Ascentionist

Sci-Fi Non-Review: The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin

2012-01-19T10:19:00.003-07:00

I just finished Ursula K Le Guin's Hugo and Nebula winner The Dispossessed. I did thoroughly enjoy the book, and despite some delays on my part, I read it fairly quickly.

My first experience with Le Guin's work was in my sci-fi literature class at EKU. One of the required readings was The Left Hand of Darkness. At the beginning of the class it was the reading I was least enthused to tackle, but halfway through the book was enthralled. I always wanted to go back and read it again but have since misplaced my copy.

During that semester I found a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea in the campus book store for 50¢ and snatched it up immediately. I consumed it in no time and absolutely loved the short book. Again, I somehow misplaced my (cheap) copy, though I recently found another copy almost as cheap.

So why am I refusing to review The Dispossessed presently? Much like The Left Hand of Darkness I feel I need a second reading to better understand the book. I rarely use study guides or commentaries to help me understand a book, and even if I do resort to the viewpoints of others to aid in my own understanding, I like to do it after my initial reading so as not to spoil my own "first experience" with the work. First Experience is something I tend to hold sacred in regards to fiction. I value my own impressions of the characters, my own visualizations of the settings and beings portrayed, over those of others. That's why I will always try to read a book before watching a film adaptation, if I think it is a work I will enjoy. I also think this is why I am strongly critical of subsequent portrayals.

There are a lot of things I like about the book. The nature of a dual-planet system is terribly interesting, the duality of the Cetians culture, the interplay between the Urrasti and Anarresti and the history behind the separation of the two is engaging and worthy of further understanding.

The one real thread that caught my attention regarded the shortcomings of the anarchist Odonian society. The anarchists left Urras to settle on Anarres, which is a much less suitable planet for sustaining life. While they founded their society on anarchist principles, Shevek—the book's protagonist—discovers that social constraints have evolved that increase bureaucracy, centralization and alienation. While the subtitle of the book is An Ambiguous Utopia, we see that Anarres is by no means the perfect world as it struggles with resource scarcity, environmental health issues and the growth pains of a new society.

So there you go, my non-review review. I promise, once I give it a good second reading and read some further commentary I will slam dunk this review for your yawning pleasure.

Awards:

Nebula Award for Best Novel 1974
Hugo Award 1975
Locus Award 1975
Nominated for the John W Campbell Memorial Award 1975

Sci-Fi Review: "The Waveries" Short Story

2012-01-12T21:50:00.001-07:00

I was unfamiliar with Frederic Brown until I picked up "The Waveries." But it turns out I was. He wrote a short story entitled "Arena" on which a Star Trek episode of the same name was based.

And then there is the exquisitely brief "Answer", which seems to have been an inspiration for Douglas Adams' Deep Thought. While hardly more than a thumbnail sketch, it gets the point across rather well.

"The Waveries" is one of those stories that hook you and reel you in before you know it. It has some great imagery, and a great resolution, though it leaves you with some mystery and a few questions left unanswered.

I was hooked at the third paragraph:

"George Bailey wrote advertising for the radio. The only thing he hated worse than advertising was radio."

"The Waveries" describes the story of an invasion of earth by beings not quite organic, drawn to the planet through space by radio and other transmissions that had drifted through space. Caught up in the "scent" the wave-like beings surround the earth and begin siphoning off any electricity generated anywhere on the planet, effectively de-industrializing the earth overnight. And the story takes us just far enough ahead to see that humanity adapts and rebuilds society as best they can.

Once George Bailey and Pete Mulvaney, a recently unemployed research technician, realize that machines are going to be defunct very quickly due to the "invasion" by the 'vaders (short for invaders) they start to come to some logical conclusions:

"George shook his head slowly, in wonder. He said, 'Streetcars and buses, ocean liners-Pete, this means we’re going back to the original source of horsepower. Horses. If you want to invest, buy horses.
Particularly mares. A brood mare is going to be worth a thousand times her weight in platinum.'
'Right. But don’t forget steam. We’ll still have steam engines, stationary and locomotive.'
'Sure, that’s right. The iron horse again, for the long hauls. But Dobbin for the short ones. Can you ride, Peter?'
'Used to, but I think I’m getting too old. I’ll settle for a bicycle. Say, better buy a bike first thing
tomorrow before the run on them starts. I know I’m going to.'
'Good tip. And I used to be a good bike rider. It’ll be swell with no autos around to louse you up.'"

From that point Brown begins to outline a somewhat feasible plan for any government faced with industrial collapse. Was Kunstler inspired by Brown in writing his "World Made by Hand" series?

The story jumps forward in time to 1981 where we find George Bailey—again—waiting for the train to come in to the small town he's adopted as home. And off the train steps a tall figure. On the buggy ride back to George's house he asks his old friend Pete Mulvaney:

"How’s New York?”
“Fine, George. Down to its last million people, and stabilizing there. No crowding and plenty of room for everybody. The air-why, it’s better than Atlantic City, without gasoline fumes.”
“Enough horses to go around yet?”
“Almost. But bicycling’s the craze; the factories can’t turn out enough to meet the demand. There’s a cycling club in almost every block and all the able-bodied cycle to and from work. Doing ‘em good, too; a few more years and the doctors will go on short rations.”
“You got a bike?”
“Sure, a pre-vader one. Average five miles a day on it, and I eat like a horse.”

"The Waveries" starts off in typical pulp sci-fi tones, but it offers a surprising twist, and an even more surprising glimpse of the post-apocalyptic world that that would be a sure effect of most of the pulp alien invasion stories of the '50s that never seemed to get much press. It was nominated for a retro Hugo for best short story in 1996 and lost to Hal Clement's "Uncommon Sense." The story was originally published in 1945.

Sci-Fi Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz

2012-01-11T13:51:00.001-07:00

[Spoiler warning throughout]

Despite seeing A Canticle for Leibowitz pop up in science fiction literary environs for quite some time, I had always resisted picking it up because the premise didn't interest me much. Frankly, the Catholic slant turned me off.

But as I worked to refine my Hugo and Nebula reading list I kept Canticle on it time and time again. I could never bring myself to totally remove it, recognizing that it is highly regarded as a classic post-apocalyptic work and being favorable to that particular sub-genre over most others, so it has remained.

A pre-Christmas trip to the used book store yielded a lightly used and dirt cheap copy, so I tucked it in my pile and brought it home. Oddly, Canticle drifted to the top of the pile, and when I reached for my next book to read over the holidays I decided to go ahead and get it out of the way.

The book is well written, engaging and is tinged with some intelligent humor along the way. I could almost imagine some of the more light-hearted passages being acted out by somber Monty Python members. But the deeper story of Leibowitz slowly unfolds, and the backstory concerning the mythical Flame Deluge is finally revealed in a way the modern reader can understand.

The religious undertones aren't as distracting as I'd imagined they'd be. And in fact, the context of the story makes sense to lead the action forward even as Dom Paulo led the blue-headed goat to Benjamin. As a Catholic convert, Miller writes what he knows, and he both knows and writes it well. The story is somewhat believable, despite the fantastical premise.

In the initial section, "Fiat Homo" (let there be man), we are introduced to Brother Francis, the discoverer of an important piece of Memorabilia from our own time period and Benjamin, the Old Jew. We are also witness to the canonization of Saint Leibowitz, a 20th century technician, who, after the Flame Deluge attempted to preserve 20th century technological documents for the benefit of future generations. He was martyred for his efforts.

We then move into the meat of the book, "Fiat Lux" (let there be light) which takes place in the 32nd century, and which to me seems to have influenced, or at least prefaced, David Robbins' Endworld series of post-apocalyptic novels.

One of the more halting moments is when A Brother Reader (character) reads from the ancient text describing the apocalyptic event, the Flame Deluge, and finally gives us an explanation for how Miller's world changed:

"And the prince smote the cities of his enemies with the new fire, and for three more days and nights did his great catapults and metal birds rain wrath upon them. Over each city a sun appeared and was brighter than the sun of heaven, and immediately that city withered and melted as wax under the torch, and the people thereof did stop in the streets and their skins smoked and they became as fagots thrown on the coals. And when the fury of the sun had faded, the city was in flames; and a great thunder came out of the sky, like the great battering-ram PIK-A-DON, to crush it utterly. Poisonous fumes fell over the land, and the land was aglow by night with the afterfire and the curse of the afterfire which caused a scurf on the skin and made the hair to fall and the blood to die in the veins.
"And a great stink went up from the Earth, even unto Heaven. Like unto Sodom and Gomorrah was the Earth and the ruins thereof, even in the land of that certain prince, for his enemies did not withhold their vengeance, sending fire in turn to engulf his cities as their own. The stink of the carnage was exceedingly offensive to the Lord, Who spoke unto the prince Name, saying: 'WHAT BURNT OFFERING IS THIS THAT YOU HAVE PREPARED BEFORE ME? WHAT IS THIS SAVOR THAT ARISES FROM THE PLACE OF HOLOCAUST? HAVE YOU MADE ME A HOLOCAUST OF SHEEP OR GOATS, OR OFFERED A CALF UNTO GOD?'
"But the prince answered him not, and God said: 'YOU HAVE MADE ME A HOLOCAUST OF MY SONS.'"

But later, as Thon Taddeo, a secular scholar who is a guest of the Albertian Order of St. Leibowitz to study the Blessed Memorabilia, in a charged speech before the monks, prophesied: "A century from now, men will fly through the air in mechanical birds. Metal carriages will race along roads of man-made stone.There will be buildings of thirty stories, ships that go under the sea, machines to perform all works."

And as he implored the monks to share their knowledge he said: "Ignorance is king. Many would not profit by his abdication. Many enrich themselves by means of his dark monarchy." The Thon recognized, unlike the monks, that the sole purpose of preserving those works of knowledge was not to give them a reason to continue preserving them, that the knowledge needed to see the light of day to be beneficial to the world. Their value lay in being shared, not preserved.

The final part of the novel is entitled ""Fiat Voluntas Tua" (Let Thy Will Be Done) and it begins "There were spaceships again in that century..." The century in question is the 38th. Man has dragged himself out of the dark and dusty interim between apocalypse and technological rebirth. In the first two parts I was moderately enthused, liking the story because of its depiction of a post-apocalyptic landscape and the portrayal of those who would live in that time. But the final part of the book is quite a surprising change of scenery, though somewhat foreshadowed by Thon Taddeo's predictions in the previous part.

Again, Miller interjects some humor, describing the spacemen of the future (from the viewpoint of intelligent entities from Arcturus) as "fuzzy impossibilities" who are "impassioned after-dinner speechmakers." Could Douglas Adams have been inspired by language such as: "...they felt (and not for the first time) that such a race go forth to conquer the stars. To conquer them several times, if need be, and certainly to make speeches about the conquest."

I found myself amazed that Miller takes us from a wasted world, destroyed by nuclear holocaust, and then drops us back into the future timestream just as humanity is poised on the cusp of destroying itself again, in the same manner, having learned nothing from history, as humanity is chronically prone to do.

As the book closes out, the Albertian Order of St. Leibowitz is striking out to colonize the stars and to preserve the Memorabilia beyond the confines of earth, to take it out of reach of the hands that would destroy everything under the sun. And the lesson to be taken from Canticle is that God does not privilege mankind with the ability to commit omnicide. While I am not a catholic, my faith gives me a similar perspective regarding Scripture, that mankind may be able to utterly destroy civilization, but through Providence a remnant will survive and preserve Inspiration.

God alone reserves the ability to end the time of man in the universe.

I had read that some people consider Canticle as one of the best works in the genre, and I was skeptical as I began reading. After finishing the book I had to release my skepticism. And while I wouldn't claim it as my own favorite in the genre, I would have to say that it is probably in my top five. That ranking might be a good topic for a future post.

A Canticle for Leibowitz was written by Walter M. Miller, Jr. And first published completely in 1959. Its origins are in short stories published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It received the Hugo Award for best novel in 1960. You can find it in a fine used bookstore near you. I do believe it's still in print if you feel determined to buy it new.

Priorities: Snow Days

2012-01-11T13:24:00.001-07:00

[Most of this was written a few weeks ago, but since the weather has been deteriorating all day I felt it was a good day to throw this one out]

Today should be a snow day. It's not. I'm sitting at work writing this.

For fear of sounding like a whiner, I'm going to attack this issue. I assure you, I'm not whining, I am righteously outraged.

5:45am: "All County offices, and the Courts, are open." Grrr...

We only got 11 inches of snow in town. But it came down in less than 12 hours and its still coming down. Some parts of the county got 3 feet.

I would venture to say, with some authority, that the vast majority of people do not enjoy, look forward too, or appreciate having to drive in bad weather on snowy and icy roads. I know this because the vast majority of people I have ever known have complained about having to drive in bad weather on snowy and icy roads. Very few claim to enjoy it.

The truth of the matter is that I actually like getting out in bad weather. The worse the weather, the more I enjoy it. But I do not like to be compelled to put myself at risk. I like to be in control of when I go and where I go. Being expected to show up at work at a certain time puts too many constraints on my comfort levels.

And even considering myself "comfortable" driving in bad weather, there is still a heightened stress level. You can never control the other driver and therefore you are always subject to the poor judgement of someone else.

So when the powers that be, those that get to make the decisions affecting a large number of people, decide to force everyone else to come in to work when they truly should stay off the roads what message are they sending?

In the private sector the message is clear: profits before people. The need of the business to make a few more dollars outweighs and personal risk of any of the individual employees, even those making the decisions to call off work for the day or not.

But what of the public sector, where profit is no factor? Well, that is the interesting part. The public sector seems to be pressured by the private sector to follow its example. It is the effort of corporatists to mold everyone's thinking to see the world simply as "profits before people."

But other than the perception of reduced revenues, what are the real consequences to calling off a day of work for poor weather conditions? In most cases there are no real consequences.

In our modern society few people do real work which affects the day to day survival of the majority of other people. There are admittedly some crucial services which must be maintained, but most people are not employed in life-sustaining pursuits. If the rest of us were to just stay off the roads, then those that must be out and about would be able to do so in a much safer environment.

Wait, you are going to argue and say: but there ARE consequences! If I don't come in every time the roads are slick I will be penalized. My firm will lose money and it will reflect poorly on me.

Are those real consequences or abstract consequences? Here is the test:

Will your ABSENCE from the work place case bodily harm to any other human being either on the day of your absence or within a reasonable amount of time? If you answer "yes" then there are real consequences. If you answer "no" then there are only abstract consequences.

Profit is an abstraction. These days almost no one does work that directly provides water, food or shelter for their own household. We all work for pay, which we then exchange for goods and services provided by other people.

The question is not whether or not your job is a necessary component of the economy or society, but whether or not it has some acute bearing on the health, safety or welfare of people. If you man the power station then yes, you probably need to be at work in our current societal configuration. Most people are not prepared to lose their heat and/or electricity in the middle of winter. If you are a bank teller, then no one is going to die if you are late to work or stay home. And the power station worker can still do their job even if they can't do their banking on any given day.

And in the case of the power station worker, profits, while still a component, are not the primary concern. There is a greater good that is served by keeping the lights on.

Where is the greater good served by forcing the DMV clerk to come in? The coffee kiosk worker? The grocery store employee making minimum wage and traveling by public transportation?

I work in permit review. I can honestly say that any delay in issuing a fence permit due to inclement weather will cause no adverse effects. The fence permit will still be required once the snow goes away, and no one can build a fence in this weather anyway. There is no loss in revenue, no loss of time for the applicant and therefore no real consequences.

We should not tolerate unreasonable abstract consequences. Your employer should not be able to penalize you for being late on days where there is snow and/or ice on the roads. I have worked in places where that was the policy though, snow or not, if you were late it would count against you. I have also worked in places that penalized you for calling in, even if you were physically unable to make it to work.

Unfortunately, as lowly employees we do not have the right to question the authority of their employers. But the reality is that sometimes individuals make better judgment calls than the powers that be.

My wife's first teaching job was in a rural Eastern Kentucky county, an hour east from where we lived at the time over bad roads. In bad weather the roads were downright deadly. One particular morning we woke to find that every county in the eastern half of the state had called off school for the day due to snow except the county where she worked.

I implored her not to go. I told her they could not penalize her for begin unable to get out, but she insisted on going in against both our better judgments. That morning in that particular school district a school bus and two other teachers on their way in to school slid off the road and became stuck. My wife made it safely (barely) to school and back, but there was no good reason for her to have gone in. On top of the fact that it was highly dangerous, there were also very few students that made it that day.

So why did that one school district choose to have school on the worst day of the winter, when all the other schools in the region cancelled without a second thought? The person who normally made the call to cancel school was out of town. Otherwise school would have been cancelled.

And this belies our complete and total sellout to the notion that the show must go on no matter how dangerous, no matter how ridiculous, no matter how absurd. Because no one would make the call, everyone tried to get in to work against their better judgment and the lives of teachers and students were at risk. But no one would stand up against something that just didn't seem right.

We're so scared of losing our jobs we will put our health and property (typically our expensive cars) in jeopardy to appease the corporatist demons and appeasers.

Reality is somewhat different than we've been conditioned to believe. If I stay home on a wretchedly cold and miserable day I have hurt no one. The climate is not such where I live that I won't be back at work within a day, two at the most, and I would have plenty of time to catch up any work delayed.

My position typically sees busier times when the weather is more favorable, when there are far fewer natural reasons to miss. But the expectation never wanes. Always. Ever. Never miss. Never exercise the common sense you are blessed with, ignore those instincts and feed the demons.

Sci-Fi Review: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

2011-12-22T10:11:00.004-07:00

WARNING: Slight spoiler!

Published in the year of my birth, 1974, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman initially harkens back to Heinlein's late Fifties classic Starship Troopers. There are some distinct similarities between Troopers and the first half of Forever.

Both tales are told in the first person, from the point of view of soldiers serving humankind in an intergalactic war with alien beings. Both describe life aboard a military spacecraft and the nuts and bolts of traveling through space and soldiering in unconventional environments. Haldeman focuses some attention on the phenomenon of time dilation as experienced by people traveling through space at near the speed of light.

While I much more thoroughly enjoy Heinlein's depiction of the extra-terrestrial soldier, I do enjoy Haldeman's characters' return to Earth after being away (relatively speaking) and finding things vastly different than they had left them. In a way, the characters experience the future world of The Forever War much like the reader experiences it. It is different, strange and seems to be a vision realized by an earlier generation.

And the twist comes when our protagonist and his love interest get dragged back into the war, sent off at relativistic speed and face new realities that change almost daily.

The novel is well paced, with good bits of action interjected in the overall story. The climax battle scene is interesting enough without dragging the reader into a long description of useless technical data. In some ways Haldeman paints a more believeable picture of interstellar war than Heinlein does. Though in my mind both pale against Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.

The ending is partly predictable, but even the narrator alludes to the possible outcome early on. The twist that Haldeman offers is a nice unexpected gift, and resolves the story nicely. While I still like Starship Troopers better, Haldeman's The Forever War is right up there and adds some substance to the sub-genre.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is another title on my Hugo and Nebula List. Also check out "Tricentennial" which is a short story by Haldeman.

Reportedly, Blade Runner director Ridley Scott, has the rights to the film version of Haldeman's classic. Hopefully he will make a film of the same caliber as Blade Runner without giving in to the allure of flashy CGI over good storytelling.

Supposed concept art for film by Steve Simmons

Hugo and Nebula List (To Read)

2011-12-14T13:26:00.007-07:00

So as I've explained in more detail in my previous post, I have compiled a list of Hugo and Nebula Award winners to read as a motivational tool, and to involuntarily introduce myself to new science fiction literature.

If you just copy and past all of the nominees and winners in all categories you come up with a word doc that is literally 50 plus pages. So I whittled the list down. The first hack took out all of the novellas, novelettes and short stories that I did not have some direct interest in, or had been recommended to read. For example, I kept in Enemy Mine by Barry B. Longyear because I enjoyed the movie starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr. I kept in "Bicycle Repairman" by Bruce Sterling because the title intrigues me. I kept in "Ridge Running" by Kim Stanley Robinson because I enjoy his work. And I kept in “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison because it is a title that pops up from time to time outside of my list and it seems as if I should read it.

For the novels, I started with the entire list of all nominees and winners from both lists and then title by title plugged them into Wikipedia for a synopsis. If the premise sounded dull or uninteresting I deleted it. If I could find nothing about a work but the title sounded interesting I kept it on the list. If I could find nothing and the title sounds lame I took it off.

What is left is my master list. This is the list I will refer to when I am looking for new things to read. It is still a pretty massive list. There are 233 titles, two of which are either sequels of part of a series that were not nominated or awarded either.

I've also found that when I come across a work by an author that has won a Hugo or Nebula, but the work itself has not been nominated or won, I am still apt to read the book. The best example of this is Nancy Kress' Probability Moon. It was never nominated, nor has it won either award, but I bought it because of the "author of..." blurb on the cover. I was pleasantly surprised as I read the book.

I cut a lot of fantasy out of the list, not be cause I don't like fantasy literature, but because I don't like it as much as I like sci-fi. And with fantasy I really have to be interested in the book before I pick it up. I was in my 30s before I finally read The Lord of the Rings. I resisted for a long time.

Another factor that influences my reading choices is this: as I've gotten older, and more knowledgeable, more experienced and more opinionated I find that books I would have enjoyed in my younger years do not interest me, or specifically turn me off because I disagree with the subject matter.

I'm more cognizant of humanistic slants, anti-religious themes and blatant contradictions of my personal beliefs. Sometimes I can overlook those things, but sometimes I can't. In fiction I have more success in just plodding through a book and enjoying the story, but in non-fiction I have a much lower BS threshold.

For the purpose of my master list I am organizing the works by author. I tend to group books this way as I read. If I find a book I like I tend to want to read more of that particular author, especially if there are more works by the author on the list.

Having said that, what follows is a list of books I am recommending to myself, in hopes that I will find some enjoyable stories. I've done all of this work so I might as well share it with the blogosphere.

The Hugo and Nebula Master List:

Brian Aldiss
Helliconia Spring
Helliconia Winter

Chester Anderson
The Butterfly Kid

Poul Anderson
We Have Fed Our Seas (alt: The Enemy Stars)
The High Crusade
Tau Zero
There Will Be Time
The People of the Wind
Fire Time

Piers Anthony
Chthon
Macroscope

Catherine Asaro
The Last Hawk

Isaac Asimov
Pebble in the Sky
The Caves of Steel
The Gods Themselves
The Robots of Dawn

A. A. Attanasio
Radix

Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale

Paolo Bacigalupi
The Wind Up Girl

John Barnes
Orbital Resonance

Christopher Barzak
The Love We Share Without Knowing

T. J. Bass
Half Past Human
The Godwhale

Greg Bear
Queen of Angels
Moving Mars

Gregory Benford
Timescape
Great Sky River (sequel to In the Ocean of Night and Across the Sea of Suns)

Alfred Bester
The Demolished Man

Michael Bishop
A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire

James Blish
A Case of Conscience

David Brin
Earth
Brightness Reef

John Brunner
The Whole Man (alt: The Telepathist)
The Squares of the City
Stand on Zanzibar
The Jagged Orbit
The Sheep Look Up

Tobias Buckell
Ragamuffin

Algis Budrys
Who?
Rogue Moon
Hard Landing

Emma Bull
Bone Dance

Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Talents

Arthur Byron
Autumn Angels

Orson Scott Card
Seventh Son
Red Prophet
Prentice Alvin

Jeffrey A. Carver
Eternity's End

C. J. Cherryh
The Faded Sun: Kesrith
Cuckoo’s Egg
Cyteen

Arthur C. Clarke
A Fall of Moondust
The Fountains of Paradise

Hal Clement
Mission of Gravity
Star Light (sequel to Mission of Gravity)

John Crowley
Little, Big

Samuel R. Delany
Babel-17
The Einstein Intersection
Nova
Dhalgren
Triton

Philip K. Dick
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dr. Bloodmoney

Gordon R. Dickson
Dorsai! (alt: The Genetic General)

Thomas M. Disch
On Wings of Song
The Genocides
334

Cory Doctorow
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Little Brother

George Alec Effinger
“Schrödinger’s Kitten”

Harlan Ellison
“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”
“A Boy and His Dog”

Kelley Eskridge
Solitaire

Philip José Farmer
To Your Scattered Bodies Go

Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book

Daniel F. Galouye
Dark Universe

David Gerrold
When Harlie Was One
The Man Who Folded Himself
“The Martian Child”

William Gibson
Count Zero
Virtual Light

William Gibson & Michael Swanwick
"Dogfight"

Kathleen Ann Goonan
Crescent City Rhapsody
Light Music

Joe Haldeman
Mindbridge
Forever Peace
Camouflage
"Tricentennial"
The Accidental Time Machine

Harry Harrison
Deathworld
Sense of Obligation (alt: Planet of the Damned)

Robert A. Heinlein
Double Star
Have Spacesuit – Will Travel
Glory Road
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Time Enough for Love
Friday
Job: A Comedy of Justice

Russell Hoban
Riddley Walker

John Kessel
Good News From Outer Space

Donald Kingsbury
Courtship Rite

Nancy Kress
Beggars in Spain
Beggars and Choosers (sequel to Beggars in Spain)

Geoffrey A. Landis
Mars Crossing

Ursula K. Le Guin
The Lathe of Heaven
The Dispossessed
Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
The Other Wind

Fritz Leiber
Destiny Times Three
The Big Time
The Wanderer

Murray Leinster
The Pirates of Ersatz (alt: The Pirates of Zan)

Barry B. Longyear
Enemy Mine

R. A. MacAvoy
Tea with the Black Dragon

Katherine MacLean
The Missing Man

Ken MacLeod
The Sky Road
Cosmonaut Keep
The Cassini Division

George R. R. Martin
Dying of the Light
A Storm of Swords (3rd in series)
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings

Jack McDevitt
Seeker
Chindi
Polaris
Odyssey
Cauldron

Vonda N. McIntyre
Dreamsnake

Suzy McKee Charnas
The Vampire Tapestry

Lois McMaster Bujold
Falling Free

Walter M. Miller, Jr.
A Canticle for Leibowitz

David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas: A Novel

Elizabeth Moon
Remnant Population

Larry Niven
Protector
The Integral Trees

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Mote in God’s Eye
Inferno
Lucifer’s Hammer
Footfall

David R. Palmer
Emergence

Edgar Pangborn
Davy

Alexei Panshin
Rite of Passage

Paul Park
Celestis

Mark Phillips (aka: Randall Garrett and
Laurence M. Janifer)
That Sweet Little Old Lady (alt: Brain Twister)

H. Beam Piper
Little Fuzzy

Frederik Pohl
Man Plus
Gateway
Jem
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon

Terry Pratchett
Going Postal
Making Money

Cherie Priest
Boneshaker

Christopher Priest
The Inverted World

Thomas Pynchon
Gravity's Rainbow

Tom Reamy
Blind Voices

Kim Stanley Robinson
“Ridge Running”
The Years of Rice and Salt
The Wild Shore

Joanna Russ
And Chaos Died

Eric Frank Russell
“Allamagoosa”

James H. Schmitz
The Witches of Karres

Bob Shaw
The Ragged Astronauts

Robert Sheckley
Time Killer (alt: Immortality, Inc.)

Lewis Shiner
Frontera

Robert Silverberg
Thorns
Up the Line
Tower of Glass
A Time of Changes
The Book of Skulls
Dying Inside
The Stochastic Man
Shadrach in the Furnace
Lord Valentine’s Castle

Clifford D. Simak
The Fisherman (alt: Time Is the Simplest Thing)
Here Gather the Stars (alt: Way Station)
The Goblin Reservation
A Choice of Gods
Project Pope

Cordwainer Smith
The Planet Buyer (alt: The Boy Who Bought Old Earth)

Edward E. Smith
Skylark DuQuesne

Norman Spinrad
Bug Jack Barron

Robert Stallman
The Orphan

Neal Stephenson
The Diamond Age
Cryptonomicon

Bruce Sterling
Islands in the Net
Holy Fire
“Bicycle Repairman”
Distraction

Bruce Sterling & Bill Gibson
The Difference Engine

Sean Stewart
Perfect Circle

Charles Stross
Singularity Sky

Theodore Sturgeon
More Than Human
Venus Plus X

Michael Swanwick
Stations of the Tide

Sheri S. Tepper
Grass

Walter Tevis
Mockingbird

Wilson Tucker
The Year of the Quiet Sun

George Turner
Drowning Towers

Harry Turtledove
How Few Remain

A. E. van Vogt
The World of Null-A

Jack Vance
The Dying Earth

Jeff VanderMeer
Finch

John Varley
Titan
Wizard
"Retrograde Summer"

Gore Vidal
Kalki

Joan D. Vinge
The Snow Queen
The Summer Queen (sequel to Snow Queen)

Vernor Vinge
A Deepness in the Sky
Rainbows End

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
The Sirens of Titan
Cat’s Cradle
Slaughterhouse-Five

Jo Walton
Farthing

James White
The Escape Orbit

Kate Wilhelm
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Juniper Time

Walter Jon Williams
Metropolitan (followed by City on Fire)

Connie Willis
To Say Nothing of the Dog
Passage

Robert Charles Wilson
Darwinia

Gene Wolfe
The Shadow of the Torturer (1st of four)
The Claw of the Conciliator (2nd of four)
The Sword of the Lictor (3rd of four)
The Citadel of the Autarch (4th of four, not a nominee or winner)
The Urth of the New Sun (5th of four)
Free Live Free

Roger Zelazny
…And Call Me Conrad (alt: This Immortal) (restored version, plus orig)
Lord of Light
Jack of Shadows
Doorways in the Sand

Hugo and Nebula List (Have Read)

2011-12-13T12:43:00.004-07:00

I'm a big fan of sci-fi. I've been reading sci-fi books since I was a wee lad. A few years ago I was having trouble getting interested in new books. Nothing seemed to pique my interest. While contemplating re-reading my favorite book, Ender's Game, for the gazillionth time I again noticed the little blurbs on the cover: "HUGO WINNER" and "NEBULA WINNER."

Instead of going back with Ender to battle school I googled "Hugo Award Winners" and "Nebula Award Winners" and came up with quite a list of books. I noticed I had already read many of them. And then I hatched a plan. I would read ALL of the Hugo and Nebula winners. Okay, so since then I've weeded out quite a few, and I've added in some of the novellas, novelettes and short stories.

The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. To vote you must be a member of the World Science Fiction Convention.

The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year.

What follows is the list of books I've read on both lists. The list starts with Hugos, if a title has an asterisk it is also on the Nebula list, but I didn't relist it with the Nebula winners. Many on the list were not winners, but only nominees, but I've included them as being worthy too. Those in bold are my favorites.

HUGOS

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

*Dune by Frank Herbert

*Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

*The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

*Ringworld by Larry Niven

Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

*Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

*The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

*“The Bicentennial Man” by Isaac Asimov

“Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card (short story)

The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

*“Mikal’s Songbird” by Orson Scott Card

“Unaccompanied Sonata” by Orson Scott Card

The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven

Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh

The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh

*Startide Rising by David Brin

*Neuromancer by William Gibson

*Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (the BEST)

*The Postman by David Brin (I read this one in a day)

“Green Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson

“The Fringe” by Orson Scott Card

*Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

*“Hatrack River” by Orson Scott Card

*“Robot Dreams” by Isaac Asimov

*The Uplift War by David Brin

*When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

“Eye for Eye” by Orson Scott Card

*Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson

“Dogwalker” by Orson Scott Card

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

*A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

*Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

*Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

*Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

*American Gods by Neil Gaiman

*Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

*The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

NEBULA

The Star Fox by Poul Anderson

"Driftglass" by Samuel R. Delany

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

"Unaccompanied Sonata" by Orson Scott Card

"The Way Station" by Stephen King

"Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson

"Burning Chrome" by William Gibson

Schmatrix by Bruce Sterling

"The Fringe" by Orson Scott Card

"Lost Boys" by Orson Scott Card

I AM the 99%

2011-10-04T10:31:00.006-07:00

I did not create this country. I have inherited it from my parents, who inherited it from their parents, who inherited it from their parents who inherited it from their parents who stole it from the natives. In my bloodline also flows native blood, though much diluted and long forgotten by the rest of the world. While I did not create the world I've come to inhabit, I will affect change when I can to make it a better place. While I cannot undo the injustices of the past, I can do my best to make up for them by creating positive externalities.

Back when I was racking up student loan debt pursuing a college degree I heard all about externalities in my Eco 120 class. There are positive and negative externalities. Negative externalities are things like pollution, fraud and robbery, while positive externalities are things that tend to build community and harmony with our fellow man.

While I see those in power creating a host of negative externalities I find myself increasingly apt to create positive externalities as I mature and as I grow as a citizen and good neighbor.

If I have time, energy and material resources I can give much back to my community, to those in need and I can feel good about it. But our current economic climate demands more of my resources, time and energy and leaves me with little left over, and hardly enough for my own needs.

I labored through college for seven years to obtain a piece of paper. That piece of paper cost me years of my life and somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 of debt. I'd love to return it at this point for a full refund. It did absolutely nothing for me. My time there was filled with attempts to indoctrinate me to leftist propaganda and useless banter about meaningless topics.

I needed the paper to get a job. But once I had the job I discovered that absolutely nothing I learned in those hallowed halls of knowledge translated to my chosen profession. Everything I learned about my job I learned...on the job. I didn't need the piece of paper, other than to show that I was part of the club of dupes that fell for the swindle.

I've gotten a much better education through my own efforts at the local library since I graduated than I ever could have in an institution.

So for a nifty pricetag of approximately $35k I wasted seven years of my life and all I have to show for it is this lousy college hoodie that I had to pay $50 for in the campus bookstore.

After I was a couple of years into my undergraduate sentence tuition went up. 23%. I had already invested too much time and money to quit in protest. My choices were that or continue in pursuit of the piece of paper. I chose...poorly. But I chose in the way I was expected to choose. And the next year tuition went up again. Double digits.

I was scammed. In all fairness, I chose to go to college. I mean, this is a free country. I could have chosen not to go to college and throw my money away. Right? Nobody made me rack up all that debt. Right?

Sure, and then my only career prospects involved greasy food stains and garbled drive-thru speakers. You can't raise a family on minimum wage, and you can't feel like a human being flipping burgers as a CAREER. In my hometown you can't even afford a cheap apartment on minimum wage. Wage slaves are dependent on the mercy of others for shelter and long term financial support.

I did make the choice not to go to college at first. In 1993, after a year of college, after seeing only a small amount of debt racking up I decided I'd be better off to drop out, save my money and just go to work. I didn't want to be rich after all. I just wanted to make enough money to satisfy my modest needs.

That didn't work out so well. A series of factory jobs schooled me in the fine art of wage slavery. My rights as a human being were taken away in exchange for the meagerest of paychecks. Now, when I was young I believed in hard work. I wanted to exhibit a fine work ethic, but after a few jobs of beating my head against a wall trying to increase my purchasing power that resolve was slowly worn away. No amount of hard work would change the fact that the American working class is at the mercy of their corporate masters. Those corporate masters do not value hard work and loyalty, only profit.

First I was fed up with the expense of education so escaped into the workforce, then I was fed up with the costs associated with the lack of education and escaped back into university. Both were bad choices.

About the time we were moving west my parents were losing everything. They (we) lost the outdoor recreation business we tried to build up as a family, but that faltered in the summer after 9/11 and declined each season after that. They were losing their house because they had an overwhelming amount of monthly debt. My mother sold cookware and my father had previously lost his job with the Federal Government (about ten years prior) and was unable to find a decent paying job that he was qualified for.

We couldn't sell the house we had bought from them a few years prior so we let them move in when they had to leave what they thought would be the last house they would ever live in. They went to debt counseling and started the long slog back to normality.

We tried to sell the house, in which we had $26,000 of equity in 2006 when we refinanced, but we were unable after the collapse of '08. I doubt we have any equity now. And I believe the equity we had then was just a mirage.

They've struggled for almost four years just to come up with the $400 we asked them for to cover the mortgage payment. Two years ago my mother fell down the basement steps. They had no health insurance at the time. I don't want to think about what would have happened to them if I had not been able to cover when they couldn't.

Our mortgage there has been held by at least four different lenders in seven years. The current lender, CitiMortgage, tried to force us to get floodplain insurance last year. The house is absolutely not in a floodplain. They told me I was going to have to hire a surveyor. Fortunately we had already had the property surveyed and I finally convinced them we didn't need the floodplain insurance. But by then they had already started paying for the insurance to "protect their investment." And they charged us for it. If my parents hadn't needed a place, if I hadn't been doing my best to care for them through these hard times I would have told Citi: "The keys are under the mat. Enjoy your waterfront property." But I didn't have that luxury.

I have two mortgages in my name totaling $210,000 in liabilities. We have one car we own outright. I have no retirement. I have at least $30,000 in student loan debt and my wife has slightly less. In ten years our oldest son will be ready to go off to college. My parents will be 67 and 65 and they have little to no retirement built up. In ten years I need to come up with a strategy to pay for two kids to go to college, my own retirement and come up with plan for taking care of my aging parents. I have one sister in a similar situation. Even between the two of us I'm not sure if we can do what must be done. It is a frightening and overwhelming prospect.

The saving grace is that my in-laws are in much better financial shape than my own parents, so at least the burden isn't doubled automatically. At least for now. Life happens.

These things have weighed on my mind for a few years now. I still don't have an answer or a strategy. So when my boss says "don't expect a raise before 2014" I get angry. I start looking for other jobs. Of course there are none. I can move neither upward or laterally to improve my situation. We've cut everything out of our lives we can without giving up simple comforts. We don't have basic cable. We don't go on vacations.

If I hadn't finished college and gotten the cubicle trap job I have now I would not have had the means to help my parents in their time of direst need. If I hadn't finished college against my better judgment at the time I wouldn't even have the hope of improving my situation to the point where I could save for my children's future.

I used to think my "failures" were due to poor choices on my part. I've come to realize that not only is the playing field unlevel, the rules are unclear and change frequently. Every time we make a hard decision based on what is best for our family, creating a small buffer to increase our ability to provide the things we need then something on the other end changes and we go back to having just enough to make it from paycheck to paycheck. While I tried to make the best decisions the game was rigged against me. And the rest of the 99%.

Here are MY demands:

1) I want the opportunity to earn a fair wage. I'm not lazy. I'm perfectly willing to work hard for my money. I want the opportunity to choose my profession and I want the chance to see the fruits of my labor.
2) I do not want to sink the majority of my earnings into health care, insurance, taxes or unfair fees or hidden costs associated with the use of my own money.
3) I AM the market and I'm tired of being told what I want and what I need. I will not accept goods that are second rate, unsustainable and detrimental to the public good any longer.
4) Take the profit out of health care. My health is not for sale. Privatization only benefits those who seek profit. Healthy people are not profitable to the health care industry or the drug companies.
5) Stop degrading my food with unsustainable agricultural practices. I should not have to fear that the food I eat is slowly killing me and my family.
6) Do not take away my freedom to choose what is best for me and my family. I am a law abiding citizen, with no desire to defraud or harm my neighbors or the government.
7) STOP predatory lending forever. Don't give credit to those who are not qualified for it.

Do not weep for me. Do not assume I'm looking for sympathy. I am an intelligent and strong person. I have a wonderful family and I will do whatever I must to care for them. The past couple of years I've come to realize that I need to better prepare myself to transition to a different kind of life. I need to be more resilient. I need to stop assuming the system is designed to HELP me.

Trust in that system is gone. It will never be restored. And if a new system is put in its place I will be there to help craft it, to help mold it into something that will benefit my children and their children so this never happens again. But I will caution them not to trust too deeply in any new system either. Trust in God. Trust in your own abilities. Do not trust in the institutions of man. They're too easily corrupted. Watch them closely. Tear them down when they cease to benefit all.

Occupy Wall Street. We ARE the 99%

Transiton and Occupation

2011-10-03T12:52:00.003-07:00

Cross posted at From the Pavement's Edge

I'm starting to see the not-so-diaphanous threads between the Transition Movement and this recent Occupy Together movement. The Occupy movement is a rising up of the people against those robber barons who've been sucking us dry for the past few decades. The Transition Movement is about voluntary simplicity across a network, its about becoming more reliant on your own skills within a community and its about community building.

What can be said against stronger communities in which to live? Strength does not come from unchecked growth. Strength comes from exercising the members you have to reach their maximum efficiency. Those who want to see their empires of wealth grow exponentially have sold us the lie that exponential growth is not only possible, but preferable.It is only a possibility for a few, not for the whole.

This movement is not socialism. This is not communism. This is capitalism at its best and a more healthy form of capitalism than what has been sold to us over the past 40 years.

In the past in have spoken about my "forced choice" to go carfree. However, its more accurate to say I choice between the lesser of "forced" choices. In going after my own so-called American Dream I followed the approved socioeconomic conventions. I graduated college. I got a job. I got a mortgage. I have student loan debt. I have no savings for my childrens' future. I have no retirement.

In seeking my path I made concessions I would rather not have made. I had to allow myself to be shackled to huge student loan debt. I moved 1200 miles from my hometown and my extended family to work. And I bought a modest house that I could barely afford, much further from my place of employ and the town where I work than I wanted to. Ten years ago my preferred choice would have been to find a good paying job in my hometown where I could raise my kids in relative safety and comfort while enriching my own life as I had opportunity.

Ten years ago I would have sworn a blood oath that I'd never work in an office. And today I sit in a cubicle writing this rant on an office computer sipping Starbucks coffee. My 27 year old self would punch my 37 year old self in the face and demand an explanation. There are days I want to shuck off the button up shirt and walk out. I want to work outside under the sun, tilling the earth to be rewarded with a tangible product from my day's labor.

Before I graduated college I lived in a place with a low cost of living but no decent jobs. It's a quiet town with basically good values and a bounty of natural beauty and resources. There is potential there for a thriving recreational economy, but there is little willingness to expand and explore that option. There is potential there for a thriving organic food movement. But again, little willingness and little vision to make it happen.

There were a few clear options left to me: no education meant minimum wage and poverty. Education meant student loan debt but no job prospects. Education plus staying put meant bankruptcy.

And so we moved west, to a metropolitan area that cannot naturally sustain its population. Water is pumped over mountains to keep the masses from being thirsty. The cost of living is high. And there is a tradeoff, as many of the things we would like to have seen as a part of the community we moved from are found here in spades. We like the social environment, but the costs are high, both socially and individually.

I landed in the Denver area in the winter of 2008. And I've been trapped here ever since. My dream was to get an education, get some experience and then find the BEST spot for my family to thrive. While we could have done much worse, we stay here largely because we have no other choice at this time.

That brings me back to the Transition Movement and how it has threads to this fledgling Occupy movement. I discovered Transition in my readings. I began a few years ago with "Your Money or Your Life" and moved on to "Affluenza" and some others. I eventually discovered James Howard Kunstler, first through a seeming planning tome called "The Geography of Nowhere" but then moved on to "The Long Emergency" which opened my eyes to the reality of Peak Oil. Once you break into Peak Oil, Transition is just around the corner. I think the best Peak Oil/Transition book I read was Richard Heinberg's "The Party's Over."

For awhile I believed I was just following some conspiracy theory thread about Peak Oil and the push to transition the American Way of Life into something more sustainable. I believed in it, because it sounds like the right thing to be doing, but I was skeptical that the movement had any credence. But I wanted it to be true. I have been so frustrated that my supposedly "good" choices in life have thwarted financial and social stability in my life.

And then I see people putting in "victory gardens" in their quarter acre suburban plots, I read about the wisdom of buying local organic food, when I hear people asking about backyard chickens in the suburbs or in the city...I see people exercising their freedom over their food. I see people who are concerned about the choices that have been taken away from them over the last few decades and wanting to make a change back to more sensible ways of doing things.

This whole movement, and group of movements, is all about people taking back their freedoms. People are sick and tired of being told that the market has dictated their choices when they know well and good that THEY ARE THE MARKET and they demand something else altogether. Profit has been dictating our choices for so long. Corporations do not heed the market's wishes. They only pursue the most profitable paths; even if that means lying, deceiving and coercing the average citizens of this country to buy things they do not need or want through devious methods. The deception is aimed at getting us to buy the objects that provide the corporations with the greatest profits possible.

People are taking back their freedom to choose healthy food over the poisoned and processed crap we've been handed. People are taking back their freedom to choose a more sustainable lifestyle, moving into cities and denser areas so they don't have to commute by car 100+ miles a day just to make ends meet. People are choosing not to shop at Walmart.

My wife and I find ourselves embracing this lifestyle because it makes sense. We're intelligent individuals and as a couple we can reason through just about anything. As we discuss the merits of growing our own food, raising chickens, rabbits and now the idea of a goat...as we discuss these things we pare away all of the fluff and we adapt the idea to our own situation and fit the pieces together in a way that makes sense for us.

We've never been apt to follow fads, and as we get deeper into the Transition Movement I am more and more certain that this is no hipster trend. While hipsters may participate, they are by no means the driving force behind the movement. It is people like us: parents, professionals, retirees, Boomers, twentysomethings, thirtysomethings...we're only a generation or two away from our forebears who lived through the Great Depression and a time of severe austerity, which was only punctuated by World War II.

Maybe our Depression era ancestors felt as if fate owed them something after WWII and they began paving the way toward our modern day cultural crisis. That's my theory anyway. The GI s returned home from defeating evil in the world and they were given this new thing called "suburbia" as their reward. No more toiling on the farm. No more struggling in poverty and scraping a living in the Dust Bowl. They were victorious over the trials of their generation and they settled into their Laz-E-Boys to savor TV dinners and forgot the horrors of the '30s and the War to End all Wars. I can't really begrudge them that.

There's no reason we can't rebuild those quaint communities we so love to see in movies, y'know, the ones that are all Victorian Homes along streets lined with huge oak or elm trees, where people can walk just down the block to the corner store for a newspaper and a gallon of fresh milk. We can have our backyard gardens. We can be healthy and live long lives because modern medicine has advanced so greatly in our lifetimes. We can throw off the shadows of cancer and heart disease. We can set aside a nest egg for our goals and dreams. Our kids can move to the other side of town instead of the other side of the country.

But the past two generations in this country have allowed Corporate interests to dictate our lives. Maybe we older generations don't really have a right to protest like the latest adult generation is. I think we should support them wholeheartedly. I don't think we have a right to pretend like we have no responsibility for the way things are today. I've been a legal adult for almost 20 years. I kept my head buried in the sand for a full ten of those years. I feel somewhat ashamed, even though I've been duped along with the rest of the country. I should have decided long ago to stop taking it with no protest.

I avoid thinking about the truly overwhelming aspects of my future. I'm not financial stable enough to take care of my parents as they age. And they have nothing in the bank to protect against aging and retiring. About the same time my parents will hit their 70s my children will be graduating high school and looking to my wife and I to help them get on their feet and get started with their lives outside our home. Today we live paycheck to paycheck. I only have ten or so years to prepare to take care of both my children and my parents.

I need opportunities NOW to increase my pay and move up the career ladder if I'm going to play along with the script I've been handed. And since it doesn't look like that's going to happen for (literally) years, as my boss continually reminds us, I have to start thinking hard about how I'm going to survive financially into my own elder years. I'm going to need my health, my energy and the knowledge and experience to carry me (us) through some hard times.

On Saturday I stood at the foot of the Colorado State Capitol steps and watched as a crowd of a few hundred multi-generational protestors demanded a change in the way things are. I applauded their sentiments. I almost wanted to add my own to the voices already raised in protest, but I held back. I'm not good in front of crowds. In my cowardice I silently began composing blog posts. But Dear Readers I do what I can.

My cycling is a part of my desire to be free from corporate plutocracy. My cycling is an exercise of my freedom to choose the path that's best for me and my family in this country. My bike has given me freedom to continue fighting for my own version of the American Dream. It has staved off individual financial hardship and collapse. My bike is the vehicle that will help me and my family Transition to a better place.

It shows us possibilities. It provides a greater margin of income for us. It inspires us to more resilient and sustainable practices for our home and the benefit of our future, as a family and as a part of our community. The bike plays a part in this for me and I know it must also play a part for many others.

If you're tired of the status quo, look to those who have been running the show for so long. Demand a change. Remember the lies we've been told. You know the truth. You can see it, feel it and hear it every day, hidden behind the advertising, behind the multitude of distractions that have been crafted to pacify us into submission.

It sounds like conspiracy theory, but you know in your heart that what I am saying is true. So they pump us full of chemicals without concern for our health? What can we do about it? So they lobby our leaders to pass laws that favor the rich over the average working class citizens? What can we do? So the economy is in the tank and no one has the answers to fix it? What can we do?

This.

www.occupytogether.org

And this.

transitionus.org

A Letter to My Children About 9/11

2011-09-09T11:22:00.001-07:00

To my children,

Ten years have passed and I still don't have the words to adequately describe my feelings about September 11, 2001. You were born into the world after and so you cannot truly share in the experience like those of us who watched in silent horror as two jet planes crashed into the two tallest buildings in the world and then as those buildings disintegrated into rubble in the middle of the busiest city in the country.

The events of that day changed our perceptions of the world. The events of that day took us into two wars. The events of that day will affect you in the world you've inherited from us.

You were born into a world where the official enemy of the State is the Islamic terrorist. I was born into a different world, one where the Red Commie was the mortal enemy of all that was good and right in the world. I grew up in a world that faced the daily threat of global annihilation through mutually assured destruction by nuclear holocaust. You are growing up in a world of elevated terror alerts and the threat of dirty bombs and suicide bombers.

Our worlds are not so different in that they have been crafted by the mainstream media to give us an enemy to focus upon. In our Orwellian society...oh wait, you're not old enough to have read and understood 1984 yet. We'll get to that soon enough.

I can't watch footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers and then of the Towers collapsing without fighting tears. And I can't explain to you why I'm emotional in view of that imagery. I wasn't there. I don't know anyone who died that day. I'm not sure what I mourn.

I'm not a patriot in the strictest sense of the word. I'm not proud of this country and I would not condone either of my children going off to war in a foreign land to defend American foreign policy. I'd fight it with all of my being if faced with that situation. I am a patriot in the sense that I believe in the ideals put down on paper by the founding fathers that enacted the hope of a better country for all who came to these shores. I don't think we've been true to their vision.

I believe it is right to sacrifice for what you believe in, but I don't believe we should die for lies.

And since I'm not a patriot...since I question the vague mantra "Support the Troops," since I have begun to think subversive thoughts...then why do I mourn the destruction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers? Were they not the symbols of hedonistic capitalism which I abhor? Of course. Have I not said all along that there was a reason those radically minded people hated our country enough to wreak such chaos and havoc on our lives? Most assuredly.

Then why do I have to scrub my burning eyes when I see those plumes of smoke, those people coated in the fallout from the towers, when I hear the recordings of the last phone calls by the victims played? Why?

After ten years I don't know.

One day soon I'll talk to the two of you about that day. I won't promise by then that I'll have an answer. I won't promise by then that I won't have more questions.

I'm not sure what I believe about the events of September 11, 2001. I know what I saw. I know what it looked like. I know what I've seen since. I just can't let my brain slow down enough to synthesize everything into a coherent picture of the whole. I won't let myself dwell too long on the images burned in my brain.

I had a part in bringing you into the world after having experienced 9/11, so I must think there is hope for mankind and for our society. Or maybe I did for awhile. I do have hope in you. I know you have a purpose in life and I will help you along in that purpose as long as I have the life and energy to do so.

In some ways I'm glad you were not born on that day. I can't imagine trying to explain to a young child what they were seeing on that day, as even the adults in the room were confused, stunned and traumatized. On that day there was no place for analysis. On that day we were all numb, beleaguered and knocked off balance. It took us some time to regain our stride. And then you came along...

You'll ask about that day soon enough, maybe even in a couple of days. I'll answer you as best I can, but please forgive my inability to tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about 9/11. It is not something I possess.

Summit Day: Success on Bison Peak

2011-06-25T19:51:00.002-07:00

I wasn't sure if I should start thinking about going down or not. But even if I decided we needed to go down I wasn't sure how we would manage. Mandy sat on the opposite side of the trail, elbows on knees and head bobbing as she nodded off again.

Glancing up I saw towers on a far peak and I realized I might possibly use the cell phone. I got it out of the pack, turned on the cellular data and saw a bar and a half. Hallelujah!

It took a couple of minutes of moving around on the slope looking for a clear line of sight to the distant towers, but I finally managed three bars and as soon as I had connectivity I googled "altitude sickness symptoms."

We've both been affected by altitude before. Mandy has never had trouble between 11-12,000'. We were just shy of 10,000' when she started nodding and being lethargic. As I perused the interweb she snoozed and I tried not to worry. But when I saw "fatigue" as a major symptom I let out a sigh of relief. I was concerned that something else was going on.

She finally stirred and I laid it out: "You're being affected by altitude. We need to decide if we're going to head down now, or if we're going to go on. If we go down, we need to go down NOW. It's after four o'clock. If we decide to go on we're committed and if you don't start feeling better we're going to have to stick it out for the night."

Mandy assured me she could make it to Bison Pass, a half mile distant and only a few hundred feet higher. We could see the pass above and I knew from my previous attempt on Bison Peak in the Tarryall Mountains in the Lost Creek Wilderness of Colorado that the pass is relatively flat and many good campsites exist there.

I knew all of this because on New Year's Day 2009 I drove from Denver to the Ute Creek Trailhead, arriving just after dawn, and I made my solo winter attempt on Bison.

I failed, mainly because of the effects of altitude, but partly because I carried too much crap. We had just bought cross country skis and I had not had a chance to use them, so I took them along hoping an opportunity would arise. I also took my snow shoes because I figured if I needed to slog through deep snow the skis wouldn't do me much good since I knew nothing about using them. Yeah, I know how that sounds.

I was barred from the true summit that cold day by the devious false summit which lured me into it's 5th class western side. I gave up as my head throbbed in the thin atmosphere. I bailed within a few hundred yards of the true summit. I discovered my folly when I returned home and checked out the area in Google Earth.

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I had not returned to attempt Bison in the intervening months because it was a long drive and a full day on the trail: 12.2 miles as listed on Summit Post. Our kids have been visiting family for the month of June and this weekend would be our last alone together before the kids return. We opted for backpacking, and Bison popped to the front of my mind and the top of my short list.

We threw it all together Thursday night. I had Friday off and the plan was to get up early and head out. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the trailhead, despite gas stops, traffic in the metro area and construction on Tarryall Creek Road.

We struck out from the trailhead about 11:30am. It was around three o'clock when Mandy started to feel the acute effects of altitude. Not without irony, the trail steepened around the same time. Our pace slowed to a crawl, almost literally. I began to fear another failed attempt on Bison. A second failure wouldn't bother me if it meant we were bailing so Mandy could feel better. I was okay with the idea of descending to alleviate her altitude sickness. I was miserable on my solo attempt on Bison. I took too little water and bit off more than I could chew. It's amazing to me, even now, that I didn't get stuck descending from Bison in the dark.

On this recent trip we took quite a bit of water, but it was still spare in context. After the second mile of the hike in there was no water source. I was hopinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif we'd find patches of snow or pools of water leftover from the snowmelt up high.

We struggled to Bison Pass and found a suitable campsite. We dropped the packs and then set about putting up the tent, stringing a line for a bear bag and fixing dinner. Mandy's spirits seemed to rise as we rested in camp. We talked about the next day and our plans. Water was going to be a concern. We had about two and a quarter liters. Altitude sickness was a related, but more pressing issue. Mandy felt better in camp and we agreed if she felt okay in the morning we'd make an attempt on the summit.

Camp was relaxing. We rested in the tent with the rain fly off as the sky darkened and the air cooled. At sunset the temperature was about 60°F and the forecasted low in Jefferson, about 2,000' lower in elevation, was 40°F. The temperature had dropped about ten degrees when the sun went down so I got out and put the fly on, but left the door unzipped.

Around ten o'clock I was tired enough so I shut the phone down, zipped up the fly door and turned in.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

As usual, I didn't sleep well in the great out-of-doors. It was TOO quiet. It was a calm night, very little wind, and nothing was stirring. I'm used to sleeping with the white noise of a fan, so the stillness, while soothing in its own right made it difficult to sleep.

It never got terribly cold. I checked the thermo-meter early in the morning before dawn and it was about 40°F in the tent.

We were both awake by 5:50am. We dressed and ate a cold breakfast and were on the trail headed toward the summit plateau of Bison by 7:00am.

Hiking slow, we took in the expanding view as we climbed toward treeline. We were first rewarded by a clear view of the Puma Hills, then very soon after we found an overlook where we saw a good portion of the Continental Divide as well as the lower peaks of the Tarryalls.

At our first stop we discussed out options. We'd talked about the potential side trip to McCurdy Peak the night before. McCurdy would be an additional 4 miles total for the day. We decided we'd give McCurdy a go first, and then bag Bison on the return trip since it was a shorter detour than McCurdy from the main trail.

Continuing our slow and steady pace we soon rose above treeline and the breathtaking views did not help our bodies acclimate any faster. The sun blazed over the ridge just as we reached the summit plateau.

We paused to survey Bison's summit area and then followed cairns across the tundra toward McCurdy.

We reached a point where it was obvious that an ascent of McCurdy from our current location was going to involve crossing a deep saddle. We could see the entire route and it looked straightforward, but neither of us had the gumption to make that crossing. We decided Bison would be enough for us for this trip.

When I had reached the summit plateau on my solo push the first day of 2009 I topped out on the plateau after slogging through deep snow from Bison Pass up through the trees to treeline. I had stashed my snowshoes and skis far below just before the Ute Creek Trail steepened. Wallowing in hip deep snow on a steep slope will take a lot out of you and magnify the effects of altitude whilst increasing your dehydration.

I staggered across the plateau toward the looming false summit full of determination that I would push through my pain and discomfort and summit. But I failed. My addled brain made some poor choices. I got sucked into a deep gully between the towering fins and domes of the false summit massif and tried to ascend some 5th class terrain. Finally I gave up. I was beaten. I was spent.

My long descent is foggy in my memory. I made it to the car before sunset, water bottles dry as my lips.

I drove home in darkness, dejected at my failure, but reveling in the experience.

Mandy and I strolled happily across the expansive summit plateau. I planned out a route as we looked up at the piles of huge stones around the summit.

Moving slowly we made steady time. Each time we tried to pick up the pace the thin air smacked us down. The last two or three hundred feet were steep and our path wound through boulders and slabs up through the tundra to the backside of the true summit.

At 9:30am we finally we sat at the top with an absolutely amazing panorama wrapped around us. Mount Evans to the north, The Divide to the northwest and west. Silverheels to the west above South Park and snowy peaks continuing south. Pikes Peak dominated the south with the southern summit plateau of Bison and McCurdy in the foreground. To the east jutted Buffalo Peak and Windy Peak as a backdrop for the rugged landscape of Lost Creek.

We signed the summit register "Found ourselves in Lost Creek Wilderness" and took the obligatory self portrait and began the long trek back. We left the pinnacle at ten o'clock.

Of course as we started down we both began to feel better. We were not pushing ourselves away from the earth any longer. We were letting gravity do the work. Recognizing that gravity would beat our feet and legs all to pieces over the next 6 miles as we would lose 3,500' in elevation., we took things slowly.

At noon we were at the Ute Creek and Brookside-McCurdy Trail junction on the west end of Bison Pass talking to a nice middle-aged couple who were headed for the summit of Bison Peak from the Lost Creek Trailhead. We had lunch in our bellies and all our gear packed up and on our backs.

Bidding the couple success on Bison and giving them a couple of pointers on finding the true summit we turned south and began the steep descent down the Ute Creek Trail.

We knew it was going to be rough. We knew it was going to be painful on our soft toes and unconditioned knees. We were right.

The water was gone. The sun was high and beating down on us. The trail was steep and gravelly and four miles long from Bison Pass back to the car.

Not far from the wilderness boundary we reached the highest source of water. Of course we were only about a mile and a half from the car at that point. We were just thirsty enough that it was worth getting the filter out and pumping a couple of liters of cold water.

Down. Down. Down. We continued as blisters formed. We continued as out feet ached more and more. Mandy's legs jellied. When she stopped and picked up a foot it shook like crazy. We talked about dinner. We sucked down the water as we hiked out.

Finally. Finally we reached the valley alongside Tarryall Creek. We could see the road across the valley and the stand of trees where the trailhead is located. The home stretch.

Mosquitoes drove us out of the parking area before we could stretch our legs at all. And then we were flying northwest on Tarryall Creek Road toward Jefferson.

At Jefferson we turned right on US 285 and were soon climbing over Kenosha Pass. I fought off sleepy as I pushed Forester Gump toward home.

It was a good trip. Mandy's first backpacking trip. It was my second attempt on Bison and her first. We found ourselves in Lost Creek Wilderness.

The Strategy of bin Laden's Death

2011-05-05T15:01:00.002-07:00

The course of events that led up to the death and alleged burial at sea of Osama bin Laden were strictly strategic in nature. There was no moral analysis that went into the planning of those events. Moral considerations were a luxury the US did not have in regard to the execution of justice for bin Laden's alleged crimes.

If bin Laden had been taken alive his physical location would become the focus of the world. His supporters would spare no expense, including acts of treachery, to exact his release. Westerners everywhere would be in danger of kidnap, torture and execution and/or mass terror attacks as bin Laden's supporters attempted to free him. He would not be safe from his captors, as many soldiers and other officials would bear tremendous hatred for what he represented. There is no guarantee that lynch mob justice would not be carried out, with the potential for enraging bin Laden's supporters even more.

If he had been killed and then his body turned over to his family or even to a neutral entity to dispose of as dictated by his religion, the site of his burial would become a symbolic location subject to further turmoil and would act as a rallying point for those who support the ideals of Al-Qaeda.

The quick execution and disposal were the only strategic options available. Presumably there is incontrovertible evidence that bin Laden is dead. Of course without the evidence the act as carried out serves little strategic importance as well. With no proof then bin Laden could still live as an ideological spectre indefinitely.

While the deeds that occurred could be construed as immoral or even criminal, to pursue and finally capture bin Laden there was only one course of action, to take him completely out of the equation. Any other path would have led to greater harm than good.

Of course the effects of killing him are yet to be seen. Only history will grant us the full picture of how the events of May 2, 2011 have affected the world.

My big question is: Why now? Bush dropped the ball. Obama carried through to the goal. Bush seemed to have as great a motivation for snagging the prize of a dead bin Laden, maybe even more so, as Obama. Why didn't W diligently pursue the enemy? Why did it take nearly ten years after 9/11 to finally catch bin Laden?

Cynics could point to the recent controversy over Obama's birth certificate, his falling ratings in the polls, or any number of less than admirable reasons for the timing.

Bin Laden's execution could be a very subtle message directed at Gaddhafi or other enemies of the West.

Obama may have just desired to clean house a bit, tie up an important loose end. I have doubts that it was only recently that we finally had enough intelligence to pinpoint bin Laden's true location. I just don't believe we wanted to catch him until now. There is a purpose behind the timing and the finality of the endgame of Osama bin Laden.

Hopefully we will look back with hindsight in years ahead and see that Osama bin Laden passed relatively quietly from life on this earth to meet his Maker. Hopefully we don't look back in a few days or weeks or months and look at a spree of death and destruction as evidence that Al-Qaeda still has vigor and purpose to apply to revenge.

Where I've Been

2011-04-13T07:34:00.002-07:00

Just in case you're wondering, I've been spending most of my blogging time over at my cycling blog: From the Pavement's Edge.

I've not abandoned this blog, but I've been kind of ate up with cycling for the past six months or so.

Sick of Thinking About Politics

2011-03-04T12:02:00.004-07:00

Today I read a NY Times article by Paul Krugman entitled "How to Kill a Recovery"

The title was intriguing to me (man, I'm getting so old) so I gave it a skim, and then a more focused reading after picking up a few highlights. Here are the highlights:

"As families have repaired their finances, they have increased their spending;"

Here is my contention: the economy is in the toilet and the pundits are going on about how great the recovery is going. I guess when you pick yourself up off the floor the view immediately gets "better." But if you stagger to your feet and then fall down the stairs…

Anyway, my contention is really this: "Spending" on things we didn’t need or deserve got us into this mess in the first place. We bought houses that were too big, too many too big cars, credit card spending sprees months away from Christmas, new shoes to match the new outfits we didn’t need, fast food for every meal because we got too lazy to cook and we moved out in the hinterlands necessitating a fill-up every time we sneezed because our commutes are getting longer and longer.

I know that a halt in spending would be "bad for the economy." At this point I think we have to look to things more real than the "economy." Our resources are becoming more expensive. No amount of gift giving to ourselves is going to make gas less expensive. If you peel back all the layers of the abstract of economy you'll see it. We won big earlier in the 20th century will abundant cheap oil, a World War won with us as the shining victor and relative peace in the interim. Well, the party is finally over. That foundation of cheap, abundant oil has fueled the overgrowth of our economy and population to the point that as the oil infrastructure becomes more fragile we find ourselves looking for that big stick to prop up the economy to keep it from collapsing. There is no big stick within reach. Nothing we currently know of can replace oil in our globalized economy and society.

We can’t go back to "business-as-usual" from the 1990s and early 2000s. If we do we're dooming ourselves to certain economic collapse. The builders and developers I work with on a daily basis are always asking, with wild desperation in their eyes, if things are "picking up." I know they equate the building of more McMansions as a sign that the lean days may be coming to an end, but I think the blinders of money, strapped on with cheap oil, are leading them to tenuous conclusions in which they put all of their faith. And it makes sense. They have nothing else in which to put their faith.

Krugman goes on to say later in the article:

"But it’s still a fragile process, especially given the effects of rising oil and food prices. These price rises have little to do with U.S. policy;"

In fact, the rising food an oil prices have EVERYTHING to do with U.S. policy. The U.S. and Canada are the breadbasket of the world. When the cost of doing business goes up in the good ole U. S. of A. we transfer those costs to the poor nations we supply food to. When we dedicate scads of acres of food production over to ethanol we drive the costs up artificially. When those countries begin to see a spike in food prices they tend to revolt. Unrest in those parts of the world cause panic in the stock market which in turn drives up the price of oil and food in the U.S. These rising prices have EVERYTHING to do with U.S. policy, both foreign and domestic. The U.S. is the disgusting, scabby, oil junkie in the room.

"Of course, Republicans believe, or at least pretend to believe, that the direct job-destroying effects of their proposals would be more than offset by a rise in business confidence. As I like to put it, they believe that the Confidence Fairy will make everything all right."

I have to chuckle at this statement. First, "business confidence" against the decline of resources and the diminishing economic fortitude of working Americans is like a sneeze in the middle of a hurricane. I won't get a raise because "business confidence" is high. Gas prices won’t magically plummet (in a healthy manner anyway) and I agree that ONLY the Confidence Fairy can make right the mess we've made for ourselves no matter where on the scale "business confidence" happens to fall.

"Business confidence" goes back to the wild-eyed, desperate builders and developers I see almost every day. They are grabbing at anything bobbing around in the flotsam and jetsam of our Hesperus society as evidence that we're headed back to "business-as-usual." They don’t realize the ship has wrecked and there is no rescue boat coming.

Finally, Krugman makes a startling comparison to Britain's government cutbacks and our own impending slash and burn events on the horizon:

"And do you remember the lavish praise heaped on Britain’s conservative government, which announced harsh austerity measures after it took office last May? How’s that going? Well, business confidence did not, in fact, rise when the plan was announced; it plunged, and has yet to recover. And recent surveys suggest that confidence has fallen even further among both businesses and consumers, indicating, as one report put it, that the private sector is 'unprepared to fill the hole left by public sector cuts.'"

In the U.K. private industry isn't tooled up to step in and take over government services that will be (or have already been) lost. In the U.S. we have a lot of unemployed and flat broke people who would love to be entrepreneurs, but they don’t have even a jar of pennies to dip into, much less the startup capital to pick up where government left off when the BIG BUDGET CUTS came.

Don’t get me wrong, I don't hate the Right any more than I hate the Left. I think both sides are ignoring the reality dose that's lurking right around the corner waiting to take a bite out of their rumps.

What happened to the days when I used to blather about schemes of mountains and my pontifications on past mediocre adventures? I miss them...

A Beautiful Truth

2011-02-09T07:11:00.006-07:00

I've finally had enough. I'm determined to get off of the Corporate approved American diet. We've decided to get away from all processed foods, all non-organic foods and hopefully we can avoid as many other chemicals that have been thoughtfully packaged for our consumption.

This is going to be a big change. I'm talking deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo...everything the Joker could have used to poison us back when he was played by Jack Nicholson.

Why the big change? I could say it's because I watched A Beautiful Truth and just decided. But the reality is a little more long winded and somewhat subtler. I watched A Beautiful Truth and just decided. But prior to watching it I had started to really feel as if the poisons of Corporate Greed were permeating everything in our lives. The evidence is everywhere. The effects can be seen bulging over the beltlines of everyone around us.

I'm mourning the body of my 20s. I used to be in pretty good shape, but a horrid diet of addiction to processed foods has robbed me of my energy and vitality and I want it back.

I'm sick of living in a fog. I'm tired of fighting myself within the wet paper sack. I think if I could get the chemicals out of my brain, or at least shut off the flow of new ones, I could forget I was ever diagnosed with ADHD. I'm confident of that.

A Beautiful Truth wasn't the only reason, it was just the proverbial straw that crippled a camel.

The Future of Food

A Crude Awakening

The Corporation

Collapse

Capitalism: A Love Story

The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

I want to do this for my kids. I want to do this for my family.

One of the reviews of A Beautiful Truth stated that the movie was too one sided. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the truth is one sided. And I'm sick and tired of the other side of the story. I'm tired of being subject to Corporate Lies and Propaganda. The Corporate Agenda.

But going back to The Corporation: a corporation, while a "person" by law, more resembles a psychopath than a well adjusted member of society. It's time to stop letting ourselves be duped by psychopaths.

I'm okay with accepting that A Beautiful Truth is one sided. It supports all the evidence I've seen throughout my life. My mind, in brief moments of clarity can see that oil is a finite resource, it has to be, and that we've almost exhausted the treasure in the chest. I can see for myself that the health of my generation is far inferior to the health of my grandparents', at least where they haven't succumbed to modern medicine. I can see for myself that corporations have looted, pillaged and raped the world and will continue to do so until we stop them cold.

Truth is one sided. Those who lie try to make you see both sides of an argument as valid.

Progress Report

2011-01-25T12:13:00.002-07:00

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Boone's first report card at the new school...

I am so thankful that we are able to have him there. It's a private Christian school with a small student population. Mandy is teaching there part time this year, and hopefully full time next year. With her working there and paying his tuition we have a little more leftover which covers general expenses associated with school and a few beans more.

He has been doing so much better than at Kendrick Lakes. He is even doing better (at least it seems to me) than when Mandy was home schooling him. Boone is such a social guy. Which is ironic, because while he is outgoing, he is also a little off-putting with his peers.

He gets frustrated when his classmates don't want to play his way. Rarely does he jump in to an existing play session or game without trying to modify it to his preference.

He is a smart kid. I think because we're aware of his quirks and able to communicate our awareness to him I hope and pray we can help him to adjust to more...I hate to use this word...acceptable social behavior.

While I don't believe in following social conventions for their own sake, I don't want to see my son suffer in his relationships.

I say these things only in analysis. In the recent months he has matured and he seems to be fitting in so much better than before. He's growing up and figuring things out on his own. And he figures things out so well.

Four Million Dollar Girl

2011-01-23T13:59:00.004-07:00

Lily Bean, a girl fully alive. Gentlemen, we can upgrade her. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic girl. Lily Bean will be that girl. Better than she was before. Better. Stronger. Faster.

She woke up this morning and she could leap tall dollhouses with a single bound. She could outrun older brothers, eat cake like a logger. She said she feels older and taller.

She got four single dollar bills from Papa and Grammy. She misplaced them yesterday and asked:

"Where's my million dollars?"

Then later it became 'four hundred dollars'.

Yesterday we went bowling with church. Looks like that's going to be our birthday ritual every year. This year she just wrestled the ball to the lane and flung it toward the pins instead of using the...I don't know, rack thingy that all the kids used last year.

We let her open her gifts yesterday and it was like a whirlwind blew through the house. Paper flew, shrieks abounded and things that were already in their proper places in her room got sucked into the vortex and ended up in the pile in the living room floor when the dust had settled.

Man, the last four years have been a whirlwind. Lily was born during the semester I finished up my undergraduate degree. Since then we've moved 1,200 miles and then some.

In her short life she's flown on a plane, taken a train, a cab, many buses, been to Yellowstone and the Tetons, been to Chicago, summited a 13er (and many smaller mountains), rock climbed, been bike packing, hiking, camping, lived in Stanton, Denver, Lakewood and Arvada, she's seen mountain passes and crossed the Continental Divide a few times, ridden her pink princess bike the equivalent of a transcontinental ride while never leaving our street, she's visited zoos, museums, a multitude of parks and she's attended quite a few Cub Scout functions.

In short, she's short. But she's seen a lot.

Happy Birthday Lily!

Seek the Truth

2011-01-20T15:43:00.003-07:00

Opponents of New Urbanism and the idea of walkable communities, opponents of alternate forms of transportation (to the automobile) and proponents of unchecked, unregulated "growth" in the world today will argue that the market demands the snake oils they peddle.

The current model of urban growth moves forward like a conquering army, gobbling up arable land, scattering out our resources and destroying our civic institutions.

And they say that we, labeled as "consumers", want the crapheap they offer us.

But the reality is that as the world has moved toward a global economy over the past few decades, and as more and more companies meld into bigger and bigger conglomerate monsters they offer us fewer and fewer choices, with the sole redeeming factor being that the goods we have access to are cheap.

We can wish for, and even outright demand, better quality goods from the corporations that control the world, but they laugh at us, sometimes openly and then shove some more steaming fresh garbage at us and happily swipe our credit cards when we reluctantly accept what we've been given.

We don't want the garbage we've been offered. This is evident across our culture. Our movies and TV shows are full of nostalgic renderings of a world we wish we still had access to. We idolize the quaint small towns that are a severely endangered species. We crave places that are worth caring about, but they just don't seem to exist any more.

Escape is impossible. We are trapped in our cars, our mortgages, our jobs and our towns. We can't leave one car or home or job or town and move on to a better one because they are all the same, wherever we go, they are all the same.

Corporations permeate our government. FDA and EPA officials flip flop between government appointments and private industry on a whim, the same thing occurs frequently in finance and federal economic agencies. Corporations control, with iron fists, our food supply, our health care, our income, our transportation choices and where we live.

You may not think you are a slave to the mega-corporations, but investigate it, look into it a little deeper. Check out Monsanto. Don't take my word for it. Do some research of your own.

Some startling movie/documentaries to watch are: Capitalism: A Love Story, Collapse (with Michael Ruppert), A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, The Future of Food. Also check out books like James Howard Kunstler's The Geography of Nowhere, Home from Nowhere and The Long Emergency and Twilight in the Desert by the late Matthew Simmons. Other books that reveal more pieces of the puzzle are Affluenza by De Graaf and others, The Cyclist's Manifesto by Robert Hurst and Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson.

I'm beginning to see that there is a lot more about the world that I need to know, but every new piece I learn makes me feel more overwhelmed. It makes you feel so small to see the enormity of the corruption and greed in the world.

I am compelled to keep digging up more pieces of the truth.

An Ascent of Hubbert's Peak

2011-01-20T10:32:00.005-07:00

As we hiked up the canyon the sun peaked over the horizon and blazed upon the tip of mountain. We didn't see it at the time. We had our heads down, watching the progress of our steps, intent on the good feeling of our journey. Fog partially obscured the peak as we conversed amongst ourselves.

The canyon wound above, over boulders, through stands of pines we moved upward. Our spirits were high and we didn't notice the passage of time or the expenditure of energy. The landscape we passed through was amazing, sublimely beautiful, fog-shrouded and darkly aesthetic.

Hubbert spoke up and pointed out a mountain above, but we couldn't see if as clouds roiled over the valley. He insisted it was there, but we dropped our countenances back to the journey at hand. The rocky terrain demanded our attention.

We crossed streams, navigated over boulders, surmounted deadfalls and plodded ever onward. Our conversations turned to the journey. Most were confident our journey would continue for the rest of our lives, we would survey and collect this country for as long as we could imagine. Others were content to continue on, hopeful that some easier passage would be found and we would find a promised land where we could finally rest. Still a few, including Hubbert, cautioned that there was a mountain ahead which we must surmount. And after the summit there would be a dark valley, a valley of shadows on the other side.

But the most influential of us, Hubbert's own contemporaries, scoffed and ridiculed those notions. On the other side of the journey, they insisted, was not a Valley of Shadows, but a Valley of Promise. Besides, there will be a pass, an easy route. How dare you bring down morale of the entire group?!

Eventually we noticed Hubbert was no longer with the party. A glance back down the canyon revealed a lone man, left behind, dejected, but looking far above our heads...

The journey beyond Hubbert's departure continually steepened. We climbed, at times using our hands, at times fighting to see each other through the increasing fog. We tied ourselves together at the behest of the leaders of the group. In fact, they were tying us together before we had a chance to protest. But it seemed best, to continue as one into the increasing storm.

On we journeyed. Upward into the clouds and angry skies. Our leaders pulled us along, destroying any talk of stopping or resting. We must go on. We must make progress.

And then in a moment of terror, as the clouds were stripped away, we found ourselves huddling on the pinnacle of a terrible mountain, the world dropping away all around us. We gasped, grapsed tightly to our safety ropes and demanded our leaders take away the terrible sight before us. We closed our eyes tight, and they pulled us onward, we could feel the expanse all around. And then they bade us open our eyes and we were back within the cloud, separated from that awful chasm. At last we were heading down, those in front assuring us that everything would be fine. Soon we would be in the Valley of Promise.

But the canyon ahead grows darker...

Trying Not to Think About It

2011-01-14T15:36:00.002-07:00

I have wanted to write about the shooting in Tucson last week, but I just haven't been able to wrap my brain around it.

I've been annoyed at all the finger-pointing and blame-casting. I do agree that, as a country (politicians included), we're too much desensitized to violence and we use violent phrases far too often. I'm not going to propose we implement Orwellian Thought Control to curb the violence, but it annoys me that we casually talk about making people targets but also get all upset if a child in school uses the word "kill" or "bomb" or something like that. There needs to be a bit of common sense in the world when our political environment is so polarized. And it seems as if we're killing common sense to make way for something…better?

I was very impressed with the President's speech at the memorial. He said things that needed to be said and I hope because of the context and venue that many people were watching and listening.

I really don’t have more to say. Other than this…I remember September 11, 2001 as being the most meaningful day in American history in my lifetime. The fact that the 9 year old girl who was killed last week in Tucson was also born on 9/11 is too ironic, but maybe not as significant as some make it out to be. It is a tragic irony, but not a politically, or historically significant irony.

I work in local government with people who often seem unstable or at the very least more irate than average. I don’t dwell on the fact that the angry person sitting across from me could be carrying a firearm, but its always something I keep in the back of my mind, and I am prepared mentally to deal with the potential that someone could go postal in my building.

The first year I was employed by the county a man committed suicide in the front parking lot. It was a quiet thing. I don’t think it even received a lot of coverage in the local news. He had some terminal disease, and his wife had been fired by the county from her job not too long before his self-inflicted death. It didn’t seem to reverberate through the county employees like I though it would have. It should have prompted increased security.

There is nothing that would've prevented that man from walking in the front door and opening fire.

I don't mean to personalize this aspect of our modern American political (if you want to call it that) environment. I think it should be personal for all of us. I think we should all be cognizant of the possibilities that exist in our world today and be prepared mentally and emotionally to deal with all possible outcomes. My fear is that these type events are going to increase before they go away. There was the Fort Hood shooting, the Virginia Tech shooting, Joseph Stack crashing his plane into the Texas IRS building, a host of failed Islamic terror plots and who knows what else going on behind the scenes that we never hear about or are thwarted and do not warrant national news coverage.

Our world is more unstable than it seemed to me as a kid, or even as it seemed to me a little over 9 years ago on September 10, 2001.

Let's Close Some Schools and Save the Economy

2011-01-07T10:44:00.002-07:00

The local news has reported that Jefferson County has presented its Master Plan summary which could lead to the closing of a number of schools (the document that is titled "Master Plan Summary" on their website seems to actually be labeled "Facilities Conditions Assessment"). They closed schools and fired teachers about the time Mandy got to Colorado, essentially sealing the deal that we'd be a one income family for most of the past three years. Now they're closing more because of budget shortfalls.

One of the schools they're proposing to close is Pleasant View Elementary which I ride past every day. I wonder how this is going to impact the neighborhood. I see a lot of kids walking and riding their bikes. I see families escorting kids to school on foot. It seems as if a great number of students get to school there by foot or bike. The neighborhood is basically the slum of Golden though we couldn't afford to live there. A slum in Golden is actually a pretty nice neighborhood if you can overlook the power lines.

Still, there are quite a few rental properties and those do cater to people who are in the lower income bracket. Will the closing of that school create a hardship for many of those families? Will they have difficulty getting their kids to school. Is Jeffco going to provide busing for the students who are displaced? Or will they push the burden of transportation onto the parents?

And why are we closing schools? Why are we cramming kids tighter and deeper into classrooms? Why can’t we divert money from less important projects into education for our children, our future, our legacy?

How many schools have to close, how many more jobs have to be eradicated and how many more students be displaced before it becomes a crisis we can’t ignore? It's already a crisis. But when are people going to say "no more"?

As much as I gripe about traffic around elementary schools in my cycling blog, I would truly hate to see another school close in Jefferson County. And I have the sinking feeling that the schools they are targeting are in lower incoming neighborhoods. In fact, on the news they said the schools being considered were those that have low attendance or that need renovation. Then the news report also mentioned that Jeffco may build new schools. Huh? That don't make no sense!

Our economy is an absurd comedy being played out defying the laws of nature and thermodynamics. One day unemployment is up, the next down. Everybody argues that the government needs to create jobs (but many want to shrink government, so they can't be government jobs) but I say instead of create jobs out of the dust of the earth, why in the world can’t we take some of our jobs back from the countries where Corporate America has sent them. Or better yet, why don’t we give the rich tax cuts so they'll create some jobs. Wait, no, they just close plants and ship jobs overseas. Except teaching jobs, because those can't feasibly be outsourced (yet) but by golly, we can close some schools!

I still just don’t get it, how does closing schools to save money benefit our communities, our country or our future?

How far are we from the snapping point?

One point of clarification: I'm not trying to point the blame directly at Jeffco public schools. I'm not going to try and analyze why the school system may make these drastic cuts as opposed to other options that might be available (and hopefully they won't have to close ANY schools). I just think as a symptom of the overall disease that closing schools is a bad sign.

Sledding at Standley Lake

2010-12-31T13:47:00.002-07:00

I love Standley Lake. Good place to take the kids biking. Sledding has worked out good and I can't wait 'til we have enough snow to XC ski there.

New Year's Eve 2010

2010-12-31T09:40:00.005-07:00

We'll be ringing in the new year tonight with snow on the ground and frigid temperatures. Our White Christmas was a week late. I can't speak from a wellspring of experience, but the past two years in Colorado saw a much earlier beginning of winter.

I'm not a global warming doomsayer by any stretch of the imagination. I believe what is actually going on in the world is a redistribution of heat energy, not a net increase. What has been going on is simply a change in climate patterns, not a change in climate.

I could go into my reasoning why, but that's not really the point of this post. Suffice it to say I believe winter is going to catch up with us and make up for it's fashionably late arrival. It always does.

The kids want to go out and play in the snow. What they don't realize is that 4F degrees is much colder than the 22F degrees they played in yesterday. I'm stalling as the temps creep back up to double digits before taking them out in it. The whining "used-to-be-childless" me wants to be in the mountains snowshoeing, XC skiing or ice climbing.

I'm content to take the kids to play out in the snow, but in my mind I'm trying to appease Used-to-be-Childless Me with a compromise. How about if we went up to Meyers Ranch Open Space to sled? At least that way you could get some cool winter photos and say you went to the "mountains" today.

But it would be easier, and equally satisfying (to the Happy-to-be-Dad Me), to find somewhere close by to take the kids and sled.

I feel bad, Mandy has been cooped up with the kids over the holiday break. Its been cold and so they've been staying in for the most part. I think she may be going a little stir crazy, so I want to take the kids out and have fun, but today its just so cold.

I am split personality when it comes to winter recreating.

There is Used-to-be-Childless who thinks there is no reason not to head into the mountains on a day like today and wishes he had gotten into downhill skiing years ago.

Then there's Happy-to-be-Dad who loves the idea of playing in the snow with the kids and building snow forts, snowmen and sledding down epic hills. He looks forward to the day when both kids are old enough to cross country ski, and would drop the money on a pulk in a heartbeat if he had it.

And lastly there is It's-Too-Freakin'-Cold-Outside who says we're gonna sit right here in the recliner facebooking all day and we might catch a nap while some netflix crap rolls on the TV until it gets dark and then we'll start ceaselessly grazing on carbohydrates.

There is a battle going on within. Stay tuned for the outcome...

2010 Retrospective

2010-12-28T18:34:00.001-07:00

The end of the year draws near and I, like so many others, look back on the past year. I guess the single biggest thing that happened actually happened in 2009. December 17th, 2009 we became a one car family. That basically influenced much of 2010.

I didn't meet any of my fitness goals for 2010, so I'm probably not going to bother with 2011. We did start up climbing again, Mandy and I, and the kids started doing it for real. After ten years of trying I made not ONE, but TWO trips to Vedauwoo this past summer. We even took all the nephews and Ali climbing when we were in Kentucky back in the summer.

Aside from going a full year as a one car family, the other big thing that happened was that we got a mortgage on a house in Arvada and became Arvadans. We finally put down some roots in Colorado.

Boone learned to ride his bike this past summer. He now loves riding his bike. It makes me so happy to see him enjoying it like I did whem I was a kid.

Moving to a Wonder Years street made it much easier for him to learn. The kids spent the summer playing in the yard, riding their bikes up and down our street and playing with their new friends down the street.

I destroyed my Giant road bike with our new carport not too long after we moved into our house. While I wasn't as attached to the Giant as I am to the Cannonball it was still a very rough time for me.

We did a little bike-packing late in the summer. That was a fun experience and I hope to do some more in the coming year. Mandy and I climbed the Third Flatiron's Standard East Face route, one of the classic American climbs.

We geocached a little, bagged some summits and rode our bikes as a family a lot.

I went on a reading binge and ticked off some must reads that I hadn't such as Affluenza, Silent Spring, The Geography of Nowhere, Bike Snob and The Cyclist's Manifesto.

Of course then there was Hyland Christian School. Mandy was offered a part time job and we got Boone enrolled there. That may have been the biggest blessing of the year. Boone has been doing phenomenal. It has been such a better environment for him than public school was.

Toward the end of the year I have finally stepped into bicycle advocacy by taking over the Bike Arvada website. I've been trying to gain some exposure and develop a plan for what might end up being a pretty good organization.

Between Bike Arvada and my reading binge I've been inspired to write and I blog much more often now. I feel more successful as a blogger, though I'd really like to be writing books.

As the year closes out I really don't have huge plans for the new year. I'd like to see Bike Arvada grow. I'd like to have some fun family adventures in the year to come. I'd like to figure out where I need to be going with my career. I know I want to move into transportation planning. Hopefully I'll see some opportunities to smooth that path out before me in the coming year.

By Thursday afternoon I'll have ridden my bike just over 2,500 miles. While that seems impressive, if I had ridden every day I worked it would have been closer to 4,000 miles.

2010 was a pretty good year for us. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't all roses, but all-in-all it was a good year. I wish I had worked a little more on personal development. I have ignored some of my internal demons. But then they've been more quiet this year than in recent years.

In a little over a month I'll be starting my fourth year in Colorado. Man, the time has flown!

Sadistic Elves

2010-12-27T08:05:00.004-07:00

Ah, Christmas is over. For the father of a three year old and a seven year old this means...well, I was going to say that I could rest, but as my wife will tell you, there truly is no rest for the weary.

They keep us going all the time. At least the bottleneck of Christmas is over and we can go back to our normal routine of eroding mom and dad's sanity.

One particular burr under my saddle each holiday season (and birthdays) are the security devices employed these days in children's toys. Remember when you could go in a store, rip open a box or tear off a plastic bubble and walk out with pocketfuls of action figures? Nah, me neither. Security camera technology has been around my entire life.

But somewhere, some dark, dispirited, disgruntled and sadistic elves have designed a system of securing toys to packaging which I believe to be purposed to drive fathers absolutely bonkers mad on Christmas morning.

What baffles me is that extremely large toys will be cabled to small pieces of cardboard. If you could hide the plastic space shuttle in a coat pocket you'd have no trouble cramming the cardboard backing in there as well. Why permanently affix them together?

But the elves have deemed it so. Dolls get a plastic weave which is screwed to the box, action figures get bound helpless to their backing and large blobs of plastic that couldn't be spirited away without a major hand grenade diversion are wired up like a Vietnamese political prisoner.

A co-worker suggested to me that for big toys it may be because somewhere in recent history some less than reputable shopper somewhere took a 1:2 scale plastic dump truck out of it's box, handed it to their kid and walked out of the store without paying claiming the kid had walked into the store with it.

And while I see kids taking Ewok playsets, Barbie Dreamhouses and Imaginex castles into Target all the time, I just don't think the rarefied theft of a large toy justifies the extent to which the twisted elves feel it necessary to bind toys to their packaging.

I mean, the employees of Big Box should stop the kid from riding his bike into the store in the first place therefore negating any future argument that may arise when someone tries to ride out on a stolen bike. Likewise, when kid walks into the store cradling an Xbox that should raise a red flag.

Once, way back at the dawn of time when CDs first came out, I owned a CD but no player, so I took the CD in the mall and popped it into a CD player because I wanted to see how it sounded compared to a cassette. However, I had picked a store that didn't sell CDs along with the electronics so there would be no question who's CD it was if someone saw me monkeying with the player. Still I was risking major accostment from rent-a-cops. I'm sure I was nanoseconds away from being probed in a poorly lit room in the back of the mall that smelled like donuts and coffee.

And when I was a child my mother forbid me to walk around stores with my hands in my pockets just to avoid the appearance of suspicious behavior. I won't let my own children take things into stores. It makes sense. I still feel conspicuous walking around retail territory with my hands in my pockets.

I think in lieu of high security packaging that there should be a sign on the door stating that personal items should not be brought into the store in the first place. And I'm ok with electronic sensors that go off when people try to steal things, but lashing the packaging to the item with kryptonite cables makes absolutely no sense.

Sci-fi Review: TRON Legacy

2010-12-20T08:58:00.002-07:00

I ceased my rant against Disney and its dubious marketing ploy of denying fans of seeing the original TRON and took my son to see TRON Legacy over the weekend. I went because A) He was super stoked to see the movie and it was rated PG, a rarity these days for big budget sci-fi, and B) because I like to see movies like the TRON sequel on the big screen at least once.

I hate to support Corporate America, especially corporate Disney by putting my money directly in their pocket, but I (we) like movies and this was one we didn't want to miss on the big screen.

My rant has resumed, and I'm still annoyed that the original TRON is almost impossible to come by. Its still not on Netflix, still outrageously priced on Amazon and I'm still dozens of people down on the hold list at the library. I fear the library copy will go missing before we get to see it.

So Boone and I have been resolved to watching youtube clips of the movie. It's kinda frustrating to try and piece the movie together that way, but at least it gives him some idea what the old movie is like.

Anyway, on to TRON Legacy for the moment. What did I think?

I liked it. First let me say, my philosophy regarding movie special effects is this: if all you can say positive about a movie is that it has good special effects then its not a good movie. I believe any movie needs to have a story. Without a story the best concept idea or new technological fancy is just eye candy, filled with empty entertainment calories. I want to get lost in the story. For a few minutes I want to be in a different world. The special effects are just a backdrop for characters and the story to live against.

I think Legacy pulled that off. I think it tied in nicely to the original, not rehashing what I remembered from 1982, but going on in a meaningful way. I think the writers could have crafted a better back story between Flynn and CLU. I believe they could have better developed CLU and his motivation for taking over the Grid. I think the progression of CLU taking over the Grid to escaping to our world with his army could have been richer, more believable. I think the writers left it up to our collective consciousness and what we perceive as a tyrannical dictator to justify CLU's actions. I don't think that was enough.

What was it exactly that CLU wanted in our world? To take over? Why?

I could accept the fantasy science that went along with the characters moving effortlessly between the natural and digital realms. Heck, I'd even buy that CLU could step into the natural world with some physical form without any scientific basis, because after all, its fantasy. But what I want to see, what I think we all need to see, is some logical connection between actions and motives.

CLU was a program. Why would he develop a desire to conquer two worlds? I'm not saying he couldn't develop that desire, I'm just saying there is no story to back it up. And I think it was a key component of the story that seems to have been left out. Was his programming flawed? I may have missed a key point of the story when I got up to go relieve my bladder. Darn bucket-o-soda!

I had problems with Sam getting thrown into the games outright. It seemed to me that there should have been a better progression. I did like the slow reveal with the character TRON. That was a nice touch. I'm somewhat embarrassed that I didn't figure it out sooner.

Putting aside my issues with the story, I loved how they portrayed the Grid in 2010. There were some aspects I would have done differently myself, like the "natural" environment off the Grid and Flynn's sanctuary. I just didn't think those parts really fit in the TRON universe. But that's just my opinion. The new light cycles were amazing! And including an old one was a nice treat for fans of the old movie. The light jet scene may have been one of my favorites from the entire film. The character treatments were nice, not overdone, but distinctive enough that you knew your were in the TRON universe. Flynn's hippie guru/Dude costumes were a bit much. I can't remember much about Flynn's character from the original film (see the beginning rant) so I don't know if Jeff Bridges was in character for Flynn or the Dude. I seem to remember less "Dude" from the 1982 film.

The final analysis is that I liked the movie. My son loved the movie and has raved about it since. He really does want to see the original TRON and I'm going to do my best to find it so we can watch it together.

One other distinction about TRON Legacy…it was the first film my son and I saw together at the theater, just the two of us.

The Ever Loving War on Christmas

2010-12-16T10:27:00.002-07:00

Last year I was ranting about the supposed "War on Christmas." Just to quickly reiterate my stance, I don't attach any spiritual value or significance to the Christmas season. I'm almost 37 years old and for the decades I've been pumping blood my family has always regarded Christmas as a time to get together and spend time together, to give each other novelties and sometimes keepsakes. For me Christmas has always been an emotional holiday, filled with nostalgia and the anticipation of spending time with the people I love.

Mandy and I have chosen to make our seasonal trip "back east" over Thanksgiving. We may change that in the future, but for the past two year that has worked best for us. Traveling with small kids at Christmas is truly harrowing, and with the body cavity searches the TSA is administering these days I don't think I could tolerate taking my kids through airport security. And driving across the midwest in late December? Ha!

So maybe in a couple of years we'll switch it up and go back in at Christmas. Taking the train three years ago was a lot of fun, and would be a lot more fun if the kids were old enough to take care of themselves on the trip.

The only issue I have with the whole "Keep 'Christ' in Christmas" issue is not the victory of keeping those five letters associated with a holiday, but that those five letters in that combination represent so much more than what is essentially a marketing holiday. By all means, get 'Christ' out of Christmas and call it what it should be: WalMartmas. Sounds like a blubbery sea mammal, huh? Its not the association of the Savior of humanity with Norman Rockwellian visions of Coke drinking Santas and gazillions of exterior twinkling lights and the sound of a gazillion credit cards swiping to the max that bugs me. It’s the attack on Christianity by those who would be as happy as a tornada in a trailer park to see Christianity (and religion in general) outlawed in totality out of spite and hatred.

While "Christ in Christmas" isn’t the beachhead we should be focusing on, it is a symptom and sign of a much deeper battle that needs to be fought. I'm confident of the outcome of the battle and of the ultimate victor, but the battle itself is rumbling along, pot shots taken, trenches dug and tension thick as butter over the battlefield. I think it’s a battle that is tangled up with the suburban sprawl battle, with the auto-centric battle, with numerous battles and skirmishes where the sides have been chosen, but there are traitors amongst every group, every organization involved. Its ugly. Its going to get uglier. The ugliness may surprise all of us.

The "War on Christmas" is essentially a battle in the bigger war for America and over who gets to claim American Culture for its own.

Burn Carbohydrates, Not Hydrocarbons

2010-12-13T08:34:00.003-07:00

The title of this post was a quote I found on the almighty internet. It applies great to cycling, but I wonder if it won't apply to a lot of Americans (including my family) as fuel prices increase over the winter.

Remember the late summer and autumn of 2008? We were all paying ridiculous amounts for gas at the pumps, at least those of us who were driving at the time, and people who heated with natural gas were suffering too as the temperatures turned cold. My family didn't see a huge impact in our heating bill because the house we lived in at the time had geothermal. We noticed a bump in our electric bill for sure.

Price of a barrel of oil in July 2008? $126.16.

Price of a barrel of oil today? About $90.00. Last month it was $76, the month before $73, the month before that it was in the 60s.

The price of a barrel of oil has been creeping back up and is now hovering around ninety bucks a barrel. The last time oil was this expensive was September 2008. And then magically the price of crude plummeted and saved us all from freezing to death in early 2009.

When last gas was at $90/bbl the national average for a gallon of gas was right around $4.00 and we were ALL crying "UNCLE."

I'm curious why our at-the-pump prices are still so low. To me it looks like we might break above $3.00 a gallon real soon. And you know that that means as we enter the really cold part of the year heating costs are going to go up for those of us sucking on the natural gas teat.

I'm sad we don't still have geothermal heat, and i wished we could afford to install it. Solar, geothermal and wind power all look really nice to me right now. I just wish we could afford to invest in a combination that would allow my family to go off the grid. Unfortunately we were not born with bamboo spoons in our mouths like good hippies.

If the US could rethink its habits, preferences and social conventions then we could change the face of the planet, literally. What scares me is that not enough people see the necessity of making drastic changes in our lifestyles.

We believe that "freedom" is an inherent right, that we have this great big Santa's bag of entitlements that have been given to us by "freedom." Freedom was originally "freedom FROM oppression" not "freedom to do whatever the heck I want" which is basically anarchy.

The founding fathers didn't set up a governmental system that promoted irresponsible stewardship in the name of "freedom." While free enterprise has always been a component of our culture it should not be the basis for ALL aspects of American society. Health care should not be for profit. My health should not be the focus of someone else's maximization of profit. The same goes for education.

So back to carbohydrates.

Many of us might be relying on the carbohydrates we ingest to keep us warm this winter. The best we can hope for is that global warming will work out in our favor this season.

Sources:
Gas Price Historical Charts

History of Crude Oil Prices

The Quest for TRON

2010-12-11T10:12:00.003-07:00

This is getting ridiculous. There is a TRON sequel coming out in a few days. I'm excited because A) I really liked the original movie and B) its rated PG and I can take Boone to see it.

The problem is that Disney's sick Corporate strategy to keep slack jawed Consumers coming back again and again, to continue to spend money on merchandise while their movies are locked away in the Disney "vault", makes it impossible to actually enjoy a Disney movie at a comparable rate to movies of other production companies.

I looked on Amazon hoping to pick up a used copy for less than $10. For any other '80s movie out there you could pick up a decent used copy for pennies. Literally.

With TRON, nothing less than $50 and everything "new" is $100+. Ridiculous.

So I went to the public library's request page. They have a copy and I requested it. I am #104 in line to check it out. Not terrible, but its still gonna be awhile.

Last night we got to talking about Netflix. We've been considering getting it for awhile and in hopes of getting to watch TRON I signed us up for the one month free trial last night. Nada. TRON is "unavailable."

I was muttering ugly words under my breath.

Last ditch effort, I got on Blockbuster's website and looked up availability at our neighborhood store. They had a copy!

It was 9am this morning and the store didn't open til 10:00.

I got dressed, got ready and at 9:50am I was waiting semi-patiently at the front door.

The dredlocked, lip-pierced employee opened the door promptly at 9:58 and I rushed in. Not TRON on the shelf.

"Excuse me, I saw you online that you had a copy of TRON available."

Turns out they have two copies. One, the one shown online as "available" is MIA. THe other is due back today.

GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Oh well, I give up. Disney has not "won" because I am going to boycott Disney. They're obnoxious marketing ploy is going to fail. If we ever buy another Disney movie it will be used and Disney won't see a red cent.

So Disney, keep your outrageously priced copies of TRON safely locked away in your "vault." I'll just borrow a copy from the library when it comes available. And dream of all those beans you're losing because the demand is apparently pretty high. You're just not producing enough copies.

CLARIFICATION:

I just wanted to clarify that this post is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I don't really propose that Disney produce more DVDs just because I want to watch a movie, but I find it truly interesting that Disney makes it difficult, if not sometimes impossible, for fans of their products to obtain said products, and when the opportunity does arise the price is most often artificially jacked up. What a fantastic run-on sentence...

Confessions of a Conservative Semi-Hippie: Part II

2010-12-09T09:06:00.003-07:00

In my previous post I really didn't go into how I've come to call myself a hippie. Well…a semi-hippie.

To go back to the beginning, which is a long way from here I might add, you’d have to go back to about 1993 or 1994. I had dropped out of college after my first year ('92-3) and decided I'd just go to work and avoid the middle man of student loan debt. What I didn't realize was I needed the middle man to get out of the black hole of abject poverty.

Between 1993 and 1996 I was adrift in adult life. I lived with my parents, worked a series of going-nowhere jobs and I had no direction. And during that time I extensively explored the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky in my free time. I didn't date. I didn't socialize. I just roamed about in the woods. I did take up rock climbing in 1994 to attempt to socialize, but I ended up socializing less and roaming more.

While I didn't become a treehugger, I did develop a great love for the outdoors and for outdoor adventure and recreation. My focus was never on ecological consciousness, just in experiencing and appreciating the natural realm. In my anti-social cloud I didn't make the connection between mankind and nature. Oh, I found my own connection, but I left out the bigger equation of society and humanity as it connects with the non-human environment. I understand now that the connection is important as either component alone. In fact, neither component of the equation can stand alone.

My dad has said in the past that man is a part of nature, that you can't distinguish between "natural" and the built environment. And I know this to be true. God created "nature" first and put man within it, so in that sense there is a distinction, because nature was the home designed for man, but man is a part of the natural environment and can never escape it. We can just reshape elements of nature into the tangible expressions of our imaginations. I could understand that concept. I knew man could reshape nature into infrastructure, but I had a difficult time seeing the social connections on my own.

When you are standing in Times Square in NYC you are within the natural environment. It is in man's nature to re-create the landscape into his own image. And for the sake of argument I will concede that man diverts nature in its course, but man does not stop nature in its course. Take man out of the equation and nature immediately begins to convert concrete to soil and steel back to its elemental origins. Water will wear away bridges and wind and gravity will eventually knock skyscrapers down.

I understood these things in the 1990s. And as I grew as a fledgling photographer I focused on nature and did my best to edit humanity out of my imagery. I craved the world devoid of man, though I knew there was no escape. And in my wanderings in the woods of Eastern Kentucky I learned that there was nowhere on Earth I could go to escape the previous influence of man. Despite the passage of time I saw the evidence of the passing of humanity everywhere I went. No place was pristine and no place was virgin. Wilderness for me was only a place where the social landscape did not exist. Man had been and shaped everywhere.

Because of that realization I stopped wanting to preserve wild places so much. I was a member of the Sierra Club for one year, and then I let my membership lapse. I've never considered joining again. As I grew in knowledge I better understood that the Earth was made for man's purposes and there is no way it will ever escape the ministrations of man. If ever there was a raging environmentalist within me, he died quickly and quietly, the crib death of an evolving mind. I knew that nature (wilderness) and human society would always be separate and that was good enough for me.

My goal at the time was to buy a small piece of land bordering the National Forest and live off the grid. I told my mother about my plan one day, about living alone, in the woods, with no phone or electricity and her response was simply: "You can't live without a phone." My response was that of course I could live without a phone. There had been centuries of human habitation on the planet before the invention of the phone and my life processes wouldn't cease when I unplugged the thing. And that got me thinking…what else could I do without.

In 2000 I was married and went back to school, finally to finish over a period of seven years. I was bombarded with the liberal arts propaganda on a daily basis. I resisted it because I knew going into it that my religious beliefs would be attacked and eroded if I let them. My faith and my conviction were sound, but I knew I could not let my guard down for a second. During that time it was necessary for me (us) to live in a house, drive cars, eat cheap food and such. We were totally plugged into the modern American lifestyle.

But as I sat in the required classes designed to make me a good Darwinist (natural and social) I began to understand something that even my truly hippie professors (who had lived in squalor in South America on a lark) didn't understand. I began to understand Christian stewardship. The tongue lashings we students received from the grizzled professors woke me up to a new perception of my faith and of my love for the natural world. Yes, we as Americans were over-consuming the world's resources at an alarming rate. I had seen that myself. Yes, we were polluting and defiling the land for hollow purposes. I had seen that myself. Yes, we were paying the rich to rob from the poor (us). I had seen that myself.

What I took out of my liberal arts indoctrination was a synthesis of ideas that I had had on my own, but had never put into any workable context. I maintained my spiritual and moral convictions, but I added to them a more ecologically responsible mindset. And toward the end of my state sanctioned brainwashing when I sat in planning classes I began to acquire the language to express my beliefs. Its taken a few additional years, as I've become increasingly interested in local, state, national and world politics, that I've really started to round out my beliefs. My religious foundation has held, but the framework on top of it has changed over time and now my consciousness is less of a traditional "conservative" and more of a…what? I'm not sure.

For me the perfect political party would support the idea of Christian stewardship. In the context of scripture it would promote stewardship of human, natural and social capital. It would work to maintain an environment of peace and understanding, of conservation of energy, resources and might. It would strive to preserve church, home and community over the interests of individuals or profit.

I don't believe mankind needs to "save the planet." I believe that the planet was designed by God to take care of itself despite man's efforts to destroy it. However, I believe God expects us to take care of our home, to keep it clean and livable for our children. I believe in doing so that we glorify God. If we take care of his gifts then we are showing Him the utmost respect and honor. And we honor each other by living responsibly.

Americans, especially "Christian" Americans, need to wake up and realize that we are contributing to the destruction of our environment when we buy into Corporate America's lies. We don't need the STUFF that WalMart is peddling from its shelves. We don't need a car for every adult person within the borders of the US. We don't need everything at a moment's notice. We can get out of our cars and walk to purchase things. We can live in a different and better way.

Necessity has kept me a slave to the American Dream (Nightmare) for the last 15 years of so. I've worked to diminish its hold on me, slowly but surely, and I've (we've) been so far successful. Like I said in my previous post, its easy to be Hippie Green while the trust fund holds out, but for those of us not born in Boulder with a bamboo spoon in our mouth its hard to live off the grid. It takes money to live off the grid. Its not accessible for all. And so it makes sense to live in suburbia and be the best example and steward you can be.

In the past couple of years I've really began to finally have the language to express my views about the world in a way that finally makes sense to me. I understand why I hate suburban sprawl now (and why I always have). I finally understand why my hometown nauseates me and how it could be better. I think I'm finally starting to understand the political underpinning which has caused many good people to believe so many lies.

And now I can't keep quiet about it. It's been nagging me for so long, and now I am finally starting to know how to express it.

Confessions of a Conservative Semi-Hippie

2010-12-08T09:54:00.007-07:00

I'm a conservative semi-hippie. It's true. I guess real hippies might call me a hippie wanna-be, but I don't care.

"How can this be?" you might ask. Well, I'll tell you.

The underlying reason behind my odd quasi-political stance is that as a Christian I know I am commanded to be a good steward of the things God has blessed me with. And as a student who was bombarded by the liberal arts propaganda designed to turn us ALL into good liberal bleeding-heart hippies I do realize that the lifestyle of the West has had a profoundly negative impact on the world and those who are not as "blessed" as the industrialized people.

There is no conflict here. I believe that we should save the spotted owl, but I still have Judeo-Christian morals. I think the two ideas are harmonious, and I can't understand why so-called conservatives are ok with the rape of the land by a vast fleet of SUVs and trillions of acres of suburban sprawl and why liberals will die in protest for a woman's right to murder her unborn child.

The disconnect between sound logic and the groupings of political thought in the US is disturbing to say the least. As I've grown in my understanding about US politics I still just don't understand how the lines could have been drawn where they have been.

God fearing Christians will argue that no one has the right to take their hard earned money and give it to poor people. Huh? What ever happened to Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's (Luke 20:25) and Matthew 25:45-6 where is reads: 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'

And good, faithful Christian people will get mad and say that the Bible does not give government the right to take money from one person and give it to others. But how about when Jesus spoke to Pilate, the representative of the Roman government: Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above." (John 19:11).

And then Romans 13:1 states rather clearly: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

The government that taxes you has been granted its authority from God. People have a hard time understanding that concept, but remember that God often used foreign governments to punish the Israelites in the Mosaic age. When you cite this verse people will point to Hitler as an example and to that I would say in love and patience: perhaps God was punishing the Israelites through Hitler for not recognizing the messiah he had promised and sent to them. I'm not saying scripture supports the Holocaust, but one has to wonder why a people that had once been chosen by God as the line through which the savior of the world would come would be allowed to be persecuted so viciously.

Further down in that passage the author goes on to say: verses 5-7 "Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Two things I'd take from this: first, that taxes are scriptural and God doesn't pin down an optimal rate and second, that you should show honor to the leaders that are ordained by God as civil servants. Showing honor does not include cartoons ridiculing the president (current or past), showing honor does not include talking disrespectfully about a president, senator, governor or mayor to your neighbors and showing honor does not mean whining about the character of those that were rightfully elected into government. We are to be subject to, or submit to, the governing authorities which God has ordained.

I believe we can disagree with the politics of our leaders, but I also believe we should show honor and that we should submit to their authority. We can work within the framework of our legislative process to solicit change if we do not agree with the leadership of our town, state or country, but unless they try to enforce laws which are contrary to the laws of God we cannot rebel against government or speak subversively about government and consider ourselves faithful Christians.

Back to my original point...I believe that we should follow scripture and obey God's laws first. The Bible is clear on abortion, same-sex marriage, drug use and fornication. I'm not going to argue those moral points here. My point is that if we're going to claim allegiance to God then we must let that allegiance permeate all aspects of our lives. We cannot disconnect our jobs, our political and economic views and our entertainment from where we let our minds dwell on Sunday mornings.

Clearly the wanton destruction of the environment for the sake of extracting cheap oil and natural gas goes against God's teaching. The over-consumption of resources that the world has been involved in for the past century represents a profound greed which scripture condemns.

It's not evil to drive a car, but the habits we as Americans have allowed ourselves to be ingrained with are only possible because of gargantuan greed. We don't need all the STUFF we are producing the West. And as a society, a nation and as individuals, especially Christians, we should take a more (truly) conservative economic and environmental stance.

How can we, in good conscience, max out our credit cards through the Christmas season on gifts that are most likely not necessary and perhaps not even appreciated by those who receive them and then claim that the poor have to fend for themselves because God doesn't want us to "give" through our taxes?

Conservative moral values, traditional family values and truly conservative economics and environmental policy can coexist in the same mind. They can!

Hippie love, as opposed to the "free love" of the Sixties, could possibly be the true agape love that is taught in the Bible. Love your neighbor as yourself. Don't pollute the air he has to breathe with the exhaust from your SUV. Love your children. Don't borrow, borrow, borrow against the future (your children's future) and leave the earth ravage and sterile. People used to work to build up wealth to pass on to their heirs. They built up mini-empires to divide up amongst their children and grandchildren. They took pride in their work because they knew their efforts would be rewarded by something which would last. These days we pass on debt and a useless suburban landscape and just don't make eye contact with our children as we swipe the credit card again and again.

We can love the earth, because it is an immensely huge blessing from God and we can love each other because we are commanded to and we can stop complaining about having to pay taxes because we really don't need all the STUFF we'd buy with our disposable income anyway.

That concept, disposable income, has no place in the mind of a Christian. And since most Christians in America consider themselves politically conservative we need to get away from the idea that we have an entitlement to that which we earn. God clearly tells us differently.

We can be content with enough, and stop squandering our life energy on the acquisition of plastic trinkets made in China.

I think this passage from the book of Acts describing the earliest church is a great example of the kind of economic environment in which Christians should want to live:

Acts 2:42, 44-47 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (44) And all who believed were together and had all things in common. (45) And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. (46) And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, (47) praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Or we could argue with each other about our so-called entitlements. We could continue to count our political sins (i.e. Buying into the doctrine of political correctness). We could go on listening to the candidates who campaign on moral issues just so they can get into office to write legislation which directly benefits their already wealthy oil companies and auto-industry cronies. We could. We could continue buying our civil liberties with moral decay. We could.

Or we could start using our brains and if we want to spread the Love of God we can do it outside of the norm of political thought in this country. We could shake off the brainwashing that we've been bombarded with since World War II and forget about the American Dream and focus on the promises of God.

Its good for Christians to grow gardens and buy locally, to ride their bikes to work instead of driving SUVs, to live simply and honestly and avoid contributing to companies that destroy the blessings of this earth. Loving others, loving our children and loving God includes reducing, reusing and recycling.

I'll admit, the reason I say I'm a conservative semi-hippie is because I have lived in this society long enough that it has been hard for me to throw off the shackles of consumer-slavery and the brainwashing that Corporate America has been subjecting Consumer America to since long before I was born. Old habits are hard to break, and being poor it is hard to make drastic lifestyle changes and still put food on the table for your children.

Its easy for the trust-funders to go green and life off the grid. For those of us who live paycheck to paycheck there is no way we can afford solar panels, geothermal heat and a rustic cabin close to the CBD with xeriscaping and zero carbon output. But it is possible for the poor to see the value of living more responsibly and strive to leave the world which they've been blessed with a better place for those that come after them.

Economic Disconnect

2010-12-06T12:42:00.004-07:00

The absurdity of the American Ponzi Scheme economy can be demonstrated in the fact that we are a nation that thinks we are getting a great bargain when we use a coupon to buy and "save" on a product we would not have bought if we had not had the coupon in the first place. Corporate America has trained Consumer America so effectively that we fall for it every time.

We buy a new car before we have it paid off. Why? Because the old one, what? didn't work out? We treat our cars like bad boy- or girlfriends. We dump them and get another without a backward glance regardless of whether or not the "old" car was still serving its intended purpose adequately.

Its probably the idea that we need a new car before the payment plan runs out on the one that has been the biggest sham Americans have been sold. And we've applied that mentality across the board, going beyond "keeping up with the Joneses" to "keeping up with production" so we can keep the machine that enslaves us turning.

When I was younger I wondered why, with all the technological advances we've had since the invention of the automobile, that we've not been able to manufacture one that would last at least through the lifetime of one owner. But then I immediately answered the question myself. We could design a car that would last for decades, in fact we used to, but the plastic and cheap metal monstrosities we've been manufacturing for 30 years are designed to fail eventually, and sometimes before the car is even paid off.

The car companies would have gone out of business if they had created vehicles to stand the test of time. According to Worldmapper in 2002 there were 590 million cars worldwide. That's roughly one car for every ten people. That was AT THAT TIME. I've so far (in a 30 second internet search) not been able to find an estimate of how many cars have ever been manufactured. Still looking...

Combine the brainwashing of our society by the auto industry into believing we need to replace our perfectly fine cars with new ones so they can unload their surplus stock each year with vehicles that are not made to hold up to our daily treatment of them and you get lots of disposable cars.

Its interesting that Americans like fixing up old car though. But I can't imagine anyone getting jazzed to fix up a 1997 Ford Taurus. And Corporate America doesn't like the idea of recycling anyway. Why not just go out and buy a new Taurus? Just don't expect to pass it on to your children someday. They'll have to buy their own '21 model Taurus.

Who's Got the Christmas Spirit?

2010-12-05T17:31:00.003-07:00

All we're lacking is snow on the ground. Right after we got back from our Thanksgiving trip we put up the tree.

Then Friday night I ran out to get some stuff for Mandy and while I was out I realized I needed to get lights. So I got two rolls of lights, clips and an extension cord.

I got home and climbed up on the roof to hang the lights. Boone stood in the lawn below begging to come up with me. I kept telling him 'no.'

Finally, when I was putting the lights on the carport I let the kids come up with me. Afterward we drove over to Olde Town and on the way saw a lot of houses with Christmas decorations. I had light envy.

Rumbleseat

2010-11-28T07:25:00.002-07:00

My butt is throbbing numb. But I lived to tell the tale...

22 hours, 1260 miles, Stanton, Kentucky to Arvada, Colorado...one day, one family.

We weren't sure we'd pull it off. Our backup plan was to grab a hotel wherever we crashed (figuratively of course!) and short of that we'd just keep the hammer down and leave smokey in the dust.

Past long distance driving days were the whirlwind roadtrip Mandy and I took to Gulf Shores, Alabama (though we didn't push so hard, just there and back) and the epic Portland, Maine to Stanton in a day ride (just over 1,000 miles) and then Barry Rose and I drove from Stanton to Goodland, Kansas in 17 hours only to get up the next morning and drive 13 more to Jackson, Wyoming.

This was pretty big. We could have done it faster, we may have gone farther, but we did it with a carload of stuff and a three year old and a seven year old.

We're glad we did it. Now we have today to recover, instead of driving 10 hours today and having to go to work and school early tomorrow. I was seriously considering calling in sick if we had to drive today.

The last part of our visit was good. Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. We ate a lot, of course, got to visit with almost everyone we wanted and the weather was relatively nice. It got cold toward the end of the week, but otherwise we had a great trip.

We've already started planning the next trip and can't wait to go back and see everyone. We are of course ready to settle back into our routines and stop eating mass quantities of bacon every few minutes.

Life is good and we are so very thankful to God for watching over us on the trip and helping us to make it home safely.

Silver Linings

2010-11-22T07:00:00.005-07:00

I just had to check out the new changes in town, particularly the new sidewalks at the main corner. Yep. They are sidewalks and they do connect a good bit of the town that had not previously had adequate pedestrian connections.

I noticed a couple of things that I had not previously noticed that made me like my hometown a little more. For one, despite the chain businesses that exist in proliferation there are quite a few locally owned "mom and pop" type businesses. In fact, there is a bike shop in town now. It looks to be run out of a back yard garage, but that's okay. Its a bike shop!

A friend of mine owns a florist shop two buildings from the main intersection in town. He operates it out of the first floor of a house and lives upstairs.

I was a bit disappointed to see the locally owned Carquest building now occupied by an electronics store. It's probably not coincidence that it operated just fine until after the flashy new Advanced Auto was built.

I had a strange encounter at the church building when I stopped to adjust my bike seat. I had taken a couple of photos in the vicinity and had ridden my bike across the front lawn to the front of the building where I propped my bike up against a post to adjust the seat.

A movement out of the corner of my eye caused me to look up and I saw a guy cutting across the lawn directly at me wearing khakis a black jacket and he had a badge hanging from his neck.

He walked up as I stood to sling my backpack back on and I fully expected him to accost me. I wasn't worried, I had attended the Stanton church of Christ for the majority of my life and didn't feel the least bit like I was trespassing.

He offered an amiable "hi" and I returned the greeting. We chatted for a few moments about the nice weather. He asked if I had ridden far and I said "Nah, just from Hatton Creek." He seemed to relax after that. I wanted to ask how far he had walked but that seemed a bit pretentious so I refrained.

He mentioned that he had to get to work a block down the road. Apparently he is a security guard at the second hand store. I commented that going to work was probably a good thing, which opened up the floodgates and I heard all about his family, his previous and current girlfriends, how many kids he had with each and all about his kids.

It was kinda surreal. I'm not used to such random sharing, but it was also nice to interact with someone so randomly and surprisingly.

We chatted for a few more minutes and then both of us begged off, needing to go our respective ways and he continued on to work and I rode down the street to my next photographic objective.

I finished up my ride around town with a detour around the courthouse square and past the veterans' memorial.

Then I pedaled back to Hatton Creek.

Getting There

2010-11-21T20:27:00.002-07:00

11/20/10

4/30am Arvada

We motored through the cold darkness of sleeping suburban Arvada on empty streets. We were on I-70 in just a few short minutes and headed east toward a supposed sunrise.

The fog thickened as we rolled toward the plains and by the time we were clear of Denver I had knocked the cruise down from 75 to 70 mph because it was a bit freaky to be barreling through vadt emptiness unable to see more than a few short yards ahead of you.

Somewhere in that fog we crossed into Kansas. We already had a warm breakfast in us and had marvelled at the ice that had built up on the leading edges of the car as we got out into the icy mist in Limon at Denny's.

Western Kansas passed in a somber, bluish haze. The traffic was sparse for hte most part, but hte landscape continually reminded me of Stephen King's novelette The Mist. I kept expecting to see some insanely mutated homicidal insect from a parallel dimension. It was Kansas after all.

12:00pm Hays, Kansas (local time)

We stopped for gas, had lunch and debated our plan in Hays. We could stop and stay at my cousin Adrianna's in Topeka, but we'd get there about 3:30 or 4:00 or we could push on and either get a motel room farther down the road or drive straight through. We really didn't want a hotel and dirving straight through with the kids could have been a nightmare. We opted to stay with family for free.

4:30pm Topeka, Kansas

We reached Topeka no problem. Its east of Topeka when the population seems to start clustering and bogging down the highways. West of Topeka is kind of a post-apocalyptic landscape, complete with abandoned gas stations and shells of random steel buildings along the interstate.

It was easy to find Adrianna's house, and we discovered that she was still home. She had told me how to find the key when she gave me directons and had told me she was going to be gone out of town to Hays for the weekend.

It was good because Mandy and the kids got to meet her. I hadn't seen her for years, and I think I know her solely from family funerals. She is my dad's first cousin.

She has a really nice little house. It reminds me of our house in Arvada and it turns out it was built only a year before. It faces a greenbelt and the Shunga Trail. After Adrianna headed out for Hays we took a dusky stroll east along the trail to a small playground and let the kids burn off some pent up energy.

We returned to the house and went out to get dinner and a few necessities. The neighborhood is 1950s-ish suburbia and kind quaint. I pointed out that to have made the trip we made today in 1956 when our house was built would have probably taken two full days.

We had passed a sign along the way (near Abilene) that indicated the original 8 miles of the interstate system which was completed in 1956 as well.

The alarm is set for 3:00am local time. We hope to be on the road by 4:00am and screecing to a halt on Hatton Creek around 4 or 5:00pm.

11/21/10

Long day. We left Topeka at 3:30am local time and drove all day to get to Kentucky at about 4:30 local.

The weather was better (no fog) and while traffic was a bit heavier (Western Kansas is desolate anyway) it was a Sunday drive and not really too bad. We're happy to be out of the car.

Saw a lot, or should say noticed a lot in the context of my readings of late. Suburbia is a blight on the landscape for sure. Kansas looks like a post-apocalyptic garden with abandoned buildings and derelict parcels everywhere.

On the up side, I was pleasantly surprised to see new sidewalks as we drove through Stanton. That's a good step in the right direction, even if its not a big step. Of course they took a few steps back when they allowed Cotton's Restaraunt to be torn down and replaced with a steel box Little Caesars. Cotton's was one of the only buildings in town with any character. In fact, when I daydreamed about opening a bike shop in Stanton back in 2006-7 I imagined it being in Cotton's old building. It's too bad they tore it down.

Its weird to come back now. On one hand I always love coming back to visit, to see family and friends. I love getting to do the old things I used to do like climb, hike and bike here. I feel like I appreciate them so much more, as I do the people in my life that live here. I miss them terribly and wish I got to see them more. I wish I had expressed my appreciation for them more when I was here. Hindsight, y'know...

On the other hand I get just slightly depressed. I wish I could have had a life here that would have satisfied me. But for me I don't think that was ever really possible.

What Slapping?

2010-11-18T11:39:00.006-07:00

I read THIS blog post and it clarified in my mind a lot about my "voluntary simplicity" conflict amongst others.

The reality of my life is that I am a minimalist at heart, its just too often I am swayed by STUFF I see that I want. Sounds hokey, huh? Well, lemmee 'splain.

I don't want STUFF for the sake of STUFF. I don't see an iPad and say "I gotta have that!" just because it's pretty and shiny. But if I saw thought that an iPad would somehow boost my photography into the stratosphere I'd then begin thinking "I gotta have that!" Same with bikes (A Raleigh Sojourn would shave minutes off my commute), climbing gear (double ropes would expedite rappels), hiking/mountaineering (a GPS locator would be uber-safe) and photography (a new 18-80mm zoom that has better quality optics would most definitely improve the images I produce).

When Sweatpea says "I want to feel that any adventure is possible" I can relate to that. I originally asked for panniers for my bike about five years ago. It wasn't until this past year that I have begun to use them extensively (EX-TEN-SIVE-LY) but I had them all that time, waiting to be used, incorporated into many mental planning sessions and until I had an adequate rear carrier rack and a real need to use them they were there just having potential.

I see things and I see boundless potential in them. I got to the Sweatpea site because I was doing a little research on Xtracycles. Up until a week or so ago I believed an Xtracycle was a whole bike. I didn’t realize it was a rear wheel extension that vastly expands the utility of a normal bike. I can see unlimited potential in the Xtracycle system. Would I jump right on and begin using it to its fullest utility? Maybe. Maybe not.

Regardless, I would either find a way to use it or when making choices about how to get things done I would start incorporating it into my planning stages. I can already see many instances in the future when something like that could and would be useful, if not superior to other means of solving a problem that is sure to arise in my life.

I'll admit I am guilty of the impulse buy from time to time. Its rare (relatively speaking), but it happens. But when I do buy a thing if it makes sense to buy it used I would much rather do so. If I can see value beyond its own sake then it is worth it for its inherent potential. And by potential I don't mean random value to someone else, I mean to fit into some scheme I've been brewing in my head already.

So while I see the value in living a simplistic lifestyle, I can also see the unique potential of the STUFF I have and the STUFF I see. STUFF in itself is not worthless. But worthless STUFF is to be avoided.

I do want to feel that any adventure is possible, and sometimes having the tools to facilitate adventure is the first and crucial step. You cannot go on a cross country bike tour if you don't have the gear to make it happen.

A Hint of Winter

2010-11-14T19:55:00.002-07:00

Boone and I went for a hike and drive west of Boulder yesterday. First we hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain from the Switzerland Trail and then we drove over to Caribou (ghost town) west of Nederland (Ned).

The hike up Sugarloaf was nice. It was 476' of elevation gain in 0.6 mile. The summit offers amazing 360 degree views of the plains, Thorodin to the south and Indian Peaks to the west. There was snow on the summit (and hike up) though it wasn't too cold until we had been on the summit a few minutes. Then the wind kicked up and it got cold.

Boone hiking up Sugarloaf Mountain

Summit of Sugarloaf Mountain 8,917'

We hiked down taking in the stunning vistas and then drove out to the Peak to Peak Highway via the Switzerland Trail.

Then we drove up to Caribou and the snow pounded the earth from Nederland to Caribou. I was actually worried at one point that if we didn't turn around we'd get stuck. Boone insisted he wanted to see the ghost town so we pressed on.

I got some good photos in the snow. It was a good day.

Kona Coffee Review

2010-11-12T09:01:00.006-07:00

The brand is really irrelevant. I'm sure I'm not enough of a coffee snob to impress you with the brand I chose anyway.

A friend encouraged me to try coffee a few years ago just before I discovered my brain is wired up against code. It was in drinking coffee that I finally had some confirmation that something was different about the pathways of my physiology. One Saturday I drank about six cups of coffee before noon, and my afternoon nap lasted from about 1pm until 4-ish. I was NOT drinking decaf.

Anyway, Brian lived with us for awhile and he would stumble out of bed, stagger to the kitchen, grind his whole bean coffee for a full fifteen seconds, waking the rest of us, but somehow dodging consciousness himself and stand expectantly, though still barely semi-conscious, with his mug at the ready, bleary eyes locked on the coffee pot.

Arising after being wakened by the high pitched whine of the coffee grinder I'd make my own way to the kitchen and raise a hand and offer a "Mornin'!" to a really miserable looking creature guarding the coffee maker as if all our lives depended on it.

A guttural "Mmmgh!" and a glare that would send Navy Seals running for cover was my return greeting. I'd smile and go about my own morning routine, chuckling as he shoveled sugar into his coffee, somehow not causing the inky black liquid to spill over onto the counter.

It usually took him a couple of cups of coffee and at least one cigarette to acknowledge civilization and be prepared enough to accept a morning greeting and/or question. Thanks to the coffee for preserving Mandy and I through those months that Brian lived with us.

Once I started drinking it with him we would have discussions about coffee that would go on for minutes at a time. He exposed me to Ethiopian, Sumatran, Kona and a host of other varieties which I hardly remember.

In the beginning as he would load his mug down with sugar I would flop a little creamer into mine. He would chide me saying that real men didn't use creamer. Apparently real men had no qualms with enough sugar to choke a dentist.

Eventually I discovered I liked my coffee black more than I liked it with anything in it, and then the tables turned. From a purist's point of view I was the better coffee drinker. Whole bean, premium brands, black as night. The only thing I lacked was an expensive coffee maker to put me on the pedestal of coffee snobbery.

Heck! I wouldn't even drink coffee from collective office coffee makers. Those always have pre-ground, mass produced coffees. Who would drink that filth?

Alas, I finally went on a coffee drinking hiatus. I just can't drink hot beverages in the summer. And so in summer I go back to drinking soda to get my caffeine fix. But in the past few weeks I've been drinking it more and more. I'm trying to get myself off of soda altogether and I am still hopelessly addicted to caffeine. It still puts me to sleep if I drink too much, but that doesn't stop my little neurons from crying out when they are deprived of it.

Last night I made the last of the old stale Colombian whole bean. It was just too old so I dumped my mug down the drain and threw away the half-a-handful of beans that were left.

This morning after dropping my wife and son off at school I took my three year old daughter to the grocery store. No I didn't go to a coffee joint that roasts their own beans on site. I may have to work my way back up to that level of pretentiousness. It was a moderately long search, squeezing the bags of whole bean coffee, sneering at the "ground" bags on the shelf until I found a decently priced, unpretentious looking bag of whole bean Kona. I remember loving Kona especially.

I drank a little black (at least as black as Kona can be) and then slopped some creamer into it. I might have gotten a little too much.

Next time I'll know...

Synthesis Ramble: or The Rant My Wife Will Roll Her Eyes At

2010-11-10T11:42:00.001-07:00

I know I go on at times about how good the rich have it and how the rest of us live in relative squalor. I should go ahead now and apologize to my wife for ranting ceaselessly about it. What I want to to clarify is that while I talk “us vs. them” I think my real dissatisfaction is in the economic insecurity and opportunity for the lower-middle class.

I have a wonderful, healthy family. We have a house we love, if its a bit small. But the world is our oyster and we take full advantage of living in a place where open space is valued and preserved, where we have opportunities to recreate and enrich ourselves with new experiences.

We love the natural and social resources we have at our disposal. We have become adept at finding low cost and free opportunities for recreation and enrichment. And because we have access to parks, open space, and public spaces that enhance our lives the small house feels cozy and not crowded. It is a good space for us. And sometimes I forget that when I wish I had a shed to use as a bike shop, or my own home office in lieu of the living room couch and a laptop.

What is truly frustrating to me is that I have no assurance that I will be able to continue providing the NEEDS of my family and no cushion to regroup if our economic situation were to change. We literally live paycheck to paycheck, and most definitely not by choice. On top of that our net assets wouldn't buy us much in an emergency.

We have a car that runs, but we have no guarantee that we could replace it if something were to happen to it, say, an illegal immigrant with no insurance or license were to crash into it and total our car...we'd be out of luck financially speaking. That is just one instance where I find frustration in a system that rewards the rich and penalizes the poor just for being who they are.

And then I am torn because I am a Christian and I should put my faith solely in God and not worry about how my material needs will be met in the future, that God will take care of us and watch over us. We've seen time and time again how Providence works and I do not suffer from lack of faith. Maybe a shortage sometimes, but not a lack...sometimes life is overwhelming and its hard to stop and think about the assurance I have in my faith.

But I also know that God DOES work through Providence and Providence operates within the laws of nature and economics and that when our car does die, or the kids need to go to college or have orthodontia that God won't magically transmit a million dollars on our doorstep. I know we must work for what we are blessed with because that is the means through which Providence works.

And then I get back to that frustration, that in working so hard I don't feel like I'm being adequately compensated. I fundamentally believe that if you work in a town you should be able to afford to live in that town. Period. And if not (though why not?), you should be able to afford fair means of transportation to meet your needs.

In my case today that means as a Planner working for County government making Xk dollars annually I should be able to afford to replace my rear rim on my bike (THIS is my other car!) and not feel guilty about doing so. We've cut back and cut out, sacrificed unnecessary services and luxuries and still have to admit we can't afford things that are a step above necessary.

I hate to sound bitter, I really don't mean to. My intent in this post is to clarify where my frustrations really lie. I don't want to be rich. Wealth corrupts. My bitterness toward the wealthy has more to do with power and influence over people like me because of their money and less to do with the fact that they have more STUFF than I do. Why should they disproportionately benefit from a system that we all pay into. My labor and effort make it possible for the rich to continue to be rich. Why doesn't my labor benefit me proportionately. Do I sound like a socialist? Well, if the shoe fits I guess...

I'm content at the place I am in life. I am not content with my potential. I want to be able to better provide for my family and to be certain that I can continue to provide for my family indefinitely. I don't feel like I have the personal capital to do so. I want to diversify my skills and broaden my experience base so that I know I can always have a job and maintain a modest standard of living (but why should I have to acquire three degrees to be “successful”).

The economic climate in this country quells any confidence I could have in that arena. It is frustrating to have modestly progressed as an adult, never over-extending, never taking unnecessary financial risks and then feeling as if financial stability is still a long way off, despite having fulfilled a rather conservative track toward “success.”

Finding opportunity is difficult. I want to be creative and express myself through writing and through my photography. I don't necessarily want to give up my job as a Planner, though that would be nice, to replace my current position with one of creative expression, but I would be content just to have some recognition and maybe, just maybe, a little financial compensation to supplement my meager salary.

These days (as it must have always been) it seems like you have to know someone, or get to know someone to have doors open for you. Unfortunately my innate anti-social behavior is a handicap I must overcome if I want Opportunity.

Opportunity won't walk up the yard to your door. You've got to go out and meet opportunity at the curb. The curb is much farther from the step in suburbia. We've allowed to much distance in our built world. We've bought houses in the suburbs of the abstract social of the city. We are separated by the physical distance of ourselves and our homes from those of others and we have allowed television, internet and social media to drive even deeper wedges between ourselves and our communities while feeling as if we've grown closer together.

Ideas don't mix well in cyberspace. Tone and emotion are lost and more often than not we take comments the wrong way and react accordingly. Sitting around a table at a coffee shop discussing politics with friendly strangers, or having lunch meetings with potential employers or benefactors makes much more sense than a random email exchange.

For me this is a difficult thing to physically acknowledge. I can conceive it intellectually, but I find it hard to inject myself into the flesh and blood social realm. I find it much easier to thrive in the anonymity of the internet and all its anti-social graces.

I firmly believe the so called American Dream was a lie concocted by people that needed the masses to support their hidden agendas of personal wealth. The dystopic suburban planetscape that resulted after WWII was something everyone could buy into. All it needed was a positive spin and some crafty marketing to make it accessible to the Average Joe and once we were committed there was no turning back.

Whether by design (admittedly conspiracy theorist material) or by accident, the compartmentalization of the American landscape that occurred after 1945, along with other factors such as an ever increasing auto-centric culture, has more directly resulted in the ever increasing gap between upper and lower class in this Country. The middle class is falling into the chasm, barely hanging on my fingernails and tiptoes these days. Soon it will be gone and all that will be left will be the ruling rich and discontented poor.

Rambling rant concluded.

Bicyclists Against Distracted Drivers

2010-11-09T12:49:00.004-07:00

I'm torn what slant to put on this post. Should I post this to my cycling blog as a motorist vs. cyclist rant, or should I look at the bigger picture and rail on how this is just a wretched symptom of a truly sick society that values material wealth more than human health and life?

The cycling slant would be easier for me to write. And if I start on the big picture piece I am sure to get overwhelmed and give up because its just too...overwhelming.

Well, here we go. We'll see where it ends up.

On July 3rd, while cycling eastbound along the shoulder on Highway 6 in Avon, Colorado, less than two miles west of where I ended the Triple Bypass in 2009, Dr. Steven Milo of New York was struck from behind by a Mercedes sedan driven by Martin Joel Erzinger, a financial manager from Avon responsible for over a billion dollars in assets.

Over three miles away police picked up Erzinger at an Avon Pizza Hut. He was putting his sideview mirror and broken bumper in his trunk while Milo lay seriously injured on the side of the road. Erzinger had called for roadside assistance, but not for police or ambulance services. He claimed he didn't know he had hit Milo.

The defense says that Erzinger “might have unknowingly suffered from sleep apnea.” Convenient, because if he had knowingly suffered from sleep apnea he could be charged with vehicular assault on the basis of reckless behavior. “A person acts recklessly when he or she consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a result will occur or that the circumstances exist.” --http://www.lawinfoboulder.com/areas_criminal_litigation/vehicular_homicide_assault.html.

The defense couldn't say for sure that Erzinger suffers from sleep apnea because he would still be responsible for his choice to get behind the wheel. No, they had to adopt (or concoct) some standard legal fairy tale that would absolve their client of ANY responsibility in the matter.

But the most absurd aspect of the whole case is that Erzinger is only facing misdemeanor charges, and not felony charges for almost killing and definitely leaving for dead another human being with his black 2010 Mercedes sedan. The reason he is only facing the lesser charge is because he is rich. Its that cut and dried.

Erzinger is apparently a pillar of the community, a boon to the wealthy who use his services. It would be cruel and unusual to subject him to a felony charge. How would he be able to pay restitution to the poor man he hit?

“Hurlbert said Erzinger is willing to take responsibility and pay restitution. “ But not suffer any legal or social consequences...not man up and accept his responsibility as a citizen, as a driver and as a human being. And I am sure he has assets that could adequately compensate Milo even if he were no longer gainfully employed.

And what of poor Dr. Milo? He was a visitor to Vail, which stands today only because of tourist dollars. Vail has no industry, no real commerce except the dollars of out-of-towners. Milo was casting his economic vote in favor of the town of Vail. Many people are stating they won't be doing that in the future because of this incident.

When they get in your way in Eagle County you just run them over. After all, Milo was just riding a bicycle. Why couldn't he act normal and drive a car like the rest of us? Freak. I bet he doesn't even own a car. If he paid registration and licensing fees like the rest of us then he would have a right to use the road as a vehicle.

An article in the Gilpin County News about the controversial Black Hawk, Colorado bike ban the states: "cyclists do not contribute to highway funds as motor vehicle owners do through licensing and registration fees. "

Huh? That logic is flawed. I own and ride a bike. I also own and drive a car. I DO pay licensing and registration fees. And when I choose to ride my bike and park my car I am subsidizing all those motorists who buzz past, honk and yell obscenities out the window at me. Or, heaven forbid, run me over and keep right on going, not stopping until they get to Pizza Hut where they try to hide the evidence of our encounter and deny everything.

I'm sure Steven Milo owns a car. I'm sure his license and registration are current and that he generally obeys all the traffic laws. I'm not going to go so far as to venture that before his accident that he didn't also drive distracted. We all do at some point. We have to look down at our speedometer, gas gauge and CD player from time to time. I bet Steven Milo is much more aware of others on the road these days.

I wonder if Erzinger pays more attention to the road these days? Hopefully he's getting treatment for his sleep apnea.

In the public comment section of an article regarding three cyclist who were killed on a Quebec road by a motorist a user with the ironic handle “Benzornothing” writes:

“Bicycles are not safe and suitable for our roads; maybe 100 years ago along with donkeys and horses. I drive 50 to 60k per year on business by car, and when I see most cyclists drive through red lights, stop signs etc. I shake my head... and never surprised to see them on the front of the newspapers”

Does Benzornothing even see the cyclists who do NOT drive through red lights, stop signs, etc.? It would probably surprise him to see them on the hood of his Benz too, just like Benzinger in Avon.

Benzornothing states he sees MOST cyclist breaking the laws. I have a feeling the proportion of cyclist that break traffic law minor or major is very close to the same as the proportion of motorists who do the same. It has nothing to do with the mode of transportation, it is solely a matter of the behavior of the individual, whether behind the wheel or on the handlebars.

And again, I have a feeling both Benzornothing and Benzinger rarely see cyclists unless they are running red lights or sitting across from them in a courtroom.

The greater implication in all this (remember my initial dilemma?) is that our state laws allow this sort of thing to occur. In traffic violations it is very difficult to prove negligence or recklessness unless drugs and/or alcohol are involved, and many times even in those situations the offender gets off with just a slap on the wrist.

We should, as voters, as citizens, demand that laws protect us from the gross negligence of others. It should not be so hard to prove recklessness and it should be much harder to obtain and maintain a driver's license, especially after being involved in previous traffic infractions.

And someone's economic status should not protect them from due process of the law. If you cause someone serious bodily injury you should not be allowed to sweep the matter under the rug because you can grease the right palms or cry big crocodile tears and end up being the victim while the poor sod in a body cast ends up becoming the real criminal for expecting justice.

This is not really the exception these days, but seems to be the rule.

The Right Wacko for the Job

2010-11-04T13:40:00.006-07:00

This from an AP article:

In a sign that combat and the 2012 elections rather than compromise could mark the next two years, Sen. Mitch McConnell on Thursday called for Senate votes to repeal or erode Obama's signature health care law, to cut spending and to shrink government.

"The only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things," McConnell said in a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation.

That means their goal could be to find the right puppet (or pretty face) for the job and not necessarily someone who has a strong inclination to lead and/or be a good president, just someone who will march along republican party lines.

I'm sick of party politics and the politicians demanding that we conform to their party lines. Its not about the public constituents, but about cronyism and the lobbyists that have the best interests of the capitalist regime close to their hearts.

The American public has been brainwashed into believing that the parties have the answers when in fact they don't.

We have traded hardline democrats for hardling republicans. Wow, we're so much better off...

Next time a president gives a State of the Union address I'm going to yell "HA!"

I'm scared to death that Palin will run against Obama. She is just crazy enough and the idea of putting her in office is just crazy enough that it might happen. And I think that would be ba-aaad for this country.

The republicans need to find someone to run in 2012 that can finish a term as governor and who's mass appeal has less to do with pageantry and more to do with leadership capabilities.

A good president for 2012 would be someone who can bring the country together and focus on our common ground. We've too long been focused on what drives us apart.

The article goes on to say:

"If the administration wants cooperation, it will have to begin to move in our direction," McConnell said.

And he spelled out a strategy for undermining Obama's health care law, calling for repeated votes to repeal the measure.

"But we can't expect the president to sign it," he said. "So we'll also have to work, in the House, on denying funds for implementation, and, in the Senate, on votes against its most egregious provisions."

I love that they are blatantly refusing to compromise.

Republicans, meanwhile, spoke of working with Democrats only in vague terms. Mostly, they seemed defiant.

Because they really have OUR best interests at heart, not in getting revenge on the democrats and punishing them for being in charge for a couple of years.

McConnell was unapologetic for the unified resistance of the Republican Party to Obama initiatives over the past two years.

No matter if they made sense or not.

Reid, D-Nev., said that in light of the election, "Republicans must take the responsibility to solve the problems of ordinary Americans," although he added, "people expect us to work together."

We do.

And I like that he said the republicans have the responsibility to solve the problems of ordinary Americans. They don't have the responsibility to prove they are smarter, or that their campaign promises sounded better. They have a mandated responsibility to represent the interests, stated or not, of the American citizens. They have no responsibility to get re-elected, shove money at the rich or deny the poor their needs.

Elections: and Why I'm Not the County Surveyor

2010-11-03T07:08:00.003-07:00

I did get two write in votes for County Surveyor. I should have written myself in and I would have increased my lead by 33%.

Colorado did vote down 60, 61 & 101, thankfully, so even though I'm not Surveyor I do still have a job.

I hope all of your election dreams came true, at least as long as you aren't some bleeding heart liberal or conservative.

As long as you didn't support candidates who will reduce big government only to replace it with big business, as long as the candidates you supported are against same-sex marriage, illegal immigration, rampant abortion, and as long as your vote was intended to preserve traditional values while reducing the plutonomy that exists in this country...THEN I hope your election dream came true.

I am neither republican or democrat. I believe in social and fiscal conservatism and not just lip service to that effect. I believe corporations have run our country for too long, and that replacing corporations with the left-wing wish list is not the answer. I believe we need some real common sense in government, but more so in the voter and common citizen.

If we were to demand that the nonsense go away it would, because we control the vote. The corporations and the rich really don't have as much power as they appear to.

We can elect the officials who will truly represent us, we just have to identify those that are above bribery and corporate coercion. We can stop casting our economic vote for companies that control us through illicit political means. We can demand honest and ethical reporting form the media. We can and MUST take control back of our ailing political system.

We can support good economic entities and withdraw support from those that erode the strength that we once had in this great country. Walmart is a perfect example. They come in and run out every small business in town and replace the livelihoods of those displaced small business owners with piddly non-union jobs and call the workers "associates."

I really don't like unions. I really don't. I've worked for two and I couldn't stand union politics and policies any more than I can stand government politics, but I have also worked in places that desperately needed a union and the conditions on both sides of the line were vastly different. I can imagine in industries like mining and big manufacturing that a union is a great asset.

Walmart could do with either a reality check or a union. But regardless of conditions for Walmart's employees, the very presence of the store in a small community is a bane on the lives of the residents whether they admit it or not.

Yesterday I took my daughter to a local mom and pop coffee shop and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Compared to the Starbucks experience it was more real, more what I was looking for in a cup of coffee and something I would put my weight behind to support.

There was no rush, no line out the door of desperate looking yuppies ready to swipe plastic for overpriced coffee. It was just a nice cup of coffee in a great setting provided by a real human being with no political or social agenda hiding behind the curtain.

If we had stayed in Kentucky I think I would have become actively involved in politics. I was so disgusted with the deplorable state of affairs, in politics, in social issues, economics and in opportunity that I was no longer able to sit idly by and watch the small town political machine wallow in its own mire any longer.

I'm kinda glad we moved.

Spook-tacular Neighborhood

2010-10-31T18:32:00.004-07:00

We're finished trick-or-treating. Mandy brought the kids to work on Friday and we went around my building. Lily got into some candy unsupervised and was crazed Friday night.

This afternoon we went to the Children's Museum for Trick or Treat Street. The kids had a great time.

Tonight we had just gotten ready to go out in our neighborhood when Daryl and Little Glen showed up. So we went around our neighborhood with them and took in a good haul.

There are still lots of spooks running around our neighborhood. It was so cool to have my faith in Halloween restored with a traditional trick-or-treat, going door to door and getting to interact with our neighbors.

I so hate how corporate all of our holidays become. Lining up booths at a school track and having the kids circle around in a mass is just sad. Having the local chamber of commerce sponsor a for-profit candyfest is even more ridiculous.

Halloween is fun in your neighborhood, walking around door to door and begging for candy from strangers.

I told the kids they had to make the candy last until easter. Hopefully we'll still have enough for their easter baskets.

Caving Punkins

2010-10-28T09:01:00.003-07:00

Last night we "caved punkins" as Lily would say.

"Not cave! CARVE!" Boone admonished.

Undercover Boss

2010-10-17T19:56:00.003-07:00

I hate to sound cynical, but the shows seems to me to have the possibility of being corporate America propaganda, to make the average American citizen fell warm and fuzzy about corporate America.

The CEOs that go undercover in their corporations seem so human, so down to earth and humble and so not greedy and not cold and heartless like you'd imagine a CEO that lives in a 10,000 square foot mansion would be.

Corporate America knows we sheeple love feel good, fuzzy warm reality shows where the average Joe gets a hand up out of the mire of adversity that is day-to-day drudgery by benevolent all-powerful entities. We love to see underprivileged families get a week's vacation to Disney World while Ty Pennington builds them a suburbian palace, all sponsored by Sears.

We love that kind of stuff. We love watching the Big Losers better themselves with help from seemingly benevolent professionals. And then Nordic Track shows us that the real losers still lost tons of weight be using Nordic Track treadmills.

What we see as windows into a world of hope where the system helps the little man out of his misery could just as likely be a brilliantly not-so-subtle marketing scheme which plays on our overdeveloping senses of sappiness.

And why isn't Undercover Boss just another feel good pseudo-commercial. I wonder if the companies represented pay premiums to have their supposed CEOs go undercover on camera.

Call me cynic, but while I would love to believe that CEOs in America are benefactors of the single mother, the over-worked father...the headlines seem to tell a different story. And I don't believe that the media and corporations would get together without having a motive of generating a profit for themselves, no matter how altruistic the finished product seems.

Planning Woes

2010-10-11T12:52:00.003-07:00

Planning my future in planning is tricky. Do I continue in land use planning? Move to transportation planning? Environmental? Change to forestry management? Recreation? Recreation planning?

All I know is that permit review is starting to stale. My shelf life here is running out. The conference sealed it for me. I want to be doing something, engaging my brain, not fighting with zoning violators over why they have a certain side setback. I don't care about fence heights anymore (never did really) and I need to move on.

Unfortunately moving on isn't as easy in theory as it seems. The economy is in the pot, I have no way to move up within the County framework unless someone quits. Even then there is no guarantee that I'll get into any open position.

I can further my education but we really can't afford it. And two more years out while I seek another piece of paper is two more years reviewing permits. At least if I were in school I would (in theory) be engaging my thinking processes and hopefully slinging strands in my network.

If I go back to school and stay in a planning related program I'm going with transportation for sure. If I change tracks I'm not so sure. Part of me really wants to get into wildlife or forestry management. But I think my interests are more in transportation planning. Though they are my interests, not what gets me out of bed every morning. Community meetings with irate neighbors who don't want bike lanes in their neighborhood…sounds fun.

Part of me thinks getting into the university setting and teaching planning would be very interesting and engaging. That path would seem to me, for me to involve backtracking and starting all over, at least from an academic standpoint. I know that with a few more years of experience, especially at a more advanced level of planning that I would be able to write knowledgeably about the subjects which I deem interesting or important.

I am trying now to get involved in local bicycling advocacy (amazing that I can say that, three years ago "local bicycling advocacy" was making sure I didn't get ran over by Red River Ranch trucks) to decorate my resume a bit. Between some volunteer work and a little more education I think making the transition into transportation planning would be fairly easy. I guess I am just bemoaning the necessity for patience. I would much prefer to stop doing permit review and start doing transportation planning TODAY.

In the meantime I will keep writing, blogging, researching, learning, experiencing. I need all these things to truly become what I want to be. If I knew exactly where I wanted to end up it would be so much easier to decide which path to take.

Steamboat Springs Trip

2010-10-08T20:24:00.006-07:00

I drove our trusty Subaru Conestoga Wagon down the north side of Rabbit Ears into Steamboat Springs. The sun was sinking behind the ridge to the west but we managed to find first the visitors' center and then our hotel (The Sheraton) before we lost all daylight.

Mandy and the kids tagged along with me for the Colorado chapter of the American Planning Association's annual conference. We've never been to Steamboat. The kids and I were a few miles away in Walden on our way to ride the Medicine Bow Rail Trail a few weeks ago.

The road between Granby and Kremmling is a scenic byway along the Colorado River. It was a really nice stretch of road, but we were driving into the setting sun so it was hard to fully take in the views.

We brought our bikes on this trip in hopes of getting to ride the Yampa River Trail through Steamboat. We'll see...heard thunder a few minutes ago and when I looked out it was definitely raining.

This is truly an amazing state. We saw a herd of bighorn sheep south of Berthoud Pass. The landscape around Kremmling is desolate, dry and awesome. There are bare dirt hills with almost no vegetation and moderately high peaks rising out of the sage. The Routt Nat'l forest around Muddy and Rabbit Ears Passes is beautiful and noteworthy as a cross country skiing destination.

I've got three sessions tomorrow and a couple on Friday and we're going to head out at noon Friday to get back home to meet Mandy's family who are coming in from Kentucky to visit.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

THURSDAY:

I was going to skip the keynote address, but I decided to go after all. I am glad I did. The speaker was Stephen Goldsmith, an artist and former planning director for Salt Lake City. It was an inspiring speech. It made me realize that being in permit review for the unincorporated parts of the county will never be as fulfilling as being on the ground level for a city or town in current planning.

www.artspaceutah.org

www.fitcities.org/August_2002_pages/default.htm

Transportation planning, current urban planning or teaching planning at a university are more in the direction I would like to go. Writing about planning would also be acceptable as a career course for me. I realize I need more experience and I need some diversity in my background to be more credible as a teacher or writer and I need to come up with a personal career plan to help me achieve my goals.

I think a good first step (outside of the planning stage) is getting involved in bicycle advocacy through Bike Jeffco and especially Bike Arvada.

I've been in contact with Peter McNutt who has in the past maintained the Bike Arvada website and has been president of the organization. He has stated in an email that he just doesn't have time these days to keep up with it and seems willing to hand over maintenance of the site to me.

During Mr. Goldsmith's speech I sat in front of one of Jeffco's current planners and one of our planning engineers. As the speech closed the planner leaned over to the engineer and said: "It's all a bunch of fluff, huh?"

I really wanted to turn around and slap him.

On a much more hilarious note, in the restroom an hour or so later I saw said engineer having trouble with the sink. He couldn't figure out how to get the water to come out.

"It apparently takes an engineering degree." I offered. He grumbled as water failed to come out.

"Wave your hand under the faucet." I added. He did and cursed under his breath as water flowed.

"I guess it takes a planning degree." I said with a chuckle. He grumbled in agreement.

Off to another session.

LATER

My second session was good. The topic was "Mythbusters: The Truth About Bringing the Streetcar Back." Very interesting stuff. Both Colorado Springs and Denver are looking at the feasibility of a streetcar corridor.

After the first session I met back up with Mandy and the kids and we drove downtown and ate at Beau Jo's Steamboat. After eating all we could we drove over a few blocks and checked out Diagon Alley (yeah, at least a couple of us are HP geeks).

I went to the second session and then headed back up to the room to get my family. We got our bikes from storage and drove down the street to the Yampa River Core Trail (paved multi-use path) trailhead at US 40 and Mount Werner Circle.

We rode north along the river to the northern terminus of the trail. We saw some cool parks, the ski jump, the Yampa Botanic Gardens and a Sulphur Spring.

It was overcast and threatening rain but held off til after we returned to the car. Boone and I saw lightning to the south as we approached the trailhead where we had parked.

We grabbed dinner at Subway and then returned to the room. The kids wanted to go to the pool, so we did. It is outside, though heated, but its pretty cool tonight. It snowed in Silverthorne either last night or this morning.

I have a couple of sessions tomorrow and then we're headed back to Arvada. Mandy's mom and dad and Ty and Ali are coming to visit for nine days.

FRIDAY

My sessions went well. The first was on sustainability and had some good info and the second was on the City of Wheat Ridge's new Mixed Use zone districts. Interesting stuff.

It rained most of the morning before we headed out of Steamboat. We went south toward Yampa instead of directly back up to Rabbit Ears. My intention was to return via Gore Pass and then south out of Kremmling to Silverthorne instead of back through the Grand Valley and over Berthoud Pass. The distance is about the same either way.

We stopped in Yampa and ate lunch at an awesome little greasy spoon called Penny's Diner. Yampa is a cool little cow town. I think I want a cabin there. The Yampa Valley is rimmed by mesas and national forest. The town has quaint houses and dirt streets along with a cool hotel.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5rh4Q3ntRq3b4aQzUfmPLg?feat=directlink

As we pulled out of Yampa with bellies full of burgers and fries the skies threatened an autumn storm. We pulled off on a forest road to the west to get some photos of a snow capped mesa (Little Flat Tops).

As we turned east toward Gore Pass lightning slashed through the bruise colored clouds in front of us. We managed to avoid the worst of the rain and dropped into Middle Park with more storms off to the northeast.

I turned south out of Kremmling and the Gore Range spread out before us, draped in a shroud of snow and blanketed by heavy clouds.

As we rounded the south end of Green Mountain Reservoir we got a good dose of autumn rain. The Gore Range rose up on our right, snowy and gray through the sheets of rain, golden flecks of aspen glinting through the mist...

We turned east on I-70 at Silverthorne and saw blankets of snow high up on the Divide.

We passed through the Johnson Tunnel (freakin' long) and were back in more familiar territory on the Atlantic side.

Finally we were home, the temps much cooler than when we left, wind blowing, leaves crumpling along the ground. Its nice for autumn to have finally hit us full in the face.

Long Climbs

2010-10-03T13:08:00.005-07:00

Until yesterday the longest route I had climbed was The Daddy in Linville Gorge at 600'.

The day JB and I did The Daddy by the time we got off the route my brain was mush. I led the first pitch, JB attempted the second and let me take over and I ended up leading the rest of the route.

We got off the route early and then hiked around the east face of Table Rock to do The North Ridge. I just couldn't pull it off, despite the route only being 5.5.

The Daddy is five pitches, near vertical in places and hovers around 5.6 as you plod a line up the Mummy Buttress.

In those days 600' was about the highest imaginable route I believed I could pull off. The exposure and height overwhelmed my mind and devastated my consciousness.

The pitches were kept short and I carried up enough hardware to built a fleet of fighter jets. I'm sure I had at least a double set of cams from TCUs on up, a set of stoppers, a set of hexes and a couple miles of shoulder slings. I probably hauled forty pounds of gear up the buttress just to protect me as I led.

The night before last, as I planned and packed for the Third Flatiron I pared everything down. I took a single set of cams, a set of stoppers, four shoulder runners and four quick draws.

I opted to leave my pair of cordelettes (big mistake) and I went really light on gear thinking all the belays were bolted. Somehow I missed the part in the guidebook desription which mentioned the LAST bolted belay on the route (with 2-3 more pitches above) and I did not take into consideration that I might not be able to FIND a bolted belay station.

The first gear belay I was forced to build was a blessing of providence. The remaining cams I had on my rack when I reached a stance fit perfectly in a 15' vertical crack and I equalized them with clove hitches in the rope. Since Mandy and I were not swinging leads that made switching out the belay a royal pain.

The next gear belay went much better, I had four perfect (again thanks to providence) placements in a horizontal crack and used two of my shoulder slings to equalize them.

The last gear belay was a single #2 Camalot and a body belay behind a huge flake. Once Mandy reached my perch I took some more gear form her and beefed it up. By then we were already 1,000' from the base of the formation with over 800' of climbing below us. My mind had sort of acclimated to being on the wall, though my body was protesting with every fiber.

The last pitch was a dramatic, exposed and very runout pitch of friction. I slung a bollard about 50' below the summit and ran it out over the bald crux of the route on beautiful orange rock.

I felt cool and confident running it out, with my route finding and improvising anchors. I dealt with the exposure and the length of the route. The rappels were exposed and steep and I felt pretty comfortable (at least as comfortable as I have ever felt rappelling) until the last rappel.

THe last rappel to the ground was somehow more exposed and freakier than the previous two. Off the anchors you descend down a vertical face to the lip of a roof over an arete. Going over the lip of the roof I misjudged my footing, partly because I was finally feeling the effects of the day and partly because the view to the south was bombarding my senses with primordial fear, and as I dropped past my left hand on the rope above me got caught against the rock.

All of my weight was on the rope and I couldn't free my hand. My brake hand suddenly felt weak and I desperately wanted to back it up with my left hand so instead of trying to carefully and slowly free it I just rappelled down until it was free, dragging my knuckles painfully down the coarse sandstone.

I now sport a couple nasty gobies on the outside knuckles of my left hand.

I paused long enough to make sure I wasn't going to bleed to death before I reached the ground and then continued down.

We pulled our rope and stowed everything as best we could and started the long hike down. Tired legs muscles protested, weary minds rebelled in exhaustion and after what seemed like a short eternity we reached the car, dumped our gear in the hatch and collapsed into the bucket seats.

It was an amazing climb. It blew The Daddy out of the water.

I'm good for awhile. I'm sure I'll want to climb again as soon as I'm not sore anymore, but I think I'll be fine sticking to much shorter routes until next spring.

Trip Report: Third Flatiron

2010-10-02T19:16:00.008-07:00

Glory hallelujah! Mandy and I climbed the classic East Face of the Third Flatiron.

We got on the route about 11:30am. There was one party casting off the East Bench as we reached the start of the route. We didn't have to wait more than ten minutes to get on the wall.

Then we climbed six pitches of mostly 5.0 climbing with a couple of spots of 5.4. It seemed like the technical crux of the route is the last 20'. The route is is 1,000' (per Rossiter's guide) and starts on a bench at least 500' from the nadir of the face. At the top we had 1,500' of rock/air below our feet.

It was a nice cool day. In fact, toward the end it was downright chilly.

The climbing is amazing, jugs and buckets for hundreds of feet. Maximum exposure, in fact it was exposure big as the Great Plains.

Only one pitch felt relatively well protected and I had about five pieces in 200 feet.

We moved on steadily upward, never stalling, never faltering. One the last pitch we hit a bottleneck. As I started out leading another party passed the belay and the leader climbed beside me and passed under the rope of a party that had been pacing us off to the right. As I approached the summit a soloist weaved around me and the guy from the parallel party at his top belay. Could have done without the rudesters.

It took us a solid five hours to summit, then we had three rappels to get us off the rock. It took another hour to have our feet back in the dirt of the saddle between the Third and the hillside.

The hike out was brutal. steep and long. We could hear the announcer at CU for some sort of game (probably football) introducing the players.

It was amazing, mind-boggling and I agree that the East Face is a North American classic.

Some of the memorable aspects of our ascent:

Surprising lack of crowds after we started (except for the rude bottleneck at the end).

1,000' of climbing on positive holds and great quality rock.

Eyebolts at three belays (we skipped the first one and bypassed the last, there were a total of five). They are so huge they seem like they're holding the rock to the hillside. They're structural.

The second and fourth belays were awkward affairs at best, but it was hard to notice with that expanse of nothing-ness to the east.

Someone had thoughtfully urinated at the fifth belay. Quite aromatic.

Once the sun left the wall it was October chilly.

The last pitch was amazingly exposed up a rounded corner on runout 5.4 friction. I loved it!

The three overhanging (1st and last) and vertical (2nd) rappels were enough to make me think twice about heading right back up there to do it again.

We were engaged in the approach, the climb and the descent for about 8 hours and we moved steadily the whole time

EUREKA!

2010-10-01T13:12:00.003-07:00

Maybe I shouldn't share this just yet, but since I only have a handful (literally) of loyal readers I guess there is no harm...

To increase the efficiency and enjoyment of a lifestyle of voluntary (or semi-voluntary) simplicity a huge key to success is to seek out and take advantage of positive externalities.

Examples:

Public outdoor art vs. paying for indoor art museums

Public playgrounds for entertainment vs. going to the amusement park

Borrowing books and movies for free from the public library vs. paying for the same at stores

I know the specific behaviors are nothing new, but how can we apply the principle ACROSS THE BOARD?

More to come...

The Big Picture

2010-10-01T11:24:00.004-07:00

So having recently read Cadillac Desert and being in the process of reading the Dune series by Frank Herbert I see some curious parallels.

In Dune Herbert has characters speak of being "water-fat". They come from alien worlds to Arrakis and their bodies are full of water. The indigenous Fremen are not water-fat unless they give up the desert lifestyle for life in the cities. And even then they are more water-wise than the immigrants and conquerors from other worlds.

Reisner discusses how Europeans and Easterners came West in the US and applied farming and lifestyle tactics that were not appropriate in the Great American Desert. They came West "water-fat" and in the many years afterward their descendants have expected to be able to maintain that obesity.

The landscape, both in the fictional world crafted by Herbert and in the real life of the West, will not sustain a great number of people indefinitely.

The Big Picture moment? Herbert hints that Arrakis had once been a fertile planet, but that the sandworms had changed the face of the planet. Paul started the process to change the planet back, but in return for a once again fertile planet the citizens of the universe would have to give up its most precious and most common currency, the spice.

There would have been no way to justify sustaining life on Arrakis unless the spice did not exist there.

To have a truly sustainable world humanity is going to have to sacrifice its luxuries. The real question is: will humanity be compelled to change or will humanity choose the verdant path? I think humanity will ultimately be compelled. I think oil and water shortages in the future will dominate our lives. I think at some point we will no longer be able to maintain the levels of civilization we have come to expect and it will all crumble.

The crux of the question is the speed at which events progress between the realization that we are past the point of turning back and when order is lost. If we can somehow fix the problem while running headlong to destruction then we may have a chance. But I think we'll have too much speed and momentum by the time we realize we can't procrastinate any more.

There is no way to justify our levels of consumption except to keep the machine cranking away. We perceive our modern lifestyles as some sort of perpetual motion machine, but it truly is not. At some point the machine will stop turning and the illusion will shatter.

Must Read Books for Americans

2010-09-30T09:33:00.003-07:00

Affluenza: The All-consuming Epidemic by John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor, and David Horsey
The Cyclist's Manifesto: The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four by Robert Hurst (if you travel upon the roadway this book has pertinent information)
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Mark Reisner (even Easterners should read this one, they need to know)

I'm also reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson at the moment and it is also a strong contender for "Must Read." I know there are many, many people out there who would put it at the top of the list. I think if we fix some of our other problems our ecological sins will go away as a result.

I had also included Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin, but by including Affluenza I think you cover the pertinent issues in YMOYL.

I am a big picture kind of guy. I don't have great attention to detail, but I can see patterns and connections across the vast grid of human existence. I'm beginning to put it all together and I plan on continuing in this vein for as long as I can. I think I can start to put it all together into some sort of synthesized product that will make sense, but I need to explore a little more and fill in my mental map of the problem(s).

Autumn Pilgrimage

2010-09-27T10:00:00.004-07:00

We did it. We drove west just to see the aspens. I would feel horribly sheep-like if we hadn't been planning on doing something in the out-of-doors anyway.

I am not sheep.

Wrestling with traffic, we crawled west to Kenosha Pass yesterday afternoon. I took the family over the pass and down into South Park for the first time. I've been over there once, but they've never been.

Then we hung out at the pass for awhile, hiking around on the east side of 285 through the aspens and we checked out the section of track left from the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad in the meadow there.

It was a lot of fun and quite relaxing. I got some great photos and reinforced the idea that I need to slow down and focus to get some better images.

And the Seasons Roll On By

2010-09-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

In retrospect the destruction of my Giant wasn't such a bad thing. I mean, it was an $800 bike down the tubes. That sucked. But I've definitely grown to appreciate my ONE bike. Instead of a shiny new bike to take up room, I have made the best out of what I had and it is working famously.

The reality is that the Cannonball is better suited for non-summer commuting. Soon the weather will turn, in fact it has already to change in so many subtle ways.

There are leaves to crunch through on the Clear Creek Trail. The air has been crisp in the mornings as I pedal toward Golden. This morning the temperature was a balmy 49° F. Yesterday was the first full day of autumn and it has felt like it for a few days.

Even on the days that its warm it has felt like fall. Autumn makes me long to be unemployed. The days inside drag on when I know that the air outside is perfect for recreating in. I ache to boulder, to ride, to rope up and to hike. Being inside during the fall sucks.

Runaway Train

2010-09-21T09:56:00.002-07:00

My daughter is planning on running away.

As her mother cleaned her room today she found:

GPS
Spare batteries
My cycling hat
Two change purses
About $3 in loose change
Deodorant
Half the refrigerator magnets
Photographs of her brother and mom
A purse full of her underwear...thankfully clean
All the Lincoln logs distributed about in various containers, including ziplock bags and socks
And finally…the spare car key

I hope this is the only time in her life we find all of these items grouped together in one space...

Traffic Jam at 13,000'

2010-09-18T20:13:00.003-07:00

Today the kids and I went four wheelin' with Paul Florio from church.

We rode out of Georgetown and up Leavenworth Creek toward Waldorf. It was the same road we started up last summer with Tom, Alison and Ty.

The road ended at 13,000' along the north ridge of McClellan Mountain. We stopped there and had lunch. The views were amazing. The eastern aspect of Grays and Torreys Peaks were laid out before us.

After hanging out for awhile we headed down amidst a cluster of vehicles that showed up as we were getting ready to head down. We swung past the Santiago Mine on the way.

It was a lot of fun and I think I may find an old beater Jeep to fix up.

Anyone who knows me might wonder at this change of heart. Do not despair, I still hate ATVs, snowmobiles and jet skis.

I've never really had anything against 4WDs. I've never been a huge aficionado, but I love to explore and short of hiking or bike or climbing somewhere I guess driving would be my next preferred method.

Volunteers Needed

2010-09-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

So lately I've been reading up, doing some research for a writing project on cycling. Internet research is great in that there is so much right at your fingertips, but bad in that you start out with a google search on "bicycle commuting" and an hour later you're reading about Jane Jacobs vs Robert Moses in one tab and hydroponics in another. For some reason I keep right clicking and "open in new tab" any Wikipedia link that looks interesting to me.

My undergrad studies exposed me to a lot of leftist propaganda. In real life I think a lot of it is as extreme as the guy who wanted to burn the Koran. I'm just sayin'. However, being perpetually poor, I have always been attracted to the idea of voluntary simplicity. Of course, "voluntary" bears the connotation that there is choice and that you don't have to subscribe to a certain template of behavior.

I read a book called "Your Money or Your Life" a few years ago and it struck a chord. I wasn't ready to start growing all of my own food, or rummaging through dumpsters for books for my kids, but it did get me thinking and Mandy and I have always worked to cut out the clutter in our lives.

For a couple of years up to our Big Move west we purged often. We knew when we graduated and decided to move that we didn't want to haul a ton of STUFF with us. And even with frequent purges we still maintained quite the wagon load of junk. What can i say, I like my books. But I've definitely grown an affinity for used book stores.

We've completely gotten rid of credit cards from our lives. The only things we have financed have been two mortgages and a couple of small car loans which are thankfully paid off. We obviously have school debt, and those bills are the biggest, but other than the mortgage and the education loans we really only have our monthly bills.

We opted not to move our cable service from our apartment to our new home because we mostly watch network programming anyway and we can watch a lot on the internet.

The main luxuries we have in life are cell phones and internet. We don't have a land line phone so the cell phones are only a slight luxury and with our lifestyles make more sense than a land line anyway. We could do without the internet, but the reality is that it is the one luxury we desire to keep. It is practical and helpful, especially with home schooling the kids and as a form of cheap entertainment and information.

And for entertainment we don't rent movies, go to movies or watch a lot of TV. We try to focus on DOING things that don't cost money. We ride our bikes, hike, take walks around town, visit the library, go see parades, festivals and other community events.

Most of this is not a conscious effort to live a "Simple Life" or to follow the tenets of the Voluntary Simplicity movement with religious fervor. Instead our grudgingly frugal lifestyle has evolved out of necessity. We would blow hundreds of dollars on STUFF if we had hundreds of dollars to blow. We'd have two nice cars if we could afford them.

I'm a gear head. I like shopping for outdoor gear. I like specialized climbing, cycling and hiking gear. To my credit, as I've gotten older I've learned to make do (somewhat) and to be a little more minimal in my approach to my recreational pursuits, but the reality is that I'd spend all my money on North Face, Columbia, Black Diamond and REI gear if I could. But then we wouldn't be able to feed the kids.

The best thing that ever happened to me was meeting my wife and starting a family with her. If I hadn't forced myself to prioritize by taking on responsibilities I would never have been satisfied in life because I would have never been able to live within my means.

When we were newly married a friend gave us some absolutely stellar advice (Thanks Jeri!) that living within your means is the best choice. Her family had shown by example that living within your means really does lead to a better lifestyle. It was a subtle influence at first, and we didn't adhere to it well during the first few years of our marriage, but overall we did sort of stick to the principle.

These days I'm much more satisfied with simpler things, with hanging at home and enjoying the magnificent quality of light in our neighborhood, in listening to the train whistle blow across town, in tinkering with the bikes or taking the kids for a ride to Olde Towne. I'm not as frantic to add rock climbs or summits to my tick lists, though we do still enjoy getting outside and exploring the landscape around us.

Our choices are often subconsciously frugal. And often out of necessity we choose the cheaper route. But I think we've learned to appreciate our semi-voluntary lifestyle.

As I've researched some cycling related topics I keep coming back to themes of simple living, green living and the like. I understand the connection. Hippies like bikes. They're right up there with biodiesel and home made granola.

We semi-voluntarily went from being a two car family to a one car family and I ride my bike to and from work more days than not. I enjoy riding, in being dependent on a bike that I can service myself. It would be nice to be able to choose another path if necessary. If I break a leg I'm screwed. But then again, our car is a stick so I'd be screwed anyway. And I've never had much luck with cars. They tend to break down a lot when I own them. Simplicity in transportation is definitely a plus for me.

Who really wants to be a slave to STUFF? Who really wants to sell their time for pennies only to have to commit more time to our jobs to continue to be the wage slaves that we are expected to be?

As a caveat to all of this, I am NOT a leftist hippy fiend. I just think common sense should prevail when it comes to the THINGS we surround ourselves with. THINGS do not fulfill or satisfy us. That's a proven fact. Whoever dies with the most toys dies with the most headaches as well.

But also, I don't think we need to give up everything good and fun in life and live in a monastery with a shaven head. There is a happy medium that does not require us to sell our souls to corporate big-oil perpetuating their greed.

I'm not saying everyone should give up their car and start riding a bike. But seriously consider how you use your car. How many trips a day do you make that could be condensed with other trips or eliminated all together? How many few dollar purchases would you cut out of your daily routine and save yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month? Be cognizant of the incremental erosion of your wealth. If you stop the leaking faucet you'll save more water than you could ever imagine.

Awareness is key, and I'm so bad at being aware. I am too easily distracted and my attention span is too short to maintain focus on ANY goal for very long. In those shortfalls I am confounded by the simplest financial conundrum. I rarely have the mental stamina to persevere long enough to see a plan to fruition. I guess that's why lately I have been reading up on a lot of this sort of thing too. If I can keep reminding myself that simpler choices are better then maybe I can more deeply ingrain that thinking into my squirrelly brain.

Some things that really do work:

Riding a bike to work, store and around the neighborhood. There are simple ways to make a bike work as good as a car.
Getting books and movies from this place called the Library. Amazingly they're free unless you lose them.
Craigslist. People move out on the spur of the moment and get evicted all the time and roommates don't want to deal with their crap. Reap the benefits.
Free stuff. The internet can help you find all kinds of free activities including free days to museums and exhibits, community events, free do it yourself projects, answers to problems with your car, electronics, home repairs and all sorts of stuff. While there are some things I just don't want to tackle on my own, I have found that Google will get me through all but the most confounded situations in life. "How do I..." precedes many of my searches.
Slowing down. Some days I really do enjoy just sitting in a camp chair on our patio and listening to the wind, the train in the distance and my kids playing in the yard. I've struggled to find the will to still myself enough to notice, but its been worth it when I've been able to pull it off.
Making the most out of our purchasing decisions. Rash shopping sprees almost always end badly. But some big ticket items really do make sense. Believe it or not, buying a Wii was a good move for our family. Instead of little electronic islands of activity in four different places in the house, we all gather together in one place and laugh and move and enjoy each other's company. And I feel like the investment in our bikes, trailers and accessories has really paid off over the years. We've gotten hundreds of miles out of the $130 bike trailer we bought years ago that we really couldn't afford at the time. If your family likes watersports then maybe a boat makes sense. If its something you will use again and again and again and get years of enjoyment out of then if you can make it work with your budget then you should.

Well, that is my diatribe for the night. Have a good sleep and enjoy tomorrow.

Quick addendum: by suggesting a more simplistic lifestyle I'm not saying you have to give up the things you need and value in life. If you like good books you shouldn't deprive yourself of them. My approach has been to buy at used bookstores or from Amazon where I can most often find books for a penny plus shipping. But whatever you do, don't go out and buy a bunch of books on how to live simply or take a course from a simple living guru. My main advice would be, slow down, think about your decisions and purchases and only make the purchases that add true value to your life.

Robbers and Thieves

2010-09-17T12:00:00.003-07:00

CitiMortgage has some scam going on. I'm not sure if they really believe that it'll work, but I think they are betting it will with a few people.

Its not going to work with me.

A few weeks ago we got a notice from Citi stating that because we did not have adequate flood insurance on our home in Kentucky they had purchased appropriate flood insurance on our behalf.

A) The home is not in a floodplain.
B) Thanks, but no thanks.

I called, mad, frustrated and ready to fight. I managed to finally talk to someone that said she'd request a re-reading of the map. I said fine.

That was a couple of weeks ago and as of early yesterday I had not heard anything back form them. I was ready to do a follow up call.

When I got home yesterday we had gotten a statement from Citi describing our escrow account. They were notifying us that because the flood insurance they had purchased on our behalf had drained our escrow account they are going to increase our monthly payment by $86.60.

A) Uh, no.
B) Uh, HECK no.

Their math sucks. The insurance they bought us (how sweet!) is $519.05 annually. That is $43.25/mo. I guess the other $43.35 is a Stupid Tax.

So I called and talked to a very nice (read: trained in de-escalation techniques by the FBI) CS rep. She said they map re-read had been completed and closed. Since no supporting documentation had been provided (by us!) they still considered us in a Zone A floodplain.

I was looking at the FEMA FIRM (Flood Insurance Rate Map) and it clearly showed our home out of the floodplain.

The nice lady informed me that the document she was looking at stated that we are, in fact in the floodplain. I said I wanted a copy of the document. She said pleasantly that she would put in that request and it would take 10 business days.

A) ???
B) ?!?!?!

She also suggested that I could get a certificate from a surveyor stating that the home was out of the floodplain. How convenient...but no, its their mistake, I am not going to pay for it.

I'm ready to tell them the key is under the mat, please enjoy your new waterfront property.

I had a job as a GIS intern with an engineering company. My job was creating the polygons that are used for the FEMA 100 year and 500 year floodplains for their FIRMs. I also cleaned up and edited those polygons. I know exactly how they get created and edited. I know what margin of error can exist in those maps.

I think Citi has a scam going. I think they are hoping we just roll over an pay the additional money. I'm sure they get a percentage.

Are they trying to recoup some of the loss from all the foreclosures? Is it a part of their overall scheme to make as much money as possible? Do they really care about their liability in our property or in protecting our interests?

I don't think so.

The red is the location of the house, the blue polka dot amoeba is the Zone A (100 year) FEMA floodplain

Accidentally On Purpose

2010-09-14T11:49:00.001-07:00

"There are no such things as accidents."

This is the idea I have been trying to instill within the mind of my seven year old son for a few months now. There are mistakes, there are careless acts, but ultimately there are almost no true accidents that ever occur.

I am succeeding. Last night he crashed into his three year old sister while they were riding their bikes. After I had dusted her off and sent her on her way with diminishing sniffles I told him to park the bike for the rest of the night. I could tell he felt bad for hurting her, but I wanted the lesson to sink in a little deeper.

He instantly protested. He had been on the bike for only a few short minutes and he had at least another good hour of riding time. He could already feel the loss.

"But Dad! It was an…" I am sure he saw my eyebrow raise before he continued using the approved language,"…a mistake."

I explained that I understood, and that I hated that he wouldn't get to ride his bike and have fun for the rest of the night, but that he should have been more careful and that it was never acceptable to not be in total control of the bike while he was riding it. His choice to go too fast and not stay in control had hurt his sister.

I do not want my children to grow up believing they are victims of circumstance. They will not believe that some force in the world causes all of their woes. Choices, whether actively deciding to do something or neglecting to choose are always at the root of any disaster.

A mechanic doesn't appropriately tighten a bolt and a plane crashes. The choice not to complete the job adequately had severe consequences. Oh, it was a machanical failure? The metal was weak? Someone forged the metal and other people handled it. Something was done incorrectly. Someone made a decision, whether conscious or unconscious that caused the disaster. Cause and effect are as real as the laws of physics.

Our culture is the perfect breeding ground for the destructive idea that somehow, no matter what happens, someone ELSE is always to blame. No one seems to take responsibility for their choices anymore.

And a lot of times the choice which becomes your downfall is to accept the choices of others.

Financial bailouts? If you couldn't afford the payments you should never have bought the house and the boat and the sports car and ran up the credit card bills on over-priced lattes. No one else is responsible for your poor spending habits. Though I would venture to say that the lending institutions who have for years made it easy to borrow beyond our means should bear some of the consequences. Their choices are no less destructive. For profit they allowed so many people to finance things they had not worked for. Did the big (and small) banks care about the ruin they were piling up for us to run headlong into in the night? Of course not…they allowed the housing market to fall flat on its face to satisfy their own greed. Poor choices.

We are trying to teach our children not to be victims, to accept responsibility for their own choices and actions. We do not want them to be look to others to bail them out or to be proxy to their own consequences. Unfortunately we are outnumbered by the media and the peers that will come and go in our children's lives. Our job is outrageously huge.

Life is hard. Bad things happen to good people. No one owes you anything. These are hard statements, but TRUE statements. I am guilty of looking to others to give me things I have not earned or that I do not deserve. When things go badly for me I tend to look outwardly for the source of my woe. We have been programmed to think that way. Everywhere we turn there is encouragement to blame others, to shift responsibility somewhere else, where it will not adversely affect our own desires.

Our lives have become focused on finding scapegoats for our own bad decisions. Humanism has taught us this.

I accept the responsibility of teaching my children and I do so recognizing that any choice I make will have either good or bad results. Any failure to choose or decide is also a choice.

There are no such things as accidents.

Star Spangled Banner: Full Lyrics

2010-09-13T05:57:00.002-07:00

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

--Francis Scott Key, 1814

September 11

2010-09-11T06:59:00.004-07:00

By the way, this is my 601st post...

Nine years ago Mandy and I were driving to class at EKU over winding roads through Estill County, Kentucky. The radio talk show we were listening to stopped normal broadcasting to announce that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centers in New York City.

At first it sounded like some freak accident, but when they announced that the other tower had be hit by a second plane I knew that our lives had been changed forever.

Looking back I can firmly attest to the fact...my life after 9/11 has been distinctly different. Mandy and I had been married just over a year. The summer afterward we visited her family in New York and also visited Ground Zero while it was still mostly a rubble pile.

Before 9/11 I avoided thinking or talking about politics specifically or world events in general. Since that day I have been much more cognizant of politics, foreign policy, military presence and so many things that had just seemed too big for me to concern myself with...before.

I wasn't very patriotic prior to 9/11. I don't know if I would consider myself patriotic after. Its hard for me to identify where my loyalties lie. I am loyal to God, family and friends. Sometimes I am ashamed to be an American because of the things this Country represents. But there are many good things that the US does, and is. I don't want to be a patriot in any other country in the world.

Nine years have passed and the world hasn't changed as quickly as I had predicted. I imagined a much more chaotic world than we have. Somehow a semblance of order has been maintained. We aren't defending our homes with guns at this point. Suicide bombers aren't blowing up movie theaters on Main Street USA.

And for that I am thankful. I didn't have children before 9/11, now I have two and sometimes I wonder what I was thinking. I still think the world could go to hell in a handbasket pretty quickly.

But thankfully I've been wrong up to this point.

Fourmile Canyon Wildfire

2010-09-09T08:07:00.003-07:00

As the kids and I drove back from our bike-packing trip Boone kept asking me why it was so foggy. I kept telling him it wasn't fog, that it was haze from...humidity? But it wasn't humid. It was dry as a tomb over North Park and the Rockies.

"So why was it so hazy?" I kept asking myself.

We found out when we got home. A wildfire had started in the foothills west of Boulder in Fourmile Canyon near Gold Hill and Sugarloaf Mountain where the kids and I had tried to bike the Switzerland Trail a few weeks ago, but got rained out.

The Fourmile Canyon Fire, after three days, is the worst in Colorado history and 0% contained.

I distinctly remember as the kids and I drove up past Sugarloaf Mountain thinking about accessibility to many of the homes for emergency services. A lot of the driveways were steep, narrow and would not meet Jefferson County's standards for private drives and roads. Of course that area is in Boulder County. I wonder if their standards are similar to ours. I'm sure they are.

If the same thing had happened in Jefferson County my job would be getting really interesting over the next few weeks. I've been working on one property that was just a house fire for over a year. The access issues, the related driveway and road standards and other factors have delayed this couple from rebuilding for about 13 months now. They are close to being able to obtain a building permit, but still a few weeks away at best. And soon the snow'll be flyin'.

130 structures destroyed...a nightmare for the local government, but even more of a nightmare for the citizens of that community.

Trip Report - Summit in the Sun, Late Summer Ascent of Montana Mountain

2010-09-04T18:53:00.004-07:00

"I had a lot of fun," chimed my son. I almost cussed.

We were walking back to our car along the eastern edge of Elk Park in northern Gilpin County after failing to find a geocache. Once we reached the car we were headed home. We had summited a 10,948' peak and had searched for about half an hour for a geocache that seems to be MIA.

On the hike up to the summit of Montana Mountain Boone had whined and complained almost every step of the way. The hike was only about 2/3 of a mile and 600' in elevation gain. Since the hike itself was so short we managed not to lose our patience with him.

He was in much better spirits on the summit and we hung out for awhile in the wind, checking out the amazing views of Mount Evans to the south, close-ups of Kingston Peak and James Peak to the west and Indian Peaks to the north.

We had a few caches in the GPS but one was on a hill behind some people shooting and the other appears to have gone missing.

And then as we headed to the car Boone tells me he's had a good time. I wanted to shout: "Yeah?! Well...we're never coming back!" just for fun.

I was glad he had a good time. I knew he would in the end.

We had some fun, got sunburns and explored a new cool place.

Who is This...Ascentionist?

2010-09-01T09:04:00.003-07:00

So a bit of background on the name of my blog…someone commented last night on me "coining" the term. In fact, I stole it outright.

For rock climbers the term "ascentionist" should be familiar. The person who first climbs a particular route is deemed the "first ascentionist." The next person could be called the "second ascentionist" or if there is a whole posse you could refer to them as the "first ascent party." I've also heard later climbers referred to as "subsequent ascentionists."

I figured anyone who climbed a route was AN ascentionist and therefore "climber" can be simply substituted with "ascentionist." Anyone who ascends upward is an ascentionist. And since at the time I created the blog I was mostly rope-soloing or bouldering alone and since most of my outdoor recreational pursuits I have pursued solo I figured the lone descriptive was appropriate in my case.

So there is the origin of my blog name, my email handle and the majority of my username iterations in cyberspace.

Jazzercise

2010-08-18T21:06:00.005-07:00

I looked up the smooth, low angled granite face above me. A few slivers of metal poked upward, perpendicular from the gray stone. I knew that they were not quality protection bolts and that falling while leading this route would not be an option. The thought fleeted through my head quickly and was pushed out by bullies of confidence.

The route I was standing under was listed as a 5.5, the easiest of a trio at the right side of the east face of Jazz Dome, situated above the North Fork of the South Platte River near the town of Dome Rock.

The start of my intended route looked harder than anything else on either of the other two routes. Why is it that people don't include the first ten feet in the rating of a route?

Oh well. I put rand to smeary edge and levitated to the first bolt a good fifteen feet off the sloughing deck. The first bolt was a spinning 1/4" buttonhead...basically a tin can pull tab nailed into the rock. The leader...must not fall.

The leader (that'd be me trailing a rope up some obscure slab) must not fall. It was a mantra I had muttered to myself too often in bygone days (the upper half of the first pitch of Chimney Direct comes screaming to mind) and had often used to encourage other desperate climbers.

The angled eased above the first fairy-dust piece of protection. The climbing became easier and it felt as if I had wings on my feet as I passed three more equally bunk bolts on my way to a bomber tree anchor at 80'. Hallelujah!

I had Mandy lower me down Lynne's Route and decided the bolts were far too bad to consider leading it. But it would be easy enough to top rope it after my lead (read: solo) of Moonlight Cocktail which is hilariously listed in Hubbel's SPlatte guide as a meager 5.5. It felt full on 5.7+.

Matt would be impressed. He and Susan (or Karen) had scrambled to the top of the dome and set up scary top ropes to do the three easy routes. 5.5...I felt I could lead anything rated 5.5 in the guidebook. Though I do remember Matt saying the easier route felt harder than the other two. I'd now agree.

After settling back to earth I put Boone on belay below the line of Lynne's Route. It's rated 5.6 in Hubbel's guide and I'd give it that, though it felt a whole heck of a lot easier than the opening moves of Midnight.

I had trouble keeping up with the little dude. He ran up a 5.6 friction route like he had a banshee on his tail. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it because he had a big silly grin on his face, but he sure didn't relish the climb. Wham! Bam! he was at the tree and yanking on the rope to come down.

Lily gave it a go, but got a little scared. That's ok, she's pretty brave most of the time and she tried anyway.

Mandy strolled up Moonlight Cocktail and looked solid moving against the skyline.

She came down and I ran up Lynne's Route to get our gear off the tree anchor. As I passed the two totally wretched bolts on the lower steep section I was glad I wasn't leading Lynne's, though in reality I'm certain I had it in me.

Matt wants to get a couple of other guys together and rebolt the routes on Jazz. I think its a good idea. The routes seem really good after finally getting on a couple of them tonight. I looked at the 5.8 way down to the left and it looks totally doable too.

On our way out we stopped down by the river and waded out in the cold water. It was peaceful just the four of us, enjoying the SPlatte in all its glory with solitude and the fading light of the day under blue skies.

I think we're going to go back on Saturday.

Soloist in the News

2010-08-09T10:05:00.005-07:00

This is a poorly written article about what sounds like an impressive comeback: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/sports/08climber.html

Been reading a lot from Ken Kifer's webpage lately too. Makes me wish I had done some of this when I was so much younger. And I almost did...

When a friend was living in Chattanooga I schemed to ride my bike from Slade south and meet him there.

The only thing that held me back was fear of the unknown. I don't have that fear now, or it does not have as strong a hold on me now as it did then. Growing up has given me the courage to do the things I dreamed of when I was younger. But growing up has also taught me responsibility and has created a desire in me for stability.

Catch 22.

The dreams really haven't gone away, but I have different priorities now and I have different values.

Voluntary Simplicity

2010-08-04T11:28:00.002-07:00

With my Magic 8-ball brain I need simplicity. Its that simple. My life is less stressful, less hectic, less crazed if I have less to worry about, less to trip over and less to draw my attention.

While part of me wishes our house were bigger, we had a bigger yard, more space, more to work with...I realize the simple layout, the basic space that we have benefits me in ways I would not have anticipated.

Our new house works well for me. I feel at home, I feel comfortable and relaxed there. It is a good refuge for me from the violent currents of my day to day life.

There is a part of me that loves the simplicity of riding my bike from our house to work and then returning at the end of the day under my own power. I do not fight traffic. I do not idle in frustration at traffic lights.

Life is good.

Trip Report - Bottle Peak in the Vasquez Mountains

2010-08-01T06:55:00.004-07:00

I've been to Berthoud Pass three times. Yesterday we went over Berthoud down into the Grand Valley. Our destination was the Fraser Experimental Forest and ultimately the summits of Bottle and Ptarmigan Peaks in the Vasquez Mountains.

The first time I went to Berthoud Pass was in 2008 when I took the kids to get them out of the house while Mandy made Thanksgiving dinner. We drove up to the pass and got out for a minute in the bitter cold, got back in and returned to Denver. Then I went back on a training ride for the Triple Bypass, riding there from Idaho Springs. And then last summer Lily and I parked there when we hiked Mount Flora and Colorado Mines Peak.

So over Berthoud we went yesterday. We drove through Winter Park and into Fraser, then made the left up St. Louis Creek valley into the Forest. After a couple of map stops we found the trailhead at about 10,500'.

We struck out just before noon. The first part of the route continues up a part of the dirt road that is closed. We hiked up around the first bend, found a shady, grassy spot alongside the road and had our packed lunch. Then we were off again.

After 1.3 miles the Bottle Pass Trail split off on the north side of the road and we began climbing switchbacks. We had a whiner in the group and it took a few "pep talks" and threats of bodily harm before we exited the trees onto the broad alpine meadowy south ridge of Bottle.

Bottle and Ptarmigan lie north of Byers Peak. At 12,804' Byers towers over the surrounding peaks and it stands there exuding inspirational reflections of light.

Bottle is almost due north and Ptarmigan stands to the West across Bottle Pass from Bottle Peak. The east slopes of Bottle drop down to Fraser a few miles away.

We looked ahead on our path and could see a cairn against the skyline not too far ahead of us. The summit was near! We plodded happily (some of us) up the steep wildflowery slope toward the cairn. I stomped on, not saving any juice for Ptargmigan because we planned on resting on the summit of Bottle for awhile.

We thought that was the summit on the skyline

"If we hurry we can make it by 2:00," Mandy encouraged. We picked up the pace.

I crested the top of the slope nearly bumping into the cairn only to discover that the south ridge of Bottle stretched on to the north a considerable distance.

"Uh...that's not nice," I muttered over my shoulder. Mandy and Boone we just below the crest of the ridge. As Mandy settled next to the cairn she looked up the ridge, with its steeper sections above, and she said to me, "I am thinking ugly words!"

We followed the trail of cairns, Boone adding a rock or two to each as we passed, all the way to the final summit of Bottle with its statuesque pile of rocks. We had decided much lower on the ridge that we wouldn not be visiting the apex of Ptarmigan on that particular day.

"Good for kids my rear-end!" I exclaimed in reference to the Summit Post page on the peak after we had been on the summit for a few minutes, glancing at Boone who seemed to be in pretty good spirits with the knowledge that he would not have to hike any higher.

"For normal kids," Mandy agreed in jest.

We hung out until a swarm of flies descended on the summit and us and then began the much quicker descent.

I only gazed at Ptarmigan once but even I was not feeling like dropping down into the pass and slogging up the opposite slope.

We ambled down the wildflower speckled alpine meadow that is draped across the south ridge of Bottle as we absorbed the amazing view before up. Off to he left was James Peak and its sisters, in center frame was Byers, towering higher and higher as we descended, just beyond and to the right was Bills Peak looming over the Keyser Creek drainage. On the horizon off to the right was a jagged line of peaks. Perhaps it was the Mosquito Range off near Vail Pass. Need a little more research to confirm.

We returned footsore to the car just before 5:00. We'd been on the trail and across alpine soil for almost five full hours. It had been a good day.

We summitted Bottle Peak at 11,602'. I love the Vasquez Mountains.

Broken Laser

2010-07-28T07:50:00.002-07:00

I lack focus. That is my main obstacle in life. I could be as fit as I wanted to be if after the first day of working out, or following a better diet, that I could remember and stick with my plan. I could be a better photographer if I had a little more discipline. I would be a writer if I could take a piece of writing through to completion.

I could've climbed 5.13 when I lived in Kentucky if I had kept some focus. In fact, I remember one day realizing I had the best resources to be a 5.13 climber in my backyard and there was NO REASON for me not to be climbing that hard. Of course when I didn't progress through the grades at an acceptable pace I had myriad excuses…work, lack of partners, being poor, fear…and those excuses had not prevented an army of climbers before me from being good, strong and experienced.

Back when I wanted to focus on improving my climbing I didn't understand what was wrong with me. It was frustrating and emotionally debilitating, not just in climbing but in all of my pursuits in life.

I think in most cases when I have given up on something its not been because I couldn't find a solution to my problems or that I felt defeated. What I think has happened in almost every instance is that when the going got tough I realized I had some other goal or interest waiting at the door to take over so I dropped the previous one like a hot rock.

One of my most ambitious goals was to go to photography school. I was excited about the prospect. I knew what I wanted to do. I worked and saved my money for SIX MONTHS so I could go. But while I was working and waiting I had no other interests or goals that popped up that could trump it. And so I went.

At the end of my first quarter I had been climbing extensively at Urban Krag and had gotten to know a lot of climbers. I realized I missed living near the Gorge and I wanted to move back. I still wanted to be a photographer, but I was having a lot of trouble coming up with the money to keep going and I wasn't as excited about it as I was before classes began. And I hatched the idea that I wanted to be a climbing guide and so I quit school and moved back to Kentucky to pursue THAT goal.

And I stuck with my new goal for six years. I truly loved it and I was doing what I wanted to be doing, it just couldn't pay the bills. I think if money had not been an issue I would still be doing it. Of course I have a feeling I wouldn't have been able to improve my skills the way I wanted over the years. See, that is the other problem.

When I have a goal I'm working to its very hard for me to do things that are not DIRECTLY related to the goal. It would difficult for me to take a job washing dishes to make money to open my own business. If I couldn't be actively and directly pursuing the dream, then at some point while daydreaming over a greasy sink I'd hatch a new scheme and that goal/dream might dictate a different course of action, like going back to school to be a teacher. So then after a year or so of education classes I'd be daydreaming about being a fireman and after class I'd go to the registrar and change my major.

That's my life. That's been my modus operandi all along. I've never held a job more than two year until now. I've been here going on three now and I'm starting to hate it.

Of course now the job is not the end but the means. My goal now is providing for my family and, God help me, being more stable in life. Its starting to catch up with me. I'm finally realizing I don't have to decide what I want to be when I grow up anymore. For years that nagging fly in the back of my mind caused my constantly shifting focus. Even though I don't have to find a profession anymore, my mind is in the habit of looking. I still want to be a writer or a photographer or a 5.13 climber (not really a job, I know), a guide, a trust fund baby…

Its frustrating to want to focus on something and not be able to. It took me over a decade to get a bachelor's degree. I feel like I need to go back and get a masters so I can get a change of scenery in my career. But the prospect of going back to school while trying to juggle family and work along with it is daunting.

But I think if I could find a way to focus in my life…no Focus…then I could pursue photography or writing or climbing on the side and feel very fulfilled in those activities. But I don't enjoy them like I want to. The results of my pursuits are jagged puzzle pieces that just don't seem to go together no matter how hard I try to force them. I have no single focus. One day I'm all about cycling, the next rock climbing, the next photography, the next writing…and none of it really matters anyway does it?

My mind is trying to keep itself occupied because I'm not satisfied or fulfilled in my career. Its all subconscious.

I'm trying to fill the void in my life with vain pursuits. I know I should fill them with God. I shouldn't fret over worldly, material pursuits that will never satisfy me anyway, but I'm driven to seek the stimulation, the release, the expression of my mind into the real world…I'm compelled. Its like OCD but not as tidy.

I want focus, but I can't have it.

Stress-o-saurus

2010-07-26T15:47:00.003-07:00

Good grief its been a stressful month!

Things have been picking up at work and ALL the crazies seem to be coming out of the woodwork. Everyone is stressed and taking it out on everyone else.

I'm frustrated because I should have gotten a raise and promotion but they keep telling us not to expect anything in the foreseeable future. They just hired a new Planner and she and I and the Planner who was hired a year ago are all going to be making basically the same pay.

Mandy has been applying for a lot of jobs, but so far she hasn't heard anything on any of them. Its been good for her to be at home with the kids, especially after the Kendrick Lakes Elementary fiasco last fall, but we need the additional income now.

With the new house and my boneheadedness we need every dime we can get.

So I guess I need to come clean with the bike(s) story.

Last week was rough. Monday Mandy picked me up at work so we could go look at a washer/dryer in Thornton.

At 3:50 I headed out with my stuff. I had gotten in to work a half hour early and had not taken a lunch that day. So the ten minutes seemed moot. Plus, I had been working pretty steadily all day and had to pee. At 3:50 I was at a good stopping point. More to come on this issue later.

Headed across Denver to Thornton during rush hour and a storm. After being lost in the Westminster/Thornton area for a little while w finally found the store and paid for a unit with plans to go back the next day after we found a truck to haul it.

We headed home and on the way swung past DQ for a round of blizzards. I made sure that there was no awning over the drive-thru to hang up the bike on.

Five minutes later I pulled into the carport at home. Into the carport...with the bike on the roof.

The Giant road bike I have had since 2007 was destroyed. The frame was broken. It is a lost cause.

The next day at work was awful. My mind was ragged with a hollow empty feeling. It really wasn't about the bike. My own carelessness was the source of my anguish. And I felt desperate because we cannot afford to replace my bike or to get me a car. We are so poor its not funny.

Early in the morning my boss calls me in his office and informed me that it was unacceptable to have left at 3:50 the day before..."the other Planners might not understand." I'm really not going to go into how I feel about that, but let's just say that the incident put me in a foul mood.

In despair Mandy and I searched craigslist until I found a decent old road bike. It was a '70s or '80s Motobecane (French) Nomade. I dropped $150 on it but it seemed to be in pretty good shape.

Other things at work last week compounded the problems and by Thursday...well...

...Mandy picked me up at work again so I could take her to her tutoring gig and to pick up the last of our stuff at the old apartment. I dropped her off and rolled over to the Willows. The spot closest to the door was under a carport. Again, destroyed a bike...

I have no words for how I felt. Rage...but a terribly impotent rage. I wanted to fight back at the world. I felt agonizing despair at my own stupidity.

I heaved the ruined bike into the dumpster as the white hot despair coursed through me. Why?! WHY?!

Why me? Why can't I catch a break? Why can't we manage to pay our bills and afford the things we need/ I'm not even bemoaning the things I would like to have. No, the bike in this case is a necessity. We have only one car so I depend on the bike for transportation. I'm not asking for a BMW to replace my Honda. I'm saying a bike is necessary to replace a bike.

But we can't afford it. Heaven forbid if it was a car we were replacing cause we'd be up a creek.

We climbed at Vedauwoo on Saturday. I needed it. I needed to free my mind from the stress of life for a few hours. It was enjoyable.

Hunting Light

2010-07-23T08:05:00.004-07:00

Looking back on my photos from our Loch Lomond hike and the wedding I did recently I feel like I should start putting together some of my best images and getting them in a refined, finished state so I can begin marketing them. I know I'm not Ansel Adams, but I also know people will pay money for stuff that's way more hideous than what I have.

If I end up going back to school I'm going to sneak in a photography class or two.

And I need to plan some time and shots and go out with my goal being to capture the images, not to hike or climb to a certain point and just snag whatever snapshots I can along the way.

I know I can. I know I will.

Lessons I've Learned This Week

2010-07-22T17:20:00.002-07:00

1) Carports and roof-top bike racks DO NOT go well together. I GET IT!

2) You shouldn't reward yourself for stupid mistakes.

3) One bike is plenty for me.

4) Some things just aren't important.

5) You know when a person truly loves you when they help you laugh at yourself when all you want to do is cry.

6) Rain in Colorado is terribly soothing.

Loch Lomond and Exploring the Neighborhood

2010-07-18T18:17:00.003-07:00

Yesterday it was in the triple digits in the plains. We decided we'd seek relief in the mountains and after waiting around for the Qwest guy we headed west, up I-70, swerving off at Fall River Road.

We bumpled up the road in aline of traffic 'til we reached the Loch Lomond/James Peak trailhead.

Our plan was to hike up to Loch Lomond and swim in a mountain lake. When we got out at the trailhead and started up the trail the temperature was far less than 100F.

We followed the Continental Divide Trail for half a mile until it crossed Loch Lomond Road. Then we followed the road while many vehicles traversed up and down the road. The further we hiked the more apparent it was that we could have driven Forester Gump It was good we walked, but we could have driven.

Along the road was a stream and along the stream was a plethora of wildflowers. I got lots of photos.

And then we reached the lake. The sky was overcast, the lake was cold. We didn't swim.

It was a beautiful place. We definitely want to go back.

This afternoon we took a bike ride down to Olde Towne. Its a nice ride from here to there. Boone was riding his own bike for the first time on a family bike ride. Then when we got downtown we discovered that the Blues and BBQ festival was going on, so we cut through town, down to the Ralston Creek Trail and hopped by a couple of playgrounds before climbing back up on the ridge and home.

I love our neighborhood.

The Wonder Years

2010-07-15T11:13:00.003-07:00

Ten years ago I married Amanda Sue DeFilippo. We had dated for a year after sort of meeting over the summer as I rented movies to take my mind off dating.

I had resolved to give up on relationships and just enjoy being single. I was planning in my mind how I could move west, to mountains and to crags. I would take a couple of years off, spiraling downward into poverty so I could enroll in a western school with a lot of financial aid to get me on the right track.

I am certain I would have made it West eventually. But I would not have been as happy as I am right now on this day.

I'm glad I broke my resolve almost immediately and began dating Mandy. I resisted at first, but as I got to know her I realized if I let her go or drove her off I might regret it. Today I have no regrets.

Ten years have passed and with each passing day, week, month and year I've grown to love and appreciate her more and more. Life has been good.

Of course we've had rough times. Mostly we've struggled to afford our meager lifestyle at times. But for the most part we've not had problems getting along with each other. We don't loathe each others company. In fact, I still consider her my best friend. She surprises me all the time. She shows me she loves me in amazing ways.

She is all of my prayers answered. She is the mother I wanted for my children and she is the best companion I could have hoped for in this life.

Mandy, I love you.

Light and Life

2010-07-13T09:26:00.005-07:00

Our new house has great light. In fact, our street has great light. Or maybe the light is in me...what with being terribly content with our new place.

Friday night we finished up the painting, getting finished around 10pm. We reluctantly went back to the apartment to sleep Friday night.

Saturday morning we borrowed Jim Foster's truck and trailer and Daryl Lind met us at the apartment and helped us move the beds, couch and dressers.

Boone and I did a second load in the truck and trailer and all the big stuff was moved by noon on Saturday. We continued the rest of the day on Saturday, trying to put things away and get the place livable enough to sleep that night...which we did.

Sunday we were beat. Since we got back from Kentucky I haven't felt 100% and starting Friday night I've steadily declined. Saturday I was tired all day. Sunday I took wedding photos for Matt & Angelica. Mandy met Angelica while working at Westside where they both taught. I was tired before we even got to the church. It worked out ok, but Sunday night I was just worn down and by then I had a sore throat and a cough.

Woke up yesterday morning feeling even worse. I emailed in to work and took a sick day. It felt good to sleep in but when I woke up it was hard for me not to work on putting things away and unpacking. I would sit or lay down, but after a few minutes I would find myself up and digging things out of boxes.

Finally in the afternoon Mandy left for Ladies Bible class and I put a camp chair on the patio, got a book and some tea and sat down to watch Boone mess around on his bike.

But of course he wanted help riding, so I found myself coaching him on how to get the bike going on his own and then once he figured it out chasing him ecstatically down the street with the camera shooting photos of him as he rode all on his own.

By the time Mandy got home I was absolutely run down. I went to bed but was up a lot in the night coughing. Managed to get myself to work this morning anyway, but I just don't have much more in me. I feel worse today than I have in a long time. I should have called in today too.

An older Boone-ism I need to share:

Boone: Ty says he weighs over a hundred pounds.

Me: That's a lot of kid.

Boone: No, that's a lot of Ho-hos.

Last night as Boone was cruising down the street he passed one of our new neighbors, an older lady named Mary, who has lived on the street since the '50s. Boone waves and calls out "Hi Mary!"

As Lily and I ambled down the street we stopped and chatted with her. Lily talked for a couple of minutes and then saw that Boone was playing with the kids down the street so she rode on down to play too. Mandy pulled in a few minutes later and came over to talk to Mary as well.

As the train went by we heard Lily screaming and she came barreling up the street from the kids' house her bike helmet clad head bobbing furiously.

I ran to meet her thinking the dog had come out and scared her but when I reached her i saw she was laughing/screaming hysterically at the train.

As the sun set and the air cooled we sat on our front stoop eating ice cream and commiserating on how much we love our new place. Despite my fitful sleep last night it was terribly relaxing to go to bed there and to have a place to call Home.

The kids seem to love it. They play hard, they eagerly await the train when they hear it coming. Boone begs to mow the yard and to ride his bike. They've met two kids down the street, Gabe who is 6 and Abby who is 4. They were as excited to meet Boone and Lily as our kids were to meet them.

Just after the bike thing clicked with Boone we were standing in the street and the Arvada water tower was visible over the houses at the east end of the street and Boone asked if we could ride to the water tower. The kid's ambitious.

Boone-ism and Riding a Bike

2010-07-07T20:23:00.003-07:00

Last night we were at the new house and Boone was riding around the driveway on his sister's pink princess bike.

Boone (with great excitement): There are kids down the street! They're boys! They're riding scooters!

(Grumbling under his breath): And all I have is my sister's bike!

Today Mandy took his bike over so just before we got ready to leave I went out with him in the street and worked on his balance with him. He can totally ride on his own, it's me that's scared he's going to fall down and get hurt. He doesn't seem to give it a thought.

We're gonna ride hard in some grass this week and get that kid riding on his own!

Just Ate Up, I Know!

2010-07-06T14:28:00.005-07:00

Having all of my climbing gear together again has made me ravenous for new routes. I have all my wide gear and its (oddly) causing me to desire some easy offwidth therapy. I call it therapy because if it were fun I'd call it fun.

Of course there is a reason I brought all of my trad gear West except for the wide stuff. Have I missed it? Not terribly. But having it in hand gives me goosebumps and I want to hear the wind through the pines, the gurgle of the South Platte and the clink of hexes and my Big Bro against my two big cams. I just wanna…

I am now feeling the confinement of employment. Oh for the days of leisure when I could climb every day…when new routes were my sustenance…of course I can't feed my kids an onsight…or a redpoint.

My mind is reeling now, as I realize I can still climb rocks. I'm not washed up after a two year hiatus. Eldo! South Platte! Flatirons! Vedauwoo! Devil's Tower! All within reach…all within a day's drive.

I love the smell of musty nylon. The tinkle of hexes is sublime and relaxing. Some climber friend of mine once said it would be funny to make one of those relaxation tapes but for climbers. The sounds would be the tinkle of hexes, the swish of rope, the sound of the wind and the clipping of biners. Yeah, that would be sweet.

When I retire I hope to be virile enough to continue climbing. We'll take the RV, not to tourist destinations but to Yosemite, Squamish, Hueco Tanks, Red Rocks, Whitehorse, The Gunks, Acadia, T-Wall, Looking Glass and Devil's Lake.

Standing on Edges

2010-07-05T18:18:00.003-07:00

Climbing is coming back to me. I had a fantastic day at Vedauwoo a couple of weeks ago, and I had a really fantastic day this past week climbing with Mandy and her dad in Kentucky.

I feel like I'm climbing well. My lead head is coming back. My technique has not suffered from lack of use. I can still place gear, build anchors and read the rock. I love the feeling of moving over stone again.

As we drove back across the plains toward the Front Range I couldn't help but wonder when we'd get to climb again. Babysitting is the crux of our climbing now. We either take the kids and not get to climb big people routes so much or we find someone to watch them and Mandy and I climb real routes again.

I want to climb real routes but I want the kids to get to go too.

How could you not enjoy taking a kid like this climbing?

Me, top roping a thin face