Friday, January 29, 2010

Time marches on...

Haha, that's a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie. I think the principal is trying to usher people to class and that's his threat.

Moving on.

It's been a busy few weeks over here. For starters, I no longer reside at 1000 American Pacific Dr so if you've been looking for me over there... too bad! That move was a tough one because even though it was completely unavoidable and I had over two months to prepare, my iron shield of denial prevented me from any preparation until they were going to physically extract me. With absolutely no cooperation on my part, a few very good people took over and helped move my stuff from point A to the much, much smaller point B. Now that I'm here, I would say I've assimilated quite nicely. Before, there was no one around to stop me from doing whatever, whenever, however; but now that I live in a house with people, I don't think I've disgraced myself more than a few dozen times, which isn't bad at all.
The apartment I left.

Around that same weekend I biked the River Mountain Loop Trail. (Ron, this one's for you!) It was really great and since then I've been studying my calendar rigorously to plan my next ride. The best outcome of the ride, aside from how great it feels to complete 34 miles, is that I went from no bikes to two. Two life-size, ready for use bikes- one road, one mountain, both sitting in my room awaiting my butt.
River Mountain Loop Trail




Hiking has been good as well, and now that the weather has cooled down (this is a slight understatement; arguably the weather cooled down three months ago, but still) I've been able to hike several times a week at Lake Mead (LAME for short). My bias notwithstanding, this is the place to be. Red Rock is pretty, but Lame has mountains. Big ones that are really fun to hike up (assuming you can find them, which admittedly, I can't always), and the views... it's either the Colorado river from high above, or Lame's shining blue waters. You can't go wrong, and your chances of spotting wildlife are high because you know who hikes at Lake Mead? No one. Relish in the solitude.

Anniversary Narrows

Liberty Bell overlook





Running has, once again, entered my life with a competitive flair. It used to be that I would run to the ocean (San Francisco), then it was running in the park along the Hudson river (New York), now... I do the best with what I've got, and Lake Mead (again with that lake!) is my muse. The railroad tunnels have been my course for the past few weeks, in part due to the 1/2 marathon relay I'm preparing for, but also because the lake views are fabulous.

In other news, a very special friend came home for a visit. Together we explored City Center, which was really cool in a sci-fi, futuristic way. Sadly, we nearly didn't make it out, acting more like two old ladies than the 24-year-olds we really are. But at the last minute a second wind swept us out the door and kept us going all night. It was great to see my Cubana again!
The start of a good night.



Finally, there's nothing I can say about Haiti that you haven't already heard, but I would like to point out a really great donation opportunity if you've been flirting with the idea:   http://www.amurt.us/

For a comprehensive list of donation links, go here.

3 comments:

Carol Swift said...

Since you and Lindsay watched Buffy at least 345 times, I would say you're an expert on what people said in that movie. As for the rest of your hiking, biking, etc., you made me tired just reading all of it. You're amazing!

Ron said...

Like the biking part... I've heard that bike trail is nice, but cougars have been seen on it, so be careful when you're up there. Enjoy your new room mates.

Molli Poliak said...

EM, we need to hook up and do stuff like this. I love running, hiking, biking, etc but I feel sometimes that I don't have anyone to go with. You are looking good woman!.. by the way.