It's Better in Wyoming.

white

2012-01-16T22:20:00.002-07:00

Finally got some snow today, a few inches mid-afternoon, and a forecast predicting more tomorrow. Here's the view from my office window earlier today. Most days you can Medicine Bow Peak there to the left of the evergreens. Not today, though....

Really, pandora?

2012-01-04T14:40:00.001-07:00

Today pandora tells me that I will like a song about shooting all the other kids, since I like songs about caves, thistles, winter winds, and little lion men.

Oddly enough, pandora is right. Well played, pandora. Well played.

2012-01-01T15:30:00.001-07:00

In other news, I mighta ruined my birthday cake by leaving out the egg yolks. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna it eat anyway--it's just a little bit, um, flatter than it should be. I'm okay with that. It's all about the frosting anyway.

happy new year!

2011-12-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

Thinking about the past few years, I realize that New Year's Eve is one of the times when I'm most confronted with the fact that I'm a pessimist. I suppose people who know me already know that about me. But somehow, the passing of another year makes me even more melancholic. Despite having been surrounded tonight by some really great people--and also having met some great new people--New Year's Eve mostly makes me think more about what hasn't been accomplished in the last year than about the exciting things that the new year may hold.

Really, what I usually want for New Year's Eve is to be alone, a chance to be introspective and still--quiet enough to actually feel the weight (both positive and negative) of the previous year, the way that the day-to-day gravity of life has shaped me into something different, the way that the simple force of being alive has pulled me in new directions. I think I wish for a clearer reckoning--a settling of the bills, an evening of the balances, a passage through some toll both that would allow me to see more clearly the cost of my pathway through the previous year.

But, usually, I feel guilty about being anti-social, and so I end up at some event, sometimes one that doesn't really even fit me very well--which only highlights the ways that I'm out of place. I'm actually grateful, this year, that Katie and Bryon's party died out before midnight, as other people headed off to other parties or merely back home to spend the countdown with their partners or families. I'm happy not to be around other people when the clock strikes twelve; having to wish people a happy new year seems like bullshit to me, phony and pathetic and empty. Not because I hope that people will have a crappy life in the year to come, but because our way of acknowledging the passing of time seems so insignificant and thoughtless.

Sometimes, instead of "happy new year," I guess I wish we could just say "thank you."

2011-12-29T12:29:00.001-07:00

I'll post more later, but for now:

This article makes me think about a lot of things, not least of which is how close we are, every day, to death. This story could've just as easily been about a freak accident that ended up with somebody in a pine box.

It's a great day to be alive.

Two things

2011-12-02T16:03:00.001-07:00

1. This week, thank god for soccer. Most weeks, I'd bitch about a schedule that tells me I'm expected to play four games in five days. But this is the last week of classes, and I think that the opportunity to run off excess frustration on the soccer field may be the only thing that kept me from punching a face or doing something similarly stupid.

2. Patagonia, fuck yeah: "On Black Friday, Patagonia ran a full page ad in The New York Times telling consumers not to buy one of their popular jackets because it takes so much water and energy to make, explaining that the ultimate saving is to forego buying something you do not really need." Read the full story here.

go pokes

2011-11-19T21:27:00.001-07:00

somewhat unexpectedly I ended up at the football game today. it was a good day for cowboy football--cowboys over new mexico 31-10--but also just a good day for november football in laramie. the kind of cold day that makes you appreciate the sun, makes you glad to be standing in the student section because your ass would be freezing if you were sitting down anyway, makes you happy to be headed to the library late in the third quarter to eat wings and drink beer and get warm again.

Not Penn State (not even close), but...

2011-11-15T15:35:00.001-07:00

... I wonder why it's acceptable to keep this guy in a counseling job but not in his job as a football coach. Seems like his, uh, error reflects as much on his fitness to counsel as it does on his ability to coach.

2011-11-11T10:46:00.001-07:00

This article scares me. Here's just a short piece of the findings: "wells [near Pavillion, WY] contained benzene at 50 times the level that is considered safe for people."

I worked in the oilfields for 2 summers, after high school, helping perform these fracking operations. I didn't know any better. Others I worked with might've known better, but what was their alternative? I'm not talking about those at the decision-making level--those who are responsible for knowing better--but about those at the level of implementing somebody else's decisions. What power do they have to say, "This is a bad idea, and I'm not going to participate"?

2011-10-31T17:20:00.003-06:00

Going through some old files, I found this picture of my hand, clutching a delicious treat.

Mmmm. I wish I was back in Vermont, eating a maple creemee.

So delicious.

falling into winter

2011-10-26T17:40:00.004-06:00

I like a description that can make an old song new again. Here's what I am Fuel / You are Friends says about a song (one you've heard a million times before) on her fall mix: "sounds just exactly like twirling orange leaves drifting to the ground." Mmm, that's nice. Especially on a day, in Laramie, with six inches of fresh snow on the ground.

oh Wyoming fall

2011-10-23T22:19:00.003-06:00

Today: 60s, breezy, and orange with the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot

Prediction for Tuesday: 8 to 12 inches of snow, and a high of 27

Oh, Wyoming fall. Why you gotta treat me this way?

welcome

2011-10-19T23:05:00.002-06:00

This weekend I'll get to meet my new nephew. Kaelen Quinn-Robert Chase. Yay!

skills

2011-09-29T09:02:00.003-06:00

Riding my bike to campus this morning and watching as a kid driving a big Ford pickup tidily backed a generator into a parking lot of cars at the Washington Square Apartments, I wished I knew how to back up a trailer.

I've had this wish for a while, but not much chance (not since I was 19 and working for the summer in the oil fields, when I occasionally drove the gooseneck) to practice. It seems like the kind of skill a Wyoming boy should have. But, also, I guess I realize that we all make choices about how to develop ourselves, and some skills are pretty hard to develop without a need.

On the bright side, at least I haven't done anything like this......

Two oceans

2011-09-27T22:46:00.001-06:00

It's a rare summer that I get to dip my toes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Here's a catch-up photo, from my trip with Maggie to San Diego/San Juan Capistrano at the end of August. Yay, water! Yay, travels!

Which reminds me: one thing the summer taught me is that I still appreciate Wyoming. I wondered if my time in Vermont, and a road trip across 2000 miles of country I've never seen, might create a yearning in me to be somewhere else, or might make me realize that my unwarranted sense of pride and awe about Wyoming is unfounded. Instead, being somewhere else mostly reinforced my commitment to Laramie, to my quick and affordable access to trails, to the view from my office of Medicine Bow Peak, and to the open landscapes I get to see every time I leave home to go somewhere else in this great state. Don't get me wrong: I got to see a lot of great places this summer--places where I'm sure I could be perfectly happy and that I could grow to love. But, really, nothing I saw this summer makes me want to uproot myself from where I am, right here, right now.

Yellowstone: It's in Wyoming! (mostly, at least)

2011-09-19T16:02:00.000-06:00

On a trip to Jackson this weekend with Maggie, I commented that Montana seems to have done a much better job marketing its connection to the nation's first national park than Wyoming has. The headline I spotted today really drives the point home.

Labor Day fun

2011-09-05T22:13:00.000-06:00

This weekend was a pretty good one. Dad and Susie came down, and we went for a little hike on the east side of Vedauwoo and ate some lunch of crackers and salami and apples there. Yesterday was a pretty laid back day--we wandered around campus a bit before Dad and Susie left, and looked at the Chris Drury environmental sculpture on campus.

Today Maggie and I climbed Med Bow, so now I've gotten in my yearly summit of the local big hill.

Here's the obligatory shot of the mountains. Even though I take essentially the same picture every time I go, I'm happy that the peaks still manage to create in me that "Holy shit! This is awesome!" feeling. I hope that I never get used to the immensity and impressiveness of the landscape here.

a lil heaven

2011-08-25T20:35:00.001-06:00

Last weekend I made a quick trip up to Newcastle to see my grandparents, who were up from Arizona to visit my dad and see some other Black Hills family. On the way back, I took the Glendo cut-across--a sweet little road that runs from the Hartville Highway (270) over to I-25, across the Glendo dam. The first 10 miles or so is gravel, and it's some amazing country. Here's a picture I took with my cell phone camera.

Big sky! Country roads! Antelope and deer roaming the bar-ditches! Sweetdamn!

It's better in Wyoming.

back in town / crooked sky

2011-08-17T23:38:00.000-06:00

I've been back now, for a bit over two weeks. I'm embarrassed to have failed, so far, to post about and reflect on the trip back, the sense of "homecoming," and life since being back in town. What can I say, except: things have been busy.

Laramie is spectacular in the summer. Being away reminds me how much I've missed. About two days after getting back to town, Maggie and I were out for a walk on a perfect Laramie night--about 75 degrees, the gentlest of breezes, and clear air in every direction. Nights like these make me happy to call Laramie home.

Last night, while at the new-faculty orientation dinner, we were temporarily driven into the dean's garage by a drive-by storm with surprisingly close thunder and lightning as well as a bright double-rainbow. The walk home looked like this:

Damn: I love this place.

More to come, I promise. Somehow the first week of classes (next week) seems like it will be peaceful in comparison to the whirlwind of prep that's needed my attention since I've gotten back. Happily, things are going pretty well. So far....

summer hiatus

2011-06-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

I'm putting this blog on break this summer, since it seems illogical to update a blog called "It's better in Wyoming" while I'm spending the summer somewhere else. Of course, this does NOT mean that I'm giving up my position on Wyoming. Though I'm happy to have the chance to explore elsewhere this summer, I'm still pretty sure I'll come back feeling a renewed appreciation for my home state.

Read all about summer adventures here.

the good old days

2011-05-19T10:28:00.000-06:00

I've been listening to a youtube pearljam playlist the past few days at work. I got sucked into watching this video, which is weirdly mesmerizing. There's so much interesting shit going on here, including awesome hair. But really I think it's kind of beautiful. Crazy that this was almost 20 years ago.

Also it's funny that youtube thinks i might also like the video "big porch spiders" since i obviously like a song called "porch."

grey

2011-05-18T21:57:00.000-06:00

i'm halfway into painting one of my bedroom walls grey. i'm not sure why grey seems like a good accent color, but i'm excited. i also took down the cheapo curtain rod, which was falling down anyway, and the cheapo (and gross) vinyl mini-blinds.

generally i'm happy to have my shopping located at arms-length (like, say, cheyenne or fort collins), but it was a little bit annoying yesterday to discover that i couldn't find a decent window covering in town. wish i woulda discovered that before the run to cheyenne last weekend. eventually, though, it'll all look good--one more small thing that'l be better than it was when i moved in.

heartbreak

2011-04-28T11:40:00.000-06:00

"And I know you have a heavy heart; I can feel it when we kiss
So many men stronger than me have thrown their backs out trying to lift it
But me I'm not a gamble--you can count on me to split.
The love I sell you in the evening, by the morning won't exist."

Maggie introduced me to this song a while ago. Today it came across my Everybody Fields station on pandora. I think it's incredible, but maybe not a song one should listen to on a late April day when spring just won't arrive.

april check-in

2011-04-27T09:42:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure that April has been all that busy a month, but it hasn't really lent itself to posts here. But, rather than let the month pass unnoted:

I'm now on "extended-term" track for my lectureship position. This means, hopefully, more job security, a decent raise, and a bit more of a sense of belonging in the department.
My goal of being in Vermont this summer is looking more and more realisitic. Tentative plans include a three-day drive to VT, a house swap with a girl from Northfield who has a bunch of time off and can work remotely, daily biking in to Montpelier to "teach" my online course from one of their fine coffee shops, and some touring around the NE.
I went swimming this past weekend and didn't die. I kinda want to go back for more, even. Even if all I'm doing is the elementary backstroke for twenty minutes, I'm still moving muscles that obviously aren't getting much exercise otherwise.
I was supposed to see Willie Nelson (!!) in Cheyenne last week, but he got sick. Hopefully it will be rescheduled for a date before I leave for VT.
Finally, some visual record of the month; here's a picture of the last remaining bones of a dead gas station, along Herrick Lane, from a trip Maggie and I took to Saratoga at the beginning of April:

vampire rock

2011-03-31T11:43:00.000-06:00

Last night I checked out the free Murder by Death show on campus. I'd heard of them, a little bit, through my roommate and his girlfriend, but didn't really know what to expect. But a few of their songs on myspace music seemed pretty alright, so I figured it was worth a drop-by.

With a name like "Murder by Death," I kinda figured it would be all angsty goth stuff, or something. I didn't really know. But actually a good bit of their stuff reminded me of the Old 97s, kinda, and Maggie said they reminded her of The Pogues, the Killers, Flogging Molly. So, yeah: somewhere in that range. I also like the term "vampire rock" for their stuff because of their Eastern European rhythms and because of the really fantastic dark cello. If I were a vampire, I would want MBD as my soundtrack. Fo' sho.

Melissa dropped by the show too (I learned this morning), and here's her completely awesome and accurate description of the lead singer: "i found it incredibly amusing how the lead singer's head seemed to pop up at the jaw hinge rather than his jaw going down when he opened his mouth wide." Yeah, there was definitely something a bit muppet-like about his singing. But, still: awesome.

I ended up buying their album Good Morning, Magpie, mainly for this song:

desert

2011-03-23T23:17:00.000-06:00

Here are a few photos from my recent trip to Phoenix. The first is Grandpa at the Roosevelt Dam; the second is south of here, on the Apache Trail, which was the supply trail used to get materials up the canyon to the damn building site.

The trip was great. Eighty-degree weather most days, some nice walks, lots of great scenery, and a chance to catch up with my grandparents, David, and Peter all in one quick trip.

full moon

2011-03-23T23:07:00.000-06:00

Snowy Range Ski Area hosted a free potluck and full moon ski/snowshoe this past weekend. My friends Melissa, Amarina, and Maggie and I went up the hill to check things out. All in all, it was a great time, with good food and a good turnout. I nearly missed the moon's emergence since Maggie let my water bottle go sliding off the backside of the ski-lift hill while we sitting waiting for it. Of course, as soon as I headed down into the gully to see if I could find it (I couldn't), the moon decided to make its appearance. Here's a decent picture I got as it was coming out of the clouds.

odd pairing

2011-03-18T13:28:00.000-06:00

pandora just queued up pearl jam's "just breathe" on my avett bros. channel.

i like "just breathe."

i like the avetts.

but i'm not sure that the two belong together. it's interesting to hear them together and to wonder about the connections. here's pandora's explanation about why eddie is hanging out with seth and scott:

yep. i guess i'm okay with that explanation. extensive vamping indeed.

2011-03-14T00:14:00.000-06:00

i feel like i should have something to say. thursday i spent with my sister and niece and brother-in-law. friday i got up at 2:30 to drive to dia to spend the day with my grandparents. saturday i drove to prescott to spend the day with my friend david. today i drove back to phoenix to have dinner with peter. tomorrow grandpa and i may go check out tortilla flats.

despite a lot of doing, however, i'm not sure what to say or feel or think about it all. i'm not numb, really, but also not very contemplative or articulate either, apparently.

small world

2011-03-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

tonight was music night with melissa and amarina. amarina was my almost-roommate this year, and since she's a botany person she now knows a lot of other people i already knew. like mark, from the walden ski trip. but, weirdly enough, melissa and amarina also both lived in moscow (idaho) before, at the same time, and they know several of the same people from there, too. crazy!

a word i don't often use

2011-03-02T19:47:00.001-07:00

asshat: that's a word that i rarely find use for in conversation or writing.

What i really don't understand is how a clown like this could get more airtime than, say, Libya. Maybe that's an overstatement.

lyric

2011-03-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

i realize it's probably not very manly of me, but i like some of dar williams' stuff:

we walk in the world of safe people
and at night we walk into our houses and burn.

that's a good line, that captures a lot of the things that we don't bother to say sometimes, out of fear of judgment, or threat of violence, or worry of ruining a relationship that works well enough, or whatever. serenity, courage, wisdom. whatever.

something amazing

2011-02-28T19:44:00.002-07:00

the most amazing thing happened to me on the way home from campus today: i found some crackers in the back of my pickup! i mean the type of crackers you eat, not white people.

this is amazing not because there weren't supposed to be crackers there but because i actually remembered that (1) in fort collins on saturday i bought some crackers, (2) i realized in two days that i didn't know where the crackers were, and (3) i thought to look for them in the truck.

i actually remembered something. that's the amazing thing.

usually this scenario would've played out like this: unpack the groceries from fort collins. drive around for three weeks. randomly open the tailgate and discover some crackers, smashed to bits from rolling around in the back of the truck. say to myself: "oh! guess i forgot that i bought crackers in fort collins! ha! ha ha!" throw crackers away. or, if they're not too mushed, save them for stew. maybe even use them as impetus to make some stew.

amazing.

clean

2011-02-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

it's nice to be clean. or, cleaner, at least. it's been far too long since i did some decent cleaning around the house, and it feels good to know that things are less dusty/muddy/fuzzy/gross than before.

cabin fever

2011-02-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the second annual Forest Service Cabin Trip. We didn't start planning early enough to reserve the Brooklyn Lake Cabin, but that turned out okay because we were able to explore some new territory down by Walden, CO. Melissa was a champ this year, following up on ridiculous hassles created by the online reservation system, but eventually we were able to get a one-night reservation for Grizzly Creek.

Here's the cabin:

The awesome FS dude at the Walden office called Melissa last week to let her know that we shouldn't plan on being able to drive all the way to the cabin (which the reservation system implies is possible). So, instead, Mark, Yao, Melissa, and I loaded up packs, divvied out food, and skiied in. Here we are making ready:

The ski-in was about 3 miles, I'm guessing, and we did it in just over an hour. Conditions were sunny and pretty calm; aside from sticky snow it was great.

We ate like champs on the trip. Veggie curry for dinner, with peppers, onion, squash, and brown rice. Cooked apples with brown sugar and pecans over tapioca for dessert. Sweet potato breakfast burritos this morning. Hell, yeah. It's funny how much more I appreciate a good meal when every ounce it was carried in on somebody's back.

Late last night Melissa and I went out for a full-moon ski, but we got thwarted by clouds and snow. No moon, but still a nice ski. Once we got back, the wind started picking up, and blew all night long. And all morning, too; after breakfast, clean-up, and repacking, we headed out into one hell of a tailwind. The snow was cold enough that we had no problems with stickiness, but once we were out of the trees the snow felt like a sandblaster. I literally sailed the last half-mile, blown along on level ground back to the delightfully un-snowed-in truck. Here's a return-trip pic, in the trees before the wind got really exciting.

I'm a lucky guy, for all kinds of reasons. This trip was a great reminder of how great life is.

basketball

2011-02-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much to say about Cowgirl basketball this year. Like everything else, I'm not sure why it doesn't strike me as worth noting here lately.

Tonight: Cowgirl victory, a close game all night, but one in which they continue to show signs of improvement.

The sense of ownership is a weird thing. If any team is "my" team, it's the Cowgirls--the only team I watch live, and the only team that I might follow-up on after out-of-town games to see how they did. What do I gain by noting the development of the team, by spending my emotions on their efforts, by feeling that I deserve to share their joy in victory? And, why does society, in general, encourage us to take on these investments? And why do I feel a bit guilty that I'd consider not renewing my season tickets next year?

Ownership. Weird.

VD

2011-02-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I was over to my friend George's place, for fried catfish and mixed veggies. His sister and brother-in-law were in town, too.

For my classes yesterday, I brought cookies; I had time before classes to walk down (in 40-degree weather!) to the co-op and pick some up. Nothing special, but a small effort to observe Valentines Day.

I might be misremembering, but it seems like I've been happy to spend Valentines these past few years by appreciating the relationships in my life--not the relationships that aren't there, but the ones that are.

coaster

2011-02-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

The past three days: Up up! Down. Up! Down.

Up up! On Thursday morning, Anne and I drove over to Cheyenne for the workshop we've been preparing for the past several months. The roads were a bit scary for the first 20 miles, but we got there in plenty of time to set up before the writers showed up. At the end of Day 1, things seemed to have gone really well: lots of laughing, a good bit of real engagement and thoughtfulness, and some signs of progress.

Down. By the end of Friday, I felt less positive about the amount of impact we were having on the writers. I suppose this is entirely understandable: nobody gets "fixed" in 10 hours of writing instruction. I should know that by now, and yet I really hoped the writers would go away from the workshop feeling that they had gained some real traction on improving their writing. We'll sit down on Tuesday to review their evaluations, and hopefully we'll have a better sense, then, about how useful the sessions were for the participants. So, I'm feeling down a bit about that right now.

Up! After two hard days of workshopping, I went down to Greeley to visit my sister and brother-in-law and niece. Weeks ago, when I was thinking about a fitting post-workshop reward, I decided that getting to see my niece was about the best thing I could imagine. She's pretty cute; it's hard not to be happy around her.

Down. Driving home from Greeley I was struck by how lonely the past few weeks have been. Lots of things are going well in my life lately, but those successes sometimes make me wish even more that I had someone to share with. Serenity, courage, wisdom, I guess.

limits of faith

2011-01-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm reposting this from Unity Politics, which in turn is posting from Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. I like it for capturing some of my own hesitancy about religious claims of the "right" version of the worlds we can't see.

"I have no doubt that that your acceptance of Christ coincided with some very positive changes in your life. Perhaps you now love other people in a way that you never imagined possible. You may even experience feelings of bliss while praying. I do not wish to denigrate any of these experiences. I would point out, however, that billions of other human beings, in every time and place, have had similar experiences--but they had them while thinking about Krishna, or Allah, or the Buddha, while making art or music, or while contemplating the beauty of nature. There is no question that it is possible for people to have profoundly transformative experiences. And there is no question that it is possible for them to misinterpret these experiences, and to further delude themselves about the nature of reality. You are, of course, right to believe that there is more to life than simply understanding the structure and contents of the universe. But this does not make unjustified (and unjustifiable) claims about its structure and contents any more respectable.

It is important to realize that the distinction between science and religion is not a matter of excluding our ethical intuitions and spiritual experiences from our conversation about the world; it is a matter of our being honest about what we can reasonably conclude on their basis. There are good reasons to believe that people like Jesus and the Buddha weren't talking nonsense when they spoke about our capacity as human beings to transform our lives in rare and beautiful way. But any genuine exploration of ethics or the contemplative life demands the same standards of reasonableness and self-criticism that animate all intellectual discourse."

I also like this perspective on faith, which is a version of Lessing's Parable of the Three Rings (which traces back to Boccaccio and certainly even further).

lovin' life

2011-01-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

last night, on the way back from night-skiing with melissa, katie, and bryon, i said, "i don't know what i expected my life to look like at 33, but this definitely isn't it." i mean, ten years ago i don't think i could've ever imagined how amazing and rich and full life feels to me right now. ten years ago, i was a baby in so many ways. i won't claim that i've "grown up," but i take it as a huge sign of maturity that i'm okay with where i amt today, and i'm even more okay with trusting that the experiences ahead of me will be even better. i've spent a lot of my life trying to predict the future, and i think i'm finally realizing that the unpredictability is part of the wonder.

i admire my friends who are "settled down" and have kids and wives and lives that predict much of what the next steps of the years ahead will look like. watching my niece grow up these past few years makes me realize that kids are their own lesson about unpredictability and beauty and wonder and fulfillment. but right now, to me, fulfillment is an hour on the trails, headlamps off, four friends at peace, beneath a billion tiny stars. this isn't the life i signed up for, but i'm damn lucky it's the life i have.

choices

2011-01-23T11:27:00.002-07:00

My samples from The Perfumed Court arrived last week. So, far, I'm excited. Last night I wore D&G's Le Bateleur, which I picked because I was interested in trying some unisex scents. Here's what atgstores says about the perfume:

Anthology 1 Le Bateleur EDT Spray for Men and Women

The very notion of provocation often has to do with the element of surprise and the juxtaposition of unexpected partners. Le Bateleur by Dolce and Gabanna, inspired by the Tarot card for the 'eternal charmer', mixes an equal amount of masculine (cardamom, juniper berry, vetiver) and feminine (olibanum, dewy accords) touches to render something that is neither, but which moves with dynamism into a new freedom of playfulness. A spicy citrus with a twist!

Top Notes: Cardamom, Juniper Berry, Birch Leaf
Middle Notes: Aquatic Accord, Coriander
Base Notes: Vetiver, White Cedar, Oliban

I like it. Reviews on other sites argue that Le Bateleur is a cliched version of Acqua di Gio, but I'm inclined to think that people who post perfume reviews are likely to be the worst kind of critic--the kind of person who finds fault just so they can throw around the fancy words they've learned. Like, whatever: it smells good to me, smells good on me, and I'm gonna wear it.

Here's the other stuff I got in my grab bag of samples:

Compagnia Delle Indie Colonia ("soft musky citrius")

Givenchy - Monsieur de Givenchy ("combination of bergamot, lemon, lavender, verbena, oak moss and sandalwood ... sophisticated but not overwhelming.")

Guerlain Heritage ("smooth peppery scent")

Guerlain Vetiver ("soft barber shop essence")

Caron Third Man ("soft vanilla fougere with florals")

Hermes Bel Ami ("notes of moss and woods, leather, herbs, sandalwood and a touch of lemon")

This should be fun.

blessing

2011-01-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm guilty of taking my family for granted. I hardly ever blog about them or spend much time being consciously grateful for their support and sincerity. But when I think about other families, and their odd little preferences and manipulations and unforgiven hurts, it makes me realize how lucky I am to have a family that hasn't really participated in that type of bullshit too much. Instead, we just get together and appreciate the good stuff. Like my niece Kendall, the littlest member of the family:

Yep--my family is all right.

dreams in color / dreams in red

2011-01-18T23:32:00.000-07:00

Another of the reasons I love Eddie Vedder:

bookswap / can't win

2011-01-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

finally finished reading The Perfect Scent.

ordered a half-dozen perfume samples from The Perfumed Court.

started reading No-Impact Man.

now I feel guilty about all the packaging and transportation waste caused by my order.

hell.

heart math

2011-01-12T22:14:00.001-07:00

i feel like my life would be a whole lot easier if this equation worked out:

like + like + like + like + n(like) = love

i mean, it seems so simple: if you like enough things about a person, that should add up to love. but it doesn't quite work out that way. not for me, at least.

if i'm honest with myself, i guess i don't really want my heart to be controlled by such simple math, but sometimes i wish the equation was a little bit easier to solve.

two fine feet / winter night's prayer

2011-01-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Despite wind chill readings of -10, Katie and I headed up to the Tie City trailhead just as the sun was setting, for my second go at night skiing.

Two fine feet, one good friend, miles of trail minutes from town, and a good scarf to keep me warm.

What more do I need in life?

It's easy to get sucked into wanting more, but--gawddamm!--nights like these remind me that I've got plenty to be thankful for.

Amen.

happy day

2011-01-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

last night i drove down to greeley to stay at sarah and joel's. they took me out to birthday dinner and then we had schwan's peppermint ice cream for dessert. note: schwan's peppermint ice cream is delicious, even though it's green. seems like peppermint ice cream should be pink, but no.

then this morning i drove down to golden for my old college roommate's wedding. i got to meet aaron's fiance (then-girlfriend) last fall when they were on their way to yellowstone. she seems super great. the ceremony lasted twenty minutes. the part i liked best was watching aaron and molly while the officiant dude was talking, because they looked so happy to be there together (and so oblivious to the officiant dude blabbing on). at the ceremony i ended up next to aaron's aunt and uncle who, turns out, live in laramie.

then i drove along the foothills rather than taking the interstate back up to fort collins, and the drive today was great. clear, sunny, snow-capped mountains, lots of cyclists out around boulder taking advantage of the day.

and once i got back to laramie, melissa and i headed up to happy jack for some night skiing, my first attempt at skiing in the dark. it was awesome! and the trails were empty! and the snow was pretty good!

john lennon said, 'life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.' today felt like one of those good days when the plans took a backseat to life unfolding in front of me.

two times

2011-01-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

fact: frozen m&ms are two times as good as m&ms at room temperature. putting them in the freezer is like doubling your money.

happy birthday to me

2011-01-01T23:12:00.001-07:00

After a pretty spectacular trip to Yellowstone ("spectacular" in both good and bad ways), I was home a day earlier than expected and ended up making my own birthday cake. In terms of presentation, it's not much to look at (definitely not as pretty as it would've been if Steph made it), but it tastes pretty damn good:

Before cake, Katie and Bryon took me out for dinner at the Chinese restaurant. All in all, Chinese food and german chocolate cake is a pretty nice way to end the first day of the new year.

Thoughts in french

2010-12-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

"Ce n'est pas la peine de parler d'une histoire que beaucoup avant toi avec du talent ont deja racontee" -- Celine Ellena

"Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler, ne merite ni egard ni patience" -- Rene Char

These are a couple quotes from a book I've been working on, slowly, off and on now for two months or so. The book, The Perfect Scent, is a fascinating story about the world of perfume and, more largely, about art and commercialism and family and pressure to succeed. The book makes me appreciate scent more, too--the amazingly complicated, potentially expensive, often invisible real estate that surrounds us everywhere and yet often (at least in my case) is overlooked for more concrete and visible senses.

In translation, it's not worthwhile to tell a story that many with talent before you have already told and what comes into the world to disturb nothing merits neither attention nor patience. I find these two sentiments to be beautiful and simultaneously crushing: what story is truly worth telling?

white christmas

2010-12-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

After a mostly dry December here in town, the sky really raid it out last night and today. Hopefully the roads'll be clear by the time I take off for Newcastle. I like Christmas that feels like Christmas. Happy holidays!

whatever

2010-12-21T00:17:00.000-07:00

I guess it's as good a time as any to reflect, since I have a moment and am feeling reflective. And today is the solstice, a marker of increasing light in the time to come, so maybe I should take that as my cue.

Some thoughts:

$700 for dinner for six seems pretty extravagant to me. It was a good steak, but still.
I can't really imagine bowling in the days before the automatic pinsetter.
High-school work at the grocery store has pretty much ruined me on Christmas music forever. The holiday music would start the day after Thanksgiving, and we'd hear the same track on endless loop for the next thirty days. Somehow I still like "Little Drummer Boy," though.
I wonder why I've been relatively absent from the blog lately. The semester that's finally ended was a busy one, for sure, but I'm not sure that explains why I haven't posted much. Part of the purpose for this space, I think, is to acknowledge the thoughts that are on my mind, whatever they may be. Being able to put them here, outside myself, gives me some distance on them, lets me sort out some of the ideas that guide my actions and ways of thinking, lets me find some accord in the complexity I've managed to create for myself over the past few years.
I've finally watched the Antoine Dodson youtube video, so now I feel adequately prepared to wear the awesome white elephant T-shirt I brought home from the program's Christmas party this year. Hide your kids!

2010-12-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

"All that is visible must grow beyond itself, and extend into the realm of the invisible." -- Dumont, in Tron

Tonight I watched Tron with my friend George. A while back we were talking about previews for the soon-to-be-released Tron: Legacy film--which has pretty cool trailers, I think. But George said I couldn't see the new film without seeing the original.

I'm typically disappointed in sci-fi (thought Inception was pretty dumb, for example), but I thought that Tron was actually pretty amazing. Beautiful, even. And I thought its representation of computer hardware was fascinating. Now I just have to hope that the new film lives up to the old one.

Kinda makes me want to go find the old arcade game, too. I remember playing it half a dozen times, maybe. I sucked at it.

no record

2010-12-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

lately i've been making few tracks, it feels like, and keeping record of even fewer of them. i'm not entirely sure what i expected to have accomplished by late fall 2010, but it definitely doesn't feel like the most productive two months of my life.

on the bright side, i did bring home some new art from this year's kvenild christmas white elephant exchange, a sharpie sketch of a penis. it probably won't go on display in my living room next to the oil painting of a poodle that i brought home from cass and brett's two years ago, but i'm optimistic about finding a place for it in my bathroom, where it seems (slightly) more appropriate.

behind the veil

2010-11-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

"Explaining the jet engine or the wing of a 787 doesn't destroy the awesome beauty of flight. It doesn't break the dream. It does the opposite. The more you understand of science, the more you marvel at the magic of reality, and creating the dream is not the same as perpetuating ignorance. It is the opposite: taking people inside, letting them see behind the scenes, showing them how it all works." --Chandler Burr, The Perfect Scent

two thing i like

2010-11-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

i like doing dishes. i don't like thinking about doing dishes, though. i put the task off longer than necessary, usually, but when i'm actually doing dishes i find it relatively peaceful and satisfying activity. i also like having the dishes done, and a clean countertop. doing half of the dishes and then leaving the rest doesn't make sense to me, since it still leaves some dishes cluttering the countertop, and not much sense of accomplishment. i've had two roommates now who could be categorized as "partial dish-doers": they would either just do their "share" of dishes, or they'd randomly quit at some point when they'd done "enough." weird, if you ask me, but i suppose it's allowed me to recognize that i can't expect other people to share the same values for doing things that i have. for a person who doesn't get any psychological benefit from doing dishes, i understand that the difference between doing 1 dish, or 2, or 20, or all of them, is pretty irrelevant. so why get worked up if the shares turn out to be a bit unequal, really?

i like winter in laramie like today. fresh snow, crisp blue sky, and temps above 20. no wind. if winter in laramie were always like this, putting up with it for six months would be a joy. i'm looking forward to shoveling the walks when i get home, a task i put off after the first bit of storm but that should be perfectly manageable this afternoon.

tonight's serenity prayer

2010-11-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

god grant me the ability to recognize the difference between generous optimism and pure delusion.

tonight this prayer is directed (mostly) to my recurring, seasonal job frustrations. i'm pretty sure that learning is a noble task, but i'm not always convinced that teaching achieves that same nobleness of purpose. and i'm really pretty sure that the going-through-the-motions that characterizes a lot of formalized education doesn't even come close.

wisdom / soft spot

2010-11-01T23:02:00.000-06:00

"I can promise you milk and cookies, but if the oven's broke, you just get milk."-Ninth-grader Urail King, in the film version of Freakonomics

***

In other news, I'm not much of a killer. Steph discovered when she was here last weekend that we had a mouse on the loose; she spotted one running behind the kitchen sink just before bedtime. So I put out some traps, and a day later when I was pointing out the traps to Josh one of them was not where I'd placed it. Turns out, the mouse had caught a leg in the trap and had dragged himself under the fridge. We fished him out with a coat hanger, and Josh turned it loose in the yard--more towards the neighbor's house than ours.

A day later I decided to make sandwiches and discovered a perfectly mouse-sized hole in the bread. I assumed, optimistically, that the hole was made before we'd caught the mouse in the trap.

This weekend, Josh left some biscuits on the stove, and discovered that we apparently still had a mouse problem.

I put the trap out again, and discovered tonight another mouse, smashed midway in the trap, but still twitching around. The jaws of these traps aren't super powerful, so it's possible that he was only smashed and not broken. Not sure; the front half seemed to be moving around more than the back half. I considered flushing him down the toilet. Instead, I let him loose in the alley. If he's damaged, a cat will get him, or a bird. If not, maybe he'll choose another home to invade. That seems slightly more sporting than a watery death in the sewer.

I set out another trap tonight, just in case there's yet another mouse to deal with. I really, really don't want a mouse problem to turn into a mice problem. I'm not sure whether the soft spot is in my heart or in my skull.

End of October

2010-10-31T22:34:00.000-06:00

I forgot to take my camera with me this weekend to Steph's, so I ended up with just this one lousy cell-phone pic of I-80 on the way home. It's a shame, too, since we went over to Jackson on Saturday and had plenty of amazing scenery for photo fodder. We got snowed on, too, on the way back, coming across the pass. It's like winter in the high country.

sherman's wit

2010-10-17T22:42:00.000-06:00

Some gems from flight:

"Back in the seventies, all of the rock stars were ugly. And they were great musicians. Do ugly guys compensate for their ugliness by becoming great guitar players? Or do certain guitars choose their homely players like Excalibur chose Lancelot? I wish I lived back in the seventies. As ugly as I am, I might have been the biggest rock star in the world."

"I know I'm not supposed to remember it. But I do. My memory is strange that way. I often remember people I've never met and events and places I've never seen. I don't think I'm some mystical bastard. I just think I pay attention to the details."

"I never understood the people who think that TV is bad for you. I guess they've never seen the Discovery Channel. You can learn science, history, geography, and politics from TV. If you want to find some faith in human beings, just watch one episode of Storm Stories and you'll see heroic people risk their lives to save strangers.
   I don't understand human beings. I don't understand the people who risk their lives to save strangers. I wish I knew people like that."

"Most cops are pretty cool, I guess. ... I think a lot of them had drunk, shitty, or missing fathers, just like I did. I think many of them endured chaotic and brutal childhoods, so they become cops because they want to create order in the world... Good cops are lifeguards on the shores of Lake Fucked."

" 'I believe that what we did the other night was necessary,' he says. 'Horrible and necessary. Do you understand that?' Art and Justice fight on opposite sides of the war but they sound exactly like each other. How can you tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys when they say the same things?"

"Is revenge a circle inside of a circle inside of a circle?"

"So maybe God had God arthritis. And maybe that's why the world sucks. Maybe God's hands and fingers don't work as well as they used to. Maybe God looks down on earth and sees the bad guys and tries to pick them up. Maybe he wants to squish them like bugs. But God's arthritis is so bad he can't make his fingers work."

" 'What the fuck do you want, chief?' He thinks the curse word will scare me. He thinks the curse word will let me know that he once shot a man just to watch him die.
  'I knew Johnny Cash,' I say, 'and you ain't no Johnny Cash.'
  The man laughs. He thinks I'm crazy. I laugh. I am crazy."

"And then the guy realizes that he can tell me anything precisely because he doesn't know me. He realizes that any stranger can be your priest."

"I try not to laugh, which makes me laugh. 'I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh. It's not funny.'
   'Oh, no, that's the whole thing. It is funny. It's horrible, too. But it's hilarious at the same time. And when I saw that bird hooked up to those tiny little machines, I laughed.'
  'No.'
  'Yes, I laughed so hard that I forgot my wife and daughter were standing there. And when I remembered, I turned and looked at them, and tey were staring at me with those eyes. Do you know those eyes?' "

fall.

2010-10-17T21:44:00.000-06:00

season's end always seems to make me melancholy

dumb

2010-10-12T00:08:00.000-06:00

it's an odd phenomenon, that learning more makes me realize how much more there is to learn. rather than gaining ground, i'm losing it. i kind of long for the relative naiveté of the good old days, when i thought i knew a lot. i suppose i shouldn't feel frustrated with students who seem so unhurried to discover how big and exciting the world is, but dammit i wish some of them were a bit more engaged in the project.

thursday evening relaxation

2010-10-07T23:52:00.000-06:00

My idea of fun, tonight: a couple of muffins that Steph sent home with me, some Sleepytime tea, and another chapter of Sarah's dissertation.

like a good american

2010-10-06T23:40:00.000-06:00

lately i just want to buy stuff, a lot of stuff. expensive stuff. i dunno why: aside from a real need for a new computer, most of this stuff is just, well, more stuff. i think maybe it's that it seems like i'm nearing the end of major garage expenses (which isn't actually true), so i feel like i should be able to spend money on other stuff. i dunno.

here's the short wishlist:

ipad, or ipod
new laptop (toshiba portege)
new vest (patagonia micropuff)
rain coat (marmot precip)
and a new car (mazda 3? subaru forester? chevy colorado?)

point and shoot

2010-10-04T00:11:00.000-06:00

This weekend I drove up to Riverton, then rode from there to Steph's parents' place in Greybull. All in all, a really relaxing week: take-home work feels a lot less like work when you can do it in the shade of the patio at Lisa's Western Cuisine. If you didn't already know, "cusabi" is a sauce made with cucumber and wasabi, and it's good. Gooooooooood.

On the way up and back, I took some random pictures out the window of the truck. Some turned out alright, some less so. Here's one I like, from downtown Jeffrey City:

And the new blog background picture is also one from this trip, the view out over the Wind Rivers as I dropped down into Riverton on Friday night.

The open road, windows down and stereo up. Good food, fun company, and Indian summer into October. I could think of worse ways to spend the weekend.

encounter with an artist

2010-10-01T00:31:00.000-06:00

last friday i was lucky enough to play a little with birgit at the monthly jam. so tonight i went to listen to her group, black crow/white crow, at the campus beer garden, hoping to support a group whose sound i like a lot.

anyway, the bassist for another band i like a lot was there, and i think he offended me.

or, more accurately, i think he thought he offended me, basically for accusing university teachers of being too scared to actually get out there and do what they teach. his sentiment is aimed especially at the music dept., who i think he sees as upholding tradition at the expense of creativity and as pretending to do "objective" research about a field that is ultimately subjective. art, in his mind, doesn't belong in the university at all, and music professors are mostly cut from the cloth of those too scared to actually get out there and gig.

so anyway, about ten minutes into his rant he said to me something like, "sorry if you teach at the university," not realizing that, actually, i do teach at the university. then, the part i loved the best is that, when he discovered that i actually do teach at the university, he apologized, a few times, but without really meaning it. i don't mean that i "loved" it in a sarcastic way: i actually really did love that part, his sorta-but-not-really-apologizing.

but the thing is, i don't really feel like we're on opposite sides, and yet i can't quite figure out how i can agree with him and still do what i do, which is teach without an extensive background in my subject area. do i really need to be out there "gigging" in order to be able to teach my subject? does writing grants for a summer job, or filling out terribly-designed Census forms for a summer, or planning a workshop for "real" technical writers--do any of these "gigs" count as "real" work in his eyes? in my eyes? and what if i choose to teach because i want to teach, not just be a writer? doesn't all of the writing i do in my own workplace count for anything? and what if i understand writing in a way that doesn't make me feel that i have to "prove" it through production, but still i feel that production, eventually, is important? and what i really do agree with him that the university--and the arts especially--really is filled with a lot of bloat, a lot of "theorizing" that masquerades as "research," a lot of irrelevancy that i worry will eventually topple the ivory towers? what then?

on the trail

2010-09-22T23:59:00.001-06:00

it's odd, how much time has passed, and how easily the years become intertwined, like waves of memory lapping one after another. was that four years ago, or five? were you with me on that trip, or was it some other friend?

it bothers me to lose track. i look forward to becoming someone new, different, better, and i appreciate that the past doesn't entirely determine the path ahead of me. i appreciate the blessing of forgetting and becoming forgotten. but i also want to remember how i've gotten here, to be able to look back and still see the tracks that brought me to this moment.

summer's passing

2010-09-19T01:02:00.000-06:00

The autumn equinox is almost here, which means another summer's gotten away from me. Seems like the stop-and-go work of the Census and the garage project took up a lot of time, and suddenly here it is, four weeks into a new semester already. Until this week, I hadn't had my bike out to Happy Jack, nor had I been up the Medicine Bow Peak trail.

Happily, I was able to do both this week. On Thursday, George and I went out and did a quick route from Tie City, about 40 minutes of riding. Then, this morning, George and Melissa and I hiked to the peak, just under 4 and a half hours, round trip. Then, green chili pizza at Bear Tree on the way back, and then a quick afternoon nap. I have a feeling the fall is gonna pass as quickly as the summer has.

A photo of our day::

more new music

2010-09-17T09:41:00.000-06:00

My friend Mike suggested that I might listen to Mumford & Sons. He's not the first to mention them to me, but he's got as broad a knowledge of the music landscape as anyone i know, and I trust his judgment. He says: "They remind me of a British Avetts. On one hand, it sounds so ridiculous to hear that style of music emanating forth from a British mouth, as it seems so distinctly American. On the other, some of it is pretty good."

He's right. I can't quite reconcile the idea of a "British Avetts," but--holy shit!--they've got some good stuff. (Beyond the accent, I can't figure out why I wouldn't categorize them with the Avetts, but I wouldn't. From a quick look at lyrics, I think there's something about subject matter that might be different. I suspect I'll be listening to a lot more of them, though, so maybe I'll have a better answer in a while.) Anyway, a sample of lyrics (from "Winter Winds":

Oh and pestilence is won when you are lost and I am gone
And no hope, no hope will overcome

And if your strife strikes at your sleep
Remember spring swaps snow for leaves
You'll be happy and wholesome again
When the city clears and sun ascends

And my head told my heart
"Let love grow"
But my heart told my head
"This time no"

------

And here's a clip of them singing "The Cave":

Yeah, I agree: pretty awesome.

breaktime

2010-09-15T21:17:00.002-06:00

i'm between grading and more grading, taking a short break to check emails and such, and pandora just queued up the western states motel on my avetts station. i like it!

the LA times says their music "conjures up images of wide-open spaces, empty highways and yawning horizons--old Route 66 at burnt-orange sunset." no wonder i like it. sounds like music for wyoming.

2010-09-12T16:20:00.000-06:00

Here's what the garage looked like by the end of Saturday last weekend. Since then it's gotten the walk-in door, windows, and a good start on siding. I think I may be able to finish siding by the end of next weekend, if schoolwork isn't too crazy.

In unrelated news, the Armstrong Hotel in Old Town Ft. Collins gets a seal of approval.

T.B.P.

2010-08-30T19:30:00.000-06:00

i was hoping to have the garage mostly built by mid-july.

i'm a bit behind the plan, but it's coming along. this counts as more than .5%, for sure:

my dad and his neighbor came down last friday to help set forms (along with my old roommate and another guy he works construction with), and then my dad and jack came back down today for The Big Pour. and george came over today too to lend his skills. it's nice to know People With Skills: i'd still be scratching around in the dirt if i didn't have great family and friends.

the redi-mix guy told me this morning, when i called to order the cement, that there was a 40% chance of rain forecast for today. luckily, the rain didn't turn out to be much of a threat--a few drops during the city inspection this morning, and then a few more during the pour.

tomorrow is delivery day for materials, and then, during the holiday weekend, comes The Big Build. oh, yeah.

2010-08-24T23:43:00.000-06:00

I suppose that one advantage of not being especially good at picking out lyrics is that, when you finally DO notice what the words are about, you're blown away by yet another Avetts tune:

I see the end of the rainbow
But what more is a rainbow
Than colors out of reach
....
When you swept me away
You swept me away

guilty pleasure

2010-08-23T22:14:00.000-06:00

on hulu a few weeks back, i discovered the show 'dating in the dark.' it's terrible. and awesome! but mostly, terrible.

i usually hate this kind of reality tv, but somehow i can't get enough of this show. maybe because it seems somehow more 'real' than most reality tv. the set-up is as much a fabrication as any other reality show, but the contestant (er, i mean 'participant') reactions here seem candid and genuine. it's not exactly a show that builds my faith in the depth of our society.

progress

2010-08-16T23:34:00.000-06:00

from this:

to this:

in two months. not bad!

nights like these

2010-08-14T22:51:00.000-06:00

i called quincy earlier today, hoping she'd be interested in a hike. lucky for me, she was.

we headed out around 5, up to the green rock parking lot, and walked a good bit of the libby creek loop--a new trail for me, and one i'm excited to revisit. we spotted a curious mink (or maybe a weasel, or some other member of the mustelidae family).

then we rewarded ourselves with vegetarian green chili pizza and beers at the bear tree, and with some live music at the trading post. i'd run into my colleague colin earlier this week and helped him pack some speakers down the stairs. he was getting ready for a reunion gig with some guys he'd played with twenty years ago. it was great music, not too loud, and the crowd was good-natured. here's a tiny, bad cell-phone pic of the venue and the band:

these are the nights when i wish for endless summer.

longish hike turns to bike ride....

2010-08-13T21:12:00.001-06:00

ended up on another bike ride today. thinking about heading out to corner mtn tomorrow. maybe i'll catch some music at the trading post afterwards, since my colleague colin is playing out there.

9.22 miles tonight:

also, check out this suweetass shirt i picked up at the farmers market today:

yes, it does say "bosler, wyoming." and yes, it's orange. yeah: sweet, i know. i might end up with the other two shirts from these designers by the end of the season......

some randoms

2010-08-12T23:25:00.000-06:00

two soccer games tonight.

think i might head out for a longish hike tomorrow.

not ready to face the looming semester.

what the hell am i gonna do with a head of cabbage?

the new arcade fire album i picked up when steph and i were in ftc is growing on me:

let's go downtown and watch the modern kids / let's go downtown and talk to the modern kids /
they will eat right out of your hand / using great big words that they don't understand /
they say / rococo, rococo, rococo, rococo / rococo, rococo, rococo, rococo

yeah, their lyrics definitely lack the depth of the avetts, but you gotta love a band that can turn the word 'rococo' into the chorus.

my town

2010-08-10T21:07:00.001-06:00

8.4 miles tonight, with a stop-off at safeway. bike ride and rhubarb cobbler: not a bad way to end a tuesday night.

.5%

2010-08-08T23:05:00.000-06:00

The bit of digging I did this evening probably represents less than half of one percent's worth of the total garage project, but it feels good to be started.

simple pleasures

2010-08-07T21:49:00.000-06:00

a while ago, after a work day in the yard, steph suggested that i enjoy a beer in the shower. i'd never heard of such a thing, but it's pretty amazing. even better: a garden fresh tomato and a beer in the shower.
awesome.

indirect

2010-07-21T22:57:00.000-06:00

several of my friends are on the boards of directors for various important, worthwhile programs.

not me.

i'm kinda jealous.

maybe some day my life will have a clear direction.

not yet, though!

106 miles

2010-07-16T00:00:00.001-06:00

After putting nearly 1000 miles on the motorcycles with Dad in four days at the end of June, I headed back up towards the Black Hills over the July 4th weekend with Melissa and Willa, this time with un-motorized two-wheelers. Over two days, we put 106 miles on our bicycles, riding the Mickelson Rails-to-Trails path from Deadwood to Edgemont.

I'll admit, I was pretty worried that my butt wouldn't hold up to two days in the saddle. After that 11ish miles out to the Laramie airport earlier this spring, I hadn't been out for a real ride since. And I think the longest ride I'd ever ever done, prior to the Mickelson ride, was certainly no more than 25 miles.

I survived, and all in all the ride was awesome. Day 1 was a mix of up- and downhill, and a couple of long pulls out of Englewood and Mystic kicked my ass. We stopped in Hill City for dinner (buffalo burgers at The Diner), then rode a few more miles before finding a camping spot for our tents. Day 2 was a mostly downhill ride into Custer, where Willa and I had a pastry and some coffee, and then we all waited around for an hour or so while a rainstorm passed through. Once the heaviest rain let up, we put on our raincoats and rode two hours through a steady, cool drizzle to Pringle. After lunch there, we came out of the cafe to discover that the rain had stopped, which meant an entirely comfortable, scenic, downhill ride for the last 30 miles. Here are a few photos from the Big Ride:

Here's me, at the Deadwood Trailhead, looking pretty fresh and giddy. I'm excited!

Here's a picture of us at Milepost 100, after a pretty steep alternate route that cut off a couple of miles through Lead, SD. Yep, that's a trailer behind Melissa's bike, just for her dog Zelda.

Here's a pic of one of the four cool tunnels we rode through on our journey.

Clouds looming over Hill City when we stopped for dinner on Day 1.

Setting up camp south of Hill City. My little tent held up splendidly.

Lemonade and beer makes for a completely wonderful end-of-day drink.

Here's a stupid telephone pole messing up my picture of Melissa and Willa in front of Crazy Horse Monument.

A black-and-white of Sheep Canyon, at the south end of the trail. This area turned out to be my favorite, surprisingly. I bet it's not so spectacular a few weeks later into the summer, when the temps are hotter and the scenery is drier. I was thankful for cool cloud cover at the end of Day 2.

At the finish! We did it!

more proof...

2010-07-15T23:02:00.000-06:00

Sorry this post has been so slow in arriving. I've worked on it several different times over the past few weeks but just hadn't had time to feel that it was finished. Anyway, here it is:

It's not that I'm really searching for "proof" that Wyoming is better than anywhere else. I suppose that's like arguing about Chevys and Fords. But, dammit, I can't help it that I feel more alive, more meaningful, more full of appreciation and faith and grace and goodness, when I'm out there on some Wyoming backroad, reading a billion years of geological time in the rocks around me or an eternity in the sky above me.

Here are the quick highlights of Dad's and my four-day tour, June 27-30:

Day 1 (Newcastle to Five Spring Falls)
First view of the Bighorns, out by Spotted Horse on old US 14/16. I love the name "Cloud Peak," and it's a name that definitely fits.

Five Springs Campground. Dad and I were looking for a place that wasn't too far up in the high country, so we passed on Prune Creek and Dead Swede and Bald Mountain and opted to drop into the Bighorn Basin and then wind up an old paved road to Five Springs Campground. Signs on the entry said that a bear had been frequenting the campground, so we made sure to put our toothpaste into the bear box. We thought we'd have the tents-only lower campground to ourselves, but around 9 a girl and a guy showed up. Still, a pretty quiet night, camped out ten feet from the creek:

Day 2 (Five Springs Falls to Soda Butte CG near Cooke City)
Catching up with my friend David. I'd gotten an email from David just over a week ago, telling me he was headed out to Old Wyom for some geological scouting work. Turned out that he was flying into Billing Intl. Airport and that with fairly minor planning we could cross paths in Bridger, MT--a relatively unlikely place for crossing of paths, but we had a quick lunch and then he headed off for Dubois and we headed over the big hill towards Yellowstone. It was good to catch up with him.

The Beartooth Pass. Dad has said that the Beartooth Highway is one of his favorite drives, and he's seen a pretty good bit of country. Now I know why he likes it. The problem with a drive like that I just can't capture the scale of it with my little point-and-shoot. Here's one pretty unsuccessful effort to get just a slice of it:

Sharing a campsite with some CT cyclists. As we neared Yogi Bear territory, we started checking out the campgrounds. The first wasn't too full, but was a bit far from Cooke City, so we went on to the Soda Butte CG, just 1/4-mile from the big town. By the time we drove through and came back around to the fee station, a few other campers were lurking around, and I was worried that we'd get screwed out of a spot. No need to worry: we ended up in Site #9. To celebrate our good fortune of getting the last (or next-to-last) spot in the campground, we offered to share it with another biker who was cruising through looking for accommodation. Turns out his girlfriend was still in Cooke City, waiting to see if he'd arrive back successful, so he went back to fetch her, and they pitched their tent just a few yards from ours. They were from CT, on a 16-day ride out to Denver to visit friends and then to see some country on their way back home. Nice people, and interesting. The guy (Adam) was riding a Moto Guzzi, so I ended up with the Cake song stuck in my head most of the next day.

Day 3 (Cooke City to Greybull)
Avetts for breakfast. Before starting into the park, we had breakfast at the Log Cabin Cafe in Silver Gate. I can recommend it, even more so because the song that was playing when we came in was an Avetts tune: a clear sign that the stars are aligned in my favor. It's hard to have a bad day when you start out with good food, good music, good company, and amazing scenery.

Revisiting the Yellowstone falls. I haven't been back to the Upper and Lower Falls since I was a kid, when my sister and I saw much of Yellowstone from the cab-over bed of my grandma and grandpa's RV. I'm pretty sure there's a picture of me out there somewhere, about 12 years old, looking dorky, standing at Artist's Point. Here's it's updated match:

Yep, I'm pretty good at looking dorky.

Cascade Lake trail. After stopping off to look at the Upper and Lower Falls, we headed down the road to the Cascade Lake Picnic Area, where we ate some dried apricots and then hiked about 2 1/2 miles across pretty easy terrain to Cascade Lake, where we spotted a blue heron. I took a picture, but you can't really see the bird, so you've got to use your imagination.

Dinner at Trail Shop Cafe near Wapiti. Dad and I had some pork ribs as an appetizer, and they were spectacular. One of the seasonings in the rub was unexpected, so we asked the waitress about the recipe. She said she'd check into it, and after our meal the chef, PJ, came out to talk to us. Turns out the secret ingredient was thyme, and PJ wrote down the recipe for us. I'd share it, but I really think that you ought to go to the Trail Shop Cafe yourselves. It was a good dinner.

Crossing the Basin. We didn't intentionally plan to cross the Basin in the evening, but I'm glad it turned out that way. In the middle of the day, it woulda been a hot and relatively boring ride from Cody to Greybull, but the late evening clouds made it one of my favorite stretches of the whole trip. No pics, though.

Day 4 (Greybull to Newcastle)
Shell Canyon. After breakfast at Dirty Annie's in Shell (where I ran into my friend Kory from Laramie, oddly enough), we rode back over to Sheridan via Shell Canyon. Here's a picture of Dad at the falls:

Ice cream in Buffalo. We intended to stop at the Story General Store for a snack break, but it's for sale, and all closed up in the meantime. Instead we rode on to Buffalo, where Wilcox's Montana-made ice cream awaited us at Lickety Split. Damn! Good ice cream!

So, yeah, that was the trip. It was great. Good to spend time with my dad, too.

forthcoming

2010-07-06T10:27:00.000-06:00

in the next few days i'll have time, finally, to update the blog about my recent trips, including some kickass pho-tos. in the meantime, a quote from seth avett:

"we can understand that some people like the records more and some people like the moment more. I’m a big fan of the moment myself."

viva the moment!

also, guess where scott avett was born? hint: state name starts with a 'w'!

well.

2010-06-24T16:14:00.002-06:00

* my toe hurts.
* i'm drinking orange juice.
* tomorrow i head up to the black hills, the second of three weekends in a row that i'll be up there.
* summer's arrived in laramie.
* the high water of laramie river's receded, at least here in town.
* i hope the panniers are a perfect fit; i hope they encourage me to commute by bike more consistently.
* it seems the media has switched their references to the BP spill from "barrels" to "gallons": why??
* the front yard and flower beds are coming along nicely, I think: will know more in a few more days, when the grass seed should germinate.
* A-Team: better than Prince of Persia. Best of all: the editing room's abridged script for Iron Man 2.
* new sewer line: on the way. maybe i'll have a new garage by year's end, after all.

eight point two

2010-06-06T14:29:00.001-06:00

Arriving back at the parking lot, five-ish hours after we set out for a free-weekend stroll in Rocky Mountain National Park, Melissa and Quincy and Steph and I calculated that that our hike had turned out to be about 8.2 miles.

Even thought the trek was a bit longer than expected, it was worth the distance: we hiked up-and-back to Fern Falls, and to Cub Lake, and walked past elk grazing 10 yards from the trail.

And just before we arrived back to the lower parking lot, we got to wade through the side streams of the river before crossing the bridge.

The highlight of the trip was watching a giant log coming down a stretch stretch of river, being tossed around like it was a twig. There's no picture of that, though. I don't think a picture would've done it justice: a half-ton section of tree bouncing and spinning, and you couldn't even really hear it separately from the general noise of the river.

Yellowstone

2010-06-02T17:33:00.000-06:00

Over the holiday weekend I rode along with Steph to Yellowstone. Trip highlights include:

* a temperature drop over 2 1/2 hours from 90 degrees near Meteetsee to 38 degrees when we drove into Cooke City, Montana.

* my first bear sighting since I can remember. My sister and I went to Yellowstone with my grandparents a couple of times when we were little, but I don't think we ever got to see a bear. The other wildlife sightings on this trip were alright, too:

* road food. Road trips are a free pass for me to eat whatever I want Cheetohs, donut holes, beef jerky, beers, ice cream in Rawlins, giant bbq burger at the Lander Bar: I'm not sure I ate a single piece of healthy food during the entire trip. Unless banana pancakes at Teton Lake count as healthy...

* karaoke at the bar in Cooke City. We didn't sing, but we did get to hear the drunkest, whitest, awesomest version of "Gangsta's Paradise" ev-ver. Proof that Cooke City is a bit of a redneck town:

* the scenery. Of course. It is better in Wyoming, after all. Despite snow on both Saturday and Sunday morning, the scenery was spectacular. Yellowstone Lake, still iced over. Lamar Valley, full of bison (and a lone coyote trotting across the valley floor among the bison). The Grand Teton, across Teton Lake, as seen from the Leeks Marina pizzeria, where the manage only knew one person from Laramie and of course it was my former neighbor. The Clarks Fork bridge heading into Cooke City, a surprisingly dizzying bridge across a short span of deep canyon. To give some sense of scale, check out Steph's car at the picnic area on one side of the bridge:

* being off the grid. Even though reception was spotty throughout the park, it was nice to just turn off the phone and not worry about the rest of the world for a few days. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the world continued to revolve, and the pile of bills and work was still there for me when I got back. It was nice to forget about it for a day or two, though.

events update

2010-05-23T22:21:00.004-06:00

In case you've been wondering what to do with your time this summer:

This year's Woodchopper Jamboree will be held June 18-20, according to Mags at the Bear Trap. It's the 50th Anniversary of cutting wood and rodeoing and drinking and fighting. I'll be up in the Black Hills over that weekend, celebrating my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary, so somebody should probably take my place and fill me in on all I miss.

I may also miss the 2010 Fire in the Sky, too, since the future of the event is up in the air (no pun intended). According to the Jubilee Days FB page, the event has been "cancelled for an indeterminate amount of time." An article in the Boomerang, however, suggests that the City will likely take over the fireworks part of the event. I wonder if Brock Finn's already got a gig lined up for the Fourth...

The website for Oyster Ridge Music Festival still looks like shit. Seriously, like shit. A hot steamy pile of it. But the line-up for this year looks amazing. I sampled a few of the bands who will be playing, and they sound great. Check out The Bridge's "Old White Lightning 95" or "Heavy Water" or Dangermuffin's "Ancient Wind" or Elephant Revival's "Forgiveness" or this vid of Fort Collins's Head for the Hills singing "Time to Spare." This year, Wyoming's largest free outdoor music festival will be July 30-August 1. Put it on your calendar. If I get brave you might see me in the Bandscramble.

thwarted

2010-05-23T21:35:00.004-06:00

Two years ago my dad and I camped up at Esterbrook, then hiked partway up the Laramie Peak trail the next day. We only hiked up to Friend Falls, about two miles up the trail, since I was still recovering from an ugly sprained ankle.

This weekend, Steph and I drove from Laramie up to Rock River and then across the gravel to Friend Creek Campground (right at the trailhead to the peak trail), then attempted the summit yesterday morning.

Thwarted, again.

This time, it was snow drifts still across the trail, big enough and slick enough that we decided we didn't want to bother with it. If I owned some gaiters and was smart enough to bring them along, it might have been a different story, but as it was, we ate some cheese and crackers and pistachios just below Friend Falls and then headed back.

Despite a relatively good forecast for the overnight, we ended up driving through an hour-plus of muddy slick roads to get up to the campground. Then sat through a pretty awesome sheet-lightning storm, hoping not to get lit up. The trip back, Saturday afternoon, was clear and dry, though, and we stopped to look in the windows of an old ranch house along Esterbrook Road.

Here's a photo that Steph took as we were headed out across the sage into the rugged country:

And here's a picture of me after our fancy pre-camping dinner, at Rock River's finest eatery:

Oh aich why!

avett lyric o'the day

2010-05-05T10:42:00.002-06:00

Now I don't doubt that The Good Book is true
What's right for me may not be right for you
...
And I don't know if my soul is safe
Sometimes I use curse words when I pray

My god! My god and I don't need a middle man
My god! My god and I don't need a middle man

--"me and god," The Avett Bros.

"summer"

2010-05-02T22:02:00.003-06:00

Unofficially, 4pm on Friday marked the beginning of "summer." That was when my last class for the semester ended. (I still have 400 pages of grading ahead, so perhaps I should wait to call "summer!" until I've gotten all the final grades in....)

Officially, it doesn't feel "summery" in Laramie. It doesn't even feel all that "springery" in Laramie, to be honest. Melissa and I headed out for a hike at Vedauwoo yesterday, and we ended up just walking down the gravel road because there were still pretty good-sized patches of snow all around. The high for Friday was 38 degrees.

But it also doesn't feel summery in the sense of a great lifting weight, a great sense of freedom and the open road ahead. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing--I'm still definitely looking forward to the variety of this summer's work, and the possibility of some trips and house projects. But there doesn't seem like there's gonna be much of a break, as there usually is, between spring work and summer work.

I could really use a "reset" button right now, a chance to genuinely clear out the trash and start fresh again.

Step 1. Lock myself into my office and don't come out until the desk is clean. Then chain myself to the desk until the email inbox is cleaned out.

Small steps...

onward and upward

2010-04-28T22:31:00.003-06:00

I'm sure I speak for all of KCWY13's viewers when I say, "We'll miss you, Kristen." Just when I was starting to know most of the names of the 6pm and 10pm anchors, Kristen Mosteller is apparently moving on to bigger and better things. Alas, we can only hope that B-Fitz and Walter Allen won't be next, though it does seem that they've also been strangely absent lately, too.

In related news, I thought KCWY's coverage of the Bill Ayers visit was underwhelming. This AP story reports that 1,100 people endured the high security measures in order to hear Ayers speak, which seems a decent number on a snowy spring evening in our town. As Ayers pointed out, without all the publicity the crowd would have likely only been about "30 education students, and half of them probably would've been texting." Though I'm ambivalent, still, about the initial selection of Ayers as a campus speaker, I'm mostly glad for the dialogue it's created: students have at least seemed at least marginally aware of issues larger than the nose-grinding end-of-semester cram that's otherwise occupying their time.

UPDATE: In breaking news (to me, at least), Walter Allen apparently left KCWY a few weeks ago. I hoped that a vacation to Cancun was the reason for his recent absence, but apparently not. My world is crumbling.

recursion

2010-04-26T10:39:00.003-06:00

This month I'm participating in another program to lower my 2011 health insurance premium. The program is about prepping for emergencies and disasters, and overall it's been a pretty crappy program, I think. I did get a little first-aid kit out of the deal, though, which came in handy when I sliced my finger chopping potatoes at the beginning of the month.

Additionally, today's word of wisdom seems pretty relevant to where I'm at these days:

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin.

It's funny--or maybe not funny at all--to discover that so much of what has felt like forward progress has just been a big circle--a different circle than before, but still one that has brought me back, in a lot of ways, to where I've already been.

But still, some signs of hope. On the bright side, I started learning the chords to "Tear Down the House" this weekend.

live in concert: the avett bros!

2010-04-24T18:37:00.006-06:00

Well, the Avetts were every bit as good the second time around. My sister got me tickets back in January (a pretty damn good birthday present!), and she agreed to come along with me for the concert in Boulder on Wednesday. We found our way to Pearl Street, had some good Indian food in the basement restaurant next to the theater, and then listened to a great set of Avetts, despite the fact that they didn't play 'In the Curve' or 'Salvation Song' or 'Gimmeakiss' or 'Laundry Room' or my favorite-of-late, 'Tear down the House.' On the other hand, they did play 'If it's the Beaches' and 'Murder in the City' and 'I and Love and You' and 'The Ballad of Love and Hate,' and I guess when you've got a half-dozen amazing songs on every album it's hard to play all of the good ones in one concert. Here's a grainy clip of Scott playing the first two verses of the first Avetts song I ever heard:

Yeah, it was a good concert.

11.814

2010-04-19T22:16:00.003-06:00

According to the gmap-pedometer, the trip from my house to the airport, and back, is just under twelve miles. I haven't biked this far since the rail-trail ride last summer, but, more importantly, this trip represents my first trip on the highway. It went much better than expected, and I can imagine that a pair of slimmer hybrid tires would really get things rolling. If I'm gonna ride the 108-mile Mickelson Trail ("where the ghosts of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane still roam," according to the SD GFP website) with Melissa this summer, I need to start getting serious.

Here's my 11.814-mile route from earlier today:

Nothing fancy, but a start...

vitalogy

2010-04-17T10:03:00.003-06:00

Pearl Jam has an album named vitalogy. The word comes from a latin root and a greak suffix and means, essentially, the study of life. Unlike the modern usage of the word biology--which also means the study of life but has come to be focused on organic life--I think the word vitalogy should enter our vocabulary as a way of talking about WHY we're living rather than HOW: the study of one's course or way of life. A conscious, reflective position about why we're making the choices we're making. As in, "I don't really think that a life of pot-smoking is for me, but I understand that others' vitalogy leads them to see it as acceptable," or "My vitalogy includes a value for not intentionally hurting others." Yeah, I know that other words (like philosophy, say) cover the same basic ground, but I think that that vitalogy somehow adds something new.

Yesterday I presented at a seminar for teachers in Sheridan. The drive up was spring-time beautiful, and the participants were incredible--great people, committed to making a difference. It's part of their vitalogy, I'll say, that leads them to give back to the world around them in ways that hopefully will make the next generation smarter and wiser than those who came before them.

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin': that's what your vitalogical clock tells you.

lyric of the day

2010-04-11T10:02:00.002-06:00

he was trapped in a haircut he no longer believed in

-- Billy Bragg, "King James Version"

reason to believe

2010-04-09T23:12:00.002-06:00

"...the congregation's gone, the sun sets behind a weeping willow tree /

the groom stands alone and watches the river run on, so effortlessly..."

I do love a good cover. Apparently Tom Gabel is the frontman for the punk band Against Me! They sing the song "You look like I need a drink." I think I like 'em already.

three randomnesses plus a list

2010-04-08T21:06:00.002-06:00

one: longhorn-style colby. i love the shit outta that shit.

two: rhubarb. it's poking up in my backyard. i can practically smell the pie already.

three: 96.7 FM, the IMix. this station makes me laugh, mostly, but i do enjoy the variety it brings to my otherwise americana-heavy dial. some quality lyrics from the Imix:

"Cyclone," by Baby Bash (feat. T-Pain):

She moves her body like a cyclone

And she makes me want to do it all night long

Going hard when the turn the spotlights on

Because she moves her body like a cyclone

Pretty sure that's a song about sex.

Also, this one: "Say Aah," by Trey Songz

Notice there ain't nothing in your cup

So get here, baby, let me fill it up, fill it up

Go girl, it's your birthday

Open wide--I know you're thirsty

Say aah

Pretty sure that one's about drinking, but just barely. When I was trying to find the lyrics to the song, I came across a funny list of top 10 lyrics with sexually-suggestive food metaphors. Apparently I've never paid much attention to the lyrics of "The Lemon Song." It is a pretty subtle metaphor, though, you gotta admit.