In the last week I've seen references to Martin Luther King Jr., Lincoln, FDR, Johnson, and finally, today, Woodstock to describe the inauguration of our first black president.
But I've decided that it really needs to be compared to Star Wars. It's the reference for my generation. A New Hope. You know the scene in the first movie ... the celebration after Luke destroys the Death Star where Leia gives Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker and Chewie medals with big music, lots of people, and cheering. Darth Vader (aka Karl Rove in my version of this analogy) has gone spinning into space and the rebels have won. Yooray!
But what you didn't know when you first saw the movie was that there were two more movies worth of trouble - and that Darth Karl Vader would return. Fighting on ice planets and moons with Ewoks and zingers like unexpected parentage and lost hands. Not good. But they made it through and we will too with hopefully better hair.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Fluffy Powdery Goodness Christmas
We've moved beyond your typical white Christmas and into fluffy powerdy goodness. To be fair, there was a little bit of wind-swept crusty bits, but that's to be expected.
This Christmas was spent at Francie's Cabin, in the backcountry mostly south of Breckenridge. It was wonderfully quiet and peaceful and filled with lots of powdery snow. Plus! This cabin has a wood fired sauna. W-O-W! Play outside, go in sauna.
The highlight of Christmas day was cake! Christmas day also doubles as Geir's birthday. I'd scoured the web and found a really yummy recipe for Cherry Chocolate Surprise Cake. Most of the huts in the 10th Mountain Division system have some sort of cast iron Little-House-on-the-Prairie stove/oven. And dutch ovens for cooking. This cabin did not. So I improvised and created a "dutch" oven out of 2 cast iron skillets. Put the cake batter in one skillet, use the other as a lid, and put this on a propane burner stove and wah-la! Cherry Chocolate Surprise cake. It lived up to its advertisement. Cooked all the way through and moist. And is now all gone. The key was to keep the heat on the burner as low as possible.
Happy Holidays. May this year be filled with surprisingly good cake.
With love, Sandie
This Christmas was spent at Francie's Cabin, in the backcountry mostly south of Breckenridge. It was wonderfully quiet and peaceful and filled with lots of powdery snow. Plus! This cabin has a wood fired sauna. W-O-W! Play outside, go in sauna.
The highlight of Christmas day was cake! Christmas day also doubles as Geir's birthday. I'd scoured the web and found a really yummy recipe for Cherry Chocolate Surprise Cake. Most of the huts in the 10th Mountain Division system have some sort of cast iron Little-House-on-the-Prairie stove/oven. And dutch ovens for cooking. This cabin did not. So I improvised and created a "dutch" oven out of 2 cast iron skillets. Put the cake batter in one skillet, use the other as a lid, and put this on a propane burner stove and wah-la! Cherry Chocolate Surprise cake. It lived up to its advertisement. Cooked all the way through and moist. And is now all gone. The key was to keep the heat on the burner as low as possible.
Happy Holidays. May this year be filled with surprisingly good cake.
With love, Sandie
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Turkey in the Dirt XIX
It's my second very successful year joining a tradition perpetuated by some good friends - Turkey in the Dirt.
Turkey in the Dirt? Yes, it does involve Thanksgiving Turkey cooked in the dirt. Sometimes. Sometimes the turkey is fried or cooked in an oven of a friend that lives near by. Sometimes it is all three. Although this year the turkey was cooked in a trash can pit (in the dirt), but I'd say that counts.
Where does this craziness occur? Well, Joshua Tree of course. Where else, except in the park that was built and designed by Dr. Suess, would you cook a turkey in the dirt. That and the climbing this time of year is fantastic.
So that's the story. About 40 of us converged on Joshua Tree this year from all over (I think the person who traveled the furthest came from Germany), climbed, ate, drank beer (lot of beer with the help of beer pong), and hung out. Very fun.
This year Geir was the newbie to the tradition. He enjoyed the climbing ... and discovered a key trait of a dirt bag climber. No, I'm not talking about the unwashed aspect. I'm referring to the lizard rock lounging - out of the wind is better - aspect.
Turkey in the Dirt? Yes, it does involve Thanksgiving Turkey cooked in the dirt. Sometimes. Sometimes the turkey is fried or cooked in an oven of a friend that lives near by. Sometimes it is all three. Although this year the turkey was cooked in a trash can pit (in the dirt), but I'd say that counts.
Where does this craziness occur? Well, Joshua Tree of course. Where else, except in the park that was built and designed by Dr. Suess, would you cook a turkey in the dirt. That and the climbing this time of year is fantastic.So that's the story. About 40 of us converged on Joshua Tree this year from all over (I think the person who traveled the furthest came from Germany), climbed, ate, drank beer (lot of beer with the help of beer pong), and hung out. Very fun.This year Geir was the newbie to the tradition. He enjoyed the climbing ... and discovered a key trait of a dirt bag climber. No, I'm not talking about the unwashed aspect. I'm referring to the lizard rock lounging - out of the wind is better - aspect.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Early Voting
I sat down with my 4, 11 x 17 inch page election ballot last night and started voting. Luckily for me I live in a civilized state that allows mail-in and drop-off ballots so I don't have to stand in line to fill out my choices for president, state constitutional amendments, and whether or not a historic district should be created in my town.
However, in this electronic age, I find the paper ballot a historic icon. This is a world where places like India vote by electronic ballot and the US just can't figure it out.
When I was in Bhutan and Nepal earlier this year both countries held their first democratic elections. I spent some time talking to the UN Election Observers I met and I learned that:
India uses electronic voting machines successfully. They machines were lent to Bhutan and used successfully. Although I'm not clear on how they were used in places with no electricity. Nepal used a paper ballot, at least out in the country side where I was at the time, but they were at least given a stamp and didn't have to shade in boxes (like I do) and they only had to vote for a party. Granted they had the choice of 54 parties, but only one vote.
The UN Electrion Observers were in the US for the 2004 election and they declared that the election was not on the up and up. Okay, believable, but a little embarrassing that the flagship of democracy can't hold an election that passes international scrutiny with paper ballots while 2nd world countries are using electronic voting.
I have a dream that someday we will sit down at our computers and vote via the internet. Until then, I at least got to enjoy a glass of wine while casting my ballot. And believe me, the wine made the constitutional amendments easier to understand!
Good luck to all of you who have to queue up. You're in my thoughts.
However, in this electronic age, I find the paper ballot a historic icon. This is a world where places like India vote by electronic ballot and the US just can't figure it out.
When I was in Bhutan and Nepal earlier this year both countries held their first democratic elections. I spent some time talking to the UN Election Observers I met and I learned that:
India uses electronic voting machines successfully. They machines were lent to Bhutan and used successfully. Although I'm not clear on how they were used in places with no electricity. Nepal used a paper ballot, at least out in the country side where I was at the time, but they were at least given a stamp and didn't have to shade in boxes (like I do) and they only had to vote for a party. Granted they had the choice of 54 parties, but only one vote.
The UN Electrion Observers were in the US for the 2004 election and they declared that the election was not on the up and up. Okay, believable, but a little embarrassing that the flagship of democracy can't hold an election that passes international scrutiny with paper ballots while 2nd world countries are using electronic voting.
I have a dream that someday we will sit down at our computers and vote via the internet. Until then, I at least got to enjoy a glass of wine while casting my ballot. And believe me, the wine made the constitutional amendments easier to understand!
Good luck to all of you who have to queue up. You're in my thoughts.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
13 Quotes for A Half Marathon
This is for all you Half-Marathoners out there courtesy of Ann. Thanks Ann! And may you find everything you need in these thoughts.
Mile 1:
She wanted something to happen - something, anything: she did not know what.
-Kate Chopin
Mile 2:
I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.
- Mike Fanelli
Mile 3:
Give all to love; obey thy heart.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Mile 4:
The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.
- Bill Squires
Mile 5:
If you start to feel good during an ultra, don't worry. You will get over it.
- Gene Thibeault
Mile 6:
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
- Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)
Mile 7:
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.
- Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Mile 8:
People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it.
- Howard Newton
Mile 9:
Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
- Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)
Mile 10:
What we truly and earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense, we are. The mere aspiration, by changing the frame of the mind, for the moment realizes itself.
- Anna Jameson
Mile 11:
Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going.
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian
Mile 12:
What matters is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Mile 13:
I think I can . . . (chant at increasing speed five times)
Mile 1:
She wanted something to happen - something, anything: she did not know what.
-Kate Chopin
Mile 2:
I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.
- Mike Fanelli
Mile 3:
Give all to love; obey thy heart.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Mile 4:
The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.
- Bill Squires
Mile 5:
If you start to feel good during an ultra, don't worry. You will get over it.
- Gene Thibeault
Mile 6:
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
- Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)
Mile 7:
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.
- Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
Mile 8:
People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it.
- Howard Newton
Mile 9:
Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
- Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)
Mile 10:
What we truly and earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense, we are. The mere aspiration, by changing the frame of the mind, for the moment realizes itself.
- Anna Jameson
Mile 11:
Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going.
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian
Mile 12:
What matters is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Mile 13:
I think I can . . . (chant at increasing speed five times)
Blumbering Villains and Lame Heros
It's been an inadvertent theme lately - one of those things that just sort of happens in threes. Except it's only happened in twos so far.
It all started with a book. A good book called Soon I Will Be Invincible. It's about Dr. Impossible ... an evil genius ... who just can't quite be successful in his evil endeavors. And a set of superheros that are ... well ... not exactly like WonderWoman or Superman.
And then I heard about a blog. One of the best blogs ever. Dr. Horrible's Sing A-Long Blog. A musical with a supervillain (Dr. Horrible played by Neil Patrick Harris), his archnemesis (Captain Hammer played by Nathan Fillion) and a beautiful girl (Penny played by Felicia Day). This project, which was conceived in the dark days of the writers strike and was streamed on the internet, is about the best thing I've seen since sliced bread.
Now some of you might know that I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. It all started with Firefly (the best television off the planet), has progressed through Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. And now there is something new and brilliant in Dr. Horrible. As Joss puts it on the website - musical supervillains are really just too few. Go Joss!
I'm looking forward to the third blumbering villain and lame superhero installment - but I'm wondering how it can beat Dr. Horrible.
It all started with a book. A good book called Soon I Will Be Invincible. It's about Dr. Impossible ... an evil genius ... who just can't quite be successful in his evil endeavors. And a set of superheros that are ... well ... not exactly like WonderWoman or Superman.
And then I heard about a blog. One of the best blogs ever. Dr. Horrible's Sing A-Long Blog. A musical with a supervillain (Dr. Horrible played by Neil Patrick Harris), his archnemesis (Captain Hammer played by Nathan Fillion) and a beautiful girl (Penny played by Felicia Day). This project, which was conceived in the dark days of the writers strike and was streamed on the internet, is about the best thing I've seen since sliced bread.
Now some of you might know that I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. It all started with Firefly (the best television off the planet), has progressed through Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. And now there is something new and brilliant in Dr. Horrible. As Joss puts it on the website - musical supervillains are really just too few. Go Joss!
I'm looking forward to the third blumbering villain and lame superhero installment - but I'm wondering how it can beat Dr. Horrible.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
New Shoes
I forget how much I like getting new running shoes. Today I went to the running shoe store and as soon as Lily - the shoe lady - put the new shoes on my feet I sighed. It just felt so good.
I always get the same kind of running shoe. It never changes. And the old shoes, once I'm done running in them, go into a 50 gallon bucket at the running store to be donated to someone who can't afford shoes.
I also forget how much running shoes cost. Ouch. And how fast I wear through them. Lily was shaking her head at me. I should have gotten new shoes a month ago. But I didn't.
Right now I'm training for my next half marathon - The Other Half - in Moab, Utah. I'm running around 20 miles a week. At that rate I get about 10 weeks out of my shoes. It ends up being quite the collection. And the new shoes are so shiny, that is, until my next run.
I always get the same kind of running shoe. It never changes. And the old shoes, once I'm done running in them, go into a 50 gallon bucket at the running store to be donated to someone who can't afford shoes.
I also forget how much running shoes cost. Ouch. And how fast I wear through them. Lily was shaking her head at me. I should have gotten new shoes a month ago. But I didn't.
Right now I'm training for my next half marathon - The Other Half - in Moab, Utah. I'm running around 20 miles a week. At that rate I get about 10 weeks out of my shoes. It ends up being quite the collection. And the new shoes are so shiny, that is, until my next run.
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