I have this Dave Barry calander thingy that has a clip from him every day of the year.  This was todays words of wisdom, and I am totally fealin’ it:

Is my weight training working? Consider this: After just one week of lifting, I can no longer move my arms. I feel as though oxen have been clog-dancing on my upper body. I have to brush my teeth by holding the toothbrush still and moving my head up and down.

The problem is that weights—follow me closely—are heavy. When you lift them, your muscles hurt, which is your body’s way of telling you: “Stop lifting weights, moron!”

What a great way of putting it.  I took my time more working out Saturday and today, and my whole upper body is limp.  The big breakfasts rock though.  Gotta have lots of protein, so this morning I had two sausage and egg biscuits, and a bagel.  Pretty good compaired to my usual fair: de nada.

At Vertical Edge there are four different levels of difficulty for their climbs: green (5.7-8), orange(5.9), yellow(5.10), and red(5.11 and up). Up till now I have been doing greens, and they have been challenging enough to keep me very occupied. Last night I stepped my climbing up a level and climbed two orange routes. The first had a steep overhang, and the second involved some big stretches and tough holds. They were both extremely satisfying to finish, and probably my first climbing milestone. It feels so good to stretch out, trust your handholds, make that reach that you didn’t think was possible 10 seconds ago, and take a step up on a new foothold.

This Saturday at 10:30 I’m going to be going out to Vertical Edge and belaying for a birthday party till 12. The deal is I get to climb free for the rest of the day, and I get a free pass for another day after that. Pretty sweet. The unfortunate thing is that I am also going to the garage sale at the REI in Cary on Saturday at 10, which means I will only get a quick survey of the booty on sale before I have to run over to the gym. Guess when the rubber meets the road true priorities are discovered. Climbing comes before browsing endless supplies of cheap gear deals.

Don’t eat your spinach! E. coli has been traced to fresh bagged spinach, and there are E. coli outbreaks all over the country. Unremarkably the majority of those effected have been women. Not surprising since most men know best whats good for them. So the moral of the story is, dont eat your spinach, at least not your fresh bagged spinach.

In case you have heard about this mini series, but dont know much about it, here is a link to their website, and there is a link there to where you can watch the first two episodes.  I know nothing about it, but it seems like it could be pretty interesting.

I promised a while back that I would have a post with some of Jillians pictures from Costa Rica, and here it finally is.  Just a quick note about the trip:  They had a really incredible time, got to spend a lot of time practicing their spanish, and really enjoyed spending time with the Hennings as well.  Their goal in taking going on the trip was to help out the Hennings in any way they could, encourage the work there, and experience a new place and culture.  All three of these were accomplished splendidly.  Now, on to the pictures!

Last night I had a couple hours to myself while Jillian was at her class, so I headed over to Cary to try out the two fake boulders in the park off Harrison Ave.  First of all you would never know they are fake except that when you kick them you can tell they are hollow.  They are execelantly crafted so that every face provides a different level of difficulty, and challanges are provided like heal hooks, overhangs, corners, two finger grips, and stuff like that.

One of the best things about it is how it beats up on your hands.  Since most of my experience is at the climbing gym, I dont have the calouses that you get from actually climbing on rocks.  After climbing last night my hands are sore and I have the good feeling that I built my endurence maybe just a little.  Its very satisfying to have rough hands, all the more so since I am a software engineer and sit at a computer all day.

I recently purchased a new piece of kit that will take my lightweight backpacking one step further. On my last trip to the Black Mountain Cret Trail I brought only one pan and one pot to cook with. I discovered that the entire time I was out there I only ever used the pot. This got me thinking. I have wanted to try out some titanium cookware, since they are super light, but cooksets can be very expensive. Usually its $60 or more for the nested pots and pans. However from my experience on the crest trail I discovered all I needed was one pot big enough to boil water and heat up chefboyardi (sp?). So I went ahead and got a titanium mug/pot from Snow Peak that was a good bargan, and should provide plenty of cooking power at a light weight and compact pack.

The pot weighs 4.8 ounces, as opposed to more then a pound for my other pots and pans, and my fuel canister and stove conveniently fits inside it, so it packs very small. I got one for my dad as well, to go along with his new pocket rocket, and I am really looking forward to our being able to take them out to the backcountry and give them a shot.

When will I be able to try it out? I am thinking about going out to Linville with dad some weekend this fall, before the river gets too cold. I think it would be really enjoyable to kick back and relax for a couple days, maybe bouldering a little by the river, reading a little, taking a dip now and then, ahhhh, I can’t wait. We’ll see!

Last night I had the proud experience of intorducing my wife to rock climbing. To start out I belayed her on a climb to give her something to look forward to, then I showed her how to belay and tie in. I am very proud to report that she passed her belay test with flying colors on the first try, and her and i can go any time now and belay each other. It was neat because Karie and Jamie came out with us, and this was Karie’s first time doing any of this too, so Jamie and I committed a lot of our time out there to them, showing them how everything works and belaying for them. Not to say we didn’t get some climbing in ourselves. I redpointed one climb that I was having trouble with before, and I feel like I am ready to step up a notch and try a few harder climbs.

I tried out a new pair of Five Ten Ascents that i got off Steep and Cheap last week, and they were great. A little painful when I am not climbing just because they are that tight, but that is how they are supposed to be, and I anticipate they will stretch a little to fit my feet just right. I think I am really going to enjoy climbing with them.

Climbing has been such a great motivation to work out. If you remember, I committed to get up early and work out every weekday morning. So far it has been going great. I have been doing chest and back two day, arms two days, and running on the fifth day. Last week when we were in Mississippi, since we couldn’t work out anywhere, Nethaniel and Charles and I did countless push-ups. (ok maybe not countless, we actually did about 600)

Last note, having to do with climbing, last Saturday I hiked around Umstead State Park and found the boulders that everyone talks about there. Probably Ian and I will hook up this week or next and head out there to try out some climbing on real live rocks.

Well Late Saturday night we got back from Mississippi, and what a week we had. We were working with Samaritans Purse, and on Monday they split our group up into four teams. The teams were then sent out to different projects with instructions as to what needed to get done, and liberty given to the team leads as to how to best accomplish the tasks at hand. Our team worked on two houses, the first in Waveland, Mississippi, and the second in Kiln. The Waveland project involved repairing a hole in the back of a house that an air conditioner had tore open either because of the water that was 30 feet up on the house or the winds. Our second project was repairing a wall that was buckled out due to the weight of water that came up to the second story. We were able to complete both projects successfully, and felt very happy with our work and contribution.

One thing that I was shocked by is the level of desolation in the area that still remains a year after katrina came through. It is rare to see houses that have been repaired or rebuilt. Even the normal looking houses are all gutted out on the inside and uninhabitable if you take a closer look. Driving to our job sites every day we saw mile after mile of devistation, spray painted notices on houses, and very little business. FEMA trailors were parked in almost every front yard, as property owners lived in the campers while working (or not working because they are old or out of money) on their houses.

Spiritually the trip was such a blessing as each of us were constantly reminded that life is not about earthly posession. We were also driven often to prayer and constantly reminded that God is in control and he provides. There were numerous times when our work teams ran into problems, and every time God provided perfectly. One phrase that I became very familiar with was “its a God thing” meaning, God works everything out in his perfect providence.

It was such a joy to be able to serve not only the needy people of Mississippi, but also God in a special way, for the week. The relationships that were built with team members will be lasting, as I pray will be the lessons learned concerning the Christian walk. The needs in the area are still so huge, I hope that future trips will be planned, and I would encourage anyone to get a group together and see what can be done. Overall God used our group to make good progress restoring eight or more homes to a livable condition, and I pray God will have used us to impact the lives of each homeowner that we worked with for their spiritual good. Praise be to God.

For more pictures of our trip you can go to this site, which contains a conglomeration of pictures taken by several different members of our group, on all of the various projects we were working on.