lists of 5

List 5 things we don’t know about you:

1. Some may know this. I bake a mean Jack Daniels chocolate chip pecan pie, from scratch- my mom's recipe (though I think she got it from someone else.) I don't make it often though because, health.
2. I really like sheep and I have always dreamed of living/working on a sheep ranch.
3. When I was a kid I wanted to be a dog sled racer in Alaska. (still would be cool!)
4. I grew up (mostly) in a house that was over 100 years old, then moved to a brand new one my dad built in the pasture. 
5. All of my education was Christian, including university. There were a few years of homeschooling mixed in as well.



 5 things you’re knowledgeable about

1. Geography, in general
2. The Lord of the Rings- and anything Tolkien, really. Seriously, ask me anything.
3. Identifying dog breeds. And animal behaviours. Comes with the job, I guess.
4. Some parkour. Also filed under things I wish I was more knowledgeable about.
5. Buying and selling things on eBay. I've made a fair amount of money back on things I no longer want/need. I've also saved heaps by buying used things. My current work shoes (Merrell Trail Gloves) cost me $20 and have lasted well over a year, which at my workplace is unheard of. 


5 things you know nothing about 

1.  Dancing. When I've had something to drink, I can move around a bit, but I wouldn't call it dancing. 
2. Liechtenstein. Literally all I know is where it is. 
3. Cars. Rather, mechanics. I know how to drive and how to do very, very basic maintenance, but I'm not fond of cars and I'm basically lost if anything goes wrong. 
4. Twitter. I am savvy to most social media platforms, but that one has eluded me. 
5. Practical uses for higher math. I know basic math, and I even (barely) passed pre-calc, but I don't know how to use any of that.


5 things you believe

This makes me think of a song: "It's not that I do or don't believe, I just don't not believe in God or aliens or love at first sight." The Guggenheim Grotto (now Storyman)

1. Humans evolved amazing feet and we're now killing off the amazingness by trapping them in tight and padded shoes.
2. I believe cool/cold weather is so much better than hot weather. 
3. I believe that I was taught history and science  incorrectly (see education above.)
4. I believe that there is other life in the universe. It's simply too big. And it's awfully arrogant of us to believe we're alone here (even if you believe in a god.)
5. I believe there is a very big difference between truth and fact. Ask me about it sometime, perhaps I need to write a whole new post on that subject.

Space tights.

I got some running tights. It's vaguely embarrassing, but I really like tights, especially now that I'm very visibly male. I stayed as far away from them as possible until a couple years ago. But these are spectacular and I figured I can force myself to run in cold weather if I feel fantastic. Mostly I have been enjoying this trend of "galaxy" print clothing, especially tights. I saw a video of a guy doing parkour in some, so I decided I could do it too. I like the general oranges and reds that seem most common, but I wanted something unique. And I found the Carina Nebula. The $8 plus a month for shipping from China was just fine.

When I was in college I used this fantastic image as my laptop wallpaper for months at a time (I usually changed the wallpaper every other day or so.) Even now it's in the photo folder that gets rotated through for my current wallpaper.

Here's a more manageable size, but seriously, click the link.

I think what I like about this nebula image is that it's not just colorful, but also bright. It has a lot of white and essentially no black. Most other space images are dominated by black. It's my favorite and someday I hope to have a huge print/poster of it for my wall. 

And here are my tights.

Interstellar-- Go see it. (no spoilers)

Interstellar was very likely the best movie I’ve seen in years.

Epic doesn’t quite do it justice. Nor does awesome, unless we go back to the original meaning.

It’s hard to review the film without spoilers, so I’ll just say it was beautiful and wonderful and only very slightly cheesy in one little aspect.

The basic theme was that we messed up Earth and it’s up to us (and science) to save ourselves. There were no subtleties about trying to revitalize interest in NASA and science in general. The ever-important quest for knowledge and survival. The movie also portrayed the important roles of women in science (though they still had one sort of damseling.)

One thing I enjoyed was that there wasn’t a romance subplot. I think the slight cheesiness that existed would have compounded had there been one.

The effects are “out of this world”! And I even enjoyed Matthew McConaughey’s performance and was pleasantly surprised to recognize a vast majority of the other actors.

If this film doesn’t win all the awards, then I definitely need to watch more movies.

I've been feeling super lazy lately. To the point that all I've done besides work this week is sit on the computer or play video games. No trail Tuesday. No running on lunch. No rock wall. Just lazy. I don't know why.

I've also been eating rather poorly this week. I'm betting that plays a huge part.

I got a fitbit for my birthday a couple weeks back. It's a fun gadget and seems to be fairly accurate. I tend to average about 8 miles just at work, so that's cool to know. I am a bit sad that I don't have more contacts to compete with though. That might also get me out of this lazy funk.

Trail Tuesday (last Tuesday)

A friend of mine with whom I've hiked once before asked if I would join him on a hike he'd found in Rocky Mountain National Park. I agreed, even though it meant getting up ridiculously early on my day off to drive for two hours.

Boy was it worth it though!

Out ultimate destination was Sky Pond, but the trail passed several other alpine lakes along the way. It was amazing to watch the sun rise over these placid lakes.

Sunrise across Loch Vale

Timberline Falls. We had to scramble up the trail next to them.

The Shark's Teeth and Sky Pond.

I found the panorama function on my phone!

The Loch on the way back down.

My buddy and Alberta Falls.

Washington Parks Tour

At the beginning of October we spent a week in Washington state, touring the National Parks and hiking as much as possible. We did not make it to North Cascades National Park, choosing instead to go further south to Mt. Saint Helens National Monument, and even down to Portland, OR for the day. 

Our first night camping (in Mt. Rainier National Park) we saw some mice scurrying around the rental car. I figured they were tiny enough not to be able to get in. The next morning, I found I was wrong. One had nibbled a cookie. Bit a hole in a Lara Bar wrapper and shredded three rolls of toilet paper. Demon! We stored the food better from then on, and kept doors closed, but I was constantly worried that the mouse was still in the vehicle and would chew my down sleeping bag or ruin the car somehow. The fears proved unfounded. 

We did several great hikes, one main one in each place. In Mt. Rainier we did the Naches Peak Loop which overlaps the Pacific Crest Trail. It was astounding. We also did part of Mt. Fremont.

Mt. Rainier. It's ever-present.

Rainier in Reflection Lake.

Autumn foliage on the Naches trail.

Boyfriend and Rainier.

Mt. Rainier and colorful foliage.

We did not get around the the east side of Mt. Saint Helens in order to get any photos of the devastation that occurred there. We did a short "hike" through the Ape Caves, some old lava tubes. We had to use headlamps. It was so fun!

The entrance/exit to the Ape Caves. Lava tubes near Mt. Saint Helens.

We were accompanied on our hike in Olympic National Park by a Canadian couple. We had no choice really. They camped near us the night before and we were informed that they were going to attempt the same loop as we were, and that they'd join us. Even though we tried to get up early enough to beat them to the trailhead, it was unsuccessful. It wasn't bad though, they were very nice and very fit, keeping up out 3 mile an hour pace. The trail through the rain forest was mostly boardwalk so it was easy, though sometimes slippery. We got to the beach a low tide and it was super rocky and filled with seaweed. Not a very pleasant walk along the beach. The four of us were joined by a young black tailed stag. He stayed with us for a good mile or so. The beach hike ended at a fun sea stack which we were able to climb and see way up and down the coast. We couldn't see out west because of the ever-present fog. 

Rainbow over the Pacific at Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park.

Whale bone!

Petroglyphs along the beach near Wedding Rock.

our hiking buddy.

I could not live in the Pacific Northwest. It is altogether too rainy and dreary. And very humid. I loved visiting though, I am sure I will do so again. I have discovered a love for the ocean. This was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean, and I want to see more of it. Without fog. The forests are beautiful. So green and full of moss. The temperature was amazing considering the time of year we went. I just tired of everything being damp all the time.

I've really been slacking on this blog. I need to post about my trip to Washington and all the fun camping and hiking that was done. And I want to post about my latest trailrun Tuesday, but I need to do the other thing first. So I just keep not doing anything.

I will though. Just you wait.

So somehow I ended up buying two bikes. Of course I know how, but the second one was so flashy. Bright orange and new. And the seat so much more comfortable. But it didn't make it the second half of my commute the first day I took it to work. The all-important return home. I ended up with a flat tire and no notion of what to do. So I called for help and got a ride back for me and my limping bike. I think I like the purple one better. It is a better brand (Trek). And it didn't let me down after a whole week of there-and-backs. I don't know if I should fix the orange one and sell the purple one, try to sell it as it, or fix and then sell. Do I really need to spend more money in order to get some back? Why does life have to be so complicated? Maybe I'll just drive to work from now on. Especially since it's getting toward freezing temperatures in the morning.

Wow, that was a block of text for ya.

Trail Run Tuesday.

I sort of fell off the wagon. I had been doing so well too, until I became a sort of nurse and then we moved. I was running almost daily and doing a nice long run on Tuesdays, not to mention a long hike over the weekend. But then I took a break. And now it's dark in the mornings. So hard to climb out of bed when it's dark. Originally I thought it was dark due to the changing of seasons, and I'm sure that plays some role, but mostly the new bedroom has very thick black blinds and a large, shady tree outside. Also, it faces west. So everything is dark and I want to sleep forever.

But two weeks ago I made myself get up and run around the neighborhood. It was nice. I found a park that I hope to revisit to do some parkour. Last week I purchased a mountain bike from craigslist and I plan to start riding that to work.

Pond on top of the world.

And today I finally got back to my Trail Run Tuesday. It was glorious. I went back to North Table Mountain in Golden. It's my favorite trail I've run thus far. I did take a different branch this time which wasn't as fun and was much shorter, but I got to see a very pretty little pond. And I kept a very fast pace considering I haven't trail run in almost two months.

Yes, I have a climbing wall in my garage, but I seem not to use it as much as I should. But now, with that, the bike, and today's run, I'm back on the wagon.

As promised some photos of my new place.

The front of the house.

Nice big backyard.

and, my favorite, the climbing wall in the garage.

I love having a yard and I love not having to fight for parking out front of my abode. The best part really is the wall though. I intend to make full use of it as often as possible. Also, there's a hot tub. So really there's nothing to complain about at all.

Now to find a bike.