almost home again

this is my last night in new zealand. and might be my last trip here, at least for free through antarctic program. i might be done with the ice, for a while anyway.

flying back to the states tomorrow. looking forward to seeing friends and family again.

a month here, a month there

i enjoyed an event-packed month in the bay area. hadn't been in sf during june in so many years. it's such a fun&busy time there.

now on my way to work a month in michigan at music festival. road trippin is fun, but i'm finally a little over it. long drive. in chicago now, so almost done.

going through sierra nevada, i missed my time working/hiking there. then utah, sigh... wyoming, saw antelope on side of the road, played brokeback mountain soundtrack.
colorado, missed it too. wanted to go to the ranch. time in boulder, co was too short, but i'll be back there briefly next month on way to the ice. stopped side of road in colo and picked some of those cool tiny sunflowers that grow all along highways in eastern, co, kansas, oklahoma, etc. put them in a bottle in cup holder to decorate the car. perfect against the pretty blue lights of the stereo. then iowa stopped to see family graves. was unplanned. but so glad i had those flowers with me.

hobo thank you

heading out of town again. about to have a place of my own... sorta. it's my tent. does that classify me as a home owner?

anyway, a big thank you to all who offered me places to stay over past two months. you make my nomadic lifestyle possible. i hope i earned my keep and didn't overstay my welcome. now that the novelty of getting a postcard from the south pole has worn off, i'll have to figure out other ways to make hosting me worthwhile for y'all. special thanks to those who have particularly small apartments, let me pop in unannounced in the middle of the night, took care of me during my weekend of eye recovery, or are storing my remaining stuff.

it was great visiting. maybe i'll do the same urban tour again next year. i'll buy you groceries, cook dinner, take you out, wash dishes, perform pest control, weed your garden, feed your cats, watch your kids, entertain with stupid stories, etc etc.

eyes

gonna do it. get corrective vision laser procedure. not lasik, but prk. means a longer healing time, but hopefully the best way to go for my eyes. yikes. i mean should be all good, but a lil' scary. that's thursday morning. will be laid up for the weekend. but at least no travel for a while so can recoup.

...and no. 4 (so soon)

riiiight, so i'm all tan now from working outdoors so much. don't even think about the sun anymore.

yup working in a t-shirt and shorts. not in no bathing suit at the claremont hotel pool.

some people just don't know how to deal with lounging at a resort. i burned the ~#!^ out of my back side. right before a 5 hr cross-country flight. sitting now quite painful. lovely.

so yeah, hi from new jersey (new-jay)

*ouch*, i need a cocktail...

california picnic

local wine, local cheese, fresh bread. the ocean and a herd of thule elk.

headin east to go out west

detour back to colorado. stayed a night in a motel because i was so tired from only two hours sleep the night before. next morning in the motel office, got mesmerized by the tv. haven't watched one or read newspaper for about 3 months. tammy faye baker had just died. surreal moment.

driving from colorado back to california, listened to the brokeback mountain soundtrack as i drove hwy 287 into wyoming. remembered matthew shepard as i got to laramie. found a good internet cafe here though.

will hit the western wear store before continue on the road trip...

leavin' train

i've been a bit out of touch lately.

i think most of you knew c and i would be leaving town for the summer. as it turns out, we're leaving town for not sure how long.

i'm headin off to utah to instruct at boss. then some general road trip fun in the southwest plus a trip to colorado. c is going north to alaska. fall will find both of us in alaska for a bit. c will stay in alaska for the winter while i go hopefully to antarctica (if i get the job). then we're not sure what.

we are putting our stuff in storage and giving up our apartment. we will likely come back to live in bay area again, just not sure when...

home base

back in town for a while.

got a new job at a cool adventure travel company. it's an office job but close to home. everyone i work with loves to travel, some even rock climb.

finally went to death valley. lived in california most of my life, love the desert, yet took this long to get to d.v. very cool place. c and i had a couple amateur moments though. the coyotes and ravens stole our food, the wind tumbled our tent around, and we got stopped for speeding (though didn't actually get a ticket because "it's not the crime of the century" according to the young ranger.) next day cross-country, we almost missed our ubehebe dream but kept hiking and finally got there. most people drive. saw some death in death valley--of the animal variety. ooh, and we saw a road runner. on the road. running.


another "finally" was getting an ipod which has dramatically changed the way i do distance dj. no more carting around crates of cds on road trips.

going to colorado soon for joe's birthday. had fun in new york last month with sister and friends. not much else really. hanging around here.

long overdue update

my oh my, i saw a friend last week who thought i was moving to alaska. made me realize it's time for an update about me. i mean, some of you might not even know i had had plans to go to alaska at all.

i probably haven't written any kind of update since some time while in mumbai.

so the past year and a half in brief along with near future plans...

march 05 - came home after 4 months in india just in time for mom's birthday. fortunately, the sublet problem had gotten resolved so c and i had an apartment to return to. many thanks again to all who helped.

june 05 - took a course with outdoor survival school in utah. the course was pretty intense, though not a rambo type thing. no food or blanket or anything for the first three days. after that they took pity and let us have some rations and a blanket, but no tent.

june-september 05 - guided backpacking and trekking trips for the adventure travel company i used to do office work for. went to tahoe, yosemite, mt whitney, muir wilderness in sierra nevada.

dec 05 - worked for a month on maui selling vintage posters. i've been selling them here part time for a few years now, and finally got to do the "employee exchange" with the maui gallery. saw whales and volcanoes, tried surfing for my first time, etc.

jan-apr 06 - back to the full time office thing, working for bill (cpa) preparing lots o' tax returns.

may-july 06 - i'll be going back to beautiful southern utah to apprentice/work with the outdoor survival school.

the rest of the summer will be back in california guiding. oh and i got a mention as "sous chef and guide" in the may 2006 issue of cooking light magazine. they did a feature on my boss who does "gourmet" cooking out in the woods. the article doesn't seem to be online, so if you're really curious you'll have to loiter around the newstands. sorry.

end of august, i'll go for a 2 week visit to sitka, alaska where c will be spending the month. earlier this year we had plans to move there (c has beaucoup de family in that area), but eventually decided to stay put in the bay area and just go to ak for a visit. or many visits.

that wraps up the summer. um, and i don't know what i'll be doing after this september. i'll just have to see.

i leave tomorrow morning for utah. back mid-july. i'll have only occasional email access, but drop me a line and i'll try to answer in between wilderness stints.

i hope this was short enough though i probably left out some important chunks. oh well.

i'm off to the wild orange yonder.