The CragBaby

I post on two different blogs, WasatchGirl and Cragbaby. The WasatchGirl is focused on my work while CragBaby (named after my little pooch) highlights my personal life. However, sometimes there are posts that are applicable to both sites if it is a musings that I would enjoy a wide range of commentary. So, when one such posts occurs, I am going to put a trackback on the other blog. Just an FYI….

This past week I posted a challenge for the readers of this blog to go and donate blood as the Red Cross had released an article stating summer donations were low. I tried to call the Red Cross phone number on three different occasions and always got voicemail, tried to find the next drive online but repeatedly was given errors, plus stopped by the Red Cross booth at the Farmer’s Market to only be told I need to talk to another division … how frustrating!

I remembered donating once through ARUP so thought I would call today and see what the difference was between these two organizations. The difference lies in the where the blood is used; any blood donated through ARUP deployed at the local hospitals, specifically Shriners, Primary Childrens and the University Hospital.

Any of you hoping to donate, perhaps try going through ARUP as it is easy to get through and schedule an upcoming appointment. Also remember that as a donor you can give on a regular basis of every 56 days.

My good friend HIP #2 just landed a new teaching position in South Wales. His life has been quite hectic lately with running, interviews and school and it is great to see all of his hard work pay off through the acquisition of a new position. Congrats my friend… congrats! Have fun planning your well deserved vacation.

My good friend HIP #1 is currently traveling and climbing through the Asian and South Pacific regions. He was recently in the Australia for 3 months and as of yesterday caught a flight to New Zealand. On occasion I get a postcard or package from him in the mail and this past week I received the best postal package ever! He had warned me that something was coming and that I needed to use it outside only. Upon its arrival I opened it up to see a boomerang inside, but was in a hurry and didn’t get the chance to read the note. The boomerang itself was so cool, but later that evening I read the note and it said that the boomerang was actually HIS boomerang and that he would get it next time we met up. Wow… what a cool idea!!

Since HIP #1 is a fellow climber I thought I would take the boomerang with me on all my climbing adventures, posting pictures of the places it has traveled. It’s first trip was to Castle / City of Rocks, of which photos will be posted soon.

Thanks for the fantastic postal package HIP #1! Hopefully we can meet up sometime this summer…

This week has started out splendidly, but the last couple weeks were a little rough for a handful of reasons. However, during the bumpy times I was fortunate enough to receive many nice gestures from a variety of people and so wanted to say thank you.

• One day it was raining and I was trying to head to a board meeting in Orem; however, my car decided to boycott starting. A female neighbor I had never met came and jumped my car and then, when it still didn’t work, helped push it to the side of the road. And yes, it was down pouring the whole time and she had just worked a graveyard shift.
• The bummer week hit a climax on one particular day. Yet, upon arriving home I had a DVD of new music from my friend New York friend Harper.
• I have a great friend here in Salt Lake who for some reason always comes to my rescue. No matter if it is a ride to the airport, a ride home from work, helping me when my scooter gets stolen… you name it he is there. His name is Dave and he has truly been a great friend to me. When the car decided to stop working last week, Dave not only gave me a ride home from work, but tried to jump it again and then called around to diagnose the problem and find affordable parts.
• My friend Shaft has listen to me complain quite a bit this last week. Talking through problems is extremely beneficial for me and I definitely appreciated the listening ear. Plus he always brings fantastic snacks to the crag.
• A couple weeks ago I was planning on heading to Momentum to climb. My friend BW knew I was heading to the gym so left me a free guest pass on the windshield of my car.
• My Irish friend HIP #1 is traveling through Australia, yet seems to always have the time to drop me an email or call to check up on me and CB.
• My friend Orange has occasional dinner parties, of which she is increasing to a bi-weekly frequency working around the weekends when I am in town. It was so thoughtful and I am stoked to get to be there each time.
• My friend Cutesy Doom has left me a couple awesome voice mails that have made me giggle out loud.
• Two weekends ago I headed to The Horn with some climbing friends. I was able to hop on two of the best climbs of my life because two fellow climbers threw up a rope. Both routes were pushing my limit and I don’t know if I could have lead them. So thanks to these climbers I was able to experience two classic Horn routes.

Thanks….

I haven’t written a blog for quite a while because it has just been a little bit of a downer period lately. Not only have I been a little bummed, but I went out of town last weekend to climb and came home so extremely exhausted that I took five consecutive rest days. I think the rest was needed and I definitely feel a little bit more up to par.

I have been thinking a lot lately about a variety of subjects, one of which being the difference between needs and wants. It seems that many Americans can’t distinguish between these two words and proof of this is shown in the fact that economic reports show us spending more than we earn.

I try to live a really simple life. I have a small apartment, almost all my furniture was used prior to me taking ownership, my used car is old with dents, I seek out “good deals” and the only belongings that really mean anything to me would be the data on my computer and my dog (but I consider her more of a friend than a possession). I seriously enjoy living a minimalist lifestyle and being able to save over 50% of my paycheck. If anything it makes me feel free and mobile.

The only main expenditure I have on an annual basis is a plane ticket to a new destination and from there it is just backpacks, hostels and thousands of great memories. And perhaps that is why I am thinking about all this. It is time for me to book another trip and I am starting to contemplate where I might head for this year’s adventure. In 2005 I did a solo backpack trip through China for a month. It was probably my favorite destination thus far in my adventures as not only did it open my eyes to a whole new culture, government and lifestyle, but I realized how lucky I am to have been presented the opportunities that I have received thus far. In China I went through many small villages and saw a whole different standard of living. Not only did I have bugs in my food on a handful of occasions, but I used some restroom facilities that were anything but sanitary. I saw many people who lived with very little and here I was bopping around the whole country with ipod in hand.

On the other side of the economic spectrum, I had the opportunity to meet Warren Buffett a couple years ago and one of the things that impressed me the most was the simplicity of his life. He drove a pretty old Ford Explorer and lived in his original home. Here, the wealthiest man in the U.S., didn’t have a need to be showy or prove his status to others. Best of all, he attributed his wealth to being lucky enough to have won what he referenced as the “ovarian lottery” meaning he was lucky enough to be born in the US, as a male (for when he was born his situation would have been different if he were female) and to his parents who taught him good principles and leadership.

One of my annual goals for the past couple years has been to really contemplate needs versus wants when making a purchase. Of course I am not going to a full fledge extreme and refusing to spend any money, but rather just try and keep the concept in mind. Do I need to purchase a new car when my little Honda is still plugging away? Do I need to move to a different house when what I have is sufficient? Do I really need a gym membership when it is warm enough to climb outside? Yeah, I am just trying to keep it in perspective.

I worked with two co-workers who used to refer to me as rachelstrateparty.com or just .com. The joke started because the summer we worked together I had somehow gotten my picture on two websites highlighting the Salt Lake social scene and one small newspaper in a different county.

This weekend those co-workers would be proud as it was a definite party.com weekend. It included fantastic climbing, sushi, a keg party, a dinner party and a fantastic symphony date that turned into a couple visits to the urgent care. Here are some pics….

Saturday climbing was at Challenge Buttress with Shaft, SP, BW and a new partner Jon.

SP posing on Hollow Man. Please note the PINK ATC hanging from his harness.

Sunday climbing was in American Fork and was such a great time. The posse was BW, Stone Face Killah and Allen. We worked on the Hard Rock wall and White Wave Wall. Three of us hopped on Naked Nebula, a 12a pumpfest. The climb was absolutely stellar and I am excited to work it as a new project.

My good friend HIP Dave (HIP standing for Hardcore Irish Person) posted up his goals after reading my post about goals setting. I had contemplated doing this with my goal post, but at the time decided it was a little too personal. I have changed my mind as I was motivated to see the goals my friend was focusing on this year.

I break my goals into 4 different categories: Career, Investing, Physical and Personal. Some of my goals are too personal, but I will post up the majority of them. The following are my 2007 goals.

Career

• Finish my research work for the book – this is already done. It was a great experience and the book will be coming out soon (at which time I will blog about it)
• Take the GMAT this summer
• Look into taking some computer science classes – I have done this, but I don’t know if it is going to work into my current career path at this time. Still figuring it out.
• Compile ideas about next career move
• Undercommit / Overdeliver at work
• Apply for out of my league positions

Money / Investing

• Save and invest [x] this year
• Focus on the difference between needs and wants
• Sell or get rid of items that I don’t use
• Focus on simplicity

Physical

• 5.12c Redpoint – ha ha … this is a pretty stout goal, but I am throwing it out there
• Boulder V6
• Be able to lead 5.10 trad climb
• Run a half marathon – I already did this in a training run, but was hurt for the real race. I think I want to do another half or full this fall
• Take out beginner climbers once per week – when I started to climb I couldn’t find any partners because I was a beginner. My now main partner took me even though I was a beginner. I like to try and reciprocate the kindness she showed me.

Personal

• Travel to a new international destination each year
• Make an international move next year – being gone for at least six months to a year. I would love any feedback on how to make this into a career move. I would like to move to Australia, New Zealand or Hong Kong. But I am pretty much open to anywhere.
• Volunteer once per week – I have been volunteering at 10,000 villages, KCPW and I organized the SLCA fundraiser. From the research I did for the book, I have a lot of info on companies and noticed that some of the companies don’t have any info on Wikipedia. I think I am going to focus on entering this data for a while.
• Write a handwritten letter to a friend on a monthly basis
• Read 15 books this year
• Focus on energy efficiency
• Scan in all pictures so all photos are digital
• Go to bed at 10:30, wake up at 6:30
• Get CPR training
• Donate blood twice a year
• Start implementing meditation and journaling

In order to reach my annual goals every Sunday I set weekly goals to ensure I am pointing in the right direction.

HIP Dave, thanks for the inspiration to really post my goals to the universe.

I am a huge goal setter. I live my life through daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. However, this new year I never took the time to consider where I wanted to focus even though I was eager to do so. It was as if I let myself get wrapped up in life, letting life control me rather than me controlling my life.

About a year ago my mother had given me a book concerning writing down goals and it stated that the physical act of writing goals was in a sense letting the universe know what one wanted. I found the book to be extreme in some scenarios, but due to the book I have implemented taking the time to physically write my goals and have honestly noticed a huge difference. One year I had my year broken down by semester since I was still working toward my undergraduate degree. I allowed myself to put any ridiculous idea on the paper. And surprisingly at the end of the year everything I had written down had actually come to pass.

Due to a odd little hiccup in my memorial plans, I am in a coffee shop with three hours to burn and finally have taken the time to set my annual goals. I feel extremely motivated and look forward to trying to achieve my new ideas.

This Friday will be the third Friday of the month, meaning it is time once again for the Gallery Stroll! This Friday’s line up is extra exciting as it includes the 337 Project: 1 Building, 42 Rooms and 129 Artists. The 337 display will only be going on for two weekends, so better get out for opening night on May 18th. The building is located at 337 South 400 East.