I love August through September in California...or at least this August and September since it's been quite cool this year. It rained last night! A quarter of an inch! Unheard of.
This time of year, fall fruits are starting to come in season and a lot of summer fruits and veggies are still going strong. Farmers markets are amazing, as are friends' gardens and trees. One of my friends does peach research in the horticulture and agronomy department, and has acres and acres of peaches that (I don't know why) aren't getting harvested. We went over to her house to help her do some canning, and made peach salsa, peach jam and peach chutney. I took a bunch of peaches home and made peach ice cream (using John and Lauren's ice cream maker), a peach pie and a peach tart, plus I froze a bunch of peach slices for winter use. The Pedrick produce stand has some amazing deal right now too - I got 10 lbs of tomatoes for 10 bucks and roasted them with some garlic cloves for tomato sauce. I also got a bunch of pickling cucumbers and fresh dill and canned some dill pickles. Not sure what's next...whatever is cheap and plentiful. Apples and pears are starting right now...I wish I had more freezer space.
I told a friend that I bought the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and he scoffed that "canning is such a California thing." But come on! We have so much produce here. It makes sense. It's times like these that I wonder if I could ever leave California. I just need my own garden. So jealous of people with big vegetable gardens.
I'm more excited about climbing in the gym and canning right now than getting outside to climb. That's why I have a day job.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
9.02.10. Bless.
http://cbsuapps.tc.cornell.edu/structure.aspx
I think I may use this site more than any other on the internet. Love love love it. Don't have to use my own computer to run this intensive stuff.
I'm feeling a lot better...still numb around my sides, but overall a lot better. Neuro never got back to me. I'm thinking about getting a new doctor. Whatever.
It's almost Labor Day weekend and on most of these long weekends I stay home to avoid the shitshow of traffic and climber crowds. I have a flexible enough schedule at this point that I can do that. Don't know how long that will last. Plus I'm a little more psyched on hiking right now than climbing...even though every time I go for a big-ass hike I say I'm ready to start sport climbing again.
I think I'm going to apply for a job in Colorado - the location is negotiable. State residents might get priority, and I'm almost but not quite qualified. Could be good practice for applying for a job that I really want and have a good shot at.
On another note, Happy 9.02.10!!! Go Fug Yourself (linked on the right) had a special day memorializing that coming-of-age show. I remember staying up late at night in 5th grade to watch it. Scandalous! There will only be one 9.02.10. Celebrate it. Live it. Love it. I always liked Brandon more than Dylan. Now I think Dylan was actually the hotter of the two. This could be because he happens to be on the Law and Order SVU that's on TV right as I'm typing this! Whoa! Some people are more attractive as they age.
I think I may use this site more than any other on the internet. Love love love it. Don't have to use my own computer to run this intensive stuff.
I'm feeling a lot better...still numb around my sides, but overall a lot better. Neuro never got back to me. I'm thinking about getting a new doctor. Whatever.
It's almost Labor Day weekend and on most of these long weekends I stay home to avoid the shitshow of traffic and climber crowds. I have a flexible enough schedule at this point that I can do that. Don't know how long that will last. Plus I'm a little more psyched on hiking right now than climbing...even though every time I go for a big-ass hike I say I'm ready to start sport climbing again.
I think I'm going to apply for a job in Colorado - the location is negotiable. State residents might get priority, and I'm almost but not quite qualified. Could be good practice for applying for a job that I really want and have a good shot at.
On another note, Happy 9.02.10!!! Go Fug Yourself (linked on the right) had a special day memorializing that coming-of-age show. I remember staying up late at night in 5th grade to watch it. Scandalous! There will only be one 9.02.10. Celebrate it. Live it. Love it. I always liked Brandon more than Dylan. Now I think Dylan was actually the hotter of the two. This could be because he happens to be on the Law and Order SVU that's on TV right as I'm typing this! Whoa! Some people are more attractive as they age.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Back in the hospital?
So all kinds of shit is numb now, and I'm debating whether or not to go back to the hospital. I emailed my neuro, which is like pissing in the wind, and asked her to call in a course of steroids for next week...at least this way I have a few more days to decide and if it gets worse then the drugs will already be in the cancer center. Sick.
I tried to do the cross training class this morning but just got upset because it's hard to run when your feet are numb. I bailed and bouldered instead, which made me a lot happier. Bouldering doesn't bother me - stomping around on my numb feet bothers me.
On the bright side, I feel pretty strong and a few people have said that I've lost a few pounds...
The drawback of the steroids is that it's 5 days of feeling like a cancer patient and sitting still for 3 hours while you get a drug that will make you temporarily insane. And it might not work. At the moment I'm not feeling any weakness, so I count that as a positive.
On the minus side, admitting that I have a problem and having a doctor call in drugs sort of blows my coping mechanism to smithereens. My coping mechanism is to just pretend like I'm "totally fine." And really, I am totally fine. It's just numbness...I'm still planning on hiking up Middle Pal with John this weekend - I mean as long as I can walk, why not walk? If it makes no difference at all, why worry? On the other hand, if the drugs are going to reduce the inflammation in my spine/brain and prevent any further damage, then what's the harm? Other than the copay and losing a week out of my year. Time is precious - going to the infusion center for a week just disrupts everything. The drugs make you feel like shit, it's hard to be active, it's hard to think and it's hard to sleep. Plus facing head on the fact that I'm "sick", and realizing that I may not be "fine" forever.
On the other hand, we're all going downhill, and none of us ever know what shit lies beyond the next minute. I just have a diagnosis.
Oh yeah - emails and calls of encouragement/advice are welcome.
I tried to do the cross training class this morning but just got upset because it's hard to run when your feet are numb. I bailed and bouldered instead, which made me a lot happier. Bouldering doesn't bother me - stomping around on my numb feet bothers me.
On the bright side, I feel pretty strong and a few people have said that I've lost a few pounds...
The drawback of the steroids is that it's 5 days of feeling like a cancer patient and sitting still for 3 hours while you get a drug that will make you temporarily insane. And it might not work. At the moment I'm not feeling any weakness, so I count that as a positive.
On the minus side, admitting that I have a problem and having a doctor call in drugs sort of blows my coping mechanism to smithereens. My coping mechanism is to just pretend like I'm "totally fine." And really, I am totally fine. It's just numbness...I'm still planning on hiking up Middle Pal with John this weekend - I mean as long as I can walk, why not walk? If it makes no difference at all, why worry? On the other hand, if the drugs are going to reduce the inflammation in my spine/brain and prevent any further damage, then what's the harm? Other than the copay and losing a week out of my year. Time is precious - going to the infusion center for a week just disrupts everything. The drugs make you feel like shit, it's hard to be active, it's hard to think and it's hard to sleep. Plus facing head on the fact that I'm "sick", and realizing that I may not be "fine" forever.
On the other hand, we're all going downhill, and none of us ever know what shit lies beyond the next minute. I just have a diagnosis.
Oh yeah - emails and calls of encouragement/advice are welcome.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Food journaling
I've always wanted to keep a food journal for a little bit just to see how I eat over time. My cross-training instructor suggested dailyplate.com and I'm very impressed. It's free, very well organized, automatically does an autofill search for what food you're logging, can do any serving size, automatically produces stats of what you eat over different time periods, and more. I've already turned a couple of friends on to it...but don't take my word for it, try it yourself.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
shorter and harder
Just got back from the hulk with Ethan. We did Positive Vibrations, and it is definitely a great route. However the wind and being freezing all day crushed me. I was wearing a hat under my helmet, a lightweight down coat, a softshell and long underwear, and we were in the sun and I was still freezing. Fortunately we both climbed well and everything went smoothly.
Highlights include me gagging at a belay because I was dehydrated, didn't eat enough, and my body wasn't happy with the altitude, seeing Lucho and Matt on Airstream, helping Ethan get his alpine multi-pitch groove on, and watching a forest fire that broke out near our camp. Oh yeah, and getting 175 dollar tickets each for not having wilderness permits. Whoever left their campfire unattended has bad karma coming to them, because it ruined everyone's good time. I've already resigned myself to setting aside a certain portion of my income for these situations, since it's practically a natural law that if there is busting to be done, I'll be the one that gets busted. At least our shit didn't burn down with the forest - my car keys were in there!
The Hulk is a gorgeous piece of granite and the rock quality is AMAZING. Justifiably, it's popular now and there were quite a few climbers up there.
I didn't bring my camera since Ethan had a helmet cam and a regular cam, so I'll direct traffic to his blog or have him send me some of the footage and photos.
It was a long day. We could have gone faster, but even still, almost every pitch is 160 to 200 ft. We were psyched to have an 80 meter rope...we definitely used it between the pitches and the rappels.
Highlights include me gagging at a belay because I was dehydrated, didn't eat enough, and my body wasn't happy with the altitude, seeing Lucho and Matt on Airstream, helping Ethan get his alpine multi-pitch groove on, and watching a forest fire that broke out near our camp. Oh yeah, and getting 175 dollar tickets each for not having wilderness permits. Whoever left their campfire unattended has bad karma coming to them, because it ruined everyone's good time. I've already resigned myself to setting aside a certain portion of my income for these situations, since it's practically a natural law that if there is busting to be done, I'll be the one that gets busted. At least our shit didn't burn down with the forest - my car keys were in there!
The Hulk is a gorgeous piece of granite and the rock quality is AMAZING. Justifiably, it's popular now and there were quite a few climbers up there.
I didn't bring my camera since Ethan had a helmet cam and a regular cam, so I'll direct traffic to his blog or have him send me some of the footage and photos.
It was a long day. We could have gone faster, but even still, almost every pitch is 160 to 200 ft. We were psyched to have an 80 meter rope...we definitely used it between the pitches and the rappels.
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