so much to say

I've been thinking about what I would write over the weekend and early this week, but it's been hard because there's been a pretty radical shift in my thought processes, expectations, etc.  Which is fucking welcome, I'll tell you right now.

I went to Boulder Thursday morning through Sunday night.  In a word, it was awesome.  Cassie picked me up, and I stayed with her.  I got to hang out with an old friend, spent time climbing with Joe, ran into an old Jailhouse friend...I think.

The pub scene there is awesome. We went to both the Mountain Sun and the Southern Sun. Being there made me realize that every person I hang out with in Davis is married.  No wonder I feel like a leper here. There's a huge demographic hole between undergraduates and families here...a hole that I've fallen into.

I'd been beating myself up for wasting time over the last 4 years not looking, or doing other things, or whatever.  But in reality, I feel pretty ok in blaming it on the place.  Checking out Boulder and seeing all the young professionals made me pretty psyched.

I know I'm being very optimistic and my vision of the city is very biased, but if that's what it takes to get me to finish my PhD and get out of this rut, then so be it. I'm right on track to finish in a year, and I've got great prospects for getting a job or a post-doc out there - either in Boulder, Denver or Ft. Collins.  I've got quite a few friends out there (not all of them are climbers - which is a big deal to me).

I'm ready for a change.

I got to climb at the gym Movement, which is almost reason enough to move. On Sunday I climbed in Eldo with Joe - pretty tough stuff.  It's like a gigantic, chossy, crowded sandstone version of Donner. There were cliff swallow carcasses all over the place from the peregrines.  And a rescue.

People say the climbing around Boulder is chossy and not that good.  But holy shit is it close.  I drive 2.5 hours each way to climb on choss here.  If I could only drive 20 minutes to climb on choss that would be a vast improvement.

I'd like to go back and check out Fort Collins this summer, maybe climb up in Rocky Mountain, check out some of the other local climbing.  I also want to meet some professors/agency folks to talk about jobs.

One of the concerns I have about moving to Boulder is that it will be difficult to avoid the outdoor industry/pro-climber scene.  In Davis all of my friends are scientists first. Some of them climb, but it's certainly not their priority.  Nobody moves to Davis to be a pro-athlete.  It's different in the Front Range. You have all kinds of dirtbags moving there for the scene and it scares the shit out of me.  After my brief experience on the outermost periphery of the pro-climber scene, I don't want anything to do with it.  Joe made a good point though that with all of the agencies, biotech/atmospheric science centers and universities, there are many many people who do sports recreationally, not as their identity.

I want more.  I'm getting after it.