Winding up?

Well just a few days now until we leave for our vacation. I am not looking forward to the all day drive on sunday, but in the end it will be worth it. I did my last day of training at the gym last sunday and felt pretty good. I climbed yesterday in the garage and that will be it until we go to elephant rocks on monday.
Unfortunately, the weather is not looking very promising at this point with showers predicted monday and then wednesday through saturday. We are taking tuesday off to spend some time with friends and family. Hopefully things will stay dry enough. There are a few options at Jackson Falls for wet weather climbing though.
I am really excited and had some trouble falling asleep last night already. I woke up at 615 this morning from a strange dream involving pterodactyls and people being on fire. I was really thirsty and thinking about getting up when doggie came over and put his head on the bed. So I got up and fed him and here I am several hours later, still awake and TIRED.
Tomorrow I am going to be bottling my first batch of beer in 6 or 7 years! I am excited. Hopefully that way it should be about ready by the time we get back. I was worried I wasn't going to have enough bottles. I have been trying to bring some home from work, but it seems like most of the beer they do there is on tap. I was asking the bartender in the corner bar last night to set aside any bottles for me and a guy who works at the sushi place next door told me to go check out their recycling bins as they do alot of bottled beer.
Suffice it to say I am buried in bottles and I now know where I can get as many free bottles as I want. I think the next batch I make will be a fruit beer. I still fondly remember the raspberry stout I made. I may make that again.
Work has been up and down. Last weekend was pretty good moneywise. Yesterday I made 0, yes ZERO, dollars. My room service shifts have been so bad lately I am seriously considering just giving them up. I was going to look for another job first, but at this point I often feel like my time would be better spent hanging out with Katie or sitting on my ass at home or playing with the dog. After all, I can make just as much money doing any of those things.

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.

The good.
Sent the hardest problem I have ever done at the gym yesterday, graded a four plus. I have heard others say this grade is in the V6-7 range? Also flashed a four minus and did a four in a few tries.
Got my plane ticket to go visit my family and friends for christmas. I am super excited about this.
Only a week and three days until our vacation! I have a camcorder coming so we can make a little movie.
The bad.
Work yesterday. Walked with seven dollars, worked 6.5 hours.
Harley Davidson has decided to cease production of Buell motorcycles. Which means the bike I am hoping to get (used) in the spring is on super sale new. I have seen brand new going for in the 5000's with an msrp of 12000. Anyone want to loan me a few grand?
I have 1500 in real money saved plus 2500 in virtual money from selling two of my bicycles and my current motorcycle. Just not enough!
The ugly.
Gunner peed on some of Katies cd's the other night. We have taken him back to basic house training.
I am pretty sure the receiver is either going to need to be repaired if possible or is gone completely from a previous pee incident.

Obsession.

This is a climbing video that was seemingly recently released. It shows Rich Simpson preparing and talking about his repeat of the route Action Directe. The route is generally recognized as the world's first 9a. It was first climbed by Wolfgang Gullich in 1991 and has since seen ten additional ascents. That is a testament to it's true difficulty as the route is located in a fairly popular and populated area. Part of that would also be the specificity needed. The route involves alot of one to three finger pockets. In fact, this is the route that the campus board was invented for.
Anyway, here is a glimpse into the world of climbing and the never ending mission to climb harder.

Obsession from Chris Doyle on Vimeo.

So it goes.

I am in my final weeks of training before our trip. I feel like when I am rested I am climbing alot better, but I am rarely rested.
We went to Flagstaff on Wednesday and got on some of the problems we have been trying forever and had no luck on, and still had no luck on them. That was a bit disappointing. But we moved to another sector and I tried a problem that I had tried last spring that felt way hard. I think all I had ever done was the first move, a long reach up to a small two finger pocket used as a bump to a three finger pocket. I had never gotten to the three finger though. This time I did on my first try!
A few more attempts and I had hit the second to last hold, but not held it. Unfortunately this was at the end of several hours and my skin was pretty dead. I will save it for next time. It is a V5, and I think the hardest problem I had done outside was a V2, so that is inspiring. See number 5.

In other news, the new movie from Big Up is out. It's called Progression and it looks pretty good. I am just waiting for it to arrive!

I also saw a pretty good movie last week called JCVD. It stars Jean Claude Van Damme and it was fantastic. It was sort of a mockumentary style, with a washed up star heading back to Belgium to start over.

Unfortunately for some reason Gunner has been peeing in the house and peed on the dvd player and receiver. The display of the dvd player is messed up and the receiver is not working at all. ARGH!
I am thinking I am going to start home brewing again. There is a supply store right there in Boulder. I have been craving some cider lately and I didn't see any at my local liquor store, so I may have to take matters into my own hands! Even if I don't make cider, I think I will try my hand at brewing again. I did enjoy it. I wish I still had that glass carboy I left behind in Philly when I moved to Stl. I wish had kept more of the stuff I left behind. Ah well.
The weather has been getting colder. It was 70 on Wednesday. I doubt we made it much into the 40's yesterday and it snowed with no accumulation. Today the high should be near 60, but tonight it will turn cold again and we are predicted to get an inch or so of snow. Needless to say, I am taking the bus to work. I could probably deal with the cold ok, but I do not want to ride in snow!

Black maria