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.

Me and my Vending Machine

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.

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?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase “Regards” again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*** was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.

How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories

Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from; this shouldn’t be a problem….

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far (except the moment in an argument when you realize you’re wrong).

I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’

While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don’t win, they are executed.

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

I think that if, years down the road when I’m trying to have a kid, I find out that I’m sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my a$$ everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat b@st@rd before dinner.

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.

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.

Bliss is a place with plenty of Kleenex and cold meds

Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

Weiner summarizes the revelations on bliss in the Epilogue: “Money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude,” and “It’s not the elements that matter so much as how they’re arranged and in which proportions.”

I thought that this book was going to provide some Answers, but really for someone like me who is happy and therefore doesn’t think too much about it, the Geography/travelogue part was ultimately much more interesting than the Bliss part.

TwtrCon

I caught the cold, I think, on my trip last weekend to the Bay Area for TwtrCon – a conference just about Twitter. I’ve been feeling a little funky and headachy ever since, but not really bed-ridden until this weekend.

TwtrCon was wonderfully interesting though. I get a lot of people asking me to explain Twitter – people who have heard all the buzz, maybe signed up for an account, and ultimately just don’t/didn’t get it. I wonder about the statistics that we all hear about how Twitter is expanding as a platform, and then if those numbers are just artificially high because of all the abandoned or semi-abandoned accounts floating around out there.

Tom has written down a bunch of his thoughts about Twitter – how he uses it and ways that it can be used. I keep thinking that maybe I will too, someday. Not today.

I got a bunch of wonderful ideas about Twitter from TwtrCon, and learned about some of the many interesting tools that people are developing as a way to keep score – figure out whether you are using the platform in a way that helps and influences people. That’s important from a corporate perspective. From a personal perspective, for my own Twitter account, I’m not sure it matters much to me.

I also really liked TwtrCon just as a conference. It was relatively small – attendance was sold out at 200 attendees, and there was only one session going on at a time, which meant that instead of scurrying between rooms and topics, I could set up my computer, relax, and enjoy the presentations.

During lunch the organizers did something that I’ve never seen at a conference before. There was a white-board set up near the registration table where people could propose and offer to moderate a topic for a lunch table discussion. I sat down at the Analytics table. Eric Pratum from Spring Creek Group moderated – sparking some interesting conversation with a few well-placed questions, and I had the good fortune of sitting down next to Christopher Peri, of PeriVision, who is coming up with some interesting ways in measuring the quality rather than the quantity of Twitter followers. Great stuff. After the sessions ended, I also had an interesting conversation with Shanan from TiVo – she said that her biggest take-away from the conference was that we are all still experimenting and that no one has THE answer for how to use Twitter just yet.

It’s a versatile tool – and like happiness, I suspect that the summary is that it’s “not the elements that matter so much as how they are arranged and in which proportions.”

Family Time

I nice consequence of my time in the Bay Area was getting to spend time with my bro and his girlfriend in San Jose. They generously allowed me to crash out on their floor as a cost-saving measure. AH and I are different in a lot of ways, but I always find that he has interesting things going on in his life. Rockin’ out to Rock Band was fun too – an addition started at my other brother’s house over the holidays. AH figured out how to set it up so that you can’t fail out, and I had a wonderful time missing notes and eliciting boos from the fictional digital audience. I guess it’s a little like my current approach to the piano. I’m most interested in stuff that is much too hard for me.

Audio Books – Mrs. Kimble

Mrs Kimble by Jennifer Haigh

Mrs. Kimble is about three different women who are all married at one point or another to the same Mr. Kimble. There’s Bertie, the first wife, the alcoholic mother of Charlie and Jody. Joan, the former reporter who is fighting breast cancer, and finally Dinah, the tennis player who blossoms from a self-conscious girl with a birthmark on her face, into a strong, beautiful woman.

Ken Kimble reminds me a bit of the protagonist in Sommerset Maughm’s book, The Moon and Sixpence, Charles Strickland, except without out the genius for artwork. The two characters share that peculiar lack of interest in people and the consequences of their actions on others. It’s amazing that Haigh was able to create this character, Ken, to be so repulsive, and yet understandably attractive at the same time.

The women in the book are interesting too. They are so different from each other – and so different in their responses to his self-centeredness. While the book didn’t blow me over in amazement, it will probably generate some good conversation at Book Club.

Envelopes and other things I’ve saved

This post is starting to remind me of something that a good college friend once told me. He admonished me for saving up all my news and sending him one long letter instead of several shorter ones. He told me, that it’s really all about the envelopes. The thrill of receiving mail comes by the envelope, by opening the mail box and finding something personal in there. The number of pages in that envelope was secondary, and he encouraged me to write less, but more often.

It seems to be a character flaw that I haven’t corrected even after all these years.

Other things I’ve wanted to write down, and just haven’t gotten around to include:

Taking pictures for Community Safety Day and the interesting conversations that I had. The new backpacking gear that Tom and I have accumulated and our plans for taking it out for a test spin. Buying a guest book and the process of turning our house into a vacation rental property. Twitter. Somewhat sheepishly following Neil Gaiman and other celebrities on Twitter. Being free, my renewed interest in Michel Foucault, and Tom’s story of meeting the great philosopher in person. Google Voice, Google Wave, and switching the default search engine on my search bar to Bing. Climbing conversations and visits from friends… and more.

I should probably start trying to set aside time to write these down on a daily basis again. I enjoyed the process, and I miss it, and I seem to be accumulating ideas. That doesn’t even count the various little interesting things I find on a daily basis on the internet. It’s not even like I’m saving stamps or envelopes.

MSO and the Return of Lewis Wong

The April 25th and 26th concerts of the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra will
feature New York virtuoso violinist Lewis Wong in two pieces: Bach’s
A-Minor Violin Concerto and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ haunting “The Lark
Ascending.” The orchestra will also perform other works including Antonin
Dvorák’s Symphony #9 in e minor “From the New World.” The concert will be
presented twice: on Saturday, April 25th at 7:00 PM in the Fiester
Auditorium of Mariposa County High School and Sunday, April 26th at 1:00 PM
in an historic presentation in the Great Lounge of the Ahwahnee Hotel in
Yosemite National Park.

MSO Founding Music Director and Conductor Les Marsden will open the
concerts with a brief new piece he’s composed for the occasion: his
orchestral Fanfare: “Range of Light.” The work is an impressionist musical
thumbnail of the Sierra, using the name John Muir coined to describe the
mountain range. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto in A-Minor for Violin and
Strings with Basso Continuo will feature Lewis Wong. The concerto dates
from the period of 1717 – 1723 and is both striking and familiar, with a
song-like middle movement and a final ‘gigue’ movement that demonstrates
Bach’s mastery of dance music. Wong will return to solo in a piece
appropriate to the Ahwahnee’s pastoral setting: Ralph Vaughan Williams’
1914/1920 “The Lark Ascending” for Violin and Orchestra. One of the most
atmospherically evocative pieces ever written, the sheer pastoral quiet
beauty of this music – as well as its use of very gentle British folk-like
music – combine in a piece that leaves a deep impact on the listener. The
MSO alone will then play Jan Sibelius’ moody, inspiring and ultimately
triumphant tone-poem “Finlandia.” The concert will close with one of the
true landmarks of music: Antonin Dvorák’s Symphony #9 in e minor “From the
New World.” Its second movement’s haunting Largo was later turned into the
song “Goin’ Home” but this symphony is best known for giving birth to what
is known as the “American” sound.

This special concert will be presented twice: Saturday evening, April 25th
at 7:00 in the Fiester Auditorium of Mariposa County High School – tickets:
the Mariposa County Arts Council, Inc. (209) 966-3155 (Monday – Friday,
9/AM-5/PM) at 5009 Fifth Street (adjacent to The Pizza Factory.) The
MSO’s always-affordable prices: $6 for adults and $4 for students; tickets
are also available at the Mariposa County Visitors Center at the north end
of town across from the Miners Inn; call the Visitors Center at (209)
966-7081 for hours.

Sunday afternoon, April 26th the concert will be repeated at 1:00 in the
Great Lounge of the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. PLEASE NOTE:
Suggested donations only, but seating will be limited and is only available
first-come, first-served. Marsden notes, “I extend my appreciation to the
National Park Service management and Delaware North Companies Parks and
Resorts at Yosemite Inc. as well as Ahwahnee Hotel Manager Chance Jorgensen
and staff. The Ahwahnee has graciously offered to donate a portion of the
price of concertgoers’ Sunday brunch at the Ahwahnee to the MSO. A voucher
the diners will present to the wait staff will be available at the MCACI
offices; for more information call (209) 966-3155.

The musical depiction of nature – in nature. The sound of America – in
the most beautiful location in America. Your Mariposa Symphony Orchestra
and the birth of American music. (L. Marsden – 4/6/09)

I had the new pesto grilled chicken sandwich on a ciabatta roll that comes with sweet-potato fries, and soda from our newly installed Pepsi soda machines (we used to have Coke products – and my co-worker tells me that this is a big deal for some people), and I can tell already that I will be having that combination repeatedly this year. I particularly loved the sweet-potato fries which are so good that I didn’t even want any ketchup with them.

It sounded like they were still making some decisions about the french fries. I think they are leaning toward the crinkle-cut Yukon Gold fries that supposedly absorb substantially less oil – so they are healthier for you, as far as fries go – and give more options than straight-cut fries when it comes to offering seasoned fries or anything like that in the future. It looked like they were also considering some straight fries though, and curly fries and those waffle cut fries that are shaped like potato slices but have a sort of waffle-ish cut. I guess we’re all going to have to wait and see. I think the sweet-potato fries are in though, so I’m celebrating.

There have also been a bunch of changes in terms of process and flow. They are little things, that I bet most people wouldn’t notice – a corral to help manage the line, placement of condiments and soda machines, new grills, re-locating napkin dispensers to the tables so that people are less likely to grab a huge stack of them and then use only 3 or 4, and that kind of thing. It’s a hamburger stand… and yet, I was surprised at the amount of thought and consideration that goes into managing it. You learn new things every day.

**
The Village Grill is not the only property that is opening in preparation for spring and summer.

• Degnan’s Loft opens Saturday, April 4 (5-9pm daily)
• The Wawona Hotel and the Dining room opens tomorrow (April 3)
• The Yosemite Lodge Bike stand opened March 27, (10am – 5:30pm with a break for lunch) and we’re expecting the Curry Village Bike Stand to open shortly as well
• The Curry Village Pavillion is open for breakfast (7-10am) and dinner (5:30 – 8pm)
• The Coffee Corner is open (7 – 11am)
• The CV Pizza Deck is open (Mon.-Fri. 5-9pm; Sat.-Sun. noon-9pm)
• and don’t forget the CV Bar, open Mon.-Fri. 5-9pm; Sat.-Sun. noon-10pm

Also, near and dear to my heart – the Mountaineering School has now relocated to the Valley again and is open for guided hiking and climbing.

I love the rhythm of the seasons here, and having places open becomes something like watching flowers bloom, or listening to bird song or the cacophony of frogs across the street from Ahwahnee Meadow on my commute.

Guest Service at work

The last Senior Manager Meeting that I went to, SC gave a long presentation about our Guest Service program, GuestPath (not to be confused with the Enviromental Management Program, GreenPath – we’re in Yosemite and we’re path obsessed, can you blame us?). With a couple of surveys, we’ve managed to find a way to quantify guest service, measure how we’re doing, and record consequences. That makes it easier to point to something during the decision-making process and say – if we make that decision our GuestPath scores will increase, and the Managers nod their heads because it high scores are a concrete goal.

Energy Conservation

We’re also trying to do a similar thing with energy conservation in the work place. The GreenTeam is trying to put together a program to measure and track the amount of energy consumed by each general unit, and then somehow incentivize them to conserve. It’s a big project, and I’m sure that we’ll stumble on some of the hurdles, but again the goal is to make energy use measurable and trackable so that we can manage the businesses in a more earth-friendly way.

I’m also excited about this program because I hope that this will mean that the energy-saving solutions will come from the people who really know the best way to make it happen – the people that are working in that environment on a day to day basis.

Happiness and Goal Setting

I’ve started following a blog recently on The Happiness Project. In her search to find happiness, the blog author spent a year reading about and trying various tips and strategies for the pursuit of happiness. A few days ago, I read an article where she also talks about how much easier it is to set goals that are actually measurable. Not ‘get more exercise’ but ‘start walking to work every day’ – that kind of thing. Now, the first person you ask will tell you that having concrete, measurable goals is an important part of successful goal-setting, but that’s part of my point. If you can measure it, you can figure out if you’re doing it well.

Tom knew a professor once, who moved from a high-powered research institution to a teaching college. He knew he was a great researcher, and graduate student mentor, but how to figure out whether he was a great undergraduate teacher or not? He came up with the idea that he would count the number of previously undeclared majors in his required history course who after his course declared themselves as history majors. Then he set a goal for himself to inspire a certain percentage of his class. At the time of the story telling, he’d never once missed his goal. That’s powerful stuff.

The things I’m currently counting

Calories. I stuck pretty strictly to a 1200 cal./day diet for the month of February, but now that I’m happier with my body composition, I’ve let myself eat a little more.

Protein consumption. I guess this is the exception that proves the rule. I’m pretty lax about actually counting grams of protein, and I’m pretty sure I fall consistently below my goal of 60g/day.

Exercise days. I’m actually following Jillian Michael’s online exercise program. It’s a 5-day/week exercise program that is centered around some killer exercise circuits. My rest days are Monday and Friday. Although I’ve missed a few days here and there, keeping a journal of what I’m doing and when I wimp out and skip has really kept me motivated and engaged.

Blog Posts. One per day at least until Easter – and after that who knows.

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.