sad post

so, alas, my cheaply built computer died this past weekend. I have had a few stories worth posting, but couldn't motivate myself to do so since I had no picture editing capabilities to back them up. So this is fair warning that the posts may be fewer and farther between, at least until I can fix or find a replacement for my 'puter and start the photoshop up again.

Latest news: J-Fire, Fogel, myself and Ngoc had plans to head out to the Valley this past weekend for some bouldering fun, but were stymied at the last minute by some freakish weather spill-over from the midwest tornado debacles going on of late. We'll be attempting a re-do this coming weekend, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[skip the following if you aren't a climber]
Also, speaking of climbing, since I can't post my pictures for the time being, I'm going to try and transition to talking about my climbing progress...you know, because I have to blog about SOMETHING! I did my second v7 in the gym last week, and am climbing perhaps a solid grade and a half harder on average than I was about 2-3 months ago, when I started my latest regimen of finger exercises. I remember getting back from Bishop last October or so and sending 4's with difficulty and 5's less than half of the time. I've so far completed 2 cycles, each cycle consisting of 4-6 weeks of weighted hangboarding, followed by 3 weeks of campus boarding (and a week off of specific training if I feel thrashed). After trying different methods suggested in Eric Horst's Training for Climbing, I've kind of slapped this regimen together to specifically build bouldering strength, and to better suit my level of physical recovery. The biggest challenge is continually listening to my fingers and elbows, and knowing when to back off or else suffer pulley/tendon strains. Ice is totally my friend!

a conversation Ngoc and I had very recently:

N Oh my God, Dave. That's a spider, that's a big spider, that's a black widow. That's definitely a black widow. Its got a big red dot.

D What? Where. Are you sure? [looks at spider] Yeah, well, if that's not a black widow, its definitely something scary.

N Can you, like, flick it? Can you get a stick and flick it off the porch?

D OK. [gets stick, starts flicking]

N He's going to jump on you and kill you

D I know, I'm being careful. He's hiding right now. [more flicking]

N Can we spray him? Oh, we don't have a hose. Can you use a squirty thing?

D Good idea [gets squirty thing]

N What about 409? Can you squirt him with 409?

D What? Why...let me just try the water [squirts spider off porch and onto first story patio, below our apartment]

N I'm going to get some 409 and finish him

Looking at the date of my last blog post, it appears that some time has passed since my last entry. When asked why recently by a buddy, my answer was simply "nothing cool has happened". I think if you're one of the few people who read this, you hear about my life happenings all too frequently already.

Breaking the life-mediocrity as of late was an excellent trip to Mickey's and Stinson Beaches this past Sunday. Ngoc, JFire and I drove out there and met up with Mike to enjoy some surprisingly fabulous weather and naked beachgoers. The rock at Mickey's beach is super slick and covered in a perpetual sea mist. My guess is that optimal friction out there never really happens... If anyone knows how to get around the ocean wetness out there, I'd be happy to hear it. But without this key knowledge, we kept to the dryer areas and easier problems mostly.

John and I did manage to send Orange Pleasure and Orange Pleasure - Right at V4 and V5 respectively. I had trouble finding the exit to the latter, pulling handfuls of choss off of my ill conceived top-out. Some quick zig-zag beta from John had me sending next go.

We got tired of Mickey's after the tide came in along with some tourists, so we high-tailed it up the road to Stinson, made a stop for Coronas and Ginger Ale at the market, and headed to the Stinson Beach Boulder to play on some short eliminates. We had some fun lounging and messing around on John's goofy changing lieback problem, which he finally sent most unceremoniously after a few minutes of rest. I managed to send it with some nutty heel hook beta that Ngoc gave me. Even though she's almost a foot shorter than I am, her beta always seems to work better for me.


We never could get up this odd V1. I think we had horrible beta. Here's John making it look easy.


Ngoc has become quite the macro photographer! These last couple photos show it.

Stinson Beach Boulder. The vertical rail above John's head is the lieback that you have to finesse onto, after starting low and on an opposite lieback with close to no feet.

My new nickname should be "great white".