A Busy Week

Well shit, a lot has happened in the past week. I will channel my inner business-side and prepare a bullet list.

--Went skiing twice at Stevens
--Rock Climbed
--South Park Marathon
--Led two rounds of MASH in my cohort class during lecture via google group chat
--Paid up on a dinner and movie bet, for being outlasted at Fantasy Football
--Had a kick-ass super bowl experience
--Wowed my master teacher with another fun and interactive math lesson
--Getting ready to host the next Seattle Home Game!

So the math lessons last week confirmed my hypothesis of roller-coaster teaching. Wednesday's lesson was terrible, and Thursday's was amazing. I'm starting to pick up on what makes lessons terrible or amazing, and I'm trying to keep the lessons as active as possible for the students, while still keeping the learning going. Some days, like Thursday, it all works out and the kids have fun while learning something new.

I went skiing up at Stevens both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I carpooled up with J and Sam, and we met a few more of their friends up at the pass. All of their friends are national and world-level ultimate frisbee players, which means they are all incredibly athletic. One of the ladies in the group turns out to also be a former member of the Canadian Air Force, AKA the Canadian Aerials Ski Team. I've never met an aerialist. She has got it going on, and we hit it off. I got her digits, since she's also got a pass to Stevens, and we hope to go up many more times this season. As the conversations continued, she finally asked, "How old are you?" I told her my age and she said, "Oh." Probably not a good thing. I think she is a few years older, but that ain't no thang, baby! I hope the hot tub and house-sitting for parent's for the next two months will offset the age gap.

Right after skiing, J, Sam and I headed to Marc's to pay up on our bet. Marc and Sam were the only two of us to make the playoffs in our fantasy league, and Sam was too much of a pussy to join in our bet this year, so Marc won without winning a playoff game, so lame. Marc decided to redeem his dinner and a movie by choosing AAA Chinese Buffet--an all you can eat Chinese buffet--and then going to watch "My Bloody Valentine" in 3D. I snuck beers into both the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet and the movie.

Sneaking the beer into the buffet was much harder than the movie theater. I borrowed J's car keys with a bottle opener and took a plastic cup into the men's room with me. Luckily for me, the urinals had little curtains separating each urinal for privacy, so after I finished my business, I took the keys to the bottle of beer and tried to open it. The fucking things kept jingling, and there was a dude in the stall next to me, that must have been wondering what the fuck was going on. When I finally got the lid started, I let out a big sigh, "AAAaaahhh" to cover the fizz from the beer as I opened it. I left the beer bottle on the urinal, washed my hands, then resumed eating dinner with my beer. My time spent in the men's bathroom had me come to the realization that the new worst job in the world would be men's bathroom attendant at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. There were some nasty sounds and smells in that bathroom.

My Bloody Valentine in 3D was terrible. The best part was the naked girl stomping off, boobs jiggling in 3D. The 3D ads in the Super Bowl the next day just freaked me out--is 3D really here for good? I don't think so.

Sunday at Stevens was just Kristy and I, and we intended to go early and leave early in time to watch the Superbowl. Apparently we were not alone, because the mountain was packed until about 1pm, then it was empty. We actually stayed around later than I thought, and ended up getting 20 runs in. My knees were beyond shot by the end of two consecutive days of hard skiing (laps on double diamonds are fun, but god damn!).

I dropped off Kristy at her place and went straight over to the Montlake House and caught the end of the 2nd quarter and the huge 100yd interception return and Larry "Big Hands" Fitzgerald attempt at a touchdown-saving tackle that turned into receiving a knee in the groin... OUCH! The party was a blast, with a handful of guys and a couple football-savvy ladies (so hot). We played some liar's dice afterward's, and I probably should have won, but botched a call when we got down to 3 players. I had the game in the bag!

Yesterday, I saw enough of my cohortmates on google chat that I started up a group chat with about five of them. By the end of math class, we had about a dozen people in group chat playing MASH. It made math class amazingly more fun, and I think Natalie wound up married to Newt Gingrich, living in a shack under the Viaduct, with octuplets, and riding a magic carpet to her zookeeper job.

Today, I got back from morning class and went to Costco with my mom, both for her trip to Arizona with pops, and also to make sure I don't die while they are away. We stocked up on the essentials: Beer, wine, and mac & cheese. After Costco, I hit the climbing wall and finally got a few problems I have been working on for months, so that was a huge boost to my climbing esteem!

Seattle Area Home Game is still on for this Saturday!!! Be there or be square. That's right, 90 degree corners, equal sides and all.

Rock Climbing

I went rock climbing on Thursday over at Marymoor Park, and on the way home I decided to swing by Magnuson Park and check the status on the new rock wall. A month ago I checked it out and there was a fence up and a half-built wall. Thursday, the fence was no longer there, and the wall was complete! Nobody else was around, so I decided to dink around on the wall after already climbing for a few hours at Marymoor.

I did not last long on Thursday, but I headed back Friday with snowboarding queen. I would have had a fun time climbing by myself, but she made it a whole lot more fun. Her ass is hypnotic. I mean... she is a real good climber! She's definitely got more skills than I do, but I've got about a foot wing span advantage, which helps narrow the skill gap. We passed by a 7-11 on the way back to my house and I got excited about the prospect of slurpees after climbing in the future, when she added, "and hot dogs!" She is awesome.

Today, I made it three days in a row at the new wall, and today was the first day I have seen anyone at the wall I hadn't invited. Since it is a Saturday, I guess it makes sense. There were a few guys using ropes to climb to the top on the rock walls, and some kids climbing low on the wall with their parents' supervision. I brought my camera today, and attempted to take some black and white photographs of the wall. My dad tagged along and took photos of birds elsewhere in the park for the first hour, then came back to the climbing wall and took a few shots of me bouldering.

Will I go for the Connect Four tomorrow? We shall see!

WoW! What a Glorious Sunday!

In another typical "MHG 180" I went from canceling my WoW account last Tuesday to picking up a copy of the expansion on Thursday and pretty much playing it non-stop Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I did get a study session in from 10am-4pm on Friday at school, which allowed me to justify my WoW addiction.

Saturday was Tyler's birthday. We started off with some doubles racquetball, and I got brained twice by flying racquetballs--good thing I have a thick skull. I "let" the birthday boy win all the games, then we headed to his house for some WoW and Smash Bros. People started to show up around 2:00pm, gathering at his place en route to the 3:45pm showing of the new Bond movie. I'll echo most of the reviews and say that this flick is somewhere in the middle of the Bond movies. Some of the camera work made me queasy--stick with one camera shot for more than half a second in the action scenes, please! Daniel Craig definitely pulls of the "off the grid" Bond very well. Timothy Dalton did a great job in the same type of Bond role, but I think the majority of Bond viewers like Bond for the gadgets and witty one-liners, something the Sean Connery and Roger Moore (and Pierce Brosnen?) Bond films perfected. Best part about the movie is the new Bond girl. She might be my favorite...



Today has been a great day. I haven't logged onto WoW at all, and I've spent the majority of the day outside. I woke up and made myself bacon and eggs, then helped my Dad replant four trees in our back yard. The tree roots will hold our yard from falling into the neighbor behind us, at least that is the plan. After that, I zoomed out to frisbee for a few hours, then hit the UW outdoor rock climbing wall for an hour. I was able to finish a few new routes on the wall, so now I've got a few under my belt I can start with, then move on to harder routes once I'm warmed up. I also learned that black t-shirts are not the best color to wear when rock climbing, since the white climbing chalk tends to show up well on the black cotton.

Rock Climbing

I picked up rock climbing my freshman year in college. I got climbing shoes and a chalk bag for Christmas in 2000, and I had a blast climbing all sorts of different man-made routes in the old racquetball court. My Resident Assistant (RA) Jeff was a climbing enthusiast and he taught me the "Take Away" game. First person chooses a hold anywhere on the wall and that is the goal (usually somewhere relatively high on the wall). That person then climbs and touches the hold, then gets to take away one of the holds he used. The second person then climbs and touches the final hold without using the hole taken away by the first climber. The game gets confusing when the majority of the holds have been taken away, and you have to start making leaps at the final hold--fun though! The only problem I had is that Jeff was 6'6", so he could make huge leaps and bypass holds that I couldn't.

I did an anthropological study on the culture in the rock climbing wall area my junior year. The language, music and feel of the rock climbing wall was different from anywhere else on campus. "On Belay" "Belay On" "Climbing" "Climb On" "Dyno" and various grunts and screams were all common. There was a CD player in the climbing wall, and I heard a lot of different music, but usually folksy or reggae. When I was the first one in the room I would usually pop in "The Bends" by Radiohead or Pearl Jam's "Versus." Whenever I hear Radiohead, I always think back to rock climbing at UPS.

Encouragement from other climbers--strangers by any other association--was a strong draw for me to the sport. Other climbers are always willing to spot you or give advice if asked. I remember a number of times where I just couldn't figure out a particular problem and a more experienced climber would give me a suggestion on how to tackle whatever was giving me issues. Maybe leaning a little more to the right, or getting my left foot up on the ledge instead of my right foot.

I separated my shoulder playing ultimate frisbee my junior year at UPS. Ever since then, I haven't been able to pull myself up with my left arm, which put an end to my rock climbing. I messed around a little down in Tahoe on the big rocks by my house in the Tahoe National Forest, and did not feel any pain in my shoulder, but I haven't climbed at an actual rock climbing wall since college.

It turns out that one of my snowboarding buddies this winter likes to rock climb. We've exchanged emails about going for a climb one of these weekends, but we've never gotten around to it. She climbs at an indoor club in Everett, but she says it requires harnesses and costs $15 a trip, so I'm not too interested in climbing there. I prefer harness-free bouldering, which only takes you about 15ft up. Today there was a break in the week-long rain, so when I saw the sun I left her a voice mail and headed over to Marymoor Park's outdoor rock wall.

I was the only one at the wall, and the wood chips in the climbing area were still a bit damp from rain earlier in the morning. The rock wall at Marymoor looks a bit like the EMP in downtown Seattle, but more jaggedy and vertical. It is roughly 40ft high at its peak, not something I'm going to climb without a rope! I had a field day and climbed all around the base of the structures. There are overhangs, inward slopes, outward slopes, chimney chutes--it has got it all.

Once I was warmed up and remembered how to use my legs to climb instead of just relying on my arms, I started making little personal courses/goals. See if I can start on wall X and make it to wall Z. See if I can climb the length of the overhanging wall (not even close!).

I was reminded of a lot of things on my climb today. First, I love rock climbing. I've missed climbing over the years. Second, I suck at rock climbing. This is a bit unusual, because I usually don't love things I'm terrible at, but rock climbing is the exception. You need upper both upper and lower body strength for rock climbing, of which I have neither. In addition to strength, good strategy is key for climbing, and besides knowing I need to use my legs, I forgot all the little tricks I picked up climbing at UPS.

I listened to Radiohead on the way home, and remembered a big reason why I got into rock climbing in the first place was its solitary aspect. You can get a lot of thinking done while rock climbing. It isn't a team sport, and there is a very simple task: climb the wall. Other climbers can help you along the way, but they can't climb the wall for you. Also, you can climb the wall however you want, and the creativity in route creation and execution is where a lot of the fun comes in. What works for one person might not work for you, and that is alright.

I've had a few things bugging me this past week, and I think my time rock climbing helped me figure out exactly what it was that was bugging me and how to put an end to it.

Topless Sunday

Mission Accomplished. I didn't wear a shirt the entire day! It was just over 70 degrees from the time I woke up around noon until the sun set around 8pm. So perfect. Unfortunately, the weather is going to cool down this week, with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s. Damn mountain-living!

I had an incredibly relaxing weekend, which is just what I set out to do. Next weekend in Vegas is going to be crazy. I'm probably a bit nuts to be driving my 250cc motorcycle eight hours to Las Vegas, especially driving by Death Valley in the afternoon sun. This week it was 114 degrees there! I hope the highway is shaded, lol... Nevertheless, I am very much looking forward to the trip.

Today I got a lot of things in that I'd been meaning to do this week. The biggie was cleaning up the rest of my room. I ended up finding a few things that were also on my list, including my time-chart for observation hours for the UW-Bothell teaching program--and also finding my old Starcraft CDs (in the bottom of my kitchen box???) that I had been looking for last week when Tyler told me that he and a few friends started playing again.

I got a run in along the beach in the early afternoon. I brought along a shirt, but never actually put it on. It was the same trail Jen and I went on last night for the sunset pictures, but this time I wanted to see how far the trail went. It turned out to only go a few hundred more feet, before it met up with a road in a private neighborhood (where the houses had private access to the beach). Oh well, it was still a nice run. Except for the part on the way back where I walked by a guy going down on a girl--literally a foot away from the path. Get a room, or go find somewhere more private at least, Jesus. I ran past an 80-year old guy a minute later and told him to watch out for the love-birds. He just stared at me. I hope his hearing aid was turned up?

Kristara was chilling on the beach when I passed by on the way home, so I stopped to chat with her for a bit. She was waiting for Jen to get off work so they could go para-sailing, but they got home an hour later and missed out again. One of these days they'll get their free ride. Para-sailing would be fun, but I wouldn't want to shell out the $80 or whatever it is... and sitting on the beach waiting really isn't a horrible afternoon.

After visiting with Kristara, I started walking back up the hill, only to find our garbage can along Hwy 50, with all of its contents strewn along the shoulder. Son of a BITCH, bear! At first, I thought Bob (Bob the bear) rolled our bear-proof garbage can 1000ft down the hill, then nudged it out in front of a truck to open up the can--but the can itself remained intact--so I'm not sure what possessed Bob to roll the damn thing all the way down to the Hwy. I guess momentum could have carried it, but... ugh. Cody and I went down with garbage bags to clean up the mess, and it was bad. I'm talking... pick up a piece of garbage, only to find maggots writhing not only on the ground underneath the garbage, but also on the underside of that piece of garbage. I'm a bit surprised neither of us hurled.

Some good came out of the whole ordeal though. We moved the little garbage can structure onto our porch, and we pressed it firmly against the wall--so there is little chance the bear can get to our garbage, let alone drag it all over the fucking place!

I'm not really sure what I did after that. Mostly just lounged around reading the WSOP updates on pokernews.com. The WSOP is underway, and the bug has bitten me. Can't wait until next week when I'll be there, and get to experience the madness first-hand.

I caught a peak of Jen and Kristara walking off for another sunset jog, so I decided to go check out a rock-formation along the path I had seen the night before. I dug out my rock-climbing shoes that I had spotted while cleaning, and my nalgene (woot, re-found that too!), and walked to the rocks. I scoped it out, and it looked like there were zillions of different paths to choose from. The top of the rocks was about 50ft from the bottom, and there were four different peaks. I got to the top of all of the different peaks, then messed around on all sides. Eventually, I picked a side that had some very easy routes, and then some much more difficult ones. I did an easy route, then walked around from the top and chose a different route. I did this about five times, without pushing myself too hard--but hard enough to work up a sweat and feel like I was working, without being risky.

It felt great to go rock-climbing again, and my left shoulder, which put an end to my rock-climbing back at UPS, didn't hurt at all. As I was rock-climbing, I was thinking how cool it would be to toss my rock-climbing shoes in my backpack with a nalgene, motorcycle to a trail head and be able to slap on the shoes if I see fun rocks along the way. If I wore a swim-suit hiking, I'd be prepared for just about anything :)