… and breathe…

Between a Sisyphusean marketing workload with DNC, a conversion optimization class that operates heavily on the you’ll-get-out-what-you-put-in principle, volunteer activities at the Valley Visitor Center for a full day once every other week, a frozen shoulder that seems to be adamant about remaining stuck, and house construction (Tom’s been going nuts, and we now have flooring down in most of the house, and appliances waiting for installation, it’s very exciting), it’s been a long couple of months between the last post and this one.

Fortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting closer. Two weeks ago, Tom and I met up with our friend Shauna, and skied out to the Nelder Grove of Giant Sequoias. Neither Tom nor I had ever been there before but it’s close to Shauna’s new house, and it was a perfect day and a great chance to explore. Last week, I got out for a quick walk on the Hites Cove trail to look at the wildflowers. And with those two activities as the sum total of my exercise for the last month, today Tom and I hiked up the Snow Creek trail to Mt Watkins and back. Our agreed-upon turn-around time left me a few hundred yards short of the summit, but I have Tom’s pictures from the top as inspiration for the next trip.

The skiing was brilliant and beautiful, the weather perfect, and it just feels fantastic to really get out and DO something for a whole day that doesn’t involve my computer.

It was about 11 miles round trip, with nearly 4500 feet of elevation gain, and I am bone tired and fully expect to be hobbling and sore tomorrow, but I am ever so happy. I’ll try to post some pictures soon.

One of the odd consequences of living in Yosemite, and also of being part of the marketing department, is that my face seems to keep showing up in funny places. I get a chuckle out of it, usually. Part of me is certainly flattered at the attention, but it’s also hard not to be self-critical.

As part of a photoshoot I participated in while I was working at the Mountaineering School, my picture was taken while I was hiking – or pretending to hike, rather – out on Old Big Oak Flat Road with El Capitan in the background. That image, for a short time, graced the cover of the activity brochure, and is now on the front of several Pepsi vending machines. My Pepsi machines, my friends tell me, are in the Village Garage, at Housekeeping Camp and maybe some other locations. Unfortunately, I’ve never really liked that picture of myself, and it’s a little disconcerting to run into such a big image of myself. I’m glad that the two machines in front of our offices have pictures of other people.

While at YMS, I also had a chance to go snowshoeing with Tom Stienstra, an outdoor columnist for the SF Chronicle, TV personality and guidebook author. Between that and his continued close relationship with Kenny, who now works only 15 feet from me, he recently decided to publish a story about me in the Chronicle. It is a story about the accident I was in nearly 3 years ago, and my subsequent recovery. It was interesting to work with an experienced journalist and storyteller, and to see the process that he went through in terms of preparing for an interview and then writing a story. Unfortunately, the online article generated a bunch of pretty negative comments, which I thought were either petty, immature, uninformed or a combination of the three, but they still left a bad taste in my mouth.

Some nice things have happened as a consequence of that story too. One was that another writer, Bill Katovsky, who is working on a book entitled Return to Fitness, contacted me about putting a short sidebar about me in his upcoming book. Again, I had the opportunity to witness the writing process of a professional author. The methods and styles of the two men are very different, but each time I was amazed to see the sometimes subtle, sometimes sweeping influence on the story I would have told, making it more dramatic and/or fleshing out details.

Another thing that surprised me was that someone who had recently been in an accident and had injuries similar to mine contacted me to find out about my experience with recovery. I was happy to report to him that so many of my issues have gotten better over the years. But most interestingly, to me, was the number of old friends who got back in touch with me after reading the article. Reconnecting with them gets me thinking about other phases of my life, and the cool people I’ve met.

I’ve gotten back in touch with some friends over the last year, since my sister-in-law, nieces and nephew convinced Tom and I to get Facebook accounts. Facebook is kind of a strange service. On Facebook, I am friends with old High School classmates that I hadn’t been that close to, even then, and co-workers that I rarely interact with in real life. And when it comes to HS friends, the day-to-day updates don’t seem to come close to filling in 20 years of radio silence. Still, I love it. I love getting little messages about what people are doing – just random news and noise from their days.

And then there are the actual conversations! I just got back in touch with my orchestra teacher from high school and she reminded me that at one point I was upset that my dad wouldn’t let me get a job. “School is your job”. I don’t remember that at all. School is an awesome job. Getting to hang out and learn things all day – I wish I’d been more appreciative when I was younger. I wonder what else I’ve forgotten.

I wonder if some day I’ll stumble back across this post and think back. Oh yeah, remember those silly Pepsi machines with my picture on them? Those were the grand old days in Yosemite.

Today I read a post from an instructor at Where There Be Dragons about 68 reasons that she loves her job. It was a great way to share her love and enjoyment of the places she went, and the people she traveled with. It also made me think of the pictures that I could share about Yosemite and the people here. Someday.

I received an email today from my boss that had the whole office giggling out loud. We had people wandering in from the hallway to tell us that we all seemed to be having too much fun. Really, some funny emails are just worth sharing. If I had a pic of KK crying with laughter, I would put it into my list of reasons why I love my job. It happens pretty often – I’ll get that pic one of these days.

I wish I could figure out who the original author/editor is. The contents of the email is all over the internet, mostly from blogs (like this one) that are posting it up to share, but I have found an attribution. (Interestingly, I usually see it on the internet titled “Random Thoughts” but it has morphed along the way, and by the time we got it, it was “Observations of a modernist on post-modern life”.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy…

Observations of a modernist on post-modern life…

I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?
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Tom and I have just gotten back from our weekend adventures, put the groceries in the pantry and refrigerator, and wolfed a bit of the fancy artesian bread we can’t get here with extra cheese and olives. It’s been a long and very full weekend.

I took the day off on Friday for my birthday (Saturday), and Tom and I left Thursday night after work for a quick backpacking trip. We saw many things, had great adventures, and hiked out Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon we drove into the Bay Area for a friend’s memorial service on Sunday. We talked about goal-setting, and listened to the first bit of Unaccustomed Earth on the drive. That evening, our friends who graciously opened their house to us, treated me/us to a birthday dinner at Plearn, a local Thai restaurant. Really delicious non-European food and the good company of friends is such a treat.

The service on Sunday was beautiful, and touching. The stories celebrating such a remarkable man went on and on. I’m still processing – and just remembering.

Afterwards, we picked up a bed frame at Ikea that we had been eyeing for some time, and then drove to San Jose to meet up with Tom’s family, pick up the car we’d lent, and eat some pizza at a place nearby, Amicis, that serves gluten-free, and vegan options.

Monday morning, we had brunch with yet another friend before making the long drive back to Yosemite, pausing for a bear jam along the way.

I’m back on a frequent-post kick, so expect to hear more detailed stories unfold over the next few days. I’ve had a lot to think about.

Sometimes, it’s the little things.

I got out of work late today. It was a long day, and I’m still recovering from this stupid cold so it felt longer than it was. My bike was parked at Curry Village, which meant that instead of a <5 minute bike ride, I was resigned to a whole 15 – 20 mintues to get home on foot. (I know, wah wah wah, but ANYWAY…)

I go about 100 feet from my building and start running into different friends. I really like being part of this little Yosemite community. Because we have so many visitors and so many seasonal positions, a lot of people don’t realize what a small-town atmosphere Yosemite has after you’ve been here a year or two. I stop to watch a Flicker in a tree, and again to watch another bird (don’t know what kind) dart through the air in the pursuit of insects.

On the Housekeeping Camp bridge, there are a bunch of kids sword-fighting with sticks. As I approach, one of them delivers a powerful Super Strike to one of his friends – palm out. “Super strike!” he yells. “Whoa, whoa, I say. Cease fire! Cease fire!” as I try to sneak past.

“Dude,” says the Super Striker, “We’re all Magicians.”

It’s one of those times that I wish my tongue was a bit quicker, and I could have come back with something like “I know that. What do you think I am? Stupid?” As I’m walking away I hear Super Striker’s voice again. “You can’t do that. If you leave the Bridge, you’re Dead.” I don’t turn around, but I imagine his friend turning mid-stride and to continue the battle on the bridge, and I smile.

Housekeeping Camp is really a great little place to stay, and I like walking by in the mornings or evenings as families are circling their chairs around a smoky fire and getting ready to start or wind down the day. Mornings are best when there is someone in their camp chair set up in the sunshine, facing out over the river absorbed in a book or some sketch, but I like the evenings too. Tonight, as I go by, one man is offering left-over dinner to his neighbors. “We always cook to much and then try to see if anyone around wants it,” he explains. The receiving family is delighted, and they are trying to come up with something in their supplies that they can give in return. The Burning Man people would be proud.

OK, so *really*, I gotta love my commute.

Ugh. Sick. I’ve taken a sick day from work and spent most of the day in bed. Thank goodness for nasal decongestants. At least it’s been a rainy inside sort of weekend. although Tom has managed a couple of day hikes with our guests while I slept and hid from the weather. Lots of down time means time to gather together a few loose ends over the last week.
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I found out today that the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra is giving a free concert at The Ahwahnee featuring New York violin virtuoso, Lewis Wong. Fascinating, because until this point I didn’t know that there was a Mariposa Symphony Orchestra. The concert is going to take place in the Great Lounge from 1-3pm on Sunday, April 26. Seating is first-come, first-served, and I haven’t been to a Symphony Performance in ages, and I’d love to drop in. Sometimes the things that go on here in Yosemite can be quite surprising, and not quite what I expected.

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The Village Grill is opening tomorrow with a great new menu, and today people from NPS and DNC were invited to a ‘tasting’, and a chance to take a look at what changes have been made to the menu. Chef Gover, who they have brought in this year to manage the Grill in addition to the Yosemite Lodge Mountain Room and the Food Court, presented a few of the changes that he put into place before we all stood in line for our food. The Grill is the closest source of calories to my desk (excluding the vending machine in the lobby), so I end up eating there fairly often during the summer months. I like absorbing a little sunshine while eating outside on the deck (even if it does frustrate me when people feed the wildlife). So, I’m glad that there seem to be some big new improvements in the menu.
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Sometimes themes crop up in my life. A while ago it was Gratitude, and all the things I have to be grateful for. Lately, it seems to be ‘measure to manage’. The idea is that once you have a way to measure something, it becomes easier to figure out how to attain it.
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Last year, I was invited to the Gala Dinner for Chefs’ Holidays, and thought it pretty amazing. But Chefs’ Holidays is so much more than just the Dinner at the end. This morning a few of us went to see John Stewart and Duskie Estes give a cooking demonstration in the Great Hall at The Ahwahnee. As the kind of person who tends to ‘heat things’ rather than actually ‘cook’, I wasn’t sure what, if anything I’d get out of this, and was pleased to be going with someone who actually follows cooking. During the presentation, it was so exceptional that she actually described herself as ‘giddy’.

We learned to make fresh pasta, Cappellacci di Zucca + Sage Browned Butter, and a delicious Lemon and Huckleberry Napoleon desert, which we were then able to sample afterward. The demonstration was a bunch of cooking, a bit of storytelling, and plenty of time for the audience to ask questions. Recipes are provided, and I wish I’d had the forethought to bring a pen to take notes. I noticed that many of the other guests were. We got tips on everything from texture, how to tell if something is done, to how long various items could be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

A few random highlights? Spices like nutmeg were introduced into Italian cooking at a time when possessing such spices was considered a mark of wealth. It doesn’t take that long to make your own fresh pasta, but it helps to know what you’re doing – fold often for good tooth. Use good wine in your cooking. Flavor is flavor. Turns out, according to one of America’s best and brightest chefs, the technical term to describe over-cooked pasta is “Just Gross”. Lemon cream can be used on everything – the Napoleons that we had, icing for doughnuts, dip for fruit, topping for waffles… Once made, it will keep for a few weeks, so make some and then just have it around. [Of course, it is made of eggs, butter, sugar, lemons and more eggs, so maybe it shouldn't be the centerpiece of your diet.] Plan ahead and thaw Filo dough the day before in the refrigerator, it will handle better that way than preserved under a wet cloth. Duskie thinks chefs create a lot of trouble for themselves when they try to cram things in quickly.

Duskie and John follow impressive sustainable cooking practices – raising their own chickens, and growing approximately 30% of the vegetables that they use at their restaurants. Harvesting is just part of prep, in their kitchens. They incorporate heirloom varieties whenever possible for their exceptionally rich flavor, further supporting local agriculture, because these varieties often do not package and ship well. Plus, they are passionate about a ‘snout to tail’ philosophy, which uses all parts of an animal, and about using antibiotic and hormone free meats. You can find out more about them, and their restaurants, Bovolo and Zazu.