Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew, what a whirl wind weekend... or should I say week! Last week was great because Jeremy got to stay in Austin for half the week (and the previous weekend) and then we both went to Houston together on Wednesday. (fyi - all roads leading out of Austin were horrible on the day before thanksgiving! it took me an hour to go 10 miles, yuck.) Thursday we had a great thanksgiving with 23 of our closest friends in Clear Lake. Did I mention that there were 7 pies for 23 people: 2 derby pies, 1 pecan cheesecake, 2 apple pies, 2 pumpkin pies. Too bad I left the rest of my apple pie in Houston this morning... now I have to wait until this weekend to finish it up. I also got the chance to do a lot of my Christmas shopping on Friday (aka Black Friday). Thanks to Ami for coming out with me so early to shop. Jeremy even came to meet me at the mall for a few hours, but he just wasn't as much fun to shop with. I think it's his plan to be grumpy when shopping so I stop asking him to come with me.

Also this weekend I made two cake pies. Well cakes really. Okay one cake and one cheesecake like thing. The cake was a chocolate sachertorte and the "cheesecake" was a nobake tangerine cheesecake both from my new chocolate cookbook. This is the second time I've attempted the same sachertorte. While it did come out much better than last week, I just still wasn't that impressed. My goal is to eventually make all the cakes/pies in the cookbook. Two down, many many more to go. (Tomorrow my coworkers will get to try out the tangerine cheesecake and tell me what they think. I think it's good, but I still prefer the baked kind).

For now I leave you with this recipe for buttered rum from the Clem's. Thanks for introducing me to this yummy drink!

HOT BUTTERED RUM

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups vanilla ice cream
rum
water
nutmeg

1. Combine sugar, brown sugar and butter in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted (6-8 min).

2. Combine cooked mixture with ice-cream in a large mixing bowl, and beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until smooth (1-2 min). Store refrigerated up to 2 weeks or frozen up to one month.

3. For each serving, fill one-quarter of a mug with mixture, add one ounce rum and three-quarters of a cup of boiling water. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Hueco Tanks!

This past weekend me and 6 of my friends (including Jeremy) headed out to Hueco Tanks in El Paso, TX. Man it's quite the drive, but totally worth it once you're there. Jeremy, myself, Brent, Mari, Neil, Jamie, and Eric all spent three days on this amazing rock. It was great. The first day we headed out on a guided tour through the Hueco Rock Ranch and hit up the East Spur. We warmed up on the boulders in the 'hard to kill' area and then spent some time on the 'black and blue' boulders. This was Jeremy's first real climbing trip, and he did GREAT! We finished our day on a V2 boulder problem called "the vulgarian." It was AWESOME! A bit of overhang, throw a heal hook, reach up, hit the top, find the ledge... waaaaay back there, pull the roof. Although I didn't send it this day, I was able to go back first thing Saturday morning and try again. After resting all night, I sent it on my first try... and second and third. Did I mention it's super fun?

On the second day, after playing around on 'the vulgarian' on the East Spur, we went to East Mountain with our guide and played around on 'moonshine roof'. It was pretty cool, but at a V4 it was really hard for me. Especially since it was a V4 roof. I could make the first few moves, but that's about it. Jeremy and I went off to a close area and played around on some V0 and V3's but at that point my hands were so shot we decided to just chill and watch. The last few hours of our day got rained out as we were heading to another warmup area, so it was pretty much a short day.

Sunday morning was super awesome. We all headed to North Mountain with Mari as our 'guide' and got on some AWESOME stuff. First we warmed up at the potato boulders (or something like that). Some great V0/V1 warmups in that area, and this stellar V0+ highball. It's pretty easy climbing, but it's facey and crimpy and about 30-35 feet high. I was very proud of myself for sending it, and I didn't even get too scared at the top. Jeremy took some great perspective photo's which you can see up on flickr (see link at bottom). After warming up we headed to "Nobody gets out of here alive." A stellar, and easily the most popular V2 boulder problem, possibly in the world. Or so I've heard. It was freaken awesome. So get this, you start with your shoulders on the ground, your legs in the air, and your feet wedged into this hueco. Then you do a reverse sit up to start. It's a 7(ish) foot roof that you pull for about 7 more feet of climbing on the face to top out on the boulder. I managed to get the first few moves under the roof, but couldn't bring my energy up enough to reach for the first hold on the face. No matter though, it was super fun. Thanks to Jeremy for taking all kinds of great pictures. We were pretty beat up after this but we all headed over to one last area to try to get on a few more easy climbs. First we checked out a climb called 'godiva' which I was told that I had to get on by our first day guide, Charles. Well let me tell you, this brings a whole other meaning to highball. Are you kidding me?!? This thing was more like a free solo up a 60 foot cliff. Okay maybe not 60 feet, but easily 40-45. No thank you. After skipping this, we went to the warmup boulders and played around a little more. At this point my feet were so swollen that I couldn't get my climbing shoes on and my hands hurt like death. Brent, Jeremy and I decided to call it a day and head back to Austin.

Overall it was a great weekend and a wonderful first trip to Hueco Tanks. Our guide on the first day Charles, was great, and our North Mountain 'guide' Mari was super helpful. Thanks Mari! Without her we would have been lost for a while. Out of the 7 of us, Mari was the only one who'd been there before.

If you want, check out all the pictures on my flickr page HERE.

halloween, hueco, and football

Halloween has come and gone, but the pictures will be here forever! Or at least until they get consumed by other pictures on my flickr page. Once again Sean threw an awesome halloween party at his place and this year it was HUGE. Really, almost a little too big. There were people who said they were there and yet I didn't see them all night. Christen, Merrick, Lisa, and Vinny did a great job dressing up as KISS and of course won the costume contest. There was a large group that did Mrs. Packman, that was pretty cool. Check out my flickr page for all the pictures and costumes.

More excitedly than halloween though, is the fact that I FINALLY get to go to Hueco Tanks next weekend! YAY! Three days of the best bouldering in the world. Okay, I know three days isn't enough, but I'm just happy to get there. I can't wait! Check back for pictures in a few weeks.

One final note. Saturday Jeremy and I will be at boondoggles from 2:30 - 5:00 watching the PSU/Ohio State game. If anyone wants to join, you can find us there! We'll be watching as Penn State stomps all over Ohio State once again... i hope.

Where have our manners gone?

I've been noticing lately that the manners of people here in America have seriously gone to hell. People are rude, they're pushy, and everything is someone else's fault. Now, I'm sure we can all think back to times, perhaps even in the recent past, where we've been guilty of this. Being rude, too much in a hurry, too lazy to hold that door open for the person behind you. Maybe you weren't willing to let someone in front of you at that stop sign, or something that was just an innocent mistake really pissed you off and you over reacted? I know I have. But this goes even beyond these things, though they are at the root of our problems. Here are some things that I've noticed lately, that really annoy me. (in no particular order).

Passenger guy on my last southwest airlines flight. I am aware that you are 150 lbs heavier than me and you could kick my ass, but that gives you no right to cut in front of me in line. B11 is not the same as B07, and yes, they do have the number system for a reason. It's not "close enough" or "approximate." 11 is bigger than 7. I know you know this, so just get in line and stop feeling like you deserve to get in line before me.

Speaking of airlines. Here's two more. 1 - you are allowed one regulation size carry on and one bag to go under your seat. You know the rules so why don't you follow them? Do you think they don't apply to you, Mr. six ton duffel bag that you try to cram into that tiny space in the overhead so my bag doesn't fit? And you, Mrs. I have 3 bags and I don't want to keep any of them at my feet. And 2 - If you're in row 12 and I'm in row 11, I get to get off the plane before you. You cannot just push your way in front of me. Wait your turn.

And this one occurred while I was in the Holocaust Museum this weekend in Washington DC. There were 4 or 5 distinct adults, not children, but adults who were talking. And quite loudly for that matter. It's the Holocaust Museum people, have some respect. When I went there 10 years ago, you could hear a pin drop. Now I could barely concentrate on what I was reading with all the noise around me. Where have our manners gone?

And this one is just a general grievance. Servers at a restaurant. I'm perfectly fine with tipping you 20% for doing your job and making my experience pleasant. But if you are pissy, if you are rude, if you royally screw up my order, do not feel that you are simply 'entitled' to this 20%. It's a tip. It's called a tip, because we are tipping you for doing a good job. If I don't do my job, I don't get paid. It's that simple. Your job is to be pleasant and bring me my warm food. No, I do not think that you are below me in some way, but I do think part of your job is to be pleasant.

And those are just four things that I've noticed in the last few days. Perhaps this acceptability for rudeness comes from a sense of entitlement somehow? We all believe that we are entitled to this wonderful life and others should go out of their way to give it to us. The federal government should bail us out for our mistakes. We should sue someone just because they cough on us or look at us the wrong way. I think we all need to take a good look and remind ourselves every day that we are not 'entitled' to something unless we've done the work to earn it. And maybe if we'd pay a little more attention to those around us and just smile once in a while, the world would be a lot friendlier. So I encourage you, in the next day or two or three, to do something nice for someone you don't know. Open the door for them, say excuse me before you push your way through. Help make this world a better place.

2 Fun Filled Weekends

Well, I'm finally home... in Austin.. and it's been a crazy two weeks. Two weekends ago I took Jeremy out to The Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO. We had a great time. So many beers to try. I discovered that the pumpkin spiced ones were my favorite followed by the wheat beers, though not too wheaty. We also spent Saturday up at Rocky Mountain National Park. It was awesome, and we got to play in the snow, which is always fun! The weather was beautiful and it makes me want to live in Denver even more. We also met up with some of Jeremy's friends Saturday night, Chris and Lisa, for this crazy Italian dinner. Buffalo, covered in bread crumbs, fried, covered in alfredo sauce, topped with prosciutto, covered in mozzarella. Insane!

After the fun of Denver, it was home for a few days (2) and then off to Washington DC. Of course DC was also fun. We stayed with Jeremy's cousins just outside the city, and took the metro in most days to go see the sights. I learned that Jeremy's cousins are just as loud as he is when they've been drinking. It was very interesting trying to sleep in the next room while they were up "talking" until 4 am. We spent most of the time sight seeing: the Capital, Washington Monument, Natural History Museum, Old Smithsonian, Jefferson Memorial, Roosevelt Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial, etc... Then on Sunday was the Army 10 Miler. There were 8 of us at Jeremy's cousins house, and 5 people ran it. I think next year I'll give it a try. It was hard to just go watch, and not be active. Jeremy finished in 75 minutes, which was great, and his brother did about 85 minutes. The only disappointment was that I missed Jeremy crossing the finish line. There were 22,000 people that ran the race and they all started coming in so quickly, it was hard to scan the crowd that quick. Overall there must have been around 40,000 people in the area after the race, WAY too many. So we left shortly after everyone had finished. I think my goal will be to finish the race next year at about an 10-11 minute pace. That should be a good goal to reach within a year. Oh, I almost forgot about Granville Moores. Granville Moores is this place I saw on the food channel near Washington DC. They are famous for their mussels and fries. So I convinced everyone to head on over there Friday night. The place was AWESOME. They had such good mussels and the fries were great. Plus it's this tiny little place off the beaten track, which makes it all the better. I would recommend the Mussels with curry, and I'm not a curry fan, but these were awesome!

Check out my flickr page for pictures of DC and Denver. (most of the DC pics are up, and the rest should be up by wed or thurs this week)

So much to write about...

Wow, what a weekend. I am just exhausted. Saturday some friends and I went for a mt. bike ride out at Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville, TX. We only got about 12.5 miles in, but it was a lot of work. I encountered one pine tree, which was more funny than anything else. It just jumped out at me, I swear! :) After the ride, Jeremy and I did a little shopping and then met up with Christina to watch the UT vs. Tech game at Waterloo. It was quite the game, and really proved that neither team had a great defense. The score was 34-24 at the end with UT pulling off the win, but there were way too many points in this game. I don't understand why UT is ranked #2, if they were a true #2 team, then they should have blown away Tech.

Anyway, back to cycling. Sunday Brent and I went for a ride down to Kyle and back. Was about 46.5 miles from my house, though we were trying to stretch it to 50, and just couldn't get there. We were both so tired when we got back, that we didn't feel like riding around in circles for 4 more miles just to get to 50. I realized that I didn't eat enough food in the morning, and about 1/2 way back I started to bonk really hard. I'm just glad I made it back. Always remember, eating more than a banana is very necessary when cycling 40+ miles.

Well it's Wednesday now, and I had originally started this post on Monday, however I was overcome by allergies and just couldn't find the will to finish it. I now realize now, not only was I starving for food on Sundays bike ride, but I was also in the beginning stages of an allergy attack. Fortunately lots of Claritin, Sudafed and Advil have made things better. Oh and the 14 hours of sleep that I got Monday night.

So two more awesome things that I wanted to tell ya'll about. First, I have finally told Jeremy about his surprise trip and we are going to THE GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL this weekend! Yes, just two days from now i'll be drinking all that I can in 5 hours from over 2,000 beer choices all sampled out of a 1 oz cup. Okay, maybe not all that I can, but enough that I'm happy to have a shuttle to take us back to the hotel at night. Then on Saturday we are going to Rocky Mt. National Park. I'm so excited to see mountains again!

And lastly, I just want to tell ya'll again about this awesome bike shop that I frequent, Austin Bikes. Those guys are just wonderful. It's a small(ish) shop on 5th street just west of Lamar and they really treat their customers great. Okay, I'll admit that I've been friends of theirs for a while, but they are great to all their customers. They're always helping me out with little tweeks on my bike. Plus, a few weeks ago I had my brake pads replaced, but since then they've been causing me issues and squeaking. When I took it in today, they said that they haven't been having great luck with those pads, so they replaced them out for me with the new Avid ones, free of charge. Awesome guys, they really stand behind their work and their products. So go check them out! (plus you won't have to wait like 5 days to get your bike back!)

Amy's Ice Cream Toss

Yesterday, Brandon, Alan, Kateylin, Steve, Dan, Jeremy and I went to Amy's Ice Cream after dinner at Hula Hut. The old ice cream guy, the one that used to work at the Amy's on 6th, was back and did some really cool ice cream tricks for us. Here's a video of him trying to toss the ice cream across the street to Brandon. Brandon caught it, sort of. The ice cream landed in the cup but then everything fell out of his hands. It was awesome. Then they just kept trying but it got messier and messier. Good times.