A mountain bike heaven in Ohio?

Yesterday K and I decided to ignore our colds and headed up to Mohican State Park. We had previously seen some signs for a 25 mile loop and read about a 100 mile mountain bike race held there (Sat. May 30th. Just in time to get in shape, lol). So off we went to check it out.

Boy, was it beautiful. A nicely paced climb up through a deciduous / hemlock mix that smelled and felt a lot like riding in Flagstaff. When you got to the top of the loop, you just went up and down some bluffs along the Clear Fork Creek Gorge. Fun, fast, not too demanding or technical, but still challenging in places. It was heaven. Not to mention the spring wildflowers peaking their little head out from under the leaves just about everywhere you looked. 84 degrees and it just was one of those perfect days, capped by some Shiner Bocks waiting in a cooler, chilled by a frozen, roasted turkey breast that we later thawed and grilled for dinner. Gaffney faired a little less well, with the heat and her aging hips slowing her down. But she cooled off in the river and didn't bother any of the dogs along the trail, so it was a successful day.

Enjoy some pictures of beautiful Ohio!

Kyle along the trail

A yellow violet

Gaffers, fresh from the river

Giddy-up!

I'm almost to the finish line of my first year of teaching at Denison. Only 2 1/2 lectures remain. Shoo. I am relieved for the summer so I can do some research again. I will be up at the Mount Desert Island Marine Lab, near Bar Harbor, ME if you want to swing by!

More later. Congrats to all the new PhD's and soon-to-be mothers in the blog audience. Good luck to you all!

Pittsburgh-bound

K and I are headed to Pittsburgh tonight to meet up with Clint, Sarah, Ms. Buns, and Sgt. Brown (oh and soon to be Baby B!). I love visiting Pittsburgh-my favorite part is coming out of the tunnel on 279 and then-BAM- there is the city, laid out in front of you with all its bridges to the right, and the stadiums to the left. I don't know why but it always gives me a happy feeling. Last time we visited Clint et al., we rode up the Duquesne Incline to Mt. Washington and had cocktails overlooking the city. We also ate at the restaurant where S works-Legume- it was delicious. If you live in P-burgh, you should DEFINITELY check it out. This time we plan on antiquing, with inspiration provided by all the Antiques Road Shows we have been watching these last few months. Is it really possible to find such treasures? I am hoping Pittsburgh is just the town for diamonds in the rough.

Then on Saturday afternoon it's off to my brother's new house in the 'burbs of Pittsburgh for some good old-fashioned three year old birthday party action. My niece turned three earlier in the week and we will celebrate this momentous occasion with the rest of the family. I am trying to see my family a lot while I am on the east coast. Visits will be fewer and farther between when we live up in the great Northwest.

Happy Easter weekend to everyone. I wish I were in Portland, OR, at a certain someone's Easter party!

A clean spring house

I hate cleaning. But yesterday, the inner compulsive side of me emerged and cleaned. And cleaned. Back aching, spring cleaning but boy did it smell fresh and look nice and tidy.

For about an hour.

Two animals with muddy paw prints (and noses), misplaced shoes, a blanket gone awry. The clean is so fleeting. Just like spring.

I am trying to enjoy Ohio now since I will be gone to Maine for most of the summer and then next year we will move to a whole different state. This is the last spring Kyle will have in Ohio, but I'll get one more. I hope it is as beautiful as this year.

I will try to take pictures later of our beautiful flowers, buds on the trees, and little animals basking in the big backyard. Days like yesterday and today (weekends in general with my family) make me very happy indeed.

More news...

The other news I forgot to mention last time...we're getting hitched.

Drs. Hampson , Drs. Wilton or Drs. Wampton? You decide...

An update!

Aloha, loyal blog readers. March has quickly flown by without so much as a peep from this newly revived blogger. I promise to try to blog more often in the next coming weeks. There is much to talk about indeed:

#1: As you may have already heard, this blog will soon be called, "The other Alaska bloggers" or maybe , "I wish I were Alaskaboy" or "A-LASK-A". In any case, K has accepted a job up in Anchorage so we will soon be neighbors with our great friends from the north. I am excited about this move for a number of reasons and terrified for some too, but I will spend many a blog posting on those thoughts another day.

#2: I had a great trip in Telluride last week visiting with my sister and soon-to-be-married cousin, Elaine. Along with brief discussion of wedding details, we hit the slopes for three days mainly on blue cruiser hills, but occasional double black diamond hills when I got up my confidence enough. Here is actually an image of me on the slope, "Confidence":

This photo was taken on the third day, a day that I was really quite terrified to go down anything steep. While I normally have no fear of skiing down big hills, I took quite a spill on the 2nd day of skiing that left me rather rattled. KK, luckily, was above me when I supermanned down the hill, so she could slide my skis down to me. I don't really like falling, but will consider a ski helmet in the future as I age and get weaker on the skis. Especially considering we heard the story of Natasha Richardson when we got back. I am not sure if a helmet would have prevented an epidural hematoma but it probably couldn't hurt, right? This story is also interesting because we have been talking a lot about cerebrovascular accidents in my Neuro class this semester. Locked-in syndrome (like in the movie, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) is probably the most fascinating case. Watch the movie, it's good!

#3: Where was I? Oh yes, it is my favorite time of year. Spring! And currently the month when some of my most wonderful friends were born (yeah, Aries!). In no particular order, Happy birthday to: Melissa, Steph, Carla, Kim, Megan, Megan, Sarah (the 12th, I think!), and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

#4: More news later, I have to get back to work!

Biking

Thank goodness it is finally spring! We got out on the road bikes yesterday. We have a beautiful path that goes alongside the Olentangy River for about 7 miles each way, plus we add a loop through a neighborhood at one end to bring the grand total of the ride to about 17-18 miles. The weather was so nice yesterday but windy. We had a tail wind going up the river, but I was really hurting even with the help of the wind. A winter of sloth has led to very sore muscles today.

The good news is that I get to count my bike ride as part of Denison's Exercise Challenge. Biking for 1 1/2 hours counts the same as a 1/2 hour work (one activity), which I found out the hard way after skiing last week for 4 hours (1 activity). My total activities for the first 6 weeks only totaled 29. Sadness. I just can't work out in the winter. Hence the need for inspiration for running. If you have any more ideas, let me know!

In other news....Lame Cocks :(

Enjoy your weekend!

Too cool!

Fossilized brains! This is really neat!

The anticipation is KILLING me!

So much waiting here in Ohio. I am waiting to hear about a summer job in Maine. I am waiting to hear about whether we need to change the name of this blog to a different state again. I am waiting for spring. And the biggest thing I am waiting for....

Thursday night's SC vs. Tennessee game.

It all comes down to this, folks. K will be crossing his fingers. Wear your garnet to support the Cocks.

Grammar junkies

You can probably tell from my writing that I forgot much of the grammar I learned back in elementary school. One thing I have a huge problem with is remembering when I is the subject vs. the object.

It looks like I am not alone. It's nice to know that the president has this problem as well.

But give the man a break. (And maybe this man too). When you are speaking, you have no chance of editing what comes out of your mouth. Sometimes it is going to be grammatically incorrect, or not make sense at all. Having taught now for two years, I know this feeling well. "Did I really just say that?!" Ah, lecture in three hours...

One of my goals in starting this blog again was to practice writing. And to share the adventures of Kyle and me. No, that can't be right...it's Kyle and I, isn't it? Or is it better to say "share Kyle and my life"? Or is it lives at that point?

I give up!

Go see Coraline in 3D

Hit up the matinee for Coraline yesterday and it was AWESOME! (This is C, btw; I was too lazy to log out K). I read Neil Gaiman's version of this in grad school and I loved the story. But the movie, wow, what a clever, kind of creepy, awesome film. You can't go wrong with flying angel Scotty dog-bats. And half-naked, well-endowed 80 year old actress cartoons. OH and the mouse circus! Bravo!

Read this NY Times article if you would like to learn more. This is the first stop-motion animated feature done in 3D. Curious as to how they make 3D movies? From the article:

The stereoscopic 3-D the filmmakers were using was created by taking a picture for the left eye, moving the camera a preset distance and taking another one for the right eye.

For a stop-motion film, this means moving the grass, the trees, everything each frame. Wowser.

Sixty million dollars was worth it.

Brewsky's Saturday

I miss writing on the blog. Facebook has satisfied some of my primal urges to talk about my life, but the one line updates can't compete with the long, open space permitted by the blog format. It's not that my life is particularly exciting, but I kept a journal most of my life and I just have this urge to document it, however mundane and banal it may be. Living in Ohio has actually been quite exciting and I have had the itch to start this again without any follow through for six months now. And so, this morning, I awoke with a goal. Spruce up the blog and write something new!

Since July when we moved to Columbus, we have explored quite a bit of Ohio, and many of the state parks we visted are incredibly beautiful and wonderful places. You can see some of the pictures we took above in the heading. But this weekend, it got cold again after a small bout of spring, and it is, quite frankly, a bit depressing. So K had the idea of going to watch the UCLA / Arizona game this afternoon. I looked on the internet for a sports bar with good ratings, since the last one we went to this fall to watch a USC game was abysmal. Brewsky's sports bar, a mere 2 miles away, was described as, "Nice laid back sports bar with large screen tv and lots of pool tables and cheap drinks" and "Great service , the two ladies that work the weekend nights knew my whole party ' s drink order after the first round." Good enough...

What a fun afternoon we ended up having! The clientle included a ~65 yo man with 4 PhD's (one in molecular biology), a Boston man who is a self-made handicapper (K talked to him for quite some time about his favorite subject), and a retired handyman who can't stay retired cause he has to "support his favorite habit: drinking". Everyone was friendly. The bartendress knew our names, our drinks, our love of the Wildcats, all without batting an eyelash. You could tell that everyone loved the place. I can't even imagine how crazy it gets during an OSU football game.

We will probably go back. We don't go out to bars much anymore, but it is nice to know that there is one out there that is friendly with decent food, and clean, nice-smelling bathrooms. The little things matter, you know?

As a side post, this weekend is the Kaimana Klassik frisbee tournament in Hawaii. Wish I were there, Sally. Wish I were there!

p.s. Wildcats won. Barely. They had a 25 point lead at one point that narrowed down to nine at the end. Shoo. Way to pull it out. Bear Down!

Changes

Blog under construction. Ohio news to come!

Aloha ʻoe

Our time on Diamondhead is drawing to a close this week, and since we still have to clean the house, I don't know if I'll have much time to post. What I hoped to do was provide lists and lists of wonderful things about Hawaii that I will miss, but instead, I will summarize our lives here with some photos. Thanks for reading, and aloha 'oe, or May you be loved and greeted.

Big Island, June 2006, Hike to Halape through Volcano Ntl Park; we'll miss the free coconuts

The Sally Ladies


The North Shore in the winter



Sunsets


The wildlife

And last, but not least, Nani Lēʻahi,
the ʻāina (land), the moana (ocean), and the lewa (air).

Aloha, Oahu! We will miss you.

Our last holiday weekend

Holidays are a big part of Hawaiian culture. There is not a month that goes by without a 3 day weekend, and Memorial day is exceptionally awesome because of all the fanfare here for WWII vets.

We had a pretty good weekend. Here are some pictures of our last big weekend of fun.

Saturday: Hartlenz Lab going away luncheon at the Oahu Country Club:


Magnified view of my awesome orchid lei (I absolutely love the tradition of giving leis. They are so beautiful!):


Sunday: Polo match on the North Shore (K's student gave us free tickets)

Monday: We went to the movies (Iron Man) and hung out in Waikiki. I am going to miss being able to walk to the beach. I know you feel sorry for me...

Almos pau

Done with school, almost done with work, our stuff is slowly getting packed and shipped. Phew. It is really happening. We're leaving.

The Hawaiian word for "end, completed, finished, etc" is "pau". We use this word a lot.

"Pau hana": Happy hour
"I'm pau": I am taking my cleats off because I don't want to play frisbee anymore.
"Almos pau": Not quite done.

In the last case, pau is coupled with "almos" a pidgin word for "almost". It is hard not to pick up some of this vocabulary. My favorites:

da kine: this can mean virtually anything but typically means something so totally awesome it can't be expressed any other way.

ono kine grindz: really awesome food; see the food blog if you don't believe me:

hana hou: do it again; one more time; an ovation; also, play one more point at frisbee

howzit: coupled with bruddah, this would be a way to say hi to a dude

da menehune cockaroach my tent pole: Menehune are the mythical creatures that lived in Hawaii before the Hawaiians. They like to steal things. The menehune always steal things when we camp.

I wonder what kind of new languages we'll learn in Ohio? Hmn, maybe Seneca (Ohio means "beautiful river"). Or maybe not. Either way, last day on Oahu ("the gathering place") is June 13th. And if you're around Tucson, we'll be there until the 24th. Let's hang.

One thing I won't miss about Hawaii

Thursday afternoon town-bound traffic. Today was my last day making this drive. Good riddance.

A big mahalo to those of you who tolerated my phone calls while sitting in this madness. You kept me sane.

Our new house.

The Moaʻa are back

We played our league frisbee games at Waimanalo beach last weekend. This is what a typical day at Sherwoods looks like:


This is how it looked last week:



Notice how you can't see Rabbit island. Or the top of the ridge.

Was it a storm? A forest fire? Industrial pollution? No, it was vog. The Kilauea crater has been spewing sulfur dioxide gas now for weeks. When the Moa'a- the northeast trade winds- are not present, the gases collect over the islands instead of blowing out over the Pacific. Last week the levels got higher than usual, and many people, as written about in this NY Times article, have trouble breathing. Despite the air quality, we played three games of beach Ultimate, and even managed to win one after being back by 5 points and playing savage.

Speaking of Ultimate, this Friday's game included the allotment of game points to the fastest sprinters on each team. Each person would have to run the length of the Ulti-field, against the tradewinds that had since reemerged, uphill. Lo' and behold, our practice team race was won by K, which meant that he would run against the fastest guy on the other team. It turns out that the gentleman he would be running against was not only the fastest man on the red team, he was also recently voted as the fastest guy on the island by an unofficial poll done by the women on the island, myself included.

You probably know where this is going, but I could hardly believe it. I have NEVER seen K run so fast, or so well. He came from behind and charged ahead, winning by at least 2 feet. Boy, was he excited, and, admittedly, I was pretty excited for him. Later he informed me that he almost puked beforehand (thank goodness no blueberry bagels or purple gatorade were involved), remembering all the jitters of mountain bike races of the past. But he swallowed his puke, ran that race, and WON that race.

Good job! Way to be a winner. They'll always remember you on Oahu.

Pictures!

I finally took some time to post our travels of the last month. A huge thank you to our friends for getting married in such beautiful places. From late March / early April. Click on "Costa Rica trip" and "North Shore" to see more photos.

Costa Rica trip:

Valle de Orosi

Volcan Arenal

Steph and Mau's wedding

North Shore:

Skydiving:

Katelyn and Joe's wedding at Camp Mokuleia

As a post script, I would like to A-M for letting me use her Costa Rica tour books (don't worry, I won't send them back! I passed them on to my tennis buddies). In your honor, the picture below was taken while listening to Mason Jennings play last weekend at Kokua Fest. Did you know he was born in Hawaii? We didn't actually go to the show, but it sure was nice hearing his soothing voice as we sat under a Diamondhead sky. We're starting to get a little sad about leaving...ETD June 13th!