San Juan Nat'l Forest

On the way to Provo, I took I40 all the way to Albuquerque and then some state road through the San Juan National forest up through Colorado. Since I was there, and it looked cool from Google Earth, I figured I might as well do some backpacking.

Some pass on the way.

I ended up sleeping at a place called Ice Lake. About 5 miles of backpacking from 9,500 feet to a sleeping elevation of a little over 12,000 feet.

Hiking up, a lower lake, and the view from my tent.

It was breathtaking. Unfortunately, it also turns out that when you live at sea level for 3 months and then attempt to sleep at 12,000 feet that you get headaches and nausea and stuff associated with altitude sickness. Its not cool. Don't do it.

They Said It Was Only A Matter of Time

I closed the screen of the 'ol Sony on an earbud and there is a nice pattern of LCD failure developing right below my webcam. After some soul searching and finance examination, I have decided to switch teams. Abandon ship. Cross the fence. Join the fanboys. Become a hipster. Wear black turtle necks. That's right.

I bought a Mac.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC505LL/A

-And yes I know how small the hard drive is.

Those Racist Crosswalk-Men

I think this (small) audience can appreciate this:

http://universe.byu.edu/index.php/2011/09/06/letter-crosswalk-diversity/

Moon Shots

In hindsight, the post should probably be labeled "Obsession with low light sailboat photography with tilted horizon lines and a moon or two", but oh well.

A Friend We Met In Central Park

New York Continued

My travel companions: Leesa, an old friend from the Colony days and Drew, who I met out here. They are both interning in NYC. We rented a row boat in Central Park. Crossing a street somewhere. The best bagel I've ever had. Central Station. The Met. The Met. The best burger I've ever had (it included a fried portobello mushroom stuffed with cheese).

So if you ever want to go to New York, go with people who either live there or know it well. This made it 0% stressful. Except when the crazy man on the subway next to you starts making up songs and singing them just for you, of course.

New York

I'm feeling lazy, but here's a couple pictures: Time Square, Near Twin Towers, From the Ferry, From the top of the Rockefeller.

Pic of the Day

Guess What I Found...

After about 4 hours of work - including paddling the slowly flooding vessel about 150 yards - she's safely back in her home port. Drydocked, of course.

Sidenote: Am I doing something wrong, or is it always difficult to rearrange pictures in blogger? Unless there's a better way, I'm moving this esteemed piece of work to tumblr or something. Because it's seriously that annoying.

Bob Marley and the Sailors

So amazon lied when it said they would get it to me by Thursday.... so they could surprise me and get it here today!

So the camera is supposedly waterproof to 40 ft, shockproof from 6 ft, and molten hot magma proof to the edge of earth's mantle. Mostly. But it still takes nice pictures.

Awwwwww.....

And then the wind blew.

And the sunset was pretty, all for me.

Well, when you're this good looking, you deserve it.

And it does 1080p video (Though obviously blogger won't host it that big. Cheapskates.)

So... I might actually post things once in a while now. But don't hold your breath.

And You Thought I Was Frugal... And That I Had Hair

Just dropped a little over 300 bones on a camera that hopefully won't jam up the first time it touches southern Utah sand (Panasonic TS3 for you camera people). I'll post some pictures of my shaved head with it when it gets here Thursday.

Marten vs. Weasel

I don't always post links on my wall, but when I do, I prefer posts about weasels.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015263780_apwadeadweaselassault.html

It Seems Some False Rumors Have Been Floating Around

Dear Kathleen,

I'm sorry you thought I couldn't come to the beach! I am planning on coming and have already talked to my mean mean boss. I had to argue with him for hours until he would let me come. I told him that if I didn't come Kathleen would be very mad and that the last thing he wanted was an angry Kathleen. So don't worry, I'll make sure to be there so we can have lots fun swimming and boating and causing a general ruckus.

Love,

Sam

P.S. I wanted to hand write this letter and scan it, but I'm not as tech savvy as your mom.

Two Thoughts on Employment

First, I've decided that work (even worthless work) is about 5x more fulfilling and 10x more educational than school. So, I've decided to graduate.

Second, working means that after 4:30, I can do whatever I want. I like this. However, while it is more socially acceptable to be employed, there's no girls to impress here.

Oh, And In Case You Haven't Heard

I'm now employed. Unless I fail a drug test or a background check or my car blows up on the way to Maryland, of course. All very unlikely things.

I'll be an intern at BAE Systems, a very large military government contractor. I'll be living with the ever so gracious Hendersons in Leonardtown and am driving out starting tomorrow.

Insert Huge Sigh of Relief here.

The Secret's Out

Turns out Ryan, Dave and I like to play music sometimes.

(Velour Open Mic 5/10/11 - Dave had a baby emergency)

Who knew?

This also happened to be the last time I'll probably get to play music with Ryan for the foreseeable future. By the time I get back to Provo, he'll have moved to Pittsburgh for a Master's Degree. It was a blast, and I'm glad we pulled it off before I left.

Two Thoughts on Unemployment

First, I want to mention how much I hate answering the question "So are you taking classes spring?" which is immediately followed by "Oh so are you working?" after which I am forced to make an embarrassed look and a self deprecating joke about how I'm a unemployed bum and don't know what to do with myself, and then if I want to gain some self respect I mention how I might be moving to Maryland to work, which isn't completely honest since I don't have anything for certain yet, after which the girl will in some cases continue the conversation for longer than 2 minutes if she's nice or in other cases 1) cut short the conversation because there's a cute guy across the room who probably is not such a bum or 2) cut short the conversation because there's a cute guy across the room who will probably be here for the duration of summer, at which point I will likely try to talk to someone new who will invariably ask those same two questions, a situation which I only share with you, dearest reader, to illustrate how much I want to have a job.

Second... its simultaneously relaxing and maddening to have so much free time every day.

My Current Digs

Approximately 150% more spacious than my previous living quarters. And what do when I'm not job searching?

Yup, annoy the heck out of the neighbors (Don't worry, they started it).

Watch This

Brandon Davies (who has been key in big wins) has been kicked off the BYU basketball team for an unknown Honor Code violation.

I'm sad about Davies, but I like this:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6174077

Jimmer

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/22753/jimmer-mania-gives-us-epic-facebook-thread

Please read this. And make sure to click the link where it shows the whole thing.

Its Back!

I now have the tools to terrorize the internet once more. And waste a lot more time.

A Short History

Feb, 2010: Wifi card stops working.

March: Screen starts to die.

May: Laptop mailed in, returned with wifi good, screen bad

June-July: Laptop mailed in again, returned with screen better... then bad.

October: Screen dies completely

Another box is requested.

Mid October: Box never arrives.

Late October: Sony calls about box. I kindly tell them to stuff it.

November: Bring laptop to local repair place. Technician confident in cheap fix.

Late November: After three weeks I call. Finally told that to fix will cost $500 bucks (??). Try to charge a $50 diagnosis fee (for a diagnosis I gave them). I kindly tell them to stuff it.

December: Call Sony for box.

Mid December: Call because box hasn't arrived - "Oh, yeah,

sorry, we'll send it right away. Yes, that's the address we have."

Mid December: "Oh, right, no we'll send it this time for sure."

January 5th, 2010: "Oh........ um...... yeah......

We've been sending boxes to Alaska."

Januray 10th:

Now was that so hard?

to be continued....

Note:

I just realized that this blog has essentially become an adventure-reporting blog. I'm sorry. I'll try to mix it up in the future, ok? Ok.

Delta River: August in Alaska

Everyone except Mike (Sorry Mike) got two days off in Alaska about 2 weeks before the end of the season. Our purpose was to run the Delta from where it starts at Tangle Lakes until it reaches the Richardson Highway. This section is about 29 miles long, and is usually done over three days with a lot of beer and trout fishing along the way. We had neither beer nor time, so we were forced to do it in two.

We set off with mostly flat water and/or very shallow streams.

Picked a spot about 8 miles down river between two mountains for camp. There was no evidence that anyone had been there before. Like, ever.

Set off the following morning.

Portaged the only big rapids.

And lazily continued down the ol' Delta

And then prayed Alaskans were nice to hitch-hikers.

They were. The end.

PS. I think Scott has pictures of how we (mostly) fit two canoes, four guys and their stuff into a 15 passenger van.