Olympian

My sister made the swimming olympic trials today. She's going for the 200 free.

4 hours and a mere $108

Today was the REI garage sale in which members were able to browse and purchase merchandise previously owned, used, and returned to the REI store. The doors opened promptly at 10, which was exactly when we arrived. Unfortunately several other people had been there waiting since, well, the night before. Yes, people camped out for this event. Considering the target audience of REI, this is not surprising.
One obtained a ticket at the door and the entrance to the discounted warehouse was allowed when the numbers were called out. Unfortunatly there were atleast 250 people ahead of us in line. This meant a very long wait. This also meant that everyone else was hanging about the store. There were people shopping, trying on clothing, reading to their children, and "testing" the camp chairs. Myself, I found a book about Ernest Shackleton, a small foldable chair and a quiet corner. After 4 hours and a trip to the neighboring book store, we were admitted.
I was quite under-impressed. The "warehouse" was about the size of my apartment (if you've never seen my place, imagine a very large closet). Most items there were definately "previously owned/worn". They were dirty, used, and most things were broken. Every watch there was busted, all remaining shoes were coming undone from their soles. It was a very sorry site. After waiting all that time it seemed a waste.
However, I did find one item that caught my eye; a small camelback-style hydration pack. While missing the water bladder itself, the small pack would be day-pack worthy. It was ideal to take skiing, and for very low-impact hiking.









Then upon further inspection of a large crate I found several laundry-bag-sized bundles. inside each was a sleeping bag. Most were rental sleeping bags from another REI store. They were 20 degree bags which were in good condition still. For the low, low price of $40, you couldn't go wrong.






The second item in the crates was a lone REI nooksack 35 degree bag. Bright yellow and black it caught my eye. It would be perfect for a summer pack. Although it was synthetic and slightly heavier than an ideal down bag, I almost prefer it for potential rainy days. I don't want to be stuck with a useless down bag in a downpour.








I approached the help desk to inquire about prices.
The poor guy at the counter making anouncements previously stated that all prices are negotiable. I felt that this was very reasonable considering some of the items that they had. I asked "how negotiable?" He replied, "It depends on how delerious I am". Apparently he had been there a bit too long. My $40 sleeping bag became $10 instantaneously.

I obtained a perfectly new hydration pack, and 2 sleeping bags for the low, low price of $108.

and no concussion...

For those of you who loathe the Pittsburgh airport(especially the baggage claim), let me rub this in.

I recently went on a week long ski trip to Utah. Not only was the trip flawless, the snow perfect, but the Pgh Airport was exceptional. Upon returning to the steel city, we were the first ones off the plane. Expecting a long wait to receive our luggage, we strolled casually to the baggage claim area. Surprisingly, bags were already on the carousel and ours were one of the first ones off. While waiting for our skis/snowboards a baggage "attendant" brought them down and handed them to us.
This is the fastest I've ever gotten my luggage. I believe we were actually IN the airport for 10 minutes.

Humans rule!

Click Me

...Compliments of Ben

Mencia

I'd like to add Carlos Mencia to the list of people I've met at work.
He's humorous, and very polite.

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This is just fun

The one that got away

While at home over Thanksgiving break I found a fish. This isn't just an ordinary fish. It's not the scrod that mom was preparing for dinner and it wasn't Kristin’s goldfish. This was my dad's musky. It's about 4 feet long and he's been hanging out in our basement mounted on a plaque for over 20 years.
A few years ago my mom caught a fish. She's caught several since then, but this one was particularly interesting. He was a big fish; almost as big as my dads. Catching him was fun, bringing him in was tiring, and sitting on him so he didn’t thrash around in the boat was difficult. Literally, we had seat cushions on him.
This was the last day of vacation and we had our fill of fish for the trip. He would make a wonderful set of meals. He'd probably last the entire week. However we couldn't take him with us, and we certainly couldn't eat that much over night. The worst part was that we had no camera. Would anyone believe we caught this monster of a fish without the actual proof? Of course we had no cell phone cameras. There was no reception in the middle of the lake, what good were they.
As this 3'+ pike lay gasping in the bottom of the boat, the three of us sat pondering what to do with him. In between wiping fish scales off our brows, and shifting our weight to keep him from thrashing, we came to our conclusion.
To keep him would mean absolute proof. My mom would have a fish mounted on the wall next to my dad, and we would be able to give the fish away to all the neighbors, have our pic taken with him, and a sense of pride.
To throw him back would mean that he'd live and swim about, making more baby pike. We wouldn't waste a fish.


We threw him back. We didn't need the meat; my mom didn't want the plaque. The lake wanted the fish.