Must Have Been A Slow Year For Peace

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last week you know that Al Gore was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts around global warming.

According to Alfred Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". I'm sorry, but I don't think Al Gore, or global warming in general, fit this criteria in the least. I'd rather see someone win the prize multiple times than have a lame-duck award given.

Gore shared the prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Since the prize can be awarded to a group or organization (and it has numerous times over the years) why not award it to the Peace Corps this year? While their mission is actually pretty lame and too broad to mean much, at least incarnate they are more in line with what Mr. Nobel intended his prize to be awarded for. Or why not Bono? He's never been awarded a Nobel peace prize and he's been working for peace-related causes for years.

I think the Nobel Foundation needs to re-evaluate their Peace Committee; it seems to me there might be some politics creeping into something that should be, well, noble.

Need A Laugh?

This site has some pretty funny stuff on it. I've pasted a few of my favorites below.

Being a Responsible Citizen is Hard

I keep seeing all these advertisements for "vote no on this referendum" or "vote yes for that one", and I see bumper stickers and yard signs for all these people up for election (who the HELL is Ron Paul anyway!?). - okay I just looked him up and he's trying to get the Republican nomination for president in 2008. How in the hell is a Republican getting so much support in Seattle?? I thought we were a liberal majority here. Ack!

Anyway, I have always held the opinion that I should only vote on referendums (and to a lesser degree people) that I am fully informed on. So, I look up the website for the upcoming King County/Seattle City/Washington State elections. It's here. So I click on "Measures on the ballot" and there's a page of other links: State, County, Transit, City, that are all relevant to me! I click on the first one "State of Washington" and there's another link to "information on this measure". I click this one and there are 6 measures or resolutions, each with a link to pro/con statements.

King County has 2 measures, each with very lengthy web pages, Transit is only one but also lengthy, City of Seattle has 5 council positions and 2 charter amendments to vote on.... this is A LOT of reading to do in order to inform yourself of all the issues and people I'm supposed to vote on/for!

You know what would be really cool? If they had an audio file you could download that read all this shit to you that you could download to iTunes and put it on your iPod. That way you could inform yourself of all these referendums and candidates while hiking, driving, riding the bus, etc. Genius, right? Although, I just bought a bunch of CDs to learn Spanish on my iPod while I hike, but the concept is still good.

I'm just saying, being a responsible citizen is a lot of work! But, it sure and shit beats the alternative!

I Need A Car

I finally attended my first chemistry class last night after missing a week due to being sick and --- chemistry is hard! I'm going to be spending A LOT of time studying. I've come to the realization that with class two nights a week for 4 hours each night, all the studying I need to do and still trying to loose a few pounds, I am going to have zero social life. But, I guess that's good because it will keep my mind off how miserable I am without a boyfriend. Before I know it I'll be 50 and single and spending every waking moment in the laboratory... except when I have to go home to feed my 12 cats. Wait, why did I want to go back to school again?

So, the instructor let us out almost an hour early last night, which was awesome, but I hadn't printed the bus schedules for that time. So, I waited until one came that I had printed out a later schedule for and hopped on. Once I picked up the printed bus schedule they have on-board, I couldn't believe the route this one was going to take to get me home. Basically, it was like driving from Seattle to Chicago even though Dallas is your destination. A trip that would have taken 10 mins in a car took 45 on the bus.

Yeah, I got some textbook reading done, but it's not like I really absorbed anything. I was trying to keep from breathing because of the ashtray people sitting next to me and then when I moved, I ended up next to a guy who had so much cologne on I got an instant headache. And trying to focus on tiny textbook print in the dim light of a night bus as you're jostled side to side and suddenly jerked forward as the rookie bus driver comes to a screeching halt --- well, all this makes concentrating a little challenging.

So, I've come to the conclusion that I need a car. I'm really irritated because I have so many other things I'd rather spend money on: a house down payment, new running shoes, a backpack for Machu Picchu, a trip to NYC... Not to mention that I'm the WORST at making a decision when I know that anything I spend less than $20,000 on is going to break down in a month but I really don't want to spend more than $1,000.

I know, I know, I'm just whining now. But really, if you know anyone West of the Mississippi that's selling an older model Subaru or Honda and they have taken really good care of it, please let me know! I don't even care what it looks like as long as it runs well!

This is Cute

Probably funnier than shit if you have kids, but I still found it pretty funny.

(It's the video in the link below) These are my friends Tim and Jen who have two kids - one just turned two and the other is 8 months. Sometimes reading her blog is the only thing that makes me smile. Thanks Jen! :)

www.theskyhawkandwarthog.blogspot.com

This is Horrifying!!

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=killeramoeba29&date=20070929

I'll give you just a little preview with this quote: "Usually, from initial exposure, it's fatal within two weeks"

So there! to all the people who have ever made fun of me for wearing a nose plug when I swim. ... well, okay I sometimes wear one when I'm in a pool too, but that's not the point here. ;-)

Hiking Merritt Lake

I hiked to Merritt Lake on Sunday (Sept 23) with my friend Chris. It was a pretty short and easy hike (even with 10# extra weight) but it was C-O-L-D at the top. It was the first hike I've done since last Winter where I had to wear more than shorts and a tank top, and I needed more than what I had on! Note to self: gloves and wool hat season is upon us!!

Here are a few pics that Chris sent me (I forgot my camera). He's going to give me a few more soon and I'll post them when I get them. Oh, and there's one of Chris and I with a geocache we found thrown in from the day before. :)

Geocaching Mix

If you have one of my Geocaching Mix CD's here's the playlist (there are a couple I don't know):

Name	Artist	Album
Lebanese Blonde (Thievery Corporation)	Thievery Corporation	Garden State Soundtrack
Track 06
Let Go (Frou Frou)	Frou Frou	Garden State Soundtrack
Aqueous Transmission	Incubus	Morning View
Track 07
Wonderful Night	Fatboy Slim
I'm a Ramblin' Man	Waylon Jennings
Country Heroes	Hank Williams III	Straight To Hell
Made In Japan	Buck Owens
Echo Mountain	Silk and Saddle
Red Staggerwing	Emmylou Harris & Mark Knopfler	All The Roadrunning
You Can Do It	Ice Cube
Bop Gun (One Nation)	George S. Clinton	Greatest Funkin' Hits
Time of the Season	Blake Lewis
Sexy Plexi	Jack Johnson	Brushfire Fairytales
Banana Pancakes	Jack Johnson	In Between Dreams
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy	The Andrews Sisters	The Capitol Collector's Series
I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow	The Soggy Bottom Boys	O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Can't We Be Friends	Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong	Ella & Louis

Enjoy! :) Make a copy and pass it on, or make your own and share your musical taste with another geocacher.

Would love to have you leave comments here about what you think of the mix. Here is a link to my geocaching profile too: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=df6755b3-a2a6-44b3-bef5-5266a7d2d25e

Long Update - aka I'm terrible at keeping up with this thing

Dear god, I can't believe it's been 2 1/2 months since I wrote anything. I would say I've been busy - and I have for the past few weekends - but come on; I have a friend (Jen) with two kids under 2 and she writes every day - sometimes more!

If you want the truth, I haven't written because my life is pretty sad and boring. Yes, I keep busy, but I do everything ALONE! A few weeks ago I went to a really nice dinner ($75 for just me!) ALONE and a couple of nights later I went to a show at the Paramount ALONE. All the hiking I do - ALONE. Horses - ALONE. I need more friends.... and a boyfriend.

Okay, enough self-pity. So, what have I been up to? Well, the last 3 weekends have been good. On the weekend of Aug 24th I went to Dallas to see my best friend Nicole. We had a great time. Went to a bar and flirted with boys, went to her artist friend's studio and threw pottery (course I had to forget my freakin camera for that one), went for a run and a swim and played Scrabble. All that and the only pictures I have are of us playing Scrabble and me looking like shit with no make-up. Of course Nicole looks gorgeous - but that's because she sleeps in her make0up. lol j/k Nicole always looks gorgeous. :)

It's Rocko the pottery dog. (Notice the clay on his ear - that was me. :)

The next weekend I went to Klamath Falls, OR to see an old high school friend that I hadn't been in touch with for 10 years! He's getting a divorce and going through a rough time so I went down to just hang out and cheer him up. He warned me that Klamath Falls is a red neck, white trash town but I thought it was okay. I mean, yeah, there was a lady on her Rascal Scooter with a Confederate flag and a raccoon tail tied to it in Fred Meyer but..... Oh, and there was a wind catcher in someone's yard that was a monster truck in red, white and blue. But redneck, nah. :)

Dave and I did do a nice hike to a pretty lake and I was feeling the slightly higher elevation. I was breathing hard but my heart rate was really low. I need to get more altitude training. (More on why later.)

One thing that put a damper on the weekend was that Dave has claimed Jesus as his savior and believes that anyone who does not believe the Bible is the true and ONLY word of God is going to hell. Now, for those of you that know me, you know how WONDERFUL I thought that was. So, we just avoided the subject the rest of the weekend and watched movies; I watched more movies that weekend than I have in the last 3 months combined. Blood Diamond is great btw.

Then last weekend I drove to Moses Lake for a family reunion. I rented a Honda Element through Flexcar because it looked big enough to sleep in. Not only is it big enough (I fit my double Aerobed mattress in the thing!) it's built for sleeping in. There's a sunroof over the trunk area that's obviously made for star gazing as you fall asleep. It was awesome! As ugly as I have always thought those boxy things are, after driving one and camping in one, I would totally buy one!

After the family reunion I drove to the Lake Kachess campground and crawled into the back for a nice snooze. I cooked some oatmeal and some tea and headed out on the Rachel Lake trail. Man, was it a good one! It climbs gently for the first 2.5 miles, gaining only 700'. But as soon as you hit that 2.5 mile mark you start climbing and gain another 1200' in 1.5 miles! And most of it looks like you'd be getting face fulls of ice cold water if you did it in the Spring. In fact, a couple of times I got confused and started climbing the dry creek beds until I hit an impasse and turned around to find the real trail.

The lake was beautiful and the fish were jumping like crazy. I cooled my tootsies and read a magazine for a bit and then started the descent. Thank god I had the foresight to bring trekking poles because it would have taken me twice as long to get down if I hadn't had them. As an added bonus, my triceps got a hell of a workout. It's two days later and my entire body is still sore. Now THAT'S a good hike!

Oh, I also went on my family's annual river raft trip at the beginning of August. (Man it has been a long time since I wrote!) I'll do a separate blog for that one since I have a million pics to post.

Sea Kyaking is Boring

So, I went to my first MeetUp tonight to do sea kayaking. They provided the kayaks so I thought why not give it a shot!?

Granted I didn't know what I was doing, but there is no real workout to be had doing it. I think it's more of an endurance sport - like if you paddle for 9 hours against the wind and current you might burn 150 calories.

It was nice to be on the water though and I met some interesting people. But, I think for a water workout I'll stick to rowing.

Annual River Trip - Lower Salmon to the Snake

We had a huge trip and some interesting folks along this year. One was a sorghum farmer from TN. Don't know what sorghum is? Neither did I until I talked to him for awhile. It's really quite interesting. Here's their website. http://muddypondsorghum.com/ It was the first trip I've been on that my great aunt Linda went on so that was nice.

Since a picture is worth about a thousand words, here are about 30,000 words: