Third annual trip to Cumberland Island! This amazing island is located just off the southern Georgia coastline. It's a great place to meditate, talk with friends, swim in the ocean, and just relax. It is run by the National Parks Service, so it has a much more rustic/wild feel than resort islands. There are wild horses, deer, turkeys, raccoons, armadillos, alligators, and ... mosquitoes.
Unfortunately, this year we came during the hottest few weeks of summer. The sand dunes (with heat index) were 112 F according to one of the rangers. We were also told that the mosquitoes were like a plague "of Biblical proportions." Even layering on pure deet repellent didn't save me. Still it was a great getaway to spend time with Jason and catch up on the last year of insight as well as discussing plans for the future.The last morning on the island, I took an amazing hike up the beach and then through the middle of the island. Not only do I like like walks on the beach, I like long walks on the beach... at sunrise... with wild horses :) It turned out to be a 20 mile walk which was a bit more than I had anticipated. Still, a great experience. I definitely have a greater appreciation for air conditioning now!

After the salmon fishing, I was in a hurry to get to Missouri to see a particularly special person! I spent a great 2 weeks with my amazing girlfriend Michelle. She was working at a local nursing home, so we snuck out for dates on her days off to Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia.
I had a great time with the whole family and really had a chance to relax. 7 months is way too long to be away... (oh and that's a hair dying adventure above - maybe I should move into hairdressing)
While she was working, I researched and ordered parts for my new computer. I've been living with my trusty Dell laptop for almost 5 years now and it has served me well. However, the fan sounds asthmatic, it's reliability has gone downhill, and it's just not powerful enough anymore. Thus a new beast was born. Big kudos to Eric, Daniel, and NewEgg.com for guiding me towards excellent parts. For those who care, the specs can be found here.

A video a put on MySpace to illustrate one part of the true fishing experience:
Salmon picking

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I suppose you could say "no news is good news." That doesn't work forever though. My apologies for the lack of new bloggish material.

Salmon fishing in Alaska was every bit the grand adventure I hoped it would be. There were good days and not-so-good days, but on the whole, I really enjoyed the experience. I couldn't ask for more amiable companions as captain and crew, my living space was nice, and 3 huge meals every day kept me running even with insufficient sleep.

In the photo above, you can see a seagull nesting near our cabin. I have a new hatred for seagulls after fishing (they peck eyes and gills out of fish) but I can't deny their beauty. We had awesome sunsets quite frequently and since we were so far north during the summer, sunset started around midnight and sunrise started about 3 am. 20+ hours of light every day took some getting used to ;)

Here is a photo of me with the largest King (chinook salmon) that we caught - 42 pounds! Neoprenes, gloves, raincoat, and hat were a necessity to avoid fish slime.
Here you can see part of the equipment before we went out fishing: webbing + lead line + cork line = one net ready for fish.

Here you can see the 2 cabins we stayed in (plus the luxury outhouse). No running water, no electricity, and surrounded by bogs/mud/mosquitoes. What more could anyone ask for? It was a great place though - awesome weather a very cozy home. I'm still a little puzzled about the smoke. Either another cabin is on fire or someone is burning trash.

Friends, I am off to go fishing in Alaska. I have no idea what it will be like, but plenty of pictures will be taken. I just hope I don't drown :D

Finals went really well - so glad to have that out of the way. Time to check out of the dorm and be on my merry way! My summer reading list contains:
Tao Te Ching
Bhagavad Gita
Selections from the Qur'an
Readings in the Philosophy of Science
and about 6 quantum physics books

(not to mention full blown research for next year's writing class). Time is going to fly!

I'm an uncle - what a scary thought... On the upside, it should be a lot of fun - I can spoil my niece, Shanna, rotten! I won't get to to see her in person for month or two, unfortunately, but from the pictures she looks pretty human ;)

I'm under a tough load at the moment, but in 3 days I'll be free and done with finals! Leaving for Alaska a week from Tuesday as well, so that's cool!

So I haven't posted anything substantial in a good long while. I'm one week from finals and life is getting "interesting" you might say. Classes are good but challenging and I've been playing soccer, ultimate frisbee, and doing a bit of climbing. Here's a photo or two from a recent rockclimbing trip:


Aside from climbing, I've been up to the usual mischief. Oh and I'm leaving for Alaska in 2 weeks!

Now for something completely different, I did some research on liquid dance and popping recently. Check out this video - best part is about half way through!

I'm not dead yet. More news soon. Sleeeeeeeep...

This quarter looks as scary as any before it. It's largely responsible for my lack of posting, actually.

My plan at the beginning was to get to bed by 11pm every night, get up at 6am to exercise, practice dancing and rock climbing, and generally do everything!

I think it only happened two days so far - not a great track record. I'm hanging in there. Here's my lineup:
Ordinary Differential Equations
Physics (3rd quarter)
Dynamics (3rd quarter)
World Religions
Honor's Writing 2
Philosophy of Science
Rock climbing 2

Fortunately, there are other things to keep me busy in all my spare time: math tutoring, rock climbing, soccer inter murals, and yes (I hesitate to admit it) some computer games with friends.

Oh yeah, I also spend my time practicing the algorithm march!

So it's been a long while since I've posted anything - it's not for lack of stuff happening though... I had a funtastic spring break with these excellent friends of mine! We went hiking in the hills of Walla Walla, had a St. Patty's party, visited Tillamook, drove the Washington coast, explored a rainforest, went Salsa dancing in Seattle, and generally enjoyed good company. Huzzah for roadtrips! There were many "you had to be there" moments that just won't work as a blog post. I had a great time - we'll leave it at that.
A sweet fire we got going with chocolatey-marshmallowy-banannas in foil - the new "smore" substitute!
Two of my great friends Janelle and Jen - as seen from underneath a sidewalk!
Green mashed potatoes are awesome!