http://never7.net/index.php en croxis@yahoo.com Copyright 2008 Pivot Pivot - 1.40.5: 'Dreadwind' Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:15:26 -0500 60 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=154&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=154&w=my_weblog#comm
Lauren: My car was stolen and when it was found 5 hours later the thief had replaced a spark plug and filled it with gas.

Mellie: Our second first kiss was twice as good and one thousandth as awkward as our first.

Get Out Much?: An impatient check of the UPS online tracking center reveals that the package has been on my front porch for three days.

terms&conditions: The file I audited for this poor senior citizen who lost his home after 20 years is why another big bank will close and its president goes to jail. ]]> 154@http://never7.net/pivot/ default Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:02:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=155&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=155&w=my_weblog#comm
After 23 years of family vacations, I've discovered that my threshold is roughly a week. After seven days, I just want to go home to my bedroom, my shower, and my mode of life. I don't want to live out of a suitcase anymore, I grow tired and often cranky at being displaced. Odds are this is largely linked to my OCD, do-things-a-certain-way, nature. But my theory is that everyone has this threshold, and that it varies in length and probably intensity. My good friend Caroline loves traveling and will probably make a career out of it. Obviously, her threshold is nearly nonexistent. In this regard, we are quite opposites.

I spent 4.5 months in Germany, and in the beginning I was definitely displaced. But given enough time, I established myself there and lost that feeling. When I came home, I got that same displaced feeling. I still miss the mode of living I had in Germany for sure. From this, it occurs to me that when you move, that threshold has to be broken and overcome, and that as a general rule it is a good idea. The same happened when I moved out of my parents. As discomforting as hitting this displacement threshold is, it is apparently sometimes a necessity.

On my vacation this week, the extension of the trip one extra day made me hit my threshold. Have you ever encountered anything like this? Do you have a displacement threshold that you've become aware of? I mentioned suitcases and showers, but is there any anal little thing for you? Or am I just that abnormal? ]]> 155@http://never7.net/pivot/ two cents Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:53:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=153&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=153&w=my_weblog#comm Chad Darnell. The idea is pretty simple and straight forward. This month I was in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in NE Oregon. I was on a 4-day/3-night hike with my dad. The 12th fell on the second day of our hike, and here are the pictures:



06:53 AM: Breakfast before day two of hiking. It’s Quaker instant oatmeal – apple and cinnamon. It was actually pretty damn tasty.



09:29 AM: Taking a break at the Hurricane Creek trail cutoff. This is before we went through the pass. That’s my pack to the left, all 35ish pounds of it.



09:47 AM: A nice mountain shot. This is as we were hiking through Horton Pass (going up).



10:33 AM: This is as we were coming up to the crest of the pass. Most of the mountains we went through were largely granite. That's my dad on the right, a giant cliff of granite on the right.



10:41 AM: A nice shot of Eagle Cap, the signature mountain. This was taken from the crest of the pass.



11:45 AM: Crossing a creek. Supposedly all the creeks on our trip had foot bridges, none of which actually existed. My dad looks like he is about to fall over, but he isn’t. Sadly I’m the only one that got feet full of water while we were hiking. Stupid slick rock…



12:31 PM: We came across some old miners' cabins along the trail. We were following Hurricane Creek, which they used to try and get gold out of.



1:00 PM: This is the Matterhorn. No other mountain to me has conveyed such power. It is probably because I've never been underneath a mountain of pure-white marble so closely. It was truly impressive.



04:02 PM: Camp all set up at the end of day two.



04:43 PM: I was sitting at our campsite, looking at fire pit (we didn’t use), and noticed a skull in the rocks.



05:27 PM: Waiting for water to boil so we can add it to our dehydrated dinner (9 minutes to cook, 5 minutes to eat). My dad gave me one of those fake smiles and kind of made himself look like a chipmunk.



06:23 PM: We head into the tent for the evening. The bugs start coming out so we escape to safety and some games of cards. Btw, we fell asleep around 8:00.
It was a spectacular trip, and by no means do 12 pictures convey even that one day. And that was just one of four. Our third day we hiked into Echo Lake, which was three miles, about 2.3k of elevation gain, and grades at probably around 40% a good chunk of the time. There were a lot more mountains, a few lakes, and even a friendly sage hen that followed us along the trail for a good couple hundred feet. ]]> 153@http://never7.net/pivot/ 12 of 12 Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:52:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=152&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=152&w=my_weblog#comm 152@http://never7.net/pivot/ default Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:17:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=150&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=150&w=my_weblog#comm
crazycollision: "Your father can't possibly be beating you," the social worker said in disbelief as she stared at the 4.0 GPA on the girl's report card."

Cory Gorham: "Some asshole ate my sandwich."

Tek: The first time I saw her put maple syrup on her popcorn I knew I loved her."

I don't know if I've linked it before, and I can't remember where I found it, but you should check out Not Always Right. It's a great collection of customer service stories. ]]> 150@http://never7.net/pivot/ default Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:10:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=151&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=151&w=my_weblog#comm
My birthday celebration was exceptional - I love my friends. I also found out that I can enjoy a nice irish car bomb every know and then. I'll be back home on the 15th or the 16th, and I'll get my 12 of 12 posted then.

Oh, one last thing...

Chuck Norris has to maintain a concealed weapon liense in all fifty states in order to legally wear pants.

(My wonderful "wife" Sarah bought me The Truth About Chuck Norris for my birthday. It is horrible, and bad jokes, and oh so entertaining.) ]]> 151@http://never7.net/pivot/ default Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:17:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=149&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=149&w=my_weblog#comm Derek's 23rd year would be the first that he worked full time longer than a summer. He started out at a decently sized accounting firm in Portland in the fall where he got the first cubicle he could really call home, pursued his CPA license, and found time to have fun through all of it. From day one he started saving money to by his first house, payed of his college debt. All-in-all, at 23 Derek's life kicked into adulthood, an there was at least some excitement. There were many antics to be had during and between his Monday through Friday eight to five schedule. But by 24, things would be come even more interesting.

This and more on tonight's E! True Hollywood Story. ]]> 149@http://never7.net/pivot/ default Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=148&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=148&w=my_weblog#comm One Sentence by Mike over at What Some Would Call Lies, I love it. So I've decided to give you a weekly dosage. Basically, my favorite ones that I catch during the week. So here we go:

zeroknowing: I got up quietly, went out the side door, snuck around the back, and there was my father sneaking a cigerette, too.

MADk: I imagine the people at Harvard gave my application the same look Mary received from the Israelites when she told them her new son, Jesus, was immaculately conceived.

VeDosis: My three-year-old son brought me my anti-depressants, asked me to take them and come outside and play.

it's not me, i swear: If my brother steals my phone and texts dirty messages to my friends one more time, I'm gonna break his fingers.

Charlie: My sister tells me she watched our mom cry when I came out as gay to which I reply that I watched our mom cry when she ran away, stole the car, and got mom arrested.

On a somewhat related note, you need to check out a LEGO a day... It's pretty damn awesome. ]]> 148@http://never7.net/pivot/ misc Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:00:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=147&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=147&w=my_weblog#comm

My dad on the trail cutting through one of the valleys along the ridge slope. That white wall? Yeah clouds.


View from the ridge.


The top of the ridge.


My dad setting up a timed shot of the two of us from the perspective of the old lookout rubble.


Another shot along the meadow ridge.


Playing with macro photography. The low clouds kept the moisture around quite nicely.


Saw this on the drive up, stopped and parked in a "do not park here" zone on the way down for the shot. I thought it was a really interesting damn because it looked pretty old.

You can look at the rest of the photos in my gallery, here. The resizing on a couple of them got messed up, which is irritating. But it took enough time as is to edit all of them, I don't feel like picking out the ones that messed up and doing them again. That's right, I'm lazy.

I leave a for my family camping and 4-day/3-night hike with my dad a week from tomorrow, so I will be gone for 12 of 12. I will of course post it just as soon as I return to civilization. ]]> 147@http://never7.net/pivot/ misc Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:59:00 -0500 http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=146&w=my_weblog http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=146&w=my_weblog#comm
Now tag has gone high tech, to the phone! And as annoying as a voice mail might be to some, I have to say I get a little thrill from playing phone tag. I'm currently playing with a lady from my university's international office. She tagged my parents house, they tagged me, I tagged her, she tagged me, and now I've tagged her again. We might actually talk at some point today. Now I know tag-backs are usually not kosher, but this is kind of a two-way style tag. The more the merrier though.

How great would it be to actually have a game of phone tag? Simply everyone have a list of phone numbers of players, and the goal is to call and get voice mail. If you get an answer, no dice. You're still it. If you get voice mail you tag them. Every time your phone rings you'd wonder whether or not you are going to be tagged. I'll admit that I ignore calls from time to time, it might work to decrease that.

It'd be friggin' awesome. ]]> 146@http://never7.net/pivot/ bio, misc Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:06:00 -0500