Weekend Review

It was a decent weekend here in CT. I finished my paper at about 10pm on Friday and was pretty pleased with the result. Class on Saturday was fun, we covered various topics on how the Fed can manipulate the economy and various methods of highly profitable price discrimination. Saturday night I stopped by guitar center to try some more guitars in my quest for rock.

I think I’ve decided on what guitar to purchase. Check out today’s feature to read about some of the things I’ve learned over the past weeks.

Sunday’s highlight was a visit with Paul Scott. We talked about various exciting projects and work and music and movies. It’s always mind expanding talking to Dr. Scott.

And of course last night, despite desperately wanting to go to bed at about eight thirty, I listened to the entire redsox game on the radio. Oh man. Super exciting.

Listening to sports broadcasts on the radio is really interesting. Let’s look at the options for baseball media.

1. TV
2. Radio
3. Gameday (internet)
4. Live internet Feed

Gameday, if you aren’t familiar, is a funky little graphical representation of a baseball game. It shows all sorts of stats but does an extremely poor job at showing action. The live internet feed is interesting… because they charge for it. Does anyone know anyone who paid for live internet feed last night?

I like radio. The announcers do a great job at conveying excitement at the field and add, I think, a whole level of excitement. They describe not only the action, but also the visual aspects that are just taken for granted on TV. “The Red Sox run onto the field, with their bright white home uniforms… Cleveland in their travel grays!” Their description of Coco Crisp’s final catch of the night was awesome. Too good to retell.

Even still, you miss the whole picture with radio. Perhaps the ultimate combo would be to watch TV with the sound off and the radio on.

Weekend Adventures and Misadventures.

Saturday Shaun L. and I took a trip up to Guitar Center to check out the latest and greatest of guitar design. You’ll see an exciting new post appear in the features section sometime in the next three weeks talking about guitars and the new purchase that is looming.

After that I went to Kung Fu and played a few sets of Tennis with Shaun L.

On Sunday, the intensity continued.

The day started with a beginner’s rock climbing day at Main Cliff. Pete, Paul, Lauren, and I got about 20 people together to share in the joys of scaling rocks. We set up 5-6 routes over the course of the day and, except for the occasional chilling winds, everyone seemed to have had a good time. TimBaird, Janelle, Asia, and Dave made up the group that came with me. They did really well.

Unfortunately, post climbing I wasn’t feeling too well. And despite sleeping 8+ hours last night I still felt pretty defeated this morning. Hopefully it will pass quickly and not develop into anything more hampering.

This week is the first in four weeks that shouldn’t have me traveling anywhere. It’ll be nice to stay home and relax.

A Week of Change

This week… things change.

For one, classes are starting back up. I’m taking Conduction on Wednesdays, International Operations of Fridays, and Service Operations Management every other Saturday.

There’s nothing entirely unusual about this class schedule… but now I have an added commitment.

On Saturday, I am proud to report that I was promoted to blue belt in kung fu.
Looking at the following Kung Fu Belt Progress chart, you’ll see that I’m inching closer and closer towards the coveted black belt.

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What does this have to do with added commitment? Well, blue belt and up is considered ‘advanced.’ This means that the class times will increase from one to two hours. This doubled time commitment will increase my weekly training from 3-4 hours to 6-8 hours. I also suspect the classes will get a bit more vigorous and I will be expected to reach new levels of fury.

It’ll be interesting to see how all this plays out.

In other news, keep your eyes open in the features section for a follow up on last night’s amazing roller derby bout.

Chatfield Hollows

On Labor Day Pete and I tried our luck at Chatfield Hollows.

Chatfield Hollows is a park in Killingworth, CT that has a quaint little rock climbing spot notorious for its short tough routes. The walls don’t go much higher than 40 feet or so, so the top of the cliff is just about at the same level as the tops of the trees.

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After getting a little lost entering the woods, Pete and I finally found the crag and got started on a 5.5. This would be Pete’s first lead.

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In action. Pete places some gear.

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Pete’s completed his climb.

Now, this was a pretty good route to get a first lead in. The low height and great gear placement was super safe. Also, in an attempt to get some practice placing gear, Pete laced the thing up with protection. Let’s take a closer look at that last picture. I’ve circled gear in red.

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Pete placed a total of 14 pieces of gear in a 30 foot wall. hilarious!

After Pete finished up we went through a few harder routes. Pandemonium, Sirius, and a third that escapes me. They were harder routes… 5.9, 5.9+, and 5.10+.

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Overall, I would describe Chatfield hollows as somewhat magical. It’s off the beaten path so for most of the day Pete and I were alone at the rock. It was sheltered and the Gniess rock was a pleasant break from the typical Trap rock at Ragged Mountain.