I got a new job!

Woot! I will be spending the next 5 months or so in Bend, OR working on trails in the Deschutes National Forest. Unfrtunately I will have to take a 15 cent pay cut from my job now, but hey, I am still coming out on top because now it doesn't cost 60$ to get to Smith! I will be working 4 ten hour days per week all over the forest. I am on a 5 person crew which is responsible for maintaining 2000+ miles of trail in the woods (I have my work cut out for me). Some of the projects my new boss was telling me about are coordinating volunteer groups, building 2 new XC ski shelters, some backcountry work, and possibly fire training/work. Should be sweet!

Additionally, if you know anyone looking for a roomate in Bend, please tell me. I can't camp at the grasslands all summer. :)
The forest:

StreamRipper

stream ripper is a handy(and simple) liddle tool that allows you to turn straming audio into mp3 files. Shwing! So lets get started. Visit http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6172 and download the latest version under "file releases." It works in conjunction with Winamp so get that too if you dont have it(best media player ever anyway). Basically once you install it, the streamripper(SR) will hang out with winamp and when you are listening to streaming audio, just click the "rip" button and it will go to work turning otherwise unrepeatable musica into mp3s in a folder you specify. Thanks to my buddy Kevin for showing me this. :)

Revamping

My blog sidebar was having some issues so I got a whole new template, and in the process noticed that blogger spiffed up their interface a little. It is a hell of a lot easier to add/change blog elements. Check out the new stuff in the Template editor. I lost my links, so if you have a blog that I forgot, I can always add it.

Camas blooms:

More about Red Rocks

Ahhhh, life has finally slowed down for a little bit. I just got back from Red Rocks (you'd think I would be bored with that place by now!) with Darrell, Greg D. and Rob. The plan was for a day of sport climbing and then long routes the next 4 days with the last evening in a hotel on the strip. I had a great trip and felt really good about my climbing. The first day I redpointed an .11c sport route at Dog Wall that I had been projecting for 2 years now. Apparently that meant that I was ready for some heavier stuff, so I followed Darrell on a mixed 4 pitch .11c on one day and then we hiked in to the base of Levitation 29 for an early start. Levitation is a 9 pitch 5.11c and the supposed "best" route at RedRocks. I had looked at it in books and pretty much dismissed ever climbing it but Darrell convinced me to go and WOW! what a climb! I led a .10 and a .8 pitch and Darrell led the rest up to pitch 5. The rock quality is just incredible on the whole route, it protects very well, and the climbing is incredibly diverse along the way. The coolest feature in my opinion is the big roof on the second pitch that has some huge jugs in it. Way gnarly! Unfortunately, it was also snowing for a good portion of the day (in April!?!) so we bailed after the crux pitch. I will have to go back and finish that at some point. It is just too good.

While we were camping up the canyon, we saw the most interesting wildlife. I spotted eyes in the shadows watching us so we lit it up and there was a little Ring Tailed Cat. It looked exactly like a ring tailed lemur which was kinda creepy but it was way cuter. There were also several herds of Bighorns up the canyon. Oh, and Perigrines too. There was a nest near the route and I got to see a few of them up close. And Greg caught a scorpion trying to enter our tent. I guess that is the one plus of winter there; no arachnids.

Ever notice that it snows on trips alot if you are an OMC member? It really is kind of a guarantee that you will see some snowy weather on OMC trips. So Rob thought up a new slogan for mountain club. "Oregon Mountain Club: Get Snowed On!" I think on a sticker it would work nicely.

I officially lose my job on June 5. Man, job hunting sucks. Among others, I got 2 apps in to a place in Corvallis in March and called the other day to see what the deal was and they said the hiring comittee made its decision early July. Sooo, now I am looking again. Maybe I will just hang out with Greg and go climbing for all of June. If you havent heard, Greg quits Target June 1. Way to go Greg!

Unfortunately, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but here are some from the trip and a few from the past weeks.

I fucking hate Rob!

Rob Hernandez can suck my ballz!!!!!!!!!!! That fucker has bailed on so many trips it is amazing. And this is the final straw! Greg, Darrell, Me and Rob planned 3 months ago to meet in Red Rocks. Rob was going to drive the westfalia down from Utah and we were going to camp in that. Easy right? Not when the car blows a head gasket. LAST MONTH! he had a whole fucking month to fix it. I talked to him and he assured me it would be good to go by the trip. Money wasn't an issue. But now, a month later, it is not working and I just got a call from Greg saying he is a no go. I think the solution is not to count on Rob. Ever. ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Stat counter

I put a stat counter on the blog recently, and I am surprised by the number page loads this blog sees. Try it if you have a blog. It takes about 5 minutes. Search "statcounter" in google.

Here's another old pic I found buried in the computer. Congrats Paco and Rach on finding a job!

Chaco Day

I am so excited to be wearing Chacos again! Tis the season! This is the first day I have worn them this year and it really is a symbol of spring for me. I considered breaking them out during a heat wave last month but March was just too early. And besides, I need to make these guys last. They are going on their sixth season after all! I have been limiting their use over the last few years to river trips and perfect days so the bottoms and webbing wouldn't wear out any faster than absolutely necessary. Both are paper thin at this point. Cheers to Chacos!

Californigonian

I am so an Oregonian now. No reason for the declaration really. I just feel like one much more so than a Californian. Bunch of fuckin hippies in california anyway. End of statement.

Oh, but some people in Cali are cool. But just barely.


Oops, almost forgot the tick count.

Ticks found: 20
Ticks embedded: 0

The great and mythical, Friday!

Its friday. Well, my friday. I ran out of stuff to do at work, so my boss wished me a Happy Friday. I was stoked and took off as any person would. He wished me Happy Friday pretty much the same way you would talk about any other yearly holiday/birthday. It is like it is some incredible holiday, but no, it is just like any other day of the week. I bet prisoners in jail talk about their release dates like we talk about Friday every week.
I find we start thinking and talking about Friday pretty much starting Monday morning. If someone who didnt know what a "Friday" was, they would hear us talking about Friday and probably assume it was a great god or at least Santa Clause.
Friday can also be a goal. Friday can be the day you have to have something done, or want to Making it to Friday is another reason to really keep at that job for just one more week. Keep telling yourself that you can make it till Friday.
God, after working for 40 years I cant imagine how incredible Fridays must seem.

It is the day that keeps on giving! (once a week to be exact)

Note: I wrote this a while ago but forgot to post it, so here ya go.

God I hate Blogger.

I had this really nice post all written up about my trip to CA and forgot that this computer and blogger photo post dont play well together. So blogger decided to delete the post when I moved a picture around. So here is your abbreviated version:

California was fun. I did all the usual things you would expect one to do while visiting family and friends. Don't go to Hooters(wasnt my choice), everything about it sucks (the dumbass waitresses too). Pets are good for taking pictures of.













At work we started a huge burn pile with 30 gallons of gelled gasoline(napalm), 8 gallons of diesel and leaf blowers. Then it went out because everything was too wet. We had hotdogs and marshmallows.

Ticks found: 18
Ticks embedded: 0

The latest threat to my insanity

Ticks! They are disgusting little creatures that like to pull a vampire move on any part of your body they can burrow into. And spring is the season for ticks. I have counted 6 ticks on me at work in the last week or so and 3 today (none have burrowed yet). I can honestly say that I enjoy watching them die an agonizing death when I torture and then kill them. I find no other animal more repulsive than a tick. I even recently heard (true or not, it is gross) that a guy had a tick burrow into the inside of his colon and stay there until he got some sort of paralysis. Took the doctors a long time to diagnose that one I am sure. Be careful out there America; ticks are comin' for ya!
I also had an excellent weekend in portland at Graham and Greta's wedding. Loved seeing all the old friends and really loved seeing Graham in the gutter in downtown portland thursday with a homeless lady at his side. I really felt like a true friend standing around laughing at his comatose efforts not to puke. Apparently he doesnt remember a thing from the latter part of the night (and I wont spoil his new marriage with the details). Cheers Graham!

Snowboarding

Sometimes I find I get bored with going to the mountain. Just zooming down the hill penis* sometimes can get a little monotonous when you already know the hill like the back of your hand. Groomers can only be done so many times. Just when I was starting to question whether it is really worth it to pay the money to get hoisted to the top of a mountain repeatedly, a day like I experienced last weekend comes along. Lots of powder was laid down by the mountain gods on Mount Bachelor all week and then I got to ride in it all day Saturday (unfortunately Bryan tore his MCL and he was our ride home so we left that night). It really made me realize how much fun it is to snowboard again. A price cannot be put on first tracks. I see now that I really just need to time my snow trips better so I get the most out of my money. God I love powder days!

*Colleen inserted this while I was away from the computer. Gawd, I wonder what is on her mind.

Done with planting

Thank goodness, I am finally done with planting for the year. I really thought I woudl be jumping for joy when this moment arrived, but I am jsut too exhausted to. The best I could manage was a "Wahoo!" before getting into my truck as we left this afternoon. In 3 weeks and one day the contract crew of 8(average) planted 102,000 Doug-Fir seedlings. I dug up, scrutinized, and replanted about 3,000 of these. It rained, hailed, snowed and froze. I am so happy it is over. Well, not really; I have to start surveys on a 93 acre unit tomorrow which is going to occupy at least all of this and next week. God Dammit.

While I was out and about I thought up something interesting to blog about almost every day; and then promptly forgot it. I find myself using this as a journal too much and I think I need to start putting more profound thoughts down.

On that note, Colleen has become addicted to the show Top Model. Honestly people! I thought she wasn't like that, but apparently I was wrong. Paco, Rachel, can you fix her? I cant. Oh well, I guess she has to have her girlie shows.

Oh, and I gotta say, (caution: inflamatory comment ahead) it sucks to be a skier. Why you ask? Because in 3 weekends, 3 friends who ski have all torn their ACL and or MCL. And meanwhile, us snowboarders are just chuggin along injury free. Cheers to powder days you cant touch now Meg, Bryan, and Brad!

Worked to the bone

Holy Crap! I have been worked to the bone the last 2 weeks. I am SO over this whole forestry thing right now. I have spent the last 2 weeks up near Astoria with a coworker and a 7-12 person contract crew planting 65,000 doug fir seedlings. I don't actually have to plant the seedlings thank god, just dig up a sample of what has been planted to make sure the planters aren't doing it wrong (doug-firs are really finnicky about how they are planted) . Either way, hiking around shitty terrain while it is pouring rain for 10 hours and then having to return to an empty, Colleen-less hotel room SUCKS! Only one more week...

Greg, Me, Rob, and possibly Darrell are going to Red Rocks in April to get some real climbing in. On my tic list: Epinephrin, Tunnel Vision, Rainbow Wall.

Oh, and I am sure you saw the latest Mt. Hood incident on the news today. Well, that finally spurred my dad into getting me an Avvy beacon. ...Sweet

Grrr...

I think I just have really bad luck with cellphones. Or maybe I had really good luck for a long time and then all that bad karma that I had been putting off caught up with me all at once. Either way, I ran over my phone today at work so if you need to call me, I have the same number 541 740 9493 but lost all of your phone #s. Leave a comment to this post with your phone # so I can reenter it. Wow, that is going to be fun. Reentering a hundred or so numbers and names. Shitty ballz. OOh! at least facebook will have some phone #s for me.

More Red Rocks pics

One for Ariel

Paco, since I know you check this blog every now and again, I figured I'd post a photo of home for you. Specifically, one that made me laugh.

Love, Ian

Work Boots

Work bought me some boots called Caulks (pronounced "corks") for walking around the forest yesterday. They are badass. There are 40 metal spikes on the bottom of each for traction and they are double layer leather almost up to my knee. Dont cross me, or I'll stomp on your face!

Some pics from RR/MB

Some of us drank alot instead of skiing at Alta. We did get a visit from Jane and Desiree though!

Denise took this one in Moab.

Will and Diesel; drinking buddies till the end.

The rest of these were taken in Moab in Kane Creek Canyon under a full moon.

The campsite.

Ice sheets in the fire.

Campfire.

Big buttress.

A cottonwood.

Oh, and here is my little bro's hilight video I made (if you care). http://oregonstate.edu/~rothi/Fritz%20Football%202006.wmv

My little bro kicks ass!

I just wanted to spray about my little brother for a second. Our family has always known that Fritz was a natural at any sport he picked up. It has been really fun speculating over the years about what he will do with his abilities when he gets older. I have finally been able to watch him play football and Holy Shit, he is good. I edited football tape to make a highlites video for him and basically watched every single game he played in. He is the JV quarterback this year at his HS and yea, basically it is incredible. While watching the highlites video I was thinking that the game looked more like college games than just highschool. OK, I am done.
No I am not. I also just had to mention that the RedRocks/Moab/Alta climbing/biking/kiing trip was great. I managed to climb some hard sport in redrocks and ran into Jane and Desiree at Alta. I got a Digi Rebel during the trip and will post photos soon since that seems to be the cool thing to do these days.

Peace