A Great Read

I bought "I hope they serve beer in Hell" by Tucker Max when I was at SeaTac a few weeks ago when I realized I left my book club book at home.

From the Back Cover:

My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole.

I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead.

But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way. I share my adventures with the world.

This book is reprehensible, mysogynistic, sordid, and...scatalogical from time to time.

And it is fucking funny. He even tells stories that are very embarassing to him, if you're wondering if it is just a big ego trip.

I highly recommend. I'm going to read it again.

Sidebar: If I ever have a daughter, I will make her read this as a warning.

A couple Weekends ago....

I had a really good time.

I decided that I needed time away, so I decided to spend some time alone. I picked up a last minute flight out to Seattle, Erik picked me up, and the next morning, he dropped me off in the Cascades about 45 minutes east of Seattle. I'd picked out a hiking trail from a guide book late the night before.

It was a 1 mile hike to the trail junction and other 3 mile trail to the top of the mountain. In the 3 mile hike, I climbed 4000 feet, reaching an altitude of 5630 feet. This took about 4 hours including lots of time for photos.

I passed a hiker and his friendly dog heading down. He smiled and told me that I'd have the peak to myself. I saw no one else for the remainder of the evening.

As I crossed the treeline into the alpine, I was greeted by flaming red flora and interspersed pines. I'd brought along Mason Jennings & Jolie Holland lyrics to sing to myself, but I only had 2 random lines stuck in my head from "Stairway to Heaven." I hadn't listened to this song for months.


And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.

I now knew why monks build monasteries on the tops of mountains, "and it made me wonder" if Robert Plant was doing the same thing I was when he put pen to paper.

Irony how the thin air was deep breaths for the soul.

As I reached the peak, clouds were streaking across the sky at high speed...visibility was low, but I was able to make out some alpine lakes in the backcountry. I could see down, but no longer across the canyon.

It was getting dark, and I setup camp at 5300 feet. Campfires were not allowed at that altitude, but it didn't matter, because everything was wet anyways. I was making dinner over my stove, when I heard a noise behind me. I spun around to see a mule deer not 20 paces away, walking around like nothing was going on. It didn't seem very impressed or scared by me. This made my wonder what business he had up here, and perhaps a bear would too.

At about 8pm, it was getting dark, and I called it a night. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I felt something cold & wet on my face. It was ice. I reached out of my sleeping bag to discover that my breathe was condensing on the outside of my sleeping bag and freezing . Wow. It was cold, but I was comfortable in my bag.

In the morning, I woke up, thinking that I need to pull down camp and get going, but it was beautiful out.

The morning of Saturday the 13th, I climbed the 300 feet back to the peak and saw an awesome sight. Beyond ridge after smoky ridge was Mount Rainier......reaching from the horizon for the heavens. Even Mt St. Helens was visible (from Oregon) The sky was crystal clear, and clouds were blanketing the valley thousands of feet below. I was sharing this view with no one else. I sat in awe on the frosty rocks until most of my extremities were numb from the cold, and headed back to camp.



I tore it down, and back down I went.

I'm coming down the mountain, and this whole. darn. valley's. mine.

Stuff

Exhibit A:

Ironman rookie Chrissie Wellington, riding her Cervélo P2C to an Ironman World Championship victory in Kona, Hawaii.


Exhibit B:
My Balcony

Stuff

It fits me like a tailored, carbon fiber glove, it's light as hell, and it feels like I don't even have to pedal to go fast. And I got a pretty good deal on it.

Red Bull

Red Bull is probably the best thing to happen to partiers.

I started partying at about 7pm on Friday, and was drunk straight through til about 3am Sunday morning.

Somehow, I woke up wide-eyed, clear minded, and sans hangover at 7am on Sunday.

Needless to say, this weekend was, as Barney from "How I met your mother" would put it-- LEGENDARY.

Thanks Red Bull!

Irony

My company makes about $180,000,000 per year.

The greatest profit margins come from wires that are used for cleaning out coronary arteries.

Someone want to explain why the majority of the employees at my company, many of them highly competant at their job, allow their bodies to become shaped like the mushroom monsters from Super Mario Brothers?

It just seems to me like they might have some real world perspective that might give them incentive to avoid that kind of thing.

I'm short

For my family, anyways....

Dad, Tim, me, Bruce

Rollercoaster

I've been going up and down for weeks now. Athough today wasn't great, here's what I wrote to myself on Tuesday.

"Today I feel very strong, and very in control. My mood is sad, but confident in my ability . I'm on the verge of tears, but I feel like I can go through my feelings, yet simultaneously use my inner strength to be at peace. I'm not quite sure if these tears are from sadness, or joy, or faith. Maybe both.

I feel although times are more difficult than ever, I can focus on my being, measure my problems, solve them, improve, and become a better person. I'm very confident in my inner strength.

During times like these, I often find solace and strength in doing new things and improving myself. Take yourself to your point of failure, and recover stronger. Challenging your limits always makes your world bigger.

I think I've found the bottom! And now that I've stopped falling, I can see that I'm still alive, and I can see the way out!"

I hope to have more days like this.