I’m on a new path of inward exploration, leading me towards a view of the world that constantly glows in a positive light. I’m headed down this path with no expectations of where I’m going, or even much of an idea. I’m going because it feels right.
Back in the 787-Two-One
For those of you who don’t know, I recently moved into a new house a little ways north east of the little blue place on Canterbury. Frank and I are now living with two really great guys, and two really great dogs, and enjoying it quite a bit. If you remember correctly, I used to live on the North Eastside, in a little apartment with two pretty cool cats. It’s good to be in the area again, and I’m looking forward to exploring some new spots too. Click here for the rest of the set.
The southern wall of the new room
At the Old Airport, aka Mueller Redevelopment
Not exactly a place for bike cornering and time trial practices anymore...
This used to be a halfway house/drug rehab center
Austin Moose Lodge
One of my favorite coffee places in town
Greenling
I finally took the plunge and set up my account with Greenling, Austin’s wicked cool local/organic grocery delivery service. Every week (or maybe two) they’ll deliver a fresh box of hand-picked produce to my door.
As much as I enjoy going to the farmers’ market on Saturdays, I’d much rather spend that time climbing or riding my bike to far away places. Greenling takes the time commitment away from my urge to support local food systems and eat awesomely fresh veggies.
Above is the first thing consumed from my box (beyond a few carrots) – Spring Onions braised in Sierra Nevada Kellerweis. Tasty tasty. I’m super excited about biting into the rest of the contents too. After seeing all the goodness they packed up, it’s a shame to think I shied away from their service for so long.
Long Time Coming
Apologies for the lack of writing these past three months; now that my day job consists of typing away all day on my computer, it’s been difficult to find motivation. I decided to play around with the site look and feel this slow Sunday morning, and figured I’d post some new content to go along with it.
Life is still in a gradual upward progression for me, slowly gaining momentum towards something loftier that I still don’t understand. The out-of-the-box thinking associated with my work has me thinking out-of-the-box on a lot of things now, and I’m almost ready to put graduate school back on the map. I’m hoping that some changes coming up soon will inspire me to take the final steps in defining my overall focus and direction.
Physically, I’m exactly where I want to be with my climbing and cycling. I’m riding 150-200 miles a week, and feeling faster and fitter each time I get on the bike. I’ve had some great breakthroughs with my climbing recently, just a few moves away from my first 5.11s in a long time. I’ve been making a conscious effort to align the rest of my lifestyle to support my goals.
There’s some really cool things about to happen for me, and I’m excited about showing you more than telling. Expect pictures in the first week of May.
In Motion
Life is in constant motion – always changing, always evolving, people passing in and out like one big revolving door.
I have friends all around the world and right next door. Some of the best people I know I haven’t seen in years, and I don’t have a problem with that. Some folks are just meant to fly – trying to keep them in one place would be a selfish intrusion on their personality and character.
When they reappear from time to time it’s great, but I never have any hard feelings when they leave again.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m one of those people. Meant to fly, always in a different place. 2011 marks 7 years in Austin – the first place I’ve lived away from my family is also the place I’ve lived the longest. I’ve done a lot in this city – went to its best school, worked in its most prestigious building, explored almost every corner on a bicycle. I know the best restaurants and the coolest bars. I’m proud to call Austin home.
It wasn’t long ago that I was on the brink of moving away. Consolidating my belongings and heading North. But then I found a girl and decided she was worth a change of plans. It was one of my best decisions.
I’m happy to report that all isn’t lost with that. We’re talking and seeing each other again, trying to take things slow and see where we end up. Sometimes I think we’re both birds that are meant to fly, and I’m trying to become more comfortable with the idea that she might need to fly in a direction different from mine.
But maybe, just maybe, we’ll learn to fly together.
It’s a beautiful, sunny and cold Saturday. I’ve been up since 7:00am, and I don’t intend on slowing down today. Too much life to live.
Content Flow
I’m always existing between urges to consume content or create content. To write or read. To take pictures or look at them. To share information or to learn. Some days I wonder where the balance point is, and why some days I feel addicted to the consumption and neglect my own creativity.
Of course, thoughts on content creation can’t exist without scope or quality. When I write something, design something, or take a cool picture, I want everyone in the world to feel it. I want people to recognize quality, thoughtfulness, and effort. Satisfied with mediocrity or too afraid of judgement, true talent and great ideas seem to get swept aside.
Any original thought or unique perspective is valuable to the world, regardless of where or how it’s presented; and as long as quality is the focus of the creator at the time of presentation, that value won’t be lost in translation.
Staring at a blinking cursor, holding a paintbrush, or gazing through a camera viewfinder is bound to inspire some sort of creative output. Try it – remove the distractions, stop feeding your mind through your senses, and change the direction of information flow. It’s a liberating feeling for me, at least.
I’m Covered in Ants!
This past weekend was one of my best since Thanksgiving. I had been in a low spot in desperate need of revitalization. One would think that starting your Saturday with an 8-hour shift at REI the weekend before Christmas would lead to a horrible weekend, but it was exactly the opposite for me. I enjoyed every minute of my day there – the fast-paced human interaction and lots of smiles made my day.
Saturday night brought me to my backyard, with a fridge full of Lonestar, a nicely burning campfire, and a handful of good friends. From sunrise to early Sunday morning, I accomplished everything my mind was intensely needing. And, I went to bed with plans to climb the following day, with guaranteed beautiful weather and more happy faces.
I woke up relatively early Sunday morning eager to start the day. Coconut water and Vitamin I pushed the Lonestar out of my muscles, and a good breakfast got me going. Sierra and John met me at my house around noon, and we headed into the greenbelt. The climbing was beautiful and conditions were perfect. Sunshine, cool temperatures, a new climber eager to learn the ropes, fun routes and lots of laughs.
We ventured down to 5.8 sanctuary, my favorite “wall away from it all” on the greenbelt, with a fun little cave I’ve been working out my upper body in. I did a hard variation on a route I’ve been trying for a long time, which was nice. The area is a little dirty thanks to its unpopularity, and we wanted to clean up a few good holds while we were there.
Belaying John while he cleaned the dirt out a large crack/pocket at the top of the route, we quickly and rudely discovered how a large crack on a rock face could be filled with loose dirt. Fire ants. John scooped out a huge handful of dirt and angry ants directly on top of me, and they were far from happy. I kept my composure and lowered John as quickly as possible, then flailed frantically to get them all off me. I’m counting at least 20 swollen and itchy bites on me right now…
The ants added a little twist of adventure and excitement to a perfect day, and we continued to climb until sunset. All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend, and really owe my friends for pulling me out of my slump. Things are starting to look up.
Giving Thanks
Carolina and I broke off our relationship. I’m not entirely sure the action was mutual, but I rather not focus on who ended what, where or when. Placing blame on someone else is an impulsive and unproductive action.
We were planning a trip to the Rio Grande Valley for Thanksgiving morning, to show up on my parents doorstep in an absolute surprise. I meticulously planned a fake climbing trip to Mexico – they thought I was dangling off beautiful cliffs and dodging bullets from drug lords. Throwing a remarkable wrench in the plans, C and I ended things Wednesday morning, over the phone before my weekly office staff meeting no less. There was nothing good about Wednesday.
I called my parents that afternoon, told them I wasn’t in Mexico, the love of my life had left me, and that I probably wouldn’t make it home for Thanksgiving either. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.
Luckily, I pulled myself together quick enough to revive something resembling a happy Thanksgiving. I remembered that I’m not a poor kid anymore, booked a plane ticket for Thursday morning, packed my bag, and headed home the next morning. My emotions were angry, sad and in a destructive mood, but I wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way of my plans, love of my life or not.
Thanksgiving was wonderful. My parents are great people, adult role-models actively and passively dishing out great advice in every topic I seem to be so bad at. I was amazed at my niece Emily – she was a few months old the last time I saw her, puking and violently expelling bodily fluids on anything that moved. Now, at 1.5 years old, she’s smarter and more eager about life than anything I’ve ever seen. Click the flickr link at the top of the page to see some pictures.
I’m horribly torn about my broken relationship. I really loved her, and still do. From the moment I first laid eyes on her I knew. I can’t let her go as easily as I feel like she’s let go of me; my calls to reconcile our issues and move forward in a positive direction seem to go unanswered. It’s going to take as long to disassemble the future I imagined we’d have together as it will be to recreate something new.
Meanwhile, life still keeps chugging along. And I’m optimistic.
Michael Bolton
If money was no issue – if you were completely free to do whatever you wanted each day, what would you do with your time?
I’d ride my bike in large circles, around the world. And I’d climb big mountains along the way. I’d take lots of pictures, and use my writing to touch as many lives as possible.
That’s what I’d do.
A high school guidance councilor would say “well, that’s what you should do”, but, as Michael Bolton put so eloquently: “if everyone listened to her, there would be no janitors cause no one would clean up shit if they had a million dollars.” (Office Space)
But who’s to say I can’t find a happy medium?
I woke up this morning, sent some emails, and started chipping away on my work to-do list from home. Walked down the road and had a few fantastic breakfast tacos, then came home and worked some more. Around 1:30, under brilliant sunshine, I cruised through East Austin with a camera on my back, on my way to a work meeting at Progress Coffee. Life is an amazing experience once you start letting it work for you.
My time to explore and travel the world will come eventually, but for now, I’m pretty content living the carefree life.
