Mishaps

I had a mishap while climbing last Tuesday.   "Mishap" is my way of describing a fall from 25-30 feet onto some rocks, followed by several hours waiting for the awesome folks from YOSAR  to arrive and help me understand whether I was badly hurt, and then 2 hours of painful walking downhill back to the valley.

There are several things I'm still learning from this incident, about myself, about climbing, and about good decision making in general.  There are several things that enabled me to be writing, analytically, about this mishap a few days later, with a trip to the ER resulting in me walking out with only 3 band-aids to show for my troubles.   

Since this was the worst climbing accident I've had, I've been thinking about what happened, and wanted to write a bit to describe the incident and to spend some words analyzing it to see what I could learn from it.

My partner and I, both experienced, though not super strong, climbers (~20 years of trad leading between the 2 of us), hiked to the base of East Buttress of El Cap, only to find it crowded with 4 parties ahead of us.   We aren't that fast, so we didn't think it made sense to wait for 2+ hours before starting what for us could be an all-day climb.  So we hiked down and walked over to Higher Cathedral Spire (now we are at 3 hours of hiking and 2000+ vertical feet).  This route is great fun, and I'd done it 2 weeks before.   We climbed it well and summited, calling our friends to arrange a pick up and shuttle to pizza and beer from the top.  Descent is 4 single rope raps.

On pitch 2 as we pull the rope, the tape at the end probably gets stuck in a crack just above the belay.  We believe that as we pull it out, the rope jerks, forming a knot, which we don't notice until it is above the crux bulge move on this pitch.  We look at it and decide to keep pulling in the hope that it pulls through, rather that using the tail we have to lead up and untie the knot now.   From where the knot is to the top is ~5.6/7, but to get to the knot is 5.9+ so this made sense, probably.

The knot, of course, doesn't pull through.

Now I'm tired.   I'm frustrated, and I just want my pizza and beer.   (danger!)  I don't want to relead this pitch, and now that I think of it, the normal route is rather winding, and while we have over half the rope, it isn't obvious that we have enough to lead the normal route.   So I climb the first 30 feet straight up, clipping a few pins.   Then I transition to prusiks to directly ascend the stuck rope.   I'm clipping gear so that if the knot pops through, I'll be caught by my partner who has me on lead belay.     This goes slowly, as you might expect for someone a bit tired, and not having jugged a line in a while.   Eventually, after 20 more feet of jugging and cursing, not in equal amounts, my partner suggests that we abandon the effort.  She's realized that we have enough rope to tie off, descend the first pitch and hike out.  We can get the rope tomorrow, or leave it for someone else.

I agree, and shift to rapping the line.   Cleaning my lead pieces as I go down.  She's still belaying me, but neither of us really think the rope will pop, since I've just jugged on it for 20 mins.  (danger!)

Immediately after unclipping the 2nd to last piece, about 25 feet up, ~10 feet above the last piece, the knot passes the rap rings and I'm suddenly in free fall.   I land on the jagged rocks at the base of the pitch.    My partner is stunned.  Comes to help me and thinks I must be dead, since I'm upside down bent in the wrong direction over a rock, moaning.   I don't know why I'm alive.   I don't know how, but I stop moaning, wiggle all fingers and toes, jump up and move away from the rocks and sit down elsewhere.   She calls YOSAR, describes the fall.   I'm very cogent at this point and talk to them myself.   They tell me not to move my back (which hurts like hell) and wait for rescue.

Long story short(er): YOSAR comes, I'm feeling better, they clear me to walk out, assisted by them.  I do.  I sleep.  I get a ride to my hospital in the Bay Area, and X-rays are all fine, only 3 band-aids needed.

What happened?  Why didn't I die, or get paralyzed?

1)  I was lucky:

• I just didn't hit the critical parts of my body (spine, neck)
• I bounced off a slab at about 15 feet, and rolled into the rocks.   That slowed me down as well. 
• I was wearing a backpack.   Not sure how much good it did for me, but it  could have helped absorb impact in sensitive places.  However, the phone and headlamp inside were not broken.

2) But also, we weren't totally stupid, we had done a few things right that might have helped:

• I was still on lead belay.  My partner probably had started to catch me.  I didn't get out a measuring tape, but the heights of the pieces, depending on how much slack was in the rope, would indicate that she could have been slowing my fall before I hit the ground, maybe significantly.  Neither of us can remember whether that was the case, though she recollects that the rope was "tight" as she moved around to try to assist me after the fall.
• I was wearing a helmet.  I didn't hit my head, as far as I know, but the helmet would have helped somewhat, if I did.
• We were prepared for some bad situations.  I had a space blanket, so I kept warm while waiting, and we had headlamps, rudimentary first aid, and cell phones*

But what happened?  Why were two reasonably experienced climbers in this situation in the first place?

1) We were unlucky:

• The rope formed a knot spontaneously, just above the crux
• It happened on this pitch, the hardest on the route, and a winding one
• The knot didn't pull through under our weights, or under my jugging
• The knot pulled just after the 2nd piece was unclipped, probably the most dangerous place, gear-wise, on the route.   Anywhere else would not have resulted in ground fall
• The 4 parties on EBEC that sent us here to begin with

2) But we could have been smarter, for sure:

• When the knot first formed we thought about it a bit, and decided to let it go to the top and pull it.  We might have thought a bit more about that, especially about the winding nature of the route, and what we would do when it didn't pull.   At least we stopped and discussed.
• On the other hand when it didn't pull, I started climbing without taking the time to discuss all of our options.   If we'd stopped for 2-3 minutes and analyzed the situation, we would have accomplished several things:
• Recognizing, as a team, that we had the option to tie off the middle and rap down, leaving the rope.   We might have taken that had we discussed it then.
• Deciding to jug or to re-lead, thinking about the consequences of each, and the alternatives if we failed.
• Analyzing the above two might have led me to use more protection in the pitch as I climbed, knowing I might be giving up and rapping down the stuck line.  As it was I put sparse pro because it was easy climbing there.  But rapping down on a time bomb of an anchor needs a different level of pro than climbing up on easy terrain.
• Mostly the above can be summarized by saying that we were tired and frustrated and wanted to get out of the situation quickly.   This was pushing me (at least) to act, rather than stop, think, and communicate.   There was no urgency, other than pizza and a ride from friends, so there was no reason not to stop and discuss.   Just like the Korean Air pilots discussed in Gladwell's Outliers, we needed to have open, frank communication about our options, and I probably cut that short because I wanted to go take care of things quickly.   

So on the whole I was unlucky and I was lucky, and I tend to think that they balanced each other out pretty well.   In the end it was a good lesson to learn from, without overly serious consequences (lost out on a week trip to Greece to climb, and some good climbing time between jobs, but after a week, I'm back on my bike and moving around pretty well.)

I'm glad I had an experience like this, and very glad, of course, to walk away from it.  I think it will make me a better climber, and possibly also a better person.   Gladwell's lesson in Outliers is about communication, and its import in times of crisis and risk is easier to remember when reinforced by real pain and real experiences.   It's one thing to read about something, and quite another to earn some bruises.  

I don't think my partner and I made dumb mistakes, and I don't blame myself for the accident, and of course I certainly don't blame her, but that doesn't mean I can't learn from the mistakes we did make, and carry those lessons into the rest of my life, in addition to climbing.   I think after 12 years of climbing, I was due some accident, as the sport isn't perfectly safe (neither is anything else), and while I would have loved to choose the time and place a bit better, this doesn't turn me off to climbing at all.   I've had several (more serious) bike wrecks, and keep cycling.   We did a lot to keep ourselves safe, and we got pretty damn unlucky, so my takeaway is not that we are taking stupid risks, but rather that accidents can and do happen, and one needs some luck, and some good crisis management skills to prevent them, and failing that, to mitigate them.

Now, I just need to heal so I can tie my shoes, then back out on the rock to ensure I get out there before I rust.

Travis


* Note:  I've usually been reticent to take cell phones climbing, especially in wilderness areas, as it seems like there should be places where you go where you _know_ that you are relying on yourself and your partner alone and you cannot call for help.   In this case it was very nice to have my partner call YOSAR and have them come check me out and help me down.   Had we not had a phone my partner and I would have had to choose between me staying there alone for at least 4 hours as she went for help, or me deciding to go down even with my injury, taking a risk with a back injury.   Neither option would have been good, though, in fact both would have worked out OK in this case.   So, will I take a cell phone with me climbing next time?   I'm not sure, but I'm closer than I was last week.

Where mosquitos breed

I've come to a time in my life where I feel a strong desire to keep things as they are.   I want to do the laundry the same way each Sunday.   I want to eat at the same restaurants and eat the same meals.  I want to read the same books over and over.  Watch the same movies again and again.

This isn't healthy.

This isn't what I want my life to be.

I want to try new things, I want to have new experiences, and learn new things.   I don't want the next few years to be a polished repeat of the last few.    I'm giving the same performances I've rehearsed for the last few years, only better, since I know my lines.

It's so easy to repeat the same lines over and over.   It's so easy to get stuck in a rut, because getting out takes effort to move in some other direction.  Forward, backward they are the same and they are easy.   Getting out, moving laterally, that's a hard thing.   It takes effort, and more to the point it takes risk.    I'm not a good risk taker.   I have gotten very comfortable, and comfortable people can't take risks, because they are, by definition, comfortable.   But taking risks is important in life, and risk-avoidance is a risky strategy in and of itself.  Avoiding risks leads to stagnation, and that leaves one unprepared.   If I'm lucky, I have a good half my life left to live.   Do I believe the world will be the same in 40 years as it was 40 years ago?  Will I be prepared to face the worlds of 20 or 40 years from now if I want my life to be the same as it was 4 years ago?

How can I prepare for coming storms, for unexpected ups and downs?  Being sheltered isn't a recipe for maintaining strength.   Fight life's little battles every day, and in opposing them, grow stronger, more versatile.   Relearn how to take risks.   Stop rehearsing the same script and go live a new life every day.

How can I do this? 

I'm not sure, but I know a few things I'm going to do to start breaking some routines:

• We'll move to San Francisco - after all, why not?
• We'll share a flat with some other folks - after all, why not?
• Try to reduce my material possessions (moving should help!)
• When repeating something, do it by choice, not out of laziness
• When I feel nervous about something - do it anyway
• Practice saying yes
• Practice saying no, when I would normally say yes

Will this help?  Will I free myself from stagnation and keep my vitality, my life?   I hope it will help.   

Some ruts are good: well-worn trails are smoother and more efficient at taking you where you need to go.   Comfortable isn't a bad thing.  Sleeping on rough burlap sacks isn't going to make one any better at living...it's just going to cost you a few hours of sleep and make you cranky. 

Similarly I have some comforts I don't want to do without, things that don't make sense for me to give up.   Like climbing trips, especially Joshua Tree.   They center me, like Taska does.  There are several others, smaller ones, I don't have to give up everything.   But I do have to make some sacrifices, and I'm ready to - since the sacrifice of a comfort means moving out of a rut, and into the real world.   Growing stronger in the real world - not hiding in a stagnant pool.

Why Blog?

As you can tell on the right hand side, I haven't updated this in over a year, since my Grandmother passed away.   Why should one blog?   I never have figured out the answer to this question.   Is this a journal for myself?   I don't think I'm quite ready to put that up for everyone to read (though it does exist).   The comments about murdering people in their sleep (ok that doesn't exist) or whatever else don't seem quite worthy of public distribution.   But I don't delude myself that anyone actually reads this place, so what is this for?  

Twitter takes care of the need to share interesting thoughts and links with folks, without the time sink of writing a post (or, god forbid, an essay).   Short form, 140 chars, is severely. restrictive, and if you want to convey meaning in 140 chars, you have a challenge.   However

Why blog? Tweet instead or write in a moleskine with a lock.  But don't stop writing.

 seems to pretty accurately capture any meaning worth extracting from this post.   So why am I writing it?   It's fun.   I have a little time now, since the DOE review is over, and my life is coming back to normal.  I'm at home for the holidays and I had to play with Blogger for other reasons.    Probably seven other reasons.   It's like doodling, but with your mind.   And thinking about a prospective reader, which I don't when I write in my journal, focuses the mind a little, while allowing yourself freeform text makes the thoughts flow a bit more freely.

So, maybe for the new year I'll try to update this place once a month or so, which, of course, isn't any serious effort, but represents an apparent factor of 12 increase over prior efforts!

Margaret Brooks: A Strong Woman

A feminist to the core, though she denied it to the end. A poet and a scientist. A caring mother and grandmother whilst being an agent provocateur. A woman of contradictions, yet clear of mind and strong of will for the 35 years I knew her, and, from what I know, for the 61 other years that I didn't. In her contradictions, I saw many of my own.

I shared her birthday. I shared her taste for red wine (and, later, martinis). I shared her love of conversation and argument. I shared her love of crosswords. I shared her impish sense of humor that is, I think, funniest only to ourselves.

Now that she has completed this journey, I still share all of these things with her.

I recall not that long ago, she was expressing her doubts about modern technology and, specifically Google. A friend at my work pointed out that she, as an academic, was linked inextricably with Google, especially Google Scholar. Of course, so are my mother and me...(of course, I cannot help but point out that my own service does a better job of listing my and only my papers.) Sharing this academic and genetic lineage (though in point of fact Jewell is not genetically linked with Margaret...she being my Jim's mom...) over 3 generations is pretty cool, actually. And I recall Margaret being a bit struck by those links.

More to the point though, she was around when I was very young and instilled in me, with Jim and Jewell of course, a very open and frank style of addressing truth, and searching for truth via discussion and advocacy. She loved to provoke, to force people find and defend what was important to them, and this style I still find in my own interactions. She could be murder to be around, of course. Poking people in their tender parts isn't always the recipe for smooth interactions. She, however, always expressed disdain for the comfortable and the smooth. I never doubted that she had my best interests at heart, and I reacted to that style by growing very confident in my ideas and my mental abilities. A confidence that has come and gone a few times later in my life, but one that I still draw on. This, among other things, I owe her for.

We knew, of course, that she was dying, and I went home several times this year to be around...just to be around. Now I'm leaving tomorrow for Geneva and some meetings that are inconvenient to miss. Death, of course, refuses to be convenient and fit itself into our self-involved schedules, and with Margaret, she never really valued convenience anyway. Priorities are often thought of as simple rankings. But of course they aren't really simple. It isn't a binary choice. It doesn't work like that, and she would have been the the first to argue with me about that.

A great view of cities

Cities and Ambition

Not what does a city say about you, but what does a city say to you, what does it make you do, subtly. Why do I feel alive when I walk down the streets of SF, but not San Jose (no offense SJers)? Why do people pay so much to live in SF or NYC, and further, what do these conditions force back on the inhabitants. I love this comment:

One sign of a city's potential as a technology center is the number
of restaurants that still require jackets for men. According to
Zagat's there are none in San Francisco, LA, Boston, or Seattle,
4 in DC, 6 in Chicago, 8 in London, 13 in New York, and 20 in Paris.

Women can't do math? Think again

Study: No gender differences in math performance | Eureka! Science News

Good news! I've long heard this idea, especially the variability idea, that female math performance is the same on average, but the variance is smaller, explaining lack of female mathematicians etc (also lack of females who are complete idiots...) however, this study, which appears to have great statistics, manages to debunk not only any difference in mean math ability, but also showed no gender bias on the variance. Nice to know. Thus we must look for explanations of low numbers of female mathematicians in the culture, not in the brain. (or perhaps in the brains of current mathematics/physics faculty).

Clearly our traditional child rearing/marriage roles for women slow them down at the postdoc/asst. prof times in their careers. This is silly in this day and age, since there is no reason why the mother should get to spend more time with the child than the father...but regardless, even preserving those old roles, one sees that this can't be the problem, since it is not a uniform lack of females in academia, but only in math/physics. Bio, history, english, etc are all (relatively) nicely populated with women. I've alwasy wondered it it has to do with math/phys tending to require that the researcher do their greatest work at an early age. Some mathematicians claim that great work is done in the _early_ 20s. This might interact with the "mommy-track" in a negative way for females. However, I still feel that the cultures within the departments has a lot to do with it... Interesting to think about.

Finally of note, but unrelated to gender, the authors bemoan the lack of complex problem solving questions on std tests for no child left behind, hence comparing genders on this topic was even harder, since they aren't tested on it. Idiocracy anyone?

Women can't do math? Think again

Study: No gender differences in math performance | Eureka! Science News

Good news! I've long heard this idea, especially the variability idea, that female math performance is the same on average, but the variance is smaller, explaining lack of female mathematicians etc (also lack of females who are complete idiots...) however, this study, which appears to have great statistics, manages to debunk not only any difference in mean math ability, but also showed no gender bias on the variance. Nice to know. Thus we must look for explanations of low numbers of female mathematicians in the culture, not in the brain. (or perhaps in the brains of current mathematics/physics faculty).

Clearly our traditional child rearing/marriage roles for women slow them down at the postdoc/asst. prof times in their careers. This is silly in this day and age, since there is no reason why the mother should get to spend more time with the child than the father...but regardless, even preserving those old roles, one sees that this can't be the problem, since it is not a uniform lack of females in academia, but only in math/physics. Bio, history, english, etc are all (relatively) nicely populated with women. I've alwasy wondered it it has to do with math/phys tending to require that the researcher do their greatest work at an early age. Some mathematicians claim that great work is done in the _early_ 20s. This might interact with the "mommy-track" in a negative way for females. However, I still feel that the cultures within the departments has a lot to do with it... Interesting to think about.

Finally of note, but unrelated to gender, the authors bemoan the lack of complex problem solving questions on std tests for no child left behind, hence comparing geners on this topic was even harder, since they aren't tested on it. Idiocracy anyone.

SCOAP3

SLAC is now officially part of SCOAP3! symmetry breaking » SPIRES

Test for SPIRES

On the spiresblog, I tried using a tag cload for the topcites and it looks pretty cool

Essential Mountain Goats

For a friend we are making a playlist of Mountain Goats songs to form an intro to my favorite band, led by John Darnielle . It isn't really the _essential_ mtn goats, as a fan I have a separate list of 10-15 songs that to me define the music, however, this is a question of songs that provide a good introduction for the novice listener, therefore they are heavily biased towards more recent things. Without further ado...here they are:

1. Woke Up New (Get Lonely)
2. You and Your Memory (Sunset Tree)
3. Wild Sage (Get Lonely)
4. Linda Blair was Born Innocent (We Shall All Be Healed)
5. Love, love, love (Sunset Tree)
6. Up The Wolves (Sunset Tree)
7. Peacocks (Tallahassee)
8. Half Dead (Get Lonely)
9. International Small Arms Traffic Blues (Tallahassee)
10. Hast thou Considered the Tetrapod (Sunset Tree)
11. Your Belgian Things (We Shall all be Healed)
12. Danu Lipatti's Bones (Sunset Tree)
13. No Children (Tallahassee)
14. Old College Try (Tallahassee)

Joshua Tree 2006

Back from JTree in October 2006.

Trip summary from a climbing perspective:

Yosemite:

East Buttress of ElCap with Jim and Link. V and Link swappwed leads, J an K swapped leads. Started at around 9, done by 4pm, waited a bit behind other party. Both V and K had a bit of trouble leading the 1st of the 2 middle 5.9 pitches, but otherwaise stellar route, very fun.

East Side:

Little lakes Valley (Tom's place turnoff) 4 mile approach to Dade lake on one day, then climb bear Creek Spire (NE Arete). Snow on approach during 1 mile of steep talus (ugh). Slept on it, but decided not to go too much further up talus, and turned back with fun trip but no peak.


JTree:

Arrived Thursday

3 climbs at hemingway

Friday

Lost in Lost horse (3-4 climbs)

Saturday

3 climbs at Future Games wall, then escape heat in town

Sunday

6 climbs in Real Hidden Valley

Monday

4 climbs at trashcan rock
4 climbs at hemingway/dairy queen

Tuesday

1 climb in Steve's canyon-mainly rest day/movie

Wednesday

Picked 4 plums

Double Cross 5.7 *** V
Watanobe Wall 10a *** V
Pope's Crack 9 *** K (not her type but excellent lead!)
Illusion Dweller 10b ***** K (few hangs, one fall, but what a climb! sustained!)

Another Chocolate Tasting (#3)

Just returned from Joshua tree (see next post) and tasting chocolate again:


1) L: Lindt Excellence 80%

V: Good snap, very good melting temperature. hint of cherry. very fudgy. Clean aftertaste.

K: Light and crisp. Maraschino flavor. Clean. Good texture.

2) N: NewTree "Forgiveness" 73% with lemon

V: Texture is a bit hard. Lemon is interesting, but quickly turns ashy and bitter. Hint of soap. On the otherhand this is good when eaten quickly as a snack type bar-the lemon is more interesting then.

K: Sweetness and tartness don't mix in this. Dry. Lemon hits you before chocolate. Weird aftertaste. Bitter and acrid aftertaste. Good until compared to higher quality.

3) SB: Scharffen Berger 41% Milk

V: Caramel-cara mia. Doesn't melt quickly. Very tasty.

K: SB milk c. is soo good. Caramelization of the milk! Caramel! Texture very creamy but didn't melt as quickly as I expected. Milky aftertaste very prominent.



V's favorite: Lindt

K's favorite: Difficult between SB and L, very different.





Notes from an earlier unrecorded tasting of SB 68% Kumasi Sambirano:

Very choc. , fudgy sweet and earthy/grassy

Creamy and dark

accessible and fruity with excellent texture.

Chocolate Tasting #2

SB=Scharffen Berger 70% pure "bittersweet"
VS=Villars Swiss 72% pure "dark chocolate"

Choclate Tasting music (A View to A Kill-Duran Duran)

SB:

V-Firm, doesn't melt, strong snap. Orange flavor. Very strong and clean afterwards. I like it, but not my favorite

K-smells like teen spirit (i mean dried leaves) liquor. Doesn't melt. cherries and maple flavor. Mild aftertaste.


VS:

V: Clean snap, melts easier. More bitter. very different flavor. like a grape, with a clean clear first break, follwed by a tart flavor, but a more bitter coffee flavor. Strong aftertaste. You know you've eaten dark chocolate. Smoky long afterwards.

K: Nuttier. chalkier texture. Bitter orange coffee flavor, followed by nuts. 2 very distinct flavors, in stages. Much stronger aftertaste. Epitome of dark choc. feels lonely by itself.


Final:

V: I prefer the VS. It is more classic dark chocolate. Both are interesting, but the VS is probably a more robust. Would like some port...

K: I prefer the SB. Texture is important and the SB has better texture. By istelf the SB has a shorter aftertaste, which is more pleasant without accompaniment (other than Duran Duran...)

Chocolate Tasting #1

1st (recorded) tasting-not blind.

2 chocolates:

SB62Nib) Scharffen Berger Nibby bar 62% Note that this bar has a distinct texture difference, due to its inclusion of cacao nibs. It is still a pure chocolate, since cacao nibs are indeed processed into pure chocolate, but these are coarse ground nibs, so the texture and taste are different.

GSS) Ghirardelli "semi-sweet" bar including milk fat. This bar came to us via a circuitous route, and thus we are unsure of its exact composition.


Tasting accompanied by vanilla silk to cleanse palate. Note that this is our idea, not necc. in agreement with others. Others claim that you should snap (listen for the snap for a good choc.) then smell, then let it melt on tongue for a few sec. then press to roof of mouth, then chew 3-5 times. Spitting is not neccessary here....


GSS-

K- May have been in purse too long. Taska tastes plastic. Smell is nice full cherry flavor. No snap. A bit chalky, pwdered sugar. No bitterness at all, very sweet. Not a dark chocolate. What little bitterness it has is in the finish. Semi sweet

V- Slight Coffee flavor. no Snap. Reminds me of dark choc. chips, or chips in really good ice cream. Very clean, perhaps simple. Not unpleasant at all. Just enough bite at the finish to tell you that it is for real, but not enough to make you think twice. All in all a pleasant choc., but nothing out of the ordinary.

SB62N-

K- Grenadine and bananas-with brazilnuts. Higher melting point, long time before flavor comes through. Scent almost floral- perhaps.. gardenias or honeysuckle A good amount of Cacao nibs. Sweet coffee. Flovar arrived on swallowing, perhaps better for small bites and faster chewing.

V- Texture is of course very intriguing- bananas are very clear. Clean, almost tasteless at the beginning, finishing with a crunch of the nibs and the rich bitter flavors coming through. Strong snap. Very pleasureable and interesting, very low sweetness.


Final comments

K- More dark chocolate- the more I appreciate it. Curious to see what I would choose were I given a choice of a whole bar to eat. Still might prefer milk, but not sure. Cartainly would have until last few weeks. Think I would now have a hard time eating candy bard from the checkout line...


V- For pleasure-the nibby bar, but for cooking, the GSS seems good, and it isn't a bad snack at all. Not really a fair comparison, of course, since I think the GSS was meant for cooking.
I agree with K that dark chocolate is far more complex in flavor (like red wine..) and I would prefer a good dark, pure bar to a milk bar, but there are really good examples of both (again like wine). Comples tastes are almost always preferable, but there are times and places for both.

Chocolate

About 6 months ago Taska decided that she was interested in thinking about Chocolate in the same way that oenophiles think about wine. We've been trying many different chocolates, including some flavored chocolates (a Vosges 41% "Barcelona" bar that includes sea salt was particularly yummy).

We, and my parents, recently took a tour of Scharffen Berger Chocolate factory in Berkeley (highly recommended!) and the tour guides there were quite enthusiastic about our ideas, and mentioned several things about the already extant chocolate tasting/gourmet chocolate community. For one thing, it was claimed that chocolate has more flavor compounds than wine. I'm not sure, but I believe this means that chemically, it has more compounds that tickle our taste buds. Chocolate, or wine, will vary in the proportion of these compounds, giving rise to complex and subtle differences of flavor. Since chocolate has more, the idea is that it is a more fertile ground for taste variation and experimentation. I'm not convinced that this neccessarily follows, but certainly having more things to play with in terms of flavor can't be bad, and chocolate has the addition of texture as well.

Regardless of its comparison to wine, we're pretty psyched about chocolate, since it tastes better than wine, and nothing is particularly impaired after consuming it, except perhaps your waistline. We hope to embark on a tasting journey among the chocolate varieties that currently exist, and perhaps provoke others to join us via tasting parties and other fun forms of chocovangelism. Interested parties might wish to consult with xocoatl.org as a nice resource.

Chocolate of course must be divided into categories, the most obvious being milk vs. dark, which is probably roughly equivalent to white vs red, if one is interested in furthering the wine analogy. However, before that division, one must also make the distinction of pure vs adulterated. Chocolate + sea salt is amazing and interesting, however, it is not pure. To be pure, by our current off the cuff definition, we must have nothing, save cacao, cocoa butter, vanilla, lecithin, sugar in some proportion. The existence of any other ingredient should be considered as an adulteration. Note that milk chocolate would be one common form of adulteration, but not, by any means the only one. Milk chocolate is common enough to warrant its own category, but there must indeed be a third category for other forms of additions to pure chocolate. We will continue to keep records of our tasting here as they occur.

June Climbing

To continue my halfhearted climbing documentation:

Back in May we get to Yose only once (weather not as good as usual, and we were a bit sick occasionally) and we did:

* The first 3 pitches of a wet Goodrich Pinnacle route (looked like it might be a little bit wet on the runout face parts so we called it after 3 pitches. Taska P1 (5.6) Travis P2(5.7) Jim P3(5.8/9)
* Harry Daley route 5.8 (such a fun little climb over there on GP apron!) Jim P1 Travis P2
* Bishop's Terrace 5.8 Travis P1 Jim P2 (1 pitch to the top, 2nd pitch traverses over to the terrace


Finally got back to Yose on June 4-5 for a 2day trip.

Day1:
*Higher Cathedral Spire-regular route. what a route. 5 pitches, the last 4 are 5.9. Great summit (rarity in Yose!) We did the std route as shown in stopo, the thin hands variation to the right on P2 looked more like 10b (saw another party struggle on it...). THe 3rd pitch was pretty stunning, and the 5th pitch we did a sttep hands variation on the right that was short but fun.
** Travis P1 (5.5) P5 (5.9)
** Taska P3 (5.9)
** Jim P2,4 (5.9)
* Commitment- We got down from the 1500' vertical of the hike to and from Higher spire at about 330 or so, and decided that after a snack we needed to do something more to earn our dinner. So we ran up Commitment in pretty quick time (less than 2hrs-quick for us anyway). V-P1(5.8) K-P2(5.7) J-P3(5.9)

Day2:
A bit sore we decided we needed something to stretch the muscles and be a bit more relaxing, so we did Royal Arches. We ended up finding a couple of new things to do: a 5.7 hand crack just to the right on the big ledge system before the "3rd" pitch. A good alternative to 3rd class scrabming in the gully on the left, fun for 20-30 feet. Also the 5.9?? variation on the 5.7 pitch after the traverse. When the tree at the top of that pitch finally goes (rotten, but gives great holds!) you can move left about 15-20 feet below the tree and do a little crack that has one fisty move-but a #3 camalot should protect it very well, no problem and a good alternative to bringing the treee down. Total time <4.5 hours, not too bad, we weren't really hurying, and we had 3 people, though Jim was self-belaying.

Podcast Test

So I am now getting interested in podcasting, and I tried this podcast from home with just the random flotsam and jetsam I had laying about in my itunes and iphoto stuff (most of my real photos and music are in Taska's account, so didn't use them).

This took about 30 mins from opening garageband to posting it to my blog...

My first podcast


Just click on the link and if you have iTunes you should hear it immediately. Keep an eye on the lower left corner to see images. You may have to open the iTunes artwork pane (in lower left corner, there is a button to do that)-you also have to keep the podcast selected for the pix to show. You can make them bigger by expanding that window...

REM

REM personal top 25 lists are appearing. So here is a joint effort of me and Taska to make this list. It took a lot of vodka, many trips to the iPod, and some serious soul searching to hash this out. Ranking is way out of the question, but we managed to break it into 3 groups.


All REM is Great (Except Monster-which is only good) but these are not in the top 2 tiers (21-25)

Cuyahoga-Lived in Cleveland-Cuyahoga county Ohio long after this album came out-irrelevant, but significant at the time.

Radio Free Europe-Classic-can’t leave it out.

Electrolite-New Adventures is on Compton Ave in Cleveland, Sr year of College. Monster was a bit disappointing (for eveyone) and then this-hours of play- on the big white dusty college couch.

Around the Sun-bought this album in Joshua Tree. How many REM songs are connected to climbing for us! Yet we've loved them for far longer than we've climbed.

Chorus and the ring- Reveal-We lived in the East bay when we got this album and I never really connected with it, however this song is great. There are some other good ones on that album, but Up, Around the Sun and the Great Beyond, all dwarf this album a bit.


Really good songs-but one tier down (11-20-no order):

Nightswimming- A photo of us-dancing at Central taken by Brad?-on the dashboard of the Honda, every streetlight reflected...

Drive- Motivation. A great opening to an album.

Talk About the Passion-muhmuh-The Prelude, in front of 431 Stonewall.

Gardening at Night-I’ve done this...

Perfect Circle-Driving down Forrest St., turning on to Stonewall, again Taska introduces me to this song. Taska: Jamison’s house, music cave, father’s record player, $250 needle-sounds good even without that.

End of the World-Classic-Slamdancing at Shad’s new years party-every year

bittersweet me- Taska:long story-Group sex-AIDS test-poster on the wall-illustrator “M.M.” -bomb strapped to leg- “I’d rather chew my leg off...”-told you it was a long story.

Time after Time-The slow pause is “one of the best moments in music ever: according to Taska. Travis likes So. Central rain here instead....

The One I Love-Classic, though very overplayed, and “oft misunderstood”

Why Not Smile (Taska)/Walk Unafraid (Travis) Up is always in Boulder Canyon.

Obvious Inclusions- top 10 in no particlular order:

Driver 8-It just screams REM. Tri-tone. Taska:First REM song she learned to play on the Guitar

Losing my religion-I bought out of time in a record store in Athens, while there for a bike race with my Dad. I knew and liked REM, but I didn't realize they were from Athens till I got home!

Belong-Resonates. Driving my Honda Prelude to Central High School-the parking lot of Subway on Union Ave, with Taska.

Maps and Legends- Driving through Coventry in Cleveland hgts. listening to a live version of this, long after it came out.

Hope-Taska and I rented a car with a CD player in Boulder, CO and I had UP and we played this song over and over while driving/climbing in Boulder Canyon

Half a world away- Taska:painting in Byron’s room, writing letters to Adam, in college, half a wor.....

King of Birds-Newton. Taska:Anything is cool if it starts with a Sitar

You are the Everything-What can I say? Steamy windows. Romance. Mandolins. Taska: First time I saw them in concert-Green tour Mid South Coliseum with indigo girls.

World Leader Pretend-When I quit my PhD program at Stanford I climbed a route in Yosemite, sat on a ledge above the valley, painted arrows on myself and sang this song.

Swan Swan H--Taska’s first favorite REM song.

Climbing Trip 2

Pinnacles again 2/20

Taska and I, East Side

Nipple Jam 5.8? (V)

Thrill Hammer 5.8+ (VK)

??? 5.7 (V)

North end of East Face Discovery wall...

Insubstantial Man 10a (K)

Not its real name, some other word instead of insubstantial...Good lead-one hard mantle move by a bolt, then thin 5.9ish for 3 more bolts

Wet Kiss 5.9 (V)

always fun!

The Big Pucker 10d (TR)

good climb - hard mantle for short folks crux is after the ledge, well protected

Swallow Crack 5.6 (K)

fun way to end the day-easy but fun. Saw some guys at the base of this with what looked like an El Cap rack. Never did see if they did this or something else, but it looked weird...

Brokeback Murrow

Brokeback Mountain

Great movie. Politically, of course, I have to be behind it, but it is
way beyond that. Ang Lee is just plain good at his job, and does a great
job with a really good story from Proulx and McMurtry, and a great
performance by Heath Ledger. Top it off with Wyoming, and a great little
soundtrack (small, almost precious, pieces of guitar music, just enough to
be interesting, but not enough to be distracting)

The oscars for me boil down to this and Good Night and Good Luck. Both
movies I care about politically, as well as appreciating their craft. The
"free speech vs. patriot act/McCarthyism/bigoted idiots" and "gay rights
vs. hate crimes/Pat Robertson/bigoted idiots" aspect
of these movies resonates deeply with me, of course, and it is hard for me
to evaluate them on a purely cinematic basis. I want them both to be
acclaimed, so that more of the country hears these important messages.

However, cinematically, I think Brokeback is the narrow winner. I think.
It's real close. I guess I could sit around and watch them both over and
over just to decide. Wouldn't be bad, that.