Prior to traveling through Ireland in 2006 I posted up on the Irish climbing forums in search of climbing partners, hoping to hit up a couple of the crags on my visit. Dave (who I reference as H.I.P. #2) was living in Wales but had seen the post and inquired why none of his friends had yet to respond. A couple of them then reached out to me and we arranged a way to meet up and climb in the Burren over one weekend, that just happened to be a weekend when Dave was visiting from Wales.
The H.I.P. nickname came about because as we were climbing in the Burren the weather included the usual drizzle and cloudy skies. The rain would have definitely stopped me from climbing back home in Utah, but the whole Irish crew was somehow super psyched on the wet holds. That evening the rain and wind really picked up and I quickly hopped into my down sleeping bag as the Irish team happily sipped tea in the torrential weather. Whew… so much more hardcore than I. So from there on out I started to call them the Hardcore Irish People (or H.I.P.’s for short).
My friends Neal (H.I.P. #1… the number difference being solely because I am able to chat with Neal more regularly) and Dave (H.I.P. #2) continue to impress me. I joined H.I.P. #1 in Thailand where he just kept on sending project after project, redpointing his first 8a and continuing to be super psyched the whole time. Then this week on H.I.P. #2’s blog he posts up this entry on his first E7 (8a) . What the hell is he even holding onto on this climb?! And how in the hell is he placing gear?! You really must check out the whole post .
I seriously have no idea how he is staying on the wall with that foot and hand hold. And I love this line, "Ignore the crap ropework… was more concerned with staying on!"
The first mono in a sequence of mono pockets. Whew… hardcore Irish people! If I read his post correctly, I believe he hit the redpoint on this climb. Congrats, my friend!
The other day I came home from work to see a postal package sitting on my doorstep. I couldn’t remember ordering anything online so assumed it must be for Shaft. I picked it up and saw the name of a long time friend written in my hand writing, yet hadn’t been in touch with this friend for many years for the sole reason of simply losing touch due to geographical location changes. I took a closer look at the package and noticed that the postal stamp said August 3, 2005!!!! I continued to examine the box and saw that it was sent from my old apartment, where I had lived the past three years, and that the return address was correct. Yet somehow it had just never quite made its way home until now.
That evening I called my dear friend and chatted with him. We laughed at the postal package and figured it truly had been approximately three years since we had last spoken. We quickly exchanged our past couple year life summaries and made plans to catch up for dinner for the full update after I returned from my Squamish vacation. On the way home from Squamish we exchanged some texts confirming our dinner appointment in a week’s time. And when the night of the dinner rolled around I thought I should confirm again and sent two text messages, only to not hear back from him this time. His lack of response was a little out of the ordinary as he usually was quick to respond, but I figured his plans must have changed and that we needed to reschedule.
The next day one of his siblings surprisingly called me at work to inform me that my friend had been missing for the past week and that the family had shown up to our dinner meeting place in hopes that he would appear, to only be sorely disappointed.
Over three weeks have now passed since my friend’s disappearance. The family has filled out the missing persons report, pulled his financial and cell phone records and yet have been unable to discover any trace of him. I have called him daily since I was informed of the news only to repeatedly hear the message that his voice mail box is full.
Dear friend, if you happen to see this, I sure do wish you would come home. Your postal package continues to patiently await.
Last year I received the best postal package from my friend H.I.P #1 that included his own personal boomerang that had accompanied him in his travels. The Boom then accompanied me through my climbing adventures (for instance in Joes Valley ) and was of course included in my recent trip to Squamish. Here she is smiling across the Canadian border. This pic is for you H.I.P. #1.
A fellow SLC climber and friend, Lauren Yant, has started her own business, Ruthie Pearl , selling fashionable, earth-friendly shopping bags and gift bags. Lauren is highly earth conscience and taken her activism to the next level by creating quality products with low impact, while offsetting all business energy consumption through wind power credits, reducing and recycling wastes, and educating others on global impact and how they can have a positive influence.
She was recently quoted:
"A lot of people think that environmentalism is a political movement, but it really isn’t -climate change is something that affects us all. People in my generation look at our grandparents who thought nothing was wrong with smoking and think they were crazy. I think that’s the same way that our grandchildren will look at us."
"They’ll wonder, ‘What were they thinking?’ If there’s anything that I hope people learn from what I’m doing, it’s that anyone can make small changes to help the world become a better place - and you can even look cute doing it. I simply hope that people start taking small steps to make smarter decisions for a better tomorrow."
The current selection of bags can be seen on the site and at the upcoming Farmer’s Market . Lauren has offered a 20% discount for any of the CragBaby readers. Just enter CRAGBABY as the discount code at the time of checkout. And then of course let me know which bag you purchased, as I am still trying to decide…. =)
Pic taken during the move in process. We really have cleaned up more sense then.
Shaft and I recently moved to the 414 located in Sugarhouse. I have lived alone for two and half years and wasn’t quite sure about living in the room mate scenario again. The answer? It’s completely superb. To be honest, the 414 might be my best living situation yet. Let’s see… I get to hang out with Shaft on a regular basis, CB can run around in the big fenced in yard, I have access to a mac, linux and windows machine, plus I get to spend time with two great kids for half the week. Add to all this the fact that we have guitar hero and I feel like the luckiest girl on the lower east side.
I recently had the chance to fly out to New York for the weekend. It was my first time to go to New York in the spring and it was substantially more enjoyable than my dead of winter and middle of summer trips. In fact, I actually loved New York and for the first time in my life thought I might enjoy living there.
I crashed up in Brooklyn at my friend Josh’s house. It was extremely kind of him to offer up his place, which was perfectly located for easy access into the city. This picture was taken when we were enjoying an excellent brunch at Miriams.
My Seattle-based friend Warren suggested I catch up with his friend and avid NYC tour guide, JP. JP was seriously hilarious and gladly showed me around the most interesting sites of Union Square: the man selling the carrot slicer, the sock shop with a very diverse sock offering, the gym where JP enjoyed running on the sidewalk racing the folks on the treadmills, a comfortable couch outside of a furniture shop, but mostly the fantastic Japanese restaurant with a cotton candy machine. Good times!
I was able to meet up with my good friend Robb for drinks at Floyds, catching up on life while watching endless games of Bacci ball. He then joined me on Saturday for my walk across the Brooklyn bridge and strolling through Soho.
The busy, busy street in Soho.
After meeting up with my business friend Sam, I caught up with Justin for a quick drink
Later on Saturday night I hung out with a bunch of friends from SXSW including Alex and his wife, Orian, Charlie and his girl Meredith, and a couple of Charlie’s other friends I didn’t get the time to really get to know. A handful of us then headed to Yuri’s for a party, but I am not used to the late night lifestyle of New York and so didn’t stay very long. The next day I gathered all my stuff together and flew home in the early afternoon.
My good friend Sam recently moved to Guam to practice law. I can’t express how excited I am for his move and envy his opportunity to live abroad.
As a going away gift, Sam, who is a guitarist and composer, put on a house show. I absolutely love his folk-like music, with lyrics including:
“Bobbing with the potatoes
Trying to stay afloat.
So I grabbin’ me a carrot,
and trying to carve a boat.
And I’ll set sail
straight for your heart.
And if I get there
will you give me a part?
Cuz you are the girl I can’t resist,
though you persist.
Though you persist.” Great Expectations
“If I turn the temperature down
and I’m the only heat around
Would you come on darlin’ and sit a little closer to me?” Proposal #2
“I carry my phone
wherever I roam.
Feels like a big long leash.
A fish when it’s hooked
well, tastes better cooked.
She’s fishing catch and release.” Bachelor’s Lament
Listening to Sam play that night made me realize (again) how lucky I have been to have him in my life. His friendship has been invaluable. He seems to understand me well and regardless of how little or much I see him throughout the year, he is always there for support. Mostly though, Sam is perhaps the only friend who I can openly talk to about any of my emotions, no matter how raw they might be that day, and he is always willing to listen.. just listen. He has gotten me through many rough patches in my life and I am lucky to have him has a friend. I hope he finds much happiness in Guam.
I just realized that my Seattle based friend Chris is blogging. I have looked through about a dozen entries this morn and am impressed with his blog, especially his photos. He writes on all topics I know nothing about: photography, pop culture, music, movies, etc. I really dig it. Check it out here or it will also be linked on my blogroll. The above shot is his and called Artificial Nature.
In 2006 I traveled to Ireland for a two week trip and was amazed at the hospitality of the Irish. People would freely give me rides, offer me drinks, talk for hours in pubs, inquire about my travels, etc. Then to top it off I met the most fantastic crew of climbers who picked me up in Northern Ireland to let me join in their climbing trip at the Burren. The hospitality of these people was over the top.
While there I made two real good friends, H.I.P #1 and H.I.P #2. (H.I.P is an acronym for Hardcore Irish Person as it they were psyched to climb even when the rock was wet, plus would sip tea in the freezing rain prior to crashing in the tent for the night .) This week has been a little funky as I am striving to get back into the groove of work and midterms after a long awesome weekend. Between work and homework I took a break to flip through the Google reader and saw that H.I.P #2 had posted up the nicest blog about my new site and how his friends should check it out. The Irish kindness never ceases to amaze me.
Both H.I.P #1 and H.I.P #2 blog. Check out their sites here and here.
This past week was a little volatile for me and filled with a handful of bummer days, which is out of the ordinary. In hindsight, I believe there were just many variables all colliding within the same week. However, during the bummer week I had five friends who just went out of their way to help me out, to which I wanted to say thank you.
One day I came home from work and noticed a package in the mail. I looked at the stamp and noticed the British pound symbol and instantly smiled. Inside was a fantastic cd and the best card, sent as a late birthday present from my British Team Buddha friends.
The next day was yet another struggle, but once again I came home to find surprises awaiting in the mail. I had a new Cheyenne cd from my friend Harper in New York and a big box full of cereal from my good friend Sam (the cereal being an inside joke).
Shaft and I went out to a symphony on Friday. I always know the program prior to attending, but this night was an exception where we had gotten tickets last minute, not being able to read up on the show prior to attendance. To our surprise, it was a light-hearted performance of family fun music and a magician. With anyone else the show might have seemed silly, but since I was with Shaft I could laugh out loud and thoroughly enjoy the illusions.
My friend Sam was in the Salt Lake area this weekend. On Saturday we went to a play and enjoyed some supper afterwards. The night was fantastic because we had the chance to just chat openly about life, fears, hopes, etc. I find conversations with Sam to be refreshing.
Mr. Math left me a kind note and some delicious cookies, which made me smile.
Thanks everyone. I appreciated your kind gestures.
