Category: Weekend Update!

Laborless Day

mike d. 2 Comments climbing, Weekend Update!

This labor day weekend was overflowing with adventure. First, Saturday.

On Saturday I went to the Gunks with Andreas. The Gunks is a hugely popular climbing spot in NY and Andreas is an extremely intense German. He led a 5.10c like it was a walk in the park. Completely smooth and without hesitation. On top of that, he was humble about his on-sight achievement.

The second pitch of nurse’s aid was rated as a 5.10a… but it was not a 5.10a. At the top there was a “wild hand traverse” which would have been better described as an “insane hand traverse.” Here’s a rough sketch:
nursesaid.PNG

Andreas was unsuccessful in his leading of this portion of the climb. He actually had to make a little aid ladder out of gear. He did it, and eventually got to the top.

I was following, and when I got to the hand traverse I did the most horribly sloppy ascent. First I traversed out about 3 feet. Then I threw my left foot onto a chip in the far corner.

Then I mashed my face against the rock.. jammed my wrist into the crack and pushed down to get my body above the crack.

Then I brought my right foot up and kind of slobberly mushed myself higher. slobberly mush is a pretty good adjective noun combo. Other good adjectives noun combos that could be used to describe my motion might be:

sloppily wormed
grovingly smooshed
squirmingly wriggled

Finally I desperately grabbed for the top and stuck it.

After completing the route a group of climbers who had been climbing next to us spoke up.

climbers: You did a great job with that roof!
Mike D: Ugh. no I didn’t. it was just about as ungraceful as you can get
climbers: Grace? grace doesn’t matter in Trad* This is climbing not figure skating.

We had a good laugh. After nurse’s aid, I led CCK a 5.7/5.9 exposed lead. Once worn out, Andreas and I left the gunks and shared some pizza in New Paltz. It was a great experience and I was happy to spend some time with Andreas.

*traditional climbing

There’s something alive in the fridge. no… seriously.

mike d. 2 Comments climbing, KungFu, Weekend Update!

This weekend was perfect.

Friday night I had a very important kung fu session and I’m pleased that I went. Sijeh Shannon was running class and critiqued my forms to a level beyond any other. It was extremely helpful.

Saturday Dave Susco and I hit up Main Cliff in the early AM. I started with a quick Broadway lead (5.8). Then Dave led a two pitch route: Jessica (5.8+ R). In actuality we never meant to have him start up an R. I was looking at the book, got confused, and we started up the wrong route. That said, it turned out to be the best climb of the day. The top was extremely tricky, and despite it being an R (this means rare gear placement) Dave threw down 6 pieces of protection in 20 feet. And this was absolutely necessary. He ended up taking a pretty big fall right before topping out. I would guess that he fell about 12 feet. It was wild.

The gear held without a problem. The top ended up requiring three consecutive sharp crimps and some creative footwork. It was a blast.

After eventually finishing that route we headed over to Vector and I led that route without too much difficulty. The crux was a thin off width that required a 4 cam. Unfortunately, I’d already used it so I had to run out about 12 feet of rope (not ideal). But I never felt very nervous… I think I will soon be ready for my first attempt of YMC – Main cliff’s infamous 5.9.

Some day I will be leading 5.10s. And that will be a triumphant day.

After climbing Dave and I shared some martial arts knowledge (he does Bando*… a thailand fighting style). It was fun.

Sunday, Shaun L. and I cleaned out the fridge (it was very dirty), I finished my cleaning of the downstairs bath, and we hit up the grocery store.

Good times. Very good times.

*SEE COMMENTS

Calzone: Italian for “Pair of Pants”

mike d. 6 Comments Food, Weekend Update!

And American for “Staggeringly Delicious.”

When I was a kid my mom used to occasionally make us Calzones for lunch. It’d be a long calzone cut into thin slices and filled with such delicious combos as ham and cheese or meatball and sauce.

Well, yesterday I tried making some Calzones following my mother’s instructions. And they came out near flawless. The idea is simple enough. Buy some frozen meatballs and some pizza dough. Let the dough sit for an hour or two to rise, thaw the meatballs, and then roll into a long strip. Perhaps about 30 centimeters wide and 60 centimeters long.

Throw some meatballs, sauce, and cheese in there and roll. It’s even more exciting if you do multiple layers.

Put it in the oven at 190 C (375 F) for 15-20 minutes and you’ll be good to go.

You’ll know it’s reached its maximum potential for delicious if you tap the calzone and it knocks as if hollow. So delicious!

Dishwashers and Finals.

mike d. 6 Comments House of Rock, Weekend Update!

I installed a dishwasher yesterday. It went… okay. I have a bit more plumbing I need to do (replacement of a leaking valve with a ball valve)… but we’re really close. And it’s currently fully plumbed and will clean dishes nicely.

It’s pretty exciting having a new appliance like that. I’m debating whether or not I should consider this as the Appliance of 2007. For the past three years I’ve been buying myself an appliance.

2004: Rice Cooker
2005: Dyson
2006: Kitchen Aid Mixer

And while the dishwasher certainly will get tons of use and make my life easier, it’s almost more of a house improvement then it is a personal thing. And someday when I move out, I’ll leave the dishwasher behind.

In other news, I had my final MBA class of the school year on Saturday. Unfortunately, there’s a take home exam that isn’t due for another week. This is annoying because we really only get a few weeks off from class each year, and this take home is essentially extending the semester.