Moral Compass

A few weeks back Boulder experienced extremely heavy gusts, 60+ mph type stuff (I’m making the 60+ part up, but the mph is true). I remember this well because it all went down the night that I was scheduled to fly back to Boulder, and as a result I spent way too much time in O’Hare (on the plus side, I now know of a nice little beer kiosk located between two terminals – perfect for when the real bars are packed).

Anyway several beers later the wind dies down and I am able to catch a flight home. The next morning I step onto my patio, and discover that a planter box has blown into my garden. It’s a rather nice hanging planter box actually, and I assume someone must be missing it. Naturally I wish to do the right thing, so after a few days of laziness I place the planter in a high-traffic outdoor area near our mailboxes. This was weeks ago (maybe), and by now I feel it safe to assume that everyone in the surrounding condos has seen the planter box. The planter box that is still there. Now this is a pretty cool planter box, and if no one else wants it I might as well claim it for my own. Be my moral compass Internet, has it been long enough that I can make the planter my own?

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster

mlepix (10:38:17 AM): I need to hear stories

ifrdr1 (10:39:07 AM): hmm okay

ifrdr1 (10:39:19 AM): i've been meaning to blog about this, but it doesn't seem funny or story like

ifrdr1 (10:39:36 AM): so this past weekend 2 friends and i headed to telluride for the bluegrass festival

ifrdr1 (10:39:52 AM): festivaled it up friday night, then saturday we decided to play on the river (one friend had a 4 person inflatable boat, life jackets, etc.)

ifrdr1 (10:40:05 AM): lazy river stuff, we had a cooler of beer and wanted to combine mild rapids with beery goodness

ifrdr1 (10:40:40 AM): talked to a rafting company in town and they said the river was good class 1 and 2 stuff. 1 is floaty beer drinking, and 2 is rapidy but not really.

ifrdr1 (10:40:58 AM): so we put in, and for the next hour it's nonstop rapids. class 2 and class 3 stuff, no breaks and certainly no floaty beer drinking

ifrdr1 (10:41:11 AM): we’re bouncing off rocks, doing our best to steer

ifrdr1 (10:41:25 AM): no beer breaks at all - not even time to bail out the boat which was extremely full of water

ifrdr1 (10:41:43 AM): getting slapped in the face by waves, etc. I haven’t taken that kind of a beating since Thailand.

ifrdr1 (10:42:41 AM): eventually we manage to find a "calm" area on the side of the river, jump out and pull the boat out of the water (a long process since by now it was completely full of water). Except replace “find” with “get stuck in a tree near a shallow area”

ifrdr1 (10:43:00 AM): we were extremely thankful/lucky to "find" that spot

ifrdr1 (10:43:12 AM): cause it was sort of tip the boat scary, but in a fun safe way of course.

ifrdr1 (10:43:32 AM): anyway i had my cell phone along on this voyage, because call for help seems responsible.

ifrdr1 (10:43:47 AM): cell phone & wallet were packed inside of a ziplock bag - the one i keep it in when i bike

ifrdr1 (10:43:55 AM): then this ziplock was placed inside of the "dry bag"

ifrdr1 (10:44:12 AM): turns out the drybag doesn’t really stay all that dry when the entire boat fills up with water

ifrdr1 (10:44:53 AM): when we finally escaped the clutches of the river i had a chance to look in the drybag

ifrdr1 (10:44:58 AM): completely full of water

ifrdr1 (10:45:13 AM): the ziplock containing my phone and wallet? also full of water

ifrdr1 (10:45:33 AM): the camelback i brought with me for water & storage? submerged in a foot of water

mlepix (10:46:36 AM): hee hee I'm enjoying this

ifrdr1 (10:45:51 AM): the birkenstocks i had in the camelback? same story

ifrdr1 (10:46:05 AM): even my 1st aid kit got waterlogged

ifrdr1 (10:46:08 AM): crazy stuff

ifrdr1 (10:46:19 AM): then we walked back the 3ish miles to the car

ifrdr1 (10:46:44 AM): along the way ran into 4 kayakers all decked out in kayaky gear with whitewater kayaks

ifrdr1 (10:47:08 AM): they said the rapids were class 3, and were rather incredulous that we were rafting. I assume this is because they were in awe of our prowess, rather then amused by our stupidity

ifrdr1 (10:47:16 AM): they said if we went any further we would have really been in trouble

mlepix (11:01:17 AM): adventurous weekend!

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ifrdr1 (11:30:29 AM): okay blog has been composed, can u think of a good title?

mlepix (11:31:30 AM): hot and wet

mlepix (11:31:40 AM): unless you want this to be family friendly

ifrdr1 (11:31:24 AM): i do my best not to allow parents to see the blog

ifrdr1 (11:31:30 AM): but still that might be too suggestive for me

ifrdr1 (11:31:34 AM): i blush easily you know.

*The conversation above has been edited for content and my own amusement. Actual rafting may or may not have occurred.

Green & Bouldery

A few days ago I did my first ever grocery shopping trip via bike. This trip was made possible thanks to my fancy new courier bag, an item purchased primarily for work related purposes. Still when not in use for whatever it is that I do, this bag doubles nicely as a carryall for general use around town. I was able to stuff the bag with enough food to last several days. I rarely buy more then 3 days worth of food at a time anyway (as anyone who has seen my cabinets/fridge can attest) so this seems just about perfect. I imagine that I will still make the occasional trip via car to pickup larger items not conducive to being stuffed in a courier bag, but I see many shopping trips via bike in my future. I feel all green and Bouldery (plus not paying for gas appeals to my “thrifty” nature…).

Still, groceries? Food is good, but something about the whole event lacked excitement. Cue the liquor store. Turns out I can easily fit two six packs in the bag – and three would not have been out of the realm of possibility. Now I really feel Bouldery.

Apparently photography is thirsty work.

What I learned on my summer vacation

• According to my friend Namehere the Asian Beatle is very pretty, but it bites. And that’s bad. I’ve always been extremely fond of pretty things that bite, so this was quite the revelation for me.

• Sushi is good. Stupid sushi, now the cravings will start up again – and you know the night terrors won’t be far behind.

• Thai food kicks ass, and they do it right in Chicago.

• Repeat ↑, but use the words Chinese, Italian and Indian. Especially Indian.

• Apparently all I did was eat while I was in Chicago.

• Might as well add ice cream to the list as well.

• Photo Assignment: Chicago is cool.

• Zoos pictures are more fun with a telephoto lens…

• Then without…

• But that doesn’t mean all is lost.

• Family.

• Three Times! Makes for an amusing story, but seriously what the hell.

• Photoshop is awesome, and I know nothing about it. Or at least not enough about it. But now I can do this thing where stuff glows. Or doesn’t glow. Either way something definitely will or won’t happen when I use layers.

• Instead of keeping honey inside of a plastic bear, keep it inside of a glass container. Then if the honey crystallizes and has to be tossed in the microwave it will still taste like honey, instead of tasting like cancer.

And that’s what I learned on my summer vacation.