Year: 2003

Johnny Cash died this morning. If you’ve never listened to his songs because you don’t like country music, give him a listen anyhow, and you might be surprised at how easy it is to relate to the subjects he sang about.

After the Antarctica trip I’ve got a couple of weeks to roam Patagonia. I still haven’t quite decided where I’d like to spend the time, but Mt. Fitz Roy is climbing the list rather quickly (photo by Galen Rowell):

Decided to change the look of the site slightly, as well as some of the navigation. Apparently not only do I have a hell of a time matching colors, but creating a layout that doesn’t look like it was put together by a three-year old using broken crayons is also far beyond my powers.

A lonely Friday evening. Spending long hours at work makes the thought of driving 350 miles up to San Francisco an unappealing one, so this evening was spent crashed on the couch watching Benny & Joon. The movie brought back memories of a night over ten years ago at the Mayfield Cinemas with a friend, and I wanted to be back in that time and place. Spent an hour afterwards walking around the neighborhood trying to clear my head. Loneliness is a bit like backpacking in the rain — you know that the only thing to do is to push forward, but the seconds drag while doing so.

Al Gore got the most votes in the last election, but because of some old rules George Bush was elected. In California three percent of the state signed a petition, and now if Gray Davis gets less than fifty percent of the recall vote he’s out of a job. However, of the hundred-some candidates, if the most any of them get is fifteen percent of the votes then they’re the new governor. How is that right? After the Presidential election the responsible thing to do would have been to ammend the Constitution, but it wasn’t even suggested. As soon as this recall mess is finished California should change the recall rules, but it won’t happen either. I don’t get it — when something is broken it should be fixed, unless it has to do with government, apparently.

As this web page’s title suggests, my current theory of life is that you have to go with the flow of where the winds blow you. However, I believe that everyone has the ability to do things that help to push them in a certain direction. Sometimes life’s currents are strong, sometimes weak, and sometimes they diverge, so all that we can do is be ready when there is an opportunity to go in a direction we want to move in. A quote from a book that I’ve enjoyed since I was a kid, Lloyd Alexander’s Taran Wanderer, seemed to fit nicely with this theory:

“Trust your luck, Taran Wanderer. But don’t forget to put out your nets!”

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day some of the best places to visit around here lose a bit of their allure due to the huge crowds — climbing to the top of Half Dome just isn’t the same experience when the sounds of hundreds of other people fill the air and you spend your time focused on the line of people on the trail rather than the surroundings. Similarly, Death Valley and Joshua Tree are off limits due to the intense heat. However, with Labor Day weekend nearly over the crowds will begin thinning and the heat should subside in the desert, meaning it’s now prime time for exploring. Warner Brothers owes me at least one day off after the recent late nights, so with luck this journal will be a bit more interesting to read (and to write) over the next several months.

One year ago today I was roaming around Wonder Lake with Denali looking down on me. I spent the days lounging in the fall colors on the tundra, eating wild blueberries, and chasing the trails of caribou, moose, grizzly bears and wolves while the northern lights flashed overhead. Last night I came in to the office until 2:00 AM to try and track down a site problem that’s been elluding me for a week, and today I’ve sent nearly twenty e-mails. Getting back to nature is going to be most welcome.

I’m in one of those moods where I want to write something, but I’ve really got nothing to write about (hence the lack of entries in the past week). I attempted e-mail, but after knocking the inbox down by a whopping three e-mails I gave up on the effort to appear witty for people I haven’t seen in ages. I’m now reduced to surfing to pages like Wil Wheaton’s web site. I’m not sure how much lower I can sink.

It’s nights like this where, despite all the great things I have going for me, I sort of wish it was just a bit better. What if instead of sitting in the living room alone I was with my future wife, playing pictionary, trying to figure out how to draw “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”? And even if I was with someone else I’m sure I’d be wondering how I could get some time to myself. Why is that? Maybe we’re all born with a “stupid” gene that has the sole purpose of forcing us to do illogical things when life gets comfortable. Considering that life is much less challenging now than it was a hundred years ago, such a gene would be a logical explanation for things like bungee jumping, high divorce rates, tofu, and “freedom” fries. All I’ve got to support the existence of the stupid gene is anecdotal evidence, but anyone who has ever asked for the wheat grass “boost” at Jamba Juice or read any headline involving Aston Kutcher must know what I’m talking about.

This is also amusing. Vote for Optimus Prime.

This is awesome.

At about 5:00 EST today, someone in a power plant somewhere spilled some coffee and went DOH!.

After two weeks of insomnia, I slept for ten hours the other night, and there was much rejoicing. Additionally, the e-mail inbox is half of its previous size. Give me a few more days and I’ll have it knocked out. Lastly, after the morning I had today I was in need of some advice passed down in James Clavell’s Shogun:

“‘Always remember, child,’ her first teacher had impressed on her, ‘that to think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort.'”

And really lastly, go here and listen to “Soul Sloshing”. Too happy for someone like Jason, but I dig it.

The Blue Men kicked much booty tonight. I need to get me some blue paint, PVC pipe, and lighted drum sticks so that I too can tap my as yet undiscovered musical talents.

I just realized that the first full day of the Alaska trip was exactly one year ago today. At this very moment last year I was spending the first night of the trip in the Subaru just south of Redwood National Park (sleeping peacefully, unlike tonight). I woke up that day and went for a run through a Redwood Grove that was palpably peaceful, if such a phrase can be used to describe a place where you can’t help but feel anything other than content and relaxed. It’s a bit odd how the trip doesn’t feel like it was that long ago, but at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago that I was working for Accenture.