Rock of Ages Hike

Today Clay, Emily, Kelli and I braved the Rock of Ages hike in the gorge and let me just say that this is by far the most difficult hike I've done in the gorge. 10 miles, 3000 feet elevation gain (all of which come in the first 2.5 miles!). We're talking hand over foot climbing for the first two miles it's so steep. That alone took about 3 hours! The next 8 miles took 5 more hours.

It wouldn't have been as bad but the first 2 miles, it's all straight up with no switchbacks, absolutely brutal. By the time you get to 3200 feet you're exhausted and unfortunately have 8 more miles to go! Ouch.

This is a hike I've been wanting to do for a while but I can honestly say, once was enough! About 6 creeks to ford, a brutal initial climb, poison oak all over the place, it's all there! The last 3 miles were nice though, we got to go by Triple Falls which we love but unfortunately we were too exhausted to really enjoy it. In any case, I'm glad to be home!

Got some more pics here on Facebook if you're interested.

The Devil's Backbone.
This was a cool rock formation, kind of scary to walk out on. As you can see, the right side drops off to a couple of thousand feet also known as certain death. Fun stuff.















A better pic of Devil's backbone.



















Kelli and I on Devil's backbone.













Me about the push Kelli off of Devil's backbone.












The Rock Arch


















Got to go by Triple Falls on the loop back which is one of our favorites in Oregon.

Kelli

--My wife is truly hilarious in a very Seinfeld-esque way. She texted me earlier and said:

"A guy in my class has really big finger tips. The biggest finger tips on a hand I have ever seen."

I love that girl.

Prettiest Band of 2008?

Wow, it's a toss up on which one of these "guys" is the prettiest. I'll let you decide.

I saw this and I thought, "I think there is about a 0.1 percent chance that I will like the music that comes from what I see here.

Judging a book by it's cover? Maybe.

But you know what?

I was right!

Classic Bill Simmons

Bill comes up with some much needed new sports rules here.

One of my favorites is this:
New Rule: No more bullpens* emptying during baseball fights. All those relievers do is clutter the field and make it harder for me to see sucker punches and headlocks on YouTube. Stay put, bullpen guys.

Amen.

*Chris: the bullpen is where relief pitchers sit and warm up before they come into the game.

Pastor's Wife Role

Darn the luck, Kelli's out of town this week! :)

Breast Milk in Ice Cream? What?

Peta is asking Ben and Jerry's to use breast milk in their ice cream instead of cow's milk.

I'm speechless.

The Greatest

This may have been the greatest Cities and Knights game played in the history of the game. Devin put up a noble battle and led most of the game, but it wasn't enough for one brave man who fought until the end and pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all times over Devin Vaughn (in case you didn't catch it) and two characters from the sitcom Friends in a 44 minutes battle of wills.

The absolutely joy that I experienced in this victory is hard to describe, but the heartbreak that Devin Vaughn felt will probably be talked about for days, even years to come. Epic, thats the only word to describe something like this.

McDonald's Christianity

My mom took this picture today of a church right by her place I believe strictly for the sole purpose of feeding the cynical monster that lives inside of me.

I'm going to warn you that if you go to the website, be prepared for the longest (and most dramatic) flash introduction you've ever seen! I will say this, they sure have a lot to live up to with all that they promise to be!

This idea reminds me of the Seventh Day Adventist church that has the "Community Prayer Box" in their parking lot with a big sign on SE 60th, by Western Seminary.

I certainly won't criticize the loving desire to serve people in the community that on my less cynical days I believe leads to ideas such as these, but I do wonder what the response has been. Many people will say that the response does not matter if their motives were right. I disagree. I honestly think gimmicks like this are just more fodder for mockery from Christ-followers and those who don't follow Christ alike, ultimately coming from a church that has no idea of how to "get more people" to come to their church but is desperately willing to try any and everything.

How many non-Christians are going to find this appealing in any way?

A History of Bad Health

The family genes that have been passed down to me could be called anything but healthy. All of my grandparents have passed on from this life, the last one going several years ago now. Two bouts of cancers, a heart attack, and…well, just plain ol’ death took the four of them away.

In my own life, I’ve experienced some odd things for only being 28. Two knee surgeries, some random things that can only be labeled as embarrassing (which some of my college friends would remember), and a grand mal seizure that stopped the N train in New York City for about 45 minutes one night to name a few.

So it wasn’t all that surprising to get my cholesterol checked and find out that it’s less than impressive. This as well runs in my family. I didn’t know I even had such a thing as Triglycerides but apparently I do and they are fairly high (540), and wouldn’t you know it, the good cholesterol is low and the bad is high. The blessing out of all of this is that I have the privilege of finding out early enough and today I got to lay out a plan with a Cardiologist of what life looks like so that I do not end up going from a heart-attack at age 63 like my grandmother did (for similar reasons). Unfortunately she also had this knowledge but chose not to do anything with it.

Looking back through my families health history I feel that the cards are stacked against me on many levels and I’ve always kind of thought that it would be a miracle to make it to 75 but I also know that I want to do what I can to take care of my body regardless of what I was dealt. Part of this, I have brought on myself in the past 5 years and I accept responsibility for that. The other part seems sort of unfair and makes me angry. But regardless, this whole thing starts today with my 6-week plan to see how much I can naturally lower my Triglycerides and then start hitting the other things.

I guess this is a good time to say a formal good-bye to every kind of food that brings me joy in life. Good bye chocolate milk, good bye ice cream, good bye sugary drinks, good bye Trans fats. (as you can see, this isn't all hereditary!

Some Music Recs

Chad Vangaalen - Soft Airplane

Myspace
















Blitzen Trapper - Furr

A Portland band!

Myspace














Horse Feathers - House with No Home

Another Portland band!

Myspace

Random Music Rant

A little Kimya Dawson on the Juno Soundtrack is one thing, but a whole album of her?

Unpleasant if not downright annoying.

Kind of reminds me of what an album would be like if Phoebe from Friends recorded one.

Not helping any of that is the fact that the record is called Alphabutt.

Come on, really?

Onion Greatness

Pre-Game Coin Toss Makes Jacksonville Jaguars Realize Randomness Of Life

Thoughts I have had today.

-Welcome to the blogosphere Rob Grant!

-Uh, how did the Bears win today and why didn't I know more about Matt Forte?

-Guess I picked a bad year to be a Seahawks fan. :(

-The Oklahoma City Thunder? Seriously? What is that, a WNBA team?*

-Can't wait to see the new Coen Bros. film.

-Wayne's World is playing at the Laurelhurst Theater this week.

-Andrew gets the quote of the camping weekend with "that's why my beats is so dark" after explaining his pair of suicidal goldfish.

-Is their possibly a better source for comedy material than the local news?

-Why did I smile when I heard the line, "Tom Brady could be out for the year"?

-Hey Cubs, remember that whole, "we're good" thing you've had going on for a good portion of the season now? Remember? Yeah, uh, let's get back on that train.


*no offense to women who play basketball, this is targeted solely at the team names. ie. Sparks, Shocks, Mystics, Fever, pretty much any of them.

Ocho Cinco

It's official for Chad "I'm desperate for attention" Johnson, I mean Ocho Cinco.

NFL

What's their not to love about the NFL?

Awesome.

Blockbuster, what is this?

I was returning "Return of the Jedi" this morning when I saw this window advertisement outside. I can't quite figure it out.

What is actually going on here? Who is that man? Why does he have a clipboard?

I'm wondering what they're trying to get across here. Anybody venture a guess at this?