Chandra and Jeff do the Appalachian

OK So I already uploaded pictures from this, but I feel the entire story is deserved.

Last weekend Chandra and I were planning on going climbing. Allison was to be out of town, so it was just going to be the two of us. On Wednesday night, Chandra called and asked if I would like to go camping instead. Not having been camping in quite some time, I had to think, but eventually decided that it would be fun. Chandra found a campsite she thought would work, Sherando Lake in the Appalachian mountains. I called down and found out that they didn't take reservations, but that they hadn't filled up yet all year, and the previous week there had been 15 open campsites.

Being the cautious overplanner that I am, I jotted down the phone numbers and addresses of 2 other nearby campsites. We took off Friday right after work, trying to get down there before the gates closed.

Three hours of driving and an hour of wandering around the useless town of Front Royal later, we arrived at the park to find a "Campsite Full" sign and nobody in the little booth. No problem, I'm an overplanner, right? Unfortunately, I forgot that in the Appalachian mountains, cellphones are less than effective. Having no idea how to get to the other two campsites, and no way to contact them, we simply rolled down the windows and headed down the road with a song on our lips and hope in our hearts.

Along the way (and while harnessing the power of Blues Traveler), we passed a few people on the side of the road getting hiking and camping gear out of their car. We pulled over and asked them if there was campsite near by. They looked at us, with that "not for you" look on their faces (because we clearly didn't look like real hikers), but they did point out the entrance to a trail. "That white marking is the entrance to the Appalachian Trail. There's a shelter about a mile in there. Its a little bit uphill though. If you get there, you'll be able to camp there. We think about it, and after some deliberation and other such wonderment, we decide to give it a shot.

Unfortunately, we hadn't planned on hiking. So our camp gear consisted of two normal backpacks full of clothing, a shoulder bag of Chandra's full of random accessories, two GIANT sleeping bags (think 18inches plus in diameter), a medium sized cooler, a camp grill (with propane and a skillet), a guitar, and probably some other crap. This presented a conundrum . . . . .

We packed some drinks and snacks in with some clothes in the backpacks, as well as the tent, strapped the sleeping bags to us with bungee cords and string, and started into the trail. By now, its around 10:45pm, and we're hiking by flashlights and Chandra's headlamp. This is probably a good thing, because we couldn't really see far in front of us to how difficult the hike was.

At this point in my narrative, I'd like to point out something in which my opinion differs from that of our pioneering friends. "Uphill", I believe, is a phrase they used because "upmountain" doesn't roll off the tongue with the panache they were looking for. Unfortunately, in their quest for flair, they forgot how important factual accuracy can be, and we were left uniformed of the scope of the quest we were embarking upon. My point? It felt like we were climbing straight up.

We did finally reach a flat spot near the top of the mountain, where we were able to pitch the tent and sleep. When we pitched it, I felt it was much more easily accessible and flat than it was revealed to be in daylight, but it was still a fairly decent spot. We played cards into the evening, becuase hiking up a mountain actually kind of gets your adrenaline flowing, but eventually crashed and got some sleep.

Saturday we did some hiking around the area, went down to the car and got the guitar, camp stove, and food, and just hung out and relaxed most of the day. We found out by looking at some signs we found that we had pitched our tent somewhere around a mile from the entrance. We cooked lunch and dinner at the top of the mountain. After dinner, we were running out of water, so we decided to take the stove, guitar, and some trash back down to the car. The thought here was that we'd end up with less to carry down in the morning, which was a definite plus, and we'd also get more water that was in the car. We loaded up and started down the mountain.

We passed a few people on the way down, who I'm sure were amused by the sight of a guy with no backpack carrying a grill and a guitar along the appalachian trail. We got down to the car, where I reached into my pockets and realized that I hadn't brought the KEYS!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, this was significantly unacceptable. Chandra ridiculed me, which I deserved, and informed me that she didn't hate me then, but she would about 2/3rds of the way up the mountain. We stashed the guitar and camp stove underneath the car and headed back up.

Did I mention this hike was upmountain? Yea. it was one heck of a climb. We got to the top, grabbed the keys, and returned to the car and the water. We eventually made it back to the top (again) where we relaxed for the evening, then packed up and returned to DC in the morning.

Long story short (or is it significantly too late for that?), we had a blast. It was incredibly impromptu in the first place, and then we ended up hiking the appalachian trail instead of camping at a lame national park. I haven't done anything that random in a while, and I look forward to doing more outdoorsy stuff the rest of the summer. I've been indoors for too long and this was incredibly refreshing.

So there you have it. The story behind the pictures. Enjoy :)

J

Music

According to last.fm, my favorite bands, in order, are Metallica, Nickel Creek, Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Korn, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Sonata Arctica, Sum 41, SR 71, and Cake.

Is it just me, or is that an incredibly random list of bands? especially at the top . . . . .

J

Climbing

Most of you wont know what this means, but last night I onsighted a 5.9 and redpointed another 5.9 that had been giving me trouble before. It basically means I'm getting better at climbing.

I'm going outdoor climbing for the first time this saturday, which I'm very much looking forward to, in preparation for a trip to new hampshire later int he summer. Here's hoping I keep the steady development up and can actually do a decent job :)

such a rush

J

Back Again

I haven't written anything in a while, honestly because I haven't felt I had much to say. I'm going to ramble now, and maybe be more focused later. Feel free to ignore the following post, as it has very little interest to anyone but me.

I've randomly recently become far more committed to being a "better me". I put that in quotes because I don't really know the best way to describe it, and thats not really it. I guess I'm just being more grown up? more mature? None of those really work. Perhaps if I describe the symptoms I won't feel the need to label the entire malady.

Historically I've always been bad at creating a routine. I can't decide that I want to do something every day, and then do it. Usually when I make that decision, it lasts a few days, then I take a day off, and it all falls apart. Something must've changed recently, though, and I don't know what.

For the last 2 weeks I've done pushups every night. I started low (20) and have increased 2 each night (I did 46 last night). I'm rock climbing regularly now, and I need to build some more upper body strength. I need to do several other kinds of exercises as well, but I chose to start with pushups. This is incredibly minor, takes all of 5 minutes each night (if that), but its a sign of dedication to a goal and is rare in me.

For the same 2 weeks, I've also done the dishes every night. I know, I know, this sounds like something you're supposed to do, but I don't. I've never been good at keeping my kitchen/apartment/living space clean. Still, every night before I go to bed, I've gone into the kitchen and washed the 3 or 4 dishes that were dirtied that day. This has prevented things from piling up, so one day when I actually cooked a real meal that involved several more dishes and cookware, it was a simple matter because I didn't have to wash anything beforehand to have a dish to cook in nor did I have to wash a sink full of previously dirty dishes before having space in the sink to wash the ones from dinner.

Friday night I received a bonus from work. Its a fairly sizable one, and will allow me to pay off my credit card (something I've been trying to do since I had to live on it for 2 months). Its going to require a significantly greater amount of financial self control than I usually have, however, so I've been tracking my spending since then. I sat down with a calculator and figured out exactly how much money I have to live on until June 10 (the next payday) and still pay all bills and stuff. I'm keeping track every night of all the things I've purchased that day, and I wont be caught off guard by missing money at the end of the month.

I don't know if this will all keep up, or if it will generate more good maturing behavior, or what, but I find it interesting. It seems weird to be proud of washing my dishes, but damnit, I am. That probably says something about me, but I prefer to focus on the good of where I'm going and not the bad that is where I'm coming from.

Here's hoping I stick with it

J

Concert

Days of the New is coming to Jaxx nightclub. Anybody interested in going with me?

writers block

Writers Block sucks. I can write anything I want on guitar, it keeps coming, but I can't even get a song I DONT like out lyrically, it just doesn't come.

I've got a few hooks I like but I can't do anything with them. I dont expect anyone to be able to do anything about it, but it frustrates me. I have no reason to believe I should be able write lyrics, but I'd like to be able to.

Bah

J

Money Update

For those of you actually interested in my well being, as opposed to those of you looking to say mean things to me, I offer a quick update.

It seems that Verizon offered my name up to a pre-collection agency, not a collection agency. I think I've taken care of the money owed them (although I've thought this in the past as well).

I have, however, checked my credit report, and while my FICO score isn't great (the only reason sthey list are the accounts haven't been open long enough and too many people have been checking my report lately, because of the move), all of the accounts are in good standing and have never had a late payment, and more importantly, there are no collection agency records on there.

Also, it seems I've paid my father the money I owe him (he fronted me some cash for security deposit reasons during the move) and my credit card balance is back in the 3 digit range isntead of 4. I've never been in money trouble before, and this whole credit card thing is frustrating. I'll be back to safe again soon, but its nice to see in writing that there's nothing damaging on the report and as long as I get these balances down and keep paying it all off, I'll be fine.

So yea, I'm just feeling good financially, its nice to not be in trouble anymore.

Jeff