Made it back

I am back from the trip, and all I can say is that I have found a new sport.

We hit Lake Placid Thursday evening to find 50 degree weather and sunny skies -- great for a visit to Lake Placid, terrible for a winter ascent. We had planned on snow at the base (as the locals had reported a week before), so we brought sleds to haul out the camping stuff. Slush and mud eliminated out chances at camping out on the mountain, so we had to hit it all in one day. It was muddy for a while, but we hit consistent snow/ice about 2 miles in. The trail turned out to be pretty tough, with plenty of long steeps, but the forest was very nice. I didn't realize it at the time, but most of the trail isn't even on Mt. Marcy (I think it's on Phelps Mountain and Table Top Mountain)...but at one point you turn a corner and Mt. Marcy herself just towers over top of you. It was kind of like going to Cedar Point for the first time and being blown away by the height of the roller coasters.

The climbing was quite pleasant until we hit the tree line and some clouds rolled in. Visibility dropped to less than 1/4 mile and the trail wasn't the easiest to follow. At one point we did lose the trails, but after some aimless wandering we eventually hit what we thought was the peak. After some GPS speculation we finally concluded we were at the peak. The wind was insane...apparently 60 mph will take your breath away, and our breath was easily taken away. The view wasn't much of anything with the clouds, but it was still well worth being at the top of New York. We 3 went back down to the treeline and met up with the other 3 guys we were climbing with. Mike stayed behind, but Tim and I took the guys back up, which was hard but great.

The descent sucked, but it's supposed to suck.

All in all, it was a great climb and a great trip.

Needless to say, it looks like I've got some climbing in my future.

Marcy Tomorrow

I'm taking off for upstate NY tomorrow. Driving past Cleveland Tuesday, Lake Placid by Wednesday night, hiking to Marcy Dam Thursday, summit on Friday, other nearby peak Saturday, and returning Sunday. It should be a fun time.

AIG Money

I recently got to thinking about the whole AIG bailout/executive bonus situation. Everybody seems to be totally outraged and regard the executives are horrible people. I heard somewhere that there have even been death threats against their families. While the situation does suck, I got to thinking about the bigger picture.

In the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, the author is talking to a friend of his about all of the civil war - genocide crap in Africa. His friend asks Donald about the difference between the killers in Africa and themselves was. After some thinking, Donald realizes that there is no difference - to say there is a difference is to imply that people are born evil based on geographic location. While environment is a very strong influence in someone's life, Donald realizes that he is no different from a nazi, a Tibetan, or Mother Theresa.

Back in the late 1800's/early 1900's a prominent British newspaper (The Times) sent out letters to big-time authors inviting them to write essays on the theme "What's Wrong with the World?" One author, G.K. Chesterton, responded with a letter:

Dear Sirs,
I am.
Sincerely Yours,
G.K. Chesterton

Now, what is the difference between me and an AIG executive? Some education, some experience, lots of money. Deep down, though, do I have some characteristic, heart-level difference that I was born with? I can't believe that I do. If I were in the same situation, would I take the bonus money? I will respond with a story:

When I was in Boston a couple of weeks ago, our trip organizers paired us all up, gave us $21, and told us our goal was to take a homeless person out to dinner. My partner and I searched far and wide, walking from Copley Square to Berkeley to the MFA. No homeless people in sight. In failure, we got some sandwiches at Brueggers and returned to Dorchester. In total, our meal cost about $15, leaving me with a net gain of $6. Without really thinking about it I kept the $6. I didn't maliciously steal it, I didn't avoid talking about it, I didn't feel any sort of moral dilemma. This money was given to me to spend. I still don't feel any sort of conviction about taking the money.

Now multiply that $6 by 240,000 and you have the average AIG bonus. Where does amount of money denote magnitude of crime? Both AIG executives and myself took money that was given to us. Do other people need that money more than myself and the AIG execs? Yes. Is it our money, though? Yes. So who gets to be the moral police telling us to give away our money? Isn't that up to us?

Now the big picture -- is AIG lame for dolling out tax money for bonuses? Yes. Tax the shit out of it. That money needs to be put to better use. There is a time and a place for big government regulation, and it looks like this might be a time for it. I guess my conclusion is, though, that the AIG execs who got the bonuses aren't evil. They simply accepted what their company decided was deserved to them. I hate to admit it, but in the same circumstances I would do exactly the same thing.

I guess the goal of the next 60 years of my life is to make sure I don't get into the same circumstances.

$100 Pair of Pants

The time is almost here. On Tuesday I leave for Lake Placid, NY where I will attempt a winter (sort of) ascent of the tallest mountain in the Adirondacks, Mt. Marcy. I finalized my gear yesterday with some random purchases (fuel, a couple of nalgenes, sleeping pad), and I got stuck buying a $100 pair of baselayer pants. I had a sweet pair, but I can't seem to find them anywhere. Suffice to say, I have a sweeter pair now.

I got kind of sick a couple of days ago and I'm still trying to work it off. It's just a little GI bug, nothing that will keep me from climbing. Now all I need to do is learn glycolysis and a few other lipid and enzyme things. Big biochem test Monday.

Someone I don't like

Have you ever known someone you wanted so bad to dislike, but they only give you reasons to like them? I have a professor like that. He is teaching my capstone class (senior thesis-ish), and he is real tough. He is known around the school as the impossible nutrition professor. In the class I have him for he just ripped apart a paper I spent hours and hours on. He demands better quality work than any other professor I've had, and he will not hesitate to tell you how bad you are at something. To say the least, he is hard and very coarse.

I would love to just dislike him. It would be so easy. The problem is that he is so dang helpful and encouraging. After we got our papers back he went through and talked about common errors that many people made. In doing so he seemed to talk directly to me and basically highlighted everything that I did wrong. It seemed like he used my paper as an example of what to improve on without directly showing it to the class. Clearly he wants me to write better papers and is going out of his way to help. I am waiting for his office hours right now and I know he will be incredibly helpful.

In his office two things will happen: he will make me feel like an idiot and he will set me up to write a fantastic paper.

Why do I want to simply dislike him? It's so frustrating whenever he gives me reasons to like him. Why? I want to pass him off as a jerk. For some reason it's easier to lump people into groups and stereotypes. Why? I've been thinking about this one for a while without any result.

I've looked at the upcoming endurance season this summer and am excited. I basically have 3 goals: race a solo race (probably just a sprint), race a 24+ hour race, and race a marathon (Detroit on Oct. 18). Lets see if I can pull these off.

Suffering

I went out to Lake Michigan to work out today. My boss (henceforth referred to as Tim W.) were planning on doing 20 laps of these stairs that the city of Holland put in up a big sand dune. I went for a quick 20 min. run beforehand and we set off for the climbing. 3 1/2 hours later we hit 17. We were both quite pleased with ourselves, considering we didn't break for more than 5 min. and we were each carrying 40 pound packs.

Tim brought up an interesting point about endurance athletes. He compared me and another guy we are climbing with, Mike. Tim says that Mike is an amazing athlete considering his age, but endurance sports take one characteristic that Mike does not have: ability to suffer. When everything is horrible and you have no hope at all, just keep on going. When you dump a canoe in a 30 degree river when it's 15 degrees outside, just keep right on going. Tim says he has seen me suffer -- through long long hours of work, through immense physical workloads. I consider that a big compliment. We'll see if I can suffer my way up Mt. Marcy. I've got a biochem test to suffer through first, though.

Done

Finally the week is done. I just finished my long paper and it feels good. I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out.

I ran to class today and my knees were fine, but i got some nasty blisters from some new insoles I got. The 5 more miles I'll be running today won't make my feet happy with me, but callouses and mental toughness are worth it.

Now all I need to worry about is a biochem test in a week and a half. It'll be the toughest one yet, but I am working a 15 hour shift on Saturday in which the only thing to do is study. Bring on the fun.

Almost there

Real busy week. I've been working on a paper that's first draft was due on Monday, and the final is due Friday. Sunday night everything seemed to have gone wrong. The file got corrupted and I had to start from scratch at 10:30 PM. I realized at that moment that school really doesn't stress me out. Even though I knew I was probably going to be up all night I didn't care. One way or another I had to finish the paper, so why be stressed about it?

I figured out a great system for running. Most of the places I need to go (class, errands, etc.) are all within a couple of miles from my house, so I just started running whereever I need to go. I put in about 6 miles today and it was great. My knee started hurting about mile 5, which was expected. I just have to keep up some balance work, maybe twice a week.

Welp, back to working on the paper.

The sign of a good doctor.

I spent last week in Boston with a campus ministry group from Grand Valley. It was an amazing trip. We went around to different rehab facilities, rest homes, and homeless shelters to help out. Lots of painting and convincing sheltered Grand Rapids kids that rest homes are gross by nature. It was real good to get back to Boston. I think for the first time I truly felt like an adult. I was the "adult leader" for the trip and kind of had the role of being the responsible one. I felt very comfortable in that role. My co-leader is a super indecisive people-pleaser, which expanded my role a lot. I thought we made a real good team.

I got to meet with a few old friends from college and an old professor. While meeting with the old professor I further felt like a real adult. We only talked for like 10 min., but at one point he got real quiet and started telling me about some career moves he was looking into. While we were talking I realized that he wasn't Prof. Richard Lawler, PhD Yale University, and I wasn't John McClain, college student. He was Rich and I was John. Sometime in the past 3 years I have attained adulthood. My superiors are no longer socially dominant over me. They are, to some degree, friends. I guess the fact that I'm going climbing with my boss indicates a level of friendship.

I like to hope that I will always retain a bit of childhood. As long as I laugh at the word "Pooberry" I think I'm safe.

In Boston I met somebody who was going to Harvard's undergrad/med school combination program. She was in her early 40's and had survived a near-fatal assault and recovery from severe brain injury. The funny thing about her was her extreme thoroughness. When riding the T she knew the exact spot to stand at each station in order to end up exactly where she wanted to be at her destination. For example, if she is taking taking the red line from Harvard, you wait at the second Pepsi machine and it will put you in front of the stairs at Shawmut. If you are going from Downtown Crossing to Shawmut you wait at the first fan. I've always heard that the sign of a good doctor is thoroughness. It makes me wonder how thorough I am in my life. I think I am more than many, but far from very thorough. I think I hold communication to a higher priority, but maybe I need to work on thoroughness.

Now to finish a long paper and begin another long paper. Big couple of days ahead of me.