The sun it don't mean to hurt I guess

You know what I love most about my life?  When someone tells me on Wednesday that I should join them on a trip that lasts Thursday through Sunday, I can go ahead and do it if I want.

One of the other post-docs told me about a mountain biking trip she and some others had planned.  "You should come," she said.

"It sounds like a lot of fun.  Maybe I should."

"Oh, you're coming."

It was settled right then and there.  So, I packed my stuff that night, showed up at her house at 7:30 the next morning, and then we were off.  We drove about four hours to Canyonlands where we picked up the permits she and her husband had applied for a year ago, and then we were on the trail.  Six mountain bikes, two Jeeps loaded up with camping gear, food, etc., and a guy on a motorcycle.  Off on a four day ride along the White Rim Trail.

As you can see, the scenery was fantastic!

On average, we rode 25 miles a day.  We had two and a half days of very strong winds.  Some of the girls were actually blown off of their bikes.  Multiple times.  Luckily, the wind died down on the third day so we didn't have to fight it on the last climb out of the canyon (about 1200 feet in elevation over the course of about a mile and a half).  

At the onset, I wasn't sure I'd be able to ride the entire way, but I knew I had to give it a try.  I made it.  I can't believe I did, but I feel pretty awesome about it.  Of course, then I found out that there are people who do the whole thing in one day, then I didn't feel quite as bad ass.  Whatever.

I didn't tell my boss I was going.  I just told him when I got back.  His response?  "Good.  It sounds like fun."  He's awesome!

I might have some more stories to tell from the trip over the next couple of days.  Stay tuned.

Mama's gonna' keep baby healthy and clean

Here's just one of the many reasons why my mother is awesome:  She makes all the cards she sends out for birthdays, Christmas, etc.  They're fantastic.  Here's the one she made for my birthday last month.

I especially loved the note she wrote inside it.  You can tell by the qualifier she put at the end that she reads my blog =)

I'm posting this early because I don't know if I'll get around to it otherwise, but I just wanted to wish her a happy Mother's Day.  Thanks Mom!  For everything.  I love you. 

Hard on the knees, money in the bank

I'm out of town for the weekend. Again. Trying to do a lot of that these days I guess. The guy whose house I'm staying at is a great host.

 Him: Can I get you anything? Do you want some tacos?

 Me: No thanks. I already ate dinner on the way out.

 Him: Well, do you want something to drink? A beer maybe?

 Me: I'm good, but thank you.

 Him: How about a Vietnamese prostitute?

 Me: If you've got one, that'd be great!



 He didn't really have one handy :(

So I'll dig it up and bury it in the ground

One more story from my camping trip to the desert a couple of weeks ago.  We were out trying to catch lizards and snakes if we could find them, and my friend started talking about how we probably wouldn't see any rattlesnakes because people tend to kill them when they see them. 

"Which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it.  A lot of people you talk to about it will say they know someone who's been bit or whose kid has been bit.  Especially in the mid-west.  But if you look into it, there are actually very few documented cases of snake bites in the U.S., and even fewer deaths."

Later that afternoon he said he was bummed out that he hadn't seen any rattlesnakes.

I facetiously said, "I'm glad they've all been killed off.  I used to have six kids.  Now I have three.  Lost three to snake-bites.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to bury a toddler?"

He answered, "It can't be that hard.  I'd think about three or four shovelfuls ought to do the trick."

I've got friends in all the right places, I know what they want and I know they don't want me to stay

When we were coming home from the desert last weekend, my friend's check engine light came on just as we passed through a small town.  Being a Sunday afternoon, there wasn't any repair shop open, but he didn't feel comfortable pushing on to the next town and risking doing further damage to his vehicle, so we opted to stay the night so we could have it looked at in the morning.  After looking around town to see what our options were, we decided to rent a cabin at a campground in town.  There wasn't much to it, just a queen sized bed, some bunk beds, and an air conditioner.  It was good enough.

At one point, my friend looked at his lady friend and said, "What are we going to do tonight when we're having sex and [Minnow] is going to be right there?  You're going to have to keep it quiet."

She got really embarrassed.

I said, "You can be quiet or you can be loud, it won't matter to me.  I'll have my ear buds in."

"Are you serious?" she asked.

I answered, "Yeah.  That way I won't be able to hear it when you guys tell me to stop masturbating while I watch you."

I confide in wolves at night

Well, I made it back from the desert.  It was kind of nice to be out of cell phone service, with no internet or email access for four days, I'm not going to lie.  The only problem with that whole situation was that five friends were supposed to meet us on Friday afternoon, but they never showed up, and we didn't know what happened to them until Sunday afternoon.  Were we worried?  A little.  Was there anything we could do about it?  Not really.  

We spent most of the day on Friday just hiking around the hoodoos of Goblin Valley.  Not a bad way to spend some time if I do say so myself.  

We also just hiked straight out into the desert from our campsite, and saw some other cool views.  

The next day we hiked Little Wildhorse Canyon.  Despite what these pictures show, the place was PACKED with people.  Like, enough that I might not ever go back.  Oh, who am I kidding. Of course I'll go back.  I'll just try to do it on a weekday to avoid the crowds.  Instead, we ended up running whenever we could to put some distance between us and the other people.  That gave me a chance to beat a girl who was described to me by my friend as "the fastest girl I know" in several foot races.  It must suck for her to have to relinquish that title.  It sucks for me that I was sprinting in sandals and ended up ripping a blister off the side of one of my toes and getting a bunch of sand in it.  That made for a rather painful mile and a half walk to complete the hike.  The next morning my two toes were glued together with pus, so that was kind of gross too, but I got over it.  I think.  It doesn't look infected yet anyway.  Check back to see if I get gangrene.  

We caught a few species of lizards, and a pretty good sized bull snake.  We're biologist dorks, remember?  We find that sort of thing entertaining.  I have pictures, but am too lazy to post those right now.

I also saw about five different shooting stars while we were there, and even though I made wishes on all five, I didn't see any boobs all weekend, so I'm going to go ahead and call b.s. on whoever said wishes can come true.

I'll have some more stories to tell over the next few days, so you can look forward to that (or not).  It was a much needed distraction for me.  I'm glad I went.  I can't say that I'm glad to be back.  I wish I could've stayed for another week.

Well I can be lonely if she's happy, after all

You guys remember how a couple of posts ago I told you about the girl I was dating?  Well, it's hit a snag.  Already. It turns out that her ex-fiancee is making a major effort to win her back over.  She's now taking some time to try and figure out whether she wants to try one last time with him.  Awesome, right?

So anyway, I'm in a pretty lousy position.  It's not exactly over between us at this point, but it's not exactly NOT over between us at this point either. 

The last time we spoke I told her that I needed to see her one last time to try and get some closure.  She said okay, if that's what I really wanted.  I told her that it wasn't what I really wanted, that I wanted to be with her, but that it wasn't looking like that was going to happen (at least not from my perspective).  She asked me to try to ride this out a little while longer if I could stand to.  She knows it's not an easy thing to ask.  It's not an easy thing to do. 

I don't know what to do.  Some days I feel like she'd be worth the wait.  Some days I feel like it'll be even worse if I wait and she still ends up going back to him. Bottom line:  Dating sucks.

Instead of making a decision right now, I'm going camping with a few friends this weekend to try and take my mind off the entire situation.  So, if you'll excuse me, I've got some wilderness to disappear into.