Thursday, June 28, 2007

I found a great new place to run a couple weeks ago. I have been upset about the lack of "trail runs" I an do in Rockford. I could drive 20 minutes to get to Rock Cut State park but it seems like such a hassle. I decided to run up the railroad tracks that run along the river next to the Bike path that I usually run on. I think I may be hooked now. I have found that running along the railroad tracks is much like trail running in that most of the time you are looking for good footing. If I am running on the ties I either skip over one(lengthening my stride) or hit each one (increasing stride turn over, by taking choppy steps) which both help you run faster.

Montana here we come. We leave tomarrow at 5am and should be arriving Saturday around the same time. I can't wait. See yall in a week!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Trip planning is coming along for August. I was not able to get out of school for that week, but I am going to make it work. I am hoping to get all of the work for that week done ahead of schedule and bribe someone who will be around to submit the information for me. Any takers? I may even make it worth their while through reimbursement with some sweet coinage.

So far it is Eric July, Chris A., and I as definites. Matt is still trying to decide whether or not he wants to go? My question is why would you not want to go? I have tried to get ahold of Justin Walters and Pete Gaffney from South Bend to see if they can come, but I have not heard from them as of yet. I will most likely contact some guys from the household up in Dinkytown this week or after I get back from Montana.

My dad and I were packing food today for the Montana trip. I think I am becoming a "ounce counter" after reading so much about people's AT thru-hikes. I was trying to stuff all of the gear I would be taking into a 2800 ci pack and it wouldn't fit. My dad stuck me with the whole tent and it takes up most of the room in my pack! On another note I was packing all of the food with him and I have a suspicion that we may be bringing too much food. The beauty of having a big group of people is that you can spread the load between them all, with two guys there is a heck of a lot more to carry. If I was doing the trip myself I would definitely do everything different. I would use a tarp tent (18oz) as opposed to a 2 man tent (6 lbs). I would bring 2 lbs of cheese, 10 bagels, 6 boxes of assorted noodles, a bag of granola, and 1 lb of soy meal. I love the fact that my dad enjoys cooking gourmet in the sticks (as do I), but I think I would stick to one really good dinner (pita pizzas, mmmm) per a week and just regular high calorie light weight food. Just a difference in opinions. Also, I think we must be carrying at least 1 lb of plastic bags as all of the food is separated into individual meals. I guess that is enough of the backpacking banter I am sure I could count the number of people reading this who actually care about backpacking on my right hand that only has 3 fingers. Actually I doubt that many people read this blog, but I will stop with the backpacking anyway.

My grandmother fell a couple weeks ago and hurt her back. She hasn't been doing very well since(because of the pain). It is hard to listen to how bad she is doing because she is one of the toughest ladies I have met. She is also one of the most selfless individuals I met as well. She is always helping other people in the complex she is living in. She walks a couple miles a day too which is where I get the hiking itch from. She has lived an amazing life though. She worked with the dentist who came up with the idea of adding fluoride into the municipal water system and the use of fluoride to prevent tooth decay! This was back in the day when dental assistants didn't need formal training. She never went to college and she has achieved so many awesome things in her life. I am hoping she has many years ahead of her. We are all praying for her full recovery.

School is pretty blah... I don't know how people can do this type of work. It seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel with all of the regulations and all of the problems healthcare faces day to day. I am assuming they can handle it because there is hundreds of colleagues around that share the same plight. Who knows. I just want to finish this degree and move on to the next chapter of my life whatever it might be.

I've read through almost the whole Dune series, and I think I agree with Steve Ambrose's opinion on the it. The first book was awesome, but each one after that gets more and more bizarre. What I can say is that Frank Herbert (the author) has an awesome imagination. There are some very interesting ideas of power and politics and religion and money and dependence on one source of energy that I could write my own book on if I wanted to. One thing that I took from the series is how systems become corrupt no mater what they be. There are too many things too think about and write about and I am sure that they would all come out in some crazy jumble so I won't even touch it. All I can say is give the series a chance if you have the time it is pretty interesting.

Other reading has to do with preparing for a Thru hike and I will not go into that either. I am almost done reading "Ultramarathon man" again. I can't get enough of it. I needed some inspiration for running. I may commit to doing a 50-miler next year, but I have to think about it due to time restrictions that I already have with work, school, and the household.

Friday, June 22, 2007

I just found out that I could get another week off of work in August so I think I am going to try to do either another backpacking trip or a canoe trip to Boundary Waters. I already have one taker for a backpacking trip to Colorado. I have off for August 12-19th, the first time in a few years where I have my birthday off woo hoo! I honestly could do either, I may be more partial to Boundary Waters because of the ludicrous amount of fishing you get to do.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

I have been doing some private journaling as of the past few weeks. Nothing special, just things that are on my mind that I do not deem "normal conversational pieces." Most of what I see myself writing about are the issues you and I deal with on a daily basis. I do not think them good conversation due to my lack of knowledge on these subjects. There is nothing I cannot stand more than a person who "speaks with authority" when he really is ignorant. This is true foolishness. I often wonder if this is the reason I perceive myself as a quiet person. I think this post is starting to sound much like my journal though. Just random thoughts, completely unorganized and make only sense to me thus more proof of why I do not tend to speak my mind.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007




I thought I would put some faces to names.



Chris is the mug on the left. He looks hungry. His Geek Squad t-shirt defines him(I am not saying he is a geek). What I am saying is he is wearing it out of sarcasm because he does do computer repair, but he would never work for those hacks.


This be Matt on the right . He is my other roommate. As you can see from the candles on the birthday pie(he likes pie better than cake) he just recently celebrated his 6th birthday! We originally made a cake, but he refused to blow out the candles so we had to make a pie. After all who likes arguing with 6 year olds. He just started a blog a couple days ago. Check it out. http://bodhijob-sofar.blogspot.com/

















There is nothing more sinful than what I found in the fridge a while back. I forgot about this picture(it is a month or two old) it was going to be used as evidence in how much beer we waste. I can tell you that wrapping the top in Saran wrap is not going to keep it fresh.
The only excuse I might take for something like this would be someone cut his self off. This seems to be the work of someone who thought it might be funny though. Beer is nothing to joke about. BEER IS ALWAYS SERIOUS. Seriously.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Stuff going on
We had breakfast with Dave Sklorenko(sorry if I mispelled the last name) on Saturday and had a nice talk. I did my long run for the week after we got back from breakfast. Chris and I went out to Rock Cut to do some trail riding later that day. Then we went to CJ's house and ate dinner with him and the kids.

Sunday we went to mass then the branch meeting. After the meeting Dave and his wife and Stu and Jennifer Ambrose came over and checked out the house. After they left Matt, Chris, and I went over to Dan's house and did a bunch of cleaning. Dan, his parents, and my dad went down to Allendale for the week so we are housesitting for him. We must have filled 3 or 4 trash cans full of trash, beer cans, and pizza boxes!

AT '09

Alcohol stove
I started working on building an alcohol stove last night. Unfortunately I bought the wrong type of alcohol (70% isopropyl) instead of the ethyl alcohol so the two designs I made did not seem to work very well. The problem with using isopropyl alcohol(from what I remember from organic chemistry) is that the kind I was using had 30% water in it (water+fuel=no fire) and isopropyl alcohol is not as volatile as ethyl alcohol. Another note is as the alcohol gets burned off the % of water left behind may increase. I ended up making a Pepsi Can stove weighing ~1/3 of an ounce, and a modified cat food can stove(i dont have a cat so I used a tuna fish can). The pepsi can stove looks like it will work very well I just need to get the right kind of alcohol to test it out.

Tarp tent
This will most likely take a bit longer to make than the stove. I was able to aquire a sewing machine for FREE! I tried to find one at the Salvation Army store down the street, but they didn't have any. Luckily I have a friend at work who just gave me one. The two person tarp tent I am looking at weights 1lb 8oz and includes bug screening. The kit(I have to build it myself) comes with instructions and all of required material and costs ~$50. Depending on how the tarp tent build goes I may try to make some other equiptment (pack, down hat, etc.)

Reading
I have been reading a number of books on how to plan a trip of this sort. I also found an interesting site in which gave me my new favorite quote that is a statement to live by "hike your own hike." I take it as stop worrying about everyone else, unless they are harming others. Let people learn thier own lessons.

I will try to keep updating. It is getting hard with school and the two jobs to keep up with everything.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

AT in '09

I started thinking about doing the Appalachian Trail again. My dream would be to do the Appalachian Trail in '09, Pacific Crest Trail in '10, and the Continental Divide Trail in '11. But I have to plan one at a time due to the costs and planning that go into something like this. In case you have never heard of the Appalachian Trail it is a hiking trail that goes from Georgia all the way to Maine which turns out to be ~2100 miles. I am estimating it would take me 6 months to thru-hike the whole trail and less than $5000 to cover the costs of food, replacement equipment, post cards, and the rare motel stay. I will keep updating on this.