Only one month left

I only have one more month of training for my first marathon. On Aug 27th I will be running the 2nd Annual Silverton Alpine Marathon I am both very excited and very scared right now. I have never run more that 14 Miles (wich was last weekend) much less 26.2. Oh yea and the "Alpine" part of that worries me too, the run starts at 9,300Ft and tops out at 12,900Ft. Thats some high elevation running there. Ive been running here in Durango trying to find places that I can try at least 1000-2000Ft of elevation gain, but not many exist and the highest you can get around here is barely 9000Ft.

I have alot of training to do before then and I really hope my body holds up.

Back in space

Got to watch the live stream of the Discovery launch this morning. It was awesome! I wish I could take some screenshots of it. When the Main fuel tank was released from the orbiter and you see the thrusters moving the orbiter away LIVE. I was in awe the whole time. That is 35 Year old technology and it is still amazing to watch it work.

The live stream is still going on check it out on Nasa.gov.

Birthdays Galore...

July is a busy month for birthdays...

July 4th, My friend Sadie, and Step-Mom Candy
July 9th, My dad
July 24th, My little brother, Hes 16 now so I would stay off the road if you live near Park City Utah.
July 25th, My roomate John.

So here is yet another opportunity to say Happy birthday to them all!

I just cant do it captian!! Its the the dilithium crystals, they dont have the power!

Sad day for trekkies..

James Doohan just passed away at 85.

Luckely for the enterprise "All systems automated and ready. A chimpanzee and two trainees could run her."

Some of my favorite Scotty Moments:

[faced with a 20th century computer]
Scotty: Computer. Computer?
[Bones hands him a mouse and he speaks into it]
Scotty: Hello, computer.
Dr. Nichols: Just use the keyboard.
Scotty: Keyboard. How quaint.

Scotty: Admiral, there be whales here.

Scotty: Damage control is easy. Reading Klingon, that's hard.

Spock: Mr. Scott, I understand you are experiencing difficulties with the warp drive?
Scotty: There's nothing wrong with the bloody...
Spock: Mr. Scott, if the Enterprise responds to hails and returns to Starbase, there is a good chance that we will never see Captain Kirk or Doctor McCoy alive again.
Scotty: Could take weeks, sir...

Scotty: The energizer's bypassed like a Christmas tree, so don't give me too many bumps.

He was an essential part the the star trek history, he will be missed.

Beam me up Scotty.

Google does it again...

You thought when they took over the planet earth they were done right... Wrong!! Now theve taken the moon too!

Be sure to zoom in close to see definitive answers on what the moon is really made of.

Contrary to popular belief, I am a geek

Hmm You gotta love lunch break entertainment.

I just took a Geek Quiz. Seems I was right. I am a geek and a devaint one at that.

Post your results, I would love to see!

The Deviant Geek

You answered 77% of the questions as a geek truly would.

You're a geek and you know it. You've got all sorts of fringe hobbies
and socially unacceptable tendencies. Chances are, whenever possible,
you hate to be grouped with other people and sometimes go out of your
way just to be different.

You're smart too. You're more willing to depend on your own
brainpower to solve problems, instead of relying on others to pull you
through life. You probably read a lot, and generally enjoy learning new
things.

So what's it all mean? You may be considered by some to be
uncool, but you probably don't care either. In social situations you
may be either slightly passive or slightly loud (geeks always fall into
the extremes).
In a nutshell, you answered enough questions correctly supporting a
geek philosophy to be considered a more potent geek than 65% of the
population.

Link: The True Geek Test written by ambientred on Ok Cupid

Hey, Thats our table!!

Ended up at Lady Falconburgs last night. It was the first time I had been to pint night after 10PM in a long time. Nowadays we seem to prefer the quieter times and earlier nights than we used to.

We walk into the bar and it is quite crowded, that’s fairly normal for late on a Monday, what college kid can pass up $2 pints of anything on tap? I do mean anything... Guinness, Boddingtons, Smithwicks, Newcastle, ect.. 38 taps to be exact. First off it takes a fair amount of patience to get a drink, even with our unfair advantage of knowing all the waitresses and bartenders on a first name basis. As we are standing around enjoying our beverages, looking at all the kids (at least they all seemed a lot younger than me) around, we noticed something.

Years ago while we were all back in school, Monday night "Pint night" was a big deal and we didn’t miss it for anything. We always got there just before the crowd, claimed our table(s) and began drinking. They were wonderful times, all of us were always there, all sitting and having a great time hanging out at the bar. So as we are standing around in this somewhat foreign land of today’s "Pint night" crowd, Mike pointed out "Hey, that used to be our table." Sure enough, when I looked at our oh so familiar spot in the back, I saw what could have been described as us 3 years ago. It was an exact match, a large group of friends the three tables pulled together, all chatting and laughing and generally having a splendid time. To top it off they even had a boot going around. It was like looking at myself from a distance 3 years ago. Quite an eye opening experience.

That made me realize just how much I have changed (or not) in the last few years. I cant say a had more fun back then, but it seemed much easier to let it all go and enjoy yourself just being there. Today, my life just seems so different, and I somewhat miss those times, but then again not really. I still feel the same, I still think the same, it is just the circumstance of my life that changes, which in turn changes the way you live it. It is fun to look back like that, and it has sparked some ideas and motivations in my head that I had long forgotten. Ideas and motivations I intend to take advantage of and get back to enjoying life to its fullest.

Candy doesn't have to have a point. That's why it's candy.

I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night. I had some rather high expectations walking into the movie, and Burton\Depp Pulled it off wonderfully. I think I can sum up what I thought about the movie in one line.

--I got the same feeling and enjoyment out of this movie today as I did watching the original as a child 20 years ago.--

(I think that is the first time I’ve said "20 years ago," kinda makes me feel old)

First off Jonny Depp, Incredible performance! He has got to be one of my favorite actors at the moment. Whatever role you put him in he takes it to the extreme and pulls it off perfectly. David Kelly plays a PERFECT grandpa Joe. All of the characters were perfect in fact.

I have not read the book (ha ha, big surprise), but I have heard that this movie follows it better than the original. They did add slightly different sub-plot with Wonka's family, and changed a few thing in the ending. Neither of those things detract from the film.

One thing I was disappointed about though (some may think this is a spoiler, but it wont affect your enjoyment of the film) is the omission of the floaty bubble burping room. That was my favorite part of the original, and I was bummed not to see it. Almost everything else was there but with a new flair, which really made the movie for me.

All in all 4.87925 out of 5.

Photo Gallery is up

I have created the photo gallery, Im not so sure I like the way it works yet but we will see. Here is the link:

Photo Gallery

I have the Sarti's Wedding up there as well as some more pics from my the last post, I hope to be adding alot more as I get it figured out.

If you would like a login so that you can comment on the photos Let me know and I will set one up for you.

Goodbye Hawaii

Ok NOW I am going to finish writing up the details on my trip to Hawaii.

The day before we left we went on a 7 hour cruise around the Kauai Na Pali (Na Pali = Cliffs) coast, and also out to the "forbidden" island of Ni'hau for some snorkeling.

The Na Pali coast of Kauai (apparently there is one on every Island) is a spectacular sight. I only took a few pictures because I was having way too much fun just hanging out on the boat.






I did take some more but they didn’t come out so well. (BTW I have a photo gallery now and I am finishing its configuration and getting it to look and work the way I want it, so I will have the rest of the photos there soon.)

After heading down the coast we headed out to sea. It took an hour and a half to get to Ni'hau. Ni'hau is a privately owned island with about 200 native Hawaiian residents, It used to be a big place where whalers would go and party that was away from the main ports but when it was purchased the family was very religious and turned it into a sanctuary for their religion. They told the locals that they could stay as long as they converted and strictly upheld their beliefs. (about 2/3 of them left) Since then no new residents are allowed on the island and if you move off the island you are not allowed to come back. According to Hawaii State law all beaches are public, but according to the guide if you land on a beach it is likely that a very large local will not so kindly ask you to leave.

On the way out there we were greeted by a large (150-200) pod of Spinner Dolphins. They got their name because, you guessed it, when they jump out of the water they spin! They are one of the few creatures in the ocean that do this and the only explanation scientists have for this behavior is "its fun." They were quite cool to watch and they looked like they were having so much fun swimming along with the boat.
I would have taken pictures but my camera was all put away inside the boat and I didn’t want to leave my spot on the bow, sorry, I wish I had too.

We got out to the island and anchored in a quiet little cove to do some snorkeling. By far the best of the trip!! The water was so clear you could see at least 100' all around and it was 80-100' deep in places. I Loved swimming as deep as I could stand (50~60Ft) and just looking around, you could see so far into the ocean in every direction, it was just mind boggling. The reefs were so much more active out there because there were not thousands of tourists feeding (which in turn attracts more aggressive fish, which then drives out the reef fish effectively killing the reef.)

As we headed back we were heading into the wind so the waves were 8-10Ft high which made the boat ride incredibly fun! Well that and one of the cute crew members chatted with me the whole time back.

That was pretty much the end of the trip. The next day we packed up and headed home. 21 hours of constant travel and 28 hours of no sleep I finally made it home to Durango. That was that, my house was just as messy as I left it (All my camping gear was spread out on the floor to dry because I didn’t have time to pack it up before I left.) I am just now starting to get close to back to normal and caught up on all the stuff I should have been doing.

The Slacker returns!!

I guess I better finally finish the Hawaii trip. Sorry for the delay.

The last few days in Hawaii were pretty much like the first, a lot of snorkeling at warm beaches and lots of sun. (Man it kinda sucks having to think back, last time I wrote about this I was still sitting the beach.) In between sunny beaches, my dad and I want on a hike to a mile long tunnel. That’s what the guidebook told us anyway.

The trip started out with about 6 miles of dirt road that that would have been incredibly fun in my Tacoma. Rocks, stream crossings, mud… Good thing we had our trusty rental Ford Taurus! The guidebook says the trail is a few miles before we get to the tunnel and be prepared for some mud. Huh “some,” ten steps onto the trail we were standing 6” deep in it. This trail was definitely some tough hiking, It was easier to summit Mt Sneffels at 14,000Ft than it was to hike through this jungle.



You had to pay attention to every step, otherwise you would be on the ground before you knew it. There were two or three times that the trees around us clear enough that we could see a view of the surroundings.



CRASH!! I just fell on my ass!!

That’s what I am talking about, every time I looked up to see the view I slipped in the mud, or tripped on a root, or got my shirt caught on a twig. As my dad pointed out, I’ll never watch Platoon the same. After about an hour and a half of this, we eventually made it to the tunnel. Not only was this tunnel a mile long but it was perfectly straight. You could see *he he* light at the end of the tunnel. About half way through I took some pictures.





I am not kidding that is half a mile in, I took one picture each direction! The tunnel was barely 6’ tall so we were ducking for most of the way through. It was also a steady 6” deep stream that you had to walk thru. We had been in mud most of the way and wew covered by now so the cool water and shade was a nice change from outside the tunnel. At the other side there was a little waterfall but not much else, supposedly there was another ½ mile of tunnel that leads to a big waterfall but were not too motivated to look for it. The trail was pretty overgrown, so we headed back.



To this day there is still mud on my shoes, socks, and shorts I was wearing.

Well It looks like I am going to have to split this up again, I’m tired and I want to go to bed (because I’ve got 2 hours of staring at the ceiling to do). I promise I’ll get the rest of the story and details of the 4th of July in Silverton soon (unless nobody really cares.)

Oh my god, This might actually be a good Idea

Morgan Freeman and Intel have teamed together to come up with probably one of first good idea's the Motion Picture industry has come up with in years.

They have come up with ClickStar, a website to go online early 2006 to release first run movies the same time as they are released to theaters. GENIEUS!! Sign me up!

Quote form the article:
"You cannot replicate the theater experience anywhere else," Allibhoy said. "It's a social experience, it's not just the film. We don't really see this as having a negative effect on (movie theaters). We see this as being yet another distribution outlet."

I agree completely! the other thing is you cant hurt the theaters much more than they are hurting themselves with $14 tickets, I could buy the movie for that!

So I don’t really know the details of this idea but I hope it works out. I would for sure still pay $7-8 a time to see a movie in the theater a few times with friends, but I would also pay my $15-20 to buy the movie and watch it myself.

Heres the link to the story:
Wired Mag

Awww... Poor Brittany.. *tear*

Aparently the Spears-Federline Family is having income problems. How bad do I feel for them, newly married, baby on the way, $7 Million house. Gotta pay them bills!

Brittanys Money Problems

83\/\/4r3 my 1337 sk1llz0rz or be pwn3d

Umm yea what he said...

Just in case you you could not tell what your 15 year old kid is doing on the computer when he has a bookmark named pr0n, Microsoft has published a lesson in 1337$p34k

Sleep is for pansies..

Why cant I sleep? I hate it! Just once I would like to wake up in the morning and be happy that morning is here and not all pissed off because I went to bed @ 9 and didnt get to sleep untill 2. That has to be bad for you, not only in physically but mentally. Im tired of it (ha ha, pun intended!) This is not really a recient thing, as long as I can remember I coundnt sleep. I remeber being at friends houses as a kid for sleep overs and sitting there listening to them sleep. I never could understand how people fall asleep so quickly. Some people can hit the pillow and be fast asleep within seconds. Me on the other hand... well going to sleep is at least a 2 hour ordeal. Even when I am asleep I am not really sleeping, the slightest noise or breeze or anything will wake me up. Im on an average of about 4 hours a night, and I have to waste at least another two sitting trying to sleep because if I move more than a few inches or start thinking about anything that two hour coundown to falling asleep starts right over again. It is a vicious cycle, I get up all pissed and groggy because I am on 4 hours of half-sleep, I am wickedly tired all day, but if I go to bed... nothing.

Well sorry for the rant, this is just one of those nights that I get all pissed off because there are SO many other things I would rather be doing than staring blankly at the cealing. (like catching up on my blogging)

I hope everyone else is sleeping well

Another "ill be back" Update

I really have a lot of pictures and stuff to post. I have the rest of the trip to Hawaii, and this weekend in Silverton. I promise to have those up as soon as possible, I simply have had no time to settle down yet.

Here some easy news though. I have altered my plan to run a Marathon this year. My original plan was to run the Durango Marathon in October, but I just found out about this on in August: Silverton Alpine Marathon. I think that this on will be WAY more fun, which is good because that will make it a lot easier to finish. Also I won’t have a goal of 4 hours, my goal will simply be to finish. That way I don’t get all stressed out about time and kill myself trying to get there.

Anyway, I hope to have those other posts up soon. Hope everyone had a great 4th!