Come-on-I-wanna-lay-ya

I wanted to post this two days ago when we did this, but as it turns out, the internet is scarce on the rustic island of Kaua'i. This place is amazing, by the way.

We got here Thursday night, and on Friday we rented a Ford focus (which gets like 35 mpg. I'm seriously considering swapping the jeep for one) and drove up the East Coast of the island, around to the North coast and eventually, after crossing several one-lane bridges, we arrived at the edge of the Na Pali Coast. We stopped frequently along the way to take in sights such as this.

I really want to show you all the pictures, but there are too many, and they don't really do the place justice.

The drive up and around the coast took about 2 hours. The trail we were headed to was called the Kalaiau Trail, and the full length of it is eleven miles. We didn't have time to go the entire length because we had a dinner event to be at back on the southern tip of the island that evening. Plus, even though it's only 11 miles, you are required to bring camping gear and get a permit to hike it all. We read that there was a cool beach 2 miles in and decided a nice little 4 mile hike would be perfect considering how much time we had left.

The Sierra club rates prominent trails on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the absolute hardest. The Kalaiau Trail has a deserved rating of 9. The trail itself was mostly slick mud or slick rocks with steep cliffs falling off to your right and steep rocks to your left. See that little strip of dirt? That's the trail. But the view was worth it.

Turns out, they've been using Kaua'i's Na Pali Coast for establishing shots in movies for years. Remember Jurassic Park?

Here's one more of the view. Caitlin should be a professional photographer, by the way. Oh, and the person who designed the formatting for pictures on Blogger should be shot. I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-do pictures because of the way they mangle everything. Every time I add a new one, spaces are added all over the place.

Anyway, we hiked through mud, over rocks and protruding roots, through fast streams and always going steep uphill or steep downhill, and eventually came to a beach with this foreboding warning. Isn't that cool??

I can't describe the hike like the pictures can, so I'm going to stop typing and just post a few more of my favorites. Enjoy. I'll post about yesterday's hike through the Waimea Canyon later today. It's about 9:45am here and gorgeous outside. Sorry for the clumsy formatting from this point onward. Blame blogger.

Seasons of Buffalo

Garv had a good topic yesterday. I’ll see if I can’t tie it into a good topic for today too.

My most vivid Buffalo memory is St Patricks Day. In college, my old friend Denny would come over to B1 and tear the lid off with me and the rest of the B1 gang. Because I’m not really Irish, and because I grew up far outside the city limits, I had no idea the size and scope of the festivities that were happening mere miles from my Canisius townhouse.

It wasn’t until the days of 267 Franklin St that I witnessed first hand the Sunday parade. Families came downtown, pipers appeared in downtown bar doorways, crisp snare drums fluttered in the equally crisp early spring air. The sun came out for the first time in what felt like decades. After a miserable winter, we were seeing happy people celebrating and reveling. It was a tremendous feeling and it stuck with me.

In the succeeding years, this holiday continued to surprise me in very fun, powerful ways. Living on Delaware, I got to watch people setting up lawn chairs to watch what was about to March right past my window. I think we may have roof-porched that day. One Sunday morning the following year I came back from visiting my brother in Springville, was just finished showering and brushing my teeth back in my old place on St James when Wydysh and Butters began drunkenly pounding on my door. It was 9am, by the way. They invited me to Bunting’s yearly party exactly across the street from me, which turned out to be a great time. It felt as though the holiday was following me around, making sure I didn’t miss out on it. It was a good feeling.

More recent 17th’s have been spent apartment-hopping around, eventually settling in for a long marathon of drinking with friends at dear old FF, where people you haven’t seen all year suddenly show up to celebrate.

So maybe this is why I’m a little down that this year I’ll be away from the city that has consistently delivered this holiday to me in memorable ways. I’ll be hunting for a Guinness next Monday, that’s for sure.

To try and wrap up an already overgrown post, St Patricks has also signified a kind of end of winter. The season of “doing stuff” begins, with what better color than green, the color of spring. This rule by the Seelie Court (nerd!) continues up until around Halloween, another deeply festive atmosphere and probably my favorite holiday overall.

So what’s your favorite season? Are you a winter sports addict or cold weather fan? Is it Xmas? I’ve always loved the Autumn. You get a reprieve from the humidity of summer, beautiful hiking, Oktoberfest, and finally, Halloween. Second is Summer for me, being a wannabe outdoorsman and all, I enjoy the outdoors-friendly weather. Third is Spring, and finally, in dead last by miles, is Winter. I like skiing, but the darkness, the cold, the stale air and the gray muddy palor of the season wear on me every time. It gets a little harder every year.

Don't call me Radio, Unit 91

Nothing of my own to add today, so I'll dive right into the BufBlo topic of Music. I am way way behind. The last CD to get uploaded onto my iPod was Muse's Black Holes and Revelations, shortly after it came out over a year ago.

Used to be, I'd put on Rhapsody and catch tunes from their radio stations, save the bands to my library, and if I liked them enough, I'd buy their music. But now I use Rhapsody so rarely that it's pretty much a waste of money. I'm on the verge of cancelling it completely. I lay the blame squarely on their new, clunky and bright interface.

I can't count on Buffalo Radio to show me anything new, but I used to be able to count on Toronto Radio to a degree. Unfortunately, 102.1 now seems to believe that Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys and other music from the early 90's is "New Rock". I'm used to this from 103.3, but I held our friends up North to a higher standard. It's ok to jump in the wayback machine once and a while and I know these are important artists. But they're old songs, and I shouldn't have to hear one every time I turn on the radio.

So I listen to 107.1 and 94.5 when 102.1 fires up "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" yet again. Classic Rock and Classical music. Try it, it's awesome.

There must be a balance

I seem to be caught in a cosmic duel between the forces of yin and yang. I've been batted about recently, the plaything of karmic currents beyond my comprehension. Luck is a fickle thing, and recent events in my life have made this quite clear.

I already know what you're thinking: "what?"

Here's what:
On Wednesday I got a long desired promotion to a job that is more fulfilling than the one I've been languishing under for several years. (Hooray!)

On Thursday night, I was stopped by an over-aggressive policeman who spoke to me as though I was a drug lord/rapist, and ticketed me for "blowing through" a stop sign on my short drive home from watching a movie at a friend's house. It is my opinion that I came to a complete stop. (boo)

On Friday, arrangements were finalized for me and a guest of my choice to travel to Kauai for free to attend business meetings there for nearly a full week. (Hoo-f'ing-ray!)

However, these meetings run over St Patricks Day weekend, the one time a Buffalonian genuinely wants to be in his home town. (minor boo. I feel bad even complaining about this, but as I've said, St Patricks Day is one thing Buffalo truly does properly and I will miss being among friends on the 16th and 17th)

I get a blackberry with my new job, and for a nominal fee, I can use it as my personal phone with unlimited minutes. (Hooray!)

5 minutes before quitting time, I happened to peak at the Late Night Schedule calendar at work and learned with horror that I was scheduled to work until 8pm tonight. This resulted in what will be, when it is over, an 11 and a half hour work day. (Boo)

And finally, I am forced to back out from what is surely going to be a fun time this weekend due to a step-relative's birthday party. (BOO)

I know that the Hooray's far outweigh the Boos here. I know, and I will shut the hell up, goddamn it as soon as you hear me out. Considering this see-saw series of events, I can't help but wonder if and how the boos will achieve parity with the hoorays. It's kind of freaking me out, man.

BufBlo:
One thing I keep on my person at almost all times is my DS. While this used to be purely for impromptu gaming opportunities in just about any situation, it is now also because I'm afraid to leave it at my apartment. Just the same, if you ever see me out and ask me if I want to play, I will say yes, produce the gadget, and begin booting it up before you're even really sure you actually want to play.

How the Hell

Do I change the dark blue background to something else, like say a fixed background picture? I'd prefer not to fiddle with the HTML, but the template options just don't give me any choices.

Addendum

To further my shame, Caitlin ran a 43:40. Yes, nearly ten full minutes ahead of me. To celebrate her victory, she then threw a car into space.

It's been a good week

I meant to start this blog in time for BufBloPoFo, but I am a slothful person when it comes to writing. Oh well. I'm here now, and that's what counts.

Firstly, last Saturday I attempted to run the Shamrock Run 8k, while still recovering from a nasty cough and braving what some would call gale force winds. I did not dress appropriately, and my nipples nearly froze off. Here's me before the foolish endeavor.

Keep smiling, you idiot. If it sounds like I'm making excuses already, it's because I am. I ran a respectful (for me) 52:10, but by "ran" I mean, "kept up with Caitlin's blistering speed as long as I could, then shamefully walked/jogged the rest".

Still, I got a free sweatshirt out of it.

Secondly, I picked up a new computer on Woot for a ridiculously low price. It's a lu-lu, too. Quad Core, 500gb hard drive, 3gb ram, etc, etc. So expect to hear about games a lot while the weather slowly thaws.

Thirdly, it's Thursday already. Which means two more days and we're on the weekend again.


As for the BufBloPoFo topic of the day, I was into the usual 80's boy stuff, GI Joe, Voltron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars. Of course it molded me today. Like so many other man-children my age, I harbor great respect and admiration for all things Ninja, thanks to the exploits of Snake Eyes, Stormshadow, the Black Lion, Raphael and Panthro.

I still believe in finesse over brute strength and like the idea of a smarter, smaller guy embarrassing a big dumb oaf in a fight. Maybe it's because I'm friends with a bunch of guys who all lived under power lines and as a result, I'm shorter than most of them. Or maybe it's because ninjas are just unstoppable inhuman machines of grace and pain.