Photo Week 4: Stevens and Golden Gardens

Had a pretty crazy week where my head was in the clouds. I wrote a lot without publishing any of it, which is probably for the best. Getting out was a great distraction this week. I went up to Stevens Pass on Tuesday on a solo trek and was treated to a great view once atop Southern Cross. I hiked into the back country and found some quality snow, and also strapped on my snowboard for the first time this year and rode a few groomers before packing up and heading back to town.



Today, my dad and I visited Golden Gardens with the intention of snapping some photos. It was a typical grey day in Seattle, and I wasn't really sure what we would be taking pictures of. The ducks were out, so were the seagulls, and we even had a bald eagle visitor (and I don't mean my dad). I was just using a little point and shoot camera, but caught this pretty cool site of a seagull stretching out its wings.

Dilemma

If you have a friend who is happy, very happy, and you have information that will make them unhappy, possibly very unhappy with you, do you tell them?

Weekend Happiness Graph

Maybe not a direct correlation, but close.

Today Was A Good Day

Woke up with absolutely no expectations and no plans for the day.

Went to sleep having kissed the girl of my dreams.

Photo Week 3: Liking this Challenge

First picture comes from my MLK Jr. Day motorcycle ride. The day was gorgeous, and I couldn't have been happier to be out on the road.



I took Friday off and skied up at Stevens Pass with Ryan. We arrived at 8:30am, which is a record for me. We did a killer loop from 7th Heaven down to the Tye Mill chair, down the backside to the Southern Cross chair and down Big Chief Bowl and back to 7th Heaven. We did the loop three times and left around noon. On our last loop we randomly decided to hike up Cowboy Ridge, which is above 7th Heaven, and a hike neither of us had done before. We followed the ridge line past a few avalanche bombing posts used by ski patrol, and eventually found a way down inbounds and about 1k elevation of powder. Gonna hit that again!

Two Poems, and a brief history

Blogging has covered a lot of different areas for me in the past seven years.

I have blogged to...
...try and make people laugh.
...journal and look back on later.
...practice my writing.
...socialize.
...have a creative outlet.

I have a slew of different blogs, most dormant for over a year. My range of blogs is one reason I keep my profile private. A private profile is a pain, because it really cuts down on the social aspect of blogging. The benefit is I don't have to worry about my education readers coming here and reading about lesbians in hot tubs and poker degeneracy, or reading any of my super cool WoW fan fiction.

One of my favorite side blogs is Fun With Words. It hadn't seen a post in a few months, and the posts usually come late at night. Looking at the stats... six posts in 2009, two posts in 2008, four in 2007... yeah, not the most active blog out there. The stuff I wrote in 2009 kind of ventured off track a bit, but I really enjoy the earlier posts. Here is one from December 2007:

Poop Poem

I go poop in the morning
when I awake,
kinda like a doggie,
going poop near a lake.
When I go poop
and have moist logs,
I tend to create,
real big clogs.
That's when I ask myself,
What have I ate?

Now, not even George Carlin would want to have to follow that poem. The bar is pretty high right now. So to disappoint, I will copy my most recent poem that I wrote tonight:

Spark

Stumble into love
Love like blue flames

Embers still hot,
But the fire is out
With no fire, no life

Cold and dark,
Until a spark appears
Out of nowhere
To light a new fire

I feel like this is a pretty good description of my relationships. Usually the spark represents a different relationship, but the spark can also re-ignite (and has) an existing relationship. In the past month I've met a handful of women who I think are quite amazing people. They are fun to hang out with, smart, sexy and nice. Without any action on their part, they've made it clear to me that it is just a matter of time until I find my match.

Photo Week 2: No $5 for Schaefer!

Imported from Colorado, USA.

Weather

The weather in Seattle this weekend was ridiculously nice. In fact, it was 10 degrees warmer here than in Miami this weekend! Got to love El Nino~ Of course the downside is my seasons pass at Stevens isn't getting much of a workout. The upside is I got to get out on the motorcycle today and zoom around the Everett area, waving to plenty of other motorcyclists out for a January ride.

I have a hankering to jet off to Hawaii for midwinter or spring break this year. I haven't been to a warm, sandy beach in a decade. I'm due!

I ain't no Mooner

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! Bloggers can register for to play for free in the WBCOOP, if you don’t have a PokerStars account you can get your Poker Download here.

Registration code: 805279

I will gladly whore myself out for mobnies. I chose the big patch to up my chances in the main event, especially with all the side action from the SBCII.

Photo Week 1: Ringing in the New Year

This picture is my favorite from the first week of the new year, taken just minutes after toasting to 2010. One friend I've known since Kindergarten, two guys I knew, but got to know a lot better on the trip up to my parents' cabin, and one of their girlfriends who falls into the legendary package of being funny, sexy, nerdy, sporty, boozy... and card player.