Franklin Street & Never Ending Climbs

Let’s be honest.  It’s hard not to let our personal lives affect our professional lives.  These past couple weeks have been a great reminder of that, and have done a lot for my sympathy in understanding what both colleagues and students bring in to school with them every day.  Even harder is not being able to acknowledge the reality of a personal life while at work.

So you can imagine my surprise and appreciation when a colleague left a nice note on my desk this morning and a container of vegan ice cream in the staff room freezer waiting for me.

SURPRISE ICE CREAM TREAT: 10

Seriously.  I always see it at Food Lion and Trader Joes, but always resist the urge to buy it.  Today, the choice wasn’t mine.  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!  I made the smart move of leaving it at school, having enough self awareness to know what would happen to it if I brought it home.  A couple spoonfuls here and there might be the best solution ever to a long week 🙂

MURPH’S LOVE OF THE NC HEAT: 2

I always forget how much the Smurph dog hates the NC summers until the warm weather really starts to hit.  While in the Spring, Winter or Fall he’s dying for a longer walk, as soon as the heat kicks in he’s begging to head back home.  Literally.  He puts on the brakes and refuses to go any further.  After I explain to him rationally that he’ll be just fine, and that he needs the extra exercise to burn off the trash he devoured that day, I can often coerce him.  But it is never easy.  Tonight was no exception.

After a walk with Murph, I headed to the CHCC for a Tuesday evening climb.  Arrived a bit late, but still got some nice climbs in with Paul.  Until we hit this route, however.

JOHN’S URGENCY ON THE ROPES AT THE CHCC: 3

I suppose you have the right to take your time.  But I’m also pretty sure there’s a sign on the wall encouraging urgency for the sake of cutting down on lines.  After waiting for over 10 minutes, we decided this was definitely ratable.  While not a rating of John, or his climbing (as he is still very much loved by us), it is a rating of the seemingly endless wait to finally get on the wall.  But if I’m being honest with myself here, maybe the real rating should be:

PAUL & MY CHOICE OF ROUTE: 3

I suppose at the end of the day it wasn’t really John’s fault, but instead ours for choosing to wait in line behind the SLOWEST CLIMBING PAIR EVER.  Okay, I exaggerate.  But when the lines are long, your partner is hungry and trying to peace out early, every second counts.

Following another climb or two we headed out to Tyler’s for dinner and then the Orange County Social Club for some celebratory beers, as a friend’s new album was just released.

DRIVING DOWN FRANKLIN STREET ON A WARM NIGHT WITH THE WINDOWS DOWN LISTENING TO JOE PURDY: 10

Seriously.  Heart smiling and loving life, there’s something about Joe Purdy that goes BEAUTIFULLY with a nice drive down Franklin Street.  Especially when it’s 80 degrees out and smells like summer.

Making it even more exciting?  Realizing that in a matter of two weeks all the undergrads will be gone and it will officially be CAROLINA SUMMER TIME!  I can’t wait 🙂

Overall, a great evening.  Stay tuned for the rating of Tripp’s newest album!

Until then, just living for the tens!

Another day (or three) in the Mountains

I love that I haven’t updated this since my last trip to the mountains… clearly it’s been a busy (and exciting) summer.  I doubt that this will slow down after the big move this weekend, but we’ll see how I can attempt to fit more regular blogging into the changes.  In the meantime, I just have to blog about yet another fabulous trip to the mountains 🙂

ROAD TRIP UP: 10

The boys had to work on Friday, but Laura, Snook and I decided to take advantage of an extra day and headed up Friday morning.  Crashing for free at a friend’s place, it was the perfect destination for my last weekend before moving.  Laura and Snook rode in one car with Preston, with Dakota, Murph and I rode in the Sooby.

I must admit I haven’t driven anywhere alone recently, and I forgot how much I appreciate time to think, sing and drive.

Friday was the perfect opportunity, along with a nice lunch stop where we picnicked on the grass 🙂  One of the rare trips where I actually would have liked to have driven some more…

After arriving Laura and I headed out to the Watauga with the pups to stretch our legs a bit.  Only about 5 minutes down the road from where we were staying… PERFECT!

DRIVING ON THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY: 8

Saturday began with a trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of my favorite places to drive in North Carolina (possibly anywhere).  Yielding views like this makes it pretty amazing… I couldn’t resist stopping and forcing the dogs to take pictures with me 🙂

However, there are downsides to driving on the Parkway as well.

1) if you’re trying to get somewhere quickly, this is not the way to do it.  All the tourists take the speed limit extremely seriously, however in light of point number 2, this might be  good thing.

2) As the driver I’m always distracted by the incredible views, and am thankful when I arrive where I’m going in one piece, still on the road.

DAKOTA’S PREFERRED ROAD TRIP POSITION: 10

Way better than when he lays on top of the crash pad (and spends the entire trip sliding around every time I turn or stop), and ADORABLE.  Didn’t even realize this was what he was doing behind me until we stopped along the parkway and I discovered this…

GRANDMOTHER BOULDERING:9

I’ve heard of this place for a while, but now I actually know where it is and could find it again.  SCORE!

About a 15 minute walk/hike off the Blue Ridge parkway, there’s a large collection of pretty sweet rocks.  Luckily Bill and Jen were headed up this weekend as well, as they came prepared with pages worth of beta.

While my climbing wasn’t as good as I would like (what did I expect after climbing so little this summer?), the other climbers were great, and I probably had as much fun taking pictures and being outside as I did actually climbing.  Plus, now I can head back anytime I want 🙂

MY CLIMBING PHOTOGRAPHY: 9

It just keeps getting better 🙂  Now if I could just get my autofocus to work…

NOT SHOWERING FOR THREE DAYS: 7

After leaving for the mountains I decided to protest showering for the extent of the trip, and it proved to be pretty nice.  Always better when you’re actually camping outside and don’t have access to a shower, it saved time and the trouble of worrying about doing my hair.  Pretty much didn’t touch it the whole trip.  Perhaps next time I’ll take it a step further and finally dread my hair like I’ve always dreamed about… was getting pretty close by the end of the trip anyways.

After a morning of climbing, a visit to a local Art festival, and some lunch from the Ham Shoppe, we headed down to the river for some much needed relaxation and swimming.

PICNICING BY THE WATAUGA: 9!

Only wish we had found a deeper swimming hole…

NORTH CAROLINA SKIES: 10

The skies are beautiful all over the state, but this one might take the cake.

HIKING TO THE TOP OF GRANDFATHER: 7.5

After another fabulous breakfast at the nearby Grandview Diner, Scott and I decided to tackle another trail up Grandfather.  The Profile Trail takes off literally about 5 minutes from where we were staying, which was PERFECT!

About 3.5 miles up we hit a fork… having gone up Calloway Peak last time we were in town, we decided to head towards Attic Window Peak, hoping to find some good views.

Did we ever 🙂

We spent about as much time taking pictures as we did hiking… okay, not really but pretty darn close.  Can you blame us?

We came to one overlook that had a straight cliff going off the side, which led to me freaking out, becoming a bag of nerves, and of course insisting on a photo shoot 🙂

Sadly we forgot to pack any food, and didn’t think about the fact that we wouldn’t return until 3.  Needless to say the hike down involved some hunger, exhaustion and shaky legs.  We finally made it back to the bottom 🙂

-.5: Not actually being sure we’d found the peak and having to turn around once we’d gone far enough.

-1: Extreme hunger

-1: Weakness that came with the extreme hunger on the way down

Sadly we headed home from there, and now it’s time to recover back in the triangle for my last week before shipping out 🙂

More on the move later, and until then, just living for the tens!

North Carolina Adventures

SUNDAY CLIMBING AT PILOT MOUNTAIN: 10

You all know how much I love my Sunday morning climbs, usually at the Chapel Hill Community Center.  I must admit, however, that not much can beat a Sunday morning climb at Pilot Mountain when it’s 78 degrees and not a cloud in the sky….

MY AWESOME NEW ROOF RACK: 8

A bit deceiving, as you can’t actually see it in this photo, however because of its awesomeness we were able to fit 5 people, a dog, a crash pad (see below), and five peoples’ worth of climbing gear (including four ropes and two full racks) into my somewhat tiny Subaru sportwagon.

You could probably fit about two people in the roof-top carrier alone…

-1 for our inability to keep all the straps tied down, frequently causing crazy sounds coming from the roof…

-1 for the gas mileage that results from that many people/that much gear into my tiny car with previously great gas mileage…

JAY’S PHOTOGRAPHY: 9

Gotta admit, I’m a big fan.  Some of his best shots… (in my opinion)

MY AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHY: 9

It only takes one my friends…

I’ll save the last point for when I win an award given by someone outside the framily…

Until then, just living for the tens 🙂

My Heart is Happier :)

I find my heart is just plain happier when I’m in the mountains of North Carolina.  There’s a legend that something special is buried deep below the mountains, causing visitors a feeling that can’t really be described, but can most definitely be felt.  I think it’s a feeling of a content heart.  That combined with the framily is bound to make one of the best Easters ever.  A slideshow to come shortly, but in the meantime a random assortment of ratings from the long weekend in Blowing Rock, NC.

THE PUPS: 8

I must say, I LOVE taking Dakota to the mountains.  He’s so good, that when I don’t have to worry about other dogs around I pretty much leave him off leash the entire time.  And he LOVES it.  Sticks right by me, but clearly loves the comparative freedom.  Plus, he’s up for anything, despite being a bit older.

Murph has also turned out to be quite the mountain dog.  While I still have to keep him on leash almost all the time (his nose is known to lead him far away at quick rates), his endurance is INSANE.  We took him on a six hour hike on Sunday to the highest peak on Grandfather mountain, and he was still pulling on the leash at the bottom.  Pretty impressive 🙂

All in all the three pups got along fabulously, minus a little humping, a little whining and some minor growling… overall a huge improvement 🙂

SATAN’S BALLS: 9

In the downtime between climbs/hikes, we hung out at our super chill cabin and enjoyed some delicious food.  My favorite had to be Laura’s homemade Satans Balls.  Made out of cake mix and icing, dipped in melted chocolate and then add sprinkles, they were HEAVEN.  Except for the fact that they were small and there were a lot.  Pretty sure I made myself sick off them on Saturday night.  Although that didn’t stop me from eating more for breakfast on Sunday morning…

CALLOWAY PEAK: 9.5

On Sunday Scott, Laura, Mazzi, Paul and I headed out to tackle Grandfather Mountain. After a couple side stops along the way, we finally found the entrance we wanted.  We hiked as a group for awhile, and about 2.5 miles in Laura, Paul and Mazzi headed back while Scott and I went on a search for the summit.

While it ultimately took about 3 1/2 hours to get to the peak, it was TOTALLY worth it.  The highest point on Grandfather Mountain, it provided a 360 view like none I’ve seen in a LONG time.  It was incredible.

-.5 for the snow/ice we encountered at the last steep pitch.  It resulted in several almost-falls, soaking wet/freezing feet (I was wearing my five-fingers) and a soaked/freezing butt (after deciding this was the safest way to descend).  However, we made it safely!

SUNRISE OVER PRICE LAKE: 10

This morning we decided to get up super early and hike to a lake about 2 miles away to check out the sunrise.  While we got a bit lost on the way there, luckily some nice folks on the Blue Ridge Parkway picked us up and brought us there.

Totally worth the early rise, both for the company and for the view.  Don’t get to see this very often…

THE COMPANY’S CLIMBING: 10!

We left Holloway Mountain with a lot to be proud of… Ben’s first time leading trad, Laura and Katie’s first outdoor ascent’s, Scott’s first climb outdoors with us, Liz’s first lead climb in the morning, and Jay, Paul, Mazzi and I looking better than ever.  Not much to complain about here 🙂

All in all another fabulous framily vacation.  Stay tuned for the movie- hopefully with audio this time!!!

Jeff & Jill Visit North Carolina!

Don’t worry, The Bachelor Finale and After the Final Rose ratings will be up by this evening.  In the meantime, I’m going to finish the post I started from this weekend when Jill & Jeff came to visit from DC!

A lot was accomplished…

SHAMROCK 5K: 8

Jill and Jeff arrived late Friday night, so obviously an early morning 5K was appropriate for Saturday 🙂  We were in luck as a local UNC sorority was hosting a Shamrock 5k in downtown Chapel Hill.

I was a little concerned going in, as I’ve all but given up running due to marathon knee injuries from college.  Instead I’ve taken up spinning, step aerobics, water aerobics, and general cardio at the gym.  I’m definitely in better shape, but wasn’t quite sure about running shape.  However, what I love about 5K’s is the race atmosphere which makes the time fly by.  I ran the whole thing, finishing in 28 minutes, by far my personal best ever.  I will admit though, my knee was pretty sore for about two days afterwards.

Jeff & Jill kicked butt as well, and most importantly we had an awesome time and I got to show them Chapel Hill 🙂

-1: How can you have a Shamrock 5K in February?  They need either 1) a better name, or 2) to move the date.

-1: I forgot to ask if you could bring dogs, so left Murph behind.  We showed up to dogs everywhere… how perfect would it have been to have put Murph in his new shamrock shirt and had him run along???

*Huge bonus points for the long sleeved t-shirt 🙂  All for only $15!

We spent the rest of the day Saturday walking the dogs, attempting yoga (class was postponed once we arrived at the gym) and then hitting up some delicious Torero’s downtown with an awesome friend of Jill’s from the Peace Corps.  Unfortunately no pictures were taken, but this was probably a good thing considering the amount of tears that resulted from laughter.  I suppose that’s what 6 giant glasses of Diet Coke (after not having had any for MONTHS) and good people will do…

SUNDAY MORNING CLIMB: 9

Sunday morning I made them get up early again to head over to the Chapel Hill Community Center for a classic Sunday morning climb.  Thankfully Ben was there as well so I got to climb along with J&J.

I must say I was totally pumped with both their eagerness and bravery.  They both hopped right on and did awesome 🙂  Fun to watch.

-1: I’m still not climbing enough which leads to mental frustration every time I get tired and sore so quickly 😦

SUNDAY SPINNING: 9

After climbing we went to breakfast, and then got prepared for Sunday afternoon spinning (at this point they began calling this ‘Boot Camp’ vacation, and I realized they may never come back).

While Jill seemed a bit nervous at first, they both came out of the class pretty pleased.  Spinning is definitely tough, and I’ll admit there’s a 10-minute period at the beginning each week where you want to die, but then you get in the groove and end up loving it.  I’m glad they felt the same way 🙂

-1 because this instructor in particular always cuts the classes short at 45 minutes rather than an hour.  If I’m gonna be there in pain I’d rather just work it out for a full hour.

Covered in sweat we left to prepare for Scott’s birthday framily dinner!

The framily came over at 7 to celebrate, and the theme this week was ‘Scott’s favorite foods’, since it’s his birthday 🙂  Included were:

• 3 pounds of gummie bears
• hot chocolate with marshmallows
• hot dogs
• hamburgers
• mac ‘n cheese
• funfetti cake with funfetti frosting (made by yours truly)
• Snooky’s special delicious dessert

JILL & JEFF’s MAC ‘N CHEESE: 10

For a last-minute plan, this sure did come out good.  Real, homemade mac ‘n cheese.  Plus, it left me with leftovers that will hold me over until July.  +10.

SCOTT’S BIRTHDAY CAKE: 9!

You can’t go wrong with funfetti cake topped with funfetti icing.  End of story.

-1 for forgetting candles.  Although I think this use of an Ikea candle was pretty clever 🙂  It made it into more of a doughnut cake…

SURPRISE VISIT FROM THE GRANDPARENTS: 10!

I knew the grandparents were stopping by North Carolina on Monday, but wasn’t expecting a call from them Sunday as they arrived a hotel about 5 minutes from me.  I convinced them to join the framily dinner, and it was nice to once again mix family and ‘framily’ 🙂

WORDS WITH FRIENDS: 9

While in town Jeff introduced me to a new iPhone app I’m in love with.  It’s called ‘Words with Friends’ and is free 🙂  Essentially it’s an ongoing scrabble game that is played between two people via iPhones.  You can play quickly or over time, whenever each person has time to play.  You get a message (like a text message) every time they’ve played, and there’s even a chat option so you can trash talk.  My fave 🙂

If anyone wants to play, my username is camidh672 (meant to be camish, like everything else in my life, but I accidentally typed d and they wouldn’t let me change it 😦 )

-1 for the many cheating options that exist when you’re not playing in person…

PEOPLE LEAVING: 2

While busy, it’s been nice to have my parents, Rodney, Kim, Jeff, Jill and my grandparents all stop by within two weeks.  I love life in North Carolina, but I love my friends and family from the north (and other parts of NC) as well, so it’s nice when the worlds collide.  That also makes it sad when they all have to leave 😦

All in all a fabulous weekend full of tens 🙂

Catching Up…

I love the excitement of almost-Christmas time 🙂

WARNING: Cheryl, do not read this post if you haven’t checked your mail recently and don’t want any Christmas surprises ruined…

TEACHING DAKOTA TO COME UP ON THE COUCH: 9

It’s funny to me that I’ve spent all my time since getting Murphy, as a 5-week old puppy, teaching him to be well-behaved, and I’ve spent all my time since getting Dakota, as a 8-year old dog, teaching him to ‘misbehave’.  He came so well trained, that I’ve actually had to teach him things like entering a room without waiting for permission, climbing up on the bed, and now climbing up on the couch.  When not encouraged, he just lays around and follows me.

Climbing up on the couch has become his new ‘trick’, and I kinda love it.  Nothings cuter than an 80 pound dog somehow trying to figure out how to curl up his body so it all fits.  And due to the softness of my couch, he just sinks right in and looks like he’s in heaven.  Now I can cuddle with him while doing work, and am entertained by Murph’s attempts to claim his territory.

-1 because I still haven’t figured out a way to get both Murph and Kota to cuddle on the couch at the same time…

THURSDAY’S MAIL: 10!

I often complain about only receiving bills and coupons in my mailbox (not that I don’t enjoy, and use, the coupons, but it lacks that personal touch I’m looking for in my mail), but Friday was a definite exception.

All in one day I received two (that’s right, not one but TWO) paychecks from Teacher U, a $100 gift card for life from my Aunt (turns out Visa makes gift cards that can be used anywhere that accepts Visa), and some holiday towels from my Grandma to help bring festive cheer to my apartment.

I have zero complaints about my full mailbox, and all its exciting contents 🙂  In fact, it may have been the highlight of my day.

Thursday night (after all the excitement from the mail) I headed to one of my very first Thursday night climbs at the Chapel Hill Community Center.  This semester I had Thursday night classes, making it impossible to ever hit the CC on a weekday.  Excitedly remembered that now I could!

For whatever reason the actual climbing was less than stellar, and I got seriously pumped out pretty quick.  Not entirely sure why which made it even more frustrating.  BUT, Scott got belay certified, and Jay’s roommate Tim showed up for the first time, also getting belay certified.  It’s always exciting to see new faces, and to have new folks who are able to belay 🙂

CARRBURITO’S FISH TACOS: 8

After that we headed to Carrburito’s, a pretty popular burrito joint in Carrboro.  While many, many people speak very highly of it, unfortunately I didn’t have the greatest experience the first time I went.  I’ve blamed it on burrito choice, and have been meaning to return.  This time I choose completely differently, opting out of the burrito options in general.  This time I got spicy, cold soft fish tacos, with tomatos and lettuce on the side.  I tried the fruit salsa, and  stole a couple of their delicious flour tortilla chips to go with it.  Overall I would highly recommend this choice.

Not nearly as overwhelming as a burrito, it was the perfect amount of food.  -1 for the lack of warmth (when I eat Mexican there’s something disappointing when its cold) and -1 for the lack of sliced avacados to go with it.

After Carrburitos it was obviously time to head to karaoke at Bub’s.  We’ve recently discovered some new karaoke locations in the triangle, and are flirting with the idea of a karaoke tour…stay tuned for when the adventure will begin.

BUB’S CHRISTMAS TREE: 9

At first I didn’t notice it, but about 15 minutes in I turned around to see a pretty incredible Christmas tree at Bub’s.  Covered in empty beer can ornaments (for a local dive like Bub’s, this is more than appropriate), it was pretty classy.  Smelled delicious (oh how rare real trees are these days), and added some Christmas spirit to the place.

-1- the variety of beers represented could have been greater.  Maybe one from Pennsylvania perhaps…

KARAOKE SONG #1: 3

The Christmas spirit brought by the tree was so powerful, we decided to start off with a Bobbasheely Framily christmas carol.  We went with ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’, as it could easily be divided among four people, and most people know the words to sing along.

Much to our disappointment, the crowd was NOT feeling it.  Probably didn’t help that the DJ introduced us with a ‘bah humbug’.  No singalongs, and in fact I noticed many people turning their backs.  Not the response I’m used to when karaoking, and I must admit it was not fun (the response that is- I still had a pretty good time with the singing).

KARAOKE SONG #2: 9

Lucky for us, Snooky and I had already put our request in for our famous duet, Total Eclipse of the Heart.  We figured we couldn’t waste another opportunity to practice, plus the fact that the crowd clearly needed to know we could do better.

We’re getting better at dividing the song appropriately, and tonight was a good night for us performing.  It felt good, obviously sounded impeccable, and more importantly, the crowd enjoyed it.  Some biker dudes behind us even started swaying to the slow parts and high-fiving mid-song.  I’d say it was a big success.

-1- we’re still working on our coordination and even division of the song.  Luckily there will be many more opportunities to practice 🙂  In fact, I wonder if Harrisburg has any karaoke going on while I’m home… Until then, just living for the tens!

Awesome Climbing Quotes

Thanks to Claud, I’ve been pretty distracted the past day reading through a website full of awesome quotes about climbing.  Lucky for you, I’ve weeded out the best 🙂

“What an odd sport we inhabit, where bits of obscure rock in remote locations are recognizeable.”    — Richard Pawlowicz.

“Getting out of this required a 5.11 Beached Whale move combined with a Bloody Scream, something they never teach in the gym.”    — Lord Slime.

“That was amazing ! Five lead changes to climb 40 feet of rock ! How can they say this route doesn’t look good ? This was MORE than a route — this was an EXPERIENCE !”    — Larry D.

“The best climber in the world is the one who’s having the most fun.”    — Alex Lowe.

“I’ve climbed with some of the best climbers in the world, more importantly, to me, they are some of the best people in the world. That’s another reason why I climb.”    — Jim Wickwire.

“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.”    — Doug Lawson.

“Yoga is a system, scientifically proven to boost your climbing ability significantly. Why do you think you always see that Guru figure sitting on the top of the mountain? You think he/she got there by enlightenment ?”    — Lg.

“How do you distinguish between being off-route and putting up a first ascent ?”    — Bruce Bindner.

“I climb as hard as anyone on earth. I just do it on easier routes.”    — Mad Dog.

“In fact, I think you should add your body fat to the rating of the climb, to get a true measure of your inner climber. So climbing a 5.7 with 22% body fat is way harder than climbing a 5.14 with 3% body fat.”    — Mike Yukish.

“In fact, I think you should add your body fat to the rating of the climb, to get a true measure of your inner climber. So climbing a 5.7 with 22% body fat is way harder than climbing a 5.14 with 3% body fat.”    — Mike Yukish.

Check ’em out for yourself here.

Fall Flash Fest, Asheville Climbing Comp

So those who know me, and hopefully those who read this blog, know, I am most definitely an optimist.  I don’t like to rate things low, but I also have to be realistic.  So please keep that in mind as I review this past weekend’s climbing competition at ClimbMax Climbing Gym in Asheville, NC.

MORNING REGISTRATION: 2

So according to the directions if we had registered early (online) we should arrive at 10, and if not at 9.  I registered early while Paul and Ben hadn’t, so we figured 9:30 was a safe compromise.  When we showed up, there were only about 3 people in line, so we figured we were right on.  I got in line, only needing to pick up my t-shirt and scorecard, and waited literally for about 35-45 minutes.  It was so ridiculous you could only laugh at the absurdity.

There was only one girl working the table and she was incredibly slow.  When I finally got to pick up my things, Ben offered to help her out because the line was now about 15-20 people deep (one can only imagine how long this would take).  She looked confused, and gave him a ‘why would I need help look?’ and turned down his offer.  Oh well.  We did what we could.  Not a great start to they day considering I was already feeling sick and it was cold outside at that point.

We were then told to meet at 10:45 for an information meeting, so we headed to a coffee place down the street (a very cute Asheville street I might add) and got some caffeine in our systems before heading back.  Once there, we waited about another 30 minutes or so for them to actually get started.

When they did, it involved a man with a handlebar mustache (the owner), who Scott affectionately referred to as ‘Funsucker’, talking to us for about 45 minutes about all the rules.  I completely understand there are rules in a climbing comp, but at every other comp I’ve been to they’ve managed to go through them in about 10 minutes.  I’m not entirely sure why it took 45 here.

From there he finally allowed us in the gym (yes, all this was outside) to get our stuff settled, put our shoes on, etc. before beginning speech number two.  I skipped out on this one as the gym was incredibly crowded, and that combined with my headache and approaching fever was not good.

FINALLY we were allowed to begin climbing.

GYM/CROWDS: 4.

The first hour of the comp was craziness.  The gym is tiny, at some spots with about 8-10 feet between two walls that people are climbing on, and the number of climbers plus spectators made it virtually impossible to move from route to route to check them out, and incredibly difficult to spot.  Imagine this picture below with about 5 times as many people.  That was the first hour of the comp.

BAREFOOT WALK AROUND DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE: 10!

I got so frustrated with the crowds and my climbing that eventually Ben suggested we talk a walk around downtown to escape, and I rate this decision a 10.  I was feeling pretty crappy at this point (everything above my collarbone was in pretty intense amounts of pain), climbing only easy routes, and the barefoot walk around on a beautiful day was exactly what I needed.

Luckily the spectators got bored and died off, and when we returned we had a lot more room and got in some solid climbing.

ROUTES: 4.

That’s the number of good routes I found.  At the end of the day I didn’t feel pumped or tired at all, and it wasn’t because I didn’t climb hard.  I got every route that I think I could have gotten, they just weren’t that long or super challenging at all.  Plus, the walls are plywood as opposed to the nice textured ones at TRC, and compared to the awesome routes we found there a couple weeks ago I was super disappointed.  Plus, there were spinning holds EVERYWHERE.  In the first 15 minutes of the comp I saw them fixing at least three, and I encountered my own shortly after (see below).

INJURIES: 8

Overall we did great on the injuries front, and we all made it out ready to climb again.  However, at the top of one of the hardest routes I got, I had grabbed the top and was preparing to downclimb when all of a sudden the foot hold with all my weight on it spun.  I was pretty high up so immediately clung to the top for dear life, and the texturing on the top scraped up the inside of my right arm, my left forearm and my left shin.  I also bruised my knee and hip in the process.  I totally survived, and am thankful I didn’t fall and hurt something worse, but still frustrating when it comes from something that could have been avoided if their holds were tighter.

TEAM PERFORMANCE: 9

Overall I think we all climbed hard, and worked through some hard routes which is always exciting.  Results haven’t been posted yet so we don’t know team success, but I did place 4th in the Intermediate division, which was a bump up from Rec. in the last two.  I’ll have to take at least one point off because fourth came with no prizes 😦  Only one spot away…

I hate to rate something this low, but honestly there was a ton of room for improvement in this comp.  Makes me even more appreciative for the quality of the comps our local gym, Triangle Rock Club, puts on (see previous ratings).  Their gym is nice, their routes awesome, and the folks who run it are friendly, organized and efficient.  They come HIGHLY recommended, and I now appreciate them even more 🙂

Raleigh Rampage 2009

AKA, The Company Climbing Team’s big debut!

While our competition consisted mostly of young people teams (see below), there are few (if any) adult climbing teams.  While there are plenty of adults who compete (and kick serious butt), none climb on organized teams like the young ones.  So we decided to start our very own here in Chapel Hill/Durham, North Carolina.  Called ‘The Company’ after our main sponsor, our team colors are pink and purple (as you’ll notice in our official team shirts).  Right now we’re a team of 7 (Snooky and Ben are sadly missing from the picture), but always looking for more awesome recruits 🙂

ROUTES: 8.  One of the many reasons I love bouldering competitions is for the routes.  For whatever reason, the routes at comps are so much better then then normal routes!  They’re more well thought out, more interesting, they require more technique and not just strength, and they’re more fun.  I love them.  Yesterday was no disappointment.  Overall I rate the routes an 8.  -1 for the horrible green slopey one, and -1 for the crowds.

The comp at Inner Peaks last year made smart use of many of the surrounding walls, creating different types of problems so that the actual boulder wasn’t nearly as crowded.  TRC didn’t do such a great job of that, and as a result there were tons of lines.  While adults handle lines well, kids aren’t quite as great.  Lots of obliviousness, lack of manners, and adults not wanting to push kids out of the way meant LOTS of waiting.  Thanks Glen for stepping up (‘Hey kid, she’s climbing over here, get off the wall’).

Please don’t get me wrong.  I love kids.  I just don’t love when they’re constantly cutting in line.

Completing the hardest route of the day!

The routes for the finals were even more insane.  One of the men’s included a jump start, and the second move involved holding your entire body off of several fingers.  INSANE.

A1: 5.  I want so badly to rate this lower as it was the bane of my existence, however in reality, it was kind of a fun problem and I’m just mad because I didn’t get it.  I really wanted to get the top 5 routes in the beginner category, and successfully got all but this one.  Probably a V2 (my best guess), I worked it for awhile, and finally, at the very end of the day, I made it to the last hold.  I went for the top and just barely missed, falling after all that hard work.  At that point my arms were just too spent, and after 5 more attempts I finally had to give in 4 minutes before climbing was over.

Even bigger disappointment= one of the routes set for the finals was right there, meaning they took it down and I’ll never get a chance to finally get it.

And no picture of the finish, since it didn’t exist…

D1: 8.  I LOVED this route.  Granted, it took me four attempts to finally finish it, but I must say I genuinely enjoyed all four attempts.  It was tricky, adding the puzzle aspect which I love, required some traversing, wasn’t strength based, and overall was just a really great route.  And I’m not the only one who thought that.  There was a pretty large group of climbers who all spent a large portion of the day working on this one.

Good news= finally got this one with about an hour left 🙂

-2 because of how much I gave to it, ultimately taking away from A1 😦

JAY’S CLIMBING FACE: 9.  While none that appeared on Saturday were quite as classic as the Hillsborough bouldering face of last year (see below), they were still all pretty great.  And some I didn’t even notice while climbing, but thank god for our awesome photographers who caught them on film.

None will ever be as great as…

TEAM CLIMBING: I think if our body soreness is any indication of how we climbed as a team, then we did incredible.  This morning at the Community Center we heard every complaint ever.  The classic forearms. shoulders, back, add in Paul’s sore knees and my sore quads, we had just about everything.  I’d say we left it all out there.  9!  (There’s always room for growth :))

And I hate to brag, but we did place first in the Adult Team Division…

CHEERLEADING/SUPPORT: 10!!!  The amount of support received for our team’s first competition was incredible!  Outside visitors from Charlotte to some our local favorites, there certainly was a good showing.  In fact, we may have had the largest cheering squad around.  Special thanks to Kim for playing a great soccer mom, keeping our scores, taking pictures, and showing everyone love, and to Laura who made our team shirts (in less than a week’s time!) and brought us all Gatorade 🙂

Paul's game face is better than mine...

FOCUS ON FASHION IN THE FINALS: I didn’t know until yesterday that it’s imperative to take special care of your hair before a big comp.  I learned this, however, while watching the women’s finals.  4 out of 5 had their hair down (versus pulled back, which may seem the obvious choice), and all obviously done.  One even had curls (not natural curls, but ‘I spent the morning with a curling iron’ curls)!  I suppose it makes sense as ultimately everyone did end up watching them, and I’m sure lots of pictures were taken.

Note to self: must make more time in the morning for hair before the next competition.  May be the key to the finals…

INJURIES: 8.  Overall I’d say we did great!  While we’re all a bit sore, every one of us returned to the wall today, so it couldn’t have been anything too serious.  -2 (one for each hand) for the rips acquired on the last climb of the day (goes to show I gave that A1 everything I had).

MY RAFFLE LUCK: 9!  As mentioned in a previous post, I am not the person who ever wins raffles.  Ever.  So when I saw tickets for sale on the way in I didn’t look twice.  Kim, however, surprised me with 7 tickets later in the day, and I actually felt hopeful considering I hadn’t actually purchased the tickets.  This had to produce better luck than normal.  And that it did.

Most of the prizes given away were worth about $20-$30.  T-shirts, hats, gift certificates, etc.  However, the big prize of the day was a set of quick draws, used for sport climbing, worth about $100.

Now, it’s important to mention here that I don’t sport climb.  I’m scared to death of the falls you can take when not top roping, and as a result have insisted that I’m not a sport climber.  As they held up the quick draws and got ready to draw a ticket I turned to Bill and said “Watch me win this one and no longer have any excuse not to sport climb.”  And don’t you know 10 seconds later they pull my ticket and I won them.  All in all I have no complaints, and am actually a little bit excited about giving it a try.

-1 because only 1 of my 7 tickets won…

TEAM POTENTIAL: 10!

I see our team potential playing out in several ways.

1)  Most importantly is our climbing.  Each day we’re all improving, and now that we have one comp under our belt, and we know what the competition looks like (4 feet tall and under 12), I think we’re more prepared to take them by storm next time around.

2) The future of adult climbing teams.  Right now there’s only fun, recreational climbing teams for kids.  But there’s lots of adult climbers out there who like climbing, and competing, and having fun.  So why can’t we join in too?  Once we make our presence known at several competitions I think word will spread and others will start their own too.  And before you know… BAM!  Worldwide sensation and adult climbing is the next kickball.

3) Behind the scenes work.  This morning, back at our home gym, Brian came up to the team and said “Since you all are fresh off a competition, I’m thinking you might have some insight for some new routes.  Would you be interested in putting a couple up?”  Needless to say the first Company route is hitting the wall this Tuesday night.  Be prepared.

Glen working on The Company's first route

All in all, our potential is pretty incredible and see no reason to take off any points.  10!!!

AFTER PARTY: 10 again!  (I told you it was a good day!)  The original plan was to head to my place and order some pizza, however Jay suggested a BBQ at his place instead.  And boy did he show me up (in the best possible way).  When I called to find out what I needed to pick up on the way over, I was informed by Paul that they already had the salmon, steak, cheesecake, Vermont Cheddar cheese (aged 2 years, clearly), guacamole, salsa, macaroni salad and more.  So much for pizza… we decided to go gourmet instead.

And I’m most certainly not complaining.  In my opinion there’s nothing in the world more incredible than great company and great food, and we had plenty of both.  What a fabulous end to a fabulous day 🙂

The Parents (and Maggie) Visit NC!

FAMILY TOUR OF NC STATE: 6.  It was great to get a chance to show the parents where I spend my Wednesday and Thursday nights, but to be honest, I don’t spend a whole lot more time there than that.  So, you can imagine the quality of the tour.  I could show them the two buildings I have class in, and everything else is a ‘large brick building on the left… I’m pretty sure they have classes in there.  Or maybe it’s a dorm… one of the two most likely though.’  I then drove them downtown to show them Raleigh and the capitol, and the tour sounded pretty similar.  Perhaps I should study up on my cities so I can give visitors better tours…  Either way it’s above a 5 because any tour with me is bound to be enjoyable 🙂

DAKOTA AND MAGGIE’S RELATIONSHIP: 8.  Murph and Dakota’s relationship has been an interesting one to observe, ever since I adopted Dakota last February.  At first they didn’t like each other (Dakota was wary, Murph was just plain mad that someone was invading his space), they eventually grew to get along, and even play on occasion. The end result, however, seems to be keeping their distance and not having a whole lot do with one another.

Maggie (my parents’ new puppy) is a whole nother issue.  She is a constant nudge with both of my dogs, but it’s even more entertaining with Dakota.  He spends most of his time lying around, often with his head laying on the ground, and she just barges right up to him, starts climbing all over his face, or burrowing underneath his head.  Once she gets down there she flips over and starts wiggling around like a bug, often kicking Dakota’s face.  Have I mentioned before that he’s the most patient dog ever?  Well, he is.  He just continues to sit there allowing her to frolick around under his nose, and sometimes even encourages it.  I’ve never seem him so puppylike as when he’s playing with her.  The other morning he even began chasing her around my apartment (while he’s played tug of war with Murph, he’s NEVER chased him) hoping to continue the play.  I’m pretty sure they’re in love.

-1 because there’s still no puppy cuddling.  With the three dogs, is it really too much to ask that I end up with one of those cute puppy cuddling pictures you see on calendars?

-1 because Maggie left this morning and I’m pretty sure Dakota’s moping…

MY HOMEMADE TURKEY CHILI: 9.  I’ve rated this before, but haven’t made it in forever.  I am reminded how delicious this is, and it only takes 30 minutes.  Must. make. more.  Best when eaten with tasted homemade Rosemary bread… but then again, isn’t everything better when eaten with that?  (You’ll notice in both pictures there’s a good beer in the background… another must for making this a 9)

BACKYARD BBQ PIT: 8.  Another repeat rating, and again, a huge success.  Last time my mom came down to visit we stumbled upon this dive of a BBQ place, and figured my dad would have to love it.  While not the cleanest or fanciest place, I actually think that ups the rating.  Aren’t dives known for having the best food?  If it’s not pretty or clean, you’ve gotta make up for it somewhere.  For only $5.50 I got some dark chicken, mac and cheese, hush puppies and cole slaw.  -1 because they were out of corn.  However, when he rang up all our food I’m pretty sure he didn’t charge us for everything so I almost want to give that point back.  -1 for the health factor… you’ll feel guilty for days and this time I almost couldn’t force myself to eat the greasy mac and cheese despite how good I knew it would taste.

SUNDAY AT WEAVER STREET: 10!  You just can’t beat it.  My parents came along for my usual Sunday morning climb, and while Paul, Glen and I climbed like the professional climbers we are inside (that’s right, we’ve just received sponsorship… more to come on that later), my parents walked the Chapel Hill trails outside with the two puggles.  Inside we received a surprise visit from Laura and Snook which hands down made it the best Sunday climb in a while.  Not only did we climb hard but we also had many special visitors (perhaps the two are related?).  Either way it puts us in good shape for the competition this weekend.

Breakfast at Weaver Street again involved great company, live music and some beautiful weather.  The pups were even pretty well behaved 🙂

Paul, Snooky and Glen

Laura (and her adorable hair) and my Dad (loving the candid shot, I'm sure)

PUPS TENNIS BEHAVIOR: 8

After we got back from Weaver Street we decided to get in a game of doubles tennis before cooking for the Framily dinner that night.  Lauren joined and I must admit, humbly of course, that we won the World Championship of Tennis.  That’s right.  I know most of you weren’t aware this large event was happening in our area this weekend, but not only did it happen, we also took home the trophy.  Figuratively of course.

The rating, however, is not for our fabulous tennis, but instead for the incredible dog behavior.  I started taking Murph to the courts when he was little, where he would proceed to whine most of the time because he was tied up and I wasn’t paying him any attention.  Over time he learned, and now I tie one dog to each post and they both promptly lay down silently the entire time we’re playing.  LOVE IT.

-1 because dogs aren’t technically allowed on the Park Ridge courts, so it could lead to us never returning…

-1 because I still haven’t trained either to pick up tennis balls and bring them back to us (and to think one of them is a retriever…)

After tennis I returned to put on some football and good music, and start preparing dinner.  I unfortunately have no pictures to prove any ratings, so instead will have to say that dinner was just ‘fabulous’ (see how much more effective ratings are in describing an experience???).  The veggie lasagna came out well, and despite a euchre loss we all still had a great time 🙂

DAKOTA’S ANGRY MISBEHAVIOR: 1.  While we were eating we put all three dogs out on the porch (without an actual kitchen table, a bunch of food on the coffee table is just a little too much temptation for them).  After the two puggles began howling (thanks to their beagle dads) we put them in the bathroom and storage closet (it’s almost a room, I swear).

Dakota was NOT happy to be left outside.  As soon as he came into the living room he began peeing on the floor, and despite me yelling ‘NO!’ at him he just looked straight up at me and kept going.  Forever. Seriously, for like 45 seconds.  This is after having gone to the bathroom about 3 hours before (keeping in mind that he normally holds it for up to 7-8 hours).  +1 because my mom quickly grabbed an empty wine glass and held it under him to try to keep it off the carpet.  Quick thinking and hilarious (although gross).  The night will live on as the framily dinner where Dakota peed in a wine glass.

Until next visit, just living for the tens!