Rich-What!?! Richmond!

I love that movie. But this is something else, kind of...

On a chilly March night, I finished a show.
I was looking for beer, and a place to go.
There was a nice spot, just across the way,
I thought to myself, what a lucky day!
I walked inside, the whole place was packed,
Sat down at the bar, boy was it stacked.
I looked around, it all made sense.
Their team was playing, it was intense.
Anticipation filled the room,
It could be their doom.
The Buzzer cried out,
They all began to shout!!!

So as part of my job I spent 2 days in Richmond, Virginia. I have a friend who is from there and she assures me that it is a great place. I haven't visited very much of it... Anyway, after work I went across from my hotel to grab a drink and some food. Earlier in the day I had noticed the theatre we were playing was on the campus of VCU. Since I have been following March Madness this year I also knew that VCU was still in the tournament. There were a few things I didn't know. VCU is apparently not know for being an athletic university as much as liberal arts. So, when they make it to tournaments its a pretty big deal for them. But then this school has NEVER made it past the level of the tournament they were playing tonight. It was great to see people rally and get together for something positive that they support and believe in. So yes they were excited thru the whole game and yes that energy is contagious. By the end of the game I was finding myself yelling and rooting for their team too. When the game ended and VCU won there was a deafening roar of cheers and happiness, you could really feel the volume all around you. It was a very fun time and a great moment to share with all those people and that town while I was there.

"I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match."
~Mia Hamm

Sometimes life is a day at the beach.

This past weekend I had a fortunate day off in Hilton Head Island, SC. I had never been there before and actually had never even head of it but it was quite a lovely
place. And I had some wonderful company with me there that knew of some places to go and things to do.
In you adventures there are few things more important than carefully choosing who you are with. First think about your physical level versus theirs because what is challenging for you may be really easy for them and you wont really share the same experiences but that can be ok, especially if you acknowledge it before you begin. What I find to be most important is to have similar personalities, that way you will have much you can talk about or all be ok not talking much at all. But if you are looking for a nice quiet hike and you decide to bring someone you know is a chatterbox, well you might spend a lot of time annoyed with them instead of enjoying the lovely walk you are on. The last thing I will say on this is also have an idea of who would be the best person to be in charge for the group(It might not be you...) this isint always necessary, if say, you have a group of strong outdoors people who do fine on their own. But if you have some inexperienced people or people who dont like that sort of adventure, someone should look out for them. Also if things do start going wrong someone will need to make choices for the group. Now I'm not saying that the "head" or "leader" should be telling people what to do all the time or really any of the time, but just have an idea so IF people need someone to turn to it is not a surprise to anyone.

Back to the beach though.

On this day it was what many people would call "too cold for the beach" but I come from the north and it was above freezing, so a good start there. now it was also windy. I love the wind though. We walked out onto the beach and the sand was very flat and wet with almost no footprints in it, the wind was bring sand whipping across it, and it very much reminded me of drifting snow, except a bit warmer and more abrasive. It was very pretty though. Lets clear something up right now.. I love water, I always have. Any time i spend in it I consider time well spent. So of course I had to head down to it and stick my feet in. It actually wasn't as cold as I had expected. As we ventured into the water we watched the brave people out doing water sports start to come in, I guess the wind had reached the point where you couldn't really control what was going on anymore. it did remind me how much i want to try these sports though, surfing and wind surfing even wake boarding which i think I have tried before though I was not very good at it. After a few more minutes we decided to head back to the nice little bar on the beach, we had a couple drink and watched the game on tv as well as the ocean. Eventually we got in the car and headed off to another part of the island, walked for a bit and again found a bar had a couple drink and watched part of a different game. So far a lovely day. Soon it started to get cold and we began looking for a place where we could do these activities inside or at least somewhere a bit warmer. After a little search we found a nice sports bar and settled in for a little while. Had a few more drinks and watched several games. This brings me to a topic I wanted to talk about, patience...
While at the bar we were the only two at the outdoor bar and the gentleman working behind it was closing up, most people wanted to be inside. We decided that it was still nice enough out and they had large heaters blowing onto us so we stayed out. he closed up all but what we were having and was more than happy to get us whatever we needed from the inside bar. when the first game we were watching came to a close we asked if he could change it to another station, he put up a pathetic amount of effort. Now some people might get annoyed and some people did.. But not I, then I was asked how I have so much patience. If you don't know me personally, I do have a very large amount of patience with people and things. I began thinking about how I became the way that I am in this regard. I have come to this conclusion, patience is a skill. It is something you have to work at getting better at. You can practice it and people will give you chances all the time to do so. You should look at the situation and ask yourself a couple of questions. Is this worth the effort and energy of getting upset? Could this situation/person get worse? If so, is my getting upset going to help anything? "We" stayed calm and asked him politely again to try and he went inside and asked someone else then came back and set it up just like we had asked him to. It worked out very well and he was still very nice to us afterwards... If you are making someone else feel bad to make yourself feel better, whether you are justified or not, then you are a bully and bad karma will be coming your way...

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney

Is your body a temple?

No, mine is not. It is much more like an amusement park filled with cotton candy, deep fried everything and of course cinnamon roasted almonds.
I have found that I enjoy being outside much more when I am in shape and when that shape is not round. Hiking mountains becomes easier when you weigh less and your balance becomes better. I am far from an expert on healthy living but I do have some ideas on the subject.
First is nutrition, I'm not going to go on and on about what you should and shouldn't eat, that would be very hypocritical of me. I will say that when you keep a healthy balanced diet you feel better and have more energy, you can hike farther longer.
One thing I do know a bit about is caffeine. I have been on both sides I have worked crazy hours and depended on it to "survive" and in some ways this was true. When I wasn't able to get even a reasonable amount of sleep I drank it to get me going faster in the morning, and then had more of it to keep me from crashing in the middle of the day, then of course I needed more to keep me going well into the night. Then there was trying to sleep that night. For a long time I told myself I slept just fine, but I didn't. It reached a point where I finally realized I had made myself dependent on caffeine, I became more acclimated to low sleep. Then one day I decided that I needed to take control back. Just like any addiction I took steps to break free of it. I made a plan gave myself a timeline and prepared myself mentally for what I was about to undertake. First I limited my intake to specific amounts at certain times like having soda with meals but not in between, then removed it from my evening all together, then eliminated it completely. What I found was I slept much better. When I woke up I was alert and functioning much quicker than  before. Thru the day I didn't run into any midday crash. The only down side was I had developed a serious sleep schedule, when my bed time arrived I became very tired very quickly. Which is only a problem if I wanted to say, stay up late to have fun with friends. This was a couple of years ago and I do drink caffeine again but not nearly as much as I had. I am also not nearly as dependent on it as I was. Even with the crazy schedule I keep now I have gone days without caffeine. Now, I am not condemning your morning coffee or a nice cup after dinner. I bring this up because out hiking in the wild having a dependence like that can ruin your trip. All addictions have physical withdrawals, I know many people addicted to caffeine that get headaches if not consumed daily. Also carrying around all that extra gear, whether it's the coffee maker or a few cans of energy drinks, they start adding up in weight and taking up valuable space. I do enjoy a cup of campfire coffee on a cold morning as much as anyone else, just think about how much it is worth to you.
The second thing I would like to talk about is smoking. Again, something I know about first hand. I am a smoker and yet enjoy physical activity. Many of the same reasons that I brought up about caffeine addiction, I also apply to cigarettes. They take up space and add extra weight not to mention the part where they fill you lungs with tar and chemicals, cutting down your lung capacity and therefore slowing you down. Oh, and there is that bit about lung cancer as well. It is an addiction that I have yet to be able to break free from, but I will keep making new plans and keep fighting to be free of it., i will always give it a look
Last up is exercise. Again I am not an expert, I might barely be informed even. But I do know that when you are not in good physical condition you are limiting the adventures you SHOULD undertake. I am a deep end of the pool kind of person, when there I something I want I dive right in after it. Funny, that very recently I jumped into the deep end of a pool without checking the water in the slightest first. I imagined it migh be a little chilly but it turned out to be quite cold. It happens sometimes. Anyway, I usually start exercise routines in the same way, by picking a moderate to strenuous hike without first preparing my body. This usually ends with me having a few days worth of aches, pains, and very sore muscles. A better way to do things would be to create and maintain a level of exercise that will allow you to do the adventures you want without the drawback of being out of commission for days after.
I always like information and if you have any on any of these subjects that you would like to share please pass is along I will always give it a look.
Here is a blog that belongs to a good friend of mine that knows way more on these topics than i do and i read it often. http://thishealthygirl.blogspot.com/

"To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear."

~Buddha

Life as I currently know it.

For the past few months I have been employed by a company producing a theatrical national tour. There are some great things about this job. I get to travel all over the United States and some of Canada, the down side is I often dont get to spend as much time as I would like in some places and sometimes I have only enough time for a short walk. But, there are other times I have a day or two to explore areas and it has taken me to some places I might not have otherwise been to.
I live and travel on a sleeper bus, often we will get hotel rooms and that is always nice, but a good portion of the time you sleep at night in your small bunk while flying down the highway. You grow accoustomed to the bus and I have in fact become very fond of it, and you get used to the sleeping quarters. The one thing that gets to me the most is that this bus is enviromental destruction on wheels. We drive all over the place consuming ridiculous amounts of gas, many of our meals are prepackaged microwavable things, which not only lack in nutritional value there is so much waste in the packaging. Generally we use plastic silverware, paper plates and bowls, go thru roll after roll of paper towel. I would like to think, and I tell myself I am just a victim of my situation. We dont have much of a sink and our water is fairly limited so things like cleaning dishes are difficult. Again this is an excuse. If I would just put in a little more effort I'm sure I could reduce this waste dramatically. Reducing waste is something I find myself thinking about fairly often, about as often as I think about things like we should all spend more time shopping at local farmers markets. They not only cause less waste but also promote small and local business which is what this country was founded on. I challenge everyone to take a look at the waste output of their daily lives and see if they could reduce it by even a little? How much extra work would that be?
The upside of my life is of course the travel I have been to many states and several provinces in Canada not to mention numerous cities. I have met many wonderful intelligent people and many people who do not live up to those descriptions... I did travel to some places on my travel checklist for life, Mount Rushmore and San Diego are two of them. I came close to Vancouver, just close enough to know for sure I need to visit. I spent a few day in Las Vegas, I forget every time I go there just how filthy of a place it is and I don't just mean the greed and sin and scum everywhere but also the trash and dirt and smell. This brings me to what I find to be a funny irony of my feelings versus my work, light pollution. Yes it is a real thing. It has endangered nocturnal species and also ruins the night sky in many places.
I am pretty sure there are enough places I want to visit and see and experience to fill multiple lifetimes. So I guess I better keep moving.

"you never know where life will take you unless you are willing to go."

Beginnings

  All things must have a beginning and this one starts here. This is not the origin of my adventuring, just another fork in the road of life. I love to travel and I also love adventure. While i find these two things often go together I also know you can have one without the other. I have had many travels that have severely lacked in adventure. I have also found many adventures without traveling much at all.
  You can find adventure simply by walking out your door. its out there and pretty easy to find if you know what you are looking for. There are also several types of adventures, for the most part I will dedicate this to my two favorites; the outdoors and food. I know there is amazing food in "the city", I have had it, and yes the food is good but I dont just go for the food, I go for the experience. If you don't know what I mean then I think you really need to spend the day hiking in Zion National Park, followed by a meal at Oscars Cafe. Their southwest black bean burger with a side of sweet potato fries washed down with an ice cold beer, I swear is still one of the best meals of my entire life. What I like to think about is "Would that meal have been nearly as good had I not been hiking all day?" No one really knows but I believe, no, it wouldn't have.
  As for the outdoors, I find i like basically all of it. I also believe nature is not something experienced with only your eyes. You should use all of your senses; take a walk into a forest, sit down, close your eyes and listen to everything around you. Step into a meadow and take a deep breath and savor the aroma of spring flowers in bloom.  Feel hot sand between your toes as you walk down the beach. And of course, taste the flavor of truly fresh fruits and vegetables.
  In the future i will bring you rales of wonderous trips from here to there but until then why not take the time to have your own?

"I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do."
~John Muir