Practically speaking there's no view at North Tripyramid; it's crowded with trees. There is this little "rock couch" near the peak, nice for taking a break. If you want to stop where there's a view, you can do that at the top of the north slide, or wait till you get over to Middle Tripyramid. There are nice views over by the south slide, too.
Here's another view of the slide, with mountains in the distance. I think the mountains just make it look steeper.
I took a photo looking across the slide to get a feel for the angle. It really doesn't look too bad here, but feels pretty bad when you're on it.
One question I have about this slide is: how necessary is it to follow the yellow blazes? I spent quite some time trying to find them, and was concerned when I wasn't sure if I was on the right track. If you stray off the advised trail, does the slide become a lot more difficult? I think I took too much time trying to search out the yellow blazes. If I go again, I'll just make my own way.
I'll have to do some research to see how difficult it is going down this slide. It seems like it would be much harder going down than going up, and going up was pretty tough.
This is a view of a cairn on the most difficult part of the north slide.
At some point, the slide opens out to this very wide, exposed area that is covered in a jumble of steep slabs, unstable rocks, and gravel. The slope here is quite steep, and the trail is poorly marked with a rare yellow blaze. I was frequently buffeted by blasts of cold wind while making my way up here, which I found disconcerting.
The AMC Guide says the trail along here "turns sharp left into the woods at a cairn", but don't be fooled by the first cairn that you see. There are several cairns along this slide, and by the time you reach the right one, it will be obvious because it is close to where the trail goes into the woods on the left side of the slide.
I don't usually suffer from acrophobia, but it did a number on me going up this slide. I probably aggravated the problem by turning around to look out at the vast mountain views frequently, and stopping to take photos.
I crawled up most of the way, sometimes pulling myself up with my hands. This got to be pretty tiresome since I was wearing a 12-lb pack. I recall thinking several times that I should never do this again; being concerned that it might rain and the rocks would become slippery; that I might get stuck without being able to move up or down.
Regardless, I did keep moving up. Eventually I was passed by one guy who seemed to have little trouble walking up, without using his hands. This makes me think my problem was mainly psychological. Looking at the photos from the safety of home, it does look steep but not murderous.
It was kind of hard for me to grok just how long the north slide is. The AMC Guide describes it as "climbing 1200 ft in 0.5 mi." This slide seems to go on forever.
At this point, I thought I was nearing the top. In fact, I was nearing the part of the slide where it expands into a large open area. So far, this was a fun climb, though tiring. It gets a bit tricky after this, to say the least.
Here we continue up the north slide to North Tripyramid. This area is still not difficult. I didn't slip here, and the trail is obvious.
It's a pretty easy jaunt from Cascade Path over to the start of the Mt Tripyramid trail. Cascade Path is not always perfectly marked, but if you're moderately alert you shouldn't have problems.
The AMC White Mountain Guide recommends climbing up the north slide of Mt Tripyramid Trail, and taking the south slide down. I did this. I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm posting these photos to give you an idea. This first picture shows the beginning of the north slide. It's not at all threatening. The moss would be nasty in rain, but yesterday I had no problems slipping.
I got started a little late, because I didn't print out a detailed map to get to the trailhead. It's not described well in the AMC White Mountain Guide, and the trail map doesn't make it clear. So here are directions to the Cascade Path trailhead.
Take Rte 93 in NH to exit 28, and follow Rte 49 northeast just about as far as it will go. Eventually, the speed limit goes from 50 to 30 mph, and you'll see signs for the Waterville Valley ski area on Tripoli Rd, to the left. Don't go there; continue straight on. At this point, Rte 49 gets confusing. A lot of this area seems like a set of private streets meandering through a condo.
You'll eventually get to a big brown sign on the right of the road, which is called "Valley Rd" here. The sign points to various attractions, including a (public) golf club, and "WVAIA" trails. Take this right. This is the confusing point. You have been following Rte 49, which is Valley Rd, and you need to continue on this road by going right. If you continue on straight, you'll be following Snow's Brook Rd, which leads off in the wrong direction.
Follow Valley Rd past a golf course and tennis courts. You'll pass Stone Tower Ln and W Branch Rd on your left - Valley Rd becomes Boulder Way around this point. Soon, you'll pass a large shed next to a ski lift, followed by a dirt parking lot. You'll want to park in the lot, as described in the AMC guide. Just beyond the dirt lot is Cascade Ridge Rd; the Cascade Path trailhead is located at the intersection of this road and Boulder Way.
The road in this photo is Cascade Ridge Rd; you'll see this view when driving on Boulder Way in front of the parking area. This is where I started my approach to the Tripyramids.
I hiked over North Tripyramid and Middle Tripyramid yesterday, my 8th and 9th 4000-footers.
I took Cascade Path to Norway Rapids Trail to Livermore Trail, and then took the Mt Tripyramid trail clockwise over the summits. The total hike was about 11 miles and took about 6 h 45 min, excluding breaks. My pace was a tepid 1.6 mph. The total time is iffy, since I kept stopping my watch and forgetting to restart it.
This trip offers some great views, like this view from the "north slide".
I’ve been rock climbing just a few times, mostly outdoors. I’d like to become competent with the knots and techniques, and eventually be able to lead. I tend to like going on my own so I’ll probably get into bouldering as well. I don’t know why I put this off so long; it’s another one of those things I always thought I’d enjoy doing “some day.”
I signed up for a class next week (indoor wall), good start!
I hiked up to North Kinsman, via the Mt Kinsman Trail. The hike was about 7.6 miles total, in a speedy 5 h 15 min.
Sadly there was no view at the top - it was entirely obscured by clouds. But I got this nice shot from Bald Peak on the way back down.
North Kinsman is my seventh 4000-footer, with the summit at 4293 feet. The climb was one of the more reasonable ones so far. I would have gone on to South Kinsman, but rain was threatening.
The message: You shouldn’t eat processed foods, they’re not all that good for you. Well, duh! It’s not that there’s anything wrong with In Defense of Food, but the content is not exactly news. I don’t feel like I got anything out of it that I didn’t know already.
Today's hike: 2 h | 3.75 mi | 1.9 mph
I took the same hike this morning as I did on May 15 of this year, from Headquarters Path to Rt 28 and back, at Blue Hills Reservation. This is probably my favorite section of the Skyline Trail.
I started out around 8 am, carrying a pack weighing 20 lbs. This was a maintenance session. I haven't been able to do as much backpacking as I'd like this summer. But, I need to stay in shape since I hope for more opportunity later in the season.
My hiking rate was slower this time, because I was carrying a pack. But I'm pretty happy getting almost 2 mph. It was a very comfortable pace, and I didn't get blisters. I didn't feel tired at all once I finished. It helped a lot that there were cool breezes blowing every now and then.
No bugs in sight, either.
The view from South Hancock is more obscured than the one from North Hancock, but it's still nice.
I was surprised at how quickly I reached this peak from North Hancock. Probably the most difficult part of the hike was the climb down from South Hancock. The AMC guide describes this section as "unrelievedly steep" (p 233) and that's kind of true. There's more scrabbly rock on this section too, but overall it's not too bad. Mostly it was just dealing with the steepness, and not climbing over giant boulders, so my knees only complained very slightly for a short period of time. Although I'm sure it's pretty difficult going up; I'm glad I was only going down it.
I ran out of water early, and it was rough hiking back to the car for the last hour without anything to drink. There's plenty of water along the trail, but I hadn't brought along anything to purify it (and probably wouldn't have bothered at that late stage anyway). Fortunately I'd left a pint of water in the car. The car thermometer read 90°F, and boy was that water hot! It was almost like drinking tea (without any tea in it).
I seemed to have avoided getting any blisters, so I guess the prep hiking I've been doing worked. Hooray! What a great day! I feel like I took my brain and soaked it in a vat of endorphins. Woohoo!
This is the view looking south once you reach North Hancock. Incredibly beautiful view today, nice surprise! I've had quite a lot of rain when hiking the Whites so far. Today's hike reminded me a bit of my hike up Tecumseh. Except it was incredibly hot today!
It turns out that the Hancocks are one of the less difficult set of peaks that I've hiked in the Whites. Or maybe I'm just getting used to the nature of these peaks.
The weather was great! Clear blue skies, but a bit too hot and humid, and pretty still with only rare breezes.
There weren't too many bugs either. I had heard that there might still be black flies, but I didn't encounter any. Just a few mosquitoes, and they weren't voracious.
On the way up, I passed a trail runner who wasn't carrying anything, just running down the mountain. This made me feel a little bit overprepared, carrying a backpack and all. He said it was nice and cool up top, but that wasn't really true by the time I got there.
At the Hancock Loop trail, I took the trail to the North peak. I had heard the trail to the South peak was incredibly steep, so I figured it would be more pleasant taking that down. The problem with going up the North loop is that it takes you straight down for a while... and then you go up and up and up again. There are some stretches of trail which are very scrabbly, with difficult footing, and I slipped a few times, but not badly.
Today's hike: 5 h 50 min | 9.8 miles | 1.7 mph
I got a bit bored with the training hikes, and decided to go for a more extended hike this weekend. My WMNF parking permit had recently arrived, so that decided it. I chose to do North Hancock and South Hancock, which are connect by a short loop trail.
I started out with about 2 liters of water, and a pack weight of 16 lbs. I got to the trailhead at around 8:30. I was expecting to find hordes of people, but there were only about 5 cars parked at the trailhead. It turned out very reasonable; I only passed someone about every hour.
I forgot to mention that there were practically no bugs out today... I did run into a few mosquitoes around Border Path, which runs right next to a small stream for a time. Other than that, bug-free! Didn't get any ticks, so far as I can tell, either.
It took me about 2 h 10 min to get to Rte 28. I had hoped for a 4 hour hike, and it looked like I could do that, but I decided to take an easy, relatively flat route back. I took Forest Path and then veered off on Border Path, a trail I haven't taken before. The disadvantage of this route is that it's closer to traffic, so you get car noise. Still, it's pretty. I saw a whole load of wild flowers in a meadow on a hill - this butterfly weed was especially beautiful.
The trip back was pretty easy, and I went fast. I got back to the parking lot at 3 h 40 min. I still wanted to do a 4 h hike, and I had plenty of energy left, so I revisited the red trail to Summit Rd, and then came back down again. That put me in at exactly 4 h. Wonderful day!
Today's Hike: 4 h | 7.5 mi | 1.9 mph
Mileage is approximate.
Something was going on at Blue Hills this morning. The lower parking lot off Rte 138, where the Skyline Trail crosses the road, was jam packed - turns out it was a half-marathon going on through the park.
I avoided the hubbub by driving further up to the parking lot near the Trailside Museum. From there I went up the red dot trail to Eliot Tower. This part of the hike was a little crowded; seems this is a popular hike for kids. At that point I turned onto the Skyline Trail, and from then on things were pretty quiet.
It was my plan to do a slightly longer training hike today. I wasn't feeling great; I woke up with a slight headache. So I decided to wing it and see how far I could go.
As evidence of my foggy state, I accidentally turned off the trail while unfocused, then turned around and backtracked for a short while. I soon realized I was going the wrong way, fortunately!
After about 1.5 hours, I made it to Headquarters Path. This took about 15 minutes longer than it did last week. Not surprising, since I was carrying a couple lbs more in my pack, as part of the training exercise.
At the Path I saw a load of people wearing orange shirts jogging along the road - and there were no cars in the parking lots. At this point I realized the roads must be closed, which explained why most of the trails were less crowded than usual.
After that, I actually started to feel a little better, and began to enjoy the hike immensely. I must have been loaded up with endorphins. I decided to try to hike all the way to Rte 28, and managed to do this without any problems.
Today's hike: 3 h | 5 mi | 1.6 mph
Mileage is highly approximate, since I'm not sure exactly where I turned back.
I started out at around 8 am at the Rt 138 parking lot, right where the Skyline Trail crosses the road. I followed the north section of the Skyline Trail. It took about 1.25 h to get to Headquarters Path. I crossed that and kept walking, turning around about 15 minutes later. There were practically no bugs around (did they spray or something?) but a good number of people out, as usual. The Skyline Trail is pretty popular.
The plan was to do a solid 3 h training hike, and it went well. I carried a backpack, but it wasn't heavily loaded. My feet hardly bothered me at all; no blisters. I'm guessing I climbed 1000 feet or so, going up and down all the small hills along that route. My knees didn't bother me at all, and I maintained pretty good energy up till about 2.5 hours, when the humidity started to get to me.
This is where I get a hankering for a GPS device so I'd know exactly how much mileage I put in, my pace, and the elevation change.
I feel like I'm behind schedule a bit. Last June at this point I'd already done a 4-hour hike. In 2008, by this time, I was already up to 6 hours. *Sigh!*
Today's hike: 3 h | 6 mi | 2 mph
I took another hike at Blue Hills Reservation today. On the way out, I took the Skyline Trail from Rt 28 to the parking lot at Wampatuck Rd. I returned via the easier Green Dot Trail to the pipeline trail on the way back.
Starting out, the weather was pretty reasonable, but very cloudy. I wasn't worried about rain. It started to rain lightly at around 2.5 hours into the hike, and the pipeline trail doesn't have a lot of shelter. I did get wet, but not too badly.
I took my backpack for practice. It wasn't loaded up with stuff, just a few bottles of water, the camera, etc. My feet could tell the difference, but I didn't get any blisters.
I miss Carrie and the gang, so I was happy to watch Sex and the City 2, even with its numerous flaws.
The movie starts out fine, with some relationship troubles – good, that’s what they do best.
Shortly thereafter, in a major plot detour which occupies most of the movie, the girls wind up taking an all-expenses-paid trip to Abu Dhabi, and things go downhill. There’s the star treatment with all the ooh-ing and ah-ing over resplendent riches. OK, I can deal with that. Then they’re on the beach, they’re in the bazaar, they’re on camels – it starts to feel like a giant tourist sell.
And finally there’s a little more relationship trouble, and then it becomes all about Samantha behaving like a complete idiot American, and getting herself in deep trouble. Yes, Samantha is something of the clown on the show. But she’s not an idiot, and it’s not believable that her character (at the age of 52) would behave so stupidly as we see here.
It’s as if the writers wanted to make a point about the thin veneer of splendor in Abu Dhabi, and then drag out the nasty reality of the harshness of the society (in comparison to ours) and say “this place actually sucks, it’s dangerous and you’d better be careful if you go here.” Anyone who goes to Abu Dhabi and doesn’t know what to expect is a bit of an idiot. It’s kind of hard to take, seeing these women, who have been depicted as, yes, shallow, but also smart and savvy, getting treated like children in a foreign country, and then landing themselves in hot water for some careless actions. It’s not a question of them “disrespecting the culture” – it’s a question of them being savvy enough to keep themselves out of harm’s way in hostile territory. The actions just didn’t feel right for the characters.
I wish they had kept the location in NYC, which is such an attractive background for a movie. I suppose it was cheaper to film in Morocco than in NYC? Next time, please please stay in NYC.
Despite my complaints, I still enjoyed the film. It was nice seeing the gang back together again.
Despite my attempts to stay off the larger trails, I kept winding up on the Skyline Trail. I'd take a small track, and find it turning into nothing, and then just ramble around to get back to another trail.
I like this particular section of the Skyline Trail - very steep, a giant rock slab. Maybe not so much fun in the rain though.
I got lucky. Almost immediately after I got home, a drenching downpour started. I'm glad I got out today, anyway!
I didn't make any plans for the hike, and just wandered around looking for side trails, in the hopes of avoiding crowds.
I stumbled on this good view of Boston. Although, today it looked like a ghost city, barely visible in the haze.
My hike at Blue Hills Reservation today was relatively short, only 1.5 hours.
It was a hot and steamy day, but rain was in the forecast. I went out around noon, when the weather was supposed to be at its best. There was a lot more sun than I expected. Fortunately, I had brought a tube of (hormone-disrupting) sunscreen with me.
There was an ice cream truck on the DeCordova grounds today. At first, I thought it was a new installation! Fortunately, there was a guy selling real ice cream. I haven't had an ice cream sandwich in a long time, but I was hungry so it seemed like a good idea. I got one ($2) and ate it while I hiked. It was quite nice, although the ingredients sounded kind of icky.
I went for a one hour hike behind the DeCordova today. Before going in, I stopped for a visit at my totally favorite sculpture in the park, Rick Brown's "Butterfly Effect". It has changed quite a lot since the last time I was there.
This view of the trail, with a bit of water on the horizon, could almost be a view in the Caribbean.
Today's hike was great, aside from the crowds. Despite the sun and heat, I seemed to have stayed well hydrated (no headaches). I didn't have any trouble with my knees or joints whatsoever. I did get a few rub marks on my feet. I thought I'd find blisters when I got home, but nope.
I did try to take a pretty easy pace to avoid blisters. Maybe that helped with all of the above. I'm trying to be more careful about easing into the hiking season this year.
On the way back, near Chickatawbut Tower, I wasn't paying attention and wandered off the trail. It was no loss, since I discovered this great view to the north of the trail. I climbed down a rocky, narrow side trail to the red trail, to find a guy doing a little amateur rock climbing with his kids. From there I easily made it back to the blue trail.
Soon thereafter, I ran into some people who were looking kind of lost. They had a map, but didn't know the way to their car. Even worse, it seems the person who was lost was leading a group of people! I hope I pointed them in the right direction. I wound up giving them my compass. Darn, I've had that compass for 10 years!
This is what you see when you climb up Rattlesnake Hill, just off the Skyline Trail at Blue Hills Reservation. It's supposed to be a rock climbing spot, but I've never seen any climbers there. I wonder if they use these steel pipes as anchors?
There's a great view from Boston if you stand up by the pipes. You have to ignore the golf course and condos in the foreground, though.
It was really crowded today. Like yesterday, it started out reasonably quiet. But at some point, I was running into someone(s) every 5 or 10 minutes. Or at least it seemed that way...
Today's hike: 3 h 18 min | 6.1 mi | 1.9 mph
I began my hike at Blue Hills Reservation with latte in hand this morning.
I parked where the Skyline Trail meets Rt 28. This is where I turned back yesterday. I followed the Skyline Trail east, to where it terminates, and returned the same way.
The time and mileage aren't that accurate. I kept forgetting to restart my stop watch after stopping to take a photograph.
Today's hike: 1 h 42 min | 3.75 mi | 2.2 mph
This morning, I hiked the Skyline Trail from the parking lot at Headquarters Path over to Rt 28 and back. I started around 8:30. It was pretty quiet. I even got a few minutes of solitude to look out at Boston from Buck Hill. But by 10, traffic started to pick up. By the time I left, it was getting to be too busy for my taste.
There are a lot of deer flies out; most unusual. I wasn't bitten, though. Aside from that the only other wildlife I noticed was a large toad along the trail. Last week, I saw a couple of small snakes.
The takeover of Tibet by China is yet another example of the attempt of a hostile, imperialist nation making a land grab, paving over any natives that stand in their way. History is filled with such examples, but in particular it reminds me of the way the US steamrolled the Native Americans, who are still struggling today.
The Dalai Lama has been very active in preaching to preserve Tibetan culture, religion, and language. Journey from Zanskar is a documentary about a couple of monks who take a dangerous journey with a small group of young children in an attempt to carry out these intentions. It’s a tear-filled documentary! The trip takes the children from their home in Zanskar, to Manali, where they can be educated in Tibetan schools. These children will be parted from their families for many years, because extreme poverty makes travel impossible on a regular basis.
The movie is very touching, and you get a feeling of how desperate the people are in this region. It’s definitely worth viewing.
After watching the movie, though, I had some misgivings. While it’s clear that the monks were well-intentioned, I had an uneasy feeling that they took excessive risks with the children. This is not to say that the monks were careless or clueless; they clearly had permission from the parents, who seemed grateful and happy that their kids were being given the opportunity. All involved felt that the risk was worth the gain. And it’s true that I’m comparing the risks taken here with the risks that typical American parents might be willing to take with their children; an unfair comparison, because Americans are so much more sheltered than these people.
It seems to me a wiser plan would have been to start a Tibetan school in Zanskar, and have the kids attend school there. I’m under the impression that there are, in fact, several schools underway. The problem with the movie, in this respect, is that it doesn’t present alternate solutions to the problem. Were there any alternative educational opportunities for these kids in Zanskar, at all? Might the monks themselves have set up shop in Zanskar as tutors for the Tibetan kids? So you’re not really clear whether the desperate journey was a noble cause or a hair-brained scheme. Probably it was a bit of both. Let’s hope good Tibetan schools come to Zanskar soon, so that no more families will have to make such painful decisions and face such terrible risks in the future.
That's the Boston skyline off in the distance.
This shot was taken from Eliot tower. There were a lot of people out hiking this morning... I saw several groups or individuals just while I hung out at the tower.
Most hikers were friendly... One woman went out of her way to inform me that the bird chirping in the distance was a rufous-sided towhee. I was skeptical since it sounded a lot like the sparrows that I see outside my window in the morning. But it turns out that towhees are related to sparrows, so she may have known what she was talking about.
I got up early this morning, skipped breakfast, and went for a hike at Blue Hills Reservation. I went early to avoid the heat and crowds. Good thing, too, since it was already crazy busy, even though I was there before 9.
I decided to do the Skyline trail loop starting at Rt 138, in the western part of the reservation. According to Ranger Pete, the loop is a 3 mile hike. I did it in 2 hours, which makes my pace pretty bad, but it's early in the season.
At least Eliot Tower was pretty empty when I got there, however, and I had the chance to go on up, which I haven't done before. Nice views!
The Rubin Museum is currently showing two exhibits about death. One is called "Remember That You Will Die" and the other is "Bardo". Both were quite interesting.
Lazed around NYC on Saturday. Nice day!
I went for a hike at Blue Hills today. I was planning on doing about an hour, but somehow it turned into 2.5 hours. Starting at Rt 28, I followed the Pipeline Trail up to the Skyline Trail, and took the latter back. It's about four miles.
The Skyline Trail was a bit slippery in places, but I managed to avoid falling. Be careful if you're hiking over rocky terrain this weekend!
I passed an excessively cheerful trail runner who grinned at me and said "isn't it a great day to be outside!" as if it were sunny and the sky was blue. He was right, though, despite the rain it was nice to be outside!
Both my federal and state tax returns have been accepted already (on a Sunday, yet!). The benefits of web filing!
Federal filing is free, but I shelled out $21 to get the state taxes filed. I won’t be doing that again, but it was nice to be done with it.
In the last season of The L Word, the show lost everything that made it interesting to watch. The soap opera elements overwhelmed everything else, and the characters turned into complete clichés, behaving like mechanical puppets, moving at the absurd whim of the writers.
Does anyone understand why Jenny Schecter had any friends at all? Why did people keep forgiving and forgetting? In real life this would never happen, but I guess that’s just another soap opera element that made this last season so lame.
I still thought it was worth watching to find out how everything turned out, but it didn’t keep my attention.
I’ve always done my own taxes. But I have a lot of stuff to do this year, and I decided to shell out the money for TurboTax and give it a try.
I had already done about 95% of my federal returns, so it didn’t save much time there. However, I had neglected to take the Making Work Pay tax credit. I just didn't understand it, didn’t have time to think about it, and didn’t think it applied to me. So TurboTax saved me some money there, score one for TurboTax, which more or less forced me to do the right thing on that one.
I had really bought TurboTax for help with my state taxes, since I find Massachusetts taxes unreasonably complicated. However, I didn’t find it especially useful for the problems I encountered last year. For example, as they lead you along, you are asked questions like “Did you report capital gains or losses on your federal return that are not taxable in Massachusetts?”. Well, how the f* do I know? That’s what I bought TurboTax to tell me!
However, TurboTax did find me another deduction which I had failed to take last year: the rent deduction. I remember scratching my head over this last year but quickly deciding it couldn’t possibly apply to me – yet, apparently, it does! This is the weirdest deduction I’ve seen among all state taxes, and I’ve filled out tax forms in four different states to date. So that saved me about $150 in state taxes, score two for TurboTax. If there are any Massachusetts renters out there reading this, you should definitely look into it and see if it applies to you.
Quibbles:So yes, it’s nice that TurboTax found me some extra deductions. However, it seems to me that I have no incentive to buy the product again. It confirmed for me that aside from a couple of neglected deductions, I’m doing my taxes correctly. It didn’t help me with some strange state tax questions. And I still needed to check it pretty carefully to be sure it was doing the right thing.
I think I would be inclined to buy TurboTax again if I move to another state, just to make sure I get the deductions right. Or possibly in years when I’m too busy with other things to give proper attention to tax filing. But I can’t see paying $90 every year for it. I don’t see the value in that.
I went for a two hour hike at Blue Hills Reservation today. The trails are still muddy in places, but otherwise the weather was great. By the time I got back to my car, around noon, it was starting to feel a little too hot.
I forgot to bring my camera so I took this photo with my cell phone. I'm on the north side of the fenced in area; the Skyline Trail is a bit south of here. The photo has a weird quality to it. I feel like there should be a UFO up there in the sky or something.
I started listening to Moby’s Wait For Me way back in Sept ‘09, and it didn’t really resonate. That wasn’t a fair treatment, though, because I had been playing Radiohead’s Amnesiac constantly, and nothing was going to get through that cloak of darkness.
I’ve been off Radiohead, and music in general, for a little while. The other day, I decided to give “Wait For Me” another try, on a long drive home. Well, damn, Moby has done it again. I listened to the CD four times over, and it felt like my heart had been ripped out and stomped on (which was how I felt when I was introduced to Moby via Porcelain). It may not sound like it, but it was a good feeling. Now I’ve got “Wait For Me” playing over and over and over again in my car. Thank you, Moby!
I read about half of The Picture of Contented New Wealth at night, and it creeped me out. Then I read the rest during the day, and it was not so creepy, more funny and sardonic. It’s an interesting idea to write a family melodrama with demonic possession tossed in. I don’t usually read horror, so I’m not jaded, which maybe helped. The book is not overly long, and it was a quick read.
I took a nice stroll around Flint's Pond today, for about an hour. The weather was insanely summer-like.
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is another excellent story from Stieg Larsson. His books are written with such clarity, suspense, and realism that I feel disoriented when finishing them. The world in his books seems more real than my own – and way more interesting!
I went for a nice little stroll at the Blue Hills Reservation today. With such good weather, it was kind of crowded, but enjoyable nonetheless.
I haven't been hiking in a while. Last time was almost a month ago, and I had some trouble with shoulder pain due to adhesive capsulitis. I didn't expect walking to affect my shoulder, but it certainly did.
Today it didn't bother me so much, thankfully.
You wouldn’t expect a really good Indian dinner to come from a company called French Meadow Bakery. I’ve eaten a lot of frozen dinners, and I was skeptical when I picked up their Vegetarian Dal Makhani. The picture on the front looks appetizing, but most frozen dinners look nothing like the image on the outside of the box.
I was pleasantly amazed. Not only does the food really slide out onto your plate looking picture perfect, it tastes absolutely perfect as well, as if it were prepared in a restaurant. The meal has 5 g of fiber, 8 g of protein, and only 340 mg of sodium, which is relatively low for a frozen dinner. And it tastes delicious! I will definitely try more French Meadow dinners.
