Category: MindMash
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December 12th, 2006
I found this picture of Tam and I on her myspace page. I didn't know it existed until just now. Mom, this one's for you!
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December 8th, 2006
Having a little fun with a shot I took while backpacking last month.
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Yes, I am moving.
December 5th, 2006So word is getting out that I'm moving to Oregon. I think most people know already, but I keep finding people that I thought knew, that don't know. I made the decision this past summer that my time in San Diego should come to a close, and for various reasons I've decided that Portland, Oregon is a good place to head to.
When people find out that I'm moving the first question is the "why". The answer to this is pretty complicated, like my mind (haha), but I'm comfortable saying that the number one reason I'm leaving is the weather. Go ahead and laugh, but I don't like the weather in San Diego. It's too hot here, it never rains, there are no rivers, there are no forests. I was raised in coastal Oregon between two mountain ranges with well over 100 inches of rain a year and rivers and lakes everywhere. Moving to the desert of Southern California has been a great experience, but it's just not for me. The second reason I'm moving is family. Although I consider all my close friends to be family, I am slowing losing touch with my biological family. My brother is married with two children living in Northern Washington. I only get to see my niece and nephew once a year at best, and I have no involvement in their lives. I don't like this and I would like to have them know me more than someone they meet once a year. I don't even know how old they are or when their birthdays are and that saddens me. The final major reason, and the most selfish is that Portland has a great developing Disc Golf scene with about 20 courses while San Diego's disc golf comnunity is not in great shape and there are only 3 courses with little hope of improvement.
After the "why" people are then interested in the "what", as in "What are you going to be doing?" This is the fun question because I get to make up a new story everytime I answer. The real answer to this question thus far is that I have no idea. I have no job lined up. I have no clue if I am going to continue in the IT field. My ideas have ranged from getting a job doing IT for a charitable non-profit all the way to getting a job at a coffee shop or tattoo parlor working for minimum wage. Another thought is to try to make it as a professional disc golfer. The truth is I don't really care at this point. I have an almost eerie peace about the whole thing, and at this point I would even be happy living out of my car for a few months. I figure that I am skilled enough and resourceful enough that I can make something happen when I need to.
And finally comes the "when". As of right now my plans are to leave in April to early May. The Pro Tour of disc golf hits it's west coast swing at the beginning of May in Los Angeles and heads up to Santa Cruz, then ends in Portland. My plans right now are to finish my work with Amor in April, then jump on Tour and follow the tour to Portland, and maybe continue on the tour if I do well and make good $$$ at those three tournaments.
Hope this clears up a few things for people who may have been wondering but didn't feel like approaching me yet. Updates will follow as I figure more things out. I love you all!
San Gorgonio Wilderness
November 21st, 2006
Let's start the bidding...
November 20th, 2006The auction for Inga's painting has begun! You can find the auction here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260054748905
Check it out!
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100,000 Visits, WOOHOO
November 17th, 2006Aesthetic-Mindset reached 100,000 hits sometime earlier today. The site has been up since February 6th of this year. Congratulations are in order for Justin and I!
Good Morning, Momma Bear
November 12th, 2006
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It's amazing how fast the brain can function when put into certain situations. I have spent the past 4 days with a couple friends in the San Gorgonio Wilderness, which is part of the San Bernadino National Forrest. The first three days were really nice, a great strenuos hike into our campsite, and then we pretty much just lounged around for the rest of time taking short day hikes from there. I have a more detailed "play by play" journal of my time that I will post later after I get a chance to transcript it from the paper into the computer, but for now I want to share the most exciting part of my trip. The first couple nights I spent sleeping inside a tent with Bob, I don't sleep very well or very late and the tent itself wasn't really designed for someone in the 6'3ish range as I am. I decided last night to sleep outside the tent in just my sleeping bag on top of my thermarest. My 20 degree bag was sufficient for the mid 30s nighttime temps that we were having up at the 7500' elevation camp. Also there were almost no bugs whatsoever during our trip, so I wasn't worried about getting eaten alive by mosquitos, which is usually my main reason for not sleeping outside the tent and under the stars. Along with myself I convinced Chris to sleep outside with me. I don't think she has ever slept directly in the elements before so she seemed geniunely excited about charting new territory. We both tossed and turned most of the night, every once in a while giving up and having short conversations, then falling back to sleep. Sometime during twilight I was softly woken up by a strange moaning/cooing noise which seemed to be coming from the brush probably 20 yards away. It sounded almost like a quail or pigeon and I thought nothing of it. At this time I was laying on my back with only my head outside the sleeping bag. Chris was next to me on her sleeping pad completely inside her bag with the opening cinched shut. The weird noise persisted and I was just sitting there enoying what I thought was a bird doing it's wake up call, with the soothing sound of the stream behind me. Far off in the distance, probably 1/2 a mile I heard a dog barking. This was odd because the whole time were were out there in the wilderness we'd only seen one person, and he was on a day hike the day before. It seemed a bit early for anyone to be coming up the trail and I decided for some reason to look up. I tilted my head forward to see that there was full grown black bear about 2' away from the end of my sleeping bag. WOW, ok, WOW, ok, HOLY CRAP WOW. This is where the speedy brain functioning comes into play. As soon as I saw the bear, I immediately lowered my head back into it's previous spot and here's what flushed through my brain, in the this order: --There is a bear. This entire internal conversation happened in less than a second! The human mind is amazing.! Then I titled my head forward again and looked directly at the bear, who was more or less sniffing the end of the sleeping bag. "GET THE HECK AWAY FROM ME!!!" I yelled at the bear. This scared the crap out of the bear and it bolted away from me. After about 10 yards the bear stopped, turned around and looked at me, again I yelled "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!". At this point I saw a little cub about 10 yards ahead of the bear hightailing himself out of there, and the momma bear followed it into the bushes. Somewhere between the first and second time I yelled at the bear I pushed Chris and said "Get out of your bag NOW". The bear was already in retreat and I just wanted Chris to have a chance to see the beautiful creature before it disappeared completely into the bushes. My tone of voice, probably due to being hyped up on adrenaline, didn't seem to convey my intended "look at the bear" message, but instead, gave off more of a "There is bear attacking us" message. Chris, noticing she couldn't get out of the bag easily or quickly, went stiff and played dead. By the time I convinced her it was alright, the bear was gone, she might have seen the bear's butt? For the next 30 minutes I sat there telling her the whole story over and over again, totally shaky and hyped up on adrenaline. All I can say now is that this incident that happened less than 12 hours ago is one of the coolest things to ever happen to me. I doubt I will ever be that close to a wild bear again, unless I'm getting attacked! . |
Wow
November 8th, 2006Ok, I was just reading my Mom's blog and she used the word "blogosphere". I'm not sure if I should be impressed or scared.
Miami Vegan
November 7th, 2006Link: http://www.ambrosiaempire.com/vegan/2006/11/today-is-painting-day.html
My friend Inga of Miami Vegan has decided to do a painting of one of my photographs. She started today and will be publishing her progress along the way from the charcoal schetching to the finishing touches.
I've never had anyone reproduce my art like this and I am really excited to see it at his happens. If you're interested you might want to peak over at her blog every couple of days as she works on the piece.
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Alternative costs of Health Care
November 6th, 2006I had a pretty gnarly arrhythmia today about an hour ago. No big deal, it was a "perfectly normal" thing that happens to me from time to time. It got me thinking though about a few things though. I started thinking about the whole DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) issue that I've pondered for a few years. Don't freak out, I'm currently still in the "Do Resuscitate" group. Along with that I started pondering the fact that I haven't had a medical bracelet for over a decade, and that I should probably get a new one in case I am unconscious when the inevitable happens.
So I looked around a bit for a pendant that wasn't too dumb or whatever and finally found one that I wouldn't mind wearing for another decade or so. Then...HOLY CRAP THESE THINGS ARE RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE!!! I know they have cheap ones for under $10, but I don't like the cheap ones and if I'm gonna have to wear the stupid thing I might as well get one I like. However, the one I like is $55! And that is before the engraving fees. Shitaki Mushroom!
The damn thing does not need to be made out of platinum! Sheesh (ok, it was actually made from silver, but stainless steel would have been FINE with me).
So in my ever-pondering everything ways, my mind abandoned that nicer looking pendant and now I'm considering just getting the stupid info tattooed on my chest. And if you think I'm being facetious, well, then you don't know me very well. Also, this way if I finally make up my mind about the DNR thing, I can just have the tattoo amended with that info as well as all my other stuff. Hmmm.
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