alex chiang: web 6.0

Greetings from south of the equator, aka Ecuador,

Yep, I’m in South America again, this time to “walk up a hill for a long time while feeling bad” (a not-so unaccurate description of mountain climbing from a friend of mine). The big goal is to climb Cotopaxi, which wikipedia tells me is a volcano that is 5,897 m (19,347 ft) tall. Should be a good time over the next two weeks.

I’m in-country now, after a minor snafu with my luggage. For future reference, when you try to be your own travel agent, you should really allow for more connection time between flights than I did. A mere 45 minutes from scheduled arrival of one flight til the scheduled departure of another flight means that you might have to run as fast as you possibly can from concourse A to concourse E, since in reality, you only have 15 minutes to catch that next plane.

Turns out that the airport baggage system doesn´t work quite that fast… Luckily, my giant pack with mucho expensive gear was on the next flight, and I only had to wait an extra 30 minutes at UIO (the airport code for Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador). Not bad.

I have a few days before my partners from Chicago arrive and the walking begins in earnest. Having just arrived means nothing exciting has happened yet, unless you count eating some questionable looking chicken at a typical local eatery. I’m sure you’re all waiting on tenterhooks to see what my bowels will do. I know I am.

Anyhow, just wanted to drop a quick line to my favorite BCC’ed people and let them know that things are afoot.

As always, let me know if:

- you prefer that I stop spamming you
- you prefer that I spam you at a different email address

And just like last time, these emails will be simulcast on my blog.

until then,

/ac

Not much time to write the nice end of the year blog post that I’d wanted to, due to an extremely hectic schedule.

Short story: After digging out of 23″ of snow in Fort Collins, Jenny and I managed to drive out to Las Vegas to meet up with my family for a reunion, where I currently am. We’ve been eating too much, sleeping too little, and managing to have some fun in between. Got Jenny addicted to the nickel slot machines, while I managed to extract a few $hundred from the Hilton’s blackjack tables… not too shabby. Highlight of the trip thus far: shooting an M1A1 Thompson machine gun. Second best $45 I ever spent.

A few more days, and then I’m off to Ecuador.

Until then, merry xmas and happy new year and all that jazz.

Vail is raising the price of lift tickets to $85 this season. Awesome.

As they say in usenet, Ski Vail.

Jimmy was one of the coolest guys I’ve ever had the privilege to climb with. He was one of the regulars at Stoneworks Silos, the climbing gym in Carrollton, TX where I’ve whiled away too many sweltering, sultry summer nights to count.

In fact, that gym was my formative gym, and the guys who climbed there my formative idols, grizzled old guys who’d been around as long as the rocks they were climbing on. Always humble and perpetually grinning in their easy ways as climbers sweated and huffed in the stifiling Dallas air, their drawled comments laconic and chock full of cowboy wisdom, they was good people.

Everyone had a nickname — Big Steve, Skinny Richard, Bearded Steve, Linda Lee, Stone Face Laura, Jazz (the human, not to be confused with Jazz the dog), Chuck Kwon Sherpa, and Dane (ok, Dane didn’t have a nickname; you could climb anywhere in the southwest and someone would know Dane).

We called Jimmy “the Jedi”. He’d climbed the hardest, survived the scariest, seen the most, and was the calmest, humblest person in the entire place. To me, he had more climbing knowledge in his pinky than I’d ever be able to claim. And he was willing to share it with me, the complete gumby n00b, and even belay me on piddling gym routes, always with the zen-master-like advice that unlocked techniques and routes that should have been beyond me.

On real rock, it was no secret that if you had a project and wanted guaranteed success, you would invite Jimmy. We didn’t call him “cheater stick” for nothing.

I’m having a hard time believing that I’m writing about him in the past tense. In my mind, he’ll always be part of the bedrock of Southern climbing.

We’ll miss you Jimmy. RIP.

Friends of Forester

Jenny had her Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) thesis show on Friday, which bring a relieving end to a frantic, stress-filled few months. After writing her paper and defending it at orals, she had 2 out of 5 pieces done at that point, with only a few weeks to go before the show. Somehow, she managed to get the remaining 3 pieces done, and spent last Wednesday through Friday installing it all. In a show of solidarity, yours truly helped out on Thursday with the install, and we finally called it quits around 4 am or so.

Her show was a great success. People really enjoyed her pieces, as well they should have, given the creativity and playfullness present in all of her work.

On the selfish personal front, I’ll be glad to reduce the stress level in my life about a grillion notches and returning to a regular sleeping and eating schedule.

Oh, and if anyone is looking to hire a metalsmith, either to teach at University level or maybe just commission some pieces, give her a shout. Jenny’s blog is Jewelry Fool, and you can get her contact information there.

Two weekends ago, I went to Los Angeles / San Diego for my cousin Eric’s wedding. It was good to see that side of the family again, and surprising to see how quickly everyone is growing up.

The highlight of any trip to California is eating at In n’ Out burger. Delicious.