Wooded Atrophy

This is from up top. We saw up top (cold, very windy, heavily wooded) and the bottom (desertified, hot). Up top we were totally alone, and we had just gotten there basically as the sun was going down. I rushed to make a fire for no real reason, other than I thought it'd be fun to have a fire. It was more worrisome than anything though, because I kept having to find wood in the dark, and most of it was really moist or half buried. I was able to start and manage the fire for a while though, using only a small amount of toilet paper and some twigs. I was proud enough and still am. It was kind of spooky up in the blustering forest, and P and I had been engaging in heavy conversation the whole way up, so the mood was not exactly blithe. Plus we didn't have any chairs-- a real must for proper camp-fire appreciation. We sat on the cooler, hips touching, wondering aloud what Hells Canyon held in store for us.

Sleep could not come soon enough, but we were so restless from the eight or so hours in the car. I threw the stick for the dog and drank a beer, but then I just worried that dog'd get lost in the woods like we sort of were.

Slow Bones

I was positioning my sunglasses so that the top frame would be right were the sun was, and then I slowly tilted my head downward to match the rotation of the earth.

Hells Canyon aka Smells Crayon

Hells Canyon, 2009. None of the pics from the trip were that big of life changers. Sometimes I look at these and think: man, I could make a thousand jokes. Other times: jeez I wish I had some photo paper and scrills. Sometimes nothing. Sometimes nothing.
pictured in the background was our water-craft. We have a long ways to go.

The dandelions over there are enormous! Mutant dandelions!

man room update

this is huge: I got a desk. Seated there now and it feels so right.

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Road Weary

We went to Hells Canyon, or Hells Crayon as I took to calling it. It was vast and secluded. The first night we slept on the rim, wind blowing through tall pines, no one within maybe 50 miles. I started a fire and nursed it for a while before hitting the sack. I kept throwing sticks for the dog and he leaped through the high grass like a deer in wheat and fetched them. He also thought I was taunting him when I stirred the fire with a poker. He is insufferable. Hells Canyon, for those not in the know, is the deepest canyon in North America! We slept in Idaho for a night, where P and dog almost got eaten by an angry pit-bull and it's rude owners. Oh, speaking of, I read Hannibal Rising, one of the prequels to Silence of the Lambs. It was a decent enough book I guess. The words were really far apart so it was really quick to read. Then I started a book by Cormac McCarthy, Cities of the Plains I think it's called. It was the third book of a trilogy, the first two of which I'm not familiar with. I started it, not having any other reading material other than some Vogues that P had brought along, and hopefully the novel will stand alone well enough. Anyhow, the words in that book were closer together than the Bible, and he didn't use quotation marks around the dialog, which was a little discombobulating. Reading authors who are alive is really abnormal for me. I also didn't learn about Nirvana until 1996. Yesterday I swam naked around an island, pushing p and dog on the air mattress that we slept on and slept well down in the canyon. Dog sleeps in the car on these trips and he was very tense on the water. He wants to jump in he just doesn't know how to go about it. I varied the depth of my bum based on how close the wake-board boats got. One boat did a lot of hollering but I just think that their wake-boarder probably did a nice maneuver. We saw an appropriate amount of Hells Canyon. Enough that we'll hopefully not have to go back. It's about 8 hours both ways.

I found my sunglasses on this rock in the canyon where I had been perched the night before. It felt like a miracle. I went from being totally pissed off and frustrated at not being able to find them to the most uplifting, high feeling when I saw them sitting there. I was happy that no billy goat had walked off with them. We also saw two dams. I walked on one of them and heard the electricity being generated. It was quickly whisked away by huge power lines. There were enormous carp swimming around the dam too, but fishing was disallowed. We didn’t take a jet boat tour, but I was tempted for about 10 seconds to look into it.

I have 5 rolls of film to take in, some of it from over there, other shots will be a surprise to get back; I seem to have forgotten when and what and why I clicked the button. This afternoon I tried to stoke the flames of my skateboarding and it went ok. I usually just go to a certain low-impact site, but today I rode the bike around and visited spots that I visited as a 16 year old, and not much had changed. The ground was rougher, the apartments re-modeled, and my old bones achier, but otherwise it was basically the same. Skate and Destroy. Oh snap, achier isn't flagging the spell-checker. Time to quit while I'm ahead. Check back soon, maybe Wednesday.

jonny's first draft

I'm watchin the nba draft live on espn with a luke-cold sixer and my tripod set.

LIVE BLOGGING:

4:47-- Is Dunleavey the dumbest dude ever?
Pick two: biggest bust ever. They're just doing a blooper reel after they got done doing his blocked shot montage.

pretty fly suit and tie combo though. It'd be hard to buy a suit as a 7'3" bean pole. Imagine a 7'3" bowling ball though. That'd be even harder. I love Africans in the NBA. It's such a great success and just so wonderful.

Pick Three: should have taken Rubio. They get the baby bow tie boy! At least he's wearing a suit with no t-shirt. (snicker)
I had a feeling someone would have taken this dude too early. He says "work hard" just like B Roy-- he's letting the comparisons dictate his diction. Think of how fun the Thunder would have been with Rubio! Who's picking 4th? The Kings? Rubio doesn't get by them I don't think. But BLEH.


Pick 4: wtf is Tyreke Evans?
So far I think Grifin's suit was the worst. This one is straight bangin. No one will ever hear from this dude ever again. Who's he going to dish to? Kevin Martin so he can dribble for 15 seconds and hoist a contested jumper?

Ah, at 5:03 I realized I hadn't been doing the times, which I think a lot of live-bloggers do. I really don't like Tyreke Evans' voice.

Ha ha Minnesota up here to go 5th and 6th. How will they screw this up? Well, they got rid of Mike Miller so they can't screw it up too badly. Mike Miller: worst dude in the NBA?


Wow, Rubio is surprisingly gawky and awkward. He seems like a 15 year old pubescent weirdo and his voice is so crazy. The Spanish accent is really... I'm not sure I like it.
His suit sort of fit oddly but his highlight reel was the most entertaining fo sho.
Jeff Van Gundy is so great.


Whoops Minnesota you picked a 5'11" guard. Whoops whoops whoops. I hate how they put the hats on. They're just so terrible. I kind of like Johhny Flynn's voice. He seems like a pretty good dude. Aside from the insane napoleon complex, obviously. Again, a very nice suit shirt tie combo.

For the Warriors at 7: Stephen Curry. I'm down. I like this kid. I hope he does well but something seems weird, I heard that GS promised Moped Ellis that they wouldn't draft a PG. Curry's too small to be a SG, right? Also, I feel for him going into Nellie's system. He's like a delerious old man. Also, Knick fans, maybe don't boo the kid you wanted when he goes before your pick. Maybe a nice golf clap would have been appropriate.

With the 8th pick, the knicks select: Andrew Chen!
Dang the chen, your enunciation is really slipping. On the plus side, you seem like way more of a thug now.

Huh, he seems to seriously over-lap with David Lee. I guess you never know when D'Antoni is at the helm. Also, is there never going to be a commercial break? I have to piss like nobodies business.
Also, Knicks fans: worse than Lakers fans?

I like the way this kid looks. His face looks tight. He could have been cast on the Wire, but he speaks too slowly. However, his moms has lupus, so I can't be hatin. Also, DeRozan probably won't be taking the bus. I think the whatever pick gets enough for at least a Tercell. This is so tiring. I think I'm going to post less maybe until the Blazers get going.
WTF? Dude's not in the house? Dang, I was banking he'd be sporting the most amazing Italian suit. Also, did he rock a flat-top in Europe? Straight playa. Oh dang, no one told him they'd draft him. What a heart-breaker. wait, what a baby! Man up jennings. I thought you were over there playing with MEN.
doesn't this set look weird? Technicolor insanity.
worst suit let, tied with Griffin. Your shirt should be lighter than your jacket. I think that should be a rule that no one ever breaks. So this Forward goes to NJ to play with Lee from Orlando, Brook Lopez, Devin Harris (covet him), and who else? Yi? Herrrmmm. Hows that 2010 strategery going, New Jersey?
at least this kid cared enough to be there. I can't believe Jennings would have been such a baby. One strike Jennings. At least you already have 1 ball for not going to college. Maybe that's actually worth.... two balls.

Now the Bobcats pick some Duke Alumn. If you went to Duke are you a Dukie? Does Michael Jordan just watch a few games in the ncaa tourney for his scouting? (Joke stolen from somewhere on ESPN.com today, probably Hollinger's chat) So if I'm stealing their jokes and stealing their footage, I should like, watch my back, right?
Here I am on TV! (that'll throw them off my scent, right?)

I told the person who sold me the suit, and he was just like "don't move your arm like that." I wanted one that would fit me like a glove. I guess they don't make those jackets for only 200$. I tried on a $3500 one and it fit like a wet-suit.

Indiana's up! Dang! They took Hansborough. Front court is Jeff Foster, that tight south-paw, what's his name? He was so sick! I can't remember his name. TROY MURPHY.
Now Hansborough. All white team. Booo

oh Larry Bird picked this dude? Racist front line-- whites only. I like Murphy, but only for fantasy basketball purposes. All kidding aside, dude scored more in NCAA than anyone of all time. Back in the day, everyone went to school for 4 years too, so it's just pretty intense. You go Larry Bird! Way to not pick Ty Lawson. You picked the wrong tar-heel.

You know, Phoenix should take Lawson to back.... Oh, they took Earl Clark. Is that that tall guy? The weird one who could be like Lamar Odom? Yup. Well, here's hoping that works. Everyone just wants to see Phoenix succeed. I'd like to see what Amar'e could do with a season as the top dog again.

Oh snap, Jennings came out the Stern door! I really like the way Jennings is holding himself in the interview. Way to go Jennings. You just hit that out the infield.

I think the battery died on the camera. Austin Daye to the Pistons: I really dislike the V neck sweater under the grey suit. Boo. Austin Daye: 14th man for life! Alright, this was the biggest post ever. I gotta cook some dinner. We out the lottery anyhow.

UPDATE: ha ha ha The Wolves just drafted their third point guard of the night. A trade in the works? Ooh, Ty Lawson to the Nuggets? Hmm, he'll do well under Chauncey, probably better than that beetlejuice fellow that was there previously. I hope. It's got to be tough to be a rookie on a deep ass playoff team like the Nuggs. They should have traded that short fellow for something more attractive. Meh. I ain't no GM.
Man, doing the live blog sucks. I don't know how to do it.

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this weekend:

oh this looks like a chill place to go rafting.

(photo from the web, http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect6/hells-canyon-snake-river.jpg to be exact)

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Im at a metal show!? On a tuesday night, lordy mercy

what's the Thrasher of Canoe magazines?

These would have made for some pretty good submissions.

mud dock


hard at work on the river

Fitzcarraldo

we did the longest portage. Longer than this? Basically.
Portaging is so hard. You'll be pulling and pulling and it's just so tiring. We were doing it barefoot because there was that kind of grass that just destroys your socks, and then we started walking and those little hitchhikers just burrowed into the bottom of the feet so we put the shoes back on. After a long portage rowing feels so easy. And after a lot of paddling a nice portage seems sort of easy. It was a really exhausting adventurous day.
If you get bored you can just chase a cow.
They never did touch any cows.