End of June

So the A's kinda sucked in the 2nd half of June...They kinda sucked this week. 2-5 with two blow out wins making the week stats look a lot better than they have been.

.288/.328/.476 then with RISP .327 AVG, 16 RBIs, .386 OBP. Looks pretty impressive...
5.53 ERA/ 1.57 WHIP/5.8 K/9 IN. Yeah that looks like a bad week for the Devil Rays...

But Kendall hit two HRs this months. Maybe the A's 2nd half surge is going to have to start a bit later than normal. We'll see. They better, they're 8.5 games behind the Angels.

Pitchers stats for the month 3.54 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 5.58 K/9 IN
Starters 2.88 ERA/1.44 WHIP/4.89 K/9 IN (Which still boggles the mind)
Bullpen 5.17 ERA/1.44 WHIP/7.28 K/ 9 IN (yeah our AAA bullpen is starting to look like one, with 5 blown saves)

Hitters stats for the months. .261/.331/.422

Ouch and Ha and Ha

So in this dream I'm in some crazy universe apparently. The cowboy boot is the new coat and tie. We're trying to get into some building. But they won't let us in because we're not wearing cowboy boots. I tried to explain that Greg was from Texas and that should be good enough... No dice.

So we sneak in. Which turned out to be a bad idea. Some kid came up behind me and uppercuted me in the nut sack...um ow. I even woke up from the dream curled up in fetal position.

So this alternate universe is a painful place.

At work these co-workers are talking.

Girl: what kinda music are you into?
Guy: punk and all kinds of stuff
(my ears are perked)
like 311, Metallica, (list off every mainstream Alternative/Metal band) and Hoobastank.
Me: At least Hoobastank is fun to say...Hoobastank
other two: hahahahahaha
Me: (Its like shooting fish in a barrel that wasn't even funny)
Girl: like what punk bands?
Guy: Pennywise
Me: hahahahahahahahaha
guy: what?
Me: Pennywise? no one has said that was their favorite punk band in like eight years. It all sounds the same.
Guy: ever hear of Bad Religion?
Me: hahahaha three guitarists playing all the same thing...for twenty years.
Guy: thats why I like it, sounds good, change the lyrics.
Me: (shaking head)

So really thats why mainstream music is crap now. I downloaded the Billboard top 100 songs from the 18th of June. A good portion is from American Idol, there is a little bit of country a little bit of rock and roll. and whole bunch of rap with such deep lyrics like, "This is why I'm hot, This is why I'm hot, This is why I'm hot" and other I'm so great, everyone is jealous of all my money, girls/boys, looks blah blah blah.

The sad thing is that I bet over 50% of these songs were written by someone else. So most of these above average singers are the "artists" of someone else's work.

Oh and the Spice Girls are just getting together for a Reunion tour... Yeah because everyone has been dying to see the songs of 'Spice World' sung live for the past eight years.

http://flickr.com/photos/sepultura/666133293/
Thats just funny.

Oh and a big thank you to all the people that sent me maps of states they've been to with a "pffh I've been to more" statement.

51 weeks

So the neph went from that size.

To that size

I think it's pretty sweet that we both get fireworks on our birthdays. Who else gets to say that?

Work

So I'm at work and this guy tells me that he was watching the news earlier today and see a robber being chased on foot by a cop and then gets hit by a car. Living is a city that isn't quite as safe as San Jose. I figure its here.

So I'm busy looking on all the Las Vegas news sites. Can't find exactly what I'm looking for. Found plenty of other crimes a going down.

It was in Denver. I was kind of expecting more of a 'Meet Joe Black' crash.



Oh and the Spice Girls have a press conference scheduled scheduled for Thursday. They're expected to announce they're getting back together.

And record labels are wondering why no one is buying cds...

Why Mormons Bald Early

Once hairlessness had evolved through natural selection, Dr. Pagel and Dr. Bodmer suggest, it then became subject to sexual selection, the development of features in one sex that appeal to the other. Among the newly furless humans, bare skin would have served, like the peacock's tail, as a signal of fitness.

Obviously they're too focused on finding a mate.
Why Humans and Their Fur Parted Ways

Zion Narrows 8:30-9:50 AM Monday

Click on a picture, they gets bigger.


Almost at the beginning of the Narrows.






So what I wanted to do was get the van to take me up to Chamberlain Ranch and hike the whole thing. I soon found out that its an hour and a half to the Ranch from the Visitor's Center. That means after the 6 am shuttle. I would be starting at 7:30. I figure if i walk through it all. It would take about 10 hours (they say its about 12, but thats with slow people). So best case scenario I'm out of the narrows at 6ish (throw a lunch in). Sunset is at 9pm. So that gives me three hours to explore.

Camping it would be the best way to enjoy it. But 1) you have to reserve an overnight permit (they're booked up about to two months in advance). 2) I don't have a tent. Really this adventure would be a bit expensive on my own. The shuttle is $28, neoprene socks are about $20 (which I figure would be a good idea if I'm walking in and out of 64 degree water for 10 hours). REI has a sweet bivy sack for $200. So to pony up the money and get an impossible to get permit made the overnighter impossible.

They give out 12 over-night permits a day. They assign you a campsite. From what I understand only six sites can accommodate more than two people.

So you could slap down your $5 for a reservation. Get to Zion and find out that you can't go up there because of a high risk of flash floods.

So this takes a little bit of planning and a little bit of luck. Then you get to pee and crap in a biodegradable sack.

Which I'm all for, I don't want to hike in water that has fecal matter floating by me. They don't stand up on their own though (like freeze-dried food bags do). Like the earlier post mentioned, the Ranger said its a bit awkward the first time around. So who wants to block off some time next summer to go camp the Zion Narrows w/me and hold my poop bag open as I squat one out?

(They'll let you take watercraft down the narrows when the river is flowing more than 120 cubic per second. Kayaking the narrows would be pretty sweet. They won't let you take a tube up there. So no floating the narrows. Which would be pretty sweet. Your neck starts to hurt after looking up so much.)

Orderville Canyon 9:50 - 10:50 AM Monday

Besides the pools at waterfalls, thats as deep as the river gets in Orderville Canyon







The sign above is right next to the waterfall. So this is the end of the road. They probably say that because of the little four-foot waterfall in the way. People slipping while try to boulder around or over it and smash something open.

Zion Narrows Monday from 10:51 am to 12:10 pm (just north of Orderville Canyon back down to the Riverwalk trail)

um yeah, thats a normal sized adult in there...










I thought this was funny, because this guy is sitting on a rock in the river talking to a bunch of kiddies...It would have been funny if a flash flood wiped him down stream...Of course I'm down stream too...so maybe not.


zoom. 40x digital zoom sure zooms in...close...




Out of the river at 12:19 pm

Weeping Rock and Hidden Canyon

Weeping, weeping.


Weeping Rock @ Zion National Park


Hidden Canyon, it's pretty well hidden. Those Mormon settlers were so creative at naming.


The free standing arch inside Hidden Canyon inside Zion National Park


Part of the wall of Hidden Canyon.


The view from the trail to the mouth of Hidden Canyon (I think that's Angel's Landing).


Back at the trailhead... Hm that was only two miles roundtrip... Hiking in water shoes isn't the best idea if the ascent is 850 feet over a mile.

St. George Temple

Fun Stuff

Friday Night: Kaaku: I have a four-day weekend?!?!?! sweet.

Saturday Night: Called people in Provo to see who would be willing to blow off a day of work to hike the whole narrows. Failed miserably. (The goal was to get down to zion sunday, get a permit, car camp, then hike monday)

Sunday 8 pm mountain time: I'm in St. George at Kevin's.

Monday 6 am: wake up
6:30 out the door
7:30 @ Zion National Park
8:15 guy tells the driver he was just at Havasupai and hops off the bus.
8:25 @ Temple of Sinawava
8:41 Guy coming out of the Narrows, "want my hiking stick it's a little smaller". I take it. sweet. I'm not hiking with a log now.
9:50 @ Orderville Canyon (it doesn't take 2 hours to hike here...how slow do they expect people to go?)
10:00 down a piece of beef jerky and a Clif bar.
10:28 reach the sign that says You can't go any farther up Orderville Canyon.
10:46 guy: "you're not lost out here all by yourself are you?
kaaku: "am i in Orderville Canyon?" (I wasn't 100% sure it was Orderville, I
was pretty sure though...)
guy: "yep, I think this must be it"
Kaaku: "and I'm still in Utah?"
guy: "yep"
Kaaku: "I'm not lost then"

10:51 back at the fork of Orderville Canyon and the Narrows... (Technically you're suppose to stop here and turn back if you start from the bottom of the narrows...people obviously don't study up on things b/c a lot of people kept on treking upstream.

11:02 around the first bend above Orderville Canyon...none of these peeps should be here. rule breakers! I start heading back down.

12:19 off the river (I didn't fall in the river, the deepest I got was mid thigh)
12:25 squirrel falls down the hillside trying to get down it...thats kinda funny.
12:35 @ Temple of Sinawava
1:05 @ Weeping Rock.
1:57 @ Hidden Canyon.
2:19 @ the arch in hidden canyon...Sure it's free standing, but it's not that impressive.
2:27 break for lunch. The Jetboil's maiden outdoor voyage. Mountain House's chicken a la king with noodles is alright tasting. Could use a little pepper. It smells alright. it looks a little bland. everything is white...but it does the job.
3:57 at the trailhead for Hidden Canyon. it says its only 2 miles round trip, but with 850 foot ascent...
4:05 on the bus back to my car. The lady across from me has the biggest nostrils I've ever seen, her kids could hibernate in there...another family has a brown haired kid, a blond and ginger kid. The parents don't have red hair. Poor parents. There are also these Brazilians. all wearing Brazil T-shirts. They're not the Reef Brazilian bikini team either... This is the strangest bus crowd I've ever been.
4:25 Talking to the permit guy.

Kaaku:So those bags that you give people that hike the whole narrows, the ones that people do....excrements in. Can I see one?
Ranger: yeah, we only give them to the overnighters.
K: how does it work?
R: its a dual layer bag with a cat-litter like substance in there...Its usually better if the first thing you do in there is a #2.
K: (flips the bag over a couple times) how do people use them?
R: usually dig a hole and put the bag in the hole or lean it up against a tree. It's awkward for the first time for a lot of people. It's the only way we can let so many people up in the Narrows or else it would become over saturated.
K: and the people down stream will be walking in other people's crap.
R: that too

4:30 leaving the visitor center I saw lesbians. I guess there are lesbians in Zion.
4:45 eating a piece of Bumbleberry pie a la mode w/a Sprite.
6:05 @ St. George temple waiting for Kevin to finish running errands
6:45 @ Smith's to buy a drink, this is the busiest Smith's I've ever seen
7:00 @ Cafe Rio, this is the fastest cafe rio I've ever been to.

Things I've learned from this trip;
Greg wanted to walk down Havasupai in his Salomon water shoes... I tried hiking in my North Face water shoes. Northface makes a sweet water shoe... for walking in water. It was fine getting from point A to point B out of water. But when I ascended (and then eventually descended) 850 ft over a mile... it hurt like hell. Sand got in the drainage holes and it was pretty much like walking with sandpaper socks on.

People with treking poles are far more friendly than people without.

Board shorts rub after about five hours of hiking. No wonder babies cry about diaper rash. It hurts like hell.

The bottom of the Narrows gets crowded. Its the not so attractive people that decide to wear less clothes too kinda crowded. 95% of the people I saw were hiking stick/treking pole-less. Some went bare foot. So if you like the smell of suntan lotion, scantly clad ugly people, hike the narrows later. (The plus side is you do get to watch people fall on their face).

Hiking up and down from Hidden Canyon was hot. I started the trip with 3 Clif bars, a bag of jerky, 1 dehydrated meal, a towel, camera, 3L of water, water purification tablets, compass, first aid kit, stove. I very well might die at Havasupai with camping gear on my back.

I Guess I Like the West...

create your own personalized map of the USA

I'm missing such exciting states like New Mexico and the Dakotas...yeah, maybe I'll just skip those. Texas was just a lay-over...but I'm still counting it. I



create your own visited country map

I've been to the Caribbean technically...but I was like two-years-old or so...and I don't know what parts we went to... So I guess I can't count it.

Yeah, there is no way to adjust the size of these bad boys

Power Outage

The A's went 2-4 this week...Boo!!!!
The hitters didn't hit, going .216/.297/.368
w/RISP .154 AVG, .313 OBP, 13 RBIs...
The pitchers had a decent week putting up a line of 3.98 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 6.4 K/9 IN. Not bad

Kyle Is In Town

So Kyle and a couple of his buddies converged down to Las Vegas.

He's staying at the Luxor... I've never spent too much time in the Luxor. So this was the first time I've ever seen the lobby...

There were a whole bunch of Asians milling about. I guess the Asians love Egypt motifs... or else they just like cheap accommodation.

But yeah all manner of Asians milling about. Ugly ones, attractive ones, ones that look like they're from Asia, ones that look like they're from America. Ones with White men, ones with yellow men. Fat ones (you know about 110 lbs), skinny ones. all manner.

So Kyle and I went to Jamms and grabbed some breakfast for lunch. Yay for the Pot of Bread. It's swell...

This was the first time I've made my way onto the strip since the super dee duper ILK Vegas bonanza. So its been a good three months. I just don't get visitors all that often...oh well.

But yeah, Jamms rocks.

Oh and someone at work told me about Rehab at the Hard Rock Hotel.

It sounds swell. This is what Vegas dot com has to say about it.

The competition grows fiercer each year for those attempting to enter Rehab at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

On Memorial Day 2006, thousands of people lined up for the highly-touted Sunday morning pool party. Close to 2,500 never even made it in.

While Hard Rock Hotel guests and those renting cabanas are guaranteed entry, it also works to your advantage to be:

1. A supermodel.
2. A super-celebrity.
3. A superhero.

No, seriously. A superhero.

"Slowly through the years there have been more and more people showing up as characters," said Chad Pallas, director of special events at the Hard Rock and the creative inspiration behind Rehab.

So start saving up your nickels and dimes Havasupai folks (its $30 for guys, $20 for the hunnies). Also don't forget to work on your core. Can't be wandering around with all manner of flub protruding over your suit's waistband. It's like college spring break (5 years at byu and no spring break makes kirky go something something).

Post Script: Yes I realize there is not a rat's chance in hell the Havasupai crowd is going to be down for this one...

Jetboil

So while I was in Provo. Brandon, Greg and I wandered over to Out-N-Back to go look and see if they had any cool camping gear and to see what dehydrated foods the guys over there liked and disliked.

The guy introduced us to the Jetboil. It's pretty sweet. So I went back home and ordered one from Campmor.

I finally got off my lazy butt and went to REI and bought some fuel canisters for it and fired the bad boy up last night. It gets Hot Hot Hot!!!

I swear it boiled that water in a couple minutes...Then it probably took twice as long to wait for it to cool off so I could touch it.
I like it though. Its about the size of a 1L Nalgene bottle. It's super. I'm a ready to do some camping. All I need is a bright colored tent. Then I can hang out at base camp. Drink some hot chocolate and discuss with people if we're going to the summit or going to wait for favorable weather. Conversate with the Sherpa people of Nepal. Base camp rocks!