Watching my brother Asa wrestle in his first meet was painful. Not that painful, because I wasn't actually wrestling, but painful to watch the little guy get turned into a pretzel. He joined wrestling to get in shape for soccer, a goal that Ian has said is honorable and stupid. Those of you who may not have seen Asa since he was but a little kid should imagine someone built like me, a little shorter and a bit skinnier. He wrestles 125 lbs and should really be wrestling at a lower weight, the thing is, there is no mass for him to lose. At the same time that he's wrestling, I'm watching all the other kids out there, the ones with muscles particularly. Dad and I were thinking of ways to bulk Asa up, maybe strap some muscle somewhere on his upper body. I don't know. It reminds me of getting thrashed in 7th grade when I wrestled. It sucked. At least with two pins (that's being pinned, not pinning) under his belt, there's no place for him to go but up.

Thanksgiving. A time for family, a time for fattening. I've been hanging out with the family this past week/weekend. Ian and Leah came back from Mac on Wednesday and we have been feasting for the past 72 hours. Fat, fatty fatty fat fat. Sooooo good.

I've been starving for vertical excitement in Ames, so I took it to a new level yesterday. Alpine tree climbing! Taking Chad's ice axes, I used them to scale up the side of a large cottonwood tree. It's tree climbing, just as we all used to enjoy, but EXTREME! It was going well for the first five minutes and then while executing a sweet cross over move with my left axe, I yanked it out of the tree and smashed my head. To explain the situation better, imagine watching someone smash a hammer into the center of his forehead while stuck on the side of a huge cottonwood
Yesterday Ian and I went rock climbing in Ames, outdoors. What's this you say??? No rocks in Ames you say? Well you're right, excepting the railroad bridge there are no rocks. So, we climb the railroad bridge. Yee haw! I'm UNSTOPPABLE!!

WEll, Living History Farms was a good damn race. I had so much fun that I thought that I'd take up running seriously again. Boy was I wrong. It just sucks to run without the motivation of a team or near term goals. It's like summer miles for no good reason. Anyway, the race was run, creeks were crossed, mud was slopped, thongs were worn, and chili was eaten. A hell of a day in November. Today I'm hoping to get out on two wheels and enjoy the cycling weather while it's still decent out. It's supposed to get shitty for tomorrow so i'll save running for the colder crappier days when cycling is just a no go.

Cheers to all. Happy thanksgiving.

Well, I went for my first winter run yesterday. The temperatures weren't so cold, but the wind, she was a howlin'. To the uninitiated, it might seem like a damn fool idea to go outside in a blizzard, but the grizzled veteran of the Midwestern freeze-fest that is winter running knows it to be a walk in the park. Besides, I'm training for the potentially adverse conditions for the Living History Farms Race.

The forecast for today has the high temperature at 25 and the low tonight should be about 5. Hmm, it makes me ponder exactly how dedicated I am at this point. I guess it will give me a crack at my first frosty beard of the season.

Well, most of my gloom and doom have passed. Jennifer and I have already signed a lease on an apartment in Philly. It's (supposedly) in a nice neighborhood near the University of Pennsylvania. The selling features were: nice wood floor, two big bedrooms, cool landlord and proximity to Ethiopian restaurants and farmers market. We'll see all of this for ourselves when we get there however.

"Living History Farms; The Race" is coming soon to a town near me. So far I've got Tim Pavlish and Bo Rydze. The fun will only increase with more members! The race date is November 19th and the food is on me. Additionally, we are provided with T-shirts featuring the living history farms logo and then we get to eat as many donuts as we can stomach!

Come on down!!!

If you want more info, just call me! Also, I'm lonely so, just call me!

All good things must come to an end. I was riding high on the super-duper MIAC Meet-up with the ol' Cross Country Boys. Alf was back from China, Pete flew in from the west coast and the usual suspects, Paul, Ben and Derek were around for the fun. Many beers were consumed and then some frolicking, if we can call it that, ensued. Pete decided that there had not been enough "dog piling" going on recently. We quckly remediated the situation. Oh yeah, Mac did a good job at the meet. Roscoe and Dylan ran fast as hell and I was inspired, almost, to make a comeback onto the running scene.

Then, the very next day, after helping set up a halloween display in my parents front lawn, I decided to go for a run. It was halloween night and the kids were out. I was feeling genki so I decided to cruise. My parents' neighbor, Chad, was heading out of the house and I offered to take his dog on a run with me. As it turned out it would be the dog's last run. Tensing, named after the legendary Sherpa, was a really good dog, a Visla obsessively dedicated to his owner. Tensing was attentive enough to be taken for walks without a lead, or so I thought. When once I had taken my parents dog, Rudy, for a walk, Chad had told me that Tensing was so good as to not require a lead for running. True enough, he stuck right by Chad's side when they went walking in the mornings. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same sort of magnetism and while running homeward along a relatively quiet street Tensing, who was following me a few yards back, veered into the street to avoid some trick-or-treaters and was hit by two cars. The first car shocked him and caused him to yelp, at which point I saw turned around to see him laid out by a second truck. The people who hit him in the second car were very kind and drove us back home at which point it became clear that he was no longer breathing, nor was his heart beating. I tried CPR, but because of a dog's large mouth, you have to blow through the nose and seal the mouth completely. It didn't work out.

So, from a pretty good week, it has turned into a funky, shitty one. I gotta get out for another run, but it's gonna be difficult.

Life has slowed down a bit since coming back to Ames. Jennifer and I hare started making preliminary plans for moving to Philadelphia, but nothing super concrete yet. The plan is to move out there after Thanksgiving. We haven't been home for Thanksgiving for 2 years, and that is far to long to be without my dad's barbecued turkey and my mom's pies. Damn, I haven't eaten much today and this stuff sounds awesome!

I went rock climbing yesterday with Chad, my parents' neighbor, my brothers' soccer coach and my de-facto older brother. He eats at my house more than I do. We went out to Blue Mounds state park in Minnesota. It's a hell of a drive, 4 hours, but we made it more bearable by staying at Jennifer's family's cabin on Spirit Lake. Spirit Lake is one of the Iowa Great Lakes, as designated by the local tourist board. It neighbors the more resorty Lake Okiboji and was a popular tourist destination much the same way Minnetonka and Calhoun were in the Twin Cities. Now it's just lined with lake homes. I guess that the trememdous drive is just part of being a rock climber in Iowa. Shit. It was a great day, though the snow was a bit of a pain. Now, back safe in Ames, I would kill for another day on the rocks.

Ok, so we totally "did" the East. Philly was good, we liked it so much that we're thinking of moving there. Really though, "liking it so much" involves merely being able to see myself living there. Additionally, there are jobs, not shitloads but jobs nonetheless. Cheese steak is good as well. Man, I could go for a good cheese steak right now.

After philly we drove through lovely Gettysburg PA, home of the famous address was given by our great leader, Abraham Lincoln. From Gettysburg we drove on to Bedford Pennsylvania where Cannondale bicycles are manufactured. Cannondale is the only major manufacturer of bicycles to still make all of its frames in the US (with the exception of 1 model) and I met the guy who made the machines that make the bikes. It was COOL! We saw the process from raw aluminum tubes all the way to finished bicycles. SWEET!! After the lovely tour of Cannondale, we drove our way to Niagra Falls. It's amazing how the awesome splendor of nature can spur such shitty tourist development as in Niagra Falls NY and Canada.

Next on the tour was me going climbing in the Shawangunk Mountains in upstate NY. I sucked here, very badly and was rewarded by getting my ass stuck on the cliff face for 4.5 hours, 2 of which were in the dark. Yay climbing!

After the disappointment of sucking badly, we drove north to Lake Placid and hiked up Mt. Marcy, the highest of the adirondac peaks, it was nice, but surprisingly sweaty work and we spent a clammy night in the tent before hiking back the next morning under cloudy skies.

Next stop was the Ben and Jerry's factory for some awesome ice cream goodness, and then north to Montreal to see Lara and Shane. Montreal is good, but it's only awesome if you're french (I think) though it might be good after establishing oneself there.

Last, after an all-night driving binge, we arrived in the Twin Cities. Ahh, the Midwest, how I love thee. It was great to see people, and it really made me think that, had I not all ready lived there for 4 years, I would definitely be moving up to that Paris of the North. Anyway, I'm sure I'll catch some people up there for the MIAC conference meet in two weeks, but until then, I'll be at home, chillin like only the jobless know how.

J and I have been having a capital time in the Capitol. DC is a pretty cool city and I really can't say anything bad about it. We went to the museums, "did" some monuments and touristed the place up for two days. Yesterday I went for a long run with Meghan in preparation for her upcoming Marine Corps marathon. She was scheduled for 20 miles, of which I did 14. Fortunately I'd prepared by running 6 the previous Wednesday. No injury yet, but I'm working on that.

Next to Philly. Philadelphia should be good, but what I'm psyched about is the tour of the Cannondale bicycle factory next Friday. With luck we'll get to see a 3D lazer cutting tool in action. Totally sweet!

Well, the road trip has begun. Living the American dream in the passenger and occasionally the driver's seat of a compact automobile. We headed out from Iowa last Thursday evening and arrived twelve hours later at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. For those of you interested in spelunking, I'd recommend the trip highly, but as far as caves go, it really wasn't the most spectacular. There are relatively few stalagmites and stalactites or any of the other features that one associates with caves. The water formed lots of horizontal channels joined by vertical shafts making it more of an "I never want to get stuck here with the lights off" place than a "magical underground kingdom" place.

Next up on the tour we drove to the Red River Gorge national river in eastern Kentucky for some R and R. Relaxation and Rock climbing. The relaxation part worked out well, but the rock climbing while potentially spectacular, was limited by my limited abilities. I fell a lot and my toes hurt from the terribly small shoes I use.

Now, 8 hours of driving later, we're in Chapel Hill NC visiting my friend Claire Lutgendorf, whom I met while cycling in the Twin Cities. Chapel hill is nice, if hot and humid. Next up is our fair city, Washingon DC. where we'll hang out with our esteemed friends Meghan and Brendan. From there, Philadelphia, and from there, the WORLD!

Ok, so this is my trip to China, abbreviated of course. It would behoove the viewer to start from the bottom of the stack and go upwards chronologically. But really, since each shot in and of itself could win a Pulitzer, don't hesitate to skip around and feast on the glorious digital images.

Then onto the ferry for our 40 hour ride to Osaka. This trip was exciting, initially because I ate a dragonfruit, pictured here, and next because the boat sailed through a typhoon. It was my first experience with sea sickness. I can tell you truthfully, if you're gonna puke, green tea isn't so bad.

We met up again with Alf, for 3 hours, and ate scorpions. Then we went to a lovely little cafe and drank scorpion liquor. What a great trip.

Then to the Wall. As Nixon said upon his visit, "It sure is a great wall." True that Dick, true that.

There were hundreds of people selling kites, watches, guide books, post cards and the like, and occasionally, a really cute kid would show up.

After another couple of days in transit, we ended up in Beijing, on Tienanmen square, where everybody and his brother wanted a picture taken with foreigners.

We saw yaks, and the edge of the Himalayan plateau, in front of which we are posed so lovingly.

Next, after the 20 hour train ride from hell and the grottoes of Dunhuang, I, for my part, spent the time there going to the toilet and wishing I were dead, but we followed it up with a great spot, Xiahue- Little Tibet.

But the scenery was cool. Especially if you're into desert waste-lands.

Next came the 20 hour diarreah ridden train ride from hell.