

yesterday the boss confessed that he had nothing for me to do for the afternoon... so i started making a flier about the "Phantom Load".

then i started to think that it might be neat to 'attack' (in a green, loving way) my colleagues every Friday morning at the bagel-table with a pretty flier about one greenish eco-technology issue. we used to have weekly IT-tips and i think they're due for a revival. with a side of green.

i'm not really a tree-hugger, or a lunatic, but I do think we're at a critial action point with that pain-in-the-ass thing we politely call "Climate Change". so let's see some changes peoples.

here's my [loving] ambush for this Friday:

oops that little part is a bit tough to read (it's a story that's supposed to enlighten/inspire you), so let me re-write it, as found from nothoney's blog. it reads:

“A rider was galloping along a road and almost ran over a sparrow lying on its back in the road with its feet up in the air. The rider stopped and asked, “What in the world are you doing, lying there like that?” The sparrow replied, “The sky is going to fall, so I’m getting ready to hold it up.” The rider burst out laughing and said, “What! You, little sparrow? What good can you do, when the whole sky is falling?”

And the sparrow looked up and said, “One does what one can.”

What would happen if each of us just did what we could?”

i figure they'll laugh and think 'who's the covert super-hippie' but then maybe one or two will think it makes sense and turn off their power strips. or they'll just tar and feather me.

next week: e-waste.

learning = pain... all about your Subaru

2008-09-08T14:27:00.007-05:00

my Check Engine light has been on for a little while... I guess I didn't realize anybody really took it seriously. except for you, dad, haha. when I got the VA Inspection this weekend the mechanic said I needed to give 'er a look at the dealership. So today I brought 'er in, and it's been a day of learning ever since. Let me share.

1) Catalytic Converters are one of the most expensive car repairs--especially on Subarus. We're talking $1500, which immediately sent me to tears.

2) You can't repair broken ones. They can only be replaced. (unless they just fall off, then you can stick 'em back on with chewing duct tape, like with my last car!)

So naturally after covering the bases and coming back to my original hypothesis that I don't have $1500 in spare change lying around, I started to look around the internet for other distressed users in need of Subaru catalytic converters. The internet is a beautiful thing, let's throw that out there before moving on to my second set of learnings for the day:

3) Subaru-manufactured catalytic converters have the best performance quality, and cost $750 to $1000 not including labor. oooo, burn.

4) A clever little company called Eastern Auto Parts manufactures a CC designed for Subarus and sells the little bugger for $250. Applause, anyone?

5) Aaaand my best discovery yet: unless it's causing a performance issue, your catalytic converter never really needs to be replaced. The only thing that gets in the way is the Emissions Inspection.

Upon learning those things and considering my looming departure from the country for six months, I decided to say 'fuck it' regarding a dealership repair. The way I see it I have two options: 1) Risk a break-down and then I'll have to replace it anyway right? Still works for now. OR 2) Upon return to the mighty USA I'll move down to Tennessee for a bit with the grandparents. Because in Tennessee there are no emissions inspections. They don't care how your truck runs, that's your business.

What a Monday, I know. While we're on the topic, here are some more learnings that you can shove to the back of your mind:

6) If you're getting your Subaru repaired at the dealership, always have them run your VIN number for a recall check. Here's a website that let's you check on your own for warranty/recalls.

7) As far as car diagnostics goes, having a bummed catalytic converter is often confused with "a front/rear fuel ratio censor"... whatever the hell that is.

8) If you're a lady, like moi, never go in for a repair on your own. You may as well write "price-gouge me please" on your forehead. Take a man with you, the more redneck the better. I'm making my dad come next time.

holy cow! i just pulled a Tennessee quarter out of my pocket. i think it's a sign from the dieties that i ought to move there.

tales of a 20-something

who would've thought?

wisdom from Cadillac Desert

"24 Hours of Abysmal Let-Down"

rawr

card shopping, are we?

the miracles of science

24 Hours of Reality

confessions of a noir nerd

flying off of Everest

oh this is so cool

Han Son Doong waterfall -- first descent up for grabs

one thing i love about my homeland

all that glitters is GOLDEN

cutting back on meat to combat climate change; here's what smarter people have to say

Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and other goodness from the 50s

the incredible, edible egg[plant]

a photo a day keeps the adventure here to stay

buddha's hand?!

first breakthrough of 2011: The Whislter Power Cookie

i guess this is a moment of clarity?

!(#*AH#@$*&@)(*!~!!!!! subaru makes me #)($&@!#)*&!*(!#@@!!!!

Key Learnings: Past Three Weeks in Tasmania

not a myth

snow-shovelers' best friend

flashback to Norge - Amnesty International free Hu Jia campaign

more reading: one man's crusade to build schools in AfPak

why waste money on new tires?

Nepal Moment #654

funny man from 35 years ago

Friday Factoids from the EPA

Lolita

pulley magic

the great debate: Spectra vs. Poly-Pro

baby birds in Nepal

victory over Chili Jam

travel epic, Rishikesh (IND) to Pokhara (NEP)

First Descents in Uttaranchal, India

soloing the sun kosi

home sweet USA

behold

wash, rinse, repeat

Lower Rauma, git some

something is amiss

an update, you say?

Valdall Summer Games 2009

jordbaer in valdall?

urrrrr -- Ekstremsport-Veko

dropping money in Norway

the "higher education" debate

life and times of Ed Gaker

i miss the PSU bandits... haaahah

cow burps -- a factor of global warming

Ad-Sensible?

Ad-Senseless

Havasu Falls on the Grand -- up for grabs?

miracle of dalbhaat

stupid buttons...

tradgedy of India's westernization

blog fail

S.O.S. protocol in the office

from the Express this morning...

girls gone wild!

gandy

greetings from slave camp

safety girl to cellar slave

A Gift for the 'Beav

foto-reel from NZed

Goody Goody Gum Drops

Synopsis of the Past Three Weeks. Ready to Rant.

kiwis is super-good at geographing!

humility is....

R.I.P. Big Brown Betty 1982 - 2009

my new best friends

this blog

......

back to civilization

beeee-----ew ew ew

foto-dump

update from nepal land!

!(#AH#@$&@)(!~!!!!! subaru makes me #)($&@!#)&!*(!#@@!!!!