- mthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mt-dahhh/~3/5qk_8_mttRQ/
feather falls backpacking
29 January 2012, 9:55 pmAccording to some people, Feather Falls is the sixth highest waterfall in the United States. According to Wikipedia, those people are wrong, and Feather Falls doesn’t even crack the top ten. Regardless of who is right, Feather Falls is a pretty amazing waterfall.
It’s incredibly tall. To get a sense of the size of the waterfall– if you zoom in and look closely at the top of the waterfall, you can barely see a bit of chain link fence and a tiny speck of a person.
Here’s a shot from the top of the waterfall. It’s amazing that you can walk right up to the edge of the fall. Unlike at Yosemite, there is no guard rail here. It is pretty easy to slip and fall over the edge.
There’s a pretty nice vista point built on top of a rock pile. From there you can see the waterfall way off to the right, and the beautiful valley through which the water flows down into Lake Oroville off to the left.
Originally this was planned to be a snow camping trip up near Loch Leven Lakes. But a couple of weeks ago we decided to switch it to a backpacking trip instead. Dan and I invited a lot of people to the trip, but in the end only Victor, one of the usual backpacking buddies made it. Which was too bad, the scenery was pretty beautiful, and the hike was pretty short and easy, at least as far as backpacking trips go.
The good thing about these easy short trips is that it lets me try out new gear. Over the last year or so I’ve been slowly investing in smaller and lighter gear. This is a new tent, it’s pretty cool in that it weighs in at under two pounds, and it packs down to about the size of a football. But like any ultra light gear, it has its compromises– I found that it doesn’t breathe well, so I woke up somewhat wet from condensation, and it requires extra rope to tie out the sides to keep the fabric from drooping down into my head and feet.
Near our campsite there were what seemed to be millions of ladybugs. According to Wikipedia, they stop here during winter in the middle of their migration. I didn’t even know ladybugs migrate… So anyways, all in all this was a short and sweet and also informative trip, and a good prelude to 2012′s hiking season. I’m looking forward to what this year will bring.
- mthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mt-dahhh/~3/3yL3m5MX7Sk/
donner dining & dozing
17 January 2012, 12:30 amThe Donner pass area is named after the infamous Donner party, a group of explorers who set out to California to strike it rich. They spent a disastrous winter in the mountains near Tahoe, with almost half of the group dying of starvation. The group is infamous in that the survivors had to resort to cannibalism to survive.
Our weekend in Donner was nothing like that. For some reason this winter has been really weird, with almost no snow at all in the mountains. And if anything, we had way too much food. So with a few good friends in a rented cabin I spent the weekend eating, sleeping and playing games. So yea, I imagine that’s pretty much the exact opposite of how the Donner party spent their winter.
I think the idea for a hot pot cabin trip came up during out camping trip out at Emerald Bay way back in August– I had been looking forward to the trip ever since. It did not disappoint– it was without a doubt the most bountiful hot pot I had ever been to. Of course good food is nothing without good company, it was great just relaxing and hanging out with old friends.
We ended up playing the word game taboo. Since there was an equal number of guys and girls, we ended up doing a battle of the sexes, with the losers having to endure a terrible two stage punishment. The first stage was wall squats, whoever was able to endure a wall squat the longest would be spared from the second stage punishment. In the second stage the losers would have to drink a nasty concoction that the winners mixed.
Here is the end result. Isn’t technology great? Nowadays all of life’s embarrassing moments can be captured on cellphone to share with the world…
- mthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mt-dahhh/~3/70UFBvfnUTM/
the garden
13 January 2012, 1:24 pm
When I first moved into my house in Davis, I was happy to find a lemon tree in my backyard. (Well actually it’s more like my side yard.) Despite my complete neglect the tree never fails to provide a ton of lemons every winter (and for some reason this year it started producing some mutant sumo lemons. They’re huge– bigger than grapefruits or pomelos even.) There’s more lemons than I know what to do with, so if you want lemons, just let me know.
When I moved into the house my dad planted this mandarin tree. During the past few years it’s been starting to produce some good fruit too. The mandarins it produces are tasty, but there’s too many seeds, so I’m kinda lazy to eat them.
Since citrus trees seem to grow so well at my house, I decided to plant a few in my front yard this past year. I wanted fruits that were not as common in stores, so I ended up buying a thai lime tree and a mandarinquat tree. The mandarinquat tree in the foreground seems to be doing pretty well– it has some fruit on it already. The lime tree in the far barrel is not doing as well, it will probably be another year or two before it starts producing limes.
In my front yard there’s also a few rose shrubs. Despite my complete and utter neglect, there’s some nice roses on it every year. When I see them sprout up every year, it reminds me of my favorite passage in the bible. It’s been my favorite passage almost since the day I became a believer, but when I became a homeowner with a garden it took on a new meaning.
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. -Matthew 6:28-34
When I see the fruits and flowers in my garden that thrive with the minimal to non existent care I give them it reminds me of this verse, and that I don’t constantly need to worry about the little things in life.
- mthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mt-dahhh/~3/1bcFJ1XmItY/
post review
10 January 2012, 1:32 amAs one year ends and a new one begins, I find myself reflecting on the past. For me this year marks the end of a decade and an end of an era. Since zero through nine years is the first decade, turning thirty marks the end of the third and beginning of the fourth decade of life. When I came to that realization I felt really old for a while, but then I realized that there’s still a lot of living left to do.
For most people the third decade is a decade of change. It’s the decade where most people graduate from college and start their adult life, building careers and families and what not. For me it was also a beginning of a new life. It’s the decade where I became a Christian and got baptized. Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I never found Christ in college. I have no clue what my life would look like, but I know that without a doubt my life would be completely different.
I started randomly browsing through my picture albums from the last few years. It made me realize how immensely blessed I am, with good friends and a job that is pretty flexible. And I’ve come to realize that a lot of those blessings came from the church. That’s not to say that I don’t have great friends through work or through school, I have awesome friends from my old job at CalPERS and at my current job at POST, and have awesome friends from high school and college too. Despite being such an introverted hermit I somehow have been blessed with great friends, and for that I’m thankful.
- mthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mt-dahhh/~3/9GIjInqtycE/
final failed five
2 January 2012, 7:56 pmFor New Year’s eve this year I signed up for the first annual resolution run. It’s a 5k night run in San Rafael, which is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I had heard about the run a while back, but kinda forgot about it until Jason sent me a discount code for half off the registration price. So we both signed up for the run pretty close to the registration deadline.
So on New Year’s eve afternoon I made the drive from Davis down to SF. I made it to San Francisco right at sunset. The last sunset of the year was quite beautiful, framed by the Bay Bridge and with the silhouette of the San Francisco skyline. The crappy cellphone picture I took through my dirty windshield while driving doesn’t do it justice.
I met up with Jason in SF and we had dinner. We went to a place called “Mandarin Islamic” or something like that. Their specialty was spicy lamb dishes. So we ended up ordering several spicy dishes. In hindsight I realize that eating spicy, greasy Chinese food before a run is a pretty stupid idea. I ended up getting a stomach ache during the run, and walked a good portion of it. One of these days I’ll finish running a 5k…
The sad thing is that I know I can run that distance, it’s always some random stupidity on my part that makes it so I can’t run the whole thing on the day of the event. Lately I’ve been using this app called MapMyRun. It’s pretty awesome, much better than the Nike+ app that I used to use. When you actually track your runs, it becomes pretty obvious when you’re being lazy. I obviously started the month off pretty lazily. So tracking the workouts automatically becomes motivation in and of itself. On the other hand, tracking your runs makes you realize how futile the whole running thing is– all that running and only 3121 calories burned?!?! seriously?!?!
Anyways, the event itself was pretty small, since it was its first year. It was kind of disappointing too, it was basically just a run through a mall parking lot. But it was still fun and it was still a good way to finish the year. I didn’t really take any pictures during the run, or of the after run festivities. But afterwards Jason and I headed to the BJs in the mall for a beer.
I did take a picture of that– My last beer of 2011. Hopefully this run is my final failed 5k run, here’s to hoping that I finish one in under 25 minutes in 2012. Cheers!
- mthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mt-dahhh/~3/IAWq7Ut03yQ/
low key christmas
27 December 2011, 1:54 amIt seems that for many people the holidays are a stressful time. On many of the websites I regularly read there are articles about how to deal with holiday stress and depression. For me the holidays are one of the least stressful times of the year, largely because I don’t really celebrate them. My family used to celebrate Christmas and New Years, we had a Christmas tree with gifts underneath, and we bowed for money on New Years (a Korean tradition.) But for about the last decade or so, my family hasn’t really celebrated the holidays, aside from getting together over dinner.
This year I thought about buying a tree and decorating my house, but I decided against it since I didn’t have any ornaments anyways. And so I’m like the neighborhood grinch, my house is almost the only house on the block without any decorations whatsoever. For now, I’m totally fine with being the neighborhood grinch– I think Christmas is largely a family celebration anyways, and since I don’t really have any family in Davis, I don’t really decorate the house. I think if I ever did have family in Davis, I would go overboard with the lights and lawn decorations like many of the houses in my neighborhood. Well, maybe not that overboard. In my neighborhood there’s this one house that plays Christmas carols with synchronized lights. There’s another one that has it’s own radio station blasting Christmas carols all day. I wouldn’t go that overboard. But I’d at least put some lights up.
I think another reason why my family doesn’t really celebrate Christmas is because we just have too much stuff in general. My parent’s house is filled with stuff. When my bro moved back home this year, he didn’t want to live with my parents because there was basically no room for his stuff. So on Christmas day my bro and I drove my truck to Davis with a load of furniture to free up some space for his bedroom.
Other than that, I didn’t do a whole lot, other than the normal things I do. I went biking with friends and hung out with random people. It was a pretty low key Christmas vacation.
- mthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mt-dahhh/~3/TdQrOYGV7m4/
twelve pounds
21 December 2011, 1:17 amMy work has a holiday tradition called the twelve pounds of Christmas. For twelve days there’s a potluck every work day leading up to Christmas, except for one day off for the annual holiday party (which is a buffet.)
My work is organized into different bureaus, and each day a bureau brings in food for the entire office. So basically you bring food in one day and chow down for the rest of the days. For some reason this year it seems almost like a competition, with each bureau trying to outdo each other.
The potlucks used to be held in the upstairs meeting room, but for some reason this year they moved them to the downstairs meeting room, which is at most ten feet from my cubicle. Willpower comes a lot easier when you have to climb a flight of stairs to see the food. This year the food is basically in front of my face, and I can constantly smell it, so willpower is in short supply.
Yet somehow, up until this week I was able to stay away, just nibbling here and there. But on Monday things changed when the potluck got cranked up another notch. Somebody started cooking bacon in the meeting room. The smell and sound of sizzling bacon was intoxicating. They should have laws against cooking bacon in the office because I’m pretty sure productivity drops to zero when the aroma of cooked bacon wafts through the office.
Today things got even crazier. Somebody brought a chocolate fountain in. Best invention ever. I started off slowly, eating a few pieces of fruit dipped in chocolate. But later somebody brought in doughnuts, marshmallows and rice krispy squares. “I’m already in this, might as well go big…” I thought, as I drenched a doughnut in chocolatey goodness.
I guess by go big, I meant stomach go big.
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