Shit's been straight-up percolating for me. Lots to be excited about. I just got word that I was accepted to Towson University's Honors College, despite dropping out of college 4 years ago and tanking my GPA as a result. I guess my personal statement was persuasive -- I spoke about my journey discovering AmeriCorps, traveling the country, and finding meaning through community service. It's a huge validation to finally see evidence that some institutions truly do seek out an atypical applicant who doesn't conform to the straight path. I can't wait to blow the doors off their expectations. And I've hesitated to share this next bit of news with pubski because it hasn't solidified yet. But I might be buying a house! There's a low-income subsidy attached to a specific house in Baltimore that's just absolutely stunning. It's a tiny rowhome, 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom, in a borderline neighborhood. But it's part of a program to boost local property values and help poor households. The house is a total gut-and-remodel. It was sold to a previous owner at the height of the real estate bubble and foreclosed on a few years ago, standing vacant ever since. I actually learned that the subsidy is part of the original American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus bill. Who would've guessed that I would be a direct beneficiary of the program enacted while I was a senior in high school. Anyways, there was a shitload of paper flying around but that's pretty much all done, and it's in the hands of the bank and subsidy compliance officer. I should learn if this will happen one way or another in the next week (fingers crossed).
Very exciting, Brother Bootz! I'm really happy for you on both counts. Very cool about TU and also about the house. Awesome. I'll expect to see it next time I'm in B'more.
I hope to regale! I should find out early next week.
Hey, congratulations on everything in your post. College, the house, that's all amazing news! Good luck with all the paperwork.
That's awesome. Fixing up a house that needs to be gutted is a lot of work, but it's also the best way to make real money if you know how to do most of the work yourself. Sweat equity builds up fast, especially in an up and coming neighborhood. Good luck!
No what I meant is that the house is an already gutted and remodeled home, done by a professional developer. The house is practically brand-spanking new. I almost can't overstate how screaming good a deal it is.
Haha, hey! Thanks vince. Starting in the spring, declared major of economics, will have two years left to complete. I'm so excited for school.Hey, graduated from Towson. Good luck Tiger.
I love that lighthouse! Trying to remember if you can see it from the deck of the Harbor Haus restaurant down the cove -- ever eaten there? That would be the most unlikely hubski meetup of all time. EDIT: pretty sure it's too small. Maybe if all the trees were dead.
We have all of our commitments. Now we just need signatures and wire/transfers. I'm excited but I feel a new kind of pressure that I've never had before. People are entrusting us with their money. That's a lot of responsibility. I feel the strongest sense of obligation/need to perform that I've ever felt. My wife and I are sacrificing a lot for this. Once the funds come in I will put in my notice. Can't wait to have just one phone. Edit: Also, I made this last night:
In 22 hours, Alaska Airlines will allow me to check in to my last flight home. Fourteen hours ago, I crossed 3,000 miles on the bike. Four hours ago, I finished book 8 of 11 in this monster. I have three more legs to ride. 45 miles. One more bitter-ass cold run through the dark. Two more sketchy-ass runs through rush hour. Oddly enough, it's enough time to read all of Breakfast at Tiffany's despite the fact that I spent most of this morning listening to music. I will then do laundry, tune the bike in preparation for next year (whatever that may bring), load up a suitcase, finish the last of my Armenian brandy and prepare to return to humanity. The carpet is in. The doors are in. The plumbing works. I'm going to get off the plane, take a nap, take my daughter to sushi, and then sleep with my wife. Then we're going to get up, go to a birthday party, go to another party, sleep, and then buy a birth center's worth of Ikea furniture which I will spend all next week putting together, in and around terminating 24 runs of CAT5 and standing up a network and a phone system. Our last City inspection is today; once that's crossed off we can basically get the State to come through whenever they can come through. It's possible we'll be licensed by the end of the year. I'm ready to not get calls about how things are going to be a week (actually three) late because some inspector or other decided to no-show. I'm ready to not hear "and so I had to write a $20,000 check" at random moments throughout the week. I'm ready to not worry about rats crawling on me as I make my way to work. I'm ready to have a life again. I want to say I'm eager, but shit has been upside down since about January 2015. I no longer have the ability to be eager about anything.
We're building a 2100sqft, two-suite freestanding birth center with a family room, a staff room and three offices. The goal was always to be "just a little bit nicer" than our competition. However, we consistently chose to do that little bit extra between "cheap and kind of okay" and "still cheap but looks pretty awesome." The end result is that we will have the 2nd or 3rd nicest birth center in the United States that I know of, and it's been my business to know of birth centers for about the past three years. But fuckin' A it wears you out.
I imagine that even the most bedeviling Ikea furniture will draw mirthful laughter because it so entirely beats the hell out of what you were doing for the last ~9 months. Congrats klein, enjoy that brandy.
I'm super glad I passed the exam I had a few weeks ago! It was a close call. It also means that I got my 300th credit in just over four years - for comparison, 180 credits is an entire degree. Only 50 more to go of which 30 is my final thesis. Got in contact with one of the top experts in the AV field - he was part of the reason I moved to this university in the first place, and it's now looking very likely that he's gonna be my thesis counselor. Something else entirely: last week I put way too much stress on my right arm tendons, giving me a terrible case of RSI. I couldn't do anything with it the day after without it hurting and it's still not entirely gone. Anyone have tips on how to alleviate RSI?
Tendons are not a part of the vascular system, so blood doesn't flow through them, which means that the all-repairing white blood cells can't get in there to do their jobs. Tendons only heal when they are not used for an extensive period of time. I injured my peronius brevis tendon in my foot almost a year ago now: This month, due to wearing an immobilizing boot for close to a month, special ankle braces for two months or so, and reducing my walking and exercising, I now only have moments of pain, instead of constant pain. It sucks. And it will continue to suck as long as you continue to use the arm. However, acupuncture (and light massage) will work wonders on it. Especially RSI. Go to acupuncture 3x a week for two weeks, and you will feel significantly better, if you have also basically immobilized the arm to let it heal.
Tendons heal very slowly. The trick is to take it easy and don't stress them. I believe that hot packs can accelerate healing but not radical amounts; the issue is that the tissue doesn't have great blood flow and is mostly non-living matter so it's akin to regrowing a fingernail. You kinda just have to wait.
Echoing kleinbl00, had quiet a few tendon injuries recently. Been two months since my most recent knee tendon injury and I'm just now able to do the 30 minute walk to work without an inflamed ball on my knee. Wrists are especially annoying because you can't exactly not use them if that's your job. I went heavy on the ergonomics after damaging mine a few summers ago. Wavy keyboard, slanted / vertical mouses galor, and a stylus for the phone. Plus re-organizing my desks to avoid any edges pressing on my forearms. I'd be lying if I said the pain was completely gone even a year after the ergonomic upgrades. No laptop at the coffee shop. But the wrists are functional / able to work full days at the computer again.
I found that switching to a mechanical keyboard was not only a joy because of the clickyness but also a noticeable improvement in how long I can type without strain. Now I'm too fond of it to ever switch it out for a wavy keyboard. A while ago I tried to add a Wacom tablet as a mouse replacement, as it has worked wonders for some people after you get used to the display locations being mirrored on the tablet. However, I get more RSI from thin pens / styluses than anything else because I use too much force to hold pens. Good thing I kept the receipt on that one.
Never tried an ergonomic + mechanical keyboard so your mileage may vary. I will say that I feel the same thing on styluses pressing on hard screens, made ~10x worse with fingers on hard screens, fingers on touchpads, and fingers on low depth keyboards (a la mac keyboards). Something about the backpressure just makes the tendons inflamed lightning fast. Vertical mice did wonders for me though. Let me know if you find a better solution, keyboards and mice are mostly a solved problem for me, but hard glass screens and stiff buttons are still my Achilles heel so to speak.
Does your phone have haptic feedback? As in, it vibrates a bit when you type/press things. The main reason most people press too hard is because they want to make sure their press registers. With haptic feedback enabled it's easier to teach yourself to tap lighter on smartphones/tablets.
Healthcare in a nutshell, I guess? Anyway, finally back up to 15 miles per week running except now I have an arch blister...likely to pop that after work so I can run tomorrow night (WanderingEng is that a terrible idea?). It's kind of a good thing if only it indicates my weight's not falling as much on the outside of my feet anymore. And I have a date on Friday. We'll see how that goes. Who cares, probably moving in April anyway.I have good news and I have dumb news. The good news is that it's incredibly unlikely that your lesion is cancerous, and you were likely born with it. The dumb news is the radiologist was completely wrong and it's actually on your femur, not your humorous, and I'm a shoulder specialist.
The army did some tests on whether or not blisters should be popped. Their assessment was that the best thing to do with a blister is drain it and then fill it with medical cyanoacrylate. Crazy glue works fine. Slash the edge with a sharp razor, drop a drip in there, squoosh it down, let it dry and go about your business. Or, you know, moleskin.
Moleskin I have! A razor that's not already been used for something else is really what I need to go get at this point...wouldn't mind reading that army study, sounds interesting.
For me, I drain blisters, keep them clean and let them dry. It mostly seems to work pretty well. I think you're on the right track, and just listen to your body. And do some Googling to make sure your body isn't lying to you. Did you get the blister running? What kind of socks do you use? Cotton will rub, while wool will wick sweat and rub less. I'm a big fan of wool socks.
It's an older SKU of UA HeatGear, which while not wool, are polyester and not cotton. Might be worth buying some wool socks, my feet were surprisingly sweaty last night and I think that combined with relatively new shoes, inserts, and the running form changes are what caused the issue.
Due date for my first child is 2 months and 2 days away. I felt perfectly fine right up until a few days ago and now I feel vastly under prepared, despite taking an entire weekend class with my wife and us both having stable jobs. I think the fact that we also have THREE cats and a PUPPY in the equation is making more nervous about any potential sleep in the near future. I just don't operate well without sleep. Despite having my stable job that I enjoy, I was alerted to a potential opportunity with a start-up a year from now in a CFO or similar type role on the completely opposite side of the country. It would be double my current pay, but obviously I'm a bit risk averse at the moment. Current job has great benefits, pay that I'm comfortable with, and I'm just now getting my hands around the inner workings of this industry. Also, it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it's 55 and foggy outside here in the mid-Atlantic, but I'll be damned if the Vince Guaraldi Trio doesn't do the trick.
Hey Pubs. Seems like the trusty Old Fashioned is my drink for the apocalypse, so pour me one and keep em coming for the next four years... I'm fat and tired of it. So I bought an exercise bike on Amazon with a built-in laptop/tablet table so I can watch movies and get distracted and pedal until I die. Or get thin. One or the other. The wife and I got bug-out bags, stocked them up, and hid them outside in our back yard. That way, if the Zombies, republicans, tsumanis, or earthquakes come for us and flatten our home, we will still be able to get to our bags out in the yard. Leaving the country for the holidays. Going out to the ocean and gonna watch mother nature do the northern Pacific coast storm thing, and huddle under warm blankets with the wife and dog. Battening down the hatches, literally and figuratively. Deleted Facebook from my phone, and am not going to use it at work. Only gonna post original content, and will stop reading my feed entirely, beginning today. (The wife will keep me up to date on any events I need to attend.) Met with my editor last night. She is pushing me to get back to work and finish my erotica series, and had some good ideas for my scifi book and my zombie apocalypse story. Meeting with her really got my writing juices flowing again, and I think I finally know what I need to do to get these projects rolling again.
Oh man screw everything about Facebook apps. They are a battery drain like all hell when going to fb.com in Chrome is just as good. That said, less facebook has never made my life worse. And what better way to browse Hubski than through an exercise bike, right? ;)
I've been telling people it's Google's iPhone 3G - that device that delivers exactly what you're expecting, with zero drama, zero surprises and total competence. The 3G was basically the best iPhone Apple ever made; it's all been downhill from there. Having messed with a 5X, a 6P, a 6, a Galaxy 4, a Galaxy 5 and a OnePlus, I would rank them thusly: 1) Pixel 2) OnePlus One 3) 5X 4) 6P 5) 6 6) wait this just got dumb
You aren't kidding. Phone off charger from 8am to 1am yesterday and didn't even hit my low power mode (15%). I'm used to having to recharge at like 6pm. This is criminal. All this time I kind of thought the 5X was just kind of a piece of shit. How is this not more well known?!
it's so bad. i've been trying to use different apps so i'll give metal a shot
My primary use of Facebook is as a chatroom for clubs/boards at this rate. kb had suggested Metal for those who actually use Fb, but for anyone who uses it mostly for chat then third party apps are muchanging nicer and less of a battery drain. I read there were a few preferred ones, and Disa.im works suitably for my needs.
Disa apparently works with multiple platforms which I also can't find a definitive list online either for.... Checking the app on my phone right now says Facebook, text, WhatsApp, and 'Third Party Plugins' that you have to search for. This article is what I used to find the app, if you're interested. It has 3 other alternatives to Fb chat.
Holy nuts. Didn't even know it was that old until y'all brought it up. I would have used it a while ago if I knew about it. I'd assume it's more polished in this iteration. That said, Disa can be a bit janky at times with simple things like not opening the app when I click the notification and ordering the messages in reverse chronology (that's just my own peeve, not a bug... just a feature!). But, on the whole, it serves its purpose for me reliably, and I'm happy with that alone.
I love that my interest in backpacking has led me to having a defacto bug out bag. It might be a little sketchy in the winter; I haven't tackled winter camping yet. But I could make do in a pinch. Hiking is also great for fitness. All the trees and stuff are better distractions than movies for me.bug-out bags
Not in the shape I'd like to be either. Started making time to go to the school gym for their rowing machine, the erg, since they can only be found in big gyms. Started playing the fishing game on it which is essentially copter meets agar.io. Used to think it was dumb as hell while working out... somehow it keeps me sane whenever my eyes are open. Only problem is that I already sit too much, so I'm thinking of joining you on the notion of exercise bikes as a workout.... BTW. You're first year on Hubski was completed yesterday. See ya in the anniversary club in 2 weeks.
Concept 2s of different models line a whole wall on the second floor. They really are dope and give a lot of muscle groups a nice exercise if you have good form. Sadly, I only see people on them after they stare at me for a bit and try it out for a couple minutes. The dream is to get own of my own 'when I grow up'.
Yeah, keep your eye out. They're really simple to rebuild, too, and Concept 2 supports their products really well. I swapped out the handle, the computer and the footstraps and bought new bushings. There's also a guy who sells a shroud that goes around the fan so it blows 100% in your face; that thing is super-handy. The mechanicals of the C, D and E are not substantially different; a C with the new computer is effectively a D. Only real difference between a D and an E is the E is taller and a different color.
Did you get a custom handle or one of Concept 2's? I get no pain, no gain, but making and popping blisters if I want to stay rowing for 10-20 minutes isn't fun. That shroud... sounds perfect. Thanks for the descriptions, I'm like to make the most pragmatic choice and go for the cheapest one without compromising the functionality of the hardware; keeping it simple for myself.
Behold: The C-Breeze. I did the PM5 computer and the ergo handle. And you're going to want biking gloves. Workout gloves work, too - go fingerless. You'll feel kinda flashdance but you won't beat the crap out of your hands.
Solid. Thanks for the links, especially for the C-Breeze. Last time I went to the gym, another one of those hey-I'll-try-this-out champs sat next to me and went absolutely ham for 5 minutes. The breeze from his fan... I'm more than willing to slap on any gloves that'll prevent the feeling of hot coals on my (inner?) knuckles. I think I might have a spare set of fingerless gloves back at the mothership I can even use for the time-being.
I'm a horny bastard who can craft a fine turn of phrase? :-) Honestly, I had a dream about a friend. And I told her about it. She told me to write it down for her. So I did. And then another. And another. And another. Now I have a series of erotic/porn stories that all fit into a theme, and my editor thinks they are fresh, a new approach, and have the potential to sell. So I'm gonna finish the edits she gave me (cough cough, two years ago, cough cough), and get it into shape for final edit and then layout. We'll see what happens. What led you to write erotica?
Oh crap, I have to be interesting for this? That's not good. I should start drawing again so I actually have something that's not boring. Lately I've just been extremely busy, to the point where I forgot my car's emissions inspection for a month. I only noticed it yesterday. Yikes.
I probably haven't tried drawing something in 20 years but last night thought I might buy a pad of paper and some colored pencils and give it a shot. Seems like it could be therapeutic.
It'll take me a week to get a pad of paper and some pencils. Better give me at least a month to sketch something I'm not embarrassed to share. Maybe share something of yours next week to motivate me?
So I'm most likely starting to become a nuisance to my two senators. I've sent letters, e-mail's, phone calls, smoke signals, etc. to share my deep concerns with many if not all of Trump's cabinet nominations. While I know my two senators will most likely vote "no" against his nominations, I'm still sending my concerns in case something stupid happens. My town is going to be voting soon to split up the schools further because we are struggling with overcrowding. The set-up right now is 4 (K-5) elementary schools, 1 (6-8) middle school, and 1 (9-12) high school. The new plan is 4 (K-4) elementary schools, 1 (5&6) middle school, 1 (7&8) junior high, and then 1 (9-12) high school. The new additions being the creation of a new school for 7th and 8th, and moving 5th grade to the middle school. It seems like a solid plan and we are voting in a week or so on it. My town is really trying to upgrade itself before the train station is built, and then everything changes. Has anyone been watching Westworld? I think it's a pretty cool show so far.
Hubski, is it selfish to feel frustrated because you're spending all your time doing things that help other people and therefore are accomplishing nothing that you need to do for yourself? Because, on reflection, the past year has been that way for me. The windshield wipers on my daily driver stopped working for some reason, so for now I'm just hoping it doesn't rain when I have to drive somewhere. One of my students cheated this week. On the one hand, I'm pissed because every time that happens it eats up several hours of my time meeting with people and running paperwork around campus. On the other, I'm getting pretty efficient at doing that, for better or for worse. At least in two weeks a lot of this will be over and maybe I'll be able to get anything done. Sorry for the rant.
Yes. As it should be. Being selfish doesn't have to have a bad connotation. In this context, it reads as though the past year hasn't been centered on [your]self. For me, if I'm not furthering myself in some way that is clear to me, then what's the point? To be clear, caring for others is well and good and honorable, but taking care of myself ensures have enough in my tank to share with others. I can try in vain, but I can't show compassion for others if I don't have it for myself. Learning to say no and what purpose is usually a good step forward when I land in this spot.Hubski, is it selfish to feel frustrated because you're spending all your time doing things that help other people and therefore are accomplishing nothing that you need to do for yourself? Because, on reflection, the past year has been that way for me.
Yes - and you should feel that way because you have a self to take care of. Don't set yourself on fire to keep other people warm. Helping others must be strictly because you want to. Otherwise, you just let others lead you by your nose - and that's entirely too much power given to those people.Hubski, is it selfish to feel frustrated because you're spending all your time doing things that help other people and therefore are accomplishing nothing that you need to do for yourself?
I haven't even done one of my four performances this week and I'm already exhausted. Parents divorce is finalizing, mom is looking for new apartments including one above a funeral parlor and is giddy to talk about it. I refuse to be a part of the process. I am vaguely happy that they will no longer be living together and torturing one another, but I cannot get excited about burial of my parents marriage. My best friend's 15 year old dog finally had to be put down the day after thanksgiving. I'd known this animal most of her life, babysat her when they went out of town. She was as dear to me as animals get. And on top of that, my antidepressant prescription keeps changing and I haven't had anything like neurochemical equilibrium in what feels like years. Sorry for the shitpost, but there's too much on my shoulders and soul this morning.
Chaired my first meeting today! I've solidified my mysterious placement into the role of the International Stakeholders' Coordinator, and today I brought together a ton of the international organizations present in Kosovo and basically said so what are your plans for 2017 re: countering violent extremism, who here can help, and please reach out to me to make sure the govt knows what you're doing and to reduce redundancy. Lots of the questions/complaints/criticisms about our program should be addressed by adding me, so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic! Kosovo is weird in that they have great laws and strategies on paper, but at some point in the implementation process, things get screwy and you lose buy in from people you need to make things happen. For example, the Ministry of Education basically threw up their hands this past year and said you want us to do too many projects so we'll do none of them because we don't have the money or donor support... which is completely wrong because organizations are begging to chuck money at them, they just didn't want to do anything other than collect a salary.
Maybe it's different in Poland, but when I took drivers' ed the lecture classes were at 8 in the morning over the summer, so the poor instructor was lecturing to a room full of sleeping teenagers most of the time and to this day I'm not sure what the point was. He never bothered to wake us up until the classes were over. I don't think any of us failed the tests.I'm bypassing the theory in driving school here. Maybe I'm too cocky but I don't need two months of classes to learn the contents of ~200 pages worth of booklet. Plus theory in driving school costs almost the same as actual driving practice. :/
Ah, okay. That's similar to what I had. So long as you're alert you'll be ok. Always be trying to predict what the other drivers are doing, check your mirrors, and if you're in a situation that's going pear-shaped it's almost always better to hit the brake than the gas. Keep us updated!
Went home for Thanksgiving, got to see some of my best, old friends for the first time in 6 months. Went to some parties and had a great time, but I while I had quit weed a long time ago and resorted to drinking, some of my best friends had graduated to partying with Xanax, which resulted in me having to slap my best friend until he half-woke-up, the kind of barely-alive living that one is while on bars, so I could drag him to his Uber. Still a lot of fun, but I came back to college with a lot of questions about where some my friends were headed. Not to mention the random stories I heard all weekend about "so-and-so is at rehab now, did you hear?" "oh and Sam got arrested on probation so now he's got like 6 months in jail lol" :[
Shit buddy. I know that sinking feeling. I'll tell you that the 18-25 year old cohort takes a massive dip into drugs and alcohol. Most of the peeps make it through. Some don't. In some places, a lot of people don't. And it's surprising how indifferent to wealth or skin color or zip code drugs and addiction can be. This is one of things where I sympathize with what you're saying deeply but don't have anything more to say than that. I can appeal to Stoicism and say that it's all out of your hands anyway, but that's typically not a comforting thing to hear. But it's good that that sort of shit makes you feel uneasy. I think it means you're in tune with your compass. A lot of people don't have that.
Thing one: Inspired by the post someone made a week or so ago of an article titled "Why Are We Still Crying Wolf?" (full disclosure, I read neither the article or the thread, just liked the title.) I may remake this for the album, who knows? Thing 2: This, too, is a demo - remaking the real thing tomorrow. Just wanted some practice before I made one for my sister. I guess if anyone wants it and will pay S+H, it's up for grabs. Thing 3: ------- I am buying my plane ticket today - moving to Portland December 29th. Super excited, half to be with my boyfriend in a cool place, and half to not be in CT with nothing to do. A complete list of my scheduled plans for the next month include: Christmas, playing music at a wake, aaaaaand that's it.
Bring it!!!! Congrats on the move, that's awesome. I bet cgod could tell you a good spot to grab coffee at in Portland.
Pretty much the only thing I say in pubski is about going to Upstate New York to hike. I booked another trip for the week before Christmas. I have nineteen summits left and am hoping to make something solid progress before the end of the year. I'm shooting for finishing next year, a year I'm already signed up for a full marathon and two half marathons (one of which has a 10K the night before). I'm also trying to coax family into committing to a 5K, and I'd do the half marathon the same day. My niece is showing some interest in being more active, and I want to show her active people are just normal people. It doesn't take a world class athlete to finish a long run. That's all I have this week.
What summits? I probably have half left? Mostly the ones that are off the usual beaten paths.
I'll be in the area five days, and I'm planning to hike three. Past experience is after a longer day I feel like taking a day off. This is vacation, after all. My December plan is: 1. Cliff and Redfield from Upper Works. If weather or conditions are mediocre, I'll do Marshall instead. 2. Saddleback from Garden in Keene Valley. If things go well I'll go up Gothics, too. I've done Gothics before from the other side, and it was clouded in. It's supposed to have fantastic views. An alternate that day is Colvin and Blake. That hike is just as long but quite a bit lower. I still need Cascade and Porter, too. 3. Colden from the Loj. Cascade and Porter are good alternates, too. Or if conditions are spectacular, I might go for Dix from Round Pond or AMR. My full list of remaining peaks is Marcy, Skylight, Dix, Gray, Basin, Colden, Redfield, Saddleback, Rocky Peak Ridge, Macomb, Hough, Marshall, Cascade, South Dix, Porter, Colvin, Grace, Blake and Cliff. I've been trying to check off some of the trailless ones like the Santanonis, the Sewards and Allen. I've been pretty lucky with weather, but so far those have all gone really well. Couchsachraga is dumb because it's like a mile and a half each way from the Santanoni/Panther ridge, and it's so underwhelming. Allen seems to get some flack for being long for one summit, but the view of Panther Gorge is spectacular. Seymour, too, sits sort of by itself but has some great views near the summit. I figure I need twelve good days to finish my nineteen. Are you trying to finish?
I enjoy hiking the 46, but I'm not terribly serious about it. I don't even have a complete list of hikes I've done; I'd have to confirm details with my Dad and other people we hike with. I would like to complete it though, I just don't have the time to commit to it seriously. Hopefully I'll do it before I'm too old lol Good luck on your trip, three peaks in five days is still a nice chunk of hiking! What hike do you plan on doing as your last?
I'm waffling between Cascade and Marcy for the last. I keep saving Cascade/Porter for a day that's sort of marginal but good enough to go out. If I can save that for the end, I think it would be nice to have the easiest ones to finish on. Sort of a victory lap. But my thought with Marcy is pretty much the opposite: do Gray and Skylight and then finish by coming up the south side of Marcy for 46. I don't want to finish on Cliff, Blake or Marshall, of the ones I have left. I could probably add the lesser Dixes to that list, too. But I've been on Giant, Gothics and Haystack in a sea of clouds, so ending on a treed summit wouldn't really be any worse.
We got a call from our future landlord last night: the unit we agreed to needs some repairs isn't going to be available, so he offered us a newer, larger unit for the same price. I'm a bit bummed, because the layout is a bit wonkey and too large for us, but it'll be nice to have that kitchen. I've seen it, and it is noice. I don't really have much going on besides for getting ready to move and working.
I've been trying to sell my old car on Craigslist. It's been weird. It's a crappy old v6 firebird. Blue book value is ~1300, I have it listed at $1100, CarMax apprised it at $200, and the junkyard will buy a firebird that old for $250, running or not. I've been getting 2 kinds of responses: $600 lowball offers, and "can you drive 60 miles in the middle of the workday to my house in podunkville? You'll like my lowball offer better after eating a half-day of vacation time." Also nobody interested in cheap 17 year old cars can spell worth a damn.
The heating's borked (we're working on it, don't worry) so I spent the last two evenings sitting in cafes after work reading books instead of sitting at home on the computer in the freezing cold. I had few distractions and managed to read at least 100 pages on each evening. I finished "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse and made progress on "2666" by Roberto Bolaño. Both are long. I need to allocate more time in my life for reading books. I'm glad I managed to make the most out of this inconvenience. edit: OH YEAH AND I'M SEEING PC MUSIC TONIGHT AAAHHHHH
I've also read Steppenwolf and Siddartha, but it was a few years ago as a first-year university student. I wonder how I would react to them now, being at a different stage in my own Bildungsroman. Now that I've properly started adulting, I am confronted with the question of how I should approach my life. Previously I was a student so my priorities were (or seemed to be) very clearly set out but I cannot take advantage of that excuse anymore. So I find books like The Glass Bead Game interesting because of they might relate to my life. It was enjoyable to read. The last three stories were especially engaging but that's probably just because I prefer short stories to long novels. I might skip back to the part of the book where Knecht is a young adult to see how they correspond to his attitudes in that stage of his life. The book is optimistic, it calls for people to live their lives with more sincerity, to be open to different ways of thinking, to escape the ivory tower. There are a few obviously didactic passages but in general it's the story of someone finding their way in the world and not an instruction guide. This is a good thing.
"Dude, I'm so exhausted." "Me too. And it's only Tuesday." "Holy fuck, we've only been back from break for two days. There's two and a half more weeks." So that's where I'm at. (Haven't slept well since I left home on Saturday. Last night I was in bed by 1, couldn't get to sleep til around 2:30, and was waking up randomly from 5 til like 9.)
I've just been kind of meh for a long time. I'm in a one person department at work and while it was fun at first it's difficult to do anything alone and it's getting tiresome - but my boss keeps telling me things will change after they get their ducks in a row, and I believe her, but I don't know how much longer I want to trade boredom for security. But the wife just forged out on her own to become an independent grant writer and I'm so proud of her. She's not the type to take risks, but she has and she seems happier than ever. It great!
This past weekend was my high school reunion. Only 30 or so people showed up. We had a class of around 180. We were originally supposed to have our reunion in October but some people didn't like the original location. The original people that put together the meetup were organizing for a while and nobody really gave input. However when the location was confirmed, people started to complained and a new group of people started to organize the meetup with a new location with this weekend in mind since it was Thanksgiving weekend and most people would be home. Anyways as for the reunion itself, it was a little awkward but fun. There was only one person that really got drunk. Nobody was a complete loser but no one was over the top rich but still only a small number went to the reunion. I got to see some people that I haven't seen in a while. When I saw my old classmates, it felt like I had just seen them yesterday. A lot of people didn't change a lot lookwise either. Overall, it was kinda boring.