Moving

I'm moving over here

http://alexanderthegrant.blogspot.com/

I realized that I am the only one that has been posting on the 2811 blog in the past 4 months and I don't live there any more. So I am giving Ty his blog back (Schirf was too cool from the beginning... ha ha) and starting my own. Really now my posting will just go down hill I am sure but I'll try to hold it down. Any way, its a sad day on the 2811 blog but an inevitable one I guess. Hopefully Ty and Mike will keep it going!

Dawn Patrol

Somehow I was up before my 5:10 am alarm this morning. Maybe I knew how sweet the sunrise would be up in Big Cottonwood.




Met up with Bart and then eventually Jared and a few other people. The snow was killer and we kept it to some mellow aspen trees to avoid lurking instabilities in the snow pack. You know its dangerous out when you see Andrew McLean (author of the Chuting Gallery and one of the most accomplished big line skiers in the Wasatch) at the top of a mellow aspen glade at 9000'!

Jared aka the Samurai- I think he goes uphill just as fast as he goes down.




Bart snaps a photo.

Christmas Contrast

We happened to set the tree up next to a picture of Buddha...

Sammi and I threw down for an $11 tree (more of a shrub). Looks great and we've got it on a table to give the illusion of a real tree. This is the first year I've had a tree in the ten years since I moved out of VT so its a step up for me!

A whole lot of nothing...

I just drove back from Ketchum, Idaho this afternoon after a week working there and in Boise. Every time I do that drive I am struck by how little there is between here and there, just a whole lot of nothing. No offense to any potato farmers or anyone who lives there...

When I was in college I was really cynical about a lot of issues, population growth in particular. With the global population growing at such a fast rate do we have the space and resources to support this growth? I used to think no, and that nobody cared and we were all just going to keep consuming and growing until we were swimming in our own trash and out of food, water, and fresh air. I've lost a little of this cynicism over the years and especially this year see some hope in human kind. Yeah the economy is bad but we are all talking about conserving resources, finding cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, and taking steps towards improving our society in general. This is good news to me as sooner or later we had to come to our senses. Maybe this economic crisis will re-direct us down a more responsible path.

Back to the photo: some parts of the world are so overcrowded and then there are places like the western US. Just a whole lot of nothing. I'd hate to see farmland and open spaces go but if they someday have to I hope the land is used responsibly. Apparently a week driving around by myself has made me a little reflective. I'll shut up now, time to unpack.