on holiday 3.0

Um, yes. We moved south to the land of teats.... errrrr, breasteses.... errrrr, Grand Teton. Holy crap, these mountains are awesome. I even had this whole video lined up from the sunset view from the lake just 200 yards away from where we're "camping", but no dice (see the above picture instead). It was a whole new world, taking a video from my cell phone. FYI, KFR, you can take video from your fancy digital camera. I want to see some sweet Parisian scenes. When I get back to civilization (funny considering the RV has more TVs than my apartment and I'm on the interweb) I'll post it. Anyhoo, not much to report on the animal front apart from some chipmunks. But we did go on a beautiful hike today and had fantastic weather (see the picture below). Its not often you see mountains just sticking up out of the earth, no foothills, no warning. BAM! Mountian! Perhaps tomorrow when we're out in the wilderness I'll give myself over to haiku... or not.

Grand Teton camping
Cardboard cutout of mountains
Hey! Watch out for bears!

on holiday 2.1

Dooooby doooby doooooooooooooo, I'm in Jellystone....
Daaaa da daaaaaaa da deeeeeeeeeeeeee, it was a little stinky....

.... a cell phone photo....


Woohoo, had some issues with migraines. It was like wrastlin' a bear. Today is much better though. Things to report:

• We saw the park ranger Matt-O annoint a new Junion Park Ranger. It was awesome. He made an announcement.
• I did not have a heart attack on Uncle Tom's trail.
• Many Bison and Elk were seen.
• Even more idiotic tourists who get a foot away from Elk (and seem to think it is safe) were seen.
• The bike gang rides again! We plan on heading down town to a dive for some local flavor and beer.
• We had some cold weather today. SWEET!

Tomorrow we're off down the trail (adding power steering stuff as necessary). We hope to see the Paint Pots, the Lodge, and then the most metal of all American mountain chains, the Tetons.

on holiday 2.0

Ummmmmm, yes. Where to begin. Saturday, up at 6:15AM, all ready to leave by 7:00AM, and the the truck pulling my parents trailer won't get out of Park. Damnit! Somewhere around/after 8:00AM we depart, only to stop a little less than an hour later because the defrost in same said truck won't turn off and its blowing hot air. Not Nice! After changing some or all of the fuses, we set off once again with the whole defrost issue unresolved. Steady on, young sir! Somewhere east of Missoula we pull in to a rest stop to eat some chow and a kind truck driver informs us that the RV, heretofore without issue (a good track record compared to the truck) is leaking power steering fluid. You've got to be kidding me! They rigged some solution with plastic trash bags and fluid from a gas station. I'm talkin' MacGyver level stuff. Now, I can't complain because I watched Moonstruck with my sister and mom while my brother, dad, and J. did the driving. But, it was one damn thing after another yesterday and we didn't get to the RV park until after midnight (mountain time).

Still, with all of that, we managed to keep our sense humor. In fact, we were excellent town tourists today and bought some lovely baubles and trinkets to gather dust. Best to sleep in and stay close to home after a day of travel like yesterday. We'll head into the park tomorrow and hope to see Matt-O for dinner if he can make it down.

Perhaps the most entertaining thing today, my dad, sister, and I started a bike gang. We rode all over the town, went to the park entrance to pick up a free map, and intimidated a kid on a bike. Its pretty sweet. My bike gang dreams are coming true.

on holiday 1.1

In less than 24 hours I'll begin the journey north and thus the beginning of my holiday. I shall rendezvous with the Fam at HQ (aka: The Crack) on Friday and we depart for Yellowstone on Saturday at O-dark-hundred. Well, it will be early, but the sun will definitely be up. That's right folks, this is a family-road-trip-circa-1963 kind of affair. We shall reconnoiter (I've always loved that word, A.) the place where Matt-O spends his time, shoot on down to Grand Teton, and get some town-time in for the parental unit's respective birthdays in Jackson Hole. Phew. All in all, the vacation time is only* about 12 days, but I haven't had 12 days** since 2004. Anyhoo, I may or may not post from the field depending on how the interweb is fairing wherever I happen to be. To finish things off, a list of things I already find entertaining:

• How loaded down my car will be getting to HQ: bike, bbq, booze, board games
• Camping food. Hello Easy Cheese!
• The fact that my brother, sister, and I will be crammed in the backseat on the first leg (to be joined by an RV a bit down the road. Yes. Caravan style.
• Fighting over the radio
• Every conversation with my family regarding meal planning for the trip revolved around some variety of meat. I'm pretty sure fruits & vegetables were mentioned at some point, but I might just be lying to myself.
  

*I realize this is way more than a good many people see in a two year span, let alone in consecutive days
**unemployment, most emphatically, does not count

ps: on an unrelated but related note, the holiday and coming closure of the craft center for a small amount construction means my table is now safe in my apartment, but in two pieces still, and in need of more mineral oil. I shall resume table construction upon my return and post updates of my progress. Its getting close people!

on holiday 1.0

Somewhere in the span last two years I've picked the phrase "on holiday" as a more entertaining and meaningful replacement for "on vacation." There are, I think, a couple reasons for this. First, I have cause to work with people all over the world and in their emails and on the phone, "on holiday" is routinely used. I learned the business jargon, I think "on holiday" is an acceptable addendum to that list*. Second, "on vacation" just doesn't roll around in mouth the same way "on holiday" does. Vacation, phonetically speaking, just seems so harsh to me. Holiday is just a nicer word to get out. Third, "on holiday" sounds SO much more fun that "on vacation. Think about it, growing up all time off from school was associated with a holiday of some variety (save summer break). The food, moreover, associated with holidays is way cooler**. Fourth, and finally, and embarrassingly, "on holiday" is way more fun to say in a bad British accent preferably somewhat akin to Wallace & Gromit: "Gromit, that's it! Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese!"

This is all a long winded way of announcing I shall soon be on holiday. Weeeeeeee!

*this list is also peppered with phrases like "riff-raff" that can be used to describe people, things, and ideas.
**Thanksgiving is just one easy example. The patriotic largesse of the 4th of July (bbq! potato salad! potato chips!) is another good one.

sharp tools rule!

The sharp tools, they also draw blood. But the cuts are clean, so its okay. Yeah. I managed to puncture myself with the chisel on the palm side of my thumb, just below the knuckle. Whoopsie Daisy. Everything is fine. I don't think any stitches are necessary. But bending the thumb (and I do have full range of motion, thanks!) is not so fun right now. Typing ain't easy either. So, some things I've learned:

• always work with sharp tools
• be careful when using chisels
• spurting blood means an artery, dripping blood means a vein (mine dripped)
• when one sustains an injury in a shop-type setting, invariably people come from all around to share the origin of their scars and tales of (often times) stupidity... I'll now be able to share in the fun.
• neosporin (or generic equivalent) is good to have on hand
• wet band-aids are bad-news-bears... change 'em out.
• some cold water and salt can remove blood stains

In summary, try not to stab yourself with a chisel: there is blood, there are weird stories, and there is pain. At least a little.

That is all.

a word of advice:

Do not run when you have the world's tiniest sliver embedded in your foot. Its not, what you might call, conducive to effective exercise.

something I learned:

The longer one stays in bed, the easier it is to pretend there is coffee in the house.

Because I do KFR's bidding.

Kungfuramone bid us all to make lists. Thus I make lists.

Things I have been good at:

• Creating mixed tapes. I won't even try to hem and haw around this one. I make quality mixed tapes.
• Soccer. I've never been great at one position, but I was good at enough positions. Paid for a good chunk of college and that ain't nothin' to sneeze at.
• Taking care of things. I mean that quite literally. Clothing, technology, furniture... they all last a long time with me.
• Crackin' wise. Helping people chill out. Instead of say, "calm the fuck down" (sorry for the language) I joke. Defense mechanism? sure. Not always well time? perhaps. Generally needed by a good chunk of the populous? definitely.
• Dealing with migraines. I might have slurred speech, but I'll be easy to work with.
• Working in technology and not knowing anything.
  

Things I have been bad at:

• Languages. Hands down. It's like I hit about 5 to 10 words/phrases and then the brain just shuts down.
• I'll say networking/being among the unknown. This is a hot and cold thing for me. Never consistent. Sometimes I can charm the socks off people, others, not so much.
• Lying. Or, rather, telling the truth. When I tell the truth I blush. So it looks like I'm lying. Its odd.
• Swimming. Again, I would rate myself as a fairly coordinated individual, physically speaking. Put me in a pool and I can get from point A to point B. But it will be a crooked line marked by fits and starts.
• Working in technology and not knowing anything.