I just bought a card reader for my iPod. It's going to allow me to upload pictures from my camera to my iPod. It didn't work at first because the software version of my iPod was too old. And I can't update the software from my computer because Windows Home XP sucks, and that's my techinical opinion. I went over my my work buddy Dipesh's house to use his computer. Everything went smoothly and I got the little reader to work and now I essentially have a 15GB flash card for my camera.

Over the weekend I went over to Smith Rock with my climbing buddies. While it was raining on everyone else in Portland, it was sunny and warm in Terrebone (just North of Bend.) At night you could see all of the stars and even the constellations (if we could've remembered their names.) Coyotes provided singing for us to fall asleep to. On Saturday we woke up, cooked blueberry pancakes and bacon and headed out to Smith Rock. We split up into a few groups to attack various routes. Amy and Brynne led up the bolted routes and I, Scott, Dan and May would follow. I got to break in my new rope, it started off shiny and orange, it ended dull and dirty - looking like a real rope.

On my last climb I got to clean the top quick draws and thread the rope through the chains so I could rappel down the face. I hadn't ever done it, but I knew the steps to take. It took me about 10 minutes to get ready to push off the ledge and lower myself down. I'd say I was like a cowboy and booked down, but I took it slow so I could live to eat another pizza. It was an awesome day, at least 80 degrees out and no clouds.

The next day some of us went to Bagby Hot Springs, some went climbing and May and I went to Bend to do the Whoop De Doo trail. The weather changed and the clouds rolled in, which seems to please people in Bend. "Dude, it's perfect biking weather! We love the rain" They're crazy. When we got to the top of the Whoop De Doo trail it was snowing, quite a bit different than the previous day. But it was all good, we boogied down the trail and hit all of the moguls.

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I've started getting ready for my little trip to China by spending money I don't really have. My VISA has been neglected for a while, so I figured it was time to break it out and go shopping. I got a new backpack for this trip that I can use later for mountainering, it has all sorts of dealie-bobs for climbing junk. The tread has finally died on my shoes, so it was time to get new ones with new tread. I took a lead climbing class over the weekend and bought a climbing rope so I can practice leading. And also now I can go outside and have a rope to climb with, dental floss hasn't been hacking it lately.

My phone has been acting up and turning off in the middle of my calls. It was time to retire it, and I got a new phone. It has all of the nifty things like camera, color screen and even video. Not sure what I'm going to do with a video camera on my phone, but what the hell.

I even got a new camera for China. I've thought about it and come to the realization that digital is the way to go for 90% of my photos. I'm most likely to not blow up many pictures past 8x12, and (my) digital is good to above that. But if I have a really nice picture, it's hard to beat slides on my Nikon. So I'm taking my Nikon SLR and my digital and I'll use the Nikon when there is a scene I really like and want to have a great slide of it. I only have a 256 MB flash card, which won't be enough for a 3 week trip, so I'm going to get an adapter for my iPod which allows you to upload your pictures to the iPod, effectively giving my camera a 10-15 GB memory card.

I was gently riding my bike home on Thursday when I felt it shimmy, kinda like when you taco a wheel. But I was just going on pavement so I figured it was a flat tire. I pulled over and saw it wasn't flat. But the rear wheel was a bit out of true and I spent 10 minutes truing it up on the sidewalk. I hopped back on it for a test spin and it had the same shimmy. I figured I got a flat this time. No flat. Then I saw the right side chain stay was sheared. Not too much you can do about that. I tried riding down the street but the wheel kept hitting the frame and it felt too funky. And if the other stay flexed and broke then I'd be in a world of hurt. I called everyone I could think of. If I didn't call you it's because you need to get a truck or a bike rack. It took me 20 minutes of limping the bike along to realize that we have a thing in Portland called buses. And on these "buses" there are bike racks. And they go right by my house. So I walked down to Division and hopped on the # 4 bus. I know people were thinking, "what a sack, he has on his little biking getup and still uses the bus." Cos I would think that. On Friday I brought my bike to Acme Welding on 7th and Salmon and they fixed it right up and now my bike is running fine.

Moab VII.

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I finally got a heavy punching bag last night. I've been wanting one for a long time but kept on putting it off. I thought about putting it into the scary room behind my garage, but I'd probably use it more in the basement. Though... the blood from my hands (it just seems to happen) could get splattered around the scary room and that'd give it some character.

Over the weekend I went over to Bend with my buddies Sara and Ron. We left Portland where it was pouring and soggy outside. As soon as we crossed the Cascades it was sunny with pretty skies. Apparently Bend averages 300 sunny days a year. If they only had some jobs...

We did our riding on Saturday at Phil's Trail, just outside of Bend. We had heard it was the trail to ride so we gave it a shot. It was nice singletrack that weaved through the trees and up the gentle hill.

It was fun riding up the hill and we were pretty psyched for the downhill. At the top of the hill it got steep and we walked a few sections cos we're lazy and the dust was pretty thick. We saw on the map that there was a section called Whoop-de-doos. We weren't sure what it was, but it'd be different than going down the part we just did. A party of bikers passed us and I asked how the trail was. We wondered why it was called "Whoop."

"Lots of potential for air." Ron thought she said "error." Either way she'd be right. The downhill was fairly modest, but the trail whipped through tight sections of trees and over moguls. After the first one, Ron and I were yelling and hollering as we bombed down the whoop-de-doos. The moguls were placed about 10 feet apart so you'd get air on one and have to get ready for the next right away. And then you'd hit a banked curve and do it all over. I'm sure we didn't get over 2 feet of air on each jump, but you add it up and it's pretty sweet.

We booked down the rest of Whoop-de-doos and then hit Ben's trail. It didn't have as many jumps, but it was still dope as we sliced through trees and around curves.

We celebrated the 16 mile ride by hitting the Deschutes Brewery and getting a few beers. And then going back to our campsite for Whiskey Sours, brauts, beer and brownies made in a dutch oven.

I'm sure everyone has heard about the Kryptonite fiasco (which affects all similar locks.) I figured I'd give it a whirl on my lock. I didn't have a pen that fit the lock correctly but I got a pen in there after pounding it into a wall in the parking lot. And the lock did make a 1/4 turn. But then I couldn't turn it all the way, or get it back to where I could put my key in. I eventually got the lock back to a good state after pounding it against the ground with a cheapo pen. I'm going back to using a combonation lock until I get a rebate and can buy a new NY Lock, which is not supposed to have these issues.

On Sunday my buddy Sara and I met in Woodland, Wa to go up to St. Helens for a little biking. My body decided it was time to get the runs, so I ate a few Immodium ADs. I thought it was the calamari from Saturday night when I went out for greek food with Faustina after the Tears for Fears concert. They only played a few songs, but it was all good (and free!)

At the trailhead there were two other cars with bikers going up the hill. And a hunter in camo sitting on a rock near us. I asked him what season it was.

He looked up to the sky, "Summer."

The other bikers laughed a little uncomfortably and said "We asked him the same thing."

"It's Elk season", he finally said, " and bikers." No smile.

"Well, we don't taste too good."

"That's ok. I just drop the Elk and bikers and leave them there."

I figured he was just joking with me and seeing if I'd react like a liberal and say "Hey, you can't just leave the animal there, that's wrong." So I just laughed.

We got ready and he came over and chatted more with us. I think we passed some sort of test. Or the runs made me think more was going on.

"I see all of these fancy bikes." Which makes me worry when people say that... "And no kick stands!" I had to laugh.

"I know, you'd think you'd get one."

"I'd take it back. Those shoes good for pushing up the hill?"

"You know it, not good for biking, good for pushing."

And we were off up the hill, to do some pushing. I remembered the Ape Canyon trail being pretty difficult cos of the elevation and being out of shape. It wasn't too bad this time. I stopped from time to time to relax. Ok, to breathe. But it was ok.

It was pretty up on the Plains of Abraham and we toodled around, taking pictures and looking around. We couldn't see the top of the mountain because of the low clouds, but every now and then the sun would pop out and make the area look like pictures of Tibet.

We went over towards Windy Ridge, which funnily enough was pretty windy. You could see the main visitor center towards the North, with no real vegetation inbetween.

The clouds started to come in so we started back and flew down the hill back to the car. We celebrated our conquest of St. Helens with a shake, a few burgers and some fries.